Chapter Text
“It was great seeing Peter again, wasn’t it?”
“Huh? What?”
They had just left from a visit with Peter and his family in Manhattan.
Pepper smiled, and repeated her question to her husband. Over the years, due to many of the things he’d subjected it too in his younger days, Tony’s hearing had decreased. She wondered sometimes if he regretted the things he did to damage it, like including all the times he blasted his music at mind-numbing, ear shattering, and sometimes headache inducing decibel levels down in his workshop.
A look into Tony, Pepper, and Morgan's lives in the future after Endgame.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the biggest smile appear on his face. Tony always enjoyed whatever time they got to spend with their kids, which was harder to do now they'd moved back to California to stay. The move came after their retirements: Pepper had stepped down as CEO of the company after a thirty-two tenure, and a fifteen year one for Tony teaching a few classes at his old alma mater.
"Yeah, it was a great visit with the kid," he said, his voice wistful, perhaps longing, "You know, I love living in back out west again but sometimes I wonder if it's worth it with the kids all still living on the eastern side of the country?"
Pepper had had similar thoughts about their move to California since she had turned Stark Industries over to Peter. She missed them too, as much as Tony, and really wished she didn't have to pick up the phone every time she wanted to have a conversation with one of them.
"Maybe we should consider start spending half of the year in New York?" she suggested.
"Or maybe we could just move back to New York to stay for good? Seriously, Pep, I know that I said that I might like the climate in Malibu better in the winter months than I do New York, but I have started to wonder if it is worth it since I am missing the kids way too much all year round!"
"I'd say that we could always move to Florida during the winter months…” Her voice trailed off as she thought about the suggestion she had just made “No, forget I said that since living in Florida would mean we still wouldn’t be all that close to them, and therefore it would defeat the purpose of moving back East.”"
"Yes, it would.”
She reached over to grasp his hand when she heard him let out a frustrated sigh, "We'll figure something out."
"I know."
A few minutes of silence filled the car for the next few miles.
“Say don’t you think it’s kinda strange that Morgan’s group is holding this concert thingy on a Saturday?” Tony asked as he continued watching the country landscape pass by him outside the window.
Pepper, shrugged before she said, "No, not really. I'm sure they're probably doing it so the family members of the pa... um clients can more easily attend the concert too, and not have to worry about being at work the next day."
He nodded, seeing her point. Saturday after all, is usually a day that most people have off from their jobs.
Except our Maguna , Tony thought, smiling brightly with pride.
Like her father, their daughter was something of a workaholic. But Morgan's parents couldn't be more proud of her and her chosen profession. Their little girl had had a love of music all of her life, which began when she started learning to play the piano when she was five years old. Oh when she was still a little girl, she would sneak into the garage every chance she got to see all the neat things her Daddy might have out there. But those times had lessened over the years when music quickly become her passion over engineering or other sciences.
She waited until late senior year of high school to tell her parents what she wanted to do with her life. She had been nervous about telling them because she knew it wasn't want exactly what they were probably expecting or wanting her to do. She was so afraid they'd be disappointed in her career aspirations because she didn't want to go into either one of the family businesses. She loved them both so much that the thought of maybe disappointing one or the both of them scared her, and she'd put off making an announcement as long as possible.
"She's so excited for us to come to this," Pepper mused, knowing her daughter was so excited at the thought of showing them some tangible fruits of all her hard work and devotion.
"Musical therapist? What the... what exactly is a musical therapist and what exactly do they do?" Her Dad had asked once what she had said had penetrated into his brain.
"Well, simple definition is that a musical therapist is someone who uses music to help their clients deal with whatever their problems maybe, whether their problems are physical or of a mental nature."
"Helping someone to be as healthy as they can be sounds like a worthy thing to do with your life, sweetheart," Pepper said, moving over to hug her daughter.
"So you guys are okay with this being my career?" the teen girl asked.
"Yes, I am. In fact I am more than okay with it being what you do with your life if it's what you really want."
"It is, Mom. It so is what I want." She hugged her mother in return, noting as she pulled away that her father had yet to move or speak any further. So she turned to him, looking at him, and with trepidation inquired, "So what do you think, Dad?"
