"Steeeeve? Steeeeve?"

The super-soldier groaned internally as the children's voices chorused around his head.

"Steeeeeve!" Kenny chirped as he tugged on Steve's heavy arm.

He closed his eyes again and made exaggerated snoring noises.

"No more sleeping!" Chase, the other nine year old, begged.

Steve reluctantly sat up, rubbing his eyes, and noticing that while her cousins were gathered in abundance, Tina was nowhere to be found. Carter, now three, let out a little scream of excitement to see his "best buddy".

"Steve! Buddy!" he shouted, clambering onto the bed beside him.

Steve yawned and tousled the toddler's hair.

"Hey pal," he said sleepily. "You guys know it's only eight, right?"

"Eight-oh-two," Ricky said proudly, pointing at the digital clock. "And Mommy said we had to stay in bed until eight so we did and now we're up and you are too can we play now?"

The soldier grinned, rolling his eyes.

"Sure, but here's the deal: you gotta be quiet until I get dressed. Don't wake anyone else up, kay?"

The boys nodded eagerly and Steve ducked out of Tina's childhood bedroom into the small bathroom to yank on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. When he came out he knelt to be at their level.

"Here's the game," he announced in a whisper, "We're gonna play spies. You have to be super quiet so you don't get caught, and make sure no one sees you."

"Can we have code names?" Chase asked.

"Sure thing, bud. But first, we need to do your test mission, to see whether you're good enough. They don't let just anyone be a spy you know," he said knowledgeably.

Carter giggled and his brother Ricky shushed him.

"So, first mission: creep downstairs and hide under the kitchen table. Make sure you don't make noise! I'm going to go undercover, so I'll be talking, but don't let that throw you off. When I say the code word 'breakfast', run outside to the tree house. You can make up your codenames there for a while until I'm done being undercover. Ready?"

Kenny raised his hand.

"You, sir, what's your question?" Steve asked in his best imitation of General Phillips.

"Can we, um, have levels?"

Steve cocked an eyebrow up.

"Levels?"

"Yeah. Like you. Cause you're a captain."

"You can get ranks in a bit. I'll go first, and you guys follow, okay?"

Steve resisted the urge to laugh as he went to the kitchen, where Tina was standing with a glass of lemon water.

"Tina," he said in a theatrical voice, "it's a good thing there's no spies in the house, huh? Wouldn't want to be spied on, would we?"

Tina smirked.

"Oh no, that'd be horrible, Steve. Lord knows what they'd do with such valuable information." Her eyes followed a cluster of her small cousins sliding under the table.

Steve hugged her and kissed the top of her head, peeking to make sure that all four boys were in the room.

"Are you in the mood for breakfast?" he asked, winking at Kenny.

There as a scuffle as the kids scooted out of the room, giggling and bumping into things on the way out.

Tina rolled her eyes.

"Sorry they woke you. I didn't realize they were awake yet, but I have to say, good diversion."

Steve chuckled, pouring himself some coffee.

"How did they even know we were here? They were in bed when we showed up last night," he asked.

Tina pointed at Steve's silver Camaro in the driveway (a wedding present from who else but Tony Stark). She smelled his coffee wistfully, and he pulled it back from her.

"No caffeine," he chastised her.

Tina sniffed reproachfully.

"Ugh, I know. Stop teasing me with it, then!"

He sighed and leaned against the counter, sipping his drink.

"You were up early," he changed the subject.

She shrugged, the movement emphasizing her small stature. Tina hopped up and sat on the counter beside her husband.

"I'm a bit nervous," she confessed after a moment.

Steve turned and set his mug on the counter. He cupped her face in his hands.

"It's going to go just fine. Think about how excited your dad's going to be. Mom too."

"I hope she still remembers us this morning," Tina said with a touch of sadness, thinking of her mother's Alzheimer's.

"If not, she'll be overjoyed to meet us again," Steve touched his forehead to hers, "It could be worse, honey. At least she's happy, right? Even if she doesn't always know what's going on, she's happy."

A small smile appeared on Tina's face.

"You're right. I know they'll be excited about the baby…I just don't know what to say."

Steve laughed softly.

"I'm awful with words, don't ask me!"

"Stop that, you say sweet things all the time."

Tina swatted his arm playfully.

"Nope. They drop me into a war, point me in the right direction and tell me 'go hit stuff'. Not 'go win hearts and wow people with your words'."

"You did though, you sold war bonds with your charm," Tina insisted.

"And cheesy script that someone else wrote for me. But mostly, I think it was the girls in short skirts selling the bonds."

She sighed. Steve took her hand and kissed each of her fingertips, then her palm.

"How you decide to say it doesn't really matter. Just share the news. It'll be the right thing to say," he reassured her.

Steve rested his hand on her just-barely-rounded stomach. At two months pregnant, Tina still looked almost exactly the same. So far, only she and Steve were able to see a difference in her physique, but she was avoiding tight shirts like the plague anyway.

"Thanks, babe," she smiled. "In other good news, I haven't gotten sick in the last week. I think I'm in the clear."

Steve knocked on the wooden counter, just in case, smirking slightly.

"Good. That was awful and I didn't even have to go through it. When did Bruce say it would stop? Eleven weeks?"

"Yeah, but thankfully, I'm done at nine! Well, I think I am anyway."

Tina knocked too, laughing a little as she did so.

"Bah. And you say I'm the superstitious one," Steve winked.

