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cap_ironman2009-02-04 08:07 pm
kijikun.livejournal.com) wrote in cap_ironman2009-02-04 08:07 pm
Entry tags:
All That Remains (19/21) (PG-13)
Title: All That Remains (19/21)
Previous Parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 Part 9, Part 10, Part 11,
Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15,Part 16, Part 17, Part 18
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kijikun
Rating: PG-13 (NC-17 overall)
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Betas:pandanoai and ellyr_in_ink
Word Count: 3858
Warnings: Spoilers through "Fallen Son", references to an institutionalized childhood
Timeline: Marvel Time is always kind of flexible, so we're setting this somewhere in the first half of 2008. Secret Invasion does not exist in this universe.
A/N: Con-crit and comments welcome as always. This is a little late -- I'm so sorry.
The receptionist in the front lobby of the Baxter Building had probably seen many strange sights since she started working there, Tony figured. So it was no wonder that Tony Stark having a quiet argument with a nine-year-old didn’t draw her attention.
“Why can you not stay for the photo shoot?” Maria asked, looking up at Tony. She was clutching the backpack that held her gymnastics clothes and her sketch book.
Tony resisted rubbing his hand over his face as he knelt down in front of her. He kept hoping Sue would appear so he wouldn’t have to have this conversation. “There are some really important things I need to do today,” he told her. It wasn’t a total lie, after all. “Franklin will be with you, and Sue will be close by the whole time. I thought you wanted to meet Peter?”
Maria pressed her lips into a thin line, her knuckles almost white. “I thought you were going to be here, too,” she protested. “What if you need me to protect you today? Shouldn’t I go with you? The person who followed me and Jarvis is most likely after you.”
“Maria, listen to me,” Tony sighed. He tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear. He wondered if it was normal for her hair to have grown so fast in just a few months, and without thinking, cross-checked with Extremis how many times Steve needed haircuts.
She shook her head. “No, Tony –“
“Hush, and listen to me.” Tony put a finger to her lips. “I know you want to go with me, but just like I go to work and you stay in the penthouse with Jarvis most days – today I need you to stay here with the Fantastic Four, okay? You and Franklin can play like you normally do when you visit him. Peter’s just going to take some pictures of you doing everyday stuff. Nothing big or formal like the last one.”
She didn’t look convinced. “You’re in danger. I shouldn’t leave your side. That’s my purpose.”
There were so many things messed up with that line of logic that Tony didn’t know where to start. “Your purpose for today is to be a nine-year-old girl who’s going to spend the day playing with her best friend.” He tapped her nose. “Got it?”
“Yes, Tony,” Maria agreed, though it was clear she wasn’t happy about it.
“That’s my girl,” he told her softly. He kissed her forehead and got to his feet. “Shall we go say hello to everyone? I’m sure they know we’re here by now. Except Reed, of course. He’s probably already caught up doing something in his lab.”
Maria slid her hand into his, and he squeezed it gently. “Franklin says he’s almost always working in the lab.”
Tony smiled. “That sounds like Reed, alright,” he chuckled as they moved into the elevator.
“Tony?”
He glanced down at her. “Yes, genius?”
“Can we work on the model tonight?” she asked hopefully.
Tony nodded. “Of course we can. Shall we see if we can’t get it to fly tonight?”
The happiness in her eyes was answer enough.
***
Peter had been surprised Tony wasn’t there. Was his absence a sign of Tony’s distrust of him or Tony’s assumption of Peter’s distrust of Tony? Peter wasn’t sure. The other Secret Avengers hadn’t been too wild about him doing this either. Luke Cage had muttered ‘sell out,’ before Jessica had elbowed him. But Peter wanted his life back. He wanted Mary-Jane to have her life back. He wanted to not have to hide and sneak around just to visit his Aunt.
Maria was shyer than Peter had expected. In fact, he wasn’t sure what he expected given what he’d read about her in the papers and a warning from Sue that the little girl was still wary about strangers. He had no idea what Tony might have said about him. She’d hung behind Franklin, watching Peter carefully at first, despite Franklin’s reassurances to her.
Peter had thought it was best not to start taking photos right away. With Franklin’s help he’d coaxed her closer, showed her how the camera worked, displayed all the different lenses. When she finally asked “Are you really Spider-Man?” Peter knew he was getting somewhere.
Now Maria was sitting on the edge of a balance beam in the Baxter Building gym, giggling at Peter who was hanging off the ceiling. Franklin was on the other side of the room with Val – who Peter swore had grown a foot since he’d last seen her. He’d have to ask Johnny about that.
“So where’s your dad today, kiddo?” Peter asked, causally.
Maria blinked at him as if he’d started speaking in tongues. “I don’t have a father. Or a mother. None of us did. We had genetic donors. Their identities were unimportant.”
Peter opened his mouth and closed it several times. He had no idea what to make of that. Okay he had some idea, but he didn’t like any of those thoughts. When he’d read that Tony said she was from a government facility, he hadn’t thought it was one of those. He almost didn’t want to know what Tony had done to get the government to give her to him or why.
“Uhm, let me try that again. Where’s Tony today?” Peter asked quickly, because freaking out a small child because you asked the wrong question was a bad thing when dealing with kids. Especially the kids of superheroes. Never mind that he was a superhero, too.
