Rebecca and Lucas stayed on the balcony for a while longer after their fathers had left, watching the city lights and talking. It was only when they heard toasts being held inside that they realized they had been standing out there for quite some time. They walked inside to the party and maneuvered their way around the mass of people, making their way to a table. Tony watched intently from a distance before Pepper made her way to his side.
"Stop staring at them." she laughed, nudging him on the shoulder. Tony then turned away, trying to cover the fact he was staring in the first place.
"I'm not." he shrugged, sipping his glass of scotch. "I'm just bored." Pepper nodded, amused at his cover up. Although he tried not to look due to Pepper's presence, his eyes kept flicking back over to them, causing Pepper to roll her eyes. "What? I just don't trust the kid."
Pepper raised her eyebrow. "Do you even know him?" she questioned, knowing very well that Tony would be making a judgement.
"I know his father," Tony countered. "And if he's anything like him, then I don't trust him." Tony looked back over to his daughter and the boy, keeping an eye on him.
Pepper looped her arm through his and lead him away from his viewing position. "Come on, go find someone to talk to." She could hear Tony groan at the mention of talking to people, since that's all he had been doing all night. Everyone wanted to talk to him, even people he'd never met before, but assumed he knew somehow.
Rebecca and Lucas were talking about all of the guests they seen walking around the room. All of the money hungry members and their children, all dressed formally and following their parents around like puppies. There weren't as many children as Rebecca thought there would be, which was relieving. At previous company get-togethers, Lucas always managed to get on Rebecca's nerves, with all of his questions and following her around, but Rebecca knew his motive. His father was keen to somehow become closer to Tony Stark in hopes he would be entitled to more within the company, and he used his son to his advantage.
"Well, this is pretty boring." Rebecca sighed when they had ceased talking for a while. Lucas nodded I'm agreement, but didn't speak. Rebecca looked around the room, spotting her father over by the bar, talking with a few business men and Pepper talking to some other close by.
"Wanna go back outside? Less people out there." Lucas suggested, and Rebeca nodded. They walked around the back way as to avoid the crowd of people, and we're greeted by a few of the company members.
"Ah, the young Stark!" Another unfamiliar man referred to Rebecca, extending an arm out to greet her. "Wonderful to see you again!" the man spoke as if they knew each other.
"Yeah...nice to see you again too." Rebecca smiled, accepting the man's hand shake before departing from him. "Who was that?" she asked Lucas.
He seemed offended that she didn't know. "Him? He's one of the head board members. My father's good friends with him." he explained. Rebecca walked by his side as they continued to the balcony doors, planning on avoiding the party for the rest of the night.
Tony finally got away from the swarm of people who were crowded around him long enough to get another drink from the bar. Despite his efforts, the alcohol was failing to help him relax.
"Didn't think you were showing up tonight." Obadiah's voice came from beside him.
Tony took a sip of his drink. "Why? Because everyone here basically hates me now?" he asked with a bored tone. "Although they love pretending not to."
"Don't be so dramatic, no one hates you." Obadiah rolled his eyes. "They're just giving you some time."
"Right, because after spending three months in a cave I've lost my mind completely." Tony's sarcasm was bitterly directed at Obadiah. He was still deeply annoyed at Obadiah for thinking he was crazy, thinking he needed help.
"Don't take all of this personally. You know the media, they twist everything. The company, in a way, is just looking out for you." Obadiah explained.
Tony looked at him with disbelief. "Don't take it personally? How can I not take this personally? The entire company thinks I've lost my mind and am running it to the ground." he shook his head at Obadiah. "If you'll excuse me."
Pepper was standing around by herself after getting another drink, only her third for the night. She had talking to people all night, she barely had a chance to just relax and have a drink to herself. When she saw Tony approaching, she assumed he was about to start complaining about all of the people who had been following him around all night.
"Hey, you were warned." Pepper defended before he even spoke. "They swarm."
Tony rolled his eyes and gave a slight chuckle before he began speaking. "Actually, do you know where Bec is? I think we'll go home, not really in the mood to humor all these people for the rest of the night." he told her.
Pepper nodded understandingly. She suspected he might have trouble adjusting back into his lifestyle so quickly, especially when there were so many people questioning him about his captivity and forcing him to relive the memories.
"Yeah, sure, I'll go get Happy." Pepper sat down her drink on the bench. "I think I seen her with that boy, walking around...but that was way earlier on."
Tony shook his head. "I'll find her."
The whole room was full of people, and it was hard to find one particular person within the sea of business people. Eventually, Tony had managed to make his way through the crowd, but Rebecca was still out of sight. People were still coming up to him and trying to engage in conversation, but he casually slipped by. Giving up on the room, he headed out to the balcony where he saw his daughter sitting on the chair alone.
