I'll Be There

"Damn it," Alex mutter as she searched her drawers, occasionally tossing aside a pair of pajama bottoms and added to the pile of clothes she had on the floor. "Where the hell are my leggings?" Alex exclaimed in frustration.

"I put them to wash," replied Steve as he entered their shared bedroom and made his way to dresser.

"Why would you do that?" Alex questioned slightly annoyed.

"Because you've been wearing nothing but leggings since you got back. They needed to be washed."

"But now I have nothing to wear to go to sleep!" Alex shouted. "I've been wearing leggings because that's the only thing I have that fits me. My jeans are too tight and my pajama bottoms leave marks that bother me."

Steve was taken aback from her sudden outburst, but he did not lose his composure as he suggested, "How about you borrow a pair of my sweat pants?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea," Alex stated sarcastically. "And while you're at it, you can get me some chains and a cap so I can look like those guys that walk around with their pants falling down."

"Alex, I'm sure I have something that will fit you," Steve replied firmly. "Besides, your waist is bigger now so-"

"Are you trying to call me fat?" Alex interrupted defensively.

"No, no. Not at all. I—um. I just meant that," Steve began, stumbling on his words, "I just meant that since junior, here, has gotten big you might be able to fit into some of my clothes."

"Squishy," Alex corrected.

"What?"

"His name is squishy," explained Alex. "At least that's what I'm calling him for now."

"Okay then, Squishy's gotten a lot bigger," Steve continued as he grabbed a pair of sweat pants from his bottom drawer. "Here you go."

Alex glared at Steve as she took the pants from him and made her way to the bathroom in order to try on the pants.

"So?" Steve asked through the bathroom door. "How do they fit?"

"They fit okay," answered Alex as she adjusted the string on the pants to fit her better. "You know you have really narrow hips compared to your shoulders and chest," she sneered.

"I know," Steve smiled knowing that Alex's attempt at an insult was a sign of her opening up to him. "I'm like a pizza that way," Steve joked as he let out a soft chuckle expecting Alex to do the same, however, this was not the case.

Instead of hearing a half hearted 'ha', Steve heard the sound of Alex's footsteps stomping towards him.

"No!" Alex exclaimed as she flung open the bathroom door. "Why would you say that? Don't compare yourself to pizza. Pizza is beautiful and I love it and you—well." Alex stopped mid-sentence when she almost said the words 'I hate you' which, she knew in her heart, was not true. Yes, she was mad at Steve, as well as hurt and disappointed by him, but that didn't mean that she hated him.

"I'm sorry, Alex. It was just a joke."

"Well, don't joke about something sacred like pizza. Joke about some other triangular food that I don't like."

"You mean like Doritos?" asked Steve.

"You know I like Doritos," Alex countered as she narrowed her eyes slightly to glare at him.

"Not the ones that come in the purple bag," Steve pointed out. "What kind were those?"

"Eww. You mean the spicy sweet chili? Those are gross," Alex gagged.

"Okay then, it's settled; I'm a spicy sweet chili Dorito," Steve grinned.

"I don't know what you're grinning about. You're triangular shaped and you leave a bad taste in my mouth," Alex scoffed knowing that half of her statement was a lie since every time he had kissed her he had left far from a bad taste in her mouth.

'Damn it,' Alex thought. 'Now I'm thinking about his lips and how much of a good kisser he is.'

"It could be worse," Steve replied as he grabbed a shirt from his drawer. "Are you going to sleep on the couch again?" Steve asked, changing the topic.

"What other option do I have?"

"You can sleep on our bed," Steve suggested.

"You'd like that wouldn't you," Alex said sarcastically. "Me asleep trying to snuggle against something and you taking the opportunity to wrap your arms around me and squeeze my butt a little because I know you do that."

'Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Fuck. Now I wish I wasn't mad at him for the sole purpose of getting felt up and making out. Damn you, hormones!'

"Okay then," Steve began awkwardly, "I'll sleep on the couch so that you can sleep on the bed."

"And how do I know you won't try to sneak into the bed in the middle of the night and wake up before me?" Alex questioned as she stared down Steve with an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

Steve said nothing as he looked Alex straight in the eyes; his piercing blue eyes locking with her hazel ones.

'God damn it, Steve, just kiss me already,' Alex thought.

"Because you wake up every few hours to use the bathroom and would literally kick me off the bed if you found me there which is something I'd prefer to avoid considering how strong you are now," Steve replied.

"Fair enough. Okay, I'll take the bed. You can have the couch."

"Great. Good night, Alex," Alex replied as he exited the room.

"Yeah, whatever. Good night," Alex scoffed as she paid him no mind. However, when she was sure that he wasn't looking, Alex watched as Steve walked away, paying close attention to his bottom half.

Alex sighed quietly to herself.

'Well I can't be mad at him and want him at the same time,' Alex thought as she made her way to her side of the bed. 'It's best that I just ignore my desire to jump on him because if I do that then he's going to think I forgive him and there's no way in hell that I'm going to forgive him that easily.'

"What do you think, Squishy? Should I forgive your dad?" Alex whispered as she placed a hand over the bump on her stomach. Alex waited for a kick from her unborn child to indicate that she should forgive Steve and let go any negative feelings she harbored towards him, but she felt nothing.

"Alright, then," Alex sighed as she turned so that she was laying on her side. "He'll just have to make it up to me some other way—that bastard."

Steve, who was making his way back to their room to get a pillow, overheard Alex and frowned when he heard her call him a bastard.

'Wow. I guess being captured by Hydra really changed Alex,' Steve thought as he recalled other times Alex was mad. She would call people jerks and him a jerkface, but she would never call him a bastard.

"Good night, Squishy," Alex said as she reached for the lamp and flicked the switch to turn it off. "Mommy loves you."

'Or maybe not,' thought Steve after seeing Alex's softer side. Yes, he knew that making Alex show her softer side with him would be difficult, but he knew that it wasn't impossible.