Tony Stark had intentionally remained a bachelor for a long time. He had scoffed at the idea of marriage, and ridiculed such concepts as a married couple's "date night." To him, that emphasized everything he found horrifying about marriage – being tied to same dull person, doing boring married couple things and having to plan carefully around the children (particularly distasteful to him was the idea of scheduling sex).
He never imagined that he would have met a woman he cared enough about to want to marry, or that he would have children with her and one day end up eating his mocking words and have… a date night. (He refused to ever schedule sex with Natasha and was infinitely grateful that she found the idea equally abhorrent.)
Tony's two-year-old identical twin girls sat on the bed in the master bedroom, watching their mother do her makeup in front of her mirror. When they were infants, Tony had had the irrational fear that he would not be able to tell them apart, or worse, would mix them up and bring up both by the wrong name. He had obtained for them baby bracelets that could have links added as they grew up, with a tiny charm that had their first initial and glittered in the light. Anya wore a purple dress with a matching bow in her hair, and Katya was dressed in a similar outfit though in pink. Both wore their bracelets on their right wrist.
Natasha looked at the reflection in the mirror and smiled, watching her husband sitting with their girls both leaning back against him.
"Don't either of you get any ideas," Tony informed his daughters. "You aren't going to be allowed to wear makeup until you're 40, and you won't be allowed to date until you're at least 50."
Katya turned to smile at him placidly, but Anya turned to give him a little frown. While she didn't entirely understand what he had said, she knew "aren't" and "won't" were not words that she liked to hear.
"Daddy!" Anya complained. "No."
Tony was thankful that Katya was a docile child because he feared that Anya would grow up to be similar to him. "Yes."
"Mama pretty," said Katya before her twin could reply to their father, already playing the role of peacemaker.
Tony smiled and gave each girl a kiss on her little head. "That is true. Mommy is the most beautiful woman in the world."
Natasha laughed and finished applying her makeup. She added a spray of perfume and walked over to the bed. Her dark red curls were swept up in a delicate updo and she wore a strapless silky dark blue gown. Tony hoped she wasn't concealing too many weapons under the dress. Once he had been in too much of a hurry and nearly cut his hand trying to get her stockings off.
"Thanks," she murmured, giving her husband a kiss. She turned to gaze at her daughters affectionately. "Are you two going to be good for Aunt Sarah and Uncle Steve?"
"Yes, Mama," Anya said, and Katya smiled her agreement.
"Good girls," Tony said, smiling at his family. "We should get going, Tash."
"All right. If you take them out to the car, I'll get their bags."
Tony nodded and stood, smoothing out his charcoal pinstripe suit. He picked up both girls and headed downstairs to the garage with them. Natasha went to the nursery to get the diaper bags she had already packed earlier, and on the way to the garage sopped to make sure that Maks had enough water in his bowl. He gazed at her calmly from his position on his cat bed. She was thankful the girls were not interested in tormenting Maks, and he seemed to enjoy when they rolled his little ball with a bell or teased him with a cat toy for him to pounce on.
"Be good, baby. We'll be back later," she said, giving him a scritch behind his ears. He purred and then curled up to nap as she walked away.
Tony had secured each child in her respective car seat. After the twins had been born he had purchased the safest SUV he could fine… and then had modified it further to be completely satisfied. Natasha had been slightly amused at his paranoia concerning the twins, but she had to admit that she shared it to a certain extent. For such a long time she had been concerned with only her own survival and then adding friends and family… it put her into a vulnerable position.
Yet, she would never choose to go back to the woman she had been years ago.
Natasha put the diaper bags in the backseat floor and then slid into the passenger seat. The girls liked to be in the car so they chattered to each other and occasionally to their parents as Tony made the drive to the Rogers's house.
Tony got the girls out and they ran up to the front door. He watched them worriedly, unaware he was holding his breath and hoping neither one would trip and fall. He let out a sigh of relief when the girls reached the door, although they were too short to reach the doorbell. Natasha rang the bell, carrying a diaper bag over each shoulder. Inside, they heard the sound of Hershey barking an alert that someone was at the door.
Sarah opened the door moments later, holding her one-year-old son on her hip. "Hey guys!" she greeted them with a warm smile. Baby James babbled and grinned at them. Like his parents, he was blonde though had his mother's green eyes.
