Tony Stark was forty-three when his twelfth child was born.

"This is very pink," Rhodey said, looking around the living room.

"Joe decorated. She's very excited it's a girl," Tony sighed.

The room was, indeed, very pink. The chairs and couches were under light pink covers. The walls were covered in decals with flowers, pacifiers, and clouds in varying shades of pink. Flamingo shaped bowls were scattered around the tables with pink treats inside. The tables had hot pink tablecloths on them and matching transparent curtains had been hung over the windows to give the room a pink glow.

"I tried to stop her," Karen pointed out.

"She did a great job," Pepper said, shooting the men a look before turning back to Helen Cho, Maggie Paxton, Tori, Nebula, Jen, and J.O.C.A.S.T.A.

"Of course dear."

Rhodey chuckled and knocked his shoulder against Tony's.

"Are you ever going to settle down so I can tease you back?" Tony asked, returning the favor.

Rhodey chuckled. "Not my fault I've been too busy trying to keep you out of trouble. What about you, Jim, have you guys talked about giving Cassie a little sibling."

Said girl looked up from where she, Karen, and Val were playing cards with excited eyes as her step-dad went pale.

"I think we're good for now."

Cassie frowned and turned back to the game.

"So have you decided on a name?" Maggie asked.

"Morgan!" Tony called out.

"We're still deciding," Pepper said flatly. "I quite like Patricia."

"Morgan Patricia Potts-Stark!"

"Oh for the love of - I will allow Morgan if you'd just stop calling yourself Potts-Stark. The board would have an aneurysm if you changed your name," Pepper spat, rubbing her forehead.

"But -"

"No Tony."

He pouted.

"Tony, no."

"She'll never find out."

"She handles all your legal paperwork, she's going to find out you changed your name."

"Not until it's too late. Come on, Hulkette!"

Jen sighed. "Look, I won't help you, but I also won't sell you out and I'll send you the number of someone near you that I know who might be brave - or stupid - enough to help you."

"You're the best. See you at the wedding!"

She huffed and pulled up the number for Matt Murdock.

Tori raised an eyebrow as Tony paced back and forth. "You know, I don't remember you being this worried when I had your kid."

"He had Peter to distract him," Rhodey said, texting Happy to give him an update and check that the girls haven't burned down the cabin yet. Well, Val at least. Karen kept out of trouble, a rare gift in Tony's brood.

"You weren't back there this long when you had Harley or Val."

"Some births are longer. Why aren't you back there with her?"

"Pepper knew he'd freak out and didn't want to risk him getting in the way," Rhodey chuckled. "Helen's with her, and Pep's enhanced. Calm down."

"What if the Extremis interferes with the birth?" Tony said, continuing to pace.

"Helen's been monitoring her every step of the way. If there was going to be a problem, I'm sure we would know about it already," Tori said with an eye roll.

"But what if -"

"Tones, sit down."

Tony sat, but his leg started bouncing almost immediately.

"How's it going?" Maggie asked, coming in with her husband and little Cassie. "Did we miss anything?"

"Only Tony's panicking," Tori said. "How was your guys' flight?"

"Noisy."

"I offered the private jet," Tony muttered distractedly, but the others ignored him.

"Where's Karen and Val?" Cassie asked, looking around.

"They stayed home. They're going to come over once Morgan's here and she and Pepper have had a chance to rest," Rhodey said.

"How long will that be?"

"We're not sure," Rhodey answered and Tony buried his face in his hands.

Cassie looked up at her parents and Jim set his hand on her shoulder.

"I'll take her there so she can wait with the others."

"Is anyone back there with her?" Maggie asked once her husband and daughter had left, taking a seat next to Tori.

"Nebula and J.O.C.A.S.T.A. are with her and Helen's helping the doctor to keep an eye on the Extremis. Jen couldn't make it because of some case, but she sent her best wishes," Rhodey said. "Oh, and J.A.R.V.I.S. is keeping an eye on things through the hospital's security cameras."

Maggie sighed. "I'm guessing it's a good thing my police officer husband isn't here to hear that."

"Honestly, if you can't handle a little hacking you probably shouldn't be associating with this lot," Tori chuckled.

"Tony."

The group looked up to see Helen standing in the doorway with a smile. Tony was on his feet immediately and racing to her side.

Tony bounced Morgan in his arms, ignoring the beautiful woman glaring at the back of his head.

"Look at me!"

"Can't, it's bad luck."

"I can't believe you!" Pepper shouted and Tony heard her start pacing. "How could you go behind my back and do this?"

"Because I love you."

"I love you too, but do you realize how many problems this is going to cause?"

"People change their names when they get married all the time."

"Those people don't have a multi-billion dollar, multinational tech conglomerate named after them."

