This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.
Chapter 11: Fatherhood
When all the alcohol from various hiding places had been collected, Steve ferried all the boxes down to his personal gym. Each of the Avengers had their own gym, and each gym had its own features. Steve's gym was simpler than the others but it did have a few empty closets. One of these was where the alcohol went. Fortunately, a majority of the bottles were unopened so he didn't have to worry about anything going bad. Steve locked the door when the boxes were all in the closet.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., please notify me if Tony enters my gym without my presence," Steve stated.
"Of course, Captain Rogers," F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirmed.
Steve returned to his floor to find Sarah getting a bath. Bucky was watching as Helen explained why she was doing what she was doing with the girl. When Sarah was finished, Rebecca was allowed to shower on her own, though Helen told the girl to make sure she washed everything. After the kids were all clean, Steve and Bucky braided the Sarah's hair. Helen declared herself impressed until Bucky said that his mom had taught them to do it for his younger sister.
Bedtime stories were read, little girls tucked into bed and boys secured into bassinets. When that was done, Helen sat on their couch for a moment, "To be honest, the way the girls had reacted to this whole thing had me confused until Bruce found that information. I have to admit that they seem pretty well socialized considering their circumstances. Often, children who lack sufficient affection in their developmental years can have difficulty bonding. I can only hope this isn't going to be the case with these children. Some do turn out ok. Having each other has likely done a lot to mitigate the emotional damage they would have otherwise suffered."
"I don't think they were ever really neglected, maybe that is the difference. They got attention, even if it wasn't affection. Obviously, they did get education, not through but that can be corrected," Steve pointed out.
"Well, the lack of affection can be corrected too. I was a little surprised that Tony chose his daughter over Pepper but that does say how he feels about everything," Helen smiled as she stood. "Night."
"Night," Steve nodded before getting up and going to bed. He climbed in behind Bucky and kissed the back of his neck and going to sleep.
Meanwhile, Natasha had given Natalia a bath and took her down to Tony's lab. It was notable quieter than usual. Tony was laying out what looked like an array of tools for no reason. The moment he noticed the two, he immediately came over and took Natalia.
"So… Say good night to Mommy, Natalia," Tony stated as he slid the pajamaed girl onto his hip.
"Good night, Mommy," Natalia obeyed making Natasha smile.
She quickly kissed the girl on her cheek, "Good night, little monster. Tony, she definitely takes after you when it comes to sleep. In other words, she doesn't, so good luck with that."
"Ah, you are like daddy, huh? One of the sleepless elite?" Tony chuckled. Natasha watched as he took Natalia over to the table with tools laid out on it.
"And Tony. No teaching our daughter to build robots or AI or Iron Kid suits until she's at least ten," Natasha added before going to the elevator. Tony's laughter ringing out behind her.
"Mommy's no fun, huh? Well, I may not teach you how to make a robot just yet, but I am going to teach you the basics of engineering. It is an important thing for you to learn since you are going to be the future head of Stark Industries," Tony spoke directly to his daughter, treating her like an adult. It had occurred to him that if she was capable of hacking Hydra's computers to implant a bunch of viruses, she was probably smart enough to understand him talking to her like an adult.
"What's engineering?" Natalia predictably asked.
"Well… It is like being a creator or doctor for machines. Sometimes you make something new and sometimes you fix something that is broken. Since Mommy says you can't learn how to build a robot yet, I'll start with something easy for you to build," Tony smiled before sitting her on a raised stool in front of the table of tools. "But before we can do any of that, you have to learn the very basics. Each of these tools has a purpose and a name. I want you to point to them and F.R.I.D.A.Y. is going to tell you what it is and what it is for. Okay? Just go through that until you think you have memorized them all."
Natalia got a determined look on her face as she nodded. She pointed to the first tool and F.R.I.D.A.Y. did exactly as Tony had promised. Her heard the little girl recite what the A.I. had told her a few times before pointing to the next tool. Satisfied that she was doing as asked, Tony went to the table next to hers and put up a base hologram for his emergency plan for the kids.
It was a simple design he was calling Iron Cradle. That was for the boys. He got to work on finishing the schematics for the Iron Cradle, that took only a half hour as he had done most of it the night before. He then pulled up the base design for his Iron Man suit and began shrinking it down and simplifying it to one basic purpose, encase and transport the child within. This one was Iron Toddler for Sarah and Natalia. As there were no free controls for the kids involved, he simplified it as much as possible. He was only a short while after he started on Iron Toddler that Natalia hopped off her chair and walked over to him.
