#lucy elina stark-strange (oc)

[elisaphoenix13]

Lucy: Daddy? Why do people get married?

Tony: Well, when two people love each other very much it can be a good thing to do for tax purposes.

*Stephen throws a book at him from the other room.*

[elisaphoenix13]

Lucy, while in the car: My sandwich is still frozen! Can you defrost it?

Tony: Just wait a few minutes-

*Uncrustable™ flies to the front of the car and lands on the dashboard.*

Lucy: There! The sun will thaw it!

Stephen: We should wear cameras to show what our lives our like with these kids.

[elisaphoenix13]

Lucy: Daddy? Do dragons fart fire?

Tony:

Lucy:

Tony: Honey!

Stephen: No! I don't fart fire when I'm a dragon!

[elisaphoenix13]

Lucy, as a toddler: When I was in your tummy it was super gross.

Stephen:

Stephen:...but you weren't even--

Tony: Shh...just let it be.

[elisaphoenix13]

Lucy: Daddy I'm bored.

Tony: Then go play with your toys. Use your imagination.

Lucy: I can't use my imagination.

Tony: Why not?

Lucy: I traded it for some fruit snacks at school!

[elisaphoenix13]

A Warm Summer Day

It was a nice summer day at the lake house. All the kids were outside playing, even Valerie and Lucy who were both being carefully supervised by the older children, and Stephen decided to stay inside and enjoy the air conditioning. He had no earthly clue what Tony was up to but Stephen would bet money he was working on a new project. The man never really could stop tinkering. His hands were almost always busy with something.

But Stephen trusted his children enough to sit near the window and occasionally glance out to check on them all, and enjoy some iced tea and a book. He was comfortably stretched out on the couch with his book of choice, a mystery novel that sounded interesting when he saw it at the bookstore, and a glass of iced tea on a coaster on the coffee table. After turning a page and grabbing said glass, he took a sip–

QUACK.

Stephen blinked. That definitely wasn't an animal they owned. When he looked up over the rim of his glass, he watched as a duck waddled across the floor like it owned the place. A quick glance out the window reassured him that this wasn't some elaborate prank by his children since they were all busy playing, so this duck must have waddled in through Athena's dog door.

He did seem to hear it flap but he was so accustomed to hearing it even when Athena was with him that he didn't think anything of it. Flynn and Tibbs also used it regularly. Stephen even caught Pudge using it on one occasion though he wasn't sure how that was possible. The owl was extremely small and couldn't have been strong enough to push the flap open…but he did somehow.

Gerald and Emir were too big for the pet door.

QUACK.

Stephen sighs and sets his glass back down to look at the duck across the room. It's attention was currently on Athena's water bowl which it was drinking water from so Stephen gave it a few moments to hydrate before petting his wolf's head and nodding toward the duck.

"Go on. Send it back outside. Gently."

Athena huffs and lifts her head from Stephen's lap before jumping down from the couch to herd the duck back out the pet door. It quacked with indignation at first, but fortunately headed for the door when Athena nudged it again. Once the duck was safely through, the wolf returned to the couch, jumped up, and laid her head back down in Stephen's lap. As he pet her in silent praise, the back door opened and Tony walked in with a raised eyebrow.

"Did I just see a duck walk out of the house?" He asks and Stephen snorts.

"You did. It just wandered in like it lived here. I had Athena show it back out. Maybe you should consider making it openable only to our pets." Stephen suggests.

Tony hums and rubs his chin in thought after joining Stephen on the couch. On the other end though since the sorcerer was currently stretched out on the shorter part of the L and Athena was using his lap as a pillow.

"Well it would be easy to put something on Tibbs and Flynn's collars but Athena doesn't normally wear one." Tony says. "Maybe I can design a chip instead. It would be a good idea to chip them all anyway."

"As long as it would be safe for our shifters."

Tony nods. "It'll be fine. I'll make it small."

"You can add it to your neverending list of projects then. What were you working on today?" Stephen asks and turns another page.

"Something Lucy friendly so she can help out in the lab and garage. I think I've successfully turned her into a grease monkey. She's getting to that age." Tony smiles softly. "They grow up too fast."

Stephen looks back up from his book, over at his husband, and then out the window when he finds Tony watching the kids. It was true. The kids grew up too fast. Harley and Peter were in college, Cassie and the twins were in their senior year of high school, Diana was in third grade, and Valerie…well she would be getting ready for preschool soon. Whether she would actually go long enough from Stephen's hip was another thing entirely.

And now Lucy was walking. Running really. She was definitely Tony's child the way she ran around getting into everything. She was a handful the moment she learned to crawl.

"We could…always try to even things out." Stephen mumbles.

Tony looks over at him. "What?"

"We've got four boys and three girls…"

"Isn't the magic random?" Tony chuckles. "It could give us a boy and then what? We keep using it until we have the same amount of each?"

Stephen smirks. "It's not like we don't have the space, the money, or the babysitters."

"I'm pretty sure Wong has been very tempted to burn that book." Tony jokes.

"He says things like that but he loves the girls. And William. The other boys apparently are menaces to society."

"Give Lucy time and she'll be one of them too." Tony says and gets back up. "I'll go check on the two youngest and go see about that chip. I'd rather not be forced to adopt a duck. Especially if the kids didn't have anything to do with it."

"I do not want a duck."

"Great. Heard they're assholes anyway." Tony says and gets close enough to lean down and kiss him then leaves through the back door again.

Well he didn't outright say no, Stephen thinks. Another kid wasn't actively on his mind this time. It was just a thought when Tony had said something about their kids growing up too fast. In reality, even when Tony passed–from old age Stephen firmly told himself–he could still use the book to create children and they would always be Tony's. Stephen didn't think he would ever date or remarry when that day finally came, but there was a small comfort in knowing that any children he conjured up afterwards would share his husband's blood.

A small comfort because it still wouldn't be fair to the child not to be able to meet their father. 

But he still has at least another twenty years to share with Tony. Stephen wasn't going to worry about any of that until he had to.

So he tossed those maudlin thoughts far back to the recesses of his mind and turned his attention back to his book, and enjoyed it as well as the sounds of his children's happy screaming and laughter. The splashing was almost just as loud and Lucy even let out a couple of elated squeals. A quick glance out the window showed Thomas holding her by her hands at the water's edge and letting Lucy make little jumps and kick her feet. William was nearby holding Valerie in the water away from the rest of the kids who were splashing each other or having a contest of who could make the biggest splash with a cannonball.

Stephen remembered the first time he watched the kids in the lake after the snap. It put him on edge because all he could think about was Donna. How she drowned and no matter what he did, he couldn't save her. He insisted on adult supervision for a long time because Harley and Peter were around the same age she was when it happened. Donna was seventeen and he had been nineteen.

His parents never forgave him after the accident. Donna was one of the reasons he became a doctor. When he left home, he didn't have any interest in trying to reconcile with his parents. He kept in touch with Victor as much as he could…but then he was killed in a car accident.

So Stephen understood Peter's fear. Understood why he thought he was bad luck when it came to family. But now they both had this family. And Stephen would keep it, come hell or high water.

He eventually gave up on his book and set it down on the coffee table and retrieved his half empty glass instead before getting up. Athena was forced to lift her head and she dutifully followed when he walked into the kitchen to refill his iced tea. Once that was done, he opened the freezer and grabbed the box of popsicles the kids would no doubt appreciate on a hot day like this and after playing in the lake for so long.

"I think today is a day to have dessert first before lunch," Stephen says to Athena. She woofs softly and turns to go through the doggy door and the sorcerer picks up his glass and opens the back door to follow her.

Thomas and Lucy had since sat down at the water's edge and Lucy was happily splashing away with her hands, but the rest of the kids were sitting on the small pier with their towels over their shoulders. Or in Valerie's case, completely wrapped around her. With the heat though, Stephen knew she would quickly shed it and let the heat finish drying her.

