Chapter 2

At thirteen years old, Toni Stark was far younger than the rest of her peers. She was used to being a lot younger than everyone else in her year, as she has been forced to skip grades for her entire life.

She'd never minded it before, given the fact that the work at school still wasn't challenging for her, and more often than not she found herself drifting off, drawing her own designs in her notebooks. She couldn't help it, she probably could write the examinations for some of these courses within the first week or so of lectures and do as well as she would when the semester was over. The material wasn't challenging in any way and she hated that she was forced to listen and attend when she'd rather be creating, building, making anything.

Instead, she was at a lecture where attendance is mandatory, but had no intention of listening to with full attention. She can hear the professor lecturing the room and she frowns as she realizes that the room got quiet all of a sudden and she looks up from her notebook to see the Professor looking at her expectantly.

"Miss Stark, I asked if you would like to try solving the differential trigonometric equation?" The old professor asked her. He was an old white man, and like the rest of the school, seems to believe that the only reason she got into MIT was because her father bought her way in, and not because she has any merit of her own. She sighed to herself, knowing that if she didn't solve the equation, she'd be proving them right. But if she did, she'd be setting a target on her back.

Either way she's lost before she's even started.

She'd never been ashamed of her intelligence or her desire to learn. It was what drove her most days and helps her keep on task. She knew who she was and what she wanted to do, and nothing will ever be able to take away the passion she feels when designing something.

So, she stood carefully, hearing the snickers around her as the room expected her to fail before she's even written anything. Instead, she stood up and walks to the front of the room and stares at the problem in front of her.

g(z) = (x csc x) / (3 - csc x)

She's slightly insulted by the problem, it's nothing difficult and this is what she's been expected to solve. She studies it briefly and does the math in her head, before writing out the answer on the chalkboard in front of her.

g(z) = [csc x (3 – csc x – 3x cot x)]/ (3 – csc x)2

The professor rapidly looks down at his notes, clearly not having expected her to write down the answer without any steps but she simply drops the chalk down and dusts off her hands.

"How did you get the answer?" the professor asks, peering over at her, "You didn't even do any of the steps in the middle which are required."

She sighed once more and branches off talking about products and quotient rules, and how she made various jumps by writing out the steps she'd seen in her mind as the problem solved itself. She wrote slower than she could think, and it's slightly distracting to have to try and get all the numbers on the page. The professor looked confused by some of her steps and she was sure that it's because it's different than whatever he had written down on the page. But she argues her reasoning for those steps, and she can see from the frustrated look on his once smug face that she's right.

The room is quiet when she returned to her seat and there are looks of annoyance her way instead of contempt. Just as she had been sure, they'd already begun to hate her before she'd even started trying to stand out.

Instead, they look at her and see everything that was wrong with the world. They saw a girl in a school full of men. They saw her as she really was, the child genius who is far beyond her years in intelligence and doesn't need to be in the same classes as she's in.

But she stays anyways, until she can find a way to get out of the hell that is the first-year engineering courses she's required to take for her school. It's dull and uneventful and she'd rather be in her lab, building something, anything. And instead, she's surrounded by her classmates who have made it all too clear that they dislike her.

It stayed that way for a few weeks. Professors only tried to call her out when they're certain they got the better of her, but each time she proved them wrong, and showed them up. She was aware several of them have complained about her to the dean but other than getting the correct answer in a different way than what they've been teaching, she hadn't actually done anything wrong.

"You think you're so clever, don't you?" she heard a voice whisper in her ear one day after lectures and she looked up to see Tiberius Stone behind her, far too close for her liking. "A brilliant little girl with a bigger brain than she has anything else."

He leered over at her, and at thirteen years old, she felt uncomfortable by his gaze. She was well aware of the fact that he's much older than her, by at least a few years and she pulled herself away as swiftly as she could.

"You're not as smart as you seem to think you are," he told her as he pushed her back against the bricks of the building that she'd just had a lecture in. She doesn't want to be scared; she's quite a bit smaller than him, given the age and gender differences, and she hates how small she feels.

She wondered briefly if this was how Steve Rogers felt all those years ago when fighting against bullies twice his size that he had no chance in defeating. And yet he stood strongly against them without a fear in the world. He did it because it was the right thing to do.

