06 x how's the family?

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Parents, Sam thought, were very focused and ready. Ethan and Sandra. Brothers, Ty and Dre. Sister, Kiki.

Her family was what Tia lived for and what Sam had once waited to escape. His parents were, easily put, overbearing. Medical school was never his forte and besides, what was more efficient and prideful than serving the nation? Yet, they supported him, loved him and made sure he was alright. But then again, they were the worst kind of brutal. 

That was what he was thinking as he pulled into the Bright estate. On each side of the road in the Pullman district in Chicago, every house was separated by yards large enough to rear animals in. Sam had grown up in Harlem, the toughest neighbourhood out there so this change of scene was a bit unsettling. He could understand the situation with seven members in the family but some of the houses looked like they were home to nuclear families. To every dwelling in the neighbourhood, there were more sports cars than people and it was a little off-putting. 

As soon as Sam killed the lights and the engine, he watched Tia leap out of the car faster than light speed itself and race for the tall man, her older brother he quickly realized, that came for her just as fast. Loud laughter poured out of them as they collapsed into each other, Tia being lifted in the air and whirled around in Dre's giant arms.

"Oh, baby sis," Andre Bright groaned into her shoulder which morphed into excited laughter, rubbing her back warmly. "I missed you."

Sam found himself following suit and shutting the car door loudly to attract attention. Dre's dark eyes shot up to his stance and Sam felt the need to raise his hands in surrender as if being held a gunpoint. He swallowed largely.

Andre Bright looked like the household champion, the one who would get the full whack instead of leniency. Stern, overprotective and fiercely loyal with his hardened features and broad shoulders could take a hit. He was all business given his outlay for the night⁠—a three-piece black suit and a Bluetooth headpiece fit between his ear. Sam saw Dre's hold on Tia tighten an inch when he stepped onto the lawn.

"Sam Wilson," he introduced formally, sauntering forward swiftly to close the distance between them. His mouth felt like he had consumed chalk, dry and dusty.  

"Dre, be nice," Tia warned as she backed away to entangle her fingers with his. "He's very gentle."

Sam flashed his eyes at her mischievous ones, glaring. I am literally Captain America, woman. 

For a moment, Sam's mind was focused on the fit between their hands, how perfect it was and the unsettling feeling vanished in moments.

Tia dressed warmly for the night, a pair of jeans and a tight cotton shirt. He loved the colour on her, a military green which made her light eyes stand out and shine. For another minute, he forgot to be nervous.

"Please," Dre waved her off with an eyeroll. "I think nice is an underestimation."

"Well," Sam breathed. "I'm not that hard to please."

"Andre Bright," he replied; his voice hard and smile fixed.

"Tia told me so much about you," Sam told him when Dre's hands met his for a shake. It was firm, tight and nothing welcoming. Not even two minutes into meeting the family session and he was shooting for the car again. He let out a breath through his teeth, feeling a little condescending.

"All good things or she'll get her ass whupped," Dre joked, thinning his eyes at Tia playfully. 

Securing an arm around her shoulder, Dre lead her inside with a tilt of his head. Sam saw the subtle brush-off when her brother turned, Sam was not willing to anger the beast and stepped away cautiously. Great, he found himself thinking while lugging up his bags. Her brother already hates me.

"You need a hand with that, Sam?" He heard Tia ask from ahead.

Sam dismissed her with a wave and a thumbs-up. 

"How's Juniper?" Tia asked Andre just as soon with a smile in her voice. Juniper was Andre's would-be. A full-time, famous architect who ran her own business. "I didn't even get to see the ring," she continued, her voice edging on a whine.

"She's at her parent's place until the rehearsal dinner," Dre answered, empty and soft. "Pops was a bit off about her. I dunno."

"He'll come around," she reassured gently. "And, Ty?"

Dre stopped in his tracks. His eyes were large and set on his feet, panicked to take a step forward into the forthcoming conversation. Seeing this mood shift, Sam saw the fear weave its way into her soft features and pace forward to catch a glance of her brother's choked-up expression.

"Dre?" Tia whispered, nervous. "You're scaring me."

"It's nothing," Dre shook himself out of his trance and blinked hard. "Ty's good. Better, actually. Come on, you guys are late already." He shot a knowing glimpse at their visitor. Sam shifted uneasily behind Tia. "Ma's been talking my ear off about you."

