Shadowplay | Tony Stark

SIXTY SEVEN - BASEBALL BAT

It was late October when a knock at the front door distrusted Mila's peaceful evening. The sun had set three hours earlier and the night sky was a ribbon of ebony with diamond stars and a crescent moon hanging against it.

The house seemed strangely quiet once Peter had left for college in early September and it took a little while to get used to at first, remembering to set one less place at the dining table and to not have to pick up his favourite snacks in the grocery store.

As proud of her son as Mila was, she felt selfishly upset that Peter was no longer around to put a smile on her face or give her a huge hug, to go with her on runs to Target or to proof read his assignments. She'd gotten used to having a full house and although she knew the chaos would resume once the new baby arrived, the lack of an extra soul in the place had made everyone a little more glum.

The family had just celebrated Tristan's fourth birthday a week prior and Tony had been out of town for four days afterwards, not due to return home until Sunday evening. He'd been asked to host a lecture at MIT and had gladly obliged, before planning to jet over to New York to touch base with Nick Fury and the team since it had been a few months since they'd last caught up.

He'd asked Mila if she and Tristan wanted to join him, though Mila was quick to turn down his offer. Tristan was used to his school routine and Mila was keen to work as much as she could before going on maternity leave, wanting to keep things running as smoothly as possible without anymore interruptions to their lives.

Tony wasn't happy about leaving Mila alone, even if it was only for a week, though she reassured him that everything would be just fine. Deep down Tony knew Mila was more than capable of looking after herself and their son for a week, but his innate urge to worry about their safety made multiple phone calls per day a regular occurrence. Mila didn't mind one bit, getting to hear Tony's voice making dealing with missing him that little bit easier.

The fireplace was roaring beside her as Mila sat wrapped beneath a knitted blanket on the couch. Tristan had been asleep for two hours by then and although she too could feel her eyes growing heavy, she was enjoying having some time to herself. Of course she missed Tony dearly, but there was something sweetly nostalgic about having just the two of them in the house, the week feeling like the clock had wound back to two years prior.

The heavy knock on the front door startled Mila, the unexpected sound making her heart skip a nervous beat when it interrupted an episode of Gilmore Girls. Most of the lights downstairs were out besides two lamps in the corner of the dining area and next to the television, making the darkness of the doorway feel incredibly eerie as Mila glanced over.

She scarcely pushed the blanket from her body and pulled herself up onto her feet, her seven-month bump making the smallest of things like getting up off the couch feel like running a marathon.

Pressing her face against the door, the spyglass gave little away about the late night visitor since the porch light had been out for almost a month, Tony insisting he'd get round to fixing it almost every day. There were no car headlights in sight and Mila couldn't even see as far as the garage through the darkness, an unsettling feeling beginning to grow in the pit of her stomach.

She took a step back from the door as she tried to decide what to do, holding her breath while she hoped that whoever it was that had knocked on her front door would just go away if she stayed quiet for long enough. Mila knew that Joss was in New York for the SHIELD meeting and that her mother would've called ahead if she was coming to stay, cutting down the number of potential visitors to almost a very unnerving zero.

There was no sound of movement on the other side of the door and after a long, breathless minute, Mila was on the verge of walking back over to the couch when a second knock made her jump out of her skin.