"Do you guys want popsicles?" Stephen calls out and holds up the box for them to see.

"I want cherry!" Peter hollers instantly before getting up and jogging over. Stephen chuckles and holds the box up higher.

"What are you? Five?"

"And a half!" Peter snarks before snatching the box and digging out a cherry popsicle just as the other kids join them.

"Liam, I want grape!" Valerie requests and he nods.

"Okay, the angel wants a grape and I want orange." William says and takes them from Peter.

As the kids request a flavor, Stephen manages to snag a line flavored one. "What do you kids want for lunch?"

"Oh! I can make lunch for everyone!" Cassie offers but Stephen shakes his head with a smile.

"That's alright but thank you. Enjoy being a kid while you can."

"Why don't we just have pizza?" Thomas suggests as he holds Lucy's popsicle for her to bite into.

Stephen nods. "We can do pizza. Is your father in the garage?"

"Yup! Daddy has the door open so he can see us!" Diana answers helpfully before scrunching her nose. "He said he was making chips."

"Not to eat." Stephen chuckles. For the pets and the door. We had a visitor come unannounced that Athena had to show back out. A duck to be precise."

Harley grins. "We have a pet duck?!"

"No we do not."

"Aww too bad. Lucy could have had a bath with a real duck instead of a rubber one."

William snorts. "Don't give her or Dad any ideas."

Stephen takes the empty box from Peter. "I'll go order the pizza. If you're done swimming, make sure to clean up whatever you're done using. Don't leave the towels outside again. And try to cool down in the shade. I don't need any of you having a heat stroke."

"Maybe you should change into your swimsuit and get some sun. You need it." Harley says.

"I don't tan, I burn. You know that." Stephen huffs.

"If you do, then Dad can very lovingly put aloe on your sunburn!" Peter calls out as Stephen walks away to throw the box in the recycling bin.

"I would never leave the room then," Stephen mutters.

Of course, with his enhanced hearing, Peter laughed. It was enough to tell the older kids what Stephen had said out of earshot and they laughed too.

"Isn't that the point?" Cassie says loudly and Stephen sighs.

[elisaphoenix13]

When One Works Hard

Commission request from @daisypoisonpen. It was inspired by a TikTok she found and I thought the idea was hilarious. Hope you like it!

Peter knew something was wrong when he got home and fell back onto his bed with his Starkpad when he got home and the internet didn't work. He even tried using the mobile data but that failed to work too. His immediate assumption was that Harley did something, and he got up to walk to Harley's room to confront his brother, but found the older teen looking just as confused. William was sitting on Harley's bed with a book so Peter wasn't sure if he was aware of the issue yet or not, but he was going to hear about it now if he wasn't.

"Hey, did you do something to the internet?" Peter asks and Harley glances up at him from his desk.

"No. I was actually about to come ask you."

Peter shakes his head. "I just got home. Maybe Dad-"

"Dad's not home." William interrupts. "He's had meetings since this morning."

Peter opens his mouth to say something but then he hears small footsteps walking towards him and he leans out of the doorway a bit to find Diana. When she joins him, she holds her Starkpad up to him in confusion.

"Peter, it's not working. Can you fix it?" She asks.

"We're having problems too. The internet is down." He explains. "Maybe Mom knows what's going on."

"Mom doesn't deal with electronics." Harley points out and William closes his book. He wouldn't be getting any reading done until the internet problem was fixed at this rate.

"It wouldn't hurt to ask him anyway. Since Dad's not home, maybe Scott can at least take a look."

Harley snorts. "Dad would break his fingers."

"And Quill will break Dad." Peter says as his brothers get up and follow him out of the room. "And then Mom will find a way to make another time loop and break Quill a million times."

William mutters something about the family being a little too overprotective and psychotic which makes Harley laugh. An angry celestial was very dangerous, but Peter would be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit curious how a time looped battle between Quill and Stephen would go. The Time Stone may no longer exist in a physical sense, but Diana possessed its powers so Stephen would probably find a way to use them through her. If he were desperate enough.

Peter shakes the thought away as the four siblings make it down to the living room where they find Stephen in an armchair and calmly sipping tea. At least it looked calm, but the kids knew better. There was no physical manifestation of the angry aura around the sorcerer, but they knew him well enough to know when Stephen was pissed. Another dead giveaway was the fact that Athena was sitting regally by his feet instead of laying, which meant she could sense Stephen's ire and was reacting accordingly. She wouldn't attack them, but she knew now wasn't the time to be lazing about.

Harley nudges Peter closer and he glares back at his older brother before looking back at Stephen. "Hey, Mom? Do you know why the internet isn't working?"

Stephen takes another sip of his tea, looking up at the kids sharply and making them squirm uncomfortably. Even Valerie, who Peter just noticed was a few feet away having a tea party with Levi, was glancing over in their direction nervously. Of course she was also in tune with Stephen, so she also knew something was up, but Peter would bet money she didn't know what. At least not yet. The bottom line was that someone did something really bad, but it couldn't have been Valerie because she would never do anything to anger Stephen and his fury wasn't directed at her in any way.

"Stop right there." Stephen suddenly bites out and the kids all flinch until they realize that Thomas suddenly appeared next to them, holding Lucy.

It still boggled Peter's mind that Stephen was able to see and time things just right whenever Thomas or Pietro were running around. For the most part though, he chalked it up to the fact that Stephen was Mom and moms knew everything. It was amusing to see Pietro adjust to things as quickly as he did, but that was probably because he was tired of being caught by the back of his shirt when he was running where he wasn't supposed to.

"I was being careful! I swear!" Thomas says as Lucy's laughter starts to taper off into giggles. For some reason she loved it when he ran around with her at full speed.

Stephen directs his attention to all of the kids again and leans forward to set his mug down on the coffee table. It clattered loudly when ceramic met the glass surface and there was even a brief screech that made Peter wince. The others didn't react so he figured his spider hearing picked it up.

"I don't ask for much," Stephen starts and folds his hands in front of his face with his elbows on his knees. "I feed you, clothe you, take care of you when you're sick, and countless other things...but even I have my limits." He says.

All of the kids were standing ramrod straight by now. Peter didn't have to look to know that. They rarely saw Stephen seethe like this, especially when it was directed at them.

"I had a very long day of dimension hopping and I was looking forward to getting home and sitting down with some tea." The sorcerer continues. "You know what else I was looking forward to?"

The kids remain silent.

"My triple chocolate cake. You all know chocolate is one of the few things besides my children that I indulge in and I assumed you all knew better to ask when it comes to my chocolate. So what I want to know is...who ate it?" Stephen asks as he sits back in the chair.

Peter finally glanced at his siblings, because he knew he didn't eat it, but he was met with the same questioning and confused glances. Like Stephen said, they all knew better than to eat something that wasn't theirs, especially chocolate. They all knew it was one of the things their mom loved and they all liked seeing Stephen enjoy something because he didn't seem to enjoy a whole lot.

"I... don't think any of us ate it." William says softly.

"Maybe it was one of the team?" Thomas points out.

"Well until they step forward to take responsibility and they replace my cake, the internet will remain down." Stephen says.

Peter frowns. "Why don't I just get you another?"

"Because I don't want the culprit to think they got away with it. As I said before, I don't ask for a lot and someone had the nerve--" Stephen takes a breath. "Either you can help find out who did eat it, or you can join Valerie's tea party."

Athena seemed to like the idea as she finally left Stephen's side to join the little girl at her table and accept the biscuit the cloak offered her. Peter loved his sister and joined her tea parties sometimes, but today he was not in the mood. He had homework to do for one of his college classes anyway and he needed the internet so he vouched to help find the chocolate thief. Diana and William decided to play with her though, so it was up to Harley and Peter to figure out who was stupid enough to eat Mom's cake.

