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"-no, no, I understand completely. Get some rest. Feel better soon."
Beth hung up the phone before running a frustrated hand through her curls. That was the third back-up babysitter - all of them were sick with some sort of new flu strain going around. Miss Claire from across the hall usually watched Alex, but she was gone to visit her sister a few states over, leaving Beth to rely on old contacts to babysit her son. She'd called the first two back-ups four days ago, found them both sick, and thought she'd gotten incredibly lucky when the last one was perfectly healthy.
Now, half an hour before Steve was supposed to pick her up for their three month anniversary date, she had no babysitter.
She would have to cancel.
Sighing, she went to do just that. Her finger hovered over the call button, hesitating as her thoughts jumped around in her head. She'd been looking forward to this, and she knew he had, too. Three months of dating - of going out once a week, of texting throughout the day, of late night calls and early morning talks. After her ex-husband, she wasn't sure she would ever be happy with another man again, that she would ever be in love. No, she'd been content to raise her son, focus on only him and not herself.
Then Steve Rogers walked back into her life.
Steve was incredible. Not just for being an Avenger, for being Captain America, but for being himself. That was what she loved most. His heart of gold. His fierce loyalty. His steady hand in hers. The way his eyes lit up when he laughed. She loved how he held a pencil to draw the most amazing things while she leaned against him in the park. She loved how he looked at her.
And yet she was holding herself back from falling completely in love. There was only one reason for it.
Steve hadn't met Alexander yet.
It wasn't anything against Steve, not at all. It was the fault of that paranoid voice in her head. She had never dated since her ex. She didn't know how to introduce her kid to her boyfriend beyond telling Alex that Steve was her special friend. It had been her and Alex for so long, and she couldn't stand the thought of bringing someone into her son's life who might not stay-
A knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts.
Steve. Early as always.
Her heart pounded in her ears as she got up, a mix of excitement to see him and trepidation at having to cancel when he'd made it all the way here. Mentally preparing herself for that conversation, she opened the door - and was met with the biggest bouquet of roses she'd ever seen.
Steve peeked over the top of them, that shy grin on his face that made her heart melt. "Hi, Beth."
"Hi, Steve. Are those for me?"
"Of course." He passed the bundle into her arms, pressing a kiss to her cheek as he did so. "I didn't over do it, did I?"
"Never." She laughed. She tilted the roses where she could smell them. "They're beautiful."
"Not more beautiful than you."
Again, she laughed, cheeks heating up. She wasn't sure if Steve understood exactly how much of a charmer he was without even trying. "Thank you."
"Are you ready to go?"
Just like that, her giddy happiness was replaced with trepidation. "About that, Steve," she shifted on her feet, hating how his expression changed from happy to confused, "my babysitter just canceled. I don't have anyone to take Alex."
He paused, glancing around her living room as if he was thinking. "Why don't we take him with us?"
Her breath caught. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely." He smiled. "As long as it's okay with you. I've been wanting to meet him for a while. I doubt he likes seafood, so we could go to an arcade, play a few games, eat pizza, maybe get ice cream later?"
"That sounds amazing." She replied, finding herself smiling. She put the roses down on the coffee table for now, intent to find a vase after they get back. "I'll be back in a minute."
"Take your time, love."
She blew him a kiss over her shoulder, then headed toward her son's room. She knocked lightly on the cracked door. "Alex, honey, are you done with your homework?"
"Almost!"
She pushed the door open, finding her five year old son laying on his stomach in the floor, his math book open and pencil tapping against his cheek. She knelt down beside him, her dress pooling around her. "How many problems do you have left?"
"Just one, but it's really hard."
"Hm, let's have a look." He pushed the book toward her and she read out loud. "If Tommy has thirty-six apples and he gives Billy fifteen apples, how many apples does Tommy have?"
"Why would Tommy have thirty-six apples, Mama? That's too many apples."
"It sounds like he's sharing with his friends, or maybe his brother."
"Why does Billy need fifteen apples? That's almost half of Tommy's apples!"
"Almost half, hm? How many apples does Tommy have?"
