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 17: Feelings
After the interview with Christine Everhart, Natasha, Laura and Bucky had fun terrorizing the prospective nannies and tutors for the second round of interviews. As a result, when they selected the final four to work for them, they were more than a little wary of the women living in the tower. Dr. Culver made it into the final selection, along with Dr. Selene Corrin with her masters in ancient and modern history and PhD in cultural anthropology. Sarah Milford and Jason Thompson were settled on as nannies. Both had their Masters in early childhood education and were trained in martial arts, something that Natasha, Laura and Bucky had deemed essential for anyone caring for their children.
The two other reporters who garnered interviews over the next few weeks were less in-depth than Everhart, focusing on only a couple of aspects of the group. Following this, the board meeting for Stark Industries occurred. There was a bit of fuss about how everyone failed to notice the switch from Pepper Potts to Amelia Jenkins but it passed with the knowledge that the damage had been repaired. Tony, Steve, Laura, Bruce and Helen settled into their roles within the company. Tony had an easier time of it, having formerly held the position he was stepping back into it.
By the time a full month had passed, everyone was adjusting the complete change having so many children about caused. As for the children's specialized educations, while the tutors and nannies took care of the day-to-day things, Bucky, Steve and Natasha had taken to morning physical training for all but the infants. Sarah, Natalia and Lila had a limited training due to their young age, the adults not wanting to hurt their development. Cooper and Rebecca, however, were given training in the basic combat fighting, endurance and muscle building. The intent was to provide them with building blocks for a future where they would need it, being the children of the Avengers making them at minimum targets and topped out at having them being the future protectors of the world.
With this, a new routine was developed for the entire group. Steve and Bucky debated briefly about finding their own house but opted against it until the children were a little older, not wanting to expose them to unnecessary danger when they had ample space where they were. When Steve and Sarah's birthday arrived, they settled on going to Coney Island for the day and watching the fireworks there that evening. It ended up being a battle to wrangle everyone into the cars but they eventually managed by taking a third car.
It was the first time the kids went to an amusement park and everyone had to team up to ensure that none of them got lost. Fortunately, between the numerous Avengers and the nannies, they managed to get through most of the day without a major incident. Tony did talk Bucky into the hotdog eating contest. The man had an unfair advantage and easily won, to some mutual amusement and disgust, depending on the person in question.
Clint, Bucky and Natasha terrorized the ring toss, darts and shooting games with ease. The nannies had to ferry massive stuffed animals to the cars several times as a result. Bucky and Clint even began teaching Rebecca and Natalia how to beat the games, Clint's kids were already well trained in the art. They kept to the tamer rides for the most part, the children limiting the options, though Tony and Clint had managed to get Rebecca and Cooper on some of the higher thrill rides that they were big enough for.
They were ending the day on the beach, setting up for the fireworks when Tony got a phone call. He separated himself from the group to speak with the caller and was frowning when he came back, "That was Detective Smith. The one investigating Pepper's murder. She wants to know if I can triangulate exactly when Jenkins switched places with Pepper. Apparently Pepper's cause of death is somewhat confusing the coroners and they want a more precise date of when it might have occurred."
"How are you going to do that?" Steve asked, concerned. Tony had been doing a shockingly great job of coping with Pepper's death and the truth of what had happened to her.
"I have a few ideas. Even if they were identical twins, Jenkins, body will have subtle differences from Pepper's. I can have FRIDAY do an imaging comparison of everything we have on her. Jenkins will have to have switched places immediately after killing Pepper so we could possibly narrow it down to a few days. Also, Pepper was exposed to Extremis and Jenkins wasn't so that would have a definite impact as well. I am going to get started on that. You guys stay and have fun," Tony stated, giving Natalia a kiss on the cheek.
"How are you planning on getting back?" Rhodey asked, skeptically. "We kind of need the cars."
"I have my suitcase armor in the back of one. I will take that back to the tower," Tony shrugged. Everyone else rolled their eyes and focused back on having fun.
The kids had their faces painted, got balloons and watched the fireworks. If Bucky held onto Steve's hand a little tightly as they watched the fireworks, Steve didn't comment, knowing there was good reason for them to bring out emotions in Bucky. By the end, the kids were asleep on their feet as they made their way back to the cars. Steve ended up carrying Sarah as she had fallen asleep towards the end of the fireworks.
However, when they got back to the tower, FRIDAY immediately informed them that Tony needed them once the kids had been put to bed. This brought up some concern, so the team worked quickly to get the sleepy children tucked in. Bruce, Rhodey, Wanda, Pietro, and Vision had gone down to the gym where FRIDAY had said he was immediately, though and had been unsettled to see Tony punching viciously at a punching bag. He was clearly raging and they were afraid to approach him, unwilling to hurt him, which very well might occur it they attempted to force him to stop using one of their powers.
