Late night update to celebrate wrapping up this semester! Hope you guys like it. Note at the end.

As always, please review :)

A peel of laughter echoed through the normally still forest as Morgan ran away from Izzy and Johnny as they chased her in a game of tag. While they were holding back, the little girl was actually quite slippery when it came to evading their grasp.

Finally, Izzy sped up and scooped the giggling four-year-old into her arms, peppering her face with kisses and tickling her while Morgan shrieked with laughter.

"Okay." Izzy said dropping down to her knees. "It is time for dinner and then ready for bed."

Morgan pouted. "But I don't wanna!" She said in her little chipmunk voice.

"We gotta." Izzy said as Johnny walked over. "If you don't sleep then it means that tomorrow will never come, and we can't go into the city."

Morgan frowned. "Tomorrow will come anyways." She argued against the false statement.

"But you'll be too tired to enjoy it." Izzy countered. "Come on. Johnny and I are making pizza, you love pizza."

The two adults held their breath to see which way this would go. Finally, Morgan smiled and reached up to Johnny, wanting to be lifted up high. Johnny happily scooped her up, sitting her on his shoulders as they walked back to the cabin.

…

After eating, Johnny cleaned up the massive mess that had been made in the kitchen while Izzy got Morgan bathed and settled into bed. Lying beside the giggly child, Izzy tried to coax her into a calmer state so that she could sleep.

"Okay, it's nighttime." Izzy said. "Time for sleep."

"Story." Morgan demanded.

Izzy sighed internally. "Morgan H. Stark."

"Story." The little girl demanded again, her all too familiar brown eyes mirrored back at her.

"One story." Izzy said holding up one finger.

Morgan grinned and nodded.

Thinking, Izzy smiled. "What if I tell you about a beautiful princess from Wakanda…"

As the story ended, Izzy smiled at seeing her sister peacefully asleep. Carefully easing off the bed, she tucked the blankets loosely around Morgan and placed a gentle kiss on her head before moving to the door.

Walking out into the hallway, she was surprised to see Johnny leaning against the wall at the top of the stairs waiting for her. He smiled gently and held out his hand, taking it, they moved back downstairs together.

…

"Thank you for cleaning up." She said as they got back to the kitchen.

"Considering I was the one who wasn't watching Morgan with the flour it seemed only fair." He said chuckling.

Izzy laughed. There had been a huge mess when she went to clean Morgan up, evident also by the fact that she was basically pulling dough out of Morgan's hair once the water hit the bits of flour she hadn't been able to get out before the bath.

They each got a glass of wine and moved to the living room where they turned on the tv for background noise, sitting on the sofa.

Izzy smiled warmly. "I can't thank you enough for agreeing to help me babysit." She said.

"Anytime." Johnny said. He looked at her seriously. "How are you holding up?"

Shrugging, Izzy smiled. "I'm…getting better." She replied.

It had been seven months since her last 'off the rails' moment, since she had seen Clint for the last time. She had confided in Johnny about two months after that, and she had made her last public appearance as Iron Maiden a month ago. A lot had changed, and she knew that a lot of people were still very worried about her, most of all her parents and her best friend.

"Did you make a decision on the ceremony?" Johnny asked carefully.

The anniversary of the Snap was coming up quickly and one of the guest speaker roles for the ceremony had been offered to her. She hadn't decided if she was going to attend it or not.

"I don't know." Izzy said.

Johnny took her hand where it rested on her thigh. She gripped his hand back.

The peaceful moment was shattered by a small hiccup from the stairs. "Izzy…"

Izzy immediately shot up, unconcerned as she spilled her wine on the coffee table, and went to Morgan, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs rubbing her teary eyes. "What's wrong baby?" She asked scooping her up tightly. "Nightmare?"

Morgan nodded, burying her eyes in Izzy's shoulder.

"Come sit with us." Izzy said carrying her back to the sofa where Jonny had returned with paper towels. "Thank you."

"Uh-oh." Morgan said. "You made a mess."

"We'll just tell mommy that Gerald did it." Izzy said grinning, referencing the alpaca Tony had bought randomly a month ago.

Morgan laughed. It was believable, the alpaca was not well behaved.

Sitting down, Johnny quickly found a musical which Izzy sang along with as she rocked her legs gently, swaying Morgan, who was sitting on her lap watching the movie.

It didn't take long for Morgan to drift back to sleep against Izzy's shoulder. Johnny offered to take her back up to her bed since Izzy was half dozing on the couch as well. Izzy watched as he picked Morgan up, holding her close as he carefully went to the stairs, her heart swelling in her chest as she watched how much love Johnny had for Morgan. When he returned her sat down and Izzy shifted to snuggle against his side.

She tilted her head back against his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her, holding her close. "I'm so happy that you're here." She said softly. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"You'd be fine Zee." Johnny said. "You're strong. Always remember that."

Izzy searched his face, looking for something. He met her gaze, seeming searching for something as well.

Slowly, Izzy leaned up as Johnny leaned down and their lips connected in a soft kiss. Time seemed to stop for a moment before they pulled away.

Izzy squinted her eyes just a little. "Weird?"

Johnny grinned. "No, not weird." He said leaning in to capture her lips again.

The movie long forgotten, Izzy lost herself to this new sensation as she wrapped her arms around him as he pulled her closer, reveling in the unusual warmth that always radiated from him giving her a long-lost sense of safety.

…

"I am just so happy for the two of you." Pepper was saying as she and Izzy stood together in the kitchen making lunch. "I'm glad that you guys gave it another shot."

Izzy looked at the gleaming engagement ring on her finger. It was simple in design, but it was exactly what she wanted, something that only Johnny would have known to look for to give her. It had been just shy of a year since they had agreed to try a relationship again, this time definitely turning out very differently.

"I am too." Izzy said with a smile.

Pepper picked up on the slight reservation in her face. "Do you wish that it would have been him?" She asked carefully. Izzy looked up with a furrowed brow, confused. "Pietro?"

Izzy's eyes widened for a second, but she shook her head. "I thought about it, but I could never say for certain if I would have said yes, if he would have even asked the question." She said. "It always felt like the relationship was…not real. It was fun but it felt like someone else. With Johnny it just feels right."

Pepper smiled knowingly and went back to chopping.

Tony picked that moment to walk in and after a brief debate about how Gerald was eating all the goji berries, Pepper sent him out to get Morgan, who was playing outside.

Izzy followed after a moment, sitting on the steps as she watched Tony interact with her sister, smiling at the memories that flooded her thoughts of how Tony was with her when she was Morgan's age.

As Tony lifted Morgan in his arms, walking back with the five-year-old, Izzy stood, stepping down to meet them as a car pulled up to the cabin. Izzy looked over as Steve and Natasha got out of the front seats, but the pause and bit of accepting nod from Tony went unnoticed as Izzy focused on the third person to get out of the car. Scott Lang was apparently back from the dead.

This has been bouncing around in my brain for a while. I needed to give Izzy something very personal to possibly lose and a dilemma that she was going to have to face that just pertained to her. Let me know what you guys think of the set up.

Also I like the idea of Izzy telling Morgan stories of those that were lost in the Snap (I hate the name the Blip that they gave it in the movies).