Steve spent the rest of the afternoon down in the lab with Tony. The omega seemed to have forgiven him, but he wasn't quite ready to face the others. Because Tony had somehow convinced himself that showing any moment of vulnerability would be seen as a sign of weakness that others would attack him for. It was sad that he felt that way, but the only thing Steve could do was be there for him until he felt ready to rejoin the others.

So like any good alpha, he brought dinner down to Tony in the lab and stayed to keep him company while Tony worked on one more project.

He hadn't realized he had fallen asleep until he woke up to a loud crash.

"Sorry," Tony said as he bent to retrieve the fallen section of metal piping. "But I've got a lot of work to to do today and I didn't really have time to wait for you to wake up."

Steve scrubbed at his face with one hand. "What time is it? Did you take the baby out for her walk already?"

"Nat and Clint have her right now. I needed a little more time for work. Since I spent all yesterday moping around down here, none of this shit got done."

"You weren't moping," Steve objected. "You had every right to want some alone time."

"Still," Tony said. "Nothing got done. But that's going to change today."

Steve frowned. "I didn't know you really had that much to do. I thought you were just vetting those women who claimed to be Stephy's mother."

Tony froze. "Oh shit. I forgot about that. Good thinking, Steve. I should be working on that first." He kicked a foot against his table, sending his desk chair hurtling over to the desk on the other side of the room.

"I don't want you in over your head," Steve said. "If you have a lot of things to do for SI, maybe someone else can read through the crazy e-mails."

Tony waved a hand. "We're past that already. All we have to do now is do some DNA testing and I know Bruce has some machinery in his lab." He frowned and began jabbing at his keyboard. "Only problem is he isn't answering my e-mails."

Steve sighed. "I don't think he's glued to his computer all day like you are. Why don't you try talking to him like a normal person?"

"Okay," Tony said. "We'll do it your way." He pressed the intercom button on his desk. "Hey, Bruce. Bruce. Brucey, baby, I know you're in there."

The other intercom clicked on. "Alright, alright," Bruce said with a heavy sigh. "Is this really so urgent that it has to be done at 7 a.m?"

"You sound sleepy," Tony said. "Maybe you should get to bed earlier."

"What do you want, Tony? Let's get this over with."

"Aww, Brucey. Don't be like that. You love the baby and want to help find her parents, don't you? Or, better yet, you want to help keep all the crazy ladies at bay, right?"

Bruce yawned. "There better be coffee."

"Oh, come on. You know me better than that. I don't do anything without coffee."

"Okay. I'll start setting things up."

Tony practically bounded upstairs to get the baby.

Steve smiled and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Bruce. But you know how he gets."

"I'm used to it. And being bothered first thing in the morning is a small price to pay if it gets Tony out of the lab."

That was very true. Steve would gladly put up with the worst of Tony's recklessness every single day if it meant never seeing him distressed again.

Tony poked his head back into the lab. "What are you still doing in here? We're going down to Bruce's lab now. Bruce, seriously, you need to stop talking to Steve over the comm. You can talk face to face like normal people."

Steve quirked an eyebrow. "Would you really consider any of us normal people?"

Tony opened his mouth to protest and then closed it. "What a bunch of weirdos we live with," he murmured to the baby.

Steve rolled his eyes. "See you in a minute, Bruce." He clicked off the comm line and followed Tony down a level to Bruce's lab.

Bruce's lab was a lot smaller than Tony's,or maybe it just looked that way with the row of machinery lined up against the walls. Steve had thought Tony had a lot of equipment, but the machines Bruce was working with were all twice the size of the team washing machine. And with all the massive equipment, Steve almost didn't see Bruce sitting at a small lab bench, peering into a microscope.

"Hey," Tony said. "Don't be starting other things when you're supposed to do Stephy's DNA test."

"Tony," Steve said sternly. "That is not the way to talk to people who are volunteering to help you."

"It's alright," Bruce said. He stood up from the table with a stretch. "I was just looking a few things over while I was waiting for you to show up." He padded behind a row of machines that looked like giant microwaves and rolled out a tray of needles, gauze, and antiseptic. "If you'll just hold her still for me, I can get started."

Steve cringed inwardly. Poor girl. Blood draws were awful.

Tony clutched the baby tightly against his chest. "Is this really necessary? Can't you do one of those mouth swabs?"

Bruce shrugged. "If we're going to test her, might as well test everything. Just to make sure she doesn't have any medical conditions we're unaware of."

"Well, I guess that's probably a good idea," Tony said reluctantly. He sat down on the edge of the lab table and settled Stephy over his shoulder.

