Talk
Jane groaned when she felt a warm pair of lips on her neck the next morning. She'd been enjoying the coolness of the counter on her forehead, it eased the migraine and nausea, if only for a little bit. But she did enjoy it. She lifted her hand to keep him there, nibbling on her neck and up to her ear.
She moaned.
"You know," Bucky laughed. "For a girl who wants to keep her distance. I have no trouble bending you to my desires."
"There will be no bending anything this morning. I thought you were running."
"We were. Punk needed to get back. Something about Tony and a goat."
"A goat," Jane asked as she raised her head. "What would Tony being doing with a goat?"
"Apparently Tony wanted goats milk. The goat got loose. I told Steve on no uncertain terms was I chasing a goat around this damn place."
Jane giggled. The picture he painted was pretty clear.
"What about you," he asked. "I figured you'd be in the lab right now. Avoiding me trying to get you back to bed." He lifted her mug take a sip of her coffee, finding ginger ale instead, he gagged. "Is this ginger ale? What happened to the Cuban coffee? Or just regular coffee? Or anything but this crap"
"I needed something to calm my stomach," Jane groaned and laid her head back down. "Anything to calm my stomach."
Bucky rubbed her back concerned. "You sick sweetheart?"
Touched at his concern she smiled up at him. "I'm sure it's just a bug. I'll be ok in a few days. And besides. I took off to help Darcy settle in, remember?"
He squinted as he searched some far off memory of their conversation. He was sure they were naked when it happened. That was about it. "Vaguely."
"Do you even listen to me," she giggled.
"Baby, you know I listen to every word you speak. Just sometimes, I get distracted."
"Should I make a 'clothes on' rule so we can actually talk?"
Bucky's grin grew wider and she caught the implication too late. "That means we are dating. I'm good with that, baby doll."
Jane shook her head. "You're too much," he caught her hand in his as she tried to push him away. He pulled her from her chair and into his lap so she was facing him. Even in this position he was taller than her. He placed his forehead against hers gently.
"You know I love you, right?"
"I know," she whispered nodding against him. "Me too. You know that?"
"I do," he brushed a lock of her hair from her face noting her flushed cheeks. "And I'll wait however long you need me to. I'm not going anywhere." He stood with her in his arms and she wrapped her legs around his waist.
"Where are we going," she whimpered.
"Bed," he said. "You're definitely not feeling well. And I'm not going to let you run yourself into the ground."
"But Darcy-,"
"Will understand that you can't make it because you're ill. Baby don't fight me on this, please. Just for once, let me take care of you."
Jane mumbled something unintelligible and he laughed.
"What's the saying about Cuban pride?"
"I'm Puerto Rican."
"What's the difference?"
"Plenty."
He laughed and shook his head and laid her gently back on the bed. "You know.. Sofia is just like you. She looks like you, she talks like you. She acts like you."
"I take that as a compliment," Jane snuggled into his pillow, enhaling his scent. It was like a drug. "Sofia is a rockstar."
"I think, eventually I want a little girl like that. A little girl like you."
Jane laughed. "That's a long ways away, James."
He grinned, his blue eyes sparkled. "I know. I'm just giving you a warning to get use to the idea."
"Consider the shot fired, Seargant," she chuckled then stopped. Her eyes grew wide and her face even more pale. "James what day is it today? No, no, no, no, no." She tossed the comforter aside and reached for her phone."No. Oh shit. Ay Dios,no. Por favor no."
"Jane," Bucky went from watching her with amusement to concern. He reached for her arms, trying to calm her down. "Jane, sweetheart. Please calm down. What's wrong?"
"I'm late."
"Late for what, doll," he asked his confusion becoming ten fold.
"My period, James. I haven't gotten my period. It's been like a month."
Bucky's grin went wide and then opened in shock. His eyes rolled back and he fell backwards off of the bed, passed out.
"Well that's just fan-freaking-tastic," Jane sighed as she got out of bed to help. "You're supposed to be the stable one on this relationship!"
She gave his arm a yank to pull him to the bed, but he didn't budge."How the hell do you look as good as you do and weigh as much as you weigh?!"
Darcy cooked a simple breakfast for her children that morning. They were supposed to meet Jane this morning for a tour of the tower, but a text from her let her know that she couldn't make it. Something came up.
Her next thought was maybe to see if Bucky was free, since he was the only other person they knew in the place, but he wasn't responding to his messages.
Bucky and Jane had spent most of the night with them, helping them unpack. Darcy had made an elaborate dinner to break in her new kitchen, since the refrigerator was conveniently stocked with everything. Darcy laughed as she remembered Mason's face as he watched his hero put away four large plates of food. She also laughed at Sofia trying to emulate him.
Growing up Puerto Rican meant you cooked more than you could ever eat. It was a good thing then, because Bucky put it down.
