A/N: A couple notes to go over. Good news, Bad news, really on this first one. This story is coming to an end. It's either going to the be next chapter, or the chapter after that, but then, that's it. *sniff sniff* That's the Bad news. Good news! The sequel will come out within the week of it ending! Like, seriously, I have years planned for our boys. All the way up to Peter's High School years. (And a couple more Marvel movies to put in here. Not. Civil War. My emotions can't handle the trailers, or any interviews, so nope. All aboard the Nopetrain to Nopeville in the heart of Nope City!) The next chapter will have the title of the new fic, so you'll know what to look for.
Secondly, I've posted a one-shot featuring Mary and Steve. It's in the series, and it's set between Chapter 6 & 7 of this fic. It's totally fun, all comedy and fluff. Steve is dancing, Mary is dancing, there's Justin Timberlake, and My Best Friend's Wedding references. (All you really need to know about that movie, is the last scene between Jules and George.) There'll be a few more one-shots coming, as well, and then a few multi-chapter fics that are much shorter than this one, and the next.
In short, I have lots of plans.
You're all beautiful and I adore you.
Chapters 17, and 18 posted all at once, don't miss a chapter! :)
Unbeta'd, and Marvel owns more of this than I do. Disney owns them and the movie Tangled. Also, all music belongs to those that wrote/performed/produced/etc them. I use them for humor and good times.
Also, if you go to my Tubmlr page (megaranoelle. tumblr. com) you can catch some behinds the scene stuff about the fic. No spoilers, promise. Maybe you can influence the story.
When Steve pulled into a parking spot and shut off his motorcycle, he was aware of muffled music coming from nearby. When he looked next to him he saw someone sitting in their car, an older model, bright red, convertible car with a black-top, with their music playing loudly. Steve blinked, not quite sure what he was witnessing. There was a young woman with what looked like pink hair, sitting in the car, singing almost as loudly with the music, her upper body seeming to be moving with the music. He couldn't help but stare as she was, what he could only think to call it, dancing. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, and he had seen Peter dancing to some of his favorite cartoons before.
The song ended, and the woman shut off her radio, grabbing something from the car, and turning to open the door. As the door opened, she looked over, blinked, saw Steve looking at her, then smiled, cheeks flushing a little. "Judging by the look on your face, I can tell that you've been watching for a while."
"Maybe not that long," Steve said after a second, realizing that she was indeed talking to him. She got out the car, slamming the door shut probably little harder than usual, and turned to face him. "Less than a minute really."
"Enough to see me enjoying a song," she chuckled, hooking the keys of her car to one of her belt loops. "I'm not going to pretend that what I was doing was dancing, and it's not the first time I've gotten odd looks, I just really like music."
"The song sounded a little familiar." Steve had gotten off of his motorcycle, pushing his sunglasses on the top of his head. They were both in the parking lot of a little restaurant, a hole in the wall really, but when Steve had asked for a place to eat this place had come up the most. "I think I have that song, or something similar at least, on my playlist."
The woman raised an eyebrow at him, looking a little disbelieving at his claim, but there was still a bit of a smile on her face. "You listen to Backstreet Boys?"
"Yeah," he smiled, happy with himself that he hadn't been wrong. "I haven't, uh, listened to music in a long time, so I'm catching up. On music, like, all of it." She raised both eyebrows at him now.
"When did you start?" She asked him.
"Um, last year?"
"I meant what decade," she said with a chuckle. "But it's nice to know how long you have under your belt. Have you never listened to music before that?"
"I did," he said quickly. How was he supposed to explain to her that it had been a while without saying, 'I was frozen in the ice and lost lots of time'? "I listened to a lot of Forties music."
She let out a long whistle, nodding her head. "And you've made it to the Nineties, congratulations. I would have thought that it would have taken a lot longer to make it that far. There are still a lot of people stuck in the Seventies and Eighties."
"I started with the most recent music," Steve confessed. He was not a huge fan of most of the music that had come out recently, and maybe it had been a mistake to start that way, but he had hoped that it help him adjust to the current time a little more quickly.
"I, myself, am a huge fan of the Nineties music, specially Pop music," the woman confessed. "I'm probably still stuck there, but the music was good, and just felt like more value was placed in vocal harmonies..." She trailed off for a second, not looking too positive in her statement. "Well, with some artists. That doesn't even cover some of the instrumental songs that came in the early Two-Thousands. Like I said, I just really like music, and there's not enough time in the day to talk about it. I've probably taken up too much of your time as it is."
"Funnily enough, time is what I have the most of right now," Steve said. He glanced back at the little place, then back at the pink haired woman. He stuck his hand out to her, and she started to shake it before he even started talking. "My name's Steve."
