(Remember this takes place roughly 11 years after Infinity War, for character age reference; you'll understand later)

Six months later

"Steve, you've chewed your nails down so far that you're practically eating your fingers now."

"I can't help it," he said, his voice shaking as much as his hands, "I wasn't even this nervous when the triplets were born."

"That's because you weren't there suffering though it like we were," Sam laughed. "You didn't have to watch Vision doing things to your wife that I never want to repeat."

"You know, you think you're helping, but you're not."

Sam gave his friend a slap on his shoulder, hoping that even that much would calm the soon-to-be grandpa down a little, but he knew that anything would be a lost cause at this point. Steve had been pacing the length of the hospital waiting room for hours now without pause, and he swore that he could see a depression in the concrete floor from it. You were in the delivery room with Brooke, and the updates had been minimal, getting less and less as the big moment grew closer. The waiting room was filled with Avengers past and present, and their own children who might one day take over as their parents finally felt ready to step away. Despite the sheer number of people to talk to, no one had heard anything for the last hour now, and tensions were about to erupt.

"Cap, you want me to go in?" Scott offered. "I can grab my suit and no one will ever know."

"Thanks, Scott, but no. I just need to try to settle down."

"We would've heard by now if something wasn't going right. I'm sure everything is fine."

"Yeah," Steve mumbled with a weary smile, "me too." Once again, he began his usual route of going back and forth past the wall of windows that looked out over the city, trying to hone his focus on just one thing to take his concentration away from the unyielding fears for both his daughter and the new baby they were all about to meet. He hated that he was such a chronic worrier like this, and he hadn't been before you came into his life; it was just that he feared loss so greatly that he couldn't help it when it came to any of you. With the still very recent, devastating loss of Tony, it was that much worse.

"I wish you were here for this," Steve whispered to himself, feeling a sting of tears building in his eyes, "you'd be so proud of our girls, Tony. We did good, you and I."

"Dad!"

Your husband spun around on his heel so quickly that his balance barely held and he had to grab a chair to hold himself up at the urgency in Grant's voice calling him. "What is it, son? Is everything okay?"

Grant ran up to his father with a beaming smile lighting up the room around him, pulling him into a tight hug and laughing both his nerves and excitement away, "it's a girl, Dad! I'm an uncle!"

"I'm a...I'm a g-grandpa..."

"Yeah you are!"

"And they're all good?"

"Yep! Ant is finding out when they'll all be moved to their room upstairs," he answered. "Mom said she'll be out in a few minutes and will take you in to see them."

Another quick hug helped Steve to get his bearings, letting his son go so that he could talk to his brother and to let the rest of the group know that there was a new little girl for the family to meet. He continued to wring his hands together as he anxiously waited to see you come through the doors to get him, and each second was an eternity; he wanted to see his daughter with his own eyes to know that everything had gone as well as Grant had said. He really wanted to see you to celebrate the new roles you were about to take on, and to share in the complete confusion you both had in knowing how to do them. When you finally opened the door and saw him, he couldn't move fast enough to get to you.

"Come on in, hon," you greeted him with a hug, "she's waiting to see you."

Steve silently walked next to you, his grip on your hand so tight that your fingers were growing numb under the pressure. You didn't say anything, your own energy peaking just the same and completely understanding what he was feeling. You had been in the room, watching and helping your daughter through her delivery, so you already had the advantage here in knowing what Steve was anxious to get to. You stopped at the door, turning him towards you before opening it, just to prepare him first.

"She looks like you," you smiled softly. "Well, like her dad, too, but you're in there."

"How's he doing?"

"They're both nervous, but they'll be fine. He's already as protective of both of them as you are of us."

"Good man," Steve nodded sternly. "Alright, doll, I'm ready."

When he crossed the barrier and into the room, Steve stopped almost immediately, leaving you to bump into him when you weren't expecting the sudden halt. "Hey, you okay?"

Without a word, he moved again, slowly making his way to Brooke's side to wrap his arms around her, kissing her forehead while doing his best to remain stoic. You could see that he was losing the battle, and you had no idea why he was even trying at a time like this. But the moment would come, you knew that. As soon as that tiny little baby girl was put in front of him to take, that was it. Your super soldier husband, leader of Earth's mightiest heroes, was a puddle of tears and sniffles and shaky breaths as he took her from her father and into his strong hands to hold her securely to his chest.

"Captain, this is Anthonia Margaret."

"What?" he gasped, looking from you to Brooke. "You named her after them?"

"Yeah, Dad, we planned that right after Grandpa..." she stopped, taking a long breath, "after Grandpa passed. We always knew that if we had a girl, we wanted to remember Maggie too."

"Oh, Brooke...that's...that's perfect." Steve took in the sight of the little girl, memorizing every feature, taking a quick count of fingers and toes, pulling her in tight to take in her scent. You could practically see the memories he was replaying of his own babies, and it made your heart ache for those times again; it made you ache that your dad wasn't here to share in the moment.

"Sir, if you don't mind?"

"Right," Steve nodded, handing the bundle back to her dad, "she's all yours. But remember, you're a part of a family now that relies on each other, and we're all here to help you guys with this. I'll never be opposed to babysitting, and I'm pretty sure I'm still the fastest in the house at diapering. But, hey, enough about that, is your family coming by soon? I'd really like to meet your dad, I've heard a lot about him."

"Yeah, they should be here soon, his shift is just about over," Miles answered, though his eyes were locked on his new daughter. "Mom works on a ward upstairs so she said she'll be down as soon as she can. They wanted to be here for this, but they've barely come to terms with having one superhero in their family, and I've figured out pretty fast that you guys are a lot to take all at once. It helped a lot though that Brooke told me so many stories about you to break the ice."

Brooke snorted so loudly that her new daughter squirmed in her father's arms, but she hurried to cover her mouth to stifle the sound away until she could catch her breath from her laughter. "Oh my god, Miles, did you just make an ice pun in front of my dad?"

"Did I...what do you mean...I don't..." the young man stopped, a new wave of realized panic washing over him as Steve looked on. "OH! Oh, Capsicle...I mean Captain Rogers...sir, I didn't mean to say that! It just slipped out! Please don't kill me on my daughters first day, sir. The Capsicle thing was an accident-"

Steve stood firm at your side, putting a hand up to sternly stop Miles from going any further. He wasn't angry at all, of course, but the kid didn't have to know that. If he wanted into this family, then there was no time like the present to give him a proper introduction, and for this future father-in-law to set the groundwork from the very start.

"Son," he scolded calmly, "just don't."

~~~

Okay, guys, it's done.  I can't see myself writing any more of this series without Tony.  I knew he would be the one to go from the first chapter, and I almost changed my mind about 50 times.

Thank you all who have read ALL 6 of these things, it means the world to me!  Love you!

B