A...pleasant surprise?

Mariah had been feeling off. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but something didn't seem quite right. She kept feeling nauseous and James had even managed to best her during a playful spar. He had never bested her before in a fight and it had shaken her up quite a bit. She told herself that she was just coming down with something. Because of the Super Soldier serum in her blood it made it less likely she would get sick, but she still could. She never once considered that she might be pregnant. She and James had discussed children and they both agreed that they didn't want any. Between her being an Avenger and his vigilante job neither of them thought they were right for having children. Once that agreement was reached a huge weight seemed to be lifted off of both of their shoulders. They were still in the "Honeymoon" stage of their young marriage and they had a hard time keeping their hands off of each other when they were around one another.

Mariah was getting ready for a big mission with the rest of the Avengers team. Protocol stated that each member of the team have a thorough medical exam every three months. Mariah's happened to fall right before they were due to leave for their mission. Alex had preformed the exam but when she saw the results she immediately went over to Avengers HQ where the team was undergoing a briefing by Steve. Mariah's back was to the door and Alex got Steve's attention through a window and signaled for him to step outside to speak with her.

Steve was in the middle of the brief unaware of any outside situations. Having heard of the situation with Andrew he was glad that nothing else occurred since. But that peace only lasted before another event occurred. And there they were being briefed for action once again. He hadn't seen much of Mariah lately but he chalked that up to the new marriage. Seeing Mariah he thought of asking her to join him for lunch as it felt it had been some time they spent any time together.

Moving along with the briefing he loked up seeing Alex waving at him. "If you'll excuse me for a second." He said moving to the back. a few of them watching him step out and talked amongst themselves. Stepping out into the hallway he looked to Alex knowing it had to be serious if she was interrupting a briefing. "whats wrong?" He asked looking to Alex after closing the door stepping away from the window so they could talk in private

Alex glanced in the room at Mariah who was chatting away with Sam Wilson as the briefing was paused. She hated not telling her first, but she knew from past conversations with her son and daughter-in-law that they didn’t want children and she could only assume that this was going to upset her. Steve needed to know first so he could pull her off of the mission. Then they could tell her together.

“You need to immediately pull Mariah off of the mission,” she said handing Steve the order she had drawn up. When she saw him begin to question her she stopped her and lowered her voice. “Mariah’s pregnant.”

OOC: still saying only the admin can reply on the other board, weirdest thing havent hade this issue before

IC:

Steve prepared himself for what Alex had to tell him unsure of what it could be. When Alex brought up needing to take Mariah off the mission his first thought was just how difficult that was going to be. But then she dropped that bombshell and he was absolutely not prepared for that. "Oh..wow." was all he managed to get out. Of course she had to pulled from the roster in that condition but this produced a number of problems. "You're...positive." Steve asked knowing how dumb a question that was to Alex but oh he was clinging to hope. She had mentioned it to him that she didnt want kids which he felt was a bit hasty but it was her life.

OOC-Ok, I think I have the permissions fixed on the other board now...hopefully.

IC-Alex could actually understand why Mariah didn't want children. For a woman things became much more...difficult when children were involved. As the female, Mariah would be viewed as the primary caregiver and therefore ultimately responsible for them. She didn't doubt that James would help, but Mariah was young and just starting her career. She had worked her entire life for this and now it would be at least 2 years before she would probably be able to go on missions again. Although she would like another grandchild, she felt sorry for Mariah.

"Yes, I'm positive. I ran those tests several times just to be sure. I'm sorry Steve. I know you really needed her for this mission but my hands are tied. I can't give her clearance to go."

OOC: Yup, its working

IC:

Steve gave a nod understanding completely, "No you're right. The mission will be fine." He said. one last infiltration specialist to work with. He looked back to the door, "alright so do you want to be part of the fun news of telling her she cant go on the mission or are you bailing on me?" Steve asked with a smile.

Alex gave Steve a little smile. She was actually happy for him. With Mariah even though he had practically raised her, he hadn't found out until a few years ago that he was her father. He had been robbed of that experience. However, with this grandchild he would be able to finally have that experience.

"No, I'm not going to bail on you," she replied with a grin. "I'm actually required to be here to answer any questions Mariah might have. We might want to take her down to a private room though. She's...not going to be happy."

Steve wasn't looking forwad to this. Mariah never liked being left behind on missions to begin with and coupled with this news he wasn't expecting her to be calm. "Theres a room we can use nearby. I'l have one of the senior agents finish the briefing and i'll go grab Mariah." He said turned back to the door. He was glad that Alex was wanting to stay not just out of duty.

OPening the door into the briefing room he waved over one of the agents and explained that he and Mariah needed to step away for a moment and for him to finish the briefing.

