Steve Rogers wasn't just a hero, a super soldier, and an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D.; he was also a husband and an expectant father, and as such, he, like so many fathers before him, often found himself searching the city of New York at all hours of the night for whatever it was his pregnant wife was craving. Tonight that craving happened to be Death By Chocolate with curry sauce. As it happened, the ice cream was easy, but the curry sauce proved a bit more difficult, especially at such a late hour. He'd ended up phoning a friend named Tony Stark for advice on where to find the stuff, and by the time he actually got back to the little apartment he shared with Lucy, it had been well over an hour since he'd left, but at least he came home triumphant.

While ordinarily Lucy was a pretty easy-going wife and mum-to-be, when the cravings hit, she was a nightmare to be around. Poor Steve had had eight months of it thus far, and had to be praying for the day it would all be over. Tonight had been no different; his 35-week pregnant wife had rolled over in bed and announced her desire for a truly revolting combination of foodstuffs, and Steve had been up and out of the door before she could get cranky with him for not producing it as if by magic this time. When he got back, triumphant, she was sitting on the couch chewing ginger root and holding headphones to her belly in an attempt to convince their son that he didn't want to be awake right now. The hope on her face was almost pathetic as the door opened. "Success?"

It was Steve Rogers, Expectant Dad, to the rescue once again apparently, as he held up a brown paper bag with a triumphant grin on his face to show her he had indeed been successful. "Have I ever failed you yet?" he asked. He didn't bother to mention how hard it had been to find the curry sauce at that time of night. In fact, he rarely if ever complained, even if satisfying Lucy's late night cravings were starting to get almost as much of a challenge as fighting Nazis.

Lucy groaned with delighted relief, slipping the headphones from her belly and switching off the CD player before shifting to heave her ever-increasing bulk off the couch. "I swear, you're far too good to me," she smiled, ridiculously pleased at just the thought of satisfying her craving. The smell rising from his paper bag must have been turning his stomach, but it was hitting the spot for her - chocolate and curry combining to please her very strange palate.

Until tonight, Steve hadn't even known what curry sauce was, and from the smell of it, he still wasn't quite sure he wanted to find out, but Lucy seemed happy with it, and that was all that mattered. He set the bag on the kitchen counter and took out a foam take-out carton of curry sauce along with a half-gallon of Death By Chocolate flavored ice cream. "I don't know how you can eat this without getting sick," he said, his only criticism of her treat of choice. He pulled open a drawer and pulled out a spoon.

When he pulled the ice-cream out, she blinked, bemused. That wasn't what she had been expecting. "Well, when you get pregnant, you can explain it to me," she told him with a half-smile, taking the bag from his hands to inspect the inside, which turned out to be empty. Laying her hand on the counter, she looked at her husband, uncertain whether he was winding her up, or if she just hadn't been clear. "Where's the cake, sweetheart?"

"Cake?" Steve asked, looking confused. "You said Death By Chocolate," he reminded her, reaching for the carton of ice cream, which was clearly labeled with the flavor she'd requested. "I thought you wanted ice cream," he said, frowning, like a little like a puppy who'd just been scolded for peeing on the floor. "I'll go back out. It won't take long," he told her, trying to sound cheery.

Lucy reached out automatically to grip his arm, not wanting him to go back out again. "Steve, it's almost midnight, you won't find it now," she half-laughed, making a supreme effort to hide the disappointment. "I didn't know it was an ice-cream flavor here. I'm sure it'll be fine. Won't it?" This last was addressed to her belly with a poke that got a visible response beneath the snug fit of her tank. "There, see" He thinks it's fine. We don't want Daddy to go out again. We missed him."

"Yes, but..." His frown deepened, not wanting to disappoint her. "I'm sorry. I misunderstood." It was just another reminder that Steve was a man out of time and out of his comfort zone. Back in the day, chocolate cake was chocolate cake and that was that. Though he had managed to do some catching up on modern culture, there were still some things that confused him.

"No, you didn't, I just wasn't very clear," Lucy insisted, not liking to see him so dejected after he'd been so pleased with himself when he came in. She pushed off the counter, twisting about to wrap her arms around him. "Don't apologise - you got out of bed to try and fulfill your wife's insane cravings. That's more than enough as it is." She lifted her head, teasing her lips against his chin. "C'mon, smile. Just one smile. You get to watch me eating this gack now. Isn't that worth the trip?"

