Promises
A promise is something that should never be broken. Everyone knows that, even Mr. genius, billionaire, Tony Stark.
It could be said that Tony had been through a lot in the past fifty-two years of his life. Being Iron Man was not that easy. Sure, to any average person, it seemed fun flying around and fighting bad guys, but to Tony, it was a massive weight on his shoulders, both figuratively and literally.
The origin of Iron Man is a well-known story that defines who Tony Stark is, what he stands for, and how devoted he is to doing what's right, no matter what the cost. There he was, trapped as a prisoner inside a cave with the entire world losing hope of his chance of survival with each day that passed. There was no way to let anyone know back home that he wasn't dead, not Happy, nor Pepper. Many restless nights he spent thinking of countless "what if" scenarios. What if he had stayed with Rhodey? Would he still have been taken hostage? What if he was at home in the comfort of his Malibu mansion? Would he have had the courage to finally ask Pepper out? What would he have given just to have one phone call to let her know that he was alright and was doing everything he could to get home in one piece?
Tony Stark found himself asking these same questions at a later time in his life; during his time spent in another prison. The solitude of him alone in a spaceship, soaring through the cosmos, running out of oxygen each day, was something he did not think he would return home from. At least he had the capability to send Pepper messages via his helmet, but who knew if she was even receiving them? The only thing that Tony had on that ship, besides Nebula, was hope, and that was what got him through it all and back home safe and sound into Pepper's arms.
These painful memories from his past made him promise, not only his family, but himself that he would always do everything in his power to return to them. Now that he had a wife and daughter, people who truly depended on him, he made sure to always make it back home to them. Every mission, no matter what, he would call to check in with them each day that he was gone. And that was his promise. Being an Avenger not only put a huge target on his back, but unfortunately for him, it also put a target on his family's back. He always protected them, but when he was away on missions, he had to put that trust into Happy to make sure they remained safe. Not that he didn't trust Happy, but he would still worry in the back of his mind when he was away, as that's just the protective husband/father nature programmed in him.
It was a surprisingly rainy Monday evening in Malibu, and six-year-old Morgan Stark was found playing with a plethora of Legos scattered around the sea of beige carpet in the family room. Pepper was watching her young daughter from the comfort of the couch as she simultaneously flipped through the pages of a fashion magazine. The sound of raindrops colliding with the large glass windows next to them was calming to the girls, as they enjoyed their time relaxing after a long day at school for Morgan, and a quite hectic day at Stark Industries for Pepper.
Suddenly, both of their heads turned to the direction of the stairwell when Tony came stomping down with a large leather duffle bag in tow.
"Where are you going now!" Pepper exclaimed, as she got up from her seat on the couch and approached him, meeting him at the bottom of the stairs.
Morgan was forced to halt in her tracks, right in the middle of assembling her new Death Star Lego set, looking up at the scene that was about to unfold with her parents.
Tony responded as he dodged his wife and continued towards the family room, "I have to pack quickly. Fury called, something about a situation in Bolivia."
"Um, what? Tony, you just got home from a mission two weeks ago. And in those two weeks you've barely been home." She huffed, tapping her heels in stubbornness on the hardwood floor.
Morgan was about to chime in to share her feelings on the matter of her father leaving yet again, except just as she was about to speak, Tony physically stepped over her to grab his phone charger on the nearby coffee table and shoved it in his bag. He was in a rush and didn't even realize what he was doing until Morgan stood up in his path and looked up directly at him.
This made Tony stop dead in his tracks.
"Daddy, I don't want you to go again. You promised to play with me tonight!" She implored, a look of disappointment presenting itself on her face.
Tony felt horrible to leave his family yet again, but he needed to help out in Bolivia, as many lives were at stake, and the situation was rapidly getting worse. As much as he would have loved to spend the night playing with his daughter, he knew that it was his duty to go and complete this mission.
Tony then kneeled down to his daughter's level.
"Sweetheart, I am so sorry that I can't play tonight, but I promise that when I get back we can spend a whole week playing together. How does that sound?" He proclaimed, quite proud of his negotiating skills.
Morgan's face immediately lit up at the thought of her spending an entire week with her father. She jumped up and hugged Tony's neck, hanging onto him like a monkey when he stood back up.
"Now Tony, you can't make promises to her that you can't keep. Your obligation to Stark Industries and the Avengers will probably get in the way the week you come back, as it usually does." Pepper chimed in, saying that last part under her breath.
Tony seemed off-put by his wife's response. He carefully set Morgan back down and turned to Pepper.
