A/N: Fluffy/actiony chapter, this one is. It's needed for plot progression for what I have planned. More domestic fluff coming next chapter, and then a few chapter after that, all the fluff you can't handle. For now, I'll be working out my action feelings. :D

You guys are awesome, seriously.

Unbeta'd, and Marvel owns more of this than I do. Also, all music/movies/tv shows belongs to those that wrote/performed/produced/etc them. I use them for humor and good times.

Also, if you go to my Tubmlr page (megaranoelle. tumblr. com) you can catch some behinds the scene stuff about the fic. No spoilers, promise. Maybe you can influence the story.


January 2012

Tony whined a bit. "Can I help global warming along? It'll melt the snow."

"You're not going to turn into a weather villain," Steve told him. Tony flopped down on the couch in the workshop. "It's just a couple of days."

"I could easily get a quinjet out there," Tony countered.

"And land it where?" Tony could hear the crunch of snow as Steve was walking outside. "They've closed the airports because they can't keep the runways clear fast enough. I'm in the middle of the city, so there's no place to land safely."

"Then I'll come out to you, the suit can land anywhere." Tony looked over to see the Mark XXXIII standing there.

"Are you really that bored, Tony?" Steve asked, sounding amused.

"Peter is trapped with Wade because of the snow here, which he was spending the rest of Winter Break over there anyway, and Mary and Coulson are still on their own mission, and her parents are the only smart ones, still in California riding out the snow storm in warm weather."

"Where's Bruce?" Steve asked him. "And I thought Romanoff and Barton were going to be staying at the Tower this week."

"Bruce is working in his lab, and he's in that super intensive mode." Tony sat up on the couch, before deciding to start moving towards his room, Jarvis making sure the call followed him. "And I'm not sure if the wonder twins managed to make it here before the snow storm hit."

"I can confirm that Miss Romanoff and Mr Barton are still at the SHIELD offices," Jarvis threw in for him.

"There you go," Tony said, walking out of the elevator on his floor. "I'm super bored, and Bruce isn't going to emerge for at least three more days-"

"That sounds familiar."

"-so I'm going to come out to you." Tony ignored Steve's comment.

"Hang on a sec." Tony started going through his clothes, looking for something warm that would at least be semi-comfortable in the suit. He heard Steve talking to someone, but couldn't hear the words. Then he heard a squeak, which was not from Steve, and probably the friend that he was visiting. "Yeah, she's not happy with that."

"So I'll see you in like an hour?"

"Wouldn't expect anything less." Tony could hear the smile in Steve's voice.

"Admit it, you miss me, too," Tony said, a little tune in his voice.

"And inflate your ego even more?"

"Yes in fact, I demand it," Tony said with a grin as he pulled out a long sleeve shirt and some jeans. "I have to regularly feed my ego. It's really for the safety of everyone."

"I'll see you soon, Tony." Steve chuckled, ending the call.

Steve jerked a little when something punched his shoulder. "I said, No Tony Stark." Steve smiled at Meg, pulling his gloves back on before grabbing the shovel again. This was the third time he had shoveled the driveway at her house, and he was half tempted to ask Tony to order a snow blower for her on his way over.

"Did you really think he wasn't going to come?" He asked, pulling the hood of his jacket up when it started to snow again.

"I just thought that I would have to set up a phone charging system for you after telling him that all flights had been canceled," she said, following behind him on the cleared path. She tucked her hands under her arms and huffed out a breath.

"You're getting cranky," Steve commented.

"It's cold, and now Tony Stark is coming."

"You don't have to stay out here with me, you know I'd rather you be inside anyway." She snorted a little and Steve shook his head. "You keep using his full name."

"He's a celebrity, and someone I never thought I would meet in my life," she told him. "Much less be friends with his boyfriend."

"I actually can't wait for you two to meet."

An hour later Steve was waiting outside in the driveway again, sans shovel, and looked up as he heard the jets of Iron Man boots approaching the small house. Meg hadn't been kidding when she said it was small, it was almost the size of the Queens apartment, which just wasn't going to work.

Tony landed and Steve tilted his head a little before the suit opened from behind and Tony stepped out. Steve smiled and wrapped his arms around him, kissing him. "Don't let go of me, or I'm going back inside of the suit," Tony said as he snuggled into Steve's chest. He had his own wool coat on, but Tony was never a fan of winter. "It's too damned cold here."

"Why do you think I asked you to add thermal heat to my winter clothes?" Steve asked, happily keeping his arms around Tony. "Come on, let's go inside. I'm sure Meg's got some coffee and hot cocoa ready."

"This is the friend that encourages your bad music habit?" Tony asked, not moving from Steve's arms, so they were forced to practically waddle to the back door.

