I'm not good at angst, so I'm gonna try and keep the angst to a minimum.

All Iron Man characters belong to Marvel, blah blah blah

Oh, completely unrelated note—I saw Wreck-It Ralph, and the Sugar Rush song has burrowed its way into my brain:

"S-U-G-A-R, jump into your racing car! Say Sugar Rush! Sugar Rush!"

It's catchy

Erika didn't see Tony the next day—Pepper said he'd gone to visit Rhodey—so in order to keep her mind off of yesterday's horrible discovery, she decided to do something she hadn't done in a while.

It was time for a girl's day out.

Erika spent the whole day out and about, buying new things from various stores. At the end of the day, she'd come home with three new shirts (all custom fit, of course), a new dress for the occasional charity gala, four new pairs of jeans (all of them Miss Me, her favorite brand), and three new pairs of shoes (two pairs Gucci, one pair Prada, all of them adorable).

Obie was there when she got home, and he'd brought pizza.

"Ooh, yum," Erika hummed as she went to grab a slice. She dropped her bags by the couch and lounged on the leather cushions, munching on a slice of New York Style pizza. Obie was sitting at the piano, playing a soft tune, and Tony came up from his lair, followed by Pepper.

"How'd it go?" Tony asked Obie.

Obie said nothing.

"It went that bad, huh?"

"Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad," Obie sighed tiredly.

"Sure it doesn't," Tony muttered, grabbing a slice. "Hey, Kiddo," he said to Erika, only just noticing her presence. Erika raised her hand not occupied with pizza.

"It would have gone better," Obie started, standing up, "If you'd been there."

Tony shrugged. "You told me to lay low, and you take care of it all."

A beat of silence, followed by another heavy sigh from Obie.

"This was a board of directors meeting," he sighed.

Tony blinked. "This was a board of directors meeting?"

Obie nodded. "The board is claiming you have posttraumatic stress."

"What, like PTSD?" Erika interjected.

Obie nodded again "They're filing an injunction," he said.

Erika cocked her head. "A what?"

"They want to lock your father out."

Tony snorted. "Why, 'cause the stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was gonna happen."

"Fifty-six and a half," Obie corrected

"It doesn't matter," Tony stated firmly. "We own the controlling interest in the company."

Obie had both hands on his hips. "Tony, the board has rights, too. They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest."

Tony snorted. "I'm being responsible! That's a new direction for me, for the company," He insisted. "I mean, me on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that..." he trailed off and shook his head. "This is great," he muttered.

"Oh, come on. Tony. Tony."

"I'll be in the shop," said Tony, snagging the pizza box

Obie held out a hand to stop Tony. "Hey, hey! Hey, Tony. Listen. I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something," he said. "Something to pitch them." His gaze drifted down the light in Tony's chest. "Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs."

Tony shook his head and backed away. "No. No, absolutely not."

"It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!" Obie insisted.

"This one stays with me. That's it, Obie. Forget it."

Obie took the pizza box. "All right, well, this stays with me, then. Go on, here, you can have a piece." Tony grabbed another piece and shoved it in his mouth. "Take two."

"Thank you," Tony said around a mouthful of pizza, heading back towards the stairs.

"You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?" Obie called after him.

Tony waved him off. "Good night, Obie."

Erika looked from her dad's retreating form to Obie's still one. She didn't really understand the conversation that just happened. "Is the company gonna be okay?" she asked tentatively.

Obie sighed. "I honestly don't know," he said, sounding like an old man. Then, he seemed to remember who he was talking to. "Everything's gonna be fine, Kiddo," he reassured her. "The company will be just fine."

Erika looked back towards the stairs. "What about Dad?" she asked quietly.

"Your Dad's a trooper, he'll be fine." And that, it seemed, was the final word on the matter.

A/N: The way I see it, since Erika has no interest in the company, Obie doesn't see her as a threat and doesn't mind talking about company problems in front of her.