Looking for a beta.

There were some days where the stress was just too much to handle, so Tony would tuck Maria into be a little earlier then normal (not that she ever noticed) and just relaxed. He found it helped kept him level headed, and clam the next day. But on particularly hard days he would just take a really hot bath, and just think.

He would think about Maria, and how much she had improved in the very few months she had come to live with him. He would think about how much his daughter completed him, because he knew he could never love anyone as much as he loved his daughter, and he knew that no one could love him as much as she did. He finally understood what his mother use to tell him when he was younger and he insisted that children were disgusting.

"You will never understand the love of a child, until you have one!" His mother would say, shaking a finger at him. The crow's feet under her eyes making her smile warm and welcoming.

"You're only saying that because you're a woman, and women like babies, it's part of their genetic code!" was always Tony's response, and he stuck to that theory for most of his adult life too. Women liked babies, it was that simple. He would have never imagined he was completely wrong!

Tony ran his wet hand over his face, his shoulders were stiff from stress and the hot water was hardly helping him today. But in reality, what could hot water do to help him, not after what he had been told earlier this afternoon. This was probably one of the worst afternoons of his life, because he simply didn't know what to do now.

Today Maria had a doctor's appointment with a specialist, specifically a specialist that dealt with hearing loss. The doctor had been referred to him by a lady who worked for the C.A.S who also had a son with hearing problems. He honestly didn't know what to expect when he entered the clean office with Maria securely tucked on his hip, but he didn't expect what the doctor told him.

Maria's ears were badly damaged, he had never realized before how bad Maria's ears were before, and the more he thought about it the more he came to realize that there were some days when Maria didn't seem to under stand anything that was going on. The doctor suggested two 'solutions' that could fix Maria's problem and Tony didn't like either one of them. They were both complex, and he could see many complications in the end.

The first solution was Tony learn 'different ways to communicate with his daughter'. The doctor suggested that Tony learn American Sign Language and teach it to his daughter. Hearing aids would be available for his daughter, as well as special education plans, and more bull shit that Tony didn't care to hear.

The second option was a trial surgery that had only been 49% affective with children her age. He wasn't quite sure what the full details of the surgery were, but he knew that if it failed Maria's hearing would be worse then before, and that she would carry a bigger disability then before. But if it was successful, she could live a normal life, and have fewer complications with her hearing. Tony knew he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, because there was no way he could stop thinking long enough.

The sudden patter of bare feet echoed in the large bathroom drawing Tony's attention. His eyes skimmed the bathroom, and stopped on Maria who was sitting on the tiled floor pulling her clothing off. She was almost completely naked and was trying to pull her pajama top off.

He figured she must have stripped down in her room, because there were no pants, or diaper on the floor of the bathroom. When she had completed her mission, she quickly made her way to the tub, checking on the shirt behind her. She stopped at the rim of the tub and lifted her arms up.

"You should be in bed!" Tony said, watching her make her grabby hands. He thought about just putting her back into bed, but the looks she was giving him could have made the Grinch say yes. Tony slid his hands under her arm pits and pulled her into the bathtub with him. She immediately started playing with one of his shampoo bottles, trying to hold the bottle underwater. She laughed when the bottle shot out of the water, making water splash into their faces.

"You think that's funny?" Tony asked, watching Maria push the shampoo bottle underwater again. She looked up at him and responded very softly, "Yeah", before releasing the bottle again, water splashed everywhere. Tony laughed, when she squealed happily, and grabbed for the bottle that had escaped her grasp.

"Maria, watch this!" Tony said, reaching for an empty bottle on the side of the tube and snapping the top back, he held the bottle under water, and Maria watched intently as bubbles started to float to the surface quickly.

When the bottle was full Tony pulled it to the surface and squeezed the bottle allowing warm water to hit her. She squealed, in delight and grabbed for the bottle Tony was holding.

"What do you say?" Tony asked pulling the bottle out of her reach. Maria scrunched her face up, looking at Tony intently. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but he knew it was hilarious. She looked angry!

"Peas?" Maria asked her face still scrunched up, Tony was holding his sides he was laughing so hard. "Peas?" Maria asked again, this time in a deeper voice. The pain in his chest was unbearable, so he handed the bottle to her, so she would stop making the face.

It took Tony quite a few minutes to clam down, and when he reached reality, Maria was on the other side of the tub. Studying the top of the bottle, she was trying to squeeze the sides hard enough for the water to come out. When she failed she simply held the bottle upside down, and watched it pour back into the tub in gobs.

She copied what Tony did, holding the bottle underwater to fill it back up. She used a wet hand to move the hair out of her face; Tony caught a glimpse of her ear. Suddenly he was thinking about what the doctor had told him earlier, and looking at his innocent daughter only made the situation worse. What if he made the wrong choice? What if his daughter could never be normal?

"You don't hate me do you?" A younger Tony asked his mother, who was holding a few pieces of a broken vase. His mother looked at him shocked, setting the vase down, she grabbed her son's shoulders firmly.

"Anthony, no matter what you do, I will never hate you! I will ALWAYS! ALWAYS! Love you!" His mother said, firmly. Tony shook his head understandingly, his mother pulled him into her chest and she held him there for a second before letting him go.

"I love you too mom!" He said, she smiled ruffling his hair, he would always pretend that he hated it when his mother did that. But he actually liked it, it was one of the ways him mom showed she loved him.

"I know," His mother said, kissing his forehead.

"Uh-oh!" Maria said, bringing Tony back to reality. Maria was looking down at the water with a sympathetic look on her face. It took a few seconds for Tony to realize that Maria had peed in the bath tub; instantly he jumped out of the water. Maria looked at him curiously and continued to play.

"Come on you! Now we need a shower!" He said grabbing Maria out of the tub, and heading for the shower.

After a quick shower, Tony pulled Maria into a clean diaper and into a pair of brown feety pajamas with a hood that would pull up to look like teddy bear ears. They were Pepper's favorite, she would often make Maria wear it a little longer then normal.

After snuggling down with his daughter in his bed, she feel asleep quickly, her fingers in her mouth, and her rabbit at their side. Tony thought back to the flash back he had in the tub.

"No matter what happens, I will always love you!" Tony said, pulling his daughter closer to him.