Steve Rogers (neverdanced) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2017-04-12 21:34:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, !log, [plot] future kids take 4, ~2017 april, ~25 points, ~~steve rogers (neverdanced), ~~veronica mars (veronica_mars) |
Who: Steve Rogers, Veronica Mars, and Keith Rogers
What: Kids!
When: Thursday morning
Where: Their house
Warnings: none
Status: Closed/Complete
They hadn’t been in the new house for long. A short enough time that there were still a couple boxes here and there that hadn’t managed to get unpacked, a lot of things just shoved into closets, tucked away to be forgotten about until they were needed. Just barely long enough that they could all start actually relaxing in it. For the first time in what felt like a little too long, Steve had actually been able to sleep well.
Well enough that he didn’t wake up immediately when the bedroom door opened, felt the pressure of someone crawling on the end of the bed and didn’t wake up enough to realize that it wasn’t just the dog. It wasn’t until the pressure moved up the bed, forcing its way between him and Veronica that Steve actually responded, lifting his arm with the intention of pushing the dumb dog away. Opening his eyes to see that it wasn’t the dog at all, but instead a little boy making himself comfortable, like he belonged there.
And Steve had been in town long enough, seen enough here, that he knew the kid probably did think he belonged there.
So he only sighed softly, tapped Veronica’s shoulder, guessing she’d been at least half woken up by their guest too.
***
Veronica started to wake up when the door opened, but she assumed it was one of the girls, most likely Molly, looking for comfort after having a nightmare. Waiting to see which adult they wanted, she kept her eyes closed, but started to roll over when she realized that whoever it was seemed to be crawling in bed with them. That wasn’t like either teenager, so she opened her eyes and was momentarily confused to see a tiny blond head.
By the time she felt Steve tapping her shoulder, she realized what was happening. Again. The town really liked giving them glimpses of their potential futures.
She looked over at her husband, propping herself on her elbow so she could see him over the kid. Obviously this kid thought he belonged there and the last thing either of them wanted was to distress him, but if there was one kid here, there were probably more. It would also help if they knew this one’s name.
“Hey, buddy,” she said, reaching over to ruffle his hair. “What’s up?”
***
It was never just one. It could never just be one; that would be too easy to take on.
Steve answered Veronica’s glance with a slight tilt of his head, meant to say he didn’t know any more than she did yet. But he’d find out, as soon as this one was settled, he would go out and make sure everyone was getting to the people they belonged to. The last thing anyone needed was a bunch of lost kids wandering around.
“Can’t sleep,” the little boy said, burrowing into the blankets. “Summer’s in my room.”
If there was one thing Steve did like, though had learned not to trust, it was that every time this happened and gave them a look into the future, it gave a peak into who was likely to stay around, and that he appreciated. Particularly so when it was his family.
***
“I’m sorry about that,” Veronica said. It was hard to tell his age since he was buried under the blankets, but he was pretty tiny, so she was going to guess no more than five or six. Of course, if he recognized this house and knew Summer, that meant he was a Madison Valley kid, so maybe he was used to weird things happening.
She shrugged at Steve and decided to just go for it. “You know how sometimes weird things happen here?” she asked. “Summer’s in your room because you haven’t been born yet.”
***
“But it’s my room!”
The kid didn’t seem interested in much else. Steve couldn’t help but chuckle softly, shifting to just pull the blankets clear of his face so they could at least talk.
“Let’s forget the room and talk about you for a minute, pal,” he instructed, and got a scrunched face and a grumpy little kid growl for the effort. “Come on. Your ma’s talking to you.” He really hoped that Veronica was his mother, and he wasn’t just weirdly comfortable crawling into bed with someone else.
Either way, it seemed to work, and bright eyes turned to Veronica. “I was born. Look!” Little arms flung into the air, nearly hitting both of them. “I’m five!”
***
Okay, he was really freaking cute and that certainly helped. Veronica chuckled and managed to dodge his flaily little arms. “Of course you were born,” she said, realizing that she wasn’t doing a great job of explaining any of this. It would be easier if she had coffee, but she was a little bit afraid to go explore the rest of the house in case it was overrun with children.
“Did we ever explain time travel to you?” she asked. He was probably too small for that, but again, it was Madison Valley.
***
“What’s time travel?”
So that was a no.
It would have been a lot easier if a future or alternate version of them had thought to do that, especially in Madison Valley, Steve thought. “It’s when you wake up and it’s a different year than it should be.”
That was his experience with time travel, anyway, but the kid lit up a little. “Like the ice!”
Apparently that was something he’d heard about.
***
Well, it was better than nothing. Veronica smiled a little at Steve, hoping he wasn’t too upset by the mention of the ice. “Kind of like that, yes,” she said. “Except right now is a year before you were born. It’s 2017.”
She shouldn’t ask him what year he was born. He might not know and she didn’t want to know when he might be born. If he might be their actual future.
***
Steve just returned the smile, with a small nod to tell her it was okay. He’d made peace with his lost years a long time ago. He didn’t talk about it much simply because he didn’t need to. How he’d come from 1945 to the future was rarely as important as the fact that he’d done it at all, and now he’d spent years acclimating, even that rarely came up.