"Uh..." Her son dropped his pencil to count on his fingers. "...twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two, twenty-one - he has twenty-one apples!"
"That's right! Good job." She ruffled his blonde curls, getting him to laugh. He marked down his answer.
"Is Miss Bia here?" He asked, referring to the babysitter.
Nerves bundled up in Beth's stomach. "Actually, sweetheart, we're going to do something different tonight."
He sat up, excitement and curiosity in his eyes. "What?"
"Do you remember how I told you that I was going with my special friend Steve?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, instead, we're all going to go together. We're going to get pizza and play games. Does that sound fun?"
He nodded, albeit hesitantly. "You said he's nice, right Mama?"
"He's very nice. Would you like to meet him now? Or do you want to talk for a few more minutes? You can ask any questions about him that you want."
He considered for a moment. "Okay, I'll meet him."
She smiled. "I think you'll like him." She hoped. She didn't think he wouldn't like Steve, but she also didn't know how her son would react to this situation. She stood and held out her hand. Alex took it in his smaller one and they walked out the door together. The short hallway opened up into the living room within a few steps. "Steve," she called gently, getting his attention from where he was fixing the roses, "this is my son, Alex." She looked down at her boy, finding him stepping to partially hide himself from view behind her dress. It was uncharacteristic for her normally so out going son. He would talk to strangers anywhere - on a bus, in the grocery store, on a walk in the park. Even when he was a baby, he babbled at anyone.
Before she could do anything to try and help, Steve walked over, giving a little wave. "Hi, Alex," he knelt down a few feet away, turning his head as if he could peer behind the cloth at him. "Your mama has told me a lot about you. You're very special to her, and she loves you a lot."
Alex peeked out from behind her, his green eyes jumping to meet her encouraging smile before landing on Steve. "Mama says you're nice."
"That's a very nice thing to say." He met her eyes, then refocused his attention back on her son. "What's your favorite kind of pizza?"
"Pepperoni."
"Oh, that's my favorite, too."
"Really?"
"Really, and we're going to go get some. You can eat as much of it as you want - er, as much as your mom will let you have."
Alex studied him before looking up at her and whispering, "I like him, Mama."
It took everything in her not to laugh, squeezing her son's hand gently. "I like him, too."
_____
In late May, it was a warm enough night for them to walk the half mile to the closest arcade. Alex stuck close to her, holding her hand while Steve walked on his other side, but continued to come more and more out of his shell as he and Steve talked. Steve asked him a bunch of questions about school, his friends, what shows he liked to watch, what video games he liked to play. Beth's heart was happy when Alex answered them all with more and more of his normal extroverted attitude.
It wasn't long before they got to the arcade. Steve insisted on buying a cup full of tokens for Alex, who practically vibrated with excitement in his dinosaur themed shoes. The couple followed him around as he jumped from game to game, Steve holding the cup for him with one hand and his other hand holding Beth's. Thankfully, the place wasn't too crowded, and they didn't get but one or two odd looks for their rather fancy attire being out of place. They'd been planning to to a rather uptown restaurant, but this was much better.
"Thank you so much for this," Beth said quietly, not taking her eyes off her son who was playing air hockey against another boy, a competitive grin on his face.
"Thank you for letting me meet this amazing kid of yours."
"I'm sorry I didn't let you meet him sooner. I was just nervous, and-"
"Hey," he said, getting her to look at him, "you have nothing to apologize for."
"Mama! Steve!" Alex called as he ran over, waving his handful of tickets triumphantly. "Look, I won!"
"Good job, buddy." Steve replied, releasing her hand to take the tickets. They were being stored in his breast pocket, but Beth had a feeling they'd be moving to fill her purse soon.
"Are you having fun?" Beth asked her son.
"Yeah!" He bounced on his heels. "Can we have pizza now? And play more later?"
"I don't see why not."
"Awesome!"
They got an extra large pepperoni pizza and three drinks. They sat at a booth by the window, helping Alex count his tickets, until their order number was called. Beth volunteered herself to get it as long as Alex was okay staying with Steve for a minute. He was, so she left and got the pizza.
Halfway back, she was able to hear them talking, and Alex's question made her stop in her tracks.
