Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing associated with Marvel, Captain America, the Avengers, etc. Only original characters and ideas are mine.

AN: I know I said that I was going to write a Thanksgiving chapter, but the holiday totally snuck up on me this year, so I wasn't able to type one out. Instead, here's Adena's baby shower, with a few guest appearances. Enjoy, and please don't forget to review. Thanks!

Star-Spangled Baby Showers:

"I hate this," I mumbled, fingering the blindfold that covered my eyes. "Why can't I see it?"

"It's a surprise!" Anna squealed, keeping her voice down as I was led into her house.

I took one cautious step after another, trying not to trip as my cousin led me inside. I heard frantic feminine whispering, a giggle or two, and the sound of a heavy glass object being set down on a hard wooden surface.

As agreed, I'd let Wanda plan a baby shower, and now, weeks later, it was time to see what my young Sokovian friend had put together. I was anxious, and a little excited, but mostly, I was rather sad that my family members couldn't be here, or Natasha or Pepper. With only Wanda and Anna in attendance, it was going to be a very boring gathering.

"Surprise!" cried several voices as my blindfold was lifted.

I frantically blinked to adjust my eyesight, and once I had my bearings, I squealed in absolute joy. "Nat! Pepper! Laura!" I cried as we all gathered in a group hug.

I had no idea how my friends had gotten here, but I didn't care. I had some female support, and that was all that mattered. Steve was wonderful, of course, but sometimes a girl needed other females to talk 'girl stuff' with.

'And who better than another mother?' I thought with a grin as Laura took my hand and led me to the living room.

The set up was incredible. There were white, yellow and green star balloons floating along the walls, and streamers hanging from the chandelier in the dining room, arching gracefully to the walls, where they were held in place by silver-and-gold tape. The dining table held mounds of gifts, while a side table and the coffee table held at least a dozen kinds of finger food. Bottles of sparkling juice chilled in strategically placed buckets around the room, ready to be poured the second anyone wanted some.

"Wow," I breathed. "Wanda, this is fantastic!"

The young redhead grinned as I was led to a cushioned chair, where I promptly made myself comfortable. Pepper poured me a glass of sparkling apple cider, and Anna began asking what I wanted to eat.

"Food first," she firmly declared. "We can't have the mom-to-be getting all cranky because we haven't fed her, and opening presents will take a while."

Laura laughed, and nodded in agreement. "I remember those days. My pregnancy with Cooper was the worst, since I had no idea what to expect while I was expecting. But with Lila and Nathaniel, it was a bit easier."

As soon as my plate was in my hands, I looked over the bounty of food and smiled. There was my favorite kind of sushi: thick, fatty smoked salmon slabs over rice, with a strip of seaweed wrapped around it. I wasn't supposed to eat raw fish, but smoked was okay, in moderation.

There were also small beef tenderloins on a stick; teriyaki chicken kababs; roasted veggies in a sweet soy sauce; shrimp cocktail; various creamy cheeses with crackers; fresh fruit and veggies; and deviled eggs. There were also various puff pastries, with all kinds of savory fillings.

Last of all was my pregnancy favorite: various kinds of pickles, from pickled asparagus to the traditional dill pickles. Steve knew to keep the fridge stocked with pickles, so that I'd have something to snack on in the middle of the night.

While I dug into my plate, the others helped themselves and took seats on the couch or the floor, which had cushions scattered around to make sure everyone was comfortable.

"There's also a nice watermelon chiller," Anna told everyone as they began to get their beverages. "But that's for later. It's still in the fridge, along with the desserts. We'll get those out halfway through the gift opening."

With a piece of sushi in my mouth, I looked around the room. "So, how did you guys get here?" I asked, glancing over at Natasha. "Aren't you supposed to be on the run somewhere in Europe? How did you find out about this?"

She shrugged. "I've been keeping Pepper in the loop as to where I am. I know that Tony probably checks her phone, but once in a while, she gets a secured email from me, and can answer back from her own account."

Nat nodded in Wanda's direction. "Wanda told Pepper about the baby shower, and Pepper told me and Laura. Things started rolling from there."

