Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, Disney, ABC, other the Avengers. Just Sera.
"Mama," I heard in my ear. I opened my eyes to see a bright smile full of slobber.
"Hello baby boy," I smiled as I stretched. Steve set him down in my arms and I realized I had been moved to our bed.
"Where's Callie?" I asked worried.
"Bucky took her down to see Jemma, to ease your mind."
"I need to be with her," I said, carefully getting out of bed with Elijah.
"Slow down." Steve said sternly, I wanted to stomp my foot, but I settled on glaring at him as he stood in my way.
"Go shower, have a bite of the food I brought you, and change. He will get ARSENAL to alert us if it's anything other than teething."
"Move out of my way Steven," I snarled. He raised an eyebrow, and crossed his arms.
"I can make you," He challenged. Deciding not to hit him as I had our son in my arms I rolled my eyes and went to go put Elijah in the playpen while I showered.
Getting in and out quickly, I ate a piece of toast, as I got dressed into lounge pants and a flowing shirt. Putting my hair up, I held my arms out saying, "Are you happy?"
"Very. You look beautiful as always," He smiled, moving to kiss my lips softly. Moving out of the way as I glared at him again, I picked up Elijah and left replying, "Captain."
I walked down to the labs with Elijah, bouncing and laughing, while I was just worried about Callie.
"Is she alright?" I asked seeing Jemma hunched over her, while Bucky stood off to the side.
"She's as fit as a fiddle Sera." Jemma smiled, tickling Callie.
"No, I know something was wrong."
"I was told she had a fever last night. How high was it?"
"It was hovering at 100.4. That was around 2am. I came down and gave her the correct dosage of the children's acetaminophen in that cabinet." I said pointing as Bucky came to stand beside me.
"Alright, well I would say that broke the fever."
"She was less fussy when I gave her the wet towel wrapped ice pack to chew. And then I took her up to the kitchen for her actual teething ring. I wasn't sure when they'd get their teeth, they've been growing so fast." I said as I looked in her mouth.
"I'd say there are three ready to break through in about a week."
"But Elijah hasn't been showing any symptoms," I asked, as Bucky laid a hand on my shoulder. I nudged it off, moving to put my boy down on the table as well.
"He doesn't need to teeth too much," She smiled, "He's already got four."
"What?" I asked, confused. How had I missed that?
"He had a fever the night you girls went out. That's why we even had the children's stuff." Bucky explained.
"Why didn't you call to tell me?" I asked, holding my little boy close.
"Why didn't know how you'd react?"
"How else would you expect me to react? I would have come home straight away. I've flown drunk before, and I wasn't even as drunk as last time." I said, raising my voice.
"Sera, you were pretty pissed at us."
"And now I'm furious!" I yelled.
"Hey," My Dad said coming in, "What's going on?"
"You didn't play a recording of my voice the other night, you flew out to get medicine for my son." I said, glaring at him.
"I wanted to tell you Sera. They asked me not to," Dad defended himself, backing up as I cornered him.
"So you listened, to the two boneheads that thought hey could keep this from their wife?"
"We weren't trying to-" Bucky tried to explain.
"You better not finish that sentence. First Steve makes me wait to get down here, when I'm already worried enough, and now this." I said as I collected both children. I walked them to the hangar, and beyond that to the stairs up to my studio. They were curious about the floor almost as soon as I set them down.
"Your Daddies aren't very nice to me these days," I huffed. As I turned on some music, I saw Callie crawling to the middle of the floor, while Joey followed behind carefully.
"Big brother Joey," I smirked.
"You always did know how to make an exit," Dad chuckled from the doorway.
"Go away," I snarled.
"No Sera, I won't."
"Why not?" I asked fiercely.
"Because I'm your father. You remember the first time you got sick, after we met officially?"
"Yeah, I had a bug after a mission in Rwanda. Why?" I asked confused by where he was heading with this.
"Pepper had to slap me because I was freaking out. I thought you were going to die. Even though you were a grown woman and could take care of yourself, I was still worried. Worry comes with the job Sera. It's part of being a parent."
"That doesn't mean-"
"That they should've have kept it from you. But Sera, they know how you worry. It was better to keep it from you, than for you to worry yourself sick when they had it under control."
"Dad, it's slightly different. I was a grown woman. These are little babies that I birthed from my body. I feel responsible for everything that happens to them, minor and not so minor."
"What will you do to them this time? Go catatonic for a month? Shall we make it two this time? Or will you run off again?"
