Steve sat in the doctor's office. SHIELD had the best doctors in the world; if anyone could explain this, it was them. Darcy sat beside him, holding his hand. They'd been trying to have a child for almost a year and both of them were getting concerned. They'd heard of it taking a while to conceive, but…Captain America. Captain America didn't do things like be unable to have children. Besides, Steve was sure that Doctor Erskin would have mentioned something like the procedure making him sterile. No, they were there for Darcy. After all, she hadn't lived the most responsible teenage years and it was entirely possible that something had happened. She was shaking in Steve's arms as they waited in the impersonal SHIELD waiting room. Finally, a blonde nurse came to the waiting room entry,
"Darcy and Mr. Rogers?" The two of them stood up. Darcy couldn't help but snort nervously,
"'Mr. Rogers'. I never realized that."
"What?" he asked. It was good to see her smile. Darcy shook her head,
"Never mind. I'll tell you at home." she said as they followed the nurse to an exam room. The two quickly settled and the nurse said,
"If you just wait, I'm sure the doctor will be here shortly." The plastic smile slowly disintegrated and the nurse hesitated on her way out the door, wringing her wrists. She turned back, "Could I get an autograph? My son…he has ALS and he really looks up to you."
"Of course." said Steve. He grabbed a slip of paper, "Actually, I think we can do one better. Write down your address and I'll drop by whenever is convenient, if that's alright."
"Oh, really? That'd be…wow." said the nurse, flushing. She wrote down her address and handed it back, tears in her eyes, "Thank you. So much."
"No problem. Just call me whenever it will work." The nurse nodded and left before she completely burst into tears. Once the door was closed, Darcy bumped against his shoulder. Steve grinned at her,
"What?"
"You and your good-heartedness. 100% quality American goodness." she said with a shaky smile. Steve kissed her forehead,
"Everything's going to be fine." Just then, the doctor walked in,
"Alright, Mrs. Rogers. What can I do for you?"
"It's just 'Darcy' for me. Um…there's doctor-patient confidentiality here, right?"
"Of course."
"Even though he's Captain America?"
"Even though he's Captain America." said the doctor with a kind smile. Darcy nodded,
"Alright. We've been trying to have a kid for over a year and it's not working."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I've done an ovulation tracker, ate the right stuff, everything. Nothing's working." Darcy said with her arms wrapped around her middle. The doctor nodded,
"Well, we'll just run some routine tests. It's probably nothing. These things do take time. Darcy, if we could just get a blood sample?"
"Do you have to?" whined Darcy, "I'm not so good with needles."
"No one is." said the doctor. He reached into the drawer and pulled out a needle. Darcy rolled up the sleeve on her checkered shirt. The doctor pushed the needle into her arm, letting the blood flow into the vial through a tiny needle. Once he had enough, he removed the needle and pushed a square of gauze to the area, "Keep pressure on that." He labelled the vial and set it on the counter, then turned to Steve, "Your turn."
"Um, dude," Darcy's eyes darted from the doctor to Steve, "He's Captain America. I'm pretty sure it's unconstitutional for there to be something wrong with him."
"Be that as it may, we still have to check." he said. Steve, however, shook his head and crossed his arms,
"I don't know that SHIELD needs a sample of my blood."
"Nonsense, we need to see if-"
"I'd dare to say that you wouldn't even know what to look for with everything that happened." said Steve, his tone implying he would accept no argument on the issue. The doctor sighed and put the needle away,
"Very well. There is another way, but you may not like it."
"What is it?" asked Steve. Darcy winced; she knew what was coming. The doctor reached into his pocket and pulled a jar,
"We need a sample of your sperm."
"WHAT?" asked Steve. The doctor nodded,
"You heard me. Get it in the jar and we'll take it from there." said the doctor, carefully concealing a grin. Telling Captain America to go masturbate was already one of his favorite things about his day.
