A/N: I know it's been a while since the last update, but my 3 weeks in the Netherlands are over and I am now back home. I should have way more time to write now, so fingers crossed for more updates.
Ruby was stood outside of the restaurant, tugging at her dress a little. She had made it in time, but she was nervous about heading inside. After taking a deep breath, she decided to bite the bullet and walked inside.
A woman approached her, a smile on her face. "Can I help you, miss?"
"Oh, uh yeah. I'm meeting someone, Tony Stark?" Ruby said nervously.
There was a smirk on the woman's face as she looked Ruby over. "Tony Stark? Really?"
She let out a sigh. "Yes, really. I know he is here, he arrived around 30 minutes ago. Now, I suggest you either show me where he is seated or I will just go and find him for myself. Your choice."
"Wait here." The woman said, rather rudely, before walking away from Ruby and through the restaurant. She headed straight for the table that Tony and Obadiah were seated at. Tony kept glancing at his watch, trying not to let a frown take over his face. "Excuse me, Mr Stark? There is a young woman who say's you are expecting her."
He just looked at her. "So why are you telling me this instead of showing her to the table?" He asked, making sure she understood that he was not happy.
Well…I…" She stuttered. "I didn't believe her. Sorry, Mr Stark." The woman told him, hanging her head a little in shame.
"It's clear that we are waiting for someone else, why else would there be a place set but an empty seat?" He asked her. "I suggest you hurry up and show her to the table, and apologise to her while you're at it."
She rushed back to where she had left Ruby standing, her cheeks flushing red. "Follow me."
Ruby rolled her eyes and done as she was told, keeping a few steps behind the woman as they walked. A few people turned around and looked at her as she pasted, making her wish that the ground would just open up and swallow her whole.
She let a smile creep across her face as she noticed Tony grinning at her. "You're late." He said, getting up from his chair.
"In my defence, I was held up while in the restaurant. Technically I was here on time, something else blocked my path." She replied, shooting the woman a glare.
Tony hadn't missed that and looked at the woman before turning his attention back to Ruby. "And did she apologise?" Ruby just shook her head, the woman had been nothing but rude to her since she stepped foot into the place. "Is that so?" He said, glaring at the woman standing there himself.
"Sorry for not escorting you to your table." The woman said, but clearly not meaning a word of it. Her tone was spiteful and full of dislike.
"You know, I don't think that was a proper apology." Tony said, clearly not happy with how his daughter was being treated.
"No, it's fine." Ruby said, really not wanting there to be any confrontations. "You can have her fired later. It's not exactly important is it? I'm here now so chill out." She knew her fathers reputation, and if he had carried on, he would have had the woman fired on the spot. Ruby had just saved her.
The woman looked like she was about to burst into tears as she dashed off and out of sight. Tony couldn't help but grin at the way Ruby had handled herself. "Ruby, this is Obadiah Stane, Obie, I want you to meet Ruby." Tony said, beaming away.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Stane." Ruby said, shaking the man's hand.
"Please, call me Obadiah." The man replied, smiling at her a little.
"Right, let's eat now shall we?" Tony said, sitting himself back down, Ruby now sitting beside him.
Her eyes scanned over the menu. She knew that Tony was going to be watch what she ordered very closely, and if he didn't approve of what she was eating he would no doubt make her have something else.
"So, what you having then, Ruby?" Tony asked, putting his own menu down.
She shrugged at him. "Probably just a salad. As you may have noticed, I'm not a big eater." He could tell by the look in her eyes that she was ready to fight with him if he pushed her to order something different.
"Well that has to change. We've already talk about this, Ruby, you're going to make yourself ill." He told her, taking a sip of his scotch.
She let out a sigh. "Yeah, we've already talked about it, so there is no need to talk about it again." Ruby said as she reached out for the glass of iced water that was sitting before her.
A few minutes later, a man came over and took their order. As Ruby had told him, she just ordered a grilled chicken salad and nothing more.
Obadiah had just been sitting there watching the pair, having no idea what was going on with the two. "Okay, I give up. What's going on, Tony?" The bald man eventually asked as they waited for their food to arrive.
A smug grin took over his face as he glanced over at his daughter. "Tell me, Obie, does Ruby remind you of anyone?" He asked, leaning back in his chair and clasping his hands together as he rested his elbows on the table.
The older man looked at Ruby carefully, taking note of the disapproving look she was throwing at Tony. It was her eyes that really struck him. "Jasmine?"
Tony continued to smirk. "The one and only."
Obadiah turned from Tony and looked back at Ruby. "You're Jasmine's daughter?"
"Yes I am." She told him, still sending Tony a few glares. She had no idea what he was up to, but she was sure she didn't like it. "But my mother is no longer with us, she passed away a few weeks ago now. She had cancer."
