Lilith stirred lightly upon the comfortable bed, wrapped up in sheets and strong arms of the man she loved. The quiet creak of a door could be heard just before the small patter of tiny footsteps followed, circling around the bed until a small, whispered voice finally let the presence of the intruder be known.
"Daddy~! Mommy~! Get outta bed and make breakfast!" The small boy's voice whined, shaking his father's bare shoulder with his small hands.
The blond man grumbled quietly, only pulling his wife closer, "Too...early. Go play with...your toys or something..." his voice was groggy from sleepiness, not bothering to even open his eyes just yet.
Lilly chuckled, peering an eye open and rolling her head back to look at the clock. Yeap. It was time to get up. Rolling her head back and kissing her husband's head, she chuckled, "Steve, it's nearly ten o'clock. And it's your turn to cook breakfast," she muttered, looking up at the blond four year old who was currently climbing his father's back to wiggle between them now, "James, what are you-oof! Even doing..." she shook her head as the child plopped between them, forcing Steve to lose his grip on the woman.
"Alright, you listen here, sport," Steve sat up, his voice playful as his hands began to work at tickling the boy, "You can't just come barging in here!" He laughed groggily still, his blond hair messy from the night's sleep and bobbing as the small boy squirmed and squealed.
"Mommy! Help!" James giggled out, reaching for his mother as she moved away to give the two space.
Lilith simply laughed, shaking her head, "You brought this on yourself! You know better than to wake your bear-of-a-father."
She smirked at her son as he squealed even more, trying to crawl away, but Steve picked him up, rasberrying the boy's belly as James continued his loud laughs.
"I'm an evil monster who's going to eat you!" Steve growled at the boy, setting him down on the bed and raising his arms up, fixing his hands so they resembled monster claws, "Rawr!"
James screeched, scrambling off the bed and screaming as he darting out of the bedroom and down the hall, the sound of his bedroom door slamming shut following soon after.
Steve sat on the bed and gave a hearty laugh, running a hand through his hair to try and restore it, "I'm not that scary, am I?" he leaned closer to his wife, flashing a charming smile.
Lil laughed at her husband, lightly cupping his chin to peck his lips, "Only in the morning, my love."
The soldier grinned, bringing his hands up to hold the woman's face between them and kiss her good morning, properly. Once he pulled away with a hum, he murmured to her lowly, "I love you."
Ah. Those words in which she lived for rolling from her husband's lips made her smile, "As I love you," Lilith pulled away from him to roll out of bed, stretching in her tank top and shorts she had chosen to wear for the night's sleep.
Steve mock grumbled, falling back onto the bed to faceplant into a pillow, his muffled words barely recognizable, "Do we have to get up? Just laying here...seems a lot more fun...than moving."
The demigod chuckled softly, putting her hair in a sloppy ponytail as she spoke, "Not if you don't want a grumpy four-year-old coming back in here to bother you again. And I'll send him after you, too."
He let out a groan, getting on his hands and knees on the bed and pouted at Lilith, "Have I told you how much I really love you, and how great of a cook, and wife you are?" Steve grabbed her by her waist, pulling her back to the bed so he could bury his face in her neck, peppering it with kisses.
Oh sweet gods, he's not being fair...Those damn puppy eyes, the lip pout, the neck kisses. He was good. But not good enough, "Oh, no! You're not...getting out of this...that...hmm..." she hummed as his lips continued to tease her skin, "Steve, come on, that's not fair..." she whined, trying to pull away but he only held her closer, "We need to get up...we've got a hungry little boy who's waiting for his daddy to cook him breakfast..."
Steve let out a grumble onto his wife's neck, ceasing his attempt to get out of cooking Sunday breakfast, "I tried..." he grinned, rolling out of bed finally as he released Lilly from his restraining arms,
Lilith smiled at her win. He tried, definitely. But he also knew better, "Are you still taking him to that baseball game today?" She eyed him from the doorway as he waddled towards her.
