You had lost your father to the war before you were born; the illustrious Captain America, who had chosen country over family in a move that shocked everyone who knew him.  Your mother had told you stories of his bravery and his selfless service as if she were proud of the man, but as the years passed and you began to understand more, you could sense the pain and disappointment in her tone as she spoke.  It didn't help that you reminded her so much of him, having been born with the smaller and complicated version of Steve, rather than drawing the luck of getting any of his enhanced super soldier genes.  Growing up in that era with any chronic medical problem was problematic at best, and she spent more days filled with worry than with joy for the life of her only child.

You lost your mother to tuberculosis not long after you had celebrated your christening into adulthood.  It felt as if it were a cruel joke to have her taken in the same way that had taken the paternal grandmother you had never known, but you weren't about to let the universe have its way with your future any longer.  Everyone that you cared about was taken from you far too soon, and as your own years passed by and your ailments were only getting worse rather than better, you were determined to break the cycle before it could claim you as well.

It wasn't a secret that Peggy Carter was a friend of Howard Stark's, and she had become a part of your life before you could remember to be sure that you and your mother were always taken care of.  Every few weeks or so, you would hear stories from her about a new invention or some crazy idea that Stark was trying to make into a reality; they were tales that you usually listened to only in passing, but when the word cryogenics caught your attention, you knew that this Stark guy could be the answer you had been searching for.  You also knew that to offer yourself as a live test subject for his newest work, it would be difficult for him to turn you away.  Having the blood of Steve Rogers coursing through your veins didn't hurt either.

"Okay, so what if something happens to you before I can get thawed?  What if they don't find cures for some of this stuff until after you're long gone?" you asked Howard nervously.  He was standing at the door to the cramped tube that would become your home for years to come, smiling like he had just won the lottery until he sensed your apprehension. 

"Hey, don't worry, (Y/N).  This is going to be well documented, every step of the way.  I'll be sure that enough people know the details so that if anything happens to me, you won't be forgotten.  If nothing else, Tony seems smart enough to give it a go."

"Howard, he's barely five-years-old," Peggy retorted with a snicker and a roll of her eyes, "you can't expect him to understand something this complicated-"

"Who do you think fixed the temperature regulator?  Sure as hell wasn't me."

"Okay, well, that actually makes me feel a little better, I suppose," you smiled weakly, taking one last deep breath to settle your nerves.  Taking the last steps up towards the mechanism, you gave it one last, long examination; as your hand trailed over the cold metal and small window on its door, alarms began to sound in your mind at the familiarity.  "Mr. Stark, one question."

"Only one?"

"Only one more.  Why does this look like something I've seen before?"

Peggy closed her eyes and smiled to herself, but it was filled with painful memories rather than any happiness; when you turned to ask her what was wrong, she beat you to the question and offered the answer before you could speak.  "That's because it's the same one, darling.  I'm sure that you've seen pictures and that's why it's familiar to you."

"Yeah, resources for something like this are a little hard to come by," Howard joined in, "so after a few modifications, I've been able to use the same system that your dad was in when I gave him the serum."

"Great, more hand-me-downs from the old man," you scoffed.  "No matter how hard I try to forget him, he just keeps pushing his way back into my life."

"Why would you want to forget him, (Y/N)?"

"Come on, Peggy, you know why.  He was never my father other than the stellar health problems that he decided to share with me.  There's nothing there for me to remember, and I can't waste my energy on a man that I'll never know."  You paused and waited for her to respond, but in her silence she carried her understanding, leaving you with a long hug and a soft kiss on your cheek before you stepped into the tube so that Howard could begin.  The doors were about to close and began to move, but they suddenly stopped to the booming sound of Howard's voice echoing through the small lab.

"Tony, put that down!"

"I'm sorry!  I was just lookin' at it!  I didn't break anything!"

"Hey, Tony, come here," you called out to the young boy, his eyes wide with wonder and his hair disheveled as if he had been sprinting miles around the house.  He looked to his dad for the approval to move, and when Howard gave nothing more than his frustrated grunt in reply, he hurried up the platform to stand in front of you.

"Hi!  I'm Tony!"

"I know.  I'm (Y/N)."

"Right, you called me that already.  Gosh, I'm stupid, huh?"

"You're not stupid at all, sweetheart.  Your dad actually tells me that you're pretty smart.  He said that you fixed the regulator on this for me."

"I sure did!  It wasn't even that hard to do."

You kneeled down to talk to him, finding it a little startling just how much he mimicked his father even as he stood silently.  You couldn't help but feel small pangs of jealousy towards the boy because he had that man in his life as his role model, but you quickly pushed those feelings aside to stay on task while you had his quickly shifting attention.  "Tony, I need you to promise me something."

"Anything!"

"I need you to promise me that if the day comes, sometime down the line when you're all grown up, if you're the one who needs to take me out of this machine, that you'll teach me how to live in the future.  I'm gonna need a lot of help, and I'm gonna need a friend by my side."

