Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing associated with Marvel, Captain America, the Avengers, etc. Only original characters and ideas are mine.
AN: This is a short story that popped into my head Thanksgiving weekend. Sorry for being a little late posting; my computer died, so I couldn't post it during the holiday. Please enjoy, and don't forget to review. Thanks.
Thanksgiving with The Bartons':
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Steve nervously asked, eyes darting between me and the dirt road we were on. "It feels like we're imposing on them."
I rolled my eyes and tried to keep myself from laughing. The last time I'd seen him this nervous was when I'd taken him to meet my family for the first time.
"It's going to be fine," I assured him, picking up the map that had fallen on the floor as we drove over rough roads to our destination.
Instead of visiting my family for Thanksgiving, we'd decided to have a quiet holiday with friends; namely Clint and Laura Barton.
Not that I hadn't wanted to visit my parents; far from it. There was nothing I wanted more than to sit at the table with my family, dig into Dad's slow-cooked prime rib, and to have them fuss over me, as opposed to me fussing over everyone else.
But after Sokovia, our plans changed. As the team's leader, Steve had decided that the Avengers needed to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. There would always be coverage of the group after they returned from their missions, but when they were living their civilian lives, they would keep out of sight. And since I didn't want to cause a small media circus by going to visit my parents, we decided to spend the holiday at home.
Then I got a surprise call from Clint Barton, asking us to visit him and his family for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
When I told Steve about Clint's offer, he wasn't thrilled. My husband had very much wanted to hide out in our apartment or in Stark Tower (formerly Avengers Tower), just the two of us and a very large meal, with plenty of cozying up on the couch watching our favorite movies.
I knew he was ready to argue the whole thing out, but when I mentioned wanting to see the new baby, and spending a holiday with friends, Steve caved –probably because I kissed him into submission, and promised that it would be just us for Christmas.
And so we were now on our way to hide out at the Barton house. I had been texting Barton on a burner phone, in order to preserve the secrecy of his family, and he had been sending directions for the past half hour.
It hadn't been an easy journey. The last time we'd visited, it had been via Quinjet, with Clint at the helm. This time, we were driving up –and it had been a long, quiet drive.
Steve and I had taken few driving trips together, but this one was more awkward than the others –actually, it almost felt like the first time we'd met and begun spending time together. Steve said very little as he drove, seeming to put his entire focus on getting us to our destination. I managed to occupy myself with watching movies on my tablet, or having a long text session with Natasha, who was taking a vacation in Aspen for the holiday.
But in spite of my keeping busy, I could sense that something was weighing heavily on Steve's mind, and for some reason, he wouldn't talk about it. When I asked him what was wrong, and reminded him that he could always talk to me, he said that he needed to get his mind around it, and say it in a way that came out right.
So, I decided to give him his space and not pester him until he was ready to talk. And that appeared to be now, as we were pulling onto the long dirt driveway leading up to Clint's house.
Steve's previous comments about us imposing on our friends made me think that perhaps this was what he was worried about; but when I considered it a bit longer, I knew that it was only part of it. Something else was bothering my husband, and I was determined to find out what it was before the end of the trip.
The greeting we got this time was very different from our first visit.
Months ago, it had been the start of spring, with a touch of warmth and the smell of growing green plants in the air. Our meeting had been awkward and full of the possibility of a dangerous future as we struggled to plan to save the world from destruction.
Today, it was cold, with frost on the ground, and I swear that I could smell the potential for snow in the air. Whatever crops the Barton family grew had been harvested, though I could see some late autumn apples on the ground in a nearby orchard. The house doors and windows were closed against the cold, and smoke drifted up from the main chimney, so a fire was burning inside, keeping the place warm and cozy.
As Steve and I got out of the pickup truck that Tony had loaned us (from the fleet of vehicles Stark Industries keeps), Lila flew out the door, hurdling across the yard, straight towards me. For a little girl, she was fast, and she had a good grip; I couldn't hold back a small grunt as she impacted, then latched onto my waist, a bright smile on her face as she beamed up at me.
"Hi, Lila," I said, smiling back at her. "How are you, sweetie?"
"Fine," she replied, showing me some gaps where she'd lost a couple baby teeth.
Laughing a little, I gave her a tight hug and a kiss on the head. "Where are your mom and dad?"
"Right here," Clint said, coming outside with Cooper. "We'll grab your bags. Did you decide to stay the whole long weekend, or just for Turkey Day?"
Lila gave me a pleading look, her big brown eyes turning on their full power. "Please stay!" she pleaded. "You can sleep in my room!"
Clint chuckled as he and Cooper went to help Steve with our bags. "No, sweetheart; she's going to stay in the guest room, remember?"
She pouted, but when I promised to play with her a lot while I was here, Lila was all happiness and smiles again as she led me towards the house. Inside, Laura was balancing little Nathaniel on her hip as she stirred a large pot of soup on the stove. I spotted a turkey roasting in the oven for the big feast, surrounded by root vegetables and carrots.
The roasting bird and veggies, along with the soup, made the whole house smell incredible. From the look on Steve's face, I knew he felt the same –like any guy, Steve loved a good meal.
