#what a bastard move considering the entire Carter family tree

[zahri-melitor]

So OMG Night and Silence.

The secret courtyard garden, I think, is what’s most going to haunt me and need additional rereads. Like what is up with the Baba Yaga hut? WHY GROW GOBLINFRUIT?!?

Also the fact that the Dochas Sidhe are living hope chests is HILARIOUS in hindsight. ‘We can adjust your blood. And our blood. Nooooothing suspicious about this noooo.’

Also that bloody prophecy curse. Is it because they are Carters? Or is it Amandine’s fault? Are we looking at two competing curses here, because I’m going to need to draw a map to remind myself who has cursed whom at this point (in any case it all boils down to EIRA IS THE WORSSSST).

[inawickedlittletown]

We Can Meet Again Somewhere (somewhere far away from here) - One shot

A/N: This contains Endgame Spoilers. Title from Sign of The Times (Harry Styles) 

Words: 6,728

Summary: Morgan is 17 years old and she wants one thing more than anything: to meet her dad. Lucky she has a time machine. Lucky she also has the best big brother.

Just stop your crying

Have the time of your life

Breaking through the atmosphere

And things are pretty good from here

Remember everything will be alright

We can meet again somewhere

Somewhere far away from here

Morgan Stark grew up knowing that her dad was loved. That he was mourned. That everyone always had something good to say about him. She grew up hearing stories from all of his friends -- aliens, gods, superpowered and baseline humans. Mostly, she heard them from Peter.

At four years old -- almost five -- she’d known that he was gone. Forever. To another place.

“Somewhere where he can rest,” mom said on occasion.

It wasn’t until much later that she knew why he was gone in the first place. That he sacrificed himself for everyone -- for the whole world...no, for the whole universe. Her daddy was a hero. He saved them all.

Growing up she just didn’t have a dad. She had a bunch of uncles and a few aunts and a big brother and a Hulk. Her family was huge and sometimes when she told her friends at school that her family was having a reunion no one quite understood that it meant family even from outer space.

Along with talking about her dad, a lot of her family talked about Steve Rogers. Captain America. Because just a few days after the funeral, he disappeared into the past. Uncle Sam said that he stayed in the 1940s to be with the love of his life.

“He deserved it,” Uncle Bucky would say, but he always looked sad when he said it.

Morgan hadn’t really known Steve, so she didn’t think much of him being missing from her life -- although she did realize that he was a big deal. It was years before what he did registered to her...the idea that by staying in the past Steve had created a different timeline -- an alternate reality where it was entirely possible that her dad was still alive.

She went to the only person that might listen. Peter.

“All I’ve seen are videos of him and that stupid goodbye message he left. Peter, I just want to see him with my own eyes. I want to see my dad just once.”

Peter shook his head. “Nope. Nope. No, your mom would kill me.”

“But you want to see him too. I know you do.”

“Morgan, I don’t know about this. It can go wrong. We’re talking about time travel and if we make a mistake a screw something up then it will create another timeline and…”

Morgan crossed her arms. “And it doesn’t matter. Peter, please.”

Peter had been thinking about it for what felt like forever. The first time that the idea had crossed his mind had been just a few minutes after Sam Wilson told them that Steve was gone. Sam had returned to the house with Bucky at his side and the shield on his arm. The Hulk -- Professor Hulk -- followed behind them but no Captain America.

“We think he stayed in the past. Probably with Peggy Carter,” Sam said.

“Selfish bastard,” Rhodes said.

Peter had thought about it then -- the idea that maybe he could go back in time and see Mr. Stark before he snapped his fingers. Maybe even before the battle had begun at all. Would it be horrible to maybe even just steal Mr. Stark and bring him with him instead of letting him die?

The thoughts had gone over and over in his head, but Peter had known deep down that Mr. Stark wanted him to move past it -- wanted all of them to accept it and move on despite how much it hurt and despite the giant hole he’d left behind in all of them. Eventually, he’d put the whole idea behind him.

