Chapter 23

Zaria rested her head on the seat of the toilet; the porcelain was cool against her sweaty cheek. This marked the third time this morning she had thrown up making her wonder if the women who told her morning sickness was over by the third trimester knew what they were talking about. Her stomach clenched again forcing her to turn her head back over the toilet as it tried to empty contents that weren't in it anymore. Cool hands brushed her hair from her face causing her to start and turn to see who it was; it was Bruce.

"Bruce?!" She asked surprised, covering her mouth with her hand.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. let me know you've been throwing up for a while now. I was going to send in Samantha but she hasn't come in yet and I'm the only person in the tower right now." Bruce said as he went over to the sink where he rummaged around for a washcloth that he wetted and handed to Zaria.

"Thanks…" She murmured as she wiped her face and neck with it. "You didn't have to come in though morning sickness is normal."

"True, it is, but from the studying I've had to do on pregnancies, I'm fairly certain it usually stops at the twelve week mark. You're now at thirty weeks and since this has been a rough pregnancy for you we're all a little concerned with any changes in your health."

Zaria sat back against the tub as she sucked on the damp cloth in an attempt to take in a little water without drinking an actual glass of it. "I'm just an anomaly I guess. Can you hand me the hair tie on the counter?"

Bruce looked around before spotting the small black rubber band. He picked it up and handed it to her then leaned back against the wall as she tied her hair back from her face. They sat there in silence, Bruce watching Zaria for a moment before looking off and Zaria sitting on the floor against the cold tub with the washcloth to her mouth.

"Are you feeling better?" Bruce asked after long moments of silence.

"Yeah, it's passed mostly." Zaria answered quietly.

"Would you like help getting back to bed?"

"Nah, I think I'm going to clean up before going back to bed."

Bruce nodded and stepped away from the wall towards the door. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask for it. If Samantha is here she'll probably be the one to show up, but I'll help where I can."

Zaria smiled slightly and nodded as she got up herself. "Don't worry, I'll be fine and if I need anything I'll let ya'll know."

Bruce nodded again then left the bathroom, the bedroom door clicking softly closed not long after.

"I didn't realize you could see into the bathrooms, J.A.R.V.I.S.." Zaria grumbled.

"I cannot, but my hearing is impeccable." He responded.

"Oh that's a comforting thought…" Sighing, she turned on the shower, hopping in and cleaning off quickly when the water was tolerable enough. With the shower finished quickly she wrapped herself in a towel before sitting down before the computer in her room and turned the monitor back on. Staring at all the data she had compiled thus far on her grandfather and all the locations he had been spotted or last known locations. Pursing her lips she mulled over the locations.

"Can you pull up a map of Russia from before the Cold War?"

A dated looking map of Russia popped onto her screen. Resting her chin on her hand she stared at the map; it didn't look much different than a modern day one.

"Mark the map with the last known locations of the Winter Soldier from that time."

Little red dots sprinkled across the map with no discernible pattern.

"Mark the map in a different color with the locations of first reported sightings."

Little green dots appeared on the map with a small grouping off to one side.

"There, that spot." Zaria pointed to the screen as she knew J.A.R.V.I.S. could see what she was pointing at. "What is that?"

"It appears to be an old military base." J.A.R.V.I.S. answered after a moment.

"Is it still active today?"

"There is no recent activity in that area. The base was abandoned after the Cold War."

Zaria groaned and leaned back in the chair. "Can you cross reference the names that I've put in with names of people that worked at that base before?"

"It will take me sometime as most of those documents are sealed by the Russian government, or destroyed when the base was abandoned, but I will see what I can do. In the meantime I think you're about to have a guest."

"What?" A knock at the door startled Zaria. She shut the screen off quickly and got out of the chair. "Yes?"

"It's me, Steve." Steve's voice called from the other side of the door. "Can I come in?"

"Ah, Steve, yeah, just a moment, let me put on some clothing." Zaria stripped the towel off and quickly changed into some loose fitting clothing; the shirt pulled snugly over her now large stomach. Throwing the towel into the bathroom and shutting the door she went to her bedroom door and opened it up to reveal Steve standing there looking tired.

"Hey." He said after a moment.

"Hey." Zaria responded as she stared at him. "You know it's like two in the morning right?"

"Yeah… I didn't really think that through before showing up. I was kinda hoping you were still used to your old schedule where you were awake at this time but it's been a long time since you worked right?"

"Yep, almost a whole year now." Zaria smiled slightly, her arms crossed just over her baby bump. "Did you want to come in or are you just going to stand in the doorway?"

"Ah, no I'd like to come in and talk with you if that's alright."

"Sure." Zaria stepped aside to let him through and after a moment of hesitation he walked into the room.

"What was it you wanted to talk about?" Zaria asked as she shut the door and took a seat in one of the chairs in her room.

"I, uh… I don't think I ever actually apologized for being so dense before with the whole issue with including Peggy in all of this. I should have come to apologize sooner but I didn't know what to say and Director Fury has been sending us all out to find… well you know who we're all looking for, but I really shouldn't be making excuses. I think I was just trying to avoid the whole thing."

Zaria smiled slightly. "It's fine… Well it's not alright, but I understand what you were trying to do and even if you took a while you did come to apologize. Is that the only reason you're here? I mean this could have waited until a more reasonable time to do it."

"I don't think I would have come to apologize if I had thought it all through again. I feel like an idiot for even letting it happen." Steve sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I also wanted to know if you had thought of a name for the baby that was more of an afterthought when I showed up at the door though."

Zaria blinked as she pursed her lips and thought about it. "Well honestly the only name I've come up with is Dima."

"That was your grandmother's name, right?"

"Yeah… I thought it would be a good name. What do you think?"

Steve smiled. "I like it. How about Dima Sarah or Sarah Dima?"

"Sarah is your mother's name, isn't it?" Zaria asked as she looked up at Steve, he nodded. "I like Sarah Dima. Sarah Dima Rogers is nice."

"You sure you want her to have my last name?" Steve asked sounding surprised.

"Of course. She is your child; she should have her father's last name."

Steve smiled a bright smile that seemed to shrug off the tiredness in his eyes. "Thank you…"

Zaria smiled in response. "Well I think we shall adjourn for the evening. We both need to sleep. Thank you for coming to apologize."

"I'm sorry I didn't come before." Steve admitted. "Get some rest."

"You too." Zaria held the door open and, after a second, Steve left shooting her a small smile as he did. She closed the door softly and rested her head against it with a long sigh.

"Zaria, I have some information you might want to look at." J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice broke the silence of the room.

"Coming J.A.R.V.I.S.."