A/N: I promise, I'm being nicer to them now! I'm starting to take things and make them right, wrap up some loose ends for the boys. I'm making them happy again! You'll see! There's gonna be some feels in this chapter, specially towards the end. Just remember, happy good times are coming soon! :D
You're all beautiful and I love you.
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.
Tony was sitting on the couch now, running his hands through his hair. "But, this man wasn't discharged by Wilson?" Steve asked, pacing behind Tony. He was pacing in front of him, then Tony had growled because he was setting him on edge. Bucky was holding on to Jamie, out in front of him, letting her legs dangle, both of them staring at each other. "Wilson was his CO, though."
"It was a General that discharged him," Tony said, lifting his head back up to lean back against the couch. "General Ross, who is one of the doucheist Generals around." Tony glanced at Bucky, sighed, then made a motion with his hands. "For pity's sake, Barnes, she's not contagious. Give her here." Bucky stepped forward quickly to hand off Jamie to someone who would hold her properly. "Wilson couldn't be the one giving the order, then it would tie the man back to him."
"Are we sure that that's what we're going with?" Steve stopped and looked at the back of Tony's head. "Wilson wanted his ex-wife murdered?"
"He's one step away from a dishonorable discharge himself with the allegations behind the divorce." Tony set Jamie in his lap, pulling his legs up around her. "The military doesn't like it when one of their higher ranking Officers comes back with abuse charges against a spouse and child." He lifted his head a little to look at Steve. "And I'm not convinced that Wade isn't in his cross hairs, too. I did have lawyers send over papers stating that his parental rights to Wade had been terminated, he's probably pretty mad."
"I'm sure that'll do it," Bucky grumbled out, and Tony rolled his eyes.
"So what happens now?" Meg asked, walking in from the kitchen, handing a bottle to Tony to give to Jamie. "I mean, you have to tell them."
"I don't want to worry them until we have more facts," Tony said, putting Jamie's back to his chest, letting her take most of the weight of the body in her hands.
"Having the facts or not isn't going to change that they might still be in danger," Meg argued.
"What does this Wilson look like?" Bucky asked and a holographic screen was projected a few feet away. He took a step backwards, the only sign that it might have caught him off guard, studied the picture.
"You have the information now, you should tell them what you know." Steve and Tony looked over at Meg. "I know I'm a poster child of not telling right away, but my secret wasn't actively trying to kill anyone... At the time." Bucky snorted again, now looking through information on Wade's father. "Mary deserves to know, just as much as Julie does."
"Ouch, hitting that guilt nerve," Tony muttered, keeping Jamie from falling on her back as she drank from her bottle.
"You can tell them not to worry about it," Bucky said after a couple moments silence. The others looked at him. "He won't be sending anyone else."
"Bucky," Steve frowned, sharing the same expression as Meg.
"I know that we're not about to jump on board and defend a beater," Tony looked over at the two. He found it a little weird that he might be defending the person who had tried to kill him a couple of times, but there were more important things, people, to worry about at the moment.
"We're not defending him," Steve quickly said. "But that doesn't mean that he should be killed."
"No kill order has been issued," Bucky murmured, sounding more soldier than human. Tony watched him out of the corner of his eye, picking up Jamie to burp her. Steve looked at Meg. They all saw the blank look come over his face, ready to assume a new mission.
"Why are you looking at me? I'm no one's Handler," she hissed at Steve. "I just had the bad taste in men."
"He obviously listens to you, and I'm starting to get creeped out," Tony told her quickly. Bucky hadn't moved a muscle since the last time he spoke. "He obviously looking your way, probably waiting for a command."
Steve was fidgety, looking over at Bucky, then back to Meg. She cursed under her breath and ran her hands through her hair. "This is so not what I signed up for. I was expecting to come home, see my kids, and maybe try and get some more rest."
"That all changed when you literally let Hydra into your bed," Tony commented.
"What exactly am I supposed to do?" She looked between Steve and Tony.
"Try giving him an order?" Steve shrugged a little. "Have you read through any of the Winter Soldier files that were released?
"Some, yeah, he wanted me too." She wrinkled her nose a little and looked over at Bucky. "Report." All eyes were on Bucky now.
"Waiting for mission details," he answered her, rolling his left shoulder a little, the gears whirring in the arm. "Confirm target, Colonel Michael Wilson?"
"Non-lethal, uh," she waved her hand a little as she thought, searching for a word. "Reconnaissance only. We need to know where he is, and if he sent the shooter after Julie and, or, Wade." Steve tilted his head a little at her, silently asking what she was up, too.
Bucky, the Winter Soldier, kept looking at her, as if waiting for something else. "If the target becomes hostile?" He eventually asked.
"Oh, uh, still non-lethal. Um, just, incapacitate him." She looked at Steve and Tony. Tony shrugged but nodded a little. Tony pulled out his phone with one hand, tapping something out. "We're trying to keep Julie and Wade safe."
Tony held up his phone and Steve took it. He frowned at the words, but Tony waved his hand. "I want to see if it works, give it to her." Steve pursed his lips a little, then handed the phone over to Meg.
"Mission details confirmed," the Soldier said, turning to go.