"Hey," he walked slowly over to her, unsure of whether or not she was angry at him. "Have you been out here all night?" he asked, noticing the chill in the air.
"Huh?" she looked over to him, only just noticing his presence. "Oh...hey, dad." she acknowledged him.
Tony raised an eyebrow at her, before his eyes caught onto the fact that there were empty glasses sitting on the table next to her, clearly not all hers judging by the amount there.
"Have you been drinking?" he asked, although he was sure of the answer. "Bec? Hey!" he knelt beside her, trying to get a response. When she opened her eyes, Tony put his hand to her forehead and made sure she was okay. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked with a firm voice.
Rebecca turned her body in the chair and got into a comfortable position as if to go to sleep. She had obviously had too much, and Tony's main focus was getting her back home safely now. He slid his arms under her back and legs, carefully pulling her into his arms and carrying her to the door.
"Whoa!" Lucas appeared at the door with another tray of drinks, terrified at the unexpected contact with Tony. "Uh, I-I was..." he stuttered, looking back and forth between Tony, his unconscious daughter in his arms and the tray of alcohol in his hands, unable to think of a plausible excuse.
Tony knew he should have trusted his gut instinct, he knew this boy was trouble. He knew his father was using him to get to Rebecca, trying to push his way closer to gaining Tony's trust and whatever privileges he thought came with it.
"Save it, kid." Tony pushed past him enough to get out of the doorway. "Don't even think about coming anywhere near my daughter again, you got it?" Tony raised his voice, his anger clear and threatening, leaving Lucas too stunned to respond. "Hey! Is that clear enough for you?" he yelled.
Lucas nodded his head fast, making her Tony knew he understood. "Y-yes, M-Mr. Stark." he felt his hands tremble beneath the tray.
Tony gave him an icy glare before walking past, making his way to the back entrance of the building to meet Happy and Pepper. Rebecca was completely out, her face nestled into Tony's chest.
Pepper saw him approaching and immediately ran to him. "Oh my god, what happened?" she panicked.
"She's okay," Tony looked at Pepper seriously, knowing how worried she was. "Completely wasted though. You know teenagers." he sat Rebecca in the back seat carefully, making sure she was secure and comfortable before taking a seat next to her.
Pepper climbed into the opposite seat and pushed the hair away from Rebecca's nose. "Where was she? I didn't see her take anything." Pepper asked.
"Out on the balcony, with that boy. I swear the next time I see him or his father...I'm gonna-" Tony couldn't find words through his anger.
"Hey, hey, calm down." Pepper soothed. "Let's just...wait until morning, then we'll sort everything out okay? Just let her sleep it off, we'll deal with it in the morning." Pepper suggested.
Tony nodded, although he knew that talking about Rebecca's teenage drinking wouldn't be the topic being discussed in the morning. Instead, he would have to deal with the consequences of his lies. The fact that Rebecca had found out about the suits on her own rather than being told by Tony. Both situations considered, the following morning was not one to look forward to.
Rebecca awoke to a darkened room, and it took a few seconds for her to register that it was in fact her room, the only light coming from the cracks beneath her door and windows. She felt...filthy. She had slept in the same dress she wore the night before, makeup still on and hair oily from the product she had used. At least her shoes were off, that was her only relief. Just as she swung her legs off the bed, her door flew open.
"Oh, so you are awake." Pepper peaked inside the room. "Just making sure you're okay."
Rebecca ran her fingers through her course hair. "Mm, I'm fine." she shrugged. Actually, she felt like sleeping for a few more hours but taking a long, hot shower at the same time. It was a tough decision. "I think I'll go shower."
Pepper nodded, beginning to close the door. "Breakfast will be on the table when you're done, and an extra strong coffee."
Rebecca gave a slight grin. "Thanks Pepper."
Rebeca staggered into the bathroom and took the dress off, relieved. She stepped into the shower and let the hot water relax her, take away all the stress, the pain. She didn't know why she had drank so much with Lucas, he just kept handing them to her though. It was not his fault though, it was her choice to drink, but she was angry, and frustrated, alcohol probably wasn't the best idea. She remembered telling Lucas she was angry at her dad, but she was still careful not to mention why. She didn't trust him at all, but she enjoyed being with someone else for a change.
In the kitchen, just as Pepper said, breakfast was waiting for Rebecca. The plate was full, food almost falling off the sides. Pepper was secretly making sure Rebecca didn't get a delayed hangover and throw up, so she made sure she had a big breakfast. The first thing Rebecca did though was take a long sip of her coffee. It wasn't long after she sat down that Tony walked into the kitchen, Pepper leaving as to give them space. They didn't say anything to each other, Rebecca continued eating her breakfast and Tony made himself a coffee. It was an awkward silence, unlike the many other silences they sat through. Tony continued making his coffee silently, no attempt at conversation, which made Rebecca even more angrier than if he was actually giving her a lecture.