Maria blinked again. “He was unable to accompany me today.”
Peter rubbed the back of his head. “I was just wondering,” he told her.
She had that watchful cautious look on her face again. “Tony said you and he are friends.”
“He did? I mean we are – I guess – we just had a disagreement over some – uhm – stuff.” Peter dropped down from the ceiling to crouch beside her on the beam. “Your – Tony is a pretty okay guy, though. Even when he is being an as– even when I don’t agree with him.”
Maria had turned to look at him, titling her head to the side. She got to her feet then balanced up on the tips of her toes on one foot. “Why don’t you come over to the penthouse? Tony’s other friends do.”
“Like I said, me and Tony had a disagreement about something. And I don’t want to come over uninvited,” Peter explained to her. He wasn’t sure what Tony had told her but she seemed to think he and Tony were still friends – and well, he guessed what he told her was partly correct since they were – sort of.
“Oh,” she said as if she hadn’t thought of that. She looked up at the ceiling. “I wish I could hang off the ceiling. It seems very useful. You could sneak up on all sorts of people.”
Peter grinned. “It has its uses. Sometimes it annoys MJ, though. She says it’s hard talking to someone who’s upside down.”
Maria giggled. “I don’t think so.” She was quiet for a few moments and Peter could see her debating something in her head. “Peter?”
“Yeah, kiddo?”
Her face had grown serious and she dropped down into a crouch mirroring his. “Why would someone be trying to hurt, Tony?”
Peter rocked back slightly on his heels. “What do you mean?” he asked carefully. He could think of quite a few reasons, but this was Tony’s kid. Not to mention Franklin’s friend and the poor child didn’t have enough of those. Maria probably didn’t have enough of those, either.
There weren’t exactly a lot of super-powered kids or kids of superheroes running around -- not counting the Runaways – and it wasn’t as if they could go outside and play or go over to a friend’s house after school.
Maria bit the inside of her cheek. “Someone’s after Tony. I know they are. Someone’s been attacking places he owns and someone followed me and Jarvis the other day. Tony’s really worried, though he doesn’t want me to know he is.” She broke his gaze, dropping it to her feet. “I don’t want to lose Tony. I don’t want to go back to someplace like The Complex. Tony said I’d never have to go back there but if something happens to Tony…”
“Hey, hey,” Peter said softly, lifting her chin. “Tony’s tough. Whatever it is, I bet he can handle it. ‘Sides he’s got people like Ms. Marvel he can get to help him. If Tony doesn’t want you to worry, you shouldn’t. And if Tony promised you that you wouldn’t go back, you won’t. People like the Fantastic Four and I wouldn’t let anyone put you back there. Promise.”
***
Steve watched Tony adjust his tux tie in the mirror before leaning in and placing a kiss to the side of Tony’s throat. “Have I ever told you how good you look in a tux?”
Tony grinned, easy and wide with none of the stress of the past few weeks in his features for once. “Yes, but feel free to tell me again.”
Steve ran his hands over the clean line of the tux down to Tony’s hips and rested his chin against Tony’s shoulder. “Seeing you in a tux makes me want to strip it off of you and pin you to the wall.”
“Mhm, later,” Tony murmured, leaning his head back against Steve’s shoulder.
Steve closed his eyes for a moment. He didn’t want Tony to go out tonight. He hated that he was pretty much chasing Tony and Maria from their home just so he could speak with Bucky and Sharon. “You and Maria should stay here tonight, Tony. With everything –“
“I don’t want Maria around Bucky.” Tony didn’t pull away, but his voice was short and clipped. “And if I’m here, they’ll both think I’m pulling your strings somehow.”
“Tony,” Steve sighed. “Bucky isn’t going to hurt Maria or try to take her again.”
Tony shrugged. “So he claims.” He was quiet for a moment. “We’ll only be gone for a few hours. It’s a Gallery Opening. There’ll be lots of other people there, and my armor is never far away. I’ll be fine. Maria will be fine. Plus, Pepper’s making me take security with me.“
Steve wished Tony didn’t sound so much like he was trying to convince himself as much as Steve. “Good woman.”
“Yes, she is. I have no idea why she puts up with me,” Tony said, dryly. He gave Steve a small smile through the mirror.
Steve forced himself to smile back. “Because she’s your friend?”
“Hmm. Remind me to give her a raise.”
“You keep giving her raises, and she’ll make more than you,” Steve admonished him.
Tony turned in Steve’s arms, sliding his own around Steve. “Good help is hard to find."
“Tony?” Maria’s voice came from the door way of the bedroom.
Tony turned his head smiling, but didn’t leave Steve’s arms. “Yes, genius?”
Steve looked over towards Maria. She was in a rather pretty blue dress – Steve wondered if it was one of Jan’s designs – her hair was out of its normal braid and was spilling around her shoulders. She needed a haircut soon, Steve decided.
“Are we going soon?” Maria asked. She’d been growing more excited -- in her own particular way -- about the trip since they’d both explained to her what a “Gallery Opening” was, and that she’d get to see new art before anyone else. It also seemed that Peter was going to be taking photographs for the Bugle that night as well, and Maria had been going on for a few days about how ‘cool’ Peter was.
“Soon. Did you finish your dinner?” Tony asked.
