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Tony didn’t have many chances to come home from school. While most kids spent their summer and winter breaks during college with their families and friends as far from school as they could go, they weren’t sons of billionaires who could afford to take all the summer and winter courses they desired before earning their three doctorates. (Also, they didn’t have two parents who were much happier when their son was away at school.)
But during those two weeks between the end of his last final and the start of his summer courses, Tony hopped on the first plane from Massachusetts to Maryland to meet his Aunt Peggy – and the new baby she told him about. Well, technically, the baby wasn’t Aunt Peggy’s. It was her brother Harrison’s baby, but they were living together in Peggy’s house, so seeing the baby would go hand-in-hand with visiting with Aunt Peggy for the week.
The baby was only born eight days ago, two days after his fifteenth birthday. Aunt Peggy said she was a very tiny baby, and that she didn’t look like those photogenic babies Tony always saw on the pro-life posters put up around the school. They looked a bit like frogs, she told him. Tony said he would be the judge of that. He hadn’t seen a single hair of this baby (did babies have hair? He wasn’t sure) and he already knew he would love her. Maybe they’ll do a joint birthday party.
A SHIELD agent, one of the newbies at level one, was waiting with a white paper with his name on it at the airport. Tony winked as he passed the agent and walked over to grab his suitcases. He made the agent carry the heavier one so he could use his free hand to call Aunt Peggy and let her know they were in town. Aunt Angie answered the phone, and they ended up having a ten minute conversation about her new production before Aunt Peggy snatched the phone away and told Tony to be quiet when he came inside. The baby was napping.
Agent took the bags out of the car inside while Tony ran up the walkway into Aunt Angie’s arms. Aunt Peggy watched from the door and scolded him for not being gentler – “We’re in our sixties. Our backs aren’t made for being tackled by teenagers.” – before hugging him tight. Tony stuck his nose against her shoulder in sniffed the perfume he’d grown to love on her.
“Can I see the baby?” he asked. Aunt Peggy put a finger to her lips. Tony winced and repeated the question in a softer voice.
“Not yet, dear. She’s still napping. Babies need lots of sleep, you know,” Aunt Peggy said. “How about you eat first? We have some leftovers in the fridge.”
Tony nodded and headed into the kitchen. He reheated himself a plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes and ate them as fast as he could. He swore Aunt Peggy was positioning herself so she could do the Heimlich maneuver on him in case he choked. Aunt Angie laughed at his enthusiasm.
“Now can I see the baby?” he asked as he pushed his cleared plate across the table.
“Wait till she’s awake, Junior,” Aunt Angie said. As if on cue, a loud cry rang through the house. Tony grinned at Aunt Peggy, who rolled her eyes at him.
“Come on, Tony,” she said. Tony sprung out of his chair and followed Aunt Peggy down the hall. She went into one of the spare bedrooms and motioned for Tony to wait by the door. He stood and watched as she bent over by a crib and picked up the baby, who screamed and squirmed. Tony gaped at the baby. She didn’t look a bit like a frog at all. She was adorable.
“Would you like to meet your big cousin?” Aunt Peggy cooed to the baby. The baby continued screaming. Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to meet the baby anymore, but Aunt Peggy nodded at the bed, and Tony found himself sitting with his legs crossed against the headboard and his arms opening for the baby. Aunt Peggy made sure he supported her head and that she was snug in the crook of his elbow before stepping back and insisting that Tony wouldn’t drop the baby.
Soon, the baby stopped screaming and squirming, and she opened her eyes to look at Tony. He could make out the tiny bits of blue in her eyes. The baby reached up at him and ended up batting her clothed hand against his chest and rolling in his arms so her face was smushed against his chest. He laughed and fixed her position.
“Hi, baby,” Tony said.
“Her name is Sharon,” Aunt Peggy reminded him. He always forgot names.
“Hi, Sharon. I’m Tony.” Tony bounced her a little in his arms. His face was starting to get sore from smiling, but he didn’t care. How could he not smile at little baby Sharon?
“I think he’s her favorite,” Aunt Angie said from the door.
“I think so too,” Aunt Peggy said.
MIT’s Halloween bashes were always over the top. Mostly because they were hosted, funded, and provided with a seemingly endless supply of alcohol by Tony. And since Halloween 1987 was going to be Tony’s last Halloween in college, everyone was expecting him to go all-out.
