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 19: Lessons Learnt

Tony had never realized how much he really depended on alcohol as a solution to his problems until he gave it up. He wasn't exactly regretting it, per say, just really wishing he had never become so dependent on the substance in the first place. Just another thing he could lay at the feet of his father, relying on alcohol as a crutch to suppress his emotions. In a way, he should be glad that he hadn't turned to drugs like so many other wealthy people did when they were bored or upset. As it was, as they talked to the aunt of their little discovery, Peter Parker, he couldn't help that some part of him wished that he could go to the bar nearby and find some bourbon to throw back.

The fact that that was his first instinct after learning that he had nearly lost the daughter he had only learnt about less than two months ago spoke volumes to him. It was clear that he was in for a struggle with his addiction. At least he knew enough to realize that it had been a problem, hind sight being twenty-twenty and all. He was just grateful that he had the team to back him up, although, even with all the stress he was facing, he wasn't really being tested because without and direct access to alcohol and safety precautions in place, he was smart enough to know that he wasn't going to get his hands on any.

Still, without alcohol to cope and little real experience dealing with his emotions, he was more than a little bit of an ass to May Parker. Of course, he knew that he was often an ass when drunk. It was just that normally, when Tony was drunk, he didn't care if he was being an ass. Now he did. That was another thing that he realized, looking back. Pepper, or fake Pepper as he liked to think of her, didn't really make him a better man or even want to be a better man. They didn't try to help him quit drinking or stop him from making inappropriate comments to others, often it was the exact opposite. They drank with him and some of her comments to women he had slept with in the past were even worse than the ones he had made to those same women.

He had recently started to go through all the footage of them, mostly to analysis the data and see if they, or specifically Jennifer Jenkins, had any mannerisms or features or habits that Detective Smith could use to track her if she used disguises to avoid getting caught. He noticed that both sisters had a habit of tearing down women that he had one-night stands with. They would call them trash, imply they were loose, easy or sluts and more than a few were told that if Tony contracted an STD from them that they would be hearing from his lawyers.

It occurred to him that a majority of his reputation as a love-'em and leave-'em kind of guy was probably thrown at him because of these two women. And now the one that was still alive was clearly as determined as ever to make his life a living hell. Peter had taken down the four would-be kidnappers but Tony and the rest highly doubted that he was the one to put a bullet in each of their heads after the fact. The van was wiped down too. Clearly someone was ensuring that the kidnappers weren't going to be traced back to them and the whole team suspected that that person's initials were J.J.

So, now he had to stand here negotiating with a fifteen-year-old's aunt to allow him and his team mates to teach the kid how to handle and survive as a super hero. He was threaten twice with castration during the discussions and she had even implied that he was indirectly responsible for her husband's death, though for now, he couldn't be certain what she meant by declaring that his 'half assed heroics were costing her family members left and right'.

Eventually, Natasha and Steve jump in and managed to smooth things over. They managed to calm May Parker down enough that she wasn't still screaming at him that Peter's behavior was his fault when the kid woke from his Wanda induced faint. He managed to get to the end of the visit with the Parkers with receiving only one more threat by the aunt before giving them a tour of the tower and Natalia inviting both to her birthday party in a few days. May Parker seemed to soften a little towards him when she noticed his interactions with his daughter, so he intended to have the little girl around for any future interactions with the firecracker of a woman.

They took the lead on the four bodies in the alley, the NYPD and FBI not wanting to touch the deaths of the kidnappers of two Avengers children. Instead, Hill and a team of her people were stripping the alley of everything within it, the wiped down van included. It wasn't until the Parkers left and Hill had the rest of the situation that the parents turned their attention to their children and to Tony's shock FRIDAY. Clint's older two kids were completely oblivious to what had gone down, having little interaction with Natalia the day before and all they could say was that Sarah was silly after she and Rebecca had talked with Natalia.

However, that aside, they sat all of the children on the couch and interrogated them thoroughly, "So, it wasn't your idea to get flour, initially? Ms. Milford implied that was the only way you would be able to make us breakfast?" Natasha asked carefully.

