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A cabin.
That was Tony's solution to the amount of attention their family would get due to Florence's adoption. At first, Florence was shocked that Tony had bought a cabin with massive amounts of land simply for the purpose of privacy, then she realised if she had that kind of money, she would've done this years ago.
They moved all of their stuff in, leaving the rest of the Avengers at the tower, although Tony said any and all were welcome to stay with them whenever. There was plenty of room.
Literally.
It had so many bedrooms Florence couldn't fathom that much room in a cabin. To her a cabin was a two or three bed home that was a downgrade from your actual home but it didn't matter because you were connecting with nature. She would call this a mansion.
While unpacking, Florence was sure her hands were going to freeze off. They had been going back and forth to the car for an hour now, the January air wasn't making this easy. It was like Antarctica out here.
"Tonyyyy" she whined, dropping what she hoped would be the last box on the floor and looked towards him, who was sat at the kitchen counter with some sort of hot beverage.
"We're taking a break kiddo, don't worry" he replied, offering her her own mug. She took a sip, happy that it was hot chocolate and not coffee or something else equally vile. She sighed in relief, sitting down on the sofa, opposite the kitchen, starting to really take in the place. "So, what do you think?" he asked.
"It's amazing" she smiled. "This is stuff I dreamed of when I was younger, y'know, living in a cabin in the woods, going out for walks, drawing birds, ice skating and all that" she reminisced.
"I've got an idea then, why don't we go out on the lake and ice skate for a bit, then we'll come and tackle the last car load." he offered. Florence's interest was peaked. She hadn't gone skating in years, mainly due to the ice rink becoming too expensive for her parents to take her and because her parents had forgotten about it completely along the way.
"That sounds sick!" she jumped up, running to go find her skates. Tony smirked to himself, laughing slightly as he started moving to his room, going to fish out his old skates.
By the time he came out of his room, Florence was already by the door, skates on her feet, jumping up and down eagerly.
"Come on!!!" she moaned, swinging the door open.
She was on the ice in seconds, tapping it with her foot to make sure the ice was thick enough. Then, she pushed off from the edge, sliding out gracefully and spinning in circles.
"Hey you're pretty good at this kid" Tony remarked, skating up next to her.
"When I was younger, before the whole art idea really took off, i wanted to be a figure skater" she admitted, weaving herself around on one foot.
"Oh yea?" he mused, surprised. Florence was not athletic in any way shape or form, he was shocked to learn she once dreamt of a career in ice skating. "Why'd you stop?" he asked.
"Well, the lessons were crazy expensive and my parents forgot about it after a while" she shrugged, twirling around like it was second nature to her.
"Why didn't you tell me? I would've gladly invested in your figure skating dreams" Tony nudged playfully, but they both knew he meant it.
"That's not really the thing you ask the guy you're interning for, is it?" she scoffed, curling herself tightly, making herself spin faster and then magically fall out, lifting her leg in the air with all the grace in the world. She seemed so different on the ice, similar to how she looked when in the middle of an art project.
After half an hour of skating around, Florence trying to remember tricks from years ago and Tony promising he could beat her in a race, they decided to have one last rematch.
"Ok old man, let's see what you've got" she smirked, digging her skate into the ice.
"Whatever you say kiddo" he snorted.
"3...2...1!" Florence screamed, kicking off, speeding across the lake. The aim was to make it to the stick they'd placed earlier. Tony wasn't slow exactly, he was very fast and that's what was humbling, she couldn't let Ironman win a race of ice skating, this was her thing. It would be like Florence trying to win a race in one of the suits. Pure betrayal. Just as she was about to make it, she turned her skates, stopping herself at the very tip of the stick, smirking at her victory again.
"Ha!" she declared, bouncing up and down. "I win!" she cheered, watching Tony catch his breath.
"Ok, kid, you win, indoors now before Pepper threatens us with something" he sighed deeply, hesitantly watching the deck where Pepper was watching from time to time. He started to skate off, but Florence wasn't done celebrating her victory against Iron man. It was a great achievement.
