She kicks me as Stevie (yes, I wore her down on the basis that was my nickname when I was a kid) starts to cry.

"Go. Now. Steve."

"Going, going, don't get up."

The room is cold. Etana tugs the covers around her and jabs her tail in the direction of the door. The message is clear. Go. Comfort. Stevie. Before. I. Commit. Infanticide.

There are only a few things that scare her and apparently babies are one of them. No, seriously. She is scared of any child under two. A major failing for a mother. She holds Stevie like he's going to explode. As in, arms out, mild look of horror on her face. Apparently the last time she babysat, acting as a nanny for Solomon, she was puked on, kept up at all hours and too afraid to sleep in case of kidnappers. This was about two-thousand, nine-hundred and eighty years ago. I don't think she's recovered yet. Well, I mean she still gives her own child suspicious looks at times. She loves older children and according to Sue Richards, is Franklin and Valeria's favourite babysitter. She says they get better as they get older.

The funniest thing is she says I spoil Stevie and everyone else says we're really strict parents. Etana shrugs it off as generation gaps. She was working around the house aged five, in the fields with a sling aged eight and was considered a woman at twelve. Yet from what I hear, children who earned their keep were given a lot of time and care, with parents, or in her case, guardians, playing with them often. I also think her slight fear of Stevie may be to do with the higher infant mortality rates at the time. She doesn't want to get too close in case he dies.

I change Stevie, go back to sleep and wake up in the morning proper to Etana singing in the shower. There are a few things I really, truly enjoy as way of relaxing. Running and working out are to do with being Cap. Drawing is a way of calming down. Listening to Etana sing in the shower is another. Her choice of music is wide and varied. Yesterday I was treated to opera, the Marriage of Figaro. Last week I had Glenn Miller, Fools Rush In. Today it's something I don't know, something soft and gentle.

"Baby, don't understand
Why we can't just hold on to each other's hands?
This time might be the last I fear
Unless I make it all too clear
I need you so, ohh
Take these broken wings
And learn to fly again, learn to live so free
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in
Take these broken wings
Baby, I think tonight
We can take what was wrong and make it right
Baby, it's all I know that you're half of the flesh
And blood that makes me whole,
I need you so.
So take these broken wings
And learn to fly again, learn to live so free
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in
Yeah, yeah
Let us in
Let us in
Baby, it's all I know that you're half of the flesh
And blood that makes me whole
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
So take these broken wings
And learn to fly again, learn to live so free
And when we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in
Take these broken wings
You got to learn to fly, learn to live and love so free
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up for us and let us in
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, ooh
"

The water turns off and Etana hurries out, her long hair dull grey while wet and a white towel standing out against her fur.

"So what was the soundtrack today 'Tana?"

She frowns.

"What?"

"The song in the shower?"

"Oh…" She actually doesn't realise she's singing most of the time. It's genuinely heartwarming. She sings when making sandwiches for the Avengers, when teasing the X-Men, when she cleans her weapons, when she goes for a walk. It cheers everyone up unless she's singing to make people cry. Then the tears flow freely.