Disclaimer and AN: As usual, I don't own them…but Emma is mine. Audrey too. So enjoy and leave me some loving please. It helps me write faster.
Chapter 23:
"Absolutely not!" Emma said folding her arms across her chest. "I refuse to be apart of this. It's your name on the front page of the paper. You deal with it."
"But you're in the picture with me! Without you there, how am I going to explain who you are," Tony said pleading.
She glared at her brother then at Coulson. Her eyes then fell upon Pepper Potts who was standing in the far corner of the room, trying to stay out of the to line of fire between the Stark siblings. "What would you do Pepper?" Emma asked running her fingers through her tangled hair.
"I would have the lawyers do most of the talking, try to keep Tony's mouth shut and then just sit there and look pretty."
"Or we go public with S.H.E.I.L.D." Nick Fury said entering the room. "That would solve everything since it was S.H.E.I.L.D. who took care of Emma at Howard's request to an extent and it is S.H.E.I.L.D. who Emma works for now. Besides, the public already knows that S.H.E.I.L.D. is a multinational governmental agency."
"Excuse me?" Emma asked a bit confused. "Wouldn't that compromise even more of what S.H.E.I.L.D. does?"
"Not if the daughter of one of its founding members is the public face of the agency." Fury said with a smile.
"That would compromise my ability to go undercover!" Emma argued.
"You know we have technologies that can help with that. Besides you're also an Avenger – you've been more of a solider than a spy for years. Especially since Barton taught you how to shoot."
"A bit of a Lady Hawk, hun? Are you as good as he is?" Tony asked. "Cause he's real good."
Emma didn't say anything else as she fumed over having to become a public figure. She did not want this. She did not need this. Her family did not need this either. Was she going to be harassed every time that she went out in public for now on?
"The only way I will agree to any of this is if Coulson writes everything that is going to be said and Tony sticks to the cards." Emma finally said.
"The last time I tried that, it didn't work." Coulson said.
"Yeah I'm not much of a play-it-by-the-cards type of guy." Tony added.
"Well this time you are or I will melt every single one of your Iron Man suits with my bare hands," she said with an evil smile. "And I mean it."
"But I have security…"
"And I can over ride JARVIS."
"I'll have the cards ready by this afternoon." Coulson said cutting off the siblings. "When are we going to have the press conference?"
"Tomorrow morning, bright and early." Tony said.
Coulson and Fury agreed with that and left Tony's office to go work on the necessary items for the next day along with contacting the lawyers who did know about Emma's existence.
"Now you'll need to get a business suit to wear, Emma. Pepper can help you out with that."
Tony turned his attention to his fiancée. "You know what works, Pepper. Dark, professional, not too many colors."
"I've got it covered, Tony. I've done this many times before," she said kissing his cheek and motioning for Emma to follow her out of the room. Once they were out of earshot, Pepper turned to her future sister-in-law and smiled. "Plus, this gives me a reason to go shopping," she said.
Emma laughed.
"How about we take Audrey and see if Natasha wants to go. Then we can make a girls day of it," Pepper suggested.
"That would be a great idea!"
"So Fury is just going to allow all the information about S.H.E.I.L.D. to become public?" Clint asked later that afternoon once Emma and Pepper had returned from their shopping trip. Audrey had gone with them, but Natasha had declined this trip since she needed to work more with Steve and Thor on bringing them into the 21st century. She had convinced Bruce to help her that day. Overall the day had been successful.
"I don't think all of it. Just enough to get reporters off my back." Emma said as she put away the dress suit that she had been forced to buy against her will. But she had made up for it in buying several cute tops and a killer pair of high heels that matched her suit. She'd wear them tomorrow to make herself look taller since she could use the extra height standing next to Tony who seemed to tower over her. She also bought Clint a new shirt and tie to go with the black suit he owned and a new summer dress for Audrey – complete with ladybugs on it, that Audrey had picked out on their shopping trip.
"And you're going to stand up and talk?"
"Yes...but I'm only going to answer a few questions."
"Where am I supposed to be during this press conference?" he asked, standing up and pulling her into his arms.
"Either up front with me or standing in my direct eye sight. You know I hate to give speeches."
Clint smiled and kissed her lips softly. "I'll be right by your side, always."
Emma sat straight and tall, not letting the glares of the various reporters – from print to television to Internet – get to her as everyone began to assemble in the lobby of Stark Tower. On one side of her sat Tony and on the other sat Clint. Pepper Potts sat on the other side of Tony. Coulson had been weary about allowing Clint to sit with Emma, but eventually gave in since as many times as he could remember Clint could not function without Emma and the same was true for her. That's why they fit so well together and that's why they had made it through all the hell they had gone through.