"I'm Meg," she responded with a smile.
"Are you meeting someone for lunch?" Steve asked suddenly. This was something that he usually would never do, something that Tony would do honestly, but he was tired of eating all his meals by himself. After nearly two weeks traveling, he had found all the good spots to eat, and for once he'd like some company. He never had to worry about eating alone, or even in silence, back in at Tony's Manor.
"Nah," she shook her head, shrugging a little, taking a couple steps towards the front entrance. "I was just gonna order something to go, honestly."
"This may seem weird, or forward, but can I interest you in having lunch with me?" Steve asked, trying to sound confident, but pretty sure that he came off as awkward. "I mean, then we could continue talking about music? Maybe you could add to my playlist, give some suggestions."
Meg looked at Steve for a second, probably trying to decide if it was a good idea. Steve couldn't blame her, and he was a little glad that she was thinking about it, using some common sense. "You know what, why not. I can already hear about three of my friends in my head, saying that this is probably too impulsive, but it sucks eating alone."
"Would it help if I gave my word that I'm not a serial killer?" Steve asked as he opened the door for them, letting her walk in first.
"Well, that's what a serial killer would say to get me off my guard." She picked a booth for them to sit at, putting one of the menus in front of him.
"I gave you my real name," Steve countered as he sat across from her.
"Because Steve isn't one of the most popular first names in the past, like, hundred years," she snorted with a smirk. "Alright, creeper, let's see the playlist. I'm going to judge you on your music choices while you look over the menu." Steve took out his phone, setting it on the counter and picked up the laminated menu. "Is this a Starkphone?"
"Yeah," Steve nodded, thanking the waitress when she brought over some waters for them. "I know, it's got a lot of bells and whistles on it, and I've pretty much only mastered the music app. Do you-" He lowered the menu a little to help her unlock the phone, and blinked. She had already unlocked the phone, had the music app open, and was looking through his road trip playlist.
"I haven't seen this model yet," she said. "I didn't think that Stark had released a new one yet. Oh! I love this song!" Steve smiled, this young woman reminding him of Mary.
Tony blinked when he saw that Steve's playlist was active, and new songs were starting to show up. "Jarvis? Steve's still in Michigan, right?"
"Yes, Sir," the AI confirmed. "He is currently in a restaurant."
Tony hummed and nodded, then scrunched his nose up. "No, no, no," he started to shake his head. "Really, Britney Spears, Steven?" He let out a little gasp. "No one listens to Paint it Black unless it's by the Rolling Stones, not some Vanessa Carlton." Tony opened up a screen with all his music, and brought up the connection to Steve's music app next to it. "This needs to be rectified immediately."
Steve munched on a fry, his phone on the table between him and Meg, her showing him how to discover new artists that were similar to what he was already listening, too. "Usually, the top songs will be first here, so you can get a vague idea if you'll like them or not. That's not always true for every case, because sometimes artists decide to change their sound completely in the same album, without warning." Steve chuckled as she glared at the phone.
The phone started to play a song suddenly, and Meg's hands shot up and over her head, hands out in a surrender gesture. "I didn't do it! I also didn't play that song." She leaned back in, looking at the phone. "Although, admittedly, The White Stripes is a pretty good band."
Steve leaned over the phone, picking it up to look at it. The song changed again and Steve raised his eyebrow. "Okay, that's the original Paint It Black, not the cover. Usually phones aren't able to play songs on their own, and like no one is able to hack Starktech, at least not new models."
"No one except for the one who created it," Steve muttered as he paused the song. Tony had sent him a text when he updated the Map app with a suggested course across the country, so he knew that Tony could access his phone from New York. "Really, Tony?"
"Are you trying to tell me that Tony Stark is hacking into your music?" Steve looked up to see Meg's face. "Is he doing it to all Starkphones?"
"Only this one," Steve told her. "This isn't for sale yet, it's a prototype."
Her jaw dropped a little. "You have a prototype from Tony Stark himself? How did you manage that, and can I get in on this?" Steve chuckled and let a little smile turn his lips up when he saw another song pop up in his playlist. "That's a smile of familiarity. Do you work with him?"
"Uh, you could say that?" Steve glanced up at her, then blinked when he saw a devious looking smile on her face. "What?"
"You liiiiiike him," she sing-songed. Steve's eyes widened a little, and Meg started to cackle quietly. "You really like him! And that's why he's messing with your music." She reached into her pocket pulling out her own phone. "Alright, I'm gonna need details, let's do this. I can be an awesome wingman."
"Sir, a new playlist has been created," Jarvis said, bringing Tony back to Steve's screen.
