As had become their habit when the team was out on a mission, Darcy and Jane were in the communal living room watching the news on the big tv. Darcy was in her standard pjs of Steve's undershirt and a pair of Tony's pajama pants, finally comfy after sitting at her desk sorting through expense reports all day. (Seriously, how many types of arrows did Barton really need?)

She had a backache that had been bothering her off and on all day, but was getting worse. She had been really looking forward to one of Tony's backrubs. He had such strong hands from so many years of his "tinkering" as he called it, and he knew how to use them. But stupid Dr. Doom had to unleash a goddamned robot on the city, so both of her boys had to go out and kick its ass. How inconsiderate.

They both winced as one of the robots six arms slammed towards Thor, but he swung Mjolinor up in time to bash into it and break it off. "One down, Five to go!" Darcy shouted.

They both cheered as Iron Man took out another one of its arms, but Darcy shrieked and jumped up, heart in her throat, as one of its other arms came up and slammed into his head from behind. He dropped like a stone and wasn't moving. Captain America threw his shield wildly towards the robot, managing to decapitate it as he ran towards his fallen comrade.

"Shit, Jane, he's not moving!"

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He's in the suit, it'll protect him."

She knew Jane was probably right, but Jane didn't see all of the bruises and cuts Tony came home with after missions, even with the suit to protect him.

They saw Cap and Thor carry him off screen as the reporter droned on about another successful save of the city.

"They're not that far away, right? They'll take him straight to the infirmary. Let's go meet them."

"Will they let us?"

"I'm a fucking SHIELD employee and you're dating Thor. You're goddamn right they'll let us."

She slipped some flip flops on, grabbed her purse and headed out, followed closely by Jane.

An hour later Darcy was pacing the little waiting area while Jane and Thor tried to get her to sit down. Natasha and Clint hadn't even bothered, both knew her too well.

"Lady Darcy, the Man of Iron will be fine. This walking back and forth cannot be good for the babe."

Darcy had tried to sit, but it was uncomfortable, it felt better to be up and moving. She wondered if Tony's inability to sit still was rubbing off on her.

Jane was looking at her with an appraising eye, the pieces starting to fall into place. All the secrecy about the baby's father was starting to make sense to her. Tony wouldn't want Steve to know he'd slept with his best friend. She was starting to get mad on her friend's behalf (how dare Tony try to make her keep a secret like that! Was he keeping her close so he could have the best of both worlds?) as she watched her pace.

When Steve walked in 30 minutes later, having shed his uniform at some point, leaving him in a t-shirt matching Darcy's and some black SHIELD sweatpants, Darcy hurried over and leapt into his arms. He buried his face in her hair, closing his eyes briefly.

"How is he?"

He set her down. "He has a concussion and a couple of really bruised ribs. They say he'll be fine when he wakes up."

She looked up at him, hands on hips. "When he wakes up? As in, he's not awake yet?"
"Well, no. They said anytime, though."

She linked her fingers with his and squeezed. "Well, then, soldier, lead the way. I don't want him waking up alone."

"Pepper's there. And the doctors…" he didn't get to finish because she was pulling him back the way he came, so he gave up and led her to Tony's room, the rest of the group following.

Jane was close behind, wondering if she needed to re-think her idea of the identity of the father of her best friend's baby.

Darcy ignored the protests of the doctors and went straight to Pepper. "How is he?"

"He's been stirring around, but he hasn't woken up fully yet."

Darcy nodded and went over to the bed, hating how he looked all beaten up and with tubes going into his arms. She leaned down, ignoring the pain in her back, and whispered in his ear, "Tony, I seem to have forgotten my panties again, have you seen them?"

His eyes popped open and met hers. He ran them up and down her body. "You're lying, Lewis."

"I learned from the best."

"Evil."

She rolled her eyes and leaned her forehead against his. "Don't scare me like that again, asshole."

She felt Steve's hand on her shoulder. "Us. Don't scare us like that again."
Jane literally felt the lightbulb go on over her head. "Both of them?" she exclaimed.

"Oops." Darcy said, realizing they weren't alone. "Um, surprise?"

"If anyone is surprised, they have not been paying attention," came from Natasha.

Darcy's eyes widened and she yelled, "Shit, goddamn, mother fucker!"

Jane looked shocked. "Darce, it's ok. We're not mad."

"No, goddamn it." She turned back to Tony and slapped his shoulder, which looked relatively unscathed.

