Hello Darlings! This fic is one of many that I am posting in an effort to figure out what project I'm going to focus on next. I'm going to post two to three chapters of several different projects I'm working on, to start. I'm looking for feedback from you dear readers to figure out which you want to see more of! My thought is, the project with the most reviews by...November 30th? Will be the one I put the most effort into! Depending on how inspired I feel, the others will get updates as well, just slower than my focus project. That's the goal anyway! We'll see how it works out! Please enjoy!

"Mom! I'm home!" Amy called lightly as she stepped out of her shoes in the entryway and made her way down the hall to the kitchen with her load.

"They didn't have your normal coffee so I picked up a different kind you might like." She continued as she began to put away the groceries she had gotten. She could hear the TV playing quietly in the living room so she knew her mom was home and, because their place was smaller, she should have heard her.

"Is that alright?"

Frowning slightly when she received no answer, Amy made her way through the kitchen and around the corner into the living room.

"Mom?"

Eliza Greene was sitting on their couch with her back to her daughter, her eyes glued to the TV, which was cued up to a news channel. That was weird, her mom hated watching the news, she said it was too negative for her.

"Mom?" Amy tried again.

Her mom jumped, completely startled out of her reverie.

"Amy! You're back! Good. Yes. Coffee. Right. No, that's fine. I'm sure you grabbed a good one. You know me, anything with caffeine, right?" Eliza rambled as she stood up and shut the TV off, not turning to face her daughter as she subtly tried to wipe at under her eyes. Eyes that were still suspiciously bright when she did finally turn around.

"Mom, is everything alright?" Amy asked carefully. She had never seen her mom this out of sorts, not even when the last place they had been renting had been sold out from under them and they were only given two weeks to find a new place to live.

"What? Of course. Everything's fine! Did you remember the bread and butter pickles?"

Amy allowed her mom to change the subject, for now. "Yup, not zesty this time!"

Eliza shuddered theatrically at the memory, "Thank God for that!" She exclaimed with feeling, "Well, it's five o'clock. Should we get dinner going? What's on the menu for tonight?"

"Chicken-broccoli stuffed shells."

"Yum! Is there anything else in the car to grab?"

"Yeah, there are a couple more bags."

"Alrighty! I'll just go grab those and then we'll start cooking!" Eliza called from the kitchen with so much enthusiasm it was painful. Amy loved her mom to death but the woman was the worst liar in world history. Something was wrong, really wrong, and knowing just how stubborn her mom could be, Amy knew not to bother pressing her for answers. Not when they were available from another source. Picking up the remote her mom had conveniently left behind, Amy clicked the TV back on, quickly muting it before her mom could hear it.

It turned back on to the news story that had upset her mom so much. They were covering the disappearance of a certain billionaire, playboy, philanthropist from New York. Tony Stark had been doing some kind of weapons tour in Afghanistan when his convoy was attacked. Every other person in the convoy was accounted for, either dead or injured, except for Mr. Stark. He was missing and whether he was alive or dead was still unknown.

A picture of the man himself was pulled up next to the reporter and Amy examined it carefully. He was wearing sunglasses, so she couldn't see his eyes, but his dark hair and the bone structure of his face held some promise…

"Amy? I thought you said there were only a couple more bags! A 'couple' means two! This is a lot more than two!"

Amy laughed as she quickly shut off the TV and placed the remote precisely where she had found it.

"Sorry, Mom! Guess I forgot about the other six."

"Well come help me, you silly, forgetful goose!"

Amy supposed her investigation could wait until after dinner. At least now she had a place to start, and a name. Tony Stark.