In Willow Manor, on Maple Grove, it was rare indeed to get the chance to lie in past the bright dawning of a new day. Last night, however, had been a late one - a delighted demonstration of Johnny's gifts with fireworks that had kept everyone up late. The fireworks had continued even later into the night across the Grove - any excuse for a celebration - which had resulted in a very crowded bed in the Storms' master suite. As the room warmed with the sunlight through the window, it illuminated the sight of Johnny and Liv curled up in bed, with Alexei hugging Liv's back and the bump, Maria sprawled comfortably on her back between them, and Fliss back to back with Johnny on the other side of the bed. Not to mention Bella draped across the end of the bed, dreaming happy doggy dreams. Thank goodness they had followed through on the idea of getting a bigger bed.

It was the thump of Bella's tail against Johnny's legs that woke him. That, and Maria's legs that kept kicking him every time she wiggled to get comfortable between him and Liv. It was a good thing that they had a big bed, but two full grown adults, one teenager, two children, and a rather large dog was pushing it to the limits. If he moved even a little bit either way, he was going to send someone onto the floor, and it wasn't going to be him. "Liv ..." he whispered past the sleeping girl between them. "Pssst ....Olivia ..."

Liv was never the most enthusiastic when it came to waking up, even less so when she was comfortably cuddled up with her family. Not even the vague discomfort of her full bladder was enough to wake her without a little help. She grimaced, protesting a little at the sound of her name being whispered across the bed.

He saw her grimace and knew she was starting to wake up, but it wasn't so much her bladder that had woken him as his - not to mention Bella's tail. "Livvie ..." he called again in a hushed whisper, gaze darting to Maria to see if he'd woken her up. "I have to pee!" he called over, hoping Fliss didn't hear or he'd never hear the end of it.

Another grimace, and finally Liv's eyes started to open. She blinked a couple of times, focusing blearily over Maria's blissfully oblivious face, to find Johnny looking at her with what looked like mild panic. "What?" she whispered back, her only free hand reaching back to make sure whoever was behind her wasn't about to fall off the edge of the bed.

He looked relieved to find her awake finally, but that look of milk panic was still on his face. "I have to ....you know ..." This said to a pregnant woman was probably not going to garner him much sympathy, but if she wanted to make sure he didn't soil the bed, it was probably a good idea she helped him figure out how to get out of it. "When did Fliss get here" Last thing I remember, I was on the end." Which is where he preferred to be. That way if anyone fell off, it was him. It also allowed him a quick escape route if he needed it.

"Bella probably brought her in when we'd finally got to sleep," Liv whispered back, casting a vaguely accusing look to the dog snoring with her head on Johnny's feet. Considering the layout of the bed for a moment, she came to a conclusion. "You'll have to wake Fliss up," she murmured to him. "I can't move, or Alex will fall off."

"You know she sleeps like a rock. It would take World War Three to wake her up!" Johnny whispered back, trying to keep his voice down, though he was growing even more frantic. "Maybe ..." he mused as he looked over the group huddled on the bed. "Maybe I can climb over her ..."

"Maybe we should start keeping a pot by the bed for you to piss into," Liv muttered, always just a little bit grumpy these days when she was woken up, thanks to her passenger's habit of waking up at the same time. At the moment, the baby seemed to be doing pirouettes, but she had a feeling it was going to sit on her bladder heavily at any moment. At the end of the bed, Bella suddenly perked up, her head rising as she looked around curiously. "Oh, good grief, don't tell me we have visitors at this time of the morning ..."

"Oh, that's very funny. Funny girl. Maybe you should do stand-up ..." he replied, slightly agitated, though he'd be just fine once he'd relieved himself. He'd have to blame all the beer he'd drunk the night before - root beer, that is. He'd been guzzling the stuff down like it was water, and eventually, it became a contest between him and Fliss to see who could drink more. He shifted on the bed, as he attempted to maneuver between the dog and the teenager beside him. "Visitors?" Johnny echoed, jerking his head toward the window. It was like playing a game of Twister trying to get out of his own bed in the morning. "What time is it?"

"God, I don't know ..." Anything else Liv might have said was rudely interrupted by the sight of Johnny shifting ever so slightly to try and see what time it was. She winced preemptively, knowing what came next. Just the barest movement, and Fliss over-balanced, waking up abruptly in the split second before she hit the floor with a thump.

"Hey!"