Stephy cried a little when the needle went in, but she settled down as Tony gently rubbed her back and murmured soothingly to her. Steve was impressed. She stayed pretty still until Bruce finished drawing the little vial of blood. She fussed again when he pulled the needle out, but by then it was all over. Tony wiggled a cotton ball up her arm to the blood draw site and baaed like a sheep as he pressed it down to stop the bleeding. The baby was all smiles again by the time Tony carted her back up the stairs for Clint and Natasha to feed her breakfast.

Bruce divided the blood into smaller containers and popped two of them into a little tray on the side of one of the microwave-looking machines. "Did Tony say if he had any samples for comparison?"

"Not sure," Steve said. "He had six women he needs to look at, but I'm not sure if he-"

"I'm back!" Tony announced loudly. He slid in next to Steve. "Did I miss anything?"

"Bruce was just wondering if you had any DNA samples from the women who claim to be Stephy's mother."

"Oh yeah, SHIELD swabbed them for me. Because I'm not letting any of those crazies anywhere near the Tower and the baby until we have proof of their ridiculous claims."

Bruce sighed. "So you don't have the samples with you."

"It's in the system," Tony said. "Check your e-mail."

Bruce brought up his computer and studied the screen for a long moment. "Okay," he said. "This works." He printed out the results of the SHIELD testing and slid them into the bottom tray of the microwave-like machine. "And now we see what happens," he said. He pressed a button in the center and the machine started humming.

Tony blinked. "So what happened?"

"It's analyzing the baby's DNA and comparing them with the samples from the six women. It shouldn't take long." And he settled back at his desk.

Fifteen minutes into the process, Tony was already restless. He hovered close to the machine, circling around it and staring at it intently as if the intensity of his want would somehow produce the results.

"This is taking forever," he complained. "Isn't there any way to speed this up?"

"Unless you'd like to build me a faster DNA sequencer, you'll just have to wait," Bruce said. He put another slide under the microscope.

"Don't give him any ideas," Steve said. "You know he'll do it."

"I know," Bruce said, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Somehow, Steve convinced Tony to get out of the lab for a few minutes to go check on the baby and do some work on whatever else he was supposed to be doing. But after those precious few minutes of quiet, Tony was back, bouncing on the balls of his feet and giving the machine a death glare.

Finally the DNA sequencer beeped loudly and spat out a few sheets of paper.

Tony snatched up the print-out. "It says...it says..." He peered at it intently. "It's saying something, but I'm not exactly sure yet."

Bruce sighed and held out his hand for the paper. He looked it over and nodded. "No familial match with any of the women."

"Well, we already knew that," Tony said with a snort. "Tell me you didn't make my baby suffer just to confirm what we already knew."

"She's a beta," Bruce said.

Tony brightened. "Perfect. We have two betas on the team. It's really the best orientation she could have. She'll have more role models that way."

"We also have two alphas," Bruce pointed out.

Tony shrugged. "Well, I guess that would have worked too. I'm just glad she's not an omega. Because I'd be her only role model and I sure as hell wouldn't be able to teach her how to be an omega."

Steve squeezed his eyes shut. It pained him to hear Tony talk about himself like he was a failure. So what if his heats were messed up? That didn't mean he couldn't still be a role model to another omega. Because as far as Steve was concerned, Tony was the perfect example of warm, maternal affection that was so characteristic of most omegas.

"Tony," Bruce said gently. "At this point, the only thing anybody needs to teach the baby is that we love her and are going to take care of her. And you're doing a wonderful job of that."

Tony averted his eyes. "Well, you know, I'm just covering the basics. The rest of you will have to model good behavior for her, because I'm nothing but a bad example of just about everything."

"Tony, stop," Steve said firmly. "That's all in the past. Right now, you're the perfect mother. And Stephy is lucky to have you."

"If you say so." Tony cleared his throat. "Any medical problems, Bruce?"

"Nothing that a blood test could pick up. Of course, blood tests don't give you the entire picture of a person's medical history, but they rule out-"

"Yeah, great," Tony said breezily. "My baby's a healthy beta. I'll have to tell her the good news." He disappeared into the elevator.

Steve sighed. "I wish Tony would believe us when we tell him he's doing fine."

"I know," Bruce said. "But I'm afraid all that Tony hears is us pointing out all his shortcomings."

"But-"

Bruce held up a hand. "From what I hear, Tony was raised like an alpha. Probably because his father saw that as Tony's only chance of surviving in the corporate world and one day taking over the business. And maybe he was right. Historically, omegas have been viewed as the gentlest and weakest orientation."

