The Captain's Husband

48. Aphelion (Steve)

"Tony, we're here," Bucky calls as we walk into the lab.

"Hey there, lovebirds," Bruce smiles as he pops up from behind a conglomeration of red and gold equipment.

"How are the kiddos?" Tony asks.

Tony is tweaking another bot of his, screwdrivers and wrenches in both hands.

I sigh happily and Bucky squeezes my hand as I say, "Wanda and Nat have them. They told us to take a break and then they sent us down here."

"That was sweet of them," Bruce says.

Tony smiles and sets down the tools in his hands as he says, "Can't believe you two crazy kids have triplets now. They're absolutely beautiful too."

A video appears on one of the screens in the lab, streaming live from the nursery.

"Tony," Nat says, "Can you send one of my dearest, darling boys up here? Zander is rather insistent on one of his fathers holding him instead of one of his mothers."

Oh, good Lord.

Zander, buddy.

Just ten minutes of peace, please, kiddo.

"The kids can come down to the lab, Tasha, honey," Bucky tells her. "If Zander's started crying, then Meri and Niko are going to start crying, and we can't have that happen again. They'll shatter all of the windows throughout the tower."

"We'll bring them down then," Nat says.

The video transmission ends.

"I guess we should go over what we came down here for before the kiddos come down," I sigh.

Tony looks up from the holographic images on the screens in front of him, saying, "Jarvis, can you display all of the information in Ana's file? Can you read it to us, too?"

"Certainly. Name: Ana Natalia Rogers-Barnes. Date of birth: October 8, 2028," Jarvis tells us as the screens in the room are flooded with images of Ana's life and dozens of files. "Age: chronologically 6 years old, but she has a biological age of 18. Her aging process will slow exponentially from this point forward. Alias: no recorded aliases. Codename: Aphelion. Classification: Avenger. Clearance level: 8. Power level: 23."

"Name meaning, Jarvis," Tony chirps.

"Ana - grace, Natalia - Christmas Day," Jarvis says.

Perfect.

"Codename meaning," Tony says.

"Aphelion - the point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is furthest from the sun," Jarvis tells us.

So Ana did finally pick a name, and from the looks of it, our family's love of astronomy influenced her decision.

"Abilities next, please," Tony requests.

Jarvis jumps to it.

"Abilities: accelerated healing factor, advanced regeneration, alteration magic, conjugation, destruction magic, distinguished musician, electricity manipulation, electrokinesis, elite acrobat, energy absorption, energy manipulation, energy projection, enhanced immune system, enhanced reaction time, expert aerialist, expert hand-to-hand combatant, expert marksman, expert strategist, expert tactician, fluent in German, fluent in Russian, fluent in Sokovian, illusion magic, matter manipulation, naturally gifted soprano, perfect British accent, practicing gymnast, prima ballerina, probability manipulation, reality warping, restoration magic, slowed aging, superhuman strength and endurance, teleportation, time manipulation, and world class athlete."