As promised, here's the third chapter! Hope you enjoy it ^^

And of course I don't own the Avengers, only Emma and the alterations.

Getting to know Emma

Fourth day

Waking up here is just like waking up back home. Okay, that's a lie, there are several differences. For one I sleep in the same room as my father; which I don't mind, don't get me wrong, but it is a difference. Secondly, my own sheets are so much softer than these are and my bed is larger. But other than that, waking up is pretty much the same.

I wake up at 9AM, which I guess is also a difference since I never wake up later than 8AM at home. Then I just lie in my bed for about five minutes, before I'm really awake. My father is sleeping at the other side of the room, so I go to wake him up. He completely ignores alarm clocks, so for years it has been my job to wake him up. When I was younger he would always drag me into his bed, when I came to wake him up, and tickle me until I promised to wait half an hour. Not that he ever laid down to sleep again; he was always too awake already. But it was fun nonetheless. But that was years ago. He doesn't do that anymore.

Waking him up here actually seems easier than it usually is back home. Maybe that's because he knows he has something very important to do here, but I don't know. After I've made sure he's awake, I go get dressed in the bathroom after taking a quick shower.

When I emerge from the bathroom, I see my father placing breakfast on the table. At home we have our own bathroom, so we're usually done at about the same time. It usually matches with me finishing the breakfast as my father is done anyway. But now I have to wait for him to be done. Luckily for me, my father is quicker than me to get ready in the morning, when he's up at least.

Not long after my father sits down at the table and we can begin to eat. It isn't anything special; bread with jam, butter and honey. But delicious nonetheless.

"Are you just going to continue looking for the Tesseract today, dad? Or are you doing something else?" I ask him while eating a piece of bread with honey.

"Yeah, that's the plan anyway," he answers. He still seems kind of tired to me. That's probably why he doesn't clarify what exactly he answered to. I raise my eyebrows at him, until he gets the hint. "I mean I'm going to look for the Tesseract."

"Oh okay, anything I can help with?" I ask excited. Until now I haven't really helped doing anything, and I really want to. Otherwise I'm going to get bored really fast.

He pauses to think for a bit. "Hmm, nothing I can think of right now." When he sees my sad face, he continues, "But if you come by the lab later, I might be able to come up with something you can do."

I smile happily. "Thanks, dad!"

He quirks his eyebrow at me teasingly. "You definitely didn't get that kind of work enthusiasm from me, darling."

I laugh. "Yeah right, dad! Who is it that never goes to bed at the right time, because he's always working on important projects?" I ask him challenging.

"Definitely not me!" he exclaims; we both know he's lying. "And it's not really working, it's adjusting, if we're talking about the suits that is."

"Ha!" I point at him. "You just admitted it."

"Oh, I did, did I?" He stands up and I'm trying to understand what he's going to do, but suddenly he attacks me and starts tickling me. "Say that I didn't!"

I can't stop laughing. I'm very ticklish, and my father knows that very well. "Okay! Okay! You didn't, dad," I say while laughing. "You can stop now."

He continues tickling me for a while before letting me go. He seems more awake now, than he did before. Just like when I was little. "I better get going, kiddo. Try not to get in trouble." He winks at me.

"Okay, I might drop in later. And of course I won't, dad. You can trust me." With that he leaves, leaving me with the dishes. Not that I mind, I'm kind of used to it by now. My father only takes the dishes out after dinner or if I ask him specifically to do it. Otherwise he won't.

After relaxing with my book for a while, I decide that I'm bored and that I want to have something to do. So I walk towards his lab, only to find no one's there. I look around confused, but then decide to ask some of the agents in the hallway; at least one of them must have seen where he went, or where Bruce is.

They tell me that he's in another room with Bruce, Steve and Natasha. Fury isn't there, so I don't think it's an official meeting. They're probably just talking or something.

So I decide with myself that it can't hurt to visit them there. I probably won't disturb them much. At least that's what I tell myself.

Stepping into the room containing my dad, Bruce, Steve and Natasha, all I hear is my father's voice. And what he says proved me right about them not being in an official meeting.

"Exactly. That's why she doesn't know I've been dating Pepper for half a year."

Wait. What? He seriously thinks I don't know about that? I'm not blind. Or stupid. He enjoys to brag about my intellect, so how can he think I'm stupid enough not to see that he's clearly dating Pepper.

I clear my throat to let him know I'm here, before saying, "Yeah, because you're usually so discreet," while rolling my eyes.

He turns towards me with his mouth open. "You know about me and Pepper?"

"Yeah, it's hard not to notice, dad. Sometimes it's like you think I'm more stupid than I am." I make a grimace, and watch my father mimic it.

"Well, good thing we aren't that serious yet then," he tries to save it. I just frown, and he continues, "I mean, we haven't had sex yet." Seriously? Nope, not gonna happen, dad.

