Rosalind Stark
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any characters or variations of Marvel/Avengers. I only own my OCs.
Chapter Sixteen: Press Conference
"What?!" Tony nearly shouted. Vivian hadn't mentioned Rosalind getting kicked out of private school.
Vivian made a face after hearing Rozz. "I handled it okay," she muttered hoping Tony would drop it. She wasn't that lucky.
"How did you handle it?" Tony asked moving to make eye contact with her.
"Rozz lets get JARVIS to order dinner," Jane got the little girl to the far side of the living room away from her parents.
"Are you homeschooling her now or is she attending a different school?" asked Pepper feeling a little worried.
"I made a deal with them. They wouldn't kick her out if she placed at the fair," huffed Vivian.
"The one Doom attacked?" Tony clarified taking a seat at the table with Darcy and Vivian. Pepper sat down next to him.
"Yeah, and since he attacked. They didn't pick any winners, so I can probably get them to let her do something else… Did you really not notice that I haven't bothered to call her in as absent to school the whole week?" she explained before turning the tables on him.
"Hey, I'm new at this," whined Tony.
"Why do they want to kick her out of school?" Pepper asked pulling out her phone.
"She is moving through subjects too fast, has a tendency to correct the instructors, and doesn't play well with others," Vivian recited a list in a mocking tone showing an obvious dislike for whoever originally made it.
"Doesn't play well with others," Pepper repeated a smile coming to her lips as she turned to Tony who did not seem to make the connection.
"Those are shit reasons!" he snorted. Vivian held up her glass in a gesture of 'I know right!' "It doesn't matter, we can fix it later," Tony sighed. If Rosalind and Vivian stayed, she would need a new school anyway.
"JARVIS ordered Chinese food!" Rosalind announced skipping back with Jane. She climbed up to sit in the seat open between her parents.
"We will need to have a press conference tomorrow," Pepper stated scrolling through her phone. "The media is getting worked up not knowing who Rosalind is."
"Okay, you good doing a press conference kid?" Tony asked Rozz. He didn't want to make her go if she didn't want to.
"What would I do?" she asked curious. She watched almost all of Tony's press conferences, so she did know what it was.
"You would stand with me and the Avengers and maybe answer a question or say hello," he stroked her hair. She smiled wide nodding that she could do that.
"Vivian will need to be there too," Pepper informed them. Vivian raised an eyebrow. "The media will continue to be a circus unless they see and understand that Tony knew he had a daughter with you."
xxXXxx
"Hammer hired her to place Rosalind with one of his employees as a foster family," Coulson recapped the information Natasha and Loki had gotten from the woman.
"And we have proof?" Fury asked knowing they would need more than hear say from an intense interrogation.
"We have the payment and the recent registration of the employee as a foster parent," Coulson went on handing him a folder with the documents.
"I'll send Hill to pick him up," Fury informed him.
Coulson headed back to the team who were all eating a SHIELD provided meal.
"Steve, I'm sure she is fine," Bruce assured the captain as they ate.
"But why would she be drinking?" Steve whined shoving his food around his plate instead of eating it.
"Lady Jane calls the event Girls Night!" Thor loudly exclaimed.
"It makes sense. She has someone to watch Rosalind and friends to drink with," Natasha chimed in.
"I guess," he huffed a little.
"If you're worried about something happening between her and Tony, she hasn't even given him a glance Cap," Hawkeye reported over the phone Natasha had on speaker.
Steve's face turned crimson. "Why would I be worried about Vivian and Tony?" he sputtered.
"Maybe cause they have a history, make cute babies together, and the fact that you haven't told her you like her yet," the archer reminded him. Steve still blushing shoved a large amount of food in his mouth to avoid having to respond.
xxXXxx
"This is Lokitty," Rosalind introduced Pepper to the stuffed animal.
"He's very cute. I didn't know they made animal Avengers," Pepper giggled.
"They don't. Mommy made him cause all the Loki dolls look mean or grumpy," Rosalind hugged the cat close to her chest.