Mason talked for hours after he left describing everything he did in great detail.
"Did you see him lift that couch, mom? Like that was so cool! I bet he could lift a car. And his hair?! I want to grown mine like his. I bet I could get all the ladies."
"Bucky doesn't want all the ladies, twerp," Bella countered. "He just wants Aunt Jane."
"And Aunt Jane is a pretty lady! I bet it's because of his hair."
"I bet," Darcy interjected, "I bet Auntie Jane likes him because he's smart, thoughtful, and he listens."
Mason snorted, "I doubt it mom, he's an Avenger, remember?"
"Yes," she nodded. "I do remember. He's also a man who helped set up your playstation. And he helped Sofia with her doll house. And he helped Isabella move her dresser. He's human, Mas. I bet he would do all those things even if he wasn't an Avenger. And you need to remember that. As long as he's dating Aunt Jane, he's family."
"And I'm going to marry him someday," Sofia said dreamily.
Isabella laughed. "What if Aunt Jane wants to marry him?"
"Oh man. I forgotted," Sofia pouted and the whole table laughed.
Darcy chuckled as her bleary eyed four year walked to the table. Her hair was sticking up on all sides. She was carrying her blanket and rubbed her eyes. Darcy had to gently maneuver her away from the wall so she wouldn't hit it. "Princess, be careful."
Sofia had climbed into her bed in the middle of the night as she had hundreds of times before. It wouldn't be too long now until that stopped and she wanted to cherish every moment of it. She wanted to savor every moment of her last baby needing her until she didn't anymore.
"Thank you, mommy," Sofia mumbled as she gave her a little kiss on the cheek. "Wuv you."
Darcy smiled at the tired baby talk and rubbed her head. "Of course, Princess," and set a plate of eggs and bacon in front of her.
"I SMELL BACON!" Mason emerged from his room and raced into the kitchen. "I need to eat if I'm going to have muscles like Bucky."
Darcy grinned. Isabella would be up in about an hour. The older she got the later she slept in. Darcy prepared her a plate before Mason took all the bacon and set it in the microwave.
"Where Aunt, Janie," her four year old whispered.
"Aunt Jane had something come up. She will be by a little later, ok sweet pea?"
"Ok," she nodded sleepily while nibbling on her bacon.
Darcy checked her messages at the kitchen counter. Two from Nick telling her to tell Bella to text him. One from her mom asking if she'd found a husband yet. And one from Jane's mom telling her to tell Jane to 'call her mami.'
Darcy laughed. Tía Luci didn't get to cling to Jane as long as her own mother got to cling to her, with Jane leaving home for college at such an early age. Darcy had argued at one point to Jane that it put her and her mother on equal ground. And then Jane raised the valid point that it just gave her mom more opportunity to get in her adult life because she didn't get it all out when she was a child.
Of course she was Puerto Rican, so adult. Child. If you had a mother, she would be fretting regardless of your age.
Darcy remembered the conversation well when Jane had told Luci that she was leaving for New Mexico.
"You want to put a hole through my heart," her voice was thick and accented. "How could you do this to your poor mami. After I work so hard to give you opportunity in this land of the free?!"
Of course the opportunity that Luci worked towards was getting Jane hitched and babies, but tía Luci would never admit that.
She watched Sofia rub at her eyes, clearly she hadn't gotten enough sleep last night. She didnt do well in new environments at first. They'd taken whole vacations where she barely slept at all. She'd have to rock with her a little later. "Eat the rest of your food, baby, then mommy will hold you while you sleep a little more."
"Ok mommy," she whispered.
"Do you think Bella will want to explore with me later? Bucky said something about Hawkeye having a nest in the gym."
"I think if you stay out of the way then that would be ok. You have to ask Bella though. If not, then we need to wait for Aunt Jane."
She cleared the dishes from the table and took them to the sink to wash then heard a knock on the door.
"I get it, mommy." The little girl slid down from her chair and half sleep-skipped to the door. "Bucky. Bucky's here! Bucky's here!" She chanted and Darcy tried not to laugh. She had no doubt that if Jane hadn't already decided to make Bucky Barnes a part of their family, Sofia made the decision for her.
She heard the door open and the chanting stopped.
"Who you?"
Steve knocked on the door, a box of doughnuts in his hand. His intentions were to get to the apartment as early as possible to welcome the new family to the tower. And since the new tenant had children, he figured five in the morning was way too early.
And then there was that damn goat.
"Fucking Stark," he muttered. He heard a little voice chanting as they got closer to the door.
"Bucky's here! Bucky's here!"
The door opened, and Steve looked down amused. The little girl most likely had just gotten up. Her hair was sticking up in all directions. One of her pajama pant legs was up around her little knee, and her shirt was on backwards. "Who you? You not Bucky."
