In the future years to come Meredith will say that she was working on her English homework when Grace came to her face streaked with tears. In hindsight she wasn’t, Meredith was reading Harry Potter fanfiction and scoffing at people that didn’t get the details right.
Grace came in her room her face streaked with tears and her blonde hair ragged and Meredith felt her stomach clench. Grace was only seventeen to Meredith’s nine. There was seven years roughly between them but they were still close and nothing had ever made Grace look like that, not even when she’d had her ankle snapped back in after Crossbones had destroyed the tower.
Tony Stark was still in the process of re-building it but Meredith liked her room at the Avengers facility. Both of her fathers were out training newer recruits like Danny Rand and Jessica Jones for example and Meredith liked having the run of the place.
There was a second where the two of them stared at each other and then Grace sat on the bed looking so utterly pathetic that Meredith really did get worried.
“I have a big problem Mer” she said her voice little and Meredith stared at her.
“You want me to make hot chocolate?” she asked because hot chocolate was the only thing that she could make well and seemed to always cheer up the Avengers after a fight (though Uncle Tony would dump quite a bit of vodka in his and claim it was medicinal if asked)
Grace shook her head. “I think I might be pregnant” she said quietly.
Meredith nearly threw her laptop against the wall in shock.
Oh Dad and Pops were not going to like this...not at all.
“WHAT?” she shouted “HOW?”
Grace gave a long sigh. “I know Riley told you last year” she said shaking her head. “And I know Uncle Tony tried to give you the embellishments until Peter’s Aunt May threatened to lock him in the panic room with no booze so don’t act innocent Meredith”
“Who’s the boy?” Meredith asked. Granted she was nine and the whole boy thing didn’t really appeal to her but she could kinda understand it. Sean Ryan came to mind with his smile and she couldn’t help but look down at her fingers her insides squirming.
“Hello?” Grace asked looking irritable and much more like her normal self and Meredith drove her thoughts away from smiles and bright eyes and focused on her big sister.
“Nobody you know” Grace said testily and Meredith took that as a way to change the subject and fast.
“You need to take a test...lots of tests” she said jumping off the bed. Grace managed a small smile and pulled three out from behind her back.
“Nicked them from Uncle Bruce’s medical lab, talk about being prepared for every eventuality” she said was a small shaky laugh that made Meredith frown.
“You need some help?” she asked. Grace nodded. “I’m gonna use the bathroom, can you wait outside?”
That Meredith could do so she checked the hallway, (the bathroom they shared being directly in the middle of their two rooms) and watched as Grace slid in and locked the door.
Wow. Grace with a baby.
Daddy was going to have one of his ‘Winter Soldier’ moments that was clear as day. Meredith almost felt sorry for whoever it was that Grace was sleeping with.
Almost.
Speaking off...
“Hey Mer” her Dad said coming up the stairs, his new arm glinting in the sun, oh bugger Meredith thought.
“Hey Dad” she yelled loudly and she heard Grace swear.
Her Dad followed the sound with an amused look that turned to concern when he picked up on the look of terror that Meredith must have been wearing.
“Something wrong girls?” he asked just as Grace’s voice came back with a loud ‘Shit’ that sounded close to tears.
“Grace is peeing” Meredith said and then wanted to kick herself because really? That was the best she could come up with?”
“Yeah I gathered that” her Dad said looking at her as if she was speaking a different language. “But I didn’t think that you too were into listening to each other so that means your both up to something”
“Shit” Meredith said and her Dad raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah” he said shortly. “Grace open the door or I’m gonna kick it down.”
He would have done too if Grace hadn’t opened the door. One of the pregnancy tests had fallen on the floor before she could reach it and Meredith swore in her head as her father’s eye caught on it.
There was a dead silence that seemed to go on for decades.
And then her Dad shut the door and leaned back against the wall with a horribly blank look on his face.
Meredith stared at him pressed up against the wall and swallowed loudly. There was a second where nobody seemed to even breathe.
And then...
“No...No way” her Dad said staring at the wall blankly.
Meredith resisted the urge to make a terrified kinda noise and the urge to dive under the bed. She was rather proud of herself that she didn’t do just that.
“She...She...My daughter wouldn’t do that...she wouldn’t ruin her future like that...she wouldn’t make me kill that boy. But I will. Have you met him? He’s a dick. I haven’t even met him but I’ll kill him...you can’t bring a dick into this family. You can’t make your other father a grandfather, you cannot make me a grandfather. Holy Shit Tony is gonna call me grandpa and actually have a reason to do so. Grace Sarah, Tony is NOT calling me a grandpa”
He finished the long sentence by yelling and Meredith who was half pressed up against the wall winced. There was a split second where there was silence again when the door opened and Grace came out grinning.
“I’m not pregnant!” she said dancing up and down, “I guess I was just late after all” Meredith had no clue what she was talking about but her Dad seemed to sink against the wall and then let out a shaky laugh pulling Grace and Meredith with both hands into a hug.
“Grace” he said into the space between them. “You’re grounded.”
“What?!” Grace shouted pulling back. Her Dad let out a rather manic laugh. “Three weeks” he shouted and Grace gaped at him. Meredith resisted the urge to beam in glee. They were sisters after all, she loved Gracie she really did but that didn’t mean she wasn’t thrilled when she got into trouble.
“It should be eighteen years for your almost scary baby” her Dad said still looking winded. “Now go get your dirty clothes before I consider taking your phone and going through the records so I can this boy and kill him”
Grace gazed at him for a brief second apparently calculating the odds before she nodded and turned away without another word. Whoever it was...she must really like him, Meredith thought to herself.
Her Dad breathed another long sigh and then leaned heavily against the wall his eyes closed.
“Mer baby...” he said slowly. “Your gonna help me into an elevator and then into the kitchen. Then I want you to pour me a tall glass of vodka and then while I drink it find me a takeout menu”
Meredith stared at him for a long second before nodding. “For what it’s worth” she said as they slid into the elevator, “Grace was really upset” she remembered her sister’s face when she came into the room. There was a second where Meredith thought that her father had shown a flicker of an expression but when she looked closely her father was still leaning against the wall looking stunned.
Meredith poured him his vodka and decided to leave the bottle on the table when Grace came down.
“I’m sorry Daddy” she said meekly. Her Dad slid his hand across the table and linked it with Grace’s casting her a strange, shaky smile. “It’s ok” he said leaning back against the chair.
“Just don’t...don’t grow up so fast...please...” he said looking at the both of them. “I think I just aged another seventy years and that was before I found out the answer...”
Grace sniggered swinging her hand with their father’s tucked tightly in it. Meredith smiled.
“And” their Dad said voice returning to it’s usual confidence. “We are never mentioning ANY of this to your father”
But of course Steve did find out because the pregnancy test that Grace took while disposed of was found in the bin the next day, that conversation left Grace with bleeding ears, Steve attempting to give Meredith a ‘talk’ and Bucky being banished to the couch for three nights.
You never try and pull one over on Captain America.