"Wait," Meg called out while looking at the text on Tony's phone. The Soldier stopped, and Meg frowned at Tony as well. "If you want this, you'll probably have to use my proper first name," she muttered. "Report any known information on Margrit Rosenfeld." Tony and Steve both raised their eyebrows. "It's German."
"Romantically linked with former Handler Emil Dittmar," he started to rattle off easily. "Of direct German heritage. Graduated with a degree in Art and Art History. Considered of value and a likely recruit for training with Hydra, to report directly to Handler Dittmar. Name entered into Hydra databases at time of birth by Jacob Rosenfeld. Surveillance held, but no contact made until recently." Tony couldn't help but tense a little. He felt like Hydra was suddenly everywhere.
He took a breath to continue, but Meg shook her head. "Enough, mission confirmed. Go be stealthy." She tossed the phone back over to Tony on the couch as the Soldier left the apartment, barely making a sound. Tony had gotten up and walked around the couch, going to stand next to Steve, both staring at her intently.
"That's a lot of information that I definitely didn't know," Tony commented. Jamie reached out for Steve, distracting him long enough to break the sharp look that he was giving Meg. The little girl seemed to be perceptive of emotions in a room. "Something we should know?"
She took a breath and placed a hand on her injured side, before leaning against the wall. "I was born in Germany, just outside of Nuremburg. Jacob was my father," she told them. "I didn't know him, he and my mother died before I was even three, and I was shipped off the US to live with my Aunt." She looked at them, and they could see that she was as troubled with the information as they were. "I was always told that they had been killed in a burglary gone wrong, and since I had been sleeping so quietly that the burglar didn't even know I was there. And I never had a reason to look them up."
"You changed your name?" Steve asked her.
"Not legally," she shook her head. "My Aunt always called me Meg, so I just started going by that. It's how I was always registered at schools, too, so I always have to fill out that little tab of 'Other Names' on applications and forms." Meg pushed herself from against the wall. "I need to go check on my kids, and then I'm going to lay down. Lock my door, put Jarvis on sentry mode, I don't care. Just, let me know if something happens?" Steve nodded a little and they watched her make her way back to the nursery.
Steve nudged Tony's shoulder towards the exit, Jamie's head laying down on his own shoulder now. "I don't know what's going on anymore," Tony moaned a bit, rubbing his face when they were out in the hallway. "Jarvis?"
"I am currently tracking Sergeant Barnes, and running the new information," his AI responded, trying to ease his creator's mind. Tony nodded a little. His eyes closed when Steve reached up with one hand to rub at the back of his neck.
"Go to Peter," he said, kissing his temple. Tony looked at him, eyes glancing to a steadily sleepier looking Jamie. "I'm not going anywhere, and you always feel better when you've got Peter with you. And he'll feel a little better when he sees that you're alright." Tony leaned up to gently kiss him.
"I'll find you," he promised. He leaned over and kissed Jamie's forehead. Steve watched Tony walk down the hall towards the other apartment where Peter was, and Steve turned to head for the elevator. When the doors closed he let out a long breath, letting his head drop back briefly.
"Captain Rogers," Jarvis called out and Steve opened his eyes again. "Miss Potts is calling for Sir, but I felt that it would be an inopportune time to bother him." Steve smiled a little at the AI. "Would you be willing to take the call?"
"Yeah, thanks Jarvis," he said with a nod. "I'll take it in the Penthouse, let me just put Jamie down for a nap first." If anything, Steve figured that the call would be enough of a distraction until some news, about just about anything, would be coming through. Steve hated not being able to do anything.
It took a couple extra minutes to get Jamie to sleep, but she was quiet, with a hand curled around the corner of a blanket, and peacefully asleep. Steve went out to the living room, dropped himself onto the couch, and Jarvis connected the call. "Steve?"
"Hi, Pepper." He always felt a little weird about calling her Pepper, because he hadn't had nearly as much interaction with her, but she had insisted. "Tony's with Peter."
"How is he?" She asked immediately. "Jarvis told me what happened, luckily before the reports started coming in."
Steve frowned. "I think we'll know more when, well, we know more from the hospital. What reports?"
"An attack just outside of Stark Industries doesn't stay quiet for long," she told him. "I'm trying to stay ahead of it, to keep Rachel and Mary's identity out of it, but there are a lot of reporters looking in to this. There are pictures of them from every smart phone within a three block radius popping up on social media, including one of you carrying Tony back into the Tower and refusing an ambulance for him."
"He wasn't as hurt as Rachel was," Steve argued weakly. He also knew of Tony's intense dislike of hospitals, and he didn't want Tony anywhere that wasn't as secure as the Tower. "She's still in surgery as far as we know, and Tony's already awake."
"Do you know who attacked?" Steve could hear some papers shuffling in the background, and knew that she had to be in her office in California. Probably going to be working overtime for the next couple of days.
"We have an idea, but we're not sure yet," Steve admitted. "We're looking into it now, but I highly doubt that it's going to be information that we want released."
"That never comforts me, Steve," Pepper sighed.
"It looks like Julie's ex-husband may be involved."
There was a beat before Pepper responded. "I was right, I'm not comforted."
"As soon as we know something, you'll know something, promise." Steve told her, pulling a pillow from the couch and shoving it under his neck
"I love promises from Captain America." Steve snorted softly and the call disconnected. He closed his eyes and threw an arm over his face. Steve Rogers was tired.