"Hi, hi!" the girls said cheerfully, going inside. The twins loved their aunt and uncle and were very comfortable in their home.
Natasha greeted her friend and smiled at the baby. "Hello, handsome."
"Little man keeps growing every time I see him," Tony commented. "You sure you didn't put Super Soldier serum in his bottle?"
Sarah laughed, shooing the family chocolate lab away from the door before closing it. "I'm positive. We weren't sure what the effects would be on children because of the experimentation… but Kyle's thriving and so is this little one."
The girls had run inside to find Kyle, who was three-years-old. He had been doing his favorite activity, which was to follow his father around dragging his plushie Captain America shield. It had actually been a birthday gift from the Starks when Kyle had turned two, and he loved it so much he carried it around everywhere.
"Hey everyone," Steve said, coming out to greet them and giving Hershey a gentle pat on the head as he did so. "Kyle, come say hi to Uncle Tony and Aunt Natasha."
Kyle ran over and give Natasha a kiss on the cheek when she bent down to hug him, and Tony a hug around his leg. "I big brother," he said proudly. "Helped Mama today." He smiled adorably then ran back to begin playing with Hershey and the twins with a ball.
Sarah smiled. "He did! He played with James and Daddy while I took a nap."
"A much needed nap, since James still isn't quite sleeping through the night," Steve added, kissing his wife's temple.
"What's the matter, you let Sarah stay up all night with him?" Tony scoffed.
Steve looked at him mildly. "No, we took turns like we usually do but it affects me a little less because of my modifications."
Natasha nodded in understanding. "Good thing I had experience functioning with sleep deprivation from my Red Room days, otherwise taking care of the twins at night would've made me a basket case."
"You wouldn't have gone crazy," Tony assured her. "I'd just go back to being an insomniac and use the power for something useful, not building suit after suit."
Natasha laughed. "But that was useful; at least you'll never run out of spares."
"True." Tony smiled and put his arm around her, nuzzling her neck. She tolerated his idiosyncrasies with a good nature, and he in turn tried to be considerate of her.
Natasha smiled up at him and turned to look at their friends. "You sure it isn't an imposition for them to spend the night…? I mean, if James has been keeping you up…"
"No, we love having the girls over," Sarah said reassuringly. "I'm greatly outnumbered by boys here so it's nice to have some backup." She smiled. "Kyle and the twins sleep pretty well so it's no trouble at all."
"And we'll bring breakfast tomorrow," Tony added. "So don't worry about getting up and cooking. Just text me what you guys would like to have and I'll take care of it." He might tease Steve occasionally (often) but he appreciated his friends and the care they showed Natasha and the twins.
"Thanks, that would be nice," said Steve. A bright blue ball rolled past him and he picked it up, gently rolling it back to the toddlers.
"We should say goodnight," Natasha suggested, and Tony nodded. Both of them went over to the twins and exchanged hugs and kisses.
"Be good girls," Natasha told them. "Your aunt or uncle will help you to brush your teeth before bedtime."
"And if you want to call us before you to sleep, they'll help you with the phone," Tony added.
"Say night-night Jarvis?" Katya asked.
"All right, you can say goodnight to him too," agreed Tony. The twins had grown up with Jarvis surrounding them and to them he was as real a presence as any of their uncles.
"Love you both," Natasha said and Tony echoed her words, giving each child a final kiss.
"Love Mama. Love Papa," the twins said, for a moment looking uncertain about their parents leaving. Then Kyle brought over the ball again and they seemed more at ease.
"We'll call later to check on them," Natasha whispered to Sarah, who nodded.
"Have a good time – enjoy yourselves!" she whispered back, gently untangling James's hand from her hair.
Tony bid both friends goodnight, and headed out to the car with his wife. He opened her door, then headed around the SUV to get into the driver's seat.
For a moment neither said anything. The car seemed oddly empty without the girls.
"We deserve a night out together. Alone. Just the two of us. We're going to have a good time," Natasha said.
"Right." He smiled at her, then groaned. "And I have daddy brain… I forgot something from the house."
"Is it necessary? We're going to be late."