"I know them all," She stated confidently.
"Oh really?" Tony smiled, if she really did know them all that meant she had an eidetic memory, just like he did. "Go bring me an 8/10th flex-head socket wrench."
"You don't have one of those," Natalia stated immediately.
"Ok, bring me a monkey wrench then," Tony smiled as she turned around and returned to the table, grabbed exactly what he asked for and brought it back.
"Ok, go put that back and bring me a Phillip's head screwdriver," Tony nodded.
Natalia put the wrench back where she had gotten it and grabbed the screwdriver bringing it back.
"Good, what is this used for?" Tony quizzed.
"To tighten or loosen Phillip's head screws," Natalia answered without hesitating.
Tony spent another half hour quizzing her on all the tools before he was satisfied. He nodded his head in approval, "Very good, kid. Eidetic memory huh? You'll find that useful."
"What's an eidetic memory?" Natalia asked, taking his approval as permission to climb into his lap, something he didn't protest.
"It is a perfect memory. It means that once you memorize something, you don't forget it. I have it too. Not always the most fun thing to have but you will learn to live with it," Tony explained as he went back to working on the schematic for Iron Toddler.
"Oh, yeah. I have that. Our handlers called it photographic memory. Rebecca and Sarah don't have it but they said that they were really smart even though they don't. What are you doing?" Natalia asked propping her elbows on the table in front of her.
"I am designing a suit for you and Sarah," Tony answered without stopping.
"Why?"
"To protect you guys if someone bad attacks."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want you to get hurt."
"Why would I get hurt?"
"Because the bad people will want to hurt you to get to me and your mommy."
"Why?"
"Because I'm your daddy. It's my job to protect you. It hurts me and your mommy if you get hurt."
"Why?"
"Because we love you, my little why monster."
"Why?"
Tony sighed and kissed the little girl's red curls before answering, "Because you are perfect. Now, if you can keep quiet for long enough for me to finish this, I will teach you how to build a car engine."
Natalia immediately fell silent, watching as he worked out the mechanics of making the suit smaller. Eventually, she wriggled around to face him and draped herself against his chest and took a nap. Tony resisted the urge to chuckle about her behaving like an octopus and focused on the project at hand.
Two hours later, just as he finished the Iron Toddler design, Natalia woke. She immediately asked if he was done yet. Tony did laugh at this and informed her he was. He watched as she hopped out of his lap immediately and stared at him expectantly. Tony immediate stood and went over to a third table. On this table, laid out in order, were the parts to a small, two-cylinder engine. Tony had already decided that his daughter's first introduction into engineering and mechanics would be to build her own miniaturized car. It wouldn't be like those stupid, store bought kids cars either. It would be an actual mini car that she could drive around the tower at will.
He glanced at the clock and noted it was just after midnight. Natalia spent her early morning, building her first engine, using parts that Tony had ordered and following the designs Tony had drawn up for her. By the time Natasha returned to the lab in the morning, Natalia had finished her very first engine. She was once again napping, clinging to Tony's chest, while Tony worked on his design for the suit for extracting Rebecca in an emergency.
Natasha quickly and quietly slipped her cellphone out of her pocket and snapped a photo of the two. She sent the picture to Clint, captioned 'Two days and my daughter gave the tin man a heart." The rest of the team got the picture as it was, Tony included. The angle of the picture allowed the viewer see exactly who was holding the little girl.
"Morning. How did the night go?" Natasha asked as she approached him.
Natalia's head immediately popped up and Natasha noticed the girl had a little grease on her face and hands, "Mommy! I built an engine! Daddy says we are going to build me a car!" The three-year-old wriggled out of Tony's lap and rushed over to Natasha, wrapping her arms around Natasha's legs.
"Did he now? What kind of car, daddy?" Natasha looked at him, eyebrow raised.
"A Mini Stark car…" Tony offered lamely. "Basically, a miniaturized car that she can drive around the tower. It won't be able to do more than four miles per an hour. A toy really."
"Uh huh. Okay, so long as it's safe. Well, I suppose we should get you cleaned up for breakfast. Are you hungry?" Natasha turned back to the little girl, picking her up.
"Yep!" Natalia responded before talking a mile a minute, much to Natasha's amusement. Another raised eyebrow at Tony got a shrug from him as he stood and stretched, shutting down what he was working on.
"You should clean up too. Don't forget you called that press conference for today," Natasha pointed out before taking her now talkative daughter back up to her rooms to clean the little girl up.
