Title: Extraordinarily Ordinary
Summary: She's tall and slim with brown hair and dark eyes. She's beautiful. She's the only child of America's very own billionaire playboy genius. She is Aurora Stark. And Captain America is in love with her.
Disclaimer: I Do not own Iron Man or and of the Avengers franchise.
A/N: NO FLAMES! Not Accepted. Thank-you.
2nd A/N: Yes, I know that it is completely unprecedented and that Tony's daughter may be incredibly young, too young to love someone who is at least 70 or so years her senior. But Steve of course has not aged…at least not physically. Go figure. Anyways, Read & Review and enjoy!
It's the year 2015. 18-year-old Aurora Stark stands in at her window in her father's Malibu mansion looking out over the ocean.
"Jarvis?" She says, although the only other person in the house is her father, a computerized voice answers her almost immediately.
"Yes Miss?" She smiles. JARVIS is her father's invention. A computerized butler of sorts, he is a little sarcastic at times but mostly he's subservient. Aurora knows that if JARVIS was programmed like she wants him to be, he'd put her father in his place, but then – that is her job.
"What's the weather outlook for today?" She asks; JARVIS put it up on the window in front of her. Aurora has always marvelled (No pun intended) at her father's genius. But then, she is just as clever.
"Fine and sunny, Miss. Warm enough for your usual run along the beach." Aurora laughs.
"Thanks, Jarvis. I'll think I'll pass today. Must be breakfast time. Has Dad eaten?" She asks as she moves into the kitchen, the voice follows her.
"Have you ever known your father to eat Breakfast, Miss?" Aurora laughs again. Still, she nods.
"Once upon a time, Jarvis. Perhaps I dreamt it but I can remember sitting on his knee at the table sharing his toast." She says. JARVIS doesn't respond right away. Then Aurora remembers, JARVIS can't see anything. He just hears what people say and takes orders from Aurora's Father and, of course, Aurora, herself.
"Of course, Miss." Aurora could see in her head that if JARVIS was in fact human as he had once been, she could see him nod. Smiling Aurora made two breakfasts.
"I don't care if he doesn't eat, he's eating today." She says, taking her father's down to the lab and setting it down on his desk. Her father glances up from where he was tinkering with his suit.
"Daddy," she whines going over to him, "you've tinkered enough with that damn suit. It's fine as is."
"There's always new adjustments to be made, Kiddo." He says; Aurora rolls her eyes with a sigh.
"Not today. Eat your breakfast. Today, in case you've forgotten, is Mom's birthday." Tony froze. Pepper had died just after Aurora's 7th birthday and every day on her birthday they went to her grave and spent the day with – as Aurora liked to call him – Uncle Rhodey.
"All right, what do we have today?" He asks sitting down at his desk. Aurora smiles at him, she knows if she asks with the term 'Daddy' usually he'd do what she asked.
It had been a few months, but Aurora still remembered what had happened ever since her father allowed the other members of The Avengers to spend some time at the Mansion and the way she felt after being introduced to them.
"Dr Banner. This is my Daughter, Aurora." Bruce shook Aurora's hand and she smiled a little shyly.
"I'm a big fan of your work Dr Banner." She told him, he nodded in approval.
"I'm sure you've heard the Myth so now you meet the man himself. Thor, the God of Thunder." Aurora almost couldn't speak, but she settled with a smile and shaking his hand.
"I think she's speechless." The next member laughed, "Clint Barton."
"AKA, Hawkeye." The only woman said.
"Oh, you must be Black Widow. I've heard about you. Agent Romanoff." She smiled and also shook Aurora's hand.
"And this, is the only Super-soldier ever created, formally known as that skinny kid from Brooklyn, Steven Rogers, AKA Captain America." When Aurora and Steve gripped hands Aurora felt a bolt of what may have been electricity shoot through her arm.
"Captain America. I have all the comics they wrote about you. And I looked up all of your movies." Aurora said; her voice now holding what may have been a slightly breathy note. Steven smiled at her and Aurora felt her heart beat just a little faster. Giving him one more smile she excused herself and went upstairs to her room. She'd stay up there til it was time for her to start cooking dinner.
When she did come down she found that almost everyone was down in the lab. All except for Steve.
