"Ugh." Arianna groaned.
Steve simply knelt quietly beside her, just rubbing Arianna's back soothingly as she moaned while basically hugging the toilet basin. She pushed him away as she flushed the toilet, still looking incredibly pale as she unsteadily moved to the sink to wash her mouth. Again.
"I hate you." Arianna muttered as she spat out her mouthful of mouthwash, for what felt like the third time that day. Oh wait, it had been the third time that day. And it was only nine in the morning.
Steve just sighed in response, rubbing her shoulders as Arianna splashed some water on her face in an effort to soothe her pounding head. Nat silently handed over a towel, which Steve took gratefully before pressing it to Arianna's face for her as she leaned back on him, despite her spiteful words.
Wanda stood anxiously beside the redhead, watching with wide and worried eyes as Arianna took a deep, trembling breath, still looking a little green beneath her pallor. Vision was busy clearing the kitchen of all smells – just in case, as he reasoned – while Sam apologized loudly from time to time from the kitchen as they heard Arianna retch in the nearest bathroom.
"Sorry!" He shouted once more as he heard the tap turning off, and Arianna glared daggers towards the sound. Steve, noticing the look, just hugged her carefully closer, running his hands soothingly up and down her arms as she took shaky breaths. "I'm really sorry, Ria, I forgot!"
"How could you forget?" Nat snapped, turning in the doorway to also glare daggers at the Falcon. Wanda turned to watch as well as Sam shrugged sheepishly.
"Hey, she's not my wife. And I said I'm sorry- it was just habit." Sam apologized and defended himself, though he did send Steve - just visible inside the doorway to the bathroom – another apologetic look.
"It's fine…" Steve sighed, and Arianna half-snapped half-groaned: "Easy for you to say."
"Sorry, babe." Steve apologized again.
Before Arianna, or anyone else, could reply, Vision piped up as he flew over to join Wanda's side: "I have cleared the kitchen entirely of the smell of eggs and disposed of the mix in the bowl safely away, Captain Rogers. It is now safe for Mrs. Rogers to return for her mid-morning meal. Might I suggest toast and a cup of tea?"
"Thank you, Vision." Steve nodded as Arianna lifted her head from his chest, looking better and the colour returning to her face. "Ria?"
"Sounds really good." She admitted, before adding: "Thank you, Vision. And sorry, guys- I didn't mean to worry you or lash out at you."
"It's fine." Nat shrugged. "You're handling it much better than Laura did the first time when she was carrying Cooper. And you didn't lash out at me, so I don't mind."
Arianna chuckled before glancing at her husband sheepishly.
"Yeah, sorry I aimed it mostly at you, babe." She said with a small, apologetic smile, which Steve answered with a gentle one.
"It's fine." He murmured as he kissed the side of her head. "And I am partly to blame for this, so I should be the one to apologize."
"No, it's not your fault." Arianna argued, and Nat interrupted in exasperation: "Okay, when you're done being all cute all of a sudden, can we get back to breakfast? Preferably without sending Ria back in here?"
"I said I was sorry." Sam complained. "And how come I don't get an apology for all the cussing she gave me that even I could hear from out here?"
"Because you deserved it." Wanda told him seriously as the group headed back into the kitchen/dining area, Nat gliding back to her bowl of cereal – discarded when she'd jumped to catch Arianna and hurry her to the bathroom – while Wanda and Vision retook their seats on the couch, having already finished their breakfast earlier that morning.
Steve herded Arianna to his abandoned chair, ignoring her soft sounds of protest as he gave her a stern look before moving to fetch her a plate of toast and make some warm tea. Sam cast several guilty looks in Arianna's direction, which she waved away with a tired motion with her hand while her other held her head as she leant on the table in attempt to ward off the growing migraine.
It was ridiculous how queasy she was feeling, but Arianna remembered Laura's pregnancy with Lila and knew she had it relatively easier. For now, at least. The problem was, her morning sickness just seemed to be getting worse- the first time had been around two weeks ago and about a month and a half into her pregnancy, when a bout of random nausea had sent her running from her bed to the bathroom.
Then, a few days later, they'd discovered the hard way that the smell of eggs also sent her running. Steve had also cut chicken from their diet as the smell made Arianna turn green although she didn't feel quite ill enough that she needed to empty the contents of her stomach. The team avoided eating it when she was in the room, and Vision was careful to clear the smells, if they did cook chicken, before Arianna entered the common area.
Then this morning, after already having thrown up at five am when she woke up feeling nauseous, Arianna had unpleasantly discovered that she was now feeling an aversion to bananas as well.
Steve had been about to make his breakfast shake when the sound of a chair clattering to the floor had him turning sharply in time to see his pregnant wife running for their room. He had dropped the fruit to hurry after her, soothing her as she coughed up what remaining contents were left in her stomach.
