Work Text:
The Burning House Paradox
by Fairy Laughing
Tony entered the common room in Stark Mansion looking slightly guilty. Someone else, short and slight, trailed behind him, hiding in the door frame while he addressed the other Avengers and Pepper: “Ahem, team. I have an announcement.”
No one gave him a second look, their eyes glued to the screen. It was Sunday night and the set was on HBO and everyone was present. “Hey, I'm taking to you, Jarvis, get the TV.”
“Of course sir.”
The television flickered off and Natasha hissed and began furiously pushing buttons on the remote control, muttering something about dragons.
“That's not gonna' work Nat.” Tony told her.
“This had better be important.”
“Man of Iron, we were watching the Game of the Iron Throne!”
“It's PVRing, don't worry.”
“What is it?” asked Steve, curiously.
“I was in my lab and Reed was visiting with a machine.”
“Hi guys,” said Reed, coming into the room from around the corner in a single elastic step.
“Hey Richards.”
“A time machine. He was working on some temporal field expansion and there was this wormhole... we didn't want to set it too far, in case we somehow screwed something up and couldn't get back, and we didn't want to go into the past in case we fucked up and modified our current time line, but then there was an accident, and, well, temporal physics is still pretty experimental... anyway, we ended up going backwards, only this mansion is... well, I grew up here, and we were going to go through the portal into the future – er, past, but we thought it was the future – except that then I came through the portal and the machine exploded...”
“We heard the explosion,” said Steve.
“And you didn't come investigate?”
Natasha shrugged, “We figured Jarvis would tell us if you needed help getting out from the rubble.”
“How heartwarming. You really do care.”
“What's the problem?” asked Clint, “You said you came out of the portal, you're here, Reed's here, what's wrong?”
“I'm here, but I'm also here circa 1979.”
They gave him blank looks.
“Anthony,” Reed turned into the hallway to talk to someone else, “Come on out buddy.”
Reed ushered into the room a mini-Tony. He was slight for his height, eyes wide and rolling around with fear as he took in the Avengers. He looked maybe five years old with shaggy, messy hair and was wearing rumpled Rocky & Bullwinkle pyjamas and oversized socks which were hanging off of his feet. He did not cling to grown-up Tony's leg, though it looked like he wanted to.
“What?!” exclaimed Natasha and Steve.
“He's adorable!” squeaked Pepper, and then caught herself, “I can't believe you did that.”
“Is this a joke?” asked Clint.
“I wish,” said Tony.
“The machine exploded after he came through,” explained Reed, “so he's kind of stuck here for now, but we're working on it. Say hello Anthony.”
“Hi,” the child waved and then stood still while everyone else took him, “My name is Anthony Stark and I'm six years old. Nice to meet you...”
“My name is Steve Rogers, you can call me captain, if you like.”
“I am Thor Odinson of Asgard.”
“The god of Thunder?”
“Indeed.”
Child Tony's eyes went wide and adult Tony rolled his.
“I'm Clint, and the cranky red-haired lady next to me is Natasha. She's okay once you get to know her.” Natasha lightly punched him in the arm.
“Bruce,” Banner nodded.
“I'm Pepper Potts, you can call me Pepper. If you need anything let me know. Do you want a drink? Some hot cocoa maybe?”
The child was shaking like a leaf in shock and Pepper wanted to take him into her arms, but didn't think that would be a wise idea given how Tony had described himself as a child.
“Yes please.”
“Rye and coke for me Peps.”
“You,” she scowled, “can get your own damn drink.”
“Aw, don't be like that, I'm traumatized too, and you'll be in the kitchen anyway.”
She gave him a withering look, “Fine.”
After a few minutes of heated scientific discussion it was generally determined that, while little Anthony, as he was used to being called, was adorable, he definitely could not stay in this time-line, the temporal paradox was a big problem... who knows what it would mean for all of them given the number of times Iron Man had saved the world.
Bruce stood up and grasped Reed's arm, leading him out of the room, “Show me this machine, or whatever's left of it, we need to get this sorted out.”
“Do you want to watch some TV sport?” asked Steve, moving over on the couch to accommodate Anthony who hopped up eagerly.
Game of Thrones was over by the time they'd finished chatting; however, Natasha went into the files on the PVR recorder and started the episode from the beginning. Pepper gave mini Tony a steaming mug of hot cocoa with real whipped cream on top, and practically threw Tony's drink at his head.
“Hey, no ice?”
She sniffed haughtily, “People who mess with the time-space continuum don't deserve ice in their drinks.”
“It was an accident,” he whined and tried to sit next to her, attempting to squish himself between her and the arm of the loveseat, “C'mon babe, scootch over.”
She turned sideways and rested her legs on the arm of the loveseat. Tony lifted them, sat down, and placed them on his lap, admiring her red-strapped, high-heeled Anne Klein shoes... how women could walk in those things was a marvel of modern physics and design. Pepper sighed, glancing over to the opening of Game of Thrones, and kissed his ear subtly, whispering, “I'm glad you're okay.”
In retrospect Game of Thrones was not really appropriate for six year old's; however, this six year old was Tony Stark and he was knowing beyond his years and had never really heard of parental controls before. Mind you, television had changed in the past thirty years too, and he seemed pretty awed by the CG... and bare flesh.
“Bran you fool!” Thor screamed at the television set at some point, “Do not shoot the three-eyed raven!”
“Hahah, I'm starting to really like this Granny Tyrell,” Natasha snickered.
By the end of of the episode little Anthony had finished his hot cocoa and was napping against Steve's side.
“Aw, that's sweet cap'n,” said Clint, “I think he likes you.”
“Shh, don't wake him.”
“Let's put him in the spare room,” Tony said, standing and stretching, “Jarvis already set it up.”
They did so and everyone went to bed eventually – presumably at least, Banner and Reed hadn't been seen since they went down to the lab, nor had Tony who had joined them – and the night seemed to unfold uneventfully until...
“Miss Pepper?”
“Hrmm...?” Pepper opened her eyes and sat up halfway in her bed, covers falling to her waist. In front of her stood Anthony with that same guilty look she'd seen on Tony's face earlier. “Oh, hey, what's up?”
“I, ah, I couldn't sleep after I... can I sleep here?”
“Of course. Did you have a nightmare sweetie?”
“Yes, something like that...”
“Climb on in,” she lifted the covers. The child stood there still, looking at her, guiltier than ever. It was then that she smelled it. She glanced down to see the wet spot on his pyjama bottoms.
“Oh. I see.” Pepper heaved herself out of bed and riffled through her drawers. She found a pair of her own sleeping pants, cut-off at the knee, that would fit Anthony okay if they drew the drawstring tight, along with a plain t-shirt.
“How about a quick bath?”
“Okay.”
Pepper lead him into the adjacent bathroom and began filling up the tub while Tony obediently began to take off his wet pyjamas. After a moment he asked, “Are you Tony's maid?”
“No, more like his helper...” Try CEO of his company.
“Oh. We have maids, but they don't usually... y'know... hang out like you do.”
“I'm his girlfriend too now. I started out as his secretary.”
“Oh, okay. I can see why he likes you...”
Anthony allowed Pepper to help him into the tub, “Yeah?”
“You're nice... and real pretty too.”
