Chapter 1
To say that Peggy Carter had been surprised when Howard Stark had announced he was getting married would be an understatement. But then who would have guessed that someday he, a man who had been with many women in his life, would find a person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with? She had been happy for him of course,he was a friend of hers after all and it was great news that he had found someone who made him happy. In Peggy's opinion Maria was a wonderful person and Howard couldn't have found someone who completed him better. At least those were her thoughts over the first years of their relationship and marriage. The moment Howard and Maria told their friends that they were expecting their first child,everyone was overjoyed and when little Anthony Stark was born,Peggy was more than happy to become his godmother.
When Tony was two years old, Maria announced that she was pregnant again, with Twins. Peggy expected Howard to be just as happy as he was when he found out about Tony, she had hoped, and she knew that Maria and Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis had hoped the same, that it would get him out of his almost permanent state of misery, caused by the fact that Howard's latest expeditions to find Steve Rogers had remained unsuccessful. On a beautiful, seemingly ordinary Sunday morning Peggy intended to visit the Stark's house in New York and see her godson. Little did she know, that this day would be the moment her friendship with Howard would start to crack. She walked into the house and heard Howard's voice from the living room. "I thought you were on Birth control,Maria! I told you right in the beginning, I only want one child so I can properly concentrate on my work! Anthony is definitely more than enough, always screaming or crying about something... I do not want anything to do with those two other annoying children in your womb!" Peggy was shocked and stepped outside again, putting on a happy, undisturbed Face before walking in again and asking Howard to see her godson, trying to ignore Maria's soft sobs that could be heard from the living room.
The day the twins, a girl named Aubrey Stark and a boy named Felix Stark, were born was another day Peggy's friendship with Howard cracked. For one very simple reason, something that Peggy and everyone else hoped Howard would somehow change later. Howard announced that in public he would only ever have one child, Tony. The twins would be raised in the manor and get home schooled, since he didn't want anyone to find out about them. Peggy would have left then and there,had there not been her worry for Howard's children and the small bit of hope that Howard could change.
When Tony was fifteen and about to leave for MIT, the thing that would make Peggy turn her back on Howard happened. In hindsight, Tony should've known better than to go home. He had been at a small party one of the boys in the neighborhood invited him to and somehow he had ended up kissing said boy. It wasn't that big of a deal for him, he had realized that he liked girls and boys before that, but he should've known from the shocked look that the boy's mother had given him when she had returned early and seen them, that she would tell his father and that there would be consequences for him. He returned home to find that his father wasn't home and found himself hoping that nothing would happen. He shouldn't have been that foolish. Howard had been informed of the "occurrence" as he put it when he came home and asked his two younger children to leave him alone with their older brother because he needed to talk to him.
Obadiah Shane, Peggy and Daniel came around for dinner not even twenty minutes after Howard had closed the door behind Aubrey and Felix. They all greeted each other and after Peggy had found out that Howard and Tony were upstairs, she decided to go and fetch them. She opened the door to see Howard standing over Tony, looking down at him angrily and Tony looking up at him in fear, clutching the left side of his face where Peggy could see a Black eye starting to form. "Howard!" She exclaimed, rushing into the room and putting herself between him and Tony. "Get out of the way,Peggy. He deserves it! He needs to somehow learn that what he did was wrong,he kissed a boy, Peggy! I can't have people saying that my son is a fag!" Howard snarled angrily. "There is nothing wrong with what Tony did,Howard." Came Daniel's soft voice from the doorway. Howard whirled around to see Daniel, the rest of his family, Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis and Obadiah standing outside the room. "What do you mean 'nothing's wrong'? My son is a fucking fag!" Howard shouted,causing Tony to flinch. "No need to get all worked up about it,Howard. I'm sure Tony learned his lesson and he'll be at MIT soon so you will have enough time to process it." Obadiah said,giving Howard a winning smile. Peggy could very much sympathise with the incredulous look Mr. Jarvis gave him. Tony hadn't done anything wrong and therefore he didn't need to learn any kind of lesson! Maria tried to defuse the situation by leading everyone downstairs to eat dinner, but the damage had been done. What a joyeous Christmas.