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'Susan! She's gone, again!'

A loud sigh rang through the kitchen as Sue loaded up the last plate into the dishwasher. Pressing the keypad to start the cycle, she stood up straight and headed towards the hallway. The wispy pieces of her freshly dyed hair bounced as she walked, her low bun tight at the nape of her neck. Her fringe that she first had over ten years ago was wavy against her forehead from her lack of energy to straighten it. Tony always said that he liked the way it curled but was always neat and kept together. Her desire to go back to her old colour of dark brown and with a light fringe was received well by everyone, including herself. It was time for a change and even though she liked her natural blonde, she wanted to look different for her life.

'If she was in her playpen when you last saw her, why would she be on the floor in the hallway?' Sue put her hands on her hips at the sight of Tony on his hands and knees.

'I went around the playpen three times! She wasn't in there,' he replied while looking up at his world. 'Besides, she crawls at the speed of light. She could be halfway to Italy by now.'

A giggle echoed through the hallway and the two turned to their right, seeing Morgan sat on the first step of the stairs. The baby girl clutched her stuffed crab toy that was a gift from her Aunty Pepper. Its eyes were black dots against the surrounding white, a feature that earned a 'that's so creepy' comment from her Uncle Johnny. Red claws sat limp over Morgan's hands, the girl's thumb stroking its soft fur, a habit her parents recently noticed.

'What are you doing on there, missy?' Sue put her hands underneath her daughter's armpits, lifting her so that she didn't fall the short height onto the mahogany-sealed floor. A gurgle came from the eight-month-old girl, happily sitting on her mother's hip as Sue gave her a little bounce.

'We need to put a bell on her,' Tony got to his feet with a groan, his knees not what they used to be.

'She's got more control on it than I thought. I couldn't work it like that until I was five months post-storm.'

'Well, she's got half of my amazing genes, as well,' Tony looked down at his girls, feeling a grin grow at the sight of his daughter's large, dark brown eyes. They stared up in wonder, smiling toothlessly at her father. The Stark lifted his hand to stroke his thumb against her flawless cheek, his chest full of love and warmth.

'Johnny's coming over in a few minutes. I thought we could go for a walk,' Sue suggested, swaying from side to side as Morgan grinned in joy.

'Through the forest? Are you sure about that?'

'You've got the nano particles in your chest that you said was there to protect us. I'm sure if we're attacked by a bear or something-'

'Let's go to New York.'

Sue whipped her attention to Tony with her eyebrows pinched together. He was stood with his own brows raised, showing he was serious about his suggestion. Morgan let out a whine at the lack of attention from her mother, making Sue glance down and see that her eyes were beginning to fall close. The toy crab slipped from her small fist, before it was yanked up again to keep by her side.

'Why New York?' Sue headed for the stairs to take Morgan up for a nap.

'Just for a change of scenery,' Tony shrugged as he followed Sue. 'We could go by the river. I know Pepper likes it down there.'

'Okay. That should be nice. We'll have to wait until after her nap, though,' Sue motioned her head down to the baby in her arms. They made it to the second floor and went into Morgan's room, which was decorated with light pink walls and a white cot. Decals of lambs and bows were placed below the skirting of the ceiling and the light-wooded floor covered with a large, white, fluffy rug. A window above the cot showed the large back garden that was surrounded by tall, pine trees. Warm sunlight lit up the room and the two padded over to the cot, Sue lowering their tired baby onto the blanket-less mattress.

Morgan let out a small moan at the absence of her mother's warmth but let her eyelids slide shut almost immediately. Her arm fell back beside her head, the crab toy free from her grasp. Sue and Tony watched as she fell asleep, their faces stretched with wrinkled smiles.

The two had aged since their time of hero work. Tony's facial hair was beginning to grow out from its styled look, the edges not as sharp and its dark colour joined by grey streaks. His hair was the same, the gelled-up fashion remaining but lighter in the areas near his temples. His smiles lines were deep, years of smirks and mocking laughs indented into his skin. But Tony looked well for his age and although he approached fifty, he was still the billionaire heartthrob that was Tony Stark.

The new addition of the unit attached to his chest was one feature that Sue wasn't too keen on. As if injecting micro-repeater implants into his arm wasn't enough, Tony decided he would always have his suit on his chest . That way, if he ever needed it, he would be encased by Iron Man in seconds. Like when he had the arc reactor in his chest, the crest glowed a bright blue and would need to be tapped in order to activate. Sue was furious when she saw what Tony did to himself, but had learnt to not intervene as it had proven bad for her blood pressure. It calmed her knowing that it wasn't surgically implanted, but none the less, the thing gleamed brightly all the time.