Bella stood up on the bed, eyes alert and tail wagging a mile a minute. Whoever or whatever it was she was hearing, it didn't seem to be a threat. She barked once - a friendly bark that was more greeting than warning - and jumped off the bed to go over and greet Fliss, who was now on the floor, and lick her face to say good morning. "Nonono, Bella!" Johnny exclaimed, as she jumped from the bed setting him off balance, and he, too, tumbled to the floor with a loud thump. Thankfully, he didn't land on top of the teenager.

"Oof! Morning, Bells ..." Rolled over onto her back with a good morning kiss from their enthusiastic dog, Fliss had the perfect view of Johnny toppling off the bed to land with a thump of his own between her and the bed itself, and absolutely no sympathy, since she'd been woken up in exactly the same way.

On the bed itself, the sudden movement had woken Maria with a start, and silent though she was, she was still young enough that her first reaction was tears. Easing further into the center of the bed, Liv gathered the little girl into her arms to soothe that fright with a hug and a kiss, trying not to laugh too hard at the silly wake up that was going on.

"Morning!" Johnny greeted Fliss, kissing the cheek that wasn't already wet for Bella and sprang to his feet. "I gotta go!" he exclaimed, making a mad dash to the bathroom fast enough that he set his shirt on fire.

Alexei awoke on the other side of Liv, sleepily rubbing at his eyes and declaring the first thing on his mind. "I'm hungry."

"Ewww, Dad kisses," was Fliss' mild complaint as she rose from the floor to cuddle down into the covers with the rest of their little family again, ignoring Bella's bouncy barking. "Hey sleepy girl, no tears. It's just Dad being Dad."

With Fliss taking over the comforting of Maria, Liv twisted onto her back to smile at Alexei. "You, little man, are always hungry," she chuckled, stroking her fingers through his hair. "Did you sleep well?"

It was too late now and he was too distracted to break away from her long enough to close and lock the door. Besides, it seemed the children were distracted enough with breakfast and the surprise visit. It hadn't yet occurred to Johnny that this was the first time in a very long time that Steve and Lucy had ventured through the Nexus, but it would occur to him sooner or later - hopefully not in the middle of a quickie. Somehow he managed to get Liv's shorts off and was in the process of wriggling out of his own, making a mess of the bed in the process, while he did his best to prime her pump, so to speak, with eager lips and hands.

With one hand over her mouth to muffle herself, Liv caught movement out of the corner of her eye - Lucy, grinning like an idiot, pulling Bella back out of the room and closing the door behind them quietly. Just as well she hadn't sent any of the children up to get them. Dropping her hand from her mouth, Liv giggled, lifting the covers to draw Johnny up to her with a grin of her own. "We have time," she promised him affectionately. "Let's make the most of it."

Johnny grinned back at her, not having to look at the door to know it was closed and who had done it. "Remind me later to thank her," he said before going to work to make the most of the short gift of privacy they'd just been given. He knew Liv well enough by now that he knew what to do to get her engine purring, but he couldn't be blamed if she moaned and groaned at his ministrations. There had been a time before they'd adopted Fliss when they'd had all the time in the world, but somehow having three children, a dog, and another on the way waiting on you only made those stolen moments are the more precious to them both.

Precious enough that Lucy was more than happy to give her sister and brother-in-law half an hour or more to enjoy together for the first time in a while. She thumped down the stairs, Bella padding ahead of her, to a scene of near chaos. Four children, a teen, and a toddler, and Steve seemed as though he was under siege in the kitchen. Add Bella to the mix, and it really was chaos. "All right, all right," she called for their attention. "People who want breakfast need to be setting the table and sitting down at it. Dogs who want the loo need to come with me."

"There's only one dog, Luce," Steve pointed out with a grin. This was the kind of chaos he'd be happy to deal with every day, unlike the kind he'd often been subjected to during the war and with Lucy there to help, it was more like organized chaos. "You heard the General!" Steve told the children. Though he was accustomed to giving orders in battle, it was clearly Lucy who ruled the roost on the home front. "Fliss, pour the juice! Martin and Lianne, set the table! Alex, get the jam and the syrup! Maria, fold the napkins!" This was all said while Steve was juggling pancakes and bacon and eggs and toast.

As Lucy led Bella to the back door to let her out for her own morning ablutions, the chaos became a little more organized. Fliss opened up the drawer for little hands to collect knives, forks, and spoons, handing down a stack of plates to other little hands, before she turned her attention to pouring the juice. Maria, on the other hand, had to tug on Steve's pant leg and wait for his attention before offering up her silent inquiry. "I cannot reach. Help, please?"