Instead, they soon learned he had cancelled it in favor of a little blonde girl dressed as the Batgirl to his Batman.
Rhodey, who was wearing a Superman shirt, stared blankly at Tony when he opened the door to his apartment with a one-year-old propped in his arm. “You’re going trick-or-treating,” he deadpanned.
“You’re more than welcome to come with me,” Tony offered. “The more the merrier, right, Share-bear?”
“Candy!” Sharon exclaimed. Tony laughed and grabbed her plastic purple pumpkin. She held it tight in one hand and had the other gripping Tony’s cape. The apartment was shut and locked and Tony, Rhodey, and Sharon headed downstairs to go trick-or-treating.
In the lobby, a handful of classmates from the physics department, all of whom were dressed up and ready to get messed up, whined when Tony told them the party was off. “I have my cousin for the weekend. I can’t! I’ll make it up next weekend, I promise!” The classmates whined on their way out the door, and Tony led trio the opposite direction.
“Your aunt trusts you with a baby?” Rhodey asked.
“Of course she does. And don’t worry, Aunt Peggy is in town. She’ll be taking Sharon back to their hotel room tonight,” Tony answered. He put Sharon down in front of a walkway to let her run up to their first door of the night. “And I’ll have you know that I’m great at watching Sharon.”
“You can barely watch yourself. I have to remind you to eat every day,” Rhodey said.
“Well, you can’t just ignore a baby’s needs, Rhodey. She can’t change her own diaper.”
Sharon ran back down the walkway and latched on to Tony’s leg. “Lolly!” she cried.
“You got a lolly? Awesome, Share-bear! Let’s see what the next house has!” Tony exclaimed. He walked her to the next house and let her run up the walkway. He turned to Rhodey once she was out of earshot and said, “I’m not letting her eat a lollipop. You know why? Because I’m an amazing older cousin.”
“So you’re taking candy from the baby?” Rhodey asked.
“If I don’t, Aunt Angie will. At least I can hide my theft better. I don’t live with Sharon.”
Tony can’t be home for Sharon’s fifth birthday (“It’s her first birthday before she starts kindergarten! That’s important! It’s not long before she’ll have a ruined birthday because it’s on a school day!”), so he decides to make it up to her and goes all out by taking her to Disney World. Aunt Peggy tries talking him out of it. Sharon’s parents fought with him on it. Howard and Maria weren’t home (when were they ever home anymore?). Aunt Angie said that he’d be allowed only if he takes a guardian with him. Once he won the fights, he bought three tickets and he, Sharon, and Aunt Angie took the first flight to Orlando. Sharon’s eyes were sparkling the entire time. Aunt Angie was almost more excited that Sharon.
The first day was spent in Magic Kingdom. Sharon made them ride It’s a Small World ten times and made them wait around Cinderella’s Castle so she could meet the titular princess. She made them ride Prince Charming’s carousel thrice. Aunt Angie makes them ride the gondola and eat lunch back-to-back so she can relax for a good hour before the rest of their day ensued. Sharon sat on Tony’s shoulders so she could get a better view of the fireworks. She was one of the few kids not to cover her ears.
The second day was split in half with the morning at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and the afternoon in Downtown Disney. Ketchakiddee Creek was where most of their time was spent before they try venturing to other attractions. They ended up leaving early when too many women recognize Tony and, most of them not realizing or not caring that he was holding the hand of a five-year-old, started “accidentally” flashing him. In Downtown Disney, Sharon was able to dress up like a princess. She pouted when Princess Eilonwy wasn’t an option (only one of the women at the dress-up store has seen The Black Cauldron) and instead settled on being Alice. Aunt Angie couldn’t help taking a good fifteen pictures of Sharon in her dress.
Day three was entirely Epcot. Sharon, they learned, loved history, as all of the rides she made them go on again were historical-based – Wonders of China, El Rio de Tiempo, Maelstrom, O Canada!, etc. Sharon sees people dancing to music in the various countries and attempts to mimic their steps. Lunch is in Japan (Aunt Angie’s choice), a mid-afternoon snack in Mexico (Sharon’s choice), and dinner in Morocco (Tony’s choice). They sit in Mexico for IllumiNations, with Sharon’s mouth hanging open the whole time. She gave Tony a hug as they rode the commuter bus back to their hotel room and thanked him. Tony hugged her back. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt depressed in that moment.
