2019

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"This is insane!"

"It's not that bad, honey."

"You're not the one inflating like a balloon!"

(Y/N) had found out about being pregnant for just one week from now, and her belly was growing unusually fast. Due to Tony's research, he told her that she had the size of a four month old pregnant woman instead. They had panicked, not knowing the reason why this was happening, so Tony called in a favor from Bruce to do some tests in order to check if everything was in order.

After running a series of tests and monitoring her vitals, Bruce came to a conclusion. According to him, (Y/N)'s Kree blood transfusion was accelerating the growth process of the baby, making it happen in a span of days and weeks instead of months. She was already nervous as it is from having another human being grow inside her stomach, but her nerves only increased when Bruce told her it wasn't going to happen in its natural time span.

"(Y/N)," Tony lowered his volume and took a step close to her. "You're not inflating like a balloon."

"Easy for you to say," she glared at him. "It's all happening so fast, Tony. I'm not mentally prepared yet."

"Honestly, neither am I," he agreed with her. "But that's why we're together. We can figure this out with each other's help."

"Since when are you wise enough to say these things?"

"I read a paternity book."

"Huh."

Tony was about to lean forward and plant a kiss in (Y/N)'s lips, but the doorbell rang. The distraction made (Y/N) look off to the door, causing Tony's lips to land on her forehead instead, so he straightened up to avoid the awkwardness.

"The doctor's here."

Because of Tony's high status and him constantly being in front of the press's eye, he decided it would be best to hire a doctor to do the checkups in their home instead of risking the possibility of someone spotting them in public. He wanted his new life to be as private as possible, ironic to the fact that all he wanted to do a few years back was grin at the cameras and open up his door to strangers. But he didn't want to risk it. Not when he already had too many close calls to old enemies harming him and his loved ones.

"Why don't you settle on the couch and I welcome him in," Tony recommended.

(Y/N) made a sound of agreement and made her way to the couch as soon as possible. When she settled down on the cushions, she let out a groan of pain because of the discomfort on her feet and back, and made a mental note to complain about it later to since Tony had made it his personal mission to assist her in everything. Even if he was already spoiling her with extravagant and expensive gifts, this past week had doubled everything up.

Tony opened the door for Doctor Nielson to step inside, muttering a quick greeting before Tony guided him through the house over to the living room. The sound of Doctor Nielson's footsteps was loud enough for the entire house to hear, and (Y/N) stood up from her comfortable position on the couch to welcome him with an extended hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Ms."

"Pleasure's all mine, Doctor," (Y/N) gave him a polite smile, moving back to sit on the couch once again.

"So, shall we take a look?"

(Y/N) nodded in approval and Tony sat beside her on the couch, quickly reaching out to grab her hand. He didn't want to admit out loud that he was nervous, but once he felt (Y/N) tracing patterns on his hand, they all eased down. The doctor pulled the stethoscope from his bag before putting it to use, monitoring the heartbeat of the baby to check if it was healthy or not.

"Hmm," he hummed under his breath. Every time he did so, it added more nerves to the couple. "Hmm."

"Yep!" he jumped enthusiastically. "Definitely pregnant."

(Y/N) chuckled nervously, still holding onto Tony's hand. "Well, we figured as much."

"It's just kinda taken us by surprise. It's just kinda suddenly. I mean, practically overnight," Tony hadn't realized he had fallen into a nervous rant until he felt (Y/N) grip on his leg. She flashed him a smile that told him to stop talking. "I mean. . .How did this happen?"

"You see, when a man and a woman love each other very much — "

(Y/N) and Tony exchanged a look that practically said 'who does he think he's talking to?'. She decided to cut him off before he said anything else, clasping her hands together with a nervous smile.

"We're just tickled pink," she stood up from the couch and Tony followed after her, placing a hand on her back to steady her. "Or blue."

"You're about four months now," Doctor Nielson said, wanting to confirm if it's true. "Is that right?"

(Y/N) nodded her head as if to indicate a 'yes', meanwhile Tony behind her was doing the opposite. Once she turned around to see if they were in the sync, Tony immediately regretted his actions and copied her movements with hands on his hips.

"I thought as much."

"We let the little ladies keep tabs on their growing babies with fruit," he explained, which made the couple frown in confusion. "At four months, the fetus is about as big as a pear. At five months, a papaya. Six, grapefruit. Seven, pineapple. Eight, honeydew."

