Chapter 20 Maria-Rose: The unexpected daughter

Tony's point of view

A few months after she moved in with me, Pepper and I went to Orlando for a week's vacation. While we were there she badly sprained her ankle while we were skating.

She was on crutches for a while afterwards she hurt her ankle again...

When she hurt her ankle the second time, we were shopping and she 'ran' into someone. It spooked her to no end... She tried to run.

"Pep! WAIT!" I cried but she had bolted. I followed her as best as I could until I heard a squeal and a thud. I ran to her side.

"Who was that?"

"My godfather! I tripped over his foot... I can't get up! I think my ankle is either badly sprained or badly broken"

I helped Pepper up and the man came back. Pepper glared ferociously at him.

"Are you all right?" he asked her

"I'm fine Vincent!" she spat, her voice more venomous than an angry cobra.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you"

"Oh no! No you, the great and powerful Vincent Kennedy McMahon couldn't possibly have meant to hurt me today... nor could you have meant to hurt me twelve years ago" she growled

"Ginny I..." he began but she cut him off, green eyes flashing with a rage I had never seen.

"It's far too late for apologies Vincent!" she spat "That ship sailed TWELVE years ago when you and your idiot wife chose your son's girlfriend over your goddaughter! I have nothing more to say to you" she turned on her good foot and started crutch-walking away as fast as she could. I had to run to keep up.

"Hey... what's wrong?"

"I want to go back to New York Tony... Tonight!"

"OK sweetheart, we can go back to the hotel and pay our bill then we can go to the airport and fly back to New York"

"Thank you"

Pepper's point of view

I was still so angry that I didn't say very much on the plane.

When we got back to New York and to the house, there was a long black stretch limousine waiting in the driveway. As Tony pulled his Audi into the spot next to the limousine, the rear passenger door opened and out stepped... my cousin Shane. I grabbed the suitcase out of the trunk of Tony's Audi and the house keys from his trouser pocket and stumped inside. I was trembling with rage... I took the suitcase to the elevator, shoved it inside, pressed the 'up' button and went to make myself a big frappuccino... while Tony dealt with Shane.

Tony's point of view

"Tony Stark?"

"Who wants to know?"

"My name is Shane McMahon... I'm your girlfriend's cousin"

"OK firstly pal, she's not just my girlfriend, she's my soulmate and secondly I gotta say, you have some chutzpah showing your face around here after what you did."

"I'm not here to talk about Ginny, I have someone here who wants to meet you"

"Oh?"

"Mr Stark, you have an eight and a half year old daughter, and I'm here to bring her to live with you"

"Who is her mother?"

"Maya Hansen"

"Why can't she take care of her?"

"She died last summer"

"Oh"

"Come on out Maria"

A tall, skinny, beautiful child stepped out of the car. She had Maya's long dark curly brown hair and my brown eyes.

"All right kiddo, I'll see you around, yeah?"

"Yeah"

"Be good"

"I'll try"

Shane left. Maria started trying to lug her suitcase inside.

"Hey, let me do that" I said

"OK I'll get the rest"

"OK"

"Where should I put them?"

"We'll put them upstairs in a little bit, I need to explain this to Pepper"

"Why would you explain anything to a spice? Or is it a vegetable?"

"No. Pepper is a person. She's my soulmate, her real name is Virginia but, after she saved my cousin's soulmate from 4 bullies with a bottle of pepper spray, I gave her the nickname 'Pepper' and it stuck"

"Oh, I hope she likes kids"

"I think she does. I think she's still a little upset just now, so I'll help you with your suitcase once I've spoken to her, OK?"

"OK... why don't you make her an ice cream sundae to make her feel better?"

"That's a wonderful idea!"

"Is she allergic to anything?"

"Let me go ask her"

I went upstairs, Pepper was lying on our bed...

"Pep Honey, are you allergic to anything?"

"Strawberries... why?"

"OK... I just thought I would do something nice for you"

"OK"

I ran back downstairs and Maria and I got to work making an ice cream sundae for Pepper.

I took it up to her.

"Oh... Thank you, Tony!"

"Sweetheart... Ummm... I don't want to upset you any further, but there was a reason that Shane came to see me..."

"Oh?"

"She's downstairs in the living room"

"Oh."

