"Steve, you've gotta breathe, man. If you pass out, there's no way in hell that I can catch you." Chris kicked off his now-ruined shoes and led his friend to a couch next to the one you were still resting on, seeing that the color was changing in his face with each passing second of the realization of what was happening. "Seriously, Steve. Breathe."

"I am...breathing..." he whispered, slowly lowering himself to sit, sinking deeply into the soft cushions, though his body was still rigid in sharp contrast. "I think..."

Chris jogged over to the bar to grab a water for Steve, and in his absence Bucky dropped down next to him with a steady arm around his shoulders. "So, I guess that answers your question, huh? All systems are still a go?"

"Buck, not now."

"Yeah, I have a good feeling about you two as parents," Robert laughed, standing in the open space between the two of you and watching your individual reactions to the shock that was setting in. "Nerves of steel right here, I tell ya."

"Downey, give the kids a break," Tony interjected. "Let the surprise wear off before we start giving them shit, alright?" He took a drink to finish what was left in his glass, grabbing his cohort with a firm slap on the back to join him for a refill of the Scotch that they had already almost depleted from the bar. "But tell you what, once the shock wears off, I think that the two of us should make it our personal responsibility to toughen them up a bit. You know, prepare them for what lies ahead. You with me?"

"Aren't I always?" Robert groaned, readily refilling their glasses. "As soon as I signed my name on that contract, I knew there was no escaping you, Stark."

~~~

The flight back home was eerily silent, despite the overcrowding that again plagued the group as it did on the flight in two days prior. Most of the time you had slept leaning against Steve, who was still appearing to be just as anxious as he was at the moment the revelation came out. When the jet came in to land in the tower hangar bay, you barely had a chance to open your eyes before you felt Steve's strong arms sliding under you to lift you from your chair.

"Hey, it's okay," you yawned, "I'm awake."

"I've got you."

"Steve, come on, we aren't starting this already are we?"

He stopped in his tracks and held you against him, looking hurt at your tone and that you would be denying him in his desire to help you. In the span of only two days, Steve had shifted into a protective mode beyond anything you had seen from him before; not to say that he wasn't always protective, but you felt the change at the moment he saw you lying on Chris' couch.

"I don't know what you mean," he mumbled, continuing on without attempting to set you down.

"I can walk. I'm just...knocked up, as Tony put it. I'm not broken, Steve."

He pulled you in a little tighter, giving you a hug as he set you down to rest you on your feet, but not releasing you right away. "I know you're not broken, doll. I just have no idea how to do this. I can't help but feel like I need to be right next to you the whole time to be sure that you're safe." Steve looked down at you with soft eyes and a sheepish grin, reaching his hand up to touch your chin with a gentle lift to meet his gaze, "the two of you are the only things that matter now."

~~~

You had never doubted Steve Rogers as a man of his word in the years that you had known him. He was noble and honest, protective and fiercely loyal. He was also ridiculously annoying and clingy; when he had said that he felt the need to be next to you, he meant it. In the beginning, the day after day routines would be a little troublesome, but you humored him with the belief that as time went on, he would relax and see that you were okay. But then the weeks continued in the same manner, and then months went by; you had finally given up all hope of having time to yourself before this baby made its appearance.

When the day of your baby shower came, it took every ounce of patience that you had to talk him into leaving the tower without losing your temper and pushing him out the front door. As the guests filed in, the men took their leave, not interested in playing Pin the Diaper on the Baby, or Name That Baby Food, though you had caught Clint with his fingers in a few jars before you banned him from the room. They only thing that had come close to catching their interest was the large pink and blue cake in the kitchen, but when you denied them, they quickly made their way out with a reluctant Steve in tow.

"It's a baby shower, Steve. It's party games, cake, and disgusting childbirth stories," you grimaced. "I'll be fine. Go hang out with the guys for a while."

'Yeah, okay," he sighed, "but you'll call if anything happens, right?"

"As if I have a choice."

