Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

            A clap of thunder overhead woke the dark-haired, twenty-one-year-old female occupant of the Stark mansion in Malibu, California. She looked confusedly out her bedroom window, as there was no rainstorm in sight, but heard the loud thundering sound again. Finally, a voice began calling out to her in her mind.

            “Anya, Becca was right! We’re under attack!” the voice called, and she swore under her breath.

            “Tony, I can send him to get you if you tell me where you are.” she responded quickly, not knowing how long her brother could keep their connection open.

            “Don’t send him, Anya. Not only is his time with you infrequent and short enough as is, but I don’t know if these people are normal terrorists, snakes, or worse. Becca said I’d be held captive for three months, right? Just tell Pepper I’m going to be fine and monitor Obadiah until I get back. I want you to take my place as CEO, my living will should take care of anyone trying to stop you, and you keep the family business running. Keep an eye on the manifests and figure out where the leak is, because it couldn’t be that easy for just anyone to figure out where the military decided that we were holding the Jericho missile demonstration.” Tony told her, and then there was silence.

            “Tony!” Anya mentally cried out, and she waited several minutes for a reply.

            “Sorry, my captors showed up to, well, kidnap me. I’m faking unconsciousness for now, but I think there’s some shrapnel embedded in my chest, as it’s bleeding a lot and hurts like hell. I love you, Anastasia, and I’ll see you in three months. Take care of our company, little sister.” Tony said, and Anya felt the tears form in her eyes.

            “I love you, too, Tony, and I will. Don’t do anything stupid.” she told him, and the silence became final.

            As she lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling, she felt the bed dip down beside her and a cold, metal hand rest on her thinly-clothed abdomen. She shifted just enough to lay her head down on her companion’s chest, but she didn’t say anything. She felt him pull the blankets up to cover them both, and then she felt him press a kiss to her temple.

            “I’m sorry we’re not at home.” she told him, speaking audibly for the first time since she’d gotten in the bed.

            “You will be soon, and when I get away from those bastards again, we’ll go to the zoo or a movie.” he replied, but he could feel the way she tensed up as he spoke.

            “James, Becca and I are staying here for at least the next four months.” she said after a moment or two had passed.

            “Becca’s dream was more than a dream. What all did he say?” he asked.

            “Tony put it in his will and his living will that I’m to act as Stark Industries CEO in his absence, i.e. until he can get home, which is in three months by Becca’s timing. I’ll need the extra month to reassure myself that he’s actually home safe and that Obadiah isn’t still embezzling and double-dealing our products, which, by the way, he wants me to start monitoring in order to ensure we have proof.” Anya answered with a sigh.

            “When do you start work, Mrs. CEO?” he asked teasingly, and she turned just enough to smile up at him.

            “I’d go in tomorrow, but the news of Tony’s capture won’t even reach us until mid-morning. I did, however, call and invite Pepper and Happy over for lunch tomorrow so I could warn them. They’re the only ones around who know about our mutations, not even Obadiah was brought into the loop on that one, so they’ll both understand how I know Tony’s alive. The day after is Saturday, so I’ll start work first thing Monday. Did you have plans for this weekend?” she asked, and he grinned down at her.

            “I was hoping my wife would join me for a picnic on the beach Saturday night for Valentine’s Day, but all I really want is one last quiet weekend with my family before all hell breaks loose.” James said, and Anya giggled softly.

            “A picnic, Sergeant Barnes? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” she responded, but he could tell that she was still worrying over both her brother and how she would run her family’s company for three months on her own.

            “I take that back, I have one more idea.” he said, and she gave him a curious look.

            “What?” she asked.

            “You’re worried, to the point of projecting your worry to me. Now, far be it from me to be as selfish and greedy as I want to be right now anyway after not seeing my wife for three months, but I know one sure fire way to get you to forget about everything for a while.” he told her, and she smiled as he leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss.

            The kiss progressed into more passionate kissing, and Anya let out a soft moan as her husband began kissing down her neck. She knew what he was doing, and she agreed that this was certainly at the top of her list of things to do with him once he returned, so she let him continue. After a moment, she spoke out loud to her brother’s AI who controlled the house.

            “JARVIS, enter Privacy Protocol, but alert us if Becca needs anything, and change my morning alarm from eight o’clock to ten o’clock, please.” Anya said, as she began to tug upwards on James’ t-shirt.

            “Of course, Dr. Barnes.” the AI’s robotic voice, an imitation of the family butler who had raised her brother and helped raise her for the first four-and-a-half years of her life, answered quietly, making Anya’s bedroom soundproof and switching ‘his’ focus to the room down the hall which housed hers and James’ sleeping two-year-old daughter.

            Precisely at ten the next morning, JARVIS woke Anya and James as instructed. The pair had finally fallen asleep in each other’s arms half-past four o’clock after sharing a shower and cleaning up their bed, and JARVIS had dropped nearly all of the Privacy Protocol once they had, the lone hold-outs being the blacked-out glass and the locked doors. Now, with the sunlight streaming in and warming the room, JARVIS went about his programmed orders from the night before.

            “Good morning, Sergeant and Dr. Barnes. It is ten o’clock, as you requested of me, and Miss Rebecca seems to be waking up.” JARVIS said, and James was the first to sit up in the bed.

            “J, how many times do I have to tell you to call me ‘Bucky’? If you could, give Anya another half-hour to sleep; I’ll get Becca and start breakfast.” he told the AI, and the mechanical chuckle he got as a response made him shake his head as he got out of bed, stepped out of the bedroom, and made his way to his daughter’s room.

            The pink, gold, and white room had been Rebecca’s since the day Anya had told her brother that she was pregnant. As much as Tony had wanted to kill Bucky in cold blood for getting Anya pregnant at eighteen, he loved his sister more. The day Anya went into labor, the two men had shared a lengthy conversation about why, despite him loving his wife and daughter more than anything in the universe, he had been just as upset with himself as Tony had been when he’d found out he was going to be a father. As a Prisoner of War and a supposedly mindless H.Y.D.R.A. assassin for a good portion of his life, Bucky didn’t want a child being hurt because of simply being his. Staring at the bleary-eyed mass of pale flesh and dark brown curls sitting up on the toddler bed across from the door, however, he knew that Rebecca Anna-Claire Barnes was the second-best gift God had ever given him; Anya had to be the first because Becca had come from her.

            “Morning, malyshka.” he said, using the Russian pet name he’d given Rebecca before she’d been born.

            “Papa!” she excitedly exclaimed, scrambling off her bed and running over to him as fast as her tiny legs would carry her.

            Bucky scooped Becca into his arms and cradled her close to his chest. Her small hand traced over the symbol on his metal shoulder, one that marked the difference between his H.Y.D.R.A. arm and the one Tony had designed for him that stayed at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters whenever he was in H.Y.D.R.A.’s custody. The arm was painted to match seamlessly with his skin, and the mark resembled a tattoo of a white wolf howling at a full moon.

            “Papa, why is your mark a wolf?” Becca asked, and Bucky chuckled.

            “Remember when Grandpa Charles and Opa Erik sent me to train in Wakanda with Uncle T’Challa? Well, the people of Wakanda started calling me White Wolf after Uncle T’Challa’s father declared me a member of his family and someone to be respected by them. When the bad guys don’t have me working for them, which I’d never do if I had a safe way out, I use this arm; the mark reminds me of who I am and why I fight to stay in control of my mind. The only things that are as good of reminders as the mark are you and your mama.” he explained, and she gave him a toothy grin before kissing his cheek.

            “Where’s Mama?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

            “Sleeping still; I got here pretty late, and she’s got a lot she’s responsible for until your uncle can get home. Yeah, it wasn’t just a nightmare, Becca, but he’s talked to your mama through their link. Your mama said last night that Aunt Pepper and Happy are coming over for lunch in a few hours. I’m thinking bacon and egg bagels for breakfast. Are you okay with that idea, malyshka?” he answered, and she giggled.

            “Can they be cheese eggs?” Becca asked, and he knew this was one of the few times he was happy his daughter was a genius who could speak in full sentences at the age of two and comprehend what he told her.

            “Do you know of any other way to eat egg and bacon bagels?” he asked her seriously, and she laughed again while shaking her head. “Then let’s go to the kitchen and get these bagels started!”

            Anya joined her daughter and husband in the kitchen half-an-hour later after being woken up by JARVIS. They were sitting at the kitchen island eating their bagels when she walked in, and Becca smiled when she saw her. Anya watched as the toddler swallowed the bite of breakfast in her mouth before speaking.

            “We saved you a bagel, Mama!” she chirped merrily, and Anya smiled at her little girl before taking the mentioned bagel from its place on the counter and sitting down on Becca’s other side.

            “Thank you for saving me breakfast, baby girl, and for using your manners. Did Papa tell you about Uncle Tony?” she asked, and the girl nodded.

            “Are we moving here?” Becca asked, and Anya nodded.

            “We’ll go back to New York when Uncle Tony’s home, Obadiah is either dead or in jail, and I know your uncle is stable enough to run his company again. I wouldn’t be so blunt about everything if I had a better idea for when we could go home, Becca, and I’m sorry.” she told her daughter, and the toddler nodded.

            “It’s okay, Mama. After breakfast, can I draw some pictures for Aunt Pepper and Happy?” Becca asked, and her mother nodded.

            “Since you and Papa made breakfast, why doesn’t he help you draw pictures while I do the dishes?” Anya asked instead, and Becca turned to Bucky.

            “Please, Papa? You draw so pretty!” she practically begged, batting her long and dark eyelashes at her father.

            “I still say your Uncle Steve is the best artist I’ve even seen, but sure, I’ll help you draw pictures.” Bucky said, and Becca let out a squeal of delight before returning her attention to her breakfast.

            Bucky had never personally met Pepper Potts, and he’d only met Happy Hogan once at his and Anya’s wedding. From conversations with Tony and Anya both, he knew that Pepper knew the general idea of who he was; Happy knew more considering that he was literally the head of Stark Industries’ security staff as well as the family’s personal Head of Security. Bucky also knew that, despite their feelings towards him for being the one to actually kill Howard and Maria Stark, they both loved Becca fiercely. So, it wasn’t a surprise to him when Pepper glanced nervously at him throughout lunch or Happy would mumble select phrases in Russian, the only ones the man knew, to make sure the former Howling Commando wouldn’t be set off. Becca, it seemed, was less impressed with the two’s antics, and she made her displeasure known once the group had moved to the living room.

            “Papa won’t hurt me. Don’t act like he will.” the girl bit out suddenly, and the adults all turned to look at her in varying states of surprise.

            “Tishe, milaya. Oni ne doveryayut mne, potomu chto oni menya ne znayut.” her father told her softly, and, after getting a keen look from her mother, she nodded before falling silent and returning to her coloring book and crayons whilst the other adults just looked on in confusion.

            “Okay, look, I know you both have reason to doubt Tony’s judgement. Hell, we all have reason to doubt his judgement! Despite that, you should know by now that you can trust mine. There isn’t a thought James has that I don’t see, and I personally helped get the trigger words out of his brain permanently. Vati keeps the titanium arm under lock and key in Salem Center, and Tony built this one out of natural vibranium sourced from Wakanda; now, James was right by telling Rebecca that you’re acting this way because you don’t know him well enough, but you can trust that I do. If there was ever any doubt within me that James would hurt me or Rebecca, there would only be three of us in this room. Now, back to Tony being taken hostage by the Ten Rings. What do we know so far?” Anya stated, and Pepper was the first to snap back to reality, taking out her StarkPad and queuing up a video.

            “This was sent to Obadiah and several media outlets this morning. Obadiah said he was sending it out to translators, but it seemed pretty clear what these guys want with Tony.” the redhead said as she passed the tablet to Anya, who passed it to Bucky once she realized why a translator was needed.

            “It’s in Urdu, and this guy’s sayin’ that Stane hired them to kill Tony. Because he survived the initial attack and all of the Jericho missiles were destroyed, Stane has’ta pay them more now. They want more weapons from SI, more than what Stane must’ve sent them already. That adds up to a grand total of Stane being guilty of fraud, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, embezzlement, and theft. If I’m right, and I’m sure that I am, Stane’s hoping to get full control of the company with Tony out of the way. Only problem with that is Tony and Anya split the company between the two of them when she turned nineteen, and they both decided to leave everything to Becca if something happened to either of them. The person who would be in charge until Becca would be old enough is currently Professor Xavier solely because I can’t do it without those snake bastards finding out I’m me.” Bucky explained, speaking clearly but rapidly in his Brooklyn accent, and Pepper let out a gasp of surprise while Happy muttered a string of curses under his breath.

            “Actually, he would split control with Vati. I named both of them her guardians if something happened to us and to Tony.” Anya amended, and Bucky grinned before responding to the statement.

            “What is it they call her? Geschenk?” he asked, getting a short nod from his wife before the voice of the AI broke through.

            “Ma’am, it appears that Mr. Obadiah Stane is driving onto the property.” JARVIS called out before anything else could be said, and Anya groaned.

            “Thanks for telling me, J.” she said before turning to her companions. “James, I can’t let him know about Becca yet; she’ll only be in danger if he finds out about her now. Take her upstairs and have JARVIS soundproof the room. I can get through if need be, after all. As for the two of you, Pepper, Happy, don’t mention James’ translation of the video. We can’t allow him to get suspicious, or Tony could be put in further danger. If he asks, you two are here to break the news to and console me; I have copies of Tony’s will and living will in the lab in Tony’s ‘secret’ safe. We do this the Stark way, which is the conniving, sneaky way, and we never let on that we know anything about where Tony is or that he’s alive.”

            Everyone agreed with the brunette woman, and Bucky picked up Becca and her things before retreating swiftly up the stairs. The others remained seated in the living room as Obadiah walked in and observed the scene before him. He hadn’t expected for anyone but Anya to be in the house, so trying to sway the younger Stark sibling to his side would be harder with an audience. Hearing what the older man thought, Anya was hardly able to keep herself from acknowledging how stupid of a plan Stane had.

            “Tony told me you were flying in for a while to spend time with him after the trip to Afghanistan, but I know he never thought he wouldn’t be here himself.” Stane said as he sat down beside Anya.

            “He’ll come home, Obadiah, just you wait and see; we can’t give up hope that he will, and he’s the most stubborn person I know. If anyone can make it out of that, it’s my brother.” Anya told him, and Pepper and Happy each nodded in agreement with her assessment of Tony.

            “You seem awfully calm, Anya. Did you see the video?” Stane asked, and she nodded slowly.

            “I did, and I did what Starks are good at by compartmentalizing. Before he left for Afghanistan, Tony told me that, should anything happen to him, I was to take over as the Stark Industries CEO. He said it’s in his will and his living will, so I intend on starting work first thing Monday. We may not know exactly where my brother is, Obie, but I won’t let my family’s legacy end with him. I wouldn’t let my father down like that, I promise.” she said, and the older, bald man seemed to freeze momentarily.

            “He left everything to you?” he asked, and Anya nodded.

            “Tony updates his will every year, and he updates his living will twice a year if only because I’m still here to harp on him about needing to quit living the fast life. He’s had me scouting for locations in New York to build a building, not just corporate offices or laboratories, but a full-on Stark Tower; once we got that done, he said that we could split the CEO stuff fifty-fifty.” she said, and he gave a short nod.

            “It sounds like Tony’s been planning something big again. Did you find a place for this tower?” Stane asked, but he received a negative response.

            “There were a few promising spots, but we decided to wait and see what might open up a little way down the road. Tony didn’t want more paperwork on top of the Jericho missile stuff, so we tabled the idea for the tower before I flew out.” Anya told him, and it was true.

            “Listen, Anya, running a company can be a lot of work, and you’re very young. If you would rather me-” he began, but she cut him off.

            “Obie, I’ll be fine. Pepper’s going to keep me on track with the stuff Tony had in the works before he left, which may include the MIT commencement speech, and I’ve got Happy, too. If I have any questions that they can’t answer, I’ll come find you, okay? I was raised by Tony and Aunt Peggy, so you’ve got to give me some credit!” she assured him, mentally adding “along with my two other dads” to her statement, and he gave her a gentle smile before checking his now-beeping phone.

            “That’s my translator, so let me go meet up with him and see what these Ten Rings guys want in exchange for Tony.” Stane said before rising, Anya following suit.

            “Thank you, Obie, for coming to check on me, and thank you for finding a translator. See you Monday?” she asked as all four of them began walking towards the front door like a small herd.

            “Monday it is, Anya. Be safe.” he told her as he slipped out the door, and she waited until his car was out of sight before swearing.

            “Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is going to be the longest three months of my life, isn’t it?” Anya said to Pepper and Happy, and the two merely nodded.

            Friday night slipped into Saturday without further incident. Saturday brought no new information on Tony, but the night brought the beach picnic Bucky had promised. JARVIS had the house locked up tight and had Becca under close watch, so Anya and Bucky were content to let their daughter sleep while they took the beach-access stairs that Tony had built into the side of the cliff down to where Bucky had their picnic set up. Too soon, however, the tenderness and passion of Valentine’s Day slipped into Sunday. The day was quiet and dread-filled. Despite knowing the routine, neither Becca nor her parents enjoyed when Bucky had to sneak his way back into the H.Y.D.R.A. base he was supposed to be “held” at until he was needed for a mission.

            Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have to leave until Monday, but the extra trip it would take to get his titanium arm back from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters meant he had to leave Malibu sooner than he would’ve left had they still been in Brooklyn. He let out a heavy sigh as he sat with Becca, the both of them crying as she clung to his shirt as if her tiny, two-year-old body would be enough to restrain him.

            “Why do you have to go?” she asked through her tears.

            “I don’t want to, dragă mea, but the longer I stay means the sooner the bad snakes will know that I’m gone. If I had a way to protect you from them, to protect your mama from them, I would come home to the two of you and never look back. Until I can find a way to leave without them finding out about and hurting you, I have to stay there. I’ll try to make it back for your birthday, Becca, but I don’t know when or where my next mission will be.” he explained, and she gazed up at him curiously, blue eyes meeting an almost identical match.

            “What does that mean? It isn’t Russian.” she asked, and he smiled.

            “You know that I speak many languages, malyshka, and that Russian is but one of them. I called you dragă mea, which means ‘my darling’ in Romanian. When I come back next time, we can talk about more languages and find more things to fill that big brain of yours with, okay?” Bucky told her, and she nodded while curling into her father’s chest for one last hug.

            “YA lyublyu tebya, papa.” Becca whispered, and Bucky could feel his heart break as his daughter spoke.

            “YA tozhe tebya lyublyu, malen'kiy.” he replied, giving her a squeeze and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

            Bucky carried Becca up to her room after the little girl had fallen asleep on his chest. He tucked her in and kissed her on the forehead before slipping from the room. He found Anya in the garage, bent over at Tony’s desk with her eyes trained on whatever JARVIS was displaying on the monitors. She heard him walking up behind her, but she did not turn to face him.

            “She’s sleeping.” he said simply, and she nodded.

            “This isn’t exactly her favorite day of your visits.” she said, and he knew she wasn’t strictly talking about Becca.

            “If I could stay without putting you two in danger, don’t you think I would? I’d sneak into Pierce’s house right now and put a bullet between his eyes if I knew it’d mean we were safe!” he said in a tone just shy of snapping.

            “I know you would, and I know how much danger we’d be in if you stayed, but I also know that Obadiah’s going to go down to the courthouse tomorrow to try to get a copy of Tony’s living will. The second he does, he’ll find out about Becca, and then we’ll both be on his radar. I’m worried, and I’m scared; I just wish you would be here to keep us safe from him.” Anya retorted, finally turning around and laying her head on her husband’s flesh shoulder.

            “Keep your link with me open as often as you can, and I’ll try to get back as soon as I know no one but Dimitri’s watching. If Stane tries anything, he’ll learn what happens to people who mess with an assassin’s family.” Bucky told her as he tilted her chin upward enough to place a soft kiss on her lips.

            “Hurry home, James, please?” she whispered, and he gave her a sad smile as they walked over towards the car that he’d arrived in.

            “For you, doll? Always.”

            Bucky returned to Malibu a little over a month later. The night before Becca’s birthday, just as he had the night before news broke of Tony’s capture, he slipped into bed beside Anya; like the first night, she curled into him. Her first month as CEO had been mildly taxing.

            “Dimitri let you out a little close this time.” she said tiredly.

            “Technically, he didn’t let me out. They sent me to kill Romanoff, and she’s in the hospital right now. She’ll live, but I killed the person she was protecting. The snakes think I’m taking a few extra days to monitor her condition, so they aren’t expecting me back from the mission for a week or so. Just as a warning, this one’s probably going to get me another hard-reset attempt.” he replied, and she sighed.

            “Let me know when you get to DC, and I’ll have Pepper cover for me at the office. How much longer do you think it’ll be before you can get out?” she asked, and it was his turn to sigh.

            “Probably not until Peg’s gone. She can barely remember the post-war years on some days, and they’re still scared to death of the woman.” he answered, earning a soft chuckle from his wife.

            “You knew Aunt Peggy; there’s reason to be scared of her.” she said, and he was unable to disagree.

            “Go back to sleep, doll. The birthday girl’s gonna wake up in a few hours, and it’s gonna be all about her from then until her bedtime.” he said, and Anya rolled over in his arms before laying her head on his chest and closing her eyes.

            “She’s not gonna want any of the toys she’s getting once she sees you. Having you home, technically, for her birthday is the best present she would want.” she said as she drifted off to sleep, and Bucky privately agreed with her as he, too, allowed sleep to claim him for the remaining time before Becca awoke.

            Becca’s birthday had gone as her parents had planned. Pepper and Happy had accepted Anya’s invitation to come over for the now-three-year-old’s birthday dinner in the evening, so the family of three spent the morning and afternoon together doing family-friendly activities that they both knew the toddler enjoyed. Becca drew pictures with Bucky for a while, the two of them using Anya as their model, and then she played piano with Anya while Bucky made lunch. It was after this that they got in Anya’s car and drove down to the stables that Anya had been going to since childhood.

            A couple of hours later, as they were cantering back up the beach Anya loved riding on, the young mother felt something shift. Realizing it was a psionic shift, she reached out to see who was trying to contact her. Hearing her brother’s voice in her head, she froze briefly.

            “I’ll be out in two months, Anya, and you can go home. Just tell Becca I love her and hope she has a wonderful birthday.” Tony had said, and she had to fight back the tears building up from their combined emotions.

            “-cle Steve had to go and do something crazy by punching the horse in the head! The punk never knew how to listen to me when I said to not go lookin’ for unnecessary fights; he never met a bully he wasn’t gonna stand up to, that’s for sure.” she heard Bucky tell Becca, and she slowed her horse from a canter to a light trot before looking over at her husband and daughter on the horse beside her.

            “You miss him.” Becca stated, no doubt in her small voice.

            “Every day, malyshka, every day. Sometimes, when I’m locked in my ice chamber by the bad men, I dream I can hear him the way you and Mama hear me inside your heads. He’s always just as cold as I am, and he tells me we should try to get closer to stay warm like we did when we were kids and the snowstorms would knock out the power. I wish he was here to meet you, Becca, because I know your Uncle Steve would love you so much; I think he and your Uncle Tony would definitely get into fights over who’s your favorite.” Bucky admitted, the ghost of a smile on his face mirroring the real ones Anya had seen in photographs his sister Rebecca had shown her years earlier in the months leading up to the elderly woman’s passing.

            “I know he loves me, Papa. I hear him sometimes, too.” Becca said, and both her parents stopped to look at her.

            “Bec, did you try to create a mind link with your Uncle Steve?” Anya asked, and the three-year-old nodded.

            “You told me how you use your powers to keep the bad men from making Papa forget us, and how you always know where he is, so I wanted to see if I could find Unca’ Steve like you can find Papa; he asked if I could help him talk to Papa, so I tried and it worked.” Becca answered, and Bucky’s smile returned.

            “Did you find him, malyshka?” he asked, and she grinned.

            “I can show you at Unca’ Tony’s house! JARVIS helped me!” she said, and Anya decided to cut in with her brother’s message.

            “Speaking of your Uncle Tony, he reached out to me again, baby girl. He says he’s working on making it home in two months, and he hopes you have a happy birthday. He also wants me to tell you that he loves you.” she told the little girl.

            “When Unca’ Tony gets back from where the bad men are, can we go look for Unca’ Steve?” Becca asked, and her parents considered her request.

            “Once your Uncle Tony is home and is okay enough to be left with just your Aunt Pepper and Happy without him having a breakdown, we’ll see about finding you Uncle Steve.” Bucky said, and Becca accepted this happily.

            When the small family returned to the mansion, Anya noticed a car that was neither Happy’s nor Pepper’s in the driveway. She turned to Bucky, expecting him to hand Becca to her while he checked it out, but he just smiled. She quirked an eyebrow at him, and he bashfully looked away.

            “I invited Scott and Kim. They haven’t seen Becca since Christmas, and they’re both out of school now. With Tony gone, the twins in Sokovia on their humanitarian mission, and Erik and Charles fighting like an old married couple over Erik needing to follow doctor’s orders for once in his life, I figured we should try to have as much family here for her birthday as we could.” he admitted, and Anya giggled.

            “She’d probably have Rhodey if I knew how to explain all this to him, too. Tony never wanted anyone to know about our mutations, so we never told him, and I can’t explain you without my mutation.” Anya said, and Bucky nodded.

            “Even then, it’s still not exactly the easiest thing to accept, doll.” he reminded her, and she sighed.

            “If my brother has accepted it, no one else has the right to say anything about how we chose to go about our lives.” she told him, and he agreed.

            Scott Proctor and his younger sister Kimberly were standing in the living room when Bucky and Anya entered with Becca. The now-three-year-old scrambled out of her father’s arms and darted towards her cousins. Scott was the one to catch her, spinning her around in a circle as he hugged her.

            “Scottie! Kimmy!” Becca cheered as she was passed from one Proctor sibling to the other, hugging Kim just as tightly as she’d hugged Scott.

            “Happy birthday, Bex.” Scott said as he released the toddler.

            “We wouldn’t miss this for the world, Becca-bee.” Kim added, “Happy birthday!”

            “I’m glad you guys could make it; I only wish someone would’ve told me he’d invited you instead of letting me get freaked out by a car I didn’t recognize.” Anya said as she gave the Proctors hugs of her own.

            “Uncle Bucky, you didn’t tell her we were coming in for the party?” Kim asked with mock-surprise, and Scott let out another laugh.

            “He stopped in for ten minutes to tell us about the party on his way here from Ukraine. Uncle B probably didn’t say anything because he wasn’t sure we’d actually make it in time to be here.” the elder Proctor sibling said with a snort, and Anya sighed.

            “It’s doesn’t really matter now that you’re here. Why don’t you two keep the birthday girl occupied while we make dinner? Pepper and Happy should be here in an hour or so, anyway.” Anya told them, and the siblings nodded before leading the toddler towards the pile of drawing left out from earlier in the day.

            Becca’s third birthday party, though small, was a success. Between the Proctor siblings, Pepper, Happy, and her parents, Becca had received plenty of toys and books. One gift was a large trunk had arrived a few days prior with her name on it, and Anya had explained that it was from Aunt Peggy, Anya and Tony’s godmother who had known Bucky during World War II. The trunk was filled with things from both Peggy’s childhood and Anya’s, things that Anya could recall playing with as a girl herself whenever she spent time at her godmother’s home. When Becca went to sleep that night, her plush white wolf that had been a gift from T’Challa clutched to her chest, Anya found Bucky sitting by the open trunk.

            “What’s wrong?” she asked as she sat down beside him.

            “I wanna know where Peg got this bear. She shouldn’t have had it.” he said, a small, dark brown teddy bear in his hands.

            “It was mine; well, I assume it was my mom’s or my dad’s when they were little and just got left in the mansion in Manhattan. Tony didn’t wanna go back there at first when Mom and Dad died, so we went back for the first time with Aunt Peggy when I was five; I found the bear when we were cleaning out one of the rooms, and Tony said it was fine for me to keep it. I left it at Aunt Peggy’s for Sharon to play with, and I guess she sent it back to me for Becca. Why are you so interested in a teddy bear?” his wife replied with curiosity, and he sighed.

            “This was mine. The stitching right here on the left foot, JBB, is my initials. My mother stitched this to make sure Annie and I didn’t mix our bears up; we could only afford these at the time, no other toys, and we didn’t need the risk of getting into a fight over whose bear was whose and tear them to bits, so she made sure we could tell them apart. Annie gave hers to Becky when she was born, and I gave mine to Annie when she went into the hospital. Ma told me they buried her with it, and Becky said the same thing. She still had Annie’s bear, and Kim has it now. There’s no reason this bear should’ve been in that mansion.” Bucky said firmly, and Anya froze.

            “Oh no…no, no, no, no. That tech was at least ten years away from being functional, and even then, it would’ve had to have been on a Super-Soldier to work the way it’s supposed to; he couldn’t have been that cocky and ingenious!” she hissed to herself, and Bucky fixed her with a confused expression.

            “Doll, you okay?” he asked, but she let out a snort of sarcastic laughter and shook her head.

            “Oh course, he was that damn cocky! He fathered two mutants with genius IQs and psionic abilities more powerful than Jean Grey and Papa combined when we’re separated! This explains a hell of a lot!” Anya said instead, and Bucky raised an eyebrow.

            “What did Howard do?” he asked slowly, emphasizing each word heavily, and she sighed while shaking her head.

            “When I was doing my doctoral thesis, the first one, Papa took me to the mansion with Tony’s approval. I went through box after box of Dad’s old research, and I found paperwork on an early version of a cryo-chamber dated during the war. I always thought he’d started thinking about cryogenics then, but now I think he might’ve started years earlier. There was a section of notes that Dad wrote in Hungarian, and Tony didn’t want to translate it once he found out I got it from Dad’s files. My knowledge of the language is limited to casual language, enough for Tony and me to scream at each other in it, so I never looked any further into it. I just remember being able to read off the numbers one, nine, three, and five. Dad was my age when he started the company, and he could’ve been working on his inventions for four years beforehand; I believe that he was, after all, considering he was seventeen when he first met Dr. Erskine.” Anya explained, and Bucky took a deep breath before responding.

            “Are you suggesting that your father managed to put my sister in cryo?” he asked her quietly, and she curled up beside him before responding.

            “I think he might’ve, but I have no clue where he would’ve based this whole thing if he in fact did.” she told him before letting out a small giggle and gaining his gaze.

            “What?” he asked, perplexed.

            “You know how I feel about trying to give anyone false hope, but Becca and I just kinda gave you your sister and best friend back for your birthday. What I promised you Tuesday can’t possibly compare to this.” she said, and he gave her a grin.

            “We can worry about Steve and my sister after your brother comes home, doll. If you want to move on to what we discussed Tuesday, I’m not gonna turn you down.” he said in barely a whisper before leaning in to kiss her.

            Anya smiled into the kiss and slipped her arms around Bucky’s neck. He pulled her close and gathered her bridal-style in his arms before carrying her to their bedroom. After initiating JARVIS’ Privacy Protocol, the two lost themselves in each other, no better place to be in either of their minds.

            Within a week, Bucky was notified by his contact that Natasha Romanoff was due to be released from the hospital. Thus, he was recalled to D.C. by his “guard” Dimitri in order to return before his handlers grew suspicious. Once he was gone, Anya waited for him to tell her when he was entering the HYDRA base on which he was normally held captive at in order to prepare herself for the task of fighting off HYDRA’s brainwashing techniques. The day it happened, she had to convince Pepper to both cover her duties for the day and babysit Becca.

            “I don’t know if I can-” the redhead tried to argue, but Anya cut her off.

            “Pep, you’ve practically been doing Tony’s job for him for ten years. If anyone can step into my shoes as CEO for one day, it’s you. As far as babysitting Becca, she has her sketch pad, color pencils, books, toys, and iPod filled with music. In all honesty, not that I want to sound like a horrible mother, just remember to feed her. You’ll be okay as long as you do that much, and you can bring her back whenever you leave the office for the day. What I have to do to keep HYDRA from erasing his memories is just really taxing on me both emotionally and physically; whenever I do this, I physically can’t take care of her for several hours. Before you ask, the whole time I was pregnant and he needed my help, Papa took over keeping his mind intact; no, he can’t take over permanently because not only does it just work better when I do it, but Papa is also getting older and has his own litany of problems to deal with now that Vati has finally started teaching again. You would think that’s a good thing, but all it means is that Vati is bored now that the twins are in Sokovia to help in the cleanup efforts after the shelling. Magneto and the word bored do not go together…at all.” Anya told her, not giving room for Pepper to form a rebuttal.

            “Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll update you on the schedule tomorrow when you get into work. Good luck, Anya.” the older woman said, giving in, and Anya nodded before turning to look at her daughter.

            “Thanks; Becca, be good for Aunt Pepper. I’ll see you tonight, okay? I love you so much, baby girl.” she said, and the toddler nodded.

            “I love you, too, Mama. Tell Papa I love him?” Becca replied, hugging her mother tightly, and Anya just nodded.

            Pepper returned to the Stark Mansion with Becca that evening, the two of them finding Anya at the piano playing Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” with a delicate grace flowing through her that Pepper had only ever seen Tony possess. Becca noticed the song and climbed up onto the bench beside her mother while Pepper moved into the kitchen to start dinner. It was a quiet evening between the women, well, two women and one little girl, and everything seemed subdued with the absence of both Tony and Bucky.

            April passed quickly for Anya, and she found herself being woken up by thundering booms in the middle of the night much like she had in February. She tried to gauge what was going on wherever her brother was, but she could only pick up on the series of explosions. Finally, her brother’s voice broke through and sounded clearly in her mind just as good as it would have if he’d been standing beside her.

            “Anya, I’m coming home.” Tony told her.

            “Are you okay? Do I need to call Hank and Papa? Do we need Vati here to check you for any missed shrapnel in your chest?” she asked him rapidly, and she could hear his frustrated sigh.

            “Anh, I’m fine. I may have a small arc reactor implanted in my chest, but I’m fine for now. My heart isn’t strong enough for surgery to remove the rest of the shrapnel, at least not if I intend living, but I’ll be fine. I’ve picked up on some US military satellites, and a few SHIELD ones, so I know I’ve got Rhodey’s attention; once he’s picked me up, I’ll have him call you and tell you where I’m being taken. Send Hank there. Tell him that I don’t care what anyone else is going to think, he’s my doctor and I can’t allow anyone else to see my blood test results. If this means telling Rhodey what I am, then it’s whatever. I need Hank to be the one to treat me.” her brother told her firmly, and Anya agreed.

            “Just let me know once Rhodey has you, okay?” she demanded gently, and Tony relented, knowing he was never going to win against his sister.

Chapter Text

            Two days later, Anya let out a sigh of relief as she saw a black Mustang pull into the garage. The man driving the car was Bucky, and his passenger was a large man who was covered head-to-toe by brilliant blue fur. Becca darted towards her father, and the blue man walked casually over to Anya.

            “I checked him over in Germany, and he’s as fine as he can be for a while. His heart is significantly weakened right now, but it will strengthen over time as it heals. The shrapnel nearly tore it to shreds, but whoever they had to operate on him in that cave saved his life. Tony’s going to make it through this, and, in a few years, he’ll have a heart strong enough to handle the surgery to remove the rest of the shrapnel.” said the blue man known better as Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy.

            “Thanks, Big Blue, honestly. Tony linked up and told me about the reactor, but I feel better knowing you’ve got faith in his recovery.” Anya said as she hugged Hank, and the blue man hugged back gently.

            “Doll, we’ll stay here with Becca and get dinner ready for everyone. You need to get ready for the press conference.” Bucky said, and Anya nodded before walking over to where her husband and daughter were standing.

            “I might need help zipping up. Care to help me, Sargent Barnes?” she asked, and Bucky smiled as he kissed her lightly on the lips.

            “Becca, why don’t you show Uncle Hank your drawings?” he said to his daughter as he set her on the ground, and the girl toddled over to the blue man before taking his hand and walking up the stairs without a word.

            Upstairs in their bedroom, Bucky told Anya everything he had been able to find out about their theory on how his childhood toy had ended up in the Stark family’s New York mansion while she did her hair and make-up. He told her how he’d used her key and alarm code to get into the mansion when he had finally been able to slip out of HYDRA’s custody, and he had found a hidden room that he was unable to enter. The lock had apparently last been updated within months of her parents’ deaths, and Bucky had no way of getting past the retinal scanner.

            “Considering the fact that I was three at the time this happened, Tony’s probably the only one who can get inside that room. Obadiah wouldn’t have been in the system Dad put on the lock because he didn’t trust him enough with the project. All the notes on it I’ve found, which I’ve found more of in some of Dad’s old boxes Tony had moved to the attic, are in Hungarian; it’s not Dad’s habit of writing in a foreign language unless he is intending on hiding what he’s working on from someone else. Before and during the war, it would’ve been the government he would’ve hidden things from because spies were everywhere at that point. After the war, specifically after partnering up with Stane rather than going it alone, Dad wouldn’t have hidden anything from him unless it had to do with something that he didn’t want on company record. It’s the same thing Tony does now by having JARVIS keep things on the private server rather than the SI ones.” Anya told her husband, and he nodded.

            “Once he’s up to it, I’d start talking about that Stark Tower project again. It would give him the excuse to go to New York without arousing suspicion. It’s either that, or this has to be done around the holidays.” Bucky replied, and Anya agreed.

            “I’m meeting him at the airport with Pepper and Happy, and he’s warned me that he’s shutting down the weapons manufacturing sectors. I’ll let him get some rest before I bring this up to him.” she said as she pulled her Goo Goo Dolls’ t-shirt over her head and tossed it into the laundry basket near the ensuite’s door.

            Bucky watched his wife as she continued undressing, mesmerized more so with the speed she changed clothes at than her body, and he let out a low chuckle as she stepped into the walk-in closet to find her dress. Anya heard him and called back to ask what he found so hilarious. He took a breath before responding.

            “I was thinkin’ about what your dad would’ve said if he knew what Tony was about to do. He’d probably be somewhere between pissed-off-beyond-all-reason for the weapons manufacturing sectors being shut down and weirdly proud of Tony for doing the right thing. He’d also wanna kill Stane for tryin’ to kill your brother in the first place. I might not have liked Howard much when I knew him, but that much I know for certain. Your ma would’ve been just as bad, if not worse.” Bucky said, and Anya fixed him with a curious stare as she walked back over to him, turning her back towards him so that he could zip up her dress.

            “How would you know about my mom? The only time you actually met…” she trailed off, and he nodded.

            “Just because I was under their mind control doesn’t mean I don’t remember what I did to them, doll. HYDRA gave me files on your parents, and I’d been doing some surveillance on you all for a week or two prior to that day. Your ma loved you two more than anything, and she was always trying to make peace between your brother and your father the whole time I was watchin’ you guys. If someone would’ve told her that Stane would try to kill Tony in less than twenty years, I have no doubt she would’ve grabbed Peg’s old side-arm outta Howard’s safe and shot Stane through the forehead. Now, Peg is another story. That woman would kill Stane herself right now and leave no trace of herself behind despite being almost ninety!” he explained, zipping her up as he spoke.

            “I wouldn’t doubt that; Aunt Peggy is the entire reason HYRDA’s still in hiding. I don’t have many memories of Mom, but what I do remember is that she was kind. She loved me and Tony fiercely, something I’m proud to say is the same about myself with Becca. I can remember her teaching me the basics of piano, how to let someone know if I was lost in fluent Italian, and the words to ‘Smile’ clear as crystal; but I also remember her fighting with Dad…a lot. That’s one area where Dad and Tony are a lot alike. Neither one could ever accept a female presence in their life that wasn’t strong, independent, and not the slightest bit willing to take anyone else’s bullshit.” Anya responded as she turned to face her husband, and he smiled slightly before nodding in agreement.

            “You tellin’ Wanda off for messin’ with my head that day is still one of my favorite memories, doll. I never thought I’d see anyone that scared of you, honestly, because I never thought you’d let your anger out like that.” Bucky said, and the smaller woman let out a laugh.

            “I think your exact words on the subject were ‘I am so strangely turned on by this. Why am I turned on by this? Is this even legal? She turns eighteen in a couple months or so, right?’” she teased, and he sighed and shook his head.

            “We never made it to your birthday.” he said, chuckling.

            “You found out you were being called back earlier than you’d thought. You came back a few months later, though, and that’s when we made Becca.” she reminded him as a soft smile graced her face.

            “Then I came back again to find you six-and-a-half months pregnant with a baby girl who can already read my mind from inside the womb.” he said, returning he smile.

            “And now we have the chance to make the world a safer place for her…and anyone else who comes along.” Anya said, and Bucky locked eyes with her.

            “Are you…” he trailed off, but she shook her head.

            “No, I’m not. I’ve been thinking about it, though, and I was thinking we might try for another one, on purpose this time, once Tony’s doing okay and I’ve finished this next dissertation. Too risky?” she asked, but he shrugged.

            “We haven’t exactly hidden Becca away, and no one’s come after her, so I doubt we’d raise the risk factor by too much more. The one thing I worry about is you tryin’ to take care to two kids while I’m gone. Of course, if the reason no one’s come for Becca yet is because Pierce wants to use you girls against me in the event that I have to openly betray him, then the risk factor is already too high to make the excuse. I mean, my name is on her birth certificate, and so is my date of birth.” he admitted, and Anya agreed.

            “We’ve been hiding in plain sight, and HYDRA’s had ample opportunities. What we do know is that they aren’t aware that she or I have mutations. If they had even the slightest inkling that Becca has the powers that she does, they’d have tried to take her or make you bring her to them a long time ago. So, boy or girl?” she responded, getting a grin in response.

            “As much as I love you girls and would love another child just the same no matter the outcome, I would be lying if I said I didn’t want a son. My wife and daughter kinda outnumber me as is at the moment, so who would turn down the chance to even the odds?” he said, his tone half-joking.

            “I don’t think I’d be upset with that.” she said, stopping to look at the clock on the bedside table. “Damn it, I’m going to be late if I don’t leave now.”

            “Go on, doll. We’ll be here when you get back.” Bucky said, kissing his wife lightly on the lips before she went back to the closet and pulled out a pair of cream, t-strap heels that matched the cream-colored flowers on her dress.

            After pulling on the heels and her jewelry, Anya hurried back down to the garage with Bucky, quickly kissing him and Becca on the cheek and hugging Hank before getting into the back of the black Rolls Royce Happy was driving beside Pepper. As her and her brother’s friend and bodyguard pulled out onto the main road, Anya lowered the privacy screen.

            “Happy, I’ve talked to Tony, and Hank checked him out in Germany. He’s physically as fine as he’s going to get for a while. It’s just the emotional issues we’re going to be dealing with, and he’s got his next move already planned out this time. I promise you, Hap, I won’t leave until I know my brother’s stable enough to be left mostly alone.” she told the man driving, and he gave a wordless nod.

            “Mostly?” Pepper asked, and Anya snorted.

            “You’re not going to leave him no matter how difficult he gets, Pep. I know what Becca told you when you stood in for me at the office, and I know that she was right. He may be stubborn, untrusting, and minorly paranoid, but my brother really loves you and literally doesn’t remember how to function without you in his life.” Anya told the redhead, and Pepper blushed lightly.

            “He loves me, yet he can’t remember my birthday?” she asked, and Anya sighed.

            “He remembered. Once Rhodey was significantly impaired, he called me from the plane to make sure that Becca and I’d made it to Malibu. He said he felt like an idiot for acting like he’d forgotten your birthday, but he thought you’d take that better than you would him remembering but still sleeping with that reporter the night before as if you weren’t that important. Considering I’ve literally heard what some of the women he’s had one-night stands with in the past have been thinking when they approach him in the first place, if he turns them down the reporters are likely to start a rumor that he’s gay out of spite; those bitches make it out to be a status symbol, like you aren’t a real female journalist if you haven’t slept with Tony Stark or something. He’s also worried about asking you out because he knows there’s a chance that either you’ll refuse him, or those same, jealous female reporters will make you out to be a gold-digger. He’s trying to protect you, but the only way he knows how is to create distance. When he needed to protect me, he sent me to the other side of the country to a boarding school for mutants knowing I had a formerly mind-controlled HYDRA assassin for a bodyguard most of the time and that only the extremely foolish try to get past Papa and Vati in the first place.” Anya explained, and Pepper let out a light giggle.

            The two women fell into silence as the privacy screen lifted, and the air inside the car became less tense as they neared the airport. As Happy came to a stop on the tarmac, the two women exited the car and waited for the Air Force plane to touch down. Alongside Happy, they watched as the plane’s ramp came down, and Tony walked slowly towards them on Rhodey’s arm. Unable to hold herself back, Anya hurried forwards and through her arms around her brother carefully as she kept his in-a-sling arm in mind.

            “Please, don’t ever do this to me again, Anthony!” she near-begged, whispering his name in accented Italian.

            “Tranquillia, tesora. Tutto andrà bene.” Tony whispered back, using his left hand to stroke his sister’s hair and pressing a kiss to her temple.

            “Quanto può durare il palladio prima di avvelenarti?” she asked, and he sighed.

            “Al massimo, ho due anni per trovare un nucleo sostitutivo. In caso contrario, io muoio. Io esaurirò l'intera tavola periodica prima che ciò accada, sorellina. Prometto.” he answered, and she hugged him tighter.

            “Pepper è stata preoccupata per te.” Anya said quietly, and Tony grinned down at her before responding.

            “Non era l'unica. Sapevo che Becca l'avrebbe detto alla fine. Ci credeva?” he asked, but Anya shrugged in response.

            “Onestamente, io non sono certa.” she answered, relaying the conversation she’d had with Pepper in the car in her mind for him to see.

            “She isn’t known for her subtlety, is she?” Tony said in English as he let go of his little sister and looked over her shoulder to see Pepper and Happy.

            “Probably about as much as Vati.” Anya teased, and the siblings walked back in the direction of their friends.

            “Your eyes are red.” Tony noted as he took in Pepper’s appearance. “Crying over your long-lost boss?”

            “Tears of joy!” Pepper joked. “You know how much I hate job hunting.”

            “Then is should make you happy to know that your vacation’s over.” Tony joked back, and the two Starks got into the back of the Rolls with the redhead while Happy hurried into the driver’s seat.

            “Where to, boss…es?” Happy asked with a slight chuckle as the doors slammed closed behind his passengers.

            “Hosp-” Pepper started to say, but the siblings cut her off.

            “Hank did his own exam in Germany.” they chorused.

            “So, where?” Happy asked again.

            “I want a burger, but I know Bucky will smack me upside the head with the metal arm if I eat anything before dinner, which is burgers already, so swing by the nearest fast food joint on the way to Stark Industries so I can at least grab a milkshake. I have to put something high-calorie on my system before I crash.” Tony said before turning to his sister. “You set everything up, right?”

            “We’ve got about half-an-hour to get there before the reporters start getting antsy over all this, and probably five or ten minutes less before Obadiah starts feeling worried.” she answered, and Pepper tilted her head curiously.

            “A press conference?” she asked.

            “We’ve got a leak somewhere in the company. I’m almost positive it’s Obadiah who’s dealing under the table, and I already know he’s who had me abducted. When Anya stepped in to take control from me, I had her start slowly changing the direction of the company behind his back. StarkTech has been steadily increasing in its productivity while Stark Weapons has been steadily decreasing. With me coming home and making my ‘triumphant’ return to society from captivity in Afghanistan, I can play the role of the mentally-unstable-and-in-need-of-rest-CEO long enough to make a dramatic scene over shutting down SI’s weapons division.” Tony answered, and he could see both Pepper’s and Happy’s jaws drop.

            “The whole division?” Happy asked before he could stop himself.

            “It’s all gotta go. I refuse to have any more weapons with my name emblazoned on the side used by terrorists and warmongers to kill innocent people. The man who saved me over there, he was a brilliant man I met at a New Year’s party years ago; and these bastards who took me, they killed his entire family just to take him. They killed children, likely with my weapons, and I can’t stand for that.” Tony said firmly, and Happy gave another nod as he turned into the parking lot of a Burger King.

            Twenty minutes later, the Rolls Royce pulled up to Stark Industries where a crowd had amassed to witness the homecoming of their leader. Anya resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she saw Obadiah waiting to open the door for her brother, choosing to smirk instead when she realized that Obadiah would have no choice but to let her out first as Tony had squeezed himself between his sister and Pepper.

            “He wouldn’t want to know what I’d do to him if he slammed that door in your face, Anh.” Tony said comfortingly, and his sister gave him a small smile in response as the car came to a stop and the door was opened.

            “Look who’s here!” Obadiah called out loudly as he offered Anya his hand.

            The Stark siblings and Pepper exited the car, with Happy hurrying around from the front with Anya’s Sprite in his hand. He gave the soda to the younger Stark and followed the group inside the building. While Tony wandered off towards the podium with Obadiah, Anya made her way over to where she saw Pepper speaking with a very familiar man.

            “-gent Phil Coulson with-” the man was saying as Anya cut him off.

            “SHIELD. It’s nice to see you again, Phil.” she said, and the agent looked towards her in surprise.

            “Dr. Barnes, it’s nice to see you again, too. I assume you know why I’m here?” he asked, and she sighed.

            “Director Eye-Patch wants to know how Tony got out of Afghanistan. Phil, I’m going to be honest with you, Tony won’t be up for sharing for a while. I’ll try to figure something out, but if he’s not ready to talk by the Firemen’s Ball, it’s not going to be until near Christmas. I know my brother, and his mind, better than pretty much anyone else; he only works in three-month increments with stuff like this.” Anya told him, and Phil nodded.

            “You still have my number?” he asked, and the brunette nodded.

            “I’ll call. I’ve gotta get up there to do Tony’s damage control, so I’ll talk to you later, Phil, okay? Pep, JARVIS has a protocol for dispensing smelling salts through the vents in case anyone passes out. Just go to one of the terminals at the reception desk and use the voice command ‘Initiate Poke the Lion Protocol’ to start it.” Anya said before hurrying up to the stage where Obadiah stood, leaning against the clear podium and her brother sat, tossing her empty soda cup into the nearest trash receptacle.

            “Hey, can everyone just sit down? If we do it this way, all of you can see me, and this all feels a little less formal. I don’t want to over-exert myself so soon after coming home.” Tony called out, and the sea of reporters sank down to the floor while Anya curled up beside her brother like she did as a child while Tony turned to Obadiah. “It’s good to see you.”

            “It’s good to see you, too.” Obadiah replied, but Anya heard his thoughts of ‘Why couldn’t you have died in that cave, you little pest’ and took a deep breath.

            “I never got to say ‘Good-bye’ to Dad.” Tony said, and Obadiah looked confused as Tony turned back to the reporters. “I never got to say ‘Good-bye’ to my father. In the accident that took his and our mother’s lives, I nearly lost my sister, too. Anya was three at the time and, given the higher intellect she and I share, she had the chance to say that last ‘Daddy, I love you; please, don’t go’ that I never had to opportunity to say. I have so many questions I’d want to ask him if I could. I’d ask him how he felt about what this company did, if he was conflicted, if he’d ever had any doubts. Or maybe, Dad was every inch the man we all knew from the newsreels. I don’t know, and neither does anyone else because Dad’s gone. He’s gone, and this company fell to me, a responsibility I now share with my sister.” Tony said, taking a deep breath.

            “Hey, you’re doing well. You’ve got this, Tony.” Anya told him mentally, and he nodded before looking back up.

            “I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them, and I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability.” Tony said, and the reporters began murmuring among themselves and asking for Tony to call on them, so he picked on he was familiar with. “Yeah, hey, Ben.”

            “What happened over there?” Ben asked, and Tony sighed.

            “I-I had my eyes opened. I realized that I, Anh, help me up, sis, have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up.” Tony said as Anya helped him to his feet and around the podium. “And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries. Questions?”

            The reporters were on there feet, all of them calling for another chance to be the one acknowledged by the Stark siblings. Obadiah tried to cut in, but Anya moved to the microphone before he could stop her.

            “You, blondie.” Anya said, pointing at the Vanity Fair reporter she knew had been her brother’s last hook-up.

            “Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair Magazine. Ms. Stark, what will Stark Industries be doing if not making weapons? With such short notice, wouldn’t this decision effectively shut down all SI production lines and result in the snap termination of thousands of employees?” she asked, and the psionic woman sighed.

            “First, as most everyone is aware, I am neither a Miss nor a Stark. Not only do I have a doctorate in physics and in genetics, but I was also married two years ago. My name is Dr. Anastasia Barnes, not Ms. Anastasia Stark. Second, Ms. Everhart, if it soothes anyone’s fears, I have noticed a trend over the three months I have been the CEO of this company. The weapons division has been declining in productivity for a while, but the StarkTech division has been flourishing; employees have been being switched over to tech projects rather than weapons project the entire time I’ve been in charge, and productivity hasn’t slowed a modicum. At the moment, we are looking into several types of Smart technology, such as smartphones and tablets, and we are currently the only manufacturer of specialized equipment for the students at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.” Anya said, and Christine Everhart seemed to have another question ready before most of the reporters could process what she’d just said.

            “The school for mutants? Stark Industries supports mutants?” Everhart asked the young CEO, not expecting Tony Stark to nudge his sister aside and take the microphone.

            “Considering that Professor Charles Xavier is my godfather and that both my sister and I have known and been around mutants for our entire lives, you can damn well believe that Stark Industries is Mutant-Friendly.” he near-snapped into the microphone while wrapping an arm around his sister.

            “Mr. Stark, let me just say that, unlike some of my colleagues, I am glad to hear that your company supports equal rights for everyone, that you are home safe, and that Stark Industries is taking the safety of this nation so seriously. May we submit any more questions to your office to be answered at your earliest convenience?” Ben asked, the glare aimed at Everhart endearing him to the Starks further.

            “Of course, you can, Ben, and all of you who aren’t nosy little bastards trying to worm your way into my life to find all my deepest secrets. For now, Anya will be in the office and running things, but I hope to be in and getting to work on some of our new projects as soon as possible.” Tony said before allowing his sister to lead him away from the stage, giving Obadiah the chance to get to the microphone.

            “What we can all take away from this is that Tony’s back, and, uh, he’s healthier than ever.” the siblings heard him say as they slipped outside and back into the Rolls.

            “Dinner is still about an hour out if you want to stop by the labs and see what I put into work since you’ve been gone?” Anya offered as Happy asked where the two wanted him to go.

            “Yeah, let’s do that. I wanna make sure this one and her sister get along before I get electrical shocks the whole way through the factory.” Tony agreed, and Pepper tilted her head in confusion once more that afternoon.

            “What thing? What sister?” she asked, and the siblings shared a look that caused Tony to break down and open up to his assistant.

            “Pepper, I’m dying. It’s nothing dire, not exactly. There was too much shrapnel in my chest, and not all of it could be removed. My heart was near-shredded in places, and I have to take it easy, very easy for a couple of months before I can even think about my workshop or my personal projects let alone the company. In order to keep the remaining shrapnel from destroying the rest of my heart, I have a miniaturized arc reactor, an electromagnet basically, in my chest. I have to make sure that the big reactor and small reactor don’t get into a turf-war over me mainly because of the electrokinesis part of my mutation. I’ve described it to you before like being able to talk with machines as well as control them, but the machines can grow attached because of my ability. JARVIS isn’t as sentient as he is by accident, and Dum-E and the other bots are way more than just lab equipment. Because I can communicate with tech in a sense, I have to check the compatibility between these two; and with their reasonably similar functions, these reactors might as well be sisters.” Tony explained, but Pepper shook her head.

            “Back the hell up, Tony. You’re dying?” the redhead demanded, her tone a little jarring for the older Stark sibling.

            “Pep, it’s not immediate. The core is powered by palladium, and that can and will slowly poison a human’s bloodstream and nervous system if not properly treated. I have two options to go about treatment, neither of which are easy. Either I can A) find enough injectable lithium to keep the toxicity levels at bay, or I can B) find another element to power the small reactor. Either way, I’ve got about two years before the toxicity gets too high for me to handle.” Tony attempted to soothe her.

            “How fast can you get the lithium?” she asked.

            “He can’t. After the FDA decided that lithium pills are a better treatment option right behind SSRIs, the government rounded the liquid lithium all up. SHIELD has a stockpile of it, and we technically have a right to that bit of lithium because of Dad’s involvement in starting the agency, but Uncle Nick, i.e. Director Eye-Patch, isn’t going to give Tony any of it until he tells them exactly how he escaped. Tony, as it is, hates going into debriefings because Uncle Nick treats him like a petulant six-year-old.” Anya explained, and Pepper groaned.

            “Any idea what element can work as a replacement core?” she asked, and the two siblings shook their heads.

            “As long as he’s not doing anything aside from staying in bed and occasionally going to the bathroom or eating, he can technically power the reactor on his own for a couple of days. Other that that, we’d need Vati’s help; he won’t be free until at least after Christmas, though, because he’s supposed to be spending the summer with David, Lorna, the twins, and Papa, either at the cabin or in London, before going back to the school in the fall.” Anya voiced.

            “She’s right, and I’m going to exhaust every possibility I have before I resort to begging my parents for help and get talked down to like I’m fifteen and accidentally blowing up an MIT lab again or worse. Don’t get me wrong, I love Vati, but I can’t work with him sometimes.” Tony added as the car came to a stop outside the factory doors.

            While Tony had gone into the factory to wait for Obadiah and their unwanted discussion about the mini-Arc in her brother’s chest, Anya waited in the Rolls with Happy and Pepper, doing her best to avoid their thoughts. While she was reciting the periodic table in her head, her phone rang and made her jump in surprise. Reaching down to take it from her purse, she grabbed the ringing device and brought it up to her ear while hitting the answer button.

            “Hello?” she asked, not having seen a name on the Caller I.D.

            “Hey, Anh, it’s me. John accidentally destroyed my phone, and I just got my new one with a new number and all. How’s Tony?” came Pietro’s voice, and she let out a sigh.

            “He’s as good as he can be in the situation, Pietie-Pie. He’s walking, talking, and doing things that shock the masses, so he’s still our Tony regardless. How’d you piss John off, or who did if you didn’t? Aren’t you and Wanda supposed to be in Sokovia?” she said, and she could hear her youngest adoptive-brother sigh.

            “First, we came back early because Pops said it was getting close to Tony’s return date and that Vati was well enough for us to finally go off on him for not going to the doctor sooner. Second, it wasn’t actually me, Wanda, or Lorna this time. As it so happens, it was surprisingly Pops who did it, and he’s apologized more than we thought possible. Jean was being her usual self and yelled at John for practicing his powers indoors again, and Pops didn’t really try to reprimand her for the way she handled the situation. He was more concerned with David’s latest round of block-placing, Tony being found and Hank treating him as covertly as possible, and John forgave him already. Vati mediated the whole thing, for once, and my new phone came in last night. Would Tony be up for visitors soon? Pops and Vati want to see him with their own eyes right now, and the girls want to squeeze him like pythons.” Pietro explained, and Anya laughed out loud at his words.

