Because of his ever-present lack of a verbal filter, Howard's son had never been let in on the fact that the six people living in one of his father's mansions were anything more than the neighbors that they appeared to be. As he'd gotten older, they'd gone out of their way to hide all their soulmarks from him and he had no idea that they were a soulmate group… yet somehow they'd all managed to form a sort of family for the boy with Eddie and Anna at the fore.

But without the butler and his wife, with Tony's newfound adoration for alcohol and Peggy's resurfacing habit of burying herself in her work, the two began to drift apart, growing distant in ways that she felt helpless to stop even when she emerged from her grief enough to try.

She wanted to help him, really she did, but she just didn't know how to go about it, especially when it came to his alcoholism.

Funny, she could imagine how each of the other five would've stopped the issue, though. Anna would let him see the tears she'd cry over it, and his guilt alone would mean that he would never touch another drop. Eddie – Peggy was pretty sure Eddie could've just looked at him and gotten the same results. Daniel and Jack – his "uncles" as Tony called them – would've taken him on together, playing a version of their classic, unbeatable game of good cop/bad cop until Tony realized they weren't going to give up until he gave them their desired result. And Aunt Angie, God bless her, would've given him a good ole Brooklyn tongue lashing – while pouring his ever growing alcohol stash down the drain – until he saw the light concerning the whole mess.

But his Aunt Peggy had no idea how to help the wild cannon that he was becoming… not even before her mind began to drift away from her.

2010

Tony Stark did not like feeling guilty – about anything, ever – and having lived the life he had, that was oftentimes a hard feat to achieve. That's why he preferred alcohol as often as he did. Pepper, his angel of a soulmate, never gave up on him though, and was frequently pushing him to get out of his labs and into the world.

"Even if it is just to see your aunt for a few minutes!" she'd begged yesterday.

And so here he was, walking down the halls of the nursing home, as much to get away from her – because, man, did they ever need to find their third! – as to assuage the guilt they both knew he felt over having practically ignored his aunt Peggy for months on end. But he was here now!

"Hey, Aunt Peggy!" he said too cheerfully, knocking on the doorframe as he clutched a bouquet in his other hand.

Her eyes widened, her frail frame racking with a cough at the surprise of seeing him there. Had it really been that long since he'd come to see her?! He dropped the flowers onto the bedside table, exchanging the bouquet for a glass of water that he was quick to hand to her. As he leaned over her, he was relieved to see that her eyes were clear; today was a good day for her mentally, then.

He couldn't stand the rheumy, confused look that he'd seen on her face too many times before; it scared him, made him afraid that he was on the cusp of loosing someone else. He just wasn't sure that he could bear to see her leave this world – and somehow that had translated to him subconsciously trying to block her out of his world… not that he would ever purposely consider the thought; he just didn't like seeing her like this.

"Tony!" she rasped, happily patting his hand where it had dropped to the white sheets of her bed. Then her smile slid and she must have recognized something of his thoughts because she still knew him far too well, and murmured, "It won't be long now… until I see my Jack again."

"Aunt Peg…" he chastised. "Don't say that!"

"I'm in my nineties, Tony; it's going to happen sometime."

"But not soon!" Tony protested. "I won't let that happen!" he hesitated because he really didn't like to bring this up, but he liked the way this conversation was heading even less. "Besides, what about finding Captain America and Sergeant Barnes?"

She scoffed before admitting, "I'm too old to find them, Tony… but maybe you could? Once I'm gone, there's going to be no one left trying to save them from whatever the heck they're going through, and I can't bear the idea of leaving them without anyone to care if they live or die like that. Please, Tony, promise me?"

Ah… and there was the guilt flying back at him full-force. Being around her really did turn him into some vulnerable sort of a child, and he didn't know what to think about that – but he did know what she'd just managed to talk him into, much as he already knew he was going to regret it. "Alright, Aunt Peg, I promise I'll do my best."

And he did; thank you overwhelming guilt. He went home did a boatload of research, and eventually some Iron Man flyovers over Captain America's last known location, doing scans, and even finding some new information. Just to say that he really had fulfilled his promise to his aunt, he even went so far as to pass that unearthed information onto Nick Fury.

But he certainly hadn't expected his research to end up with the results that it garnered – after nearly seventy years, Captain America was found, frozen but very much alive.

July, 2011

"You gonna be okay?"

Nick Fury had asked him that question not two minutes ago before Steve had climbed into the black vehicle that awaited them, and he'd said "yeah," Peggy swimming in his thoughts as he replied, "Yeah, I just… I had a date."But then he'd noticed something when he sat down beside Fury in the car, and, no, he was not okay anymore.

His right elbow was pale; there was nothing but a colorless outline of those words that had once thrilled him so much: I'm not what you expected, am I, Captain?

No, this wasn't at all what he had expected.