Tony poked at the suit again. Somewhere, something was going wrong and this hand wasn't firing. AC/DC blasted from the speakers in the walls. A Christmas hologram shimmered in the corner. Merry Christmas indeed. Just then, there was the swoosh of doors opening.
"JARVIS, cut the music please."
"Yes, ma'am." Tony looked up to see Pepper standing in the doorway and a small child hiding behind Pepper. Pepper turned to Tony,
"Tony, this is Amanda. I'm babysitting her for my sister. If you see her around, don't freak out. She belongs here." Pepper stepped to the side before Amanda could move with her, revealing the little girl. She was young, about six with blond hair and a pink backpack slung around her shoulders. Tony waved at her with the hand not currently encased in metal,
"Whaddup? Don't touch my stuff." He turned back his suit. He heard Pepper say to Amanda,
"Sweetie, if you go upstairs and take the first right, you'll find a great big TV. Go ahead and pick a movie and I'll be there shortly."
"Okay Auntie Pepper." Footsteps ran up the stairs and Tony turned to Pepper,
"Why'd you go and bring her into here? This is my sanctum sanctorum."
"Amanda is staying with us for Christmas."
"But Pepper!" Tony whined, removing the suit glove and walking toward Pepper, wrapping his arms around her waist, "I thought we were gonna play a little strip poker, a little champagne and then we can do that thing with the—"
"Which is no longer the plan. Christmas is going to involve lots of G-rated presents, pizza, traditional movies, and stocking hung by the chimney with care." said Pepper, carefully extricating herself from her boyfriend's arms. Tony sighed,
"Why is Short Stack here anyway?" Pepper looked over to make sure Amanda was up the stairs before turning to Tony, all traces of humor gone. She spoke in a harsh, hushed whisper,
"Amanda's mother passed away when she was two and her father, my brother, didn't handle it well. He's on a bachelor party-trip and needs me to look after Amanda. Which means she's staying here. Please don't say anything too terrible around her. And hide the flammables."
"You to tell me that some asshole you happen to be related to thinks it's okay to skip Christmas to go on a bachelor party?" said Tony incredulously. Pepper raised her eyebrow,
"Do I detect a hint of hypocrisy?" she sighed and patted Tony's shoulder, "Just…try to be nice to her." She walked up the stairs, heels clacking on the tile, leaving Tony staring blankly at the wall. Hypocrisy… Fuck, that was a low-blow, even if Pepper didn't know it. Howard had been like that. Ditch the kid for kicks or work. Usually with a relative he may or may not know who would fake a smile long enough that they thought Tony wasn't looking or listening. That was one of the suckiest versions of a childhood and this little girl got to go through the exact same thing, even if she was just a little young to see through everyone's façade of care.
Tony had two days until Christmas Day and dammit, he was going to make this Christmas the best possible for Amanda.
Tony's plan was not off to an auspicious start when the next morning opened with the strains of cartoons drifting in from the living room at 6 am. Tony groaned and flopped to the other side of the bed, pulling the pillow over his ears,
"Pepper…" he groaned, but there was no response. Reluctantly, Tony got up and pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt before venturing out. Amanda sat on the couch, enthralled with whatever TV fad the kids were into these days. Pepper was in the kitchen, cooking bacon and pancakes. Tony had to smile. At work, Pepper was the paragon of professionalism, always classed up and put together. Right now, she was just Pep, barefoot in an old t-shirt of his she stole and stripy pajama pants with her long red hair thrown up in a haphazard bun. There was a smear of pancake batter on her shirt and a little flour smudged on her upper arm, an achievement even Tony couldn't figure out. He walked to the kitchen and bumped her with his hip,
"Good morning, ginger."
"'Morning. It's a shame you slept so late. You missed the first half of Tangled already."
"It's still dark outside, how the he—" Pepper shot him a look, "—heck did you already watch half a movie?"
"Amanda's an early riser. I was up at 5:30 when she asked how to work the DVD player." said Pepper, suppressing a yawn with the back of her hand. Tony made a vague noise of disgust,
"The only time being up at 5:30 is permissible is if you haven't gone to bed yet."
