Can We Keep Her?

Teenagers

Steve woke early, just as he always did. He expected to have you curled in under his chin in your customary position, with Bucky's hand on his hip and face so close to Steve's, that every breath in was warm from the breath Bucky had just exhaled. He'd gotten good at untangling himself from that. It was close to eighteen years since the three of you had first slept in that particular configuration.

He hadn't been expecting to wake up with Bucky clinging to him like an octopus. He could disentangle himself from Bucky when he was like that. He had been doing that since they were kids pretending that's just how friends were.

He slipped free and got up, used the bathroom, and put on his jogging gear. He was just headed quietly down the hall when one of the bedroom doors opened and Rebecca popped her head out. "Morning, daddy," she said, her voice still raspy from sleep.

"Morning, honey. Happy Birthday," he whispered and kissed her on the cheek. "It's really early. Why don't you go back to bed?"

Rebecca scratched her head. Today was the triplets' thirteenth birthday. They were officially teenagers. He'd been watching their tastes change and develop. The people they were going to be was becoming much clearer. They were all tall for their age. For a little while, the girls were both taller than Anthony but in his last growth spurt, he'd taken the lead from them. Steve thought, in the end, Sarah might reach 5'10, Rebecca 6', and Anthony might reach the 6'4 - 6'6" range, but time would still tell.

"Can I come with you on your run?" she asked.

Steve nodded a little startled. While Rebecca was the most physically active of the three, it wasn't like her to want to get started this early either. "If you like. You need to hurry up. I'll be meeting uncle Sam soon."

"Thank you," she said, a huge smile spreading over her face before she disappeared back into her room.

Steve continued his path down to the kitchen. The light was on and he opened the door to find you covered in flour and chocolate, moving around the kitchen in a semi-frenzied state as several things sat baking in the oven, and chocolate molds and different cupcakes sat cooling on benches.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" Steve asked, coming up behind you and kissing your cheek.

You paused to lean into him for a moment before going back to the things you were doing. "Well, in about six hours there is going to be an apartment full of teens and preteens and I haven't finished decorating Anthony's cake. Plus I didn't do the cupcakes. Sarah wanted choc au pain and Rebecca wanted chocolate-coated bacon. I would have had it done already if I didn't get that wedding mix-up this weekend. I only just managed to get both of those done."

He dipped his finger in some frosting and smeared it on your chin. You stopped and scowled at him. "Steve!"

"Oh, sorry," he said with a smirk. "Here let me get that for you." He hooked his arm around your waist and pulled you against him. His tongue swiped over the smear of frosting before he brought his lips to yours. You could taste the overly sweet frosting on his lips as they coaxed yours apart and he dipped his tongue into your mouth.

Your whole body melted into him even as you groaned in frustration.

"Alright, alright," Steve said, pulling back. He wiped a smear of chocolate from your cheek and licked it off his finger. "I'll bring home breakfast, okay?"

You groaned and nodded. "Please. And the strongest coffee known to man."

Rebecca burst into the kitchen, dressed in a pair of yoga pants with kittens on them, a singlet with a unicorn embossed in glitter on it, and her running shoes. "Ready, dad."