Tony snorted. "We're the guests of honor, babe. They should be used to me being fashionably late, and can't get started without us. They can wait." He started up the SUV and sped toward Malibu.
"I'll be just a moment," he said once they arrived in the garage. Natasha nodded and looked through her phone idly as she waited. He came back out a couple of minutes later, holding a black velvet box in his hand. He got into the car and gazed at her.
"That black pearl necklace you're wearing looks beautiful on you, but I want to give this to you," he said, opening up the box to reveal a beautiful diamond studded necklace. There was a ruby in the center of the necklace, then diamonds hanging vertically leading to another ruby surrounded by tiny diamonds.
Natasha's eyes widened. "Tony, it's amazing." She didn't really buy jewelry for herself. All the pieces she had now had all been gifts from him. He had exquisite taste in jewelry. "Thank you!" She smiled and leaned over to kiss him.
He kissed her eagerly, happy that she liked his gift. Although he had many flaws, being stingy was not one of them. He may need Jarvis's help to remember her birthday (though it did help it was on a holiday and even he noticed when people dressed in costume), but he often bought her gifts for no reason at all other than he saw something he thought she would like.
Natasha reached back to unhook the pearl necklace, placing it inside her purse.
"I got it," Tony said, gesturing for her to lean over so he could fasten the new necklace around her neck. Once he did so, he adjusted it so the hanging ruby was perfectly centered.
He gazed at her for a long moment. "I love you," he said quietly.
She laughed softly. "You'd better. I love you too." Her green eyes sparkled with mischief. "You think they'll care if we're a little more late?"
"What are you—" Tony groaned as she reached over and her hand wandered over him. "Nope, they can suck it up and deal with it. C'mere."
Natasha flipped down the sun visor and reapplied her lipstick. She glanced over at her husband. "Your fly's still down."
He glanced down. "No, it isn't."
"Ha. Made you look."
Tony smirked over at her. "Very funny." He pulled out of the garage and sped downtown to where the Maria Stark Foundation was having its annual thank-you ball in honor of Tony and Natasha Stark. Tony and Natasha both donated heavily to the foundation and had slightly different areas of interest so the foundation reached a wider audience.
"I thought so." She looked over at him playfully. "You know… this doesn't exactly qualify as a date."
"I know it's not ideal. But we won't stay long after the dinner and then I'll take you to do something I know you'll enjoy." He glanced at her before taking the exit. "I know you're not entirely comfortable around some… most of these people."
She felt a small shock of surprise. Although in some ways Tony could be oblivious and even dense, other times he could be eerily perceptive. "How did you know?"
He scoffed. "If most of the time I can't stand the assholes, you must be wanting to strangle them or drown them in their champagne. Also, I'm not blind. I knew some of the men try to flirt with you and the women act like snobs. Why do you think I was so drunk at half of these sort of things? It was the only way to put up with them."
"No drinking tonight," she ordered, more of habit than any real concern. He'd stopped drinking heavily years ago and after the girls were born drank even less. "Aside from that… I think the foundation does good work and I am pleased with it. It's worth it to put up with some idiots for a couple of hours. Your mother would be proud of you, Tony."
He smiled at her. "I wish my parents could have met the girls."
"I know what you mean. At least they have Grandpa Fury, right?"
He burst out laughing as he pulled up to the valet parking. "Poor, poor kids. Maybe we can use him as the boogeyman for when they misbehave."
Natasha could blend in seamlessly anywhere she chose, and she mingled as though she had grown up highly privileged. Tony's charisma was on full display and she watched as he effortlessly worked the room.
A woman in a gold dress came up beside her. "You're Natasha Stark, aren't you?"
Here it comes, Natasha thought. She smiled graciously. "Yes, I am."
"My name is Michelle Thomas and I'm interested in writing a piece about your family for the lifestyle section of the magazine I work for," she said, holding her hand out.
Natasha shook her hand. "Thank you, but we prefer to keep our family out of the media. Our children are far too young to be involved with that."
"It would make such a fascinating story about how Tony Stark can go from perpetual bachelor to husband and family man," Michelle persisted with a friendly smile. "And if we were able to get pictures of the twins, I'm sure we would pay more than a far price for them."
