As I stormed into my daughters room I could feel something in the air was off- as if it were thicker the closer I got to her. I pushed the thought aside as I grabbed ahold of her trembling body. She screamed and it shook her whole body. "Ruby, you're alright, you're safe." I cooed as I tried to calm her.

Finally, she came to, her screaming ceased, and she recognized she was safe as she gently touched my hand with her own. Her voice shook as she met my eyes, "I'm okay." She said hoarsely.

I stared into her eyes, the eyes I had memorized so many times, but this time in her golden eye with the little dark fleck, and in her half light blue half moss green eye, I couldn't seem to find her. Like she was somehow lost, but she sat right in front of me. "Was it about being attacked? Ruby, I promise he is locked up, he won't get out for a long time- and I would never let him hurt you again." I didn't know what else to say to her.

"No, it wasn't about being attacked by him." She said as she moved her hand up through her hair, normally either very wavy or curly, was flat.

I was confused, what else could it be? Could it be me? What else had happened to her that she wasn't letting me in on? "Then what is it, Ruby?" I asked.

"Sleep." She begged. I could see the exhaustion that was quickly taking her over.

I picked her up, cradling her closely to my chest, I would be damned if I was going to let her be terrified and alone throughout the night in my own house. "Is she alright?" Pepper whispered sleepily as I passed her in the hall.

"She'll be alright, bad dream. Go back to bed." I whispered back to her.

Keeping my relationship going while raising a teenage daughter I just met, who had more demons than most adults, was proving to be difficult. I could feel Pepper's irritation as I walked past her. She wanted what was best for Ruby, but I knew she also wanted me. In our bed. Sleeping with her. I never expected it to be easy, but I also didn't expect this to be how the first night home with her would go.

I laid her on the couch, reclining the section of the couch that had that ability and rested her head on my outstretched lap. I put a small throw pillow in between her head and my legs to try and keep her comfortable, and then I pulled a blanket over her. It wasn't long and she was asleep, and I followed suit shortly after.

The sun shining through the curtains woke me. I was confused at first- I was the only one on the couch. I wondered for a briefe moment if it had all been a dream- or if even just some of it had been. If just the last few days had been, if I still had time to not blow it with Ruby and drive her to running away. Lord know, I wanted her still, I just wanted to take back my own actions. However, I realized it hadn't all been a dream- the pillow still laid on my legs, and the blanket was still where she had laid. My body cracked and popped as I stood up. "Where the hell did Ruby go?" I whispered outloud to myself.

"She's in the guest bathroom taking a shower, sir." Jarvis chimed in, "Also, the cleaning service, yard service, and kitchen staff just arrived. Shall I let them in?"

Shit, I forgot to cancel them, too late now. "Yeah, let them in." I replied. "If you could, also give them their assignments, but cancel any that involve Ruby's room."

"Yes sir." Jarvis quickly responded.

I quickly walked to the bathroom, trying to figure out what to say to her. I knocked twice, still not sure what to say. "Ruby?" I called.

"Yeah, I'm in here. In the shower." She replied.

"Are you alright?" Because that was what was most important.

"Yeah dad, I'm fine." She said, making my heart skip a beat at her calling my dad so willingly- so forgivingly.

"Alright… I love you, Ruby. If you want to talk I am always here, but I won't force you to talk about anything." It was the first time I had ever said it, and although it was while standing on the opposite side of a door then her, and while she was in a shower, it felt right. It wasn't a fear like the first time I told Pepper, this was undoubtedly true and would never ever change, and it was something she really needed to hear. Something I needed her to hear, so she knew.

Silence filled the room, and my heart sank down to my stomach. I figured I had said everything I could, so I turned to walk away, leave her in peace when her voice had me turning back to the door, "I love you too, dad." She said. Her voice shook, as if she was scared to say it, but it in no way sounded like she was making herself say it just because she felt like she had to, in fact, it almost felt like she was relieved. "I promise, when I am ready, I'll come to you."

Thank goodness. "Good, then I will leave you to your shower." I quickly said.

"Wait, Tony, I'm almost finished. I need to ask you a question." She said, making my heart pound so hard I was surprised she couldn't hear it through the door and over the running water of her shower.