"You got it!" he smiled widely, practically bouncing out of his shoes in excitement.  "I promise, (Y/N), we're gonna be best friends!"

~~~

It would be years later before you saw those eyes looking back at you again, but even with so much time passed since that day, they were still filled with just as much excitement to see you as they had been when Tony made his promise.  As the effects of your slumber began to wear off, he stood in front of you so that he was the first face you would see, hoping that you would still recognize him.  He was so much older now, but not all that far past where you had stopped aging in your frozen sleep; the likeness to what you remembered of Howard was striking, but yet somehow, he was completely different. 

"Hey, best bud," he said cautiously, "remember me?"

"Tony," you nodded, your voice barely audible and pained under the strain of lack of use for so long.

"That's right!  Here, drink this."  He turned and grabbed a glass from the table next to him, producing a green drink that looked like a disgusting mix of seaweed and sludge.  "It'll boost your immune system.  Figure you might need it."  When you hesitated and turned your nose up and the scent of the concoction, he wasn't having any of it, reaching out with a determined push of your hand up to your face.  "I said, drink, (Y/N).  You need the energy if you think you're gonna step out of that thing.  Unless you want me to carry you?"

"No, I'll drink it."

"You sure?  I'm pretty good on big, romantic gestures like that, and I've been working out.  I'm pretty damn impressive if you ask me."

"I didn't," you smirked, but it was quick-lived as you took your first swallow from the glass.  "Ugh...this tastes like a foot, Tony."

"How do you know what a foot tastes like, might I ask?"

"I assume this is what it's like.  Here," you grimaced, forcing the beverage back into his hand, "if you like it so much, you drink it."

"No thanks, can't stand the stuff."  He turned to put the glass back on the table, only to spin back quickly when you tried to walk and stumbled forward, tripping a few steps and into his arms before you could fall to the ground in a heap.  "See?  I told you!  Your muscles haven't had to hold you up for years, and you think you're just gonna hop on out and take off like it's nothing.  So, because you don't listen, it's time for Tony to show off, and I expect a few ooh's and ahh's for this."

You barely had the strength to agree with him, finding that the precious energy you had left was dwindling fast, even as he carried you to a nearby gurney.  There was a quiet hum in his chest when you leaned your head against him, and his shoulder had a natural comfort to it that tempted you to fall back into sleep.  You wanted to give him some sharp-witted retort about how impressive he wanted to be, but he actually was in reality, and the ease in which he carried you was soft and reassuring.

"Thank you, Tony," you whispered into a long yawn, "for keeping your promise to be here."

"I'm a man of my word, sweetheart."

"You must have woken me up for a reason?"

"Well, dad was also a man of his word, and as promised, it's time to give you a better life.  (Y/N), welcome to the future."

A far too few and very short years later...

"Tony, I'm gonna puke," you whispered, your body rigid and your skin clammy with the panic raging through you.  You were standing on the other side of a darkened window, watching the source of your nausea talking to Natasha Romanoff, some huge guy named Thor and Bruce Banner, the man who could turn into Tony's favorite enormous green rage monster when it suited him.  Even in a group that held such intriguing characters, only one kept your focus so intently.

Your father, Steve Rogers.  Alive and well after being declared dead nearly seventy years before.

"Trust me, honey, I had no idea that Fury was calling him in.  I didn't even know he was alive until last night and I was on my way to Stuttgart before I had a chance to tell you."

"I can't believe this," you muttered under your breath, mesmerized by the man you had never had a chance to know.  He looked so young, so healthy, and it left you feeling even more resentment towards him than before, reminded acutely that he had chosen that life over you and your mother so many years ago.  "Does he know?"

"That you're here?  No.  I don't think so."

"Okay, good," you nodded to yourself, "maybe we should keep it that way."

"What?  No!  Come on, I was really looking forward to this," Tony groaned, stomping his foot like a petulant little boy.  "The old man already hates me and I want to see the look on his face when I tell him that by some miracle I convinced his only daughter to marry me so he's got me for life.  Oh!  Oh my god," he gasped with a sharp clap of his hands, "I really want to see his reaction when I tell him that he's actually Grandpa America and it's not just a lame nickname.  He's gonna hate me soooo much more!"

"Yep," you whined, "definitely gonna puke."

Part 2

An Army. From outer space.

You truly hated to find yourself agreeing with Steve in any way, but his words of pure disbelief rang through your mind louder than ever now as you stepped out from the elevator at the tower, seeing the destruction left behind by a battle that you barely understood. You were pretty sure that Tony barely had a good grasp on it either, but in this moment, you had never felt more out of place in this future than you did right now. You closed your eyes and took yourself back to the moment when you met that young version of your husband, remembering his promise to be at your side and teach you how to survive here; you were counting on him fulfilling that promise again, perhaps more than before.

"Oh, hey, sweetheart," Tony greeted you from across the penthouse, "come here. I want to show you my new designs for the remodel. I think I've come up with some pretty good ideas, if I do say so myself." Pulling yourself from your thoughts, you made your way to him and into his extended arm to hold you at his side, needing to kick a few stray pieces of broken tile from under your feet as you walked.

"I'm sure they're great," you nodded with a quiet agreement, "it's just too bad that you have to do this right as we were getting it up and running."

"Eh," he shrugged, "it's just money. I'm making more as we speak."

"Wow, at least your ego is still intact after that fall. I was worried that your near-death experience might have taken that down a notch."

"Nope, still good," he smiled widely, pressing a quick kiss to your temple before turning back to the hologram display of the tower. "Anyway, check this out. I've figured out a design that will work to have a living quarters for each person on the team, still leaving the top two floors for us. We'll have our own private elevator-"

"Wait," you stopped him abruptly, "each member of the team? We never talked about that, Tony.  You're going to ask Steve to live here with us? Have you lost your mind?" When you began to wiggle your way out of his grip, he tried to keep you at his side, but once he saw the fire building in your eyes he knew better than to push you any further and he released you.

"(Y/N), you're going to have to tell him eventually-"

"Why?"

"Why? Because he's your dad, and he has a granddaughter who he's never met. He doesn't even know she exists."

"He's never even met me, Tony!"

"Oh, shit," he groaned under his breath, lowering his gaze in his embarrassment, "I'm sorry, honey, I didn't think of that. You're right, this was your call, and I should have talked to you first. I'm really...really...sorry."

You took another slow and purposeful step back, your eyes widening as your mind raced to the realization of how he just said those words and what they actually meant. "You're really sorry because you've already offered this to him, haven't you? I bet he's already packing his bags, right? Anthony Edward Stark I swear, I have never been so mad at you-"

"Even when I flew into that giant hole in space and almost died?" He was giving you his best attempt at a smile, though pained and desperate with just the hint of a pout, hoping that he had enough charm to break through your anger. "Come on, I didn't even say goodbye first. Or how much I looooove you."

"Stark-"

"That's so much worse than this, right? You should be really angry with me for that."

"Who's to say that I'm not?"

With another pressured grin, he snickered to himself quietly, keeping his eyes on you with each step that he began to take towards you. He was giving you those eyes that both amused you and pissed you off to no end, because he knew that even if he was in trouble, the fact that you were still chiding him rather than storming off was a good sign that he could be forgiven. "(Y/N), listen," he sighed, gently gripping your arms, "I understand how hard this is as much as I can. I just want you to think about talking to him, okay? I don't want you to miss out on a relationship with your dad, and then regret it later that you didn't say what you wanted him to know. Not many people get a second chance like this."

Cognitively, you knew that he was right; emotionally, you had yet to be convinced. If anyone understood daddy issues like this, it was Tony, and for him to be so determined to get you to give in meant that he had to have given it considerable thought before approaching you. It still made you furious that he had invited Steve to move into the tower without talking to you first, but the more you thought about it, you decided that it could be a good way to get to know the man without telling him who you were right away. You could see him behaving as himself, and not some representation of a man that he would think you wanted to see.

"Fine," you relented with a heavy exhalation, "let him move in. But I'm not telling him until I'm damn good and ready. I want to get to know him as Steve before I even think about knowing him as Dad."

