a light-hearted one this time - hopefully no tissues required!
enjoy!
"Tony?" Nat says as she stands in the doorway next to the driveway of the compound, a puzzled expression on her face. "Everything okay?" she asks as he gets out of the car.
"Just peachy," he replies, trying for some level of snarkiness but ultimately failing, no doubt due to his exhaustion. "At least, I would be if the little bambina would quit screaming bloody murder."
Nat's tense expression relaxes, and he sees a small curl on her lips. "Babies tend to do that."
"This is a unique shriek, Nat. I swear if I stayed there any longer with her, the windows would have shattered. I think Pepper might divorce me for my part of putting us in this position."
"She okay?"
"Pepper or Morgan?" he asks with a tired, half-hearted smirk.
"Both," Nat answers with the slightest of creases in her brow. Tony can see the genuine concern in her eyes and the worry in her posture. Things between them may still be strained, but he knows she cares. Her visit to meet Morgan a few weeks back had been proof enough of that.
"Pepper is...Pepper," he says finally, unable to find a more apt description. "The woman is a force of nature and how she has put up with me and an infant is mind-boggling. But she's tired. We're both tired. Exhausted, really."
Nat nods sympathetically and he remembers then that she'd maybe had a taste of this from Clint and his kids when they were younger. "And Morgan? She's okay?" she prompts.
He shrugs. "Can't see anything wrong, and according to FRIDAY's scans she's fine. She's just-"
"Your daughter?" She offers with a tired smirk of her own. He notices then that the bags under her eyes are more apparent than they had been when she'd visited, probably a result of her not having any makeup on this time.
He shoots her an unimpressed look. "Okay, uncalled for. Don't blame the child for my sins," he chastises playfully.
Nat smiles at his quip and then frowns immediately. "You told Pepper you took her for a drive, right? You didn't just leave?"
"Yes, Nat. I told the mother of my child that I was taking her for a drive," he refutes with a roll of his eyes. Even still, a small part of him concedes he may have, in the past, have done something along those lines...unintentionally of course.
"Well, you've done worse things before without telling her…"
"Okay, one: ouch. Two: you promised baby whisperer advice when you visited a few weeks ago. Now, fix my kid."
"Not something you fix, Tony," Nat tuts, but holds out a hand to take the car seat that he'd removed from the backseat of his car, containing a blissfully quiet (for the moment) Morgan. "Let's get her inside."
"By the way, should I be concerned you're awake at 2:30am?" he says as he follows her into the compound.
Nat just shrugs. "FRIDAY sent me the alert of an approaching vehicle, so I got up to check."
"My bad," he apologizes. "I forgot those protocols would be in place."
"Don't worry about it. I was awake anyway."
Tony didn't doubt it. He knows from Rhodey that she doesn't tend to sleep much nowadays. He watched as she put down the car seat and eyed Morgan appraisingly, who was now beginning to wake up and squish her face in that way when she's about to start wailing. "Careful, she's gonna start-"
He gets cut off by his daughter who has started to scream in what he can only assume is frustration. He watches as Nat expertly unbuckles Morgan from the car seat (he tries not to grimace at how quickly Nat had been able to do that, because it had taken him a long time to get the hang of it) and then picks her up to settle her in her arms. It takes a few moments but eventually Morgan settles as Nat continues murmuring something quietly to her.
"Teach me your secrets," Tony pleads, jaw dropped in shock. Somehow, he'd forgotten how quickly Morgan had settled in her arms when Nat had visited to first meet her. Nat smiles and then moves over to a nearby couch and puts Morgan down gently, continuing to rub her stomach gently for another few moments before she fashions a makeshift barrier from some cushions. Tony watches as Morgan fusses a little but ultimately settles into a deep sleep. He follows Nat into the adjacent kitchen area and then sits down on a stool. "Seriously. How did you…?"
Nat offers a sympathetic smile. "Babies pick up on tension, Tony. You're nervous so she's feeling that and protesting."
