Chapter 2-

The weekend had passed and Steve spent every free moment Emerson had with her. She finally finished her big wedding project the Saturday morning before she had to delivery the order to the happy couple. Steve made sure she took enough breaks either at her apartment, down at the bakery or walking the streets of New York. The two had become very close and consider each other their best friends, even for only knowing each other for barely a week. Steve felt comfortable with Emerson and told her as much as he could without spilling his secret. He didn't know how she would take it, when she found out that he is the real Captain America. And Emerson enjoyed having adult conversations that weren't with family members.

Liam was still at his dad's house and that was how Steve found himself, in Emerson's apartment, having a Harry Potter marathon. Once she found out that Steve hadn't seen any of the movies, she forced him on to the couch and turned on the first movie. They started this at 10 this morning, and were only on the 3rd movie. Steve was enjoying watching the young wizards and their adventures. Movies have come a long way since the 1940s. And watching Emerson saying her favorite lines, in a horrible British accent, made it even more enjoyable.

Hearing music that didn't go with the movie, Steve looked around confused, trying to find out where the noise was coming from. "Em, do you hear that?"

"Sorry." Emerson said reaching for her phone. Steve was still not used to the ringtones that the new century as. It wasn't just the classic ringing, like the telephone ring he was used to. "Its Josh."

Pausing the movie, knowing that she wouldn't want to miss anything. No matter how many times she had seen these movies. "Answer it, I don't mind."

"Thanks Steve." She said as she walked into the kitchen. "Hey Josh what's up?"

Steve leaned his head back to watch her body language to see if something was wrong. Emerson told him that she and Josh rarely talked to each other, unless it was about Liam, good or bad. Her hand that wasn't holding the phone, was bracing herself onto the counter. Her blonde hair was covering her face so he couldn't see any of the reactions she was making. Standing up he moved closer to the kitchen and leaned against the wall looking at her with concern on his face. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.

Hanging up the phone she turned to face Steve. Tears were starting to fill her eyes. "Liam broke his arm. They are at the hospital right now putting a cast on."

"Want to go see your son?" Steve asked moving towards the distraught women. He could tell that this was the first time Liam ever hurt himself to the point of needing to go to the hospital.

Leaning into him she nodded her head against his chest. "Yeah I do."

Wrapping his arms around her tiny frame. "Well then lets go see your son."

"Lets go see my son." Emerson said into his chest.

Hailing down a taxi, Steve opened the door for Emerson to slide in. Once he got into the yellow taxi he heard Emerson tell the taxi driver where to go.

"Do you want me with? I didn't even ask." Steve said looking over at the blonde as the taxi pulled into the busy streets of New York.

Turning her head with kind eyes towards Steve, Emerson replied. "Of course I do. You are my best friend. I know we've only known each other for like a week. But you are and I need my best friend in a time of need."

"You're my best friend too. Mainly cause you are my only friend." Steve said with a smirk on his face. "And I will always be here for you."

"Good, cause I'm going to need you." She said as she patted his chest. "You are very firm. How often to do you work out?"

Shrugging his shoulders. Laughing slightly, "At least once a day."

"Huh. Seriously how are you single?" Emerson asked shaking her head in disbelief.

Looking down at his hand with a slight smile on his face. "I'm horrible at talking to women. And I spend most of my time with you or working out."

"I'm a women and you never had a hard time talking to me." She said looking over at him.

Shrugging his shoulders, Steve realized that she was right. He didn't have a hard time talking to Emerson. "For some reason, your different. I don't know, there was a girl when I first joined the army that I was interested in and it still took me a while to figure out how to talk to her."

"Oh so there was a women in your life. What happened?"

Luckily he didn't have to answer that question as they pulled up to the hospital. He didn't know how to answer that question just yet. He was still trying to figure it out himself. Not knowing if Peggy Carter was still alive or not. Paying the taxi fee, Steve followed Emerson into the building. Walking into the waiting room she found the father of her child sitting on one of the chairs.

"Josh hey. How's Liam?" Emerson said walking up to the brunette male.

Looking up with his scared brown eyes. "He had to uh go into surgery. The break was worse then they thought so they had to go in and adjust it."

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?! We talked not even 20 minutes ago!" Emerson yelled making the nurses sitting at the nurses station to shush her. "He's only with you for like 5 days out of a month and is already in the hospital."

"Because I found out after I got off the phone with you. He's going to be fine Emmy." Josh said rolling his eyes at his ex girlfriend. "Accidents happen. I mean that is how Liam was conceived."

Shaking her head, the glare that was resting on her face never leaving. While telling her ex boyfriend how she really feels. "I hate you."

"Feelings mutual." Josh said crossing his arms across his chest, not holding back his feelings about her either. Looking behind her, he noticed Steve. "So is this the guy Liam can't shut up about?"

"This is Steve. Steve this is Josh." Emerson said as she moved closer to Steve.

