Finally got a new chapter up :).My muse was on strike for awhile, but it finally came back!


Chapter 4

The Morning After...

Steve found himself waking up with an almost contented sensation that he hadn't felt in long time...

For whatever reason, the nights he's spent with Sharon (or Diamondback...or any other woman he could think of,,,) paled in comparison to the few moments he shared with Tony. Sleepily, he rolled over in bed to turn to his bed-mate. Tony seemed so relaxed and beautiful as Steve took in the sight of Tony's long dark eyelashes against his olive skin tone...he started to take notice of other features that he never realised before, like the slight upturn of his nose, the minor pouty lips, and the dimple in his left cheek.

Steve found himself mesmerised by Tony's attractiveness, to the point that he almost didn't notice the fluttering of dark eyelashes and the sleepy gaze of midnight blue eyes. Steve started to smile at his bed-mate as the sleepiness was blinked out of Tony's eyes; once Tony's vision began to clear, the following panic attack with the bed sheet pulling up to cover the arc reactor was not what Steve expected.

"What the fuck?!" Tony shrieked, regretting the sudden jerk away from the bed that caused mild pain to his lower back. "What did we do last night?!"

Steve stared at Tony in shock. "Seriously?" He couldn't wrap his mind around Tony's negative reaction. "Considering how obvious things went, you want to ask that?"

"What the hell, Steve?!" Tony started to pace, gripping the bed sheet tighter around his body. "For the amount of years we've known each other and had arguments..." He stopped moving to glare at Steve. "How the hell could we let that happen?!"

"That happened for a reason, Tony." Steve stated calmly, leaving the bed to stand in front of the shorter man, holding him by the shoulders. "You know what I realised after last night?" Tony shook his head, avoiding eye contact. "I realised…" Steve placed a hand on Tony's cheek, making him look at him. "I realised that all those years of friendship – arguing included – was hiding something that we both knew was there...Tony, I lo―"

"No." Tony moved away from the larger body, grabbing his clothes from the night before in a frantic motion before heading towards the bathroom. "You can't say those words, Steve." Just as he was about to slam the door, Steve nudged his foot to prevent it. "It's unfair!"

"Are you saying that you don't feel the same way?" Steve asked, worried about the answer that may come.

"How can you say that you'rein love with me when you're still in a relationship with Sharon?!" Tony yelled. He shoved Steve away from the bathroom door to lock it.

"Tony, wait…" Steve started.

"No, Steve." Tony muttered behind the door. "It's not fair to either of us." He released a shuttered breathed. "Just, please, leave."

Steve didn't know what to say. Tony was right that it was not fair to anyone. With a sigh, he gathered his things, got dressed and left to the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D facility to return home. Travelling in an enclosed private space with Tony was probably a bad idea at the moment.


Thirty minutes later, Tony finally emerged from the bathroom, dressed in yesterday's suit.

Looking around the hotel room, he saw that Steve's things were missing. As he moved towards the coffee machine he found a note in Steve's neat writing.

Tony

I made arrangements to return to New York with S.H.I.E.L.D. Travelling together would only be awkward, but I do expect us to talk when we're both back.

Steve

Tony snorted after reading the note. 'This is one conversation with a rain check, Cap…' Tony thought miserably. As much as he wants to share his feelings with Steve, he knew that it's not a probability. Steve has been involved with Sharon for too long to just throw that away for someone with as many insecurities and faults that he has is not realistic. Last night was a mistake…an amazing mistake…but still a mistake. Tony released an unsteady breath and began to gather his things to check out.


Standing in front of his apartment, Steve released a nervous breath, knowing that Sharon would be inside waiting for him, and the upcoming conversation that he wanted to avoid but must have. Unlocking the door and entering his home, he was right to see Sharon sitting on the sofa with a case file in hand. He clears his throat to catch her attention, the blonde woman looking up to face him. There was no smile in greeting like she usually offers him after either returned from a mission; instead, Sharon had a poker face, knowing that a conversation to her disliking was about to take place. Steve just stared at Sharon, not sure how to start this conversation.

