Chapter 23

By: MysticFantasy

.

.

At Stark Tower, James was starting to realize that his father wasn't around. He hadn't realized until around dinner time and that was when he let everyone know that he wanted his father.

"It's ok, honey." Pepper said as she lightly patted James' back. "He'll be back soon."

"Daddy." James cried into Pepper's shoulder. "Daddy!"

"Here squirt." Tony said as he handed James a Captain America teddy bear that Steve had gotten him when he was a few months old. It seemed to help from time to time and it looked like it would now since James calmed when he got the bear.

"It'll only work for so long." Pepper said as she sat on the couch and continued to sooth James.

"Maybe a video chat will work the next time he cries." Tony suggested.

"That's a good idea." Pepper agreed. "I'm sure he'll appreciate seeing his parent's."

"I wonder how they're doing." Tony said.

.

l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l

l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l

.

Natasha and Steve had just finished their dinner and were quietly sitting on the couch with a fire burning before them.

Natasha sat slightly turned towards Steve with a blanket covering her lap. Steve sat straight with his eyes focusing on the fire.

The spy faced her husband and decided to break the silence.

"Should we...talk...about anything?" she asked.

"Like what?" Steve returned the question.

"About anything." Natasha answered. "Like...have you thought about enrolling James in pre-school?"

Steve lightly smiled at having something to talk about and turned to face his wife.

"I thought about pre-schools and the possibility of home schooling. But I want James to be safe and get social skills. Naturally, Pepper took it upon herself to look into the matter. She's come up with a few good places but it's still too early for James so we're putting the matter on hold for now."

"I know that Pepper would find the best school possible for James." Natasha said. "I can see her trying to enroll him into Princeton or Yale or Harvard by the time he's ten."

"He'll have such a bright future." Steve mused.

"And we'll raise him to be a gentleman like you." Natasha added. "I don't want him to be anything like Tony."

"That I agree with you one hundred percent." Steve said with a smile.

They stared at each other for a moment with smiles. The moment calm and serene but ended.

"It's getting late." Steve said. "We should get to sleep."

Natasha nodded and followed him into the bedroom. They changed into comfortable clothes and climbed into bed with space between them.

"We made progress today." Steve said.

"I'm glad we did." Natasha said.

They smiled at each other once more before shutting their eyes and allowing sleep to take them.