Later that evening you are sitting in your bedroom with a fire burning, curled up with a blanket in your big chair watching it rain outside. There's a knock at the door and it slowly cracks open. A white napkin on a stick is being waved at you.

You laugh out loud. " Tony , you don't need to surrender. You can come in."

Tony opens the door and steps in to your room. " Just making sure Kiddo. I've had enough humiliation for a while. Especially at the hands if my little sister."

"Pull up a chair. What brings you here?" You say pointing to the other chair next to you.

"I just wanted to check on you. I figured you would have the fireplace going so I brought S'more makings. I thought we could try them." He says as he pulls a small bag out from behind him.

"Try them? Have you seriously never had S'mores before?" You say a little shocked.

"Dad wasn't really the outdoor camping kind of guy. God forbid if he got his hands sticky. I think the closest he came to being into outdoors was the eighteenth hole of a five star half course." He starts pulling all the makings out of the bag.

You look at tony. " From what I know, that doesn't surprise me."

Tony stabs the marshmallow and tries to push the chocolate on the stick. You laugh at the sight.

"You may be a tech genius but you know nothing about S'mores. Give me those." You grab for the sticks. "Open the box of graham crackers, Mr. High IQ." You hold the marshmallow over the flames.

" Now put the chocolate of one of the crackers. See the trick is to turn the marshmallow so it roasts evenly." You pull if from the flames as it catches fire and blow it out. You place it on the chocolate and place the other cracker on top of it.

"Now try" you say smiling at him as you prep another one. He takes a bite and gets a big smile.

"Why have I not made these before?" tony says through the marshmallow. "Did you camp and make S'mores as a kid?" Tony asks.

"I did a year in girl scouts but it just wasn't my thing. When it would rain my mom and I would always sit and make S'mores by the fireplace and drink hot coco. We could sit for hours and just talk." You smile as you remember those times.
"You and your mom were really close weren't you?" He says before he takes another bite.

You nod your head. "Yeah, she was my best friend. Don't get me wrong there was about two years in high school I was a real shit to my mom. We fought a lot but I eventually became comfortable with who I was and she acted like nothing ever happened."

Tony smiles as he stops and remembers his mom "I was much closer with my mom than dad for sure. She would always try to run interference with my dad when he was mad at me, which was pretty much most of the time."

You break off a piece of chocolate and take a bite. You offer a bite to Tony. He crinkles his nose.

"What? You just had some now you don't like it?" You ask him chuckling.

"It was great all together but I prefer dark chocolate." Tony replies.

"Wow, how did I not know that?" You say a little shocked.

He scoffs. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me. Like, my secret favorite donut is the red, white and blue sprinkle ones."

You laugh. "That is NOT a secret. We all know who takes the last one. You know that pisses off Steve to no end. Those are his favorite."

"Of course I know. I take the last one just to mess with him half the time. Ok if I'm sharing things, what is something I don't know about you?"

"Hmm, don't tell anyone but I love watching MMA fighting." You smirk a little.

"Wow! So you really do like the rough stuff." Tony pretends to clutch invisible pearls.

You throw a small pillow at him. "Smart ass! What's even funnier is that I can't stand watching boxing but I can watch MMA."

Tony gasps again. " So a disturbed girl who likes it rough." You laugh and smile at him.

"Ok, my turn. What is your favorite animal?" You ask curiously.

"Well, there is the family Alpaca, Gerald, that lives on the estate grounds. I'm pretty fond of him but over all, sharks. They are perfect machines that have never had to evolve that much over the centuries. They always have to keep moving forward, I've lived by that idea most of my life."

"Wait, we have an Alpca??" You shout.

"Gerald, he lives on the old family estate." Tony says matter of factly.

"Did you have a pet growing up?" Tony asks.

"I had a couple. We had a pug, Mr. Pugsly. Mom would always put a bow tie on him. I had a snake that my mom hated but she let me have him anyways."

"Snake, well that explains why you're so comfortable around Loki." Tony says with a raised eyebrow.

You go quiet for a moment. " What was Howard like? I mean I know all of the public stuff, his money, his fame and accomplishments. But what was he like as a father?"

Tony takes in a deep breath and lets out a sad sigh.

"He was a hard man to live with that's for sure. I always thought he hated me, resented me for some reason. It's taken me along time to realize it wasn't me, he just didn't know how to be a father. Everything he did was to "make me a man" in his words. I realized not that long ago that he cared he just didn't know how to show it. I understand the things he did was to push me and make me a better person than he was. It doesn't make the memories any easier but at least I understand a little bit better now."

"Wow. I'm so sorry Tony." You say as you sip your tea.

"Have you ever thought about having a family?" He asks gently.

"I did along time ago. I think every girl has those dreams of meeting Mr. Perfect, getting married, having a family. When my mom got sick and passed away, I never thought about it again. I was so hyper focused on my science and the people I could help that there wasn't space for that in my life." You say.

"What about now? I mean you and Cap are pretty hot and heavy." Tony says as he stirs the fire.

"Maybe. It's funny he asked me the same thing the other night. I'm not letting myself think to much of the future lately. I just don't know if I'll have one, and that wouldn't be fair to Steve." You discreetly wipe a tear from your eye.

Tony can sense your mood change. " Hey, do you have a picture of your mom.? I think I've only ever seen the one from your dossier and I can't quite remember it."

"You have a dossier on me, seriously? Why?" You are a little shocked at the invasion of privacy.

"Hey, it's standard practice when I hire someone on with as high a security clearance as you have. You can't be to careful in the corporate world. Don't worry it's not like I know which way you brush your teeth in the morning. Do you have a picture of your mom? I would love to see it."

"Yeah, I keep several on my phone, so she's always with me." You open your phone and find one. You hand it to Tony.

He looks at the photo and then at you. "Wow, you look so much like her." He takes a second look at the photo and cocks his head.

"Hey I recognize her! I ran in to her several times in Howard's office. She always very nice but would hurry out of the office when I would show up. The more I think of it, those were the few times I can remember my dad smiling in his later years."

You take the phone back and look at the picture once more. "Do you think he loved her?"

"I can't really say but it seems that she made him happy if that means anything?" Tony says.

"Yeah actually it does. Thank you for that." You put your phone away and yawn a little.

Tony looks over at you. " Tired?"

"No, just relaxed for once." You reply.

"Well, I need to use your bathroom. I'll be right back and maybe you can make me another S'more."

He gets up and uses the bathroom. He comes back out a few minutes later to find you sound asleep in your chair. Tony walks over and closes the doors on the fireplace so it will die out. He tuns back to you and pulls the blanket up further around your shoulders.

He looks down at you and smiles. Tony leans down to kiss your forehead and says. "I'll get you that future kiddo, I promise."

He turns off the lights and leaves the room.