#uncle daniel

An unholy screech pierced the air as Daniel and Peggy walked up the drive, arm in arm. They shared knowing smiles as they reached the front porch, then Peggy rang the doorbell.

"Just one minute!" yelled the familiar voice of Howard Stark from somewhere inside. Then, a moment later, his wife Maria's voice rang out.

"You can just let yourselves in!"

Peggy turned the handle and stepped through the door, her husband Daniel right behind her. They made it a few steps towards the kitchen before a blur came tearing around the corner and hurtled at them, almost too fast for them to react.

Peggy's training was just good enough that she managed to catch Tony, Howard's son, as he came sprinting in for a hug at mach-ten.

"Aunt Peggy and Uncle Daniel!" he screeched, wrapping his arms around Peggy's neck and waving frantically at Daniel, who was just out of reach.

"Hey kid, how are you?" asked Daniel, smiling as he got close enough to hug Tony without the boy having to leave Peggy's arms.

Tony just babbled on happily, screeching in excitement like he had as Peggy and Daniel first approached the house. Peggy carried him into the kitchen to find Howard waiting, looking rumpled and exhausted.

"Maria went up to change her shoes," he said in lieu of a greeting.

"Wonderful to see you too, Howard," teased Peggy with a smile. She handed Tony off to Daniel, then crossed the kitchen to help Howard straighten his suit and tie.

"Thanks, Peg. It's good to see you too. And thanks for babysitting tonight, we- is that my shirt?"

Howard stopped mid-sentence due to distraction, a more than normal occurrence for him. He pointed and stared at Daniel, even as Peggy moved to fix Howard's hair and Tony squirmed in Daniel's arms.

"Why the he- heck... would I have your shirt?" asked Daniel, barely remembering to censor himself for Tony.

"I don't know. But I do know I have one just like that one you've got on."

"So what, you think I went up to your closet while you weren't looking and stole your shirt?"

Howard shrugged. "You thought I'd blown a hole in my own vault and stolen all of my own inventions."

Daniel sighed and rolled his eyes as he took a seat at the counter, Tony still in his lap. Peggy just chuckled as she stepped away from Howard, now that he looked halfway decent again. He brought this up all the time, and now that a few seconds had passed, he'd already moved on to the next thing of interest. Peggy shot Daniel a wink as Howard strode out of the kitchen and back into the hallway.

"Maria! Are you ready to go? How long does it take to find a pair of shoes?"

"Longer if you keep nagging me about it," said Maria with a smile as she appeared on the stairs. She floated down each step, the picture of grace, and Howard watched her every move with hearts in his eyes, all traces of annoyance gone.

The Starks swept into the kitchen together, and Tony managed to wiggle out of Daniel's reach to go hug Maria. She hugged him back and smiled at Peggy and Daniel.

"Thank you for coming to watch him tonight."

"Of course, Maria," said Peggy. "We're always happy to spend time with our favorite nephew."

Tony turned around, absolutely beaming at Peggy, then wandered a little farther away to play with some of his toys. The adults shared smiles.

"Well, you two have a good date night," said Daniel, kicking back in his chair. "We'll see you whenever you get back tonight."

"Don't wait up!" called Howard with a wave over his shoulder, already halfway out the door. Maria gave Peggy and Daniel a soft smile and a wink, then followed her husband. And then, Peggy, Daniel, and Tony had the house to themselves.

"So..." said Daniel, getting Tony's attention as he faced Tony and Peggy. "What do you want to do?"

****************

"Come on, Uncle Daniel! We have to find him!"

"Okay, I'm coming!" said Daniel, trying not to look too exhausted or concerned as he followed along behind Tony. The kid had been out of his and Peggy's sight for two seconds, and he'd managed to release Bernard Stark the Second out onto the grounds. Now, he and Tony were tracking flamingo footprints through the sprawling backyard while Peggy went around the other way to try and cut him off up ahead.

Every time Daniel thought he and Peggy might be ready for kids of their own, something like this happened.

"I think I hear him!" Tony whisper-yelled, whirling around to look at Daniel excitedly. Daniel nodded, fighting a grimace.

"Let's be careful and move quietly, then. We don't want to scare him," said Daniel. Tony nodded and turned back around. Daniel took a deep breath and put a hand on the kid's shoulder, ready to pull him back at a moment's notice. They'd reached a corner of the house, and if Daniel listened, he could hear feathers ruffling not far off.

