Chapter 25 :D
Sarah looked at the clock, it was almost two in the morning; She sighed, she needed to go to bed soon but she had been trying to wait up for the team to get home. It was ridiculous; they probably wouldn't even be home tonight, but she was so antsy without them. The penthouse was too big and quiet with it being just her and her mom, who had gone to bed about three hours ago.
Sarah walked over and sat down the couch. She was bored and needed something semi-productive to do and she had already attempted to write her song some more. The music was written she just needed the right words.
Sarah flipped on the T.V. and began looking through the channels for something to watch. She found some old movie that she hadn't seen before on ABC Family and decided this would be okay. A commercial came on and she closed her eyes just for the commercial.
The next thing she knew, the sun was coming through the living room windows. She sat up on the couch and stretched feeling a blanket fall off her. When did that get there? She thought to herself. Mom must have come down last night and put it on me.
Sarah swung her legs of the couch and stood up. The house was still eerily quiet and she guessed that the team was still out on their mission.
She walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge looking for food. She pulled out the eggs and pulled out a pan. Sarah had a very limited range of cooking skills; if she was lucky she could make some grilled cheese, but she could normally make fairly decent scrambled eggs.
"Hey, what are you making me?" she heard a voice say from behind her.
"Nothing at all" Sarah then realized what she had heard making her spin around quickly. She saw her dad standing there. She smiled at him and he returned it. Sarah was happy that they were home. If she hadn't been cooking, she would have given him a hug.
"How long have you guys been home?" She asked, turning back to her eggs.
"Maybe two hours, no longer than four hours" he shrugged.
"Why are you awake then? Go back to sleep!" She said, appalled that he was still awake and functioning. If she had any say in what he was doing, she would have sent him back to sleep by now.
"Nah, not really sleepy" He said, "But seriously, what are you making me for breakfast?"
"Um," She looked at the pan "if you don't stop distracting me; burnt eggs." She said, flipping a part of the egg and noticed that it was turning slightly browner then she preferred.
"Really? I can't even talk to you or you'll burn the eggs." He said, raising his eye brows.
"Um... Yeah my cooking skills are lacking." She put the eggs on two plates. "I can only make eggs and microwave things." She handed him a plate. "There. Eat. Enjoy." She said. They sat in a comfortable silence as they both ate their food.
"What time is it anyways?" Sarah asked, after several minutes.
"Little after 11 I think." He said and pulled out his phone. Sarah noticed that he was still using the phone she had given half the team at the beginning of her stay. She had almost forgotten that she had even given them phones. "Yeah it's about 11:15."
"Wow, I can't believe I slept that late. I'm surprised my mom isn't up yet." She said. Her mom rarely slept later then nine.
"Oh she's already up and left." Tony said, taking her empty plate and dumping it in the sink.
"What? Where did she go?" Sarah asked, surprised that her mom hadn't even woken her up to let her know where she was going.
"She said she had to go to work." Tony said before taking a bite of eggs.
"Oh, Yeah I should probably stop by there soon." Sarah said, thinking. Sure, Tony had decided that they would be merged together yesterday, but the board would want to see her and ask questions as to why they weren't warned or asked.
"Probably" Tony agreed, taking a slight pause before he resumed speaking "Want me to come with you?"
She thought for a minute and then nodded. "Yeah, it might be good for the board to see both of us and we can discuss things with them." Sarah said.
"Cool beans." He said.
"I need a shower and then we are leaving. So do what you need to do." Sarah said and walked up into her room to get a shower and change.
When she was done with her shower, she put on a knee-length pepper skirt, a magenta blouse, and the matching pepper suit jacket. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail with her bangs straightened out. She put on a pair of heels that matched her blouse and walked downstairs.
When she got down there, her dad was already down there in a suit and she noticed that Clint and Bruce were also awake.
"Good morning boys." She said, waving at them. Both of them looked up from their cereal bowls and waved back.
"That's a nasty cut on your cheek, Clint." She said, pointing to a cut on his cheek that extended from his jaw line, right below his ear, to almost his nose.
He shrugged, "I've had worse." He mumbled before going back to his cereal.
Sarah turned to Tony "are you ready?" She asked him.
