Putnam, New York | 0700 Hours | One Week Later
Alba stared out the window at the moving scenery outside and took a settling breath.
"Are you nervous? She glanced over at Steve and gave him her most encouraging smile.
"A little." The day for their first ultrasound had finally arrived, and Alba was torn between jittering in excitement or running away. Her obstetrician had referred them to an imaging center upstate, and Steve had happily agreed to show up at her place earlier that morning to make the drive.
She looked glanced around the big pick up and cozied up to the seat. Alba smiled, remembering the proud way Steve showed off the menacing black truck. Boys and their toys.
He glanced at the time, indicated on the dashboard, and nodded determinedly. "We're definitely going to make it on time. Maybe we'll even make it early enough to drop off our things at the house." The house. Steve's house, which she just found out existed three days ago, was a twenty minute drive from the imaging center, which was very convenient for the weekend they had planned.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me you have a house upstate."
He grinned. "I don't go often. Between the tower and everything that's happened, sometimes I forget I even have the place."
"Do they know about today?" 'They' of course being the Avengers. After their whirlwind introduction, Alba had scarcely seen them, but that didn't stop Steve from regaling her with their crazy antics when he frequented her apartment.
"No. I keep trying, but every time I open my mouth all I can hear is Tony screaming his head off. I'm not embarrassed," He clarified. "I just, I know the taunting is gonna go to another level."
"Is it really that bad?" Steve laughed dryly.
"I've heard so many old man jokes over the past few years I can write a book. And that's just from Tony." Alba threw her head back and laughed. Steve glanced at her, smiling at her upturned face, and then stared seriously.
"Have you told your family yet?" Alba sobered and shook her head.
"Not yet. I don't want to get their hopes up…in case something goes wrong. The book I'm reading says once I'm past the first trimester the chance of losing the baby goes down exponentially. So after this weekend, if everything looks good, I'll make the trip home and tell them." She bit her lip at the simple idea of coming clean to her mom. There was just something about going back home that made her feel like an out-of-control teenager again.
"How do you think they'll react?" Steve asked carefully, for some reason nervous to listen to her answer. In his mind, he wasn't asking how her family would feel, he wanted to know how she felt. He gulped as he realized that he was having the time of his life since he'd left the ice, and a part of him wanted her to feel the same. What if she suddenly woke up one morning and decided pregnancy wasn't for her?
Steve snapped out of his ramblings as she replied quietly. "I don't know. Probably as well as you'd expect them to, considering my family is a very traditional. I mean, catholic hispanic mom. Doesn't get worse than that. But my sister will probably be thrilled. She's wanted me to start a family for years. I'm not too worried about them. I'm sure they'll come around by the time the baby is born."
The rest of the drive upstate was spent in a quiet whirr. Before Alba even realized what was going on, they were walking through the doors of the imaging center and riding the elevator up to the ultrasound department. She took one deep breath after the other, trying to bolster her confidence. Everything is okay, this is not last time.
Steve sensed her fear and reached out to give her hand a squeeze. She tried to squeeze back, to assure him that everything was okay, but it wasn't. The gunmetal walls of the elevator were closing in, and all Alba could do was dart out into the hallway as soon as they opened and scurry into an empty consultation room to panic in peace.
She whirled around and the door closed with a quiet 'click' to find Steve staring at her, worried. Alba tried disguising her tears, but it was too late. He was onto her. His arms were wrapped around her just in time for the tears to well over into the soft fabric of his sweater.
"I'm sorry," She whispered into his neck. "I didn't mean to make a scene. You must think I've lost it."
He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "No. No."
Alba took a deep breath as she tried to explain herself. "This isn't the first time I've been pregnant. Two years ago, Marcus and I were expecting. There was this car accident, and they decided to operate and try to save the baby. It didn't work." She hiccuped quietly once more. "They said because of my injuries, the chances of getting pregnant were going to be slim. And now here I am, doing it all over again, and I am so scared. I'm so scared I'm going to walk in there and it's going to be over. Just like that." Steve held her close and tried to comfort her as much as he could, pressing kisses into her wild hair. He suspected something like this had happened before. The fear, the shakiness, the way she talked about pregnancy. He felt terrible, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't a little nervous, too.
After a couple of minutes Alba had finally settled down in his arms with a soft sniffle and kissed his jaw. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For not freaking out. Every time I throw something at you, expecting you to scream and run for the hills, you do the opposite."
Steve grinned and pushed up his unnecessary, disguise glasses. "Trust me when I tell you I have seen crazier things." Alba tried to smile back, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"What if I lose the baby?"
"Everything is gonna be fine. But even if it isn't, and something happens, I want you to know I'll still care about you. I'll still be here. So if you lose the baby," God forbid, He murmured in his mind, "We'll just have to make another one." That did the trick as Alba bubbled over in a small giggle.
"Alright, hotshot. We should go before we're late."
The couple made their way out of the empty consultation room and entered the large, spacious waiting room down the hallway. The receptionist smiled up in greeting, freezing up when she spotted Steve behind Alba. He met her eye blankly, praying she wouldn't notice his identity and reveal to the whole waiting room. He fidgeted beside Alba as she signed in, itching to get away from the woman's lingering gaze.
When he finally sat beside Alba at the other end of the waiting room, he let out a deep breath.
"What's wrong?"
Steve grinned nervously. "The receptionist. I think she might have recognized me."
Alba snorted as she flipped through a pregnancy magazine that'd been left out in the waiting room. "She didn't recognize you. She was checking you out." He froze and took a second look at the woman sitting behind the desk. She glanced away as soon as she met his gaze.
Alba shook her head and leaned in to whisper. "I'm pretty sure the lady sitting across from you is checking you out right now, too." Steve was about to open his mouth and tease her for sounding jealous, but Alba's OB/GYN greeted them in their seats and escorted them back to an imaging room, quickly going over Alba's stats before prepping her. Steve sat beside her in the dimmed room and took a deep breath. He was not ready for this.
"Okay Alba, this is going to feel a little cold." She tensed at the sudden coolness on her lower abdomen and stared at the ceiling, trying to burry the memories of her last pregnancy. This was different.
The probe pressed down, and all eyes in the room were glued to the tiny monitor. It only took a second before the feed cleared to show a little peanut shaped baby. Well, it didn't look like a human baby yet. More like an alien one, thought Alba, grinning at the small fluttering body.
Dr. Gomez scanned quietly, taking measurements here and there and turning the probe this was and that.
"Is everything okay?" Gomez stared down at Alba and smiled.
"Yes. Great, actually. The baby is measuring right at twelve weeks. All of the screenings came back, by the way. There were no issues." Alba couldn't help smiling hugely at Steve, who sat next to her looking absolutely stunned. "Would you two like the hear the heartbeat?" Alba bobbled her head so hard her neck almost seized up, and Steve couldn't mutter yes fast enough.
Dr. Gomez chuckled quietly to herself. New parents were to endearing. She fiddled with the dials on the machine and a loud, crisp throbbing rang out in the room.
Peanut's heartbeat. Alba didn't bother stopping the tears welling up in her eyes. Her little peanut was fine. She glanced back and met Steve's gaze once again, taking in his slow smile and misty eyes.
This was going to be the beginning of something great.
Peanut's first appearance! So what did you guys think? I'm worried this chapter is a little rushed but I'm babysitting my niece and nephew this weekend and haven't had any time to write at ALL, which is also why I'm uploading so late.
Alba's story is also out! I tried hinting at the fact she'd had a miscarriage, any of you catch onto it? Miscarriage is so heartbreaking, some of my family members have had this happen to them, so I kinda wanted to honor that experience a bit in this chapter.