Tony sat back on the sofa. Maddie was playing contentedly on a blanket off to the side. It had been a long day. Pepper was still at her meeting, and Tony had been watching his daughter all day without help. He was proud of himself. All the fear he'd felt the day she was born was starting to fade. At least the little stuff was. There was always the fear that something would happen to either Maddie, or Pepper and himself.
Tony stood up to go himself a glass of water. He really wanted something stronger, but with Pepper gone, he didn't want to set a bad example. He and Pepper had both agreed it would be better for him to try to cut back on how much he drank. When he came back into the room, Maddie was no longer on her blanket. All the fears came back at once.
"Maddie?" No answer. What makes you think she's gonna answer? She's just a baby, she doesn't understand when to answer back. He walked around the living room, panicking. "Come on, little girl, where are you?" He heard a clatter in one of the rooms down the hall. He ran towards the sound. There was another crash, and he knew it was coming from Maddie's room. The light wasn't on, but the door was cracked open slightly. Tony opened it carefully, and flipped the light on. Maddie glanced up at her daddy, and squealed in delight when she recognized him. Tony scooped her up in his arms, breathing a gusty sigh of relief. Maddie reached up and tried to grab at his goatee. Tony grinned.
"What were you doing in there all by yourself? Huh? You scared me there, sweetheart. Don't do that again." Maddie seemed nonplussed by the scolding tone. Then it hit him. Maddie had gotten into her room by herself. How? He kissed the top of her head, and set her down to see what she would do. She stared up at him for a second, and then pulled herself onto her hands and knees, and took off down the hall. Tony shook his head in disbelief.
Maddie was crawling.
If only Pepper had been here for that. He flipped his phone open and dialed. Pepper would be out of her meeting by now, he was pretty sure. He followed the little girl.
"Tony? Is something wrong?" Pepper answered the phone. Tony laughed.
"No, nothing's wrong. Maddie just figured out how to crawl." Pepper sounded like she was about to cry.
"Oh, that's great! I wish I'd been able to see that." Tony smiled.
"I'll send you a video, okay? I love you."
"I love you too. I'll be back tomorrow."
"Sweet. I'll pick you up at the airport, okay?"
"See you then. Bye"
"Bye." Tony clicked his phone shut, and turned on the camera. He picked up Maddie and held the camera up so that her face filled the frame.
"Maddie crawling, at 7 months, in three…two…one…" He set the baby down and filmed her as she crawled away. He followed her and watched in amazement as she hoisted herself up onto her feet, using the coffee table as a crutch. Holding onto the edge, she walked around the entire thing. When she reached the starting point, she looked up at the camera. Her two-toothed grin made Tony crack up. He couldn't believe it. She had walked! He picked her up.
"Okay, Maddie, say hi to Mama." Maddie tried to eat the phone instead. Tony freed the phone from her grasp. "Sorry 'bout that, Pep. I guess she's done wowing us for the day. We love you." He stopped filming and hit send.
Pepper glanced over at the phone when it started vibrating. She opened it and waited for the video to download. Once it was ready, she hit play. An involuntary gasp escaped when she saw her daughter walking around the coffee table like a pro. The end of the video brought tears. She missed her husband and daughter. She texted Tony.
I thought you said she was crawling! :) Love you too. Give Maddie a kiss for me.
She put the phone back on the nightstand and turned out the lights.