"Look into the light." Alba glared up at the pen light shining in her eyes, tracking it as it moved across her field of vision. She ignored the pinging and whirring of the machinery around her, instead choosing to focus on the beating sound of her baby's heart beat. She had been hooked up to a doppler as soon as they arrived at the tower, the long thick band and monitor strapped to her abdomen snuggly.

Doctor Cho gave Alba a reassuring look. "It looks like you are concussion-free." Alba nodded numbly. A concussion was the last thing she was worried about.

"How's the baby?" Dr. Cho paused.

"We're still waiting on the lab results from the fluids on your clothes. The heart beat is a little slower than the average, but I'm not too worried." She saw the dubious expression on Alba's face and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think we should get ahead of ourselves." Alba wasn't satisfied, but then again she wasn't a doctor. She nodded and comforted herself by knowing she was in one of the most advanced buildings in the world, surrounded by brilliant people. If anything would go wrong, they would fix it.

The tower rivaled, if not bettered, other medicine facilities around New York. Everything Alba had seen since she walked in was designed by Stark tech, and if it wasn't, she could be sure it was the best money had to buy. It didn't take her long to figure out this is where the Avengers were treated. Apparently, Alba was fortunate Tony managed to get to turn up on short notice. She was one of the best. Alba would be inclined to agree with him. So far had made light work of everything thrown at her tonight.

Sam entered the room just as walked out, holding the door open for the young woman before fully stepping into the room. He gave Alba a sheepish grin, standing at the end of the bed.

"Steve and Tony are just wrapping up some police reports. Crazy what happened out there tonight."

Crazy indeed.

In fact, crazy wasn't even scratching the surface of what had taken place. Alba's hunch had been correct. Gonzales had broken out of prison with the intent purpose of hunting her down, and killing her like one of his many other victims. Thankfully he planned on going after Johanna after his revenge on her. He had been killed in the shootout outside the asylum.

A part of her knew she should feel bad people died today, but Alba had no pity to give for killers. Especially a killer intent on making her his next victim.

"I don't know which one of you I have to thank for that, but I know you were there. Thanks Sam." The man nodded solemnly, tapping the end of her bed twice.

"I know we haven't spent much time together, but you're alright. Hell, when I found out you put Stark in prison I knew you and I would get along just fine." Alba rolled her eyes amusedly.

"Don't let him hear you saying that." Sam shrugged, heading towards the doors and throwing a wave in her direction.

"Let me know if you ever need some aerial backup, Lawyer Lady."

"Thanks!" She called out, jumping up when her phone started vibrating on small bedside table next to her. She looked at the time, noting it was almost 4 a.m. Only one person would be calling this late.

She picked up the phone and answered without looking at it. "Hi, Mami. Yes, I know I was on the news. I'm back home now, everything is fine..."

"Look officer, I'm sure you're just doing your job, but are we done here? We're done here." Tony shoved the two police officers into the elevator at the entrance of his hime. "Have a good night. Bye-bye. Don't let any other convicts escape from prison tonight!" The friendly smile on Tony's face was replaced with an exhausted expression as the elevator doors shut resolutely.

He poured himself a glass of his favorite scotch, waving the bottle in Steve's direction inquisitively.

The man in question held up his hand to stop his friend from pouring a second glass. "No point in wasting your good drinks on me Stark. We both know it won't do anything." Steve muttered, taking a seat on the lush grey couch in the middle of Tony's quarters.

"I'll have to ask Thor for the Asgardian stuff next time. Maybe that will get the stick out your—"

"That's enough." Tony grumbled something under his breath, coming to sit across from his friend.

"I don't even know why we're here." Tony muttered. "The facility upstate was way closer." Steve paused. His friend was right. Up to the last few months, he had made the facility his home. Now that he had more business in the city—or someone—he had reinstated his home at the tower.

"This place has more privacy." Defended Steve.

Tony pondered over his friend's statement over a gulp of scotch. "You're probably right. Can you imagine Vision phasing into your place while you're trying to get your freak on?" Steve shook his head incredulously, but chuckled anyway. Wanda had been trying to show the android to adapt to life on earth, but there were a lot of little concepts he struggled with.

Using a door was one of them.