“Aw, well, thank you.” Who knew Tony had been such a charmer at six?
Tub full, Pepper went about washing Anthony's hair, though she left most of the washing up to him and he did alright. Once he was through he was warm and sleepy, yawning through the steam so she pulled out the plug and held out a fluffy white towel. “C'mon.”
Dry and dressed Anthony crawled into bed next to Pepper. This was what Tony walked into when he finally finished what he could in the lab. The power source of Reed's device had been fried and it would take a while to repair. He offered to add some arc reactor tech to it, but Reed seemed to think that it was a bad idea introduce new technologies when they'd used something different to create the wormhole in the first place, in case it created more problems or a totally different kind of wormhole. Banner had supported Reed, but Tony pointed out that Banner wasn't exactly an expert and that sparked all kinds of trouble. These troubling thoughts dissolved when he saw how naturally Pepper had taken to the child that had been himself... she would make a great mother. Not to him, exactly, that would be weird, but she seemed very peaceful with a child sleeping next to her. It was funny how quickly mini Tony had taken to her too, he'd been rather standoffish with strangers at six, but he'd warmed up to Pepper instantly... maybe he'd seen his adult self being affectionate with her and presumed her good character.
Washing up in the bathroom he found out why Anthony was in their bed and was rather embarrassed. He didn't remember wetting the bed when he'd been six years old – not unless he'd had a bad nightmare or maybe once when he was sick. Kids did that, though, and he was glad he hadn't had to clean it up. Pepper had dealt with it, and someone else did the laundry. He crawled in behind Pepper, spooning her; this time, however, there was an even smaller spoon and Pepper found herself in the middle of a Tony sandwich.
Pepper Potts awoke with a start, internal alarm going off at 7am even if she hadn't set the regular alarm so as not to disturb Anthony or Tony. Behind her she felt adult Tony getting excited, like he normally did first thing in the morning, grinding his wood into her rear. In front of her mini Tony was warm and asleep still.
“Mmm,” Tony moaned, half-asleep, “y'wake Peps?”
“Yes.”
“C'mere then and say good morning properly.” He attempted to roll her over, groping at her tits like a teenager.
“But Tony, you're in the bed.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No, I mean, you... you are in the bed.”
“Oh... right... little To... er... mini me.” He was going to half to stop referring to his penis as little Tony as well now, since that's what he was calling his younger-self and that could get weird. Having his kid-self cock-blocking him was weird also. “How about we get up and go for a swim?”
“In the pool?” Pepper asked, raising a ginger eyebrow. It had been a while since they'd had pool-sex.
“In the kitchen sink... of course the pool, or the hot tub if you prefer.”
“The pool will do fine,” she gave him a sultry grin and slipped out of bed, grabbing a robe and towel as she tip-toed out. Tony followed.
Thirty-five minutes later they were both satiated, lounging in the shallow-end of Tony's massive rooftop pool.
“I hope that the Captain wasn't wanting to do laps for his morning cardio today,” Pepper mused.
“He was on a cycling kick last I checked,” said Tony. Actually, freaking Steve out was one of Tony's favourite pastimes and he kind of hoped that he would walk in.
“So... you wet the bed as a child? You know that's supposed to be one of the three hallmarks of a serial killer.”
“Pepper!” Tony splashed her, “I didn't often, only when I was in a strange place, or sick. Plus, I'm not a serial killer now.”
“Not yet... don't suppose you tortured animals or lit fires as a child either?”
“No to the first one, and the second one... never intentionally.”
Pepper kissed him on the forehead, the only dry spot she could find, “You were always a science geek, but apparently you used to be a gentleman too. What happened?”
Before Tony could reply they heard a recognizable gasp and looked up. Standing at the poolside, ready for an invigorating early swim, was everyone's favourite super soldier, Steve Rogers, looking pale as a sheet. He dropped his towel and fled, stammering, “I'lljustleaveyoutwotoyournakedswimmingnow, okaybyebye.”
Tony laughed heartily and Pepper soon joined him.
“Don't touch that,” Tony told Anthony.
“Okay, what about this?” he held up some old parts from Dum-E.
“Sure,” said Tony, thinking that he couldn't do much damage with those, “But wouldn't you rather be playing video games or watching TV with Steve and Thor or something?”
“Nah, they're watching cooking shows,” Anthony grimaced.
“Ah.” Clint and Natasha were out with SHEILD, and Dr Banner and Mr Fantastic were in the lab with them trying to repair the power supply for the, for lack of a better name, time machine.
“Sir, Susan Storm is here to see Reed Richards,” announced Jarvis.
“Send her on in.”
“Hey honey,” Reed stretched his neck to the doorway to greet her with a kiss, and then snapped back to his work on the opposite side of the lab. Anthony watched the exchange with reserved surprise and then Susan saw him.
“Reed told me what happened, oh Tony, you were so cute!”
“I know,” Tony said.
“My name is Anthony Stark,” he said, “you must be Mr Fantastic's wife... er... Mrs Fantastic?”
She laughed, and it was pleasant and warm, “I am, you can call me Sue.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Susan continued to fawn over Anthony until Pepper came in with a lunch cart, “Hey guys, Steve made tuna melts and salad, oh, hey Susan, there should be plenty for you too, if you like...”
There was definitely enough; when Steve cooked he tended to cook for an army, which was usually okay when Clint and Thor were around, or if Bruce had recently hulked-out.
Pepper helped Anthony to a plate, slathered in ketchup just like Tony, and got herself one too. After a moment she asked, “How is the work going?”
“We've nearly got the power issues worked out,” explained Banner, “but the machine was somewhat... damaged...”
Tony snickered at the understatement.
“...so that needs to be repaired as well.”
“It's coming, but slowly,” concluded Mr Fantastic.”
“I welded this,” said Anthony, shyly showing the circuit board he'd put together to Pepper and Susan, “I just need a light to see if it works.”
“Wow, very nice—wait, you let him weld!” exclaimed Pepper.
“Solder, okay, not weld, solder. Soldering isn't that dangerous, so long as he doesn't touch the end.”
Pepper huffed.
“It's not much hotter than a glue gun,” reassured Susan, “The fumes are a little worse, but there isn't much heat.”
“I guess that's okay then, but we need to return him to his time line unharmed.”
“Yeah yeah,” dismissed Tony.
Anthony coughed and Pepper was right at his side with a juice box, “Here sweetie, drink up. Did you choke?”
“Yeah, a little,” he looked embarrassed, and then began coughing again. Pepper rubbed his back soothingly and a concerned look came over her face at how warm he felt through his shirt.
She held a wrist to his forehead and announced to the others, panic lacing its way into her voice, “He feels hot.”
Susan followed Pepper's motion, “Warm but not really feverish, Pep.”
“I'm fine,” he said.
“He says he's fine ladies,” interrupted Tony, “I know I'm cute but lay off. This isn't a petting zoo.”
Anthony shot him a thankful look as Pepper backed off, “If you say so, but I'd feel better if Bruce gave him a check up.”
“Wouldn't hurt,” agreed Bruce, “We have no idea what time-travel does to the body. Want to head over to the med lab?”
“Yeah, right after lunch.”
Anthony sighed, not liking the sound of this, “Do I at least get ice cream afterwards?”