"I'm sorry to hear about your mother." Obadiah said, a genuinely sad look on his face. "She was a good woman. She was the only one who could keep Tony under control."
She couldn't help but chuckle a little. "So I've heard."
"She showed up a few nights ago to break the news." Tony told him, wondering if his life long friend had worked it out yet. "She's been staying with me since."
"Not by choice." Ruby mumbled, but Tony still managed to hear her.
"You didn't put up that much of a fight."
She frowned at him. "Please, you had to get JARVIS to put the house in lock down so that I couldn't get out. I wanted to leave, but you didn't want me to go anywhere. I had a nice and comfy hotel room to go back to, but oh no, you just wouldn't let me leave."
Tony just raised an eyebrow at her. "And you still didn't leave. In fact, you could have gone anywhere you wanted tonight, but you still came here, even if you were late."
"I was not late." She told him firmly. "I was in the restaurant, I was just held up. You can't blame that on me." There was no way she was going to let him get away with grounding her some more for something that really wasn't her fault.
"Am I missing something here?" Obadiah asked, looking between the bickering pair.
Tony just looked at Ruby with a grin. "Do you want to tell him or do I get the honour?" He asked her.
She just shrugged at him. "Do whatever you like. But know that all the repercussions are on you."
He took that as a yes for him to go ahead and break the news to Obadiah. "Ruby isn't just Jasmine's daughter." Tony said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. She had her phone in her hand now and she was typing away on it. "Ruby, put your phone away." She just looked up at him, sending him a deathly glare, before turning her attention back to her phone. "Ruby…" He said warningly.
"It's important." She said, showing him the speck of blood on her finger.
"Why didn't you just tell me?" He asked frowning at her.
She rolled her eyes at him. "Someone did, maybe you should check your phone and let me finish sending all this to JARVIS."
He pulled his own phone out of his jacket pocket, ignoring the completely confused look he was receiving from Obadiah. 'Miss Matthews-Stark is scheduled for a glucose test at 9pm. All data is being shared by SWAIN.' The message read. He checked the time on it, it was sent just after he had arrived at the restaurant.
"Anyway, weren't you about to tell Mr Stane something?" She asked, putting her phone away and sucking on her finger a little from where it had been bleeding.
He looked at her blankly. "What? Oh, yeah. Ruby's my daughter."
"Wow." Ruby said, leaning back in her chair. "That was really unimpressive. I thought you wanted to bring out the fireworks and make a big spectacle of it all."
"You're daughter?" Obadiah said, staring at Tony in shock. The man just smirked and nodded back at him. "And you're sure about this? Have you…"
"Yes, Obie. We've done the DNA. Ruby is a Stark, she's already proved that. I just wanted you to know before we went ahead and told the rest of the world." He said, beaming away. Tony had to admit, it felt good telling someone that he had a daughter, and that said daughter was Ruby.
"Tony, are you sure that is such a good idea?" The man asked him, seemingly a little worried. "Have you really thought all this through?"
"I know what I'm doing, Obie." Tony said. "We both do. We just have to wait for the right time."
Obadiah leaned back in his chair and looked at Tony and Ruby. He could definitely see the similarities to Jasmine in the young woman, and there were slight things that made him think of Tony. He was just having a hard time believe that it was all happening, that there was another Stark out there.
"So, tell me about yourself, Ruby?" Obadiah asked her, watching her with great interest.
"Uh, well… I'm 17 and already graduated a few years ago now. I'm not too bad with mechanics, I spend a lot of time taking things apart and then putting them back together again." She told him, wondering exactly how much she should be telling him. "Caused a bit of trouble when I was younger, but I'm over that now."
"She's going to be coming to the office with me." Tony announced. "There's a few things she is interested in, and we may as well put that genius brain of hers to work."
"Finally met your match, have you, Tony?" The bald man asked, just as the waiter arrived with their food.
"Oh yeah. Ruby has already given me a run for my money." Tony told him, smiling at his daughter.
"Yup, and I haven't even got started yet." She told him, picking up her cutlery and tucking into her salad. She knew he was going to be watching her, making sure that she did actually eat, but she didn't mind. He was only trying to look out for her, and that was okay.
The rest of the meal was pleasant enough. Obadiah began filling Tony in on the things he had been missing at the office. Apparently there had been a meeting with a rather important client that he had managed to miss. But Tony really wasn't that worried, he knew his life long friend could take care of matters for him, he wasn't going to let the company fall to rack and ruin.
"Ruby, you should probably head home." Tony told her, watching as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
She let out a sigh and rubbed her temples a little. "Yeah, I probably should. I could definitely do with some more sleep."
"You want me to drive? I can have Happy come and collect Maggie-May." Her father offered, worrying about her driving when she was so tired.
