She had been following Tony around for more than a month. Ordinarily if someone were following him, he'd just send security to get rid of them. It was that easy. But this particular follower was just a kid. Just a teenage girl and he couldn't see the point in frightening her by sending men in suits with guns. She was probably just a fan anyway. Most of his fans were older usually, but the world was a weird place so as long as the teenage girl kept her distance and didn't pose a threat, he'd just let her be.

Tony saw the kid multiple places every day. Sometimes outside of Stark Tower, sometimes at his favorite coffee shop, some evenings she was outside one of the upscale bars he liked to visit. She never approached him or tried to talk to him, she just watched. Most times she was dressed rather raggedly in tattered jeans, faded sweat shirt, and worn out sneakers. Her dark hair was generally pulled into a braid and more than half the time her brown eyes were covered with large rimmed sunglasses.

Then late one afternoon Tony was leaving the coffee shop and caught sight of the kid some ten feet down the sidewalk. She wasn't wearing her sunglasses and for the first time it was clear why she wore them most of the time. It was to hide the bruises on her face. She wore a t-shirt this day instead of the sweatshirt she always wore even in hot weather. With her arms exposed he could see that she had multiple scars on her skin.

"Okay kid, what's the deal?" He said to her. She was close enough to hear him. She looked a little frightened that he had actually spoken to her. "You've been following me for five weeks now. I see you every day. Are you looking for money or for help with whoever gave you that bruise or what?"

"N-neither one. I just want help with this." The girl held out an object in her hand the size of a baseball. She pushed a button in the center and a transparent shield generated out of the object and around her body.

Tony took a couple steps closer and touched it, finding that it held solid. "Looks fine to me," But as he said it the shield fluctuated and flickered out.

"It doesn't have a stable power source," The kid said. "There's something wrong with my calculations."

"Let me see that?" Tony said. This wasn't just some ordinary science fair project. This was technology that was beyond most ordinary scientists. If this girl really had made this, she was at level of intelligence that few people in the world would ever reach. Tony looked over the device and found that it did indeed have evidence of being home made with ordinary materials a person could get at a hardware store but even so, it was extremely well done. "Do you have your calculations written down somewhere?"

The girl took a paper from the back pocket of her jeans. Tony unfolded it and found an equation for balancing the power fluctuations. Again, not something an ordinary teenager should have any clue about. Maybe she didn't though. Maybe a competitor had sent her.

"I think you should adjust this by 32 degrees," Tony said, just to see if she actually knew what she was talking about.

The girl stared at him as if he were nuts. "I'd probably catch on fire if I did that. It can't change by more than ten degrees or the field is unstable."

"Good. So you actually do know this stuff. What's your name kid?"

"Sam. Samantha Denver." She said.

"Well Sam, I have an appointment right now but if you come by Stark tower in two hours, security will let you in and we'll fix that power source, okay?" Tony offered. It wasn't really that he cared to help this kid. He wasn't so heartless that he didn't care either. It was simply that a girl that smart was going to become his competition someday. He couldn't afford to have her grow up hating him. She needed that shield to protect her from whoever was giving her scars and bruises. He had to help or it would come back as bad karma later.

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Two hours later Sam was on her way up the elevator to see Tony Stark. He was gonna figure out pretty quickly she had something to hide. That's why she had taken all these weeks and still been too shy to approach him. How can anyone just walk up to a celebrity and say, "hey you're my father."? Sam had found out three months earlier who her biological father was. She'd been in the attic at her stepdad's house looking for her birth certificate so she could take driver's ed when she'd found some letters written by Aunt Christy to her mom. Most of them were all about Aunt Christy's trip to Italy and then one had just five sentences that told her for the first time the name of her biological father.

"...I can't believe you're pregnant Gina. It was only one night with Tony Stark. Are you going to tell him the baby is his? You should, your baby would well taken care of with all that wealth but I guess then Dan would have to know and he'd probably never forgive you."

