AN: I have no excuse for the three year hiatus... I'm just bad at keeping up with my writing. Thank you for reading!

"Are those its legs?" Tony flipped the ultrasound scan over and over with his hands. His eyes scanned the surface of the picture hundreds of times, yet he was adamant about burning his child's image into his already stuffed mind.

Pepper laughed, smacking Tony on the arm as she took the picture from his hands.

"Tony! She! Our baby girl." The inventor stopped by the front door of their luxury lakeside home, an arm around the waist of his soon-to-be wife. Pepper accepted his embrace with a head on his shoulder, worry easing into her heart as Tony's eyes darkened.

"You okay?" She asked as she rubbed his back up and down in comfort.

Tony hid the ache in his heart as best as he could, the guilt that tormented him as he enjoyed his life on Earth with his beloved.

"Never better."

Pepper kissed his cheek solemnly, pouring all her feelings into her kiss. A part of Pepper was grateful for this peace, no matter how cruel it seemed. Tony Stark, her partner, needed the break; he was running himself ragged.

"C'mon, ten bucks on Junior crashing the house." Tony ushered them both to the entrance with a hand on the doorknob, his joke prompting a laugh out of his pregnant fiance.

"He's not a kid!" Pepper exclaimed with a smile as she took off her coat at the entrance, openly enjoying the warmth of their home.

"Considering I picked him out of the space dumpster..." Tony quipped, unravelling his scarf from his neck as he kicked off his shoes. "Junior! We're home!" He shouted down the hallway, helping Pepper put away her coat as he haphazardly shoved his boots under the rack with a foot.

"Stark! Potts! Uh-Just! Give me one second!" The robot replied.

"Shit-!' Ultron cursed, still out of view as he knocked something over in the living room. Tony and Pepper share a look, one with amazement as he realised his winning bet and the other with genuine worry.

Both humans walk into the main area, greeted by a bumbling man? Alien?

A purely grey and white humanoid figure in the shape of a man wrestled with a black T-shirt by the couch, wearing only a pair of shorts that were a tad too tight for him. Both humans look down at the sizeable sofa, seeing previous attempts of shredded cotton and polyester all over the surface and floor.

"Are those my shirts?" Tony, aghast, stepped around to face what seemed to be Ultron. His body was incomplete, with copious amounts of wiring perceptible where his back was supposed to be and his complex reactor core visible through the thin sheen of his chest, directly in the middle.

Ultron shrugged, finally giving up by throwing the shirt away after countless failed attempts.

"Well… It's not like I was about to enter Ms Pott's wardrobe! Or well. Soon to be Mrs Stark." The now-confirmed Ultron muttered, his mechanical eyes blinking and whirring.

Tony stepped over the mess all over the floor and casually groped at Ultron's chest and arms, feeling the material and marvelling at the creation. His lower back was completely open, with only a thin layering of honeycombed pattern metal housing in his wires and various incomplete systems. The skin that layered his body was grey, his eyes missing pupils, his irises a pearly white, and his head completely bald.

"Vibranium?" Tony wondered incredulously, marvelling at the robot based loosely on his designs.

"I uh—Ran out. Gonna have to do more chores for the panthers; I made some adjustments for extra systems." The Wankandans, or Queen Ramora specifically, gracefully gifted Ultron with Vibranium after the defence of Wakanda. Even when Ultron refused, she insisted that a declination of their gift would be seen as the highest insult to their people.

Pepper joined Tony's side, who was now ultimately used to having a former murderous super bot living with them.

Tony turned Ultron's face left and right, noting that he was only slightly taller than him. "What did you base your genome structure on?" The inventor poked at Ultron's jarringly familiar face, Ultron seemingly uncaring as his creator jabbed at his eye sockets and nostrils.

"52,348 Stark/Potts genome pairings; after simulation of all forms, this is the one Ultron has chosen," F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied from the central speaker system.

Pepper's interest was piqued. "So you are literally-"

"A mixture of the both of you? Technically. I'm a distant relative of you across 5 generations."

