WARNING:  ANGST like I haven't done before.

"That's right, Mags, open those beautiful eyes for me," Tony cooed, holding the tiny girl tightly to his chest as he rocked back and forth, smiling widely when he saw the deep color in them as they stared back at him, "there they are. Hello, sweetheart, that's my girl. You see, I knew that you were going to be another good kid. All of the smart grandkids listen to Grandpa Tony." He was sitting next to her crib, fully clad in a protective gown and gloves as to not expose her to unnecessary germs, fighting the unbearable urge to kiss her; he wanted to touch her with his bare hands and to connect to let her know that he was there for only her. He had been reading books on ill infants non-stop, and remembered how skin-to-skin contact was vital, but he knew that the risk was still too great just yet until they knew exactly what she was facing.

The little one tried to respond with a gurgled coo, but her voice was held silent by the tube that helped her to breathe. She squirmed in Tony's hands but he held her still, bringing her closer to him with a gentle stroke of his hand over her head.

"It's okay, sweetie, I know. That silly thing won't be in the way much longer. You just keep fighting it though. We don't give up in this family, alright?" Tony watched as Maggie closed her eyes again and seemed to drift off to sleep, lowering her down to lie atop his legs though not relaxing his protective hold. His focus was broken for only a second when he saw Steve enter the room from the corner of his eye.

"Hey, Cap. I was just getting ready to put her back in her bed, but once you suit up I can hand her over."

"No, that's okay," Steve mumbled nervously, "go ahead and just let her rest. I can come back later."

"Steve, you haven't held her even once," Tony argued. "Let me help you."

"No, Tony...it's...I can't."

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm not."

"You're lying."

"Huh," Steve scoffed, "and here Grant said that I was getting better at it." He hadn't moved from the doorway, pushing himself back against it with a resolve to not make any move closer to him or Maggie just yet. "I'm afraid that if I hold her, then all of this...it's going to be real, Tony. I'm scared that I might hurt her more than I already have."

"You can't blame yourself for this, Steve. There's nothing that you could've done to stop it."

"But I could've fixed it," he snapped back, "that's what everyone is thinking, right? That's what you're thinking right now. If I had let (Y/N) get her way and bring the serum here, isn't that it?"

"It's crossed my mind, yeah," Tony agreed, not at all reluctantly, "but I think you had a valid point too. Look at her. It might have been too much for her to take."

"That's really generous of you, thanks for that."

"Hey, I'm not here to blow sunshine up your ass-"

"Uh, watch the language around my daughter, please. Learning too much about Grandpa Tony now is definitely too much for her."

~~~

It didn't take long for your body to recover, per usual, and now that Maggie had been born, your energy level was beginning to rise much faster. Since the doctors at the hospital really didn't have a great amount of knowledge or experience on working with an enhanced person such as yourself, Bruce had come in to work alongside them to help as much as he could. After a few tests on the two of you, and now seeing that you were quickly regaining your own health, he had determined that Maggie was taking everything that she could from you just to survive; thus far there were no indications that she possessed any powers or enhanced abilities that would have explained it otherwise from what he could tell. Now it was up to her to do on her own.

Your other three had been either at your side or hers since the moment they had been able to do so freely, and you only now noticed that none of them had left the hospital or so much as taken a break since she was born. The last thing you wanted was to have to worry about them too, but you also had to be mindful to not take for granted that they were taking care of themselves either.

"Hey, do any of you want to ride back to the compound with Grandpa? He's about to leave for a while. He's going to bring back dinner later if you want to go along."

"No, we're good," Grant answered for them, "we'll stay."

"You guys, you need to take a break too. Exhausting yourselves won't do anyone any good."

"We want to be here for her," Brooklyn added, hurrying to your side to help you tie the back of your hospital gown as you stood up from bed, "and for you. Really, we're okay. If we need anything, we can just take a portal back and forth."

"Oh, sure," you chuckled, "nothing to it, right?"

"Right, nothing to it at all," Anthony replied with a smirk, making him look almost identical to a younger version of Tony. "We mastered that a long time ago, Mom. It's really rudimentary."

"Well, excuse me, my mistake. I forgot that you three carried that Stark genius on your sleeves," you scoffed. "At least you're humble about it."

~~~

Only a few short hours later, Clint cursed his own limits as he ran, pushing his legs to carry him across the compound lawn and to the main building as fast as they could, but he knew that it would never be enough. His heart was slamming into his chest from both strain and from fear, pounding in his ears so loudly that it almost hurt. His feet tripped over themselves a few times, but he maintained his stride despite their incompetence, bursting through the main entry and towards the stairwell where he would take the steps three and four at a time to get to his destination.

"Mr. Barton, please consider the consequences of your actions," FRIDAY called out to him, "your breathing has become rather erratic."

"Shut up, FRIDAY, I'm fine," he panted, not slowing at all.

"I can relay the message-"

"No! No, I've got it, just back off."

Clint finally made it to the door before his heart actually had a chance to explode, slamming his hands against it to throw it open with enough force for it to hit the wall behind it. He could see Tony through the darkened glass of the gym windows, his back turned away so that he couldn't just wave him down to get his attention.