Tony let Peter sprawl over his chest, palm firmly over the arc reactor and his fingers curling a little. He was half asleep, but his eyes weren't closed all the way, and Tony let his hand rub gentle circles on his back. "I'm going to redo the penthouse," he said quietly, and Peter shuffled his head a little to look at Tony. They were back down in the workshop, on the couch, where they had been napping earlier in the day. "There's going to be a lot more room."
"It's big now," Peter replied sleepily. The boy was exhausted, but now he couldn't fall back asleep.
"We need more room up there," Tony said simply.
"Because of Jamie?" Tony raised an eyebrow when Peter seemed to curl up a little more on top of Tony, tilting his head down. "Cause she's gonna need so much attention now?" Peter was not warming up to the newest addition.
"You were that small once," Tony told him, trying for a difference tactic. "You started walking for me on your first birthday, but you still needed help."
"You're gonna ignore me, cause she can't do anything," Peter huffed out, and Tony could see a little scowl forming on Peter's face. Tony ran his hands through Peter's hair. "Mr Steve won't be able to give me art lessons anymore because of her."
"Did he tell you that?" Tony kept his voice soft, but firm.
Peter shook his head. "No, but it's gonna happen. He always has her."
"She's been here two days, Peter." His finger tapped Peter's back lightly. "We're not going to ignore you, Petey-pie."
"But, I'm not gonna have all of your attention," the little boy argued.
"No, you're not," Tony said and Peter looked up at him. "But you don't need all of it like you used, too." Peter's features scrunched up in a mix of anger and confusion. "You're growing up so fast, and I'm gonna sound like the sappy Dad here, but it's true. You're really smart, and you're able to do a lot without my help, or Mama's help, anymore. Do you like when we hover over your homework?"
"No," he mumbled into Tony's shirt. "I can do my homework myself."
"And you know that if you ever need help with it that you can come to us, right?" Tony asked, and Peter had to nod. "Well, if you don't need help with your homework, then that means that I've got time that was Peter Time, and it's an empty slot now. So while you're busy doing homework, I'll go check on Jamie to make sure that she isn't doing something silly, like crawling into the dishwasher, or eating all of the soap." He could see Peter trying not to smile at the thought. "What I'm trying to say is that, yeah, Jamie needs a bit more attention than you do, but she's tiny still. You are growing up to be an awesome young man, so you don't need as much attention. But that doesn't mean that I'm not always going to be there. I'm still going to try and help you with your homework, even if you don't want it."
Tony and Peter were quiet for a bit after that, Peter moving so that he could tuck his head under Tony's chin. "I love you Daddy."
"And I love you, Peter," Tony said, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. "I'll never stop, and I'll never love you less. If anything, I'll only love you more and more." Peter snuggled into him and Tony wrapped his arms around his son.
"I still don't like her," the little boy mumbled and Tony chuckled lightly.
"We'll give it some time, maybe she'll grow on you." Peter stuck out his tongue and Tony smiled. He could deal with a slightly jealous son for now.
"Why haven't they called about Granma yet?" Peter asked quietly.
"Surgery can be a long process," Tony tried to explain. He didn't know what was happening, and he was just waiting for an update or phone call himself. "Surgeons sometimes need time to make sure that everything is working just it used, too. They won't let Granma leave until they're positive that she's going to be good as new." Tony tapped down on the panic that was trying to crawl up into his chest. He had no idea what was wrong, didn't even know if the chances were good in her surgery. Steve hadn't look all that optimistic when he had woken up.
"Are they Doctor's like Uncle Bruce?"
"Better," Tony answered and Peter looked at him like he was crazy. "There are lots of different Doctors," Tony told him. "I'm technically a doctor, but I'm not a medical doctor."
"You can be a doctor and not have to work in a hospital?"
Tony nodded. "Some teachers are Doctors, and I'm a Doctor in Physics, mechanical and electrical engineering." Peter stared at him for a few second with big eyes, but a blank look. "All the stuff I need to know to make the Bots, Jarvis, and the Iron Man suit." That did the trick, his eyes lighting up. "There are even people who are Doctors of Art."
"Is Mr Steve a Doctor of Art?" Peter asked immediately.
"No, but he should be, shouldn't he?" Peter nodded. "I want to put an art room in the new Penthouse."
"One for Mr Steve and me?" Tony nodded, running his hands through his hair.
"Yeah, a place where you two can have your lessons, or you can go too whenever you want." Tony thought about the plans he had been finishing. "And maybe Miss Meg can do some work in there. She can teach you about some new ways to do art."
"She showed me some ideas she drew for sculptures," Peter told him. "She said I could watch her work on it, when she started."
"I hired her to make some stuff for my company." He smiled a little, loving when Peter talked so easily about a subject. He really seemed to enjoy art, even more now that he was getting exposed first-hand to different mediums. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Do you think that I could make art, and get paid for it?" Peter looked up at Tony with big eyes.
Tony grinned at him. "I think that you could do just about anything you wanted, Petey. If you want to make art for a living, then go for it. I'll help you get everything you need to start." He played with a longer, curlier, piece of his hair. "You got time to figure out what you want to do with your life though, so there's still a lot of things for you to have fun with."
