Author's Note: This is a slow build to Steve, the reason being is that I want to flesh her out as a character and truly create her as a tangible and believable person. Also, her friendship with Tony is very important to build. This will go from the events of Iron Man 2, onwards. Thank you!

The American Dream

Chapter 2: Bunny Beginnings

December 26, 2010

When she imagined working for Tony Stark, this wasn't quite what she had in mind. She wasn't given the title of 'personal assistant' because it seemed too early to be called that. She was merely a gatekeeper. She documented who went in with Mr. Stark and who came out, and with what. If she wasn't so into tabloid magazines, she would have been appalled at how many models Tony slept with.

Today was her anniversary and she had been forced to stay under for the graveyard shift as someone had plans. It didn't matter if she had plans because, the others had seniority. Benjamin had been furious over the fact that she had to cancel their usual plans of movie and dinner over her job. But no matter how shitty her job was, it paid the bills. And more importantly allowed her to study. Since MIT was a bit far from her at the moment, Miss Potts had mentioned that she should do online classes to get something in the meantime.

Miss Potts was a gem; her no nonsense attitude reminded Tess of her grandmother. She was beautiful, intelligent, and graceful and everything that Tess wanted to be when she grew up. More importantly, Miss Potts heard spoke to her and listened. The blonde and her had become quick friends as Tess found herself talking about her family and more about her. Miss Potts knew how much Tess needed her job and how much it meant to be employed. Pepper knew her background and her heart of gold had decided to fund some sort of education for her. At the moment, Tess knew that her choices were limited; but more importantly, it allowed her to have something that she enjoyed. Her grandfather had always had a love for World War II (his father had fought valiantly), thus inspiring a joy for history. As she began her classes, she figured she was young enough to try a bit of everything. Thus her humanities major began with no money out of pocket. These were some benefits that she couldn't help but be relieved over.

Mulling over the answer for her quiz, her thought process was interrupted by high-pitched giggling. As the elevator doors swung open, she already knew what was coming out of it. Tony sauntered to the doors of the next elevators with two beautiful models in each arm. It astounded her how they allowed themselves to be part of this game, and more importantly how Tony didn't get tired of it.

As they began to just compliment him, Tess pretended not to listen, instead tried to remember what was the name of the general in charge of ground soldiers during the Normandy invasion.

"Oh Bunny?"

Tess winced knowing that he was calling her over. He tended to throw nicknames her way in part because it annoyed her, and another because it amused him. Bunny sprung from the way her nose crinkled when she was annoyed, or working very hard. The moment he had said it aloud, she reacted, and in that moment she knew it had stuck.

"Yes Mr. Stark?"

"It's Viscount Bernard Montgomery."

Those were his famous last words before the elevator doors closed. Tess cursed and typed in the answer only to get it right. This was not her dream anniversary at all, but it was just one sacrifice that she had to make. As she rubbed her temples, she muttered to herself "One step at a time" over and over again until she continued her work once more.

December 31, 2010 – 10:00pm

The party was in full swing; the people around him were chatting him nonstop about what the New Year would bring their way. No matter how many ways they would phrase it, it was pretty clear they meant money. And this didn't bother Tony Stark one bit; he too wanted that. Money, parties, success, more adventures. This was the life and he knew his life was perfect.

As he moved through the sea of people, he saw Pepper chatting up with the date she had brought. This didn't bother him one bit, that's what he told himself. Especially when he had gone to Brown University, psh, it was no MIT. Nursing his brandy, something caught his eye through the glass door.

There was Bunny: he didn't quite remember her name after so many times of calling her Bunny. The way she was skittish, and always looked afraid of the world reminded him so much of the furry animal that he couldn't help but call her that. He knew that Brendan had called out saying that he would be taking a paid day off. He was more than happy to give the man much. But Bunny had stayed, and didn't even bother to ask for the day like everyone else. Instead she had stocked the bar full of alcohol, cleaned the penthouse, and made sure everyone had an invitation. He knew that it was because Pepper hadn't asked for the day and had worked her full shift that had kept her, the girl was loyal to Pepper.