Tony watched her, noticing that she was twirling a strand of her hair in her fingers as she waited for him to give her an answer to her question. What he thought of her meant the world to her, always had because they'd always been very close for all of her life.
"Daddy! " she groaned when he continued to not say anything.
Finally breaking a smile, he ended her anxiousness, "I think you wanting to do something that helps other people is a wonderful idea."
Of course being his daughter and being so much like him, she could sense he had cut himself off there. So she asked, "But?"
"But what?"
"Weren't you going to add a but t here, Dad?"
"Not exactly... well, I was but it's not the kind of but you're thinking. It's not a bad but... or I don't think it is. The but you heard but I didn't say is I want to know more about what exactly a musical therapist does?"
Morgan visibly released a relieved breath, making both of her parents smile, and avoid looking at each because they both knew they'd burst out laughing. The last thing they wanted their daughter to think is that they're laughing at her in a bad way.
"Oh, that's no problem, Dad. I got FRIDAY to bookmark a bunch of online pages that talk about what a musical therapist does."
"Forward those pages to my StarkPad, FRI?"
"Already done, Boss, as well as to yours, Miss Potts."
"Oh thanks, FRIDAY."
"You're welcome."
"Now that's taken care of," Pepper started, "I know your Dad and I need to read up on this before we can talk more in depth with you about this, but..." She looked over at her husband, "I think we can get that done, and then we talk again. I think three days should be enough time?" Once again, she turned her head in Tony's direction.
He nodded, "Three days sounds good. Does that work for you, Miss Middle?" He had taken to calling that since she'd hit her years of where she was not still a little girl anymore but also not quite having arrived at being completely an adult yet either. In other words, her middle years.
"Uh yeah, I... guess three days is okay. You guys are going to read everything though, right?"
"Yes, of course, honey."
"It's just I know how easily sidetracked you guys can get sometimes and--"
"Don't worry, sweetie," Tony said, gently interrupted his daughter, "Your Mom and I are going to read up on this and we'll be ready to talk to you about in three days. Right, honey?"
"Right."
It was probably a big shock to Morgan but they did in fact read the information on the website she linked them to. They were more than ready to talk to her about what she wanted to do as a career. They were both so excited that they both approached each other and their daughter to ask if she was ready to talk with them right then.
Her eyes wide when excitement, and Cheshire cat style grin on her face was all the answer they needed.
Now here they were five, almost six years later from that talk with her driving through the suburbs of Boston towards the place Morgan was renting while she continued her studies. They were both looking forward to seeing her again since she hadn't been home in almost a year. In fact the last time she had visited them in California it had been Xmas time, and now it was early October.
"We have got to start coming east to visit our daughter more often," Tony said, breaking the silence that'd fallen over the interior of the car.
"Yes, we do although I'm not sure how much more we'd get to see her because since always seems to be running out the door whenever I call her."
"I just really miss her, Pep."
Pepper squeezed his hand, "I know you do."
"Like a lot ."
"I know. I miss her too, like a lot ."
"She grew up way too fast, you know? I know there were long days and even longer nights when she was sick or it was something else going on like those nights she was impossible to keep in bed. Oh when we were having nights like those... it felt like... it felt like we were frozen in time and would never move forward."
"And let's not get started on when she was a teenager!" Pepper added.
Morgan had been for the most part a good kid after she hit her teenage years. Even so there was still a year or two when she displayed some rebellion, most of it stemming from being a Stark and not being to do somethings her friends took for granted because of it. That isn't to say there wasn't some defiance aimed against her parents, because there was. But in the scheme of things, especially now when they looked back on it now, they could see that even in those days their daughter had still been a pretty darn amazing kid.
Tony tapped his glasses with his bionic hand, "Hey FRI, how much longer until we get to Morgan's?"
"Approximately forty-five more minutes, Boss."
"Thanks, FRI,“ he said before he turned to his wife, “Are you okay to drive the rest of the way, Pep? Because as pretty as the fall colors of the trees are, if you are okay, I want to grab a nap."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Go ahead."
"Thanks."