Natalia and Sarah nodded. FRIDAY than played the audio of the conversation. Tony and Natasha both groaned as they listened to the Hydra-Nanny skillfully play the two girls. In all honesty, Tony had taken to thinking of his daughter as are really small scientist because of massive intellect. He even knew that she craved his approval, just as he had craved his own father's. It was why he put so much effort into spending time with her and just doing bonding activities with her. He did with her all the things that he wished that his dad had taken the time to do with him.

He knelt before his daughter and carefully phrased his words, not wanting to sound harsh, like he knew he father would have, had he been in a similar situation, "I understand what you were trying to do, that you and Sarah really wanted to give Daddy and Mommy and your aunts and uncles a wonderful surprise by making us breakfast. I'm not angry about that. It was very thoughtful. I am, however, angry that you left the tower so early in the day, without Mommy or Daddy or your aunts or uncles regardless of your good intentions. I know that you thought that Ms. Milford would be a safe option to go with because she was hired to take care of you, but even if she wasn't Hydra, which she definitely was, she still wasn't someone who would have been able to protect you from three Hydra goons or three anyone trying to kidnap you. Do you understand?"

"We aren't supposed to leave the Tower without Daddy, Papa, aunties or uncles?" Sarah asked to be certain while Natalia nodded that she understood, though she still had tears in her eyes despite the gentleness of Tony's words.

"That's right, Sarah. You're not supposed to leave the tower without someone in the family with you. That goes for all of you. The Tower is like a big fortress, a castle. It's designed to keep everyone inside it safe. However, that said, there is always a chance that someone can figure out a way in, like Ms. Milford did, by tricking us. There is also the possibility that someone could storm this fortress. If that happens, we have an emergency protocol. When it is activated, all of you, and Auntie Laura, will go into special armored suits that Uncle Tony made that will take you all to another building that is designed like a fortress so you can be safe," Steve was crouching next to Tony now, looking his daughter in the eye.

"What about Daddy and Papa?" Sarah asked softly.

"If the Tower is attacked, Daddy and Papa, and your aunties and uncles will have to fight the bad guys to protect it and all the other people in the tower. You see, Uncle Tony can't make special suits for everyone in the tower or there would just be a tower full of suits. So, it is our job to makes sure everyone in this tower is okay and to do that we need to make sure that we aren't worrying about you. So, if that happens, don't fight it, get in the suit and let it take you to the other building," Steve was still gentle but stern.

"Why do you have to fight the bad people? Why can't someone else?" Sarah asked, determined to find a flaw.

"Because it's our job. Daddy, Papa, your Aunties and Uncles, we are the best fighters in the whole world, that makes everybody's safety our responsibility," Steve smiled softly at his daughter.

"Will it be Rebecca and Sarah and I's responsibility too?" Natalia asked, leaning forward.

"Only if you want it to be, sweetheart. It is your choice, just like it was our choice to be the protectors of our world," Natasha crouched on the other side of Tony and caressed her daughter's cheek as she spoke.

"Well, if Daddy and Mommy protect the world, I will too!" Natalia declared boldly. She grinned when she received smiles from both her parents.

"That is something you can decide when you are older. It is something you all can decide when you are older. Right now, you are just little kids, no matter how smart and clever you are," Steve smiled at all the kids. "But you understand why we are upset right? Why we are having this talk?"

"Because we were bad to leave the tower without Mommy or Daddy or one of our Aunts or Uncles," Natalia stated firmly.

"Yes, you were. However, I think that the scare you both got from almost getting kidnapped is going to be a very good reminder of why you shouldn't do that again, won't it?" Natasha was firm, looking Natalia in the eye.

"Yep! Not doing that again. Next time I want to surprise Daddy or Mommy I and getting Wanda and Pietro to help," Natalia responded firmly.

"Why's that?" Clint was curious now.

"Because the Hydra guys were beat up by Peter which means he was stronger than them and Wanda and Pietro beat up Peter so that means they are stronger than Peter, which means that they can handle more Hydra goons than Peter," Natalia reasoned.

"Now that is using your noggin. Though, Wanda and Pietro didn't beat Peter up. Pietro just made Peter stay still and Wanda used telepathy to look in Peter's mind to find out what happened. The reason Peter fainted was because sometimes Wanda's telepathy can be a little overwhelming," Clint explained.