"Not if I have to see you get sick on it," he replied, looking like he was taking all of this far too seriously. He offered a faint smile, only because she insisted on it. "You're not really going to eat that, are you?" he asked, the smell of the curry alone enough to turn his stomach. He'd been raised on an old fashioned diet of meat and potatoes, and the only ethnic food he'd ever really encountered or enjoyed was Italian. Of course, that was before the shawarma, but the jury was still out on that one, as far as Steve was concerned.

She couldn't help it - the expression on his face was more than enough to make her laugh as she kissed him. "Yes, I am," she informed her slightly sickened husband. "Not all of it, obviously. Going to join me?" Her eyes sparkled teasingly even as his son gave him a roundhouse kick from inside her womb.

"Kid's gonna be a boxer," Steve said, smiling a little at her kiss, unable to miss what he thought might be a punch from inside Lucy's belly, effectively ignoring her question. He had tried a few of her concoctions in the past, and though he had a pretty strong stomach, he'd found most of them pretty disgusting. "I'll get you some cake tomorrow. Promise." He returned her kiss with one of his own, a warm smile brightening his face.

She beamed as his mood seemed to cheer, nuzzling fondly to him as he kissed her in return, her fingertips stroking against his square jaw tenderly. "You don't have to," she told him gently. "See how you survive watching this, first." With a grin, she nipped at his lips, lowering her eyes to the carton. Taking the lid off, she drew in a deep breath of the heavy scent and was instantly transported back to late nights just getting off work in England, when she'd drop into the chip shop on her way home. "I can't believe you found this here," she admitted with a faint smirk, digging out a bowl to serve herself in. "I didn't realise you could get plain curry sauce in New York."

He quieted while she kissed him, her caress reassuring him that she wasn't as upset with him as he'd feared. "I, uh....had a little help," he admitted, opening the cabinet and pulling out a bowl in case she wanted some ice cream, though she often just ate it from the carton. He didn't mention who he had help from and wouldn't unless she asked. Tony Stark was still a bit of a sore subject in the Rogers household.

She wasn't evil enough to contaminate an entire carton of ice-cream with her unexpectedly disgusting condiment, chuckling as the bowl she was looking for was set down in front of her. "You know me so well," she smiled, brushing her thumb over his lips lovingly before turning her attention to levering some of the ice cream out of the carton. "Don't tell me, you called S.H.I.E.L.D. and they transmatted some over from England."

"Not well enough to know you wanted cake," he said, chiding himself again for not having read her right. "Trans....matted?" he repeated awkwardly, with a lift of his eyebrows. "You mean like from one place to another?" he asked further, gesturing with one hand in a circular motion.

"You're amazing, love, but you don't read minds," she pointed out, licking her fingers of rich chocolate ice cream. "Yeah, transmatted is ....Well, it's a term used in science fiction. I think it stands for transference materialisation, so it disappears here and reappears over there. I think. I could be really wrong." She offered up her cheerful grin once again, her mood sunny in the face of what she was about to do to her ice cream.

He rinsed out the bowl and the bottle, as if just to give himself something to do, though he rarely left any messes, always cleaning up after himself. It was just part of his nature. "Well, it's just that....our son's birth is a happy occasion and....he's going to be their nephew....I thought maybe the baby could bring everyone together....as a family, you know?" He frowned as he turned to her again, knowing he was probably being a little too optimistic, as also was his nature. And then there was the matter of Johnny. Steve didn't want him to feel left out or overshadowed by Tony's overpowering personality, though Steve wagered if anyone could hold their own against Tony Stark, it was Johnny Storm.

He did know her better than he thought he did. Lucy was harboring the same thought, buried very deep, trying to fool herself into thinking that it didn't mean as much to her that her family could bind itself back together again somehow. She sighed softly, pressing herself into his arms, resting her forehead against his chest. "I know," she murmured. "I'm just ....I'm scared to hope too much. And I'm a stubborn cow who doesn't want to let go of being the big sister."

Steve wrapped his very capable arms around his wife to hold her as close as was possible with a very swollen belly coming between them. He stroked her hair gently as she pressed her forehead against his chest and admitted what the problem was that was at the heart of the matter. "You can't make this work, Luce. You can't force people to like each other. If Tony screws up, he has no one to blame but himself, but he deserves a chance. You all deserve a chance. Besides, just because families don't get along doesn't mean they don't love each other."

