First of all I have to apologize for the absolutely ridiculous amount of time it has taken me to complete this story. I underestimated how hard it would be to keep writing while doing a full time degree at university. I now have holidays for 2 months so I PROMISE this story will be complete and all chapters up by February. Thank you to everyone who has stuck around to read and review this story and waited patiently over a year for me to finish it.
Thank you!


My stomach suddenly reminded me that I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. I made a quick detour to the nearest McDonalds and ordered myself 2 Big Macs and an apple pie, my comfort meal. And I definitely needed some comfort right about now.

I collapsed onto Pepper's couch the instant I got back to her place and ate my burgers. While I was happy to have some food in my stomach, my usual comfort meal did little to make me feel better. In fact, I felt even worse after I had finished eating. All I could think of was dad and how whenever I had a bad day at school or just a crappy day in general, we would always drive to McDonalds and order 6 Big Macs and finish them before we even got home.

It seemed like everything reminded me of dad. Since I was a kid, my world had revolved around him, he had been my hero, always there for me when I needed him. But things were changing. How could I look up to a man who gets so wasted he can't even recognise his own daughter? I had to start distancing myself from him, starting with getting my own home. I had wanted to move out but not under these circumstances. I opened up Pepper's laptop but I couldn't bring myself to actually start looking at houses.

Instead I found myself grabbing a pen and paper. I had never been much of a drawer but within minutes I had sketched a very rough design of an 'Iron Man' suit. My suit. It was almost the same as the Mark V but with some softer edges and different colours. In my mind I could already see it. Now I just wanted to make it a reality. Without my father's help and his workshop, it would take me weeks but I was determined to make it happen. Unlike my father, I would use my suit responsibly and only in dire emergencies which would, hopefully, keep the government off my back. Despite my father's assurances, it seems like we were always going to be in some danger and I would feel safer knowing I had some way to defend and protect myself.

I continued sketching, trying to find ways to make my suit look different from dad's, until I noticed the time. Pepper was supposed to be dropping by soon to pick me up. Luckily all I had to do to pack was grab a few clothes from the suitcase I had just packed at home and shove them into an overnight bag. I knew running to New York for a few days wasn't going to change anything, or make our problems disappear, but I still wanted to go. I think putting some distance between me and dad would be good. Hopefully if he was left alone for a few days he would think over what I said to him and realise something had to change. He had to change.


"Your father came to see me."

"What?"

Pepper and I were sitting opposite each other in the jet, flying to New York. Until now we hadn't really spoken. The only sound had been that of pages turning, coming from the books Natalie and Happy were reading at the back of the jet.

"He came to apologize…sort of," Pepper said.

"He tried to do the same when I went to the house," I replied.

Pepper looked at me sympathetically. "How'd that go?"

"I told him it was too little, too late. The damage is done." Even just thinking about my earlier conversation with dad was making me feel horrible. I wanted to forgive him but his actions were not ones you could just forgive and forget. I didn't even know how to forgive him for this. I was hoping time would help…but how much time?

"What'd he say to you?" I asked.

Pepper shrugged. "He went on for a while but didn't actually make much sense. I didn't even hear half of what he said since I was on the phone to the lawyers trying to find out what we can do to get the Mark II back."

I frowned at that. "Rhodey hasn't returned the suit?"

Pepper shook her head. My heart sunk at that. We already had so many things to worry about and this just added to it. Although I appreciated the effort he went to to stop dad last night (even if he'd helped him destroy the house), Rhodey had no right to take the suit. It was Stark property and he had stolen it.

"What are we doing to get it back?"

"The lawyers are finding out where we stand legally with the suit and its patent. The suit is Stark property so I don't think we'll have any trouble if we have to press charges."

"I hope it doesn't come to that," I said in a hollow voice. Pepper nodded in agreement. The last thing I wanted to do was press charges against Rhodey but the fact was he had taken our property and hadn't returned it.

"He hasn't answered my calls and if he doesn't return it soon, it looks like that's what we're going to have to do."

"He shouldn't have had to put on the suit in the first place. What was dad thinking?"

Pepper shrugged. "I have no idea."

"He's been acting weird for months. I was hoping he might have talk to you? Told you what's going on?"

Pepper sighed as she shook her head. "He hasn't told me anything but I've seen it too. Something's going on with him."

I nodded in agreement. I was disappointed Pepper didn't have any more information than I did about what was going on with dad, but at the same time I was glad. If dad had told Pepper something and not me, I would have been upset that he confided in her and not me. But it seems like he had trusted no one with his problems, keeping them to himself.

What secret could be so bad that he wouldn't trust anyone with it? We had never kept any secrets from each other before. Dad had trusted me enough to share every secret about the suit and its creation when he'd been rescued from Afghanistan. He'd told me all about the Ten Rings and Stark's underground dealings with them. Now he had a secret that he wouldn't tell me. Why?

I was trying to come up with ideas but none would come. Maybe, subconsciously, I didn't want to know what it was. Because if it was so bad that he wouldn't tell me, it would have to be a life changing secret. Something that would alter our lives forever. My life had already changed so much in the past year, I didn't know how much more could happen before I couldn't take it anymore.

Neither of us talked much after that. After we landed we were quickly whisked from the airport to our hotel in Manhattan. Pepper offered to go out for dinner but I had a headache starting to pound in my head and I wasn't going to be very good company for the night. Instead I crawled into my bed while Happy, Natalie and Pepper (who had apparently warmed up to Natalie) went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

It was hard to believe 24 hours ago I had been in my own home, completely oblivious to the destruction my father was about to do. It still seemed like a dream, like it wasn't reality.