“Uh – sure?” said Pepper.
“Mom always let me have ice-cream after doctor's appointments,” explained Tony.
“Lucky bastard,” snorted Reed, “Mine only let me have it if I was actually sick.”
Mom, Tony remembered, missing her.
“I think he's sick,” announced Bruce, folding up his stethoscope, “not badly though. A cold maybe, there's some congestion in his lungs... I'm still going to do full blood work.”
Pepper went to give Anthony a reassuring hug. He stiffened up at the physical contact, but didn't squirm away.
“Tony,” said Bruce, “you didn't happen to have asthma as a child, did you?”
“I grew out of it in junior high, how did you know?”
“It sounded like it on him, but I wouldn't know for sure without a test – or your confirmation. Do you remember what kind of inhaler you took?”
“Uh... it was blue?”
“Tony,” Pepper scolded, “That won't help.”
“Actually it does. Blues typically are, and were, bronchiodilators.” Bruce began to rifle through his medicine cabinets.
Both Tonys and Pepper gave him blank looks.
“They open up airways,” Bruce emerged with an inhaler, more modern than what Anthony was used to but pretty much the same idea, “Salbutamol sulphate. One puff, twice a day, or more if you feel like you need it.”
“Should we be medicating him?” asked Pepper, “Uh, I mean, given the time-space paradox thingie?”
“He'd be taking something similar at his end of the time line, maybe even the same thing since it's been in use for over thirty years.”
“Oh.”
“Do you want some ice-cream now?” asked Tony; he kinda wanted some himself.
“Yes!”
“One more thing,” said Bruce, “A blood sample.”
Tony coughed quite suddenly, out of nowhere, and Bruce narrowed his eyes, “From you too.”
“Just a tickle. I'm fine.”
“Give me your arm and prove it.”
Anthony and Tony complied as Bruce withdrew a vial (or four) from each of them, Tony muttering 'damned green vampire'.
A few minutes later they found themselves with large bowls of chocolate ice cream drizzled in caramel sauce and Adventure Time playing on the television in the main room. Anthony bounced up and down with excitement. He didn't quite get the cartoon, but it was more age appropriate than Game of Thrones. Thor bounded in moments later and demanded, “You are watching the Adventures of Finn and Jake and eating the frozen cream... why did you not invite me Man of Iron?”
“Thor, buddy! Pull up a seat.”
Thor did so, eagerly, declaring, “We should watch My Little Pony afterwards.”
“That sounds like a girls show,” Anthony wrinkled his nose distastefully.
“Perhaps,” said Thor, “it is however a most delightful program about the powers of friendship and magic, set in the magical land of Equestria, which is ruled over by two sisters, princesses both, Princess Celestia who rules the sun and Princess Luna who rules the moon, she was also known as Nightmare moon until Twilight Sparkle, that's the main character, freed her from...”
Tony rolled his eyes as Thor went into the plot in great detail: Thor was likely the worst closet-Brony ever, probably because he didn't even realize why he might want to be in the closet. Natasha had tried making fun of him, but it was water-off-a-duck's-back and he continued to discuss the virtues of the show and expressed his desire to purchase the DVDs for Loki to watch in his cell on Asgard. They were sure Loki would be absolutely thrilled by that and Clint went so far as to take Thor out shopping for season 1 and a mini DVD player... a very sturdy mini DVD player.
After a little while Tony started to think that he ought to get back to the lab. The headache that had been lingering at his temples all day, however, had failed to subside and was a dull throb behind his eyes now, and loathe as he was to admit it, he felt weak and knew that if he were to stand he would be dizzy. So he stayed on the couch, sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest, watching his younger-self on a beanbag chair on the floor, next to Thor, eagerly engaged in cartoons, but trying not to show it too eagerly. As a child he tried his hardest not to show too much interest in anything, except of course his studies because if he did his father would probably take it away. He had learned not to love too intensely – or at least not to show it – and today he still had trouble revealing his innermost self; it was strange to think that those barriers had been up already when he was only six years old.
Pepper... Pepper knew just what to say and how to say it to break them down a little and worm her way in. He watched her crouch over Anthony and touch his face and then prompt him with a thermometer. The kid complied – he was well-used to maids fussing over him.
He yawned and sank deeper into the couch, only to have Pepper standing over him, wielding the same thermometer. “What do you want?” he grouched.
“You're being uncharacteristically lazy... makes me wonder.”
“Aren't I allowed to be lazy? I'm fine.”
“As Bruce said earlier, prove it.”
Tony huffed and accepted the thermometer under his tongue. It bleeped a moment later and Pepper took it out. “See, I'm fine.”
“Actually, 99.8 is a little high.”
“Say, what?” Tony grabbed it from her, “Huh, must be broken.”
“I don't think so.” Pepper's hand was lingering on his forehead now, “You too then. I wonder if Bruce can tell anything from the blood tests yet...”
“I'm fine Pepper,” he insisted.
“I don't know...”
“If I feel off you'll be the first to hear of it, scout's honour.”
“That would be more reassuring if you had actually been a scout.”
“I asked to join scouts,” said Anthony, “Dad said it would distract from school and wouldn't let me.”
“Really?” asked Pepper, “That's too bad, my parents made me join Girl Scouts, they thought that it would build character.”
“You were in Girl Scouts?” Tony gushed, “Did you sell cookies?”
“Yes. In fact, I held my division's record in cookie sales.”
“Scout Pepper. You must've been so cute. Do you have any pictures?”
Pepper had had enough, “I need to get back to the office, you two will be alright?”
“I'll keep an eye on him.”
“And on yourself.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Pepper left to attend to Stark Industries and a growing pile of paperwork. She swore that the files bred anytime she left them unattended. Tony, meanwhile, grabbed a tablet connected to Jarvis and launched an online quest to dig up pictures of Pepper Potts as a Girl Scout.
“Man of Iron, we are in need of more of this delicious frozen cream!”
“Hold your ponies Thor, Jarvis, send in Dum-E with more ice cream.”
“I have no ponies,” Thor looked seriously perplexed.
Moments later Dum-E showed up with chocolate espresso ice cream which they dug into enthusiastically. His throat hurt and the ice cream soothed it nicely. Anthony seemed to like it as well, granted he was normally restricted on the amount of it that he was permitted in one sitting and Tony wasn't about to restrict it. Something about Asgardian physiology made Thor especially susceptible to caffeine, but he didn't dare restrict Thor's consumption least he get angry and ruin (yet another) coffee table.
After a few episodes of Adventure Time Thor got bored – or more accurately, jittery, and went to go fly laps around the premises, or whatever he did for fun. Tony's phone began to vibrate and he glanced at it. Pepper, checking in on them. That was going to get real annoying real fast.
“Hey buddy,” he asked Anthony, currently glued to the television set, “You want to go see something cool?”
“Sure.”
“You can't tell Pepper about what I'm about to show you, and when you get back to the past you gotta keep it secret also.”
“Scout's honour.”
“Sweet,” Tony hopped up and took his younger-self downstairs to check out his suits.
“It's bad, Pep,” Bruce's expression was serious.
“I'm not sure I get how this all works...”