            “Papa told me about David, and he’ll be fine like he always is because he’s strong like his family. As for Tony, I’ll ask him when he gets back in the car, but you know the answer is always ‘Yes’ to the dads and sisters. He’ll want to see you, too, dork, so don’t even think about skipping this one. I’ll mind-whammy you into getting on the jet if necessary, Piet, and you know I’m not above that sort of thing.” she stated, smiling as she heard the chuckle on the other end of the phone.

            “I wouldn’t dream of staying home, Anh, and I doubt we’ll be flying. Pops has already asked Kurt if he’d provide transport, and he’s on the ‘I need to make sure Tony is alive and well’ bandwagon, too. You guys are just as much our brother and sister as Kurt or the others. The girls, David, and me might be the only ones with a genetic connection to Pops and Vati, but we’re still family.” the teenage boy said, and Anya let out a sigh of her own in response.

            “I know, trust me, we’re definitely a family. Albeit, a dysfunctional and mostly adoptive family, but we’re what we’ve got. Tell Kurt you guys can come over for lunch tomorrow and we’ll take it from there, okay?” she told him, and Pietro let out an excited squeal at her words.

            “Is Bucky cooking? If he is, I vote we have Sheppard’s Pie! His is the best, and Pops loves it almost as much as he loves Vati’s cooking.” the teen said rapidly, and Anya giggled at him.

            “I’ll see what he says, Piet, okay? We’re having burgers tonight, so he might be okay with that because we can crumble the leftover patties to make part of the beef layer. See if one of the dads can make dessert, and we’ll see you guys tomorrow. I love you, Pietro.” she said, and her brother didn’t hesitate in his response.

            “Pops says Vati will be making Black Forest cake tonight after Wanda, Lorna, and I all go to bed. Kurt will come home around ten-ish tomorrow morning to pick us up, and he’ll take us as a group to the Malibu mansion. Sean says he’s not missing out on this reunion, and he’s closer to Tony than anyone other than you or Warren just because of his age. Do you guys have enough room?” Pietro asked, and Anya told him that they did.

            “Is Theresa coming along, too? Becca hasn’t had anyone near her age around in a while, and they get along well.” she asked, and Pietro went quiet for a moment.

            “He says he’ll bring her just for Becca, and she knows not to use her mutation in the house.” came the response.

            “Tony’s coming out now, so I’ll text you in a little while. I love you, Piet, and I’ll see all of you tomorrow.” Anya said, looking up as her older brother’s mental presence began to brush softly over her own.

            “I love you, too, Anh, and tell Tony that the hoard is descending.” Pietro said, and he ended the call just as Tony slid back into the car, smushing his sister between Pepper and himself.

            “Which one was it?” he asked, and she just grinned at him.

            “Piet called to give me, and therefore you, his new number. Papa was so worried about you, and David, that he forgot to lecture Jean on not setting John off about his powers indoors when we all know that the kid’s got better control that she does, honestly, and John accidentally melted Piet’s cellphone. They wanted to know how you were doing, and the dads won’t settle for a strictly verbal update. So, at lunchtime tomorrow, Kurt is bringing them for a visit along with Wanda, Pietro, Lorna, Sean, and Theresa; Alex is still on base for another week, and David’s…he’s down for another week while his mental walls get finished patching themselves up to keep Legion inside and all that. Piet asked for Sheppard’s Pie, and Papa says that Vati is bringing a Black Forest cake that he’ll be making under the cover of darkness to ensure it doesn’t get eaten until tomorrow. They’re coming out here because they love you, Tony, so deal with it, okay? Even Kurt is worried.” she told her brother, and Tony snorted.

            “Why didn’t they use Cerebro to find me?” he asked, and Anya frowned.

            “That’s right, I hadn’t told you yet.” she said, seeing the confused and minorly hurt look on her brother’s face. “Right after you were taken, Vati got sick. He hasn’t been that sick since before I was born, and Papa was solely focused on keeping him alive. By the time he made it to Cerebro to look for you, he was so worn out that he could barely communicate telepathically with me in Malibu, let alone find you in Afghanistan. Tony, I actually had to have a phone conversation with him, that’s how wiped he was while you were gone.”

            “Is Vati okay to travel? If he needs rest, Kurt can just pick us up and take us to them. Tell me Pops isn’t blaming himself for a cold, Anh?” Tony responded.

            “It wasn’t just a cold, it was pneumonia. Either way, Vati is fine, but you’d started working on the suit when Papa recovered from the emotional strain that Vati’s illness had put on him. He said he’d rather you be upset for him not finding you than for him interrupting your project; you forget how well Papa know you sometimes.” Anya answered, and Tony huffed.

            “I’m not saying he was right, but the suit is so cool. I’m gonna try again with better materials and all since I’m home now, but I love it. I think, if I can make the suit and find a new core, Pops might let me out into the field finally. I hate being locked away in mission control when I know I have a valuable gift with much more control that Jean will ever have.” he said, and Anya giggled.

            “Anna-Marie has more control that Jean, honestly. It’s just because you’re a famous face that he won’t let you out. If the world knew what we were, it’d be a worse disaster than that press conference would’ve been if I hadn’t kept Stane away from the microphone as long as I did.” she said, and no one disagreed with her, mostly because only her brother truly knew what she was talking about.

            “Who’s Anna-Marie? While we’re at it, who’s everyone you listed? In ten years of being your assistant, Tony, you’ve never mentioned much family.” Pepper said, and Anya bit back a laugh.

            “You would find this funny, Bellum.” Tony said to his sister, confusing Pepper and Happy more.

            “Sorry, Cherik, but I do find it funny that Pep hasn’t met our adoptive family members yet. Have we really gone that long as the most secretive members of the team?” Anya replied, and Tony nodded.

            “We’re not official X-Men, so we get away with not being named outside the team. Besides, she’s met Logan.” he said as a justification, and Anya snorted as she burst into another bout of laughter.

            “Of all the mutants Pepper could’ve met first, me aside, you ended up with Logan?” she asked in minor disbelief.

            “It wasn’t on purpose. Kurt and Azazel were told to separate him and Jean during a fight over teaching methods, and Kurt thought of me first. He popped himself out before Pepper ever saw him, but Logan was still there when she got to the workshop to force me to eat real food.” Tony explained, and Pepper smiled a bit at the memory.

            “Logan was actually really polite to me. He said I must be some sort of divine being if I could make Tony listen to me when he wouldn’t even listen to his de-facto parents most of the time. I assume he meant Charles and Erik?” Pepper asked, and Anya nodded happily.

            “Papa is Tony’s legally godfather, and Vati is mine. Aunt Peggy was named godmother to both of us, but she knew she’d never be able to have us full-time because of SHIELD. The dads, however, run Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and are used to a house full of young mutants because of their own children, both adopted and biological, on top of the students. Surprisingly, as much of a jackass as our dad was, he was never anti-mutant or homophobic…at least not after he met Vati and learned how much he cared about Papa. The idea that the rest of the mutants who were either Papa’s allies or part of Vati’s Brotherhood of Mutants would both sit down and agree to letting Vati take over the world if anything happened to Papa really got Dad to understand that, sometimes, love can show up where you least expect it and will make people go to great lengths to protect it.” the younger Stark sibling said, and Pepper smiled along with her.

            “They sound like a very sweet, but very scary couple. I can see how they raised the two of you, mostly.” she said, and the siblings shrugged.

            “Wait until you meet our siblings. They range in age from forty-eight to almost fourteen. Our niece, Theresa, is a couple of years older than Becca.” Tony said with a genuine smile.

            “Her infant years were hell, though, because her mutation is super-sonic screams like her father. You’ll get to meet Sean tomorrow, along with Pietro, Wanda, Lorna, and Kurt; you’ve already met Hank, but the others have to stay behind at the school, Logan included. I know Kitty’s not liking being forced to stay in Westchester, but she’ll visit in her own time.” Anya added, and Pepper visibly winced when Sean and Theresa’s mutation was mentioned.

            “Hey, we owe Kitty a lot, so she can visit whenever she wants. There’s a reason she’s the only member of the team with a permanent room in my house.” Tony insisted.

            “May I ask?” Happy piped up for the first time, his curiosity getting the better of him finally.

            “Kitty has many aspects of her mutation, and one of them is chronoskimming. As long as she is touching you, and you’re strong enough to survive it, Kitty can send you back in time to your old body to fix whatever went wrong. She’s done this a few times now for various timeline screw-ups, and her most recent event created the world we live in now. Just so it doesn’t get asked in front of them tomorrow, in an alternate timeline from the one we live in, Dad got freaked out when Tony and I were both born as mutants and tried to kill us. Tony escaped after his mutation manifested for the first time, made his way to the X-Mansion, and became another adopted son of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. When he found out about me, he used his mutation and his on-going correspondence with Edwin Jarvis to save me and bring me to the mansion as the newest Xavier-Lehnsherr daughter. Dad eventually found us and thought we were being trained to kill him, like Vati had killed Sebastian Shaw for killing Oma Edie, so he attacked the mansion and killed almost every mutant in it. Kitty sent Vati back, and he was able to get Dad on his and Papa’s side for the Mutant-Rights cause. When he came back, he didn’t remember anything past when he’d changed Dad’s mind on mutants; I unlocked his memories of this timeline that wouldn’t scar me for life, and he had his own, private reunion with Papa for those memories that would’ve if I’d seen them. Logan’s done it before, too, the time travel thing. He had to stop the government starting the Sentinel program and killing off every human and mutant on the planet, but I think Vati’s mission was more important. If there was no world left for Logan to save, all he did was create a new one. For Vati, he had everything to save; Dad’s lucky Vati wanted us born. Papa died in Dad’s attack, and he died in Vati’s arms. We talked after I saw what happened in his memories from the old timeline, and all he could say was that it was like their separation in Cuba all over again. The only difference was Papa didn’t get back up.” Anya explained in a sad and grave tone.

            “Cuba was definitely the worst separation they’ve had. That one didn’t even have a new kid come out of it like the others did.” Tony insisted, trying to lighten the mood.

            “Well, it ended up with several new kids the first go-around.” his sister cut back in, and he shrugged in agreement.

            “A new kid? Are you telling me that your parents make it a habit to mend their fights by having more children?” Pepper asked as Anya smacked her brother’s upper pectoral region lightly and sighed.

            “Whenever the dads have considered splitting up in the past and ‘taken a break’ from their relationship, Papa’s secondary mutation, something similar to a partial female reproductive system, comes into play and we get a new sibling, or one of them finds a new adoptee.” Anya said, laughing towards the end of her explanation.

            “Alex is still the golden child.” Tony stated flatly, but Anya snorted.

            “Please, Alex says you’re the golden child. At the same time, Sean says it’s me. I say it’s Kurt, and no one can challenge me on that. He’s literally the only one of us who still actively goes to church on Sunday despite being covered in blue fur and having an honest-to-God tail!” she exclaimed, and Pepper and Happy could only laugh as the siblings argued the whole way home.

Chapter Text

            After talking with Bucky and getting him to agree with Pietro’s lunch request once she, Tony, Pepper, and Happy had reached Stark Mansion, Anya excused herself for a moment and went down to Tony’s workshop. Once there, she took a moment to collect her thoughts before taking her cellphone from her jacket pocket. Dialing a number that she had committed to memory at the age of eight, she waited for the recipient of her call to answer.

            “Is this a social call or a Bellum call?” Scott Summers asked by way of greeting.

            “It’s a bit of both, Scottie-boy. So, you might’ve heard rumors around the mansion that Tony’s home. Those would be true.” Anya told him, and she could hear his relief over the phone.

            “Is he okay? I heard someone says something about overhearing Hank and the Professor talking about an electromagnet in his chest?” Scott asked, sounding truly concerned.

            “Yes, and he does. It’s a miniaturized Arc-reactor, and it’s going to be necessary for at least the next two or three years. His heart has to repair itself before he can have surgery to remove the remaining shrapnel, and I’m sure I’ll have to tell Vati this a few times tomorrow just so he doesn’t try pulling it out himself when he and Papa visit. That’s it for the Anya-Social Call side of things. As for the Bellum side of things, I need you, without letting Jean catch on, to be prepared to let Raven out tomorrow.” she told him, and the gasp of surprise was audible.

            “Why in the hell would I let her out?” he asked quietly.

            “Scott, Obadiah was who had Tony attacked and kidnapped. If he’s seen Tony’s will, he knows Papa and Vati are to be Becca’s guardians if something happens to me and Tony because no one outside Wakanda, the X-Mansion, the Stark Mansion, and the Proctor siblings know that Bucky is alive and mostly innocent. If something were to happen to both of us, the dads become CEO-regents of Stark Industries until Becca reaches twenty-one. I just want you guys to be prepared in case Stane tries to attack the mansion. He had Tony near-blown up by our own tech with no regard for the innocent soldiers who were with him, so what’s to say he won’t hurt the kids to get to Papa and Vati?” Anya explained, and she knew she’d won by the breath her friend and surrogate older brother let out.

            “Anh, why would he attack if the dads are leaving the school tomorrow to visit Tony and you in California?” Scott asked, and she could feel him recoil slightly at the snarl she let out.

            “Scott, no one outside of the family knows they’re leaving with Sean, Kurt, the twins, Lorna, and Theresa tomorrow because Kurt is the one bringing them. I haven’t let Stane in the house since Tony’s been gone aside from that very first day because I don’t want him near my daughter. He has no idea we’re having them over tomorrow, and no one should be able to tell him. Do you know how hard I’m going to have to convince the dads not to kill Stane themselves once they find out what happened? As this whole damn situation applies to Tony’s safety, not to mention Becca’s and my own, Papa is legitimately not above prying the information from mine or anyone else’s mind if it comes down to it. Either way, it shouldn’t matter if they’re in the school or not because protecting those kids is your job. The second Kurt teleports Papa and Vati out of the mansion, those kids become your responsibility, and you know that already.” Anya began to rant without raising her voice, but she paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “Look, Scott, you know better than most of the team why I can’t bring myself to trust Raven or why I rarely bring her up in conversation; but even I know that she’d be a major asset for our side against Stane if it came down to it because she, Logan, and the dads are of the few mutants left with actual combat experience; the others haven’t fought a real battle outside the Danger Room in this timeline. The most important thing concerning her would be that she never be let out of the team’s sight and taken back into custody immediately afterwards if a battle occurred. You understand that, right?”

            “Yeah, Anya, I understand. I’m not saying I like the idea, but, you’re right, it is something we can’t take off the table…especially if you’re the one suggesting it happen at all.” Scott admitted, and Anya let out a light laugh.

            “How’s Jean?” she asked, and Scott sighed deeply.

            “She’s just as she always is, Anh, and you could always ask her yourself.” he said.

            “Scott, you know how your girlfriend feels about me. If I called her, she’d send me straight to voicemail, listen to the voicemail, and then find a reason to hate me even more.” Anya stated, and the X-Men team leader couldn’t argue her point.

            “Why does she hate you so much? She’s never even this bad with Logan!” Scott asked, and the young woman huffed.

            “Honestly, I'm not sure. All I know is that she acts like it’s my fault that I’ve had my mutation activated since birth, if not before, and like it’s my fault I’ve been in lessons with Papa ever since I was two-years-old and lived at the mansion every summer while my brother was doing his best to keep his own powers in check and the company afloat…Look, I’m really not that much more powerful than Jean is, Scott, if I actually am; I’ve just had more practice time. It’s just like how your plasma beam is no more powerful than Alex’s blasts; it all depends on how often you train your powers and how you do your training. It’s why I agree with Logan on how to handle John…Allardyce, I mean; I know you have a lot of students and that John is a very common first name. He’s a pyrokinetic, and Jean keeping him from letting the flames out when he needs to, it’s almost like suffocating the poor kid. It would be the same as us telling you that you couldn’t go into the Danger Room and blast some targets with your beam when your headaches build up the way they do. Trying to control every instance when the kids use their powers based on the perceived danger level hurts them physically, and she needs to realize this. I’ve said it, and she called me reckless and irresponsible.” Anya answered, her tension dissolving as she heard Scott let out a low whistle.

            “Ya know, I never thought of it like that with Allardyce. I mean, all of the team members have to do daily exercises with our powers, so why should it be any different for the students? I mean, even Pietro has to do laps around the track sometimes to burn off the excess energy his mutation gives him. Wanda and Lorna spar after lunch almost every day, and your d-Charles has his meditation room where Erik has his random bits of metal that he carries with him. How did I not see this before?” he asked, and Anya laughed louder this time.

            “You’ve got no one fooled, Scottie-boy...as if they aren’t your dads, too. Piet calls himself my brother to my face, so I’d be disappointed if no one else did, you know.” she began, taking a moment to collect herself before continuing with her response. “I don’t blame you, Scott. Barely anyone realizes that we have to continually use our powers because we naturally use them. It isn’t until you’re forced to stop that you realize how often you use your abilities.”

            “I’ll see about implementing this revelation in my lessons, Anh, and I hope I’ll see you and Tony, and Becca and Bucky, at Christmas.” Scott said, and Anya could hear the faint sounds of Jean calling out to him in the background.

            “Let me know how it goes, Scott, and I’ll see how well Tony’s fairing mentally for Christmas. Bye!” she said as she quickly ended the call, not honestly wanting to hear his girlfriend go off on him for talking to her.

            Setting her phone down on Tony’s desk, she sank into the desk chair and placed her head in her hands. Jean Grey irritated her to no end, and she didn’t want the tense relationship she had with her father’s mentee. Psionic Manipulation was a rare gift, and she would love for the redhead to be her friend rather than her foe if only to have another woman she could talk to about her gifts; she could never talk to Emma because the occasionally diamond-encrusted mutant told Charles and Erik everything she said. If Jean couldn’t handle Anya being Charles’ protégé and adoptive daughter, then she needed to find a new mentor; Anya had lost count of the number of times she had wanted to scream that at the redhead, but she’d never done it because she understood how desperately Jean needed Charles’ guidance and expertise with the advanced nature of her mutation. She could remember when she was a small girl and frequently crawled into bed between her adoptive parents because she couldn’t block out the thoughts of every other person around her, so she knew Jean had a lot of stress to deal with on a daily basis. She knew that, if she’d been forced to spend an entire summer sleeping only after being completely mentally exhausted in training sessions by both Charles and Erik just for a night free of outside thoughts and dreams, Jean would understand her. Of course, with the anti-mutant and anti-mutate stance of the current administration, Anya knew that Erik had been forced to don his helmet and his all-black X-Men uniform to make a point with increasing frequency. Charles, too it seemed, had to put on his Professor X persona that extended beyond the boarders of the Xavier property. They simply didn’t have the time to put in with Jean that they had with her. Anya personally felt that it wasn’t going to take much more for her to have to find her own X-Men suit Erik had presented to her on her last birthday and do a press release. Once she was out in the public eye openly standing alongside her fellow mutants, she was fairly certain that Phoenix would be the least of Bellum’s problems. Every decision made by her about the company would be called into question, and there would be people calling for her and her brother to abandon their company just as fiercely as there would be an outpouring of support thanks to the near perfect split in the Mutant-Rights Campaign support base. She needed to find a midpoint to make her life less of a clusterfuck, if it was possible, but how?

            “Well, first, you’re never coming out as a mutant unless there’s another version of Apocalypse in this world or the Sentinels get built by Ross rather than Trask.” Tony’s voice broke her from her thoughts, and she turned around to see her brother standing mere feet behind her with his arms wide open. “You were projecting, but I told Bucky to stay upstairs. C’mere, tesora.”

            With much less care than she had shown when her brother had stepped off the plane earlier that day, Anya threw herself into Tony’s arms and clung tightly to him. He gently rubbed her back and swayed back and forth with her until he could feel her calm down. It wasn’t as much an empathic ability for him as it was the mental link that had formed between his sister and himself when she was in the womb that he knew when she was calm, but his adoptive parents had taught him how to read her, both physically and emotionally, just in case she ever had an episode of sensory overload like Charles had frequently experienced in his youth.

            “Why does Jean hate me?” she asked, her voice small.

            “Oh, Anh, she doesn’t hate you. Jean envies you, and that’s a very different emotion.” Tony answered, pressing a kiss to the top of his sister’s head. “I would know.”

            “Again, why?” Anya prompted, and Tony gave her another squeeze.

            “Anastasia Margret Barnes, you have a gift that most people could only dream of having. Jean also has this gift, but she came into it much later than you did. Because you are more experienced with your gift than Jean is, Pops lets you in on projects she can’t even get close to handling. I mean it, Anya, seriously. The man let you not only enter Cerebro the room, but he also let you use Cerebro the machine that time when Wanda ran away from home. Hell, Pops let you recruit a few kids through the damn thing in his place while he was on that Mediterranean cruise with Vati for their fortieth anniversary. On top of that, he knew you were pregnant at the time and let you do it again when Sabretooth almost took down Remy. Has he ever let Jean use Cerebro without him physically being there? You have an extraordinary amount of control over your gift, Anya, and you always have. More so than that, you’ve always been Pops’ little girl. He sees you the way he sees Wanda, Lorna, and Kitty, as his daughter, because he’s been there for you ever since Dad died and I realized that I wasn’t enough to get your powers under control. The bond you created with Bucky when you were three, the day HYDRA made him kill Mom and Dad to stop the new Super-Soldier Serum, had a deep emotional connection attached to it on top of the mental one, and I couldn’t handle seeing you in pain every time he was being tortured for taking too long on a mission or every time HYDRA attempted to wipe his memory. I knew you were strong, tesora, but I also knew that I, back then, wasn’t. I made the decision for you that, had her parents had the same opportunity, made you and Jean the way you are now. Anya, she’s jealous because you are everything she wants to be. When no one was supposed to know that we had our own mutations, she thought she was the only person with near-complete psionic manipulation that Pops had ever encountered. After Dad died, and the two of us spent those first five months before I took over the company living in Westchester, she came across a toddler with who could do everything she could but better. She asked her mentor who this girl was, and he goes and responds by putting the girl in his lap while at the dinner table, introducing her as his boyfriend’s goddaughter whose older brother is his own godson and that they are the children of one of the top billionaires in the country, and smiling down at her as if she’s the center of his world. Of course, until Wanda and Pietro were born two years later, you were. Jean has never had the love that you do, Anya, and she thought she might finally get something like it from Pops until she saw the way he looks at you. It’s the same reason she resents Wanda and Lorna as much as she does, even if those emotions are farther below the surface and everything, and she’d probably even feel this way about Kitty, too, if Kitty wasn’t so damn lovable. I mean, have you tried to hate Kitty before? It doesn’t work!” Tony said, and his last comment made his sister laugh, getting his desired result.

            “So, I didn’t do anything? She just hates me because I was born lucky?” Anya asked with a curious smile, and her brother nodded.

            “Yeah, you were just born lucky. Now, if you’re through wallowing and being all depressive, that husband of yours has got dinner ready for all of us. May I escort you to the dining room, Dr. Barnes?” Tony asked, and his sister nodded.

            “I’d love it if you did, Dr. Stark.” she threw back, and he laughed along with her as they ascended the stairs and made their way towards the dining room arm-in-arm.

            When the siblings reached their destination, Anya threw her arm out and forced her brother to stop short. He looked at her curiously, but she just tapped her right ear and gestured towards where Pepper and Becca were sitting. Getting the message, Tony took a few steps backward with his sister and listened to the conversation between the redhead and the toddler.

            “Do you love him, Aunt Pepper?” Becca asked, and she got a curious glance in return before a proper answer.

            “Love who, sweetie?” Pepper asked, and Becca huffed.

            “Unca’ Tony!” the three-year-old said exasperatedly.

            “Oh, honey, it’s not that I don’t love him; I do, but adults are stupid sometimes and would think some pretty mean things about me if I ever admitted to him that I love him.” the redhead tried to explain, and the girl nodded.

            “Mr. Stane thought mean things ‘bout you and Unca’ Tony, and ‘bout Mama, at SI when you took care of everything for Mama. Other people did, too, but not that many. I hear more people think mean things about Grandpa Charles and Opa Erik.” Becca told her innocently, and her pseudo-aunt laughed lightly.

            “Those people have no idea what your Grandpa would do to them if they hurt your Opa and vice-versa, do they?” Pepper asked before continuing. “Why did you want to know if I love Tony?”

            “Unca’ Tony loves you like Papa loves Mama, and he’s happy with you.” Becca said calmly, and Pepper tilted her head to the side and stared at the girl.

            “How do you know all that?” she asked, and the toddler gave her a toothy grin.

            “I told him about me talking to Unca’ Steve about Aunt Peggy and Aunt Annie in my mind, and he decided that he needed to talk to me, too. So, Unca’ Tony talks to me about you, Mrs. Jarvis, and Nonna Maria. He talks about you a lot, Aunt Pepper.” Becca admitted, and Pepper let out a soft sound of surprise before smiling mostly to herself.

            “How about this: I promise you that I’ll talk to Tony about how we feel about each other. I’m not saying we’re going to get married like your parents or anything, but we can talk about it. Okay?” she asked the little girl, and Becca nodded.

            “Okay, Aunt Pepper.” the toddler said, hugging Pepper tightly before making her way to where Bucky was plating their dinner with Pepper trailing behind her.

            From their hiding space, the Stark Siblings exchanged a look before moving into a mental conversation.

            “Is my daughter good or what?” Anya asked, and Tony couldn’t help but smile.

            “Pepper…loves me. Even after ten years of my bullshit, she loves me. This must be how Vati feels every time Pops says he loves him!” Tony replied excitedly.

            “Oh no, I’ve actually heard those thoughts before, and it’s usually more along the lines of ‘How in the hell does he still fucking love me!’ Then, Papa cuts into his thoughts by telling him to quit it or else they won’t have sex that night. Trust me, it’s a bit scarring and difficult to forget ever hearing.” Anya told him.

            “The fact that they didn’t think to make sure you weren’t able to hear them is more worrisome than anything else in this whole scenario. C’mon, Anh, your husband is in there waiting on us, and he’s scary when I let my dinner get cold.” Tony countered, and the two shared a shrug of the shoulders before making their way to the table.

            Having their small family back together for dinner felt nice to Anya, and to the others at the table, but they all knew that the larger family lunch the following day would be even better. It wasn’t often that they all even had the opportunity to gather together in one place, usually Christmas or Thanksgiving, and everyone cherished the times that they did. Pepper, for her part, was just looking forward to meeting the people Tony called his family. As for Tony himself, he had already planned something special for his nieces for the following day as he had missed both of their birthdays. Their gifts had been purchased and hidden away in the house in places only he, or Erik, would ever be able to find them in the days following Becca’s initial dream of the attack in Afghanistan. Sitting at the dinner table, every last member of the small but growing family absolved to see the next day’s events be wonderful rather than catastrophic.

            It ended up being somewhere in between, honestly. Tony had insisted that Pepper stay the night, but in the guest room so she wasn’t uncomfortable, so the five members of the family sat down to breakfast together before everyone rushed to get ready. Anya was the last one down, and Tony suppressed a snicker at the sight of her outfit. Her dark-wash jeans were tucked into black boots while a delicate yellow tank-top reached down to her hips and a black cardigan covered her arms. He knew he had seen Charles wear a similar outfit before, and, seeing his sister, he truly understood why she was the one whose mutant name came from a part of the brain.

            “Oh, please, you’re the one wearing a black Henley with black slacks, dressed just like Vati.” his sister said with a snort after hearing his thoughts, her hands fiddling with the topaz necklace bearing the X symbol.

            “Close, but not exactly like him, Anh.” Tony said as several people appeared before them in a puff of blue smoke. “Right on time, Kurt, just as always.”

            The cobalt blue man in the middle of the group let out a laugh before letting go of the people on either side of him and pulling Tony towards him via his equally cobalt tail. The two hugged, and Kurt smacked his surrogate brother upside the head. He whispered something to Tony in what sounded to Pepper like German, and Tony gave him a nod before backing away and looking at the people Kurt had brought along. The first person he saw was a red-haired man who seemed to be on the verge of tears as Tony pulled him in for a hug.

            “Hey, Sean, it’s okay.” Tony said softly as the ginger man squeezed him tightly.

            “You ever do that again, Tony, and I swear to God I will interrupt whatever project you’re working on with a sonic scream. I already told you once that I’m not going to lose another member of my family.” Sean let out in a lovingly angry tone.

            “You won’t, at least not any time soon.” Tony said before turning to the red-haired child beside Sean. “Hey, Tess.”

            “I’m glad you’re home, Uncle Tony! Are you coming back to the mansion for your birthday?” Theresa asked as she took her turn to hug her uncle.

            “Ya know, Tess, I hadn’t thought about that yet; that sounds like a great idea. Just let me make sure everyone else is okay with that.” he responded, pressing a kiss to the top of Theresa’s head and moving from her to the man on her other side.

            This man, more of a boy by his teenage appearance, who enveloped Tony in a fierce, brotherly hug just like Kurt and Sean had done, looked the most like he could have been Tony’s brother, his platinum blond, chin-length hair aside. Dressed in a Pink Floyd t-shirt, black jeans, and a silver-chrome motorcycle jacket and matching tennis shoes, he seemed to ooze the same Devil-May-Care/Mad-Scientist vibe as Tony. After doing a quick head count and remembering whose names she had already heard, it was easily determined by Pepper that this younger man had to be Pietro.

            “I don’t like being scared, bro.” Pietro said quietly, though everyone still heard his words clearly.

            “I don’t like being kidnapped, so we’re gonna try never having a repeat of this shit, okay?” Tony replied, a Pietro nodded as Tony moved to the other side or Kurt where a girl with reddish-brown hair threw herself into his arms. “Hey, Wanda.”

            “I agree with Tess; come home.” was all the teenager said before releasing Tony to hug the next person, a small girl with green and blonde hair.

            “Tony!” the smaller girl exclaimed as she literally flew into the air to be on his level for their hug.

            “Whoa, Lorna! Someone’s been practicing since I’ve been away!” Tony said as he turned the girl’s mindset back onto herself and off of him.

            “Vati says I’ve been doing very well, and Papa says I need to stop growing up so fast. They agreed with each other, and they said I can’t fly without someone watching me to make sure I don’t get hurt.” the girl grumbled, and Tony chuckled.

            “Little secret, Lore, they said the same thing about me.” he told her, and she giggled as he set her back on the floor.

            “With good reason, Anthony, and you know exactly why.” the bald gentleman beside Lorna said, his bright blue eyes shining with some combination of mirth and relief at the sight of the younger man. “You were making everything else fly around the lab with you, and you nearly ran yourself through with that pipe.”

            “Hey, you know I never meant to do that. I was a teenage kid who’d just discovered that his ability to bend technology to my will was both psionic and magnetokinetic; I know why you didn’t come get me, and I want to thank you. I needed to learn to get myself out of trouble rather than letting my parents do it for me.” Tony responded as he hugged the older man.

            “We have to learn to let you go ourselves, my boy, and it never is easy. I am so terribly glad to have you home safe.” Charles said as he hugged his son back tightly.

            When Tony let go and moved to the remaining older man, who could only have been Erik, he found himself being held at arm’s length for a moment before being brought to his Vati’s chest and silently hugged. When they backed away from one another after a few moments, Erik tapped the exact location of the Arc-reactor hidden beneath the black fabric of Tony’s shirt and undershirt. Tony grinned at him.

            “You never cease to amaze me, young man. You built an electromagnet in a cave with scrapped parts from your own stolen weaponry; I am beyond proud…I just wish you had another core than palladium.” Erik finally spoke, the slight hint of an accent creeping around his voice.

            “I didn’t have much choice, alter mann, and I know the risks. I’m going to start the process of testing new cores in a few months, but there’s still no guarantee I’ll find one that works.” Tony said, but Erik shook his head at the younger man.

            “You won’t die, mein kleiner blitz. I know Nicholas has a supply of lithium you could use to give us more time if we need it; if he is unwilling to part with his supply, I have my ways of forcing his hand.” Erik said, and everyone turned their eyes towards a deceivingly innocent looking Charles.

            “What? Oh, you mean you would just have me force him to hand the lithium over with my gifts. Well, as it is for Tony’s safety, I wouldn’t object. I would just hope that Nicholas wouldn’t prove as to be so difficult in any event in which this would be deemed necessary.” Charles said, his accent almost hiding his mildly sarcastic tone.

            “Well, as fun as it would be to discuss how the two of you plan out how you’ll be ganging up against the Director of SHIELD, we should probably introduce you all to someone before lunch. Tony, would you like to do the honors?” Anya cut in, and Tony gave a short nod before turning to Pepper.

            “Are you ready for this, Pep?” he asked, and the red-haired woman gave a small nod before taking a step forward with him. “Everyone, this is Pepper Potts, my assistant that Logan told most of you about and insisted that she must have powers like Kayla in order to make me do things like eat and sleep. She isn’t a mutant, but she is more important to me than most of the people I know.”

            “Dear, you have nothing to be afraid of, so clear those thoughts from your mind. Not only are they much too loud, but they are also unjustified. Trust me when I say that we have all questioned if this day would ever come, and we are all both relieved and pleasantly surprised with the result.” Charles said suddenly, and Pepper blushed.

            “Liebste, what have we said about embarrassing the children?” Erik asked him with a shark-like grin.

            “Oh, I apologize if I have embarrassed you, Anthony, or you, Pepper, for I meant nothing rude. Sometimes, I forget that not everyone realizes when they’re projecting their thoughts.” Charles said by way of answering Erik, making the German man chuckle deeply at him.

            “It’s quite alright, Professor Xavier, it wasn’t your fault.” Pepper said quickly, but Charles held up a hand to the younger woman.

            “My students and a select few teachers who seem unable to move past the point of studenthood mentally call me ‘Professor,’ but you are neither of those things. You may call me ‘Charles,’ Pepper, so long as you don’t want me calling you ‘Ms. Potts.’” he told the redhead, and she gave him a genuine smile.

            Pepper was introduced to the others, and everyone moved to the dining room for lunch. It was odd, somewhat, to see the way that everyone just sat down with no arguments over chairs. Erik sat at the head of the table with Charles to his right and Tony to his left. Anya was seated beside Charles, and Bucky was beside her. Becca was between her father and Theresa, and Sean sat at the other end of the table. Lorna sat across from Theresa, the three younger girls grouped in a cluster, and Kurt sat beside her with Hank to his left, the larger blue mutant the only one who stood the slightest chance at getting the twins to make it through a meal without a fight aside from their parents. Wanda had taken the seat directly across from Bucky, bumping her brother into the chair across from Becca, and motioned for Pepper to take the seat between Tony and herself. It was as if this was normal for them, which, after taking a moment to consider family dynamics that must have formed over the years back at the X-Mansion, it probably was. Likely, they had always sat this way and just made room when someone new joined their family for meals.

            “Oh, it’s usually a lot worse. Sean’s seat is the team leader’s seat, and Scott and Alex used to fight over it every single time we had family dinners; eventually, it was decided that Alex gets the seat when he’s there, Scott gets it when he’s not, and Sean is the next to get it as the near-constant second-in-command.” Anya voiced as Pepper met her eyes across the table.

            “Pops took the chair for a while, but we made him and Vati make a decision for Scott and Alex when we decided that them eye-f…I mean, staring lovingly down the table at one another was making us all lose out appetites.” Pietro said, and Pepper saw the others smile.

            “We got everyone to agree, so now we have the designated ‘Team Leader’ chair and the designated ‘Mom and Dad’ chairs.” Sean added, letting out an alarmed squeak when his fork suddenly jerked upward and lightly tapped him between the eyes.

            The fork fell gently back to the table, and Pepper found herself laughing along with everyone else, especially after catching sight of Erik’s triumphant smirk. As lunch went on, she found herself enjoying their company more and more. Hank was brilliant both with the sciences and snarky one-liners; the twins were tornadoes onto themselves whenever they got passionate about a subject; and all of them had them had the ability to make Tony laugh like she hadn’t seen him do since well before Afghanistan. The main portion of the population wasn’t ready for mutants, but Pepper felt she could be.

            Lunch had been followed up by Tony presenting both Becca and Tess with necklaces similar to Anya’s, the X-Men symbol molded out of pure platinum with tracking chips embedded within them, which both girls seemed to love as much as their parents did. Later in the afternoon, towards four o’clock, Anya went with Charles to the kitchen to make tea. The two of them were entirely alone for the first time since the group’s arrival, and Anya knew there was something her adoptive father wanted to discuss with her. She got the Earl Grey tea that she had specially imported from England down for him and stood back as he got to work with the kettle.

            “You can ask me, you know. I’m not made of glass, Papa.” she said, breaking their silence by calling him her father as she always did in company of family.

            “He doesn’t want you to hate him, kleine maus.” Erik said as he joined them.

            “Vati, what is it?” Anya asked again, switching the adoptive father she spoke to in hopes of a better response.

            “Where should I start? You called Scott in fear of an attack on the mansion but neglected to tell us when you suggest using Raven in the event of an attack; you want another child with your assassin husband; and you haven’t even begun to tell your brother about the discoveries you and Bucky have made in New York.” Erik said calmly and with a neutral expression, something Anya hated.

            “Would you rather I have left him, and the school, unprepared? I may not like Aunt Raven very much after what happened, but neither of you can deny that she would be an asset rather than a liability if Stane attacked, and if I’d told you, you would’ve tried to put this off until Hank tried and failed at upgrading Tony’s security system on the mansion.” she responded, looking from one parent to the other. “No, you cannot go after Stane yet; that would blow the entire operation Tony and I have going.”

            “I am glad that you called Scott about this, Anastasia, don’t doubt that. I just wish that you, and Erik, would at least try to give Raven one more chance to prove that she has changed. I know what she has done, even why she did it, but she is still my only sister and, therefore, your aunt.” Charles said, and his companions turned to look at one another disbelievingly.

            “She broke in and held a knife to my neck because she was jealous. If she’s out and about in the mansion, who knows what plan she and Jean will devise together to get me! Both of them are jealous over the same thing, and the only thing I can do to fix it is something you both forbade me from doing!” Anya responded, throwing her hands in the air and huffing.

            “And what would that be?” Erik asked, just for conformation.

            “If I showed them the other timeline, showed them that you are more so my parents than Howard and Maria Stark ever managed, they would see that the two of you treat me as you treat Wanda and Lorna, not because of my power but because, more or less, I am your daughter. Because I have seen it through you, Vati, I have the memories of an entire lifetime as Anastasia Margret Xavier-Lehnsherr that both of you also have. I have grown up in this timeline with the two of you raising me when Tony couldn’t, and it isn’t as easy as you’d think to code-switch when someone who doesn’t know of the other timeline or about my actual childhood gets too close.” she explained, and the two men shared a look.

            “Would it help if I could sea-” Charles began, but she very quickly cut him off.

            “I want to remember. I don’t want those memories sealed off because that timeline…Are there certain things I wish I never saw? Yes, but there are others that I never want to forget. Showing them won’t fix everything, I know that, but it would at least be a place to start.” Anya argued, and Erik gave a bit of a shrug of agreement.

            “She’s not wrong, liebling, and you know that.” he told Charles softly, and the other man gave a sigh and nod of recognition.

            “I will consider it and let you know what I’ve decided when you come home for your brother’s birthday at the end of the month. Now, for the next part, the one about you wanting another child?” he replied, moving along as he watched the kettle for just a moment longer than necessary.

            “This is something we both want, Papa, and we have talked about the possible danger. I know I disappointed you both by getting pregnant at eighteen, but she is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Yes, HYDRA likely knows about her and is just waiting for the right moment to strike, but they don’t know about her gifts or about her family. Three months ago, James offered to put a bullet between Pierce’s eyes if it meant his freedom, and ours, from HYDRA; but we both knew it wouldn’t fix anything because there will always be someone to take the place of the fallen leader. Technically, I don’t have to know about Cuba to know that.” Anya said, and the two men shared another look that told her that they were speaking privately through the telepathic bond they had formed in their youth.

            “But is now the best time, Anya? My darling girl, I know better than anyone what it’s like to want another child, but is this the best environment for a baby?” Erik asked as brief memories of the years in between the twins’ homecoming and Lorna’s arrival flashed through his mind.

            “Vati, there is no such thing. You told me that yourself when I made similar comments about Theresa.” she challenged, and Charles took his turn to smirk.

            “She’s got you there, darling. Anastasia and James are adults, and if they have decided that they are willing to take on the challenge of two children while he is still away for most of the year, we have to let them.” he said, and the young woman let out a groan before shaking her head.

            “Out of my three bachelor’s degrees, you always forget the last one is psychology just like your own, don’t you, Papa? I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work. We talked about trying for a second child, on purpose this time, but not until after Tony is in a better place mentally. I refuse to abandon my brother, not that I’d be leaving him alone with Pepper being here, and James knows this. I suppose you want to move on to Annie and Steve now?” Anya asked, and the two men gave small nods.

            “James really does need to gain better control of his mental shields.” Charles mused fondly.

            “Once again, we’re telling Tony about all of this once I know he’s had time to recover. Pushing him by putting an extra project on his plate will do more harm than good.” she said softly, getting agreeing nods in return.

            “Then that is everything we needed to discuss.” Charles said as the kettle whistled, and the other two laughed lightly.

            “Perfect timing, liebling, as always.” Erik said with his signature shark-grin.

            Anya observed her adoptive parents as they made tea together, the mere idea of them ever doing anything apart seemingly impossible. These men had raised her twice and had only ever managed to let two things slip past their all-knowingness. The first was when Raven, the woman who should be her adoptive aunt, had demanded to know who she was to Charles and Erik by sneaking into her room in the middle of the night and holding a knife to Anya’s throat. The second had been Anya getting pregnant with Becca towards the end of her second degree, but they had been reasonably distracted by Logan’s feral half-brother Victor Creed, Sabretooth, attacking mutants who were making their way to the mansion in order to impress them into his own rouge squadron of human-fighting mutants; two slip-ups in eighteen years wasn’t anything anyone was willing to hold against the two men.

            After tea, which had included Erik’s Black Forest Cake which everyone deemed to be the best one ever made, Anya moved to help Charles with clearing the dishes when they both froze. Immediately, Charles turned to Erik as Anya used her powers to float all of the tea trays and plates to the kitchen. The looks on their faces was enough to put the others on edge.

            “What’s wrong?” Tony asked, not caring if he was supposed to be living as much of a low-stress life as he could, but Charles turned to the smaller blue-skinned mutant.

            “Kurt, take Hank back to his lab and then return for Sean and Tess; once the two of you are back at the mansion, tell Scott that we have a situation and that the team should assemble.” he began, turning to Tony as the two blue men disappeared in the customary cloud of blue smoke. “Would you mind too terribly if I asked you to keep your brother and sisters here for a few days?”

            “What’s going on?” Tony asked again, this time with a little more force.

            “Havok has gone missing, complete radio silence, from his base. I tried reaching out from here, but to no avail, so I need to try finding him through Cerebro. Once he is found, assuming that whoever has him hasn’t yet discovered a way to keep me out of his mind, the team shall retrieve him. Magneto and I shall take care of whomever had the nerve to take Havok.” Charles said, and Tony swore in Hungarian before turning to his brothers and sisters as Kurt popped back to get Sean and Tess, both of whom were pale and crying.

            “How about this: even if you find Alex through Cerebro today, you aren’t going after him until it’s dark wherever he’s being held. Kurt, you’ll take everyone home, and I’ll fly out on my plane in a couple of hours. I will stay at the mansion while everyone is on the rescue mission, and I will take over wherever you need me to with the students. Finals are coming up, and these kids can’t afford to lose out on any opportunities.” he offered, and Erik sent Charles a look that plainly said they should seriously consider their son’s option.

            “I suppose that might be an option, but are you prepared to teach?” Charles asked, and Tony smirked.

            “I am legitimately a substitute teacher in New York specifically in the event that this kind of thing happens, and you’re the one who made me do it.” the engineer replied with a slight chuckle.

            “Which subjects are you most comfortable with, then?” Charles asked, and Tony looked thoughtful for a moment.

            “Are you coming with, sis?” he asked Anya, receiving a nod before turning back to Charles. “If she takes your classes, I can take Vati’s, and the two of us can divide up the foreign language classes. I can cover music classes, too, if Hank needs to go with you guys. We can also run combat classes, ya know, even if we’re never actually in the field with you guys.”

            “Tony is also capable of taking over Scott’s classes, and I can help out in varying classes. I might not have the fancy piece of paper that says I’m an expert and can teach a subject, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know things. Plus, I don’t plan on goin’ back until I absolutely have to in order to keep suspicion down.” Bucky broke in, surprising everyone but Erik, who merely nodded in agreement.

            “We shouldn’t be more than a week, should we, Liebling?” he asked, turning to Charles whilst everyone else recovered from hearing Bucky’s statement.

            “No, I don’t see a reason we should need more than a day so long as I can find Alex through Cerebro. In any case, I expect to see you at the mansion by dinner.” the bald man spoke, and the non-X-Men smiled at one another.

            Charles, Erik, and their various children left a few minutes later. Once they were gone, Pepper turned to the Stark siblings with an incredulous look in her eyes. Tony sighed before answering the questions he was his mutation allowed him to read from her surface thoughts.

            “Stane thinks we’re still playing his game, right? Why don’t we let him for a little bit longer? He wants me to lay low for a while, said so in the factory yesterday, so I say we head out to New York under the guise of looking at properties in Manhattan for the new Stark Tower while I leave JARVIS writing up daily reports of what we’re selling and to who as well as getting reports from the past several months minimum. While we’re in New York, our operation is still going on here. You don’t even have to fly out with us if you don’t want to, Pep.” he said, and she shook her head.

            “Did you think I’d stay behind? The last time I let you get on a plane, you ended up being kidnapped and held hostage by terrorists for three months! If I let you out of my sight anytime soon, it’ll be because I was forced to do so against my will!” the redhead told him, and he grinned.

            “Want me to go with you back to your place, then? You need to pack, unlike any of us because we all have complete wardrobes at the mansion that Pops has updated every year, and you don’t want me out of your sight, right?” Tony asked, and Pepper smiled fondly back at him.

            “That would be…nice, Tony.” she said, and he turned towards his sister.

            “We’ll meet you guys at the airfield. Call Obadiah and set everything on that end up, and I’ll call for the plane?” he asked, and she nodded.

            “One ruse coming up!” Anya said as she made her way to the nearest phone, her brother snickering as he and Pepper headed for the garage.

Chapter Text

            When the Stark private jet landed in Westchester County New York, Pepper hadn’t been sure what to expect. While Bucky loaded her bags into the trunk of the waiting car, a black Land Rover, Tony led her by the hand to the driver’s side rear door. She and Anya sat on either side of Becca, and Bucky sat in the front passenger seat while Tony drove. She grew confused as Tony drove past several mansions and luxury homes through a thicket of trees that shielded everything else from street-level viewing before turning down a dirt and gravel driveway that she hadn’t even seen until Tony began making his turn.

            They passed through more trees, nothing but greenery visible for almost a mile or two, when a sight reached Pepper’s eyes that made her let out an audible gasp of amazement. Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters was not contained inside a mere mansion. Rather, the home formerly known as the Graymalkin Manor, now the Xavier Mansion, was, by all appearances, a fairy-tale castle. Pepper could feel her jaw drop as she set eyes on the mansion for the first time, barely registering it when Tony stopped the car and made to open her door.

            “It’s always amazing to see the place. If there was ever a thing that pissed my dad off about the dads, it was that he could never be the king inside the castle because the two of them were the ones who owned it.” Tony told her, making the redhead snap out of the mansion’s trance.

            “It’s beautiful. You went to school here?” Pepper asked, and Tony chuckled.

            “Well, I went to school during the fall and spring, and I lived here during the summer. Dad didn’t know how to handle my mutation, but he knew that Pops and Vati would, so, he and Mom shipped me off for my own good. I wish I’d been able to thank him, but I never realized what a big deal it was for them to send me here until I had to send Anya.” he replied, his eyes flitting briefly towards his sister as she and her family went inside the mansion just as a man in literal rose-colored glasses came sprinting towards them.

            “Tony!” the man chirped excitedly, engulfing the inventor in a hug once he was within range.

            “Hey, One-Eye!” he exclaimed before lowering his voice to a level that Pepper could barely hear. “Did Pops find Alex yet?”

            “He never left his base. The damned Army grabbed him after he locked up his lab for the day, Tony, and we all know who in the United States Army goes after people like that.” the man said, and Tony nodded.

            “You guys get Alex home, and I will handle Ross as soon as I can. That bastard won’t know what hit him when I get my…meeting with him.” the CEO said with a clear hint of malice in his voice.

            “Who’s this lovely woman with you, bro?” the man asked, finally seeing Pepper standing there.

            “Oh, right, you were here instead of at lunch. Scott, this is Pepper, the one Logan won’t stop going on about every time I visit. Pep, this is Scott, one of my many brothers on this side of my family.” Tony introduced the two, and Scott’s jaw dropped almost as much as Pepper’s had at the sight of the house.

            “No offense, but, you’re real? I thought you were some sort of figment of Logan’s imagination or a robot Tony had made! You can actually make him take care of himself? Pops can literally control his mind, and he can’t even do that!” Scott exclaimed, and the redhead giggled.

            “I think he’s just afraid I’ll end up pepper spraying him one of these days if he doesn’t listen. It’s what I did to the guards outside his office the day I brought in the paperwork that showed an accounting error that would’ve cost us millions.” Pepper admitted, and Tony smiled bashfully as Scott fixed him with an incredulous stare.

            “He’d be so out of it that you’d have no problem hitting him with it, too. You guys head inside, and I’ll put the car away. Heads up, Mollie’s grounded from the garage right now.” Scott said, and Tony quirked an eyebrow at the comment until he continued. “She got into a fight with Laura and scrapped up the paint on Logan’s bike. Laura’s grounded too, but she doesn’t usually do mechanical stuff anyway.”

            Scott took the keys from Tony and drove the car off towards where Pepper realized the garage must have been, and Tony led her inside the mansion. They had barely made it two steps into the entrance hall, which Pepper found exceedingly beautiful, when a young girl collided with Tony and wrapped the man in a tight hug. She realized that this girl was just another of many who hugged Tony upon seeing him.

            “Hey, Molls, what’s up? I heard you got into another fight with your sister and got yourself grounded.” Tony asked, and the brunette girl looked up at him, pouting.

            “I didn’t mean to do it, Uncle Tony, and I didn’t even know I had claws until then! Laura just kept making fun of me not having the same mutation as her and Daddy.” the little girl said, and Pepper smiled at the way Tony spoke with her.

            “She can’t say that anymore, now, can she? If it really was an accident, I’ll see what I can do about getting you un-grounded for as long as I’m here. I make no promises or anything, but I’ll at least try.” he told her, and her mouth split into a Cheshire cat grin.

            “Thanks, Uncle Tony! Oh, I saw Opa on my way down here, and he wants you and Ms. Potts to meet him and Grandpa in their office. Aunt Anya and Uncle Bucky are up there already, and Becca is in the playroom with Tess while I get the snacks for our tea party.” Mollie said, and Tony nodded.

            Before he could respond, the little girl had hurried off down another hallway. Tony held out his hand to Pepper, and she accepted as he led her through the double doors between the two sides of the grand staircase and down a rear hallway to a closed door with a plaque reading: Headmasters’ Office. He knocked once, and the door swung open to allow them entrance.

            “So, Scott says we know who took Alex and why. I told him that you guys should get in and get out quickly, and I will deal with Ross.” Tony said, and the others in the room bristled at the third name he mentioned.

            “There are always men like him in this world, men who want to control us, but I made a promise to not let those men do this to our kind again.” Erik said solemnly.

            “Now, darling, watch your temper. I can hardly go about replacing the whole office again so soon after last time.” Charles told him, the soft touch against the German man’s wrist a very telling sign to Pepper.

            “None of us want to know about your nightly ‘chess games,’ Pops; how soon are you leaving for New Mexico?” Tony piped up again, and the bald man chuckled.

            “We’re leaving in the morning before first light. We can’t risk taking too much time, but we need to have a plan. I’ve asked the teachers who are going to make lesson plans for you, and we’ll tell the students that we’re going on a mission, but not what sort of mission it is, at dinner.” he answered, and they all nodded.

            “Who all’s staying behind?” Anya asked, gently rubbing her temples as she spoke.

            “Kitty and Peter drew the short straws, as it were, and Logan refuses to let Kayla leave in her current condition; Emma is staying back with her to make sure she does as she’s told for once. The rest of the team is mission bound, save for Sean, as he is staying behind to take over Hank’s lower-level basic science classes; he’s upset, but it’s for the best. I didn’t think it wise to put him in a situation as sensitive as the current one with Alex’s capture; their relationship is somewhat unstable at the moment, what with them living apart as long as Alex is working on the base, and Theresa will need at least one of them to remain unharmed.” Charles said, noticing Anya’s continued ministrations to her temples. “Are you feeling alright, Princess?”

            “Papa, I’m fine, I think. I’m just readjusting to the number of voices in the school and re-filtering them out to decrease the sudden influx of noise after being away for so long. I expected this, honestly.” she responded, and Charles made a sound of agreement before speaking again.

            “If it persists longer than twelve to fourteen hours, check in using Cerebro just to be sure that no one is unintentionally or intentionally trying to call out to you. I say this for your own good, Anastasia.” he told her, and she nodded.

            “Yes, sir, Papa, I promise I’ll do that. For now, though, I’m going to find Logan and Kayla to see what they have to say about not calling me yet about the new addition!” he and Erik both chuckled as the young mother made her way out the door verbally calling out for the two Canadians.

            “I better go with her before she riles up the students.” Bucky said, halfway out the door behind his wife as he spoke.

            Charles and Erik chuckled at the two before turning towards Tony and Pepper. The older couple shared a look before smiling at the younger pair, and the redhead knew something was up with them. Erik took the first step towards them, and Tony sighed.

            “Pep, Vati is going to show you to your, well, my room; Pops wants a word with me first, but I’ll be along in a few minutes, okay?” Tony told her, and she nodded.

            “Okay.” she said, allowing herself to be separated from him with little resistance.

            Once Pepper and Erik were gone, Tony turned to Charles expectantly. The bald man sighed before motioning his godson over, and Tony sat down on the couch which his adoptive father had reclined. He had known this conversation would happen sooner or later, but he’d foolishly hoped for later.

            “How much does she know?” Charles asked.

            “Pep knows…everything about me. I don’t know what all she knows about Anya and the others, but she knows me better than most anyone else.” Tony admitted.

            “You told her about needing to upgrade the arc reactor you have now. She knows ho you pretend to be about sentimental things and is planning a nice surprise for you with that one. I suggest you be polite about it.” the older man said.

            “Don’t worry, Pops, I’ll be on my best behavior. I don’t wanna think about losing her, and I don’t know that I could handle it if I did.” the inventor replied.

            “I know that feeling well, Tony, and I know you wouldn’t last without her unless you had something else to keep you afloat.” Charles said in the manner that a wise mystic told a young boy he would one day be king.

            Dinner at the mansion was, as could be expected of a mutant boarding school, chaos. The mansion’s dining room was too small to accommodate all of the students and faculty, so that one was mostly used as a family dining room during holiday dinners and such. Instead, the West ballroom had been turned into a dining hall for the students and staff to use during the school year. There were a myriad of round tables around the room, and a single rectangle table ran along the back of the room for the teachers and Charles and Erik’s children. Just as at lunch, Pepper found herself wedged in between Wanda and Tony with Anya across from her. From her seat, she could observe the others in the dining hall. Logan, whom had been happy to see her again, was at a round table not far from the teachers’ table with his wife, Kayla Silverfox, and their daughters, Mollie and Laura, as the seemingly perfect picture of family.

            Pepper knew from what Anya and Tony had told her on the plane that Laura had been created from a DNA sample taken from Logan when the adamantium had been fused to his bones. She knew that Laura was one of twenty-six experiments and was the only one to have any hint of morality found within her mind by Charles and Anya when the labs the experiments were found in were raided by the X-Men team. Thus, Laura was the only one out of the twenty-six who had been saved, the rest of the experiments ending up being terminated before they could become fully formed beings. Pepper was aware that Anya and Tony were both vehemently against killing those who were innocent, but neither of them had been okay with the idea of twenty-five feral mutants running around and possibly falling under the influence of Logan’s paternal half-brother Victor Creed-Logan, also known as Sabretooth. So, Logan had brought an infant Laura home while the team dealt with the remaining twenty-five experiments and agreed to raise her as his daughter with Kayla.

            Mollie was Logan’s daughter with Kayla biologically, and she had inherited both of her parents’ mutations. The little girl had been able to hypnotize people from the time she was a toddler, and the revelation of her bone-claws being made to Tony that morning solidified her parentage. She and her sister were near the exact same age due to the labs being discovered during Kayla’s pregnancy, and the girls seemed to fight all of the time. Logan had said it was expected, given his own rather volatile relationship with his brother and Kayla’s own relatively normal levels of sibling rivalry with her younger sister, Emma Silverfox Frost, who was a telepath like Charles aside from her ability to turn herself into a living diamond as well as turn her tears into diamonds.

            Emma, too, sat at the Howlett’s table, her blonde hair sticking out amongst the dark-haired heads of the Silverfox-Howlett family. Emma was Kayla’s half-sister, the two having the same mother but different fathers, and the blonde took much more after her father’s family than their mother’s Canadian Blackfoot in appearance. Her mutation was the only clear link she had with that side of her family, and it had separated her from the rest of hers and Kayla’s sisters. Their brother, Christian, was the only member of the Frost family who didn’t reject the two mutants, his own humanness not factoring into his relationship with his older sisters. The sisters were some of the mutants Pepper had heard about from Logan, and she admired them for maintaining links to their human family while still fully embracing their mutant nature, just as she admired their brother not turning his back on the two for what they power they held.

            “Something on your mind, Pep?” Tony asked, bringing the redhead out of her thoughts on the Silverfox sisters.

            “Oh, just thinking about how a lot of the people here aren’t as lucky as you and Anya, how a lot of them don’t have accepting families away from this place. From what you said, your parents didn’t hate you as much as it was that they couldn’t understand what you could do. You still knew they cared.” Pepper answered quietly, and Tony gave her a small nod.

            “When someone doesn’t have a family to go home to, this becomes their home and we become their family. That’s how I ended up having one mom and three dads by the time I was sixteen.” Tony replied, half-joking.

            “And yet, you still couldn’t survive without me to keep all your records and do all your paperwork.” she teased, and the inventor chuckled before giving the woman a soft smile, a real one that the public rarely ever saw.

            “No matter the capacity available, the brain cannot function at all, let alone properly, without the heart.” he said, and Pepper felt a faint blush creep over her cheeks before smiling back at him and turning her attention away from the dining room at large and back to her own table and food.