~~~

In only a matter of weeks, the building was renamed from Stark to Avengers tower, and one-by-one, the team began to funnel in to settle themselves into their new quarters. Natasha and Bruce were first, followed by Thor and Clint, and finally Steve. He argued that he felt as if he were taking advantage of Tony's generosity, but the more vehemently that Tony insisted he wasn't, the more suspicious Steve became of his motives. So, on the day when Steve arrived with only one bag slung over his shoulder, you worried that he was as skeptical as you had been.  It took every ounce of strength and a couple of strong shots from the bar, but you pushed yourself to greet him, finding yourself standing in front of your estranged dad before your mind had a chance to stop you. You found yourself immediately cold and bitter, biting back words that you had practiced and kept locked away for this very moment.

"Welcome, Captain," you smiled plainly, extending your hand and trying to hide its tremor.

"Mrs. Stark."

When his hand jutted forward to take yours, you unconsciously held your breath as your skin connected, expecting anything to be that impetus for him to start asking questions. Your eyes searched his for any sign that he recognized you, feeling an enormous sense of relief when you found none. "Hey, none of that formality stuff if you're going to be living here. I'm (Y/N)."

"Pleasure to finally meet you, (Y/N). I'm Steve."

"Oh, I know very well who you are."

"Well then you definitely have me at a disadvantage. Tony has been oddly quiet about you."

"He likes to keep his private life private, for the most part, don't take it personally."

"Good to know," Steve smiled politely. His eyes wandered around the foyer of the remodeled building, taking in the ridiculous amount of technology that he'd have to learn just to survive even his first day here. It was daunting and overwhelming, but in true Steve Rogers fashion, he was up to the challenge and not about to quit. "So...now that we've been introduced, would it be too early to ask a favor?"

"Depends on what it is."

"I think that I'm going to need someone to help me learn how to live in this future. I could use someone at my side when I get all mixed up. I'm probably the most likely to burn the place down trying to boil water."

He had just spoken the words to you that you had said to Tony so many years ago, and the familiarity stabbed at your chest until it felt as if you couldn't breathe. The last thing that you wanted was for anything to be the same between you, and you were determined to avoid anything that could be a commonality that would direct his attention to it. But even with your fierce resolve to keep your distance, it felt as if the universe around you was pushing the two of you together, and it was only a matter of time before he knew. It was a matter of time that you needed to stop.

"Well, Captain, don't worry," you answered flatly, taking a few steps back, "JARVIS is always here to answer any question that you have. I'm sorry, but I...I need to go, excuse me."

Steve stood silently, his mouth open slightly in pure surprise at how bluntly you denied his request, even though you didn't owe him anything to have said yes. He watched you walk to the far side of the main entry and towards the bank of elevators, instead choosing to take the stairs when the lift didn't arrive fast enough for your liking. He couldn't place what it was about you that was holding his attention for so long; maybe it was the veil of secrecy that Tony had seemed to shroud you in, and it frustrated him that he couldn't see through it. He hated secrets with a passion, even the ones that he kept himself, and he believed fully that he had just stumbled onto a massive one.

"Hey, JARVIS?"

"Yes, Captain Rogers?"

"You're up for any question?"

"Of course, sir. At your service."

"Okay. What can you tell me about (Y/N)?"

~~~

Tony had taken great care to be sure that your penthouse was the first space to be completed, with the nursery taking up nearly half of its own floor; even at the age of just a few months, the youngest Stark was living a life up to the standards of her name, maybe even beyond. This was Tony's only child, and if she didn't have the best of everything, it was a problem that was quickly corrected.

That also included the best care and best nurses in the city. In a cruel twist of fate, she carried the same genetic path that you had followed, having been born a little smaller, and a little weaker, with several of the problems that you had suffered with in your early years. She, however, had the fortune of being born in this time, and to a father with unlimited resources; she would be fine once her tiny body had a chance to grow. For now, Tony had kept her from his new teammates, waiting until he knew them better and until she was a bit stronger to introduce her, but even now after meeting the five superheroes in person, he was convinced that she was stronger than any of them.

After your admittedly failed introduction with Steve and running away like a child in front of him, all you needed was the view that was before you right now, seeing Tony rocking his girl to sleep and succumbing to the urge to join her. Ever so carefully, you lifted your phone to capture a few pictures of the moment, only to be caught red-handed when he opened one reluctant eye that closed again just as quickly.

"Make sure you get my good side," he whispered, turning into a yawn that you found contagious.

"All you have are good sides."

"See, that right there is why I married you."

"Catering to your ego?" you smirked, sliding your phone back into your pocket before crossing your arms over your chest to await his answer.

"You know quality when you see it."

"Nah, I'm just using you for the cute kids."

"Sweetheart, you can use me as much as you want to," he laughed quietly. "If they're all gonna turn out as adorable as this little peanut, I'm not about to say no."

"Miss (Y/N)," JARVIS broke into the conversation, "pardon the interruption, but Captain Rogers is approaching and insists on speaking with you immediately."

"What the hell?" you asked, exchanging curious and worried glances with Tony. He stood to take his girl back to her crib, getting her just settled into his arms before the loud knock hit the nursery door and startled the poor kid with the resounding echo all around her. It was enough to make her cry, even in her dad's arms, and it was enough to send you to the door in a red-hot anger at the man on the other side of it. You swung the door open with a snap, leaving you standing face-to-face with a completely pale and panting Steve, his eyes so filled with terror and panic that he was almost unrecognizable. "Steve? What is it? What happened?"

"I didn't know, (Y/N)," he choked out in a cracked whisper, "I swear."

"You didn't know what?"

"About you."

Part 3

"W-What...I don't know...what do you mean?" you stumbled, barely able to speak at the slap in the face of your secret being thrown back at you. The look of shock on your face had to be eerily similar to the one that he was wearing, the two of you staring at each other with the weight of the world in the air between you.

"Are you okay?" Steve finally spoke again when the silence was just too much. "Did...did it work? Did Howard help you?"

"Uh, excuse me, but I had a little bit to do with it too," Tony added quietly with a cautious smirk. He was trying to break the tension with an attempt at misguided levity, but all it did was escalate a situation that was on the brink of falling apart before it could begin.

"Tony, why didn't you tell me? We worked together and you knew this the whole time?"

"It wasn't my place to say, Cap. She wasn't even sure if she was going to tell you."

"You weren't going to tell me?  Ever?"

"Steve, I can't have this conversation right now," you tried, hands up and backing away only to bump into Tony, his empty arm extended out to stop you. "Tony, please, stay out of this. Just go put her to bed, and Steve...I need you to go."

Steve flat out refused your directions for him to walk away, instead pushing his way further into the room with more determination than ever, finding strength in your refusal of him. He had been brought into this new life only weeks before, and with each new secret that had come to light, it only fueled his fire to get the answers with no concern as to who he had to piss off to get them; no matter who you were, he wasn't about to let you off the hook any easier than anyone else. In fact, you were the last person in his life now to be allowed to back down. "Tell me her name."

"Cap, maybe she's right-"

"No, Tony, we're doing this. (Y/N), tell me her name. I have a grand...a granddaughter," he tried, feeling the inevitable break in his voice, "and I just want to know that much. Please."

"It's Maria, after Tony's mom," you whispered, restrained but unable to hold back. The expression that he was giving you and the pleading in his eyes was eating away at your heart, despite how resolved you were to keep him at a distance. You and Tony had already discussed keeping your daughter from the team until you were both ready, but with seeing Steve taking a few small steps forward so that he could see her face, pushing her blanket gently away with a tremulous touch, that discussion meant nothing.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Yeah. She has a heart problem that she's on medications for, which is why she's a little smaller than she should be, but she'll be okay. Her doctor said that she should grow out of it." You had looked down at her as you spoke, waiting for Steve's response to your answer, but when none came, you looked back up at him to see the epitome of strength crumbling right in front of you and you had no idea what to do.

The longer that Steve looked at the tiny little sleeping bundle in Tony's arm, the harder it was for him to hold back tears that he didn't want to spill in front of you. The guilt of everything that he had missed in your life came crashing down on him, and the heavy weight of what could have been was enough to tempt him to turn and run for his own sanity. He had lost so much, and to him it was only a few weeks ago despite the true number of years that had passed; he had lost his best friend, the first woman he had loved, and now he had lost you before he had a chance to have you in his life. "Do you really think that I would have chosen the war over you if I had known? You really must have grown up with a skewed version of my memory."

"But you would choose it over my mom?"

"I barely knew her."

"I'm sorry?"

"It was a blind date kind of thing that Buck..." he stopped, coughing away the lump in his throat, "that Buck insisted I go on a few months before I enlisted. I was never the kind of guy that he was, ya know? It was easy for him...dames were practically throwing themselves at him...and me...well, I was just trying to not get stepped on. Your mother...I really don't even remember her name."

"Oooh, Cap," Tony grimaced, his grip on your arm tightening, "bad call."

"Get out," you hissed, slapping his hand away from your daughter, to his shock.

"What?" Steve jolted, taking a precautionary step back. "No, (Y/N), that's not how I meant it to sound-"

"You're good, Steve. You're really good," you snapped, following his retreat with a push of your hand against his chest with each few words spat out in anger, "you and those big blue eyes, trying to look like you suddenly give a shit about anything other than yourself. You almost had me, you know that? I can't believe that I almost fell for a few tears and a pout. Get the hell away from my daughter, and stay the hell away from me." A few more solid hits against him had pushed him across the room and back to the doorway, leaving one last shove to find himself on the wrong side of a door slammed in his face.