Steve was a little surprised by the tug, turning to look down a the little girl with the big eyes looking up at him. Was it any wonder Johnny had such a soft spot for this one" "Of course, sweetheart," he told her, setting down his cooking utensils for just a minute to reach for a handful of napkins and hand them off to her. "Just fold them in half and set one beside each plate, okay?" he asked as gently as he could, even while Jamie banged his spoon on the tray of his high chair, demanding attention and food.

Maria nodded, smiling as she took her own personal task into her little hands and trotted off after her brother and cousins. Fliss chuckled, glancing toward the stairs briefly, as though expecting to see her parents come down at any moment. "Uncle Steve ....can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Steve said, watching Maria as she went about fulfilling her task before turning back to finish cooking up breakfast. "This isn't a birds and the bees kind of question, is it?" he asked with a worried look on his face. He thought Fliss was old enough to know about those things already and it wasn't really his place to explain if she didn't.

The teenager pulled a face in his direction. "Ugh, no," she protested, shaking her head. "No, it's ....it's kind of about ....powers. About how they develop. I mean, I know mine came on when I hit puberty, and that makes sense, but I was never experimented on. How do we know if what got done to them left anything behind?"

Steve's gaze flickered momentarily toward the foursome they'd rescued from the Arctic back to Fliss with a solemn but concerned expression. "We don't, really, but if it did, we'll find out sooner or later. Why do you ask?" He didn't really want to tell her what had gone on there and what horrors they'd rescued the children from. No one should have to suffer the way they had suffered, especially not children. He and Lucy had discussed all this in depth, but it was not something he expected to come from Fliss.

"Just a feeling." Fliss shrugged, handing the glasses one at a time to her brother, sister, and cousins as they trooped back to the kitchen counter for more instructions. Martin got the big filled jug to carry, as the oldest. "Like ....Maria knows when someone needs her, when she couldn't possibly know. And Alexei, this morning ....he knew it was you guys, and we hadn't even heard you come in. Is telepathy real?"

Steve's brows furrowed as he considered what Fliss was telling him. Martin and Lianne hadn't really exhibited any special talents or abilities yet. Maybe they never would or maybe they just hadn't made themselves known yet. Thankfully, Fliss and Alexei and Maria made their home in Rhy'Din, where S.H.I.E.L.D. or any other interested party wouldn't come looking for them and where unusual powers and abilities were far more common than back home on Earth. He'd seen a lot of strange things since volunteering to be injected with the super serum, and telepathy was not the worst of them. "You already know nothing is impossible, Fliss," he pointed out, though that didn't really answer her question. "Yes, it's real." He glanced at the children again before looking back to her, lowering his voice for her ears only. "Have you mentioned it to your parents yet?"

She shook her head. "Not yet," she admitted. "What they did to Maria still upsets them, but ....what if that serum actually worked" What if, because she doesn't have vocal chords, she's working out another way to communicate" I-I-I don't know if Alexei's doing the same thing out of solidarity, or whether he can, I don't know, borrow someone else's ability for a little while. And you're the biggest expert I know who won't snitch on me."

There was that look on his face again, thoughtful, serious, concerned, and just a little angry that anyone could hurt a child in such a way, as if they were guinea pigs in a lab to be poked and prodded. He wasn't surprised to hear what had been done to Maria still upset Liv and Johnny - it upset him and Lucy, too. "It's possible, but without knowing more, I can't be certain. What exactly is it that worries you, Fliss?" he asked, wondering if this was really just about Maria and Alexei or something else. He knew she'd had a hard time with her own abilities, until Johnny had taught her control.

Fliss hesitated for a long moment, hidden behind her hair. She had a couple of reasons for her concern, but she was only going to admit to one of them to Steve. The other ....if she couldn't keep it hidden, then she would share it with Johnny and Liv, and no one else. "She's so little," she said softly. "She doesn't even know how to be a kid yet, and she might have to learn how not to read other people's minds out of politeness before she knows how to communicate openly properly. It's not fair."

"Have you thought about maybe asking Miranda?" Liv suggested, rolling out of bed with a good deal less grace than her husband did. She paused a moment to smooth her hand over the swell of her belly, rising to choose something to wear. "She may not be able to manufacture the material itself, but she must have contacts that would take up the challenge. And she does like measuring you for various suits. I expect she'd be over the moon to measure you for something skin-tight." Liv flashed a cheeky grin over her shoulder at Johnny, daring him to take offense.