"Oh, this is going to be fun," Steve said under his breath with a smile. Steve stomped the snow off of his boots before slipping his shoes off and jacket, Tony following suit when he felt the heat from the house. Tony started to sniff the air, and Steve smiled, because there was indeed coffee scent. Meg was in the kitchen, her back to them at the coffee machine.

"She has red and orange hair," Tony said as he leaned around Steve, taking in the small house.

"She used to have pink hair," Steve told him.

"She can hear you," Meg called out. "I don't drink coffee, by the way, so this isn't for me." She turned around to face them and Tony's eyes widened, whipping his head back to Steve. Steve blinked, looked over at his friend, then let out a laugh. She frowned as she rested a hand on her heavily pregnant stomach.

"No! No way, Tony!" Steve tried to stop laughing and put his hands on Tony's shoulder. "Not my babies!"

"You failed to mention that she was pregnant," Tony said with a frown.

"That's your first thought? That I'm carrying patriotic babies?" Meg said, watching them. Tony looked back at her. "I'm having twins, hence the plural. I was his wingman while he was still pining after you."

"She's cranky today," Steve stage whispered, kissing Tony's forehead. "Hormones."

"I'm not cranky," she mumbled under her breath. She turned and picked up the mug that held the coffee, and held it in offering. Tony eyed the mug carefully, then started to inch forward before he was in front of her. He took a sniff and accepted the mug, making a pleased sound at the first drink. "I'm sorry your boyfriend didn't tell you I was pregnant."

"How was that an apology for me?" Steve asked as he followed Tony further into the house.

"He's supposed to have manners, I don't know what happened," Tony shrugged a little. "But people were supposed to have taste in music, as well."

"I always thought that taste was evolving, and that people were supposed to move on from the Eighties," Meg fired back sweetly. Tony raised an eyebrow at her.

"Twins, huh?" Meg nodded. Steve watched them silently, anticipating. He was afraid to make a sound, thinking he was watching two cats meeting for the first time, not wanting to scare them off.

"A boy and a girl," she responded, leaning back against the counter. The alpha marks her territory, letting him know that he's in unfamiliar lands.

"Sounds like you're going to have your hands full," Tony said, taking another sip of coffee. The visiting alpha shows that the previous offer is appreciated. He has no want to take over her claim. Steve shook his head a little. Perhaps he should stop falling asleep with the animal channel on.

Meg snorted a little. "I have my hands full already." There was a knock at the front door and the three looked over. "Excuse me a second, it's probably just my neighbor checking on me." She walked towards the front of the house, which Tony and Steve both noted that it didn't take long in the small house. She grabbed a jacket before opening the door, and another voice was heard.

"Father not in the picture?" He asked as soon as he as positive she wasn't going to hear them.

Steve shook his head. "It was a rough situation. Actually the reason I got no sleep before Mary and Phil's wedding," he confessed and Tony nodded a little. He'd be asking for details later.

Tony turned around the kitchen, headed for the two doors to check them out. Steve knew he was a curious, and nosy, person by nature, but this could work in his favor. He opened one door and saw a cramped bathroom. "This thing is barely wide enough for you to walk into," Tony muttered to Steve. "And could that toilet be any closer to the bathtub? I'm surprised they managed to fit one in here." He closed the door and moved over to the next, pulling the door open, then stopped. "What is this room supposed to be, Steve?"

"The second bedroom," he answered, crossing his arms over his chest in amusement. The room was packed with furniture and a couple totes, barely enough space to walk in. They could make out a new dresser on a wall by the window, and a changing table on the perpendicular wall. Those were the items that could be reached.

"No, I have closets in the hallway bigger than this. Your old apartment had closets bigger than this." Tony closed the door and looked out into the living room, catching glimpse of Meg talking to an elderly man who handed her a casserole dish. There was a small couch and one chair situated in one corner, with a TV stand across from it, and in the other corner there seemed to be a crowded desk with smaller storage containers around it, and then a door that he assumed was the main bedroom. Tony pointed to the desk and looked back at his boyfriend.

"That's her work station," Steve explained. "She works from home. Remember that glass lampshade I put up before New Year's?" Tony nodded.

"Very vintage looking." Tony had though that Steve had discovered the Tiffany's glass store, or something.

"She made it for me for Christmas." Tony raised an interested eyebrow. "She works with glass and subtractive sculpture."

"Later, I want you to explain to me the details of subtractive sculpture," Tony said as he walked into the living room, Steve close on his heels. "I mean, I have an idea, but I want to know materials and tools involved."

Meg was closing the front door with her foot when Tony opened the door to her bedroom. "What are you doing?"

"Looking at your closet," Tony said, leaning his head inside the room. There was a twin bed against the wall, and a crib on the parallel wall. "Only one crib?"