“Neither do I,” said Bruce, “the temporal paradox is causing gradual mitochondrial DNA damage and their immune systems are crashing.”
“What can we do?”
“Returning little Anthony to his time line should stop it.”
“In the meantime?”
“In the meantime they're apt to keep getting sicker. I can try a few drugs to slow it down, but our best bet is to get him back fast.”
“Got it. How is that going?”
“We've got a power supply again, but we're still working on fixing up the machine itself, it was damaged pretty badly.”
“Alright, keep me posted then. I'm going to go check on them.”
“Have Jarvis page me if you need help.”
“I don't want to distract you from the time machine, but I'll call if they're out of hand.”
“Good luck.”
“You too Bruce.”
Pepper slipped out of the med lab and went back to the living room, finding it empty. Tony was not responding to her calls, they weren't in the main lab helping Reed and Bruce, and neither Thor nor Steve knew where they were.
“Jarvis,” Pepper said, “Can you locate my lost boys?”
“Negative Ma'am.”
“Now is that a negative because they're not in the building or a negative because Tony's forbidden you from telling me where they are?”
Jarvis was silent.
“Okay... if he's forbidden you from indicating his location, or even saying so, then don't say anything at all.”
Jarvis remained silent.
“That bastard,” Pepper muttered, “Thor? Steve?” she stuck her head into the kitchen where they were lounging around, drinking tea.
“Yes Miss Potts?”
“Can I enlist the two of you to find my missing Tonys?”
“Certainly.”
“I shall seek them for you.”
“Thor, perhaps you should take the upper floors – the bedrooms, gym, and rooftop pool, Steve you take the basement – all the labs and storage down there, and I'll take the main floor and common living areas.”
Steve saluted her, the cheeky monkey, and Thor nodded and was off at full tilt: where on Earth did that guy get so much energy?
They had been searching for nearly twenty minutes when Pepper's phone rang; it was Steve, “Talk to me Cap.”
“I found them here in the lowest lab, with the suits.”
“Why are you whispering.”
“They're asleep.”
“I'll be right there,” Pepper was off, not alerting Thor yet because his entry would no doubt wake up the Tonys.
“Oh my god,” she squealed, as quietly as possible, snapping photos with her phone, “That is beyond adorable.”
Tony Stark was in an alcove meant to house one of his suits, half-laying, half-sitting, his face pressed against the concave metal wall, fast asleep. On his lap, wrapped in a white flannel throw, was Anthony, one hand curling around the end of the blanket, the other loosely grasping Tony's hand. It would have been more cute if it weren't worrying that they were asleep at 6pm after a full night's rest (for Anthony at least) the night before (and a half pint of espresso ice-cream, not that she knew about that). There was a red flush across their cheeks, though the room was not overly warm – it was a basement meant to house tech after all – and neither had woken up yet with Steve and Pepper hovering over them. Pepper was a little concerned about Tony showing Anthony the suits, but considering how much they'd already fucked up the time line... Tony had told her once that he had a childhood dream of building the suits so maybe this had already happened and they actually were only re-enacting what was destined to happen in the future-present. Or had happened in the past already. Or something.
“Should we wake them?” asked Steve.
“They can't be comfortable. Let's put them to bed.”
“Right.” Steve punched a number on his phone and Pepper noticed that manually dialled, having memorized the phone number the old-school way instead of entering it into his contacts, “Thor? We found them in the lowest lab, with the suits, can you come give us a hand?”
“I shall be there swiftly SteveRogers.”
Steve gently lifted Anthony into his arms. He woke up, coughing harshly, and then and looked up, “Um. Why are you carrying me?”
“You were asleep. I'm going to take you to a proper bed.”
“I'm not,” he yawned, “sleepy.”
“Sure you aren't,” Pepper concealed a smile.
Thor arrived moments later, ready to be put to use.
“I've got the little one,” Steve nodded towards Tony, “you take the big one.”
“Of course,” Thor easily lifted Tony bridal-style into his arms.
Tony was so not going to be happy about that, but with luck he wouldn't even know. He remained fast asleep.
“He is on fire,” said Thor.
“His breathing doesn't sound too good either,” added Steve.
“Bed time it is then,” said Pepper, leading the two of them to the elevator and pressing the up button.
“I can walk by myself,” said Anthony.
“I know you can,” said Steve, “But you aren't heavy for me.”
“At least put me down in the elevator.”
“If you insist,” Steve set him on the ground once they were inside, and though he gripped the wall he did remain upright.
Pepper had an idea, “How about a pony ride the rest of the way to bed?”
“What?”
Steve got the idea; he crouched down, offering his back to Anthony who continued to look confused.
“Didn't your dad ever give you pony rides?” Pepper asked, “Piggy-back rides, maybe he called them?”
“Um... no.”
“I'll give you one,” said Steve, “Climb onto my back and wrap your arms around my neck and your legs around my sides.”
Shyly Anthony complied. Steve stood up, the child clinging to his back, head nearly brushing the top of the elevator.
“I'm so high up here...” Anthony marvelled.
The elevator dinged as they got to the upper level. Steve exited with Anthony on his back, ducking down through the doorway so as not to bash his head. Then he began to bounce up and down and make horse sounds.
“You say Giddy-up to get him to go faster,” explained Pepper.
“Giddy-up!”
Steve made a show of neighing and hopping around the upper floors. It was just then that Clint and Natasha, back from whatever they were doing with SHEILD and headed in for a shower, encountered the group.
Clint looked blankly from Thor holding a sleeping Tony to Steve pretending to be a horse for a gleeful Anthony, “Are you trying prancercise* now?”
“I'm... not even gonna' ask.” said Natasha.
“Apparently Tony's dad never gave him pony rides,” explained Pepper.
“What a deprived childhood he had,” remarked Natasha, probably sarcastically but Pepper wasn't always sure with Natasha.
Steve eventually deposited Anthony onto Tony's bed and began helping him into his freshly washed pyjamas. He led him to the washroom to get washed up and use it before lying down, so as to avoid further accidents. Meanwhile Thor dropped Tony unceremoniously on the bed. He stirred a little, but didn't wake up.
“Wow. He's dead-asleep,” said Natasha, creeping into the room, Clint following.
“They're sick, something about the temporal paradox of two Tony Starks...”
“Frankly, I'm surprised the world hasn't imploded yet,” said Clint.
“Bruce and Reed are working on it.”
“I wish for a pony ride as well,” said Thor.
“I'm sure Steve is willing to give you one,” said Clint, an evil glint in his eyes as Steve returned and set Anthony down in the bed.
“SteveRogers, I wish to ride your pony!” Thor declared and promptly pounced onto Steve's back yelling “Giddy up!” Even super soldiers cannot apparently support the weight of Thor, especially when they aren't suspecting to be jumped upon. The two of them toppled to the floor and Clint and Natasha were laughing their asses off.
After effectively crushing Steve, Thor got off and allowed him to peel himself off the carpet, “Did I injure you?”
“I'll live, but Thor, let's not try that again, okay? I think you may be a little bit too old for pony rides.”
This commotion was what finally woke Tony up. He coughed as he woke, like Anthony had, his lungs thick with congestion. He looked around the room with confusion fogging his already fever-glazed eyes, “Hey guys, uh, what are you doing in my room?”
