Run
Darcy sat up and clutched the sheet to her chest as she felt him move beside her. "Please tell me you're wearing clothes!"
He cleared his throat and mumbled quietly. "I would, but I'd be lying." He rolled off the bed quickly and Darcy avoided looking at him as she heard him shuffle through the clothing on the floor. "Shit, I'm sorry," he said. "This shouldn't have happened like this."
Darcy climbed off the bed, pulling the sheet with her to the bathroom to get her robe. "I have never been that drunk. Why did I get that drunk?!"
"It happens sometimes," Steve said as he pulled on his shirt from the night before. She'd be lying if she said she didn't peek before he was fully covered. She watched him glimpse at the clock on the night stand. "Bella and Mason out yet?"
She checked the time. "Yeah, not that it matters. She was probably coming in to tell me goodbye." She groaned. "Sofia is at Jane and Bucky's, thank God."
He opened the door a little and peaked through it. "I don't hear anything." He looked back at her as if determining what to do next. "I should go," he said awkwardly.
She nodded and looked away. This was way too awkward for her to watch him leave. She'd never done this before. She'd read about one night stands, and the walk of shame. But never experienced it herself. And never would she imagined having one with Steve. Steve was more of a relationship guy. She didn't know how she knew that but somehow she just knew.
She walked back into her bathroom and stepped into a hot shower. She needed coffee and her Aunt Luci's chorizo and eggs and lots of it.
The shower was quick. She threw on a pair of jeans and a loose button up long sleeve shirt. Put on her favorite boots, and ran a come through her hair.
This look would have to do. Jane wasn't working in the lab anymore, at least until after she gave birth, so she didn't have to please anyone. And she was pretty sure her cousin wouldn't mind if she looked less than her best.
She locked up and made her way down the hall to the apartment her cousin shared with her fiance and now their little girl.
She could smell the food before she even opened the door.
Jane was standing at the island in front if the tortilla press while Luci was working at the stove. They both smiled at her as she entered. Sofia was watching a cartoon.
Olivia toddled up dragging a water bottle that was almost as large as her, behind. She dropped to her knees in front of the baby. "Such a big bottle for such a little girl," she cooed at the baby, who was only wearing her diaper, and looked at Jane who shrugged.
"It's Bucky's," she said. "He filled it for him to use at the gym, but she wanted it. If she wants to drink water we are all for it."
She held her arms out for the baby, who toddled into them, and lifted her up. She kissed her cheek, then leaned over to place a kiss on the top of her own daughter's head. "Good morning, mijita. Did you sleep well?"
Sofia nodded and mumbled a "Hi mommy," clearly absorbed in her cartoon like her own mother with her favorite favorito telenovela. Darcy shook her head and carried Olivia over to the island with her.
Jane handed the baby a tortilla, "Here Livy." The child clearly had been introduced to homemade tortillas. And she clearly loved them.
Luci smiled. "We have to get her started early. Tonight it's carne asada tacos."
"Well I'm definitely coming," Darcy grinned and Jane stared at her.
"You're hiding something from me," Jane accused. "Why?"
She could read Jane like a book. So she wasn't surprised that Jane could read her. She was always the better study. She was however, surprised that Jane cut to the chase so fast. She thought she had been doing a good job distracting herself in their conversation!
"I'm not hiding anything," Darcy exclaimed.
"And now you are lying," Luci tsked and shook her head. "You are not a very good liar, mija."
Darcy sighed and shook her head. Olivia looked up at her from her lap on the bar stool, her wide, brown eyes staring deep into her soul. Just like Bella's had this morning.
"I did something bad," Darcy groaned. "I mean it was good, I think. But really, really bad."
Jane grinned and Darcy knew it was because she had already guessed. Darcy did the same when it was her and Bucky. Although she didn't know it was Bucky. Truthfully it was more difficult over the phone!
"Yeah," Jane asked. "I need details. Spill."
"Jane," Darcy groaned.
"Darcy," she said matter-of-factly as she rolled out another tortilla. Jane wouldn't give any quarter when it came to getting something off of her chest.
She sat the baby down, who promptly threw the tortilla on the ground and ran back to her water bottle. Jane sighed and Luci chuckled. "She has a short attention span, that one does," Luci said. "Sofia," Luci said. "Mijitita wash your hands."
They wouldn't eat until Bucky got back from his workout, but she guessed that Luci had already guessed that the conversation would be inappropriate for little, four year old ears.
