Close Your Eyes

The very next day, Dasha finally felt somewhat relaxed as her mind was semi-awake when the sun rays hit her face. It was a very long shift and having the day off almost made her smile. Almost. "Auntie Dasha! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Willow bounced on her bed with excitement.

Dasha groaned, stuffing her face in the soft feathery pillow mumbling, "It's way too early to be acting crazy."

The six year old didn't hear a word she said, giving her a toothless grin she jumped on her aunt with all of her weight. Dasha groaned at the weight, "Auntie Dasha, you have to wake up now. Don't you remember we have to go to Tony's house today?" All of her happy thoughts were now consumed by dark ones just hearing those terrifying words coming out of her mouth. Spending the day…with Tony.

What has the world come to?

Taking in a few long and deep breaths, she pulled her face out of the maroon colored pillow, her honey colored eyes meeting the innocent hazel ones, "I remember. Why don't you go get dressed and we'll head over in a bit, okay?"

Willow squealed, jumping off of the bed as she sprinted towards her room to change. At least Dasha would have a few moments to recollect herself before spending the day with a hyper six year old and an egotistical billionaire for the day. Pulling the covers off of her body, she quickly walked towards her closet and picked out the most casual clothes she could find.

It was a bit off for her to pick a pair of jeans and a shirt, instead of the nice professional clothes that she would wear to work before changing into her scrubs. Dasha had no one to impress and dealing with her niece, she couldn't afford to be wearing a suit to chase Willow down with.

As she finished her morning routine, she pulled her grey shirt that Willow gave her a few months ago; the shirt consisted of a doodle of a doctor with her lab coat,

Willow, and her father all holding hands on the moon wearing space helmets. None of it made sense to her, but she appreciated it nonetheless, it made her smile just looking down at the simple drawing on her shirt.

Dasha frowned; this shirt was meant to be for Ivy. It should be for Ivy and she would be in the picture, but she's not. This drawing just gave Dasha a bit more perspective of what Willow really thought of her mother, despite her saying that she loved her endlessly.

As Dasha was fixing her hair, Willow came running into the bathroom persisting that if they didn't leave at that moment then Tony might change his mind about them coming over. "Willie, he wouldn't do anything like that. Trust me." she reassured the young girl. Willow pouted, resulting Dasha to run her fingers through her hair once more, letting her chocolate waves cascade down her back before letting Willow drag her out of the house.

To have an overexcited six year old girl in a car was overbearing to the point that Dasha forgot to feed her niece. Muttering curses under her breath, she glanced back at the rearview mirror, asking what Willow wanted for breakfast.

"I don't want anything. Let's just go to Tony's house."

"Willow." Dasha said sternly, "We will not go to Tony's house unless you eat something."

It was difficult to get Willow to choose a fast food place she wanted to eat around eight in the morning; Dasha couldn't help, but wonder if Tony was even up at this time. Glancing at her niece who was chomping down on her breakfast meal as fast as she could, "Willow, slow down or you are going to get yourself sick."

After a few more warnings, Willow finally slowed down with her fast pace eating. Dasha sighed, as she sipped on her coffee that she ordered from the small fast food joint. Her nose scrunched up in disgust at the bitter and less than quality taste, but she needed the boost of energy to keep up with this little munchkin. Maybe if she was so lucky, Pepper would still have some of that delicious Columbian coffee brewed up when she arrived.

The one thing Dasha cannot live without or any surgeon for that matter is coffee. They lived and thrived on the delicious beverage that kept them awake until the wee hours of the morning. If Tony was asleep when they arrived, it would be pleasant to see the older man waking up to a six year old girl jumping on his bed.

It would give her such great satisfaction that she would finally get on his nerves somehow, even if it wasn't her in general, but her niece instead. Dasha tried to focus on the task at hand, Willow wanted to spend some time with Tony despite the fact she barely knows the man, but it was fun to see him squirm as Willow comfortably conversed with him during those twenty minutes she was there.

Then she felt a little tap on her finger, she glanced down to see Willow already standing up with an irritated look on her face, "Auntie Dashaaaaa." She whined, "Let's go before Tony leaves."

I swear she loves him more than me, she grumbled.