It had been almost a year since they knew Steve couldn't have children. A possible side-effect of either the serum or being frozen for decades was what they'd been told. Darcy had told only Jane, whom she had made swear on all things science to never tell Thor. It had been hard. Still was, some days. Darcy knew Steve had always wanted a family and she herself had been looking forward to being a mother. Now, it wasn't even a possibility. SHIELD could hardly devote a legion of scientists to figuring out why Captain America was sterile. For all they knew, he'd been sterilie since birth and not even the serum could fix that. Still, when Darcy watched him on the screen and knew that there was even the slightest possibility that he wouldn't be coming back to her in once piece, it made her long for a bit of him that she could hold onto. She still had dreams, sometimes. The child always looked different, sometimes her eyes and Steve's hair and sometimes the other way around, but she always knew instinctively that the child was hers and Steve's. It would smile and run to her, but the dream would always end before she could touch it. She knew that Steve was still struggling to accept his sterility. He still thought she'd leave him because of it. He thought it was his fault. Darcy couldn't count the number of times she held his face between her hands and whispered that it wasn't his fault. It was even possible that the serum hadn't done this, that this was no one's fault at all. Darcy knew that Steve still didn't believe her.
Darcy took another sip of her coffee and flipped the page of the newspaper. Steve was gone on some undercover mission, although word from on high said he'd be home that day. Darcy had already cleaned the apartment and put on her best dress. She needed to look nice when he came home. Darcy was still trying to prove to him that he was worth something despite everything recently, that he was worth getting dressed up for and she wasn't about to leave him. As if summoned by her thoughts, Darcy heard the key click in the lock. The paper and coffee lay forgotten as she rushed to the door. Steve had just stepped in, his arms holding a peculiar bundle. Darcy tried to leap into his arms, but he put a hand on her shoulder. Darcy's brow furrowed when she got a good look at his face. She'd seen Steve look bad, but this was terrible. He was bruised and bloodied, but there was something more than that. He seemed spiritually broken. His voice was a whisper,
"They killed Coulson. And the cellist." Darcy's hand flew to her mouth, horror and shock mixing on her face. She'd known Coulson. Despite his iPod-stealing tendencies, he'd been a good man. It hurt to know that he was gone. Steve's arms shifted and he pulled back the top blanket to reveal a baby sleeping in his arms, "There was only one survivor." Darcy's eyes widened and her arms came forward. Steve willing handed the baby off to her, dropping a bag no doubt containing the baby's formula and diapers before shuffling into the living room and sinking into the couch. A hand came up to mop down his face while Darcy held the baby close, her gaze not leaving it. Steve continued in a whisper, "The baby is Allison. Officially, she doesn't exist. They couldn't have it on record, not even within SHIELD, that Coulson had a daughter. The cellist didn't have family. There's no to take care of her." Darcy didn't have to ask what he was saying.
"Yes."
"Are you sure?" asked Steve. He looked so tired and sad, but there was something in him, buried very deep beneath the pain, that was happy. Darcy tucked a lock of the baby's chestnut hair behind her ear,
"I'm sure." Steve let out a sigh,
"I'll call Fury in the morning to tell him we're adopting her." Steve closed his eyes. Darcy sat beside him on the couch, still holding Allison. Steve's arm came to drape itself around Darcy's shoulders and she leaned into his side. Steve rested his head against hers and slowly opened his eyes to look at Allison.
"She has Coulson's eyes. You'll see, when she opens them."
"I'm sure I will. Now, go to sleep you overgrown Avenger, you." said Darcy. Steve nodded slightly, already half asleep. By the time Allison awoke from her nap, Steve was snoring. Darcy smiled down at the little girl, tears in her eyes,
"Hello, sweetheart. I'm Aunt Darcy. The loud one is Uncle 're going to look after you and everything. Are you alright with that?" asked Darcy. She knew that the girl had no idea what she was saying, but it felt disrespectful not to ask. Allison blinked sleepily up at her, yawned, and went back to sleep. Darcy nodded, "Good." She burrowed further into Steve's side and soon the entire family was sleeping, Steve with his arm wrapped around his girls and Darcy with her arms around Allison. Allison awoke in the middle of the night, silent for a moment. She took in the sleeping Dark Haired Woman and the Loud One. They seemed to be good people. Much less scary than the man with the eye patch. Yes, these people would do nicely. Then she wailed because she was hungry.