"There's no way Tony could keep me from coming," Pepper flatly told us. "The government thinks I'm here on Stark Industries business, though they probably suspect that I'm meeting with you and Steve, since Tony's lawyers have been tirelessly working on the Accords rewrite. But they couldn't stop me from coming."

"Pepper offered to bring me here on her private plane," Laura put in as she nibbled on some pastry. "I had to drive to another county to get picked up, but it was worth it."

I snickered. "So Clint's home alone with the kids? Poor guy."

Laura chuckled and gave a half shrug. "Think of it as payback for all the times he'd traveled and left me alone with the kids. It's his turn."

"Hopefully the house will still be standing when you get back," Nat muttered teasingly as she popped a shrimp into her mouth.

I burst out laughing, imagining Laura getting home to a frazzled Clint, with Nathaniel on one arm, and two kids running around him as something burned in the oven. It was like a scene from a bad comedy film, and when I told the others, they laughed so hard, even Nat had to wipe tears from her eyes.

"Oh, that's good," Pepper managed to squeak out between giggles. "Oh, that makes up for the miserable Thanksgiving I had with Tony in Aspen, snowed in inside a cabin. He tried to do the cooking, and we ended up eating burnt turkey for two days."

"Ours was just as quiet and dull," Anna muttered. "Wakanda is too humid and warm to roast a turkey -not to mention that they don't have turkeys here. So we had to figure out stuff on our own."

Now, that wasn't entirely accurate. Even though we were in Wakanda, and they didn't celebrate the same holidays that we did, our Thanksgiving had been pretty good. Besides the exception of Natasha, the rest of the outcast Avengers had gathered at our house, with food we'd had the Palace chefs cater for us. There had been six roast chickens, piles of mashed potatoes and stuffing, plus several kinds of desserts. For once, I had been able to eat as much as I wanted and not look like a ravenous pregnant lady (even though I was), since everyone else was doing the same.

The day had been fun, with lots of jokes going around, and the men watching American football on the television while we girls sat upstairs and chatted. My favorite part had been when everyone snapped the wishbones of the chickens, to see who would get their wish granted. I had been up against Anna, and the two of us somehow managed to snap ours exactly in half.

'Of course, we have most of what we could ever wish for,' I reminded myself with a smile. The only thing we both wanted was to be back to the States with our families.

"Well," Natasha said, patting me on the leg. "We're all here, we're all stuffing ourselves with fabulous food, and we're going to have some serious fun."

We spent the next hour chatting about how everyone was doing. Pepper said things were going well with Tony, and Natasha claimed there wasn't much for her to tell about her global trips around the world. Laura, meanwhile, was beyond thrilled to have Clint at home full-time.

"The kids love having him around," she said, a joyful sparkle in her eyes. "And he loves taking them out to have fun after school and on the weekend. He and Cooper ride bikes all over the place, and Clint built Lila a dollhouse for her toys. Best of all, Nathaniel has his dad around to play with him."

Then it was time for my favorite part: desserts and presents!

First things first: baby showers are a lot like Christmas.

I realized this as I was sat at the dinner table, a mountain of gifts in front of me. I also had a feeling that, like today, the rest of my Christmases with Steve were all going to be about our baby, and all the cool and fun stuff we would be getting him or her.

"Okay," Wanda said, flexing her fingertips a little and using her powers to move a large trash can forward. "Wrapping paper will go in this trash bin, and there are three others waiting, since I expected everyone to bring several gifts."

It was kind of ridiculous, really. Tony had already sent a mountain of gifts weeks ago, including strollers, clothes, toys, and blankets. Most of them, though, were pretty pretentious; like silver rattles and eating utensils, and clothing that was made from expensive materials that probably wouldn't hold up after one use. There were also huge stuffed animals, like a pony, a teddy bear, and as a joke, a black panther in a regal, lying down position.

The only cool thing I really liked was something clearly of Tony's creation. It was a mobile that could be set up at the head of the baby's crib, where, once activated, it could display all kinds of holographic images, like orbiting planets, glowing moons in all lunar phases, or twinkling stars in several different colors. It also had a speaker, which played every lullaby ever written, and could be set on a loop, to sooth the baby to sleep.

