A Fighting Chance (Tom Holland AU) [2]

Fifty-Three

"THIS IS SO COOL!" I chuckled at his excitement, smiling widely.

"It's so nice to meet you, Noah." I grinned and held my arms out for another hug, one he gladly accepted.

"You and your auntie Grace both love hugs. You'll get along just fine." Ali chuckled, and I smiled widely.

"I can't believe it!" He looked like he was on cloud nine.

"How is Annabelle doing, you guys?" Zendaya looked at us, and Noah looked confused.

"Annabelle?"

"Our daughter. You have a little cousin, Noah." Tom had switched back to his native accent, and Noah seemed a bit taken aback by that. "She's doing good. My parents flew out to Baltimore for a day with her so they could spend time with Grace's parents, and now they have her until we go back home."

"How old is she?" Noah looked between the two of us, and I smiled.

"She's really little. She's only like six months old now."

"A bb!" Ali smiled widely at that, and I chuckled. I was glad to see that he had picked up on the term she and I used for babies.

"Yes, she's a bb. And sometime soon you'll get to meet her, okay?" He nodded excitedly, and I smiled gently. 

After a while of the three of us playing, I excused myself to go talk to the girls. "Thank you so much for taking the time out of your honeymoon to do this, Grace." Zendaya smiled as Ali pulled her close.

"You guys know that we would do anything for you. Besides, I haven't gotten to make kids happy like this since before I got pregnant. I love doing things like this." They smiled and pulled me into a hug. "You guys seem to be doing a great job as moms, by the way."

"You think so?"

"I do. Granted, I don't know what he was like before, but he seems to be really open now, in such a short time." When they nodded, I knew that I was right and he was nowhere near this open before. "That's all you guys."

"Thank you, Gracie." Ali's voice was soft, and I smiled as I wiped one of the tears that had slipped. "Hey, are you doing anything on June 8th of next year?"

"Not that I know of." I smiled, and she grinned.

"Good. Keep it free so you can make sure you're the best damn maid of honor the world has ever seen." I smiled widely, pulling her into a tight hug.

"That's not true, though. I had the best damn maid of honor the world has ever seen." I smiled, and she pulled me into a tight hug. 

"I love you, Gracie."

"I love you too, Ali."

The next night, I took a deep breath as Tom rung the doorbell. "Grace..." He sighed as he noticed my body language, wrapping an arm around my waist. "He loves us. You have no reason to be nervous."

"I don't know why I am. It's just...him having us over for dinner is unknown territory. What do you think he wants to talk to us about?"

Tom wasn't able to answer that, as the door opened. "Hey, you guys! Come on in, Susan's so excited for you guys to taste her secret recipes."

"Thank you for having us over for dinner, Robert."

"Oh, it's no problem! I've missed you losers." I rolled my eyes as he chuckled. 

After we introduced ourselves to his family and we all sat down, I took a bite of the baked ziti that Susan had made, and I smiled widely. "This is delicious, Susan."

"I'm so glad you like it! The sauce is a secret family recipe." I smiled gently at that.

"It's so delicious, and I wish that I could whip something like this up." She smiled, and Robert set his fork down. 

"Kevin told me about the new movie. Are you guys excited about being back on screen together?" He smiled at the two of us, and we nodded gently.

"Oh, of course. We haven't been on screen together since my Flex movie, and I've definitely missed it." I smiled over at Tom, and he grinned as he pressed a kiss to my cheek.

"Plus, I'm sure we'll find a way for Annabelle to make an appearance. It's a family project."

"Are you guys going to want her to be an actor?" Robert asked right before taking another bite. We looked at each other. This wasn't something we had discussed before.

"If that's what she wants, then yes." Tom smiled, and I nodded gently. It seemed like we had a conversation we'd need to get into later.

After a lovely dinner with the Downey family and a night of reconnecting with the man who made my life the way it is today, we looked at each other as we sat on the bed in our hotel. "Do we want her to be an actor, darling?"

"I mean, I think it would be really cool to have the three of us on screen together, but I'd hate to force her to do anything she doesn't want to." I looked over at him as I pulled my hair into a bun.

"That's fair..." He looked at me as he trailed off, letting me have the floor as I put on some comfy clothes.

"Let me know if you don't like this, but I think an effective way to show her the lifestyle would be to bring her to auditions and to set often once she's a little older. If she asks us to stop bringing her, we'll stop, and if she asks us to let her audition and try her hand in acting, we will." As he listened, he nodded softly.

"I like that. It lets her see everything, and we'll make sure to tell her that we'll respect her wishes." He smiled as I sat back down, leaning over so he was practically laying in my lap. I immediately started playing with his hair, and he chuckled softly. "I love you, Grace."

"I love you too, Tom."

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