Chapter 6

From the moment Daisy woke up, she knew it was not going to be a fun day. Simply put- her dad was coming to the Avengers training session, and had no idea about Steve. And to make it even worse for Daisy, Steve had no idea that Tony had no idea about their relationship. As Daisy had told Clint, who just found the whole situation amusing, "I didn't lie to Steve, I only led him to believe I'd told my dad. It's his own damn fault for making assumptions."

Yeah, Daisy knew that wasn't going to go over well, which basically left her with two options- not tell her dad the truth and let Steve break up with her, or tell Tony the truth and let him kill Steve. To Daisy, as sad as it was, it was an easy decision. No boyfriend at all was better than a dead boyfriend.

It still kinda sucked though, because Daisy really, really, really liked Steve. Hell, she might have fallen in love with Steve, and now it was all gonna fall apart, because of her dad. Daisy loved her dad more than she loved Steve, it's true, but she just wished she didn't have to pick. Sometimes life would be so much easier if everyone Daisy knew wasn't a superhero.

"Hey," Steve whispered in Daisy's ear, surprising her from behind as she typed away and tried to ignore her problems. "You're coming with me to go meet your dad right?"

Daisy sighed, finished her work, and stood. Looking into Steve's eyes her resolve wavered, and Daisy just smiled. She really, really, really liked Steve. "Yeah, just like let's be chill about us okay? I don't want him to feel like we're throwing it on him so just… just let him bring it up, okay?"

Natasha, who was falling into step behind them, had a look of amusement on her face, but Steve didn't notice anything. He just smiled back and nodded, "Certainly. But I wanted to invite him to have dinner with us tonight…"

"He probably wants to get right back to Malibu," Daisy suggested, hoping that her plan would work and she'd buy herself another month to figure out how to stop her dad from freaking. "Pepper and all…"

Steve seemed disappointed, which made Daisy feel slightly bad. Then she remembered that she was most likely saving his life, and just nodded. "Some other time I'm sure. Maybe you can come to my place for Christmas, so long as there are no terrorists or something that needs to be dealt with…" (Only after she said it did Daisy get the vivid mental image of her creating a terrorist to deal with in an attempt to delay even longer.)

"Oh, right," Steve agreed, forcing a smile on his face. (Daisy knew it was forced, because his upper lip curled inwards only when his smile was fake.) "I won't bother him. I'll even partner with Clint. Wouldn't want to hurt him and make him hate me."

Daisy laughed, and received an indignant look from Steve. "Look it's not that I don't think you could hurt him or… well I guess yeah, actually I don't think you can hurt him. Even you can't punch through solid metal."

"Someday I'll be your favorite superhero," Steve decided pushing open the gym doors so hard they slammed back into the walls. It was very obvious that he was trying to impress her, but it looked pretty ridiculous when the door handles left a dent in the wall behind them.

"Nice try ya dinosaur," Natasha laughed, passing by Steve and patting him on the back. "But don't fool yourself. The kid's always gonna go for her dad. He's her dad."

"Who's a dad?" Tony asked, strolling in behind them suit on accept for the face mask. "Are you a dad Steve? Congratulations."

Daisy rolled her eyes, and smacked her dad's breastplate. "Funny, a dad joke."

"I'm full of those," Tony promised, planting a quick kiss on his daughter's temple. "And you well know it."

Yeah, she did.

"Hey Daisy," Clint greeted, from his nest in the rafters.

"Hey Hawkguy," Daisy called up as he rappelled down. "How's the weather up there?"

Natasha snorted a laugh, more over the way Clint had scrunched his face together than Daisy's poor jokes. "Maria can't come, so we're out a referee. You want to stay Daisy?"

Oh. Daisy knew for sure this was going to be interesting.

Steve kept his promise and worked with Clint, leaving Nat to cream Tony. Daisy got great amusement from watching her father try using brute force against her again and again while receiving the same results. "They say insanity is doing the same thing again and again while expecting different results," Daisy teased her dad after Natasha found the little emergency hatch that forced the suit open. "Maybe you should try being subtle."

"When am I ever subtle?"

Daisy knew the answer was never, but just shrugged it off and moved towards where Steve and Clint were sparing. They were more evenly matched, Steve's super strength countered by Clint's years of training and semi-explosive arrows. He was probably one of the few people ever to effectively use a bow in short-range combat, but he certainly managed it well.

Still, it looked like Captain America would be taking the round until Daisy stepped in his line of sight. The sight of his girlfriend made Steve falter for just long enough that Clint managed to get a solid blow in, knocking Steve onto his ass and ending the fight.

"Note to self- Captain America's weak spot is his girlfriend. Definitely going to exploit that when I become a supervillain," Clint announced a bit too loudly as he helped Steve up. Daisy wanted to throw herself against the wall, but Natasha just let out a billowing 'I told you so' laugh.

Tony abandoned his own fight and crossed towards where Daisy stood. He looked menacing in his suit as his eyes flared blue. He certainly didn't look like the warm dad Daisy knew he could be. "I'm sorry, but what girlfriend?"

Steve finally caught onto what everyone else knew, and gave Daisy a disappointed look. "You promised you'd tell him. I thought you had!"

"I'm sorry, tell me what?"

Daisy was caught between running away and falling on the floor to beg forgiveness. Eventually, however, she decided to pull on her big-girl panties, and wrapped her arm around Steve's waist. (He didn't push her away, which gave Daisy the confidence she needed to say the words.) "Steve is my boyfriend."

Tony finally lifted his mask, and the look on his face was filled with more surprise than when he had discovered his long-lost daughter. "I'm sorry Daisy. I think J.A.R.V.I.S's auditory systems are down because I just heard the word boyfriend."

"They're not broken. Steve and I are a couple. He's nice, and a gentleman and we've been seeing each other."

Tony stared at Daisy, not seeing her at all. "No. You're way too young for a boyfriend."

Well, he hadn't attacked Steve at least, but this flat-out denial was just as bad. "Dad, I'm 20. You were you were younger than that when I was born."

"Doesn't matter, I was an idiot, you're not. I like the good Captain, but you're too young to be having a boyfriend!"

"Well I'm sorry because I have a boyfriend!"

Tony just stared at her, unable to reconcile this young woman with the little girl who'd walked into that court house. "Tell me you're not pregnant. Because I've had enough pregnancies."

Daisy was about to get indignant, and start yelling, when she realized that the best thing she could do was direct the conversation onto something else. "Is Pepper pregnant?"

Tony knew exactly what she was doing, but considering he really didn't want to carry on this line of conversation he let her do it. "Yeah, she told me last night. Oh I pray to God your little sibling is easier than you."

"With Pepper's genes? No way," Daisy promised hugging her father a bright smile on her face. Steve was still alive. Her dad had more of less accepted things. And Pepper was pregnant. Daisy was going to have a little brother or sister.

Okay, maybe the day turned out far better than Daisy had expected it to.