Steve nodded. Back in his day, most of the army recruiters had immediately disqualified him on the assumption that a scrawny boy like him had to be an omega and omegas were supposed to stay home where it was safe instead of going into battle. He had been so angry when no one had even questioned Bucky's status. If he had acted on that petty instinct to out Bucky and get him kicked off the squad, Bucky never would have suffered for all those years. But keeping Bucky out of the war just because he was an omega was silly. Bucky could fight just as well as any beta or alpha.

"Society is a lot more accepting of omegas in leadership roles now," Bruce said. "Everyone's well aware that Tony's an omega and no one would think of removing him as CEO. But the damage has already been done. Tony's come to view all omega traits as signs of weakness. To Tony, complimenting him on his skill with the baby must feel like a failure to his alpha facade."

Steve's shoulders sagged. How terrible it must be for Tony to feel so protective about his image all the time. And how he wished he could go back in time and shake some sense into Howard. There had been so many good betas fighting in the war. And a few omegas like Bucky that had snuck into the army despite the rules and more than proved their worth. Howard should have known better than to teach Tony that alpha was the only orientation worth anything.

"And it's a shame," Bruce said. "Because Tony has such strong omega instincts. He could be happy being a stay-at-home mom, working here in his lab so he could have more time to raise a family. But I'm sure he's talked himself into believing that after all the time spent pretending to be an alpha, he doesn't know how to be an omega anymore."

Steve squeezed his eyes shut. "So, he's convinced he's a failure on both fronts."

Bruce nodded. "I'm afraid so."

"So what do we do to convince him he's not?"

"I wish I knew," Bruce said. "But I'm not a psychologist."

Steve's mouth twisted wryly. "You could have fooled me."

Bruce smiled. "I can only tell you what I know. Tony may be a hard person to read, but after working with him for a year, I've gotten to understand him better."

"And by reading up on his past, apparently." God, there were so many things Steve would have done differently if he had known how much Tony was struggling.

"Hey," Bruce said. "I'm not telling you these things so you'll feel sorry for him. He wouldn't want that. I just want you to have a better appreciation of how strong he is, considering all he's gone through."

"I do appreciate it," Steve said. "He's one of the toughest people I know."

"And I have it on good authority that even tough guys eat breakfast," Bruce said with a smile. "So if you're going to get on Tony's good side, you might want to start there."

Of course. Tony could be hard to read sometimes, but after all the mornings having breakfast together, Steve knew exactly what Tony liked to eat.

"Thanks, Bruce," he said gratefully. He hurried towards the elevator.

Upstairs, he found Natasha and Tony in the den. Natasha was going through a stack of baby books while Tony cradled the baby on his lap.

Steve settled onto the couch next to Tony. "Did you tell them what we learned about Stephy?"

"She's a beta," Tony said.

"That's wonderful," Natasha said. "We know so many good betas. Clint and Bruce, of course. And Agent Hill."

Tony nodded. "Rhodey and Pepper are betas, too."

"So's Coulson," Clint called from the kitchen.

"You hear that, Stephy?" Tony said. "All those nice betas who can teach you how to be the best beta you can be. You're so lucky to have all of us. We're like one big family." Tony brightened and began rocking the baby on his lap. "I love you, you love me. We're a happy family. With a great-"

"You sing any more Barney songs and I will fucking end you, Stark," Clint shouted.

"You cuss in front of the baby again and I'll end you, Barton," Tony shouted back.

"Sorry, Stephy," Clint said in a more subdued tone.

Tony bopped the baby's head. "Uncle Clint is a knucklehead. Yes, he is. Yes, he is."

"Abababa." Stephy bounced on Tony's lap and flapped her hands.

Tony smiled. "Oh, you want to dance? I've got the perfect song for you." He took the baby's hands and started clapping them together."We are family. Get up everybody and sing."

She laughed and stuffed one of her hands in her mouth.

"You goose," Tony laughed. "That's not dancing, that's-" He looked chastened as his stomach growled. "Oh. That's right. We didn't have our second breakfast yet."

"First breakfast," Natasha corrected. "Coffee doesn't count."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'm going to have breakfast and Stephy's going to have her morning snack. Happy now?"

Natasha just smiled.

"I'll take care of it," Steve said.

"Take care of what?"

"Breakfast. Feeding the baby and making you some toast and eggs."

Tony blinked. "Uh, okay." He handed the baby over. "Just give her a few spoonfuls of the sweet potato or banana. Those are her favorites."

"I know," Steve said. "And you like raspberry or peach jam."

"Yeah," Tony said quietly. He peered at Steve intently. "This isn't-you're not-"

"Nope," Steve said. "I'm not asking for anything in return. I just know you have a lot of work today so I want to make things easier on you."

