X: One Of Those Nights

A/N: Song title taken from One of Those Nights by Tim McGraw.

The drive home that night was one of thoughts. The main one that weighed at her emotions was deep down, the explosion in Iraq did not bring memories of her first. There was another explosion that she had been in, there almost had to have been. Instead of driving to the apartment that she and Clint shared, Rebecca decided to head to Tony's. If he or Steve knew, they would tell her.

The building was locked when she arrived but a well placed text and ten minutes of waiting later, Rebecca was inside and on an elevator headed for the roof. Outside Tony, Steve, Happy, and Pepper sat enjoying drinks. "Becca!" Happy grinned, handing her a beer, "Pepper just sold Stark Energy to a research team headed to Antartica. There will officially be Stark Energies on every continent."

"Congrats Pepper. Where's the kid?" asked Becca as she sipper her beer. She kicked her feet up, resting on one of the recliners that Tony had insisted the balcony needed for comfort.

"Downstairs, studying for a math test he has with J.A.R.V.I.S," Tony smiled, "boy may not be a genius like me but he's smart."

"Of course he is. Any child of your and Pepper's was bound to be smart," Steve chuckled as he sipped his own drink.

"Well gentleman, Becs, I have to be up early in the morning for a business conference," smiled Pepper as she stood, kissing Tony and ruffling Becca's hair. "Drink one for me Becs."

"And I have to get to sleep so I can escort Pepper to said business conference and Eddie to school," Happy nodded as he left the room. The roof was silent, save for the ice clinking in Tony's glass of scotch or Steve occasionally clearing his throat. The sounds of the city that never slept echoed around them: the honking of horns, the sounds of music and parties everywhere.

Rebecca finally broke the silence, a question on her lips, "Do you to ever wish you were still heroes?"

"Sometimes," Tony answered truthfully, "there are days where I put on a suit and play around in the lab. My job these days is a bit more rewarding: being a dad to Eddie and a husband to Pepper. Even mentoring S.H.I.E.L.D rookies is rewarding. All without the danger of being a hero."

"I still do what I can," Steve admitted, "I may not be protecting innocents from absolute evil but it's the small things at my age. I protect kids by keeping 'em off the street, working at soup kitchens. Sure I miss being Captain America but I still am a hero."

"Wow Steve," Tony mocked tears, "that was really sappy."

"Anyways," Steve rolled his eyes, "that question sounded like it came from somewhere. So tell me, what's on your mind champ?"

"Today during an exercise with my S.H.I.E.L.D team-"

"They gave you your own team to handle?" Tony asked, slightly worried. He was afraid the pressure would drive her mad. He remembered the pressure he had felt when he returned and he hadn't led a platoon like she had.

"Yeah, Maria said they could use my experience. That's not the point, the point is that during a training exercise today our demolitions expert set a virtual bomb off and the sound scared me to the point of a blackout. I knew part of it was from the…incident in Iraq but not all of it was. It's like I have a suppressed memory," Rebecca rambled.

There was a pause as her two mentors glanced at each other as if trying to decide who would break the news to Rebecca, "Becs…" Steve started before he stopped and looked at Tony.

"No more secrets. She's old enough to ask, I'm going to tell her the truth," Tony vowed. He cleared his throat, downed the rest of his scotch, and began again. "The man who killed your dad…the day he died…some henchmen of his broke him out and used an explosion to get our attention. You…you and your father were there when…when it…"

It was as if a jolt of lightening hit her, jarring her memories. She saw the day back then. They were headed to tell Fury, Director Nick Fury, that her father was taking her to the zoo. She remembered running through the hall, hiding behind crates from what she thought was Clint, a giant green monster and a man in medieval garb fighting. Then she remembered the promise her father had been unable to keep. "I…I remember…" she whispered, tears in her eyes.

"It's what landed you with us," Steve spoke softly, "We…we didn't want to worry or scare you."

"He gave up his life for S.H.I.E.L.D ….for freedom," Rebecca understood. She stood, kissing Tony and Steve on the head before leaving for the night. She remembered what her father had died for, she know how he died.

Now she just had to find the bastard who did it.