Sorry for the delay (damn muse on strike!)...I always seem to periodically update in correspondence to a MCU released...

Warning: Triggers of discussing death in second half of this chapter. Keep your Kleenex or hankies ready :*(

Chapter 6

"Tony?" Beast called out to his unconscious friend. His unconscious pregnant friend.

"How doth fair he?" Thor asked.

"He just fainted." Beast answered. "Should have seen that coming, though. Who wouldn't faint after hearing that they're pregnant due to magical intervention?"

Thor grunted in agreement. "What shall cometh of his friendship between he and the Good Captain due to these circumstances?"

Beast shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know...but considering the estimated date of conception, their relationship equals a hefty pay day for you, my friend."

"You two sound like vultures around a corpse..." Tony moaned, stirring painfully from his position on the exam table. Both Thor and Beast decided to help him manoeuvre into an upright position. "Hank, please tell me I imagined everything unto this point..."

"Sorry, old friend..." Beast said in a sympathetic tone. "But you are, indeed, a month in your pregnancy." Tony muttered a string of curses over his situation. "Shall we discuss your options..."

"I'm not getting an abortion, Hank!" Tony almost screamed at the mutant, clutching a fist by his stomach. "It's bad enough that I know that Steve and Sharon will take my baby away the second he finds out!"

Thor's eyebrows rose at the speculation that Steve would consider separating Tony from their baby, as Beast simply quirked a furry brow at the outburst. "I wasn't even going in that direction, Tony. I was referring to advice on pre-natal care." Seeing the embarrassed redness on Tony's face, Beast held his hand and gave it a sympathetic pat. "When in doubt, we could always pass that little outburst off as hormones." He continued. "First of all, Mr. Work-a-holic...let's discuss some lifestyle changes during your first trimester. Starting with you cutting back on your hours at the office. It's great that Pepper has a more hands-on role being involved with the day-to-day administration of your company, but you will need to delegate more with designs and engineering." Tony pouted, mumbling about employee incompetence. "Say what you want, but you did hire these people for a reason... you need to give them some sense of trust and because as time goes by, work-related stress is the last thing that you and the baby needs."

Tony sighed, giving Beast the only indication that he might actually follow through with the recommendation. "Next topic of discussion is your coffee intake." Tony made an indignant sound at hearing about cutting him off from his precious brew. "Sorry, Tony; I know you love your coffee, I can sympathise. But the caffeine isn't good for the baby, especially in this developing stage of the pregnancy." This statement almost made Tony cry; coffee was his life, but considering the long-term side effects it might have on his baby, he would need to take Beast's advice seriously.

After a while, Tony's mind began to drift from the advice of safe exercises, prenatal vitamin intake and future visits, absently resting a hand on his flat abdomen that's concealing the new life growing within him.

Steve flinched at the impact of frozen vegetables landed on his sore knee; how Clint had such accuracy from his fridge to the couch that Steve now lounged on without looking was beyond him. What made him feel even more ill at ease was the glare from Bucky from the other couch in the room.

Steve knew he should have returned to his own place instead of agreeing of all of them going to Clint's after their botched mission.

"What the fuck was with you?!" For Bucky to suddenly ask a question like that...he obviously raided Clint's alcohol stash. Steve gave the younger man a glare. "And don't even try to deny that nothin's wrong! I know you, Steve. You've been completely out of it during this whole operation! If it weren't for Clint's badasserie with his bow, we'd all be dead!" Steve didn't bother arguing. He knew that Bucky was right. "And there you are, zoning out again! Serious, Steve. What. The. Fuck?!"

"Buck's got a point, Cap." Clint added, claiming a beer from the fridge. He tossed a bottle to Steve. "Ever since your return from Madripoor with Tony, you haven't been yourself."

Bucky released a string of curses under his breath in Russian. "Fuck, should've known. This has Stark written all over it."

"This has nothing to do with Tony." Steve argued. It was a lie, considering how his last conversation with Sharon went (a.n.: read back chapter 4) but Bucky and Clint didn't need to know that. Bucky glared at him. "Ok, it partially does, but it also has to do with Sharon..." He conceded. With both friends eying him, Steve released a defeated sigh, taking sip of beer then continuing. "We had an argument and broke up. And it was nasty; like definitely not getting back together ever type of break up."

Clint winced; Bucky released his own sigh. "She finally told you about the baby she lost while fighting Sin."

"You knew?!" Steve shouted.