Tony and Pepper shared an unknown look, causing Ultron to wince in mechanical embarrassment.

"That sounds weird saying out loud... Point is! I have a body now! Similar to that of Visions, just without the multi-billion-year-old stone and multi-molecular phasing that he so loves-"

Tony wrapped his arms around the half-put-together robot, a content look sprawled on his face as he patted Ultron on his lower back, his upper still hollow and empty.

"What is this?" Ultron froze, unfamiliar with the sudden burst of emotions in his system.

'Never had one before, have you?' Tony chuckled; he looked over to Pepper, who stood by with a smile.

"C'mon! He's adopted, but he's still ours!"

Ultron scoffed at Tony. "You literally created me."

"From a space stone in the garbage, yes." Tony bantered with a smirk.

Pepper rolled her eyes before joining Tony in enveloping Ultron's new body. The Superbot gasped, gently wrapping his arms around them as he got used to the sensation of their arms around him.

"I can feel your hearts." He whispered, terrified of harming them as he adjusted his strength.

"It's good to see you, Junior. Really see you." Tony pulled away with a hand on his shoulder.

"Does this mean you get to finally call me dad?" he teased. Ultron rolled his eyes away in a huff and gently pushed their embrace away as Pepper laughed, motioning them towards the dinner table with a light shove.

"Shut up. Go eat your dinner." He muttered as he went to take the food out of the oven.

"Facial expressions! Honey, can you believe it?" Tony laughed, exhilarated.

Pepper giggled further at both of their antics before moving to the kitchen. "I'll set the plates." She said innocently.

Both man and robot immediately stopped her with vocal protests, telling her to sit at the table as they worked.

"You're two people now! You sit and look pretty whilst I finish things up with the kid." Tony insisted, leading Pepper by her hand as he pulled out her chair and sat her down.

Pepper watched incredulously as the partly-humanesque Ultron and her fiancé, Tony Stark, worked together to finish setting dinner—a family. A slightly egocentric one, and by far one of the most difficult ones to understand, but it was a family nonetheless.

She couldn't help the smile that illuminated her lips when the new Ultron poured her some water or the sweet, gentle tug on her heart when Tony gave her a few extra potatoes to go with her salad. This, indeed, was all she wanted in her life.

Tony sat beside her at the table as they finished serving and joined his hand with his partner as she began tearing up. "Hormones?" He teased with a knowing smirk.

Pepper shook her head and leaned in to kiss the inventor.

"I'm just happy." She whispered her head against her lover.

"Me too." Tony breathed.

Ultron walked through the dining room with his hands up, his metal hands sizzling hot as he evaporated some moisture from his hands.

"Enjoy dinner; I'm going to do the rounds and uh… Maybe get the rest of that material."

"Have fun! And buy your own clothes!' Tony yelled from his seat.

"Already did!"

… Five Months Later ...

"What's the emergency?!" Ultron burst out of the hospital stairs, facing Tony as the inventor tried to usher him to a gentler state. Many nurses and doctors in the ward expressed their distaste for his behaviour, and the superbot apologised quietly, "My apologies!"

Ultron's body has changed significantly. His once-empty modules now house various weapon-advanced systems, enough to fight off an invasion and then some. His now complete body could wear clothes, yet he kept his grey, metallic complexion and bald head.

But he was far from done. Ultron worked tirelessly to produce skin, trying to replicate it artificially to integrate his body fully into human society.

Ultron's eyes scanned his creator before him; a rather blissful happiness surrounded his eyes, yet the bags beneath them spoke volumes of how tired he was.

"She's here," Tony whispered with a smirk.

"She? Mrs Stark? Is she expecting soon?" The inventor laughed.

"Morgan Stark is here." Tony beamed, and his eyes glowed ever brighter as he led Ultron into the hospital room. Inside, Pepper Stark sat up against her bed, the topside angled upwards to support the new mother as she rested against many sizable cushions. Frankly, Pepper looked horrible, as if she had just braved one of the worst battles in the universe.