When the others joined them, it was Steve who finally intervened. While the others stood back, Steve marched forward, approaching Tony from behind and wrapped his arms around the man, pinning his arms to his side in the process. For a few moments, Tony thrashed about, screaming angrily at Steve before slumping in his arms and breaking down into sobs.
Steve sighed before sitting down on the floor and cradling Tony in his lap like a child. He didn't know what had triggered this reaction but he knew that Tony did need to get it out of his system before they were going to get anything coherent out of him. Steve, himself, had gone through an angry at everything phase when he had first come out of the ice and had spent way too much time at a punching bag to vent the frustration he felt. It wasn't until he joined the Avengers that he got past it.
It took Tony almost a half hour to stop crying and slip out of Steve's lap, "Well now my dignity is completely ruined." He stated awkwardly, his voice still wet.
"You're hanging with us now. Dignity's got nothing to do with it," Natasha and the others had settled around Steve while Tony cried, her calm voice quoting Sid from Ice Age had Tony giving a wet chuckle.
"So, what got you so worked up?" Rhodey was the one to ask, he was Tony's best friend and he knew that the man had never acted like this before, not even after Afghanistan.
"Pepper… Pepper isn't real. None of it was real. Come on, I will show you," Tony was calmer now, wiping away the tear tracks and leading them to the elevators.
Everyone else shared confused looks before following him. He brought them to his computer labs, where what he had been working on was still up on the screens. There were dozens of pictures of Pepper, or possibly Dr. Jenkins as none of them were dated.
"Ok, you were comparing images. You said that you would be doing that. What's so special about all of these? They are all Pepper, as far as I can tell," Rhodey was a little unsettled by the number of imagines but let it slide because he knew the reasoning for why they were being checked.
"No, they're not. Not one of these is Pepper because Virginia 'Pepper' Potts isn't a real person. These images are of two different people spanning the past ten years that 'Pepper' has worked for me. The two of them rotated out regularly. Once I realized that, I did some digging into Dr. Amelia Jenkins and found this," Tony paused speaking to put up two documents on the screen. "The adoption paperwork for Amelia Jenkins AND Jennifer Jenkins. They were adopted at age ten. Further digging produced a degree along with photographic evidence of Jennifer Jenkins graduating with a Masters in Computer engineering twenty years ago, the same time when Amelia Jenkins was getting her Doctorate in Physics."
Everyone was staring at the data in the screen, "Чертовски сука, Она использовала вас." Natasha started speaking in Russian without thinking.
"Bitches, there were two, not one," Bucky corrected, knowing exactly what Natasha had said. Clint was nodding his head in agreement while everyone else just looked confused.
"What exactly did she just say?" Tony finally asked.
"Fucking bitch, she used you. Sorry, it is an impulse when I am upset, you know that," Natasha responded with sincerity.
"How did they get past the background check or the fingerprint scanners?" Rhodey asked in concern.
"It was Jennifer. She had a degree in computer programing. I have FRIDAY running a scan to figure out just how she managed it but the background check would have been easy if they planned in advance. One of them, presumably Jennifer, worked in the same company as Killian, under the name Virginia Potts to build a work history and anyone with a decent level of skill can hack into the social security network and FBI databases. Even fabricating an academic record for a business degree from Princeton isn't impossible. It is next to impossible to find traces of a good hacker if you don't know exactly what you're doing and where to look. Add to that the fact that I didn't have JARVIS or even FRIDAY in place back then to act as a cyber security watchdog and even my systems weren't the best at defense like they are now. I had just really started taking over the company when 'Pepper' joined," Tony was sagging into a nearby chair.
"Well, that is one big mess," Wanda stated the obvious and earned a laugh.
"No kidding. I am having FRIDAY running a comprehensive diagnostic of Stark Industries and our personal computers now. I should probably call Detective Smith as well to inform her what I found. I did narrow down when they stopped switching though, ten months ago when Amelia Jenkins was pregnant with the twins. Probably because she was starting to show. You can see it in a few of the pictures if you know what to look for. I don't know when she died though, just that she is definitely the one dead and it was no earlier than five months ago because that was when the twins were born. Jennifer's the one that is still alive," Tony had paused to point to the pictures where a slight swell could be seen in some of them.
"How are you going to explain this to Detective Smith. It's a bit complex," Bruce pointed out.
"I am going to call her and ask her to come in person so that I can explain this mess in detail. Withholding information will just make the situation worse. I'm just glad that I finished the kids' suits just in case anything happens now," Tony shrugged. He was clearly drained.
"Okay. That makes sense. Only, I am going to make the call and you are going to bed. You look half dead. Too much emotion for your limited range of capabilities, I think," Natasha stated as she took his phone from him.
