Maggie May

Rod Stewart

"Tell Dad how you spell your name!" Steve said leaning on his elbows across the granite breakfast counter.

"You can spell your name?" Tony asked with wide eyes and the kind of enthusiasm only a four-year-old wouldn't take as sarcasm. He finished blending his health shake and set a bowl of Capt'n Crunch in front of Margaret.

"You do it Daddy," Margaret said as she spun around and around on one of the high chairs sitting at the counter. Always the over-cautious one, Steve grabbed her and stopped her from spinning. "Dad knows I know how to spell your name, he wants you to do it!" Margaret pulled her long curly hair out of her face and wriggled in the seat to sit straight upright like she always did when she wanted to seem grown up.

"M-A-R. G-A-R. E-T phone home!" she said grinning proudly.

"E-T phone home?" Tony asked trying very hard not to laugh.

"We just watched the movie, she said it helped her remember," Steve said laughing along with Tony.

"What?" Margaret demanded. "Didn't I spell it right?"

"Yes, my little alien, it was perfect," Tony said kissing her on top of the head, holding in a few more chuckles until he was secluded in his workshop.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir," responded the familiar voice.

"Did the camera in the kitchen happen to get that?" A screen appeared above Tony's desk with a clear shot of Margaret, Steve, and Tony all gathered around the breakfast counter.

"Is this what you are referring to, sir?" JARVIS asked. Tony moved his finger back and forth tracking the video backwards and forwards until he was fully satisfied. He marked the beginning and end of the exchange and asked JARVIS to save the video to Margaret's file, which was quickly filling with videos and pictures.

Tony smiled at some of the memories stored in the file like the time Nick Fury checked in on them and Margaret asked if he was a pirate. Naturally Fury didn't find it as funny as Tony and Steve, but he was uncharacteristically kind about the situation when Pepper took Margaret up to her room. Over the past few years Tony and Steve had learned that those big blue eyes of hers let her get away with pretty much anything. He turned up his endless rock playlist and got to working on Bruce's latest suggestion when the music cut out and JARVIS said, "Sir, Miss Margaret is requesting entry."

"Huh?" Tony said completely distracted. He turned around to see his four-year-old with her freckled face and tiny hands pressed up against the glass, the top of her head barely reaching the keypad to enter the workshop. Tony smiled and set down his tools, "Let her in, JARVIS." The glass door slid back and Margaret stood there motionless.

"What's up sweetheart?" Tony asked.

"Whacha doin'?" Margaret continued standing tentatively in the doorway. The workshop was always off limits to her, too many dangerous things in Steve's opinion. Tony took the initiative to walk over and scoop her up and bring her over to his main work table.

"Uncle Bruce has an idea to make my arc reactor better," Tony said pulling up green glowing prints of the new, more efficient design while he held Margaret in one arm. The glow of the screen reflected in her big eyes like glass.

"Is your arcactor gonna be green?" Margaret asked turning those big blue eyes on him, her eyebrows knit together with worry.

"No, no the drawings are green, it'll still be blue," Tony said looking down at his daughter and tapping the mechanism currently in his chest. Her face softened and she said, "Oh good," and rested her head against the place in Tony's chest where the arc reactor glowed through his t-shirt. She closed her eyes against the soft glow and listened to the high pitched hum only young ears could pick up, like the buzz of a TV on mute.

"Can I help?" she asked suddenly looking back up into Tony's face.

"You know what? You absolutely can!" Tony said after a moment. "A good playlist is very important to a good work environment," he continued, placing Margaret in Bruce's chair. "JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Please leave the music in Margaret's command," Tony said smiling.

"Yes, sir. What would you like to listen to Miss Margaret?"

"Dad, what's that song I like about Maggie?" Margaret asked looking at the holographic display in front of her. She couldn't read yet, so the list was pretty much useless.

"JARVIS, play Maggie May by Rod Stewart," Tony said. He was still trying to work Margaret into the genre, obviously the songs about sex and drugs (pretty much anything from the late 70s and 80s) would have to come later. The melody of the mandolin solo drifted through the workshop.

"I love this part it's so pretty," Margaret said with a big grin.

"Just like you," Tony said, punctuated with a kiss on top of the head. "You know, Margaret is a big name for such a little girl," he said looking at her with her little legs dangling off the edge of Bruce's chair thinking of the events from earlier that morning. He remembered how he always hated being called Anthony.

"I guess so," Margaret said noncommittally, watching Tony work. Steve and Tony had both agreed naming her Margaret would be nice, but naming her Peggy was too much. They never agreed on a nickname after that, there weren't really any good ones for Margaret anyway.

"Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried anymore," Margaret sang. Tony laughed because that, and the opening line, were the only parts she actually knew the words to.

"You made a first-class fool out of me,

But I'm as blind as a fool can be.

You stole my heart, but I love you anyway," Tony finished for her. "What do you think of Maggie?" Tony asked, pointing a wrench at Margaret.

"I like it." she said matter-of-factly.

"Well Maggie, why don't you pick another song so Dad can keep working?"

"What's the one that goes doodoodoo doo doo doo doo doodoo doo?"

"Sunshine of Your Love by Cream? Good choice, kiddo."

Thanks for reading!

Please review :)

mayzie