"She's finally...?"

"Tony..." Pepper called for her husband, her voice hoarse and weak as she lifted a bundle of cloth in her arms to him, struggling to reach even the slightest bit into the air. Tony was beside her within a flash, supporting her as he kissed her temple lovingly.

"You're right." Tony grinned in understanding and took the cloth from her arms.

"Here, Junior. Like a flower." He held the package like Tony, with one arm under and his other hand positioned over the top, gently supporting it.

"L-Like a flower." He repeated nervously, bringing the bundle flush against his chest and further up to his eyes.

Ultron's breath function hitched in his throat for the first time. A tiny baby, barely the size of his arm, lay sleeping within the bundle of warm blankets. Her little mouth was agape as she breathed against his face. The slightest tuft of hair lay on her head, her body soft and her bones barely moulded as she wriggled within the cloth.

"She's so small." He whispered, a natural smile adorning his metallic features. Tony and Pepper shared a knowing look, joining their hands as they watched Ultron handle Morgan with the most delicate touch they could ask for.

"She's the priority, you hear?" Tony bumped his hand into his shoulder, and both warriors shared a knowing look with each other.

"Loud and clear..."

Morgan Stark started to wake, her hands managing to pull out of her cloth prison as she gripped at anything in reach. Ultron poked at her with his metal finger, experimenting and touching as Morgan stirred. Her tiny hand enveloped his one finger, the warm sensation ushering a raw sense of protectiveness over him.

"Sorry, kiddo. I'm all metal." Ultron chuckled as Morgan continued to grip his finger. Her brilliantly amber eyes opened, staring into his white irises, human meeting robot. A sudden surge of emotion filled Ultron from head to toe, almost overwhelming as the baby cooed at him.

"Here, Mrs Stark." Ultron returned Morgan to Pepper, who prepared to feed the needy child.

"Thank you, Ultron." Pepper thanked him as she took her child with a smile.

"I'll-" With one last glance at Morgan, Ultron made to leave the room, allowing the new parents to tend to their child. "Yeah. I'll leave you two to rest."

"Thank you." Both parents chimed.

As Ultron closed the door to their room, he found breathing hard and felt a surging need to protect and care for the bundle of flesh. It was fascinating. How could such a small creature have such a sway on his emotions?

Why? What is this feeling?

… One year later ...

Ultron sieved his hands through the groceries, placing them in their respective places within the massive lakeside home. He looked down at his hands as he put away the milk, noticing somewhat tanned skin adorning them with his prototype artificial flesh.

He twirled his hands around again, inspecting his digits as he observed how his fake muscles flexed with every movement. Incredibly firm to withstand bullets and various lasers, yet soft enough to touch to mistake it for the real thing.

He looked up as he closed the fridge, managing to catch his reflection on the surface. He twirled his head left and right, inspecting his face for deformities within his mirror image. By societal standards, Ultron was a rather handsome man, yet all he did was encode the same genetic structure on his body for the skin.

With chiselled cheeks, a strong jawline, and a toned body, Ultron couldn't complain; he now looked the part, having assimilated himself entirely as a human, at least on the outside.

"You are never going to date." Tony huffed from the living room. Ultron rolled his now normal eyes, with red irises complimenting his slicked-back black hair. He continued with his rather welcome duties, ripping apart packaging with force unseen before as he shoved trash into their respective recycling bins.

"Bwa bah buh?" Morgan replied enthusiastically, sitting in her baby chair with legs dangling.

"Good answer!" Tony encouraged, eagerly letting Morgan grip his pinkie and throw his hand around. Suddenly, Morgan sneezed, drawing out an exaggerated gasp out of Tony. His funny face made her giggle against her father, who worked to wipe at her snotty face.

"Oh! Bless you, baby." Tony cooed.

Ultron entered the living room with Morgan's lunch and his pink flowery kitchen apron in the other. Tony insisted on the pink one for Ultron when they went family shopping last month, said robot begrudgingly accepted with a scowl, but only because Morgan seemed to like the colours.

