AN: Thank you so much for all the views and reviews. I truly appreciate it! I've been updating daily, but will probably not update again until Sunday. Just wanted to let you all know-happy weekend!

Ch. 10 Puppy Dog Tales

Finally, after many weeks, I got the all-clear from Bruce to take Evy out into public. We were going to our first Breakfast Club outing in a very long time. When Evy was diagnosed, I could not have imagined the amount of support I would get, not just from the Avengers, but from the Breakfast Club crowd themselves. When the Avengers weren't visiting or sitting with me in the PICU, one of the members of the Breakfast Club was. Jess and Marnie made it a habit to stop by on their way to work each morning to bring me a cup of coffee. Bruce would then come it right after with a tray of breakfast urging me to eat. A little later, Heather would drop by with homemade cards from the boys, and then just as she would leave Thor or Clint would come by to keep me company until the doctors made their rounds...I found it hilarious that the two groups always seemed so in-sync but to my knowledge never actually met each other. It was for the best, the less the Breakfast Club knew about me, the better and the safer they would be. Still I appreciated their support whole-heartedly, and the first chance we got, I dressed Evy in her new sundress and we met the entire crew at our favorite Sunday haunt.
Jess and Marnie rented the back room for all of us so that we could have a small party for Evy, away from the crowded, bustling restaurant. The boys greeted us excitedly, each of them cautiously regarding Evy's condition. I could tell that their parents had already spoken with them about what had happened, each of them being very careful around her. The biggest, Sam, engulfed her in a bear hug only to be chastised by his younger brother.
"You're s'pose to be gentle," Peter smacked his brother's arm.
"I know! She's frag-frag-breakable."
I didn't even realize how much the boys understood the gravity of Evy's illness until little Neil approached me, brown eyes wide with worry. He tugged on my jacket.
"Mr. Rogers?" He asked in whisper. "Is Evy going to be okay?"
"Of course Neil." He pivoted back and forth on his heels, unconvinced.
"It's getting better," I told him. "She's going to be fine, we just have to be careful while her heart is healing."
"Because it's broken?" I smiled at the three year-old. "I can fix it!" He said suddenly. I didn't know what he meant, but watched in awe as the timid toddler approached my bubbly little girl surrounded by their peers.
"Evy?" He asked. She stopped playing and turned to face him. He leaned forward and to all of our amazement kissed her on the cheek in front of everyone. Evy turned a deep red and ran to me while the other boys made a variety of comments.
"Eww, you kissed a girl."
"That was funny."
"Mommy said we can't go and steal kisses from girls."
"Why did you have to go and kiss her, Neil?" The smallest boy turned red as well and while looking down at his shoes finally mumbled an inaudible answer.
"Neil?" Marnie asked. "Sweetheart, why did you kiss her?"
"Because," he said. "Whenever you're sad and heart-broken, momma kisses you." Marnie picked him up and swung him around until he was in her embrace.
"That's right sweetie."
"Still," Jessie walked over to the two. "You can't just give kisses to everyone."
"I didn't momma," he rebuffed. "I only gave one to Evy." At this point, all the parents in the room were starring at me, trying to gauge my reaction. I was mostly in shock. I didn't think I would need to approach this kind of problem while she was so young.
"Did I do something bad?" He asked and I shook my head.
"No, Neil. You just wanted to fix her heart," I said. "But next time, you'll need to get permission from her. All right?" He nodded furiously and wriggling out of his mothers' grasps ran over to Evy who currently was hiding behind me.
"I'm sorry Evy," he told her. She shyly looked up and smiled. The rest of the gathering, she let Neil play with Cookie's cousin, as the other boys watched jealously. I laughed inwardly. Boy was I going to be in trouble when she was older. As we started to pack up and say our farewells, Evy gave each boy a hug-although Neil's was a little longer than the others. Marnie and Jess pulled me aside, just to make sure that I was all right with what happened.
"It's fine, really. They're just kids..."I assured them.
"Still, if it happens again when they're older. Just promise us you won't go all 'Captain America' on our son." I stared at them dumbfounded.
"It wasn't that hard to figure out when we ran into the Tony Stark," Jess explained. "We figured you weren't Hawkeye and you didn't seem angry enough to be the Hulk, and you seemed to fit the profile so well."
"But your secret is safe with us," Marnie concluded. "It's safe with all of us."
"I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about Evy," I explained. "I'm also worried about your safety."
"Seriously, Steve?" Jess asked. "You don't need to be the lone ranger. Just because you're a superhero doesn't mean you need to worry about all of us. That's why you're part of a team. Teams, even groups like ours, we stick together-we take care of each other."
"Let's put it this way...we'd probably already be in danger just by knowing you, but at least we have the benefit of getting to know you while we're in danger."
I had to admit, they did have a point.