Alba turned in front of the mirror and inspected her dress in the sunny afternoon light streaming through the window of her apartment. It was a light yellow, flowing summer dress that hugged her pregnant belly. Bonus points for the fact that it felt like pajamas, she mused.

She was now twenty weeks pregnant. Alba looked down at her stomach. It didn't look like a food baby anymore. She was happy to say that she now looked pregnant. People at work had started to notice, though not many dared to ask about her pregnancy. She was planning her maternity leave and was looking forward to spending some time at home with Steve and their baby.

Her phone pinged with an incoming e-mail. She quickly skimmed skimmed the contents of the email, grinning when she realized the message was from her boss.

Dear Alba,

You didn't think I'd forget your birthday, did you? Happy birthday! I hope you have a fun time. Enjoy your week off, you deserve it.

PS. You'll find some nice treats on your desk your first day back. Consider them a late birthday present.

-E

Ah, yes. She almost forgot she didn't have to show up to work tomorrow. Steve had insisted that she take some time off from work for her birthday. She'd almost said no, but he looked so excited about planning everything that she ended up agreeing. Alba sighed and glanced at her suitcase waiting by the door. It had been years since she'd taken a vacation. She wasn't even sure what someone did while they were on vacation.

The knock on the door distracted her from her thoughts. Alba raced into her living room and ripped the door open, a face splitting grin taking over her face when she saw Steve waiting in the hall.

"Happy birthday, doll." She jumped into his arms and held on tight, loving the way his body felt beneath hers. He gave her a good squeeze, enjoying her clean scent and planting his face into her wild hair.

Once he set her down, he gave her the first present of the day.

"Are these my favorite chocolates?" He thought she would like that. Alba paced to the kitchen island and popped open the box, mouth dropping at the assortment of chocolate covered strawberries. She had dragged Steve along to her favorite restaurant in SoHo to satisfy a craving. It was a high end, French chocolatier that specialized in infused chocolates and hand made sweets.

Alba popped a strawberry in her mouth and groaned. "Oh, this is so good. You really are the best baby daddy ever."

Steve chuckled and embraced her from behind, pressing a kiss against her neck and running his hands over her rounding abdomen.

"Is that all I am to you? A baby maker?"

Alba fed him the other half of her strawberry and then turned in his arms to face him. She leaned in close enough to feel his breath on her face, hesitating for a fraction of a second before dropping a soft kiss on his lips.

He groaned, taking hold of her hips and lifting her up gently until she was sitting on the kitchen island and he stood between her legs. He ran a hand up her thigh slowly, using the other hand to tilt her head back and deepen their kiss.

Alba was happy to say that the physical aspect of their relationship had been growing. Steve didn't seem scared to put his hands on her anymore, and he was getting really good at teasing her. They had messed around in the past few weeks, but still didn't get around to having sex.

She broke their kiss and rested her forehead to his.

"What are you thinking about?" He murmured, looking at the creases between his girls brows.

Alba wondered what she was going to say. Sometimes she felt that they weren't on the same page about sex. Is that how people were in the forties when it came to sex? She didn't want to be too forward.

Who was she kidding? She was already pregnant.

Alba nibbled on another piece of chocolate before answering.

"Are you avoiding having sex with me because you find my pregnant body unattractive?" There was no point beating around the bush.

Steve froze, the tips of his ears going bright red. He hooked a hand behind each of her knees and pulled her forward, joining their bodies at the edge of the counter.

Alba placed her hands on Steve's shoulders, trying to hide her surprise at the firmness pressed against her stomach. His eyes burned through her, and suddenly, she felt silly for ever doubting his attraction to her.

"Does that answer your question?" She looked up at him from under her lashes with a coy smile.

"It only answers one. Once we have the baby, you know we're going to be benched for a while, right?" She ran a hand down his chest, loving the way his body tensed as she ventured lower. "Why are we waiting?"

Steve took hold of Alba's hand and pressed it against his heart.

"We rushed things the first time around. But now, I don't plan on letting you out of my sight. We have all the time in the world, doll. I just want to make it special." God, he knew just what to say to make her swoon.