"I slept with Steve," Darcy mumbled and Jane's eyes widened as she grinned from ear to ear. Luci shook her head mumbling to herself as she rubbed her rosary.
"Was it good," Jane asked.
"Jane-," Darcy exclaimed.
"Mija-," Luci exclaimed at the same time.
"What," Jane asked and laughed. "Come on! I had sex this morning! We had to use the pregnancy pillow so I could be comfortable, " Jane grinned at her blushing mother. "It was by definition not sexy. Though it did the job," Jane shrugged. "I have to live vicariously through someone until I can have back-breaking sex again!"
"That is the reason you are pregnant," Luci exclaimed and smacked the back of Jane's head gently.
"Yeah, so," Jane grinned at her mother and winked at Darcy. "It got you grandchildren, didn't it."
Luci blushed and turned back to the stove. "You are going to church with me this weekend. No excuses."
Jane looked at her expectantly. "Well," Jane asked.
"Jane you have a kid," Darcy whined.
"So," Jane picked up Olivia's abandoned tortilla and tossed it in the compost. "Doesn't mean I'm dead. Maybe we can compare notes! Like super soldier sister wives."
"You're a freak," Darcy laughed.
"Hey," Jane shrugged. "Bucky is the best sex I have ever had. I only wish the same for you and Steve."
"There is no me and Steve," Darcy said and Jane frowned.
"What do you mean," she asked.
"I mean we were drunk, and it happened."
Jane sighed. "That's the best kind of sex. A little wine and no inhibitions."
"Well this was a lot of alcohol and pretty much nothing else. Oh and Bella saw us this morning."
Luci burst out laughing and then Jane did. Darcy shot them both a glare.
"I'm sorry mija," Luci said.
"I'm not," Jane rubbed her eyes. "Oh my God, that's hilarious."
Olivia started laughing and they all looked down. She was looking back up at them, sitting on the floor, just laughing. Darcy slid down and knelt in front if her again. "What's so funny, Livy?" She just started laughing harder which caused everyone else to, even Sofia who had just come back into the room.
"She's a funny little kid," Sofia said, patting her little cousin's head gently.
They heard the door open and Bucky's voice. "What's so funny? I can hear you all the way down the hallway."
Darcy guessed she would never get use to all the abilities that these two super soldiers had. Bucky appeared and looked around. "Good morning," he picked up his giggling daughter, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then sat her down again.
Darcy studied him. He didn't seem to know anything, but he was always surprising her. She was still convinced that he was a super spy on the side. He walked around the island and gave Jane a quick kiss on the lips and hugged Luci. He clearly showered in the locker room.
Jane gave her a knowing smile. She wouldn't say anything to him, but she wouldn't deny it if he found out and asked her about it.
"Oh my God," he groaned as he shoved a piece of tortilla in his mouth. "You didn't tell me you could cook like this," he said to Jane who rolled her eyes. "I should have gotten you pregnant a long time ago," he teased .
"No," Luci smacked him on the back of his head.
He rubbed his head and grinned at her.
Luci announced breakfast was ready and Darcy breathed a sigh of relief. Food would distract him, and then after breakfast she'd be free to return to her own apartment. They all sat down around the table, Olivia in her knew toddler booster seat next to Bucky and Jane. Sofia sat by Bucky and Luci on the other side of Jane. She sat by Sofia.
Breakfast was a quiet affair between the adults. Besides the knowing looks that Jane kept passing at her. Olivia chattered nonsense getting more eggs on her face than in her mouth, and Sofia kept a constant commentary for her little cousin.
Bucky pushed his plate aside and got up to get a glass of orange juice. He sat back down and looked at Jane silently. She saw Jane nod before he turned to her.
"So what's this about you and Steve?"
Darcy really wished that the world would open up and swallow her whole, right about now.
If there were two things Steve could depend on in the world. One was that there would always, always be another fight. And two was that his best friends were assholes. Bucky more so than Sam. But they both were the biggest assholes on the face of this planet.
Maybe the entire galaxy.
He should have known better to show up late to the gym in yesterday's clothes when his best friend was basically a super spy, but he wasn't thinking clearly.
Waking up next to Darcy had rattled him, mostly because he didn't remember falling asleep next to her.
And that sucked.
And of course, Sam knew what the walk of shame looked like. And of course he asked about it, and of course Bucky was there.
And of course the jackasses wouldn't stop laughing while he explained himself.
"Fuck them all," he thought.
He needed to get out of here for s few days. He could hear Dr. Raynor now, "Running from your problems doesn't solve anything, Steven." But he had just been caught by the woman he cared deeply about teenage daughter, butt naked in her mother's bed. He felt bad for letting Darcy deal with the fallout by herself, but he wasn't good at this.
