Author's Note: Hi everyone! Thanks for following this over from 'Change is Everything'. I know I said that reading 'Starry Eyed Again' was a suggestion, but I'm going to reinforce that with letting you know those one-shots got a lot more plot driven that I'd intended and are kind of necessary to understand this story.

Also, I wanted to let you know a bit about how this is going to work - updates wise. At the moment, I'm winding up my final semester at one school and preparing to move across country to start a PhD program at another school (long story short, I'm not happy where I am and was accepted at a much better program). At the same time, I'm also working full time and about to start the university Orientation season. What I'm attempting to say is be patient with me please. I write for fun and any 'UPDATE NOW!' comments make me feel like a bit of a failure because at that point I just want to tell you how the story ends and wash my hands of it all. Not saying I don't appreciate excitement, but just keep in mind that writing is a hobby.

Ok, now that those disclaimers are out of the way, please enjoy. I wanted to get something out before everyone sees Winter Soldier (I'm going Thursday with my office, woohoo!). While I don't want to put any spoilers out there, please be aware that I'm going to be blending MCU (Phase 1 and Phase 2) and drawing from the comic books. This chapter, as well as the next two chapters should be okay without seeing the movie. I'll post at the top of the story if that changes.

Once again, thank you for reading and please let me know what you think!

Prologue

Like an apple on a tree

Hiding out behind the leaves

I was difficult to reach

But you picked me

Like a shell upon a beach

Just another pretty piece

I was difficult to see

But you picked me

Yeah, you picked me

You Picked Me by A Fine Frenzy

Steve Rogers pulled his bike to the side of the road and cut the engine. After putting the kickstand in place, he stood up, smoothed down his hair, and straightened his jacket before walking onto the Empire State University campus. A few people were milling about, but for the most part the campus was empty with students in the library or their classes.

A quick glance at his watch made Steve speed up his pace. He'd meant to get back earlier but traffic had been horrible. Still, he had ten minutes until he was absolutely too late. And even then, it wasn't the end of the world.

He strode into the building and bypassed the elevator, taking the stairs two at a time. On the second floor, he took a left and went down the hallway, pulling the door open quietly.

"-and as we all know today, the Eastern Front was to be the site of some of the most heinous human rights violations the world has ever seen," Steve heard as he slipped into the classroom. The lights in the front of the auditorium were dimmed, and she was turned away from the door, flipping through her slideshow. He slipped into an empty back seat and settled in, a smile spreading across his face as Dr. Emily Harthorn turned around to face the class.

Steve loved watching his girl lecture.

"And we'll be going in depth with some of those next week – Yes?" She paused when a student raised their hand.

"Did Captain America serve on the Eastern front?" the guy asked. With a fixed smile, Em turned and tapped the clicker against her hip as if gathering her thoughts, and Steve smirked. She knew that he had because he'd told her.

"There is evidence to suggest that Captain Rogers was present at some concentration camp liberations. What he might have been doing there is not currently known as those records are classified by the Department of Defense. Like I was saying, next week – Yes?" This time it was a female student who'd raised her hand.

"So, uh, have you met him?" Emily took a deep breath and glanced up at the ceiling, an exasperated look playing on her face. Steve, however, smirked and leaned forward in his seat, forearms on his thighs, interested in what she was going to say.

"No, I haven't met Captain America. Now, next week we're going to be discussing Nazi officer Dr. Josef Mengele and his twin experiments in Auschwitz. Fair warning, it's a disturbing topic. Please do the reading and post on the BlackBoard discussion thread, and I'll see you on Monday."

It was suddenly very noisy as Emily's students gathered their things and swarmed towards the exit. A few fought against the stream and made their way towards her while Steve stayed put, ignoring the looks some of the people gave him. When only one student was left in the room, he pushed out of the seat and walked down the steps towards her.

" – you just need to bring a doctor's note and I'll let you make up the quiz in my office," Emily said as her eyes darted over to him. Her eyebrow shot up as she tried to suppress a smile.

"Thanks Dr. Harthorn," the girl nodded before hitching her bag higher on her shoulder. "See you Monday."