Holding his hand out, which was hanging in mid-air for more than 10 seconds. Steve said. "It's nice to meet you."

Standing up after giving Emerson a look. Josh shook his hand. "Yeah you too. So are you two dating?"

"No Josh, we are just friends." Emerson said looking between the two men standing in front of her. Both are, were, important to her in one point of her life. And she couldn't help but notice how different they looked. While Steve was tall and made out of pure muscle, Josh was only two inches taller than her and wasn't in the best shape of his life, as he was starting to sport a beer belly. Which didn't surprise Emerson at all. Steve has blue eyes, Josh has brown eyes. Steve had short blonde hair styled to perfection, Josh had black shaggy hair that always looked like a mess. And to top it all off they had different personalities. No one could accuse Emerson for having a type. Not that she was interested in Steve. Well okay maybe a little. She's not blind, he is a very attractive man. Ever since her son threw a baseball at him and the rest was history, Steve Rogers was in her life forever. Mainly because Steve was Liam's favorite person, besides herself.

"Mr. Young." A young dirty blonde haired doctor, who didn't look old enough to be out of med school yet, said as she walked up to the three. "Your son is out of surgery. Everything went as excepted and you can see him now. He is all cast up."

"Thank you Dr. Hunt." Josh said winking at the doctor, who was now blushing. Which in turn made Emerson roll her eyes.

They followed the doctor up to the pediatric ward, passing all the rooms that had sick kids made Emerson guilty for having a healthy son. And the only reason he was even in the hospital was because of a broken arm. Who was also able to leave today. Most of the kids here weren't so lucky. She didn't even know how she would be able to handle raising a sick child on her own. Wiping a tear away hoping no one noticed, she felt a heavy arm wrap around her shoulders. Looking over she noticed that Steve was looking at her with concern. Shaking her head telling him that it was nothing, they finally made it to Liam's room.

"Mommy!" Liam said as Emerson walked into the room. "Look I have a cast on. Its red and gold like Iron Man! And he's going to sign it at least thats what the nurses said. He's in the next room over."

No one noticed Steve's very pale face when he heard the excited little boy. He met Tony Stark briefly when Steve was getting a tour of S.H.I.E.L.D. His secret was definitely going to come out if Tony didn't keep his mouth shut.

"That's awesome buddy. Now can you tell mommy how you did this?" Emerson said as she dropped Steve's arm and walked to the bed.

Nodding his head, making his dark brown curls cover his eyes. Pushing his hair out of his face, he told his mom what happened. "Daddy was teaching me how to ride a bike and I fell off cause I was going fast. Like as fast as a car mommy. It hurt a lot when I fell off, but it doesn't hurt that much anymore."

Looking over at Josh, Emerson smiled softly. Suddenly she didn't want to punch him in the face anymore. "You were teaching him how to ride a bike?"

"Well I thought I should do something fatherly. And Liam told me you taught him how to throw a baseball so I thought it was the next best thing. And I had my old bike from when I was his age but uh that might have been the problem since the bike is 18 years old." Josh said sitting on the other side of the bed, running his fingers threw his son's hair.

Nodding her head in agreement. "You could have told me you wanted to teach him. He has a bike at home, we just hadn't had the time to use it. I was going to bring it out to my parent's house."

"Next time, if your up to it Liam. We will use a way safer bike. How does that sound?" Josh asked looking down at his son with a light smile on his face.

"Good." Liam said looking between his parents. He thought for sure there would have been yelling. That's what they always did. "I liked the bike until I fell off of it."

"Smart thinking young man. Always get back on the bike." They heard Tony Stark say as he walked into the room. He was wearing a nice suit and had sun glasses resting in the middle of his button down shirt. He looked just like he did whenever Emerson saw him on the news. "Hi I'm Tony Stark also known as Iron Man. But I'm sure you already knew that. Now what your name little guy?"

"I'm Liam. You are my favorite superhero. I got my cast with your colors. Red and yellow. See!" Liam said excitedly showing him his cast that took up most of his arm.

"Well isn't that awesome. Want me to sign it?" Watching the young boy nod his head, he pulled out his pen and did as he asked. "So you fell off a bike huh?"

"Yep. Daddy taught me." Liam said in awe. "Mommy couldn't cause she teaches me everything else and she had to bake cupcakes and watch movies with Steve instead. But some times she makes Steve help her with the decorating, unless he messes up then he gets to eat them."

"Liam James, I don't think Mr. Stark wants to hear about Steve eating his weight in cupcakes." Emerson said patting Steve on his back but not without noticing how tense he looked. "Steve you okay? You seem tense."

"Uh yeah I'm fine." Steve said trying to relax.

Looking up at Emerson and Steve, Tony smirked. "Well if it isn't Captain Rogers. How have you been? Adjusting well I see."

"You two know each other?" Emerson asked looking between the two. A look of confusion resting on her face.

Nodding his head. Tony stood up and walked over to the two. "Oh yeah, Cap here used to work with my father."