Steve had been right, he always felt better after spending some one-on-one time with Peter. This was his little boy, his son, one person calming army. He had to keep a little bit of optimism that the next call they got would be good news about Rachel. Or news about who was behind the attack.
"Your birthday is coming up," Peter said, pulling him back from his thoughts. "Are we going to have a party?"
Tony bit his bottom lip a little, knowing what came just before his birthday. One year on from Loki's attack and the Chitauri, and New York was slowly repairing itself. Tony himself though, that was a longer process for him. "I don't know," he replied honestly. "I hadn't actually thought about it. What do you think we should do?"
"Last year was fun," Peter said. "A big dinner with everyone there. But, it's your day, Daddy." Tony smiled at him. Peter was a big proponent of the Birthday tradition; The birthday person does what they like, and doesn't have to do any chores.
"Well, I've still got a couple weeks to think about it." Tony ran his hand through Peter's hair again. "You need a haircut kiddo."
"So do you!" Peter leaned up to tug on some of Tony's longer hair. He giggled when Tony's eyes widened a little at the sudden action. "The hair's starting to grow over your ears."
Tony hummed and ran his fingers through his own hair along the side of his head. "It is starting to get a little long, isn't it? I suppose I could get a trim. You like it when my hair is shorter?" Peter nodded, smiling. "Alright, how about we both go together, like we did a couple years ago."
"Matching haircuts?" Peter asked hopefully.
"Why not?" Tony smiled at him. "Everyone says that you look just like me."
"Granma says I look more like Mama," Peter told him.
"Granma likes Mama better, cause that's her daughter." Tony pushed Peter's nose a little. "She's biased, and cannot be trusted in a looks contest. But, if ever asked, Granma is much prettier than anyone else. Got it?" Peter nodded seriously, then giggled once.
Steve started to wake up slowly, something not sitting right. He remembered falling asleep on the couch up in the Penthouse, Jamie down for a nap, and Tony with Peter. He pulled in a breath through his nose then opened his eyes. And promptly yelped, jumping up and falling off the couch onto the floor.
Wade merely took a couple steps back so Steve didn't fall on him and looked down at him. "You always do that."
"You shouldn't be that close to my face while I'm sleeping!" Steve pushed himself up to a sitting position and looked at the ten year old.
"This is the third time I've done it, you'd think you'd be used to it," Wade argued, really not doing a great job at keeping the smile off of his face. Steve rubbed his face with his hands.
"Everything okay?" Steve asked. There really was no use in trying to explain to Wade, again, why he shouldn't hover over someone while they slept.
"Yup," he nodded, then looked past Steve for a second. "They didn't want to wake you up, so I said I'd do it when I got up here."
Steve had been in the process of getting up to sit back on the couch and frowned at Wade's words. He turned and saw Bucky and Meg standing by the arm of the couch. Steve jumped again, putting a hand to his chest. "Stop scaring me!"
"We didn't do anything," Meg said. "Like he said, we didn't want to wake you."
"The child has interesting methods," Bucky added. Wade seemed to smile, taking it as a compliment.
"His name is Wade," Steve muttered, leaning back against the couch. He was more tired than he thought if three people had been able to startle him like that. "Peter is down with Tony in the workshop, Wade. Why don't you go find them."
"Okay!" The kid took off running for the elevator. Steve motioned to the chairs as he disappeared and Meg moved to sit down, Bucky staying standing.
"I assume there's information?" Steve glanced at the watch on his wrist. He'd only been asleep for about three hours.
"Wilson wasn't even attempting to hide," Bucky told him, and Steve raised an eyebrow. "He still has a condo in New York, although it looked like he was getting ready to leave when I got there."
Steve sat up a little straighter. "Did you confront him?" He knew that Bucky was still fighting whatever conditioning he had been through, and they had let him go off on his own. He didn't want to add to another body count.
"Non-lethal," Bucky reminded him. "He confessed to hiring the shooter."
"Ballsy son of a bitch," Meg muttered under her breath. She looked about as tired as Steve felt. He felt a little bad, she looked much older than when Steve had met almost a year ago, and part of that felt his fault.
"He's going to leave the state." Steve turned his attention back to Bucky. "I don't think he'll be doing anything else to his ex-wife or son." Steve was about to ask what he meant when his saw Bucky's body tense, his head turning to the side a little. Turning around Steve saw Wade standing in the archway to the living room, and his stomach dropped when he knew that Wade had heard most of, if not all of, their conversation.
Wade was frowning heavily, confused, but upset. "My Dad did this? He attacked Peter's Granma?"
"Wade." Steve stood up, walking around the couch towards the boy. Wade took a step back from Steve, a slight glare on his face.
"I heard him, whoever he is," Wade said motioning towards Bucky. "He's talking about my Dad." Steve crouched down to one knee and nodded. "He made someone hurt Peter's Dad and Granma?"
"No," Bucky spoke up and Steve whipped his head around. Meg was already getting up to try and stop what they knew Bucky was going to say. "He wanted to hurt your mom." Meg slumped against Bucky's back, hitting his shoulder with her fist. She muttered something that made Bucky frown, not understanding. Steve turned back to look at Wade.