Laura came to greet me with a warm hug (or as much of one as she could give me with a baby in her arms), and the offer of soup and toasted garlic bread for lunch. Since Steve and I had eaten breakfast hours ago, we were both starved.
The kids quickly set the dining table, and as Clint began slicing the warm bread, Laura handed me Nathaniel. Surprised, I accepted the tiny boy, who looked up at me with a puzzled expression as he tried to figure out if I was a friend or not.
Studying him closely, I could see that he had his mom's dark eyes, and the few wisps of hair on his head were dark, like hers. It was too early to tell which parent he was going to take after, but I had a feeling he was going to be a handsome devil when he got older.
"That's Auntie Adena," Laura crooned to her infant son as she draped a blue towel over my shoulder. "Your big sissy loves her."
Even though I was flattered at being given the title of "auntie," I seriously doubted that Nathaniel actually understood his mother. But as I bounced him a little in my arms and smiled at his confused face, he seemed to make up his mind about me. I got a big drooling smile, and a small giggle as he reached up to grab my shirt collar with one tiny fist.
"That's a good boy," I whispered. "You are so cute. Don't you think he's cute, Steve?"
Glancing up, I caught Steve giving me the strangest look. "What is it?" I asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
He snapped back to himself. "Sorry," he said. "It's just…I like seeing you like that."
I felt something moist through my shirt, and looked down in time to see Nathaniel grab my shirt with a drool-covered fist. "What? All covered in baby spit? It's not an attractive look on me, at least from this angle."
Using the towel, I wiped up the drops, and mopped Nathaniel's mouth, causing him to laugh.
"You're precious," I cooed to him. "Your Auntie Nat is going to adore you."
Bouncing Nathaniel a bit as I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, I looked at the items scattered around the floor. It mostly consisted of baby stuff: blankets, toys, binkies, a bouncy chair, and a dangling play set in a far corner, with a fluffy blue blanket set up underneath it. A faint trace of baby powder was in the air, mixed in with the smells coming from the kitchen.
"Adena!" Clint called, "Lunch!"
I carried Nathaniel to the dining area and handed him back to his mother, who took him into another room to be nursed. Meanwhile, the rest of us ate heartily; the garlic bread was fresh, not frozen, and the soup was minestrone, the broth so flavorful that it would put any Italian restaurant to shame. There was also a salad with a light dressing, which I loved.
After we finished, I helped Clint load the dishwasher as Laura came back into the room, a sleepy Nathaniel in her arms. "Adena," she said, offering me the baby, "Could you hold him until he falls asleep? I'd like a bite to eat, before I put him down for his nap."
I took the blanket wrapped bundle and gently rocked him, watching as those eyes slowly drifted shut, his tiny mouth sucking eagerly on a green pacifier. In a few minutes, Nathaniel was asleep, his tiny fingers moving a little as he dozed.
When I glanced up, Steve was giving me that look again, and this time, the significance of it hit me.
Steve wanted us to have a baby.
Adena wanted a talk with him, and Steve had a feeling that he knew what it was about. He hadn't exactly hidden his feelings very well that afternoon, and Adena was a very smart woman. She also happened to know him better than anyone; even Bucky.
After lunch had finished and Laura had put the baby down for a nap, Clint had taken the kids out to hunt down some late-autumn apples for a pie. As he hustled his children out the door, Clint insisted that his friends catch a nap, and join them for some coffee or tea before the big dinner. Steve and Adena had agreed, and gone up to the large guestroom that they were sharing, closing the door behind them.
Once the door was shut, Adena turned to look him in the eye. "We need to talk."
Steve swallowed and moved towards a chair by the window, which had a small seat under it. That's where his wife settled herself, so that she could look at him as they talked. Getting hold of his nerves, Steve took a seat. When it came to Adena, he was usually an open book -he never lied to her, though he did keep certain secrets that were best kept under wraps, and she knew that he had to keep some things hidden, for her safety and that of her family, so she didn't press him on those particular matters.
But if he wanted to talk about a subject that she might become upset about, Steve tended to be wary of what she might do or say in response to it. Adena might be a kind, understanding, generous woman, but if she was pushed too far, she also had a temper. Her punching Tony in the face during the whole Ultron fiasco was proof of that.
"You want kids," Adena bluntly stated, surprising him. "I saw it on your face."
Steve tried not to squirm in his seat. This was a touchy subject, and one that hadn't been brought up a lot during their marriage.
And he couldn't deny it. "Yes, I do."
She didn't look surprised at his straightforward answer. "And have you thought about how we would raise a child, when you're off saving entire nations, and sometimes the entire planet?"
Honestly, Steve hadn't considered it. All he had thought of was him and Adena starting a family together. Was that so bad?
"So you want the kind of situation that Clint and Laura had," Adena said, crossing her arms as she got to her feet and began to pace. "But we can't have that, Steve. The whole world knows that you're married, and there's no way to cover that up again. You can't tuck me away in the countryside and hope that no one recognizes me when I go out. Hell, I get recognized when I step out for coffee."