Maria nodded. “I did. Peter’s going to be there tonight, isn’t he? Will he have time to talk to us?”
“Good girl,” Tony told her. “And, yes, I’m sure Peter will come say hello.”
Steve pressed a kiss to Tony’s lips. “Go on. I’m sure your limo is already here.”
“Why isn’t Steve coming with us?” Maria asked. She grabbed Tony’s hand, looking up at both of them.
Tony cleared his throat, moving from the circle of Steve’s arms to place his free hand on Maria’s shoulder. “Maria, we’ve talked about this.”
Maria pressed her lips together before she turned an accusing look on Steve. “Don’t you want to go with us?” she asked, her tone almost as accusatory as her gaze.
Before Steve could answer, Tony spoke. “Maria, he’s just not coming with us tonight. It’s fine. Come on, we should go.”
“Steve could help me better protect you,” Maria pointed out. “Why aren’t we supposed to let people know he’s here? Why does Steve never leave the penthouse?”
Steve had the feeling if she wasn’t clutching Tony’s hand that her arms would be crossed over her chest. He was again reminded of a younger Bucky. With a soft sigh he knelt down so he could look her in the eyes. “Maria, remember how confused you were because I was supposed to be dead?”
She nodded, then titled her head to one side as if evaluating him.
“A lot of people still think that’s true and it’s safer for everyone if people keep thinking that for a while. That’s why I stay in the penthouse, and why I can’t go with you and Tony tonight. I do want to come with you both.” Steve told her, leaving out the part about Bucky and Sharon coming over. Maria wouldn’t understand why he was meeting with someone that, in her eyes, was a threat to Tony.
Though Steve wondered how many people weren’t a threat to Tony in her eyes. Jarvis was probably on the top of that list, followed by Franklin then maybe Jan or Carol.
Maria looked from him to Tony, seeking confirmation to Steve’s words. Tony didn’t say anything, and Steve didn’t look up to see his expression, but whatever Maria saw seemed to appease her somewhat.
“I guess that is acceptable. I don’t understand how it can be safer,” she told him, frowning slightly. “I will give you a full report of the art when we come home, if you’d like?”
“I look forward to it,” Steve assured her, getting to his feet. “Now you and Tony better go. You don’t want to be late.”
Tony leaned in, brushing his lips against Steve’s ear. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Steve walked with them to the elevator and wished he was attending the Gallery Opening with them. As much as he knew he needed to meet with and talk to Sharon and Bucky – it wasn’t as appealing as an evening with his family.
***
When Bucky and Sharon entered the penthouse, Steve expected a lot of things. He expected Bucky to tear into Tony within moment, Sharon to yell at him for letting her think he was dead for weeks, or even awkward silence. What he didn’t expect was Sharon to throw her arms around him and hug him fiercely, calling him an idiot or for Bucky to look almost jealous when she did so.
He found himself explaining for what felt like the umpteenth time in so many weeks how he’d pulled himself from the Hudson with no memory of who he was and how only slowly his memory had come back. Sharon was obviously unhappy that when he had remembered who he was he’d gone to Tony, but she – thankfully – held her tongue.
He showed them the DNA test Hank had run, and answered what seemed like question after question from Sharon. Bucky was strangely quiet, letting Sharon ask her questions and Steve say his peace. Bucky kept watching Sharon as if he expected something or feared something. Steve wasn’t sure he even wanted to know what that was about.
“Steve, can I speak to you alone?” Sharon asked, finally.
Steve restrained himself from pointing out that they might as well have been speaking alone for all Bucky was saying. “Of course, Sharon,” he told her, getting to his feet. He was wary about leaving Bucky unsupervised in Tony’s home, but he had to trust him. Also Tony was paranoid enough that there probably wasn’t much Bucky could get into.
She gave him a small wavering smile, and then glanced at Bucky. Bucky was looking intently at his hands. “Lead the way,” Sharon said, getting to her feet as well.
He led her to Tony’s office. “Bucky seems oddly quiet tonight,” Steve commented, leaning against the wall.
Sharon shrugged. “James is just worried about how I’m going to react. I’m afraid I didn’t react – well- to finding out you were still alive.“
Steve ran a hand over his face. “God, Sharon, I’m sorry. I should have contacted you and Bucky earlier.”
“Yeah, you should have, but you didn’t. We all – regret things we’ve done or haven’t done recently.” Her voice was slightly strained and she wouldn’t look directly at him. She was looking around the office, glancing at the pictures on the wall and stopping by Tony’s desk.
Steve closed his eyes for a moment. “Sharon, what happened at the courthouse wasn’t your fault.”
Her head jerked towards him. “How can you say that? You don’t even know all the details—“
“It wasn’t your fault because it wasn’t you. I knew that when you pulled the trigger,” Steve said roughly. It was something he had tried very hard not to think about since he’d started to remember everything. –
--Sharon’s eyes empty, her finger pulling the trigger – pain –
Sharon wrapped her arms around herself. “I – I didn’t even know I was doing it, Steve. I would never – “
“I know,” Steve repeated. He wanted to go to her, to hold her and tell her it was alright but his feet felt glued in place and her body language told him she couldn’t take his offered comfort.