That was it. The only clue she'd ever had. Her mom had died just a few months after that letter had been written, just days after she'd been born. Dan had raised Sam and had done so resentfully because he couldn't have children of his own and had known all along that Sam was not his. He was reminded continuously of who she was by her brown eyes and dark hair which were nothing like his blue eyes and blond hair or her mother's red hair and green eyes and he wouldn't let her forget it either. He had hated Sam and had somehow blamed her for her mother's death. If Dan had known her father's name, he'd never told her. Once Sam knew the truth, she couldn't get it out of her mind. She had been going crazy with wanting to meet this man who was her father. She wanted to know if maybe he would accept her when no one else would.

The shield was a genuine project of hers. She had been working on it for over a year as a way to try to defend herself from Dan and his rages but she honestly didn't care if Tony could help her with it or not. She only wanted to meet him. Now that the moment to actually spend time with him had come she found that she was reeling with anxiety.

The elevator doors opened. Sam stepped out and promptly puked all over the floor in front of her.

"Oh shit," Tony mumbled from somewhere across the room. He came to her with a paper bag as she struggled to stand upright and wiped her mouth with the inside of the collar of her shirt.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry Mr Stark…" Sam said, making every effort not to burst into tears.

"If elevators make you sick, maybe you should take the stairs next time. Anyway, I'll get my bots to clean it up." He said.

"Thanks," She mumbled.

"So you brought it?" He asked.

Sam took out the force field generator and passed it to him.

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Sam Denver never stopped being nervous the entire time she was in his lab. Tony figured it probably had something to do with her scars and bruises. She probably didn't trust people in general. He could understand that. It was a little frustrating though because her state of anxiety was keeping her from truly focusing on the project at hand. Sam was exceptionally bright. Her project was well beyond her years and she couldn't seem to think clearly enough to explain how she had made it. She did have the answers, he just had to draw each one out of her like pulling splinters.

At one point Tony reached for a tool at the same moment as Sam reached for a tool. His hand touched hers and she flinched as though she had been bitten.

"Look, Sam, I don't know who gave you the bruises or the scars but I'm not like that. I'm not gonna hurt you." He told her gently.

Sam's eyes met his for a moment and then she just burst into tears. She was crying so hard that she sank down to the floor and hugged her knees in an attempt to hide her face. Crying women and children were not Tony's strong suit and for a moment he was completely at a loss on what to do.

"Okay…" He said with a sigh. "Clearly we're not gonna get anywhere on this shield unless you deal with whatever it is that has you too terrified to focus. So tell me, who gave you the bruise?"

"My stepfather, Dan…" Sam said, struggling to get a hold of herself and get to her feet. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry I bothered you Mr Stark. Maybe I'll be able to figure out the shield for myself eventually." Sam's face was red with shame as she fled the room for the elevator.

As the elevator doors closed Tony looked down and saw an envelope on the floor that had fallen from the back pocket of her jeans. It was addressed to a Gina Denver and postmarked for a date fifteen years earlier. The name on the envelope was familiar but he couldn't quite place it. Then, in spite of it being none of his business, Tony opened the letter. At first it was just drivel about a trip to Italy. Then there were a few lines that actually explained everything that had just happened.

"...I can't believe you're pregnant Gina. It was only one night with Tony Stark. Are you going to tell him the baby is his? You should, your baby would well taken care of with all that wealth but I guess then Dan would have to know and he'd probably never forgive you."

Whether it was true or not, Sam believed he was her father. That's why she had sought him out. That's why she had been so afraid to talk to him for weeks. That's why she had puked all over his carpet. She was worried he wouldn't want her.

"Jarvis," Tony spoke up. "Which one of my bots cleaned up the vomit? I want the residue tested for genetic material."

"Of course Mr Stark," Jarvis replied.

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Sam got sick again on the walk home, all over the sidewalk. She had always been one to puke when she got upset. Dan had always made it worse too. He was waiting for her on the porch when she got home.

"You're late," He said, looking angry.

"Sorry, I got sick…" She said. It was only partially the truth but she hoped it would be enough.

"You're disgusting. Go clean yourself up and get started on dinner. I'm not gonna wait all night."

