AN: I swore I'd never make an MPREG fic and here I am doing the thing. *le sigh*. I'm still going to do it and enjoy writing it, hopefully you enjoy reading it.

"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt." – Mark Twain

PART I: Rivers In Egypt

Steve is no stranger to being sick. He spent 3/4ths of his life from birth to 25 years old sick, he's been on the edge of death and felt his mortality before he ever picked up the shield but ever since Erskine pumped the mystery serum into his veins he hadn't so much as felt a throat tickle let alone had to break out his inhaler. On days Sam was sick, his allergies having set in or he came down with a cold, he acted like he loathed Steve his immune system but he'd cuddle up to him in the winter to absorb some of Steve's heat and by the way he reacted whenever Steve got so much as a bruise from fighting he knows he's glad there's one less thing to worry about so when Steve found himself with his head in the toilet puking up last night's dinner for the fifth time that week the thought of telling his boyfriend about this was immediately shot down. This could be anything: a stomach bug or food poisoning. Sure, he hadn't gotten sick since the 40's but that was his story and he was sticking to it and absolutely not telling Sam about this. He spit out the last of the regurgitated food, stood up, flushed the toilet then walked to the sink. He looked at himself in the mirror and he looked a little pale from the puking but he wasn't warm (warmer than usual anyway) and his stomach was already settling down so he sighed and turned on the pipe in order to brush his teeth. By the time he was done, his cheeks had gained a considerable amount of color, enough for Sam not to question him should he be awake.

He wasn't when Steve went back to their bedroom; he lay fast asleep curled up in the fetal position with the sheets tangled around him. He seemed peaceful, his face smooth of lines and devoid of the furrow in his eyebrows he got when he was having a nightmare or dreaming about Riley. Steve smiled at the sight of him. He didn't think he'd ever have this after the missed opportunity with Peggy. Sure he'd gone on a few dates with Sharon at Natasha's urgings and he had liked her (though finding out she was Peggy's great niece put a damper on the romance) but she didn't understand him the way Sam did.

Steve was already half in love with him when Sam decided to run after him on his mission to find Bucky and despite the interludes with Sharon he had gotten to know Sam in a way he hadn't even gotten to know Peggy and after the mess with Ultron and the Maximoffs Steve felt Sam's mortality just as much as he had his own when he was a frail boy wracked with coughing fits being rocked in his mother's arms or a stubborn teenager barely able to move from the pain winter set in his bones while Bucky swaddled him in every blanket and sheet he could find while hugging Steve to warm him up. In those moments, those battle weary moments, he had resolved that just because he was out of his own time didn't mean he should waste the time he had now. When they were alone he didn't have to say a word. Sam took one look at him and understood what he wanted and what he would say. He had walked up to him, wordlessly caressed his cheek and then kissed him, Steve savoring it like a man in the desert would savor water and they'd been together ever since.

It wasn't always easy. Finding Bucky again had tested them and everyone else. The tabloids, news and magazines had a field day with the fact that Captain America was dating a man, a black man at that. Headlines reading things like 'Captain America Goes From Blonde Bombshell to Juvenile Delinquent', people dredging up the juvie record Sam had from 15 to 18 years old that mostly consisted of petty theft, speeding and breaking and entering. What no one mentioned was that the death of Sam's father prompted that, most outlets barely mentioned his military service or his work with the Avengers and the VA and his exploits taking down HYDRA. They even went as far as trying to drag Sam's mother and sister through the mud, bringing up the fact that Sam's mother had him at 19 and was unwed at the time and that Sam's sister had her own juvie exploits and had a "promiscuous" past. They rarely mentioned that Darlene was a nurse and Sam's sister, Sasha Wilson, was a successful statistician. Darlene Wilson had already been weary of her son having anything to do with Captain America let alone dating him. The news coverage hadn't been very helpful in her opinion of Sam being involved with him but she and Steve had reached a place of mutual understanding and respect and they visited her in Baltimore for a week once every two months plus Sasha half lived at the Tower now that she worked for Stark Industries and was dating Clint.

