Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any other Marvel characters. I only own my OC.
Edited 4/26/2019
"And you ask 'What if I fall?' Oh but my darling, what if you fly?" ― Erin Hanson
Chapter 5: Words of encouragement
Grace's initial concern had gone down a lot ever since her dad opened up on what he had been doing as of late. Things were now slowly going back to as they were before Tony's three month disappearance. Well, not exactly the same considering Tony and Grace's father-daughter relationship was at a much better place now. What did go back to normal was Grace's homeschooling schedule. Which was bittersweet for Grace.
Before coming to live with her dad, Grace had been attending public school in Los Angeles. Her mother Louisa had enrolled her in City Terrace Elementary School for Kindergarten. However, after her mother's passing, and once the media knew of her existence and that her dad was none other than Tony Stark, Grace had to stop attending public school.
Even though Grace hadn't been as talkative to him as she was now, Tony could see how she heavily disliked the media's attention. Grace was a natural born introvert, the complete opposite of him. Tony just knew that throwing her out to the media like that was not a good thing.
Therefore getting her out of public school was the right move. He did not want her to suffer with nervousness from the media while in school. Tony liked to simmer down his guilt by thinking that Louisa would have approved this decision of his.
Now it wasn't like Grace was never going to enroll in public school again. After some time passed in order for things to cool down, Tony would of course bring up the subject of school to Grace.
If she wanted to go to public school, or private school, or even continue her homeschooling, that was all up to her. For now he just wanted her to stick to homeschooling. However, Tony knew that his arrival definitely caught more of the media's attention again...and he could only hope that it wouldn't in any way negatively impact Grace's life.
As for how Grace was processing her new learning environment...it was definitely a change. However, the six year old girl, who was now learning on a First Grade level, had gotten used to the new education routine. It helped that she had a nice bubbly instructor. Claire Owens was a dream teacher to have. Grace loved being taught by her...except for math that is.
Claire, her instructor―or as Tony sometimes jokingly liked calling her Mrs. Sunshine because of her bright blonde hair and sunny personality―was teaching the young Stark girl about fractions on this particular day. The lesson had to do with identifying fractions and dividing items into halves, thirds, and quarters. However, much to Claire's misfortune, the thirty-two year old was failing drastically on trying to teach Grace.
"No!"
Claire got a worried look on her face as she stared at the now unhappy six year old. "What do you mean no?" She asked, puzzled. Since being hired to be Grace's homeschool teacher, Claire had come to know that Grace for the most part was a well-behaved child. Really Claire struck gold with the young Stark girl when she had been hired to homeschool her. The older blonde wasn't always lucky to have a good kid like her to teach. Sure, as she had come to know, Grace didn't share the same enthusiasm for her math lessons as she did for her reading and writing lessons, but she never behaved the way she was now.
They had been doing so well with her reading and writing portion but once they headed into the math portion things went downhill. It really didn't take long after explaining the lesson for today that Grace became frustrated and threw her math book and pencil on the floor. Claire had been shocked to the point of not knowing how to react. What had brought this on?
"No, I don't want to learn!" Grace shouted as she got up from her seat and ran to her bed. She quickly hid under her bed covers.
Claire, who had been sitting at the desk area in Grace's bedroom where it had been labeled as the learning zone, also stood up. The older blonde let out a sigh as she walked over to where Grace was now hiding. "Grace, please." She softly said to her.
However, no amount of kindness from Claire got the young girl to come out of hiding. "I said no! Now leave me alone! You big meanie!"
Claire let out a tired huff. Grace's words didn't really hurt her. Being a homeschool teacher she knew how to handle a situation like this. It just bothered her how it was Grace who she needed to get through to. It was something Claire never thought she would have to do. Grace had been such a good student up to this point. She thought of a few uplifting words she could say to her, but before she could say any of them, a familiar voice filled Grace's bedroom.
"What's going on here?"
Claire's gaze went over to where Tony Stark was standing at the entrance of Grace's bedroom. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark." She profusely apologized. Her voice softened once more when she looked where the six year old girl was still hiding. "Grace is refusing to learn her fractions."
Tony's own gaze went over to where he could see the outline of his daughter's small body underneath her bed covers. "Claire, why don't you head out. I can take it from here. Jarvis?" He called out for his A.I. system.