Now that I was surrounded by women, I knew that at least half of the gifts were going to be practical, and useful -and ridiculously cute.

Laura went first, which I was grateful for. As a mom, she was the most likely to give the best gifts to a mom-to-be.

So imagine how confused I was when all she handed me was an envelope with a card inside. Opening it up, I figured it would be a gift card, but instead, it was a cell number.

"An untraceable cell number," she explained. "I know everyone will be giving you things, but I know that, at some point or another, you'll be wanting help and advice. Call me whenever you're scared of doing something wrong, or feel like you just can't handle being a mother, okay? Whatever you're going through, I've been there. If you keep it all bottled up, or keep yourself in a constant state of panic, you're going to wear yourself out. Just call me, and I'll do everything I can to help you."

I couldn't hold back the tears as I reached up and hugged her. "After a week, you're going to be so sick of hearing from me," I said, only half joking.

She gave a genuine laugh and hugged me close. "What are friends and fellow moms for?"

Pepper handed me a tissue, and a large wrapped box. "Now that Laura's already showed us up, how about the rest of your gifts?"

I managed a watery chuckle, and accepted the box. Inside were a dozen sets of the cutest jammies, ranging from newborn sizes to toddler. The materials were soft and fluffy, and just warm enough to keep the baby comfortable in our air-conditioned house. Some had little ducklings printed on them, or trees and clouds, but most of them had yellow and silver stars.

"You guys, you know that you don't have to get stuff with stars on it, right?" I asked them while eying the jammies. "Just because a silver star is Captain America's symbol, and he's the father of my baby, doesn't mean you have go get that design on everything! It's not a family crest passed down through the generations."

Everyone laughed, but they also looked a bit guilty, so I knew I was in for a ton of stuff with Steve's infamous silver star on it.

Sure enough, Wanda passed me a box that was from Pietro. It held a set of plastic dishes and sippy cups for toddlers, and the design (of course) was a yellow star on a white background. That made me roll my eyes in good humor, but I accepted it with a smile and sincere 'thank you.'

That was only the start of the flood of star-themed gifts. Tony had included a few in the piles of presents he'd sent, but it had seemed more of a way to poke fun at Steve than anything else.

My friends, however, had decided to get every baby item they could find with a star on it. My child would have booties, pajamas, clothes, shoes, blankets, bibs, and pacifiers, all with some kind of star decoration or decal on it. Some of it was very cute, but after a while, it started to get repetitive.

"Guys, seriously, I'd give anything for little ducklings, baby chicks, or tiny fish patterns," I sighed, setting aside a hat with little stars printed on it. "The star theme is cute, but I really don't want to put pressure on my offspring to try and be a hero like their dad."

Wanda snickered and motioned towards Pepper. "Sorry, it was just too funny to resist."

Pepper rolled her eyes. "It was actually Tony's idea. He jokingly said that if you and Steve ever had a baby shower, the star symbol would be the theme of it. I made the mistake of mentioning it to Wanda, and she and Pietro decided to pull the stunt in Tony's place. The rest got talked into joining in on it, just to see how you'd react."

I picked up a stuffed star toy and threw it at the young redhead, who used her powers to deflect it. "You are so mean!" I cried. "Now go get my real gifts, or I'm throwing one of those plastic plates at you!"

Laughing, she ran out of the room while the rest of my friends joined in the amusement. Laura reached over and patted my arm. "Actually, these are your gifts, too. Since you don't know if it's a girl or boy, a star is a pretty good neutral design."

"I know, but still," I pouted. "I like baby ducks and chicks, and rainbows and puffy clouds. They're cute, and I want my baby to look cute!"

Natasha grinned. "Spoken like a true mom-to-be."

Wanda returned with a push cart loaded with even more presents. "You never did say what theme you were doing for the nursery," she reminded me. "Did you decide on one?"

As the others began removing the opened gifts and putting the unopened ones on the table, I shrugged. "We're either going with a soft, golden brown color, to give the room a warm, welcoming tone, or a darker grey. I thought about adding white trim to the room, too, or beige."

