Steve's sound sleep was disturbed by knocks on his door.

He roused, turned, and curled, evening his breathing but the knocks were there again.

"What the-" he muttered, irritated and sleepy, and reached for his bedside clock. It showed 5:02 AM.

He tried to ignore them to go back to sleep only for the knocking to be louder this time. he wanted to tell them to go away and he wanted to sleep. But his mind wanted to check over. in the end, the mind won, he got up and walked to the door and opened it.

Outside stood Nat, stretching.

"Hey, good morning." she greeted quite cheerily

Steve gave her a deadpanned look, "It's 5 in the morning."

"Could have been something serious."

"Then JARVIS would have woken me already."

She rolled her eyes, "Well, now that you are already awake, do you want to go on a run?"

Seve blinked, still not completely awake, "what?"

She rolled her eyes again, "You used to go on morning runs before the...you know. And now that things are settling into a new normal, I thought you might want to resume that activity. Say, wanna join me? Get some clean fresh air. I can call Wilson to join us."

Steve stood there, trying to comprehend the situation. He had gone to sleep quite late at night, around 2 AM, after going through the files Rose had handed him. The worst part was that he wasn't even halfway through those files, they had so much. And while he was used to being active on little to no sleep, this was one day he wanted to sleep in.

"Steve, when was the last time you got out of the tower?"

His brain racked for the memory.

"Don't think too hard. You haven't stepped out ever since you came back from the hospital. Come on. Change your clothes. I'll make some strong coffee to wake you up. Do you want me to call Wilson?"

Steve sighed, "Give me 10 minutes. Scratch that, make it 15. Sam has to drive all the way to New York from DC. Don't call him."

"Aye, aye, Captain."

Steve rolled his eyes and walked inside, closing the door. He quickly picked a change of clothes and entered the bathroom.


Rose woke up to Arrow preening her. She hummed delighted and pressed into her pillow. She had missed the feeling when she was quite unwell. And suddenly she bit her ear, which made her yelp.

"Ouch!"

Arrow chirped and hopped onto the mattress.

"It's okay." Rose smiled, a bit sleepily, "It doesn't hurt. Just unexpected."

Arrow was still rather young, just a few months old and Rose expected such mistakes from her.

She took a deep breath, got up, went through her morning routine, decided to skip the shower, and headed to the communal.

"Good morning, Rosie."

"Morning, Bruce." she smiled which was suppressed by her yawn.

"Insufficient sleep, huh?" he asked, sliding her mug of coffee to her.

"You saw the condition of those blueprints dad gave me. No way I could present them to the Board. Or R&D, for that matter."

He chuckled, "Need a hand?"

"Unless you can Hulk out on the board members when they start pissing me off, I'm afraid not."

"I don't think UN will kindly take to that considering what we are trying here."

Rose just shrugged.

"Speaking of the big guy, how he's holding?"

Bruce thought for a moment, "he's been quiet. I guess he's waiting for his chance in the spotlight."

"He'll get one soon."

"Not in the bad spotlight, I hope."

"Don't we all."

The two sat in silence before Bruce spoke up again, "Say, have you thought of monetizing us?"

"Pardon?" she blinked

"You know as all these popular singers and celebrities do it. Merchandise and stuff. You could get it patented under SI and maybe later Avengers Inc, depending. I know they make merch on us. But is any of that patented?"

"Iron Man is patented." she quickly replied, "All of its revenue goes into MSF."

"Okay, then how about getting Avengers patented? You know the whole shebang better than me. But putting this idea in front of the board might get you some brownie points."

"And you are okay with this? Will others be okay with this?"

"I can't speak for others, but I don't have any problem. You gave us all a place to live, free food, tech, state-of-the-art labs, and all that stuff and never expected a penny from us. I don't really care much if you make money off me or Hulk as long as I don't have to appear in front of crowds or give interviews."

"I'll discuss with Pepper. Thank you. That was quite insightful. no offense but I didn't expect anything like this coming from you."

Bruce chuckled, "I have 7 PhD.s okay? Cut me some slack." he laughed, "Besides, I've been hanging out with Tony and he loves to rant about how the board is really just a bunch of cold-hearted assholes."

"He does love to rant." she chuckled

they both heard a ding and saw Steve and Nat getting out with the dogs.

"Had fun this early in the morning?" she asked

"I figured he and the dogs could use some time out." Nat chuckled as Hera and Zeus both slumped on the ground, clearly tired. both animals have been at Pepper's care in the last few days and she hadn't been able to walk them out due to her tight schedules. This was one of the reasons she actually preferred cats over dogs.