Looking more confused then she did before. "How is that possible? Your parents died in what 1991? Steve would have been a 1 year old."

"Stark, can I talk to you outside for a minute." Steve said glaring at the billionaire.

"Sure thing Cap." Tony said slapping his shoulder and walking out of the room.

Closing the door behind him, he stared at Tony for a good solid minute before saying anything. "She doesn't know who I am. She doesn't know that I'm actually 90 years old. I haven't gotten around to tell her that I'm Captain America. So I would really appreciate it if you don't spill that secret to her."

"Well why haven't you told her yet?" Tony asked. "I mean you two seem really cozy, watching movies together, eating and decorating cupcakes together. Do you like this women? She's not hard to look at."

Shaking his head, Steve decided not to answer that question. "I just don't know how to tell her. And now with you making the comment of me working with your father is going to bring up a lot of questions. Questions I don't know how to answer yet. She's my first friend, best friend actually, so I would appreciate you not taking her away from me."

"Wow are you really that insecure that she won't like you after you tell her you're a superhero?" Tony asked rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms. "You do realize people love superhero's right. I'm sure her pants will fall right off once you tell her."

"Do you really have to be so crass?" Steve asked, his voice filling up with anger. He never liked the way he heard modern men talk about women. "I'm more worried about her not wanting to talk to me because I've been lying to her."

Seeing the look on Steve's face, Tony could tell that he was serious. "Fine I'll keep the World War two talk down to a minimum. But you owe me for this Caspsicle."

"Thank you." And with that the two walked back into the room to find Emerson and Josh glaring at each other. Liam was looking between his two parents with tears falling from his eyes. "What happened?"

"Nothing Steve. Josh was just leaving, weren't you Joshua?" Emerson glaring at her son's father.

Nodding his head. Josh leaned down to kiss Liam on his forehead. "Yeah I was. Bye Liam. Tell your mom that I'm sorry but even she knows this is for the best."

"Just leave before I personally throw you out of here." Emerson said glaring at the man. "And don't tell him things you don't believe."

Mumbling as he walked out the door. "I hate you so much."

"Feelings mutual." Emerson said slamming the door after him. Resting her forehead on the hospital door. "And now you know why we never worked out."

"Mommy is daddy really never coming back?" Liam said in a quiet voice pulling the stuff animal the pretty nurse gave him before going into surgery.

"No baby, daddy isn't coming back." Walking to her son she sat next to him in the bed. She had to be strong for Liam. She might have not liked Josh, but Liam just lost his father. "You didn't do anything wrong. Daddy just got a new job that is moving him out of the city. Maybe when he's all settled we can go out and see him. We just have to wait patiently for the phone call. How about you get some sleep and I'll talk to the nurses about getting you out of here."

Nodding his head, his green eyes filling up with tears. "Okay mommy. I love you."

"I love you too." Kissing the top of his head. Waiting for him to close his eyes, she walked out of the room, with the two superheroes following her. "I'm sorry you both had to see that. Especially you Mr. Stark."

Tony waved her off. "Oh don't worry about it. Trust me I have seen much worse and call me Tony. Mr. Stark is my father. And I'll let you two be. There are other little kids that want to see the great Tony Stark."

"Thanks Tony." Emerson said leaning against the nurses station as he walked away from the two. When Stark was out of ear shot, Emerson turned to Steve. "So you two know each other?"

Nodding his head, Steve sighed. "Yeah we do. Only met a couple of times."

"Huh? Interesting." Turning towards the nurses's she asked if she was able to take her son home today. Getting the answer she wanted, she began to fill out the paperwork, ignoring the look Steve was giving her. "When we get home I'll talk. I just want to get out of here. Okay?"

"Okay."

The three made it back to Emerson's apartment from the silent taxi ride over. Steve was carrying the sleeping Liam before he put the young boy in his Star War themed bedding. Closing the door behind him, he walked back out to the living room to find two beer bottles sitting on the coffee table in front of the distraught looking Emerson.

"So he is leaving the state?" Steve asked sitting next to the blonde.

Lifting her head up slowly. "He's leaving the country Steve. The fucking country. He's moving to Germany." Leaning into his body, she felt a tear fall onto her cheek. "Liam is never going to see his father. Ever again. I don't know what to do. What do I say to Liam when that phone call never happens? He's six years old and his father just walked out on him after teaching him how to ride a bike. Now I understand why he taught that to Liam. The last good memory he is going to have of his father is of him teaching him how to ride a bike. He won't care about the broke arm, he thinks that is awesome. What do I do Steve?"

Wrapping his arms around Emerson he held on to her tightly as she cried into this chest. "I really wish I had an answer for you. I really do. But I can take your mind off of it and we can watch more Harry Potter. Will that help?"

"Harry always helps." Emerson said lifting her head enough to look at Steve.

Smiling softly, he wiped tears off of her cheeks. "Well Harry it is."