Well, what started as a one shot will end as a trilogy. The story didn't feel completed. Though be warned, I am ending it with some fluffy goodness- sue me!
But, enjoy first.
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Steve awoke violently shaking, and immediately flipped on to a hard floor, wrapped in a blanket- causing him to groan in to the soft fabric. His head was pulsing, hard enough that he chose not to open his eyes.
" Aw, a senior citizen has fallen," he heard Natasha coo from not far away, just at the situation in general. He heard her approach, and administered the first wiggle in his burrito blanket.
" No, no, no, don't do that." Natasha knelt on the floor next to him, helping him roll on to his back. His eyes opened to see her bright face smiling down at him. Maybe, he could have been hallucinating. " You gotta stay warm, Cap."
Steve lifted his head long enough to plop it on her though. He felt warm, but oddly, still cold. " Where are we?" His vision was blurry, he had to keep blinking, but he saw her clear as day.
" Safe house. Well, more like a safe cabin."
" Where?"
" Alaska, darling," she began to rub her fingers through his hair as she cradled him the best she could, " we had a bit of a rough mission. You ended up falling through some ice, took us a pretty minute to find you."
There was a great attempt to life his head again, " Sam!" he gasped.
But, she pushed him back down, " stay put. He's fine, he's back home, but he put up quite the argument to be the one to stay behind with you. I won, clearly."
Steve smiled, maybe, he couldn't feel his face or much else. " But, you and Sam are okay?"
" Only causality was you. But, we're working on that. However, you can't stay on the floor."
He made the most God honest attempt to be a gentleman and pull himself up- take the burden off her. He tried, and failed, plopping down in her lap with his head pulsing.
" Best to make camp here, try again in the morning," he mumbled.
Natasha smirked. Oh how she adored a helpless, needy Steve. It was adorable and it never happened, so she would soak up these moments at his expense. " There's an air mattress I can set up." He whined and mumbled for her not to move, " yes. I need to keep you cozy and warm. The serum doesn't cover all the messes you get yourself in to."
" I survived seventy years in the North Atlantic."
" Well, this time you only partially froze. I think you also had a concussion, but, there was no keeping you awake."
" I think I broke a rib, but, maybe that was from falling off the couch."
" Why don't we get you comfortable," she pulled a pillow form the couch and placed it under him, before carefully lowering his head on it.
Steve watched in a haze of cold, pain and what he believed to be half assed pain medication from the emergency kits they carried with them. He felt both heavy and light headed, freezing, but oddly comfortable. There was a large stone fireplace on the far wall of the quaint and classic cabin (considering the occupants). There was a roaring fire already in progress- her doing from when he was unconscious.
Natasha dragged a folded and flat soon-to-be mattress that she inflated with a small, electric pump. He watched each agonizing second as the mattress grew, loudly, in to it's full form, and gave a weak celebratory ' yay!' when it was finally done. She grabbed supplies from around the cabin- a flat sheet, pillows, blankets, and bottles of juice that were placed next to the now makeshift bed, which she had dragged in front of the fire place.
" Okay, Cap, you're next."
Under no circumstances would she be able to lift him, so he helped drag and then roll him on- the air allowing it to give way for her to succeed.
" There, that wasn't so bad," she huffed when he was finally aboard in his high tech blanket burrito.
" Come cuddle with me so I don't die," he mumbled from his pillow.
Another smirk from her, " imagine if the bad guys knew your soft spot."
" Pretty sure only you know."
" Best to keep it that way."
Natasha pulled of her t-shirt and leggings, leaving her in a bra and the shorts she always wore under her uniform. Steve made a suggestive noise.
" Don't get fresh with me, Captain. My main objective here is to keep you warm."
She knelt on the bed, and he managed to wiggle and open the ends of his cocoon properly, she laid down next to him, enclosing them. He was warm, not as warm as he usually was, which was concerning.
" What kind of blanket is this?" he mumbled, tucking his face in to the side of her neck.
" A Stark prototype. It's suppose to help regulate temperatures. So far, it's been doing a good job, since you're still alive."
" You can do a better job, I think."
