Author's Note: Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update. I got carried away with other things and the motivation for this story just kind of died as I don't have my Marvel movies on hand to watch whenever I feel the motivation dying down.
Thank you for staying with me though through my writers block! The next chapter should actually be up by next week since I already have half of it written.
Enjoy chapter three though!

Chapter Three

"I'm sorry. You're my what?" Tony stares at me, his pupils wide. I knew it. I knew he wouldn't believe me.

"Your daughter. Michelle Schwarz is my mother," I reply to him, trying to hold onto the tiny thread of hope that was still surging through my body. Surely I looked like my mother though. Wouldn't that be enough to convince Tony that I'm his daughter? Unless he's forgotten what she looks like, which wouldn't surprise me.

"No, I don't have children. If I did, I would know," Tony then starts to laugh, shaking his head which wounds me. What part of this was funny? "Look, I have other business to tend to, so if you don't mind," he then suddenly stands up, walking around the table towards me with an arm outstretched towards the door.

"You've got to believe me though!" I cry as I stand up, backing away from him and the door. There was no way I was going to leave this room without him believing me. I won't have it.

"And I don't. I have plenty of kids coming in here claiming to be my children. So, get out before I call security, and have you forcibly removed," he sighs, folding his arms before leaning against his desk. Wait. More kids come in here and claim to be his? What was I thinking? Of course he's not going to believe me now. I need birth certificates and everything else. There's no way he's going to believe me without any evidence. Unless…

"No. You and my mother spent a night together at your 29th birthday party, can't you remember?" I plead, watching his movements in case he does call for security. I had to use all the seconds I have left.

"Do you watch the news? I spend a lot of nights with a lot of different women. Plus, I'm always sure to use protection so mistakes like you don't happen. Now, I'm going to give you five seconds to get out of my office," he then rolls his eyes, not taking this situation seriously. I'm pretty sure I just look like a pathetic little girl in his eyes now, but it was extremely nice of him to call me a mistake.

"But you have to believe me," I frown, about to continue the story my mom told me about her fling with Tony before he reaches over the desk and pushes a button. No doubt to call security. "All right, all right. I'm going. Sorry I wasted your time," sighing, I walk towards the door and out before his security team have the time to burst into his office. There was no point in trying. I could repeat all the stories from my mother, yet I now know none of them would convince him. I needed evidence. On paper. Otherwise nobody would ever believe me. Sure, the newspaper would have a field day with what I could tell them, but I wasn't selfish enough to do that to Tony.

"Have a nice day," the lady behind the desk calls out to me as I make my way to the elevator. Ugh. Seems like Tony ever hires people with the same attitude as him. Always rude to the people that have no use to him.

In the elevator, I think about my options. I don't have many of them at the moment, but I do know that since I'm 19, I'm responsible for myself now. I don't have to worry about being put into an orphanage or worry about who my legal guardian will be. The only thing I have to worry about now is money. I don't have a job, I'm fresh out of school with a good-looking resume, but I doubt anyone would take me unless I went to university and studied a good course. I guess I could always start there. Go to university first and then just - *ding*

The elevator doors open with their usual tone, making me jump back to reality. It was only now that I realise that the elevator had gone up instead of down. As they open completely, the air is sucked from my lungs. Standing there on the other side of the elevator, laughing like there's no tomorrow is Steve Rogers and Thor Odinson in the flesh and blood. When they spot me standing there, the laughter instantly dies down.

"Oh, I didn't think the elevator would've already been occupied," Steve looks at me, confusion crossing his face.

"I uh, just went to see Mr. Stark," I squeak out, slightly intimidated by the size of these men as they step into the elevator. I thought the elevator would've gone straight down and not up. I mean, usually they always go down instead of up if you press the down button. Unless they have some sort of key that summons the elevator no matter where it is. Rude.

"That's fine. We're just heading to the gym," Steve replies as the doors close again. Of course they'd be heading to the gym. What else would they be doing with their free time? The Avengers need to stay bulked up anyway. You don't just grow muscles by sitting on the couch all day long.

It didn't take long for the elevator to make its way down and the two men had left me as quickly as they joined me. Which was fine with me. I didn't really have the energy to talk to anybody. All I wanted to do was to find a nice, cheap place to spend the night so that I can head back home tomorrow fully refreshed.

