The Soulmate Initiative: Book 1

14. A surprise to bring them together

LOCATION: AVENGERS TOWER

Ashley drives one of her cars into the tower, as soon as she steps out, she speaks to Jarvis, her AI who is set up around almost the entire building, only excluding the bathrooms and bedrooms "J, call for a team meeting." "Yes, Ma'am." As Ashley gets into the elevator, Jarvis' voice can be heard all around "Avengers to the conference room, team meeting is imminent." All around the tower the Avengers scramble; Stacey puts down her newspaper and leaves the main lounge, Regina takes off her glasses and leaves the labs, Nian and Candice get up off the training room floor, where they were sparring and the match ended in Nian's favour, though they both truly won.

Everyone gets to the conference room before Ashley, all curious and a bit concerned, though two have a suspicion. Ashley gets out of the elevator and walks to the conference room, as she enters, she has a huge smile on her face, making Candice comment "I'm guessing it's not a mission." "You'd be right about that." Ashley walks round the table and instead of sitting herself down like everyone else, she instead stops behind Nian, leaning on the back of his chair "I just found something out. Something very big, something that is gonna change things… something that will hopefully bring us together even more." Stacey asks "As a team?" "No, not really. More so as a…" She beams at them "Family." She takes a breath "I'm pregnant." Regina and Stacey's mouths drop open in shock and Candice cheers "Yes! Finally!" Her and Ashley laugh.

Candice explains "Ever since Nian and I met, we knew that one day we wanted to start a family with our soulmates. We considered having a go with just the two of us, but it didn't quite seem right. And besides, when it comes to SHIELD, you only have a certain amount of years you can serve for and you can't go on missions when pregnant, you can't even work at HQ in case it's attacked. So maternity leave is a long time before and after, then you have to get back into shape, retake all the new recruit training tests and can only return to duty once you pass them. It's a lot of work and is only really worth trying that if you're really young, which I'm not. I finish working at SHIELD in only 2 years time. So back then it wasn't the right decision, but I do want to have a child, maybe as soon as I'm retired." As Regina and Stacey have gotten over the shock, Ashley takes over "Then when I met the pair I had only just turned the CEO role of Stark Industries over to Pepper and I still had a lot of involvement, along with a lot of press and public stuff, I was modeling and I was Iron Woman. Back then there weren't superheroes flying around all over the place, so I had a lot to keep me busy."

"So Candice, Nian and I had a little talk last week about all this and we decided that now is a good time, I have less responsibilities to keep on top of and the world can do without Iron Woman for a while, because they've got you lot now too." Stacey gets up from her seat and walks around the table, bringing Ashley into a hug, just before she does so, Ashley sees tears in her eyes "I always wanted a family, but the war was going on and then when I came back, I had hoped I'd have that chance. But, like what Candice said, I want to serve a bit longer. But I'm very happy." Ashley pulls out of the hug "So you want to have a kid of your own at some point too?" "Definitely." The pair kiss, it's their first kiss. Though they hadn't gotten on well at all at first, as soon as they had discovered they were soulmates, they knew they could figure it out and over the last year they've been able to do just that.

"What about you, Regina?" As Candice asks the question, Ashley and Stacey stop kissing to listen, Stacey's cheeks very pink. Regina looks nervous "I don't think it's a good idea, not for me, anyway. For the rest of you, it sounds like a great idea. I'm sure Tasia will be up for it too. But… I don't think it will work out with me." Candice reaches out and lays and hand over one of Regina's "It's not a decision you have to make now, you can wait." Ashley asks "Is it because of the Hulk?" Regina nods "Partially. I don't even know if I can have children now after all that radiation exposure, it's very unlikely. But there's also the state of my health, I'm the oldest here." "Candice and I are only just younger than you." "But if I wait a few years I'll be even older and I'm not fit like you guys, physical activity isn't something I'm good at. Based on my age at the time and my lifestyle, it raises the chances of a pregnancy with problems, meaning if successful then the child could have problems of their own. But there's also a high chance of miscarriage and that then raises the risk even more." She lowers her head "I don't want to risk it." Stacey walks over and crouches beside her "It's alright, you don't have to." She rubs Regina's back comfortingly. Ashley speaks up "And you'll still be a Mom, as soon as this kid pops out of me we're all taking care of it. We'll all be parents." Regina chuckles a little "Great. We'll have to take care of two Starks." The group, including Ashley, all start laughing.