Natasha's smile turned frosty. "My children are not for sale for any price." Even though she wanted to snap at her, she did not want to embarrass Tony or have it be reported in a magazine about how "difficult" she was. "It isn't a matter of money," she added in a softer tone. "I want them to have as much of a normal childhood as possible. If you want a quote for your magazine, you can put that Tony is a good husband and devoted father. I am very lucky to have him."
"And him being a billionaire doesn't hurt either, huh?" Michelle laughed.
Natasha's hand reflexively clenched. She forced herself to relax and not respond defensively or irritably. "It only adds to the handsome, sexy winning package that he is," she said with an easy smile she did not really feel.
Tony suddenly sidled up to her side, kissing the corner of her mouth. "Miss me, baby?" he asked, then flashed a smile at Michelle. "Sorry to interrupt, but they're seating us for dinner. If you have any more questions, call my publicist. Have a goodnight." He walked off with Natasha.
Natasha blinked. "Where did you come from?"
"I have a sixth sense for when you start getting an urge to kill someone," he replied. "I recognized her as someone who bugged me to show her pictures of the twins at this last event we were at. I figured she didn't give up so easily." He rolled his eyes as they sat down at their table. "As if we're suddenly going to think – hey, good idea! Here's a picture of my daughters so kidnappers and perverts can know exactly what they look like!" He snorted.
"And don't forget I married you for your money," she added dryly.
"That's fine. I married you for your boobs and amazing ass." He yelped when she elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "I was kidding! I was kidding!"
"No, you weren't."
"Well, not completely," he admitted. He dodged her elbow again and stole a kiss from her, not reacting to the sudden burst of light that washed over them.
The photograph of them that showed up in the newspaper next day showed a grinning Tony and a laughing Natasha a moment before they had kissed.
Steve finished rinsing the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. He looked at his dog, who sat patiently with his leash laying on the tiled floor in front of his paws. "All right, I can take a hint." He picked up the leash and clipped it to Hershey's collar. "Sarah, I'm going to take Hershey for his walk," he called.
Sarah looked up from where she was sitting with the children on the living room floor, playing with them. James yawned and leaned back in her lap. "All right, hon. I'm going to get them ready for bed in a little bit and have the girls call their parents." Natasha had called earlier to check in with them.
"I'll be back before then," he promised, heading out with Hershey after waving at the kids.
Hershey trotted down the sidewalk happily. He was an energetic dog and Steve was easily able to match his quick pace. He patiently let Hershey sniff every brush and tree, and was inwardly relieved when Hershey only had to pee. He was a good neighbor and citizen and always carried poop bags but it definitely wasn't something he liked carrying around to dispose of. On the way back to the house he winced at the sharp sound of a siren cutting through the quiet neighborhood. Hershey whined and barked and Steve turned to watch the police vehicle speeding down the road and to the left… on the same street at his house.
Steve's heart was gripped by an irrational fear and he suddenly began to walk faster and then run toward home. Hershey ran alongside him and Steve had to force himself to not run as fast as he was able, otherwise he'd be dragging his poor dog along. He turned the corner and could see the flashing lights of the police vehicle a few blocks down, on the side of the street that was across from his house. The police vehicle then made another turn and disappeared out of sight.
He left out a little sigh of relief and jogged with Hershey the rest of the way to the house. "Sarah!" he said once he was inside.
Sarah got up from the living room and went into the foyer. "Honey, what's wrong? You're… sweating?" she asked, confused. A walk with the dog wasn't something that could usually make him so much as breathe harder, much less work up a sweat.
"Just got scared for a second." He said, pulling her into a tight hug. "I saw a police car speed by and I thought… I don't know what I thought."
Sarah returned the hug and leaned up to kiss him. "It's all right," she said softly. "I understand." In their line of work, fear of loss was ever present and the more you had the more you stood to lose. Both knew there was always a chance someone would target their children to experiment on and see if that provided more information about the Super Soldier serum. "We're fine, though. They were probably cutting through here to get to the main road."
He leaned his forehead against hers. "You're right." Now he felt a little embarrassed about his overreaction, but she smiled at him reassuringly and he felt better.
"Daddy!" Kyle's voice piped up suddenly from the kitchen. "I no reach Hershey cookie!"