"They all look tired. How long were you out running?" Bruce asked. Rose turned to look at Steve, who was slumped on the couch.

"She's crazy." Steve managed to wheeze out tiredly and rolling his neck back ad letting out a tired groan.

"It wasn't that bad." Nat smiled

"I don't know what you did, but please don't do it often. In these times, we can't afford our leader to be broken." Rose smiled into her cup. Bruce chuckled and Nat laughed.

"What she said." Steve tiredly pointed

"It must be pretty bad if he's tired." bruce said

"Or he's getting rusty," Nat said, "Anyway, Rose, you heading down today?"

"I was planning on. It's Brit's last day before her time off and I've got a meeting with R&D and possibly, Legal. Why?"

"Anything particular I should wear?"

Rose blinked, a bit dumbfounded at first before it struck her, "No! Whatever you are comfortable in."

"Alright. what time?"

"About 2 hours later."

"Enough for me." she waved her hand and headed for the stairs.

Rose and Bruce exchanged a look, both amused.

"Whatever did she make you do?" Bruce asked

But they got no reply. They exchanged another look. Rose was about to get up and check on him when they heard his snores.

"J, when did Steve sleep last night?"

"Captain America retired to bed at 2:04 AM, Ms."

"And what time did they go for the run?"

"That would be at 5:25 AM"

"He didn't get much sleep huh," Bruce muttered

Rose just for up, took a blanket they kept for such occasions from under the coffee table and covered Steve with it.

"I should get ready for the day."


"...and here are Mam's schedules, every single mail needs to read and filtered before forwarding to her personal mail. You are not allowed to reply to any mail for up to 24 hours, so use that, just in case. Mam cleans up after her, so all you have to handle is the managerial work. All US-based offices are to be handled. Mam and Ms. Potts manage all the international branches. So if anything international ends up in this inbox, and it tends to, you've gotta forward it to Spencer, Miss Potts' PA." she took a deep breath, "I think that about covers everything."

Nat was not expecting this. She looked at the blonde girl, who was roughly a couple of years older than Rose herself, and her mind worked to remember all those rules.

"Is that all clear or would you like me to go on from the top once more?" she asked, a bit hesitantly

Nat thought of the offer. When Brittany found out that the Black Widow had volunteered to fill in for her, she was skeptical. And Nat understood. Her specialty was not managing people's business. And Brittany had further reasons to be skeptical of her as she had been a brand new PA to Rose when Nat was assigned the task of spying on the Starks. Nat always felt that Brittany wasn't exactly fond of her, but the blonde had never spoken up.

And here she was, about 5 years later learning the ropes once again. Being Rose's PA looked so much different than Pepper's PA.

Brittany had begun rather hesitantly, detailing what she was expected to do as Rose's PA but then she had gotten a hang of it and she went off like a bullet.

Nat looked back at her expectant gaze.

"I got it." she smiled

"Oh good." Brittany smiled relieved, "I'd have hated to go over all that once again."

"Figured," Nat muttered to herself.

"Oh and I've told all those instructions to JARVIS so if you forget anything or just...you know...he's there for you."

"That's good to hear." Nat chuckled

"Yeah. He's a lifesaver." Brittany chuckled, "Also, Tom drops in once a week or 10 days with all the fan-mail and stuff. Just a heads up. And if there's anything else that you'd need help with, feel free to call me," she pointed at a post-it note with her number on it, "Or mam and JARVIS are always there."

"Got it."

"Great."

The door behind her opened and Rose stepped out.

"Everything clear, ladies?"

"I hope so." Brittany smiled

"I'll be fine. Brittany gave me a stern run-down." Nat added

"Well, that's great. You," she looked at Brittany, "I just approved your half-day so yourself home. Half a nice and safe trip. And don't forget to enjoy yourself."

Brittany nodded and picked her purse.

"see you later." Nat waved at her

"Thank You." Brittany smiled and walked off.

As soon as she was off, Nat turned to Rose, "How did you manage to bag her? She's too good."

"Luck." Rose shrugged before pulling out an employee ID ad handing it to her. It had her photo with the name Natalie Rushman and most of her original data except her DOB.

"Is it okay?"

"It will work just fine." Nat smiled, pocketing it. "Let's see what's on your agenda?"

"A meeting with R&D, actually."