"Sure, we can talk in your room. There are some cleaning people here now, it'll be more private there." I said, my voice shaking. I had faced bad guys of all shapes and sizes, I had saved the world more than once, but the thought of my teenage daughter needing to ask me a question- that had me absolutely terrified.

"Alright." She replied, her voice shaking as well.

I waited for a few more seconds, making sure there was nothing left she needed to say, and then I walked to her room. I sat on her bed, fidgeting and twiddling my thumbs as if I was some teenage boy who had just gotten caught sneaking booze from my parents liquor cabinet, now just awaiting my punishment. I heard her water shut off, and my heart started pounding faster. I knew it wouldn't be long now, and I would be at her mercy. As she walked into the room and words poured from my mouth, barely making any sense, I knew she knew I was scared, making me that much more vulnerable.

Silence fell between us again, it was awkward and uncomfortable, "Ruby…" I said, bringing her eyes darting from her hands up to my eyes, "Whatever you have to ask, you can ask." I said. Please, just know whatever it is, I would never be mad at you.

"Oh, alright," She said and cleared her throat, "What did the doctors tell you? Is there something wrong with me?"

She is a mutant. She is hiding it. She is trying to get you to say it. "Ruby, for starters, I cannot express this enough, there is nothing wrong with you." It sounded ridged, like I had rehearsed it poorly a thousand times, but to be fair, mentally I had rehearsed it while trying to prepare myself on the off chance it was true.

"Then what did the doctors say, Tony?" I could feel the edge in her voice. She wanted an answer, not to be consoled.

Silence fell between us, and it was so tense it made my skin prickle. "Listen, Ruby," I started, ready to start this conversation.

"You have swelling across your brain- across the frontal and temporal lobes, including your hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that is responsible for memories." Pepper 's voice made me jump, but what the hell was she doing? "We didn't want to worry you or have you straining yourself trying to remember every detail of your life fearing you may have forgotten something. If it was major, we hoped you would come to us. Tony still isn't processing that well and is unsure of how to put it to you if it has lasting effects, but I thought we should have been upfront from the beginning- we can work through it if there are lasting effects." She sucked in a deep breath then looked at us for a moment, mainly me, "and I am sorry for eavesdropping, it wasn't intentional, I was just looking for your dad." She just saved my ass, some way somehow, even if I hadn't seen how yet, I knew that had to be what was going on. I stared at her, trying to understand what the hell was happening.

"That's it?" Ruby's response caught me off guard.

"What else would it be?" I asked, still trying to figure out what was happening.

"I don't know, cancer or something super scary like that. I don't have any memory loss that I am aware of, just in case you guys were concerned with that." She said.

"Good!" It came out way to fast and way too excited.

"Tony, I'm so sorry, but I really need to pull you away." Pepper said, and I knew then that something was seriously wrong. I sent Ruby to get something to eat as me and Pepper went to my office.

"What is it Pepper?" I asked, "Why did you say those things?"

"Because, Tony, if you were going to say something about her being a mutant, and she isn't ready to come out, or if she's not and you just confuse her, it will just continue to complicate things. Word got out about you attacking her attacker, now people are digging and asking questions about Ruby. I'm sure there are going to be press hounding us soon. I think it is very important that we get ahead of this now. Ruby probably isn't going to appreciate being drug through the press, her privacy being violated, and everything else, so we should do what we can to spare her." Pepper said as she sat in my office chair.

"You're not wrong. I was hoping to have more time before this happened, I just wanted to

get her settled, get her comfortable, before we just throw her in like this." I said as I leaned against my desk.

"That's not all. You have gotten several messages from the rest of your team, Thor had to go back to Asgard, it sounds like there might be something else going on. Peter also needs to talk to you, says it's urgent."

"Did he say what kind of urgent? Is it like 'world at stake' urgent, or 'I called your daughter a goddess' urgent."

Pepper raised her brow as she looked at me, "I'm not sure, he didn't say. I didn't know that there would be a reason to ask."

"Well, let's just do this one thing at a time." I said as I took a deep breath, "If we take the press on first they are going to ask questions about Thor and possibly whatever Peter has to tell us, so we should start with them. Then, the press is next."