She thought of Aunt Peggy and the various lessons she'd taught Toni over the years on how to defend herself. Because girls like her who tend to end up in positions where they need to fight for themselves when no one else would need to be able to protect themselves. Girls like her who defied the odds and spoke out against the world needed to know how to fight.

She wanted to spit in his face but instead she counted down from ten, waiting for the perfect moment.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

So when Tiberius Stone came closer she held her breath, and clenched her fist.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

"Girls like you need to be put in your place," he says brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

Four.

Three.

Two.

"Girls like you need to know that they do not belong in this world, no matter how much they wish they did," Stone snarked. His lips moved to brush against her neck and she continued to count.

One.

He was close enough now and she brought her knee up to knee him in the groin She took her elbow and slams it against his face. He winced and fell to the ground.

"You little bitch," he groaned, and she towered over him.

"Girls like me belong at the top," she smirked at him, "Don't ever come after me again, Stone."

She holds her breath, as she quickly walks away from the scene. The last thing she wants to do is draw a crowd to what had been going on. If Stone is smart, he won't make a big deal out of what had happened. After all, he had attacked her and then fallen on his back when she defended herself. And as much as her father might hate her, she still is a Stark. And Starks are made of iron. They do not bend, not for anyone.

The words that her father had once drilled into her at the signs of her weakness become a prayer in her head. She repeated the words over and over in her head. She was a Stark and she will not break.

Instead, she'll show them all what she was really made out of.


She got out of her first couple years of school work by insisting on writing advanced material. Her father backed her up and she knew they're afraid of him pulling his funding from the school. But despite his money, she still needed to prove that she was capable of writing the advanced examinations. She knew no one expected her to pass, and yet she flew out of the tests well within the time limit each time, and she knew that nothing there is nothing they could throw at her that she couldn't handle.

They seemed furious, but she didn't let it get to her. She was used to their looks of annoyance by now.

She began a double masters in conjecture with her bachelors within her second year of schooling, combining Advanced Mechanical Engineering degree with a Physics Masters. She wanted to build, to create, and to make. And she cannot do that if the school insisted on holding her back.

She was given a lab to work in and for the first time she felt like she truly could breathe.

It was the first place she truly felt at home since starting school.

She might have her own private dorms, but it never felt at home. It didn't have Jarvis there. It didn't have her mother there. And no matter how often they visited and helped her decorate the place, she can't make it feel like home.

But the lab is different. There're so many tools around her. There was so much potential around her. And she got to work, building things she'd always wanted to but never even dared to dream of when at her father's lab.

There was another boy in the lab, an African American who hunches over his own station, working without as much of a word.

She though that the two of them were placed together like the inconveniences that they were. A black boy and a girl at a school full of rich white boys. Two people that don't belong shoved off into a corner where they could remain hidden.

He offered her smiles and friendly 'hellos' whenever he entered the lab but that was as far as their friendship tended to extend.

She doesn't care though; she might never make a single friend in school, but at least she can build herself one, so she doesn't feel so alone.

The mathematics are on the page alongside the logic for what she would need to do to even get such an AI to work, but she's determined. Her thesis professor had already tried talking her out of creating Artificial Intelligence, claiming such a subject to be nothing more than science fiction and not possible. She didn't care. She's Toni Stark. She'll find a way to make it work, one way or another.

She was on her way to the lab when she hears the jeers being called out, and she sighed to herself. She knew it's not directed at her. Because despite the disdained looks she still got from time to time, no one can question her place at the school anymore. Well, it didn't stop a few from trying, but for the most part, people have simply taking to ignoring her, like they did with anything they found inconvenient to their way of life.

She saw a group of students in an alleyway between two buildings, and she was unsurprised to see Justin Hammer standing there, with a group of students behind him. He'd quickly become a thorn in her side, trying to prove time and time again that he was better than her, and yet is innovations barely ever reaching their mark. At least Tiberius Stone was capable of building a basic circuit board.

"You should go back to where you belong," Hammer sneered as he kicked her lab partner, James Rhodes, who was on the down to the ground already. "Your people are not welcome here."

"At least he's capable of holding a blow torch and not searing off his front hair," Toni said coolly as she crossed her arms.

"Go back to your little lab, Stark," Hammer said, barely glancing at her, "The men are talking here."

"The only man I see is the one on the ground while a bunch of stuck up boys are around him," she said, moving closer to them.

