Morgan
The lakefront cabin might as well have been a ghost town by just the state of it. Morgan’s toys were in every corner of the house. Items of clothing were thrown on the table or on the chairs. It was like no one lived there.
Did Pepper and Morgan move? They bought the house once they first moved in. Pepper always wanted a nice place to settle down that wasn’t too far from the city and Tony wanted a place where he could be grounded in and have space for him and his loved ones- like a cabin.
He walked around the cabin and looked through the rooms: Living room? A mess. Kitchen? Looks like it hasn’t been used in three weeks. Guestroom? Barren. Morgan’s room?
Tony walked through the door and looked inside. Morgan sat on the edge of her bed arranging her stuffed animals. She pushed the stuffed giraffe’s head upright did a victory fist pump when it stayed up. She pulled a couple of books from the floor and plopped them next to her side.
Tony covered his mouth with his hand. His little Morgan was giving what looked like school lesson to her stuffed animals and toys. The only thing he wanted to do was hug her tight.
“GeeGee, did you forget your notebook again?” A pause. “Oh, that’s okay, we have extras!” Morgan placed a notebook on the stuffed giraffe and giggled.
Tony could feel his breathing pace quicken at the scene.
“See this Mr. Sir Sprinkles? That’s Daddy,” Morgan whispered into the ear of a baby-blue unicorn plush with eyes half the size of its head. She held to book up to the face of the unicorn plush.
Tony instantly recognized the book. ‘Daddy Is My Hero’ was the name of the book Pepper had gotten Morgan. Before gifting the book to Morgan, Pepper printed and cut out a stack of photos of Tony’s face and taped them on to the daddy in the children’s book. Morgan loved it. A week later Tony bought a book titled ‘Mommy Is A Hero’ and taped Pepper’s face on all of the mommy’s faces.
“Shit,” Tony cursed under his breathe at the memory.
Morgan whirled her head around and stared at the corner Tony occupying. They stared at each other for a few seconds.
“Are you an angel now?” Morgan asked, swinging her legs over the side of her bed. She tilted her head to the side and watched her father quietly.
Tony bit his lip hard- it’d probably start bleeding if he weren’t...dead. “Morgoona, sweetie, there are so many things I wish I could tell and explain to you,” Tony started, walking slowly towards the bed, “But there's things that sometimes are hard to explain.” Tony sat down on the wooden floor, legs crossed. He wanted to ask her how she was so calm about him being there, but he pushed the thought away.
Morgan shook her head, “Nuh-uh, you can explain anything ‘cuz you’re super smart!” Morgan pointed at her head as if she was proving her point.
Tony looked down at the floor as he quietly calmed himself down from the mental stress all of this astral form stuff was giving him. He was losing it.
“I could probably explain it, but it’d be bad.”
Morgan shook her head again and turned to grab her bed comforter. She wrapped it around herself and looked back down at her dad. “Mom said something’s never bad if you’re trying.”
Tony sucked a breath in. Pepper. The pure emotion running through his head made him feel dizzy. Pepper was his rock- one of the only people in the world that could understand him. She could understand him better than himself. Next time, Tony told himself, next time, I’ll find Pepper. He could feel his energy fading slowly.
He put a hand over his mouth and tried to focus energy on his other hand to balance himself on the floor.
“Dad, are you okay?” Morgan’s voice cut through his panic.
Tony looked up at her and smiled. “Yeah- yeah, I’m fine.” Morgan took her hand out of the pile of blanket and reached out to her father. He sat still and watched her hand glide through his figure with ease. Tony shivered at the sensation.
“Did you feel that?” Morgan asked and wrapped her blanket around herself tighter.
Tony nodded and changed his position on the floor so he was sitting on his knees. “Kinda- you know when you go on a really big hill in the car? And your stomach feel funny?” Tony’s voice became a softer, slightly energetic tone by habit when he talked with
Morgan nodded.
“Or when you go on a really cool ride at the fair?!” Tony’s voice was
Morgan nodded, a toothy grin on her face.