His face was worryingly blank. Wade looked at Steve, and when he spoke his voice was even and strong. "You'll stop him from hurting anyone else, right?" Steve nodded right away. "You'll stop him from coming back?" Steve saw his jaw start to wobble a little and he reached out to gently take Wade's arms. "He hurt me and my Mom, and I swore I'd never let him do it again. When he left, I swore she'd be safe."
Steve pulled the boy into his arms and Wade started to cry against his chest. "We're not going to let anything happen to you, or your mom," Steve told him, rubbing his back. "This is the safest place for you." He wanted to promise that they'd be safe, but they'd been attacked just outside of the doors to the building. Steve wanted to talk to Tony later tonight. He watched Meg and Bucky silently leave the room, nodding to them once, but not letting go of Wade. He knew he'd have to Julie what was happening now.
Tony met Steve in the hallway on the way to Julie's, Peter in his arms, asleep on his shoulder. He had gotten a call from Coulson that Rachel was out of surgery, but the next twelve hours would really be the most telling for her condition. She was stable, but not awake. They would be staying at the hospital overnight. Steve then texted him to meet him upstairs, than it might be better if Peter spent the night with Wade. Something was up.
"You were right," Steve whispered to him. "It was Wilson." Tony looked at him then nodded. Steve opened the door to Julie's apartment, and they walked inside. "Wade is in his room, trying to get some sleep."
Julie was in the kitchen, making some coffee. Tony could tell that Steve had already told her, but there was probably more that needed to be said. He slipped inside Wade's bedroom, saw the boy had already claimed one half of the bed, leaving the other open for Peter. As he leaned down and pulled back some of the blankets, Wade cracked his eyes open. He put Peter down on the bed, close to Wade, and Wade shuffled a little closer. Tony reached out to run his hands through Wade's hair once, resting his hand on his head.
"His Granma is out of surgery," Tony whispered to him. "They'll know more in the morning, but she's stable." Wade nodded, then closed his eyes again, trying to go back to sleep. Tony watched both boys for a couple more moments before he left the bedroom, leaving the door open just a crack.
In the kitchen, Steve was sitting across from Julie, three mugs of coffee set out, one waiting for Tony next to Steve. He sat down and glanced between the both of them. "He's been living in New York all this time," Steve told Tony. "Only five miles away from their house." Tony frowned. In the divorce it had been ruled that Colonel Wilson had to move outside of the city that Julie and Wade were living in. It was no secret that he probably had more than one residence, but Tony was more than a little upset to hear how he had been able to hide at least one place from everyone.
"So, I assume that he fessed up?" Tony asked, and took a drink of coffee. The caffeine was a welcome addition to his system. "Did he say why?"
Tony saw Julie watching Steve now, and figured that this is what he must not have told her. "He got the order saying that his parental rights had been terminated, and he wasn't happy about it." Steve had gone back to get the rest of the information from Bucky after bringing Wade back down to his mother. "Apparently he's been keeping an eye on them, and he's seen you coming around, too." Tony raised an eyebrow when Steve looked at him with the last sentence.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Tony instantly saw where this was going. "He thought that I was making my move?" Steve nodded. "So he goes full tilt crazy ex? Some sort of 'If I can't have them, no one can have them?'"
"In as few words."
Julie was rubbing her face with one hand. "I knew he didn't take the divorce well. He was overseas when he got the papers. But he sent them back, signed. I knew he'd be upset, but he never tried to contact me."
"Probably because he couldn't at the time," Tony said. "I looked through the package your lawyers had set up, there was a restraining order in there. Smart thinking on their part in my opinion."
"It's been over two years though," she looked at Tony. "Why would he wait this long to do anything?"
"Because he was able to keep an eye on you," Steve spoke up this time. "Your routine hadn't really changed that much, I'm assuming, and maybe for a while he was content that it didn't look like you were moving on."
"Probably thought that he just had to bide his time, wait out the restraining order for legal sake-" Tony picked up.
"And to keep his military record clean," Steve threw in.
"-and he'd try and get you back," Tony finished. "He keeps company with the likes of General Ross, so I wouldn't put anything past this man personality wise."
"Am I going to have worry about going outside every time now?" Julie asked, her tone showing a bit of her worry.
"No," Steve shook his head, and Tony looked over at him. "We've got eyes on him, and he's leaving the state now. He was packing up, most likely cleaning out before anything could be traced back to him. He hadn't known that the man he had hired had been caught, or well, at least that his stuff have been found. But, I have it on good authority that he has enough incentive to not try this again." Tony could read between the lines; The Winter Soldier.
Julie nodded, leaning against the table they were sitting at. "I can still send a bodyguard with you when you go out, with and without Wade," Tony told her. "There's a nice man named Todd who'd be willing to help you out, and I trust him. They can go with you to make sure you get to your treatments, and keep an eye on Wade. Todd already does half of that anyway."
"I think I'd like that," Julie said with a nod. "I think it would make me feel a bit safer."
"Consider done," Tony told her. "In the morning we'll get everything settled away. Todd's really good with kids, too. He's got two girls that are around Peter and Wade's ages, and Wade already knows him."
"I think I've heard some disgruntled stories about him." Julie had a small smile on her face. "Wade's told me about how he's foiled their plans to get into trouble about the Tower."
"That would be the same one."