Steve and Sarah both laughed.
"I'll be there to give you a boost, Kyle," Steve answered.
Sarah kissed him again. "I'll get James and the girls upstairs. After you two give Hershey his biscuit you can come help with bedtime."
"I can handle that." He smiled at her and locked up the house before going to the kitchen. He took off Hershey's leash and then lifted up his son with one arm and opened up the jar of biscuits on the counter with his free hand. Once Hershey had his biscuit, he headed upstairs with his son.
This was all he'd really wanted for the longest time… his own family.
"So where are we going now?" Natasha asked her husband once they were back in their vehicle. Dinner had gone much better and neither of them had been bothered for anything more than photographs, which they had graciously posed for.
Tony was about to answer when Jarvis announced he had an incoming call. "That'll be the girls. Put them through, Jarvis."
"Daddy!"
"Mommy!"
The twins' voices overlapped and Tony grinned as he pulled out into traffic. "How are my girls?"
"Good!" Anya said cheerfully.
"Mommy, Daddy food?" Katya asked.
Natasha smiled at their little caretaker. "Yes, we had dinner. Are you about to go to sleep?"
"Night-night," Anya agreed. "See Mommy Daddy?"
"We'll see you in the morning for breakfast," Tony promised. "Have sweet dreams, all right? Good night!"
The girls told their parents goodnight and before passing the phone over to Sarah said goodnight to Jarvis as well.
"Everything go all right?" Natasha asked. The twins were usually well behaved but since they did have Tony's genes, one never knew…
"Yup, no problems at all. Are you still at the dinner?"
"No, that's over. We're heading…" Natasha looked quizzically at Tony. "Somewhere now."
"Well, have fun! I'll text Tony the breakfast order later tonight. See you in the morning."
"Goodnight, Sarah."
Tony disconnected the call. "Steve sure is lucky you hooked him up with Sarah. Can you imagine what he would've ended up with if left on his own?"
"He probably would have ended up with her on his own time."
Tony laughed. "Yeah, which means it would've taken him another 70 years."
"Tony!" Natasha frowned at him and he laughed harder.
"Sorry, baby, but you know it's true."
"Stop picking on him."
"You're right. It's more fun to do it when he's actually here," he agreed.
Natasha thought, Not exactly what I meant but I'll take it.
Tony pulled up to the valet parking at the ballet and Natasha got out, looking around. "I'd looked up tickets for this online but I couldn't find any for tonight," she said.
"I know. I had reserved ours a while back and didn't want to mess up the surprise." He smiled when her face lit up. "I get alerts from Jarvis when tickets for anything I think you might like go on sale. We may not always be able to go… but I'd rather have the option in case we do get the free time."
She hugged him tight. "This is wonderful! Let's go inside."
He laughed as she practically dragged him inside. "It was our first date," he says. "Do you remember? I thought you were going to stand me up."
"I do remember. And I was going to, except Steve talked me out of it."
"Steve?" That he hadn't known. "Really? Maybe I should be nicer to him…"
"You should be nicer to him because he's a good person," she scolded as he led her to their seats.
"Yes, dear," he answered innocently, putting his arm around her once they were both sitting.
Natasha seemed to relax and look around happily. She often wondered if her parents had lived and if she'd never been taken by Red Room, if she might have become a ballerina. Then she thought that if that had happened, maybe she never would have met Tony.
No, she thought. She'd rather have had her life exactly as it had been, pain and loss and all, because it had ended up with Tony and their daughters in it. And she wouldn't trade that for anything.
She kissed his cheek and then leaned in to nuzzle his ear. "Tony?" she murmured.
"What, you want to do a quickie in the restroom?"
She groaned/laughed. "No! But I sort of was thinking… that when the girls are a little older, if maybe we can try to have another baby."
He turned to look at her, surprised and delighted. "I'd like that a lot. You choose when the time is right, Tash."
"All right." She smiled at him then turned to the stage, waiting for the curtain to rise.
Tony settled down with his wife, feeling content. He only hoped that no one would shoot at them the rest of the night like they had on their first date, but if someone did there would be hell to pay.
Just because they were married and had children didn't mean Iron Man and Black Widow had gone into retirement, after all, since the world did occasionally need to be saved.