And the next part is here.

*grins*

Anyone but me ever wonder if Steve passes his serum on to his offspring? Yeah. I was thinking about it too.

So.

BABY STRENGTH.

*ahem* Enjoy.

Also: a snippet of Wally? Those who read Teenage Dirtbag know who I'm talking about and if you haven't read it, I suggest you do or else this series will make no sense to you.

Current Song: Just What I Needed by The Cars

Current Thought: WOW. Just- it's been a long day guys.

After The Storm Part 3

"…and I took you by the hand and we stood tall. And remembered our own land, what we lived for…"

They start seeing the affects of the serum on Carmen by the time she hits four. She's mischievous and cunning and she's sensitive, so of course she's going to cry when she breaks a piece of DUM-E off accidentally when she's snuck into Tony's workshop to play with him.

Of course Tony's there in a second because when his baby starts to cry there's no way he's waiting any longer than a second to be by her side. He checks for boo-boos or ouchies but she's sobbing at the fact that she's broken a piece of DUM-E off.

Well then.

"Oh baby girl, DUM-E's fine, right buddy?" and the little robot makes an aborted sound and Tony shows Carmen it's all alright as he fixes DUM-E right in front of her. She's back to smiling again and running off to see Steve and Natasha in the gym where Tony's sure Dmitri and Francis are hanging out too.

So he writes it off as a freak accident. Because DUM-E's made of high grade steel that not even Tony can bend without the aid of the armor so how did his four year old daughter do it?

Until it happens again, this time when Carmen is with Steve. They're watching a movie while Tony's at a press conference for SI when Carmen nabs the remote to pause the movie, because yes, Steve is not ashamed to admit that his four year old knows how to control technology better than he does. So she pauses the movie and says, "Daddy, I have to potty," and then he nods to her acknowledging where she's going and she scampers off.

Damn kid's been toilet trained since she was one and a half. Proudest day of Steve's life being able to say that. Tony had just been excited to toss the last of the diapers away.

When Carmen comes back, blue eyes shining in delight – because they are watching WALL-E and she thinks that it's a story about DUM-E so – she grabs the remote again to restart the TV. But the room is dark, so she goes pressing buttons at random trying to find the play button. At some point, the TV goes off.

She's four. Of course she's going to throw a tantrum. Steve is expecting that.

He isn't expecting her to snap the remote control in half, stare at it, stare at him, then sob because she's probably hurt her hand and she just broke a high grade plastic remote control in half in her righteous, childish anger.

Carmen throws herself into Steve's arms when he opens them and he rubs her back in a comforting way and tells her that it's ok and no, she's not in trouble for breaking the remote and of course he'll turn WALL-E back on. Steve finds the spare controller and turns the movie back on, letting her cuddle up into his lap for the rest of the film. The entire time she's watching and clapping in enjoyment, Steve is worrying and counting down the seconds until Tony gets home, because that is just not normal.

"Tony?"

It's early the next morning and Carmen is in the living room eating scrambled eggs and watching old reruns of Dexter's Laboratory. Tony is shuffling for coffee and Steve wraps his husband's hands around the mug he's poured him and gestures to the seat in front of him.

"Ok. Go for it," Tony says once he's had two cups of coffee and looks a bit more human. "What's up?" Steve doesn't know how to phrase it, but then Tony sits up straighter and his face is shadowed in worry. "Shit, she did it again, didn't she?"

"What are you talking about?" Steve asks in surprise.

"She broke something heave duty with her little kid hands and you're freaking out. Shit. She did it to DUM-E in the lab. I thought she just pulled something that was loose, but no. She's all…" Tony waves a hand in the air. "Super strength-y."

Steve makes a face. "You don't suppose….?"

"Yes I suppose," Tony says. "This is me, supposing. Yes. Yes I think the serum has something to do with it. It changed your DNA, Steve. Of course it's going to get passed onto your daughter."

Neither of them say that it's not from this Steve because they're past those arguments of this universe and that universe. It's the same DNA from the both of them no matter which universe you go to. They'd gotten over it pretty quick after they'd realized that little fact.