"Hey!"

"Hey yourself! My fucking water just broke! And these were my favorite pants."

He looked down. "Those are my pants!"

"Well, they're my favorite of your pants, then."

One of the doctors came over and tried to lead her away. "Let's get you into your own room and take a look."

She and Tony both yelled "No!" and she dug in her heels. She reached for her purse and said, "I'm going to tase the first person who tries to move me to a different room."

Pepper took the doctor's arm. "Surely we can bring another bed in here." And using her Pepper magic, made it happen in a matter of minutes.

Before she knew it, the room was cleared except for her, Pepper, Tony, Steve, and the doctors and nurses, and she was in a bed next to Tony's being examined. Steve had made to follow the rest of the group out, but Tony told him that modern men stayed in the delivery room, no smoking cigars in the waiting room until the nurse brings him a clean baby.

The nurse's eyes got wide when Darcy was being examined, which she did not appreciate. She hadn't seen a lot of them herself, but she was sure she had an awesome vagina.

The Doctor looked up and asked, "Are you feeling the urge to push, Ms. Lewis?"
"Push? Kind of. But I haven't even really had any contractions yet!"

"Have you been feeling pain in your lower back?"

"Yeah, it's been hurting the last couple of days, more today. I was hoping for a backrub from the idiot over there but he went and got himself hurt to get out of it."
"That was the labor. You're already at 10 cm and the baby is ready to come out. The next time you feel the urge, I want you to push."

Everything got really surreal from there, things seemed strange and disjointed. Steve and Pepper were each holding one of her legs (and God, she was never going to be able to look Pepper in the eye again!). Tony was holding one of her hands (and) it seemed like all of a sudden there was a baby. The doctor laid the baby on her stomach and announced, "It's a girl!"


Darcy couldn't stop looking at and touching her daughter. Her skin was so smooth and perfect, her dark hair so curly and soft, her fingers and toes so tiny.

"Can you believe we made something so perfect?"
Steve reached over to stroke a little curl on her forehead. "We're lucky she looks like you."

"Yeah, because you two are both so hard on the eyes."

Tony laughed. "Yeah, but our looks on a girl?"

"Well, your goatee might be hard to explain, but Steve has really pretty lips. Besides, I think it's too soon to tell who she looks like."

"Maybe it's time we settled on a name, then?" Steve asked.

Darcy was a little hesitant, but said, "Tony and I have been talking about a name if it was a girl…she was important to both of you and it sounds like she was pretty kick ass. Our little girl could have a worse namesake, since she's going to have to be pretty kick-ass to survive around this group. We were thinking maybe…Margaret? We could call her Meg or Maggie for short."
Steve looked a little stunned.

"I mean, we don't have to. Not if you don't want-"

"No, it would be nice. I can think of no other woman I'd rather name our daughter after. How was she important to you, Tony?"

"I never told you? She was my godmother."

Steve digested this new information. "I think she would have liked that. She was pretty kick-ass."

Tony clapped his hands. "It's decided then. Margaret Jane Stark-Lewis-Rogers."
"Dear God, no. We are not doing that to my baby! A triple hyphenate? No. We pick one and that's it."

"How do we pick?"

"Stark." She and Steve said at the same time, while Tony had said, "Lewis."

"It would be easier on me in the short term, if the baby had my last name, filling out forms and such, but it should probably be Stark since Daddy Warbucks over here is planning on leaving her his company when he dies. It'll probably be easier on her if it's her name on the door."

Tony was surprised. "How do you know about that?"
"Dude, Pepper and I talk. And I had to sign some crap about it."

"Ah."

Steve nodded. "I also had to sign papers, since you decided both of us would be executors for her ."

"Yeah, I don't know why you wanted to hide it. It's sweet, especially since you don't know if she's yours."

Tony reached over and stroked her little hand. "It doesn't matter. She's ours."

She reached up to wipe away a few tears, glad Margaret was firmly situated, with Steve lying next to her in her hospital bed to help stabilize her. "How are we going to get both of your names on the birth certificate?"

"Pepper's on it."
She yawned, "Then I'm not worrying. It's a good thing Pepper's on our side."

"A very good thing."

"Little Maggie Jane Stark. You know, looking at her, I don't know why I was so worried. We'll be great parents, right?"
The boys both agreed. They may be unconventional, but that isn't always bad.


A/N: Well, folks, that's it! Thank you so much to all of you who read and liked this series!