A/N: Hey everyone, sorry it has taken so long to update this. I kind of lost all motivation, especially work for 12 hours and then coming home and just wanting to sleep. I've had not time for write for the past few months. Fingers cross that shall be rectified soon! So, sorry for the wait, but here is the next chapter.
Ruby hadn't said a word on the whole of the drive home. All she had done was gaze out of the window, and she seemed to just ignore everything that her father said to her. He had been trying to talk to her, to make conversation, but the most he got from her was a hum in response. If Tony wasn't worried before, he certainly was now. He had noticed the change in her, and he honestly thought that she was starting to get better, but now he wasn't so sure.
He got himself out of the car first, and then walked around to the other side and opened the door for Ruby. She hadn't even noticed that they were back at the mansion, she hadn't even registered that her father had leaned over her to undo seatbelt that was keeping her in the car, she was so lost in her own little world.
Tony decided that he just needed to get on with what he needed to do. He knew that eventually Ruby would snap out of it, especially when she saw what he was doing. "JARVIS, you up?" He called, walking through the garage and over to his desk.
"For you, sir, always." The AI replied, having already noticed how the younger Stark was not entirely with it and having informed SWAIN.
The man gave his daughter a quick glance, and saw that she had just plonked herself down in the chair at her own desk. "I'd like to open a new project file, index as Mark II." He was waiting until Ruby would finally notice what he was up to.
"Shall I store this on the Stark Industries' Central Database?" JARVIS asked him, slightly curious as to what his creator was actually up to.
"Actually, I don't know who to trust right now apart from my daughter. 'Til further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?" Tony suggested. He knew that Ruby was right when she said someone inside the company knew something, that there was a traitor somewhere close to him.
Ruby still wasn't paying any attention. Her head was now firmly resting in her arms on the desk. Tony just wanted her to talk to him, to tell him what was wrong, to open up and let him know what was going on. But he knew that she wouldn't, she was too stubborn and proud, just like her mother had been.
"Working on a secret project, are we, sir?" JARVIS asked him, trading notes with SWAIN in secret about how Ruby was behaving. The pair of them really had teamed up and was keeping tabs on her a lot more than she thought they were. Both of the AI's were worried about her, SWAIN even more so because he knew her better.
Tony started pulling apart a 3D holographic model of the suit of armour that his daughter had helped him to create, one of the reasons why he was still alive now. He took different parts off, throwing them in the invisible trashcan. "I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands. Maybe in mine, it can actually do some good." He said, before glancing over at Ruby. She hadn't even moved, which only served to make him worry more.
He tried his best to focus on the armour, knowing that the moment Ruby saw it, she would make a comment on it, start to get involved with it and try to take over. But she just stayed there, with her head resting in her arms, her face completely covered. But that was when he noticed it, the way she was shaking slightly, the way her body just seemed to be jolting a little.
Instinctively, Tony went over to his daughter, hearing some muffled sniffing as he did. He could feel that pain in his chest again, the one that he got when he thought of all the things that could of happened to her, of what did happen to her. "Ruby? Ruby, honey, you okay?" She didn't answer him, she just picked her head up and swivelled the chair around, finding her father standing there and wrapping her arms around him tightly. "Christ, Ruby, what's wrong?" He asked her, realising she had been silently crying.
He had no idea if she had been crying since the moment she had sat down, or if it had only just started, but judging from the redness of her eyes, and the wetness of her arms, he was going to say it started as soon as she sat down. Now she was just crying against his chest, her tears soaking into his shirt. She was still rather silent, a few gasps for air every now any then, but no out of control sobbing was coming from her.
"Ruby, come on baby, what's wrong?" Tony asked her, gently stroking her hair. He knew she didn't like being called a baby, just as much as she hated being called a kid, but it just came out. "You got to talk to me, you need to calm down and let me know what's wrong."
She just buried her head further into his chest, clinging onto him tightly. She didn't care that he had called her baby, he wasn't saying it to call her a baby. She didn't want to talk to him, she didn't want to say anything, she just wanted to know that he was there. Ruby had been keeping it together as much as she could, she really had, but now it was just getting too much for her.
