Steve sighed deeply as this kept bugging at him every time he thought about his old world...He really needed to talk with Peggy about this...It has been a year and some since the others came over by portal...He's a hero, right? And heroes avenge their fallen...
Looking down at Tony, "Come on, son, let's get you inside.", Steve spoke softly, holding Tony as he got up, and Tony looked up at him, "Can I sleep with you guys, please?".
Steve smiled warmly, "Henry's sleeping in the big bed too. The more, the merrier.", and Tony gave him a small smile, "Thanks, Papa.", as Steve walked back into the house, closing the back door before heading to the master bedroom, walking in to see Peggy reading to Henry who is half dozing off to dreamland.
Henry blinked, "Daddy? Is Tony going to sleep with us too?", and Steve chuckled, "He sure is, if that's okay with Mom.", smiling at Peggy who nodded warmly, giving a smile in return.
Steve went under the blankets, tucking Tony next to Henry, with Henry asking, "You okay now, big brother?", and Tony smiled, hugging Henry, "I am better now, little brother.". Henry looked happy to hear the term of affection from Tony, and Henry then yawned, rubbing his eyes.
Peggy smiled, "Go to sleep, darlings.", and Tony looked at her, "Aww, can you keep going, Mom?", and Peggy widened her eyes in delight, hearing the term coming from Tony, and nodded as she reopened her book, starting to read out loud.
Steve looked over to her and chuckled at the sight as he leaned back to listen to her continue. At least Tony was fairly set in with them now for sure; there had been some difficulties but by now, most of them had worked out with him. Still, Steve couldn't help but still feel some guilt in the fact that he was raising another man's son, even if said man was giving them their blessings.
And from what Peggy said, Howard's clearly dead, thanks to the bomb, taking himself and several zombies out, destroying the portal in the process...At least he is at peace, not a zombie at all...which is better than nothing...
And then there was the stories from Jean and the others about General Phillips's sacrifice as well...No doubt that without training and such, Bucky's sisters and their families would have been in trouble...especially with the fact that as it was the 70s, it was possible that the army had decimated many places for one of the damn mottos; to save a few, you would have to kill many...And there's the rest of the world...
And Peggy...Her parents...Oh, sure, her dad was in the army and all, but...they would have been as well in their 80s if that...Oh, he knew that Harrison and Amanda would have literally fought to the end with Harrison's storage of army stuff and all...
Steve came back to reality when Tony gave a loud nod and closed his eyes. If that wasn't a sign that he obviously was thinking too much, he didn't know what was. He took a deep mental breath to clear his head. What's done was done, there probably wasn't much to go back to; not to run the risk of swarming this world they now called home with the same horror that engulfed their last one.
Peggy reached to squeeze Steve's hand, and Steve gave her a warm, reassuring smile, whispering, "Heavy thoughts again...I'm all better now.", looking down at his sons; gods, his sons...Yeah, this world is his home now, his family is here...He got his wife, his daughter, sons, grandchildren, his brother, so many others in this big, crazy family here in Libra Haven...
Steve took a deep breath, nodding at Peggy firmly, and Peggy smiled at him, seeing that Steve's happy, and carefully leaned over their sons to kiss Steve on the lips, "I love you, Steve.".
"I love you too, Peggy.", Steve whispered back with a smile, and gently scooted back under the sheets, his arm protecting his sons, side by side with Peggy's arm protecting them as well, giving the feeling of safe warmth to their sons, and the family soon became shrouded in dreamland, asleep.
For some reason, the gay couple of Marco and Chris didn't have morning sickness for the past few months like they had thought, and they didn't even have subtle baby bumps as they were junkie food guys and they honestly thought it didn't work until, one day, they felt something new that they hadn't experienced before, and that was the first kicks.
Both of them were fairly shocked when that happened. At first, they were disappointed but attributed it to perhaps not having Quantonium or even the so-called X-Gene but when those kicks came on amazingly the same day; the swell of emotions hit like a freight train.
They couldn't stop rubbing each other's bellies, trying to encourage their children to kick some more, and they were experiencing so much in joy, happiness, excitement, relief, and love.
In reading books about normal pregnancies, they realized that they are 4 months along, and that the flowers worked so well...After all, they were beyond passionate that night than any other time...
They headed to Beast's home, to hopefully see their babies and find out their genders...Beast smiled warmly at the couple, "Congrats, you two. Who wants to go first?".
Marco smiled, "You first, my sweet star...", looking at Chris with tender love, before whispering into his ear, "After all, I entered you first.".
Chris grinned, blushing slightly, looking at Beast, "I want to see my baby.", and Beast nodded, "Alright, then. Let's make your day.", with a smile.