~~~

After Tony had put Maria to bed, standing at her side until she was fully asleep, he did the same for you, lying at your side in the dark until he recognized the deep rhythm of your breaths as you slept before he dared to leave. It was eating away at him, having watched the shred of hope develop between you and Steve, only to be witness to the explosion that had shattered it completely. He wasn't the biggest fan of Steve Rogers to begin with, harboring his own litany of transgressions and insults that the man had forced onto his life, but he was determined to set all of that aside for you. As he pushed himself up to sit on the edge of the bed, he turned to look back at you one more time, seeing how peaceful you were in your sleep and hoping that what he was about to do wouldn't cost him this view.

He stood slowly as to not cause a disruptive shift in the mattress that would wake you, shuffling quietly to the door before he stopped and looked down at himself only to find that he was nowhere near appropriate to leave the room now that the two of you weren't the only ones living there anymore. "Right...pants," he mumbled to himself, turning towards his closet, "and maybe underwear."

Once he was presentable for public viewing, he slinked his way through the door, closing it gently and hurrying down the hall to where it was safe to ask for help. "Hey, J, where's Cap?"

"Captain Rogers is on the balcony, sir."

"He's not gonna jump, is he?"

"I don't believe so, no."

"Well, that's reassuring, I suppose. Tell him to stay put, would ya?"

"Of course."

When he reached the vast glass double-doors that led to the balcony, high atop a city that never found its rest, Tony saw Steve's silhouette outlined in the glow of lights that arose from the streets below. He was leaning over the railing, watching cars pass by and the people on the sidewalks who had no idea they were being studied by Captain America himself; they were going about their business as if they couldn't care less that his new life had already fallen apart, yet still expecting him to save them at any given moment. Tony understood how that felt, and as he took in the sight of Steve's broken posture, he knew that they really weren't that unalike after all.

What he didn't know, however, was what he was going to say to the guy. He was so eager to get here that he never stopped to think that far ahead. In true Tony Stark fashion, he took a deep breath and swung the door open, joining Steve at his side and hoping that he could make it up as he went along. "It's a nice night out here."

"Mmm hmm."

"You're not regretting the move, are ya?"

"I'll be out tomorrow, Tony. It's not that I don't appreciate this-"

"No. Don't you dare leave, Rogers," he argued quickly, "because we're going to fix this. She's just angry. Let her sleep it off before you make any big decisions."

"Yeah, well, what if I don't want to fix it?"

"Hold up, what do you mean? Steve, you can't be serious if you think that I'm going to let you just walk out the door-"

"But that's just it," Steve snapped, slapping his hand on the railing so hard that it shook violently beneath Tony's hand, "if I walk out the door now, then I can't ever fail her again. Tony, you know that our work is dangerous, and on any given day we might not come home. It's enough for her to be worried for you, but if a miracle happens and we build a relationship, I can't have her worrying about me too. It's better to just let this lie as it is and for me to step back."

Tony stared at him for a few seconds, his brow furrowed as his mind tried to track Steve's thinking, but he just couldn't bring himself to accept it. "Cap, that's...that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You're being a chickenshit. You think it's easier to bail out and run away, which I can't understand coming from you. I thought you were the hero's hero or some bullshit like that.  You run into the battle, not away, and this should be no different. You should be running faster because she's the only family you have left and you're a goddamn idiot if you don't fight for her."

"Language," Steve muttered softly with a gentle smile, turning back to the sights below. Tony was right, he wanted to run back up the hundreds of stairs to your floor so that he could fight, because that's all he knew. But that's also what terrified him; the fight was who he was, and he had no idea how to be anything for you. "I don't know how. I don't know how to be what she expects me to be."

"You don't know what she expects you to be, Steve. You haven't talked about it."

