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Tony was the last on the list. Hell he was more than comfortable with being last on the list. He wanted to be last on the list.
The list being the people Steve and Bucky trusted with their daughter.
Ok so that was a lie, if Tony was the only person in the tower with Grace and the tower fell…which…ok it wasn’t possible (but neither were Steve and Bucky to be honest) but it could happen Steve and Bucky both know that Tony would die before he let any harm come to their daughter.
It’s just situations like these that he really doesn’t like.
Bucky and Steve are both on a mission-hell the Avengers are one a mission but Tony’s being made to sit this one out due to the bad back he has thanks to the last mission-evil minions…
Riley is thankfully spending the weekend with Laura and the kids up on Barton’s farm but Laura and Clint didn’t have the room for four unruly kids and one brooding teenager-couple more years and Tony could see Cooper brooding in his room writing horrific angst ridden poetry.
Kids.
Anyway it means Tony’s drawn the last straw. He has to babysit Grace for the day until Bucky and Steve come home-hopefully in one piece.
The only thing Tony is willing to bet got Bucky’s overly protective ass onto the Helicarrier is the knowledge that JARVIS is supervising.
Which isn’t at all humiliating. The fact that Steve and Bucky trust the AI more than him.
“I have excellent child rearing skills” Tony pointed out feeling rather hurt, Bucky blinked at him “I heard about that kid you left out in the cold in Tennessee” he said flatly.
Hey, Tony was paying for Harley’s college fees wasn’t he? Well not really just the MIT fees-he wasn’t completely stupid-kid could pay for his own place to live.
Anyway Tony thinks that’s neither here nor there. He plans to take Grace down to the lab simply because he can and he needs to work on a new design for Barnes arm.
“Daddy says I can’t go into the lab” Grace says flatly peering through the glass with wide eyes.
“Riley does” Tony says feeling childish and Grace blinks “Daddy says that’s because Uncle Bruce is in there with her and therefore that’s ok”
Well…there goes that new idea he had for Barnes arm. Overprotective bastard.
“What does Papa say about my lab?” he asks praying that Steve’s common sense will triumph over his seriousness for once.
“He says if you’re the only adult then defiantly not” she deadpans back and Tony secretly plots a way to make Rogers pay.
“It might be ok though” Grace says carefully screwing her face up into a little frown of concentration “If you know what you’re doing”
Tony stares feeling so utterly insulted his mind goes blank.
“Listen” he says opening the door and allowing Grace to scamper inside, she’s wearing a white jumper and stripy leggings and her hair is tied into a neat plat.
“I knew what I was doing before either of your fathers…oh wait…I suppose their older than me”
“You look older” Grace Mutters and Tony resolves right there and then to not give the kid a fully-fledged ride to the college of her choice.
Considering Grace is nearly six it’s a pretty lame threat even in his head.
Grace is like a kid in the Candy Store. To any youngster the lab is like a treasure trove of stuff Grace has been instructed not to touch, she plays with a wrench and a small circuit her head bowed. She pokes at it a little giggling when it lets out sparks.
It was inevitable really-how it was all going to end up in tears, and blood…his blood.
Grace accidently drops an open current onto her skin. As far as electric shocks go it’s the weakest of the weak but it’s still enough to make the kid scream and then promptly burst into tears. It takes Tony, JARVIS confirming and then JARVIS confirming again that there is no harm and therefore no need to panic.
It take three bowls of ice cream to calm Grace down and by then she’s pretty clingy. Tony’s heart (what’s left of it anyway) sinks when she tells him that she wants to ring Daddy and Papa.
He can hold out hope that Steve will calm down his husband before he gets off the Helicarrier-that and the lockdown protocols are still working.
“Hello?” Steve’s voice comes across the phone sounding concerned-the only time this particular phone is used is when Tony or whoever needs to get urgent contact with the Avengers.
“Your Munchkin wants a word” he says quickly thrusting the phone into Gracie’s hand and not considering hiding behind the couch.
“Helwo Papa” Grace says around another mouthful of ice cream and Tony can practically hear Captain America’s heart melt over the phone.
Ugh. Sappiness.