"Hypothetically speaking, what size fruit would it be at say, hmm, 12 hours?"

Doctor Nielson was about to answer the question until he paused. "Uh, pardon? 12 hours?"

"I think this line of questioning is fruitless," (Y/N) decided to cut the conversation short before it could escalate much further.

"Well, hypothetically speaking, should we be concerned?"

Doctor Nielson placed a hand on Tony's shoulder before patting him in the back. "Hypothetically speaking, every new father-to-be gets nervous. Even genius men like you, Mr. Stark."

"Actually, it's genius, billionaire — " (Y/N) gave him a look since she knew what he was going to say. "Ex-playboy, philanthropist. So there goes your theory, Doctor — "

"Tony, why don't you see the doctor out?"

"Good idea," Tony nodded. He gestured for the doctor to follow him from where they came from. "Thank you so much for dropping by, Dr. Nielson."

(Y/N) looked down at her growing stomach, still not sure if this was real or not. Her hands hovered over her belly with a fond smile, eager to finally meet the new member to this growing family. She was excited to hold the baby in her arms, ecstatic to watch them grow alongside her husband until her time was over.

Meanwhile, Tony followed Doctor Nielson out the door, and down the steps of the front porch of the cabin. The sun was still up and shining down at the lake, giving a perfect view from where he stood.

"I'm just glad you caught me in time," Doctor Nielson told him as he gripped his bag. "I'm taking the wife on vacation this afternoon."

"Oh okay," Tony nodded distractingly before he lowered his volume and turned his full attention at the doctor. Even though they were the only people around, he couldn't be too careful.

"Listen, you can keep the news of (Y/N)'s pregnancy, just between us because, uh, everything's just happening so quickly. We'd like to keep the news just in the family for right now."

"Of course," the doctor nodded. "Mum's the word."

Tony nervously chuckled at the doctor's lock and key motion, eager to exit this conversation.

"I'm off. Bermuda, baby!"

"Yes," Tony nodded awkwardly at the doctor's motions. "I might've recommended Europe, but it's your vacation, fella."

Doctor Nielson paused his fist of enthusiasm as if Tony had said something that offended him. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a millisecond that Tony was able to catch. "Right. . .Europe."

". . .Yeah."

Tony didn't remove his eyes from Doctor Nielson as he watched him unlock and enter his car. He made sure not to turn his back on him before he ignited the engine and went off into the driveway of the cabin. He climbed the steps up the porch to the house, sparing the disappearing car one last look before turning his attention toward the inside, shutting the door in the process.

"Strangest thing happened just outside with — "

(Y/N) turned around obliviously at the sound of his voice, removing her attention from the kitchen table. Tony stopped his words when he saw that the size of her belly was twice the size that it was just a few minutes ago.

"Whoa, have you gotten bigger?"

"I have?" (Y/N) turned around and lowered her head downward to see for herself, almost knocking down a glass in the process. "I can't tell from this angle."

Tony steadied the almost knocked down glass back on the table, and his lips curled into a mischievous grin as if he just thought of something. He tapped (Y/N)'s shoulder to draw her attention away from her growing belly.

"Honey, when does a joke become a dad joke?"

(Y/N) frowned at first at his random question, but didn't get the time to answer before Tony opened his mouth to speak up.

"When it becomes apparent."

"Oh, dear God," she muttered under her breath and tried to muffle her laughter due to the bad joke, but Tony looked utterly proud of himself.

"Was it good?" he asked next.

"I don't know, is this going to become a thing?"

"It's going to whether you like it or not."

(Y/N) let out an exasperated sigh, placing her hands on her hips and looked up to the roof. "Please give me mercy."

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"Are you sure that screw goes there?"

"I work with machines all the time, (Y/N). I know what I'm doing."

(Y/N) raised her hands in the air defensively, standing from the newly built rocking chair Tony had put together in the nursery. Now that the doctor was gone, they decided to continue on the next part of the day; which was tidying up the nursery. She tried to convince Tony to let her help in building the crib, but he insisted that he could do it alone and that she should rest. The walls had been painted in a pale yellow color by Rhodey the day before, only accepting to do so when the couple promised that he would be the baby's godfather.

"'Nesting, the overwhelming urge during pregnancy to clean, organize, and prepare the home for the new baby'," Tony read out from the floor, dropping the changing table's instruction paper and focusing on another paternity book. "Good thing you're not doing all that, right, honey?"

