Hey ya'll! This is the first chapter of my sequel to my story "Which Me Do You Like?" If you haven't read that, I'd suggest you go read it, otherwise you'll probably be a little lost. To those of you who have read it, and are back for round two, thank you so much for continuing to read, and I hope you enjoy this story as much as- if not more than- the first one. So, without further distraction or stalling- may I present, Ever Present Past.

Disclaimer: I only own Minnie, and Kayla.

Stark Industries was all dressed up, Tony Stark was hosting his usual party, a fundraiser charity for the firefighter's families, and yet as he stood there, drinking and pretending to be interested in everything, he was bored. He was bored, and when Tony Stark got bored- things tended to get a little interesting.

It would be almost too easy, he could go upstairs, get a suit, fly around the ballroom. At least it would be more fun than this, and a real conversation started if truth be honest. He smirked to himself before he stepped towards his private elevator. No one noticed the eccentric billionaire as he started to slip away.

Upon investigation he noticed his new assistant, Holly (a young girl he hired because number one, she was good at dealing with the press, but number two- and a very important number- she was intimidated by him), flirting with his driver, Happy. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to be able to do whatever he wanted- no, that wasn't true, he could always do whatever he wanted, but with Pepper and- Well, with Pepper, it was always an argument, which made him reconsider doing it because he knew afterwards she would only come to him flipping out the moment she found out about what he did, using that tone of voice mothers use when they're upset and in slight disbelief.

Tony was lucky he caught himself there. He had almost said her name, and internally or not, it was still a very sore point for him. He was still pissed off. Pissed off at Hydra for latching onto her, for being the ones to find out about her condition, and he was pissed off at SHIELD for taking her away- but not only her, they had also taken away one of the smartest men, if not the smartest he had worked with. There was so much more the two of them could have accomplished by working together.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice the elevator doors closing until it was almost too late. He shoved his arm between them, and they opened back up again, he stepped inside and hit the close doors button. The doors closed quickly and he stood there for a minute, staring at his reflection in the mirrored insides of the doors.

"Did you plan on going somewhere or did you just need an escape sir?" Jarvis- his brilliantly programmed AI- asked.

"The penthouse Jarvis." he said and he felt the elevator moving from beneath his feet. He leaned his head back against the elevator wall and let out a small sigh. The elevator slowed down moments later, before stopping at the floor. The doors slid open with a small 'ping' and he stepped into his apartment as he struggled to pull off his tie. "Jarvis bring up picture." he said, Jarvis brought up a computer screen on the glass wall facing the city. "Bring up the wedding photo." he said and the screen changed to show a picture of Minnie and Bruce, his arms around her, smiling. The Hulk, smiling. Tony smirked at the thought of all the jokes he would make now, none of which he could, because even though he had the means, to contact her would be risky, and just plain stupid, and while Tony Stark was all about the risky business (cue Bob Seger playing in his head), to compromise their lives, and the life of their daughter- he wasn't that stupid. He knew to stay away, even if it meant living with two of his closest friends so close, and yet completely out of reach.

He heard the elevator door open, and he turned, then seeing Pepper walking into the room he turned back. "Jarvis, clear the screen-"

"No Jarvis, don't." Pepper said and he stood up quickly as she approached.

"Why aren't you down there entertaining?" he asked quickly.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"You been to one of these things, you've been to 'em all." he said casually. "At this point, it's just running through the motions, get drink, greet people, have another drink, give speech, order a scotch, make mindless small talk with people I'll never see again." he shrugged. "You're better at this stuff, that's why I married you." he nodded to the very large diamond ring sitting on her left hand ring finger.

"You think I don't miss them too?" she asked stepping closer to him. He looked to the side and averted her gaze. "Tony, she was my best friend, I miss her every day." she said softly. She moved over to her husband and put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "And Bruce- god I miss having him around I think he was one of the only people who could just roll with your-"

"Eccentricities?"

"Ego." she said and he thought for a second, before he nodded.

"That works." he agreed.

"Have you tried talking to Phil-"

"Honestly, what is it with you and that man's first name?"

"You've used it."

"Uh, knowingly, I have not, no."

"Jarvis, bring up the video."

A video came up of Loki in Stark tower. Tony standing between a very frightened looking Minnie, and Loki who was advancing on Tony. "You're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it." Tony said sternly to Loki, Minnie behind him smiled softly at the back of her boss. Tony started to turn away but Pepper put her hand on his shoulder.

"How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" he touched the point of his scepter to the arc reactor and frowned when nothing happened. "This usually works." he muttered.

