Always and Forever

Chapter 20

I let Steve drive back to the compound, and as soon as I was back, I went to my room and crawled into my bed. I was hoping no one would come in and bother me, but sadly, I did get a visit. However, it wasn't from who I expected; it was from Natasha. "Hey Allie," she said as she sat on the bed next to me.

"Hey Agent Romanoff," I said.

"Oh, please, I'm not an agent anymore. You don't need to call me by my last name."

"Alright. Nat it is then."

She smiled. "So, Steve told me you're going through some stuff."

"Heh, he did now, did he?"

"He thought you could use a woman's opinion. What's going on?"

I sighed. "I must be one of the most fertile women on the planet, because the only time I have sex, while on birth control, I get pregnant."

"I wish I could tell you I can relate, but sadly, I can't." I gave her a questioning look. "After I was done with my training, there was a sort of graduation ceremony. In this 'ceremony', they made it so I can't have kids. It was just their way of getting rid of all distractions."

"Do you ever wish they hadn't? Wish that you could've had that option?"

"Every day." She grabbed my hand. "Allie, it's gonna be hard. Going to school and raising a kid at the same time, if that's what you choose. But I want you to know that you have support, at least from me and Steve."

"I really appreciate that, Nat. A lot."

Natasha smiled and left the room. I fell asleep fairly quickly after that, and surprisingly I slept through the night. It wasn't until around six thirty that I woke up feeling sick. Not knowing where my pot was, I ran down the hall to the bathroom. Once I got everything out of my system, I brushed my teeth and went out to the kitchen to get myself something to eat. I was heavily craving scrambled eggs and bacon, so scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon is what I made.

As I was finishing up the bacon, people started filing into the living room. By the time everyone was out, the food was done, and everyone grabbed their plates and sat down at the long kitchen table without saying a word. Once I sat down, however, that changed. "Allie, how are you feeling today?" Thor asked.

"Uh, I feel better, thanks," I said.

"You weren't feeling good?" Tony asked from next to me.

"I was kinda nauseous," I said.

"Did you find out what it was?" Thor asked.

Steve and I exchanged glances, then I did the same with Natasha. "Uh, yeah, I did," I said.

"Well?" Tony asked. "What was it?"

"Before I tell you, I want you to promise me you won't freak out, ok?"

"Allie, you're making me nervous."

"Just promise me."

"Ok, fine, I promise. Now what's going on?"

"I... Uh...." I looked at Steve, who gave me a reassuring nod. I took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and calmly put down their silverware, except Tony, who literally dropped his fork. "You're what?"

"I'm pregnant."

Tony couldn't seem to find the right words. "And it's...."

"Yeah, it's Peter's." Tony was silent. "Please say something."

"No, I can't, because you made me promise not to freak out, and if I talk, I'm gonna freak out."

"Look, Tony, I-"

"You and Peter are geniuses, how could you have been stupid enough to not be prepared?"

I was a little taken aback by Tony's remark. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm just saying, were you so wrapped up in each other that neither of you bothered to think about using protection?"

"I'm on birth control. Or, at least, I was when we had sex."

"Even at that, you should've used a condom, just to be safe."

"Birth control has a success rate of 99.7 percent as opposed to condoms, which have a success rate of only 98 percent. Either way, why should I have to justify my actions to you? What is it you called yourself back in 2012? 'Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist'? You hear that second to last one? You slept with how many women before Pepper, and when I just happen to get pregnant the time I lose my virginity, you're gonna lecture me on my life behavior?"

"I was an adult, Allie! You're sixteen!"

"Damn right I am, and I'm terrified! You're acting like I wanted this to happen, but news flash, I didn't! Tony, I really need your support here!"

"Well, I'm not sure if you're gonna get it yet!"

Everyone was shocked at what Tony had just said, including Tony himself. "Tony, you need to calm down," Pepper said. "I think you need to take your breakfast in the other room and think."

I was on the verge of tears. "No, don't worry about it," I said. "I'll just... I'll be in my room. Alone."

I grabbed my plate of food and walked out of the dining room, tears starting to stream down my cheeks. When I got to my room, I closed the door and sat down on my bed. I was crying as I ate my food, and my hands were shaking so badly when I went to put my empty plate on my bedside table that I knocked my stack of pictures from my room in NYC onto the floor.

I got down on my knees and started sorting through the scattered picture frames to make sure they weren't broken. The first one I picked up was a picture of me and my parents at Disney World when I was little. The next one was a picture of Strange and I taken not long before my dad died. Next was a picture of Lexi, Ned, and me on our first day of high school. And finally, a picture of Peter and I a couple days after homecoming.

I stared at this last one for a while. I studied the cuts on his face from our fight against Toomes, and I thought about how even with the cuts he looked perfect. As I stared at the picture, tears streaming down my face, there was a knock on my door. "Who is it?" I asked.

"It's Thor and Steve," I heard Thor say from the other side of the door. "Can we come in?"

"Yeah, I guess," I said, wiping tears off of my cheeks.

Thor opened the door and came into my room. Steve was right behind him. "Allie, I'm so sorry about Tony," Steve said.

"You know, you could come to Asgard with me," Thor said. "We're planning on settling in Norway. You could raise the child there, as a queen."

"I can't leave here," I said. I looked at the picture in my hand. "I can't leave him."

No one said anything. Steve put his arm around my shoulders, and Thor got on the floor with me and grabbed my hand. Our lives had just fallen apart. We had just lost people we loved and cared about. Now we were gonna have to learn to live with it. And trust me, I ended up learning the hard way that that was easier said than done.