In the morning, Tony found out why, and day four is cancelled because Howard and Maria Stark had just been assassinated.
Sharon didn’t see much of her big cousin after they came home from Disney. He helped bring her and Aunt Angie’s bags inside her house and left without saying goodbye. Sharon asked Aunt Angie why Tony was mad, but she was told that she was too young to understand. Aunt Peggy wasn’t home, and she was told she wouldn’t be for a while. And the same thing with Tony. Sharon started to cry in frustration. Why would no one tell her what was going on? Aunt Angie clearly was at a loss, so Sharon was put to bed for a nap.
Sharon woke up an hour later and crept into the living room. Aunt Angie was watching TV. The news lady was talking about Tony’s parents. Now Sharon knew that Tony’s mommy and daddy were dead, and that’s why they came home early and why Aunt Peggy won’t be home for a bit.
Sharon wasn’t allowed to go to the funeral, according to Aunt Angie. Not even after dressing up in her prettiest dress and tying her hair up into the best bun she could make. She did this five days in a row before Aunt Angie told her than the funeral already passed. She said that Sharon didn’t need to see Tony in the state he was in right now. Sharon didn’t understand but accepted it.
Tony and Aunt Peggy came back after what felt like years to Sharon, and she wanted to run into their arms and have them play with her, but she saw how sad they were and instead read one of the books she got on her birthday. Tony locked himself in the guest room and wasn’t seen again the rest of the day.
The next morning Aunt Peggy had to go to SHIELD, and Aunt Angie had rehearsal, so Tony is left in charge. And Sharon found herself left alone in her room with no one to help her choose an outfit for her Barbie.
She heard something breaking in the other room and quickly turned her head. She wondered if someone broke into the house. Aunt Peggy showed her where all the secret hiding holes were for situations like this. Then she heard another crash and Tony saying a bad word, and she knew that it wasn’t a burglar. She stood and went to Tony’s room, knocking on the door shyly. Tony said another bad word. Aunt Peggy wasn’t going to be happy when she found out.
Sharon opened the door. The guest room was trashed. The bedside table was in pieces. The alarm clock was in a new hole in the wall. The vanity mirror was smashed. The bedsheets were tangled in Tony’s legs. Tony himself was currently ripping the pillows with his bare hands. He hadn’t even noticed her standing there and watching.
Sharon didn’t know what to do. She’d never seen her cousin so angry. It scared her. She sniffled twice, then began crying. She was a loud crier, and she always ended up with snot dripping down her face and into her mouth (ewwy!). But she couldn’t help it. She was scared, and Tony was angry, and she didn’t know how to fix this.
Apparently her crying was the solution, and soon Tony picked her up and hugged her tight, bouncing and petting her hair. Sharon can’t stop her crying, and she feels like the biggest baby in the world. Tony carried them back to her room and sat on her bed. He rocked her gently and pet her head. He said he was sorry for upsetting her and promised he wouldn’t do that to her again.
Once Sharon stopped crying, Tony took her to a new restaurant and bought her the biggest burger she’d ever seen. He called people to come fix the house and replace the things he ruined, then called Aunt Peggy to say sorry for the mess he made.
Sharon decided this was the world’s bestest (“best,” Tony corrected) burger.
“Excuse me! Out of the way! Beep beep! Junior agent in training coming through! Hey, watch it, this girl is very important!”
“Tony, stop it! You’re so embarrassing!” Sharon said. She tried to pull her arm free from Tony’s grasp, but his grip was too strong, and he was determined to make every agent in the room look at them.
“It’s not every day when you get to drop your baby cousin off at the SHIELD Academy, you know!”
Their suddenly intercepted by two SHIELD agents, both men. One is a very familiar face, while the other is new to her.
Fury gave Sharon a quick glance before telling Tony, “Stark, do you mind?”
“What? I’m just letting them know that they’re not to mess with her,” Tony said with a shrug. Sharon covered her face with her free hand. God, he was unbelievable sometimes.
“Everyone already knows who she is,” the unfamiliar agent said. “She’s Peggy Carter’s niece.”