(Y/N) dragged the dresser into the room with a strained grunt leaving her lips, acting like nothing was wrong. "Sure. See, you're an expert already. We've got nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about outside of morning sickness, mood swings, aching back, and — " Tony turned around and his eyes widened when he saw what she was doing. "Honey, you should probably sit down."

He stood up from the floor and closed the book, dropping it to the floor. (Y/N) pushed the dresser just a few more inches before she readjusted her position, placing a hand on her back while doing so.

Still, she was stubborn to submit to his request. "Don't be silly. All I feel is excitement, happiness, and — " she gasped. "Oh!"

(Y/N) looked down at her stomach with widened eyes, dragging the sound of her gasp throughout the room. Tony instantly moved toward her with a surprised look, not expecting it to be so soon.

"Kicking? Already?" he leaned forward to place a hand over her stomach. "Wow."

"It's such a strange sensation," (Y/N) told him, a soft smile popping on her lips. "It's kind of fluttery."

Tony reached out to grab the forgotten book on the ground and flipped it open on a specific page. "Well, if that was the first kick that puts you at about six months!"

"Please slow down, (Y/N), I can't keep up!"

(Y/N) gave him a look and placed her hands on her hips, but Tony didn't focus on her and instead lowered his head down to be at eye-level with the growing baby inside her stomach.

"Don't give me that look," he spoke without removing his eyes from her belly. He pitched his voice into a higher pitch, one that she's never heard of in her entire life. "I can't wait to meet you, little Morgan."

He pressed a kiss on top of (Y/N)'s stomach, which he thought she might've enjoyed. When he got up to his full height, Tony was received with a frown instead of the smile he was waiting for. She hadn't thought of too many names, but the ones she had thought of were nothing close to Tony's choices. She feared this might be the cause of an argument.

"Morgan?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I was thinking Daisy, or something similar," (Y/N) jumped to her defense. "Just a nice and beautiful name."

"Hmm, Daisy. Hmm, yeah," Tony nodded along with fake interest, shaking his head in disapproval. "Then there's Morgan, isn't there? It can be a boy's or girl's name. That way we lose time over deciding names for both genders."

"Well, I guess there's only one solution to this debate."

"And what's that?"

"Do whatever the person carrying the baby wants."

Tony couldn't help but chuckle at her words, moving to stand beside her and wrap an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. He pressed a kiss on her temple and followed her line of sight to see her staring the stork painting on the wall with concentration.

"Rhodey sure exceeded our expectations with that painting," He broke the short silence.

"He sure did."

"It's not like we asked him to do that."

"I know!" (Y/N) nodded with a laugh. "All we told him is that we would make Happy the godfather if he didn't at least try."

"And that got us a free, beautiful painting on our baby's nursery."

A thought popped in Tony's head after saying that last sentence. He squeezed (Y/N)'s shoulder to get her attention again. "What if we name the baby after him?"

"And piss all of our other friends when we didn't choose them? No thanks."

"Well, we have to decide soon either way," he huffed at his idea being turned down. "I estimate the baby's due. . ."

(Y/N) rolled her eyes when she knew what was coming.

"It's not a constant progression assuming the logarithmic, but where I to graph the fetal development thus far — "

"The baby's gonna be here before you figure it out."

"Nearest I can guess is that Morgan — "

"Daisy."

"Hmm."

A terrified look flashed in Tony's eyes once he came into a realization. ". . .is due Friday afternoon."

"In three days?" (Y/N) asked with an incredulous tone. She gasped. "Maybe I should sit down."

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After coming to the conclusion that they needed to practice everything needed to take care of a baby since they were close to the estimated due date, the nursery was forgotten. (Y/N) was busy fixing herself a snack because of her pregnancy cravings while Tony practiced the diaper changing on a doll on the dinning table.

(Y/N) was cleaning everything on the kitchen counter when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach. "Oh!"

"Honey?" Tony snapped his head in her direction.

"Ooh!" (Y/N) held a hand against her stomach due to the increasing, unknown discomfort. "Do any of your books talk about this? It's not painful, but it's strange."

"A tightening sensation?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Yes! Banner let me borrow one," Tony searched through a pile of books to find the right one. "'Braxton Hicks contractions, also known as false labor, usually starts in the third trimester'."

He skimmed through the page before closing it, finding the information he needed. "It gives us a chance to work on our breathing exercises."

