The Stark Kids

Pepper got down nearly crashing upon her five year old son who was running screaming his lungs out. Behind him came Millie followed by Marie who was also screaming and Logan who was crawling. The small group passed by her like a hurricane and vanished. She followed them to the living room where they kept fighting over something she couldn't quite catch. Finally she decided to talk.

"Mildred and Edward Stark." She said in her business voice nice and calm making them stop. Everyone knew what Pepper Potts meant by using her business tone and she meant… business. Period.

All four of the children looked at her and they stepped into a line as she moved her finger for them to approach. It was kind of funny really, especially seeing little Logan mimicking them and sitting next to his sister, Marie.

"Now, can I find out why you are yelling and running around the house at half past seven in the morning?" she said crossing her arms in front of her chest. Edward swallowed hard and looked up to Millie narrowing his eyes at her.

"I just wanted to play…" Edward said in that tone that showed he had done something wrong, he knew it and he was trying to get away with it. It was a thing he had taken from Tony.

"You don't play with this kind of things!" Millie yelled at him.

"It's just a phone!"

"It's my phone!" she said and they started fighting again.

Tony got down closing his ears.

"Hey, hey, hey!" he yelled making quite an appearance.

"Daddy!" Marie said and ran into his arms. Tony raised her up and hold her kissing her good morning. Logan, their baby crawled to Pepper who picked him up, surprised he wasn't stepped over by his siblings with all this mess.

"Yeah, sorry about leaving Logan out of his seat; I was kind of distracted." Millie said.

Pepper kissed the baby and handed him over to Tony who left Marie down.

"Now, I want to know what happened with no screams and accusations. Mildred?"

Pepper said giving them her professional smile. Mildred swallowed hard and looked at her father. Being the oldest she knew what professional Pepper Potts meant and she didn't like meeting with her; motherly Pepper, now that was something everyone enjoyed, especially Tony.

"Just because I'm older…." She tried to fill her with guilt but didn't quite work for this sort of things.

"I think I can talk better with a twenty three year old who runs the Engineering department of Stark Industries than a five year old who hasn't gone to school yet." Pepper said.

"Tony used to run the company…" Millie argued.

"Hey, watch your language kid." Tony said trying to support Pepper.

"I'm not a kid."

"You are acting like one, both of you. Now, please, tell me what happened and tell me the world won't come crashing down because of it." Pepper said frustrated.

"Ok." Mildred said crossing her arms looking very much like Pepper.

"We were in the kitchen eating breakfast and Ed asked to play with my cell- phone. I told him it's not a toy, then we had an argument about how Tony lets him play with his cell- phone when they are out of the house and just when I was about to put Logan in his park, Ed grabbed my phone. That's when the whole screaming and running started." She said looking sorry for waking up the couple. She was there to give them more time together not wake them up like that.

"All that over a phone?" Tony wondered playing with his baby son.

"It's my phone! And the world may not have crashed but one wrong button and the thunderbird is out of its nest running through the city driven by a five year old." Millie said making her point. Pepper sighed and looked at Ed. There are times she doesn't know how to handle these kids.

"Ok, Edward, give the phone back to your sister and never, ever take it again, understood?" Pepper said and the little boy nodded. He apologized to Millie and gave her the device. Millie kneeled down hugging saying it was ok but next time she will not be so soft. Pepper smiled and took the kids back to the kitchen to make herself and Tony breakfast.

"There are pancakes in the oven!" Mildred yelled at her back.

Tony was shocked by the statement and turned around to face his eldest.

"You made pancakes?"

"Yes, I made pancakes." She said heading to the kitchen too.

"I love pancakes." Tony said.

"I know." Millie replied.

"So, you made pancakes for me?" Tony asked grinning.

"No, I made pancakes for me." She said and went to help Pepper with Logan.

Tony stood by the entrance and looked at them. Millie was hard but she was a great kid and whatever she said they were very much alike and she loved him deeply. Maybe she was afraid all this was a dream and that she would wake up one morning being completely alone. Maybe she and Tony shared a common fear that made them bond even more. There were times Pepper had that fear too, but looking at them now, they were more real than they would ever be. How could they be just a dream?