"I know she's probably going to have to visit the facility eventually. I just…wanted to ease her into this. All this superhero stuff, aliens, gods…it's enough to make anyone crazy." Steve knew Alba was just getting used to coping with their unplanned pregnancy. The last thing he wanted to do was overwhelm her by dumping his entire life on her. He figured if she learned in bits and pieces, she wouldn't take off running for the hills.

Tony took another sip of his drink and inspected him carefully.

"What are you even doing here, anyway? Your girl is waiting for you in Medical." Tony was confused to say the least. All that panic to get Alba back home, only to leave her to her own devices. And if there was one thing Tony didn't like, it was feeling confused. "Aren't you even a little worried about your baby mama?"

Steve inhaled sharply. "Of course I am. I was just here wrapping up the statements—"

Tony held up a hand with a pained expression etched on his face. "Look, let me just stop you right there. The statements are over. There is absolutely nothing else that requires your attention." He gave Steve a contemplative once-over. "Unless you're not trying to leave."

Steve said nothing.

"Why are you avoiding your girlfriend, Rogers?"

Steve sighed, running a hand through his messy blonde locks. He couldn't bring himself to face Alba.

"This is my fault." Tony gave him an incredulous look, leaning forward in his chair to take a close look at his friend in case he had any secondary head injuries.

"Did you crack your head open back there or are you just choosing to ignore what happened two hours ago? That guy was after Lawyer Lady because she is the lawyer who put him in prison. She seems to be really good at putting people in prison." Stark muttered darkly, holding up his hands when Steve gave him a warning look.

"Look, all I'm saying is that she's so good at her job, she's picked up a few enemies along the way. Just like us."

Steve shook his head. "She can't protect herself like us."

Tony waved a hand in his direction. "Then it was a good thing we were there! We can protect her."

Steve sighed, leaning back in his seat. He didn't expect his friend to understand. What would Alba have done tonight if he was halfway around the world killing villains intent on destruction?

"What if we weren't there? What if next time, its HYDRA, and we're halfway around the world fighting god knows what?"

Tony jumped to his feet, strolling to the other side of the room and refilling his glass. "Look, I get it." He said in a somber tone. "It's terrifying to care, because then we have something to lose. We have a weakness. But you can't let that run your life. Where would we be if we ran off every time we were afraid of losing?"

Steve stood and ambled his way to the large wall of windows facing Manhattan. The city lights twinkled back at him as he took a cleansing breath.

"If you were in my shoes, what would you do?"

Tony rolled his eyes as he made the easiest retort of his life. "I would stick around, because I'm selfish. Life's not really that great when you don't have someone to share it with Cap. Everybody needs a person. Take it from me."

Steve shrugged. "I've lived nearly a century without a her. I'll bite the bullet if it means keeping them safe."

Tony rolled his eyes. He should've known Steve would come up with some way to blame himself for what happened. He was the most stubborn man he'd ever met. But he didn't know about love. He saw the way Steve looked at her, cared for her. The man was halfway in love.

"You think it's that easy. I give you a month." Steve gave him a puzzled look.

"This is the happiest I've seen you…ever. You're not going to make it long without her. I've been in your shoes before, Cap. No matter how I tried, I kept coming back to Pepper. Life gives you no choice but to give in. And you're going to give in, too."

Steve took that as a challenge, squaring his shoulders and turning to meet Tony and stare him in the eye. "I've been defying life for decades." He slung his discarded shield over his back and trailed out his apartment. He would go break the news to Alba, after a quick stop at the showers. He glanced at his phone one more time. No messages from yet.

"You think you can beat everything, you can't beat this! She's different from all the others ones, and you know it!" Tony called after him, grinning to himself as the elevator doors closed after his friend.

All this relationship talk made him miss lady.

"FRIDAY, can you patch me through the Pepper, will you?"

The hot water streams pounded on Steve's back as he entered the showers. He chose to use the ones in the training wing, or what was left of it since the move upstate. They were closer to Alba, should he need to take off in her direction any minute. He thought about her face, worried and tired when he first found her a few hours ago and cursed himself.

The two hours since they've been waiting on had been endless. He had prayed about a thousand times for the health of their baby, and worried every other second. Steve wasn't used to having someone to lose.

