Just a little something to keep you occupied whilst in quarantine ;)

Morgan Stark was a determined, stubborn toddler.

For weeks it seemed, Morgan had been persistent in her petulant fretting, pleading against her dad's chest as he carried her to bed each night; ever since she'd seen a billboard with 1994's The Lion King characters on it, Morgan had made it her sole mission to convince her parents to watch the movies with her. it was a foolish notion, really – a lost cause if she decided to bring it up around her mother who, without a doubt, was against the idea of a two-and-a-half-year-old watching a movie that had emotionally traumatized her parent.

But Morgan had the Stark blood in her veins; and she was more intuitive than most kids triple her age; she knew what she wanted and often times she knew how to get it, and in her two or so years on this planet, she had already figured out that her father was way more forgiving and lenient when it came to what his daughter was allowed to watch, receive, hear, etc. Which was more than frightening when you were a first-time parent, and your toddler was already figuring out how to manipulate you just by using that adorable little smile.

Naturally, Tony wasn't the least bit surprised when his curious, ingenious daughter approached him with her plea to watch the Disney cartoon. As far as Tony was concerned, any animated movie was suitable enough for his daughter (with the exception of Sausage Party, which he found hilarious, unlike a very unamused Pepper); besides, movies were engaging, and good for a learning, developing toddler. Plus, it was Lion King. Of all the suggestive, risqué things she could've chosen, Morgan had elected to watch Lion King.

Still, he hadn't seen the movie either – Stark was either drunk, high, or both for roughly two-thirds of the nineties, and had no reason to see a children's movie, so it would be a new experience for them both. He knew some things about the movie, how could he not? It was a classic, as far as he was concerned, so if anything, he was quite surprised when Morgan brought to his attention that he hadn't actually seen it.

It was nearing the end of the day in the Stark household. The sun had just about disappeared under the horizon, and the moon had risen in the clear, dark sky. At the moment, Morgan was finishing her favorite after-dinner treat, banana bars with chocolate chips, at the kitchen table. Pepper occupied herself with cleaning up the dishes from their delicious "Spaghetti Saturday" dinner. Pasta had been one of Tony's all-time favorites for as long as he could remember – his mother (ever the enthusiastic Italian she was) used to make him pasta, be it rigatoni, angel hair, penne...whatever, every Sunday so he could take the leftovers with him to school on Monday. Ever since, pasta was almost always Stark's go-to.

Tony was flipping through the New York Times, which was exceptionally odd for him – it was rare that he concerned himself with world politics or anything going on in the country; however, after the snap, the world had been thrown into chaos and for whatever reason, Tony felt compelled to keep up with the problems of the planet.

The TV was on for Morgan, with her favorite cartoon, Tom and Jerry. Tony would be lying if he said he didn't find the show at least a bit entertaining; Pepper never failed to bring up all the times she'd catch her husband and daughter awake at eight or nine o'clock – which was way past the two-year-old's bedtime – binging the hilariously obnoxious cat and mouse duo.

Tony continued to page through the newspaper, skimming through random articles and pausing to read about relief efforts for families who had lost their major breadwinners to the Mad Titan. He took in a shaky breath, a familiar and uncomfortable tremor jolting through him. Guilt. He turned the page.

He was interrupted as a tiny little body came hurdling at him from around the side of the couch, effectively ripping a page out of the paper and causing Tony to "humph" in response.

He heard Pepper chuckle from the kitchen as the scene unfolded. "Why hello there, Goon," he responded as a giggling Morgan clambered onto his lap. His torn newspaper was all but forgotten as his precious little girl smiled that toothy smile.

"Hi Daddy!" she giggled.

"Morgan, didn't you have something to ask Daddy?" Pepper suddenly materialized on the other side of the couch, one hand on her hip as she eyed the pair. Tony's eyebrows raised as he turned back to his daughter.

"Oh?"

Morgan nodded profusely, before she eagerly poked her dad on the shoulder several times to demand his attention. She toyed with a string on the sleeve of her purple turtleneck as she spoke, "I wanted to know if you wanted to has a movie night tonight?"

