Chapter 89

On the Tuesday of the second week of January, Toni's day was as regular as it got. Peter's school had started up for the winter term, so he was in his classes, and Steve was away on a mission somewhere along the east coast, trying to bring in HYDRA agents that SHIELD had identified that had been operating out of San Francisco. So all in all, a relatively regular day.

Toni, however, had decided to spend the majority of the day on her sofa. Steve had insisted she stay out of the lab, especially since she was nearing her due date, and while she disliked it, she knew he wasn't wrong. It was hard to sit on her chair all day, and standing was a pain onto itself.

She laid on the sofa as she coded a new upgrade for her AI's as a Netflix special played on the television in front of her. While she wasn't really paying attention, she knew Aunt Peggy was into the West World episode on the screen.

It wasn't her particular brand of science fiction, what with rich assholes paying money to go live out their fantasy lives. But then again, she'd used BARF for years to recreate moments she wished went differently, so really who was she even to judge?

"Oh, I did not see that coming," Aunt Peggy gasped and she looked up onto the screen to see Delores begin to remember some of the past lives she'd lived.

"Still watching?" Uncle Daniel said, as he came from the kitchen, with a plate of sandwiches.

"You know I quite enjoy this show," Aunt Peggy grinned, as Toni sat up in her spot.

Since regaining her mind, her Aunt and Uncle had taken to travelling and enjoying her regained abilities, so it wasn't often they stayed in the Tower with her like this. Especially with Harry off with Steve, and Ava currently downstairs supervising system upgrades. But still, she enjoyed the time with her Aunt and Uncle and even at her age, she wasn't about to trade it for anything in the world. Not when time with them was so precious.

She'd been feeling contraction pains for the last few days, and while she knew she still had time, Steve was uncomfortable leaving her alone. And thus, Aunt Peggy had arrived, insisting on being there in case her first grandchild was born while Steve was gone. She'd tried to insist that they were all worrying for no reason however Steve had refused to listen, and instead thanked his wartime friend for essentially all but babysitting his wife while he was away.

It was all unnecessary, really.

"Thanks Uncle Daniel," she grinned as he handed her a pastrami sandwich. He handed one to his wife as well, however, she waved the plate down, too engrossed in the show in front of them to eat anything. All the more for her really.

"Eat up," he smiled, as he took the armchair. She took a bite and let out a delighted sigh.

"I forgot how much I missed your cooking," she let out another happy sound, as she remembered all the Thanksgivings and other evenings she'd spent at the Carter-Sousa house growing up. While Jarvis and her mother still made some of the best meals she'd ever had, she couldn't deny that her uncle was an amazing cook who put a lot of love into the food he'd made.

"Maybe if you visited us more, you'd be able to enjoy it more often," he shot back. Because even with all their travelling, they'd set a home in Brooklyn, insisting that they couldn't live off her wealth no matter how many times she'd offered. And while she'd tried to go over often, her schedule was too packed to be able to go as often as she would have liked.

"I know," she sighed, "Peter wants me to ask you for your Apple Pie recipe. He doesn't trust me to make it for him though, and insists Steve make it. In all honestly Peter doesn't trust himself either. He gets his cooking ability from his Aunt."

"Yes, I remember her cooking," Uncle Daniel said, trying hard not to grimace too much at some of the things Aunt May had brought over through the years. Because as much as they cared about the woman and missed her, none of them could deny that she truly was an awful cook.

"She did her best," Aunt Peggy said, giving them both a soft smile as the episode ended, and she picked up her sandwich.

"She really did," Toni said fondly. She glanced over at the clock and knew she still had an hour before Peter was released from school and Happy brought him home.

Ever since they'd announced Spider-Man to be the newest reserve Avenger, reporters had been hounding the Tower, hoping someone would slip up and accidentally reveal the truth about his identity. Over her dead body. No one would know who Spider-Man was unless Spider-Man wanted them to know the truth. And she had a feeling that wouldn't be for a while. If ever. While it had been her style to announce the truth to the world, it wasn't her son's and she respected that.

If anyone got too close, she had FRIDAY running interference to send them on a goose chase in the opposite direction. Of course, there had been those who had their suspicions. But they were baseless and couldn't confirm it due to the lack of evidence.

She made a face then as she felt pain.

"You feeling alright, Ducky?" Aunt Peggy said, looking over at her in concern.

"Yeah," she said with a grimace as another contraction came through. She'd tried not to notice the fact that they were coming more often than once a day, and this was the fourth she'd felt today itself. She stood then, feeling an uneasy feeling, "I think I need to use the bathroom."

As soon as she stood, she felt a gush of water break out of her.

She froze.

"Oh shit," she swore, knowing what it meant, "I think Steve was right about not wanting to go."

"Take a deep breath, Darling," Peggy said, standing instantly. And there was the woman she'd known her entire life who took charge in any situation, especially those that were high stress.

