Tony was a realist, don't get him wrong. As a scientist and inventor, a man of science he had to be. His calculations were always right and he only believed that could be proved.
But here he might have made a small miscalculation.
It all started with Daniel and Peggy volunteering to get Maggie's hair a proper cut and spending a day with their granddaughter, which they had been unable to do due to their tough schedules.
Tony had a certain COO breathing down his neck for the past few months almost about anything and everything. the stress was piling up on him and then coming home to a 2-year-old ball of energy was definitely not easy, especially when the certain ball of energy seemed to have developed close attachments to him and mild separation anxiety as well.
He didn't know how he thought he could have handled all of it had Jarvis and Anna not been there. The two were a major help. Despite their old age, they rather very well kept up with Maggie and her childish acts. And Maggie seemed to love them too.
Peggy called him in the afternoon, letting him know that Mission: Haircut was successful and now they were at a restaurant for lunch. Tony thanked them and spoke to his daughter for a few seconds before another file was thrown at his desk (Thank you, Obadiah!) and he rolled his eyes before saying "I love you!" and hanging up.
"Can't even give me 2 minutes to speak to my daughter, can you?" he asked
"Well, sorry to interrupt family time but the sooner you finish this, the sooner you can go home."
Tony just exhaled tiredly.
He parked his car in the driveway and stepped out, picking some files and his coat from the passenger seat before making his way in.
He was rubbing his knotted and tense neck and shoulders when he spotted an odd scene.
The four elders were sitting in the living room, talking to each other while Maggie was cutely dozing on the couch, her head on Daniel's lap.
"Here he is," Peggy suddenly said, grabbing his attention.
"Is everything okay?" Tony asked, keeping his things on the table and sitting down.
"Tony," Peggy turned to him, "Be honest with us. What are you not telling us about Maggie."
Tony blinked. A voice in the back of his mind going "uh-oh".
"What are you talking about?" he asked instead
Peggy took a deep breath, "Her hair."
He looked down at his daughter. And nothing seemed odd. Her hair was long, as it was earlier, had its coiled curls that looked healthy and bouncy and its pitch-black colour.
"What about it?"
Peggy took a deep breath but Daniel kept a hand on her thigh before he slightly shifted forward, trying his best to not jostle the younger child. "You know how hot it is. And Maggie was feeling uncomfortable too. So Peggy and I thought it was best if she had shorter hair for the summer. Easier to manage too. And we had her hair cut to a bit over her shoulders."
Uh-fucking-oh!
"Now do you see it?" Daniel added
She accidentally regrew her hair.
Okay.
No problem.
No problem.
Just a bit of accidental magic.
and everyone saw it.
"And it isn't just them, Tony," Anna added, "Edwin and I have also noticed things odd around her. Her favourite toy changed colours. Half the time Edwin and I are sure she's sleeping in her room, but then we find her in the living room or in your room. No toddler is that quiet and quick." she shared a look with her husband, "We have been wanting to talk to you about this for a few days now."
Double-uh-fucking-oh!
"You know what's going on, don't you," Peggy noticed his expression
Tony took a deep breath, reaching to loosen his tie and running a hand through his hair. He then rubbed his hand over his face before looking at them.
He exhaled loudly and looked at them, "Don't freak out."
"That's a terrible way to start an explanation," Jarvis noted
Tony snorted, and licked his lips before looking at them, "None of you would happen to know about the Wizarding world, would you?"
Peggy's silent gasp and the widening of Jarvis' eyes was the only answer he needed.
"She's a witch," Jarvis noted
"A witch?" Anna asked
"What?" Daniel asked before turning to Tony, "A witch? This better be a joke."
"I don't think it is, darling," Peggy spoke over her shoulder her eyes still stuck on Tony
Tony took a deep breath, "Her birth name is Marguerite Potter."
"Potter?!" Peggy asked, a few beats of silence before she leaned forward, "Are you telling me that she is the girl-who-lived?"
Tony's eyes narrowed, "You know about it?"
"Okay," Anna interrupted, "Can anyone explain this whole situation to me and Mr. Sousa?"