"Oh. Well, she can still make all the bad guys go to sleep and that means she is the strongest and the best," Natalia reasoned.

"I won't argue with that logic," Steve stood and glanced at a blushing Wanda.

Tony, meanwhile, had sputtered at the implication that his daughter looked up to Wanda more than him. Wanda and Pietro offered to look after the children while Steve, Bucky, Tony and the rest discussed the situation in more depth. They went over every piece of their hiring process, looking for how they missed a Hydra plant. Eventually, they decided that the only way to guarantee there wouldn't be a repeat would be to have Dr. Culver, Dr. Corrin and Jason Thompson submit to a more thorough inspection by Wanda and any possible replacement for Sarah Milford as well.

Once they finished the discussion, Tony made a decision. FRIDAY obviously still had some flaws in her reasoning programs if she didn't at least check what was in the last shopping trip, how fast they went through flour, or if there was any footage of the last of the flour being used since some had been purchased. She also didn't suggest retrieving some from Steve and Bucky's floor as an alternative option. There had been a few other bugs, here and there from the AI but in the end, Tony had to determine that she really wasn't anywhere near the caliber of JARVIS. In short, he needed to develop a new AI to replace JARVIS.

It was a big project, but Stark Industries was well in hand with the assistance of the rest of the team and there hadn't been much in the way of missions of late. Over the past month Bucky had supplied a few more past missions as his mind sorted out and recovered from Hydra's influence, his missing pieces coming back as the damage was repaired, but none of it were more than confirmations of the paper reports they had pulled from the Siberian base.

Tony told the others of his plan and their response was that as long as he wasn't attempted to create something along the lines of Ultron, they had little issue with what AI was running their home. They did request that he keep an eye on any potential issues with it and to not rush the project as he had with Ultron. With this determined, Tony retrieved Natalia. She may have gotten out of her tutored lessons because of the near kidnapping but she wasn't getting out of her basic computer programing lessons. FRIDAY was good for at least that much.

Steve and Bucky, in turn, had decided that they had allowed their work to distract them a bit too much from their children. This, they determined, was why Sarah had been so eager to make them breakfast. It was her way of asking for attention. Thus, they collected their four children and brought them to their floor for some quality family time. Steve brought out a Monopoly board that he had purchased with the intent of teaching the kids about money and Bucky and Steve taught their daughters how to play the game while George and Joseph 'helped' by sitting in the fathers' laps and occasionally grabbed at game pieces to try and stick in their mouths. Steve and Bucky were quick to prevent the pieces from every reaching the boys' mouths though.

Peter had managed to get a decent analysis of the Stark laptop that had been snuck to him before Aunt May knocked on his door and asked him to join her in the living room. He reluctantly shut to laptop and did as asked. She gestured for him to sit before she began pacing in front of him a bit. She finally paused and sat across from him, "Peter, why didn't you tell me when you first… acquired… your… powers?"

Peter shifted uncomfortably. This really wasn't a conversation that he wanted to have. He stayed silent and she just stared back, waiting. It really was a good tactic, she had raised him since he was three, knew his every weakness, "I didn't want to worry you. You've already been through so much. You lost mom and dad to that car accident and then Uncle Ben in the Battle of New York and you are always telling me stuff like to avoid a dangerous situation if one is ever encounters. I just figured you would storm the Oscorp lab that the field trip was on and then all hell would break loose. You are a little over protective of me." Peter cringed, waiting for an explosion.

He wasn't ignorant in the slightest about his aunt's temper, he had seen it flare enough when she went into Mama Bear mode at the slightest threat towards Peter. It had actually gotten a little worse when his Uncle Ben had died.

Instead of an explosion, May sighed and slumped back into her seat, "Peter, I wouldn't have gone postal on that damned Oscorp lab, though I will now be reporting it to Stark so that he can have them investigated, thank you for that information. No need to have other people getting bitten by radioactive spiders. No, I would have been terrified of what would have happened if they found out about it. I mean, look at how the government treats Dr. Banner or the Black Widow and they have both saved us from major catastrophe. I may have stormed Avengers Tower with you in tow though so that the government couldn't get their hands on you though. I was seriously tempted by Stark's offer to move into the Tower. The only thing holding me back was that I didn't really have an excuse for it."