Pepper in turn was very loyal to the girl herself. She spoke nothing but praises for the young lady and would constantly tell him she had potential for something great. She had better have, considering a Stark grant had been funding her classes recently. He pretended not to notice, but JARVIS had clearly explained it to him. Tony didn't mind, after all, the kid was alright.

At the moment she was packing up her things from her desk. She was out for the day it seemed. Something told him to go over there, just have a quick conversation with Bunny to see what she was up to. She seemed caught up in her world, putting that blue notebook in that satchel like she did every night. He didn't know what was in it, but he was a curious person and he couldn't help but wonder.

"Heading out are we?" He called out as he leaned against the frame.

As usual, she jumped and turned to look at him wide-eyed before relaxing slightly. She needed to work on her reflexes, at least in Tony's opinion. Soon her posture went to its normal stance and she smiled shyly at him. No matter how stressed she was, there was always a smile on her face, sometimes forced but never missing. He liked that in the kid.

"Did you need something Mr. Stark?"

"You didn't answer my question Bunny"

She lowered her gaze at his nickname for her and nodded.

"Yes Mr. Stark, I'm heading home"

"No plans for New Years? It's a great city to be in, why not ring in the New Year with a bang?"

She laughed softly and rubbed her arm nervously. "Well, Mr. Stark, I'll be heading home and watching the ball drop with my family and my boyfriend. Like I do every year"

"Boyfriend?" he repeated intrigued. "Who's your ball and chain? What does he do?"

She laughed softly and began to say a few things about her boyfriend. It was clear she cared for him, for whatever reason they were clearly monogamous. His career was boring from what Tony could guess. Either way, it seemed right for Bunny, a normal boyfriend for a boringly normal girl.

"Good for you Bunny. Now get out of here before we drag you in there"

"I'm only nineteen Mr. Stark, I'm not old enough to go drink"

"Right….so kids these days don't break the rules" he teased.

She shook her head and giggled.

"I don't Mr. Stark. I like following the rules"

"JARVIS will take you home, just take the car there."

"But Mr. Stark-"

"You won't get home on time in this traffic. It's my gift to you for New Years"

"Mr. Stark….thank you" she said shyly.

"Oh and here!" Tony found himself taking out his checkbook and writing something quickly on it. As he ripped it from the leather-encased checkbook, he noticed her confusion. Handing it over he smiled brightly.

Tess didn't really know how to feel as he did this to her. Staring down at the check she couldn't help but re-read the amount. Five thousand? Why?

"W-why Mr. Stark?" she asked confused.

"You're a good kid, maybe it'll pay for a little thing here or there for you. Maybe a car?"

Her eyes watered in a way that made Tony uncomfortable. Tears in a woman's eyes weren't correlated to something good, but as the young girl launched herself on him and hugged him tightly, he figured that he hadn't done something terrible.

"You don't understand what this means Mr. Stark, this will help out my family so much" she murmured against his very expensive suit.

"Or you can spend it on yourself" he teased as he hugged her briefly before pulling back. "Maybe a few more dresses? Not that I like the yellow dress, but once a month is enough don't you think?"

She blushed hotly at his comment and nodded.

"P-perhaps something small for me"

"Here" another ripped check was sent her way. "Just to look a bit more…professional."

"I….Thank you" she breathed out. "You're amazing Mr. Stark"

As she looked at him excitedly, she gave him a thousand watt smile before rushing out. Somehow that grin had made him lose five thousand dollars.

"She's cute right?" Pepper said from behind him.

"Adorably so, remind me not to have my checkbook around her" he waved as he walked back to the party.

"Surely there are worse things you could use your money on" she teased.

An hour later….

"Thank you JARVIS" she said softly to the voice in the car before rushing towards her house.

It was eleven o'clock and JARVIS has magically avoided all traffic. She never knew what to expect from Mr. Stark, but he was definitely a good boss…well on certain days. At the moment all that mattered was her getting to her family as quick as possible. Opening the door to her house, she took a deep breath taking in all the smells coming from the kitchen. She knew that it was as going to be a good New Year. The volume was all the way up on the television as her brothers chatted over one another with their girlfriends around them, but as they heard the door click behind them, they all turned.

"You made it querida!" Her grandmother said relieved before pulling her into a hug.

