Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any other Marvel characters. I only own my OC.

A/N: A shorter chapter than the previous one but it's still a chapter. This was a pretty angsty chapter to write, I ain't gonna lie. I mean, I wrote this while listening to Remember Me from the movie Coco. That hit me right in the feels. I also was a bit tipsy when writing some of this chapter, so I apologize for that. It was game night where I live. Sorry. Hopefully I can find all the spelling errors. Anyways, hope you guys still enjoy it. The next chapter will include Tony's disastrous birthday party...yikes.


"Worry rolls inside you like a wheel."― Stewart O'Nan, A Prayer for the Dying


Chapter 15: Worried hearts

What a great vacation it turned out to be.

After what had happened at the race track in Monaco, Tony, Pepper, and Grace were now on their way back to Malibu. Happy was also with them but he was currently asleep in another part of the plane. Grace was sound asleep as well. Tony and Pepper were awake though. They were too wired up to get any shut eye.

Needless to say it had been total chaos after the incident, especially with the media. Which is why it didn't surprise Tony to hear Senator Stern already discussing it. Not only did he have to hear him, but the older man's unpleasant face was all over the plane's TV when the billionaire made his way out of the kitchen area his plane had. A tray was in his hands but it was almost forgotten about. Even from behind he could see that Pepper had a tired expression from having to listen to that irksome man talk about what had just happened in Monaco. He really wanted to silence Senator Stern...so he did just that.

"Mute." Tony simply ordered, and immediately the TV's sound turned off. He began walking to the seat across from Pepper, the empty one that was next to Grace. The seven year old much to his relief was still sound asleep. "He should be giving me a medal." The billionaire casually referred to Senator Stern. "That's the truth."

The tray he'd been carrying was now set on the small table that was between them. Pepper's eyebrows furrowed when she saw Tony try to make the meal look presentable by placing napkins and silver next to it. "What is that?" She asked since the tray was still covered.

"This is your in-flight meal." Tony tried to brightly tell her as he finally uncovered the tray. An omelet was presented and as much as he wanted it to look nice for Pepper, it just didn't. A part of the omelet was burned and the pieces of what looked like spinach and mushrooms that were showing didn't make the omelet any more appetizing. "I was going to make Grace one but...she's not really a fan of my omelets." And now that he was looking at the omelet again, he realized just how sad looking it was. He could understand why his daughter wasn't a fan of his omelets.

Pepper didn't know whether to smile or frown at what she was seeing. "Did you just make that?"

Despite the tension that obviously was still lingering from the race track incident, Tony continued with his lightheartedness. "Yeah. Where do you think I've been for three hours?"

Before she was able to say anything to him, Pepper watched as Tony gently reached over to take hold of one of Grace's hands. The redhead wasn't that surprised that the seven year old hadn't woken up to that. The poor thing had been so tired from being worried and crying over her dad. She practically knocked out as soon as they got into the plane. Well, only after Tony had taken a seat next to her. She'd been afraid to let him leave out of her sight. Tony had to hold her hand even when they had sat down. And now he was doing that again.

Pepper had to admit that the sight in front of her was adorable. The adorableness though didn't take away the concern she was feeling. "Tony..." She finally spoke. "What are you not telling us?"

"I don't want to go home." Tony quietly replied to her. It was a sneaky answer but the way he saw it he technically wasn't lying. He was just leaving out one important detail as to why he didn't want to go home. "At all." He gently shook his head. The hold on Grace's hand tightened in the slightest, not wanting to wake her up yet. "Let's cancel my birthday party and...we're in Europe." He tried to sound less gloomy now and instead took an upbeat tone. "Let's go to Venice, Cipriani. Remember?" He asked the redhead whose green eyes brightened from the memory.

"Oh, yes." Pepper answered, nodding her head.

Tony then glanced at Grace, taking in her loose wavy hair. It was no longer in the side french braid Pepper had done for her. She had actually showered when they arrived back to the hotel they were staying at before leaving. Now that her hair was dry, Tony noticed how it was becoming more wavy than curly. He had no doubt her hair was going to stay that way now that she was getting older. His heart hurt at that thought...because he wouldn't be able to continue seeing her grow. He'd be dead soon. His gaze went back to Pepper.

