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"How are things coming, darling?"

The sing-song voice of his wife startled Howard, causing him to jump slightly. Abruptly shutting off the power tool and sliding up his welding glasses, he spun around to face the smiling woman, "God dammit, Maria, are you trying to give me a heart attack!"

"Well, I would have tried calling you, but you refuse to let them hook up a phone in here," she said playfully.

"You know very well why I don't want that," he put down the solder iron and leaned against the work table with crossed arms, "It would be ringing all the blasted time! I have office hours for business calls and in the off chance there is an emergency, my secretary—"

"Can come down and inform you," she finished for him.

"Right…" So, he may have given that same speech to her a few times. One would think she'd stop mentioning it after a while.

When Maria just continued to grin at him with a dreamy look in her eyes, he added, "What are you all smiles for?"

She gently placed her arms around his neck, "I just received some very good news."

"Oh?" His mind speedily calculated all the possible things it could be and none of them were worthy of the interruption. Most likely this had something to do with one of the charity foundations she ran. She was so passionate about those, but surely she wouldn't interrupt him in the middle of his important work to tell him the mayor was going to be in attendance for the next fundraiser banquet or something, "It must be some news if it couldn't wait until tonight."

"I am much too excited to be able to wait that long." Her fingers carded through his hair, sending a pleasant chill down his spine and successfully dissolving any previous feelings of irritation. "As it were, I've had my suspicions for a while now but didn't want to say anything in case I was wrong."

The engineer placed his hands on her hips, "Well, I am clearly drawing a blank. What's this earth shattering news?"

"You, Mr. Stark, are going to be a father."

And just like that, Howard felt his mind shutter to a screaming halt.

"Excuse me?"

"I've been getting morning sickness for about two weeks now and…well…things have become more obvious since."

"Jesus Christ…" he whispered, mouth feeling as though he'd licked sandpaper. His eyes drifted down to her stomach, "How?"

Of course, he knew how! In fact, he distinctly remembered when the "how" occurred. It'd been right after a party celebrating the finalization of the new and improved Stark Missiles, but he'd been sure they'd both taken preventative measures. After all, they'd both agreed a long time ago that neither wanted children.

"It must've been fate."

He tried his best not to openly scoff at that. "Fate" seemed to be one of Maria's favorite words. Sure, he'd used the word plenty of times in his youth to charm women, but when Maria said it, she meant it. She considered all things happened for a reason and that everyone had a destiny. Howard believed that if you wanted something done you did it your damn self, screw waiting on fate.

Her smile faltered, "Are you unhappy?"

Was he unhappy? No. Was he happy? Hell no. He didn't know what he felt.

Howard Stark, a father? No one would have predicted such a thing would ever happen—especially not himself! Then again, he never thought he'd marry, but that all changed when he'd met Maria. Still, a wife was completely different from having a child. A wife was a grown woman who, in Maria's case, was capable of intellectual conversation and wasn't clingy. She would do her thing, he would do his, and, when they felt like it, they'd do things together. It was a perfect balance!

Children were clingy, loud, whinny, gross things that he'd never quite learned how to properly deal with. This was going to be a disaster!

But…there would also be someone to inherit the company and share all his knowledge with.

Was that really enough to counteract all the negatives on the list, though?

Mustering all the charm he could bare at the moment, he forced a smile, "This is thrilling news! I am just too shocked for words." Pressing his lips to hers, he pulled her closer to him, fully aware of her stomach against his.

A/N: Thanks to those who have reviewed! I am so glad to hear people are enjoying my take on Howard! Please continue to leave ideas for future chapters!