The Tower: Family

Return to the Tower

Our honeymoon was over too soon, though I couldn't pretend I wasn't missing my babies like crazy. We picked them and the puppies up from Sam's sister and took them straight to the tower.

It was strange going back to the tower but not in a bad way. I had a lot of happy memories attached to the building. This was where I fell in love with my family. Going up in the elevator, all of us crammed together - we were going home.

The elevator opened up right into the penthouse. It was a huge open space, the ceiling seemed to start at what would be normally two stories above us and funneled up as it got to the window on the opposite side, so it was several stories of glass overlooking the city and acted as the focal point of the room. Closest to the window was an open circular sitting area that had a modern chandelier hanging over it. It was slightly raised and there were plenty of seats for all of us and more to sit around, and despite how large it looked, it also looked cozy and inviting. In the center of the space, a glass spiral staircase led to the upper floors, and running down the middle of it was a glassed-in fountain, the water running right down the glass. My immediate thought seeing it was that it would be a great place to put the glass Thor and I had inadvertently made.

Directly to the left and right of the elevator were rooms split into two levels each with stairs running up in a curve along the lower level. The bottom level of each was a solid wall with large dark wood doors, while the top levels had glass walls. Along with sculptures and other decorative pieces, there were various paintings, photographs on the solid walls. None matched and yet they all worked together. It included things like a Monet, photographs of the city skyline from the early 40s, artwork featuring the Avengers that you could find in poster form at Walmart, and photos we'd taken of each other or the kids, printed onto canvas.

"Alright, so," Tony said as we spilled into the entryway. The puppies immediately just took off, running around and sniffing everything. "On the left, there's a cinema room on the bottom and games and playroom on the top. On the right is the kitchen and above it a home gym."

He led us toward the sitting area. "The bedrooms are all upstairs," he said as we passed the stairs. "I cut the number for us down to just three. One big family one and two spares for when we might need space. There are more kids' rooms and a nursery." We reached the sitting area which brought the rest of the space into view. On the right was a dining area with a large glass table and a bar at the far end. To the left was some more entertaining space. Couches, a big-screen TV, and a grand piano. "There are bathrooms at either end and obviously more upstairs. What do you think?"

"It's perfect, Tony," Steve said.

Clint collapsed down on one of the couches and put his feet on the coffee table. "I think to celebrate our triumphant return to the city, we should order a bunch of pizza."

"What a surprise that you'd suggest that, Clint?" Natasha said, sitting down next to him.

"What? Pizza is good," Clint argued.

"You heard the man, FRIDAY," Tony said. "You know what we like."

"Yes, sir," the AI replied.

"Where's dis?" Riley asked as she walked over to the window and pressed her face against it.

"This is our new home," Tony answered. "What do you think?"

"Dis isn't home," Pietro said. "No..."

"Oh, honey," Bruce cooed, going down on one knee and drawing Pietro close with one large green hand. "We still have the other house and this one means you get to go to a nice school."

"But I wike da outside. Dis too high up," Pietro sobbed, his lip quivering. "And my books."

"Come here, bumblebee," Bruce said, scooping him up.