Chapter 17
By: MysticFantasy
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Natasha stirred from her sleep when she heard the sound of crying. She spotted the baby monitor and heard the clear cries of her one month old son.
Quickly becoming fully awake, she climbed out of bed, threw on her robe and hurried to the small room across the bedroom. Upon reaching the door, she noticed that it was already open.
Walking over, Natasha smiled when she saw Steve had beaten her to their son.
"Hey little guy." Steve cooed softly as he lifted the small infant and brought him into his arms. "What's wrong?"
"Is his diaper wet?" Natasha asked as she walked over to stand next to her husband.
Steve lightly felt the crying babies diaper.
"Yep. It's wet." he answered and moved over to the changing table.
"I'll make a bottle for him while you're doing that." Natasha said and left the room.
Steve removed the dirty diaper and proceeded through the rest of the changing. Just as he buttoned the one piece pajama's on his now calm son, Natasha appeared with the bottle of warm milk.
The mother took her son and sat in the cushioned rocking chair next to the crib. James eagerly accepted his bottle when it was given to him.
Steve stood next to the rocker and watched as his son drank his formula. He couldn't help but smile as he noticed the resemblance his son had to him. The light blond hair, the crystal blue eyes...
It made the super soldier so happy to finally have a child to call his own. When he first held James, he'd been in heaven. Just looking at the innocent face of the baby boy, Steve felt at peace.
James finished his bottle and was burped before being rocked to sleep and placed back in his crib.
Natasha tucked him in snuggly and she and Steve just stood there gazing lovingly at their son.
While Steve felt pure joy at being a father, Natasha was still on the unsure and nervous side of being a new mother.
Bruce had done a wonderful job helping the two learn as much as possible to be new parent's. They both had taken to it quickly but Natasha felt that Steve was better at being a parent.
She loves her son greatly but she still doubted herself at times.
"He's perfect." Steve whispered as he placed an arm around her shoulders.
"He is." Natasha agreed.
"I was scared that he would turn out like I was before I got the serum." Steve confessed. "I don't know how I would have handled that."
"He didn't turn out that way." Natasha reminded as she wrapped her arms around Steve's sculpted torso. "He came out perfect, happy and healthy. The only thing that we have to worry about is that Tony and Clint are trying to fight for the spot of favorite uncle by giving him anything they think he'll like."
Steve lightly chuckled.
He was eternally grateful that his son was born with the perfect health he hadn't been blessed with.
But he was so happy to see James healthy and it also made him wonder if his son inherited the serum from either one or both of his parent's.
Steve would just imagine Jame as a strong and talented athlete with just as much brains. But that may also be his parental dream talking.
"Let's go back to bed." Natasha said.
Steve nodded in agreement and followed his wife out of the nursery and back to their own room.
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"Hey small fry." Clint greeted as he walked into the living room and spotted the infant lying on his baby mat with his father next to him. "I got you something from my trip to India."
"More toys?" Steve guessed.
"Of course." Clint answered and pulled out a light blue elephant from his duffle bag. He sat on the floor next to the mat and handed the toy to the baby who was cooing happily behind his pacifier at the sight of a new toy.
James' small hands held the elephant by the nose as his pacifier slipped from his mouth.
"That's why I'm his favorite uncle." Clint mused.
"In your dreams!" Tony declared as he walked into the room with a box in his hands. "I'm his favorite uncle."
"Over my dead body!" Clint retorted.
"That can be arranged." Tony said with a michievious tone.
"Then James would be short two uncles that spoil him silly." Steve said with a deadpan tone.
The two Avengers looked down at James whose eyes were on the both of them as he chewed on the trunk of his new toy.
"New plan." Tony said. "We team up and spoil him even more. He'll be even more spoiled than I was as a kid."
"Not a good plan." Steve declared.
"Yes it is." Clint said with a smirk. "I like that plan. What's in the box?"
"James' new nightlight." Tony answered as he sat down next to the archer and pulled out a black box that had a circular window on top. "Jarvis. Lights please."
"Yes, sir."
All of the shades in the room closed and the lights went off. The whole room was bathed in darkness and Steve found his sons hand. The tiny fingers gripped his large finger. It only took a couple of nights to find out that James wasn't very fond of the dark.
"This will help the little guy and his parent's sleep better at night." Tony's voice declared before a light suddenly appeared from the box and cast the room in a soft glow.
"Whoa." Clint breathed as he saw the faces of his friends slowly swirl around the room.
The fighting figures of Thor with hammer in hand, Iron Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Captain America danced on the walls. There was even the signature logos each of the team carried.
Thor's hammer surrounded by lightning, Hulk's big fists, Hawkeyes target, Tony's arc reactor, Natasha's black widow symbol and Steve's shield.
Steve lightly smiled and looked down at James. The blue eyes of the newborn were darting back and forth to see all of the faces and shapes. A smile was present on his face and not a trace of fear could be detected.
"Tony, this is amazing." Steve said. "James really loves it. Thank you."
"Stroke of genius." Tony mused. "And I'm glad he likes it."
"This will definatly help him sleep better at night." the soldier said.
"It'll be like we're all watching over him while he's sleeping." Clint said and then grinned. "Maybe you should have put Coulson in there too."
"I thought about it but then if he showed up and saw it, it might give him a bigger ego than mine to know that he's part of the life of the son of Captain America."
"He's already offered to babysit three times." Steve said as he brought James into his arms. "But Natasha and I aren't ready to be away from our little guy."
"What new parent would?" Tony stated as he turned off the nightlight. "Jarvis, lights please."
The shades rose and the lights came back on.
"Give it a full test tonight." Tony said handing the box to the father.
"I will." Steve said. "I'm just sure that Natasha is going to say something about your ego."
"Of course she will." Tony agreed. "But when she gets a full night of restful sleep, she'll be taking it back."
"Like last time?" Clint asked with a smirk.
"I admitted defeat." Tony stated.
"Which was your smartest move." Steve said as he stood. "It's almost time for bed so I'm gonna to ahead and get James to sleep."
"That sounds like a good idea." Clint said as he stood and grabbed his bag from the floor.
"But it's still early." Tony declared.
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"Let's see if your Uncle Tony was right about this helping you to sleep better." Steve said as he placed the night light box on the side table next to the crib and turned it on. He then turned the light off and sat on the rocking chair.
"Want to hear another story about your daddy when he was young?" Steve asked his son who sucked on his pacifier. "I can't wait for you to remember all of these stories when you're older. Then you'll be asking me to shut up because you've heard them a million times."
"At least he'll hear interesting stories."
Steve looked up and smiled when he saw Natasha. She entered the room and looked at the figures floating about.
"Where did this come from?"
"Tony." Steve answered. "He thought it would be nice for James to have and to help him sleep a little better at night."
"Well, it is cute." Natasha admitted as she watched her own image pass by. She smiled down at her son as his eyes began to droop. "Hi there my little one."
Blue eyes looked up at their mother before closing.
Natasha bent down and placed a loving kiss on James' forehead.
"Sleep now. Tomorrow will be our first family portrait and we all need to look our best." she said.
"All of the girls are going to want your attention." Steve said with a smile as he stood and gently placed the sleeping infant in his crib. He then placed a loving kiss on James' cheek before covering him with his blue baby blanket. "Sweet dreams son. We love you."
With the new night light still on, the two parent's quietly left the room. They went to their room, changed into pajama's and promptly fell asleep snuggled together.
Unfortunatly, their peaceful slumber only lasted about three hours. Everyone was sound asleep when out of nowhere came a loud...
BOOM!