He nodded "How far is this place anyway?"
"You've never seen the building the New York branch is in?" she questioned as they started to make their way to the garage.
"You're forgetting I really didn't care for you all that much up until like last week." He pointed out.
"No I'm pretty sure you still didn't care, until like," she paused thinking for a minute "Friday."
"Maybe." He said thoughtfully. "Or maybe not."
Tony and Sarah made their way into the garage and the pair of them got into one of Tony's favorite cars. Tony got into the driver's seat.
"Wait." Sarah said, before she got into the car.
"What? Get in." Tony said.
"You don't know where you going. Let me drive!" She said. Tony looked at her for a moment.
"Um, No, Get in." He said, starting the car.
"Tony! Just let me drive."
"Noooo." He whined, "Please just get in."
She crossed her arms. "Not until you let me drive."
He sighed, sitting there a minute. "You're really going to be like this?"
"Yes." Sarah nodded and continued to stand there until Tony gave up, getting out of the car "thanks!" She walked over to the driver's seat.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Tony mumbled under his breath "Whatever. This is a one-time thing just so you know. After this, I'll know where I'm going so I'll be able to drive."
"Okay, okay fine." Sarah said, too busy to care as she was firing up the engine.
After about 15 minutes of driving, Sarah could tell Tony was getting annoyed with how long it was taking to get there. He sighed and drummed his fingers on the window ledge.
"Can I help you?" Sarah asked, slightly annoyed.
"Where is this place? It's taking forever!" He whined.
"We've been in the car for like 15 minutes!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Longest 15 minutes of my life."
"I highly doubt that. Besides, we're almost there."
"Good." He said. "You didn't tell me it was on the outskirts of the city."
"You didn't particularly ask." Sarah shrugged and Tony sighed again.
About two minutes later, Tony watched as Sarah pulled into a huge driveway lined with Japanese Cherry Blossom trees, with a locked gate about ten feet up the driveway.
"Employee badge" A man's voice floated through the speaker as Sarah came to the gate.
"Shit!" Sarah said, searching through her purse "I knew I forgot something at home!"
"You can't just get in?" Tony asked, his eyebrows lifted in amusement.
"No I can." She stated slowly "but still."
"Jacques. It's me. I kinda, sorta, forgot my badge." She took a long pause before speaking "Again."
"Sarah, what we are going to do with you?" The voice said, chuckling slightly.
"Keep me hopefully. I am the one who signs your pay checks." She said half-jokingly, half not.
"Yeah we should probably keep you around then." He chuckled again and opened the gate. "See you Sarah" he added as the car drove off.
They pulled up to the front and got out. As if it was magic, the valet seemed to appear out of nowhere and took the car, "Anywhere in particular, Miss. Sttop."
"Nope." She replied as she dropped the keys into the outstretched gloved hand as they walked inside the building.
"And now you know why I needed to drive for your first time here." She said, and Tony nodded in agreement. It was a good thing she was here or else he may not have even found the building, it wasn't flashy like his. He liked flash.
Sarah and Tony made their way through the silent reception area walking directly to the front desk. "Angela," Sarah said leaning onto the tall desk "do you know where my mom is?"
"Please hold." Angela pushed a button on the phone and looked up at Sarah, smiling "I believe she's in the office."
"Great." Sarah smiled before making her way towards the office, the sound of her heels cutting through the silence.
Tony just followed Sarah around feeling slightly lost. He knew, obviously, what it was like to be in a big business and to be part of it, but these people weren't under his hire and they didn't have to answer to him. This was a weird foreign concept for him, to be inside but not have control. He wasn't exactly sure what to do with himself now, he liked control and without it he felt slightly lost. Tony turned around slightly and noticed Sarah was walking away from him, towards the elevator.
When he caught up to her as she was waiting for the elevator, he noticed she was flipping through papers. "Thanks for waiting for me." Tony said, sarcastically.
"Hm? Oh sorry" Sarah said looking up from the papers she held in her hand "I'm not used to having someone need to follow me to my office." She said before turning her attention back to the papers.
"Whatcha got there?" He asked her, pointing to the papers.
"Everything we need to fill out before we are considered co-workers." She stated simply before looking through the papers once again, counting the pages under her breath.
