Steve Rogers had always hated Stark Tower. It rose into the sky over the city of Manhattan like a giant memorial in honor of Tony Stark's over-inflated ego. At least, that's what Steve had thought once. His opinion regarding the enigmatic Ironman was slowing changing, but it wasn't really his opinion that mattered at the moment - it was Lucy's.
It didn't take long at the reception desk. "Mr. Stark is expecting you, Captain. You can go right up," the receptionist told him pleasantly, before he even had a chance to introduce himself. As hard as Steve had tried to keep his identity secret, ever since the incident with Loki, it seemed half the population of New York knew who he was.
Steve smiled and thanked her politely, feeling the eyes of several curious onlookers following him as he made his way to the elevator, though no one dared approach or stop him. He gazed out of the glass enclosed space onto the city he so loved as the lift rose the many floors to Tony's office - or what passed for an office - and idly wondered what Howard would have thought of his now grown son. Would he have been proud of the man Tony had become" Would he have wanted Tony to know his sisters" Wasn't that what Howard had been working on before he'd been killed in that tragic plane wreck" Steve didn't have much time to think on these things before the elevator reached its destination and the doors slid open to let him off at the proper floor.
"Well, don't just stand there! I just ordered lunch, and I hate eating alone," Steve heard Tony say from somewhere inside the room. "Pepper's on this health food kick. Do you like portobellos" She insists they're healthier than hamburgers, but I think she's missing the point. You don't eat hamburgers because they're good for you. You eat them because they taste good. I swear that woman is out to make my life miserable sometimes."
Steve wasn't quite sure what to say to that, as he stepped off the elevator into the ultra-modern surroundings of Tony's primary living space. He was the straight man to Tony's wise guy and often mistook his sarcastic sense of humor for a bad mood. "She worries about you," Steve pointed out, stating the obvious, as he made his way further inside to find Tony sitting at a table upon which were two plates bearing what appeared to be hamburgers, but weren't, and two bottled waters. "What's a portobello?" Steve asked, the word unfamiliar on his tongue, not quite caught up on the ins and outs of modern cuisine as yet, after nearly seventy years in suspended animation.
"Yeah, well....I guess that's a good thing," Tony replied regarding Pepper, as he drowned his giant mushroom burger in mayonnaise, which effectively negated the healthy benefits of the thing. "I'm not really used to people worrying about me, and I haven't decided if I like it or not." He glanced up at the tall, stoic man standing between himself and the elevator, as if Steve hadn't decided yet whether or not he wanted to stay. "It's a mushroom," Tony explained in response to Steve's question. "I guess you haven't heard yet. Red meat's not good for you." He paused to consider the legendary Captain America a moment, who was, in fact, in far better health than Tony could ever hope to be. He knew that, however, hadn't always been the case. "Well, it might be good for you, but not for everyone else. The fact is everything that tastes good isn't good for you, but I'm sure you didn't come here to discuss a proper diet. This is about my father's infidelity, isn't it?"
"No," Steve replied shortly, patiently waiting for Tony to finish his one-man monologue so he could tell the other man why he was there. "It's about your sisters. It's about family." It was a subject near and dear to Steve's heart, having lost all of his own family long ago, not to mention most of his friends, one of whom had included Tony's father. The only one left who meant anything to him was Peggy Carter, and Peggy was now an old woman, where Steve was still in his prime.
Tony snorted. He already knew why Steve was there. His little visit from Lucy Broderick Stark Rogers or whatever the hell she was calling herself these days had given him a heads up. Unlike Steve, family was the one subject Tony had no interest in discussing. He, too, had lost his family years ago, but he had not yet realized that they had this in common, or perhaps, he simply didn't want to admit it. "Family, please," Tony remarked, derisively. "Just because my father couldn't keep it in his pants doesn't make the fruit of his loins family."
"It's not their fault, you know," Steve persisted stubbornly. One way or another Tony Stark was going to hear what he had to say, whether he liked it or not. Though Tony was unlikely to realize it, he wasn't there just for the sake of the twins, but for Tony's benefit, too. He might not know what he was missing, but Steve did. "Your father was in the process of arranging for them to come to New York when he was killed," Steve informed him, though if Tony had read the file, which Steve assumed he had, he had to know this already. "When he died, they slipped through the cracks. They were abandoned, given up, unwanted. They ended up in an orphanage. All they had all those years was each other."