"He needs to be taught his place," one of the other boys glared at her, "Something you clearly do not understand either. Daddy might be able to buy you a place in this school, but he can't buy your friends, can he?"

"Clearly yours can't buy you class or manners," she sighed as she gestured around her, "Or you lot wouldn't be standing over a fellow student and kicking him. For what? Because he's black? Are you really that insecure about your own abilities that you would bully someone else for being better than you? I suppose I shouldn't expect anything different from Hammer Industries. What was your last great product? A missile which exploded prematurely almost every time? Like father like son, I suppose."

"At least I'll be able to take over my family's company," Hammer sneered at her, "Your father will never let a girl take over."

"Maybe not," she shrugged, "But I'll still be great by my own right. You will only ever be defined by the last name you hold. Which is a shame really, because could you imagine being defined by the Hammer name? What an embarrassment."

"Let's go," one of the students said, as a security guard walked past. Figures, they were all comfortable beating up a student but didn't want credit for such a task.

She watched as they left before she walked up to her lab partner and helped him up.

"You should have fought back," she told him softly as she helped him stand. "Bullies like them need to be put in their place."

He shook his head, "The world never sides with a black man for standing up for himself. I would have if I was in any real danger, but nothing they could have done to me would have been worth the scrutiny I'd face. I have a scholarship to be here, and I can't afford to lose it. Not if one of them complains to their parents."

She sighed, the two of them walked back to their labs.

She was angry, that the two of them were constantly targeted, and for what? Because they weren't the same as the rest of them? She swiped her key card, letting themselves into the lab.

It was unfair. Unfair that he couldn't even fight for himself without fear of retaliation.

"I'll protect you," she told him, offering him a soft smile. "The Stark name carries far more weight than the Hammer name."

He laughed softly at that as he sat down at one of the chairs and she took a wet paper towel and cleaned up some of his wounds gently.

"James Rhodes," he said, offering his name to her. "My Mama would kill me if she found out I haven't bothered introducing myself to you in all this time. But I didn't want to intrude on your lab time. I am well aware that my presence isn't always welcome."

"You are always welcome here," she said firmly. "A bit of a mouthful though. And a bit generic."

"James is too much of a mouthful for you?" he raised an eyebrow at her in disbelief. He ignores the part all together about the generics of his first name.

"Mm hm," she nodded, as she placed a band-aid from one of the lab's first aid kits on the corner of his forehead. "What about Rhodey?"

"How is that less of a mouthful?" he asked her, "It's longer than James."

"Too late," she shrugged, "I've named you Rhodey."

"What do I call you then?" he asked, and she looked at him in surprise. Her name was hardly unknown in their school. "I've seen you wince when people call you Antonia," he explained, "I figured you preferred a different name."

"Toni," she smiled at him and he nodded with a smile of his own.

"Toni," he echoed, and she grinned up at him. "How about I buy you some food?" he offered, "My treat. The least I can do after you all but chased those boys off."

She intertwined her arm through his, "I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Rhodey," she beamed, and he laughed as he simply shrugged.


It was her second year of school before she decides to go home with Rhodey for Thanksgiving. It was a surprise to her when he asked, even though they've been friends for a year.

More than friends, really. He was her family, and the last year has only gone to show that he didn't care about the fact that her family had money. It's more than she can say for any of her other friends that she'd had over the years. She's learned long ago that most people are friends with her because they hope she'd buy them expensive things. But not Rhodey; he's never asked for anything, and full on refused to allow her to spend money on him despite her insisting that she has more than enough to spare. If he's playing some sort of long game, she hasn't seen any sign of it yet.

It's slightly over a month when Rhodey turned to her in their shared lab.

DUM-E, her AI is still a work in progress, with his exterior built but his personality is still a slight mess. He doesn't listen to any of her commands and she's starting to think it's a personality defect versus a fault in her coding.

"What are your plans for Thanksgiving?" he asked her, placing the wrench she needed on the bench for her to take.

She couldn't tell him why she hated being handed things, couldn't tell him it was because of years of her father handing her scalding iron rods or sharp knifes by the blade and asking her to hold it. She couldn't tell him of the abuse she faced.

But he doesn't treat it like an inconvenience to him, like she's being stupid like so many others have made her feel. Instead, he accepted it.