"Hey, shush, come on, Ruby." Tony whispered to her, trying to sooth her and calm her down. He was at as complete lose of what to do. "It's all right, honey, it's all right. I'm here, you're okay. We're both okay." He didn't know what else he could say to her. "Come on, Ruby. You got to stop this. You just need to calm down and tell me what's going on."
Ruby finally pulled her head away from him, deciding to look up at her father. Worry and concern were etched across his face as he gazed down at her. "Sorry, dad." She whispered, swallowing the sob that was creeping up her throat. She knew that she needed to pull herself together, and she was trying.
"No, it's okay, Ruby. You're my baby girl, you got nothing to be sorry for." Tony assured her, watching as she used her sleeve to wipe away the tears that were falling. "But if something's wrong, then you really need to tell me. I'm not a mind reader, I don't know what's going on in that head of yours unless you tell me."
"It's just… It's just…" Ruby was trying so hard to pull herself together now, and to speak to her father. "Everyone is against us now. We're being treated like the enemy, like we're the ones who handed them the weapons personally. The whole world thinks this is our fault, and we deserved what happened to us."
Straight away his eyes widened. "No, Ruby. No, now come on, you know that isn't true."
"Really? Then why is Uncle Rhodey avoiding you?" She asked him, looking up at him with her eyes still glistening with tears. "Why is Obie trying to keep us as far away from the press and everyone else as possible? I mean, have you heard what the media are actually saying about us? Because it's not just you that they are attacking, they've got it in for me as well."
That didn't sit right with Tony. He knew they were going to be attacking him, saying things about him, and he could deal with that. But they were doing the same thing to his daughter, when it had nothing to do with her. He hadn't even realised that they had been doing it, because he had been avoiding watching anything from the media. "JARVIS, I need you to get Pepper to issue a statement."
"Of course, sir. And what is the contents of this statement?" The AI enquired, although he was pretty sure he had a good idea of what his creator was going to say.
"This is for everyone who think's it is okay to criticise my daughter, and put the blame of everything on her." Tony said, feeling himself getting angry now. "Ruby has never had anything to do with the weapons, and she never will. She worked on the arc reactor, on self sustaining energy, not weapons. If people want someone to blame, then go ahead and blame me, but leave her out of it. If anyone was actually interested in the whole story, then they wouldn't even dream of blaming her for anything, they'd see that she was innocent in all of this. So, the next time someone wants to get my daughter involved, to blame her, to make it out that this is all her fault, remember who it is you're dealing with. My legal team are ready to sue you for slander."
"I will see to it immediately, sir. Will there be anything else?" JARVIS asked, having actually recorded everything that he had said, as well as the way he had kept a close hold of Ruby the entire time. It was easy to see that Tony was ready to do anything to defend his daughter, and he wasn't going to let anyone get away with hurting her in any way, shape, or form.
"That's it, Jay, thanks." Tony replied, before turning his attention back to his daughter. "It's going to be okay, Ruby. Why didn't you tell me about any of this sooner? You should have told me what they were saying." He was frustrated with himself for having not noticed it, it meant that now he had to keep a closer eye on the media. He would get JARVIS to do that for him, to keep check on what they were saying about his daughter and contact the lawyers if needs be.
"I… I didn't really know what to say. I just thought that it would go away, that they would get bored and shut up about it all. I was wrong." Ruby admitted to him, knowing that it probably wasn't the best thing to do. She was hoping that Fury would deal with most of it, stop certain things from being printed and such. Unfortunately, she appeared to have been wrong.
Tony let out a sigh as he hugged his daughter just a little bit tighter. "Ruby, you should have said something. Promise me that you will talk to me more, honey? I'm serious, if something is wrong, then you really need to tell me." He wasn't angry with her, he was upset that she hadn't told him, he was angry at himself for not noticing it before.