Steve crouched down to be on her level trying, against all odds, to not laugh at the very cute picture she made. "I'm Steve Rogers."
She stared at him and stuck a thumb in her mouth. Her brown eyes sleepily taking him in. "You tall, like Bucky."
"I am," he grinned. Clearly his best friend had made quite the impression on the little girl.
"Can you put me on your shoulder," she asked as she looked at him incredulously.
"Most definitely, Miss. Probably not with the doughnuts on my arms though."
She glanced down and her eyes widened, noticing the doughnuts for the first time. "For me?!"
"For all of you," he nodded. She took the box from him and it almost dwarfed her tiny body.
"Yay doughnuts!" She squealed and ran inside. "Mommy! Mr. Steve brought doughnuts!"
"DOUGHNUTS!," a young man interjected. "I do need doughnuts if I'm going to be strong like Bucky.
Steve closed the door amused and walked further into the apartment. The talking stopped when they noticed him.
"HOLY CRAP! YOU'RE CAPTAIN AMERICA," the young man exclaimed. "And you're in our home! Holy Crap, Captain America is in our home. I need to Instagram this. My friends back home will never believe this!" He ran off into the direction that Steve guessed to be his bedroom.
The little girl looked up at him confused. "He not Campton Amerca. He Mr. Steve. He told me." She let out a big yawn and rubbed her eyes.
Then a woman came around the corner of the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel. "Mason watch your language!" She smiled gently down at her daughter and his breath caught in his throat. "Sofia. This is Captain America. That's what he does for his work. But his name is Steve Rogers."
The little girl, Sofia, didn't seem to understand the difference, nor did she seem to care, much to his amusement. Steve studied the woman and held out his hand. "Ma'am. Steve Roger's. I wanted to welcome you to the building."
She grinned and shook his hand. "Darcy Lewis. And thank you. Please pardon our chaos. It was a long night."
"I apologize, I was supposed to be here to help, but something came up."
"It's not a problem. Jane and Bucky were more than adequate."
The boy came out with his cell phone, waving it excitedly. "Can I take a picture with you?! Please?!"
Steve smiled at Darcy then nodded. "Sure." He watched as the boy handed his phone to his mother and stood next to him.
"We should flex. Can you flex?"
"Whatever you want," Steve said amused. "How about you flex right and I'll flex left?"
"Ok!" They hit there pose and Darcy snapped a couple of pictures. She handed the phone back to Mason.
Steve nodded at him. "Make sure you tag me in those."
"Really," his eyes grew wide in excitement. "Wow, cool! Thanks! Bucky doesn't have an Instagram does he?"
Steve laughed. "Bucky is a little suspicious of social media. He barely has a phone."
Mason laughed and Sofia watched their exchange, her head turning back and fourth until she rubbed her eyes again.
"Mr. Steve. Do you rock," she asked sleepily, trying to hold back a yawn.
"Sofia sweetheart, mommy will rock you in a little bit."
"No. I want him to do it, mommy."
Darcy looked at him apologetically, "She's tired. She doesn't sleep well in new places."
He smiled at her and crouched down in front of her. "I would be honored to rock with you, Sofia."
The little girl wrapped her arms around his neck and he stood taking her weight with one arm. As tiny as she was, Steve felt something grow in his heart for this boy and girl. Darcy led him to a recliner to sit in. "Sorry about this," she said.
"Don't apologize. I could use a nap myself," he chuckled looking down at the little girl who was already asleep. Her head on his chest, and her mouth open a little. "Well that was fast."
Darcy looked every bit as surprised as he felt and ran a gentle hand along the back if her daughter's head. The moment was interrupted by another voice.
"Moooooom! Mason won't leave me alone! I was sleep-," she stopped when she noticed him. "Oh hi."
This little girl had to at least be twelve or thirteen. While the little girl in his arms favored Jane's looks and gentle manner. The elder favored her mother. Her hair was dark and long in a braid down her back. Her eyes were brown but shaped like Darcy's.
Darcy spoke first. "I'm sorry honey, he's excited. Steve brought doughnuts."
"Oh," she looked af him again and smiled. "Thank you. That was very nice of you."
He nodded at her. "Nice to meet you," he trailed off.
"Sorry," she laughed. Cleary in a better mood than before. "I'm Isabella Jocelina Ramirez-Rodriguez Lewis. Excuse the Lewis part. Can't pick your sperm donors." She tossed her head and walked to the kitchen.
Steve's eyes grew wide and he looked up at Darcy.
Darcy cleared her throat. "She's not exactly happy with her father at the moment. And I don't know how to fix it."
Steve nodded and looked down. He'd heard from Jane about the infidelity, but he wasn't exactly one to go to for parental advice. He did however know that forcing a child into feeling anything wasn't a good idea.