She picked up the wrench she needs to adjust DUM-E's bolts. She hoped it might give him a bit more coordination, but she wa starting to suspect that nothing can help with that.

She shrugged, "My parents have a gala that they usually attend," she said with a sigh. "For orphans. It's a good cause, and full of people who love to throw around their money. I don't usually attend so I usually stay at home and eat pie that Jarvis made."

"What about your family?" Rhodey frowned, looking at her.

"It's just the three of us," Toni said, dropping the wrench on the lab bench, before picking up a screw driver. "Aunt Peggy is in Europe this year visiting her family. And Dad will be busy with work all weekend. Mom usually is busy helping for the Gala. And on Thanksgiving Jarvis usually goes with them since my dad always indulges in one drink too many and can't drive home. So I usually spend it in the lab, doing what I do best."

"All alone?" he asks, looking unimpressed by her plans. "You shouldn't be spending a holiday meant for family by yourself."

She simply shrugged. It was the truth of how she spent most holidays, so she wasn't really sure why she would expect this one to be any different.

"You should come home with me," he said suddenly, and she dropped the screw driver she'd been holding.

"Wait what?" she asked, looking at him, "Did I miss something?"

He shook his head at her, "Toni, you can't spend Thanksgiving alone. Besides, Mama has wanted to meet you since I mentioned the insane girl that I'd become friends with. The one who has changed my life in more ways than one. And don't think I'm not aware of the fact that you must have done something that I do not know about to get those boys to leave me alone. Spend Thanksgiving with us. If not because you have no other plans, then because my mother always cooks far too much food than we know what to do with."

And that was how she found herself at the Rhodes family Thanksgiving.

"James," his mother greeted warmly as Rhodey lead her through their home and into the kitchen where is mother was busy cooking up a storm. And from all the pies, cakes, turkey, and other dishes in front of her, she knew that Rhodey hadn't been lying when he said his mother always cooked too much food than she knew what to do with. "And you must be Antonia."

She smiled at the woman who raised her best friend as she handed her a bouquet of flowers she'd brought. Coronations, since it was what Rhodey said she would like.

"Thank you for inviting me, Mrs Rhodes," Toni said as Mrs Rhodes took the flowers from her.

"None of that now," The older woman said, swatting Rhodey as he tried to take a cookie from the tray in front of him, "Call me Mama Rhodes. It's what everyone else around here does."

"Jim brought home a girl," she heard a teasing voice from behind them and she looked up to see a young girl enter the room, looking far too pleased with herself.

Rhodey groaned as he saw her, but quickly pulled her into a tight hug. "It's good to see you, Jeanette. Now leave my friend alone and tell me more about this boy Mama says you've been seeing."

Jeanette stuck her tongue out at him, and she couldn't help but laugh. She'd never had a sibling growing up, knowing her mother had been unable to carry any other children. It was why her father was stuck with her, even if he had wanted a son.

"How did you meet my brother?" Jeanette asked as she took a seat next to her at the table, ignoring her brother all together. And from the glance Rhodey gave her, she knew that he mustn't have told his family the truth of how they'd become friends. And she wasn't about to expose a secret that he didn't want known. She knew all too well what it was like for one's family not to know secrets that they guarded far too close to their heart.

"We share a lab at school," she said simply and Rhodey gave her a grateful look, "Someone needed to make sure that he took care of himself."

He snorted at that, "That's absolutely rich coming from you. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even remember to eat half your meals. I swear you would live in that lab if you had any say in the matter."

She grinned at him, "How do you know that I don't just sneak back in there after you make me leave?"

He threw a cookie at her and she caught it as his mother swatted him again. She ate it carefully, savouring the flavour. Her mother might have been many things: beautiful, talented, and able to mingle well in society, but a cook was not one of them.

She watched as the Rhodes family interacted, and she felt grateful that Rhodey had invited her home with him. She'd seen in films families interacting on holidays and the friendly banter, but it had never been anything she'd experienced. Aunt Peggy was not a cook in any way and Uncle Daniel often took over Thanksgivings. But her parents had rarely let her attend, claiming she'd only get in the way, regardless of what Aunt Peggy would claim.

She gained a second family that weekend, and she knew that any time she wanted, she'd have a place in their home.


She got the news when she was sixteen and half way through her third year at MIT. She hadn't been home since Christmas, and she knew her mother understands. It was hard for her going home. Especially each time when her father makes it clear just how much he disapproved of her actions.