"Mum, can we go to the pool?" Little Marie asked. Pepper thought for a moment and then nodded saying they should ask their father too. Tony was more than thrilled with the idea and took the little ones upstairs to put on bathing suits.

The kids' room was a door next to the master bedroom. They had decided it was better keeping them all in the same room as long as they were little so they could watch them better but now that Ed was about to start elementary school they were adjusting one of the guestrooms to make his own space.

Tony opened the door and walked to the small room leaving Logan on his bed. The room was small for Tony's style but it was generally comfortable. It was painted in an emerald green just because Pepper believed it was soothing and Tony had to admit she was right. It had big windows letting the light in and a hi-tech wall that allowed the kids to express their creativity without Pepper freaking out. The baby's crib was on the right as the beds of Marie and Ed were on the left. Next to the door was the wardrobe.

"Ok, now where are the bathing suits?" Tony wondered.

"they are in the last drawer." Edward said being right behind him. Tony smiled at his son and opened the last drawer as he had said. Ed had taken Pepper's organizing side and could tell you where every little thing was in the house even if there was chaos. However his resemblance to Pepper ended there, everything else was pure Tony. His hair, his eyes, the way he talked, the things he liked, his talent to get into trouble, all though that was a talent all Stark kids seemed to have. Edward liked cars and he liked spending time in the workshop with his dad or Millie. Tony believed that with the right approach his son could prove to be a genius after all, like his dad.

"Want the blue one or the red one?" Tony asked him.

"The red one." Ed answered and took it disappearing in the bathroom. He was a bit shy too. That one he got from Pepper.

"Ok, let's see about Logan." Tony said but a cough made him turn around. He saw Marie tapping her foot furiously against the floor giving him the Potts glare.

"Oh, honey, is there something I can help you with?" he said trying to suppress his grin. Marie was pure Pepper when she was acting like that and she was acting like that a lot.

"I don't get a bathing suit?" she said in that adorable voice of hers which made it hard for Tony to distinguish when she was being sweet and when she was being bossy.

"Oh, sorry, sweetheart I didn't realize you wanted to get to the pool too." Tony said trying to be serious. "I told mum you would stay in, today."

Marie's blue eyes went wide in shock for a moment before realizing something was wrong and smirked, giving Tony a taste of his own smirk.

"You didn't talk to mommy before we came upstairs." She said making Tony raise his hands in surrender.

"Guilty." He admitted making her jump victoriously.

Marie was very competitive, like her mother and really, really bossy, especially with her dad. Unlike her brother she had shown her intelligence since the day she started talking and she liked to show it off, a lot. She was really observant for a four year old and she loved solving puzzles as well as pretending to be a business woman.

"Which one?" Tony asked.

"The yellow one." She answered.

"Wanna help you put it on?" Tony said and she nodded.

A thing Pepper didn't like about her daughter was how dependant she was on her father. There was a love there, that much was obvious, but Tony spoiled her too much and that was not good.

"You're ready princess." Tony said caressing her brown hair. When Marie was born he had hopped she had Pepper's hair. He had wanted a miniature of his wife to run around the house but even though she had Pepper's eyes and Pepper's nose, her hair was becoming darker and darker.

"Thank you daddy; do you want me to help you with Logan?" Marie asked and Tony was nodded.

It wasn't he didn't get along with his youngest it was the baby state he didn't get along. Babies seemed to not like him.

"Ok, Logan Philippe Stark, don't move and don't pie on your dad." Tony said making Marie laugh.

"he doesn't like the red t-shirt, he likes the green one." Marie informed her dad who was picking out T-shirts.

"I guess it matches his hair. Got a sense of style, already, little man?" Tony said as he changed him. Logan was the only one of his children with red hair. It was in the exact same shade as Pepper's and he was really white like her, so they had to be very careful with the sun. When he was born, his eyes had been blue but much to Tony's disappointment they had turned brown after a few days. They couldn't quite get to whom he looked like but he seemed to analyze everything all the time like he was making a plan or something. Pepper used to tell Tony that their one year old was not an evil genius that meant to take over the world but she couldn't convince him. This baby would one day take over the universe; he just hoped it was in a good way.