Sam did as she was told, changing her shirt as quickly as possible, cleaning up, and starting on cooking cheeseburgers.

"Hey brat! Bring me a beer!" Dan called from the living room. Great. He was planning on drinking tonight and he was already in a bad mood. That was never a good sign.

Sam brought him the beer and went back to the burgers.

"Hey brat!" Dan called out a second time. "Get me my slippers!"

Sam went and got him his slippers without a word. She knew by now it was always best to just do what he asked no matter how unreasonable it might happen to be. The rest of the evening was rather uneventful. Sam made the burgers. Served the food. Cleaned up the supper. Brought Dan various items that he demanded of her. Then she locked herself in her room to continue work on her project. She heard Dan start throwing things around the living room an hour later. That was always a bad sign. Any moment now and he would come breaking down her door and attempting to beat the shit out of her for daring to exist. She could turn on the shield but it would only last a few minutes and then he would break through and be more furious than before. She could crawl out a window and try to hide from him but she had no real place to go. She would have to come back eventually. Might as well stay and get it over with.

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"Mr Stark, the test you requested is complete," Jarvis broke Tony from his thoughts some hours later.

"And what was the result?" Tony asked, suddenly alert.

"Samantha Denver is your biological daughter." Jarvis stated.

Tony let out a breath. "I see. Well what can you tell me about her? Does she have social media? A police record? Anything?"

"She has several social media accounts which are used very infrequently. There are a total of forty two friends between them all. As for police records, it seems that Sam made several calls to 911 over the past few years but a police officer was never sent to the scene. Apparently her stepfather Daniel Landon is a police officer himself and each time she made a call, he radioed his fellow officers and told them everything was clear. She has several hospital records with various traumatic injuries not limited to broken bones, burns, and stab wounds. Her mother died a few days after her birth and she has an Aunt living abroad. As for good news, Samantha did win several science awards in her school and already has a university scholarship." Jarvis told him.

"So she doesn't have many friends, she's living in an abusive situation and can't get out, but she won science awards so life is great," Tony said sarcastically. He sighed and got to his feet. "Have my car ready Jarvis. I'm gonna go get her."

He couldn't leave her where she was. The bruise had been disturbing enough when she was just some stranger off the streets but now that she was his daughter there was no way in hell he could leave her to face more of that. He couldn't get out of his mind the way she had flinched and then collapsed into a puddle of tears when he'd touched her hand. No one deserved to be that scared. He was going to end all that. He was going to end it and make her safe.

Tony's driver brought him to the address Jarvis had given them and he got out and went to the front door. The house was a smaller townhouse in a more run down part of the city. So clearly Sam had never known wealth. Tony knocked on the door. A blond man wrenched the door open.

"What do you want?" Dan slurred. Tony couldn't help but notice the blood on his knuckles.

"Where's Sam?" Tony asked, getting straight to the point.

"Why? What do you want with her?" Dan said almost coherently.

Sam appeared in the doorway of a nearby room. There was blood on her lip, tears on her face, vomit on the floor. She was clearly confused as to why Tony was even there.

"What do I want with her? Well, since she's my daughter I want to take her home where she belongs," He said plainly.

Sam gasped and Dan stumbled back a step. Tony expected the man was going to get angry any moment but he only looked confused. "Good…" Dan slurred. "You do that. Good riddance." Dan turned and went to his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

Sam seemed glued to the spot where she stood. "How did you know?"

"You dropped this," Tony held up the letter. "And I had my bots test your puke for DNA...so are you coming or not?"

"You really mean it?" She asked, not quite believing him.

"Yeah. You're not staying here. And if Dan here changes his mind once he's sober I will fight him in court. So grab anything that's important to you and the rest we can buy new." Tony told her.

Sam went into her room and filled a pillowcase with stuff. Then she came back out, crossed the room, and hugged him. "Thank you," She breathed as his arms came around her. He hugged her briefly and then he led her out to the limo.