"Twins sleep better when they're together for the first several months, and do you see anywhere else to put a second one?" Meg said, walking to the kitchen to put the covered dish in the fridge.

"I don't see much room for you," Tony said under his breath and came out, closing the door. He peeked out the window to see the man she had been talking too walking down the sidewalk. "Does your neighbor drop off food with only one usable arm?"

"His arm was run over in a work accident," she said. "Mr Allen is one of the nicest people I've ever met. His food is the best."

"He cooks with one arm?" Tony turned to look at her.

"He does a lot of the house work, too. I help him when I can if he's outside." She lowered herself into the chair in the living room, Steve taking a seat on the small couch, pulling Tony down next to him. "He made some meatloaf and mac and cheese to thank Steve and me for shoveling his sidewalk and driveway." Steve raised his eyebrows at her. "I was directing you." Steve snorted.

Tony pointed at her work desk. "That is not a work station by the way."

"Yes it is?" Her last word going up to make a question in confusion. "The drawers hold my tools, and the containers have my supplies.

"What if you need to work on more than one project at a time?" Tony now looked confused. His workshop was bigger than this house, easily.

"Well, I am already." She waved a hand at Steve. "Here's your time to shine, strong man, show him the marble."

Steve got up and walked over to the desk, pulling the chair out and crouching down to grab something from the floor. He gently pulled out a piece of marble that almost three feet wide and two feet tall. The base was still in a block formation and it was clear that work was being done from the top down. Tony could recognize that it was going to be an octopus, some of the tentacles already being formed.

"I've been working on that one for a couples weeks, and I've already done two glass sun catchers, and I've got a window commission."

Tony reached out to touch the piece of marble, feeling the beginnings of texture on the tentacles and near the eyes. He had gained a bit more of an appreciation for art through Steve and Peter, but he found he was most fascinated when he could see it being worked on.

"You work entirely on commission?" Tony asked as Steve put the piece back in its resting spot.

"I make some smaller pieces and sell them online, or at art gallery gift shops," she said with a shrug. "It took a while, but I've got enough steady commissions that come in to keep me busy."

Tony looked at Steve, and the blonde saw the look in his eyes. He knew what was going to happen, the wheels were turning in Tony's head. He smirked and sat back down next to him. "Get ready." Meg frowned at him, and Tony pulled out his phone.

"Are you attached to this city?" Tony asked suddenly. "Anything particularly keeping you here? Anyplace you've ever thought about living in before?"

Meg looked between Tony and Steve, then she narrowed her eyes accusingly at Steve. "No, no no no."

"I would just accept it, it's going to happen," Steve told her. She knew about Tony's penchant of setting people up with things that they needed, heard about it all the time from Steve, especially with everything that he had done, and was still doing, for the people of New York.

"I don't need it, though. I have a roof over my head with working heat and running water, I'm good."

"You are so far from good I could almost laugh," Tony said, still looking down at his phone, thumb scrolling. "I would laugh, but I'm too busy cringing. Seriously, this work, it deserves a proper space."

Steve leaned over to look over Tony's shoulder, then pointed at something. "That's one of my favorites."

"You're in cahoots on this, too?" Meg leaned forward, looking at Steve. "You hid that black card that Tony gave you because you don't want to use his money, but now you're actively encouraging him to do something outrageous?"

"Yes," Steve said with a nod. "It's for a good cause, I feel."

"You're biased," Tony commented, turning the phone so that he could use both hands to tap something out. "I like when you're biased, means I get permission to spend this money." Steve hummed a little and continued watching the phone. "What do you think about Philadelphia? Well, just outside the city, too busy in the thick of it all."

"You can't just move me to a different state," she tried to argue.

"I can, actually, I've done it before," Tony state. "I moved the mother of my son without telling her it was happening. To be fair, I told Peter."

"Mary told me about that," Steve said, pinching his side a little. "That doesn't count, because Peter wasn't even one yet."

"It was for a good cause," Tony parroted. "What about this one?"

Steve shook his head, scrunching up his nose. "There's no yard."

"Nope, putting my foot down-" Meg interrupted.

"I hear it's good to have both feet on the ground," Tony commented.

"I can't just let you buy something for me like that-"

"I want to commission you," Tony said and looked up from his phone. She blinked at the sudden shift. "I want you to make me some sculptures, out of various stone and glass."

"And where would you put them?" She said crossing her arms. They all knew that they only art that Tony willingly put up in his homes were those done by Peter or Steve.

"I want to display them at Stark Industries," he countered. "Both the California and New York locations. One for outside and one for inside, so I'm thinking four in total." Her mouth opened a little in disbelief. "And I want them big, something that people will notice, because I'm not known to do anything half-way."

"Those would take some time," she countered, eyes narrowing a little at him. He was up to something.

"Yeah, figured as much," he said with a shrug. "I'm thinking, what, three to five years?"