            Early the next morning, before the sun had barely a single ray stretching beyond the trees lining the school boundaries, Sean, Anya and Tony watched as the X-Jet took off from the basketball court. Their parents and siblings had assured them that the team would go carefully into their mission to bring Alex home, but that didn’t stop those staying back from worrying. When they made it back inside the mansion, the trio went to the kitchen and ate an early breakfast before heading to their classrooms to set up for their first lessons of the day.

            Hours later, when Anya’s first group of students walked into class, she suppressed the urge to laugh at their thoughts. It wasn’t like Charles to miss class, and she had left for MIT by the time these particular students had started school. So, she forgave them and continued to use her telekinesis to make the Expo marker write on the white board for her while she skimmed the lesson plan one last time.

            “Alright, class, good morning. I know you’re not used to Professor Xavier missing classes so close to finals week, but he’s on a very important mission right now with the team, and he asked me to take over until he gets back. I don’t think I know any of you on sight, so I’ll have to take roll today. Before I do that, however, I should probably tell you who I am first. Any guesses?” she began, and several answers were blurted out at once.

            “Are you the Professor’s daughter?” one student asked, while another shouted out among others. “Are you the Professor’s female clone?”

            Anya laughed, but she shook her head. She had dressed that morning in an outfit that looked similar to one Charles had definitely worn before, so she could see where a student might think she was a clone. She brought a finger to her lips, and the class fell silent. One gesture, and she had managed to quiet eighteen twelve-year-olds.

            “No, I am not a clone, and I am not legally Professor Xavier’s daughter. My name is Dr. Anastasia Barnes, née Stark, and I am actually Dr. Lehnsherr’s goddaughter. I am the younger sister of Dr. Anthony ‘Tony’ Stark, who is the Professor’s godson, and we are both mutants. Any of you currently taking engineering, shop, or physics will likely see my brother at some point during the time that the Professor is away, as he is the person who is currently covering all classes for Dr. Lehnsherr and Dr. Summers, and a few of the classes usually taught by Dr. McCoy. His personal assistant, and girlfriend, Pepper Potts is covering for Dr. Grey, and I am covering for Professor Xavier and Professor Monroe. As far as your history courses, my husband will be overseeing those classes. Just as a warning, your history books report that he died in World War II, but he was actually taken prisoner by HYDRA and turned into their secret weapon, the Winter Soldier, for nearly fifty years. The two strongest telepaths possible and the strongest magnetokinetic ever subdued him long enough to remove the HYDRA prosthetic arm he had been given and erase their programming from his mind. Unless you set out to make him angry by hurting his family, Sergeant Barnes will not harm any of you. In addition to history, he will be helping out with covering all the various foreign language classes alongside my brother, Professor Pryde, and myself. As for my qualifications to teach this course in place of the greatest geneticist in the world, I have multiple PhDs, the ones pertaining to this course in particular being irregular genetics and engineering, and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Any further questions?” Anya told the class, and one student in the front row raised her hand, and Anya gave her a nod.

            “What’s your mutation?” the girl, whose dark red hair and calculating expression reminded Anya of Jean, asked as if she were asking questions for a survey.

            “Let me start with this; you guys have probably all seen at least a little bit of what Dr. Grey can do, right? I have access to every power Dr. Grey does plus some extra. While I don’t have the Phoenix Force bonded to me, I have extreme empathic abilities on top of my psionic and psychic ones. Where Dr. Grey typically practices extreme restraint with her powers, I don’t. I will look into your minds if you try lying to me, and I will feel the way you tense up emotionally when you lie. When many of you walked in, I was using my powers to write on the board; just as well, outside of the classroom, don’t think you can sneak around the mansion without being noticed. Not only will I sense you well before you reach your destination, but I also know this school better than any of you. My mom and dad died when I was three, and my brother took five months off between work and school after their deaths as his time to grieve before he threw himself entirely into running a multi-billion-dollar company; as a result, I was primarily raised in this house by Dr. Lehnsherr and Professor Xavier until I left for my doctoral programs at MIT and Columbia University.” she began before picking up the stack of papers on the desk and moving towards the students. “Now, the easiest way for me to take roll without taking time out of class is to use your review quizzes. Professor Xavier told me to have you all do these this morning before he left, and these should be standard questions for a test review. Turn the quiz face down on your desk when you’re done, and I’ll collect them all at one time before we move on with today’s lesson.”

            With the fluidity of a practiced motion, Anya tossed the papers into the air and let her telekinesis float one down to each desk. The sound of pencils scribbling on paper quickly filled the room, and Anya waited patiently for the students to finish. Eventually she picked up on every student having completed the quiz and called them all back to her. Placing them on the desk beside her, she went back to the white board and started in on the lesson. The nagging, headache-like pain from the day before returned, but she brushed it off with Charles’ words from the day before echoing briefly in her mind.

            Anya’s day continued like this, the nagging pain making intermittent appearances throughout the day. She mentioned this to Tony towards the end of lunch before he made his way to his afternoon music class. The fact that the pain had returned made him worry about his sister, as he knew better than most anybody what her mutation’s reaction to new or sudden stimuli was, and this wasn’t it.

            “Anh, if this doesn’t let up by dinner, use Cerebro, and that’s not a suggestion.” it was this simple command, and nothing more.

            “Okay, Tony, I will. Go teach your class, and I’ll see you later; we’ll talk at dinner about first days of teaching and your new project.” she replied, hugging him.

            “Bucky enjoying classes?” Tony asked, and she smirked.

            “Not unlike Logan, he refuses to open the book when he teaches. The kids are loving it so far, but he’s getting antsy about the questions concerning what he did under HYDRA command.” Anya answered, and Tony shook his head.

            “Of course, they’d ask about that, probably because we told them not to in the first place.” he said, half to himself, and his sister snorted.

            “Now, where would you ever get the idea that kids would do that?” she joked as the memories of Erik and Charles getting onto them for doing the exact opposite of what they were told flooded back to both of them.

            “No idea.” Tony said, chuckling to himself as he made his way to the conservatory where music class was held.

            A few hours later, Tony caught sight of Anya rubbing her temples again. She kept trying to downplay the pain, and Tony was going to let her do it until Bucky noticed, but then she continued this behavior until after dessert. That was when he chose to speak.

            “As soon as your dessert’s finished, I want your ass downstairs with Cerebro. If you don’t go, I’m gonna text Pops or Vati.” he told her, and she nodded slowly.

            “Walk down with me?” she asked her brother, and he gave her a small smile.

            “Of course. Buck, think you, Pep, and Sean can get the kids in bed without us if we’re not up by curfew?” he replied, looking towards the soldier.

            “Yeah, not a problem, Tony, just keep her safe.” Bucky answered, and Pepper looked between them, confused.

            “Why can’t Bucky go with Anya?” she asked gently, and Bucky snorted.

            “I like my arm attached to me.” he said numbly before getting smacked in the flesh shoulder by his wife.

            “Pops has a habit of overworking himself with Cerebro sometimes, so Vati rigged the room to respond to metal if the person using Cerebro gets too overwhelmed. The room itself, if a magnetokinetic isn’t inside to do it manually, will pry the helmet part of Cerebro from the telepath using it. Essentially, if Anya got too overwhelmed while in the machine, Bucky’s arm could be ripped from his body.” Tony explained further, and Pepper nodded in understanding.

            Tony waited for his sister to finish her dessert, mint chocolate ice cream, before following her out of the dining hall and down to the Cerebro chamber. He stood back slightly as she brought the delicately formed vibranium helmet down upon her head and closed her eyes. She took a breath, and Tony found himself clued in on what she was hearing and who she was hearing it from.

            Anastasia? Becca talks about you a lot. The voice Tony was hearing in his head, a voice he had only heard in only black-and-white videos, was that of Steve Rogers.

            My family calls me Anya, and you’re legally my brother-in-law. I know all about Annie from James, or rather Bucky. Her eyes opened and connected with Tony’s as she spoke, and he nodded.

            Why can I talk to you and Becca but no one else? The question was simple enough, but Anya looked at her brother before responding. Tony reached out and placed his hands in hers, and he was then a part of the conversation.

            Well, there’s more of us than you’d think, Cap, and we’re working to find and bring you home. The mechanic’s words flowed through his sister to the lost man.

            Tony, I take it. The response from Steve was enough of a conformation for Anya as to what Becca had told her about the conversations that she’d had with her paternal uncle using her powers.

            You two can fight for the right to be Becca’s favorite uncle later, even though you’ll both end up losing Alex, because we’ve got more to discuss at the moment. Anya smiled at the childishness of the two adult men. The reason you can talk to us but no one else, Steve, is because we’re mutants with the ability to speak telepathically with humans, other mutants, and mutates such as yourself.

            Mutants? Mutates? The soldier was clearly confused, and Anya remembered explaining everything to Bucky when he first realized he was hearing a voice in his head that wasn’t his own.

            We’re just like anyone else, only mutants are born with a specific gene that gives us special abilities. Some are visible, like our adoptive brother, Hank, who has blue fur all over his body and prehensile feet, and others are only visible when the mutant with the ability wants them to be, like our brother/uncle hybrid, James Logan Howlett, who you may or may not know. Then, there are mutants like Becca, me, Tony, and one of mine and Tony’s adoptive fathers, Professor Charles Xavier, whose mutations are completely invisible, and you’d never know we had them unless we told you. A mutate, which is what you and Bucky are considered now, is a person born a human who is gifted with powers later on, such as the Super-Soldier serum. The blue-eyed Stark sibling explained the terms to the frozen soldier, and Steve seemed to understand.

            So, my son is a mutate, too, right? Even though he’ll potentially be born with the abilities I gained from the serum, he won’t necessarily have that special gene that makes him a mutant, correct? Anya froze at the question, and Tony raised an eyebrow.

            How’d you know about that? Anya asked before telling her brother anything.

            When Becca connected Bucky and me a few days ago, he was in New York looking around the mansion. He let it slip. The answer didn’t surprise Anya as much as she felt it should have, and she sighed.

            If my theory is correct, that my dad used the thirteenth vial of your blood to save Annie and the baby while giving Aunt Peggy a vial of fake blood, then there is a decent possibility of your baby being a mutate, Steve. She answered him, wondering how he knew his unborn child was a boy, and Tony still stood staring at her in surprise.

            Bucky realized he’d slipped and told me he’d spoken to a man named Charles, the adoptive father you mentioned, I suppose, and had actually found Annie behind the door. He said only Tony could get inside, but Charles had been able to communicate with both Annie and the baby. JJ’s strong, nothing like I was before the serum, and neither of them are sick anymore. Steve answered honestly, and this did surprise Anya.

            James Buchanan Barnes! Her shout telepathically at her husband made her brother flinch, but Anya didn’t seem to care. Instead she refocused on Steve. JJ?

            Joseph James Rogers, it’s what Annie and I decided to name him when we first found out she was pregnant. His first name is for my dad, and his middle name was for Bucky, as he was the one person most supportive of us being together. Again, Steve gave a completely honest answer. He had no reason to lie to Anya and Tony, so he didn’t.

            If we know exactly where Annie is, Steve, we won’t wake her before we’ve found you. No father should miss the birth of his child. Anya told him, and the soldier seemed content with the plan.

            Thank you. He gave the two-word response, and then the connection died down. Tony, still holding onto his sister’s hands, waited for an explanation. She pulled her hands back and removed Cerebro’s helmet before speaking.

            “Dad started working on cryo-technology before he even founded SI, and Bucky and I are almost positive that Anna-Claire Catherine Rogers, née Barnes, was one of if not the first volunteer Dad had for his cryo-chamber. If Papa did find her mind, and the baby’s mind, then you have to go check the room Bucky found with the retinal scanner Dad installed. It doesn’t have to be immediate, considering you’re barely in the shape to teach and we haven’t even started on recovering Steve yet, but we need to keep tabs on them at the very least.” she explained, and Tony nodded along slowly.

            “We’ll confirm with Pops when they get back with Alex, and then we’ll start the process of finding the Capsicle.” he agreed, and the siblings left the Cerebro room talking silently with one another.

            The X-Men team returned the following morning just after breakfast. The students had half-an-hour before classes, so the adult members of the Xavier-Lehnsherr family gathered outside to await the Blackbird’s landing. Hank would have to have the plane detailed before he let it go back into the underground hangar; all of them knew the furry mutant wouldn’t want any of the desert sand the plane had accumulated getting into the near-sterile environment he’d created in the sub-levels.

            Anya smiled as she heard Charles’ soft chuckles in her mind. As soon as the ramp descended and the team disembarked from the plane, the younger telepath had let go of her husband’s arm and hurried towards her parents. She hugged Charles first, and then she moved into Erik’s arms.

            “We handled the students quite well, I believe, and only some of them still think I’m Papa’s clone.” she reported, and the German man laughed.

            “About half of mine didn’t believe I had any powers until I started making the metal sphere on your desk move and remold itself. You like the Arc Reactor, right, Vati? I’m kidding, I put it back the way it was.” Tony said as he joined them.

            “Oh, sure, ignore the guy that got captured by ol’ Thunderbolt Ross.” a new voice added, and the siblings, along with everyone else, turned and smiled at the tall blonde man leaning against Scott's shoulder.

            “What did Ross want?” Anya asked as she hugged her adoptive brother.

            “What does he always want? He was trying to recreate the Super-Soldier Program again and thought mutants were the key. I hate to tell him, but Rogers was a mutate, not a mutant. Same with Bucky, really.” Alex answered, and Anya turned in his arms to look at Charles.

            “Papa, I talked to Steve last night. Turns out, he was the source of my headaches. He told me that you and Bucky spoke about finding them, and he said that you were able to locate Annie and JJ in the Manhattan mansion.” she said, and the elder telepath nodded.

            “I wasn’t sure when to discuss it with you given Tony’s recent ordeal. I suppose now is as good a time as any. Though the mission was short, we’re all tired and in no mood to teach today. Tony, tell EDIE to alert the students that today is to be a Study Hall Day; classes will resume Wednesday morning at the earliest.” Charles said, turning from one Stark sibling to the other.

            “Okay, Pops, it’s done. Robo-Oma is alerting everyone now.” Tony said almost cheerfully before turning to Hank. “Hey, Big Blue, I used your lab last night for a bit. This reactor needed to be changed out, and I had to do it fast. I’ll send you supplies to replace whatever I used, so don’t worry. Also, I cleaned up after myself so you wouldn’t have a conniption fit if anything ended up out of place.”

            “Eh, so long as it was you, Tony, I don’t care. I know you take care of the lab.” he replied, and Tony grinned.

            “I like being the only one you trust to follow your safety and cleanliness standards without prompting.” he said, though it was mostly to himself, and the group headed inside the mansion.

            Once they passed through the double doors, everyone split up into groups and went their own way. Hank went to the labs with Alex, Sean trailing close behind, to give the plasma wielding mutant a more thorough check-up; Scott, Jean, and Ororo all mentioned the desire for a shower and a nap as they made their way upstairs; Logan just said he was going to find his girls and left the rest standing in the foyer; Kurt mumbled something about going to visit his father and teleported from the room; Warren said he needed to clean his feathers before trying to get some sleep, disappearing up the stairs after Logan, Scott, Jean, and Ororo as fast as he could without flying.

            Those that remained in the foyer were Charles, Erik, Tony, Pepper, Anya, and Bucky. The other children had been instructed to stay inside until the level of possible damage the team had received had been properly assessed. As the six made their way into Charles and Erik’s office, they found Lorna and the twins waiting on them. A quick check with EDIE let Anya and Bucky know that Becca was still asleep.

            “Is Alex okay?” Lorna asked, and Charles gave her a gentle nod.

            “Alex is going to be just fine. Hank is looking him over downstairs right now, and then he and Sean are going to get Tess.” he told the youngest in the room.

            “Is everyone else okay?” Pietro added, and Erik nodded.

            “No physical injuries, that we know of, and no more harm to anyone on the team aside from tiredness.” he said, and the silver-haired teen gave a small smile.

            “How long do I have to wait before proposing the next mission?” Anya asked.

            “Give the team until tomorrow; tell us now.” Tony cut across, and Erik agreed.

            “It’s local, half of it at least, and it’s something that’ll definitely gain more of the country’s support for our cause.” Anya began, easing her parents and siblings present into the plan she and Bucky had discussed the previous night.

            “And what is it that we would be doing?” Erik asked, giving his daughter the same look that he gave students who tried lying to him.

            “Given her loose grasp on the concept of time, as she’s still a three-year-old no matter how gifted she is, Becca managed to make contact with Captain Steven Grant Rogers at some point within the last year. She has also provided a psychic link between Steve and Bucky which has allowed the two of them to talk on brief occasions. Bucky told Papa, and they worked together to find Steve’s exact location to verify what JARVIS and Becca had already deduced on their own. After finding Steve, Bucky and Papa told him about the possibility of Dad having put Anna-Claire, Bucky’s sister and the woman that Steve married at age eighteen, in a cryogenic state after she was diagnosed with TB back in the thirties. Dad did, and Papa was able to find her…and her unborn son. Our mission is to mind and recover Captain America, his wife, and their baby. How could anyone hate us if we saved an American treasure and his family?” Anya proposed, but then she snorted and rolled her eyes. “We’re doing this regardless of what the public’s opinion would be because Steve, Annie, and baby JJ are family. Though it’ll look good for us, family is what’s important.”

            “Well said, my dear. We shall bring this up to the team in the morning after debriefing. I will get a head start and-” Charles attempted, but Erik gave him a pointed look and was obviously projecting directly to Charles by the intense stare between them.

            “C’mon, guys. None of us need to bear witness to what Pops and Vati are about to get up to in this room…or any room in the vicinity.” Tony said, not needing his gifts to tell him what was on Erik’s mind.

Chapter Text

            Months had passed, yet little progress had been made in the Xavier-Lehnsherr family’s mission to reunite the Rogers-Barnes family. The amount of paperwork and red tape Charles had to cut through just to get an expedition to the Arctic Circle was more than astounding to Anya, who had returned to Malibu to keep an eye on Tony while he began building his armor. This was done under the pretense of her running the company while he rested up at home, but Anya rarely made a major decision without asking her brother about it first. They were a team, he’d told her when Howard and Maria had died and he had been appointed her permanent guardian, and teamwork was the only way to make their dream work. The dream changed over the years, but she kept the idea going.

            On the night of her twenty-second birthday, where normal young women might go to a club or have a party, Anya found herself sitting on her brother’s workbench while he fiddled with his completed Mark II suit of armor. Becca was out of the country for the week; Charles and Erik had volunteered to take her with them to the conference on both genetics and mutant rights that they were attending in Germany, and Anya was all too happy to agree once she’d heard both Stane’s recent thoughts and Bucky’s latest HYDRA information. As for her husband, she knew that he was upstairs, in their closet, putting on the suit she knew he hated wearing for the sake of taking her to the Fire-Fighter’s Family Fund charity gala. After nearly seventy years, no one recognized his face as that of a man killed during World War II, in Malibu especially, so his attempts to get out of it were useless. Tony had already told his sister and brother-in-law that he would be along as soon as he’d run the tests on his armor that he’d set up if only to see the shocked look on Stane’s face.

            “You’re sure this will work?” she asked, and her engineer brother sighed.

            “JARVIS is in the suit, I’ve communicated with every piece of it myself, and I have DUM-E on fire safety watch. I’ll be fine, Anh.” Tony insisted.

            “We’ve talked about this, Tony, at least five times in the last six months. You’re not allowed to die on me without my permission, and you’re even more so not allowed to die on my birthday.” Anya countered, and he carefully hugged her so that no metal pulled at her dress.

            “I know, and I promise you that November 16, 20-whatever will never be my date of death. If anything, I’m more likely to die on my own birthday.” he said, and she swatted him on the forehead before he could lower his face-plate.

            “Be careful, Jerkface!” she called out as the plasma boosters roared to life and the silver blur that was her brother sped out of the garage.

            When he arrived at the gala an hour-and-a-half later, Tony began looking for his sister. He’d nearly throat punched Stane in front of the reporters, which wouldn’t have gone over well, and rushed inside after only a few pictures were taken. Anya stood out among the crowd, thankfully, in her art-deco 1920s inspired gown that was a few inches shorter than nearly every other woman in the ballroom, barely brushing her ankles while most of the gowns fell to down to the floor.

            “Where’s Bucky?” he asked quietly as he leaned against the bar beside her.

            “Pep looked lonely waiting on you, so I told him to go dance with her. I would be having a drink right about now, but somebody won’t believe that my ID is real.” she said the last part louder than the rest, and Tony turned to see the bartender staring back at his sister as if he truly didn’t believe she was old enough for alcohol.

            “As her brother, I can vouch for the fact that she’s twenty-two. Give her whatever drink she asked for, okay?” he said to the bartender, and the man jumped into action when he saw who was ordering him around this time.

            “Thanks, Tony.” his sister said with a laugh as her Cuba Libre appeared before her.

            “What else are big brothers for, Anh.” he replied, pausing for a moment before leading her off to the edge of the room away from the crowd. “I’ve got to tell you some news, something big that I’m not even sure I understand yet.”

            “Tony, I already know about Stane being the one to lock you out, and he couldn’t find a way to lock me out, so we’re fine.” she said, but he shook his head.

            “It’s not about Stane, tesora.” he said softly, and she looked into his mind as he brought her free hand to his temple.

            Tony was flying over Malibu in his armor, using JARVIS’ facial recognition software to scan the masses of people he passed from high above without their notice. One scan came back as hitting in the SI databases. It was a little boy, no older than seven or eight, and he looked familiar.

            “JARVIS, identification of the last scanned face, the kid.” Tony said to his AI.

            “The boy is in the database at your own request, Sir, and his file is sealed unless authorized by one person.” the AI responded.

            “Who?”

            “You, Sir.”

            “Well, then, open the file, JARVIS.”

            The file’s details came up on Tony’s screen, and Anya gasped as she read the report before ending her venture into her brother’s memories.

            “How?” she asked, shaking her head. “I mean, I know how, but how?”

            “Mary left me for her ex, Richard Parker, right before I got the chance to propose. I was so angry, and so drunk, that I threw that ring out into the ocean when I realized she’d left. I told JARVIS to keep an up-to-date file on her and Richard, but not to show it to me unless I asked. As soon as I saw his face with her name, I knew, Anya, I knew. I’d need to test his DNA to be sure, but I feel it in my bones. I have a son, an eight-year-old son who has no idea that I’m his father.” Tony explained, and his sister took a long swig of her drink.

            “Is JARVIS doing a background check on him?” Anya asked, knowing the answer.

            “It’s already done. His name is Peter Benjamin Parker, and his birth date is August 10, 2001. Mary and Richard died four years ago, and Peter’s been raised by Richard’s brother and sister-in-law, Ben and May Parker, ever since. He’s a genius, has perfect grades in school, but has a bit of a troublesome record attached. Peter’s had detention a few times for supposedly throwing things at another kid, but he insists that he didn’t do it and other students claim that the object would fly out of nowhere and hit the kid, who was harassing Peter for being an orphan, without anyone physically touching them. All of these things were made of some bit, big or small, of metal; they ranged from a handheld pencil sharpener to an entire backpack filled with elementary school supplies and stuff like that. At least once, he got out of punishment because his school lost power while the teacher was trying to berate him for his supposed actions.” he said, watching as her eyes lit up with recognition.

            “He has your mutation. Tony, the chances of him not being yours are almost negligible at this point; I can call the Dads, and we can have him brought to the school within the next week. Jean would love to do a recruitment assignment.” Anya said, but Tony declined.

            “I have no proof without disclosing my own mutation, Anya, and we agreed not to do that. All I can do for now is protect him from afar the best I can. Maybe, one day, I can be there for him as his father; but I’m going to let him stay where he is for now.” he told her, but she stopped him with a curious expression.

            “Why is he in Malibu?” she asked, and he grinned.

            “That incident, the one with the power going out, happened last week. The school hasn’t reopened yet because they still haven’t found the source of the outage and every breaker in the place is getting replaced with a new model. With there being some rather cold weather back in New York, as you and I well know, the Parkers came down to Malibu for a rare vacation.” he said, and his sister frowned.

            “It seems like too much of a coincidence. You don’t think Mary ever told either of her in-laws that Peter wasn’t Richard’s? That they might have brought him here looking for you?” she asked.

            “I’m not a hard man to find, Anya, so I’ll be around if they did. If they’re going to try to get money out of me for custody, or if they want back child support payments for the last four years, I’ll pay so long as I don’t have to worry about him being kept from me now that I know he exists. Wouldn’t you?” he replied, and she nodded.

            “I’d do anything so long as it meant I’d get to keep Becca and…” Tony looked at her strangely as she trailed off rather than finishing her sentence.

            “And who?” he asked.

            “You’re better, Tony, and you won’t need me before too much longer. Pepper’s going to be here to make sure you’ve got someone, as well as Happy, so the three of us will be going back to Brooklyn after New Year’s, and I’m going to get back to work on the Stark Tower project. While we’re doing that and waiting for Papa’s red tape to vanish so that we can bring Steve, Annie, and JJ home, James and I are going to start trying again. Becca will be four, if not five, by the time her little brother or sister arrives, and this one would be around the same age as JJ, theoretically.” she said, and he grinned.

            “Boy or girl? What are we hoping for here?” he asked, and she laughed.

            “He says he doesn’t care either way, because he’ll love the baby no matter what the sex is, but we both know we want a boy.” Anya said, and Tony hugged her.

            “I can’t believe we’re grown-ups.” he told her in almost-disbelief.

            “I can’t believe you’ve stayed sober through all of this.” she replied, and he snorted in response.

            “You made me go to my meetings. Aunt Peggy would be proud.” Tony said sadly.

            “Tony, you did what was best for her. We all did! Sharon will tell you that there was no other option for Aunt Peggy than the nursing home, and, hell yeah, she’d be proud that you went back to AA after diving head-first off of the wagon. That dark blue coin would mean the world to her right now, and I know how much it means to you. Six months is a big deal, especially when coming back from being held prisoner by terrorists in Afghanistan, Tony, and I know that I’m proud of you.” Anya assured him, and he gave her another hug as Pepper and Bucky joined them.

            Tony turned to look at Pepper, and he had to clench his jaw to keep it from falling to the floor. Pepper looked stunning in the backless, royal blue gown she’d bought for the gala, likely with his credit card. He couldn’t believe he was this lucky.

            “Wow!” was all he could say, and she blushed a light pink.

            “Thank you; it was a birthday gift from my boyfriend.” she said, and Tony grinned at her words, knowing he’d been right.

            “Glad to see I have excellent taste.” he teased, and she shook her head at him.

            “How was it?” she asked, meaning his armor testing.

            “I switched materials, and JARVIS is assembling everything now. I’ve got a few hours before it’s ready, so, Miss Potts, would you like to dance?” he asked, and Pepper accepted his arm as he led her out onto the floor, leaving Bucky and Anya behind.

            “You wanna head out, doll?” Bucky asked, and his wife looked up at him.

            “Not just yet, babe. I see two different types of trouble brewing. Christine Everhart just got here, and Phil is over by the bar. Neither one knows about Tony’s sobriety, and I won’t let either of them ruin six months of hard work for him.” she told her husband, and he nodded.

            “I’ll take Phil, you take Everhart, and we’ll meet up by the door in ten minutes tops.” he said, and she nodded, trusting his tactician side to make the right call.

            Bucky moved silently into place beside Phil Coulson at the bar. The agent was watching Tony and Pepper dance, and Bucky knew that the man wasn’t currently a threat to his brother-in-law and likely-sister-in-law, but he also knew that SHIELD was quickly overstepping its bounds as to Tony’s escape. Clearing his throat, he got Phil’s attention.

            “Sergeant Barnes, I didn’t realize you’d be here.” Phil said quietly, though he was smiling at the former army sniper.

            “Anya and I were about to head out when we saw you. She’s dealing with that blonde reporter again, so I said I’d talk to you. Tony’s not ready to talk yet. There’s been someone double dealing at SI, and he’s waiting to find out who before he moves further. He already knows, but he needs the evidence first, and it’s almost complete. Once that’s taken care of, he’ll sit down with SHIELD, but only then.” Bucky said, and Phil nodded.

            “Have you heard anything about our invertebrate friends?” the agent asked.

            “As long as Peg’s got fight left in her and the good days outweigh the bad, they won’t go public. Despite all appearances, Pierce is highly afraid of her…and of me.” the soldier answered.

            “Let’s keep it that way.” Phil said, and Bucky agreed.

            The two men shook hands, and Bucky walked off towards his wife when he heard her mental calls for him. Walking up, he heard her conversation with Everhart. The blonde was on thin ice with the mutant female.

            “-other doesn’t want to talk to you or any of your vulture friends, Ms. Everhart. You can either tell me what’s so important and I can decide whether or not to pass it along to Tony, or I can have you escorted from the premises.” Anya told the blonde.

            “Fine. You’re so proud of the SI weapons division being shut down, yet there’ve been SI weapons used in an attack on a city called Gulmira in Afghanistan. A comment on that, Miss Stark?” Christine Everhart said, and Anya frowned.

            “First, it’s Dr. Barnes. Second, I’ll make sure my brother knows about this when he gets home. Third, you will leave this gala and go home right now. You will not bother my brother and Pepper, and you will not try to break his happiness.” Anya tapped into the more dangerous side of her powers, forcing the blonde to do as she said.

            Christine Everhart left abruptly, and Bucky slipped his arms around his wife’s waist. She leaned against him, watching the blonde reporter go, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

            “Home?” he asked, and she sighed.

            “We’ve got the place to ourselves for a few more hours.” she answered suggestively, and the two hurried for their car without further discussion.

            “C’mon, pick up, Phil!” Anya was talking to herself as she waited for the person that she was calling the answer.

            She and Bucky had made sure that they were decent when Tony and Pepper arrived home hours later. Pepper had been exhausted, not having expected to have done as much dancing as she and Tony had at the gala, and went straight up to bed. Tony, on the other hand, went down to the lab to check on his new armor. While he’d been inspecting the suit’s hot-rod red, gold-titanium alloy body, Anya had told him about the SI weapons in Gulmira; she hadn’t expected his reaction to be so sudden, but he was in the suit and powering up before she could get another word in verbally.

            “Tony, where are you going?” she asked through their link.

            “Yinsen, the guy that saved my life, was from Gulmira, and these guys who have our stuff, they’re probably a part of the group that abducted me. If I don’t stop them, I might end up drinking. This way, not everyone will get hurt.” he replied, the gold face of his helmet slamming down as he spoke telepathically.

            Tony had flown out almost as soon as the face-plate had shut, so Anya ran back up the staircase and grabbed her cellphone. Her brother was many things when he was angry, but subtle wasn’t one of them. She needed to make sure SHIELD knew not to harm the small, man-sized UFO that her brother had become.

            “Agent Coulson speaking.” a voice on the other end of the phone finally said.

            “Thank God! Phil, listen, I’ll set a date for Tony’s interview about his capture in Afghanistan right now if you can find a way to make sure nothing shoots down the UFO headed towards Gulmira right now.” she said quickly, catching the agent off guard.

            “Anya, what’s going on? Is everything okay?” Phil asked, losing all pretense of professionalism when he heard her tone.

            “Off the record?” she asked, and he agreed before she would continue. “Tony got out of captivity by building a palladium powered electromagnet that’s currently in his chest to keep away shrapnel too dangerous to be removed at the present time unless we want him to die; this magnet powered a suit that he used to literally fly out of the cave they kept him in after setting their whole base on fire. He crashed in the desert, and then he was found and taken to Germany for medical evaluations. After he got home and rested for a few weeks, Tony rebuilt the suit, and the second he heard what was going on in Gulmira, he bolted; the guy who saved his life was from there, and Tony feels that he owes it to Yinsen’s memory to stop further violence in the village. As of this moment, there is a small, red and gold, man-shaped suit of armor flying towards Afghanistan with my older brother inside of it.”

            “Anya, you need to calm down. Where’s Barnes?” Phil asked.

            “He’s staring worriedly at me from across the kitchen island. Phil, I’m fine, I promise. I have time where you can talk to the both of us, seeing as how I was a part of Tony’s entire journey, on the twenty-fourth; just don’t let him get killed out there.” she replied, and the agent agreed.

            “Anya, your brother is going to make it back in one piece. I’ll do what I can on my end, which means I’ll have Nick do what he can from his position, and I’ll see the both of you in a week.” Phil promised, and Anya thanked him as she ended the call.

            “Doll, he’s gonna be alright.” Bucky assured her, and she leaned across the countertop to kiss him lightly.

            “The last time I let my brother fly to Afghanistan, he nearly died and was held captive for three months and barely survived. I’ll believe it when I see it.” she said, and he couldn’t refute that.

            Tony made it back in one piece, just as Phil had promised, but he was even more eager to take Stane down than ever before; Anya did what she could to help him, and he had a plan ready within a week in which both she and Pepper had starring roles. Anya would go into the office the morning of the meeting with Phil and plug a flash drive into Tony’s office desktop. It would search out any hidden files and alert her when said files were found. While she investigated and copied all the files to the drive, Pepper would be at her desk outside the door, waiting to project to Anya that Stane had arrived.

            The plan had started off by hitting a snag. While she waited for the best time to plug the drive in, given that it only took a few minutes to find and copy all of the files according to Tony, she heard Stane’s thoughts. He’d discovered who Phil was, as the man was waiting downstairs for Anya and Pepper, and this didn’t make Stane happy. Quickly as she could manage, Anya plugged the flash drive in and waited. Within seconds, she had access to Stane’s ghost drive. In it, she found Tony’s ransom video, a record of all the weapons he’d sold to America’s enemies, and plans for the largest version of Tony’s suit that Anya had ever seen, the original included.

            “Anya, incoming! I’m right behind him.” Pepper projected, and Anya took a deep breath while keeping her eyes on the screen.

            “So,” Stane’s voice boomed from the door. “what are we gonna do about this?”

            “About what, Obie?” Anya feigned innocence as the man who was once her father’s business partner strode across the room and helped himself to the scotch that Tony hadn’t touched in six months.

            “Anya, I know it’s hard to think about this, but you and I both know that your brother isn’t well.” Stane said, pausing to sniff his drink. “He does always get the good stuff, though, doesn’t he?”

            “He probably wouldn’t even know if that was any good. Tony’s been sober since he got home. He’s gone to meetings and everything; I even think Uncle Charles had him sit down for a chat…otherwise known as therapy to everyone but Tony.” she replied.

            “I was so happy when he came home; I was so afraid he’d died before we could rescue him.” Stane said, but Anya could hear his thoughts. “She’s way too calm about me questioning her brother’s mental state. That girl acts like the bastard walks on water or something. Then again, she’s spent so much time around mutants, she might actually know someone who can.”

            Stane was right in that she did know someone who could walk on water. She knew three, actually. Saltwater happened to be a decent conductor of electricity, and Erik, Tony, and Lorna could all conduct enough electromagnetic energy through themselves and the water to walk across it if they felt like it. She brushed this off, in the moment, as keeping him from seeing the screen was more important. Quickly, she brought up the screensaver of hot-rod cars.

            “Tony’s strong, Obie, just like I said he was nine months ago, and he’ll get through this.” Anya said, but Stane leaned against the right-hand side of the desk.

            “I don’t know, Anya, because I don’t think Tony ever really came home. I think he left a part of himself in that cave.” he said, and Anya went to respond just as Pepper walked into the room.

            “Anya, your four o’clock is here.” the redhead said, turning to give Stane a look of surprise. “Obadiah, did you need anything?”

            “You two are incredible women, and I don’t think Tony realized just how lucky he is to have you in his life.” Stane told them, but Anya held back a snort as she heard his inner thoughts. “I liked her, would’ve loved to have kept her on as my secretary once the bastard, the brat, and the baby were out of the way. It’s not like keeping mutants from controlling something like SI would be hard. Now they both have to die.”

            “Obie, Tony is going to be back to work in no time at all, and R&D has more and more great ideas and prototypes every day. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a meeting to get to downstairs.” Anya said, standing and pulling the flash drive from the computer before grabbing her purse from beside her feet on the floor.

            “What’s the flash drive about?” Stane asked, and Anya smiled.

            “Oh, Tony and I are working on the Stark Tower project again; I needed to make sure I had a copy of everything for when I go back East next month so I can work from home. That tower is as good as built.” she answered cheerfully, dropping the flash drive into her purse and leaving the room with Pepper on her heels.

            As they hit the top of the stairs, Anya keyed into Stane’s thoughts one more time. He walked back to the computer and nudged the mouse. The screensaver faded away to reveal the ‘Download Completed’ dialogue box showing that the ghost drive had been copied to Anya’s flash drive. Enraged, Stane slammed his palm down on Tony’s desk. “They meddled, and now they know. I’ve got to get them out of the way before they tell that Agent Coulson everything.”

            Anya gulped and looked over at Pepper as they made their way down the first staircase with ease. Pepper looked back at her, knowing that something was wrong. Anya jerked her head back towards the office, and Pepper nodded.

            “Nearest elevator, now!” Anya hissed, and the two women bolted for the elevator that would take them down to Phil.

            Anya and Pepper power-walked out to Pepper’s car with Phil hurrying behind them. Happy had been given the day off so that the two women could make a quick getaway without having to wait for a chauffeur to pick them up if Stane had made their mission. Phil slid into the front passenger seat, and Anya climbed in the back to keep her focus on Stane’s movements. Pepper put the car in gear and drove towards the SI factory as fast as she could while simultaneously calling Tony; when he didn’t answer, Anya tried their link. There was silence, and the link felt shut off the way it had when he’d been held hostage. It was tense, but Anya knew she had to focus, so she projected to Bucky instead.

            “Babe, it’s time. Stane made us when Pepper and I were getting the documents. He’s making his own armor, and he’s probably going after Tony now. We’re headed to the SI manufactory to find his suit.” she projected, and her husband’s reply was quick.

            “I told Dimitri to stall my handlers for another day or two. I’ll be on the roof across from the factory with my rifle. Stane’s already here, and he’s doing something to Tony that I can’t get involved in unless we’re definitely killing him rather than sending him to prison.”

            “Do we have any backup at all?” Phil asked, and Anya raised an eyebrow.

            “All we’ve got are your agents, Bucky with his rifle on a rooftop, and me. I’m expecting Tony to get involved in his new suit, but the X-Men are out because the Dads are in Germany with Becca until tomorrow. I can make one last call to be sure.” she replied, taking out her own phone and dialing Rhodey’s number while projecting to her husband. “He’s more than likely going to die, but let’s not force it unless we have no other options.”

            “Rhodes.” she sighed as her brother’s best friend answered her call.

            “Rhodey, it’s Anya, and I need your help.” she explained. “Obadiah Stane is the leak that’s been double-dealing SI weapons, and he’s gone after Tony.”

            “What do you need?” Rhodey asked, on board the second Anya explained what was going on with his friend.

            “He’s not answering any of mine or Pepper’s calls, so go to the house and check on him, please!” she said, and she heard the tires on Rhodey’s truck squeal as he made a sharp U-Turn to drive towards the mansion. “Thank you!”

            After calling Rhodey to check on Tony, the trio headed towards SI’s factory reached their destination. Pepper led Phil, the SHIELD agents, and Anya to Section 16 where Stane’s armor was supposed to be stored. When they got to the bright yellow security door, Pepper’s badge wouldn’t open the lock. Phil moved to put an explosive on the door, but Anya placed a hand on his arm instead.

            “Let me try; it’ll be quieter, and Stane won’t realize we’re out here.” Anya said quietly, leaving a confused Phil and a surprised Pepper gawking as she held out her hand towards the lock.

            As the door swung open, she turned to Phil. She didn’t want to have to tell the man that she and her brother were mutants, but she knew she’d have to at this point.

            “I’ll tell you about it tomorrow, I promise.” she said, following Pepper into Section 16.

            As they moved down the stairs towards where Obadiah had to be waiting, Anya felt the psychic connection between Tony and herself open up again. He was calling out to her now. He was alive.

            “Bellum, I’m on my way. Thanks for calling Rhodey, tesora. I owe him, Pep, and DUM-E my life right now.” her brother’s words brought a smile to her face.

            “We’re going to have to tell Agent Coulson about at least my mutation when we talk, Cherik. I had to use telekinesis on the lock so Stane wouldn’t hear the explosive they were going to use.” she sent back.

            “Rhodey has to find out about mine; I was pulsing electromagnetic energy through my chest without the reactor when he arrived, and I could barely stand. Stane used those paralysis things we made a few years ago that the government didn’t approve, and I couldn’t move, let alone use my powers, for fifteen minutes. Anya, he has the Mark II mini reactor powering his suit, and the Mark I wasn’t made to sustain flight. Where’s Bucky?” Tony asked, and Anya responded quickly as Stane’s thoughts returned into her sphere.

            “He’s on the roof across from the factory in case we need him.” she said, turning her back to the agents and Pepper who were inspecting the smaller suit which they’d found.

            “-ought it’d be bigger.” Phil said, and Anya reached back to tap his shoulder.

            “It is.” she said, jerking her head towards the sparking cables that had once held the real suit.

            The agents, Phil included, split from the two women. Pepper stuck close to Anya as the two of them moved in the direction of the cables. They got to the nitrogen tanks at the end of the path, and Anya threw her arm out in front of Pepper.

            “Too easy.” Stane’s voice said in her mind, and she glance on the other side of her brother’s girlfriend to see two glowing eyes staring back at her.

            “Run!” she snapped, pushing Pepper back the way they’d came and taking off after her before Stane could move beyond the wall of chains.

            They ran past some SHIELD agents who tried to shoot the armored suit, and Anya rolled her eyes. The damn thing was metal, so how did they think bullets were going to phase it? Maybe shooting Stane’s suit would’ve worked, but only if they’d shot at his eyes or an open joint.

            They made it outside, and Tony called Pepper on her headset. While Pepper relayed everything that she knew about Stane’s suit to him, Anya scanned the rooftop in front of her for Bucky. She spotted him by the glint of his rifle, and just knowing where he was increased her feeling of security.

            “I’ve got eyes on you, doll. Just protect Pepper until Tony gets here; he’s within my hearing range already.” Bucky projected to her, and she let slip a small smile.

            Of course, that smile vanished as Stane’s suit ripped through the pavement in front of the two women and the man inside aimed a cannon at them. Just as Anya threw her hand up to toss him backward, Tony flew into view and distracted Stane. They disappeared from view, and Anya heard Bucky in her head scrambling to the other side of his rooftop to maintain a visual. When they all saw two blurs shoot upwards in the night sky, they waited to see what would happen next.

            “Where are they going?” Pepper asked, and the younger woman smiled as her knowing the science behind her brother’s suit was finally paying off.

            “Tony’s taking Stane to maximum altitude by force. Stane doesn’t realize that the gold color isn’t a paint job. Tony used the left-over gold-titanium alloy from those satellites we made to prevent the suit from icing over at max altitude, and Stane didn’t. He’ll ice over, but Tony won’t; the only thing I’m worried about now is that Tony’s going to crash if he doesn’t use his mutation because that reactor wasn’t made to do more than keep the shrapnel out of his heart.” Anya replied, and minutes later she was proven to be correct.

            “I’m alive, Anh.” Tony sent to her as the sound of metal clanking on the roof reached their ears.

            “Yeah, but so is Stane.” she replied, and all eyes went to the roof as the SHIELD agents gathered around them in the empty parking lot.

            “Pep!” they heard Tony call from Pepper’s phone, her earpiece having fallen out when Stane tore through the asphalt.

            “Tony! Thank God!” Pepper replied.

            “I’m almost out of power, and all my energy has to go into the reactor when I am. Everything I’ve tried hasn’t worked, so there’s only one thing left. We have to overload the main reactor and blast the roof.” Tony told them, and Anya gulped.

            “Do you have enough power to get down?” she asked, cutting in before Pepper could respond.

            “Barely; I’m going to regret this, but remind me to talk to Vati about that new core over Thanksgiving.” Tony answered, and the two women agreed.

            “How do we overload the reactor?” Pepper asked.

            “Go inside and open all the circuits at the center console. If I try to do it myself from here, I’ll divert power from the mini-reactor, and that’s essentially my death warrant. When I can clear the roof, I’ll tell you to hit the master bypass button, okay?” he said, and Pepper looked to Anya.

            “Okay.” she said, moving back towards the factory.

            “I’ll stay out here, Pep, so take the phone with you. These dumbasses tried shooting at SI metals, so they’ll need me more than you will.” Anya whispered to her before backing up towards Phil and his underlings.

            While Pepper went inside, Anya focused solely on her link with Bucky. He was watching Stane and Tony’s fight through the scope on his rifle, and he knew she was listening in on his thoughts. He’d rather she didn’t, and he told her so, because he didn’t want her to see him pull the trigger.

            “Hey, I’ve killed, too, remember? As long as you don’t hit Tony, I’ll be fine.” she told him, and he grunted.

            “I like to forget that, doll. It was bad enough to witness that once.” he replied.

            “Jason tried to kill Papa and Vati, and I couldn’t let that happen. His father may have been the one to make him do it, but he liked killing people. Jason killed his own mother, and David was already hurt beyond the point of being able to defend himself. We’re lucky he had enough in him to keep Legion at bay.” Anya told him calmly, and Bucky couldn’t disagree.

            “How many times have I told you that you’re just as reckless and self-sacrificing as Steve?” he asked, and she mentally chuckled.

            “More than I’ve kept track, that much I know for sure.” she responded just as the lights from the reactor overloading lit up Bucky’s vision.

            “Doll, Tony’s fine, but Stane’s absorbing the reactor’s power into his suit.” Bucky said to his wife, and she made the call.

            “Take the shot, then call for Kurt and Hank.” Anya near ordered, and she watched as the single bullet blasted its way out of the rifle’s barrel and embedded itself within Stane’s skull, making him fall into the reactor and effectively destroying his body.

            Opening her eyes, which she had shut after linking her mind with her husband’s upon Pepper’s move to overload the reactor, Anya saw the agents looking at her out of concern. She smiled, gave Pepper a nod as the redhead ran up to her, and turned to the rooftop across the way.

            “It’s done. Stane is dead, and Tony is unconscious on the roof. Nightcrawler is on the way with Beast, and possibly Magneto, to patch him up as we speak; he’ll be right as rain by morning.” she told them, and everyone from Pepper to Phil’s fellow agents who had little clue what the young brunette was talking about let out sighs of relief.

            The next day, Tony had called for a press conference to discuss the previous night’s events. Rhodey would go out and speak first, so Tony had called both him and Phil into the room where he was sitting with Pepper and Anya whilst Happy perused the crowd of reporters for any security threats. The two military men sat down and waited for Tony to explain himself.

            “First off, nothing I say goes past this room without my say-so. Anya doesn’t get to decide who knows this information on her own, and our godfathers will agree with that.” he said, and his sister rolled her eyes.

            “I’m twenty-two, not four.” she challenged, but he brushed her off instead.

            “My mother, despite being the saint she was, couldn’t carry a normal baby to term. She miscarried twice before and twice after she had me. Dad, not knowing what else to do, tried to help scientifically. Unbeknownst to him, Dad altered my genetic code en-utero and caused my DNA to develop the proper sequence that most people know today as the X-Gene, also called the mutant gene. I am a mutant, and my powers began manifesting when I was four-years-old. I can control technology, manipulate metal, and communicate on both a telepathic and empathic level within short ranges.” Tony told them, and Anya nodded along.

            “Dad tried the same thing with me after Mom’s two miscarriages after Tony, and I manifested my powers in the womb. I’m Omni-Psionic, but I mostly use telepathy and telekinesis with the occasional bits of empathy. Astral manipulation is exhausting, seeing the future is annoying, and teleportation is still a work-in-progress for me. Tony and I have a near-constant psychic link that we can close at any time, and my powers let me keep my husband’s mind intact no matter what HYDRA does to him.” she added, and Rhodey fixed her with a curious stare.

            “Who’s your husband? What’s HYDRA?” he asked. "I feel like I should know, but it's only the basic notion that it's linked to Captain America."

            “HYDRA is an ancient terrorist organization that was last heard from publicly during World War II when Captain America was fighting them. Despite initial reports, it’s been determined that they’re still around and have embedded themselves in every aspect of our society, including the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, SHIELD, which was founded as a way to protect against people like them.” Phil said, and Anya nodded.

            “My husband was captured by HYDRA and turned into their number one assassin over sixty years ago; they only allowed him out for missions, and he stayed cryogenically frozen otherwise. In November of 1991, HYDRA sent him to kill our parents, which he did after a month of observations; I wasn’t supposed to be in the car when he did it. I was supposed to stay with Tony, but he and Dad had a fight which resulted in Dad making me go with him and Mom instead. Dad recognized the man who would later become my husband, and he begged him to spare my life if no one else’s; when he saw me in the backseat, he made direct eye contact. I, not having full control of my abilities as a toddler, turned my powers on him and forged a psychic link that’s still there now; I started unlocking memories of his that HYDRA had erased, and he took me back to the house. He rang the bell and fled before Tony could see him, but I still had the link. The next time he was out on a mission for HYDRA, I used the link to tell him where I was. I was six at the time.” she said, and Rhodey raised an eyebrow.

            “You gave an assassin your location?” he asked, and Tony snorted.

            “Oh, please, this is the same assassin she gave her virginity to, Honeybear. She’s a Stark, after all, and we’re nothing if not a little reckless.” he said, taking the slap to the back of the head his sister gave him.

            “That’s probably an understatement, honestly, but not wrong.” Anya continued after a moment. “Tony’s godfather is Charles Xavier, and mine is Erik Lehnsherr; they’re our two other fathers, and we call them Papa and Vati respectively. When they found out I’d invited an assassin over, they made sure to work with him to remove all of HYDRA’s programming. When he asked how his memories were back after I’d linked with him, it made them realize how powerful I was getting. I’d kept HYDRA from brainwashing him again, and I still do it now. The only times that it hasn’t been me were when I was pregnant. Papa handled it then, and I think David, Papa and Vati’s older son, helped a bit. Now, as to who he is, it depends on who and where you are.”

            “Huh?” Rhodey asked, and Tony swallowed a laugh at his best friend’s confused facial expression.

            “HYDRA calls him The Asset, but the intelligence community calls him the Winter Soldier. The people of Wakanda, which is far more industrialized and far exceeds what we have here most of the time, call him White Wolf. But, his family, we call him by the same name he’s used since he was a kid in Brooklyn.” Anya explained, pausing for dramatic effect just like Tony would’ve done, getting a smile from her brother as she did so. “My husband is former Howling Commando and Captain America’s brother-in-law Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, but everyone calls him Bucky.”

            “Bucky Barnes is alive? You’re married to Bucky Barnes?” Rhodey asked, not sure if he believed the woman he thought of as a little sister.

            “They have a three-year-old daughter together, and they just had sex in my house last week.” Tony deadpanned, and Anya smacked him again.

            “While that’s true, they didn’t need to know that.” she told him before turning back to Rhodey. “My daughter, Rebecca Anna-Claire Barnes, is indeed the daughter of Bucky Barnes as well as a mutant. She is currently in Westchester, New York with her grandfathers, and Bucky is on his way back to HYDRA; they don’t exactly know that he’s no longer under their mind control, and we’re hoping to keep it that way until we have enough evidence to prove that HYDRA is still alive and kicking. Somehow, he himself isn’t enough proof, and my word is useless without revealing myself as a mutant, which Tony has forbidden me from doing.”

            “Still, you married the man that you watched murder your parents?” Rhodey asked, still unsure.

            “He isn’t the same man he was when HYRDA was controlling him. Rhodey, if he was, do you think Tony would let me within a thousand miles of me, let alone let him close enough to get me pregnant?” she asked in response, and her brother snorted.

            “I didn’t let him get you pregnant, Anh, and you know that. Pops wanted me to make you move back to the school and commute to Columbia every day when he found out what you’d gotten up to since moving out, and I had to tell him that there was nothing I could do because you were eighteen. As much as I love Becca, you’d still be locked in a damn ivory tower if I’d had my way.” Tony stated, and his sister smiled.

            “I know, but you still helped me through so much when I was pregnant. I’m still just glad that Emma had the sense to talk all of you men down from doing something stupid like trying to go after Bucky.” Anya said, hugging her brother from behind.

            “What did you mean when you said that Sergeant Barnes is Captain Rogers’ brother-in-law?” Phil asked, Rhodey nodding along in agreement.

            “Oh, that.” Anya said, taking a breath before explaining her words. “About six years before he met Aunt Peggy and fell for her, Steve was married to Bucky’s younger sister. Anna-Claire was Steve’s age, her October birthday making her almost two years younger than Bucky, and they’d been friends since they were twelve. The two of them falling in love and getting married eight years later was pretty much the most, I dunno, natural thing to happen.”

            “What happened to her between the time they got married and the time he met Aunt Peggy?” Rhodey asked, having met and been adopted as another surrogate child by the British woman.

            “Annie, what the family always called her, contracted TB not long before they got married. She was supposed to start treatments, but she called them off when she found out that she was pregnant. Within three months, Steve had lost both his wife and his unborn child.” Anya explained, and Tony was the first to respond.

            “No wonder Cap went off the deep end when Bucky fell from the train. Bucky was the last connection he had to his family, especially in Europe, and he was just…gone before anything could even be done to help him.” the engineer said, his sister nodding in agreement with him.

            “We can discuss this more later, but you’ve gotta go tell all those reporters that you’re not Iron Man.” she said, and Pepper leaned in to pull the butterfly closure off the bridge of Tony’s nose while she covered his more visible bruises with makeup.

            “Iron Man?” he asked, and Rhodey snickered.

            “You tell him about that; I’m going to go out there and get this show on the road before the press starts tearing into each other.” the Lieutenant Colonel said before exiting the room while schooling his features into place.

            “Here, have a look at today’s paper. Someone got a pretty decent shot of the suit last night.” Anya said, handing her brother the newspaper.

            “Huh? Iron Man? It’s gotta nice ring to it, even if it isn’t entirely accurate. It’s really a gold-titanium al-” he said, only to get cut off by his girlfriend.

            “Alloy; we know, but should you really be a superhero with a heart condition? You could hurt yourself worse that way!” Pepper asked, being the logical one again.

            “Not to mention that our parents would just take it as an act of rebellion and ground you again.” Anya added, and Tony rolled his eyes.

            “Oh, so my brother-in-law can be a HYDRA assassin, and my siblings and fathers can be X-Men, but I can’t be Iron Man?” he asked. “You all do realize that I’m almost forty and not almost four, right?”

            “We know exactly how old you are, Tony, and you shouldn’t go superhero-ing until you’ve found a new core that isn’t going to kill you.” Pepper admonished, and he couldn’t find it in him to disagree; instead, he latched onto a key part of her statement.

            “So, I can be Iron Man once I’ve found a new core?” he asked, and both women smirked and rolled their eyes.

            “Here’s your alibi; you were on your yacht last night in Avalon, and you’ve got sworn statements from fifty of your guests.” Phil said, trying not to smile as he handed over the blue notecards.

            “Why fifty? Couldn’t it just have been Pepper and me?” Tony asked, wincing in pain as he tried to crinkle his nose at the blue papers, earning himself a gentle swat to the shoulder from Pepper.

            “Just read it word for word, and everything will be back to normal by tomorrow morning.” Phil said, but Anya knew her brother didn’t want what he’d been before to make a return.

            “What about Stane? There’s nothing about him in here.” Tony noted, and Phil gave a short nod.

            “It’s being taken care of; he’s on vacation, and small aircraft have such a poor safety record.” the agent explained.

            “What about the cover story? It’s a bodyguard? I have a very liberal track record showing how much I hate bodyguards, and the only one I’ve ever actually tolerated has been Happy, and he’s more like a friend than a bodyguard in all actuality.” Tony made yet another challenge, and Phil sighed.

            “This isn’t the first time I’ve done this; just read the cards.” he insisted, and Anya stood to walk him out in order to stop the argument in its tracks.

            “Thank you, Phil, for everything. I hope the next time we see each other won’t be because of a kidnapping or the apocalypse.” she said as she guided him to the door.

            “Me too, Anya. Shall I send your regards to Nick?” the man asked, and the mutant nodded.

            “Tell Uncle Eye-Patch we’ll be in D.C. when we go to visit Aunt Peggy next month. It might be time to tell him about the invertebrate problem.” she answered, and Phil gave her a nod before slipping from the room and into the crowds of people outside.

            With Stane’s absence, Anya took over as the lingering presence behind Tony as he made his way to the podium. Rhodey stood behind Tony on the right, clad in his Air Force Service dress uniform; Anya, matching her husband’s titanium HYDRA arm in her black dress, red Mary-Jane heels, and gray suit jacket, stood behind him on the left. She could see Pepper standing near the reception desk’s main terminal, the woman standing out both due to her height and her outfit’s color scheme that matched Tony’s armor. Much like herself, she could tell that Pepper was keeping a close eye on Christine Everhart, who had, in ways neither Anya nor Pepper understood, managed to get a seat in the front row once more.

            Tony began to speak, and Everhart cut him off with a question almost immediately. Rhodey looked at Anya, and she projected her thoughts back to him instead of verbally replying.

            “Yeah, you said no questions, but the bitch doesn’t listen. I had to use my powers to make her leave the gala rather than cause a scene with Tony and Pepper that night.” she explained, and Rhodey bit the inside of his lip to keep from saying anything he would later regret.

            “I’m sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that it was bodyguard in a suit that just conveniently happened to show up despite the fact that you’ve been vocal about how you ha-” Tony, however, cut her off after sending a mental question mark to his sister.

            “I know it might sound confusing, and I do believe that you were all just told no questions were to be asked today, but it’s one thing to question the official story. It’s another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I’m some sort of superhero.” he said, and Anya blinked in surprise, relaying the information to Tony, as she saw Charles, Erik, and Becca walk into the SI foyer with intrigued smiles on their faces, though Becca was more so giggling at her mother’s wardrobe choice.

            “I never said you were a superhero.” Everhart stated, but Tony chuckled.

            “You didn’t? Well, good, because that would be highly inaccurate. I do know some superheroes, I’ve mentioned my relation to Professor Xavier before, but I don’t know if I could handle something so, frankly, fantastic myself.” he said, flipping through his cards as Charles’ mind tapped into Anya’s and his own.

            “You make quite the superhero, my boy, and we are both quite proud of all four of your actions last night. Agent Coulson, the delightful fellow, filled us in outside, in the car of course, and you were all quite impressive. Tony, your Vati says to just tell them now and walk away without answering any other questions.” he told his two children present, and both of them held back smiles.

            “There’s quite a long list of character defects that go to show as to why I shouldn’t be a superhero, but the truth is…” Tony paused before saying the four words that would forever change the universe. “I am Iron Man.”

