For the briefest moment, Cara wondered if she had zoned out with how long the silence ensued for before she took a haggard breath and gained control over herself. "I'll stand." She said finally.
Deciding not to push it with the delicate subject he had a feeling he was not supposed to know about from the fact the woman had used a novel book jacket to hide what the book actually was, Steve only nodded. "How far?"
Cara didn't bother with pretending to not know what he was talking about. It'd only waste time that was going to be spent trying to convince Steve not to say anything to anyone else. At least until she could bring herself to tell the others that is; because if anyone is going to spill the beans, it's going to be her.
It would give her time to prepare herself for the inevitable after all.
"About a month." Cara replied somewhat stiffly as she knew what he'd say next.
And sure enough, what came out of the man's mouth was, "You were pregnant during the invasion?"
"Shortly before the invasion happened I conceived." Cara said coarsely.
"But before the invasion you were under…" Steve trailed off and the woman saw the precise moment he understood what she was saying flash in his eyes and a trace of horror crossed over his face. "And are you sure it's...his?"
"There's no possible way it could have been anybody else's." Cara replied flatly and Steve winced at the implication. "You can't tell anyone."
"What? It's dangerous for you to be out in the field!" Steve blurted.
Cara felt her brow tick, because she while she wasn't a Misandrist, and she really wasn't, and really more of an Androphobe, she felt like punching him. "I know that, but I can't spend all my time doing nothing, it just isn't in me." She retorted hotly, then she lost some of her fire as her shoulders sagged. She just felt so tired. "Just give me some time; I'm going to tell them, just not right now."
The other blond frowned at her, but glanced up at the ceiling as though he was suddenly remembering something important. "It seems you might have to speed up with the time then."
Cara frowned also. "Why?"
"JARVIS, have you been listening to this conversation?" Steve asked the ceiling and Cara realized what he meant.
The posh reply was a bit embarrassed. "Indeed I have, sir."
"Are you going to tell Stark about this?" Cara asked this time.
"Agent Barton, I have to."
"Right, right." Cara muttered distractedly to herself as Steve noticed the torn look on her face, like she was struggling with herself about what to do.
And he had a feeling that his opinion right now would not be appreciated.
Cara thought about what she was going to do as careful planning had all but been thrown out the window, though this meant she'd probably be able to move out earlier, so that was a plus. Then there was the whole fact she'd have to tell SHIELD about this too.
How could this have gone so wrong?
Cara squared her shoulders as she reminded herself that she was a SHIELD agent and went back to the original plan of keeping any semblance of control over the situation. She wouldn't be telling anyone after all. Not just yet anyway.
Her plans hadn't gone down the toilet just yet.
"JARVIS, I need you to keep this a secret though, if only for my peace of mind, just give me time, please?" she couldn't believe she managed to strum up enough pleading in her voice to get that effect that made others seem to cave. She just hoped it worked on machines too as this was something she rarely did.
The real challenge would be trying to convince Steve.
The A.I didn't reply for a moment and when it did, there was a distinctly flustered tone to it. "O-of course, Agent Barton."
"Good, now remember that this is our little secret." Cara whispered in a conspiratorial tone and looked over at Steve, her expression going neutral.
"Don't think you can use that trick on me." He warned. "I still think you need to tell them." He insisted. "Or I will."
Cara gritted her teeth. "And how exactly am I supposed to tell them?" she hissed out. "Tell them 'hey everyone, I'm pregnant 'cause I got ra-" she flinched as she cut herself off.
She couldn't say it; she didn't even want to think about what she was still remembering from being under the Tesseract's control. Oh, she hadn't lied when she told Natasha she didn't remember anything, it was only afterwards that she started to have the nightmares about she'd done and what had…happened.
And from the same cringe the other blond did, he was obviously just as uncomfortable as her, but he still stubbornly kept on talking. "You're pregnant," he said and Cara wanted to roll her eyes. No duh, "think about your child."
He didn't seem to be trying to demean her, and that's what made Cara feel so guilty about getting angry at him.
"Of course I'm thinking about the kid, this is all for it." She said darkly. "If no one knows that I'm pregnant, then no one's going to know about what happened or that the kid is going to likely be half-human and it won't get taken away."
"No one's going to-" Steve cut himself off as Cara gave him a pinched look. "Don't you trust them? You do work for them after all."
"That's exactly why I should keep this a secret for as long as possible." Cara replied bitterly. "But…I will eventually tell the others, so please just trust me."
"For how long though? Until you're sitting in the medical ward again with an even more serious injury?" Steve questioned. "Or until they notice you're starting to get bigger?"
Cara wanted to mention how she planned on leaving by then, but knew she'd probably be road blocked so she kept her mouth shut. "Listen Captain, I really am going to tell the others, but I want you to stop pressuring me to do it. This is my decision after all."
"Agent Barton, you may be a SHIELD operative, but you're still a part of this team." Steve began and Cara let out a deep sigh as she knew where he was going with this. It was a 'polite' way of telling her he was pulling rank and he was the leader, ergo she still had to listen to him.
"I understand, Captain." Cara said coldly as she made a move to leave, the air a bit frosty between them. The other blond though grabbed a hold of her arm and Cara froze at the contact, whirling around and jerked her arm free, her expression turning to one of silent rage to cover her slip up.
Steve noticed the freezing she'd did though and looked at her with something that was suspiciously close to pity before his expression turned severe. "You have a week to think it over, or I'm telling them myself. Though you don't think so, this really is for your own good."
A week. One freaking week, just great. It was still better than just having to come out with it right away though.
"Fine, you can have your week." She said before continuing on her way out, her face displaying impassion, though on the inside she was starting to sweat.
She only had a week.