Thomas went back to entertaining Lucy, but if the internet wasn't back up by the time they both got tuckered out, he would probably help them.

Their search turned out to be harder than they expected. Either someone lied, or everyone they asked really was innocent. They first asked Scott and Quill, but Scott was panicking about a deadline with a security project he needed to send to Luis, and Quill basically spoke for both of them.

"Look, I know we have our moments, but even we're not stupid enough to eat your mom's chocolate in whatever form it might be."

Quill had a point, so they moved on after Cassie offered to help. Everyone else basically said the same thing. None of them were stupid enough to eat it, but some of them were a little miffed that the internet was down until further notice. Harley tried asking Friday if she knew anything or if she could turn the WiFi back on, but surprisingly, she didn't know who the thief was and Victor was currently overriding her controls over the WiFi. So the boys had no choice but to go back upstairs and entertain themselves the old fashioned way. Board games, card games, tea party with Valerie…

They tried the tv or offline electronics but Stephen shut those down too. Peter didn't know the sorcerer could be this petty, but whoever the culprit ended up being, he was going to web them to the ceiling with his extra strength web fluid. Although, he supposed the good thing that came out of this was that he spent some quality time with his siblings over board games. He, Harley, Thomas, and Cassie got into a really intense game of Uno, Diana and Valerie continued their tea party with Levi and the pets --Tibbs had joined for treats at some point--, and William bravely put a puzzle together with Stephen while Lucy napped in her playpen.

It was nearing dinner time when Tony got home and Stephen and William were in the middle of making a pasta dish. Stephen was still irked and even Tony could sense his spouse's irritation when he walked into the kitchen.

"Interesting to come home and not see the kids on some sort of electronic device." Tony greets and kisses Stephen. "Hi Duchess. What's wrong?"

"Until further notice, I've shut down all electronics and the internet." Stephen huffs and Tony shrugs.

"You know what? I could use the break. I'll even have an excuse if Pepper sends me twenty thousand emails."

The two oldest boys look up from their game and balk at him. They were hoping Stephen would have calmed down when Tony got home, or that their father would at least get the internet back up, but they were typical parents. If one made a punishment, the other enforced it.

"But I have homework!" Peter exclaims.

"I do too!" Harley says.

Tony takes off his sunglasses. "Well you should have thought about that before you did... whatever it is you did." He looks at Stephen. "What did they do?"

"I'm not just punishing our children. It affects the team too." Stephen says and picks up the pot to drain the pasta. "Someone ate my cake and until they fess up, no one is getting anything done."

"Your triple chocolate cake that you had in the fridge?" Tony asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! I was very much looking forward to it after the long day I had yesterday and this morning--" Stephen rants until Tony interrupts him.

"You mean the triple chocolate cake you ate two days ago while we were in bed and watching a movie together?"

There was a pregnant pause with only the sound of water draining from the colander until Stephen slowly set the empty pot aside and turned to regard his husband. All of the kids were staring at the sorcerer at this point, and considering the blush that was creeping onto Stephen's cheeks, it was safe to assume that he had completely forgotten.

"I...um...that does sound familiar now that you mention it." Stephen mumbles.

Tony chuckles. "Oh, honey…the mom in you is on autopilot that you're starting to forget your indulgences." He leans forward and gives the younger man another peck on the lips. "Tell you what, I'll order you another piece so you can have it after dinner."

Stephen coughs and turns to look at the kids and clears his throat in embarrassment. "I believe I owe you all an apology...so I'm sorry. Victor, you can turn everything back on."

"Right away, Doctor." The AI responds.

"Considering what you do for us, I think we can forgive you." Peter says with a smile. "If any of us did what you do, we'd probably forget something like that too."

"But we have learned something from this!" Harley says and Stephen raises an eyebrow.

"And what would that be?"

"How petty Mom can get over chocolate." Thomas answers.

Stephen actually chuckled a bit at that, and true to Tony's promise, he got another piece of his triple chocolate cake. Which he enjoyed with a hot cup of tea after getting the girls into bed and the boys were occupied with homework. Peter did hear a quiet moan which was evidence enough that the sorcerer was enjoying his chocolate, but knew it would escalate so he closed the door for the blessed sound proofing.

He knew his parents after all.

[elisaphoenix13]

Bonding With Clay

Tony woke with a soft groan and rolled onto his side to throw his arm around Stephen and buried his nose in the back of his neck. He even hooked a leg over Stephen's and ground his hips against his ass until the younger man hugged and swatted back at him.

"Tony, no. There's a child in our bed and I have to go to Kamar-taj today." Stephen mumbles.

Tony cracks his eyes open and lifts his head to look over Stephen and sighs when he finds Valerie cocooned against the sorcerer. "Doesn't she have her own bed?"

"She had a nightmare."

"What about William?" Tony complains and Stephen chuckles.

"You know as well as I do that there are some things parents can do that siblings can't." The sorcerer pushes Tony's face away. "Go brush your teeth."

"Absolutely not. You have to suffer my morning breath now." Tony laughs and kisses Stephen. It only lasted a few seconds before the younger was pushing him away again with a look of disgust.

"I can even taste it!"

Tony laughs again and rolls back over to get out of bed and shuffle into their bathroom to brush his teeth. As he passed Lucy's crib, he found her wide awake and sitting up, patiently gnawing on her teething ring...which she fondly chucked at his head. It was her way of saying good morning and also her way of showing that she liked someone. Fortunately she only threw soft things at people. The more dangerous items were chucked at something random. Like the lab incident.

So he and Stephen considered themselves lucky. Of course they still tried to get her to stop, but she was stubborn like her parents. Lucy did what she wanted.

"Just a minute Lulu. I've been ordered to wash my mouth and you know how Mom is." Tony says and grabs his toothbrush. Lucy babbles in a way a baby might be offended and Tony looks into the bedroom to look at Stephen as he gets out of bed as well. "Y'hear that?"

"She always has something to say." Stephen scoffs as he fixes the blankets over Valerie. "It'll be you, Lucy, and Valerie today. The kids have school and classes, I have things to check on in Kamar-taj, and everyone else is busy."

Tony spits into the sink after rinsing and frowns. "I don't mind, but Val never seems to enjoy our time together."

"She's getting better." Stephen sighs.

It was true...for the most part. Valerie wasn't completely reliant on Stephen anymore ever since the twins came to live with them. She adored William, and of course she loved Tony, but she and her father had yet to find something to bond over. She loved reading and the piano like Stephen just like Lucy loved being in the lab with Tony. He would figure something out though. Maybe tough out sitting through The Little Mermaid for the fourteen hundredth time? That was Valerie's favorite movie.

"You taking the cloak?" Tony asks.

"Mmhmm." Stephen responds as he brushes his teeth.

"Athena?" Another noise of approval. "Right... we'll figure it out."

"Mmnnbbbftt!" Lucy babbles.

Tony leaves the bathroom and takes the baby out of her crib. "I heard you the first time, bossy."

"If that isn't evidence enough that she takes after you--" Stephen starts until Tony points at him.

"She could have just as easily gotten it from you Duchess."

Stephen chuckles and walks back over to the bed when Valerie sits up and rubs her eyes. While he got ready for the day and explained to the little girl that she would be spending the day with her father and sister, Tony got himself and Lucy ready for the day. His mind was already occupied with how he would spend the day with the girls since Valerie had no interest in the lab, and everything led to Disney movies and tea parties. Not that he had anything against either of those since he was used to it, but he had tried that before and Valerie just didn't seem as interested as she would usually be.

It sort of made him feel like a failure as a father. There had to be something they would enjoy doing together right? Hell, even Lucy enjoyed being run around by Thomas.

"What sounds good for breakfast topolina?" Tony asks as Valerie climbs down from the bed.

