A/N: Hello, everyone, and welcome to more of the 714 Marvel universe. If you're just joining us, check out my profile for the reading order.

Chapter 1: "Paperwork and Pictures"

Howard and Sadie had managed to stay off of the radar of most of the tabloids — outside of the usual pictures of "Howard Stark and girlfriend out and about the town" and the like. But no one had picked up the engagement story yet, simply because they were both so young and because Sadie certainly wasn't showing, not this early in the game.

And Howard was careful about the details, too. He didn't want Sadie to be dragged through the mud if he could help it, so he always walked on her left side and held her hand so that no one could see the ring — at least, no nosy reporters. Though Sadie wasn't going to not wear it, either, insisting that she'd already decided to marry him.

It was just that, well, Howard really didn't want her to get mobbed. He knew it would happen when she started showing and when they got married, but he wanted to put it off as long as possible and let her live away from the circus that surrounded him. But on the other hand, there was a time factor. If they tried to keep anything hidden for too long or waited too long to get married, then Sadie would be showing before too long. Sure, the press would figure it out when they did the math after the fact… it was inevitable. And Howard knew it.

So it really wasn't too long after the initial proposal before they sat down and figured out a date for the wedding. They didn't want to get married too quickly or it would only be a worse media circus. But on the other hand, they didn't want to wait until after the baby had come, because they both wanted to at least try to do this in the right order, as much as possible. For the sake of Pepper's blood pressure.

There were other considerations, too. Chance and Elin's twins were supposed to come in March, so they didn't want to push too close to that deadline and risk something dramatic like Elin going into labor in the middle of the ceremony — which Howard was convinced was a real possibility, no matter how often Sadie told him he was just being dramatic. After all, he pointed out, pretty much the whole engagement had been dramatic from start to finish, so why not the wedding too?

But they also didn't want to get in the way of the holidays — especially when Pepper had insisted that Sadie should come and at least spend Christmas Eve with the Stark family in Malibu so that they could properly welcome her into the family. After all, for as stressed as Pepper was about the whole thing, and how furious she was at Howard, she still seemed to think the world of Sadie and honestly wanted her to feel comfortable with the idea of being a Stark. Which, she insisted, was almost enough work to not be worth it. But, she told Sadie in an undertone, enough fun to make up for the rest.

After a few weeks of consideration, they finally decided on early January. It would be early enough that Sadie wouldn't be showing too much, and it would be a two-month buffer at least with Elin's little ones so that Elin could be there, even if she probably had to sit out a lot of the dancing.

And, Howard pointed out, it would be a great way to start the year. Maybe not on New Year's Day itself, but early enough that every year would start out right.

So, that was how Howard and Sadie found themselves getting together the paperwork. And if Howard was honest, he was still a little nervous about the part where he had to get Sadie's parents to sign off on the whole thing. Logan wasn't trying to kill him outright anymore, but… Howard was pretty sure it was a near thing whenever they saw each other.

Though first, they had to talk to Howard's parents, and that was a surprisingly hard thing as well, especially when Pepper seemed to scrutinize the legal forms for a much longer time than necessary before she looked up at Sadie at last. "As soon as you submit the paperwork, the story will break. Are you ready for that?"

Sadie nodded. "It's going to happen no matter what, right? So we might as well face it now."

Pepper nodded slowly before she simply signed her name and handed the paperwork to Sadie. "I'm pretty sure at this point, I have to remind you: please don't break my son's heart," she said, though there was just the slightest crinkle at the corner of her mouth that broke into a smile when Howard let out a little 'mom.'

Sadie took it entirely seriously, though, and simply nodded her head, not really trusting herself not to tick her off by saying something slightly wrong.

Howard put his arm around Sadie's shoulders and kissed her cheek. "Don't worry, Mom," he promised. "Sadie's a queen. She's too good for that kind of dramatic nonsense."

Pepper smiled a bit more at that, though she turned back to Sadie. "I know you've got a lot on your plate, so if you need me to source out any of the wedding details — any of them — let me know. I already know Tony's going to go overboard, so I'll rein him in." She gave Sadie a warmer smile, obviously trying to make her more comfortable even though it was a lot for her to take in. "This is what happens when he only has one child to lavish attention on. I'm so sorry about your luck."

That, of course, only had Howard rolling his eyes harder before he turned Sadie by the shoulders. "She's only going to keep offering to help until we run away," he told Sadie in an undertone. "And I really don't know anything about wedding planning. All I know is there better be white roses for my queen, okay?" he added with a small, clearly nervous smile as he tried to coax her into something away from the overwhelmed look she'd been wearing this whole time.

Sadie didn't say a word, still, and instead just gave his hand a little squeeze and tried for a smile that fell quite a bit short of what he was hoping for.

