Resilience | S. Rogers [3]

21 | LEAVING, LOVING, MEETING

April 2020
Starks' Lake House, New York

Morgan H. Stark was born on April 16th in 2019.

It had been an extremely long delivery but the baby was born healthy sporting the common Stark traits of brown hair and eyes. Rose didn't think she'd ever seen Tony so in awe about anything in his life, not even when he and Pepper got married in a close-knit ceremony in their lake house.

The woman had been heavily pregnant at that point.

Both occasions had been emotional moments for Rose as well. A part of her felt deeply affected by the realisation that she was living the moments Howie and Maria were supposed to live, she tried to make the best out of the experience for both of them. She hoped that somewhere, they would find it in themselves to forgive her for their demise by loving their son like her own.

The night Morgan was born had been an entire rollercoaster, which finally culminated when both parents got to hold their daughter for the first time.

In Rose's eyes, Tony's worries about being a good father vanished when he saw his kid, an assurance that no matter what happened he knew that he was going to be a good father because that's what he set himself to do. And Tony Stark always got what he wanted.

That last perception vanished though when he wanted to get a good night's sleep but that's another matter.

"What's the point in getting this huge cake if she's not able to eat it all?" Tony pointed out after Pepper told him that Morgan had had enough cake to eat. The woman only sent him a warning glare before he raised his hands in defeat.

Maybe Tony Stark didn't get what he wanted all the time.

Staring at the stuffed penguin that Morgan was playing with since she received it at lunchtime, Tony added, "I'm feeling deeply insulted about that. I moved sea and land to get her the gifts and she chooses to play with the one you gave her," he told his aunt making her smirk and shrug.

Morgan walked slowly with the toy in her hand, holding on to sofas.

"I know how to choose my gifts."

"Only because you have an inner oracle that tells you if people will like it. That's cheating."

The stuffed animal made noises after Morgan pressed its wing and she laughed. "You keep telling yourself that," Rose told him taking a bite of the cake with a lot of fondant.

"If she doesn't stop doing that in 5 minutes, I'm taking the batteries off that thing," he commented again making Rose laugh.

"I suppose you can call it karma," she mentioned. "If you're lucky, Morgan will take after Pepper when she's a kid."

The penguin made another noise and Rose looked down at Morgan who had reached her stretching her arms signalling she wanted Rose to lift her.

"What's that supposed to mean? I was a wonderful kid," Tony defended, Pepper snorted from the kitchen. "What?" he asked offended. "Auntie, tell her."