The Longest Day Chapter 1
Tony was on the ground in the heat of battle without his suit on. He was in the process of fixing it when he got a message from Nick Fury that there was an attack happening on STARK Tower.
*Peter's in there!*
Tony thought, stricken with fear. Though the only weapon he had was a metal pipe in hand he abandoned his suit and headed for the Tower at a run.
Suddenly a searing pain shot through his arm and he collapsed to his knees, He'd been shot. Lord, he'd forgotten what it was to truly hurt since becoming Iron Man. He let out a choked gasp as he looked at his arm, there was a lot of blood…too much blood.
"Fuck." Tony whispered, his ears ringing, and his voice faint. He was still thinking of little Peter who was in the Tower with his non-Avenger babysitter, a teenager couldn't be expect to protect an infant from all this!
*Find Steve*
his brain said as Tony scanned the battle ground. Their eyes met as Tony was shot again, this time it was much more serious than a hit to the arm, he took the shot to the head. Steve ran, panic stricken, towards his husband. Steve cradled Tony's head in his hands.
"You're going to be fine Tony, we'll get you to SHIELD and they'll patch you up." In theory, Steve's words sounded calm and in control, in reality, his voice was shaking and broke.
Tony locked eyes with the love of his life and mustered enough strength lying in Steve's arms to whisper "Peter…Tower…help" before losing consciousness.
Steve looked down at Tony and swore softly. As much as Steve wanted to stay with Tony he knew there was nothing he could do for his lover and his son needed him. He told Bruce to take care of Tony while he ran back to Stark Tower to protect Peter. He looked around to see what floor he needed to be on.
***Chapter 2***
Tony woke up in SHIELDs infirmary much later...hours, days...months, he wasn't sure. What he was sure of was his need to see his husband and son safe and in one piece RIGHT NOW.
Panic over took his normally rational brain saying 'if they were safe, they'd have been there when you woke up...' Tony tried his damnedest to push that thought from his head. He jumped out of his hospital bed, ripped his Ivs and monitor wires out, ran out the door and straight into Steve. Steve was practically thunderstruck seeing Tony up and around.. Tony said no hellos, no I missed yous, he didn't have the breath to waste. "What happened? Are you ok? Where is Peter?" He was nearly hysterical now.
Steve took a deep breath and placed his hands heavily on Tony's shoulders. "It's a long story, Tony.," He cautioned, "Why don't we let Bruce check you out and make sure you're okay first, okay? We should get some food into you to, you're probably starving."
Steve looked at Tony, hoping to the highest heaven that his stalling for time was working. Steve's calm manor was worrying Tony, shouldn't Steve be upset over what had just happened? Their son..their son...as far as Tony knew their son was injured...or dead...
Tony started to protest but the rumble of his stomach gave him away. He glared at Steve, as only a Stark could. "Where's Peter?"
"He's fine." Was all Steve would say. Tony knew he'd get no more out of America's Boy Scout until he complied with Steve's wishes.
"Alright, alright..." Tony held up his hands in surrender "Just let me wash up first."
Tony walked into the bathroom that adjoined the room he'd woken up in and stripped off the hospital scrubs he found himself dressed in. He took a quick shower, relishing in the way the hot water felt on his stiff muscles. As he glanced into the mirror to fix his hair and shave he noticed gray at his temples that he'd never noticed before. Were those new wrinkles around his eyes?
*Maybe I'm working too hard like Steve says...I really don't spend enough time with him and Peter...Peter!*
Tony's train of thought had come full circle reminding him why he was hurrying in the first place.
***Chapter 3***
"Well, well, look who rejoined the land of the living!" Bruce beamed at his best friend as Tony and Steve walked into the lab.
He opened his mouth to say more but two things happened at the same time: shot Bruce a 'look' and shook his head slightly from where he was standing behind Tony and 2. a teenage boy walked into the lab with some files for Bruce.
Tony frowned "What? Did you get an assistant in the last 24 hours or something?"
A pained look passed from Bruce to Steve and the kid looked uncomfortable.
"New recruit." Bruce muttered, now very much subdued. "NOW! Let's get you checked out, huh Buddy?" While Tony was undressing for his physical Bruce sent his teenaged assistant off on an errand that would take him to the other side of SHIELD HQ.
