A/N: I have seen way too many episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress", and I'm not ashamed to say it. I also admit that towards the end, I may have fallen in love with the moment a little too much. And Happy Birthday to GreenLoki, I hope this chapter is a good present!
The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.
"You're beautiful, you're wonderful, you're amazing, and you're Captain America," Gabby had her hands on Steve's cheeks. "You're not going to mess this up. Nathan might, but you won't." They both ignored the indigent 'Hey' from behind them. "You'll get this over with and before you now you'll be back here dealing with more Avengers stuff and doing food tastings with me."
"I just don't like leaving you alone here to be hounded by the press," Steve took her hand, running his thumb over her ring.
"I can deal with them. My Aunt is Pepper Potts, who works for my Uncle, Tony Stark. I know the press," she smiled at him. "You just worry about you, and then gathering together your groomsmen. Aunt Pepper is helping me with all the other planning, and when you get back you can see all the work I've done."
"I don't need a babysitter," Tony looked at Loki.
"I'm glad that you recognized that I asked Banner to stay here because of you, and not Emma." Loki pat his cheek. "I know that I'll only be gone for a week, maybe two, but I feel so much at ease if there is a responsible adult watching you."
"I resent that," Tony pouted.
"I know you do." He gave Tony a light kiss. "But just think, when you and Emma come up there, there will be a new baby, and I won't be carrying a bowl ball in my stomach anymore Everyone will be much happier. Trust me."
"Hmmm, you're mood swings Were getting scary." Tony loved to court with danger. "Well, be sure to keep an eye on Nathan, we can't have him dying on us. I think Kaia would be upset, too." Loki snorted and shook his head. The two walked over to Balder who was waiting with Steve and Nathan, and Gabby and Kaia. "So, any idea what these two are going to have face?"
"Not really," Balder shook his head. "Odin and Thor are out on some peace talks, so we'll see if they left instructions with the council, or if we'll have to wait for them to come back."
"Don't worry if either of you fails you can just ask your fiances to renounce their titles as Princess and stick with a mortal wedding." Loki didn't try to hide the evil smile as he looked at the two men. "Nothing big." Kaia groaned. "Well, I'm ready. I long to get off of my feet."
"I'm so very glad I'm not a shape shifter," Balder commented before he grabbed Steve and Nathan's arms and all four disappeared to the roof bi-frost site.
Gabby clapped her hands together once and went to grab her coat. "I'm off, I'm meeting Aunt pepper to go dress shopping."
"Can I come?" Kaia's eyes had lit up and Gabby laughed and nodded.
"Want to come Uncle Tony? You could look for a flower girl dress for Emma, too," Gabby offered as Kaia ran to get her own coat.
"Two dresses, you mean." Tony nodded. "Yeah, I think she'd like that, and Bruce isn't getting here until later tonight anyway. Where are we going?"
"I thought I'd try Kleinfeld's first. I'm not Entirely sure what I want, but they have a good reputation."
"And you've seen enough reruns of wedding shows," Tony smirked. "Let me get the munchkin." He turned to walk off then stopped and turned his head back. "Would you mind possibly making it a double appointment?" Gabby blinked a little. "I know how women get about picking out their dress, but if I can swing it, and let's be honest, I'm Tony Stark, I can swing it, would you mind? I kind of want to surprise Kaia..."
"You're going to get her dress?" Gabby couldn't help but smile. "Without Uncle Loki here?"
"Loki is a big pile of emotions that he doesn't want anyone to see. I'll just record it all for him to see, and he can come to her dress fittings." Tony shrugged a little. "We talked about it earlier anyway. He didn't say it, but I kinda get the feeling that he's a fan of the big reveal."
"If you can get the store to agree I'd love to try on dresses with my cousin." Tony grinned and went off to get his youngest.
"A double appointment, Tony?" Pepper glanced at him as they looked through some dresses for Emma. "That's actually one of the better spontaneous decisions you've made." Tony shrugged and smiled.
"Yeah, well, she's my first born, and not like I won't do the same with this little midget when she gets hitched, but I gotta go all out." Tony grinned when he pulled out a shiny gold dress. He rolled his eyes when pepper shook her head. "I thought she looked surprised though, didn't you?"
"Specially Gabby when you said no budget limit to both girls. You've become domesticated, Tony Stark." Pepper smiled.
"Ah ah, you take that horrid word back. I am Not domesticated." He grinned wide when Emma ran over with a gold dress with a big tutu style skirt. "That's it, that's the one for our wedding."
"Really, Tony?" Pepper couldn't help but smile when Tony put the hanger around the back of Emma's neck and she giggled as the dress was pressed against her body and she twirled in it. "Somehow it's just perfect for her."
"Darn tootin' it is!" Tony smiled as he watched Emma hopped around with the dress. "She hops a lot, is that normal?"
"She's four, Tony, kids do strange things." Pepper pulled out a white dress with blue trim and straps and draped it over her arm. "We should go back and see if the girls are ready with their first dresses."
"Come on, sprite," Tony took Emma's hand. She swung his arm as they walked and Pepper smiled watching them. It never ceased to amaze her how much like a father Tony looked when he was with his girls.
The sat down on the couch as Gabby walked out first. Emma grinned when she saw that it was pink. It was a soft material and started to flare out at her hips. There were some crystal embellishments along the body of the dress. "I like it." Emma stated happily.
"Yeah, I figured this was the one that you picked out," Gabby snorted, smiling a little.
"Hey, Emmy?" She looked up at Tony. "Don't go into fashion babe." He rubbed her head. He glanced back and his eyes widened a little. "Did you pick out a dress for Kaia, too?" The little girl nodded happily. "That explains it."
