Chapter 45- Refusal and Literary Tastes
Diana held her baby in her arms. She had thrown a blanket over her to shield herself while she breastfed Elizabeth. Elizabeth had been difficult in learning how and it had taken a few tries to get her to nurse. Now her daughter had taken to it and Diana often had to shake her when she fell asleep while nursing. Diana looked up to see James, who was cleaning one of his guns.
"Do you have to clean that in here with the baby, James?" Diana asked. James looked up with a warm look in his blue eyes.
"There's no other place to clean it, doll," James said.
"Couldn't Karpov let you clean that someplace else?" Diana asked.
"He didn't say. How is she?" James asked, indicating the bundle in Diana's arms.
"It took her awhile, but she's gotten the idea. James, has Karpov said anything about me having another baby?" Diana asked.
"I asked. He said that you have done what was required. We don't need to make another one. He has threatened to terminate the pregnancy if I get you pregnant again," James said, coming over to her and tracing the shell of her ear with his finger. Diana felt her blood run cold.
"No! He can't do that!" Diana exclaimed in a horrified voice.
"He said that when you recover from giving birth to her, he'll have the doctors give you contraceptives or you could have a surgery that will prevent you from ever getting pregnant again," James said, indicating Elizabeth and tracing his thumb over her lips.
"James, I wanted to give you a son next," Diana said as her tears spilled down her cheeks.
"I know, doll. I wanted a son too. If we are ever free from HYDRA then we'll try again to have a baby," James said as he gave her a peck on her lips.
"James, I don't know if I'll get pregnant again if I take pills and if he performs surgery on me, then I'll never get pregnant," Diana said, twisting her free hand into her husband's hair.
"I'll ask for the pills. It might be easier if you take pills to get pregnant again. Do you trust me, doll?" James asked, his mouth so close to hers it was all she could do not to kiss him.
"Yes. You have never misled me," Diana said.
"Then trust me in this. We will protect Elizabeth and once we are all safe, we can try again for a baby," James said, kissing her tenderly. Diana had no choice but to kiss him back, with the drugs making her docile to his every wish. If James told her they had to wait until they were free from HYDRA before they can have another baby, then Diana would obey him and wait.
Bucky watched as Elizabeth ate slice after slice of the pizza. Clint Barton had said that she could eat 3 or 4 pizzas easily with the serum ratcheting up her metabolism, confirming what she had said in the hospital. Steve was apparently the same way and so was Thor. Thor didn't have the serum as far as he could tell, but his brother, Loki, said that Thor had the stomach of a bottomless pit as he used to wipe out feasts on Asgard.
Elizabeth pushed aside her plate, taking a drink of Dr. Pepper. "Do you need another slice of pizza, Liz?" Steve teased. Elizabeth shot him a glare.
"Shut up. My eating habits are no different than yours, Uncle Steve," Elizabeth said.
"Yeah. Dr. Erskine never told me that my metabolism would be this big after the serum. I found that out after I thought your pop was dead," Steve said.
"Really?" Bucky asked.
"Yep. I was upset and found out I couldn't get drunk. The serum prevents that," Steve said.
"I already knew that. I once swiped a bottle of Madame B's vodka and drank the whole thing. I didn't get drunk either," Elizabeth said.
"Good thing you didn't drink that here. You are underage here," Clint said.
"Yeah, well, the rules of this country don't exactly apply to me and maybe it's a good thing I never considered myself American," Elizabeth said.
"What about your card that says you are?" James Banner asked.
"That is only the proof that I'm a naturalized citizen. That test they gave me was tough," Elizabeth said.
"What kind of questions did they ask you?" Steve asked.
"Name five U.S. vice-presidents. The easiest was history. Name the three countries at war with America during World War II. Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy. Name the two countries besides America fighting those countries. Great Britain and Russia. I didn't read the "Diary of Anne Frank" for nothing," Elizabeth said, rolling her eyes.
"Who's Anne Frank?" Steve and Bucky both asked.
"You need to put that on your list, Steve," Sam said.
"Anne was a Jewish girl living in the Netherlands during the second world war. When she was 13, her father gave her a diary for her birthday. A month later she hid from the Nazis in an attic in her father's office building. She, her mother, father, sister, another family, and a dentist all hid for 25 months in the attic until the Nazis found them on August 4th, 1944. Everyone, except her father died in Nazi death camps and when he came back, his secretary gave him the diary that the Nazis had thrown on the floor when they realized Anne was dead. Her father took it and made it into a book about the war. I have read the book and seen movies and documentaries," Elizabeth said.
"I read it too when I was 12 years old," Diana said.
"I was 11, I think," Elizabeth said.
"Yeah, I was the one who bought you your first copy for a birthday gift," Clint said.
"Yeah. It was interesting. I think I have a copy in my room that I bought about a month ago; the definitive edition," Elizabeth said.
"And that would be, young one?" Thor asked.
"When the book came out in 1947, there was material that wouldn't have been allowed in a book written for children as Anne was only 15 when she died. Her father had to do a lot of editing. So he took out the mature content and a lot of the unflattering passages about her mother and the others they were hiding with out of respect for the dead. I can't fault him for it. I probably would have done that too," Elizabeth said.
"Can I read your copy, Liz?" Steve asked.
"Uh, sure. I'll get it after we eat. Does anyone else want it after Steve? Or does anyone want to read the biography by Melissa Muller?" Elizabeth asked, raising her dark eyebrows.
"I'll read the biography. You have that too?" Diana asked.
"Yeah. Clint gave me the biography as a Christmas gift last year," Elizabeth said. The rest of the meal went without talking much and Elizabeth went to get the books. Bucky looked at the biography with the words "Anne Frank" and Melissa Muller on the cover. Anne Frank looked about Elizabeth's age with dark hair and her dress reminded him of another little girl whose name he couldn't remember.