"So I was doing some research about music therapy." I announced to Bucky as I walked into his apartment with my old cello. "And I think it could help you."

"Is that why you have that?" He asked looking at the black case in my hands.

"Yes! What do you think?" I asked.

"I don't want to break your cello." He said.

"This," I said patting the case, "is my old cello. It works just as well as my new one, but I won't care if you break it."

"Why do you think this will help? I don't understand."

I shrugged, "Music is a form of healing. It exploits emotion and humanity. It is something we all understand, no matter what culture you're from or what language you speak, music is universal. And when words fail, music speaks." I said "You've been having trouble finding the right words to use. I think this can help."

"I don't know." Bucky said looking unsure.

"Well all you can do is give it a try." I said. "What can it hurt?"

"Will it fix me?" He asked.

"Bucky, you don't need to fixed because there's nothing wrong with you." I said.

"I'm broken."

I shook my head, "We're all broken, that's how the light gets in."

Bucky smiled sadly and shook his head. "Let's give it a try."

0000000000

"I thought I'd drop by and say hello." Phil said sitting down at the counter.

"You came just in time to have a fresh chocolate chip cookie." I said opening the oven and pulling out a tray of cookies. Phil reached over to pick one off of the tray but I slapped his hand away. "Let them sit for a moment!" I said and started putting them on the wax paper I had put on the counter by Phil.

"That's a lot of cookie dough." Phil commented.

"There are a lot people who live here." I said. "And most of them have big appetites." I started scooping a new batch of cookies onto the tray. I put the spoon back into the bowl of mix and then put the tray in the oven and set the timer for twelve minutes. "Do you want some milk?" I asked.

"Sure." He said and I grabbed a mug from the cupboard and then got the milk from the fridge.

"Here you go." I said placing the mug next to him.

"This is so good." Phil said with his mouth full of cookie. I smiled but didn't say anything. Phil ate the rest of the cookie and then drank the milk. "So how's the baby?" He asked. "You're really showing now."

"He's good." I said noncommittally.

"Just good?" He asked.

I sighed, "Phil, since when do you care about my son?" I snapped.

"I've always cared." He said. "Why would you say that?"

"Because you act like you don't care and you have been so judgmental about this pregnancy since you found out about it." I said on the verge of tears.

"Jade." Phil said walking around the counter to me. "I love you and I love this baby. You have to realize that as a parent, you don't want to hear about your kid getting pregnant out of wedlock. It's a difficult situation for everyone, especially you. I was just worried about you." He told me honestly.

"You really see me as your kid?" I asked.

"Of course I do." He said and pulled me to him for a hug. "I love you."

"I love you too." I said and then pulled away from him when the timer for the cookies started to go off. I laughed a little and wiped the tears away from my cheeks. "Way to ruin a moment, huh?"

Phil laughed and moved to take the cookies out of the oven for me. "I'll take care of this batch. Why don't you sit and eat a cookie?" Phil suggested.

I nodded and moved around the counter to the chairs on the other said, where I noticed a medium sized gift bag on the chair. "What's this?" I asked picking it up and taking its seat.

"Something for the baby." Phil answered as he began to place cookie dough on the tray.

"You got him something?" I asked a bit surprised.

"Open it." He urged.

I moved the tissue paper aside and found a light blue baby blanket. I picked it up and it was so soft. I rubbed it on my cheek and smiled. "He's going to love this." I said and hugged the blanket to my stomach.

Later that night I couldn't help but show off the baby blanket to Steve. "It's the first thing we've gotten for the baby." I said.

"It's really soft." Steve said. "We should probably start getting baby stuff, you know bit by bit." He suggested.

I nodded, "That sounds like a good idea. You're so smart." I said and leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the lips. "Tomorrow we have that appointment with the geneticist." I reminded him.

"Do you really think there's something wrong with him?" Steve asked.

I shook my head, "No, it's just a precaution. Especially with the super soldier serum, we don't know how it'll affect him. But I'm sure it won't be in a bad way." I reassured him. "It's just the practical thing to do."

He nodded, "I just hope he isn't like me when I was younger." Steve said.

"I'm sure he'll be perfect." I said. "And even if he has asthma or something, he's going to be loved by the both of us so it won't even matter."

"You're right." He said. "When did you get so smart?"

I smirked, "It comes with being pregnant." I said. "It's like you're just suddenly full of wisdom."

Steve laughed, "I think it was there all along."

{Page break, page break, page break}

Connexin 26 is a recessive gene that can cause deafness in babies when they're born. If one parent is a carrier, then the baby becomes a carrier. But if both parents are carriers, then the baby will be born deaf.

I kept turning this information around in my head, trying to make sense of it, but I just couldn't. My mind wouldn't make sense of it.

I swallowed hard, feeling a lump in my throat, "So our baby's going to be deaf?" I asked once again to clarify what I just heard.

"Not necessarily, Steve's genes from the serum may help the baby in this case. He could be born hard of hearing or with no hearing issues at all. We won't know until after he's born." The doctor told us.

I didn't say anything but Steve did, "Thank you, doctor." The doctor left the room, leaving us alone.

"I never expected this." I said honestly.

"You heard him, Jade. There's a chance that he'll be perfectly fine." Steve said.

"But there's also a chance that he'll be deaf or hard of hearing. I'm not sure what to do about this." I said. "I'm completely lost."

"We'll talk to Bruce about this, he has studied genetics." Steve reminded me. "And we can go by the book store and get some information about this. We'll be fine."

I nodded, "And we can talk to Clint about it too." I said. "He's hard of hearing so he'll have some sort of insight into this."

"See, we'll be okay. And remember, he's going to be loved by us so it doesn't matter if he's deaf or not. We'll get through this together."

"Together." I agreed.

After stopping at a local bookstore and buying some books about deafness and raising a deaf child, Steve and I sat down and talked to Bruce.

"Your doctor is right." Bruce said looking at the papers. "You both are carriers for the recessive mutated gene of Connexin 26." Bruce sighed and took his glasses off. "But because he will have the serum, there's really no telling what that'll do to the gene."

"Which is basically what our doctor told us." I said.

"I'm sorry I can't be more help." Bruce said.

"No, it's not your fault. We just wanted a second opinion. Thank you, Bruce." I said. Steve and I left Bruce and headed upstairs to our apartment.

"I honestly don't think this is something we need to be worried about." Steve said. "Who cares if he's born deaf or hard of hearing? In the grand scheme of things, why does that matter? As long as he's healthy and happy."

I nodded. "He's going to have an amazing loving family."

"You bet he will." Steve said.