"You find a place in Brooklyn yet?"

"I don't think we can afford a place in Brooklyn," Steve sighed, swiping his thumb across his tablet almost aimlessly through real estate listing after listing, seeing nothing that jumped out as a worthy prospect. "Anything that I like is too small, and anything that she wants is just too expensive."

"Well, you do need like what, fifty bedrooms for all of you to fit?" Sam scoffed, watching the pictures change on the screen as he sat next to Steve. "How about that one?" he pointed, waiting for his friend to flip back a few screens. "That one seems nice."

"Hmm," Steve nodded in agreement, "Five bedrooms...three bath...hey, there's a little backyard...oh, wait, nope," he groaned, "price."

"Seriously, man, just have Stark buy it for you guys. He's only offered a million times."

"I do have my pride, Sam."

"Screw pride. Take the cash."

Steve could only laugh at the blunt honesty, leaning back in his chair with a wide grin, grabbing his chest as he tried to regain his control. The two of you had been under so much pressure in the past few weeks since you had announced that you were leaving, that the break in it all was more than welcome and it felt good to just let the laugh take him over. "It's good to know where your priorities are."

"I ain't gonna lie," Sam went on, "if I were married to (Y/N), I'd take all the perks I could get."

"You mean more than just being married to her?"

Sam's expression dropped and he looked around the room in every direction, turning back to Steve in disbelief and a bit of mocking sorrow, "she isn't even here, and listen to you. Man, she has you trained."

~~~

On the other side of the compound in Steve's office, you were doing a search of your own, but much different than the one that your husband and Sam were taking part in; you were learning everything you could about Stephen Strange and if you would be able to set your own personal feelings aside to look at it all objectively for the sake of your kids. They were practically begging you to let them follow his teachings, even though they hadn't said more than a few words about it since Tony had laid out their punishments the last time he was mentioned; you could sense their apprehension to bring it up again, but it didn't mean that the topic had died.

The only thing that you had known about the man was from when he was still working as a neurosurgeon years ago and he had dismissed your recovery without more than barely a moment of consideration. Looking back, no one had told him that you had far better than average healing ability, and that he likely could have done some good, but it didn't absolve his attitude, and now it was a huge barrier to your seeing him any other way.

"So, how's it going?" Tony asked uncharacteristically shyly from the doorway. "Have you made any decisions?"

"Not really," you sighed, darkening the screen and turning your chair to face him, "but it's not for me to make alone anyway. Steve's looking at houses while I do this, so we're going to meet later and share what we've found to maybe get one of these things settled."

"Yeah, I heard how his search is going. (Y/N), just let me buy you what you want. If you're not going to stay here, I'd rather know that you're all in a home that's safe and that you're all happy in."

"Dad, we've been over this."

"I know," he agreed softly, moving across the room to take a seat next to you, "but I'll keep trying until papers are signed. What's the point of having all of this money if I can't use it for things like this? It's not like I need anything."

"The point is that Steve and I can take care of our family on our own. It has nothing to do with not appreciating your offer, and we know that you want to help because you love us. We get that, believe me."

"And there's nothing that I can say to convince you to stay?" Tony's expression shifted and became solemn, his gaze dropping to the floor so that he wouldn't have to meet yours. The day that you told him that you were leaving was hard, and to him, it came out of seemingly nowhere. It wasn't the first time you had left him, but those were times of stress and discord, whereas this came about when he thought that everything was okay.

"No, Dad."

"If I hadn't have stepped in with the kids, would this be happening?"

"Don't go there," you warned, raising a hand to stop him, "I told you already, this had to happen eventually. Steve and I need to raise our family on our own. Especially now."

"You're both sure that taking a year off from the team is a good idea? I can't help but feel like you guys are running away and I'll never see you again."

"This isn't like when I was fifteen, Dad. You'll have our address, and you know that we'll be up here to visit."

"Right." He leaned back in his chair and brought a hand up to rest his head heavily into it, "will you at least let me call my lawyers to help be sure you get a good deal? Make sure all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed?"

"You really think that someone is going to screw over Captain America on a real estate deal when his father-in-law is Iron Man?"

"Hmm, you're right, probably not," he smirked. "Well, okay then, that's fine," he sighed, clapping his hands definitively as he stood, "I'll just throw the biggest, most obnoxious going away party that you've ever seen." Before you could open your mouth to object, he had made his way to the office door, stopping for only a brief second with a finger pointed sharply in your direction.

"Nope, if you won't let me help, this is what you get. This is your own doing, (Y/N), remember that when you see Clint dancing on the bar with one sock and no pants again."

