A/N: Hello all! Here is a new update for you all! I want to thank you all for the continued feedback and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I still can't get over all the feedback I've gotten for this story! It's the most I've ever gotten ever on a story and I think it's honestly the greatest thing ever! If you could all do the favor of keeping it up I would be eternally grateful!
Note: Okay so as you can see I did a time jump, I just didn't want Irena to be pregnant for 187633 chapters because I think it would get boring after a while. In this chapter there are all kinds of things but I don't want say much ruin it for everybody but it should be a gooder!
Note 2: Okay so this chapter turned out way, way longer than I thought it was going to be. If I had kept going it would have been really long like 20 pages long. So for the first time ever we have a two part chapter for real. Here is part one. It shouldn't take me as long as a normal chapter update to get part two done! Also, you may just want to ignore the spoiler from the last chapter, because I broke up the chapter it kinda became moot, sorry about that! XD
I think that is all I have to say, happy reading everybody!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
To Have New Developments
Part 1
Irena
Looking at herself in the mirror, Irena wrinkled her freckled nose. She was just about 5 months along in her in pregnancy now. While she knew that she looked the way she should at 5 months pregnant, some days she still felt that she was coming to terms with how her body was changing. She let out a soft sigh and caressed her swollen belly. She smiled when she felt the magical pulse beneath her hand. She swore it was getting stronger as the baby grew. The one thing that she really enjoyed about being this far a long was that she could feel her baby moving inside of her now. It was like nothing she ever felt before in her life and she enjoyed it immensely. The only thing she disliked about it was when the baby tried to use her bladder for a trampoline. She hated running to the bathroom so frequently, it drove her nuts but she supposed it was just a normal part of pregnancy. She continued to caress her belly and smiled softly when she felt a small kick underneath her hand. It seemed that her baby was enjoying her ministrations a lot.
Letting out a long soft sigh, she decided that it was time to get ready for the day. Because of her swollen belly, she had been finding it difficult to move around especially when she was lying in bed on her back so her sleep was being interrupted once more but she would take this over night sickness any day of the week. Because she woke up in the night so frequently, Stephen had been letting her sleep in while attended to some of his Sorcerer Supreme duties. For some reason today, her body image was really bothering her and she couldn't figure out what to wear. She supposed her hormones were still a little on the messed up side. Sighing once more, she stood in nothing but her bra and undies and sifted through her clothes in Stephen's wardrobe hoping something would jump out at her. As she did this, she could feel that Stephen was coming to the bedroom possibly because her emotions were fluctuating so much or he thought she was in some kind of trouble because she was taking so long to get ready.
'Probably a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B.' She thought to herself.
Sure enough, Stephen entered the bedroom and she could feel him staring at her. She could sense he really like what he saw. He approached her from behind and let his large, warm hands rest on her bare shoulders. He ran his nose along her neck and that caused her to shudder a little bit. She knew that he was trying to calm her fluctuating emotions and it was working wonders.
"Not that I don't like what I am looking at because I do but whatever is the matter sweetheart?" He asked curiously.
She made a face, she tried to find the words to explain to him what she was feeling without saying something along the lines of 'I feel like a giant blimp and I hate myself right now'. She knew that it would upset him if she told him that. Plus, it wasn't as if she actually thought that about herself. She was just having a crappy body image day today.
"Um, I'm having difficulty choosing something to wear today." She tried to explain.
She could sense that he understood the meaning behind her words thankfully. He gave her a tender look.
"Oh my sweet little love, you are beautiful. Don't ever think otherwise." He murmured reassuringly into her ear.
She let out soft noise of contentment.
"Thank you Stephen, I really needed to hear that." She mumbled back to him.
"Anytime, here let me help you." He said, taking a look inside the wardrobe.