"She's not going to want to talk to me ever again, Tony. I think she was pretty clear."

"I know my wife pretty well. She'll come around to it."

"Hmm, that reminds me," Steve smiled again. He turned to face his teammate, leaning an elbow against the railing casually, though his hands met in front of him and his fingers laced together tightly. "You married my daughter. That's...weird."

"I suppose that does muddle up the family history just a bit."

"I'm your father-in-law, Tony. I'm twenty-seven."

"Technically, you're ninety-seven, gramps."

"Shit, I'm a twenty-seven-year-old grandpa."

"Hey, watch your gosh darn language," Tony smirked, giving him a jovial yet supportive slap on the arm. When his hand connected, he felt the muscles contract at the touch and the urge for Steve to step back, but instead of complying, he tightened his grip and held on. The moment of levity was quickly gone, and the Captain's expression was again heavy and sad as if the reprieve had never even happened. "Listen, Cap, just give it a chance, okay? Don't run yet. I might just have a couple of tricks up my sleeve."

"I know that we've only known each other for a few weeks now, Tony," Steve sighed, "but you can't blame me for feeling more scared than relieved at that."

~~~

The next morning came faster than you had hoped, after going to bed as angry as you had ever been and falling into it with complete exhaustion that left your body aching. The sun was unrelenting in its determination to wake you, its intensity piercing through the curtains and through your closed lids as if they were paper thin and useless. After a few groans and curses at your fate, you pushed up and rubbed the sting of fatigue from your eyes, waking enough to realize that the other side of the bed wasn't sunken by the weight of your husband as it should be.

"Tony?"

When there was no answer, you figured that he likely had another night of difficult sleep and was probably in the lab or the hangar bay working again, so you began your usual routine of getting ready for the day. Before you could start, you had to stop by and check on Maria, making sure that she was still asleep so that you could have a few minutes to at least get a shower in before she woke up. You pushed the door of her room open slowly, peeking your head through it quietly, only to gasp aloud at the sight that met you; Steve was sitting in the rocking chair in the far corner with Maria bundled tightly in his arms and a bottle happily in her mouth.

"I'm sorry," he said urgently in a surprised whisper, "I know that I'm not supposed to be here, but Tony's working...and he told JARVIS not to wake you...and she was crying and hungry so I thought I would help. I changed her diaper and changed her clothes after she spit up. I didn't mean to intrude, but no one else is home, I'm sorry."

As you listened to the words tumbling out frantically, and as you watched your daughter lying comfortably in his massive arms, you couldn't find a single word to say to him in reply. His eyes showed his terror at the sight of you, in sharp contrast to the hint of a smile curling at her lips as she ate, and the only thing going through your mind was the one thing that you should have known right away; this had Tony Stark written all over it.

Part 4

"Sir, you might wish to stop for a moment. (Y/N) is approaching and she appears to be quite agitated."

"Shiiiiit," Tony whined to himself, scurrying around the lab as quickly as he could to put away his work. "How long do I have, J? Can I make a run for it?"

"I don't believe so, sir, but it may be wise to stow away the sharp instruments first."

"She's that mad?"

"Yes, I'm that mad!" you yelled from the doorway, grabbing a random tool from the table next to you and pitching it at him before he could duck away. "What in the hell were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking-ow! I was thinking that if you could just see Steve-ow! Dammit! Stop throwing things at me!" He dove under his workstation to take cover, his hands over his head despite the table top providing shelter. He didn't move or speak again until the banging of tools hitting above him stopped, daring to stand just enough to peer over the table towards you. "Are you done?"

"I'm out of things to throw."

"Good. Okay, honey, listen," he began, standing watchfully, "I didn't mean to piss you off like this, I promise. I only thought that if you could see that he wants to make this right, not just because he says he does, then you might give him a chance to talk to you about it."

"You used our child so that he could get his way. You used our baby to try to push me into something that I don't want to do, and you knew that."

"Steve didn't want to do this, (Y/N). He was ready to pack his bags and leave, but I convinced him to stay because-"

"Wait, he was going to leave?"

"Yeah, he said that-"

"I don't care what he said! You should have let him leave! But instead, you decided to use Maria as a pawn in some stupid plan to put his needs before mine. I know that your dad suffered from sick and twisted Captain worship, but I never thought that it got passed on to you, Tony. I thought you were different."

"(Y/N), that's not what's happening here."

"You know what, I think that I need some time to figure this out," you said quietly, almost as if it were more to yourself than to him. "I need to take some time..."

"Okay?"

"I can't take Maria with me-"

"Woah, no, no, no, hold on," Tony startled, hurrying to cross the room towards you, but you started to back away. "(Y/N), stop."

"She needs to be here, but I'll make sure that you know where I'm staying in case anything happens. I just need a little time to myself, Tony. I have to figure this out."

"Sweetheart, come on," he begged, "don't do this. You know that I was trying to help. I was only trying to help the two of you see a way to compromise and to talk this through."

"I don't know what to believe right now, because I believed that you understood," you answered flatly, and the shift in your tone sent a chill through him that set his nerves into a frenzy. The last time he felt this way, he was carrying a giant missile into space and to what he thought was his death; he believed it was his end. He couldn't let this be the end with you, but he couldn't find the words he needed to make the spiral stop. All he could do was stand in shock, immobile as you walked away from him, his mind screaming but his voice completely and failingly mute.

~~~

"CAP!"

"CAP!"

Tony ran from level to level of the tower, yelling at the top of his lungs for Steve, when it finally occurred to him that he was going about this all wrong; it was a testament to the broken state of his mind after talking to you that it took him until nearly the top floor to realize it. "JARVIS! Where's Steve?!"

"Captain Rogers is in the gymnasium, sir. And might I suggest the use of the elevator? Your heart rate-"

"No, thanks," he panted, turning around and sprinting towards the nearest stairwell door. He practically flew down each flight, his feet barely touching the steps as he moved. It was a miracle that he hadn't tripped and fallen flat on his face in the dozens of floors that he had to take. When he reached the level he needed, he came to a skidding halt, allowing the wall to stop his momentum with a thud, pulling the door open so quickly that he was certain that he tore a muscle in his arm to do it. "CAP!"

Steve had been working on the punching bag since he had left Maria in her crib, once you had all but ripped her from his arms, his hands moving feverishly with each strike to try to beat the memory of it out of his mind. When he was alone with the little girl, she had his undivided attention, and he was able to study each of her features until he knew that he could see himself in her. It was a stupid move, he thought, allowing himself to get attached with the way everything was going, but he couldn't help himself. In only the matter of barely an hour, she had him.