Despite the hassle the media gave them and a few (largely ignored) threats and proclamations of disgust from some fans many accepted their relationship, it'd been four years and he wasn't leaving Sam to please anyone else. He was proud of their relationship, they had even inspired a good deal of people to be themselves and love who they wanted. That was a way of saving someone just as much as physically fighting bad guys was. Steve liked where they were in their relationship, he liked this life and family he built for himself. He saw no point in ruining it by bringing up something that was most likely nothing. Steve crawled back into bed beside Sam and curled up close to him.

It's nothing. Absolutely nothing and I'm not lying to him, I'm just not wasting his time over nothing. Steve rationalized before he went back to dozing lightly.

The puking stopped a week later to his satisfaction and there was no reason for Sam to ever know it happened at all.

Two months later Steve was in the park before the sun was even up running with Bucky. With all the craziness in their lives involving some protests against mutants (and superhumans) following the destruction Wanda and Pietros caused along with Tony's AI and some people still having issues with the newly reinstated (though very much more so underground) SHIELD and Bucky himself, they hadn't gotten a lot of alone time together lately. They were either on a mission or in a Senate or court hearing or Bucky locked himself in his room and wouldn't let anyone in. Steve felt it was important they caught back up with each other and since they were both awake he figured why not run. They talked about their missions, a bit about the Senate hearings they had but they weren't interested very much in that.

"So Tony is still accepting money for that bet." Steve said while they ran next to each other, the trees were blurs of green but they didn't so much as break a sweat thanks to the serum. Or they shouldn't anyway; Steve was feeling a bit clammy but ignored it.

"Which one's that?"

"He bet that you and Natasha are secretly married, that you have been since your days in Russia." Bucky snorted in response.

"'Whatever money Tony bet he's going lose because we're not married... I don't think so anyway. Natalia would've told me." Bucky answered.

"What about that other bet?" He continued, a smirk growing on his lips. Steve began to blush.

"What bet?"

"You know, the one where you and Sam are apparently going to be married within a year."

"Well, Tony's an idiot. He hides it but he's mushy. He likes this family the way it is. According to him, Sam and I belong to each other."

"You do not belong to each other, no one belongs to anyone. You belong with each other like Tony and Pepper or Bruce and Betty or Jane and Thor."

"Or you and Natasha?" Steve asked, giving Bucky a sideways smile.

"Or like me and Talia, yes." Bucky had long ago lost any shyness about his relationship with Nat if there was ever any shyness at all. After five plus decades together on and off and losing and finding each other over and over there was no point to shyness or uncertainty. Steve still got a little shy about his relationship with Sam. It's not that he was embarrassed or that he didn't want to marry him one day he just never pictured this life being his. He was fairly certain he would die alone or with just Bucky with him but then he met Peggy and they connected long before he was taller than her and then that opportunity was lost to him. Truth be told, she was the one that pushed him towards Sam.

'Stop dating Sharon before she gets in too deep and you end up hurting her. You know who you truly want. Me sitting in a room alone listening to static was how I thought the story of Steve Rogers ended but that's just where our story ended, your story is going on right now. Don't let someone else write it. You love that man, I know it. He's a good man. Don't waste him and for god sakes leave my niece alone. If you break her heart, arthritis and dementia won't stop me from giving you the thrashing of your life, Steve Rogers.'

Peggy always was blunt. Steve mused as they rounded on their last lap.

The sun's rays were peeking over the horizon when they finally came to a halt. Once they slowed down and he was more aware of his body Steve was surprised to feel that he was in fact sweating. Not profusely, but still sweating. He also felt like he was slightly winded. Not enough for Bucky to notice but enough for Steve to deliberately breathe quieter so his best friend didn't catch on to the harshness of it. He did see when Steve' s hand instinctively went to his side as a sharp pain hit his abdomen.

"Is it your asthma?" Bucky asked with a teasing edge.

"Ha ha." Steve deadpanned.

"Are those old man jokes Natya's always cracking coming true?" He continued in jest but Steve could detect genuine concern.