Morgan pleading with him with her big sad eyes that were the exact shade of her father’s made him want to cave and do it. Morgan kind of always got what she wanted from him -- Peter just never knew how to say no when it came to her. Morgan was the little sister he never knew he wanted -- she was amazing and strong and she had grown up without really knowing her father. Peter knew something about that -- all his father figures were dead. Mr. Stark included.

“--Peter, please,” Morgan said. Her eyes were wet.

Pepper would kill him if anything went wrong. Happy would bring him back to life and kill him again. And then May would probably take a turn too if it got back to her.

“I -- I don’t know if that machine even works anymore and we would need at least four things of Pym Particles. This won’t be easy, Morg.”

“Petey, it’s not about easy. It’s about it being worth it.”

Peter gulped. She was too smart for her own good.

“And, Peter, this is worth it, isn’t it? Isn’t seeing him again worth it?”

It was probably going to hurt too.

Two weeks later, they were ready. It turned out that Bruce had left some Pym Particles behind in Mr. Stark’s garage. Everyone called it a garage but it was a very sophisticated lab that these days only Peter tended to use. It was nice to get away from the city from time to time and hang up the suit. There were plenty of heroes these days, anyway, and Peter didn’t feel as responsible for anything that went down in New York City. Not to mention that, he loved spending time with Morgan. Pepper too, but mostly Morgan.

The machine was still in working condition, but Peter did some maintenance on it anyway just to be sure. The last thing they needed was anything to happen to him or Morgan. It was bad enough that they were sneaking around.

Peter had had the foresight to record a message with Karen. It was only to be delivered to Pepper if they didn’t make it back after a few minutes had passed. He hoped that when they returned, he could just delete it and no one would know what they had done.

“I’m doing this for Morgan,” he told himself. Not at all because he wanted this desperately too.

They waited until Pepper had to go on a business trip, after Peter had agreed to stick around the house with Morgan. It wasn’t that Morgan needed looking after seeing as she was almost eighteen, but Pepper hated to leave her on her own. She was a mom. She worried.

Usually that meant him and Morgan ordering take out and pigging out in the living room and Peter introducing her to movies from back when he was younger. Quality time with his little sister. This time, they were going to be a bit more adventurous.

Peter had thought a lot about when they should go back to. It needed to be sometime after Morgan was born which meant that it would be while Peter was still gone. They couldn’t do it on the day of the big battle because there were too many variables to consider and because Peter knew that if he saw Mr. Stark then, he might just steal him away and bring him to the future with them before he died. So, he had to pick sometime during the five years -- maybe when Morgan was still too young to remember much just in case.

He ended up picking 2020. Morgan had been born in 2019. Peter and everyone else had been gone for close to two years.

Peter had never used the time machine before. They just hadn’t had reason for it because nothing as bad as Thanos had come up. There were still bad guys, but none that had required time travel to beat them. Still, turning it on and getting it working wasn’t difficult.

He found a couple of the old suits and put Morgan in the smallest one he could find and then got into another one.

“Ready?” Peter asked.

Morgan looked nervous, worrying her bottom lip and not managing to stay still for very long.

“I -- what if he doesn’t like me? What if he just doesn’t believe us or--”

“Morg, he’s Tony Stark and stranger things have happened to him. I think this will change things for him -- I think him seeing us will change things enough to create a new timeline, but that isn’t all a bad thing. We just can’t--”

“Tell him he’s dead in ours,” Morgan said. “But, Petey, what are we going to say?”

“Uh...we can -- we can tell him we arrived there on accident.”

Morgan nodded. “Okay. Okay. We can do this.”

Drinking coffee on the porch of his cabin had become one of Tony’s favorite things. Well, favorite things that didn’t include holding Morgan or watching Morgan sleep or really anything to do with Morgan.

But being outside on the porch with the fresh air was nice. In the two years since the snap, Tony had started moving on. He’d made an effort to move on because choosing to live and choosing to have as much as he wanted for himself and for his life felt like the only way to honor Peter and everyone else that they lost. Taking a step back from The Avengers and all of that had made the most sense too, especially once Pepper told him she was pregnant. He didn’t regret that at all. Well, maybe some days he did, when Natasha reached out to see how everything was, and he let himself wonder if he might be able to help.

