Give Life Meaning...

Tony's Time To Shine

As Christmas crept ever closer Tony had gone into full-swing decorating. In the forties, he and his mom barely scraped by. So there had never been the newest baubles or even a tree most years. He did celebrate with Bucky and his family on occasion, they were always so happy to take him in. Add seventy years of technology and Christmas decorating was on a whole other level. Add Tony into the mix and it was almost overwhelming. He had woken up December first to see that the kids had snuck out of bed and left the room, there was a mix of panic and relief. They had finally felt safe enough to just move from one room to the next without them, but, they hadn't done it before then. He quickly threw his legs over the side of the bed and glanced at Natasha who still seemed peacefully asleep and hurried out of the room. There was no sense in waking up everyone yelling their names being that they still could only get so far. Jarvis had been told to watch, if they ever did this, and put all children's protocols into play. They would be trapped in the common area. 

What he found caused him to hang back. Tony had apparently dragged out or bought a bunch of Christmas decorations and laid them out across the floor. Some of it was tangled, and it was obvious he had been trying to untangle them but there was so much it was hard to tell if he had been mostly unsuccessful. In the middle of the barrage of lights were the twins. They were sitting still but the lights were strewn across their laps. Their fingers felt over the tiny bulbs and felt the wire it was connected to it. He spied Tony digging through another box before glancing over his should to check on the twins. Steve's lips twitched upwards in a smile as he realized that Tony was actively keeping tabs on where the kids were while trying to complete whatever task he was doing. 

"Ah hah!" Steve heard the man claim, running to the end of the seemingly neverending lights and connecting a button of sorts, before going to the wall and watching the lights turn on. Steve realized the man was then watching the expressions of the twins intently. Much to both of their relief, the twins gasped in delight as they touched the different colored bulbs. Glancing back over at Tony he saw the man press the button and the lights began to blink. Alina laughed as she clutched her new treasure and James waved his arms to express his excitement over their discovery. 

"Jarvis, can you record this?" Steve spoke quietly not wanting to break up the scene before him. JARVIS didn't respond, so Steve wasn't sure if he'd get to relive this scene with Natasha later but it was beautiful. 

"Look what I have!" Tony exclaimed if he moved over to them after gathering some things from a nearby box. Steve strained to see what it was without outing himself. The twins were completely enthralled with whatever Tony was showing them and then Steve saw it. It looked like an Elf. He had begun to see advertisements for it, something that watched the kids so Santas knew whether or not they were good. Steve didn't like that considering the twins were still exploring life. "This little guy's name is Timmy. Now a lot of people are going to tell you he's watching you because of Santa, but that's not true. See Timmy is going to watch over the two of you. Protect you." Steve relaxed, understanding what Tony was doing. The man probably knew the narrative that they were being watched would be uncomfortable for the kids, This was their first real Christmas, and he didn't want it spoiled, and Tony apparently was along the same thought process. 

"Now with Timmy is this book," he sat cross-legged in front of the kids. It was clearly a picture book of some kind as he opened it as James fiddled with 'Timmy' and Alina reached out for the colorful pages. "Timmy wrote the story about how you came to the Avengers. About your mom, and Dad. It also tells the story about what Timmy will do for you guys." Steve inhaled deeply at what Tony was saying, he was writing out their story. He couldn't imagine that it was very child-friendly but none of what they went through was fine. Normal. Tony was trying to give the kids a sense of safety during their first holiday. It promised to be busy and exciting, just like how Tony preferred things to be. He was actively trying to make the kids feel secure. With that, Steve went back to his room. 

While crawling into bed he jostled Natasha from her sleep as she opened her sleepy green eyes. "Mm... Steve? What's going on? Are the kids okay?" Her words came out mumbled and barely audible as she yawned and stretched herself out on the bed. 

"The kids are fine, go back to sleep," he kissed her cheek and settled himself against her. Steve enjoyed moments when it was just the two of them but that wasn't very often. He had to admit part of it was their fault, as they didn't want to push the kids off on anyone. They were always so busy trying to ameliorate their lives that it took the time they had for each other. The time that they now craved to have with each other. If Steve was being honest they probably always craved it they just hadn't noticed until recently. Natasha snuggled back into the pillow before peeking back up at him. "Honest. They're with Tony right now. They're as safe as they can be." 

Steve woke the moment that Natasha slid herself out of bed. He was known to sleep in or sleep well or long, so it left him feeling a little disoriented. "Nat?"

"Good afternoon Soldier," Nat said softly, looking over her shoulder before fully standing and stretching herself. "We better go check on the kids. Usually Tony is climbing up the wall around the twins if he's around them too long." She moved to get dressed and grabbed a wrap and swung it around her shoulders. The tower was warm enough that her tank top would be enough but she wasn't in the mood to show off that much skin. Nat went to the ensuite bathroom and finished brushing her teeth and trying to run her brush through her hair. 

"Let me get that for you," Steve spoke softly, taking the brush and starting at the bottom. Grinning as she let out a relaxed sigh followed by a hum of approval. 