The other Avengers had shown up as well. They all stood at the back of the room, along with Nick Fury, watching what was going on. Coulson stood off to the side of the podium, making sure that everything ran smoothly. This did not need to turn into a circus. Audrey had been keep upstairs in the apartments with Elvis. She and the puppy were being monitored by the world's most advanced babysitter – JARVIS.
First to speak were the lawyers, who explained why the press conference was called and a little bit of the history behind Emma and why she had to be taken care of. On a screen behind the podium, several family photographs along with Emma's birth certificate were shown. Other images included results of DNA testing that had been done (without Emma's knowledge) along with facial comparisons of Emma to her deceased parents. Anything and everything had to be given to these news hungry reporters who were looking to devour Emma where she sat.
After the lawyers had given their pieces of the information, next was Tony. His part was the longest.
"Now we all get the fact that yes Howard and Maria Stark had a second child. Yes she was in the car on the night of their fatal accident. And yes she did survive the accident, but not without serve injuries. Now being the typically 17 year old, there was no way that a severely injured seven year old could be taken care of properly. But then this is me we are talking about and we all know that I'm hardly capable of taking care of myself at times, let alone my little sister with a traumatic brain injury. To protect her and I both, our parents had laid out specific terms in their will to be carried out if they were to die before either of us were at a certain age. While I was past that age, Emma was not. So instead of knowing that my little sister was suffering from retrograde amnesia, I was simply told that she had died along with my parents. But the truth was that she had been placed in the care of a friend of our father's. She was raised as this woman's niece, fully knowing that her parents had died in a car accident when she was younger and that was the reason why she couldn't remember her childhood and she was also told that 25 years after the car accident, she would learn who her parent really were. I don't know about you, but that would make me curious."
"So Mr. Stark, how were the two of you reunited?" a reporter from The Daily Telegram asked.
"Good question. And I was just getting to that. Now while I had essentially been left Stark Industries to run, as my father seemed fit, that wasn't the only thing he left as his legacy. He was also one of the founders of a multi-national agency known as S.H.E.I.L.D., whose sole purpose is to protect the world from the things that we don't really want to think about – wars, drug lords, human trafficking, alien invasions. You name it, S.H.E.I.L.D. probably deals with it. We've all heard a little bit about this agency over the course of recent weeks since the invasion. And while there is still much that must be kept in the dark due to the sensitive nature of the agency itself, there one thing that I can tell you and that Emma does work for them. And it was this agency's decision to reunite the two of us earlier than the 25 years that our parents will had stated. So all that we are asking for right now, is a little peace and quiet so that we can get reacquainted with each other and that our family can mend and grow. Besides you'll have enough to talk about in a few months when Virginia Potts and I get married!"
Hands all around the room shot up as reporters jostled to get the attention of Tony Stark. He motioned for them all to sit down as he held out his hand to Emma. She took a deep breath and shakily got to her feet as she took her brother's hand and moved to the podium. Once up there, she grasped both sides of the podium tightly. Tony decided that he'd better stand up there with her and help keep some of the ammunition of the press down a bit.
"Umm…."
She had no idea where to begin! Tony had been so calm and cool up there giving his little speech about her and about S.H.E.I.L.D. and all she was supposed to really do was answer a few questions. Tony placed a reassuring hand against her back and leaned forward. "Please give her a break. This is her first press conference and she used to taking on the world's toughest criminals and warlords, not talking to the press."
A smile as spread across her face as she looked down at the podium briefly as the press laughed a little. He was actually right about that one.
"Ok so how about we do this." Tony suggested. "We'll take a few questions. JUST a few. Nothing too personal though, gotta give her a little mystery for you lot to figure out."
Emma looked back up as Tony called on a TV reporter from Los Angeles. "Ms. Stark…"
"Actually, it's Barton," Emma said. "I'm married."
From his seat, Clint smiled. He loved it when Emma acknowledged that she was married in the last few weeks.
The reporter corrected herself then continued with her question about Emma's education before joining S.H.E.I.L.D.
"I attended NYU and graduated with a degree in linguistics and a minor in chemistry when I was 18."
"So you are like your brother when it comes to school?" the reporter asked continuing.
"You could say so."
The next few questions were simple ones – how did she like having a hero for a brother? Why hadn't she come looking for him sooner? Was the other man sitting next to her when she had been sitting down her husband?
Emma answered all those questions with ease. Then came a reporter who knew no bounds.
Christine Everhart.
"How can we believe any of what you are saying? All of these documents could have been forged," she said holding up the packet of papers that she and all the other reporters had been given.