Steve cleared his throat. "Also, if I'm being honest, you make me feel like I'm a sixteen year old asthmatic who doesn't know the first thing about women."

Alba snorted. "Judging from our first encounter, I'm going to go ahead and say that's a complete lie."

Steve laughed. "It's true. I mean, You've always been breathtakingly beautiful, but now I happen to know that you're smart, compassionate, and powerful as hell." He gulped. "It brings me back to being sixteen, skinny and sick, trying to figure out how to win over the girl of my dreams."

Alba's eyes narrowed. "Are you telling me I'm the girl of your dreams?"

"I told you all that and that's what you're taking away from this?"

"You have nothing to be intimidated about, Steve. I like you even more now than that night we met at the bar." She said, running a hand along his square jaw and smoothing his freshly-shaven face.

He took both her hands and brought them to his mouth, kissing both of them before easing her to the ground and gathering the luggage waiting by the door.

"You ready to go?" Alba smoothed a hand over her hair and dress. In the past, these things always fell through at the last minute. Marcus was a flaker. Now, she couldn't actually believe she was going on vacation with her boyfriend on a week that he had planned.

She felt spoiled, and it was amazing. Steve told her they would spend the time at his house, taking day trips along the tri-state area, maybe a day by the ocean. She would love to go to the beach and get some sun. It wasn't super extravagant, but she was just happy Steve had taken over the planning and made a week that was all about them. No work, no friends, no nothing. Just Alba, Steve, and Peanut.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

They rode in silence for a few minutes, stuck every few lights in the New York afternoon traffic. Steve fiddled with the radio before turning it off and craning his head to look at her.

"Hey, you uh, you hungry?" Alba thought about her lunch, a chicken wrap with some orange juice, and then looked at the traffic that stretched out before them. By the time they got to his house she'd be starving.

"Yeah, I could eat." Steve grinned and nodded quickly, veering out of traffic and taking shortcuts through the city he knew through and through.

When they pulled up at the restaurant, Alba froze. She leaned forward in her seat and inspected the establishment, smirking when she saw the sign on the awning.

Steve gave her an innocent glance as he hopped out of the car. "What's wrong, doll?"

He came around and helped her out of his truck. They stopped in front of the doors of the pub as Alba gave the place a long look.

"This is where we met." She said in awe.

He threw an arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple. "Yeah, I thought it would be a nice touch. For your birthday. The food is decent here, too." Alba snorted and slapped his stomach softly.

"You would know." She turned to gaze into his eyes, unable to hold back the thrilled smile. These little details meant the world to her.

"Thank you, Steve. I love it."

He held out a hand in front of him. "After you, doll."

Alba walked into the pub and froze. All the lights were out. What the hell?

Just as she was about to turn and tell Steve to check the hours, the lights were set blazing as a chorus of people greeted her.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Alba froze like a deer in the headlights, taking a second to process that all the people there were celebrating her birthday.

Alba couldn't believe it. She turned around to look at Steve, who waved at everyone in the room before kissing her and wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart." Oh God, oh no. She reached up to her face and dabbed at her eyes.

She was crying.

Alba was crying at her own birthday party. It wasn't enough that she was reenacting an 80s song, it was that she never cried. Okay, so maybe she cried when she saw those shelter dog commercials on TV, but she was pregnant and they were puppies. She'd be worried if she didn't cry.

This was different. Alba wasn't sure if she'd ever felt so many emotions at one time. She was a little bit frightened from the surprise, thrilled, happy, sad that her Dad wasn't around the see this, but most of all…she felt loved.

The flurry of emotions caused a knot in her throat until the tears spilled over. She dabbed them away as fast as she could, giving Steve a watery grin when he inspected her with a worried expression on his face.

"They're just happy tears. No one has ever done this for me before." She launched herself into his arms one more time. "Thank you."

Alba walked further into the pub, getting passed around all the guests at the party as they greeted her. She looked at all the familiar faces and smiled.

