"Have you lost your fucking mind, Steve?! Do you even realize how hard you hit?" you yelled, kneeling down next to your knocked out friend. "Chris?" you asked calmly now with a small shake of his shoulder, and then a few hard pokes to his ribs when that wasn't working. "Chris, wake up."

"Ma?"

"Oh my god, this just gets better and better," Anthony laughed, quickly aiming his phone at the scene in front of him. Sebastian tried to grab it away to protect his friend's dignity, or what remained of it, but he was too slow, just missing the target as Mackie hopped up onto a nearby table. He glanced over at Sam with an approving nod, pleased that he was covering the scene with his own device from across the room.

"Great, Rogers. You've made him a bigger idiot than he was before." You sat and extended your legs fully in front of you and pulled Chris' head onto them. He was slowly waking up, but he still looked utterly confused, and the bruise on his cheek was beginning to form with a warm purple hue. "Hey, Evans, tell everyone how stupid you are."

"I'm so fuuu...upid."

"Yes, Chris, you sure are. You've really outdone yourself this time."

"I looove...you, (Y/N)..." he slurred with a sloppy grin and a complete disregard for the shadow of a man towering over him. "You're...so purty."

Steve growled quietly and turned away, looking out at the group of guests without an ounce of apology or shame in his expression. With hands firm on hips and his jaw tightly set, he stepped up on the nearby stairs and commanded the attention of the room.

"Please, everyone continue on without me. It was nice to see most of you." He turned abruptly without so much as a look towards you and made quick work of the stairs, disappearing into an elevator before anyone turned back to you and the babbling mess on your lap.

"Nick," you summoned, and as he joined you he knelt at your side with CJ sleeping peacefully in his arms, wonderfully oblivious to the drama that his father and his namesake had created. "Would you mind it too much if I asked you to-"

"No need to ask, sweetheart. I'll grab some of his stuff and take a guest room for the night. Don't you worry about him for one second." He held your tiny son down so you could give him a quick kiss goodnight before taking him away and allowing you the freedom to try to put some of this mess together. You looked down to see Chris slipping in and out of a haze, not paying much attention to what you were doing. Slowly reaching your hand into his pocket, you grabbed his phone and searched for the one person that you knew would know what to do.

"Mackie, is this who I think it is?" you asked, holding the screen towards him to see the number you had chosen, beginning to enter it into your own phone.

"Yeah, but are you sure about that? He might never forgive you."

You smiled weakly with a sad laugh, "seriously? Least of my worries right now."

~~~

Nick slowly opened the door to your room, hoping that Steve hadn't gone there after the intense scene he had just witnessed, peeking his head in and looking for the entry to CJ's nursery. So far your room had stayed darkened as he entered and made his way to the next door, and he didn't hear any movement from the bathroom on the other side of the room. Maybe he had gotten lucky and Steve had chosen his favorite aggression methods in the gym.

"Alright, kid. Get in, get out, right?" Fury reached into the room and turned on the light, immediately jumping and clutching onto CJ reflexively, seeing Steve curling his massive form into the rocking chair next to the crib.

"Why do I always do that?" Steve asked in a small and almost whining voice.

Nick looked around the room as if hoping one of his colleagues had miraculously appeared and he was talking to them instead of himself, but his posture dropped at the realization that he was now expected to answer. "Well," he began, taking the few steps between them to set CJ into Steve's arms, "when you love something so much as you do these two, I can see how any thought of losing them could make you go a little crazy."

"But I wasn't thinking at all. It was just all...red. There wasn't anyone else there but him."

"You're not a bad person, Steve. Neither is he."

"I know," he whispered in reply, pulling CJ to his chest and breathing him in. "He came to me first, you know? He was doing the right thing, and look at how I've repaid him for being honest with me."

"Yeah, and then he stuck his tongue down your wife's throat," Nick scoffed. "Honorable."