He pulled out a pair of very stretchy black leggings and a nice loose fitting maternity top with funky colored flowers all over it. It was clear that he was thinking of her frequent trips to the bathroom when he picked the outfit out and she loved him for it. The leggings were super easy to get on and off. She loved it when he did the thing where he knew exactly what she needed when she needed it. He helped her get into the leggings and get the shirt on. As he smoothed the shirt over her swollen belly, he let his hand rest there for a moment. He caressed her belly tenderly. She loved feeling his emotions whenever he did this; they were filled with so much love. As he continued to caress her belly, she felt a little kick and then a pulse of magic. She could tell the baby seemed to enjoying Stephen's ministrations as much as she was. Suddenly, he stopped his ministrations on her belly and that caused her to pout a little. He chuckled a little bit at the look on her face.
Gently, he forced her to sit on the edge of the bed and she looked at him curiously. For a moment she wondered just what he was up to until he pulled a pair of socks out of the drawers of the wardrobe. He knew that she had been having great difficulty getting her socks on as of late because of being so short and her belly getting in the way so he was going to help her get them on. Could he be any more perfect today? He grabbed the small stool he kept near the bathroom on a placed it in front of where she was sitting on the bed. He sat down in front of her and placed one of her feet on his knee. He frowned when he saw just how swollen they had become. She supposed that this was just another awesome part of being pregnant. Gently, he began to massage her small foot and she couldn't help the moan that fell from her lips. God, did that feel really good. She could sense that Stephen was really enjoying how good he was making her feel. He continued his ministrations and they caused her to damn near melt right into the bed. She let her mismatched eyes drift closed. Just as she really started to get lost in the feelings that Stephen created, the song Crazy Train By Ozzy Osbourne started playing from her phone and she let out a low, annoyed groan.
'Oh come on! Why is it always me all the time?' She thought in annoyance.
She knew that ring. When she went to retrieve the rest of her tools all those weeks ago, she also managed to finally talk Tony into giving Bucky a cell phone. It wasn't easy but she managed to pull it off thank god. Now she never had to listen to the Star Spangled Banner song ever again. She tried to supress a shudder just thinking about it. She rolled a little bit to the right the best that she could considering she was 5 months pregnant and picked her phone up off of the little bedside table.
"This had better be good Bucky, or I swear to god!" She snarled into the phoned.
Bucky's deep laugh filtered through the phone.
"Oh doll face, don't tell me I interrupted something again!" He joked.
She rolled her mismatched eyes at his stupid joke. He would never let her live that down.
"You didn't interrupt THAT thank you very much! Just a much needed foot rub, what's up?" She asked curiously.
There was a pause on the other end of the phone and she knew that Bucky was trying to figure out how to tell her something that would more than likely annoy the crap out of her.
"Would it be possible for you to come and take a look at my arm in a bit? Steve and I were training earlier and I think I screwed it up somehow. It's making a bunch of racket and pissing everybody off." He explained.
She pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it with annoyance. Of course Bucky screwed up his arm again. She put the phone back to her ear and focused her attention to Stephen for a moment who as still massaging her feet. She could sense that that he was very curious about what she and Bucky were talking about. She knew that Stephen wouldn't be impressed with her wanting to go to the tower but she couldn't in good consciousness leave Bucky to walk around with a screwed up arm. Hopefully, it wouldn't be THAT hard to convince him to let her go. He would want to come with her and that was fine by her. She needed an assistant anyway.
"Sure Bucky, just give me like an hour and I'll be right over to take a look at it." She replied.
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she felt Stephen stiffen and his emotions go completely haywire. She knew that was going to happen, she gave him a reassuring look and took his large in her smaller unoccupied one. That seemed to calm him down a bit.
"Sounds good doll face, see you in a bit!" He told her and then hung up the phone before she could reply.
She looked at the phone and rolled her eyes. She hated it when he did that crap. She put her phone back on the night table and turned her attention back to Stephen who looked very unhappy with her. She could just feel the protectiveness oozing from him.
"Sweetheart, I don't think it's such a good idea for you to go anywhere right now." He murmured, stroking the side of her small hand.
She gave him a soft look.
"Stephen, everything will be fine, I promise you. I can't just leave Bucky with a screwed up arm it's not fair to him or anybody at that tower for that matter." She coaxed.
He let out a long sigh; she could sense that he knew that she was right.
"Alright, you win. We'll go but we fix his arm and then come straight back." He said in a voice that left no from for argument.