"Tony, why the hell don't you have your phone? You need to get back to the hospital right now," Clint blurted out as he ran into the room with a burst through the doors. His face was bright red from sprinting through the complex looking for him, and the look of desperate fright in his eyes left Tony beginning to take on his emotions and to feel the same way. "Come on, I've got the jet firing up. It's the fastest way there and we need to move."

"What's going on?" he responded in an equal, immediate panic as he followed closely behind his friend when he simply turned away to lead him out. "Barton, talk to me."

"(Y/N) needs you, let's go."

"Tell me what happened, Clint, please."

"I...I can't..." Clint tried, but his voice wouldn't support the words that he didn't even want to say. "I can't, Tony. Please, just move.

~~~

The elevator to the children's ward was moving excruciatingly slowly, torturing Tony with every passing second and every chime of each floor, berating him for not being here in the first place. He had chosen to go back home for a while, just to get a new environment and to work off his stress for a few hours, and of course, that was when you would need him the most. Before the doors even opened, he could hear you screaming; it was a sound that he would never forget for the rest of his days, and a sound that cut through his chest with such force that it almost dropped him to his knees from the pain.

"Mr. Stark," a random nurse approached urgently, "I don't think that you want to go in there-"

"I dare you to stop me," Tony snapped, pushing her aside to see you on the other side of the glass doors that separated the intensive care area from the rest of the rooms. You were heaped on the floor, on your knees and clutching your stomach in agony as you cried and screamed at nothing, your voice beginning to break under the strain you were putting on it. When he opened the door and rushed inside, Tony halted at the sight of Steve, pressing himself firmly up against the wall next to you, his body rigid with fists clenched at his sides. His eyes were squeezed shut tightly with tears scarcely able to escape, and he was unmoving other than the shallow breaths that he barely managed to control. The room was filled with the sounds of voices yelling out orders that he didn't understand, pumps forcing medications and blood through tiny tubes attached to tiny arms and legs, and alarms blaring at a heart rhythm that was wasn't really hers, and that wasn't really willing to keep up much longer.

"What happened?" Tony whispered, hoping that someone heard him in the flurry of activity that was going on around him. There were doctors and nurses moving through his vision in a haze, and as the realization of what was going on struck him, it all slowed down to a maddening crawl as he watched helplessly. "Someone tell me this isn't what I think it is."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but you need to wait outside."

"You need to go fuck yourself," Tony snarled, pushing forward even more to get a clearer view, but when all he could see were breathing tubes and needles and blood in the way of seeing his granddaughter, he backed away from the scene and knelt at your side instead when his knees weakened beneath him and forced him down. His hands were trembling when he reached for you, but the shaking in your body when he put his arms around you took him over. "Baby, I'm here. I'm right here."

"This can't...this can't be it..." you whimpered between sobs, finding no comfort in his touch. The pain in your chest was so excruciating that you thought that it would end you then and there; you wished that it would, and that you would be taken instead. "Dad...fix it."

Tony turned and looked to Steve through his tear-blurred eyes, seeing the strongest man that he had ever known frozen in place in both his fear and grief, completely immobilized by his own panic. He couldn't imagine how it was coming to be that he was barely the most composed of the three of you, but it became clear to him that he was here to do what neither of you could in this moment; he had to speak for her.

He was going to fix it because that's what you asked him to do, and he'd be dammed if he was about to let either of you down now when you had never needed him more.

"You. Tell me what happened," he demanded of the doctor, much more sternly this time, standing up to take his place at Maggie's side.

"Multi-organ system failure," one of the other doctors offered. "We lost a pulse 45 minutes ago and began resuscitative efforts immediately."

"Has there been any sign that it's working? Anything?"

The doctor looked around at his team, glancing over a nurse's shoulder at Steve and then down to you before finally landing his gaze on Tony with a long and regretful sigh. "No."

Tony too turned and gave one last look at you and at Steve, and his heart sank like a rock into his stomach. With a thick swallow to hold his composure, though he knew that he had only seconds to do this before he lost it completely, he closed his eyes and remembered the moment when he saw Maggie looking back at him for the first time. There was a look of trust that he had seen from her, and it would have to be what would carry him for the rest of his life after making this decision. Gathering his last shreds of resolve, he turned to the doctor with a façade of strength and made his directions very clear.

"Then you need to stop."

~~~

The ding of the elevator doors broke through the silence that had washed over the nursing station just outside of Maggie's room as they watched what was happening through the glass doors. Inside of the lift stood an eager and cheerful friend, who had chosen the absolute worst time to visit you, but he had yet to have any idea. When the doors opened and Wade stepped out, with balloons in one hand and a vase of bright flowers in the other, his glee was immediately dashed at the sight of you and the quiet sniffles of staff as they watched. The vase fell from his grip, shattering the glass and spraying water everywhere in a loud crash that made one of the nurses yelp in surprise, though he paid her no attention and offered no apology.

"What the fuck did I just miss?"