AN: Just wondering about peoples thoughts on keeping Tony paired with Pepper or not.
Tony froze at the sight of suitcases sitting innocently on the living room floor like they had any reason for being there, he recognised one as being the condensed case form of Valkyrie.
"What…?"
"I'm moving out." Nattie told him as she came in, Howie close to her heels, and placing a small carry-case on top the pile.
"Why?"
They had always been together, had been since the first time Tony held Nattie in his arms when she was tiny and helpless. They had always lived in the same house, always.
"You're going to move in Pepper now that you're finally together." Nattie told, dark eyes watching him steadily as she perched on one of her suitcases. "You're going to be horribly loving and sappy together as you get used to your new relationship."
"That doesn't mean you have to move out." He protested.
"I'm twenty-five Tony." She said simply. "I can't keep relying on big brother for the rest of my life."
He looked at her, his face blanking though his eyes dark with hurt. She sighed and moved to hug him tightly.
"It's not like I'm going to be across the world, I'm only moving to New York." She whispered into his shoulder as his arms hugged her tightly.
"You're vid-calling me every night." He told her. "So you don't forget my handsome face."
"How could I ever do something like that?" She laughed, both ignoring the slight wet sound it had as tears burnt at dark eyes.
"Keep Howie with you."
"Don't upset Nanny."
"She should really go with you, I have Jarvis, Dum-E, Butterfingers and U. How are you going to eat?"
"How will you eat?"
"She'll cry if you don't take her."
"Then you'll have to build something to replace her here, because we can't have that."
"You should keep a weapon on you at all times."
"Really?"
"New York is very dangerous."
"Worse than LA?"
"Much worse."
"You're being silly."
"I know, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do what I say."
"Okay."
"Okay, that's it?"
"Okay, I'll keep a weapon on me at all times."
They were being silly. They were acting like they would never see each other again when they both knew that Tony would be building something in New York just so he could keep a close eye on her. Probably before his birthday too.
The apartment that S.H.I.E.L.D kindly set her up in was smaller than anything she was used too, but big enough for Nanny to happily move around.
It was an open plan warehouse apartment with wide windows made of bullet proof glass, she was half-sure that the walls had steel in them since Fury assured her that nothing could touch her here—she also half-thought he had spent too much time with Tony for him to be that protective.
There was four different locks on the steel door—one was a key-pad code that she had removed all sound from and was keeping her code close to her chest. The other locks were more normal key-locks.
Nanny had long been adapted to go upstairs—repulsers weren't just Tony's thing after all—so Nate didn't have to worry about keeping her bedroom and the rest of the upstairs tidy.
Nate had decided to furnish it herself after looking at the provided furnishing—part of her was amused about watching some of Fury's agents moving all the furnishings out.
She had a small glass dining table that could seat four if she needed to, but was mostly for two people. A black couch was one of the biggest things she bought.
It was leather and extremely comfortable, letting her sink deep into the seats. A gaudy Ironman blanket—which of course was from Tony—was thrown over the back.
There was a glass and black metal desk tucked under the stairs with her computer set-up—thin glass screen were bolted to the wall about the desk while the main—and largest—screen sat on the desk. The key broad had been keyed to her fingertips only, her files were behind firewalls and other defences that Tony had created—she had yet been able to find some that could hack into it, she could only do it because she knew the back-door because she watched Tony write the coding—and her storage-disks were rigged to explode if someone tried to forcefully remove them, for the tower to work it had to be connected to one of Tony's old reactors and her tower put virus' on any USB that wasn't hers.
A bit of an over kill? Possibly, but she was now working with S.H.I.E.L.D and had access to everything on their servers. She was taking the protection of any data that she had on her computer, Fury had approved greatly when he popped by to visit her.
She had designed a small metal ball—that she hid among other balls in vases with fake flowers in—that disabled any bug in her apartment. That got Fury to trust her a little bit, enough to start her on the hunt to find evidence that his suspicions may have some base in them—S.H.I.E.L.D had to have been stupid to let Hydra scientists work in the newly found division.
She bought a collection of dog toys for Howie—despite being a bot, he still loved chew toys like any other dog—and put them in their own special basket next to the couch.
A thin screen TV was bolted to the wall across from the couch with a small coffee table placed in front of the couch—perfect for her to place her feet on when she lazily watched TV and for her to place her drinks on the glass surface.
Various pieces of art work—what she had painted or drawn herself—was fixed on the wall where shelves of books and orchids—her favourite flower—weren't bolted into the wall.
She kept one corner of her apartment for her art that held her easels, paints, canvas, a stacker filled with pens, pencils, sketchbooks, clay and brushes, and a simple wood table—the only furniture wood in the apartment—that was stained by paint, clay and loads of other art things.
The upstairs held her bedroom—simple double metal bed, mirror-door wardrobes, secret spaces build into the walls and furniture for all sorts of weapons (there really was steel in the walls), a special safe for her to keep her Valkyrie suit in—bathroom, a spare bedroom, a workshop for maintenance for both Howie and Nanny, and a hidden panic room.
Paranoid? Yes, but she wasn't going to be taking any chances now she was working for S.H.I.E.L.D.
"What do you think Nanny?" Nate asked with her arms spread out wide as she span around in her own apartment.
"It's sparsely furnished." Nanny almost complained as she made her way to the slink kitchen that was filled with glass and chrome, peering into the fridge that had been filled with all sorts of food things waiting for Nanny to make into lovely meals. "The kitchen is nice."