He watched as Sharon visibly pulled herself back together, her gaze falling on Tony’s desk and a picture of Maria sitting there. She picked up the picture. “That isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about though. James knows what happened on the courthouse steps. It’s – what happened later he doesn’t know about.” She touched her fingers to the picture.
“Sharon, whatever it is you can tell me,” Steve assured her.
She set the picture down carefully. “Do you remember that night during the fight?” Her voice was soft.
Steve felt his face flush. “I remember.” He’d needed it at the time, that human connection. It hadn’t been like he’d been cheating on Tony. Not with the way things had been between them at the time.
“I – I became pregnant, Steve,” Sharon told him in a rush.
He opened his mouth, and then closed it again. They hadn’t used protection had they? They hadn’t really thought about consequences or much of anything but the moment. “I –,“ he trailed off, his eyes going to her stomach. It was still flat but she wouldn’t be showing after only what, two months? A baby, he and Sharon were going to have a baby.
Steve could barely wrap his mind around it. This would change so much, mess up so much, and Steve wasn’t sure what he felt.
Sharon closed her eyes and tipped her head back. “I had miscarriage Steve,” she told him as he opened his mouth again. Her voice was tight, almost choked, and he knew her well enough to know that she was fighting off tears. “A few weeks after I found out about our baby. I – you were dead and it was all I had of you. And I lost it.”
All the breath went out of him in a rush. He started forward towards her. “Sharon,” he said softly, not sure what he was going to say but he had to say something…
“Cap,” Bucky’s voice came suddenly from the doorway. He sounded worried and maybe a little upset, but urgent. “You need to come see this. Now.”
Steve barely processed that Bucky had called him ‘Cap’ and what that meant as he followed Bucky out into the living room. “Bucky, what’s so important that I need to….”
He trailed off staring wide-eyed at the images on the television.
Tony on the ground bleeding.
Steve couldn’t breathe.
“These are the only images we have as to what happened inside the gallery. Reports on just what occurred are still sketchy and not even witnesses at the scene seem to know exactly what happened,” a female news announcer was saying. Video of the outside of the gallery surrounded by police cars, and people crowded behind police tape played behind her. “What we do know for sure is that Tony Stark and his daughter Maria were both shot by an unknown assassin. Their conditions are not currently known but both have been transported to an unnamed hospital. The police are hesitant to release any information at this time due to security concerns.”
Someone made a choked, pained noise and it took Steve a moment to realize that he had made that sound. He only realized he had made a dash for the elevator when he wasn’t moving forward anymore. “Let me go. I have to get down there. I have to get to them.” He struggled against the restraining hands and arms on him. “Tony needs me.”
Bucky shoved him back by his shoulders. “Cap, stop fighting us,” he hissed. “Stark is tougher than he looks. You know that. You can’t just go running down there.”
“You’ll make things worse Steve,” Sharon was saying. “We don’t even know if the news has it right. If you show up right now it’ll turn into a field day. Call Pepper or someone who will know what’s really going on.”
Steve shook his head. He was needed there. He hadn’t been there when Tony and Maria had actually needed him, but he needed to be there now. He had to know what happened to them and even though he knew Extremis could heal just about anything – Tony still could be dead. Maria could be dead.
“They could be dead,” Steve whispered.
Neither Bucky nor Sharon refuted that fact.
“Steve Rogers appearing back from the dead, right after his opponent in the registration fiasco was shot… it will not look good,” Bucky said, in a low voice.
“I would never hurt them,” Steve protested.
Sharon frowned at him and pushed him back toward the living room couch. “There’s footage of you about to take Stark’s head off with your shield.”
He wanted to protest that he hadn’t really wanted to and that he never would have really brought his shield down. But he couldn’t.
“We’ve just received word that an anti-registration group is claiming responsibility for the shooting. A video from the group was posted a few minutes ago to youtube. The video claims that the shooting was in retribution for the death of Steve Rogers, the previous Captain America…,” the newscaster reported.
Steve’s stomach dropped. “Oh, god.”
Next
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15,Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21
Previous Parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 Part 9, Part 10, Part 11,
Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15,Part 16, Part 17, Part 18
Author:
kijikun Rating: PG-13 (NC-17 overall)
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Betas:
pandanoai and ellyr_in_inkWord Count: 3858
Warnings: Spoilers through "Fallen Son", references to an institutionalized childhood
Timeline: Marvel Time is always kind of flexible, so we're setting this somewhere in the first half of 2008. Secret Invasion does not exist in this universe.
A/N: Con-crit and comments welcome as always. This is a little late -- I'm so sorry.
The receptionist in the front lobby of the Baxter Building had probably seen many strange sights since she started working there, Tony figured. So it was no wonder that Tony Stark having a quiet argument with a nine-year-old didn’t draw her attention.
“Why can you not stay for the photo shoot?” Maria asked, looking up at Tony. She was clutching the backpack that held her gymnastics clothes and her sketch book.
Tony resisted rubbing his hand over his face as he knelt down in front of her. He kept hoping Sue would appear so he wouldn’t have to have this conversation. “There are some really important things I need to do today,” he told her. It wasn’t a total lie, after all. “Franklin will be with you, and Sue will be close by the whole time. I thought you wanted to meet Peter?”