They left Julie feeling a bit more secure, the boys asleep, and Tower still under partial lockdown with a full lockdown for the residential floors. Steve and Tony hit the elevator and Tony was turning to look at the blonde. "Wade overheard everything, didn't he?" Steve nodded and Tony sighed. "That kid, we need to put a bell on him."
"He gives Natasha and Clint a run for their money in the stealth department, that's for sure," Steve muttered. "Speaking of, they're on their way back here. Should be here tomorrow night or the next morning."
"Can't say that I won't be glad to have them around," Tony nodded. "Now we're just missing our favorite Demi-God and it'll be a full reunion."
"Careful, or it might happen," Steve warned him. He reached out and took Tony's hand, lacing their fingers together.
"You've been thinking," Tony murmur under his breath. "I can feel it, you're half way to Captain America." Steve raised an eyebrow. "You're more 'Man with a Plan', than Steve Rogers." Steve opened his mouth, but Tony cut him off. "Do not say that Steve Rogers is also a man with a plan, because I know for a fact that you did not plan our first date. Or the first time we kissed, or even the second time."
"I kind of had a plan for the next time," Steve said and shuffled his foot on the ground. The elevator stopped at the Penthouse and they walked out, still holding hands.
"You did not, stop it." Tony pushed Steve's arm. "Alright, let's talk. Let's get this off your chest."
"Well, we do have to make a plan," Steve said as they sat on the couch. Tony grabbed the tablet that was on the coffee table before Steve could, checking on the camera feed that was Jamie's temporary room. She was still blissfully asleep. "We have a lot of enemies popping up, a lot of surprises, and we need to make sure that we have all of our blind spots covered."
Tony looked at him, then gave a nod. He knew that Steve was right, they did need to have a plan. They were the Avengers, Steve was kind of the official leader, and they were dealing with a lot. Hydra topped that list by far, what with their experiments, probably their hunt for Jamie and possibly Bucky, and their supposed interest in Meg. They couldn't be sure that they hadn't already tried approaching her, so that was something they would have to figure out. Tony needed to read through Howard's journal just so he could see what kind of information they still had, and he needed to puzzle out how much they knew about the Serum in his own veins.
Of course they would have to figure out what to do with Strucker's Enhanced, and what it mean that they had let Tony go. Were they still with the man who was at the top of Hydra command? And was Strucker even the top? Jarvis had collected as much information from the SHIELD/Hydra dump as he could, and he knew that Coulson and Mary had been doing as much as they could to piece together what they could of the organization.
Then there was this new threat of Colonel Wilson. Apparently he wasn't all mentally present, and Tony needed to keep Julie and Wade safe. He was sure it was the same thoughts that had spurred Steve into his 'Captain' state. And that wasn't even including the fact that Tony hadn't gotten a decent amount of sleep in the last forty-eight hours at least, and didn't want to stop to think about what he had actually been through while at the Hydra facility. He wasn't ready, not mentally.
Tony felt utterly exhausted, in every single way. He wished that he could just ignore everything, bury himself in his workshop until he passed out from exhaustion and got some sleep, let others deal with everything on their plate. But he couldn't, he knew he couldn't. This was rapidly becoming an Avengers problem, and they needed to put a stop to all of this before it got even more out of hand. It wouldn't be long until the government was knocking on their door, and Tony knew that a lot of the blame would be coming his way. He was the government's favorite scapegoat.
"Okay," Tony nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Coulson said that they have teams out there looking for the objects that Hydra took from SHIELD, and looking for Strucker. Jarvis will keep an eye on that, send us locations as well."
"We've also got scans out for the Maximoffs," Steve told him. "They have a vendetta against you, and they made their play obvious."
"I couldn't tell," Tony deadpanned. "While she was, doing what she does, her brother came in. Told me all about my weapons that almost killed them... I know what happened. Do you think that they're going to be a threat, to come after me?"
"I'm not really sure," Steve told him honestly. "I'm not writing it off though, but you know more about them right now." Tony saw the line for what it was, Steve wanting Tony to talk about what happened. But there was also no pressure behind it.
"Just what we need though, one more person to look out for." Tony let out a little sigh. "I don't know if we have to worry about them coming here, though." Steve raised an eyebrow at him. "When I was escaping the compound, they caught up with me just before I got outside. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but they let me leave."
"Not sure how to take that," Steve uttered. "Well, they're still kind of high on my list."
"Fair enough."
"I assume you've got Jarvis on full surveillance downstairs?" Steve asked, leaning his side against the couch. Tony could see that Steve was starting to look tired, too. Everyone was looking tired. They just need a break.
"You mean down in 'Former-Hydra' Central?" Tony snorted a little. "Yeah. Starting to think that I'm gonna need to add a second AI or something to try and help Jarvis out with all of this."
"The action wouldn't go unnoticed, or unappreciated, Sir," Jarvis spoke up and Tony rolled his eyes fondly.
"Yeah, he's keeping an eye out on them." He glanced at Steve, noticing his shoulders were a little tense as he thought about his best-friend-turned-assassin downstairs. "I'm not gonna lie and say that it wasn't risky sending him out to go after Wilson-"
"Yeah, but what other choice did we have?" Steve asked wearily. "By the time one of us, or anyone else on the team, would have gotten out there, Wilson would have been gone."
Tony tapped his teeth together a couple of times. "You know that it could have ended worse."