"You're just pissed you lost" she teased, sticking her tongue out in her full maturity. She bounced up and down, glad this gave her bragging rights for at least the rest of the day, utterly pleased with herself and talent.
Then the ice cracked.
Tony's head whipped round at the sound.
Florence paused, eyes wide as she looked down, seeing cracks forming underneath her.
They formed around her feet rapidly, again, and again and again. She stared up at Tony in fear, unable to move due to fear and the fact that she would make it worse if she did.
"Kid!" Tony called.
She took a step.
That's all it was, a step.
Suddenly she was under the water.
There was a crash and the sound of gushing water, consuming her body, freezing it completely. It felt like a thousand needles pricking her at once, taking her breath away. She knew how to swim, that wasn't the issue, it was that she couldn't move. It was like the cold punched out her ability to tread water.
It was completely dark, and empty. Her eyes flew open, stinging them relentlessly. Her lungs screamed and begged for air. Without thinking she took a breath, feeling water flow into her mouth. Her lungs were crying, begging for the surface. Frantically, she moved towards the hold in the ice she'd made. Her hands scooped towards the surface desperately. The feeling of cold air and sounds of yelling emerged. Someone was gripping her hand, it was much warmer than hers.
She choked on water, gagging on it, feeling each breath tear up her insides.
She was out.
"You're ok kiddo, you're ok" someone soothed, holding her against him. She knew that feeling anywhere. Tony. He'd pulled her out.
Everything was spinning and harsh, like it had been turned up by 100%. Next thing she knew, someone's arms were rubbing against hers clearly trying to warm her up but to no avail and her legs were scooped up, head against Tony, it bobbing lethargically in time with his steps as he ran back to the house.
The warmth hit her like a truck. It felt like she was burning, it was awful. She craved for the outside air again. This was hell. The odd thing was, she wasn’t panicking, it was like the ice water dulled everything out, making it nothing but a dull ache that stretched over her body. She could hear screaming, panicking and shouting around her but that didn’t bother her. She was too tired, maybe if she just had a little nap…
”No! Nope, kid come on, don’t close your eyes, we have to find a way to keep you warm” Tony yelped, stressing more when he saw her eyes flutter slightly, inching closer and closer to sleep.
Florence’s eyes snapped back open, she had no clue what he was saying but Tony doesn’t get stressed, if he was, then it was bad and she needed to pay attention, even if what he was saying was utter nonsense.
“good job kid, like that” he muttered under his breath, glad she was somewhat coherent. Florence didn’t see why she had to stay awake, her body was tingling so much all she wanted was to pass out, letting the pain drift away with her. But Tony seemed nervous, which meant it was serious.
Tony had lifted her into the cabin, the warmth spreading open them both as he ran towards the living room. The fire was already going and Pepper was running to go find the blankets they’d packed away in a cupboard somewhere. He placed her onto the sofa, her hair dripping rapidly and body unmoving. She should be shivering, if her body was ok she should be shivering. She was too cold, too cold for her body to spasm itself into being warmer.
Shit.
He took her coat off, lifting all of the layers that were soaked in the freezing lake water off and replaced them with fresh, warm clothes from the dryer. She protested, not making much sense, she clearly wasn't very lucid.
"No...too...hot-hot Tony" she mumbled, trying to fight him away as he tugged her arms inside her jumper.
"That's your brain lying to you kiddo, you're turning a not-so-good shade of blue right now" he countered, pulling a blanket over her. she mumbled something in response, Tony didn't hear, nor did he care for any of her half awake arguments right now. Not when his kid was becoming a teenage version of Cap.
Pepper ran back in with tea and more blankets, hovering nearby. Florence was curled into a ball on the sofa, her eyes settling closed now, while yes, to her it was hot, unbearably so, her body wasn't fighting it, not like it would if she was sitting too close to a fire or the oven door being opened. She wasn't trying to get away from the heat, if anything, she wanted to be closer. She felt awfully alone, thinking of that dark, icy, cold pit of misery. She flinched, groaning, not wanting to think about it.
"You ok kiddo?" she heard someone ask.
"Alone" she muttered back, wondering if the voice could see what her thoughts were giving her.