~~~

"Here, use this," Clint sighed, dropping down onto the couch next to you with an ice pack for Chris' face, lying it gently over the area that was rapidly swelling below his eye.

"Son of a bitch!" he snapped, trying to hold it in place as the sudden cold hit the searing heat in his skin where Steve's fist had connected. "That fucking hurts more than the hit."

"Quit bitching, Chris," you said with a groan, frustrated and fed-up, flopping against the soft cushions that lined the back of the couch. Your exhausted body sunk into them and your eyes closed for just a moment before another voice jolted you from your second of peace.

"Your phone's ringing."

"Good for my phone."

"I think you should take it," Natasha persisted, holding it only inches from your face. "I think you should take it somewhere private..."

"What?" When you saw the number flashing across the screen and over the picture of Steve holding CJ at the hospital, you began to panic and jumped up onto unsteady feet, needing Nat to hold you in place. "Why is Steve calling me? Did he leave?" You spun around to look out at the crowd of your friends and teammates, searching desperately for any sign of him; instead, you saw Nick standing at the bar, holding his phone up to you so you would answer, and without CJ in his arms.

"Just answer it, (Y/N). I'll take ice duty."

You opened the line and pressed the phone tightly to your ear, covering the other with your hand so that you were sure to hear him, scurrying towards the balcony for the privacy that Nat suggested. "Steve? Steve, why are you calling me? Where are you?"

"Do you remember what I said when we got home from L.A.? After the last party with these guys?"

"You're scaring me, you know that, right?"

"Don't be scared, baby," he replied all too calmly. "Just tell me if you remember."

"You said that the two of us were the only things that mattered."

"Please, tell me...when did I forget that?"

The cold night air did nothing to quell the sting that was beginning to burn your eyes and the hot tears that began to roll down your cooling skin of your cheeks. The tone in his voice hurt you, knowing how Steve could so efficiently punish himself for even the smallest mistake; this was by far the worst you had yet to see in your years together. You took a few steps back and leaned against the glass of the tower to catch your breath, but finding it a futile battle.

"(Y/N)?"

"I'm here. You didn't forget, Steve. You just...let it get away from you a bit."

"I've asked your forgiveness for this before, and I'd be a fool to think that I'll get it again. But I'm gonna try anyway."

"I'll forgive you on two conditions."

"Tell me."

"You need to make this right with him. Once and for all," you said cautiously and expecting him to argue, but it never happened. "Do that convincing Captain America soliloquy crap that you do and fix it."

"I can do that," he sighed almost hesitantly, but he knew better than to say no. "And the second?"

"Tell me where you are."

There was a long and uncomfortable silence on the other end of the line; you straightened your stance as your nerves began to react and your anxiety grew. "The second one is the easy one, Steve..." you said softly, taking a few steps towards the rail to look at the street below, wondering if he had really left. Your heart sunk and a weight grew in your chest at the thought that he had.

"I'm right here."

If the cold hadn't chilled you to the core, the deep bass of his voice did, but only until you turned and saw his face; his eyes were red and puffy and his expression was that of a broken man. He held his arms open guardedly towards you, praying to himself that you would accept the invitation. When you moved into him and he felt your arms tighten around his waist, and your hands clutching the material of his shirt, you both laughed at the loud cheers for you heard in the room next to you. Steve turned towards the group and pressed his lips to your hair, locking his gaze with Chris.

"You okay?" Natasha asked him, still holding the ice in place but watching you.

"Don't worry about me, red. I'm gonna be just fine." He tried to convince her with his best attempt at confidence, but when she unexpectedly looked back at him, his gaze was dropped and he sniffled quietly with a quick wipe of his nose. All she could do was shake her head in disbelief at his half-hearted attempt.