Tess hummed in agreement before hugging her tightly. No amount of glamor or party that was at Mr. Starks home would live up to her family's get together. As they began to catch each other on their days, Tess walked towards the other room where her grandfather was reading a book. Of everyone, he was always the quiet one of them all. Knocking on the opened door, her grandfather looked up and smiled lovingly at his only granddaughter.

"Grandpa, I was let free" she laughed.

"That Mr. Stark didn't yell at you for leaving early?" he said already getting annoyed at the mention of the man.

"No" she laughed softly. "He actually gave me something for you guys. He said it was for the work I do"

Bending down, she sat on the ground and looked through the pockets of her coat for was she was looking for. Smiling softly, she turned to her grandfather and handed the check to him, she could tell that he wasn't' expecting it. Looking at her once more he shook his head.

"We cannot possibly take this, it's too much. We don't need it"

"We do papa," she said grabbing his hand in hers, "imagine what we could do with the shop. Maybe some new tools or something…Mr. Stark has money to throw around and he said it was just a little something for me. Please take it, it will help us out."

She knew his pride stopped him from immediately taking it, but she was going to make sure he did so. They needed it, money wasn't flowing in as much as they would like and it would help.

"One day, I'll pay him back for it " she said softly. "He's a good man"

"Ay, he is, but we are not a charity case"

"No, we're not." she replied before hugging her grandpa. "He said this was for my work, and I want this for you. Plus, it's just for now, one day I won't be under his salary"

He laughed then and hugged her. That moment was when she knew she had won him over.

"Tess! Benji is here" her grandmother called out.

"Go meet him, I'll be out in a minute" her grandfather murmured.

"I love you" she replied before rushing to meet her boyfriend.

As soon as they all greeted one another and caught up, they found themselves spending the rest of the night eating, laughing and singing along with the radio. It wasn't as spectacular or as glamorous as she saw at Stark Tower, but it was something that she loved. Leaning against her boyfriend as they watched the ball drop felt perfectly right. As he moved down to kiss her, she knew this was a good start for 2011.

Meanwhile, in Manhattan a Tony Stark took in the New Year with a bang, with fireworks, a fiery kiss and a quick romp in the sheets with a model. Two very different New Years indeed.

…..

February 14, 2011

She had not seen Mr. Stark in a month. Claiming that he was tired with the cold, he had flown to his Malibu home and had given her paid leave for a month. She didn't exactly know how to feel about it, but as the checks came in and Pepper reassured her it was normal, Tess took it in stride.

With the money given by Mr. Stark, Tess had managed to do a lot with it. Her family updated the auto repair shop and hired more hands to help. It seemed that it had made a difference as more people were coming in. As for Tess herself, she had found that shopping came a long way with the money he had given her. She had bought herself a new coat, new snow boots, and all different outfits to make her feel more of a professional.

Working for Mr. Stark was a very unique experience. He was careless and caring at the same time. It made no sense to those that didn't work with the man but this was the case. He was careless in where his money went, he exaggerated the portions of food he would need for a party, he would procrastinate the documents that needed his signature, and he would blame others for his shortcomings. It annoyed Pepper to no end, and in turn it annoyed Tess. There were many times she was yelled at for things he forgot to sign and in turn she never mailed out.

But then the other side of the coin came in his philanthropy work. He funded her educational endeavors (all thanks to Pepper) but she had a feeling he knew all about it. He always asked questions about his older employees' families and how they were. He remembered the most useless information about a person, yet forgot their birthdays. This man was an enigma that caused her to admire him all the more.

Today he had asked her to come in. It seemed that he had been there for two weeks and had locked himself in his office working on something that she had no clue over what. But Pepper had been given vacation with her boyfriend thus making Tess stuck with him.

Flashback…

"Mmm…Hello?" a half-asleep Tess answered.

"Oh did I wake you Bunny?"

It took her a while to realize who it was and she immediately shot up on her bed.

"Mr. Stark! Good Morning! I-I didn't know you had been back. Did you need anything?"

"Did the bed sheets get stuck or something? Did you forget?"

"Forget?"

"I needed you to come in today. I told you that Pepper is gone so I need you to take her place while she's gone. Jeesh Bunny, didn't know you don't listen."