"That's a lot." Tony said, making a face.
"No duh." She said and the elevator dinged and they both stepped in. Tony watched her press the 30th floor button.
"Where are we going?" He asked her.
"My office." She looked at him like he was stupid "The board is there and they aren't happy."
"Why? They don't think Stark Industries is a respectable business or something?" Tony sounded slightly offended. His business was respectable, he on the other hand…
"Nah." She shook her head "They don't care about that part, they're mad that I didn't warn them. I guess." She paused, slightly confused "I dunno for sure."
The elevator dinged again and Tony stepped into another huge lobby, with another secretary and two huge wooden doors down the hall that seemed a mile long. As soon as Sarah was out of the elevator, she was approached by a young man, who handed her a cup of coffee.
"Good afternoon, Jeremy."
"Good afternoon Miss. Sttop." He looked over at Tony "Mr. Stark." Tony nodded at him.
"The board is waiting for you Sarah. Your schedule is free after that, so uhh" Jeremy ran a hand through his dark hair nervously "I was wondering for lunch maybe-" Sarah handed him back the cup of coffee.
"Thanks Jeremy. I'll get you if I need you." She said, cutting him off and walking into her office, with her dad following close behind.
"He seems…" Tony paused, trying to find the right word "Nice" he said after a few seconds.
"Yeah. He's a good assistant." Sarah said, nodding slightly. "Are you ready for the board meeting of your life?" Sarah asked him.
Tony nodded and Sarah clicked a button on her computer. A projection of six people came up on the wall. Just as Sarah was about to greet them, Pepper walked in and sat down next to Sarah.
"Nice of you to make it." Sarah commented under her breath.
"Nice of you to tell me you were here." She shot back and Sarah smiled sheepishly.
"Oh yeah." She laughed slightly "Whoops."
Pepper rolled her eyes and looked behind Sarah to where Tony was sitting. "Good morning Tony." Pepper opened up a folder and took a piece of paper out.
"Good morning." He replied, causing one of the board members cleared their throat.
"Can we get on with this?" He asked impatiently.
"Yes, of course." Pepper said, gesturing for them to start.
"Very well" He looked from Pepper over to the youngest in the room "Sarah, we trust you know why we wanted this meeting?" he asked.
"Um," Sarah puckered her lips before she answered "Because you missed me and just wanted to say hi?" She guessed, causing the board members and her mother to shoot her a look while Tony chuckled. "No, of course not" Sarah said, slightly embarrassed. "Is it because I didn't tell you about merging with Stark Industries?" She guessed again.
"Ding, ding, ding we have a winner." One of the members said sarcastically. Sarah forced herself to not roll her eyes at the old and worn out joke.
"Oh. Mr. Clarke. You are so hilarious." She said and Mr. Clarke smiled, thinking she was serious. The man obviously didn't get sarcasm.
"Sarah, we should have been informed of this! We should have been able to approve or deny this and because you went and announced it on national television, we sort of have to go through with it." Mr. Clarke rubbed at his temples.
"Am I in trouble? Because I didn't even know about it until he said it on national news. So blame him." She pointed to the man that was sitting on the other side of her "All his idea."
"Well thanks, Sarah. Glad to know I can count on you to have my back." Tony said, feigning hurt.
"Well hey! I gotta tell the truth, I honestly didn't know anything about it!"
"But still, you just like threw me under the bus!" Tony protested.
"There was no bus throwing involved." Sarah said, crossing her arms.
"Children! Please." Pepper said, shutting them both up. They both turned and looked at the board, with innocent smiles on their faces.
"We now see where Sarah gets her sense of humor." Said the only woman on the board dryly; Sarah only nodded in what seemed to be agreement.
"So Mr. Stark" the lady paused waiting for Tony to look at her "you believe that it is in the best interest in both companies to merge?"
Tony nodded, "And also in the interest the father-daughter relationship… thing." He paused for a brief moment before he continued "I've seen what business competitiveness can do to two people, hell, look at Sarah and me two months ago. We wanted nothing more than to see the other person go down." Tony pointed at her and Sarah only nodded in agreement, keeping silent on the subject seemed to be best "Sarah and I can hardly get along for five minutes anyways, we don't need business messing in now too. Also, this is a very respectable company. Sarah has done great and it would be great for the two companies in the long run."