Beast quickly set things up as Chris got ready to see. After a few moments before Beast made the final moves and got the gel on Chris's stomach and started moving the camera. "Okay then, we should probably get a good view in a few moments..."
Marco held Chris's hand as he sat next to Chris, watching the monitor, exhaling in excitement and joy as he saw their first child, seeming to play with its hands, with Chris giving out a happy sob.
Beast smiled, "Yep, looks like you're right, the baby is 4 months old, and...oh, he's quite developing well. He got all 10 fingers and 10 toes.", with a glance at Chris who smiled so brightly, "Did you hear that, Marco?! I'm having a boy! We're having a son!".
Marco kissed Chris on the cheek, "And he's literally ours by blood, no donating or adoption...", watching their son trying to figure out how to move his arms..."Oh, Chris.", giving out sobs of joy as he rubbed his baby bump, feeling a kick.
Chris smiled, knowing that the hormones are kicking in, kissing Marco on the knuckles, "I know, love.", never taking his eyes off his newfound son...Beast hummed lightly, "He's healthy and good, and-", just as the baby kicked out, and Chris laughed, tears escaping him as well, feeling it against the skin.
"And strong as well.", Beast chuckled, and smiled, "I'll take a few pictures of your son, and then it's Marco's turn.", and Marco smiled gleefully, "Yes!".
And after taking a few pictures of their son in the sonogram, after being cleaned up, Chris and Marco switched, with Marco pushing up his shirt, and Beast putting on the gel. Beast moved the probe around slowly, "Almost, almost getting clear here, ah, here we are...", with a smile as the sonogram showed the second baby who is almost a bit more active than its sibling, twitching around.
Beast laughed, "Oh, you couldn't hold still, little one. Come help me here...Ah, there it is...Oh, wow, looks like my bet is wrong. I am so going to have to pork over something during the game tonight. You are having a baby girl, Marco.", with a smile at Marco.
"Really,... a... a girl?", Marco questioned. "Well, it's not that extraordinary to think about; the chromones on either a boy or girl is more of a crapshoot. Just because there's no 'mother' involved doesn't mean that you two could only conceive boys.", Beast factually replied.
Chris nodded, "Especially when the flowers were sort of feminine in a way even when they were made for us, and of course, drenched in Quantonium throughout the garden and all.", before smiling at their baby girl on the monitor.
Beast smiled, "Exactly. It's clearly a girl.", clicking a few buttons on the dashboard, and the monitor zoomed in a bit, "See, there's no male genitals at all.", with a nod. "A little boy and a little girl...", Marco started to tear up as Chris chuckled.
"Hey, aren't I supposed to be having all the waterworks?", Chris joked as Marco laughed, "Hey, I've got the same hormones right now! I have an excuse!".
Chris smiled, kissing Marco on the lips, "That's fair.", and Beast replied, "And you said that their kicks started today at practically the same time, yes?".
Marco nodded, "Yeah, surprised us out of nowhere.", with a smile, watching his daughter twitching and moving around, and Beast replied, "I know everybody else gave birth in their own homes and all, but with you pregnant at the same time...I think it's best to be safe when I am there, so that means when you get close to the due date, which is December, you let me in your house to be the deliverer...unless you want to do it here when it's more convenient with my tools and equipment?".
"Listen, Beast, we'll do it wherever you want us to do it; last thing we want is to have the same kind of issues that Jean had.", Chris said.
"Yeah, she's lucky with her powers to know that something was wrong, but with us... we'd rather not take any sort of risk if it can't be helped.", Marco added.
Beast nodded, "Good. I'm very glad to hear that, boys. Now, let's take some pictures of your daughter, and oh, more regular food instead of junk food, got it?".
Marco nodded, "Got it.", smiling warmly with Chris nodding in agreement as well, smiling as he rubbed his baby bump of his son's home, feeling kicks.
And so, with taking more pictures of their daughter, with the plan to check on the babies every week to check on their development and all, the couple left Beast's home, heading back to their house, fawning over the pictures.
"I really still can't believe it...", Chris said as he kept looking. "Believe it, we're going to be parents... the flowers did work.", Marco chuckled as he planted a kiss on Chris's cheek.
"Certainly wish we had known sooner and not gone through the whole depression of it not working... or so we thought.", Chris said with a small smile.
Marco replied, "We didn't have morning sickness, like a little percentage of women doesn't, and at 4 months along, we could have easily thought that we were having belly fat, never baby fat.", smiling as he held Chris to his side, kissing him on the temple.
Chris chuckled, "True...One thing for sure, we're gonna be busy with deciding how to make their nursery perfect, and of course, two cribs...unless they are technically twins, wanting to sleep together in one crib.".