Gabby put a hand over her mouth to hide her chuckles as Kaia came out wearing a gold brocaded ball gown, with pink and purple ruffles pleated on the side. "Time for another dress," Gabby suggested and Kaia nodded.
"You gave it an admirable try, sweety," Tony said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, Pepper giggling quietly to the side.
Gabby came out, holding the front of the next dress and Pepper tiled her head to the side a little. It had a lace front with no sleeves, a ribbon belt, and a heavy skirt. She did a little spin.
"I think you're heading in the right direction," Tony spoke first, surprising Pepper and Gabby. "I think you should stick with that style, it's very flattering."
"That was surprisingly insightful," Gabby said.
"I may look like a bum at home, but I'm a designer bum," Tony just grinned.
"I want to know who picked this one out," Kaia called as she walked over in the dress. Emma suddenly gasped.
"The dress swallowed her!" Kaia was wearing a champagne colored ball gown that was easily the size of five of Gabby's dresses. She was practically swimming in the dress.
"Well, what do I really know about dresses? It's not like I'll be wearing one," Tony shrugged and all women, including the consultant, rolled their eyes at him.
Another 45 minutes into the appointment and both girls had tried on another 6 dresses each Tony was at least thankful that they had decided on a style, and now it was just searching for the right one. The consultant had hinted that they shouldn't try on anymore, for fear of wedding dress burn out. Pepper agreed, hearing about that from her own wedding years ago. If you tried on too many, chances were high that you would never be able to find the perfect dress. Tony was suddenly very happy that Loki liked being a guy most of the time. He didn't want to do this dress shopping again anytime soon. There were too many rules.
Tony sipped from his glass of water, resting his elbow on the back of the couch and running his other hand through Emma's hair. He glanced over and blinked a couple of time when he saw Gabby walking over, a grin on her face. The consultant helped her on the stand and set the small train behind her so she could see the full dress in the mirror. "Whoa," he breathed out.
She had on a fitted lace dress with a high neck and a short cap sleeve, with an open back and a small train. The lace had exquisite detail, and the bunched fabric around her waist like a belt was a perfect touch.
"What do you think of it?" Pepper asked Gabby first when she turned around to face them.
"I absolutely love it," Gabby grinned, holding her hands in front of her. "I love the lace, I love the fit, it's just," she looked down at the dress then back up and smiled, "perfect."
"Isn't there a thing you do?" Tony asked the consultant, motioning around his head. "Where you put the thing on and show them the look."
"The veil?" Tony nodded.
"Yeah, that, to give them a full view. Let's see that, I wanna see that with this dress." Gabby snorted, but smiled as the consultant walked over to pick out a veil.
"I think I have the perfect one for this dress." The woman went through the hangers, then pulled one out and walked over, gently placing a veil on her head. It was wasn't very long, but it had a matching lace detail all around the edges, giving Gabby a delicate look.
"That's it, that's the dress," Tony leaned back as Emma crawled in his lap. "Don't you think so Em?"
"You look soooooooo pretty, Gabby!" Her eyes were big as she looked at her cousin.
"I have to agree with Tony, and we know how rare that is," Pepper grinned at her niece. "I think this dress is just so you. And Steve is going to die when he sees you." Pepper didn't hide the tissue she used to dab at her eyes and Tony saw that Gabby was starting to tear up too.
"Daddy, are they crying?" Emma whispered up to Tony. "I thought they liked the dress."
"Women are strange, they cry sometimes when they're happy. And that's okay, cause it just shows how happy they are," Tony explained tot he little girl, and she nodded, pleased with the explanation. Tony held up his phone to take a picture of Gabby to show Loki later.
"Ooooooo," Emma stood up in Tony's lap and he 'umphed' and wrapped an arm around her waist before she fell back over the couch. The consultant helped Kaia up on the stand when she came out and Tony took a breath. "She looks like Belle!" Kaia had a corseted dressed with a full skirt with tulle draping, and tulle off the shoulder sleeves. The bodice had beading and crystal around it, a ball gown fit for a princess.
He didn't see the young woman up there with a wedding dress on, he didn't see how amazing she looked in the dress, all Tony could see what his little girl. A little girl who liked to hide in his lab when Loki wanted her to take a bath, a little girl who pulled on his hand to go and get closer to the goats at the zoo, a little girl who didn't care that Tony could never get the braids in her hair to look the same. She was too grown up, too fast for Tony.
"Daddy?" Tony blinked out of his thoughts and looked at Emma, her head tilted at him, and became aware that everyone else was looking at him. "Are you having happy crying, too?"
"What?" Tony scrunched his brows a little. "No, silly girl." He became aware that his lashes were a little wet when he blinked. "I just have dry eyes, that's all. Makes my eyes all watery." He heard Pepper snort from his side.
Kaia and Gabby were watching him and Kaia reached her hands out, wiggling her fingers at him. Tony raised an eyebrow at her. She just kept wiggling her fingers, urging him to come up. He picked up Emma up and put her in Pepper's lap as he got up and walked over. Kaia grabbed his hands and pulled him up next to her, looping her arm with his, facing them towards the mirror.
"When the hell did you grow up?" Tony looked at her in the mirror. "This is obviously a fever dream of mine, because you're still 8." Kaia smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. Tony pulled her closer to his side and kissed the top of her head. "My little girl is getting ready to get married."
"Not so little anymore, Daddy," she rubbed his arm. "I'm taller than you by a couple of inches now." Tony bumped her hip and she chuckled. "I love you, Dad." Tony smiled, and she saw his eyes water up again.
He wrapped his arm around her waist. "I love you more, pooh bear." Later he'd act offended that Pepper was taking pictures of them, but that was later. Gabby came up and took his other arm and he grinned. Right now, he had two little girls that had grown up much too quickly on his arms. He was allowed a minute of weakness.