"Well, how the hell do I relax? She's a tiny, tiny human dependent on me and Pepper for everything. No amount of technology can help me with that," he says in a bit of a rush, the words tumbling out quickly. He clamps his mouth shut then because he hadn't quite meant to spill his worries that openly.
"It'll get better," she assures him. "As you get more reps, and she gets to know you it'll get easier. You'll be a seasoned pro in no time, and she'll move from screaming to bending you to her will without a word."
He huffs out a laugh. "Oh, good. Something to look forward to then."
"You should sleep," she suggests. "Your room hasn't been touched; you could sleep for a few hours." He hesitates with his gaze on Morgan. "I'll watch her. I'm up doing some reports anyway," she adds, gesturing to the tablet on the counter. "FRIDAY can wake you if anything happens."
"Only a couple hours," he instructs, and she nods. He makes his way to his old room and promptly collapses into the bed. God, uninterrupted sleep sounds good right now… is his last thought before he falls asleep.
He wakes a few hours later and stumbles his way back into the kitchen, finding his daughter safely ensconced in Nat's arms, a bottle in her mouth.
"She woke a little while ago and I figured she was probably hungry, so I went through the bag and-"
"It's fine," he says, waving off Nat's somewhat hurried explanation. They'd begun healing their rift months ago, but it was slow and painful, and very much still out there for them both to try and step around delicately. Not to mention it's even more evident now that they're in the daylight and away from the blissful ignorance the dark of night had afforded them both. "I trust you," he adds for emphasis, because he knows he needs to be more direct with letting her know he's forgiven her and wants to move past all that shit.
Her gaze rises to lock with his and he nods once. He knows she understood what he'd offered, but he also knows their feud is not so easily waved away. It will take time to get to a more comfortable place. "Here, d'you want to take over?" she offers.
"Uh, actually, hold that thought," he replies as he holds up a finger for her to wait and pulls out his phone. He taps out a message to Pepper informing her he'd be back around lunch and that Morgan was doing wonderfully in the capable care of her Aunt Natasha. He gets a smile emoji back quickly, and then an 'I'm going back to sleep then' text, followed almost immediately by a demand for pictures of Morgan and Natasha. "If you don't mind watching the bambina for a couple more hours, I might sleep some more," he says once he puts his phone away.
Her eyes widen ever so slightly at his request, but she nods quickly. "Uh, yeah, if you want."
"You sure?" he confirms because he knows she hadn't planned on babysitting that morning and he doesn't want to presume.
"Go ahead," she says with a nod and a small smile. "No problem at all."
"Okay," he replies and then turns to go back to his old room and collapse on the bed for another couple of hours.
He wakes a few hours later and makes his way back to the kitchen once more but doesn't find Nat or Morgan there. "Fri? Location on Nat?"
"Over here, Tony."
Tony spins around and finds Natasha sitting on the floor, leaning up against the couch with her knees drawn up partially. Morgan is lying on the incline of her thighs, flailing her arms excitedly as Natasha looks at her and shakes her head while grinning exaggeratedly every so often to get a smile out of her.
"Oh, there we go," Natasha says, and Tony can hear the genuine happiness in her voice. He doesn't blame her - Morgan had started really smiling every now and then, and it sent his heart into a pile of goo every damn time. "There's your smile."
"Careful, she's a heartbreaker," Tony says as he slides down and sits next to Natasha.
"Can't imagine where she gets it from."
Tony chuckles and reaches over a hand to smooth down some of Morgan's hair. "Definitely not from me, that's for sure."
Nat snorts lightly in amusement. "How'd you sleep?"
"I would say like a baby but having one has made me realize they don't actually sleep in any way I'd want to. I like a good solid 8 hours rather than naps here and there. How's she been?"
"Like an angel. Couple of bottles, a few diaper changes, and an outfit change."
"You went into the wrong profession, Nat. Shoulda been a nanny."