She walked back towards him. "Disguises won't work, either. Do we really want a child who will be confused about what their mom and dad look like, if we have to wear different faces and use different names whenever we leave home? Would we be their parents when we're at home, and disguise ourselves when we want to go on walks? How much trauma would be putting our baby through, doing something like that?"
Steve wanted to interject, but Adena wasn't finished. "And if we use disguises, how will my parents explain why some strangers and their baby are visiting them for holidays? Because you know I'm going to want my parents to see their grandchild, and my brother to see his niece or nephew."
A frown was forming on her face, and he knew that was a bad sign. He also heard a little resentment as she continued on her small tirade. "And what about you? How often will you be there to help raise our child? I know you'll say that you'll take some time off, but every time the world's in danger, you'll apologize, and run off to help the Avengers, because you can't leave them without a leader."
She turned to look at him. "Laura and I are the same; we support our husbands going out and being heroes, but we want our kids to know their father, too. We want it both ways, but that's almost impossible. Clint had to quit the Avengers to be with his family full-time. Are you willing to make the same sacrifice?"
Steve honestly hadn't thought about it that way. He was still a soldier who wanted to fight for the greater good, and being an Avenger was something he enjoyed doing, because it gave him a sense of purpose. He was lucky that Adena had supported that part of his life, and that she had insisted on being helpful to the team as much as possible.
But he had also lost a great deal on his path to becoming Captain America. He had lost his best friend, and he'd lost the possibility of romance and a life with Peggy Carter. His old comrades-in-arms were nearly all dead now, and everything he'd known was long gone. If Fury hadn't brought Adena into his life…well, Steve didn't want to imagine what kind of existence he would be living now.
He swallowed hard. If they had a child, and he couldn't give up being Captain America and an Avenger, would Adena leave him, taking their child with her? If that happened, Steve knew that he'd never be able to live with himself. He'd rather be shot a thousand times than lose Adena, and to lose her and any child they had together would break him.
Part of him argued that he couldn't have both; but why couldn't he? Laura and her kids had been kept hidden for their own protection; no one besides Fury, Natasha, and Clint had known about them. The whole world knew about Adena; they would just have to worry about and protect their child the way others in the public eye did.
'And I know Tony will help with that,' he reasoned.
When he heard his wife sigh and felt her sag into the seat beside him, Steve reached out and took her hand. Her eyes met his, and he saw fear and worry reflected there.
"Steve, I honestly don't think I'm ready to have kids," she admitted. "I mean, I do want them, but it just seems like the 'right time' to have them will never happen. It always seems that if it isn't one crisis, it's another. Do you understand?"
He did, and it terrified him, too. What if the perfect time to have a baby had already passed by? Life had been quiet and good a couple years ago; things were now the opposite of that. When would they have another quiet moment in their lives to have a child?
Reaching out, Steve pulled his wife into his lap, the two of them sitting silent in the darkening room until they heard Clint call up to them that it was time to set the table for dinner. Steve didn't want to disturb the moment, but he felt Adena's weight shift, and allowed her to get to her feet. He immediately followed, enveloping her in a tight hug as he kissed her.
When he pulled back, he saw a glimmer of a smile in her eyes. They both understood one another, and accepted that as much as they wanted to start a family, it wasn't the right time yet. Maybe someday, they would; but right now, it would have to be just the two of them.
Holding Steve's hand, we made our way down to the dining room, where we were met with the welcome scents of roast turkey, potatoes, cooked veggies, and homemade gravy. Steve went to help lay out the plates while I watched the kids, baby Nathaniel on my hip as Laura rushed to pull out a freshly baked apple pie from a confection oven, followed closely by a pumpkin pie.
When everything was on the table, Steve took a seat beside me, while Lila sat on my left. When Clint told us to go ahead and dig in, I found myself rushing to keep Lila from knocking various things over as she rushed to get a helping from every dish. I managed to get her a scoop of everything, without spilling (much), and when I finally loaded my plate, I had to keep from laughing at the heaps of food on Steve's, Cooper's, and Clint's. Between the three of them, more than three quarters of the food had vanished from the table.
Everything was delicious, of course. Laura had performed wonders with the turkey, and promised to give me the recipe for the pies, since Steve helped himself to two slices of each kind. When we finished, all of us sat together in the living room to watch a couple family films before bed.
Later in the evening, Steve and I curled up in bed, cuddling close together as we felt the temperature drop. Since I was in a perfect position to look out the window, I was the first to notice the small flurry of flakes that fell from the sky. Huddling closer to my husband, I felt him pull me close and kiss the top of my head.
While I had to admit that it had been a rather bumpy day, what mattered was how we ended it. Today, we had ended on a high note.
I could only imagine how our next holiday would turn out.
AN: Next up: a Christmas short story.
I know that the US is the only country to have Thanksgiving, and while many do not celebrate Christmas, I really did want to do a kind of "Avengers Holiday Special" story. I never had the chance before this, since I was always working on something else, or if I was working on an Avengers fic, it wasn't that time of year. But now the timing is right, and I wanted to do something a little special for Adena and Steve.
So, even if you don't celebrate any of these holidays, I hope that these stories will at least bring a smile and a bit of joy to my readers. Thank you.
