Sorry for the long time between updates!

Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Man.


To say the next few days were hard would be an understatement. Pepper was trying to control the damage the attack had caused on the Stark Industries stock while Natalie, as dad's new PA, was giving statements to the press about how Iron Man is still a national hero and will continue to protect people no matter how many attacks on his life are attempted. They were both working extremely hard but the only person who could correct the situation was dad who was spending most of his time in the garage doing god knows what. There were even more paparazzi camped outside the gates than when we left, all of them waiting for him to emerge. So for the foreseeable future I was remaining inside the mansion as was dad, although everyone was trying to change that. Pepper and Natalie were desperately trying to convince dad to go out and talk to the press but he was having none of that. Even Rhodey came around to speak to dad but he emerged from the garage looking defeated and concerned. I asked him what dad had said to him but he didn't say much besides that dad wasn't going out to speak to the press.

In between the late nights and numerous phones, I had my first official meeting with Natalie. I had been sitting in my PJ's in the kitchen, eating left over pizza when I had heard the clacking of heels against the tiles. I looked up, hoping to see Pepper joining me for a snack but instead Natalie came through the door.

"Miss Stark," she said in a very professional tone. "I thought I should properly introduce myself. I'm Natalie Rushman." She stuck out her hand, waiting for me to shake it.

I briefly entertained the idea of just sitting there, letting her stand there with her hand outstretched. But I decided against it. Who knows how long she could be sticking around? I would have to get use to her if she somehow managed to put up with dad and stay on as his PA.

"Nice to meet you," I said as I shook her hand. "Please just call me Morgan."

She nodded. "Of course. I know I'm your father's PA but if you ever need anything, just let me know."

I gave her a fake smile I'm sure she saw right through. "Thank you."

I rolled my eyes the second she turned around to leave. I didn't like her at all. I had no idea what it was about her but I didn't trust her one bit. I didn't know if it was intuition or the fact that she just wasn't Pepper. Something about her just seemed off and I made a mental note to do some research on her. But in the mean time I told myself I was going to act nice. Maybe.

One of the few good things that happened was in the days after my talk with dad, I hadn't had a single nightmare. I hoped they were gone for good but I wasn't holding my breath. I was just glad to get some uninterrupted sleep for a change.

Another good thing that happened was Ivan Vanko's death. I hated that I was glad a man was dead but I couldn't pretend to feel anything other than happy that the man who had tried to kill dad was dead. Apparently there had been an explosion in the prison and he had burned to death. I felt safer knowing that there was one less person in the world trying to hurt my father. I still hadn't found out why he had tried to kill dad in the first place. Dad said he had done some research on the guy but nothing had come up that would indicate why he had been so set on destroying him. He said he was going to keep searching but told me not to worry about it anymore. But I couldn't. Ivan had spent weeks, maybe months, building a replica arc reactor and electrified whips, all in the hopes of killing Tony Stark. I didn't believe he would go to all that effort without a reason.


The days ticked by until it came to the one I had been dreading; dad's birthday. Of course I wanted to celebrate dad's birthday, I just wanted to celebrate it in a low key way. I hated this party. I hated having hundreds of strangers invading my home. The morning after I always wake up to find things broken and our house a mess. I had hoped that since the Stark image had suffered slightly in the past week, dad might cancel the party but no such luck. I watched from the couch as box after box of alcohol was brought in. I moved down into the garage when the DJ began setting up his equipment.

As usual, dad was typing away on one of his computers doing god's know what. Every time I walked around to see what he was doing, he quickly switched screens. He was obviously doing something and for some reason he didn't want me to know what that was. I was dying to confront him and question him until he cracked but now wasn't the time.

"Are you sure you should be throwing this party?" I asked as I sat down at my own work station and pulled up my designing system.

"Come on Morgs, it's just a little party." That was an understatement. This party was never 'little'. It was the worst night of the year, for me at least, and I dreaded it every year. Of course, I wouldn't tell dad this since it's his birthday but I would enjoy his birthday much more if this party didn't happen.

"Besides," he continued as he typed away. "It's my birthday. Don't you want to celebrate your old man's birthday?"

I smiled, hoping it looked genuine. "Of course I do." I suddenly remembered I had dad's present waiting upstairs to give to him. While there is always a huge present table at the party, I always gave dad his present during the day when he was sober. "Wait here," I said before rushing out of the garage. Each year I struggled when buying dad a present. What do you buy a man who had everything? This year I hadn't bought him anything at all. Instead I had created a scrapbook. I'm not a very crafty girl, preferring to spend time with my cars instead, but I had decided to put some effort into this present. I had collected as many photos as I could find and put them into the book. Next to the photos I had written my memories of the day it had been taken and what it had meant to me.

I ran back down to the garage and held my present out to him.

"Happy Birthday dad."

"Thank you baby," he said with a huge grin. He let out a laugh when he saw what I had wrapped it in. I had gone down to Target and bought Iron Man wrapping paper. It was red and gold with pictures of the suit all over it. "Nice choice."

I grinned. I knew he would have a laugh at it. Dad loved the fact that stores all over the world were stocking Iron Man action figures, comics and other merchandise.

He tore open the paper and opened the book. The first photo I had put in there was one of my favourites. It had been taken out in our garden. Dad had made up a little picnic for mom and in the photo they were smiling as they sat on a rug surrounded by food. The next photo showed mom in a hospital bed, holding me gently while dad stood beside her, grinning from ear to ear. With each turn of the page, the photo's showed me growing up while mom disappeared from the pictures. Dad looked down at the photos of some of my favourite memories together: dad teaching me how to take apart an engine, me screaming as dad gave me my first car, dad standing with tears in his eyes as he watched me graduate from MIT.