"Yeah, well....At least they had that," Tony remarked dryly and somewhat bitterly, dropping his sandwich on his plate, having lost what little appetite he had. What he really wanted was a New York style pizza with all the trimmings, not a veggie burger. He turned quiet for a moment, unusually introspective. He hadn't thought of his father in years, and he didn't really want to start now. "When my parents died," he said after a moment, "I had nothing, but my father's fortune and his inventions." It was rare that Tony Stark alluded to the pain and loneliness of his childhood, and the moment passed quickly. He had already come to grips with all that years ago, though the news of his having two half-sisters he'd never met had torn open old wounds he'd considered long since healed and forgotten.
"We all lost someone once," Steve replied, remembering his own parents' deaths, which, though more than eighty years ago according to the calendar, seemed like only yesterday. "Look, I know it's a shock," Steve continued, playing devil's advocate. "I'm not expecting you to accept them with open arms, but you could at least meet them, give them a chance."
"I already did, at your wedding, remember?" Tony reminded him. He'd been secretly happy for the other man, glad he'd found someone to share his life with, but why did that someone have to be his long-lost sister" As if things weren't weird enough, and now Captain America was his brother-in-law and he was about to be an uncle, all because his father couldn't remain faithful to his mother. "You're not gonna ask me to be godfather or something, are you? I don't need Pepper getting any ideas about having babies."
Steve couldn't help but smirk a little at Tony's remark, knowing he was slowly wearing the other man down. "No. To be honest, we haven't really talked about that yet." It wasn't something that had come up in conversation. Steve had just assumed that when the time came, the obvious choice for godparents would be Liv and Johnny.
"You know who should be godfather?" Tony mused aloud, with a completely straight face. "Nick Fury. I'd give my right arm..." He paused to correct himself, "Okay, maybe not my right arm....But I'd give just about anything to see that. Commander Fury changing a poopy diaper. Yeah, I could definitely die happy after seeing that."
Steve finally took a seat at the table, an amused smile on his face at the thought of that, though it didn't last. "Nobody's dying, Tony," he said turning serious again, pausing a moment before continuing. "I read the file, you know."
"What file?" Tony asked, playing stupid. He knew precisely what file Steve was talking about. Hell, it had been all over the news and was hard to deny, though the details of the Mandarin attack had been classified Top Secret by S.H.I.E.L.D...Top Secret apparently hadn't stopped Captain Buttinsky from reading it, though Tony knew it was more than likely Fury who'd been the one responsible for providing the information, or to be more precise, blabbing.
"You should have called," Steve continued, knowing Tony knew precisely what he was referring to. The man wasn't stupid, by any means. In fact, in Steve's estimation, he was one of the most intelligent people he'd ever met, with the possible exception of Bruce Banner. "We're a team now," Steve pointed out, not having to remind Tony about the incident with Loki and the formation of the Avengers Initiative. It should have been a disaster, but it wasn't. Oh, there was a lot of collateral damage that would take years and millions of dollars to repair, but they had eventually worked as a team and defeated the bad guys, and that was all that really mattered. "You don't have to do things alone anymore," Steve added.
"Oh, that," Tony replied flippantly, with the casual wave of a hand, as if just remembering what had happened that past Christmas and dismissing it without too much thought. The fiasco with Mandarin. What a mess that had turned out to be. He'd come way too close to losing Pepper. He could never allow that to happen again. Ever.
"The world thought you were dead," Steve continued. "I thought you were dead."
Tony blew the remark off, as he always did when faced with a moment that might turn sentimental. "We were a good team, weren't we?" he asked, with a rare hint of honesty and even amazement, remembering the incident in New York nearly one year ago that could have been catastrophic, but wasn't. Something had changed since then, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. Almost losing Pepper had made things so much clearer. Maybe Steve was right; maybe it was about family. Maybe he'd wallowed in self-pity long enough. Maybe it was time to move on. Tony grew suddenly quiet, which was very un-Tony-like.
"We still are," Steve replied with a warm smile. He could see he was making progress. Though Tony appeared brusque and unfeeling on the surface, Steve knew better and so did Pepper. It was only a matter of time before Liv and Lucy recognized it, as well. Tony Stark wasn't quite the pompous a$$ he seemed to want everyone to think he was. "You should give them a chance, Tony. They don't care about your money. They just want to know their big brother."