Steve's concentration was broken at the sound of Tony's voice, desperate and shrill, the panic clear as it reverberated through the hallway and into the room around him. When the man burst through the gym doors to face him, he looked white as a ghost and as if he could topple over at any second. "Tony? What's wrong?" he asked urgently, speeding forward to take his arm. "Did something happen? Is it Maria?"

"No," Tony panted, "it's (Y/N). She's...she's leaving me." He allowed Steve to lead him to one of the nearby benches, the Captain keeping a hand on him until he was sure that he was stable.

"Put your head down, Tony, you look like you're going to faint." He paused and waited for Tony to settle and slow his breathing before talking again, "that can't be right, Tony, she wouldn't. What did she say?"

"She said that she needed time alone to figure things out. What the hell else can that mean? Oh my god, Steve, I've fucked this all up," he whimpered, crossing his arms over his thighs and lowering his head into them as he was told. "I was only trying to help, and I should have known better. Every time I try to help, it just gets worse."

Steve furrowed his brow as he listened, but his mind was already taking large steps ahead in what he could do. "Do you want me to talk to her? I'll leave right now if it makes her stay, Tony. I'll leave the team altogether if that makes her change her mind. I'll do anything that I need to do, I promise."

"I...I don't know..." he stammered in reply, "I can't lose her, Cap. That's the only thing I know right now."

~~~

You can't remember a time when you had been so enraged, and you certainly had never been close to this with Tony. It was more of a hurt than an anger now, the more that you had time to think about it; your feelings about Steve had been clear to him since he was five years old, so you had no reason to ever think he would be behind a plan to push the two of you together. He had been standing right there when Steve said that he didn't remember your mother, and he saw how much that had hurt you, so to now have him taking that man's side over yours was the final wound in a battle that you were done fighting.

"Stupid, goddamn Starks," you mumbled under your breath, throwing your clothes sloppily into your suitcase. You hadn't planned where you would go, because the house in Malibu was still his and he would be able to monitor every breath you took there. You considered calling Nick to help get you off the grid, but you hadn't quite reached that point yet. You weren't leaving Tony, at least not yet; you just needed some time away to clear your head and take this whole thing on with new eyes, but you had to choose where you would do it carefully. There was no way to clear your mind if Tony was always trying to work his way into it.

"Ma'am, Captain Rogers is asking to speak with you."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, ma'am," JARVIS answered, "I'm afraid that I usually am."

"That's just perfect," you grumbled. With the last toss of clothes into your case, you pulled on the zipper but it wouldn't budge. You tried again, only to find the same result. With an incoherent string of curses under your breath, you tried sitting on top of it to squish all of the items down to fit, but the zipper still didn't budge. When Steve's knock on the door broke your concentration, it elicited a surge of anger in you that sent the suitcase flying across your room and into the wall, spilling the contents everywhere. "WHAT DO YOU WANT, STEVE?!"

"Could I talk to you for a minute?"

You charged across the room with heavy steps, grabbing the door and pulling it open with every ounce of anger you could muster. The ice in your glare took him aback, but he was determined to not let you push him away this time and he held his ground. "Talk."

"Could I come in?"

"No."

"Okay," he sighed, thrusting his hands deep into the pockets of his sweatpants to hide his nerves, "all that I came here to say was that I should be the one to leave, (Y/N). All of this started because I moved in-"

"No, all of this started when I saw you on the helicarrier after you brought Loki in."

"Wait...you were there? I didn't know that."

"I'm a SHIELD agent. I work as more of a consultant though, since Maria was born. Tony introduced me to Nick not long after he brought me out of cryo, and I found a comfort around the work that Tony was doing, so I signed on."

Steve nodded along as you spoke, trying desperately to run every face that he had encountered on the helicarrier through his mind to find you amongst them. He could have looked right at you and not known; he could have spoken to you and had no clue who you were. "Did we cross paths?"

"No, I made sure of that. When the attack started, I was in the cargo bay prepping Tony's suit. As you can imagine, he's pretty protective of me so once things got bad, he had Nick on me like a watchdog."

"I can tell that he loves you a lot, (Y/N)," Steve answered in a not-so-subtle attempt at turning the conversation. "I can't imagine anyone better for you."

"You don't know me."

Steve sucked in a harsh breath at the hit, again nodding in agreement when he had no right or foundation to stand on in argument. You were right, he didn't know you, and even if he wanted to try, it wasn't a good idea. He couldn't let his own desires interfere in your life for another minute. "You're right, I don't. Which is why I'm ready to step back and get out of your way, (Y/N). I don't want to come between you and Tony. I'll be leaving by the end of the day, so I hope that you'll change your mind and stay. Tony's lost without you, (Y/N)."

He gave you a weak smile, and you could see that he wanted to make contact with you one last time before he walked away for good. The muscles of his arms tensed, but he didn't move them, leaving his hands safely tucked away as he turned to leave. You watched each step that he took, his posture defeated with a shuffling gait that left you shaking your head in disbelief at what you were thinking. Steve was willing to leave the only stability in his life behind so that you could work things out with Tony; he was a man lost in this new world, much as you had been, but he was willing to fade away to nothingness for you. He was lost too.

"Son of a bitch," you sighed to yourself, exasperated, before calling out to him, "Steve...wait."

"What?" he turned to you, trying to keep his composure at the unexpected sound of your voice.

"You know, it wasn't so long ago that I was like you," you began guardedly, taking a few steps out into the hallway, "new to a world around me that I barely understood. Defrosting, I guess," you snickered. "I didn't know anyone other than Tony, and I had met him when he was just a little kid. I would walk around the city for hours on end, just studying the buildings, and sounds, and the people around me, trying to make sense of it all. I was surrounded on every side, but I had never felt so alone."

"Exactly," he gasped softly.

"If I hadn't had Tony to keep me grounded and to show me the way...I don't know where I'd be right now."

"He's a lucky man, (Y/N)."

"I'm the lucky one, Steve."

"Does that mean you're staying?"

You closed your eyes, bringing a hand up to rub them in frustration as you ran it all through your mind again; the anger, the hurt, and the betrayal at the hands of the person you loved the most in the world. But then, you allowed yourself to see it from his side, and tried to understand that he thought he was doing the best by you. It would take a little time to reconcile that with the fury still boiling in your blood, but when you opened your eyes again to see Steve staring back with anticipation of your answer and with those damn blue eyes full of hope, you made the decision.

"Yes, I'm staying," you answered, taking a few more steps closer to him, hesitantly extending your hand to him, "and so are you."

Part 5

Steve had gone upstairs to talk to you hours ago, and Tony was just about at his breaking point after waiting so long without so much as a hint as to if you were still leaving, if you were staying, if Steve was leaving...there was just nothing.  You were being very careful, whatever it was that you were doing, because you had taken the time to silence JARVIS, who wouldn't answer any of Tony's questions.  If your goal was to finally drive your husband to the brink of insanity, you were just about ready to drop him off.  He knew exactly how many ceiling tiles there were in his office after counting them repeatedly, and he had paced the floor from one end of the room to the other so many times that he was sure he had left an indent in the wood. 

It wasn't that he didn't trust you; he did.  He trusted you more than anyone else in the world.  He had to maintain the belief that you would come to understand that he was trying to do the right thing, and that your decision to leave was hastily made.  You were always one to give him a second chance; but now that he was losing himself in his own mind, the doubts reminded him that he was well beyond second.  He may even be into his hundredth chance for all he could remember.  Past indiscretions began to play across his memory like a slideshow, unrelenting and vibrant in his errors and failed insights.  He could feel those telltale signs of panic begin to threaten his mind and taunt his body, his heartbeat harder to slow with each passing minute.  What if he were finally out of chances with you?

"J, can you just tell me that she's still here?"

"She is still here, sir."

"Okay," Tony sighed in relief, "great.  Has she said anything about leaving?"

"You know that I cannot tell you that."

"Come on, I thought we were buds.  Where's the trust?"

There was a lengthy pause before Tony received his answer, and his broken mind thought for just an instant that he had driven his own creation away along with you.  "I would dare to ask the same of you, sir."

"Pfft, wow," Tony scoffed, "when the hell did you get smarter than me, JARVIS?"

"Apologies.  I shall endeavor to dumb it down for you in our future interactions."