"I will. I'm sorry. I thought I could handle it, guess I can't." Ruby was disappointed with herself, for breaking down like that when she knew she was stronger. She also hated herself for lying to her father once more. Yes the things that the press had been saying about her were getting to her, but she was also just so sick of having people try to tell her what to do.
"Don't worry about it, Ruby. Just talk to me next time, okay?" She nodded at him, brushing away the final few tears that had fallen. "You want something to eat or anything?"
Ruby shook her head t him. "Uh, no, I'm good. What was this project thing that you wanted to show me then?" She had only just remembered about that, her mind really had been elsewhere.
A smile broke across Tony's face at hearing his daughter finally realised that there was something he wanted to involve her in. "Well, I thought we could take another look at that armour. What we built was just a quick fix, but we can do better, much better."
"What exactly are you planning then?" She asked him, taking note of the 3D hologram that he had been playing with.
"Well, the company is not making weapons any more, so maybe we can build something better." Tony told her, watching as she pulled herself together and started to play with the hologram. "You're right, we can't just sit back and let this carry on. We have to do something about it ourselves."
Ruby looked at him, a huge grin on her face. "And what exactly did you have in mind?" Tony couldn't help but smile back. That was his daughter right there, and no matter how many flaws she had, or how many cracks were there, she was always able to pull it back.
"You want in?" He asked her, a twinkle in his eyes. He had been waiting for her to get involved, but she had never been home for long enough to talk it through, or to even mention it to her. Tony had finally managed to reel her in and get her on board with the little project, even if Rhodey wasn't.
"Maybe, I'm going to need a little bit more info before I commit to anything." There was a smirk on her face, which just showed that she was interested, and that she was going to commit. She had already worked out what he was most likely up to, it was a rather simple conclusion to come to once she had seen the hologram of the suit from the escape.
"Well then, I better fill you in on all the details then." And straight away, he was going into exactly what they could do to the suit. Tony had plenty of ideas, but Ruby had a lot of her own. They both agreed that it was to be kept a secret, and that no one was to know about it. Ruby just didn't want Fury finding out about it, and had essentially locked SWAIN out of the project because of that. She didn't want to risk it, to risk SWAIN letting anything slip or Fury catching on to anything.
A few hours, and many disagreements later, Ruby had completely crashed out at her work desk. They had made some progress with the suit, making changes here and there, thinking about the upgrades they could make to the materials that had been used. There had been a lot that would need improvements, and they were both fighting to get it made the way that they wanted it.
Tony had left her there to sleep for a while, knowing that she was pretty exhausted. It was only when he started to feel the tiredness coming on that he thought about waking her up. Instead, he carefully walked over to her, scooping her up in his arms. He was still disappointed with how much she weighed, she was still underweight in his opinion.
His daughter stirred a little in his arms as he carried her up the stairs, but she didn't wake. Tony was glad to see that she was actually sleeping, because he knew that she needed it. He still didn't know how she was managing to keep it all together after everything that had happened, but then again, he knew that deep down she really wasn't.
Ruby Matthews-Stark was not coping as well as people thought she was. Yes, she was good at putting up a façade at making people think that everything was absolutely perfect and completely fine, but Tony was starting to see right through it all.
When he reached her room, JARVIS was kind enough to open the door for him, before he entered and wandered over to the bed with his daughter still in his arms. He noticed that her bedroom still looked bare, and empty. Liam had shipped a few things of hers over, but it still didn't feel like anything other than a hotel room. He couldn't help but wonder if Ruby felt the same about the room, if she felt like it was actually home to her or just the room that she slept it. He made a mental note to ask her about it in the morning.
Once he was satisfied that she was settled down in her bed properly, he planted a light kiss on her forehead. As he was leaving, he gave her once last glance, a smile creeping onto his face. Everything had changed for him since she had entered his life, and he honestly wouldn't want it any other way.
Ruby woke up to the early morning light filtering through the windows. She let out a groan as she rolled over and faced away from the light. "JARVIS…" She whined, throwing her arm over her eyes.
