A/N: Hi guys! I'm so excited to be back writing this sequel to "The Right Partner." Writing that story was such an amazing experience, and I hope I can continue to write something enjoyable for all of you. To returning followers, I welcome you back with all the love I've always had for you, and for new readers, welcome to our family! You can probably get away with reading this story without having read "The Right Partner" first, but I highly recommend starting with that. You guys ready for another story? Let's go!

I slid my eyes open lazily, stretching my arms out. "Good morning," my favorite voice whispered groggily as my eyes focused on his face. His blonde hair had fallen down across his forehead and his blue eyes were crinkled with sleep.

"Good morning," I said, picking my head up off Steve's chest. "Sleep well?"

The corner of his mouth perked up, a teasing look on his face. "Except for your snoring, which never fails to keep me up." I chuckled, rolling my eyes at him and smacking his chest.

"I don't need your sarcasm this early in the morning," I replied, raising my eyebrows at him mischievously. I rolled off our bed, headed to the bathroom, when Steve grabbed my arm, pulling me back toward him.

"You have to go so soon?" he said, giving me his best pouty face. I chuckled.

"Yes, I do. I have lunch with Pepper and then I have to go into the lab. You're meeting with your trainer, anyway, so get up. Now," I replied, giving him a stern look. He sighed, smirking at me, but relenting to get ready to face the day.

For those of you who don't know, my name's Rebecca Andrews. I'm thirty-one years old and, after being forcefully removed from my previous job as a surgeon by a certain Agent Coulson, am the Chief Medical Director at SHIELD. I've been working there for four years now—I was brought in when a god called Loki came to Earth and tried to take over, which failed, due to my friends, the Avengers. My boyfriend and current housemate was one of them—Captain Steve Rogers. Captain America.

Steve and I have been dating for four years now. It started out pretty slow, because Steve and I were both new to the dating game—Steve had only ever kissed two other women, and I'd had my heart shattered countless times. For a little while, I wasn't sure we would make it—we met under unreal circumstances and worked in a top-secret organization. It was difficult, but we were dedicated to each other, and pulled through. About a year ago, when I had finally decided to move out of Stark Tower and buy an apartment in New York City, I asked Steve if he'd like to move in with me. It took a lot of thought, but he finally agreed, and we bought an apartment just off Times Square—where my former living space had been.

It had been difficult at first. Steve wasn't used to living with another person. We both had to adjust to each other's schedule and habits. It brought out the worst in us sometimes, but relationships all have their flaws—Steve's just happened to be that he liked to leave his sweaty clothes on the laundry room floor for days or would forget to put milk on the shopping list when we ran out.

And yes, the most difficult adjustment was that, contrary to common believe, Steve was still a virgin. I'd tried to get him to budge a couple times, but he wanted to wait until marriage, which I completely respected. But, when you're living together, that can get a little tricky. Especially when you're on your laptop in your bed and your super-gorgeous, super-buff boyfriend walks out of the bathroom with nothing on but a towel. Yeah. I know. But hey, it was Steve's wish, and it was actually incredibly cute that he wanted to wait (well, when he was fully clothed).

I threw on a pair of jeans and a floral blouse, grabbing my purse and keys before I left our room. "Have a good day," Steve said, appearing from the closet and giving me a kiss. "I love you."

I smiled up at him before heading out the door to my car. "Love you too!" I walked out to the parking garage and got in my car, headed to Stark Tower to meet with Pepper.

"Morning, Dr. Andrews," JARVIS said immediately as I walked into the building. "Mrs. Stark is in the penthouse."

"Thanks, JARVIS," I said as I punched the button inside the elevator, immediately shooting up into the building. Pepper and Tony had gotten married about two years ago. After Tony had nearly lost his life getting rid of the bomb during the attack on New York, he actually did mature some, and realized he couldn't keep taking life for granted, so a few weeks later, he asked Pepper to marry him. Steve and I were both in the bridal party and I think it's safe to say that neither of us had ever been to an event that large. The entire wedding was shown on TV and the reception was held in Central Park with thousands of people present. Oh, and I nearly forgot!—

"Hurry up and get over here, I can't reach the plates!" Pepper shouted and I rolled my eyes at her, chuckling.

"You shouldn't be up, you're supposed to be resting!" I yelled in reply, standing on my tiptoes in her kitchen and pulling down two plates. I looked over at the counter, and saw the array of food she had ordered—Chinese, a pizza, some Mexican food, and a McDonald's bag. "What were you craving today?"

Pepper took a seat at one of the stools and looked over the selection. "Everything." She reached for a slice of pizza and a taquito at the same time and started shoving it down her throat. "I'm pregnant, I do what I want."

I sat down next to her, reaching for the pork-fried rice. I poked her rather large belly and laughed at the death glare she sent me. "Oh, come on. You're almost done. Two more months."

She took a bite of her pizza, a french fry in her other hand. "He's an animal. I eat so much, and yet I never get to feel full. He just eats it all. God damn, boy, I'm frigging bringing you into the world, you can share some of the food!"

I chuckled at her as she continued to devour everything in front of us. "Have you guys decided on a name?"

She rolled her eyes, stuffing a forkful of rice into her mouth. "Tony keeps pretending like he doesn't care, and won't say anything, but I know what he wants to name him. I was already on planning naming him that, but I haven't told him."

I looked at her in confusion. "What is it?"

Pepper shook her head, her mouth full. "We're not telling people until he's born. We want it to be a surprise."

