Chapter Text
“Are you sure, sweetheart? There will be time later.” Alex’s voice wove through the ribbons of pain tying her to the bed.
Fourteen hours later and it was over. She did a marvelous job and everything went according the plan, the doctors assured them. Morgan could hardly remember anything from those hours. The pain was warded off, misty and faint in her mind now that it was over. Every time she tried to grasp on to it, it would slip away, gone from the moment she glimpsed the bright red skin. Beautiful even under all the residue and goo. The results of those hours of work was far beyond any expectation. In her husband’s arms wrapped tight in a blanket with giraffes on it slept a miracle.
Their baby.
A weighted feeling clung to her limbs, making it difficult to reach out and pull the blanket back ever so slightly. Pale brown hair peaked out and though her hand shook, she smiled.
Another nurse came in and insisted on tests – both for mother and baby. Morgan’s heart stuttered when the yellow bundle was taken away.
It was time.
“Yes, I want to do this.” He sighed. The scrubs he wore crinkled as he moved around the room. As with all things in his life Alex was ready to head to the front ground which this time was right next to the doctor. At first, she had felt like a science experiment, listening to him ask questions about the labor, about her. It wasn’t until his hand curled around her ankle, shaking ever so slightly, that she realized he was nervous as well and she remembered his own mother had died in giving birth to his younger sister.
Watching him look down at their child she felt ridiculously proud of how far they’d come.
“You look ridiculous dear.” She smiled sleepily, admiring the way the scrubs were showed his butt off in just the right way as he leaned over the bag.
“And you look as gorgeous as the day I spied you across the library.”
“Stop it. I had been there for twenty-two hours at that point and would have scared any children in the radius.”
The bed dipped to her side and when he smiled the dimples on his left cheek stood out. His hand moved and he took her fingers in his, squeezing firmly. She couldn’t close her fingers but held on as hard as her strength would allow.
“I remember the sun streaming down from the windows highlighting those glorious dark circles you get when you have no sleep. There were a line of students standing there, staring at your radiance but you paid them no mind and only focused on the book in front of you. When I finally got up the courage to buy you a coffee and set it down on the table. You took one sip and without looking up asked for straight black before going back to work. I think the smile you gave me when I set the second coffee down was when I fell in love with you for the first time.”
A smile came over her face, remembering the way she assumed he would leave and not bother her again. The second time the cup arrived along with a blueberry scone and he sat across from her. They didn’t talk, finals were coming up, but for the rest of the week he somehow found her in the library. A coffee and scone ready for her.
“You’re so dramatic.” She said and shut her eyes concentrating on the finger rubbing against her knuckles. Without opening them she said, “Let me see him.”
He shifted beside her and pressed his lips against her forehead. She knew it was sweaty and her hair was pasted against her face, but his hands still caressed her hair as their foreheads rested against each other.
“I’m so proud of you, my love.” He said before moving.
A shrill wail come from the hallway and her head whipped toward the direction it came from. Her eyes opened wide, heart pounding as different scenarios, each impossibly worse than the next raced through her mind.
Alex stepped back in, the yellow blanket and bundle safely in his arms. Her pulse calmed on the sight. Her two loves came toward her and everything was right again. The nurses hovered in the hallway and she thanked them silently for the space. Alex moved closer and resumed his early spot next to her.
With careful choreography he lifted his arms forward to place their child in her own. The fabric was soft against her skin and the smell of soap washed out the hospital scent. Morgan stared down at the tiny, pink face and the world changed for a moment.
The sun beaming into their little room from the window warmed. Her back which ached only a second ago moved the ease it hadn’t since her teenage years and she knew she would carry this weight in her arms for eternity.
Alex rubbed his thumb along her elbow. Tears filled her eyes blurring their child from view for a moment.
“Can we play it. Please?”
Alex moved across the room again. Her finger trailed down his cheek, mapping out the nonexistent eyebrows and over the rim of his hat. She took in every detail. How his eyes scrunched shut, his quick breaths against her hand, and how before this she was convinced babies looked like tiny trolls only to be proven wrong be the being in front of her.
“How’s mommy and child doing?”
“Mom! I’m doing fine… now.” Pepper laughed and filed into the room. She kissed her daughter on the cheek and touched the cheek of her grandson with a soft smile.
“He’s beautiful, Morguna.”
“Thanks Mom.”
There was a moment of silence. Alex stood next to her but she knew their eyes were all on the child.
More people filed into the room. Rhodey came in and kissed them both, ribbing Alex that he should be thankful the baby took after her. Happy stayed away but cracked a smile at the new mother and son. Peter and MJ arrived, breath short with Toni dragged behind them.
Her whole family was there.
Alex set up the table and placed the helmet on top. It was her first time seeing the red and gold metal in years and a small lump formed in her throat.
This is what she requested. This is what she wanted she told herself.
Everyone faced the wall and the laughter present before faded. Alex thanked everyone for coming and looked at her for confirmation. With a nod the familiar glow filled the room.
Morgan lowered her head to rest above her sons, whispering in the softest voice she could muster.
“Hello little one. I want you to meet your family. These are the people that made you possible. These are the people who make this world amazing and I want you to meet your Grandpa.”
She gripped Alex’s wrist and listened.
“God, what a world. “
Her dad was right she could see all these years later. What a world it was. Their child was theirs, hers and Alex’s, but larger than that he was their family’s. He was possible because of Alex’s unbreakable love and foot rubs. He was all the spa days and candy her and Pepper snuck when Happy wasn’t looking. He was possible because of the healthy diet Happy insisted on during her pregnancy. He was Rhodey’s softly whispered stories he told to her swollen stomach. He was songs and videos Peter made for when her baby was older.
Yes, this child wasn’t just hers. It was the worlds and the result of so much love from so many different people.
This child was also Anthony Edward Stark’s. Here now tucked safely between his parents and a team of world class superheroes because of the sacrifice, the love, and the protection her father gave freely.
She pressed a kiss against the smooth forehead and smiled against his skin.
“I love you 3000.”
Father and daughter whispered in unison to the small child in her arms.