"Good morning, Miss Matthews-Stark." The AI replied fondly, oblivious to the reason why she was moaning.
"Too bright."
"Well, it is seven forty-two AM, Miss." Ruby was sure that if JARVIS had a face, there would be a huge smirk on it right now.
She had a feeling that SWAIN was rubbing off on him, as he was getting more and more cheeky with her these days. "Yes, and I'm trying to sleep." She really wasn't in the mood for it, she really just wanted to go back to sleep. "Please, Jay…" Suddenly, all the windows darkened and Ruby was left in a more comfortable light. "Thanks."
What Ruby didn't know, was that her father was already up, already in the workshop after having a few hours of sleep. JARVIS had told him she had woken up, and Tony just watched her interaction with the AI before deciding she could probably do with a little more sleep.
"How was she last night, JARVIS?" Tony asked, once again back to working on the suit. He was hoping to make some progress while Ruby was still sleeping, without her there to hinder him so much.
"She seemed to sleep rather peacefully. She woke up once during the night, but it was only to use the bathroom." JARVIS informed his creator.
Tony was happy with that, with the fact that the only time she had woken up was to use the bathroom. He was worried about her having nightmares, and trying to keep it from him. He knew she was pretty good a keeping secrets and hiding things from him, and he didn't like it because it just made him worry even more. That was why he was getting JARVIS to check up on her more than before.
"Great, give her till noon and then wake her up. She didn't eat much yesterday so she needs to make sure she eats properly today." He announced, his eyes staying focused on the screen in front of him. Most of the screen was taken up with data from the suit, but up in the top corner, it was showing him the live feed from Ruby's room.
She had a habit of disabling JARVIS in her room, and although Tony didn't really like it, he could understand that sometimes she just wanted a little bit of privacy. But right now, she was curled up in bed, a slight smile on her face as she slept.
Come noon, Tony was sitting in the living room, eagerly awaiting the show that JARVIS was about to put on for him. It was now time for his daughter be to woken up, and he had a sneaky feeling that she was not going to be too happy about it.
Ruby was still curled up in her bed, but that was all about to change. JARVIS allowed the light to flood into the room, and AC/DC started blaring out as well. In an instant, Ruby flew out of her bed, grabbing something from under her bed and crouch down on the floor. Her eyes were wild and filled with panic.
But it didn't take her long to realise what had actually happened. "What the hell are you doing JARVIS!" She screamed, the baseball bat she was holding now clearly in sight.
"Your father asked me to wake you, Miss Matthews-Stark." The AI replied, having noticed the intensity in her voice pattern.
"Oh, did he now?" She growled. There was no way she was going to let him get away with that, not at all. And so she exited her room, the baseball bat still in her hand, resting on her shoulder.
Tony was actually a little scared, especially since she had a weapon with her as well. He hadn't expected her to react in such a way, but then he should have thought about it more after everything that had happened.
He was even more afraid when she stepped into the room, the bat slapping the palm of her hand as she glared at him. "Uh, hey… you're up." Tony said to her, a little nervously. "You, uh, taking up baseball or something?"
Ruby's glare intensified. "Something like that." She growled, not moving from where she was standing but still slapping the bat in her hand. "You want to explain why you had JARVIS wake me up like that?"
"Uh, well…" He really didn't know what to say to his daughter, and she was really scaring him.
"Did you really think it would be a good idea to wake me up like that?" She asked him, her voice low and strong. "Was it really a good idea to wake me up by scaring the crap out of me?"
Tony shrugged at her, struggling to think of anything to say. "I'm guessing, no?"
"No, is the right answer." She replied, before letting the bat fall to her side. "You know I'm already on edge, and then you go and do something like that?" The tone of her voice changed, and it was clear to see that she was calming down a little. "Not the best idea, I thought you were a genius, you're acting like an idiot."
In a heartbeat, Tony was up and off the couch, and over to his daughter. Even at that distance he had been able to see her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Hey, I'm sorry, Ruby. You're right, I was an idiot. I didn't think, and that was my fault."