One of her calls had led to him starting to work on time travel -- to try and figure out if it was possible. He didn’t think it was and yet Tony knew deep down that it was the only way. The stones were gone everywhere but in the past and the only way to fix what Thanos had done was to get the stones. All of it felt impossible.

He nursed his cup of coffee, looking out at the clear sky and the trees whose leaves had only just recently started to come back. Spring was fast upon them but there was still a chill in the air and Tony didn’t mind it, it kept him awake.

It took him another ten minutes to finish up his coffee, but he stayed where he was. Morgan had been put down for a nap before he came out and Pepper was getting some sleep. Tony was a little too keyed up to join her and either way, he had a few projects to get back to.

A bird flew past him, landing on a tree and chirping away. Maybe Tony needed to get some bird feeders outside. He was so focused on the bird, that he almost didn’t see the two figures approaching--

The bird flew off, and Tony almost dropped his mug in his haste to stand up.

“It can’t be--”

He didn’t recognize the girl although there was something familiar about her, but the boy was unmistakably Peter. Older and less boy-ish but still Peter. Peter who was gone -- whose very dust had fallen through Tony’s fingers out on an alien planet...the boy he dreamed about almost every night. His Peter. The kid that had burrowed himself so deeply in Tony’s heart that nothing would ever take him out and who was standing just there.

“Hi, Mr. Stark.”

“Who -- you’re not--”

He thought he was going to pass out. He must have fallen asleep -- this was all some sort of dream and Tony would wake up out on the porch to Pepper poking him with Morgan in her arms. It had happened before. Tony didn’t really sleep well without nightmares and this was--

“Mr. Stark, we’re kind of from the future.”

He looked like the Tony Stark he’d known when he was a teenager and just starting out as Spider-Man -- like the Tony Stark that had shown up at his and May’s apartment and recruited him to help him out in Germany. He wasn’t as grey as he’d looked the last time Peter got to see him right before he--

“From the future,” Mr. Stark said. “That’s impossible. You’re -- this is some sort of joke. Is it April 1st? It’s not funny -- not funny at all.”

Peter sighed. “Mr. Stark, we’re from the future. A ways into the future. Kind of messed up a little bit, though, and ended up here. Not for long, mind, just until we can travel back to our time. This is -- this is Morgan.”

Morgan was quiet, and shaking a little.

“Morgan as in--”

“Your daughter,” Peter said.

Morgan stepped forward. “Hi, daddy.”

Mr. Stark gapped at both of them, but then he tightened his jaw. “If you’re from the future then you time traveled which is impossible. No one can time travel.”

“We can,” Peter said and then, “you used it to bring everyone that was dusted back.”

“I -- what?”

Peter motioned Morgan to walk forward and he followed after her. Mr. Stark waited for them at the top of the stairs. He was clutching a mug in one hand and his other was in a fist.

“Wait. Wait, no. You shouldn’t tell me anything. It might not happen if you tell me and I have to -- I have to bring you back.”

Peter nodded. They climbed up the stairs and Mr. Stark looked between them before settling on Morgan. He seemed to take in everything about her with awe and surprise, but then his eyes were on Peter and it didn’t take long for Mr. Stark to pull him into a hug and Peter melted into it. He held Mr. Stark back just as hard. Peter hadn’t gotten many hugs from Mr. Stark, but they were all ingrained in his memory and it was the best thing in the world to be able to have one more.

When Peter was let go, Mr. Stark hugged Morgan, pulling back to look at her for a long moment before he let her go. He looked stunned and Peter could tell that she was nervous

“Wow, you two have really grown up. I mean, you’re literally a baby sleeping in your crib right now. This is...it’s unbelievable.”

Morgan smiled a little.

“You look like your mom,” Mr. Stark said.  

“Most people say I look like you,” Morgan said.

Tony was still in a state of shock, but he invited them to sit and offered them water. Both declined.