"I'll never understand this technology. The closest I had was a radio." Aurora smiled.
"Well then, you can help me. I guess I'm cooking for a few more this evening, I'm assuming that you can help with the cooking. If not the preparation you can help with. Come on, Captain." Aurora said with a smile.
"You can call me Steve." He said as she handed him a peeler and some carrots.
"Okay then…you can call me Rory or Kiddo. Dad does." Aurora told him, turning on the oven to preheat.
"You're hardly a child." He pointed out, she smiled.
"Well, take whatever you like from Aurora and make it your nickname for me." She said, starting to peel potatoes.
Steve thought for a moment before speaking, "Aura."
"Aura? Okay, Aura it is." Aurora said smiling widely.
Aurora and Steve talked regularly over the next few weeks and she told him she'd been approached by SHIELD to be a junior operative. He told her it was a good opportunity for her to learn the ropes and maybe one day take over from Fury as Director.
"I don't know how Dad will take it." Aurora admitted one night as they sat on top of a set of Apartments overlooking the city of Malibu.
"Don't tell him. Maybe he won't have any choice if you're already on the team, he can't tell you to quit. It's blood in, blood out, in a way. So once you're in, unless you get fired – you have no choice but to stay." He pointed out. Aurora lent her head on his shoulder, he was nice to her, and he didn't treat her like she was naïve or stupid. He knew she was clever and he told her she beautiful. He was older than her, she knew that. So why did she feel the way she did about him?
"I'll call Director Fury tomorrow and tell him I'll take the job. A junior operative is a great idea to have in SHEILD. I mean then they can have someone else to give them the point of view that only someone my age can give." Aurora said. Steve smiled at her.
"Now you're thinking the right way. But I…had better get you home, or your father may just kill me." He said, standing up.
"You heal quickly right?" Aurora said as he pulled her up into a bride's carry.
"Yes, but he can also kill me quickly." He pointed out as he jumped down from the roof.
"I won't let him kill you, Steve." Aurora said after they landed. He set her feet on the ground and then walked her home, back to the mansion on the coast. Turning to say goodbye, Aurora felt herself blush when Steve kissed her cheek and said goodnight.
"Goodnight, Steve." She said, watching as he walked away. Aurora knew it had happened. She'd found it. The one thing she never thought she'd ever find. Love. It had happened, with Captain America no less!
The Avengers were at HQ waiting to be briefed on their next mission, when a voice that they knew relatively well came over to intercom.
"Director Fury will be with you soon, Avengers." Tony looked across at Natasha and Clint.
"Did that sound like…?" Natasha finished Tony's sentence.
"Rory…right. It did sound like her." She said, sitting up a bit straighter, when Fury walked in.
"Before I brief you all, I'd like to introduce you to our newest SHEILD Operative, who will be helping us handle you." He held out his hand to someone, just out of sight, "Aurora Stark." Tony almost fell out of his chair. Steve stifled a chuckle. Natasha, Clint and Bruce all looked surprised, and Thor simply smiled. There was no hesitation in Aurora posture, she was where she belonged, she glanced at Steve who gave her an encouraging nod.
"It shouldn't be too hard to babysit them all, Director." She said with a smile, this time Tony did fall out of his chair.
"Babysit?" He spluttered.
"That's right. I'm the newest Junior Operative and I'm The Avengers' babysitter. Get used to it Mister Stark." She said with a wider smile. She was going to enjoy this immensely.
"I can't BELIEVE you didn't tell me about this first!" Tony thundered when he came home to have Aurora boss him into the bathroom to shower and get dressed so she could dress any wound he'd sustained, luckily the suit protected him from almost anything. But Steve and Clint needed more patching than she cared to think about.
"I wanted to surprise you and anyway, I didn't think that at 18 I needed your permission!" Aurora snapped. As she pressed a piece of gauze over a cut on Clint's shoulder.
"I'm your father! Of course you need my permission!" Tony barked.
"I'm a legal adult! I do not need to ask permission to take a job nor do I take orders from you!" Aurora retorted, washing out a slash on Steve arm. She kept working all the while she argued with her father.
"Anything else I can't control?" Tony asked.