“Tony, you're up,” Pepper was there in a heartbeat.
“I thought I was down... how did I... here?”
“Um...” Steve stammered.
“Pony ride,” explained Clint.
“Pony ride,” Tony repeated, incredulously, “That makes no sense whatsoever.”
“I carried you, Man of Iron,” confessed Thor.
“That's... somehow worse.”
“You were passed right out,” explained Pepper, “and I didn't want to wake you up, given how sick you–”
“Honestly Pepper, I feel fine,” he wheezed at the end of that expletive, “Well, okay, not totally fine, but I don't need to be carried around.”
“You have a high fever, you could have fainted.”
“Passed out,” he gritted through his teeth, “I don't faint.”
“Sure you don't,” Natasha snickered, oozing sarcasm.
“Like a princess,” added Clint.
“A pretty gold and red princess,” added Natasha, “like that time in LA last week.”
“Didn't Thor carry you then too?”
“Oh yes, when he plunged out of the sky and Thor heroically caught him mid-air.”
“Can we please evict the peanut gallery?”
“Go on Clint, and the rest of you,” Pepper shooed them with a hand gesture, “You two need a shower seriously, what did SHIELD have you doing today anyway?”
“It was supposed to be a simple take down,” said Natasha.
“Supposed to be,” explained Clint, “except nobody told the bad guys that.”
“We ended up pursuing them into the sewers.”
“There's always a convenient old sewer pipe, isn't there?”
“Ew,” remarked Pepper.
“That's what I said...”
“And then this one guy had the brilliant idea to...”
“You know what,” Pepper interrupted their story, “you can tell us more about it later, these two already have compromised immune systems, go wash up.”
“Yes mom,” Clint said, sticking out his tongue.
Clint and Natasha left, and Thor followed their lead. Steve was left with Pepper and the Tony's, but she didn't mind him so much. She was putting her hands on their faces, feeling for fever and pressing the glands at their necks.
“You mind tracking down Bruce and getting some children's Tylenol?” she asked Steve.
“Of course.”
“The normal kind too.”
“Pepper, I'm bored,” complained Tony, now that everyone else was gone.
“How about TV?” she pressed a button on a remote next to the bed and a flat screen lowered and turned on.
“No more TV.”
“Book?” she offered him a copy of Deepak Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes, a gag gift from someone at the office which was presently gathering dust on the bedside table.
“My head hurts too much for that. Give me my computer,” he made grabby hands at the tablet lying on his dresser.
“If your head hurts so much I don't think that's a good idea.”
“But I'm bored.”
“You sure are acting like a big baby,” criticized Anthony.
“He is, isn't he.”
“I'll watch some TV,” Anthony grabbed the remote off the bed and began to flip through the channels. Sure, he'd already watched a lot today, but there wasn't much else for him to do. This was better than summer vacation – which was usually filled with summer school.
Tony moped until Steve returned. He brought a thermometer and some other medicines, compliments of Banner, with a memo that they had a prototype of the time machine which should be ready for testing late that night.
“I'm going to go make chicken soup, super special secret Rogers family recipe,” said Steve.
“Sounds good,” said Pepper.
“Oh, it's the best,” he winked at her, and ruffled Anthony's hair affectionately. He went to do the same to Tony but got a death glare which stopped him in his tracks.
Anthony allowed Pepper to take his temperature and medicate him with children's Tylenol, the inhaler, and a cocktail of immune-boosting vitamins. Tony, however, was not having any of it.
“Seriously, you swallow them. It's not like I'm forcing you to drink cough syrup, tempting as that is.”
Tony made a poutty face and Pepper approached him, slyly.
“You're so cute when you make that face,” she climbed onto his lap, straddling him, never mind Anthony next to them and began to kiss him. Without thinking he opened his mouth to kiss her back and Pepper used that moment to manually force his mouth open and drop in a handful of pills. She then held his mouth shut until he dry swallowed them, breaking off into coughing.
She handed him a glass of water, still sitting on his lap, and he glared, “That, Miss Potts, was a dirty trick.”
“You deserved it.”
“Guess I did,” he grasped the front of her blouse and pulled her back in for another kiss.
Anthony did his best to ignore them.
They broke away when Tony started coughing uncontrollably. He stopped, wheezing harshly.
“Gonna' live there?” Pepper asked.
“Yeah, jus' a sec,” he began hacking again and Pepper offered him the water again. Once he could he began to sip it, each swallow burning all the way down. She tenderly stroked a sweaty strand of hair out off his forehead and kissed it, feeling the over-warm skin beneath her lips.
“I should probably let you rest.”
“Prolly.”
“I'll be back again in a bit, with supper.”
As promised Pepper returned a couple hours later with three bowls of Steve Rogers' chicken and rice soup. Tony set aside his tablet, apparently having been in communication with Bruce and Reed, “Hey Peps, they've almost got it.”
“Good, goood.”
She took their temperatures again, pleased to find them lower, and set two bowls down on trays in front of her invalids and grabbed one for herself. If Steve ever lost his super powers he could find easy work as a chef, Pepper mused.
“I want to go help them,” Tony said after a moment.
“Maybe,” she gave him a critical eye.
“I'm feeling better. Don't I look better?”
“Tell you what, you eat all of your supper and I let you go tinker down in the lab... for a little while, mind you, not all night.”
Tony resented being treated like this, he was an adult in his own home after all, but Pepper Potts knew what was best for him, and she didn't usually boss him around unless he deserved or needed it.
He nodded, “Bruce says we're close.”
Anthony was listening in silence as he ate. Didn't they want him around? They were trying to get this machine fixed and get him out as quickly as possible. He clearly didn't belong, and yet his own home had never in his six years of life felt so comfortable as it had in the past 24 hours. He sniffled, fighting back tears, and Pepper absently handed him a tissue.
With Steve in the lab and Pepper gone, probably to the lab as well, Anthony was left alone to rest in the bed. He declined their invitation to join them and pretended to go back to sleep; however, once they'd gone he stood up. The house seemed relatively as he remembered it and he decided to go to his favourite secret spot to think. Anthony crept out of the room, donning one of Tony's sweaters as he went, and checked the hallways to other Avengers. Seeing no one he went downstairs via an emergency staircase and out the backdoor. The property was lit with a couple of old-style streetlights and solar garden lights along the path, casting a soft fairy fire across the smooth stones. He followed the stones around the side of the building, but was startled to come across a tennis court where once the entrance to his mother's garden had been. What was this? Anthony walked across the court, barefoot, and found a hedge behind it.
The garden remained behind the hedge; however, it was overgrown and untrodden, a forgotten corner of the vast Stark mansion property. He paused at the entrance and frowned, and then ducked under some trailing ivy and other brush and into the garden, brambles catching at the sleeves of the sweater as he went. This garden had been out of use for a long time... his mother would not have let this happen. He knew the implications, but hadn't thought on it too deeply. He figured his father had been dead, Howard Stark had made many enemies and had never taken good care of his body, and he would be secretly glad to see his father go, but his mother... Anthony made his way into the heart of the garden. There, beneath a stately white oak, a stone fountain depicting a woman standing on a platform a shallow pond with her hands spread open as if offering an embrace, a birdbath in front of her. Previously water had bubbled out of the birdbath fountain and into the little pond, and the area was a favourite of songbirds; however, the fountain was not running anymore, the basin apparently clogged with leaves.
