You know how when you stand in the ocean on a hot summer day and all you hear are the noises of screaming children, waves crashing, and beach stereos blaring, but when you sink under the surface of the water all the sounds are compressed into one loud silence? The silence isn't absolute, as the same sounds can still be heard but now in a more quiet and muffled way. It's as if someone turned the volume on the tv from 25 down to 2 in a matter of seconds. In a way it's kind of peaceful, but there is also the suspense and pressure of knowing that the serenity will end as soon as your ears come above the waves.

Well, that's what it felt like when you told Steve you were pregnant.

Instead of responding to the news Steve was silent, showing no reaction whatsoever. You waited for him to speak, to acknowledge the bomb that you had just dropped on him but he just stood there like a statue, staring at you blankly.

A few minutes trickled by as you stood there quietly. In truth it would have been quite a tense moment if you had not been lost in thought, contemplating if the man was some kind of robot or cyborg.

"Do you want to go on a walk?" Steve asked finally breaking the silence.

"Yea that sounds good," you nodded, turning to head back towards the elevator. You didn't really want to go on a walk, but you figured it would be easier to make a break for it outside of the tower than inside which is why you had agreed.

The two of you walked side by side, through the elegant lobby of the tower and back onto the city streets. The sun had almost completely set now, making the city lights seem brighter than ever. After walking a couple blocks away from the tower Steve halted abruptly, causing you to trip lightly. Very graceful, nice going (Y/N).

You would have continued your inner monologue but Steve began to talk, pulling you from your own thoughts.

"Are you certain?"

"About the baby?" you clarified. "The doctor confirmed it this morning, so yea, definitely pregnant."

He nodded, processing for a few seconds as you shuffled your feet nervously.

"And it's mine?" He asked.

"Yes it's yours, otherwise I wouldn't be here you know?" The words came flying out of your mouth before you could stop them. You hadn't meant to be so sarcastic and it was a fair question, even if the answer was slightly obvious. Looking at Steve sympathetically, you hoped he would understand that the sarcasm was meant as a joke not as a show of hostility. It was a tense moment for both of you, hopefully he would cut you some slack.

"I'm sorry about telling you to leave like that the other day."

You scrunched your eyebrows to the bridge of your nose, taken aback by his apology. After all, you had been expecting more questions related to your pregnancy, not a discussion of the awkward and uncomfortable events of your last encounter.

"I hope you know I didn't really want you to leave."

It was painfully obvious the man was telling the truth. His voice was laced with guilt and sincerity and his crystal eyes stared at you imploring you to believe him. This man made it almost impossible to be mad at him. You already knew you weren't mad at him, and you blamed yourself for most of the things that had gone wrong last time you had spoke anyway.

"You don't have to apologize, we both said things that we didn't mean. Besides I think we have more important things to be focusing on now anyway," you laughed, patting your stomach lightly.

Relief washed over his face and the tension between you both lessened noticeably, although some of the awkwardness was still there.

"There's a coffee shop across the street, we could sit and talk if you'd like?"

Nodding in affirmation, you crossed the street walking into the shop. Immediately, the deliciously sweet and bitter smell of coffee filled your nose. You were a little more reliant on caffeine than you cared to admit and were dreading the next nine months where you wouldn't be allowed to drink the delicious miracle substance.

After ordering at the counter and picking up your drink, you followed Steve's lead and sat in a cozy chair next to the cafe window, giving you a nice view for people-watching. You noticed a little red-headed girl ran in circles around who you assumed was her father. She was singing some nursery rhyme you didn't recognize and the dad was laughing, scooping her up over his head and onto his shoulders.

"Are you going to keep it?"

Pulling your gaze from the scene, you turned to give Steve your full attention. You'd be lying if you said the thought hadn't crossed your mind, but you had never seriously considered other options. You weren't against abortion, but you knew you would never be able to go through with it. This baby was a direct result of your own actions and as such you felt it was your responsibility to be the best mother you could be.

Mother. Now that was a frightening word. It was a role you felt seriously unprepared for. Other than babysitting a few cousins when you were in high school your experience with children was next to none.

"Yes, I'm keeping it" you said distractedly. You had managed to quickly work yourself up into a panic thinking about all of the things you didn't know about raising a child. How do diapers work? What do babies do all day? What if the baby hates me? Oh god...