"You're Captain America, right?"
Beth paused, holding her breath as she listened. She hadn't expected for Alex to recognize him. Whenever he saw Captain America, he had his uniform on, not in civilian wear.
"Yes, I am." Steve replied. "But you can't tell your friends, alright?"
"Okay." He promised. There was a brief pause. "So you'll protect my mama?"
"I will protect you and your mama."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Alex held out his hand. More specifically, he held out his pinky. "Pinky swear on it."
Though he looked confused at what exactly a pinky swear was, Steve mirrored him, and they pinky swore. It was only then did Beth get her legs to move. Steve caught her eyes over the booth, giving her a soft smile that said he knew she'd heard. Finally, she put the pizza down on the table. "Dinner is served."
"Yay!" Alex opened the lid and grabbed two slices at once, putting one on his plate. Beth settled in beside him, running a hand through his curls briefly before getting her own piece.
While the boy was busy munching on his favorite food, Steve asked her, "How's the business going? Tony keeping you busy with the coffee orders?"
She chuckled. "That he is." She'd had so many orders to fill and within a month, she'd had to resign from the restaurant for hopefully the last time in order to keep up. The Stark couple had a standing order for themselves, their Stark Industries Tower in New York, as well as a surplus order that Steve told her went to the Avengers Compound. Once her neighbors caught onto her making coffee powder, she was getting orders from her entire apartment complex, and it just kept growing. She'd taught Steve how to make her special recipe purely to help with the demand. She would have to hire people soon.
"He says his employees have almost gotten into fights over it when it's running low." He chuckled. "Have you thought more on getting a building?"
"I have." She answered. "And I think I've found the place, I'm just not sure." She'd spotted it when walking back from the store with Alex: a rundown place, yet her heart clung to it. The next day, she'd gone to see it, and the owner showed her how it was divided into three compartments. One where that could serve as a Cafe, one for everything to do with the Cafe, and another where she could make her trademark coffee powder that tasted remarkably good compared to other powders, based on customer reviews. "Would you take a look at it with me, later this week?" Maybe having Steve approve of it would help her anxiety. It wasn't that she didn't have the money - she had enough set aside that when the lease was up for her apartment, she was moving her and Alex to a better one - she was just worried it would all go south the second she signed a mortgage for a building.
"I'd be happy to."
Once they finished the pizza, Alex corraled them into having a skee ball competition with the open three lanes. Steve did best, which she wasn't exactly surprised about, and Alex came second. Beth had never been good at games and didn't mind coming last. It was all worth it when Steve gave Alex a high-five, their smiles lighting up her world.
Her boys.
They were her boys.
They played games until the coins ran out. With his tickets, Alex got one of those slap hand things and a glow in the dark bracelet. When they walked down the sidewalk toward the local ice cream place, Alex put one hand in hers, then reached out for Steve's, hesitant and ready to pull away if he was rejected. Steve took his hand and the biggest smile bloomed on her son's face. Beth could have almost cried from how much joy was bursting inside of her.
"Swing me! Swing me!" Alex swung their hands, jumping up and down until the couple raised him up in the air, letting him swing back and forth. It was a thing she'd seen parents do, had known her own parents to do with her when she was young, and had wished for Alex to have that experience.
He laughed as they swung him again and again, all the way down the block, and she joined him, relieved and so, so happy.
Despite her protest, Steve bought the ice cream, and they sat at another booth to eat it.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Steve asked Alex over his cup of rocky road. Beth had strawberry in her own cup.
Her son paused where he carefully held a cone of vanilla ice cream, the treat already starting to run over and onto his little fingers. "I want to drive race cars!"
"Really? That sounds fun."
"Uh-huh! I rode bumper cars once. It was cool."
"Well, maybe we can go ride bumper cars sometime in the next few weeks, if it's okay with your mama."
Alex looked at her, eyes huge and pleading. "Can we, Mama?"
She chuckled, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "I don't see why not."
"Awesome!"
The waitress came over, putting some extra napkins on the table. "Anything else for the lovely family?"
Family.
It took a moment for Beth's brain to reboot. "No, we're fine, thank you."