Sam felt as if she were in a dream. She had never been in a limo before. She had certainly never expected her father would come to her house and take her away. It just wasn't even believable. Dan wasn't going to be able to hurt her again. She must have looked as overwhelmed as she felt because Tony spoke up as the pulled out of the driveway.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. I know it's a big change, but it's gonna be okay." He said.

"It's a big change for you too," Sam pointed out, wondering how he had decided so quickly to come for her.

"I suppose some things will be different," Tony admitted. "I'll actually be able to talk to someone about my projects without having to break things down into easier terms that they can comprehend. I'll have someone to bring to business dinners and not have to explain why Pepper isn't there. Also, my house will be a lot less lonely. So...I'm not really seeing any downsides here."

Sam was more than a little surprised by his words. He wasn't just talking about giving her a bedroom in his house but about actually spending time with her like she mattered. "I'm gonna cost money," She decided to mention.

"Do you have any idea how much money I have?" Tony asked her. "Believe me, I can buy anything you'd ever need or want and however much it costs, you're worth it."

Sam found herself starting to cry again. "I can't believe this is real." She muttered.

Tony smiled a little at that and put his sunglasses back on. "It's real kid...it's real."

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Tony found he was somewhat amused by Sam's huge eyes as he showed her around his house. She had been raised in one of the poorest parts of the city. His home was probably well beyond what she'd ever dreamed of having. The kid was impressed and overwhelmed and excited all at once.

"This is your room," Tony showed her last of all. It was a good room with a king sized bed, attached bath, and walk in closet. The room was probably larger than the entire downstairs of the house she had grown up in.

Sam turned to him with shock on her face. "Are you serious?"

"Perfectly serious," He said, still amused by her reaction.

She entered the room and looked around at things timidly as if she were afraid to touch anything.

"Don't worry about breaking stuff. Everything in here can be replaced." He told her.

Sam stopped in front of a mirror and wiped the blood off of her swollen lip.

"Let me get you some ice for that?" Tony said and he wandered back to the kitchen and filled a ziplock bag with ice.

By the time he returned to Sam she was struggling unwrap an ace bandage underneath her shirt. There was fresh blood all over the bandage.

"What the hell happened here?" He asked, passing her the ice.

"He um...Dan, he whipped me with a belt a couple of days ago." Sam explained. "I just need to get off the bandage...I think some of the cuts are infected." She pulled at the bandage and it stuck to the skin above her hip.

"Shit," Tony said. "Will you let me help you with that or do you intend to tear off all your skin?"

"Not ALL my skin," She replied, "Just the skin in the middle." She tore gently at the fabric and flinched as inch tore free and revealed a wound that was indeed infected.

"We should go to a hospital and get this looked at," Tony said.

"I don't need a hospital. I've done this lots of times," Sam said, tugging at the fabric again.

"Nope. Just nope," Tony crossed the room and grabbed her hand. "Stop doing that. If you're gonna do this yourself you at least need to get the bandage wet so it will pull free easier."

"I know that but I don't have three hands," Sam argued.

"Why would you need three hands?" Tony was growing frustrated with her willingness to hurt herself or at least not care about proper treatment.

"One to hold the bandage, one to hold the water, and one to keep my shirt out of the way." Sam said.

"Then take the fucking shirt off. I'll leave so you can do that. Just don't...don't tear your skin like that. It's not healthy," He told her, worried. He took a step back to leave her to and realized that if it was stuck this badly, she hadn't changed the bandage at her old home either.

"What?" Sam asked him, seeing that he hadn't left yet.

"You were afraid to change your clothes with Dan in the house," Tony said, with realization.

Sam looked down at her feet, jaw trembling as she did so.

"What did he do to you?" Tony asked, dreading to know the answer.

"He said...he said that since I wasn't his real daughter, he could do anything he wanted with me," She said, still shaking. "And only when he was drunk…"

"He was drunk tonight. Did he…?" he had to know.

Sam nodded, her tears falling to the floor.

Tony punched the wall. He couldn't remember feeling so enraged in all his life. He took a deep shuddering breath and turned to Sam. "We need to get you to a hospital."

"I don't want to go to a hospital," Sam whispered.