…

Tina's relatives rarely gathered all at once because of the chaos it created, but the fourth of July and her graduation from college needed to be celebrated, so everyone had come. The large oval table in the rarely-used dining room was full of light, people, and food. The children had their own 'kids table' in the kitchen and sounds of rampant giggling could be heard. Tina bit her lip and stared at the food on her plate, still filled with swirling nerves. Steve squeezed her hand gently, giving her a please-relax look. She smiled half-heartedly back, and took a deep breath. Tina stood, although it made little difference due to her lack of height, and clinked her spoon against her glass.

"Hey everyone," she began a bit shakily, "Thanks for coming, I'm happy to see you all at my graduation party."

A few of her uncles cheered and her mom laughed.

"But I-we," she took as steadying breath and held Steve's wrist for dear life, "We have another announcement too. Um, I'm pregnant. So Steve and I are gonna have a baby."

Tina sat quickly, unable to help the rush of blood to her cheeks as she felt everyone's eyes on her. The room went from rather quiet to extraordinarily loud in mere moments.

"Oh my god!"

"Congratulations!"

"Knew it was just a matter of time!"

"Oh, the boys will be so excited!"

"When are you due?"

Steve smiled broadly and attempted to answer as many questions as possible, rubbing his thumb on the back of Tina's hand.

Her eyes were only for her parents. Her dad walked around the table and pulled Tina right out of her chair into a big hug.

"I'm so excited for you, baby," he mumbled.

Tina sighed with relief.

"Isn't it so wonderful? I can't wait to-Dad? Are you…?"

Jeff pulled back and roughly wiped the tear which had slipped out.

"No. I'm just-bah!"

Tina laughed and held onto his hands.

"Not ready to be a grandpa?"

He shrugged.

"A bit. It's just amazing so see my baby having her own baby," he admitted gruffly. He turned to Steve for a high-five. "Good job, Steve! When can I expect to see the little bundle of joy anyway?"

"Well, the baby's due February fifteenth. So hopefully around then," he bounced a little on his heels, uncontained excitement showing through.

Jeff chuckled, then stooped to explain to his wife, who hung back looking confused. Steve kissed Tina's head and began helping her aunt Amy wash the dishes.

"Congrats," she said as he handed her a freshly scrubbed plate to dry.

"Thanks," he smiled.

"I remember my first...that was Ricky. Thank goodness my husband was there the whole time or I would have completely gone insane. Having kids is weird and crazy, but wonderful. I think you're going to be a great dad."

"Really?" he paused a moment, mid-wipe.

"Yes," she responded assuredly, "the way you are with Carter and all the boys? Absolutely."

The soldier smiled. Maybe I have less to worry about than I think.

Tina answered the slew of questions as best she could.

"No, we don't know the baby's gender. We're not going to find out. Oh, lord, I HOPE it's not twins! We're not naming the baby after great-great uncle Earl or great aunt Ethel. I said no. Natural childbirth? Um, I don't know. That freaks out Steve. Yes we're planning a nursery. No, we're thinking of staying in the Tower. There's plenty of space."

Tina's trampy cousin Macy swaggered up to her.

"Ah! Girl, congrats!"

"Thanks Macy," Tina smiled and hugged her. Maybe she's changed since the last time I saw her. Maybe she's trying out niceness.

"I'm so happy for you," she snapped her gum and grinned.

"We're pretty excited too. There's so much to do!"

"Yeah, totally. And this def explains that chub you got going there, right? Hahaha, I knew that had to be more than ice cream and getting too comfortable in your relationship! Guess you knew the only way he'd ever stay with someone like you is if you had a baby huh?"

Tina scowled. Nope. Still mean.

"Gee, thanks."

A man's voice joined the conversation.

"Isn't it this cutest thing you've ever seen?"

Steve wrapped his arms around Tina from behind, resting his palms on her belly. Macy lifted her eyebrows in doubt.

"I guess if you've got a thing for chubby girls."

"I have a thing for this girl," he said kissing the top of Tina's head.

She smiled smugly at her cousin. Take that, jerk. Macy rolled her eyes and stalked away. Tina spun around in Steve's arms.

"Bah! Why does she always-"

"Tina."

"She's just gotta take a nice night and-"

"Honey."

"She makes me crazy! She always-"

"Tina!"

Steve cupped her face with one hand while the other arm pulled her closer.

"She's nasty, but it's mostly because she's insanely jealous of you. Let it go, sweetie. There's nothing you can do to make her nice."

Tina sighed.

"Haters gonna hate, right?"

Steve's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Um…sure."

…

Steve parked the car in the garage under the Stark Tower. As he pulled out the keys, he glanced over at his wife. Tina was curled into a ball on the seat, blonde curls askew in sharp contrast to the black leather, sleeping soundly. The rhythm of her breathing was steady and calm; a familiar sound that Steve associated with safety, with home. He couldn't bring himself to wake her. Steve threw their bags over his shoulder and gently lifted her into his arms. Her eyelids fluttered and he cuddled her closer.

"Shh," he murmured, rocking her slightly.

Steve walked through the house, filled with silent gratitude that JARVIS was dimly lighting the deserted house in front of him without being told to do so. The soldier placed her on the bed, slipping her into her favorite nightie and doing his best not to jostle her. Steve tucked the covers under her chin, just the way she liked. He half-smiled as he got in next to her. Steve put his hand over the baby and fell asleep, feeling better than he had in some time.

Review please!