"Oh, well, performance issues." Tony nodded; Minnie's smile grew as did her eyes, though she honestly wasn't surprised. "Nothing to be ashamed of, pretty common really, one in five I think-" Tony was cut off by Loki grabbing him by the throat and throwing him through the window. Minnie kicked her pumps off and went running past Loki to the stairs, he looked at her with amusement, then turned as the Iron Man suit went flying after Tony out the window. Tony flew up in front of the window. "And there's one other person you pissed off! His name is Phil." Tony said, before the video cut off.

"Why would you keep that on your hard drive?"

"Mrs. Stark gave me explicate instructions not to delete any video with Ms.- Mrs. Banner in it."

"I miss her too Tony." Pepper said softly and he looked at her. The picture of the wedding with everyone, the Avengers, Minnie, Bruce, Phil and even Fury.

"Hey," he took her hand. "Let's go. I bet the stiffs are waiting for us." They went back downstairs, Pepper retying Tony's tie in the elevator, they got down there and stepped back out into the party.

"Hey, Tony," the ex Senator Carl Jameson said as Tony tried to slip by. "Come over here a minute."

"Well, Senator, good to see you? I expect I'll find your daughter somewhere around the bar?" he looked towards the bar.

"Uh, cute, Tony, cute." Carl nodded, before turning to the people he had been talking to. "Tony, this is Norman Osborn, and his guest, Leona Hiss."

"Oh, well, nicccccce to meet you." Tony said, hissing out the 'C'. He could see Holly stare at him in horror, but she made no move to come over and chew him out, the way Minnie would have done. He sighed and looked back to them, then walked over to Holly. "You're fired." he said before he went to the bar and ordered a drink.

"Welcome home Dr. Banner." Jarvis said as Bruce pulled his car into the driveway. When Minnie and Bruce had come to live there about two years ago he remembered the surprise when they went to the gerage and found two cars sitting there for them. Minnie had gone straight to the green Mini cooper and proclaimed it her's-

"After all," she said as she ran her finger over the letters spelling out 'Mini Cooper' "It's got my name on it." not that he minded, the green had made him a little uneasy and he couldn't help but wonder if Phil had done that on purpose.

"Thank you Jarvis." Bruce said as he got out of the car and shut the garage door.

"Sir-" Jarvis said hesitantly. "I would put down the papers if I were you."

"Are they planning an ambush?" he asked, a smile creeping into his voice.

"I am not at liberty to say." Jarvis replied and Bruce smiled before he set down the papers he was holding to grade that night. Who would have thought he'd be teaching chemistry to a bunch of high schoolers who didn't know a beaker from a Bunsen burner. Bruce slowly opened the door leading from the garage to the house. It was silent.

"Hello?" he called into the silent house. Even the damn dog was quiet- not that he was complaining, the dog had been something more for Minnie than himself, he wasn't particularly fond of the fussy little dog, though he was amused when Minnie took his dry suggestion of naming the cocker spaniel after her best friend Dallas. "I wonder where they could be." he said feigning ignorance.

He could hear a giggle from behind the sofa in the living room so he scratched the back of his head, remembering to take his glasses off. This wasn't a glasses friendly game that much he had learned. "Well, I guess they're not home." he said as he made his way towards the couch. He could see Makayla sticking her head out from around one side of the couch, looking for him so he silently snuck around the other side of the couch, and scooped her up in one arm at the same time as wrapping his other arm around Minnie. Both girls screamed and laughed making him laugh. He carried Makayla under on arm and kept his other one wrapped around Minnie as they walked into the kitchen, where he deposited Kayla on the kitchen counter, and turned his attention to his wife.

"Hiya," she smiled before she lightly kissed his chin. He smiled and kissed her deeply before she pulled away and looked at their daughter who had her hands over her eyes. "Kayla, get down from there." she said as she picked the girl up and put her down. "Oh boy you're getting to big to do that."

"Nu-uh!" she squealed, before attaching herself to Bruce's leg.

"That's right, nu-uh." he picked her up and swung her into the air making her shriek with excitement.

"Bruce, look at her face!" Minnie laughed as Kayla's face turned bright red with laughter.

"Sorry about that Red." he said and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Baby, go find Dallas okay?" Minnie asked as Bruce put Kayla down.

"Okay Mommy." she said and stumbled from dizziness. She walked out of the room and Bruce put his arm around Minnie's shoulder.

"You're over exciting yourself too." Minnie said as Bruce breathes hardly.

"I'm fine." he said with a smile.

"God and you wonder where she gets her stubbornness from." she asked and he grinned as she opened the fridge and handed him a bottle of water.

"I never wondered that, I knew she got it from you." he said and she hit his arm making him smile.

"Ready for the long weekend?"

"You know I am." he sighed. "I've gotten a little behind in grading papers, so this weekend will be good for that." he paused and sighed darkly. "I never in my life thought I'd be saying those words."