Maria pressed her lips into a thin line, her knuckles almost white. “I thought you were going to be here, too,” she protested. “What if you need me to protect you today? Shouldn’t I go with you? The person who followed me and Jarvis is most likely after you.”
“Maria, listen to me,” Tony sighed. He tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear. He wondered if it was normal for her hair to have grown so fast in just a few months, and without thinking, cross-checked with Extremis how many times Steve needed haircuts.
She shook her head. “No, Tony –“
“Hush, and listen to me.” Tony put a finger to her lips. “I know you want to go with me, but just like I go to work and you stay in the penthouse with Jarvis most days – today I need you to stay here with the Fantastic Four, okay? You and Franklin can play like you normally do when you visit him. Peter’s just going to take some pictures of you doing everyday stuff. Nothing big or formal like the last one.”
She didn’t look convinced. “You’re in danger. I shouldn’t leave your side. That’s my purpose.”
There were so many things messed up with that line of logic that Tony didn’t know where to start. “Your purpose for today is to be a nine-year-old girl who’s going to spend the day playing with her best friend.” He tapped her nose. “Got it?”
“Yes, Tony,” Maria agreed, though it was clear she wasn’t happy about it.
“That’s my girl,” he told her softly. He kissed her forehead and got to his feet. “Shall we go say hello to everyone? I’m sure they know we’re here by now. Except Reed, of course. He’s probably already caught up doing something in his lab.”
Maria slid her hand into his, and he squeezed it gently. “Franklin says he’s almost always working in the lab.”
Tony smiled. “That sounds like Reed, alright,” he chuckled as they moved into the elevator.
“Tony?”
He glanced down at her. “Yes, genius?”
“Can we work on the model tonight?” she asked hopefully.
Tony nodded. “Of course we can. Shall we see if we can’t get it to fly tonight?”
The happiness in her eyes was answer enough.
Peter had been surprised Tony wasn’t there. Was his absence a sign of Tony’s distrust of him or Tony’s assumption of Peter’s distrust of Tony? Peter wasn’t sure. The other Secret Avengers hadn’t been too wild about him doing this either. Luke Cage had muttered ‘sell out,’ before Jessica had elbowed him. But Peter wanted his life back. He wanted Mary-Jane to have her life back. He wanted to not have to hide and sneak around just to visit his Aunt.
Maria was shyer than Peter had expected. In fact, he wasn’t sure what he expected given what he’d read about her in the papers and a warning from Sue that the little girl was still wary about strangers. He had no idea what Tony might have said about him. She’d hung behind Franklin, watching Peter carefully at first, despite Franklin’s reassurances to her.
Peter had thought it was best not to start taking photos right away. With Franklin’s help he’d coaxed her closer, showed her how the camera worked, displayed all the different lenses. When she finally asked “Are you really Spider-Man?” Peter knew he was getting somewhere.
Now Maria was sitting on the edge of a balance beam in the Baxter Building gym, giggling at Peter who was hanging off the ceiling. Franklin was on the other side of the room with Val – who Peter swore had grown a foot since he’d last seen her. He’d have to ask Johnny about that.
“So where’s your dad today, kiddo?” Peter asked, causally.
Maria blinked at him as if he’d started speaking in tongues. “I don’t have a father. Or a mother. None of us did. We had genetic donors. Their identities were unimportant.”
Peter opened his mouth and closed it several times. He had no idea what to make of that. Okay he had some idea, but he didn’t like any of those thoughts. When he’d read that Tony said she was from a government facility, he hadn’t thought it was one of those. He almost didn’t want to know what Tony had done to get the government to give her to him or why.
“Uhm, let me try that again. Where’s Tony today?” Peter asked quickly, because freaking out a small child because you asked the wrong question was a bad thing when dealing with kids. Especially the kids of superheroes. Never mind that he was a superhero, too.
Maria blinked again. “He was unable to accompany me today.”
Peter rubbed the back of his head. “I was just wondering,” he told her.
She had that watchful cautious look on her face again. “Tony said you and he are friends.”
“He did? I mean we are – I guess – we just had a disagreement over some – uhm – stuff.” Peter dropped down from the ceiling to crouch beside her on the beam. “Your – Tony is a pretty okay guy, though. Even when he is being an as– even when I don’t agree with him.”
Maria had turned to look at him, titling her head to the side. She got to her feet then balanced up on the tips of her toes on one foot. “Why don’t you come over to the penthouse? Tony’s other friends do.”
“Like I said, me and Tony had a disagreement about something. And I don’t want to come over uninvited,” Peter explained to her. He wasn’t sure what Tony had told her but she seemed to think he and Tony were still friends – and well, he guessed what he told her was partly correct since they were – sort of.
“Oh,” she said as if she hadn’t thought of that. She looked up at the ceiling. “I wish I could hang off the ceiling. It seems very useful. You could sneak up on all sorts of people.”
Peter grinned. “It has its uses. Sometimes it annoys MJ, though. She says it’s hard talking to someone who’s upside down.”
Maria giggled. “I don’t think so.” She was quiet for a few moments and Peter could see her debating something in her head. “Peter?”
“Yeah, kiddo?”
Her face had grown serious and she dropped down into a crouch mirroring his. “Why would someone be trying to hurt, Tony?”
