*Mrs. Doubtfire voice* Heeeeellooooooo! Welcome back! Tonight is special and I hope you enjoy my little surprise. If you're reading this in the far off future, don't mind this lol.

Anyways, I hope you're all doing well. I'm not going to bore you with my crazy life. If you want to know what I'm up to you can go read the newest chapter of For Your Protection where I rant all about what I'm doing. Or about to be doing.

On we go...

The Violinist

Chapter 19

Max paced back and forth in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the penthouse in Avenger's tower. It had been three hours and…

She glanced down at her watch…

Seventeen minutes since she had landed at Tony Stark's shining tower in New York City.

She was welcomed with open arms, literally, like Tony loved to do. It was his typical 'Welcome to my place. Look at how awesome it is' move. Pepper was the one to give hugs and offer comforting words upon arrival. Tony's joking personality lifted her spirits while Pepper's always calmed her down.

Max ate, showered and had started to nap when Tony came barreling into the living room to announce that "Captain Cranky Pants" was on his way.

Thus began the pacing.

From the bar to the piano and back, and forth, and back again. Over and over. Steve and Bucky and the baby all bouncing around in her head like the DVD logo on an old television screen. He was coming here, but was he going to stay? If he stayed, was he going to hate her? Hate their baby? Should she just give in and let him go instead of fighting for their future...whatever 'their future' meant? What if Bucky killed more innocent people and Steve could have put a stop to it, but he was here because she made him choose?

It was so frustrating she was almost in tears. Max paused by the piano and stared out over the city. She ran a hand through her brown hair, noticing it was almost to her shoulders now, and exhaled a shaky breath. Her stomach growled and it gave her something to focus her attention on.

When she turned again, she wasn't expecting to have company. But there he stood, tall, golden and in perfect condition once again. He looked as if the past few days hadn't even happened- as if he hadn't been lying in a hospital bed full of bullet holes and knife wounds when she left.

Neither of them said a word, just stared at each other from across the room. His expression was impassive, which worried Max. She guessed he was most likely upset, mad even, that she had taken off without a word and gone to Tony of all people.

In her defense though, he was going to run off to Bucky. But despite being pissed about the file and the possibility of him leaving, her heart was still fluttering at the sight of him. She took a quick second to thank god he was alive.

Without taking her eyes off of him, she took a single step towards him. He didn't move, or lessen the hardness of his gaze. Max was going to continue her slow trek towards him when Jarvis interrupted.

"Ms. Stirling, Captain Rogers, lunch is ready in the dining room."

She released the air trapped in her lungs and glanced up to the ceiling like she usually did when addressing the AI, "Thank you, Jarvis."

When she looked back down, Steve was already gone.

Max had gone from starving to having an upset stomach to match her upset attitude during lunch. The air in the dining room was so thick with tension, she wasn't even sure if a knife could cut through it. Hell, it was probably made of something stronger than the vibranium in Steve's shield at the moment.

Max sat across from Steve and next to Pepper. Tony, of course, took the head of the table and the space the first two seats by him provided to spread out his notes, gadgets and such while he ate. Pepper, in good spirits, tried to lighten the room with simple small talk. Baby names and nursery ideas and fun things to do over the summer before the baby made their arrival...Really anything to get Max and Steve talking about the same thing. Unfortunately, nothing she did seemed to spark a conversation between the soon-to-be parents.

Tony, on the other hand, found it to be a fun game of 'throw out the funniest answer you can think of off the top of your head'. Baby names? Fifi, Bear...oh, oh APPLE! Nursery ideas? Ironman, of course.

Steve kept his eyes on his plate and ate as if he were the only person in the room. Max picked at her food, wishing she could scarf down the hefty turkey wrap and caesar salad she had in front of her.

A few more minutes passed in agonizing silence. Tony tinkered with his newest project and typed up notes to send off to Bruce Banner, Pepper finished her food and was texting away on her phone, and the other two just muddled around the elephant in the room.

"Alright this is ridiculous," Pepper finally interjected. "You're both grown ups. Talk to each other before I have Jarvis lock you both in a room together."

Max's phone buzzed in her pocket.

"Pep-," Tony started.

"No, she's right," Steve conceded. He finally gazed up from his plate and looked at Max. "We need to talk."

Max froze, thinking about what she wanted to do. Was she ready to talk? She had been pacing all day and thinking over everything...but was she ready to face it?

She peered down at the text message on her phone and then around the room.

"I have to go," she blurted out, standing abruptly from the table and dashing out of the room.

"Max!"