Nat raised a brow, as she scrolled down the StarkTab.

"I know most of my schedule. So, shall we, Ms. Rushman?"


"Hey people," Tony greeted as he stepped into the communal. He entered the kitchen, got some coffee and breakfast, and took a seat, facing everyone at the communal.

"I just heard back from the UN."

"That's quick," Clint piped in as everyone looked at him

Tony shrugged, "Well, there are perks of being me. Anyway, they've given us an appointment that is 17 days from now."

"Isn't that a bit too soon?" Clint asked

"I did mention it concerned global security and a bunch of details that probably got them getting us a quick date."

"Would it be in front of all the international dignitaries?" Bruce asked

"I don't know. Yet. But I think they'd have a smaller committee hear to us first before we are presented in front of everyone. Either way, we have to prepare an iron-clad proposal in about 15 days. And I think we should start now."

"Don't you wanna wait until the girls are back?" Steve asked

"Nat, sure. but Rose won't be taking part for now."

"Is everything alright?" Thor asked

Tony took a deep breath, "She...got in a bit of trouble with the Board and Chairman. So she's gonna be focusing on SI for a while and taking a break from Avengers."

Steve frowned, "I thought Pepper forbid her from going to office until she recovered."

"Pepper did but it's the fucking Board. They have more power than the COO."

"We can include her in the final drafting but we should start with the first draft of the proposal anyway," Bruce suggested

"Of course."

"Alright boys," Tony clapped once loudly, "Let's get working!"


"And how soon are you expecting to hear back with these?"

"There isn't a tight schedule, Adam. I don't care if it takes a week or a month. As long as I get the perfect product at the end. But I'd like to get weekly reports of progress."

"Of course."

Rose took a deep breath, "And what about the projects that are underway?"

Adam Sanchez, R&D head, quickly went through his StarkTab. He occasionally positing his glasses and muttered to himself until he looked up.

"I'll send those reports as well."

"Alright." she exhaled, "If there isn't anything else, I guess that's all."

Adam looked hesitant for a solid moment.

"Adam?"

"An engineer in the department has submitted paperwork requesting funds for a new project." he walked around back to his desk and pulled out a file from a drawer, flipping the pages.

"I can't approve it." Rose answered, "With everything going on, I can't assign funds. Not now."

Adam nodded, "I understand and I did tell him that the odds are quite slim. But this technology he wants to develop has potential." he took out the form and handed it to her.

"Holographic technology?" Rose muttered

"that's right."

She took a deep breath, eyes scanning the entire paper before she handed it back to him, "Send this entire proposal too. I'll see what I can do. Also, send this guy up at..." she looked at the clock, "4. No, 5.30."

"Okay."

"Okay." she got up, "have a good day, Adam."

"You too, Ms. Stark."

Rose smiled turned and walked out. she headed down to the Legal department and to a certain cubicle where Hill was with Nat.

She had told Nat to find Hill and bring her up to speed while she handled her R&D meet. she didn't think Nat would appreciate all the technical mumbo-jumbo. Also, she didn't wanna show it to her that how desperate she was at the moment in the matters of the company.

"There she is." Hill smiled at her, "Mam."

Rose rolled her eyes, "seriously? You know better than that."

Hill chuckled, "But then, I'm not a SHIELD agent anymore and technically you are both our boss."

"Only temporary in my case." Nat piped in

"Uh-huh. Speaking of being the boss, are you onboard?" Rose asked

"how much would I be in charge of?"

"Uh...the entire Comm. It's yours."

Hill looked at Nat, surprised, "You were not kidding, were you?"

Nat tilted her head, amused.

"When is the last date?"

"We'd like ASAP, Hill. I don't know when UN is gonna give us the date and we'd all rather be ready with what we have."

Hill took a deep breath and nodded, "I'll let Rogers or Stark know, whosoever is in charge know."

"They both are, actually," Nat said

"Both of them? How come this idea is still floating? And not burned down?"

"I'll take credit for that. Keeping those know from bashing each other's heads. There are perks of me being me."

"Of course, it's you."

Rose shrugged, "Well, I'm heading for the meeting. Come on, Nat."


Nat exhaled pushing some hair behind her ear as she arranged the paperwork and emails, side by side. She wasn't struggling but she was having quite a hard time keeping up. After all, it had been quite a few years since she had done such kind of work. and it wasn't just her, Rose was a bit struggling too. On top of only one functional arm, she was still on her meds and it was one thing to hear how tough things were and a whole another to actually witness it.