"I thought you hated the Avengers for what happened with Uncle Ben. I mean you didn't even get his body back, just his cremated remains and that was like six months after the battle," Peter was now genuinely confused. "I saw how much it tore you up to not even be able to bury Uncle Ben."

"I do not hate the Avengers. It wasn't them that kept your uncle's body for so long. I never knew exactly how to explain this to you, you were only eleven at the time, but it wasn't the Avengers fault that your uncle died. I never blamed them, not really, I just needed something, someone to direct my rage at it. The Avengers didn't choose the location of the battle, they were there to answer the threat. They didn't open that portal that let all those Chitari through. They were saving human lives, not taking them. Ben was killed when a Chitari chariot landed on him briefly during the battle. The reason SHIELD kept his body for so long and then cremated it was because it took that long to process and identify everyone who died during the battle and your uncle's body was in such a bad state that they had to identify him by DNA.

"SHIELD and the Avengers both did a lot of work to clean up afterwards. You were with me at the hospital when I did all those surgeries to save the victims we could. I didn't get to submitting your uncle's DNA sample to SHIELD until three days after the battle. We were pretty low on the list of people reporting missing family. Thousands of people died Peter, I was angry but I do know who saved not only New York but the world from an alien invasion," May looked a little broken as she explained it to Peter a little better.

"So, you don't hate the Avengers?" Peter asked weakly.

"No. I'm not exactly a fan of Stark, he is an arrogant, reckless bastard with a nasty reputation when it comes to women, but that doesn't mean I have a personal vendetta against him or any of the others. Stark may be a bastard but he is also a real super hero and he has saved a lot of lives. Your uncle was a cop, Peter. He would roll over in his metaphorical grave or come back and haunt me as a ghost if I rejected what you are now," Peter could tell that his aunt was torn between her maternal instinct to protect the only child she has ever had and the knowledge that he isn't a little boy that needed protecting anymore.

"How much will you be comfortable with?" Peter asked, trying to ease her worries a little.

"Huh?" May raised an eyebrow at him.

"I am still going to be a hero, you said it, Uncle Ben would haunt us both if I ignored what I got, but I can try to keep it lowkey, at least until I'm an adult and better trained in the art of being a super hero," Peter offered.

"Well… can you keep it to low level criminals that don't stand a chance against you? Like idiot muggers in alleys or car jackers? The kind of guys that only carry knives and just look tough but will piss their pants and surrender as soon as they see you?" May asked, a weak smile on her face.

"I'll do you one better. You should try emotionally blackmailing Stark into making my super suit, the one he said he was going to make for me, of a polycarbonate fiber that they are developing for our troops. It is supposed to be bullet proof," Peter smirked.

"Now you're talkin'," May smiled a genuine smile at this. "So, what happened to the spider after it bit you?"

"It died. There shouldn't be any other spider people out there, if you are worrying about that," Peter answered with ease.

"Good to know. I am still talking to Stark about dealing with Oscorp though. I dislike that they just had that radioactive spider loose like that. If one got loose, more could," May was firm on this point.

"It was technically a genetically modified spider, not radioactive. I hacked their system after I got the powers to figure what happened to me. Also, you know it is Captain Rogers that is the leader of the Avengers and not Stark, right?" Peter had relaxed now that he knew that no explosion would be directed at him.

"True, but Captain Rogers isn't the tech wiz of the team and he isn't nearly as easy to scare as Stark is. A lesson in reality, know when to pick your battles. Rogers could crush me like a bug, Stark isn't so tough without his suit on," May smirked making Peter laugh. "Come on. I'm in the mood for Thai."

AN: So, just a general request for opinions on the topic, should I make Aunt May Tony's future love interest. I have taken a liking to the lady and think she could be his match. A bit of background info, I decided that May is a Pediatric Surgeon, thus she would have been in the hospital around the clock just after the Battle of New York, operating on the casualties and I imagine only catching short naps in the break room between operations.

I also think that, given the magnitude of the event, she probably would have brought Peter with her to the hospital, if only because she wouldn't have had anyone to watch him in that kind of emergency situation. I just picture Peter doing little things like keeping the coffee pot full in the staff breakroom and helping keep the younger kids of the hospital staff distracted. That is my mental image at least.