It didn't take long at the reception desk. "Mr. Stark is expecting you, Captain. You can go right up," the receptionist told him pleasantly, before he even had a chance to introduce himself. As hard as Steve had tried to keep his identity secret, ever since the incident with Loki, it seemed half the population of New York knew who he was.
Steve smiled and thanked her politely, feeling the eyes of several curious onlookers following him as he made his way to the elevator, though no one dared approach or stop him. He gazed out of the glass enclosed space onto the city he so loved as the lift rose the many floors to Tony's office - or what passed for an office - and idly wondered what Howard would have thought of his now grown son. Would he have been proud of the man Tony had become" Would he have wanted Tony to know his sisters" Wasn't that what Howard had been working on before he'd been killed in that tragic plane wreck" Steve didn't have much time to think on these things before the elevator reached its destination and the doors slid open to let him off at the proper floor.
"Well, don't just stand there! I just ordered lunch, and I hate eating alone," Steve heard Tony say from somewhere inside the room. "Pepper's on this health food kick. Do you like portobellos" She insists they're healthier than hamburgers, but I think she's missing the point. You don't eat hamburgers because they're good for you. You eat them because they taste good. I swear that woman is out to make my life miserable sometimes."
Steve wasn't quite sure what to say to that, as he stepped off the elevator into the ultra-modern surroundings of Tony's primary living space. He was the straight man to Tony's wise guy and often mistook his sarcastic sense of humor for a bad mood. "She worries about you," Steve pointed out, stating the obvious, as he made his way further inside to find Tony sitting at a table upon which were two plates bearing what appeared to be hamburgers, but weren't, and two bottled waters. "What's a portobello?" Steve asked, the word unfamiliar on his tongue, not quite caught up on the ins and outs of modern cuisine as yet, after nearly seventy years in suspended animation.
"Yeah, well....I guess that's a good thing," Tony replied regarding Pepper, as he drowned his giant mushroom burger in mayonnaise, which effectively negated the healthy benefits of the thing. "I'm not really used to people worrying about me, and I haven't decided if I like it or not." He glanced up at the tall, stoic man standing between himself and the elevator, as if Steve hadn't decided yet whether or not he wanted to stay. "It's a mushroom," Tony explained in response to Steve's question. "I guess you haven't heard yet. Red meat's not good for you." He paused to consider the legendary Captain America a moment, who was, in fact, in far better health than Tony could ever hope to be. He knew that, however, hadn't always been the case. "Well, it might be good for you, but not for everyone else. The fact is everything that tastes good isn't good for you, but I'm sure you didn't come here to discuss a proper diet. This is about my father's infidelity, isn't it?"
"No," Steve replied shortly, patiently waiting for Tony to finish his one-man monologue so he could tell the other man why he was there. "It's about your sisters. It's about family." It was a subject near and dear to Steve's heart, having lost all of his own family long ago, not to mention most of his friends, one of whom had included Tony's father. The only one left who meant anything to him was Peggy Carter, and Peggy was now an old woman, where Steve was still in his prime.
Tony snorted. He already knew why Steve was there. His little visit from Lucy Broderick Stark Rogers or whatever the hell she was calling herself these days had given him a heads up. Unlike Steve, family was the one subject Tony had no interest in discussing. He, too, had lost his family years ago, but he had not yet realized that they had this in common, or perhaps, he simply didn't want to admit it. "Family, please," Tony remarked, derisively. "Just because my father couldn't keep it in his pants doesn't make the fruit of his loins family."
"It's not their fault, you know," Steve persisted stubbornly. One way or another Tony Stark was going to hear what he had to say, whether he liked it or not. Though Tony was unlikely to realize it, he wasn't there just for the sake of the twins, but for Tony's benefit, too. He might not know what he was missing, but Steve did. "Your father was in the process of arranging for them to come to New York when he was killed," Steve informed him, though if Tony had read the file, which Steve assumed he had, he had to know this already. "When he died, they slipped through the cracks. They were abandoned, given up, unwanted. They ended up in an orphanage. All they had all those years was each other."
