Chapter 4- Eve

/ ēv/ noun. The day or period of time immediately before an event or occasion.


Bethany woke up to the feeling of Steve's hands on her stomach. She turned her head to face him, a tired smile on her face. "What are you doing?"
"I didn't mean to wake you," Steve replied sheepishly. "I was just thinking about how there could be a little baby in there."

"What time is it?" Bethany asked after yawning.

"Almost five thirty," Steve replied, his hand still resting on her stomach.

"Gesh, Steve you couldn't have waited until eight?" She whined, rolling onto her stomach and burying her face into the pillow.

It had been a week since they had started trying for a baby and Steve was continually getting more and more excited as the hours ticked by. Bethany always smiled at his excitement, but she was much more patient than he was. She wanted to wait to take a pregnancy test or see a doctor. It had only been a week. It was foolish for them to do that yet.

"I told you I didn't mean to wake you," Steve reminded her, leaning down to kiss her shoulder.

"Are you up for the day?" Bethany asked, turning her head so that her words weren't muddled into her pillow. Tony was throwing a Christmas Eve party at the Tower and they were hosting Christmas dinner at their place the next day. Knowing that Christmas was going to be hectic as it was, Bethany had made a huge list of all the chores they had to do before the next day.

"You want me to start with the chores now?" Steve asked, laying a hand flat on her back.

"Steve, we left them for the last minute on Thanksgiving and look what happene-"

"Okay, okay," Steve agreed, moving to get up.

Bethany sat up, reaching out for his hand. "Only if you were getting up for the day," she repeated. "If you were planning on falling back to sleep-"

"You know me better than that," Steve teased her, leaning forward to kiss her. "Jamie will be up soon anyways. Go back to sleep. You must be tired."

Bethany sunk back into the bed, pulling the comforter around her tighter. They had been up late the night before, wrapping the rest of the gifts and of course, getting lost in each other. They had only headed to bed well after midnight. Knowing that they'd be up late again tonight and then again on Christmas, it was best to get as much sleep as possible. Of course, now Bethany was regretting having sex at all. Despite it being a magical night, it was a good hour that she could have been sleeping.

"Stupid sexual desires," Bethany mumbled into her pillow.


Steve had enlisted Jamie's help with cleaning the floors. The toddler wasn't doing any real housework, but it was keeping him preoccupied as Steve swept and mopped the floor. Jamie was so proud, continually looking up at Steve with a huge smile. Steve knew that Bethany had set the alarm clock for eight, but he was planning on sneaking up and turning it off altogether. When Jamie was cooperating, it made doing housework much easier. When Steve first brought Jamie downstairs, he had rushed over to the Christmas tree, seeing the colourful boxes underneath it. Bethany and Steve had placed some gifts under it to help increase the feeling of Christmas in the house. It took a few minutes for Steve to feel confident that the toddler wasn't going to rip open the wrappings. He did however pull at multiple ribbons and bows.

After Steve cleaned the windows and dusted the shelves, Jamie following behind him dutifully, Steve snuck upstairs with Jamie in tow. "Shh," Steve instructed to Jamie, placing a single finger to his lips. Jamie repeated the action as Steve opened the door to the bedroom. Bethany was sprawled out on the bed, as she usually did when it was just her. Carefully, he moved next to the bed, turning the alarm off as quietly as possible.

"Mumma," Jamie said quietly, reaching out for Bethany. Her body moved slightly in response, but it hadn't awoken her.

"Shh," Steve reminded him. Once again, Jamie repeated the action before resting his head on Steve's shoulder. Steve had just made it in time to turn off the alarm, the numbers ticking to eight. Steve kissed the top of Jamie's head before leaving the room, slowly closing the door. Steve pulled out his phone when it vibrated, reading a message from Natasha for him to meet her at the Facility. Slipping his phone back into his jeans, he headed towards Jamie's room. He placed the toddler down, leading him towards his dresser. Steve opened up two drawers for Jamie to select what he wanted to wear.