"Have a good weekend, Gwen," Em smiled. She and Steve watched as the girl turned and bounced up the steps and out of the classroom. As soon as the door slammed shut behind her, Emily wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down enough to kiss him. "Hi," she said against his lips as his hands settled on her hips.

"Hi," he replied, resting his forehead against hers before teasing, "So you've never met Captain America?" She laughed, hands sliding down to grasp his biceps.

"Can't say I've been lucky enough," she smirked, cocking an eyebrow. "Too bad, though, because he's got a great ass."

"Ha," he barked, giving her a crooked smile. Em slid her hands further down his arms, and he tensed as she slipped under his jacket to wrapped around his waist. When her fingers started to move up his back, he caught what she was doing – looking for the subtle bump of a bandage under his clothes. "I'm fine," Steve said, catching her hands and brushing his lips across her knuckles.

"Just checking," she sighed.

"Told you, it was just an intel run. You done for the day?"

"Pretty much. I was going to do a bit of research for my article but I could head home." Em stepped out of his grasp and walked to the desk to gather her things.

"Did you take the train?"

"Yeah." Steve didn't take her hand as they walked out of the auditorium because Em liked to keep it professional where she could run into her students. There were a few people in the stairwell with them as they walked up to the fourth floor; once there Steve nodded to some of her co-workers who recognized him.

"Anything interesting happen while I was away?" he asked as they stepped into her office and closed the door behind them.

"Well, I found one of Tony's robots on our floor again and the realtor said that she found another few apartments for us but they're way out of our price range – "

"At this point, I'd be willing to pay more," Steve smirked.

"We said 50/50," Em reminded him. "But if it take much longer to find somewhere then I might cave on that."

"Hey," he said, stopping her as she moved to grab her bag. "I'm sorry about all this."

Emily tossed her blazer onto the desk before reaching up and cupping Steve's face, and ran her thumbs across the stubble on his cheek. "Saving lives is more important than apartment hunting. I'm just ranting."

"I know, but I promised you I'd find a place before you got back from – " he was cut off when Em stood on her toes and kissed him. Steve wrapped his arms around her, holding her in place as she pulled away.

"We're gonna find a place. And until then, we just need to have another discussion with JARVIS about allowing rogue experiments on our floor."

"I love you, you know that?" he said as his hands slid lower over the curve of her ass.

"No, had no idea," she smirked. Chuckling, Steve guided her back until her thighs hit the side of the desk, and lifted her onto it. "Hmmm…" Em hummed, cocking an eyebrow before he kissed her again. "You sure everything's alright?"

"Everything's great," he assured her, nudging aside the collar of her shirt to kiss her neck. "Just really missed you."

"Ah," she nodded as he pressed his lips to the hinge of her jaw before dragging his nose across her cheek and reclaiming her mouth. "Babe?" Em said when they came up for air. "Babe."

"Huh?"

"Tell me what's wrong," Emily demanded.

"Nothing's wrong, Sweetheart!" Steve chuckled, but tensed when her hands slipped under his coat to settle on his hips.

"Is it S.H.I.E.L.D.? Did they do something to piss you off again?"

"Not today, but then again the day's not over, so… Hey!" he chuckled when she punched his shoulder.

"If I get your shirt off and find out you were stabbed or shot – so help me God, Steve, if you jumped out of another plane without a parachute – "

"It's nothing like that," he assured her.

"So there is something!"

"It's nothing, Emily." She narrowed her eyes infinitesimally, so he sighed and dropped his hands to her thighs while looking her square in the eye. "I promise. It was a milk run. Everything's okay."

"It had better be," she threatened.

Steve laughed and leaned forward to kiss her, but Emily turned at the last minute so his lips ended up on her cheek. "Hmm," he muttered, "playing hard to get?"

"Not sure what you're talking about," Em shrugged, pushing against his chest so that he took a step back. She slid off her desk and looked up to meet his gaze before winking. "So you up for dinner in the penthouse tonight?"

"Do we have to?" he asked, not moving as she turned to retrieve her blazer. He took it and held it so that Em could slip it on. "I thought we could go out for dinner…maybe Italian."