He'd lost everyone worth caring about before falling to the ice.

This feeling was strange and terrifying at the same time. He couldn't bear to lose anyone else.

He thought to the night he met Alba at the bar, relishing the moments that had been etched into his memory.

It had been a long day at the Avengers facility upstate. Nat and Sam had gone off to visit friends, Wanda and Vision had somehow become best friends, and Steve was once again the odd man out. The sense of loneliness had become second nature to him, but it didn't mean he had grown used to the cold feeling that bloomed in his chest. So he settled for hopping on his bike and coming back home. To his city.

The bar had been a lot different in the forties, but it was one of the only ones that had made it to the twenty-first century. Granted, some things had changed, but the cozy mahogany furniture was a thing time never changed. For a moment, it made him feel like he was back in his time. Like nothing had changed.

Like he could step out of those doors and pick up his life where it left off in 1945.

He had noticed her as soon as he walked through the doors. The woman in the red dress. At first he thought he was hallucinating. The fabric and style of the dress so closely resembled what ladies wore in the forties that he thought he was seeing things for a moment.

He took a seat at the far side of the same bar she sat at, closely staring at her back. Eventually his eyes drifted a little lower, lingering on the round shape of her derrière. Steve chided himself, tearing his eyes away from the woman who looked as lonely as he felt.

He nursed his beer for a long time, knowing that it did nothing. He was here for the atmosphere more than anything else. Back in his time, there was a little jukebox shoved into the back corner. Bucky always used to always pick the most romantic song, find himself the prettiest girl in the room, and ask her for a dance. The memory put a smile on his face.

The lady in the red dress finally came to life, reaching out and placing her hand over the bartender's arm. "You know what? Just leave the bottle." He grinned to himself. If alcohol worked on him, he was sure he would have probably done the same thing. He watched her drink, fighting the sudden urge to talk to her. So many things could go wrong. He could be recognized, for starters. But for some reason…he couldn't shake her from his mind. He felt as nervous as the kid from Brooklyn when he cleared his throat and called out to her.

"You gonna drink that whole thing by yourself?" She tensed, back straightening. Steve shifted in his seat, waiting for her to turn in her seat and acknowledge him. He was struck by her face.

Her skin was the color of caramel, sun-kissed and glowing in the dim light of the bar. Steve looked at her for a long moment, taking in her rosebud lips and wide, brown eyes and running his tongue over his bottom lip briefly. If Bucky was here, he would have clapped him behind his head and told him to stop drooling.

When she did meet his eyes, he couldn't help the small grin on his face. She looked a little shocked, and for a moment he worried he'd been recognized. He didn't want his favorite haunt in the city to be filled with civilians looking for the star spangled man with a plan.

She got over her shock, instead giving him a careful, inquisitive look.

Steve motioned at the bottle of red sitting in front of her. "Rough day?"

She looked at him for a long moment, silently deciding if she would give him the time of day. "You can say that." The woman warmed up after that, giving him a small grin and motioning at the beer in his hand. "Same for you?"

"No, not at all. I had a very productive day." She gave him an incredulous look.

"If your day was so great, why are you drowning your sorrows with the rest of us?"

Steve shrugged, not able to take his gaze away from the small smile on her face. "I guess I'm not ready to back home."

"Too far?" She asked, raising a brow.

"Too empty." He muttered, taking a swig from his beer. "Sometimes home doesn't really feel like home, does it?" He looked back over the bar, faintly remembering the parties of the forties, the men in uniform.

He stared back and the woman and mentally berated himself. Leave it to him to get lost in his thoughts mid-conversation. But she wasn't put off by his strange admission. Instead, she gauged him carefully, as if she was trying to make up her mind about him. Maybe she did think he was crazy.

"You're right." He gave her a surprised glance. Most people in his time treated him like a relic, something to gawk at. It was the first time in years he felt…normal. All his life he'd wanted to fit in. She made him feel like maybe, he could.

She extended her hand and gave him an earnest smile. "I'm Alba."

He met her hand halfway, enveloping her hand in his and trying not to flinch at the heat racing through his body.

"Steve."

A sharp trilling took brought him out of his thoughts. He finished the shower immediately, wrapping a towel around his hips and snatching the phone off the counter.

Alba's results were in.