Tony, Sam, Wanda, and Natasha worked around the room. Alba's older sister was there with her husband, Lorrie managed to make it with Rick. Even her Mom had made the trip to New York to celebrate her birthday. After giving her Mom and sister a huge hug, she walked to the bar to get herself a glass of water. The June heat in New York made her parched, and all the chatting didn't help.

"That clear liquid better be H2O." She turned and gave Tony a smile, holding out her water for him.

"Want to try?" He held up a glass of scotch.

"I'm all set." Tony leaned over and gave Alba a one armed hug, running a hand over her stomach excitedly before pulling away.

"Happy birthday, Lawyer Lady. I have to say, when Steve asked to have this surprise birthday thing in a bar I thought he'd lost his mind." He said, looking around. "But this place isn't so bad. Apparently it was one of his spots in the forties." She looked at the place with new eyes, her gaze picking up on small details that hadn't come to her attention before, like all the woodwork and jukebox shoved into the corner.

"C'mon, you have a couple new in-laws to meet." He dragged her back a dart board where Sam was busy playing darts with three other men. He gave her a hug and handed her a gift bag, saying something about a sale at a candle place on 23rd. Her eye caught on a huge man with flowing blonde locks. Was that…?

"Alba, meet the rest of your future family. That one there excelling at darts is Legolas, the one sucking at darts and guzzling his beer is Rhodey. He probably just lost a lot of money." He murmured the last part so only she could hear it. The two men waved, wished her happy birthday, and continued with their game of darts.

"Oh, and this one's great. Your birthday fell just in time for our buddy Thor to be in the area, and by area I mean one planet over. Isn't it funny how these things pan out?" So it was Thor. Alba gulped and gave the God of Thunder a shy wave. Holy crap, he was really a God, she thought, inspecting the man with wide eyes.

"Congratulations on the festivities." Alba could only nod in acknowledgment. She was completely tongue-tied in front of the man.

"Hey Steve, you better over here quick!" Steve materialized out of nowhere, running a hand along Alba's back and inspecting the scene before them curiously. He gave Stark, the one who had summoned him, an arched look.

Tony pointed at Thor, then at Alba. "Thor's about to steal your girl." Alba rolled her eyes.

Steve threw his head back and laugh good-naturedly, greeting the God of thunder in what could only be described as a bro hug. How these two managed to be from different planets and still had this in common was lost to her.

Thor was dressed surprisingly normal for being a norse God. He wore a crisp white shirt and a blazer over it. From his corner of the car, he materialized a flask. Taking a sip, he held out the drink to Steve, who held up his hand and then pointed to his beer.

"Come on, Steven. We both know that the mortal drinks do not work on men like us." Alba grinned bemusedly as she watched the two men. She knew Steve couldn't get drunk off of regular alcohol, but she didn't know Thor was the person who could get him drunk.

It didn't surprise her that he refused. Hm. She would have to procure some for him when he wasn't looking. Alba would be lying if she said she didn't want to see him drunk.

She waded to the bar and ran her hands along the cool wood, reminiscing on that night nearly five months ago.

Alba felt a radiating heat tickling the back of her neck. She looked over her shoulder in time to catch Steve climbing onto the barstool beside her, reenacting the moment in which they first met.

"Who would have thought a bottle of wine would have gotten us here?"

Steve stood a little closer to her and spoke quietly so only she could hear him.

"Wine? If you ask me it was a silky red dress and the smarty pants wearing it."

Alba threw her head back and laughed. "This was a nice surprise. Thank you."

"There's one more I'm hoping to pull off."

She inspected the room, expecting the 'surprise' to show itself. When she saw nothing, Alba turned to Steve with narrowed eyes. "Which is?"

"Wait and see, doll. Wait and see."

Hey guys! Long time no talk! I hope you guys like this chapter (AND HAVE YALL SEEN ENDGAME? MY HEART)

Quick note, after watching Endgame I've gotten a wonderful little plot bunny that won't leave me alone and I'll probably be putting it up on the website sometime in the next few days. Just got to get some details right first.

It's going to be a StevexOC (my FAVE) and i think you guys are gonna love it. Just as a heads up, updates will probably slower cause I'm going to be dividing my time between two fics as well as a novel that I'm working on. Wish me luck :)