"Besides." Tony started to add, his voice steady despite his despair. "I owe it to Grace. This wasn't much of a family vacation. Her first time out of the country should have been memorable but not in a terrifying way. And Venice is a great place to be healthy." Saying that last word hurt because despite how nice it was there it wouldn't do much for his own health. It would create wonderful memories for Grace though, and that's all that mattered to him now.

Pepper lowered her eyes, thinking over what he said. She let out a sigh once coming to a decision. As much as she wanted to go, she just couldn't. "I don't think this is the right time." She told Tony as she now looked him in the eyes. Her eyes weren't filled with annoyance but rather melancholy. "We're in kind of a mess."

"Yeah, but maybe that's why it's the best time." Tony quickly replied back to her. "Cause then we―"

Pepper wouldn't let him finish. "Well, I think as the CEO, I need to show up."

"As CEO, you are entitled to a leave." Tony simply told her and he immediately saw her frown.

"A retreat?" Pepper questioned, puzzled. "During a time like this?"

Tony's hold on Grace's hand didn't loosen despite his struggle to reply back. "Well, I'm just saying, to recharge our batteries and figure it all out."

Pepper finally gave him a smile but it was a sad one. "Tony, not everyone runs on batteries." Her eyes leveled with his own before she slowly looked over at Grace, who was still sound asleep.

Tony let out a sigh, reluctantly coming to terms with her reasoning. "Alright...we'll go home. But when we land I'm going to take Grace to visit her mom's grave." As expected,he got a reaction from Pepper.

"What?" Pepper questioned with a confused expression. "But you guys already went." It wasn't like the redhead was against the visit. She was all for paying respects to Grace's mother Louisa. By now it had become tradition for Tony and Grace to visit Louisa's grave on the day she passed away. May twelfth to be exact. According to what Grace told them, it just felt right to visit her mother's grave during the month of May because Grace's birthday, along with her dad's, were in May. Grace's birthday being on the fourth and Tony's being on the twenty-ninth. Pepper and Tony assumed that Grace thought this was another way for her to remain connected with her mother.

It was a nice way of paying respect to Louisa, but it's what also made the month of May hard for not only Grace, but also Tony. Pepper could sense that. No matter how much the billionaire denied it, she could see the sadness in his dark brown eyes. It was the same sadness that appeared during the month of December because of his parents passing.

However, regarding Louisa, Tony had already taken Grace to visit her mother's grave. So Pepper was puzzled as to why he wanted to go again all of a sudden? She couldn't help but feel there was another reason for the visit.

"I...I just want to go again." Tony finally answered, earnest.

Pepper no longer found it within her to keep asking why. He just seemed so set on it. So she nodded her head. "Alright, we'll tell Happy when we land. I'll also go ahead and call the flower shop we usually go to in Los Angeles and tell them we're going to buy flowers from them." She supposed that could have been something handed down for Natalie to do, but given the close trusting relationship Pepper already had with Tony and Grace, she felt calling for the flowers herself was just right. Not to mention it was already something she'd done in the past, and honestly it was one thing that came with being Tony's assistant that she didn't want to let go. Even with her being CEO now.

"Thank you, Pepper." Tony quietly told her, gaze switching over to his sleeping daughter again. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, with his eyes softening as he looked at her.


Louisa García was buried in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery. As Tony had come to know it was one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles. Louisa had been buried there for the main reason that her own parents were buried there as well. Imelda and Esteban García. Louisa's headstone was respectively next to theirs.

A part of Tony wished he had been there for her funeral. That he'd been able to pay for everything and do all the arrangements. However, another part of him was glad he hadn't done the arranging part because surely enough he would have messed it up somehow. He had felt the same way when his parents passed away, and that's why he didn't arrange their funeral himself. The money was no issue even at the age of twenty-one back then, and as much as it pained him he had others arrange the funeral for him the way his parents would have wanted it. He just couldn't do it himself...it was too much for him...emotionally speaking.

Tony and his dad had a horrible relationship but the one he had with his mother wasn't horrible. He loved his mother. Maria was the one who held the family together. She was the one who always stepped in when things went too far between Tony and Howard during one of their infamous arguments. So the funeral had to be good. If not for Howard, then for Maria.