'Best Songs'
"Oh, this should be good." Tony opened the file, seeing only two songs there so far. "What the- Pocketful of Sunshine and I Want It That Way? Jarvis, vitals! I'm not having a stroke am I?"
"No, Sir." Tony groaned and let his forehead fall on his desk.
"Keep an eye on that playlist! I have to make my own to counteract everything that he puts on there." Tony lifted his head, making a new playlist under that one. "Better Songs," Tony murmured as he titled it and added Iron Man and Back In Black. "I swear, it's like he's doing this on purpose, just to drive me crazy."
July 2011
Tony tapped his fingers on the counter, watching Bruce at the stove. Peter and his grandparents were at a water park for the day, the heat not so bad on the July day. Tony hadn't actually paid attention to the weather though while working in his workshop, he had overheated one of the main servers. Now he had to wait for the Tower to cool down, (Jarvis was blasting the AC around the workshop), and wait for the power to be restored to that section on its own. He was bored.
"Why don't you go see what Coulson's doing?" Bruce suggested, turning around with a mug of tea.
"Paperwork," Tony muttered. "I get enough paperwork with Pepper and SI, I don't need his paperwork as well."
"So, don't you have your own paperwork to fill out?" Bruce sat down across from him at the kitchen island. He was getting a head start on dinner. Tony scrunched up his face, almost offended at the suggestion. "Tony, you're bored, and you're starting to annoy me. I have no idea if Steve is going to be back for his birthday," Tony's head shot up, looking scandalized, "and I wish you would just text him to find out if he is."
"He's not answering my texts after I put 'Sweet Home Alabama' in his playlist as soon as he crossed the state lines into Alabama," Tony said, leaning his head down on the counter. "Then made sure that all song by the band Alabama were played exclusively."
"I can't imagine why he would stop responding to you after that." Bruce gave Tony a deadpanned expression.
"I know! It was funny as shit!" Tony smiled a little. He had laughed when he made the custom playlist, and made sure that the only thing Steve could do was mess with the volume, and press pause and play.
"Seriously, Tony," Bruce said with a little sigh. "Go do something around the tower, find something to take up your time until Peter gets back."
Tony groaned a little, wobbled his head, then pushed himself up from the chair. He grabbed his tablet and Bruce waved to him as he headed for the elevator. Tony checked on Steve's playlist as Jarvis took him down one floor.
Coulson had already been in to check on Mary, his usual chair had a blanket draped over it, with a tablet sitting on the seat. Tony put his own tablet on the bedside table, glanced on the bed, then let himself, gently, flop down next to Mary on the bed. If it weren't for the oxygen mask on her face, it would look like she was just sleeping.
Tony glanced at her, on his stomach, face pressed into a pillow. "Funnily enough, I'm always in this position when I'm in bed with you. Last time, when we made a baby, I remember landing like this, next to you, but there was at least a smile on both of our faces." He snorted softly, then brought his arms up to pillow his head on. "I'm going to assume that No one else has measured up to me in bed, because my ego demands it." Tony turned his head the other way, glancing at tablet on the bedside stand, but not moving to grab it. "I know why you didn't want to sleep with me again, because you got together with Agent, and I totally understand. The one time we slept together we had Peter. And while I could have a hundred Peter's, none of them would be as awesome as our little boy, and man would your body hate me. It's obvious that my body is just that awesome, pregnant in one."
"S'full ovyurself." Tony jumped up when he heard the soft response. He turned to look at Mary and saw her eyes cracked open, looking in his direction. "Ego."
"Fuck! Mary, holy fuck!" He moved closer to her, hands hovering but not touching yet. "Shit, uh, how's your breathing? Are you in pain? Should I move? Uh-"
"I've contacted Dr Banner," Jarvis spoke up helpfully. "He is on his way."
The corner of Mary's lips turned up a little, and she slowly lifted her hand closest to Tony up, Tony instantly reaching forward to take in both of his. He leaned his head down, resting his forehead on her shoulder lightly, closing his eyes when he felt Mary's other hand rest gently on top of his head. A couple of tears leaked onto the shoulder of the shirt that she was wearing, but neither of them would say anything about it.
Bruce walked in, a small smile on his face, stethoscope in his hand. "Just going to make it clear, this is not going to be a regular thing." Mary smiled at him, nodding once, and Tony sat back on his legs.
"We all know that's not going to stick," Tony said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "You're the only Doc that I trust with my life." Tony grinned at the look that Bruce shot him. Tony made himself comfortable on the bed while Bruce did what he needed to do with Mary. He eventually took the breathing mask off, and Tony moved to help get her sitting up in the bed.
"You're probably going to be feeling sore for a bit," Bruce told her, eventually having to stop Tony from putting too many pillows behind her. "But, no worries, we have a plan for that."