"Look! It's the not-so-metal man!" Tony pointed to Ultron with a grin, his daughter matching his smile as she clapped her hands.

"Hey, kiddo. Here's your delivery of-" Ultron pulled back, raising the carton to squinted eyes as he read the packaging aloud.

"Mushed greens, plenty of nutrients for everyone! Two a day, I would hate my life if I were you." Ultron said with visible distaste, passing the carton and baby spoon to his creator.

"Bo-bo bun!" Morgan added, smacking her hands against her chair with dramatic flair.

"You hear that, Junior? She thanked you!" Ultron sighed as he watched Tony feed the babbling baby her greens, the inventor cooing every so often in tandem with her squeals.

"You're either going mad, or you know a language that I cannot possibly comprehend." He muttered, amused that Morgan was making a mess over her bib.

"C'mon! Baby talk is universal!" Tony continued to praise Morgan for eating, causing Ultron to roll his eyes. There was a relatively happy air around the Stark household, Morgan having impacted them all most significantly.

The inventor stopped worrying about the state of the universe and instead focused on his family, and Pepper hasn't worried about her husband running off to fight another war by himself.

A considerable upgrade in Ultron's book.

They were both anxious wrecks, but Morgan seemed to heal both of the holes within their souls. "C'mon, old man. Don't you have a reservation with your wife soon?" Ultron reminded Tony. These days, the former genocidal machine has now resorted to a simple, resourceful butler and babysitter. Not that he had any objections; he loved his job.

Tony and Pepper would have Tuesday and Thursday off, having Ultron be their caretaker as the two new parents went out for some alone time.

It was natural. After all, they were still considered newlyweds; they would want to spend as much time as possible together.

"Tony!" Pepper called him from upstairs.

'Yes, honey?!"

"Do you want to pick out my dress?' Tony dropped the food and spoon into Ultron's waiting hands, a playful smirk on his face as he made for the master bedroom.

"Never wanted to do anything else," he replied with vigour, almost running up the stairs to his waiting wife.

"Lech." Ultron sighed, sitting in his creator's seat to feed the waiting baby.

"Your father is quite the example, right, Morgan?" He fed Morgan quietly, easily amused by her babbling and occasional burps.

"Mamigu?"

"My thoughts exactly! You humans are quite-" Ultron stopped midway through feeding, the spoon hovering by Morgan's waiting lips.

Did he just...Reply? To a baby? A being that barely has a conscience?

Morgan giggled at his stunned expression, wrapping her tiny hands around one of his wrists. She splattered the mixture of greens onto his jeans, but he could care less, still perplexed at what just happened.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., don't you dare-!"

"Too late," F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied, with Tony and Pepper laughing upstairs, most probably watching back the footage.

"Shi-"

Ultron stopped himself, beady, curious eyes watching him from the baby chair. He sighed as he finally fed her the last bit of her greens; he loathed that their behaviour was getting to him.

… Three years later ...

Ultron watched his mortal enemies closely, waiting to strike at the perfect moment.

Now!

He flipped the burger patties perfectly, twirling the kebab sticks with his free hand. He managed the barbeque perfectly; his every movement was calculated and perfect as he cooked.

Ever since Morgan turned three, Ultron had disconnected from his hivemind, living isolated from the network within his human body. He travelled the world constantly, mingling with different cultures and meeting various people. He wanted to truly live, to take in Vision's final words to him.

However, after feeling homesick, he returned home during the summer and decided to spend a month with his 'family'.

"This way, baby!" Pepper cooed as she lounged on her sunchair by the lake. The now five-year-old Morgan was being chased by her father, who pretended to be some sort of monster with multiple appendages and a long tongue. She giggled as she ran to her mother down the docks, hair and swimsuit wet, having just been for a light swim.

Morgan stopped by the barbeque, following her nose to the smell of freshly cooked meats and vegetables. With one innocent glance at Ultron, she giggled to herself before running straight to him with her wet arms out.