“And don’t you take advantage of that, Birdbrain,” Tony said, giving the agent a good poke on the chest. He turned to Sharon and pretended to wipe a tear away. So immature. “Look at how far you’ve come. Seems like yesterday I was cradling you in my arms like a baby.”
“Oh, shut up, would you!” Sharon laughed anyway and punched Tony in the shoulder. She then pulled him into a hug. Who knew how long it would be until she saw him again? “Thanks for being here.”
“That’s what family is for, right?” Tony pulled back and squeezed her hands. “I want to hear stories about you kicking ass left and right, you got that?”
“And I don’t want to see more tabloids with blurred pictures of you naked,” Sharon retorted. Tony stuck out his tongue and walked away, leaving Sharon with Fury and whom Tony called Birdbrain.
“My name is Clint, by the way. Not ‘Birdbrain’.”
Sharon stood on the other side of the glass and watched as a tied-up Black Widow sat patiently in the interrogation room. For a deadly Russian assassin who had been caught and taken hostage by the same guy who couldn’t make toast without nearly setting the whole kitchen on fire, she didn’t seem as fiery as Sharon had learned from her infamous legends.
Clint, on the other hand, was bitter about this. He still had a high-heel shoeprint on his forehead.
“There are only two other agents aware of her presence: Agent Hill and Agent Coulson,” Fury told them. “No one outside of this group of five can know. No one. I don’t care if you’re sleeping with them…” He looked to Clint, “…or related to them…” Now he looked at Sharon, “…no one knows about her, capiche?”
The two agents nod. “Capiche.”
Sharon earned herself three vacation days (Fury’s way of payment for her silence about housing Natalia Romanova) that she used to fly out to Malibu. Tony had no idea she was coming. He was so surprised by her walking into his office that he nearly dropped his tablet. He stood to give her a hug and thanked his assistant, Pepper.
“On her desk, it says her name is Virginia,” Sharon pointed out.
“Well not to me. She’s Pepper,” Tony said. He sat down at the desk. “So, what’s new with work? Catch anyone worth mentioning?”
Tony was clueless, but he always asked very suspicious-sounding questions. “Not really,” Sharon lied. “Anyway, Pepper? Not even ‘Miss Potts’? You’re on a first-name basis?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“That you were never like that with any other assistant before. Hell, you can’t even list ten of the girls you’ve been with by the right names.” Sharon leaned forward and grinned. “You crushing on her, Tony?”
“What? No!” Tony said. His voice went higher. Busted.
“So you don’t mind if I run a background check through SHIELD? You know, make sure she isn’t secretly a terrorist from Canada or something?” Sharon asked.
“Be my guest. I’m sure you’ll find nothing,” Tony challenged.
He was right. When Sharon goes back to work and looks up Miss Potts, she finds a crystal clear record. She still texts Tony that she will be keeping tabs on this assistant just in case. He sends her a smiley face back and an “OK”.
Rhodey was the one to call her when Tony was taken. He sounded beaten, and his voice kept on cracking as he spoke, but determination bled through his tone, as he was sure they would get Tony back. Sharon thanked him for letting her know and hung up the phone. Then Fury made her go home for the day, then promised she could start her search tomorrow. She didn’t argue, just grabbed her things and went home.
Her apartment was soon trashed as she turns into a whirlwind of destruction. Wood was splintered. Glass was shattered. Cushions and pillows were knifed. Anything small enough for her to throw with one hand went through the walls into other rooms. That ugly shower curtain she bought on bargain was ripped into dozens of pieces.
Sharon went into her bedroom and collapsed on the bed. She cried for hours and wished Tony was there to comfort her, like when she was a toddler and scared for him. But he wasn’t here. And that made her cry more.
In the morning she bathed and cleaned and wiped away any evidence of her meltdown. She went into work with her head high and ignored all the whispers around her. She had herself moved from field work into a desk job so she could work on finding Tony without any missions getting in her way. Every two days, she called Rhodey to compare notes. Most of the time, they confirmed that Tony wasn’t in one place before checking the next. Every week, she checked in with Pepper, who was trying her best to keep her head high and clearly struggling to keep it together as weeks became months.
Two months neared three, and Rhodey admitted that he was started to give up. Sharon refused to succumb.
