STEVE

I've been home from London for almost a week. The entire time has consisted of Tori and me just waiting, waiting for anything at this point to happen. James still has the possibility of not coming out for a few more weeks, but now is a pretty common time for women to go into labor. But for us, absolutely nothing has happened.

I flop on to our bed, ready to pass out. After the mission I've just wanted to sleep, but I cannot because Tori can't so she accidentally wakes me up. She giggles at me, getting into bed beside me. We snuggle up against each other, taking in all of the warmth that we can. It might be almost the end of winter, but not temperature-wise. It's still freezing in New York.

Tori glances up at me, a smile plastering her lips. "I really hope that he gets your eyes," she muses.

I laugh. "And I hope he gets your smile," I say. I brush a lock of her hair behind her ear, and then move it back to her stomach. "Any day now."

"Yep," she sighs. "How fun."

I raise an eyebrow at her. "I'm confused. You always wanted kids."

"I have and I still do. It's just I'm not the biggest fan on how they enter the world."

The smile on my face fades quickly. "Oh god, please don't remind me."

"Hey, you have the easy job!"

"While you crush my fingers!"

She giggles. "You know I love you," she mumbles, taking my hand in hers.

"And I love you," I smile.

"So don't take it personally if I do happen break your fingers."

I roll my eyes. I stretch my arm out to turn off the lamp on my nightstand, and cuddle back with my wife. It's not long until I fall asleep, probably snoring in Tori's ear. And because of the fact that I'm so used to it, I don't even feel her get out of bed or hear anything until she calls my name a while later.

"Hey, Steve?" Tori asks from the bathroom.

"Mm hm?" I ask, not flinching let alone opening my eyes.

"My water just broke."

"Excuse me, what?" I ask her, bolting up from the bed with my eyes wide open.

"Something happened, and we gotta go," Tori says. She holds her stomach protectively, and the color has drained from her face. "Yeah, we have to go."

"WELL OF COURSE WE HAVE TO GO!" I shout. I spring out of bed, into the closet, and get dressed within seconds. All sense has just been knocked out of me and I can't seem to get a grip.

"Wait, what time is it?"

"YOU THINK I CARE? YOU'RE GOING INTO LABOR, VICTORIA!"

"Steve, can you just help me get dressed please?" she asks in a low voice.

I quickly help her as she winces, pulling out the outfit she had folded in our closet for weeks. My trembling hands pull a sweatshirt on her, pulling her hair out from underneath.

"How are you being so calm?" I ask her, lowering my voice.

"I think it's from shock," she whispers, a weak forced laugh escaping through her parted lips. It forms into a pained yelp, and her grip on my shirt tightens. "And pain."

"Okay, come on. Let's go," I mumble. I scoop her up into my arms, since she most likely lacks the capability to walk right now, and snatch up the hospital bag on my way out the door. I carefully set her into the passenger seat of my car, zooming to the other side to get off to the hospital. As I speed out on to the road, Tori tells me in between breaths that she contacted the midwife and she said that the hospital is ready for us to come.

I mutter a curse because of remembrance and whip out my phone, even though I'm breaking the law. At this point, I'm breaking every single traffic law known to man. I think the little arrow on the dial ahead of my is about to snap from moving so far over to the right, I don't bother using a turning signal — I'm pretty much a disappointment to myself. But at this point, I don't even care. My wife is about to birth out a child and there isn't a single car let alone a cop out on the road at this hour, so I have nothing to worry about there.

"Yes?" Tony replies on the other line.

"Oh thank god you woke up the first time," I sigh of relief. "You. Hospital. Now."

I hear a few things break from the speaker in my cellphone. "Wait, now? But it's four in the morning."

So there's the time. "Children don't care. Now meet us there."

"Okay." Tony hangs up, most definitely getting out of red footie pajamas we all know he owns and hopping into something that consists of a backwards t-shirt and two different shoes. But all I do know is that he's on his way. Now one more call.

I find Bucky's contact, hastily pressing it and holding my phone back against my ear as I exit on to the road to the hospital.

"Hey, Bu—"

"I'm on my way," Bucky responds, hanging up instantly.

