Chapter 109
It was exactly two days after the conversation with Steve when she headed down to her father's lab to see him beaming at her. Part of her was still thrown to see him look so happy to see her, when her childhood had been him being anything but loving.
"Toni," he said, as he dropped the torch, after turning it off. "Just in time. I finished putting on the final touches."
"Did you get any sleep?" she asked, surprised. They'd worked on the machine late into the night, and last she left, they still had many calibration settings to run through. And without JARVIS and FRIDAY to run simulations to ensure everything was correct, they had to meticulously test everything themselves.
He'd kicked her out of the lab around one in the morning, insisting that she should get a proper amount of sleep due to her pregnancy. She'd protested, insisting that she was perfectly fine, but he'd shaken his head and pulled rank on her.
"Oh, I got an hour or two," he shrugged brushing it off, reminding her all too well of her own antics over the years. Was this what it was like when others saw her in the lab after her long working benders? "It doesn't matter. What does is that I finally got the thing working. We could probably send you home today!"
He seemed so excited about the prospect, that she didn't have it in her to say anything contrary.
It wasn't that she didn't want to go back more than anything in the world. Because she did. That was all she wanted.
But it meant going back to a future where her father had hated her again. One where Peggy wasn't getting any younger.
One where Steve was her husband.
"Hey," he said, looking at her in concern, over her apparent lack of enthusiasm, "I thought this was a good thing. You wanted this right?"
"It is," she smiled, "I can't wait to get home back to my own time. But well, I'm going to miss things here. It won't be the same"
"Can you tell me something?" he asked her carefully. "I know you said we had our issues in the future, but was I…was I that a bad father?"
She swallowed, as she looked anywhere but at him. How did she even begin to tell him the truth about their life together?
She'd told him pieces. But she hadn't told him just how much he'd hated her. She hadn't wanted to see him looking at her like that again. Like she was the worst thing that ever happened to him.
"I see," he said, as her silence spoke volumes. "I know I'm not him, and I cannot apologise for the things he did. But I want you to know that I am sorry. I wish I could promise things will be different this time. Because you deserve more for a father. You deserve one that would raise you up and not try and tear you down at any given chance. I am sorry for everything. And I promise, I'll do my best to do things differently this time."
"I know you are," she said, because Peggy was right. He wasn't the same as the man who'd hurt her.
She couldn't say that she believed him that he would do things differently. How could she when she knew how the story ended?
He pulled her into a hug, and she froze. In her twenty-one years of life while her parents were alive, she could honestly say the two of them had never hugged.
And it was kind of nice.
"Are we early?" Peggy asked, as she knocked on the door. She pulled away from her father to see Peggy and Steve standing there. Steve was looking around the lab in amazement, and given how he often looked around her lab, she knew he was amazed by the technology in it.
"Just in time," Howard grinned, "We got the machine working, and should be able to send Toni back to her own time."
"Just like that?" Steve asked, a little shaken, "Are you sure everything's ready? Shouldn't you wait a bit longer and do a bit more testing?"
"Steve," she said gently. They'd been working on the machine for months. She knew it was ready as well as Howard had.
"I know," he exhaled. "I knew you were planning on going home soon. I just had no idea it would be this soon."
"Well I must say, my little Ducky, I am going to miss you," Peggy said, as she pulled Toni into a tight hug, "I certainly am going to miss the way you shake things up around here. I look forward to the day I'm introduced to my God Daughter, and seeing you grow into the woman you are today."
She gave Howard a pointed look as if to urge him to hand over a child now that she could claim God Mothership over.
She hugged her Aunt tightly. This may not be her Aunt Peggy. But she was every bit the badass woman that Toni had heard stories about. The one she'd aspired to be like.
Her aunt blinked, and she knew Peggy was trying very hard not to cry, and she reluctantly let go of her aunt.
"Will I remember you?" Steve asked, when it was his turn. He took her face in his hands, as he stroked it with his thumbs.
"Most likely not," Howard said gently. "Time is a paradox like that. If Toni came back in time, it was because she'd already been here, in our timeline. But in hers, it hadn't affected any of the outcomes of the future due to her one-day presence here. Which means everyone here must have forgotten that she'd been here. But of course, time travel is hardly a well-studied science, so we cannot say for sure."
"Oh," he breathed out in disappointment, unable to say anything else.
She stood on her toes, as she leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips. Her father looked away, rather pointedly, as Steve's arms wrapped around her.
"I'll see you soon," she promised him. "We'll be together eventually, okay? I promise."
"Not soon enough," he said, gruffly.
"When the timing is right, we'll have our moment," she said with a smile.
She took a step back, knowing that she couldn't delay it any longer. She needed to get back to her own time. She couldn't stay here. Not forever. She'd already been here for nearly three months. She needed to get home to her family.