"Nah, just a cramp. Guess I'm not as completely healed from that last HYDRA base as I thought." Bucky didn't look completely convinced but dropped it. Steve's eyebrows knitted together once his friend looked away. He wasn't that badly hurt on the last mission, just some cuts and bruises so what was that pain?

It probably was just a cramp. I have been burning both ends of the candle lately, just gotta cut back is all. Steve reassured himself. He briefly wondered if he should tell Sam or have Bruce check him but decided against it. No point in wasting anyone's time.

Another month found Steve trying to focus on his sketching but being wholly unable to. He felt hot, hotter than normal. The room felt stifling, his blood felt like it was boiling and going straight to his groin. He imagined this was what a cat in heat felt like. It was ridiculous. The whole week he'd felt horny, obnoxiously and embarrassingly so, and to make matters worse Sam was away on an undercover mission with Natasha and Maria and he had no idea when to expect him back. The third day of feeling like a hormonal teenager and taking ineffective cold showers Steve had tried to handle the problem himself. He had tried to sate his need by simply jerking off but if anything that only exacerbated his problem and he found himself locking himself away just in case he sprung an accidental boner. He'd never live it down, Tony would not let him.

God must've decided to have pity on him because on the eighth day of Steve's newest issue Sam returned.

Steve was locked away not letting anyone, even Bucky, enter his bedroom but Sam had a key so he just walked in to find Steve laying on the edge of the bed with half his body hanging upside down off the corner while he tried to mimic the deep breathing exercises Bruce did. They actually worked and he was relatively calm as long as he didn't think of Sam. Sam's voice shattered that calmness.

"You forget to tell me you converted to Buddhism? What's with the meditating?" He asked. Steve's eyes snapped open and he quickly sat up to see Sam standing in the doorway smiling that radiant sideways grin at him and in the next second he was off the bed with his lips attached to Sam's.

"Well, it's nice to know I'm appreciated." Sam commented with amusement as Steve started kissing down his neck.

"I missed you. We both missed you." Steve said between kisses.

"Both?" Sam asked with distracted confusion. Steve's enthusiasm was starting to cloud his mind. Steve ground their groins together in response while he began sucking hickies into his neck.

"Oh, both."

"Uh-huh."

"Well if you think you can make it into the room let me show you how much we missed you too."

"We?" Sam pulled Steve in so he could feel his growing hardness. Steve inhaled a little sharper but wasted no time pulling Sam into the bedroom and slamming the door behind them. Steve moved his lips hungrily back to Sam's and maneuvered them towards the bed so he was on top and immediately started grinding their groins together harder to get more friction.

"Getting the feeling that you don't want this particular encounter to be long and lingering." Sam stated rather than questioned.

"Later." Steve promised.

"In that case..." Sam flipped them so Steve was on bottom. He immediately pulled down Steve's sweats to his ankles, making sure to free one of his legs so it wouldn't be a problem later on. His hands started towards the blonde's hard length but Steve stopped him.

"Uh-uh, just... just..." Steve trailed off, his hands flailing a little helplessly. Sam didn't need words to understand. He leaned down and kissed him soothingly, Steve pushing up more wantonly than he would normally allow himself to be but he didn't care. Sam reached towards the bedside dresser, opened the top drawer and pulled out the lube. He opened it and applied some to his fingers before he nudged Steve's legs open wider and pushed one of his fingers into Steve's ass. He looked at him with a little bit of surprise when he felt how loose he was.

"Like I said, m-missed you." Sam was able to fit a second finger easily much to Steve's appreciation but fitting a third would take more stretching. As Sam worked on loosening his muscles, Steve's hands weren't idle. He ran them from Sam's neck to his waist and unbuckled his jeans before his hand dove inside, crept into Sam's boxer briefs and tightened around his dick. Sam moaned as Steve flicked his wrist and went about bringing him to full hardness. Steve's natural elevated body heat made for one hell of a hand job not to mention the blow jobs.

As soon as Sam was able to comfortably fit three fingers into Steve he withdrew them, pulled his jeans down enough to free himself from the constricting denim confines and lined himself up with Steve's opening once he slathered some lube on himself. Steve was squirming and obviously wanted Sam to hurry so he wasted no time. Steve moaned loudly and shivered with a sense of triumph as Sam pushed inside of him. Sam held himself still once he was completely inside him so he could adjust but Steve wrapped his leg around Sam's waist causing him to slip a bit further inside the heat of Steve's ass.