Pepper pulled out her phone and made a note. "Why did you want a Loki doll?" she asked after finishing her note.
"Because he's my favorite Avenger!" Rozz giggled doing a little spin.
"I'm not your favorite?" Tony pouted at the little girl. She sat Lokitty on the table and ran to hug Tony.
"You're my favorite Daddy!" she snuggled close to him.
Tony scooped her up giving her a spin. "You're my favorite Rozz! Now let's get you ready for bed," he carried her off grabbing Lokitty along the way.
Pepper headed back over to sit with the girls.
"Tony's getting good with her. You should have seen him the first day he wouldn't even hug her back," Jane commented her grin still wide from their continued drinking.
"That's nice to hear," Vivian gave a soft smiled. She was to a more sleepy point than the others.
"So Viv any men in your life or is it just the one?" Darcy teased.
Vivian looked confused. "One? Who… I'm single. I rarely date. Though Rozz finds me most of the guys I do date."
"How does she do that?" Pepper seemed surprised.
"She inherited Tony's charm. I'm usually pretty oblivious when men like me, she isn't," Vivian admitted.
"I thought you knew Tony liked you, and Rhodey?" Jane asked confused by the contradiction.
"Hitting on and flirting are different than a guy wanting to date you. I can never tell when guys want to date me," she explain grabbing herself a water.
"So you are single and to your knowledge no one is interested in dating you?" Clint asked appearing out of nowhere.
"Pretty much," she continued to drink her water not thinking anything of his question.
"Tomorrow morning would you be willing to discuss the finances with Tony and I?" Pepper asked noticing that Vivian wasn't very confrontational at the moment. Vivian shrugged wandering toward the room she was using.
Tony came back from tucking her Rosalind in. "Viv head to bed?" he asked glancing around.
xxXXxx
"I have the press conference set for tomorrow at four o'clock," Pepper informed Tony as she climbed into his bed.
"Okay," Tony shrugged stripping down to his boxers before coming to bed himself.
Pepper was a little surprised Tony usually pawed at her at the very least when they went to bed, but tonight he seemed tired.
"What's on your mind?" she asked moving to rest against his side.
"Just worried about Rozz… I think I'll take her to get a special dress for the press conference… Do you think she'd like that?" Tony spoke what was on his mind before yawning.
"I'm sure she would love that," Pepper assured him.
xxXXxx
"Nat, tell Cap to turn up the charm. Vivian hasn't even noticed that he's interested yet," Clint laughed into the phone as he continued to keep watch over the tower.
xxXXxx
Vivian headed into the kitchen to get coffee. There she found Pepper already dressed for the day.
"Good morning," Vivian tried to be pleasant.
"Morning, you ready to discuss those finances?" Pepper asked looking up from the tablet she was typing on.
"Let me wake up Rosalind first," Vivian headed to wake up her daughter. Rozz seemed very grumpy to be woken up so early even if it was only seven am. "Come on Rozz time to wake up… You know what. How about you go wake up your daddy," Vivian grinned at the evilness of her suggestion. Rozz smiled sliding off the bed and running off to find Tony. Vivian returned to the kitchen to wait with Pepper for Rosalind and Tony. After about almost five minutes the two women went looking for them. In Tony's bedroom they found them snuggled asleep in his bed.
"Do you think she even tried to wake him up?" Pepper asked trying not to laugh. Vivian was busy taking pictures of their adorableness.
"What are you guys up to?" asked Darcy coming into Tony's room. "Aww!" she squealed.
"Darcy? Why are you in my room?" grumbled Tony still holding Rosalind.
"Daddy sleeping," Rozz grumbled back.
"I was just coming to tell you everyone is back at the tower," Darcy rolled her eyes before snapping her own picture of the two.
"Huh?" Tony grunted finally bothering to open his eyes.
"Why is everyone in here?" Bruce asked as he and Steve entering the room.
