Prologue
Nineteen years ago, during Tony Stark's playboy days, he had a fling with a woman called Michelle. Michelle was beautiful, but she was also a girl that knew how and loved to party. Something Tony couldn't say no to back in the day.
A few weeks later, Michelle had gotten hold of Tony's details and sent him a letter, mentioning that the man had gotten her pregnant and she was going to keep the baby. Tony, being Tony, panicked. He didn't know what to do, and so, he did what any other rich man did. He told her to keep quiet and he would pay Michelle each month for as long as the child was alive.
This was easy for both sides. Michelle had an income every month, she didn't really have to go to work, so she never did, and Tony kept it from the world that he had a daughter. All was good really, until things started to heat up with the Avengers. There was no doubt though, that Ashlee, Tony's daughter, actually knew who her father was. Michelle did mention in the letter that she wasn't going to hide the truth from her daughter, and that Ashlee deserved to know what a 'jerk' her father was.
Upon finding out about who her father was, Ashlee had an obsessive phase, when she was twelve, in which she had googled everything about her father. From the news reports about a new suit that her father invented to reports about him joining this new superhero team, Avengers. After that, Ashlee lost interest in him. From reading those reports and listening to the news for any mention of him, Ashlee put the pieces together: her father didn't want her in his life. Even worse, it seemed to Ashlee that her father didn't even know that she existed. Every child's dream.
And she wasn't wrong. Tony had indeed forgotten that she even existed. After a while of having sent the child payments to Michelle, Tony wanted to move on and forget about the one night that could possibly destroy his name. So, he set up automatic payments with JARVIS every month. He could always afford the monthly bill anyway, so it was just another few lines in his bill each month that he never bothered to look at. Why would Tony care for where his money goes anyway for as long as he has enough money to buy a new car whenever he wanted?
Yet, Ashlee still wanted to meet her father. After all, they were blood related and Ashlee just wanted to see what he was like in person. What could possibly go wrong?
Even though the interest was never really there after she realised that Tony didn't want to meet her, part of her really wanted to meet him. Just like any other child who has had no experience with one parent. The thought was always there to meet her father. The money was there too, to track him down, but Ashlee didn't want to track him down before, worrying that she would get a horrible response from Tony and that she'll forever carry around the feeling of never being able to fit into a world with her father.
So, what could possibly go wrong?