So. I said to several people who privately messaged me that I was going to continue with the Teenage Dirtbag Series. Except I was going to give all the new Kid Avengers their own back stories. Each one will be about eh, like, six chapters long. And then they'll all converge together in one main fic where I'll introduce an old character who'll be kinda sorta new.

Anyway, this is the Steve/Tony installment about Carmen's past. It will include what happened in the summer she turned 16, no worries. Many of you were interested in that.

So.

Let the reading begin!

Current Song: Explode by Patrick Stump

Current Thought: I'm gonna bang out as much of this story as I fucking can.

After The Storm

"… after the storm, we run and run as the rains come, and I look up. I look up. On my knees and out of luck, I look up…"

No one told him there were other universes.

Ok.

Wait a minute, that's a lie. Several people told him, just not people that he could take their word for it. Like, Richards told him. A lot. But it was Richards. So. And Bruce had mentioned it, but he'd been hanging out with Reed a bit too much for any of their liking, so Tony thought that he was just taking the babble home.

And then the portals had appeared out of nowhere and Steve had fucking jumped into one and Tony had gone after Steve because, well, he was kind of flying Steve around at the moment and it was Steve for heaven's sake. Of course Tony was going to jump into a portal right after his husband.

And now, here he is, with Steve nowhere to be found mind you, and he has no idea what he's looking at.

Ok.

Correction. He knows exactly what he's looking at. A woman. A pregnant woman to be precise, and she has his arc reactor imbedded in her chest, and she has Howard's eyes and his mother's mouth and shit. Shit. What the hell is going on because she has his attitude and part of his armor on her hand because he just landed in his own fucking workshop, thanks very much, and where the hell is Steve?

"Where's Steve?" Tony asks, growls and the woman growls right back, "I was about to ask the same question. He's heard the crash, he should be here by now." Her mouth curls up into a grin he's used to seeing in the mirror. "Old man's getting slow. Can't blame him."

"How the hell do you know Steve?" Tony asks.

"I'm married to him," she snarls.

"No, I'm pretty sure I am," Tony throws back. They stare each other down until two Steves run through the door; one is in uniform, the other in jeans and an old t-shirt.

So. Shit just got weird. Well, weirder. Whatever.

"So… You're the chick version of me. Huh. Natasha?"

"People call me Toni."

"With an 'i'?"

"What are you Anthony? Tony with a 'y'?"

Tony stares at her, his uniformed Steve coming to stand by him, Toni's Steve standing by her. "What the hell? Did you get an injection of pregnancy hormones in the two second we've-"

She moans, screams more like and hangs onto her Steve who swears. And that's when Tony realizes. It's too quiet. JARVIS hasn't spoken yet. Where the hell is everyone? And Toni and Other Steve look beat up and tired.

"Ok… what the hell did we just walk in on?" Tony asks.

"Tony," Steve warns, his Steve mind you.

"No. What. Is. Going. On?"

"She's going into labor," Other Steve says.

"And?" his Steve asks gently.

"…the world is… kind of… ending…" Toni says between heavy breaths and more moans.

"The other Avengers?" Tony asks with no hope at all.

"Dead," Other Steve says. "It's just us." He picks up Toni, holds her close and walks her over to the cot in the corner of the room.

Tony and his Steve follow, Steve taking off his cowl, Tony placing his helmet off to the side. "So, what? No hospitals?"

"No other civilization in New York. Maybe even in the whole of the U.S. Maybe the world," Other Steve says with a sigh, his face tight with worry as his wife swears her way through contractions and tries unsuccessfully to break his hand as she squeezes. "We just don't know. Won't matter in a few hours though."

"What?" Tony almost shrieks. Five hours. Five hours the portals would open back up and take them home. What if they didn't make it?

"Why?" his Steve asks calmly, kneeling besides Toni and giving her his hand to hold for her other one. She smiles weakly, gratefully.

"Because the world is about to explode."