"What's the catch?"

"There's no question that I will be able to compensate you with a near limitless source of wealth, correct?" She had to nod at that. "Alright, so I'll commission you, you get some sketches together, and I'll show you what I'm thinking for payment." And then his eyes were back to the phone, thoughts moving a mile a second. "Have to get Pepper to draw up the contract, she's much better at the wording than I am. Or at least tell her what I want and she'll draft it with legal, then I'll probably have to give her a raise after this, too."

"Sir," Jarvis spoke up from the phone as a loud howling wind sounded from outside. "Might I suggest finding shelter for the suit? Conditions are not safe to fly in it for the next several hours, to possibly overnight."

"We tested it for extreme weather conditions, J," Tony answered automatically.

"Yes, Sir, but I think you would rather not have to dig it out of the snow." Tony blinked and glanced up when the possibility was presented with him. Then his mind put the words together.

"Overnight?"

"Yes, Sir." The three in the room all took a little glance around the house.

"Steve, the SUV outside is yours right?" Tony looked at the blonde, and he nodded. "Great. Kid," he snapped and pointed at Meg, "Pack a change of clothes, you're staying in style tonight at whatever hotel I put Steve up in while he was staying here."

"I didn't my research, and I found a Marriott," Steve said, sounding proud of himself. "It's only about four miles away."

"Great, J, call the hotel for me." Tony was out of his seat, phone up to his ear. He glanced at Meg, eyebrow raised. "Steve, she's not moving, she should be moving."

"He's actually pretty serious about this," Steve said to her, noting her shocked expression. He helped her up from the chair to get her moving.

"I believe that he is, and I listened when you said that he sometimes impulsively does stuff," she murmured, heading for her bedroom. "I guess it's just different to witness it firsthand." She glanced at Steve. "He's an absolute menace."

"I know," Steve said with a grin.

"I approve." She nodded. Steve kept smiling and walked back over to Tony as he booked an extra room, throwing his name a bit to make sure it would be ready.

"She's an absolute handful," Tony said as he hung up. "Bit of a smartass, too, I can sense it lingering under the surface."

"That is a fact," Steve said with a nod. "Sometimes exhausting."

"An absolute menace." Tony swiveled his head around to look around the house again. "You can keep her around."

"Oh, you're so generous, Mr Stark." Steve rolled his eyes, walking towards the back door to grab three sets of coats. "I'm so happy that you approve of my friends."

"And don't you forget it." Tony wore his shit-eating grin. "Stop taking in strays, though. You get me attached, and then I'm forced to see the good in people, and it just gets annoying."

"Can't make that promise." Steve cupped Tony's cheek and leaned in to kiss him slowly.


Tony flopped on the bed of Steve's room and hummed happily. "You did alright, Stevie." He propped himself up on his elbows to watch Steve hang their coats up. "First time booking an adult hotel, and you picked a very nice room." They had managed to make it to the hotel before the storm got too bad, and the city had put out a travel advisory. Tony's suit was in the back of the SUV that Steve had rented, and Tony was glad that he had been experimenting with lighter alloys.

Steve dropped next to Tony, leaning over him to kiss him, Tony pulling a soft moan as he deepened the kiss. "Feeling better about it now that you're here." Steve took a second to just breathe in Tony, his cologne, with the undercurrents of metal and spice that always seemed to follow the man around. "Not that I'm not happy to see you here, but I am wondering why you were so insistent."

"I told you, I was bored," Tony said, kissing down his jaw.

"Tony," Steve insisted, pulling back to look at him properly. "Does this have anything to do with that research Bruce is distracted with?"

Tony looked at him, before narrowing his eyes a bit. "How did you make that connection?"

"Because, Bruce only kicks you out of his lab if you're becoming a pest about results, or you're too vested," Steve said, moving to sit up now. He grabbed Tony's hand and pulled him into a sitting position on the bed. "And it was pretty obvious that Bruce had kicked you out when you said that he was in 'ignore-the-world' mode, and you weren't with him."

"I think you're learning my tricks," Tony said with a pout.

"I've got Mary helping me out," Steve admitted. "Plus, you wouldn't usually be concerned with a snow storm delaying my flight by another day. If it were Peter? Yes, absolutely, but not me so much."

Tony's foot started to tap in the air and he started to snap his fingers. "Bruce is following a lead about those scientists from the Fall, a biological lead after Clint and Natasha dropped off a couple of files, and lab samples."

"They have a name then?" Steve asked, but Tony shook his head.

"Kind of, but not really. A-I-M kept being repeated in some of the information they found, but we can't pin down what it stands for. Turns out, there are a lot of companies that either use the acronym, or have Aim their names." Tony let out a puff of breath. He hated not being able to find out information when he already had half of the equation. "They did a raid on another building, but it was already mostly emptied out. Seems they know that we're on to them, so they keep moving around now."

