Chapter 37
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Everything belongs to their rightful owners.
AN1: I am SO SO SORRY that it's been so long since I updated. I've had the week and a half from hell, the second worst week of my life, and so updating and writing have been the last thing on my mind. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Please leave a comment/Review
May 23rd 2011
Three days have passed since Bobbi found out that her father is dying and just like she promised herself she has been spending as much time with him as possible. It's a lovely day in Monaco and Tony and Pepper are walking into a nice hotel, Tony knowing exactly what they will find, while Pepper doesn't.
"You know, it's Europe, whatever happens in the next twenty minutes, just go with it." Tony says,
"Go with it? Go with what?" Pepper asks confused.
"Tony." Natasha says as she Bobbi walk up to the pair.
"Hey." Tony greats
"Hey Pepper." Bobbi greats.
"Bobbi? Natasha? What are you doing here?" Pepper asks, feeling very confused.
"In a minute, we've got one photographer form the ACM, if you don't mind?" Natasha requests, and a photographer takes a picture of Tony and Pepper, Bobbi having made sure she was out of frame.
"Okay, can someone explain what is going on?" Pepper request, looking between Tony, Natasha and Bobbi.
"Fury ordered me to be Tony's assistant so that I was in a better place to assess security threats." Natasha explains, using the lie that she and Tony agreed on.
"I agreed because I want to know if someone else in the company is double dealing." Tony explains.
"And I have some leave I had to use so I tagged along." Bobbi explains.
"We're this way." Natasha says, leading the others in a direction as Pepper tries to digest everything that happened, "What's on the docket?" Tony asks curious.
"You have a nine thirty diner." Natasha reveals.
"Perfect, I'll be there at eleven." Tony says, to Bobbi's amusement.
"Absolutely." Natasha says, as they get to a corner table.
"Is this us?" Tony asks.
"It can be." Natasha responds.
"Great, make it us." Tony says, as Natasha walks away, leaving Bobbi, Tony, and Pepper together, and as she does Pepper recognizes someone so she walks over to him.
"Mr Musk how are you?" Pepper asks.
"Hi Pepper, congratulations on the promotion." Elon Musk responds.
"Thank you very much." Pepper says, as Bobbi unconsciously scans the room for threats.
"Elon, how's it going. Those merlin engines are fantastic." Tony comments.
"Thank you. Yeah, I've got an idea for an electric jet." Elon explains.
"You do?" Tony asks.
"Yeah."
"Then we'll make it work." Tony says, as he, Bobbi and Pepper start to walk away, heading to the bar.
"How are we introducing you?" Pepper asks, Bobbi.
"I'm just Bobbi, don't worry about an explanation." Bobbi assures one of her father's best friends, knowing that between her and Natasha they'll be able to handle things so they aren't suspicious.
"Bobbi, drink?" Tony asks.
"Sure." Bobbi answers, as Tony orders the drink.
"Anthony is that you?" Hammer asks.
"My least favourite person on Earth." Tony comments, seeing Hammer walking towards him.
"Hey Pal." Hammer says.
"Justin Hammer." Tony says, Bobbi being able to tell that her father would like to do anything other than talk to Hammer.
"How you doing? You know you're no the only rich guy here with a fancy car. You know Christine Everhart form Vanity fair? You guys know each other?" Hammer asks as Everhart walks up to them.
"Yeah, we've met a few times." Tony comments, and Bobbi is pretty sure there is a story, a little more than just Everhart being the one who baited Tony into revealing he's Iron Man.
"BTW, big story, the new CEO of Stark Industries." Hammer says, pointing at Pepper.
"I know, I know." Everhart says.
"Congratulations." Hammer says.
"My editor will kill me if I don't grab a quote for our Powerful Women Issue." Everhart says.
"Oh." Pepper says, sounding surprised.
"Can I?" Everhart asks.
"Sure." Pepper answers.
"She's actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair. I thought I'd throw her a bone, you know, right?" Hammer says.
"She did several stories on me last year." Tony reveals.
"They we're very well done." Pepper comments.
"Thank you." Everhart says, sounding surprised by the compliment.
"I'm gonna go wash up." Pepper says.
"Don't leave me." Tony requests, as Pepper walks away.
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." Bobbi comments, side stepping so that she is closer to her father.
"Who are you?" Everhart ask suspiciously.