Johnny rolled his eyes, though he was well aware of the effect he had on, er, other women. Thankfully, he didn't flaunt it around much now that he was happily married. "Miranda is old enough to be my mother!" he pointed out helpfully, though she was pretty hot for a grandma. "She's always after me to model for her." He considered donning his suit but decided against it. He was among family and he wasn't planning on going to flame, as far as he knew. "You really shouldn't encourage her."

"She's always after you to model for her because you are stunningly handsome, and even better, you know what to do," Liv pointed out, tossing a dress onto the bed before pulling on her underwear. "Besides, you like the attention, sweetheart. I know you do." She chuckled, dragging a brush through her hair to rip out the tangles.

Johnny snorted in response to his wife's remark. "You're talking about a woman who's got Jon Granger for a nephew ....cousin ....whatever. Why me and not him?" he asked, and yes, he was asking this about her boss. Hell, he had played Christian Grey on the big screen; modeling suits should be a piece of cake. Johnny donned a fresh t-shirt and shorts, which would likely become his new favorite until it, too, went up in flames. He was just vain enough not to argue the fact that he was handsome, though.

"Because she fancies you," Liv told him laughingly, twisting her hair up with a claw to keep it off her neck before turning to lift her chosen dress from the bed and slip into it. "That, and there is every chance that she's asked Jon and he's flatly refused. He doesn't do much advertising, apart from his line of hair products."

"What's he gonna do when his hairline starts receding?" Johnny blurted, before he could stop himself. Of course, this was Rhy'Din and people stayed young and good-looking until way past their prime. It was one of the advantages of living here. Besides, the man was independently rich and hardly needed to take any modeling gigs to make ends meet. It hadn't always been that way, but Johnny didn't know that. "Why do you think Steve and Lucy are here?" he asked, changing the subject. He'd thought it was them who were going to visit them later that evening, not the other way around.

Tying the belt of her dress loosely over the crown of her little bump, Liv shrugged thoughtfully. "Maybe they decided it was time for a holiday?" she suggested, though she had other suspicions as to why that branch of their family had decided to visit them. She sighed, bending to remake the bed - having children hadn't quite trained all of her OCD neatness out of her yet. "Maybe they need to be away from New York for a while. Away from ....from Peggy."

"Oh," Johnny said, frowning sadly as she pointed that out, reminding him of Peggy's death. It wasn't that he'd forgotten - he'd never forget her as long as he lived - but he didn't want to dwell on it either. "I guess," he admitted quietly, knowing how close Steve had been to Peggy, knowing their history together. "I wish I'd had a chance to say good-bye," he said, swallowing down a lump of tears. He'd taken her death pretty hard, but he didn't want to think about that right now.

"I know." She rose to wrap her arms around him, tearful herself in the wake of remembering her dear great-aunt. It would be a long time before she would be able to think of Peggy without some sadness.

The sadness did not have much of a chance to last, however - true to her word, Lucy had given them five minutes. The door burst open to reveal Lianne and Maria, hand in hand and grinning from ear to ear, cheeky little faces looking up at them. "Maman, she say is time you come down!"

Johnny sniffled as the door was flung open, not wanting the children to see him crying ....again. Thankfully, they were both dressed, so there wasn't much to shock or embarrass them. "Tell Maman she's being a little bit bossy," Johnny teased, smiling as he wiped the tears from his eyes, a kiss to Liv's cheek before he was sweeping Maria up off her feet and into his arms, just because. "Lead the way, Li-Li. We're right behind you."

Lianne giggled softly, knowing better than to pass that message on, and took Liv's hand to lead her down the stairs, as though presenting proof that they had found her aunt and uncle as requested. Scooped up onto Johnny's hip, Maria hugged his neck, kissing his cheek with a little smile of her own. And somehow, despite not having her hands free to speak, she managed to make it known that she was worried to find her father crying.

Johnny didn't need to ask Maria what the kiss was for, smiling through his tears as he followed Liv and Lianne down the stairs. "I'm okay, sweetheart," he told her quietly, touched by the gentle display of affection, though he wasn't sure how she'd known that he needed it. "No tears today. I promise."

