~~~{one week later}~~~
Today is the day where I finally get to come home with my family. My husband and two babies. I watch out the window and smile out of gratefulness. The doctor had told me I had a slim chance of having one child at all, let alone two. I can't thank the Lord enough for the family he has given me. I'll always be thankful.
Pulling into the driveway, I glare up at the beautiful house. As the car stops, I get out and make my way to the back of the van. I pull the door open to my two perfect angels. Kyra sleeps soundly as Marc sweeps her, cautiously, from the car seat. Rhys squirms around, but keeps his eyes closed. We haven't seen Rhys open his eyes yet, the doctors said it shouldn't be much longer.
Grabbing Rhys and the diaper bag, we head inside. Inside the nursery, the scenery had changed. Another crib placed on the other side of the room from the other crib. The room colors had changed as well. Blue walls with pink borders. Robots holding big sunflowers with a pink background.
I set Rhys down in his crib, Marc lays Kyra in hers. Silence fell over the room, while Marc and I tip-toed out. Marc approached the hallway window and glared outside.
"So what shall we do until they get here?" I ask, laying my head against his back.
"I should probably put a swing out there. A tire swing maybe?" Marc asked for my preference, over his shoulder.
Something snapped into my mind. I closed my eyes and sighed sadly.
"Are you sure? I mean, we already have to send Rhys through chemo once a month. What if he doesn't grow out of it?" I ask, my voice cracking between words.
I have hope, don't get me wrong, but I have to think the worst of things too. Marc turned to me with sympathy and hugged me closely. Kissing me on the top of my head, I saw someone pulling into the driveway. I pulled away from Marc and started downstairs to greet.
I opened the door to the entire group of avengers standing there. I smiled brightly as Dad pulled me into a bear hug, as well as Marc who caught up with me.
"Where's my niece and nephew?" Anna ran in and jumped onto Marc.
"They're upstairs asleep." He hugged her back as I greeted everyone else inside.
Loki walked inside and hugged me, "look at you. You look wonderful. How're the children?"
"Oh, they're a handful, that's for sure. Crying all night long. No sleep. No rest. No....anything..." I reply, spacing out.
"Stephanie, are you alright?" Loki snapped me out of it.
"Huh? Yeah....yeah I'm fine. I just haven't had a nights rest since they've been born." I respond, looking back over at Marc and Anna.
"I want to see my niece and nephew right now." Anna hissed, crossing her arms.
"Oh! Forgive me, Lady-Queen-Almighty-Above, for not reading your mind." Marc mocked and bowed down to Anna.
Everyone busted out laughing, and I couldn't help but laugh along. I hope this isn't how Rhys and Kyra are going to act when they're older. Although, I have to admit, it's good entertainment.
After the hysteria fell to silence, Marc retorted, "sorry twinzy, but I'm not a servant from Vanaheim palace. You don't have to treat me like one."
Anna squinted with a tint of hatred, as Marc ruffled her hair and started to the nursery.
I stayed behind, catching up with everyone and making small talk. It's nice to just have all of the family here like the old times.
~~~(Four Hours Later)~~~
"Marc!" I yelled from the couch.
Within seconds, Marc ran into the room. I held Rhys in my arms, starring down at him.
"What? Is something wrong with him?" Panic rising in his voice.
"No...he-he opened his eyes. He finally opened his....beautiful eyes." I smiled up at Marc.
Rhys hadn't opened his eyes, but...he finally did. I smiled down at Rhys, awing at him. Marc sat beside me and looked down at Rhys.
Two different eye colors. One brown eye, like mine. Once blue eye, like Marc's. A balance between the both of us. At that moment, Kyra began to cry. Marc picked her up and held her close. Looking at each other, Marc and I knew our life couldn't be any better.
~~~(Seven Months Later)~~~
Lately, I started to believe that teaching a dog, is much easier than teaching a baby. Let alone, two babies. Crawling for them turned into rolling everywhere. Eating food, turned into eating everything. It hasn't been easy.