"Bobbi."
"Bobbi, that's a lovely name." Hammer says, with a flirty, grin, "Justin Hammer, it's a pleasure to meet you." He says, taking Bobbi's hand and kissing it.
"I'm seeing someone." Bobbi says, pulling her hand away from Hammer.
"Excuse me." Tony says, walking away before he accidently gives away the fact that Bobbi is his daughter as he is very close to doing so, even though he knows Bobbi could crush Hammer like a bug, without her powers, if she wanted to.
"And shouldn't you be more worried about the fact that your weapon contract got revoked?" Bobbi ask curious, and as Hammer has to explain the difference between on hold and revoked she is able to slip away and walk over to Natasha.
"Your Dad's table's ready." Natasha informs Bobbi.
"Good Hammer's more a douche than Dad said." Bobbi comments, having made sure that her voice wasn't loud enough for anyone other than Natasha to hear.
"Isn't that your type?" Natasha asks, with a teasing look.
"Nah, Hunter's more of a dick that douche." Bobbi responds, with a smirk, as she sits down.
Over the next few minutes Bobbi is joined by Pepper, and the two of them sit and wait for Tony, and as they wait Bobbi looks over at the TV and her heart sinks,
"Well, what's the use of having and owning a race car if you don't drive it." Tony on the screen says.
"What the hell?" Bobbi asks.
"What is your Dad doing?" Pepper asks, looking shocked.
"I don't know." Bobbi says, very much wishing she did.
"Natasha." Pepper calls, and Natasha hurries over.
"Did you know about this?" Bobbi asks.
"No."
"This cannot happen." Pepper comments.
"Yeah, no kidding." Bobbi comments.
"Where's Happy?" Pepper asks.
"Outside." Natasha answers.
"Okay, get him." Pepper tells Natasha, who nods, "You should stay here, your Dad might be insane right now, but we both know he wouldn't want you in danger." Pepper says, before getting up.
"Okay." Bobbi says, trusting Pepper and Happy and so she doesn't plan on doing something, or at least she doesn't until she watches her father get attacked with some guy who is using wips that seem to be powered by arc reactor technology, "Dad." Bobbi says, and so she gets up and runs out of the hotel, being careful not use her powers so that she doesn't run too fast.
Once she is outside the hotel Bobbi starts to run towards the race track, this time putting just a small amount of her power into her run, but before she can run to far a hand reaches out from alley and pulls her into it.
"Nat?" Bobbi asks confused, realising who it is, before she attacked, "What are you doing, I have to help my dad." Bobbi argues.
"And expose yourself in the process?" Natasha asks.
"If I have to." Bobbi responds.
"No, there are too many people here, too many camera's, you can't risk it, your Dad wouldn't want you to." Natasha argues.
"I can't just stand by and do nothing." Bobbi argues, pulling her hand out of Natasha's grasp.
"Pepper and Happy are getting him the suit, he'll be okay." Natasha assures her.
"You don't know that." Bobbi says, and she clearly about turns to run again, but before she can Natasha uses one of her widow bites on Bobbi.
"I'm sorry." Natasha tells her friend, knowing, due to how strong Bobbi is, that something that will usual incapacitate a person for well over a couple of minutes will only last about a minute at the most, "You're not thinking straight, you can't risk exposure." Natasha tells her, bending down so that she is next to Bobbi, who she knows is going to be pissed.
After less than thirty seconds Bobbi realises that the widow bite has stopped being effective and so, before Natasha realises Bobbi, backhands her, knocking her down, and then gets to her feet and starts running.
"BOBBI!" Natasha calls after her but Bobbi just keeps running not using her powers yet, as she can run fast enough without using them.
As she gets closer to the track Bobbi sees a motorbike and so she steals it and drives into onto the street, way faster than any sane person would, and within a few minutes she gets to where her father is in, an Iron Man suit, having defeated the person who attacked him, and so without even thinking Bobbi jumps off her bike and hurries to her father and hugs him,
"I'm okay, Little Bird." Tony assures his daughter, as he hugs her.
"That was beyond stupid." Bobbi tells her father, just feeling glad that he is okay.
"Sir, Mrs Stark-May is on the line." JARVIS reveals.
"Answer." Tony requests.
"Mom?" Bobbi asks, and Tony nods.