"I would have to agree with you." Pepper said, "You need to get back to the tower, you need to get caught up."

I rubbed the back of my head, "Are you sure?" I asked, "I don't know if I should leave Ruby here."

"Maybe you should take her with you." Pepper said after a silent moment and a sucking in a large breath, "I know you have as many questions as I do, and they have the ability to detect them there."

"No, I'm not doing that. I don't think she is one and she hasn't said she is, and that is enough for me." I said. "However, she did want to go to the tower, so I can take her with me."

Pepper snickered, "Maybe Peter can tell her she is a goddess to her face."

I pushed off the desk, "You're not funny. I will make sure to keep them apart. Far far apart." I said. Pepper laughed and stood up, taking my face into her hands, and pushing her lips to my own, "WE will get through this Mr. Stark. The press, whatever is going on with Asgard, Ruby dating, all of it."

"Not that last one, we are never gonna go through that." I said into her lips.

She laughed again, "I always figured this would be how you would handle your daughter dating." She pulled away and I wrapped my arms around her waist as I looked into her eyes. "You're a good dad, Tony. You had a rough start, but you're doing really well."

I pulled her in closer, hugging her tightly. "Don't worry, I'm sure you will eventually get to my parenting level."

She responded with an eye-roll and a laugh. I kissed her forehead and let her go. She straightened her dress, fixed her hair, and smiled at me, "I have a few things to do, you call me when you are ready for that press conference, and we can get that scheduled asap."

"Will do." I replied, and we both left the room. I went to the kitchen to find Ruby eating a stack of large homemade, perfectly golden pancakes, beautifully framed by fruit. She picked at it, I wasn't sure if she was not wanting to disturb the beautifully laid out food, or if she wasn't hungry, but she needed to eat, and I would see to it that she did. I looked at her side profile for a couple seconds longer, her face was bruised along her jaw and her eye still swollen, I wondered if it hurt her to eat.

The chef came over, pouring a syrup over her breakfast, she smiled a large smile and dug in, large bite after large bite. "This is really good." She said, and then thanked him.

I walked over, "You have quite the appetite." I said, and smiled at the chef, thankful they were sworn to secrecy.

"I love food." She said, mouth full of pancake.

I laughed and handed her a napkin, "Well, when you are finished, I am going to the tower, would you like to come with me?"

"You want me to go with you to the Tower?!" She asked, her face completely lit up with excitement.

"Absolutely, as long as you feel up to it." I quickly replied.

She shook her head quickly, and scarfed down her breakfast. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten anything, so I took some fruit myself. Once we were finished, I took her out to the garage, "You wanna get there fast, or super fast?" I asked her as she looked around the garage.

"Super fast!" She exclaimed excitedly. I loaded her up in the Bugatti Veyron SS, making sure she was buckled in tight and her seat was far back. The way her eyes lit up and her mouth curved into a smile at the sound of the engine roaring, and then settling down into a purr when I turned it on reminded me of myself. The ride there was fast and lacked conversation- she was too excited to try and make conversation, and I was having too much fun watching her. We parked in my spot in the parking garage, I made sure to enter through the back where there would be no press lurking around.

"Tony, good to see you." Nick said as I stepped out of my car, "I was beginning to think you were just going to leave this mess for us to clean up."

"What mess?" Ruby asked, overhearing him as she stepped out of the car.

I glared at Nick, the last thing I needed was her fearing she messed something up. "Please, you know I am basically the maid around here- I clean up everyones messes."

Nick laughed and rolled his eyes. "Come on, the press has been sneaking around here, the last thing we want is them attacking us."

Ruby followed closely behind us, looking as if she were taking in every detail of the Tower. That's when it hit me, she had probably waited years, just hoping to one day step foot in this building, and when she finally did, it probably wasn't how she dreamed it would be, I didn't find out about her and take her here for sanctuary- a social worker drug her here terrified of being rejected and thrown out of the tower, of me turning back on her, and then I DID rejected her, the place she had probably idolized, dreamed about, was crushed in a matter of an hour. I shook the thought from my mind- this wasn't the time to do it, it wasn't the time to have a pity party. "Nick, why did Thor run back to Asgard so fast?" I asked.