It took almost five minutes to get Jamie's attention focused where Steve wanted it, but the father knew that Jamie wouldn't put anything on that he didn't want. His eye caught the little tuxedo hung up on the doorknob, knowing that wrestling Jamie into it would be an adventure on its own. The Christmas Eve party was a black tie event which Steve was not looking forward to. He didn't know why Tony insisted on every party being an extravagant event. Because he's a show-off, he reminded himself. Steve wanted a comfortable Christmas Eve night, wearing a sweater and it just being his family and closest friends.

But he wasn't going to complain to Bethany about it. He knew better than that. She was planning a comfortable Christmas dinner for just their family and closest friends. There was no dress code, no press, no need to look and act perfect. They could just be themselves. He didn't like the fact that they would have to put on this grand act, especially when it was Christmas. If it was just a random day of the week, it wouldn't bother him as much.

Steve picked Jamie up and placed him on the change table, preparing to change his diaper. Despite the fact that Steve encouraged Jamie to pick his own outfit and change into it, Steve was not looking forward to when it was time to potty train Jamie. They had lots of time before it was expected of them, but Steve was leaning towards not teaching him until it was absolutely necessary. He didn't want to admit that Jamie wasn't his little baby boy anymore. He wasn't this small bundle that cried when he was sleepy, hungry or just needing comfort. Jamie would always have a special place in his heart, but he was excited that soon there would be a new baby and he could relive all the baby moments. Of course, there was the sleepless nights and feeling like his head was going to burst from all the crying. But that was so rewarding at the end of the day.

After dressing Jamie and feeding him a small snack, Steve left a note for Bethany before heading to the Facility. By the time he met up with Natasha, it had almost been an hour since she texted him. Jamie had insisted on walking to the Facility and his little legs could only move so fast. "I should have just come to you," Natasha teased when he came into the living space before reaching out to pick Jamie up, smiling at the little boy.

"You probably should have," Steve replied, taking his jacket off and pulling the hat from Jamie's head.

"Where's Bethany?" Natasha asked, still fixated on Jamie.

"Probably still sleeping," Steve answered, taking Jamie's winter boots off his feet. "I thought with all the madness going on today and tomorrow, she should get some extra sleep. You heading out to see the Bartons soon?"

Natasha nodded, a solemn smile on her face. "Yeah. In about half an hour."

"Why don't you look excited?" Steve asked with a frown.

The agent looked back to Jamie touching his curls softly, her answer already evident. "As much as I want to be with them, you guys are my family too."

Steve gave Natasha a soft smile. "We feel the same way," he promised her. "But we see you everyday. You should go be with them."

"I wanted to give you your gifts before I left," Natasha began, leading Steve to the Christmas tree. "Or at least, I wanted to give Jamie his gift. You and Bethany can wait," she teased with a wink. Steve chuckled under his breath, settling onto the couch. Natasha placed Jamie down by the gift before taking her seat on the floor, picking out a medium sized box, wrapped in silver paper with a gold ribbon and bow. "It's not much," Natasha said under her breath, a sad smile on her face.

"Even if that mattered, he's eighteen months. He doesn't understand. A toy is a toy," Steve reminded her.

Placing the gift in front of Jamie, it took a lot of encouragement and instruction from both Steve and Natasha for Jamie to finally understand what to do. At first he was just entertained with ripping the shiny paper off the box, laughing hysterically every single time. Steve made sure to get a video of it, knowing that this was something Bethany would wish to see. He felt a little guilty about her not being there, but he knew that it was all with good intentions.

"What cha got there?" Steve asked Jamie when he finally got the box opened. Natasha helped Jamie pull out a large elephant stuffed animal. The toy was almost the same size as Jamie was and when the toddler excitedly took the toy into his arms, it completely covered him. Steve and Natasha giggled as Jamie peered his head around the toy to look at Natasha with a giant smile on his face. If there was something that everyone had learned, it was how much Jamie loved stuffed toys. Anything that was soft or fuzzy, he was immediately drawn to it.