"I know that and you know that, but Amanda hasn't caught on yet. Go watch the movie with her; I'll bring in breakfast when it's done and we'll have a picnic on the couch." said Pepper. Tony eyed the living room and its occupant warily,
"What do I do if she says something?"
"Respond."
"What if she doesn't say anything?"
"Then watch the movie. It's not complicated." Pepper kissed Tony's cheek, "Go." she ordered. Tony shuffled his feet into the living room, moving slowly to attract as little attention as possible. Amanda's eye flicked to him, staying long enough to register his presence before swiveling back to the television. Crisis #1 averted, thought Tony. He plopped onto the couch beside Amanda's, sprawling across the thing as always,
"So what's happened so far?"
"Rapunzel is the lost princess and Mother Goethel is evil and keeps her locked in the tower. Rapunzel is running away with Flynn Rider and he's going to take her to the castle to see the lanterns." said Amanda, her eyes not leaving the screen. Tony nodded,
"Alrighty. Sounds awesome."
"It is." said Amanda in all seriousness. Tony rubbed his eyes and yawned. This was weird. However, by the time Rapunzel and Flynn were singing in the bar, he was entirely focused on the movie. That was the time Pepper came over with a plate of pancakes, bacon, and three cups of orange juice. After getting her up to speed on what had happened so far, the three sat in silence, Amanda and Tony watching the movie and Pepper watching Amanda and Tony with a smile.
It was only when the credits were rolling that Amanda turned to Tony,
"What's your name?" He looked at her, surprised they hadn't actually covered this sooner,
"Tony. And you're Amanda."
"Yes I am."
"So, Amanda," Tony shrugged and looked around the room, "what do you want to do now?"
"I dunno." shrugged the little girl.
"We could go downstairs and play with my robots." said Tony.
"No." stated Pepper firmly. Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes,
"Take a spin in the car?"
"No."
"Take a spin in the suit?"
"NO!" said Pepper. Tony grinned at her,
"Kidding. Alright, Miss Kabosh-Putter, what do you suggest?" Both Tony and Amanda looked at Pepper.
"We could go to the zoo."
"Daddy says animals are stupid and smelly." said Amanda, wrinkling her nose. Tony shook his head,
"Not true! Leopards are fu—freaking awesome." said Tony, changing his word at the last second at Pepper's glare. Amanda shrugged,
"What else do they have?"
"Penguins, pandas, snakes, frogs…you know, cool stuff." he said. Amanda seemed to mull it over,
"That could be fun."
"Awesome! So, can we go?" Tony asked Pepper excitedly. Pepper gave a fake exasperated sigh,
"I suppose. Just don't try to climb into any of the exhibits."
"I won't!" said Amanda indignantly. Pepper smiled at her,
"I wasn't talking about you. Did I never tell you about the time Tony almost fell asleep in a tiger enclosure?"
"No!" giggled Amanda.
"Hey, if we're telling embarrassing stories, what about that time you flashed me on the stairs?"
"That was one time and it was an accident and you know it." said Pepper good-humoredly. Amanda's brow furrowed,
"What's 'flashed' mean?"
"It mean—"
"That I'll tell you when you're older." interrupted Pepper. Amanda sighed,
"That's what everyone says."
"Tell you what, kid. Make a list of everything they say they'll tell you when you're older, and ask them when you turn thirteen. Trust me, it's worth it." said Tony with a grin. Pepper stood up and stretched, pretending not to notice the way Tony's eyes traced her taut body. She held her hand out to Amanda,
"Let's go get ready and then we'll go to the zoo." Amanda bounded up and let Pepper lead her back to her room, since Amanda had forgotten the way. Once they were out of sight, Tony pulled a slip of paper out of the side table and wrote down 'Disney; animals'.
An hour later, the trio was at the zoo, Amanda's eyes bugging as she took in the sights and sounds of the place.
