I do not own a thing that I didn't think of myself.

TapTap

Claire was in that stage of trying to understand budget figures, when she tilted her head and frowned, seconds from asking Jarvis to fill in, when Tony loudly announced into the mostly empty workshop, "We're having a party!"

"Jarvis, would you take care of these numbers please?" Claire responded, awaiting confirmation by the AI before turning towards her grinning boss. "And by 'we', I assume you mean 'you'." Claire wasn't very impressed; Tony threw parties literally all the time, mostly in luxurious hotels and other rented spaces, or he disappeared for the weekend to his Malibu villa and had them there. She never took much notice.

Not that he had gone off to Malibu since before the baby was born. She assumed he would again at some point - presumably when his daughter was a bit older and he felt more comfortable leaving her.

"Well, yes, but Pepper's got her hands all over this one. Official SI stuff," Tony suddenly shrugged. "It'll be at the bottom floor of the tower, very fancy, sorta formal. You're technically the boss of this branch of R&D, now, since... eh, I dunno when that happened." He frowned briefly and then shrugged again. "Anyway, it'd be nice for you to actually meet the other people who have responsibility. Mingle a bit. Wear a ridiculously expensive dress you're making me pay for. That sort of thing. Pepper enjoys it. No reason why you shouldn't, too."

Claire couldn't help but smirk. "I see how she might."

Not bothering to tell her when it was - Jarvis and all that - Tony then went on to make a mental shopping list for champagne, out loud. Shaking her head, Claire teased, "You must be such a nightmare for the PR people. How many babies have you fathered without even remembering sleeping with their mother?" Gathering a more sober air around her, Claire continued with something which had worried her a little bit the last few months. "I mean I know there's ways to test it now, but aren't you sort of inviting fortune hunters?"

Tony winced a little at her first remark, then shook his head, good mood restored. "Only the one, and well, I suppose so. We get lots of claims, some from women I've been with, some from those I've not even... it's a big thing. As for inviting it, it's inevitable anyway. It goes with the game, really. Many years ago, I invented... well, let's not go into detail, Mini-me, but mechanics, and not gonna happen."

Claire blinked, astonished but not a bit doubtful. "Really?"

Tony smirked. "Really not. I've improved the design a time or two over the years - it can be really fancy now with the arch reactor, but even the beta was effective enough. Not a problem. Plus, always use protection and all that..."

"If you're sober enough to remember." Claire's voice was wry.

"Hey, I'm pickled and I'm still a better engineer than... well, other engineers," Tony objected. "I can remember!"

That was the point where Claire decided to abandon this vaguely awkward conversation before it became outright traumatising, and instead lead the subject into the field of babies. Tony's designs and new ideas to improve anything for his baby daughter were inexhaustible, and Claire was beyond content to fuel his madness, although not as obsessively so as Dumm-E, and certainly involving by far less coffee.

Claire was reading up on gala dresses online, shaking her head at their prices - not needing to be bothered didn't mean she couldn't spot the ridiculousness - when Jarvis announced that Pepper and Natasha were requesting access to her suite.

Granting permission immediately, Claire looked up from her comfortable reading nook on the end of her humongous sofa, and her brand new stark tablet, just in time to see the two other women enter.

Pepper was wearing smart business-wear, clearly just having come back from work. Natasha, however, was honest-to-Thor wearing white ballet-gear, including a tutu, and still looked as deadly as any respectable ice-queen. There was a time when Claire would have felt uncomfortable in her green yoga shirt and long sundress-skirt, but she might have done some growing up since then, because she merely waved slightly and gestured for the other two women to sit.

Cutting to the chase, Natasha spoke first. "Our daughter needs a name. We're discussing this with Tony, but she will also need godparents when the time comes."

"We've asked Steve and Bucky to be her godfathers," Pepper added softly and calmly, "they will be a good influence, and if something should happen, they will be able to keep her safe."

Claire nodded, not sure what to comment to that. She could only agree on the choice, however. "That is my perspective perhaps," Natasha commented.

"It's more than valid," Pepper reassured her girlfriend. Turning back to Claire, she noted, "My perspective, however, is a bit different - she needs someone to guide her, if we cannot do so. Would you? I think the three of you would be an excellent team to look after her if we couldn't, and she needs a grounded influence like you in her life, even if we are all still here."

Just for emphasis, Natasha spelled it out. "Would you be her godmother?"

Blinking, Claire cut off Pepper's offer to think about it with a soft but heartfelt, "Of course. It'd be my honor."