Tia zipped her lips. She was bone-idle lazy and figured she would hold it back until she met the other two of her siblings. To ease her worry, Sam flanked her side, rubbing a warm hand down her arm.

She deflated with a loud sigh. Her eyes were enough strength for him to pull through this. "Ready?" 

"Born ready," he smirked at her, stepping in first through the set of doors and the raving family that awaited them. 

"Tia's here!" Dre's voice boomed from an end on the first floor, followed by a loud hammering of footfalls across the floorboards on the level above. 

"T!" 

"Teeee!"

"Tia," someone rumbled in gratification.

A woman in platinum, greying hair and comfortable slacks came from the kitchen door, wearing a kind smile and greeting eyes. Her gaze fell on Tia in a moment of serenity, gaining amusement as they shifted to Sam, tucking her chin. Her arms were wide open, waiting for her youngest daughter to give into the maternal longing. 

"Tiana Bright, what the hell is the time?" She scolded playfully, sinking her into a tight embrace. "Oh, baby, you've gotten so thin. It's that veganism crap you're into."

"I'm doing okay, mama," Tia laughed, moving back to glance at her sister who had appeared behind the door with a wink. "Kiks."

"T," Kiki winked back. "Love the new look."

Anika Bright was indeed picture-perfect for her profession. With a svelte body that could snatch the gaze in a second and sway anyone's sexuality, she was a woman who could grace a billboard. She dressed to impress, a mighty tight dress that passed as formal and red, towering set of pumps.

"I dyed it like you said," Tia ran a hand through the brunette tip of her freshly arranged hair with a proud grin. "Toffee brown."

"I missed you so much," she sighed, waltzing forward to pull her in for a hug.

 "Ugh, don't get me started—"

"Tiana!" 

"Ty?" Tia's smile brightened a watt and her voice edged into a screech, shrugging Anika off to run up a few stairs to meet her younger brother. Rolling her eyes, Anika matched her gaze with Sam's with a smirk. 

"You're so big!" Sam heard her squeal as she smashed the poor boy into a bone-crushing hug. Her hands squeezed his face, ruffled his hair and smacked one on his cheeks. "And so tall and poofy!"

"That's all my muscle," he whined back.

"What these?" She poked his abdomen to tickle him. "These marshmallows?"

"Aha-ha," he deadpanned. 

She sighed and chucked his chin gently. "You look amazing, Ty."

"I missed you so much," Ty muttered earnestly this time, drowning Tia in an enormous hug. Tia was no match to her brother's six-foot frame, practically a rag doll compared to him. Sam saw Tyrell's eyes shut for a moment before he let her go. 

Sam realized how she differed in greeting each one of her family members. Tyrell was the most loved in her eyes, like a mother to a child, she was reaching for him like she wanted to protect him from everything in this world. A small smile quirked on Sam's lips. 

Tia bound down the stairs to stop beside Sam and snake an affectionate arm around his waist. Sam let a hand linger over the small of her back—he would've gone for her ass, but Dre was plugging shots wherever he could. 

"Guys, everyone," Tia announced to her family. "This is Sam. Sam Wilson. And yes, he's Captain America from TV. And yes, I've touched his shield."

"How much do you bet that's a creepy sex thing?" Ty whispered to Dre with a snicker.

Dre elbowed him back with a glare. "That's my baby sister," he hissed.

"I bet a ten," Kiks laughed to Ty. 

"Oy, shut your filthy mouths," Mrs Sharp shushed them. 

"Keepin' it real, ma," Ty joked. 

"It's okay, momma. They're all just jealous I'm dating an actual Avenger," Tia sang out, folding her arms. 

A series of exasperated groans and grumbles travelled through her siblings, yielding and turning back to the living room. 

"Baby, we talked about this," Sam informed her quietly, knowing it was hopeless. She loved talking big with her friends when it came to Sam's immensely public profession. Despite his numerous warnings, she never listened. 

"I know, I know. Showing off is for rookies," she quoted Sam back with a sigh. "Can't a girl talk up her boyfriend?"

"You can talk me up any day. Not my full-time job."