She chuckles. "I've just been lucky all the babies I've met are well behaved," she quips. "Here, time to entertain your dad for a bit," she says to Morgan as she picks her up to transfer her over to Tony who pulls his knees up the same way to let her lie in the same position.
"Thanks for this, Nat. Really. I- I don't know why I came here last night, but I'm glad I did."
"You're welcome. Happy to help."
She moves to get up, but he reaches over to stop her. "Hey, you got somewhere to be? Stay awhile, would ya?"
She smiles warmly at his request. "Well, if you must know I was gonna grab you some breakfast."
"In a bit," he says, waving her off and gesturing for her to stay seated. "I'll make us some omelettes."
She arches an eyebrow. "You're gonna cook?"
"I can cook. I just chose not to for a long time."
"This I have to see."
"Yeah, yeah. Least I can do since you've babysat my kid for..." He trails off as he glances at his watch, "like 8 hours. Sit, sit," he instructs while gesturing at her again.
"Yeah, alright," she agrees, a little to his surprise. Things have been strained between them for so long that the ease with which they've spent this time together is a bit of a surprise to him and apparently to her too.
"So, Maguna, you remember your Aunt Natasha, right?"
"Maguna?"
"Just go with it," he replies with a playful glare before refocusing on his daughter. "She's the one who's actually gonna take care of you when Uncle Rhodey says he will, because that man has even less of an idea how to care for a child than I do."
"That's not entirely fair. He did take care of you for-"
"And she promises she won't teach you how to throw a knife, doesn't she?" he continues, looking at Natasha pointedly, who just rolls her eyes. "But she's gonna be someone who's good to have in your corner, believe me. Between her and your mom they've got the scaring the bejesus out of people without saying a damn thing down pat." He hears Nat snort again in amusement. "And I have it on good authority that an Auntie Nat has been in high demand in the past." He realizes his mistake as soon as the words have left his mouth and he shoots an apologetic glance to her. 'Auntie Nat' was a sore spot for her, he knows. "Sorry, I-"
She shakes her head as she interrupts his apology with a small smile. "It's alright. You're right, I was in high demand. But I think… I think I'll be Aunt Tasha to this little one."
He understands her desire for a different name than she'd used with the Barton kids. He knows she'd been close with them and that losing them has been hard for her. "Aunt Tasha it is then," he declares with a nod before looking back down at his daughter. "You got that, bambina? Aunt Tasha." Morgan gurgles in delight with some flailing of her arms and a wide, bright smile. "See? She loves you already. I'm so screwed. She's gonna gang up on me with you and Pep, isn't she?"
Nat chuckles as she reaches over to tap her finger on Morgan's nose and wiggles it a little. "Definitely."
"Well, shit."
"Tony," Nat admonishes, "your kid is right here."
"What? Not like she's gonna remember me cursing."
"Short window until she starts parroting things back to you," Nat replies. "Pepper will kill you if she starts swear-"
"I know, I know. It was a slip, alright? Besides, don't try to make like you aren't going to try and corrupt her when she's older. I remember the pranks you used to pull on Cap."
Nat smiles again, and Tony can't help but mirror it. "Yeah, well, someone's gonna have to teach her to keep you on your toes."
Morgan interrupts them with a loud squeal of joy and a massive smile. "God, I'm so screwed. She smiles at me like that, and I swear I'd burn the world down for her," he says with a light sigh.
Nat leans back against the couch. "Told you that you'd be a good dad. Already ready to fight the world for her. Lucky kid."
"She's lucky, alright," he agrees. "Got an aunt who's uniquely qualified to strike fear into the hearts of those who wrong her." Before she can respond his stomach growls noisily. "Okay," he declares in a sing-along tone, "time for omelettes. You take the little monster," he says as he hands Morgan back to Natasha, "and I shall get started on my payment for your babysitting services."
I just can't seem to leave the friendship between Nat and Tony alone. I adore it so, so much.
Thoughts and comments are appreciated, of course - I always smile when I get an email with a notification for them. 😊
more to come, though I'm splitting my updates between my stories.