            Tony walked out before any other questions could be properly made out above the din of voices, walking swiftly with his sister and best friend to the back to the room where his parents, girlfriend, and niece stood waiting. He could deal with the press the next day, or the day after that. In that moment, he just really wanted to go home and curl up on his couch with a steaming mug of his Pop’s honey-lemon tea and his Vati’s Practice-Makes-Perfect practice round of sufganiyots.

            “You better share those; I’m not above stealing, and you know it.” Anya hissed as she caught onto his thought, and Charles let out a laugh as he relayed their children’s words to Erik.

            “You will share, or I will give them to everyone but the two of you. Now, what is this Bucky tells of us having a grandson?” Erik voiced as they stepped out into the sunlight for a brief moment before near-diving into the limousine Happy was driving for the day, and Tony froze as all eyes turned towards him.

            “Okay, look, in my defense, I would’ve been a part of my kid’s life from day one if Mary hadn’t run out on me and neglected to even send a post card saying ‘Sorry I left you right after you had to make the hardest decision of your life by putting your godmother in a nursing home, but you have a beautiful baby boy named Peter.’” he told them all, taking a moment before launching into the full story as Happy drove them into the setting sun, towards the cliff-side mansion.

            That night, every mutant in the house snapped awake at the same time. Tony had felt JARVIS being disabled the second the process had begun, and Erik had felt the front door open. All three telepaths had bolted upright as a new mind joined that of the fuller-than-usual household. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Charles and Anya were using their powers to hide the group of five from the newcomer. Tony resisted the urge to yell when he saw who the leather-clad figure in the living room was.

            “I am Iron Man.” the man said calmly as he turned away from the windows. “Do you think you’re the only superhero in the world? Stark, you’ve just become part of a bigger universe; you just don’t know it yet.”

            “Considering I had the leaders of the X-Men sleeping in one of my guest rooms, I know I’m not the only superhero in the world, Uncle Eye-Patch.” Tony said, and Charles and Anya dropped their cloaking on him alone.

            “The X-Men have nothing to do with why I’m here.” Fury said, advancing towards Tony. “I’m here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative.”

Chapter Text

            The morning of Saturday, May 8, 2010, the Stark siblings left their hotel early to stop at the quiet retirement home in which Peggy Carter resided. When they arrived, Peggy was having one of her good days; Anya eagerly hugged her godmother and grabbed the chair nearest the bed. Tony pulled the second chair away from the wall and took his place on his godmother’s other side. Peggy smiled at the two she considered to be her own children and softly asked how their lives had progressed since their last visit.

            “I still haven’t made any progress with Peter, but I know it’s because I’m scared to death of disappointing the kid if I meet him as his father. Additionally, I’m burning through cores like crazy, and Uncle Nick is taking his sweet time giving me whatever it is I need to stabilize the reactor’s core.” Tony told her, and Peggy gently patted his hand while giving him a sad smile.

            “He will hold out until the last minute to convince you to join his initiative, but you need to be the better man, Anthony, and not allow him to get under your skin. Nicholas has no idea how special the two of you are, but one day he will. I just know it.” the Englishwoman said with confidence, and Tony smiled a bit.

            “I agree, Aunt Peggy, and I have some exciting news!” Anya said, motioning to her temples to get Peggy’s permission before sending her a telepathic message.

            “Go on, darling. I trust you.” Peggy said, and Anya nodded, taking a breath before sending forth her own memory of getting the results from a blood test back from Hank the week before, results which showed elevated hCG hormone levels.

            “Becca’s going to be a big sister.” she said, and Peggy motioned for her to move closer for a warm hug.

            “Congratulations, Anya, darling. Have you told Bucky?” her godmother asked quietly.

            “No, he couldn’t make the opening night of the Expo; he is supposed to be meeting me after the Senate hearing, though, so I plan on telling him tonight.” she answered, and a groan escaped her brother’s lips.

            “I hate this! The hearing is only happening because those spineless reptiles want my stuff and are putting on an entire three-ringed circus because they can’t have it!” he said, and neither woman contradicted him.

            “If this is true, then there is only one thing that the two of you can do, and I think you know what that is.” Peggy told them, and the siblings nodded.

            “We’re Lehnsherrs, Xaviers, Carters, and Starks; being over-the-top know-it-alls who get the job done is sort of our specialty.” Anya said, her brother nodding.

            “Only the greatest showman can run the greatest show.” Tony added, and the two siblings shared a smirk before finishing catching up with Peggy.

            A few hours later, Tony and Anya were sitting in the Senate hearing and pretending to care about what Senator Stern, who they both knew to be HYDRA thanks to Bucky, talk about why the US military should have the Iron Man armor as a weapon. Tony had said his piece, and now Stern had asked Justin Hammer, the CEO of Hammer Industries and SI’s main “rival” company, to say a few words.

            “I think the clowns just took over the circus.” Anya whispered to her brother, and Tony had to fight back a laugh as Hammer started talking.

            “-ut this ain’t Canada…” as Hammer said this, Anya bit the inside of her cheek and sent Tony the mental image of their rival CEO coming face-to-face with Wolverine, Sabretooth, or the members of Alpha Flight who were all proof that Canada wasn’t nearly as safe and picturesque as Hammer wanted it to sound.

            “I’d pay big money for that. I mean, I’d buy Logan a whole garage full of bikes and bike parts to see that.” Tony whispered back, and Anya let out a short cough to mask her laughter.

            Once Hammer had sat back down, Stern called for Rhodey to enter. The man apologized to the Stark siblings as he hurried up the aisle and sat down between Tony and Hammer with his report on the table in front of him. Despite Stern’s best efforts, Rhodey made it clear that he was being railroaded. When Stern asked for the clips of other countries attempts at the Iron Man armor, Tony got an idea.

            “What are you doing, Cherik?” his sister asked him quietly.

            “Stern wants them to see what our allies and enemies are working on, I vote we show them.” he replied, taking out his StarkPhone and using just the most minuscule amount of his powers to jump-start the hacking process as he hi-jacked the monitors in the chamber.

            “Mr. Stark, what are you trying to do here?” Stern asked condescendingly, and Tony just smirked at him as the hacking completed itself.

            “I think it’s time for a little transparency in this hearing. If you’ll direct your attention to these screens, I believe that this is North Korea,” Tony said, the first video of the rather bloody and gruesome failure of a foreign attempt at his armor playing on the monitors before being replaced by the equally disastrous attempts from the Middle East and from the United States itself. “Iran, and, hey, is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get up there?”

            Anya and Rhodey both were struggling with hiding their laughter as the real Hammer tried unplugging every plug that he could find to shut off the feed, not knowing that Tony was powering the feed all on his own. Hammer’s test pilot on screen tried to turn to the right, but the suit jerked too far and likely left the pilot without use of his legs for at least a little while if the spinal column hadn’t been entirely snapped by the movement. It was only after this that Tony relented and let the feed cut to black.

            “I would like to point out that that test pilot survived!” Hammer shouted, but Anya had forgone decorum and was openly laughing at this point.

            “And I would like to point out that most countries are five to ten years away from even getting a basic, functioning suit, let alone a weaponized one.” Tony said, turning to Anya with his Stark Smirk™ in place. “Anything you wanna add, sis?”

            “Yeah, I’d like to point out that Hammer Industries is probably another twenty at least. I mean, my four-year-old daughter could probably build her own Iron Man armor before Justin here could even get his to turn right without paralyzing anybody.” Anya said, her smirk matching her brother’s.

            “Ms. Stark, exactly how qualified are you to make such inflammatory statements? You can’t possibly be old enough to understand the gravity of this situation.” Stern asked her mockingly, and Anya’s eyes narrowed.

            “First off, my name is Dr. Anastasia Barnes, and you would do well to remember that if you honestly ever expect my brother or myself to agree with you about anything, Senator Stern; second, I have two PhDs, one in engineering and one in advanced genetics, and my third one in psychology should be finished by this time next year. Seeing as how I was the one to help my brother design his armor, and how my daughter is just as much a genius as my brother or I were at her age, building circuit boards and bots already, I would think that I am uniquely qualified to make these ‘inflammatory’ statements. The bottom line, Senator, is that you want the Iron Man armor, but you can’t have it.” she snapped coolly, the light glinting off her amber X-Men necklace as she leaned back in her chair and brushed imaginary lint off her purple suit jacket and adjusted her magenta blouse paired specifically to evoke images of Magneto.

            “We’ll see about that, Dr. Barnes, we’ll see about that.” Stern said before dismissing the chamber. “We’re adjourned.”

            After Stern’s words, Tony refused to let Anya out of his sight until Bucky arrived. He insisted on her joining him for lunch, and she agreed so long as they went to her favorite diner. It was a small place that wouldn’t catch anyone’s eye unless they were looking for it, and it had been one of her preferred places to go ever since she had attended her first Senate hearing on the Mutant Rights Campaign with Charles and Erik as a little girl.

            After lunch, Tony agreed to part ways with his sister only if she agreed to call him as soon as she made it back to Brooklyn with Bucky; she agreed, so he got into the car that Happy was driving and watched his sister out the back window until Happy finally turned a corner and erased Anya from Tony’s vision. Anya, however, was still standing on the sidewalk outside the diner moments later when a voice called out from behind her.

            “So, now you’re married and have a kid?” Justin Hammer asked, and she groaned quietly before turning to face him.

            “Yes, I’ve been married for four years this month, and my husband and I have a beautiful four-year-old daughter named Rebecca who would dance circles around you academically all day long.” Anya answered, rolling her eyes as she caught onto his thoughts.

            “Oh, I guess I just always thought that you and I just had this sort of…connection or something?” he attempted to flirt, but she snorted.

            “Justin, you tried this on Tony ten years ago, and it didn’t work then. Don’t waste your breath trying it on me now. Not only have I never been interested in you, but I also know that my husband would snap your spine like that robot of yours did to your test pilot if you even let yourself think about trying it.” she said, and he paled slightly.

            “You knew about the thing with Tony?” he asked, and she nodded.

            “My brother doesn’t keep secrets from me. If it satisfies you to know, I will repeat once again that, yes, I’ve been married for almost four years. My husband and I are very happy together, and we have a beautiful four-year-old daughter that we love more than anything in the universe.” she explained, taking a few steps closer to her brother’s rival.

            “Not to mention another one on the way, right, doll?” Anya swiveled around at the sound of Bucky’s voice, and the sight of him standing behind her with Becca on his hip outside her favorite diner in D.C. was too perfect for words.

            “Who told you? It was supposed to be a surprise!” she asked as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her on the lips.

            “When I was able to leave work early, I thought I’d swing by and pick Becca up so we could surprise you. While I was there, a certain shark and mouse let it slip, but they didn’t mean to, honestly. Also, a certain little girl was excited about being a big sister and couldn’t filter herself quick enough to not tell me.” Bucky explained, and Anya reached out to pull her daughter in for a hug after not seeing the four-year-old for the better part of the last week.

            “Am I gonna have a baby brother?” Becca asked, and her parents laughed.

            “We can only hope so, but all of us would love the baby if you had a sister instead of a brother just the same.” Bucky told her, and Anya knew he was telling the absolute truth.

            “I think I’ll have a baby brother…Dimitri Steven Barnes.” the four-year-old said confidently, and her parents exchanged worried glances.

            “We’ll talk about this more when we get home, malyshka.” Bucky said, and the trio looked up to see Justin Hammer still watching them.

            “What, Justin?” Anya asked, and her rival CEO held his hands up in defense.

            “I was just wondering how Tony let him live if he knocked you up at eighteen, let alone marry you.” Hammer commented, and Anya rolled her eyes.

            “Tony absolutely loves James; he enjoys having someone else with younger sisters around to commiserate with every now and then. Considering that we’ve been together since I was sixteen, it’s not like any of what happened was a surprise.” she said dryly, and Hammer walked away. “Good-bye, Justin.”

            “That’s the prick that the military gave Tony’s old contracts to when he shut down the weapons manufactory?” Bucky asked, clearly unimpressed with Hammer.

            “He’s also the same guy that tried asking Tony out right before I started at MIT, too. He never learns.” Anya answered, leaning into Bucky’s left side as the family of three made their way to the silver Audi that would take them back to Brooklyn.

            Four days later, Anya was in her kitchen, preparing lunch alongside hers and Bucky’s niece, Kim, while her husband, daughter, and nephew set the table. The couple had invited their niece and nephew over to break the news that Steve, Annie, and their baby were all still alive; fate, of course, had other ideas. One moment, she was casually talking to Kim about the nineteen-year-old’s plans for her summer break from college, and the next, she was receiving an alert from PEG, her personal AI modeled after her godmother.

            “Anya, I am required by my protocol to alert you whenever a SHIELD operative sets foot on any Stark property without consent from you or Tony, and it seems that an agent by the name Natasha Romanoff has just entered the Malibu headquarters for an interview for the secretarial pool under the name Natalie Rushman.” the barely robotic mirror of Peggy Carter’s voice echoed through the room, and Anya’s eyes snapped up to make direct contact with her husband’s.

            “Thanks, PEG; alert Tony, will you?” she replied, before stopping what she was doing and pulling Bucky down the stairs to the family room.

            There, Anya took a deep breath before speaking. Bucky had an idea as to what she was about to say, so he braced himself. His wife’s feelings about the former Red Room operative that he’d both trained and had a badly hidden love affair with were clearer to him than his mind was to her.

            “Fury sent her in there to spy on Tony, and I have half a mind to go back to California and fire her myself. Who in the hell does he think he is, sending his spies into my company? Of course, he couldn’t send just any spy! He has to go and send in the famed Black Widow so he can, what, give Tony the lithium injections at the last minute to keep him alive after dropping the new element for his core into my brother’s lap as if we’re supposed to thank him for it by joining this super-secret boyband of his?” Anya practically exploded, and it was all Bucky could do to bring her to his chest and hold her.

            “Everything’s gonna be alright, doll.” he assured her, gently massaging her back while silently thanking the universe that they’d gone along with Hank’s suggestion of sound-proofing the basement.

            “How? My brother is dying, probably has maybe a month left without a new core, and Fury is manipulating him because he wants to make his little Avenger Initiative happen. Let me guess, Romanoff will be on this merry band of misfits as well, probably with Barton glued to her side, and we all know who would be the crowning jewel of this little collection, right? I have to call Papa and see if we can get the expedition moved up any at all. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let Fury, SHIELD, or the HYDRA agents within the organization get their hands on our family. Tony, Pepper, Becca, Kim, Scott, Steve, Annie, and JJ, they’re our family, and family comes first.” Anya let out, stepping back from her husband with a determined fire in her eyes that, he had to admit, definitely turned him on to see.

            “As much as I agree with that, we both know what this is really about: Natasha Romanoff.” Bucky said, and he could see the tears that started to well up in his wife’s eyes at the mention of the Russian spy.

            “I don’t want her around you, as stupid as that sounds, and it’s not because I don’t trust you; I trust you more than any other person in the universe. Hell, it’s not even because I don’t trust her, even though I don’t.” Anya admitted.

            “Then what is it? Please, doll, just tell me.” Bucky asked, and she stared straight down at the floor.

            “When I’m in your mind for Hard Reset Prevention days, I can see every memory you’ve ever had; I can feel everything you’ve ever felt. From the time I was fourteen and first saw your memories of being with her, loving her, I’ve felt the need put both that relationship and ours in a side-by-side comparison. Every time she’s brought up, I think about that, and I realize that I’m not her. I don’t have her skill set, her training, or her looks. I’m not a spy; I’m a scientist. The only things we have in common are you and a mixed-religious background. My entire arsenal of combat techniques are either based on my powers or in what you, Tony, and Vati taught me combined with what Aunt Peggy started teaching me as soon as I could walk, but I’d still lose in a fight with Romanoff without my powers.” the young mutant geneticist explained, and he took a step towards her.

            “For such a powerful telepath, Anastasia, you lack the understanding of one huge fact about Romanoff: she isn’t you.” Bucky said, and she fixed him with a confused look.

            “Isn’t that what I just said?” she asked, but he shook his head while smirking.

            “No, you said that you aren’t her, which is true. I said that she’s not you, which is different from what you said entirely.” he countered, seeing the ‘How so?’ look on her face. “The relationship I once had with Natasha Romanoff was more about sex than it was anything else. I knew who I was when I met her, and that person wasn’t the one that she knew. When I have to be ‘The Asset,’ I’m not the man I want to be, Anya, and you know that better than anyone. That man is the only version of me that Romanoff knows personally. She doesn’t know Bucky Barnes, White Wolf, or Papa. More than anything, I know for a fact that you are the only person in this universe who know James.”

            Anya stopped and let his words sink in for a moment. The way he had described the aspects of his personality were fairly accurate. The Winter Soldier was cold and unfeeling towards anyone and everyone he came in contact with; White Wolf was a warrior who held the same level of respect as a prince; Bucky was mischievous and kind while also being a complete science geek; Papa was the side that only came out for Becca, for obvious reasons, and was the gentle and loving father who drew pictures and told stories of the grandparents that his children would never know.

            James, the part of himself that he said only Anya truly knew, could only be described as the entirety of his whole being rather than just a singular aspect. This part of him was the part that had offered to put a bullet in between Alexander Pierce’s eyes a year earlier just so he could stay with her because she had been afraid of Obadiah Stane hiring someone to kill her in the aftermath of Tony’s kidnapping; this was the part of him that made him come home to her despite the risks posed by HYDRA potentially finding them out if he wasn’t careful. Though contrary to that, this was also the most vulnerable part of him. Anya was well aware that her husband had changed PEG’s coding and talked to Tony about doing the same for JARVIS to not let anyone but her into whatever room he was in if he happened to have a PTSD-induced flashback or nightmare. When the memories became too much for him to handle, he would only allow her to be in the room to see him break, if only because she was the only one that he trusted to put him back together.

            “Do you get it, Anastasia Margaret Barnes?” Bucky asked her, the tears from his own emotions being aimed back at him by his wife trailing down his face. “You not being Natasha Romanoff is one of the best things about my life, and I wouldn’t change that for anything that anyone could give me.”

            Anya smiled, truly and fully, as she stepped into his arms. They stood there, arms wrapped tight around one another as Anya’s unintentional emotional assault on the both of them slowed to normal levels, breathing in and out rhythmically until a soft, but foreign presence brushed across their minds. Bucky tilted his head in confusion, the feeling somewhat familiar.

            “This is usually the stage in pregnancy when the baby’s brain system really begins to form, right?” he asked, a smile creeping across his face.

            “This was about how far along I was when I first heard Becca.” Anya mused, and the two of them stared down in awe at her abdomen.

            “Mama, Papa, is everything okay?” Becca called from the bottom of the stairs in an effort to get her parents’ attention, succeeding when her father responded.

            “Everything’s fine, malyshka. PEG just let Mama know something that we needed to pass along to your Uncle Tony, and now it seems the baby is trying to talk to us.” he said, and the girl skipped over to them.

            “He is, just like I did when I was still inside Mama.” the four-year-old said, her voice much more mature than her figure. “He talks to me, too.”

            “Sweetie, why are you so sure that the baby is a boy?” Anya asked, and her daughter smiled.

            “I saw him in one of my dreams. His name is Dimitri Steven, but we call him Mitya, and he looks like Papa.” the girl answered, proud of her use of her mutation.

            Anya and Bucky shared a look, knowing that only one thing would result in them naming their son after the guard who had become more of a friend to Bucky upon the soldier discovering that the man was actually a mutant, who had gone to school with Anya, hiding from HYDRA by hiding in plain sight within it. Bucky gave his wife a short nod, and she turned to their daughter.

            “Baby girl, go back upstairs with Papa and make sure lunch makes it onto the table. I’ve gotta call Grandpa really quick, but I’ll be upstairs soon.” she said, and the girl nodded, letting out a frustrated sigh as she let her father balance her on his hip before the two ascended the stairs.

            Anya watched them, smiling as Bucky leaned in and pressed a kiss to the top of Becca’s head. Once they were out of her sight, she took her phone from her pocket and sighed herself. HYDRA had others in the Winter Soldier program, just as the Red Room had others in theirs, so they wouldn’t necessarily make a move against Bucky if they did discover that he was missing. The only move HYRDA would make against them would be to take out whomever it was that let Bucky escape in the first place…Dimitri.

            “PEG, bring up the adamantium in the walls.” Anya said to her AI, and she felt her mental connection to her family cut itself off as metal bands formed along the walls.

            Making the call to Charles, she brought the phone to her ear and waited for her adoptive father to answer.

            “Anya, why are you calling me on a phone?” the man asked when he answered confusedly, and all she could do was sigh.

            “Papa, can we come up and stay with you for a while?” she asked.

            “Darling, what’s happened?” he asked in reply.

            “Your new grandson is a telepath at the very least; he’s been trying to talk to Becca, and she’s been having more precognitive dreams. She told us his name today, and James and I are both positive that it means HYDRA’s discovered that he’s no longer there. Becca says we name this baby Dimitri Steven Barnes, and the only reason we can think that we’d name him after Dimitri would be if he-” Anya began explaining.

            “If he died protecting the three of you, yes. I will make sure that your rooms have been prepared and go down to Cerebro to try contacting Dimitri while you’re on your way here… unless you rather I send Kurt to pick you up instead.” Charles offered, and the poly-psionic let out a sigh of relief.

            “We’ll drive up after lunch. Scott and Kim are over, and I don’t want to worry them with this. Have we heard anything more on the expedition?” Anya responded.

            “With any luck, I can start the background checks on the crew by the end of the summer. If that keeps to the schedule, we should be able to set out some time around the first of the year. It should take about a week to get to Steve, and we’ll bring him home via helicopter to get him into the med bay as soon as we can. I imagine the crew will want to stay on site for a while longer, though, as there could be varying types of older HYDRA technology on board. As soon as we set out, I believe you should arrange for Anna-Claire to be moved from the Fifth Avenue mansion. To where, I am not yet certain.” Charles told her, and Anya made to respond when her phone beeped to let her know that she had another call, to which a glance at the phone told her that it was Tony.

            “Papa, let me add Tony to this call. God, I love this phone!” she said as she merged the two calls together. “Hey, Tony, you’re talking to me and Papa right now. We think HYDRA knows about Bucky being let out by Dimitri, so we’re driving upstate after lunch. Everything okay on your end?”

            “Actually, it’s not. As of him leaving with Kurt an hour ago, Vati and I have exhausted every element we know of that could power this damn reactor without killing me, and it always burns through. I’m not even sure if I’ll make it to my birthday at this point, and now I’ve got the fucking Black Widow working undercover in my company! I can’t do both anymore; I can’t run my side of the company and work on my Iron Man stuff, the reactor included.” Tony said, not making his sister or their adoptive father happy.

            “You shouldn’t have so much to do. I’m pregnant, not incapable.” Anya shot back.

            “I know, but I still can’t do it. So, I signed all of my power as Co-CEO over to Pepper just after PEG told JARVIS to let me know about Romanoff. I actually think that you going to the school might be too obvious since, if HYDRA does know, they’ll have realized that Dimitri is a mutant. Do you have any friends you haven’t caught up with in a while that are a little closer to Malibu?” Tony asked, and Charles agreed with him.

            “Darcy’s doing something out in New Mexico, some sort of internship she signed up for because she needed six more credits to graduate. Are you two suggesting that we go to New Mexico instead?” she asked.

            “It sounds like a wonderful idea, Princess, honestly. Your brother is right, this time, and you can even stay in the house Alex, Sean, and Tess stayed in while Alex was working on base out there. Since we brought him home, and Kurt took the three of them there to pack, the car is still in the garage as well. Kurt could have you there instantly if you wanted.” Charles answered, and Anya knew that it wasn’t a suggestion when he used the term of endearment he only used when he didn’t want to come right out and order her to do something.

            “I’ll call Darcy and see if she’s up for a visit. Tony, Uncle Eye-Patch has what you need, so let me know as soon as Romanoff makes contact. There’s no way she won’t since her specialty is in close-quarters espionage. Before I hang up and call Darcy, is there anything else going on that could affect this family?” Anya asked, and Charles let out a cough and a scrambling noise came across the line. “Papa?”

            “What your father is trying to avoid saying, Liebste, is that he’s elected to give Raven another chance…again.” Erik’s voice cut in, and the siblings groaned.

            “You both do remember that she got locked up because she held a knife to Anh’s throat, right?” Tony asked, clearly annoyed.

            “I’ll be civil, seeing as how she is technically my aunt and did go through a severe trauma before she came back to what she still views as her home and found someone she didn’t know in such a prominent part of her brother’s life, but I’m going to defend myself if she tries anything again.” Anya relented, knowing how much her parents both genuinely cared for her aunt.

            “Apologizing to you is at the top of her list, tateleh, and your Papa has made sure of her sincerity. We’ll talk more about that later, though, because you should go and call Darcy before it gets any later.” Erik said, and Tony agreed.

            “Ani ohev otekha, Aba.” Anya said, hearing her brother give the same parting words in German as she spoke.

            “Your Papa and I love you both as well. Let us know if you need any further help. I mean that.” Erik said, and then it was just Tony and Anya on the call.

            “Why do you tend to go Hebrew when I go German?” Tony asked, and Anya made a noise of indifference.

            “Despite actually being Catholic on paper, I’ve always really enjoyed Jewish holidays with Vati, and I think having the links to Dad’s side of the family, who were also Jews, is important. Plus, it usually happens more frequently when he uses Hebrew towards me first. I probably would’ve spoken German if he hadn’t called me tateleh.” she answered honestly, and Tony couldn’t fault her logic.

            “The two of you arguing in Hebrew and confusing everyone else who doesn’t speak it is always one of my favorite things to witness, especially when everyone starts asking Kitty to translate.” Tony said, and Anya giggled.

            “While that is true, you should make a note that your son is being raised in a dual religious home. I did my own research, and Richard and Ben Parker were both raised by their Jewish, single mother; May is Protestant, and Mary was an atheist. If you do get to meet him as his father, you’re gonna have to break it to the kid that he’s still from a Jewish family, but that same family is also heavily Catholic.” she told her brother.

            “Becca’s well-adjusted to the fact, and she’s four, so Peter should understand…I really do want to meet him, Anh, but I’m scared.” he admitted, and his sister paused.

            “Why? With your mutation in his genes, he’ll know that you’re not lying to him. Are you worried that he won’t want Tony Stark as a father?” she asked.

            “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m worried about, Anh! May and Ben are good people according to my research, and they’ll have raised him to be like them. He’s lived nearly all his life that he can remember in Queens in an apartment that can fit at least twice, if not more times, in yours. From what information I have, my son is being raised to be a kind, humble young boy who can understand the value of a dollar. I was raised in two separate New York mansions by three wealthy fathers who were also all geniuses that I could never sneak by for the life of me. How can I teach values to someone when I’m the exact opposite of what I’m teaching?” he asked, and his sister snorted.

            “Tony, your Press-Face is not who you are, and you know that. You teach him the same way you and I were taught; we’re a family, after all. I’m the way I am because we’ve always put family first. Teach him that, show him that this is a family where we all have a role and we all have someone to count on when we need it most.” Anya told him.

            “Thanks, Tesora, I owe you one for talking me down.” he replied.

            “No problem, Tony, and I’ll call you when I get to New Mexico.” she promised before ending the call.

            “Mama, what’s New Mexico like?” Becca asked as she clung like a baby marmoset to her father’s back and flesh arm.

            “It’s hot all day and cold all night, but the stars are beautiful and most of the people are nice.” Alex cut in before Anya could answer.

            “Uncle Alex is right, sweetheart, and we’re going to live here in his and Uncle Sean’s old house, at least for the summer. Aunt Darcy is just going to be about half an hour away from us, and we’re gonna meet some people you’ll love. Do you remember Mama and Uncle Alex talking about Dr. Jane Foster and Dr. Erik Selvig with Opa last Christmas?” Anya asked the girl, and Becca nodded excitedly.

            “Dr. Selvig sounds nice, but Dr. Foster is so cool! Opa says that the Einstein-Rosen bridge is the closest we’ll find to an inter-dimensional portal until the Masters of Mysticism come back.” the four-year-old said excitedly, her mutation seeping through as though she were a spaghetti strainer.

            “Becca, remember that you’re going to have to at least sound like a baseline child your age in public, okay?” Anya reminded, and the girl nodded.

            “I know, Mama, but physics is fun.” she said, and Anya smiled.

            “What about biology and engineering?” the mother asked, and her daughter giggled before looking from her father to her uncle.

            “I like all science that isn’t meant to hurt mutants.” Becca told them with a proud Stark Smirk™ on her face.

            “If you ever had any doubt in her life that she’s yours, James Buchanan Barnes, I don’t think you could deny it after that; you’re both total science geeks.” Anya said to her husband, and he chuckled before pressing a kiss to the back of his daughter’s hand.

            “She’s not wrong, doll.” Bucky countered, and Anya rolled her eyes just as Kurt popped into the room.

            “Got what you needed, Alex?” Kurt asked, and the eldest of the adopted siblings present nodded.

            “Tess forgot her physics book, and Sean forgot his diary.” Alex responded, and the other adults all gave him a strange look.

            “You didn’t get that backwards, did you?” Bucky asked, and the blonde shook his head with a smirk of his own.

            “Nope, not at all. My baby girl is studying the physics behind her mutation, and my dumbass husband, who I love more than anything aside from Tess, journals every night before bed. He’s been having fits ever since we moved because he had to start writing in a new one since this one was here.” he explained, and Anya just smiled and shook her head.

            “Sean is a creature of habit, Alex, and you know that better than anyone. Besides, he keeps his diary specifically so he can tell you about things that you might’ve missed because of work or a mission. If you check the last entry, there’s probably a note about you needing to talk to Bobby about his coming out; the kid’s been thinking about it non-stop, Papa and I both know, but he’s terrified of approaching it among his peer group. God, I hate teenagers!” she said, and Alex did as she suggested.

            “We’ll all just forget that you’re barely out of teenagerhood yourself, Anh. I’ll talk to the kid after dinner. You ready, bro?” he replied, turning to Kurt, and the blue teleporter merely grabbed a hold of Alex’s wrist.

            “Call the Dads and Tony!” he called before teleporting himself and Alex away in a cloud of blue smoke.

            “I’ll call Erik and Charles, doll. You just call your brother.” Bucky said, and the two got to work while Becca leaped down from her father’s back and sat down on the nearby sofa with the German fairytale treasury Erik and Charles had given her for her birthday.

            The time between their arrival at the New Mexico house and the moment when the calm was shattered lasted all of three hours. Knowing that staying inside the house would accomplish nothing, Anya got in the car with Becca and Bucky, the latter driving them into Puente Antiguo, the local town closest to the house in the desert. They pulled up to the address Darcy had given Anya, and two women came to the door as Becca ran to it as fast as her small legs would carry her.

            “Aunt Darcy!” she chirped as the paler of the two women gathered the girl in her arms and squeezed her in a tight hug.

            “Munchkin!” Darcy chirped back, making Becca giggle as she peppered the toddler’s cheeks with kisses.

            “Hey, Darce, don’t suffocate my kid!” Anya called, and her friend looked up at the sound of her voice.

            “I’d never suffocate the munchkin, girl! How’re the Professor and Dr. L?” Darcy asked as she adjusted Becca on her hip before bringing Anya in for a one-armed hug.

            “Papa and Vati are fine, and they’re busy reintroducing Aunt Raven to life outside her cell. What about you? Any guys I need to scare off or anything?” Anya replied with a laugh as the other woman met her eyes.

            “Dr. Barnes? It’s been a while since we last saw each other.” Dr. Foster said.

            “It’s nice to see you again as well, Dr. Foster, but I’m sorry we dropped in so suddenly.” Anya replied, shaking hands with the astrophysicist.

            “Oh, it’s fine, and, please, call me Jane.” she said.

            “Then I insist that you call me Anya; whatever Darcy may have said about me I’d only believe half of it.” the poly-psionic mutant said with a grin.

            “She actually never told me that she knew you.” Jane responded, turning to give Darcy a disbelieving look.

            “We actually grew up together; one of her dads is actually the reason that I’m a Political Science major.” Darcy explained as they all filed into the house.

            “Grew up together?” Jane asked, confused, turning as she heard the door click shut behind them.

            “Jane, did you look at my transcripts when I applied to be your intern?” Darcy asked, and Jane shook her head.

            “You were the only applicant; I didn’t feel the need.” she admitted.

            “Well, this may come as a shock to you, but I went to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters from the time I was twelve until I started at Culver four years ago.” Darcy told her boss and friend, and Jane blinked in surprise.

            “You’re a mutant.” the astrophysicist stated, and Darcy nodded.

            “It’s nothing major; I can see the status of relationships between people, kinda like a series of color-coded lines between everybody, so there’s no need to worry.” she clarified, and Jane gave a slow nod.

            “And…your dads, Anya?” the scientist asked.

            “My Mom and Dad were killed when I was three, but my godfather and his husband practically raised me, along with my brother who actually had custody of me at the time, at the Xavier mansion. The particular one Darcy is referring to is Dr. Erik Lehnsherr, legally my godfather.” Anya explained simply.

            “Lehnsherr…as in Magneto?” Jane asked.

            “Yeah, he’s Magneto, but he’s also been my Vati since I was three. Professor Xavier is my Papa, and my brother and I are both mutants. We keep it pretty quiet though because the entire world would go crazy if they knew.” Anya said with a shrug.

            “Why would the world go crazy?” Jane asked, and Darcy gaped.

            “You don’t know who Anya is beyond the academic sphere, do you?” she asked almost rhetorically.

            “Not really; we only met once!” Jane said in her own defense, and the others all chuckled at the clueless scientist.

            “Jane, my maiden name is Stark, and my brother is Tony Stark.” Anya said, and Jane looked as though she was waiting for someone to say “Gotcha,” but it no one did.

            “You can’t seriously be telling me that Tony Stark is a mutant? I mean, Iron Man I believe, but a mutant?” she asked them, and they all nodded.

            “It’s about as crazy as me being alive, but, hey, it’s the truth.” Bucky said, opening his mouth to speak for the first time since they’d arrived, and Jane finally took a good look at him.

            “Is Tony Stark’s mutation necromancy?” she asked, surprised, and Anya laughed.

            “No, my brother is a poly-psionic, like myself, but his psionic abilities are mostly rooted in short-range telepathy and empathy with long-range abilities in technopathy and magnetism.” Anya explained, calming herself down before speaking. “My husband here, Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, was captured by HYDRA after he fell from that train in 1945, losing his arm in the process. HYDRA’s apparently a fan of using cryogenics on their so-called assets, so he hasn’t really been aging until recently.”

            Jane went quiet, furrowing her brow as the information processed through her mind. Anya brushed against Jane’s mind telepathically, and the older woman locked eyes with her. She smiled softly, and Anya nodded.

            “We’re safe, you’re safe, and HYDRA should be far away from here.” Anya said comfortingly, her words in response to Jane’s thoughts. “Not even ol’ Thunderbolt Ross could get a hand on any of us even if he wanted to; of course, that hasn’t stopped Tony from wanting to suspend him from the Brooklyn Bridge or anything.”

            “Is General Ross a part of HYDRA?” she asked, and Anya laughed.

            “Please, even HYDRA has standards. Ross is never in anything that isn’t for his own greed or benefit; when he captured my older adoptive brother, you might’ve heard of Alex Summers, last May, his goal was to isolate the X-Gene sequence and use it to create super soldiers. HYDRA expects you to be loyal to HYDRA first and yourself second. You have to put HYDRA’s mission and views on world issues above all else, and Ross could never do that.” the psionic mutant said honestly.

            At this, the others burst out laughing. After that, Jane got to know the Barnes family over dinner. Anya promised that Jane and Darcy would have to come over to their house at some point for dinner and offered to make some of the German desserts that she’d learned growing up while Bucky made whatever caught his fancy. Jane had been surprised at how bright Becca was, but the shock wore off quickly once she’d heard what the girl’s mutation was and how it worked. They discussed the potential of Dr. Erik Selvig visiting over the summer, and Jane had been impressed when the small girl had been able to engage her in an in-depth conversation about one of Selvig’s more recent papers. Darcy mostly spoke about the political climate and government stupidity with a rather well-informed Bucky, and Anya tried to participate in both. It was a nice visit, and the conversation was stimulating to all involved. Much like she felt when at the Mansion in Westchester or in Malibu with Tony, Anya thought that it felt nice to be somewhere where you’re understood.

            A week later, Anya’s phone rang early in the afternoon. Answering, she heard her brother say the two words she’d been waiting for ever since PEG had notified her of Natasha Romanoff being at Stark Industries: “She’s here.”

            “What’s her role?” Anya asked quickly, balancing her phone between her ear and shoulder as she washed the lunch dishes while Bucky and Becca sat on the back porch with their art supplies scattered between them.

            “Well, Pepper brought her in to be my new assistant; Uncle Eye-Patch had entire webpages set up for this alias, so he must think he knows me better than he actually does, you know, since I was able to spot the fake domain names and trace all of the IP addresses back to the Triskelion in D.C. Pep knows that she’s a SHIELD agent, but I didn’t bring up any of the Red Room, Bucky’s ex, Most-Notorious Assassin in the World stuff. I had to get her close so I could get inside her head and get a read on her emotions, so I asked her to take a self-defense ‘lesson’ from Happy, who, as it just so happens, isn’t very happy with me for doing that. Oh, and if you’re thinking she might’ve bugged the house to keep an ear on everything I do or say, she did. I’ve been selectively disabling them…well, whichever ones JARVIS couldn’t kill. She’s coming with us to Monaco in the morning; well, we’re all leaving out tonight so we’re there by the time the race starts tomorrow morning.” Tony explained, and Anya rolled her eyes.

            “That means that Phil did his job. I’ll text Happy about how sorry I am that he has to deal with a disaster like you later, Tony, okay? Do you want Becca and me to fly out and join you for the race, because I can call Kurt for a lift?” she asked with a laugh, but Tony declined.

            “With Pep going with me to Monaco, I need you stateside to keep an eye on the family business, Tesora, as well as the Stark Tower project. How much do we need to buy out MetLife again?” Tony replied, and his sister sighed.

            “Pepper and I have that covered, Tony, and, yes, I promised not to use any of my ‘Jedi Mind Tricks’ on the people; this is all being done by the book and entirely on the up-and-up for once. You just focus on the race and leave the business stuff to the two most capable women in your life. We’re both certainly better suited to handle all this than you, and you know it.” Anya said, and this time Tony laughed.

            “You’re not wrong, at all, and I’ll try to focus on the race. Call me if anything comes up? I’ll have the suit, so I can get back faster than Hank’s precious Blackbird with little effort.” he told her, and she chuckled.

            “As long as you do the same and call me if something comes up, sure. If Bucky drives at top speed, and we take the backroads like he prefers anyway, we can turn what would be a twelve-hour drive into a four-hour drive to Malibu.” she countered, and he agreed reluctantly.

            “I’ve got the lab on Lockdown Mode, and Pepper looks angry, so I’ve gotta go explain that I was just giving you an update. Love you, Tesora.” Tony said, eliciting a giggle from his sister.

            “Love you, too, big brother.” Anya said, ending the call and gazing out the sliding glass doors at her husband and daughter for a moment or two before speaking quietly to herself. “I better pack our Go-bags just in case.”

            As Anya predicted, Tony called her the next afternoon sounding very frazzled and run down. She’d already seen the footage from the race and had ordered her husband and daughter into the car the second she’d seen her brother’s text saying that he and Pepper were scheduled to be back in Malibu that night. By the time Tony called, she already had the guy’s name and record before Tony had even told her.

            “His dad worked with Dad, and his dad died the same day you made your ‘I am Iron Man’ speech. Vanko is a lot like Pym, mostly in that Dad pissed him off and made him vow to get his revenge.” she said when he asked what she knew.

            “He knows about the Palladium poisoning, Anh. He knew I was dying without me saying anything, and I haven’t even told Pep how little time I’ve got. I told her I’d have two years last year.” Tony said, and Anya knew that Natasha Romanoff had to be on the plane for him to be whispering so low.

            “None of us expected you to burn through cores so quickly, Tony, especially with your mutation. Palladium is just not as stable an element as we’d hoped it would be, and now you’re paying the price for Obadiah’s greed. We’re already home, and I’ve taken the liberty of changing your birthday party plans.” she replied, mentally counting down the moments until her brother’s mild outrage hit.

            “You changed my last birthday party?” he asked, sounding more saddened than cross with her.

            “It’s not going to be your last birthday party, you dork. Tony, you know the military is going to want you to hand the suit over even more now, and everyone knows that Rhodey is on the guest list. If I make it a family dinner which Rhodey is invited to, we stand less of a chance of people getting hurt. I love him like he’s another brother, but you even have to admit that Rhodey is loyal to his country so long as his country gives him reason to be. If he’s ordered to take the armor by force, he will. Everyone in the family, sans Pepper, can defend themselves if anything were to happen; the original guest list can’t. I want you to have Agent Romanoff join us when you get back; I think it’s time we all sat down and talked.” Anya explained, and she heard her brother let out a sigh.

            “I’ll let her know, Anh. What’s for dinner?” Tony replied, and she could almost see him pinching the bridge of his nose.

            “Since I made Bucky drive all this way at the last minute, I’m getting everything ready for Sauerbraten in the slow-cooker while he cuts up the potatoes for the potato salad; once the slow-cooker gets going, I’ll have Bucky start the rotkhol while I make the plum tart seeing as how he can’t bake it because he’d eat all the damn plums before any of them made it into the pan.” she told him, and her brother let out a slight moan at the list of foods being prepared.

            “Slow-cooked beef roast, red cabbage, and potato salad actually sounds near divine at the moment, Anh. Can you make the bread wreath, too? You know where Mom and Vati’s recipes are, and it sounds so good right now!” Tony asked, and Any agreed.

            “Becca beat you to it, and the dough is already set to the side so it can rise. Call me when you’re in the car?” she asked, and he agreed before ending the call.

            “Doll, are you sure you’ll be ready when Romanoff arrives?” Bucky asked from beside her, knowing exactly how dangerous of a question that was to ask while his telekinetic wife was surrounded by knives.

            “I’m sure; she doesn’t know you the way I know you, and she’s worried about Tony’s health. I know I shouldn’t have, but I had Papa check in on her for me when Tony was attacked by Vanko yesterday. I didn’t want to have to do it, but I needed to know where she stood after that.” Anya answered, and Bucky made a soft noise of surprise.

            “It’s a supposed to be considered a bad thing that I’m surprised when someone not a part of the family is genuinely concerned about Tony rather than being concerned about his image, right?” he asked, and she gave him a small smile while nodding.

            “It is for a normal person, but Tony’s nowhere near normal. Then again…who is?”

Chapter Text

            If Natasha Romanoff was expecting anything when she first heard her “boss” tell her to come back to his Malibu mansion with himself and his girlfriend, it hadn’t been the assault upon her senses when she stepped inside the glass castle. The lights were already on, and the stereo was playing a KISS ballad throughout the whole first floor at the least. From the direction of the kitchen, she could smell whatever amazing food had been cooked in anticipation of Tony’s return. Rounding the corner into the living room just behind Tony and Pepper, she saw two dancing figures and a third darting across the room in a flash of dark curls.

            “Uncle Tony!” the girl chirped as Tony lifted her up to sit on his hip, hugging the man as tightly, yet gently, as she could.

            “Havin’ fun in New Mexico with Aunt Darcy and Dr. Foster?” she heard Tony ask the girl, and he was given an excited nod in response.

            “Aunt Jane said that Dr. Selvig might come in for a visit before we go back to New York, and I got to learn more about astrophysics when she babysat me for Mama and Papa last weekend!” the girl said, her voice a pure bubble of happiness.

            “Oh, so she’s Aunt Jane now? I’m still your favorite, though, right?” Tony asked with a serious look on his face.

            “I don’t know, Uncle Tony, because Uncle Steve promised to teach me to draw whatever Papa can’t.” the girl said, and Tony let out a soft laugh.

            “I’ve taught you so well, Becca, and I’m so proud of how far you’ve come with emotional blackmail in such a short span of time.” he commended, and Natasha filed it away that the girl’s name was likely Rebecca.

            “You and Aunt Pepper are still my real favorites, Uncle Tony.” Becca assured her uncle, and Natasha tried to analyze more details about the dancing couple, likely the girl’s parents.

            The woman, who she thought had to be Tony’s sister she’d only read about and seen give a mere handful of television interviews after her brother’s kidnapping the year before, was dressed in a black sleeveless, baby-doll top over black leggings. Her dancing was good despite her feet being clad in calf-high black leather boots, and her dark hair was a distinct contrast to her pale-olive skin. On her wrist, Natasha caught sight of a thin bracelet made of gold with a bright red star in the center; focusing on the star, she saw it had a golden inlay of a Phoenician letter, Teth, which looked like a symbol the ex-Russian spy had seen somewhere before of an encircled letter X.

            The man, from what Natasha could see, had broad shoulders wrapped in a dark blue button-down and muscular legs clad in dark jeans. He, too, wore boots, and his shoulder-length brown hair was tied back with a simple black band. He was singing along to the song playing, and she knew his voice sounded familiar but couldn’t place it.

            “I see my future when I look in your eyes/It took your love to make my heart come alive/'Cause I lived my life believin' all love is blind/But everything about you is tellin' me this time/ It's forever, this time I know and there's no doubt in my mind/Forever, until my life is through, girl I'll be lovin' you forever” he sang, and the woman, Anya, giggled as he quit singing only to pull her in for a kiss before dipping her backwards towards where they stood watching.

            “Hey, Tony! Go put your stuff away, and we’ll have dinner.” Anya said, just as happily as her daughter, as she looked upside down at the quartet behind her.

            “And we have to wash up first!” Becca added, and Tony nodded along, agreeing with his niece.

            “Your Grandpa is more than willing to make me if I don’t, and he’s in New York and somehow still knows what I’m doing without using his powers. I think he had Alex reprogram EDIE to spy on me for him.” Tony said to the girl as they began walking up the staircase, Pepper shaking her head at the pair.

            “What brought this on, guys?” the newly official Co-CEO asked her almost in-laws with a fond smile, and the man answered this time, his voice making Natasha freeze where she stood.

            “Charles called earlier to let us know that he got the tickets for him and Erik to go to one of the shows on the Hottest Show on Earth tour, so we started listening to some of the songs to explain who KISS is to Becca.” Bucky said as he pulled Anya back upright.

            “Oh, he did! I’m so glad he was able to get the tickets; they’re a surprise for their anniversary, right? Erik loves KISS, but Tony said the last concert he went to was before the twins were born.” Pepper said, and Bucky shrugged.

            “Charles would do anything short of destroying the universe if it made Erik happy. I know the feeling, so I don’t exactly disparage him any for agreeing to take an almost eighty-one-year-old man to a rock concert.” he said calmly, pressing another kiss to the top of Anya’s head before either of them turned their attention to Natasha.

            “It’s nice to finally meet you in person, Natalia.” Anya greeted, and the Russian woman faltered slightly at being called by her birth name.

            “How do you…” she trailed off, scared for the first time since Barton had caught her years earlier.

            “Much like my brother and my daughter, there are certain things that SHIELD won’t have in our files. All three of us are mutants, are poly-psionic, and are completely aware of who my husband is; I haven’t read your mind yet, but I know who you are from both James’ memories and your SHIELD file. Uncle Eye-Patch really needs to update his firewall if he thinks he’s doing enough to keep Tony and me out of the system.” Anya explained, and Natasha quirked an eyebrow in response.

            “I’m not sure which surprises me more, the fact that you know who I am or the fact that you married the most lethal assassin in modern history.” she said, not expecting the smile that spread across Anya’s face.

            “Honestly, Romanoff, in spite of everything he’s done in the last sixty-five years he’s been an assassin, he’s still more disturbed by what I’ve done than anything he’s ever managed.” the twenty-one-year-old answered coolly.

            “You had the kid bleeding from his eyeballs, nose, ears, and mouth, doll. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.” Bucky admitted, and Natasha wanted to take a few steps away from Anya.

            “I wasn’t going to let him kill all of you or capture anyone for his father to experiment on like he did with Logan; my family means more to me than the life of a psychotic killer with daddy issues, and don’t bring David into this because he’s never killed an innocent on purpose. Jason had.” the petite mutant said, and Natasha found herself less scared of the woman and more understanding, images of Clint’s two children flashing into her head briefly before Tony and Becca reappeared and the entire group moved into the dining room where the meal began floating in from the kitchen and portioning itself out onto the dinner plates.

            An hour later, everyone had moved back into the living room. Anya had gone off for a few moments, appearing slightly paler when she joined them, collapsing onto the couch beside her husband and sighing. He looked curiously at her as Tony began quietly chuckling at his sister’s apparent misery. Bucky wisely pressed a kiss to the top of her head and gently rubbed her upper back in between her shoulder blades.

            “Your son apparently has a problem with me eating red cabbage.” Anya said in clear annoyance.

            “Becca didn’t let you eat latkes, and you love her. Mitya might be a bit picky while en-utero, but he’ll be fine once he’s old enough to actually eat the stuff.” Bucky defended his unborn son with a smile that said they had arguments like this a lot.

            “For whatever the reason, Mom couldn’t eat mozzarella when she was pregnant with you, Anh.” Tony cut in, and his sister rolled her eyes.

            “And Elizabeth couldn’t stand boiled potatoes when she was pregnant with this one!” she said, giggling as she lightly tapped her husband on the shoulder whilst curling into his side.

            “Given that it was Brooklyn in 1916, that’s gotta suck!” Tony chuckled.

            “Am I allowed to be curious as to how this whole thing happened?” Natasha asked, gesturing towards Anya and Bucky.

            “Why don’t I take Becca upstairs to get ready for bed, and Bucky can debrief Tony on Vanko while you two ladies talk.” Pepper offered, only they were all aware that none of it was a suggestion.

            Natasha and Anya ended up outside by the pool, Tony having commandeered the lab for Bucky’s debrief, so Anya made sure to bring a light blanket with her. The younger woman tried to answer every question the redhead had, but there were some that she struggled with. The biggest difficulty was when Natasha asked why Anya didn’t like her.

            “Honestly, Romanoff, it’s not that I don’t like you. I don’t trust you, but that’s mostly because I don’t trust spies as a rule to which Phil and Aunt Peggy are the only exception so far. Fury, despite being near-family due to Aunt Peggy introducing us when he was selected to replace Pierce as Director of SHIELD when Aunt Peggy retired from the position Pierce has now, is purposefully withholding the lithium injections Tony needs, plus whatever else he’s got up his sleeve, until the last possible minute so he can force Tony into feeling indebted to him enough to join the Avenger Initiative; McTaggart shot my Vati because she had a thing for Papa; and a large portion of SHIELD agents are actually HYDRA.” Anya admitted, shrugging slightly as she unveiled the biggest plot twist Natasha had personally encountered. “After having a very emotional discussion with my husband about why he loves me and how I don’t need to compare myself to you, I think I might actually be able to like you one day. Hell, we might even end up as friends.”

            “Back up there, Barnes. What do you mean most SHIELD agents are actually HYDRA?” Natasha asked, and the mutant woman sighed.

            “HYDRA never was defeated. Schmidt may have been its primary leader, but he had fail-safes in place in case he ever was killed or incapacitated. HYDRA affiliates in Russia, probably the same people who ran the Red Room, started the Winter Soldier program when they captured and brainwashed Bucky; they’re not just in SHIELD, or any other alphabet agency, though. That bastard Stern from Pennsylvania is one of them, as is Alexander Pierce…and that jackass is only still alive because Tony wouldn’t let Aunt Peggy put herself at risk to take him out, and I’ve had to tell Bucky not to put a bullet between the man’s eyes because it wouldn’t solve anything.” Anya said, and the spy just stared back at her in shock.

            “Pierce is HYRDA?” she asked, as if not truly believing what she was hearing, but Anya just nodded.

            “He’s been Bucky’s handler for the last three decades at least. The rest of the World Security Counsel is clean-ish, not the best people in the world and definitely out of touch with average, everyday life, but they’re not HYDRA either. HYDRA doesn’t operate like SHIELD, the SSR, or any other agency; they’re more like a secret shadow government than an intelligence agency.” she explained, and the Russian nodded slowly.

            “Is there any reason you’ve kept this from Fury?” Natasha asked her.

            “Multiple, actually, but the plan is to tell him after the beginning of next year once everything’s too far in motion for him to stop it.” Anya said, but the confused look she got made the need to continue clear. “Becca has the same gifts that I do, and a little over a year-and-a-half ago she made contact with Steve Rogers; he’s frozen inside the plane he was last seen in back in 1945, but Papa and I plan on bringing him home as soon as we can get all the paperwork out of the way.”

            “But shouldn’t Fury know about Captain America being alive?” Natasha asked.

            “He should, but we don’t want him knowing until Steve is already home. With SHIELD being compromised, I don’t want Steve feeling like he’s got any sort of duty to it that should supersede his family.” Anya said, getting a confused head shake in response.

            “His family? Do you mean your family, otherwise I don’t understand?” Natasha asked, but the younger woman shook her head.

            “There’s a good bit that the SSR left off Steve’s official file, and there’s even more that he never told them. Steve was married, for about two months, when he was twenty-years-old; Anna-Claire was Bucky’s sister and was two years younger than him and the same age as Steve, who loved her more than anything. She got pregnant not long after she got diagnosed with tuberculosis, and she stopped her treatments because there weren’t any treatments that she could undergo without risking serious harm to the baby. As soon as they found out she was pregnant, Annie and Steve got married; two months later, my dad was visiting the local hospitals in New York and offered her the chance to be one of the test subjects for the cryo-chamber he’d created. Annie would be frozen, as would the baby, until either a cure or a pregnancy-safe treatment for the disease could be found. She’d agreed on the condition that Steve be offered the same deal, and my dad tried. Steve didn’t let him ever talk long enough to say what he wanted, and by the time he had another chance, Annie had already faked her death and been cryogenically frozen. Dad was going to try again when he met Steve for a second time during Project Rebirth, but Steve seemed so interested in Aunt Peggy that he dropped it so that no one got hurt. He kept Annie and the baby in deep-freeze because he never believed Steve was dead; HYDRA killed Dad, via Bucky, before he ever located Steve, and we only discovered the three of them last year. They are my family, but they’re also their own family and should be able to finally be a family before someone starts sending Steve off to who knows where to fight who knows what on who knows whose orders, right?” she explained to the redhead, and Natasha gave a nod of agreement.

            “That’s why I take solo missions sometimes instead of always insisting on working with Clint; his wife and kids need him more than I do most days.” she said, a rare smile slipping onto her face.

            “At least you have the option of taking solo missions. My parents are literally the leaders of the freaking X-Men, and I’m not allowed into the field without at least three of my older brothers at all times. The idea of me being made and the world finding out what Tony and I are is the biggest roadblock I’ve ever faced, and sometimes I just wanna blow it up with a stick of dynamite.” Anya said, and Natasha laughed.

            “Coulson and Fury are bad enough, but I couldn’t even imagine being Professor X and Magneto’s kid. Then again, Coulson and Fury are pretty strange, too. Coulson loves Supernanny, and Fury adopted this cat about ten years ago that he treats better than he treats most people; he even goes all mushy over Goose.” the spy said, and Anya laughed.

            “I can still relate. Papa loves Gilmore Girls, if only because he got tricked into watching it with me and some of my sisters when I was still living at home. Vati stress bakes, so you always know when someone’s done something they shouldn’t have because there’s suddenly a kitchen full of sweets where there wasn’t one before, and some of the sweets have hard-to-pronounce names since Vati goes with the German and Jewish dishes first, and sometimes the Polish ones.” the mutant responded.

            Anya and Natasha continued talking for a while longer, and soon the two were laughing about their rather strange adoptive families and swapping stories that ranged from international secrets to hilarious anecdotes about Tony, Phil, Fury, and Natasha’s partner Clint Barton; while the two women weren’t exactly best friends, Anya knew from just the slightest use of her powers with Natasha’s permission that the redhead was not a threat to her in any capacity. It was nice, Anya thought, to have someone female closer to her age to talk to other than Darcy, seeing as how the majority of female companions of hers were all back in New York.

            “What do you know about Ivan Vanko?” Natasha asked after the two had to regain their breath from giggling so much.

            “His full name is Ivan Antonovich Vanko, and he’s the son of my dad’s first business partner after Project Rebirth, Anton Vanko, who also co-designed the Arc Reactor with my dad. He caught Vanko, Sr. selling the designs on the black market, and Dad knew that anyone with ill intent having those designs was a bad idea. Considering the mini-reactor is how Tony powers his suits, Dad was right. I mean, just trying to imagine what idiots like Justin Hammer would do with that kind of tech is sickening. Anyway, when Dad found out what Vanko was doing, he pulled some strings and got him deported back to Russia. Ivan was born a few years later, February 15, 1968, making him two years older than Tony, and Anton’s stories of the evil Howard Stark were apparently enough motivation for Ivan to seek revenge. He did fifteen years in Kopeisk for selling weapons-grade plutonium to Pakistan, and his recent desire to kill my brother was likely brought on by the combined stressors of Tony coming out as Iron Man, his father dying, and his own general attempt at reacclimating to society post-prison. He probably sees killing Tony as the only way to get revenge for what Dad did so his father can rest in peace or something along those lines. I’d have to get him in for a session to get anything more.” Anya said, impressing the redhead.

            “You’re a psychiatrist too?” she asked, but Anya shook her head.

            “I have a Master’s in Psychology, but I can’t be considered a clinician until I finish my doctoral thesis and do a stint in a clinic under supervision of a licensed clinician for a while. Tony’s kidnapping, Stane’s betrayal, and being a single mother for the most part until two weeks ago kinda slowed the process.” the mutant explained, and the spy gave a nod of understanding.

            “Laura complains about how hard it is to manage the kids while Clint’s away. I couldn’t even begin to understand what it’s like when you’re parenting a mutant genius on your own.” Natasha said, pausing for a moment while a question formed in her head at the younger woman’s words. “Barnes isn’t going back to HYDRA this time?”

            “He can’t; they already know that he’s gone this time, so they’d be waiting for him with weapons drawn if he did.” Anya explained with a sad smile. “One of Becca’s gifts is foresight that usually shows itself in precognitive dreams. She knew Tony would be kidnapped and held for three months a month before it actually happened, but we didn’t take her dreams seriously until it was too late. Recently, she’s been having dreams about the new baby; she saw him, what he looked like and what we named him, and she told us all about it. She told us that his name is Dimitri Steven Barnes, and the only way we’d name him after the HYDRA agent that’s supposed to be watching Bucky while he’s in cryo would be if he died to protect Bucky, to protect us. He’s a mutant, and he’s been undercover with HYDRA ever since he graduated from Xavier’s School with Darcy and me. He’s one of the few people outside my family that I do trust.”