"I've never been here before!" she shouted excitedly, running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Pepper had her arm looped through Tony's as they followed behind the girl at a more leisurely pace. Pepper smiled and inhaled the sharp winter air,
"Oh, to have that energy." she said wistfully. Tony pulled her in and whispered,
"If we had that kind of energy, I have a few ways we could burn that off. I saw this thing a while back—"
"Tony!" said Pepper, smacking his arm. He grinned,
"Yeah, it was something like that, except the smack needs to have a little more power behind it. Try again." Pepper laughed and leaned against his shoulder, her wool hat tickling his face. Amanda called back to then,
"Auntie Pepper! Uncle Tony! Look at this!" The couple moved forward, Pepper smirking,
"Yes, Uncle Tony, we need to go look at it."
"Hey, would you look at that. I've been upgraded from 'creepy guy my aunt lives with.'"
"You're only creepy on the weekend." said Pepper with a grin. The rest of the day proceeded like that, Pepper and Tony following behind Amanda and 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over the animals, with a lunchtime break for hotdogs and ice cream, followed by a miniature food fight Tony may or may not have started. By the time they got back home, it was almost 4 pm and Amanda's energy was flagging. Pepper had to carry her up the steps into the house before laying Amanda on her bed, tucking the girl in, an turning out the light. A little nap before dinner wouldn't hurt her.
Clearly, Pepper had been wrong for the first time since the dawn of time. A little nap was indeed detrimental to the general mental welfare of the household. Amanda was happy to eat dinner, but she didn't want to take a bath; she wanted to go look at the robots (Pepper shot Tony a look). She didn't want to brush her teeth, she wanted to go for a car ride (Pepper glared at Tony). She didn't want to get tucked in, she wanted to play hide-and-seek (Pepper smacked Tony for that suggestion). Only when Tony agreed to read her a bedtime story did Amanda finally permit herself to be tucked into bed. She lay in the middle of Tony and Pepper on the king-size bed, snuggled tightly between both of them as Tony started to read 'Goodnight Moon'. By the end of the book, Amanda was fast asleep. It was only after Tony and Pepper had snuck out of the room that Tony commented,
"Screw 'Goodnight Moon,' we should have read 'Go the Fuck to Sleep.'"
"I will never let her nap again." said Pepper, half-sitting half-falling into a chair. A glance at the clock said it was only 8:30, but it felt so much later. Pepper and Tony moved to the couch, curling up together to watch the news before falling asleep where they lay. Before they did, Tony wrote down on his slip of paper 'stories'.
The next day was Christmas Eve and Amanda was practically bouncing with excitement,
"Can we go visit Santa in the mall? And get hot chocolate? And go ice-skating? Can we go see 'Frozen'? Pleeeeeease?" Whatever shyness had possessed her on her first day around Tony had quickly disappeared once she realized that Tony was not going to eat her for breakfast. Tony almost preferred her quiet staring if this early morning hyperactivity was the other option. They were out of the house by 9 am, deeming it the earliest time possible without Tony actually killing someone or Pepper actually letting him. Two pots of coffee were consumed before leaving. They started with breakfast at a patisserie in the mall, Amanda getting a chocolate scone and scrambled eggs. Tony and Pepper each ordered a slice of buttered toast and coffee with two shots of espresso. By the time they were finished, Santa was accepting requests so they waited in line two hours so Amanda could tell him what she wanted. Personally, Tony didn't understand what was so great about sitting on some strange fat man's knee and begging for shit. Most of these kids wouldn't get everything they wanted anyway, and those that did probably didn't deserve. When it was almost Amanda's turn, she turned to Tony and pulled on his pant leg. He leaned down so she could whisper,
"What should I ask for?"
"Whatever you want. It's Santa."
"Oh. He's kinda scary." said Amanda apprehensively. Clearly, she and Tony were on the same side when it came to Santa. Tony leaned down,
"Agreed. If you talk to him, it'll make Auntie Pepper really happy though."
