Hearts Collide

On the elevator ride up to Tony's office Alex anxiously bounced around.

"You alright, Alex?" Steve asked as he lightly squeezed her hand.

"I'm fine," she lied as she continued to bounce around.

"Alex," Steve began.

"Okay, I'm a little nervous," she admitted. "I never had to tell my dad I was seeing someone since it never really affected him, so I'm not sure if he's going to freak out and be overprotective or be okay with it. Plus, that conversation we had earlier was no help."

"Don't worry," Steve reassured. "Everything will be fine. Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"No," Alex responded. "I'll be fine. Plus, he might want to beat you up."

Steve chuckled at her comment before the elevator stopped on his floor.

"Okay. Tell me how everything goes, I guess," Steve said awkwardly which caused Alex to giggle.

"I will," she responded as she tip- toed to kiss him softly.

"Bye, Steve," she said as he exited the elevator. He waved a 'good bye' to her before the elevator closed and continued to make its way to the top floor. When she finally reached her destination, Alex let out a sigh before she stepped out of the elevator.

"Dad," she called out.

"I'm over here," a male voice responded. Alex walked over to where she heard Tony and saw him at his desk looking through schematics.

"What are you up to?" she asked curiously.

"Just looking through some building designs for a company," he responded as he looked up from his work. "Why are you so dressed up?" he asked. "You always wear jeans and a tee-shirt."

"I felt like wearing a skirt today. Anyway, I brought you some donuts," she grinned as she took out the donuts from the bag. Tony grinned as he took a jelly filled donut and took a bite out of it.

"How did Clint like those arrows we made?," Tony mumbled with half of a donut in his mouth.

"He seemed to like them. Anyway, I have something to tell you."

Tony's eyes widened as he swallowed the donut and asked, "What did you do? Did you crash my car?"

"What?" scoffed Alex. "No."

"Did Fury trick you into signing some contract and so you're now a S.H.E.I.L.D agent?"

"No," whined Alex annoyed.

"Did you, by any chance, make my suit explode?"

"NO!" she exclaimed. "I have a boy friend."

"That's it?" Tony asked as if he was expecting more.

"Yeah. I just thought you should know. And how on earth am I going to make your suit explode?"

"I have no idea," Tony sighed in relief. "So who's the lucky bastard?" he asked as he took another donut.

"Oh, it's no one. Just Steve," she said, whispering the last part. Tony practically chocked on his donut when he heard her say 'Steve'. "Dad, are you alright?" she asked frantically as she gave him a whack on the back.

"Excuse me, did you just say you were dating Steve?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Steve Rogers?"

"Yes."

"Captain America?"

"Yes!"

"Why couldn't you have just crashed my car?" Tony whispered to himself as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Dad, it's not a big deal. You said I could date who ever I wanted as long I told you."

"No!" Tony affirmed. "I did not say that."

"You implied it," Alex pointed out. "Anyway, I don't know why you're so hung up on it. Steve's really nice, we get along well, and he insisted I tell you about us; that's a gentleman right there. And isn't it much better that I date a gentlemen than some punk?."

"Did you tell your mother?" Tony asked bluntly.

"No. I—"

"Do you think your mother would approve of this?"

"Of me dating Steve?" Alex questioned. "Sure."

"Oh, really?," Tony remarked. "You're telling me that your mom wouldn't mind if you were dating a super solider from the 1940's whose been frozen for seventy years?"

"Well, when you put it that way—"

"Jarvis," Tony called out.

"Yes, sir?"

"Call Christina Allweather."

"Right away, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S responded as he dialed Christina.

"Dad?" Alex questioned as she raised an eyebrow. "What are you do—"

"Hello," Christina's voice answered as her face appeared on a holographic screen.

"Christina, hi. How are you?" Tony responded.

"Tony?What happened?," Christina asked with slight panic in her voice. "Don't tell me Alex is in the hospital."

"What? No," he assured.

"Then why are you calling?" she sighed.

"I just have a bit of information that I thought you'd like to know."

"So she is in the hospital," she gasped. "Tony, how could you let something happen to her?—"

"Alex is not in the hospital! I'm a responsible parent," Tony rambled.

"Okay, what is it that you have to tell me that's so important that you have to call me while I'm at work?. I have patients waiting on me."

"Well your daughter—"

"Mom, I have a boyfriend," Alex interrupted. The room stood silent for a while as Christina raised her eyebrow and looked at the two skeptically.

"Okay, annnddd?"

"That's it," piped Alex. "I have a boyfriend. Dad thought you should know. Everything's fine."

"No, everything's not fine," complained Tony.

"Tony, she's nineteen; she can have a boyfriend. And as I recall, you were pretty friendly with the ladies way before you were her age."

"Well…yeah, but at least I didn't date eighty year olds."

"He's not eighty," Alex defended.

"Wait a minute," Christina began, "how old is this—"

"Steve. His name is Steve and he's twenty…something."

"Yeah, right," Tony scoffed.

"Look," Alex said as she showed her mom a picture of Steve that she had taken with her phone when they went to the beach. "See, does that look like an eighty year old to you?"

"No. Actually, he looks twenty-four and handsome. Is he nice?"

"He's really nice. We play video games and go for walks in the park, and—"

"And he trains her to—umf," Tony groaned as Alex elbowed him in the stomach.

"He also kind of helps me train and do exercise and stuff."

"Oh, that's good. I was worried that you weren't going to get enough exercise…or vitamins…or sunlight."

"Ha ha, very funny, mom," Alex said sarcastically. "Go back to your patients. I'll call you tomorrow night or something, okay?"

"Okay, honey. Bye. I love you."

"I love you too, mom," Alex responded as Christina hung up on her. A few seconds later, Alex let out a long sigh and turned her attention to her father. "Okay. So mom knows now," Alex stated awkwardly as Tony groaned again. "Dad, are you okay?"

"I thought Clint was training you, not Natasha."

"Sorry, dad," Alex whispered "I didn't mean to hit you that hard."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll be fine."

"Are you mad at me?' she asked innocently.

"For the bruise?" he questioned. "No."

"I meant for going out with Steve."

Tony sighed for a minute before he said, "No. I'm not mad. It's just—I didn't expect this. It's kind of a lot to take in."

"Well, I didn't except to find you passed out on the floor dressed as Santa when I was eight, but I turned out perfectly fine." Tony chuckled at Alex's remark and ruffled the top of her hair.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"It's okay," she chirped as she gave him a soft smile. "I forgive you. I just wish you would be okay with me dating Steve," she murmured as she half buried her face in Tony's chest and wrapped her arms around him.

"Darn it," Tony cursed quietly to himself before he let out a sigh. He rubbed his hand up and down Alex's back a few times before he said, "You can date Steve."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "Just don't make out in front of me."

"Okay, dad," Alex giggled as she kissed his cheek like a little kid. "We won't. Come on. Let's go play Ultimate Street Fighter."

"You're on," Tony responded as he made his way to the coach with Alex.
----------------------------------------------------------------

"Wait a minute— you kissed my cheek," he said

"Yeah, so?" Alex questioned as she continued to hit buttons and attack Tony's character. "I've been doing that since forever."

"You kissed Steve."

"Only like 3—4— 7 times at most," Alex uttered.

"I have Steve germs," he stated half mortified as he dropped his controller and began wiping where Alex had kissed him.