𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐔𝐏, 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 something burning.

She groaned and rolled over, burying her face into her pillow. "Why..."

She could feel the mascara left over from last night clumping her eyelashes together, her neck was aching from being sleeping an awkward position, and she could feel where her leather jacket had suctioned itself to her skin overnight.

She'd fallen asleep before she could even change.

Whatever had happened last night, Charlie didn't remember and she really didn't care. She was grumpy.

"God, I look like a fucking raccoon," she whined, sitting up and looking at herself in the mirror. She wiped the mess away with a towel lying over her armchair before stripping her old clothes.

Her head pounded as she shuffled into sweatpants and a tank top, frowning when the burning smell got worse.

"Dads?" She called out, adjusting her sports bra. "Dads, is something burning?"

There was no answer.

Immediate panic seized her and she gripped her hands into fists, trying to calm herself down. Relax. Everything's fine. They probably just left food on the stove and got distracted.

(Or maybe, there had been an emergency Avengers call and they'd had to drop everything they were doing? And now they were out fighting bad guys and they were going to get hurt and Charlie wasn't even in the lab to watch over them. Oh, God, what of the entire kitchen was on fire now, because they'd left something burning. And now Charlie would have to make the choice to save the Tower from burning down, or sprint to the lab and do her job as the Avenger's intel girl-)

Charlie shut her eyes, rubbing her temples. "Jesus fucking Christ."

Anxiety was a bitch.

Even more pissed off now -more at her own brain than anything- she slammed her bedroom doors shut and walked towards the kitchen.

"Dads, If you left something burning on the stove-" she croaked, her voice catching on the lack of sleep.

She rounded the corner and stopped cold, before shrieking, clamping her hands over her eyes "EW! OH MY GOD!"

Both Steve and Tony's head darted up from where Steve had Tony sitting on the kitchen table, Tony's legs wrapped around the super soldier's waist.

Tony quickly pulled his hand out of the front of Steve's pants, gasping like a fish out of water. Steve pulled back from where he'd been suctioning his and Tony's mouths together like some kind of diseased leech, hurrying to pull Tony's shirt back down from where he'd had his hands. But it was too late now, Charlie had already seen the scratches on her Dad's chest, and the way Pop's hair was sticking out in every direction, and-

"Bleach!" she wailed, gagging in her mouth. She turned and shoved her face into the corner of the room, thumping her head against the wall. "Oh my God, I need BLEACH! I'm going to KILL MYSELF!"

"Well, don't do that," Tony said drily, but his voice was faint from lack of air.

"Nonononono," Charlie rubbed her eyes, trying to get the image out her her head of where Tony's hands had been. "This is it, this is my thirteenth reason, I can't- I can't do this..."

Steve at least sounded apologetic as he gasped, "Sorry, I'm sorry, doll-"

Jesus, how much had they been doing that a fucking super soldier was out of breath? Never mind, she really didn't want to know-

"No you're not, you horny old man," Charlie spat. "I can't even look at you, what the fuck."

Steve didn't even bother telling her to correct her language.

"And on the kitchen table? We EAT there! What is wrong with you?!" Charlie groaned. "You guys are like rabbits, you can't even control yourselves long enough to get to a bedroom before sticking your hands down each others- oh my God. Dad, can you please put your legs down!"

"Remind me why we wanted a child again," Tony mumbled, letting his legs drop from Steve's waist. He let his head thump against his husband's chest.

Steve had the decency to look horrified, or maybe that was the 1930's childhood he'd been raised in.

"Put me back up for adoption," Charlie pleaded.

Tony shot her a look. "No."

"Are you not ashamed? Because Pops looks like he at least feels bad, and I'm sure Daniela would think twice if she knew you were just having sex in our kitchen- and the stove is on fire!" She gestured wildly at the egg pan that had burst into flames. That explained the burning smell, at least. "Dad! The stove!"

Steve leapt into action, grabbing a towel from the rack and beating the pan with such ferocity that whatever black creation from hell they had been cooking splattered all over the kitchen.