"I know," said Amanda with a sigh. When it was her turn and Santa beckoned to her, she clung to Tony's hand and looked up at him in wide-eyed fear, "Will you come with me?"
"Sure." Tony let Amanda lead him up to Santa's throne, not seeing Pepper discreetly wipe tears out of her eyes. Amanda got settled on Santa's lap and the fat man laughed,
"HO HO HO! What do you want for Christmas, young lady?"
"I dunno." she shrugged bashfully. Santa clearly had a script for these instants, rare as they may be,
"Do you want any toys? Maybe a dolly or two?"
"No, thank you. I have enough Barbies."
"Ask him about Disney movies." whispered Tony. Amanda nodded and turned back to Santa,
"Do you have Disney movies?"
"Do we ever! Which one do you want?"
"Do you have Tangled?"
"I'll have to ask the elves, but I'll see what I can do." said Santa, glancing at Tony. Tony nodded just a fraction of an inch. Getting Amanda Tangled wouldn't be a stretch. Hell, he could probably get JARVIS to order it for him from here. A little bell rang and Santa started to push Amanda off his lap, "Well, I need to talk to the rest of the girls and boys. It's very busy! Make sure you get a candy cane from my elf on your way out." said Santa with another fake laugh. Tony's jaw clenched, but he said nothing. Amanda had been up there less than 30 seconds; were they really on that tight of a schedule? Amanda didn't seem to mind in the least that she was being told to go away; she happily hopped off his lap and was almost off the platform before she went running back,
"Santa!" She beckoned to him and he leaned over so she could whisper in his ear. Santa nodded,
"I'll see what I can do." Again his gaze flicked to Tony, who was now sufficiently confused. As Amanda came back and followed Tony back to where Pepper was waiting, he asked,
"What did you tell him?"
"Can't tell. It's a secret." said Amanda, pressing a finger to her lips. Tony nodded knowingly,
"A secret. I see." He'd have to see if JARVIS could hack the mall security cameras and pull the video. See if he could lip read what Amanda had said. They joined back up with Pepper and left the mall, heading to the movie theater across the street. Pepper waited in line for tickets as Amanda dragged Tony over to the concessions, Pepper calling after them,
"Don't get carried away, Tony!" Tony laughed to himself and Amanda giggled. By the time they were ready to go to their theater, Tony was carrying an extra-large popcorn and three boxes of candy. Amanda had the extra-large rootbeer and a box of cotton candy. Pepper shook her head, "'Don't get carried away,' didn't I say that? I distinctly recall saying that." she said with a smile. Tony used his free finger to point at Amanda,
"She's really hungry!"
"Liar! You said we should get the extra-large popcorn." Amanda giggled. Pepper smiled at the pair of them. She honestly couldn't say who was more of a child. Soon they were settled in and the previews were passed with Tony and Amanda throwing popcorn at each other across Pepper until Pepper threatened to take them both home that very instant. Tony sighed dramatically and Amanda stuck her tongue out, "He started it." she whispered.
"And I'm ending it." whispered back Pepper just as the movie itself started. Jostling the popcorn around so he could reach the piece of paper in his pocket, he scribbled in the dark of the theater 'food'. By the time the movie was over, Amanda was bouncing around on their way to the limo, stomping her feet and constantly disappointed when a snowflake didn't appear beneath her. Tony noted on his paper 'Frozen; Elsa'. Amanda fell asleep on the car ride back despite it only being three in the afternoon,
"I guess nap time is unavoidable." commented Tony as they arrived back at the house. Pepper got out of the car, lifting Amanda out and laying the little girl against his shoulder. Tony waved her off, "I need to go and do some shopping. Be back later." he said. Pepper gave him a suspicious look, but let it pass. Tony nodded, and Happy started driving. Tony certainly did have shopping to do; he even had a list.