~~~

Tony had been far more aware of the passage of time than either you or Steve had been, neither of you realizing that so many hours had passed that the haze of evening was beginning to cast shadows from the buildings around you and into the living room of your quarters.  The two of you had finally found a way to begin to push through your misconceptions of each other so that you could clear them away and attempt to move forward, lost in the discussion so fully that to you, time was at a standstill.

"Woah, what time is it?" Steve paused, turning away from you for the first time since the conversation began.  "Is it evening already?"

"Oh, shit," you groaned, "it's almost 8 o'clock."  You pushed out of your chair hurriedly and passed him to get to the door.  "Tony's probably lost his mind by now.  I muted JARVIS until we were done, and Clint's had Maria all day."

"I'm sure that if anything were wrong, they would have told you."

"Yeah, but you know how guilt works, Steve."

"Oh, boy, do I ever," he smirked, following you out and into the hallway.  He turned to close your door behind him, finding that by the time he was done, you were in such a hurry that you were almost to the far end of the hallway.  "Wait, (Y/N)," he called out after you, taking fast steps to catch up, "listen, before I head back to my room, can I just ask-"

"We'll work on it, Steve."

"Okay, great," he nodded eagerly, "that's good, thank you.  I'll just...I'll talk to you later."

"Later," you agreed, barely waving goodbye before bounding down the stairwell.  You had no time to wait for the elevator because you knew that you had taken advantage of Tony's patience for far too long, as he barely had any to offer in the first place even on a good day.  "Where am I going, JARVIS?"

"He's in the lab with Dr. Banner, ma'am."

It was a relief to hear that he wasn't alone, if nothing else.  Tony had the worst way of letting his mind and inventiveness wander when he was on his own, many times with great results, but not so great when he was compromised.  At least you could take some solace in knowing that Bruce would be a stabilizing force for him so that he could stay focused on anything but what you were doing.  When you reached the lab, the two men were busy working on setting up their new equipment, and arguing about whose genius was deserving of the bigger workstation.

"Tony," you greeted hesitantly, keeping a stance in the doorway as you felt out the environment.  When he turned to look at you, you expected him to throw shade and act aloof, giving you a taste of what it was like to be left hanging.  You expected him to barely acknowledge you and to return to the work in his hands, but instead, he dropped the equipment he was holding onto the floor with a destructive crash, running up to you with arms out for you to happily find yourself in.  "I'm sorry," you begged, gasping in his hold, "I know you were trying to help.  I overreacted, honey, I'm so sorry."

"I never should have used Maria like that," Tony argued, "it's on me.  I'm the one who's sorry.  You were right to be pissed at me."  He pulled back just enough to bring his hands up, taking your face gently in them, but kissing you desperately as if he thought he would never feel your lips against his again. 

"Um, should I give you two a minute?" Bruce broke in, almost too softly to be heard, standing behind his desk, clearly uncomfortable and shuffling his feet slightly.  Despite his obvious discomfort, he was also equally relived at the sight, as his new science bro had been inconsolable for most of the day and he was the only recipient of it.

You separated from Tony abruptly, though he tried to hold you in place to no avail.  "Oh, Bruce, I'm sorry," you laughed quietly, "no, you can stay.  I'll just let you boys get back to work.  I should check on Maria anyway, since I've pretty much ignored being a mom all day."

"To hell with work, I'll come with you," Tony answered.  He turned you towards the door before neither you nor Bruce had a chance to argue.  "You've got this, Banner, right?"