"But they found something."

"Yeah, a couple of lab monkeys were wandering around, and they found some left over files about some experiments, and a couple of samples." Tony slipped his shoes off, dropping them on the floor at the end of the bed. "Bruce has all that now, trying to parse through what the experiments were. So far, nothing about that energy disruptor."

Steve hummed, nodding a little. It still didn't explain why Tony had come out so quickly. "What do you know?" Tony looked at him. "You found something first, and connected a couple of dots."

"Remember the animals you guys fought? The first they popped up?" Tony asked, turning on the bed so the two of them were facing each other. "The same day that assassin popped up, who's still on radio silence." Steve nodded, he very much remembered that day. "I'm pretty sure that was when they made breakthroughs on their experiments. And I'm not completely sure yet, but I got an early peek at some of Bruce's tests, and I know enough about DNA to know that in that sample of whatever, it was human. I'm pretty sure they're doing human experiments now."

Steve ground his jaw together a little. Tony reached over and put his hands on Steve's knees, trying to ground him. "Natasha and Clint are already looking for another site, and I've got Jarvis going through all the information that SHIELD has. We'll know as soon as we get a hit." Steve nodded, putting his hands over Tony's. "Don't need you getting all righteous and angry just yet, not when there's no target to take it out on yet."

"Did you come all the way out here to tell me that?" Steve's fingers rubbed along Tony's knuckles. Tony's body always ran a bit warmer, thanks to the arc reactor, and Steve always tried to drink that in whenever he could. Tony shook his head a little and Steve shifted a little.

"I think I caught sight of our assassin," Tony said quietly and Steve frowned. His hands tightened around Tony's. "Not in New York. Following you." That wasn't what Steve had been expecting to hear. Tony slid one of his hands away to grab his phone from his pocket, tapping the screen twice and a hologram was projected. Steve looked at them, and he saw traffic cams pictures of him walking with Meg down the street yesterday When Tony moved his hand, multiple images appeared, and he saw the same person following them, dark clothes, black ball cap.

"How can you be sure that that's him?" Steve asked, leaning in to study the pictures.

"He followed you in every store you went into," Tony said, showing hacked footage of some stores and a restaurant. "And I thought it was just some fanboy who figured out your identity from those pictures last year, until I saw this." The footage from a restaurant paused, and Tony overlaid it a heat filter. "This footage I was watching live, Jarvis tracking it in real time, and I got a little creative." The mans' body was glowing reds and oranges, some yellow, except for his left arm. There were thin lines of red, but the outline was cooler blues and purples.

"What's wrong with his arm?" Steve frowned. Was it some kind of new weapon?

"The man that attacked me, I thought I saw metal," Tony told him. "I wasn't sure exactly what I was seeing at first, but there was metal around his whole arm. I thought it was part of his armor, but no, he had a metal arm." He looked at Steve, eyes hard, underlying with a bit of worry. "I don't know what his MO is now, and that worries me."

"So, the idea to move Meg...?"

"He was tailing you, but he's seen her as well," Tony said with a frown. "Also, that house was not suitable for one person, much less three." He tapped his phone again the holograms disappeared. "That's why we're picking a home for her tonight, and I'm getting a crew there as soon as possible to install SI security tech." Tony had made the mistake once of letting someone use a loved one against him, he wasn't going to give this assassin the chance to do that against Steve.

"I assume that Jarvis is in the security system of the hotel." Tony nodded in the positive.

"Do you think that the assassin is working with the scientists?" Tony asked, taking his phone back. "Or is it just another threat on a never-ending list of enemies?"

"I asked Clint and Natasha the same thing," Steve murmured. "Never did get an answer, but I think this man is working alone. This AIM, or whoever they are, they aren't interested in following us, or trying to kill us. At least not exclusively. I think we're experiencing the bad luck of fighting two different enemies at the same time."

"Aren't we just lucky." Tony rolled his eyes before twisting his body to fall in Steve's lap. "They had better have the streets cleared tomorrow, I'm cheating and we're getting pancakes for breakfast. And you are never going to tell Peter about it."


Tony had a smug little smile when he woke up the next morning. The weather had seemed to have a complete turnaround. The streets were indeed cleared, the crews working all through the night, and the sun was out. The temperature had risen just a little bit, and the snow was easier to clear from the sidewalks. Jarvis found a well-reviewed Diner that was only a couple blocks away, and after a well-rested night sleep with Steve at his side, even Tony was willing to make the walk.

"We'll talk about making a morning walk later," Meg had grumbled when she opened the door to a ridiculously happy looking super couple. Tony had happily walked in with Steve behind him as she went into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

"Exercise is good! Specially for pregnant women," Tony crowed, taking a look around her hotel room, heading over to the windows. Jarvis hadn't detected anything through the night, but Tony wasn't taking any chances. They could still be being watched.

