Valentine
Warnings: 18+readersonly, heavy angst, hard pregnancy
Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs, which consist of Penny Fury, Elizabeth Nelson, Elijah Chan, Katya Venice, Violetta Moscow, Lan Le, Josh, Trang Tien, Ahni Jallow, Mai Ito, and Ghaida Kashual as well as other OCs that will come up throughout the story.
Steve could feel himself struggling as he came awake and that made him struggle more in panic. But soon, his eyes were blinking open and he saw the comforting, dim lights of the med-bay in the Avengers Compound. He could feel plastic over his face, stale oxygen from a tank being forced down his lungs.
He felt a little sluggish and looked over to see Bucky sitting in the chair close to the bed, looking extremely worried. Sam was there too and Bruce was standing by the foot of the bed.
Steve reached up, taking the mask off, "What- Why-?" He suddenly remembered where he had been last and he tried throwing himself out of the bed. Bucky grabbed his shoulders, slamming him back down into the sheets, pushing his body weight to keep him in bed, "Elizabeth!" Steve gasped wildly. He could hear a heart monitor going off.
"She's fine." Bucky said forcefully. "Steve, she's fine. She's upstairs with Thor."
"I need to see her." Steve gasped out. It wasn't that he didn't believe Bucky, but he felt strange now, like he wouldn't believe it until he saw her.
"Okay, just give Bruce a second." Bucky said softly, stroking his hair back.
Steve rested back into the pillows as Bruce approached him gently. "How do the lungs feel?"
"Uh, fine." Steve said, trying to focus on himself now. "I'm fine."
"Okay well I need you to stay in here a couple more hours and don't move." Bruce ordered.
"What happened?" Steve demanded.
"Seems like the spy again." Sam said softly, his teeth gnawing at his bottom lip in worry. "They messed with the air filters. Lowered the Oxygen levels in Elizabeth's room. Not enough that she noticed, but for super soldier lungs. . ."
"Shit." Steve groaned. "That's why I felt so weird. I thought I was just running on a high from the play."
Sam nodded. "I thought the air felt strange and then I went in and you'd passed out. Thor helped me get you down here and then took Elizabeth with him to the living room. She's fine, she didn't even have to go on a ventilator. She's worried about you though. L.I.T.Z.Y. is supposed to let her know when you wake up. She'll probably be here soon."
Steve nodded, letting himself lay right back into the pillows. "Okay. I just. . . waking up here and she wasn't here. . ."
"Understandable." Bucky said softly, leaning over and kissing his shoulder sweetly. He could tell they had been worried about him a lot.
"Everyone else?"
"They're all fine. It looked like it was just trying to get Elizabeth again." Sam said softly, sitting on the end of the bed.
"Doctor Banner, we have an immediate emergency." F.R.I.D.A.Y.S voice suddenly said through the intercom.
"Where?" Steve demanded, ready to fly to Elizabeth's side.
"It appears that Ms Moscaw is encountering problems with her pregnancy. Her heart rate spiked and has now dropped dramatically low. She isn't responding to my commands."
"Bruce." Sam said urgently as the man started to turn green, fear in his eyes.
"I need- to get to my room." Bruce gasped. "Get Strange into Violetta's room."
"I've got you." Sam said and Steve watched helplessly as his soulmate led Bruce from the room.
Bucky was on the phone, speaking quickly into it. Then he was off of it, his fingers flying as he sent a text.
Elizabeth ran into the room then, "Steve!"
"Princess." He murmured, pulling her into his arms tightly.
"Are you okay?" She asked, cupping his face. Her brown eyes were wide and full of worry.
"Yes. I just hope Violetta is too."
🪣🔰 Ⓟⓞᐯ 匚ħαภ𝓖ⓔ 😵♻️
Violetta laid on the floor of her bedroom, her vision spotty. But she couldn't focus on that as she tried, instead, to focus on breathing. She knew she needed to move, to sound some alarm. She just hoped that her not answering F.R.I.D.A.Y. was alarming enough.
It had been so sudden. . . the pain. One minute she'd been trying to figure out what she was going to wear cause Katya had wanted to swim in Starks' pool but she didn't know if she really wanted to wear a bathing suit. The next minute, something felt like it had smashed her ribs and she was on the floor in pain.
She felt something sliding down her chin and she shakily wiped it away. Her fingers came away red.
She tried to breathe in, but her lungs didn't seem to be working. She was thrown into flashbacks of being in that awful place. Maybe she was still there. . . being whipped again. Had she failed something?
