Alba and Steve sat across from Tony with identical, disapproving expressions. After establishing that there was no real danger, the trio had moved downstairs to the living room, where Tony now lounged opposite of them. He tried to look sheepish as he iced his bruised back.
"You know, I always wondered how a shield could cause that much damage," He groaned. "Now I know."
Steve clenched his jaw, refraining from pointing out that that had been his most inaccurate throw in years. If he had hit him squarely, his friend would have probably ended up paralyzed.
"What are you doing here?"
Tony hesitated before answering. "I was worried about you."
Steve resisted the urge to snort disbelievingly, and settled for giving him a grim shake of the head. "You weren't worried. You were curious."
His friend shrugged innocently. "Maybe a little. But can you blame me? A few weeks ago you start disappearing suddenly, skipping out on missions, and then you show up with a lady friend. What am I supposed to think?"
"Nothing. There's a reason why I haven't told you anything, and you should be able to respect that." Alba sat silently, not wanting to get caught up in the fringe of this grave discussion. Looked like Tony Stark has boundary issues that he was desperately trying to deny.
"Look, I'm just trying to look out for you, okay? You're just so…trustworthy, Steve. This isn't the forties anymore, you can't just believe everything people tell you." Steve leaned forward in his seat and gave his friend a confused look. Clearly there was something else at play he didn't know of.
"What are you talking about?"
Instead of answering, Tony glanced at Alba and then turned to his friend. "I need to speak with you. Alone." He emphasized, giving her a pointed look. She stared blankly, too tired to care what he was going on about.
But Steve did take exception to it, slinging his arm around Alba's shoulder stubbornly and holding her close. "Whatever you have to say to me, you can say it in front of her."
Stark gave him a disbelieving look, but acquiesced at the last second. "Fine. Did you know that she," He said, stabbing a finger in Alba's direction, "Is pregnant?!" Her head snapped to attention. How the hell had he found out? She had been discreet, and so had Steve.
"How do you know that?"
"Turns out your Doctor's servers aren't that secure. Oops." He wan't the least bit sorry.
Alba inquired, taking a deep breath and counting. The last thing she wanted to do right now is go into one of her mother bear rages.
"You hacked your way into my medical records? How dare you?"
Tony scoffed and turned to look at her with narrowed eyes. "How dare I? How dare I? How dare you try to pull one over on Steve!" Tony misinterpreted the horrified look on Steve's face and continued his tirade. "I found out you were dating some fancy lawyer up until a few months ago. You didn't even tell him you were having his baby. Sounded real surprised on the phone." On the phone. On the phone. The words echoed in Alba's head with alarming clarity. She suddenly felt like throwing up.
"You called my ex? Why would you do that?! Marcus didn't know because he isn't the father."
Tony scoffed and gave her a hard look. "So what? Steve's your baby daddy?" He said sarcastically, glancing at his friend jokingly. It was clear he was waiting for Steve to declare his innocence.
But Steve was somber as he meet his gaze. Tony looked between the two of them for a moment, took in their tired expressions, and then turned to give Steve a horrified look.
"You're her baby daddy?"
Silence.
Tony took their silence for admittance, staring at them in disbelief. "Of all people…oh my god."
"This isn't how I wanted you to find out."
"Oh, you mean you planned to tell me? Maybe when you had a bundle of joy in your arms already?" Tony stared off into the distance in amazement and then started laughing.
"I just can't believe the irreproachable Steve Rogers knocked someone up. They had birth control in the forties, right?"
Steve threw his head into his hands and groaned. He didn't want Tony's judgement. He didn't want his cutting, witty remarks. He didn't want to be anymore afraid than he already was.
"It's called privacy, Tony. I was going to tell you when I felt ready to tell you. Do you really think that its okay to sit there and turn our lives upside down? To scrutinize every part of Alba's life? This might be a game to you, but it isn't to us. We're having a family, and yes, maybe we didn't plan this, but we're sure as hell making sure we're doing our best."
Tony looked down at his lap silently for a moment, properly chastised. "I was just trying to look out for you."
Steve just shook his head. He had to end this conversation before he felt like anymore of a jerk. "I know. But turning our lives upside down and then jumping to conclusions isn't the best way to do that." He gathered Alba up and helped her to her feet, leaving his friend to spend the night on the couch. "…We're going to bed. Goodnight."
Upstairs, Steve sat beside Alba as she laid in her bed. She yawned, barely keeping her eyes open, and reached up to smooth the line between his brows.
"Oh, God…what a train wreck. Sorry you had to put up with him."
"It's okay." She assured him. "This is our life now. Our family."
Steve raised his brows and gave her a tired grin. "This really will be our family. God, can you imagine it?" Alba replied with a slow chuckle, yanking on his arm until he laid down in the bed right next to her. She cozied up into the crook of his neck and breathed in his clean, comforting scent.
"We'll be fine. We just have to make sure we keep Peanut as far away from Tony as possible." Steve grinned at Alba's nickname for their baby. Peanut.
"Yes. The last thing we want is for 'Uncle Tony' to rub off on her. Or him."
Manhattan, New York | Four Days Later
The meeting was almost at an end when a knock came to the door. Alba finished up the last of her notes and glanced up to find her assistant staring at her expectantly by the doorway.