She could hear Steve calling for her as she raced towards the elevator. It was good planning that she had her bag on the couch by the exit so her exit was swift. If Steve caught up to her, she would have to face it now, not fully prepared to have her words and thoughts in order.

Max just needed a few more hours. Thank goodness she had somewhere else she needed to be right now.

"What was that?" Steve asked as he reentered the dining room.

"She panicked and left. Not the first time I've seen a girl do that," Tony said, still working.

"Where would she go? Who was she texting?"

"We don't know, Steve," Pepper answered. She stood from the table and walked to him. "She was on the phone with someone earlier, but I didn't hear anything. I thought maybe it was Fury."

Tony snorted, "No way the old man's in New York."

"She'll be back soon," Pepper assured him before leaving.

"Sit down, gramps. You look like you're ready to keel over," Tony directed.

He sat back down closer to where the billionaire worked. After a moment of quiet, Steve spoke up, "You ever thought of having kids?"

"In the world we live in? No."

"What about Pepper?"

"Stark Industries is her baby."

"You guys would make great parents."

Tony huffed, "I didn't exactly have the best role model."

"I only knew your dad when he was young and single, but he was a good man. I'm sure he tried to be a good father to you," Steve explained, tapping his fingers along the top of the table.

"Yeah." Tony tilted his head to the side and thought for a second before continuing, "I guess he had his moments. But you...you'll be a walking advertisement for fathers everywhere."

Steve chuckled, "I doubt that, but it wouldn't be the first time I was used to advertise something."

"So Star Spangled Man with a Plan, do you have an idea on how to win your girl back or not?"

"She ran off without telling me."

"And you were going to run off to chase a ghost after almost dying. She's allowed to be pissed off and hormonal. She's pregnant, you're not," Tony shot back.

"Bucky's my best friend," Steve sighed.

"That so-called best friend of yours just tried to kill you."

"He knows me."

"Correction: he knew you. In 1945. You need to let it go."

"You sound just like Sam."

"Sam sounds like a smart guy."

A few minutes passed before Steve spoke again, "What if I can't let it go?"

"Steve?" He locked eyes with Tony. "Do you love Max?"

"...I…"

"Okay, do you want to be with her? Besides the whole baby thing?"

"Yeah."

Tony nodded. "Then let it go."

The sky was dark above the City That Never Sleeps when Max arrived back at the penthouse. Her feet were tired from walking- Hell, she was just tired in general. She absentmindedly rubbed her growing bump as she made her way into the living room area.

The sound of the television made her pause. Max was hoping it was Pepper having a glass of wine sprawled out on the couch while doing paperwork with the news on in the background for noise. But, as fate would have it, she was met with familiar broad shoulders and blond hair facing away from her.

She knew he had heard her come in. It wasn't like the man didn't know what the sound of her heartbeat was like, let alone the way her footfall echoed in a room. But he didn't turn to greet her, or start the conversation she knew he had been waiting to have since she had taken off after lunch.

So she took a deep breath, remembered the things she had considered on her time out, and dropped her bag at the foot of the staircase. Her heart pounded from nerves and attraction as she made her way to the couch. Picking up a pillow, she tossed it on the chair next to her and sat down, crossing her legs under her.

Steve picked up the remote and turned off the TV. He shifted on the couch and opened his mouth, but Max cut him off.

"I know you're mad I took and that's fine, but you were going to go on a manhunt for Bucky Barnes and leave me here for god knows how long. I know a target file when I see one. And I don't care if you go, well I do, but I'm not going to stop you, so go if you want. Or don't, but I'm tired and I'm staying here in New York," she rushed out, not making eye contact.

"I'm not going," he laughed.

She looked up at him, dumbfounded. "You're not? But-."

"Tony and I talked. He might be a bit obnoxious, but sometimes he can turn out good advice," Steve admitted.

"What did he say?"

Do you love her?

His blue eyes danced around her face and she almost blushed. "Basically...that Bucky can wait."

"You think you'll run into him again?"

"The superhero world is small, and HYDRA always has a hidden agenda," he told her, leaning back into the tan cushions. "It's only a matter of time."

"Hopefully not before September. Or anytime, really," Max sighed.

"I'm not going anywhere," he reassured her.

She nodded. It was what she had been needing to hear since she had opened the file that morning and began reading about Steve's best friend and his dark past. Relief flooded her, even though she knew that their future was still going to be filled with more combat and strife.

The hormones must have been on overdrive, because the tears started to fall. She sniffled and tried to stop them, but the past few weeks of ups and downs was finally getting to her.

