Firstly, I'd like to apologise for taking so long to get this out - I've been really busy lately because school's started back up and I've also got a newfound addiction to Supernatural (up to season 5) x

Now this one is Fury and is one I wasn't sure about... I don't think he's actually quite a gruff or out there as some fics portray him and I've seen a couple where Nick watches over Tony or is actually his godfather, so I decided to go down that route instead xx I hope you all like it - please read and review xx :)

Director Nick Fury had known Howard Stark for a long time. The man was brilliant, a genius, and revolutionary, but he was cold in a way that made Nick wonder how he managed to keep a wife. He was always busy off working than at home, eating home cooked meals and bringing flowers home on a whim.

And when Maria had gotten pregnant, Nick didn't expect Howard to be any better than he had been before.

He wasn't. Even though Maria was six months pregnant, Howard had flown off too far and distant corners of the Earth, inventing things and trying to find a way to resurrect Captain America.

Maria disappeared from the public eye, claiming ill health with her first child (which drove the press crazy over the idea that there might be more to follow). But Nick still saw her, as the wife of one of SHIELD's founders, and she seemed in perfect health - in fact, she was positively glowing, in the way that women only did in pregnancy books and movies.

It only made him wonder why she was allowing all those rumours of ill health circulate - Maria was a proud woman, if incapable of standing up to her husband.

But, still, Howard was a good friend, secrets and lies aside, not that any of them went without.

In fact, after the birth of little Anthony, Howard had proposed he be godfather, as he looked at his son in Maria's arms and seemed prouder than Nick had ever seen him. Nick, sadly but decidedly, turned down the offer. He was a spy, not a nanny, and he would never be able to take care of the child should his parents pass away for the danger it would pose. Instead his godparents became Peggy Carter, still broken-hearted, and a close business partner of Howard's, Obadiah Stane. Nick didn't know either of them very well but trusted in Howard's ability to select suitable carer's for the son he obviously treasured so much (as well as SHIELD's assessment of their characters).

He watched the younger Stark grow up from a distance, looking more and more like his father. He didn't see the two of them interact much, but he supposed that they were too alike to really get on well. Their personalities must've clashed too much for them to be close and neither of them were particularly emotional. But he didn't worry - Maria was more than caring enough for the both of them, perhaps a bit too much, and he would never forget the look of pride on Howard's face the day that Tony was born, despite the look that was currently on his face, eyeing his seven year old son elbow deep in his lab experiments and tinkering with every single one.

Nick watches the child grow up from a distance, knowing that to get close enough for the kid to recognise him, much less know who he is, is dangerous.

But he can't seem to stop.

Everything changes as Tony gets older, the rift between father and son widening for reasons he doesn't know (and that he doesn't have to know, for once). By the time that Maria and Howard pass away, Nick hasn't really seen Tony in two years, resorting to CCTV footage and public appearances (one of which feels like intruding, despite his profession, and the other of which is notoriously unreliable).

He watches the younger Stark spiral into the depths of drink and women and drugs and everything bad about being in the limelight at that age. He knows that the younger Stark is too much like his father to listen to him even if he tried to intercede.

Years pass in that fashion, until Stark manages to render even SHIELD's hacking abilities useless and all that's left is the lies that are told in magazines and the tales of scandal and booze.

When Tony is kidnapped, Nick is one of the first to hear about it.

He gets SHIELD to start looking straight away and pretends that his panic (well hidden though it is) is the thought of what the other side, any of them, could be capable of with Tony Stark on their side.

He can't quite convince himself.

But Tony breaks himself out and becomes Iron Man and there is a new glint in his eye, one of a new kind.

One that says he should not be trifled with.

And even though he shouldn't, Nick can't help himself. He's always been good at baiting Stark's (especially when they're dying of palladium poisoning). He sends Natasha in because she's one of the best Agents they have, and because he knows she's quite capable of handling a depressive Stark, even if she's never had to before. Natasha doesn't back down to anything, especially not a Stark throwing a tantrum, or a self pity party (armed with Iron Man suits and lots of booze - he's actually glad that Rhodey interceded.)

By the time the Avengers have assembled, he's made it quite clear that he doesn't favour Tony for anything and despite how long he's watched and know the man from the shadows, he never stops infuriating Nick.

Sometimes (most of the time) he thinks he understands the look in Howard's eyes when he looked at his son.

(It was annoyance.)

(He is wrong.)