"My love life, if you must know. But since you seem to want to be in every part of my life, then I'll tell you something. I'm in love with Steve. And there's nothing you can do to change it." Her father's mouth had dropped open. Aurora picked up the needle and thread and her father grasped her arm.
"As in…Steve?" His eyes went to the man sitting very still next to Aurora. Steve sat so still it seemed like he thought Tony could only see him if he moved.
"The very same. And you can't change it, now if you don't mind, Mister Stark, I'll continue to mend Captain Rogers' arm." She said wrenching her arm free of her father's grip.
"Jarvis! Remove my daughter's pass code for the lab!" Aurora didn't look up, she didn't care anymore. Her father had no control over her now. She was her own person. Steve had taught her that. If she hadn't met Steve she'd be doing exactly what he father told her to do. But Aurora was very much like her father, more than she cared to admit. She as fiercely stubborn as Tony was and neither cared to notice it or acknowledge it.
"Your father loves you, you know." Steve said as he handed Aurora the peeled carrots, three days later, Aurora ignored him.
"Aura, please listen to me."
She sighed heavily, "I am listening, Steve; I'm just choosing not to respond. My father hates SHEILD and here am I, his daughter, working for them!"
"It's a brilliant career option for you! I told you that!" Steve said. He regretted it as soon as he said it.
"I don't care! I'm hurting him by working for them, Steve! Can't you see that?" Aurora cried; throwing the potato she was holding into the sink. Steve looked at her seriously and tilted his head to one side slightly.
"You want to know what I see?" Aurora nodded, "I can see a woman, who loves her father very much. And would never purposely do anything to hurt him, unless it helped her along in life. And you know what I think? I think that she cares more about this than she makes out." He said, Aurora picked up the potato again and began to cut it but the tears that blurred her vision made it difficult. She misjudged one slice and cut her finger. She cursed under her breathe as she put down the knife and ran her finger under some cold water before grabbing paper towel to wrap it in until she got a Band-Aid. Steve reached over to help her but she moved away.
"Aura, I'm just trying to help you. SHEILD is a brilliant move for you and yes your father cares about it, because he loves you. He doesn't want you get hurt." Aurora rounded on him, her eyes alight with sparks.
"You know what? I don't care anymore! Not about my father, not about my job and certainly not about you!" She yelled turning around and running out of the kitchen, ignoring Steve's calls of her name.
She took off out of the Malibu mansion and ran down the beach, never stopping. Never waning. Not until she got to the cliffs. She knew running that far was dangerous for her but she'd run it. All 72 miles of it. On pure adrenaline and anger, she'd run that far. Getting back was going to be the bitch. She turned and sat down on the sand, staring out over the ocean. The sun was beginning to set and as she watched it as it slowly slid down on the horizon throwing splashes of pink, orange, purple, blue, red and yellow across the sky, she thought back to what Steve had said. She knew her father loved her but was she really ready to betray him like that and remain with SHEILD and be the Avengers' 'Baby sitter'? Her father didn't like the idea but Steve and Thor thought it was laughable. Clint, Bruce and Natasha were indifferent about it. Although Aurora could read Clint like a book and she knew he was nowhere near happy about it. But right now, Aurora couldn't care less.
"Did she say where she was going?" Tony asked. Steve shook his head.
"No, she just ran out. After saying that she didn't care about you, the job or me." Steve's voice was hurt. Like he was in actual pain.
"Sir? Mister Rogers? May I suggest the beach?" JARVIS broke in. The two men looked at each other.
"The beach Jarvis?" Tony asked.
"Miss Stark goes for a run nearly every morning along the beach. It is one of her favourite places, sir." JARVIS replied. Tony and Steve agreed that Tony would go one way, Steve the other. Whoever found her would apologize and find some way to coax her back to the house. In agreement the men set off in different directions. Both searching for the same prize. A woman they both loved more than anything in the world and both were willing to prove it to her.
Aurora looked up when she hear panting. Steve was running full pelt towards her, he had to work on his stopping but Aurora had already moved by the time her got to her.
"Steve? What are you doing out here?"
"Aura…please, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. Come back home. Your father is worried sick." Steve said stepping towards her. She took a step back.