It's been two hours since Toni went into labor, since Other Steve told them that the Avengers had strategically set up A-Bombs and H-bombs and Nukes around the world to detonate at the same time to get rid of the alien infestation indigenous to their particular universe.

There are only three hours left before they go off.

Tony doesn't understand how his female self could ever have thought of bringing a child into a dying world. He'd never have done that had he been the one in her position.

But she's cursing and Tony's on hand-holding duty because hell, they'd mind as well help. As Other Steve goes and runs for more water, his Steve tells her to push again. She screams and Tony thinks that maybe she succeeded in breaking his hand.

"Shit shit shit shit," she swears and she's crying and thank God Tony was born a boy. Thank. God.

"Anything?" he asks his Steve.

"The head and shoulders. Come on Toni, just a little bit-" The room shakes. Other Steve doesn't come back down.

Toni grits her teeth and pushes. "Shit," she says between clenched teeth. "They're here."

Tony doesn't need to ask who she's talking about. Other Steve gave them a run down on just how brutal these aliens were. Tony's not too keen on meeting them. Toni looks like she isn't either.

"I think they have him – FUCK!" she yells and she's squeezing and Steve has this look of enlightenment on his face and Tony's just enraptured by it.

"Just a little more," he encourages.

As she pushes, Toni somehow makes small talk. "How long you two been married?" Tony takes a second to stare in amazement that she can focus enough to ask before she yells, "FUCK STARK ANSWER ME, god-damn-it."

"Jesus Christ woman, three years, he's been out of the ice for four."

"Nice," and she yells and squeezes her eyes shut and then Steve is grinning and yanking and there's crying oh shit, and Toni's limp and panting and looks a bit relieved.

And there's a baby girl in Steve's arms. And Tony can't look away because she looks like them and of course she would. Technically, she's their daughter too.

"It's a girl," Steve says reverently, grabbing the clean pair of scissors Other Steve had gotten them. Toni waves to Tony to cut the cord since Other Steve seems to be otherwise occupied, and as his Steve holds the wriggling, bloody, pink body, Tony snips the cord. He has no idea what he's doing. But he's doing it.

There's only a cheap blanket to wrap the baby in, and when Steve tries to hand her to Toni, the woman shakes her head and says, "Where's Steve?" Tony looks to his Steve, a worried look on his face, and he's honestly about to go out looking for the other man, but Toni shakes her head again. "Wait."

There's half an hour left before the next portal and the end of this world when Other Steve stumbles through the workshop doors. He's holding onto his middle and Tony thinks he's alright until he collapses onto the cot with his wife and moves his arm.

His entire middle is blood soaked, his rib-cage poking through. He looks almost sliced in half, like he was just holding on until he could be with his family.

Toni holds him close, presses against his blood soaked chest and sighs in content and it would be grotesque if it wasn't so sad. Tony looks to his Steve, who's still holding the baby. Shit. What to do, what to do?

"Um…" but Toni cuts Tony off.

"It's a girl," she says quietly, and Other Steve still has enough in him to smile softly.

"Beautiful," he says as Tony's Steve turns the small sleeping bundle to him. Then the man sighs and lies still. He's not dead, but he's getting there.

Toni holds back a sob then lets it free. "Take her," she pleads out of the blue.

Steve's eyes widen and Tony opens his mouth to say something. But she beats him to it. "Please, god, please. If not for me, Tony, for him," and she motions to Other Steve. And it says something about Tony's devotion to the other man that he would do anything for him, no matter the universe they happen to be in. "You'll live, we won't. Take her. She's yours after all."

It's heartbreaking, watching a woman give up her child to anyone, never mind another version of herself that can do what she can't: give her child a life. It's killing Tony and it's against everything he knows. He gives this version of himself a lot of credit for getting past what Howard did to her, because he can see in her eyes that that part was the same, got past it enough to have a child. He doesn't know if he can do the same.

Steve looks at Toni though, and Tony knows he can't deny either Steve this. "Please," Other Steve pants out wetly. Toni shushes him softly and he goes quiet.