Tony didn't return until just after dinner. Pepper had texted Happy every hour or so just to make sure she was on Damage Control Duty yet. Strangely, Tony managed to stay out of trouble all day, Happy's texts sounding strangely…happy. Pepper was still waiting for the piano over her head to drop, but enjoyed the peace while it lasted. Of course, when Tony returned, he did in style. He walked in with his arms laden with presents just as Amanda and Pepper were settling in to watch 'It's A Wonderful Life'. When Amanda saw all the presents Tony brought, she jumped up and ran over,
"Ooooh! What'd you get?"
"You mean what did I get you." said Tony as he set the boxes down. Amanda's and Pepper's jaws drops and Amanda said in awe,
"Those are all for me?"
"Yep! Well, these are for Pepper." Tony pulled off a thin but wide box and handed it to Pepper, along with a rectangular box and another box similar to the first. Pepper tore the paper off with a ferocity that made Tony smile. The paper pulled away to reveal a velvet, dark blue box. Pepper gave Tony a look,
"Tony…"
"Open it." he urged like he was the one getting the present. Pepper slowly snapped the lid open and gasped. Amanda quickly crawled around her shoulders to see what was in the box. A beautiful diamond necklace glimmered up at them, the diamonds facets catching what there was and reflecting it in every direction. Matching teardrop earrings were nestled in the middle of the box. Tony beamed at her reaction,
"Open the rest." Pepper couldn't say anything as she pulled the lid off the second box. Inside was a spray bottle wrapped in tissue paper. Pepper lifted the bottle out and turned it to find a label. She laughed at what it read: 'To be used in case Tony messes up'. Pepper looked at Tony with tiny tears pricking at the back of her eyes,
"Thank you."
"Check the last." said Tony, almost bouncing with excitement. Pepper opened her last gift. It was a DVD, 'Blue Collar Comedy Tour'. She laughed,
"You remembered! I haven't talked about this since January!"
"You seemed pretty excited about it." said Tony with a shrug. In all honesty, Pepper had mentioned twice how she had gone home that Christmas and watching this movie had been the only time someone wasn't fighting with someone else. For Pepper, that was really excited. Amanda's patience, however, was officially worn out. She stared at the pile of presents,
"Can I open mine now?"
"Yes you can; thank you for waiting." said Pepper as Tony helped fasten the necklace. Pepper slipped in the earrings as Amanda tried to figure out which present to open. Tony stared at his girlfriend,
"Yep, as I thought."
"What?"
"Beautiful."
"Charmer." said Pepper with a smug smile. Tony gave a shrug that said 'what-can-you-do?'. Amanda had finally decided to open the biggest box, tearing at the bright blue paper. She finally got it free of the paper and pulled the lid off the box. Her excited smile fell for a second,
"Clothes?"
"Not just any clothes," said Tony. He reached into the box and pulled the dress out, shaking the creases out of it. Amanda's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, "Elsa's dress." Amanda squealed and Pepper had to quickly intervene to stop her from stripping there in the living room to change. It was only a few minutes before Amanda returned, dressed in her Elsa dress and running around happily. Suddenly, she froze, hesitantly lifting her foot. She stomped it down and gasped as a tiny snowflake formed beneath her feet. She tried again, this time more confidently, and the snowflake grew bigger. Pepper looked at the ceiling and whispered,
"Thank you, JARVIS."
"It is my pleasure." said the AI in his quietest voice as Amanda kept stomping through the room, snowflake holograms forming on the ground behind her. It went on for almost fifteen minutes before Tony called,
"Don't you want to come open the rest of your presents?" Amanda came rushing over, quickly selecting the next box and ripping the paper apart. It fell apart to reveal a big bag of candy, chocolate of every variety thrown together in the bag. Pepper stepped forward,
"Why don't we wait to open this until after you get changed out of your Elsa dress? We don't want to get it stained in chocolate." Amanda reluctantly agreed before turning to the last present, opening it to reveal a nameless CD. She turned to Tony, confused,
"What is it?"
