The Iron Legion

Chapter 2 - Coming Home

Normally, the trip from the SHIELD compound to Stark Tower took twenty minutes; with Tony driving, it took ten. Parking the car in front of the building, Tony ran up the steps and through the glass front doors.

Happy was waiting for him by the elevator as he entered the lobby, making an intimidating image in his usual black suit. He greeted Tony with a sincere "Good to see you, boss." and entered the elevator with him. Tony was grateful for his silent support as the elevator climbed up to the penthouse level. He eyed the floor numbers as they flicked by, growing more impatient by the second until, finally, they reached the 68th floor.

As soon as the elevator doors dinged open, Tony was greeted by a loud yell of "Daddy!" and an armful of little girl as Morgan threw herself at him enthusiastically. Tony groaned theatrically as he swept her up into his arms, hugging her tightly and burying his face into her dark hair.

"I missed you, Daddy!" Morgan told him, squeezing him as tightly as her small arms were able.

"I missed you too, Maguna." Tony whispered, kissing her on the top of her head as he held back tears of joy.

Over his daughters head, Tony saw his wife and son's standing by the sofa. Pepper's eyes were red-rimmed and shiny with repressed tears, but she was smiling. Beside her, Peter and Harley stood quietly, Peter staring at his feet, looking downcast, Harley staring at his father with an unreadable expression on his unusually serious face. 

Morgan was not yet old enough to understand how close her father had come to losing his life. All she knew was that they had gone on an unexpected holiday without Daddy, who had stayed back to save the world. But Peter and Harley, who had both already suffered the loss of several parental figures in their short lifetimes, knew.

This was second time that they had almost lost their father, the first being Tony's three month long abduction in Afghanistan, and Tony would never be able to forget how his children had reacted then. Harley had been angry, his grief and fear manifesting itself in his temper. He became moody and volatile, angry at anything and anyone. He began getting into fights at school, his grades dropped dramatically and he started arguments with his adoptive parents over the smallest of things. Peter, however, went silent, distancing himself from his parents and siblings. He barely spoke, and ate only when told to. He holed himself up in his room, studying and doing schoolwork, or simply lying in bed doing nothing. He drew away from his friends at school, becoming withdrawn, the complete opposite of his usual outgoing, enthusiastic and bubbly self.

The nightmares had been the worst. The nights of waking up at all hours of the night left everyone exhausted and drained, and getting the kids to sleep in the first place was a constant battle. Even little Morgan had nightmares, because although she did not understand why her Daddy was away for so long, she knew that her Mommy was scared, and Mommy was never scared unless something was very, very wrong. This knowledge was reinforced when Tony came back after three months of being away with his arm in a sling and cuts and bruises on his face. Peter had suffered from several panic attacks, which in turn triggered asthma attacks, and Tony and Pepper had resorted to installing Jarvis with a Baby Monitor Protocol, which alerted them to any drastic change in breathing rate and other symptoms of a panic attack.

Finally, Pepper had made the executive decision to send them all to therapy. Tony had hired a personal therapist, Dr. Elise Cameron, who his old colleague, Dr Helen Cho, had recommended. Dr Cameron, or Dr Elise, as the children called her, worked individually with each member of the Stark family, helping both the children and adults to cope with the events of the last few months, and, in the case of Peter and Harley, the loss of previous parental figures. Slowly, things improved, and after a few months the Stark household finally began to have a sense of normalcy.