"Trust me, I know." Steve was looking out towards the windows. "He'll talk to me when there's a mission to report on, but I can't get anything else out of him. I know Bucky's still in there-"
"This is a conversation that we can finish later," Tony cut him off, leaning in a bit closer. He didn't want Steve to jump on his back because he thought Tony was being crass, but they didn't have time to debate what should, or even needed, to happen with Barnes. "And it'll come, don't worry. Jarvis will be watching to make sure that there aren't like, any Hydra plants still active in his head."
"And for any hidden ones that might be in Meg's?" Steve asked, tilting his head to look back towards Tony. Tony only nodded.
"Not saying that she would lie to us, or try and hide anything..."
"Yeah, I get it." Steve leaned in towards Tony a little as well, leaning his cheek on top of Tony's. "I'm tired, Tony."
Tony reached up and started to run his hand through Steve's hair slowly. "Me, too," he breathed out. They sat there, just leaning on each other, taking comfort in being able to feel each other, until the tablet screen between them lit up. Jamie's soft cries could be heard, and Steve was already moving to get up.
Tony stood up with him, pulling him into a soft kiss. "You go get her back to sleep, and I'll meet you in the bedroom, okay? We'll try and get some sleep."
"Will you?" Steve looked at him. "Try to sleep, that is?" He ran his thumb softly under one of Tony's eyes. "Much longer and it's going to look like you got into a bad fist fight."
"If you're there, I'll try," Tony told him, bring his hand down to kiss his palm. "Go on, go check on baby girl." Steve kissed him one more time before leaving the living room for Jamie's room.
Tony waited, watching the way he walked off, and when Steve didn't come back in, Tony headed in another direction. The lights behind him started to dim down as Tony approached the bar. He leaned down, grabbed a crystal decanter and set it on the counter. Empty glasses were sitting off to the side, upside down from being washed, ready to be used, and he knew that there was ice in the mini-fridge that his knees were touching.
He could never really give up alcohol, not completely, but when Peter was around it was easier to forget how much (he thought) he craved it. It was hard to wipe out nearly Twenty years of habit, always being able to reach for a glass, have a drink or ten when he didn't want to think about something. Tony remembered, nearly a year ago, when Tony had brought Steve to his father's office at the mansion, how he wanted that drink even then, how he had been so close to taking a drink. And later when Steve told him, had firmly believed, that Tony would have started drinking again if he really had no control. How flying through a wormhole would have been the one thing to make him do it. Tony wished that had been true.
It hadn't escaped Tony that he had been having nightmares of the attack. Were they nightmares? When you dreamed about something before it happened? The car pulling up, the door opening, then suddenly pain. When Peter had come back from his vacation, Tony felt that little piece of anxiety, that fear that something was going to happen, but wrote it off when nothing happened. He had been nervous to tell his son about Jamie, right? So why didn't it occur to him when Meg was coming back that something could happen? And what exactly did it mean? Would it happen again? Tony was not ready to handle everything this entitled mentally. Should he blame himself for not changing things up? Taking more precautions? But, then wouldn't that mean that he have to acknowledge that it was a premonition, or something? He'd have to know beforehand.
The stopper had been pulled off of the decanter, his right hand reaching out to rest on one of the glasses. Tony took a long breath in through his nose, closing his eyes when the familiar scent hit. Oaky, a bit of the burned wood smell, with a hint of something almost flowery, and warm, so warm that he could feel his mouth nearly watering, his nerve endings firing up in his chest, tingling across his shoulders, down his arms, and even pooling in his stomach. The last actual drink he had, had been some kind of homebrew beer that Clint had brought over, before Christmas. The team had all been in one spot, and they had a movie night, Clint excited to show off his first batch of homemade beer. It hadn't been half bad. Tony had stopped himself after two bottles.
He wasn't sure how long he stood there, one hand on the glass, the other holding onto the container of scotch, but it must have been just a little too long. A warm hand slid over the one on the glass, gently pulling it away, while another put the stopped back on the decanter. Tony's hand tightened around the container, and he almost let out a whimper at the loss of the smell.
"You don't need it, Tony," Steve's voice whispered by his ear.
"You don't know that." Tony opened his eyes, looking ahead, feeling Steve behind him. "Used to be a time that I couldn't even get function without alcohol. Who knows, maybe I'll be better if I go back to that." Steve's hand squeezed his right, his left resting on top of Tony's now, but not trying to pull away from the decanter. "Won't have to think, that's for sure, won't have nightmares because my brain will too busy drowning itself with too much activity, or maybe too little, I'm not really sure."
Tony dropped his head down a little. "Snuck this bottle up here a while ago, after you left to DC. Don't know why I did it, but I knew it was easier. Peter was in school a lot, staying down at Mary's more often than not, I was either here or in the workshop and couldn't exactly leave the Tower. Only person who would really come up here would be Pepper to get some signatures, and that's easy enough to avoid if I needed too." His eyes flickered over to the side when Steve's thumb started to rub his knuckles. "My liver is still pretty shit. I once spent an entire week, seven full days, drunk. I mean, just constantly drinking, keeping that feeling going, never sleeping longer than two hours so I could keep having drink after drink."
"It's been five years since you've been drunk," Steve reminded him.
