"Alright kids, be careful up there! You hear me?"

"Sure thing, Dad!"

"Yes Mr Goldwyn!"

Esté and Tony had been patiently, or rather impatiently, killing time in the backyard all day while George and his brothers spent hours beneath the baking sun fixing together a treehouse that Estélla had been begging them to build for the past year.

Finally giving in to his little princess, George persuaded his brothers with the promise of a freezer full of chilled beers to help him with the project. Of course, all three of them didn't hesitate to do anything to put a smile on the little girl's face.

The seven year olds had played every game they could think of while they'd been waiting. They'd swam in the pool and in the ocean, played hide and seek, had a competition to see who could hold a handstand the longest, and raced up and down the lawn ten times.

By the time her father and uncles had finished building the treehouse, it was a surprise that the children had any energy left at all, though they made quick work of jumping up from the sun loungers by the pool and sprinting down the garden towards their new den.

"For the love of God, do not jump down from there. Either of you."

George scoffed with his warning and lifted his daughter halfway up the tree trunk to grab onto the ladder, watching her climb up inside the treehouse before doing the same for Tony, making sure they were both safely inside before following his brothers inside in search of a well-earned beer.

"It's so cool! Look, you can see the ocean!"

Esté rest her palms on the little ledge by the gap in the wall that acted as a window, smiling widely at the crashing waves at the end of the garden. Tony scrambled beside her and took in the view too, excited to have a new hang out spot to watch the stars or distract Esté from finishing her homework.

"Do you think we'll be friends forever?" Tony asked, tilting his head as he peered up at the sun disappearing behind a cloud.

"Of course, that's a silly question," Esté replied, pulling her head back in from the window and looking around the treehouse, "Why don't we make a promise?"

"What kind?" He asked, doing the same and sitting cross-legged in the middle of the space, dirt and grass staining his knees.

"A promise that as long as this treehouse is here, we'll be best friends."

Tony grinned widely and nodded, lifting a hand to his chest, "I promise. Hand on heart."

"Hand on heart," Esté mirrored his action, her freckles cheeks lifting with a smile before she put her hands down flat behind her, winching and jumping up onto her heels when something sharp pinched her skin, "Ouch!"

"What is it?" Tony rushed to her and took hold of her hand, brushing his fingers over the small scratch on her palm. His concerned eyes fell to the side to see a spare screw laying on the wood, "It's just a screw, you'll be alright. Does it hurt?"

Esté huffed and shook her head, "It's okay, there's no blood."

Tony brought her hand to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss, his dark eyes sparkling with care, "All better," he said, looking down at the screw and having an idea pop into his imagination, "Shall we write our names on the wall?"

"I don't have any pencils."

"We can use this, watch."

He pushed up the sleeves of his Black Sabbath t-shirt and knelt by the wall, eyes narrowed and tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth with deep concentration as he used the screw to carve his name into the wood.

"See?" He turned with a satisfied smile, "Your turn."

Esté took the screw from him and started to try and carve her name beneath his, the screw shaking in her tensed arm before she huffed in frustration, "I can't do it."

The boy didn't hesitate to put his hand on top of hers and help her push down on the screw, carving each letter of her name into the wood.

Esté brushed her blonde waves from her eyes and grinned, sitting on her knees in a pretty yellow sundress as she admired their work. Tony took the screw from her and slipped it into his pocket, not wanting it to accidentally scratch her hand again.

He admired her instead their names, finding a quiet essence of peace and calm ease his bones and steady his breathing when he looked at her. She reminded him of the beach with her golden, sandy hair and ocean blue eyes, a radiance about her that resembled sunlight on the surface of the water.

His young heart skipped a beat when she turned to look at him, blessing him with her beautiful smile.

"It's official now," she pointed to their names on the wall, "Best friends forever."

"Forever," he said back to her, lost in her blue eyes, "And every day after that, too."

Tony was sitting against the wall of the treehouse with his shirt unbuttoned a few inches down his chest, sleeves rolled up and hair no longer as pristine as it had been at midday, the heat and happiness of the day pulling strands loose across his forehead.