Bruce had Tony do the physical that all the new recruits had to do. Tony passed but not as easily as he'd assumed he would.
*I need to spend less time relying on the Iron Man suit to get the job done and spend more time in the gym...* Tony mused.
With Bruce's blessing Steve took Tony from the lab and to the cafeteria. As Bruce watched them go on the CCTV monitor in the lab his assistant came back in.
Reproachful eyes turned on the scientist "You didn't have to send me away, I can keep my mouth shut, you know."
Bruce sighed and rubbed a hand over his tired face "I know, but I couldn't trust THEM." *How had things ended up like this?*
***Chapter 4***
Tony and Steve sat eating in the, largely empty, cafeteria.
"Where is everyone?" Tony asked.
"It's a workday, Tony. They're WORKING." Steve responded sarcastically. *2 hours with Tony awake and I'm already loosing it! No...no I don't mean that, I don't! Pull it together, Rogers!*
Tony was fed up with the noncommittal answers Steve had been given since he's woken up.
"Okay, I'm clean, healthy and fed," Tony said lightly. He looked Steve in the eye and practically growled " . ." Not a question, but a demand.
Steve sighed "Let's go back to your room and talk, it's too public here."
Tony's stomach dropped, it could only be bad news if Steve wouldn't talk about it here.
"You said he was okay..."Tony whispered hoarsely.
Steve saw the stricken look on his husband's face and took his hand, then he said the most feared words in the English language, "We need to talk."
***Chapter 5***
Steve led Tony back to his hospital room and gently pushed him down so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, then he locked the door and sat beside him.
If Steve's actions had surprised Tony, he didn't show it- he was being as patient as he could so everything would finally be explained.
Steve shifted his weight and looked at Tony, cupped his face with a large hand and kissed his husband lightly on the lips. His arm snaked around Tony's waste and drew him close, the hand that had held his face was now playing with his hair. Tony was about to give in to Steve and his begging tongue when it hit him, Steve was stalling again.
"Steve!" Tony shouted, as he pulled away "Please, please just tell me...please."
Steve place his hand on top of Tony's and started from the beginning.
"After you...got hurt, Bruce tended to your wounds as best he could on the battlefield, but they were very bad."
Steve went on to describe the battlefield conditions, but Tony wasn't listening anymore. *My wounds, why don't they hurt?* He glanced down at his arm and saw, not a wound, but a faded scar. *...What?*
"Once I was sure you were okay with Bruce, Hawkeye and I went to get Peter. When we got to the Tower it was in ruins. Most of the windows had been broken, parts of the wall were missing, fires burned under the rubble for days...The babysitter had taken off and the first thing I saw of Peter was his crib, it had been crushed (here Tony made a strangled sound of fear), not by falling debris but by our attackers. Their plan had been to get Peter to get to us.
Tony's blood had run cold "...Peter..." tears welled in his eyes and threatened to spill. Steve took Tony's face in his hands once more and smiled gently "I promise, he's fine."
"When Pepper realized what was happening she ran in to get Peter. She got to him at the same time Hawkeye and I engaged the attackers. We fought them off but all the activity made the Tower unstable." Steve lowered his head as if in shame. "A large chunk of the wall came down on top of Pepper and Peter."
Tony looked about ready to loose it, he opened his mouth to say something and Steve held up his hand.
"Tony, the last thing Pepper ever did was to take the impact of the debris and save Peter. She held him 'just so' as to create space between him and the debris so he wouldn't be crushed."
*How is he not getting upset talking about this?* Tony wondered.
"We tried to save Pepper, Tony...we really did, but her injuries...were too bad."
Tony's tears were un-shed no more, Steve reached up and wiped them away with his thumb.
"When we got back to SHIELD Bruce checked Peter out, aside from a few scratches and bruises he was fine. But you weren't."
Steve turned away so as not to show the true depth of his pain...this had to be done gently.
"What do you mean I wasn't? I'm fine, look at me. I'm right here!"
***Chapter 6***
"Oh, Tony..." Steve sighed, the pain in his eyes was heartbreaking. "Tony, darling, that was fifteen years ago. You were in a coma ever since..."
Tony was furious. "What kind of sick joke is this?" He raged. "What are you trying to pull? WHERE IS MY SON?" Tony punctuated his last sentence with the breaking of a vase that had been on his nightstand. Locking the door had proved to be a good idea.