He let his shoulders drop and then pulled her aside in the hall farther away from his mom's home office to look at her squarely. "Listen, I'm going to take care of everything, okay? You don't have to worry."

"Okay, I know," she said, nodding slightly. "I just don't know anything about any of this."

Howard shook his head. "Me neither," he admitted. "I went to, like, a dozen different websites on what kind of planning to do — you know, not just the wedding but the baby and everything. And they all seem to give a lot of contradictory advice?" He shook his head. "But I'll figure it out."

"I've … been around my mother enough to have an idea on the baby stuff anyhow," she admitted quietly.

"Good, because I'm an only child, and I know there are a few smaller kids at the schools and the tower, but honestly, I just sort of… hung out with people my age?" He smiled nervously. "I'm a little out of my depth."

She did give him a little smile at that. "I know for a fact that if you can get to spend more time with my family, Mom would help walk you through a few things with Kurt." She let out a breath. "You might have to inform Chance he needs to step off, but …"

Howard smirked at that. "Oh no. I'll let him do that. He's the one that warned me not to run away from your dad, so… I'll stay in my future brother-in-law's good books," he admitted in a whisper. "I'll ask your mom when he's on a mission or something."

"If you think that Chance won't help you too? You're missing his whole 'giant family' angle," Sadie told him.

"Oh, no, I got that part loud and clear from the face he makes," Howard said. "How does he keep that up without breaking something?"

Sadie frowned and tipped her head slightly. "We're operating under the assumption that it's some kind of genetic quirk. Weirdos."

Howard let out a sigh and then leaned over to steal a kiss. "I was trying to get you to laugh," he told her. "Come on, is marrying me really such a horrible prospect?"

"No," Sadie promised. "I'm just … freaking out. That's all. It's on me."

Howard bit his lip as he watched her. "Anything I can do? At all?" he asked. "I told you I'd take care of you…"

She shrugged and sort of glanced around the room as she tried to think. "I don't know. I have to go see Tyler. And I don't really … I'm not looking forward to it at all."

"I can go with you," Howard offered. "I mean, he can't be as scary as your dad. Right?" He leaned forward. "Tell me he hasn't suddenly turned into Sabretooth for some reason."

She shook her head. "No. Dad would stab him in the face if that happened."

"Oh, good. Then I can probably go with you and not get killed," Howard said.

"I know Dad's bristling at you, but if he was going to kill you, he would have by now," Sadie told him. "I've just been dragging my feet to go to Tyler."

"Well, you can hold my hand if it helps," Howard offered. "I read somewhere that helps. With… all of it."

"We can try it, right?" Sadie said, her gaze to the floor. "He won't tell me when to be there, and every time I've thought about it, there have been more pressing cases in there, so …"

Howard took a deep breath and then stepped in to kiss her. "Yeah, we'll try it," he said. "And if you hate having me there or something, I can wait outside or we can find you a different place to go. My mom — well, she saw a few specialists when she was pregnant with me, so she knows some clinics and stuff? I could ask her."

She let out a little breath as she leaned into him and just stayed there. "That's not a bad idea actually. But before you do that, I'll have James run through some of the more discreet ones. We have the whole … people want to clone my family issue we have to watch out for too, which … isn't like … the kind of news you deal with? But still."

Howard's eyebrows were high on his forehead as he nodded. "Yeah… we don't have anything like that. All I had to worry about growing up was that I was on constant kidnap-for-ransom patrol?"

"Been there done that," she said dryly.

"I guess we'll get a double dose with this one, then," Howard said, letting his gaze drop to her stomach for a moment. "Poor kid."

"Wait until you start picking up some of my family's paranoia," she told him quietly. "Then you'll know you've been accepted right."

"Are we sure we can't just live on the beach in Orange County or something and just… not?" Howard asked, only half joking.

"I'm not opposed to the south seas," she admitted. "And if I give up the idea of being a ballerina … I could probably learn the hula."

"Why not both?" Howard asked, taking her hand to head down the hall. "I'd love to see you in a hula skirt."

She did get a little snicker out of that. "We'll figure it out," she said. "I doubt my pale little self would look right in it. You need a tan to pull that off."

"So, I'll learn the hula dance," Howard decided, nodding seriously. "You should see the tan I can work up when we go to Milan in the summers."

She raised an eyebrow. "I am reasonably sure I can teach you how to breathe fire …"

"Then it's settled," Howard said. "We'll live in Hawaii, I'll become a fire breather, and you'll have to fly to all your ballets, sorry." He gave her a little smirk. "But I insist on hula skirts."

She finally gave him a real smile and then popped up on her toes to kiss him. "Okay."

He smiled as he led her to the car, though it was obvious that he was going right back to being anxious as they drove out to Westchester — and now for more than just one reason, since he had to ask Logan to sign papers and he was about to face the first doctor's visit with Sadie. Though they were very different kinds of nervous.