"I think he loves it," Steve told Natasha with a smile, watching as Jamie stood up, took a hold of the elephant and carried it over to his father. Because of how large the toy was, it was a little difficult for the boy, but it made everything that much better. Steve ended the video, sending it to Bethany's phone.

"Good," Natasha smiled, sitting contently on the floor.

Jamie lifted the elephant up to Steve. "Did you get a toy?" Steve asked him, taking a hold of it. "Go say 'thank-you' to Aunt Tasha."

Jamie turned his head to look at Natasha who was craning a finger in a 'come over here' movement. Jamie slowly moved over, Natasha pulling him into her arms for a hug. Jamie cuddled up to her comfortably, Natasha kissing the top of his head.

Steve leaned back on the couch, watching the exchange. It looked so natural and loving. Steve and Bethany had named Natasha Jamie's godmother for multiple reasons. She proved her unwavering trust to them when SHIELD fell, she'd always keep him safe and she was one of their best friends. But Steve always had this inkling at the back of his mind regarding whether Natasha would be good with him. She had never really seen her with kids before Jamie was born and she didn't really seem like the soft and cuddly type.

But when Steve had woken up from the ice, Bethany had been exactly the same. But with love and care, she had opened up. And even more, with something to love. To live for. "Alright, kid," Natasha said, releasing Jamie from her arms. At that moment, Steve could easily picture Bethany with a little Tony and Steve knew that naming Natasha Jamie's godmother was perfect.

Steve's phone buzzed and he looked down. It was a message from Bethany:

HOW ADORABLE. I LOVE THAT LITTLE MAN. I'M UP NOW. IF I GET READY REAL QUICK, WILL WIDOW STILL BE THERE?

"Beth wants to know if she gets ready now, if you'll still be here," Steve relayed the message.

Natasha looked at the clock on the wall. "Tell her I'll see her in a few days," Natasha replied. "I should be heading out now."

"Sure thing," Steve nodded, quickly texting his wife back before getting off the couch. Jamie had already collected his elephant, so Steve scooped the two of them up into his arms. "Merry Christmas, Nat."

"You too, Rogers," she wished, giving him a hug. "Have fun tonight."

Steve did his best to hide his moan, but Natasha heard it anyways. "It's not funny," Steve warned.

"Hey," She began with a raised eyebrow, her signature teasing look. "On the bright side, you know there'll be really good food."


Bethany could sense Steve staring at her while she was curling her hair at her vanity table. Steve had moved the record player into their bedroom, bringing up some select Christmas records so they could let the music bring them into the Christmas spirit. Steve had set Jamie up in their room so they could watch over him while they got ready, but he had fallen asleep a little while ago in his play pen, using his elephant as a pillow.

"Can you help me with the back?" Bethany asked him softly.

"Yep," Steve agreed, getting off the bed and standing behind her. Bethany handed him the curling rod, and Steve carefully began to wrap her hair around it. She had recently cut it again, deciding that she really liked the shoulder length hair. Steve had a feeling it was purely because it took her less time in the morning to get it ready.

"Can you promise me something?" Bethany asked softly, looking at him through the mirror.

"Depends on what it is," Steve replied truthfully, knowing that nothing hurt her more than when he broke promises, especially when he always knew they were ones he couldn't realistically keep.

"Fair enough," She whispered, looking down at her hands which were folded together on the vanity table. "Can you just try not to get into it with Tony today or tomorrow? Please? I just want a family get together where there are no fights, no missions, no nothing but family and celebration."

"I can promise to try," Steve agreed to.

"If Tony starts to get on your back about something, just leave the room. Or change the subject. Do anything but get into it with him. Okay? And deal with the situation another day. But not today. And not tomorrow. Please?"

Steve nodded, putting the curling rod down and kneeling beside her. He took her hands into his and waited until she looked at him to speak. "I promise. But maybe you should be telling Tony all this."

"I did," Bethany admitted. "I called him when I woke up. He didn't take it as graciously as you. Most likely because I had woken him up. But he agreed to try."