"No, it's fine. I'm sure I can manage. The fresh air will wake me up a little." She told him. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr Stane." She said, holding her hand out as she stood up.
"Please, call me Obadiah. And it was a pleasure to meet you as well. I look forward to seeing you at Stark Industries." The man replied, smiling at her as he shook her hand.
"Make sure you let me know when you're home safe. And take it easy, no speeding." Tony warned, making sure she understood that he wasn't kidding with her.
"Yeah, I'll get JARVIS to let you know when I get there. Stop your worrying, old man. I'll see you later." She said to him, turning away from the table and ready to walk away.
"Hey, don't I at least get a hug?" Tony called, making her stop and turn to face him. Ruby rolled her eyes at him before walking back over and giving the man who was her father a quick hug. "Drive safe, Ruby." He whispered to her, before letting her go.
She just smiled at him and headed out of the restaurant, glad to finally be out of there. Although she had enjoyed the evening, she really just wanted to get home and sleep. Being out in public with Tony Stark was a difficult thing to handle, but she knew it would just get harder when the press knew exactly who she was.
Once she was in her car, she was happy to see that SWAIN and JARVIS had teamed up and already set the GPS for her, also giving her the message that JARVIS would inform Tony the minute she was home. All she had to do was drive back to the mansion and crash out on her bed.
Most of the drive was just a blur to her, she had been focusing on driving and not really anything else. She didn't even realise she was back at the mansion until she heard SWAIN calling in her ear.
"Miss Matthews, is everything alright?" He asked, sounding slightly worried.
"Uh, what? Oh, yeah. Fine, everything's fine. I'm just tired." She told him, looking around the workshop and turning off the engine and stepping out of the car. "Hey, JARVIS, you can let Tony know that I'm home and heading straight for my bed."
"Of course, Miss Matthews-Stark. Will there be anything else?" JARVIS called to her as she started up the stairs and to her room.
"No, that's all. Thanks JARVIS." She was still finding it a little weird having another AI around her. But then she knew she shouldn't really have been that surprised that her dad had one as well.
She made her way up the stairs and into her room, carefully taking off the necklace her mother gave her, along with the bracelet. After putting them safely away, she went into the bathroom, emerging several minutes later in her shorts and vest top that she slept in.
The weather in Malibu was slightly different to what she had been used to in Denver. It was most certainly warmer, but JARVIS tried to keep it at a decent temperature for her, especially at night. She threw herself face down on the bed. "Night SWAIN, night JARVIS." She called, getting a goodnight response before pulling her earpiece out. She had left it out while in the restaurant, but put it back in for the drive home.
As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out like a light. She really was exhausted, and it had been a rather long day. Although they had left much later than planned to get to the courthouse, they had still spent a rather long time there. Ruby hadn't really felt like going out for dinner, but she didn't want to let Tony down.
It wasn't that long later when Tony actually arrived home as well. "JARVIS, how's Ruby been?" He asked, getting out of his car, taking off his suit jacket and sitting down at his desk.
"She has been sleeping since she returned, sir." JARVIS called back to him.
"And she's not woken up once?" He asked, pulling up a few different files on the screen in front of him.
"No, sir. But I would recommend checking on her. She may not have woken but she has been rather restless, sir."
Tony frowned and pushed his chair away from the desk, spinning it a little and getting up. He made his way up the stairs and down the hallway to Ruby's room. He quietly opened the door and poked his head inside the room as JARVIS turned the lights on dimly for him to see.
His AI had been right, she was pretty restless. Her legs were tangled up in the cotton sheets and her hair was just a mess on the pillows. Tony decided that he really did need to check that she was okay and so he stepped into the room and silently walked over to the bed.
"Hey, Ruby." He called to her softly, brushing some of her hair away from her face. He noticed small beads of sweat on her forehead, even though JARVIS had been keeping the room rather cool. "Ruby?" He called again, hoping to gently wake her up.
She didn't wake, only mumbled a little as her hand tightened around the corner of the pillow she was holding. "Hey, come on kid." Tony called, slightly more worried now than before. "Ruby? Ruby?" He tried again, brushing more of her hair away.
"Mom?" She questioned, clearly nowhere near conscious enough to know where she was.
Her call for her mother made Tony feel just a little awkward. "Uh, no…"
"Mom!" Ruby called, a little louder than before. The way she was acting, and calling for her mother, it was starting to make Tony think something was seriously wrong.
"Ruby, come on, wake up now, Ruby." Tony said, gently shaking her shoulder.
"Sir, I believe she is having a nightmare." JARVIS called to him.
"You think I don't know that?" Tony growled back at his AI, before spotting her earpiece by the side of the bed. "SWAIN, how did Jasmine used to wake Ruby when she was having nightmares?" He asked, not really knowing what to do.