"Well I never thought I'd say what I'm about to say, but honey, do you think that's a stretch mark?"

"Minnie, for the last time you don't have stretch marks." he said. She had been increasingly worried about her figure after having Kayla, and even though she was still wearing the same clothes she had worn before she was constantly checking herself for stretch marks,

"Will you just look at it?" she asked as she lifted her shirt and pointed to a place on her flat stomach where he saw nothing but her flat stomach.

"You know that that you mention it..." he said, bending over and putting his glasses on. She looked at him in horror and he looked up with a grin. "Now that you mention it, there are no stretch marks." he said before he lifted her onto the counter and pulled her into a deep kiss. She giggled through the kiss and ran her fingers through the back of his hair before they heard a scampering and a barking, and then Kayla's laugh.

"To be continued." she said softly to him before giving him another light peck on the lips. He gave her a small half smile before he sighed and pulled away.

"Kayla!" he called. "How many times have we told you not to color on the dog?" he sighed as he looked down at the now multi colored Cocker Spaniel. The dog looked up at him and he rolled his eyes.

Later that night after getting Kayla to bed I went downstairs to see Bruce grading tests, his trusty red pen his students had grown to hate in his hand. "Honey," I said and he looked up at me. I smiled lightly at him and he smiled as I walked over and sat down with him.

"I don't get it Minnie, I really don't." he sighed. "These kids are capable of this, I know they are. It's like they don't want to learn it, and it's so easy."

"Well, honey, in their defense, you are a genius, and a scientist who hasn't had to teach this stuff before."

"What are you saying?" he asked and I sighed.

"Do you remember when you explained the tesseract to me? How I didn't understand it at first? And you made that example that I understood?" I asked and he nodded. "Well, I'm not particularly clever, and I feel like I know a little something about tesseract science now, because you explained it in ways I could understand." I said. "What you need to do is find an analogy that those kids will understand."

"Like what?" he asked and I sighed as I rested my chin on his shoulder.

"I don't know. You're the one that's around teenagers all day, not me. How would you explain it if it was Kayla?"

"I'd tell her to ask me when she's older."

"No you wouldn't and you know it." I said and he sighed as he looked at the papers, then looked at me.

"I'd probably explain it the best I could, knowing I was explaining it to a three year old." he said slowly.

"And would you use the text book as your only backup?"

"No, the textbook is bullshit, it's written by amateurs." he said and I laughed.

"See, no apply that to your class, and maybe they'll understand what you're saying?" I suggested and he smiled at me. "Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week." I said and he laughed.

"How are you doing?" he asked and I sighed as I rested my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around me, and put his evil red pen down.

"I want to paint the kitchen."

"Really?" he looked around and I nodded. "Well I guess it is a little... Boring." he shrugged. "What color were you thinking?"

"I don't know." I shrugged and he sighed, rubbing his eyes. "What do you think?"

"I think I need to finish these tests."

"Well, do you want to know what I think?"

"I know I'll find out anyway." he said and then looked up. She nodded.

"Well that proves my point." I said.

"Honey I-"

"Baby, you're tired." I sighed as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "Come on, come to bed."

"No, Minnie, I need to finish these-"

"You've got three days to do them, and you've been working all day, come on." I took his hands and pulled him to his feet with a sigh before leading him to our bedroom. "I'll be right back." I said and went down the hall. I pushed open the door to the bedroom and looked in at our sleeping daughter. She had kicked off her blankets in her sleep, and had her arm draped over the multi colored dog.

"We're going to have to wash the dog tomorrow." Bruce muttered and I laughed. "And take away those markers."

"Oh honey, you can't take away her markers, she'll be so depressed." I said and he sighed with a small nod as he slipped into the room and pulled her blankets over her sleeping form. As soon as he turned around she kicked them off and rolled over. He threw his hands up and I smiled as I took his hand, I closed the door, leaving it open a crack in case the dog wanted to leave the room.

I led him back to our room and we both changed into pyjamas before climbing into bed together. He pulled his glasses off and set them on the bedside table before he clicked off his lamp and turned back over to me. He wrapped his arm around my waist as I leaned into his chest.

"What's been bugging you?" he asked.

"Oh, just... Not knowing I guess." I sighed.

"I'll call Phil tomorrow." he said softly.

"What's the point?" I asked. "He always says the same thing."

"Well maybe tomorrow he won't." he said and I smiled as I looked at him.

"When did you become such an optimist?"

"Must have picked it up from my wife." he sighed.

"She sounds pretty smart." I said.

"Smartest person I know." he replied and I smiled before I leaned forward and kissed his chin, then moved my lips up to his. He kissed be back deeply before I sighed and snuggled back into his chest. "Good night." he said softly.

"Good night." I muttered.