The moment he reached her, Ruby hit him, a little harder than necessary, with her first, completely knocking the wind out of him. "Just be glad I decided not to start a new sport with baseball bats." She grumbled at him, as he rubbed the spot of his chest where she had caught him.
"Uh hu, yeah. Good decision." Tony moaned, still a little winded. "Anyway, I'm sorry, Ruby. I shouldn't have woken you up like that." He was finally able to breathe better, and so he wrapped his arms around his daughter. "We good?"
"I suppose." Ruby told him, before her stomach let out a rather loud growl.
Tony couldn't help but chuckle at the noise. He knew that she was going to be hungry, that was the whole reason why he had gotten JARVIS to wake her in the first place. Sure, he knew she needed sleep, but after realising just how much weight she had lost, he knew she needed to eat more. "Right, come on then, time for something to eat." He told her, dragging her into the kitchen.
A groan escaped as he pulled her along. "Don't we have other things to be doing? You know, working on the suit and getting that ready? Or, actually, you know, we could work on Maggie-May, we still got a lot of work to do there."
"Nope, not going to work." He told his daughter, forcing her to sit down at the table. "You got to have something to eat before doing anything else, Ruby. You've lost too much weight." Ruby knew that he was right, but it didn't bother her as much as it was bothering her father.
She just sat there, as she watched her father wander around the kitchen, grabbing things out from the fridge, and getting out some kitchen utensils. "Uh, what are you doing?" Ruby asked him, looking at him suspiciously.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm making you lunch." He told her, stopping to look at her as if she were crazy.
Instead, Ruby just looked at him as if he were the crazy one. "And, uh, when did you learn to cook?" From what she knew, he didn't cook at all. She had never even seen him make toast. When they had been away in the mountains, he had a personal chef come and cook for them, he not once even attempted to make anything.
Tony just looked at her, a smirk on his face. "Well, you were spending so much time getting your backside kick by your friends, I had to find something to do, didn't I?" Ruby's frown deepened. "Yeah, I took your advice, got one of the best chefs in the world to give me a few private lessons."
"Right… and you're going to be cooking, what? Burnt toast? A bowl of cereal?" It was easy to see that she wasn't convinced that he was going o be able to cook anything.
Her father simply chuckled a little. "You'll find out. Now sit down and be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate here." And he really was trying to keep his focus on what he was cooking. He had cracked the eggs into the bowl and was currently whisking them up. What he was about to make was the first thing he had managed to cook without burning anything or messing up.
All Ruby could do was sit there and watch him as he worked away. It just seemed weird, as far as she was concerned, to see Tony Stark in the kitchen of his Malibu mansion, cooking. No one would ever believed that it had happened, not ever. Then she had an idea, and quickly got up from where she had been forced to sit.
"Uh, where do you think you're going, young lady?" Tony called, having heard her getting up.
"Bathroom." She told him flatly, making sure he didn't catch on to what she was doing. "I was rudely woken up, so while you're… destroying the kitchen, I'm going to get washed up and dressed."
"Hey, I am not destroying the kitchen. And hurry up." He said, turning his head to look at her quickly, giving her a smile. Ruby just rolled her eyes at him before wandering out of the kitchen and to her room.
The moment she was there she grabbed a hold of her phone, and sent a quick message to JARVIS and SWAIN, demanding that they record her father cooking, She wanted to keep it as evidence, and blackmail in the future. Once she was done with that, she finally decided to go and get washed and dressed. She knew that it was probably going to be a long day of working, but she was ready for it. For once, she had managed to get a good nights sleep, without the nightmares, for once, she felt refreshed.
A/N: So, I don't know if it was worth waiting for or not. I played around with this chapter a lot, making tweaks here and there, completely changing some things, oh well.
Thank you to everyone who has favourited/followed, and a massive thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Oh, and those of you who have PM'd me, encouraging me not to give up, thanks. I haven't given up or abandoned it, I really just haven't had the time or motivation to do anything other than sleep.
Fingers crossed there will be another update soon!
Pippa.