"You alright?" Steve questioned, clearly noticing the signs of your distress.

"I'm okay, I just...I don't know how I'm going to do this."

"You mean how we are going to do this."

Your head snapped up at his words.

"Oh come on sweetheart, you didn't think I was going to let you do this on your own. It's my responsibility as much as yours. Well, if you let me be apart of this," he said, raising an eyebrow and smirking slightly.

Okay, swoon. Could this man be anymore perfect?

"I didn't know if you'd want any part of this," you said honestly before continuing, "I was going to give you the option if you wanted it."

"Of course I want it," he said eargerly. "I'm not saying this is going to be easy but we are two grown adults, I'm sure we will be able to figure this out together, as a team."

You were slightly jealous of his optimism. It's not like you were a pessimist, but positivity did not always come easy, especially when you were stressed. You wished you could have such a hopeful outlook but in your experience, the bigger your hopes were up the stronger the disappointment when you were inevitably let down.

"Well I'm glad you feel that way. I think it's important for the baby to have a father. I guess I just don't know how we are going to work this all out. I know we have nine months before we really have to know but still, there are some big decisions we will have to make."

Steve nodded in affirmation, but looked at you quizzically, as if carefully picking out his next words.

"If I had it my way," he began, pausing in the middle while you took a sip of your decaf americano, "you would move in with me."

It took everything you had not to spit out the coffee in your mouth at his words. Move in? Was he serious?

"I'm sorry what? You're joking right?"

"No (Y/N) I'm serious. Move in with me," he said as if there was no question, it was just an obvious solution. Meanwhile you were sitting there completely dumb-founded.

"This isn't the 1940s Steve, I'm not going to just move in with you because I'm pregnant," you reasoned.

"Sweetheart, if this was the 1940s I would have proposed, but I figured you wouldn't have liked that idea."

You couldn't help but laugh at his response, not to mention the butterflies that swarmed your stomach when he called you sweetheart. He was making it far too difficult for you to stay concentrated on the matter at hand. Pushing all these thoughts to the side you tried to continue the conversation.

"Be serious Steve, I can't just move in with you."

Steve leaned forward in his chair reaching across to put his hand on top of yours. Your heart rate quickened at the contact and you felt warmth spread through your body.

"I am being serious. I want to be there for you and the baby. There are a million spare rooms in the tower you can take your pick. It seems like the perfect solution to me."

This was true, having the father of the baby around would be useful. You thought for a second searching for more reasons that moving in was not a good idea.

"Okay but we barely know each other. Don't you think it would be kinda weird living together?" you asked.

"We are going to be raising a child together, I think it would be good if we got comfortable around each other," he replied quickly, pulling his hand away and relaxing back into the chair.

Again this was true, but you didn't have to live together to get comfortable with each other. You began to think of more reasons why moving in didn't make sense when images of Tony's critical face questioning why you were in the tower that morning popped into your mind.

"Don't you think everyone else would be annoyed having me around? I mean isn't the tower kind of like the home base or whatever for the Avengers? I think it would be a little strange to have some random pregnant lady waddling around."

You mentally gave yourself a point for thinking of that excuse. Ha, try and get around that one.

"You're not random, you'd be there because of me. Besides, any chance that you would annoy Tony is a plus in my eyes."

Damn. Apparently two could play this game. You sat quietly mulling things over, assessing all of your options and taking another sip of your coffee.

"You could come up with a million reasons not to move in with me (Y/N) and I'd counter every one. Let me be there for you. Let me be a part of this."

How did he always seem to know what you were thinking? It would have been creepy but honestly it was just impressive. There were definitely reasons that moving in made sense but you were very hesitant to go down this road. Steve could be in the baby's life whether or not you lived together, and you weren't sure living with him was such a good idea. Truthfully you didn't feel ready to let Steve into your life at that capacity. Steve was the kind of guy you would fall head over heels for, and you couldn't let that happen again. You wouldn't let that happen again. No matter what you needed to stay on good terms with him for the sake of the baby, and you didn't trust either of you to be able to do that if you were anything more than friends.

"I'm not saying no. Let me think about it okay? We don't have to make this decision right now, right?"

Steve nodded, seemingly knowing that his best chance at getting you to agree was not to pressure you any further.