"I know Pep, but I'm just trying my best to make up for all my absences, I will do whatever it takes to come back and spend more time with the two of you: my two favorite girls in the world." He responded affectionately, as he approached her, taking her hands in his.
She sighed, coming to terms with her husband's request, and let herself calm down as she fell into Tony's embrace.
"I love you Pepper, but you and I both know that I need to go. I'll always return to you. I promise." He assured before planting a soft kiss upon her forehead.
Morgan, soon after, came up to them and latched onto Tony's leg, thus ceasing their small intimate moment.
Tony picked her up and gave her a large hug goodbye, "Don't worry Mo, I'll be back in no time." He promised, as he ran his fingers through her soft brunette locks.
"And don't tell your mom this, but I'm going to miss you the most." He whispered in her ear as he kissed her cheek, making her sorrowful face transform into bubbly laughter.
"I heard that Mr." Pepper scoffed.
Tony laughed as he handed his daughter into Pepper's arms. After engulfing them both into one final hug, he picked up his duffle bag and made his way to the front door.
With the slam of the door behind him, just like that, he was gone.
Pepper woke up at 6 a.m. sharp on Saturday from a rather intense dream. After calming herself down, she turned to her side, and noticed that yet again she was alone in her bed. It had been four days since Tony had gone off to Bolivia, and Pepper was starting to worry, due to the fact that Tony had not contacted her since the first night he arrived there. All she knew was that Tony and the rest of the Avengers were fighting some crazed mutant army in the Amazon Rainforest, but most importantly, he did not know how long until he could come back home.
She took in a deep breath and decided to take on the day the best she could, despite the voice in the back of the head constantly thinking of all the possible negative scenarios that could be unfolding for her husband.
It wasn't until a couple hours later that her six-year-old finally woke up and made her way, slowly but surely, down the stairs. Her tiny hand slid down the metal banister and with a loud squeak, she released her grip and happily jumped right over the last step.
"Good morning, Morgan!" Pepper cheerfully greeted her daughter as she flipped the pancakes she was making for breakfast.
The smell of the fluffy pancakes drifting through the air led Morgan straight to the table and, with the help of her mother, she was lifted up onto the tall chair at their black granite kitchen island.
"So, what do you want to do today, honey?" Pepper inquired, trying to stay chipper in front of her daughter to distract herself from the whole Tony situation.
However, Pepper wasn't the only one distracted, as Morgan was too focused on the food in front of her to process what her mother was asking.
Pepper noticed this and snapped her out of it by sliding a pancake on the plate in front of Morgan.
"When is daddy coming home? I miss him and wanna have him help me finish my Death Star. He promised. And he hasn't even called us yet." She whined as she picked at her pancake with a fork.
Pepper knew this was coming. Morgan was always so observant. She had so little time to prepare a response to ease her daughter, and herself in fact, as she looked at Morgan's apathetic face.
"I'm sure daddy will be coming home as soon as possible. He probably has been too busy with his friends taking care of the bad guys. Yeah, I'm sure that's it." She hesitantly assured, as she took a seat next to her daughter.
"Oh, well I hope he comes home tonight 'cause I'm bored." Morgan replied in a more confident tone, before trying her best to shove an entire pancake in her mouth .
"If you're so bored, why don't we call one of your friends from school to see if they can come over to play?" Pepper offered, hoping that this play date would take her daughter's mind off of things for a while.
Morgan had an idea as she shot up in her seat and said, "How about Peter! He loves to play Legos with me!"
Pepper's heart sank in that moment. Of course her daughter wanted Peter Parker to play with her, as he was a close second, only after Tony. How was she going to break it to Morgan that Peter couldn't play either because he was on the same mission that her father was on, in Bolivia, thousands of miles away from their Californian home?
Morgan knew her dad was Iron Man, as the entire public knew this fact as well. However, she was not aware that Peter was Spider-Man yet. Since she was so young, it was too much of a risk for her to accidentally reveal it to her classmates at school or basically anyone she could come into contact with. She loved Spider-Man and Peter Parker both so much, that if she knew, she would want to tell the world of how cool it was for her big brother to be Spider-Man. Tony, Peter, and Pepper will tell Morgan some day when she is a little older, but today was not that day.
Not wanting to compromise Peter's secret identity, Pepper decided to tell a small white lie.
"Well sweetie, Peter can't play with you this weekend because he's on vacation to, um... Italy."
Morgan's face fell down from this news and she looked back blankly at the table. Pepper now felt even worse.
It couldn't have been a better time, as Happy suddenly burst through the front door.
"Pepper, Morgan, you guys around?" Happy called out rather loudly, accompanied by a slam of the front door.
