Later that night, Steve crawled up next to Natasha in bed. She smiled a bit, embracing him in a tight hug. Steve kissed her neck a bit, before placing a soft kiss on her lips. "I'm sorry about the missions. I know you were exited to get back to work." He said and Natasha sighed. "Well, I'm more exited over this." She said, gently putting her hand on her belly. Steve smiled. "I know." He said, giving her another kiss. "I'm sorry." She suddenly said and Steve furrowed his eyebrows a bit. "You don't have to apologise, Natasha." Steve said seriously. "It's okay." He said and she nodded. Steve smiled brightly. "It's been too long, I want to see if she has grown.." Steve began and Natasha's eyes grew wide. "No, Steve, don't drag up.." She began but was interrupted by Steve's shocked expression. As Steve dragged up her shirt, dark blue bruises had once again appeared on her stomach. Only this time, they were even darker and not so few anymore. It was almost more dark spots on her stomach than actual skin colour. Steve looked at her with wide eyes. "Natasha?" He said. Natasha tried desperately to drag down her shirt but Steve refused to let her. "You knew that it got worse?" He asked with an irritated tone in his voice. "You're blaming the baby, Steve. It's not his fault. I was going to take it up with you tomorrow." She said and Steve frowned. 
He looked down at the bruises again before gently touching one only to receive a pained expression from Natasha. "You can't keep stuff like this from me, Natasha!" Steve burst out. "This doesn't look good." He said. "I'm well aware." She said, frowning. "He's just a strong kicker." Natasha said and Steve scoffed. "This baby is hurting you, Natasha!" He burst out and Natasha sat up straighter. "Don't say that." She said seriously, holding a hand over her belly. "We have to check this up. This is.. This is not good." Steve said, getting out of bed as he started walk around with his hands on his head. "Steve. Maybe it's just something with your serum? Maybe he is in fact just very strong?" Natasha said and Steve sighed, looking at her. "That's exactly what worries me. I'm calling Fury about this. He must know someone who can help us." Steve said seriously as he grabbed his phone and walked out of the room. "It's late." Natasha said but Steve ignored her. She leaned back at the bed as she tried to understand his worried words from the other room but all she could recall was mumbles of pregnancy and bruises. Natasha looked down at her stomach, dragging up her shirt again. The dark bruises did scare her, especially since they hurt so much. But still, it was the baby who made them and she refused to believe that something as wonderful as their child would hurt her. She let her hand lay on her stomach and suddenly felt the baby move around a little. Natasha furrowed her eyebrows, feeling her eyes get a little watery. "Please, my love." She whispered. "Try to be a bit careful. Your dad is worried." Natasha whispered to the baby bump. The baby stopped moving around, as if it was listening. "Please." Natasha whispered again.

"Natasha?" Steve's voice was suddenly heard and Natasha looked up only to see him in the doorway. She dragged down her shirt over her stomach and quickly wiped away a tear that had escaped her eye onto her right cheek. "Are you okay?" Steve asked immediately as she looked up at him. His heart melted at the sight every time she touched the baby bump. Seeing her actually talking to it made his whole body go soft but seeing her almost crying while doing it broke his heart. "Yeah, I'm fine." Natasha said, her voice emotionless. "What did Nick say?" She asked. Steve took a few steps into the room. "He's going to gather together the best doctors who can help us. People who understands our situation." He said and Natasha nodded. "Good." She mumbled. Steve frowned a bit, walking up to her. "I'm sorry Natasha." He said, sitting down beside her. "I'm just, really worried." Steve said and Natasha nodded. "I know. I should have told you sooner." She said and Steve gave her a small smile. He kissed her forehead before Natasha grabbed his neck, kissing his lips. Steve wrapped his arms around her, laying down beside her on the bed, holding her tightly. "It'll be okay. We'll be okay." He said softly. Natasha sighed, relaxing in his embrace. "We're meeting up with the doctors tomorrow." He said, burying his face in her neck, giving her small kisses. Natasha nodded a bit, closing her eyes as his lips found her neck. "The baby will be okay." Steve said and at that, a weight was lift from Natasha's chest and she slowly fell asleep.

