Hello there! Recently I was walking through the stores and every single one of them is already full of Christmas stuff. Seriously, it was even before Halloween. This chapter takes place in December.

Disclaimer: I don't own the lyrics to the songs used, just borrowed them. They belong to whoever wrote them.

The songs names are My blue Christmas (sung by Kaitlyn Maher) and River(sung by Robert Downey Jr.) and of course White Christmas.

Chapter 26- Shopping with Tony

"…Every year those snowflakes start falling, and suddenly old memories start calling

I'll be saying my hello´s to every Jo that I know,

When I will see a vision of you in the snow

We´ll have a blue, blue Christmas

We´ll have a blue, blue Christmas this year

Blue, blue, blue Christmas." I was sitting by the piano singing one of the saddest Christmas songs I knew. The boys were spread around the whole complex. Bruce in his lab, Rhodey and Viz with Fury at SHIELD and Tony was probably in his workshop. It was Saturday, about three weeks before Christmas. The whole GlobalNet was already decorated with tons of blinking lights, Santa's reindeers; the speakers were blasting Christmas carols and other related songs the entire day… I needed to get away from that. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, it's just that for me Christmas is just as beautiful and magical as it is depressing. "I see you're at it again, mind if I joined you?" I turned to see Tony leaning against the wall, his hair still wet from the shower he had taken. "No, of course not. How long have you been here?" "Long enough to hear about your Christmas depression and see you staring at the wall for two minutes. Now's my turn, move a bit." He sat down beside me and started to play River, another beautiful depressing song. I leaned against his shoulder as he sang and closed my eyes.
"It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on…"

When he finished he turned his head to look at me and said: "The only thing this song is wrong in right now is the snow part, look." He pointed to the windows, it was snowing outside. "Now, how about something less sad.Pick one." "Since it's snowing, how about White Christmas…" I said. "I can play that one; here we go, feel free to join in. You know, just like the old times?" "Sure."

The song finished I looked at Tony: "Do you miss them, the old times?" "Sometimes, some parts of them. Why are you asking?" "I don't know, just wondering." "When are we going to your house this year?" "I don't know, I might as well call Logan, he mentioned he'd like to go there too. By the way, how come you're here and not your workshop? Not that I have anything against your presence, but it's near impossible to get you out of there voluntary." "Well, let's just say there was a problem I couldn't solve." "And you admit it, wow, never thought I'd see the day. So what problem was so big that the great Tony Stark couldn't solve it?" "You know, I'm starting to get the feeling I'm bad influence on you. I'm trying to figure out the best birthday gift for Bruce." "Yeah, right it's on December 18th, isn't it? And yes, you are bad influence, but someone has to be." "Yep, and I have no idea what to get him. We could get him something together. Let's hit the stores." "You wanna go shopping? Ok, we need to fill the fridge up again anyway."

It turned out to be a bad idea, but what else could I have expected. Going to stores with Tony Stark is like, well, imagine you walk through the mall with a dragon. Everyone looks at you, many want to take pictures and then they look at you like you are either crazy or took away their favorite thing. Thank god looks can't kill, I'd be dead like a hundred times already and we just came through the door. Maybe it was because Tony was holding my hand and the mall was crowded with people mostly female. I hate crowded places and was hoping we wouldn't go to this mall, but Tony was driving, so here we are. He's holding my hand so I won't get lost; at least that's what he told me.
"What do you think about this?" "The same thing about the one hundred things you already shoved me." "What do you have against this one?" "Tony, I love you, but listen, Bruce is a scientist, an adult man. I just don't thing that Hulk-related toys and furniture and other items you've been shoving me for the last hour are a good decision. Besides, we already got him the big plastic roaring Hulk statue, so how about we move to another store and pick him something more… useful." We left the toy store after that. The statue was really in the car. It was thought as a fun gift, and we were looking for a normal gift right now, or trying to.

"This is a lot harder than I thought." said Tony as we finally sat down at the food court. "It is, especially if all the women are constantly trying to tug you away." "Jealous?" "No, but it's annoying that I always have to search for you and once I find you they're trying to kill me with their glances. But I have to admit, the look on their face when you told them I was your daughter, priceless." "Yeah, it works great. It shocks them for long enough giving us time to escape." "Let's hope it's not all over the news tomorrow." "Nah, it'd just be a short time rumor like always. It would only last until the Expo opening. I can't believe it's almost here." "Yeah, time flies. You really thing Bruce will like what we bought him?" "I think he will." "Good, but remember I wanted to get him the Hulk rug." "Sure… Now, let's go and get the groceries so we can get out of here."
We made it out of the grocery store without a major incident. On the way to the car we encountered the one and only reporter of Vanity Fair, Christine Everhart. "Oh, no, not her again." "Your ex?" "One of them. She's a reporter from Vanity Fair." "Ah, that one. Pepper gave me a warning about her." The blonde approached us, already taking out pen and paper. "Oh, why did I have to leave the car on the other side of the parking lot?" "Because you thought there would be no place in the front." And here she was. "Tony, hello, long time no see. Who is this? Your new girlfriend?" I hid behind the bag I held. "She's one of the Avengers, that's all you need to know and bye." That was Tony's polite way of sending someone to hell. Christine froze but recovered quickly as we departed towards the car. "Wait! When can we do an interview? Our readers would also be interested in the Avengers, their lives and so on. Is tomorrow at noon ok?" "Of course, I'll be in Monaco tomorrow." With that he got in the car, started the engine and we drove away as fast as we could. Once we were far enough I asked: "Monaco? Really?" "The best thing I could come up with so fast. Knowing her she'll probably be waiting there tomorrow. Or call to ask which hotel." "You are unbelievable." "And yet you're still with me…" "My life would be nothing but boring without you." "I'll take it as a compliment." "If you say so." "Hey, what's that supposed to mean…"

When we came back, the remaining Avengers were in the living room. "Where have you guys been?" Rhodey asked. "Ah, just shopping at the mall."