Tina let her head rest on the lip of the toilet; the cool ceramic felt good on her forehead. She waited for her stomach to stop churning, then sat up a little. Steve's hands moved from where they held her hair back, to her shoulders, gently massaging.

"I'm sorry honey," he murmured. "I wish there was something I could do."

Tina leaned back against him.

"This sucks," she moaned.

Steve kissed the top of her head.

"I know."

Without disturbing the position she was in, he reached up to the counter and grabbed the glass of water.

"It'll make you feel better," he offered.

She meekly accepted the glass, knowing he was right.

"I can make it six more weeks," she said. "Bruce said I'd stop feeling queasy at fourteen weeks. I can do that."

"Yes you can. Six more weeks of applesauce. You've got this."

Tina smiled and took a sip. The whole morning sickness/ food-grossing-me-out thing is awful, but I couldn't ask for a better cheerleader. Steve ran his fingers through her hair until she finished the water.

"Okay. All clear, Captain."

Steve smirked a little and helped her up. He stretched his arms.

"So, it's seven am, and we're both awake…what do you wanna do?" he asked.

Tina shrugged.

"Let's see who else is up," she decided.

Natasha and Clint were standing by the window talking quietly in their special way. Most would interpret the looks on their faces as serious or intense, but Steve and Tina knew better. The assassins knew each other so well that they didn't need sloppy kisses or bouquets of roses to say 'I love you' with. A fingertip on the back of the hand, a flick of the eyes, a tiny smirk was enough.

"Hey Cap. 'Sup Curls?" Clint greeted them.

Tina smiled in response and curled herself into a loveseat near the window. She pulled on her shirt a little, knowing that although no one but Steve would likely notice, the t-shirt was hugging her tummy just a bit too tight. Not to mention other things that were swollen...and sore. Steve sat beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer.

"Is Bruce awake yet?" Steve wondered.

"Yeah," a tired voice sounded from the hall, "Just got up."

The doctor yawned and shuffled in, sitting across from the Captain.

"Sleep well?" Tina asked.

"Mmhm. How about you? You look a little pale," Bruce noted.

The artist shrugged.

"I'm okay. Same old same old."

Steve tucked a curl behind her ear, looking at her with concern still etched into his features.

"I promise, when you hit fourteen weeks you won't get sick anymore. Only six weeks left to go," Bruce encouraged her.

"We'll distract you," Clint decided.

Natasha glared at him.

"Your idea of 'distract' falls under the category of stress. And that's not allowed," she informed him.

"Fine, fine," he sighed, "Fun-ruiner," he grumbled under his breath.

"Well," Tina said, "We're going to see my parents this weekend, so that should be fun. Steve and I still are arguing over who has to break the news."

Bruce chuckled.

"You could flip a coin," he suggested.

Steve shook his head.

"We tried that, best out of three, and the third time it landed on its side. Unbelievable right? And neither one of us wanted to re-do it because we're both chicken."

Tina scowled. Natasha tapped her chin.

"What if whoever doesn't break the news has to do the first ten diapers?"

"Fine. Done," Tina said. "I'll tell them."

"Jeez," Steve said exasperatedly, "That was easy."

Pepper's heels clicked down the hall as she dragged a sleepy Tony behind her.

"It's way early," he moaned, rubbing his eyes.

"I have a meeting and you wouldn't get up otherwise," she said briskly, striding into the room, Iron Man in tow. "Tina, by the way, you have an appointment with Dr. Banner. Don't forget!"

"I remembered," Bruce said proudly.

"When are we doing that?" Steve asked, "After breakfast, right?"

"Wait," Natasha said, "Can you find out the baby's gender today?"

"If we use Ramzi's method, then yes," Bruce answered.

"Ooh, what's that?" Tina asked, "I thought we had to wait until I was 18 weeks?"

"It's using the position of the placenta to determine the baby's gender," Bruce explained, "It's not one hundred percent accurate, unless you're really good at it. I happen to be, not to brag, so if you want I could probably tell you today."

Tina clapped.

"Okay, I know I said I wanted a surprise, but now...Steve, you win! Oh my gosh," she tugged on Steve's arm, "This is so exciting!"

"Well let's eat so we can go," he suggested.

No one appeared to have heard him.

"Can we go now? I can't wait!" Tina wriggled with excitement.

"Sure, why not?" Bruce laughed, "To the office!"

"Yay!" Tina squealed, tugging Steve behind her as she skipped behind Bruce.

"But…" Steve whimpered, "But breakfast…"

…

Tina lay on the table, holding onto Steve's hand.

"Just a minute," Bruce said, as he put on his glasses and began fiddling with the machine.

Tina made a conscious effort to take steady breaths. Excitement was making her blood pound in her ears. I'm going to see my baby! Her smile was wide. It's still tiny. You won't be able to see anything, really. Just a little blob. She tried to remind herself of the facts. Bruce said we won't see movement or even a heartbeat. Just a blob. But it's our baby! She couldn't help the optimism despite her attempts to rationalize.

"Okay," Bruce said.

A picture showed up on the screen. Most of it was dark, like Bruce had said it would be. Empty space for now, it would be occupied when the baby grew larger. Down near the bottom was a little dot.

"Let me zoom in," the doctor said, pushing a few buttons. "The baby's still very small, about the size of a raspberry."

The dot showed up bigger on the screen. It moved.

Tina gasped.

"I thought-you said-" Steve stammered.

Bruce stared in shock at the image.

The speck was more than moving. It was undulating, changing. Like a lava lamp, constantly altering its shape and reforming.

"Bruce?" Tina's voice shook a little.

The scientist's head snapped around and he looked at Steve with a touch of fear in his features. The moment Steve met his eyes, Bruce instantly looked away, but the damage had been done.

"What did I do?" the soldier whispered in horror.

Uh oh...what's going on here? Will the baby be okay? How about Tina?

Fast update because you are all such fabulous reviewers! I'll keep it up if you do :) Requests are definitely considered (if they don't seriously mess with the plotline I have planned).

What else...oh yeah! Review please! Thanks :)