The worst part, she though, that he actually believes what the papers print about her. That when she tripped on a rock, the papers print that she was out drinking too much and stumbling around. And all of a sudden, she was an alcoholic. Or a guy holds onto her, and before she can get him off of her, she was labeled a slut that sleeps with everyone and everything that moves. It was like that with every story, and it didn't seem to matter how far from the truth it really is. All that mattered was that her father is displeased with all her transgressions. All that matters when he hits her is that he believes it.

She'll never be the perfect son he wanted. Or apparently a perfect child either. She's filled with enough flaws to fill so many books that she could start a library.

She didn't go home because she couldn't stand to look her father in the eyes while he told her how much of a disgrace she was. Because he always insisted that she showed him the respect he deserved and that she looked into his eyes while he told her how useless he really thought she was.

She's long since given up trying to please her father. She never will and trying to make him happy will only lead to her own heartbreak. She's tired of knowing that she'll never be good enough for him or Stark Industries.

She missed her mother and Jarvis. Her family. One she couldn't even see that often because it meant going home. Because it meant seeing her father.

She still talked to them on the phone often, and Jarvis drove up her mother at least once a month so they can get lunch and do some shopping that her mother always insists on. No matter how much she insists that dresses aren't practical for her field, her mother always insists on buying some in case she has an occasion to dress up.

She's in the lab when the phone rings. She doesn't even look up as Rhodey picks it up. DUM-E is almost complete, and she has so much to do before the semester ends.

"Tones, it's for you," Rhodey said, and she lets out a disgruntled sound, before going to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" she asks, despite knowing there are very few people who would call her at the lab.

"Toni," her mother breathes, with a watery voice. "Toni, you need to come home."

"What's happened?" she asked, heart stopping. Her mother would never ask her to come home in the middle of the semester if something wasn't wrong.

"It's Jarvis," her mother says softly, "He's been admitted to the hospital after having a heart attack. It doesn't look good, Bambina. The doctors don't think he'll make it. You need to come home."

She dropped the phone and Rhodey instantly is at her side. She can't breathe.

The world stops around her, and she doesn't know what to do. Rhodey has taken the phone from the ground, talking to her mother, trying to find out what happened, and before she knows it, his arms are tightly around her. She couldn't bring herself to cry, can't bring herself to process what's happening.

She was at the hospital less than six hours later, having caught the first flight home. Rhodey insisted on coming with her, and she's grateful since she can't even bring herself to say a single word since she got the call.

"Jarvis," she said softly, as she sat by his bedside, "Jarvis, please."

She knows begging won't fix his condition. Knows from the grim looks on the doctors faces what's to come. She knows but she doesn't care. She begs anyways.

"Antonia," Jarvis says gently, despite it being hard for her. "My sweet, brave girl. You're going to change the world, Toni. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"You'll be fine, Jarvis," she tries to assure him. She can't bear the thought of losing him. The man who raised her. Who helped her take her first steps. Who bandaged her up every time her father was far too rough with her. Who drove her to school every single day until she was forced into boarding school. Who was there for her through every heartbreak, and every tear. Who held her hand when she felt so alone in the world. Jarvis, who was far more of a parent than her own father. She couldn't lose him.

"I love you, sweet girl. Keep shining brightly," he told her, and his eyes close. She knows what's happened even without the sounds of flatlining on the monitors. Tears flood her eyes and her vision is blurred.

She felt arms wrap around her and she cries as Rhodey holds her tightly. Her mother placed a hand on her shoulder and they stayed like that for a while.

The funeral was small, and she still was unable to bring herself to properly accept what it means that he's gone. Her mother is in tears, but she is graceful in how she wipes them away.

Aunt Peggy was there with Uncle Daniel, Harry, and Ava. Peggy told a story about how they went on a mission together, and how he patched her up afterwards. How he taught her that she doesn't need to always carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. How she needed to rely on others. He was always there for her, a true friend who would be missed.

Toni talked too, because she can't bring herself to stay silent any longer. She told the story of how Jarvis taught her how to ride a bicycle when she was upset about never having learned. She left out the part where her father refused to teach her because he considered it a wasteful skill, knowing it wouldn't help the story. Besides, her own father couldn't even bother to come to the funeral.

