And then we were two (Tony stark's daughter fic)

Here we go again

"Good morning, Nick," Natasha murmured without looking up from her weapon. She was sitting, back ramrod straight, legs crisscrossed, in a tree of all places, cleaning her gun. With anyone else it would look over the top, with Nat it looked like multitasking.

"I need the team," he responded as he waved a Manila envelope up at her. "So put the gun back together and suit up. It's about time we figure out this creature, monster, mass hallucination, whatever the fuck is destroying my bases."

She swung down without a word, landing effortlessly, and grabbed the envelope. "They were attacked...by a shadow? If I hadn't seen it myself I'd be skeptical.."

"Fuck if I know. Super humans, aliens, sentient mechanical men, Norse gods, those I can handle, at least they appear human, this...I can't even describe this."

"Starks not gonna like this..."

Fury snorted, "so I'd assumed. I have made arrangements for miss Addy. Arrangements I believe we can all be happy with."

He'd thought wrong. It was almost amusing how like her father little Addy appeared when they were both standing, side by side, arms crossed and dark brown eyes scowling defiantly at him.

"I'm a free agent now, Fury, recall? You can't make decision for my family."

"Do you want to take your kid on this mission, Stark?"

"Stark, don't be stupid," Steve began immediately. "You're not putting that little girl in danger."

"Rogers I'm getting a wee bit tired of you thinking you can tell me what to do," Tony snapped. "She's my kid, her safety is my responsibility, not any of yours."

Natasha cleared her throat and he shot her a sheepish look but didn't stand down. Surprisingly enough, that pleased her. It was about time he start acting like a father.

"Stark, your team needs you," fury stated firmly. "She'll be safe with Coulson."

"Uncle Phil!?" Addie squealed and Tony knee he'd lost. "You'll go and stop the monster, wont you daddy?"

"Won't you Daddy?" Clint mimicked and began blowing him kisses.

Tony rolled his eyes and threw the nearest object at him. "Fine. Where are we going?"

—-

Addie was safely ensconced on the raft, much to her displeasure. She tried to convince herself they weren't in the air, it wasn't that hard a task if she didn't go near any windows. She stared into the little screen her father had given her and smiled. He was reading a manual, the only thing he could find by way of bedtime story, and somehow it was better. It was very him, made her feel safe, like they were together. "At least they hit the tower, and not Malibu..." she smiled suddenly. "You've almost finished the rebuild, right?"

Tony paused in his reading and chuckled softly, "you liked that place, right?"

"I liked having a home with you," she shrugged. "We should build one like the cabin, but nicer. Auntie Nat startles super easy, she needs her own space."

He smiled again, a breath of a laugh puffing out of his nose as he set the manual aside. What'd it know anyway? He'd had to pause three times to inform her of mistakes already. "I'm gonna wrap this up soon as possible, babe, alright? Can't handle no one jumping on me to wake me up for too long, after all..."

"You just want me to play buffer between you and the ladies now that Pepper decided you make a better buddy than a date," she laughed.

"As if a little cutie like you is gonna scare anyone away," he snorted.

"You think so?" She mumbled uncertainly and reached for her hair.

Tony bristled protectively immediately, someone was getting their ass kicked. Probably that old bastard who'd hurt her. He still couldn't get her to talk about that and it only served to worry him. "Baby, you're gorgeous, you understand me? You look like me. I'm already interviewing bodyguards for if you ever decide you need time away from dear old dad."

Addie burst into giggles and shook her head, "you're a dummy, daddy. I gotta go to bed, uncle Phil says he's gonna let me target practice in the morning, auntie Nat and uncle Clint been teaching me."

They were dead, all of them dead. Tony's eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything for now. "Goodnight, babe. Sweet dreams."

"Song first!" She demanded, shooting him big brown pleading eyes.

If that was at all how he looked when he pulled a puppy dog expression he was surprised anyone had ever actually managed to tell him no. He smiled softly as he took in his little girl's face, committing that look to memory. "Alright, alright you little troublemaker. Too much like your old man, you know that? You really wanna hear my croaking?"

Addie nodded eagerly, "please daddy? My song? Please?"

There was no way he could deny her, even if he'd wanted to, and the man began singing softly to the tablet in his hands. "And you can tell everybody, this is your song. It may be quite simple but, now that it's done, I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind, that I put down into words, how wonderful life is, while you're in the world."

By the time he'd finished the song his baby was sound asleep, dark lashes curled against her cheeks as she slept. "Goodnight sweet pea," he chuckled and hung up. The sooner he could get through this and get back to her the better. He'd never really felt like he had family, a place to belong. For a while he'd thought maybe that could be the Avengers and Pepper but, Pepper had gotten tired of his issues, no surprise there, he couldn't fault her. As for the avengers, well, he had his uses, funding, housing, tech, but aside from that they'd be better off with his issues. He ran his fingers through his dark hair and sighed heavily, the mental list ever growing in length and urgency.

He could make all of their suits safer, sturdier. He had designs for new arrowheads for Clint, weapons for Nat, a design to help Cap to quit losing his shield, clothes for the Hulk. Admittedly that last one wasn't a life or death situation but he imagined he was saving someone a whole lot of therapy, keeping them from the image of a large green cock being burned into their minds. The very thought made him shudder.

Tony didn't notice Steve standing in the corner watching, his arms crossed over his chest. "You know I can't quite get a handle on you, Stark. You're reckless, you don't give a damn what anyone says, you're arrogant, irritating-"

"I'm really hoping there's a but coming, Capsicle," tony quipped easily enough. Humor was a shield he'd worn most of his life and he slipped it on with ease. "Usually people don't list that many of my faults in one breath without a but...unless they're shouting anyway."

Steve shrugged, "it just baffles me when I see you with Addie. It's like you're a whole other person..."

"Maybe you don't know what you think you know," he snorted and headed past him. "Anyone come up with a plan yet?"

"Thor and Banner are working on something to do with energies or something," he shrugged. "Figured they could use you..."

Tony nodded, "one more science nerd coming up."