"Uh...stapler...pins. Wait a second. where are the pins?" Nat looked around the desk, she checked the drawers and found them at the bottom-most one when she sensed someone. she slowly got up to see a man. He was dressed crisply and neatly, a trimmed beard and a cocky smile.

"Hi." she greeted

"Uh..hello." he smiled, "I haven't seen you around. You ar-"

"I'm Brittany's replacement until she comes back," Nat responded

"Oh. Yeah, she just got proposed, right."

Nat studied him once over.

"Can I help you?"

The man looked at her, flashing a charming smile. Honestly, she had seen better.

"I have an appointment with Ms. Stark at 5.30."

Nat looked at the tab, "Quentin Beck?"

"That's right."

"Rose is currently on call. You'd have to wait ten minutes or so."

"No problem..."

Nat internally rolled her eyes, "Natalie. Natalie Rushman."

"Of course," he chuckled but didn't move away. Nat raised a brow when she realized that he was looking at her face.

"Is there anything else?"

"You look quite similar to Black Widow."

Well, duh. She was Black Widow.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." she muttered, "If you could just take the seat. I'll let Rose know you are here."

Nat stayed there, finishing the compiling of paperwork before she picked her tab and entered the room.

Rose was still on the call. She had to wait for about 5 more minutes before Rose wrapped it all up and gave her the attention.

"Do I really look all that different?" Nat asked handig her some papers.

"Different from what?"

"The usual,"

Rose looked at her, pausing.

"Your hair's tied. And you aren't wearing a cat suit. And your makeup's a tad bit different. I guess."

"Huh," Nat snorted, "Beck's here."

"Send him in."

Nat nodded and got up and opened the door.

"Mr. Beck? You can come in."

The guy got up, buttoning his blazer and he entered while Nat took a seat on the couch. Brittany had advised that she stayed in the room whenever Rose had someone. She hadn't explained why and for some reason, Nat didn't feel like asking.

"Ms. Stark, mam." the guy smiled and extended his hand, which she shook.

"Mr. Beck. Please." she gestured for him to take the seat.

He sat down and Rose pulled out his paperwork.

"Adam informed me that you had requested funds for a new project. Holographic technology."

"That's right." he nodded, "Is it being processed?"

Rose licked her lips, "Can you run what you have in mind through me?"

Beck looked a little surprised by that request but indulged nonetheless, explaining everything he had planned. While Nat didn't understand a lot of the technical terms he said she did get the gist of the idea.

Rose just nodded, letting him speak. And once he was done she hummed.

"I have to say, that's quite...that's something." she chuckled. He chuckled back.

She then took a deep breath, "Mr. Beck, I believe you know the damage SI has suffered due to the recent incidents."

"Yes, mam."

She nodded and pressed her lips before she exhaled, "It is also no secret that financially we have taken a hit. We already have some major projects that are halfway done that require these funds more."

Beck sat there for a few moments letting what she said process. "You are denying it."

"For now. Holographic technology is a big deal. Adam was right, it has a lot of scope, potential. And you are a damn good engineer, your record reflects that. I have no doubt, given ample opportunities you can bring it to life and much more. But unfortunately on the financial end, we are not in the clear. I'll keep this project in reserve and as soon as we get enough finance to fund new projects, yours gonna be the first one to get approved."

"How long before that happens?"

Rose sighed, "I'm afraid I can't give you a solid date. I'm working my best with the investors and the Board. All I ask is bear with me." she rested her arms on the table, "I promise I'll approve this project as soon as I can. I hope you can understand."

"Of course." Beck nodded

She smiled softly, "I appreciate it, thank you. That'd be all for now."

Beck nodded and got up, straightening his blazer. He gave her a node, which she returned and walked out.

"You broke his heart, Роза."

"I didn't want to." she muttered back, "Guy's very smart and his idea can be developed into a lot. But the funds he's asking for are...quite out of budget for me."

Nat looked at the girl, "Are you okay?"

Rose took a deep breath, "No. I'm not."

"Wanna talk about it?"

Rose sighed, running a hand through her hair. She removed her glasses and kept them on the desk as Nat made her way to the chair Beck was previously on

"It's kinda worse than I thought, now that I'm physically in the middle of it. Adam handed me the new R&D budget and it was a bit over. I had put a couple of projects on pause and let the major ones be completed. Expo's Fall season is coming and I'm afraid I'd have to cut corners there. The stock price has gone down. the Board is asking for a permanent solution, I don't have any. Investors are on the verge of pulling out. It is a fucking mess, Nat. And I don't know how I'm going to solve any of it."