Natasha stroked the hair on the back of his neck, letting him cuddle as close as he needed to. " We're here until you're up and running, not before. I want to be a hundred percent before I'm letting you on a plane." He made some sort of noise that she considered an agreement before continuing, " you really had be worried, Steve."
His hands tightened on the small of her back and her hip, " I'm sorry. I'm still here though."
She felt his body gain warmth from hers, for a change. Her hands ran up and down his neck and along his shoulders, feeling his chest press against hers with each deep breath. For sometime, they laid simply in silence, sans the crackling of the fire that was borderline too warm. Natasha was getting lost in the overwhelming comfort and calm. They never got these chances.
Tonight, she had planned this.
" I have a confession to make," she whispered in their cocoon. He made a questioning mumble/grunt sound. " I wanted to be alone with you, so I arranged this."
Steve lifted his head, looking up at her, " you wanted me to freeze?"
" No," she stifled a giggle, " to get Sam back in New York, and keep you here. The rest of it was just some bad luck."
She felt his foot graze her shin, " you wanted to be alone," he sang. And she really needed to be more appreciative of an injured, medicated and needy Steve Rogers.
" I haven't been able to talk to you for more than five minutes in three weeks. Let alone with no one else around."
" And I stink at texting."
Natasha wiggled her way down the mattress, until she was face to face with him. His hazy blue eyes watched her with caution, like she was going to scold him.
" This isn't something I'd want to discuss by text, anyways," her breath was caught. She swiftly reached and grabbed his hands, pulling them to rest on her bare stomach, " I'm pregnant, Steve."
A more stable Steve may have reacted faster, but now it was going to take a bit longer. He looked down at her stomach, like there would be some sort of confirmation. Then his brow arched, before looking back at her.
" Wow," he gasped.
" Just wow?" she had visions of what his reaction would be. This wasn't any of them.
" No, I just, I'm having trouble processing."
She sighed when he rolled on to his back, but kept one hand on her. " I'm sorry, I should have waited, but, I've been waiting for weeks. I didn't know when we'd be interrupted."
" Three weeks!? You've been pregnant for three weeks!?" he was beginning to get a little spark in himself.
Natasha smoothed her hand over his chest, " no, I've known for three weeks. I've been pregnant for ten."
His eyes bugged, " ten!? Ten weeks?" and then he paused, " so..so, after Tony and I had that altercation? That's when..."
She reached over and stroked his scruffy jawline, " yes, I felt you needed a great deal of stress relief."
" Oh my God," he gasped.
" Yeah, I definitely should have waited before telling you."
His head quickly turned to face her, their noses nearly colliding, " are you happy?" And he look petrified, like she wouldn't be and it would break him.
" I am," she continued stroking his chin with a warm smile, " I was worried, at first. But I've gotten used to it. Which is, in addition to your ordeal earlier, why I'm being sympathetic to your little panic attack right now."
Steve looked down to where his hands were, " I'm happy, too."
Had she not said anything, and he not swimming in his own head, he wouldn't have noticed. But, now there was a slight rise in her stomach, or even her breasts. Certainly not something he'd ever say to her- pregnant or not.
" You really are happy?" she asked after a few moments cuddled closer to him. She could feel him going more lax, more than before. He was loopy and still under an influence, he wasn't going to last much longer before a nice, long sleep.
Regardless, his hand stayed firmly on her stomach, occasionally moving his thumb over her skin.
" It's okay if you're not, you know," she added when he failed to respond, " I know it's not anything we ever planned, especially since it's not like we planned on getting back together. I know it wasn't suppose to happen, we don't exactly have the lifestyle for it."
He turned her head to lightly hiss hers, " it's a baby, though. A baby."
Natasha felt his breathing even out more, and rested her head on his collarbone, " I suppose I wouldn't mind a family with you."
" Sounds like a great idea," he mumbled.
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The tinniest whine jerked Steve from a deep sleep- it was a faint noise that likely only he would hear, thanks to the serum. Enhanced hearing and what not. One eye cracked open, assessing the situation. Would this be a quick fuss, or an actual night time wake up call?
