"Dad, I saw your press conference." said Darcy. She lay in the camper, watching the 8-inch television screen flicker with reporters scrambling. It was a replay from earlier in the day, when her brilliant, genius of a father decided to nix his company's main product. She'd called her dad later that evening, figuring she had the best chance then of him not being surrounded by reporters.

"So? What did you think? The camera add the normal ten pounds?" he said.

"Dunno, depends on how many you lost while you were in a goddamn cave." she said. Tony smiled, then winced. Those were facial muscles that hadn't gotten a lot of use in three months.

"So, what do you think?" he said. He was serious. Darcy sighed and ran a hand through greasy hair,

"So you didn't tell me about this when we last talked six hours ago because…?"

"Because I didn't know I wanted to do it until we touched down."

"So this was a super-duper well thought-out thing. Dad, you do know you're totally fucking with my inheritance, right?"

"I've got something in the works. Something good." said Tony under his breath. Darcy sat up on her bed,

"What's going on?"

"I can't tell you."

"Dad, c'mon. You have told me all kinds of things I had no business knowing and now you're going to clam up?"

"Look, I'm sorry baby. I have to play this one a little closer to chest." he said. He didn't want to say that, but something was wrong. Something in his gut said that something was very wrong here. The last thing he wanted to do was tell Darcy something that would get her hurt. Darcy flopped back down with a frustrated sigh,

"I don't like you keeping secrets from me any more than you like me keeping them from you."

"Well hey, tell me everything I ever wanted to know and maybe I'll talk."

"Tommy Hughes, I was seventeen. Now spill."

"Wh—HEY! Hey, what—no, no—really? Tommy? Did I ever—was he the kid who played ukulele?"

"He played bass, Dad."

"Whatever. Regardless, he is wildly not up to par for you and I would just like to say that—"

"Dad. Stop stalling."

"Darcy," he pinched the bridge of his nose, "as horrifying as that brief interlude into the past was, I still can't tell you. You know I want to, but—"

"Yeah, yeah. Listen, I'm glad you're back. Just promise," he heard her draw a deep breath on the other end, "promise me that you'll at least try to keep the danger to a minimum."

"I promise." Even as he said it, Tony knew it was a lie. There was nothing safe about his plan. He heard a clatter on Darcy's end, "What was that?" A girlish giggle in the background and Darcy said,

"Jane just got back from stargazing, and it sounds like she used the bottom of the bottle for a telescope. I'm going to go put my second favorite scientist to bed. G'night Dad. Be safe. Say hi to Pepper and Happy and JARVIS for me."

"I will. G'night Darcy." he waited until he heard her disconnect, "I love you."

Hundreds of miles away, Darcy whispered into her disconnected phone, "Love you, dad." She threw the phone onto her bed and walked into the bathroom, pulling back Jane's hair as the brunette barfed into the toilet.