Tony looses himself in his work for a time before jolting back to himself,

'Jarvis, what's the time?'

'Peter has been asleep for an hour and five minutes,' Jarvis tells him promptly. 'I have been monitoring his REM cycle and believe it would be best to wake him in ten minutes or so, if he does not wake on his own.'

'Right,' Tony relaxes back into his chair, 'thanks, Jay.'

'Of course, sir.'

'I still have a lot of work to do,' Tony looks down at the tweaks he's been making. 'You think I can take him to the workshop, let him play with Dummy and You?'

'I believe they would be delighted,' Jarvis also sounds pleased.

'Don't think being a dad is going to keep me out of the workshop,' Tony reassures him with a grin. 'I'm going to be a better father than Howard, but I can't give up working.'

'I shall prepare the workshop for your arrival, sir,' Jarvis replies as Tony gets up to wake his son.

He pauses at the door to his bedroom to gaze at the boy for a moment,

'He's gorgeous, isn't he J,' Tony smiles.

'You are fishing for compliments, sir,' Jarvis replies.

Tony laughs quietly,

'Fair enough.'

Pete wakes with a start as Tony brushes his hand through the boy's hair,

'Shhh, sorry Pete, it's just me.'

'Dada,' he wraps his arms around Tony's neck.

'Yeah, come on baby,' Tony stands up. 'I have to get some work done downstairs so...'

'I want to stay with you!' Pete declares and tightens his grip.

'Hey,' Tony just hugs him back, 'that's fine; you're coming with me. You can play in my workshop while I'm working. We'll take your toys with us, ok?'

Pete is silent for a moment,

'You aren't going away?'

'No,' Tony tells him emphatically as he carries him to the mess that is the main room of the penthouse.

Pete settles against his chest, though his hand is fisted in the material of Tony's t-shirt.

'Shall we take your cars or your zoo animals with us?' Tony asks, noting the Steve seems to have managed to split those two into separate boxes.

'Animals,' Pete declares.

'Ok,' Tony grabs that box and heads to the lift. 'You can play with those, and with the bots, and I can try to fix what those idiots at SHIELD managed to do by guessing their way towards my tech.'

Dummy perks up as soon as they set foot inside the workshop and chirps happily, You appears to be monitoring the incubator in the corner but also turns to greet them.

'Hello boys,' Tony grins, 'Dada's home. This is Pete, you saw him yesterday but he was sleeping then, you'll all play nice now, won't you. Pete,' he gestures to the bots, 'this is Dummy and You; they're robots.'

He takes Pete over to the sofa in the corner and helps him arrange his animals on the floor,

'I'm going to be just over there,' Tony waves vaguely. 'You need anything you just shout, ok?'

Dummy has rolled over slowly and peers over Tony's shoulder where he's kneeling down. Pete gazes at the bot and then offers him the plastic elephant.

'Ok,' Tony smiles as he moves away.

Dummy takes the elephant gently and the waves it around before balancing it, badly, on the arm of the sofa. It takes him five attempts before it stays put and Pete is giggling happily when he does.

'Good boy,' Tony smiles at his bot and then engrosses himself in his work.


Steve feels strangely lonely after he leaves the penthouse. It's incredible how much he already adores that little boy and his regard for Tony has reached new heights after seeing him as a father.

'Jarvis,' Steve calls out as he gathers up some paper to start drafting his report of the mission, 'can you order me a camera? There should be photos of this time and I'm not sure Tony will remember to take any.'

'I feel I should remind you, Captain, that your StarkPhone is fully capable of taking photographs,' Jarvis replies.

'Oh, of course,' Steve collects it from where he'd left it with his bike keys. 'I guess I'll learn how to use that function then.'

'I can assist you, should you require it,' Jarvis adds.

'Thank you,' Steve smiles as he turns on the phone

His report goes forgotten.