"I'm going to put nearly forty pounds of primarily water weight around you, then tell you take a walk in winter," she called through the bathroom door. "Your boy is crazy, Steve!"

"I already did twelve miles in the gym this morning," Steve informed her and they heard a scoff of disgust.

"Morning people are gross."

"I'm not a morning person," Tony piped up. "I just usually happen to be awake in the morning because I haven't gone to sleep."

"I'll get you some maraschino cherries," Steve said, leaning by the bathroom door. Tony raised an eyebrow at him, but he just smiled, holding up a hand for him to wait.

The bathroom door opened enough for Meg to stick her head out the door, peering at Steve. "Cherries?"

"The big bottle," Steve told her. "Won't even limit you to how many you want to eat." She eyed him, throwing the offer around in her head, then smiled brightly at him.

"I'm just finishing brushing my teeth, then we can go." The door shut again, and this time they heard humming coming from the bathroom instead of grumbling.

"What the hell is up with the cherries?" Tony asked immediately. The last time he had seen a mood change that fast was when Peter found out that Wade actually could go to summer camp with him two years ago. Or himself in front of a paparazzi camera.

"As far as it was explained to me, she has a cherry allergy." Tony's eyebrows went up, about to yell at him for giving someone something they're allergic too. "Something that's in the juice? Not sure, anyway, it's actually a kind of mild reaction, but it's not dangerous. I've seen it happen, and it was one of her friends who discovered what was wrong."

"It's like I get high," Meg said, coming out of the bathroom, pulling her, now blonde hair, into a ponytail. Tony hadn't noticed the change in hair color when they walked in. "Really I just get real giggly, I'm in an amazing mood, and my pupils dilate. I remember almost everything though, but when it's happening, I'm not really aware of what I'm doing. I'm technically under the influence, of cherries."

"Your hair is a different color," Tony pointed out instead.

"I wear wigs," she answered.

"Makes more sense," he nodded. "I want to take you back to Bruce's lab, and record this reaction to cherries."

"That's my morally questionable boyfriend," Steve said fondly, heading for the door.

"I'm not a lab experiment," Meg said, but she was smiling. Tony was starting to like her if she thought that it would be fun.

"No, no, of course not," Tony shook his head, holding the door open for her as Steve helped her put her winter jacket on. "You're a voluntary test subject."

"Who gets fed cherries." Tony nodded and she smiled. "Now, I've checked with my Doctor, if I don't eat like, three hundred of them in a week, it's not unhealthy to the babes. So, maybe you should do a round while pregnant, and a round not-pregnant."

Tony looked at Steve with big eyes, like a kid at Christmas. "You cannot yell at me for testing on a pregnant woman if she volunteers for it! She's already checked with her doctor about her health, I'm making a liability waiver."

"You two can't do experiments while pregnant," Steve said to both of them as they walked down the hall. "I should haven't to tell you that."

"She volunteered!" Tony insisted.

"He's going to give me cherries!"

"She's all for it!" Tony motioned with his hands. "It's not like I'll keep repeating the process, just one time, while pregnant."

"It sound really creepy, and almost mad-scientist, when you keep saying 'while pregnant.'" Steve put his hands on his hips, looking at the two of them. They both whipped out the puppy eyes on him. "I am not easily swayed by those expressions."

"I bet if they came from Peter you would be," Meg argued, the trio stepping into the elevator.

"He crumbles like a badly built card house in a hurricane," Tony retaliated, and Meg laughed.

"Like you're any better!" Steve shot back at Tony with a smile. "He said he liked the stars and you wanted to build a Planetarium on the roof of the Tower."

"To be fair, he stills likes the stars," Tony pointed at him. Steve held the door to the main floor open so they could leave first.

"Mary had to talk you down to only making a real time projection on his ceiling at night."

"And it's Awesome!" Tony finished up with a grin. "I kind of want to install in my room. Jarvis," Tony took out his phone as they walked for exit outside, happily accepting that it wasn't nearly as windy as it had been the day before. "Make a note, install the Galaxy System in the Penthouse bedrooms."

"Of course, Sir."

"That sounds so cool," Meg said, hands in her pockets. Tony and Steve naturally flanked either side as they walked down the sidewalk. "Astronomy was the only science class that I did well in at University. It was just interesting to me, it didn't feel like I was putting much effort into the class at all."

"I want you to repeat that to Peter someday," Tony said. "I want him to prepare for Middle School and High School classes. If he goes in with that attitude, maybe there won't be so much whining about homework."

"Did you whine about homework?" Steve asked, looking over at his boyfriend.

"Daily," Tony confirmed. "It felt like such a waste of my time!"