Picking herself up from the table, she followed her niece out of the fast food place and into the car as she settled for kid friendly music as she drove to the billionaire's house. As she inched closer to the house and her car started to slow down, Willow sat there in awe, "Is this his house?"

"Yep. Remember to behave Willow." Even if she wanted Willow to go bananas around Tony, her motherly instincts still kicked in and her motherly tone came out naturally. She still wanted Willow to be respectable around everyone, even if it was someone like Tony. Her niece nodded her head as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car and ran straight towards the door.

Jumping in her place, she kept shouting for her aunt to pick up her pace. Dasha took her time. There was no rush on seeing Tony Stark this early in the morning. Finally, she reached the door and the voice of JARVIS greeted them as she stepped at the entrance.

"Good morning, Ms. Swan. Mr. Stark was expecting you."

"Morning Jarvis." Dasha replied as the door swung open to reveal Pepper on the other side.

Her icy blue eyes held confusion as she stared at the young doctor, "Dasha? What are you doing here?"

"Hi!" Pepper looked down to see a six year old standing right in front of Dasha with a huge smile on her face, tilting her head to look around the strawberry blond woman, "Is Tony here?" Willow asked. Pepper was confused as she answered with a slow 'yes' wondering who this little girl was.

"Pepper, this is my niece Willow. Willie this is Pepper, Tony's assistant." Willow nodded before walking around Pepper screaming for Tony. Dasha winced at the screams around the house as she stepped in to apologize, "Sorry about that, but she's a little excited to see Tony." Watching Pepper's face contort from confusion to shock, "What's going on?"

Dasha laughed as she closed the door and filled her friend in about what happened last night, from her looking after her niece for the next few days to having Willow falling in love with Tony after bumping into him. Everything seem unreal to Pepper as she raised a brow at the whole idea, she knew that Tony was only doing this to get under Dasha's skin. Tony wasn't exactly a kid person.

"Where is Tony by the way?" Dasha inquired.

Pepper gave her a look as the doctor rolled her eyes, "So I know where Willow should look. I don't want her turning this place upside down just looking for one man and believe me, she will." As the blue eyed woman told her that Tony has been downstairs since early this morning, Dasha looked quite shocked that he would be up this early.

When Pepper informed her that it wasn't unusual for Tony to be working nonstop for days at a time, Dasha felt a little better because a tired Tony dealing with a hyperactive six year old? Well, that was something she actually wanted to see.

"Why don't I pour you a cup of coffee? You seem a little tired." Pepper suggested.

Dasha actually hummed in contentment as she followed the woman towards the kitchen hearing the shouts of her niece. Pepper poured her a cup of the Colombian coffee that she loved so much and she couldn't help, but moan in contentment, "I love you so much Pepper." Taking a small sip of the rich coffee.

Pepper laughed as she took a sit next to Dasha, "Don't you think you should go after your niece?" Dasha shook her head mumbling that Willow was actually going to run back here asking where Tony was in a few minutes. She wasn't worried about her niece hurting herself, she has been around this house once and she knew that Willow wouldn't touch anything since nothing would appeal to her, unless she went downstairs.

After a few minutes, the shouts became closer and Willow ran around towards the two women that were catching up and talking about Dasha's older brother's wedding that was coming up soon. "Auntie Dasha." Willow called out as she stood between the two women, "Where's Tony?"

Before Dasha could answer, Pepper smiled at the young child, "Why don't I show you where he is?" offering her hand towards the child. Willow beamed in delight as she took her hand, letting Pepper lead her down the steps to where Tony was. It did confuse Dasha as to why Tony didn't come to greet them, but then again she did have a child with her today.

The thought of Tony's uncomfortable face around the happy child brought a smile to her face, smirking into her cup, she let out a chuckle when she heard a muffle scream of Tony's name. Within the minute, Pepper came back upstairs with a smile on her face, "How's Tony?" Dasha asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Pepper couldn't help but mirror her aura, "He's…fantastic."

Dasha laughed as she tapped her fingers on her mug, "I would go down there to save him, but I think I am going to stay here a little while longer…So would you go to Elwin's wedding with me? Other than Jak, I have no one to help me endure the whole night with."

"What's wrong with Jak?"