“Hey Angel, you having fun with Uncle Tony? The mission is over and were flying back so we should be with you in a couple of hours”
“Ok…Uncle Tony took me into his lab and I got electrocuted”
She says this around another spoonful of ice cream dumping liberal amounts of whipped cream over the chocolaty mounds. Tony can literally feel his life ticking away…
There’s a thud like someone has fallen over before a quick rustling sound and Steve’s voice comes back as cold as ice “What?” he snaps his tone frigid before Bucky’s comes in over the line.
“Ангел? Put Uncle Tony on the phone will you?”
“It’s on speaker” Tony says wincing as the silence increases.
“Tony” Steve says finally his voice so tight it’s a miracle he’s not choked.
“It’s a minor electric shock Steve,” he rushes out “I had JARVIS check her over twice, no inhuman activity, no side effects, I’ve had worse and I’ve fine, so have the both of you”
Bucky literally growls and Tony winces as Grace’s head shoots up-maybe it wasn’t the best time to mention that whole HYDRA brainwashing thing in front of the children.
“Ангел are you sure you’re alright?” Bucky asks again and Grace nods “I’m fine Daddy...” she pauses lifting her eyes to stare at the phone and wow…Puppy dog eyes…Grace’s should be illegal. “You’re not mad at me are you…I did go in the lab with an adult like you said and I was real careful…”
“Were not mad at you Princess” Steve says soothingly over the phone, the At You bit is emphasised to show who he’s really mad at and Grace relaxes. Jesus, not even six and the kid still worries about disappointing Steve-if that feeling was bottled and distributed Tony really could privatise World Peace.
“Good” Grace says biting her lip, “Uncle Tony’s letting me have ice cream” she sniffs again and that really is Tony’s saving grace (pardon the pun) because he knows Steve and Bucky well enough to know that there’ll forget all about him feeding her the wrong foods and concentrate on the crying buying him some more time to formulate an escape route-Brazil is supposed to be nice this time of year.
“I want you to come home” she says looking down her finger tracing where the current was pressed against her skin and Tony can feel a super solider and an trained killer’s hearts break…
“Were on our way Angel” Bucky says soothingly and Tony can imagine him leaning his head on Steve’s shoulder like he usually does when he needs his husband to be the strong one.
“When we get in your gonna sleep in our bed tonight” Steve says firmly and Grace just perks up at that her face splitting into a wide infectious grin.
“Stark” Bucky says under his breath and Tony winces “It’s fine” he says again though he knows it won’t do much “She’s fine, everything is fine”
Everything is not.
Bucky is first in through the door and Tony realises that the both of them have skipped the after-mission briefing for this-he feels-guilty? It’s not an emotion usually associated with him.
He pulls Grace into his arms wrapping them both (including the metal one) tight around her. Steve is there less than a second later one hand curling into Grace’s blonde hair his face pressed against his husbands.
Tony figures he might have tonight free and then there’ll both kill him in the morning-either way he doesn’t want to intrude on the moment.
This is theirs.
Steve can count on one hand the number of times he’s felt this scared. Most of the time it’s either included Bucky or Grace. Natasha had took over the plane and put it into full speed until they got to New York and Steve means to thank her but his throat is too tight.
Bucky next to him hasn’t said anything. Bucky knows what an electric shock is, he knows how painful they can be, knows the damage they can do. The thought of Grace suffering….it’s the worst torture imaginable to the both of them.
He is going to kill Tony, sod Howards memory and the work he did with Peggy, Steve will rip his son apart is so much of a hair on Grace’s head is hurt.
Judging by the look on his husband’s face he’s not alone in this thought.
Bucky beats him by a second. Steve wraps one hand around his daughter’s hair needing the touch and sent to ground him. He knows Tony was right, there is nothing wrong-physically and he trusts JARVIS to the hilt.
He buries his face in Bucky’s hair the short strands tickling his nose (Bucky having cut it short when Grace discovered pulling) Bucky smells like the soap he uses, like the honey soap, and Grace’s hair smells of the Mango Shampoo they use and baby bubble bath.
These are the scents that ground him, Bucky and Grace, Bucky and Grace, Bucky and Grace….
He can deal with Tony in the morning. They both can, right now he forces Bucky to sit with Grace on the couch and wraps his arms around them needing the both of them in ways he cannot form into words.
This is his family.
Everything else can wait.