The first week they began crawling (rolling), Kyra rolled down two steps on the staircase before I caught her. Also, Rhys rolled right into the coffee table, giving him a lump on his forehead. So, I decided I had to baby proof the entire house. Marc didn't, and still doesn't, like the idea of it.
It's kind of funny to watch him get all mad that he can't open something. He'll throw a small tantrum after fiddling with it for a while. Although, it's sort of cute when he does it.
Today, though, we wanted to rest. We wanted to sleep. It's been non-stop crying and needyness from them. Which, it's my job to take care of them, but Marc and I haven't had any rest since God knows when.
Rhys's chemo treatments have been making him restless. The worst part is, when Rhys cries, Kyra joins him.
For the first time ever, they're both sound asleep and have been for the past hour. Marc lays with his face into the pillow and legs sprawled out over the bed. My legs intertwine with Marc's and a pillow lays over my face to keep the light away from it.
We had been sleeping for about thirty minutes when the sound of a car pulling into the drive woke us up. A motorcycle. I threw the pillow away from my face and sat up. Without hesitation, both babies screamed and cried loudly. I groaned and stomped toward the babies room.
"Go downstairs and find out who was driving that damn motorcycle." I grit my teeth as I enter the babies room.
After getting the babies settled, I walked down the stairs to see Dad, Steve, Natasha, and Thor sitting around. I sat beside Marc on the couch, wishing we could have some time to ourselves....where we could sleep all day long.
"Tony, did you ever find out about Rhys's blood?" Marc asked.
A while back, Marc asked my dad to see if something was in Rhys's blood. The chemo made him restless all the time, which it shouldn't.
Dad nodded, "where he has tesseract in his blood, it has radiation just like you two and his sister. But, add too much radiation to him, he's like a balloon. Too much, and it stretches him out. Stretches his nerves and gives him too much energy. His body needs to sleep, but the radiation just won't let him. That's why I called the hospital and changed the chemo from once a month to once every two months."
After a while, we began to talk about all sorts of things. The most common was Marc complaining about how everything is child proof.
"Oh! If you will follow me outside, you can see the most amazing thing I've ever built." Marc asked, and lead everyone outside.
The big oak tree in the front yard held a beautiful tree house. Two stories of the tree house. Ladders and stairs. Inside and out. It's amazing.
"There is no way you did this by yourself, Marc." Natasha glided up the ladder and to the top deck of the tree house, "yeah, there's no way." She said, confirming her statement.
"Okay, so I might've had some help from an old Army buddy of mine. Ryan said he'd be happy to do it and gladly helped out." Marc replied, confessing.
For a minute, there was nothing but silence. Marc's smile faded into a small frown.
"He asked me to join him back on the front lines, but I don't think I'll be doing that for a long time." Marc sighed and brought me into his arms.
I know he's think of us. Rhys, Kyra, and I. He's only protecting us and defending us.
"What about joining S.H.I.E.L.D in searching for Thanos?" Dad asked.
Memories flared inside my head, as I knew they did for Marc too. He got the worse end of the stick with Thanos, but he left a mark on me as well. I looked up at Marc, trying to recognize what he was thinking.
"Hey, can we not say that name? I-I don't want anyone to say it around here." Marc stuttered.
"Why?" Natasha asked, obviously forgetting what happened to him.
"It's just that, I want my kids to grow up with a sense of security. I don't want my kids to learn about Thanos and grow up in fear. I'd rather die, than to see them live the life we were forced to live. I had no choice in knowing Thanos and never looking over my shoulder. I had no choice in waking up with nightmares because of the torture. I want them to decide who they are on their own. They deserve better. Better them be in the dark all their lives than for them to burn in the light. I pray they never have to suffer like their parents did." Marc explained, letting everyone take it in.
I sighed at the truth. I don't want that for them either. They shouldn't have to suffer like we did.
"If you guys want, we can take them off your hands for a couple days. After all, I do owe you a years worth of babysitting." Steve offered with a smile.
I glared up at Marc, uncertain. We've never left the kids alone with anyone else but ourselves. I don't know if this would be a good idea or not. Although, if they'd do anything for us, they'd do anything for our kids. I nodded, nervously, but agreed. We packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes, and headed out.