#x two

By eight weeks it was an almost constant thing that plagued you, and if you only threw up twice in a day, that was a good day. Bucky and Steve took good care of you. They got you ginger ale and saltines. They held your hair and rubbed your back. They did all they could, but you just wanted it to end.

After spending the morning hunched over the toilet while Bucky held a cold compress against your brow and Steve rubbed your back, the three of you made your way to your first ultrasound. Bucky rode in the back of the car with you, and you rested your head on his shoulder.

The nausea had lifted a little by the time of your appointment, and you waited in the darkened room, sitting on a hospital bed waiting for the tech to come in.

“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Steve asked as he ran his fingers over your scalp.

“Better. Nervous. Excited,” you replied.

“It’s gotta be so small right now,” Bucky said, running his hand over your stomach. “It’s cool you can see inside there, and make sure they’re okay.”

“And later you can find out if it’s a boy or a girl,” you said, putting your hand on his.

The tech stepped into the room. “Hey, mommy. Ready to meet your baby?” she asked, without looking up from the chart she held. She raised her eyes and stopped dead for a second staring at Steve, and then Bucky.

“Ma’am,” Steve said, giving her a nod.

She flushed. “Captain Rogers,” she said. “And uh… who’s the daddy?”

Bucky started shrinking down. He still got in his head when he thought people were judging him. You took his hand and he linked his fingers with yours. “Depends what you mean. But they both are.”

There was the very briefest of falters before a huge grin broke out on her face. “Well alright. Are we ready to meet your baby?”

You shifted in position while she prepared the machine. Because of how early the ultrasound was happening it was being done internally, which in some ways was good because with all the morning sickness you weren’t sure you could hold down enough water to do an external. It was less good due to the lubed wand that was about to get inserted into your vagina.

“There’s going to be a pinch,” the tech warned, before pushing it inside of you. You winced and squeezed Bucky’s hand. The whole time she pushed it around you kept thinking how weird it was that you could take both Bucky and Steve’s dicks in there at the same time (and they weren’t exactly small on their own) but this was really uncomfortable.

“Well, this is interesting,” she said, holding the wand in place.

“What is it?” Steve asked, looking at the screen of grey and black blobs trying to decipher what he was seeing.

“Well, do you see this little peanut shape, it has a little flutter?” she said, circling the image with a white circle.

“Yes," he said, looking at the screen. “But there’s three like that.”

She chuckled and nodded her head. “There are three like that.” She gave the three of you a beat to try and absorb the information. “Triplets. You’re getting one each.”

You, Steve, and Bucky just stared at the screen in dumbstruck silence.

“They're a fraternal too. Did you have IVF?” she asked as she started taking measurements.

“Clomid,” you answered, your voice just coming out monotone.

“That explains it,” she said. “Are you okay? Do you need a minute?”

You shook your head. “No. I mean, yes. I’m okay. We’re okay.”

She took some more measurements and removed the wand. “Okay. We’re all done. I’ll leave you to clean up. All this will be forwarded to your OBGyn.”

She left the room and the three of you just stared at each other. “Triplets?” you said.

Steve and Bucky just continued to stare at you.

“Oh my god! Babe! I can’t believe this!” Bucky said.

“What are we gonna do?” you asked, getting up. “Three babies!”

Steve stood up behind you and put his hand on your hip. “We’re gonna be fine. We have resources. We have family. It’ll be hard but we can get nannies if we need to. There are three of us. We’re not outnumbered.”

You put your hand on his and turned to him. His hand went to your cheek and he leaned down and kissed you. The gentle way where his lips just brushed over yours - the way he kissed you the first time when you thought you were just friends, and that he was gay. When he looked down at you he was smiling and there was a twinkle in his blue eyes. “We can do this," he whispered.

“Yeah. We can do this,” you agreed.