Three months and Rhodey called, saying the military found him in the middle of the desert. Sharon immediately flew out to Malibu. She waited at the front step of the mansion for Tony to get home. When he did, she took in the sight of his scab-covered face and arm in a sling. Tony held out his good arm and drew Sharon into the best hug he could manage.
Sharon hid herself in the audience for the press conference Tony had only five days (had it really been that long?) after coming home. He stood onstage with his face covered in concealer and hand filled with notecards. Among the reporters, she blended in well. She wondered what was going on. All she knew was that Obadiah Stane, Howard’s old business partner and Tony’s mentor of sorts who Pepper told her had been acting strange recently, was killed in some sort of accident. Something told Sharon it wasn’t how the media said it.
Then, Tony said it: “I am Iron Man.”
And the room exploded into applause, while Sharon was stuck frozen and gaping. Tony was Iron Man? That machine man who the military tried to shoot down the other day? The “alien” thing spotted flying around Malibu? That was her cousin?
The hero in the papers was her cousin?
Sharon slipped out of the room and decided not to bother Tony right now. They both had a lot to take in right now.
“Guess who I’ve been assigned to?” Natasha asked one morning in April. Sharon, whose life was much less hectic now (at least for a SHIELD agent), could only imagine whom her friend was talking about.
“If you’re escorting another Iranian ambassador or whatever, then you’re grounded, young lady,” Sharon deadpanned.
Natasha smirked. “Funny.” A file was slapped onto her desk. A picture of Tony from the recent Senate meeting was attached to the front by a paperclip.
“Oh, he’s gonna love you,” Sharon said. “He has a things for redheads, you know.”
“And Fury says you can’t talk to him at all while I’m undercover. He doesn’t want you blowing my cover.” Natasha picked the file back up. “Sorry for that.”
Sharon shrugged. “It’s fine. He’s been acting a little reckless lately anyway. I don’t want to get tangled in whatever mess he’s about to start.”
Sharon wished she got tangled in the mess Tony had started.
She didn’t know where to begin with him. Pissing off the Senate, nearly getting killed while racing in the grand prix by someone who recreated his arc reactor, throwing the most destructive party imaginable for his thirty-ninth year, and fighting the same guy from the grand prix AND an army of Iron Mans that were loaded with explosives.
No, the icing on the cake was finding out that he had almost died. Not from him. From Natasha.
Sharon wasn’t able to fly across the country, because she was currently in New York working on the clean-up from a Hulk versus monster fight. She called him, waited for him to wish her a happy twenty-fourth, then cursed him out for putting her through the stress of worrying he was dying. Because Aunt Peggy had been admitted into a nursing home recently. Because Aunt Angie had been recently bound to a wheelchair and needed a nurse to live in her home to care for her. Because her parents were gone. Because the last thing she needed was to worry about one more person getting closer to death’s door. It was bad enough worrying that someone she worked with would die. She couldn’t stand to lose family.
That night Tony flies out to New York and spends the next day making it up to Sharon by taking her out on the town and giving her the second-best birthday present ever. (Nothing will ever beat Disney for Sharon. It’s hard to top Disney.)
Maria Hill walked into her office the following May and dropped a file on her desk. Sharon was confused. Having her new assignments dropped in front of her wasn’t unusual. Hill being the delivery woman was unusual.
“New assignment, starting immediately,” she said. “You’re going to be Captain America’s neighbor Kate. You’re a nurse. Inside is everything you need to know about yourself.”
“What? Why?” she asked. This wasn’t a job for her level. This was a level ten job. A Natasha job.
“Because you’re an unfamiliar face to him. You’re a stranger. But to us, you’re trustworthy and you’’ protect him from whoever out there wants to take him out.” Hill paused. “And Coulson was the one who wanted the job.”
Shraon looked down at the file. Coulson was definitely unable to take the job. “Okay. When do I start?” she asked quietly.
“On Tuesday. You have till then to pack your things and familiarize yourself with Kate.”
Sharon called Tony and had him fly out to DC to visit. They went to see Peggy first. Tony talked for nearly two hours about the battle in New York, about his suicidal sacrifice that ended up saving the day. About his teammates. About how he was gonna have Banner move in and be his science bro. When Peggy asked about Steve, Sharon could tell that Tony wasn’t being entirely truthful. He just said what Peggy wanted to hear. Then her Alzheimer’s kicked in, and the nurse made the two leave.