"How do you know how to brush hair like this?" Nat tilted her head back enough to catch a glimpse of his smile. 

"I used to help Bucky's little sister, Becca. I mean. He had sisters, and they were always watching out for me so I helped him out with his kid sisters. Rebecca usually needed help with her hair," Steve wasn't always open about his past, it brought up a lot of things he had never really reconciled with. "She told me that I didn't hurt her as Bucky did." A chuckle did reverberate from his chest as he remembered those words. Bucky had taken offense to it. Bucky tried to do right by his sisters, but it helped that Steve could do it well enough. Brushing hair kept him out of alleyways getting beat up. 

"I'm sure she appreciated it," Natasha wasn't sure how to broach the subject afraid to say something that would make him shut back up. "Our daughter is a pretty lucky girl, then." 

"Ha, I can't do much but brush hair... I have a lot of learning to do if I want to actually be useful," he had approached Clint about it but the man had admitted his wife always did their daughter's hair. Steve didn't want to just rely on Nat, he wanted to be able to do things on his own. He lifted his hand up and ran it through Natasha's hair before pulling back and placing the brush down. "There you go. Now. Shall we save the Almighty Iron Man from two super soldier babies?" Steve suspected there was nothing to save Tony from. If anything the man was still knee-deep in Christmas decorations. He opened the door but let Natasha go first and followed after. Clint was preparing to go home for a few days, and they hadn't yet decided what to do for Christmas. The Barton family had invited them to spend their first Christmas as a family with them. Steve didn't want to impose on them but Clint insisted they were family. He had to admit it would be nice to be somewhere that felt more like home. Since theirs wasn't quite ready. 

"What the?" Natasha gasped, bringing Steve out of his thoughts. Leaving him to laugh a bit. The entire common area was covered in garlands, wreaths, and lights. Gold, silver, and red ran rampant but were tastefully placed, while the smell of cookies emanated from the kitchen. "Kids?"

Alina popped her little head out of the kitchen area, her cheeks rosy and her eyes were ablaze with excitement. She came out followed by James and Natasha noted that they were covered with flour. "What are you two getting into?" She chuckled, it made them look all out of sorts. They ran over to Natasha and proudly showed her their flour-covered hands. 

"We're making cookies! You have to set up the season with baking cookies," Tony called from the kitchen, the sound of a cookie pan being brought out of the oven caught Steve's ears. 

"You know how to bake?" Steve called back, startled at the idea that Tony Stark would be making a mess in the kitchen. He supposed that the man was a genius so baking couldn't be that difficult of a science for him. 

"Of course I do," came the indignant reply, followed by a string of curses. 

"Mr. Stark has burnt himself," JARVIS announced unhelpfully besides making the two adults in the other room snicker. Steve moved to look more wholly into the kitchen and chuckled at the mess. 

"You're certainly going all out, what's the occasion?" Steve asked, before glancing back at Natasha who listening to the babbling of the twins. 

"It's their first Christmas Capt. They need to do it all, " Tony told the man, carefully placing the cookies on the cooling rack. "We have to make stockings. Not buy them, make them, and we certainly have to go cut down a Christmas tree or two." Steve was taken aback, having not been prepared that Tony Stark would be into Christmas. Or, if he was, he would be celebrating away from the tower. 

"We're going to cut down a tree?" Steve remembered watching people do it. Bucky had done it for him, let him pick the tree while he cut it down. Except for pre-serum Steve didn't stand a chance in getting a tree home, so Bucky did it for him. "We're going to take the kids?"

Tony nodded as he placed another tray of oddly shaped cookies into the oven. "We also have a visitor coming... I don't think I'll have him tonight, but soon, we're going to introduce your kids to Saint Nicholas," he didn't turn to gauge Steve's reaction because it was going to happen.  

"You want... To bring someone dressed up like Santa Claus?" Steve's head was spinning with the list of things that were planned with the twins. Tree hunting, stocking making, and now meeting Santa? Would they allow a stranger near the kids? Everyone was still a potential threat. 

"It'll be Rhodes, the kids will be fine. He volunteers during the Holiday season to begin with, so this will just be one more stop. The kids will be safe, and they'll be able to experience it... Oh! We have to take them to see the Rockefeller tree. They loved lights this morning, I think they would get a kick out of seeing a huge tree with lights," Tony spoke adding another thing to the list of things they had to do with the twins. 

"You don't think you're going a tad overboard?" Natasha asked, holding the twin's hands. 

"Oh, there's more. Christmas shows, and music. I just think that they should have a chance at it all," Tony responded, he reached for a wash cloth and wetted it before kneeling in front of the twins and gently wiping their faces. 

"Sounds like you're the man with the plan," Steve responded as he leaned his hip against the counter. "If you say you think the kids will enjoy it, we'll do it." 

"Knew you'd see things my way," Tony told him with a laugh before looking up. "JARVIS! Play Christmas music!"