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Ava Starr had never dated a transgirl—-not before Yelena. Sure, Ava had brief relationships and affairs with various girls she met on missions for SHIELD, but none of them lasted more than a week… and none of them got overly intimate either. (They had all been cis as well.)
Yelena was Ava’s first in that regard, actually. Yelena had ‘popped Ava’s cherry’, as Walker so crudely put it when he found out.
Ava didn't expect her and Yelena's relationship to continue long-term, given her past track record with relationships; she was pleasantly surprised when the two stuck together months after they first got together.
For once in her life, Ava had something actually good… (Well, other than Walker who was like an annoying brother to her.)
Everything had been going smoothly for months for her and Yelena until one morning…
Ava tossed and turned slightly in bed, trying to get uncomfortable as the nighttime darkness consumed the bedroom as Yelena dosed rather peacefully next to her. Ava looked over to her girlfriend and smiled a little. At least Yelena was getting some decent sleep—-that was Ava's main concern at the moment, as Yelena was often prone to nightmares.
Ava inhaled slowly and tried to snuggle closer against her girlfriend and pinched her eyes closed, trying her hardest to fall asleep.
And luckily for Ava, she did temporarily fall asleep—-though it really wasn't a deep sleep.
Ava didn't know when she woke up, but she could tell that by then it was very early morning, just before dawn.
Ava laid on their bed, looking up to the darkened ceiling as her stomach churned. Ava groaned, sickly as she tried to ignore the feeling. She probably had something that disagreed with her—-after all, Alexei was the one to insist on cooking for them the prior night.
Ava tried to close her eyes once more to fall back asleep, but almost immediately after she did, she could already feel bile creepily inching up her throat.
Ava’s eyes opened quickly and she gagged as she sat up. Okay, don't panic… You're just going to be sick. You'll be fine. Alexei didn't poison you too bad… I hope.
Ava got up from the bed, careful to not disturb Yelena's sleep, before rushing to the nearest bathroom in the tower, flipping on the light, leaning over the toilet and heaving and coughing.
Ava didn't know how long she was kneeled over the toilet, getting sick before someone noticed. Bob.
“Oh, hey, Ava, I noticed you were—-” Bob stopped dead in his tracks, palling a little at the sight and smell. He averted his gaze quickly, still in the doorway. “Are—- Are you okay?”
Ava groaned, still feeling sick. “Do I look bloody okay to you, Bob?” She gagged again.
Bob inched away. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just… d-don’t do well with people being sick. I'm kind of s-squeamish, if I'm being honest.”
Ava inhaled, slowly, feeling sweat start to bead on her forehead. “Yeah, I noticed.”
“D-Do you need water or something?” Bob asked, trying to help.
Ava wiped her mouth, slowly standing and flushing the toilet before washing her hands and mouth off. “No… I appreciate the thought, Bob… But I'll be fine. I just need rest.”
And for a while, Ava did think rest would ‘cure’ her, but it wasn't helping. Not one bit.
Ava was getting sick almost every morning—-which she tried to hide from the team. …she didn't want to seem like a liability.
As the next few weeks passed by, Ava remained sick and rather tired. It felt like she was always running on a zero percent battery now.
Ava wasn't sure what was going on with her, but it wasn't Alexei’s cooking poisoning her. …And the uncertainty of it all is what scared Ava the most.
Each week that passed since Ava first started getting sick, Ava felt worse and worse. At first for Ava, she had felt like she had overeaten at some sort of feast—-but now, it was more than that. It felt like she had swallowed a rock. It got to the point that if Ava put a hand on her belly, she could actually feel what felt like bloating.
Ava groaned, looking in the mirror one night, one hand clutching her stomach. “Great,” she began sarcastically with a huff. “I'm getting fat… That's exactly what I bloody wanted!” She looked in the mirror again before grimacing and heading out.
Ava laid in bed again with Yelena.
It seemed like the longer her relationship with Yelena had gone on, the more comfortable Yelena had become, resulting in less and less nightmares.
Well, at least that's something, Ava thought to herself, watching the rise and fall of her girlfriend’s chest as she slept.
Ava laid there in silence for a little while longer before it started to dawn on her. …Everything she and Yelena did…
No… Ava couldn't be…
Right?
Ava scrambled to get up, not even paying attention to the commotion she may have caused before throwing something on to head out to the nearest convenience store.
Yelena stirred a little from the motion of Ava throwing herself up out of bed. “...zvezdochka?” She murmured, still half asleep. “Where are you going?”
Ava didn't answer. She was already out the door.
─┉─¡! • !¡─┉─
When Ava had taken the various tests she had gotten, she expected to feel dread, but oddly enough, she didn't; instead Ava felt… excitement? What was wrong with her?
Before Ava knew it, she was getting back multiple positives. She just stared in shock and a little bit of awe at the sight of the results.
“I'm preg—- nant,” Ava murmured to herself, in shock, words tapering off at the end. “I'm pregnant…” Realization started to set in for Ava as she said this. “Oh my god, I'm pregnant!” She then repeated for a third time, excitement laced in her tone.
Ava placed a hand over her stomach, feeling her heart flutter with pure excitement. “It's Yelena's… It's Yelena's…”
Her gaze flickered over to the mirror and she watched the way she cradled her own stomach.