She pressed the reactor that she'd reattached to her chest, as the nanobots sprung out to create the suit around her, leaving her face uncovered for the time being.
"Future tech is absolutely brilliant," Howard said, marvelling at the technology on her body.
She grinned at him. If the last thing she'd ever hear him say was a compliment towards her, then she'd take it.
He nodded at her, as he moved towards the device.
"You'll need to stand on the landing pad," Howard said, as he moved to the controls. "Steve, Peg, I'm going to need you to stand far away from the device. In case things go wrong."
"I thought you said this was well tested," Steve frowned.
"It is," she assured him, "But it's better for you to be out of the blast radius. Just in case."
"Howard is standing right in it," Peggy pointed out.
"I need to," he shrugged, "Someone's gotta operate this thing."
She covered her face with bots as she took her position on the landing pad.
"I'll give a count down," Howard said, "And then I'm going to activate the device."
She nodded at him as she looked back to where Peggy and Steve were. She'd see them soon enough.
"Three…two…one…," he counted down, and then flicked the switch.
The pad around her opened up, and she glanced back one last time at where Howard was standing, before she launched herself forward.
The last thing she saw was a bright blast of light.
"Where's my child?" Howard demanded, as the nurse came out of the room, holding a small bundle. She placed the baby in his arms, and he looked down at the beautiful little girl.
Welcome to the world, Toni.
She was beautiful.
She slept so peacefully, and he couldn't help the bright grin on his face as he looked down at the child in his arms. His beautiful, brilliant, daughter.
He held her against him, and he promised her in that moment, he wouldn't let anyone hurt her ever again.
"It's a girl, Mr Stark," the nurse said, but he already knew. He'd waited all these years to see her again.
It was her. The girl he'd met all those years ago. Even as a baby, he could recognize her as she slept in his arms. This was the girl he'd meet one day in the future. Peggy, Steve, and Phillips had predictably forgotten all about her presence. But he was close to the device. And he remembered meeting the genius woman who was his child.
"Can I introduce her to some people?" he asked the nurse, and she nodded. He kissed his resting wife. He stepped out of the room, as he saw Obadiah standing there.
"Is that my nephew?" Obie asked, ecstatically, and he shook his head. This wasn't a son. It was a daughter.
"Niece," he said simply, "And she's perfect."
"There's still time for Maria to give you sons," Obadiah said, sounding unsure. His business partner had often talked about Howard having a son to run the company when he was gone. A son to continue on the Stark Legacy.
"There's no need," he said simply. "She's perfect. I have no need for anything else. I got everything I have right here."
He didn't say anything to Howard about that, and he couldn't bring himself to care. He was going to do right by his daughter. How could he not when she was so incredible?
He wanted to kick any other version of himself for not seeing the child they'd had in front of them. She was amazing.
"Sir?" Jarvis asked, as he approached with flowers, "Is that the child?"
"Yes," he said, "Meet Antonia Stark. My daughter."
He beamed brightly and Jarvis' eyes softened at the sight of the young girl in his arms. He looked down at the girl in Howard's arms, and he knew Toni had stolen his heart.
She would set the world ablaze with just one action, and he would do anything for her.
"Daddy?" Antonia peered into her father's study, nervously. She saw him working with Uncle Obadiah on something, and perhaps now wasn't the best time. But she stood there anyways.
"Shouldn't you be in bed, little Miss?" her father asked as he saw his four-year-old daughter standing in his doorway. He moved from behind the desk to scoop her up in his arms.
"Maybe," she giggled, as she held the circuit in her little hands.
"What do you have there, Annie?" Uncle Obie asked her, and she shyly handed her father the circuit.
"I made a circuit board," she said, looking at her father, "I followed the directions in your lab and put it together."
"Those sketches were incomplete," her father said, sounding surprised, "The pieces weren't fitting together. How did you manage to complete it?"
"I shrunk it down," she said softly, "And change the voltage flowing through it by adding an extra resistor. I also reversed the current flow and added some extra pathways. It works. I tried it before I brought it down here."
Her father looked at her in wonder.
"We should test it, then shouldn't we?" he grinned at her, as he placed it into a piece on his desk, something she'd seen him use many times to test the basic flow of current. And she held her breath as he flipped the switch. He held the multimeter in his hand and placed the pins on the board.
The readings lit up on it, and she beamed, knowing it was working.
"Well look at that," her daddy said in amazement. "It works, Toni!"
She giggled again.
"Looks like the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, Howard," Obadiah clapped her on the back, "Little Annie here is brilliant. There might be hope for the future of Stark Industries after all."
Her father gave her Uncle a pointed look, but she had no idea what it meant.
