𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕦𝕟 𝕚𝕤 𝔾𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕃𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣- completed but editing

Chapter 92 | îmi e dor de tine (Miss You)

I lay flat on my back, looking up at the twinkle lights on the ceiling. The lights were dim and soft music played in the background. This was my hour rest time before Danny's nap was over.

Yesterday, he had turned three and I took him into the city so get hot dogs and buy a toy. It was eerie how abandoned the city felt but the birthday boy didn't notice anything. This was the world he was growing up in.

Three days ago, I was going through old photos and found a picture of teenage me and Bucky taking a selfie in Bucharest, the Avengers museum in the background. I framed it and put it in Danny's room so he could look at it.

My phone alarm went off and I pulled myself off the bed, my sore muscles aching. Danny's room was down the hall from mine, set art the end of the hallway for maximum quiet.

His white noise machine whirred in the corner and the only light came from a rocket lamp.

"Mama?" Danny asked from his crib.

I crept over. "Hey, buddy, did you have a good sleep?"

"Cold!" He began to wail. I flinched. He had been crying a lot lately.

Expertly lifting him out of the crib, I held him and close and instantly recoiled. My son was burning up.

"Shit, shit, shit," I whispered. I half ran half few into the nearest bathroom for a thermometer.

He sat on the floor with it in his mouth while I paced, encouraging him to keep it in his mouth.

I leapt forward as soon as the beeping started.

100.7 F.

Deep breath. It's ok, I could deal with a sick kid.

"Up, Mama," Danny held his arms up and I scooped him up.

"Let's go get you cozy," I carried him to the living room, made him a nest of blankets on the couch and turned on an episode of a toddler TV show.

Lower his temperature? Make him sweat it out? Ride it out?

There were tube popsicles in the freezer and I cut him two. "Eat it quick."

He began to crunch the cherry ice, eye glued to the TV.

I headed for the kitchen again and flopped down on a bar stool. He had never been this sick before.

Inhale.

Exhale.

"Danny, buddy, does anything hurt?" I asked, rushing back into the living room, my dirty hair flinging itself into my face.

He turned towards me slowly. "Here hurts, Mama." Danny patted his head.

Panic spread through me. Oh no, no, no, no.

I had read in a parenting book that three was a time when children developed a lot more mentally. If Danny really did have powers, then by know, his brain would be more developed. Enough to channel them.

"Oh my god, he's evolving." You flopped down on the couch and picked up your phone.

"Hey, Leah! What's up?"

Deep breath. "I need your help, Dad."

"What's going on?"

Danny crawled onto your lap and burrowed himself into your hoodie. "Mommy, make it stop!"

"Hang on, Dad." You looked down at Danny. "What is it, bud?"

"The noises! It hurts!"

All the proof I needed. "Dad, Danny's evolving."

"I can be there by dinner time. Hang in there. I'll be on the next flight. Keep him comfortable. Take his temperature every third minutes and keep a record."

"Thanks, Daddy."

"See you in a little bit."

I hung up. "Are you cold, Danny?"

"Yes," he said, sticking his little hands into my sweatshirt's pocket.

"I'll get you a blanket. Grandpa is coming over."

"Okay," he whimpered.

I grabbed a couple blankets and added them to his blanket nest. I out on a Disney movie and headed into the office.

Carol answered first, her hologram popping up quickly.

Rhodey, Rocket and Nebula, and Okoye followed.

I curled up in my deckchair while we waited for Nat.

When she came up too, everyone greeted each other.

"What's this about, Li Anne?" Okoye asked.

I took a deep breath. "Danny is evolving."

"What does that mean?" Rocket asked.

"I got my powers through cellular manipulation and adaptation. Danny is the only person from earth in history to be born with any abilities at all. He's getting his powers now because his brain is developing at high speed. So he's getting sick because his body is learning how to handle prodigious abilities."

"Ok, wow," Rhodey inhaled sharply. "That's a lot."

"Because he's born with his powers, how does that affect him powerwise?" Carol ran hand through her hair.

I sat up straighter. "I don't know. I'm not even sure what he can do yet. My dad is coming in tonight to help out but it could take up to a month for his powers to actually be revealed."

Rocket snorted. "So we have a super baby hanging around earth who could have mind-blowing powers but we wouldn't know? Didn't he get his powers from you, Li Anne? Won't he have the same thing as you?"

"Highly unlikely. The Infinity Stones react different when they are in different environments, including individual human minds. Wanda Maximoff had a twin brother who was also an experiment. The Mind Stone reacted differently in them."

"Let us know as soon as something happens," Nat said. "And, Annie, I'd be happy to come and help."

I nodded. "Thanks, Nat. You really helped when I evolved."

After the call disconnected, I texted Nat and asked if she wanted to come over for dinner. I was exhausted from taking care of Danny. He couldn't keep down anything that wasn't water and he was starving.

All he wanted to do was lay on me, clutching Bucky's military tags around my neck.

If I had one wish, it would be to have Bucky here, sitting beside us, his arm around me.

When Natasha and Dad arrived, I collapsed into my dad's arms and Natasha went over to the couch to provide my son with a fresh face. Dad made dinner and we ate the chicken and rice soup with French bread while Danny napped on the couch.

Danny wanted to sleep with me so we cuddled in my bed, his body temperature warming me like a furnace. I remembered the time I lay in bed the night before GiGi went to go live with the Bartons.

I remembered finding Bucky, just to feel him. Now, all I could feel was our son's breathing as he snuggled closer to me.

"Oh, Bucky," I whispered. "If only you knew how much I miss you."