“I was losing hope of ever getting you back,” Tony said eventually. He really couldn’t stop looking at them -- at either of them.

“You did it, though. You and the Avengers.”

Tony had only kept contact with Natasha. He hadn’t gone near the compound since returning from space. But maybe -- maybe they had to work on it together. He’d accused Steve of abandoning him when he needed him the most only to then take himself out of the equation. Granted they all had.

“Well, I don’t want to change anything so we can talk about something else. How is -- how’s the future?”

Morgan and Peter shared a look. “It’s good. I’m still Spider-Man. Morgan just won first prize at a science fair. I helped her out a bit.”

“Not your old man?” Tony asked.

Morgan shook her head.

“You were busy,” Peter said, his voice going a little low.

He was lying.

Tony crossed his legs and he leaned back, watching them both.

“How’s your Aunt May?”

“She’s happy. She and Happy got married.”

Tony couldn’t help but laugh. He couldn’t even begin to picture it. Happy Hogan and Peter’s Aunt May. No, that was -- it was weird.

“I know, I thought it was weird too but she’s happy so--” Peter trailed off with a shrug.

Tony still couldn’t imagine how all of that had all gone down. As far as Tony knew, Happy had never gone on more than a few dates from time to time. Never anything serious. He couldn’t remember if Happy or May had even met yet. It was possible that they hadn’t.

“And you, kiddo, what are you up to these days?” Tony said, looking at Morgan.

She looked unsure and nervous.

“I--”

Peter reached over and grabbed her hand. She smiled in his direction.

“I’m doing really well in school. I read a lot and when Peter comes over we have movie days. I -- I’m happy, daddy. I’m really happy.”

There was something in her voice, something that told Tony that there was something she wasn’t saying.

“And I guess I’m starting to look at colleges now. Mom doesn’t want me to go too far away so that’s--”

Peter cut in. “It’s been a fun argument. Pepper wants her to stay in New York like I did, but--”

“You didn’t go to MIT? But I have pull there and you’re--”

“I didn’t want to go to MIT,” Peter said, but Tony thought he heard regret there.

“Okay. Okay. And I guess you don’t either, little miss?”

Morgan worried her bottom lip. “I -- I do actually. That’s--”

“Then you should,” Tony said. “I want you to -- I would want you to…”

“You do,” Peter jumped in. “You really do. Like I said, it’s been a fun argument.”

Peter was still just such a bad liar. He could see it all over his face. Morgan turned away. Her hold on Peter’s hand was so tight that it was lucky Peter was Spider-Man and not someone else otherwise she might have broken his fingers. Then there was how nervous Morgan seemed and yet whenever he did catch her looking at him there was something like awe in her gaze. And Peter was acting a little weird too. There was only one reason for that...

“I’m not around, am I?”

“Yes. No. You are. You really are, Mr. Stark,” Peter said quickly. Too quickly.

“No, I’m not. And because I know that nothing could ever make me leave either of you then that means I -- I’m dead, then? I guess I always knew it would happen someday.”

He was numb. His whole body had gone cold and the words leaving his lips were half thought out and half considered. He was -- in the future he was dead. He died. His daughter barely knew him. Peter lost another person.

“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. We weren’t supposed to tell you but now we did and it’s -- well…” Peter trailed off.

Morgan next to him looked like she was close to tears and she clutched at his hand like a lifeline. In front of them Tony Stark was pale white and he seemed to be staring right past them. The moment passed slowly and then Mr. Stark looked at him again.

“How?”

“I -- is that a good idea to tell you? I--”

“I know already so that’s already going to have some ripple effect. So tell me how. Tell me and I can -- I can try and…”

It didn’t take Peter long to decide. So, he told him. He told him about the time travel and about the Thanos from 2014 that managed to figure out their plan and how he came back to the future with them.