Tony sputtered before receiving several concerned looks and stood. Bruce stopped him though, "After I treat those hands. You're supposed to wrap them before you start pounding on a punching bag, Tony." He pointed out to everyone the split knuckles that they had all forgotten about. The blood had mostly dried so there wasn't anything on the computers but it still needed to be cleaned and bandaged.
Tony reluctantly allowed himself to be dragged off by Bruce while Natasha made the phone call. Once she finished, she ordered Clint to get a good night's sleep and go pick up the detective in the morning in a QuinJet. After this, everyone went to bed, though only the exhaustion from the overly long day had them falling asleep. Steve and Bucky's still broken due to night time feedings for their sons.
The next day, Tony was shut away with the Detective most of the day, lending his assistance to the investigation that had just gotten far more complicated. Apparently, what had tipped Detective Smith off that something wasn't right was a coroner's report that the dead body had given birth not long before her death. The detective stayed for two days before taking all the information back to LA to continue the investigation there.
It was only after this that Tony noticed something unusual, at least for Natasha. She was avoiding being alone with Bruce, he realized. She never came down to the labs while Bruce was in them alone, she didn't stay in a room where Bruce entered if there were less than two other people and it dawned on him that she really hadn't talked to Bruce since he had returned.
Natasha must have noticed his noticing because, one evening, a week after the detective left, she came into his workshop with a couple of bottles and some glasses. At first, Tony thought they were alcohol until he looked closer and realized they were the components for a Shirley Temple. Natasha smirked as she fixed them both glasses and sat on the couch next to him.
"I figured we could share in our romantic woes. You with your ex being a fake person and me with having the first guy I showed interest in in ages quite literally running away and only coming back when I have a kid to complicate matters," Natasha chuckled while handing him one of the drinks.
"I don't think we can compare the two situations. I was sleeping with two women while thinking they were one person who didn't exist and completely in love with that non-existent person. You still have a shot with your paramour," Tony pointed out and took a sip of the sugary drink. It didn't have the effect on him that alcohol would have had at numbing the swirl of emotions he was still fighting to cope with.
"Yes, because Bruce, the celibate monk is really going to invest time and energy into the mother of his best friend's child. Let's face it. Shit got complicated when we got a kid to share. I don't even know how to be a good mom. I am just doing everything that Laura said was a good idea when it comes to kids and hoping that Natalia doesn't become emotionally stunted like we both are," Natasha laughed a little.
"Really? You're probably doing better than me then. I am just winging it. Honestly, I am kind of glad we're in this together. If she was just my kid, I would completely screw her up. Most almost four-year-old kids aren't learning how to build cars, at least I don't think they are," Tony shrugged.
"Yeah, but you are at least putting in the effort to spend time with her. A lot of dads don't do that, at least from what I have read on parenting forums they don't. A lot of women out there complain about how absent their significant others are in their kids' lives. Besides, she is virtually a mini you in terms of her brain. Super intelligent and sassy. I think Dr. Corrin wanted to strangle Natalia the other day when she corrected her on a complex equation," Natasha's smile was sincere.
"Please, you are just as sassy as she is. Plus, her looks are ninety-eight percent you. I swear, Natalia is going to be a terrifying woman when she grows up," Tony pointed out.
"True. Daddy's money and brains, mommy's good looks and cunning. She had the makings of a world class super villain. I think that if she attempted world domination, she might succeed," Natasha looked a little proud of the idea.
"Maybe we should sic her on Ross at the upcoming Senate hearing for the Sokovia Accords. She is smart enough to talk him into a corner and then we can be all 'you can't defend this act against a four-year-old? How will you justify it to the world?'" Tony laughed at the image his mind presented of his tiny daughter talking the Secretary of Defense into revealing himself.
"So, you secured a testimony spot for us?" Natasha asked seriously.
"Wasn't hard. I just pointed out that you can't fairly ratify something pertaining to a specific group of individuals that will seriously impact their rights without first hearing out their position on the matter. Enough recalled the public hearing about my Iron Man suits and the outcome of the theft of one of them by the government that they agreed that it would be wise to hear us out. The fact that it will impact future generations as well should definitely be considered, now that I'm thinking on it," Tony shrugged and finished off his drink before getting up to mix another.
"We should prep the older kids as well. If Rebecca testifies on what Hydra was doing by stealing our DNA and trying to generate their own super powered individuals, that might scare some of them into thinking that giving us the free hand might be a safer option too," Natasha agreed.
"We got completely off topic," Tony pointed out suddenly.
"True. How are you handling Pepper not being real or Pepper?" Natasha asked after making herself another Shirley Temple as well.