It was adorable sometimes, but Sam feared Tia would mess with the wrong people by letting that crucial information slip. He had managed to keep his relationship out of the ears of the general media—he'd built up a cult following in the past months—and he wanted it to stay that way. He didn't want to spruik something he deemed the most important part of his life. 

"Impressed my kid hard, sir. She's a brilliant one, eh?" Ethan Bright boomed out a laugh, finally coming forward to shake his hand and pat his shoulder. He was a taller, milder and more grey-haired version of Andre. 

"I say it every time," Sam agreed with a grin.

"Proud to meet you, Captain. I was in the AAC, too. 312th FG."

Sam's immediate impulse was to gesture a formal salute. "Sir. It's my absolute honour."

Tia's mother, Sandra, was a more modest woman, not as mouthy as the rest of the family. Taking care of so many people ought to have built up her fortitude. She came up to receive him with a welcome and a kiss on his cheek. 

"Dinner's served whenever you're ready," she said to him. "You kids are in for a treat."

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Sam watched Tia stand by the bathroom mirror, quietly patting up moisturizer on her body. There was just something about Tia that he didn't have to puzzle out to understand. The way she could get to anybody in a matter of minutes, her devotion to what she did, the way she looked at him, always, like she see through every confidence trick he'd built up to hide the disaster underneath. 

A broad smile lifted on Tia's lips when she met his eyes through the mirror. 

One of his own lifted on his lips, echoing hers. 

She turned to ask curiously while braiding her hair into pigtails. "You've got that breedy look in your eye. What's on your mind?"

"I think it's broody," he corrected. He rolled to his side on the bed, reclining comfortably while resting his head on his angled fist. He could watch her like this forever. 

"No, I meant breedy." She put her hands on her hips, smirking like the devil. "You were imagining me all knocked up, weren't you?"

He made a snort and it morphed into shocked laughter. Now there was an idea. "T, babe."

"Dude. Admit it."

"Okay, I'm ambitious." He tucked his tongue in his cheek. "And creative."

"I knew it, you sly dog."

He laughed again, winking at her. "Yeah, you just tell me when you're ready and I'll plant my seed."

She gasped, falling into fits of giggles. "Eeew. Omigosh, that's so nasty!"

"You started it!"

Tia waved him off before she made the motion of caressing her flat abdomen as if she were expecting, one hand on top and the other near her drawstrings. She gauged her reflection with an ear-to-ear grin. 

"We'd have the cutest babies," she envisioned quietly.

He couldn't help but agree. "Mhmm."

She mimicked pincers with her hands as she spoke in a baby voice, "Ten little toes, fuzzy hair, big baby eyes—tch, so adorable. And when they make that little sniffle, I just want to—urgh! I could just die."

This wasn't something that frightened him. Tia was apprehensive about jelling with this subject a few months ago, but what she didn't know was that the moment he laid his eyes on her, Sam had pictured his entire life with her all the way, like mad. 

Of course, he'd thought about kids in his future. A nice clapboard house upstate, five bicycles out front, a big green-walled nursery, Tia all mommy-fied and bugging the shit out of him. He wasn't going to be truthfully complete without a family of his own. 

There was a period in Tia's hospital when pregnancies were on a high and she was stationed to facilitate deliveries and tend to newborns, and this was the time that baby fever inevitably caught on between them. And he always got ahead of himself when it came to it. In fact, it was Sam who seemed to be more excited about the prospect. 

But when you live your life from one disaster to another, you keep running all the time, in theory, you are supposed to get some downtime in between. But not Sam's job. Not anymore. He was the one making the hard choices now. Besides, Steve Rogers never got a break, did he? 

Sam fell on his back and opened his arms for her. "C'mere, baby. I hate talking about this when you're so far away."

She ran her hands down her sides teasingly. "Ooh, you got me all hot, Cap."

"Let me do something about it then. There's my tongue—"

"No."

"My pe—"

"Captain."

"My humour."

She laughed. "See, it works—oof. Ow."

"Careful, baby. You hurt?"

Too late. Tia had discovered the padded rucksack by the laundry bag where Sam had safely stashed away his shield. It wasn't a precautionary measure, he simply couldn't leave home without it; his crushing obligation. 

"Hey, what's this guy doing here?" It was an accusation, almost. She eyed him suspiciously, but there wasn't any anguish in her expression. 

