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When Eva was nine years old, she told her parents what she wanted to do with her life. It happened just after they had finished breakfast, and everyone was hurrying to get out of the door for either work or school.
"Mommy, I want to be a marine biologist!" she proclaimed.
Pepper had always, always tried to give her kids her undivided attention at the breakfast table, found herself failing in that goal that particular morning. She was giving some report from the finance department another once over. Why shouldn't she? After all, her finding a mistake in the calculations of a man who said he doesn't make those kind of mistakes is how she met the love of her life.
"Mmhm, sweetie, that's nice."
But she had already met the love of her life and had the life she knew most people would be blessed to find. The report she was reading was, while interesting, it wasn't that interesting. So what was her excuse for not hearing what her little girl was trying to tell her?
"Mommy!"
"Finish your breakfast please, baby."
Pepper clearly was not hearing what Eva was saying. Tony however was hearing what she was saying, and watching their little girl's attempts to get her mother's attention. When Eva huffed, and crossed her arms, he put a finger to his lips to shush her.
"Pepper, honey, did you know there are clowns on the moon?"
Eva giggled at his statement, and Ethan knew what he was trying to do, so he just watched, smiling.
"Uh huh, that's nice."
"Eva has ten little monkeys jumping on her bed too."
"Mmhmm."
"Mom, I'm going to skip class today and go to a Yankees game with my friends."
"That's great... hold on, wait a second! You're going to do what, Ethan Walter?" She exclaimed finally looking up from the report.
Ethan looked at his Dad, and the two of them broke out into laughter.
She looked back and between her two guys, then her daughter, and realized by their laughter that she had missed something. "What's going on?"
Tony tried to wrangle in his laughter, and wiped his eyes, "Nothing, honey, other than the princess here is trying to tell you what she'd like to be when she grows up."
Pepper closed the folder she'd been looking at, and looked at her daughter, "I'm sorry about not paying attention, sweetheart. Now what were you trying to tell me?"
Eva opened her mouth, and didn't get out one syllable as Ethan jumped up from the table.
"Sorry, Ev, but we gotta get going or we're going to be late for school!"
"Uggh!" the little girl exclaimed but got up and grabbed her things too.
Ethan went around to his mother, and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Bye, Mom!"
"Bye, sweetie. Have a good day at school!"
In the meantime, Eva had just given and gotten a kiss from her Daddy, "Bye! Love you!"
"Bye, princess! Love you too! Have a good day, okay?"
"Okay," Eva said, as she went over to say bye to her mother.
Once bye-byes for the day were said, the kids dashed to the elevator, and waved at their parents as the doors closed. They were getting a ride to school from Daniel and Kayla's dad this morning, so that gave their parents a few more minutes to each other before Pepper had to leave too.
"So what are you up to today?" Pepper asked, picking up her cup of tea.
"Well, I'm going to tinker around in my workshop for an hour or so, then go pay a visit to our old stomping grounds to have lunch with Rhodey and maybe Monica if she's there too. Then after that, I have a video conference with our R&D department which should last about an hour."
She nodded, figuring all of that should keep him busy up until it was time for the kids to be home from school. "So, what exactly did Eva say she wants to be when she grows up?" When a coy smile appeared on his lips, she knew whatever he was about to say, probably wasn't going to be serious.
"I think what she said was that she wants to be a refuse collector."
"A refuse collector?"
"Yeah, a refuse collector."
"So you're telling me that our little girl wants to pick up other people's garbage for a living?"
"Uh huh."
"Tony."
"What?"
"What did Eva really say?"
"I'm serious. She did say refuse collector, didn't she, JARVIS?"
"No, Sir, I believe what Miss Eva said was--"
"Mute."
"Tony! I have to go in a minute or two and I really would like to know what she said!"
He sipped his coffee.
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
He just smiled at her.
"Okay, fine, don't tell me then! I guess I'll just have to wait until I can talk to her my--"
"Marine biologist. She said she wants to be a marine biologist."
"A marine biologist?"
"Yeah."
"Wow, that's... that's wow."
