"He looks like he's asleep," you said softly to yourself, "if I stare at him long enough, I can see him breathing."

Steve wanted to say something that would help, to find any words that could soothe your pain, but that was ridiculous to even consider. Years ago, he had held onto his tiny baby girl for hours on end, seeing the same thing that you were now, his mind tricking him into thinking that she was asleep and that the horrors everyone was telling him were just a sick joke. He hadn't thought about Maggie in quite a long time now, and it gave him a pang of guilt and pain in his chest as if he had forgotten her, but there was no way that could ever happen.

"Why does this seem so much worse than if he had died in battle instead? Would it seem real to me then? Had I been there?"

"Maybe...I don't know, honey," he finally spoke. "I'm thankful that it wasn't on a mission, and that he was peaceful. He fought enough battles and had been through so much in his life that he deserved peace in the end. He gave so much of himself that maybe this is his reward."

"Maybe."

Up until this moment, Steve had avoided looking down at his friend; he looked around the room, at you, at his hands, and anywhere else he could so that he wouldn't have to see Tony like this. He had argued bringing you here because he wanted to protect you from this pain, but if he had to be truthful with himself, he was just as terrified of his own. He caught himself before seeing just past you and had to choke down the vomit that was swelling up from his gut and choking his air. Steve was worried that this would be too much for you, but once again, you were proving that your strength far outmatched his own when things were truly bad. He could throw punches and fight all day long if he had to, but when something like this confronted him, he took no shame in standing behind you as his own personal shield. He took no pride in it, either.

"Okay," you said after a long silence, "I'm ready to go."

"Sure, anything you need," he agreed, "but will you be alright if I just take a minute? Alone?"

"Of course, Steve. Take all the time you need." You gave his hand a supportive squeeze, but you couldn't yet bring yourself to take the hug from him that you could tell he wanted to give. You weren't sure why there was hesitation, but you could only hope that it would pass when you really needed him. "I'll just be right outside."

He waited until the gentle click of the door closing before stepping up to the table, his eyes closed until he knew that he could handle what he was about to see. The sterility and chill around him wasn't helping the waves of nausea and fear, but he had a commitment to uphold, and he was going to take this final opportunity no matter what hell it put him through; it was still nothing compared to yours.

"Hey, Tony," he began quietly, slowly opening his eyes and seeing the man for the first time since the end, "oh, god." His nostrils flared as he pulled in a breath, looking away to wipe his sleeve over his eyes before turning back. "Oh, I wasn't expecting this. Okay...um...Tony, I have to say this quick because I need to get back to (Y/N) and I also don't think I can see you like this for much longer. What I needed to say was that I promised you a long time ago that I would take care of her, and the kids, and I'm going to make good on that until the day I...die. And um...I guess I just want to say thank you for giving me more time to get to that day. I'm so mad at you for not telling me, and for not letting me be a part of your decision, but I still understand. If it were me doing this for my kids...yeah, I understand. You were the best father-in-law a guy could ask for, as weird as it was for us. But we made it work, huh?"

With a nod of agreement that it was all he wanted to say, Steve gently took the sterile white sheet and pulled it back up over his friend and turned away as fast as he could to get to the exit and flee before his full panic attack could start. He had one hand on the door and stopped, glancing back over his shoulder before taking his leave. "I'm gonna miss you, Tony."

~~~

There's no weight to her, Steve thought to himself, sitting alone in a darkened nursery with a bundled Maggie in his hands. There were no excuses anymore, with no tubes to disturb now, and nothing for him to worry about making worse; nothing would ever be worse than this. He wouldn't have been able to make the decision that Tony had made for him, even being her own father who should have been there to protect her and should have been the one to do it. He had failed her from the start, and in the end it was no different. He hadn't even held her until now, and she had never known that he had always been at her side. Tony had been more of a father to her than he was, and the idea broke him beyond the point where he had thought to be his limit.

"I'm sorry, baby," he whispered to her, bringing her up to his chest. She smelled of a fresh, warm blanket and baby powder, making the experience so much more painful to him. But it was what he deserved, he fully believed, to have his mind play the cruel joke of thinking that she was still alive in his hands, when in reality, he had lost the chance to have that moment forever. He had lost that chance all because he was too scared; he who could take on the most dangerous threat without the bat of an eye, was scared of something so tiny and so beautiful and it made him sick to his stomach. It made him ashamed of himself, and he didn't know how he would bring himself to face you after this.