"I kept Stark as you insisted. I could just be Tony Potts now."

"I und-"

"It could be Potts Industries."

"Oh my God, Tony!"

He heard the door open and Tori said, "I don't know what stupid thing Stark has done this time, but we are still having a wedding, right?"

"It's Potts-Stark now," Tony said.

"Not yet it isn't!"

"He's trying to get you to change your name?"

"Tony changed his name," Rhodey said from where he was hiding in the corner. "Behind her back."

"… I'll be back in five minutes, but then I need to know if we can finish getting you ready or if we should send everyone home," she chuckled then shut the door.

"Pep-"

"You are ridiculous!"

"It's only his legal name," Rhodey offered. "He can still use just Stark professionally."

"Don't take his side," Pepper groaned at the same time that Tony said, "What? Why?"

Rhodey stood up and left.

America stared at the baby, who stared back at her.

"Tan pequeño."

"She's a baby," Karen said in that cute, bemused voice she got sometimes when people said things that she seemed to think were obviously either correct or wrong.

"Yeah, but I didn't realize babies were this small." She poked Morgan's belly and the girl giggled. "Or squishy."

"You've never seen a baby?"

"I'm an only child. And Abuela only takes ten or older kids," America said. "She's so fragile. I can't believe your Aunt let you babysit her on your own."

"I'm not alone. You're here."

"Not much better."

"It's only for a couple of hours. Papa was supposed to watch her while Aunt Ginia and Uncle Anton are out of town, but he got called away so I've got her until Nebula gets here."

"And they were all okay with you bringing her here?"

Karen frowned. "I told Papa I was coming here when you asked me yesterday."

America froze. "Yeah, but did you remind him you were coming here when he told you to watch her."

"No, why would I?"

Diosa, it was a good thing she was pretty. "You're in so much trouble."

"You girls good out here?"

America rolled onto her back and sat up so she could see her elderly foster mother looking out the backdoor. "Yeah, Abuela, we're good."

"You sure? Do you want some snacks?"

America shrugged and looked at Karen.

"I'm okay, but do you have a banana or something? It's getting close to snack time, if you wouldn't mind."

"Not at all, dear. We don't have any bananas, but we've got some peaches, blueberries, strawberries -"

"No strawberries. Her mom is allergic so she's not allowed to have any until she can be tested." Karen moved to grab Morgan. "She likes blueberries though, so if it's okay, I can smash them up f-"

"Nonsense, you kids have fun and I'll bring out her mash in just a moment," Abuela said, waving her off.

"Oh, thank you, Ms. Joyce."

"Thanks, Abuela!"

"'Bue'!"

The two girls turned to Morgan as Abuela disappeared back inside.

"No," America whispered.

"'BUE'!"

"No way," Karen said, pulling out her phone and pointing it at the baby.

"'Bue'! Abue'. Abue-Abuela! Abuela! Abue'!"

"I'm in so much trouble," Karen sighed.

"'Buela!"

She lowered her phone and patted Morgan on the head. "Good job."

"Abue'!"

"That's her first word, right?"

"Yup. Uncle Anton has been trying to get her to say his name for two months now."

"Abuela!"

Karen's phone started ringing and she answered it without looking.

"WHERE ARE YOU!" Karen's cousin shouted loud enough to America to hear.

"Nebula? I'm at America's… I told Papa I was coming here yesterday… Of course Morgan's with me, safe and sound… On my bike… I'm sorry, Papa didn't say I had to stay home… Okay… Alright, I'll come ho- … Alright, we'll be here… Love you… Bye." Karen hung the phone up. "Nebula's coming to pick me up. Apparently I'm grounded."

America snorted and patted her friend on the shoulder. "Next time, always double-check with the parents if you want to take a kid somewhere with you."

"Nebula said something similar."

Pepper frowned when she came into the living room to see Karen floating in the air, hands hanging down as she helped Morgan stumble across her play area on the other side of the room. "Karen, no flying in the house."

"I'm helping Morgan learn how to walk," Karen said, looking up at Pepper and not noticing Morgan's attempts to turn to her mother.

"You can do that from the ground."

"Ma," Morgan whimpered, pulling one of her hands out of Karen's light grip to make grab hands towards Pepper.

"But she won't do it if I don't float," Karen said, neither noticing the baby's actions.

"Mama," Morgan huffed, taking a shaky step towards her mother.

"She will eventually."

Morgan released Karen's other hand and took another step.

"My Lady, Miss Karen."

"Not now, J.A.R.V.I.S.," Pepper said. "A rule is a rule, Karen. It's dangerous for you to fly in the house. The area is too tight. You could hit something and either hurt yourself or break something else."

"My La-"

"Hold on, J.A.R.-"

"Mama!"

