Book Three; Final Three Plus One

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BOOK THREE; FINAL THREE PLUS ONE -- A MARVEL/TWILIGHT FANFICTION

CHAPTER ONE

"Are you sure about this, Steve?" A gentle voice asked from its host's position in a chair situated by the large window, looking out onto the beautiful scenery that surrounded the Avengers Compound in Upstate New York. Steve, the man who was now known, was leaning against the desk in one corner of the room with his arms folded, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as his stunning blue eyes stayed trained on the soft carpeted floor in front of him.

He didn't know if he was sure, let alone ready, to do this. Was he? Was he ready to do this? This is a big leap into the second phase of being a parent, but was he prepared to do so? Maybe he should... No. He was ready. He was ready and he was sure that he was. He knew that it was the right time. In the years to come, Steve would realise just how right that decision was, along with another member of their rather large team known as the Avengers, 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes', if you will.

Turning his softened gaze towards the beautiful lady beside the abnormally large window, he smiled softly. "I am," he replied confidently. He truly was ready for this next leap into the wide world of parenting. "I am ready, Bella, I am." The two smiled at each other before looking out towards the lake that Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man to many, planed to build a building in the middle of the lake.

This building would be for anyone who was deemed 'dangerous' by the Counsel or by the Director of SHIELD, Nicholas J. Fury who just so happened to be their boss. Instead of going to the Raft, which was in the middle of nowhere, they would go to the building in the middle of the lake and stay there until they were deemed safe. This way they are able to be surrounded by others that are similar to, if not just like, them and are able to get a grasp of what it would be like to live at the Compound and on the 'Main Land', as it had been named.

"Stark has good plans, doesn't he?" The kind woman, Bella, asked gently as she caressed her slightly swollen stomach. Steve, noticing this act of kindness towards the woman's growing womb, gently rested one of his hands over hers and the other went around her back and held her to his side.

"He does. He just needs to execute them properly, that's Stark's only downfall really." The captain replied. The two stayed like that for hours, or so it felt like, when in actuality it was only five minutes at most. Five minutes of peaceful silence before it was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. Bella immediately knew who it was since she had heard the knock and the footsteps so many times since she fell pregnant with her and Steve's baby girl. "Come in, sweetheart!"

Slowly, the door opened to reveal a girl, around the age of eleven or twelve, with long curly chocolate brown hair and beautiful hazel brown eyes. She was pale, but it didn't make her look unhealthy in any way. Actually, it made her features stand out just that little bit more. The child's unnatural paleness made her beautiful hazel brown eyes stand out that little bit more, her rosy cheeks were more defined making her look beautiful without any need to add makeup. Luckily, the child's mother, Pepper Potts, banned her from using makeup unless it was absolutely necessary. An example would be if they had to go to a Press Conference or the natural beauty of the Compound's, as she was nicknamed by everyone who met her at this compound, father, Anthony Edward 'Tony' Stark, had decided to throw a party or if they were invited to a ball or the Avengers had something important that was going to be shown in the press, then Pepper would allow her to use a little bit of makeup. Not much, since the woman didn't want her child to be coated with makeup like most girl's her age and older. She did the exact same with her other daughter, Morgan.

"Aunt Bella? Uncle Steve?" The timid girl asked shyly, voice quite and scared. Why was she scared? She had known these people practically her whole life! I guess HYDRA can stick with you after living there since you were born up until you were around the age of nine or ten, being forced to stop growing and spending an extra seven years with them. If the child had been allowed to continue with her natural growth, she would currently be the age of seventeen and be in her last year of high school.

"Yes, Munchkin?" Steve asked. 'Munchkin' had become the nickname reserved for the enhanced man who was frozen for seventy-odd years. Everyone around the tower had reserved nicknames for the child, which made a few of the other Avenger children jealous when they heard about it and hadn't met the self-conscious, apprehensive child. When they did meet her, however, they realised exactly why everyone had taken a liking to her. Immediately, all of the children, mainly the older ones like Cooper Barton, Pietro Maximoff and Wanda Maximoff, had made a silent promise to protect her as if their life depended on it. Which it kind of did to some of them, since they saw how depressed their parents were when she wasn't there or how sad they got when another adult wanted to have some time with her. The children also had reserved nicknames for her, but they had the second most. The first being her legal family, Pepper, Tony, Rhodey, Morgan, Happy etc.

"Um, D-Daddy wants to see you. I-In the C-Common Room." She didn't dare make eye contact. She had learnt not to, it meant challenge and challenge was never a good idea. At least, in the world HYDRA had painted for her it wasn't.

Steve, noticing how the child acted around him and his girlfriend and soon-to-be-mother of his child, walked forward and knelt down so that he was eye level with the child. "Renesmee," Steve murmured gently, resting two fingers on the child's, Renesmee, chin and making her look into his eyes. "You don't need to be afraid that we're going to hurt you, Munchkin. We would never. You know that, right, Munch'?"

"I-I'm sorry." Renesmee, who many called Esme since 'Renesmee' was such a mouthful for some like Maria Hill, apologised with her eyes downcast. Steve felt a pang go through his chest when he saw yet another scar, this one just behind the petrified girl's ear, on her small, fragile body. Pulling her towards him, he stood up and swung her onto his back.

"How 'bout we go to that meeting, eh, Munch'?" Steve asked with his usual goofy smile on his face which caused Esme to giggle, her eyes shinning with happiness that she hadn't felt in so long. Steve and Bella made eye contact and, as they made their way to the Common Room on the ground floor of the Main Building, similar smiles made their way onto the soon-to-be-parents faces as Renesmee talked about what she and one of her many uncles, T'Challa, did that morning. Finally, after all this time, she was starting to open up more to those she hadn't known much and to those she knew before she was taken a year after being rescued from the people who took her in the first place. The world was finally at peace with itself. When all was said and all was done, the Avengers could relax with the knowledge that their 'Itty-Bitty-Minor' was finally opening up to them and allowing herself to indulge into what a family really was; at long last they could relax and be a family.

Well, not yet. They still had to find Peter, Harley, Rosalice and Bucky and then they could be a proper family. All of them. Only time will tell if that's what they will be able to achieve. Only time will tell if the Avengers can be the family they always want and set out to be. Only time will tell.