"You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Esté blushed in her cheeks and held back her smile, feeling her skin burn as his eyes settled on her face, sparkling like the moon that hung in the sky while he admired her like she were nothing less than art.

She'd changed out of her gorgeous gown and slipped into a Versace mini dress. Still fittingly white, the dress had draped shoulders and a structured neckline that fell at her chest, clinging to her body and finishing at her mid-thigh. Her hair was still intact somehow but she was barefoot then and her lipstick had worn off, half of it being worn by her husband.

"You're biased."

Tony shrugged, "Massively. But I'm still right."

The sun had set but their wedding reception was still very much alive, the lawn and patio filled with friends and family while a brave and probably drunk few guests were still swimming in the shallows of the ocean lapping against the sand, the glow from a bonfire on the beach lighting up the water.

The day had been nothing less than perfect. Tony had driven himself and Esté around the Hamptons for an hour, stopping at a restaurant on a boardwalk to enjoy a glass of champagne alone before they headed back to the house.

Spending that first hour and a half together as husband and wife without anybody else had been one of the best decisions they'd made that day. They laughed and never let their smiles fade, kissed like teenagers in love and found themselves enthralled in each other like they'd never been before, completely consumed by the precious and loving nature of their wedding day.

The house had been transformed from the mess the girls had left it in that morning into a beautiful, white paradise. Elegant flowers had been strung into garlands that arched over doorways and decorated the backs of chairs, red Juliet roses in bouquets on tables and bottles of champagne sat in ice buckets within an arms reach of every guest, wherever they were on the property.

"I have an idea," Esté said with a smile, her eyes crawling across the walls of the treehouse.

"I think I have the same idea."

Tony grinned and picked up the corkscrew that was sitting beside him, Esté crawling over to him and clinging onto his arm as he dug the sharp edge into the wooden planks that surrounded them.

"Let's do it together, here," he opened his arm and Esté moved to sit between his legs, her hand reaching up to take hold of the corkscrew and Tony's coming to rest on top of hers, "Press down a little harder, I can't do all the work."

She laughed and pressed down into the wood, Tony's hand gripping her own and the force from his muscles contracted around her body, their hands moving together to carve something new into the treehouse.

Esté sat back with a smile to admire their work, brushing away the dust with her fingers and resting against Tony's chest, his arms wrapping around her torso and lips kissing the edge of her jaw.

Mr & Mrs Stark
08/05

The engraving was a few feet away from the one of the ones they'd carved as children, their names once separate entities and now, all those years later, had become one.

"Where's your Mommy and Daddy, hm? I haven't seen them in a while."

Tony and Esté looked at each other and laughed quietly, "We should probably go back down there," he said, swinging his legs over the edge and stepping down the ladder "Before people start to think we were up to no good up here."

Esté scoffed, "We were up to no good up here."

"Not for the last time, either."

Tony grinned up at her as she followed him down onto the lawn, grabbing hold of her hand and kissing her knuckles as they walked over to the patio.

George and Leonie were sitting with Steve and Katy, Dawson and Selena playing together on the ledge of the pool with plastic starfish and toy cars, each of them with the collar of their shirt and dress held onto by an adult.

"There's Mommy and Daddy, look!" Leonie said, lifting Selena onto her feet and pointing to the newlyweds strolling towards them.

The little girl's face lit up with delight and she immediately lost interest in Dawson and their toys, toddling over to her parents with a blissful giggle coming from her lips. Tony scooped her up into his arms, throwing her into the air and catching her again before kissing her across her cheeks and her nose, her tiny hands touching his face and gripping his shirt.

"You wanna dance with Daddy? Of course you do."

With Selena on his hip, Tony held one of her hands inside his own and waltzed across the patio while music played from a speaker by the pool. Esté watched with a soul filled with gratitude, heart swelling at the beautiful sight of her husband and daughter together on their wedding day.

It was a sight that once upon a time, Esté would never have dreamt of seeing. She thought back to her sleepless nights of terror and torment, how empty and dark her life had felt when she had to spend every day not knowing whether the love of her life was still breathing or not.