"Hey Mel." Tony greats.
"Are you okay?" Melinda's voice, clearly worried asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Tony assures her, as he keeps an arm around Bobbi.
"What were you thinking?" Melinda asks, sounding shocked.
"That driving the car looked fun." Tony reveals, as he sees police and other people coming towards him, "Look Mel, I've got to go, deal with everything that happened, I love you."
"Love you too." Melinda responds, as Tony hangs up, and as he does Bobbi notices Natasha, who clearly stole a vehicle and so she walks over to her.
"Sorry about hitting you." Bobbi tells her, actually meaning that, as while she was willing to do whatever she had to do to protect her Dad, she does feel a little bad about hitting Natasha.
"And I'm sorry about using my widow bite, but I was trying to protect you." Natasha says.
"I know." Bobbi says, and the two of them exchange half smiles, making it clear that everything is okay between them, "Are we on clean up duty?" she asks curious.
"Nah, the locals have it." Natasha explains, and Bobbi nods.
A little while later Tony has changed out of his Iron man suit and he, and Bobbi because she wasn't going to let him go alone, have gone to the jail where the person who attacked him is being held.
"We ran his prints. We got nothing back, not even a name." the police offer says in French.
"Not surprising." Bobbi says, to her father, in English.
"No, it's not." Tony confirms, "Where are we going?" Tony asks the office, in French.
"Over there. We're not even sure he speaks English, he hasn't said a word since he got here." The office explains, also in French.
"Five minutes." Tony requests, as the police officer opens and allows Tony and Bobbi to walk in.
"Five minutes'" The office says, in French, and while Tony walks over to the man Bobbi stays back near the door and just watches, assessing everything and knowing she will get her father out if it looks like it's needed.
"Pretty decent tech. cycle per second were a little low. You could have doubled up your rotations if you focused repulsor energy through ionised plasm channels." Tony says.
"Really?" Bobbi asks, her father, before she can stop herself it being clear from her tone that she isn't saying really because she doesn't know, but rather in a 'are you seriously saying that right now' kind of way and in response Tony just gives her a look, and Bobbi rolls her eyes and puts her hands up in a surrender type of way.
"It's effective, not very efficient, but it's a passible knock-off." Tony admits, "I don't get it, a little fine tuning you could have made a solid pay check. You could have sold it to North Korea, China, Iran, or gone onto the black market, you look like you got friends in low places." Tony says, and as he does Bobbi smirks.
"You come from a family of thieves and butches." The man, Ivan says, and as he does Bobbi stands up straight and becomes more interested, "And now, like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your own history and you forget all the lives the Stark Family has destroyed." Ivan says, and as he does Bobbi takes notices of his words and realises something.
"Speaking of thieves, where did you get this design?" Tony asks.
"My father Anton Vanko." Ivan says, and as he does Bobbi scans her brain, trying to figure out if she's ever heard of him, and she realises she hasn't.
"Well, I never heard of him." Tony comments.
"My father is the reason you're alive." Ivan reveals.
"The reason I'm alive is 'cause you had a shot, you took it, you missed." Tony says.
"Did I?" Ivan asks, "If you can make God bleed, the person will cease to believe in him, and there will be blood in the water, the sharks will come." Ivan says, "The truth is, all I have to do is sit here and watch as the world will consume you."
"Where will you be watching the world consume me from? That's right, a prison cell. I'll send you a bar of soap." Tony says, as he goes to leave.
"Hey, Tony, before you go, palladium in the chest painful way to die." Ivan says, and as he does Bobbi tenses as she and her father leave.
"Did you really have to tell him a better way to kill you next time?" Bobbi asks, giving her father an annoyed look.
"It got him talking, didn't it?" Tony asks, "Did you get anything from him?" he asks, knowing that Bobbi would have realised something he didn't.
"Oh yeah." Bobbi confirms, "This isn't just about you, he's pissed at our whole family, and after the way he spoke about his father, and said Stark, I'd say your Dad was the cause of his anger." Bobbi explains, having thought about how to say what she is thinking as she knows that her father's father is a sensitive topic with him.
"Of course, this has Howard Stark written all over it." Tony says, sounding bitter.
"Dad, how much does it hurt?" Bobbi asks concerned, there being no question as to what she is referring to.