“He was going to destroy not just half of the population anymore but all of it,” Peter said. “But you took the stones from him before he could. The Iron Man armor formed a gauntlet for them and that kind of power -- I mean Bruce Banner still has nerve damage from when he used it and he’s the Hulk. So--”

“So it killed me. Using the stones killed me.” It was almost ironic. The Avengers had started out when he decided that sacrificing himself was the only way and he’d survived that...it shouldn’t have been surprising that he would be the one to put his life on the line again.

“Daddy, you saved the world. The Universe. I’ve always understood that even if it meant you had to go.” Morgan was crying, then. Tears rolling down her cheeks that she didn’t even try to wipe away.

Peter took a deep breath. “I talked to Dr. Strange after and he said it was the only way he saw us winning.”

“His one in whatever chance,” Mr. Stark said and Peter could hear bitterness in his voice. Then, his eyes were on Morgan and his face crumpled. “No, oh, Morgan.”

Peter saw him get up and then he was at Morgan’s feet, taking her free hand and reaching up to wipe the tears on her face with his fingers. Mr. Stark took his attention off Morgan for a second to look at Peter and he was so clearly in pain and Peter hated it. He hated that they had done this to him.

Everyone spoke about how Tony Stark had been given five years of happiness. How he managed to get married and start a family and now for this Tony Stark, the shadow of what was to come would hang over him. Peter knew him well enough to know that he would try his best to stop his own death, but that in the end he would face death sooner than letting everyone else perish. He would still continue working on the time travel and he wouldn’t hesitate to go after the stones even knowing that he would die.

“Come here,” Mr. Stark said and Peter had to let go of Morgan’s hand as Mr. Stark pulled her into his arms.

Every once in awhile when Morgan was little, all she’d wanted was her dad. She’d wanted him to eat popsicles with and for him to tuck her into bed. She wanted him to tell her stories. She wanted him to be the one to pick out her clothes with her.

Of what she could remember of him, she knew he was warm and loving and that he always had time for shenanigans. Shenanigans was what he always called anything that wasn’t entirely approved of by mom. Sometimes that meant them sneaking out to sit by the water even when it was past her bedtime. Or it was having candy before dinner. There were so many little things that were half remembered that Morgan cherished and yet she knew she had spent more time wishing for him to be around than anything else. She had lived longer than she’d known him -- thinking about it that way hurt.

Having him in front of her was everything and yet it was so bittersweet. He was her dad. He was -- there was a little Morgan inside that house and it was weird and strange to think about. It still kind of felt nice when he hugged her. His fingers had been wiping her tears, but they turned to running through her hair.

“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry.”

“It’s okay. Not your fault,” Morgan said. She meant it. She had come to terms with that a long time ago and yet--

Her tears stopped after a while and she pulled away slowly, but he kept an arm around her back.

“I just wanted to meet you. Just once,” Morgan said. “That’s -- that’s why we came. Peter didn’t think it was a good idea, but I convinced him to.”

“Wasn’t hard to convince me, Morg,” Peter said.

Peter had always been good to her.

“I’m glad,” dad said. “I’m glad you get to see me. I’m glad I get to see you. Both of you. I love you, Morgan. You know that, I hope. Love you more than anything.”

Her eyes were full of tears again and her sinuses were acting up and it felt like she was about to start crying again. Dad rubbed her arm and he hugged her to his side and Morgan wished more than anything that she’d had this when she needed him because her mom was great and so was everyone else, but her dad was different. Tony Stark was different.

For the whole world he was their hero -- the savior of the universe. To Morgan he was just her dad and she never got to have him.

“How long can you stay?”

Peter knew logically that they shouldn’t stay long. He also knew that they would be back a minute after they left no matter how much time had passed.

“A little longer,” Peter said.

“Okay. Okay,�� Mr. Stark said and then he looked to Morgan. “So, Morgan, what is the one thing that you want to do with your old man? Anything at all. If we only get this sliver of time then we’re going to make the best of it.”

Peter grinned wide.

Morgan seemed a little overwhelmed and Peter knew that there were probably a million and one things that Morgan would want to have a chance to do with her dad and making a choice would be difficult. She took a few more minutes.

