~~V's POV~~

Stupid pickle jar. The d*n thing wouldn't OPEN. V tried everything from her teeth to the countertop trying to get it open, since a stupid sandwich wasn't stupid enough without PICKLES.

V set it back onto the counter and glared at it. [He liked pickles, she thought. [Always sweet and sour, never dill]. She missed him. Them. Wanda, Vision, Steve... Pietro.

She shook her head to get his name and face out of the way of the pickles and grabbed the jar again, this time trying to use some kind of nutcracker thingy on the lid, when Rhodey came in.

"You need help?" He asked. Rhodey was doing better walking, and so was V. She could tell Tony liked seeing them get to know each other better.

She stepped away from the counter. "Go for it. The stupid thing won't work."

"You know Pepper's bringing a cake and Tony's got pizza, right?" He said as he popped the lid off with no effort, setting it back where V left it.

She sighed. "Yeah."

Rhodey gave her a look. "What?" She asked, although she didn't have to. She felt his surprise.

She could do that, feel others' emotions. V was an empath. Projecting and sensing, and it came in very handy if she needed to bribe someone or convince someone she wasn't there.

"When was the last time you had a birthday party?"

V shrugged. "I was seven." She recalled, almost fondly. "The theme was Captain America."

"Sounds terrible." Rhodey joked.

She laughed. "Could've been worse. It could've been my dad." They both laughed and V popped a couple pickles into her mouth and then Tony came into view, carrying pizza boxes.

Rhodey darted over to help take half of the boxes from Tony, who turned to set them on the counter. "It's eight-thirty in the morning." He told V.

"Okay and?" She said through a second mouthful of pickles.

"I have a PLAN and I can't have you roaming around unattended. Go sleep in or something."

She grinned, going back to her room, but taking the pickle jar with her.

~~Tony's POV~~

Today was Violet Stark's nineteenth birthday, and Tony was determined to make it her best one yet. He knew, of course, that he could never fully atone for his actions. But he was grateful, to V, for letting him try.

It was hard enough being a father for a three-year-old girl, but with a nineteen-year-old girl? That was another story entirely. Of course he loved both of his daughters, V and Morgan, equally. But after two years with V, he still had a hard time adjusting. It hurt like hell that he had to live with the fact that he was never there for her the way he would be with Morgan. Tony guessed that V was, deep down, jealous of Morgan for that.

So now he was trying his best. And V had it said herself, "We're here now. That's what counts." And Tony couldn't agree more.

He adjusted the pizza on the counter, sectioning off what was for guests and what was for V, knowing she ate more than Pepper had during her maternity leave. V could eat out anyone, maybe even Hulk, although Bruce rejected the idea every time either Tony or V brought up the idea. Although Bruce had been MIA for the last two years.

He then moved some other stuff around, then went outside with a light jog and into the big wooden shed-like garage, his 'Man Cave'.

Tony closed the creaky door behind him and started muttering to himself, crossing to the mannequin with the brand-new nanotech Iron Man armor under a white sheet. He pulled the sheet up over its shoulders and popped off the helmet, setting it on a nearby workbench.

He stared at the brilliant purple and gold helmet in the dim desk-lamp light for only a few seconds before pulling out a box, and then wrapped it up with the helmet inside, then went back up to the house.

~~V's POV~~

Stupid ERASER wouldn't ERASE the stupid LINE on the stupid PAPER! V nearly chunked the pencil—gnawed on and falling apart, somehow still usable—across her bedroom. She dropped it, letting it land on the bed, and picked up her sketch of his face, last she'd seen of it, at least.

She left it at a simple sketch of just a bust, the tips of his shoulders showing the only other sign of his body. Otherwise it was just his head. His blue eyes holding the only color she used on the page, they stared at her, his mind-numbing gaze eternal as it sat on the paper. Right now, the line was in his eye so it looked like he was crying, except his general expression here was supposed to be happy.

He was supposed to be here. With her. An Avenger. V quickly shoved away the greedy thought out of her mind. Of course, he could do whatever he wanted. That wasn't her place.

She picked up the pencil once more and gently erased the line through Pietro's eye.

A minute or so later, there was a knock on her door. V got up and opened it to find a very giddy Peter Parker standing there.

"PETER!" She exclaimed as she hugged him, nearly tipping him over. She hadn't felt him around because she hadn't been aware that he'd be coming.

"Hey," he said, letting go. "It's nice to see you again too!" They laughed.

She pulled him into another hug. "I'm so happy you're here."

"I am too." They let each other go again. "Here, I got this for you." Peter handed her a gift bag. She pulled out the tissue paper. "Well I didn't buy it, okay technically I did, but I bought it all in pieces and made it myself." He said as she took out a picture of herself and Peter, except it was like a pop-up book, 3D, and made of scraps of book paper.

"Thank you, I love it!" She hung it up on the wall nearest her bed.

"Happy birthday!" He hugged her again.

"Alright young'ns," V heard Tony's voice down the hall, then he was in the doorway "Party time. Everyone's here."

Peter hurried out, looking as excited as he felt. She could tell Tony was hiding something but assumed it was a birthday thing, so she left it alone.

Tony was right. Everyone was here. In her living room. And outside in the back yard.

Everyone except Pietro. And Steve, Bucky, Vision, Tasha, Sam, Bruce and Wanda.

V gave hugs to all of them: Cho, Pepper, even little Morgan.

V herself ate nearly two whole pizzas. Drinks went all around, except for V and Peter, then the cake was served.

She couldn't be happier. Literally. V was taking in all of their positive emotions like a leech—only she wasn't draining them. She was clinging to them, completely forgetting, for once, about HIM.

After the cake, everyone seemed to relax their energy. V could feel Tony notice this and he called, "Time for presents!"

She smiled. Presents. Something she never had. She always ran away before her birthday could be celebrated. Not that she really knew when it was, nor had she time to care. But now she did. Now was what counted.

She went to sit in Tony's recliner chair as he and Tony carried a handful of gift-wrapped items over to the coffee table.

They started with Natasha's gift: a set of twin pistols and ten archery arrows. "It goes with this," Tony pulled out another gift. "It's from Barton." The silence hung in the air thicker than fog as V tore the wrapping paper around the bow. "He had it made for you."

Tony clapped his hands once. "Pep, get your camera ready." Pepper nodded and did.

V was, in all honesty, nervous about this. She knew Tony would go to any and all lengths for her, but sometimes he could be a bit much.

She watched Tony back up to sit beside Peter on the couch, and felt both of their excitement.

She carefully opened the head-sized box and pulled out a nano-tech Iron Man helmet. Except...

"No!" She said, smiling widely. "There's no way this is mine!"

Tony nodded. "It's yours. I've been working on it since you got to the tower."

That made so much sense. V could remember Tony staying up all night 'working on something' and leaving it at that. And the blueprints in his desk drawer, they were for HER.

"I get a suit?" She asked. "My own suit?"

"Yep! The rest of it is out back." Tony was absolutely ecstatic. V loved it.

"Do I get an A.I. like you and Peter? Can I name it? And pick an accent?" With each question, she moved closer to him.

"Yes, yes, and yes. Do you want to see the rest of it?"

V nodded vigorously and they went out the back door.

She could feel Tony nearly bump into her as V stopped mid-step.

"Who are you?" She heard Tony ask the man standing in the middle of the yard. She lost the ability to speak, let alone think.

"Doctor Stephen Strange." V said, regaining herself before someone else could talk. "What the hell are you doing here?"