Thankfully his parents' funeral had been a lovely service. At least that's what he'd been told by the guests that went...and there had been a lot. Except even when being there himself, Tony had been too sad to take in people's reactions. From what he was told about Louisa's own funeral, it had been a lovely service as well. Apparently she had gotten help with the money from her friends, and those same friends attended her funeral. Tony just wished he had been there out of respect for Louisa and to comfort Grace. He also still wished he had helped pay. Alas he didn't learn of Louisa's death until Grace finally showed up in his life...and that of course had been after her funeral.

Now there were many things that Tony Stark did not like. Going to the cemetery happened to be one of them. Who in the right mind actually liked going to the cemetery? There was no actual joy in that. The only good thing he could say about going to the cemetery was visiting the graves of deceased loved ones. That was the reason he was at the cemetery with his daughter. That was why he was currently looking at Louisa's headstone with such intensity. It was as if he was looking for something he hadn't seen the first time he had laid eyes on the headstone all that while ago.

Louisa García

February 22nd 1972 - May 12th 2007

Amada Madre, Hermana y Hija

"Aunque hay cosas malas en el mundo, también hay cosas buenas. Solo hay que tener fe."

Tony knew what the quote meant. He knew Spanish himself, so he'd been able to read the quote perfectly the first time he visited Louisa's grave with his daughter. However, he didn't know about the meaningful story behind the quote until Grace told him. As it turned out it was the same quote Louisa kept saying to Grace during her last days of life. So yeah, the quote had a very special meaning to Grace.

His daughter at the moment stood next to him, silently looking at her beloved mother's grave. They both had changed out of their traveling clothes once landing in Malibu, and after dressing in more proper clothing for a visit, Tony had Happy drive them to Los Angeles. The billionaire had worried that traffic would be bad but thankfully it wasn't any different than usual Los Angeles traffic.

Pepper had decided to stay back, as she usually did whenever Tony and Grace visited Louisa's grave. The redhead did this out of kindness because this was a Grace and Tony thing and she didn't want to disrupt that. So it was just Tony and Grace, while Happy waited for them by the car. Typically the visit didn't last too long but Tony wanted to stay a bit longer this time...for obvious reasons.

His running thoughts calmed down somewhat when Grace gently set the bouquet of flowers they bought on the ground. The bouquet of flowers now rested on the ground next to Louisa's headstone. Although Pepper had called the flower shop ahead of time, it had been Grace who picked out the flowers in the bouquet. The young girl remembered perfectly how much her mother loved flowers. The Stargazer Lily though was Louisa's favorite flower, so there were a lot of those in the bouquet.

"I miss her a lot." Grace finally broke the silence with her soft voice. Although she wasn't crying, the sadness in her voice could be heard. She'd gotten a bit better at keeping her tears in check when visiting her mother's grave. Her dad was who gave her the strength that she needed now.

Tony wrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing Grace closer to his side. "I know you do, sweetie."

"Do you think she's watching over us from heaven?" Grace asked as she looked up at the sky for a few seconds. It was yet another sunny day in Los Angeles and yet strangely the sun wasn't bringing her warmth. "I like to think she is." Even though Grace had her fair share of questions about life and whatnot (who didn't?), and even though she'd seen how scary the world can be, the young girl still believed in God and heaven.

Tony went uncharacteristically quiet again from hearing his daughter say that. Her question reminded him of the one she'd asked about Yinsen when he had returned back home. Tony remained a man of science and reason, and not so much on religion. However, he knew how much faith meant to Grace. And despite the difference with what they believed, Tony had to admit that he was glad she still had that faith. It meant she was still a child in his eyes. An innocent child. She believed and quite frankly he worried for the day she would lose that faith, that innocence. Now regardless if that happened or not, he sadly wouldn't be there based on how things were looking for him.

His days unfortunately were numbered...unknown to Grace.

Tony cleared his throat, yet again sparing her the sad truth of what was happening to him. Forcing a smile, he gazed down at his daughter. Her dark brown eyes almost made him burst into tears right then and there. It was as if she could tell he was lying. His daughter though didn't say anything, she just stared at him with that soft look of hers and it just made Tony feel even more guilt.

"She's definitely watching over you."