Claire was once again left in disbelief. She figured that he would have said something about her failing to teach his daughter, but she was rather surprised that he hadn't reprimanded her at all. Not that she thought he was a harsh man. Sure he was definitely on the flippant side when he wanted to be, but who really likes to see how the person they hired to teach their child wasn't doing their part of the job? She at least expected a short lecture or something...but that didn't happen either.
"Yes, sir?" Claire briefly looked towards the ceiling when hearing Jarvis reply. She was still getting used to the A.I. system that Tony was fond of.
"Have Pepper meet with Claire at the entrance." Tony said evenly. The response from Jarvis came right away.
"Of course."
Tony directed his attention onto the blonde again. "Thank you, Claire."
"I really am sorry." Claire apologized once more. "She's usually not like this."
Tony glanced where Grace was at before switching his gaze over to Claire again. "I know she's not. You don't have to apologize." He told her in a tone of voice that resembled seriousness. "I'll see you at the same time tomorrow."
This was not the Tony Stark that often presented himself to her. Claire knew though that his earnestness was because of his daughter. The softness in his dark brown eyes that were often gleaming with mischievousness said that to her. That alone informed Claire that the Stark man, despite not being a serious person, was serious when it came to his daughter. Claire ended up nodding her head, quietly excusing herself.
After Claire gathered her belongings and left the bedroom, Tony came to sit on the edge of his daughter's bed. "Grace, it's just us now." He softly said. "What's wrong?" He thought now that it was just the two of them that his daughter would come out of hiding. Except she didn't...she remained hidden underneath her bed covers. Tony let out a sigh at the quietness that filled the room after asking that question. His daughter sure could be stubborn but he supposed he got that from Louisa and him as well. "Don't you want to learn?"
Luckily, this time Grace did respond but her response was anything but happy. Not that he actually expected a joyful response. "No!"
"Why not?" Tony asked and what she said next made him frown.
"Because it's math and I'm stupid." Grace cried out. "I'm always going to be stupid."
That had Tony pulling at her bed covers and he was glad that Grace hadn't gotten angry when he got her to come out of hiding. His heart ached when she saw the redness in her cheeks and eyes due to her crying. No matter how much he wanted to bring her into a hug right away, they needed to talk things out first. "Enough with that negativity." He sternly, but lovingly told her. "You listen here, Grace Rose Stark." He said using her full name. That caused Grace to stare intently at him. "You are not stupid."
Grace remained quiet as she stared at her dad who looked so serious. "I don't get it, dad." She finally sniffled out getting to the reason why she had acted out. "It's too hard. Reading and writing is easy but math?" She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Looking at all those numbers makes my head hurt. Even my tummy gets upset." She added the last part, pouting.
The seriousness that had invaded Tony's features finally faltered. "I think that's your tummy saying it's hungry, sweetie." He jokingly told her.
Grace considered what he said. "The headache too?" She softly inquired.
"That could have to do with you needing to take a break."
"Will taking a break make me smart?" Grace asked in a small voice.
That hurt Tony to hear. He fixed her a loving and reassuring expression. "You're already smart, sweetie. There's different kinds of smart." He started explaining to her. "Everyone learns in different ways and at their own pace. Some faster than others but whichever way they learn doesn't take away from their intelligence. Which you are, Grace." Tony stated to his daughter. "You're very intelligent. I mean, you learned Spanish." A loving smile escaped him. "Not to mention, you're doing really well with your reading and writing." He lowered his voice a bit, adding to the seriousness that was starting to show again. "So don't ever say you're stupid again, okay? Because you're not."
Grace sniffled but she managed to nod her head. Her dad's words echoing inside her head for comfort and reassurance.
An idea then popped into Tony's head and he went along with it. "How about we make a deal?" He told his daughter.
That instantly caught Grace's attention. Her facial features formed into a curious expression. "A deal?"
"Yeah a deal." Tony nodded his head. "I'll show you what I've been working on in the lab, if and only if, you work on the math problems Claire assigned to you right afterwards. "I'll even help you."
Grace's dark brown eyes gleamed but not from the tears that had escaped her. Tony could clearly see the excitement that was beginning to grow in them. "Really?"
