JAYNE ALWAYS SPENT THANKSGIVING WITH BIRDIE. It was just their tradition. Ever since she had been able to live on her own, Jayne had just foregone all holidays and reunions with her family, though it wasn't as if they were making much effort to try and convince her to join them. It was a mutual understanding that avoidance was the best way to live out the rest of their lives, all of them gathering only for her wedding, but not staying any longer than they had to.

Birdie's family, on the other hand, was all about staying together. Her parents still lived within a drive of her, it was easy to say that even if there was distance, they all still stayed in contact. While Birdie loved being independent, it was nice to have some safety around her, and her parents supporting her and her son. They cared for their youngest and would never turn her away.

So when she came home one Thanksgiving with a friend in tow, they couldn't even fathom turning her away.

"I heard that more of the family is coming this year," Jayne said, flopping down in the seat across from Birdie, not stopping as she read over some of her files.

"Yeah, because they all feel bad and want to support me during this first Thanksgiving without Mark. Besides, it'll finally be one of the times where I won't have to worry about making him happy since he always wanted us to go see his family, not mine," Birdie replied, and if she sounded bitter, well, she wasn't about to apologize for it, "And why do you keep talking to my mom?"

"I love Janice..." Jayne drawled airily, and Birdie snorted softly, smiling.

"Well, she's excited to have you over, she was telling me last night, she's excited to see Brad too," she said, and the two laughed as they remembered how Birdie's mother had taken the role of Jayne's parents, threatening Brad with various levels of torture if he ever hurt Jayne.

"Where is Tony spending Thanksgiving?" Jayne asked, and Birdie sighed as she remembered Remy's nagging earlier that morning.

"Nowhere currently, so I'm inviting him to ours when he comes over later tonight," she said, pointedly ignoring Jayne's series of expressions in favor of looking at her files and maintaining her pride.

"He's been spending a lot of time with you," the blonde began, and Birdie sighed.

"I try not to think about it. Though I really do appreciate what's he's doing, Remy's so much happier now. At least, from what I've seen," she said, smiling and thinking back to how talkative Remy was during dinner the night before.

"That's good," Jayne said, because it was good, and she wanted nothing more than for her best friend and her son to heal.

"Yeah," Birdie agreed, "It is good."

"Do your parents know?" Jayne asked, glancing at her watch, needing to return to her desk soon for another meeting.

Birdie shrugged. "I'll surprise them."

º º º

"What if they don't like me?"

Birdie sighed as the three stepped out of her car, right in front of her parents' house. The neighborhood was packed and it was a wonder how her parents managed to reserve a spot for her in their driveway, especially when they showed up last out of everyone else.

"You're Tony Stark, I'm sure they'll love you," she said, reaching out and adjusting his tie out of habit, pausing midway when she realized that this was what she always did during her Thanksgivings with Mark.

"I think that could also be a reason why they would despise me," he pointed out, stiffening when she paused, as if realizing that it was her fixing his tie and not Pepper.

Shaking herself out of it, she quickly finished fixing his tie and took a step back, glancing over towards Remy who was fidgeting in his suit. "I don't think they will. Now, come on, we're already late as is. My aunt is going to make so many jokes."

Tony snorted in disbelief as he followed her. "You have the maiden aunt that's in every cliche form of media?"

Birdie chose to ignore that quip, figuring that she was basically a cliche in her own right, and rang the doorbell, smiling when she heard the sound of many of her family members cheering, some already greeting her from the living room.

"Baby, how are you?" her mother asked as soon as she opened the door, ushering her in, "And there's my little man! Remy, look at you, you're almost as big as the house!"

Birdie laughed as she glanced back and motioned with her hand for Tony to follow her in, faltering when the man mistook her gesture as a sign for him to take her hand, slipping his into her own and closing the door behind him.

She decided to hold on, if only to help calm him down.

"Is that Tony Stark?"

The room fell into a hush as everyone stared in disbelief, ogling Janice Price's daughter and, to be more specific, the man who was currently holding her hand, standing almost too close to her, his protective instinct being mistaken for a familiarity they only saw her indulge in with her ex-husband.

"Damn! You traded in that white boy for a billionaire? Girl, give me a hug!"

Birdie burst into laughter as she reached out with one hand, pulling her cousin into a hug, still holding onto Tony's hand, the man stepping back and glancing away to give them a semblance of privacy.

He glanced over to Remy who was looking at him with a curious expression, almost suspicious. Tony just winked, but that didn't seem to get the response he wanted. Instead of a smile, Remy just frowned more, looking as confused as he did when he was at his sessions with Peter.

Turning back towards Birdie, he found that he could barely see her around the flock of family members all greeting her and asking questions, coupled by the shouting of the others for questions as well. It was all loud and almost claustrophobic and he found his heart rate picking up as he forced himself to remember that he was at a party.

"Are you okay?" Birdie asked, and he glanced down to find her by his side again, frowning at him, worried.

"I'm fine," he breathed, looking around and smiling at all of her family members who were eyeing him with varying degrees of shock and suspicion, "When's dinner?"

By the racous laughter that followed his words, it was safe to say most of them liked him. And by the way Birdie laughed and tugged him over towards Jayne and Brad who were seated on a couch, it was safe to say she wasn't cold to him either.

º º º

"Thank you," Birdie said, the two sitting together on a couch and listening idly to the stories being passed amongst the adults, "For coming with me. I really needed the assist."

"No problem," he said, glancing over to Remy who was sitting with Ethan and playing cards, "Thanks for not leaving me alone on Thanksgiving."

"I apologize if you were bothered by some of their questions, they can be like that sometimes," she said, and he just smiled and looked around at the people, taking in their loud laughter and easy conversation, jumping from topic to topic.