"Well, I know neither of us like to let you down," Steve assured her. "And you do know that I care for him right? We're just… different. Which is why it's a little weird for me that you get along with both of us so well."

"I'm just a likable person," Bethany winked before laughing. "No, I'm not. I don't know how I do it. I guess I just… I love you both."

Steve kissed her quickly before moving back behind her to finish curling her hair. Bethany began on her makeup, humming along with the music. "Did you happen to see Wanda when you were at the Facility?" She asked when Steve placed the curling rod down, unplugging it.

"Yeah, she said she'll be here by four," Steve answered. "Why?"

"You just answered my next question," Bethany winked, scooting over on the vanity bench as it was made evident that Steve wanted to sit next to her. "Which colour?" She asked, picking up two different eye shadow shades.

"This one," he decided, selecting a smoky blue.

"You do know that I can't match this with red lipstick without looking like a clown, right?" Bethany teased, smiling at him.

He chuckled, but nodded. "I'm more used to you without red lipstick now anyways. When you wear the red… sometimes it's a lot more painful than I want to admit."

"So are you saying you don't want me to wear red anymore?" Bethany asked honestly, a confused look on her face.

"Do what you want," Steve replied. "I have no right in telling you how I want you to look or not to look. If you want to wear red, do it. Do what makes you happy and feel confident."

"You want me to be more confident than I already am?" Bethany teased, continuing with her makeup. "That's dangerous, Rogers."

"Well, sometimes your confidence wavers. And your confidence is what attracted me to you in the first place. Not that I'm saying I'm not attracted to you when you're not confident," Steve hurried to correct himself when Bethany raised a single eyebrow. "I'm just trying to say that there's nothing wrong with confidence, and you should have nothing but confidence."

"Mumma?" Jamie called out, his voice groggy. Bethany turned around in her seat, looking at Jamie who was now sitting on the floor, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah Munchkin?" Bethany asked. Jamie looked around the room before looking at his elephant. A small smile took over his face, his dimpled hands taking a hold of the toy. Bethany slipped off the bench, setting beside Jamie on the ground. "Is that your new toy from Aunt Tasha? Yeah? Do you love it?" Bethany pulled Jamie and the elephant into her arms, holding them tightly against her chest, kissing the top of his head.

As much as she wanted Christmas to be perfect, she knew by now that she needed to keep her expectations as low as possible. The only thing that was important was that her little boy was healthy and happy, and that she was going to give him the best Christmas she possibly could. She knew that just being with family and friends was the best way to spend Christmas.


Bethany kicked the snow off of her heels by banging her feet on the brick walls of the bar. Entering the building, there was this smoky air that seemed to blur her sight for a moment, but she could hear Bucky's laugh in the corner, following the sound to where Bucky and Steve were sitting.

"Bethany," Steve said surprised, jumping up from his chair awkwardly. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Finished up in the lab, so I thought I'd get a drink. And it's boring at the base now since almost everyone is gone for Christmas," Bethany explained.

"You and Howard going home for the holidays?" Bucky asked as Steve pulled out a chair for Bethany.

"Thank you," Bethany smiled to Steve before answering Bucky. "No. We know that not everyone can go home for Christmas, and we only have each other. We might as well stay here. What about you two?"

"Looks like we're staying here," Bucky replied, to which Steve sighed at.

"I told you, you should go home. See your family," Steve insisted.

Bucky shook his head. "I'm not leaving you here, alone, at Christmas. Steve, you're my family too."

"He won't be alone," Bethany jumped to Steve's defense, placing a hand on the Captain's arm. "He'll have me, remember?"

"Oh, yes. Right," Bucky smiled flirtatiously. "Still doesn't change my mind. I'll be spending Christmas here."

"Buck," Steve sighed. "You'll regret not going home to see your family. Please, just do it. If not, I'll feel horrible."