"Yeah, I know."
"I wonder where she heard about marine biologists?"
"I think they're studying about the ocean and sea life."
"But, Tony, she said she wants to be a marine biologist. Do you remember seeing something about that in her books or homework?"
"There might've been something about them in passing in her books, but I don't really remember reading anything more than a basic description. You know something like 'a marine biologist is a scientist who studies life in the ocean'," he said with a shrug.
"I wonder if this will be just a phase she'll go throw for a little while, and then one day we won't hear another word about it?" Pepper mused.
"I guess we'll find out."
"Yeah, and in the meantime, we'd better get ready to hear a lot of facts about the ocean and all the animals that live in it. On that note, I have got to get my day started."
The subject reappeared at dinner that night, and this time Pepper made sure she was listening to every word her daughter said. For most of the meal, Eva was talking to her Daddy or brother with Pepper in the mix on occasion. When they were almost finished with dinner, and she still hadn't repeated what she said earlier, Eva's mother was convinced that the phase had already passed.
Wrong.
"Mommy? Can I tell you something?" Eva asked in a half whisper.
"Sure, sweetie. What is it?" she responded in a tone that matched her daughter's.
"I want to be a marine biologist!"
"A marine biologist? What's that, baby?" Of course Pepper knew what a marine biologist was, but she pretended that she didn't because she wanted to see if Eva knew or had it mixed up with something else.
"You know, Mommy, they study all of the animals and fishies in the ocean!"
"They do?"
"Yeah, they do!"
"Wow that sounds like an exciting job, sweetheart!"
"Yeah! Yeah! I want to study the whales the mostest!"
"Sounds like a great job there, Evie! But you can't be a marine biologist!" Ethan interjected when he found a moment.
Eva looked at her brother, a little deflated but not defeated, "Can too be a marine biologist! Right, Daddy?"
"Right, princess!"
"No, she can't be one!"
"Yes, I can!" the little girl nearly shouted.
"No, you can't!"
"Yes, I can!"
"No--"
"Okay, you two stop it right there!" Tony told them firmly, not wanting this to move beyond the bickering stage and into a fight. "Ethan, why are you being mean to your sister like that?"
"I'm not being mean, Dad, I'm just being realistic."
"Just real... what exactly is that supposed to mean? And before you go being a walking dictionary on me, I know what the word realistic means! What I want to know is why you're saying that to your sister? "
"Yeah, honey, what do you mean by that?"
"What I mean is Evie can't be a marine biologist because they spend a lot of time out on the ocean, right?"
"Yes, in order for your sister to be able to study sea creatures in their natural environment, I uh think that's kinda a job requirement, buddy."
"Well see that's just it, Dad. Do you remember when Evie was littler, how when we went our island, and how Evie got sunburned really bad that one time because you and Mom forgot to put sunscreen on her?"
How could they forget? For the longest time after that incident, they had brought sunscreen for Evie that went on blue or green or purple and dried clear just to make sure she was wearing some when they went out the door, especially when they were all going to the beach. No one wanted a repeat of what had happened to her that one time, and they'd taken steps to make sure it never did.
"I don't understand what you're trying to say, Ethan. Just because your sister got sunburned badly that one time doesn't mean she can have a job where she's gonna be out in the sun like, a lot. It just means she'll have to buy stock in a good sunscreen company is all, right?"
Ethan seemed to think about it, then shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."
"You've gotta remember, where there's a will there is a way, honey... well usually there is."
"Well, when it comes to this family anyway, that's always the case."
"That's especially true when it comes to your Dad," Pepper smirked at her husband
"And to your Mom," Tony added, sending a counter smirk back to her in return.
Ethan had figured out a year or so ago that his parents had jokes with each other, were private jokes, just like Dad did with his Uncle Jimmy. He was pretty sure whatever reason they were giving each other those funny smiles for, were part of some private joke. Whatever. He didn't even want to try to figure out whatever the private joke meant.
So instead he turned to his sister, and in an attempt to make things up with her, he asked her a question. "So Evie, what's your favorite animal in the ocean?"