"Fwench toast."

Well, that was easy. "French toast it is." Tony says.

Stephen crouches in front of Valerie when he finishes getting dressed and brushes her hair back. "I'll be back later. Have fun with Daddy, okay?"

"Okay."

Stephen kisses her forehead and gets back up to grab his sling ring off the nightstand, and waits just long enough after opening a gateway to wait for Levi to fly into the room and hang on his shoulders. Then he and Athena were through the gateway and it closed behind him, leaving Valerie to stare forlornly at the space it had been. Tony gently pats her head before leading her out of the master bedroom.

"Where's Mooey? Why don't you go get him and you can help me with breakfast." Tony suggests.

"Can we have fwuit?" She asks softly.

"We sure can." Tony smiles. "We can even have some chocolate chips on our french toast if you want."

Valerie smiles and nods before skittering away to her room to find her stuffed cow. A smile from a promise if chocolate chips was a good start to their day, and he would make sure they had a fruit salad with all of her favorites. So with that thought in mind, he descends the stairs to the kitchen where he deposits Lucy into her high chair and answers her demands when she smacks her hands on her tray.

"You are your mother's daughter...but don't tell him I said that." Tony mumbles and searches through the cupboards for the baby cereal puffs. "Look at that! Apple cinnamon flavor, your favorite!"

He pulls out the container and opens it to pour a dozen pieces onto Lucy's tray and she immediately grabs one and pops it into her mouth, humming happily. Lucy would be fed some proper breakfast later, but the puffs would tide her over until he and Valerie cooked and ate their own food. When he started to grab all they would need to make breakfast, Valerie finally joined him with Mooey in one of her arms, and he grabbed a step stool for her to use.

He gave her the easier tasks such as cracking the eggs and putting some cinnamon in them before it was whisked, and while he cooked the french toast, she washed the fruit. Strawberries, grapes, bananas, and even some kiwi were thrown into a bowl after Tony helped her cut them into pieces, and Valerie carefully mixed them together before stepping down from the stool and carrying the bowl to the table. It was amazing how independent Valerie was already being in her own way. She loved helping any way she could and even got a little upset when something was beyond her capabilities. Like when Stephen got sick. She was able to help make him soup but not much else and hated that there wasn't more she could do to make her mommy feel better.

William had to distract her most of the time, and the other times he had to reassure her. Tony and Stephen didn't like the girls to go into their room if one of them were sick because they didn't want them to get sick too.

"Here we go. Piping hot toast with…" Tony makes a show of topping Valerie's french toast with a few chocolate chips and she giggles. "Chocolate chips as promised. Buon appetito."

"Tank you Daddy," Valerie says softly when he places the plate on the table in front of her. He cuts it up for her before kissing her temple and then gets his own plate before sitting across from her.

"Want syrup?" He asks and grabs the syrup dispenser he had filled with warm syrup and pours a little bit on her toast.

"Ba!" Lucy reaches out and Tony chuckles and puts a drop on his finger to stick in her mouth.

"There. Like it? You don't get anymore." Tony says as Lucy sucks on his finger.

Tony made quick work of his french toast and fruit so he could feed Lucy before she started to demand more syrup. He grabbed a jar of chicken and rice--which made him gag a little when he opened it-- and a spoon, then offered a spoonful to the infant. He really didn't understand how babies could like the meat purees. He didn't dare try it in case it tasted as bad as it smelled, and the vegetables weren't much better. Tony was seriously considering giving the task of feeding Lucy her meat and vegetables to the Avengers.

Or the boys if they misbehaved. He knew for a fact the smell hit Peter harder.

"All done." Valerie announces.

"Great job." Tony glances at her plate. "You sure polished your plate. Go ahead and go watch your movie while I finish feeding your sister."

"Kay."

Valerie gets down from her chair and grabs her plate, carrying it to the sink and carefully lifting it up to drop it in. She checked her hands to see if they needed to be washed, found them clean, and shuffled to the living room and asked Friday to put on her favorite movie. Tony smiled and finished feeding Lucy and cleaned her up before taking her to the playpen in the living room, and then returned to the kitchen to clean up the mess. With how quiet things were, Tony honestly would have forgotten that Valerie was even there. All he heard was the tv and Lucy...and the water running.

How Stephen and William remembered her when she was this quiet was nothing short of amazing, but the thought sounded terrible to him at the same time. He didn't forget about Valerie, not by a long shot, but if someone told him they came by and took her to do something, he would be inclined to believe them. But she was sitting on the couch with Mooey clutched in her arms when he finally finished cleaning up and sat on the couch next to her.

"So...I thought of an idea." Tony smiles when Valerie looks up at him.

"Idea?"

"Yup. I think Tibbs is around here somewhere and he's due for his next pedicure."

Valerie's eyes brighten and she giggles. "Dia and Cassie do that!"

"Well I think it's our turn."

The little girl hopped off the couch to go find the pet safe nail polish and Tony looked around for the cat. It didn't take long to find Tibbs dozing in a patch of sunlight on the floor and the feline protested with an annoyed meow when Tony scooped him up.

"I don't know why you bother throwing a fit." Tony snorts as he carries Tibbs back over to the coffee table where Valerie was already waiting. "What color is he getting today topolina?"

"Purple!"

Tony laughs. "Purple it is."

Once Tony sets Tibbs down, Valerie gently takes one of the cat's paws and carefully applies the polish to each nail. Tibbs, the ever chill cat, sat calmly after yawning and patiently let the little girl do his nails. He was more than used to letting the girls do stuff like this to him and knew eventually they would finish and let him go so Tony wasn't worried about him scratching. All the other animals got pedicures as well.

Even Emir.

"Tibbs gets tweats!" Valerie says after finishing.

"He sure does. You know where they are." Tony says and Valerie gets up to retrieve the cat treats.

She shook the bag as she returned from the lower cabinets in the kitchen, and Tony laughed when the cat's ears perked up. Tony helped his daughter open the bag and she grabbed a small handful which she held out and let Tibbs eat straight from her hand. While the cat purred contently, Tony glanced over at Lucy to find the baby fast asleep with her teething ring still in her mouth.

"Where's the Play-Doh Uncle Steve got you?" Tony asks and Valerie points towards her room. "Go get it. We'll make some sculptures."

"You too?" She asks.

"Me too. You can show me how to make flowers."

Once again, the little girl scurried away, leaving Tony with The Little Mermaid to fill the silence, but soon enough, Valerie came back with an armful of containers of Play-Doh. She sets them down on the coffee table before sitting on Tony's lap, and he smiles as she starts opening the containers and taking out the clay. They spent the next couple of hours shaping the clay into different things, from flowers to Tony's suits, until they were rudely interrupted by Lucy's teething ring. Specifically when it sailed into the air and hit the side of Tony's head.

"I'm guessing it's time for lunch." Tony snorts and lifts Valerie out of his lap, groaning as he gets up from the floor. "Daddy's getting too old for this."

"Burro di arachidi e gelatina?" Valerie requests.

"Yes ma'am. With milk." Tony says as he walks over to the playpen and picks up Lucy. He sniffs and grimaces. "After I change your sister."

Valerie wrinkles her nose. "Yucky."

"You said it. You finish your sculpture and then we can make lunch and watch a movie. Sound good?" Tony asks.

"Uh-huh."

Tony couldn't believe he was worried about this just this morning. He enjoyed playing with the clay with Valerie, and he was pretty sure she enjoyed herself too. He made a mental note to think of more things to do for the future days like this, with another side note to think of things that Lucy could eventually join in on. The baby was growing up fast and wouldn't be content to stay in the playpen forever.

"Phew." Tony reels back a little when he opens the baby's diaper once he gets her on the changing table in the master bathroom. "Are you taking lessons from Harley?"

[elisaphoenix13]

Tony: Time to go, my child.