"Pepper's got a private chef coming in and extended an invitation. Apparently a few beneficiaries of Tony's scholarship are coming over and she wanted some back up on making sure nothing got too out of hand." Steve pressed his lips together; it wasn't exactly how he'd pictured his night.

"I guess," he said after a beat. "Dinner tomorrow?"

"Dinner tomorrow," she agreed, checking her purse for her keys before shouldering it.

Once out of the building, Emily reached over and took his hand, squeezing it gently as they walked towards the edge of campus.

OOO

"So," Em said as she unbuttoned her slacks and slid down the zipper. "I had my doctor's appointment today."

"Oh yeah," Steve said from where he had collapsed onto the bed, legs dangled over the edge. "How'd it go?"

"Well, they said that everything looks good and that, now that I'm back on a normal cycle, it'd be okay for me to start taking birth control again."

"That's great, Sweetheart," he said, propping up on his elbows to watch her slide on her jeans and toss her slacks on top of the dresser. When she turned back to the bed, she cocked an eyebrow and smirked at the shoes he'd toed off before picking them up and tossing them in the vicinity of their closet. He had the good sense to give her an apologetic smile after she'd told him a million times not to leave his shoes lying about.

"Well," Emily said, kneeling on the edge of the bed before stretching out beside him on her stomach. "That's kind of something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah?" he asked, turning and placing a hand on her lower back.

"Yeah," she bit her lower lip and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I wanted to see what you thought...thought about me not going back on the Pill."

"What d'ya mean?" Steve asked, his eyebrows furrowing. "Are you thinking about something else?" While he hadn't spent too much time reading up on that particular subject, he'd seen enough commercials on TV to know there were options.

"No, that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking," Emily ducked her head and let out a breath before shyly meeting his gaze. "I'm asking what you think about the possibility of not actually trying, but not not trying, to, um, have a baby."

Steve sat up quickly, a bit startled. Em mimicked his actions, crossing her legs and grabbing a pillow to hug to her chest. "What?"

"If you were okay with it and we decided to not not try, we wouldn't exactly be trying." Her fingers were digging into the pillow and he could tell she was fighting the urge to get off the bed and move closer to the wall, far enough away from him to feel comfortable with the conversation. "Because that's too much pressure. We'd just, uh, stop trying to keep it from happening?" Em said as though it were a question.

"I thought you said you wanted to wait," Steve said. "You said a year of dating before we got married, and a year of being married before having kids."

"I did," she nodded, hugging the pillow tighter. "But," she shrugged. "I just...I don't want to miss the window of opportunity because of some stupid rule I made when I was 23. A lot's changed since then, and I kind of think we've been through a hell of a lot given how long we've been together."

"But right before you went to Europe you said you weren't ready to have kids."

A small 'v' appeared between Emily's eyebrows, and Steve had to resist the urge to reach over and smooth it; she didn't like to be touched when emotionally uncomfortable. "I didn't, then. But you'd be surprised how much thinking you can get done on a train, and…I kept looking at these apartments the realtor emailed us with and thinking about all of the empty space for kids rooms. And then it turned into, well, how would we decorate them, and would it even make sense to set up a spare bedroom for a year? Because what if we got pregnant right away after a year? And Jesus, what if we didn't? What if I couldn't get pregnant and I wasted time twiddling my thumbs because of the stupid rule and," she paused and blinked back the tears that had gathered in her eyes before taking a deep breath. "Sorry, I don't want my mental freak out influencing your answer. So if you want to wait, I'll be okay with it."

"It's not that, I'm just...Jesus, Emily, why didn't you say something before?" he sighed. "Did the doctor say something?"

"No, I swear everything's fine. But like I said, I don't want to look back later and regret not at least giving us more time to, you know...conceive naturally," she shrugged again. "If I start taking the pills again, we're going to have to wait for it to get out of my system and that could take months." He looked at her for a long moment before sighing and letting his head drop. "We don't have to," she said softly, trying to hide the hurt ringing in her voice.

"Hey," Steve said, hesitating a moment before reaching up to cup her cheek. She tensed slightly and kept looking down at the pillow until he tipped her chin up. "I didn't mean to upset you, I just don't want this to be a rash decision."

