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Tony came up from his workshop into the main living area of his tower, shaking his head at the scene that met him. Chaos was the first word that came to mind. the Tower had used to be quite a solitary place, once upon a time, and even with Pepper around and a random selection of superheroes grabbing rooms at various intervalls - Bruce and Natasha had become absolute fixtures - it usually was barely enough to break the subtle atmosphere of sterile luxury around them.

It was different now. The Bartons had three kids, and they were all here. The Avengers, as they still playfully called the group, was mostly around as well, and there was noise and colour everywhere.

Laura Barton had insisted to come and assist Pepper with the new baby - at least for the first few weeks - and Tony had a gut feeling his wife would be intent on keeping her for as long as she was willing to stay. Considering they lived on a farm and it was an unusually cold winter, he assumed they probably could be persuaded to stay until spring sometime. He didn't mind. In fact, he loved the noise and having his Tower - their Tower, now, his and Pepper's - so full of life all of a sudden.

"Ooof!" Tony made the sound involuntarily, almost dropping his tablet as he got enthustically run into by Lila Barton. He could see her brother Cooper in the kitchen, "helping" Bruce and Steve with the cooking, and the younger Nathaniel was seated on the sofa, leaning into his mother, who was sitting next to Tony's girls. She was talking to Pepper, presumably imparting wisdom about children in that casual, friendly way she had.

Giving Clint's daughter a quick hug and a brief kiss on her head, Tony made his way over to his own wife and daughter, dropping a more linger kiss on first the former's head, then the latter's, bending down in soft movements to look at the infant without disturbing her.

"How is she?" He asked, not sure what he expected to hear in return. He had been doing his share of carrying the ten days' old baby when needed, but with two supersoldiers temporarily living back with them as they renovated their house, the nightshift was mercifully willingly covered even without him. Not that he didn't occasionally butt in anyway.

"She's perfect," Pepper was usually the voice of reason, and she had acted very resonably every step of the way for that matter, certainly more so than anybody could expect - but she still sounded completely smittened to his ears. It was a good thing.

"She is a little beauty, that's for sure." Laura smiled first at the baby, then looked up at Tony, eyes still crinkling. He knew what Pepper felt like; the woman was nothing if not reassuring.

"They're cute when they're tiny like that, then they became a handful and that's somehow even more glorious," Clint stated leisuredly from the top of a sturdy bookcase, where he was reading a book of all things. He, like Laura, seemed happy to let Bucky play with their kids, the former Winter Soldier currently carrying their daughter around on his back, sounding distracting her.

Tony took his own seat in an oversized armchair where he could see both his girls, and soon had to make room for the toddler Nathaniel who wanted to peek at his tablet. Tony switched it to something the boy would enjoy and continued reading specs on his cellphone.

He didn't look up until someone straight up lifted the boy out of his arms, casually enough to defy how much strength it took. Tony looked up to see who it was - surrounded by superheroes extreme strength was not at all an indicator of identity. He would have guessed it to be Steve or Clint himself, or even Thor had he known he'd arrived, but he didn't expect the little boy named after Natasha happily snuggled up against Loki of all people.

The next moment he was handed a baby and for the moment kept out of other people and their children's business. Temporarily.

It was lucky, more than one person silently reflected, that Tony's tendency to go to excesses included the kitchen table. It was a huge piece, capable even of seating two supersoldiers, two former spies, a norse god and his adopted brother, three lively children and several others.

Bruce was sitting next to Natasha, calmly explaining around the table what the various dishes were, Pepper and Tony were seated next to each other, as was Barnes and Rogers, and Clint and Laura. Interspersed amongst the couples were Thor, Loki - de-sceptered and apparently greeneyed these days - and the children.

Little Morgan Stark was sleeping, still resting against Tony's shoulder because he plainly refused to give her up. Laura, Pepper and Natasha had had her all day, and it was his turn. His stubbornness was graciously tolerated, if with some amusement.

Across the table from where Tony was eating slowly while cradling his infant daughter, Loki was very solemnly listening to Lila educating him about archery like the expert she surely was, while Steve and Thor was promising Cooper to go fly kites in Central Park the next morning.

Continuing the slow circle of his eyes around the table, Tony noticed Bruce, Laura and Pepper talking across him about strollers and temperature. Clint was serenely listening to Nathaniel messing up Russian pronounciation to Natasha, who attempted not to smile. It was an unusual look for her, but the children could usually be trusted to put it there. Tony did not know many others who managed.

Next time he looked up from his little bubble, Pepper was smiling at him and Natasha had dragged Bruce into a discussion which sounded suspiciously like flirting, while Clint had butted in on the archery discussion and Laura was smirking knowingly and winking at Thor, who just laughed as softly as he ever did in reply, while Bucky and Steve was talking amongst themselves using just their eyes, as old friends or lovers could do.

It was an odd group, maybe, but to Tony it felt like home.