"Yup." Tony confirmed. "But like I said you have to work on your math problems afterwards. After all, a deal's a deal. What do you say?" He asked, sticking out one of his pinkie's.
Even though Grace despised math (something that wouldn't change even as a teenager), she was more than happy to agree to her dad's terms on this deal he had brought up. Not to mention she really liked the part of him helping her out with the math problems assigned to her. "Deal." She finally smiled as she wrapped her pinkie finger around his.
Tony grinned. "Alright, come on."
Halfway to her bedroom door, Grace spoke up causing Tony to stop walking and look down at her.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I feel bad for calling Claire a big meanie." Grace told him. She was now starting to feel awful for how she treated Claire. Her teacher, who had been nothing but nice to her. Grace knew if her mother had been alive she would have not liked her behavior. "She's not a big meanie or a small meanie...she's really nice. I was the one being a big meanie."
Tony could tell how regretful his daughter was. He patted her right shoulder as he brought her to his side when they began walking again. "That's okay, sweetie. You can say you're sorry tomorrow when you see her."
Grace nodded her head. She was definitely going to apologize to Claire tomorrow when she came over for her schooling.
"Why do you call the robot dummy?" Grace questioned as she tilted her head.
Her dad was currently working on what looked like a robotic leg while she sat to the side of him at a safe distance. That was something her dad had made perfectly clear before entering his lab. If she was going to go in there with him she needed to keep at a safe distance and make sure she listened to everything he had to say.
Grace of course had no difficulty with agreeing to these terms. It reminded her of whenever she would be in the kitchen when her mother made dinner for the two of them. Grace had been allowed to be in there to watch her cook but she had to stay away from the stove.
Being in the lab with her dad was sort of like that...minus the kitchen and her mother making dinner. Nonetheless, it was still very interesting to watch her dad work. His lab by far was the coolest place she had ever seen. There were a lot of interesting things there. However, going back to what caused her to ask such a question, was her dad calling the robotic arm that was helping him a dummy. That wasn't a very nice thing to say.
"Because that's its name, sweetie." Tony casually answered as he continued working. "But if it makes you feel any better it's spelled d-u-m-e not d-u-m-m-y."
Grace scrunched up her nose. She repeated the spelling in her head and soon enough a thought formed. Despite the name being spelled differently it still didn't sit well with her. "I don't think that's a very nice name." The six year old quietly told her dad as she spun around in the chair she was sitting on.
Tony put aside the tools he had in his hands once he finished the adjustments he had been making. He turned to look at his daughter who was still spinning around. Once she saw that his attention was on her she stopped.
Grace was quiet as she raised eyebrows, almost in a challenging way. That look right away made Tony realize how similar it was to his own. Even though this amused him the conversation they had not so long ago replayed in his head. Perhaps calling his helping robots dummies in front of Grace was not a good thing to do. After all, he just gave her that whole speech about how everyone learns at their own pace...which he totally meant.
It's just that his helping robots were...special. They meant something to him. Yes, he did call his helping robots dummies but it was more out of routine. It's something he'd been saying for years now. Tony created them sometime during his teen years. He could have made improvements on them a long time ago but there was something...sentimental about them that stopped him from doing so. Not that he would ever say that aloud. However, for his daughter he supposed he could change things up a bit regarding the name calling.
Tony made sure to clean his hands before gently poking his daughter's nose causing her to scrunch it up. "Fine. How about a new name then. Do you have any ideas?"
Grace pursed her lips, thoughtful. It didn't take long for her to decide on a name. "I like the name Mikey." She answered more brightly than before. "Mikey the mechanical arm."
"Oh, so it's a boy now?" Tony chuckled. "Alright, Mikey the mechanical arm. What about his friend over there?" He asked as he looked over to the other almost identical robot across the room from them.
"Mikey 2.0" Grace quickly suggested.
The way she spoke was quite whimsical that it had Tony raising his eyebrows in amusement. "Mikey 2.0?" He repeated.
Grace's face continued to light up. "Yeah! Mikey the mechanical arm 2.0."
"Alright, Miss Name Giver." Tony said as he got up to stand. "How about we try something else."
"Will Mikey and Mikey 2.0 help out?"