Tony just stared at Charlie, the blood drained from his face.

"What, you finally feel bad?" Charlie scrubbed her face with her hands. "That alone is going to cost me, like, four therapy sessions."

Steve was staring at Tony, his eyes flickering back and forth between his husband and daughter.

"Honey," Tony licked his lips, his jaw tight. "What did you say? About Daniela?"

Charlie froze. "Oh."

Steve's eyes narrowed. "How do you know about her?"

Oh. So this conversation was happening now.

Could she get out of this? She surveyed her options briefly, but Tony was pinning her down with his gaze.

So she awkwardly sat down at the bar stool, thrusting her hands into her sweatpants. She plastered an innocent smile on her face. "Well, as I'm sure you've figured out, I did not come from the two of you..." She gestured at the kitchen table, shuddering.

"Charlie," Tony groaned. "Start talking, kid."

"I- well-" Charlie fidgeted uncomfortably. She took a deep breath. "She's... she's my birth mom."

Tony and Steve were silent, looking at each other with indecipherable looks.

"Okay," Tony said carefully. "We're not going to lie to you, you're right. This just- wasn't a conversation I thought we'd be having today. Um... how long have you known that?"

Charlie shrugged. "I figured it out years ago. We always meet up with her in Washington, you have dinner with her the day before my birthday, she's given me gifts two years in a row. And, you know, I look just like her. Same face, all that jazz." She looked up sheepishly. "Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize, doll," Steve said. "I wish you'd told us before, 'cause that's a lot to keep to yourself, but I'm glad we can talk about it now."

Charlie fidgeted on her chair, her face turning red. How did they get here...

"Do you have any questions?" Tony asked. He seems to notice her discomfort, because he said softly, "Watch the fingers, bubs. You need a band-aid?"

Charlie shoved her hands under her thighs, where she'd been digging her nails into her thumbs. "Nah," she swallowed. "I mean yes, questions- uh...Daniela is young. Like, younger than I would think she is? So how old... how old was she when I was born?"

Steve sat down, looking at the mess of whatever he and Tony had burned. "She is young. She's thirty-two."

Charlie did a bit of mental math, her eyes widening. "She- she was seventeen? When she had me?"

Tony nodded.

"How did you- how did you know her? You had me right from the hospital, right?"

"We did," Tony said quickly. "We were your parents from day one. Daniela..." he smiled fondly. "She was one of my interns for S.I. Brilliant kid, had a wonderful mind. I mentored a few kids back in the early 2000's- she was the best of them. It explains where you get it."

Charlie couldn't help but smile. Daniela had been smart, just like her. She knew it.

"I worked with her starting when she was a few months away from turning sixteen. She... she got pregnant a little more than a year later, and she was terrified. She wasn't ready for a baby, and there were... other circumstances."

Something in Steve's eyes darkened, and Charlie didn't miss the way he turned his head.

"Uh oh," Charlie laugh nervously. "What... what other circumstances? Or can you not tell me? Closed adoption and all that?"

Tony shook his head. "We do have permission to tell you. Daniela always says she doesn't want to be a big mystery in your life. And she also said if you were anything like her, you'd just figure it out anyway. But I don't know if..."

"Tony had been talking about wanting a baby for years," Steve cut in, noticing the way his husband was starting to trail off. Charlie turned to him, brows furrowed. "We'd just never found the right situation. But with Daniela..."

"She wanted a family for you," Tony said softly. "She came to me, in tears one day, begging me for help. We helped her all through her pregnancy and gave her a place to live, here in the tower, because she... couldn't be at home. She'd been looking for families to adopt you, but none of them felt right."

He looked at her, pride shining in his eyes. "I couldn't help it. I wanted a baby so badly, and I always felt like something was missing in my home. So I told Daniela we'd adopt you."

"Without telling me," Steve nudged his side, rolling his eyes teasingly. "I didn't know we were going to become parents a couple months later. I had never really talked about wanting kids. I thought that family man died years ago."

