"I'm really sorry, Tony, and I know that I've said this to you more times than any one person should have to, but I really am. I never should have taken your offer in the first place. Don't get me wrong..." Anna's voice stopped, turning to a long sigh, "listen, I love (Y/N). That was never a question for me, and every year on her birthday I told myself that it would be the day that I came back for her. But then I'd see you with her somewhere...I'm sure you know by now that I never stopped watching her...and you were such a good parent, Tony. You thought you weren't, but you were so much better than anything we could have done, and look at her now. You're her dad, and you're what she needs, not me. I've been a disappointment all of her life, and I know that I'll just let her down again. I know that I will. I don't know how to be a mother, so how could I ever be a grandmother? Better to do it early when it's easier for us all, right? Tell her I'm sorry too, Tony. You wanted her to have her family, but she already has it. She has you."

"Lame," Scott huffed, closing the line to Tony's voicemail with a shake of his head. He held the phone in his hand for a few seconds before reaching out to return it to its owner, looking at the screen as if the words he wanted to say were locked away behind it. He wanted to give Tony some reassurance that telling you would go okay, and that you would understand, but he couldn't feel honest about it. "So...what are you gonna tell her?"

"Do I have her listen to this, or just tell her that I was wrong and beg forgiveness?"

"Hey, this isn't your fault," Sam added, with a hand on Tony's shoulder, "(Y/N) will know that. You didn't know that she'd leave."

"I shouldn't have trusted her."

"Seriously, man, stop."

Tony's shoulders dropped and his head hung heavily, as if the weight of the world was pressing him down and crushing him beneath it. His mind was filled with the image of your five-year-old face from that day when he told you that your parents weren't coming back for you; he was thrown back in time and it ached in his chest to think that he would have to relive that pain for himself, but it was unacceptable to make you do it too. He was supposed to protect you, and he had failed. He was supposed to protect those three tiny babies back home, and at such a young age, they were already disappointed by him.

"I should go," Tony barely whispered, slowly turning to take the bag that held your take-out from Scott and leaving enough for them to stay. "Maybe just hang back here, if you don't mind?"

"Yeah, we can catch up later," Scott agreed. "If you need backup, you call us."