When they got to the institute, Sadie gave him a little smile, though it was clear she was anxious too. "So … I guess if Tyler's gone, we can just … go up and you can help me study for my early testing, right?"

Howard gave her a nervous sort of smile. "Yeah. I think that would be nice, actually. Just to do some studying."

"I know. You'll probably be bored to tears anyhow."

Howard reached over and grabbed her hand to squeeze it. "That's alright. I said I'd take care of you, and that includes boring, boring tests," he said with a smile.

"Such a confidence builder," she said quietly as she leaned on his arm.

"Hey, queens don't need to worry about this kind of thing," he told her and kissed her temple. "Besides, I know you're smart enough to make it. Just… gotta get past the nerves."

"Well, that's one of us," she said quietly as they made their way past Elin and Chance — and it was clear that Elin was having a hard day by the way she was half asleep on the couch.

Howard looked their way and watched the way Chance was half apologizing and playing with Elin's hair and leaned over to Sadie. "Should… I be apologizing more? Is that a thing?"

"I'm ninety percent sure he shouldn't be apologizing that much," Sadie whispered back. "But he's got a complex and is convinced that she wasn't entirely on board to start with. You're doing fine, Howard. Really."

"Well, you weren't exactly on board either," Howard said, frowning hard to himself.

"Neither were you," she pointed out. "It's not like you sought out to do this … so just … don't compare, please."

"I'll try not to," he promised, squeezing her hand. "I'm just… I'm a little lost too." He gave her a nervous smile. "We're lost together, right?"

"Blind following the blind? Sounds like a fun Saturday night, right?" She leaned against the back wall of the elevator as the doors closed and looked over to him with a little smile. "It's a good thing we look so good doing it."

He leaned over and stole a kiss. "Yeah, but we look good doing anything," he whispered to her.

"So far, yeah," she agreed before the doors opened up and her nerves fired up again. She paused just outside of the elevator and almost held her breath until Howard gave her hand a little squeeze, and then, she very carefully started to walk toward the med lab.

To her surprise, when she arrived, there wasn't anyone else there except for a group around Tyler and his little girls, one of whom needed a band-aid and would only accept it from Gerry. So, of course, Gerry and Charlie were spoiling the tiny blondes rotten while Gerry made a big enough fuss over Hannah's scraped knee that Sarah insisted that he give her a band-aid too.

And when Tyler looked up at Sadie, his smile widened for a moment before he leaned over to Gerry and asked him to keep an eye on the girls. He made his way over to Sadie and led her to the equipment to get her all set up. "Don't worry. This part's the easy part," he assured her with none of the growl he'd had when she first told him what was going on. "And if you want, you're far enough along now that I can tell you what you're having. No picture, but…" He shrugged. "I cheat. With everyone."

"You don't have to do anything that's not necessary," Sadie said quietly. "Do what you need to and then I'll just get out of the way again."

"Hey, this is the fun part of my job," Tyler told her with an honest smile. He leaned forward a bit. "And if you just want me to tell you and no one else, I can do that too."

She shrugged at that and then waited for him to do whatever he had planned out, though Howard came to sit down with her looking wide-eyed as he watched Tyler go about the setup. And then, almost despite himself, Howard found himself sort of migrating toward the screen to get a better look at the pictures, which had Tyler smirking before he explained to Howard what he was looking for.

Finally, Tyler leaned back. "Well." He looked over at the two of them and decided then and there that they needed some good news. "She looks perfect. I'm a little concerned about your blood pressure, though, Sadie. It's way too high right now, and you're going to stress yourself into problems if you're not careful."

Howard blinked at Tyler for a moment, his lips slightly parted. "She's… she's a she?"

"Yeah, that's what I said," Tyler said with a smirk. "I don't have a picture for you, but maybe next time, I can get you something to show your parents, huh?"

Howard blinked at Tyler again and then broke into a smile that it didn't look like he realized he was doing before he sort of leaned back on Sadie's bed. "Sadie…" he said quietly and then turned her way with a grin. "This is ... this is kind of amazing."

"You're kind of a cute rookie — first time being around baby stuff and all," she said, relaxing just the slightest bit because she couldn't help but smile at him when he was like this.

He nodded, still looking sort of dazed as he squeezed her hand. "There is a tiny person in there," he said, as if he was just now realizing it.

She stared at him with her eyebrows raised and slowly nodded. "Yeah. That's … kind of the whole big deal thing…" Sadie knew he was green on all of this, but his newfound awe and wonder wasn't helping her nerves at all.

Howard grinned and leaned over to kiss her cheek, but Sadie had barely even gotten cleaned up when Charlie made her way over, not bothering to explain why she was there before she simply pulled her arms around Sadie in a warm hug. "You're going to be fine," she whispered to Sadie. "He's excited. We all are."