This is why I keep him, he knows everything.

I throw my phone into the cup holder next to me, instantly shifting my gaze to Tori. She has just gone still. I can barely see her chest rising and falling. My hand anxiously finds hers, and I don't let go. Both of our hands tremble.

"Are you all right?" I ask her, but it barely comes out above a whisper.

She lets out a shaky breath, then laughs. "We're really having a baby," she says. "God, it's happening."

"Well we've been saying that for almost nine months, so....."

"Oh, shut up."

I smile at her. She's right. It really is happening. We both just take a moment to fathom the thought, once and for all. Soon enough, it won't just be the two of us anymore. There will be three.

Before I know it, we have driven into the hospital and have gotten into a room. Bucky and Tony are there within minutes, but aren't allowed in for a while until Tori is hooked up to every machine that they have. The doctor said that if they haven't really hit already, the tough contractions should be coming in soon. Great, I have only a few minutes to live with my fingers. By the time the guys are allowed to come in, it's sunrise. They've been here for hours now, and we're all just waiting. It's this time when my brain begins to process things.

"Cap, you seem pale," Tony states bluntly as machines churn in the silence.

"Steve, please don't punch him," my wife says, facing the other direction.

"I didn't do anything," I retort.

"Well you were about to." She pulls the blankets closer to her, trying to get as much shuteye as she can. We all have. In fact, I came back from getting water in the bathroom and everyone was passed out; Bucky was sprawled out in an armchair, Tony was snoring away, and Tori was curled into a ball underneath the sheets of the hospital bed. Tony has nudged me awake a few times, that is if I don't bolt awake out of the blue on my own.

Tori eventually rolls over to face us, reaching for her cup of ice that sits on the floor. I quickly hand it to her before she can get too far, and she munches on that, ice being the only thing that she can "eat."

"God, look how sad we all are," she laughs. "I'm eating ice and you three are passed out or panicking whenever you're awake. I never thought I would see us get to this point."

"They gave you too many drugs," Tony groans, rubbing his eyes.

"Maybe because I got my epidural and some painkillers while you two were snoozing away," Tori replies. "I'm talking about you and Bucky, brother."

"That thing hasn't stopped calling and texting me for the past week. I can't get any sleep," Bucky whines, pointing to Tony.

Tori opens her mouth to speak, but she's stopped by another contraction. She grabs my hand from underneath the sheets and I take the cup away with my other one so that she can't crush the styrofoam and make iced water go everywhere. She yelps into the pillow, letting out struggled breaths.

"Breathe, honey," I remind her.

A few seconds later, she lets out a long breath, meaning that it's done for another two minutes.

"I have been stabbed, shot, and experimented on, and they don't even come close to as bad as this," she winces.

"I know, and I'm so sorry," I mumble.

"So that means whenever you boys complain about a broken limb (ahem, Tony), keep in mind that I am probably over eight centimeters dilated by now and am about to birth a child."

I snort, glancing at Tony. He has his arms crossed petulantly and is rolling his eyes.

"Well now you're drugged and it has made things better, huh?" he asks. He ruffles her hair, causing her to smile.

"A lot, but it still hurts," she says, "especially considering that a ten is really when I have to......um, yeah, you know.....and I'm probably at a nine by now."

Tony stays quiet for a moment, leaning back in his chair. "Yeah, I'll be in the bathroom with my eyes shut when that happens. Want to join me, Barnes?"

"I already lost one arm, so I'm not letting anyone take my last one," he says. He eyes me. Yeah, Tony would have Tori's other hand and that leaves me to hurt Bucky if Tori hurts me too much, so essentially a chain reaction.

I'm basically in la la land for the rest of the time, just inside of my head. I listen to everything the doctors have to say, like when they tell us that Tori needs to start pushing, but I'm still not fully on earth. Everything just seems fuzzy and blurred together inside my mind, even though I can remember every detail of every second being here. I definitely remember my fingers being crushed and telling Tori that she is doing great and Bucky holding Tony up as he almost faints in the corner of the room, but I become fully aware, fully lucid, when I hear a small cry fill the room.