"I'm right here Flo" the voice said, smiling. She wasn't sure how she knew he was smiling. It was the tone, and nickname. Oh.
It's Tony.
She cracked an eye open, seeing him with a pen in hand, scribbling away on a notepad while Pepper was no where to be seen. Did he ever stop doing things? Instinctively, she moved forward, scurrying closer to him, he smirked in response.
"Those blankets aren't enough for you?" he half-heartedly teased. Florence didn't buy into his banter, she moved her fortress of blankets and pillows near Tony, closing her eyes again when her back was pressed against his leg. "Ok kiddo, whatever you need" he whispered back to her, his hand resting on her back, making shapes by tracing with his finger. She asleep in seconds.
When she woke, Tony was still in the same place as before, just with a jumper on and texting instead of answering emails on his tablet. She groaned trying to sit up, it was as if her muscles had turned to concrete. His eyes snapped to where he thought his kid was sleeping peacefully, curled up into the smallest ball he'd ever seen.
"Hey, hey, careful there ice queen" he began frantically. She whined again, rubbing her hands over her eyes and looking around the warm lit room. "Anything hurt?" he asked.
"muscles" she replied simply, stretching her neck.
"Well, you did fall into a minus degree lake" he sighed, cracking a smile. Florence rolled her eyes, ignoring his attempt at a joke but any time she thought about it, she'd remember how dark it was under there, and how unbelievably freezing it was. She shivered at the thought.
"So funny" she mocked, trying to sit up. "Where's Pepper?" she asked confused, she was expecting her to be running in, asking if she's ok, if she needed anything and managing to envelop her into a massive hug in under five seconds.
"She was a bit worked up, so I said I'd watch you while she went to bed" he explained casually. Pepper didn't get worked up. That wasn't what she did. Tony saw her shocked face, his own gaze softening. "She's alright kiddo, she just got a little scared watching you fall in and seem so unwell afterwards, by the time we realised you were fine, it was late evening and she had work in the morning, I wasn't about to let her stay up when she clearly needed sleep" he explained further. Florence nodded, feeling her shoulder's soften slightly.
"You did scare the crap out of though" he added on the end.
"I'm sorry" Florence replied sheepishly. "I didn't know the ice had cracked" she whispered guiltily.
"It's not your fault Flo, me and Pepper just weren't expecting something like this to happen in the place we both deemed safe, it just threw us a bit." he said calmly, patting her knee. "Come on, let's get you to your actual bed" he offered, standing up and pulling her up with him. The chill of the air from outside of her blanket fort was uncomfortable. The chill washed over her body.
"Nuh, uh, it's cold" Florence protested. Tony rolled his eyes.
"All that time you fought me over the blankets and now you don't want to leave" he huffed, putting his hands on his hips.
"What?" Florence asked sleepily. She had no memory of what he was referring to. Tony shook his head, smiling at Florence's sleepy eyes looking back at him.
"Nothing kid, let's get you in bed where you can actually get some decent rest ok?" he asked, ushering towards her room. It wasn't very complete yet, but Tony had promised that was tomorrows job.
"Can we get my art stuff out tomorrow?" she asked while climbing onto her bed.
"I think you should stay in bed for tomorrow, but we'll still get your room sorted don't worry Flo" he soothed, sitting next to her, putting pieces of her hair behind her ears. Florence wanted to protest but she couldn't imagine having to stand and walk more than a couple feet with how she was feeling. Maybe staying in bed would be nice. So, she didn't argue, which told Tony all he needed. If she wasn't putting up a fight, then she was truly exhausted.
So Tony watched in the doorway as Florence drifted into sleep. Before leaving, he tilted his chin upwards.
"FRIDAY, tell me if anything happened" he whispered. FRIDAY made a chiming noise, signalling that she'd heard and slowly, he went to go join Pepper in bed, hoping to sleep more than usual. Watching his kid almost turn into an icicle really took it out of him. He never wanted t see Flo's limp body turning cold and blue ever again. He didn't want to relive the fact that his kid was that close to death.
He was making his mission to keep her safe.