            “And Darcy is…” Natasha trailed off, and Anya let out a small laugh.

            “I first met Darcy Lewis when she came to the school as a sixth grader. Most people don’t see the value in her mutation, but Papa, Vati, and I have always made it a point to remind her of just how important it really is; she sees color-coded threads between people that tells her what’s their relationship. Every gift is useful in its own way, and no gift is useless.” Anya said, and Natasha gave a short nod. “We should probably head back inside now. My brother might send one of the bots out here to get me if we don’t.”

            Five days later, Natasha found herself being introduced to Tony’s mutant family alongside Rhodey, the latter having only met Charles and Erik previously. Dinner had gone as expected, and Natasha has quickly been adopted by the Xavier-Lehnsherr clan. Erik sympathized with her background, and Charles adored how intelligent the red-haired spy was after getting a sampling of her mind. Given her equally tragic backstory to each of their own, the “kids” made her one of them with ease; Warren,in particular, took a liking to her. Everything had been going just fine until Tony took Rhodey down to the lab to chat in private. The rest of the family had heard a sudden, brief explosion, and then Tony came stumbling up the stairs while a silver blur shot off into the night.

            “Romanoff, call Fury…now! Rhodes just took off in the Mark II, and Stern’s probably gonna have Hammer and Vanko all over this!” Tony snapped as he sank onto the couch in between Charles and Pepper.

            “Erik, call Emma and ask her to check on our grandson.” Charles told his husband while checking over Tony.

            “Let me get a look at him, Mom.” Hank cut in, and Charles leaned out of the large blue mutant’s way.

            “Mama, is Uncle Rhodey bad now?” Becca asked, and Anya shook her head.

            “No, baby girl, he’s not. He just doesn’t understand how the military can be wrong or how Uncle Tony’s suit shouldn’t be used as a weapon. It’s kinda like how Uncle Steve still doesn’t understand why the Dodgers left Brooklyn.” she explained to her daughter, but Bucky snorted.

            “I don’t get that one either, honestly.” he said, and his wife waved him off with a small grin on her face.

            “Tony’s fine, Palladium poisoning aside, and we should probably get back to New York before everybody left back at the school starts to panic. The explosion will have made the news soon enough, if only because this is Tony Stark’s mansion.” Hank said a moment later, and Kurt looked around for conformation.

            “Erik, Anya, Becca, and I will stay behind, but everyone else who is neither living nor currently based out of Malibu will return to the mansion. Bucky, we can’t risk any of the potential cameras catching you, so you will have to join them.” Charles ordered, and no one argued.

            “That makes the most sense. Once Phil and Uncle Eye-Patch get here, Pepper and Natasha can fly out to New York for the Expo, and we’ll work through whatever puzzle Dad’s left for us to solve.” Anya agreed, and Erik gave a short nod.

            “Emma says young Peter is perfectly safe and secure in Queens with his caretakers.” he said, and Tony let out a sigh of relief.

            “Thank God!” he exhaled as Natasha reentered the room.

            “Fury and Coulson are on their way; they’ll be here within the next twelve to fifteen hours depending on paperwork since Tony’s mostly alive.” she said, her worry slipping through to her features.

            “Here goes everything.” Tony said semi-sarcastically, and Charles lightly popped him in the back of the head.

            As predicted, Fury arrived the next morning with Coulson at his side. He presented Tony with the liquid lithium injections he needed to survive. He also gave Tony a case of Howard’s belongings that the engineer took home to work through with his sister and parents after bidding his girlfriend and newfound ally/adopted sister goodbye at the airport.

            “Being straightforward was never Dad’s strong suit, was it?” Anya asked as she downed her fourth cup of decaf coffee that day.

            “No.” Tony, Erik, and Charles answered at the same time.

            “Why does Nonno keep going back to the model in the video?” Becca asked, and her mother and uncle both froze.

            “That’s it!” they chorused, and Charles grinned.

            “Anya, you and Pops go get the model from the office. Vati, we need to build a particle accelerator.” Tony said excitedly, and Erik nodded.

            “Shouldn’t be too hard; we’ve rebuilt Cerebro before, haven’t we?” he asked.

            “Should you need certain metals or machinery parts, give Hank a call.” Charles told them before turning to his granddaughter. “Who would you rather help, sweet?”

            “I’ll go with you and Mama.” the girl answered, and the family split up to take on their parts of the project.

            By the next morning, the particle accelerator was finished. Tony was steps away from synthesizing a new element after using the Stark Expo model to find the atomic layout Howard had hidden all those years before in the hopes that his son would one day understand his secret message. While he was assembling everything for the final phase of creation, Phil walked in with a serious look.

            “What’s up, Agent?” he asked.

            “We’ve had a bizarre reading in New Mexico, and Fury’s sending me out to investigate. I’m sorry that I won’t be around to see your big discovery, Tony.” the agent said, somewhat wistfully, before looking over and catching sight of the unfinished prototype of Steve’s shield. “Is that…”

            “Perfect! Cap’s got the real one still, so he won’t mind.” Tony said as he wedged the unfinished prototype under a table-leg.

            “Good luck, Tony.” Phil said, and then he was gone.

            Upstairs, a few minutes after Phil’s departure, Anya, Erik, Charles, and Becca heard the excited sounds of Tony cheering about his new element. He came running up the stairs with his Arc-reactor glowing brighter than ever, and his smile matched. Sensing the shift in the reactor’s core, Erik was the first to hug him.

            “Congratulations! I always knew you would figure this out.” he said, and Tony beamed under his praise.

            “I’ve gotta get going soon if I want to make it to the Expo; if Vanko’s planning anything, it’ll happen there, and I can’t let anything happen to Pepper…or Peter.” he told them, and all four nodded in agreement.

            “Do you want backup?” Charles asked.

            “Just send Bucky, and we’ll be fine.” Tony replied before looking to his sister. “Are you going back to New Mexico?”

            “We’re headed back once we know the Vanko situation is taken care of, but not a moment sooner.” Anya answered.

            “Alright, then I’ll see you in a few hours.” Tony told them as he turned back towards the lab.

            “Be safe!” Charles called.

            “Don’t be too reckless!” Erik added.

            “Don’t let anything hurt Aunt Pepper!” Becca threw in with a smile.

            “Just don’t be a sacrificial dumbass!” Anya finished, and he gave a wave before descending down the stairs.

            Anya went with her fathers and daughter to the Xavier Mansion, but she left just as quickly as she’d arrived at the courtesy of Kurt; the blue teleporter transported Bucky and herself to a rooftop across from the main entrance to the Stark Expo center. Her husband handed her an earpiece, and she could hear everything Justin Hammer was saying via Natasha, especially since the spy was sitting beside Pepper near directly in front of the stage. She shared Natasha’s information with Bucky, and both of them rolled their eyes as Hammer spoke of how “unfair” it was for Tony to keep his own tech from going public.

            “This bastard wouldn’t have lasted two minutes when I was growin’ up; being in harms way wasn’t somethin’ you thought about when you went to war. You just went to whatever battlefield you were assigned to and did what was right by doing your duty as a soldier. Where’s the honor in hiding behind a robot? At least Tony is actually inside his suit of armor; it’s pretty much a giant ballistic vest with weapons you don’t need to carry.” the army sergeant mused, and his wife agreed.

            “If he doesn’t go to prison, remind me to introduce him to Steve…after we show Steve a video of this. I’ll bring popcorn.” Anya replied, and Bucky chuckled.

            “I’ll bring the giant thing of Twizzlers.” he added, adjusting his rifle as Tony landed on the rood behind them.

            “So, what’s going on down there, sister and brother-in-law?” he asked with fake cheerfulness as his faceplate rose, and they sighed.

            “Hammer’s just introduced his drones and announced Rhodey as their pilot. I think this is your queue.” Anya said dryly, and Tony gave a nod as his faceplate slammed shut once more.

            “Tony, one more thing. I had Emma keep track of Peter before Kurt dropped us off, and he’s down there somewhere. May and Ben brought him to the Expo tonight, so I feel, from father to father, that you deserve to know where your kid is right now; if I could get him outta here and send him to the mansion with Becca, I’d have already done it.” Bucky cut in, and Tony froze.

            “Anya, find him and keep an eye on my son. If he’s ever in danger…” he trailed off, but his sister nodded.

            “I’ll do whatever I have to, Tony, and I know you’d do the same for Becca.” she agreed, and he gave a short nod before flying off towards the stage.

            As soon as the first shots rang out, the glass ceiling shattering above Pepper and Natasha, as well as over a thousand other people, Anya was on her feet. She kissed Bucky as he adjusted his rifle one more time, and then she did something she typically hated doing. Anya teleported on her own.

            It wasn’t that teleporting was difficult for her. As a mutant gifted with access to pretty much all psionic abilities so far discovered, it took very little power to teleport. Concentration was key, but she also considered that part easy. The part that she hated was how it made her feel like she’d just gotten off a roller coaster; experiencing that feeling multiple times in the span of a few minutes was uncomfortable.

            Materializing on the ground outside the expo hall, she found Happy in a state of panic and confusion.

            “What’s going on, Anya?” he asked.

            “Vanko’s making the drones and Rhodey chase after and try to kill Tony as part of his revenge plot. Natasha’s on her way out, and you need to take her to Hammer Industries; she’s with SHIELD, so she has the training for this.” she answered, and the head of security nodded.

            “What about you?” he asked out of concern, and she sighed.

            “Natasha’s going to have to either stop Vanko or clear his commands to release the drones and Rhodey so they don’t kill my brother, who himself is trying to evade death and might end up going against Vanko himself. Peter’s in there, likely trying to get out along with everyone else, and I am the one staying behind to protect him. Bucky’s got eyes on the control center backstage where Pepper and Hammer are, so we’re handling the situation on this front.” Anya told him, and his eyes bugged out at the mention of Peter.

            “The kid is here? Do all Starks get into situations like this naturally?” Happy asked exasperatedly.

            “According to Aunt Peggy, yes. If you thought Pep could lecture Tony with no end in sight, you never got to see Dad getting lectured by Aunt Peggy, which you didn’t. I was barely three when that happened, and I don’t even remember what Dad actually did to piss her off so bad. All I remember is Mom trying to keep Tony and me out of it while yelling at him right along side Aunt Peggy until both of them were hoarse and needed drinks.” Anya answered with a giggle, and Happy chuckled as Natasha rushed up with a dark look in her eyes.

            “I might’ve scared Pepper for a minute.” she said before focusing on Happy. “I need you to take me to-”

            “Hammer Industries; let’s go.” he cut her off, and she nodded and got into the back of the car.

            “Just don’t stare at me while I’m changing.” she said, and Anya waved sarcastically as they drove off without another word.

            Taking a breath, Anya closed her eyes and felt around for her nephew’s mind. She found him, but panic filled her as she realized that he was directly in the path of Tony and the drone army. Knowing the risks of using her powers any further in a crowd this size, she took off on foot towards where her brother and nephew were.

            Skidding to a stop, she watched as a drone stomped up to the little boy that she knew was Peter, despite the toy Iron Man helmet he wore, and aim its cannon of a gun at the child. Peter held up his toy repulsor gauntlet, one which Anya knew was designed to only light up but not fire, and stood firm. Suddenly, Tony dropped from the sky and blasted the bot.

            “Nice job, kid.” he said before flying off, Rhodey right behind him with a battalion of drones on his tail.

            Anya watched Peter as he followed Tony with his eyes, holding his repulsor up again at one of the drones farthest from Tony and Rhodey. The audible gasp she let out with the gauntlet let off an actual pulse of electricity was lost among the sea of people. The electric wave soared at the drone as if it had been locked onto it, and the thing seized up before falling to the ground. Anya ran forward and pulled Peter out of the falling hunk of metal’s path.

            “You’re Mr. Stark’s sister! I read your paper on irregular genetics, Dr. Barnes, and it was so cool!” the kid chirped excitedly, and Anya actually smiled for a second before remembering what was going on around them.

            “Peter, I want you to listen to me. I know who you are, and you know who I am. What you don’t know is that I’m like you; I have special powers, too, and I need to use those powers to get you somewhere safe until we can find your aunt and uncle. Do you trust me?” she asked, and the eight-year-old nodded slowly.

            “You know about my powers?” he asked shyly, and she smiled gently at him.

            “Peter, I even know how you got your powers. Now, hold onto my hand, and don’t let go until I say you can, understood?” she got a firm nod in response, and she took a breath before teleporting them to Bucky’s rooftop.

            “So, this is the kid?” her husband asked when they materialized.

            “Who’s he?” Peter asked nervously, and Anya sighed.

            “Sweetie, can you take the helmet off for right now? This is my husband, Bucky Barnes, and he won’t hurt you.” she said, and Peter took off his Iron Man helmet.

            The first thing Anya noticed was the mop of curly, dark brown hair he had. It reminded her so much of Tony’s baby photos and childhood albums that the Dads kept in the mansion. Then, he looked up at her with near-carbon copies of the dark brown eyes that had been her source of comfort and solace for so much of her childhood whenever she was away from the mansion and Bucky.

            “Wow.” she breathed out, and Peter looked at her with the same confused look Tony gave her whenever she tried explaining advanced genetics to him.

            “Dr. Barnes?” he asked, and she smiled.

            “Sorry, sweetie, you just remind me a lot of someone. Oh, and please, call me Anya.” she answered him, and he grinned.

            “You said you know how I got my powers?” he asked, and she nodded.

            “Uh-huh, I sure do. Have you ever heard of Professor Charles Xavier?” she asked him, and the boy nodded vigorously.

            “He’s super smart, and he runs a school for mutant kids in Westchester.” Peter answered smartly.

            “He is, and he’s also my brother’s godfather. Now, this isn’t just because he was friends with my dad. It’s because Tony and I are both mutants; you can’t tell anybody because we don’t know how other people would handle that information, but it’s true. Professor Xavier and Dr. Lehnsherr practically raised Tony and me, and we call them our parents. Knowing what I know about the X-gene that Papa, that’s what I call Professor Xavier, has worked on, I can say without any doubt that you’re a mutant, too, Peter. I’ve seen someone with your powers before, and I know how hard it is to control them when you don’t know what you’re capable of half the time. That’s kinda the way I met Bucky, if you want me to be honest.” Anya told him, and the child gaped in surprise.

            “Really?” he managed to say.

            “Which part?” she asked.

            “Yes.” Peter said, and she laughed.

            “We are mutants, as are you, and Bucky is a mutate. As for the last part, I was three-years-old when my Mom and Dad died. Bucky was the assassin sent by a group of bad guys to kill them, and he didn’t know that I was in the car until it was too late. I didn’t have very good control when I was extremely emotional when I was that small, so I accidentally formed a telepathic bond with him when he locked eyes with me that day. Since then, I’ve helped him break the bad guys’ mind control on him and remember who he was, is, and will be. We got married four years ago, and we have a little girl named Rebecca, but we mostly call her Becca.” Anya explained, and the small boy sat down.

            “Wow.” he said in the exact same tone Anya had moments earlier before a realization struck him. “Is he the same Bucky Barnes that was friends with Captain America?”

            “I am, kiddo, and I know I should be in my nineties by now, but the bad guys that took me, pumped me full of an unfinished Super-Soldier serum that protected everything by my left arm from the fall off the train, gave me a metal replacement arm instead, and made me hurt people, they like to use cryogenics to keep people like me frozen on ice for as long as I’m useful. I only broke out for good last month.” Bucky answered, turning away from his rifle.

            “Is everything good?” Anya asked.

            “Pep’s in no danger. If anyone’s at risk down there, it’s Hammer, and I frankly don’t give a damn what happens to him at this point so long as he’s punished.” he answered before taking a good look at Peter. “Yep, definitely looks like him.”

            “Like who?” the almost nine-year-old asked, trying his best not to sound whiny.

            “We shouldn’t be the ones to tell you, sweetie, but you’ll find out soon enough, I'm sure. Do you wanna stay up here with Bucky while I go look for your aunt and uncle?” Anya asked, and the boy shrugged.

            “It’s safer than being down there, right?” he asked, and she nodded.

            “Yep, it is if only because there aren’t any cool mutants or awesome super soldiers down there.” Bucky supplied, and Peter remained seated.

            “I’ll be back as soon as I can, boys, so don’t get into too much trouble.” she told them before seeking out the Parkers’ minds and teleporting as close to them as she could manage.

            Finding May and Ben was the easy part for Anya; getting them to trust her was another story all together. It took ten minutes, but she finally got them to believe who she was when Tony and Natasha’s voices were suddenly in her ear. The drones were rigged to explode.

            “Look, you know who I am, but we don’t have time for much else. I’m getting the two of you out of her like I did with Peter earlier.” she said, grabbing their wrists and teleporting out as the blasts went off around them.

            Landing back on the roof with Bucky and Peter, she released her grip. The two pulled the boy into their arms and clung to him as if he would disappear if they let go. Anya and Bucky understood the feeling, memories of an infant Becca with RSV flickering to life in their minds, so they stood back and let the small family reunite in peace. When Tony and Pepper landed on the roof beside them moments later, however, she watched as everything fell into place in her brother’s mind.

            “I don’t know whether I should be proud or terrified that I almost lost him.” he said in barely a whisper.

            “I’d go with both, personally.” Bucky volunteered, and Tony felt a little more at ease at his brother-in-law’s words.

            “Thanks, Buck.” he muttered, acknowledging the pat on the back he received from the sniper as May and Ben Parker turned to see the two couples standing with them on the roof.

            “Thank you for rescuing Peter, Mr. Stark, and thank you for getting him up here to safety, Dr. Barnes.” May said kindly, but Tony stared straight ahead at the small boy.

            “My sister told me what you did back there with the gauntlet, buddy, and I have to say that I’m impressed. I couldn’t even have managed that when I was your age, and I’d already been practicing for four years.” he told the boy, and Peter blushed.

            “You mean, you’re the one whose powers are like mine? Anya said she knew someone, but I didn’t think she meant you!” he asked excitedly, and Tony nodded.

            “When I first started controlling just metal, I almost ran myself through with a metal pipe in my Vati’s lab, and he was not happy with me. Pops wasn’t too thrilled either, but he had my older brothers to deal with, and David and Alex both are enough without Sean or Hank being thrown into the mix.” the gold-titanium-alloy-clad hero said.

            “Dr. Lehnsherr is your Vati, and Professor Xavier is your Pops, right? Anya told me about them when she told me about the X-gene.” Peter asked, and Tony confirmed the question as true.

            “I’m sorry, X-gene?” Ben asked, and Tony sighed.

            “Would the two of you be available to talk sometime soon? It’s about why Peter can send metal things flying, make the power go out when he’s upset, and probably know what you’re thinking without you ever voicing your thoughts.” he asked the pair.

            “He’s not Richard’s after all. I wish I would’ve put money on that.” May said in a melancholic tone, and Tony nodded.

            “You shouldn’t blame Mary, and I know that Richard loved him like he was his own regardless of the truth. Trust me, I blamed Mary for the last five-and-a-half months. Ultimately, she made the right choice.” he said, and Ben looked shaken.

            “How…” he trailed off.

            “Um, if you would rather discuss this in a more comfortable setting, I live in Brooklyn, we have the mansion in Manhattan, or you could give me your address so I can teleport us to one of those places. Tony, don’t give me any crap about you flying; the damage the suit sustained means it won’t be flying any time soon.” Anya offered, and Peter was the first to speak.

            “Can we go to your apartment, Anya? I wanna meet PEG! I’ve never met a real AI before, and Bucky says she’s capable of forming her own personality. I didn’t even know an AI could do that!” Peter rambled, and Anya chuckled as she looked at May and Ben for permission.

            “We wouldn’t be imposing?” May asked, and Anya shook her head.

            “The only people who normally stop in are my husband’s great-niece and nephew, but they’re both out of town this week. Our daughter is with her grandparents upstate, and Tony and Pepper are already going to be there anyway.” she insisted, and the older woman had what would’ve been a silent conversation had Anya not listened in just to be on the safe side.

            ‘Tony, they’re worried you’ll take Peter away from them. They love him, probably as much as you do already, and they don’t want to lose him but know they’re no match for our legal team.’ she shot to her brother mentally, and he had to stop himself from pinching his brow.

            ‘I’d never do that. One, I don’t know my own son well enough to take him away from everything he knows. Two, I’m not cruel. Three, that would be a disservice to not only Richard’s memory, but to the work that these two have put into raising Peter.’ he replied, and she agreed.

            “We’ll go with you, Dr. Barnes.” Ben said, and Anya told everyone to hold hands before teleporting off to Brooklyn.

Chapter Text

            Sitting in the Brooklyn loft, Tony and Anya told May and Ben their story, with the occasional input from Bucky and Pepper, while Peter asked PEG all sorts of questions and entertained himself in Becca’s playroom. It seemed to be more shocking to the couple that their nephew’s father was Tony Stark than that he was a mutant. Their experience with Peter’s abilities over the years had made them think along the lines of him being a possible mutant before, but his level of intellect was starting to make further sense.

            “When I found out about him last year, I put off trying to meet him for multiple reasons. First, and probably the most important reason at the time, was that Obadiah Stane, mine and Dad’s former business partner, was trying to kill me to get my shares in the company. What he didn’t know at the time was that, before I found out about Peter, everything I have would’ve been left to Anya and Becca if something happened to me. Within a week of finding out about him, and Stane’s death, I legally changed everything in my will. Pepper is the CEO of Stark Industries, but I am still the Chairman of the Board because I’m the majority shareholder, even beyond what Anya has by a few percentage points; if something were to happen to me, Peter would be my sole heir; as his guardians, it would likely all go into a trust that you would oversee until he’s old enough to handle it himself…not that I plan on dying soon or anything.” Tony tried to explain, but his ramblings, which Peter had obviously inherited, resulted in confused stares from the Parkers.

            “His guardians?” May asked, her husband still attempting to do the math in his head concerning Peter’s potential inheritance.

            “May, Ben, I would never take Peter away from the two of you. I might be his father, but you’ve been his de-facto parents for the past four, almost five years. Peter has a life and a home with the two of you; taking him away would be entirely selfish, and I’d never do that to anyone. Yes, I would love to get to know Peter and maybe get visitation once I move here from Malibu within the next year or so, but I won’t ask you to give him up or take him by force.” Tony told her, and the pair opened their mouths to thank him when they were cut off by a soft voice.

            “You’re my father?” Peter asked from the playroom doorway.

            “Peter-” Ben began, but the boy started apologizing.

            “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, Uncle Ben, I promise! I needed to go to the bathroom, and it was an accident!” he insisted, but both Tony and Ben brushed the boy’s worries aside.

            “Buddy, you’re not in trouble. Trust me, we all know you didn’t mean to listen, but I know I have a hard time turning away when someone’s talking about me. Why don’t you go on to the bathroom, through that door, and we’ll talk more when you’re done?” Tony bent down to look Peter in the eyes while he said this, and the nearly-nine-year-old nodded before going through the door Tony had indicated and returning a few minutes later following the sounds of the toilet flushing and the sink running long enough for the boy to wash his hands.

            “Where am I supposed to sit?” Peter asked quietly, and Anya used her powers to pull a child-sized armchair out of the playroom for him. “Thank you.”

            “You’re very welcome, sweetie. This is going to be a big conversation for you, so why don’t Uncle Bucky and I go upstairs and make some hot chocolate?” she replied, and her nephew smiled brightly at the mention of the warm beverage.

            “Coffee for me, sis?” Tony asked, and she nodded as she and Bucky made their way up the stairs towards the kitchen. “Now, what questions do you have, Peter? I know you have at least some because I know I would.”

            “Aunt May and Uncle Ben said my father is Richard Parker, but you say that you are. How?” Peter asked, his brown eyes sparkling with curiosity.

            “Well, it’s a very long story, Pete, and I’ll try to tell it as best I can. Some stuff will have to wait until you’re older, though. First, I met your mother eleven years ago; she was smart, not to mention beautiful, and she was very easy to fall in love with when I met her. I wanted to marry her, but then my godmother, my Aunt Peggy, got sick. Aunt Peggy had already lost her husband and her own children, so taking care of her came down to her biological niece, Sharon, and your Aunt Anya and me. Both of the girls were barely older than you are now at the time, and I had to make the decision to move Aunt Peggy into a retirement home. After that, I drank a lot of alcohol and went to a lot of parties. Mary, your mother, didn’t like that kind of lifestyle and left. I got angry, but I also knew she was right to leave. What I didn’t know was that she was pregnant with you when she left, and she chose to leave so you wouldn’t grow up the way I did.” Tony explained, and Peter frowned.

            “How did you grow up?” he asked, and Tony grimaced.

            “I came into my powers, my mutation manifested, when I was four. After that, I got shipped between Westchester, New York and Malibu, California a lot. When I was in Malibu with my Mom and Dad, most of my time was spent with my mom, our butler Edwin Jarvis, and his wife Anna; Dad was always busy with parties, business meetings, and stuff like that. When he was home, he drank. When I was in Westchester with Pops and Vati, most of my time was spent on schoolwork seeing as how I was a student at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters just as much as I was being raised by my godfather and his husband. Your mother didn’t want you being sent away to protect you from both the press and me, so she eliminated the source of the problem by getting away from me and my lifestyle.” Tony said, and Peter tilted his head.

            “Do you still drink and party like you did before Mommy left?” he asked, but Tony shook his head quickly.

            “No, no I don’t. I didn’t have a drink after I was kidnapped in Afghanistan, and I worked really hard on staying sober, not drinking anymore alcohol, after I got back home. Pepper can vouch for me on that.” he happily told his son, and the boy turned to the redhead.

            “He’s telling the truth, Peter, and I wouldn’t lie to you.” Pepper affirmed, and he smiled.

            “Did you really only find out about me last year?” he asked, accepting Pepper’s response and turning back to Tony, who immediately rubbed a hand across his face.

            “When your mother left, I had JARVIS, my AI, keep a file of things about her under and electronic lock and key. The information about you had been stored since the day you were born, but I never opened the file until last November when, during my first Iron Man test flight over Santa Monica Pier, a little boy’s face, your face, connected to the file when I scanned over the crowd.” he answered honestly, and Peter’s brow furrowed.

            “That was when we took our trip when the school’s power was out for a while. Why did you wait so long to tell me?” he asked, and Tony took a deep breath.

            “I was scared, bud, scared that I wouldn’t be a good dad, that you’d hate me or that you wouldn’t want me. You already had a dad, and I wasn’t sure that I’d measure up to him.” he said with a sad smile, and Peter promptly scrambled into Tony’s lap and wrapped his little arms around him as tightly as he could manage.

            “If you can have more than one dad, I think I’ll be fine. Besides, who can understand me better than you can? Aunt Anya said we have the same powers!” he told his father excitedly, and Tony beamed at his son.

            “If we have all the same powers, you’re gonna have to take a trip to Westchester with me to meet your grandparents. I’m sure your Grandpa Charles has already made up a list of things to do with you, and your Opa Erik probably plans on stuffing you full of so many sweets that I get sick.” Tony said, and Peter giggled.

            “Will they like me?” he asked hopefully, and Tony nodded.

            “Pete, buddy, they already love you. Your long list of adoptive aunts and uncles already love you, too, even Steve for whatever reason.” he said as Anya and Bucky made their way back into the room with coffee for the adults and hot chocolate for Peter and Anya herself.

            “First, I can hear your mind from here; I reached my caffeine limit this morning, and Papa’s keeping tabs on me. Second, he says it’s because we’re family; we may not always like each other, but we do always love one another.” Anya said as she sat down on the opposite side of Pepper with Bucky.

            “Point to the good Captain then, I guess.” Tony said to her before turning back to the little boy before him. “You have a lot of people who love you, Peter, and you will always have a family no matter what.”

            Happy and Natasha showed up an hour or so later, and Tony made the offer to May and Ben to let the man drive the three Parkers home. Once they’d gone, the remainder of the family gathered in the living room and started to watch Gilmore Girls reruns when Anya’s phone rang. It was Darcy, and she sounded scared.

            “Anh, I need you! Some weird alien dude fell outta the sky last night, and Jane hit him with the car on accident; we took him to the hospital, but there’s something weird going on around here. SHIELD just showed up and raided the lab!” she said in a panic.

            “Let me call Kurt, and I’ll be there in no time.” Anya assured her, ending the call and turning towards the others. “Tony, we all know Happy’s not gonna be happy about this, but can you take Bucky back up to Westchester tomorrow?”

            “Sure, but what’s going on with Darcy? That didn’t sound normal…for her.” Tony replied.

            “Jane finally found her Einstein-Rosen Bridge, and a guy came tumbling out of it. Next thing Darcy knows, SHIELD’s raiding the lab.” Anya explained, and Natasha looked confused.

            “Phil and Clint just left for New Mexico this morning.” she said, and Anya nodded.

            “Exactly, so I’m calling Kurt for a lift. Bucky can’t go because any of the HYDRA agents would make him in an instant.” the brunette replied, and the spy shrugged.

            “I’d still want backup if I were you, especially in a situation with so many unknowns. I mean, aliens?” Natasha responded, and Anya sighed.

            “Do you wanna go out there with me then?” she asked, and the redheaded spy blinked.

            “Um, sure, I suppose I could. Should I let Phil know?” Anya gave her a nod, and Natasha immediately grabbed her phone at the same time Anya grabbed hers.

            Twenty hours later, Anya and Natasha were starting to scare some of Phil’s SHIELD team with how well they got along. Whispers about someone actually making the Black Widow smile ran rampant alongside those about the blond prisoner Phil was supposed to be questioning. The man wouldn’t talk, however, and Phil had turned to the two women out of desperation.

            “Could you use telepathy on him, Anh?” Natasha asked as they brainstormed, and Anya’s smile frightened the junior agent who brought the redhead her coffee.

            “Phil, do I have your permission? The only reason I didn’t do this earlier was because I was taught to not use my powers on people being detained by the government without just cause in the absence of an alternative solution.” she asked the older agent, and he nodded.

            “I’m willing to do anything at this point. Nat can you-” Phil replied, but the redhead cut him off before he could complete his question.

            “I’ll keep studying the hammer.” he gave her a strange look. “Hey, it’s what it looks like. I’ll call it something else when someone can tell me what it actually is.”

            Natasha walked off towards where the hammer was being monitored, and Anya went into the room the man, known to her as Thor by the insistence of Darcy and Jane, sat staring at the mirrored-glass walls. He looked up as she entered, recognition briefly sweeping across his face, and she smiled. He tilted his head in confusion as she placed her right index and middle fingers to her temple.

            ‘I won’t hurt you, I promise. I’m a friend of Jane and Darcy’s, and I’m here to help. My name is Anastasia Barnes, but most people call me Anya; your name is Thor, correct?’ she asked telepathically, and he nodded.

            ‘I was not aware that Midgard had telepaths. Is this common here?’ Thor asked, and she shrugged before responding.

            ‘We have people here called mutants who possess a special genetic sequence that gives them special powers. No two mutants have exactly the same powers, but there are some with similarities. My Vati is magnetokinetic, able to control metal, and one of my brothers has super speed. My Papa and I are both telepaths, as are two of my older brothers and our younger sister. While my daughter is much like me, she differs in that she has precognitive dreams where I can teleport. Where are you from?’ she asked, and he gave a small smile.

            ‘I know you must verify my responses, so take whatever from my mind that you may need. I am Thor Odinson, Crown Prince of Asgard and Protector of the Nine Realms; in Norse mythology, I was known as the god of thunder, and that would be my hammer, Mjølnir that these agents are so dutifully studying. They won’t lift it, not with the enchantment my father placed upon it before he banished me to this place.’ he answered, and Anya checked his memories to verify his statements.

            “I believe you, Thor, and Agent Coulson will believe me. Dr. Selvig should be here soon with a change of clothes for you, and we’ll get you back to Jane’s for the night…You said your father enchanted the hammer. Why?” she asked after a few minutes, the blond being surprised when she spoke aloud.

            “I was about to be crowned King of Asgard when we were attacked by Jötuns, frost giants, and I lost my temper after convincing my shield-brothers-and-sister to go along with me and my younger brother Loki to Jötunheim for answers. My father said my actions were not that of a king, but of a boy, and he banished me. Because I could not lift the hammer when I tried, I can only assume that my father enchanted it. He used to use this tactic on my brother and me as children; we would misbehave, and he would enchant the object of our desire at the time to evade us until we learned our lesson.” Thor answered calmly, and Anya chuckled.

            “You almost caused a war, true, but banishment? I mean, I snuck an assassin into the house and all I got was a metal bracelet that kept Vati aware of where I was at all times!” she giggled out, and Thor snorted good-naturedly.

            “An assassin?” he asked, and she nodded.

            “He’s my husband and the father of my children now, but he spent nearly fifty years as a brainwashed assassin for a super-secret shadow government that tried to harness the powers of the tesseract in the 1940s so that they could control the world. They kept my now-husband in a cryogenic chamber when he wasn’t in the field, which wasn’t as often as people seem to think anyway, and the last mission he was sent on before he regained his memories was to kill my biological parents. Mom died instantly, and Dad died after begging him to save me. They knew each other before the evil group captured him, and he did what Dad asked. My powers weren’t as well-controlled when I was a child, so I accidentally ended up forming a psychic bond with him when he met my eyes for the first time. We got married four years ago, shortly after the birth of our daughter.” Anya told him quietly, and the demigod shook his head and grinned.

            “She must have been who Darcy spoke about at the diner. I can surmise that your daughter’s name is Becca, can I not?” he replied, and she nodded.

            “Darcy’s been a close friend of mine since we were in school. I’ve always been smarter than everyone else my age, so I got skipped ahead a few years to where she was, and she’s tried to be Becca’s favorite aunt since day one. The only problem is that my only biological brother and his girlfriend always win the title of favorite aunt and uncle. Darcy knows, but it doesn’t stop her from trying.” Anya explained as the door slid open to reveal Phil.

            “Selvig’s here.” he said, and Anya nodded.

            “C’mon, Thor, it’s time to get you cleaned up before that mud gets caked into your hair. Trust me, it’ll be a bitch to get out otherwise.” she told the blond, and he shrugged in agreement before following the telepath and the agent out of the room.

            Later that night, while Thor and Jane slept in lawn chairs in front of Erik’s RV, Anya and Darcy climbed out onto the roof of the main building that was both Jane’s lab and the temporary house. Anya felt the familiar sensation of being watched, so she sent a text to Natasha and to Bucky. Just as Natasha responded, Bucky was dropped off on the roof by a rather sleepy looking Kurt who gave Anya and Darcy a short wave before disappearing.

            “Barton’s over on the roof across the way.” Anya said as Bucky sunk down beside her.

            “How’s everything back at the mansion?” Darcy asked.

            “Everything’s fine…which means that it’s absolute chaos. Raven spent a whole day in her room today because there’s a new student who’s also a metamorph, and the kid’s been making money by taking tests for people. Raven told the kid that doing that was wrong, and she got about a third of the way into the lecture when she ran off babbling about sounding too much like Charles.” Bucky answered with a grin, and both women laughed.

            “I talked to Tony earlier, and he and Pepper had lunch with the Parkers before Pepper reminded him about his meeting with R&D tomorrow, prompting their flight back to Malibu this afternoon. If all goes well, he’s planning on taking Peter to meet Papa and Vati by the end of the summer.” Anya told the other two, and Bucky smiled.

            “And we’ll be able to bring Steve and Annie home sometime after the first of the year. Baby JJ should be born within a few months of Mitya, give or take.” he added before peering over the edge of the roof to see where Jane and Thor slept soundly. “He’s really a Norse god?”

            “It’s more like demi-god, honestly, an- Oh!” Anya mused, her eyes falling over the same scene as her husband’s had, the feel of the baby’s barely-formed mind presenting itself to her once more. “Someone just realized that his Papa’s here. He loves the sound of your voice.”

            Bucky smiled brightly at this and began whispering to his wife’s abdomen. Darcy giggled as she watched the scene before her unfold. She could see the strong, well-defined line between the father and unborn son. The amount of love and devotion Bucky had for someone he technically hadn’t yet met gave her hope for humanity after days like the last few she’d had.

            “I’m glad I can see how strong the lines between you guys are, both with the kids and with each other.” she said, getting the couple’s attention.

            “We’re glad you can, too. What’s bringing this on now? You haven’t been thinking like this since the first time you tried reading Kurt.” Anya replied, and Darcy realized that her friend had been glancing at her surface thoughts.

            “I can’t get a good read on Thor. I mean, I can see that he cares about Jane, that much is for sure, but his lines are hard as hell to read. It might be because he’s not human, though, since I did have problems with Hank and Kurt before I really got to know them.” Darcy said as she joined in their staring. “Once the physiology is altered, it’s harder to get a good read.”

            “This is why I like my powers more, Darce.” Anya said. “His mind was just as easy to read as anyone else’s. Well, anyone else who isn’t Logan.”

            She let out a yawn as she finished speaking, and Bucky began guiding her away from the roofline. Muffling her own yawn, Darcy started back towards the roof access door and opened it for Bucky as he led Anya through it. Anya sent Natasha a text as they were walking down the stairs, asking the redhead to let Phil know that Bucky was in the house.

            “You guys can take my bed, and I’ll crash in Jane’s room. She’ll probably be less weirded out by that.” Darcy told them as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

            “Thanks, and good-night, Darcy.” Bucky said as Anya just waived tiredly, the baby’s sudden alertness draining her faster than she’d anticipated.

            “Night, guys!” she called over her shoulder before slipping into Jane’s room.

            The next morning, Anya and Jane introduced Bucky and Thor to one another as the two couples prepared breakfast. Darcy was busy tending to Selvig’s hangover, but she watched as a new thread, one formed from the experience of being in a war, joined the assassin and the Asgardian prince. Just as Thor turned to set a plate of eggs and toast in front of the Swedish scientist, a knock sounded on the glass double-doors. The demi-god looked up and smiled widely before turning to Anya.

            “Anya, look, it’s my shield-brothers and shield-sister, Lady Sif!” he said excitedly, but she frowned at him.

            “They want to take you home, Thor, and their memories don’t look very pleasant. Your brother didn’t reverse your father’s last command before falling into the Odinsleep, banishing you, so they went against him to find where you were sent.” she told him, and he stilled.

            “Loki said Father had died. Why would he lie to me?” Thor asked, mostly to himself, but Anya answered anyway.

            “As someone with multiple siblings, it’s very easy to be both very jealous and very protective of your siblings. I have an older brother, Hank, who knows more about medicine and genetics, due to how much time he and Papa spend together in the lab, than I could ever hope to learn. Before I accepted that I could eventually learn this stuff myself, I was highly jealous of him, but no one could say anything bad about him in front of me either. It doesn’t matter that we’re both adopted, and it doesn’t matter that he’s covered in bright blue fur; he’s my brother. No one is allowed to pick on any of the siblings except for one of the other siblings. That’s how family acts. You’d have to talk to Loki about it, but he’s probably enjoying being king right now even though he knows that it’s temporary, but he also wants to protect you because he knows that you can’t be King of Asgard while basically human.” she said, and Thor sighed.

            “If they have committed high treason against the rightful ruler of Asgard, which is Loki given my banishment, we should expect trouble. Would it be much of an imposition to ask for you to see in any of your relatives would be willing to help contain whatever Loki decides to send after those four?” he responded, and Anya smirked.

            “Papa was checking in on me when they got here. He’s gathering his team together as we speak.” she admitted, and Thor smiled before moving to let his friends inside.

            “It is most wonderful to see you all, but you should not have come here.” he said as each of the four wrapped him in an excited hug.

            “Thor, we’ve come to bring you home.” the woman, who Thor had called Lady Sif, said with a confused smile.

            “My father banished me, and Loki is the rightful king. He knows that I cannot go home while mortal, for that would be a disaster, and you have likely doomed us all now that you have committed treason by coming here against the wishes of your king.” Thor told them, and it seemed to dawn on them that he was right.

            “We only have a mere handful of people to fight whatever Loki sends our way, so we must make a plan and fast.” Sif said, and blue smoke filled the room.

            “Yeah, we’re about six steps ahead of you on that one.” Alex said as the smoke cleared to reveal the portion of the X-Men that Charles had gathered to help. “Dr. Alex Summers, nice to meet you.”

            “I was not aware that magic existed on Midgard.” the blond friend of Thor’s said, and Darcy rolled her eyes at the comment.

            “It’s a genetic mutation, not magic. This, this is science.” she said, gesturing towards herself and the X-Men.

            “Forgive them, friends, for magic and science are much the same back home.” Thor said in an attempt at smoothing over the situation just as Anya’s cellphone began ringing.

            “It’s Nat.” she said to Bucky before answering the call. “Hey, Romanoff, what’s wrong?”

            “Hey, Anh, we have a problem. We know that some of Thor’s friends showed up a little bit ago, the agents on the rooftop along Main Street reported them, but that Einstein-Rosen Bridge thing that Foster was talking about is flaring up again. Were they expecting someone else?” the Russian assassin asked.

            “Thor’s friends weren’t exactly invited. Long story short, they committed treason by showing up here to take Thor home, which he doesn’t even want to do himself seeing as how he’s pretty much human, and his little brother, the current King of Asgard while their dad’s in a coma, is likely sending something or someone after them right now to bring them back to face punishment.” Anya explained. “Papa’s here with Alex, Pietro, Wanda, Logan, Warren, Kurt, and Vati; we’re about to start evacuating the town.”

            “I’ll tell Phil and Clint, and I’ll tell you what I see when this thing stops spinning.” Natasha replied, and the call ended.

            “When did we decide on evacuating the town?” Jane asked, looking around the room for an answer.

            “It’s always step number one when it can be taken. If we can get the civilian population as low as possible before the fighting starts, we reduce the number of them that can be hurt or killed in the process of stopping whatever foe we’re up against, Dr. Foster.” Charles stated.

            “Speaking of, I want anyone who looks relatively normal on evac duty. Except for Thor, I want all people not from this planet to go with Kurt and Warren to the far edge of town towards where you all arrived; Thor is on evac duty until everyone is gone since he’s mortal for the time being. Pops, you and Piet need to go to wherever SHIELD set themselves up and find Nat; bring her in on the plan, but don’t out any of the snake-agents you come across because it’s not worth it right now. Once the town is cleared, we’ll regroup for Phase Two.” Alex said, delivering orders in a manner that seemed to impress even Thor’s dark-haired friend.

            “Who are you?” he asked in astonishment.

            “Hogun, he’s already told us his name.” Thor pointed out, but Alex chuckled.

            “It’s okay, I doubt you guys have encountered this many mutants at one time before, and it sounds like you haven’t been to Earth for a while. Like I said, my name is Alex Summers, but I also go by the callsign Havok, and these are Kurt or Nightcrawler, Warren or Angel, Logan or Wolverine, Charles or Professor X, Erik or Magneto, Pietro, and Wanda; they don’t have callsigns yet since they’re too young to officially join the team. This was just a special circumstance sort of thing.” he explained, and the twins huffed.

            “Don’t listen to my brother. I’m Quicksilver.” Pietro said, and Wanda nodded.

            “I prefer Scarlet Witch.” she added, and the Asgardians gave a nod of acceptance.

            “Whatever the two of you want to be called, you’re still not official X-Men.” Alex warned them, and they knew better than to antagonize him further in the field.

            The building shook, and Anya turned to her X-Family. She and Alex shared a nod, and a slight smirk appeared on her face. Showtime.

            “We need to get moving. If Kurt and Warren are taking the Asgardians back to the edge of town, I can teleport Papa and Pietro to the SHIELD basecamp.” Anya said, and she grabbed her brother and adoptive father by the wrist, teleporting them away before anyone could say otherwise and stop her.

            No sooner had Anya rematerialized alongside her two companions did she see the large robotic creature blast the SHIELD armada of Acuras to pieces. The agents came rushing back towards her, and she immediately latched on to Natasha and Phil the moment she saw them.

            “Oh, thank God, you’re both okay!” she cried as she wrapped her arms around the pair.

            “Any idea what this thing is?” Natasha asked, but all three shook their heads.

            “Thor said that Loki, his brother, might be sending someone or something to retrieve his friends for disobeying him. He’s currently the King of Asgard, so they’ve committed treason. I brought Professor X and Quicksilver here under Havok’s orders to help however we can. Angel and Nightcrawler are headed this way with Thor’s friends, and everyone else is getting everyone in town to safety. From what I can see about that…thing, it’s metal. All we have to do is get Magneto close enough to it, and it’ll be over in seconds.  Do you agree, Professor?” Anya explained rapidly, and Charles inclined his head in agreement.

            “Magneto would be able to tear it down without issue, I think. At the very least, he could hold it in place while another destroyed it.” Charles said, and one of the agents, a man with sandy hair that Anya felt sure was Clint Barton, scoffed.

            “How’re we supposed to get Magneto here?” he asked as if the mere notion of Erik’s presence would be impossible.

            “He’s in town, helping with the evacuation, Agent Barton. When our daughter called us and asked for help, neither of us could sit at home and wait for news of whatever occurred here today. Anastasia, darling, would you please go and fetch your father.” Charles said, turning from Barton to Anya.

            “Of course, Papa, I shouldn’t be long.” she replied, teleporting out in the blink of an eye.

            Anya found Erik manipulating the engines of several vehicles to turn over to allow those evacuating a quick exit. She told him of Charles’ request just as the Warriors Three, Lady Sif, and their two X-Men guards reappeared. Erik called out to Kurt in rapid German to take him to Charles, and the two were gone in a second puff of blue smoke. Looking around, Anya saw the robot marching towards where they all stood in the center of town.

            “Havok, what’s the plan!” she called, and Alex was at her side in seconds.

            “You said that you and the Professor think Magneto can hold that thing, right? Now that everyone’s heading away from here, we have to try containing it until he can get a grip on the thing. Thor!” Alex called out, and the brawny blond hurried to them.

            “What is it that you require?” he asked, and Alex looked at Anya, who gave him a nod.

            “Theoretically, if you had your powers, how would you fight this thing?” Anya asked.

            “The Destroyer is a mechanical avatar for the king’s use. The easiest way of defeating it is by shutting down the electric relays within its body, and I would flood it with lightning until I shorted out every relay it has. Does this help?” Thor said, and Anya and Alex shared a wicked grin that told him it did.

            “You don’t even understand how much that helps, buddy.” Alex said, and Anya nodded.

            “I’ll go get Remy, you work on containing the Destroyer, okay? See you in a second.” she told them, relaying the plan to Bucky before teleporting all the way to New Orleans where she landed in the middle of a stand off between her favorite Master Thief and an assassin who had no clue what hit her when she crumpled to the ground in a heap of unconsciousness.

            “No time to talk, Rem, because we’ve got a situation in New Mexico with your name written all over it. Well, you and Vati. We’ve got to get back before the alien robot flattens the town and Darcy has nowhere to live.” Anya said, and the thief held out his hand wordlessly.

            In an instant, New Orleans was gone. The New Mexico desert surrounded them, and Anya had never seen Alex look so relieved.

            “Gambit, blast away at the robot until it’s down, got it?” Alex ordered, and Remy grinned devilishly, which wasn’t hard as his glasses slipped down his nose to reveal his red and black eyes glinting mischievously.

            “It’d be Remy’s pleasure.” he said, and the new plan quickly became getting the other fighters away from Remy and his deck of cards.

            “I don’t understand. How is that man going to blast the Destroyer with nothing more than playing cards?” Sif asked as Anya ushered her towards the diner.

            “Gambit’s gift if called Molecular Acceleration, meaning that he can give a charge to anything. Just watch.” Anya said, and moments later a purple flash against the Destroyer’s metal body signaled Remy’s first strike.

            This continued for several minutes when two things occurred. First, Anya heard Charles in her head telling her that, even with his own power boosting his husband’s, Erik would not be able to hold the Destroyer for much longer. Second, Remy projected his own thoughts back towards her, signaling that he was running low on cards.

            “Gambit, fall back!” she shouted, and the Cajun was quick to follow her orders.

            “Why does he never listen to me that well?” Alex asked, and Anya smirked.

            “He knows the dads would be furious with you if you killed him, but he also knows that neither of them can stay mad at me long enough to care if I did it.” she said, and Alex snorted.

            “And you say Kurt’s the golden child.” he muttered as Bucky and Gambit both appeared.

            “He is the golden child. Anya’s platinum.” Bucky said wryly, and his wife smacked his flesh shoulder in response.

            “New plan?” Remy asked.

            “We need to get an explosive charge inside the thing. If we do, we can blow it up from the inside.” Bucky said, and Remy smirked.

            “Wolfie got his rifle?” he asked, and Bucky chuckled darkly.

            “When don’t I?” the sniper replied, and the two looked over at Kurt who sighed before teleporting them both to the closest rooftop.

            “What are they doing?” Thor asked.

            “White Wolf’s going to shoot the Destroyer, and Gambit is going to charge the bullet while it’s in the air. It should explode when the charged bullet hits the flames. We just need to get it to open its face again.” Alex explained quickly.

            “Leave that to me.” Thor said, and Anya caught his thoughts and shook her head.

            “Thor, we both know that plan sucks!” she hissed, but the demi-god wasn’t swayed.

            “Anya, I must do this. I can talk to him, I am his brother, and I can keep him from hurting anyone else.” Thor insisted, and Anya rolled her eyes.

            “Don’t do anything stupider than this, alright? When that bullet goes in, you run back. Got it?” she said, and he nodded.

            “I understand, Anya.” he said, walking towards the metallic soldier and calling to it as though he were calling to his brother. “Loki! I know you can hear me, brother, and I am not angry with you. I understand now, and I am sorry if anything I have ever done has upset you or made you feel unequal. Please, do not cause any more harm here today, to these innocent people, Loki, for they are not a part of this. Yes, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three should face punishment for disobeying you, their king, but not like this. I know that you were only looking out for me, and for Asgard, and I accept the fact that I am in no fit state to be king right now. I am not even sure that I still wish to be king, honestly. But, at this moment, I am still the heir apparent. The oath I took when I was named as such, and the oath I was meant to take as the new king, states that it is my responsibility to protect the nine realms. I must protect this realm and her people as best I can, and I can do that now by saying this. Loki, should you truly wish to harm someone for however it is you feel, do not harm these people. Pick me, for it is my fault. I would not be here, and none of this would be happening, if I had only listened to you. Pick me!”

            Just as Thor finished speaking, the Destroyer opened its masked face and allowed the flames to rise. Within seconds, the charged bullet struck. The Asgardian robot combusted in a blindingly bright blast of fire, and Thor was blown back towards where their forces were gathered. Kurt brought Bucky and Remy back to ground level, and everyone circled Thor’s still body. The ground began to shake beneath their feet, and Anya heard Natasha’s frantic calls in her mind. Her eyes snapped up to the sky, and one word fell from her lips.

            “Mjølnir.” she breathed out, and Bucky’s head whipped in her direction.

            “We should run then, right?” he asked, and she nodded.

            “This is about to get even more interesting.” she said, taking off as far back from Thor as she could manage, making everyone else follow suit.

            Moments later, the hammer that no one had been able to move landed with a loud clap of thunder in Thor’s outstretched hand. When the light faded away from the blond, his true appearance that Anya had seen in his memories stood before them. The first to come out of her stupor, Anya hurried over to her friend.

            “I’ve made the decision to adopt you as my newest older brother, and I am so proud of you!” she said as she threw her arms around his neck, and he laughed heartily.

            “I would be honored to have you for a sister, Anya, and I am glad to have made you proud. I fear, however, that I must return home before my brother does any further damage. He can be…dramatic.” Thor said, and she nodded as they parted.

            “I’ll send Jane over then.” she told him, and he blushed as she made her way over to the astrophysicist and projected her thoughts into Jane’s mind.

            Jane went over to Thor, and the two spoke quietly for a few moments before Thor wrapped an arm around her waist and flew the two of them back towards where the Bi-Frost had dropped the Asgardians off previously. Kurt and Anya nodded at one another, and two groups formed on either side of the two teleporters. Moments later, everyone stood alongside the SHIELD agents as Thor and Jane landed in front of them. Charles stepped up beside Bucky and cloaked the assassin from view.

            “Heimdall, open the Bi-Frost!” Thor called, and nothing happened for several minutes.

            Finally, after two additional calls to the all-seeing Asgardian, a storm seemed to gather overhead. A nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach told Anya that one last thing needed to be done before Thor left the planet. As soon as Jane had stepped over to where Darcy was standing, the latter weeping slightly at the threads she was seeing form between Thor and everyone present, Anya made her way over to the demi-god.

            “Thor, if you go home, you may not come back for a while. Call it a gut feeling, maybe an instinct, or even a form of precognition from my telepathy, but I can feel it that something bad is about to happen. I don’t think that a psychic link will stretch as far as Asgard, but I want you to promise me something. The second you make it back to Earth, project your thoughts to me. All you have to do is focus on me as you think, and I will hear you. If you need my help, never be afraid to ask. Do you promise?” she said to him, and he nodded.

            “Yes, sister, I promise to alert you as soon as I am able to return. I pray that you are wrong, but I am prepared if you are right. Thank you, Anastasia, for helping me understand my brother in a way that I do not think that I ever could have without you. Perhaps I might meet my new niece when I return.” Thor said, and Anya smiled.

            “If it takes long enough, you might get to meet your new nephew, too.” she said, backing away as the aurora overhead increased.

            “Shalom, brother.” Anya said softly as the dark clouds whipped around Thor and the four warriors, obscuring them from view.

            Late that night, Anya woke to the sound of her daughter’s cries. Becca had returned to her parents as soon as Phil had released Anya, realizing that he couldn’t get a statement from Bucky so long as there were possible HYDRA agents around them, and Anya could tell by her cries that she was having another nightmare. Easing her daughter awake, she asked what the girl had seen.

            “Mama, who’s Loki?” Becca asked instead.

            “He’s your Uncle Thor’s little brother. Why, baby?” Anya asked in reply.

            “The bad man is going to hurt him. He doesn’t want to hurt us, but the bad man is gonna tell him that he has to do it. He’s gonna need our help.” Becca told her mother, and Anya frowned at the news.

            “When is Loki going to try to hurt us, sweetheart?” she asked.

            “Not until Unca’ Steve and Auntie Annie are home.” the girl said firmly.

            “Then we’ve got time. Now, do you think you can go back to sleep on your own, or do you want to come back to mine and Papa’s room for the rest of the night?” Anya asked, and Becca chose the latter with a smile on her face.

            Even with the danger looming ahead of them, Anya couldn’t be bothered to worry about who was going to be torturing Loki in the darkness of that night. Her only concerns in that moment were about her daughter, unborn son, and husband. They would face whatever came at them together, and that would be enough…for now.

Chapter Text

            The morning of January 18, 2011 was a cold day in Manhattan. It was a bitterly 34° as Anya and Tony stood on the front steps of the Stark Mansion at nine o’clock in the morning that day, Tony fumbling with the keys in his gloved hands to find the one for the front door. Anya grew tired of her brother’s search and used her powers to open the door instead, and he shot her a warning look.

            “What? I got tired of waiting. No one else is out here or can see that you didn’t put a key in the lock. It’s near freezing out here, and I’m eight months pregnant. Sorry if I’m a little impatient, Tony.” she told him in a hushed voice, and he ushered her inside instead of arguing.

            “Kurt’s meeting us down there, right?” he asked as he closed the door and locked it behind them.

            “Yeah, and he’s going to teleport Annie to Hank’s lab so Hank can do a small diagnostic check-up on her and the baby before we take them back to my place for her to rest.” Anya said.

            “Any idea how close Pops and the crew are to Steve?” Tony asked as the descended the stairs to the basement where Howard’s old lab was tucked away from view.

            “Last I heard from Papa, it should only be a few more days before he calls Kurt to bring them home.” Anya answered as they neared the large steel door sealed with a retinal scanner.

            “How’s Natashalie holding up at the mansion?” Tony asked as he bent down to put his eye on level with the scanner.

            “Nat’s healing really well. Since we know where Bucky’s been, it’s likely that HYDRA sent one of the other Soldiers to take her out, but they weren’t expecting their target to have backup in the form of Warren this time.” Anya said, pausing just as the door opened. “She did say something weird, though, when we talked last night. She’s been having cramps.”

            “How is that strange?” Tony asked as they walked into the darkened room and felt around for a light switch.

            “Tony, the Red Room’s ‘graduation ceremony’ was for the girls to undergo complete hysterectomies. Nat doesn’t have a uterus, or ovaries, so she shouldn’t be having cramps.” Anya explained, getting a curious expression in reply as soon as the lights cut on via Tony’s powers.

            “Sorry, I got tired of waiting.” he parroted her earlier comment before continuing. “What if it’s because of the transfusions? Warren’s blood has a healing factor in it, right? Maybe it’s potent enough to do the impossible?”

            “You think Warren’s blood is healing her in every way it possibly can?” she asked, and her brother nodded. “It’s regrowing her missing reproductive organs?”

            “If you can adopt an alien, I say that anything is possible. Nat is biologically too young for those organs to be missing under most logical circumstances, and Warren’s healing factor is probably reacting to that. A single transfusion from Warren in 1989 repaired Pop’s spinal cord from where Vati accidentally severed it in 1962. If one can do that, then what do you think that the three that Nat’s had can do?” he said, and Anya felt her breath hitch in her throat both at her brother’s logic and at the sight of the large cryo-chamber before them.

            “Miracles.” she let out breathlessly, and the two got to work on releasing Anna-Claire Rogers and her unborn son.

            Twelve hours later, Anya was alerted by PEG that Anna-Claire was finally awake and alert. Leaving a nervous Bucky helping Becca learn a new song on the piano, the twenty-three-year-old walked down the hall towards the room in which her sister-in-law had been placed. She opened the door slowly, not barging into the room in an effort to not scare the blonde.

            “Annie?” she asked, and the woman turned from where she stood at the large windows to fix Anya with her baby blue eyes.

            “Only my family calls me that. How do you know what my family calls me?” Anna-Claire replied, somewhat unsure of herself as she paused. “Are we family?”

            “I know, and that’s because Bucky told me; we might not be blood related, but I’d like to think that we’re family.” Anya said, and blue eyes went wide.

            “How do you know my brother? Is he here?” Anna-Claire asked quickly.

            “Your brother is my husband, and he’s in the living room with our daughter. He really wants to see you, but he’s not the same man he was when you went into cryo. He may still look twenty-seven, but it’s been almost seventy-two years since you went under and everyone thought you dead.” Anya explained, and the other woman gasped.

            “Seventy-two years? How is he still so young?” she asked, and Anya frowned.

            “Not long after you went into cryo, Chamberlain’s appeasement policy with Hitler’s Nazi party went pear-shaped. Germany invaded Poland, and another Great War broke out in Europe. Soon after, Japan got involved. They bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and President Roosevelt entered us into the war. Bucky enlisted almost right away, as you’d expect, but Steve kept getting denied, for obvious reasons. The night before Bucky shipped out for the 107^th in Europe, the boys went to Howard Stark’s showcase, the Stark Expo, so Bucky could have fun and geek out over science stuff one last time. Bucky ended up going dancing with a few young ladies, and Steve tried enlisting again.” Anya began, and Anna-Claire sighed.