She fought the urge to frown at him, well there went going to see Darcy for a bit after she finished. She supposed it was better than not going at all. She understood why Stephen felt the need to be so protective of her but soon she wouldn't even be able to pee without him at the rate he was going.
"Fair enough." She agreed.
After he finished helping her get her socks on, he helped her to get off of the bed. She found a pair of flats she got when she was with Darcy and slipped them on. Together they left their bedroom and went down to the 'practice room' to go and retrieve some of her tools. After she picked out her required tools, they left the 'practice room' and went to the foyer of the Sanctum so she or Stephen could open a portal. She kind of wanted to do it to make sure her magic hadn't gotten too rusty on her.
"Hey Stephen, do you mind if I open the portal? I want to make sure that my magic doesn't get too rusty." She explained.
Stephen let out a chuckle and then he nodded affectionately at her.
"Sure, sweetheart." He agreed with a chuckle.
She began making the hand movements to open a portal and then something really weird happened. As she felt her magic activate, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her lower-abdomen and froze. Just what in the hell was that? She looked at Stephen with large eyes. She knew that Stephen could sense her pain.
"Just what in the hell WAS that?" She wondered.
Stephen looked just as worried.
"I don't know sweetheart, but maybe you should just stay here and fix Bucky's arm at another time?" He suggested.
She sighed, she understood where he was coming from but it wasn't a good idea to leave Bucky's arm broken. It could do serious permanent damage to it that she couldn't fix. She let herself breath for a moment and decided that she felt okay. Whatever it was that happened was long gone now.
"Stephen please, I can't just leave Bucky with his arm all screwed up. I might not be able to fix it later. I think I will be okay if you open up the portal instead." She pleaded.
Stephen gave her a look but relented.
"Alright sweetheart, but the minute something feels off again we come back here. Do you understand?" He stated seriously.
She nodded in agreement.
"Fair enough." She agreed.
She watched Stephen make the required hand movements to open a portal. The orange portal materialized in front of them and Stephen stepped into first. She stepped into it after him and thankfully she came out on the other side into the tower lobby and everything felt normal. She felt no pain coming through the portal at all. Of course Stephen had to give her a once over just to be sure. As he finished, Pepper came into the lobby with a look on her face that she didn't know how to decipher.
"Pepper! Is everything okay? Tony didn't blow himself up did he?" She asked worriedly.
Pepper laughed.
"No honey, Tony didn't blow himself up I promise. He just wants to talk to you and Stephen quickly before you go look at Bucky's arm that's all." She explained.
She gave Pepper a look. She thought it was a little weird that Tony suddenly wanted to talk to them but then again Tony never did anything normally to begin with.
"Okay sure, we'll go and talk to him. Where is he?" She asked Pepper curiously.
Pepper smiled at her and Stephen.
"I think he might be in the lounge. I think I'll come with you two I need to talk to him anyway." She said happily.
She sensed that Pepper was extremely happy about something. Not that Pepper being extremely happy was abnormal or anything but this was like knocking back 10 espresso shots happy. Looking at each other curiously, she and Stephen followed Pepper to the lounge. Pepper threw open the doors and her entire family jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!"
She jumped a little bit and thanked her lucky stars that she didn't have to pee otherwise she would have been standing in a puddle. She looked around the room in shock. It had been decorated with baby themes. She could sense that Stephen was just as shocked as she was. She turned to Pepper and gave her a huge hug.
"Oh my god Pepper! This is amazing, thank you so much!" She exclaimed.
Pepper snickered and giggled.
"Don't thank me, thank Tony! He put it all together for you!" She giggled.
She looked at Pepper in shock, she could sense that Pepper was in fact telling the truth. She turned to find Tony standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. She ran up to him and hugged him as hard as she could.
"Tony, you are really the best dad a girl could ask for! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" She exclaimed excitedly
"Of course I'm the best dad ever." He preened.
She rolled her eyes and gave his chest a playful slap.
"Okay Tony, don't let that head of yours get too inflated now." She joked.
After thanking Tony one more time, she went to go find Darcy, Natasha and Wanda so she could catch up with them. She also saw a giant buffet table with a buttload of food on it that had her name her name on it too that she had to check out. As she did that, she watch Tony approach Stephen and have a real actual conversation with him. Her eyes softened at the sight, it was so nice to see them getting along so much better.