She sighed a little belligerently. As much as she loved Steve, Lucy did occasionally have difficulty with how matter of fact he was about everything, how well thought out his expressed opinions were. She was far more impulsive, far more likely to do something on the spur of the moment, and though she always seemed to be able to talk herself out of the trouble she'd got into, it didn't make for an easy life. This problem with Tony Stark was just one more example of that. "All right, fine," she conceded, only a little reluctantly. "I'll lift the veto on Liv. But I swear, Steve, he upsets her, and he's not going to be able to talk for a month."

Steve smiled, pleased that Lucy had finally agreed to let Tony meet Liv. Whether it was misplaced or not, he had faith in both Tony and Liv to act like adults, and though he knew Lucy was acting out of an overactive need to protect her sister, Liv was an adult now, and Steve thought it would be good for her to do this on her own. "If he upsets her, he'll have to deal with the Torch," Steve reminded her with a slightly amused grin, wondering how Tony would react to having his pants set on fire.

She snorted lightly, her mind going to almost exactly the same place. If Tony couldn't defend himself against a pregnant woman's punch, it would be hilarious to see how he coped with a random burning sensation wherever Johnny decided to hit him. Lifting her head, she smiled up at her husband. "I'm being too bossy again, aren't I?"

"No," Steve replied honestly, offering a smile that was warm with affection. He brushed a gentle fingertip against her cheek lovingly. "You just care about your sister," he said. He said nothing more, not bothering to mention his own feelings regarding family, or lack thereof. Lucy had become his family, and by extension, Liv and Johnny and even Tony. He'd reconnected with Peggy because of her, and had made a few friends in S.H.I.E.L.D. There were those he still mourned, but overall, Steve was thankful for what he had and rarely complained.

She bit her lip, frowning thoughtfully as she considered her concession and how she might remain at least a little bit in control of the now inevitable meeting between Liv and Tony. "All right," she said, her tone suggesting that this might actually be an idea he'd be on board with. "We're moving to the new house next week, aren't we" And Liv and Johnny are coming to stay for a few weeks and help us settle in with Peggy while her boss is doing his filming thing God alone knows where. So ....would there be any objection to having a family dinner?" She sighed exaggeratedly, humor glinting in her eyes and the gentle quirk at the corner of her mouth. "A proper family dinner. All of us. Even the moron who lives in a tower."

"Seattle," Steve reminded her, remembering the details Liv had given them regarding her boss' film schedule better than Lucy did. He chuckled a little at Lucy's unflattering description of Tony. "On one condition," he said, pushing her hair back from her face. "The moron has to bring his significant other." Steve figured if Pepper was there, Tony was more likely to be on his best behavior, and even if he wasn't, at least Pepper knew how to handle him when he was at his worst. One thing he was worried about was how Tony might react to meeting Peggy.

"What, you mean I'm not allowed to trap him in the house surrounded by all of us and watch him squirm?" Lucy pouted outrageously, but it was obvious that letting go of just a little of her over-protective worry had done wonders for her attitude toward the moron in question. All Tony had to do was be nice to Liv, and he'd be perfectly safe.

"I don't think that would be very welcoming," Steve replied, adding, "Besides, you like Pepper. I just wonder what he's going to think of Peggy." Though even at her advanced age, Steve was pretty sure Peggy would be able to defend herself against any verbal abuse from Tony Stark. "Tony's not as different as his father as he'd like to think."

Lucy's grin was just a little bit evil as she considered this hitherto unthought-of of consequence of a family meal. "I don't think it'll matter what he thinks of Peggy," she mused through her snickering. "What she thinks of him will be what really turns the tide. Do you think she ever met him, when he was little?"

Lucy's question brought a thoughtful expression to Steve's face. "I don't know. If she did, she never mentioned it to me. She and Howard were friends, but that was a long time ago." Steve had read the dossiers Fury had given him on Howard and Peggy and even, Tony, but it didn't answer every question. He remembered a time when he'd thought Peggy and Howard were more than friends, but Peggy had set the record straight on that. Whether they had continued their friendship after the war, Steve wasn't really sure.