            “That sounds like my dumbass husband.” she said, half under her breath, and Anya giggled slightly.

            “Steve ended up meeting a man, Dr. Abraham Erskine, that night. Dr. Erskine was looking for candidates for a project through the Strategic Scientific Reserve codenamed Project Rebirth. He picked Steve because of how he answered the question ‘Do you want to kill Nazis’. Do you know how Steve answered?” Anya continued.

            “Probably something about how much he hates bullies, am I right?” Anna-Claire asked as an answer.

            “I believe his exact words, as recorded in his file, were ‘I don’t want to kill anybody. I just don’t like bullies; I don’t care where they’re from,’ give or take. Erskine insisted on putting him through, and Steve left for basic training just after Bucky left for Europe the next day. After proving that he was the man for the project, Steve was injected with the serum that Erskine had developed, known as the Super-Soldier Serum, and it turned him into a muscular man who stands 6’2” and weighs about 240lbs. Erskine was assassinated minutes later, and without any proof that Steve wasn’t a fluke, the army shuffled him off to do USO shows to promote the sale of war bonds.” Anya told her sister-in-law, and Anna-Claire rolled her eyes.

            “They turned him into a preforming monkey, you mean?” she asked sarcastically, and Anya nodded.

            “He sketched himself as a monkey riding a unicycle across a high wire dressed in the Captain America outfit that they dressed him in for the shows. Within an hour of making that sketch, he found out that Bucky and over half his unit was missing in action and set off on an unsanctioned mission to rescue them. When he found Bucky, their enemy group, HYDRA, which had been masquerading as a weapons development branch of the Nazi regime, had injected him with a, for lack of a better word, bastardized version of the serum Steve had been injected with; it gave him a certain level of protection, but it was nowhere near as dramatic as what it did to Steve; all of the changes were internal for him. All of the 107^th who’d been captured were freed, and Bucky became Steve’s second-in-command of the newly established Howling Commandoes; they were responsible for tracking down every HYDRA base and leveling them. It was on one of these missions that Bucky appeared to have been killed, and Steve crashed a plane into the northern Atlantic Ocean within a month of believing that Bucky was dead. While Steve’s been frozen, but alive, in the ice for the last sixty-seven years, your brother wasn’t as lucky. He survived falling from the HYDRA train that the Howlies were trying to overtake, but he was kidnapped by the Russians.” Anya said, and Anna-Claire tensed.

            “What happened to my brother?” she asked.

            “His left arm was mangled, beyond what anyone without a genetic mutation involving a healing ability could save, so it was amputated by the Russians before he was put into a cryo chamber not all that different from the one you were in, honestly. He was brought back out a few years later to be fitted with a titanium prosthetic arm before having his memories wiped without his consent. HYDRA turned him into their favorite assassin, and he ended up being so good at it that he was loaned out to the Russians again for him to train their young women in a place known as the Red Room, and he only stopped training those girls in the late 1990s after one of them escaped and began working for our side.” Anya told her, pausing before moving into how she and Bucky met. “In November of 1991, HYDRA sent Bucky, known as either The Asset or the Winter Soldier, to kill a man working on a new Super-Soldier Serum because this man was close to finding a way to replicate it and outing HYDRA from where they were hiding within the SSRs successor, SHIELD. The man that he killed was my father, Howard Stark, and he also killed my mother, Maria. I was in the car with them when he caused it to crash, and my father recognized Bucky; he begged for Bucky to spare me because I was three-years-old at the time, and Bucky made the mistake of looking into my eyes. You see, my brother and I are both mutants, and our powers are mental. When Bucky looked into my eyes, I forged a psychic link with him that’s still there now. I broke HYDRA’s mind control on him, and I’ve helped make sure that it stays broken ever since.”

            “He killed your parents, and you married him?” Anna-Claire asked in disbelief.

            “That’s always the first question people seem to ask. Yes, but I know him, know his mind well enough to know that none of what he did before HYRDA’s mind control was broken was truly his fault.” Anya said, smiling softly as she heard her sister-in-law’s unasked question that was being unintentionally projected at her. “I forgave him. Falling in love with him was easy because I never blamed him for what he did on HYDRA’s behalf. How can you blame someone for doing something that they did knowing that, if they failed, they would be tortured back into submission and forcibly reprogramed if not killed?”

            “I don’t think you can. Huh, I just realized that you still haven’t told me your name.” the blonde said, and brunette giggled.

            “You’d be right about that. My name is Anastasia Margaret Barnes, née Stark, but most everyone calls me Anya, even Steve.” she said.

            “Steve? You said that he’s frozen in the northern Atlantic Ocean.” Anna-Claire challenged, and Anya grinned.

            “As you and I speak, there is a team working on bringing Steve home. In fact, he should be home within the next week. My gift, my powers, allow me to speak to people in their minds. You spoke with Steve before we removed you from the cryo chamber, and you spoke with a man named Charles Xavier, right?” Anya asked.

            “Yes, but I thought that was all a hallucination or a dream. It was real?” Anna-Claire replied in mild shock.

            “It was very real. Professor Xavier is my brother’s godfather, and I consider him and his husband , Dr. Erik Lehnsherr, to be my second set of parents. I even refer to them as Papa and Vati; like me, Papa has the ability to talk telepathically and create links. Big difference between our gifts is that I can make my links permanent where his are only temporary. When he spoke with the two of you, Papa let the two of you speak to each other and determined that your baby is a boy. Steve is really excited, about everything, and can’t wait to get home. But, and this should go without saying given that it’s Steve, he’s worried that you won’t think of him the same way once you see him the way he is now. He’s afraid that you won’t still love him.” Anya said, and Anna-Claire rolled her eyes.

            “I didn’t marry him for his looks to begin with, and I’m the one who basically faked my own death. I should be the one being worried about if he still loves me, not the other way around, right? He should hate me.” the blonde argued, but Anya shrugged.

            “That’s what unconditional love is, Annie.” she said. “I was six months pregnant with Becca before Bucky even found out, I’d even closed the psychic link between us to keep him from finding out for as long as I could, and I thought he’d be furious when he finally knew about her. He wasn’t though; he was upset with himself for me getting pregnant when I was only eighteen, but I reminded him that I was just as complicit in creating her as he was, that I was about to start a PhD program, and that I had more money than God to take care of myself; he eased up on the guilt after that. I’ve talked to Steve a couple of times now, and the only thing he’s angry about is the fact that you didn’t tell him what you were doing and that, even after they actually met during Project Rebirth, Dad never told him.”

            Anna-Claire went silent at this, and Anya observed her for a few minutes before isolating the issue at her sister-in-law’s core. In the entire time Anya had been in the room with her, she had yet to tell Anna-Claire the one thing she wanted to hear. Anya stood up and began walking towards the door before turning around and speaking to Anna-Claire once more.

            “Neither you nor the baby are sick. There is a safe cure for tuberculosis for pregnant women now, but it wasn’t what Howard gave you. Instead, you, and therefore the baby, were injected with the last vial of Steve’s blood taken after he’d gotten the serum. Though we aren’t sure if you’ll have any specific side-effect from the serum, your infected cells have repaired themselves. You and your baby are both very healthy.” she told the blonde, and Anna-Claire looked up at her. “Bucky will be in to see you in a minute.”

            While Bucky went in to see his sister, Anya gave Becca a bath. Bucky and Anna-Claire were still talking when it was time for Becca to go to sleep, but the four-year-old refused to even go to her bedroom until she could give her father a hug. A knock sounded on the front door, and this acted as enough of a distraction for Anya to allow Becca to slip past her and go into the guest room where her aunt and father were. Bucky didn’t even slow down in his conversation with his sister as he scooped his daughter up and settled her in his lap.

            “-vie said you guys had decided on naming the baby after his dad and me, I was surprised. I mean, Joseph Rogers I understood, but me? That was a shock.” he said, glad to hear his sister’s laughter once more.

            “You were our first choice for godfather, too, ya know.” Anna-Claire said, her eyes drifting down to the little girl tracing over what looked to be a tattoo of an encircled letter X on Bucky’s left wrist. “This lovely little lady must be Rebecca.”

            “I’m only Rebecca if I’m in real trouble with Mama, Papa, Uncle Tony, Aunt Pepper, Opa Erik, or Grandpa Charles.” the preschooler said without removing her eyes from her father’s wrist. “It’s just Becca, and Scotty calls me Bex.”

            “Scotty?” Anna-Claire asked, and Bucky nodded.

            “Becky’s grandson and granddaughter live nearby, and they were the first people outside of Anya’s family to find out that I was alive. Scott and Kim are excited to meet you, but they want you to have more time to adjust before they visit.” Bucky explained, and Anna-Claire went to respond when the door opened to reveal Anya looking slightly panicked.

            “Houston, we have a problem.” she said, and Bucky stared back at her in confusion for a moment before standing up and placing Becca in his chair.

            “How did he get here? How’d no one notice that he’d gone for so long?” he asked, but his wife shot him a look that he identified as a sarcastic one.

            “I already called Ben, and he’s getting May calmed down now. Tony’s gonna pick him up and keep him tonight; we’ve all agreed to keep him home tomorrow, and I’ll talk with him. We’d prefer it be Papa he talks to, but they’re still a few days out, so I’ll have to do.” she replied.

            “Does Pete need anything, anything at all? He’s not hurt?” Bucky asked, and Anya shook her head while giving him a gentle smile.

            “Right now, he seems as okay as he’s going to let us see him be, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind talking to you in a bit. You rank pretty high on his list of favorite people.” Anya said, and Bucky nodded.

            “What can I say? The kid’s got good taste.” he chuckled before turning to see his sister staring worriedly at his daughter who, as only she could, was staring coldly back at her aunt as if to suggest that she hadn’t yet decided how to think of the woman.

            “Rebekka, ne pugay svoyu tetyu. Vremya spat'.” Bucky called out to the girl, and she got up without another word and walked over to him.

            “Spokoynoy nochi, Papa. YA lyublyu tebya.” Becca said as she hugged her father and kissed him on the cheek.

            “YA tozhe lyublyu tebya.” Bucky told her, and she turned to Anya.

            “Mama, do I have to go to sleep now? I wanna see Petey.” she asked, and Anya sighed.

            “Rebecca Anna-Claire Barnes, you and I both know that, if I let you stay up to see your cousin, you’ll want to stay up until your uncle gets here. If you stay up to see Uncle Tony, you won’t go to sleep at all. How about I make you a deal instead? While I talk to Petey tomorrow about how he’s feeling, you can go with Uncle Tony to get ice cream or whatever it is that the two of you do when you spend time together…as long as you don’t blow up anything.” Anya said, and Becca seemed to contemplate this.

            “Okay, I’ll go to sleep.” she told her mother, and the two walked off together leaving the brother and sister alone once more.

            “You named her after Becky and me?” Anna-Claire asked, and her brother nodded.

            “Well, really it’s only the ‘Claire’ part that’s from you. Anya got her name from the family butler and his wife, who acted more like parents to Tony than Howard ever really did, because both Howard and Maria had been sure that they’d have another boy. Anna and Edwin Jarvis couldn’t have children, but they’d thought about if they would’ve thousands of times; Anna had a name for the daughter she would never have, and she told Howard and Maria to use it for their daughter. Anna died when Anya was five, but her memory stuck. We were gonna name her Anna Charlotte, after Professor Xavier, but we changed our minds when Becky died two months before Becca was born.” Bucky said, noticing the way his sister frowned at his words.

            “She hates me.” Anna-Claire said.

            “Annie, my little girl does not hate you. What you have to understand is that she is only a four-and-a-half-year-old on the outside; on top of her mutation allowing her greater access to her brain’s abilities than the average person, Becca’s a third-generation Stark with the genius brains to match. She’s also the daughter of an assassin, and she’s been aware of the fact that not everyone is always going to accept her for what she is for longer than she hasn't. You have to show Becca that her mutation, that what I’ve become isn’t enough to scare you away. Tony, Anya’s brother, has a girlfriend called Pepper; she currently holds the title of Becca’s favorite aunt, but there was a time when Becca was willing to get herself in trouble for snapping at Pepper for the way I was being treated because of the whole ‘brainwashed HYDRA assassin’ thing. Once she could see for herself that Pepper didn’t consider me a threat, Becca went right back to adoring her. Right now, your brain is so overwhelmed and trying to make sense of so much information that she can’t get a good enough read on you to see that you aren’t overly bothered with all of this. I think that, once you get the chance to know one another, the two of you will get along just fine. Steve’s been tellin’ her stories about you since she opened a link with him over a year ago, so I know that she loves you. She’s just scared of getting hurt.” Bucky told her, and she exhaled.

            “What did you tell her when you sent her to bed?” she asked.

            “I told her not to scare you. I remember you not making it through the haunted house the Johnsons had that one Halloween, and I can’t imagine how much worse your reputation would be if anyone found out that you get even more scared by a kid who hasn’t even started school yet.” Bucky said playfully.

            “I think I recall you and Steve being just as scared as I was, if not more, seeing as how the two of you spent that night hiding under your covers from all the ‘ghosts,’ you ass!” she retorted, and Bucky laughed.

            “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you, Annie.” he said as he brought her in for a hug, and she laughed along with him.

            “You’d have to have given me time to miss you, Buck.” she said as they pulled away from one another with smiles plastered on their faces.

            “I’m sure you and your little man are getting hungry about now, so c’mon, I’ll make you something. Peter’s probably starving by now, too, and Tony’s at least another twenty minutes away, if not more.” Bucky said, guiding his sister out of the room and leading her down the hallway to the large, open great room where a small boy with a head of dark curls sat on the sofa with his eyes trained on his shoes.

            “Hey, Uncle Bucky.” he said in barely a whisper, but Bucky walked over to him as Annie sat down at the island.

            “Hey, Pete, what’s up?” Bucky asked the boy gently.

            “When you had to go off to war and leave Uncle Steve behind, were you sad?” the boy responded, and Bucky nodded even though he wasn’t sure what this had to do with why Peter had run away from home.

            “Well, yeah, he was my best friend at the time. Wait, Peter, did something happen between you and Ned?” he asked, but his nephew shook his head at the question.

            “Ned doesn’t even know that I’m leaving.” he said quietly.

            “Where are you going, pal? Your ol’ man didn’t tell us anything about a move.” Bucky wondered, and Peter looked to be on the verge of tears.

            “Uncle Ben lost his job and, even though he got a new one and Aunt May works too, it’s not gonna be enough to pay my tuition for next school year.” Peter said just as Tony slipped through the front door and made a beeline for his son.

            “Kiddo, I’m your father, and I happen to be a billionaire who’s almost eleven years behind in child support payments. You aren’t going to have to switch schools, and you aren’t ever going to have to go to a school that you don’t want to be at, ever. Why didn’t you just call me, Pete? Why come all the way out here?” Tony asked as he took Bucky’s spot kneeling before his son while the ex-assassin went into the kitchen to start preparing food.

            “Dad, you know Aunt May and Uncle Ben would never accept money from you.” Peter said, and Tony groaned.

            “Oh, bambino, they signed away the ability to tell me I can’t pay your tuition when we petitioned the courts to change your birth certificate. Look, at the end of the day, it’s your wellbeing and happiness that matters most to all of us. You have to trust that the grown-ups can talk things out and come to an agreement before you decide to run away from home. Do you know how scared I was when May called me in hysterics because you were missing?” Tony asked the boy, and Peter began to cry harder.

            “I’m so sorry, Dad, but I was scared. I didn’t know that you were even in town, and Aunt Anya was the first person I thought of when I left.” Peter defended, but Tony wasn’t satisfied.

            “Why’d you do it?” he asked, and his son shrugged.

            “Aunt May and Uncle Ben were fighting, and I was upset. The lights started flashing, and that made me scared. I thought you were in Malibu, and I kinda figured that, if I was the one making the lights flash, Aunt Anya would be able to help me.” Peter explained, and Tony gave him an understanding smile.

            “You picked the right person to go to in the event that you couldn’t have gotten me, but you could have called her, bambino, and you could’ve called me. Do you have a cellphone?” he asked, but Peter shook his head.

            “Dad, most nine-year-old kids don’t have a cellphone. Flash does, but he’s, like, the only kid at school who’s got one.” the boy said, and Anya’s brow shot up at the thoughts she found herself picking up from her nephew as she entered the room.

            “This boy bullies you.” she stated, and all eyes turned to her except for Bucky, who was plating several grilled cheese sandwiches and was quite used to his wife’s ability to make declaratory statements out of nowhere.

            “Flash bullies everybody, I swear. He just likes to specifically pick on me about being an orphan. He’s just a jerk kid who thinks he’s better than everyone else because his dad’s rich and knows a lot of people.” Peter replied, and Tony scoffed.

            “First, you’re not an orphan, Pete.” he said, and his son gave him a half-smile. “Second, I bet you anything that I know more people and have more money than Flash’s dad. Third, if he ever physically hurts you, I will have him blacklisted from every major college and university while Pepper tears his parents to shreds. We might even let you grandparents help.”

            “I know, which is why I don’t let it bother me when Flash says stuff about me being an orphan or being what he sees as poor, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s the only kid in my class with a cellphone.” Peter reminded his father, and Tony chuckled.

            “Exactly, and I’m going to remedy that. Tonight, we’re going back to my hotel, and we’re going to watch Star Wars until you fall asleep. Tomorrow, you are going to have a control session with your aunt concerning your powers, and I’m going to take Becca to see the progress on Stark Tower while you do. When the session is over, we’ll all meet up for lunch, probably that sandwich place you love so much, and then I’m taking you back to May and Ben so we can talk about what’s going on with you. Pepper is in meetings all day tomorrow, which is the only reason she isn’t here right now, but she’s going to have the newest StarkPhone sent out here for you. I say it’s the newest because I only just designed it last week. It’s specifically made for you and your mutation, bambino, and I want you to use it to call someone when you need help. No more of this running off by yourself when bad things happen. Capisci?” Tony said to him, and Peter nodded.

            “Sì, papà, ho capito.” Peter replied, and Tony beamed with pride.

            “We’ll make a Carbonell out of you yet!” he declared, and Peter giggled before noticing the sandwich on the Star Wars plate he used when he visited his aunt and uncle.

            “C’mon, all of you, eat up before it gets cold.” Bucky ordered, and Tony helped Peter into the barstool beside Annie before grabbing the sandwich offered to him.

            “Mrs. Rogers, it is wonderful to see you up and about after being on ice for so long. Let me be one of the first to welcome you to the 21^st century.” Tony said as he made eye contact with Annie for the first time since arriving.

            “You must be Anya’s brother, and therefore Howard’s son, Tony.” she said. “Bucky tells me that I owe you two my life, and I’m inclined to agree. Thank you, for everything.”

            “Don’t thank me much.” he remarked. “All I did was provide an eyeball for a retinal scan to unlock a door. Anya did most of the work.”

            “Well, you were dying from palladium poisoning, Bucky was attempting to lay low so HYDRA wouldn’t attack, Pepper was running Stark Industries, and the rest of the family is pretty much perpetually busy running a school for mutant children. Someone had to do something when we found them, and I wasn’t doing much else at the time.” Anya pointed out, and Bucky let out a snort.

            “Sorry, I was failing at hiding the humor I get from that statement. You act like you haven’t been busy, too. On top of raising our daughter and carrying our son, you’ve been befriending alien demi-gods in New Mexico, saving our nephew’s life from HammerTech drones, writing your dissertation for your third PhD before you’ve even turned twenty-five, and keeping tabs on SHIELD agents that we’re technically not even supposed to know about, i.e. Natasha.” he said, and Annie’s eyes bugged out at his words.

            “Not to mention the fact that you’ve been securing the building permits and finalizing the design for Stark Tower.” Tony added, and Annie had finally had enough.

            “What are you, some kind of wonder woman?” she asked, and Anya smiled shyly.

            “That name’s already copywritten, so I go by Bellum in the field. Unfortunately, because of my status as the co-CEO of Stark Industries, Papa and Tony won’t allow the public to know that we’re mutants. No one was supposed to know that Tony’s Iron Man, but my brother isn’t known for his listening skills.” Anya said, her tone shifting from lighthearted to serious as she continued. “Vati has a custom-made picture frame on his desk where he keeps the most recent family photo; Papa has one that is nearly identical save one feature. Across the bottom of Vati’s frame are the words ‘Familie zuerst, zuletzt und immer,’ while across Papa’s is ‘Famille d'abord, dernière et toujours.’ One may be in German, and the other French, but the meaning is the same in pretty much any language. Family first, last, and always.”

            “When you’ve got a family like ours, though, family doesn’t always mean blood. I mean, I think Bucky’s technically an African prince considering that King T’Chaka of Wakanda sees him as family. We’ve even started using White Wolf as his callsign in the field the few times he’s had to go out with the X-Men.” Tony added, and Annie turned to blink at her brother in surprise.

            “The tattoos are starting to make sense.” she said, and Bucky chuckled.

            “T’Challa, T’Chaka’s son, protects Wakanda from outsiders under the mantle of the Black Panther, so T’Chaka gave me the title of White Wolf when I completed my reconditioning training there. The first tat, which is really more of an airbrushed graphic given that this arm is made out of vibranium painted to match my skin tone, is just as much a symbol of my training being complete as it’s symbol of the man I want to be rather than the brainwashed machine I once was. The second one was done after I blew up an alien robot as part of a consorted effort by the X-Men and five Norse demigods, actually called Asgardians, last summer after some friends of ours literally hit Thor, the god of thunder, with their car.” he explained, and Annie giggled at his words.

            “Of course, you blow up the alien robot, and Anya just adopts the alien himself. I can’t wait to meet Thor someday.” Tony added in a casual tone, and Annie turned back to her sister-in-law who was smiling as though she knew something that her brother did not.

            “If Becca’s right, which she usually is, you’ll be meeting him sooner rather than later. She had a dream about someone forcing Loki to attack Earth, which would definitely force Thor to return, and she told me that it would happen after we brought Steve, Anna-Claire, and the baby home.” Anya said, and the same part of her statement caught all of their attentions.

            “Attack Earth?” Peter finally asked, swallowing the last bite of his sandwich.

            “I’m sure everything will be just fine, Pete.” his aunt assured him as she summoned his plate. “Not only do we have the X-Men to protect us, but we also have a secret weapon that no one knows about yet.”

            “Oh, you mean Uncle Director Eye-Patch’s super-secret boy band?” Tony quipped. “The same one that I don’t qualify for according to Natashalie’s report?”

            “Natasha wrote that report the way you asked her to, Tony, because we all know that Fury won’t recruit you to the team any other way. He wants to think that he’s making you feel like you have something to prove since he’s also putting Steve on the team.” Anya reminded her brother, and Annie’s eyes widened.

            “Steve hasn’t even come home yet, so how would this Director Fury know that he could even be on this team?” she asked, and Bucky sighed.

            “When Charles and his crew left for the Arctic Circle to bring Steve home, we had our people inside SHIELD, Phil and Natasha, tell Fury that we’d found him alive. Nick Fury is many things, but stupid is seldom one of them; just by knowing that the expedition to find Steve is being headed by the telepathic founding member of the X-Men is enough to make him cautious. He’s probably going to give Steve some time to settle in, deal with the paperwork involved in being alive after nearly seven decades of being presumed dead, and come calling when, at least in his mind, Stevie’s had enough time to process everything. Steve will join this team without a doubt, but that’s only because the team’s purpose is to protect the Earth from outside forces. Nobody hates bullies the way Stevie does.” he told her, watching her face twist into a sour grimace as he mentioned the paperwork. “Don’t worry, we’ll help you every step of the way.”

            “When we did his paperwork, Pops had to personally check out every person who would see the documents just to make sure that no HYDRA personnel saw that Bucky knew his own name and was getting his life back on track.” Tony said, shaking his head at the memory. “We managed to keep it quiet if only to keep HYDRA in the dark, but Steve, and by extension you and your baby, won’t be so lucky. The plus side, you’ll probably never worry for money given how the army’s gonna owe Steve nearly seventy years’ worth of backpay.”

            “They adjust for inflation, and it makes for a pretty sizeable chunk of change. With Anya being one of three people running a multi-billion-dollar company, it barely made a difference to us, so we used my backpay to put Scott and Kim both through college and still have some to spare.” Bucky said with a grin. “I mostly use that money for the upkeep on my bike.”

            The adults continued discussing what all Annie and Steve would have to go through once the blond super-soldier was awake for a while longer. It wasn’t until Annie noticed Peter talking into Tony’s phone on the couch and let out a large yawn as he listened to whoever was on the other end that she mentioned the hour to the others. They all shared a nod before turning back to the boy on the couch.

            “-iss you, too, Pep, and I’m sorry I scared everybody…Dad says I have to practice my powers with Aunt Anya tomorrow, but he’s going to take me to Mr. Delmar’s deli for lunch before I have to go back to Aunt May and Uncle Ben’s.” he said tiredly, and Tony’s smile was impossible to miss. “He’s gonna take Becca to see where the tower’s gonna go while we’re practicing, and then we’ll have lunch together.”

            “Who is he talking to?” Annie asked curiously.

            “Pepper, my girlfriend, probably called looking for me, so Pete answered it knowing that he’s what she’s really concerned about at the moment.” Tony said.

            “Is she his mother?” Annie asked, and the three separate reactions she got were a sad frown from Tony, a choked laugh from Bucky, and a soft smile from Anya.

            “She’s not his birth mother, but, along with his Aunt May, she’s the closest thing he’s got. His birth mother, Mary, was killed in a plane crash along with her husband, Richard, almost six years ago, and Tony only found out that Peter’s his son a year-and-a-half ago.” Anya told her.

            “But I only met my son six months ago!” Tony added with a roll of his eyes.

            “That doesn’t change the fact that you’re his father, Tony, and there’s no way you can deny that you love him more than life itself after the way that you rushed over here as soon as Anya told you where Pete went.” Bucky responded, and Tony smiled as he looked back at the mop of curly dark hair just visible over the back of the couch.

            Within half-an-hour, Tony and Peter left for Tony’s hotel. Annie had been confused initially when she had heard where the two were going, and Bucky quietly told her of Tony’s complete refusal to stay in any of Howard’s homes. Knowing that it would be best to ask more on that subject while she had time to speak with her brother in private, Annie let it drop. Once Tony and Peter were gone, the remaining three adults all went to bed.

            The next morning, Tony and Peter returned for breakfast. When the meal was over, the little boy went into Anya’s office with his aunt while his father and cousin headed out to check on the Stark Tower project. Bucky was showing Annie how to operate the dishwasher, she had caught on quickly with the other appliances, when his cell phone rang. Grabbing it off the island, he read the name on the caller I.D. and sighed.

            “Hey, Em…Yeah, that’s still today…We’re meeting him for coffee in about an hour…I’ll text you the address…Thanks, again, Emma. Bye.” the conversation was quick, but Annie was still confused.

            “What was that about, Buck?” she asked.

            “That was your lawyer, and one of our closest friends who’s more like another adoptive family member, Emma Frost.” he explained. “We’re meeting with Agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD in an hour to get started on yours and Steve’s paperwork, and Em’s gonna meet us there.”

            “Why do you sound like dealing with Emma is enough to give you a migraine?” she asked, and he laughed.

            “Oh, it is. Emma’s nickname is Ice Queen, not to be confused with her callsign of White Queen, not only because of her ability to turn into solid diamond, but also because she’s not the warmest person you’ll ever meet. She’s also a telepath, and her moral code is a lot less stringent than Anya’s or Charles’ by a mile. She has no problem probing the minds of those surrounding her, and she’ll twist your own thoughts against you. If it weren’t for the fact that she’s the best attorney we know, I wouldn’t be letting her within fifty miles of you, Annie, at least not for a couple of months in this century.” he told his sister.

            Inside Anya’s office, Peter sat on the floor on one end of a yoga mat opposite his aunt. They were meditating, or at least that’s what Anya had told him. The longer he sat there, breath rising and falling in concert with his aunt’s, he could feel his powers expanding from his body. It was an intense, yet not unpleasant feeling.

            Peter, what can you feel through your powers right now? Anya asked, and Peter thought for a moment before responding.

            I can feel the metal frame of your desk and the chairs, the picture frames on the wall, the clock between the bookcases, and your jewelry. Peter told her, and then he felt a lightness, a warmth like hot cocoa inside him.

            That’s your ferrokinesis, but what about your other powers? Anya asked, and he grinned.

            You’re happy. I can feel that you’re happy. It’s warm, like the hot cocoa you made the night that Dad told me that he’s my dad. Peter replied.

            Very good, Cucciolo. What else is there? Anya asked again, and Peter refocused his mind.

            Well, there’s your mind, obviously, and it’s really organized. Mo-Pepper’s mind is like this too, but Dad’s is more like an organized chaos. I can also feel the lights, and I think I can feel PEG. She feels like a net surrounding the apartment to keep us safe. She’s like a safety net! Peter chirped excitedly over the mental connection, and Anya signaled that it was time to revert back to speech by tapping him on his knee.

            “You did really great, Pete, but you let some things slip while you were reaching. Do you wanna talk about them? Your feelings?” she asked, and the nine-year-old frowned.

            “Are you gonna make me?” he asked in reply.

            “I really think that you should, but I won’t force you to talk. I’m your aunt, not a shrink. That’s not my job.” she said, and he laughed a bit.

            “Zia, you are a shrink!” he giggled out, but she waived him off.

            “Eh, semantics.” she told him, and he giggled again before sobering up and pulling his knees to his chest.

            “Do you think that she’d be mad?” he asked, and Anya didn’t have to wonder who the she in Peter’s question was.

            “I used to ask myself the same thing when I was your age, and I never really could figure out the answer. Then again, my dad wasn’t exactly winning Father of the Year or anything. You wanna know what I do know?” Anya said to him, and he nodded. “My dad loved me, and your mother loved you. They would probably want what’s best for us, and what’s best for us is to be with people who love and care about us and our happiness. Pepper is more than likely going to be your stepmother, on paper, within a matter of years. If you want her to be your Mom, all you have to do is ask. I get it if you’re worried that she’ll reject the idea right now, you’ve only known her for six months, but she loves you so much already. It’s okay if you don’t ask or say anything to her about it right now as long as you remember that you can say something later. Capisci?” she told him, and he nodded while letting out a sigh of relief.

            “Sì, Zia Anya, ho capito.” Peter answered. “Can you not tell my dad about this just yet?”

            “Yeah, Pete, we can keep this between us for now. Ready to try moving some things with your powers now?” Anya asked him, and he beamed as they got started on the manipulation aspect of his powers.

            In Midtown Manhattan, Tony stood in front of the pile of dirt and metal that would soon be transformed into Stark Tower with his niece balanced on his hip. The construction crews were doing an ace job at getting the building’s base, set in a pit that went thirty feet into the ground, started ahead of schedule. Becca would have been bored, ordinarily, but the crew was also attempting to be friendly towards her when they realized who she was. Tony thought that his niece did a wonderful job at playing the innocent preschooler that she really wasn’t, and he silently promised her that they’d stop for ice cream after lunch. It was while Tony was listening to the lead contractor describe what exactly was going on during this part of the building process, most of which Tony already knew from having built a vast majority of the Malibu mansion by himself, a familiar presence brushed against his and Becca’s minds and footsteps sounded on the sidewalk behind them. Becca immediately scrambled down from her uncle’s arms and bounded over to the newcomer.

            “Opa!” she giggled out as Erik picked her up and balanced her on his hip.

            “Hallo, Schatz. Was machst du hier?” he asked the girl, and Becca beamed.

            “Mamma has to help Petey practice today, so Uncle Tony brought me to see where we’re gonna live when he and Aunt Pepper move to New York.” she said quietly but excitedly, and Erik looked over to Tony.

            “Is there something wrong with Peter?” he asked, and Tony sighed.

            “No, not exactly. He started losing control last night when May and Ben were arguing over finances. They didn’t realize that he could hear them, and he got scared. He figured that he was probably going to be switching to public school and, when he realized that he didn’t know how to stop the lights from flickering, he ran away to Anya’s. He spent last night with me, but she’s talking to him today, teaching him a few control techniques and such. After lunch, I’m taking him back to May and Ben’s for a discussion that’s more than overdue.” Tony explained.

            “I suppose that this is the reason why your sister asked for me to drive into the city with Emma today. Have you considered that it may be time for Peter to visit the mansion? A couple of weekend sessions in training with other children his age might prove to be a prudent choice. I know that Lorna, in particular, is looking for someone with similar abilities to her own.” Erik said in a hushed tone, and Tony pursed his lips.

            “They’ve only known what he is for six months, and I don’t know that May and Ben are ready for him to be trained. I don’t know if I’m ready for that.” he admitted, but Erik shook his head at his son.

            “Sohn, wir sind nie bereit, dass unsere Kinder erwachsen werden, ihre eigenen Männer werden, aber es wird immer passieren. Wenn es Ihren Geist beruhigt, wäre er nicht in einem echten Kampf.” Erik said softly, and Tony gave a short nod.

            “I’ll consider it, ask May and Ben to consider it, and let you know what we decide. Pepper’s been asking when I was going to take him to see you and Pops, so I can take a guess as to which side she’s on in all this.” he said, and Erik smirked.

            “She’s who gave Charles and I the idea to partner him with Lorna in the first place.” he said with a chuckle, and Tony realized that he should have expected that much when given who he was talking to in the first place.

            “What about what Petey wants?” Becca asked, and the two men turned towards the girl.

            “Perhaps, if it is alright with you and your sister, Anthony, I may join you all for lunch. From my own experience with children over the last several decades, he might be more open to visiting the mansion if he has time to get to know Charles and myself. Plus, it has been over a year since I found out that I have a grandson, and I would very much so like to meet him.” Erik proposed, and Tony looked as though he was giving the idea some thought.

            “I just asked Anh, and she’s game. We’re meeting up at Delmar’s Deli, one of Pete’s favorite places, since it’s close to May and Ben’s.” Tony said, and Erik’s shark grin appeared on his face despite knowing how jealous Charles would be that he got to meet Peter first.

Chapter Text

            When Anya and Peter arrived at Delmar’s Deli, the little boy tensed. Anya gave him an encouraging sideways hug as Tony approached with Becca and Erik, not needing her gifts to sense the nervousness her nephew was feeling in the face of meeting one of his grandfathers for the first time. Despite what the public knew of Magneto, Erik was a total teddy bear when it came to small children. It always came as a surprise to any new students who hadn’t seen either him or Charles in parent mode when they realized that Charles was the strict parent, not Erik.

            “Hallo Vati! Ich habe dich vermisst!” Anya greeted, throwing her arms around her father as Peter moved to hug his own.

            “You brothers informed me of this, meine kostbare Ana.” Erik told her. “I was most disappointed when I learned that you were unable to make the trip up to the mansion with Tony yesterday.”

            “Teleportation is risky for the baby when I’m this far along, otherwise I would’ve gone. It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you and Papa!” she told him, and Erik chuckled.

            “Um, Anh, we were just there last week for New Years Eve.” Tony pointed out, and Becca giggled at the adults.

            “Children, perhaps we should put the argument to rest, lest your children begin to behave like the two of you.” Erik chided half-heartedly, winking over at Peter and smiling wider as the small boy let slip a quiet giggle.

            “Oh, you think Zia and I getting reprimanded is funny, bambino?” Tony asked, and Peter laughed harder while shaking his head unconvincingly.

            The three adults and two children gathered around a table away from the windows, and Erik turned towards Peter and asked how school was going. The little boy, not as nervous as he had been, excitedly told him all about how much he loved science. Naturally, this was something that Erik could understand.

            “Have you explored geology much, Peter?” he asked, and the boy shook his head.

            “We mostly do biology in school right now. We’ll do Earth Science next year.” Peter said.

            “Because so many natural metals are made of bits of earth and rocks, it will be a good science for you to learn. I can teach you if you’d like me to and your father approves.” Erik offered, and Tony gave a nod of agreement before swallowing a bite of sandwich.

            “If I were on this side of the country full-time, I’d do it myself. We can talk to May and Ben about it when I take him home, but I think that would be an amazing opportunity for Pete. What’d you think, bambino? I can fly out a couple of times a month just to drive you up to the mansion, and Opa can teach you all about rocks and metals. Sound fun?” Tony said, turning to his son for an answer, and Peter beamed.

            Back in Brooklyn, Bucky was sitting at a table at the Starbucks closest to his and Anya’s loft with a nervous Annie beside him and a rather calm Coulson across from him. Having been able to become finely attuned to the feeling of a telepath brushing over one’s mind, Bucky was the first to know when Emma entered the café and made her way over to them. She made her way over dressed in a white skirt-suit with an ice-blue blouse and white, knee-high boots, and her hair was pulled back tightly away from her face in a simple bun. With her diamond jewelry on display, each piece made from diamonds that she had made with her own tears, Emma looked every bit the ice queen she was known for being.

            “Thanks for the compliment, sweetie.” she told him as she sat down in the open chair beside Coulson.

            “Well, you don’t go all-out Ice Queen for just anyone, Em, so I should at least be polite and compliment your appearance, shouldn’t I?” Bucky asked her teasingly, and she chuckled.

            “What can I say, I take pity on you for having Charles and Erik as your in-laws.” she joked before turning to the other two. “Emma Silverfox-Frost, pleased to finally meet you both.”

            “Right, Em, this is my sister, Anna-Claire Rogers, and this is Agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD. He’s got the pre-approved list of people who will see any bit of paperwork for this that Charles made for me. It’s so we can go through and determine which people on the list are still in a position to read the stuff.” Bucky introduced the three, and Emma gave him a nod.

            Phil took the list in question from his briefcase and slid it over to Emma who promptly scanned over the document in her hands. Bucky watched as a pen floated out of Emma’s purse and into her hand before the blonde mutant began scratching through several of the names. He figured that the number of names would need updating given the four election cycles that had passed since his own paperwork had been done.

            “Okay, this isn’t as bad as I was expecting. By the time we actually submit any of this, I can work with Charles on expanding the list with the replacements for the ones I marked through, and everything should work out as planned. I expect when Captain Rogers is awake and available to speak that he will want to pursue the acquisition of his back pay from the United States Army, but, for clarification and minor legal reasons, Mrs. Rogers, are you of the belief that this will be your husband’s intended wishes?” Emma said, turning to Annie.

            “Of the record, no. I know Steve, and he’ll feel so indebted to every person who had a hand in bringing us all home that he won’t want to do anything that will make him feel like he’s a burden on even one other person. However, after five minutes with my brother, Steve will change his mind. So, on the record, yes. As far as I know, Steve will want to pursue his owed back pay.” Annie said, and Bucky snorted.

            “She’s not wrong.” he said with a small smile on his face. “He was the same way when we were kids. More often than not, if our ma fed him dinner, he’d insist on walking home by himself, in the snow sometimes, instead of just stayin’ over like we’d offered, especially nights when Sarah was workin’ overtime at the hospital.”

            “He always was a little dumbass, and I suppose that now he’s a big dumbass, but he’s my dumbass at the end of the day, and I love him.” Annie added, smiling and shaking her head as she thought about Steve.

            “In that case, I will get the paperwork for that together when I get back to the mansion. Anyone have questions?” Emma asked, her head turning towards Phil as his thoughts drifted through her mind likely on accident. “Actually, Agent Coulson, I think we can help one another with that particular issue.”

            “What issue?” Bucky asked, his voice dropping to a low whisper.

            “The Christmas after Tony came out as Iron Man, I was sent on a mission by the Director to raid a suspicious looking warehouse adjacent to a manufacturing plant in London, Ontario. While there, my team and I found five little girls, quintuplets, who all have telepathic abilities. They were all severely weak and malnourished when we found them, and two of them didn’t ever recover even after they were brought to one of Fury’s secret facilities. The oldest of the five, though the others like to insist that it’s only by about five minutes, imprinted on me, more or less, and I got permission from Fury to relocate all three of them once it was clear to me that the warehouse was likely for experimentation and most probably linked with Colonel Stryker and his teams.” Coulson explained. “What little intel we were able to get before the building was destroyed gave us their names: Celeste, Irma, Esme, Phoebe, and Sophie Frost.”

            “Which two didn’t make it?” Bucky asked quietly as Emma began drawing in on herself.

            “Irma and Celeste.” Phil said sadly, and diamonds began falling from Emma’s eyes where tears would’ve fallen from anyone else.

            “I’m afraid I don’t understand what’s going on, Buck.” Annie whispered, and Bucky smiled sadly before responding.

            “Ten years ago, Emma was taken prisoner during a mission and used for an experiment under Colonel William Stryker’s supposed weapons development program. The doctor there dosed her with a drug called ketamine to induce paralysis that would last long enough for him to go about harvesting her eggs without allowing her to morph into her diamond form. Emma was awake and knew what was happening the whole time, and she knew when the X-Men found her that she would never be able to have children.” Bucky told his sister quietly. “These girls, they’re her children born from Stryker’s experiments.”

            While Bucky, Annie, and Phil were doing their best to calm down Emma before their table was completely covered in diamonds, Tony and Anya had taken the kids and Erik to the Parker’s home, a rather nice two-bedroom apartment in Queens, to talk about Peter’s growing powers and lack of control. May and Ben were startled, at first, to realize that Magneto had just entered their home, but seeing him interact with his grandchildren distorted the image they’d had of him in their minds somewhat. The shock they felt at this point was concerning Peter’s advanced mutation.

            “Using the most current mutant power level charts, Peter is somewhere around an Omega-5 ranking. He looks completely normal, but the strength and application of his gifts is enough to scare the government if they knew; with time, practice, and training, I can near guarantee that he will become strong enough to be classified as Omega-10 by adulthood.” Anya explained, the color draining from May and Ben’s faces as she spoke.

            “Peter’s just a boy, a little boy! How is it possible for him to have this much power already?” May asked, alarmed by Anya’s assessment of Peter’s performance during their session that morning.

            “It’s in the genetics.” Erik said. “When his father was this age, Tony was using his gifts to play mostly harmless pranks at school, find out what he was getting for his birthday or whichever holiday was next, and building things in the workshop either by himself or with one of his elder brothers. By the age of fourteen, he was an Omega-9, entirely capable of manipulating the magnetic fields of the planet to allow him to fly and manipulating the emotions of those around him.”

            “I hit Omega-10 when I was twenty-one, shortly after my first time going sober.” Tony added, his eyes flickering over to his sister. “Anya hit it when she was twelve, but most of that came from her starting her training at age three where I didn’t actively start training until I was six or sev- Anh, what’s wrong?”

            Anya, almost at the mention of her name, seized up and got a far away look in her eyes. Tony immediately told Ben and May to take both children into another room while Erik dropped to his knees before his daughter. When Anya looked up, her eyes were glowing a bright blue.

            “Ana, liebste, tell me what you hear.” he softly commanded, and she let slip a quiet squeak, but no other words came.

            “Say the word, and I’ll try piggybacking on to whoever’s doing this.” Tony said as he joined Erik in front of Anya.

            “Do it, but tread carefully. Your sister’s mind is much like Charles’ in that she has built up her defenses beyond what any ordinary telepath would.” Erik told him, and Tony nodded before taking Anya’s hands in his own and projecting himself into her mind.

            Inside Anya’s mind, Tony found himself in an all-white room with his sister and three identical girls. The triplets were blonde, fair-skinned, and blue-eyed. All of them reminded him distinctly of one person: Emma Silverfox-Frost.

            “Who are you?” he asked. “What are you doing to my sister?”

            “We don’t want to hurt her, we promise.” the three spoke as one. “We need her help.”

            “If you don’t stop, you’re going to hurt her. She’s pregnant, almost to the point of having her baby, so this isn’t just her that you’re controlling.” Tony warned, and the triplet in the middle broke from the other two to speak on her own.

            “Daddy told us to reach out to Anastasia Barnes if we were ever in trouble while he was at work. A dark van pulled up to the house, and we’re being watched. My sisters and I aren’t safe, and we need help.” she said, and Tony felt the purity of her fear.

            “Who are you, and who is your father?” he asked quickly, and the middle triplet looked at him with teary eyes.

            “My name is Esme Jade Silverfox-Frost-Coulson, and these are my sisters, Phoebe Lapis and Sophie Pearl.” she said, taking a deep breath before continuing. “We don’t know who our birth father is, but Phillip James Coulson, an agent from SHIELD, adopted us nearly five years ago; our mother is Emma Silverfox-Frost, but we’ve never met her.”

            “Esme, honey, I need you to tell me where you are; your mother is like family to us, and Phil is a really good friend of my sister and me, and I can’t help them if you don’t help me.” Tony said as gently as he could, and Esme nodded.

            “Okay, just help us. We’re in our house on Seashore Avenue on Peak Island outside of Portland, Maine.” she said. “Who are you?”

            “This may come as a shock, kiddo, but I’m Tony Stark.” he told her. “Don’t worry, I promise we’ll get you to safety soon.”

            The shock of his identity must have been enough to break the triplets’ control over Anya because Tony felt himself being thrown from his sister’s mind, opening his eyes to see her staring back at him. He pulled her to his chest for a tight hug and looked up at Erik to see that the man had moved to assure the Parkers and Becca that Anya would be okay. His eyes meeting Tony’s, he returned to his children’s side.

            “Who was it?” he asked.

            “Long story short, Emma has three daughters that Phil adopted. They’re in trouble, and I’ve gotta call Phil.” his son responded, and Erik nodded.

            “I’ll call and alert the team.” he told Tony, squeezing his shoulder before taking his phone from his pocket and calling the mansion.

            “They showed me the house, Tony, and the van parked outside; it looks like something that Trask, Stryker, or even HYDRA would come up with, and I’m truly afraid for those girls after feeling how terrified they are.” Anya said, finally speaking, blue smoke filling the room as she finished her sentence.

            “Hallo.” Kurt said, and Anya began sending him the images of Phil’s house that the sisters had sent to her.

            “Take Logan, Jean, Scott, and Kitty.” Erik ordered. “Get the girls to the mansion, and keep them in the library until we arrive.”

            “Ja.” Kurt said before teleporting away again.

            “Mama!” Becca cried as she broke free from Ben’s encircling arms and darted across the room to her mother.

            “I’m alright, baby girl, I’m alright.” Anya said as she gathered the four-year-old in her lap and gently rocked her.

            “We should go home, Tony, and you must still call Agent Coulson.” Erik said, and his son nodded before turning to the Parkers.

            “May, Ben, we don’t have to have a decision today. Pops, eh, Professor Xavier will be back in a few days, and he would love to meet with you if it makes you feel any better about Peter being trained.” Tony said, shifting his focus to his son and motioning the boy over to him as he went. “Pete, bambino, you’ll get your special phone in the mail probably tomorrow. It’s already programmed with the important numbers you might need, and it has a biometric lock on it that will only let you use it. Ti voglio bene, bambino.”

            “I love you, too, Dad.” Peter said as he hugged his father.

            Years later, Tony would come to recognize the full scope of his influence at Xavier’s Academy for Gifted Youngsters. Driving up to the mansion with Erik, Anya, and Becca with Phil’s car following close behind him, however, he had no clue how important his next few hours would turn out to be. No sooner had they parked and hurried into the library did the group find themselves mobbed by Logan, Jean, Scott, Kitty, and the triplets.

            “Daddy!” the triplets cried as they pulled Phil into a group hug.

            “Oh, I am so glad that you girls are safe.” Phil replied, pulling back from the girls to look over at Emma and motion her to join them.

            While the three girls were meeting their mother, the team moved off to the other side of the library to discuss what had happened during the triplets’ rescue. Scott and Jean were weary of the three, but Logan and Storm were more concerned with the people who tried to take the girls. Kurt and Kitty were just frustrated with both sides, and Tony sighed as he heard their arguing increase in volume.

            “Okay, all of you, shut up for five minutes.” he hissed, and their part of the library went quiet instantly. “Now, we are going to go about this debrief in a different way than normal. Logan, go with Anya and tell her what you know. Scott, Alex is waiting for you in the chem lab. Kitty, I’m sure that Ororo is happy to debrief you. Kurt, you’re going down to the lab to debrief with Hank. I'm calling Pops.”

            “What about me?” Jean asked, realizing that she was the only one remaining.

            “You, my dear, are going to debrief with me in my office.” Erik said, Jean’s expression shifting from confused to concern as she noticed the shining helmet he wore.

            Logan sat across from Anya in his office once everyone had separated. There was a roaring fire in the grate, and the leather armchairs they occupied were comfortable. The office was his, though he did share it with Kayla, so why was he so anxious about this debrief?

            “Logan, we didn’t separate any of you because we value any one person’s version over another’s. We did this to both make things go faster and to give Emma a chance to know her girls. While I could check everyone’s minds, Jean would accuse me of favoritism or something just as stupid. Just tell me what happened.” Anya told him, starting the recorder with a flick of her wrist, and he let out a breath he hadn’t realized that he’d been holding before he began telling his version of events.

            “Nightcrawler got the team together and gave Magneto’s orders. I got dressed and met up with everyone else outside the danger room once my class was covered. We teleported into the Coulson house, and the team split up with Cyclops and Shadowcat going to investigate the black van while Jean, Nightcrawler, and I went to find the girls. I tracked their scent, it’s similar to their mother, so it wasn’t difficult, and we found them hiding in Esme’s room. Jean tried reaching out to them with telepathy, but they kept rebuffing her attempts. I told her to stop pushing them before something bad happened, but she said she could break their shields if she tried a few more times. The girls are my family, my nieces, and breaking their shields after years of experimentation has probably been locked away behind them is the absolutely fucking worst idea that Jean could’ve had; I speak from personal experience when I say this, some memories are better off lost. I had Nightcrawler teleport Jean away from that part of the house, and then I knocked on the door. I told the girls who I am, that I’m their uncle by marriage, and they opened the door. I went inside, and they tried to use their powers on me. When they realized that the adamantium skeleton keeps my mind safe, they decided to trust me; I promised them that I’d get them to safety, and they grabbed their bug-out bags and followed me downstairs to where Nightcrawler and Jean were waiting on us. Cyke came over the comms and told him to take our group home and then come back for himself and Shadowcat. Jean hasn’t spoken more than two words to me since we got back.” Logan explained, and Anya stopped the recording before propping her feet up on the leather ottoman in front of her chair.

            “Thanks, Logan.” she said, smiling. “For the record, I think you made the right call.”

            “Thanks, kid. How’s Jean doing with Erik?” he responded, and she giggled as she checked in on her father and the redhead.

            “She’s frustrated.” Anya noted, accepting the glass, filled with what a quick sniff told her was cream soda, that Logan offered and clinking it against his beer bottle.

            Across the mansion in Charles and Erik’s office, Jean sat on the opposite side of the desk from Erik as he recorded her statement. It matched Logan’s until they reached Esme’s door. Jean was insistent that breaking the girls’ shields and explaining who the X-Men were through telepathy was the best course of action, and she watched as Erik poured himself a whiskey. He was not himself sure that it was the right call, but she had no way of knowing as he wore his adamantium helmet to keep his mind as safe as Emma’s while in diamond form. When Jean finished speaking, Erik sighed.

            “Thank you, Jean.” he told her as he stopped the recording. “I hope you know that Logan was correct.”

            “What? How?” she asked, and he raised an eyebrow. “They’re children who shouldn’t have shields like that in the first place. I wouldn’t be able to tell if they were cheating in class with shields like theirs.”

            “My dear, what the triplets are capable of in school has yet to be determined. At the moment, even though Emma is their biological mother, Phil Coulson is their legal father. He has to agree for them to attend this school before you can approach the situation from an instructor’s viewpoint. However, given the five years before they were adopted, it is best to leave their shields intact until Charles is home. He is our trauma specialist, and these girls did spend their first five years of life being experimented on daily. Whatever horrors lie behind their shields need not be tampered with or brought to the surface until we are best equipped to deal with such things. Both as a member of this team and as their uncle, Logan made the better call today.” Erik told her firmly, and Jean sighed.

            “I hadn’t thought about that. I thought that Logan was just being stubborn; I didn’t realize that he was trying to sympathize with the girls over his time with Stryker, and I should have seen that. I’ve known Logan for most of my life, and I completely blocked out his personal experiences in favor of doing what I thought was best.” Jean admitted, and Erik nodded.

            “We all make mistakes, Jean, but that’s alright; not even Charles is perfect, though he’s as close as I’ve found. Logan stopped you from causing any major damage to the girls and possibly yourself, so no one is in trouble. Go on and wash up, as I’m sure you have been eager to do since returning home, and we will all regroup at dinner.” he told her, and she nodded.

            Over the following days, Phil and the triplets became more and more a part of the mansion’s family. Erik called Anya the night before Charles and Hank were to return with Steve to tell her about the two learning to co-parent the girls, and Anya giggled. She knew that Erik was speaking from experience in discussing the difficulties of such tasks because of the years he and Charles spent co-parenting Tony with Howard and Maria as well as co-parenting Kurt with Raven and Azazel.

            “Are you laughing at me, liebste?” Erik asked her.

            “No, Vati, of course not.” she replied while still giggling.

            “And your brothers wonder where their children get this from, honestly!” Erik remarked with a chuckle of his own, but Anya could hear how tired he was just by his tone.

            “Are you sure that you didn’t need me to stay at the mansion until Papa and Hank get home? I would’ve done it if you’d have said so, and I told you that before I left.” she asked him softly, and he sighed.

            “I am aware of what you offered, little one, but it wasn’t necessary. Besides, I do believe that Alex at the very least was worried that you were being too active for a woman in her eighth month of pregnancy.” Erik assured her, and she let out a groan as she rolled her eyes despite him not being able to see it.

            “I was using Cerebro at seven months pregnant with Becca, so driving up to the school and doing a debrief with Logan is pretty calm by comparison!” Anya said, and he didn’t disagree with her point.

            “To be fair to Alex, he did the same thing to Charles with David, the twins, and Lorna once the pregnancy was far enough along.” Erik noted.

            “Did Sean caution him about the same things with Tess?” Anya asked, and Erik chuckled.

            “Alex hated every minute of Sean’s nagging, as he called it, but he did as he was told.” he said, and she laughed along with him until her laugh turned into a yawn.

            “It’s getting late, I suppose, so I should probably head off to bed. We’ll drive up sometime tomorrow before lunch.” she said. “Gute Nacht, Vati; ich liebe dich.”

            “Gute Nacht, Ana.” Erik said before ending the call. “Ich liebe dich.”

            The next morning, the Xavier Mansion was abuzz with excitement. All of them were aware that Captain America himself was being brought to the sublevels for treatment by Hank and Charles, and not a single person in the house had ever underestimated the importance of being accepted by Captain America for mutants. The only person in the house more nervous than the worried mutants was Annie, and Anya was doing her best to comfort her sister-in-law.

            “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Annie.” she told the blonde. “You’ve already spoken to him, and he isn’t upset with you. Steve is happy to be coming home to you.”

            “But, Anya, I hurt him when I faked my death. How can someone come back from that level of hurt?” Annie asked.

            “To put it simply, my dear, there is never anything to come back from with an unconditional love.” Erik cut in, and both young women turned to smile at his appearance beside them. “Charles took me back despite the fact that I accidentally paralyzed him from the waist down during a moment of complete anger and pain that could have been prevented.”

            “Professor Xavier is paralyzed?” Annie asked, but Erik shook his head.

            “About twenty years after the initial incident, Charles and I rescued Warren from his father’s laboratories and offered him a home with us. As a thank-you that we both insisted wasn’t necessary, Warren offered some of his blood, which contains a powerful healing factor unlike any other I’ve seen save for perhaps Logan, for Charles to use in a transfusion to repair his severed spinal cord. It took time, after spending twenty years in his wheelchair, for Charles to get used to walking again, and I had to force him to wear his watch so that I could keep track of him after having become so reliant on his chair myself. But, at the end of it all, time paid off for us. Charles was never angry at me for the loss of his legs, just worried that I had let the pain and anger cloud my judgement again.” he told Annie, and she gave him a nod of understanding.

            “Warren joined the family just in time, too, because I was born six years later!” Anya remarked, and Erik grinned his shark-grin.

            “You have always been quite the handful, my Ana, but you wouldn’t be you any other way.” he said as the familiar feeling of Charles’ mind washed over him. “It seems that your Papa is now home.”

            Blue eyes fluttering open, the first thing that Captain Steven Grant Rogers saw was a trayed ceiling that led down into burgundy walls. Sitting up, he saw that he was lying under a thick red and gold quilt in what had to have been the most comfortable bed he’d ever slept in to his memory. Leaning against the pile of pillows at his back, he observed the room from left to right. The entire left wall was a large window, and all he could see of outside was greenery. There was a mostly bare bookshelf on one side of the window and a dresser on the other side. A bedside table sat between the bed and the dresser, and across from the bed was a roaring fireplace. A second bedside table was on the right side of the bed, and a single chair sat diagonally across from it, close to the fireplace. In the chair, there was an older, bald gentleman with kind eyes who smiled as Steve acknowledged him.

            “Welcome to the year 2011, Captain Rogers.” the man said, his British accent conjuring a memory for Steve.

            “Professor Xavier?” he asked, and the bald man nodded.

            “It is good to finally speak to you in words, but I am far from the only person who has been waiting to see you.” Charles said, and the super-soldier took a deep breath.

            “Annie?” he asked hopefully, and Charles’ smile widened.

            “I have never seen someone so impatient as your wife, Steven, and she is but a call away if you wish to see her now.” the telepath answered, and Steve gave a nod.

            Out in the hall, Erik turned to Annie with a gentle smile on his face. It had been three days since Charles and Hank had returned via Air Nightcrawler with a half-frozen Steve between them; surprisingly, it had been Jean who suggested that John Allerdyce use his powers to melt the ice still clinging to Steve’s arms, legs, and shield. Once the man had been thawed out, Hank had carried him to one of the guest rooms. A chair had been set up for someone to be in the room with Steve at all times, and it had been Annie for most of the three days.

            “Charles says that Steven is awake and asking for you, my dear.” Erik told her.

            “Thank you, Dr. Lehnsherr, for everything.” Annie said, and Erik placed a hand on her shoulder gently.

            “You are most welcome, Annie, and, as I have told you more than once in the last few days, call me Erik.” he insisted, and she smiled at him before making her way back to the door leading into the room where her husband awaited.

            The door opened, and Charles stepped out while allowing Annie to step into the room. The door closed behind the blonde woman, and Charles made his was towards Erik with a smile of contentment. Alex joined them, walking up from the other side, and both of them could feel the joy that Charles was radiating.

            “You are projecting your feelings again, Charles.” Erik told him with a playful smirk.

