Once the ear-splitting crash brought a swift end to the party, the guests began to disperse. Once they heard Steve wake up and immediately begin with his repetitive chant of I'm fine, they knew better than to hang around for the fight that was certain to ensue. Knowing that his argument would go unheard, Steve pushed back against the insistence that he go to the hospital to be checked out; he backed down only when his youngest niece joined the fight, and he just couldn't bring himself to disappoint her. The way she looked at him, with eyes filled with worry that he would never want to burden the sweet girl with, broke his resolve and he let you lead the way. You wouldn't give away to anyone that it wasn't actually only Becca who got the Captain to bend, but also her father's wordless warning to his best friend as he stood behind her.

The four youngest stood at the large window overlooking the main entrance of the compound, watching as your three followed you to your cars to take Steve in. Even under the concern that had taken over the evening, Allie was able to manage a brief smile at the sight of Esihle at Anthony's side, holding hands as he led her to his car to go with him.

"Do you think Uncle Steve is gonna be okay?"

"Of course he is, Becs," Nik shrugged, "he's Captain America. Nothing can take him down, right? He's been through a lot worse than this."

"Yeah," Becca answered, "but we don't even know what this is, do we? There's obviously something going on with him and it's getting worse. Anthony looked really freaked out before they all left. He can feel something happening."

"Or maybe he's just worried about his dad. Wouldn't you be?"

Becca stopped and nodded her head, reflecting on the expression Anthony wore when he drove away, following you, Tony, Bruce, and Steve to the city after his father had almost needed to wear restraints to get him there. She put herself into his place and tried to imagine how she would feel if her dads were in her uncle's place, and it hurt even more to envision it. The thoughts became painfully intrusive when she realized that Bucky carried a similar fate coursing through his veins to the one that Steve had. "It couldbe my dad," she whispered, "and it still might be. What about Aunt (Y/N), Nik? They were all enhanced by the same serum, and what if this is how it finally wears off? What if Uncle Steve just happened to be first?"

~~~

Steve was a stubborn man, you knew that probably more than anyone else. He was a man of both conviction and morals, but even those solid foundations of who he was would bend beneath the weight of his insistence when he set his mind to something. Your three kids wanted to stay at his side while you both waited for tests to be done and for results to come back, but their father wouldn't have it. He tried to send them home, insisting that this was nothing, but they had inherited much of the same attitude and instead waited in the lounge outside of Steve's room with Tony until they knew from the mouths of actual physicians that their dad was right.

"Okay, so we have to be ready for anything you guys," Brooklyn began quietly, "because Mom is going to need us if this is something bad." She paused and turned, looking across the room to Tony, who was sitting alone and silent, staring into a nearly empty coffee cup. "Grandpa isn't doing much better. I think this has shaken him up pretty bad."

Anthony was nearly as silent as his namesake. He could feel your worry and considered breaking the connection to you just to give himself a moment of rational thought, but it would be as if he were abandoning you when you might need him. The young man had wrung the color from his hands until they began to hurt, and the waiting for word was eating away at his usually controlled patience; all he knew was that he couldn't sit in that damn chair anymore. "I'm gonna go check on him," he announced to the group, releasing Esihle's hand for the first time, "I'll be right back."

Tony heard the footsteps as they approached, but he couldn't bring himself to look up; he didn't want Anthony to see his eyes until he could put up his walls and hold everyone together, just as he had tried to do so many times before. He may have given Ant his moniker as Iron Man, but it was still the core of who Tony was and he tried to draw on that to keep himself in check.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Hmm?" Tony stalled. "Uh...yeah, of course. Always."

"You know I can feel that you're lying, right?"

"Then why did you ask?" Tony scoffed, finally looking up. This half-hearted guise of strength would just have to do.

"I don't know," Anthony retorted with equal frustration, "maybe to see if you trust me as an adult yet."

"Hey, I gave you my suit and my name, didn't I?

Ant took a long, strained breath and released as much tension from his muscles as they would allow; he didn't want to argue at a time like this, but he was still firm in his convictions and wasn't about to drop it. He pulled up one of the cheap and uncomfortable chairs and practically fell into it in his own fatigue. "Yeah, but those are just things, Grandpa; things that you can still control with one word to FRIDAY if you need to. But trusting me with what scares you is what's real to me. You know that you can talk to me."

"You're so much like your mother, you know that? You all are, of course, but you've always had something special with her."

"Like she has with you."

"Right," Tony smiled cautiously. The moment of forced levity faded away quickly and he dropped his gaze back to his hands in the hope that the conversation would fade away as well. He should've known better after saying how much Ant was like you.

"Grandpa-"

"What if this is it, Ant?" he blurted out. "What if she loses Steve...if you all do? I don't know if I'll be strong enough to help you when you need me to. What if the serum is wearing off and she's next, and all of the damage she's done to her body over the years of fighting is too much? I'll never be strong enough for that. We've proven as much over the years already."

The words hit his grandson hard, nearly knocking the breath from his chest as he coughed away his nerves. It was a reaction that neither man had expected, and it set Tony even more on edge. "Oh my god," he whispered, "Grandpa, that's exactly what we were just talking about. Now I'm actually scared that you're right."

~~~

Testing Steve's blood wasn't an easy task given his enhancements, so Bruce accompanied you all to the hospital to help the staff and to compare the files he already had on the Captain for easy reference if something really was going on. Steve had been lying on the Emergency Room gurney for so long now as you waited that he had drifted off to sleep, his gentle breaths lulling you into the same state. You sat at his bedside, close enough so that you could rest your head on his arm and still hold his hand. He would need the contact even as he slept; he was scared too, and you could tell no matter how well he tried to hide it.

It had reminded you of the few times you had kept vigil in this same way, waiting at his bedside for anything to tell you that he would pull through. This was different now, in that he seemed to be feeling better and almost back to normal, but you couldn't shake the little voice in your head that kept telling you to stay alert. Your intuition was usually spot on, and you weren't going to ignore it this time either.

"(Y/N)? Steve?"

"Mmm...yeah..." you yawned, tapping your husband's arm to wake him, "hey, Bruce. What've we got?"

Bruce removed his glasses and slowly dropped them into the pocket of his borrowed lab coat, looking at the doctor behind him with a cautious glance over his shoulder. You saw a little shaking in his hands as the glasses fell from his fingers, and all it did was make your anxiety rage that much harder; it was strong enough to bring Anthony to the window to see you as the waves hit him as well.

"We think we have an answer," he said gently, "or at least...maybe the start of one."