"Please." He begged, grinding against him to push him inside of him deeper. Sam cursed and pulled Steve's other leg around his waist, pulled back and thrust into him again. Steve moaned desperately wanting faster and harder and more and although Sam soon set a pace that had him slamming into Steve, his prostate quivering and throbbing amazingly, he still wanted more. Steve flipped them over so he was on top and immediately began riding him harder than he ever did before.

"Fuck, Steve! Goddamn it." Sam hissed as Steve continued the assault and he knew he'd be aching and sore after this, Sam too probably and he might not be able to keep the promise he made earlier but he needed this in a way he never had before. Sam sat up and dragged them against the headboard so he would have more leverage to meet Steve's thrusts.

"Nugnh." Steve couldn't even speak properly, let alone think coherently at this point. He wrapped his arms around Sam's neck as they kept up the bruising pace, the sounds of flesh hitting flesh carrying obscenely through the room and Steve would be horrified with himself if he wasn't so beyond the point of caring at all.

Sam wrapped one arm tightly around Steve's waist so his thrusts were more concentrated on one spot and it felt so good Steve had to mentally check himself so he didn't end up crushing Sam when his arms tightened instinctively around his neck. He was moaning in Sam's ear, the headboard was slamming against the wall, their bodies were slamming inelegantly together, their shirts were still on, Sam's jeans was still covering the majority of his lower body while Steve sweatpants and boxers hung onto his left ankle for dear life. It was exactly what Steve needed and wanted at that moment, to be fucked roughly. He knew Sam had his hang ups about being too rough. It was a byproduct of watching your best friend and other good men and women die. That along with the fact that Steve put his own life in danger on a daily basis made it so Sam was not often willing to do something that in the end could hurt Steve even if he wanted it but they hadn't seen or talked to each other in a week and barely had time to really be together before Sam went away so he probably needed this as much as Steve did.

"Oh god, I love you. Sam, I love you so much. Ah..." Steve moaned out breathlessly. Sam wrapped his free hand around Steve's dick in response. Steve hadn't really been paying it any attention, didn't much care about it, he just wanted Sam inside of him but the effect of their rough lovemaking on him was apparent once Sam's hand locked around him. He was painfully hard and precum was dribbling down his cock. Sam began jerking him off just as quickly and hard as their thrusts against each other and it wasn't long before Steve stiffened, unable to breath at the force of his orgasm. Sam's arm tightened around his waist with bruising tightness as he filled Steve with the fruit of his own orgasm. They stayed completely still as air finally rushed back in and their bodies came back down from the high. Once they were able to feel like their hearts were back safely in their chest, Sam moved to pull out of Steve but he held him tighter and protested.

"No just… stay." Sam wasn't completely comfortable under Steve's body but leaned back against the headboard and released Steve's dick so he could wrap his other arm against Steve's back and pull him closer. Steve kept his arms loose around Sam's neck for fear he'd snap it if he held on as tight as he wanted to but he kissed his way up Sam's throat until their lips finally were able to meet again. The kiss was the softest Steve had given him since he looked up and saw him standing in the doorway. He pulled away and nuzzled his face back into Sam's neck.

Briefly, Steve wondered what had brought on his behavior. He had never acted this way before but maybe he was just stressed, scratch that he knew he was stressed and he had missed Sam. That must just be it, he didn't want to face the possibility that maybe his hormones were going out of whack. He didn't know what would cause that but it was irrelevant because he wasn't sick, he was just horny.

My boyfriend isn't anywhere close to ugly and I've been lonely with him gone along with Natasha, Bucky was missing Nat so he wasn't very distracting, Clint's been with Sasha mostly, Thor's in Asgard, Pepper's in France, Bruce and Betty are in South America and Tony's… Tony. This is normal, it's perfectly normal. He reassured himself.

"If this is the greeting I get I should go away more often." Sam commented.

"Don't you dare."