"Mr. Stark, I haven't heard from you since last month when you decided to head back to Malibu?"

A pause on the other side of the phone.

"Did I do that thing when I thought I told you but didn't?"

"Yes Mr. Stark."

"Ah….well sorry about that Bunny. Can you come in? I….YES I'm on the phone!" he cleared his throat before starting to whisper once more. "I might need your assistance on…something"

Tess winced already imagining what this meant. Pepper had told her stories of his tendencies to not be good at saying bye to these women. She sighed.

"There's only so much hiding I can do now Bunny. Hurry up!"

"Yes Mr. Stark"

As he hung up, Tess aloud to herself to actually complain, it was one of those days that Mr. Stark had a pretend conversation about his plans. She hated when he did that. She was half tempted to call Miss Potts and beg her to come back. She began to dial, that is until she remembered how tired Miss Potts looked after working a long night. Sighing, she ended the call; it wasn't worth bothering her.

Rolling out of bed she forced herself into a pair of jet-black pants and a red blouse with a black lace top underneath. She wasn't going to bother with any dresses or anything that kept her from getting to Mr. Stark. She threw a pair of heels in her backpack and slapped on her pair of tennis shoes before rushing out of the house. She was in the middle of attempting to button her blouse, and at the same time trying to shut the door, when she looked up for a moment to see a black car. It was when she relaxed; JARVIS was driving, meaning she had enough time to prep herself.

As she opened the door, a voice caught her attention.

"Tess! Hold up!" She was surprised to see her boyfriend rushing over to her.

She noticed that he took notice of her outfit. Her hair was curled down, she was half naked rushing into a black car without even thinking about him. He was a bit annoyed; she could tell by the way his face scrunched.

"Where are you going?" he said trying to take a peek into the car.

"To work?" she said confused.

She was a bit frustrated herself at the fact he interrupted her getaway. She had one foot in the car, yet her hands firmly on the car door. It was clear that this was not the response he was expecting.

"Whose car is that? Why are you going?"

"Oh Mr. Stark sent JARVIS to pick me up. He wanted me in early."

"And you're going?"

She tilted her head confused at his comment.

"Of course I am, he called me. It's my job" she murmured.

"Oh….I see…" this was not the tone she was expecting. He sounded very bitter and she knew he was biting back a witty retort.

"Did you need something?" she asked.

"No, no" he shook his head, "Just…nothing…are you coming back late?"

"I don't know" she replied honestly.

He didn't even bother giving her a goodbye kiss or any sort of farewell. She froze for a second wondering what went wrong. She almost called out to him, that is until that familiar voice interrupted her actions.

"Miss Holmes, Mr. Stark is waiting for you"

She nodded and slid into the car. This wasn't the time to think about her personal life, she had a job to do, and this was not going to wait any longer. As she closed the car behind her and it took off, she began to talk to him more casually, forgetting about Benjamin in just a few moments.

"Good Morning JARVIS, I wasn't expecting you here" she commented while attempting to put on makeup.

Thankfully, the machine had enough decency to slide a mirror down allowing her a better look. As she began to put on her makeup JARVIS began the quickest route to the building.

Once they reached it, she managed to look acceptable enough, she slid out of the car and immediately walked through the halls of Stark Towers. Her heels clacked loudly down the nicely tiled floor. She greeted the doormen, and slid her security key on the reader before sliding up the elevator. Reaching the penthouse, she quickly, put in the passcode before the doors of his private penthouse opened.

She had only been there during her orientation with Miss Potts and it had been spotless. This was not what she saw the moment she walked in. For one thing, clothes were thrown everywhere, empty alcohol bottles were casually tipped over and she knew this was a mess she would have to clean up. Sighing she already felt a headache rising.

"Might as well start," she murmured softly to herself before taking out a trash bag and beginning to clean.

This was disgusting, and a bit humiliating if she was honest with herself. If her grandmother had found out about the things she was doing at work, she would have pulled her out of it.

"Oh I didn't know he had a cleaning lady"

That stopped Tess right in her tracks, turning around she noticed a blonde in a burgundy top staring at her amused. She immediately noticed that the woman was tall, around 5'9, had long beautiful hair that looked like gold, even bed hair seemed to fall in place. It was almost insulting how beautiful this woman was. But as her green eyes judged Tess, she knew immediately she hated her.