With a quick nod in agreement and satisfaction in your answer, he leaned forward and kissed your rounded belly and then stood to kiss you when Mackie grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him away. "Hey, we promised to meet Chris at the bar, remember? Kiss her faster."

~~~

You didn't tell your fellow party goers that you had been practicing your rapid diapering skills for a few weeks now, so your easy victory in that game was barely satisfying. The baby food game had your stomach flipping with nausea, and the trivia quiz about you and Steve was won in a landslide by Maria, much to your surprise.

"He's my husband, Hill," you laughed, "how do you know more than I do?"

"SHIELD clearance, (Y/N). And...I wrote the questions," she snorted into her wine glass when she tried to take a sip but couldn't contain herself, the buzz from the alcohol taking effect. "I do need to know one thing, though, that wasn't in his files."

"I'm scared to ask," you mumbled quietly, watching her with a cautious stare and a skeptical eye. "But go ahead."

"Shoe size."

"No."

"Come on," she whined, joined by the rest of the nosy women in the group. "There's no real proof that there's a correlation. It's more of a hypothesis..."

"No, Maria. I'm not going there, sorry. Steve would never forgive me if I even joked about that." Your head snapped around at the sound of the elevator opening, seeing a flash of red hair within it as the doors quickly closed to block Natasha from your sight. You knew exactly what she was doing and where she was headed. "Shit, she wouldn't dare..." you groaned, pulling yourself up to your feet with a hand from Lizzy. "FRIDAY, shut down the elevator. Keep her up there."

"Yes, miss."

"What's she doing?" Wanda asked naively, looking around the group.

"Probably raiding Steve's closet." You made your way towards the elevator for FRIDAY to allow you entry, but your focus shifted at the sound of Steve returning hours before planned. "Hey, what are you doing home so early? Where are the guys?"

"Buck's flying a few of them back to L.A.," he sighed, moving to stand next to you and taking your arms in his hands with a gentle rub. "We're getting called out." Steve paused and looked around the room of expectant faces and turned away, leading you to the side of the room for privacy. "Listen, it's the whole team and it's for at least three days, if not more. I can't go. Tell me that I can't go."

"You need to go."

He shook his head with a deep laugh, though it was filled with anything other than humor, the shake in his voice painfully obvious to you. "Of course you would do that. (Y/N), I can't be away from you that long. What if something happens?"

"Steve, you've said that almost every day for the last seven months. Has anything happened?"

"No," he hesitated. "But I knew you were gonna say that too, so I have Sebastian on stand-by while I'm gone. He said that he'd check on you each day."

"I don't need a babysitter," you quietly hissed, now growing more and more incensed. "Especially one that wouldn't have a clue what to do anyway. I'm better off on my own."

"I know that you don't need one. Just humor me, alright? I won't be able to focus unless I know that you aren't alone."

"Fine."

"Hey guys, I found one!" you heard Natasha yell from the floor above, hanging one of Steve's shoes over the railing from the landing that overlooked the room. "It's a goddamn fifteen!" She stopped abruptly at the realization that he was standing with you, though it didn't diminish her excitement at finding the answer to Maria's question. "Rogers," she winked, tossing the heavy shoe to the ground below with a flair of mischief. "How you doin'?"

"Yeah, you might want to let her sober up a bit before you go."

Steve walked over to his dropped boot and picked it up slowly, looking at it with a hint of confusion in his expression. "Why did she need this? And why would she care about...my...shoe size..." he faded, turning to you with a burning red of embarrassment building in his cheeks. "(Y/N), tell me this isn't what I think it is."

"Have a safe trip, babe," you replied in a stifled laugh, scurrying away to find safety in the large group of women who were suddenly looking at Steve in a way that made him uncomfortable enough to leave the room, one boot in hand, strategically held in front of him as he walked away.

~~~

After the long flight back to L.A., Chris was just about to swing his legs into bed for the night when the ringing of his phone startled him from his half-awake state, reaching clumsily for it through a few well chosen curses as it dropped under the bed and out of sight.

"Aw, son of a bitch..."

He slid to the floor and reached in the dark but didn't connect; when the ringing subsided he smiled to himself in relief, but was quickly back to cursing when it began again. With one more stretched reach, his fingers finally wrapped around it, lifting it to see who was so damn persistent at such a late hour.

"Stan, this had better be fucking important, or I swear-"

"Dude, you gotta help me," Sebastian begged, his words fumbling, "I can't get ahold of Steve and something's happening over here. I think this might be it."

The urgency in his friend's voice jolted him to full wakefulness immediately, rising from the floor quickly and hurrying to turn on the lights. It took him a second to process what Sebastian was saying, but when he did, his mind went to the date and put the pieces together. "That can't be right. She's two months early."

"Yeah, I don't think convincing this to stop with logic is gonna work. You don't think I've already told her that?"

"Shit..." Chris groaned, anxiously running his hands through his hair and looking around the room frantically as if the answer would magically appear. "Call Jackson. He should have Fury's number, right? Maybe he has a way to get to Steve."

"Hey, dumbass. She has Fury's number too. I've already tried that."

"Well, Seb, I'm in L.A. so I don't really know what you want me to do from here! I think you're on your own, pal."

Sebastian had been pacing back and forth across the common room while he was on the phone, but the sound of another contraction building had him immediately at your side. "Steve is out for two more days, Chris. Get here as fast as you can, alright? You're the next best thing."

"Seriously...?" you hissed through clenched teeth, trying to concentrate on breathing. "The next...best thing...would...be Hemsworth..."

"Hey! You tell her that I heard that!"

"Jesus, you two! Now is really not the time!" Sebastian scolded, wrapping his free arm around you to hold you steady as the pain began to subside. "I'm taking her in, so just get your ass here as fast as you can, alright?"