"I know, but it's for your own good." Tony said.

Three hours later Tony was driving Sam home from the hospital himself. He hadn't bothered with a driver so late at night. Sam was sullenly staring out the window. She hadn't wanted to be at the hospital at all. She hadn't wanted any help with cleaning up her cuts. She hadn't wanted the invasion of a rape hit. He was pretty sure she was angry with him for making her do it. He parked his car and followed her into the house and back to her room.

"Are you gonna ever forgive me for taking you there just now?" Tony asked her from her doorway.

She nodded but didn't say a word to him.

"Goodnight Sam." Tony said, moving away. He'd only gotten a few steps down the hall when she called after him.

"Wait?" Sam sobbed out the word, her voice breaking.

Tony went back and Sam met him in the doorway, throwing her arms around him, she just clung to him sobbing. Tony hugged her gently, knowing that she was probably in pain from all those cuts. The pain didn't seem to bother her. She was clinging to him as tightly as she could and had no intention of letting go anytime soon. So Tony held her for as long as she needed him. It was probably twenty or thirty minutes before she calmed enough to loosen her grip on him. Even then she was still shaken and weak.

"C-can I sleep on the couch in your room?" Sam asked him worriedly.

"Yeah, of course," Tony couldn't even think about saying no. If she needed the security of not being alone, he was willing to share his space.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. She followed him to his room, took the blanket he offered her, and curled up on the sofa. Not five minutes later she was sound asleep.

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When Sam woke up in the morning with her ordinary moment of panic. It was the way she had woken up for years. A gasp of breath, assess her surroundings, look for escape routes, be aware of things that could be used as a weapon...Sam did all that and found herself safe on the sofa at the end of her father's bed. She sat up and tried to calm herself with slower breaths.

"You okay kid?" She heard Tony say and he came and sat down next to her on the sofa.

"Yeah, I always wake up like this. Sorry."

He looked saddened by that. "Hopefully that will change eventually."

"I think it will," Sam said honestly. "I feel safe with you. I can't really remember ever feeling safe before. Maybe I just need to get used to the idea."

"You are safe here," He told her. "I think you know that I would never hurt you. And if I were to ever see Dan again it would be difficult for me to not kill him."

Those words meant a great deal to her. The fact that someone cared about her enough to want to protect her was huge. She didn't know what to say to that so she let the silence lapse.

"Do you...do you remember my mother at all?" Sam asked him after a while.

"Gina Denver? I remember meeting her at a weapons expo. She worked for Hammer. She wasn't the flirty slinky dress sort of woman I went for. She was quiet and observant and smart, kind of like you. I approached her and expected she would say no but for some reason she didn't. The next day we went our separate ways and I never saw her again." Tony said. "I didn't know she was married. I am sorry that it happened that way. Some of the stuff I did back then was pretty stupid."

"I don't think she was sorry." Sam told him.

"How would you know that?" Tony asked, curious.

"I used to email my Aunt Christy. I asked her a lot of questions about my mom. I asked her about my father too. She claimed she couldn't remember his name, only that he was someone wealthy. Anyway, when I got old enough to realize that my mom had been seeing someone else while she was married to Dan, I asked Aunt Christy about that too. I wanted to know how she could do that and still be a good person." Sam reached for a tablet on the bedside stand and pulled up her email account. She logged in and searched to the email from her aunt. "This is what she told me."

Sam got up off the couch and moved towards the door. "I'm gonna go try and change these bandages, okay?"

Tony nodded, barely taking his eyes off the tablet.

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Dear Sam,

I wish I had the perfect answer for all your questions but I don't. First of all, as I've told you in the past, I would be a terrible guardian for you. I have a problem with alcohol and just when I think I've beaten it, it comes back to haunt me. If you need money I will send it to you and if I can answer questions, I will answer them. That's all I can do.