"Tony shouldn't you be up by now?" Natasha poked fun at him. Tony pulled a pillow over his head. Rozz snuggled closer to the arc reactor ignoring everyone.
"Is there a party in here or something?" Clint called at the doorway.
"Alright, five more minutes then I want you both up," Vivian announced ushering everyone out the door.
xxXXxx
"What you have is circumstantial at best," Hammer's lawyer proclaimed looking annoyed.
"It was enough to bring him in," Hill shot back
"Yes, but it won't be enough to keep him," he smugly informed her.
xxXXxx
Tony and Rosalind were now in the kitchen both looking like zombies. Steve was fixing up breakfast for the team. Pepper and Vivian were actually getting along to some extent.
"I've got the paper work on the finance ready to go over after breakfast," Pepper informed Vivian and Tony.
"That's fine, but could someone keep Rozz while we go over things?" Vivian asked the group.
"I can take her down to the training floor to run around," offered Steve.
"Maybe I can teacher her a few things," Clint chimed in stealing a piece of bacon.
"If you even think about putting my daughter in an air vent, I will end you bird brain," Tony threatened.
"I'll go with to oversee the activities," Loki assured them.
"Me too," Bruce added. Tony nodded a sleepy thanks before continuing on with his breakfast of bacon and coffee.
xxXXxx
"We'll start with the charges," Pepper showed highlighted transactions to Vivian.
"All of these are for tools and presents that I tell her are from Tony… These are to pay for science fair and contest admissions," Vivian explained not having any trouble explaining.
Darcy and Natasha were both sprawled out in the background of the room definitely eavesdropping.
"What about this large withdraw?" Pepper pointed to a certain line.
Vivian seemed agitated before answering, "It was a loan. All the money was already repaid."
"I did notice that. Why did you need a loan?" Pepper glanced at the papers. She had already noticed and added up the deposits realizing they equaled the amount of the large withdraw.
"The down payment on the house. I needed a larger one to get better financing," she growled. She didn't like admitting she needed help, so mentioning the loan put her on edge.
"What about withdrawals for general living expenses?" Tony asked trying to decipher the papers.
"I am capable of taking care of my daughter on my own," Vivian snapped standing to pace the room.
"I didn't mean it like that," Tony thought about actually apologizing.
"What I don't get is why you only take money out of the overflow account," Pepper stated moving the account paperwork.
"Overflow account? There's only one account. I was given access to it in the agreement," Vivian looked a bit confused now still wearing the scowl from earlier.
"There are two general expense accounts and then Rosalind's trust. A percentage of Tony's earning are added to the accounts each month," Pepper explained thinking maybe Vivian had forgotten about the other accounts.
"Obie told me the only way to get Tony to agree to her being acknowledge as an heir to Stark Industries was to give up the larger amount of compensation," Vivian informed them as she came back to sit at the table.
"What do you mean acknowledge? I thought you and Rozz were a secret?" Darcy asked not being able to hold back her curiosity.
"It means no matter how many kids Tony has. When he dies, Rosalind will be guaranteed her fair share of the company," Vivian replied not surprised that the two women were definitely listening in.
"You still should have been given access to all three accounts," Pepper looked worried moving to make a call.
"If you guys are good, I am going to take Rozz to get a dress for the press conference," Tony announced heading for the elevator. Pepper nodded while Vivian raised an eyebrow at him.
Once Tony was gone, Vivian muttered, "I guess he'll call me when that goes south."
xxXXxx
Tony found Rosalind playing on some equipment while being watched closely by Loki and Steve.
"Rozz!" Tony called her over. She grinned wide rushing to hug his legs. "Do you want to go get a new dress for the press conference today?" Tony asked ruffling her curls.
"Really?" her eyes were sparkling. He wasn't sure if it was the promise of a new dress or the fact he was taking her shopping.
"Absolutely. We can go shopping and get lunch," Tony scooped her up pulling out his phone to call Happy to pick them up.
xxXXxx
"Why would you want acknowledgement over a trust fund?" Darcy asked Vivian. Pepper had left the room to have a conversation with the bank in a quiet room.