Peter rocked back slightly on his heels. “What do you mean?” he asked carefully. He could think of quite a few reasons, but this was Tony’s kid. Not to mention Franklin’s friend and the poor child didn’t have enough of those. Maria probably didn’t have enough of those, either.
There weren’t exactly a lot of super-powered kids or kids of superheroes running around -- not counting the Runaways – and it wasn’t as if they could go outside and play or go over to a friend’s house after school.
Maria bit the inside of her cheek. “Someone’s after Tony. I know they are. Someone’s been attacking places he owns and someone followed me and Jarvis the other day. Tony’s really worried, though he doesn’t want me to know he is.” She broke his gaze, dropping it to her feet. “I don’t want to lose Tony. I don’t want to go back to someplace like The Complex. Tony said I’d never have to go back there but if something happens to Tony…”
“Hey, hey,” Peter said softly, lifting her chin. “Tony’s tough. Whatever it is, I bet he can handle it. ‘Sides he’s got people like Ms. Marvel he can get to help him. If Tony doesn’t want you to worry, you shouldn’t. And if Tony promised you that you wouldn’t go back, you won’t. People like the Fantastic Four and I wouldn’t let anyone put you back there. Promise.”
Steve watched Tony adjust his tux tie in the mirror before leaning in and placing a kiss to the side of Tony’s throat. “Have I ever told you how good you look in a tux?”
Tony grinned, easy and wide with none of the stress of the past few weeks in his features for once. “Yes, but feel free to tell me again.”
Steve ran his hands over the clean line of the tux down to Tony’s hips and rested his chin against Tony’s shoulder. “Seeing you in a tux makes me want to strip it off of you and pin you to the wall.”
“Mhm, later,” Tony murmured, leaning his head back against Steve’s shoulder.
Steve closed his eyes for a moment. He didn’t want Tony to go out tonight. He hated that he was pretty much chasing Tony and Maria from their home just so he could speak with Bucky and Sharon. “You and Maria should stay here tonight, Tony. With everything –“
“I don’t want Maria around Bucky.” Tony didn’t pull away, but his voice was short and clipped. “And if I’m here, they’ll both think I’m pulling your strings somehow.”
“Tony,” Steve sighed. “Bucky isn’t going to hurt Maria or try to take her again.”
Tony shrugged. “So he claims.” He was quiet for a moment. “We’ll only be gone for a few hours. It’s a Gallery Opening. There’ll be lots of other people there, and my armor is never far away. I’ll be fine. Maria will be fine. Plus, Pepper’s making me take security with me.“
Steve wished Tony didn’t sound so much like he was trying to convince himself as much as Steve. “Good woman.”
“Yes, she is. I have no idea why she puts up with me,” Tony said, dryly. He gave Steve a small smile through the mirror.
Steve forced himself to smile back. “Because she’s your friend?”
“Hmm. Remind me to give her a raise.”
“You keep giving her raises, and she’ll make more than you,” Steve admonished him.
Tony turned in Steve’s arms, sliding his own around Steve. “Good help is hard to find."
“Tony?” Maria’s voice came from the door way of the bedroom.
Tony turned his head smiling, but didn’t leave Steve’s arms. “Yes, genius?”
Steve looked over towards Maria. She was in a rather pretty blue dress – Steve wondered if it was one of Jan’s designs – her hair was out of its normal braid and was spilling around her shoulders. She needed a haircut soon, Steve decided.
“Are we going soon?” Maria asked. She’d been growing more excited -- in her own particular way -- about the trip since they’d both explained to her what a “Gallery Opening” was, and that she’d get to see new art before anyone else. It also seemed that Peter was going to be taking photographs for the Bugle that night as well, and Maria had been going on for a few days about how ‘cool’ Peter was.
“Soon. Did you finish your dinner?” Tony asked.
Maria nodded. “I did. Peter’s going to be there tonight, isn’t he? Will he have time to talk to us?”
“Good girl,” Tony told her. “And, yes, I’m sure Peter will come say hello.”
Steve pressed a kiss to Tony’s lips. “Go on. I’m sure your limo is already here.”
“Why isn’t Steve coming with us?” Maria asked. She grabbed Tony’s hand, looking up at both of them.
Tony cleared his throat, moving from the circle of Steve’s arms to place his free hand on Maria’s shoulder. “Maria, we’ve talked about this.”
Maria pressed her lips together before she turned an accusing look on Steve. “Don’t you want to go with us?” she asked, her tone almost as accusatory as her gaze.
Before Steve could answer, Tony spoke. “Maria, he’s just not coming with us tonight. It’s fine. Come on, we should go.”
“Steve could help me better protect you,” Maria pointed out. “Why aren’t we supposed to let people know he’s here? Why does Steve never leave the penthouse?”
Steve had the feeling if she wasn’t clutching Tony’s hand that her arms would be crossed over her chest. He was again reminded of a younger Bucky. With a soft sigh he knelt down so he could look her in the eyes. “Maria, remember how confused you were because I was supposed to be dead?”
She nodded, then titled her head to one side as if evaluating him.
“A lot of people still think that’s true and it’s safer for everyone if people keep thinking that for a while. That’s why I stay in the penthouse, and why I can’t go with you and Tony tonight. I do want to come with you both.” Steve told her, leaving out the part about Bucky and Sharon coming over. Maria wouldn’t understand why he was meeting with someone that, in her eyes, was a threat to Tony.