They ended up at a nearby burger joint. It isn’t the greatest burger in the world, but it would take Sharon years to find it. The black bean burger she had on a mission with Natasha was the closest to the best so far.
“You’re Captain Tight-Ass’s babysitter?” Tony said as he dumped ketchup onto his plate. He snorted and swirled his fries in the sauce. “I’m so sorry that you’re stuck with him.”
“What do you mean?” Sharon asked. “He seems like a good guy.”
“Trust me, Share, the guy is a total tool. He thinks he’s the hottest piece of shit in the room. It’s sickening. And everyone takes his side just because he dressed in the lamest red, white, and blue costume.” Tony took a bite from his burger and groaned in frustration. “You’ll hate the guy in a week. Believe me.”
Sharon learned that Tony was wrong. Steve Rogers was a really nice guy. He held the elevator door open for everyone and offered to help anyone in the building who needed it. He often knocked on Sharon’s door asking for help with directions or technology or something on his list of pop culture and other things to look up that sounded too ridiculous to be real (poor Steve was so lost when he heard about the snuggie).
“Tony, I’m sure that it’s all in your head,” Sharon insisted over the phone. “You must have caught him during a rough time. It had been just a week since he was unfrozen.”
“Yeah, sure, Sharon. I’m sure you’re just saying that to make me feel better. Trust me, you’ll be like all the girls on the internet who touch themselves to his pictures. Wait, you’re not trying to screw him, are you, Sharon? If you are, I swear I’ll–”
Sharon hung up the phone. This was the last thing Tony should have been lecturing her about. She gets ten texts about the sex talk from him, and she sends an old tabloid cover for each message.
On Thanksgiving, when Sharon went to Malibu to have dinner at the mansion with Tony and Pepper, he immediately bombarded her with questions. “Is Fury really dead? What went down with SHIELD? Are they really going to arrest Nat? Is Cap still in critical condition? Who was the guy with metal wings? Is everything from the SHIELD files uploaded online? Is the one that says Coulson is alive true? What the hell is an Inhuman? I’ve heard from Banner and Thor, but have you heard from Birdbrain?”
Sharon answered the questions to the best of her ability: “I don’t know.” Because she didn’t know. She felt betrayed. Everything her life led up to, everything her Aunt Peggy built from the ground up was in ruins. She didn’t know who to trust anymore. Who was a Nazi and who was safe? What else had SHIELD hid from her? What was still hidden from her?
Pepper made Tony stop asking Sharon questions and led her to one of the downstairs rooms. Sharon laid down at Pepper’s insistence, but her head was pounding too hard to fall asleep. Everything had become a mess and she wasn’t sure what was going on anymore.
Tony woke up from his surgery to find three people in his room. Pepper and Rhodey were the ones he had been expecting to be there when he woke up, and they were both sleeping in chairs by the bed. The third, however, is Sharon, whom he hadn’t even talked to in three weeks. But she was a SHIELD agent not too long ago, and a CIA agent now. She was bound to find out what was going on.
“How many times are you going to do this to me?” she asked. Tony opened his mouth but couldn’t explain himself. She looked pissed, and she had every right to be. “I see on the news that you’re dead, and it took all of Steve’s strength to keep me from going out there to prove them wrong. Then you’re saving the president of the United fucking States two days later! And now you’re recovering from this spontaneous surgery, and I don’t get a single notice? Not even a simple ‘merry Christmas’? What the hell?! Am I nothing to you now?” Tony’s eyes were wide. He’d never seen Sharon this mad before. She was always the calm and collect one who kept him cool. Now she looked ready to rip his throat. She threw her arms up and shouted, “Don’t you have anything to say?”
“…You and Steve? That finally happened?” he asked. It was nowhere near the right thing to say, but he was pretty damn curious.
“You’re unbelievable,” Sharon said. “How about you reach out to me when you pull your head out of your ass, Tony?” She stormed out of the room. Pepper and Rhodey began waking up and looked around, trying to figure out whose yelling woke them up. Tony stared at his feet in shame.
“Hey, Captain, you got a sec?” Tony asked.