"A little, but it's nothing I can't handle Little Bird." Tony says, putting his arm around his daughter, trying to downplay it, as the two of them drift into silence and continue to walk
May 24th 2011
The following day Tony, Pepper, Natasha, Happy, and Bobbi are flying home together, while Pepper, Happy, and Natasha are happily talking in one area of the plane Tony heads to another part of the plane where Bobbi is watching tv and so he pauses and watches too.
"Who is the mysterious blond woman in Tony Stark's life, some people have speculated that she is in fact his wife of almost a decade, but I believe you have a different theory Ms Everhart." A journalist says.
"I do." Everhart says, "As you just said Mr Stark has been married for almost ten years, this woman, who I met in Monaco, Bobbi, Is far to young for that." Everhart says.
"Then who do you think she is?"
"It's simple." Everhart says, "This is the picture that started the speculation of Tony Stark having children." She says, and the picture from 2002 comes up on the screen, "And this is one of the pictures from yesterday." She says, and an image of Iron Man hugging Bobbi, where thankfully her face cannot clear be seen, "If you look at the picture from 2002 you will see that the oldest of the children has blond curly hair, as does the woman from yesterday."
"You think this Bobbi is Tony Stark's daughter?"
"I'm sure of it." Everhart says.
"Mute." Tony says, having heard enough as he walks over to Bobbi, "I'm sorry." He tells her.
"It's okay, it's not your fault, and it will die down soon, it always does." Bobbi comments, as Tony sits down across from her.
"We should go to Rome, I owe you pizza." Tony comments, remembering what they were going to do before Afghanistan.
"What we should do is go to New York." Bobbi tells her father.
"No." Tony says, knowing exactly why Bobbi is suggesting that.
"Dad, don't you want to see Mom, and Daze, and Pete?" Bobbi asks, leaning forward.
"Of course, I do." Tony says, without even thinking about it, "But I don't want them to see me like this, don't want them to know what is going on, truthfully I'd rather you didn't know." He admits.
"Well I know, and I'm not going anywhere." Bobbi tells her father, "Dad, Mom…."
"Will hate me for not telling her, I know." Tony admits, "Maybe it will make things easier.' Tony says, not sure he believes that, but wanting to protect Melinda.
"That's bullshit, and you know it." Bobbi tells her father, "Mom, loves you. There is nothing that's going to make you dying any easier." She argues, "We should go home." Bobbi tries.
"No." Tony says, no room for argument in his voice.
"Dad…" Bobbi starts to say.
"I should go check on Pepper, Nat, and Happy, I don't like to think of what those three can get up to." Tony says, before getting up.
"DAD!" Bobbi calls, but he just keeps walking, "This isn't going to end well." Bobbi mutters to herself, as she watches her dad go.
May 29th 2011
Five days have passed since Tony and Bobbi's conversation on the jet, and since then the media has continued to speculate about who Bobbi is, Rhodey has found out that something is going on with Tony and Tony has found out who Ivan and his father are.
It is a Sunday night, Tony's forty first birthday, and rather than spending it with his family, who he did talk to on a long video call earlier, he is throwing a very big, very public birthday party that fits with the public image he puts out.
"Dad." Bobbi says, walking int her father's bed room where he is sitting in a chair, "People will be here soon." She explains.
"Okay." Tony says, with a nod.
"You know we can still cancel. I can fly us home and we can spend your birthday with Mom, Daisy, and Peter instead of strangers." Bobbi comments.
"Pepper, Rhodey and Nat will be here…." Tony starts to say.
"Not what I meant, and you know it." Bobbi says, looking annoyed, "This could be your last birthday, you should do what you want to do, and I'm pretty sure that is be with our family." Bobbi argues.
"Of course, it is; but not when I'm not like this." Tony argues.
"Dad…" Bobbi starts to say.
"I've made my choice Barbara, this is what I'm going to do." Tony says his voice harsh.
"Now, you're just being an ass." Bobbi tells her father, before walking out of the room, and Tony is watching her go in such shock that he doesn't even comment about what she said.
AN2 IMPORTANT: So, this chapter is actually uncomplete, I have someone who is helping me a scene that was meant to be in this chapter, but they haven't gotten it to me, and so I decided to upload what I've written and then that scene will be it's own chapter before going forward. I am actually very far ahead, but I cannot post anymore without that scene, so I'm sorry about that.