Tony nodded his head. "Yeah, I will need their assistance with this next thing I'm about to do. But you also need to be prepared before anything happens." He told his daughter as he opened a cabinet underneath the desk he had been working at.
Grace made a face. "Prepared?"
When Tony came into her line of vision again he was holding a pair of goggles and a silver looking blanket.
"Goggles and a blanket?" Grace spoke with bemusement. "Why do I need those? That blanket doesn't even look soft." She pointed at said item with a frown.
Tony laughed. "It's not supposed to be soft, sweetie. It's a fire blanket. It shields you if there's a fire. The goggles here are to protect your pretty little eyes. "
After hearing all that, Grace could only focus on was the fire part. "Fire?" She repeated with wide eyes. "There's going to be a fire?"
Tony wrapped the blanket around her. "One never knows." He informed his daughter. "Better safe than sorry. Always remember that, okay?"
Grace nodded her head right away. She let her dad adjust the goggles on her before he moved her to a safe distance from where he was going to stand. After specifically telling her of what and what not to do again, Tony put on the equipment he would now need.
"Keep that blanket and goggles on you the whole time." Tony ordered her one last time. However, he didn't move until he saw Grace nod in understanding. "Okay, let's do this right." He announced it loud and clear. "Start mark, half a meter, and back and center."
Tony turned to look at the now renamed robot. "Mikey, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety." He then turned to look at the other helping robot who had been renamed Mikey 2.0. "You, roll it." He ordered the robot to record the test run that was about to occur. A firm expression was now set on his face as he faced forward again. "Okay. Activate hand controls." He said, lifting his hands. Readjusting his body a bit, Tony mentally prepared himself as well. "We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if ten percent thrust capacity achieves fit. And three, two, one."
What happened next made Grace gasp. After her dad finished counting down and pressing on the hand controls, Grace saw him hit the lab's high wall. Immediately after falling to the ground, Mikey doused him with the fire extinguisher. If not for how panicked she was feeling, Grace probably would have let out a giggle...but she was much too worried to do such a thing. She instead unwrapped herself from the blanket but kept her goggles on as she ran to where he landed on the ground.
"Dad! Are you okay? Should I call 911? Get Pepper?" Grace frantically asked.
Tony managed to let out a chuckle followed by a groan. "Oh, no. I'm fine really. Just need a moment here." He then slightly opened his eyes. "Oh, good you kept your goggles on at least. Good girl." He said, trying to give her a thumbs up.
This time Grace let out a small smile. She started to feel less panicked after getting a verbal response from him. Except seeing her dad resting on the floor made her want to give some reassurance his way. Just like he had done so earlier with her. "You did a great job, dad." She merrily told him. "You did hit the wall but you flew!" She then shrugged her shoulders. "Kind of."
"Thanks for the words of encouragement, sweetie." Tony replied, appreciating his daughter's kindness.
Grace nodded her head. "Anytime."
"You know what?" Tony announced after a while, now able to get on his feet. By now the fog from the fire extinguisher was clearing up nicely. "How about I get this equipment off me and then we head upstairs to do those fractions."
Grace was tempted to complain but stopped when her dad threw her a pointed look. She could tell despite it being playful, he still meant it. "I held my end of our deal. Now it's your turn."
Grace let out a sigh, lowering her eyes. However, she made no argument. Her dad just hit a wall. He deserved a break. And after all, a deal's a deal.
"Fine." Grace relented only to then glance at her dad. "Can I at least keep the goggles?"
A/N: Oh look, an author's note on the bottom this time. How about that? I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter. As we know Grace is for the most part a well-behaved child, but I mean she is still six years old. It's only natural for her to have a tantrum or something close to a tantrum every once in a while. Especially when she's upset that she doesn't understand math so easily like she does with other subjects.
I would definitely consider Grace to be more of a right-sided brain person than left-sided brain person. I mean, she loves to read a lot. She is going to love to write as well, which is something I am going to get into more as she gets older. Grace is also very creative as we've seen with her paintings. She has a love for art and that's something she is going to bond over with Steve. I did like writing that scene in the beginning though because of the words of encouragement she got from Tony. I love writing their father/daughter scenes in this chapter. ^.^ Anyways, I hope this chapter was interesting enough for you guys! Until next time!
