Ch. 28
After they finished their lunch, Steve and Stacy stood to wash their dishes. Steve noticed that Stacy kept yawning, but that she was trying to hide her exhaustion from him, turning away or covering her mouth.
"Did you sleep any last night?" he asked, concern tingeing his voice.
She shook her head. "That chair wasn't very comfortable. And I was too anxious about you to sleep," she admitted.
Steve was touched by that. "Hey, I'm alright," he said, resting his hands lightly on her hips as they faced each other.
"I know. I know. But, I was so worried," she said, trembling slightly.
He pulled her in for a hug. "I love that you cared so much. But, your mom is right, though. You need to take of yourself, too. Why don't you take a nap till dinnertime?"
Steve could tell that she was about to protest, but her words were engulfed in yet another yawn. "Okay. I'll go get a little rest," she said, reaching up and giving him a quick kiss.
"That's my best girl," he said as she left.
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Steve was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking yet another cup of coffee when Daniella and Mateo bounded into the kitchen.
"Uncle 'Teve, Uncle 'Teve," Daniella yelled as she raced into the kitchen, skidding to a halt right in front of him. "C'mon, c'mon," she said, tugging on his sleeve.
"Yeah, Uncle Steve, you've got to come outside. You've got to see what we did," Mateo said, panting from excitement.
"Alright, buddy, I'll come," Steve said, getting up and letting the kids drag him to the backyard where their parents and grandparents were waiting.
"Aw, kids, that's great!" he exclaimed when he got outside and saw what they had done.
There, in the middle of the backyard, was a life-size snowman made in the image of Captain America. The kids (along with their parents and grandparents, most likely) had used red and blue food dye to create their homage to Steve. He had a blue helmet and and his iconic red and blue shield. Under the snowman were written the words, "Uncle Steve, our hero!" in alternating red and blue.
"Photos!" Amanda called out, taking her phone out.
Steve posed next to the snowman, crouching down, his arms wrapped around both children as they posed for photo after photo. He couldn't believe the sweetness and thoughtfulness of the endearing gesture. As he looked at Amanda and Luis, as well as Stacy's parents, he knew that they must have done most of the work to create such an elaborate display. It touched him to know how they had accepted them into the family, made him a part of their holidays. They barely knew him, but they treated him like one of their own.
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A few hours later, Steve was helping Luis set the table for dinner. Stacy was still sleeping and both Amanda and Daniella were taking a late nap. Mateo was in the basement, playing a game on Luis's phone. Stacy's parents were hard at work making dinner. Her mom was finishing up the garlic bread while the homemade lasagna cooked and her dad was making a huge antipasto salad.
"So, baby number three?" Steve said to Luis.
"Yeah, I don't know if I'm quite ready to go on that roller coaster ride again. I mean, we just got Daniella out of diapers and now, we're back to changing them eight times a day."
"Eight times a day?" Steve asked.
"It feels like all you do at the beginning is feed them and change them. Do you have much experience with babies?" Luis asked.
"Can't say that I do," Steve admitted, his babysitting adventure with Stacy and the twins being his most recent foray into infant care.
"Neither did I. Mateo's was the first diaper I changed. Right there in the hospital. You get the hang of it pretty quick. Those first six weeks are rough, though."
"What happens after six weeks?"
"At six weeks, they begin to smile. When your child smiles at you for the first time, well, it just melts your heart. There is nothing more beautiful in the world. I was never much for kids, but something changes when they're your own kids. Something clicks inside of you," Luis said.
Steve grinned, briefly imagining a tiny infant smiling up at him with pale green eyes.
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After dinner, they all attended the Christmas eve services at the church Stacy parents attended. Mateo sat between Stacy and Steve and Daniella bounced up and down on Stacy's lap. The church was a bit more traditional than the Steve's church back in New York, with an organist instead of an electric guitar and hymnals instead of PowerPoint lyrics up on a screen.
It hit Steve that he thought of the church back in New York as his church. And Monica, Erica, Michael, and Josh as his friends. For the longest time, he thought about attending Stacy's church, hanging out with Stacy's friends. But now, something had shifted inside of him. He no longer thought of his life in New York as temporarily, transitory. If he were honest with himself, for the longest time, he kept waiting and hoping that he'd wake up one day and he'd be back in 1944.
As he looked over at Daniella, warbling out the lyrics to "Silent Night" and as he felt Stacy's hand tightly holding his, he finally felt at home. Not that everything felt natural or easy, but everything felt right. He had found his place in this world.
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Later on that night, after they got back home, Steve and Stacy sat on the couch, feeling the warmth of the crackling fire, looking at the twinkling white lights of the Christmas tree. Everyone else was in bed, but they were still up.