"You're mad at me, I get it." Rebecca groaned, putting her fork down onto the table with force. "Whatever lecture you've got, just spit it out." Rebecca didn't mean for her words to come out so bitterly, but it wasn't exactly her best morning. She sighed, putting her head into her hands to ease the incoming headache.
Tony chuckled at Rebecca's annoyance. "Hey, you chose to drink, live with the consequences." he shrugged. I wasn't as if he wasn't a rebellious teenager when he was younger, he was Tony Stark. He wasn't a big fan of the parenting method of lecturing or yelling, he always took a cooler approach, letting Rebecca learn for herself.
Rebecca picked her fork up again and resumed eating, knowing the food would make her feel a lot better. Her stomach felt completely empty even though she had eaten half of the food on her plate. Tony was trying to think of a way to move into the conversation about the suits, trying to get that conversation out of the way, but he didn't know how to start.
"I need to sleep." Rebecca picked up her coffee and left the kitchen before Tony could begin talking. He thought she might have forgotten, given the events, but even as she walked away she was thinking about the same thing.
The air conditioner was cool on Rebecca's skin as she awoke for the second time that day, this time at four in the afternoon. She had slept off her hangover, feeling much better than before. It was as if she had imagined being awake that morning, as if it was all a dream, the breakfast and talking to her dad. She needed to talk to him, there was so many things that needed to be discussed now. The house was empty when she walked out of her room, no background noise of the television, no chatter of Pepper on the phone and no sign of her dad. No wonder she had slept so long, the house was deserted. Before she began wondering where everyone was, she decided to check the workshop, and that's exactly where Tony was. She didn't walk through the door though, instead she observed.
"Okay, we're gonna start with 10% thrust capacity. In three..." Tony began counting down, filming his attempt. "Two...one!" Tony was thrown back into the wall behind him, a loud smack as his body collided with the cement walls.
Rebecca hurried to the door and input her password, raving over to her dad who was now on the ground covered in fire extinguisher. He didn't seem injured, he was just surprised to see Rebecca there.
"Dad! Oh my god, are you okay?" Rebecca asked him, although she was staring at the metal attachments he wore in his legs. They were the exact model of the sketches she had seen in the files. "These are the thrust capacitors, aren't they?"
Tony lifted himself off of the ground, sitting upright. "Yeah, they're a little stronger than I thought." he concluded. "I thought it might be easier explaining all of this to you in person, rather than looking through files." he told her as she studied the thrust capacitors again, mesmerized by the technology.
Rebecca looked back up at her dad. "Why didn't you just tell me? That's all I want to know."
Tony had spent the past few hours showing Rebecca everything he could about the suits after explaining why he couldn't tell her to begin with. The conversation was full of yelling and then understanding, but eventually he accepted all of his apologies, feeling a bit guilty afterwards when she understood why he felt he couldn't tell her. The part of the conversation where Tony had to reveal his intentions with the suit to her was a heated one, which involved the most yelling and tantrums, but it had eventually settled. Rebecca knew her dad, and when he had a motivation for an idea, there was no talking him out of it. The whole thing was to be kept secret, only Tony and Rebeca knowing about the suits, and occasionally Pepper when she walked down and saw him working on it. It was exciting to Rebecca, the fact that one of these suits even existed. When she studied the components of the suit she could separate sections and break them down in her head, discovering how they worked. There was a part of her that worried, as usual, about the use of the suit and the harm that could be done, it was seriously dangerous, but for the first time in a long time they were working together on something they were both passionate about.
"Are you okay?" Tony asked. "You haven't said anything." he observed as she shook herself out of her daze.
"Huh?" she looked up at her dad. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." she blinked a few times, pulling her thoughts back together. "It's just a lot to take in."
Tony nodded. "I know. And I'm not forcing you to be directly involved in this-"
"I just need some time to think...about all of this, that's all. Just to see things clearly, time to think." she explained, not wanting to disappoint or promise him anything.
Tony nodded. "Yeah, no, understandable." he watched as she stood up and walked toward the door.
"Thank you..." she turned back to him. "For telling me all of this, it means a lot to me dad."
Tony smiled to himself as she walked out of the room, feeling a weight lifted from him as the guilt subsided. Now, all that was left was worry that Rebecca was going to either freak out about all of this or do something stupid.
After her long nap in the afternoon, it wasn't exactly easy for Rebecca to fall asleep that night. Instead she had alternated from eating ice cream and watching movies, to sprawling out on the living room couch and watching late night television, home shopping, in order to fall asleep. The bad late night television brought back the same feeling as she had when Tony was missing, taking her back to the nights when she would spend hours watching these programs to pass the time until morning. It soon hit around 2am and Rebecca was still wide awake. Before she could even register what she was doing, her feet had taken her down to the workshop door.