"Tony...Tony, please calm down and think. Think of all the changes you noticed around you today...little things that shouldn't be."
"I don't know what you're talking about" replied Tony icily, "Nothing has changed, everything is just like it was yesterday before we got attacked."
"Tony..." Steve tried to touch him and he pulled away. "Tony, it's okay. Just think."
Tony stilled and thought of all things he'd noticed that morning. His appearance, Bruce's overjoyed welcome, Bruce's assistant, the empty cafeteria...
Choosing to tackle the easier question, Tony asked "Why was the cafeteria so empty?"
"While you were washing up to go see Bruce Director Hill and I..."
"Director HILL? Where's Fury?"
"He's dead, Tony. Many of the friends you knew are gone and many new faces have come into SHIELD. Director Hill and I decided to empty the place so you didn't suffer any unnecessary shocks before you learned the truth."
Steve chanced a glance in Tony's direction, he looked shell shocked.
Look aside, he still tried to deny what he was coming to believe as the truth.
"I don't believe you...this can't have happened, I would never have left Peter for so long."
"You didn't, not really. We visited you everyday in here." Steve reached into the pocket of his flannel shirt and passed it to Tony.
It showed Steve and a five year old Peter, sitting on Tony's hospital bed celebrating Peter's birthday.
Tony was sure his heart had finally broken, and it wasn't due to the shrapnel in his chest.
"I missed everything!" Tony sobbed, clinging to Steve. "Everything, his first word, first step...first day of school..." Tony was breathless with anguish and guilt.
Steve pulled his husband close, smoothed a hand over his hair and smiled, "For what it's worth, and it's worth a lot, he's smart like his father."
Suddenly, it all clicked in Tony's grief soaked brain.
"Bruce's assistant..." He whispered, looked at Steve.
Steve broke into a grin "I told you he was fine."
*** Chapter 7***
As soon as he saw them coming Bruce made himself scarce. Tony couldn't help but feel that he was meeting Peter for the first time. The last time he'd seen his son, Peter was an infant so young he'd just learned to crawl.
When the door to the lab opened, Peter looked up from what he was working on and met his father's eyes and he knew that Tony knew.
The fifteen year old jumped up and ran to his father, wrapping his arms tightly around Tony's neck. "I missed you so much!" He sobbed "They said you'd never wake up, but Dad, Bruce and I never gave up on you! I swear we didn't!...I love you, Pops." Peter's body shook with the force of his sobs as Tony held him, tears running down his own face. Soon, a pair of warm, strong arms wrapped around them both.
*This* thought Tony *Is how it was always supposed to be...*
***Chapter 8***
It'd been over a month since Tony had been released from SHIELDs hospital and the whole family was happily ensconced in Tony's mansion.
Tony wasn't back to active mission status yet, so he was busy in his lab working on plans for a new suit and an even better Tower. But he wasn't working alone, when Peter wasn't busy with school or helping Bruce, he was helping Tony. Father and son, working side by side, nothing made Steve happier to see.
Everything fell into a predictable pattern, until one, not especially special, night.
Peter was working late with Bruce and Steve and Tony had just gone to bed. Tony slid his hand on to Steve's bare chest and traced distracted circles with his fingers. As much as Steve was enjoying the sensation, he had to ask,
"Something on your mind?"
Tony sighed and rested his chin on Steve's chest so he was looking up at him. "I'm proud of the man Peter has become..."
"But?"
"But, I still feel guilty for not being there when he was growing up. It wasn't fair to Peter, to you...or to me. So many nights I'd go in his room and watch him sleeping in his crib and day dream about his future; what his first word would be, holding his hand as WE took him to his first day of school...I wake up to find him with a girlfriend and a part time gig at a newspaper!"
Tony drew a deep, shuddering breath and gave life to the idea that had been bouncing around his head for months. No holding back now.
"I want to have another child."
Tony held his breath, waiting for his husband's reaction.
***Chapter 9***
Steve and Tony beamed as Peter took a picture of them for the paper.
"What do you want it to say Dad? Pops?"
"Steven Rogers and Anthony Stark are pleased to introduce you to the newest arrival in their family, Pepper Stark-Rogers." Dictated Tony as he snuggled the blanket wrapped baby in his arms.
This little girl would be his second chance at living a good life...until she started dating, anyway.