Anthony sat beneath the oak on a low stone bench and watched the fountain, unmoving, moss growing over her – the blessed mother's – feet. Huh – that was new; on the bench there was an inscription. He wiped away mossy slime to read “Maria Stark – Forever in our Hearts.” A silent sob choked out of Anthony and he drew his legs up to his chest and laid his head onto them, fighting back the urge to cry but, after a few moments, failing utterly.
“It's working!” Reed declared, victoriously, as the machine fired up.
“I don't know,” said Tony, “that light is flickering a little too often, the power coming in is unstable.”
“But we stabilized the current with that great big regulator...”
“It doesn't look right...” persisted Tony, “too unsteady.”
“I have to agree,” interrupted Pepper, “I'll admit I don't know much about this, but we can't have the machine blowing up again.”
“Power it down.”
Bruce hit the switch and the machine dimmed down, just in time apparently as it sparked lightly.
Tony sighed, “Goddammit.”
“And this one looked so promising.”
“Maybe we should add some rectifier diodes.”
“Would that help?”
“I think so, since we're not dealing with a continuous voltage, only when the machine is running, and the amount of power it uses varies depending upon what it's doing – and presumably how far forward or backward it's going in time.”
This was way over Pepper's head. Tony, week in the knees, fell onto a handy chair at the workbench and sighed, resting his chin on his hands and staring at the hastily scribbled, yet incredibly detailed, plans they had spread out there.
Surreptitiously Pepper put a hand onto Tony's forehead; the heat was rising off of him again, “Are you dizzy?” she asked.
“No, I'm fine,” he swatted her hand away. The glaze in his eyes told her otherwise, but she let it be for the moment, kissing him there instead.
“Okay.” She shared a knowing look with Banner.
“Perhaps,” ventured Bruce, “You should go check on Anthony. If you want, Tony, you can help us by continuing work on the time setting dial from your room.”
Tony would take that. It was a sneaky way to get him to rest, but he would still be helping since Bruce and Reed could continue working out the power supply while Tony worked on the mechanism to select the time which the machine would go to. The one they had was alright, but they needed something with a bit more precision for returning Anthony to exactly the time they had taken him from.
As Tony stood he wavered drunkenly, and Pepper went to help him but he waved her away and
began to make his way down the hallway. Reed and Bruce shared a look; they had to get on this, who knew how much longer they had. Repairs like this would normally take them several weeks, if not months, to complete.
Pepper helped lower Tony onto his bed into a lying position and popped the thermometer into his mouth again while he lounged back, one hand flung over his eyes to block out the light. She took it out when it beeped and made a disapproving sound, “102. Time for another dose.”
Tony took the Tylenol and swallowed them without complaint. Then he said, “Shit!” and at up rapidly.
“What?” asked Pepper.
“Where is he?”
“Who-oh! Anthony?” she called, tentatively.
“Jarvis,” Tony said, “did you see where he went?”
“The young master exited out the backdoor by the kitchen.”
“Let's go.” They were off in an instant, Pepper leading Tony through the halls and out the backdoor. Once there they paused; Jarvis probably didn't know where he was from here. There were exterior cameras, however it would take a few moments to go back inside and ask him. This is what Pepper did. Tony, glancing around, knew exactly where his younger-self had gone. The garden. It was no doubt smaller than it'd been back in Anthony's time, but there still. He rushed out in that direction, a bit of cloth that he recognized as his own sweater caught up on brambles at the entrance to the old pathway confirming his suspicious.
Tony followed the path, some underbrush crushed before him, until he came to the fountain and saw Anthony on the bench. He paused, hearing the child sob, and crept forward quietly now. The fountain was clogged, he noticed; Tony bent down and pulled bits of dead leaves and twigs out of the intake. The water bubbled forth and began to pour again out of the birdbath, falling into the pond beneath with a cool trickling sound. He looked up and caught Anthony's eye, but didn't say anything as he approached, gasping for breath with the effort of walking out. The cold night air, the first of September, seemed to steal his breath away from him.
Tony sat without speaking on the bench and gazed at the fountain, “Mom's favourite spot,” he coughed, “She used to sit out here all day, when it was nice, with her books.”
Anthony, face on his knees, turned his head sideways to peer at Tony, “When did she die?”
“Uh – I don't think I should be telling you...”
“You paved over most of the garden,” he started, accusingly, “for a tennis court.”
“Dad did that.”
“So dad died before her?”
“No – they died at the same ti... he paved over it against her wishes. It was a big blow-up.” Tony stopped himself. Shit, the kid was trying to get it out of him.
“I'll bet there was. Since there are cracks in the tennis court I can only assume it was quite awhile ago...”
“Maybe. Maybe it's the tree roots underneath causing the concrete to crack.”
Anthony gave him a 'yeah right' look and curled deeper onto himself, shivering and pulling the ripped hooded sweater tightly around himself.
“Can you at least tell me how?”
“No. We've already fucked up the time-space continuum enough for one day I think.”
Anthony sighed.
“That's what's making us sick according to Bruce, the abnormality of having two of us in the same time-space.”
“Oh,” Anthony said, “I didn't realize... that's why you're trying to get me home.”
Tony nodded.
“I thought you thought it was weird and I was... uh... cramping your style... even though, er you're me, sorta...”
Tony chuckled, dissolving into painful coughing, “Are you kidding? Kids are awesome for picking up chicks. Not that I do a lot of that anymore, not now that I have Pepper...”
“She's very pretty.”
“And just as smart,” Tony added, smiling, “No, you're not cramping my style at all. I would love to have you stay here in this time, but then I think, after a little while, I would stop to exist or you would or both of us maybe.
“I think I understand.” Anthony leaned against his older-self, a casual movement but one which Tony could appreciate given his aversion to physical contact.
This was how she found them when, moments later, Pepper came running up. She slowed to a walk, pulling bits of leaves out of her hair, and asked, “What are you doing out here?”
“Mom's favourite fountain was clogged,” Tony said, as if that explained everything.
Pepper wasn't sure she understood, but it was late enough for her to convince them both to go back to bed. Later, once Anthony, medicated again, was asleep and Tony was working on his tablet, she would pursue it. Pepper was casually checking and signing files, her little reading glasses perched on her nose, when she said, “So, what was that all about?”
“What?”
“Earlier, in the garden.”
“He thought that we were trying to get rid of him because we were so intent on repairing the time-machine.”
“What?”
“I know. I explained it though.”
Pepper stroked Anthony's dark hair. He laid up against her, radiating warmth, his eyes closed and expression peaceful. “He's... you... you were so...”
“Vulnerable?”
“Yeah.”
“I was then.”
“Now all you've got are big walls.”
“I let you in.”
“Yeah,” Pepper remarked, “guess you did.”
Tony gave a harsh cough, following it with a wheeze. Pepper turned to him in concern and placed her ear against his chest, listening to the barely audible thrum of the arc reactor. Beyond that, though, she heard a tight rush of air with each breath.
“Your lungs are very congested.”
He shrugged, “I'm sick.”
“It sounds awful.”
