Hearts Collide

Tony and Pepper made their way back to the top floor of Stark Towers in each other’s arms….kind of. Pepper had her legs wrapped around Tony’s waist, and his hands were roaming up and down her body.
“Tony,” Pepper moaned. “Are you sure we should be doing this? I mean, what about Alex?”
“Come on,” Tony said seductively. “She practically gave us the green light, and she’s probably in bed right now.”
“No, she’s not. And she can hear you guys,” Alex cried out from across the dark room. Tony hastily turned on the lights and saw Alex and Steve on the couch.
“Why—why are you still up?” Tony asked trying to regain his composure.
“I was watching Wall-e with Steve since he never saw it or most Disney movies for that matter,” Alex replied.
“The robots fall in love,” Steve said smiling as Tony raised an eyebrow at him.
“Anyway,” Tony dragged out. “Alex, go to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Alex sighed as she got off the couch. “Good night, Steve.”
“Night, Alex, Tony,” he said awkwardly as he left to go to his room.
“Good night, daddy,” Alex teased as she kissed his cheek like a six year old. “Good night, Pepper. Don’t be too loud,” she sneered causing Pepper to blush.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alex sat eagerly at the kitchen counter waiting for her father. When he finally arrived Alex practically pounced on him like a puppy. “Are you ready, dad? Where are we going to first? Wait, don’t tell me; I want it to be a surprise,” Alex said rapidly.
“Slow down, kiddo; we have all day.”
“I know, but still. I finally get to see the city and you get to show it to me. This is like the time you took me to Disney Land when I was eight,” Alex beamed.
“You are such a tourist,” scoffed Tony.
“Shut up,” Alex remarked as she jabbed her father in the rib. “Come on, let’s go.” Just as they were about to leave Jarvis interrupted them.
“Excuse me, sir, but Mr. Fury is here to discuss with you a subject of concern.”
“Tell him I’m busy spending the day with my daughter.”
“Sir, Alex is his subject of concern,” Jarvis responded causing Tony to raise an eyebrow.
“Wait in the rec hall. I’ll ring you when I’m done,” Tony said as he left to meet with Fury.
When Alex went to what her father referred to as the ‘rec room’, she saw Steve by himself messing around with the sound system.
“Steve,” she sang getting his attention. “What are you doing here?”
“Hi, Alex,” Steve responded waving to her. “I’m just looking around since I didn’t get a chance to yesterday.”
“So how do you like it here so far?” Alex asked curiously.
“It’s pretty good. My room’s pretty big and the gym is nice. How do you like the city?”
“Umm, I haven’t seen much of it yet,” Alex admitted. “But my dad’s going to show me around today.”
“That’s great. I hope the two of you have fun.”
“Thanks,” Alex said smiling at the blonde male. Suddenly Alex’s phone began to ring and she hastily picked it up.
“Hey, dad. Are you done already?”
“Actually, my meeting with Fury will take longer than I had anticipated. So I’m going to have to cancel on you,” he said feeling slightly guilty.
“Oh,” Alex said slightly upset.
“I’m so sorry, Alex.”
“No, it’s fine. Good luck dealing with your meeting, I guess,” Alex said awkwardly as she hung up the phone. She stood there silently until Steve spoke up.
“You alright, Alex?” Steve asked.
“Yeah,” Alex responded trying to push what had just happened to the side. “He does this to me all the time. It’s not a big deal.”
“Well then, I guess you’re a strong trooper,” Steve said as an attempt to cheer her up. Alex gave him a look of confusion before saying,
“I didn’t know I was solider.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that. I guess that wasn’t the best thing that I could have said.”
“Well, thanks for trying,” Alex said half-heartedly as she made her way out of the Rec room, but, before she could leave, Steve’s hand on her shoulder stopped her.
“What if I were to show you around the city?” Steve asked nervously unsure of what her answer would be.
“Oh no! You don’t have to do that for me.”
“You showed me how to dance,” Steve pointed out. “It’s the least I can do,” he said smiling.
“How can I say no to that smile,” Alex responded cheerily.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
After spending the morning roaming the streets of New York while Steve pointed out the few places that he knew, and Alex explored some shops and snapped some pictures, the two grew tired and stopped to rest around Union Square Park.
“It’s about lunch time,” Alex pointed out. “Want to grab something to eat?”
“Well, if you want to be a real New Yorker we can get Halal food and we can eat on the benches,” Steve suggested.
“Are you trying to make fun of me?” Alex inquired.
“No!” exclaimed Steve as he put his hands up in defense. “It’s just that I haven’t seen someone so amazed by this place. It reminds me of when I first woke up and realized that I wasn’t in the 40’s anymore.”
“Well, New York is a huge leap from where I was.”
“So where are you from anyway?” Steve asked raising an eyebrow.
“Food first. Then I’ll tell you everything.”
After the two got gyros and found an empty bench to sit on, Steve finally asked,
“So what’s your story? Why is it that no one knew that you existed until about two days ago?”
“Because that’s how my mom wanted it,” Alex answered as she took a bite of her gyro. “Mmm, this is really good,” she muttered as she swallowed. “My mom didn’t want me to grow up with a lack of privacy. And she didn’t want me to be born with a silver spoon in my mouth. She wanted me to have a normal life and she was ready to settle down.”
“And I’m guessing that Tony didn’t want that?”
“I guess not. I mean, he and my mom were only officially dating for a few weeks before she found out that she was pregnant, so I guess that, that set him off to be the complete opposite of a man that was settling down and thus—”
“The playboy was born!” scoffed Steve earning him slight glare from Alex. “Sorry,” he apologized. “So Tony just left your mom after that?”
“Not exactly,” Alex dragged out. “At first he wanted my mom to get rid of me—”
“That’s horrible. What kind of monster would do that?”
“Ummm, you’re talking about my dad,” Alex said slightly offended.
“Sorry,” Steve apologized for the second time that day.
“But, after I was born, I guess he realized that I was the only family he had and, therefore, that he wanted to spoil me rotten. Of course my mom didn’t want that and, after a lot of fighting, they figured out a way to work things out.”
“And by that you mean living with your mom and seeing your dad on occasion?”
“Pretty much,” Alex piped. “But dad was always busy with other things so even if I did live with him he wouldn’t have had a lot of time for me.”
“Like today?” Steve asked sympathetically.
“Yeah,” Alex said sadly as she looked down at the ground. Steve placed a hand over Alex’s, which caused her to look up at him.
“So what was it like living in—” Steve asked trying to change the subject.
“Ellicott City, Maryland,” Alex responded plainly.
“Umm, where is that exactly?”
“It’s just outside of Baltimore,” Alex said smiling as she began telling Steve about her childhood, living with her mom, and various other things. Steve listened to every word Alex said. He was glad she was doing most of the talking since he was never good at talking to women. But it didn’t take long for him to realize that Alex wasn’t like the other woman that he had tried to talk to back in his day—she wasn’t shallow or conceited like the girls Bucky had tried setting him up with. Alex was genuine, kind, and simple.
“Her mother raised her right,” Steve thought smiling.
“Wow,” Alex sighed letting out a deep breath. “I feel so rude. I’ve been going on and on about myself and I haven’t even asked about you.”
“I’m just a kid from Brooklyn,” Steve said grinning. “Come on,” Steve said as he extended a hand to Alex. “I still have to show you the rest of the city.”
“Alright,” Alex cheered as she took his hand in hers. “Let’s go.”