"All set, hey hot shot, need any help?" Tony yelled knocking on the bathroom door.

"Uhm, I could use some help." Edward said and Tony got in to help him dress.

Finally after a few minutes they showed up in the pool where Millie and Pepper where having a conversation next to the water. Ed and Marie ran to their own small pool as Tony left the baby in his plastic one and lay by it enjoying his coffee and pancakes.

Millie called the kids to the big pool, promising she would watch after them and Pepper sat next to Tony stealing a pancake from his hand.

"Hey!"

"I'm hungry." Pepper said smiling.

"There's a whole pile in the plate." Tony argued.

"mmm, it tastes better on your hand." She said smirking.

"Was that a …." He said but was cut off by Edward who called them to see him dive.

"I hope Millie knows what she's doing." Tony said grabbing another pancake from the plate.

"Don't worry; she is very responsible when it comes to them." Pepper said sipping her coffee.

"You think? Because you didn't look very happy in there." Tony said referring to the phone incident.

"Well, she tends to act childish sometimes and she's possessive over certain things but I dealt with it before and I could deal with it now if it had nothing to do with the young ones or if I was her mother…"

"Don't be absurd, Pepper, you are her mother." Tony said. He liked to think his family as one, big happy family with two parents and four kids. As long as he was concerned Pepper had stood like a mother to Millie more than any real mother would have, more than he had, and Millie knew that too.

"No, Tony, I am not her mother and I feel bad when I yell at her about things that have to do with family and not the company." Pepper said in a sad voice. She was always afraid the "You are not my mother." line would come out of Mildred's mouth eventually. The truth was they had more of a - best friends- relationship than a mother and daughter. It couldn't have been different; she had been eighteen when they met and she had a hard time accepting the fact that Tony was her father or that she had a family. Pepper understood that. She had seen that before, on Tony. When you spent a whole life believing you are alone, it's difficult to realize there's someone out there who cares about you.

"Now, Potts, I thought you were a smart woman. You have been a mother to Pepper more than anyone, more than I have been a father to her and she knows that. She would prefer you over me any time of the day." Tony said sipping his espresso.

"Now you are been foolish, Stark. As much as I hate to admit and even though the last thing you need is an ego boost, the truth is, all four of them think of you as a god, especially Marie." Pepper said snatching the last pancake before him.

Tony smirked and sat up to leave his cup on the table.

"What about you, Mrs. Stark?" He liked the sound of it.

"Do I think of you as a god?" Pepper smiled putting her cup down as well.

"No." she said making him raise an eyebrow.

"You're more of a big kid who likes playing with big, dangerous toys…" she said making him smirk. "…and he is dangerously handsome…" she said kissing him softly on the lips. "and I love him to beats." She said smiling against his face making him smile too.

"I love you too, Potts." He said and they were brought back to reality by a crying Logan.

Pepper got up to sooth him down and joined him in the plastic pool so he was not alone.

"Talking about the kids, when are you going to tell Millie we are making her CEO?" Pepper asked Tony.

"How about tonight, after we put the youngsters to bed and before she leaves?" Tony suggested and Pepper nodded.

"As long as nobody calls you in." she said and the phone rang to her answer.

Tony sighed reaching for it.

"Oh, Banner." He said and he looked happier by the moment. Luckily, it was not a mission.

"Actually, I can't come today. We are having a family Sunday, I'll come by the tower tomorrow, ok?" he said and hanged up a while after that. He looked towards the pool where they were still having a competition for the best jump and he just couldn't stand there.

"Here comes, daddy!" he screamed and jumped in the water creating a small wave.

"Take it easy, iron head." Millie said as he raised from the water.

Thunderbird is a no-driver car that is driven via cell-phone. It's Millie's invention in my Iron man universe.