“I don’t know,” she said eventually. “I -- I didn’t think of it before…I kind of, I wish I’d gotten to work on something with you. Peter told me all the time about how you spent time in the workshop and I--”

They went to Mr. Stark’s garage and Peter didn’t know how long they were there, but Mr, Stark started showing Morgan a few things and Peter was distracted by seeing the garage with Mr. Stark’s touch on it instead of how it looked in the future. Morgan followed her dad around and Peter could tell that she was loving it -- seeing the way that Tony Stark worked and thought. It made Peter a little bit sad, though, because Morgan could have had him at her side...should have had him.

“This is amazing,” Morgan was saying.

Peter didn’t even know what they’d been working on. He’d gotten distracted looking at the research that Mr. Stark had already compiled on time travel. Pepper had always told everyone that Tony had been working on it for years -- that it was a myth that he’d figured it out overnight.

“He was a genius but even Tony Stark couldn’t have done that in one night,” she would say.

But every year on the anniversary of his death, the news mentioned it like it was a fact -- said it in reverence because no one would ever talk badly about the savior of Earth...well, of the universe. Everyone knew Tony Stark’s name -- they knew it everywhere.

It had hurt for a long time to see Iron Man everywhere he went. Painted on murals, on so much merchandise, on the cover of books, on the news, in movies -- because of course someone had gone and made Iron Man movies that were not accurate at all. Worse were the ones that focused on Tony Stark instead of the superhero persona. Peter tried to avoid all of it. But back in the immediate aftermath it had been hard. Everyone was mourning and trying to pay some sort of homage to him.

They only realized that they had overstayed when the door to the garage opened and Pepper was the one standing there. She wasn’t alone -- she was holding a baby Morgan.

“Tony what is -- Peter…” Pepper stopped short, eyes wide. “Tony what is going on? Is he--”

Peter had never known Morgan this young. He’d seen pictures, but they didn’t do justice to how adorable she was.

“Hey, hon,” Mr. Stark said and then looked to Peter before facing Pepper again. “So, it turns out I figured out time travel in the future.”

Pepper gasped. “You came back. The snap -- you came back.”

Peter nodded. “Everyone did. Three years from now. Although, now that we came here the future won’t be the same in this timeline.”

“We?” Pepper asked and only then seemed to notice Morgan.

Unlike Mr. Stark, Pepper knew it was Morgan at once. “Morgan?” She asked. It was probably a mom thing.

“Hi, mom.”

“Oh my god.”

Her mom was so young. She was beautiful and young with bright strawberry blond hair -- the hair that Morgan had always wanted to have. She had convinced mom to let her dye it once and the results had been disastrous and so Morgan had never dyed her hair again. These days in the future, mom had more grey in her hair than ever and the wrinkles that in 2020 were only just forming were deeper.

Stranger than seeing a younger version of her mom, was seeing herself. She was a year old and calm in her mother’s arms.

“She’s everything and more, Pep,” her dad said. “We did good with her.”

Oh. They weren’t going to tell her. It was probably for the best.

“And since we’re in here, I’m guessing she takes after you?”

Dad grinned. There was a glint in his eyes. “She’s going to go to MIT.”

“I don’t--”

He grasped her hand, holding it tightly. Their eyes met and Morgan loved that she could finally definitely say that she had gotten his eyes.

“You are,” her dad said. “You are, Morgan.”

It was hard to keep her emotions at bay. Being in the garage and looking at his things and getting to work with him had been a bit of a distraction -- enough to keep her from remembering that this was absolutely temporary -- but she remembered then.

“Okay.”

His lips quirked up into a smile. “That’s my girl.”

Tony reached over with her free hand and touched her cheek. Morgan wanted to start crying all over again. Maybe convincing Peter to go back in time had been a mistake. How was she supposed to leave while knowing that he was just there within her reach.

“Hey, Pep, how about we get some lunch with the kids before they have to get going,” Tony said.

He hated thinking about them leaving, but he was aware that it was probably a bad idea to keep them. Morgan -- his grown up almost an adult Morgan who would go to a future that he wasn’t a part of -- and Peter who looked like he’d seen more loss in his life than he’d ever needed to.