Pepper looked down to see Morgan taking a few more stumbling steps before falling back on her butt at Pepper's feet.

"Ma!"

"Oh," Karen said.

Pepper's mouth gaped open and closed for a moment before she said, "Please tell me you got that, J.A.R.V.I.S."

"Of course, My Lady," he said, sounding slightly annoyed, and Pepper flinched.

"Sorry for ignoring you."

"All is well."

"Oh my God!" Pepper scooped up Morgan and spun her around, earning the girl's giggles. "You walked!" She pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Oh Tony is going to be so upset he missed this!"

A throat cleared and the two turned to see Tony standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a smirk. "I think Jay and I are the ones that didn't miss it," he chuckled before walking over to pull his wife and daughter into a hug.

"HAPPY NEW YEARS!" the group cheered and Tony kissed Pepper as he hit the button to launch a procession of fireworks.

Rhodey bounced Morgan, worried the two-year-old would be upset by the loud noise, but thankfully she only seemed dazzled by the lights, reaching towards them and muttering, "Fy-flies! Fy-flies!"

"Yeah, they do look like fireflies, don't they," he chuckled.

"Fy-flies!" Morgan cheered. Her hands closed up into tiny fists, then snapped open.

Twin bursts of tiny embers shot out of her hands like sparklers, dying out almost immediately.

"Fy-flies!" she cheered as the group went silent.

"Did she just…" Pepper trailed off.

She did it again.

"Ooookay! Jay, send Helen a message that I would like an appointment with her at her earliest convenience."

"Right away, Sir."

"Fy-flies!"

"Make sure she knows it's urgent, J.A.R.V.I.S.!"

"Of course, My Lady."

"Never a dull moment," Tori chuckled into her drink as Happy collapsed backward onto the patio furniture.

Nebula downed her glass of champagne. "One. Just one normal sibling. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Good news, she's not about to blow up anytime soon," Helen said as she read over the results.

"Better news, you can get rid of it?" Pepper asked doubtfully.

"Bad news, the Extremis seems to have mutated within her into something else and is in her very genes. It can't be removed."

"Can it be diluted?" Tony asked looking over her shoulder. "Or blocked or something?

"Maybe, but not permanently." She hummed and moved some files around. "I've studied some of yours and Bruce's notes from back when you faced Killian. I might be able to create a serum based on the one you used to dilute Pepper's powers to temporarily block Morgan's abilities, but she'll have to take it repeatedly. Also, the older she gets and the more the Extremis mutates, the less it will work."

"How long will it work?" Pepper asked.

"Long enough that we won't have a toddler running around starting fires," Tony said, watching as Helen started working on the formula.

"Hopefully. We will have to monitor the changes in her physiology carefully and account for that. It would be easier if Bruce could help."

"He's still laying low. I heard he's been hiding out in some gamma lab in Nebraska the past two months, but I don't know where."

"Hulk has really been taking the defeat against Thanos hard," Pepper said. "It's started to get to Bruce. Jen and She-Hulk tried talking to them both, but that's when he disappeared."

"Poor man," Helen sighed. "Well, I think we should send it out to a colleague of mine for a second opinion, but I think we've got enough to work with that it should work for at least a couple of years."

"Can they be trusted?" Tony asked.

"Yes. We've worked together on a few projects. He's… got a personal investment when it comes to enhanced people and is good at keeping secrets. He'll be respectful and discreet."

"Alright, we trust your judgment," Pepper said, standing up and putting Morgan on her hip. "In the meantime, I'm going to fireproof her bed and put her down for a nap."

"Well, she's not setting things on fire at least," Pepper sighed.

"Unfortunately, this is the best Helen, Morbius, and I could do."

"Pretty," Morgan giggled, watching the orange glow on her arms sluggishly move around like a lava lamp.

"You know, considering the army of AIs, Iron Lad, Spider-Man, and the alien terminator, Morgan's probably still the most normal kid," Rhodey offered. "As long as she takes her vitamins, all she does is glow."

"For now," Nebula pointed out.

"And Harley and Peter were normal until they hit puberty," Pepper said.

"Let's be honest, Harley was never normal," Happy argued. "None of the kids have ever been normal."

Tony nodded. "That's fair."

You know... between the pyrokinetic and the Frost Giant... I guess you could say Spider-Man is going to have... some Amazing Friends :)

It was an accident, I swear! I only realized it while writing the hospital scene when I remembered Pepper still had Extremis, which could be passed down to Morgan! She'll make an awesome Firestar when she's older though.

Two subtle references: America's foster mom, Ms. Joyce, is named after the original Miss America, Madeline Joyce. Morgan's middle name, Patricia, comes from Patricia "Pepper" Potts, Pepper's Iron Man: Armored Adventures incarnation (Love that show).