Their guest didn’t care one way or another about Steve’s feelings, though. He scowled a little, shuffling around until he could put both his hands on either side of Veronica’s face.
“Remember me, Mommy.” Said like his words alone could make it happen.
***
Even though there was barely any sunlight filtering into the room, Veronica could easily pick out features on the boy that were clearly hers or clearly Steve’s. She hated that she might be hurting her own kid’s feelings and wished that she could know who he was.
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” she said. “I haven’t met you yet. But you can tell me all about yourself.”
Like his name. And how old he was. Those would be good starting points.
***
The little boy continued to scowl. “Like what?”
He probably wasn’t old enough to think of the kind of things they wanted to know on his own. As frustrating as pulling information out of kids could be, they couldn’t hold it against him.
“How about we start with your name?” Steve suggested. The boy seemed like a sweet kid, and it would probably go a long way to making him feel more comfortable for as long as he was here if they could call him by his name.
The little head turned to face him, then back and forth a few times, looking at both parents’ faces for a moment before responding in a small voice. “Keith.”
***
Hearing that made Veronica feel a little sad. Of course she would name a son after her father. “Like your grandpa,” she said, assuming that she would have told him stories about his namesake. Missing her father was one of the only downsides of being here. “It’s a good name.”
She still felt awful that they didn’t know their kid and he was obviously upset by that. Understandably. So she held out her arms if he wanted to snuggle. “How old are you, Keith?”
***
Keith moved promptly into her arms, the high energy flailing he’d exhibited a few moments ago quieted. Remembered or not, Veronica was still his mother, and to a little kid that meant a lot.
“Five.”
Steve felt for him. It was always hard, the first couple hours after kids showed up for the first time. Facing parents who had no idea who they were wasn’t easy on them, and tiptoeing around to make sure they didn’t hurt them too badly wasn’t either.
***
“Wow, such a big boy,” Veronica said, cuddling him close. She gave Steve a slightly helpless look. Kids were never really her thing and she hoped she wasn’t screwing this up too much. “And you said Summer is in your room?”
It made her feel good to know that Summer was still a part of their lives whenever he was from.
***
As far as Steve was concerned, she was doing fine; he smiled a little bit, hoping to reassure her. There was no good way to go about any of this, but offering the little bit of comfort they could was enough to smooth the way, usually.
“Yeah,” Keith said, clearly pouting even though his face was buried in his mother’s shoulder. “That's my room.”
That might be a problem, and Steve made mental note that they might have to shuffle some sleeping arrangements around during the day. They could probably convince Keith to just stay with them for the week, not ideal for newlyweds anyway, but depending on how many turned up, it might not work.
He had a headache already.
***
Veronica knew there was a chance there were even more kids out there waiting for them. It seemed like they were usually inundated when this happened. “So where does Summer sleep if that’s your room?” she asked.
Maybe the girls could share a room until this was all over. It was a lot to ask, but she hoped they would understand that this was going to be a tough week for everyone.
***
“At her house!”
That made sense. Even if they started for kids right away, Steve knew they weren't ready for that, still weren't completely settled into their sudden marriage and still had a lot to work on, he hoped they'd get there sooner rather than later though, wanted two or three of his own, the girls would be twenty by the time this kid came from. Of course the girls would have moved out by his age.
“Sorry pal,” he rested a hand against Keith's head. “She doesn't have her own house yet.”
It was hard to tell whether or not the noise Keith made was accepting or protesting against that.
***
Right, that made sense. Summer and Molly most likely wouldn’t stay with them forever, especially if they had a baby in the house. Veronica was glad that she was still part of their lives though.
“You hungry?” she asked. Food was probably a good way to distract a little kid. It usually worked with Steve, at least. “I bet we can get Uncle Bucky to make you some breakfast.” Not that Veronica wasn’t capable of cooking herself, but Bucky liked to do most of the meal prep for them and she figured it was easier not to argue.
***
Steve took exactly the same approach to Bucky cooking, but with a little more elbowing his way in to help. Despite what his best friend thought, he didn’t need looking after.
“Sounds like he’s up already,” he noted when Keith just made another vague sounding response. The movement in the house was quiet, but Steve had hearing sharper than most. There was definitely more company in their house than just Keith, and he could only imagine how Bucky and Kara were taking it.
He and Veronica had been around long enough to see this a few times; the other adults hadn’t.
“I’m going to run down and see how they’re doing,” he said to Veronica, voice dropping a little, like it would make the conversation a little more private. “Think you can handle this for a minute?” If she couldn’t, of course he’d hang back. She was his wife and was his priority. But Bucky was Bucky.
***
Veronica nodded. “We’ll be down in a few,” she said. “Make sure the coffee’s on.”
They were going to need a lot of it. Especially if more kids showed up.
***
Coffee sounded like a great idea. Steve nodded, hand finding Veronica’s briefly before he slid out of bed and headed downstairs.
They’d figure this out; at least they had the experience to do it.