"I take it that the mission was successful?" Sharon asked, effectively moving Steve from his stupor. He simply nodded and cleared his throat.

"As well as could be expected. Vennema was working with A.I.M."

"Not her usual M.O." Sharon mused; she was acting odd, which was worrying Steve, like she knew.

"Ok." Steve almost snapped, bringing Sharon's full attention on him. "We need to talk."

"I agree; we need to talk." By her tone, it seemed as though Sharon definitely knew that something was amiss. "From before you left, we need to get this, whatever this is, out in the open." Her blue eyes narrowed at Steve. "Steve, answer me this honestly; where is our relationship going?"

Steve almost wanted to sigh in relief; she didn't suspect that he and Tony slept together. "You tell me." He answered back.

"You told me that you weren't ready for marriage — yet you still wanted kids..."

"Sharon..." He started, taking a deep breath. "I'm not ready for marriage now, but maybe someday, but I want to know for sure that when that time comes, having kids is part of that future."

"It's not." Came Sharon's cold response as she glared at the floor.

Steve felt himself ready to lose his cool. "Why not?"

"Tony never told you?" She asked, looking back up. Steve shook his head, mentally cursing Tony for knowing something and not telling him. "When you were dead, I found out that I was pregnant..." The air in the room suddenly felt thick for both of them. "Red Skull found out and was planning on using the baby for some nefarious plot; Sin was sent to grab me." Steve felt himself ready to collapse. "I ended up fighting Sin and the only way that I knew that she and Skull couldn't get the baby was allowing myself to get stabbed in the stomach, killing the baby. In order to save my life, Dr. Faustus had my memories of the pregnancy erased"

The tears were beginning to well in Steve's eyes, over the fact that he was supposed to be a father but never had the chance to know this. "How did Tony find out about this?"

"During Tony's tenure as S.H.I.E.L.D Director, part of his responsibilities involved revising the medical records of field agents to see how their recovery was progressing." She stared out into space. "He accidentally stumbled across the paperwork that revealed the pregnancy and had the documents destroyed in order to protect me and the baby. But by that time I had already lost it. He ended up telling me about the baby's death out of guilt, obligation or something along those lines…"

Trust Tony to think about protecting others in Steve's absence. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I had no intentions to, but Tony had been insisting for the longest time that I should." Sharon glared at him. "I'd have kept this secret to the grave if you weren't so persistent."

"Alright —" Steve breathe deeply. "I understand that the mess with Skull and Faustus may have scarred you of the concept of having a baby, but I'm here now and I know that the Avengers would help us in a heartbeat to take of it."

"That's just it, Steve." Sharon felt her anger rising. "Because I allowed Sin to stab me, I can never get pregnant again! I knew that would be the outcome and you know what?! I would do it again because I never wanted children in the first place!"

Those words hurt...all of Steve's dreams of eventually settling down, married with children were gone in that instant. He didn't know if it was because of the hurt and anger that he blurted out "I slept with Tony while in Madripoor", but he wanted Sharon to hurt as much as he was at that moment.

He saw the tears ready build up in Sharon's eyes that she quickly blinked away as she punched him in face before storming out of the apartment with a cold "We're over" as her final words.


So, yeah…this chapter is done!

I added (and kinda twisted) some elements from Captain America Vol.5/ Death of Captain America at the end to kinda explain Sharon reluctance of having kids with Steve which were brought up from Chapter 1.

I know, totally a prissy move from Sharon for saying that she never wanted kids and the stabbing prevents any future babies and Steve's counter move of blurting that he slept with Tony…My mind is seriously f***ed up but I know that you all love it! XD Up next? Well that would just be a spoiler if I wrote that now, wouldn't it?

Until Chapter 5, darlings! XD