He stood up from the table and walked toward (Y/N) in the kitchen, who was still cradling her stomach and showed discomfort in her face. He stopped in front of her in order to demonstrate how to do what he just read.

"It should go like this."

He breathed in and out rhythmically and gestured (Y/N) to mimic him. She copied his actions and they both made the rhythmic breathing several times before (Y/N) exhaled dramatically, the pain on her expression still not washing off.

"Yeah, it's not working. I can still feel it."

"I'm sorry."

The same, sharp pain hit (Y/N) again, and this time she made a loud groan of displeasure. She cradled her stomach with both of her hands and closed her eyes before opening them again, not realizing that they started to glow in a bright, yellow color like they did when she used her powers. Tony's eyes widened and tried to get her to calm down, but (Y/N) was too focused on her own pain to notice anything else.

(Y/N) let out another groan and reached out to the kitchen counter to grip it tightly due to the pain. Not even two seconds passed before another sound of pain left her lips and she accidentally crushed the kitchen counter's wood under her fingertips.

"Honey? (Y/N)?"

She didn't respond and Tony carefully took a step forward to reach out for her and guide her away from the kitchen. (Y/N) didn't argue with him and allowed herself to be guided away into the living room, her eyes not losing the glow.

Once the pain started to subside, the glow on (Y/N)'s eyes disappeared and she doubled on her knees to catch her breath. Tony still had a hand on her back, rubbing up and down to bring some sense of comfort.

She was still panting of exhaustion when she decided to speak up. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Tony responded honestly. "But you crushed the counter with your hand. Your eyes started glowing."

"And that was just a fake contraction," (Y/N) realized, eyes widening. "Who knows what will happen when the real thing starts."

(Y/N) leaned back to sit on the couch with a worried frown. Her eyes subconsciously trailed over to her stomach, a lump forming on her throat as a new feeling of anxiety filled her entire body. The self-doubt thoughts swarmed her head again, ten times worse than before.

"What do you think will happen? Do you think I'll hurt myself? Or even the baby?"

"No, honey. Absolutely not."

"But I — "

"You're going to do everything in your power to protect this baby, just like you do with everyone else," Tony reassured, kneeling on the floor in front of her. His eyes were soft as he stared at the woman he was absolutely devoted to. "Let me tell you this, I'm anxious too."

Part of her uneasiness washed away, eyes softening. "We just don't know what to expect."

"Nope."

"Will the baby have cosmic powers or super intelligence?" she spoke in a playful tone, eyes not leaving his. "A bit of both?"

"If they're anything like their mother, Morgan will be perfect."

(Y/N) smiled at him. "You mean Daisy."

"Mmm."

(Y/N) was about to say something else when she felt another intense pain, making her gasp loudly.

"Are you all right?"

She felt the pain ten times worse than the last fake contraction, and she immediately knew what this meant. She leaned backward into the couch to ease the discomfort on her back and held her stomach with gritted teeth. Tony, panicked, stepped back and stood up from his spot on the floor, trying to think of a way to help her.

"This is a real one!"

"What?"

"I thought you said Friday afternoon!"

"I didn't consider that the timings between the developmental benchmarks could be quite random!"

"Speak English, please!"

(Y/N) breathed in and out rhythmically like they had practiced just a few minutes ago, waving her hand as if to tell Tony to calm down since he looked in a worse state than her. He copied her actions as (Y/N) mustered enough strength to stand up from the couch to meet with him in the middle of the living room. Tony reached out to grab his hands with hers, their identical breathing coming to a stop with a shared sigh.

"Better," (Y/N) spoke once the pain subsided again.

"Yes, thank you, it's passing," Tony replied with closed eyes.

(Y/N) still held onto Tony's hands when another jabbing pain rose inside her stomach. Tony could barely make a sound of disdain when (Y/N) gripped onto his hands with all of her strength, since she was mostly focused on cradling her stomach. She tried to follow the breathing exercises as she was told, but all her motions were frozen when she heard a faint pop ring in her ears, followed by a liquid trailing down her leg.

Tony seemed to have heard it too, and his eyes trailed (Y/N)'s pain riddled face in front of him.

"Tony?"

"Yes, honey?"

"I think my water just broke."

"Yes, honey."

the baby's almost here !!
also, tony's dad jokes are going to be a regular thing, so start getting used to them.

-see you soon, bex <3