"I'm sure in time she'll come around," he said gently.
"Yeah," she looked to the kitchen and sighed. "Do you have her," she asked motioning to Sofia. "I'd love to take a shower."
"Of course, go ahead. We're fine."
She smiled graciously and headed into the direction of her room, taking a little piece of his heart with him just as all of her children had.
"Yeah. I'm screwed," he thought and adjusted in the recliner careful not to wake the sleeping bundle in his arms. Mason came out and started his Playstation and Isabella brought her breakfast into the living room to watch.
He could definitely get use to this.
Three hours after Jane's discovery, six positive pregnancy tests, and three fainting spells later, though Bucky would prefer to forget the latter part, they decided to meet with Bruce for a blood test.
Bruce had been all understanding about why secrecy was important to them so he came to her apartment.
The blood test didn't take long to come back positive.
Jane paced in front of the tv, worrying her lip and picking at her nails.
"How did this happen," she demanded looking at Bruce. "You said that birth control was ready. You said we shouldn't worry!"
"Clearly it needed more testing," Bruce said gently.
"Then why didn't you," Jane snapped. "Why didn't you test it?!"
"I did. On you. And clearly it's not ready, " he sat back and rubbed his forehead.
"On me?!"
"Well Jane, clearly I hoped it would work. But we're scientists. You know as well as I do that we need to experiment. And there are two known super soldiers in the world. And you're with one of them. You are the experiment."
"Don't try to calm me down by using science against me!"
Bruce chuckled and Bucky stared at him. He didn't know what to say. Clearly Jane did. The deed was done, however, and yelling at Bruce would do nothing to change that.
"Jane," Bucky cleared his throat. "Sweetheart. It's going to be alright."
"Bucky, how can you even say that? This isn't like going to the pet store and adopting a dog. This is a child!"
"I know that, baby."
"You have fainted three times since finding out. How can you even act calm now?"
He sighed and stood up. Nodding at Bruce to leave. "Thanks man for coming. And please. Don't tell anyone."
Bruce nodded. "I'll need to run some blood tests on her in a few weeks. I gather she's about six or seven weeks along. I need to know, with the serum and everything, that everything is going ok."
Bucky smiled. "I'll make sure of it. Thanks again, man."
"Congratulations, Bucky."
He nodded and closed the door behind them. He took a drink of water to calm his nerves and went into the living room. He gathered her in his arms and stood still as she sobbed into his chest.
"How did this happen," she asked, her voice breaking.
"Baby I think we know how it happened. We're not exactly chaste. Steve's walked in on us plenty of times."
"He should knock," she snapped.
"I agree," he chuckled and pulled her head back to meet his gaze. "You're beautiful."
"James," she sighed.
"I mean it. For so long in my life I had to do and say what others wanted me to do and say."
He felt her hold him tighter, sobbing still.
"I was absolutely terrified this morning when you said you missed your period."
"You fainted," she choked.
"Passed out," he corrected. "I don't faint."
"Same thing."
"No," he kissed the top of her head and rocked her gently. "The first thing I ever did for myself after," he choked back a sob of his own. "After Steve found me was to choose you."
"James," she sighed again and grabbed at his shirt, her head fell back to his chest. "James I know."
"I love it when you call me that."
"James," she asked, her eyes meeting his gaze again. "Why didn't you say anything before?"
"Because we were never official. I didn't think I had the right to ask that you call me that. I fell in love with you, and still we weren't anything."
"James, I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"I know. But everyday, I had hoped to be breaking you down a little more. That each day you would tell me yes. That you wanted me too."
"Wanting you isn't the problem, James."
"I figured that out too," he chuckled. "You're not the most expressive girl in the world, but I can read you like a book."
She bit her lip and looked down, guilty.
"Hey," he said and used a finger to pull her gaze up to his eyes. "I'm not blaming you, Jane. And I'm not going to force you into anything either. What I am going to do however is..." he pulled her in for a gentle kiss. "Choose you. And us. And this baby. It may not be what we were expecting, but I'm not the luckiest bastard in the world. And my luck has been decidedly better since I met you."
Her eyes watered and she took a deep, shaky breath and released a little laugh. "James, I don't know what to say."
"Say nothing, sweetheart," he ran his hands down her arms. "Come on," he pulled her to the bedroom.
"What are we doing?"
"We're talking."
"James, we already discussed this! Absolutely no talking goes on in that room."
"Now baby, that's simply not true. You're body does a whole lot of talking when you're trembling beneath me." He pulled her to him and kissed a trail down her neck.
"James," she moaned.
"And just think. I don't have to use a condom this time," he grinned.
Jane kicked the door shut and jumped in his arms in renewed ferver.
She liked that idea. Very much so.