"Ouch," Charlie said drily, only half-kidding.

"If it's any consolation, I haven't had any regrets yet," Tony said, standing up to wash the pan he'd lit on fire.

He plopped a big, wet smack on Charlie's cheek on his way and she pulled away, giggling.

So her parents had known Daniela since she was a kid. They'd wanted Charlie since before she was even born. Daniela had been a teen mom, and she hadn't been ready to have a kid.

"Wait," Charlie frowned, seeing the plot hole. "Who... who got her pregnant? Why wasn't he there?"

Steve spat out the water he'd been drinking and gasped for air, eyes bloodshot and bulging out of his skull. Charlie sat back, bewildered, as Tony thumped him on the back. Steve held up and hand, gripping Tony's arm with such force that Tony winced.

"Breathe, you've been doing to for a hundred years," Tony said, but Charlie didn't miss the way his jaw tightened. "He's not in the picture, honey. At all. Daniela hasn't seen him in years, and she doesn't plan to. I made sure of it."

What the hell did that mean?

"Oh," Charlie said quietly.

She didn't know why she was disappointed. It wasn't that she even had wanted to meet the guy- she had two dads that loved her to the moon and back.

But it would have been nice to know where she came from.

"So he was a bad guy?" Charlie said softly.

Tony was doing that thing where he smiled as though nothing was wrong, avoiding eye contact with her. "Don't worry about it, bubs. You're not missing out on anything, trust me. Hey, I've got an idea for your suit, by the way. Came to me in a dream last night, along with some... other things."

Steve smirked.

Charlie grabbed an apple from the fruit basket next to her, chucking it at her Pops. Steve blinked as it hit him in the face, before looking at her in shock.

"I swear to God," she warned. "Behave yourself, dammit."

He raised his hands to half-height, but the smile didn't leave his face. "I'll try to make something actually edible. You two wanna head down to the lab?"

Charlie shrugged. "I finished my schoolwork for the week, like, yesterday. I wanna work on my baby."

Tony high-fived her as he passed her, grabbing her hand and pulling her to walk alongside him.

C.S-R

"Okay, hold this," Charlie nodded as Tony separated the two sets of wires she was trying to get between. She stuck her tongue out slightly as she squinted behind her safety goggles, twisting her screwdriver to the left. "Shit!"

Tony's hand reached out and shoved her back about a foot, right as the purple Iron suit leg sparked violently. A sharp flame singed his arm hair, instead of burning Charlie's entire palm, and she didn't miss the relief on his face.

Tony hissed, yanking his arm into his chest. "Okay, ow. Why did you go in at that angle?"

"Because," Charlie said, annoyed, "I was gonna catch the rigging if I didn't!"

Tony rolled his eyes.

Charlie huffed, planting her hands on her hips. Her white wifebeater was covered in grease, her heavily scarred biceps and shoulders out for display. "Okay. I'm stuck."

She tucked her hair back behind her ears, but it barely did anything. Even in a ponytail, it was too short to really stay out of the way. Tony leaned back, letting go of the wires and looking up at her, grinning at her annoyed frown.

"I just need to fuse it," Charlie whined as Tony chuckled at her. "And it's not working!"

"Look at the blueprints for my suit," Tony said patiently.

Charlie rubbed her temples. "V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A?"

The A.I's Irish accent was refreshing to hear. "Blueprints are up, Miss Charlotte."

"We'll work on the name thing later," she sighed, ignoring Tony's smirk. "Thanks, V." She used her hand to swipe through the hologrammed prints, her tongue sticking out in concentration. "See, my suit is based off of your... ah, I see."

"You were using the Mark forty-two for reference," Tony said, nodding approvingly. "Yeah. Yours is based off of Mark forty-five. The wiring is off."

"Well, shit." Charlie sat down on the spinny stool she'd kidnapped from her Dad. She pouted as she stared at her suit.