Lucy: May I play for 5 more minutes, father?

Tony: I will allow this.

Lucy: But Father, understand, in five minutes I will be compelled to throw an epic tantrum as if you had egregiously violated our terms of agreement.

Tony: Do what you must, my child.

Stephen: ...*sighs in Mom*.

[elisaphoenix13]

Alpine, Catnip, and Bucky's Arm

Tony wasn't sure when it happened, but one moment, he and Lucy were having a grand time in the lab making upgrades to Thomas's suit and the next... chaos. Instead of being interrupted by a tool Lucy had gotten her hands on and thrown his way, Tony was taken away from his work when a couple of small animals quite literally skittered across his workbench and nearly knocked the suit off of it. First there was red, then it was followed by white, and Tony had to recollect himself so he could figure out what was going on.

Namely that Flynn and Alpine were tearing around the lab, the feline jumping onto surfaces and zooming around with no inclination as to why, and the kit simply joining in. Tony sighs heavily as Alpine jumps onto another surface and bats at some tools on it, batting them off the edge before leaping off for another area.

At least Lucy was amused. She was laughing as she watched the two animals make a mess of what Stephen so fondly called "organized chaos". Which was pretty accurate. It looked a mess to everyone else, but Tony and the boys knew where things still were. In his defense, there was a lab clean up day at least once a month to properly reorganize everything. Cassie had helped make a place where everything would have a home and Tony made sure to take advantage of it when he wasn't in the middle of a big project.

"How did you two even get in here?!" Tony barks out.

It was no help in getting Alpine's attention, but at least Flynn scurried to a stop...or more like slid across the floor and smacked into a wall because he couldn't get friction on the floor. Tony would have been worried if Quill hadn't said it was a normal thing to happen to Flynn. The kit was already shaking himself off anyway.

Alpine, on the other hand, didn't even flick an ear toward the engineer. She simply continued to tear around the lab which meant only one thing.

She had catnip.

Tibbs and Emir just rolled around a bit when they got catnip -- and Tony was especially glad the tiger got the lazy high, he couldn't imagine the damage Emir could do if he got the zooms -- but Alpine was the complete opposite. Bucky gave her some catnip shortly after Steve brought her home and Alpine broke at least half a dozen cups and a couple of vases in her rampage. Now Tony's lab was the unfortunate victim.

"Sorry." A voice says from the direction of the elevator and Tony looks over to find Bucky wincing. "I tried to stop her from getting in."

"So far she's been harmless, hopefully it will stay that way." Tony replies and sits up straight to stretch the kinks out of his neck and back. "What brings you to my lair?"

"Catnip in my arm."

Tony blinks and then watches with mild amusement when Alpine stops on a surface nearest to Bucky's metal arm and starts to sniff it before licking it frantically. The soldier bats her away, sending her on another rampage while he walks over to join Tony. He does briefly turn his attention to Lucy and gently grabs her arm to jiggle it around, making the baby laugh even more. Whenever Tony and Stephen were both busy, Bucky liked to babysit her and the two had their own little special bond.

"Hey Bambi. You helping your daddy?" He croons softly and gets a happy gurgle in response.

"I thought you called Peter that." Tony states with a raised eyebrow.

Bucky shrugs. "We both agreed that it fits Lucy better now so he passed it down."

Tony grabs a set of his finer tools as well as a stool for Bucky to sit on. Every once in a while, Bucky got things like sand -- or in this case, catnip -- caught in the small crevices of his arm and went to Tony to have it properly cleaned out. Sometimes he even asked Tony for some maintenance if something didn't feel right and the billionaire happily obliged since Bucky's arm always sort of fascinated him. If he could do what the Wakandans did, he could potentially help amputees regain their limbs.

Bucky was actually happy to let Tony take a look. He would just keep himself entertained with Lucy, or if she wasn't there, he'd watch tv on one of Tony's Holo monitors. Today, he busied himself with Lucy and Alpine while Tony got to work cleaning his arm.

"Alpine! Don't-" A crash follows seconds later and Bucky groans. "Sorry."

"Did it break?" Tony asks without looking up.

"I don't think so."

"Then I don't care. What's Quill's kid doing?" Tony says as he brushes some catnip out of a crevice.

"Watching mine." Bucky says.

"At least half of the chaos settled."

The next half an hour was spent with Alpine causing a ruckus in the background, Tony working on Bucky's arm, and Lucy turning her attention to the soldier's free hand. She grabbed it with all of her baby strength and happily stuck one of his fingers in her mouth with a drooly smile.

"Ow!" Bucky says dramatically and gently runs his slobber covered finger along her gums. "You've got some teeth coming in there."

"Yup, and she's more than happy to try them out on anything she can get her hands on." Tony laughs. "She's a little gremlin."

"Maybe you can feed her." Another voice says, and the two men look up to find Stephen.

The sorcerer walks over with a baby spoon, a jar of baby food, and a plate for Tony, looking down briefly to avoid Alpine when she darts across his path. Athena was dutifully at his side and side-eyed the cat as she continued to run around, but only grunted. Like Stephen, the wolf practically ran the tower, and especially the pets despite Tibbs being the first one here. He didn't seem to mind letting her run the place.

"I see someone had catnip." Stephen remarks as he hands the baby food to Bucky after he pries his hand out of Lucy's grasp.

"She should be calming down any minute now. It's been a little over half an hour." Bucky says and spoons out some pureed yams to feed Lucy who was bouncing happily in her high chair.

"And Flynn?"

"Joining in on the fun I'm guessing." Tony answers. "Thanks for lunch, Duchess."

"Thank your son. I'm just the delivery boy." Stephen chuckles.

"Which one?"

"William." Stephen leans down to kiss the top of Lucy's head and she coos up at him before yams take her attention away again. "I'll see if I can take Flynn back to Quill. I won't even try getting Alpine."

"She's fine. She's not doing anything the boys haven't already done anyway." Tony says.

Stephen nods and gives him a chaste kiss before heading back to the elevator with Athena, and Flynn happily trots after him when the sorcerer calls for him. He was smart enough to know when he was being taken back to his daddy, as it was the rare occasion he responded to somebody else besides the celestial.

"So how's that new zoologist title?" Bucky teases.

"Shut up Barnes or I'll leave some catnip in your arm where it won't affect its function."

Bucky chuckles and then eventually quiets. "...thanks by the way. For letting me keep Alpine."

"Pets are good to have, especially for people like us." Tony says softly. "Capsicle already said she's helped you get out of your head a couple of times when he was gone."

"Yeah. I'm grateful Steve got her for me."

"Then don't stress about it, if the others decide they want a pet, I won't stop them. Unless it's like a giraffe or something. I have to draw a line somewhere."

The two men shared another laugh and Bucky finished feeding Lucy while Tony wrapped up with Bucky's arm. There fortunately hadn't been too much catnip so it was easy enough to brush out. He even made a few adjustments to some parts that looked like they needed a tune up, so when Bucky finally moved his arm around to test it, he actually smiled.

"Feels great. Thanks." He grabs a napkin that Stephen had also provided and uses it to wipe Lucy's mouth while Tony turns to his own lunch.

Tuna sandwich, chips, and vegetable sticks. Tony couldn't even complain. His kids wanted to make sure he ate healthy and he grew to enjoy the occasional carrot stick or celery with peanut butter. Cassie was actually the one to start it. She was used to making snacks for him during their time at the lake house, and it was quickly picked up by Stephen, and then Harley and William. Tony wouldn't say it out loud, but he secretly favored Cassie's snacks. His palate was still used to her cooking even after two and a half years of having his family back.

"She finally crashed and is currently burning." Bucky announced, pulling Tony out of his thoughts.

He looks over the workbench to find Alpine laying on her side and panting and he snorts.

"Get her out of my lab before she decides on round two."