Though the scar on her throat was all but invisible, there was no escaping what had been done to little Maria in that Arctic facility. She would never learn to speak with lips and tongue, though she could make noise if she absolutely had to. Her only means of communicating was by the sign language she had been learning with her family, and perhaps Steve was right - perhaps it was her wish to communicate that seemed, somehow, to be awakening the effects of the serum that had been tested on all four of the children rescued. Whatever the reason, she seemed happy enough, cuddling close into Johnny's arms as he bore her down the stairs and waving to the others at the table.

"Oh, so you found them!" Lucy declared in amusement, reaching to help Lianne up into her seat as Liv found herself dragged down next to Fliss.

"If you came all this way to find out if it's a girl or a boy, I hate to disappoint you both, but we don't know yet," Johnny said as he and Maria arrived, just behind Liv and Lianne. Johnny lowered the little girl onto a chair beside her brother and went to pour himself a cup of coffee, ruffling Jamie's hair on the way. "Wow, did you leave us any food for the week?" Johnny teased at the plates full of breakfast fixings.

"Oh, no fair," Lucy laughed, passing her sister a full plate and beginning to serve Johnny's for him. "Mind you, we didn't know Jamie was a boy until he popped out, did we?" She glanced to Steve with a warm smile, half an ear on the chatter of the children.

Fliss made a face. "Do you have to put it like that?" the teen asked. "Popped out' Mom's gotta do that in a few months. Makes it sound like a champagne cork."

"It's not exactly that easy," Steve said, taking a breather from all that cooking to enjoy a cup of coffee himself, not saying any more on the subject as he didn't want to worry the other couple. "It didn't seem right knowing ahead of time."

"Yeah, kinda like knowing what you're getting for your birthday before ....Oh! I almost forgot!" Johnny broke in, handing his cup of coffee to Liv. "It's your birthday!" He disappeared from the room suddenly to fetch their presents.

Steve chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Is he always that easily distracted?"

"It's beautiful," Steve said, as he looked the card over, smiling softly, obviously touched by the little girl's thoughtfulness, but that was only the first of several presents still to be opened.

"Open mine next! It's the blue one!" Alexei broke in, just as excited as his sister, bouncing up and down in his chair.

Steve laughed. "Okay, okay!" he said, searching the pile for a a blue card before tearing it open.

This one, too, was stiff with glue, but there was no glitter in sight. Alexei seemed to have determinedly gone out of his way to turn a plain piece of white card into a striped explosion of red, white, and blue, with as much glue as he could possibly wish for. Liv grinned as she watched Steve open it, knowing he was seeing his birthday wishes written down in Russian and in English. What she didn't know was that the Russian also said, "And thank you for coming to save us and giving us a family".

Steve smiled again as he took in the red, white, and blue of Alexei's card - the colors that represented life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The colors of the American flag and the colors of the uniform he wore with pride. Star-spangled colors. Colors that represented the country that Alexei and Maria called home now. Steve was proud to be an American, but it wasn't the red, white, and blue that touched him so much as it was the words scrawled in Russian inside the card - words he had no trouble understanding. As far as Steve was concerned those words right there were the best birthday present anyone could have ever given him. He said nothing for a long moment, not trusting himself to speak without getting choked up, but when he did speak, it was in Alexei's native Russian. "You don't have to thank me, but you're welcome." There wasn't much else he could say to that, too modest to say much more. "Thank you for taking good care of your sister," he added.

Ten people around the table, and eight of them did not have the first idea what any of that had meant. Liv and Lucy exchanged a look across the table, neither one worried about what Steve might be saying to the little boy, but each a little surprised to hear him speaking Russian so fluently. Fliss didn't have the first idea what language it was, and the other children couldn't have followed it if they'd tried. But it obviously meant something to Alexei.

Alexei beamed a proud grin back at Steve, even more so that he had replied to him in his native Russian - a language his own parents did not know.

Johnny smiled, somehow knowing Steve was thanking his son in his native language, but not having a clue what he was saying exactly. "Open that one!" Johnny said, pointing to a wrapped rectangular box shaped about the size of a shirtbox.

Steve drew the box from the pile and shook it. "Am I supposed to guess?"

"Isn't the whole point to be surprised, love?" Lucy asked with a grin, cuddling Jamie on her lap. It had been a late night and an early morning for the Rogers, which spelled out morning nap for the youngest, but he was determined to stay awake a while longer. "Should Papa guess?" she asked Martin, momentarily losing sight of Lianne, who was by now standing behind Fliss, playing with the teen's blonde hair.

"No! It will take too long!" Martin replied logically, just as excited to see what his father was getting for his birthday as everyone else was. "Open it, Papa!" Martin urged quietly, never moving from Steve's side.

