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“Why is Tony standing there with his arms crossed like that?” Rhodey asked, looking out the kitchen window as he saw Tony standing in front of his daughter’s little tent.
“He’s having a standoff with Madam Secretary until she comes out to eat the last of her vegetables,” Pepper said without hesitation. She was washing the last few dishes from dinner, but left one little plate on the counter.
“Madam Secretary?” Rhodey laughed when he heard Pepper’s nickname for her daughter. “And how did she earn that nickname?”
“For exactly what she’s doing right now… she tends to get her way,” she laughed, turning around to look at her friend. “Morgan’s at that stage right now where it’s not even compromising… she’s bargaining back and forth. She’ll be all ‘I want two juice pops for every Brussels Sprout I eat', it’s exhausting. Right now she’s at zero Brussels Sprouts, zero juice pops."
Rhodey made a face when Pepper mentioned Brussels Sprouts. He didn’t blame Morgan for wanting to bargain after having to eat that dreaded vegetable, but he didn’t dare argue with Pepper about what she was feeding her child. “Good luck with that,” he eventually laughed. “I can’t tell you the last time I saw Tony eat a Brussels Sprout… so, he might be out there a while.”
Outside, Tony stood at the foot of his daughter’s little tent. His arms were crossed and he was doing his best not to be super angry with Morgan, but this was different. “Morgan H. Stark… you’re not going to have any juice pops for the foreseeable future if you don’t come out of that tent.”
“No,” Morgan said and judging by her tone of voice, Tony knew she was pouting. Their daughter was just as stubborn as they were - Pepper warned him that would come back to bite them in the butt. The tent rustled, but the little girl still didn’t come out.
“Morguna… you’re missing out on visiting Uncle Rhodey. He doesn’t get to see you often. That’s not very nice.” Tony sighed softly, looking at the tent.
“Does Uncle Rhodey have juice pops?” Morgan asked from her side of the tent and Tony had to bite his tongue so he didn’t laugh.
“Nope, he doesn’t have juice pops… and you’re going to be in big trouble if Mom has to come outside to come get you, because it looks like she’s about to open the door.”
Morgan’s eyes widened when she heard that, because she knew if Mommy had to come outside, she’d be in even more trouble… because Mommy was really scary when she got mad. “I don’t wanna be in trouble!” Crawling out of the tent, she looked up to see no one was there. “Daddy?”
Soon Tony scooped up his daughter. “Gotcha!” He said, laughing when Morgan squealed in his arms. Tickling her belly, he smiled at her. “There’s no escaping us now.”
Morgan wiggled and giggled as her dad carried her back inside. “You tricked me!” She said, pushing her hair out of her face. Inside, she saw Mommy standing with Uncle Rhodey. They were talking about something.
“Oh, there’s our Little Miss. I was wondering where you went,” Pepper smiled when Tony sat the little girl in the chair at the kitchen counter. “Okay, I have a compromise for you…” Putting Morgan’s dinner plate back in front of her, Pepper had removed all of the Brussels Sprouts, leaving only a couple pieces of broccoli and some squash. “If you can eat the rest of these veggies, then you may have a juice pop with your dad and Uncle Rhodey.”
Morgan scrunched up her nose and made a face when she heard her mom. She didn’t want to eat the broccoli or the squash… but she did like juice pops. Eventually she grabbed the fork and stabbed the piece of broccoli and took a bite.
Pepper took this as a win, even if it meant that Morgan still got a juice pop in the end. “And that’s how Madam Secretary became one of her many nicknames,” she looked at Rhodey again, who was covering his mouth so Morgan didn’t see him laughing. “Thank you for finishing your vegetables, Morgan.”
~
Later that night, there was almost another standoff between daughter and parents over bath time and Pepper was up to here with how stubborn her daughter was being. They had joked when Morgan showed signs of being stubborn when she was a newborn, but now it was really kicking them in the ass.
“Daddy doesn’t take baths and he’s never smelly,” Morgan looked at her parents, arms crossed over her little chest. Tony had seen that look before and as he turned to look at his wife, he noticed the comparison now more than ever. He was going to answer that he took showers almost everyday, but he knew that wasn’t the kind of help Pepper needed right now. So, he made a decision and scooped Morgan up.
“Little Miss… it’s bath time and there’s no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it,” Tony told his daughter as he carried the now screaming three-year-old to the bathroom.
Pepper sighed softly. “Three going on thirteen…” she muttered under her breath as she followed her husband and daughter.
It was crazy that after so much screaming and fussing, Morgan ultimately ended up enjoying her bath time very much and went to bed with no other problems.
It was so perplexing that after their daughter had gone to bed, Pepper and Tony sat on the sofa together, sipping on some wine because they were so stressed out.
“Today was an adventure…” Tony eventually broke the silence and looked at his wife. “We’ve created a monster.”
Pepper laughed when she heard him. Even though today had not gone to plan at all, she knew their three-year-old wasn’t a monster. “I think we’ve severely underestimated how stubborn we both are,” she said, raising a brow as she sipped on her wine. “However, this is going to be a problem when she gets older, so we need to start instilling some rules.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about, because I’m definitely not the stubborn one,” Tony winked as he wrapped his arms around his wife. “Pep… she’s three. We’re both new to the whole parenting and raising a child thing. It’s going to take some getting used to. At least now we know she doesn’t like Brussels Sprouts.”
“I want her to get used to vegetables, Tony. They’re healthy for her.” Pepper sighed when she heard him, then leaned in to kiss his cheek. “All I know is we’ve got to limit the amount of juice pops she has.”
Tony laughed and rested his head against her cheek. “Don’t worry, Pep… she’ll grow out of this phase soon. Everything’s going to be okay.”
They sat in each other’s arms for a while before they heard movement from upstairs and Pepper sighed. “It’s your turn to get her this time,” she told him.
“Mommy… Daddy…?” Morgan called from the top of the stairs. “I’m hungry.”
Fin.