She talks about how he taught her the importance of always getting back up, whenever she's knocked down. She talks about how he taught her the world will constantly knock her over and how she needs to fight for what she wants. Jarvis was everything to her, and she doesn't know how to continue in a world without him.

Rhodey stayed with her through the funeral despite his own classes. She told him that he should go back but he refuses, telling her that family comes first, always. And so, she let him stay.

When she got home, her mother handed her a letter. Jarvis wanted her to have it in the case of his passing, so she wouldn't feel alone, and she had tears fill her eyes before she even opened it.

She was careful when she unfolds the pages. These will be the last words Jarvis ever said to her, and she wanted to make sure she didn't ruin it like she did everything else in her life.

Dearest Toni,

Sweet girl, I see the way you feel as if you are fighting against the world, and I want you to know that you do not need to feel so alone. I care for you so much, as if you were my own daughter, and as such, I want nothing more than for you to have happiness in life. There are so many in your life who care for you, your mother, Peggy and Daniel, your friend, James Rhodes, and I.

Ana loved you, just as I did. You may not have many memories of her, but she was overjoyed when your mother brought you home from the hospital. The two of us cared dearly for you, and we will always be with you in your heart.

You are worth so much more than what anyone else makes you feel. You are brave, intelligent, strong, and the kindest soul I ever have met. You deserve a life of happiness, and my greatest regret is that I will not be around to see all the things you will accomplish.

My greatest regret is not being able to protect you. To keep you safe from the world and from the pains you have faced. I wish I could have stood up for you more. That I wasn't afraid that if I intervened that I'd be forced to leave you all alone. Still, it does not excuse my inaction, and I can only pray you forgive me.

Shine bright, my sweet girl, and know that I will always be with you. You will never be alone.

Love,

Edwin Jarvis.

She sobbed loudly, and she places the letter down, not wanting to tarnish his final words to her. She can't stop the pain from flooding her chest. She missed him so much and it hurt to know that he was gone from her life.

She heard the door slam shut loudly, and she knows her father is home. The same father who couldn't even make time to come to his own friend's funeral.

She wiped her tears and stood up firmly. She was done hiding away in fear. If he couldn't respect the dead, then why should she show him any respect either?

She marched to the lab where she saw him, drinking straight from the bottle of whiskey and she knew that he's drunk. She was furious; how dare he skip the funeral of his friend to get drunk instead?

"I see you were able to make time for the things you find important," she said, crossing her arms. He turned to face her, anger filling his face. While she might have cowered back before, she refused to stand down.

"What did you say to me?" he asked, taking a step in her direction.

"You couldn't even make time to come to the funeral," she said angrily, not caring about what she knew was to come. "I get that you don't care about me or any of my accomplishments. But he was your friend. How could you not even come to his own funeral?"

"I had work!" her father shouted, "I run a multi-million-dollar company. I can't just take time off because of personal reasons."

"You own the company," she shook her head, "They would have understood. But I guess business waits for no one."

"It doesn't," he stepped closer. "Something you would know nothing about. When have you ever had to take anything seriously, Antonia? You have everything you do because I work as hard as I do."

"I have everything I do because I work hard," she said simply, "Your money might help but I got myself into MIT. I got myself into the dual Masters program. That had nothing to do with you. I don't need you. And why would I, if clearly you can't bring yourself to give a damn about your own friend's funeral? Jarvis is gone, Dad! How caught up in your own world can you be to not attend? And here you are, drunk. Did you even care enough to visit his grave? Or do you not care because he was on the payroll?"

The slap lands on her face but she didn't back down. The pain is nothing compared to what she felt from the loss of Jarvis. He could hit her all he wants but it didn't change the fact that he was too selfish to even care about Jarvis' death.

"I'm done," she told him without giving the satisfaction of showing the pain. "I don't care anymore if I'm not good enough for you. You didn't get a son, you got a daughter. Stark Industries is meant to be passed down to the oldest child upon their twenty-first birthday, as per grandfather's instructions. He didn't specify male, either because he didn't care or because he assumed Starks only have sons. Either way, read the succession document that Grandfather wrote, it's clear in there. I don't care anymore if you don't think I'm good enough. I don't need your approval, and I'm done trying to get it. You can't hurt me anymore."

And with that, she left the room, cheek still stinging, and head held high.