*TONY'S POV*

A lot had happened in the past five years. Yes, five. It was always crazy to think about how long it'd been...

Pepper gave birth to our daughter Morgan just under six months after we moved out of the avengers tower. I was still in charge of the building and Stark Tower, but I worked from home. Morgan wasn't going to school yet and for the time being, I taught her so she'd be ready when the time came.

God, I wasn't ready for that.

For the most part, life was good and I was finally happy. But It still wasn't whole with Peter gone. I had slowly lost contact with the other avengers. They visited sometimes, Rhodey the most, but we just didn't have that much time. We still had work to do, just... just not the avengers kind of work. We were all out of energy. There was no motivation left for fighting.

But my life was... fine. I had Pepper and Morgan. My family.

Happy stayed with his family in queens. It was pretty surprising considering he complained about his mom all the time. Apparently she thought he didn't have a good job.... when he worked for me. That really didn't make sense considering I payed him like I did my other workers. Whatever.

I still saw him and Morgan loved her 'Uncle Happy.' She had claimed all the avengers as her aunt and uncles. It was comical to say in the least when their faces switched through emotions at the cocky yet innocent Stark child.

"Hey Tony," Pepper greeted me. She was cooking dinner and I had walked in to see if she needed anything.

"Hey Pep. Are these our gojis?" "Nope," she replied, popping the 'p.' "What's wrong with ours?" "Your Alpaca ate them all," she replied teasingly. "Oh c'mon. Gerald is our alpaca." The two of us laughed. "He's not my alpaca if he's eating all my gojis! Those things take forever to grow back."

"Well I guess we'll have to go without growing food where Gerald is."

"Nonono! Stop!" I put up my hands in surrender and dropped the vegetables onto the counter.

"Alright I guess I won't clean the gojis." "Out of my kitchen!" She exclaimed through laughter. "Ok ok. I'll just get the little you for dinner." "Don't lie to me, she's all you."

"Ok fine. Let's just say she's a full 12% of you then," I replied with a smirk, causing her to shake her head in amusement. "Go get 12% of me for dinner then. Out!" She flicked some water at me as I ran into some pots on my way out the door.

"Hey little miss!"

With no reply I yelled again. "Morgan H. Stark time for dinner." "Define dinner or be perished!" I squinted my eyes at what she was wearing but put my hands up in mock surrender nonetheless. "Hey... what are you doing wearing that? That's mommy's anniversary present."

I pulled the blue helmet off and kissed her temple. She smiled cheekily. "That was hidden in the lab. Did you have Dum-E get it for you?" "Mhm! "I really have to re-program FRI and Dum-E not to let little gremlins in my lab," I teased, poking her cheek. She giggled and hid her face in my shoulder as I picked her up.

"Anyway, mom's got a delicious meal of dirt and crickets goin'." "Ew..." "What? I thought that was your favourite," I teased. "No, juice pops are my favorite." "Hm... well if you eat most of your dinner plus something healthy, we'll negotiate."

"What if I eat an apple." "We don't have apples right now. I'll get some tomorrow but choose a vegetable." "Orange." "Not a vegetable. Something green." Morgan gasped in excitement. "Green jello!!" "No!" I huffed. "What about spinach?" "Ew." "You said you liked spinach last week." "I don't anymore," she shrugged.

As we walked in the door, I sighed. "Does a green juice pop count?" "Do I seriously have to teach my daughter what veggies are?" "What are you two going on about?" Pepper asked, a small affectionate smile pulling at her lips.

"Make our daughter eat something healthy. It's not working for me," I said, hanging her to Pepper. I expected to just leave my wife to suffer but she got Morgan to agree within seconds.

"Tony, I bought gojis for a reason," Pepper exclaimed.

Oh yeah, Pepper's my wife now. Though we could never bring ourselves to have a wedding when there was so much stress going on in both our lives, we just signed the paperwork needed. Everything was fine. We didn't need a wedding to be happy. We had everything we needed in our lives.