Tony turned to Pepper. "Lemme guess, Lion King?"

Pepper nodded with a smile, "she convinced me. She's too clever for her own good."

"I'm very perswayive." Morgan announced proudly.

Tony chuckled. She was still developing and working on her speech, which made a lot of letters, including 's,' funny to pronounce. "I can see that. It seems Mom listens to you more than she listens to me. Kudos to you, kiddo." He patted her on the back, sighing as he looked at his daughter. "Well, I think movie night is a great idea." He paused and whispered loud enough so Pepper could still hear, "but you know what we need that would make movie night perfect?"

"What?"

"Candy!" he enthused, poking her sides with his fingers.

She giggled before leaping off his lap in a mad scramble for the kitchen. Tony rose and greeted Pepper's frown with a broad grin.

"Tony, she doesn't need sugar this late," she exhaled, shaking her head as she went to their ottoman to pull out a blanket.

"Ah, c'mon Pepper, it's just this once."

She scoffed. "Just this once, huh? Then how on earth does Morgan know that I switched the candy basket from the pantry to the top of the fridge?"

Tony scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "She's observant?"

"Mhm," his wife chuckled, amused as she observed their toddler attempting to drag the kitchen chair to the front of the fridge.

Tony instead lifted Morgan up to reach the candy, as the idea of Morgan toppling off the kitchen chair was one image the parents could live without. Tony was scarred enough already from the very unfortunate encounter Morgan had with a jumping spider a little under a year ago. Morgan was intrigued by the disgusting little arachnid and gravitated towards it almost instantly; why she liked them so much Tony could never guess – he'd always hated spiders, and insects of almost any kind. They gave him the jitters. He'd been more terrified of the spider than his one-year-old, especially when the thing leapt out at him, resulting in a less than masculine screech and a few cuss words that left Pepper fuming and Morgan giggling.

Tony patiently waited, his arms starting to burn as he held his daughter above his head. She wasn't heavy, but holding her in place with gravity essentially working against him wasn't entirely comfy. As per usual, she was taking her dandy time in deciding just exactly what she wanted.

"Morgan, sweetie," he ground out. "Mom couldn't have allowed more than two bags of candy up there, so it shouldn't be that hard to decide-"

"No," she cut him off.

He sighed and waited for a few more moments as he heard shuffling above him. Hmm. She certainly gets the indecisiveness from her mother.

"Daddy, what does this one say?" she asked, holding down the box of bottle caps in front of Tony's face.

"It says Morgan's name right smack dab on the front, is what it says," he responded, bringing an annoyed Morgan back down to Earth, box in hand.

"No!" she whined, narrowing her eyes at her dad. "That's not what it says, liar."

Tony put his hand to his chest in fake offense. "I would never lie to my number one girl."

"I don't want this one though!" she pouted. "They look gross," she wrinkled her nose in unnecessary distaste.

"Yeah, well they're not," he rebutted. "Now c'mon, Mommy got all the blankets ready, and we can get all nice and cozy after we get your PJ's on. Sound good?"