"Sure, because you just really love showers," I smirk and watch Natasha smirk back at me, clearly trying to contain her laughter.

"What do you mean?" he asks in a faint voice.

"I mean that the bathrooms are the only rooms that aren't soundproof. Because you thought that, that wouldn't be necessary. And you seem to have forgotten that." He opens his mouth to say something, but I stop him. "And no, I don't believe you if you say you were just showering. People don't like showers or baths that much."

"Oh god." He practically falls down on the nearest chair, and hides his head as Natasha and Bruce, surprisingly, starts to laugh. Steve is the only one who doesn't, except from my dad of course. But I think that might be because he believes he shouldn't laugh, not because he doesn't think it's funny. He actually looks like he's about to smile.

"Oh come on, dad. It's not that bad. I don't mind. Just do me a service and keep it in the bedroom." I smile at him, and try to keep myself from laughing. Needless to say, I don't succeed.

The rest of the day I pretty much just talk with my father and the others. Of course, they do work. I just talk to them while they work. I don't really get a job of my own, but I guess I don't mind. I certainly didn't get bored.

"So Emma, how's it like growing up with Tony as a father?" Natasha asks me. I'm surprised that she is the one to ask me, but not that the question came up.

I shrug. "Honestly, it's been good." I notice my father stopping what he's doing to smile at me. "I don't think I've had a different childhood than anyone else. It's been pretty normal." I look at my father and smile. "And he has been a great father."

Steve is the next one to ask. "But what about his… reputation? Surely, it can't have been all normal."

"To be honest, I don't really care about his reputation. I don't really read the articles and gossip about him. I think everyone has a past they want to forget, and for the last years, as far as I know, my father hasn't done anything too bad." I mean, I know about the women, but I also know that he is now in a happy relationship with Pepper. And I mean, who hasn't done something when they were young?

"I guess you're right. But hasn't it been weird to have him as a father?" he continues.

I shake my head. "No, not really. I mean there have been some… incidents, that I would have rather been without. But that comes with him being famous, so I've kind of gotten used to that."

"What incidents are you talking about, Emma? Has anything ever happened to you, because of your father?" Bruce asks me. Okay, they have now officially all joined the conversation.

"No, not me," I deny. "I was referring to Afghanistan, that whole thing wasn't a very happy period for me, or him." My father places his hand on my shoulder and squeezes it. He knows that I don't like talking about that time.

"The thing that scared me the most about what happened in Afghanistan was that I would never come home to my daughter again. And I'm pretty sure she had some of the same fears, so no, it wasn't a very happy time for either of us." I smile up at him as he starts talking. "There have been times where I wondered if I was doing the right thing with keeping her hidden from the world, but at that particular event, I realized that it was that kind of thing I wanted her to avoid. So I'm happy about what I did. God only knows what could have happened to her, if she had been a public figure like me."

I've never heard my father say that before, and it means a lot. I have never blamed him for hiding me, because I understand the purpose. But I guess some part of me have always feared that it was because he was ashamed of me. I guess not. That's nice to know.

"Okay then," Steve says, "it sounds like he is a great father. I honestly didn't expect that, but looks can be deceiving." I nod at him. He's right. I guess he isn't that bad; at least he seems to understand.

"He is. I'm very happy to have him." Here my father stops me by squeezing me tight. I roll my eyes. "Love you too, dad."

Getting ready for bed is interrupted by my father's questions. But I don't really mind, it's just kind of annoying.

"For exactly how long have you known about me and Pepper, darling?"

I roll my eyes. "You haven't exactly been hiding, dad." He opens his mouth to say something, probably to deny what I said, so I continue. "For a longer time than you've actually been together, I think. You just have a chemistry that can't be denied." I shrug.

He seems to ponder this for a moment. "Hmm, I guess you're right. Bu we haven't even been dating for that long."

"I know that. But you've just always seemed like you were meant to be together. Like you belong with each other. I can see the friendship you have." I smirk. "Besides, she's the only woman who has actually stuck around for more than a month, I'm pretty sure."

At this he throws a pillow at my face and sticks his tongue out at me. "You just ruined a beautiful moment, Em'. That was a really nice speech, if you can call it that."

I just smile, and throw the pillow back at him.

"So I guess that means I've got your approval?" He looks hopeful at me.

Seriously? So that's where he was going. "Sure, dad. You do fit together, and I like Pepper, so why not?"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he grins. "I have to call Pepper!"

"Sure, you do that. I'm going to brush my teeth." He blows me a kiss, and I walk into the bathroom.

"I love you, Emma," my father sleepily says from his bed.

"I love you, too." I smile into my pillow.

"Goodnight, honey."

"'Night, dad."

So how did you like it? Feel free to comment, favourite and follow, it really does make me happy ^^ Loki will arrive to the story in chapter 5, so only two more chapters to go ;)