"And you too." Grace innocently insisted. If it weren't for how emotional things were with visiting her mother's grave, Grace's thoughts would have zeroed in on how her dad's smile once again didn't seem honest. But she was thinking about her mother...and there was also something (someone) else that invaded her thoughts. She began fidgeting with her fingers. "And my Uncle Miguel...wherever he is." Her eyes went to the ground, looking at the other bouquet of flowers that had been there before they arrived.

Any tears that wanted to escape Tony immediately went away. The billionaire nearly let out an unforgiving swear word at the mention of Miguel. There was another bouquet of flowers there on the ground. This one was of different colored daisies. The daisies looked to be probably a couple weeks old. Tony and Grace hadn't been the ones to put them there though. No, Tony had a good guess as to who put them there, and from the looks of it his daughter thought the same as him.

He was surprised that she wasn't asking a bunch of questions regarding her uncle. Though he was also thankful that she wasn't. Tony really didn't want to talk about Miguel. Not that he ever did but right now especially didn't feel right.

If their conversation were to head in that direction, Tony would have surely said something awful about Miguel, and doing that in front of Louisa's grace would be disrespectful. The Stark man didn't like Miguel (and he probably never would), but cursing the older García was not the way to go. No matter how much he wanted to. He maintained his composure on account of wanting to respect Louisa, and also at not wanting to scare Grace with his anger towards her dear Uncle Miguel.

Tony gave his daughter a gentle squeeze on her shoulder. Grace responded back by leaning more against him. They grew quiet again, each taking in Louisa's grave. Tony's thoughts, unknown to Grace, were the most doleful they've been for awhile now. When it was finally time to leave, Tony switched over to holding Grace's hand to keep her close to him.

"Let's go to The Last Bookstore and buy that book you told me about. The Dawn Powell one." Tony suddenly told Grace. The younger Stark stared up at him, surprised. She was about to respond back but he kept going. "Then we can go for some cheeseburgers and ice cream. Hell, let's get ice cream and then cheeseburgers. Switch it up a bit. What do you say, Grace? Let's make this your day, sweetie. We'll do whatever you want. Go wherever you want."

Her dad said all of that so fast that it almost had Grace's head spinning. It didn't faze her that her dad had said a swear word. Not that Grace hadn't ever heard anyone ever use the word hell before. Her dad was just casual about the whole thing and Grace found it odd.

Grace couldn't stop her puzzled frown. "My birthday has already passed, dad. We don't need to do anything else for me." That was the first thing she could come up with. Sure her dad and her had fun outings but this one was so sudden and her dad was being extra eccentric with her.

Tony loved that his daughter was so humble. She still wasn't one for attention, and even with everything that could be offered to her now she wasn't spoiled, nor did she act like it. Grace wasn't at all like he was when he'd been her age. Not that he was a complete brat but he had to admit that he didn't necessarily favor the simple things like Grace did. Even at a young age he'd always preferred the more extravagant things in life.

However, Tony didn't want her humbleness at the moment. He really wanted to spoil Grace, even if for only one day. This very well could be their last chance to spend any father-daughter time together, just the two of them. He had to make today special for Grace. He just had to.

Their walking came to halt and Tony looked down at her. "Today's your day, Grace." He repeated again before giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "Let's just have fun, okay? Whatever you want we'll do."

Grace wanted to say that she was fine, that she didn't need a day dedicated to herself. That her birthday already passed and that they should instead focus on him since his birthday was approaching. However, with the way her dad was looking at her all sad like, for whatever reason, had Grace stopping from saying any of her thoughts. He was evidently set on making today her day, and no matter how awkward Grace felt about it, she was going to go along with it.

Were there a ton of questions she wanted to ask her dad? Yes, there were but she decided to push them to the side at the moment. She'd ask them later because she didn't want to see that same sad look her dad had on. Besides...(her seven year old naivety took over) maybe he really just wanted to spend more time with her as a way to make up for the Monaco incident. Since they didn't get to spend any real time together over there.

That's what had Grace nodding her head. "Okay."

Tony smiled at her and his guilt increased when Grace slowly returned the smile. They silently began walking again to where Happy and the car were at again. As this occurred, unknown to Grace, Tony glanced one last time at Louisa's headstone with a heartbroken expression.

I'm sorry, Louisa.