"Something about a wave- I'm not entirely sure what he meant." Nick replied.

"A wave? That's all he had for us?" I replied.

"I guess. I wouldn't worry too much about it- it's probably Loki. Either way he's always been good about handling these things on his own, or coming to us for help if he can't"

"I suppose you're right. Have you talked to Peter?" I asked.

"No, but I did talk to his aunt. We really need better covers for that kid. He was waiting to talk with you." Nick replied, I knew he probably had asked Peter- maybe even badgered him, but Peter would never tell him anything without telling me first.

"Peter's still here, then?" Ruby quickly asked.

Nick raised his brow at the jolt of nervousness and excitement that filled her voice as he glanced at me. "Ruby, why don't you go to your room that's here. Wait for me there while I handle some stuff."

"Oh, c'mon Tony, let the kid come, don't make her sit in her room." Nick said, earning himself a sharp glare.

"Yeah, come on dad, I wanna come with you and see the Tower." Ruby said, taking Nick's comment as and open door and running with it.

"Alright, if you're sure. It'll just be a lot of walking and talking." I said, and got a quick head nod in reply.

First stop (against my best judgement)- Peter. He was alone in his room on his computer- focusing intensely on the screen. "Peter- good to see you up and alert." I said.

His eyes darted up to me, and then quickly over to my daughter. "Hello Mr. Stark, sir." He said, clearing his throat- but his voice still squeaked.

"You remember Ruby, my daughter. My little girl you may say- or my pride and joy." I said as I wrapped my arm over Ruby's shoulder, and pulled her into me. I felt Ruby tense as she glared at me- embarrassed as hell.

"Of course- she saved my life." He said, then swallowed hard, "Listen, Mr. Stark, about what I said about Ruby- your daughter-" Peter started.

I quickly snapped my arm from Ruby's shoulder and threw my hand up, "Not now, Peter." I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"No, wait," Ruby interjected, "Tell me what you said."

Peters face was red as Ruby inched closer, I knew better then to try and stop him. "I-I-I uh- I called you a Goddess."

Ruby's face turned as red as her name. "Oh" was the only reply she could muster at first, "So, what about it?"

Peters eyes got wide, and my heart raced too, "Uhm… Well," he said looking between us, "It wasn't an appropriate thing to say to your father, but it wasn't a lie."

Nick finally gave in and laughed and my discomfort, "Nick! Take Ruby to the training room while I talk to Peter." I snapped.

Nick and Ruby left the room leaving me alone with Peter. "Well, this is uncomfortable." He said after several long silent moments.

"Let's just cut to the chase because I am as uncomfortable as you. What the hell happened to you?" I asked.

Silence fell over us again as he looked down. When he finally spoke again, his voice shook. "Mr. Stark, those people, that… gang as you called them, it wasn't just drugs- really that was a cover, or a way to get people in. It wasn't just drugs and weapons even. Mr. Stark, they are… are doing things to the addicts they sell to. Scary things. They are trying to change them. Most of them die, but the ones that don't… They come out… Come out different."

"What do you mean different, kid?"

"They did this to me. They pummeled me, it's amazing I got away. I'm not sure how I did, I don't remember very much of the attack, just that it was nothing like fighting humans- or even like fighting Cap."

I rubbed my face as I thought, "Whatever it is, they know we know now, so we'll have to keep close watch and act fast to stop this."

"It's all moved. I went to ambush them- or atleast get a better look at it all, and it was gone- that's when they got the drop on me, but I didn't even know they were there."

"Kid, this isn't your fault. None of it. I'm just glad you're safe- honestly."

"Sir, I'll help in any way I can." Peter quickly said as he sat forward.

"I know, kid," I said, "and as soon as I know, you'll know. Do you know when you can go?" I knew his aunt must be worried sick.

"Aunt May thinks I'll be here for 2 more weeks. By then they said they would have me good as new."

"Sounds good, kid." I said, "Why don't you go ahead and get some rest."

I left Peter's room so he could rest, and so that I could catch my breath and get my thoughts in order. I found my daughter with Nick and Clint in the training area- Nick and Clint were teaching her basic self defense, a smile beaming across her face.