"I found out by accident." Bucky defended. "It was shortly after your death" Bucky air quoted. "And I went to see Stark and caught a peek at her medical file on his desk." Steve was seeing red. At this point, Bucky felt a bit of sympathy for Tony. "He tried to cover up the file when I saw it, but I was already bombarding him with questions about what happened." Bucky explained. "He destroyed the file and all other evidence about the pregnancy in front of me, explaining that if the government knew about the baby, they wouldn't hesitate to use the remains for testing and develop a new super soldier serum." Bucky spared a glance at a shocked Clint and returned his gaze to his long-time friend. "I haveta say, I agreed with his decision. At least he was looking out for you and your kid after death."

"What really happened to the foetus?" Clint asked. "Paper evidence isn't a problem to wipe out, but I don't see Tony burning that up...it's inhumane"

"From what Stark told me, Sharon had no interest in keeping or giving a proper burial to the remains. He said he figured she was dealing with shock." Steve hated the sympathetic looks that his friends were giving him, knowing otherwise. "He told me that the baby is buried under an unmarked headstone in his family's burial plot at some graveyard; I don't remember the name of the place, but I remember him taking me there to see it before I accepted being the new Captain America — Steve, I'm so sorry that you had to find out about what happened like this..."

Steve still felt upset about finding out about his dead child, Sharon's detachment about it and Tony's involvement in the situation and not telling him. But after hearing Bucky's account of what he knew, he couldn't completely blame Tony; this was something that Sharon should have told him herself. "Right before we left for our mission, Sharon finally told me about the baby. "I figured part of her fear of not wanting kids was because of what happened with Sin and the Red Skull." He felt tears threatening to fall, but held back. "I tried to reason with her, but then she dropped the bomb that she can't have any more kids and that she never wanted kids..." Clint moved from his position and sat beside him, trying to be supportive. "I was so hurt by that confession that I wanted to hurt her as much as she hurt me, so I told her that I slept with Tony while we were in Madripoor..."

"You slept with Tony?!" Kate Bishop's voice cut through the room from the entrance door as Bucky spat out his drink. Kate's grip from the dog leash she held went slack, allowing the canine she supposedly just walked toddle to his master.

"Kate, this isn't a good time..." Clint hissed as he petted Lucky. Kate always had awful timing whenever she paid him a visit.

"Screw that!" Kate squealed, running into the room, nudging Clint from his seat to occupy some of the space. "I need details! I owe Thor fifty bucks in that betting pool!" Steve's mind was whirling of hearing about there being a betting pool with him and Tony on such a matter. He felt his face turning red, either from anger or embarrassment, he's not sure. "What happened? Who made the first move? Ouch! Clint! Stop hitting me!"

"Really, Kate. This is not a good time..." Clint pleaded with his protégé, hoping she would drop the subject and leave.

"Actually, I want to hear about this myself." Bucky said, leaning forward from his seat. "Is that the reason for your argument and break up with Sharon?"

"You two finally broke up?" Kate asked, swiping a sip from Clint's beer. Clint grabbed his drink muttering to Kate that she's underage and that she should go. "Whatever, Clint." She shrugged him off, making Bucky stifle a laugh. The air in the room was unbearable until the young female archer joined them. Kate returned her sparkling gaze to Steve. "Seriously, Captain, Sharon just wasn't right for you."

"And a guy with daddy issues a mile long is better?" Bucky couldn't help but ask.

"As true as that statement is, I was leaning more towards all the stories that I've heard from Cassie about her time at the mansion," Kate slightly deflated after mentioning her dead best friend, "and other little details I've heard from Captain Marvel, Black Widow and Spider Woman of Cap mooning over Tony whenever he wasn't looking or moping whenever he took a sabbatical..."

"Oh yeah, the moping was bad." Clint chuckled at the memory when he first joined the Avengers.

"Clint!" Steve screeched. "Whose side are you on?"

"Not taking sides." Clint raised his hands in surrender. "But you were kinda unbearable whenever Tony needed his space away from everyone..."

"Which is why were putting into effect Operation: Help Steve and Tony hook up into gear..." Kate gave the men a Cheshire Cat grin.

Bucky found himself smirking for the first time all night. "What do you suggest, Hawkeye Junior?" He found himself beginning to like this kid.

Kate's grin stayed in place as she said, "It's called tricking Tony into what's best for him."

Steve could feel him stomach sink. This is going to be a train wreck.

What can I say? I like Kate and decided that she and other Young Avengers got involved in the bet. She also seems somewhat devious enough to come up with a way to get Steve and Tony together ;)