"Mr. Steven Carter?"
Steve looked up, brows drawn until he realized that was his legal name. He rose quickly and moved to close the space between himself and the woman who called him. "Yes, ma'am. I'm Steven." He shook her hand and smiled weakly, nervous for his interview.
The ash blonde assistant looked Steve over quickly, taking in his professional appearance despite the pull his biceps had against the thin fabric of his green dress shirt and eventually noticing the wedding band on his left hand. "Right this way."
Steve followed her quickly to the manager's office and she gestured for him to enter before closing the door. An older man with salt and pepper hair and a brilliant smile moved around his desk to greet Steve. "Mr. Carter, pleasure to meet you. I'm Mr. Thompson, the manager here."
"It's nice to meet you, sir." Steve greeted back as he gave the man a firm handshake. Mr. Thompson nodded, taking in the man's confidence and appearance before gesturing to the chair opposite his desk. Steve sat and folded his hands in his lap, sitting straight in the chair as he waited for the man to ask him questions.
Mr. Thompson clicked the mouse for his computer, bringing the monitor alive as he pulled up the file Steve had submitted. "So it says here you attended art school for a semester before joining the army at nineteen. You spent twelve years in the service, is that correct?"
"Yes sir," Steve replied, remembering the files Tony had sent with him regarding the public background he implanted in the government's database. "I served two consecutive contracts. After the second one I met the love of my life and got married. We were pregnant when the decimation happened- and lost our son. Spent five years trying to get by with odd jobs, living with her parents. Just before the vanished returned we found out she was pregnant again, so I knew we had to start over once our son was back. Moved the family out of the in-law's house and brought them here from Boston." Steve smiled as he met the manager's dark eyes with his own bright ones. He hoped the man would believe his tale, as it was partially true. His heart swelled as he talked about his kids. He would do anything for them, including this.
Mr. Thompson nodded, typing away on his computer before looking back at Steve, "So you've got two kids?"
"Yeah, my boy's eight months old and my daughter is two weeks."
"She's very young. You must have really wanted to get out of the in-law's house to move her so little." Mr. Thompson chuckled as he rested his left elbow on his desk nonchalantly. "This is hard work here, you sure you're up for it? It's usually men much younger than you who come aboard."
Steve tried to hold back his shit-eating grin as he leveled with the older man, "Don't worry, I'm stronger than I look."
"Honey, I'm home!" Steve called as he entered the front door of their home. While he'd been out, the furniture they'd taken out a loan for had been delivered and Kayla had organized the couches and tables around the living room and connecting kitchen. Steve could smell the sweet aroma of brownies wafting from the kitchen as he closed the door behind him. "Kay?"
"I'm here!" Kayla called from the kitchen. Steve noticed just outside the kitchen was James in a bouncer seat squawking as he tried to get his mother's attention while Sarah laid quietly in her own infant bouncer. Steve scooped James's pacifier off the carpet and wiped it on his shirt before gently inserting it back into his son's mouth where it belonged. As he quieted, Kayla seemed to realize Steve was now with her and turned to him, pushing a stray chunk of auburn hair away from her face, "Thanks for that. I've been busy making dinner."
"Brownies for dinner?" Steve asked as he sidestepped his two children, holding his left hand behind his back as he entered the kitchen.
Kayla looked up at him with a playful scowl, "No, I made chicken for dinner, brownies for dessert." Before she could say anything more, Steve revealed a beautiful bouquet of red roses from behind his back. Kayla took them quickly and shoved her nose into them, breathing deeply the aroma of the flowers, "They are gorgeous Steve. I take it the interview went well?"
"I mean, construction wasn't really my dream job, but I'll take it. Money's good. I'll be home by three every day. Weekends off. I can't complain." Steve admitted with a shrug as Kayla placed her flowers into a vase then turned to Steve with a beaming smile.
"I'm proud of you. And you can always find something else if it doesn't work out. It'll be easy to work, make money, and keep your head down. Once the kids are a little older I'll get a job myself, then you'll have more freedom to do whatever you really want." Kayla pressed a chaste kiss to Steve's lips before looking down at the two children in their bouncers. James clapped his hands clumsily as she looked to him, moving his body up and down rapidly as he caused his bouncer to shake. "That thing will never last," Kayla mumbled as she picked up the baby and moved him to his high chair near the table. "You like the furniture?"
"I do. Did you move it all by yourself or did you let the moving guys do it?"
"I let them do all the work. I told them where to put it. Could have done it myself, but-" She shrugged, latching the tray onto James's highchair. Once he was situated, she went back for Sarah, sitting with the infant on her lap. Steve knew she appreciated being able to nurse Sarah, something that really bothered her about raising James. Kayla adored James with all her heart, but even she couldn't deny that Sarah was her 'normal' daughter and James was her 'special' son. As Kayla got Sarah situated, she looked up to Steve, "Can you serve dinner? There's a banana in the fridge for James-"
As Kayla spoke, both herself and Steve turned as they heard a loud crashing coming from the highchair. James had ripped the tray off its hinges and send it flying to the floor with terrifying speed. Zawadi cowered beneath the table, whimpering as he pressed himself against Kayla's leg. Kayla looked up from her seated position to meet Steve's eyes just as Sarah detached herself from Kayla and began wailing. Kayla sighed as Steve bent over and picked up the broken tray. "Maybe I'll just feed him by hand."