"Thanks," he nodded, heavily pushing his feet forward, one after the other, leaving marks in the carpet were they were dragged along it in his hesitance to leave. He ran the conversation through his mind, putting the words together with every few steps, only to tear them apart and start over with a few more. He wanted to say the right thing, to make it easier for you to hear, but it didn't take long to realize that there was no right way to do this, and no words strong enough for what he would say or do if he ever saw that woman again.

~~~

"I thought Tony said he'd be back by now," Steve said in a slight whine, "I'm still hungry."

"Hmm?" you murmured in your sleep, still lying next to him. "Get it yourself."

He laughed enough to jostle you awake, startling to lift your head and look at him with surprise in your expression, only making him laugh more. "Sorry, I didn't know you were asleep, doll. I'll be quiet."

"No, it's okay," you yawned widely, reaching your arms over your head in a satisfying stretch, "I shouldn't sleep now or I'll be awake all night. Once we get back home I'll have to get back in the routine of waking up for the kids, so I need to enjoy a normal routine while I can get it."

"You mean we'll have to wake up."

"Let's be sure that you're healed up first, before we worry about that."

"(Y/N)," he sighed in exasperation, pushing up on his elbow and shifting you away so that he could fully look at you, "what about you? You're healing too, if you haven't forgotten. Why is it that you put everything on yourself? There are two of us in this, taking care of them, remember? I'm their dad, and it's as much my job as it is yours."

"Yes, I'm healing, but I didn't have to get my chest cracked open to do it," you replied, with a growing hint of annoyance in your voice. "You take everything on yourself too, Steve, so don't pretend that you don't just to try to make an invalid point."

"Invalid?"

"That's what I said."

"How is my worrying about you invalid?"

"That's not what I meant-"

"Hey guys," Tony interrupted so quietly from the door that neither of you had barely heard him, "am I interrupting something?"

"No, Tony, come on in," Steve answered, eyeing the bag in Tony's arms and suddenly forgetting the argument at hand. "You're just in time. My stomach is about to eat itself."

He nodded quickly and crossed the room without another word, eagerly removing each container and lying them out over the bedside table for everyone to share. As he set each box out, you grabbed it up and inspected it, crinkling your nose at a few before handing them to Steve, who began to eat without a second thought to what he was shoveling into his mouth.

"So when you said starving, that wasn't an exaggeration?"

"No, ma'am," he slurred, his mouth full. "I don't even know what this is, and don't care."

Tony looked over the table and stopped, appearing confused and introspective, until he finally spoke in garbled tones under his breath. "Um...drinks...be right back." His gait was weary and he looked like he was exhausted, but also like he was completely lost and drifting off somewhere, and it put you on alert.

"Dad?"

"What?" he responded in surprise, spinning to turn and look back at you just as he reached the door. "Did you just...just call me..."

"Is that bad?"

"No." Tony stood still and staring at you, seemingly forgetting his original destination and immersed within his own mind. The idea that you would finally call him Dad so casually only made it hurt more to think that he didn't deserve it; that it might be the last time you meant it.

You reached over and put a gentle hand over Steve's, breaking his steady pace of eating long enough to get his attention so that you could leave and talk to Tony, his appearance making you anxious as you watched him. "Something's going on with him," you whispered, "I'll be right back." Your pain had been well controlled and your healing going well, but of course, given your conversation with Steve, this was the time that you grimaced in pain as you lowered yourself onto your feet. You could feel him take notice but were thankful that he hadn't said anything in front of Tony.

"Can we talk outside?"

"Of course," you answered, glancing back to Steve, "but you know that you can say anything in front of him."

"Yeah...well, this might not be one of those times, sweetheart."

"Okay, so you're scaring me."

"What are you guys talking about?" Steve called out across the room. "Did you forget the super hearing over here again?"

"Sure did," Tony smiled with a sadness in it, turning to face him despite his better judgment.

You stood silently at his side and kept your eyes on him. Something that he didn't want to tell you had happened; something that he was trying to hide but that he would have no choice but to tell you. He was going to bring Sam and Scott back with him, but he had arrived alone. He kept looking at you and back to Steve, but every time his eyes met yours, there was something familiar in them; something that stirred an emotion in you that you couldn't place. It was a look that held a pain that you shared...maybe something in your history...from something just out of your mind's reach...

"She's not coming back," you finally realized. "That's it, isn't it?"

Tony's silence gave you your answer since he couldn't bring his mind together to speak. All Steve could do was gasp in shock with wide eyes, the pile of food on his fork falling carelessly onto his shirt. You seemed to be the most composed, and in an effort to get him back with you, you reached out and took Tony into your arms, resting your chin against his shoulder in a firm hug. "It's okay. Please, don't blame yourself for this. I can see it in your eyes that you are."

"It's my fault," he finally replied shakily, his emotions squeezing his throat as he spoke and hugged you in return. "I shouldn't have trusted her. I didn't protect you from this and now you have to go through it again. I'm so sorry, honey."

"I'm alright. Really," you reassured, pulling back to look at him. "I can't lose something that I never had."

"What do you mean?"

"From the second that I knew who she was, I told myself that I had to be ready for her to walk away again. I think that even if she had stayed for years, I would wake up every day with that same preparation for her to run. Her trust was broken years ago, and as much as I hate to say it, she lived up to my expectations."

"How are you so calm about this?" Steve asked. "She just ran."

"Because I have three children at home to focus on, and to vow to that I will never be her. Really, I'm okay." You turned back to Tony, "I have my family. I have everything and everyone that I need. You've always been there for me, and I know that I never have to doubt that you always will. But I mean it when I say that this is her loss, you guys, not mine."