"Why are you out looking for me? Why didn't Dad just canvas the whole beach?" Aurora snapped; she was obviously still angry.
"Your father thought it would be quicker if he and I both looked for you." Steve said softly. Aurora looked at him breathing hard with her anger. She took a deep steadying breath and looked up at the super soldier one more time. Steve took another step towards her, this time she didn't retreat. He took another step, Aurora didn't move. Steve was going to go to hell for this but he didn't back down.
"Please Aura…come back to the house. If not for your father, than for me. Please." Steve steeled his nerves and jumped. He drew aurora to his chest and closed the gap between them. Just to prove that no matter what, his feelings for her wouldn't change in the slightest. He was elated however when she kissed back. With much more force than he expected. She pulled away then and smiled up at him.
"The Unattainable is invariably attractive; lack of Charisma can be fatal; Monomania is the prerequisite of success; You are so complex you don't respond to danger; What urge will save us now that sex won't; Protect me from what I want." She said softly.
"Who said that?" Steve laughed.
"Unknown. But I think it's true. Anything that you can't have is so much more attractive than it would be if you had it. That is why most girls play hard-to-get. If they didn't let you chase them you wouldn't be attracted in the first place." She told him.
"It must be the same for girls with crushes then?" Steve posed, Aurora nodded. She had a crush and now that she had that crush, somehow it may not be true for everyone.
"Also a lack of charisma – fatal to a relationship. Monomania – I don't even know what that is! But it must be true. You are far too complex and you don't respond when you're in immediate danger do you? Because of who you are, it doesn't matter, you can't lose a fist fight and close combat doesn't bother you. And protect me from what I want." She whispered. Steve kissed her again, before frowning.
"What about 'what urges will save us now that sex won't'?" Aurora laughed.
"I don't think there is any urge to save us other than sex." She replied pulling Steve into a third kiss. He picked her up into a bride's carry and sprinted up the beach, explaining that the run didn't both him, but her father would be worried by now.
"Way to ruin my mood, mention my father." Aurora laughed as she wrapped her arms tightly around Steve's neck.
Aurora sat at her desk in her room, her chin in her palm, drumming the fingers of her free hand on the desk top. She chewed on her lip, she had to understand her father's reasons and she had to let Steve in.
He let her in.
He told her about the procedure that made him what he is. Told her how he felt about her. He had told her everything, and yet all her knew about her was that she was Tony's daughter (in every sense of the word), she worked for SHIELD and she was stubbornly closed off.
So she would try to be more open. But how to tell him she was sorry and that she'd try to be better. How did one do that? She didn't dare ask JARVIS or Natasha for help. Because Natasha knew who she was talking about and JARVIS never had to apologize to anyone the way she had to. There had to be something she could do. A thought suddenly popped into her head, she knew exactly how to do it. She'd start with telling him how she felt about him. That should be easy. The same way he had told her. Not in words as such, glancing over at the vase she had borrowed from her mother's private collection, that Barton hadn't done target practise on, she made up her mind. She was going to give Steve what he had given her. Flowers.
Smiling she got up and after scribbling a note and putting it on the fridge she left. This was going to take some really good advice and she knew just where to get it.
Steve got back to his room close to midnight. He was tired but not too tired as to notice the lilac on his desk. Picking it up he looked at it suspiciously before he also noted the envelope that had been sitting with it, his name written in brilliantly curly handwriting that he recognized immediately. Smiling he opened the envelope.
A Lilac to say you are my first love
She didn't need to say any more than that. Steve now knew how she felt.
"You found it." Steve turned and smiled at Aurora.
"Certainly did. You are one very interesting girl Aura. I don't think I'll ever get used to the zig-zagging you do." He said leaning down to kiss her.
"Well, technically you do know it; I just zig when you think I'll zag. It's a gift." Aurora said. Steve smiled softly at her and kissed her one more time.
"Well Aura, then I change my mind. You are extraordinarily ordinary. In the best sense." He whispered kissing her for a third time. Aurora responded with just as much enthusiasm.
"So we are both, Cap. Extraordinarily ordinary. And for that…I love you." Aurora whispered. Steve smiled.
"And I love you, Aura."
Review Please! Means the world!