“I -- yeah, sure,” Pepper said.

Tony could see how unsure Pepper was and Tony didn’t want to make her suspicious because Tony knew that he was going to die. If it meant that his kids were okay in the future then his death was inevitable.

Pepper turned and left and Tony deflated a little. He hated lying to her.

“You’re not going to tell her?” Peter asked.

Tony shook his head. “She’ll obsess over it -- and if it has to go that way again I don’t want the next few years to be marred by that. I want to be able to have this as it is until I can’t.”

Peter nodded and then he was there next to Tony, wrapping an arm around Tony’s shoulders.

“Whatever you do,” Peter said, “it won’t affect me and her -- not this version of us. But that baby -- that Morgan...try to find a way to stay for her. For the other me.” Peter’s words were shaky and full of emotion. “We kind of need you, you know, Mr. Stark?”

“I’ll try, Pete. I’ll try. And stop calling me that. It’s Tony, kid. Okay?”

Peter was crying. His tears fell on his shoulder and Tony wrapped an arm around him, pulling him in tight.

“Okay,” Peter said.

He wished they had more time. It was so unfair that both Peter and Morgan had had him for such a tiny amount of time.

Morgan still held his hand and she moved closer to his other side and Tony could tell that she was crying too. It broke his heart. He pulled her in and then they stood there in the middle of the garage and he held them both as tight as possible. His kids. The ones he would never get to see grow up.

They had lunch -- sandwiches and some sort of baby food for Morgan. Peter ate slowly, not sure that he was tasting any of it and from the looks of it Morgan wasn’t doing much better. Pepper was distracted by the younger Morgan and Peter hoped it was enough for her to not notice that his eyes were completely puffy and red and that Morgan wasn’t looking much better. Even Mr. Stark looked a bit emotionally drained.

They made conversation. Pepper asked about Aunt May in the future and about herself. Peter told her what he could. Eventually, she started talking to Morgan, curious but cautious even as baby Morgan threw some of the mushed baby food on the table.

Mr. Stark helped clean her up and he kissed baby Morgan’s head.

“You know, I still don’t really like peas,” Morgan said.

Pepper laughed. Mr. Stark smiled.

When lunch was over, Peter knew it was time. He would have loved to stay as long as possible, and yet he knew that they couldn’t. The longer they stayed, the less and less that he would want to leave. It wasn’t that he didn’t have a life back home. He had Ned and MJ. He had Spider-Man duties and Avengers duties. It was just that Tony Stark had always been his idol -- his hero. His sort of dad-figure and he was just there in front of him alive and well and Peter didn’t want to not have him in his life anymore.

Pepper hugged Morgan. “I’m glad to know you’ll become this wonderful young woman. And if I know anything, your parents are probably missing you in the future. But it was so nice to get a glimpse at the future. At you.”

Then, Pepper turned to him.

Before coming back from the snap, Peter hadn’t spent a lot of time with Pepper. But he’d been fond of her and she had always been warm with him -- never discouraging him from coming around to spend time with Mr. Stark.

“It’s been a little while for us, kid,” Pepper said. “You don’t really look like a kid anymore. So grown up.” Her eyes were teary and she cupped his face before her arms enveloped him into a hug and he hugged her back. “I’m glad my baby has the best big brother,” she whispered.

“Me too,” Peter said before she let him go. They shared a smile.

Baby Morgan chose that moment to let out a cry and Pepper turned to pick her up. “You want all the attention on you, don’t you?”

“She’s a Stark,” Morgan said. “Of course she wants all the attention.”

Pepper laughed and she bounced baby Morgan.

“Come on, kiddos,” Mr. Stark said, “I’ll walk you out.”

Tony didn’t know how he was going to just let them go. He didn’t know if it was actually possible for him to do so. Peter seemed to be trying to be strong. Probably for Morgan.

“Do you have to be anywhere in particular for you to travel back?”

Peter shook his head. “The -- the GPS will get us back no matter where we go.”