Nat reached and wrapped her hands around Rose's tiny hand, "I'm so sorry you have to go through all that."

Rose scoffed, "Not to mention, the new venture. I still have the data dump. I'm...I..." she took a deep breath, "I don't know, Nat. What if I screw this up major time? what if I...what if...What if I make such a bad decision that I lose everything I built in the last 5 years? Nat, what if...dad...what if he...what if I disappoint him?"

Nat pressed her lips, got up, walked around, and hugged the girl. Rose hugged her back with one hand around Nat's waist and pressed her face into her stomach.

"You'll make it out of it, Rose. just like you did all those years ago. You'll prove them all wrong. I know you can." she rubbed soothing circles on the girl's back. "As far as I know Tony, hell, as far as anyone with eyes can see, Tony would never be disappointed in you. No matter what."

She took a breath, "Rose, you are one of the strongest people I know. If anyone can get out of this corporate mess, it's you."

Rose sniffed once but didn't let go of her.

Nat looked at the door when she heard it open and saw Pepper. Pepper looked at them both over and carefully walked in, not making much of a sound. she kept her work on the desk, the sound of which drew Rose's attention. She pulled back and quickly wiped her tears.

Pepper walked to Rose's other side and crouched down.

"Hey, sweetheart." she started, tucking some of her hair behind her ears

"Hey,"

Pepper cupped her face and wiped off the tears before pressing her temple to the girl's. Following that, Rose reached ad hugged her tight, something Pepper enthusiastically responded. She looked at Nat and gave a nod.

Nat nodded back.

Pepper got it. She knew Rose would be better with Pepper than her.

She turned and walked out, leaving them both. She got behind her desk. It was 6 PM. She sighed.

"JARVIS, can you let them know that I went up?"

"Of course, Ms. Rushman."

"Thanks."

She packed up for the day, turned, and took the elevator above.

At the communal, she was greeted by an image of five men huddled around the coffee table with their tabs, laptops, and a lot of papers spread around.

"Are you boys planning on taking over the world?" she asked, coming to stand behind Bruce.

Tony pulled the stylus from his mouth and pointed at her, "I actually promised Rosie that I won't work on world domination without her."

"Wait, you have world domination plans?" Steve asked

"Uh...yeah. We are a pair of brilliant, stubborn, and genius scientists. Of course, we have World Domination Plans."

"We are actually working on our side of the deal for the UN," Bruce answered her, tilting his head to look up at her.

"They got back to you?"

Tony nodded, "This morning after you both had left. We have about 15 days until our appointment."

"That's a bit of a short notice," she muttered as they made space and she sat down between Clint and Bruce.

"We gotta work with what we got."

"what all have you come up with?"

"It's not much yet. We are just making the first draft." Clint answered, "It's gonna take some time." he muttered rubbing his temples.

"Figures," Nat muttered, "Did you guys hear from Hill?"

"Yeah, we got her mail." Steve replied, "She'll be joining us tomorrow onwards."

"That's good."

"Where's Rose?" thor asked

"Down with Pepper."

"How did it all go?" Tony asked

"I didn't go to her R&D meeting. Legal went fine. Speaking of legal, it's just a heads-up and I don't wanna ruin anything Rose wants to discuss, but she discussed monetizing our merch."

"Monetizing our merch?" Clint asked

"Rose'll discuss it better. Like I said, not my beans to spill."

"I think you guys had already done it," Clint looked at Tony

"Avengers used to be a government initiative with private funds. Governement initiatives can't have monetized merch. Irresptive of who sponsors them. Whatever toys or t-shirts that were being made were not patented." Tony replied

"I didn't think she would do it." Bruce muttered, "She seemed a bit hesitant when I suggested the same."

"She's still testy. I guess she'll just have to talk with us guys when she gets the chance."

"Would they be attending the dinner?" Thor asked

"I don't know. I left her with Pepper. I guess you just have to call and ask them" she stretched, "Well, I'm gonna get changed and then see what you all have drawn up so far."

She stood up and then left for her room.


"Tough day, huh?" Pepper asked

"It had its moments," Tony muttered

Pepper pressed her lips and came to sit next to him on the bed, "Tony, we need to talk."