Steve was sitting on one end of the couch, his arm around Stacy, his fingers trailing up and down her arm, her head resting on his shoulder. They had spent the last two hours talking since the rest of the family went to bed.
"Could you tell me . . . how you got mixed up with Tony?" Steve asked tentatively. He had heard Tony's version of it, but he was dying to hear hers.
She tensed for a moment, then sighed. "Well, it was several months after I broke up with Josh. I hadn't dated anyone since and so, Monica finally hectored me into doing an on-line dating profile."
Steve shook his head. "I can't imagine a girl like you having a hard time getting dates."
Stacy sighed. "Like I've said, a lot of guys aren't interested in a G-rated dating relationship."
"Wait, was Josh the last guy you dated before me?"
Stacy nodded.
The last guy she had dated had cheated on her. Steve let that sink in for a moment. And yet, when confronted with tabloid video of him and Natasha at a jewelry store together, Stacy had automatically dismissed any perception that he had been unfaithful. She had trusted him implicitly. She had faith in him.
"Anyhow, I got a phone call from your friend, Tony. At first, I thought it was a prank call, but he finally convinced me to call him back at the general phone line at Stark Tower. He said that you were lonely and depressed and he wanted me to get you out of your apartment," she said.
"What did you say?"
"I said no. Absolutely not. I was totally embarrassed. I couldn't even imagine trying to approach you."
"But then," Steve prompted.
"A week later, Tony showed up at my classroom, after school. He said that he knew the school was bankrupt, that we had all gotten pink slips. He . . . ," she swallowed, looking as though she might cry, "he even knew that Monica was going to lose her work visa and get shipped home. He told me he could make all our problems go away. He promised that he would fully fund the school and that no one would lose their job. I just had get you out of your apartment three times. He set it up so that JARVIS would text me when Tony was gone; keep an eye on you."
"But . . . but you didn't just stop after three times?"
She smiled up at him. "Oh, honey, I had the biggest crush on you. I nearly swooned when I saw you at that first concert in that suit. And you were so sweet and nice and kind. I did everything I could to spend more time with you. I've worked out more this past year than I have in the previous decade."
He chuckled, but then his expression became serious. "You never told me. . . about Tony," he said carefully.
"Condition of the agreement. You weren't ever supposed to know. I almost told you at the Halloween party. But, I guess I was worried that Tony might renege on the deal if you found out what he'd done. If I'm honest, I was also scared. You and I had just started dating. I didn't know how you'd react if you found out that Tony had set us up. I really wish I had told you, no matter the consequences," she said glumly, looking down.
He lifted her chin up with one finger, looking into her eyes. "Hey, hey. It's okay; it's okay. I understand. Tony can be very . . . persuasive."
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For the next hour, they mainly talked about the future. They made birthday plans for Stacy at the end of January. Steve asked her what she wanted to do and she seemed a bit embarrassed.
"What is it?" Steve pressed. "Anything you want."
"I know it's silly . . . but I've always really wanted to see 'The Lion King' on Broadway. But the tickets are so expensive."
"Done," Steve said firmly.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"You and me, 'The Lion King'," he repeated.
She grinned up at him. "I love you."
"I love you, too," he said, squeezing her gently. "We'll have a great time."
"You know, Amanda's due around mid-February. I got leave to take off a week from school near the end of the month, so that she has some time to recuperate a bit. I wanted to go out and see the baby. Would you . . . . would you like to come along?" she asked tentatively.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he answered. He took a deep breath trying to delicately approach his next question. "Do you have any plans for the summer?
"I'll need to start looking for another summer job. I don't think I can handle nannying again. It was so brutal. The kids were fine, but the parents were such a nightmare. Maybe I can do some tutoring," she said offhandedly.
"Maybe we could do something else this summer?" he hedged. "When does the spring semester end?"
"Around mid-June," she replied. "Why?"
"Nothing really. Just checking," he said vaguely.
"You really are bad at lying. Out with it," she said, turning her head to look up at him.
"Well, you said yourself, we're pretty serious and I was thinking that, hypothetically, maybe summer would be a good time to . . ." his voice began to falter. He felt like he was going about this all the wrong way.
"Hypothetically?" she said with a sly grin.
"Uh, yeah."
"Summer's a great time of year. Does this mean that I should maybe put off looking for a summer job?" she asked carefully.
"Maybe . . . hypothetically," he chuckled.
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Steve woke up Christmas morning to an incessant pounding on the door to the den. "Wake up, Uncle 'Teve. Wake up, Uncle 'Teve."
Steve and Stacy had been up talking and cuddling by the fire until well past one in the morning. As he looked over at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was just a little past six in the morning. He groaned as he got up, his back in agony from the horrid foldout couch. His only consolation was that hopefully next Christmas he would be upgraded to the upstairs bedroom.