'I'm just trying to protect us,' he had said. 'The future, us, and that's it. Just in case there's a monster in the closet, instead of, you know...'

'Shirts?' Sue had finished.

Signs of aging was apparent on Sue, but she didn't look forty-five. Her pregnancy with Morgan had not been kind to her with stretch marks along her stomach and wrinkles down her neck. Her body changed throughout the nine-month period, and she was uncomfortable for a lot of it. And when she went into labour two weeks after her due date, Sue couldn't have been happier to welcome their baby girl into the world.

Just like Tony had fortold, their child was born a beautiful, baby girl. Choosing a name hadn't been difficult, as they agreed that she would be named after an uncle of Sue and Johnny's. Morgan had been a name that Tony was fascinated with ever since hearing about the Storms' relative, and he made a comment that 'she sure as hell won't be called Marygay'. After being rushed to the closest hospital in the back of Tony's red sportscar and through seven hours of labour, Morgan was born healthy and screaming to the high heavens.

When it came to her first bath, Sue had nearly fainted when Morgan disappeared beneath her fingers. The water sloshed up the sides of the sink, showing that the baby was still in its warmth, before she reappeared as normal. Sue had called Tony into the kitchen and as if on cue, Morgan disappeared and reappeared in the kitchen sink.

Whatever altered Sue's DNA during the cosmic storm on the Marvel-1, had done the same to Morgan. The baby had also grasped the ability to use her power at will and seemed to find her parents' reaction to her disappearances amusing. She giggled when Tony's panicked eyes would jump around the room, before a great relief would wash over him when she materialised a metre away. Sue asked what ran through the Stark's head when he created onsies and baby clothes from the unstable-molecule material that was in her and Johnny's suits. But all she received was a shrug and an excuse of it being cool.

Johnny had been ecstatic about Morgan's abilities. So much so that he proposed to Pepper and made it clear that he too wanted a child of their own. His insistence on continuing hero work had faltered since seeing how joyful his sister and Tony were with Morgan. The Storm thought that the simple life of a young family wasn't for him, and that he would always be The Human Torch. But even he was swayed by the dark brown eyes that were identical to Tony's, and the heart-shaped face that mirrored Sue's.

Johnny and Pepper's wedding was small and only for close friends. They exchanged their vows and were content with the quaint ceremony. Johnny didn't show his disappoint at Steve's absence as he hoped the invite they addressed to his last known location had arrived and was considered. But he was reassured by Sue that he would have wanted to come, only he couldn't. Johnny didn't let it get him down on his wedding day, and he would have been happy to know that the Rogers was stood among the treeline and watched the ceremony from afar.

With Pepper and Johnny married and on route to be expecting their own child, Tony surprised Sue a month after Morgan was born. All the house plans and location hunting had finally come to light, and Tony unveiled their new home. He brought Sue to Maine, where he had built a house made of old-fashioned wood and hard work. It was all built by a team that Tony hired, who were given an unlimited budget to create their future. It was large and two-storey, fashioned after Clint and Laura Barton's house. It had a wrap-around veranda and porch steps that led to the forest that was their garden. With bedrooms and living spaces all powered and monitored by FRIDAY, their small family could grow and flourish in peace. Sue wept when she saw what her future home was and couldn't show how thankful she was for Tony's initiative and thought.

As for being the super couple that fought in alien invasions and were part of the Avengers, it had been quiet on Earth. There were instances here and there where Tony flew to New York to talk to Peter Parker, who was still fighting crime as Spiderman. But for the most part, the silence from SHIELD and from the Avengers, was appreciated by Sue. After the instance with the silver surfer, there was always the looming thought of the world coming to an end. But nothing had happened so far, so she told herself that maybe the alien's master chose to leave Earth alone.

Sue was happy with her life. The secluded lifestyle was a change to the havoc and action that came with living in New York and Malibu. She wanted the best life for Morgan, and since she has the same abilities as her mother, she was bound to get involved in the action later in her life. But while she was young, Sue did everything to make sure she was safe. It was helpful that Tony thought the same. Morgan was his little princess, and if anyone were to lay so much as a finger on her head, he would ensue that that person's hand was never raised again.

If the continuation of their new, perfect life meant she never had to put her suit on again, Sue was content.