"Actors..."

~~~

Six months.

It had been nearly a full six months without so much as a call or a text after that party, until one day you woke to a voicemail that had come in the middle of the night. At first, you were relieved and a bit excited to hear from Chris, but then the fear of the drunk dial hit you. It had come to your phone at 3am. Not promising for sobriety.

Steve was still sleeping soundly next to you, with CJ asleep in his own room, so you slowly slid your legs from beneath your blankets and off the bed, tiptoeing to the bathroom for privacy. You didn't know for sure how long you had sat on the edge of the tub, staring at your phone and the small picture of Chris next to the message, but you did know that you were starting to lose the feeling in your feet from the awkward position. "Okay, think positive," you whispered to yourself, opening the message with your eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of the worst.

"Hey, gorgeous, remember me? It's been a long time...well, too long, and I just wanted to say hi. And...um, yeah, listen, I'm gonna be in the city next week and..." he paused, almost so long that you thought the call had cut off. "...and I was hoping we could grab coffee. Steve is welcome, too, okay? I'd like to see all three of you...if he's okay with that. So...yeah! Call me! I miss the fuck outta you guys!"

"Well, that sounded totally sober," you mumbled with a pleasant approval, now hoping that Steve would be okay with meeting Chris when the realization of how much you missed him hit you. Your husband had been quiet about the whole scenario after their final conversation, but you could tell that he was hurting without his friend, though he may never come to admit it.

"What sounded totally sober? Did Tony crash the suit again?" Steve yawned, taking a seat next to you and readily grabbing your phone when you extended it to him. He sighed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes to open the message, leaning forward on an elbow with his face in his hand as he listened. When the message was complete, he closed the line and returned the phone to you. "Find out when and where. Sounds like a good idea."

"Serious?"

"Yeah, why not? (Y/N), I'm not mad anymore. I talked to him just two weeks ago."

You swore you heard your neck crack with the ferocity of how sharply you snapped your head in his direction at his revelation. "Hold on, what?" you spat, standing abruptly enough to startle him. "You've been talking to him this entire time? How often?"

"Sometimes once a week or so, maybe two or three. I thought you knew that."

"Clearly I did not. Okay, so why did he call me only now if he's been talking to you so much?"

"Maybe he wants to introduce us to his girlfriend."

"Shut the fuck up!" you exclaimed, slapping your hand over your mouth when you realized that your volume had carried into your room, and likely into the nursery. "What the hell, Steve," you said quietly, "why aren't you guys telling me this stuff?"

"I probably shouldn't have even said that, (Y/N)! I think he wanted to tell you himself." Steve's eyes widened and he stood next to you, grabbing your arm gently but anxiously. "Don't tell him that I gave it away. I suck at secrets."

Shaking your head, you turned away and searched your mind for why it had taken him so long to contact you, but it rapidly began to not matter; he had someone in his life and you couldn't wait to hear about her. "I'm going alone, Mr. Know-It-All-Already. Maybe I'll come back with a few secrets of my own," you smirked, kissing him quickly as you exited and began to dial Chris' number.

"Hey, dumbass."

"Gorgeous! I wasn't sure if you'd call me back!"

"Thought about it," you chuckled, "but I couldn't leave ya hanging. So, we've got the official Steve Rogers stamp of approval."

"Yessss," he whispered, and you could see his smile in your mind as you listened, "tell Cap thanks, would ya? I've got so much to tell you!"

"So I've heard."

"That son of a...he didn't!" he gasped, turning into a quick laugh. "Well, it's hard for me to keep it a secret too, so I can't blame the guy. You're gonna love her, (Y/N). She reminds me a lot of you." There was an awkward and uncomfortable silence for a moment before his voice finally boomed back into the conversation, "that's not why I'm with her though! Shit, it kinda sounded that way didn't it?"

"Kinda, but let's just skim past that. So, what's her name? What's she like?" you encouraged, eager to hear this happily content and upbeat side of your friend again. It was refreshing and it made you all the more excited to see him again.

"Her name's Natalia, and she's just...god, she's just everything, (Y/N)."