"Then Peter is going to whine." Steve grinned. They turned the corner and Steve was looking at Tony when he was suddenly tackled to the ground. Tony's hand went to his wrist as he went to step in front of Meg, the black clad figure rolling off of Steve and to his feet. Tony saw a metal hand and tensed.

The assassin reached for Tony with his flesh and blood hand, but both were surprised when a smaller hand grabbed his wrist and twisted up, then yanked down. The assassin went with the motion, flipping, but landed on his feet and spun, Meg still holding onto his wrist, wide eyed. "That wasn't supposed to happen." The man looked at her, everyone tense for a couple of seconds, before he spun her away from Tony, Steve catching her as he had jumped back to his feet.

Tony gripped his watch face on his wrist, taking a giant step backwards, and pulled out the frame work for his latest experiment. The metal latched his fingers, repulsor gauntlet assembling in nearly a second around his hand, and lifted it up as he saw a gun being grabbed by his attacker. He raised his hand and let out a sonic pulse, making the guy stumble back, disorientating him for a bit. Steve came up behind the guy, wrapping an arm around his neck and trying to pull him back away from Tony.

Steve was flipped over the mans shoulder and Tony moved forward with a thrust to his chest from the heel of his hand. His wrist was grabbed and Tony threw an elbow at his jaw, but the man deflected it. His armored hand free once again he grabbed onto the barrel of the gun, palm covering the opening as the man pulled the trigger. The vibration of the shot reverberated through his hand and he felt the bullet lodged in the workings of the repulsor, effectively shutting it down. His eyes widened as it occurred to him that the gun was at head level.

The assassin pulled back at the same time Tony pulled, and the gun was pulled apart. Tony couldn't help but smirk a little and he threw a fist, catching the man in the face with the metal of the gun in his hand. He touched the blood on his cheek briefly before throwing a metal elbow into Tony's face, and he heard the crunch of bone. As he gripped his nose a flesh and bone fist was thrown into his chest and Tony actually felt his feet leave the ground as he went back several feet, landing in the snow. Steve landing a kick to the assassin's chest before Tony hit the ground, driving him backwards

Tony turned slowly, and then there were hands helping him sit up. "Are you okay?" Meg asked quietly, trying not to draw the attention of the two still fighting. "Shit, your nose." She pressed a cloth into his hand and let him bring it up to his face. His chest was on fire, and he glanced down to see that the arc reactor was still glowing under his shirt, just missing the hit.

"Tony!" Tony looked up to see the man in black swinging past Steve again, headed straight for him. The metal arm was pulled back for a hit, and Tony was pushed back into the snow, the arm just missing him. Suddenly there was a spark and the man was shouting in pain, a butterfly knife sticking out of the elbow joint, locking it in position.

Steve grabbed the man's shoulders and threw him back, following him with his fists up. The man was up on his feet again before pulling the knife out and throwing it at Steve. He moved back, taking his eyes off of the man for a second, and when he turned back the man was gone. Steve instantly took off, rounding the corner, but didn't see anyone. There were enough buildings around that he could have ducked inside of one to make his escape, just like at the Tower.

He hurried back around the corner and over to Tony, down in the snow in a second. "Tony? Are you okay?" He was holding a cloth to his face with one hand, the other on his chest.

"Think he broke my nose," Tony rasped out. "Probably some bruised ribs." He didn't mention that his new gauntlet was dented in and digging painfully into his hand, but it wasn't drawing blood, so it wasn't that important.

"There's, uh, there's an ER half a mile that way." The two men looked over at Meg's shaky voice. "That was intense." Steve leaned over, gently patting her arms, and checking her over for any injuries. "I'm okay, just not sure that my legs are going to support me right now."

Tony leaned over a bit to grab the knife that was thrown, folding it back up. He held it out to her, and she grabbed it with a shaking hand. "That's yours?"

"I carry around mace, too." Tony stared at her for a second before letting out a snort of laughter, a little bit on the side of manic.

"We are so having a serious talk about this at the hospital," Steve told her before jumping to his feet. "Stay here, I'm going to get the car." He took off running, applying his Super Soldier training to speed up.

"You tried to stab an assassin," Tony said, dabbing lightly at his nose, trying not to put too much pressure on it; it already hurt, he didn't care if it bled a little.

"I tried to apply a self-defense technique on him first," she said quietly, pulling her legs out from under her carefully. "I guess it was instinct, both times, and I wasn't really thinking."

"Yeah, there's going to be a discussion about this later." Tony tipped his head back to try and slow the bleeding a bit more, winching as his chest pulled. "I need to put a call signal in the suit," he groaned out. "Last time I took a blow like that, it was from Steve. This guy hits nearly as hard." Not a minute later Steve was pulling up in the car, and jumping out to help Tony into the passenger seat. "I would say that we're not telling Peter or Mary about this."