It was a contemplation that made Estélla wonder if she'd have survived if Tony hadn't, being unable to imagine a life without him and without their little girl. The thought welled tears into her eyes as she watched Selena kiss her father while he twirled her around beneath the stars, the beautiful hazel eyes she'd fallen in love with belonging to the two people she cherished most in the entire world.

"Let's hope Selena turns out to be a better dancer than her father."

Esté laughed and blinked a few tears down her cheeks, glancing up and smiling at Steve who was standing beside her.

"Thank you," she whispered, his eyes looking down to meet her own, "Thank you for bringing him back to me. Every time."

Steve inhaled deeply and gave her a smile, "He was always making it home to you, with or without my help."

Part of her didn't believe Steve, not knowing the details of the nightmares that Tony had lived through but knowing enough about the hell that he'd dragged himself through to defend their home and keep her safe.

As she watched him dance with their daughter, Esté couldn't help but feel like there was never any other future for them besides the one they were living in. This was their life, and it had always been their life from the day they'd met. Bound to fall in love and bound to survive everything that came with it, and bound to end up right there, just way that they were.

"Still, I'm eternally grateful, Steve. So thank you, for everything."

He grinned and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug and kissing her cheek, "Congratulations, Esté. You deserve happiness, all three of you."

"Hands off my wife, Rogers! You have your own!"

They laughed and broke the embrace, shaking their heads as Tony lifted Selena up onto his shoulders and held onto her hands that gripped only his thumbs.

"What are you doing up there little Miss?" Esté grinned at her daughter.

Selena leaned forward across her father's shoulders, arms stretching towards her mother, shouting with her chest that she wanted to be with her.

"Alright, alright," Tony grumbled and lifted her down, "Daddy's five minutes of fame are over, I see how it is."

Estélla beamed and took her daughter into her arms, kissing her and giving her a light squeeze when the little girl threw her arms around her neck, blonde hair tickling her neck and ears.

"Mama!" Selena pointed to the bouquet of Juliet roses sitting on a table across the opposite side of the pool.

"Does Lena want to look at the pretty flowers? Okay baby, let's go and look."

Steve handed Tony a beer and they sat down beside George and Leonie, Katy joining them with Dawson on her lap as they watched Esté carry Selena over to the flowers, gently moving her hand to touch the soft petals.

Tony sank back into the chair with his a leg crossed at his knee, arms resting on the sides and shoulders relaxed back. He watched with a content smile as his wife and daughter whispered about things he couldn't hear, enjoying the way Selena would respond with a giggle or a kiss, able to find beauty in the world the same way her mother did and interested in where that beauty had come from the same way her father was.

"How does it feel to be a married man, Anthony?" George asked him, the rest of the group falling into their own conversation.

"Wonderful," he said, pointing towards the girls with a beer bottle in his hand, "They are all I'll ever need. I don't want anything else, I could never need anything else. So long as I have my girls, I know I'll be alright."

George smiled at his words, understanding the point of view completely and feeling the same way about his own family. Life hadn't always been easy but he'd been blessed with Leonie's loyalty and unwavering love and support, and becoming a father to Estélla had taught him far more than he could ever teach her, his life becoming infinitely richer because of them both.

It settled his nerves and soothed his worries to know that as a father, his little girl was loved by a man who knew no bounds or no limits to how much he could love her. It was endless and relentless and George had seen that in Tony for as long as he could remember, happy that he too would be forever loved by a heart as gentle and forgiving as Estélla's.

"It might seem like you have it all right now," George cleared his throat and chuckled when he watched Selena lean backwards in Esté's arms as she spun her around, their golden hair flying like stardust through the night, "But trust me son, you have your whole life ahead of you."

Tony looked at his wife and daughter before turning to his father-in-law, holding out his beer bottle and nodding when George tapped his own drink against it in cheers.

"I can't wait."

an;;
just a heads up there's one chapter left guys!! Thank you so much for all the lovely comments and support, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you'll stick around for the final one. It'll be posted soon!! <3