"You can't even tell me? Your best friend?" I looked at her, my puppy dog pout on my face. She chuckled at me and shook her head, her hand covering her mouth as she tried to chew.

"Who said you were my best friend?" she replied with a smirk, and I rolled my eyes at her, continuing to eat.

"So, Tony made me swear not to tell you…but I'm gonna tell you anyway. But you have to act like you don't know—and I never told you this. Even if you get caught, don't rat me out. I'll take my pregnant wrath out on you," Pepper said, actually pushing her lunch away and look at me with a serious look.

"What is it?" I asked, getting nervous.

"Well, as you know, Steve was here yesterday and was talking with Tony, and…he asked Tony for some advice." A small smile spread across her face, making me even more anxious.

"About…?"

Pepper sighed happily and reached out to touch my shoulder. "About getting engaged."

I felt my jaw drop as a shock went through my body. Holy shit. "Seriously?"

Pepper nodded, nearly jumping on her chair. "He was asking Tony if he thought you two were ready for it. Heh, he even asked him how people in this time period ask a girl to marry them. It was so sweet. He's going to ask you to marry him, Becky." Her smile suddenly fell and she reached out her hands defensively. "If you didn't want me to tell you, I'm sorry, I just thought you should have some heads up—"

I waved my hand at her, my head still foggy. "No, I'm happy you did. I'm happy I'm having this reaction in front of you instead of him. I wouldn't have been ready."

Pep tilted her head to the side, looking at me with concern. "What do you think?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, deep in thought. "I don't know. I mean, I've obviously thought about spending the rest of my life with him. I just…it's such a big commitment. I love Steve, and I trust that he won't hurt me-it's just…kinda scary. It's a big deal."

Pepper smiled softly at me, reaching out to push my hair back. "You can do it, Beck. He loves you so much; he'd never hurt you. It's not just scary for you—he's probably scared shitless, too. But you two will work it out. You always do."

I smiled up at her, reassuringly, and folded my hands. Steve and I…getting married? Pep was right. Everything would turn out ok. A smile slowly started to spread across my face as I looked up at her, the happiness I knew I would feel finally spilling over. "I'm gonna marry Steve," I said, not believing the words. My whole body tensed as I felt excitement spread through me, and I wrapped my arms around Pepper, nearly squealing. She laughed at me and we continued to eat our lunch, talking about a wedding that was, hopefully, soon to come.

We finished eating and, after helping Pepper clean up, I went down the elevator to the lab I worked at with Dr. Bruce Banner. Bruce had made the permanent move to New York City shortly after the Avengers first appearance. He and I had become very close in the past few years—we worked together nearly everyday. I ran the hospital in both Stark Tower and, when necessary, over at the SHIELD headquarters. Bruce conducted most of the research into different injuries and powers, so we worked side by side. Lately, he had been doing research on me to see the full capabilities of my healing power. I had been curious for years to see if there were still things I didn't know about it—it was never something I put too much thought into. Recently, I had just become curious, and had asked Bruce if he could look into it.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show up," Bruce said as I walked through the door. The entire room was encased in clear glass walls that also doubled as computers. On the one wall, Bruce had up several different screens all displaying the results of the latest test he had conducted on me.

"Morning to you, too," I retorted, putting my purse down on one of the tables cluttered with different papers and tablets.

"Actually, it's afternoon," he replied, smirking at me over his shoulder. I rolled my eyes at him and walked up beside him to look at the results.

"What's all this mean?" I asked.

He pointed to one image of my brain. "You see this little pocket, right here?" He pointed towards the front of my brain, where a tiny little bubble was visible. "I think that's where it's coming from. Your power, I mean. Since it's in your brain, it's attached to all your nerves. Inside that little pocket, it's like…some sort of energy. Something I've never seen before. But upon contact, no matter how slight, it pulses out and actually secretes out of your fingertips, or whatever you're touching the person with. How the energy heals the injury is that it just speeds the healing time—it speeds it up so fast, the damage will heal in seconds."

I nodded, looking over some video footage of a patient I had healed a couple days ago. "Then why can I heal myself? Wouldn't I be immune to the energy if it's already in me?"

Bruce smiled at me. "That's the thing. You actually can't heal yourself with your touch."

I furrowed my eyebrows, shaking my head. "I do it all the time."

Bruce shook his head, pointing to another image. "You heal yourself naturally. You don't have to touch it. It just heals anyway. You've just always touched the wound immediately, so you wouldn't have noticed—but it would heal by itself. You know how most people wake up with random bruises on them? Well, you've never had any, because they'd just heal on their own."

I raised my eyebrows, nodding at Bruce. "How'd I never notice that?"

Bruce chuckled. "Well, you're not the brightest, Becky." I rolled my eyes at him, smacking his arm, as we got down to business. I had some paperwork to do before I could head home for the day, so I sat down at my desk when Bruce's phone started ringing. He picked it up, putting it on speakerphone.

"Dr. Banner, and I'm presuming Dr. Andrews is with you," a voice I hadn't heard in quite a long time said. Bruce looked over at me, confusion spreading across his face.

"She is," he replied. "What can we do for you?"

"I'm calling everyone into HQ. There's something we need to discuss. I'm afraid the world might need you all again," Director Fury said—and with that, Bruce and I were out of the lab and heading over to SHIELD.

A/N: This chapter was actually a blast to write. I hope you all enjoyed it. Things are about to get craaaazy. Love you all, and can't wait to start on another adventure with all of you.