"Okay," Steve said, tearing into the package. Once open, he pushed the paper away to pull out a matching pair of t-shirts - one Steve-side that said "Top Dad" and one Jamie-size that said "Daddy's Little Wingman". Steve laughed. "You do realize I'm not an airman," he remarked as he pulled out the matching shirts.

"Oh, good grief," Lucy laughed as she saw the shirts, rolling her eyes. "That's almost as bad as the mini Captain America onesie I forced him to wear until he pooped so hard it tore!"

Across the table, Liv spluttered into her coffee, choking for a moment as she groped for a napkin. Trust Lucy to completely remove any and all sentimentality from a gift.

"Pooped?" Alexei echoed. Did she mean what he thought she meant'

Johnny shrugged, grinning madly. "Well, it's about time he got a new one then!" He turned to Steve in hopes of explaining. "Doesn't matter if you're an airman or not. Every guy has a wingman."

"They're usually a little older though," Steve pointed out, amused by the gift if nothing else. "Thanks, Johnny. We'll wear it next time we're out cruising for chicks."

Lianne, utterly oblivious to the indignation of her mother and aunt, tugged on Steve's sleeve for his attention. "May I have a chick, too, Papa?" she asked him innocently, sending Lucy off into gales of laughter with Jamie balanced precariously on her knee.

Liv bit her lip, glancing down at Alexei. She'd explain later, if she needed to.

"Not me!" Johnny replied with a laugh. "You and Jamie!" he said, before realizing his faux pas. He'd forgotten to get some sort of t-shirt for Maria and Alexei, though the pair of children looked too confused to have noticed.

"Maybe for Easter," Steve told Lianne, knowing he was going to have to do a little explaining later. "Thanks, Johnny," he said, setting the box aside. There were only a couple of presents left, but one of them was labeled "To Jamie." Steve picked that one up next and handed it to Lucy. "This one's for the birthday boy."

"Oh, look, Jamie ..." Taking the wrapped present from Steve, Lucy hooked Jamie a little bit higher on her knee, peeling one piece of tape away before handing it to the little boy. "From Uncle Johnny and Aunty Liv, and Fliss, and Alexei, and Maria, and Bella!"

As she spoke, the two-year-old was already ripping the paper wildly off in handfuls, filling the air with birthday confetti to amuse everyone else until finally he uncovered ...."Dada!"

Steve laughed again as Jamie unwrapped his present, knowing Johnny must have picked that out, too, albeit with a little help from the rest of the family. "He has no mouth. How does he talk?" he asked, blue eyes dancing with amusement.

"He doesn't have to talk," Johnny pointed out helpfully. "He lets his shield do the talking."

"He doesn't have to talk," Lucy countered with a gentler smile. "Because that is only what Papa wears at work. It isn't really Papa, is it?" She looked down at the little boy on her lap, who was inspecting every inch of the little stuffed Captain America.

Jamie looked up at her, and pointed to Steve. "Dada."

It was true - though Steve was Captain America at work, at home, he was just Steve and Dad, but without being Captain America, there were at least four children in the room whose lives might not have been very happy ones, not to mention countless other lives he'd saved. "That's me," he told his young son, leaning over to brush a kiss against Jamie's cheek. There was only one package left and Steve tore the paper open, almost relieved to just about done being the center of attention. He opened the box beneath the paper to pull out a coffee mug that declared him Best Dad Ever. "I don't know about best, but thanks. I'll use it with pride."

Next to him, Lianne hugged his arm. "I think you the best, Papa," she told him affectionately.

Knowing where this might lead, Liv caught Lucy's eye as she spoke up. "He's the best daddy for you, and for Martin, and for Jamie," she agreed with Lianne. "And Johnny is the best daddy for Fliss, and Alexei, and Maria. Isn't he?"

Johnny already knew that, but he beamed a proud smile at Liv's remark. "And Liv and Lucy are the best moms ever! And we all have the best kids ever!" Johnny said, getting a little carried away, though he was just being truthful.

"And this is the best birthday ever!" Steve piped in with a grin.

Not because of the presents, but because he was surrounded by all the people he loved most in the world. Even though Peggy was gone, he had a feeling she was watching them in spirit and smiling on the little family she'd once been a part of. Half of them might be Storm by name, but they had all come through their various storms and grown stronger together, because before everything else, they were family.

((Not quite so on time as the other scene was, but it's all good! They're a big family now!))