Next came a practice cry. Wake up call it is.
He could feel an arm wrapped around his waist- the being behind him had not been disturbed and had likely placed there while she was asleep. He carefully peeled the arm from him, wanting to keep her peacefully in slumber, and shifted to the edge of the bed- she had been persistent on being the ' big spoon' since the physical boundary of a growing stomach that was no longer a factor.
He stood up, bare feet on warm, cherry floors. A quick check behind him, confirming she had remained undisturbed, arm stretched out of the mattress. The other human, the rather tiny and displeased human, was not settling. The demand for attention was still strong.
Steve leaned over the bassinet, where said angry baby had wiggled out of the blanket burrito he was put to bed in. Little legs kicking, tiny body squirming- it was still hard to believe that it was real. The room was light enough from the generous moonlight through soft curtains, and the baby was able to see him through the glow of the room.
He scooped the baby in to his hands, carefully moving from the room before anyone else woke up, closing the door behind him.
" Hey, buddy, what's wrong?"
Steve had unraveled him from the blanket, holding the little boy over his shoulder. Natasha cringes at the idea of the baby being exposed, and now he only wore a onesie. But it was warm, he would be alright. For now, he tried walking in circles around the room, patting the baby's bottom, but only fussed further.
The new dad tried a few tricks- the pacifier and leftover bottle was rejected, and no one was a fan of the diaper change that just went down. The baby rolled his head along his father's shoulder, before nuzzling his face on the bare skin and letting out a whine. Steve gently patted his back.
" Did you have a rough day, too?" he asked, having only gotten in a few hours ago, being a few days late to the new family's vacation.
There, was not home. There was an impromptu vacation to the Bahamas, courtesy of Tony, who was still would try and make up for what happened- not to mention being just as excited for the new addition as the parents were. Baby's first vacation, but, he wasn't having it tonight.
He could only imagine how a serum-infused newborn had been exhausting his mother the past two weeks, while Steve had been gone. So, he didn't want to add on to that since he was now back with them. Another blanket belonging to the little one, his favorite one at that, on the back of the leather sofa, Steve grabbed it on the way to the patio.
It wasn't a particularly warm night- a breeze was arriving off the crashing waves a mere feet away from the patio.
" When you're a bit older, your Uncle Clint and I are going to teach you to surf out there. Swim, too."
The baby, who had silence a mere minimum, grunted in response. That was generally his response whenever he was told of all the many things he would be learning, once he had better coordination skills. Tony was getting impatient.
There was an oversized hammock stationed between two palm trees that the patio was built around. He secured the baby against his shoulder, before swiftly sitting on the edge, and laying down. He adjusted against the cloth before draping the blanket over the baby.
The breeze gently rocked them mid-air, helping to soothe the little guy. He rested his head on the side of Steve's neck, resorting to his sleepy baby noises.
" How's this buddy?" he shifted his feet to help the rocking motion, " you're not ready to sleep through the night, are you?"
That wasn't wrong- three months old and he still had late night snacks with at least one of his parents.
The two boys laid in mostly silence. Steve listened to the waves crashing and the breeze in the trees above them. Under the blanket, the baby's chest pressed against his with his deep breaths. Assuming the baby was snoozing, Steve let his eyes clothes for a few moments, stroking the baby's soft hair.
He didn't hear the patio door open.
" I hope I'm not interrupting some male bonding time," Natasha said.
Steve opened his eyes to see her standing over them- pajamas, messy hair, and a tired, but soft, expression.
" No," he smirked.
" Just decided to go without shirts on the beach? Try to pick up girls?"
" He's gotten a few looks." Steve moved over as much as he could, extending one arm. Natasha got the hint and laid down next to her two boys, with Steve's arm closing around her shoulders.
The baby briefly opened his eyes as the disturbance, but closed them once realizing who was present. Natasha snuggled into Steve's side, with one hand resting over the arm of her son.
" Who would have thought we would end up here," she said after a stint of silence.
" Not me," he answered, in case she was actually looking for one, " but it's not so bad."
Natasha smiled, " not at all."