Prompt: Penny and Morgan spending time together
"Penny?" Under her breath, Penny murmured the formula as she worked through her chem homework. Pencil flying, she hurried to finish the problem she'd been working on for about ten minutes now. "Penny?"
"Just a sec…". She muttered.
"Morgan!" Came Pepper's voice from down the hall. "Leave your sister alone!"
The words made Penny smile despite herself. Sister. She wasn't related to the little girl. Wasn't really a member of this family. But from the very beginning, Pepper and Mr. Stark...no...Tony had wanted her involved. (The man had begged her to just call him Tony when Morgan's first word had been 'Mssr Sark' which Pepper had found hilarious.). They'd had her help pick out baby furniture and told her the name before anyone else. Pepper had invited her to the baby shower, which had been an event more exclusive than the Oscars. And Penny had been the second non-blood-related family member to hold her, right after Rhodey.
Penny had been spending weekends at the compound on and off during her senior year of high school, and she really needed to get this homework done…of course, Mr. Stark...no, Tony, had insisted that she would get into whatever college she wanted to go to (although he'd been pushing for MIT) and that she didn't need to worry about getting scholarships. Still, she wanted to keep her GPA as high as possible, which meant she needed to concentrate.
"Penny?" Morgan switched to a whisper, leaning in, and Penny had to smile.
"What?" She asked, finally leaning in and matching her tone. The little girl had her hands on Penny's leg, leaning forward and watching Penny with wide brown eyes, her curly hair in pigtails.
"Will you play with me?" And how on earth could Penny say no to that?
She called to Pepper, who looked about ten seconds from falling asleep on the sofa, that she was going to take Morgan out to play, and the woman nodded, eyes closing. Figuring she could use a nap, Penny quietly helped the four-year-old put her shoes on, holding a finger up to her mouth and smiling when the girl giggled, then took her hand as she guided her toward the elevator.
There was a small playground in the back, with swings and a slide and little plastic stones to climb and jump on. A jungle gym. Monkey bars...Mr. Stark had gone all out. Tony, she reminded herself as she closed the gate behind her and followed Morgan into the enclosed playground. Immediately the girl raced to the swings and jumped on, kicking her short legs and waiting for Penny to push her, which she did, several times, before Morgan jump and landed on her feet a few feet away, giggling.
Next were the monkey bars, which Morgan could only do with Penny's help. Then the slide. The jungle gym. The stones. Then back to the swings, Penny smiling at the little girl's constant narration as she kept an eye on the skies which were turning gloomy. "We probably have to go in soon." She told the girl who was swinging as hard as she could. Penny made sure to stand behind her, keeping a close eye on her as the little girl swung forward and backward, squealing and laughing when Penny gave her an extra strong push (using almost none of her real strength of course.)
Penny had never expected to have siblings. After her parents...well, May and Ben hadn't planned on having kids. She'd known that from an early age, even though they'd been careful not to ever make her feel unwanted. That hadn't always worked...still, there had been days when she'd been jealous of her friends who'd had siblings, even when they didn't get along. But now...now she had a baby sister. And she loved her so much...she couldn't imagine ever fighting with the little girl giggling and squealing on the swing.
"Rain!" Morgan cried, jumping from her swing at the very top of the arc, and Penny felt a raindrop hit her nose.
"Yeah. We'd better go in." She told the girl, sighing when she immediately shook her head.
"No! I want to keep playing!" The girl cried, then took off toward the slide. Penny laughed, wiping a raindrop off of her forehead and hurrying after her.
"We can't play in the rain, Morgs. You'll get sick."
"Will not!" She promised, already climbing the ladder to the top of the slide.
"It's not really up to you," Penny told her with a laugh, standing at the end of the slide and waiting for the girl to slide down. Morgan sat at the top of the slide, grinning at her as the rain started to fall harder. "Really, Morgan. We have to go in. We're going to get soaked." Morgan pushed off, sliding down on the now-wet plastic slide, giggling the whole time, and Penny caught her as soon as she reached the bottom, swinging her up in her arms. "Come on. We'll play outside again when it's not raining. Promise."
The little girl looked like she might throw a fit for a moment...her face screwed up and she wrinkled her nose...but then her eyes lit up right as Penny was trying to think about how to distract her. "Daddy!" She cried, squirming in Penny's arms until Penny let her go, and Morgan raced over to Tony who was standing by the gate, arms out as he swung the girl into his arms.
"Hey, baby girl. You're wet." She giggled, resting her head on his shoulder and squeezing him around the neck. He'd been at a meeting all morning and Morgan was usually glued to his side, so she hated it went he went to meetings. Penny started to step back...to let them have a moment, but then he smiled up at her, that look on his face….that look of adoration and love, never changing. "Hey, kiddo. You're wet too."
"We were just heading inside." He smiled, reaching out and putting his free arm around her shoulder. Squeezing her to his side, Tony led her inside as he carried his daughter. "You finish your homework?"
"Almost." She jerked her chin toward Morgan. "I got distracted."
"She is very distracting." The little girl giggled and buried her face into her father's shoulder. He grinned, digging his fingers into her side, and Morgan squealed, squirming in his arms.
"Daddy!" She cried, and he stopped with a chuckle, kissing her hair.
Once they were inside, both girls separated to take warm showers and change into pajamas. Once she was dressed a little more warmly and her hair was drying, she sat down at her desk and started to finish up her homework. She made it through a couple of problems before there was a knock on her door, and she looked up in surprise to see Mr. Stark leaning against the doorway. "Hey, kiddo. How's it going?"
"Almost done." She told him, and he stepped inside, resting a hand on her shoulder and glancing down at her work. "Where's Morgan?"
"Taking a nap. She practically fell asleep in the bath...you wore her out." Penny laughed.
"I just let her run around on the playground."
"You're good with her…" He squeezed her shoulder a little. "You're a great big sister."
Lips pressed together, she thought carefully about her next words...wondered if she had the courage to say them.
She did.
"You're a great father." The man's face softened and he moved his hand to the back of her neck, pulling her close and hugging her to his side. "I love you." She whispered. And she did...he'd given her so much. An internship. A superhero suit. A sister...a father figure.
"I love you too, Pen."
Thank you for reading!