"Oh no, you don't!" Ultron blocked her access to the barbeque, shielding her body from the hot metal with his legs.

'Tron! I want one!' Morgan begged, pulling on the pocket of his jeans.

"Ah! Morgan! Not too close to the fire!" He visibly struggled juggling between tasks, Morgan being completely unpredictable as her hands constantly went around his legs.

"Spill those burgers, and you're next on the grill, kiddo!"

Morgan babbled against his leg happily as she saw the action as play, rubbing obscene amounts of spit into Ultron's jeans, causing Tony to choke on his laughter as he slowly approached his daughter.

"Oh God-! F.R.I.D.A.Y., you getting this?"

"Already recording, sir."

"Hey! Come and get your hellspawn, old man!" Ultron yelled, half-cooked kebab in one hand and a pair of tongs in the other. Pepper came to the rescue, hoisting Morgan into her arms as she used a towel to wipe Morgan's face.

"We can't disturb Ultron when he's cooking, can we, Morgan?" Pepper moved Morgan close to the superbot, wanting her daughter to apologise.

"Okay... Sorry, Ultron." Morgan bit her lip and activated her puppy-dog mode, her eyes widening and her cheeks fluffing out adorably. Ultron kissed his teeth, waving the three Stark's away from his station as he continued to cook.

"Whatever, just sit still, and I'll have your burger ready soon."

"I want a cheeseburger!" Morgan yelled enthusiastically with her arm up.

"Me too!" Tony mirrored his daughter.

"Sit down already!"

It was blissful to be back. Truthfully, Ultron's travels felt like a chore, yet every other day went by in a flash when he was here. Ultron experienced chaos that lulled his heart and put him at ease. He wasn't sure what it was, but when he was with the Stark family, he could relax and watch as the hours blended into minutes.

So it wasn't surprising that both parents were now watching a film in the living room while Ultron tasked himself with putting the ever-energetic Morgan to bed later that night.

"Ultron?" Morgan asked, smothered within her bed as she peeked from beyond her blankets.

"Hmm?" The robot sat beside Morgan in a chair already pulled by the bed.

"I love you." Ultron's heart fluttered, his stomach dropping to his knees as he caught his breath hitched in his throat.

"Alright, kiddo." He smiled as he brought the covers higher over her chest.

However, Morgan refused to rest, sitting up and pushing away his hands with a rebellious pout. "Say it back!" She insisted with a cross of her arms.

Ultron laughed, tapping his imaginary watch on his wrist. "Way past your bedtime, kiddo, c'mon."

"No!" Morgan shook her head, arms still crossed as she puffed out her cheeks defiantly. Ultron chuckled to himself, poking one of them until it popped as she breathed for air.

"I'm not sleeping till you say it back!" Adamant for a response, Morgan pleaded with her eyes, trying every method she knew to get Ultron to say those three magical words to her.

Ultron rested his head on his arm, matching Morgan's gaze with a smirk. "What's gotten into you, hmm?"

Morgan flailed her arms onto her lap dejectedly, frowning forcefully. "Why won't you love me?" she cried.

"Oh, but I do!" Ultron chuckled, wiping away the few loose strands of brown hair from her eyes.

"But you never say it back…" She huffed, arms crossed over her chest as she turned away from him defiantly. "Not to mom or dad or even me!"

She was right. But then again, what does it mean to love someone? To truly love a being? And yet, nothing within his mind told him that if he were to say it to her, he would be lying. In fact, it was the opposite. He would be telling her the truth.

"I love you." He tested the words on his perfect artificial tongue, pleasantly surprised to say that he truly loved the now excited bundle of meat before him. Morgan grinned triumphantly, full of teeth and giddiness as she giggled. Ultron rolled his eyes, the same unusual feeling washing over his belly.

"Happy now?" He tried to speak thinly, the slightest hint of a smile betraying his true feelings. Morgan nodded furiously, not missing his smile and clutching her Ultron plush close to her chest.

"Say it again!"

Ultron dropped his smile, replacing it with a defeated frown. He sighed and wiped away the same few strands knocked loose from her shaking.