"I have a plan for that," Tony corrected him. Mary rolled her eyes a little, and pat Tony's knee with her hand.
"You have a lot to fill me in on," Mary said softly. Bruce handed her a cup of water with a straw, letting her take small sips to wet her mouth and throat.
"I do!" Tony reached over and grabbed his tablet. "Jarvis, get a song queued up to play on Steve's playlist. Something with Mary in the title, let's get the message across."
"I shall take care of it, Sir."
Tony grinned then made himself comfortable, sitting next to Mary on the bed. Bruce took a couple more readings from the equipment around her, made sure she was comfortable, then left them, shutting the door. Tony reached over, taking Mary's hand and lacing his fingers with her. "I won't tell Agent about this if you won't," Tony said with a little smile. Mary lifted their hands and planted a soft kiss on his knuckles.
"Talk to me, Tony." Four simple words from someone that he had wanted to talk to for nearly six weeks, and he was nearly in tears again.
"Okay, well, first things first, you've been out for like, six weeks," Tony told her. "Most of your other injuries have healed, and I'm sure that Jarvis is monitoring your brain activity."
"Indeed I am," the AI answered.
"So no worries there at least. Barton filled us in on what happened with you, and-" he put his other hand on her arm when it looked like she was going to interrupt him, "he's fine, I'll get there. We got Loki and the Tesseract, and we sent both of them back with Thor to Asgard."
"I bet Fury was thrilled,' she said, looking at Tony as he spoke.
"He was actually pretty okay with sending the Cube back, and we were all okay with sending the other prick back as well." Tony stopped himself from huffing through his nose. "There was an alien invasion, and we stopped that, saved the world, so yay. Oh, and Fury made us think that Agent was dead, but then we found out that he wasn't, and we brought him back, and now he's doing paperwork in one of my office suites of the Tower. Oh yeah! We're all in the Tower now, and it's July."
Mary looked at Tony, blinked a couple times, taking in all the information. She didn't have much time to digest it all before the door opened, and there was a loud, little, gasp. "Mama!" Peter saw that Mary was awake, eyes open, and sitting up, and he ran over to the bed. He was about to take a running leap, feet leaving the floor, and Tony reached over, grabbing him from the air, and settled in his lap. Peter wrapped his arms around Mary's neck, and Mary wrapped her arms around him, pulling him against her chest.
"You've been asleep for so long, and we were all sad, and Daddy said that if we took care of you that you would wake up faster, and so we took real good care of you, but you wouldn't wake up, and, and, and," Peter trailed off as he dissolved into soft sobs, holding onto Mary as tight as he dared.
Tony glanced over to the door, seeing Mary's parents walking in, tears in Rachel's eyes. "I'm awake now, baby boy," Mary said quietly, her own tears trailing down her cheeks. No one could resist an upset, crying child, it was like a punch to the gut. "I'm awake, I'm not going anywhere. I love you so much, Peter." Peter had tried to make himself as small as possible to fit entirely in Mary's arms, soft sniffles sounding as he held on for all he was worth.
Tony carded his hands through Peter's hair a few times before he leaned over to drop a kiss on the top of his head, and get up from the bed. Mary looked at him, but he just gave her a soft smile. "I'm gonna go tell Agent, and I'm gonna give your parents some time here." He turned to head out, catching both eyes from the Fitzpatrick's. Rachel nodded to him before walking over to the bed and to her daughter, and William put a hand on Tony's arm, for just a second. Tony didn't say anything but left the room a moment later, closing the door most of the way before his feet propelled him down the hall.
He knew that Coulson would know already, and that he would be there in no time at all, so Tony escaped to the only other place he would feel comfortable. "Black out protocol, subset B," Tony said quietly as soon as he entered his workshop. The windows frosted up, the lights dimming closest to the door and windows, and music started playing, albeit a lot quieter than usual. Usually he would blast the music, make the whole room shake and putting those earthquake sensors into test mode, but this was different. He still needed to know if his attention was needed, if anything happened, but he didn't want to be brought back to reality without a reason. Jarvis knew what to look for.
"Sir, Ms Parker requests your help," Jarvis said, cutting the music in the workshop. Tony looked up from the new gauntlet he was working on. He had had a few new ideas for the suit, and he wanted to make the suit more compatible with the new arc reactor. At the AI's words though, Tony put down the soldering gun and pushed himself away from the desk.
"What time is it, Jarvis?" Tony asked as he grabbed a rag, wiping his hands off, heading for the exit.
