Disclaimer: Tony Stark and JARVIS are not mine.

Author's Notes: Originally, this was going to be a scene from the first installment in my 'Iron Girl' series, but as I wrote it down, I realized that this scene wasn't going to work with what I had in mind for the series. I continued to write up the scene, however, because I needed the practice with writing JARVIS (and because I kinda liked the dialog).

Warnings: AU (Iron Girl), Possible OOC-ness


Tony Stark frowned at a spot on the holographic display before him.
"JARVIS, zoom in on the leg armor," he directed.
The AI obeyed without comment, despite the fact that it had had only minutes earlier suggested that Tony should take a break and get some sleep, ignoring a prime opportunity to pester its creator about the late hour again, especially since there was nothing wrong with the leg armor in question.
Tony's sleep-deprived brain picked up on JARVIS' silence, breaking his faulty train of thought concerning the leg armor.
"JARVIS?"
"Yes, sir?" the AI responded, its voice somehow softer than normal, as if someone had lowered the volume on the AI's voice.
"Are you trying to distract me?"
"Not intentionally, sir," the AI admitted.
"What are you trying to do, then?"
"Abby is asleep on the couch by the TV, sir," JARVIS replied, "and I do not wish to disturb her."
It took a few moments for Tony to register that JARVIS had just referred to his daughter(1) by her nickname.
"JARVIS?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Did you just call my daughter 'Abby'?"
"Yes, sir. Was that wrong?"
"No, it's not wrong, JARVIS," Tony replied. "It's just a bit unexpected."
"Abby insisted that I call her that, sir," JARVIS informed him.
Tony sighed as he walked over to where Abby lay fast asleep on the couch, a robotic feline curled up at her feet.
Just like JARVIS, he didn't want to disturb her, since this was probably the first real sleep she'd managed to get since she had first accepted the responsibilities of being a superhero two days ago(2).
"I can still monitor her vitals via my connection with Jude, sir," JARVIS informed him, referring to Abby's invention, a Cardiac Assistant Thing, or CAT, that she had named after the Roman Catholic patron saint of hopeless cases.
"Please do that, JARVIS," Tony directed, though he suspected that the AI was already monitoring his daughter's vitals via the wireless connection between the AI and the robotic feline Abby had made from old, broken electronics.
"Yes, sir," the AI acknowledged Tony's command.
Tony went back to his holographic display, but his mind was not focused on what was displayed there.
Rather, it was focused on something much more human--his daughter, and her influence on JARVIS...


1. Tony Stark is the biological father of Abigail "Abby" Celeste Doyle. Her mother, April Doyle, was an engineer at Stark Industries. April and her husband, Andrew, kept Abby's true parentage a secret (not just from the world at large, but also from Abby and Tony) until Abby was 16, after Andrew was killed by a drunk driver (April died when Abby was three, from heart failure).
2. Now this is why I ended up not being able to use this scene, since I had to revise the timeline, resulting in it being impossible for this scene to occur.