As I laid in the huge bed, staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to come, I began wondering what dad was doing. Was he still sitting in the garage watching old family videos? Had he began the arduous task of cleaning up our broken home? Was he getting wasted again?

I rolled over and told myself I didn't care.


I love that moment in the morning, just as you first wake up. Your eyes briefly flutter open as you come back to consciousness. And in those few seconds, just for a moment, everything is perfect. Nothing is wrong in the world, you don't have to worry about anything. Then the moment passes and everything wrong in your life comes flooding back into your mind.

I enjoyed those few seconds of peacefulness before I woke up. Then I remembered everything that had happened in the past few days. Dad, the house, our conversation. The weight settled back on my shoulders and that awful feeling, the one that you get when you fight with your parents, filled my stomach. I hated it.

He hadn't called. I don't know if I was glad or upset at that. I guess I was hoping he would call and say he had realised his mistakes. But even if he did call right now and say that, I probably wouldn't believe him. I had no idea where we went from here. Would our relationship ever be the same?

I crawled out of bed and stared down the New York streets below. I wanted to go back; before the party, before the suits, before Afghanistan. He might have been a drunken playboy but he'd never been stupid enough to destroy a house. And he had always been there for me. Now…I wasn't sure if he was.

All I wanted to do today was crawl back into bed and stay there until Hammer's stupid presentation tonight but I had to put up some display of normality for Pepper. I didn't want her to see just how much dad's behaviour had affected me.

So I put on a pair of jeans, a simple white tee and my favourite black Converse. I walked over to Pepper's hotel room across the hall, had breakfast, smiled and chatted. I could see some strain on Pepper's face and I knew I wasn't the only one feeling like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders.

"I've got a few meetings today," Pepper said over her second cup of coffee. "Did you want me to organise the car service to pick you up tonight to meet me at the Expo?"

I shook my head. "I'll meet you there at 7."

Pepper didn't ask what I would be doing today and I was glad. Maybe she already knew what I was going to do?
During my first trip to New York when I was 5, I had begged dad to go and see the polar bears. Since then it had become a sort of ritual. Every time dad and I had come to New York, we'd buy an ice cream, walk through Central Park and spend the day looking at all the animals in the zoo. The last time we did it had only been a few weeks ago when we'd been in town to open the Stark Expo.

I should probably do something else, something that wouldn't remind me so much of dad but I didn't want to. It was either this or lying around in the hotel bed until 7pm.

I left the hotel and walked along the busy New York streets, heading for Central Park. I noticed a few heads turning in my direction, which made me wonder if footage from the party was online. No doubt hundreds of thousands of people had already viewed the video of my drunken father behaving like a lunatic. I slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses which lessened the amount of people recognising me. I really didn't want someone tweeting about where I was and having cameras shoved in my face.

I walked through the park for a few hours before making my way towards the zoo. As expected, I couldn't stop thinking about dad. There was nothing more I wanted to do that grab my phone and call him. I hated fighting with him, but this wasn't like our fights in the past which could be easily fixed with an apology and hug. Those things would only temporarily fix the problem. Until he told me what the hell was going on, these fights were going to keep happening.

I walked through the zoo for a few hours, trying to enjoy the cute animals and ignore the parents with their small children. Every time I saw a little girl clutching her father's hand I was reminded of my own childhood. I remember how when I was too small to see over the rails, dad would pick me up and carry me on his shoulders; how he would carry me when I got too tired to walk and I would fall asleep in his arms.

Okay, I had to get out of here. Why did I even come here? I should've just laid in the enormous hotel bed all day and ordered room service. I practically ran from the zoo, not stopping until I was back out on the streets. Maybe I should call him? Maybe he would finally explain what was going on? That's it, as soon as I was back at the hotel, I would call him. And then I had to go to Hammer's stupid presentation. I made a mental note to pack a book in my bag.

As I was crossing the street, my phone started buzzing in my bag. My heart leapt at the thought of it being dad. I dug around in my bag, cursing myself for having so much junk in it. Just as my fingers curled around my phone, I felt something tug at my back. For a second I thought someone was trying to snatch my bag until I felt hands wrapping around my waist.

I opened my mouth to scream but a second pair of hands snapped my jaw shut. The hands pulled, tugging me back.

One second I had been standing on a New York street, the next I was being shoved into a van. My two abductors ripped my bag off my shoulder and twisted my arms behind my back.

Being the daughter of a billionaire, I'd been given training on what to do during an abduction attempt. And so I fought against them with everything I had. I'd be damned if I would go down without a fight.

I lifted my foot and shot it backwards, hitting the kneecap of one of the men. He fell instantly to the ground. The second one, distracted by his fallen partner, loosened his hold on my arms enough for me to yank them from his grip. As I spun around, readying to defend myself, the van took off into traffic, causing me to stumble backwards. As I fell, the second attacker fell on top of me, knocking the wind out of me. I gasped for breath as I did the first thing that came to mind: I lifted my knee, sending it straight into his groin.

He rolled off of me as he cupped himself. I shot to my feet and went to grab the door handle. A hand wrapped around my hair, pulling me away. The first guy threw me to the floor. I let out an involuntary yell as my head hit the hard metal. I wasn't giving up but as I went to push myself off the floor, a fist descended across my face. My teeth rattled in my head as I was punched again. My lip split after the third one and it only took one more before I slipped back onto the floor and fell unconscious.


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