"News rooms are buzzing with the information we've recieved. Tony Stark's alleged sixteen year old daughter, Tara Burnham, has been shot. And, this just in, blood tests reveal that Miss Burnham is indeed Stark's daughter. Word on her condition has not been..."
The TV with the news station shut off, the remote in the hand of the nurse, who had finally noticed that THE Tony Stark was sitting in one of the hard plastic chairs, running his hands periodically through his hair. There was a woman, dressed in a neatly pressed business suit, her almost blinding blond hair pulled tightly into a bun. The owner of the orphanage that Tara lived in, Andrea Malko.
"Mr. Stark?" A doctor approached him.
"Yes?" Tony stood and shook the mans hand, looking at him stoticly.
"She's stable, but she won't live much longer. The bullet shattered and the shrapnel is too close to her heart, and we can't remove it. She has five days, at most, before the bullet kills her."
Tony blanched, and ran his hands through his hair again. Tony looked at the blond for help, but she shook her head and stood.
"She's your responsibility now, Stark. Don't look to me for help." The Andrea walked away, heading towards the elevator without a second glance.
"Mr. Stark? What do you want to do?" The doctor nervously rung his hands.
"Is she stable enough to move?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then have her moved to my home. If there's no way for you to save her, then I can try, and even if I don't succeed, she'll die knowing someone loved her." Tony then pulled out his phone. "Pepper? I'm bringing Tara home. Have a medical room set up by the time we arrive."
The doctor had scurried off to do as Tony asked. Within five minutes, they were in the helecopter, En route to his house. Pepper met them at the door, looking at the girl who seemed so much more lifeless than she had less than twenty four hours ago.
When Tony entered the house, he went right into his lab, grabbing the familiar materials to make an arc reactor. If there was a shattered bullet heading for his daughter's heart, why not stop it the same way Yinsen stopped metal bits from going into Tony's heart?
As he worked, Tony thought back to the week he'd just had with the amazing teenager from the orphanage...
Seven Days Earlier; William Mckinley Orphanage:
"Why are we here, again, Pepper?"
"Well, SOMEBODY decided to announce themselves as a superhero three months ago."
"So?"
"SO..." Pepper looked out at all the orphans running around. "If you wanna be a hero, you're going to have to act like it, even when you're not in the suit, Tony."
"And coming to an adoption event at an orphanage is gonna do that?"
"Tony, we fund the orphanage. Now shut up."
"We fund the orphanage." Tony mocked, rolling his eyes. He grabbed a cup of the strongest drink they had out for the event. Lemonade. He looked around for a free space to sit, and couldn't find anywhere that wasn't occupied, and the only place there was any room to sit at all was on the cement stairs of the orphanage. On the stairs sat a girl with black hair, streaked with blond, typical Malibu tanned skin, shorts and a t-shirt. She had an advanced physics school book in her lap and she seemed to be ignoring the event around her.
'Ah, what the hell.'
Tony sat next to the girl. She barely spared him a glance, crossing her ankles.
"Advanced Physics?"
"Yep." She watched Tony take a sip of the lemonade and smirked. "I see they brought out the strong stuff."
Tony chuckled.
"I guess so. Know if they have anything better?"
The girl closed her physics book and stood up, going into the orphanage. Minutes later she set a bottle of bourbon between them.
"I don't like handing people things," She stated simply. "I also don't like to be handed things."
"What a pair. Neither do I." Tony dumped the lemonade, picked up the bottle and watched her read through the book. "Are you even in Advanced Physics?"
"Nope." She turned a page. "I don't have the privilage to go to school. I'm the oldest kid in this place. So, I stay and watch the others."
"You don't talk like someone that's uneducated."
"Oh, believe me, Mr. Stark. I'm the most educated sixteen year old girl you will ever meet. I don't know why or how but once I read something I never forget it. It works for people and books, if you can believe it."
"Oh, yeah? Prove it. Tell me everything you know about that woman over there." Tony nodded at Pepper.
"Well manicured, works an indoor job, judging by the type of shoes she's wearing. Jimmy Choo's, meaning that she works for a very rich person. Personal Assistant, most likely, judging by the PDA practically glued to her hand. And if I had to make an assumption on who she works for, I would say she works for you, Mr. Stark."