Her old one, back when they fought Ultron a couple years ago, had been a violent shade of magenta. It looked like a suit made for a little kid, which she guessed it was...

But this one, her new one, was her favorite. It had been built with the newest features of the Iron Man armor, with silver accents and real weaponry. It was a deep, rich violet- an almost exact even between the coloring of Steve and Tony's suits- a real combat suit, to be used if she decided she wanted to be an Avenger when she was eighteen.

"She's pretty," Charlie said, running her hand over the chest plate. She looked up at Tony, who was staring at her with pride. "Thanks for letting me work on this one. You could have done it yourself. I know you would have loved to."

Tony smiled at her. "Nah, this one is yours. You're brilliant, you've already done way more than I did at your age. I want this one to be all you."

"If I can just figure out the wiring," she said, "It would be so much easier. The repulsers are just giving me hell."

"Just step back for a sec," Tony suggested. "You might need to take a break. We've been down here for hours."

Charlie glared at him. "Hypocrite."

Tony raised his hands in surrender. "All right, all right. We can go upstairs together, get a snack, clear our heads. I'm sure Pops is missing us."

"He's probably missing you," Charlie corrected. "I think I scared him away earlier."

Tony cocked his head. "With Daniela, or the fact we were getting frisky on the kitchen table?"

"I hate you," Charlie said. "But both. He looked angry when I asked who my... sperm doner was. Is it really that big of a deal? Is there some messed up shit in my DNA I should be concerned about?"

Tony's expression was tight, wiping his hands slowly with a rag. He didn't meet her eyes. "When you're older, maybe we can talk about it. It's..." He looked like there were a million things he wanted to say, but he bit his tongue. "Let's go get a snack, bubs."

"Is he angry at me?" Charlie asked quietly as they exited the lab. "I mean, he seems to just be annoyed at me a lot lately. Is everything alright?"

Tony looked at her. "You know he loves you, right? Even if he was annoyed at you, which he has no reason to be, it wouldn't change that."

"Yeah, I know," Charlie mumbled. "I just get stressed."

"You been writing your letters?" Tony asked.

"Lots of them," Charlie snorted. "As awkward as it is, it really does help. Even years later."

Tony nodded, looking satisfied. "Good."

They walked in comfortable silence towards the kitchen, before Tony cleared his throat. "Hey, have you reached out to that Peter Parker kid yet?"

Charlie nearly tripped over her own feet, her heart jumping in her throat. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

Last night came rushing back to her- walking through Queens side by side, his curls and his lopsided smile, his goddamn blushing-

The way he'd stood outside the tower until she texted him she'd gotten in safe.

She would get in so much trouble if her dads knew. But at the same time- she kind of wanted to tell them.

"I- yeah," Charlie said quietly. "I... saw a news article, about Ben Parker- that's his Uncle. He was killed recently. I tracked down his number and gave my condolences."

Tony's face went soft. "That's terrible. Is he okay?"

"He's getting there," Charlie said honestly. "We've been messaging a bit."

Tony, shockingly, didn't tease her. "It's good you two have each other, then. You could both probably use a friend."

Charlie felt a weight lifted off her shoulders, smiling in relief. "Yeah. He's... he's a good friend. I feel a lot better about maybe going to Midtown High, if he and his sister are there."

There. Enough truth that they wouldn't be suspicious, but she still got to talk about Peter. She really just wanted to gush about him, but she might have to ease into that.

She completely missed the happy smile on Tony's face after her confession.

Charlie would eventually tell him everything, but until then, he'd take what he could get. She'd been through hell and back, and she deserved to have her own life outside of the one she'd been thrust into.

Besides, there was no rush.

They had all the time in the world.

A/N
So Tony and Steve are a couple of horn dogs, and Charlie doesn't appreciate it.

Overall, this chapter was just some fluff before the real shit goes down. They should get a little bit of happiness, right?

Tony and Charlie in the lab together is my weakness. They're so sweet and it kills me.

Let me know what you think!

Love you all and drink some water!❤️