"Oh, man, I'm so nervous. Do you remember when they were babies and I swore that they'd never wear one of those damn suits?" Your hands were shaking incessantly, even as you clasped them behind your back to hide them from sight. Despite the attention your hands were trying to take from you, your eyes were locked onto Anthony, staring at him as he prepared himself for the test he was about to run for everyone to see. The glow of the triangle on his chest left you feeling a convoluted mess of emotions, from terrified, to proud, to so anxious that you almost forgot to breathe. Steve was tuned in to all of it, taking a stand next to you and putting his hand gently over yours to try to steady them.

"He's gonna be fine, (Y/N)," he whispered, "there's no way that Tony would let him go if there were any problems, you know that."

"I know."

"But I can see why you're nervous. It's that damn glow isn't it?"

"I've seen Dad get hurt too many times wearing that same thing." You could feel the squeeze of his hand that let you know that he felt exactly the same; you took a deep breath and tried to settle your racing heartbeat, but it was no use. You wouldn't calm down until this was over, and your son was back safely on the ground; that was, until you made the startling realization of something much worse. "If this goes well, he's on the team, isn't he? This is it."

"Um...yeah..." Steve sighed quietly, "yeah, he is. We might be about to see the reincarnation of Iron Man."

"Oh, Steve...I'm gonna throw up."

"What, you don't like the name? We could suggest that he change it, but Ant-Man is already taken."

"That's hilarious."

"Can't blame a guy for trying to lighten the mood," he shrugged. "Actually, this just might work."

"What might work?"

Steve smiled with a lopsided grin, releasing your hand and pressing a quick kiss to your hair before starting to move away. "Come on," he nodded, "Brooke's here."

The two of you hurried to the garage entrance where Wanda parked her car, waiting as patiently as you could for your girl to step out from it. You hadn't seen any of your children in several months, and to see her was elating, but it also made you sad in that Grant couldn't make it to be with the rest of you. The best times in your family were when the five of you were together, and you missed those days. You held out some hope, although it felt misplaced, to think that at least now that you and Steve had returned to the team, you'd see them more. To have the only option to be seeing them during potential danger left you with a hollow feeling in your gut, though the sight of your daughter running to you for a hug made it abate some.

"Mom! Dad!" she called out, practically sprinting to the two of you. "Oh my god, I'm so happy to see you! I feel like it's been forever!"

"Hi, honey," Steve greeted, taking his hug first in a big sweeping spin that left his girl laughing aloud. It was a beautiful sound that you wanted to keep going forever. "Have you grown more since the last time I saw you? You seem taller."

"Dad, I'm twenty-five," Brooke snickered, turning to you for your hug, "the growth spurts stopped like four years ago."

"Hey, baby," you smiled, taking her into your arms eagerly, "don't mind your father, he's just getting older."

"Hey, so are you," he snapped, "but be careful, doll. We can take this to the field if you need to be reassured that I can still take you down. You might be feeling rusty, but I'm in top shape."

"Mmm hmm. You keep telling yourself that. The grey in your beard says otherwise."

"There's no grey in my beard!" he gasped, turning away and hurrying towards the nearest window. He rubbed his hand over the hair and looked at every single one with a focus like you hadn't seen from him since you left the Avengers.

"Made him look," you whispered mischievously to your daughter. "Okay, enough about him, tell me about you. How have things been going with Wanda? Did you see the kids? They just got here a little while ago to watch Ant."

"Yeah, I was there last week to check in, and they looked really good, really solid with their abilities. Will's getting the hang of his intangibility, but he's a little directionally challenged so he's ended up in Negasonic's room more than once. Poor kid, that's no way to find out that you're not fire-proof. Erik worked with Becca for a couple of days during her visit and I think he gave her some really great pointers on consistency and aim. I guess it was quite a shock to everyone for him to even be there from what I've heard."

"There's my girl!" Tony jogged up to the two of you, taking the young woman into a bear-hug, nearly crushing the air from her in his excitement to see her. Ever since they shared what they thought were their last moments in front of Thanos, working together to save the universe, the two had formed a bond that rivaled the one you had with Tony for all of these years. "Please tell me that you're staying this time? You've been out with Maximoff so much that I barely see you anymore. Same with your mother, I might add."

"Hey, we were on vacation," you argued back, with Steve moving to join you again. "It's not like we were gone that long."

"Sweetheart, you've been on vacation for three months. The only reason you're back now is for Ant's big day."

"Speaking of Ant, how's he doing? He looks a little nervous."

Tony turned and glanced over his shoulder, quickly shrugging off your concerns. The young man looked no more nervous than Tony had been the first time he took flight in one of his suits, which was pretty much not at all. "Nah, he's good to go. In fact, it's time. Let's get this kid in the air, shall we?"

~~~

From the moment that the tech was activated, and when the suit began to form itself around Anthony's body, you could see the excitement in your son's face; it was an excitement that emanated from him even when he was fully suited up. He was doing something that he loved, and something that had been handed down to him from a man he looked up to like none other, even his own father. As much as you hated the sensation of fear that it gave you to know, Anthony was going to be a full-fledged Avenger by the time this day was over.

As Tony watched his grandson fly and activate weapons and armor that he himself felt a little pang of jealousy over, he began to question giving up the mantle. He wasn't as young as he was when this avenging all began, but that was merely his body; his mind was as sharp as ever and he was pining for more.

"Don't even think about it, Dad."

"What?"

"I can hear the gears spinning in your head. Pepper would kill you."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he sighed heavily. Without even looking, you could see the disappointed drop in his shoulders. "I guess I'll just have to live vicariously through your spawn." He pushed his arm out for you to link yours through, but before you could take him up on the offer, a blazing light screamed across the sky and slammed into Anthony, sending him into an uncontrolled spin and crashing to the ground.

Everyone sprinted to find out what it was that took him down, but as you approached, it was clear that there was no attack, and no emergency at all. "Grant James! What do you think you're doing? You could have hurt your brother!"

"Hey, Ma," he greeted with a laugh, rolling from atop Ant to push himself up and to offer a hand for his brother to stand, "I thought this suit was the best ever made. He should be able to handle a little heat."

"Grant," Steve reached out and pulled his son into his embrace, "good to see you, son. It's been a while. How's work been?"

"Busy. Now that you guys are back, we should be able to take vacations too. Three months," he scoffed, "seriously, it's like you fell off the face of the earth."

"Maybe that...was...the...p-point," Steve struggled, his nose twitching until he inhaled sharply and let out a loud sneeze. Followed by another, and another. "Phew, sorry," he sniffled, "not sure where that came from."

You shared a concerned glance with your dad, but you tried your best to play it off for your kids. Deep down, it didn't sit well somewhere within you, and you weren't about to take this as just some strange one-time anomaly. "Honey, you okay?"

"Yeah, must've breathed in some of the dust from Ant's landing or something. I'm good, doll. Don't you worry about me."