She was a former shadow operative—-one who was known for a various number of crimes, including murder. Why was she getting so excited about this?
“Because I love her,” Ava murmured to herself, trying to rationalize her excitement to herself. “I love Yelena and we made this… Together. It's a good thing.”
─┉─¡! • !¡─┉─
Ava cut her hair shorter due to her illness and exhaustion. It needed to be easier to manage.
Ava told Walker about what was going on before anyone else; she told him even before she told Yelena.
Ava had her mind made up on what she'd do and no one would sway her decision. She was going to keep the thing, dammit.
Walker and Ava had been slowly cleaning up one of the extra rooms, not too far from Yelena and Ava's shared one, trying to convert it into a perfect room for an infant for when the time came. Converting the room became a full-time project.
Both of them were to keep it on the downlow… Even if Ava's state was going to become obvious soon enough as she came up on week number seven.
“...and now we have this big space crisis that nobody's telling us about,” Yelena muttered, bitterly.
Ava watched Walker visibly flinch at that. Ava had stiffened too, hoping that Yelena hadn't picked up what they were doing.
Walker cleared his throat, trying to throw the suspicion, but failing, miserably. “We're running out of space? That's… That's impossible! This place is huge!” He gave Ava a look of pride in what he had done.
Ava groaned, nearly face-palming at her friend's actions.
Yelena turned to face Walker, glaring at him and giving him the best questioning look of: ‘are you really this stupid?’. “Outer space!”
“Outer space… Oh….”
Ava tried to hide her annoyance with Walker for the rest of the time the team was all congregated out there to look at what the satellites had picked up.
Afterwards though, Walker approached Ava. “Did pretty good, eh?”
“No you didn't, you bloody idiot! You almost got us caught! She almost found out that—-” Ava began, annoyed.
“No, if it weren't for me, Ghost, your girlfriend would already know about—-” Walker started to say.
Yelena approached her girlfriend and her teammate during this with a raised eyebrow. “Is everything okay over here?”
Ava stiffened a little as she looked over to her girlfriend and let out a nervous laugh. “Yes. Everything’s okay.”
“No. Tell her. Tell Yelena,” Walker insisted.
“Tell me what exactly?” Yelena asked.
“Nothing, nothing. It's fine,” Ava tried to reassure Yelena.
“She needs to know,” Walker continued to push on.
“Again… Tell me what?” Yelena questioned once more, but this time, more sternly.
Walker gave Ava a glance of ‘what are you waiting for’ before Ava sighed. “Fine.”
Ava took Yelena’s hand and led her to a more private area so the two could talk. She took a deep breath. “I don't know how to say this… But I'm just gonna go for it, okay?”
“Okay?” Yelena began, a little confused with what was going on.
Ava gently took one of Yelena's hands and gently guided it to her stomach. Slowly, Ava whispered, “I'm pregnant, Yelena. I'm pregnant.”
“Seriously?” Yelena blinked in disbelief. “...Mine?”
Ava nodded. “Who else's?” She nearly held her breath as she waited for Yelena’s reaction.
Yelena swallowed. “Well… in that case, Ava… I am sorry.”
That… wasn't the response Ava was looking for. “Sorry? You're sorry?”
“Yes,” Yelena nodded as she moved her hand away from Ava again. “I did this to you.”
Ava huffed, annoyed. “Don't bloody apologize to me! I want this, Yelena! I want this with you!”
“You can't mean that,” Yelena said with a slight scoff.
Ava was taken aback. “Excuse me? What do you mean ‘I can’t mean that’?”
“Well,” Yelena began to tell her. “It's just that I'm me… and—-”
“Don't you dare say some bloody self-deprecating bullshit! Don't you dare!”
“I could look for an aborti—-” Yelena was cut off.
“No.” The response from Ava was stern and definite.
“No? But you know what I've done—-”
“Yes, Yelena! I know you've done bad things! I've done bad things! Everyone here has done bad things! But that doesn't change the way I feel about you!” Ava took Yelena's hand and put it back on her stomach once more. “I love you, dammit! I love you, Yelena… and I love this little thing you put inside me!”
“You… You really do—-” Yelena swallowed, hand falling away.
“Yes, Yelena,” Ava said, her expression softening as well as her tone. “I love you… Both of you… More than anything. You are my family. …the only good things I've had for me in this shitty mess they call life.” She swallowed, voice growing even quieter than it was before. “I'm just asking for you to trust my judgement here… Because I know I want this… With y-you.”
Silence fell upon the two of them for a moment before Yelena spoke again.
“Okay, Ava… If you really wanna do this, then I support your decision… I'll figure out this parenting thing… For us,” Yelena murmured, softly, putting a hand over her girlfriend's stomach, gently, on her own accord.
“Thank you,” Ava whispered, eyes glassy. “Thank you. You won't regret this. I promise.”
More silence echoed for a brief moment.
“...Ava?” Yelena swallowed.
“Yeah, love?”
Yelena then softly asked, “If it's a girl, can we call her Natasha?”
Ava felt her heart flutter hearing Yelena's sweet question. She gently smiled at Yelena. “Yeah, baby. If it's a girl, she'll be called Natasha.”