She only nodded, still eyeing her candy in mild disgust as she handed it off to Pepper before they paraded up the stairs to get changed.

~~~

Tony promised Morgan piggy-back rides every time they left her room (technically, he only did because the first time he turned her down she ended up throwing a temper tantrum), which made her smile and laugh gleefully, which in turn made him smile and laugh gleefully, so it was a win-win for the both of them.

He made dramatic whooshing airplane sounds and twirled around the house until they found their way back to the living room, where Pepper was patiently waiting on the couch with a bowl filled with bottle caps and Tony's personal favorite, Tootsie Rolls. Pepper hadn't changed into pajamas, as she'd (shockingly) been in lounge clothes all day anyways. She had let her hair down though, something that would forever be ungodly attractive to Tony.

He instructed FRIDAY to light a fire and cue up the movie as Pepper lifted the giant, fuzzy blanket she'd been buried in as an invitation. "C'mon, cuddle bug," she grinned as Morgan dove for the couch and scrambled under the covers and snuggled up to her mom's side.

Tony stood by the sofa and stuck out his lower lip and made his face all sad. "I feel neglected," he complained.

"Come on Daddy, you too," Morgan let out a large, sarcastic sigh and waved her dad over. Both parents laughed as Tony joined his family under the blanket, draping his arm over Pepper's shoulder and pulling both of them in tight.

"Thank you Peanut," he answered, tugging her close.

Morgan squeaked. "You're squishing me!" she exclaimed. His only response was a laugh and peck to her hair.

"Pepper, candy," Tony demanded as the movie opened with the classic "Circle Of Life" song. Pepper rolled her eyes. Before reaching the bowl across Morgan, who made it clear that she wanted to hold the bowl.

"I wanna hold it."

"I thought you didn't want that candy," Tony countered playfully.

She groaned in frustration. "I don't care," she mumbled. "I wanna hold it."

"Fine," he gave up, knowing this was a battle he wouldn't win. When you had a toddler, especially one with the intellect and cleverness of a Stark, you had to pick and choose your battles.

But it was a rare occasion that Pepper allowed candy to be eaten – candy that she knew about, at least; so Tony wasn't passing up this opportunity, and he certainly wasn't going to allow his daughter to hog all the food. "At least give me a tootsie roll?"

"I wanna try it."

"You don't like these," he lied as he unwrapped one. She'd never tried them before.

Of course that little trick wouldn't work on her. "I've never had one."

Tony shot her a look. "Every time Mommy has one, you don't want one, but when Daddy's eating them, it's a different story, right?"

"Are you two done?" announced Pepper, who'd elected to ignore the duo until they'd become too loud for anyone to focus on the movie. "Because I feel like I'm the only one who's actually watching the movie."

"Yes, we're done," Tony stated boldly, swiping three more from the bowl. Pepper frowned at him. "What? They're my favorite."

Throughout the length of the movie, Tony noted that the number of bottle caps was slowly decreasing, realizing that Morgan had been silently eating them the entire time. He smiled, but kept quiet. Some things were better off when they seemed undetected.

Pepper had to cover Morgan's eyes when Mufasa died. Well, Morgan had hidden her face in Pepper's side when he had been pushed off by his evil brother.

Tony glanced over at his wife as the scene played on, and she smiled weakly, a tear escaping her eyes. Tony smirked. Pepper mouthed "asshole," in return, full well knowing Tony was enjoying every minute of her crying over a kid's movie.

He would admit – it was a sad scene; especially when a distressed and heartbroken Simba approached his deceased father – that tugged at Tony's heart strings. So when an image of his own parents flashed in his head, he audibly gulped and forced himself to clear his mind. He wouldn't allow a cartoon to trigger any sort of damaging memories. He was enjoying a night with his family, his world. This was happiness; this was contentment.

Morgan passed out sometime after the Hakuna Matata song, her hands folded against her chest as she curled against Pepper, who had been combing her fingers through her deep brown hair. Stark smiled as he cast a glance down at his daughter. She looked so innocent and precious when she slept, her lips parted slightly and her hair falling over her face.

He heard Pepper's sigh of content, and instantly knew that she had caught him looking down at their child. He met her light eyes with his own, stroking the back of her shoulder as the three of them huddled close on the couch.

"You have no idea how grateful I am, Pepper," he whispered.

"I do, actually," was her response. "I'm equally as grateful. We lucked out; we really did."

He smiled softly. "I know. I wouldn't trade this, you, her, for anything. Not even a second chance to..." he trailed off.

"Tony," she spoke lowly. He knew what she was doing. It wasn't often that Tony brought up what had happened three years ago, with him, or Peter, or his time adrift. So those few times when he did, Pepper was aware of the thin ice she skated on.