Steve looked away from Clint, whom he’d been talking to before Tony interrupted. “Right now?” he asked. “I’m in the middle of explaining our mission–”
“Yeah, I know. Invade Sokovia, take back the scepter, blah blah blah. This is more important.” Tony pushed Steve and Clint aside and sat down on the bench next to Steve. “So, you and Sharon Carter, huh?”
“This is gonna be good,” Clint teased. Steve looked between Steve and Tony.
“Is she an ex-girlfriend of yours?” Steve asked.
Tony made a face. “Ew. What? No, that’s my baby cousin you’re canoodling with there, Capsicle.”
“‘Canoodling’?”
“Yeah, and if your canoodling with her ends in her getting hurt, I’m calling in Veronica to help me kick your ass so hard you’ll wish you were never thawed out. Let that be known, Cap. You can hurt anyone in the world you want, but Sharon will stay safe and happy, you hear?” Tony threatened. Steve stared and nodded. Clint looked impressed. Tony stood and walked back to the cockpit. “Gear up. We’re ten minutes from our landing point.”
It was the middle of the night, and Tony and Pepper had a colossal fight not too long ago about Tony returning to the Iron Man mantle instead of retiring permanently. This resulted in Pepper leaving the tower altogether. When there was a knock at the door, he assumed she had come back. Instead, he found Sharon whose face was streaked in past tears and hands clutching her shirt near her belly. Tony immediately let her in and started making her the white hot chocolate he knew she loved. Sharon sat at the counter and stared at the granite. She looked much paler than normal.
Tony handed her a mug with Captain America’s face on it, and Sharon shoved it into the sink. Tony immediately flashed his bracelets, ready to call the suit to him. “What’d the bastard do to you?”
Sharon sniffled. “Nothing,” she said quietly. Tony wasn’t convinced. “I promise, this isn’t his fault.”
“Then why’d you shove the mug, Sharon?”
“Because… something happened, and I can’t stand to look at him.” Sharon moved from the counter to one of the couches. Tony followed and sat beside her.
“You can tell me, Sharon,” he said. “You’ve already seen me at my worst, you know.” Sharon offered a weak smile that faded quickly. Tony gulped. He felt sweat beading in his underarms. “Please, Share. You’re scaring me. What happened?”
“…I was pregnant,” she confessed.
“What?! You’re pregnant?!”
“Was, Tony. I was pregnant.” Sharon hugged her legs to her body. “I don’t know what went wrong. Everything was going fine, then this afternoon, something felt wrong. I called in a favor from an old friend, and…” Sharon stopped and wiped away the tears that were coming. “I didn’t know who else to turn to. I figured you were the only one who wouldn’t tell Steve.”
“Steve doesn’t know about…?”
“Steve didn’t even know that I was pregnant.” Sharon’s feet were placed on the floor again, and she turned to face Tony. “What am I going to tell him? How will he ever look at me again after this? Am I a bad person for hiding this from him?”
“What? No, Sharon, of course not! Come here,” Tony said. He pulled Sharon into a hug and let her cry into his sleepshirt. Now he was glad Pepper wasn’t here. This wasn’t something anyone else needed to listen in on right now. His cousin needed someone who would just listen and accept.
Tony lifted Sharon into his arms bridal-style and carried her into his room. He was going to take the couch when she grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. He crawled onto the bed and laid down a few feet away from her. He had FRIDAY dim the lights so he could keep an eye on her. He didn’t want to fall asleep first and have her go and do something reckless in the state of mind she was in.
“They say you’re supporting the Superhero Registration Act,” Sharon said.
Tony nodded. “Where do you stand?” he asked.
“I’m against it.”
“Oh.” Tony shifted. This was a bit awkward. “So we’ll end up going against each other if we fight.”
“I promise not to shoot you too much,” Sharon said. The corner of her lips curved up. Tony smiled. There was his Share-bear.
“And I promise not to hit you more than once with my repulsor,” he said.
“Do that and I’m telling Aunt Angie on you.”
“Then I’ll say you started it.”
“I’m only using guns. That won’t do shit compared to your repulsor.”
“Bullshit. You’d be the one to shoot me in the eye, you little brat.”
Sharon laughed, and Tony joined her. Sure, they were heroes and that meant their lives were shit most of the time, and their personal lives were shit too, but it was moments like these when they were five and twenty again. And superheroes were the stories that Aunt Peggy and Aunt Angie told them.
And everything was fine.