"Vi?" An urgent voice said from above her. Hands were on her body.
"No!" She tried to gasp out. "No leave me alone! I'm sorry!"
"Vi, it's okay. It's okay Vi." Hands tilted her face up towards them and she was the vague outline of. . . was that Josh?
"Josh?" She choked out, tears filling her eyes. She thought she might be lifting her hand to touch his face. She missed him so much. Why would she miss him like this?
"No, Vi." A soft voice said. "It's me, James. James Rhodey. I'm sorry."
Vi felt weird and then felt arms lifting her. She could make out Stranges' voice now, barking orders and the sounds of machinery. "No!" She shouted, wishing she could struggle. "No please!"
"Vi it's okay." Rhodey's voice whispered in her ear. "Vi, just focus on my voice. You're safe. I need you to take shallow breaths for me. Don't try to breathe deep." His voice faded in and out along with her consciousness.
"VI!" A voice suddenly shouted, feminine and scared. Was that Ahni? Or Mai? It didn't sound like them. "VI! Is she okay! Tell me she's okay!"
No, it was accented, but it wasn't African or Asian. It was some sort of European. Maybe EuroAsian? Katya? Nat? Wanda?
Everything went black.
😵💫✅ ρOש C𝔥Ã𝔫Ğ𝐞 🍭🫱
"Is she okay?" Natasha begged Stephen as the doctor started to work over her. Violetta had fallen unconscious, an oxygen mask over her face now.
"Natasha." Stephen turned to her, a look on his face. "I know you love her, but I need you to back up. I need space. I don't have anyone else here to help me. Bruce has hulked and I don't have Shuri."
"But what happened?" Nat asked, wiping her eyes.
"It seems the baby was ready to come out." Stephen sighed heavily. "But he uh- well he kicked her ribs to hard. There's five broken ones and the top one seems to have pierced her lung."
Nat sank to her knees by the bedside, sobbing.
"Fuck." Stephen muttered. Nat heard him muttering to someone else who must've come into the room.
"Nat?" Soft hands were on her shoulders, trying to pull her away from Violetta. "Nat, we have to leave okay? Stephen needs his space."
Nat turned angrily on the person behind her, but seeing that it was Penny, her pale face splotchy with pink and red from crying too, she softened. Penny loved Violetta too. This was what was best for Vi.
Natasha clung to Penny as the albino girl led her from the room. They settled outside on one of the plush couches that Stark had put in the hallway. Clint and Katya came running down the hallway just then.
"Nat?" Clint asked softly, pulling her into a gentle hug while Kat hugged Penny.
"Stephen says it's going to be close, but he thinks she'll make it." Penny said in a quavering voice. "But he doesn't have the help he needs. I'm going to find Wong. Maybe he can get Shuri over here to help him." She ran back down the hallway.
🈯️🌎 𝐏𝐨𝓿 ⓒ𝒽𝔞几g𝐞 🫥🫲
T'Challa and Shuri were actually already there, having gotten there ten minutes prior. It was supposed to be to surprise them that they were there, but seeing the frantic looks everyone was sharing wasn't comforting.
"What happened?" T'Challa demanded, pulling Wanda to the side.
Wanda gave him a startled look and then said, "Something has gone wrong with Violetta's birth. From what I've heard it broke some of her ribs."
T'Challa's heart started to race. Bruce and Violetta were very close to his heart before some of the others. To know that she was having complications that was making everyone panic was terrifying.
"Bruce has gone into Hulk mode. And-"
"Shuri!" T'Challa turned to see that Penny was running towards them, skidding to a stop. Her lovely white hair was pulled up into a bun and her fair face was blotchy as she had been crying, "Please, Stephen needs your help with Violetta. He can't do all of it himself and Bruce isn't available."
"Of course." Shuri said, his sister and Penny running off immediately.
T'Challa turned back to Wanda. "Why aren't there any doctors on sight."
"Dr. Cho was supposed to be here yesterday but she had complications in her lab and she got held up." Wanda said, voice shaking, "And the doctor that Tony had hired for the pregnancies had a death in her family. She's literally at the funeral right now and she's not supposed to be back until next week."
"Where's Bruce? Why isn't Nat with him?" T'Challa demanded.
"Nat's having an episode." Wanda admitted, biting her bottom lip. "Violetta's complication has her freaking out. She's not in any condition to go near Bruce and quite frankly, I don't think the others would let her since she's pregnant."