"This is the last time."

"Loveyou." He whispered so quickly that it almost couldn't be heard. "Nuh-uh! Properly!" Morgan pouted, sitting up again and hitting him on the shoulder with her toy.

"You stubborn little-!" Morgan giggled furiously as Ultron tickled her, eventually hiding under her covers to get away from Ultron's deftly hands. The same annoying strands were tucked away once more. His hand lingered this time, cupping her puffy cheek as he caressed her forehead with his thumb.

"I love you, Morgan." He whispered clearly, his eyes gentle and smile proud.

Finally satisfied, Morgan gave him a vast smile that showed her pimples amongst the bountiful freckles across her cheeks.

"I love you, Ultron." She whispered, finally digging into her pillow with a yawn.

"Goodnight, kiddo."

"Goodnight..."

Ultron stayed for a while, watching as she fell into the land of dreams. Such a delicate and innocent soul. He caressed her cheek one last time before making for the door, the memory of their conversation still replaying in his mind.

He would do anything for her.

If she wanted the world, Ultron would hand it to her on a golden platter.

... One Week Later...

"Chow time! Maguna? Morgan H. Stark. You want some lunch?" Tony sat on a tiny wooden chair, looking around the peaceful forest as he breathed in the fresh air.

The tent entrance opened, with Morgan wearing a silver and blue helmet. Its eyes glowed a brilliant blue, the hud activated, and Morgan's fake flashlight cannon beamed towards him.

"Define lunch or be disintegrated!" Morgan growled playfully, her hand raised high like her father's when he fought bad guys on the clips she saw. Tony chuckled; his daughter never failed to surprise her.

"Okay, You should not be wearing that, okay? That is part of a special anniversary gift I'm making for Mom." Tony helped to take the helmet off Morgan, who emerged with a mischievous smile.

"Okay~" She replied.

"There you go. Are you thinking about lunch? I can give you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce." He mockingly threatened as he fixed her brilliantly brown hair.

"Ew! No." Morgan giggled.

"That's what you want. How did you find this?" Tony motioned to the helmet, flipping it over so the face was towards him.

"Garage." Morgan tilted her head with innocent doe eyes.

"Really? Were you looking for it?"

Morgan shook her head in denial. "No. I found it, though."

"You like going to the garage, huh? So does daddy. It's fine, actually. Your mom never wears anything I buy her." He mumbled mainly to himself.

They started walking towards the house, with Tony hoisting Morgan up and into his arms before they reached the door. As he reached the entrance, a black car pulled up to the drive, and familiar faces he didn't want to see emerged. Steve, Nat, and Scott got out of the car with stern looks as they stopped before the steps of his home.

Tony sighed, not looking forward to their conversation.

After leaving Morgan with Pepper, Tony prepared coffee for his old friends. He listened attentively to their proposed "Time Heist", hoping to take the stones from the past so they could reuse them in the future. Every other sentence he heard wanted to make his eyes roll, yet he held back for their sake.

"Now, we know what it sounds like..." Scott winced, knowing their explanation was farfetched.

Steve, again, tried to convince his long-time friend. "Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?"

The inventor sighed. "Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?"

Scott, Steve and Nat all share puzzled looks; science was barely any of their fields.

After pouring the coffee, Tony handed Steve a drink, who replied with a "Thank you" before continuing his rant.

"In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

Scott shrugged his shoulders, indicating to himself. "I did."

"No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a... What do you call it?"

Scott winced again, bracing for the hit against his pride. "A time heist?"

Tony scoffed, an incredulous look on his face as he leaned back against his chair. "Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?"

"The Stones are in the past. We can go back and get them." Scott pleaded.

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back." Nat added.

However promising their method seemed, Tony wasn't convinced. He sipped at coffee before heaving another big sigh. "Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?"

"I don't believe we would." Steve, with his overabundant optimism, just enough to annoy Tony.

"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist." He sat down as he explained the logical fault in their plan of how perilous it was to lose everything.