"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot I was going to do that today..." he muttered, slipping past Lilly and down the hall, "I'll tell him about it once we all sit down at the table."
Following after, she stopped by James' room, watching him pretend to shoot invisible invaders from on top of his bed, yelling out things like "We need back up!" And "They've got us trapped!" But while using a much deeper voice, possibly trying to copy his father, he would reply to himself, "Keep it together, men!" Or "Your Captain shall save you!" Lilith watched the short blond continue to fight his invisible enemies, leaning on the doorframe as she listened to his conversation with himself and the gun sounds he made with his lips.
"Did you get them? Did you save us, Captain?" She said dramatically once he let out a 'phew!' And ceased his mock gun sounds, walking over to him with a bright grin.
"Yes, ma'am!" He saluted her, placing his hands heroically on his hips and striking a pose.
"You did it again, captain! You saved everyone!" She cheered, lifting her son off his bed to peck his cheek with kisses. She let out a bright laugh, finally settling him on her hip as she carried him out the room, "My brave little soldier."
James smiled a bright smile that resembled his father's, "You bet I am! Just like daddy, right?"
"Even braver," she replied, nuzzling her nose against his as she carried the boy into the kitchen, spotting her husband making pancake mix, "Isn't that right, Steve?" She knew he'd been listening to the exchange, judging by the stupid grin on his face.
"Indeed, ma'am. One of the army's finest, I would say," he raised a hand to ruffle James' blond locks, his grin never wavering.
James gazed at his father proudly, "Will I be a captain one day, daddy? Like you, and Uncle Bucky?" The small boy asked as Lilith finally set him down, moving to gather a pan for Steve to use.
The Captain ceased all movements, his smiled growing even brighter as he suddenly dropped down to one knee in front of his son. His large, strong hands moved to the boy's shoulders as their blue eyes connected, "You can be anything you want to be, James. All you have to do is be brave and have faith, and I'll bet you'll be the best captain an army could ask for."
Watching Steve talk to their son like he did warmed her heart. She had to force herself not to intervene so they could have this moment to themselves, so Steve could have this one moment with his son, and his son alone.
"You think so?" James asked innocently, that charming smile he gained from his father had spread across his lips as his head tilted to the side.
"I know so," Steve kissed the small boy's head, obviously proud of his son. Releasing the boy's shoulders, he patted James' back, gesturing off to the other room, "Go play for a bit while I get breakfast going, okay?"
The child's arms suddenly wrapped around Steve's neck, giving the large man a warm, bubbly hug before darting off into his room. Soon after, the mock gunshots and self conversations could be heard once again resounding from the young boy's room.
Lilith didn't even have to say it out loud how adorable she thought that was, Steve seeing the idiotic grin on her face talking enough. He softly chuckled, resuming his mixing of pancake mix.
Soon enough, they sat around the table, happy eating pancakes, eggs, and bacon, eating as a happy family like any other Sunday.
James was devouring his food with his mouth wide open, Lilith making a face as she watched him make a mess of himself, "James, chew with your mouth closed," she scolded, grabbing a napkin from the center of the table to wipe his face for him.
"He's a big boy, he can wipe his own face," Steve stated, cutting his second pancake for himself.
Lilly huffed and handed her son the napkin, making sure he wiped his face before he continued his consuming of his pancake, nearly all of his eggs gone and bacon already devoured.
Then, out of nowhere, James blurted out, "Where do babies come from?" But he said it so innocently it caught both Steve and Lilith off guard, "MY friend Daniel's mommy is having a baby, but how?" the boy's head tilted tot he side slightly.
Poor Steve nearly choked on a piece of bacon, coughing slightly and blinking at Lilith, "Uh...well-"
Lilly quickly interrupted, afraid of where this was going, "A mommy's belly, of course." She said plainly, trying hard not to tiptoe through the subject to cause suspicion.
"How does the baby get there?" The child was so innocent it made Lilith laugh a bit, looking at the nearly horrified Steve who is obviously nervous about the subject.