“Well, that’s what it feels like when someone goes through me, I think. You’re the first” Tony explained with heavy gesticulation.
Tony stared at Morgan, trying to predict her next move and preparing himself for it. She only smiled wider and pushed her bangs from her face.
“Really? That’s cool. I wish I could feel like that. Then I could just run into people all day and feel funny.” Morgan pulled the blanket over her head a bit more and yawned.
“Oh, I can already imagine that,” Tony laughed and felt his heart beam at her excitement. He glanced over at the earth-shaped clock that hung on the wall across the room. “Now, isn’t it past your bedtime, little Miss?”
Morgan groaned and flopped over on the bed, not caring she was squishing half her stuffed animal plushies. “I’m not even tired!”
“Well, it’s already eleven, isn’t it? Don’t you usually go to bed by ten?” Tony asked, amusement in his voice. He knew the answer to the question, but he waited for Morgan’s answer.
“Yeaaaah, but Mom’s asleep anyways,” Morgan argued, still flopped over.
“Well, then go to bed,” Tony mumbled as he got off the floor. Morgan huffed, but crawled to the other side of the bed and engulfed herself in pillows. Tony felt his heart beat out of his chest at her giggled.
Tony watched adoringly as she situated herself under the covers.
“I prayed that you would come back,” Morgan said quietly, looked over at the wall. Tony took a deep breath.
“Morg-”
“But now you can be me and Mommy’s guardian angel!” Morgan looked up at Tony and beamed.
Tony closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. Turns out, even in death, Tony could get anxiety attacks- or whatever he was currently going through. Don’t let her see this- push through.
“Yeah, somethin’ like that,” Tony’s voice cracked halfway through his sentence. If Morgan noticed, she didn’t show any indication she did. Tony could feel himself fading to “I’m going to try my best, Morgoona.”
Tony focused his energy to his lips and bent down to kiss Morgan on the Morgan giggled in response.
“I love you 3000,” Tony mumbled into her forehead before standing back up. Morgan looked up at her father and hummed.
“Well, I love you...” Morgan paused and squinted as she thought about a higher number, “I love you 3247!”
Tony chuckled and smiled at her prideful grin, “Stay out of trouble while I’m gone, Squirt, okay?”
“Okay,” Morgan yawned, “You’re gonna come back right? Because guardian angels are supposed to watch us all the time.”
“Of course I’ll come back- I can’t let you get into too much trouble, now can I?” Tony crossed his arms casually across his chest and grinned. “I don't know when I’ll be back. You two take care of each other, okay?”
Morgan gave a weak nod, eyes barely open. Tony took that as a cue to leave.
“Sleep tight, princess.”
…
“I don’t think I can do this,” Tony muttered into the glass of whiskey. He didn’t need it and it didn’t get him drunk, but it more an item of comfort for him while he was back in the...Astral dimension...plane, what was it? The place where he stays since he died.
“You don’t have to. But it’s entirely your choice, Tony,” Stephen said and looked down at Tony’s shoulder, debating on if he wanted to place a hand on the other.
“I get that- I don’t think I can handle all of this,” Tony sighed and set his glass down on the ground next to him. Stephen put his hand down to his side and ignored his need to comfort Tony.
“You’re not alone in this,” Stephen said quietly.
“Oh, really?” Tony’s tone was cold and the words jumped out of his mouth before he could catch himself.
Stephen watched Tony for what seemed like an eternity before Stephen looked away. The soft smokey blue-grey turned harsh. It was as if Tony was just drowning in the storm Stephen’s eyes were brewing.
“Wait-” Tony started, but was quickly interrupted.
“Just- I think you just need some time to adjust to everything, Tony. I’ll let you have some space.” The last sentence dripped with the cold tone from when they first met. Stephen looked down at the ground before looking back up at Tony. His eyes were full of sorrow and betrayal- something Stephen’s only let Tony see a few times before.
Before Tony could argue or persuade the man to stay, Stephen disappeared.