He knew she pitied him. Even though he didn't want the pity, and she knew he didn't want it. Either way, it was unspoken words between them – she had sympathy, an enormous amount, for all the pain he'd endured throughout the span of his life, especially for the hits he'd taken within the past few years. And he had sympathy for her, for having to put up with his endless billcrap. He hadn't made it easy, either.

But man, it had been total hell. For a while, Tony nearly lost his way, nearly lost all plausible hope. He wasn't sure how he would've managed without Pepper, and now without Morgan. The two people left in his life that mattered more than anything ever could. He'd never had so much to lose.

Morgan and Pepper – they were the roots to his tree that would otherwise bend and break in the violent winds of his life. They kept Tony from falling into a billion pieces. When Pepper and Tony had finally gotten married, underneath the stars at Pepper's childhood home in the suburbs of Minnesota he knew things would start to heal, to return to somewhat of what they used to be, the closest thing to normal; the day they'd found out Pepper was pregnant, after months and months of let downs...it changed Tony's entire perspective on life, and just how absurdly lucky he was to have survived everything he'd thrown himself into. The love and joy that he'd felt in those moments was something that he initally forgot existed, feelings he forgot he could have and emotion he didn't know he had missed so unbearably much.

They brought that back into his life.

"Thank you, Pepper."

She remained silent.

"I don't say it enough. Not nearly as much as I should. You've somehow learned to accept me for the man that I am, and you've never complained. Not when I raced off to space and canceled our dinner plans, not when I refused to put away the suit and retire. I did nothing to deserve you, Potts." He paused. Even after marriage, he couldn't shake the nickname he'd become so accustomed to using. "I did nothing at all. But I'm thankful, nonetheless. Eternally. I can't fathom ever losing you two. I don't know what I'd do."

"We're not going anywhere," she replied quietly, comforting him with the tone of her voice and the way her eyes glimmered in the firelight. "Tony, you're a mess."

"Thanks," he murmured.

"You are. And you probably always will be. But you'll always be my mess, be her mess," she gestured to a sleeping Morgan. "Yet, no matter how much you do, no matter how many times you run off risking your life on these sudden impulses to save the world time and time again – you never seem to recognize how great of a man that makes you. After all you've been through, you're still just as willing to fly off at any moment to save the universe, a galaxy of complete and total strangers, no matter what it ends up costing you. That's courage. That's being petrified of acting but facing your fears anyway. That's the man I fell in love with. This man that's perfectly imperfect, this charismatic, highly inappropriate jerk whose ego is larger than any I've ever seen. Iron Man, Tony Stark, my husband, the father of my child, my best friend, my boss." They both chuckled.

"I think it's safe to assume that you're the boss in this household," he added brightly.

She giggled and continued. "I love it all. I wouldn't trade this for the world, either. Never. For anything."

He couldn't help the grin that escaped him. He decided that it was impossible for Pepper to love him more than he did her. He may not have been able to accept all that she had told him, may not have believed most of what she had been saying; but he could agree that this life, this outcome – the culmination of years and years of blood, sweat, pain, and tears – this was an ending he could live with.

There were things he missed. People and guilt he held in his heart that would forever haunt him; but as the time between him and the snap increased, he was discovering that he could be almost as happy here, with his wife and his daughter.

Between them, Morgan stirred slightly, flipping over in her slumber and letting out little puffs of air, suggesting that she was in a deep sleep. Tony placed a gentle kiss on her forehead as Pepper maneuvered herself to hug the both of them snugly, finding her usual perch against Tony's neck. Eventually, Pepper's breathing leveled out, until her breaths were slow and calm, informing Stark that she too had fallen asleep.

He grinned as he kissed her hair, allowing his nose and lips to linger in her beautiful locks. He inhaled, breathing in the scent of home, his home, and his happiness. This was his life now; these people were his second chance at not screwing up. And he wouldn't screw up, not this time.

"FRIDAY," was the last word that escaped his lips before he allowed his eyes to fall closed as well. He felt the heat of the fireplace dissipate and could see the world darken beyond his eyelids. The movie continued to play on in the background as he allowed himself to slip into serene silence, feeling fulfilled and just, alive.

"Oh yes, the past can hurt; but the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it."

And then he slipped away.