"With a seed," well...She wasn't lying, which only made Steve give a small glare at Lilith who is being oddly calm about the situation.
"How does the seed get there?" James made a confused face, pondering at his mother.
"The daddy plants a seed in the mommy's tummy, and then the seed grows. A lot like a tree," she said simply, throwing a look at Steve who nearly choked again on his food.
"Oooh~" finally. Took care of that subject easily. James went back to eating and Steve could finally wipe the sweat off his face, "Am I a tree?" he giggled, obviously just being silly now.
"What? No, you're not a tree, you goofball," Steve laughed in turn with the child, softly shaking his head.
There was a long silence before James finally piped up, "Mommy, are you going to have a baby?" His face was so blank and his question was so innocent.
Lilith and Steve both stopped moving at the same time, exchanging looks before Lilly finally turned her head to the innocent James whose head was still tilted at her in curiosity. She blinked a couple times, "No, I'm not. What gave you that idea?"
James shrugged, giving an innocent smile, "I dunno. But it would be cool if you had a baby!" He giggled, resuming his eating.
Lilith and Steve exchanged looks again as Lilith spoke, "Maybe eventually. I don't know, it would be something to talk about," she said, raising a brow at her husband who only smiled, "Would you want a little brother or sister?" She turned her head back towards James, smiling sweetly at her son.
"Yea! A little brother, so we can play army men!" He chimed, giddy about the thought.
"We'll see..." Steve finally said, furrowing his brows in thought and not daring to see the look Lilith was shooting him.
They went back to an awkward silence again, quietly eating, Steve letting out a small sigh before finally breaking the pressured silence, "Oh!" The Captain piped up suddenly as if a lightbulb just lit above his head, "Hey sport, how would you like to go to a baseball game with me?" He peered up at the child with that same charming grin, waiting for his son's reaction.
James' face immediately brightened, his bright blue eyes lighting up, "A baseball game? Yeah!" He cheered happily, nodding his head profusely.
"Yeah, and I think Uncle Bucky came back yesterday from his mission yesterday. You want to call him and find out if he'd like to come too? Bet he'd like to see a Brooklyn Dodgers game, again," Steve replied, shoving the last large bite of his pancake in his mouth.
"Yeah, yeah!" James cheered, looking to his mother and then father again, "Can I go call him now?"
"When you finish eating," Lilly said sternly, "so hurry up and finish, and then you can call him."
Immediately, James started shoving as much of his food into his mouth as he possibly could, rushing to finish his food. Once he got in the final large bite, he hopped out of his seat with a "Done!"
"Whoa, wait!" Lil caught him before he ran off to find his father's phone, "Put your plate up first."
He lightly grumbled, quickly grabbing his plate and setting it in the sink, finally running off to grab Steve's phone to call his favorite uncle (other than Tony, simply because he never made him eat his vegetables) whomehe was named after.
"He's too smart for his age..." Steve finally muttered once the coast clear.
"Yea, he really is. Blame it on me, his mommy's got smart genes. I was like that at his age," Lilith nodded, sure of herself.
"Let's just hope he won't grow up too fast," he beamed at his wife, his blue eyes darting up at her before looking back down at his plate.
Lilith's eyes shot straight open, the morning's glow shining on her face and irritating her eyes. Shielding herself from the golden rays, she slowly sat up in her bed and looked around, removing the hot sheets from her warmed body. Definitely not in the same house, that's for sure.
"It was just a dream..."
A sad smile spreading across her face as she remembered the young boy's face. It was so perfect, and like a true little angel. But it was only a dream. It didn't stop her from deeply wishing it may have been real, that she did have a happily ever after with Steve.
That he did live through this mission after all...
Grabbing up her notepad that had to replace the filled journal, Lilith began vigorously writing down as much detail as she could remember. Eventually, she'd describe the boy's face to Steve (maybe) so he could draw it for her if they had the time. For now, the angelic face was but a memory. It might always be that way. For now, Lilith will just have to keep dreaming, until it came true.