Tony's shoulders slumped. "Right. Work." He looked longingly at the baby in Steve's arms.

"Go on," Natasha said. "We promised we'd look after Stephy while you did your work. The sooner you get it done, the sooner you get to play with her again." She waved one of the books. "Maybe you'll make it back in time for storytime."

Tony huffed. "Okay, I'm going, I'm going." He pointed a finger at Steve as he backed up towards the elevator. "This toast better come with a side of coffee."

"Of course," Steve said. "French roast."

"And it better be Fre-oh. I guess you got it covered." Tony spared him one last plaintive look and then the elevator doors slid shut.

"Well, that went well," Natasha said. "I thought he'd never leave."

Steve sighed and shifted the baby on his hip. "I don't really blame him for wanting to play with the baby all day instead, but he really needs to catch up on his work. One of the conditions for him keeping the baby was to stay on top of all the work he needs to do for SHIELD and SI and I know he hasn't been down in his lab much the past few weeks. He probably needs to spend several hours down there at the very least."

And wasn't that ironic, having to make Tony spend the day down in the lab.

"Must be rough," she said. "How many times do you think he's going to come up to check on the baby?"

"We taking bets?" Clint called, poking his head out of the kitchen.

Steve shook his head. "No more bets."

It was time they all stopped betting against Tony and started really helping him. Starting with breakfast.

Steve settled the baby in her high chair and reached for a jar of sweet potatoes. "According to Tony, this is one of your favorites, right?"

Stephy cooed and made grabby hands.

"Can I help?" Clint asked eagerly.

"Sure," Steve said. He handed the jar of baby food to Clint and popped a slice of toast into the toaster.

Clint scooped up a spoonful of sweet potatoes. "And breakfast is served."

The baby regarded him dubiously.

"Oh come on," he said. "You're not still mad at me about the toys, are you? I'm only trying to help, I swear. You'll thank me when you start crawling around on your own."

Steve chuckled and shook his head. "Do you need Tony's help?"

"Nope. I got this." Clint frowned at the baby. "If you're not going to eat it, maybe I should." He held the spoon up to his mouth.

Stephy fussed and reached out her hands.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." This time, when Clint offered the sweet potatoes to the baby, she opened her mouth and let him feed her.

Steve smiled. It was so good to see the rest of the team bonding with the baby and making her part of the pack. Tony was a fantastic mother, but as a beta, it was good for Stephy to have beta influence in her life.

"Better take the food down to Tony before he decides it's an excuse to wander up here and check things out," Clint advised.

Right. Steve set the toast on a plate and smeared a a healthy dollop of jam onto it. From what he remembered, Tony liked plenty of jam on his toast.

When he got down to the lab, Tony was poking at the Quinjet's exhaust system, but he hurried over to grab his breakfast.

"The baby get fed, too?" Tony asked after he swallowed his first mouthful of toast.

"Yes," Steve said. "Stop worrying. We'll handle it." He squeezed Tony's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't get overwhelmed. Take breaks when you need to, but try to get as much done today as you can."

"Why?" Tony asked. "What's the rush?"

Steve shrugged. "We might all have a picnic in the park tomorrow and you might like to bring the baby along. But if you don't have all your work done for your company and for Fury, you'll probably get a lot of calls demanding results. And I'd hate to have you working instead of enjoying the afternoon with us."

Tony rolled up his sleeves. "Oh, we'll see about that," he said. "This is all going to be done. Just you watch."

Steve smiled. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. "I'll check in on you later," he promised, planting a kiss on Tony's forehead.

Tony gave him a thumb's up and stuffed the rest of the toast in his mouth.

Now that he had something to really work towards, Tony was soon hard at work. Steve came back down to the lab a little after noon to check in on him and bring him lunch and by that time, Tony was deeply engrossed in upgrading the Quinjet's fuel intake system. There were parts strewn all across the lab bench and Tony was frowning at them intently as he typed in a few commands on his computer. Tony acknowledged the sandwich Steve brought with a nod, but he kept right on working.

Tony wandered up from the lab a few times later in the afternoon in search of coffee and Steve sent him back down every time with a full mug and a kiss.

By dinner time, Tony still wasn't finished with his projects, so Steve went back downstairs with a plate of burritos and set them next to Tony's station.

"I think I'm close to a breakthrough," Tony said, eyes wide with excitement. "If this works, we could save a lot of money on jet fuel."

"Glad to hear it," Steve said. He patted Tony's shoulder. "You're doing great."

After dinner, Steve spent two hours working out in the gym and then called it an early night. He woke up to the familiar dip in the bed as Tony curled up beside him and rested his head on his chest. He smiled and stroked Tony's hair.

Everything was right with the world again.