"Put it in the DVD player." he said. Amanda did so and settled back, smiling happily when Tony's voice filled the room, "'The Velveteen Rabbit, by…'" Pepper turned to him, tears actually falling this time,
"Thank you." she mouthed over Amanda's head. Tony mouthed back,
"You're welcome." The played through the entire CD, including 'The Velveteen Rabbit', 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier', and 'Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.' There more, but Tony didn't hear them, saying that he was going to go down to his lab and work on some of his robot things. Pepper tried to persuade him to stay, but he was adamant. Tony wasn't gone ten minutes before the front door rang. Pepper stood and went to it, opening it warily before realizing it was Tony in a Santa suit with a finger pressed to his lips. He pulled the beard up from his chin to wear it belonged before bellowing in his best Thor-voice,
"I heard there was a little Amanda here who has been a very good girl this year!" Amanda squealed in the other room and came running to the door, eyes the size of saucers when she saw "Santa" standing there. Tony reached into the brown sack he brought with him, "Now, I have a few gifts here for that Amanda. Do you happen to know where she is?"
"It's me, it's me!" shouted Amanda, running forward to hug "Santa." After the hug, Amanda looked around carefully before saying quietly, "Did you bring the other thing?"
"What other thing?" asked "Santa" in alarm. He wanted everything to be perfect; he wanted this to be Amanda's best Christmas ever. What did he forget? Amanda leaned in,
"You know, the thing."
"Well, I've talked to a lot of boys and girls and my memory isn't quite what it used to be. Could you remind me what you asked for?"
"Tinkertoys. For Tony." That knocked the air out of "Santa". This girl barely knew him and she was asking Santa to bring him Tinkertoys. Pepper was crying again. Tony reached into his bag and pulled out a long cylinder, handing it to Amanda as he said,
"As it would happen, I brought Tinkertoys for you."
"Perfect! I'll give them to Tony when he comes back up." said Amanda, eyes shining with excitement. Tony reached back into his bag, pulling out a wrapped present and giving it to Amanda, who unwrapped it to reveal Tangled on DVD, "Thanks Santa! I'm going to watch it now! Do you want to stay and watch with us?" asked Amanda excitedly. "Santa" shook his head,
"I'm afraid I can't. I have a lot of children to visit still. However, there's one more present out here. It was too big for me to bring in but it has your name on it." Amanda stepped out onto the porch and sure enough, there was a 6-by-3 foot box with an exaggeratedly large tag that simply read 'To Amanda'. Pepper looked at "Santa" in confusion. She had been surprised that Tony was going to play Santa at all and everything after that threw her for a loop. Somehow, this one was just a tad more worrying. She watched carefully as Amanda pulled the ribbon on the bow and it fell away, revealing the seam of a door and a handle. Amanda pulled on it in apprehension. It swung open and Pepper leapt forward. Amanda screamed before running straight into the box with arms wide open,
"DADDY!" Sure enough, Amanda's daddy stepped out, Amanda held tight in his arms. Pepper ran forward and hugged her brother, Tony staying back and letting the family have their moment. Amanda's father, whose name was Thomas, hadn't been easy to find. Apparently 'bachelor party' was code for 'getting drunk in the local bar'. After calling in a few favors, he had gotten a few people to find him and clean him up, or at least remove the lingering smell of whiskey. Tony had personally given him the ultimate 'shape-up-and-be-there-for-your-kid' speech, which basically entailed Iron Man threatening bodily harm if Thomas didn't get his shit in a pit. Seeing this though, with Pepper and Amanda so happy with their family, made whatever trouble it was worth it. The hugging three finally had to break apart so they could go inside. Thomas carried Amanda in, both of them smiling, and Pepper hung back with Tony. She threw her arms around him,
"Thank you. I don't know how or why you did it, but thank you. This is Amanda's best Christmas ever."
"And what do you think of it?" asked Tony, pushing his beard out of the way. Pepper smiled and laughed shortly,
"I'd say it was pretty good. Now, go get changed before Amanda sees auntie kissing Santa Claus." Tony nodded and started walking around the side of the house so he could sneak into the basement and change out of his costume. As he slipped back into his beat-up t-shirt and jeans, Tony had to admit: This was the best Christmas ever.