"My daughter is a genius," Howard said, instead focusing on her. "We should call the papers."
It was how she found herself, later that day, standing there in front of the press as her father talked all about her, and he held one hand on her shoulder protectively. And afterward, he and Mama took her for ice cream.
Her father often disappeared, sometimes for weeks at a time. She knew he loved her. But she also knew that he wanted to find Captain America. The man her Aunt Peggy had told her stories about. Her Aunt Peggy was amazing. She'd been in Toni's life for as long as she could remember, and she always, always, brought her stories from all the work she did as a spy.
She missed her Dad when he was gone. But he always wrote her letters. And when he came home, he always made time for the two of them to work in the lab. There was nothing she loved more than spending time with him in the lab.
When he was gone, she spent time with Ana in the kitchen baking pies, or with her Mama as she taught her how to make things like pasta. Jarvis went on adventures with her. And even if the other kids at school didn't quite like her, she couldn't bring herself to care, when her family loved her so much.
But today was different. Today, she was starting at MIT.
"Do you have everything you need, Ducky?" Aunt Peggy asked her, as her father loaded her suitcase into the van. He'd been insistent on cutting his latest expedition short to make it back in time.
"I do, Aunt Peg," she grinned, "But you guys don't need to all come with me. Jarvis can drop me off."
Her father scoffed, "It's not every day my daughter starts at MIT. And at thirteen! I wouldn't miss this for the world."
"I'd never miss my favourite niece starting school," Uncle Daniel said in a similar manner. Aunt Peggy hit him at that.
"If Michael hears you say that he won't be pleased," Peggy argued.
"Michael only has sons," Daniel grinned. "Toni still is my favourite niece."
She grinned at the both of them as Jarvis closed the trunk of the car.
"My daughter is starting school already," her mother said, sighing softly as she cupped her face. "You're going to do brilliant, there, Toni."
"She's always brilliant," her father said simply. "At anything she tries. MIT won't know what hit them."
"I'll miss you both," Toni told her softly and Maria held her closely.
"Come home often, alright Bambina?" Her mother asked her, and she held onto her mother tightly.
Harry heckled from the van to get a move on it, and she grinned as she took a seat beside him. Jarvis took the wheel, as her family began the task of moving her to school. And she couldn't help but feel like everything was just perfect.
Her years at MIT passed by, and with her best friend Rhodey, she'd often felt on top of the world. She'd gone over to his house one year for thanksgiving and invited his family to her home for the next. She adored Jeannette and Mama Rhodes, and she knew their families got along well.
There were many pricks at school, but her father had told her time and time again that she was smarter than any of them. That they were insecure little men who didn't like the idea of their world being shaken up by a woman. But he knew she was strong enough to get through it. She'd show them all their place.
When she was sixteen, her world shattered. She'd gotten the call from her father, saying he'd pick her up immediately.
He didn't tell her what was wrong. It wasn't until he pulled in front of the dorm she'd been staying in that she demanded he tell her what was wrong.
Jarvis was sick.
Her father held her the entire time she'd been by Jarvis' side, and when the man had passed away in front of her, she'd cried into her father's chest. He didn't say a word, only consoling her through it all.
Jarvis had meant a lot to her. He was the man who was there when her father couldn't be. He was family.
And he was gone.
Her father had dropped everything for the funeral. And he'd told the story of how they'd met. She cried herself to sleep that night, and the next morning, her father had steered her into the lab. The best way to work through pain was to channel the energy into something productive. She'd been making steady progress on her AI, and she coded that day with more determination than ever before.
She'd make Jarvis proud.
She'd created life when DUM-E whirled his gears for the first time. Her father had clapped widely when she'd told him on their weekly call that she'd done it. And he'd sat in on her presentation when she'd showed her invention off to the panel.
And afterwards he took her for ice cream, just as he had when she was four and presented her circuit board to the world.
She stood in the graduation line near Rhodey as they made their way across the stage. And after it was all over, she saw her father and mother beaming widely at her.
"You did it, Bambina!" her mother greeted her brightly.
"I'm so proud of you, Sweetheart," her father said, pulling her into a hug.
Her cousins had a bouquet of flowers for her, and Ava had a bear. She knew it was a sweet gesture, and she hugged them both.
"We're so proud of you, Toni," Aunt Peggy said, smiling at her, "You've done so well, Ducky."
"You've made us so proud," Uncle Daniel grinned at her, as he clapped her on the back, "My smart niece is growing up so quickly. I still remember when you made the toaster explode because you wanted to optimize the toasting time to get it to toast instantly."
"I got it to work eventually," she pouted at him and her mother laughed.
"After you went through five toasters," Maria reminded her. "But I'm so proud of you, Bambina. You've done so well. I'm so proud of all you've done so far, and how far you've come. My brilliant little girl is growing up. I love you so much Tesoro. You've done so well, Darling."