Hopefully Peggy had found the bird from her direction, too, and they could find a way to herd him back to his own space.

Slowly, Daniel and Tony crept around the corner. Bernard the Second stood about ten feet away, looking incredibly pleased with his escape. As soon as he caught sight of Daniel and Tony, he whirled around and took off in the opposite direction.

"No!" cried Tony, starting to chase after the bird.

"No!" yelled Daniel, grabbing Tony's shoulders and quickly yanking him back.

"Got ya!" shouted Peggy as she came striding around the other corner of the house, straight into Bernard's path. She held a massive tranquilizer gun in her hands, and she didn't hesitate before firing off a shot straight into Bernard's chest.

The dart hit its mark, and Bernard squawked in outrage before slowly (and fairly gracefully for a large bird) settling into the grass, fast asleep.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" cried Tony, rushing forward to give his aunt a hug. Daniel followed behind, shaking his head at the scene before him. The unconscious flamingo, his wife holding a child in one arm and a tranquilizer gun in the other - even after years with the SSR and now SHIELD, Peggy always found insane new situations to get them into as a couple.

"Well, that went quite a bit better than last time," mused Peggy. She smiled, and the matching grin on Tony's face was downright frightening. Those two made quite a pair.

Daniel shook his head. "I can't believe you just did that."

Peggy shrugged as Tony wiggled out of her arms to go check on Bernard.

"Well, what else were we supposed to do? Jack still has the net gun we used on Dottie a while back. This was all I could find."

Daniel shook his head again, but couldn't keep a smile off his face as he wrapped his arm around his wife and kissed her temple.

"You're insane. And I love it."

"Damn right you do," muttered Peggy. She smiled and turned to kiss Daniel, then the two stood in comfortable silence and watched Tony for a few moments. It was an odd scene, between the small child and the large bird, but it was a peaceful one. Finally, Peggy sighed and shook herself out of the moment. "Alright, well, now that that's handled, let's get these two animals off to bed."

Tony giggled at being lumped in with Bernard and shifted to be a little bit closer to the flamingo. It wasn't easy, but with Peggy and Daniel working together and Tony opening doors, they managed to get Bernard safely back into his enclosure. As soon as they finished, the three of them wandered into the living room to decompress.

"How about we put on a radio program?" asked Peggy as her boys flopped down on the couch.

"Yeah, how about that one with Betty Carver and Captain America?" suggested Daniel with a shit-eating grin. Peggy glared at him, and he and Tony just laughed.

"How about I go get the tranquilizer gun again?" she teased. The boys only laughed harder.

Peggy managed to find a replay of Flash Gordon, Tony's absolute favorite radio show, before she took her place on the couch with Daniel and Tony. Tony curled up in between the two of them, and Daniel had his arms around both Peggy and the young Stark.

"Alright, we'll listen to this show, and then it's time for bed. Deal?" asked Daniel. Tony nodded emphatically.

"Deal."

The three snuggled up a little tighter as the program began, settling into the comfort of the couch. The warmth of the room and the gentle noise of the radio relaxed all three of them, however, and after such an exciting day, they drifted off less than five minutes into the program.

****************

"Kids, we're home!" called Howard as he strode into the house, Maria right behind. Silence. "Hello?"

Maria and Howard shared a look, and Howard gently shifted Maria behind him as he crept further into the house. Always better safe than sorry when you'd made as many enemies as Howard had.

Even if there was no way in hell an intruder could take on Peggy by herself, let alone Peggy and Daniel.

Howard and Maria made it into the living room to find Peggy, Tony, and Daniel snuggled up on the couch together, the radio still on from when they'd all fallen asleep. Maria smiled at the sight of her son with a smile on his face, happy, safe, and loved, right where he belonged.

"That's sweet," whispered Maria. Howard sighed and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Yeah. It is."

Maria sighed, then leaned up to kiss her husband on the cheek. "Come on, my love. Let's go to bed."

"I say we cannonball into the middle of that," joked Howard, taking a step forward. Maria yanked him back, giggling.

"No! Let them sleep, we'll see them in the morning."

"Alright, fine," said Howard with a smile. "We'll let them have their peace. For now."