"In here, Happy." Pepper replied, as she got up from her chair to greet him.
Happy entered the scene and noticed that something was way off.
"Woah, what's with the sad face, Morgan?" Happy asked just before helping himself to the delicious looking pancakes on the table.
Pepper took the liberty to answer for her daughter, knowing that she wouldn't reply, "She's upset that daddy hasn't come home yet, or even called us, for that matter." She said dryly.
Happy knew exactly how they were feeling. He too was extremely concerned that he hadn't heard from Tony yet. It was even more alarming to him that Tony hadn't spoken to his family, as he would always call Pepper and Morgan way before he would let Happy in the loop of what he was up to on his not so top-secret Avengers business.
"Kid, I know how you feel. I was actually coming here to talk to you guys about this." He added.
Pepper's eyes shot up, "Wait, have you heard from Tony?!" She asked, as hope bubbled up inside of her.
"Sorry, Pep, I haven't. I just wanted to ask if he's contacted you guys at all and to see how you're holding up. I've been trying to track his suit with the help of some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but we couldn't pinpoint any location." He sympathetically noted.
This time it was Morgan who spoke up from previously remaining silent.
"So we don't know where daddy is or when he's gonna come back?" She answered, as her eyes started to water.
Pepper then came up from behind and hugged her daughter to comfort her.
"Daddy promised you he'd come back, and he never breaks a promise. You know that Morgan." Pepper mentioned to sooth her daughter's worry, while rubbing her back in a circular motion.
For the next couple minutes, the three of them were so busy discussing how they would work together to figure out where the elusive Tony Stark was, that they did not notice the front door opening and closing yet again.
"What promise was it that I made again, anyone care to remind me?" Tony bluntly asked, as he stood in the entryway and dropped his leather duffle onto the white tiled floor.
In approximately, what seemed like one millisecond, Morgan Stark managed to get off from her chair and sprinted into her father's arms.
"DADDY!" She enthusiastically exclaimed before crashing into her father with a thud, almost knocking him down to the ground.
"What's up, peanut? I hope you didn't miss me too much." Tony mentioned, as he picked her up and lifted her onto his shoulders.
Pepper was speechless. Moments ago, she was on the brink of having a panic attack from the stress of locating her long-lost husband, but now he was here right in front of her.
Tony noticed how startled his wife was, and probably could have guessed what she was going through. While he was in Bolivia, his communication links had gone down in his Iron Man suit due to the supersonic weapon the enemy had pitted against them. He was also worried, not only how concerned his family would be not knowing what was going on with him, but his greater fear was if anything were to happen to them without him knowing. How could he protect the world if he couldn't even protect his family? Thankfully, that wasn't the case, as he could see that all the people he cared about were in the same room together, all safe and sound.
Pepper finally came and reunited with her husband as she hugged him as tightly as she could, with the intent of never letting go.
Even Happy got in with the heartwarming reunion as he hugged his boss and tried to hide evidence of the tears of joy escaping his eyes in the moment.
"I'm so sorry guys, I can't imagine what I put you through. My comms went down, and I had no idea where the nearest payphone was in the rainforest." He laughed, trying to lift their spirits.
Pepper then proceeded to hit him for that last comment.
"You don't get to tell jokes now, Tony." She sternly declared before kissing him passionately.
"Ewww gross." Morgan said in disgust, looking at her parents' display of affection.
Suddenly, a new voice spoke up,"Yeah Mr. Stark, cut it out, there are children present." Peter Parker advised, before carefully sliding his black Jansport backpack from his shoulder to the floor.
"Oh sorry, honey, guess we gotta cut it out now. The kids have spoken." Tony sarcastically added, as he put his arm around Peter.
Just like that, Morgan pounced from her father and onto Peter, managing to take the 24-year-old down to the floor with her.
"Peter! You came to play!" She joyously yelled into his ear, as she engulfed him into a hug.
Peter was still shaken from that interaction, but managed to say, "Yeah, it's nice to see you too, Munchkin," with a goofy grin on his face. "But I've got to get home to M.J." He replied dejectedly.
"But Peteeeer!" Morgan begged, giving him a pleading look.
He let out a sigh, as he eventually gave in to Morgan's pleas.
Tony couldn't help but smile as he looked around at the people whom he loved more than anything in the world. Sure, he and Peter were a little bloodied up and bruised from their mission, but at least they came home in one piece to those who were anxiously waiting for them.
It was clear that Morgan was the most excited about their homecoming, as she now had both of her favorite playmates to help her finish the Lego model. And that's exactly what happened that day.