Eva's eyes lit up, and she started talking a mile a minute.
Whales, as they learned, were her favorite animals in the ocean. She liked dolphins and seals too, but it was obvious that whales what she loved. For the next several weeks, they would find out just how much she loved them too because every night, she would tell them some new facts about the whales she had learned.
"Daddy, did you know that whales are mammals?"
"No, sweetie, I didn't know that! What does that means?"
"It means they don't have gills like a fish does, and haveta breathe air like we do! They can't breathe underwater like fish do!
"They don't have gills?" Tony asked in an exaggerated voice, making Pepper roll her eyes.
"No, they don't!"
"Wow. that's neat that they breath air like us!"
"Yeah! Yeah! But it's also kinda bad too, Daddy."
"Why's that, princess?"
"Well coz it means they have to stay close to the top of the ocean to get air, and if they don't they can drown!"
"Oh, that is sad, babygirl."
"Yeah."
"So, how long can a whale stay underwater for? How long can they hold their breath for?" Pepper asked, not wanting her to linger on thoughts of a whale drowning.
"Some of them can stay under da water for ninety minutes!" the little girl immediately answered.
"Whoa, that's a very long time to be able to hold your breath!"
"Yeah! Though that's really only the sperm whale that can do dat! Most whales can only stay under water for thirty-five minutes." She sounded a little disappointed by this fact.
"Well, that's still a lot longer than you or I would be able to hold our breaths under the water! Wow, there have been a fee times I wish I could have held my breath that long under the water!"
One another night Eva blurted out during a checkers game with her brother, "Didya know that whales have to sleep with half their brain off so they'll remember to breathe?"
"No, I didn't know that!" her brother answered, patiently.
"Yeah, they would drown if they didn't remember to breathe! And to breathe, they have a hole on the top of their heads... I wonder if that hurts? Do you think that hurts them, Mommy?"
"Do I think what hurts them, sweetie?"
"Da holes on top of da whales heads!"
"The hole on top of.... oh no, baby, I don't think it hurts them because they're born with them. The holes are how they breathe, right?"
"Right! They breathe through the holes on their heads! When they come up to the top of the ocean, they breathe in the hole!"
"Neat!"
Then another night they learned that there are two classifications of whales, not species, but classifications of whales.
"Two classifications, huh?" Tony prompted, so proud of his little girl for saying and understanding such a big word!
"Yeah, their classification is determined--" another big word that made her Daddy puff up with pride, "by the way they feed!"
"What do you mean, baby?" Pepper asked. "What does by the way they feed mean?"
"It's really cool, Mommy! Some of da whales have teeth like us and are called toothed whales. They eat all kinds of fish, and sometimes other small animals like seals!"
"What about the other classification of whales? What do they eat? How do they eat since I guess they don't have teeth like the ones that are toothed whales?"
"Those whales are called baleen whales, Daddy, and they have filters in their mouths that filter out tiny stuff in the water like krill or algae!"
"Algae? Ewwww, that sounds gross!"
"But the whales love it, Daddy!"
"Whale better them than me!"
It took almost a month before they started to see Eva's enthusiasm waning but it happened. She stopped asking constantly for books related to whales or the ocean. She stopped watching the videos they allowed JARVIS to play for her in her room. She went back to playing with her other toys. She went back to drawing other things besides fish. She stopped giving them nightly facts about whales.
It was strange, that when it was going on, she nearly drove them all crazy with her nightly facts-a-thon about whales. But now that it was nearly over, Tony found himself feeling a little sad. He loved seeing his little girl so enthusiastic about a subject, and he loved the fact he had learned things about whales that he himself didn't already know.
They knew her phase was phased out on the evening when he said with a sliver of her old enthusiasm, "Hey, princess, did you know that the blood vessels of a blue whale are so big that you could drive a car through them?"
Eva nodded her little head, "Yeah, Daddy, that's cool." She took a bite of her food, and immediately started talking about something Kayla had said to her at school.
Tony and Pepper have each other a look, then tried to follow what their daughter was now talking about.