That launched a whole discussion about which color scheme everyone liked better, which I watched from the sidelines. It was an argument Steve and I had engaged in for a solid two weeks, before T'Challa heard about it and decided to create a room with holographic technology for our personal use, so that we could see what the baby's room would be like in any color theme we chose.

In fact, using the hologram room was how we decided on our two final colors. I'd thought about purple or yellow, or even light green, but Steve hadn't liked any of those. He clearly had hopes that we were having a boy, because he wanted a dark, navy blue with white trim for the room, or a deep forest green. Steve even thought about a black-and-white room, but I felt those colors were strictly for the Wakandan Royal Family.

After a week of mixing and matching colors, Steve agreed that the golden brown was nice and comforting, which would be good for the baby. I thought the darker grey with white would be nice, too, so those were the two we were stuck between.

Smiling, I rubbed my growing belly. It wasn't much of a pregnancy belly, but it was getting pretty obvious, and I couldn't help but notice the warm glow in Steve's eyes whenever he looked at me.

"Oooh, you're getting that gooey look on your face," Laura teased, patting me on the shoulder. "You're thinking about something happy, or your mind is wandering -or both."

I sighed and let my hand drop. "Definitely both," I admitted with a smile. "Now, bring on the rest of the presents! I love tearing up wrapping paper!"

"It seems pretty quiet," Bucky commented, glancing in the direction of his and Anna's house.

The newlyweds had recently moved to the home next door. Even though they had originally just been down the street and around the corner, Anna hadn't wanted to be far from her expectant cousin. As soon as the ambassador who had been living next door retired back to her homeland, T'Challa had made the newly-vacant house ready for the Barnes', who had moved in immediately. There were still boxes of stuff scattered around, but the big furniture and important items had been unpacked and settled. So far, the new arrangement suited everyone, particularly Anna and Adena, just fine.

Sam lowered his beer mug and rolled his eyes. "That's because it's a baby shower, not a bachelorette party," he retorted. "If they were drinking anything alcoholic and blasting music, it'd be insanity."

"True," Pietro said, grinning. "But everything being served is non-alcoholic. Wanda made sure of that, since she didn't want Adena to feel excluded from any of the food or drinks."

Steve traced the rim of his own mug and sighed. "I hope that they don't give her too much stuff," he grumbled. "After everything Tony gave us, I think the nursery will burst at the seams if we add much more."

"Hey, babies need lots of stuff!" Sam insisted, pointing at him with his finger, and his beer bottle. "Have you seen people and their diaper bags? I thought women had it rough with their handbag; handling that, plus a full diaper bag, plus a stroller has got to be worse!"

The other men nodded, though Cyan looked a bit puzzled. "Do infants truly require that much maintenance?" he asked. "I admit to not having researched the matter a great deal, but they are very small. I would not think that they would need much tending."

Sam chuckled. "I've heard lots of horror stories from my guys at the VA hospital back in D.C. Lots of feedings, diaper changing, burping, and soothing them at all kinds of hours. And that's just the start!"

He nodded at Steve. "Good thing you've got improved stamina, Cap, because you're going to need it. If you thought facing HYDRA or Ultron's robot army was bad, dealing with a newborn is worse."

Steve merely shrugged. "I'm actually looking forward to helping out," he admitted. "Laura brought a few books that talk about what new dads can do to make things easier on the mom. She said the books helped Clint a lot, and figures they'll do the same for me."

"Night time feedings will probably be the worst for her," Bucky put in. When the others looked over at him with incredulous expressions on their faces, he blushed and shrugged. "I looked a few things up online, after Adena told us she was pregnant. Waking up for midnight feedings, late-night diaper changes, and baby sicknesses will be exhausting for her."

"I'll be there," Steve firmly told them. "I absolutely want to be a hands-on dad. I know a lot of men back in the old days left it to women to raise the kids, but I want to be involved with my son or daughter."

Pietro gave a small chuckle. "So no nannies, then? I heard rumors around the Palace that the King would be happy to pay for one, in case you are both overwhelmed."