            “Can you blame me?” Charles asked with a chuckle, turning from his husband to their second-eldest child. “Would you please guard the hallway? Steve and Annie deserve to not be interrupted by curious parties. Erik and I will make a more formal statement to the students at dinner, so you won't have to guard the door the whole day.”

            “Sure thing, Mom.” Alex said, moving into place outside the door while Charles and Erik left, a discussion of playing chess the last thing that Alex heard from them.

            Back inside the room, Steve stood as Annie walked into the room. Seeing her for the first time since the serum had changed his body, she was significantly smaller than he remembered. Other than that, everything about her was exactly as Steve remembered save for the small bump that signified their child growing inside of her.

            “Hi, Ann.” Steve let out breathlessly. “You look amazing.”

            Annie smiled as happy tears formed in her eyes. Steve was definitely not the same physically as she remembered, but she couldn’t find it in her to care. The version of Steve that was standing in front of her, the same one from the newsreels and propaganda films that Charles and Tony had shown her and the same one whose bedside she had been sitting at for the last three days, was how she’d always thought he’d felt on the inside. This Steve, she thought to herself, was the real Steve.

            “Lookin’ pretty good yourself, Stevie.” she responded as she crossed the room to stand in front of him.

            More so out of instinct than any logical thinking, Steve and Annie pulled one another into a kiss. They would discuss the years that Annie had missed from Steve’s life, the deal that Annie had made with Howard, and their newfound future later. For now, this was what the couple needed. This was their moment.

Chapter Text

            After the first month, Steve and Annie both seemed to be getting a halfway decent grasp on the 21^st century. Most days were spent wading through paperwork together, with help from Bucky whenever they got stuck, and now everything was just about ready to be turned in so that they could start getting on with their lives. The couple didn’t see much of Anya, despite the two of them living alongside her, Bucky, and Becca in the loft, as she was spending increasingly more time at the mansion with Charles and Erik now that she was in her ninth month of her pregnancy.

            During this increased amount of time at the mansion, Anya noticed Jean being less cold towards her, but it was in the way that most people feel obliged to be polite to a pregnant woman. It would have been a lie, however, for Anya to say that she was not enjoying this less tense relationship with the redhead. Though, she did expect that some of it might have had to do with Natasha, as the former Russian spy had only left the mansion to return to SHIELD headquarters the week before, making her thoughts concerning Anya very clear. Somehow, she had gained another sister in the spy. A sister to whom, if the passing glances she had witnessed in the halls, Warren had become quite partial.

            “You know she’s the most notorious spy in the world, right?” Anya asked him one afternoon after Natasha had left, the two of them lounging by the fireplace in the library while most of the students were in class.

            “I’m fully aware of who she is, Anya, but I don’t care. Do you know how few women don’t just look at me because of either my wings or my money?” Warren replied, and she knew the feeling of people only paying attention to you for what’s in your bank statement well.

            “Please don’t hurt each other, okay?” Anya said. “It turns out, I like Nat a hell of a lot more than I ever thought I would, and you’re my brother.”

            “Don’t worry, Anh, everything’s gonna be okay.” Warren assured her as Sean sunk into the last chair in their semi-circle wearing a pair of tight-fitting, black jeans, an emerald button down, and black leather boots.

            “Sorry I’m late, guys.” he told them as he carefully draped a sport coat over the back of the chair. “Mom needed help finalizing the details for the field trip in a few days.”

            “Ooh, don’t you look nice today, Sean.” Anya giggled out, and the redhead chuckled. “Do you have a hot date tonight that we don’t know about or something?”

            “Surprisingly, I do.” he admitted. “Alex and I decided to bring back Date Night since he’s home again.”

            “How’s that working? Is the army discharging him?” Warren asked, passing Sean a glass bottle of Coca-Cola.

            “Technically, he’s on leave until the whole Ross thing is dealt with, and then the army will assign him to a new research base. We’re both hoping for Aberdeen, mostly because he’d be able to drive home on the weekends and give Kurt a break, but White Sands was the only one not on the East Coast, so we're not really worried.” the sonic screamer said as he popped the cap on his cola and took a swig of the dark caramel beverage. “Part of me hopes that Tony’s serious about hiring him on as a researcher once the tower’s operational.”

            “Because it means that Alex’d be here, with you and Tess, he’s completely serious. Tony’s moving back to New York because of his own kid, so you can’t say that he doesn’t understand the importance of family.” Anya said, and Sean chuckled.

            “Manhattan is a lot closer than Aberdeen, and Tony won’t want to use Alex to make any plasma-based superweapons.” he mused.

            “Not to mention that he’d totally have the best bosses he could hope for as both a researcher and a mutant. I can’t imagine Alex having anybody to answer to above Tony, Pepper, and Anya.” Warren added.

            “Please, Alex barely answers to Mom and Dad.” Sean pointed out, a goofy grin appearing on his face as the man in question walked over to them and sat on the arm of Sean’s chair.

            “When did I become the topic of your afternoon gossip sessions, babe?” Alex asked just as Sean pulled him down for a quick kiss, so Anya decided to answer.

            “Eh, you’re just the most recent topic, bro. Warren and I were talking about his crush on Tasha before Sean even got here. He was helping Papa with the field trip plans and showed up late.” she said, and Alex raised an eyebrow at Warren.

            “Dude, the Black Widow? Seriously?” he chuckled, and Warren smacked him off the arm of the chair and into Sean’s lap with the tip of his left wing. “Oof.”

            “There’s more to her than that, guys.” he groaned, and the other three laughed.

            “Trust me, Warren, I know that better than anyone; I’ve actually been in Tasha’s head before, with permission, and she’s definitely more than an assassin or a super-spy. We’re your family, though, so it’s our job to make fun of you.” Anya told him, getting snickers of agreement from Alex and Sean.

            “So, moving on from the topic of our love-lives, especially when we don’t even have to talk about Anya’s, what’s the plan for the field trip?” Warren asked, and Anya smacked his shoulder lightly.

            “We’re leaving out for D.C. first thing Friday morning, Mom’s got a list of who’s driving and who’s riding in whose car, and we’re doing a tour of the various monuments and memorials that day. Saturday, we’re all going to be super-clingy with Dad because we’re going to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and he’s going to be a wreck. Mom said we didn’t have to go there, but Dad insisted. He says it’s important for the kids to know what everyone is capable of since it wasn’t just humans running those camps.” Sean answered. “If Dad’s still up to it, we’ll go to the Smithsonian on Sunday, and we’ll be back here sometime Monday afternoon.”

            “I wish that I were going with you guys. Make sure Kitty’s always close to him in the museum? Especially at the replica of the gates?” Anya told her three brothers present, and they nodded, all of them knowing that Anya, Kitty, and Charles were the only ones capable of talking Erik down when it came to certain subjects.

            “Don’t worry, Anh, we’ll make sure he’s taken care of while we’re there.” Alex insisted with a sad smile, silently wondering how big of a dent this trip would put in Charles’ Magneto Destruction Budget.

            “Papa already let him level the actual gates in two different timelines, considering that we’re timeline four, I think, so he should be safe.” Anya said with a laugh that trailed off as a small voice reached her mind.

            “Zia, guess what!” Peter’s excited mental call came, and she smiled to herself.

            “What is it, Cucciolo?” she responded, and he pushed forward the image of a field trip form into her mind.

            “My class is going to Washington, D.C. this weekend to see the Holocaust Museum! I shouldn’t be excited, but I want to know what Opa went through so I can help him not be so sad when he tells me about Oma Edie, Opa Jakob, and Tante Ruth.” Peter told her, and she realized that there was little coincidence that the two field trips had coinciding dates.

            “That’s very thoughtful, sweetie, and you’ll have a great time on your trip. Keep your phone on you at all times, yeah? ” Anya sent back, and she got a message of agreement from Peter before turning to face her brothers.

            “What’s going on in telepath world?” Alex asked, recognizing the signs.

            “The dads are doing this whole trip for Peter’s sake. His fifth-grade field trip is going to be in D.C. at the same time you guys will be, and I don’t believe that this is a coincidence. Watch him, too?” she said, and all three gave smiles and nods.

            “With our lives.” the three chorused, and Anya smiled back.

            Friday arrived and brought chaos with it. Given how over half of the students in the school were going, Bucky, Steve, and Annie were going on the field trip as chaperones along with Charles, Erik, Logan, Alex, Sean, Scott, Warren, Ororo, Emma, Hank, and Betsy Braddock. The latter had caused much jesting between the siblings, as all of them were aware of Hank’s crush on Betsy back during her modeling days; Anya knew that the crush was more than mutual, and she made it her job as the little sister to make hank blush as many times as she could before they left.

            Anya herself was staying behind at the mansion with Jean, Kitty, Kurt, and Kayla. The younger children, those being Becca, Mollie, Laura, and Tess, were excited to be spending the weekend together; Anya had heard about at least three planned tea parties, and Tess had asked if Becca could share her room instead of staying with Anya, who quickly agreed. She felt that it was always a good thing for Becca to spend more time with other children.

            Friday evening past with little fanfare. The remaining students were all in their rooms before curfew, the younger ones asleep by nine o’clock, and the adults retreated to varying places in the mansion themselves. Anya had gone to Charles and Erik’s office once Tess and Becca had been tucked in, and she wasted no time in wrapping herself up in one of Charles’ cardigans before curling up in Erik’s chair with a pile of essays that needed grading. She lost herself in the various approaches the students took to analyzing how one might be able to use T.H. White’s The Once and Future King as fodder for propelling the Mutant Rights cause forward and didn’t notice the time until it was half-past one o’clock and she felt a sharp pain in her side. She placed one hand on her bump and the other on the desk as the pain came back for a second wave. She knew that something was wrong, so she did the only thing she could think of by sending out a psychic cry for help. The next thing Anya knew was unconsciousness.

            On the other side and floor of the mansion, Jean sat straight up in bed and ran downstairs. She hurried into Charles and Erik’s office and froze when her eyes landed on the unconscious Anya in Erik’s chair. She hurried over to her fellow psionic manipulator and checked on her as best she could. Kurt, having also heard Anya’s plea, popped into the room just as Jean finished checking the other telepath’s pulse.

            “Get Hank; there’s something wrong.” Jean told him, and he popped out of the room with only a small cloud of blue smoke lingering where he’d stood.

            Using her telekinesis, Jean levitated Anya down to the X-Men Med-Bay in the sublevels. Thankfully, none of the students were out of bed; Kitty saw her, and Jean sent her to check on Becca and Tess before either of the girls could panic. Kayla hurried to open the elevator for Jean when the redhead passed by hers and Logan’s room, and Jean looked up at her confusedly.

            “I was already awake. Nicky’s always restless when his daddy’s gone, and I just got him back to sleep.” she told Jean.

            “Thanks for your help, Kayla.” the redhead told her. “Something’s wrong with the baby.”

            “Has Kurt gone to get Hank?” the Canadian woman asked, and Jean nodded.

            “I would’ve preferred sending Azazel, but you know how well those two get along. Can you-Thanks.” Jean said, Kayla opening the Med-Bay door just as the redhead went to ask.

            Jean settled Anya on the examination table as blue smoke filled the room. It cleared to reveal Hank and Kurt, and Hank immediately began grabbing supplies. Kurt offered to pop back out to get Bucky, and Jean gave him a nod. As Hank lifted Anya’s shirt to apply the ultrasound jelly, Jean felt the presence of unfamiliar minds on the mansion’s grounds. She looked at Kayla in alarm, and the dark-haired woman clenched her jaw.

            “I’ll go call Logan.” she said, and Jean nodded before running over to the wall by the door and slamming her palm on the red panic button activating the forcefield around the mansion that would ultimately prevent Kurt from teleporting inside so long as it was active.

            “Jean, I need your help!” Hank called, his tone slightly scaring the redhead.

            “Kayla, get Raven and figure out what’s going on out there. Check to see who crashed here tonight, and hurry!” Jean called out as she moved back to Hank’s side. “What do you need? What’s going on with her?”

            “There’s a leak in the amniotic sac, and we have to do an emergency C-section. My usual nurse isn’t here, obviously, so I’ll need your help instead.” he told her, and she gaped at him.

            “What the hell and I supposed to do? I’m not a nurse!” Jean exclaimed, and Hank glared at her enough to make her feel like a student who forgot to turn in her homework again.

            “Scrub in, Grey, because Anya and this baby need you more right now than anyone else in the world. Their lives are in your hands.” Hank growled, though she knew that there was no real malice in his tone.

            Jean did as Hank instructed, listening to his every word and following his every command as they worked on Anya and her baby. Half-an-hour into the emergency surgery, the doors opened to allow Raven to rush into the room. She was blonde and peach-skinned at the moment, and she was wearing bright purple scrubs. Jean raised an eyebrow, and Hank sighed in relief when he saw her.

            “We’re mostly secure. Whoever these guys work for, their low-level goons at best. They were looking for the triplets, but they weren’t prepared for the likes of Silverfox and Gambit let alone me. Remy and Kurt are tossing the survivors into a cell for Charles to interrogate when he gets home.” she told them, and the blue-furred scientist nodded before turning to the redhead.

            “Jean, clean yourself up and try getting into Anya’s mind. We need her to stay unconscious until after the baby’s born less we want the house brought down on top of us. This isn’t Raven’s first time in the OR, so we’ll be fine.” Hank barked out, and Jean nodded before hurrying over to the sink and cleaning as much of Anya’s blood off her hands as she could before bolting from the room and down the hall to Cerebro.

            Jean had never used the machine without supervision, but Anya was too powerful for her to lock onto otherwise. She and the baby were Priority 1 according to Hank, so Jean figured that this made it okay to use Cerebro on her own for once. Standing on the platform, she put the helmet on her head and waited as the machine sought out every mutant mind in the world. It didn’t take long to find Anya’s mind, but Jean was vastly underprepared for what lay inside.

~

            Anya’s mind was highly organized and much so mirrored the school’s library. Jean found herself sitting in one of the leather armchairs by the fireplace, and Anya sat beside her in the middle chair. The younger woman looked at her with a frightened expression.

            “Jean, what’s going on? Why are you in here?” she asked, and the redhead reached out to take her hand.

            “Anya, your amniotic sac started to leak, and the baby was in distress. You sent out a cry for help, and we didn’t hesitate. Hank and Raven are doing an emergency C-section on you right now, but we need you to stay asleep while they do. Powers like ours, we can’t exactly allow ourselves to lose control.” Jean told her, and Anya nodded.

            “Do you remember how I used to go to sleep when I was little, Jeanie?” Anya asked, and Jean smiled at the use of her childhood nickname.

            “Actually, I do remember, Anh. Charles would tell us bedtime stories and let us use our powers to make the scenes come to life. Wanda’s powers first manifested when we were doing that one night.” Jean said, and Anya frowned. “She really liked unicorns back then.”

            “You used to call him Papa, then, like Wanda, Lorna, Kitty and me. Why’d you stop calling him Papa and stop telling stories with us?” she asked, and Jean frowned as well.

            “I guess…I thought that your stories always made Charles smile more than mine. If they did that, then what good were mine?” the redhead admitted. “I realized that I’m not his daughter, not like you or Kitty, and definitely not like Wanda or Lorna.”

            “Jeanie, he was so sad when you stopped joining us. We all were.” Anya told her.

            “My relationship with Charles isn’t like yours, Anya, and it’s definitely not like Wanda’s. I didn’t fit.” Jean tried to justify her decision, but Anya shook her head. “I’m just a student.”

            “You’ve always fit, Jeanie, you just couldn’t see it.” she said, holding out her free hand as a book floated down off a shelf and glided towards her. “Let me show you. It’ll help me sleep.”

            Jean watched as Anya opened the book and thumbed through to a particular page. She stopped, set the book on her lap, and began to read aloud. The first few words brought forth a memory playing out before them, and Jean was entranced.

            “Once upon a time in a small town, a little girl was born with special powers. She could move things with her mind and hear people’s thoughts without even trying. Her parents didn’t know what to think of her powers, so they decided to take her to a doctor who said he could take the powers away. On the way to the doctor, the little girl lost control of her powers and flipped her parents’ car upside down; her mother died in the crash, but her father survived. The little girl survived, too, and this made her father scared of her. He wanted the doctor who could cure her to take her away so he never had to see her again, but this was stopped when a man in a wheelchair arrived and offered to take the little girl somewhere where she would be safe. This man told the little girl that he was a professor at a school for people who had special powers like she did, and she was happy to live at his school and make new friends. When she was twenty-five, the girl became bonded with a powerful force known at the Phoenix, and a group of aliens followed in its wake. The girl refused to let the aliens hurt her family, and she unleashed the full power of the Phoenix on the aliens’ leader even though she was scared of that power and even though she knew it meant that she would likely die. The man in the wheelchair was blamed for what happened to the girl, and he took his surviving children to an island where his lover, the man who controls metal, lived. There, the two men lived together and raised the remaining children. One was a young man who had power over technology. One was a blue boy who was actually their nephew who could teleport. And one was a little girl who had powers almost exactly like the girl bonded with the Phoenix.” Anya narrated, and Jean watched an entire lifetime play out before her.

            “What happened next?” she asked, and Anya smiled.

            “One day, while the little girl was playing outside with her fathers and brothers, a great comet appeared in the sky. It fell to Earth, and inside the rock was a little baby with hair as red as a flame. She had a birthmark shaped like a phoenix on her shoulder, and the man in the wheelchair used his powers to look into her mind. This baby was the girl who had sacrificed herself to save her friends, her family. The two men adopted the baby, and she grew faster than any normal baby would have grown. Before a year had past, she was older than the little girl again by a few physical years. They were sisters now, and they loved one another more than anything. They played games of make believe with their powers and made their dolls come to life. The family led a happy life, but then things changed. A scientist who was scared of people with powers created weapons meant to destroy them using a gem from space known at the Tesseract. The children who had blamed the man in the wheelchair came to the island begging him for help. He agreed, but only because he didn’t want anyone else dying because of him. The girls entered the room while he was talking to his adult son covered in bright blue fur, and the little girl read his thoughts. He was confused, scared, and angry when he saw her sister. How was she alive? How was she a child? Would she remember that he’d tried to kill her? Why would the Professor have lied to him about her being dead? The little girl told him not to hurt her sister, and the blue man realized that the older girl wouldn’t hurt him. They all went back to the man in the wheelchair’s school, and everyone prepared for a fight. The girls were teenagers now, one thirteen and the other sixteen. One day, the scientist and his soldiers arrived at the school and attacked. The battle ended when the man in the wheelchair was hit by a dart filled with a blue liquid.” Anya told her, and Jean felt the tears in her eyes.

            “What did the liquid do?” she asked, and Anya pointed at the current memory.

            Charles had fallen from his wheelchair, the only thing keeping him from lying on the grass being Erik’s arms cradling him gently. His skin was turning a sickening shade of blue that reminded the girls of hypothermia. He gazed up at Erik, tears streaming down both their faces.

            “I’m…so…sorry…my love.” Charles choked out through obvious pain. “Please, protect the children…and don’t…let Stark…get you…too.”

            “Ich liebe dich, Maus.” Erik told him, and Charles took a shallow breath.

            “I love you, too, Erik, more than you can imagine.” he said, taking one last breath before closing his eyes and disintegrating into nothing.

            Erik stood, the pain, anger, and grief the only thing clear in his mind. Then, he saw the two girls, his daughters, standing in the path of more darts. He held his hand out and redirected the metal-tipped darts back at the humans who had fired them, and Charles’ voice from forty years previously floated back into his mind as he prepared to end the battle once and for all. ‘Find the place between rage and serenity…’ With that, weapons fell apart and human men disintegrated just as Charles had. Only one man remained, and this was the man Erik wanted to cause the most pain.

            “To poison you with a dart would be to quick a death for what you have done.” Erik growled out, and the man paled. “Charles Francis Xavier-Lehnsherr was ten times the man you will ever be, Howard Stark, and he was ten times the father to Anya and Tony that you could have ever been.”

            Erik clenched his fist, and Howard began to scream as the iron in his bloodstream turned into small iron balls and ripped his blood vessels apart in a slow, agonizing manner. Blood poured from his every orifice, and Erik only relinquished his hold when Howard was on the verge of death. He watched as the man writhed in pain for a few minutes longer before ultimately dying in a pool of his own blood. After that, he turned to the mutants and ordered them all to form groups for the two teleporters to take back to his island.

            “After losing his lover, the man who controls metal was sent back in time by three of his daughters. The redhead, the little girl, and the wall-walker took turns, the teenagers copying their older sister’s powers to give her breaks. He saved his lover, made the scientist understand that waging war against mutants was futile at its best, and made it his mission to save his red-haired daughter before she could sacrifice herself when she grew up again.” Anya said, and Jean watched as Charles and Erik came into her parents’ home.

            “Should we really be doing this?” Raven asked, trailing behind the two men.

            “I have shown you what Erik showed to me. If we do not do this, Jean will kill you one day because of her fear and rage.” Charles said fiercely, but quietly. “I will not lose my daughter or my sister this way.”

            The three made their way to the second floor, and they split up as Erik silently opened three doors. Raven went into the bathroom and collected all of the items in that room which belonged to a little girl. Charles went into the master bedroom and used his powers to make the sleeping adults forget that they ever even had a daughter. Erik went into the little girl’s bedroom and gently picked up the sleeping redhead. Azazel popped in a moment later and teleported Erik and the girl away. He returned and disappeared several times more, each time taking or replacing a piece of furniture to make the room appear like an ordinary guest room. On his last trip, he teleported out with Charles and Raven.

            As the girl slept, Charles planted the false memory of her parents sending her to the school to learn to control her powers. He and Erik filed the paperwork to make her their daughter a few days later. Little Jean never knew any of this.

            “I was kidnapped?” she asked aloud, but Anya shrugged.

            “I’d call it being saved. Your birth parents never accepted your mutation, Jeanie, and they tried to fix a part of you that wasn’t broken; but our parents do accept you. They’ve always loved you, and you’ve always been one of us.” she said, and the redhead turned towards her with tears running down her cheeks. “You’ve always been my big sister.”

            “I am the worst big sister ever, Anh, and I am so sorry.” Jean said, and Anya moved to sit beside her in one chair.

            “You have nothing to apologize for, Jeanie, because there was no way you could’ve known what I know without me telling you.” the younger woman said, pulling her into a gentle hug. “There’s something Papa used to tell me when I used to fight with Wanda when we were little: sometimes, sisters fight, but that doesn’t make them not sisters.”

            “Someone’s in the room with me, so it’s probably close to time for you to wake up and meet your baby.” Jean said, and Anya smiled. “I love you, little sister.”

            “Love you, too, Jeanie.” she replied, and then Jean pulled out of her mind.

~

            Opening her eyes and removing the Cerebro helmet from her head, Jean turned to see Raven standing beside her. The purple scrubs were covered in blood, but she was smiling. Jean let out a relieved breath as she caught a glimpse of Anya resting in her room while Hank was looking after the baby in Raven’s mind.

            “They’ll be fine, Jean.” the metamorph assured her. “I’ve had a hand in four different cesarean births before tonight, so I can be entirely certain that Anya and the baby will be fine. Now, we can talk about whatever Anya told you later. As one of Charles’ keepers for the better part of almost seventy years, I know that you’re exhausted. Go rest.”

            Jean did as Raven told her, mostly. She stopped in to check on Hank and the baby before going upstairs, and he told her that he would be taking the baby up to Anya’s room once she was awake. Jean smiled down at the baby boy in Hank’s arms, thanked Hank for coming home to save the day, and made her way upstairs. Without thinking, she walked directly to Anya’s bedroom and slipped inside with barely a sound. Sitting down on Bucky’s side of the bed, she stretched her powers just enough to put an image of the baby’s face into her sleeping sister’s mind. Looking around and realizing the Bucky himself still wasn’t present, Jean figured that Anya’s bed was just as good as hers when it came to getting rest. So, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep knowing that, as a relatively light sleeper, any attacker would have to get through her to get to Anya.

            When Anya first regained consciousness, the first thing she picked up on was the smell of Jean’s perfume. Opening her eyes, she looked around the room only to find it empty. She started to get herself out of bed when the door began to open. Eyes snapping towards it, she was relieved to see Jean standing in the doorway with a small bundle in her arms.

            “Glad you’re finally awake, sis.” Jean said, crossing the room and gently sitting down beside Anya on the bed. “This little guy’s been looking for you like crazy. Auntie Jeanie just isn’t the same as Mama.”

            “Hi there, Mitya.” Anya said to her newborn son as she took him into her own arms.

            “Mitya?” Jean asked, smiling softly.

            “Papa confirmed it after Thor returned to Asgard, and we’re certain that HYDRA killed Dimitri when they discovered that Bucky hadn’t come back. We decided on his first name months ago, but I’m rethinking his middle name now.” Anya admitted.

            “What would that be?” Jean asked, and Anya smiled.

            “It was originally Dmitri Steven, but now I’m thinking Dimitri John might be more appropriate. He and I both owe you our lives, Jeanie.” she remarked, and the redhead let slip a joyful sob.

            “All I did was send Kurt to get Hank.” she argued, but Anya shook her head.

            “You did more than that, and you know it.” the younger woman said adamantly. “And it’s not like we didn’t name Becca after Bucky’s sisters.”

            “Speaking of your husband and daughter, they’ve been waiting to see you just as long as the rest of us. I only got in first because they’re both still eating breakfast.” Jean said, getting a chuckle out of her sister. “I should go get them.”

            “Jeanie!” Anya called as the redhead reached the bedroom door.

            “Yes, Anh?” Jean asked, blinking away her happy tears.

            “Thank you.” Anya told her, and Jean merely inclined her head before ducking out in search of Bucky and Becca.

            A few days went by as Bucky, Anya, Becca, and baby Dmitri spent time together in Anya and Bucky’s room. Outside, Erik and Tony were busy repairing the minor damage the mansion had sustained when the men in the black vans had attacked. Anya had tried asking who the men had been, but not even Logan would tell her.

            When Anya sat in bed the following Wednesday afternoon, reading through more essays, she felt a mental knock. It was Erik, and she called for him to enter. He closed the door behind himself and sat down on the bed beside her with a portable chess board.

            “Care for a game, schatz?” he asked, and she grinned.

            “I’d love to, Vati.” she answered, and he held out his fists for her to pick a piece; she chose his left hand, and he opened it to reveal the white bishop.

            “Hank says you can join us for dinner tonight if you feel up to it.” Erik told her as he set up the board on the bed. “We’ve even set up the bassinet in the dining hall if you do.”

            “I think I might.” Anya admitted. “It gets lonely being stuck here all day, every day.”

            “Your Papa felt the same way, my Ana.” he said, and she smiled. “Alex was exponentially worse each day he was on bedrest, however, and set his and Sean’s bed curtains on fire.”

            “That sounds like Alex alright.” she said. “So, how was the field trip?”

            “Everyone returned after the fight was over, mostly out of concern, so we plan on rescheduling. However, Charles and I went back to make sure that we were at the museum with Peter, who, by the way, adores his Grandpa just as much as we thought he would; yes, I am aware that Peter told you about his own field trip. You know how I feel about discussing the camps, Ana, but Peter got me to talk about it. He told me ‘Opa, I don’t care if it could scare me. I need to know what happened so I can know how to make it hurt less when you talk about Tante Ruth, Oma Edie, and Opa Jakob.’” Erik told her, amazed at the actions of his eldest grandson.

            “He’s an amazing kid with a big heart, just like his father. He doesn’t like it when he can feel other people’s pain.” Anya noted, and Erik agreed.

            “May and Ben are going to let him come stay for Passover next month. Though he is of the faith, Ben doesn’t always celebrate the holidays, so they are more than willing to let Peter join us for our celebrations.” he said, a shark-grin spreading across his face.

            “His empathic abilities are already as strong as Tony’s, maybe stronger, so he knows how much you and Papa love him.” she said, and he agreed.

            “He will be the best of us all one day. Of that, I am entirely sure.” Erik stated, and Anya didn’t bother arguing with a statement she too believed in wholeheartedly.

            That night, after dinner, the family gathered in the living room for the first time since Dimitri’s birth. Tony and Pepper had flown in as soon as Erik had called to let them know what was going on at the mansion, and Phil and Natasha had returned within hours of the couple arriving at the mansion after receiving a similar call from Emma and the triplets. Everyone had noticed the shift in Anya and Jean’s relationship, but no one dared to question it aloud. Well, it was no one until Scott spoke up that night.

            “When did you two become so close?” he asked, and his fiancée and adoptive sister both gave him half-hearted glares.

            “Jean and Anya have always been close.” Charles told their assembled family. “But sometimes, no matter the set of them, sisters fight.”

            “There were some misconceptions I had about my life growing up that Anya was able to help me figure out, and I realized that I made a mistake when I shut her out as a kid.” Jean admitted, and Scott knew by her tone to drop the subject.

            “And Jean saved not only my life, but my baby’s life.” Anya said, sharing a smile with Bucky as they looked down at both of their children curled up against them. “So, we’ve decided to make a few changes to our original plans.”

            “Oh? How wonderful!” Charles said, smiling at their thoughts.

            “What?” Jean asked, brow furrowed.

            “We would like to formally introduce everyone to our son,” Bucky said. “Dimitry John Barnes, named after a good friend who died to protect our family and his Auntie Jeanie who helped his Uncle Hank and Great-Aunt Raven bring him into this world.”

            “If you’re willing to accept, Jean, we would also love it if you would be his godmother. Of course, Scott, you would be his godfather.” Anya added, and the redhead merely smiled and nodded through a fresh wave of happy tears while Scott blinked in surprise.

            “Us? Seriously? We’d be honored!” Scott said excitedly.

            A few hours later, Charles and Erik were snuggled together on one of the sofas in the living room watching as their children cooed over baby Dimitri. All of their granddaughters had been sent to bed, along with their youngest daughter Lorna, not long after the naming of the boy’s godparents. Now, the room was quieter, but it was filled with love.

            “I think this will make an excellent entry in your next letters to Gene and Paul.” Charles told his husband softly.

            “They do always love hearing how the children are doing, don’t they?” Erik replied as he dropped a kiss onto Charles’ temple.

            “We should arrange for them to visit as guest speakers again soon. The children always seem to love it when they visit. Perhaps they can bring Eric and Tommy with them?” Charles replied, and Erik let out a hum of agreement.

            “I will mention it in the letter.” he conceded, and Charles leaned up to press a gentle kiss to his lips.

            “I love you, Erik.” he said, the four words explaining everything he was feeling in a way that only Erik would truly ever understand.

            “Ich liebe dich, Charles.” Erik replied, and Charles knew that his feelings were reciprocated with an equal degree of passion, just as he had every day since October 1962.

Chapter Text

            It was almost three weeks after Dimitri’s birth that Bucky and Anya took their children back to the Brooklyn loft. Within a few hours of settling in, PEG notified them that Tony and Pepper were on their way with Peter. The boy had been eager to meet his new cousin, and Anya was sure that he wanted to tell her all about his field trip. What not even Tony had told Peter was that Steve and Annie had stayed behind at the mansion to get help from the students and teachers at the school on playing over half-a-century of catch-up in history and pop culture. In their place, Alex and Sean had come into the city for the week for Alex and Tony to discuss what options the former had in working for SI.

            When Tony opened the door for Peter and Pepper, the boy raced ahead of them to hug his aunt. He backed away when the hug ended, and that’s when he saw Alex and Sean on the sofa, smiles on their faces. His jaw dropped, not having expected the two men to be there, but he was happy to see them. Peter had met his uncles once before, the first time he’d gone to the mansion, about a week before Dimitri’s birth, and had bonded with them almost instantly.

            “Uncle Sean! Uncle Alex!” he exclaimed, running over to his uncles and falling happily into the middle of a group hug.

            “Hiya, Mini-T.” Alex greeted, making sure to look up to catch the roll of Tony’s eyes at Peter’s nickname from his uncles.

            “I didn’t know you were in town!” the boy said energetically, and Alex smiled.

            “We decided to drive down for a couple of days before your dad goes back to Malibu so we could sit down with him, Pepper, and your Aunt Anya to figure out what kind of work I might be able to do at SI once I retire from the army.” he told his nephew, and Peter’s eyes went wide.

            “Could you work on the Clean Energy, Green Energy Initiative with Dad? He says I can help when I’m older, but we’re gonna power the new tower with an arc reactor like the one in the Malibu factory!” Peter began to ramble. “Plasma has so many applications in clean energy! Just think of what you could do just with what you know about plasma even without using your powers at all!”

            “Damn, there’s no doubt now that this is definitely your kid, Tony.” Sean let out as he watched his husband’s face shift into an expression of pure shock and awe at the words spilling from the almost-ten-year-old’s mouth.

            “Peter, that is an excellent idea, and that project would definitely be something better for the planet than anything the army’s had me working on lately. Thank you for telling me about this.” Alex finally managed to say, and Peter beamed.

            “Hey,” Bucky cut in, kneeling down to be on eye-level with the boy. “why don’t we go see Mitya and wake Becca up from her nap while the others talk about business stuff?”

            “Okay, Uncle Bucky.” Peter said, following the former assassin from the room.

            Peter absolutely adored his new baby cousin, and the feeling was mutual. Dimitri radiated calm and happiness whenever the older boy was around, and his visits became frequent over the following weeks. When April arrived, the boy’s excitement grew as he knew that he’d be going to stay with his grandparents over his school’s spring break which fell on the same week as Passover. The Friday he was supposed to leave for the mansion, he said good-bye to May and Ben that morning before school; that afternoon, he waited outside for whichever aunt or uncle would be picking him up for the drive to Westchester. He watched to see who it would be, half-expecting Scott’s Mazda to pull up blaring NSYNC at any given moment based on the last conversation he’d had with his Grandpa Charles, when he felt someone come up behind him and shove.

            “Oof!” he let out as he hit the pavement, and the sound of laughter behind him filler his ears as he stood and dusted off his pants.

            “What’s wrong, Puny Parker? Did your aunt and uncle forget about you? I know I would if I were them!” taunted Flash Thompson, the schoolyard bully who’d tormented Peter ever since the school year had started.

            “They didn’t forget me, Flash, because they’re not picking me up today. I’m going to stay with my grandparents upstate!” Peter responded, and the bully merely rolled his eyes.

            “Don’t be pathetic and lie, Puny. It’s not a good look on you.” Flash said just as a black 1959 Jaguar Mark IX pulled up to the front of the school with the windows down and 1980s rock music playing loudly through the windows from its heavily upgraded stereo system.

            The music’s volume went down as the front passenger door opened to reveal a smiling Charles looking over at his grandson. His smile turned into a look of tense contempt as he saw Flash smirking at a borderline teary Peter who, upon seeing Charles, bolted in his direction. He heard Erik shut the car off behind him as he scooped the boy into his arms and pressed their foreheads together projecting all of the calm and love he could in his grandson’s direction.

            “I’m fine, Grandpa. He’s just a bully, and I can handle him. It’s better that he try bullying me than someone who isn’t as strong.” Peter told Charles telepathically, and his grandfather sighed mentally.

            “You shouldn’t have to, my little knight. You have a good heart, little one, much like your father and Opa.” Charles replied, setting his grandson back on the pavement.

            “Is everything alright, liebling?” Erik called as he rounded the car to stand beside them.

            “Everything is fine, darling. Do we still need to stop by the market on the way home, or have the children gathered everything for the holiday?” Charles responded, mentally adding in for Erik what Peter had told him.

            “No, I believe that Kitty and David have ensured that everything is in order for the seder. However, we may stop by the bakery to pick up a treat or two along the way. Peter?” Erik turned from his husband to his grandson, and the boy smiled wide enough to rival his Opa’s shark-grin.

            “Can we get rugelach, Opa?” Peter asked, and Erik let his shark-grin shine.

            “In an answer to that, Liebling Enkel, we will go by the market on our way home just to be sure that I have everything I need to teach you your Oma Edie’s recipe. Tante Ruth and I used to help her make them as children, and she would have loved to know that we passed on our family recipes and traditions.” he said, and Peter cheered.

            “Y-y-you’re Magneto!” Flash breathed out, and the three turned back to where the other boy had been standing, the rest of Peter’s classmates gaping along with Flash at the bully’s observation, Peter’s best friend Ned included.

            “I might be, but if I were, would you want me to know that you’re bullying my grandson? I don’t think that you would, Mr. Thompson.” Erik told him, and Flash gulped.

            “No, sir.” Flash said, and Erik turned towards Charles.

            “Perhaps you should…” he trailed off as he tapped his own temple.

            “Once we’re in the car.” Charles agreed, and the two men helped Peter into the backseat before Charles made all of the children outside the school, including Ned, only remember Peter being picked up by his grandfathers, faces blurred and identities safe.

            Early Saturday morning, before most of the students had awoken, the Xavier-Lehnsherr family filled the kitchen as Erik laid out everything needed to make his mother’s rugelach so that the pastries would be cooled enough to eat by breakfast time. He had taught the recipe to Kitty, Jean, David, Pietro, and Wanda some years earlier, but Lorna and Peter had yet to learn. Charles sat at the kitchen table with the paper and a cup of tea, banned from the kitchen decades before by a rather frustrated Erik, and set up his STARKphone to record the process.

            Music played softly in the background as Erik showed the youngest two how to make the treats with more patience than his students typically saw. As he worked with them, his older three biological children worked together at the other end of the center island. When Kitty entered the room in search of coffee, Charles smiled as she found herself being pulled in to assist in the lesson Lorna and Peter were getting. The greatest surprise came when Jean, who hadn’t taken part in a family moment like this since she’d been a child, slipped silently into the room and sat down beside Charles at the table.

            “Good morning, Papa.” she greeted, taking a sip from the mug of coffee in her hands.

            “Good morning, sweetheart.” Charles returned the greeting, observing the way she watched Erik and the others. “You can join them, you know. Erik is just as much your father as I am, and he’d love for you to partake rather than merely observe. I would help, but, as you well know, I have a lifetime kitchen ban against me.”

            “Jeanie!” Wanda called, looking up as she heard the redhead giggling at Charles. “Come help me beat the boys! Pietro thinks he and David can make more than me!”

            Jean hesitated for a moment, still unsure of herself and of whether Wanda would forgive her for distancing herself for all those years. She broke, though, and set her mug down on the table before hurrying over to Wanda’s side and tying the apron the girl handed her around her waist. Charles, still recording, smiled from behind the camera.

            When the Saturday post arrived, it was Alex’s turn to do mail call. He walked into the crowded lounge area and called out each name printed on the envelopes and packages in the cloth wagon he pulled behind himself. At the very bottom of the wagon were two letters, and both were addressed to Erik.

            “Hey, Dad, the band replied!” Alex called over the noise of the room, and Erik practically jogged over from where he was teaching Lorna and Tess to play chess to receive the letters.

            “Is your mother in the office?” he asked, and Alex nodded.

            “He went to finish up the next round of essays so he’d have his evening free to spend with the family.” the blond answered. “I think Peter went with him.”

            “Thanks.” Erik told him. “I’ll let you know if they plan on dropping in on us soon.”

            “Awesome!” Alex cheered quietly, still in amazement at the kinds of people Erik befriended even after all the years he’d known the man.

            Erik found Charles and Peter grading biology lab reports, and the boy’s frustration was clear by his expression. Charles looked up as his husband entered the room, and he smiled over the top of their grandson’s curly head. Peter noticed Erik’s presence, but he didn’t raise his eyes from the lab report.

            “Grandpa, I don’t think that John and Bobby should work together anymore. Half the report is singed!” the boy exclaimed. “The other half has freezer burn!”

            “Perhaps they should have new lab partners. Should I speak with Uncle Hank about this later?” Charles asked, and Peter nodded.

            “Maybe they can switch with Marie and Jules?” the boy replied, and Charles chuckled.

            “That might be just a good enough idea to work.” Charles told him. “Why don’t we set these aside, for now, and listen to what Opa has to tell us? Darling?”

            “I have replied from two certain friends of ours.” Erik said, handing one of the letters to his husband while opening the other himself and reading through it quickly. “Paul says that they would be happy to visit just before the end of term.”

            “Gene says much the same in his letter, and I believe that the other two will be joining them.” Charles said with a grin. “Won’t this be exciting!”

            “Who are Paul and Gene?” Peter asked, confused.

            “Paul and Gene are friends of Opa’s whose parents, like Opa, had difficult pasts in Europe before moving here. They met, themselves, in New York City when they were around your Zia Anya’s age, and they formed a band; they’re your Opa’s favorite band, actually. Sometimes, they come here to talk about being a mutant in a life outside of this school so that the students know that they aren’t alone once they leave here.” Charles told him.

            “That’s nice of them.” Peter said after a moment to think over the information he’d just been told. “Do Dad and Zia Anya do that?”

            “They do, as does Uncle Alex.” Erik said, gently settling himself on the edge of Charles’ desk. “There are more, but it might be some time before you get to meet them.”

            “Will I get to meet your friends, Opa?” his grandson asked, and Erik nodded.

            “I will speak to May and Ben about you missing one day from school for this. They will be back on tour soon, so who knows when the next opportunity you’ll have to meet them.” he promised, and Charles struggled to keep himself from chuckling.

            “I’ll see about scheduling it for a Monday so that you can just spend the weekend here and be back in time for school the following Tuesday.” he said, shaking his head at the joyous and almost matching grins the two wore.

            Saturday night, Jean ended up being the one to tuck Peter into bed. He hadn’t sorted out his feelings towards his aunt yet, but he knew that she knew that they needed to talk. So, in the way only Peter himself could have managed, he pressed his fingertips to her cheek in a featherlight manner as she was telling him good night.

            “Are you okay, Aunt Jeanie?” he asked her, and she smiled.

            “I can’t lie to you, Peter, so the answer is that I’m getting a bit more okay every day. I spent a long time not knowing if I fit in, or where I fit if I did, and I let that make me a very bitter and overly analytical person. I’m trying to change that now, trying to remind myself that I have a family that loves me no matter what.” Jean told him.

            “Aunt Jeanie, can I tell you something that Uncle Bucky told me back when Dad was talking to Aunt May and Uncle Ben about changing my birth certificate?” Peter asked, and Jean gave him a nod. “It doesn’t matter if you’re blood related or not, your family is your choice. My dad didn’t have to chose to be a part of my life after he found out about me, and he almost didn’t, but he made that choice because he loves me. It’s just like how, even though Uncle Scott is his brother, and he does love him very much, Uncle Alex doesn’t see his birth parents as his parents; he chose to have Grandpa and Opa as his new parents because they love and accept him for who he is, mutant and gay.”

            Jean sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes locked on the little boy who looked too small in the full-sized bed, and smiled. Peter was, ultimately, right. Anya had told her the night Dmitri had been born that the Greys didn’t want her to  have her powers; they’d been taking her to have her powers forcibly removed in the previous timeline, and they’d been planning it when Erik, Charles, and Raven interfered in this timeline. Her fathers chose her, as did her aunt, and it was high time that she chose them, too.

            “You are very smart, Petey, and I hope you know that I love you very much. I want you to be the first to know that I will be choosing my family, this family, from now on, and no one is going to change my mind.” Jean told him firmly, and he grinned.

            “I like you better when you’re happy.” Peter said, and Jean chuckled.

            “I like me better when I’m happy, too.” she replied. “Do you want me to show you how to tell a bedtime story using your powers to make the pictures comet to life?”

            Scott walked by Peter’s door, looking for Jean, just as the two were discussing his brother, and he remained there an hour later to see the room be completely turned into Camelot, complete with knights at a round table. Peter was barely keeping his eyes open, and Jean was smiling softly at the boy from her place on the bed beside him. She looked over and saw Scott standing in the doorway, gave him a short nod, and leaned down to press a kiss to Peter’s curls as Camelot faded away. The boy made what was a barely audible sound of complaint at this, but Jean let slip a soft giggle and promised him that they’d finish the story another night.

            “Night, Aunt Jeanie.” Peter said sleepily as he accepted his fate. “I love you.”

            “Good night, Peter.” Jean replied. “I love you, too.”

            “G’night, Uncle Scott! Love you, too!” Peter called, fully aware that his uncle was leaning against the door frame.

            “Night, kiddo. Love ya, and sweet dreams.” Scott called with a chuckle.

            Jean met Scott at the door, and the two walked back to their room hand-in-hand. They both changed into their preferred pajamas in silence, but Jean could feel that something was off with her fiancé. As they got under the blankets, she asked him about the strange feeling he was near radiating.

            “I heard a bit of what Peter was telling you, Jean.” he admitted. “It wasn’t Alex’s mutation that made my parents cut him off, you know?”

            “Oh, so being a mutant is alright if you can control your powers, but being gay is where they draw the line?” she responded, and he shrugged.

            “I thought that was the case myself, and then I overheard my mom when I went to visit for Christmas.” Scott said. “She thinks that being around Charles and Erik made him gay, as if he hadn’t had other boyfriends before Sean or as if Alex and Sean didn’t dance around their feelings from the moment they met until Erik told Sean to either quit bitching about Alex’s taste in men or do something about it.”

            “Yeah, if being around them was enough, I’d be a lesbian. Your mom doesn’t know that Charles and Erik are my dads, does she?” Jean asked, and Scott chuckled darkly.

            “I’m saving that one for the next time she starts talking about wanting grandchildren before she dies. It’s not my fault she won’t acknowledge Tess.” he said, and Jean leaned in to press a kiss to his lips.

            “Babe, you know I can’t approve of causing your mother to have a heart attack. Tell her while I’m not around, will you?” she told him, and the two shared a quiet laugh before settling in and falling asleep in each other’s arms.

            Sunday morning was Palm Sunday, and Peter was excited to be going to church with his Grandpa for their last mass before Passover; he’d always celebrated both Christian and Jewish holidays with May and Ben, at least when his aunt and uncle weren’t working, and having more family to celebrate made the boy happy. It helped him, at least in his mind, feel as though he also had a connection beyond just biology with his Nonna Maria when he went to mass.

            After mass, Peter got to play on the playground with some of the other children while Charles spoke with some of his in-town acquaintances. He enjoyed his playtime, but it wasn’t as much fun in his mind as his first Danger Room session with Lorna had been. He was still thinking this as he rejoined Charles, and he looked up as he heard his Grandpa laugh.

            “You will have more chances to practice this week, little knight, and you might have some new training partners. Esme, Phoebe, and Sophie are looking to get some training in soon as well according to your Aunt Emma.” Charles told him.

            “Uncle Pietro said he was gonna help the next time Lorna and I trained. Is he really?” the little boy asked, and Charles smirked.

            “He will be, but Aunt Wanda, Aunt Jeanie, and Uncle David will be there to watch him to make sure he doesn’t go overboard. Uncle Logan and Aunt Ororo will be the ones leading the lesson, however, so you shouldn’t have much to worry about, Peter.” he said, and Peter let out a relieved sigh at this.

            “He said that he and Aunt Ororo were gonna make tornadoes fly at us, and Lorna said that you and Opa wouldn’t let them do that. I agreed with her, but Aunt Anya and Dad said that Uncle Piet doesn’t always listen.” he told his grandfather, getting a bemused smile in return.

            “It is true, he doesn’t listen very well, but Ororo and Logan would never purposefully put any of you children in danger.” Charles said, not expecting the snort his grandson let out as they got into the car.

            “Right, so we practice in a room called the Danger Room?” he joked, and Charles chuckled as he realized the irony in his own words.

            “I can guarantee that your Uncle Sean would say that the Danger Room is better than where he trained.” Charles said as he started the car. “Opa and I might have thrown him off the big satellite dish in the backyard to help him fly.”

            Peter stared at his grandfather incredulously. He’d have to talk with Sean later to see if that was a true story. The memory alone would be worth asking.

            Set to line up with the Easter holiday, Peter was happy to discover that his grandfathers had, as is in their power as co-headmasters of the school, set spring break for Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters to be the same week as his own. Instead of having to find something to entertain himself with while his cousins, aunts, and uncles were all in class on Monday, he was dragged away to the garden after breakfast by Lorna and the triplets. All four were excited about something, but they wouldn’t tell him about what.

            “Where are we going?” he asked as they crossed the garden to the southeast corner of the property.

            “We all realized something about you last night, Pete.” Lorna replied.

            “What?” he asked, worried given the way the girls were giggling.

            “You’re a city boy.” Esme joked, and Peter frowned.

            “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with Queens!” he retorted, and the girls giggled again.

            “We never said that there was, Peter, but there’s something you’ve never done because you’re a city boy.” Phoebe said.

            “Again, what?” he asked, and Sophie looked to the others for a nod before taking pity on her oldest male cousin.

            “Uncle Charles said that we could take you horseback riding today. Don’t worry, it’s just the beginner stuff.” she said as they approached the stables, and Peter gulped.

            “Oh boy!” he faked enthusiasm, but the three telepaths rolled their eyes good-naturedly before leading him into the stables along with the manically laughing Lorna.

            Because Peter was learning to ride a horse for the first time, there had to be some form of what Charles deemed acceptable adult supervision. Therefore, Alex and Sean sat in the hayloft by the large, open window and watched the five children from a safe distance. Sean was saying something, though what Alex hadn’t the slightest clue, as the blond was much to focused on the way the sunlight bounced off his husband’s hair.

            “-nd then that would make Tony’s offer the sensible one, right? Alex? Babe, are you even listening to me? Alex? If you don’t start answering me instead of staring out the window, I’m leaving you for Hank!” Sean said, and the blond jumped before smiling bashfully at the man he loved so dearly.

            “When was the last time I told you how beautiful you are, Sean?” Alex asked, dopey smile still in place.

            “You’ve been very easily distracted lately, and it was last Thursday, so is everything okay with you, babe?” Sean replied, and Alex nodded.

            “I got a call from my C.O. this morning, and my retirement benefits package, the one that explains what all I get and how it works, should be in the mail any day now.” the blond said casually, nearly causing the redhead to fall out the window.

            “You retired already? Tony said that the tower won’t be ready until next spring, a full year from now.” Sean stated, and Alex continued to smile at him.

            “Everything’s going to be fine, I promise. It’s just, with everything going on, I can’t ask Mom, Anya, or Emma to help me cover things up this time.” he said, a soft chuckle flowing along with his words. “Besides, I’d rather be home with you where you can be there for every little thing that you missed last time.”

            Sean was effectively shocked into silence at this point. He sat there, open mouthed, just staring at Alex as his mind ran through everything the blond had just said. There was only one possible conclusion to pull from what he’d just heard, and it made his heart skip a beat.

            “Holy fucking shit! Alex, are you telling me that you’re pregnant?” he finally let out in a rush of excitement.

            “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you, Sean.” the blond said, beaming. “We’re going to be parents again.”

            If this announcement was followed by Sean tackling Alex to the hayloft floor and kissing him senseless, and if a grumbling Scott rushed out of the mansion to take over the duties of keeping an eye on the kids for his brother and brother-in-law, who’s to say that these two events were even related?

            Alex and Sean were still in the hayloft when Erik called Scott and asked him to send Lorna and Peter back up to the mansion. Erik didn’t even bother telling the children what to do as they stepped inside, both knowing that they had to clean up and get dressed in their nice clothes to make the almost hour-and-a-half drive into the city to get to the synagogue that Erik had been going to ever since he had first settled down at the mansion with Charles nearly fifty years prior. Once Erik ensured that all seven of the children he was taking with him had assembled in the garage, he got everyone loaded into the eight-passenger van in a game of mutant-Tetris that ended up being far more time consuming that he’d intended.

            Wanda, for all her patience with her twin, could not sit beside Pietro without one of them starting a fight with the other over something as trivial as who buckled in first. David had called shotgun as soon as they’d made it to the garage for the sole purpose of not being stuck between the two. Kitty had threatened to phase them both out of the car if they argued over her head, so it ended up being Peter, who refused to play favorites with his aunts and uncles to their faces, stuck between them in the middle row while Bobby Drake and Kitty sat on either side of Lorna in the third row. Erik swore he heard Charles chuckling in his mind as he started the ignition, and the quick apology the followed told him that he had been correct.

            Inside the mansion, Jean sat with Charles in his office as he made a call to a possible new student’s family. If the parents agreed to think about sending their child to the school, it was Jean’s turn to do the in-person recruitment meeting. However, from the way she saw her father’s brow furrow, he was not getting through the way he’d hoped.

            “Mrs. Keller, I am not certain that you understand what I’ve been trying to tell you. Your son would be safe here, at my school, where he can learn to control and embrace his abilities. I don’t have any intention of turning him into any type of soldier, and the X-Men operate as a separate entity from the school…Yes, I do understand how some people might get that impression, but Mrs. Keller, this school is also my family’s home. This is where they work, as well as live and train. If anything, it means that we have two of the best security systems in the world between the staff and the electronic system that was personally installed by Tony Stark…Yes, he did state at a press conference that I am his godfather. His company is a very mutant friendly one, and he plans on opening a new research facility and headquarters in New York within the next year or so, I believe…When would you like the meeting scheduled? I think that will be ideal as well. No, unfortunately, I have another meeting to attend to that day in Queens, but I will be sending someone in my place who I trust implicitly…my daughter, and perhaps either her fiancé or one of her siblings, would be happy to make the trip. No, thank-you, Mrs. Keller, and goodbye.” as Charles set down the phone, Jean raised an eyebrow at him.

            “Seeing as how I’m the only engaged daughter at the moment, when do I fly out to Los Angeles to meet the Kellers?” she asked, and he massaged his temples. “And don’t send Dad any dirty thought while he’s at a religious service! At least wait until neither David nor I are around, Papa!”

            “Sorry, dearest, but we do this all the time. In fact, he made it his personal mission to project some rather, shall we say, inappropriate-for-church thoughts to me while I was at mass yesterday.” Charles half-apologized, and Jean couldn’t help the fond smile that formed as she saw a piece of evidence that her parents’ marriage was stronger than she knew others thought.

            “Just warn me to look away next time.” she said. “Now, when am I meeting the Kellers?”

            “You’re expected sometime around lunch next Tuesday; before you ask, Peter is staying with us through Easter, and I am meeting with his school on Tuesday to update his emergency contact forms as well as to discuss their bullying policies. Tony will be in town and going with me, and Erik will be staying here, covering my classes, while Alex covers his.” he told her, and she gave him a nod.

            “How young is their son?” she asked. “Under twelve, and I’m taking Sean with me. If he’s over twelve, I’ll take Logan.”

            “Young Julian is almost nine, just a few months older than Laura and Mollie.” Charles said with mild surprise. “You’d have asked Logan?”

            “I may not always agree with Logan in the field, but he’s one of the teenagers’ favorite professors; he’s just got this way with kids that others don’t. If I ever have to convince an older kid to join, I’d send either Logan or Alex every time.” Jean admitted. “Every girl falls in love with Alex, and every boy wants to be him…and that’s even after they see him with Sean.”

            “Speaking of which, I think they might be rejoining us in time for dinner after all. I can hear them again, and Erik activated the adamantium panels in the hayloft walls when we realized what they were getting up to up there.” Charles said with a chuckle.

            “I’ll take Sean out for a celebratory lunch while we’re in L.A., and I’ll see about helping Hank and Raven with Alex.” Jean told him, rising from her chair gracefully. “But for now, I’m going to makes sure that the seder isn’t ruined by buffoons burning down the kitchen.”

            As she opened the door, they both heard the faint cry of Hank from the kitchen. Evidently, Jean had been projecting to him when she’s spoken. It was too much for either father or daughter to keep from laughing.

            “I am not a buffoon!” Hank shouted, and Jean shook her head as she made her way downstairs to help.

            “Right, you’re a bozo!” Alex’s yell joined in, and Charles let a contented sigh slip passed his lips as he listened to the sounds of his family.

            Several hours and three ceremonial glasses of wine per legal adult later, Charles helped Erik with washing the dishes while their children went about their own after dinner plans. The only person remaining in the vicinity of the kitchen was their grandson who, at the kitchen table, spoke animatedly into his phone about his time at the mansion. The fact that it was Pepper and Tony both to whom he spoke, rather than just his father, made his grandfathers share a smile as they listened to him.

            “-nd Uncle Piet kept trying to swap Uncle David’s wine with his grape juice, but Grandpa caught him. The wine glasses have metal stems, so Opa switched them back whenever Grandpa told him they were backwards.” the boy chirped.

            “I’m so glad that we had the chance to have Peter here for the holidays.” Charles whispered to Erik.

            “He reminds me so much of his father.” Erik noted. “Do you remember when Tony was this age? Was he ever this innocent?”

            “Unfortunately, despite everything we managed to change about the way he was treated growing up, Tony still had to grow up with Howard’s standards over him. Peter has had nothing but support so far in his life, and Tony is thankfully, for everyone’s sake, nothing like our grandson’s Nonno Howard.” Charles replied, forehead crinkling as his cell phone rang. “Who would be calling me this late? Hello?”

            “I am nothing like Howard as a father because I had two much better examples to follow instead.” Tony said, and Charles chuckled.

            “Listening in on other people’s conversations is not polite, Anthony.” he half-heartedly chided, smiling into the call. “However, I am happy to have been such an example for you, and I am astoundingly proud of the man you have grown into over the years. Your Vati would like to talk to you.”

            Erik took the phone from Charles’ hand, brought it to his ear, and gave Tony much the same message that Charles had moments earlier. He then playfully asked when his son planned on proposing to Pepper, and Charles had to stifle a laugh beside him. He could feel both Tony’s nervousness and Peter’s excitement at Erik’s question, Pepper herself having no clue what was being said as the entire conversation between Tony and Erik had been in German.

            “Vati, wir haben erst angefangen, uns zu verabreden, als ich aus Afghanistan zurückkam!” Tony argued, and Charles chuckled.

            “Sohn, wenn Sie die Frau seit zehn Jahren kennen, bevor Sie mit ihr ausgehen, sind zwei Jahre kaum etwas. Ich hätte deinen Papa geheiratet, sobald ich deine Oma gerächt hätte, wenn ich nicht warten müsste, um mein eigenes Land zu gründen.” Erik responded, and Peter began struggling to contain his laughter as he spoke with Pepper about his first horseback riding lesson; Charles had no such qualms.

            “Ich habe Angst, dass sie mich ablehnt, wenn ich frage. Als ich das letzte Mal vorhatte, jemandem einen Vorschlag zu machen, wissen wir alle, was passiert ist.” Tony admitted, and this was enough to sober everyone and for Charles to take the phone and Erik out on the small, covered porch off the kitchen before putting Tony on speakerphone.

            “Tony, though you loved her at the time, Mary was not the woman you deserve to have as your wife. Speaking from experience, you want to be with the person who loves you enough to stand by your side through the darkness and not just in the light.” Charles told him, reaching out for Erik’s hand, fingers ghosting over the golden band that signified their union.

            “Pepper is quite different from Mary, and I doubt that she would turn you down so long as you gave her a heartfelt, honest proposal without theatrics. Trust me when I say, speaking from experience, that she isn’t the type to give up so easily now after ten years of seeing you at your worst, more or less.” Erik added, thinking of the numerous worst days of his life over the four timelines he and Charles had lived through together.