"I wanted Rosalind to have a choice on whether or not she was involved with Tony even if she had to wait till he was dead to do it publicly," Vivian replied casting a glance at Natasha who had yet to move from her perch across the room.
"But that meant she would be giving up a ton of money. What if Stark industries didn't even exist by the time Tony died?" she tried pointing out a counter argument.
"Part of the acknowledgement deal included that she was guaranteed an inheritance from Tony's estate. Besides the one account I have has plenty in it," Vivian explained still feeling her choice was right.
"What is plenty?" Darcy raised an eyebrow.
"Like twenty million," Vivian stated softly already knowing how she would react.
"Twenty Million!" she repeated at a near yelling volume.
"Yeah," Vivian nodded ignoring her response.
"I didn't even think you could twenty million in one bank account," Darcy continued to be shocked.
"Well it's not all in one. It's like a number of accounts under one name or something like that. I'm not big on finances, so I'm not exactly sure what it's called. It's spread around for insurance reasons I think," Vivian tried to explain. Darcy nodded as if that made a bit more sense.
"What I want to know is what happened during Tony's kidnapping? It was looking as though he was dead for awhile," Natasha finally joined the conversation.
"I was a wreck personally. Rosalind wasn't old enough to understand. I just pretended everything was fine. Obie called me at one point telling me that if Tony was missing a year or if a body was recovered Rosalind would be inheriting Tony's estate as a whole including Stark Industries… Now that was terrifying," Vivian grimaced at the memory.
"Obie," Natasha repeated the name heading toward the room Pepper had gone off to.
xxXXxx
"This one?" Tony held up a dress. Happy was helping the father daughter pair with their shopping.
"Nope," she shook her head.
"Kid that's the seventh no. Just tell me what you want to wear," Tony sighed putting the dress in the pile of rejects.
Rozz thought for a minute. "I want to match you," she grinned hugging his legs.
"Okay," he turned toward Happy. Happy went off to find a sales associate to help with her request.
xxXXxx
"We're going to have to let him go, aren't we?" grumbled Agent Hill watching as Hammer discussed with his lawyer.
"We can charge him, but the case is weak," Coulson explained.
Meanwhile, Fury was thumbing through paperwork in his office. He growled slightly to himself. There was one way to get Hammer, but it would require the help of Doom, and he knew that wasn't likely to happen.
"I hear you may have to let Hammer go," Loki's voice called from seemingly nowhere before he himself chose to appear.
"Unless you have something to offer, get out," snapped Fury already pointing to the door. He was in no mood for the god of mischief.
"I could speak with Victor. He can be reasonable on occasions," offered Loki now sitting on his desk.
"Fine, but get off my desk. I'm not Stark," he rolled his eyes before leading the way to where Doom was being held.
xxXXxx
"The press conference is starting soon. Where is Tony?" Pepper was looking around annoyed that she had managed to get all the original Avengers together except the one she was dating. Loki was also missing, but he often skipped press conferences.
"Happy says they're on the way Miss Potts," JARVIS informed her. Pepper nodded more to herself than to JARVIS. She went back to making sure everything was ready. Vivian was dressed in an acceptable outfit made up a mash up of her and Jane's clothes. She wasn't exactly expecting to be at a press conference during the trip.
Tony walked in carrying Rosalind a few moments later. Everyone stared. They were adorable. Tony was wearing one of his designer suits with a dark royal blue dress shirt and a navy tie. Rosalind was wearing a dress in a blue matching Tony's dress shirt with a sash that matched his tie, and to top it all off, they were wearing matching sunglasses.
Darcy let out a squeak at their appearance. Vivian only smiled snapping a photo of the two. "You couldn't be subtle Tony," Pepper sighed happy that he had at least not been late.
"I think we look great," Tony grinned. It was pretty clear that it only increased his ego to have his little girl want to match him. He finally sat her down allowing her to rush off to her mother. Pepper rolled her eyes heading downstairs to make sure the media was prepared for them.