"Yes, sir." Bucky drawls and gets up to walk over to his cat and scoop her up. "Thanks again Tony."

"You can help me with the next clean up since your cat made most of the mess!" Tony calls after him as he steps into the elevator.

"Fair enough."

[elisaphoenix13]

Credit: @funkylittlebidiot

[elisaphoenix13]

Tony: The best thing about babies is they have no idea what's going on. I was holding Lucy and trying to eat, but I dropped a little piece of lasagna on her and didn't have a free hand to wipe it off. So I just leaned over and ate it off her head. She has no clue what I did.

Sam, sarcastically: That sounds sanitary.

Tony: She had a bath!

Sam:

Tony: Yesterday.

[elisaphoenix13]

Lucy: Dessert?

Tony: You have to eat more dinner first.

Lucy: But that means less room for cookies.

Tony: *puts down fork* That's an excellent point.

[elisaphoenix13]

*Lucy looking out the window and watching the snow fall.*

Tony: What are you doing Lulu?

Lucy: Watching the snow. You know in a way it's just cloud poop.

Tony:

Tony: ...and now I'll never be able to make a snow angel again.

[elisaphoenix13]

Friendly Comforts

For @funkylittlebidiot for reaching the top role of my Mama Bear discord server! Hope it's to your liking!

Cassie and William were at the coffee table in the living room of the lake house lazily building a house of cards while everyone else lazed about in their own way. Most of the kids were up in their own rooms playing or watching tv, but they decided to stay downstairs. Stephen was in the kitchen washing dishes, and Tony was dozing on the couch behind William with baby Lucy sleeping on his chest. One was drooling and the other was snoring softly, but it was nothing like the way Quill snored.

Cassie was still used to Tony's snoring though. He did raise her for five years, and the lake house was home for her. It held bittersweet memories and of course some fun ones as well. Like the time Tony was having a really good day and helped the girls plant the vegetable garden at the side of the house. He fortunately had quite a few good days, but the bad days still won over in quantity. Getting out of bed had been hard for him, so Cassie took it upon herself to make things easier for him. If Tony slept in, Cassie would go into his room and get Diana out of her crib (or her bed when she was older) and make her breakfast and take care of her until Tony was ready to face the day.

There had been a couple of days that were so bad he had stayed in bed all day. Fortunately those were days when Cassie was old enough to cook for them with the stove and Diana was easily occupied with her coloring books or the tv.

"Was this all ever too much for you?" William suddenly asks after placing a card on top of the ones that Cassie stacked against each other. The house continued to stand.

"Hmm...no. I don't think so. When I was still living with my mom and Paxton, it was always quiet there. Then my dad became Ant-Man and things were more exciting...then we moved to the tower. I had a lot more fun there because there was always something going on. I can tell you that Mom has sighed exactly four hundred and sixty-seven times before the snap." Cassie smiles.

"You kept count?" William asks in surprise. "What's he at now?"

"Oh, pfft. I don't know. With all of the Avengers and seven kids, he sighs so much that I lost count."

Stephen sighs from the kitchen. "Cassie, please stop counting how often I sigh."

Both teens smile and the girl looks back at the house of cards and stacks another pair of cards. They work on the fragile structure in silence up until William slowly starts to place the last card they need to complete it. Before he even gets close, the table rattles from the force of a thump from upstairs and both of them sigh with exasperation when the cards go tumbling down onto the coffee table and some onto the floor around them.

"Ugh...I really should know better to do something like that when my parents are around." Cassie says and makes a face as she starts to clean up the cards.

"Want to play a board game instead?" William asks and Cassie nods.

"How about…" She gets up and walks over to the bookshelf stacked with board games. "Connect Four?"

William nods and Cassie grabs the game off of the shelf and takes it over to the coffee table and sits back down. While William puts the plastic pieces together, Cassie seperates the colored plastic coins and pushes one of the piles over to him. They play the game quietly, occasionally pulling the bottom to the side to let the coins clatter to the table to start another game, and Stephen eventually brings snacks over to them. Strawberries and cream for William, and Cheez-Its for Cassie each in their seperate bowls.

"Thanks Mom." William says softly and Stephen smiles and pats his head.

"You're welcome."

Cassie smiles. "Hey Will...you want to see something funny?"

"What?"

She grins and leans closer to William to tap Tony's shoulder and he grunts and bats her hand away. He was definitely away though...just not completely and that was exactly where Cassie needed him. She had discovered this funny little tidbit while she lived here with him and Diana and every once in a while she would do this to get a laugh.

"Tony?" Cassie says softly.

"Huh? What?" The engineer mumbles but keeps his eyes closed.

"Mom wanted me to tell you that he's pregnant. With triplets."

Stephen chokes on the tea he was drinking from and looks at Cassie in bewilderment but she just smiles and holds her finger up.

"Tha's great." Tony mutters and waves at her. "Just tell him to keep them in for a couple of years."

Stephen wipes his mouth. "I can't decide whether to be happy that he accepts that so easily or concerned. There are a few things wrong with that conversation." He shakes his head and sits on the other couch to watch tv as the teens go back to their game.

"I'm surprised you're not trying to take Lucy." Cassie says and Stephen sighs heavily.

"There has been a recent discovery that she is the biggest daddy's girl. I did all of the work and she wants him." He says the last part with an expression like he ate something sour and Cassie laughs.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later. She's his Valerie."

Stephen snorts and turns his attention back to the tv, and after about half an hour, Friday alerts them that Valerie had woken up from her nap. William volunteers to go get her, and gets up and goes up to the master bedroom when Stephen nods, and he smiles when he sees the toddler sitting up in her crib and rubbing her eyes. When Valerie sees him approach the crib, she stands up and holds out her arms for him, yawning as William takes her out of her crib.

"Have a good nap?"

"Uh-huh."

"Want to help me kick Cassie's butt in Connect Four and share my snack?" He smiles when she nods again and takes her down to the living room where he sits back down and sets Valerie in his lap. "I have a partner now." He grins to Cassie.

"Well your partner is more interested in your snack right now." The other teen giggles.

Sure enough, Valerie was picking up one of William's strawberries and scooping up some whipped cream with it. He shrugs and they start a new game that the toddler watches quietly as she munches on her snack, until she points at a column with her other hand.

"There." She says.

"Oh. Good eye." William praises as he drops his coin into the slot for the win and Cassie pouts.

"She's too good at this game." She says and the beam that adorned Valerie's face had the teens and Stephen melting.

It wasn't even a lie either. Valerie knew how the game was played and knew how to win, and she had easily kicked her siblings butts without them letting her win. It was one game they could actually play with her and not have to stretch out to their planned loss because she was that good at it.

A hitch of breath draws William's and Cassie's attention, and Stephen lunges forward when he sees Tony's fingers curling toward his palm. His arm was acting up again and he hadn't even moved before he let out a pained gasp.

"Oh…god. Someone...fuck... someone take Lulu." He winces and Cassie immediately crawls around the coffee table to take the infant.

"Tony, try to relax." Stephen says gently as he uses his magic to try and help with the pain.

"I'll go get Papa." Cassie says as she stands with Lucy held to her shoulder.

Stephen nods and Cassie heads up the stairs to get Quill, and William cleans up their game with Valerie's help. While Tony's episodes were rare, Valerie understood what was happening so seeing her father in pain didn't scare her as much as it used to. It still bothered her of course, but she knew Mommy and Uncle Quill would help him feel better, and so she usually went to play with one of her siblings whenever it happened.

"Can you help carry our snacks up to my room? We can watch a movie." William asks Valerie.

"Yes." She says and picks up the bowl of strawberries with both hands and slowly climbs the stairs.

