little piece of heaven (tony stark's daughter)

17

3rd p.o.v

as soon as she's sure rosalie is asleep, pepper potts turns her head towards the genius who's arm is wrapped around her shoulders "does she know she just said that?".

the mechanic nods, smiling fondly at his daughter who's curled up on pepper's stomach. her hair is now neatly plaited and hangs in a braid over her shoulder. her chest rises and falls regularly, her dark lashes occasionally fluttering against her freckled cheeks. he can't help but to think that she looks so peaceful and comfortable, such a difference to the kid who was hanging from a piece of metal and screaming about not wanting to die. it breaks his heart that she has to experience this, but he's heavy with the knowledge that he wouldn't be able to stop her. if rosalie stark is told not to do something she'll definitely go out of her way to do it, and he'd rather keep her by his side if it has to happen. "she um.. she fell about two hundred feet and she knew it was going to happen" he starts to explain, having to brush over it a bit as the memory still haunts him "she thought she was gonna.. you know". tony's eyes close momentarily as he unwillingly relives the moment she dropped and he thought she was gone forever, the way her eyes slipped shut and her hair billowed around her.

everyone in the room is silent, observing the conversation. clint barton stares at the child subconsciously, he can't help but think about his own children. if cooper or lila ever got into any trouble like that he doesn't know what he'd do. he may be a superhero but that's something he just wouldn't be able to handle, no doubt about it.

pepper's arms tighten slightly around the girl. it physically hurts her to imagine her baby in so much distress. sure, she might not biologically be hers, but she might as well be. rosalie has been a part of her life for far too long for her to have not developed an emotional attachment. besides, she has a special charm that can work it's way into anyone's heart.

"she wanted me to tell you that she loved you, and that you're her mom" tony completes.

a few tears slip from pepper's eyes as she presses her face into rosie's hair for a moment, breathing in the blueberry scent and enjoying the warmth that she provides. she makes a pact on the spot that she's going to love and protect this child as if she's been hers since the start, no matter what.

the odd mismatch of people sit in silence for a few minutes, all making their own silent judgments on the situation, oblivious to the fact that they all come to the same conclusion. this kid is way too young for what she's doing, but fuck does she do it well.

"which one came to get the baby?" tony asks pepper eventually, curious as to what actually happened to rosalie's brother. he'd mostly forgotten about the whole war on asgard thing what with killian and his kid almost dying multiple times, but he still doesn't have any answers. he wants to know exactly how and why his eleven year old daughter ended up being dragged into a war against literal gods.

pepper squints as she tries to remember, the memory being a distant one despite the few days in between. a lot has occurred since "the one with green eyes".

tony pulls a face, he hadn't payed so much attention as to realise the colour of their eyes.

"venus" thor provides "god of uh.. venus".

tony ignores the demi-god, realising that he doesn't actually care which one it was "and what did he have to say for himself?". he could've sworn he saw the redhead's lip twitch.

"he wasn't making a lot of sense, kept repeating the same thing. he was on and on about how rosalie wasn't actually in the war, just babysitting" she shakes her head at the preposterous idea, you don't get an eleven year old to look after a baby, especially in a war-torn environment. "of course i ripped into him, but not before he explained that she was safe apart from the enemy soldier that got into the castle where she was staying".

tony balls his fists subconsciously, the anger bubbling inside him for a hot second.

"apparently the poor kid literally jumped out of a window" she looks down at the sleeping child again, a small smile overcoming her features "she's truly something".

the girl's dad hums in agreement "she is".

"she's not going to put up with resting for long, you know that right?" rhodey joins in the conversation. he can't help but think about the unbearable energy that the kid usually possesses, sometimes she literally bounces off the walls. some nights it's a fight to get her to go to bed, it's going to be quite some feat if they manage to get her to rest for even two days.

the mechanic rolls his eyes at his best friends comment, though he's fully aware that it's true.

"we could bribe her" the colonel continues "with like.. i don't know, ice cream?".

natasha snorts "look, i'm no expert, but if you want a kid to calm down and stay still then there's no way giving her sugar is going to help".

"i'm with nat on this one" steve nods "what about an apple?".

it's clint's turn to snort and he takes a moment to compose himself before he can manage to get some words out "steve, take it from me, you can't bribe an eleven year old with fruit".

"oh and you'd know would you?" tony says with another eye roll before looking over at the super soldier "he is right though, you can't bribe a kid with an apple, they'll throw it at you".

after a while of back and forth aimless conversation, the avengers drain out of the living room and trickle back to their own bedrooms.

tony helps pepper carry rosalie into their room, trying their best not to move her too much for fear of waking her or hurting her stomach. she sleeps in between them that night, just like after the last time, and for a few hours everything is okay because they're safe and warm. whilst she's sleeping, rosalie isn't thinking about anything at all, and when she wakes up she'll be between her two favourite people in the world.

so yeah, everything is okay for a while, but it isn't the end.