~~~

"Tony and I got off to a pretty rough start, I'll readily admit. In his defense, my uniform was terrible and the perfect target for his unique wit. They thawed me out and two days later put me in a very bright red, white, and blue spandex onesie to fight an army from outer space. I had no clue what was going on. Looking back, I would've come after me too, and there was even an enormous green rage monster only a few feet away."

The gentle chuckle from Bruce came from directly behind you where he was seated with Helen, and it was a lovely sound that he didn't try to hide. Tony would've hated his funeral to be too solemn and dreary, and everyone in this family knew that all too well.

"But after that rough start," Steve continued, "we won our first battle together and the tide turned. There would always be little digs at each other, and joy in pushing buttons because that's when we worked best. There was a strange magic in those moments that drove us to work harder, and to show off in front of the other to usually end in a win. One day, not long after that first meeting, showing off would benefit me more than it ever had before, and rather than coming after me like he normally would, he became my champion. It was the day I met (Y/N)."

You felt Natasha's hand rest on your shoulder, and Sam took your hand as he sat next to you, intertwining his fingers with yours.

"When I proposed to (Y/N)...the first time," he smiled coyly, "I had asked Tony to work together to design the perfect ring. I think it may have been the first time that we truly agreed on something, looking back. When I saw it, it was perfectly her, and I didn't understand how he could get it so right. We joked that he wanted us married even more than we did. It didn't take long for the truth to come out to the rest of the team, that he was her dad, and suddenly everything made sense. The two of them were so much the same, that let me tell you, I honestly felt a little thick for not putting it all together on my own. In my defense this time, I had just been thrown for a shock that Tony Stark was about to become my father-in-law, so I deserve a little leeway. Of course, he didn't give it."

You were sitting in the front row of the hall, and you could feel every set of eyes behind you staring through you with pity that you didn't want. He didn't raise you that way. This was hell in real life, no doubt to that, but you were determined to make it through; if you were going to fall apart again it would be in the privacy of your own home, and it was no business of anyone in this room. You heard the squeak of the door at the back of the room as it opened and closed, but you didn't turn to see who had the audacity to arrive late when Tony always insisted on punctuality for everyone but himself, naturally.

"I thought that I knew Tony really well during those first years working together, but I had no idea who the man was until the day he became a grandfather. A new man awoke within him, and those kids gave (Y/N) a run for her money for his attentions. Tony had confided to me that he had never thought of himself as someone who would have a family of his own, but once he lived it, he couldn't see his life any other way."

Steve paused to read his notes, wiping his eyes with his handkerchief and taking a few long breaths before continuing on. He looked to you to center himself, allowing him just enough courage to finish.

"There are people who have only seen the business side of Tony Stark. They only know Iron Man. But let me tell you here and now...you didn't know him at all. Tony was one of the most generous men I've known. He cared about people who might not ever give him a second glance. He saved the world not because he had to, but because it was the right thing to do. He loved his family, and in the end..." he stopped, his voice cracking. His throat was so dry that he coughed as he took a sip of water, just praying to himself that he could get this last part out. "In the end...it was that love for his family that defined his final days. That love is what will carry me to my own, and I can only hope to be able to look back on my life and see that I was even half the man he was."

Steve carefully folded his notes and nodded definitively to himself, sliding the paper into his inner suit coat pocket. He slowly stepped down from the podium to sit again at your side, waving to the officiant to continue on with the service, but a loud cough from one of the back rows halted him. Everyone turned to look back to see who it was who wanted to pay their respects, and you nearly fell out of your seat as he walked past you and to the center of attention.

"Um...so I'm not great at this," Wade began, standing awkwardly in a brand-new suit and tie for the occasion, "but I feel like if I didn't say anything then I'd be missing something really important to me. There are a bunch of you here who know my history with Mr. Star...with T-tony. It was bumpy, to use a nicer word than I would normally choose, and he really despised me at first, but like Steve said, I didn't really know the guy either. He was just being a protective, loving dad and I was being an obnoxious and inappropriate boyfriend. Then I really got to know him over the last ten years or so, and I've gotta say...(Y/N)...thank you for that gift of forcing us together despite our better judgement. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm gonna miss your dad, and the world is a little darker today."

Wade gave his tie an uncomfortable pull as he stepped down and towards you, readily moving into your arms when you stood to meet him.

"Thank you," you whispered, "you did good."

"I practiced. A lot."

"And it's appreciated."

"You okay?"

"No. But I will be. Come on, sit up here with us. We want to say goodbye together as a family, and Dad had told you more than once, that means you too."