You got dressed and went upstairs to see your OBGyn. The information came thick, and you got lost in it a little. Expecting triplets explained away the high level of morning sickness you were experiencing. She gave you some more recommendations for stronger over-the-counter nausea medication and also prescribed you something if those didn’t help. Triplets were high risk. You and they would be monitored closely. You had an appointment with a dietician to help with the increase in nutrients you needed. There was talk of selective reduction, but the thought of it was worse than the thought of having them. You were put on partial bed rest. You were likely to be exhausted. Which, to be fair - you already were. You would start showing any minute now and you were going to get huge. There was a high risk of miscarriage. There was a risk that due to the fact that they might start out-competing each other for nutrients that one or more would fail to thrive. They would definitely be coming early and the aim was to get them to 34 weeks safely so you could have a cesarean.

By the time you got home, you were feeling exhausted and stressed, and you were terrified that this was going to end in heartbreak, just as every failed attempt at getting pregnant in the first place.

“Okay, sweetheart. Let me take you to bed,” Steve said, gently as you stepped through the front door of your apartment.

You let him lead you to the bedroom and he helped you into comfortable pajamas, as Bucky went to the kitchen to make you something to eat. When you took off your clothes you looked at yourself in the mirror. “You think I’m showing yet?” you asked, poking out your stomach and running your hands over your belly.

“Sure when you poke out your stomach like that you are,” he said, kneeling in front of you and kissing your stomach.

“This is going to ruin my body you know?” you said.

He ran his hands up over your ass and looked up at you from where he knelt. “You will always be perfect to me. Every inch of you.”

You caressed his hair. You doubted it. But it was still nice to hear. He helped you step into pajama pants and you pulled on one of Bucky’s shirts from the hamper before curling into bed under the covers.

Bucky showed up with soup and tea. You thanked him and took a spoonful of the soup, blowing on the spoon before putting it in your mouth. It was a spiced tomato, but with a weirdly out-of-place sweetness to it. You pulled a face and looked at him.

“You don’t like it?” he asked.

“Why is it sweet like that?”

He pulled a face and swept his hair out of his eyes. “It was the recipe you wanted to try. The one with chocolate.”

You quickly put the bowl on your side table and just lose it laughing, curling yourself into a ball and falling against him. “Oh my god! Honey. It’s 100% cacao not … not just regular chocolate,” you wheezed.

“Oh no. I’m so sorry. I didn’t… oh god,” he yelped.

You rubbed his stomach. “It’s fine. Oh god. I needed the laugh.”

There was a knock on the bedroom door and Steve stuck his head in. “Hey, sweetheart. Some people are here to see you. You okay for visitors?”

You nodded and Tony and Pepper came in holding their son, Edwin. He was 15 months old and just the cutest little cherub you’d ever seen.

“We just heard. Can’t do things the easy way can you?” Tony said, sitting down on the bed. He put Edwin down and the little boy scooted up between you and Bucky and held his hands out. Bucky picked him up and tossed him in the air as the little boy squealed with delight.

“You can talk,” you teased.

“We’ll make sure you’re well taken care of. I know it’s risky and that you’re absolutely going to get bored,” Pepper said.

“Well, make sure there is a full entertainment suit put in,” Tony said. “Plus we’ll get the experts here. You won’t have to keep going into the hospital.”

“You don’t have to do any of that,” you whined.

“We know that, darling,” Pepper said.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but the people in this tower… that’s all the family I have,” Tony said. You took his hand and squeezed it, unused to him being this open. “And that includes you. And soon, these three too. So, of course, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure they get her safely.”

You leaned forward and hugged him and he patted your back awkwardly. “You’re kind of a sap you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t rub it in,” he joked.

“You’re our family too," you whispered.

He nodded and squeezed you a little tighter. “Alright enough of that,” he said, letting you go. “Looks like four bedrooms were the perfect amount, Cap.”

Steve laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “Alright, you were right,” Steve said. Tony’s features rearranged into the perfect example of smug self-satisfaction. “Bound to happen sometime, I guess. Stopped clocks and all that,” he added and everyone started laughing.  It felt good to relax again, and to have all these people in your life that would keep you and the babies safe.