Wayward Devotion

part four: remain

You wake up to something licking your cheek.

You open your eyes slowly to see Alpine, Bucky's cat directly in your face.

At the end of the cat stood a certain Morgan Stark, trying to hide her giggles.

You lift your head and tilt it, looking at the young girl.

"Good morning aunt Y/N," she chirps sweetly, setting Alpine on the floor, who books off down the hall, presumably into Bucky's room.

You rub the sleep from your eyes, and look down at Ikaris, still fast asleep, with his arms around your lower back. You gingerly lift his arms off of you, and move up from the couch, trying not to disturb him.

You lift Morgan up and give her a hug, "hi sweet girl," you whisper in her ear as you carry her into the kitchen on your hip.

Pepper and Bruce are both there, Pepper sporting a coffee mug in her hands, and Bruce at the stove.

"Oh," Pepper straightens up in her chair when you walk in, "you're awake."

"Alpine woke her up," Morgan explains as you set her in the chair next to her mother.

"Just Alpine," you agree with a wink as you grab a mug from the cupboard.

"Did you feed her this morning?" Pepper asks the young girl who nods at her mother.

It was common knowledge that whenever Bucky went on a mission, Morgan would take care of Alpine for him. Given her age, you would usually help her out, but she always insisted she didn't need it.

You let her borrow your phone to take photos of the feline to send to Bucky though to let him know she was doing okay. It warmed your heart to see Bucky and Morgan interact so well despite the former animosity between him and Tony.

You're filling the mug you had grabbed with coffee when Pepper speaks up, "how are you feeling this morning?"

You stir some milk and sugar into your drink, "I'm doing," you search for the right word.

"Okay I guess," you lift the mug and take a sip, "given everything."

"I understand," she says softly, taking a sip of her drink, "Bruce updated me on everything."

"I'm sorry you weren't contacted sooner," you apologize, "it was just so chaotic yesterday."

"It's okay," she assures you, "I was actually at a teacher conference when I got alerted about the attack. Rhodey contacted to let me know it was handled though."

You respected the hell out of Pepper. She's taken everything thrown at her in stride. She's been running the entirety of Stark Industries single handedly, helping with the Avengers, and still had time to volunteer at Morgan's school.

And, between her, Rhodey and Happy, Morgan was always picked up from school by one of them regardless of what was going on. You babysat whenever you could, usually sitting in the lab with the young girl, making small experiments for her to be entertained by.

You walk up behind Bruce, peeking over his shoulder at the pan in front of him, "whatcha cookin' doc?"

"Chocolate chip pancakes!" Morgan yells out excitedly, fists banging the table.

You turn your head to see Wanda strolling into the kitchen, sporting a chunky sweater that looks very comfy.

"Well if that's not the best breakfast, I don't know what is." You look at the girl, talking very seriously.

"I agree," Wanda comes and nudges your hip with hers, looking down into your mug.

You silently hand her your mug and grab another for a certain man still asleep on the couch.