"There is a magical society," Jarvis started
"Magic? As in wand-waving magic?" Daniel asked
"It's not that farfetched," Peggy said, "They exist, and usually hide in plain sight. They have their own world with everything. Education, governing bodies, elections, all of it."
"Including wars," Jarvis added, "Just like ours does."
"How do you two know about this?" Daniel asked
"My mother comes from a family of mixed blood magical. Her older brother had magic, was born with it. She always said that she was glad me and Micheal didn't inherit the magic" She took a deep breath, "It's a family secret."
"It's not uncommon for non-magical parents to give birth to magical children. I lived next door to a boy who was a wizard back in England and we were good mates until he was sent off to Hogworts, I believe it was called." Jarvis explained
"and you?" Anna looked at Tony
"Lily, her mother was a witch. She told me all about it."
"So you knew she had magic?" Peggy asked, earning a nod from Tony
"And what is this moniker you both speak of?" Jarvis asked, "I'm afraid I'm a little behind on my news updates in the magical world."
So Tony told them everything he knew.
"You are telling me that an entire world of adults and trained...magicals are expecting a toddler to end the war?" Anna asked
Tony took a deep breath, "That's what I gather, yes."
"Are they idiots?"
Tony shrugged, "Lily used to say that magical traded common sense for magic."
"Clearly!" Daniel exclaimed, "The 'girl-who-lived'? How can a baby defeat death? The entire idea is absurd."
"Not everyone thinks so. A lot of Voldemort's followers might have disappeared but...I didn't think that the UK was safe for her now. So I brought her here. Changed her name and everything."
The other four adults looked a bit relieved.
"Does she know?" Anna asked, petting Maggie's hair
"I don't know how to explain it to her, yet. All she usually does, and yes I have noticed her accidental magic, are small things."
"What about the American Ministry? Have you spoken to them?" Peggy asked,
"there's an American ministry?" Daniel asked
"Every country has its own ministry," Peggy answered
"No. I don't want any word travelling to the other side of the pond. I don't know who to trust. It's all unknown territory for me." he took a deep breath, "My lawyers did file the name change in her records with the adoption papers in the Ministry though. But Potter is a pretty common name in the US, so I don't think a lot of people would have given it a second thought."
Peggy hummed. "SHIELD has a special branch that deals with such...special cases. I'll see what I can do."
"What special branch?" Daniel asked
"What can you do?" Tony asked
Peggy took a deep breath and regarded her husband, "The magical take their existence very seriously. Not everyone is allowed to know about them. Howard...he knew. I don't know how, he never explained, but he knew. And I knew. So we made a special branch that corresponds with the MACUSA. That's the American ministry."
"Their Statue of Secrecy is very serious." Tony added, "Only a selected people without magic are to know they exist. Pretty sure more than half the senate doesn't know of their existence." he then turned to Peggy, "What do you have in mind?"
"Seal her records. No one unnecessary needs to know about Marguerite Potter being the same as Marguerite Stark." she looked over her shoulder at Daniel, who took a deep breath and nodded.
"I'll get in contact with MACUSA and start the process," Peggy added
"Won't that make people ask questions?" Anna asked
"Her relationship with me should prove to be enough to get her records sealed. But don't worry. I'll make sure she's never put in harm's way. Not if I can do anything about it."
"We." Daniel added, putting a hand on Peggy's shoulder, "We'll make sure she's always safe."
A lopsided smile stretched on Tony's lips, "thank you."
"Anything for family," Peggy smiled, patting his knee.
Now the thing about accidental magic that Tony knew for sure was that it was unpredictable. Also, he had no idea how any of it worked. Lily, nor any of his magical friends were any help in that in the past. And Tony was also never much interested in that because the initial plan never involved him in any parenting role. He was supposed to be the vodka uncle.
And he might have grossly underestimated the side effects of raising a magical child with no training or guide whatsoever.
The short-circuited piece of machinery emitting occasional sparks and thick dark grey smoke was a pretty good example of what was kept for him in the future, almost up until she went to a magic school.
He turned to check up on Maggie for the 50th time, held securely in Jarvis' arms, who was doing his best to soothe the little girl.