"She's 8 and a half years old, and she's my daughter. Her name is Maria"

"Oh... after your godmother?"

"Yes... Back when Maya and I were together, we discussed the kids we'd have if we were going to stay together, and I said if I had a daughter I would name her Maria Rose"

"That's pretty"

"Maya died last summer"

"Oh... that's not good..."

"I haven't asked her about this yet, but I'm going to... I promised I would help her bring her suitcase up here once I talked to you... and the ice cream was her idea... she asked me to check what you're allergic to."

"She sounds like a smart kid"

"Do you like kids?"

"Yes. I would love to have kids of my own one day"

"With me?"

"Yes"

Once Pepper had finished her ice cream, I took the bowl back downstairs with me and Pepper came to meet Maria.

"You must be the famous Pepper Potts" Maria said

"Yes I am"

"My name is Maria... My mom was Maya Hansen."

"And this is your dad... huh?"

"Yes..."

"I can see the resemblance."

"Thank you"

"OK kiddo let's take your suitcase upstairs"

"OK"

I wheeled it to the elevator

"What's in the other bags?"

"My instruments"

"Oh"

"How many instruments do you play?"

"Seven"

"Wow"

"Are you studying music theory?"

"Yes"

"Excellent"

"Hey... Dad... do you have a piano?"

"Yes I do... I took lessons as a kid and for my 30th birthday I bought myself one."

"Oh..."

"Do you play?"

"Yes... I've been playing piano since I was 4..."

"OK"

"Why don't we set up your instruments by the piano?" Pepper suggested

"Good idea"

We put Maria's instruments by the piano

"Where do you go to school?"

"WWE Learning Academy. It's a homeschool co-operative"

"OK"

"I guess that means I'm going to have to bite the bullet and fix things with my godparents," Pepper sighed.

"When mom died, Shane and Lilian took me in... until the social worker found you, that is"

"Oh... wait... Lilian?"

"Yeah... Shane and Marissa got divorced... after she forced him to take a job in Shanghai that he didn't want... they have 3 boys... Declan is 13, Kenyon is 9 and Rogan is 7"

"Wow..."

"Steph has three girls... Aurora is 12, Murphy is 8 and Vaughn is 6"

"Ok"

"Lilian can't have kids, so she and Shane adopted a little girl who's 11. Her name is Natalya and she's high-functioning autistic. She's very, very intelligent... Marissa is in jail... she's in the mafia"

"I suppose I really should fix things with them... I'm so conflicted, though..."

"I get it... Mom wanted to tell Dad about me, but she didn't like you very much"

"Yes... the one and only time we met was a complete disaster"

"All right, let's get that suitcase into the lift, we can go upstairs and sort out your room"

"OK"

We went upstairs and Pepper and I helped Maria unpack her clothes. The only furniture I had was a dilapidated old chest of drawers...

"We need to go shopping"

"OK..."

We went back downstairs and went online...

"OK... why don't we drive to IKEA?"

"Sure we can do that"

"We'll need to call my parents when we get back..."

"I have grandparents?"

"Yes... and my godparents are still around, so technically you have three sets of grandparents"

"Since Vince and Linda brought me up"

"Wow"

We drove to Red Hook NY, Maria chose an ice grey coloured wardrobe with loads of folding storage, She also chose a cabin bed. It had a desk under it.

When we got back, I called my parents and godparents while Pepper and Maria made dinner...

After we had dinner with my parents and godparents, we scheduled dinner with Pepper's family.

It was shortly after this that a snafu in the schedule created by an ex employee of Stark Industries - Jason Wilkes, aided and abetted by Harold "Happy" Hogan - Pepper's ex - sent me on a trip to Afghanistan where I almost died from shrapnel to the chest... if it hadn't been for Jay and another friend - Ho Yinsen - I would have died.

Dr Yinsen operated on me while Jay assisted. The three of us and one of our captors - Raza - worked on a suit of armour that would get us out of trouble... Jay and I escaped, Raza went into hiding and Dr Yinsen tragically died... this event changed the path of things for years to come...

When I first got back from Afghanistan, Dad instigated the family lockdown protocol.

I was very happy about that. I felt safe with my parents. A few months later, something happened that changed how I felt about my life in general…

Maria's point of view

One night, my paternal grandparents were babysitting, I couldn't sleep and neither could Grandma Peggy…