"It's not."

"So you're saying if you found out you were pregnant right now, you'd be completely fine with it?" he asked, hand dropping to her knee.

"I'd be a bit shocked, but yeah," Em nodded. "I'd be a bit more than fine."

"Even though we're not married, have only known each other for a year and some change, and been together for about a year?"

"Absolutely." When he raised his eyebrows, she huffed. "Ok, I'd be a bit anxious about everything, but I'd still be really happy and I think we could do it."

"It's not that I don't think we can do it, I just don't want you to regret it later on," he said. "Is it...something we need to figure out right away?"

"No," Em pouted. "I haven't filled the prescription yet and I've got to wait until my cycle starts again to start taking the pills."

"Okay, so we have until then to make a decision. So can we take the…" he gave her a look that made her sigh.

"Two weeks, give or take a few days."

"Two weeks," he nodded, "to decide?"

"I guess. Just," Emily sighed, "just think about it, okay?"

"I will," Steve assured her before wrapping a hand around the back of her neck and pulling her closer. She resisted slightly before giving in, placing one hand on his thigh as he kissed her. "Love you, Sweetheart."

"Je t'aime trop." The corner of his mouth twitched up as he pulled the pillow from her grasp and tossed it towards the head of the bed and pulled her into his lap. Caught off guard by the sudden movement, Emily grasped his shirt tightly, afraid that she'd slip on to the floor.

Chuckling, Steve's hand rested on her hip as she settled herself, an arm thrown around his shoulders. "So the doctor said everything was okay?"

"Yup. Said that I'm okay to go back to my general practitioner for routine stuff, but that if we're having any difficulty, to come back."

"You know," Steve said, raising an eyebrow, "we haven't even talked about if my uh...if we were gonna have to think about if the serum affected anything."

"Are you insinuating that you might have super sperm?" Em asked, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"I might have super sperm," he chuckled, squeezing her thigh. "I kind of asked Dr. Flemming about it a while ago, but he wasn't able to give me a straight answer."

"Maybe it's something we should look into? Regardless of what we choose right now."

"That's not a bad idea. S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't have - "

"I'd like to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. out of this as much as possible," Em said quickly.

"'Course," he nodded. "But we will have to think about security concerns and - "

"Dr. Harthorn," JARVIS said, cutting Steve off. The two looked at one another before she looked at the ceiling out of habit.

"Yes?"

"Ms. Potts is on the line. Shall I patch her through?"

"Okay."

"Em?" Pepper's voice suddenly flooded their bedroom.

"Steve's here too," Em said quickly.

"Hi Pepper."

"Oh you're back! I trust everything went well."

"Yup," Steve nodded, looking at Emily as though to assure her as well. "Everything ran smoothly."

"Perfect," Pepper chuckled. "You're coming up for dinner, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

"Thank god; maybe you can keep Tony from doing something stupid with these engineering students."

"I'll do my best," Steve laughed; they all knew that if Tony wanted to do something, the rest be damned.

"That's all I can ask for. But Em, I've got a favor to ask."

"Sure. What's up?" Em asked.

"The catering staff is downstairs and Tony was supposed to let them up, but he's not answering his phone and has his lab on lockdown so - "

"I'll bring them up," she smirked, standing as she said so.

"Thank you! They should be able to set up without supervision but let them know I'll be there shortly." Pepper gave a short huff of frustration before saying, "I'd be there now if it weren't for this incompetent…" they heard her take a deep breath. "Would you mind opening a bottle of red for me and letting it breathe?"

"That bad?"

"That bad," Pepper echoed.

"On it. See you in a bit." Emily stared at the ceiling for a moment, making sure that the call had actually disconnected before sighing and rolling her shoulders. "Guess I'm heading downstairs."

"Hey," Steve said, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to stand between his legs, "you okay?"

"Can't say that I got the answer I wanted," she shrugged, carding her fingers through his hair. "But if you're at least willing to think about it - "

"I just want to make sure this isn't - "

"Something I'd regret."

"- A spur of the moment decision. Because if we did decide to try and…" his hands shifted down to frame her hips as a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, "we couldn't change our minds back."