Though Steve wondered how many people weren’t a threat to Tony in her eyes. Jarvis was probably on the top of that list, followed by Franklin then maybe Jan or Carol.
Maria looked from him to Tony, seeking confirmation to Steve’s words. Tony didn’t say anything, and Steve didn’t look up to see his expression, but whatever Maria saw seemed to appease her somewhat.
“I guess that is acceptable. I don’t understand how it can be safer,” she told him, frowning slightly. “I will give you a full report of the art when we come home, if you’d like?”
“I look forward to it,” Steve assured her, getting to his feet. “Now you and Tony better go. You don’t want to be late.”
Tony leaned in, brushing his lips against Steve’s ear. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Steve walked with them to the elevator and wished he was attending the Gallery Opening with them. As much as he knew he needed to meet with and talk to Sharon and Bucky – it wasn’t as appealing as an evening with his family.
When Bucky and Sharon entered the penthouse, Steve expected a lot of things. He expected Bucky to tear into Tony within moment, Sharon to yell at him for letting her think he was dead for weeks, or even awkward silence. What he didn’t expect was Sharon to throw her arms around him and hug him fiercely, calling him an idiot or for Bucky to look almost jealous when she did so.
He found himself explaining for what felt like the umpteenth time in so many weeks how he’d pulled himself from the Hudson with no memory of who he was and how only slowly his memory had come back. Sharon was obviously unhappy that when he had remembered who he was he’d gone to Tony, but she – thankfully – held her tongue.
He showed them the DNA test Hank had run, and answered what seemed like question after question from Sharon. Bucky was strangely quiet, letting Sharon ask her questions and Steve say his peace. Bucky kept watching Sharon as if he expected something or feared something. Steve wasn’t sure he even wanted to know what that was about.
“Steve, can I speak to you alone?” Sharon asked, finally.
Steve restrained himself from pointing out that they might as well have been speaking alone for all Bucky was saying. “Of course, Sharon,” he told her, getting to his feet. He was wary about leaving Bucky unsupervised in Tony’s home, but he had to trust him. Also Tony was paranoid enough that there probably wasn’t much Bucky could get into.
She gave him a small wavering smile, and then glanced at Bucky. Bucky was looking intently at his hands. “Lead the way,” Sharon said, getting to her feet as well.
He led her to Tony’s office. “Bucky seems oddly quiet tonight,” Steve commented, leaning against the wall.
Sharon shrugged. “James is just worried about how I’m going to react. I’m afraid I didn’t react – well- to finding out you were still alive.“
Steve ran a hand over his face. “God, Sharon, I’m sorry. I should have contacted you and Bucky earlier.”
“Yeah, you should have, but you didn’t. We all – regret things we’ve done or haven’t done recently.” Her voice was slightly strained and she wouldn’t look directly at him. She was looking around the office, glancing at the pictures on the wall and stopping by Tony’s desk.
Steve closed his eyes for a moment. “Sharon, what happened at the courthouse wasn’t your fault.”
Her head jerked towards him. “How can you say that? You don’t even know all the details—“
“It wasn’t your fault because it wasn’t you. I knew that when you pulled the trigger,” Steve said roughly. It was something he had tried very hard not to think about since he’d started to remember everything. –
--Sharon’s eyes empty, her finger pulling the trigger – pain –
Sharon wrapped her arms around herself. “I – I didn’t even know I was doing it, Steve. I would never – “
“I know,” Steve repeated. He wanted to go to her, to hold her and tell her it was alright but his feet felt glued in place and her body language told him she couldn’t take his offered comfort.
He watched as Sharon visibly pulled herself back together, her gaze falling on Tony’s desk and a picture of Maria sitting there. She picked up the picture. “That isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about though. James knows what happened on the courthouse steps. It’s – what happened later he doesn’t know about.” She touched her fingers to the picture.
“Sharon, whatever it is you can tell me,” Steve assured her.
She set the picture down carefully. “Do you remember that night during the fight?” Her voice was soft.
Steve felt his face flush. “I remember.” He’d needed it at the time, that human connection. It hadn’t been like he’d been cheating on Tony. Not with the way things had been between them at the time.
“I – I became pregnant, Steve,” Sharon told him in a rush.
He opened his mouth, and then closed it again. They hadn’t used protection had they? They hadn’t really thought about consequences or much of anything but the moment. “I –,“ he trailed off, his eyes going to her stomach. It was still flat but she wouldn’t be showing after only what, two months? A baby, he and Sharon were going to have a baby.
Steve could barely wrap his mind around it. This would change so much, mess up so much, and Steve wasn’t sure what he felt.
Sharon closed her eyes and tipped her head back. “I had miscarriage Steve,” she told him as he opened his mouth again. Her voice was tight, almost choked, and he knew her well enough to know that she was fighting off tears. “A few weeks after I found out about our baby. I – you were dead and it was all I had of you. And I lost it.”
All the breath went out of him in a rush. He started forward towards her. “Sharon,” he said softly, not sure what he was going to say but he had to say something…
“Cap,” Bucky’s voice came suddenly from the doorway. He sounded worried and maybe a little upset, but urgent. “You need to come see this. Now.”