After she retrieved a plate of food, she went and sat with Darcy, Natasha and Wanda. She could feel the curiosity just dripping from them and knew that she would have to answer a bunch of questions about being pregnant and what different things were like. It was fine until Natasha and Wanda started asking what her sex life was like. She started turning red up to her hairline, god they were the most embarrassing big sisters ever!
"So, how does it work?" Natasha asked curiously.
She could sense that she was genuinely curious about the whole thing.
"Like it usually does! There are other positions besides missionary. I would think you of all people would know that, Natasha!" She snorted.
Natasha laughed.
"I realize that, but how is it at all comfortable with that much stomach?" Natasha asked again.
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. Natasha was such ridiculously blunt person all the time. Suddenly, somebody yelled for her over the music and she was extremely grateful for the interruption.
"Oi Preggo! Why don't you come over here and open your gifts!" Tony yelled.
She fought the urge to shake her head, it was clear that he found his way into the alcohol that much was certain.
After she managed to pry herself from the chair she was sitting in with Darcy and Natasha's help, she walked over to the couch and had Stephen help her to sit onto the couch. She frowned when she literally sank into it. She sincerely hoped that she didn't have to pee any time soon. Oh well. Just like her birthday party, Stephen sat on one side of her and Tony on the other. She looked around and realized that there were gifts everywhere.
"Sweet lord, this kid is going to be SPOILED!" She thought to herself.
Tony started handing her gifts and she started opening them with gusto. She got a bunch if homemade books of coupons from Darcy and Bucky which she absolutely loved. A kind of portable bassinet on wheels from Clint (which he swore by) complete with cute hand knitted blanket inside of it. She just had to ask Clint if he knitted it himself.
"So Clint, did you knit this beautiful blanket yourself?" She asked curiously.
Clint immediately turned fire engine red and started choking in embarrassment. She couldn't help the giggle that escaped her; Clint was so fun to tease. She had to get him back for all the times he's messed up her hair on her. She decided to move onto the next gift to save Clint anymore embarrassment. She picked up a couple of packages from Natasha and Wanda and ripped them open carefully. She was happy to see all kinds of baby clothes, lots of cute little onesies and hats. Thor got the baby a plush hammer that was enchanted with Asgardian magic to keep nightmares away that she thought was just too cute. Of course Tony had to be the one to outdo everybody and got her a little red wagon full baby of essentials. She was sure Pepper helped him with that. Finally, Steve approached her with a good size cardboard box. He looked so apprehensive and she could sense that he felt that his gift wasn't as good as all the others. Oh Steve. Looking at him with softened eyes, she looked inside the box and was pleasantly surprised to see a bunch of vintage baby stuff inside of it. He cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Um, I know it's not as good as all the other stuff you got but I know my ma would have wanted you to have this stuff. It was mine from when I was a baby." He explained softly.
She looked at him with tears in the corners of her eyes.
"Steve, thank you so much! This is beyond perfect!" She said happily.
She could sense Steve's relief and she knew that she just made him very happy. Considering she couldn't move very well, she put arms out indicating that she wanted hug and Steve gladly bent down and gave her one. Suddenly, she felt a frisson of something and knew that somebody was coming. Sure enough Sam came in the room and approached her. She was immediately uncomfortable with what she was feeling from him. He smiled at her and handed her a gift bag. She could sense that everybody was on guard around her especially Stephen.
"Here, look I want to try and fix things and be…friends." He explained.
She accepted his explanation and opened the bag. Inside was a cute little outfit.
"Thanks Sam." She smiled.
"Your welcome, say you've gotten…large?" He said awkwardly.
She immediately frowned while everybody else just sort of faceplamed. She could sense that Stephen wanted nothing more than to punch Sam in the face for that remark.
"Um Sam, I am a normal size for being 5 months pregnant thank you very much!" She said, completely annoyed.
"Nothing from that comes from Stephen Strange could ever be considered normal." Sam muttered.