Tony nodded. “Good. Good. I -- I’m really glad you came.”

Morgan hugged him tightly again, and he held her for a long while, trying to memorize the moment forever. His little Morgan was inside with Pepper, but he would never get to have this version of Morgan. He wasn’t going to see his little girl grow up and it stung. It hurt deeply.

“I love you, dad,” Morgan said. “So much. I -- I’m so glad I got to meet you even if it was just this. I -- I’ll never forget this.”

“Me either, kiddo. I love you so much. So much. And I know I would have done anything to stay with you. I will try my best.” Not that it would matter for this Morgan. But Tony still had to try.

“I know,” she whispered and then she pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Peter had stood back, letting them have their moment, so Tony walked to him. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” Peter returned.

“You know, before I met you, I didn’t think I’d ever want kids. I didn’t think I’d ever make a good father. Never had a good example of one so -- anyway, you changed my life, Peter Parker and I’m glad I got to see you again. It’s been two years and I’ve missed you like crazy and I hate that we only get these stolen moments -- small as they are. But, Pete, you’ve grown into a wonderful person. I can just tell. You’re doing good, kid.” His eyes were blurry with tears and he was trying to shake them off and not let them fall.

Peter looked just as bad and Tony pulled him into a hug and Peter fell right into his arms, holding on tight. Tony didn’t want to let go. He didn’t want to see him go. With Morgan it was different -- he still had baby Morgan just inside the house. From what Peter had told him -- they would see each other for just a few minutes in the middle of the battle before Tony was making the hard choice. He wasn’t going to have another moment with Peter again. Never.

“I’m so proud of you, Peter. I love you, kid. So much. And I know you’ll take care of my girl. Both of my girls.”

Peter nodded and he let out a sob and it broke Tony’s heart all over again. It brought him right back to Titan and Peter’s scared voice -- he still heard it in his dreams.

“I love you, Mr. Stark.”

“It’s Tony, kid,” Tony said, laughing a little.

“It’s dad, Petey. He’s your dad too,” Morgan said.

She was wiping away tears, but smiling a little.

Peter sort of froze, but then he gave a nod. “I guess he sort of is.”

He hugged them both one more time, pressed kisses to their cheeks and wiped away their tears. Then, eventually, he watched them grasp hands. White and grey suits -- nanotech ones -- came on them, and then they both looked back at him one more time. He smiled and nodded. Then, they were gone.

Tony gasped and sobbed all at once. It hit him as he stared at the spot where they had been standing and it took everything to not fall to his knees and cry like he’d done on Titan two years earlier. Instead, he stood in that spot and steeled himself. He was going to change things. He was going to make sure that he lived to see his kids grow up. Both of them.

When he went back inside the house, Pepper was in the living room. Morgan was on the ground with some of her baby toys.

“They left?” Pepper asked.

Tony nodded.

“And why were they here?” Pepper asked.

“Because we’re going to do things a little differently this time around,” Tony said.

Pepper could probably tell that he’d been crying, but she didn’t say anything as he sat down next to her and she let him pull her close.

Morgan knew logically that nothing would be different in the future and yet a tiny part of her had let herself hope that maybe it wouldn’t be and that maybe -- somehow -- they wouldn’t be arriving back in the garage and that her dad wasn’t still gone. But of course he was.

Peter helped her take off the GPS device. He didn’t say anything as he turned everything off, but then he extended his hand out to her. It kind of reminded her of when she was a little girl and Peter had held out his hand and she’d taken it gladly, never to let it go again.

“Come on, Morg, this calls for ice cream and brownies and all kinds of junk.”

“Okay,” Morgan said, but as soon as they were out of the garage she stopped him. “Peter?”

“Yeah?”

“It was...it was good we did that right? I’m glad I got to see him. Meet him.”

“Of course, Morgan. Of course. It was good. It hurt a little to say goodbye but it was good.”

“Good. We really...we had the best dad, didn’t we?”

Peter inhaled deeply, but he nodded. “Yeah, kiddo, we did. We sure did.”