The board looked at Sarah, who had been watching her father. "Sarah?" The board asked, waiting for her input.
"Hm?" She looked up at the people on the screens "What? Oh yeah, ditto." Sarah said casually, causing Tony to burst out laughing while Pepper glared at her.
"What?" She asked.
"That was classic." Tony said, in between laughs. He calmed himself down and said "Here I am with this nice heartfelt speech about how this won't ruin our relationship and you say 'ditto.' That was perfect."
"Okay, shush, I didn't mean it like that; I just meant that I agreed with what you said." Sarah crossed her arms, she was finished trying to compete with Tony's laughter "Will you stop laughing?!" She practically yelled.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm done." Tony wiped a tear from his eye, another laugh escaping his throat.
"Sarah? Mr. Stark?" a voice from the front of the room floated into the ear drums of the two people who were sitting causally as they could after Tony's fit of laughter. Pepper however, still kept her composure, her straight back and business like demeanor played on the outside, but on the inside, she wanted to kill Tony.
"Call me Tony, it's fine." He said.
"Okay, Sarah and Tony, we've decided that the merge is a good thing, in the best interest of the company. And we'll allow it." And then, just like that, they were gone.
"Well that went better than I thought it would." Sarah said as she stood up gathering the papers off the table.
"What you thought it would go bad?" Tony asked slightly confused.
"Not necessarily bad," She paused for a second trying to find the right words "but not exactly how we wanted it to go. They can be assholes sometimes."
Tony nodded "Yeah, I know how that can be."
Sarah looked at the paper work she and Tony now had to fill out and decided she had more important things to do. "Would you like a tour?" She asked Tony suddenly, who looked genuinely surprised as he nodded. "Great." She said with a slight smile before she led him out into the hall way.
"Okay so this is pretty much my whole floor. Besides like my mom's office there's nothing else out here. Oh and Jeremy has his own little office down the hall from moms." She pointed to the open door at the end of the hall.
Sarah led Tony all around the building, pointing out things and rambling off interesting facts about the building, her company and once or twice she might have ranted about the water fall in the receptionist area. When she was done, Tony mentioned that he was going to go back to the R & D floors and that he would see her later.
"I'm leaving at five for the day. So if you want a ride home, meet me in my office by then!" She called to him and he waved to her without turning back. She shook her head and looked at the time; it was a little after 1.
"Well I could go for some lunch..." She said to herself and pulled out her phone. She skimmed through the contacts until she found the one she wanted. With a grumbling stomach Sarah pressed send and waited as the phone rang for an answer.
"Hello?" came a groggy voice from the other end of the call.
"Did I wake you up?" She said, instantly feeling bad. She hadn't meant to wake Steve up; she figured he'd be up by now, it was one after all.
"Yeah," he said. "But it okay, I needed to get up soon." He said before a little squeal came over the phone, obviously he was stretching.
"You sure?" She asked, she felt bad, he needed sleep after battling and she woke him up.
"Yeah, yeah I promise. It's all good." He reassured her.
"Okay…" Sarah paused, still feeling bad after waking him "Then do you want to meet me for lunch somewhere? I just got out of a board meeting with my dad and he's off in the labs somewhere and now I don't have any meetings I need to be in for the rest of the day, so I thought we could meet up somewhere and have lunch, I dunno. If you want to." Sarah rambled, nervous that he would say no.
"Yeah that would be great." Steve smiled, it was obvious over the phone and it made Sarah's heart flutter a bit faster "Where do you want to meet and when?"
"Umm..." Sarah banged the palm of her hand on her forehead trying to think of a place quickly "How about that little cafe down the road from the tower? Umm shoot what's it called..?"
"Giuseppe's?" He asked.
"Yeah that one, in a half hour?" She asked.
"Sounds fine. See you then."
"See you." And she hung up. Sarah smiled to herself and went to tell her mom where she was going. After a brief chat with her mother about lunch with Steve, Sarah turned on her heel and left the room, she wanted to get there in time.
Wow So yeah. This chapter was long. BUT YEAH. ENJOY THE LONGNESS. It probably won't ever be this long again xD