"Yeah, well....At least they had that," Tony remarked dryly and somewhat bitterly, dropping his sandwich on his plate, having lost what little appetite he had. What he really wanted was a New York style pizza with all the trimmings, not a veggie burger. He turned quiet for a moment, unusually introspective. He hadn't thought of his father in years, and he didn't really want to start now. "When my parents died," he said after a moment, "I had nothing, but my father's fortune and his inventions." It was rare that Tony Stark alluded to the pain and loneliness of his childhood, and the moment passed quickly. He had already come to grips with all that years ago, though the news of his having two half-sisters he'd never met had torn open old wounds he'd considered long since healed and forgotten.
"We all lost someone once," Steve replied, remembering his own parents' deaths, which, though more than eighty years ago according to the calendar, seemed like only yesterday. "Look, I know it's a shock," Steve continued, playing devil's advocate. "I'm not expecting you to accept them with open arms, but you could at least meet them, give them a chance."
"I already did, at your wedding, remember?" Tony reminded him. He'd been secretly happy for the other man, glad he'd found someone to share his life with, but why did that someone have to be his long-lost sister" As if things weren't weird enough, and now Captain America was his brother-in-law and he was about to be an uncle, all because his father couldn't remain faithful to his mother. "You're not gonna ask me to be godfather or something, are you? I don't need Pepper getting any ideas about having babies."
Steve couldn't help but smirk a little at Tony's remark, knowing he was slowly wearing the other man down. "No. To be honest, we haven't really talked about that yet." It wasn't something that had come up in conversation. Steve had just assumed that when the time came, the obvious choice for godparents would be Liv and Johnny.
"You know who should be godfather?" Tony mused aloud, with a completely straight face. "Nick Fury. I'd give my right arm..." He paused to correct himself, "Okay, maybe not my right arm....But I'd give just about anything to see that. Commander Fury changing a poopy diaper. Yeah, I could definitely die happy after seeing that."
Steve finally took a seat at the table, an amused smile on his face at the thought of that, though it didn't last. "Nobody's dying, Tony," he said turning serious again, pausing a moment before continuing. "I read the file, you know."
"What file?" Tony asked, playing stupid. He knew precisely what file Steve was talking about. Hell, it had been all over the news and was hard to deny, though the details of the Mandarin attack had been classified Top Secret by S.H.I.E.L.D...Top Secret apparently hadn't stopped Captain Buttinsky from reading it, though Tony knew it was more than likely Fury who'd been the one responsible for providing the information, or to be more precise, blabbing.
"You should have called," Steve continued, knowing Tony knew precisely what he was referring to. The man wasn't stupid, by any means. In fact, in Steve's estimation, he was one of the most intelligent people he'd ever met, with the possible exception of Bruce Banner. "We're a team now," Steve pointed out, not having to remind Tony about the incident with Loki and the formation of the Avengers Initiative. It should have been a disaster, but it wasn't. Oh, there was a lot of collateral damage that would take years and millions of dollars to repair, but they had eventually worked as a team and defeated the bad guys, and that was all that really mattered. "You don't have to do things alone anymore," Steve added.
"Oh, that," Tony replied flippantly, with the casual wave of a hand, as if just remembering what had happened that past Christmas and dismissing it without too much thought. The fiasco with Mandarin. What a mess that had turned out to be. He'd come way too close to losing Pepper. He could never allow that to happen again. Ever.
"The world thought you were dead," Steve continued. "I thought you were dead."
Tony blew the remark off, as he always did when faced with a moment that might turn sentimental. "We were a good team, weren't we?" he asked, with a rare hint of honesty and even amazement, remembering the incident in New York nearly one year ago that could have been catastrophic, but wasn't. Something had changed since then, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. Almost losing Pepper had made things so much clearer. Maybe Steve was right; maybe it was about family. Maybe he'd wallowed in self-pity long enough. Maybe it was time to move on. Tony grew suddenly quiet, which was very un-Tony-like.
"We still are," Steve replied with a warm smile. He could see he was making progress. Though Tony appeared brusque and unfeeling on the surface, Steve knew better and so did Pepper. It was only a matter of time before Liv and Lucy recognized it, as well. Tony Stark wasn't quite the pompous a$$ he seemed to want everyone to think he was. "You should give them a chance, Tony. They don't care about your money. They just want to know their big brother."