Another thought had occurred to his wife as he considered her wonderings about Peggy. "He must have met my mother," Lucy said quietly. "She was Howard's secretary. Tony must have at least met her a couple of times." Her frown smoothed out as she shrugged. "I'm just going to wind myself up thinking about what ifs and maybes. But ....if I do let him bring his date, would you be okay with all of us getting together?"

"I'm not sure it would be a good idea to ask him about her," Steve said, frowning. Asking Tony to dinner to meet Liv was one thing; asking him whether he remembered their mother - one of probably several women Howard had slept with behind his wife's back - was another. What was done was done; there was no changing it now. Steve was just hoping Tony could get over his father's betrayal enough to be civil to his sisters. He drew himself out of those thoughts to reply to her question. "Yeah, of course I'd be okay with it. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, it has the potential to be a disaster on so many levels," his wife pointed out, one brow rising into the wayward tangle of her fringe as she looked up at him. "I mean, Tony and Peggy in the same room might be pushing. Adding Johnny into that mixture could be asking for trouble." It all depended on how Tony interacted with Liv. So much depended on it.

Steve knew she was right. Tony meeting Peggy for the first time could turn into a disaster and adding the volatile Storm to the mixture was asking for trouble, but Steve was a hopeless optimist, believing in the best in people, even when the odds were stacked against him. "We're a family, Luce. They're just going to have to behave like adults." He knew that was asking for a lot, especially out of Tony and Johnny, but he had hope.

"You're probably right about having Pepper there," she admitted with a reluctant smile. "So long as all the level-headed people are close by, we should be okay." She bit her lip, trying and failing to stifle a wider smirk as an unhelpful thought sprang to mind. "Does that mean I'm not allowed to deliberately wind the Tin Can up?"

Considering Lucy's temperament, he wasn't quite sure he'd count her as one of the level-headed people. In fact, though he didn't mention it, of the entire group, he'd probably only put himself and Liv in that category, especially considering Lucy's state of pregnancy. "I don't think that would be a very good idea, no."

In actual fact, given that Liv was likely to be meeting her brother for the first time at this newly planned get-together, Steve could probably only put himself into the category of level-headed. Lucy's pout reappeared, teasingly sweet as she batted her lashes at her husband. "Pretty please?"

Steve arched a brow down at his wife, wondering, not for the first time, if the youngest of the bunch - himself - was actually the most mature. Of course, that depended on how one figured age. He reached up to tweak her nose, an amused smile on his face. "No. You can beg all you want, but you are not allowed to tease Ironman." He leaned in to follow that tweak with a kiss.

Her grumbling was obviously put on, issuing as it did from behind the wide smile he bent to kiss. She even laughed a little into that kiss, knowing that Steve wasn't going to let her make the situation any worse, especially since it was her fault it was as bad as this to begin with. She knew she should have let Liv be the one to approach Tony first, but Lucy was just too protective of her little sister to allow it. She'd made a mistake, and for all her volatile temper, she was going to try and make it right again, if she could. "Am I allowed to tease you?"

"It'll be fine, Luce. You'll see," he assured her with a smile as he leaned his forehead against hers, his smile widening at her question, a bit of a blush creeping into his cheeks. It was times like these that Steve's youth and inexperience with women became apparent, despite his experience in other areas of his life. "Only if you tell me you love me," he teased back.

Her fingertips trickled down his chest, a familiarly fond caress that suggested a new craving had made itself known, one he most certainly wouldn't have to leave the apartment to satisfy. His blush, always so charming to her eyes, brought the softer side of her smile into play as she let the tip of her nose circle his tenderly. "Before or after I make you see stars?"

"Before, I think," he replied, choosing the most logical answer to her question. It wasn't that he lacked a sense of humor, but sometimes he was a little too serious for his own good. Thankfully, the people around him knew how to lighten his moods when they got too dark for comfort. "Are you sure it's safe?" he asked, glancing down at the baby bump that was becoming more evident by the day.

She tried very hard not to smile, but the sardonic amusement was in her eyes as he worried about the baby beneath her heart. "Trust me," she assured him, her fingertips sliding down to tuck beneath the hem of his shirt, drawing her touch along the line of his pants almost innocently. "There are ways to do this without squashing the kid." She didn't give him the three little words he'd asked for, not yet. She was waiting for his consent to being teased, first.