"Yeah, you might need to. Also, we may need to reinforce... everything." Kayla trailed off as she looked around the kitchen. Her son was already beginning to crawl, and he knew how to really throw his strength around. And everything else.
Steve saw James begin to wiggle out of his highchair and slide out of his seatbelt, so he launched toward the child and caught him, causing his son to giggle wildly. "No." Steve said sternly to the boy, and he stopped laughing, looking up at his father with sad green eyes. Steve raised his brows, his voice deepening as he scolded the boy, "No. We don't break things. We don't slide out of our chair. If you do it again, I'll let you fall."
"Steven!" Kayla yelped, jolting Sarah under her loose top. Kayla quickly soothed the girl and stared at Steve with angry eyes.
James's lip began to wobble, and the tears were about to start falling. Steve just stared at him with cold, unmoving eyes. Then he pulled the toddler closer to his chest, leaning his cheek against his son's head, "Shhh, don't cry. Daddy won't let anything happen to you."
Kayla met Steve's eyes as he swayed. The awful thing about their situation was they didn't have anyone to show them how to be parents. Kayla's parents thought their daughter was dead and buried. Steve's parents had been dead a century. They had nobody to learn from, nobody to call on for help. Steve felt like he was drowning, and he was unraveling, and he didn't know if he could be a good father.
Steve moved James around so he could see the boy, and the child's eyes were sad as he looked scared at his father. Steve deflated and pressed a kiss to his son's forehead, "I promise, I won't let anything happen to you. Daddy loves you so much."
"Dadda."
Kayla's jaw dropped as her head snapped back up to look at her son. Steve's mouth broke apart into a brilliant smile, beaming at his son. "Yeah, Dadda."
"I can't believe his first word was Dadda." Kayla gawked as Steve continued to coo at his son. "He's such a mamma's boy, and his first word was Dadda."
"You jealous?"
"No." Kayla bit back, lowering her face to look down at Sarah. "Maybe a little."
Steve knelt down next to Kayla and sat James on his knee, "Can you say Mamma?"
"Mamma." James spat out happily, reaching out for Kayla with grabby little hands. Her green eyes watered a little as he reached for her, and she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
"I love you. And you. And you." She told James, then Steve, then little Sarah who now cuddled against her stomach. "I love this life."
Steve's heart swelled as he pressed his lips against his wife's. "I'm glad. I just want you to have everything I can give you."
"Can you get me dinner? Because I'm starving. Chickens in the oven to stay warm. Mashed potatoes on the stove." Kayla directed as she grinned cheekily up at Steve from her chair.
Steve nodded, plopping James into the highchair and strapping him in tightly before snapping the plastic tray on tightly, "Sure."
That night was the first night that James slept in his own nursery. Steve and Kayla put Sarah down first in their room, then went together to put James to sleep. Kayla laid him down in his new crib, and leaned over, pushing her dark hair behind her shoulder, "Hey baby. Mommy and Daddy are going to be right in the other room okay? We've got this monitor over here and we're gonna watch you and make sure you're alright and if you need anything we'll be right here okay?" Kayla rambled, reaching down to stroke his cheek as Steve rubbed her back supportively.
"Mamma." James babbled, and Kayla looked back up at Steve sadly, not wanting to leave her baby.
Steve nodded understandingly and leaned over to look at James, "You're going to be so brave and tough here on your own, and like Mommy said, we'll be just across the hall if you need anything." Then Steve looked up at Kayla, "You know he has no idea what we're saying right?"
"Yeah, but it makes me feel better," Kayla mumbled sadly, sticking her lip out as she looked back at James. But he was already sound asleep.
Steve grabbed Kayla's hand and pulled her gently away from the crib, leaving the door open as he led her back to their bedroom. Across the hall, they left their bedroom door open as well, and Steve looked over Sarah in her crib as she wheezed lightly with every breath, breaking his heart. Kayla changed into her satin nightgown, then crawled into bed and pat the empty spot next to her, luring her husband to sleep beside her. But Steve stayed standing by his daughter's crib, gripping the edge with his strong hand, "I just want to help her, to make her better. She's going to have such a hard life, I can tell."
"You know we could give her the serum. I could make a dose that would be safe for her... but I kinda thought you'd want that to be her choice." Kayla told Steve thoughtfully, leaning on her elbow to look at him.
"I do. That's what makes this so hard. Knowing that I could make all her troubles disappear, but knowing she'd never have the choice. I had a choice. You and James didn't."
"James has the serum in his blood because we do. You can't help what's in your family genes. I could give him anti-serum. But its the same thing, it should be his choice. When they are older, we'll give them the option to do either. We'll tell them who we are- were- and let them decide who they want to be. Until then, let's just try and give them a normal life." Kayla suggested quietly, drawing Steve's attention away from the baby for just a moment before he turned back to look at his daughter.
"Yeah. When he reaches eighteen, she'll be seventeen. We'll tell them when they are almost adults. Then they can have a normal childhood."
"As normal as it can be." Kayla chuckled, "Come to bed, soldier. Sleep while she does. It won't last long."
Author's Note:
amberhardy- Steve's in such a weird position, but he'll settle down eventually. I love domestic Steve. Precious.
Siobhan- Yay! I'm glad it gave you butterflies! It'll be fluff for quite a while. Off an on throughout the kids' childhoods!