XXVIII

Guess


"How about Richard?"

Steve shook his head. "No, please no," he said, bracing himself as Sharon shifted in a better position to lean against him. The two were on the actual beach this time, feet tucked into the sand as they deliberated baby names. "I'd suggest Anthony, but only to get a rise out of you," he said, kissing her nose playfully.

"And to inflate Tony's ego. Pepper complains about it enough, we don't need to add to her misery," Sharon replied, flicking a little sand at his chest. "Evan?"

"I could see it as a first name, but it strikes me more as a surname. Reminds me of that actor from that movie on TV, The Iceman, I think it was," he said, absently brushing the sand off himself.

"Hm, I though that actor was cute," Sharon said, snuggling closer as best as she could at the moment. "Your suggestion?"

"More of a question. Are we absolutely sure it's a boy?" Steve said, glancing down at his wife.

"We-ell, you can ask Sanderson or the nurse if you want, I wanted it to be a surprise. I'm personally feeling that it's going to be a boy, but you can talk to the doctors if you want. If they annoyed me before, I'm absolutely sick of them now," Sharon said, shrugging without opening her eyes. "They keep hovering too much and too close."

"They're just worried about the effect the serum will have on you and the baby," Steve said quietly, briefly acknowledging the flutter of guilt before tucking it away.

"I know, that's why I haven't kicked them out yet," Sharon muttered back crossly. "But back to baby names. I want to have this settled before my mother remembers and calls to give us her personal input."

"We're going to be seeing her more often now, aren't we?" Steve asked, remembering how stressed Sharon got on a normal day back home when they received forewarning of Amanda's visits.

"Yeah, she'll want to help, and we'll want help," Sharon replied as he moved some of her hair from her face. "Kids are a handful even on a good day, boys even more so. In my opinion anyway, you try babysitting two toddler boys when you're just sixteen. I was at my wit's end with them both at the time, but they helped train me for dealing with people in S.H.I.E.L.D."

"I think there's a bit of a difference between your babysitting charges and S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel," Steve said, glancing down at her.

"You'd think that, but I still run across the occasional officer who thinks he's entitled because his father was some hotshot in a battle, or ran a risky mission. It's irritating. A temperament like that reminds me of how entitled those toddlers acted while I was caring for them. So I just treated the obnoxious officer as I would the toddler. There, babysitting training."

Steve shook his head with a smile. "Only you could take two very different situations and tie them together with something as odd as babysitting training." He leaned forward and said, "I suppose we should get back to baby names?"

"Mm, good idea. Don't want to be caught off guard at the actual birth," Sharon said, readjusting herself. "Now how about James?"

Steve paused, wondering if she knew about whom he left behind in the war. Then he dismissed it, of course she knew. But was it really fair to pin a soldier's ghost to an unborn child, especially that of his best friend? He could understand where she was coming from with the suggestion, but he still had his reservations. "Let's keep it on the table as a possibility," he said. "Now, another idea?"


A/N: Prompt: Doing something ridiculous