Tony wanted to step in and stop this before it got bad. He knew how she could be. But Emma spoke up first.
"Ms. Everhart, it's a simple truth that there are fact and fiction in the world. A lot of what we are told is a fiction to protect all of us from the facts that we really don't want to know. Maybe about ourselves. Maybe about what is actually going on in the world. But this is not one of those fictions. Seven years of my life were wiped out in an instant. Try living with that knowledge everyday of your life, wondering and searching for who you are, where you came from. I always knew that I would eventually find out the truth. I honestly never knew that it would be this."
"You don't remember anything of your childhood?" Christine asked next.
"Like my brother said, I sustained retrograde amnesia from the blow to my head in the accident among the other injuries. Over time some memories did come back, but they were jumbled. And now these memories are slowly beginning to make sense again. I know that I won't be able to remember everything but I remember some."
"So you could be a fraud."
Emma stopped talking and looked up at the ceiling, trying to fight back tears. Who the hell did this reporter think she was? On the podium, she balled her hands into fists that were beginning to turn yellow.
"Calm down, Emma," Tony whispered, placing a hand on her arm. He then turned back to the reporters. "Ok enough for today! Thank you all!"
He quickly ushered Emma over to Clint who kissed her cheek before leading her towards the elevators that led back up to the floors that the Avengers lived on. "You did great, Em. I can take out that reporter if you want," he whispered.
Emma smiled and shook her head no as she leaned into her husband as they walked. She was actually glad that it was over.
They waited a few minutes for Tony, Pepper and the others to join them before heading back up to the apartments. What she really wanted was some time on the shooting range with her favorite handgun and some rounds to let off some steam. Tony had warned her about Christine Everhart before the press conference, but she never thought that she could be so heartless.
The reporters mingled for a few more minutes before slowly dispersing into the mid morning New York City day. Coulson and Fury stood off to the side assessing to themselves how the press conference went.
"I'm shocked that Stark stuck to the cards," Coulson said.
"Emma wasn't joking about destroying his suits."
"I think most of the reporters accepted the news rather well."
"Yeah, all except her." Fury said motioning with his head towards Christine Everhart.
"What should we do?"
"Let's have a little talk with her."
"I believe that there is a conference room on the second floor that is empty," Coulson said. "no one is supposed to move in until next week."
"Good bring her there."
Fury headed towards the conference room, while Coulson approached Christine Everhart, who was finishing gathering her things. "Ms. Everhart, Director Nicholas Fury of S.H.E.I.L.D. would like to speak with you," Coulson coolly said.
She looked at Coulson. "Sure," she said. "Lead the way."
He led her up to the second floor conference room, where Director Fury was sitting in a chair waiting for them both. "Ms. Everhart," he said standing up and shaking her hand. "Have a seat."
Christine sat back down, while Fury sat on the edge of the conference table near her. "Now Ms. Everhart, I am impressed with your stories that you write for Vanity Fair along with the freelancing articles you do as well."
"Thank you, sir."
"But do your editors know how you obtain all your information?" Fury said, taking out a data pad and pulling up some photographs. He handed the pad to her to look at. She gasped as she thumbed through the photos of her in some very compromising positions – both with men and a few women.
"How'd…how'd you get these?"
"Ms. Everhart, the point isn't how I got these, but what you are going to do so that these aren't released. Something like this goes against all ethical codes of journalism, does it not?"
she nodded in agreement.
"Good. So what you are going to do is back off of Emma Barton for one. She isn't lying about who she is. If she had been, then she wouldn't have been nervous up there. Secondly, learn some ethics. And lastly, if you ever report anything negative about the Stark family, the Avengers or even S.H.E.I.L.D., these pictures go public along with the other information that we have on you."
"What other information?" she asked nervously.
Fury simply smiled. "Wouldn't be a surprise then."
He looked at Coulson. "We're done here."
Coulson nodded then motioned for Christine Everhart to follow him out. He led her back to the lobby. "Have a good rest of the day," he said.
"Wait!"
Coulson turned around.
"Your boss is serious isn't he?"
"Very."
And with that, Coulson walked away.
The 50 m target exploded in flames.
Dammit.
Emma lowered the bow and arrow that she had readied to fire and headed for a near by fire extinguisher. Clint would kill her if his target were burned to ash. She quickly doused the flames, but it was still charred. This was not her day.
First she had to face that annoying Christine Everhart who was a bitch. Then she ran out of ammo that she had brought down to the shooting range. She still needed to let off steam, so she grabbed the extra bow and quiver of arrows that Clint had down there and headed for the archery range. She wasn't as good as he was – since he could hit damn near anything – but she could at least hit the 50 m target.
