Tony walked into the kitchen, his eyes half closed. He was tired, but he couldn't sleep. His slumber hadn't been plagued with nightmares of the wars he'd fought in, not since Ava first moved in, but now his dreams were worse. The deaths he kept seeing were Ava's and Pepper's. He flicked the light switch, and jumped back in surprise when he saw that Ava was already in the kitchen.

She was on the stool that she always sat on, her head on the table on top of her arms. She slowly sat up, and blinked in the sudden light. She looked around in confusion. "Sorry, I didn't meant to fall asleep in your kitchen…"

Tony shook his head, and went over to sit on the stool next to Ava's. "No, it's fine. What were you doing in here in the dark?"

Ava smiled. "I couldn't sleep. Everytime I tried, I would… well… I came in here because whenever I couldn't sleep in the past, I would always make something, when we had ingredients laying around. But I didn't know where to find anything in here, and I guess I fell asleep, and someone must have turned the lights off? I don't really know."

Tony chuckled. "It was probably Jarvis, the AI. He practically runs the place, you know. He must not have wanted to disturb you."

Ava yawned. "Tell him thanks."

Tony laughed. "He's not a human being, he doesn't sleep. And he's probably listening to us right now."

Ava shivered. "That's a little creepy, don't you think?" She slid off of the stool. "Can I ask you something?"

Tony nodded. "Of course. Feel free to speak your mind and ask anything you want. This is a safe place."

The teen smiled gratefully. "I was just wondering… how well do we know each other. I mean, you must know me way better than I know you, since you've known me for a year and I've only known you for a day." Tony waited patiently for her to get to the actual question. "You said earlier that you took me in after you saved my life… So I just want to know why, I guess. Why did you save my life?"

Tony sighed. "It's… complicated…"

Ava nodded. "I saw how you looked when I mentioned the bridge. I'm not stupid, for me, that was just yesterday that I was heading there, so of course I remember my intentions. Why would you save someone who is an attempted murderer?"

The billionaire frowned. "What do you mean? You're not a murderer."

Ava shrugged. "I said 'attempted'. Because killing anybody, that's murder. Even if the person you're killing is yourself. So why did you save me?"

"At first… I convinced myself that I saw you get pushed, even though there was no one else there on that bridge. I forced myself to believe that you hadn't jumped willingly, so I was saving your life, doing you a favor. When we got back here, and you finally woke up, you told me that I had to take responsibility and kill you myself. I looked into your eyes, and saw… something. Like you were so sad that you didn't even consider yourself sad anymore…" He shook his head. "Sorry, I'm just rambling. I suppose that there was something about you that seemed familiar, and you were so interesting… But I guess in the end what it came down to was that I couldn't have a child's life on my conscious."

The teen crossed her arms over her chest. "Hey, I'm not a child, I'm already sixteen. Well, I guess if you count that entire year that I can't remember, I'm already seventeen. I'm practically an adult already."

Tony slipped off of his stool, and went over to the counter. He could easily ask Jarvis to start up the coffee maker, but he decided to just do it himself. He opened a cabinet to pull out a mug, and glanced over at Ava. "Want some?"

Ava paused, then shook her head. "No thank you. I don't like coffee."

Tony's eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? You've always accepted it when I offer it to you…"

Ava shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She knew that she had probably only accepted the beverage because she hadn't wanted to seem rude by turning down something that Tony had offered her. Bu she thought that coffee was disgusting, and she always had, so she wasn't going to choke any of it down. It would just be a waste.

Tony sighed. "How about some tea?" He couldn't help thinking how young Ava looked, and her refusal of coffee, a very much appreciated drink for adults, made her seem even more childish. "Extra dark, right?"

Ava nodded politely. She had nothing against tea. It wasn't her favorite drink, but she could tolerate it, especially when it steeped for a while, and she didn't want to keep turning down the olive branches that Tony was giving her. "That would be nice, thank you." While the water was heating up, there was the sound of footsteps, and then Pepper entered the kitchen, pulling her bathrobe tighter.

The woman looked at Ava and Tony. "What's going on here? A late night party, and I wasn't invited?"

Tony went over to give Pepper a quick kiss. "What are you doing up so late?"

She shrugged. "You weren't in bed, and I got worried."

Ava jumped down gently onto the floor as Tony poured the hot tea. She yawned again, though this time it seemed to be fake. "I should probably be getting to bed. You shouldn't encourage students to stay up so late." She started to walk away, then turned around. "Wait… do I still go to school? What should I say when they ask me why I was absent today?"

Tony shook his head. "You have a tutor who comes here every other day, and gives you all the same work that you would be getting at school."

Ava wrinkled her nose. "That sounds like the most horrible torture I can ever imagine. Not even one other student to occasionally distract the teacher? Yuck." She shook her head. "Good night. Or, good morning, if you want to get technical about it."

Tony frowned. "You're not even going to stay for tea?"

Ava sighed. "Well, I wouldn't have wanted you to make all that extra water for nothing…"

Pepper recognized that Ava really wanted to get out of there, but was being too polite to say so. She decided to give the girl a break. "Actually, I came down for some tea, so the water wouldn't really be going to waste at all."

Ava nodded thankfully, and hurried away. Tony took out the tea bag, and handed a full mug to Pepper. "I'm worried. What if she never goes back to normal?"

Pepper narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean, 'back to normal'?"

Tony sighed. "Back to when she trusted me. Back to when she was just a carefree kid. She deserves that, you know."

Pepper nodded, and took a sip of tea. "I know." Then she put the mug down. "You left the bag in for too long." She hugged him, then turned to go back up to their room on one of the higher floors.