"We don't need much." Nate said as she moved to flop on the couch. "Tony never had much furniture either."
"His very presence made up for it." Nanny replied drily as she began to throw together a meal for her.
Howie jumped up, rough and fake tongue briefly licked her hand, before he settled down for a nap—power down really.
Nate could remember the days when Nanny had been stocky and boxy, she was now slim, slink and totally modern, she was also taller—waist almost level with her counters—though she still had a maid-style to her.
"Are you saying his big ego filled the room?" Nate asked with a grin.
"Of course not, Miss Nattie." Nanny denied easily. "I would never say anything like that against Mister Tony."
The first night she spent half of it tossing and turning before padding down stairs and sleeping on the couch with Tony's blanket wrapped around her after watching Nanny's powered down form, the glow of the arc reactor that Tony put in her chest as her new power source was reassuring.
It reminded her of Tony.
It was the first night in a place that didn't have touches of Tony's presence, first home without Jarvis keeping an eye over her, and first home that she knew that Tony wasn't going to come home too after he finished with his meetings/events/latest Ironman mission.
But she knew that she had to do this, it was time to grow up and stop relying on Tony to take care of her for the rest of their lives.
"Tony Stark has announced that he is building a new tower in Manhattan, New York. It'll be the first building that will run itself. Stark says it's the first step with his new green energy programme."
Nate scooped another spoonful of sugary cereal in her mouth as she watched Tony wave to the reporters before he began to answer questions about his new tower.
She hadn't even been gone a month and he was already making his plans to move.
"I think Mister Tony misses you." Nanny said as she placed a glass of orange juice on of one the coasters that Nanny had insisted Nate buy.
"Yeah, I can see that." Nate said before she had another scoop of cereal into her mouth. "He didn't even tell me."
"Perhaps he thought he would surprise you." Nanny said before she fluttered off to clean something.
Nate was sure she had the cleanest apartment in New York, she could see herself in the tiled kitchen floor—almost.
There was a Christmas tree in her apartment, a honest god real Christmas tree, one that she knew for a fact wasn't there when she left this morning to pick up some illustration work to do—it was a hobby more than a job.
It was only half-decorated, and Tony was frozen in mid-motion and looking at her like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have while she stood in the doorway just looking at the tree that was dominating her apartment and the boxes placed on her coffee table.
"You're back early." Tony almost accused her when she finally finished entering her apartment and shutting the door with a snap of her locks.
"Only a few authors want drawn front-covers." She told him slowly as she eyed the Christmas tree. "Photographed front-covers seem to be on the rise."
She recognised the decorations that hung from the fir tree's branches. She and Tony had made them, she was three when Nanny had reminded Tony that every child need a proper Christmas. It would be her first proper Christmas and the first one she would ever remember.
She could remember the look of total confusion that had marred her than-twenty-year-old brother's face as he stared at the robot before it clicked and he gave her an almost horror-struck look, swinging her up in his arms, and away from where she was playing with Dum-E, rumbling about how he had forgotten Christmas, how could he forget Christmas for three years?
You'll have the best Christmas ever, I promise.
She remembered him promising her that and she would say he kept his promise.
He ordered a small fir tree to be placed in their workshop/playroom, and when it arrived he decided that they were going to make their own Christmas decorations—she honestly believed that he got the idea off a movie.
It was the first time she ever did anything like art, before that she was playing with Dum-E and playing with odds and bobs that were around Tony's workshop, and she was hooked.
They painted Christmas patterns on simple metal discs before hanging them with a bent paper-clip through a hole that Tony drilled in them on to the tree, they made paper-chains—breaking almost as many as they made. They made jingling, almost wind chime, decorations made of bolts, screws and nuts, and Tony built a glowing star for the top.
They used long sheets of blank paper for wrapping paper after drawing and painting on them. Tony gave her a diamond necklace—the first of many—while she had made Nanny help her knit a scarf after seeing it on TV—it was misshaped as hell with holes in the red wool, but Tony had wrapped it around his neck immediately, declaring that he loved it, and she knew he still had it. Nanny was given a maid-lace-hat thing that she still wore—she had tenderly taken care of it, learning to sew with her once big and clumsy fingers so she fix it after it tore, it still perched on top of her round head today—and Nate had given Dum-E his very first blender after not knowing what to give him and taking it from the kitchen so he wasn't left out with the gift giving. Tony declared that they would give Jarvis an update for his present because what can you give you're A.I house for Christmas?
Nanny made them a turkey dinner, where they discovered neither of them liked turkey, but ended up having mac and cheese for Christmas dinner.
It had been the first and best Christmas that Nate ever had, before Howard died and Tony had to go and do Christmas events because he was CEO, when it was only Tony and Nattie in their own little world.
She moved over to one of the boxes and peered inside to see all the bits they had used to make the decorations when she was three before turning to Tony with a question on her face.
"The trees bigger than the one we've had before." He ran an almost sheepish hand through his messy hair. "I thought we could make more."
She smiled, a beaming smile that reminded Tony of the beaming toddler that would hug his legs, and nodded.
Twenty-two years had passed, they were both adults now and could be considered superheroes because of their suits, it wasn't the Stark Manor, but they still settled on the fluffy rug under both the couch and coffee table and began to make more Christmas decorations.
Some things never changed in the end.