He was about to deny it when he began to cough again, and this time it didn't stop right away. When it finally did he was wheezing and gasping for air, making a strange whistling sound. Anthony, having been woken up by this, picked up the inhaler up off of the bedside table, deftly removed the cap, and handed it to him. He began to cough again, fighting to get air into his lungs,
Tony wasn't quite sure what was happening, but he took the medicine offered to him and inhaled one puff, and then another, and sat up against the headboard. Sitting up as opposed to half-reclining seemed to help, and he accepted a sip of water from Pepper who rubbed his back in soothing circles. When he could speak again a few minutes later he mumbled “Thanks” at Anthony and shut his eyes, willing his breathing to slow to normal.
“What...” Pepper stammered, a look of recognition passing over her expression, “was that an asthma attack?”
“Yeah,” provided Anthony, “just a little one.”
“Is it...”
“This getting worse I think,” said Tony, “fuuuuck my head hurts.”
Pepper was going to lecture him for cursing, but she figured then that Anthony was wise enough not to repeat what he'd heard here. “I'm going to get Bruce...”
“No.” Tony said, “Don't bother him. Tomorrow...” he gasped, “you can tell him tomorrow.”
“But...”
“Stay here Peps please?” he asked, giving Pepper those big brown doe-eyes.
She couldn't deny that, “Alright. But if that happens again I'm calling Bruce in here ASAP.”
“Okay,” he replied.
“And the tablet's going away now.”
“Fine, just for now though...” Tony wanted to keep working, he knew that he had to, but he was exhausted and his head really did ache; a bit of shut-eye couldn't hurt.
All three together, Tony, Pepper, and Anthony spent the night without further major events, though Pepper eventually had to get out of the bed and doze, lightly, on the chair in the room when, between the two Tonys, there was just too much heat being generated for her to sleep.
“Jarvis,” she whispered, “Turn up the AC please. See if we can bring it down to 61 degrees in here.” *
“Yes ma'am,” Jarvis replied quietly and the soft thrum of the AC kicking in filled the room.
Pepper's phone went off the next morning, Tuesday, bringing her away from the paperwork that had been piled up on her temporary desk. “Hello? Yes, it's me...” she stood up and went into the hallway to take the call, all business, so as not to wake up Tony or Anthony. She explained to Happy that she would be out of the office for at least another day, maybe more, but that she would be available for any important calls and that he could forward all paperwork via e-mail and she would look at it when she had a chance.
“How is he?”
She sighed, “Sick. It's... well... we'll see how today goes, I'll let you know more at the end of the day, alright?”
“I don't know what you're keeping from me, but I want the whole story then.”
“Alright.” Pepper had tried to keep the recent happenings under wraps so far, but Happy was getting suspicious, and frankly she would be too in his shoes, “Talk to you later tonight.”
“Yep. Bye Ms Potts.”
When she came back into the room Tony was sitting up in bed, thirstily finishing a glass of water.
She knelt on the bed next to him and took the empty glass, setting it on the side table and kissing his face, only partly to show affection.
“You aren't even complaining. You must be feeling really bad.”
“I'm just tired,” Tony said off-handedly, turning to glance at Anthony who was still asleep against his side, snoring lightly.
“He was asking about our parents...”
“Oh, of course,” said Pepper, grasping Tony's hand to reassure him, knowing that Tony wasn't upset about his father, “You miss her.”
“I've missed her for so long that sometimes I can't even remember what her voice sounded like. Sometimes I feel like I've been making her up all along, but he remembers – knows her in his own present.”
Pepper felt his pain, “You loved your mother deeply.”
“More than my dad,” he said, “I kind of want to go back with him, just to see her again.”
“You can't do that Tony, the paradox.”
“Oh, I know that, it's just a temptation.”
Tony yawned and went for his tablet, firing off a quick message to Reed requesting an update. Pepper, meanwhile, contacted Bruce for a medical check-in and he headed over to Tony's room immediately, a medical kit under one arm.
“Hey Tony,” Banner said, entering.
“I'm not giving you more blood.”
“It'll only be a little bit,” Banner argued, “and first I'm going to check over everything else.”
Pepper told Bruce about the previous night while he went about checking up on Tony – listening to his heart and lungs with a stethoscope, taking his temperature, and pinching the top of his hand to check for dehydration. “You feel okay this morning though?” Banner asked.
“Yeah, much better. My chest aches a bit,” he admitted, “But I can breathe just fine, thank you... why don't you just ask Jarvis to check my vitals?”
“I prefer to do it myself, more accurate that way.”
“Hey!” Tony said, offended for Jarvis.
“I don't doubt the accuracy of Jarvis,” explained Bruce, “I just don't trust you not to have him programmed to tell me what I want to hear, no offence Jarvis.”
“None taken doctor Banner.”
“You still have a low fever. Are your muscles sore?” he asked Tony, “Headache? Fatigue? Nausea?”
“Yes, the worst, yes, no – thank god.”
“Okay. This'll be just a little poke, then.” Banner said, and after a quick swipe with an alcohol wipe he was stabbing Tony in the arm with the needle. Tony looked away, an annoyed look crossing his face, and Pepper clasped his free hand and gave it a squeeze. Although Tony didn't faint at the sight of blood or anything stupid like that, he was not a fan of needles.
“Alright. Now the little one,” Banner said.
Pepper went about gently waking Anthony. The boy sat up, his arms limp at his sides and his pyjamas soaked in sweat. He was looking worse and Bruce quickly set about checking over his vitals, cursing when he pulled out the thermometer.
“What is it?” asked Pepper.
“103.8,” Bruce shook his head.
“Omigod,” said Pepper.
“It's normal for children's immune systems to act a little more dramatically, but this is too high... how about we try a cloth first.”
“Of course,” Pepper stood up and went to the washroom where she filled a bowl, usually used by Tony for shaving, with cold water, and then ducked into the hallway for ice. Meanwhile Bruce and Tony stripped the child down to his pyjama bottoms and laid him on top of the covers. He shivered, and opened his eyes blearily, but didn't say anything. Bruce coaxed him into taking a couple of Tylenol and swallowing them with a half glass of water. When Pepper returned she dipped a hand towel into the water and wrung it out before putting it on Anthony's forehead.
“Dad?” Anthony turned to look at Tony, clearly confused, “What are you doing here?”
“I'm not your da...” Tony paused, deciding to play along, “Anthony. I'm looking after you.”
“But you never... look after... I'm sick.”
“I know, and I'm here for you,” Tony said, thinking that this younger version of himself deserved at least that. He had deserved a father who had cared, but like too many children he found himself living with a man that he barely knew.
After Anthony calmed down a little Tony turned to Bruce, “Update on the time machine?”
“We're close.”
“Good,” Tony glanced down at Anthony, who was again tossing and turning in distress though Pepper blotted his forehead and neck with cold water and spoke soothingly. “I'm going to go up and help.”
“Did you finish the dialling mechanism?”
“I think so, I just need to install it and then we can test the damned thing.” Tony stood up slowly, his legs not wanting to support him, and picked his tablet up from the dresser.
“Should you be...”
“I need to be there,” Tony assured Pepper, leaving with Bruce for the lab, “Don't worry, Bruce is babysitting me.”