"We still have plenty of time to prepare for all that; still quite a few months to go along.", Marco said as he kissed Chris's cheek.
Chris laughed softly, "I won't disagree with you on this, but I will feel a bit better if we start off with small things for the nursery from tomorrow and so on.".
Marco chuckled, "Is that your stubbornness talking or the hormones?", with a smirk. "Oi!", Chris playfully swatted him on the shoulder, and they laughed, still overjoyed with the news.
A few months passed, and the pregnant couple mostly calmed down from the excitement of being parents, but they are still a bit anxious, especially when they got close to the due date in December. "How are you two holding up?", Susan asked as Chris smiled.
"Alright, Beast says it'll still be a few more weeks before we hit what should be our due dates, but you never can know if they'll be premature or late... obviously you'd want to be on time where you don't have to worry about their health but also that it won't be even tougher to get them out if they're late.", Chris said.
Susan nodded, "Makes sense since you are the first gay couple to get pregnant, and I almost don't trust the world to know the news, but if it were a success on all angles, it would go beyond greatness in case if any of our kids end up gay, not that it's a bad thing!", supporting and not wanting to insult them.
"No, but you're obviously right, better to just keep it secret from others... sadly the rest of the world isn't like Skull Island where this sort of thing is commonplace, and no one bats an eye.", Marco sighed as he got up. "You two alright if I leave you alone? Need to use the bathroom.".
"Go ahead; it's been a while since Chris, and I have had a little one to one talk with each other.", Susan smiled as Marco left.
"You know, sometimes I do have thoughts, Susan... about you and me...", Chris admitted. "If you hadn't found out that you were gay?", Susan raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Or if I really didn't have many ways out to be my true self and had to 'settle down'. I know it wouldn't have been fair to you about that... having practically a husband really in name only who... while obviously still caring for you; that's never actually changed, Susan.", Chris sighed with a bit of weary relief and such.
"Just not really attracted to me romantically, I know what you mean.", Susan gave a small smile at him. "It's alright Chris; I'm not upset, nor if things had been different, I wouldn't be angry or anything like that.".
Chris smiled gratefully, "Thanks, Susan. I hope you don't mind, but I and Marco have decided to make you godmother to one of our babies. Honestly, if it wasn't for you that bought me and Marco together on that day after the baseball game, I'd never find my true self. So, are you interested to be the best godmother ever?", with a chuckle.
"About time you ask me about that.", Susan teased as she hugged Chris, though not too tightly, obviously considering her size, strength, and the fact that Chris was heavily pregnant.
Chris chuckled, "Figured that it was the right time to ask.", hugging her back before feeling hard kicks, causing him to smile, pulling back some to rub his baby bump, "Easy, my little boy, my bladder hardly could manage normally with you around.".
"The twins were quite the problem too when I was having them.", Susan chuckled. "But I'm guessing that his sign of approval in your choice of godparent?".
Chris chuckled, "I think so. But it is a bit hard to tell as he could just be hungry or trying to sleep.", smiling as he stroked his baby bump fondly.
"Fair enough. Speaking of which, have you two talked much about the names for them?", asked Susan curiously. Chris shook his head, "To be honest, we really still haven't gotten to that point. I know it's surprising but, I guess maybe we just think that the right name will come the moment we see them.".
"That's not too strange, certainly was the case with my parents.", Susan gave a small smirk. "Yes, but if I recall correctly, they didn't even know they were having you until the moment you popped out.", Chris said.
Susan chuckled warmly, "Oh, believe me, it was one of the best days of their lives as they had defeated the greatest enemy on the side of the Nazis at last, and of course, my appearance...I would never forget how the sky looked that day, the smiles of happiness on my parents' faces, the warm salt breeze coming off the water, the sounds of planes and soldiers in the distance, and the feeling of safety in their arms... Of course, my eidetic memory is both a blessing and a curse...I think it's almost the same thing for the twins.".
Chris nodded, "And now, you got a bigger family than you ever imagined, counting us and our babies, of course.", and Susan smiled softly, "Indeed. Either way, life is going to be somehow weird to the perspective of the outside world, but to us, it's gonna be normal as much as it is, anyway.".
"This place certainly is getting a bit crowded at times. With how many are coming and such...", Chris chuckled at the thought of it all. "Libra Haven certainly lives up to its name for our family.".
Susan nodded, "Oh, yeah, it's sure getting big, but luckily, we got five acres, so honestly, we barely are occupying the first acre and half, if not two acres. And with the money from our heroic saves to the world and some of the family's jobs, we could practically refurbish the rest of the abandoned hanger homes and other guest bunkhouses for the kids and so on.".