"Why aren't you just going back with him?" Bethany asked, picking from the platter in the middle of the table and popping something into her mouth. "Wouldn't that solve the whole issue? Although, I'd love it if you two stayed, personally. I love Howard, but too much alone time with him is painful. Just ask his last three dates."

"I'm staying back for the same reason as you," Steve explained. "I'd rather someone else go home. A father or a son. Go home to a family who hasn't seen them in months. Which is why you should go Buck. Who knows when you'll get this chance again?"

"You only have a few more days to make the decision," Bethany reminded Bucky, popping something else into her mouth and chewing. "Better hurry up before it's too late."

"I'm not leaving," Bucky laughed, but asserting finality. "Let's move on. What do you want for Christmas, Bethany?"

"What do I want?" Bethany asked confused, her mouth full of bread. "You two don't need to get me a gift."

"Peggy said you got us gifts," Steve explained.

"Yeah, but I'm considerably richer than you guys," Bethany replied, finishing her bread and helping herself to Steve's beer and taking a hefty gulp. "I don't expect anyone to give me a gift, to be honest. I don't need anything. I mean, there's things I would like but I don't need them."

"Want kind of things are those?" Steve encouraged, taking his beer back from her hands.

"Peace on Earth, end to world hunger and to be the Queen of England," Bethany named off simply, as if they were the most normal things to ask for Christmas.

"How about something we can wrap?" Bucky laughed. "Maybe with a little bow on it too."

"Hmmm," Bethany thought for a second before smirking. "You two would look good with little bows."

Steve, who was taking a sip of his beer, choked on it as the idea came to surface in his mind. He began to start coughing as a response, Bethany moving to pat his back soothingly. "If that's really what you want," Bucky teased her. "I'm sure we can arrange that. Right, Steve?"

"Mmm?" Steve replied, still recovering.

"Listen, all I want is to have my family and friends with me on Christmas. And if you two are really going to be staying here, then of course I expect you two to spend Christmas with me. And that's all I need. Although…" she continued. "If you want to buy me something small like lipstick or perfume, who would I be to refuse?"

"I'm a little surprised at your answer," Bucky admitted, picking at the food platter.

"Some rich gals just want more and more. And some, like moi, enjoy nice and expensive things, but still value people."

"Well, if all you want for Christmas is our presence, then we'll see you on Christmas," Steve assured her, earning a happy smile from Bethany.


When the elevator doors opened to the Stark Christmas party, Bethany was overwhelmed by how many people were there. Are there really this many people who would rather be with a rich playboy superhero opposed to being with their families? But she knew that of course the answer was 'yes'. There was a complete absence of kids, meaning that Jamie was the only little one who was invited to the party. Or we're the only people here with children, she corrected herself.

The room smelled of turkey, which was odd since Pepper had sent the catering menu over to Bethany earlier that week and there was a complete absence of turkey on the menu. Most of it was fancy, rich, shi-shi-poo-poo appetizers that would of course be circled around the room by a waiter in a tuxedo. After one look at the menu, Bethany planned a few snacks to bring with them to the party so that Jamie could eat normal food. Sure, there were a few dessert options she'd let him try, but her son was definitely not eating the raw fish.

The Rogers family, followed by Wanda, slowly walked into the room. Bethany surveyed the people in the room, recognizing some of them, but not the majority. She had no idea who they were or where they came from. Maybe they were employees. Possibly fellow scientists. But Tony didn't just make friends right off the street. He would have met them all through a business experience.

Bethany knew that Steve was not looking forward to such a grand celebration and truth be told, she wasn't either. But she wanted to be with Tony on Christmas Eve and if this was how it was going to be, then so be it. The rest of the Avengers had gone home to their families, leaving Vision and Wanda at the Tower. Vision had volunteered to stay back at the Facility but Wanda had nowhere else to go for the Christmas season. Bethany was doing her damn best to make sure that Wanda didn't feel left out this Christmas. She may not be family by blood, but she meant a lot to Bethany, mostly because the girl reminded the ex-agent of herself. And Bethany wanted to ensure that Wanda had everything she could possibly have and more, and that included happy Christmas celebrations.

