Vogue | Tony Stark

SIXTY EIGHT - HOME AT LAST

"She's barely said five words to me in two hours."

Leonie sighed when Tony gently grabbed her hand in the hallway of his home, his eyes hollow and afraid once it became clear that the moment of being left alone with his partner and child had dawned.

He was scared, that much was obvious, and while Leonie had great sympathy for him after everything that he'd been through, everything that he'd done to protect earth and it's people, she had great sympathy for her daughter, too.

George had waited outside when Estélla had given birth, Leonie and Alicia standing where Tony should've been instead, their bones being crushed by Esté's stone grip while she went through hell to birth her daughter, only to hear silence once the baby was born.

It was the quietest the world had ever felt, the most still and the most slow. Leonie had felt her stomach drop and when she'd turned to look down at her daughter, she'd seen her heart break bit by bit behind her solemn blue eyes, the realisation of what was happening settling into her in real time, horror paling her skin while she tried to catch her breath, yet found the room empty of air.

The moment lasted for all of forty-five seconds, but felt like eternity for Esté as she begged for someone to make her baby cry, sobbing uncontrollably while Alicia and her mother had to hold her back against the bed when the nurses whisked her newborn away.

Leonie remembered the relief that hit her as soon as her granddaughter cried for the first time, she felt the tension from Esté's hand gripping her own subside and watched as she slumped back against the pillow, finally letting herself breathe.

It had been the most devastating moment of Estélla's life, the most frightening and the most raw, incomparable to anything else. Yes, she'd lost her way when Tony had gone missing the year before without a doubt, but Esté had never felt her heart stop beating so suddenly - and stay frozen - like it did in that delivery suite.

"Tony, I don't mean any disrespect when I say this, but she's been through a lot," Leonie said quietly.

George was upstairs with Estélla and the baby, helping tidy up the nursery that they'd left in somewhat of a mess because of a quick departure. Tony had carried his daughter in a car seat out of the hospital and into their home, and as wonderful as that felt to do, he wished he could've carried Estélla instead.

"I know she has, I know that but-"

Leonie's frown deepened but her eyes held warm empathy and she squeezed Tony's hand to provide some reassurance, some solidarity.

"If you'd been in that room with her, if you'd seen the way she died behind her eyes when your daughter was born and didn't cry..."

There was a soft shake of her head that made Tony realise that no matter how many times he said that he understood, he didn't. He couldn't. And yes, he'd seen and done things that Esté would never be able to comprehend too, she'd never need to. The birth of their daughter, however, Tony was supposed to understand that.

He'd been in space and heard what endless nothing sounded like, but he imagined that the hospital room was the loudest turn of silence possible. The thought of his child not breathing wrecked him feverishly inside and out, a reaction like he'd never known. Only Estélla did know it, and she felt it far more deeply than he could envisage.

"Be gentle with her," Leonie continued when George started walking back down the stairs, "Give her time, give her whatever she needs. She loves you, but believe me when I say that she's just lived through the worst moment of her life that she'd dreamt about being the best."

Tony was left with a hug and a firm pat on the shoulder by his in-laws before the door closed. He took a moment to himself, breathing in to calm his racing heart and settle himself, or at least try to.