"We're going to die and so is this world. Please," Toni asks again, this time appealing to Steve.

"I can't make a decision without him," Steve says softly, rocking the baby in his arms like it's almost natural and no. No. That's not what Steve's supposed to say. Steve's supposed to be the stronger one and say yes and shit. Shit. Tony has to say something. He can't be responsible for the death of his own child, no matter what universe she comes from.

That would just make him worse than Howard ever was.

"Yes, we'll take her," Tony says and he feels the minutes ticking by. "Don't you want to name her?" he asks, trying to cover up for his snapped out answer and Steve, Toni and Other Steve's slightly surprised faces.

But Toni shakes her head and just settles softly beside her dying husband. "She's not ours anymore," she says, like now that her baby is safe she can finally rest.

And then Tony sees the portal come up and his Steve is dragging him and the baby through, stopping for Tony's helmet and then there's a flash and that universe is gone, baby gone, and they're in the Avenger's Mansion and everyone is freaking out.

And Tony feels just a little bit hollow inside.

They get the nameless baby to SHIELD Medical and Tony and Steve change into civilian clothes and wait outside the little hospital room the baby is in. They clamp something over the tiny bit of cord over her belly-button and swaddle her up before sticking her into an incubator and getting her some formula. Steve goes in to feed her, but Tony just stares through the glass window between him and a family he isn't sure he can have, or deserve.

But he can't let Toni and Other Steve's deaths have been for nothing. They trusted them. Tony and his Steve had been their saviors. What would they have done had the baby been born and no one in the world could take her? What then?

Tony gets chills thinking of it.

And yet there's a part of him. Afraid that he'll be like Howard, while the rational part of him that sounds a lot like Steve says, 'Shut up and stop being an idiot. You're better than that.'

Tony likes to think so, thanks very much. So maybe he can do this and not screw it up. After all, you have to start small.

He walks into the room as Steve finishes up. They'd already debriefed with Coulson, who was talking to the higher ups. Steve smiles softly and puts the bottle down, leads him to the incubator where their daughter – and man that's a weird thought – is now sleeping.

"She needs a name," Steve says softly.

"Yeah," Tony says, swallowing past a lump in his throat, because that little thing is dependent on him with her life.

"I like Adele," Steve says. "For a middle name."

Tony decidedly doesn't make a quip about the singer. He figures it must be a 40's thing. Figures, that Steve still has a 40s New York state of mind.

And then the name rolls off his tongue, because he isn't thinking, not much, just going with the feeling, and Tony says, "I actually like Carmen."

And then Steve says, "Carmen Adele Rogers-Stark. I like it," and it's official and they're attached.

Which is why Tony punches the first agent who walks into their hospital room and says that she isn't theirs and that SHIELD is going to take her away.

Steve holds Tony back as Coulson does some damage control and then the other Avengers are called and Pepper is taking Tony aside and asking him what the hell his problem is. And what the hell? No. No, no, no. He's just starting to get used to the idea of a baby, his baby, his and Steve's baby and these assholes want to take her away?

Fuck that noise.

"She is ours, no one else is touching her," he says vehemently.

And Pepper's face softens, because she has a baby, a son, with Natasha and she can understand that look on his face, that desperation in his voice. Phil sees it, understand it too, because he and Clint have Francis and yeah. Yeah they're going to help Tony and Steve make this happen.

"Ok Stark. Rogers. You said she's yours?" Coulson says.

The junior agent butts in. "Look, she needs to go into the system. She has no guardians-"

"Is it not correct that her biological parents have a legal right to her?" Coulson snaps.

"Well, yes, of course, but-"

"Then run a paternity test," Steve says, deadly, cold and Tony is so grateful to have married him right now, no one could ever understand just how much.

"For both of you?" The agent looks scandalized.

He hops to attention though when Steve says, "Do. It."

And he does. Steve doesn't flinch as they take a vial of his blood. Tony doesn't look when they do it to him; he and needles have a bad track-record.