Tony knew that tone. He placed his tab and stylus down and turned to give his girlfriend full attention. "Yes, love."

Pepper took a deep breath, "I think Rose needs to go back to therapy."

Tony chuckled, a bit confused, "Isn't she already doing therapy?"

"No, not like that. I meant like before."

Tony's face tightened, "What happened?"

"She's taking too much stress. Board's putting a bit too much pressure on her. She working her best, but Tony, she's not healthy. Not physically and definitely not mentally. she broke down at the office today after Nat left."

Tony just took a deep breath.

"Tony, she's gone through a lot in the last couple of weeks. She found out about HYDRA, worked in actively destroyed almost half a billion-dollar projects you both worked on, found out about the crash. And...that guy down in Bruce's cage. It's all piling on her. you and I both know how she feels about her anxiety and nightmares and all in all emotionally."

"She bottles them up," Tony muttered

"Yeah, she does. and she's doing it again. Tony, she's 24. She has already gone through a lot of shit in her life as a kid. But this is a different level."

Tony nodded.

"I'm worried about her. I'm scared for her, Tony."

"She's a strong girl. She's our strong girl." he reached and kissed her forehead, "I'll talk to her."

"She went to bed. I made sure she took her meds and actually slept."

"I'll do it in the morning then."

Pepper nodded, taking a shaky breath.

"Okay. Let's get some sleep." Tony smiled at her.


Tony didn't get a lot of sleep that night. Everything Pepper had told him had been playing on a loop in his head and he was worried. He knew, trusted, Rose that she'd work her way out of this mess, but at what cost exactly? But at the same time, he also suspected that she was going through a lot more than what she was telling Pepper or showing.

He woke up quite early in the morning and after refreshing himself, he went right to Rose's floor and started preparing some breakfast for her.

He was making the coffee when he heard.

"Dad? What are you doing here?"

He looked at her and smiled, "I realized it's been quite some time since the two of us had breakfast without others buzzing in. Uh...how do Bacon egg cheese clouds sound?"

Rose chuckled, leaning on the island, "Sounds like the time you tried to experiment with it and covered the entire kitchen in whipped egg whites."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Tony muttered

"Yeah, you do."

"Nope." he looked at her, "why don't you take the seat?"

"Yes, sir." She smiled and pulling the stool sat down. A minute later Tony presented a beautifully garnished dish with a side of foaming cold coffee.

"I just hope it tastes as good as it looks."

"You bet your Ph.D. it does."

"I'll be the judge of that, daddy."

She smiled and took a bite of that, tasting and judging.

"a little...mushy...you know. and could use a little more..." she took a deep inhale through her teeth, "pepper. Yeah, black pepper."

"Black pepper, huh?" Tony asked

"It's fine. I mean, edible."

"You just can't give me a good compliment can you?"

"It's good. There's a little room for improvement but good."

Tony rolled his eyes while she chuckled.

"So what's with the surprise breakfast? Eggs nonetheless. We make eggs to talk about things we don't wanna talk about, so what's going on?"

Tony took a deep breath, "Pepper told me what happened yesterday."

"Oh."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Rose sighed, "You have a lot going on. I just didn't wanna burden you anymore."

He pressed his lips and exhaled, "Of course I have a lot going on. But you really thought that those things matter to me more than you do?"

She didn't meet his eyes.

"Rose." he took a deep breath, "Rosalie, you are my daughter. Nothing in this world is more important or precious to me than you. You could never burden me. Yes, you tend to irritate me, agitate me at times, knock sense into me and sometimes piss me off but you could never burden me or disappoint me. No matter what you do."

He caressed her head, "You made me the proudest father the day you were born. And you can never let me down. You are not a burden. You are my little girl and you matter a lot to me.

Eat the breakfast and then get ready. I'm coming down with you and we are making a game plan for the company. We are not gonna let those old coots bring us down. Okay?"

"What about the team?"

"The team can handle themself. They are not children who need constant supervision. They'll be fine. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good." he kissed her forehead. "I'll meet you down in 30."

"Okay."


From next chapter onwards I'll be speeding things up.

which reminds me to ask, are people still reading this? Becuase I'm barely getting any comments/reviews and while I do understand that a lot of readers don't like putting reviews and I don't mind it, a once in a blue moon sign that people are still reading it would be good.

'Cause it seems like only a handful of people are reading this. And I have a lot planned ahead so I was thinking if people are reading this.

Well, other than that, you know the drill.

Ciao.