He sucked in a breath as her fingers teased the line of his stomach just above his pants. He had learned of a few of those ways from her during their time together, especially these last few months as her due date came closer, but he wasn't quite sure what she had in mind. Still, it became almost immediately apparent to his cheeky wife that she was having a definite effect on him physically, as he was unable to hide his growing desire, even if he wanted to.

Her smile rose, a little smug but mostly impishly satisfied with the reaction she could feel and see. "Come to bed, baby," she murmured, her lips brushing his to steal back the breath he had taken in as she caressed his skin. "Let me show you how much I love you." Again. No matter how serious the conversation, how close they might have come to a disagreement, this one thing never changed between them. For all his inexperience when they had first met, Steve Rogers was fast becoming the world's leading expert in Lucy Rogers.

"How can I say no to that?" Steve replied with a soft smile, full of all the warmth and affection he felt for this woman who'd become a part of his life purely by accident or some quirk of fate. He kissed her again, briefly but softly, linked his fingers with hers to let her lead him to the bedroom to make good on her promise. Theirs had been a whirlwind romance, both of them swept off their feet and taken completely by surprise by the unexpected love they'd found in each other, but as quickly as their romance had blossomed, it had only grown all the deeper the longer they were together.

"Well, there's this little word you could use, starts with N," she teased as she led him toward the bedroom, backing through the tiny apartment with a wide grin on the curve of her lips. "There's no guarantee I'd pay attention, of course. Not when I know you don't really mean it." Her free hand skimmed down his chest to draw a single finger against the zipper on his pants and the eager reaction contained within. But as much as she teased him physically, it was the emotional connection that held them so closely together, that informed all other aspects of their life together. Soul mates, born decades apart, and brought together in a strange set of circumstances not even a comic book writer could invent.

"Have I ever said no to you?" he asked, though in truth, he just had recently, but only in regards to her trying to wind up her long-lost brother. "At least, where we're concerned," he added to amend his statement. He made a mental note to get up early and surprise her with a big slice of chocolate cake, even if he had to have one baked special, just for her. "I love you, Luce," he told her quietly, his sensitive, emotional side coming out - the side of him he rarely let anyone see but her and maybe Peggy.

She giggled, drawing him close in the doorway of their tiny bedroom - which was about a foot away from the edge of the bed, the room was so small. Still, that would change in just a week; a decent house, decent sized rooms, a garden, a home. Her hands curled to his cheeks, drawing him down into a slow, gentle kiss that reflected that softer sensitivity back to him. "I love you back," she promised, her whisper tickling his lips in the intimate moment. And it was true. No matter how unexpected his crash into her life had been, how many compromises they had had to make to get here in the first place, she loved him, deep at the very foundations of her soul. There was no one else in the wide multiverse for her, and she was determined that he would know it every day of his life.

He let her lead him to the bedroom - no need to close the door since they were the only ones there - pausing just inside the doorway to slide his arms around her waist and return her kiss, just as slowly and gently. He had only shared a kiss twice before meeting Lucy in his entire life, and it was Lucy who had taught him the art of kissing and of lovemaking.

Yet it was Steve who had taught Lucy the art of being in love, of trusting someone so completely with something so fragile as your heart and mind, of understanding that she held a unique place in the life of someone the whole world knew only as a hero. It wasn't the hero she loved; it was the man, and the man loved her in return. There was no way she could possibly explain to him how much that meant to her, reliant on the hope that, somehow, he knew.

Somehow, he did know, and he hoped she knew it, too. Whatever happened between their family members in the days to come, good or bad, Steve was sure of one thing - that nothing and no one would ever come between himself and Lucy. It had taken him more than a hundred years of life to reach this point, through war and peace, love and heartbreak, a witness to the best and the worst of humanity in two distinct eras. But whatever happened next, however the world chose to turn on its axis, Steve was determined he was never going to lose Lucy to time, the way he had lost Peggy and Bucky and so many friends now lost to everything but his memory. For all that he was a man out of time, he was no longer a man out of place. He had a wife who loved him, a family who cared for him, and soon he would have a son to dote upon for many years to come. He had lost everything once, and it had almost broken him. But he was sure, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that it would never happen again. Ever. ((A HUGE thank you to my AWESOME partner for indulging me with this fun, little scene. Stay tuned for more coming soon as the littlest Rogers makes his way into the world. :grin: ))