Steve barely processed that Bucky had called him ‘Cap’ and what that meant as he followed Bucky out into the living room. “Bucky, what’s so important that I need to….”
He trailed off staring wide-eyed at the images on the television.
Tony on the ground bleeding.
Steve couldn’t breathe.
“These are the only images we have as to what happened inside the gallery. Reports on just what occurred are still sketchy and not even witnesses at the scene seem to know exactly what happened,” a female news announcer was saying. Video of the outside of the gallery surrounded by police cars, and people crowded behind police tape played behind her. “What we do know for sure is that Tony Stark and his daughter Maria were both shot by an unknown assassin. Their conditions are not currently known but both have been transported to an unnamed hospital. The police are hesitant to release any information at this time due to security concerns.”
Someone made a choked, pained noise and it took Steve a moment to realize that he had made that sound. He only realized he had made a dash for the elevator when he wasn’t moving forward anymore. “Let me go. I have to get down there. I have to get to them.” He struggled against the restraining hands and arms on him. “Tony needs me.”
Bucky shoved him back by his shoulders. “Cap, stop fighting us,” he hissed. “Stark is tougher than he looks. You know that. You can’t just go running down there.”
“You’ll make things worse Steve,” Sharon was saying. “We don’t even know if the news has it right. If you show up right now it’ll turn into a field day. Call Pepper or someone who will know what’s really going on.”
Steve shook his head. He was needed there. He hadn’t been there when Tony and Maria had actually needed him, but he needed to be there now. He had to know what happened to them and even though he knew Extremis could heal just about anything – Tony still could be dead. Maria could be dead.
“They could be dead,” Steve whispered.
Neither Bucky nor Sharon refuted that fact.
“Steve Rogers appearing back from the dead, right after his opponent in the registration fiasco was shot… it will not look good,” Bucky said, in a low voice.
“I would never hurt them,” Steve protested.
Sharon frowned at him and pushed him back toward the living room couch. “There’s footage of you about to take Stark’s head off with your shield.”
He wanted to protest that he hadn’t really wanted to and that he never would have really brought his shield down. But he couldn’t.
“We’ve just received word that an anti-registration group is claiming responsibility for the shooting. A video from the group was posted a few minutes ago to youtube. The video claims that the shooting was in retribution for the death of Steve Rogers, the previous Captain America…,” the newscaster reported.
Steve’s stomach dropped. “Oh, god.”
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Tony grinned, easy and wide with none of the stress of the past few weeks in his features for once. "Yes, but feel free to tell me again."
Steve ran his hands over the clean line of the tux down to Tony’s hips and rested his chin against Tony's shoulder. "Seeing you in a tux makes me want to strip it off of you and pin you to the wall."
Favoritist scene. ^^
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...
In my head.
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I hope that anti-registration group will never be able to sleep at night ever again after Steve finally shows himself!!!
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Poor quiet Bukcy. I can't decide if he's sulking or angsting . . knowing him both at once with some awe-of-steve thrown in =P
Sharon's short scene with Steve went really well, and you wrote Peter fine. Really. That was a great scene, and I loved Peter's internal debate over where he stood with Tony.
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I've mentioned this before but I really love how you write Maria... she's unique and has a lot of pathos without ever coming off treacly or overdone.
One thing?
Neither Bucky nor Sharon reputed that fact.
I think you might have wanted "disputed" or "refuted"?
Anyway, thanks for another great chapter. I really look forward to them!
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NOoooo!
Nice work, though.
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Love it. Well-handled Steve-Sharon scene, and I really liked Tony's insistence that Maria will never be near Bucky again. Also I loved Peter's internal monologue there; very well characterised.
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HOW WILL IT END? *is on the edge of her
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Also, the possibility of a Peter and Tony reconciliation in the offing makes me perk up. But mostly...
Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!
*settles in to wait for next chapter*
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First of all, I love this story. I seem to remember checking this out way back when and thinking "Oh, god, it's a Tony-raising-Steve's-clone story, run away," but that assumption was in no way worthy of this fic. I mean, that's exactly what the plot looks like, but there are so many other things going on, from the mystery of Steve's return to the complicated superhero relationships to Tony's being blackmailed by the Senator to the absolutely complex and dynamic nature of Steve and Tony's relationship. I love Maria's deprogramming and Tony becoming her father in practice as well as on paper and the secretaries Tony can't be bothered to learn the names of and the way everyone's emotions come through so clearly.
I love every chapter of this, the nail-biting emotional bits and the has-me-yelping plotty bits and the nature of the world with registration in it. I love the way Steve and Tony and Maria (and Jarivs) fought to become a family and then stopped fighting and just were. Tony's gut-wrenching fear and love for Maria are so well done. Steve's uncertainty and temper are not aspects we usually see from him, and I love it for that. I love that Maria was obviously going to be trained to be a weapon, but she doesn't fall into most of the weapon-X cliches because they caught her before her actual combat training had started. Everyone in here is a person, with their own motivations, assumptions and shortcomings.
Well-written, gripping, suspenseful and wonderful. Thank you for writing; I can't wait to see how everything turns out.
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I love that Peter doesn't assume that Tony went out and kidnapped Maria or is holding her as insurance. Even Steve and Carol thought that he had gotten her in some nefarious way.
♥ ♥ ♥