The doctor gave her friend a look, "I love Jak, believe me, I do…but he can get a little rowdy when it comes to parties and he is more of a sociable butterfly than I am so I would be alone most of the night." She frowned, it didn't bug her that much that Jak would make new friends every time he went somewhere, but he didn't have to rub it in her face.

Jak and Dasha were the polar opposites and even though she was a doctor, she was still awkward around certain people. There was a reason why she was a pediatric surgeon, she can deal with children; they were easier to talk to and more trustworthy unlike adults.

As for her father, Clyde was still on the fence of actually becoming her plus one for the wedding. It did upset her that he wouldn't reconsider what he actually thought of his son. There was nothing wrong with Elwin loving a man and Clyde had told Elwin that he loves him unconditionally, yet he was teetering on the fence of whether he should go.

Dasha needed one sane person she can deal with the whole night and before Pepper could answer, JARVIS interrupted their conversation. "Ms. Swan, Mr. Stark is in need of your assistance right away." The doctor couldn't help, but smirk as she finished her cup of coffee before setting it down.

"I guess I should see how they are doing." Pushing herself off of the stool and towards the stairs where it led to Tony and Willow. Pepper didn't come along persisting that she had calls to make, but wanted full details of what she witnessed when she sees her. Promising her full details, she jogged down the stairs to look through the glass doors.

Her golden brown eyes widened at the mess that was made, gadgets were flung all over the place, and scraps of metal was spread over the floor and even lodged into the wall…

"What happened here?" Dasha questioned.

Willow's head popped out of nowhere with a sheepish grin on her face, "Uncle Tony was teaching me how to use a gun." Dasha's reaction was priceless; her mouth was open as her eyes were glued to the advanced looking weapon that was in the hands of her niece. It didn't look like a gun from where she was standing.

"A gun?" she choked out.

Tony just shrugged his shoulders seeing no harm, "It's just a prototype, completely harmless." Dasha let out a bitter laugh as she waved around the mess that they made. "This is completely harmless? What were yo-" she paused as she composed herself, "Go upstairs Willow."

"But-"

"Now." Dasha demanded as her burning eyes never left Tony who was looking around like it did nothing wrong. Oh, he did everything wrong. Pursing her lips, she heard the door lock behind her niece before she started hammering him with questions, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? GIVING A SIX YEAR OLD A GUN TO PLAY WITH? A SIX YEAR OLD?" she yelled.

Tony rolled his eyes, "You are being dramatic Dasha. Nothing happened."

Tony couldn't see why she was so furious, the kid was at the age where she knew right from wrong and could handle a simple weapon. It wasn't like the kid couldn't handle having a gun in her hands. When he was six years old, he already built a weapon, so in his mind, there was no harm in what he has done.

He shrunk a bit when the furious woman stormed towards him with rage he couldn't really comprehend, "I'm being dramatic? I am not being dramatic. What if she shot herself? What if she shot you? What kind of genius lets a child play with a loaded weapon?"

Tony smirked, "You're worried about me."

Dasha frowned, "Don't change the subject Tony." The genius just chuckle at her short temper, seeing her face tighten as he stepped closer to her, "Admit it, then." He murmured, "You were worried about me." her murderous glare didn't relent as she hissed how much of an idiot he was.

"An idiotic genius that you are in love with."

Dasha rolled her eyes, but froze when she felt his arms wrap themselves around her waist pulling her close to his larger body. Tony pressed his face at the side of her head, thinking he was going to finally stop being an idiot and admit he was wrong, he said, "You smell nice. What is that scent? I have been wondering what it was since I kissed you on New Year's."

Heat rushed to her cheeks as she tried to pull away from him, he restrained her as he kept asking her what it was. "I'm not telling you!"

"Just tell me and I will let you go."

"No!"

"Please sunshine?"

"No." Dasha felt childish as their banter went back and forth like two kids on a playground; she felt like a six year old girl with a boy that would keep tugging at her pigtails, teasing her about how funny she looked. Annoyance coursed through her, "Fine then. I can stay here all night."

Suddenly, Dasha felt something touch her backside, her mouth twitched as she pinched Tony's side and he quickly let go. "Hey! That's no fair!"

"Nothing's fair, you jerk." She grumbled stomping out of the garage clearly drained of being in the same facility as Tony. "Where's Pepper when you need her." Dasha murmured.