"Ms. Herrera, Mr. Stark is here for you." Alba stared at the older woman, dumbfounded. She almost didn't notice the other sets of eyes staring at her in astonishment. Apparently Stark was a big name around here.
"I'm sorry, what?" It couldn't be. But Agnes repeated herself with the utmost patience.
"Tony Stark is here to see you. I asked him to wait in your office." Well. It really was him. Alba came to her feet reluctantly and tried to avoid meeting the curious stares from her colleagues.
"I'm sorry gentlemen, but I'm going to have to cut the meeting short. Please feel free to finish up without me, I have all the information I need." She glanced over at her client and gave him her most professional smile. "Please don't hesitate to call me if you have any questions, Mr. Carruthers."
Alba found Stark seated next to her desk, leaning over to look at the papers she'd left out curiously. She closed the door with more force than necessary and took quiet joy in the way he almost jumped out of his skin.
"Are you here to investigate my job? See how you could invade my privacy once more?"
He stood as she came around her desk and took a seat, regarding him through narrowed eyes. It was the firs time she'd seen him since the stunt he pulled, and this time she was wide awake and pissed.
"No. If I wanted to investigate your jobs I'd probably just hack the servers. You people keep an electronic copy of everything nowadays."
"What are you doing here, Stark?" Alba bristled.
"Psh, just call me Tony. All my friends do, and we're practically like family. Literally."
Not helping. Alba reached for the phone and gave him a warning look. She could have security up here in less than a minute. "Start talking."
"Okay. I just—I'm already nervous as it is and I'm trying to apologize and you're not making it any easier by looking at me like you're planning to chop me up in tiny little pieces."
She raised her brows. "You're here to apologize?" He gave her a short nod.
"I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry. For everything. Turning your life inside out, invading your privacy, telling your ex about your pregnancy. For accusing you. The whole thing. It's just that… the Avengers are the only good thing I've ever been a part of, and they're like my family. They're all I have, and sometimes I get very overprotective. And sometimes I forget. You know—I just forget that you people—" He stopped, groaned, and threw his head in his hands in frustration.
Alba was tempted the throw the apology back in his face, but she sensed he really was trying to be genuine. She could never be deliberately cruel, so she decided the help the poor man out by finishing his wordy apology.
"You forget that non-Avengers are also real people?" Tony's head snapped up and he took in her grin with a sigh of relief.
"You know, that part sounded a lot less offensive in my head." And just like that, the tension in the room began to diffuse. Alba leaned back in her seat and shook her head disbelievingly.
"You're a trip, Tony."
"Trust me, kid. I know." He stared into his lap, began to realize something, and then leaned down to retrieve a brown folder. He plopped it on Alba's desk and pushed the papers towards her.
"The second reason I'm here today."
She eyed the folder suspiciously, turning it over in her hands.
"What is this?"
"That was Steve's special request of me. He's still so mad, he won't even talk to me. But now he's somewhere in Hong Kong fighting bad guys and he's had a brilliant idea. He thinks it would be best if you switched over to a private medical firm."
"A private medical firm?" She said disbelievingly, flipping through a staged welcome packet about said medical firm. This was for the rich, famous, and important.
"You think it's probably a bit much, but I think he's right. I mean, if I hacked your medical records, someone else will, too. You're vulnerable. It's just a matter of time before you end up with a target on your back."
She wanted to protest, but Tony had a point. The less information was available about her pregnancy, the safer they would be. But that didn't mean they were going to be completely safe. "Will you still be able to hack my records again?"
Tony hesitated before answering. "…No. And not for lack of trying. I've started to think they don't keep any electronic records. It's the only thing that makes sense." He said thoughtfully.
"Some of my clients are attended here. I don't get it, I'm pretty sure there's a waiting list for this." She murmured, glancing down at the medical forms she was supposed to fill out ASAP.
Tony meet her eyes and gave her a wide, proud smile. "Last I heard the list was a mile long. Which is why I stopped by there this morning personally and procured all the documentation." Of course. No one said no to Tony Stark. "Besides, I'm pretty sure this is the only thing that will get Steve to forgive me."
Alba couldn't help smiling at Tony's misery. "Is it really that bad?"
He gave her a hopeless look. "He's worse than a nagging wife. Up until he left last night he wouldn't even look at me. Worst silent treatment of the century." He glanced at the door and then gave her a what-the-hell look. "I'd taken to wearing the Iron Man suit at all hours because I was pretty sure that vibranium shield was going to smash through one of the walls and kill me." Alba couldn't help the peel of laughter that bubbled out of her mouth.
"I'm sorry, but you had that coming."
"Yeah, whatever. So are you in?"
Alba sighed, but started filling out all of the paperwork anyway. "Fine. But if you hack anything of mine ever again I will haul your ass to court. I don't care if you're some part of my dysfunctional MTV family or not."
So the baby is out of the bag!
Did you think Tony's reaction was too much? Was Steve too harsh? Do you guys Alba will be in any danger?!
You guys know I love hearing your theories so let me know! I will be replying to all of the reviews from this week and last week tomorrow!