"Come here, doll," he whispered, and gently tugged her against his side. Max buried her face in his warm cotton shirt and continued to cry. He rubbed circles into her back, occasionally letting his fingertips dance across the material of her shirt. She caught herself imagining if it wasn't there, if it was just his skin against hers.

Heat coursed through her and she knew she needed to lock it down before that train of thoughts before it got out of hand. Now was not the time...Maybe later.

She shook her head and pulled back from Steve so she could look at him.

"You're okay now, right?" she asked, her voice quiet.

"I'm fine. See," he said and lifted the bottom of his shirt. The first thing that crossed her mind was 'abs'. The next was 'holy crap, don't stare too long'. But when she stopped gawking long enough to focus, she could see where the wounds had been inflicted. Without thinking, her finger was tracing the scar tissue left behind on his lower stomach. Steve quietly gasped next to her. Max could feel the muscles twitching under her careful touch.

Suddenly, she retracted her hand. "Oh my god, I'm sorry."

He laughed, "It's fine. Nothing you haven't seen or done before, right?'

A confused expression came upon her.

"What?"

"I, uh..I don't really remember…," she trailed off. His eyes grew wide and his mouth hung open, trying to find something to say next. "And now you're freaking out. Crap...It's not like it's a bad thing. Everything was consensual. I remember bits. Just not...ya know."

Silence.

Max moved away from him to give him some room to breath and process because she wasn't quite sure what he was thinking.

She checked the time on her phone and bit back a yawn when it read quarter to ten. It was a good thing she had eaten dinner while she was out because she had no energy to go all the way to the kitchen and make something now.

"Steve…?" He glanced up at her, his eyes less wide. "I um, I think I'm gonna go to bed. Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

"I didn't mean to ruin your night."

"No, I…," he stopped and shook his head. "Good night, Maxi."

"Good night."

Max had been lying in bed trying to fall asleep for the past two and a half hours with no success. She had on one of Steve's hoodies, had sprayed the bed in some Old Spice she might have snagged at the store while she was out today, but she was still restless.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, Ms. Stirling?"

"Um...What room is Captain Rogers in?" she whispered, embarrassed.

"Two doors down, Miss."

She swallowed and asked, "And is he in there?"

"Yes. Captain Rogers is asleep."

"Thank you, Jarvis. That's all."

"Of course, Miss."

She wrestled with it for another minute before committing and jumped out of bed. Throwing on a pair of shorts so she wasn't walking through the hall in her underwear, Max grabbed her phone and quietly sneaked out of her room like a teenager. Her room was at the end of the hall, which meant there was only one possible way to go.

When she reached his door, she prayed it wasn't locked because she knew he would hear the knob jiggle. Max needed to spare herself as much embarrassment as possible tonight.

Thankfully, it was unlocked when she pushed down on it and painstakingly swung it open. The room was dark, but the light from the city streamed in. How Steve slept with the curtains open was something Max would never understand.

But there he was in a plain white shirt and loose boxer shorts, tangled in the sheets. She crept across the room, watching him for any signs that he knew she was there. He didn't move, so she shuffled closer. When her knees touched the bed, she quietly exhaled.

Deciding that getting into the bed in one swift motion instead of in increments was the best way not to wake Steve, she went for it. Max tried to be as fluid with her motions as possible, but she had found that with her pregnancy also came a weird sense of being off-balance. In turn, she was now terrible at being precise and calculated with her movements. Her old S.H.I.E.L.D. combat trainers would have been so disappointed.

The smooth plop and roll she had been attempting to achieve ended up being more of a plop, stop, almost fall off the bed, and overcompensate by rolling the opposite way and right into a solid wall that was Steve. Of course, that woke him up.

"Max?" he asked, groggily.

"Sorry," she murmured, tucked up against his arm.

He lifted the arm and snaked it around her, sliding her over to close the gap. Max glanced up and saw that his eyes were barely open as they looked down at her.

"Y'okay?" he mumbled.

"Couldn't sleep," she replied lazily, breathing in his scent. She exhaled, basking in Old Spice and him. That's what was missing: him. "My Old Spice wasn't working."

"What?"

"Nothing."

His arm tightened and he dragged her impossibly closer, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. A soft smile crossed her lips. She laid a hand on his chest above his heart and closed her eyes, finally comfortable.

"Night, doll."

"M'night."

Aww, how sweet. And you guys have been asking for more Steve/Max sweetness. BAM! And more to come *wink, wink*

I hope you all are liking it. I love and appreciate hearing from you. And I appreciate the favorites too. So much. I love you guys.

Until next time -KAITi-