"We had cheeseburgers for lunch," Rozz informed her mother.
"I bet that was fun," she adjusted Rosalind's hair so it was less likely to get caught in her new sunglasses.
"Did Lokes bail?" Tony asked realizing they were short one god.
"He mentioned going to see Doom at SHIELD," Natasha replied wearing an indifferent expression.
"I guess it's just the original boy band," Tony smirked knowing his expression would bother Bruce and Steve more than it would their female team member.
xxXXxx
Loki walked into Doctor Victor Von Doom's cell not saying a word. "You want something," Doom stated knowing the god of mischief did not make social visits.
"You want out of here to go back to Latveria," Loki snorted back.
"I can leave when I choose," huffed Victor glaring at the god.
"Yes, but that would take longer and be more work than what I'm offering," Loki rolled his eyes.
"I'm listening," Doom's glare had not lightened even with this concession.
xxXXxx
The Avengers sat on the stage while Tony headed for the microphone despite Pepper's orders to let her take the first few questions.
"So I'm sure you all have seen the little girl that been around the team and the tower the last week," he started off. The crowd clamored waiting for him to explain the girl. "Well, she's my kid. Her name is Rosalind," he stated simply as if that should answer everyone's questions.
"Did you know she existed?"
"Is she Miss Potts' daughter?"
"Where has she been for all these years?"
These and more questions that he could not hear were yelled by the mass of reporters.
"Yes, I've known about her since before she was born. No Miss Potts is not her mother. She's been living with her mother," Tony answered the few questions he could hear knowing it was better to play nice with the press to an extent.
"Who is her mother?" multiple people demanded.
Rosalind pulled her mother on to the stage. Tony headed toward them ignoring the crowd's shouts. Pepper took over. "Her mother is Dr Vivian Ewart," she answered for him.
The crowd went silent for a moment before one reporter asked one question, "Are you and Mr Stark still together or did he dump you for Miss Ewart?"
Rosalind stormed toward the front of the stage, "My mommy is Doctor not Miss and don't be mean to my aunt Pepper." She gave a little stamp to emphasis her point.
Tony grinned proudly moving to pick her up. "I am still in a relationship with Miss Potts. Vivian is an old friend… Rozz say hi," he tried not to laugh at the little girl who now wore a pout to go along with her sunglasses.
"Hi," she waved half-heartedly at the crowd. Tony moved back toward the Avengers to allow Pepper to resume her control over the press conference.
xxXXxx
"We don't negotiate with terrorist," Fury snorted. He was informed Doom and Loki had come to an agreement.
"Doom will return to Latveria once his statement is recorded," Loki reminded.
"We have no reason to release him," Fury replied seeming annoyed.
"We could say he's a diplomat," offered Coulson.
"He burned that bridge a long time ago," Agent Hill sighed.
"I suppose you don't have to release him… I could," Fury cut Loki off before he could finish.
"Don't finish that though. I don't want anyone to be an accomplice. Tell Doom it's a deal," Fury directed them out of his sight.
xxXXxx
"Is this public announcement of your family in an effort to improve your image?" inquired one of the reporters.
"Yeah being a father would be an improvement over the title merchant of death," added another.
Tony glared at them. He didn't want Rozz hearing about that kind of stuff. He started to grab the microphone away from the stand it was in, but Rosalind beat him to it.
"My daddy's the best no mater what you call him," she huffed. Tony sent a questioning look toward Vivian. It sounded as though Rosalind was well a ware of his old title.
"How do you plan to keep your daughter safe from attacks?" asked another member of he press.
xxXXxx
"That didn't go too bad," observed Tony leading the way back up stairs. Vivian had been quiet for a bit. "Rozz want to go back down to the training floor?" Tony asked as he moved to remove his jacket and tie.
"Yeah, but I don't wanna ruin my new dress," she did a little twirl in her new dress.
