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Prompt: Sunflowers

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She has no idea how Steve found out her favorite flower...all right, so maybe given a little thought, the obvious culprit would be Jane. Still, it puts a wide smile on Darcy's face when she comes back up to their apartment, after a morning at medical, to find a tall vase filled with sunflowers brightening up the table. Darcy pushes off her coat, leaning over to bury her face in the big yellow blossoms, a sigh leaving her lips.

He'd known something was bothering her last night. He'd also known, from the way she put on a smile, that she wasn't going to talk about it, not yet. It was the very specific smile, soft and warm and yet not really reaching her eyes. It communicated that Darcy wasn't telling because she was trying to spare both of their feelings. Steve knew there were only a few things that she could get depressed over that would also give him a huge guilt trip, and so he'd learned to let her take her time figuring out how to talk about it. Darcy was grateful.

It had started when she went grocery shopping the previous morning. It was such an automatic task, neither of them did much cooking and as such, the cart was generally full of the same few things every week. Steve's favorite frozen pizzas, Darcy's shampoo, and stuff to make protein shakes for both of them. She hadn't even realized she was heading down a certain aisle until she was facing the wall of tampons, and then blinked.

"Oh right," She said out-loud, shaking her head. I mean, ten years of habit were hard to break, but Darcy still wondered how she'd forgotten that she'd never have another period again. And that thought had suddenly given her a wave of nausea, bracing herself against the stocked shelves. It had been a few months by now, but still, the realization would rear it's head, fresh and deeper than the last time. She'd left the grocery store as quickly as she could, distant and thoughtful for the rest of the evening.

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"It's just. Messed up to eve think about it," Darcy murmurs to Jane, as the two of them sip their coffee at Darcy's desk, the vase of the sunflowers between them. "I'm barely twenty-one, you know? And I'm thinking about this."

"Well, you can still be a mother someday," Jane points out, glancing around to make sure the boys were still distracted by her shiny new equations on the white board, "I thought they were able to save some of your eggs after the attack?" Darcy nods, biting her lip.

"S'just it, I went down to medical today? You know they can only guarantee frozen eggs for ten years?" She licks her lips, "And even then, women usually take, like, oodles of hormones before they freeze 'em, so they have plenty. I just survived a freak accident and had them emergency iced, so, lower odds there." She winces, rubbing her temples, "I always figured I'd start -thinking- about kids at like, thirty, and then only if I had a guy. Now I'm 21, I'm gonna hafta START thinking about kids at at least 28 to get the ball rolling, and I work for fuckin' SHIELD, where I could die on any day."

"You can always adopt, hun, it's still -your- time-table, think about stuff like kids when it's -your- time, don't feel pressured just because it's your genetics with the expiration date," Jane tells her firmly. Darcy sighs, shutting her eyes.

"...See, if I were single? I'd totally agree. Hell I'd probably just chock it up to bum luck and be glad I never have to haul around someone in my body for nine months, I wouldn't even bother learning about how surrogacy works, just be that happy eccentric 40 year old single mom with a Chinese daughter..."

"...But?" Jane smirked, getting a better idea as to where this was going.

"...But I'm -not- single," She swallows, reaching out to rub one of the sunflower petals between her fingers, "...Fuck, but it is still my deal. Isn't it? I don't know," Darcy groans, "The man has no family. He'd love any kid, but the idea of one that's part of him...UGH! I'm twenty-one and I've been dating him for barely six months, what is that thought, why am I having these thoughts?"

"You've still got time. Something tells me Steve won't be getting bored any time soon," Jane continues for her, and Darcy nods, biting her lip again. "...So, why is all this so bad?"

"It's changing my whole head around!" Darcy blurts out, "What if this...this is it, Jane? What if this is the -real deal-, and we get married someday, and five years from now we want kids, and it started when I was barely into my twenties?!"

"...My question stands," Jane sighs, "I'm in love with a man who's immortal, Darcy. I'm going to get old and die before he gets his first gray hair. But, so what? Who says my future without him was going to be so great? I mean, look where we work. Look at what our -lives- are right now!"

"Yeah..." Darcy looks around at the labs. It's true, on her own plans, she'd be eating ramen and getting by on a major she was good at, but really didn't have any passion for. She'd be dating scrawny college guys who'd rather be banging her roommate (the story of her life), and yes, she'd be a lot safer. Maybe. It wasn't like the people of Manhattan had been particularly safe back in May, though.

"So everything happened sooner than you thought it would," Jane sums up, "Met the perfect guy, find yourself actually kind of wanting to have his kid someday in the future, you're currently doing work that's changing the world, and you get to travel all over the place, with Superheroes." Jane's grin goes wide, "...What exactly did you think was going to happen before you were thirty that was -more- exciting than that?"

"...Well, I did think I'd have a lipstick-lesbian phase." Is all Darcy can come up with. Jane leans over, kissing her cheek.

"There you go. Your 20s are now complete."

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He finds her that afternoon, sitting cross-legged on the roof. It's cold up there already, the wind whipping as usual, and she's in her old hat, gloves and coat, looking more like the kid who was Jane Foster's intern in New Mexico than a tried SHIELD agent. Steve settles in next to her, smiling a bit when he sees the sunflower in her hands, only a little droopy around the leaves.

"Glad you found 'em," He says, wrapping an arm around her. Darcy nuzzles his shoulder, which is fuzzy with the old classic sweater he's thrown on. She doesn't know how he keeps managing to find clothes that look like he's just stepped out of his own time, in the best vintage-y way, but he does, and she likes it. It's cozy. "...You all right, sweetheart?"

"Yeah," Darcy smirks, "Just...kinda had a couple days of readjusting to my weird-ass life, if that makes sense."

"...Darcy, look who you're talking to." Steve replies, flatly, and she laughs, shrugging.

"Oi, yeah, got me there Rogers," She sighs, "I've just been...well, a product of my own times," She decides, "I'm not out of college yet and I'm here, working, and there's you...In case you haven't noticed Cap, I'm really bad at handling good things when they come my way." Steven chuckles, and she nudges him, "Always pretty sure it's a trap, Akbar-level."

"I guess I've kinda been that way since I thawed out as well," He allows, nodding, and then looking down at her. "...That's all, though? Just...adjusting?" Darcy feels her face warming, looking down at her lap. Now's not the time for specifics, though. Or maybe it is, but she's pretty sure she can't handle that conversation yet, all the gory details about her somewhat removed biological worries. So instead she bites her lip, thinking for a moment, before answering.

"This is like, cosmic, yeah?" She starts, and he blinks, and she wonders why she can be oh so clever when they're getting up to shenanigans, but when it's time for an actual talk, she forgets how to words. "I mean. I know we're in love, and all, but. It's kinda," She gulps, "...Be-all, end-all, 'til we're old and gray, or super-villains destroy the Earth, that sort of thing." A grin spreads over his lips, slowly.

"...Well for one, no super-villain will destroy the Earth, it's why we're all here," He tilts his head, looking a little red around the ears himself, "And uh, yeah, I was kinda hoping so. I don't really go into anything half-way." He reaches over with the arm not around her shoulders, tucking her hair behind her ear and under her cap, "Kinda hoping to marry you someday. I mean...if you can put up with me and all my stupid brooding."

"You put up with me and all my stupid everything," Darcy grins, looking down at the flower again, "...I'm kinda younger than you, you know, even without the icy time-lapse."

"And I'm stunted as far as life-experiences go, so we're fine," He maintains, and she laughs again. "So...someday."

"Someday," Darcy agrees, leaning against him happily. So, her life schedule had been moved up a few years. There were a lot worse things that could happen to a girl.