"Kinda the point, babe," Em smiled before leaning down and slanting her lips over his. "Promise me you'll think about it?"

"I will if you do too."

"I will. Now," she took a step back and winked, "I've gotta go let the people in or it'll be midnight before we eat."

"Don't forget the wine," he reminded her as she slipped on her flats.

"I never forget wine," she tossed over her shoulder as she exited the room.

Steve waited until he heard the swoosh of the elevator doors closing, and then waited another minute to make sure that Emily wasn't going to come back in. Confident that he was alone, he jumped up and grabbed his jacket, shoving his hand into the pocket. His fist closed around a small box and Steve grinned before looking around for a place to hide it, finally shoving it in his go-bag.

OOO

Traffic had been lighter than he'd anticipated, so Steve had driven around town to kill time before heading over. He'd wanted to give them some time to get home from work and relax before springing himself upon them.

Still, the extra time did nothing for his nerves.

As he pulled into the driveway, he saw Caroline peaking out from the kitchen window. Moments later the front door was thrown open and Emily's mother stood there, grinning at him. "Steve! What're you doing here?"

"Ma'am," he ducked his head as he made sure the bike's kickstand was in place. "I...uh…"

"Emily didn't come with you? Is everything okay?" her voice took on a worried tone, and Steve realized this wasn't going well.

"No! No, everything's fine. I just, uh, I was wondering if I could speak to you and Mr. Harthorn." She raised an eyebrow, and Steve once again marveled at how many of her expressions Emily had adopted.

"Matt stayed late at the office, but I can give him a call and hurry him along," she said with a nod. Her eyes ran the length of him before shaking her head, "I can't believe you rode that thing all the way from New York City. You should have taken Em's car - that's what she kept it for!"

"I know," he grinned as she pulled him into a hug. "But it was a nice ride."

"You're gonna kill yourself on that thing," Caroline warned as she walked back into the house. Steve kicked off his shoes and lined them against the mudroom wall before following her into the kitchen, not bothering to remind her that he'd ridden a worse bike all across Europe during the War. "You want something to drink? I've got a couple beers in the fridge, some sodas, milk, water?"

"Water's fine," he nodded, glancing around the house. He smiled at the new picture on the fireplace mantel, one of him and Emily taken at her friends, Brock and Mike, wedding in August. That had also been the weekend that she'd introduced him to Garrett's parents when they'd stopped for a short visit on their drive through Virginia. They'd been nicer than expected, but the meeting had been awkward - even though they'd walked out with their blessing.

"Make yourself comfortable," Caroline smiled, nodding to the living room, "and I'll give Matt a call to hurry him along. And I'll get Em's room ready for you. You're okay with pot roast for dinner, right?"

"Please, don't go through the trouble," Steve said, "I'm going to head back tonight."

"Steven," she said, leveling a very motherly gaze on him, "if you think I'm going to let you jump back on that death trap and drive another five hours tonight, you've got another thing coming. You're staying the night. Now, pot roast okay with you?"

"Pot roast sounds amazing." With a curt nod, Caroline picked up her cell phone and walked down the hallway towards the bedrooms as Steve settled on the couch.

Forty minutes later, Matthew Harthorn was home and giving Steve an almost resigned look as he shook his hand. Caroline elbowed her husband in the ribs before telling him to get washed up for dinner and handed Steve some bowls and nodded to the silverware drawer.

Over dinner they asked him how things were in New York, how Emily was, and Caroline tried to wheedle out a confirmation that they'd both come up for Thanksgiving. Other than a quick, "How's work?", they didn't discuss his job at all.

"So what brings you to Massachusetts?" Matt asked as they finished dinner. "No aliens, I hope." Steve, who had been gathering up his dishes, froze. With an encouraging wink, Caroline took them from him and deposited them in the kitchen sink before coming back to her seat.

"No, not aliens." After clearing his throat and swiping his sweaty palms on his jeans, Steve said, "Sir, Ma'am, I'd like your permission to ask your daughter to marry me."