William grabs the bowl of whipped cream and Cassie's Cheez-Its and follows Valerie, and they barely move out if the way fast enough when Quill comes tearing around the corner from his room and down the stairs. He shouts an apology over his shoulder at them as he joins Stephen at Tony's side, and William catches a glimpse of a white and blue light coming from the celestial's hands before turning the corner to go to his room. He finds Cassie standing in the middle of the hallway holding Lucy and he motions to his bedroom door with one of the bowls.

"We're going to watch a movie in my room. Wanna join?" He asks and Cassie nods, following the two as she gently rocks Lucy.

Thankfully the infant was in a good mood and not screaming about being taken away from Tony, but they both knew that wouldn't last long. The three get settled on William's bed and place the bowls in front of them so Valerie can get to the whipped cream.

"Friday? Turn on a Disney movie please? Surprise us." William asks.

His tv turns on and Sleeping Beauty pops up next and they watch it quietly until Stephen comes up about twenty minutes later.

"Is he okay?" Cassie asks.

"He'll be fine. Just needs a few minutes." Stephen smiles. "I'll take Lucy now."

"Sure." She says and hands Lucy over to him.

"Valerie? Are you okay here with your brother and Cassie?" Stephen asks.

"Uh-huh." The little girl nods and Stephen kisses the top of her head before leaving the bedroom.

"You better eat those before my brother catches a whiff of them." William tells Cassie as he points to the bowl of crackers.

"He can pry them from my cold, dead fingers." She says with a laugh as she picks up the bowl to eat her Cheez-Its.

Another twenty minutes of the movie pass in silence with the exception of crunching from Cassie and munching from Valerie and William.

"Hey...do you ever get tired of doing things?" William asks and stammers when Cassie looks at him in alarm. "I-I mean you help with Diana a lot and sometimes you help cook dinner for everyone, and I know you do a lot for your parents."

Cassie shrugs. "Sure. Every once in a while. But I just tell my parents I need a day for myself and they either order takeout or Dad makes dinner. They take care of me and protect me and it's the least I can do." Cassie chews on another small handful of crackers before continuing. "I love spending time with Diana, but she knows that sometimes I need to spend time with people my own age and she understands that."

"I wonder if me and Thomas would even be here if you weren't so nice." William says quietly. "This family has been the best thing that ever happened to us and for once we don't have to hide our powers or who we are. I feel safe here...and I want to call Stephen and Tony, Mom and Dad, because they feel like that to me. I don't want to lose any of this."

Cassie smiles and looks back at the tv. "I'm sure you've figured it out but you're stuck with us. Mom would have a conniption if you were unhappy in any way and he would do anything to fix that."

"Yeah... we're definitely putting that together." William nods. "Dad too."

"Pfft," Cassie snorts. "If anyone tried anything, he would sue them of everything they own. Even just for looking at you funny...but he's just extra like that."

William laughs and accepts the last strawberry that Valerie offers up to him and scoops up the rest of the whipped cream with it. A breeze blows against their faces a few seconds later and Cassie gasps when she finds the rest of her Cheez-Its gone and Thomas sitting on the bed and munching loudly.

"Hey!"

"I could smell them from my room." He says around his mouthful and the other two teens make a face.

"First, rude. You can just ask. Second, gross. Close your mouth." Cassie gripes.

"Thomas! I told you not to run in the house!" Stephen calls from downstairs and Thomas's eyes widen.

"How did he know?"

"Mama knows everything." Valerie says and William and Cassie point at her.

[elisaphoenix13]

Accidental Phenomenons

Nobody had been home all day, either they were out on missions, at school, or at work. Sam, Quill, and Scott were the first ones to get back and they all ended up at the penthouse to raid the fridge for something to eat. When they got there though, they found three strangers standing in the kitchen and looking a little confused. Well, the teenager was looking confused. The toddler was sniffling and rubbing his eyes, and the silver-haired adult woman was trying to calm the toddler. When the three Avengers came in, the woman looked up at them and actually looked relieved.

"Who the hell are you?" Quill finally asks.

The toddler immediately looks up and turns on the stool he was sitting on and then launched himself at the celestial. Quill grunts when he wraps his arms and legs around the god and rubs his face in his collarbone with fresh tears.

"I didn't mean to! I'm sorry Daddy!" The little boy whimpers.

The look on Quill's face was comical and the scathing one on Scott's almost made Sam laugh. Almost. They had more pressing matters to turn their focus on. The boy clinging to Quill had no need for support and certainly wasn't getting any from the god since his arms were straight out at the sides.

"I thought you said you wore condoms in space." Scott says.

"I did! I swear!" Quill exclaims and grimaces when the toddler sniffles against his shoulder. "I have no idea who this kid is!"

"That would be Flynn." The woman says and all three men look at her, then the toddler, and then realization dawns on them.

"Athena?" Scott asks curiously as Quill tries to pry the toddler off. It wasn't really working.

When she nods, Sam looks over at the teenager. "That makes you Tibbs."

"When are Dad and Gramps getting home? I wanna go down to the lab." The boy asks and then yawns.

It was the breaking limit for Sam. He burst into laughter, wheezing about the Gramps name Tibbs very obviously gave Tony. Athena sighs and mutters under her breath as she walks over to the living room to sit on the couch, and Tibbs sits on the breakfast counter. Quill eventually managed to pry Flynn off of him and was holding him out at arms length and looking at him like he had a second head.

Scott could see the hundreds of questions running through his head, but what the celestial finally asked was, "what did you do?"

Flynn squirms in Quill's hold to cling onto him again. "I didn't mean to…" he repeats with a hiccup. "I slipped while playing with Tibbs and I broke the big shiny cup."

"The what?"

"He's speaking of the relic that Master brought home." Athena elaborates, motioning toward the shards of a broken vase on the floor. "He didn't know what it did and deemed it harmless enough to bring home and study."

Scott scratches the back of his head. "Well I guess now we know. Is he dimension hopping?"

She shakes her head. "He is out with his mate."

"Guess we're waiting for Mama Bear to get home." Sam says.

Neither Scott nor Quill argued, and they decided to get the three new humans fed. Sam helped Scott in the kitchen and Quill sat in the living room with Flynn still very much attached to him. He fortunately calmed down and was content to cling to Quill, and Tibbs had walked around the tower until he found a sunny spot big enough for his new form to lie in. Athena was content to observe until lunch was ready. When Sam and Scott set out some sandwiches for the six of them, Quill had to get up and take Flynn to the table with him since he wanted nothing to do with anything that would potentially take him away from his daddy.

So Quill had to eat with the toddler in his lap. It was an interesting sight to see, but quickly got old since on the rare occasion, Valerie was found with Quill instead of Stephen. Tibbs took his time slinking to the table, and Athena had gone when Quill did, leaving Sam and Scott to be the last to join them with drinks in hand. They were all at the end of finishing their lunch when the elevator opened and Stephen and Tony stepped out, with Valerie on Tony's hip. That was a strange sight in itself.

The couple immediately stopped and looked at the strangers sitting at the table and then Tony looked at Stephen. "Did you adopt more kids off a website or something Duchess?"

He earned a smack to the back of his head for that remark.

"These people are actually your pets." Sam tells them and Stephen looks at them with an arched brow.

"How did this happen?" He asks and looks over to the broken vase when Athena motions to it once again. "Ah. I see."

"Can you change them back?" Tony asks as he swipes one of the extra sandwiches Sam had made.

"I believe so." Stephen nods. "Just give me a little bit to look into it." He says as he grabs the last extra sandwich and wanders off to find his books.

The books that Stephen had brought back from Kamar-Taj and the New York Sanctum slowly ended up on a bookshelf in Tony's office since that was one of the few places the kids entered. If they did, they knew not to horse around and they didn't because the only reason they ever went into the office was to play on the chessboard or retrieve something for their parents. It was where Stephen did some of his meditating or studying when he needed more quiet than usual, and that was where he disappeared to to look for a way to reverse what the relic had done to the pets.