"Are you serious?" I gaped, mocking a look of betrayal. Morgan giggled with a snarky reply to follow.

'Of course she did, she's my daughter,' I thought humorously.

After dinner, Pepper went to read her magazine about compositing and gardening. The name was something along the lines of "Get yourself a green thumb!!"

I never understood the point in gardening but Pepper seemed to enjoy it nonetheless.

"Maguna. Let's get you up to bed." "But daddy it's not even late." "Maybe, but it is for you kiddo."

She hummed for a moment, looking upwards in concentration. I raised an eyebrow. "What's on your mind, huh?" "Well I was thinking... if I go to bed... you have to tell me a story." "I... that's how it is every night but since you asked me so very politely... I've decided to grant you my amazing story telling skills," I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

Pepper snorted from behind her magazine. I could see her shoulders shake from the laughter she seemed to be holding in. "Got something to say Pep?" "Uh- no. No I don't Tony," she replied with a shit-eating- grin. I narrowed my eyes but gave in as Morgan pulled me up the stairs by my index finger to her room.

"Well," I began, sitting at the edge of her bed. "What's tonight's request? Oh! What about that one you like? About the little girl that just goes to bed." "That's a horrible story! I want to hear a better one!" "Once upon a time, a very snarky girl allowed her amazing but exhausted father to go to bed. The end." "Also horrible!" "We've got a critic on our hands, hm?"

"What... what about Peter?" I blinked in surprise, looking down at my daughter. "What?" "Peter Parker. FRIDAY showed me some videos of him and you together before." "You and him." "Not the point." "It's an important one." "You're dodging my story request," she whined.

I sighed in surrender. "Ok, alright. What do you want to hear about Pete? I've told you about him before." Christ, it hurt to talk about him. I thought I got over this...

My chest burned with grief and my heart thumped at a fast rate. Memories of Peter staring at me in complete and utter fear seemingly flashed in my mind.

"What was he like? From the video's FRIDAY showed me, he looked really silly," she giggled.

"Yeah... yeah he was. Parker was a good kid. Smart too, extremely smart." "Like you?" "Yeah sweetie, like me. Well... scratch that, he was better than me. Even better than all the others put together." "Who?" "The uh... the other avengers." "With Uncle Rhodey and aunt Nat?" I chuckled. "Yep."

"... Can I meet him daddy?" I tried to swallow the lump in my throat as tears welled in my eyes. "Maguna I already told you about-" "I know but... if there was a way to do it... isn't there a way to bring Peter back? He sounds like a lot of fun! Maybe I can show him some of my toys!" My daughter stared up at me with a huge smile, her eyes glittering with child innocence.

I sniffed, rubbing my nose. "I don't know Morg. Maybe... but you need to get to sleep." "But-"

"Sleep," I emphasized, pushing her head onto her pillow. "Or I'll sell those toys you were talking about."

"Fine," she muttered. I watched her roll onto her side, a smile still on her face. "Love you to pieces sweetie."

"L've you 3000 daddy."

~~~~~~~~~~

I sighed, sitting on the couch next to Pepper. "What's wrong? Any problems with getting Morgan to sleep?" "Nah..."

When she realized she wasn't getting the answer she wanted, Pepper set her magazine down and wrapped her arms around me. "Well?" "Nothing, really... she just asked what Peter was like and I..." "Tony," she muttered sympathetically.

"I just... I thought I got over this. It's been years." "You don't get over deaths Tony. You know this." "I know but... I shouldn't be this upset just talking about him. I can talk about my parents just fine." "Well, you actually gave yourself time to grieve then. Right when this all happened... you had to... it was stressful and we had a daughter on the way. You had no time. Also, don't you agree that Peter was a little different from your parents?" She asked, massaging my shoulders.

"He was just a kid," I whispered. "I know..."

Pepper sighed and we leaned into each other's embrace. I was lucky to have her.

This was all I needed.

My wife and daughter.

That's... that's all I need to be happy.

Right?

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Words- 1574

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