• • •

"Time to wake up, sleepy head." Steve said and Natasha moaned. "We really have to get going." He said softly, kissing her face. Natasha's head hurt. As if she had a huge headache, which was probably the case. And she felt extremely tired, more tired than usual. "I just closed my eyes.." Natasha mumbled. She slowly tried opening one eye, even though it felt impossible, and the bright sunlight hit her pupil. She quickly closed it again, trying to ignore her headache. Her stomach soon turned upside down and she was on her feet in a second, running towards the bathroom. Steve turned his head quickly her way, seeing her rush towards the bed room. Natasha threw up in the toilet, feeling Steve's hands brush her hair out of her face. "Oh god.." Natasha mumbled, shivering a bit before she stood up, flushing the toilet. She immediately began washing her face before taking out her toothbrush. "Are you okay?" Steve asked concerned and Natasha shook her head. "No but I'll be fine." She said, putting some toothpaste on her toothbrush. Steve frowned. He hated seeing her feel bad, especially because of the pregnancy. Wasn't it enough that she actually had to carry the baby for so long and giving birth to it? When Natasha had gotten dressed and forced down a sandwich down her throat, that Steve stubbornly put in her hand, they got to SHIELD headquarters. Nick Fury greeted them both before they were showed into a room with several doctors waiting for them. Fury introduced the doctors before he left the room and the doctors quickly began examining Natasha's belly and asked questions every other second. Natasha answered most of them since Steve blushed every time the words sex or sexual intercourse was mentioned. He listened carefully, trying to remember every word that came out of the doctors mouths as his eyes watched Natasha's belly.
"So it's seems like you're in week 16 already."  One of the doctors said and Natasha's eyes grew a bit wide. "No, no I checked that at the hospital like five days ago. I'm still in week 14." Natasha said and two of the doctors glanced at each other while another one wrote something down in a file. "You're in week 16." The doctor said again. "So the hospital had it all wrong? How is that even possible?" Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "No no." The doctor said. "The hospital was right. We believe that.. that this pregnancy will be over quicker than you might have expected." Steve shared a worried look with Natasha. "Is the baby okay?" Natasha asked and the doctor nodded. "The baby is perfectly healthy. It's just growing extremely fast. That might be the cause of these bruises on your stomach. It is possible for babies to kick so much that bruises appear, but it's very rare and they have never become this big or dark." The doctor continued. "We think it has something to do with the serum that runs through you body, Captain. It's impossible to know for sure, but that's the only explanation to why a sterile woman even got pregnant in the first place." Another doctor said, and Natasha frowned a bit. "So we don't know exactly when the due day will be?" She asked and the doctors shook their heads. "We'll schedule appointments two times a week. At least now in the beginning. The side effects to this kind of pregnancy is unknown and we simply don't know what's to expect. We can't do anything but to wait and see." The doctor finished and Steve and Natasha nodded, trying to take in the information they were handed. "But the most important thing is that the baby is as healthy as it could be and when we're still at it, do you want to know the gender?" A doctor asked and Natasha shook her head, smiling. "No we don't. We want to wait." She said and Steve nodded. "We made a bet." He chuckled, walking a bit closer to Natasha to look at the bruises on her stomach.
"Is there something we can do about the bruises?" Steve asked but the doctor shook his head. "Wait until they disappear is the only way I'm afraid. The baby is very strong. See every kick as a proof that it's as strong and healthy as it could be." Natasha smiled at that. Steve almost smiled at her smug face. That's exactly what she had told him.
"If you experience any side effect that are unusual to a normal pregnancy, it's important that we find out about them. Do you have any further questions?" A doctor asked and Natasha shook her head. "Do you have a number we can call in case something happens?" Steve asked and the doctors nodded. "Yes, we'll send all of that information home with you." A doctor said. They shook hands with the doctors and decided a time for the next appointment. Natasha and Steve left SHIELDs short there after. Steve had a frown glued to his face over all of this information. He partly felt that it was his fault. He didn't want her to be in pain. "Have you felt any other side effects than the kicks and morning sickness?" Steve asked as he drove Natasha home to their apartment. He had to prepare for the mission. "No. I don't think so." She said and Steve nodded. "Good." He said. Steve was a bit worried of leaving Natasha home alone. He wanted to be there in case something would happen. He didn't even know how long he'd be gone, but at least the whole night. They were taking down two of The XX's hiding spots and no one could know how long it'd take. Steve changed into his suit as soon as they got home and Natasha sat on the couch, pouting at him as she saw him dressed in it. Steve gave her a small smile. "Will you be okay?" He asked and she nodded. "Of course. Be careful." She said seriously and he nodded. "I promise." He said. Natasha stood up, giving him a kiss.