"Let's go find you some play clothes," Darcy offered heading toward Rosalind's temporary room. Rosalind skipped after her.
"Did you tell her to call Pepper her aunt?" Vivian asked Tony before he could leave to change his own clothes.
"No, I figured you did," he shrugged before exiting the living area.
Everyone but Steve and Vivian headed down stairs to the training area or out of the tower.
"You're thinking about something. Penny for your thoughts," he gave her a warm smile hoping she would open up.
"I need to get Rosalind back home soon," she stated coldly.
"Why? Tony's doing great with her. Is it about her calling Pepper her aunt?" he wasn't expecting this answer.
"No it has nothing to do with that… honestly, the family dynamic is working out better than I would have ever guessed, but it's the danger and threats," she sighed feeling guilty for wanting to leave, but it would be the best way to keep Rosalind safe.
"If someone was after Rosalind, it wouldn't mater whether she was living in the tower or half way around the world," Steve hoped he was making sense.
"You heard Tony's answers to the press. I don't think he is thinking about how much danger she could be in. If I take her back home, we can lay low," she fidgeted with her cast looking nervous.
xxXXxx
Downstairs in the training area, Rozz was boxing with Tony. Her hands were tiny in the adult sized gloves.
"Punch, jab. Kid you're pretty strong," he lowered his hand from catching her punches.
"I'm tough," she told him giving him a toothy grin.
"Yeah you are. Go play, I'm going to talk to Pep for a minute," Tony headed toward Pepper. She had a concerned look on her face. Rosalind rushed off to play.
"Tony there are problems with the agreement between you and Vivian," she announced once he had made it over to her.
"What type of problems?" Tony asked raising an eyebrow.
"Obadiah Stane problems," she grumbled. Tony nodded as though that made complete sense. "All of the accounts other than the overflow account including her trust fund were all created with only him having access," she elaborated.
"Did he drain the accounts?" Tony asked attempting to not get angry in front of Rozz.
"Only a small portion. I am having the bank and Williams correct the issues," she replied filling him in on what she had spent the morning working on.
"Sir, Miss Stark is in danger of," before JARVIS could finish a crash was heard followed by crying. Rosalind had used the lack of supervision as an opportunity to climb the weight rack. She along with several pieces of equipment had fallen. Tony, and Bruce rushed to the crying little girl. Pepper stood frozen like a deer in the headlights while Tony comforted Rosalind and checked her over for serious injuries.
xxXXxx
"Vivian, Rosalind is perfectly safe," Steve assured just in time for the elevator to open revealing Rosalind holding a bag of ice to her head.
"What happened?" Vivian asked rushing over, as fast as her injuries would allow, to check her over.
"She took a tumble off something she shouldn't have been climbing," Tony answered giving his daughter a stern look. She shuffled her feet looking guilty.
"Rosalind," Vivian's voice had a scolding tone.
"Sorry Mommy. Sorry Daddy," she apologized.
"Is it just a bump?" Vivian moved the bag of ice to look for her self.
"Yeah, Bruce even double checked," assured Tony.
xxXXxx
After dinner, Vivian had informed everyone that she and Rosalind would be leaving in the next few days.
Tony stared at her. She had not even discussed it with him. The team kept glancing between the two. Rosalind started sniffling upset to be leaving her Daddy and the Avengers.
Loki scooped her up. "Would you like to listen to a reading?" Loki offered to read to her from his book that he'd been reading lately. Knowing him it was either Shakespeare or some other old literary work that was considered a classic. Rosalind nodded hugging tightly to the god's neck.
Tony couldn't stand it anymore he grabbed Vivian by the arm and dragged her toward the elevator. The others noticed, but felt it was best to allow the parents to have another talk in private. Soon they arrived at his lab level. Tony wanted the privacy. He had a feeling it was going to be a heated discussion.
Please Review and Follow, it means a lot to me. No Negativity Please this is my first Avengers fic!
Thank you to FireSenshi2, Lavendor Queen, seireidoragon, and Goldenfightergirl for reviewing!