"Why do you say that?" Tony lifted his bourbon filled lemonade glass to his lips to hide his impressed look.
"Because, not only did she arrive with you, but the PDA in her hand holds the Stark Industries logo."
Tony blinked.
"You can see that from here?"
"Yes, sir."
"Just Tony. So, what do I call you?"
"Tara. Tara Burnham."
Tony suddenly started coughing, choking on the bourbon he'd just tried to swallow.
"Was your mothers name Sophia?"
Tara nodded slowly.
"She died?"
"No, she just didn't want me anymore. Said I reminded her too much of my father."
"So he died?"
"No. He doesn't even know I exist." She sighed. "My mom left him because he was kind of an ass, and then she never told him she was pregnant."
"You said you were sixteen?"
"Yes, why?"
"Sixteen years and nine months ago, Sophia Burnham left me in the middle of the night with a note saying that she couldn't take it anymore." Tony ran a hand over his face. "Oh my god."
Tara said nothing. She watched Tony stand up, cross over to Pepper, grab her hand and have a hurried conversation.
Pepper glanced over and her eyes widened before she smiled and walked over to Tara.
"Hi, Tara?" At Tara's nod, she nodded at Tony. "He wants to know if you'd come out and spend the rest of the day with him."
Tara shrugged and stood up, brushing off her capris. She stepped forward.
"Oh, by the way, It's nice to meet you, Ms. Potts."
Pepper was stalled by a momentary bout of shock before she smiled and nodded.
"You too, Tara."
Tony spent the rest of that day, and that week, too, getting to know her over lunch, dinner, and walks in the park. He learned that she was just as unique as he was, and she was also a prime candidate for the press. In three days, the story had been printed on every magazine and front page from Malibu to New York. 'Stark's Bastard Child Makes an Appearence.'
Tara took it remarkably well. She also took the blood test Tony ordered very well. He was 99% certain already that she was his daughter. That remaining 1% would be cleared by the blood test, hopefully.
"So, once those tests come in, what do you say I adopt you?" Tony asked, leaning against the door to the room Tara shared with seven other girls much younger than she was and one that was close to her age.
"Yeah!" She sat up, tossing her book (this time an andvanced Mechanic's book) away from her. "That'd be great! Uh, but...Tony?"
"Hmm?"
"What if the results come back as me not being your daughter?" She looked down.
"If they come back and you aren't my daughter, then oh well. I'm adopting you anyways. You're a teenager. I actually like you."
"Well, what's stopping you from taking me with you now?"
"Nothing!" Tony grinned and held up a stack of papers. "Legal documents have all been filled out. Blood tests come back tomorrow, so we might as well just take you now."
"Really? Oh, thank you!" In a moment of joy, Tara wrapped her long arms around Tony. Tony stumbled back for a quick second before regaining his balance and hugging her back.
"Yeah, yeah. Now get off me."
Tara laughed and folded her hands behind her back.
"No, really thanks, dad."
Tony did all he could, and the Arc Reactor was working correctly. All he could do now was wait. And wait he did.
For two weeks.
He was beginning to give up home when JARVIS alerted him to the fact that Tara was waking up. And she was panicing.
"Tara! Tara, Tara!"
"Dad? Oh my God, what happened?" She ran her fingers over the Reactor in her chest.
"You don't remember?"
Tara shook her head, her eyes wide still with the panic she woke up with.
"You were shot." Tony reminded her. "We don't know by who, or why. But the bullet is lodged in you chest. Here." He pointed to her chest, right above her heart. "It shattered, and the shrapnel was heading for your heart."
"Like you?" Tara placed her hand against Tony's Reactor. He nodded. "Oh, God."
"You'll be fine now. JARVIS?"
"All bodily systems functioning at a normal rate. Recovery time estimated for another two weeks, sir."
"There you have it." Tony nodded. "Stay in bed, troublemaker. I'll have Pepper make you some soup."
"Chicken Noodle?" Tara asked hopefully. Tony grinned softly at his daughter.
"Sure. Chicken Noodle it is."