Because Antonia Stark-Rogers was in labour.

And Steve was half-way across the country, off grid, because he was busy chasing HYDRA cells.

Oh Copernicus help her. Because if she was going to go into labour without Steve being here, she was going to need it.

"Toni," Aunt Peggy said, as Daniel immediately began talking to JARVIS.

"Call Ava, JARVIS," Uncle Daniel said, "Let her know that Toni's in labour. Put in a call too with the OBGYN Toni and Steve had been seeing and let them know that the baby is coming in. I know Steve is on his mission, but the minute Harry and Steve make contact you and are reachable, let them know that Toni is in labour. They're going to want to get here as soon as possible for it."

"Toni," Aunt Peggy said again, "Are you still with me."

"I'm here," Toni said, trying to calm herself down.

She could do this. Right? She was only going to have a baby when her husband was out of the state.

"I'm here," she tried to repeat, but her voice grew shaky.

"You're going to be alright, Sweetheart," Aunt Peggy told her. "It's okay to be nervous. This is your first time having a baby. But I promise you, you're going to be okay. Just take a deep breath for me, okay? In and out."

She followed her aunt's orders, breathing in and out, trying to calm herself down.

"It's going to be okay," Uncle Daniel said, holding her steady. "You were the bravest kid I'd ever met, I ever tell you that? The first time I met you, you'd climbed up a tree so high that Maria was panicking cause you refused to come down. But you just sat up there and grinned, telling her that you were installing a device to help you track the wind patterns and their effects on the radio signals, as it was ruining some of your tests. Hell, if I wasn't terrified seeing a child like you up in that tree."

Her breathing calmed as she listened to him talk, and he smiled at her.

"There you are," he said, as Ava burst through the elevator doors.

"What are you guys still doing up here?" she said, sounding frantic, "We need to get her downstairs to the med-bay!"

"Relax, Darling," Aunt Peggy laughed, "It's still going to be a few hours before the baby gets here. But Toni's doing good now, aren't you?"

"Yes," she said, smiling at them both, as she rubbed her stomach.

Because soon her baby boy or girl would be here.


Steve exhaled as he stepped back onto the quinjet, HYDRA agents having been turned over to the local authorities. It had been a long mission, and after the HYDRA agents had taken out three of the SHIELD agents they'd brought with them, Steve had been forced to deviate from his original plans and make a new one up on the spot.

Honestly, it felt like most of his missions were spent coming up with new plans on the spot. It had been frustrating, given the Accords, because the suits in charge often had a set plan on how things should be handled, but missions rarely went according to plan. There were too many external factors, and even with FRIDAY assisting them in calculating potential outcomes, human behaviours were too unpredictable to be properly calculated.

Which meant hours of paperwork after each mission, explaining every choice he took and why he'd taken it. And he got it, he did. He'd seen Toni personally spend hours after each of their Avenger missions cleaning up after them and all the damages to property. Hell he saw her spent about six hours wrapping up Peter's mess on the Ferry. So he understood needing to prove that not every choice was a mistake and those that were bad calls having shown why he'd thought it was a good one at the time.

"That was a long one," Harry let out a sigh as he stepped onto the jet and turned on his comms. "Man I didn't think that one would ever end."

"Same," Steve said. They'd gotten word that HYDRA had tapped the nearby towers and were tracking the frequencies in the city. Meaning that they'd know SHIELD was coming long before SHIELD even got close.

"Captain Rogers, Agent Carter-Sousa," FRIDAY said quickly, "I have received word from Mr Daniel Carter-Sousa that Miss has gone into labour."

"Oh shit," Harry swore, and Steve felt himself grow still.

He'd known it. He'd known from the minute they'd gotten the mission that it was a bad idea. Known that leaving Toni to go on a mission when his wife was nine months pregnant and about to pop at any given moment that it was a bad idea. How could leaving his wife when he knew very well that she could go into labour be anything but?

But she'd insisted he go. Insisted that she'd be fine and that it was just a few days. That she'd spend the entire time on the couch and promised not to go down to the lab unless absolutely necessary. And even with Peg and Daniel staying with her, he could help but feel like it was a horrible decision.

So he'd gone anyways. He left his heavily pregnant wife behind and gone on a mission. He went after HYDRA when he should have been by his wife's side.

"Dude snap out of it," Harry said, waving a hand in front of him. "FRIDAY, set a course back to the Tower. The fastest course possible please and put full power into the engines. We need to get back as soon as possible. Do you know how far along she is?"

"Miss' contractions are roughly fifteen minutes apart at this point, and is about three centimetres dilated," FRIDAY responded, "By applying full power to the engines we should be able to get the two of you back just before the birth."

"Better strap in, Steve," Harry said, clapping him on the shoulder as he took the wheel. "Looks like you're about to become a father."