Pepper accepted it, instead focusing her attention on Anthony. She would be sad to see him go, he was a sweet kid, but she wished that his visit had been more pleasant instead of being spent in bed.
“Jarvis,” she said quietly, “I don't want to wake him, can you scan his temp?”
“It's down to an even 101 now.”
“Good,” she sighed in relief, only now deciding it was alright for her to take up her paperwork again, quietly tapping away at it while Anthony slept through the morning and into the afternoon. Steve turned up, but without Anthony to visit with he left soon after, providing Pepper with food and coffee so she wouldn't have to leave his side.
Meanwhile, in the lab, Tony helped Reed and Bruce finish up the machine and install the dial. They ate muffins provided by Dum-E and drank several pots of coffee and by noon they were testing the still unstable power supply when Bruce noticed that Tony was looking shaky again, he was coughing and wheezing more and more frequently. Not wanting to wrestle with Tony, he walked towards the storage room and softly asked, so as not to be heard by Tony, “Jarvis?”
“Sir's heart-rate is low and his temperature is high again.”
“How high?”
“103.2. You will be pleased to know that young Anthony's has lowered considerably.”
“Thanks Jarvis.” Bruce idly wondered if when one went down the other went up, but shook that idea way as stupid, this was a mere coincidence probably.
“Tony, sit.” Bruce instructed, returning with a chair which he slid behind Tony, forcing him to sit back in it. He welcomed the rest, his legs aching with the strain of standing for several hours. Dum-E turned up with lunch then, and Tony, smelling the beef chili he usually loved so much, was up out of his chair in an instant, throwing up into a handy trash bin.
Reed wrinkled his nose, but Bruce was not deterred from approaching and setting a cold, wet rag, usually used for cleaning up oil spills, against the back of Tony's neck. Tony didn't react with anger as expected, he was too busy dry heaving. It eventually ended and he flopped back onto the chair and glared, challenging Banner to comment.
Bruce didn't comment on that, all he said was, “It's getting worse by the hour. We need to fire up the machine...”
“I'll let Pepper know,” Tony said, and began texting her on his phone. She showed up ten minutes later with a recently roused Anthony in her arms, back in the pyjamas he'd arrived in, as well as the other Avengers filtering in to say goodbye to the little one.
Steve gave Anthony a reluctant hug, feeling attached to the child after only a couple of days, and Thor wanted to give him a gift, but Banner did not think it a good idea in case they broke time-space. Still, when Banner wasn't looking, Thor tucked a plastic horse into Anthony's hand. Clint and Natasha watched from the background.
“Here it goes.”
Banner pressed several switches on the machine and it whirled to life. Reed, holding the dial switch, asked Anthony, “What day and time was it when you left?”
“February 12th, 1979, 10pm.”
“Mom's birthday is tomorrow,” Tony grinned. “You better get me back right on time Reed. This one was a great party.”
“You remembered it?” Anthony asked.
“Of course. She's gonna' love the gift we made her.”
“I hope so, I worked hard on it.”
“I know,” Tony winked. Then he broke down and knelt to give himself a hug. Pepper did the same, and then helped Tony to his feet as he wobbled. She felt the heat radiating off of him and hoped, desperately, that this would correct the problem and all would turn out well.
“Thank you all!” Anthony said, stepping towards the glowing portal. It was a wide oval shaped portal, the horizon a shimmering pool of what looked like pink and yellow water.
Anthony disappeared into the horizon and Reed, after a few minutes, powered down the machine.
“How will we know if it worked?” asked Steve.
“Either I'll disappear because we fucked it up...” said Tony.
“Or else it worked and nothing changes – at least nothing big,” finished Bruce.
“When will we know?”
“Should be mostly instantaneous...”
“So, we're good then?”
“I think so.”
“Good.” Tony allowed himself to collapse, giving into blackness.
“Guys, he's fainting again,” called Natasha, and Pepper was there to slip her arms under his body and lower him gently. Steve was there to carry him to bed, bridal-style rather than a pony-ride, and Tony managed to rest.
The symptoms had stopped rapidly after Anthony's departure, although three days later Tony still felt like he was recovering from a particularly nasty flu. Things seemed relatively unchanged, a few details here and there, but nothing major. There was no longer a tennis court in Stark Mansion however, and the garden was well-tended.
Pepper crept down to the lowest lab in a silky white and purple nightgown, barefoot and bathed in a soft blue fluorescent glow.
“Tony?” she yawned, “You're up still?”
“Yeah.”
“Listen, I don't think we should be messing around with time-space. Just because we have the tech doesn't mean we should use it.”
“Yeah... I know. Still, we're going to keep it in case we need it. Could come in handy.”
“I guess,” Pepper agreed, taking a seat on a stool. She picked up an old plastic horse toy which was missing a leg from the workbench and played with it, almost nervously. Tony had a half-finished bottle of chardonnay, Pepper's favourite, and he silently set a glass in front of her and went to pour her some. She placed a hand on top of the glass, preventing him.
Tony frowned, “Are you mad?”
“No, just... not in the mood for wine.”
“Oh.”
“It was neat to see you as a kid.”
“Yeah. Hey, guess what I found...”
“You didn't.”
“Oh yes. Jarvis?”
“Sir?”
“Show me Scout Pepper.”
On the large projector screen Jarvis showed Pepper a picture of herself at twelve years old, showing off her Girl Scout uniform and several boxes of cookies. It was a picture that had appeared in the local newspaper, next to an article discussing her record cookie sales. She wore large braces and had her hair in two long braids hanging in front, and she was grinning ear-to-ear.
“Tony...” Pepper groaned, thoroughly embarrassed.
“I'm making this the new start-up image on all my computers – on all the systems in the mansion.”
Pepper figured there was no use arguing. “I thought you hated kids?”
“You were a cute little girl.”
“So were you,” she retorted, “well, a cute boy.”
“I was well behaved too... didn't have much choice in that.”
“Tony,” Pepper took a deep breath.
“Yes dear?”
Time to get this over with. “I know you don't like children, and we didn't talk about it, but you know how a little while ago I told you I was switching brands of birth control and that we'd have to use extra protection in between so as not to...”
“I remember,” Tony said, suddenly serious as he remembered that conversation.
“Well, we didn't... you were drunk and yelled YOLO and we did it anyway...”
Tony mentally winced at the memory, “Also we couldn't find condoms.”
“Yes. Well. I was late so I checked it out...”
“And?”
“If you don't want it we can look into other options, adoption or termination or... I know you aren't into kids and –”
Any future ramblings Pepper had were cut off by Tony's mouth on hers, kissing her deeply. When he at last pulled away, Tony wore a rare smile, gentle and knowing, he rested a hand on Pepper's flat belly.
“It's mine?”
“No,” Pepper scoffed, “It's Loki's. Of course it's yours, dumb ass.”
“By our genes combined this child will be both stunningly beautiful and freakishly smart.”
Pepper grinned back, happy that her news had been taken so well.
“I'm going to be a better father than my own,” Tony vowed.
After a moment Pepper said, “I just realized the other Avengers will expect to be honorary uncles and aunt...”
“I didn't say he or she wouldn't have a fucked up childhood, just that it wouldn't be my fault.”
Pepper broke into giggles at the thought.