Tony had put Valerie down for her to go do as she wished, which happened to be watching a Disney movie after retrieving her favorite stuffed animal. She, of course, looked longingly at the door to the office, but she knew Stephen was looking for a way to turn Athena, Flynn, and Tibbs back to normal. She would have her mother back as soon as he was finished and so she waited patiently on the couch and watched a movie.

"Hey Gramps? Can we go down to the lab?" Tibbs asks and Tony chokes on the piece of sandwich he had been swallowing.

"Excuse me?! What did you call me?!" Tony sputters after coughing to clear his throat.

Tibbs tilts his head. "Gramps?" And Sam started cackling again.

"He considers Peter his dad." Scott explains while Sam continues to laugh and Quill takes Flynn into the living room to watch TV with Valerie. "It makes sense that you're Gramps."

Tony points at Scott. "Nuh-uh! You don't get to be all logical about this Mr. I-Drink-From-The-Fountain-Of-Youth!"

Sam stops laughing abruptly to make a face as Scott turns bright red and Quill cackles from the living room. "Ugh, don't remind me."

Tony shakes his head and walks to the living room after finishing his sandwich, and sits on the couch. He only half paid attention to the movie playing while he texted the boys to do some odd errand on their way home from school since Stephen insisted that they try to have some normalcy in their life. The boys didn't complain about having to run errands once in a while so Tony didn't bother arguing, and it kept chaos out of the house for a few more precious minutes. He loved his kids, but they could definitely be terrors.

There was that once incident at a nearby bodega where he was actually called to pick up his kids and pay for damages, and Stephen had grounded them for two months. No friends, no phones unless there was an emergency (Friday helped with restrictions on those), and no tv. It was the harshest punishment the sorcerer had ever dishes out but it was effective. Especially when followed with:

Your father may be a billionaire, but that doesn't give you an excuse to behave like wild animals! I'm disappointed in all of you!

The poor twins had thought that Stephen was going to send them back into the system, and Harley and Peter had looked admonished when they got home. Tony took away lab time as the final nail in the coffin when they did. It was the quietest the kids had ever been but it felt wrong when it was because of a punishment.

Tony looks up from his phone when he hears books tumbling from the office, and Athena immediately jumps to her feet to go investigate. She may be temporarily human, but her loyalties still lied with Stephen.

A quiet curse floats out from the office when Athena opens the door and Tony raises an eyebrow. "Honey? Do I need to come dig you out of a pile of books?"

"NO! I-I mean...fuck--" there was more thumps and the engineer raises an eyebrow at the rare usage of a swear word. "Don't be mad."

Tony sighs and takes the cue to stand. "Did you open a hell dimension in my office? If you did, I don't think I'll know whether to be upset or thank you."

"Err...no. Nothing like that. Maybe you'll actually like this…" Stephen mumbles the last bit as Tony stands in the doorway.

He found more than just Athena and Stephen. The sorcerer was predictably under a pile of books that Athena was helping remove from him, but their four boys and Cassie were in the room as well. Harley and Thomas looked amused under what looked to be shock, Peter just looked indifferent (Tony wasn't sure how he felt about that), and William...looked mortified. Cassie looked too happy for Tony to jump into worry so he just followed their gazes back to the sorcerer.

"Are you going to help Mom or not?" Tony asks and rolls his eyes when the kids finally jump into action.

It barely took a minute for Tony to find out why Peter had looked indifferent, because as Stephen finally managed to sit up, there was a whimper...and then a cry of a baby. The engineer rushes forward to look for the source and finds himself taking the 'newborn' baby from Stephen the second he processed what he saw, ignoring his spouse's grouchy, "oh sure, I'm fine. I can get up by myself."

"How exactly did this happen?" Tony finally asks after wiggling his finger in front of the baby until she takes it.

Stephen looked confused. "I... honestly don't know. I wasn't even looking in that book. The kids managed to startle me when William teleported them here...and the next thing I know, she's lying next to me."

"Huh…" Tony says. "Well, make the boys clean up this mess. I'll go put a diaper on Lucy while you explain to Valerie that she is no longer the baby." He says calmly as he walks toward the door.

"Lucy?!" Stephen sputters. "We're not going to talk about it?"

"Lucy Elina...what? You don't like it?" Tony asks over his shoulder and Stephen sighs.

"No...I do."

"Then no. We're not going to talk about it." He says and exits the room, smiling when he hears a muttered "douchebag".

By some miracle, Tony slipped up to their room without anyone noticing the new baby, and the engineer was able to put a diaper on his newest daughter before they were found out. Sam saw her first and simply rolled his eyes.

"Always bringing kids home or into the family without any warning." He huffs.

Scott looked over at them before joining them and smiling...and then pouting. "I think Stephen's magic cheats so your kids are always cute."

"Just good genes." Tony smirks and Scott gives him a mischievous smile. "What?"

"Hey Spaceman?"

"What?" Quill asks from the living room where Stephen was currently turning the animals back to...well...animals.

"There's a new baby."

Quill's head snaps up toward the trio and Tony points at him.

"No! You stay there Porcupine! Worry about your own!"

"He's fine!"

"You'll see her in due time!"

Stephen rolls his eyes and changes each strange human back to their animal forms, and then sits on the couch with Valerie. The toddler was tilting her head curiously as her father did eventually make his way over with Sam, Scott, and the teenagers, and when she saw what Tony was holding...her expression soured. It made Harley cackle.

"Valerie...this is your new baby sister." Stephen says softly and Val frowns.

"Mama no love me?" She asks sadly and the sorcerer immediately pulls her into a hug and pushes his fingers through her hair.

"Of course I do. Do you think I stopped loving your brothers or Diana when you were born?" When she shakes her head, he smiles. "That's right. I love you all the same. For a while it might seem like me and Daddy are giving her lots of attention but that's only because she can't take care of herself like you can now." Stephen explains gently and Valerie looks at the new baby again.

Fortunately she accepted this and moved closer to inspect her baby sister more, but Stephen could still sense some of the jealousy. When Valerie was born, Diana at least had some forewarning to her potential arrival, and the boys were basically used to it at that point...but Valerie didn't get that. Tony and Stephen had planned on talking to the kids beforehand, but this was truly an accident. A happy and wanted one, but an accident all the same. It would likely take time for Valerie to warm up to the idea of Lucy being around, especially when she was now going to take up a good portion of her parents attention.

"Speaking of Diana…" Tony starts and Cassie gasps.

"Oh my god it was my turn to pick her up today wasn't it?!" The teen grabs William's hand. "Help me!"

William sighs softly. "Well...at least I'll sleep tonight."

And then they were gone in the blink of an eye. A couple of minutes barely passed when they came back with Diana, but it was long enough for Tony to get comfortable on the couch before she practically jumped at them to see the baby. Diana was a very laid back child and easily went with the flow of things.

"A new baby sister!" She says excitedly as she jumps onto the couch next to Tony to look down at Lucy. "What's her name?"

"Lucy." Stephen answers as he continues to run his fingers through Valerie's hair.

All three animals present had gotten as close as possible to sniff at the new addition, and this time, Stephen didn't need to tell Athena she was family. The wolf already knew.

"Hey!" Quill suddenly says as he pulls Flynn away. "I need to teach you what personal space is!" Scott snorted at that.

"For once, Nat owes me money." Sam grins. "I'm going to go collect and send the cavalry up."

Tony sighs and leans his head back against the couch as Sam steps onto the elevator. "When did I sign up for chaos?"

"When you adopted Peter and married Stephen." Scott answers and Tony reaches over and smacks the back of his head once he frees an arm from under the baby. "Ow."

"I'm just glad it's another girl. It's a freaking sausage party around here." Cassie says.

It sent Quill and Harley into hysterics.