"Mariah? Need to have a word." Steve said using his official voice instead of 'dad' voice. He wanted her to at least think this was official before it became a personal matter at least.

While Steve went to retrieve Mariah, Alex found the empty room. She wanted to wait there so Mariah would immediately see her whenever she stepped out of the briefing room. She knew that if she did that she would know something was wrong.

Mariah was proud of the work she had done thus far for the mission. She had gathered most of the intelligence herself and had been responsible for tracking down the subjects. She was ready to get going. When Steve stepped back into the room and asked to speak to her she didn't think anything of it. She figured it had something to do with the mission. She nodded and stood up and stepped out of the room with him. She was a little surprised when he led her down to another room. However, when she saw Alex she began to get worried.

"What's going on?"

Steve walked to the room he mentioned to Alex leading Mariah along. Once they got her in the room and closed the door Steve motioned for her to have a seat. "Alex has brought some information to light." he said waiting for her to sit staying professional. He took a seat on his own and looked to Mariah and she could see some conflict in his eyes. He tended to be bad about that trying to keeping his feelings separate from something professional when it came to her.

"We can't permit you to go on this mission Mariah." Steve said looking at her. He looked to Alex and took a breath before she could go defensive he decided to just get it out in the open. "Upon your exam..its been discovered that you are with child."

Mariah slowly took a seat, although she was now on edge as she knew that what was about to be said she wasn't going to like. Glancing at Steve, she could see the conflict in his eyes and Alex could barely look at her. When Steve told her she couldn't go on the mission her eyes shot back over to him and he could see a momentary flash of anger. However, that anger quickly changed to shock upon hearing that the reason was because she was pregnant. All of the color drained from her face and the silence in the room following his statement was palpable. Mariah looked from Steve to Alex and then back again.

"That's...impossible..."

Alex sighed and looked at Mariah. "I ran the tests three times just to be certain...you are pregnant. I had no choice but to pull you from this mission and any other missions in the foreseeable future."

Mariah was shocked and upset and looked back at Steve. "I have worked for the past six months on gathering the intel for this mission! I singlehandedly found the targets! You cannot take me off of this mission. Please..."

Steve raised an eyebrow when Mariah said it was impossible for to be pregnant. There had been a few cancellations in the past and no one had seem her nor James for days after the wedding. But he wasn't going to say anything to make things worse. He looked to Mariah when she began to plead her case on this. "I know you've been working your tail off on this mission but Mariah this is..i cant in good conscience let you go on this mission." He said.

OOC: Ok remind me are we wanting her to go on this mission?

OOC-no, she is not going to go on the mission. I believe what we had talked about was having Mariah and James be upset at first about the pregnancy, but after a few weeks they slowly start to get used to the idea and even become a little happy about it. Then, they are out shopping and an attack happens. Mariah gets seriously injured saving the life of someone and then loses the baby and is told she may never be able to become pregnant again. She sinks into a horrible depression and then the blackmailing starts. Does that all sound good to you?

IC-Mariah was now up on her feet and pacing in the room. Alex watched her and felt her heart break for her. "Mariah, I know that you are upset now, but I think you should go home and talk to James and get some rest. Then, when you head is clear we can talk more about this. This is not the end of your time on the team...I promise you."

Mariah glanced at them both before storming out of the room and slamming the door behind her. Alex looked at Steve. "Well...truth be told that actually went better than I expected. I'll look after her while you are gone. She'll be fine. This is just...a shock."

OOC: That sounds fine by me. i coudln't remember the details of her losing the kid. And with Alex against her leaving i didnt see her going on this mission lol

IC:

Steve knew that Mariah was seeing red judging by how quiet she was. And then she stormed off flinching at the slammed door. "There are times where i felt i was robbed of not raising her as a daughter but then..there are times like now when telling her no as a teen would not a good time." He sighed. Alex could tell he was upset as well. For Steve the idea of becoming a grandfather was overwhelming and he was thrilled beyond belief. But for Mariah it was like a death sentence with how she reacted.

And now he was leaving, some father you are he thought to himself. He looked to Alex and gave a nod. "You should probably give James a heads up." he said knowing he had a briefing he ahd to get back to.

Mariah stormed out of Avengers HQ. Everyone who saw her immediately got out of her way. She got into her car and drove quickly back to the apartment she and James shared. Alex had unfortunately not been able to reach James and she could only imagine what was going to happen when Mariah got there.

James had clearly just taken a shower since his hair was still damp. He was sitting on the couch when she came in. She saw his surprised expression since she was supposed to be gone but she didn't give him time to react. She grabbed a pillow off of the couch and began to hit him with it.

"Why the hell couldn't you just keep it in your pants?!"