"It's just..." Sam sighed. He was too overwhelmed to get into this conversation with her. "I dunno. Just put it back."

"Did you say yes to Elle?"

His lips twisted to a scowl, squinting when the silvery glint of the vibranium caught his eye. "Are you outta your mind? I'm here for you. I committed this whole weekend for us."

She shook her head, smiling to herself. "Sweetie, I appreciate that. But it's not too late to change your mind. You met my folks already, guarantee you left your impression. Maybe you can come back later—"

"Enough, T. I'm tabling this."

"I don't want you to—"

"I said not now."

"Stop cutting me off!"

"Goddamn it, Tia!" That should've been his cue to quit. Regretfully, he couldn't. "Can you please just leave it there? I'm tired. I've had it with this bullshit, okay? Fuck." 

Maybe Sam shouldn't have raised his voice that much. He sounded like he'd truly lost it. Maybe he had.

He realized it when he saw Tia recoil and pull a face at him. The pulsing panic had made her fumble with the sack. She kept dropping it. Eventually, she sat back on the floor to push the bag where she found it. 

Sam had to slowly blink down at his hands which had formed closed fists, containing his trembling shoulders, the veins swelling, and his aggravation too apparent. Too wrong: he'd always been careful about keeping his composure around Tia to make up for his savage nine-to-five. 

He released the tension in his arms and took a deep breath. He rubbed his eyes, thinking through the pointless haze of outrage. He'd fucked up to the nth degree. How'd it gone from talking babies to this?

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I'm so sorry, Tiana. I shouldn't have yelled like that. Or cut you off."

 Tia stood up, and once she was off the floor, she rested her steady palms by the sink. She didn't say anything or make an expression for him to read, and it was starting to freak him out. 

"Baby, I'm sorry," he tried again.

She only inhaled deeply and reached to kill the bathroom lights. "Okay. Goodnight, Sam."

Only Sam. No baby, Cap—nothing. He was done for if he didn't get on the case quickly.

Anxiety charged his heart to sprint, and he pushed back to his feet. He was fast, he used it to catch her close and trap her against the marble sink. He switched the lights back on and looked down at her. Now that he was up close, he could spot the slight glaze of wetness in her eyes.

"Tia," he said quietly. He slipped a finger under her chin to urge her eyes to his. He was starting to miss them. "Look at me, please."

She wasn't budging. So goddamn adamant.

"I've got to focus on what's in front of me. And that's you now. It's all about balance, right? I let one thing down, the other takes over for the worse. That's messed up."

She peered up from beneath her lashes, inspecting every wrinkle and curve of his features. A side of her mouth tipped upward and his heart swelled. 

He bent down to press a featherlight kiss right over that tiny smile. Reflexively, Tia's arms encircled his shoulders and she crushed her face against his chest. She was too elfin compared to him, each one of his fingers depressing into each part of her spine. So the hug he imparted was an immense blanket for her.

"You know how things escalate," she muttered into his chest, too muffled. "What if you sit it out and something terrible happens? I feel like that's on me."

"I hear you, baby, I do. But half the country's all over my ass about this Steve Rogers thing. I'm not sure if sticking my nose in a customs-controlled drug bust is a smart move. I'd let it quiet down before the council makes a big speech about it."

Tia threw her hands in the air. "What about keeping the fight going, Sam?"

"Yes, and I'm picking the reasonable battles," he stated calmly. "I get that you're worried about me."

All at once, she brought her hands down to smack them over his chest. "I worry because I care! I want you to feel worthy of yourself. Stand up for you, not that stupid shield. How many times—mmph. Mmhm!"

He pulled back from the silencing kiss. Tia was bewildered when he did. 

"Cliche, but it works every time," he laughed, touching her nose. 

She opened her mouth to argue and he insisted on another kiss. Her shoulders slumped, the fight in her dissolved, and she dragged her nails into his scalp just the way he liked it. He couldn't help but smile when she softened right into him, grazing her fingers down his throat and collar. 

"Sam..." she whispered into his lips. Her almond eyes met his decisively. He could write legends about what was going on in that pretty head. But for now, he knew what this was. 

"I'm sorry for what I said," he apologized.

"Not that one."

"I'm alright, Tia," he promised, nodding. "You got me, no question. We're good."

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[ update after a long freaking time! hope you enjoy! ]