"Let me see if I can." T'Challa said softly.
"He's on a special room on the eighth floor." Wanda said quickly. "Tony designed it specifically for Bruce. You'll need the highest clearance to get into the room. The password is a series of codes. First you'll do purple, blue, red, orange, green, yellow, blue, green, yellow, red, purple, orange. And then-"
T'Challa grabbed Wanda's arm, dragging her with him. "Okay just tell me what to do when we get there."
The two of them headed up to the floor and Wanda quickly repeated the information. Then T'Challa put in a long series of numbers before putting in the final password 'Penelope'.
"Go back downstairs." T'Challa ordered Wanda, hand on the door. He could hear the Hulk roaring behind it and knew that his time frame was going to be short. He opened the door and slipped inside.
He winced, seeing that Sam had been in the room, tossed against the wall and still. Bruce was going to feel extremely guilty for that later.
The Hulk snarled, turning around as T'Challa slowly approached him. He was greatly reminded more of a baby animal when it had just been born, or if it was hurt in the wild. You had to tread slowly and carefully in order to not startle it.
"Hulk." T'Challa said slowly. "You okay buddy?"
The Hulk roared, nearly bursting T'Challa's eardrums and then growled, "Baby hurt V. Hulk fault."
"No, it's not." T'Challa said evenly. "Listen to me. The baby broke a rib. But it's okay, babies do that all the time. You're a doctor, you know that. So it's not your fault Hulk. And it's not Bruces' either. It's nobodies fault, it's just a sad accident. But here's the thing, V might make it Hulk. But for that to happen, Stephen needs Bruces' help delivering the baby and keeping V safe. Can you let Bruce back? So that V and the baby are safe?"
The Hulk had calmed down a lot and T'Challa took another step forwards, gently reaching out and running his fingers against the back of Hulks' hand. "Bruce? V needs you, badly. Stephen needs your help. A lot. And I need you too. Okay, Sithandwa sam?"
[My Love]
T'Challa heard a noise behind him but didn't dare turn around. It didn't seem to startle Bruce either as he slowly continued to shrink, becoming more and more himself until he was shivering in T'Challa's arms.
"I- I'm sorry." Bruce whispered.
"It's okay." T'Challa said, seeing that the person was James and he was carefully taking Sam into his arms, carrying him out. He hoped Sam was okay too.
"It's just a rib?" Bruce asked, trying to stabilize himself.
"That's what I've heard." T'Challa nodded. "Possibly more than one. I don't know."
"Babies do break ribs." Bruce said, more for himself. "Rue broke Elizabeth's' rib twice."
"Really?"
"I just didn't have to heart to tell Bucky." Bruce admitted softly. "I thought he'd blame himself. . . just like I do."
"Bruce, I love you." T'Challa said, urgency seeping into his voice, making his accent thicker. "And the last thing I want to do is rush you. But Stephen is in desperate need of your help."
Bruce nodded, standing up. "On it." Bruce paused and turned back, "I love you too. I'll come find you when this is over."
T'Challa smiled and watched him run out of the room.
🤐🫳 p𝓞𝓋 ⓒ𝓱ΔŇⒼ𝐞 🌍👨💼
Steve was glad that Sam was safe, his dark soulmate sitting on the bed with Elizabeth. The three of them were all very quiet, waiting for Bucky to come back.
Suddenly, they heard voices in the hallway.
"What?" Bucky's voice was snappish and angry. Steve wondered what had happened.
"James, I just wanted to talk to Steve." Sharons' voice said, pleadingly.
"Fuck off Carter." Bucky said, to aggressively for Steve's liking. He knew that Bucky was being protective of Steve, thinking that it was okay to be rude to Sharon because she'd hurt Steve. But Steve didn't want Bucky lashing out at her just cause of him. She was still a lady.
"James, I know you're mad at me but Steve's in the hospital and I just want to make sure that he's okay." Sharon said, desperately.
"He's more than fine. Our doll is with him."
Elizabeth smiled happily at that.
"He still has other friends besides Nelson!" Sharon snapped. "She isn't the only girl in his life."
"I wasn't aware that Steve had friends." Bucky replied coolly. "From what I understand, he's got lovers and he's got soulmates. Funny, you don't seem to fall into either of those categories."
"That's rude." Sharon snapped. "He has friends."
"Yeah and none of them start with S and end with -haron." Bucky sneered.