"Anything I do wouldn't be any worse that what you did to Mom," I snarled. He looked taken aback and nodded.
"Sera, if you want to push people away, that's on you. But do not bring your Mother into this. Different circumstances, and had I fought, we certainly wouldn't be standing here today."
There was a long silence before I admitted, "You're right."
"I would have ended up like Paris Hilton or something," I joked.
"God I hope not." He laughed as I sat down on the floor.
"I just don't want to miss anything. Yeah it wasn't going to be the best experience, but it still would have been my first. And then I would have been more prepared for Callie's fever last night," I explained, as he sat beside me.
"You were also not speaking to them. They didn't think you'd take their call." Dad added.
"But I would have taken yours." I pointed out.
"We didn't think of that."
"You know, I just about wore the suit into the store," He chuckled.
"Why?" I laughed.
"I wasn't sure if you wanted the world to know about the twins. Or that there was a possible child that Iron Man knew of."
"I'm very sure that no one would have clued in."
"You weren't seen in action for over 12 months." He argued.
"True. And Carson did say that Hydra knew I had two children," I said, leaving out the part where he threatened them.
"I'm trying to keep them secret." Dad said, hugging my shoulders as the twins crawled around.
"I know I can't be around them all the time. And this life I live, it's going to keep me from them sometimes. But is it so wrong of me to wish that I could be there for every moment?"
"Not every moment," My Dad snorted. Looking up in question, "Do you know how many times I have to knock on your door to make sure I'm not interrupting something? I don't want to see how you three are intimate."
"What should I do Dad?" I asked, laying my head on his shoulder.
"Forgive them. They are only human, I think, and men. We're kind of prone to stupidity." He laughed to himself.
"You'd just love me to admit that," I smiled.
"Hey, it's nice to see that Steve isn't perfect. Sometimes I just want to punch him in his perfect teeth," Dad said, grumbling.
"You wouldn't have let them marry me if you didn't think they would be good to me," I said, poking his ribs hard. He laughed, "You're right. Still doesn't change the fact that my Dad liked him more than he liked his own son."
"You know that's not true. Steve was Grandpa's friend, his moral compass in a lot of ways. After they lost Steve, Grandpa went back to womanizing, drinking and inventing stupid things like Midnight Oil."
"Huh?" He asked.
"I'll give you the files." I said, sitting up to gather Elijah in my arms as Callie crawled to the window, "Maybe then you'll see him like the rest of us see him. Flawed, and human."
"I know he was flawed." Dad sassed.
"But you see him as the father that didn't care about his son. I see him as someone that was used as well, that went on to create an organization that helped the world. And when he discovered that there was a weed growing in that organization, he got cut down because he was about to discover their secret. He tried to right his wrongs, and maybe if he had succeeded, you would have turned out different."
"His legacy, what he stood for, you know all of it to be true. Steve knows him as the man that helped the SSR develop weapons against Hydra. You know him as the bastard that cared more about his work, because he was trying to make the world a better place for you and everyone else. Just like Steve."
He was silent after that, nodding slightly as he took Elijah from my arms.
"Maybe I just need to change my perspective on him." He said softly.
"Okay," I replied, rubbing his back.
"You know, they weren't lying about the recording. Even after the medicine, he wouldn't get to sleep. They tried everything and when I suggested a song, they both lit up in understanding." He said, standing Elijah on his feet.
"I always sing to them," I said agreeing.
"But they didn't have a recording of you. I did," He smiled.
"When did you get that?" I wondered.
"You remember the first time you came over to cook dinner in Malibu?" He asked, and I thought back to that night.
"Oh, I um…. I can't remember the song I was singing," I said, drawing a blank.
"Once Upon A December," He said, smiling.
"I vaguely remember I sang it in Russian," I said, wondering how he knew.
"I had Jarvis translate it." He said, as we watched Callie.
"I should go apologize to both of them," I said, hanging my head.
"We forgive you," I heard from the doorway.
"How many people know the combination for this room?" I asked jokingly as I stood, wiping tears from my eyes. I walked forwards and sandwiched myself between them, trying to stop my tears.
"I'm sorry for the way I've been acting lately."
"We understand Angel," Steve said, kissing the back of my head.
"Will you forgive us for keeping it from you?"
"Yes. But don't do it again," I said, half jokingly.
"Yes Ma'am," They quipped in unison.
"Smartasses," I whispered, leaning up to kiss both softly on the lips.