Caroline slapped her hand on the table and gave an excited whoop. "Yes! My answer is hell yes. Everyone's gonna be so jealous when they find out that Captain America's my son-in-law."

Steve tried not to smile as she beamed at him. Matthew was looking down at his water glass but raised his eyes and sighed when he felt two pairs of expectant eyes on him.

"Let's take a walk."

"Matt," Caroline snapped. "Dites juste oui déjà.Em est en amour avec luiet -"

"I know," he said while standing. "I know. I just want to talk to him before giving him my answer." His wife rolled her eyes as Steve stood as well.

He didn't say anything until they were down the road from the house and turning onto the main street. While Matt was staring at the ground, hands shoved in his pocket to protect against the chill of the October air, Steve was sweating.

Given their past conversations, he'd gone into it knowing that Emily's father was going to be the one to convince. Matthew had made his feelings well known, often to the detriment of his relationship with his daughter, but Steve understood: he couldn't assure him that Emily would be safe.

"Sir - " he started, but Matt waved a hand before coming to a stop.

"You see that phone pole?" Matt asked, pointing across the street. His eyes flickered up to meet Steve's, who nodded, a confused look on his face. "That's where this all started, I suppose."

"Sir?"

A wry smile crossed his mouth before he shook his head. "That's where Emily told me she wasn't going to go to law school."

"Oh," Steve said, glancing at the pole again.

"We musta looked like a bunch of lunatics, standing on the side of the road screaming at each other, but," he shrugged, "I didn't want my little girl to give up her dream. You know, she had told me from the time she was six that she was gonna be a lawyer."

"Yeah?" Emily had told him this before, but Steve didn't feel the need to let him know that.

"Yup. Said she was going to join me at the firm, and that when she became a partner she was going to kick me out of my office and decorate it with Lisa Frank and make it look like Barbie's Dream House."

Steve chuckled.

"And then, when she was just about to finish her degree, she came home and told Caroline and me that she'd changed her mind. She wasn't going to go to Boston College. She wanted to get a degree in history because she'd found this comic book and couldn't find anymore information about this guy, Captain America," he rolled his eyes. "And I was mad. My little girl was throwing away everything because of a comic book?"

"So when she came home for the semester, I tried to convince her that she still wanted to go to law school. I'd at least gotten her to defer her admissions at BC - which was a fight in and of itself - and she worked as a paralegal for me for a semester. But...right over there is where she told me that she wasn't cut out for law school, and that she'd flunk out if I made her go because she didn't care about settling divorces or transferring property rights.. she cared about finding out about this Captain who was a real person that history forgot."

"And when I saw her in North Carolina, I knew she'd made the right choice. Em was happier than I'd ever seen her: new school, teaching, met a guy. Well…You know what happened with that."

"I do," Steve nodded.

"And then she wasn't my little girl anymore. She was this person who just sat there all day and started crying and screaming about how unfair life was." Under the streetlight, Steve could see the gleam of tears in the older man's eyes. "I...I thought I was going to lose her forever. But then Caroline got her to talk to a therapist, and the meds started working, and I saw a bit of her coming back. We were terrified when she went back to school, scared that she was going to go crazy living in their house, but she insisted. Something about the good memories outweighing the bad." Matt shook his head and turned to face Steve.

"My little girl's not a little girl anymore. Now she's this woman who doesn't need my approval or permission to do what she wants. So no, I'm not giving you my permission to marry my daughter, because she - and you - don't need it. But as long as you can promise me that you'll take care of her and try to keep her away from whatever it is that you do, I'll give you my blessing."

Matthew Harthorn extended his hand and gave him a smirk. "Thank you, Sir," Steve said, shaking his hand. "And I'll do my best."

"I know. And stop calling me 'sir'. It's Matt, or Dad if you feel comfortable with it - it took Lauren a while. Now," he reached up to clap Steve on the back. "Let's head back before Caroline sends out a search party or decides to kill me. And if she does decided to kill me, I'll yank my blessing if you don't at least try and stop her."

Steve chuckled. "I didn't bring my shield, but I'll see what I can do."

"Good man. You thought about how you're gonna propose?"

"Yeah. I...uh… I've got a plan."