Chapter 16

Bruce met them at the door of the Avengers' head quarters. Peggy looked up at the sprawling building before stepping inside. "It's not exactly subtle," she commented warily.

Bruce lumbered ahead of them, "maybe not, but it's more defensible than your apartment. How are you, Peggy?"

She waddled as quickly as she could down the hallway, still holding tightly to Steve's hand, "I'm alright." Pain clenched tightly in her lower abdomen, "some Braxton-Hicks here and there, but nothing much."

Steve's head whipped toward her, "you didn't tell me that."

Peggy shrugged it off, "they're not even real contractions, it's fine."

"Who all is Hydra looking for?" Steve asked.

"You, me, Peggy, and the baby. Anyone with knowledge of the serum or has the serum in their body."

"What do we have in regards to defense?"

"Everyone."

Steve shifted Peggy's bag, "everyone?"

Sam, Rhodey, Bucky, and Cliff rounded the corner. "Just about, yeah," Bucky said. He looked warily at Peggy. "Doing ok?"

"I've been hauled out of sleep at," she checked the time, "thirty eight weeks pregnant now, to an undisclosed location, while a group of monsters seek my friends, my husband, and my child." She glared at Bucky, " I want a gun."

Pepper rounded the corner, "hey Peggy, I'm sorry about all this."

"It's not your fault. What can I do?"

The group of men watched the two women recede into the labyrinth of headquarters.

"Gentlemen," Cliff started, "I give you: late pregnancy."

/

Steve sat up with Bruce and the others in the kitchen. Peggy was settled downstairs in the bunker, fast asleep again. "I don't understand," he said, "how does Hydra know we're in New York? How do they know about the baby?"

"About that," Bruce began, "I'll need yours and Peggy's phones." Steve passed him his before fishing Peggy's out of her bag. Bruce pulled out his as well, popped out the sim cards from all three, and threw them in the garbage disposal. "Have you noticed them flickering, signal going in and out?"

Steve nodded.

"Hydra hacked your phones while we were in Berlin. The kids had some kind of technology class, we didn't realize they had access to our phones until the last eight hours. Luckily, we hacked them back, but not soon enough. Their phones have pinged in Manhattan."

"Why there?"

"They slide in better, less detectable than they would if they went directly though NYC. They probably assumed we'd be watching the airports in Brooklyn, closer to you," Cliff added, pouring more coffee into his cup. It was pushing six in the morning.

"Have we been watching the Brooklyn airports?" Steve asked.

"Yes," Bucky volunteered, "since we first read the article ages back."

Steve threw up his hands, "why did no one tell me this?"

"Cap, this was a situation where the less you knew, the better," Bruce counseled.

"This is my wife and my child though!"

"And what would you have done if we'd told you?" Bucky retorted. He didn't wait for an answer, "come here, you'd have come here. The longer you were here, the longer you were on lockdown, the greater the chance of mistakes."

"So we're on lockdown?" Steve asked.

"Yes," Bucky answered.

"For how long?"

"Until we neutralize the threat," Rhodey said softly.

Steve's stomach dropped. "Bruce," he looked at him pleadingly. "Bruce, come on. Don't do this to me, man."

"She has to stay here, Steve." Bruce shook his head, pulling off his glasses.

"Bruce, you know the odds."

"Steve-"

"What the hell, Bruce? She's going to need a hospital! You know our odds, you can't do this to her. You can't do this to me, you can't do this to my child!" He slammed the counter with his hand.

"Steve, if Hydra finds you and Peggy, they won't hesitate to kill you both. They won't hesitate when it comes to the baby, either-" Bucky reasoned.

"You stay out of this!" Steve yelled at his friend. "What if she needs a c-section, huh? Did you think of that? What if the baby's heart can't tolerate labor? It's a fifty-fifty shot, that's what you said!"

Bucky stepped between the two men, facing Steve's rage and Bruce's heartbroken eyes. "Sit down!" He slammed Steve into a chair, holding him fast with his vibranium arm. "Now I don't know what the hell is going on here between you two, but I know two things for damn sure. One: Banner would put his life on the line before he ever even thought of harming a hair on your or Peggy's head. Two: Hydra is at your apartment as we speak. They are ransacking the place looking for you. Do you know what would happen if they found you?" Steve didn't have to answer, the cold metal pressing into his chest was evidence enough. "Bruce has offered you a snowball's chance. But it's a chance. Take it." Bucky felt Steve settle beneath his arm. "First babies run late, Peggy's only thirty eight weeks, barely. Try to give us two weeks. If shit goes left, we adapt, we get you out of here."

Anger recessed from Steve's eyes like waves on the sand. He passed a hand through his hair. "Alright."

"Alright?"

"Alright."

Bucky loosened his arm, "go make sure you didn't wake up Peggy." Steve stalked downstairs, the others watching him leave. "Do I want to know?" Bucky asked Bruce, not looking at him.

Bruce took a deep breath. "There's a fifty percent chance the baby doesn't make it through delivery." Heads snapped to the green scientist. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Because of the serum?"

Bruce nodded wordlessly.

"Did you put the serum in his body?"

"No."

"Did you put the serum in Peggy's body?"

"No."

Bucky inhaled deeply. "Then the best thing we can do is fight like hell for the best outcome."

/

Peggy sat in the tub, lights on low, surrounded by bubbles and a scented candle Pepper had lovingly left by the sink. Outside the door, Peggy could hear Winston alternating between whining and snoring every fifteen minutes or so.

Which meant every half hour or so, Peggy's belly would tighten, pain would build, and then release. Only about thirty seconds at a time. Eyes closed, she murmured, "I need you to stay put until further notice."

Winston's tail thumped against the door as a soft knock broke through her silent reverie. "Peggy? You in there?" Steve.

She hummed the affirmative.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." Peggy screwed her eyes shut as light flooded the bathroom from the adjoining bedroom. Steve shut the door and sat on the cool tile floor.

"Brought you something," he offered. He produced a hand gun and silencer, setting them on the counter above his head.

"You're a star, you know that?" she smiled at him. Even in the dark, she sensed his grave expression. She closed her eyes again, inhaling deeply. A half hour already? "You mustn't blame Bruce."

"You heard all that?"

"Difficult not to." The vice released, "this is the safest place for us at the moment," she said through a sigh.

"You really think that?"

She opened her eyes again, "what choice do I have?"

He hooked his elbows around his knees, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For not protecting you from Hydra. For not protecting the baby, for all of this." He ground his teeth, "for bringing you here."

Peggy shook her head, "you didn't know this would happen, nor did Bruce, nor did Tony when he asked Bruce to do this. No one could have anticipated this."

"Still."

She shifted uncomfortably.

"You ok?"

Peggy nodded, "he's got his feet in my lungs."

Steve rested a hand on Peggy's belly, running his thumb back and forth. "Be good to your mother, we need you in there as long as we can." He let his fingers drift into the water. "Getting kind of cold, want to come out?"

"Sure," she said, accepting Steve's offered hand. She stopped dead as soon as she stood.

"What is it?" Steve didn't have to wait for an answer.

Blood was running down Peggy's thighs.