He'd spend a few days away, maybe at Tony's beach house in Malibu to clear his head.
Yeah...
Then maybe he'd feel ready to meet this head on.
Bella wasn't speaking to her. In fact she wasn't even looking at her. Mason didn't seem any different, so it didn't seem like she had told him.
The house was so quiet with Bella not talking though, that even Sofia's little girl chatter didn't do much to cover up the awkwardness.
Darcy was thankful they were going to Jane's for supper. Maybe Olivia's baby girl happiness, and Sofia's jubilant mood being around the baby, would help a little.
They knocked on the door lightly and let themselves in.
Olivia was the first to greet them in a darling pink and blue flowered dress with bloomers under and a matching headband. She missed being able to dress Sofia like that. Olivia looked like an absolute doll with her binky in her mouth.
"Hi Livy," Bella exclaimed. It was the first she actually heard her talk since this morning. She watched Bella pick the baby up and they walked into the living room.
Jane was there with her feet propped up and a parenting magazine in her lap. Bucky was massaging her shoulders.
"You know, if I didn't feel so bloated, I wouldn't mind being pregnant," Jane was saying.
Bucky smiled at her indulgently, "You've never been more beautiful."
"You have to say that."
"I mean it," he kissed her cheek then greeted Bella and Mason. He'd seen Sofia earlier today. "How was school, kids?"
Mason mumbled his answer as he turned on Sports Center, and Bella looked over at him and smiled. "It was good, I got an A on my math test."
Darcy's chest swelled with pride as it normally did when her children accomplished something they had been working so hard for.
Bella was playing a patty cake game with Olivia, Sofia was watching them, and Mason had the tv on, that left her to conversations with Jane and Bucky.
She sat beside Jane and laid a gentle hand on her belly. "Are they awake?"
"Not right now," Jane sighed. "They will probably be awake tonight when I'm trying to sleep." She laid her magazine by her side. "I'm just happy I could get a nap in today."
"Olivia allowed it," Darcy asked surprised. The toddler was becoming very, very attached to Jane.
"Daddy distracted her with an ice cream date after her own nap," she smiled at the baby then at Bucky who had moved to sit beside her.
"Then we went swimming," he said. "She called the pool a big bathtub."
They all chuckled and looked at the baby who was enthralled in Bella's game with her.
Jane cleared her throat. "So we invited Steve, but he is in Malibu. Apparently he needed some time to think." Jane looked concerned. Which kind of surprised Darcy since Jane didn't seem especially close to Steve.
"He's an idiot," Bucky said and shook his head.
Luci called them all to the table for supper, the conversation about Steve forgotten for now. And Darcy was grateful.
She didn't need to feel any more conflicted about that man then she already did.
Bucky closed the door after saying goodbye to Darcy and the kids. Her mother had left earlier and taken some food to Tony and his family.
"See," he said. "I told you. They're both idiots."
Jane giggled and sat Olivia on her feet in front of her. She removed her headband and ran a hand through the baby's hair. "Tell Daddy that's not very nice to say, even if it's true."
Olivia looked up at her, her fingers in her mouth. She kissed her cheek in response.
"Tell mommy that Daddy is only speaking the truth. They are going to run until one of them has had enough," Bucky said as he sat down.
"You think so," Jane asked. She lifted the dress over their daughter's head so she could get her dressed for bed.
"I know my best friend, and he needs the dame to make the first step. And I have grown to know your cousin these last six months, and she doesn't make anything easy."
"Poor Bella didn't even look at her tonight," Jane giggled.
"Which reminds me, we need to start getting in the habit of locking the door. No need for this one to walk in while I'm making naked fun time with her mommy."
"I think we have time for that," Jane said as she changed the baby's diaper and put her sleeper on her. "Speaking of. I'm in trouble with my mom so we both have to attend mass this weekend."
"Why the both of us?"
"Because you did this to me," Jane said and rubbed her belly. "And because I was bragging about how good you were in bed, so technically it's your fault."
"It got her grandchildren," Bucky whined.
"Been there, tried that excuse," Jane laughed and stood up. She lifted Olivia to her hip. "Let's put baby girl to bed, then we can have some fun ourselves," she winked at him.
"You're talking about reading that new scientific journal you got today in the mail together, aren't you," Bucky asked with a groan.
Jane grinned and laughed. "It's going to be so hot! I might even let you give me a foot massage!"