"I don't mind," he said, "It's been a while since..." he trailed off, unsure of what he was trying to say. "Are you okay with their questions?"

She laughed lightly. "Well, the ones about Mark didn't make me happy and the prying questions about our non-existent sex life over the turkey was uncomfortable at best, but it's nice to see them again."

He laughed around his glass of wine. "Yeah, I didn't help with those, did I?"

"We slept together once, Tony," she said, giving him a pointed look, "And the reason we were late was because you showed up to my house late."

He hummed. "Lying is a sin, Elizabeth."

Everyone's attention was caught by Tony Stark's laughter mixed with the indignant shout from Birdie Walsh—Birdie Price to everyone else, really. The family all shared looks as they watched the two laugh and joke. It had been a while since Birdie's own mother had seen her smile and laugh so carefree.

But a mother always saw in her child what no one else did. She saw how, despite their closeness, they weren't as close as they all thought. There was still so much separating them, beyond just physical and romantic understanding. There were things inside each of them that kept them apart, and it pained her to see her daughter in such pain while smiling so widely.

"Jayne, put your phone away!" Birdie called out, not even bothering to look away from Tony, hoping that he wouldn't spill his wine on her dress.

"No, I'm okay," the blonde sang, her husband laughing into her shoulder.

Remy watched his mother talk to Tony and frowned. It wasn't that he wasn't happy, but he was confused. Whatever was going on, it wasn't regular and it sure wouldn't last, at least not with the way everything was going, and he could only hope it didn't do more harm than good.

"You okay?" Ethan asked, looking up from his cards.

"Mhm," Remy relented, because there wasn't much else to say.

"Did you tell your mom what happened?" Ethan asked a few minutes later, and Remy shook his head fiercely, eyes darkening.

"She doesn't need to worry any more than she already is," he said, and he said it with such a fierce finality that Ethan had to wonder what was going on in his cousin's home. Then again, he knew Tony Stark, that was enough to let him know that a lot had happened.

"I still can't believe you know Iron Man," Ethan said, "How'd that happen?"

Remy furrowed his brow and looked around, making sure no adults were paying attention. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone, not even your mom. Or your friends, about me even knowing about him, or anything. Okay?"

Ethan nodded eagerly, scooting close to listen. "Tell me."

Remy nodded as well and began, "Remember that story I told you Aunt Jayne told me?"

º º º

By the time the dinner party was winding down to a close, Birdie had given Tony more water than wine and had successfully caught up on all her family members' lives and them with hers. Remy had talked to his cousins enough to appease all the adults and Ethan was now aware of just how terrifying his cousin could be when he wanted something.

"We should probably get going," Jayne said, and received a slew of groans and pleas in return, causing her to brighten with pure glee; her family wouldn't have reacted that way. "I have to go to court tomorrow, I'm sorry."

Everyone made sounds of understanding, many wishing her luck while others stood to hug her, Janice standing to give her some leftovers.

"We should probably get going too," Birdie said, standing before her uncle could ruin the mood; from how he was looking at Tony and raising his voice as he spoke, it was clear he was itching for a fight.

"Why?" he demanded, eyes foggy from alcohol and voice much too loud, "You have a son now, Birdie."

The implications of his words and his tone had her blushing in anger, wishing she could usher her son out and scream at her uncle in peace.

Tony placed a hand on her arm. "She does have a son. And her son needs to get some rest."

"Yeah?" her uncle challenged as Birdie sighed and gripped Tony's arm, clinging onto him to keep from breaking, "What do you know about her son? You're not his daddy. Lord knows his wasn't any better, but did she listen? No—"

"Shut up!" Birdie shrieked, grabbing a glass, but not yet throwing it, "You don't get to say anything about me or my family, do you hear me?"

"Elizabeth, what's gotten into you?" her father asked, not angry, but worried, sharing a look with his wife.

Birdie's entire body was shaking as she stared at her uncle. "I need to leave. Now."

Jumping to his feet, Remy grabbed his mom's hand and tugged her out of the house, Jayne and Tony sharing a quick look as she helped her out, Brad saying a quick goodbye and thank you for all of them, stepping aside to let them through before closing the door.

"I need to help her," Wilma, Birdie's sister, said, rushing out as well, but not before casting a terrified look towards her uncle who just continued to ramble about his younger niece.

Wilma reached them just in time to catch Birdie doubled over in the front yard, throwing up. Remy was hiding his face in Brad's side, the man reaching down and lifting him up while Tony and Jayne pulled back Birdie's hair and rubbed her back.

"I'm so sorry, Ellie," Wilma whispered, and Birdie shrieked.

"Don't call me that!" she sobbed, "Please! He used to call me that, I-I can't—"

"What's going on?" Tony asked, his voice so quiet only Wilma could hear.

"I can't tell you and you can't remind her in the morning, okay?" she hissed, glancing over to Jayne and Brad, "Promise me. You can't."

Tony nodded stiffly, continuing to rub her back as she shuddered and sobbed. "I will, but I need an explanation soon, no one just reacts like this because someone said something rude."

Wilma sighed as she looked down at her younger sister, tears welling up in her eyes. "Just...just don't remind her. She doesn't need that. Jayne, don't let her go to work, and Tony," she paused, forcing him to look her in the eye. 

"Don't let her see Remy."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi, so, um, here's the angst and awful stuff I was debating on having? You see, there's a subplot I wasn't sure if I wanted, but decided that, hey, I might as well, even though I don't know how to work it out and it'll be so awful.

Guess what. It's so awful and I just figured out what to do and there will be a lot of plot holes and I'm gonna hate myself because it's such a heavy and dark topic, but I'm gonna do it not because I think it's fun, but because this story is also about healing and I think this is important and adds to Birdie's character and wow I sound like a callous asshole, I'm so sorry.

So yeah. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!