Chapter Ten: Hide and Seek

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Tony squawked as he watched Pepper filled her briefcase and a few dozen bags with everything that she was going to need for the conference in Florida. Tony had no idea how she was managing balancing a coffee cup, her phone and having Tony breathing over her shoulder and panicking over the fact that he was responsible for Holly for one simple weekend.

It had been exactly two days since they had brought Holly home with Tony and Pepper serving as temporarily foster parents. Yesterday, they had had a casual day with Holly just the three of them. Pepper had taken her shopping for whatever else she nodded and Tony had instructed her how to move a few remotes so that she didn't have to do anything herself and then they had gone for Chinese food.

It had been simple and Tony had become pretty sure that they would get used to this, what he hadn't anticipated however was that Pepper was going to spring this business trip out of nowhere. For crying out loud this is why Tony had made her CEO in the first place so that she could get as many days off as she (well, Tony) needed.

Pepper was obviously distracted and her blue eyes shifted from the spacious living room to the list that she had made on her I-phone. "Uh, huh. Tony I have to go, it's not like I want too. This meeting with the CEO of Peyton Industries in Florida could close our biggest deal yet. We're talking about thousands of dollars."

"What if I paid you that amount to stay?" He looked over his shoulder, but Holly was not there. Tony guessed that she was probably still asleep. He hated being jet lagged and he guessed that it was worse on a kid.

A twitch of a smile appeared on Pepper's lips as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Nice try, but it's three days, Tony surely you can handle yourself for three days."

"Of course, I can," Tony scoffed. "I have Jarvis and occasionally Bruce. But it's not me that I'm worried about."

Pepper finally seemed to catch on. "Oh, Holly." There was an amused smile on her face, which Tony did not appreciate. "Are you worried about taking care of Holly? Tony, she's seven and besides she's a good girl. You'll probably even forget that she's here in the first place." She gave him another kiss. "You'll both be fine. Just give me a call if you have any questions."

"Why can't we just go with you?"

"Because Tony this was your idea in the first place and you're going to have to take some responsibility for it. Besides you can't come with me, you need to enroll Holly in school and get her use to America. You'll be fine." She paused. "Just please don't forget to feed her, and something order than junk food."

A few feet away from where Pepper and Tony were talking Holly was barely waking up, still feeling slightly sleepy. She couldn't believe that this was honestly her room. Back at the Dursleys she slept in the room underneath the stairs with dust bunnies and spiders-but now here in Stark Tower she was in a beautiful room. It was painted a light violet and everything looked brand new. Holly felt like a princess and every time that she woke up she honestly couldn't believe that this was her life.

But today what woke her up wasn't her jet lag, but a tiny owl that was picking her cheek until she woke up. Her green eyes opened and she saw a tawny colored owl sitting on top of one of her colorful pillows demanding her attention. There was a note in their beak. It had been a while since Holly had received a note from her mysterious stranger. The owl looked happy that it had completed its duty and took some of Holly's cookie from the nightstand. She took the note and unfolded it. She read the note carefully, but in all honesty it didn't make much sense.

Destroy the necklace.


As it turned out Tony had nothing to worry about Holly was more than content to spend the evening eating greasy pizza from a box and letting Tony point out all of the scientific mistakes on The Big Bang Theory. Tony wasn't going to lie, he kind of like having a companion around especially when Pepper was away. Pepper had called once to make sure that Tony had enrolled Holly in school, but Tony had lied and said yes, he would do that tomorrow.

"Tony? Can I ask you something?" Holly asked as she licked the pizza grease from her fingers. It still felt weird calling him Tony, but it felt even weirder calling him. "Mr. Stark."

Tony was on his third slice of pizza and on his fifth glass of wine. "Why do you scream at night?"

Tony nearly choked on his pizza. He was sure that Holly wasn't talking about the fact that he and Pepper had sex. She was talking about that Tony sometimes screamed at night because of his nightmares. The dreams that plagued him. "I have bad dreams," he said wishing that he could avoid the conversation all together. "I'll get you ear plugs."

"Drink warm milk," Holly said with a serious expression on her small face. "Oh, and cookie. That helps with nightmares."

Tony looked at her amused. "How are you so sure?"

She shrugged. "It helped me."

Tony felt his throat tightening as he gave Holly's shoulder a small squeeze. Holly relax slightly as she curled up against him. "Thanks got the advice kid and I promise you that you won't have nightmares for as long as you live here."


"Earth seems smaller, more delicate," Lady Arista said as she and Loki stood over the statue of Liberty overlooking the city. "Look at their cities. They are so delicate, one little accident and poof half the human population would be gone."

"A little inset would finish these humans off," Loki countered. "If it weren't for their machinery they would be gone in a heartbeat. They really are frail, but Lady Arista we're not here to deal with the measly humans."

"I know, I know," Lady Arista said. "We are here to find the infinity stone."

-End of Chapter Ten-

Sorry, I haven't updated in a while, things have been really busy with school.