A/N: Well, here's the next chapter! Y'all get to find out what's wrong with Maria! Enjoy! I'd like to thank Foxbracken-Pheonix Everren for giving me the idea for this chapter! I'd also like to thank her, All For Jesus, and everyone else who has reviewed, favorited, and followed! It means a lot to me :)
For the second time in a week, the group sat in SHIELD's infirmary, on news pertaining to Maria.
"Captain Rogers?" The Doctor asked, shaking Steve's hand.
"Is she alright?" He asked, abruptly standing up.
The Doctor, Abby, sighed and motioned for him to follow her, away from the others who looked on in interest.
"She has a benign tumor on her ovary that was causing all the difficulties. Most of these types of tumors don't require treatment and go away on their own, but this one had gone un detected for days, maybe even weeks. With your permission, we would like to operate on her to remove the tumor." She said, coming to the window that looked into Maria's home. Seeing her hooked up to various equipment, unable to breathe on her own, broke his heart.
"Do whatever you have to do to help her." He said, before walking back to the group to alert them on what was going on.
"I say, after this, we should have some shwarma." Tony said, receiving a glare from Natasha and Clint, who held a sleeping Lili, who was oblivious to what was going on.
The group waited for another two hours, Steve pacing in front of them, getting on their nerves.
"Capsicle, if you don't stop pacing i'm going to blast you sky high." Tony threatened, looking up from the magazine he had been reading.
"Stark, i'm sure if it was Pepper on the operating table getting a tumor removed, you would be pacing also! Итак, закрой свой рот, прежде чем я закрыл его для вас" Natasha snapped, looking at him with her emerald green eyes.
"What's a tumor, Mommy?" Lili asked, finally waking up from her nap.
"Well, Lilith, it makes people really sick, and if they don't fix it, they'll keep getting sick." Natasha explained as Doctor Abby walked back out.
"Well, the surgery wasn't an easy one, we almost lost her at one point. In the future, she may have difficulty having kids of her own, but we won't exactly know until that day comes." She explained, gesturing for them to follow her to Maria's room.
Maria looked at them as they entered with tired, gray eyes.
"How long have you been up for?" Steve asked, sitting down beside her.
"Only ten minutes or so, they wanted to do more testing and tell me what was going on..." She said, trailing off as she looked at the group.
"Where's Thor?"
"Thor brought Loki back to Asgard, he'll be back sometime tomorrow." Coulson answered, watching as Tony played with a stethoscope on the counter.
"Maria?" A voice asked from the door way, causing her to look up and see her brother, Dad, and her brothers pregnant wife standing there.
"You and Dad have brought Anna I see...how'd you get here? Only SHIELD workers...and Pepper, are allowed on the helicarrier." She asked, sitting up as Abby gave her some pain killers, which she took gratefully.
"Director Fury called us and had Agent Coulson pick us up, he figured you would want to see us." Anna explained, brushing her light blonde hair out of her face, placing a hand on her eight month pregnant belly.
"So, how's our little God son doing?" Maria asked, gesturing to Anna's pregnant figure.
"Who made you guys God parents?" Danny asked, jokingly punching his sister and Steve in the arm.
"Anna" She said.
Danny gave his wife an accusing look, who put her hands behind her back innocently.
"Anna! We had an agreement that we wouldn't tell them until the baby was born!" Danny exclaimed, and Anna put her hands up in surrender.
"I figured your sister and Steve had a right to know sooner."
Danny sighed in frustration, running a hand through his dark hair.
"Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Maria teased, poking her older brother in the stomach, while he did the same, mimicking her every move.
"So, when she acts like a child, it's funny and cute, but when I act like a child, i'm told to grow up and act my own age." Tony said, taking a seat next to Pepper on the far side of the room, pouting like a child who doesn't get what they want.
"Maybe it's because she only acts this way when she's on pain killers, Mr. Stark." John said, before turning to his daughter.
"How are you, Maria?" He asked, giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"I feel just like that time I smoked cigarettes to the point I threw up." She said, crossing her arms.
Steve gave her an incredulous look, making the woman smirk.
"Oh, Maria didn't tell you that story? Well, when she was thirteen, I walked out to the balcony in our bedroom, because we shared a bedroom until I moved out, and caught her smoking a cigarette. What did I do? I went out and bought her five packs of Menthol cigarettes, after her first one, I asked, how does it taste, Mar? To which she replied, pretty good. So I made her just keep smoking them. By the time she got to her third pack, she threw up all over the place." Danny explained, causing everyone to look at Maria, who's face was red with embarrassment.
"Yes, and I vowed never to have another cigarette ever again. And I haven't had one since." She said, before laying back down and closing her eyes in an attempt to get some much needed rest.
"Despite all i've done to her, I still love her. I'm surprised she and Danny are even willing to forgive me." John said once everyone had left and it was just him and Steve in the room.
"If you love her, then why'd you do what you did?" Steve asked, a bitter edge to his voice.
"I was over come with grief after Mary's death. Maria looks so much like her mother, that most days, I couldn't even bare to look at her, much less be civil towards her. But I loved her then, and love her now. She and Danny are the only things left of Mary I have, if I lose them, I have nothing." John explained, unaware that Maria was awake and listening to every word.
She grabbed his hand that was just within her reach, shocking him.
"You won't lose us, Daddy." She assured him, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
"You haven't called me Daddy since you were eight." He choked, unshed tears in his eyes.
Maria only gave him a tired smile in response, before, once again, falling into unconsciousness..
A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)