"It is Quarter to Eleven, Sir." Tony blinked a little. He'd been working a lot longer than he had thought. Hopping in the elevator, Tony let Jarvis take him to the right floor, stuffing the rag in his back pocket. The hallway to Mary's room was lit with a dim light, but he could see light spilling out from Mary's room itself. Gently pushing the door open, he peeked in to see that Mary was still awake, still sitting up in the bed, and there was a sleeping Peter against her chest. She waved him in.
Tony was pretty sure he knew what the problem was, and leaned in and expertly removed Peter from her arms, letting her relax, and held his son to his own chest, arms around him. Peter made soft noise, rolling a bit as he was moved, but when his hand settled on Tony's chest and his reactor, he calmed down and fell right back into a deep sleep.
"He gets clingy," Tony practically whispered, sitting on the edge of Mary's bed as he held Peter. "I didn't think that he would want to sleep alone tonight, I probably should have warned you."
"I had figured as much," Mary responded in the same soft tone. "And normally, I would have stayed like that all night-"
"You're technically still healing," Tony finished for her. "Let me get him to Agent then, and I'll come back to help you get comfortable."
"I can-" Tony turned a look on her and Mary stopped talking, giving a small smile back. "I'll stay just like this until you come back."
Tony let out a huff through his nose and gently got up with Peter in his arms. Coulson was just a couple rooms down the hall, a light still on. Tony knocked on the door and Phil wasted no time answering it, letting Tony come in.
"Hey, Petey," Tony said to the sleeping boy. "Time to sleep in a bed." Peter made a sound of protest, Tony rubbing his back. "Yeah, I know, but it's late and you're sleepy."
"M'not," the word slurred from the boys mouth, eyes not opening though.
"One day, you might be able to pull that off more convincingly." Tony let Coulson take the sleeping boy this time, dropping a kiss to Peter's forehead. "Goodnight, Petey." Coulson gave him a nod and a little smile, putting Peter on the bed and covering him with the blanket. Tony watched him sleep for a moment before leaving the room, going back to Mary's room.
True to her stubborn self, Mary was already trying to move back into a comfortable position. Tony couldn't even say anything, because he would be doing the exact same thing. He just walked in, leaned up on the bed next to her, and helped her try to slide back down without jostling her body too much.
"I imagine that probably your hip and your ribs hurt the most," Tony said as she adjusted to her right side.
"Yeah," she nodded. "Dr Banner and Jarvis explained my injuries to me, so I'm not too surprised I'm still in pain."
"Lying in a bed for that long probably didn't help either." Tony made sure that there were more pillows in her reach when she finally stopped moving. "I'll hit the light on the way-" he glanced back as her hand grabbed onto his wrist.
"I'm not tired yet," she said to him. "And you haven't gotten the time you need."
"You just woke up," Tony argued. "As cliché as it sounds, you do still need to rest, ease yourself into being back in the real world."
"I could hear you talking to me sometimes." Tony hadn't been expecting her to say that to him. "Tony, sit down and talk to me. At least reassure me about your arc reactor."
Tony took a deep breath before turning on his foot, sliding down onto the bed. Mary kept a hold on his wrist, but her hand slid down to rest over his. "Bruce and I figured out a new element. Amazingly it was Howard that did the ground work, hiding an element in the design of the Stark Expo. I saw it the opening night of the Expo. It took a day or so to get made, but we got it worked out, and I couldn't be feeling better." He pulled the collar of his shirt down to show her that the black lines had disappeared.
"Did Peter notice the difference?" Mary asked. She had also noticed that Peter picked up on the arc reactor in a strange, but not negative, way.
"Oh yeah," Tony said with a nod. "He liked it, said it felt like a good different. Jarvis runs regular scans on it, probably will for the first year or so, just to make sure that there are no negative side effects, or that the element does fail or start to degrade ahead of schedule."
"It can degrade?" Mary asked with a genuine curiosity.
"Every element degrades to a point, half-lifes, and all that scientific stuff," Tony said with a wave of his hand. "I really don't think we have to worry about it, though. Bruce came up with a very rough base estimation of a two-hundred year half-life." Mary whistled, and Tony chuckled a little. "This is me we're talking about though. With continued use of the Iron Man suit, and any testing that I'm sure to do, that'll probably be cut down by a third."
"Still nothing to worry about," she said with a nod. "I was worried about you, Tony. I trusted that you would figure something out, but I'd be lying if I said that I was worried that it might not be in time."
"I had everything worked out," he said in a soft voice. "All those ugly technicalities that no one likes to think about, or worry about."
Mary squeezed his hand once. "Alright, so that's the arc reactor, and Phil told me about the Expo."
"Ah, about how it was crashed, and how a certain Star Spangled Man showed up?" He shot a look her way, one that wanted to be angry and betrayed, but just couldn't get there. He understood why she kept it a secret, and he really wasn't hurt about it anymore, but he still wanted some kind of explanation.