"I don't need this condescending tone and rude attitude James." Sharon snarled. "I made mistakes! I get that, okay! And I'm not here to try and get Steve to love me again-"
"He never loved you." Bucky replied cruelly.
Steve sighed, "Sam can you go stop him?"
"Sure Cap." Sam said softly, standing up.
"Cause you know what? I've known him longest, loved him longest. And not once have I ever seen him interact sexually with a blond. Not once, until you. He's fucked light brown, dark brown, red heads, black, and white hair. But not dirty blond. You're not his type and I always wondered why he put up with you. But it was Peggy. It was always Peggy that he loved and that's the only reason he loved you was because you were Peggy's niece. That's it. If you weren't, you wouldn't have pulled a look from him."
"So you're saying brown hair is the only reason he's fucking the Nelson slut? Give me-"
Sharon cried out and Steve was tense until he heard Sam's voice, trying to calm Bucky down.
"C'mere Princess." Steve whispered to Elizabeth, who looked a little hurt while also looking confused.
Elizabeth crawled over and he pulled her into his arms. Bucky stormed into the room seconds later, Sam coming back after a few minutes.
"James?" Elizabeth asked cautiously. He turned, angry eyes on her, before he softened a little.
"Sorry Doll." Bucky sighed, patting her head and slumping into a chair. "Just stressed with everything."
"You okay?" Steve asked quietly.
Bucky sighed. "Bruce was calming himself down and admitted that Rue broke Elizabeth's ribs when she was pregnant with her. And he told T'Challa that he didn't tell me cause he thought I'd blame myself. Which I probably would've but I still wanted to know!"
Steve nodded, feeling irked at Bruce then. That was something they should have known.
"I wish I remembered." Elizabeth said softly, looking down at her stomach, putting a hand there. "I want to remember what it felt like. Being pregnant. Carrying little babies in me. It must be strange but fulfilling, knowing that you're protecting and carrying new life inside of you."
"You were an amazing mother." Sam said, squeezing her hand. "And whenever you're ready, I'm sure you can feel it again."
Elizabeth smiled and curled more into Steve, quickly falling asleep. And the other three soon followed suit.
🎓🥴 ρᗝᐯ ⓒᕼⓐŇ𝕘є 🌏🪐
Bruce was dozing lightly next to Violetta. It had been days since their son had been born. A little boy that had Violetta's light skin and his dark eyes. His hair was curly like his but was the same shade as hers. He had no idea what to name him or what Violetta had wanted to name him.
He knew that she had been hoping it would be a girl so that she could name her 'Valentina' after her sister. But she had never said anything about a boy name.
Violetta's heart rate was steady and everything looked okay. Him, Stephen, and Shuri had managed to stabilize her and Dr. Cho and Dr. Tenpenny had managed to come in and finish up the rest. But there were no promises that Violetta would wake up.
Katya and Clint were in the room at the moment, fast asleep on the couch. Natasha had been in the room up till an hour ago, before switching out with Penny on watching the little boy. The two girls had been the ones taking care of her, though sometimes he took some time to hold him.
But it felt strange, holding such a fragile thing. Sure, he'd held Mateo and Rue and Chamber and Kisa. . . but his own child. . . suddenly he felt more fragile than any of the other children. He felt more precious and breakable.
Bruce knew it was psychological. His boy was no different than the others in the case of him holding them. But it was this idea that because he was his, something was different.
He supposed something was different. The baby was his, after all. He did feel more fatherly towards this boy than any of the others. But then again, he didn't interact with Elizabeth and Penny to much to begin with. Maybe it would be different with Natasha and Wanda's kids too.
He felt fingers moving up his arm but he didn't move. Violetta had done this a few times before, it was nothing to get his hopes up over.
He started to doze off until the hand started to run through his hair. He struggled awake until he heard Violetta's voice croak out, "B-Bru-ce?"
He snapped out of his sleep daze, nearly falling out of his chair. Violetta's eyes were open now, though fluttering like she was going to go back under.
"Valen-tina?" Vi asked.
Bruce shook his head. "It's a boy."
"Oh." Vi gasped, eyes fluttering again. "Valentine."
"Valentine." Bruce whispered back, smiling. "Valentine Moscaw."
Vi shook her head, grabbing his arm again. "Valentine. . . Banner."
Bruces' eyes filled with tears. "Vi, I really need you to stay with me."
Vi just squeezed his hands, falling back under.
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