That had been nearly an hour ago.

He let out a sigh as he saw the Tower's landing spot in sight, grateful that he was nearly home. He knew the quinjets flew faster than commercial planes, and FRIDAY's power diversion meant they were all but defenseless to attacks but had gotten them home significantly quicker. Yet still, it felt like the longest hour of his life as he waited for them to return home. He couldn't help but feel powerless in the situation.

"Oh good, you're back," Ava said, as she threw her arms around her brother. "Mom's with her now, but she's been asking for you Steve."

"Is she okay?" Steve asked her and Daniel desperately as he all but ran towards the elevators.

"Take a deep breath, Steve," Daniel told him, as he tried to push the elevator again, despite JARVIS tell them the elevator was almost there. "Toni can handle this. Our girl is strong. She's doing okay."

"I should have been here," Steve said, guilt wracking over him. "Where's Peter?"

"You're here now," Harry told him as the elevator arrived, and the four of them stepped into it.

"He's waiting outside the medbay," Daniel responded to the question. "He came home right as we brought her into the medbay and he's been waiting outside ever since."

When the doors opened at the medbay, he all but threw himself out of the elevator and ran to the room his wife was in, not even bothering to check if the Carter-Sousa family was behind him or not.

All that mattered was Toni.

He saw Peter sitting outside the room, looking anxious and he gave his son a nod to let him know that he'd made it home. Peter gestured for him to go inside, knowing that Steve must be anxious to get in with Toni.

He entered the room, and heard her give a pained sound as a contraction set in.

"Steve?" she asked, looking up at him, "Are you really here, or are the drugs making me see things?"

"I'm here, Darling," he said, as he kissed her head gently, "I'm here. I promise."

She let out a relieved sob, "I was so scared you were going to miss it. I tried as hard as I could to delay it. I didn't want to have our baby without you here. I wanted you to be here."

"I know, Sweetheart," he told her, "I'm here. I wouldn't miss our child being born for the world."

"It's time," the doctors said. "You need to start pushing."

Toni let out a scream, and he held onto his wife's hand desperately, wishing that there was something he could do to help her. But other than offer her encouragement, there was nothing he could do.

So he continued to hold onto her hand as she began to push.


An hour later, Toni Stark-Rogers was holding a baby girl in her arms, unable to keep a smile off her face.

She was perfect.

Her beautiful daughter, with eyes closed as she nestled into Toni's chest.

Steve kissed her on the forehead, "She's amazing." Steve said, looking down at her in wonder.

"She is," Toni smiled, as she took in the moment. She knew there were others out there ready to meet the newest member of their family, so she said, "Can you ask them all to come in now? I'm sure they're waiting to know about her."

"Sure, Darling," Steve said, as he brushed his daughter's head gently, and left to go invite their family in. She was grateful that she'd given birth at the Tower, knowing she was already home. Because she really hated hospitals.

"Can I see her?" Peter asked, as he practically bounced into the room, followed by her Aunt, Uncle, cousins, Pepper, and Rhodey. She was grateful that the room was spacious because in a regular hospital, the room would have been overcrowded.

"Do you want to hold her?" she asked, and Peter's eyes widened. She gently handed her baby girl over to her son, and he held her so preciously.

"She's so tiny," Peter said, as he looked down at her in wonder. "Look at her nose. It's so cute."

"She's beautiful, Ducky," Aunt Peggy said, as she placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. "You did such a good job."

She smiled up from the bed, feeling exhausting. It had been a long labour, and with the added stress of Steve missing the birth, she'd felt drained. But seeing her family together like this, with her daughter, she couldn't bring herself to end the moment.

"So?" Harry asked, impatiently, "Are you going to tell us her name?"

"Hush," Ava said, gently hitting him.

"Ow!" Harry groaned.

She looked over at Steve with a s mile. While they'd known her name for a few months now, she hadn't told the rest of them, wanting to wait until the moment their daughter was born.

"Morgan," she said, mentioning the name Peter had picked up out of the book. "Morgan Sarah Stark-Rogers."

Steve looked at her in surprise at the middle name, because that hadn't been something they'd discussed before.

"Are you sure?" he asked her, throat closing.

"Yes," she said, smiling up at him. "I want you to have a piece of her still. And it fits our daughter doesn't it?"

He kissed her carefully, not wanting to hurt her or overexert her.

"It's perfect," Aunt Peggy said, as Peter handed her Morgan. She looked down at the baby, "My first grandchild. I'm going to spoil you absolutely rotten."

"Not if I don't first," Uncle Daniel said, as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "She's lovely."

"Can I text Ned that I have a sister now?" Peter asked, excitedly, "I want him to know how amazing she is. Look at how small her feet are."

She laughed, "Sure, Sweetheart. Just no pictures yet, okay? Not until we get upstairs and out of this awful hospital room."