I realised when I saw something fall on one of the pages that dad was crying. I was shocked. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen dad cry. I turned away briefly as he tried to hide his face and wipe them away. Like most men, he didn't like to be seen showing such emotion, even in front of his daughter.

"Thank you so much Morgan," he said with raw emotion in his voice. I surged forward and hugged him tightly. I was so glad he liked his gift. I had wanted to show him how much I loved him and how huge a part he had played in my life.

"I left the last few pages blank for future photos," I said when I pulled back from the hug.

Dad smiled weakly as he looked down at the blank pages. I could sense he wanted to be alone so I gave him another hug, told him I loved him again and left. I felt bad at making him cry but I knew it was because he was both happy and sad at seeing those photos. It was always hard to look at mom's smiling face, knowing what awful fate she met. He was also probably feeling nostalgic, looking at his daughter's life in pictures. I was growing up and wasn't a little girl anymore, but I would always be his little girl.

I climbed the stairs back up to my room, feeling glad with myself. Not even the DJ testing the volume of his speakers made me angry.


After having 3 drinks spilt on me, finding a couple making out on my bed and having my favourite picture frame broken, I was ready for the party to be over. The music was too loud, there were too many people and all I wanted to do was go to bed. For dad's sake I pretended to play nice for a little while; talking to random people, pretending that I was actually having a good time. I kept doing laps of the house, hoping to see Pepper or Rhodey but neither had shown up yet. I briefly entertained the idea of getting into my Audi and going to a movie but I quickly dismissed it. Someone had to keep an eye on dad. Usually he just got drunk until he eventually passed out somewhere; I just hung around to make sure that it wasn't the pool he passed out in.

I was doing another lap of the house, desperately searching for someone I knew or someplace to hide, when I walked into the entertaining room and saw something that made me see red. Standing with her back to dad's chest was Natalie, with a flirty grin on her face and one of the Iron Man gauntlets on her arm. I felt my mouth drop as dad whispered in her ear and a moment later the Iron Man ice statue she had been aiming at was in pieces on the floor.

Just a week ago dad refused to let me use the suit because it was 'too dangerous' and here he was letting his new PA use it as a party game.

"Are you serious?" someone behind me said. I spun around to see Pepper standing behind me with a similar look of disbelief on her face.

"I know. It's unbelievable," I said. All I wanted to do was go over there and punch Natalie in the face. I couldn't believe dad was actually letting her use part of the suit. The only explanation I could think of was that he was already drunk.

Dad suddenly noticed Pepper and I standing by the door and motioned for us to come over.

I grabbed Pepper's arm as she went to go over. "There's no way I can go over there. If I do I will probably yell at him."

"Sure," Pepper said. She probably wanted to do the same damn thing.

"Just try to stop him drinking any more than he already has." My request was wasted and, although Pepper knew it too, she nodded before leaving.

I couldn't stand there and watch my father drunkenly shoot things with his PA. As I left I prayed to God that he wouldn't do any more stupid things. And I prayed no one here would go talking to the press about this. The last thing we needed was more headlines about how irresponsible Iron Man is.

I weaved through the small crowd dancing in front of the DJ and walked up the stairs. I figured since that Pepper was now here, she could keep an eye on dad and I would escape for a while in my bedroom. Once I had made sure that there were no couples in my room, I immediately changed out of my dress into jeans and a black tee. I collapsed onto my bed but there was little chance of getting any sleep; the floor and walls were literally vibrating from the music.

I stared up at the ceiling and tried to think about anything besides the fact that my father didn't trust me enough to let me try on the Iron Man suit yet he was happy to let his assistant of one week use part of it to blast ice sculptures. I wanted to punch something but I settled for twisting my pillow in anger. If he continued on this way, there is no doubt that they will forcibly take the suits away. Someone needed to take responsibility if we were going to keep the suits.

…and that someone was me.

After trying on the boots, I couldn't stop thinking about how amazing it was using them. And after Monaco, I couldn't stop thinking about how I could be in danger and won't have anything to protect myself with. Sure, Ivan Vanko was dead now but who's to say there's not another crazy person out there plotting to kill dad? And now it's public knowledge who I am, they could easily get to dad through me. I wanted a way to protect myself and I knew exactly how to do it.

I was going to build my own Iron suit.

There is no way in hell dad would ever let me do this but right now I wasn't concerned about dad; I was concerned about all of us. As much as he doesn't want to admit it, dad can't be everywhere. What if one day he's flying off somewhere and I'm suddenly in danger? Or Pepper was?

I'm sick of feeling helpless, relying on dad to always save me. I want to save myself. I want to feel safe again, to feel like I can defend myself against anything or anyone.

As much as I wanted to run downstairs and start designing my own suit, I knew I shouldn't rush into this decision. I needed to give it more thought before I even touch a designing program or picked up a tool. There were so many things to consider: the Government would certain not be happy with another suit flying around, would I tell dad about my plans for my own suit, where would I even build it if I was going to keep it from dad?

The sound of something shattering downstairs pulled me from my thoughts. What now? I was sick of strangers destroying my home every year. I jumped off my bed and started for the stairs.
I faltered on the stairs for a moment when I heard yelling and cheering. A feeling of dread flowed through me as I rushed down the stairs. I felt my heart drop to my stomach as I saw my father drunkenly stumbling around in the Iron Man suit.


Thank you to my regular reviewers: ZabuzasGirl, Lollypops101, MammonDaughter, FleurSuoh, orcafan1 and grapejuice101. You guys are amazing and your reviews always make me smile!