"Because you would have accepted it so much easier if I told you, 'Hey, Howard's Golden Boy is back, I'm his Handler, and oh yeah, our son adores him.'" Tony scrunched up his nose a little. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Peter's told me about the Captain America collection that you showed him."
"Yeah, well, I'm sure some of the first meetings with Spangles could have gone a bit better," Tony huffed out. He looked at Mary and saw that her cheeks were turning a bit red. "Don't tell me that Jarvis showed you the recordings?"
"Alright, I won't tell you that." Tony groaned and dropped his head back against the headboard of the bed. "You were both out for blood in there."
"It almost became literal blood."
"And now?" Mary asked. "I don't see Steve around here, and Phil wouldn't tell me where was, said that you would know."
"Okay, in my defense, I only know where he is because I've been tracking him with Jarvis," Tony said, raising his finger up for a second. "Cap and I have come to, an understanding. We aren't at each other's throats, and actually, maybe, kind of, sorta, get along now." He wiggled when Mary nudged his side with her elbow.
"Mom tells me that he stood up to your black-mailing ex," she said with a smirk. "Went all righteous Captain America on him."
"The asshole had it coming!" Tony huffed with a pout. There were still a few lawsuits out there against George Hayes, and the press was still waiting for Tony's big reveal about the relationship that he had promised them. He kept reassuring them that it would come, and that he hadn't forgotten about it. He also praised them for putting in an effort when it came to Mini-Me.
"Oh, I know all about that, too," Mary said with a nod. Then she hit Tony's leg as hard as she could at the time. "We were supposed to talk about what would happen when you announced Peter to the Press." Tony opened his mouth to protest, then blinked with wide eyes when her hand reached up to tug him down, giving him a peck on the lips. "But, I'm proud of you at the same time. Mom and Dad played the press conference for me. Peter was beaming as he watched it again." Tony could feel his cheeks warming. "You are a proud father, Tony, and it isn't hard to see. Such a change from the man that first held his son, eyes wide, freaking out."
"Oh, I still freak out every time I hold him," Tony slipped in. "I'm just able to hide if better. And he's older, so he can land on his feet if I accidentally drop him. Like a cat. But, he's not a cat." Mary snorted softly. "I can't believe that anyone, especially you, trusts me with a tiny human."
"That boy couldn't stop singing your praises today!" Mary grinned at him. Tony relented and laid down next to Mary since she had pulled him down. "Telling me about all the things you did with him back at the Manor, and since you've arrived at the Tower. You are a good Father, Tony, and I don't want you to ever think otherwise."
"There's still so much room to mess up though," Tony told her. "I don't know how I've lasted this long, honestly. It's probably because there's still people here to help me with him. I'm really not sure how you manage to do it, manage to be a full-time parent all the time."
"You think I don't have help?" Mary said, looking at him with a smile in her eyes. She was amused by this. "Having Phil around to help? Having Steve in the same building to help? When we were in California, my parents were there all the time to help me. No parent is perfect, but what makes a parent worthy of their title, worthy of the love of their child, is that they try, really try." She rested a hand on Tony's cheek. "It's okay that you freaked out, that you still do, and that you thought that you might not be able to take over the primary role right away. What counts is that you didn't give up, though. You tackled it head first, just like you do with everything when it comes to Peter, and you aren't stopping."
"He gets into danger because of me," Tony argued weakly.
"And my job isn't the least bit dangerous?" Mary asked with a raised eyebrow. "Loki didn't find out about Peter because of you Tony, he knew about him before he even made it topside, the day he came to Earth. Our jobs each have their own set of dangers, our own enemies, and we try to protect him from that. Was this something that we planned for in our future? To have a child that would be in danger?"
"We didn't even plan for a child." He smirked a little when Mary pushed his face.
"My point is, we didn't do this on purpose, but it's going to happen. So, the least we can do is protect him when that danger comes calling, like we always do." Mary looked at Tony, really looked at him, into his eyes and ran her thumb along the edges of the dark circles under his eyes. "When was the last time you slept, Tony?"
Tony fidgeted a little, but couldn't bring himself to look away from her. "I passed out on the workshop couch last week sometime," he admitted quietly.
"You're sleeping here tonight, then," Mary announced, pushing a pillow towards him.
Tony started to shake his head, pushing himself up. "Nope, not going to happen." Mary grabbed the side of his shirt to stop him. "I can't sleep, not here, Mary. I'll end up making your injuries worse, and I'm sure you don't want to be stuck in this bed."
"You can't sleep one day a week," Mary told him sternly. "And it's not sleeping if you pass out from exhaustion."