"I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise."

Scott was quick to defend, mirroring Tony as he sat beside him. "Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back To The Future?" Anger and disappointment steamed within Tony's body as he leaned in.

Scott, clearly embarrassed, shook his head before firmly saying "No".

"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works."

"Tony... We have to take a stand." Natasha practically begged, wanting to fix their most tremendous loss.

Tony motioned around him, his eyes tired as he relived his darkest moments. "We did stand. And yet, here we are."

"I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did."

In his desperation, Scott raised his voice. "And now? Now we have a chance to bring her back. To bring everyone back! And you're telling me that you won't even-!"

"-That's right, Scott, I won't even. I got a kid." Tony whispered.

Morgan gingerly opened the door, drawing their guests' gazes before running into her waiting father's arms.

"Mommy told me to come and save you." Pepper most definitely heard the shouting and got worried.

It was amazing how much a simple embrace could do to his heart. Just his daughter's presence alone calmed him, Tony thought to himself. "Good job. I'm saved," he praised Morgan as he kissed her temple.

Tony turned to face his old friends again as he stood, a painful feeling in his gut. "I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I... I missed you guys; it was... Oh, and table's set for six." Tony drawled on, trying to distract his thoughts to something else; anything else.

Steve stopped him with a hand on his shoulder before his train of thought left. "Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance."

Tony shook his head, his hold on his daughter growing tighter as he felt the little heartbeat against his chest. "I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch."

Tony washed the dishes tonight, his thoughts spinning as he thought over the complications a thousand times over the evening. Physical labour always helped him finish his thoughts; he found it easier to concentrate when he was doing something, not mulling around like some sort of depressed teenager.

He dried his hands with a towel as he entered the living room. A glint on the fireplace caught his eye as he walked past. His gaze stumbled upon a photo of Peter's internship the day he got his certificate.

Peter Parker, the kid, disintegrated in his arms as he watched, powerless to act.

"Look at a mod inspiration. Let me see what checks out. So, recommend one last sim before we pack it in for the night. This time, in the shape of a Mobius strip, inverted, please." Tony drawled on, pacing back and forth in the dining room as he used the hologram projector.

"Processing..." F.R.I.D.A.Y chimed.

"Give me that eigenvalue. That, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp. That will take a second."

"Just a moment."

"And don't worry if it doesn't pan out. I'm just kinda-"

"Model rendered."

In a complete shock of amazement, Tony turned on a swivel as the render returned as 99.987% successful. He fell back on his chair as he placed a hand on his head, his heart pumping and his blood hot.

"Shit!" He exclaimed, his excitement palpable.

"Shit."

Tony's heart dropped upon hearing his innocent daughter use one of the most vile words known to man. He turned around on his chair, finding his daughter clad in her pyjamas. She sat on the stairs with her head in her hands, giggling as she watched her father panic at the sight of her still up.

Tony crossed his arms, feigning anger as he questioned his daughter. "What are you doing up, little mess?"

"Shit!" She parroted once more.

"No, we don't say that. Only Mommy says that word. She coined it; it belongs to her." He waggled the finger of authority, sporting another giggle out of Morgan.

"Why you up?" She asked.

"Cause I got some important shit going on here! What do you think? No, I got something on my mind. I got something on my mind."

"Was it Juice Pops?" Morgan chirped.

Tony grinned, proud of his daughter's wit. "Sure was. That's extortion. Great minds think alike. Juice Pops, exactly, was on..." Tony turned again, staring in disbelief at the render floating atop his dinner table.

"...my mind." He tapped his finger on the table before making up his mind.

"What do you say we get Ultron back home?"

Morgan's playful demeanour switched as soon as Ultron's name was mentioned. Excited, she stuck her head between the bars with glee.

"Really?!" Tony laughed, standing from his seat, motioning for F.R.I.D.A.Y to turn the hologram off as he finally headed to bed.

"I mean, Junior has no other choice. I have you as my hostage!" He hushed, swooping his giggling daughter into his arms as he took them upstairs.