"I love you too, Mom," she said, breath catching in her throat. She was glad they were here today, what with her father's work schedule, and all the charity work that her mother did. But her father had laughed when she'd asked him if he were busy and assured her that there was nowhere else he'd rather be than watching his little girl graduate at MIT.
"Those toasters were nothing in comparison to what we ended up with," her father said, appreciating where she'd been going with that. "Instantly toasted toast is such a saviour in the mornings. Honestly it helps me so much when I'm busy in the lab and need to grab something quick to eat so I can keep working."
"He uses it every day," her mother rolled her eyes, fondly.
"It's useful," he said simply, "I've been speaking to SI about starting to sell it in our new housewares line. Figured we could branch more into the public sector."
"Really?" she asked him, eyes widening. Stark Industries made military weapons. And she'd wanted nothing more than to get more involved in the public sector for years. But Obie had always insisted it wasn't profitable.
"It's my graduation present to you," he grinned, "You'll be running the department of course. Head of R&D for it. I have utmost faith that you'll be able to do it and make us all proud."
"Thank you, Dad," she said, feeling overcome with emotion, and he pulled her into his arms.
"I'm proud of you, Toni," he said, gruffly, and she beamed. He had never made it a secret how much he loved her, but he knew he got overwhelmed from time to time by all the emotion. Uncle Obie had teased him about it mercilessly, saying that having a daughter had made him soft.
He'd often retorted that it made him strong, because he wanted to make the world a place his daughter could thrive in.
She was distracted then by the Rhodes family, as they came over to offer their own congratulations. Rhodey looked embarrassed as his mother bragged over them, and she'd beamed. The only black man and woman in their class. The two of them often stuck out like a sore thumb, but they had gotten through it together.
She looked around her, as she saw her mother and father chatting happily with Aunt Peggy and Uncle Daniel. Harry and Ava were laughing over some joke or an other, and Jeanette was teasing Rhodey, while Mama Rhodes was taking pictures of everything so they didn't forget a single moment from this day. She didn't think it was possible. Because she'd remember this day for years to come.
Everything was just perfect.
The winter of 1991 came with a fury, and she hated that she'd gotten a cold. Her mother claimed it was from studying too hard, and her father had insisted she stay in bed and rest. But she had PhD's to complete. There was no time for rest.
"Wake up, Dear," her mother nudged her awake gently, "We're heading out now."
"So soon?" she said, groggily.
"How are you feeling, Sweetheart?" her father said, as he sat beside her on the couch. "Any better?"
"A bit," Toni said, "Still a bit off."
"Nothing a bit of rest won't fix," Howard said.
"Maybe we should stay here," Maria said, looking worriedly.
"You know we need to go," Howard said, reluctantly.
"You should go," she smiled at them both. She knew they'd planned the trip for their anniversary. They were nearing on thirty years together, and her father had wanted their anniversary to be special. So she'd insisted they take a trip. She could spend the holidays with her aunt and uncle.
"But we barely see Toni, and she's been studying aboard," her mother said wistfully.
"Which broad?" her father joked, and she sighed, knowing fully well which article he was talking about.
"Dad," she groaned.
"Okay, okay," he surrendered.
"Where are you going?" she asked her mother.
"Your father is flying us to the Bahamas for a little getaway," her mother said softly.
"We have to make a quick stop, at the Pentagon," her father said, and she wanted to pry to ask about what. But she knew he'd fill her in eventually. "I'll get the bags."
He left the room, as her mother pressed a kiss to her head, "I love you, Toni. Call us if you need anything, okay? Anything at all."
"I will," she smiled, and she stood up to hug her mother.
Her father came back into the room then, as he wrapped an arm around her gently.
"I love you, Toni," he said to her. "And I'm so proud of you. I want you to know that. I'm proud of everything you've done, and I will always be glad that you were my daughter."
"You're being sappy," she said, and he laughed, as he kissed her head.
With that, her parents left to take the road to the pentagon.
And that was the last she ever saw of them both alive.
A/N: So Howard changed! In my canon, Howard was terrible to Toni the first go around for a multitude of reasons. After he lost Steve, he was involved in Project Manhattan. He saw what that bomb did and it hardened him. He wanted to find Steve to bring his friend back. And he let Obie lead him astray one to many times. It's no excuse for his behaviour. But since Toni went back to the past, he found out that his friend survives and that Steve married his daughter. He met Toni and was blown away by her, before he was involved with the atomic bomb. And he wanted to be better for her. So he was.
That's the end of the time travel arc, so hopefully you guys all enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun exploring Toni with 1940's Steve, since it's a dynamic that's familiar, yet completely different.
