A/N: Sup, y'all! Here's kiaratheravenclaw with the next chapter of this story (in case you didn't notice). Make sure to tell me what you think! Do you like it, do you hate it, did you notice any spelling mistakes? Anything at all! And make sure you check out my Avengers Next Gen RP! The link is on my profile! :)

Chapter Status: In-progress

Disclaimer: ...Do you really think if I owned the Avengers I'd be writing on a fanfiction site?

Claimer: All my OC's are just that - mine. No matter how much some of them [glares at Audrey] refuse to make the story go where I want it.

Little footsteps. Whenever people thought of having kids, they focused on little footsteps. They didn't focus on being woken up every 2 hours by a wailing baby, who wakes up the other baby who starts wailing too. They didn't focus on having to find your way through the dark, trying not to crash into a wall. They didn't focus on the frequent diaper changes or on the paparazzi constantly asking for pictures of you and your two little girls.

Well, most people didn't need to focus on that last one. Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, unfortunately, did.

"Ugh..." Tony muttered in his lab, where he had told JARVIS to redirect the baby monitor so Pepper could sleep. This was what seemed like the millionth time Audrey - or maybe it was Haldisa - had woken up that night, and Tony was half asleep as he made his way towards their room slowly, the house quiet except for the occasional "Watch out for the wall, sir" from JARVIS and the also occasional "That's the kitchen, sir" and "The other way, sir" and "Be careful of the nails you dropped earlier, sir."

"Would you like me to turn the lights on, sir?" JARVIS finally asked.

"No... Don't want to wake up Pep." Tony mumbled in reply.

"I don't think that will be an issue, sir."

Now Tony was confused. "Huh?"

"You're in the basement."

"Oh. Yeah. Right. Thanks, J." The billionaire turned and quickly exited the room, and finally managed to reach the room of his new twin daughters. There was a dim glow coming from under the shut door, and Tony furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

After a moments hesitation - no one could've gotten in without JARVIS knowing, right? - he pushed the door open slowly and quietly.

Audrey and Haldisa were okay, not that Tony was worried or anything. No. Of course not. Pepper was lulling Audrey to sleep - so it /was/ Audrey! - in her arms, and Haldisa hadn't even woken up. Tony leaned on the doorframe, smiling softly. It was a while before he spoke.

"Hey."

Pepper flicked her head around, surprised. She smiled. "Hey."

Then all hell broke loose.

The wall right behind her collapsed, and the twins started screaming and Pepper was running towards him but she couldn't reach him before the ground started collapsing too and then she was falling
falling
falling
into a pit of fire and Tony was trying to grab her hand but he couldn't reach.

Then he turned and Hallie was missing. It took only a few minutes to find her again. On the edge of the crumbled away floor. He had to save her. He started running, but the little girl only got further and further away. Then he was being sucked back into the wormhole, back into outer space, and the Chitouri were all around him, and he was trying to call Pepper.

Then everything went black.

Anthony Stark sat up quickly, his body drenched in sweat. Pepper. Hallie. Audrey. Hallie. Audrey. PepperAudreyPepperHallieAudrey. The words repeated in his mind over and over and over again. Something moved beside him. No, not something, someone. Pepper. Pepper was beside him. Virginia "Pepper" Potts was beside him and alive and okay.

"Tony?" She asked, her voice muffled and covered with sleep. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.

"I'm fine. Go back to sleep." He answered softly, wiping sweat from his forehead. Thank god he hadn't wet the bed.

He waited until Pepper had drifted into sleep again, before getting out of bed and traipsing down the hall to the bedroom little Audrey and Haldisa were sharing.

Fine. Both were fine, everything was fine. He flinched when his phone beeped. A text from Clint.

Clint: Don't pull me out for a mission, or to help in the lab. Nat's in hospital. Don't know how long.

Well, then. That was a surprise. Natasha wasn't due for, what, 2 weeks? Tony blinked down at the text, unsure whether to reply or not. He didn't have to.

Audrey sniffled, and opened her mouth - to cry, probably - and Tony picked her up in a heartbeat, rubbing her back soothingly.
"Shh. Don't want to wake up your sister, now do we? And Mummy's got a big meeting tomorrow. Well, she has big meetings everyday. She actually has to go to work." He whispered, glancing at Hallie. Asleep. Good.

Audrey drew his attention back to her little face with some incomprehensible baby talk.

"I know. Work. Ridiculous. I have a feeling that your the little rebel out of you and your sister. Hope you don't turn out too much like me. And you can't go anywhere near the suit. Got that? Mummy will skin me alive." He continued to mutter pointless words to her, until she drifted to sleep.

Then he watched her sleep for a while.

Then he slowly made his way back to the bedroom he shared with Pepper, only crashing into the wall once. Or twice. But, honestly, no more than three and JARVIS was partly to blame. Well, not really.