"He does, her name is Liza, and she comes in every Thursday."

"Then what are you his, wipe off girl?"

The snap in the woman's tone made Tess drop all the things on the ground. She was rarely angry but at that moment she was so embarrassed to be there. Where the hell was Mr. Stark?! Had he just left her to clean his place?

"Mr. Stark would not like it if you spoke to Miss Holmes that way" JARVIS' voice rung out the room.

Tess felt a brief moment of relief realizing that she wasn't totally alone. JARVIS might be a machine, but in all honesty she had grown to like him like a friend that she enjoyed talking to. She had so many questions about artificial life and how Mr. Stark managed with JARVIS.

It was clear that her job was to kick her out. Taking a deep breath she took the moment of confusion to make the woman realize what she was here for.

"Mr. Stark has asked me to clean up, that includes you Miss…"

"Braxton" she hissed angrily already realizing where this was going. "And I'm not going, my things aren't ready"

"Actually they are" JARVIS replied having a robot hand her the clothing from the previous night.

"Everything you need is there, along with a complimentary gift card from American Express to get yourself something nice. Please have a nice day"

Before the woman began to curse at her, JARVIS began to blow the wind towards the woman, pushing her out the door. Tess was shaking in nerves over what she had done.

"Not bad"

She turned to see Mr. Stark popping his head into the living room, checking if the coast was clear. She glared at the older man at how cowardly he was at the moment.

"I want a raise Mr. Stark!" she blurted out purely out of sheer frustration. This was mortifying. "This is not in my job description"

"First thing you said? Done" he walked into the room in a casual Rolling Stones shirt, and a pair of dirty jeans, "for the second thing, I disagree. If you work with Pepper, things carry over to you, and you know that"

"….I'm not cleaning this up" she added trying not to pout.

But he just shrugged not really minding it.

"That's fine, I just needed you for that, you can go home I guess? I'll be downstairs working on something."

She almost wanted to take him up on that offer that is until she realized this was her moment. The thought of having some time to actually see his work, work that she admired…. well she could at least ask.

"Mr. Stark? May I…may I see your lab?"

That wasn't what he was expecting, it was clear from the way he turned around to face her. He seemed curious as to what she wanted, was this actually for interest? Or was she being nosy?

"Why?"

He wasn't necessary scoffing at her, which was a relief for her, but he was actually intrigued. His eyes looked at the expression on her face as she continued.

"Well…" she flushed slightly, "I am a fan, and well, um…I read your article on MIT Technology Review, about your thought about going into renewable energy, and I read about how you took interest in using the same science for weapons of war to do more humanitarian work. I find that astounding considering that the debris in weapons, could potentially end the wars of course, but more importantly find different outlets in growing from the casualties. In fact I-"

"You read the MIT Technology Review?" was all he got from that rant of hers.

She merely nodded shyly.

"You build?" His tone went up showing his clear interest.

"Sometimes" she replied, looking away. "I-uh, most of the things I try and build are from an auto shop, I don't have the resources to be honest"

When he said nothing for a few minutes, she had feared that he had either tuned out or basically deemed her unworthy of going into his workshop. Taking a deep breath she figured she could pretend that the conversation never happened, turning to face him, she realized he was gone.

"Aren't you coming?" He popped his head back in and grinned.

"O-oh yes!"

Rushing over to catch up she couldn't believe that she had her shot at making an impression. She grabbed her bag tightly, unwilling to let it go, as they went up the elevator and towards his workspace. Walking into his lab, she never really knew what to expect, but the moment he lead her to the large space, she knew that this was her Disneyland. The lights appeared to shoot from the machines and JARVIS began to throw dating onto the screens as more things began to come to life.

"Wow" she breathed out.

"I know" he said cockily.

Turning to look at him, it was clear that she was so appreciative. He knew he had done the right thing by letting her come to his sanctuary. Piper was usually the only one allowed in, but something told him that Bunny had something under her sleeves.

"So…what's in that bag that you're holding so tightly?" he asked curiously.