"Could be fifty years, the time doesn't really make a difference," Tony told him. "I mean, sure, it's harder in that first year, really saying no to a drink, but after that you hit a plateau. Well, for me I did, I'm sure it's not the same for everyone, not everyone else is a functional alcoholic like me. That's why it was so easy to keep getting drunk, to get away with it. Functional. Hyper functional even."
Tony felt himself lean his back against Steve's chest, and decided the liked the warmth of Steve a little better than of the scotch. But that was just the smell, a little part of his brain told him, perhaps the taste would be a better warmth. "Steve," he closed his eyes, feeling his throat close a little. "I have been fighting this feeling since I got back. You don't know how many times I've caught myself looking over at this bar, or thinking about it. The motion of pouring a drink is second nature, you know. Could do it one handed."
"What's the difference between drinking a beer, and drinking this?" Steve asked, ever so gently tugging Tony's hand away from the crystal decanter.
"There's a distinct difference in alcoholic drinks," Tony told him. He knew Steve was distracting him, but it was kind of working, so who was he to complain about it. "Beer, champagne, even some wines, much lower alcoholic content. They're overrun with other ingredients, going more for taste. That's what a lot of people appreciate about them, the taste, make you forget that you're drinking something that the kiddos can't have. Just enough to get the dopamine in your head rolling around, make the party just a little bit more fun." He looked back at the amber liquid in front of him. "But this, this is made in a very particular way. Almost like an art form. And there are those out there who drink and appreciate that art, the taste, the way it's made, and aren't alcoholics. Fair game to them."
Tony licked his lips a little, then lifted his head up. "I don't drink alone. Beer, champagne, whatever, if I'm not getting drunk, I don't drink when I'm alone. That is a one way road to disaster, and my kid, kids, don't need to see me going to rehab, again. If there's even one out there that would take me." He let Steve wrap their arms around him, pressing him more firmly to Steve's chest. He took a breath, feeling it waver on the way back out. "It's just so damn hard right now. I'd fight you, Steve," he said with a wobble in his voice, pin pricks behind his eyes as tears threatened to form. "If you tried to deny me the drink, I would physical fight you over it, and I wouldn't stop."
Steve kissed the side of his neck, but didn't say anything. He slowly turned Tony around so they were facing each other now. Tony brought Steve's hands to his chest, resting just above the arc reactor. "I can't sleep, Steve, but I wish I could. And it's getting real tiring of saying I can't sleep. I'm done with nightmares, and I wish there was an easy fix." Tony's vision wobbled, tears filling up. "I want to sleep, preferably next to you, and close my eyes when it's dark, then open them when it's light out again. Peter's done with school, and the damn perceptive kid is gonna notice if I'm collapsing from exhaustion in the middle of the day. He asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, today. I don't know how I forced myself to give him an answer that wasn't, 'Drown myself in a couple dozen bottles.'"
His hands tightened around Steve's and he closed his eyes tightly, forcing some of the tears to slide down his cheeks. "I don't want to celebrate my birthday, because that means I would doing something that might potentially be nice. I'm so scared that something is going to happen, to take that away from me. Something that will take you away, or Peter, or even Jamie. I don't want to take that chance."
Steve pulled Tony close, as close as he could, not moving their hands. He leaned his head against the top of Tony's, pressing his lips to Tony's forehead. Tony let out a choked sob, no longer able to keep it in. "I saw you dead. It was my fault. I killed everyone, and you were there, I watched the life leave your eyes." He felt Steve's hand tighten around his. "I didn't do enough, I let everyone down. You were dead."
"I'm right here, Tony," Steve told him, lips moving against his skin. "I'm right here, with you. I'm not going anywhere."
Tony let out a couple more body shaking sobs, catching his breath. He opened his eyes, keeping his head tilted down, eyes meeting Steve's chest. Tony turned Steve's hands a little, so that his palms were resting against him. Then, he started to slide his hands down, until one palm rested completely on the arc reactor. He felt Steve tense a little, but then the fingers curled slightly around the reactor, pressing against the skin around it. Tony shivered, fought the feeling of rising panic, and didn't move.
"Tony," Steve whispered. "Are you sure?"
"I trust you," Tony told him, trying not to look down at Steve's hand. He trusted Steve, with his life. And that meant not looking down, not letting the paranoia of being betrayed by those he loved infect his relationship with Steve. Steve wasn't like any of them, wasn't like Howard, or Stane, or anyone else. He wasn't the dead man telling him that he had failed Peter.
Steve's palm pressed a little on the arc reactor as Tony tilted his head back up to look into his eyes. Those fingers weren't going to rip it out of his chest, he knew that logically, but having Steve's hand there now, he had to trust that. The few times they had had sex Steve had stayed clear of his arc reactor without Tony having to ask. He didn't hide it from Steve, but they both knew that only Peter was allowed to be near it.
He held onto Steve's other hand, then leaned up a little to kiss him gently. "I trust you." Steve wrapped his arm around Tony, trapping his hand on the arc reactor between them, and kissed Tony again, deeply, pouring how much that statement actually meant into the kiss. Tony couldn't help but melt into it, knowing that Steve got it. He knew what Tony was giving with the action, knew how hard it was, and he just, got it.
"I love you, Tony Stark." When they pulled away both were panting slightly. "I don't plan on going anywhere for a long time."