~~~

Later that evening, just as the two of you had promised each other, you had come together to look at what you had found in your own searches on both real estate options and about Doctor Strange. Stopping at each kids' door on the way to your room, you and Steve said your goodnights and made sure that they were in bed as they should be, never once taking it for granted that they were following the rules after their most recent indiscretion.

"Ready?" Steve asked quietly, once the final door was closed behind him and you were in the privacy of your own room. "Is this going to be an all-nighter?"

You made your way to your dresser and began to remove the few items of jewelry that you had been wearing, pausing only to kick off your shoes with a flip of your foot and no care as to where they landed. "I don't know, show me what you've got."

Steve gave you a little wink and took a few steps forward, wrapping his arms around your waist to pull you in closer and tightly against him. "I thought we were going to talk about business?" he asked playfully, nuzzling his face into your neck with a contented hum and small kisses against your skin.

"We are," you pushed back with a lighthearted tone in your voice, "so the sooner we get this done..."

"Right, gotcha, let's go then," he agreed eagerly, pulling away to grab his findings. "So, here's the house that I think we should go see."

You took the tablet from his hands and studied each screen as you flipped through the images of the Brooklyn brownstone, with its four bedrooms and two baths meeting your quick approval. "Backyard?"

"A small one."

"Subway?"

"Two blocks."

"Price?" At this question, he stopped, clearing his throat anxiously and a small shuffle of his feet catching your attention and raising your suspicion. "Steve?"

"It's a little higher than we wanted," he nodded, pushing his hands into his pockets sheepishly, "but I think we can get it covered."

"How much higher?"

"Um...so...what info did you get on Strange?" he deflected immediately, looking at you as if you were seriously going to give him an answer when he so blatantly ignored your inquiry and changed the topic so fast.

"What did you do, Rogers?"

"What?"

"Don't act all innocent," you snapped, "you know you suck at lying." You paused to watch his expression change, and before he had to say another single word, you knew exactly what had happened just as if you had been there yourself. "You talked to Dad, didn't you?"

"We're buying the house, (Y/N). He's not paying for it. Well...not all of it..."

"Dammit, Steve!"

"Please, (Y/N), don't start," he groaned, taking the tablet from your hands and tossing it heavily onto his dresser with a loud hit, "it's okay to let him help, and it's only a small part of it. Why are you so against letting him do this for us?"

"Because he's done enough! And you were the one going on and on about your pride and being able to provide for your family on your own. What the hell happened to that?"

"I was talking to Sam-"

"Oh, I should've known! Of course you were talking to Sam."

"Is it really so terrible if we let Tony do this, (Y/N)? It's something that he wants to do, I didn't ask him. He came to me," Steve insisted, now standing a bit taller as he spoke with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. "I told him that there was no way that I'd let him foot the bill for our house after he's already given us so much, so he asked to just cover what we didn't feel comfortable with on our own. I told him that I'd run it past you, and honestly, I think we should take it."

You turned away and walked towards the large windows of your room that overlooked the lake behind the compound, giving yourself a much needed moment to clear your mind and let go of your frustration so that you could think clearly about what Steve was saying. Of course there was nothing wrong with letting Tony help you, it was simply a matter of principle when you looked back at how much you had already relied on him in the past. But you needed to make this move, for you and the kids, and without this, the chances of it taking even longer to realize grew exponentially.

"If we do this, I want to pay him back."

"Okay, yeah," Steve agreed readily, "I can tell him. I doubt he'll take it, but we can sure try to make him."

You nodded quietly and shifted gears, changing your thoughts to that of Strange and what he was offering you as well. This was supposed to be the harder discussion to have, but when you stepped outside of your own needs and feelings, it became an easy decision to make, and one that made clear sense when you allowed yourself to think only about the futures that were already set into motion for your three children.

"We need to let the kids go to the Sanctum, don't we?" you asked quietly, your voice close to failing beneath the wash of emotions hitting you. If you weren't careful, Anthony would know what was going on before you would have a chance to tell him.

"Yes."

"Do you know what that means?"

"I do," he sighed again, moving to stand behind you and putting his strong hands on your shoulders. He stood silent for a moment, looking out at the lake with you as he tried to hold his composure together. His only purpose in life now was to keep you and your children safe, and this felt opposite of that role for him; he felt like he was letting that go and he didn't like any part of it, no matter how necessary it was.

"I'm going to miss them too, (Y/N), but they won't be gone forever."