Bruce smiled and gave the two of you a passive wave, turning back to the pile of work yet to be done and with no one else there now to help him sort it all.  Rather than seeing it as insurmountable, the brilliant man had a quick flash of insight, realizing the fortune that had just befallen him.  "Oh yes, I've definitely got this," he muttered to himself.  "I've got myself the bigger workspace and you're not here to argue."

~~~

The next morning when you woke, Steve was once again in Maria's room, taking care of her just as he had the day before, only this time he didn't respond with worry and apologies at the sight of you.  The long conversation that the two of you had worked through did a great deal towards building a friendship if nothing else, and he was thankful for anything that he could get.  He agreed readily when you had insisted that you would never call him Dad, and you were relieved when he said that he didn't want you to; that type of relationship wasn't one that either of you thought of as a possibility given the remarkably awkward situation that you had found yourselves in.  Despite that, however, he asked he try to be some kind of grandfather to Maria, even though he had no real idea what that actually meant.

The following day was much the same, but this time Steve wasn't holding the little one in her rocking chair as he had been in the two days prior; Tony had taken it a step further, fitting the super soldier with a baby carrier strapped to his muscular chest that held Maria perfectly against him.  She would spend hours a day in that contraption, snuggled against Steve and more content than anywhere else.  You tried to not take it personally when she preferred it there, rather than cuddled with you or Tony, and your husband saw it as a welcome opportunity to have you all to himself.

This went on for weeks, with Steve rising earlier than you almost every day just to have more time with her, and dammit if the man wasn't working his way into your life so expertly that it became hard to think of a day without him there.  If they were called out onto a mission, he was sure to say goodbye to both of you, and check in the minute that he got home, just as Tony would.  You weren't above using the little girl as a peacekeeper when the two men found themselves in an argument, touting a one hundred percent success rate with your method; her father couldn't say a word to it either, having been the first to use it, after all.  It didn't take long for the three of you to become this wonderfully strange, yet sometimes dysfunctional family, and Steve couldn't understand how he ever could have thought to not fight for it.

"Okay, kiddo," Steve said softly to Maria, tight against his chest, "if we're doing this, and if we're gonna be best buddies, you and me, then we need to come to an understanding.  We don't ever tell Mommy about stuff like this, okay?  She just barely trusts me yet as it is."

Maria giggled as if she knew what he was saying, her arms and legs flailing excitedly in the carrier as she looked up at his smiling face.  He had taken her out for a walk and had found themselves in the middle of Central Park on what was the most perfect day he had seen in forever.  Steve looked around sheepishly as if he were scared of being found out, dipping his finger into the vanilla ice cream cone that had begun to melt into his hand.  "Alright, just once," he smirked, giving her the smallest taste of the treat, much to her joy.  "Yeah, that's usually my reaction too."

Even though he had promised only one taste, he couldn't deny her more with each smile that buckled his resiliency.  In no time at all, between the two of them, the ice cream was gone and he was hurrying to clean the evidence from her chin and what had dripped onto her shirt before turning to make the walk home.  Steve took his time, enjoying every step taken in the warmth of the sun overhead, until he heard a little cough that he didn't like the sound of.

"Hey, what was that?" he asked her softly, lifting Maria out of the carrier.  She was still smiling at him, but behind each following cough was a soft wheeze in her throat that set his nerves into a frenzy.  "Maria?  Sweetheart?  You okay?"

She cooed and gurgled her reply, bringing her tiny fingers to her mouth, making her cough more frequent, and the drool now dribbling faster to soak the front of her shirt.  The little wheeze grew until it wasn't so little anymore, and all Steve could think of was the worst.  He clutched his granddaughter to his chest and broke into the hardest sprint he had ever run, barely able to hold his phone in his open hand; he couldn't even remember how to use the damn thing in the midst of his fear, relying on JARVIS to be the one to tell you to meet him at the emergency room.

~~~

"She's going to murder me.  The plane crash was nothing.  I'm actually going to be dead," Steve muttered under his breath, watching over Maria from the other side of the hospital's nursery window.  He had chewed his thumbnail down to the quick, and was making short work on the other one as he let his imagination run.  "I've ruined everything.  Why do I always do this?"

"Steve!"

"Tony!  (Y/N)!" he called back, spinning around at the sound of Tony's voice, waving the two of you over almost frantically.  "She's fine, guys.  She's okay, okay?  It was an allergic reaction, but she's totally fine now, I promise."

"I'm going in there," you said, pushing past Tony, who agreed and took a stand next to Steve by the window.  His eyes never left the two of you; he wanted to join you but the way that Steve had looked at him made it clear that the man shouldn't be left alone just yet.

"Allergic to what?"

"Milk."

"Oh, shit...right," Tony sighed, almost relieved.  The tone didn't escape Steve's notice, and he could feel the shift in the environment under his stare.  "This isn't on you, Cap.  We must not have told you.  Don't beat yourself up over it, okay?  Things like this just happen sometimes."

"I don't think that I've ever felt so terrified, Tony.  Even when Buck..." he stopped, his voice beginning to crack.  He turned back towards the room that now held both you and Maria, watching as you picked her up and held her while the nurse gave instructions for taking her home.  Even though Tony had let him off the hook, the guilt was heavy, almost crushing the air from his lungs.  When he thought what could have been, and if he hadn't have heard that tiny little cough when he did...if he couldn't run as fast as he did...he found that he couldn't keep the fear buried any longer and his vision hazed with tears.  "I'm...I'm sorry.  You know how much I love that kid."

"Steve, come on.  We know that.  I don't think you could make it any more obvious."

"What you guys have done...what I have now..."

"You still have.  This doesn't change anything."

"Is that what (Y/N) said?"

"That's what I said," Tony insisted, "and I know she agrees."  Tony waited for Steve's reply, but none came.  He was no stranger to guilt, and he wondered if the feelings that he was having towards Steve now were similar to what you had carried for so many years while watching him.  Every time he screwed up even the smallest thing, he feared that you would leave, having finally had enough, but you never did.  Maybe it was a product of having to rely on himself for so long, and for having to be on his own, but no matter what it was, he saw himself in Steve for the first time and it shocked him to his core.  "She cares about you too, Steve.  She might not have said that to you yet, but she's said it to me.  So please...don't tell her I told you that though, alright?  She'll kick my ass."

Steve opened his mouth to retort, but the door to the nursery pushed open and drew his attention.  He took a sharp breath in through a clenched jaw, trying to hold himself together for the sight of you and Maria, expecting nothing but resentment for the last view he might ever have.

"Hey, guys," you greeted with a wary smile, "I think we're ready to go home."

"There's my girl," Tony smiled, taking the little one from you.  "Did you forget to tell grandpa that milk makes you sick?  I thought you guys told each other everything."

"Must have slipped our minds," you said, purposefully looking at Steve as you moved closer.  He tried to take a step back, but you reached out and took his arm, holding him in place.  "Don't do that."

"Do...what...?"

"Run."

"(Y/N)-"

Maria began to whine and kick against Tony's hold until she started to cry, pushing her feet against his chest with all of her might in her temper tantrum.  Steve looked over your shoulder at her, brows furrowed together as he fought his natural urge to take her from him.  "Cap, I could use a little help," Tony relented, holding the girl out for Steve to take.  When he did, she almost immediately silenced, leaving Steve looking almost as shaken as he did when you arrived at the hospital to find him.

"You scared me," he whispered to her.

She mumbled a quiet hum at the sound of his voice and curled into him tighter, as if she knew what she was doing.  You stood next to Tony, watching with held breath, waiting to hear what Steve would decide to do; would he stay, or was this too much for the man who never expected this life?

"I think she's got him," Tony said quietly, pulling you in next to him and watching, just as anxious as you were.

"I think maybe so."

"Okay," Steve sighed, reaching his open arm into his jacket.  He removed the carrier and carefully slid it over his shoulder, shifting Maria to the other arm to slip the other side on before putting her in it and against his chest.  "Let's go home."