Baby Blues

Stark Towers

"Do you think this is too much?"

Pepper waved a strip of crepe paper away from her face and looked around the room. The entire suite had been transformed into a temple for pink items, including a large, furry pink carpet near the fireplace and a birthday cake with pink frosting.

"Well...I may have gone overboard with some of the details," Tony admitted.

"I'll say." Pepper crossed her arms and tried hard not to smile. "I just hope you didn't hire jugglers and flamethrowers."

"Now that gives me an idea for Antonia's next birthday," Tony declared, grinning. "So where is she? Is Romanoff still choosing the dress?"

"No, Antonia's sleeping. I think she's going to need one, with all the things you have planned for her birthday. Is this what you're going to be like when you have kids?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. What I do know is that the guests are going to be late."

"Most of them live here, Tony. I don't think you have to worry about that."

It was Antonia's first birthday, which also officially marked the day when the Avengers defeated Loki and had him and the Tesseract sent back to Asgard. During those twelve months the rest of the Avengers went about their daily lives, but every so often they returned to Stark Towers to rest and recuperate. Only Natasha and Clint kept communicating with Nick Fury, and they were sometimes even sent on several brief reconnaissance missions all over the globe.

Tony, on the other hand, busied himself with handling Stark Industries and maintaining a business partnership with Bruce Banner. Bruce had become the company's foremost expert on radiology, but he never worked inside the company laboratories. He did, however, become a constant visitor in Stark Towers due to the presence of Antonia.

Bruce would never have admitted it to anyone, but he was noticing a change in the "other man." Prior to Antonia's arrival, Bruce needed to feel constant anger to keep the Hulk from surfacing. It wasn't easy to do, but Bruce had had no choice. But since he met Antonia, the "other man" hardly made an appearance (save for the Tazering incident). It was as if the baby had a calming effect on the Hulk. Whatever the reason, Bruce was grateful for it.

Like Bruce, Tony also felt close to the baby. Although it took him longer to succumb to Antonia's charms, Tony eventually did. He soon forgot the fact that Antonia was the daughter of Pepper's cousin; it certainly felt as if Antonia was born to be his. She had dark hair, deep, icy blue eyes, and pale, smooth skin: a lethal Stark combination. Tony wondered occasionally why Antonia's parents never came to collect her, but he quickly dismissed it.

The longer they stayed away, the more time he had with Antonia.

Pepper took down several streamers, while Tony sat on the couch and watched a news report about the latest attack of the Chitauri army.

"Funny. When Loki was here Nick Fury was practically pushing us to battle. Now that the enemy's more relentless, he's giving us time to host a birthday party for a kid," Tony observed. "Seems off."

"Maybe he's gathering enough information before striking. Without the Tesseract, we can't destroy the Leviathan that controls the Chitauri." Bruce stepped into the room, smiling slowly.

Tony whirled around. "Hey Doctor. You've got a point there. But shouldn't we be out there instead of in here?"

"Sounds like you don't want to celebrate Antonia's birthday party, Tony," Bruce said, shaking Tony's hand and setting a gift bag on the coffee table. "Where is she?"

"Broo!" Antonia called as she and Pepper stepped inside the suite. "Broo!"

Bruce's face immediately lit up, and he held his arms out. "Hey Antonia. Happy birthday." To Pepper, he said: "She still hasn't said her first word?"

"Nope. Just a few abstract phrases," Pepper replied. "She should be talking by now."

"Eh, she's probably going to surprise us all with a complicated word," Tony argued. "Like 'Stark'."

Bruce chuckled as Antonia patted his cheek. "Maybe. She's full of surprises."

The rest of the Avengers soon arrived, with Steve carrying most of the packages. Nick Fury, Agent Maria Hill, and Erik Selvig arrived thirty minutes later, which signaled the start of the party. Aside from having Antonia open the presents – she ended up only ripping the wrapping paper off – Tony had the guests participate in several games, such as charades.

Antonia fell asleep halfway through the party, but since she was used to a lot of noise, the adults were able to cap off the event Avengers-style. Tony poured several rounds of drinks and chasers, and Erik set off some fireworks.

It certainly was an unusual birthday party. Then again, most of the guests weren't "normal."

"Thanks for coming, you three," Tony said as Fury, Hill, and Selvig entered the elevator.

"Remember Stark, we need to address this issue at once. We have all the information we need," Fury reminded him. "The longer we put this off, the worse we'll be. I've heard many world leaders are willing to pledge their allegiance to Sigyn."

"Yeah, I know. Why did you put off our attack, Fury?" Tony pressed his palm against the side of the elevator, preventing it from closing. "Normally you'd tell us to head into battle."

Fury smiled thinly and jerked his head towards Antonia, who was climbing onto Steve's lap. "For her. She deserves a fairly decent birthday party – even though all of her guests were adults."

Tony chuckled. "Well thanks Fury. You're one hell of a guy."

"Tomorrow." Fury replied and Tony removed his hand. The elevator doors shut and Tony turned away.

"So we're heading out tomorrow?" Steve clarified, as Antonia stood up, her feet slightly digging into Steve's thighs. "Great. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss being out there."

"Yeah well you're getting your wish, Captain." Tony walked onto the special platform, where the Iron Man suit was automatically fitted to his body.

"Where are you going?" Clint finished the last of his gin.

"I'm going to see if there are any Chitauri left in the city. The attacks were mostly in Tribeca and SoHo."

"I'll come with you," Clint offered, but Tony waved him away.

"No thanks. I can handle them." With a roguish wink, Tony slapped the cover of his helmet over his face and waved at Antonia, who waved back. He then stepped off the platform and flew out into the city.

Clint turned from the balcony and refilled his glass. Normally he didn't drink a lot, but he was going back into the fray. It was nice to feel alcohol in his system.

"How many people have died so far?" Natasha asked softly, coming up behind him. Clint turned his head to look at her. Her once short hair had grown past her shoulders, and he resisted the urge to run his fingers through the fine red tendrils.

"Nearly half a thousand," Clint replied, remembering the rough estimate that he had seen on Nick Fury's reports. "And that was just after a day and a half."

Natasha sighed. She thought that Sigyn's course of action was understandable; after all, Natasha would have done the same for Clint.

Not that she'd willingly admit it to him, of course.