It's when they get the blood from Carmen's little foot that Tony almost punches someone again. She wails and cries and squirms and when it's done, Tony and Steve are by her side, Steve soothing her, Tony just resting a hand on her head. Her baby eyes lock on his reactor though, and she stares until she calms and falls asleep.

"That," Clint says when he walks in after helping to calm Phil down, "seems like it'll be useful."

"Where's your brat?" Tony asks.

Clint shrugs. "With Nat. She stuck behind with her own munchkin and Phil said Pepper was needed and I came for Phil. So."

Tony nods, walking out of the room and grabbing Clint by the arm. When they're in a secluded corner of the hall, he says, "How did you do it? How did you lock it all away?"

Clint get sit. He does. He's had daddy issues too. Brother issues. Role-model issues. So he gets it. "Being a parent is one of the hardest things you will ever do," he tells Tony truthfully. And holy shit. Holy shit, but that doesn't help.

"But," Clint continues, his face softening. "It will be worth every second of panic and confusion. Because to see that baby's face light up when they see you? To see them happy and safe because of you? To know that you won't let anything bad touch them, not if you can help it and to just know, just to know that you had a hand in raising that?" Clint shakes his head and yeah, marriage with a side helping of parenthood suits him. "That is all you're gonna remember when they're off in college or killing people for a living in the future."

And yes. Yes. That…

That actually helps.

The junior agent looks like he swallowed a lemon when he comes back in, hours later. Tony's already fed Carmen once and Steve another time because the nurses helped them write down a feeding schedule for her that she'll have to follow for the first few months.

He just hands them their results and a file folder and walks out and Phil and Clint shake their heads and tell everyone they're calling it a night. They probably just miss Francis. Pepper leaves too, expressing her desire to get back to Natasha and their son.

That's fine. Steve and Tony can take it from here.

The results say that both men are her father. Of course, the female chromosomes are accredited to Toni but she had the same DNA as Tony, since they are, in essence, the same damn person. Inside the file folder is one sheet of paper.

A birth certificate.

It's wonderful to be able to just write down all of their information. Someone has even kindly turned the 'mother' section into another 'father' one. Tony tries not to laugh at that as Steve asks him innocently if there are actually different versions of birth certificates.

Tony fills out his end. Steve fills out his own. And then they both fill out the baby's information. Carmen Adele Rogers-Stark is written down for her full name. They decide on Rogers-Stark instead of Stark-Rogers because, in Tony's words,

"Look, it just flows better, Steve."

"Flows? Tony, how can a name-"

"Shut up and write it down."

"Fine."

Then Tony laughs because of the date. "Steve. Steve she was born the day before 9/11." And yes, Coulson had the honorable misfortune of explaining that one to Steve, who only laughs because it is indeed September the tenth. And wouldn't you know, but Fate's got a fucking sense of humor.

And no. No it's not going to be easy. Not to raise a child, not to get used to the thought of being a parent, not to think that he's good enough and won't fail. It's going to be hard. But Tony has this weird feeling that he's going to be ok. After all, he won't be doing it alone.

And when they get home and there's a bassinet in their room with a congratulations note from Pepper pinned to the front, and Steve puts their swaddled up baby inside of it with a soft, loving, reverent look on his face, and Carmen yawns, her little pink mouth stretching out a bit, well…

Tony thinks he's just given a little piece of his hard to someone else and he feels little, baby fingers wrapping themselves tight around it.

And he figures he's ok with that.

That is the first chappie. Hope you likey. And I mean, if Marvel is gonna give us an actual universe in which Steve and Tony are married, then fuck it, I'm utilizing that crap like fucking mad.

I also know jack shit about baby's and them being born and shit. So. Sorry for that.

Also: hospitals? What? Incubators? What? I DON'T KNOW I JUST THOUGHT IT SOUNDED OK. And also: birth certificates? What?

CREATIVE. LICENSE. That is all.

Reviews are always welcome and totally fucking encouraged. Thank you so much for giving this a shot.