"Don't say 'no' to that," Sam hurriedly said. "At least think about it. This is your first kid, after all; you'll both be new to the whole thing, and having someone help around the house might turn out for the best. Maybe not a nanny; I'm thinking maybe a maid, or someone to tidy the place up once in a while, when Adena's too drained to do much."

Steve hated the idea of hired help, and he knew Adena did, too. They were both used to fending for themselves, and the thought of someone coming to do their laundry, vacuum the carpets, and dust was just plain silly.

On the other hand, if caring for their baby and doing chores was too much for her, it might not be such a bad idea…

"I'll think about it," Steve reluctantly agreed. "But I'll need to talk to Adena, first."

Bucky shook his head. "You'd better talk to her sooner rather than later. In a few months, her stomach will be so big, and she will be so miserable and tired, she won't be able to do much more than sit or lie around, nap, and eat. I'd ask the King's for a maid, but hold off on the nanny for a while."

Again, the men all agreed, but Cyan was looking rather thoughtful. "I could assist with the maintaining of the house," he offered. "I do not require sleep, and can easily attend Adena during the final months or weeks of her pregnancy, and beyond."

That idea made Steve feel more comfortable. He trusted Cyan, and knew that the android would do everything possible to help Adena, and protect her.

"I like it," Pietro stated, rising a shot glass full of vodka. "A good fit all around."

"But you're not made for cooking, cleaning, and playing bodyguard," Bucky protested. "You could do so much good working for the King, or finding ways to get the new Accords passed."

Cyan shook his head. "No. I want to help Adena. It was what I was first designed for, as a portable computer, and it is what I would like to do now. I would also be able to assist in protecting your offspring, should it be required."

The thought of a guard for his child was even better, and best of all, Adena probably wouldn't mind having someone she knew and trusted helping to keep watch over her and their baby.

"Before you settle on that," Sam loudly said, giving Steve a pointed look, "You might want to talk to your wife about this …preferably before the mood swings kick in, and she ends up kicking you."

"Good point," Steve admitted, putting away the thought for another time. "Sam, is there any more of that spicy melted cheese dip you brought?"

His friend rolled his eyes and went to retrieve a large casserole dish from the fridge. "Give me a second to warm this one up." As he removed the plastic wrap from the bowl, Sam shook his head and grinned. "It's a good thing I made three of these. You, Bucky and Pietro already polished off the first one."

"Hyper metabolism," Pietro declared as he helped himself to the tub of guacamole sitting in the middle of the table.

Bucky raised his hand. "Same here," he reminded them. "And with Steve, too. Next time we hold one of these parties, multiply the snacks you want to bring by three."

The men all chuckled and dug into the dip as soon as Sam set it in the middle of the table.

"So, how did it go?" Steve asked, trying to sound nonchalant, even though he had a feeling that a ton of baby things were going to be brought over in the morning.

Adena yawned and fell back in the bed, sighing as her head landed on the pillows. "Great," she smiled. "Wanda sure knows how to throw a shower. The food was great, and I have to remember the name of the brand of sparkling juice we had, so that we can get some for Christmas and New Year's. There's a mountain of gifts that Bucky can help you bring over tomorrow; half of them are sporting your trademark star, courtesy of a prank played by everyone there."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Tony had a hand in that somehow, didn't he?"

His wife grinned and rolled onto her side so that she could face him better. "In a way; but you have to admit, a star on baby clothes is adorable."

He wrinkled his nose. "Never let Tony or Pepper hear you say that," Steve pleaded. "I don't want him calling me 'adorable' if ever I'm in my uniform again."

She reached out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You'll wear it. The U.N. will accept a new version of the Accords, and you'll be an Avenger again."

She sat up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "And you'll always be Captain America to me…and to our child."

Steve couldn't help but smile. "That's all that counts."

Then he kissed her, softly and sweetly. "Good night, beautiful," he whispered as he reached behind him to turn out the lights.

"Good night, my handsome Captain," she murmured as they snuggled down under the covers.

AN: Next up, Christmas, with a few surprise guests!

Please be kind and review? Thanks!