"I'm not sure how you're going to explain away a broken nose," Steve told him, before helping Meg to her feet and to the back of the car. Jarvis had directions to the hospital already on the GPS inside of the car. "Did he get the arc reactor?" Tony shook his head and Steve let out a breath. He pulled on his seat belt and they were headed down the road. Steve checked every mirror compulsively, hands tight on the wheel, all the way to the ER.

Tony managed to get a room that set furthest away from any entrance, applying his charm, and a bit of Steve's pensive face, and he sat patiently as they applied the bandages to his nose. He hadn't even been shown to his room before they had taken him directly to get an x-ray. He was lucky that nothing had shifted too far out of place, they would straighten it and it should heal on its own.

As the nurse finished with the last piece, Steve came in the room with Meg behind him. He had insisted that she get checked over too, and Tony waved him off to keep an eye on her. Steve closed the door as the nurse left, and Tony leaned back closing his eyes a little, feeling the pain killers start to kick in. Tony could feel the waves of 'Captain America' radiating from the blonde.

"That was incredible dangerous," Steve started, pacing the room.

"And insane," Tony muttered.

"What were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt, or worse!"

"He was going to kill, Tony!" She shouted back, getting on the defensive.

"He's a highly trained assassin!"

"He didn't seem like it the first time I saw him," she said. Tony jolted up, hissing and pressing a hand to his ribs at the movement, and Steve stopped in his tracks.

"What do you mean?" He asked her seriously.

"I've seen him before," she said a little more hesitantly. "Last week when I was at the grocery store."

Steve turned to look at Tony, sharing the share look of confusion and dread. "How do you know it was him?"

"I remember his eyes, the same kind of slate blue." She looked between the two men who were openly staring at her. "Someone's cart had gotten away from them in the parking lot, and it was kind of icy, so it just kept on rolling. I didn't see it until someone was shouting, and it was about to hit me when he was suddenly there, stopping it." She rubbed her hands together in a nervous habit. "He didn't really say much, just asked if I was okay, and that's when I saw his eyes, then he walked off."

"New York," Steve said, turning to look back at Tony. "She's coming back to New York."

"What?" She squawked.

"He was following you last week, and he was following us two days ago," Steve told her, and her face paled a little.

"Don't know why, when I was obviously his target," Tony said as he started to lean back again in the bed. His nose was starting to itch. "That didn't change from last time. He's got some super soldier feeling punches though." Steve looked at him, eyes imploring more details. "Well, I mean, I only felt the force behind the shield, but when we had our fight last summer, and you beaned me in the head." Steve looked a little guilty as he was reminded of fighting a compromised Tony. "I remember your punches though, and the force behind them. Even with this guys' actual arm, he was packing a literal punch."

"We'll get that information to SHIELD, maybe they have something in their databases about an enhanced assassin." Steve sighed after a second before practically slumping down in a chair. "Yeah, you're not getting that knife back, by the way," he told the woman next to him.

"Why not? I helped with that thing!"

"You got lucky with it!" Steve looked at her with what Tony called his Captain America eyes. Not the disappointed eyes, those were worse than Peter's Puppy eyes. "If anything, you probably just put yourself on his radar."

"I'm not going to sit idly by on some kind of house arrest." She was about as stubborn as Steve. Tony idly thinks that they could have been siblings in another life.

"You will until we can track him down," Steve shot right back at her. "It's not just you that's in danger! And he knows it, or else he wouldn't have stopped that cart. If you weren't pregnant, you probably could have gotten away with a couple of bruises. He knew I was coming up here, and if you would have been hurt then I probably would have canceled and told you to get some rest." She wrinkled her nose, but did deny his words. "We don't know if he was trying to get Tony alone at the Tower again, or if he would have attacked me to draw Tony out. He's unpredictable and that makes him even more dangerous."

Tony held up his phone, wading into the argument. "I've already called a Stark jet to meet us at the airport in a couple of hours. I've got exactly Twenty-Four hours before my son is back at the Tower, and I'm going to take advantage of it by actually sleeping."

"They gave you a narcotic didn't they?" Steve asked him.

Tony hummed and nodded, closing his eyes again. "Those make me sleepy. I'm okay with this." Steve pushed himself up from the chair and walked over to the bed. He pushed Tony hair gently from his forehead and dropped a soft kiss there. "I'm okay with that, too," he said as he gave Steve a sleepy smile. "I prescribe a kiss every hour, no chance of overdosing." He heard Steve snort softly, then felt his fingers threading through Tony's before nodding off.


A/N2: BTW, the cherry allergy, specifically to maraschino cherries, is completely true. I have it. It's so fun when it freaks your friends out, too. They limit my cherry intake.