She was playing with the bots while he worked. The place was clean and she never strayed from his sight, playing catch with the bots. The bots were too being very careful with her, treating her like a human baby. And then U tossed the ball a little too far, causing Maggie to pout. But instead of walking over to the ball and getting it, she just turned to it and make grabby hands for it. The next thing they knew, the ball floated and started towards her.
Tony hypothesizes that the use of magic must have emitted some sort of energy or waves or something because the machine that was kept nearby suddenly sparked and combusted, scaring the little girl. the ball dropped to the floor, bouncing away and the bots rushed to Maggie, who had started crying. Tony didn't waste a second rushing to her and grabbing her, checking her over to make sure she didn't get hurt from the sparks.
Dum-E on the other hand somehow got his claw on a fire extinguisher and doused the machinery.
Maggie's magic might not have damaged it as much as the fire extinguisher foam had now. And he couldn't even be mad at his bot.
Jarvis heard the commotion and came down to check up and Maggie happily lept into the older man's arms, her cries now subsidized to choked sobs and hiccups.
"I'll take her upstairs," Jarvis said
Tony nodded, running a hand through his hair, "I'll clean this up and come up."
At this point, he knew he had to make special tech if he wanted to keep working with his daughter around.
Oh well, there's no time like today, right?
But first, the sparking smoking foaming mess needed cleaning.
Tony looked up when the door to his office room opened, half expecting Obadiah to walk in but to his surprise, it was Nick Fury.
"What brings you to Stark Industries?" he asked
"Work." Fury responded, sitting down
"Sure. You can sit down. And thanks for asking how I am doing. I am doing perfectly fine."
"No need to be snarky." he pulled the chair closer, "It's about your daughter."
"What about Maggie?"
Fury reached and pulled out a folder, handing it to him.
"Your sign is needed to officially seal her files. You are her parent after all."
Tony hummed and took the folder, pulling out the papers. His dark brown eyes scanned over them before he reached for the pen and signing wherever it was required and flipped the page.
"So...a witch?" Fury asked
"Aunt Peggy told you,"
Fury nodded with a hum, "Of all the things I had expected her to be, a witch was not even on the list."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I noticed things too, Tony. Of course, they didn't have a flashy neon sign on top but I could tell that Maggie is definitely not...ordinary."
"That's one word." he exhaled, folded back the papers, placed them back in the folder and handed it to Fury.
Fury graciously took them and tucked them back inside his jacket, "Once these get processed, Marguerite Stark will be officially under the radar."
"Appreciate it. Thank you."
Fury snorted, "Between the two of us, your daughter has started to grow on me."
"Turns out, she has that effect."
Fury chuckled, "she sure does."
Ever since that little accident in his lab, Maggie had refused to enter inside of fear.
Tony tried his best to make her understand that what happened won't be repeated but she was pretty stubborn and stuck on a solid "NO!" the whole time, so he gave up after a while.
On the bright side, it did give him the silence and peace of mind while working in his lab as he knew his daughter was taken care of upstairs, probably taking a nap with Jarvis or chatting with Anna as the two baked or cooked or whatever they did in the kitchen.
It took him three weeks to try and come up with a working prototype for magic-proof tech. When it came to testing, he could only do it if Maggie ever used accidental magic and right now Maggie didn't even she had magic or how to use it.
So that placed a small breaker in his breakthrough in magic proof tech but all of it had to wait.
The alarm clock's beep almost startled him and he looked at it, reaching to shut it off.
8 PM, it said
Maggie should be in her room playing or watching TV or something.
He figured he could use this time to relax a little. Getting laid was out of the option. Not until his daughter was old enough. So alcohol had to do.
Locking his lab and everything, he made his way up to the bar in the house. He usually kept it closed since he tried to stay away from drinks with his daughter around but, he guessed that with Jarvis and Anna around, he could afford to be a little loose, right?
He went through the collection of luxuries wines and whiskies before pulling out a bottle.
It used to be his mother's favourite, he remembered.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled out a glass and poured himself some whiskey.
Walking out, he made his way to the lounge chair and settled down. he kept the glass and bottle on the table next to it and relaxed when he realized he didn't have anything to munch with it.
There should be cashews or peanuts or something there and hopefully not expired.