            “I’ll think about it, but I really want there to be some time for Pep and me both to get to know Peter better before I’d even consider it. I don’t even want to be in a position where I’d have to chose one of them over the other, because I don’t think that I could, so I want them to love each other, too.” Tony told them, and the two chuckled in sync.

            “Trust us, son, you have nothing to worry about on that front.” Erik managed.

            “If you want any further clarification, ask your sister. Anya is the one person who Peter actually opens up to entirely, and she’s told me a few interesting factoids from her sessions with your son.” Charles added, and Tony was silent for a moment.

            “It still won’t be this year, I can guarantee that, but let me call Anya.” he said. “Pep and I’ll see you guys on Friday?”

            “Yes, you will. We love you, Tony.” Charles replied, ending the call.

            Tony didn’t call Anya immediately when he got off the phone with his parents. He went back to Pepper’s side and finished talking to his son instead. His sister could wait until the morning, he figured, but there was someone else who couldn’t wait that long.

            He waited until Pepper had gone to sleep before sneaking out of his own house, a feat that he hadn’t had to manage since becoming Iron Man, and driving the forty-minute drive to his destination in just under twenty. He knew that, legally, it was too late to be where he was going, but he needed to talk to one particular person. He needed to tell her what was going on even if she would never be able to respond to him.

            “Ciao Mamma.” he said as he knelt before his parents’ joint headstone. “I know, it’s been too long since you’ve seen me, and I probably need to eat more, right? Well, I’ve got plenty of people reminding me to take care of myself these days, and I wish you’d gotten to meet most of them. God, I miss you something terrible right now, Mom.”

            He imagined the way his mother would have instantly warmed to Pepper after seeing the way the redhead put Tony in his place. Maria would have taken the younger woman right under her wing and taught her some of the finer points of living in high society with a man who could be, despite his own genius, quite a dumbass. Such things were left now for Erik to teach.

            “Mom, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve got everything I could ever want, but I’m still scared to make any of it permanent. Pepper is amazing, and Peter is my life. I mean, Mom, I’m a full-fledged superhero, but I’m still scared.”  Tony said, his eyes focused on his mother’s name. “I can’t stop myself from thinking that I’m abandoning you if I go to New York, Mom, and I know how stupid that sounds. I know that, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where your body is if I need you because you’re a part of me. You’re always with me, and I could’ve done this at my piano, our piano, but it didn’t feel right to not say what I need to say to your face. Well, I mean as close to your face as I can get, at least.”

            Tony went from kneeling to sitting, not caring if the dirt got on his grease-stained lab jeans, and thought about how much his mother would have loved her grandchildren. He could see her teaching Peter, Becca, and Dimitri how to make fresh, homemade pastas; he could picture her teaching them piano in the same patient and gentle way she had taught him and Anya; and he could hear her expressing her pride for their each and every accomplishment in rapid Italian the way she’d always done for him.

            “You would have been an amazing Nonna, and I know Anya agrees. I’ve been teaching Pete how to speak Italian, and he’s taken to it like nothing I’ve ever seen. God, Mom, he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I can’t wait until I’m close enough to see him regularly. And Pepper, God, how you would love her, she loves him just as much as I do. I said I wasn’t sure yet how they’d get along when I was talking to Pops and Vati earlier, but I can feel it every time she talks to or about him, Mom. They’re my family, and I want to spend as much time with them both as I can…and I will. I am going to be here to do the things for Peter that you would’ve done, like showing him how to make pasta or play piano, and I am going to be the husband that Pepper deserves, not the husband that Dad was to you.” Tony rambled, smiling as he reached his realization. “Thanks, Mamma, for everything. I’d never have gotten this far without you. Ti amo.”

            Tony brought up a hand to wipe away a single tear that had begun to trail down his face. He stood, but stopped while on one knee and turned to gaze at his father’s name emblazoned on the dark stone. He owed just as much to Howard as he did to Maria for who he was. For everything that Maria had taught him to be, Howard had shown him what not to be.

            “Dad, never realized how much you taught me until it was too late to tell you. I know now, from that video reel Uncle Eye-Patch gave me, that you loved me in the only way you knew how. It wasn’t that I wasn’t enough, but you never let me know that. Part of me wishes that you had, but I’m still grateful that you didn’t. It allows me to know how important it is for me to tell Peter how much I love him and how proud I am of him every chance I get. Thank you, Dad, for showing me what mistakes not to make. Szeretlek.” he said to a Howard that wasn’t there, but saying the words aloud made his heart feel lighter.

            Tony drove home after this, pulling near-silently into the garage at a quarter-until-two. He walked over to his hidden wall safe and removed the back panel to reveal a small, hidden compartment designed to only be obvious to someone like Erik or himself, taking out the lone velvet box hidden inside. He sealed the secret compartment back and made his way upstairs to the bedroom. Setting the box on his bedside table, he grabbed pajamas and went to take a shower. When he came back, Pepper had woken up and was sitting on the bed with the box open in her hands.

            “Tony, what’s this?” she asked, and he smiled as he sat down beside her on the bed.

            “That would be a 1.3 carat sapphire, quarter carat diamond ring that my dad picked out for my mom back in 1968, although the design is a much earlier Edwardian one.” he told her.

            “Why was it on your nightstand?” she asked, half-curious/half-surprised.

            “My parents were asking me about the future earlier, and I made a lot of excuses for why I wasn’t ready to commit to anything or anyone. They both told me that I was being ridiculous and said that I should call Anya.” he said, looking at his hands.

            “Did you?” Pepper asked, and he shook his head.

            “No, but not because she wouldn’t have been able to get me to the realization that I ended up having anyway. Anya just wasn’t the woman I needed to talk to, so I drove out to the cemetery to talk to my mom.” Tony admitted.

            “Do you feel better after talking to her?” she asked him softly, and he nodded.

            “I do, actually. Mom helped me in her own way, and so did Dad.” he said, chuckling as he thought of how Howard had been of help. “I honestly feel ready.”

            “Ready for…” Pepper trailed off, and Tony turned to face her.

            “Pep, I love you more than anything except my son. We’re moving to New York once the tower is operational, and I am going to be a full-time parent. That terrifies me exponentially the more I think about what children are like, what I was like as a child, and what examples I had for parents. But the thing is, I feel less terrified when I remember that you’ll be right there with me. I’m not asking for anything sudden or soon, but I am asking for an acknowledgement that you and I are a long-term thing. Virginia Ann Potts, will you, one day in the future, marry me?” he asked, and she stared back at him through watery eyes before nodding happily.

            “Yes, Tony, of course I will!” she said, and he took the ring from the box and slipped it on her left-hand ring finger.

            “Would ya look at that. It’s a perfect fit.” he said, smiling into her kiss as she brought his face to meet hers.

Chapter Text

            Peter stood at the front window in the foyer Friday afternoon as he waited for Tony and Pepper to arrive. He had spoken to them the night before, and they had told him that they had a surprise for him, so he was on the edge of his seat to know what it was. When he saw the black Audi coming down the mansion’s front drive, he smiled so wide that it actually worried Kitty who was charged with sitting with him.

            “They’re here! Aunt Kitty, they’re here!” the boy squealed, and his aunt smiled softly at the way her nephew charged out the front door as Tony stopped the car at the front steps.

            Tony was very nearly as excited to see his son as Peter was to see him. He and Kitty exchanged a quick hug before she took his keys from him, knowing her brother well enough to know that he’d forgotten all about his car the second he’d had his son in his arms. She had only just driven the car off to the garage when Tony whispered into Peter’s ear.

            “I asked Pep to marry me, and she said yes. We aren’t getting married soon, but we will get married someday.” he told his only child, and the boy’s excitement grew as he hugged his father before rushing over to his step-mother-to-be and wrapping her in an equally tight hug.

            “I love you, Pep!” he told her, and Pepper laughed lightly as she placed a kiss on the top of his mop of curls.

            “I love you, too, baby.” she replied, beyond happy that Peter was happy with the news.

            “And I love you both!” Tony said as he wrapped his arms around the both of them before leading them inside the mansion.

            Friday night, Tony made sure to be the one to tuck Peter into bed. Peter was happy to have time with his father, giggling as he curled into Tony’s side as he listened to a story about his grandmother. It was clear that his dad loved and missed his Nonna Maria, and Peter wished that he’d been able to meet her.

            “She would’ve loved to meet you, too, bambino.” Tony said, and Peter realized that he’d been projecting. “You and your cousins would’ve been her pride and joy.”

            “Why did HYDRA kill her?” Peter asked, his voice small and sad.

            “They didn’t, at least not intentionally. She wasn’t originally supposed to be in the car that day. She was going to fly out to meet your Nonno Howard in D.C. a couple of days later for their trip to the Bahamas, but he asked her to go with him then after he and I got into a fight. He also decided that they’d take your Zia Anya with them instead of leaving her with me, so they were all three in the car when they were attacked.” Tony explained, and Peter looked up at him from where his head rested against Tony’s chest.

            “Dad, it wasn’t your fault.” Peter told him. “I can feel your guilt, but you didn’t kill Nonna or Nonno.”

            “She would be alive now if I hadn’t upset my dad. He was the one HYDRA wanted.” Tony reasoned, but the nine-year-old shook his head.

            “Nonno made that choice, not you, Dad.” Peter said. “He didn’t have to make them go with him; he did it because he knew it would hurt you more than just him leaving, but he didn’t know that they’d die.”

            “When did you get so smart, kiddo?” Tony asked, smiling down softly at his son.

            “I’ve always been smart, just like you, Dad.” Peter responded, and Tony pressed a kiss to the top of his head while squeezing him tightly.

            “Buonanotte, bambino. Sogni d'oro.” Tony said as he eased himself off the bed and began tucking the blankets in snuggly around the boy.

            “Buonanotte, papà. Ti amo.” Peter responded, watching as his father crossed back to the bedroom door.

            “Ti amo di più, figliolo.” Tony said as he turned out the lights and pulled his son’s door closed behind him.

            Sunday was Easter, and this meant that the entirety of the students and family joined together around the tables in the East ballroom, the student dining hall, for Easter dinner. Tony had been pleasantly surprised to stumble into the kitchen for a glass of water and some pain killers for a headache Saturday night and find Natasha cuddled up with Warren and sipping tea at the kitchen table. Anya and Bucky drove up with their children, Steve, Annie, and a visiting Darcy Sunday afternoon; Kurt popped in with Remy not long afterwards. Everyone was excited to see one another again, and rumors about what would be in this year’s edition of Charles annual Easter speech were rampant. So, not wanting to let the suspense grow too much, he sent a telepathic message to all in the room who could hear it about halfway through the meal to quiet down so that he could give said speech. Everyone went silent almost instantly.

            “Thank you all for being with us this Easter holiday. Now, as you are all aware, Easter and the holidays in which it takes historical root are all about renewal, new life, and firsts. All of these things are present with us here today. So, with permission from those who were willing to share their stories this year, I am happy to announce that Scott and Jean have decided to finally pick a wedding date. Jean, Scott?” Charles paused to defer to his daughter and her fiancé.

            “We’ve talked it over, and we think that the perfect date for our wedding will be the first of May…next year. We really couldn’t manage to plan a wedding in two weeks, so that shouldn’t be a surprise.” Scott said, chuckling.

            “Everyone’s going to be invited, and this is going to be something truly special.” Jean added, and then everyone turned back to Charles.

            “On the topic of new life, I believe that Alex and Sean have an announcement of their own to make.” Charles said before deferring to the couple at the opposite end of the table from Erik and himself.

            “Right, well, as most of you know, I posses a secondary mutation that causes half of a female reproductive system to exist inside my body alongside a full male reproductive system. First discovered by our very own Dr. McCoy and Professor Xavier in the 1960s, we believe that this mutation exists in about 12% of male mutants as a way of ensuring mutant survival. As most of you are aware, Sean and I had a daughter, Theresa, six years ago.” Alex said, smiling at his husband as he spoke.

            “And we’re very excited to announce today that Tess is going to be a big sister because we’re going to have another child.” Sean added, smiling back at Alex before the pair of them turned their attention on the surprised-but-beaming Tess.

            “As for our Firsts, this year has had a number of firsts. The one which stands out the most, however, is quite bleak in comparison to the happiness that we like to surround ourselves with most days. An old enemy, fear, has reared its ugly head once more, and we must prepare ourselves for the danger it brings. Two months ago, we were attacked by those who would see us locked up, experimented on, and exploited for our abilities rather than embrace us for what we can do. Some months before that, we lost one of our own, Dimitri Orlov, to these same people while he was trying to protect Charles and my daughter, Anya, and her family. These people are a part of an organization known as HYDRA and are likely familiar to you from your history classes with Professor Logan, so you know that they are dangerous and will use any means necessary to capture and experiment on you if you give them even the slightest chance. Thus, we must strive to stand together, united against this new threat. HYDRA has never come as close to our doors as they did in February, and it would be a shock if they did not make a second attempt.” Charles allowed Erik to take this one, and the somberness of his words brought a different sort of hush over those gathered before them.

            “Dr. Lehnsherr is correct, but we will not let this be our end. We will not let ourselves live in fear of what might happen. As most of you are aware, the island nation of Genosha is a safe place for mutants who don’t believe that they would otherwise fit in anywhere else in human society, and everyone is welcome there. However, for those who wish to venture into the ordinary world, some special guests will be visiting in about three weeks to discuss what options exists for mutants. Remember, when an individual acquires great power, the use or misuse of that power is everything; will it be used for the greater good or will it be used for personal or destructive ends? Now this is a question we must all ask ourselves. Why? Because we are mutants.” Charles said, raising his glass of deep red wine before saying the three words that had become something of a motto for the school and mutant community since its first utterance by his sister on a sunny day on a Cuban beach in 1962. “Mutant and Proud.”

            “Mutant and Proud.” the room echoed, even those without mutations to speak of who were wholeheartedly pro-mutant.

            After tucking Peter in alongside Pepper that night, Tony ended up in the kitchen once more. Just as he had the night before, he found Natasha in the room. This time, however, there was no sign of Warren.

            “Where’d Archangel get off to, Natashalie?” he asked, and she quirked an eyebrow at him in response.

            “He’s in the library with Sean and Anya.” she said. “I thought you’d have known that?”

            “Oh, right, they’re in their Sip-n-Bitch meeting.” he realized, and she tried and failed at hiding her smile.

            “Their what?” she asked, and he chuckled as he sat down beside her at the table with a bottle of orange soda.

            “When Alex was pregnant with Tess, he and Sean grated on each other’s nerves a lot. Warren had just moved home to start teaching economics, and Anya was in the middle of her first doctoral thesis. All three were stressed, all three had threatened to maim someone that day, and all three needed to vent. Somehow, they ended up in the armchairs in front of the fireplace in the library with varying drinks venting to one another about their problems; it became a weekly thing. We discovered that they were doing this a few months later, and we just started calling it their weekly Sip-n-Bitch meeting. It stuck, and I got them all t-shirts that say it for Christmas last year.” Tony explained, getting a laugh out of the assassin.

            “Sometimes, everything here is so normal that I forget about the mutant part for a second. It’s almost like having a family again.” Natasha admitted, but Tony frowned.

            “Nat, you do know that we’re more than willing to be your family, right? We might not know everything about your past, but that’s okay. You’re one of us now, and you have to believe that we legitimately want you here just because you’re you.” he told her, pausing to smile at a thought he picked up from the library. “We want you around so much that Warren is letting his brother and sister make fun of him because he has a massive crush on you. As someone who’s known Warren for most of his life, he’s not exactly known for just letting others make jokes at his expense like that.”

            “Warren’s a great guy, and I do literally owe him my life, but people who get close to me tend to get hurt. Bucky was taken away and brainwashed, at least I thought that he was, when my former handlers realized how close we’d gotten; they killed my husband when I refused to do it, which prompted me to run away and get myself put on HYDRA’s hit list; and I haven’t been able to see the last bit of family I have left in almost ten years because the last time we had a family dinner, someone threw a grenade through the window and obliterated our Christmas goose. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me.” she said, and Tony laughed.

            “Natalia, this family is damn near indestructible. Do you know what would happen if someone threw a grenade through a window during our Christmas dinner? Jean, or another telekinetic member of the family, would throw the damn thing back through the window at whoever threw it in to begin with, and Vati would help by determining where the person was based on the iron levels in human blood. Of course, that’s assuming that Pops or David even let the person get that far onto the property seeing as how they’d have felt a new and unfamiliar mind the second the person got too close physically to the mansion, and that close is actually about five-hundred yards in any direction.” he told her, and she smiled down at the table. “You can be safe here, if you want to be, and no one would care about your past. Hell, they only care about mine when they need a laugh…most of the time.”

            Natasha remained quiet, but Tony could feel her emotions lighten as she listened to him. She looked far more comfortable than she felt, he knew that much, but any bit that she did actually feel more at ease in the mansion, amongst the family of mutants, the happier for her that Tony himself felt. He remembered what it felt like to believe that you could only cause anger, hurt, and pain; Anthony Edward Stark-Xavier-Lehnsherr would never wish that on another person.

            Tuesday was a busy day to begin with for everyone; statistically speaking, most people find that Tuesday is the most productive day of their week. Tony, who had returned to the mansion Monday after taking Peter to school and Pepper to the airport, drove himself and Charles to Peter’s school for their meeting with his principal. As they sat in front of the principal’s desk, awaiting her return from some sort of bullying issue according to the office secretary, Charles observed the room, his eyes lingering on the nameplate that simply read Amanda Rouse, Principal, and couldn’t help but compare it to his and Erik’s own office that served a much similar purpose.

            “Pop, not everyone happens to have an elegantly furnished mansion at their disposal to turn into a school.” Tony joked quietly, and Charles smirked.

            “I was more so thinking of the way the office is decorated rather than its size. Though your father and I each have a number of awards, do we display them in a manner that suggests we want others to see them or that we want to remind ourselves of our accomplishments?” he asked, and Tony shared his smirk.

            “The awards face you while your degrees face whoever’s across from you, though it’s done subtly. Most of what anyone, student or parent, sees in your office are books, calming works of art, and that three-foot tall glass from the night after you got your first doctorate. Vati’s side has his wireless Newton’s cradle, more books, and the record player that’s usually topped by his autographed copy of the Alive III album. Neither of you has the office set up to put anyone on edge.” Tony noted, and Charles gave him a short nod as the door opened behind them with a louder-than-average click.

            “Gentlemen, excuse my tardiness, please. One of my students accused of bullying another child, and I had to step in to straighten things out once the accused boy started saying that his father would sue the accusing boy’s family for defamation of character.” the principal, a woman who had an air of no-nonsense about her, greeted them, shaking their hands before settling herself in her chair and giving the pair a smile that both Tony and Charles knew was tired and half-hearted at best.

            “The accused student wouldn’t happen to be a Mr. Eugene Thompson, would it?” Tony asked, thinking back to what Peter had told him the night he’d run away to Anya and Bucky’s.

            “How did you know?” the principal asked, and Tony sighed.

            “Before I answer that, is the accuser a boy by the name of either Edward ‘Ned’ Leeds or Peter Parker?” he asked, and the principal stilled.

            “Mr. Leeds was accusing Mr. Thompson of pushing Mr. Parker into a wall of lockers.” she admitted, and Tony turned to Charles.

            “Principal Rouse, was or will Mr. Thompson be punished?” Charles asked, fearing that he already knew the answer.

            “There wasn’t any evidence, save for Leeds’ word that Thompson did anything. Not even Peter Parker, the kid who was allegedly pushed, would say anything one way or the other. I can’t punish a student without sufficient evidence, Mister…” she trailed off, and Charles offered her a small smile as he introduced himself.

            “Professor, actually. Professor Charles Xavier, and I’m afraid that I can confirm that young Mr. Thompson is indeed a bully.” he said, and the principal’s eyes went wide as she realized who was sitting across from her.

            “You still think he’s like me?” Tony asked Charles before turning to the principal. “Tony Stark, though I believe you knew that going into this meeting.”

            “Mr. Stark, Professor Xavier, if I may, how do you know that Eugene Thompson is bullying other students?” she asked.

            “To put it simply, Peter’s my son. His mother and I were a couple for almost a year when she left me, pregnant with him, and I only got shared custody with May and Ben Parker last year. He’s told me about the bullying before, but he feels that it would cause more trouble if he reports it because it would just make Flash, as I understand Thompson prefers to be called, pick on someone else.” Tony explained, and Rouse leaned back in her chair in mild shock.

            “So long as Peter continues to refuse to report the bullying, we will do our best to ensure that he is being psychologically cared for as best we can. Despite the number of times that we have advised him to tell someone at this school, he stands by his choice to let it go on in the name of protecting other students.” Charles added, and the principal turned towards him with a curious expression.

            “We?” she asked. “Professor, what is it exactly that’s brought you to my school today?”

            “Before this conversation continues, we will need you to sign this.” Tony said before taking a Non-Disclosure Agreement from his briefcase and sliding it across the desk.

            Rouse took a moment to read over the agreement. Her eyes moved line by line at a rapid pace, and Charles monitored her thoughts. Nothing was amiss, and she signed the forms without hesitation once she’d reached the document’s end.

            “Thank you, Mrs. Rouse.” Charles said politely as Tony put the document back into his briefcase. “I am here because, under Genoshan law, my husband and I adopted Tony when he was twenty-two. Therefore, Peter is my grandson; after taking some time to consider if it would be prudent to do so, we thought it best to update Peter’s list of emergency contacts.”

            “Mutant law and the laws of mutant-run countries are fascinating subjects, Mrs. Rouse, I agree, but we can discuss that later. I took the liberty of checking the district and school websites to see what all I need to update my son’s information, and it occurred to me then that it might be best to meet with you personally so that you don’t have to worry about some sort of attack every time one of the X-Men picked Peter up for one thing or another.” Tony said, and Rouse looked up at him in alarm.

            “You’re…” she trailed off in disbelief.

            “It’s called psionic manipulation, with a bit of ferrokinetic and technokinesis added into that. Telepathy, like what Pops here does, is just one of many branches of psionics, and, yes, my son is much like me in that aspect.” Tony told her, frowning at her thoughts concerning Peter’s potential to use his powers to cheat on exams. “He’d never do that, I assure you. Between my parents, my siblings, and myself, we’ve all stressed the importance of never using one’s abilities for personal gain. Little things, like translating a foreign language, aren’t always able to be turned off and on like a switch, but looking into other people’s minds for the answer on a test is something he has complete control over and has never done before in his academic career.”

            “As long as he keeps things that way, I don’t see a reason to mention this to the faculty. Now, who all are we adding to Peter’s list of emergency contacts?” Rouse asked, and this time there was a more genuine smile on her face.

            “First and foremost, if the school can reach myself, Pepper Potts, May Parker, or Ben Parker, the first person called should be Dr. Anastasia Barnes; she’s his aunt, and she lives the closest to the school at the moment.” Tony said, hating that he had to leave Bucky off the list for legal reasons.

            “I believe that my husband, Dr. Erik Lehnsherr, and I are next, and we are followed by our daughter, Dr. Jean Xavier-Lehnsherr.” Charles said, and Tony nodded.

            “After Jeanie, it should be Dr. Alexander Summers, and then Dr. Sean Cassidy.” he added in, and Charles gave a small smile and nod. “Jean and Alex were both adopted like I was, only Alex was much older and Jean much younger, and Sean is Alex’s husband.”

            “Alright, we can do that. Are there any other names we should add to the list as emergency contacts or people who are allowed to pick Peter up from school?” Rouse asked, and the two men smirked mischievously at one another.

            “That list has barely begun.” Charles said as Tony unfolded a two-page list of Peter’s family members allowed to take him from school. “Harold ‘Happy’ Hogun should be on this list.”

            Once the meeting was over, Tony took Charles to see the progress on Stark Tower while they were in the city. As they drove up the long driveway of the mansion, the two men caught a brief glimpse of the Blackbird flying southwest. Jean and Sean were on their way to their own meeting in Los Angeles.

            “Did you ever find out what this kid’s power is?” Sean asked from the co-pilot’s seat.

            “When I asked Papa, he said that Julian is like me without the telepathy or the whole being bound to a celestial entity thing. I assume that means we’re looking at a telekinetic on the high-end of the scale.” Jean replied. “You’ll have your hands full next term at this rate.”

            “Great, as if I need another one of those years.” the super-sonic screamer lamented, and his sister-in-law laughed.

            Being a billionaire’s kid had some perks. Jean and Sean knew this, yet there was still a bit of surprise for them when they, along with the other siblings, had been told that Charles had purchased a private airport outside Los Angeles around the time Becca had been born. If having a place to stash the Blackbird while they were at the Kellers’ was worth dealing with Charles’ impulse buys wasn’t worth it, the look on Erik’s face when he’d found out had been.

            The heels of Jean’s boots echoed alongside those of Sean’s Oxfords as they walked up the concrete pathway to the Kellers’ front door. They were greeted by a butler who led them through a rather cold, modern entryway and into an equally cold and modern sitting room. The Keller parents, clad in designer suits with their hair coiffed just so, stood in sync to greet their guests, and Jean knew then how she and Sean would need to approach this home visit.

            “Frank Keller, and this is my wife, Melissa.” the father introduced, and Jean and Sean smiled politely.

            “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I am Dr. Jean Xavier-Lehnsherr, and Dr. Sean Cassidy is my brother-in-law as well as the head of our elementary and middle school programs.” Jean spoke in the soft, gentle manner to which Charles had taught her.

            “With all the talented students that would be in Julian’s year already, I am hopeful that he will find a place at our school.” Sean said as he shook hands with the parents, eyes cutting over to jean as he silently projected to her. “How are we doing so far?”

            “Yes, well, we hope that you might be able to teach him how to use more discretion when he finds it necessary to use his…abilities.” Frank said, and the two redheads faked smiles of understanding.

            “We at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters pride ourselves on being able to prepare all our students both academically and socially for a life outside of school.” Jean said, responding to Sean as silently as he’d spoken to her. “As long as we play our cards, Julian will be a student with little resistance on his parents’ part. They have the mentality of my future in-laws.”

            “Julian is a bright, friendly boy. He just needs some guidance and refinement.” Melissa told them, and Jean noted to Sean telepathically how the woman did seem to care for her only son, but how it was much the same way as one would care for a beloved pet.

            “Could we perhaps meet Julian? One thing that my parents have always been big on is that no one is forced to attend the school. My siblings and I were even given the option to attend a regular high school if we wanted, but it’s very seldom that any of us actually seek outside schooling until college.” Jean asked, and Melissa smiled at both her and Sean before calling the butler back over and asking him to call for her son.

            “Have all of your teachers attained degrees from major universities?” Melissa asked, and Jean looked to Sean before answering.

            “Mostly, yes, but there has been the odd exception every now and then. As one example, our history professor is almost 130 and teaches history because he’s lived through so much of it.” Jean said, watching the way the Kellers’ eyes bugged out at the mention of Logan’s age. “I graduated from Harvard Med myself, and our geography professor graduated from Columbia; she’s my little sister, so I’ve very proud.”

            “We’re all proud of Kitty, especially those of us who actually taught her. I have my PhDs in both early childhood development and elementary education from Stanford, and Dr. Monroe graduated with two degrees from Cornell before coming back to our school to teach English and architecture.” Sean added, observing the two humans every micro expression as he spoke. “As is well documented, Dr. Lehnsherr and Professor Xavier studied at Oxford, though at separate times, and Dr. McCoy earned his PhDs while acting as Professor Xavier’s teaching assistant at Oxford as well.”

            A throat cleared behind them, and everyone turned to see the butler standing in the entrance to the hallway with a young boy beside him. He looked much like his father, dark hair and blue eyes nearly identical to the older man, but he had a sweetness and innocence about him that neither of his parents held. Melissa waived her son over, and Jean felt his nerves grow as he got closer to them.

            “Julian, sweetheart, come meet Dr. Xavier-Lehnsherr and Dr. Cassidy.” she told him, and the boy stopped in front of Jean and Sean before politely offering his hand to both of them.

            “More doctors?” Jean heard the boy ask himself, and she smiled almost more to herself than anyone else.

            “I think you’ll find that we’re not normal doctors, Julian.” she told him telepathically, a wide-eyed expression forming on his face. “We’re just like you.”

            “Julian, have you ever heard of Professor Charles Xavier or Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters?” Sean asked, and the boy’s surprise shifted into excitement.

            “This reminds me of when Dumbledore told Tom Riddle that he’s a wizard in Half-blood Prince!” Julian said as an answer, and Sean chuckled.

            “Yes, this is strangely very much like that, Julian.” he said, smiling. “Would joining our school be something that you’re interested in doing?”

            “Yes, please!” Julian said exuberantly, and an expensive looking curio flew off the mantle and slammed into the coffee table. “Oops.”

            “It’s okay.” Jean assured as she floated the item back across the room with her own powers. “You’re little, and you don’t know what you’re doing quite yet. I have a nephew your age, and Peter flew for the first time on accident the other day when he was horseback riding with our cousins and my baby sister who, incidentally, is also your age.”

            “Wait, when did Pete start flying?” Sean asked, surprised.

            “You were in the hayloft with Alex.” Jean told him, and he blushed. “It happened right after Scott took over babysitting them.”

            “Oh.” he said, and she chuckled lightly at his embarrassment before refocusing on the Keller parents.

            “So, back to Julian, we’d be happy to have him start at the school in the fall, but he can move in up to a month in advance to get a feel for the school and determine where everything is.” Jean began, launching into a more in-depth discussion about the school.

            It was dark by the time Jean and Sean returned to the mansion. They split up once the Blackbird was back in its hangar, and Sean followed the sounds of Alex’s laughter to the game room where he found his husband trading war stories with Steve over some sodas. Alex didn’t say anything when Sean sat down beside him on the sofa, but he happily allowed the redhead to pull him close and take the soda bottle from his hand.

            “So, anyway, we’re on the Blackbird Mark I, and we realize that Shaw must be on a submarine. Hank’s freaking out because we don’t have sonar on it at this point, and Sean just looks up and goes ‘But we do have sonar.’ You could see my parents debating this telepathically as soon as he says it, but Mom ended up winning. So, Hank opens the bomb bay doors, and Sean realizes that he’s between Mom and Dad.” Alex told the story of their first real mission to avert World War III, and Sean took Steve’s laughter to mean that Alex had already covered their training sessions.

            “Charles and Erik threw him off the satellite dish, so he’s expecting them to throw him off the jet before he’s even had time to prepare himself?” Steve asked, and Sean nodded.

            “I admit that I expected that much. They were both good about it, though, and I jumped on my own.” the Banshee said, taking a swig from Alex’s cola.

            “Once he’d gotten Shaw’s location, Mom and Dad decided the next logical step was for them to hang out of the plane and use one another’s powers to magnify their own and pull the entire submarine from the water. Dad beached the thing and went in search of Shaw, and the rest of us jumped into battle against Shaw’s gang. Mom and Dad still don’t talk about what they did, so most of what I know is relegated to what we were up to at the time. I ended up on one of the navy ships courtesy of Azazel, Raven’s ex and Kurt’s biological father, and I almost got arrested.” Alex continued casually.

            “Starting with that mission, we’ve always had a temporary telepathic link set up between team members, and I came out of the water when I realized that Alex was running from Angel, callsign Tempest, spitting acid at him. I blasted her away with a sonic scream and looked over to Alex to signal for him to cover his ears. I hit the ship he was on with a less intense blast, just enough to make them cover their ears so he could escape, and he jumped into my arms like the fairytale princess he is.” Sean said, getting a chuckle out of his husband. “The fight ended shortly after that, and then everything else was Mom and Dad’s beach almost-divorce.”

            “Were you guys together then?” Steve asked, and they both shook their heads.

            “At that point, I thought Alex was straight.” Sean admitted.

            “I was so far in the closet that lions could’ve been talking to me.” Alex said with a snicker.

            “Narnia?” Steve questioned the reference, and they both gave him a nod.

            “Yeah, and how we actually ended up together is an entirely different story.” Sean began, but he was stopped from explaining further by a small voice from the doorway.

            “Daddy, Papa?” it was Tess, a blue and gold blanket tucked under one arm and a plush bear in the other.

            “Tar anseo, a chailín.” Sean called, and the little girl shuffled over to the sofa and held her arms out for one of her parents to pick her up.

            Alex brought her into his lap and began stroking her hair as she leaned against his chest. Her feet ended up in Sean’s lap, and he placed a hand lightly on her ankles. Steve watched the little family and wondered if this would be something that he himself would have to look forward to with his son.

            “What’s wrong, baby girl?” Alex asked, and Tess let out a sigh.

            “Nothin’.” she said sleepily. “Just missed you.”

            “Wanna sleep with Papa and me tonight?” Alex asked her, and she nodded against his chest in response.

            “You guys can go on and get to bed if you want. I can clean this up, and she looks like she’s barely hanging in there.” Steve told them, and they gratefully took him up on his offer.

            After Sean and Alex had left with their daughter, Steve gathered the discarded soda bottles and made his way to the kitchen. When he entered the room, he bumped into Emma. The blonde telepath was stirring her coffee absentmindedly as she listened in on a conversation elsewhere in the mansion. She smiled over at Steve, but her eyes stopped on the bottles. He arched an eyebrow at her, and she motioned him over silently.

            “Don’t throw those out, Captain Rogers, because I have an idea for an art project.” she said, and he was interested after that.

            “Art?” he asked, and she nodded.

            “I have to teach something, and most academic subjects are a bit beyond what I consider enjoyable. Regardless, it’s almost Mother’s Day, and I always have the kids make something for their mothers or mother figures. I’ve been saving up old soda bottles for the last month to make sure that I’ve got enough to make over a hundred flower vases.” Emma told him, and he nodded.

            “Acrylic or vinyl paints?” Steve asked. “Or watercolors? Those might give the bottles a stained-glass affect?”

            “I hadn’t decided yet, but maybe you and your wife can help me. Annie says that you’re good with a brush, and she helped me out in lessons before you woke up, so we might be able to figure out which is the best medium if we work together. Each of us take one, experiment with it, and then figure out which is best for the kids to use?” she offered, and Steve smiled.

            “I’ll ask Annie when she wakes up, but that sounds like a plan.” he said, and the two continued discussing art and painting techniques until Emma’s tea was cold.

            To have found so many new friends after losing so many of the old ones, Steve couldn’t have been happier to be surrounded by mutants. After listening in on some of Logan’s lectures on the last sixty-six years, the army Captain had reached a single conclusion: the mutants were in some ways more human than the very humans who so scorned them.

Chapter Text

            April gave way to May, and Steve and Annie became fully invested in helping Emma with her art project. In fact, if one was looking for Steve in particular and couldn’t find him anywhere else in the mansion, he was almost always in either Logan’s comprehensive history lectures or Emma’s elementary art classes. Annie slipped into Charles’ ethics lectures and Kurt’s philosophy and theology classes just as often. The two of them were so very much so focused on learning everything new about their new time in history as well as each other, they didn’t even realize what their new family was planning for them.

            During the middle of the first week in May, a giggling Alex and Anya slipped into the city with a sleepy Dimitri snoozing in his stroller. The three were on the hunt for party games and decorations for the baby shower Annie didn’t know they were throwing her. The last item on the list was a plain onesie, and they found one fairly quickly. However, as was their history with shopping, Alex and Anya inevitably got distracted by onesies that they could buy for their own babies. Alex himself had snickered at the little black onesie his nephew was currently sporting that had the words “My Mom Can Kick Your Dad’s Ass” printed across his tiny body, fairly certain that Tony had picked that one out himself.

            “He did, but it’s aimed at mostly at Peter and himself.” Anya commented, holding up a white onesie for her brother to see. “What do you think of this one?”

            “‘Cute, Smart, and Funny Just Like My Daddy’? I love it!” Alex said with a smile.

            “How much baby stuff do you guys still have from Tess?” she asked, and he shrugged.

            “Honestly, Sean packed most of it up without me since I was stuck in New Mexico until last year. He and Tess only lived out there during the summer when he could afford to be away from the school.” he admitted, and she nodded.

            “Okay, then we’ll pick up a few more of these for you guys. How about ‘Grandpa and I Got Into Trouble Today’?” Anya asked, holding up another onesie.

            “If anything has ever described Charles Xavier and his grandchildren more than that right there, I have never seen it. Yes, I want that one.” Alex said, laughing happily as he picked up a dark onesie with a Hamlet quote printed on the front in white.

            “I think this one’s got Opa Erik written all over it. If you don’t get it, Alex, I will.” Anya giggled out as she read what it said. “‘To Quote Hamlet Act III, Scene III, Line 87: NO.’”

            “Oh, I’m getting this one. Dad’s gonna love it.” Alex insisted, and the siblings browsed for a bit longer before paying for their purchases and making their way to a café to which they were both partial.

            During lunch, Anya caught the thoughts of a Moms Luncheon group that kept eyeing Alex when he wasn’t looking. She told her brother this, and he chuckled quietly before asking if she wanted to see how far the women would go. She nodded, and they went about lunch no differently than any other outing. At the end of their meal, Anya excused herself to go to the ladies’ room, and Alex paid the check. No sooner had the waiter returned with his credit card when Dimitri began fussing. Alex, from his own experiences with Tess, knew that this was an attention cry rather than a hungry or “Change Me” cry, so he gently took his nephew from the stroller and began softly singing to him.

            “I'd heard there was a secret chord/That David played and it pleased the Lord/But you don't really care for music, do you?/Well, it goes like this/The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift/The baffled king composing Hallelujah/Hallelujah, Hallelujah/Hallelujah, Hallelujah…” his voice was soft, but strong as he sang, and the almost-three-month-old calmed down as he heard the melody. “Well, your faith was strong but you needed proof/You saw her bathing on the roof/Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya/She tied you to the kitchen chair/She broke your throne and she cut your hair/And from your lips, she drew the Hallelujah/Hallelujah, Hallelujah/Hallelujah, Hallelujah…”

            As Alex sang, despite the softness of his voice, the group of Moms gave him their full and undivided attention. He watched as they argued over which one would get to talk to him as he gently bounced Dimitri, and the one who he was able to identify as the leader of the pack smiled smugly at her companions. She walked over just as he finished the song.

            “Hi,” she greeted, “I’m not trying to be rude or anything; I just wanted to say that you’re really good with him.”

            “Well, he’s not my first crying baby.” Alex chuckled, doing a double-take as he looked up to see Sean and Tess entering the café.

            “Still, you got him calm with such ease. Where’d you ever learn that, or is it a natural talent?” the woman asked, and Alex looked up to lock eyes with his husband before replying.

            “I guess you could say I’m a man with many natural talents.” he said, and Sean smirked before making his presence known.

            “That you most definitely are, Dr. Summers.” the redhead said with a chuckle as he bent down to kiss Alex on the lips.

            “You would know better than anyone, Dr. Cassidy.” Alex replied, passing his nephew off to Sean before opening his arms to his daughter. “C’mere, baby girl.”

            “Aunt Anya called and said you got a lot of stuff for Uncle Steve and Aunt Annie’s baby today, so Papa and I came to help, Daddy!” Tess explained, and Alex cuddled her close, dropping a kiss onto her fiery locks.

            “Well, if we weren’t planning the whole shower in secret, we’d have more help.” Anya said as she rejoined them. “Enjoying snuggling to my kid, Sean?”

            “Hey, it’s not my fault I never get any time with this nephew. Jean always hogs him when you guys visit.” Sean defended, and Anya chuckled.

            “I give it another year, maybe two, and then we’ll all be fighting to get him back from his Grandpa Charles.” she admitted, and her brothers agreed.

            During this exchange, the woman from the mom group had left. The group was bickering amongst itself when the mutants made their way out of the café, all of them struggling to keep from laughing. Anya waited until they were driving back to Westchester to tell Alex what the moms had been thinking.

            “They thought they’d hit a jackpot when Sean walked in with just Tess, but then you two started eye-fucking and thinking things that your little sister doesn’t need to know about either of you. They thought they’d been imagining things until Sean kissed you and Tess crawled into your lap. After that, it was mostly an abundance of ‘Why are the hot ones always gay’ and ‘I knew he was gay the whole time’ type thoughts.” she relayed, and he snorted. “I could’ve done without your mental commentary on Sean.”

            “Is it my fault if I can’t help but think of all the dirty things I want to do to my husband when he walks into the room looking like sex on legs?” Alex asked, and Anya rolled her eyes. “I mean, does he have to wear such tight pants or have such gorgeous hair? Or what about how strong and toned his arms are?”

            “I think you mean think of all the dirty things you want your husband to do to you, Alex. I’ve known you for far too long to believe all that bravado. You prefer it when someone else takes care of you in bed.” she retorted, and he blushed. “Of course, that’s not me suggesting that you don’t make sure that Sean’s taken care of as well.”

            “I make sure that he is very well taken care of, thank you very much.” Alex remarked in an attempt at sounding offended, but his smile gave him away.

            Upon returning to the school, Alex and Sean hid all of the decorations and other party supplies in Sean’s office. It would’ve been harder to do if it hadn’t been for the fact that Sean rarely every actually used his office. Anya thanked them both before going into the history classroom and sitting down beside Annie and Steve, who were watching Bucky lecture as Logan was out of town with Kayla and their children at a wedding for one of the Alpha Flight members.         

            “What are we learning about today?” she whispered, and Steve leaned forward a bit before responding.

            “Kennedy Assassination. Buck’s detailed where the Secret Service went wrong in procedures and what they could’ve done differently that would’ve made it more of a challenge for him to make the shot. Was JFK really a mutant?” he asked, and she nodded.

            “He had a power sort of like Kayla’s in that he could convince you to do anything as long as you heard his voice in person rather than over television or radio waves; if he’d lived and had more time to train, he probably could’ve gotten powerful enough to use his powers over television and radio waves. His brother, Attorney General Robert Francis Kennedy, was also a mutant; he was one of the most powerful psionic users ever. He had the power to make you believe anything he said was true, sort of like the way a telepath can implant a false memory or make you appear invisible to another person if they’ve got enough power.” Anya explained, and Annie let out a low whistle that went unheard by the students diligently taking their notes.

            “Not that I support HYDRA in anything they do considering what they did to my brother for over six decades before he was able to finally get away, but I can understand why they’d feel threatened enough to assassinate the pair of them.” she remarked, and neither Anya nor Steve could find it in them to disagree.

            “Assassinations aside, whatever plans you guys thought you had for this weekend, you don’t have anymore. We’ve got a party on Saturday, and there’s a big Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday after everyone who goes gets back from church.” Anya told them, and the pair nodded.

            “We were planning on going into the city to visit Ma and Sarah’s graves sometime on Sunday, but we can wait until after brunch. Dress code for the party?” Annie replied.

            “Dressy-casual; it’s going to be sort of like a tea or garden party, so nothing over the top.” Anya said, and Annie nodded while Steve looked on confusedly.

            “I’ll let Annie get me dressed.” he commented, and both women chuckled at him.

            Friday night, Anya and Bucky snuck down to the East ballroom to meet up with the very excited group of Jean, Scott, Alex, Sean, Charles, Erik, Kayla, and Emma with all of the games and decorations in bags at their feet. Working together, the ten of them did everything they could to turn the room into the perfect space for Annie’s baby shower. Deep royal blues and bright golds covered every inch of the room by the time they’d finished.

            “This is going to be awesome!” Bucky said as they observed their handywork. “Stevie and Annie deserve this.”

            When Anya and Bucky led Steve and Annie into the ballroom the next day, the expectant couple had been at a loss for words. Not only had they not been expecting the party Anya had told them about to be their baby shower, but it was also news to them that it was now common place for men to be involved in the festivities just as much as women. Games were made even better with the younger children playing along; Alex had been the first to lose the clothespin game by pure accident, and the person who’d taken his clothespin had been Pietro, as the speedster had rushed by just as Alex had asked Sean if the shower was making him anymore eager and excited for their new baby.

            “Piet!” Alex cried, cracking a smile as he saw the mirth the eighteen-year-old was taking in having gotten the clothespin.

            “Not my fault you said the forbidden word, bro!” Pietro called over his shoulder as he hurried over to where Charles and Erik were sitting in an effort to annoy his parents for a bit.

            “I still can’t believe that he and Wanda graduate in two weeks.” Sean said in a tone somewhere between fondness and disbelief, and Alex agreed.

            “I still can’t believe that David’s turning forty-eight in September.” he countered, and Sean chuckled.

            “Have we always been this old?” he asked, and his husband shrugged.

            “Technically, thanks to whatever magic green rock that chick who worked with Apocalypse touched before unleashing her powers on us, we’re younger than we should be. I do get what you mean though. It feels like yesterday we were all first learning how to change diapers and make bottles for David, and now Lorna’s about to be ten!” Alex said, smiling fondly at memories of Hank having to convince himself to not growl at their infant brother whenever David would cry.

            “Hank growled at me?” David asked as he walked up beside the pair.

            “You were the first baby most of us had ever dealt with, Davey, and Hank wasn’t known for his patience when you were born.” Alex said.

            “Plus, he hadn’t worked out how to not be blue all the time yet, so his hearing was also super sensitive.” Sean added, watching as David’s face fell upon realizing that Alex had lost his pin already. “Piet took it five minutes ago.”

            “Damn, that kid’s fast. We were waiting to see who broke first, you or Anh.” David chuckled, and Alex rolled his eyes.

            “Of course, target the ones who are either pregnant or three-months postpartum.” he said with a snicker, knowing that it’s what he himself would’ve done in his brothers’ position.

            After a couple of hours of games and socializing over a light lunch, everyone gathered around Steve and Annie for presents. Necessities like diapers, baby wipes, basic onesies, and bottles were abundant. Alex and Anya had each contributed a few special onesies that they’d seen while shopping, and Bucky had managed to knit a baby blanket that resembled Steve’s famed shield. The gift that seemed to surprise Steve and Annie the most, however, came from Tony and Pepper.

            “Keys?” they chorused, and Tony nodded.

            “I don’t want you guys feeling pressured, but you’ll have an apartment custom built for you in Stark Tower once the building is complete. However, seeing as we still have a year before that’s ready, and I’m sure that you guys don’t want to stay at Bucky and Anya’s any longer than you absolutely have to but are too polite to say anything about it, you have another option. I won this two bed, two-and-half bath apartment in Brooklyn from Norman Osborn in a poker game a few years ago, well after Becca was born and they were settled in the loft, so I’ve been renting it out to college kids under a pseudonym. My current tenants are leaving in a month, and the place is yours if you want it, rent and utility free.” he explained, and the couple gaped.

            “Tony, are you sure?” Steve asked, and the dark-haired man nodded.

            “All the rent I ever collected from students went towards me anonymously paying their student loans off for them, so it’s not like I keep it around for profit or anything. All extra funds that ever could’ve existed was donated here for kids who attend on scholarships.” Tony insisted.

            “Thank you, seriously, though we might end up at the tower if the whole Avengers thing happens like Fury wants.” Steve responded, and Tony chuckled.

            “That doesn’t surprise me in the least.” he said to the blond super-soldier as the shock seemed to wear off for Annie.

            “As grateful as I am, and thank you a million, Tony, there is a part of me that wants to hear the story of that poker game. How much was the pot that you had to start wagering properties?” she asked, and Tony snorted.

            “It was right after I got back from Afghanistan and got sober, so Osbourne didn’t think I was up to scratch and went too high on a bluff that I could’ve called without my powers. I kept raising him until it got to the apartment versus the Carbonell villa in Italy.” the inventor bashfully admitted. “I knew he had a losing hand, otherwise I’d have never bet my mama’s family estate.”

            “You bet Mom’s estate?” Anya asked, obviously the first she was hearing of the bet.

            “I didn’t lose it, so that should count for something.” Tony insisted, and his sister huffed but otherwise remained silent.

            “I’d only be worried about Tony making a ridiculous wager if he were playing against David, Charles, Pietro, or Logan.” Bucky noted, and all but Logan had the decency to flush at this. “He can’t read Logan’s mind, and the other three all cheat.”

            “We’ve gotta play sometime.” Annie said, and those nearest her raised their eyebrows aside from Steve, Bucky, and Anya. “What?”

            “You play?” Tony asked.

            “Well, I could’ve learned Bridge like other girls, but poker was always more my speed. I don’t think Buck and Stevie have ever regretted something so much as teaching me to play so they had someone else at the table.” Annie said, causing her husband and her brother to roll their eyes good-naturedly and chuckle. “Neither of them could ever bluff me, so I don’t know why they ever bothered.”

            “Once she knew the rules, we never one another game. My sister’s a card shark.” Bucky said, and laughter ensued as Annie ignored his comment and moved on to the next gift.

            The next morning began with an argument. Or, rather, it began with Kurt teleporting into the kitchen with Tony and Anya, returning from visiting Maria’s grave, leaving for no more than five minutes, and teleporting back in asking for the Stark siblings to hide him from his mother.

            “Es ist mir egal, dass es Muttertag ist, sie hat mich in einen Fluss geworfen, als ich ein Neugeborenes war!” the teleporter exclaimed, and Anya sighed as Tony went to find Charles and Erik to make them deal with Raven.

            “Kurt, she’s still your mother. She brought you here when she found you being exploited in that freak show the circus sold you to, and she’s tried to make it up to you over the years. Is she crazy? Yeah, a little bit, but she didn’t know how to get ahold of your father or Papa in so little time, and the villagers were trying to kill you both for being demons.” Anya told him, but the blue mutant frowned instead.

            “Dies ist die Frau, die versucht hat, dich zu töten, Ana.” Kurt argued, but Anya shrugged.

            “Look, I’m not saying she’s perfect. I never would, not even if you paid me. What I am saying is that she did what she could under dire circumstances to protect her child. Being a mother, I can understand why even if I don’t completely agree. Being a good Catholic boy, I don’t think spending an hour or two with Raven on Mother’s Day will kill you, Kurt.” she said, a playful smile crossing her lips as she continued speaking. “Now, I’d never even suggest spending Father’s Day with your dad. I’ll give you that one.”

            “He’d have to actually act like he’s my father first.” Kurt said flatly, but Anya knew that he’d at least relented to spending time with his mother.

            “That would imply that Azazel could stick around for any true length of time, wouldn’t it?” Raven asked as she entered the room, and both Anya and Kurt chuckled.

            “That it would.” Anya said, giving her aunt a small smile. “Happy Mother’s Day, Tante.”

            “Happy Mother’s Day, Anya.” Raven replied, her smile just as small and genuine. “The others are in the office with Charles, and Erik’s going to start the pancakes soon.”

            “Thanks, and please don’t get any blood anywhere it won’t come out of easily.” Anya joked, and Kurt swatted at her with his tail before sitting down at the kitchen table with Raven and two cups of coffee.

            Leaving her aunt and Kurt in the kitchen, Anya made her way to her parents’ office where Charles sat on the sofa with Lorna curled into one side and Wanda curled into the other. David and Pietro sat on the floor in front of him, and Erik and Bucky each took an armchair. Smiling at the scene, Anya claimed her spot in Bucky’s lap and pulled Becca into her own. In the bassinet beside the chair, she gazed for a moment at her sleeping son as Dimitri went about his morning nap with little regard for the holiday. Alex and Sean wandered in after a few more minutes had gone by, Tess balanced on Sean’s hip, and the trio sat on the floor near Erik’s chair. Jean and Kitty slipped in behind them and took their spots on either side of the two youngest sisters sitting on the couch. Tony and Hank were the last two to enter, the pair of them pulling over the chairs Erik and Charles sat in during their chess games. Once everyone was seated, the Mother’s Day tradition of listening to Charles read from The Once and Future King began. Gifts would come throughout the day, but this bit of family time was always the most treasured part of the holiday’s festivities. Whether he had birthed or adopted them, Charles was always happy to have Mother’s Day with his children.

            That same morning, in Malibu, a courier arrived at Stark Industries and left a small box and a bouquet of pink, orange, yellow, and white roses with Pepper Potts’ assistant. The woman thanked and tipped the courier before taking the items inside her boss’ office and setting them on the desk. Pepper looked up in confusion, and she reached for the card in the flowers before doing anything else. The words on the small paper made her heart swell and eyes water.

            Dear Pep,

You didn’t have to take on the responsibility of being my mom, but I’m glad you did. I love you so much, and I can’t wait until you and Dad get married.

            Love, Peter.

            Pepper set the note facedown on the desk before reaching for the box. She opened the nondescript delivery box to find a smaller box inside, and she wondered what this one could’ve been. Opening the smaller box, she let out a light gasp. Nestled inside was a pendant shaped like a tree branch with three gemstones attached to it and room for more to be added. Eyes sweeping over the stones, she noticed that they were an amethyst, an emerald, and a peridot. The stones were her birthstone along with Tony’s and Peter’s; a second note inside the box told her that Charles and Erik had sent this one.

            Dearest Pepper,

It is something of a tradition in our family for new parents to receive a piece like this one on their first Mother’s or Father’s Day, and I do believe that this year is yours. Erik makes each piece by hand, seeing to it that each piece is functional as well as fashionable. Should the need ever, and likely sadly will, arise for you to need to defend yourself or someone else, the pendant’s points will work as small knife blades. Trust me, that wasn’t my idea. I hope that you truly like the gift and don’t feel that you’re forced to wear it.

            Welcome to our family, and Happy Mother’s Day,

Charles.

            Pepper beamed as she read the note and quickly moved to put the necklace on herself. As soon as the chain latched, she dismissed her assistant with instructions to not let anyone disturb her for an hour or so and reached for her cellphone. She called Peter first, and the little boy was thrilled to know that she’d gotten the flowers he’d talked to his grandfather’s about a few weeks prior.

            “Sweetheart, I love my flowers, and I love you very much. I promise, when your dad and I come out to New York next month, you and I are definitely going to have to spend some quality time together.” Pepper told him as they spoke.

            “You’re coming to New York?” Peter asked, clearly excited.

            “We are, but it’s not just to check up on the tower this time. Your dad has a surprise for you, but it’ll have to wait until you’re out of school for the summer.” she replied, practically able to hear his smile.

            “This is going to be an amazing summer!” Peter said. “I get to meet a famous rock band and see you and Dad!”

            “I take it your Grandpa managed to work out a date for their visit then.” Pepper replied.

            “School gets out on the 27^th, so I’m going up to the mansion that weekend to stay with Grandpa and Opa and meet the band.” Peter said.

            “That sounds really fun, sweetheart, a lot more fun than the meeting I’m about to have to sit through.” Pepper told him. “I love you, and I’ll see you soon.”

            “I love you, too, Pep! Happy Mother’s Day!” Peter said, and then the call ended.

            Having been told by Tony about the Mother’s Day tradition of the kids listening to Charles read to them before Erik made a pancake breakfast, Pepper sent Charles and Erik each a text message so that she wouldn’t interrupt. She thanked them both for her necklace and flower, and she wished Charles a happy Mother’s Day as well. Then, Pepper made the call that she made every year.

            “Hi, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day.” she said as her mother answered the phone. “So, I’ve got some news for you that I think you’ll like.”

            That same afternoon, Steve and Annie slipped quietly into a Brooklyn cemetery and walked to the graves of their mothers. They each laid a bouquet of flowers and spoke to their respective mother or mother-in-law, telling of all that had happened since the women’s deaths. While Steve took a moment at his mother’s grave by himself, Annie walked back to the grave beside the one that held her parents. Kneeling down, she set another bouquet on her sister’s grave and brushed her fingertips across the name engraved on the stone: Rebecca Penelope Proctor, née Barnes.

            “Hey there, Becky.” she said softly. “Never thought that this would be how we met again once I woke up and got better. I’m so sorry that I never got to be there for you, that you had to lose me and Buck so close together. Stevie’s here, like me and Buck, and we’re both happy and healthy for once. Our baby is going to be born in July, like Stevie, and I wish you could be here to meet him when he arrives. I miss you, baby sister.”

            “She knew you had a chance at coming back like Uncle Bucky.” a voice said from behind her, and Annie jumped. “Sorry!”

            The voice belonged to a young woman who looked startling like Becky, the same light eyes and golden hair, and Annie smiled softly at her. From what she had been told by Bucky and Anya, this was her great-niece. She hadn’t met Kimberly before now, though she had briefly met Scott when Bucky had taken her to see their childhood home.

            “It’s alright, Kimberly.” she said. “It’s great to finally meet you.”

            “Please, you’re my aunt, call me Kim.” her niece replied. “It’s great to meet you, too.”

            “You said that Becky knew?” Annie asked, getting a nod in response.

            “Grammy told me and Scottie when we were kids about when Howard Stark came to the house and told her what you’d signed up for to protect your baby.” Kim told her. “She’d hoped that you’d wake up before she died, but then Howard died.”

            “Tony and Anya didn’t even know about me until Bucky found that teddy bear. Bucky says that you’ve got mine.” Annie giggled, and Kim smiled.

            “When my parents died and Scott and I moved in with Grammy, she gave the bear to me to help me settle. I was twelve and embarrassed to admit that I needed a teddy bear to sleep at all, but I refused to give it back once it was mine. I even game it a name.” Kim said.

            “Really?” Annie asked, curious.

            “Yep, and Scott still makes fun of me for it too. I named the bear Pretzel.” Kim admitted with a slight flush to her cheeks.

            “Why does that warrant you being made fun of by your brother?” Annie asked, and Kim sighed before explaining.

            “There’s a pretzel chain called Auntie Anne’s.” she said, and Annie smiled.

            “I think that you called that little teddy bear Pretzel is absolutely adorable, Kim.” she told her great-niece. “If your brother decides to pick on you about it again, you just let me know.”

            “Thanks.” Kim said with a giggle as Steve walked over to them.

            “Kimberly?” he asked, and both women chuckled before Kim responded.

            “Kim, but yes. You must be my Uncle Stevie that I’ve grown up hearing about but never met.” she said to him, and he nodded.

            “How stupid did Becky think I was for becoming a lab rat just to join a war?” he asked with a wry smile.

            “Oh, she said that between you and Uncle Bucky that you both took all the stupid in Brooklyn with you when you left.” Kim said, pausing as Steve rolled his eyes and Annie laughed before finishing what her grandmother had told her. “She said she was wrong, though, because Aunt Annie here had to have had some of the stupid with her after agreeing to become a lab rat herself when Howard Stark offered.”

            The trio left the cemetery together, and Steve and Annie were happy to join their niece for a cup of coffee. Kim was eager to share the details of her life with her aunt and uncle, and they were happy to hear what she had to say. They had both feared what it would be like to be without their old friends and most of their family when they’d awoken in the futured, but in just sitting in a coffee shop listening to Kim talk, the fear subsided dramatically. Everything that Charles and Erik, and everyone else at the mansion, had been telling them for months was more clear in that moment then ever before: they were not alone.