It had taken him a while – between her swearing (Arianna wasn't one to cuss but morning sickness brought out a potty mouth that would've made Tony beam) and her retching – to figure out that it had been the smell of the banana that had done her in, but when he did manage to understand her, Steve had promptly got rid of any trace of the offensive fruit before Arianna returned for the apple-cinnamon oatmeal Steve prepared for her every night and kept in the fridge for when she woke up hungry in the morning.
It was actually scary for the whole team to see exactly how much Arianna ate, and Nat was certain it wasn't helping that the young woman refused to sit still. She was still training whenever she could – as in, whenever she slipped passed Steve – and although she was careful not to do anything too strenuous, it was still more than Nat suspected she should be doing while eating for two human beings.
Arianna was eating at least seven meals a day - almost every two or so hours – and after about two weeks, the team had simply gotten used to seeing either the brunette woman in question or Steve pottering about in the kitchen at almost any hour of the day. Hence, earlier this morning at nine am when Arianna and Steve had wandered into the common area, heading for the kitchen to fix something for her to eat.
Unfortunately, Sam had forgotten - after a rough mission over the last week – that Arianna couldn't stand the smell of eggs anymore. Or rather, he, and to be honest the rest of the team, forgot that pancake mix required eggs. He'd barely cracked the second egg, the first already in the bowl, when Arianna froze as she stopped before she could enter the dining area, her face going completely white. Nat had been the quickest to react, having realized what had set Arianna off, and it had all gone downhill from there.
Arianna sighed, rubbing her forehead before glancing up as a plate of toasts slid onto the table before her. She grinned weakly at Steve as he placed the mug of tea down as well, and he answered with a soothing smile of his own as he sat down beside her.
"Thanks, babe." Arianna sighed and Steve answered with a soft kiss to the side of her head: "No problem, babe."
"Okay, no, save that for when you're alone." Sam complained, waving his spoon at the couple accusingly as he sat down with a – safe – bowl of cereal.
Arianna glared daggers at the man while Steve raised a brow and pointed out: "You really shouldn't be antagonizing Ria when you've just made her sick."
"Thank you." Arianna growled, and Steve nodded at her while Sam raised his hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay, point taken." He sighed. "Sorry, again, Ria. I really didn't mean it."
"I know." Arianna sighed as she bit into her toast. "And I'm sorry that it's inconveniencing you all as well."
"It's fine." Nat soothed. "It's not an inconvenience."
"And at least it'll get better later on in the day." Wanda encouraged and Arianna smiled gratefully at the young woman.
"Actually," Vision piped up, "morning sickness is caused by high levels of estrogen, which many researchers believe is what enhances the sense of smell and general sensitivity during pregnancy. 'Morning' sickness is actually a misnomer as symptoms can-"
"Yes, thank you Vision." Arianna sighed while the others winced.
Vision paused, glancing around before asking slowly: "Have I said something wrong again?"
"Not wrong exactly…" Wanda began while Sam shook his head and Nat observed: "You'd think you would have learnt by now."
"I apologize, Mrs. Rogers." Vision said to Arianna contritely, who just shook her head as she replied tiredly: "It's fine, Vision. You're still learning a lot, but just as a hint: you don't have to correct people, especially pregnant women, on every small detail. Not unless you want a knife through your head."
"I'm not certain a knife could pierce my head." Vision observed, making the others groan although they stopped when Arianna started laughing.
Shaking her head, the brunette just grinned at the android as she stood up, picking up her empty plate and commenting: "Nevermind, Vision. Just continue to be yourself, and I'm sure you'll figure things out along the way."
"Here, let me get that Ria." Steve offered as he stood up, having finished his own cereal, and he helped the brunette carry her empty plate and cup despite her protests.
The others sat in silence as the couple headed into the kitchen. Sam waited until the tap squeaked and the sound of running water hit their ears before he leant in and whispered: "That put her in a good mood."
"Well, of course." Wanda replied while Nat agreed: "Obviously."
"I'm not sure I follow." Vision said slowly, and Nat pointed out: "Didn't you see her plate?"
"It was empty." Vision observed, and Wanda explained: "Exactly. She ate all five pieces of toast- she must be getting over her sickness now."
"Which means she's feeling better." Nat added, and Sam sighed in relief: "Good- that means she won't be making an accurate impression of a witch anymore- no offence, Wanda." He added looking at the young woman.
"None taken." Wanda deadpanned, before smirking as a fist collided with the top of Sam's head.
"Ow!" He complained as he glanced up, meeting Arianna's amused gaze.
"This 'witch' has perfectly good hearing, thank you." She teased, and he gave her a sheepish look as Nat and Wanda laughed.
"And so does this soldier." Steve added amusedly as he walked up, wiping his hands dry on a dishtowel. "So watch what you say about my wife."
"Yeah, yeah." Sam sighed, before muttering something under his breath that sounded distinctly like: "Man, I really need to find a girlfriend."
"You mean 'try'." Nat quipped, making them all laugh and Sam made another face at them, although it relaxed into a smile as the morning ended on a distinctly better note than it had started.
*A/N So, it's really short but I've been playing with this idea for a while so I decided to share~