"So… do you, I don't know…" Steve can't think, can only focus on the innocent laughter in the next room.

"We can ask Bruce to run some tests," Tony says. "Check out her DNA, see if her blood tests positive for the serum," Tony suggest gently as he can. He wants to get to the bottom of this too.

Steve nods. "Yeah. Yeah we can do that." He smiles. "You know just want to say don't you?"

Tony shakes his head then ducks it. "Nah. Just seems like it to you."

That doesn't stop Steve from kissing him silly and Carmen squeals in innocent surprise as she walks in and giggles as they chase her into the living room, laughing.

Carmen cries when they take a sample of blood from her. Steve and Tony both wince because it's breaking their hearts, but Bruce doesn't even seem fazed. As Bruce loads up the sample and Steve soothes their daughter, Tony says, "So. Baby crying a lot?"

Betty's just has a baby, actually. Bruce had been so proud when she'd gotten pregnant, maybe even more proud than when they'd gotten married. But he'd gotten his shit together enough to get her pregnant and yeah. Yeah he had a baby boy now and he was damn proud too.

So.

"Yeah," he says with a yawn, running some of the sample through a machine and another part of it on a slide for a microscope. "S'ok though. Walter's getting better." And no, Tony will never forgive his best friend for naming his only son Walter. God. It was a horrible name. But. Whatever, not his kid, just his nephew. Clint and Jane had gotten the honor of god-parents and Tony wasn't bitter or anything. After all, Rhodey and Pepper were Carmen's god-parents.

"You'll live," Tony tells him, giving him a pat on the back. Tony sees Steve point to the door and nods. He's probably going upstairs to say hi to Betty and the baby, knowing it'll cheer Carmen up a bit. Tony just turns back to Bruce after blowing a kiss to Steve and waving goodbye to their daughter.

"So, we're looking for the serum in her – WHOA!" Bruce says, looking into the microscope. At the same time, the machine beeps erratically.

Tony punches a few buttons on said machine and turns to Bruce. "So? What the hell was that?"

"Holy… Tony, come look at this." And Bruce moves over and gestures to the microscope.

Tony looks through. He gasps a bit. On one side is Steve's blood, and there's a strange anomaly to it, making his cells strong and a slightly darker color than normal. The same anomaly is repeated in Carmen's cells, which means it's repeated in her genes, as well.

"So the machine did what?" Tony says, pulling back.

"It matched up the anomaly in her genes, not just her cells. Carmen's definitely got the serum in her." Bruce shrugs. "Not that bad a thing. Faster healing than normal, though not as fast as Steve because we have to factor in your normal genes. That'll take away from the potency of the serum."

"Hey!" Tony says with a laugh, pretending to be insulted. "My so-called 'normal' genes are what makes me a genius." He sticks his tongue out. "So there." Then he face-palms. "And yeah, sure. A bit faster on the healing. But she's breaking a lot of things. She doesn't know her own strength."

Bruce shrugs and says with a small smile. "Then teach her it."

It turns out that they don't actually need to. Because, the thing is, Carmen starts to notice that there are things she either can't touch or has to be gentle with. And she's good at it too. At first, of course, she's a bit bummed that she can't rough house with DUM-E and U anymore, but then she learns that if she can control herself, then she can play just fine.

Of course, Steve and Tony are always reminding her what she can and cannot squeeze to death. Birds? No. Spiders? Yes , just don't let them bite you or you'll turn out like cousin Peter. That always gets her and Tony doesn't get it. What's not to like about Spider Man?

And it gets better with age of course, they're both sure. But until then? There will be many broken things whenever she has a tantrum. And somehow, Tony and Steve are totally fine with that.

Slightly shorter than the other two. But that never hurt anybody.

The rest of the kids jump in on the next one.

WHOO-HOO.

And um... just in case you guys haven't caught on yet, these fuckers go in intervals of four. So. She's eight in the next installment.

Yuppers.

So... reviews anyone?