"If you're going to make that distinction, then I probably haven't slept in nearly five weeks," Tony muttered.
"How bad was it to give you nightmares like this?" Mary asked softly, and Tony squeezed his eyes shut. "Are they worse?"
Tony swallowed, then licked his lips. "There was always a way out of the desert," he said quietly. "I'll be fine, you know that. I'll learn to deal with it, eventually." Mary let out a sigh, but she didn't push. He knew what she would say, she had said it all before when he was still having nightmares after getting back from Afghanistan. "Just as long as Peter doesn't see, than it doesn't matter."
"It'll always matter, Tony," Mary told him. "You shouldn't have to suffer-"
"I wasn't the one in a coma," Tony interrupted. "I wasn't the one stabbed by Loki. Got away with a couple busted suits, minimal concussion, and a sprained wrist, which is functioning back at ninety percent now. I got off relatively unscathed compared to others, compared to those that didn't come back."
"You take on too much." Mary tugged on his shirt, pulling him back to lay down on the bed. "You need to talk to someone about what happened, soon," she told him, her tone leaving no room for argument. They both laid there for a couple of moments, before Mary spoke up again. "You never did tell me where Steve was."
"Your neighbor went on a cross-country exploration trip," Tony told her. "And he has been listening to some ghastly music while doing it."
Mary let out a snort, smiling, and biting her lip to keep from laughing. Oh, there was a story there that Tony needed to know immediately.
The closer he got to the Tower, the more anxious Steve got. Mary was awake. It was enough to have him speeding through the streets on New York, and skidding into the private garage of the Tower, leaving tire marks on the cement. Steve jumped off of his back and jogged over to the elevator, pressing his hand to the scanner, and nearly falling in when the doors finally opened.
"A pleasure to have you back, Captain Rogers," Jarvis' voice filtered through the speakers. The elevator started to move on its own.
"Thanks, Jarvis." Steve was able to take a breath, and started to pat down his shirt and pants from wrinkles. He hadn't actually thought about it, but he probably looked a bit of a mess. As he was running his hands through his hair the doors opened to the floor that Mary was on. Steve stepped out, then stopped. He didn't actually know where Mary would be. Steve hadn't actually helped Tony on this floor, had mostly just helped with the rebuild of the broken windows and doors on the penthouse floor, where Peter would be sleeping.
"Mr Steve! You're back!" Steve grinned at the voice of Peter, calling out as he and Tony emerged from a hallway, the boy on his Daddy's back, arms wrapped around Tony's neck. Steve noted that Tony looked a little lighter, a smile on his face, and looked like he may have gotten some sleep recently.
"Hey, kiddo." Steve smiled and walked over to give him a hug, the boy never moving from his piggy-back ride from Tony.
"Mare's down the hall, second door. It's open," Tony informed him. "I have to feed this one lunch, his stomach is going to eat him soon!"
"No it's nooooot," Peter said. His growling stomach proved otherwise, and Peter only giggled as Tony rolled his eyes with a smile. "It's gonna eat everyone!"
"Yup, time to get some food," Tony said with a chuckle, heading towards the kitchen. Steve smiled as he watched them walk away, before heading in the direction that Tony had nodded towards.
The door to Mary's bedroom was indeed open, and she was sitting up in the bed, awake, and smiling. Jarvis must have told her he was coming, because she looked like she was expecting him. "Steven Rogers, how dare you not be in the city to greet me when I wake up." Steve smiled at her and took a few big steps to reach her bed, leaning in to hug her.
"How dare you sleep for so long," he retaliated softly. When they let go of the hug he sat down next to her in the bed. "You look a hell of a lot better than the last time I saw you."
"You're not looking so bad yourself," she said, giving him a quick once over. "Apparently this cross-country trip Tony told me about has done you a little good?"
Steve shrugged a little, bobbing his head back and forth. "A little. It was good to get out, see things for myself, and not part of any kind of mission."
"I bet you're a people watcher," Mary said, leaning back against her pillows.
Steve chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I did do a lot of that. I talked to some people, too, learned some stuff about the Twenty-First century. But, it's nice to be back home." Mary raised an eyebrow at him.
"Don't think I've heard you use the phrase 'home' before. Sounds like you've learned a lot since I was out." Leave it to Mary to pick up on things, Steve thought. "Peter tells me that you stayed with them in the Manor before you left. He's going to be real happy to see you again, by the way."
"He already caught me walking in," Steve told her happily. "I think he was too engrossed in his piggy-back ride on Tony, though." He smiled when he heard Mary's laugh again. Everything was starting to feel like normal again now that she was back. "The Manor was, interesting to say the least."