After the two superheroes had left the elevator and I was all by myself, I start thinking about my plans again. When I said I was fresh out of high school, I don't mean that I finished a few weeks ago. I actually finished last year. It was my decision to take a gap year. I wanted to explore my options a little more before getting sucked into the real world. I wanted a bit of freedom before I headed off to university, but now that's all gone downhill. My mother is now dead, my father doesn't believe me when I claim to be his daughter and I have no idea where I can stay until I head to university. That university being the University of California. It wasn't my first choice, but they were the first to get back to me and Harvard was way out of my league. Not that I wanted to study anything special anyway.

Sighing, I look around the streets. All I can do now is head to the nearest hotel and then head back home, wherever that now is, tomorrow. The only thing I could possibly do was grab my stuff from the house and move into an apartment somewhere and see how long I can manage living in the apartment before struggling to pay the bills.

It doesn't take me long to find a hotel and get a room to settle in for the night. There was no doubt that I would be spending the next few weeks in a hotel room. Whether the hotel was here or in California, it would be a hotel. Just until I get myself sorted out though and find a place to stay permanently.

Once I walk into the room I've booked for the night, my phone suddenly goes off in my pocket, making me jump. Sighing softly, I take my phone out and look at the caller ID, surprised to see Lily's name on the screen.

"Lily?" I ask in disbelief as I answer the phone.

"Hey Ashlee! How are you? I haven't heard from you in a while. I was starting to get worried about you," her voice comes through the phone, making me smile. It was true. It had been a while since I had contacted Lily.

"Hey, yeah, I'm good. I'm okay I guess. I'm sorry I haven't made contact lately. Things have been pretty hectic around here lately. How's uni?" I reply to her, trying to stay calm throughout it all.

"Oh, uni is amazing. I still can't believe you're not here with me. We'd be having such a ball if you did!" She laughs, and I can imagine her shaking her head while she's at it. "We'd be getting drunk and having fun with all of these good-looking men. Really though, they're actually men. There's no room here for boys. It's heaven!"

I laugh softly at the statement, trying to cover up my emotions. How can I possibly think about getting drunk when my mom just died because of alcohol, "yeah, yeah that does sound great. Ugh, what I'd do to get laid right now."

"Nice try, liar. I can hear it in your voice. There's no way you agree with me on that," Lily laughs again and I sigh. That was the good thing about Lily and I. We knew when the other one was lying, and that came in handy every now and then. Although, now I wish she didn't know me all that well.

"Sorry, Lil, I guess I'm just tired and alcohol just doesn't appeal to me right now," I give in, looking around the room. It wasn't too big, but it wasn't too small either. It was just right, but boy did it stink or what.

"Tired? That doesn't sound like you. What's going on?" Lily asks, concern raising in her voice.

"I, um… I'm in New York," I frown, sitting on the armrest of the couch.

"You're what?! What the hell, Ash, your mum would never let you leave California! What did you do to escape her?"

"Lily… she's…she's dead..," I groan and let myself slide onto the couch. Lily will find out sooner or later anyway about my mom. Might as well just tell her now while I'm on the other side of the country and miles away from a friend and a hug.

"Ha. Nice try. Try again," Lily scoffs and I sigh, rubbing my face with my free hand.

"Mom got drunk," frowning, I decide to tell Lily the whole story of what happened last night. I leave out no detail, and as soon as eleven o'clock came around, I tell Lily that I'm tired and that I want to go to bed. She hesitantly agrees and says goodnight, making me promise to call her again when I get the next chance. After that, I get up and make my way to the bedroom.

As soon as I collapsed onto the bed, I could feel the fatigue taking over. It had after all been an eventful past few days. Sleeping wasn't really on the planner either. Worrying about where I would stay and what I would do was keeping me up and alert at every second. Though the sleep didn't take over my body, instead tears did. They had piled themselves within me, threating to spill, and now they were.

Everything hit me at once. My mother is dead. My father doesn't even know that I exist and doesn't believe me. My house is a crime scene and is off limits, and I have nowhere to go. My whole life I thought I had it all, and now that's all been torn away from me within a matter of hours.

I continue to cry, grabbing a pillow to try to comfort myself. I couldn't even ask Google to help me through my life.