"Honestly? Once I got over the initial shock, relieved. If they switched so frequently and no one ever noticed then it isn't my fault that Pepper's dead. Not if she was never real to begin with. Does that make me horrible? That I am able to separate the feelings that way? Pepper wasn't real, the person I saw as Pepper wasn't real, so the feelings that I felt for Pepper can be severed without guilt?" Tony asked.
"No. It doesn't make you a horrible person. Your love for the idea of Pepper Potts was real but that doesn't mean that you have to pine for someone who doesn't exist. You also had time to already mourn the death of your relationship when they separated themselves from you after what happened in Sokovia," Natasha pointed out.
"So, if I wanted to ask someone else out… that would be okay too?" Tony asked suddenly.
Natasha laughed, "Yeah. It's okay. Your relationship ended long before you learnt 'Pepper' was dead. I wouldn't be super public about it, but you can totally date someone else. Just not me. I am not dating you, even if you are Natalia's father. We never had sex and we never will."
Tony smiled at that, "So, you and Bruce…"
Natasha groaned, "Yes, I'm avoiding him. Clint has been pestering me about it for weeks. I just don't know what to say, you know? I kissed him in Sokovia, told him I adore him and after that he ran away. The first time I open myself to a real relationship… ever… and the guy goes running in big green hulk form away from me."
"Ever think that he might have panicked?" Tony asked her in all seriousness. "After all, it isn't exactly like he can have a conventional relationship, what with big green and all that."
"Who said I needed sex? I was raised with the concept of sex being a tool to control a target. Sex and… affection aren't mutually inclusive. In all honesty, I'm asexual. I only ever had sex for missions. It doesn't need to be a part of the relationship for me. I would be happy with genuine affection," Natasha stated.
"Why are you telling me this? Why not confide in Legolas? Isn't he your bestest girlfriend anyways?" Tony suddenly asked.
"If I pestered Clint about this anymore he might strangle me, or at least attempt to. In his opinion, I should confront Bruce and…" Natasha cut off as the elevator sounded and flipped over the couch they were sitting on to hide behind it.
Tony realized why as Bruce came into view and headed straight for him. Tony smirked at his science bro as the other flopped down in the seat Natasha had just vacated, "Brucey Bear, what brings you to my workshop?"
"FRIDAY said Tasha was here. Only you appear to be the only person here. Do you know what's going on with her? I can't get ten seconds alone with her without her finding some excuse to leave," Bruce sounded frustrated.
"Well… She is a mom now on top of working for Stark Industries AND being an Avenger. Maybe she's just busy," Tony didn't want to completely go right into it with Bruce, deciding to get the other to open up about his feels while Natasha was stuck hiding behind the couch. There was only one route out of the workshop and unless she could turn invisible, Natasha would have a hard time sneaking out while they were facing the doors.
"Please, we all still have free time on our hands. No, she is definitely avoiding me," Bruce groaned.
"Why do you think that?" Tony asked, full well knowing the answer.
"Probably because she is hoping that if she keeps me at arm's length she won't have to verbally reject me," Bruce stated bluntly.
"Or, maybe she is afraid of being hurt again. You did kind of run away when she had started flirting with you before. Granted, Natasha is terrifying and her flirting should, by all rights, have even the Hulk running quickly on standard circumstances but I think she was serious about her interest in you and that isn't something that anyone else in the world can say," Tony pointed out. "Plus, she has a kid now. That means she is putting more at risk if she opens herself up to a relationship, especially with someone who has already run away once."
"So, how do I get her to listen to me? I'm not going to run again. I can't. I run again, I don't think I'll ever stop. At the same time, I am afraid of what the Hulk could do, how he could hurt others, hurt her and Natalia," Bruce had slumped down.
Tony stood and smirked, "You just did. I will let you two sort out the particulars. Natasha, stop hiding now. Face your relationship issue like a grown-up." Tony chuckled as Bruce turned bright red and Natasha stood up and started swearing at him in Russian.
Author's Note: Before anyone complains about the twist I made in this chapter, it was necessary to fix a massive plot hole that I realized existed while reading through some of the earlier chapters. Amelia Jenkins wouldn't have been able to conceal her pregnancy of the twins while running Stark Industries. That there are two working together was the only way to reconcile the problem. Plus, I really hate Pepper Potts (She has always struck me as a really stuck up holier-than-thou kind of character. I mean, seriously, who refers to a fellow, fully educated, serious investigative journalist like Christine Everhart as 'trash' just because she decided to have a one-night stand with Tony? She is a really piece of work). So, I dismantled the perfect girlfriend image and made her into a monster :).
Also, a translation (from google translate) of the Russian I used.
Чертовски сука = Fucking bitch
Она использовала вас = She used you