As for your question about your mom's affair, I don't think you're being fair to her. You've seen for yourself how charming Dan can be when he wants to be. Gina fell for his charm. After they were married two years he finally told her that he couldn't have kids. Gina was devastated but she tried for another year to stay with him in spite of the fact that he had lied to her. They did nothing but fight for that entire year. Sometimes Dan got violent with her. I tried to convince her to leave him but she wouldn't do it. She thought she needed him to love her and she couldn't make herself leave. When your mother met your father she was in a dark place, the darkest she had ever been. She called me after that night and told me she was thinking of leaving Dan. That she had spent a night with someone who reminded her what it was like to feel special for the first time in a very long time. We wrote a few letters and then she did leave Dan. For seven months of pregnancy she was safe from him and she was happy. Your father gave her the courage to end something she might have never done without him.

After you were born Dan showed up at the hospital and claimed you were his. He was still her husband and no one questioned it. I was in a rehab facility at the time but as soon as I got out I tried to come and take you. Dan wouldn't allow it. A year later I had a relapse anyway so I wouldn't have been any help to you. Please promise me that you'll do what I said and call the state police directly next time you need help. Don't call 911. Dan will just send his people away over the radio. Until next time, be safe.

Aunt Christy.

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"So did you do like your Aunt said? Did you ever call the state police?" Tony asked Sam over breakfast.

"I tried twice. Dan realized what I was doing and knocked me out before I could make the call both times. I figured it wasn't worth getting a concussion over. I was better off to just try to keep him happy and take what I got...I stopped writing to Aunt Christy after that too. I was mad at her for not helping me. I would have rather lived with a harmless drunk Aunt than with Dan any day but she didn't care enough to realize that…"

"I can't say that I blame you there." he wasn't too happy with Aunt Christy either.

"Maybe I should write to her now and tell her that I'm away from Dan and safe now." Sam said reluctantly.

"That's up to you." Tony said,

"Can I ask you something?" Sam asked after a moment.

"Sure."

"What am I supposed to call you?" Sam was a little worried about asking.

"I guess whatever you're comfortable with is fine," he shrugged.

"So...it's okay if I call you Dad?"

"It's good with me." Tony told her.

Sam smiled a little at that. They finished their breakfast and got up with plans to go shopping. Tony wanted Sam to have better clothes and whatever other items she might need. They spent all day out. Between the shopping, the food, and the movie they went to see, it was evening before they made it back to the house again. Tony helped Sam carry her purchases to her room. She set to work putting things away, yawning all the while, and Tony stood in the doorway, unsure what to do next.

"You gonna sleep on my couch again?" He finally asked her.

"Can I?" She asked, a little worried.

"Of course kid, if it helps."

"It does." She said.

Ten minutes later Sam showed up a Tony's room with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. He was already sitting on the couch waiting for her. Sam came into the room and sat down next him. She looked exhausted and happy. Tony reached over and put an arm around her and she responded with a sigh and leaned closer to him, letting her head rest against his chest. Tony put both arms around her and she closed her eyes. A few minutes passed in peaceful silence and he was almost sure that she had fallen asleep if not for the fact that she suddenly squeezed him a little tighter.

"Dad?" She said quietly, almost a whisper.

"Hmm?" Tony was getting fairly sleepy himself.

"I love you."

The words stunned him almost as much as the realization that he felt the same way as she did. "I love you too kid." He told her.

"No one has ever said that to me before." She said, her tears starting to soak through his shirt.

"Not ever?" Tony tried to imagine what it must have been like to live fifteen years and never be told you're loved. "Then you're gonna have to hear it pretty often to make up for that. I love you Sam. I love you."

Sam sighed contentedly against him, completely relaxed. "Wait…" She said, suddenly pulling away. "I know how to fix the shield. I was off by eight degrees…"

"That's right," Tony said.

"You knew all along?" Sam asked him.

"I did, but I knew you could figure it out for yourself," He told her.

She smiled. "I'm gonna go fix it right now." Sam got up and ran off to the lab. Tony went to bed. He doubted she would be back any time soon. She was too much like him and would probably be lost in her project for hours before realizing how late it had gotten. When she was finished she would probably come back and sleep on his couch but even if she didn't do that, even if she took her shield and went to her room, he would at least get to see her smiling face again in the morning.