"Only because you asked so nicely. And I might love you, just a little." Steve pulled back and looked into Sam's eyes with a smile playing along his lips.

"Just a little?"

"Mmhmm, just a little or maybe a lot, I'll never tell." Steve shook his head but accepted the kiss Sam gave him.

"Now mind getting off me? Because my legs are falling asleep and you're not exactly light."

"You calling me fat?" Steve asked incredulously, moving off Sam to lie beside him under the sheets and yeah, he's gonna be sore for a few days for sure.

"Well, I'm not calling you anorexic." Steve hit him on the shoulder as Sam pulled up his jeans with a chuckle. He didn't know how great at foreshadowing Sam was until a month later.

The whole team was in Asgard celebrating Jane and Thor's engagement. It was a long time coming and they all couldn't be more ecstatic for them. In true Asgardian fashion, a feast was being held in the happy couple's honor and the food was very plentiful. Steve didn't think he had or would ever see this much food in his entire life but he was enjoying it and himself and apparently drawing attention.

"Damn Rogers, I'm pretty sure you just went through two whole roasted ducks on your own." Tony pointed out. Steve felt his cheeks growing red but before he said anything Thor's friend Volstagg stepped in.

"Ha! Thor told me your stomach would rival mine. You'll need to put away three more ducks to come close to beating me, young Steven."

"No one's stomach could ever rival yours." Sif pointed out with amusement.

"Thank the gods, if so all the realms would be all out of food." Fandral said causing laughter to erupt and the conversation seamlessly turned away from Steve's eating habits without him having to say a word. Sam kissed his cheek with a chuckle, obviously gleaning Steve's relief before going back to his conversation with Sasha. Steve had noticed an increase in his appetite. It was barely noticeable because the serum had always made him hungrier but lately he seemed to want to stuff his face almost non-stop. It was more embarrassing than concerning but it wasn't like he really gained weight… or so he thought.

It was a week later, the little incident at Thor and Jane's party was all but forgotten and Steve was on his way to yet another Senate meeting pertaining to HYDRA/SHIELD's dealings. He wasn't sure why but apparently the fact that he helped expose HYDRA and was fighting back in the 40s made him the go to guy for the government and partly to blame in some of their opinions. Steve sighed as he opened his closet so he could get dressed.

"Uh oh, I recognize that sigh anywhere. Another conference?" Sam asked from his spot lounging on the bed doing something on his phone.

"I've said everything I could at this point. I'm going to be repeating everything I've been saying for the last four years… again." Sam came up behind him and wrapped his arm around his waist, leaned his head against his shoulder and met Steve's eyes in the mirror.

"You could play hookey with me. I could ask Rhodey to tell them there's a crisis in the Middle East. They'll believe that." Sam offered.

"They'll be sure to use my absence as ammunition in the next conference no matter what I was gone for." Steve pointed out.

"True." Steve sighed tiredly, these conferences were really leaving him fried. A lot of the politicians weren't as forgiving of Bucky as others were or as understanding of the fact that he was brainwashed and was technically a Prisoner of War and were trying to appeal the Supreme Court's decision to grant him immunity and drop all charges against him for his actions as the Winter Soldier, instead sliding those charges over to HYDRA. With the way they wanted Bucky to be in custody or chained up in a bunker somewhere he was half convinced some of them were HYDRA or they just wanted to own and control a weapon like the Winter Soldier, he wouldn't put it past them.

They weren't exactly taking Natasha's word anymore despite the fact that she was a SHIELD operative a lot longer than he was and they had her as one of the key witnesses in Bucky's trail. Their distrust mostly stemmed from her exploits as the Black Widow before Clint found her and decided she deserved a second chance but also because she had a hold on Bucky just as strong as Steve did and she wasn't beholden to the American bureaucracy in the same way he was. Clint and Maria took the heat off him when they could and Phil came back from the dead to help out too but Fury had been annoyingly silent. No, actually he hadn't been. Steve's pretty sure he sent Phil and he had been handling things with HYDRA a lot, taking them head on nonstop and weeding out people in high positions around the world who were actually apart of the "organization" because of the way they managed to weed their way into SHIELD. He felt it was his responsibility to deal with them. Steve said nothing because he felt it was his own responsibility but instead and being in the field to handle them he was stuck in press rooms because of course it all came down on Captain America in the end.