He went through the cabinets finally spotting a bag of roasted and salted cashews.
With a victorious smile, he got up from his crouched position and turned around only to freeze on his spot.
Maggie was there.
Standing next to the table.
Holding the whiskey glass.
Before he could tell her to put the glass down, the little girl of two just upped and started drinking.
Tony rushed to her and snatched the glass, not even minding the spilt whiskey. He slammed the glass on the table and crouch in front of his daughter, checking her up.
"Fuck!" he muttered before grabbing her and rushing outside.
"Jarvis! Anna!" he yelled, his hands trembling as they pressed the 9-1-1 and then the green call button.
"What happened?" Anna rushed down, Jarvis not far behind
"She drank whiskey!"
"What?"
"I was drinking whiskey in the room and she accidentally d-Hello? I need an ambulance right now at Malibu Point right now. My 2-year-old daughter accidentally drank straight whiskey!"
"Oh god!" Anna gasped, reaching for the younger girl, who suddenly looked pale and sweating too much.
"I don't care! Just get a fucking ambulance right now!"
"Hey, baby. Hey, look at me. Look at me, love."
Maggie looked at her with hooded eyes before her head turned a little and she threw up over Anna's shoulder, all over their rug and floor.
"Hey, hey, hey, baby. It's okay. it's alright." she patted her back
"Is the ambulance approaching?" Jarvis asked, voice calm but still edgy with worry
"They are taking their sweet fucking time!"
"I'll call Ms Carter,"
Waiting outside the wardroom, was hard for Tony. They were at a SHIELD-authorized hospital and Daniel had called Dr Beckett the moment Peggy told him what was going on.
"Hey,"
He stopped shaking his leg and looked at Daniel, as he sat next to him.
"Is he out yet?" Tony asked
"No. Not yet." he exhaled, straightening his legs a little, "you know it is not your fault, right?"
"I should have been careful."
"Tony with kids around, you can never be too careful."
"What if something happens to her? What if her body reacts violently or something?"
Daniel looked at him and smiled and kept a hand on his knee, "You know I never doubted when you told us that she was your daughter. But it just seems like you two just keep proving that you are related."
"What do you mean?"
He took a deep breath, a look of reminiscence crossing his face, "back when you were...3? Maybe 4...No definitely 3, or maybe a bit before that. You snuck into your father's workshop, saw this bottle and decided to take your risk. " He turned to the younger man, "It was straight-up vodka."
Tony's eyes widened. "Seriously?"
Daniel chuckled and nodded. "Howard panicked. Got you to the hospital and all. You were unwell for a few days but then you were back on your feet like nothing happened."
Tony blinked, trying to process it all, "So you are saying that it is a Stark Family thing."
"I suppose so." he chuckled, "She will be fine, Tony."
Tony just nodded
After about 30 more minutes and the door opened and Dr Beckett stepped out.
"How is she?" Anna asked
"you got her medical attention in time. A lot of worse things could have happened had she not received timely medical attention." he took a deep breath, "Rest assured, she's fine. Her blood still has a slightly alarming amount of alcohol and we'd keep her in observation until all that drains out. Nothing to worry about. She'd be fine in a few days."
"Thank you, doctor." Tony exhaled
"Thank you," Jarvis added
"Can I go see her?" Tony asked
"She's sedated, but sure if you want to keep her company."
Tony thanked the doctor one more time before walking inside. It pretty much broke his heart to see her like that, all hooked up to IVs and all.
He sat on the bed next to her, carding his fingers through her long dark hair. Yeah, they weren't chopping it again until she herself wanted it to be short.
Only if he had been more careful with alcohol around.
Speaking of, he swore to himself at that point that he won't drink alcohol from now. His daughter's well-being mattered a lot more than some relaxation alcohol to him.
Another update, another note.
I'll say it again, the story is living and flourishing, but just letting y'all know that now I'd be more focusing on the TLE series since it is just 10-some chapters from completion. I would try to update this and Caged Instincts frequently but right now I want to at least finish one series and be done with it. There's only so much inspiration and muse I can draw for three totally separate storylines.
Anyway, you know the drill.
Ciao