"Alrighty!" She left, and Beth gaze locked on Steve. His eyes asked the silent question of 'are you okay?' She nodded, though her mind was halfway elsewhere as Alex talked about his spelling test next Wednesday.
A family. They looked like a family.
They could be a family.
She thought about it all the way home. They took the long way, letting Alex burn off his sugary energy until he was reaching for her to pick him up. She did so immediately, letting him wrap his arms around her neck. His head fell to rest on her shoulder, eyelids fluttering. Steve stepped closer on her other side, hand pressed against the middle of her back, and she leaned into it.
'Yes,' she thought, 'we could be a family.'
When they got back to the apartment, she left Steve in the living room to get Alex ready for bed. She helped him into his pajamas, wiped the last of the ice cream from his face, and settled him into his bed. Half awake, he looked up at her as she tucked him in.
"Mama?"
"Yes, sweetheart?" She asked, sitting on the edge of the mattress. She ran her hand through his hair.
"Is Steve going to stay around?"
"Would you be okay if he did?"
"Yeah. He's fun." He smiled sleepily. "And he makes you happy."
Her heart melted for the millionth time that day. "He does. You both make me so happy." She kissed his forehead. "Goodnight, Alex. I love you."
"I love you, Mama."
She stayed until he fell asleep, as she always did. She didn't want to miss a single second more of her child's life than she had to, and these peaceful moments were ones she cherished just as much as when he was hyped up on sugar and talking a mile a minute.
When she did leave, she shut the door quietly and took a moment to breathe. She hadn't expected for Steve to meet her son tonight. She hadn't planned it.
Yet it went perfectly. Better than she could have imagined.
Smiling to herself, she headed back to the main area of her apartment to find Steve in her kitchen. He'd found a large vase to put the roses in, and was now re-arranging them on her counter. "Hey doll, what do you think?" He asked as she approached.
"They look lovely." She smiled softly. When she was close enough, he turned to face her, smiling that stupidly gorgeous smile, and her heart lurched. This man. This amazing man. He didn't have to do half the things he did for her and yet he did them anyway.
He opened his arms for her and she stepped into them easily. It was a familiar, safe place to be - wrapped in his arms, her hands on his shoulders, looking up into those eyes.
Eyes she wanted to look at for the rest of her life.
"Did Alex go to bed okay? He looked pretty tired, but I know with Morgan-"
Beth herself wasn't too sure how it happened, but the next thing she knew she was kissing him. She kissed him like she never had before in their relationship, pressing all the love she'd denied herself to feel into it. Her arms went around his neck, his tightened around her waist, and the entire apartment washed away in an instant. Time became meaningless, an eternity compressed into seconds. It was something she had never felt in her life.
And she wanted to feel it every single day.
Because she was head over heels in love with Steve Rogers.
When they finally broke apart, he asked, "What was that for? Not that I didn't like it."
"Thank you for what you did today. You didn't have to." She took a deep breath before forcing herself to speak. "I was scared to introduce you two. I didn't want him to get attached and then something would happen where you would leave-"
"Beth, listen to me." He brought up a hand that he used to push back a stray stand of hair. "The last thing I'm going to do is leave. I can promise you that. Even if we do somehow break up, which I really doubt with how much I love you, I'm not going anywhere. I will do everything I can to be here for you and Alex, either as your boyfriend or as a friend who wants to see you succeed. As long as you will have me, I will be here. I swear."
The anxiety she'd been carrying for three months disappeared. All the worry, all the stress, all the second thoughts - it all went away with those words. A smile spread across her face. "You love me?"
His cheeks went pink. "I- uh, maybe I'm stupid to say that so early, but yes. Yes, I do. I love you."
Her hand came to rest on his cheek. "If you're stupid, then I'm stupid. I love you, too."
He laughed, bringing his forehead down to rest against hers. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that."
"I think I do," she replied. If he was feeling anything like how she was feeling, then there were fireworks bursting in his chest.
He kissed her and she melted into it, eyes shutting as she soaked it in - the love, the trust, the promise that she knew he wouldn't break.
This had to be what true love felt like.