Sam brought his hands up and began massaging Steve's neck to work out some of the tension that flooded in the more Steve thought about his current position in life.

"Relax, you've got this. And if anything you can always pull a Tony and opened up the senators' prostitute filled closets." Steve chuckled a little, mostly in appreciation at Sam's attempt to cheer him up and this was one of the many reasons he loved this man.

"I think I'll leave that to Tony." Sam hugged him close before he leaned over his shoulder and kissed his cheek.

"I'm going to go check if Maria or Melinda doesn't mind going with you."

"Sam—"

"They scare those guys enough that maybe they won't decide to go on a free for all against you today." Sam was out the door before Steve said anything else but he had to smile at his attempt to help him and protect him. He pulled on his button up shirt to finish getting ready and his smile turned to a frown as the shirt felt a lot tighter than normal around his lower abdomen.

"What the hell?" He mumbled. Maybe it got messed up at the cleaners or something. He took that shirt off and grabbed another with the same result. The third shirt yielded no change. He looked at himself in the mirror. He didn't think he looked much different, sure he'd been eating more but his metabolism was so fast that he shouldn't gain weight. He walked to the bathroom quickly and hesitantly stepped on the scale inside. His eyes widened to see he had gained 12 pounds. How the hell had that happened? It shouldn't be possible. Was he really eating that much or was his metabolism slowing down?

"Steve! Maria and Melinda agreed to go with you!" He heard Sam call from the living room on their floor.

"Uh, yeah. Good. I'm coming." Steve quickly ran out to the hallway to the closet where they kept clothing and other things the other Avengers left on their floor. He remembered there was a shirt there that was Thor's but it had shrunk in the wash to a size that was too small for him and at the time had been a little too big for Steve. It fit perfectly now. He quickly tucked it into his pants and pulled on his suit jacket that, thankfully, had always been a little loose on him. It was a snugger fit now but not enough to go noticed. He did his best not to think about what the weight gain could mean.

Maybe I really should ask Bruce to check me out. He thought to himself.

In the end he didn't go see Bruce. The conference was particularly grueling. Some of the senators did everything they could to discredit him, even going as far as to insinuate that he was a HYDRA operative himself. Even with Melinda and Maria there it had been an exhausting 8 hour run around and Steve felt more stressed out and exhausted than he ever had before. When he trudged in Sam had looked at him sympathetically before he pulled him to the shower, helped him clean off the grime of the day under the wet spray and then helped him into his pajamas before pulling him into his comforting embrace. Sam didn't usually enjoy being wrapped in Steve's arms because he ran so hot but it was winter so he allowed this. Steve was able to fall fast asleep with Sam there even though his mind wasn't as at peace as his heart. It was some hours later that Steve jolted awake. He wasn't sure what had caused it, he didn't think he was having a nightmare and when he zoned his hearing he heard nothing and felt no presence besides Sam who had moved to the other side of the bed during the night. Steve's confusion was shattered by a sharp, stabbing pain in his abdomen that took his breath away from him. He stayed still to see if it was just a one off but then an even sharper pain hit him causing him to gasp. He looked over and Sam was still asleep so he slowly stood up on shaky legs and made his way to the bathroom attached to the room. He closed that door and flicked on the light while trying to steady his breathing. He stumbled to the sink and lifted his hand to switch on the water but was startled to see it covered in blood. His eyes widened and he felt his breathing speed up.

"Captain Rogers, I'm picking up concerning vitals from you. Are you alright?"

Are you alright? Are you alright? He'd been denying something was wrong for so long that he nearly said yes but as another stab of pain brought him to his knees, making him knock the toothbrush holder to the ground, he finally told the truth.

"No. No JARVIS, I'm not fine. Get Sam, please." Steve said in a pained voice as he saw darkness looming on the edge of his vision. The last thing he saw was Sam standing over him with a horrified expression on his face.