The months leading up to February were busy ones. Rosemarie continued to look flawless even as her body changed to accommodate her little passenger. Howard had tried to call the baby a parasite, but Bucky put a quick and effective end to that. After finding out about the baby, Peggy gave both parents an ecstatic kiss on the cheek and almost a full year's leave of absence.

Bucky spent that time preparing the nursery for the newest addition to their family and checking in with Howard for the progression of his arm. So far, everything looked good. They would do the replacement surgery one month before the baby was due. That way, Bucky would have time to recover and be able to hold his newborn.

Rosie was grateful for the time off work, but with all the extra time on her hands, she was overthinking things. She'd read countless baby books and been over to Susan's for advice almost every day. She was just so worried about messing things up.

Despite her husband's constant assurances that she would be a great mom, Rosemarie was still nervous.

X-X-X

The soon to be parents were lounging on their sofa listening to the radio and enjoying the other's presence.

"We need to think about names." Rosie spoke softly, entwining her fingers with Bucky's on the crest of her belly.

"As long as we're not naming the poor kid James, I'm happy." Bucky murmured sleepily into Rosie's curly hair.

Rosie twisted around to look at him. "Why not James, James?"

Bucky gave her a look. "That sentence should be reason enough."

Rosemarie raised an eyebrow.

"It's an awful name and I won't do that to my kid."

"Fine." Rosie waved her hand, but her tone said they'd have this discussion again later. "What if it's a girl?"

"Let's name her Lilly or Daisy or somethin'. Then she can match her ma, both named after flowers." He mumbled, in serous danger of dozing off.

"Alright, if it's a girl, you can name her after a flower." Rosie rolled her eyes. After a glance at the clock, she decided it was bedtime. "Come on, sleepy head. Let's turn in for the night."

X-X-X

As James' surgery date approached, Rosemarie couldn't help but notice a few things about her baby. She was definitely sure it was going to be a boy, even though everyone told her there was no way to know for sure. She just knew. Another thing she noticed was that according to both her doctor and her pregnancy books, she was progressing faster than she should have been.

Dr. Miller had warned the parents that it was quite possible that the baby would come early. James was worried about this, but Rosemarie refused to accept it. She arrived everywhere exactly on time and so would her baby.

James had offered to postpone his surgery until a few months after the baby had been born, but Rosemarie wouldn't have it.

X-X-X

"Alright, I think we're ready." Howard announced as the doctor inserted the needle into Bucky's arm. "You'll be out for a good while, but when you wake up, you'll be a whole person!" he joked.

Bucky rolled his eyes at his friend's bad attempt at humor. "Are you sure you're ok with this?" he asked his wife for the hundredth time.

Rosie had complained of cramps earlier that morning, but shrugged them off. Despite the cramps, Rosie nodded and kissed her husband. "I'm fine and I'll be waiting her when you wake up."

Rosie had been waiting in the hospital lounge for half an hour with Peggy when her water broke.

"Uh, Peggy?" She looked up with wide eyes.

"Yes, darling?" Peggy responded, eyes not leaving her files.

"My water broke." Rosie gasped with a tinge of panic in her voice.

"Your what?" Peggy dropped her files and moved to examine the younger woman.

"My baby's coming. And James isn't here!"

"Calm down, darling. Everything is going to be alright." Peggy hushed her as she waved over a few nurses.

"I can't!" Tears were flowing down Rosie's face both from pain and panic. "James is going to miss his son's birth. I can't believe I let this happen."

One of the nurses ran off to get Dr. Miller while the other went to get a wheel chair. Peggy knelt in front of Rosie and grabbed her hands. "Rosemarie, look at me. James knew how close you were to giving birth. This is not your fault."

Rosie could only nod.

Just to clarify, Bucky's got the super soldier serum thanks to Zola. Thanks to that, the new baby has the serum too, meaning that he's developing faster than other babies. Of course, his parents don't know that yet.