"This is your hospital room," Steve pointed out, "In your Tower."

"Still dislike hospitals," she shot back.

He shook his head fondly, as Aunt Peggy passed the baby to Ava. Harry had pointedly raised his hands up when she'd offered the baby to him, saying he didn't trust himself not to drop her. She'd rolled her eyes at that, knowing the master spy would never be as careless to drop a baby when stealth and gracefulness was part of his job. But she didn't push it, knowing he was just as taken with their baby as the rest of them.

"She's so cute," Ava cooed, "I volunteer to babysit her whenever you need. Look at how precious she is."

"She really is," Pepper said, as she and Rhodey took the baby from Ava. "Morgan huh?"

"Your eccentric uncle may share the same name ,but you can't say she doesn't wear it well," Toni said with a grin, knowing what her closest friend was thinking.

"She does," Pepper agreed, as she held the baby close to her chest.

"Speaking of which," she said, as Steve held her hand. "Pepper, Rhodey, we have an important request of you both."

"Anything," Rhodey said, unable to take his eyes off his niece.

"Will the both of you be her godparents?" she asked.

"Are you sure?" Rhodey said, eyes instantly snapping up at her.

"Absolutely," Steve said resolutely. "You've both had Toni's back for years, and mine since the time I've known you. We'd trust our children's lives with you."

Peter smiled as he nodded in agreement.

She could see Pepper's eyes well up, "Oh Toni," she said, as Rhodey wrapped an arm around her comfortingly and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Of course, I'll be her Godmother. I'm going to be the best Aunt to this baby girl. Oh she's going to have so many pairs of shoes. Do you know they make some beautiful shoes for babies?"

"Rhodey?" she asked, looking up at her oldest friend.

"Toni, you've been my sister for years," he said to her, "I've known that my mother and Jeanette prefer you to me for years. I've had your back and you've had mine for decades, and I don't know where I would be without your friendship. If you hadn't told those boys off all those years ago, well my life would be lesser without you in it. Of course I'll be her Godfather. I'm sure between the lot of us we can teach Morgan how to kick some serious…butt."

Harry nodded in resound agreement, "If anyone remotely gets near her and she doesn't want them, she'll know how to take them down. The SHIELD special."

"Don't forget all the science we can teach her," Ava said, looking over at Peter, "She's going to be the brightest kid, especially given who her mother and brother are? No doubt in my mind."

She laughed at them all, but she couldn't help but feel exhausted from the entire ordeal. She'd just had a baby, and as nice as the drugs were, it didn't take away from all the pain and tiredness she was feeling.

"Why don't we let you get some rest," Aunt Peggy said, quickly noticing her Goddaughter's exhaustion. "Give you a bit of time to recover."

Steve gave her a grateful smile, as he took Morgan back from Pepper, and as the four of them remained in the room, she couldn't help but smile at how her family had grown.

"I'll let you get some rest too, Mom," Peter said, "You look like you could use a nap."

"Thanks, Sweetheart," she said, as he kissed her head, before leaving the room.

Her husband had been silent for a while, so she turned to him, "I wish he could have been here too."

He looked at her in surprise, "I didn't realize I was that easy to read," he admitted.

"I know you, Darling," she told him gently, "I know you wish Bucky could have been here to see Morgan be born. The two of you were in each other's lives for so long, it's only natural that you wish he could have been here for this moment."

"I know he needs a bit more time," Steve sighed, "But he's like my brother, you know? It doesn't hurt any less to see all these moments, these big, monumental moments, pass by, knowing that he's not here for them. And I think Rhodey is a fantastic choice as our daughter's Godfather but-"

"But you wish you could have asked Bucky," she said, understanding, "I know, Steve. I know that this all can't have been easy for you. He needs some time, and once he feels like he's ready, we'll be here waiting for him, whenever he's ready to come home. We'll welcome him back with open arms. And maybe, whenever the next one comes along, he can be their Godparent."

He quirked and eyebrow up at her, "Next one, huh?" he teased, as she stared at their daughter in her husband's arms. She'd just gone through labour once, and the thought of doing it again so soon filled her with dread. But with their amazing daughter and son in their lives, she had no doubt that their family would only continue to grow.

"The next one," she repeated, and he laughed.

"You really should get some rest," he kissed her forehead, before settling down in an armchair in the room, letting her know that he was staying with her. "We'll be here when you wake up. But until then, I'm going to tell Morgan all about how you saved me."

She smiled, heartwarming, and a part of her wished she could see the interaction. But exhaustion settled in, and her eyes closed.

And as she drifted off to sleep, she thought only of her son and daughter, and the life she'd been so grateful she had.


A/N: So when I started writing this, I had other plans for Morgan's name. But then Endgame came out, and Morgan's character was adorable, and how could I not?