Clearly, Natasha thought, the key to getting her daughter to open up was prolonged exposure to her father. Natalia spent the time Natasha was cleaning her and redressing her telling her mother all about her adventures during the night. When she finished, Natasha looked at her daughter, "So, do you want to spend the nights with your daddy? I know you had trouble sleeping with me."
"It isn't that I had trouble sleeping. I just don't like sleeping a lot," Natalia answered with a shrug, deciding that she didn't want to be carried around that day.
"I see. Well, there are worse traits you could inherit from your father," Natasha said as she checked her phone, having gotten a response from Clint.
It was, 'I thought he preferred an older red-head'. Natasha sighed before sending back, 'That older red-head isn't really big on kids. Guess who the tin man chose. On a side note of that topic, do you think Laura would be willing to share the job of being Tony's PA with Steve? Pepper decided she didn't want to be CEO if it didn't come with bedtime privileges.'
Natasha followed Natalia into the elevator as she sent the text. Clint responded almost immediately. 'What about the kids?' Natasha smiled, 'We were thinking that we could all be one big, happy family. It isn't like you can hide them forever, they do need to socialize with the outside world. Tony will even pay for the tutors and nanny.'
The phone was slipped back into her pocket as they exited onto the shared floor where only a few of the residents were already present. Steve and Bucky were manning the stove again. Rebecca was standing in front of Steve as he talked the girl through the art of flipping a pancake. Sarah sat in a high chair already, plain, chopped-up pancake in front of her. The blonde had a t-shirt covering her clothing, so Natasha guessed she was already dressed for the press conference, underneath. Rebecca, was also similarly dress, though she also wore Natasha's apron.
"How did last night go?" Natasha asked the men, she noted that Joseph and George were wiggling around on the floor, Joseph seemed to be almost army crawling and George kept trying to figure out the mechanics of balancing on all fours.
"The boys only woke once, thankfully. I'm hoping that the first night was just because they were transitioning to a new place," Steve stated.
At that point, Bruce came off the elevator and froze at the sight of the two boys working their attempts at mobility. Natasha looked at the stunned man in confusion. That confusion increased when Helen came out of the elevator moments later and did the exact same thing.
"Ok, what is with you two?" Natasha finally asked the gaping pair of doctors.
"Wh-how long have they been doing that?" Bruce finally sputtered out.
"Doing what?" Steve asked, looking over to the twins.
"About two weeks," Rebecca answered before Steve could figure out what was upsetting the doctors.
"That is way too advanced for their age. At best, four-month-olds are learning to roll over and sit up on their own," Helen stated bluntly, walking over to the boys and crouching down to observe them more closely. "Their muscles shouldn't be this developed yet. They didn't do this yesterday either."
"Well did you put them on the floor and let them do their thing or were you holding them the whole time?" Steve asked, behaving like this wasn't unusual for him.
"No, we didn't think there was any point. They were hard enough to keep from rolling over on the tables," Helen stated, clearly rattled.
"Maybe it's the serum thing. It does affect the genetics, you said, so it might change the development of the kids. Make it happen a little faster. Sarah talks really well for a two-year-old after all," Bucky suggested, putting scrambled eggs on a plate before pouring more into the pan.
Bruce and Helen consider this for a moment before accepting this theory and making mental notes of the boys' developments to document later. Everyone sits and starts eating. George and Joseph have already had their bottles so they were allowed to continue playing. Natasha noted that Tony was a bit jittery, most likely due to the fact that he hadn't had any alcohol in over a day, but he didn't seem to notice it himself and focused instead on watching his daughter attempt to navigate the uses of a fork.
Steve made a similar observation and gave the man an extra cup of coffee as a reward. As expected, the two smaller girls made a mess of themselves. Rebecca was having better luck. It was only a little different from the morning before so it took only a little observation of the adults for her to figure out how to manage the pancakes. It was amusing to Tony that all three girls seemed determined to eat more than he did.
"Clint said the have his floor ready for his family. They will be here in a few hours. If there is going to be a press conference, he figures we may as well do all of it at once," Natasha announced to Tony, slipping her cell back into her pocket again. Tony nodded. Clint must have decided that it was probably best to stick together on the whole family thing and that the risk was better faced together. Tony then made a mental note to ask Clint for advice on raising girls. The man already had one of his own that was older than Natalia so he had real experience with that age range, even if it wasn't at the same education level as Natalia.