Alba thought she was going to collapse when walked through the door to the treatment room, carrying a tablet in her hand and a warm grin on her face.

"I have good news." The woman on the bed relaxed instantly, finally allowing herself to return a small grin to the doctor standing in front of her. looked at her tablet once more and paused.

"The tests did come back as amniotic fluid, but not in dangerous quantities." Just then a knock interrupted the two women. Steve poked his head through the door, giving a tight nod and reserving his anxious smile for the woman sitting on the bed.

Alba wanted to frown, or at least rolled his eyes, but she refrained. Where the hell had he been this whole time? She knew he was probably just as stressed as she was, and Steve handled everything in his head. She would have to give him time.

Dr. Cho took the opportunity to catch Steve up on her diagnosis. "The amniotic sac has been torn, but not broken. The flow of liquid has thankfully stopped, which means that it isn't is severe as I originally thought." She motioned to a machine next to her, which after a closer look, Alba realized was a high-tech ultrasound machine.

"We're going to take a look in there and see exactly what kind of tear we're up against." The straps of the heartbeat doppler came off her abdomen. Alba immediately missed the constant pulsing of Peanut's heartbeat. It had been her only comfort for the past few hours.

She looked up at Steve again and tried not to glare as placed a liberal amount of warm gel all over her stomach. She shouldn't have had to be alone in this. But he had saved their lives after all. Alba knew she wouldn't be able to stay angry at him for long.

Steve looked at Alba's stony face and sighed. The practical part of him should have been thankful for the disappointed look on her face. If she was already upset with him, it would only make the goodbye easier on both of them. But he didn't feel thankful.

He felt horrible.

He was dying to come around the bed and give her soft hand a squeeze, to comfort her somehow. But if he was going to stick by his decision, he had to maintain his distance. It was already hard being in a room with her and feeling like his hands were tied behind his back.

The silence in the room was heavy as both people stubbornly refused to acknowledge each other, silently staring at Dr. Cho as she went on about the ultrasound, completely unawares.

She pressed a button on the dashboard of the ultrasound machine and a silent, thrumming heartbeat warbled into the room, just as a startlingly clear image of peanut came unto the screen.

"Wow. He really looks like a tiny alien." Alba muttered. Steve grinned, eyes pinned to the screen as their little baby fluttered around, apparently having a little party of one inside his mom's belly.

"I've fought those before. This one's a hell of a lot cuter." They shared a brief smile and went about her job scanning the baby and then searching for the said amniotic tear. It took a few minutes of searching, but it was apparent that she found it when she stopped mid-scan with a shocked expression on her face.

"Is everything okay?" Alba asked nervously, not able to help giving Steve a worried glance as the silence stretched out before them.

Steve couldn't resist her this time. He walked around the bed and stood beside Alba, settling for placing a hand on her shoulder and bracing for the worst.

"I found the site of the tear. But this…looks a lot more severe." Alba felt the room closing in on her. God. This couldn't be happening again.

"It looks like it's…repairing itself? It's happening at an incredible pace. I've never seen anything like this before. Your amniotic sac has been completely repaired in just over two hours."

Both expecting parents leaned over the ultrasound display, trying to make out exactly what was talking about. Alba couldn't believe it. She'd had her suspicions, of course. Even her pregnancy had defied the odds, but she had refused to believe that it had had anything to do with Steve's super soldier status.

They shared a gaze of mutual understanding. Fear, worry, then more fear swirled in the out of Alba's stomach.

Steve glanced up at . "Does this mean that my...abilities are involved?"

nodded slowly. "We would have to run more tests to be certain, but it does seem likely. The serum enhanced to peak human performance, that includes all aspects of you." She looked around awkwardly, refusing to meet his eyes. "Even your reproduction."

Alba had been terrified of this. She didn't know what it meant for her or her baby, but she understood the dangers that followed Steve. She didn't want the same for their child.

"I'll come back later to run a few more tests, just to confirm. Just try to get some more rest for now." Dr. Cho left the expecting parents to their own devices, shutting the tinted glass door behind her. Alba and Steve faced off in silence for a long moment before he spoke up.

"I had no idea this was going to happen. I...hadn't thought about starting a family in so long..." Alba nodded quietly. It made sense he was just as blindsided as she was. She understood his job kept him from starting a family, if not his past.