"I'm coming," he mumbled and opened the door.
"Uncle 'Teve, Uncle 'Teve, you have to come. We can't open the presents until you come," Daniella insisted, her hair a riot of disheveled curls, clad in red footie pajamas that said "Santa's Little Helper" in green writing on them.
"Okay, okay. I just need to get dressed, then I can come."
"No, no. Uncle 'Teve, you need to come right now. We're all wearing our p.j.s. C'mon. C'mon. C'mon," she said as she reached up and tugged on his hand.
"Alright," Steve said reluctantly, letting her pull him out of the den. He was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt. He supposed it could be worse.
As he went into the living room, he saw that Daniella was right, the rest of the family was there, all still in their pajamas. Stacy walked over to him, handing him a cup of steaming coffee and going up on tiptoes to give him a peck on the cheek.
"How'd you sleep?" she asked sleepily.
"Fairly well, for only having five hours," he fibbed.
"I'm planning on taking a nap later on this afternoon. I'm still catching up from the night before," she confessed before sipping a bit more coffee from her own mug.
Mateo was in charge of distributing the stocking from "Santa" that decorated the mantelpiece. Everyone in the family had one. The children got various small toys while the adults got chocolates and candy canes. Next up were the presents. Steve was just as surprised as everyone else at what gifts were from "Steve and Stacy" since Stacy had bought and shipped all the gifts herself.
The children were beyond excited. Stacy had gotten Mateo the Hydra Base activity set he had wanted. When Steve winced when he saw it, Stacy leaned over, "I got all these gifts before . . ." when she trailed off. Steve realized that she meant before their falling out.
Daniella squealed when she saw what she got from "Uncle 'Teve and Aunt 'Tacy", a complete Black Widow outfit along with a matching red wig. It seemed that Amanda had told Stacy that Daniella had caught her brother's obsession with the Avengers, becoming completely fixated with Black Widow in particular. Daniella rushed to put the costume on over her pajamas and Steve couldn't wait to send the photos they took with her to Natasha.
Steve and Stacy had gotten Stacy's father a year-long pass to the gun range along with a few modern world history books he'd been wanting. They had gotten her mother a bottle of her favorite perfume and a red cashmere sweater. For Luis and Amanda, they got a voucher for fifteen hours of babysitting at a local nanny service to give them a chance to get a bit of a break and have a few date nights before baby #3 was born.
"You are the best sister ever," Amanda said, hugging her tightly.
"Thanks, man," Luis said warmly to Steve, hugging him.
Steve gave him a blank smile as he patted Luis's back, not wanting to admit that he had nothing to do with choosing the gift.
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"The next one is to Uncle Steve from Aunt Stacy," Mateo said, handing a small wrapped present to Steve.
He quickly unwrapped it and smirked when he saw the contents.
"A new phone," he said, showing it to the group.
"It's the newest iPhone," Stacy explained. "I couldn't handle you running around with that flip phone anymore."
"Thank you. I love it," he said, as he stared at its sleek black design.
"And this is for Aunt Stacy from Uncle Steve," Mateo announced, handing a small red and gold gift bag to Stacy.
Her eyes lit up and she took a small jewelry box out of the bag. She opened the box and saw the contents and her expression changed.
"It's lovely," she said quietly, as she took out a small golden locket from the box.
Steve felt something shift in the room. As he saw the looks of disappointment on the faces around him, it hit him. He had given Stacy a jewelry box. On Christmas. In front of her family. After spending hours last night talking about their future plans together. They were all expecting an engagement ring.
A ring that was still sitting tucked inside his dresser drawer in New York. A ring that he hadn't even thought to bring with him, since the tension at the beginning of their trip had been so strong.
He rushed to explain the necklace, hoping to smooth things over.
"It was my mother's. It was the only piece of jewelry that my dad every got her. The only piece of real jewelry she ever owned. She wore it every single day. He had it engraved here, on the back 'My Best Girl'. And it has the year, too, 1917, when she was pregnant with me. It was his Christmas gift to her before he got shipped off to war. . . . his last Christmas gift to her . . . he never came back. She told me that one day," Steve took a deep breath. ". . . one day I'd meet a special girl and that I should give it to her. And I have," he said simply.
"Oh, Steve. I love you," Stacy said, grabbing him and kissing him soundly, ignoring the nervous laughter of her family.
"Two little lovebirds sitting in a tree . . . . K-I-S-S-I-N-G . . . First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage . . ..," Daniella began in a singsong voice.
"Hush, now," Amanda said gently.
But to Steve, it was one of the most beautiful songs in the world.
Author's Note-
1. Don't worry, we still have a few more chapters to go!
