~Iron Family~

Brown Eyed Girl

A/N: In case you haven't heard it before, here is the song Tony plays for Morgan in this chapter! 
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***

Although he'd only been there for the weekend, the Avengers Tower seemed a bit emptier without Peter Parker. After Andrew took him away, Tony locked himself in his workshop and didn't come out until two days later.

He was tired, dirty, and probably had had too many cups of coffee, but he'd gotten a lot of work done. He was all caught up with boring paperwork, too.

Pepper came in to check on him every now and then.

"Tony, you can't let this slow you down," she sighed as she handed him another cup of hot coffee. Tony sipped it with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not, Pep. Just taking a little break."

"Well this 'little break' has resulted in me having to drive kids everywhere, deal with meltdowns, and clean up dinners all by myself. Do you know how many times Morgan has asked where you are? A lot."

Tony groaned and stood up from his chair, placing the steaming mug next to the many others that had been used. "I'm sorry, honey," he said, and, driven by his wife's presence, began to slowly tidy up the workshop. "I just needed some alone time. I haven't done this in awhile."

"No, you haven't," Pepper shook her head, turning her hair into a bouncing curtain. Tony tried not to stare and picked up a wrench, giving it to Dum-E to put away.

"You should do this sometime," Tony commented, taking another sip from his coffee. Pepper raised her brow in surprise.

"What, stay up for forty-eight hours and survive on fifty cups of coffee?"

"No." Tony picked up a rag and wiped the grease off his hands. "You need some alone time. Some Pepper time! I'm sure it's been so stressful dealing with the kids while I've been locked up, I think it'd be good for you."

"Yeah?" Pepper picked up an arc reactor Tony had yet to install in a new suit. "And what do you suggest I do?"

"I dunno," Tony shrugged. "Whatever you ladies do when you have a day out. Purse-shopping? Manicures? Unicorn riding?"

"Okay," Pepper laughed. "I'll think about it. Hey, Harley wanted to let you know he got a ninety-five on his math test."

"That's awesome!" Tony grinned. "I'm glad I was able to help him."

"They adore you, Tony," she said, giving him one last smile before leaving the workshop.

"Do you?" Tony called. No answer, but she was probably already gone. He chuckled and slowly stopped cleaning.

He stood there staring at the wall for a little while. He wasn't thinking, he wasn't plotting... It was just a quiet moment with him and Dum-E.

After a little while, he patted Dum-E on the head and went upstairs to check on everyone. He missed them.

It was Wednesday afternoon, which meant Harley would be at pre-season baseball practice. The games and official practices would start next month and Tony was very excited to watch. Sure, he didn't care for baseball much, let alone a bunch of fourteen-year-olds goofing off, but it was his son playing. That made it all the better.

Morgan would be starting her first day of preschool next week, and every morning she 'practiced' waking up early by rousing Tony and Pepper in the morning at five.

The little princess herself was currently in the living room inside of a fort tent, coloring pictures and humming to herself. Tony deposited the dirty coffee mugs in the sink before crawling into the tent on all fours.