Hold Onto Me 'Cause I'm a Little Unsteady

Chapter Nine

"Daddy?" she murmurs, wide green eyes bouncing between the adults who all snap their attention to her.

Tony sits up quickly, pushing the picture frames down and waving his hand to make the holograms all disappear in a single motion.

"Hey, baby, what's up? Is Harley not entertaining you?" Tony says, attempting to twist his voice to sound sarcastic and teasing. He checks his watch quickly, waving Rhodey away as he swings his legs over the edge of the table and beckons his daughter over. "You ready for lunch?"

"Lee's sleeping," Morgan explains quietly, moving as close to her dad as she can without seeming too noticeable. "I suggested we watch Star Wars and he got all sad and went to his room. When I checked on him, he had fallen asleep."

Tony's lungs stutter at the mention of Star Wars, a deep ache making his way through his heart.

"Lee's having a hard time right now," Tony murmurs, helping Morgan to sit up on the table beside him. She's so young. Too young to ever have experienced what she did. It's not fair. Luckily, her green eyes still shimmer with her childish innocence, only eleven years old. "He's going to be okay, but for now, you'll have to be patient with him... How are you doing?"

Morgan's face falls, shoulders drooping as she looks down at her lap, fingers twisting in the red hoodie.

"I miss Petey," she whispers, blinking rapidly to rid her eyes of tears.

Tony leans close, pressing a long kiss against her temple and brushing her hair out of her face.

"I miss Petey too," he replies. He wraps his arms tightly around her stomach, drawing her body in close. "He'll be back before you know it, though. I promise, me and Pops are doing everything we can to get him back."

"You really promise?" Morgan asks, looking younger than ever.

Tony pushes a strand of her hair behind her ear and kisses her forehead again. Over the top of her head, he can see Steve rubbing his eyes, knees wobbling under the weight of the promises Tony's making.

"I really, really promise, sweetie. I'm going to do everything in my power to get him back," Tony swears. It fills him with even more strength to complete the daunting task ahead of him.

He picks up one of the picture frames and pushes it into Morgan's lap.

In the picture, his three kids are sprawled together on the couch. Harley's on the left, legs tossed over the arm of the chair and head resting on the back of the couch. Peter is on the other end, legs tucked behind Morgan and underneath Harley, head on the armrest. Morgan's in the middle, head resting on Peter's chest and legs overtop of Harley, one hand is tangled in Harley's sweater, the other resting on Peter's stomach. They're all fast asleep.

"Bring that up to your brother for me. He'll want to see it when he wakes up. I'll be up in an hour or so to make lunch, okay? Do you want to do anything today?" Tony says.

Morgan thinks for a moment before nodding. "Can we go to the park later? Peter loved going to the park."

Tony barely manages to contain the flinch at the past-tensed version of the word.

"Peter loves the park," Tony repeats quickly. "He'll be happy we went even if he can't go with us. In an hour, you can wake your brother up for lunch, give him the picture, and tell him our plans for later. Sound good?"

"Sounds great! I'll go finish my movie!" Morgan says, brightening up quite a bit at that. She smiles, kissing her dad on the cheek, before hopping off the counter. She studies the picture for a moment before dutifully hugging it to her chest and racing for the door.