Her mismatched eyes widened in shock. She couldn't BELIEVE he had the gall to say that crap!
"Excuse me, if Stephen's not considered normal then what the hell am I considered?" She snapped back angrily.
As if realizing how badly he just screwed up, Sam put up his hands in surrender started to back away. She kept her hand on Stephen's right thigh so he wouldn't get up and go obliterate Sam. She could sense that he was just seething, everybody was. Steve came forward and stepped in front of her and Stephen with his arms crossed over his chest. She had never seen him look so mad before in all her life.
"I think it would be a good idea if you left now, Sam." Steve said forcefully.
Thankfully Sam seemed to get the message and left the room.
"Oh what a jackass! Be friends my ass!" She snarled in anger.
Tony placed a calming hand on her shoulder.
"Come on kid, don't let him win, it's just not worth it. Let's play a game instead." He suggested.
She relaxed considerably at Tony's touch and nodded.
"Sure, that works for me." She agreed.
Tony got up and went to retrieve a tray with a baby bottle minus the nipple and the part to keep the nipple in place and some dice. This was a game she loved. The dice game, it was a lot of fun to play and could be used at any event. She wondered what kind of prizes Tony chose. Probably all Stark industries stuff or lame things like subscriptions to the 'jelly of the month club', he loved pulling crap like that he thought it was hilarious. They started the game and just as it started getting good, she suddenly had the extreme urge to pee. She felt the baby kicking something that she presumed to be her bladder.
"Stephen! You've to get me out of this couch now before I pee all over it!" She exclaimed loudly.
Immediately, Stephen stopped what he was doing and tried to pry her out of the couch. Her family of course thought it was hilarious and she sensed that they were snickering away the background those assholes. Finally Stephen managed to pop her free from the couch and she ran as fast as she could, oh she would never live it down if she actually peed her pants. She would have to make Stephen go to the Sanctum and get her fresh bottoms. How embarrassing would that be?
Thankfully, she managed to make it there in time. She never felt such relief in all her life, except maybe when she finally got to pee after her first ultrasound. After she finished and cleaned herself up, she exited the bathroom now happy as a lark. Suddenly, she heard something and she stopped in her tracks. Sam was talking to somebody. She couldn't make out the entire conversation just the words "Slut", "rape" and something about "If she could keep her legs closed". She realized very quickly that Sam was talking to somebody and saying those words about her. How could he say such terrible things about her? Before she even realized what she was doing, she was in front of him. She was so angry. She could feel the magic pulsing through her begging to be released. The strength of it was so frightening. Hell, she could sense the fear just dripping from Sam.
"How dare you say things like that about me Sam Wilson?! Especially about something you know nothing about!" She roared angrily.
She knew that her eyes eclipsed to black and could feel the blue magic crackling around her. It suddenly started enveloping her and then something happened. She felt an extreme pain in her lower abdomen and cried out. What was happening to her? She fell to her knees and clutched at her abdomen. What was happening to her baby? The fear exploded inside of her had just hurt her baby? She could feel herself begin to get lightheaded. Everything was swimming, but she could sense that her family and Stephen were with her now. It was a flurry of activity that she just couldn't make heads or tails of.
"What is happening to me? I'm so scared!" She thought, completely terrified.
She suddenly heard a familiar voice inside of her head.
"Relax my sweet child, I am here for you." The voice murmured.
"Mother! I'm so scared! What's happening to me?" She asked worriedly.
She swore she could feel something stroking her hair back from her face.
"I know you are but you must relax. Everything will be fine, I promise you." The voice murmured softly.
She tried to listen to the voice of her 'Mother' and just let the darkness take her but she was still so terrified for her herself and for her baby. What was happening to her magic?
Spoiler
Stephen breathed a sigh of relief. Irena was fine and their little treasure was fine. But what in the hell was that? He looked to Wong for answers and he had none either. It seemed that she went into some kind of magic hibernation mode to protect her baby from the onslaught of magic she just tried to release. He wondered if it had something to do with the baby's magic being connected to hers.
But the magic that he just witnessed coming from her was stronger than anything he's ever felt before and the magical signature was off too. Was being pregnant causing her magic to evolve somehow?