"I would not recommend waking her, Mr Stark. She has been known to become very violent when woken from nightmares." SWAIN informed him.
"What, so I just have to sit here and watch her suffer?" Tony called out in frustration. "Come on, there has to be something I can do?"
"Waking her will only make the situation worse, Mr Stark." SWAIN told him once more. "I would suggests just staying with her until she calms down."
Tony let out a sigh and pulled the earpiece away before looking back down at his daughter. He wanted to do something to help her, to stop the torment that was occurring in her dreams. "Everything's okay, Ruby." He whispered to her, gently stoking her hair once more, hoping that it would at least calm her a little. "I'm here, okay?"
And that was where he stayed, lying down on the bed next to her, telling her everything was going to be fine. It had been a little over an hour before he noticed she had calmed down. "Hey, Ruby?" He called, carefully placing his hand on top of hers. Her grip on the pillow had lessened and he was able to pull it away and hold it. "Come on, my little star, wake up for me, yeah?"
That was when she finally started to stir and she let out a slight groan. "Wha…? Mom?" She managed to mumble.
"No, it's… Tony. Remember me?" He was still seriously worried about her, and was hoping that she really was finally beginning to wake up.
"Ugh." Ruby groaned. "From one nightmare to another."
"Ruby, open your eyes for me, yeah?" Tony urged. The need for him to find out what had happened was growing, he needed to know why his daughter was having such nightmares.
She rolled over a little and rubbed her eyes with her free hand before opening them and focusing on the man on her bed. "Why are you on my bed?" She asked, looking at him in confusion.
"You were having a nightmare, seemed pretty bad as well." He told her, worry etched all over his face, although he was trying his best not to let it show.
"Uh, I know this might sound stupid, but you didn't try to wake me, did you?"
"Well I was trying to, not that it was working. When I asked SWAIN for a little help he told me not to and to just leave you." He told his daughter, still watching her with caution.
Ruby let out a sigh. "Good. That's good. Never try to wake me when I'm having a nightmare, unless SWAIN tells you otherwise." She told him. "Oh, and do you mind giving me my hand back please?"
He quickly let go of her hand before running through the list of questions he wanted to ask her about what had happened. Only what he wanted to ask wasn't what came out. "Are you okay, Ruby?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just get nightmares every now and again. No big deal unless someone tries to wake me. Didn't work out so well for Liam the last time he done that." She told him, remembering back to what had happened that night.
"Why? What happened?"
"I… uh, had him and Val stay over one night. We'd had a night in of movies and popcorn. You know, the usual movie pig out night. During the night I started screaming, and Liam panicked." Ruby told him. "He kept trying to wake me, you know, shouting at me, shaking me. Only, I turned on him. Broke his wrist, crack three of his ribs and almost broke his nose."
"Whoa, SWAIN wasn't joking when he said you get violent. Why did you do all of that to your best friend?" Tony wondered. He was surprised that she could even do that much damage to someone, let alone in her sleep.
"It was just a natural reaction. The only person who ever really understood it was my mother. She wouldn't try to wake me up, she would just hold me and talk to me the whole time." Ruby told him, not really wanting to talk about it much further. "Anyway, what time did you get home?"
Tony frowned at her, knowing that she was just trying to change the topic of conversation now. "Not that long ago, actually. Was just about to get on with some work when JARVIS told me to come and check on you."
"Well, you can go and get on with your work now." Ruby told him, pulling the bed sheet tighter around herself.
"You sure your alright, Ruby?" He asked her once more, having the small feeling that she was keeping something from him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a silly nightmare, nothing to worry about." She said, just waving off the concern she could hear coming from his voice. "So you can go now. I'm pretty sure JARVIS will let you know if anything else is wrong."
"Okay, well as long as you're sure. See you in the morning, Ruby." Tony said, getting up from the bed and walking towards the door.
"Night, Tony." She called to him, just as he reached the door. He looked over and smiled, seeing her settle back down in her bed, before turning off the light and closing the door.
He made his way back down to the workshop, and sat himself at his desk. The files were still up on the screen that he had been looking at, the DNA results proving that Ruby was his daughter, her new birth certificate, and a picture of her when she was born. Everything was all starting to sink in better now. He was a father, he had a family.
A/N: Okay, so probably not the greatest of chapters. I have too many ideas teeming in my head, but find it overwhelming to try and put them all in.
I will tell you now, that we are getting closer to the start of the first movie and Afghanistan. I've got that all planned at least.
So anyway, thank you to the people who have favourited/followed and a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Reviews make me smile, they really do, so feel free to leave me one.
I promise to work my backside off to get the next chapter up as soon as I can.
Pippa.