Sadie, of course, shook her head but returned the hug as quickly as she could, hoping to just get beyond this part, too. The fact was that she'd been making a point to avoid as many people as possible, and the one person she'd seen the most of was James — and only because he could track her down and then didn't say anything when he sat down with her.

"We really are," Charlie insisted when she 'heard' Sadie's disbelief, doubling down on the hug and trying to pour as much warmth into it as she could. "Gerry's tickled pink about all the little ones he's going to get to practice pediatrics on when he's graduated. And you know half the mansion is squishy for babies; come on."

"It's a weakness we all share," Tyler said with a small smirk. "Personally, I can't wait to see who the little one takes after. We all know you're the brains of the outfit, Sadie."

"You can't even come up with a good lie," Sadie said his way.

"Who said I'm lying? Your fiance's been reduced to a stupor by a picture — just think what he'll be like with a baby in his arms," Tyler said, the smirk stretching into a grin. "Total putty."

Sadie rolled her eyes at that and tried to pull away from Charlie. "Is that all you needed?"

"Well, I was serious about the blood pressure," Tyler told her. "I can't give you much that your body won't totally ignore with the healing. But you need to relax."

Howard looked suddenly like he was paying more attention at that — and watched the way that Charlie still had a hand on Sadie's arm. "Hey, that's something I can help with," he said, looking Sadie's way with a small smile. "Right? Movie nights, maybe?"

"Maybe," she said, nodding her head.

"And stop being so jumpy," Charlie whispered to her, still holding on and almost willing Sadie to calm down. "No one here is going to take your head off. It's been three months; the whole mansion is in party planning mode instead, I hope you know."

Sadie gave Charlie a dry look at that. "I have to go talk to Dad," she said.

Charlie let out a breath before she simply pulled Sadie into another hug. "He doesn't hate you, and he's really just…. concerned for you. I promise he's not mad. I'd know if he was."

Sadie nodded. "I know what my own Dad is thinking," she said. "And most of it's instinctive. I don't need coaching on him."

"Well, you're still nervous, and you said you had to talk to him. I can only work miracles and context clues sometimes; I'm not done with school yet," Charlie said with a dry look.

"I'm not asking you to fix anything. Besides, I'm always nervous," Sadie said. "Just how it is."

"You didn't used to be," Charlie said. "Up until now, you've been fun to listen to — all excitement and drive and fun. This doesn't have to change that, you know." She tipped her head toward Gerry. "It's not so bad, the family life."

"That's not what my problem is," Sadie said. "I know that's fine. Look at my family. Come on."

"Then you're just being completely unreasonable," Charlie said with a shrug.

"Yes. Absolutely unreasonable and irrational and stupid. Yep, that's me."

"So stop it," Charlie said. "If you know it's irrational, stop."

Sadie flat out growled her way. "Yeah, doesn't work like that."

"So, is stabbing a Summers a relaxing event, because…" Howard said.

"Sounding more and more reasonable," Sadie muttered. "Typical. Trying to tie rationality to emotions. Come on, Howard."

"And hormones, and stress, and instincts," Tyler added before Charlie could get too twisted up.

"I'm just trying to help," Charlie said.

"And you are," Sadie said, then she frowned at Charlie. "Which … wait … how? Are you using that thing James made?"

"What?" Charlie furrowed her brow and shook her head. "No. I'm just using … logic? And hugs?"

Sadie narrowed her eyes at Charlie and took a step or two closer to Tyler and offered him her hand. "Am I still crazy with my blood pressure?"

Tyler tipped his head to the side and then rested his hand on her shoulder, taking her other hand in his for the full human contact angle as well — before he shook his head lightly. "It's down. Well… coming down after the snarls."

Sadie rolled her eyes at him. "Please. Like you don't just snarl to snarl."

"I don't, actually," he said.

"Well maybe you should," she countered before she turned to Charlie and pointed a finger at her. "You. Did. Something. I haven't been calming down from hugs. I've been crying from them."

Charlie held up both hands. "I haven't done anything but hug you," she swore.

Sadie shook her head. "You're wrong. You're not that super special, super big sister. Anyone hugs me like that right now and it's an instant fifteen minute crying streak. That's just fact."

"You know," Howard said, breaking in before Charlie could argue anything further, "James told me about that thing he made for emotional transfers. He said it was based on what he thought you'd be able to do down the line."

Sadie nodded at that. "Yeah, he said he couldn't manufacture anything to add, but he could amplify. Oh …oh my God, you're getting old. Secondary. Mutation." She tipped her head to the side and made a face. "Is that a white hair?"

Charlie flushed bright pink, but by that time, Gerry had made his way over and was highly, highly entertained, one of the girls on his shoulders and the other clamoring for her turn. "Gee, Lottie, we're going to have to tell Aunt Kate. She'll want to let K know that it's genetic."

Charlie hit him.