After she recognized Steve as none other than Captain America, she had saved herself some time by doing some research. And by research she googling the crap out of Steve Rogers until she found all the details she could get her hands on.

His early life was obscure, riddled with health problems and poverty. His life turned around after putting himself through the experiments of that German scientist. There wasn't much information about his personal life, and it was that aspect that Alba wondered the most about.

She could never bring herself to ask him about that part of his life. Alba could only imagine how painful and frustrating it was to love someone and lose them to time. Besides, she had a feeling now probably wasn't the best time to bring it up.

Alba placed a hand over her stomach and glanced up at Steve.

"What do we do now?" He sat at the end of the bed, running a hand over his hair for a better option than the one about to come out of his mouth.

"Keep this a secret, I suppose. The Avengers have a lot of enemies, and a lot of people out there willing to do anything to get their own super soldier." Steve shuddered at the idea of what could become to his child if any of his enemies got his hands on him.

His child could end up like Bucky. Kidnapped, tortured, and conditioned into a perfect, unfeeling assassin. He couldn't fail his family like he did his best friend. He had to keep Alba and their baby safe, no matter how high the personal cost.

His mind was made.

He cleared his throat and came to his feet.

"Listen Alba, I'm going to be off with Tony for the next few weeks. I think it would be best if we kept as little communication as possible to prevent—"

Alba held up a hand. "I'm a pretty discerning person. Don't do me the disservice of lying to my face. Just…be honest."

Steve took a cleansing breath. He should have known. Alba knew people's moved before even they did. "You're right. I'm sorry. I think it's safer for you two if I keep my distance. I can't be the one to put you in danger, Alba. I would never forgive myself."

Alba frowned. "What happened tonight had nothing to do with you." She didn't say out loud, but if she and Steve had never met, there was a high chance she would have never made it out of that abandoned place alive.

"Not this time. But there will be other times. Times when I won't be around. Last night can't happen ever again. I'm going to make sure of it."

"By hiding behind your shield?" Steve froze. He hadn't expected Alba to protest. A small part of him wanted her to agree. Maybe if she blamed him for what happened, this whole thing would have been easier.

"By staying away from you. If they can't trace me back to you…I won't bring danger to your doorstep. I need you to be safe."

Alba was a practical woman by all means. She should have agreed. Anonymity would be safer, in every sense of the word. But part of her couldn't help but feel…disappointed. Sad.

Heartbroken.

In such a small amount of time, she had come to depend on this man for much more than her safety. He'd given her a gift she would never be able to repay.

Their child.

She understood that in his own way, he cared. He was willing to sacrifice their relationship for her safety and that of their baby. So she buried the sadness deep down, sat straighter in her seat, and looked him square in the eyes.

"How are we doing this?"

Steve expelled a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure he would have been able to resist her had she asked for him to stay.

"Minimal contact would be best, I think."

Alba nodded and ran her hand across her stomach for extra strength. "Do you want to meet the baby…once I give birth? I have the

money—so I can do it on my own. You don't have to be involved if you think that's safest—" Steve raised a hand to stop her. The thought of not meeting his child felt like a stab in the chest. It was unbearable.

"I…I want to be a father. I want this. I'll be there for anything." He said, silently leaning over and placing his hand over hers. "I just need to know I won't lose you."

Alba nodded weakly. He was right. Ending their relationship would be the easiest way to keep peanut from being discovered. It was the right thing to do.

Too bad she felt like their decision was anything but.

A/N: Okay so let me start off by saying we've had so many people join us in the favorites and follows list! Hello friends! I'm really loving the support and reviews *hint;)*, they make me work faster for updates HINT HINT HINT lol

So...Peanut is ok?

We all know Steve Rogers is the biggest martyr on Earth so are we surprised?

I did include the first time they met from Steve's POV cause we don't get to see things from his POV like ever, and I wanted to make Alba stand out in Steve's life. Did you guys enjoy Steve POV? I might do some more depending on the feedback.

I'm going to go work on the next chapter now, and replying to reviews. See you guys later this week!

PS. If we get to 100 reviews this week, I PROMISE y'all an early upload. We're at 96 now... :D