James had a pretty good day planned out. Yes he always missed Mariah but here were times when he felt like a bachelor and had the apartment to himself. No pants Mondays extended to most of the week when Maria was gone. After doing his shower dance and getting himself dressed he was going to sit down and watch a movie and drink. He kicked his feet up onto the coffee table when the door opened and in stepped Mariah.

Glad i chose to start with a movie he thought as she grabbed up a pillow. He was about ask questions when she began to hit him. "h-hey! I didn't do anything!" He protested trying to shield himself. When he registered what she said he realized this had to be something a bit different. "what are you talking about?"

Mariah finally stopped, but continued to hold the pillow in her hand. She was clearly very upset. "I got pulled off of the mission and do you know why?" She threw the pillow across the room and tears filled her eyes as the realization hit her. "Because I'm...pregnant."

James eyes widened at this reveal, "you're pregnant.." He said. There was a lot to unpack with that. He nearly fell off the couch as he had moved a bit to better shield himself from her pillow assault. "we're going to have a kid..?" His heart just wouldn't start beating. He got up quickly to try and figure out way to console her? He wasn't sure how to handle this since they both decided no to having kids. But getting up made blood rush to his head and just the shock made him feel dizzy. "A kid.."

James eyes flashed a few times and he fell back onto the couch nearly fainting. "Thats...ok..we can figure this out." He said trying to be positive

Mariah couldn't keep still. She just kept pacing and fidgeting. She knew that most couples would be happy about learning that they were going to have a baby, but she and James were not most couples. They both had dangerous jobs and neither of them was exactly "normal" what with James being a mutant and Mariah having super soldier serum in her blood.

"Six months of hard work and time away from you just gone and God only knows when, or IF, I will be able to go back to work."

James took his pulse and coudln't feel it for a second, either we're dead or we mom was right and we werent paying attention to her lessons he thought giving up. He watched Mariah pace for a moment trying to figure out something positive on this. He hadn't even thought of what the kid would turn out to be given him being a mutant and her bloodline. The sacrifice she had made did put strains on their relationship and now this rather jeopardized her worklife.

He thought of how this could have happened and remembered one of their fights when she was working long hours again and it grew passionate all of a sudden. "On the positive side we wont have to use a condom." he said going to humor to mask fear. "We'll figure this out one day at a time."

Over the next few hours Mariah went from incredibly angry to upset and every emotion in between. She felt bad for yelling at James and ended up crying because none of this was his fault. Finally, he ordered a pizza and they sat together on the floor in silence for a while as each of them tried to get a grip on this situation.

"Everything is going to be different," Mariah finally said. "Both of our lives just changed forever."

James was uncharacteristically quiet during their meal as he was locked in his head trying to figure out what to say. He huffed, "Man we're overthinking this." He finally said placing a hand on his knee. He looked to Mariah, "It wasn't planned but we'll figure this out. I can stay home and raise our kid, not like i make even close to what you make." he said thinking him making that sacrifice made more sense. His job wasn't all that fulfilling and there were still people out that did good things for the city without his help.

James looked off to the side, "Besides if Kamea and Jayden can figure this out how hard could it be." He said smiling a little. But oh on the inside he was still a whirlwind of emotional panic

Mariah was quite surprised when James offered to be the one to stay at home and take care of the baby. It was something that actually brought tears to her eyes. Even if it didn't happen that way, it was just knowing that he was willing to do so. In a big way it made her love him even more. Mariah hadn't eaten much of the pizza, a sure sign that she was upset since normally she could eat an entire large pizza on her own in one sitting.

She became quiet again for a few long minutes before breaking the silence again.

"I'm scared James."

This would be the first time that Mariah had ever admitted to being scared of anything. Even when she had been shot multiple times on the subway she had not admitted to being scared of dying.

James looked to Mariah when she admitted she was scared. This was a different type of situation so he under stood. He got up and sat next to her wrapping an arm around her. "i'm scared too Mariah, but we'll figure things out. Got a lot of people that will be happy to help out..and hey i'll let you hit someone without judging you." he said trying to lighten the mood.

"It wont be easy but we'll manage." He said looking to her. "So guess we have more time on our hands to figure this stuff out. Can borrow some books or we can pick up some on our own. How did you find out about this again?"

Mariah felt James put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him. Somehow, breathing in his scent and hearing his heartbeat put her more at ease. The shock was slowly wearing off, but the reality of the situation was still there. How would she know how to be a mother when she hadn't had a mother of her own? She felt completely unprepared and inadequate. She had once been asked by Gwen to hold Wes for a moment and she hadn't even known how to hold him or been comfortable doing it. At that moment she would have been more comfortable disarming a bomb.

She looked at James when he asked her how she found out about this.

"I found out from your mother and Steve. I was pulled out of the mission briefing and told. I guess your mom found out when she ran the results of my physical. She said she did the test multiple times just to be sure."