Finding Love Again

Chapter 25

Time flew by for Steve after the cook-out. He had exactly one week to get all of Livy's school supplies ready. On top of that, he had to plan Livy's birthday party since it was coming up as well. Thankfully, Livy was on a break with ballet lessons until school started again, so Steve didn't have to worry about dropping her off and picking her up. The only downside to that was Livy being with him the whole time. He couldn't exactly plan a surprise birthday party with her around since she was one curious girl. Knowing that Wanda was an amazing party planner and would love to help out, he decided to turn it over to her. He only requested that it be a small family party and that it be held around dinner time. The only ones that he wanted there were Pietro, Allison, Bucky, Sam, Thor, Jane, and, of course, Wanda. They were the closest to him. Wanda happily agreed to help out and readily jumped into planning. With each decision, she made sure she would get Steve's opinion on it first since it was, after all, his daughter's birthday.

Before Steve knew it, Livy's first day of school arrived. He was happy she had reached that milestone, but at the same time, he was a bit sad. His sadness was caused mostly because Peggy had not lived to see it. Peggy and he would talk about raising a family together before they got married, and one particular conversation was their kids' first day of school. They had agreed that if Steve were still in the army he would be back for that time so that they could take their kid to school for the first time together. Steve had been so busy with getting ready for Livy's first day that he had totally forgotten about that agreement until the night before. He wished that Peggy were here to do it with him like they had discussed. It only brought many memories of all the good times Peggy and him shared. Another reason why he felt a little sad was because his little princess was growing up. It had finally hit him that he wouldn't see her every minute of the day anymore. He wouldn't have her in his office at home or at work drawing and coloring in a corner while he was busy with his own projects as often anymore. All of these thoughts hit him like a ton of bricks as he lay in his bed on Sunday night. His sleep was restless for most of the night. When he finally started to fall asleep, Livy burst into the room and jumped on him. Steve groaned when Livy's weight fell on top of him.

"Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! I'm going to school today!" she excitedly said while bouncing on Steve.

Steve opened his eyes. He glanced at the clock and noticed his alarm was gonna go off in about a minute. So much for trying to go to sleep. "Good morning, Princess."

"Come on, Daddy. Get up!" She had already gotten off of Steve and was now pulling his arm to get him out of bed. As she was doing so, his alarm went off.

Steve turned it off with his free hand and sat up in bed. "I'm up. I'm up."

Livy was satisfied that Steve had already gotten up. "I want to take a bath," she said.

"Ok, Princess. Go wait in the bathroom, and I'll be in there in a minute."

Livy nodded and skipped out of his room. Once she was out, he collapsed backwards on the bed. He was a bit sleep deprived because he couldn't sleep last night. If only his thoughts would have shut up, he would have gotten a good night's rest. Now, he wished he had Livy's never-ending energy. He couldn't figure out how his girl had so much energy at six thirty in the morning.

"Daddy!" Livy shouted from the bathroom.

He knew Livy was already impatient, so he forced himself to get out of bed. He padded his way to the bathroom. Once in there, he got the bath ready while Livy was dancing around in the bathroom. When the bath was ready, she got in, and Steve bathed her. Unlike other times, he didn't let her stay in there to play a while. They still had to eat breakfast, and he had to take a shower. He scolded himself mentally for not doing it before.