She had fired several arrows in rapid succession, nailing the target in and around the bulls eye each time. Becoming a tad frustrated, she hadn't realized that she had grabbed an explosive arrow and fired it by mistake, thus setting the target on fire.
"You know I don't think that the target is supposed to be on fire," steve said as emma finished putting out the target's flames.
She shrugged her shoulders. "it was a mistake. Explosive arrow head."
Steve took the fire extinguisher from her and put it back where it had been hanging on the wall then turned back to look at her. "You ok?"
"I've been better when I didn't have bitch reporters making accusations that are false." Emma said putting up Clint's extra equipment.
"Yeah that reporter was rude."
"That's putting it mildly," Emma said heading for the elevator so that she could head to the common room and get something to drink. "You coming?" she asked.
Steve had wanted to lift some weights but he'd rather talk to Emma at the moment. He hadn't had a chance to really talk to her one on one and he had been dying to. He wanted to know more about Peggy. He followed her onto the elevator.
"So I've been wanting to talk to you about Peggy…" he quietly said.
"What about her?" Emma asked.
"Anything!"
The elevator stopped and the doors opened. They both walked out into the common room. Tony and Clint were playing a video game, while Audrey was busy trying to get Elvis to play with her instead of sleep and Thor was being amused by this video game that Clint and Tony were playing. Natasha and Bruce were missing. Bruce was most likely in his lab while Natasha just wanted to be left alone. Pepper had left on a business trip shortly after the press conference.
Emma grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and headed out onto the balcony, where there was a small table and chairs. Steve followed her.
"My Aunt Peggy was the sweetest person in the world. She knew just how to make me feel better whenever I was upset. And growing up, I was upset a lot. When she first took me in, she would tell me stories about you at night before I would go to bed about the things you did during the war and what your dreams were. But I heard something else in her voice too. I heard sadness. She did love you. I think that was partially why her first marriage failed. She never got over you." Emma said getting lost in her thoughts.
Steve didn't say anything as Emma continued.
"What I wouldn't give to see her face if she could see you now. I bet that her face would light up with her huge smile and she would finally get that dance with you that she wanted for so long."
"Really? She talked about that dance I promised her?"
"Yeah."
He smiled a bit. "Anything else?"
"She always told me that she knew you were really gone. No matter what anyone else told her. And from what I've ready in my father's diaries, he was the same way. They both believed that you were still alive – somewhere out there."
Steve smiled even more. "Thanks Emma," he said. "I needed to hear that."
"No problem."
Evenings at Stark Tower had begun to change somewhat since Audrey had moved in. Clint and Emma spent more time with their daughter and less time with the team at night, but this wasn't always the case. There were some nights that the entire group would go out and grab something to eat together and other nights everyone was left to fend for themselves. Or on occasion, Emma would cook. She swore up and down that she was going to teach everyone how to cook because she was getting tired of doing it all the time.
That evening everyone was fending for themselves. Clint knew that Emma was still a bit stressed from the day's previous events so he opted for some family time with his two leading ladies. He was going to take them out for a hopefully quiet dinner then out to see a new movie that Audrey had been begging them both to go see.
While they were off doing that, everyone else opted to go out and grab a pizza. Thor had fallen in love with pizza. He loved the meat and the cheese. He would make sure that all his friends in Asgard knew of this dish.
"And we hope that they enjoy it as much as you do buddy," Tony said as the group walked back to the tower.
Steve dragged behind the group a bit. Natasha was the only one who really noticed. "Hey you ok?" she asked, hanging back to walk with him.
"Yeah, just thinking. I'm going to take a walk. I'll be back in a little while," he said.
She looked at him worriedly.
"Don't worry I have that cell phone thingy with me incase I get lost. I'll call."
"Ok," she said nodding as she caught back up with the others.
Steve watched them head down the busy street as he turned and headed off in a different direction. He knew exactly where he was going and who he needed to see.
"You think you can get anything out of him?" Fury asked.
"Maybe," Steve said looking through the two-way mirror into the interrogation room where Winter Solider sat, chained to the table and chair. Two armed S.H.E.I.L.D. agents stood and either side of him.
"Good luck with that."
Steve nodded then entered the room. He moved to sit in the empty chair across from Winter Solider…no Bucky sat.
"What do you want?" he snarled at Steve.
"You really don't remember do you?"
"Remember what?"
"Who you really are," he said taking a photo out of his jacket pocket and sliding it across the table so that it rested in front of Winter Solider. "You're not Winter Solider. Your name is James Buchanan Barnes."