"Can you two give the coordinator the cookies?" Bethany asked to Wanda and Steve, pointing out a woman in a black dress, glued to her phone. She had baked two hundred cookies at Tony's request. Bethany knew that it was a huge task for her to undertake, since she usually just made two batches of the cookies, but she knew that they reminded Tony of his childhood Christmases and she agreed. "I'm just going to talk to Tony."

"Sure. We'll see you soon," Steve agreed, leading Wanda to the coordinator.

Bethany looked at Jamie, smiling as he clung onto his elephant. It took her a good ten minutes to wrestle him into his tuxedo, but once it was on, he didn't try to pull it off. She had brushed his curls back, but they had sprung back into their usual direction. Either way, Bethany couldn't stop gushing about how cute Jamie was, even whispering "we made that" to Steve multiple times.

Spotting Tony in the crowd, Bethany headed over with a giant smile. "Merry Christmas kid," she wished, pulling him in for a hug. Tony patted Bethany's back awkwardly, obviously not wanting to be entrapped in a hug in front of all his guests.

"Okay, that's enough," Tony insisted, Bethany pulling away, rolling her eyes.

"Who are all these people?" She asked, looking around the room.

Tony followed her gaze before shrugging. "I don't know, Pep sent out the invites."

"Of course she did," Bethany replied with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, apparently a lot of people couldn't come because they had 'plans'," Tony said offhandedly.

Bethany scoffed playfully, shaking her head again. "Tony, it's Christmas Eve, remember? Some people actually have kids and a close-knit, large family that they want to spend the holidays with."

"What a foreign concept," Tony mumbled under his breath.

"Hey," Bethany tried. "We had some pretty great Christmases, all things considered. Just focus on making the future Christmases better."

"I'm trying," Tony defended himself.

"Yeah, you and your two-hundred closest strangers," Bethany replied with sass, handing Jamie over to Steve when he stepped up next to her. "You do know that you don't have to throw a party for every party, right?"

"Hey, I didn't last year!" Tony pointed out.

"That's because I told Pepper not to so that I could throw a smaller Christmas Eve party," Bethany reminded him. "Whatever, I'm not arguing with you here, kid. I'm merely just telling you that you don't have to live up to the party-boy image if you don't want to."

"Cap," Tony greeted Steve opposed to replying to Bethany.

"Thanks for having us," Steve replied, moving to shake his hand. "The waiters will start to hand out the cookies in about an hour."

"Perfect, thank you," Bethany smiled to Steve softly. "Care to dance?"

"Always," Steve answered with a large grin, leading Bethany away from Tony and to the makeshift dance floor. They arrange their bodies around Jamie and began to sway. "What was that about?"

Bethany sighed, looking down for a moment. "Honestly, it's nothing worth repeating. But it's the holidays. You know how he gets sometimes. He tries to bring up his horrible childhood to get his way. To justify his behaviour. He's a grown-ass man. He needs to put that behind him."

"He still hasn't fully coped," Steve inputted. "You can't really blame him for that. We all carry around those scars."

"Well, I know that," Bethany reasoned. "You know I know that. Probably more than anyone on this planet. Whatever, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I just want to enjoy the party as best we can, go home and put our little boy to sleep. And then wake up and have Christmas the way we want it."

"Don't wish away tonight," Steve warned. "You might regret it."

Doubt it, Bethany thought to herself, not realizing that in a year, she'd be spending Christmas Eve in a very different way.


**A/N: Okay, next chapter has Christmas Day in it and then I'll bring some drama back :)

MaddazaHatter: I'm bringing back the action! I am trying to space Civil War out farther into the story purely because the next movie with Cap will come out only in 2018 and that would mean a lot of fluff and self-made drama. And yes, lots more Wanda, don't worry!

Anonymouscsifan: Yes; they love each other despite their faults and even more so, fight to correct their faults for their love. Bethany did a lot of that. Steve hasn't really grown in the same way so it's only natural that he's making more mistakes than she is.