"I'll say!" Mary exclaimed. "I mean, the things I must have missed out on. You and Tony are actually talking, and keeping eye contact, my parents are still here, too. And tell me, is it true, did my mother actually defend Tony?" Steve laughed at the look on Mary's face. Tony almost had the same look when it had happened, the same look of disbelief. "I didn't actually wake up in an alternate universe did I? There's not some horrid place out there when I'm actually dead, and I never met you or Tony? Can you imagine it!" She grabbed Steve's shoulder, moving him back and forth in an exaggerated fashion. "Peter lives with some other distant relative, you and Tony fight all the time, and suddenly some horrible superhero war breaks out, and oh! My poor little Peter gets involved in it! No, say it isn't so!" She put her arm over her eyes and slumped back against the pillows.
Steve couldn't keep his laughter in, even covering his mouth. "A superhero war? Mary, what the hell?" She smiled at him as she straightened up again.
"Dr Banner gave me some pain medication not too long ago, and I think it just kind of fuels my imagination." She preened a bit, batting her eyes at him. "Oh what am I doing? That does nothing for you. Need to get some guy with amazing lashes in here."
"Mary!" He exclaimed with a slight blush. "What exactly did Bruce give you?"
"Ohhhh, you call him Bruuuuuce," she teased, poking his arm a little. "Do you have a thing for the good Doctor? He's a little on the short side, so that would be interesting in a logistical format, because he's shorter than even Tony. But, the hair is very-"
"Mary," Steve said with a choked off chuckled. "He helped save the world, and Tony may or may have told me it's okay to just keep calling him Bruce."
"Toooony gave you permission." She smiled at him, and Steve felt the blush creeping up his neck again. "Oh, that, that right there is totally a thing. Is there a story? I want a story, Steven. Last I was aware, you had been avoiding Tony, and now you have a place to stay right here in his Tower." Mary gave him a knowing look. "I want to know how that happens. I heard what you two said to each other on the Hellicarrier." Steve looked away, and Mary could practically see the shame crawling all over him.
"I wish I had never said any of that," he muttered. "I feel like such a clod."
Mary pat Steve's back a little. "I like that word, clod. Just the way it sounds." Steve glanced back at Mary and she motioned for him to sit back with her on the bed. "Tony feels bad about what was said then, too, so you can both stop beating yourself up about it now. Tony has a lot of insecurities." Steve nodded a little, having had Tony talk to him about them, or let him bear witness to them in action. It really spoke platitudes to how much their relationship had advanced in such a short time. "Well, you'll be staying here now, right? Tomorrow's your birthday, and I know that both Stark men have been eagerly anticipating your arrival for that."
Steve chuckled lightly and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be sticking around. It's kind of horrid traveling in July in the southern US anyway," he said to her. "It's very hot and humid." Mary laughed, just nodding.
There was a light knock on the door and both of the rooms occupants looked over to see Coulson standing there, holding onto a file. "Captain, good to have you back."
"Good to be back, Coulson," Steve said with a smile.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" Coulson asked before Mary shook her head, and he walked into the bedroom. He walked over to the other side of Mary, leaning down to give her a kiss. "I was going through some paperwork, getting the forms that you'll eventually need for when you decide to come back to work, and there was just something that bothered me about them."
"What's that?" Mary leaned up a little to try and look at the papers in the file he was holding. Steve felt like he should leave the room, lest Phil rope him into paperwork himself.
"Well, I was going to start filling these in for you," Phil started, flipping through a couple of pages.
"You are the master of paperwork, hun," Mary nodded, eventually just resting her chin on his shoulder.
"It turns out that I can't do that, though," Phil closed the file, but kept his hand inside the cover. "It was a paperwork nightmare getting you transferred to Tony's care, because he's technically not next of kin, and of course Peter is too young." Mary hummed, nodding, wondering along with Steve where this was going. "I thought to myself, I know how to take care of this, and really, it's just been long overdue." Coulson swiveled a bit, slid off the bed and down to the ground. On one knee. Holding up a ring. "Mary, will you let me be the one to fill out your paperwork, and take care of you, for the rest of your life, as my wife?"
Steve's eyes widened and he almost fell off the bed himself. Mary let out a shocked bark of laughter, then covered her mouth. But her eyes were shining. She nodded immediately. "Holy hell, yes!" She leaned forward, grabbing his face with her hands and kissed him. "That was possibly, the most perfect way to propose." Phil grinned at her. "Seriously, only you would propose while talking about paperwork, and still make it sound romantic." She kissed him again, beaming ear to ear.
Phil slipped the ring on her finger, then glanced over at Steve as he sat back on the bed, arm around Mary. "Don't propose with paperwork, Rogers. You wouldn't be able to pull it off." Mary cackled with laughter, burying herself in Phil's side.