"He has a case," said Coulson that evening in the tower after Emmy was asleep. "If he had waited just a week, then Emmy would have legally been yours and it would have been a different case altogether but now that he's filed for her the process has been frozen."

"Okay," said Tony slowly, pacing the room in hopes of relieving some of his restless energy. "Okay, that's not awful. It's not ideal, I really wanted those official papers for Christmas but Steve's always telling me that getting everything I want will make me spoiled. And it's just the official say-so, not like I've ever needed that before, we all know Emmy is mine so that's not an issue."

"You're doing it again, love," said Steve patiently.

"What?" said Tony, looking around and instantly finding Steve as if he were a heat seeking missile in the middle of a snowstorm and Steve was an erupting volcano.

"Workshop thinking," replied Steve with a fond grin because Tony always thought aloud in the workshop.

"Sorry."

"Phil, isn't there anything we can do?" said Natasha from where she was curled up on an armchair. "That man can't just barge into Emmy's life now. The courts can't possibly side with him."

"They have in similar cases," said Phil grimly. "I'm not saying that will happen this time, I'm just saying that everyone – Tony – has to be on their best behavior and follow my instructions – Tony – so that the courts have no reason to take her away. But you do need to know that they will be taking her away for the duration of the trial."

"What?!" yelled all of the Avengers at once, Bruce going so far as to leave the room in favor of his Hulk room.

"They can't do that!"

"It's not right!"

"She belongs with us!"

"Let me explain," said Phil calmly, his sharp voice cutting through the chaos in a way only he could manage.

Tony looked ready to pounce and verbally rip Coulson to shreds. The only thing that stopped him from acting upon that urge was Steve getting up and standing behind him, his broad arms wrapping firmly around Tony's chest, grounding him to the present and keeping his temper contained.

"Go on, Phil," said Steve in that polite tone he only ever acquired when he was truly mad.

"Until this custody issue is settled, they aren't going to want Emmy to be with either party," said Phil. "She could be influenced, trained, coached, whatever you want to call it. So they will ask for her to be placed in emergency custody, sending her to one of the preapproved homes in the area that exist just for such situations. Now if Stone has done his research and spoken to the owner of the home Emmy stayed at until she moved here, then he will know that talking is not her strong suit, that she has nightmares and is painfully shy and he will use that. His lawyers will call upon her in trial and she will have to go up."

"No," snapped Tony. "There's no fucking way that's happening. The judge has to rule that out. They can do that, I know they can. They can say it would be detrimental to the child's wellbeing to be put through that and make it impossible for that to happen."

"Normally that would happen but this is you, Tony. This is going to be all over the media and frankly, it's not actually a case of abuse and since Emmy has been tested and scored high enough she can and probably will be used in the trial. If I were Stone's lawyers, I'd use her. I'd sit her up there and paint Stone as the wronged father just looking to be reunited with his baby girl. Get the jury sympathetic enough to rule in his favor. There will probably be tears involved and since Emmy doesn't talk it will be easy to put words in her mouth."

"That fucking sick psycho!"

"Yes, we all agree with you but we don't have much time so if you don't shut up I will shock you into next year."

"Tony, please," whispered Steve, pressing a kiss to Tony's ear.

"Now," said Phil, eying the rest of the room. "This is going to move fast because of the media. The odds are that Stone has already told anyone who would listen – and that's a lot of people – that he is the rightful father of the girl Captain America and Iron Man have taken in, so everything is already in motion. Emmy will be removed from your care until this is worked out, I'd say by mid-morning at best. Hopefully we can get this over with by Christmas and since a child is in play everyone will want to keep the trial short."

"Where is she going to go?" asked Clint, absently polishing his bow.

Before Coulson could respond, there was a slight noise near the door and everyone turned to see a sleepy Emmy standing in her favorite Captain America footie pajamas, thumb in mouth, hair a mess, and stuffed dog under arm.

"Hey Ducky," said Tony, worming out of Steve's grip and going to crouch in front of his daughter. "What are you doing up?"

"Miss Emmy appears to have had another nightmare, Sir," said JARVIS helpfully.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Tony, opening his arms and allowing her to fall into them like she always did. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Emmy shook her head tiredly.

"How about we watch a movie?" suggested Steve with a sad attempt at a smile. "I'll make coco."

"I'll make mashed potatoes," said Bruce, sticking his head through the doorframe on his way to the kitchen looking tired but not green.

"Blankets," said Clint, sprinting out of the room before anyone could question.

"JARVIS, let's pick out a movie," said Natasha while Steve and Tony made their way to the room set aside entirely for the days when they needed to cuddle – and that is what they called it because Tony could not find a more manly word for it and Steve refused to let it be called Super Secret Boy Band Snuggle Fest.

Coulson watched with a ghost of a smile as the makeshift family settled in together in the mountain of pillows, a blanket from every person's room, and the opening scene of the Swan Princess playing, before turning away to conspire with Tony's lawyers and Pepper because anyone who was willing to take away the happiness his charges had only recently found, deserved not only to be refused but also to be utterly destroyed because this blow, taking away their youngest, would destroy the Avengers far more effectively than any foe they had faced yet.

*I love Agent. He's my favorite. Always - Ari