The whole way to the restaurant, Anna kept changing the radio station. Country, rock, pop, techno, rap, r&b, and finally left it on one. Apparently, they both had a fondness to jazz. Tony thought it was funny how loud and out of tune she was as she sang and made up the words she didn't know to 'I've Got the World on a String'. She didn't appreciate being laughed at and smacked him on the arm. He hit her back and she returned the favor. This started a smack fight in the car which really isn't a good idea when one of the participants is the driver. By the time they arrived, there still was no definite winner.

Wasabi was a high end Chinese restaurant with tasteful Eastern décor and overpriced food. Most people would have to make reservations in advance in order to get a table. However, Tony Stark did not have to go through such inconveniences and as soon as he stepped through the door, he and his 'entourage' were escorted to a private area near the koi pond.

Anna lingered near it as she walked past, amazed at how big the fish were. She sat down next to Rhodey and across from Tony and asked him,

"How come you don't have big fish at your house? You could put them in the pool and swim with them. They'd probably get big enough to ride 'em."

"Pepper says I can't," he replied simply.

They went on to place their orders with the flirtatious waitress that Tony was all too willing to oblige. Tony turned to watch her leave and when he looked back at the table, Anna and Rhodey were mirroring each other with disapproving faces.

"What?"

"Don't play dumb," Rhodey told him.

"You were makin' googly-eyes at her. You'll hurt Pepper's feelings if you keep doin' that," Anna scolded him.

Tony sputtered for a moment.

"I was not! That was completely innocent, and I don't make googly-eyes, and why am I defending myself to a child?"

"I'm not a child! I'm a young lady."

"You're a pain in my a-"

"Watch your mouth," Rhodey warned him.

Tony sighed, already knowing he was defeated. Still, he couldn't help but think they were getting along better.

"You're very confrontational, you know that?" he told her.

"What's conf – that word mean?"

"You pick fights. A lot."

"Oh. So what's it mean when you're too scared to tell someone you love them?"

"A punk," Rhodey supplied.

She sent him a smile, glad to have someone on her side.

"You know what? I'm not speaking to either one of you," Tony told them. "As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell Pepper on you."

And he did. He pulled out his fancy phone, pressed one number, and set it to his ear.

"It's ringing," he informed them.

Anna wasn't too sure if she could get in trouble with this Pepper lady so she asked Rhodey.

"Technically, that would be Tony's job," he told her, "but Pepper works for him so she probably could. She won't though."

"Hello, Mr. Stark. Are you aware that you have an extremely important meeting in three hours?"

"It seems like every meeting is extremely important. Are you aware of how disappointed I was when I found out you wouldn't be joining me for brunch?"

"I have work to do. And so do you."

"I'm working. I'm taking care of little Anna who is a very mean little girl," he said the last part looking at Anna.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

He made a face at her.

"Still, Tony, this is your job, and you have responsibilities here."

"Must you use the 'R' word?" he groaned.

"What's the 'R' word?" Anna asked.

Rhodey went through a quick mental list of what the 'R' word could be.

"Don't worry about it," he replied quickly.

Now that Tony was completely engrossed in talking with Pepper, Anna watched him.

"He's smilin' real big," Anna observed.

"He always does that when he talks to Pepper. Even when she's mad at him. Makes him look like an idiot."

"So she makes him happy. Then why doesn't he marry her? Doesn't he know when he's happy?"

"Actually, he may not. Tony's kind of stupid sometimes," Rhodey put his elbow on the table and leaned his head on his hand.

"I think she likes him too. They should get married. 'Cause that's what you do when you like someone who makes you happy, right?"

"Exactly. You're a very smart little girl," he grinned at her.

"Thank you. Ya wanna help me get them married?"

She mirrored his position except with her opposite elbow and faced him.

"I would love to. Do you have a plan?"

Anna used her other hand and rubbed at an invisible beard on her chin, like she's seen her daddy do. In all of the movies and story books, they always kiss and fall in love. Or fall in love then kiss. She was pretty sure that they were already in love. They just needed to admit it. Then kiss.

"We gotta get them to kiss each other. We have to get them to go on a date with candles and music and stuff, and Pepper can't have her phone, and their can't be other ladies around. Oh, and we can sing 'Kiss the Girl'!"

Rhodey couldn't help smiling at her enthusiasm. It was really cute. It wasn't a bad plan either. Just needed to be tweaked a bit.

"I like general idea. We'll need to iron out a few things though, maybe change a couple things. Okay?"

"Okay."

"What are you two talking about over there?" Tony asked as he slipped his phone in his pocket.

"Nothing," They chorused.

Even after their food came, the trio's teasing never seemed to stop. Anna insulted, sometimes out of childish innocence, other times purposely. Tony retorted, sometimes actually offended, other times feigning hurt to get her to laugh. Rhodey was his usual self, completely on Anna's side and helping taunt Tony. It was amusing that an eight year old girl was putting such a hole in his friend's ego. When dessert was done, Tony announced a surprise for Anna.

"I'm taking you shopping."

"Really?" she asked.

"Why?" Rhodey wondered.

"Yes, really. And because I can't have you following me around all day in your everyday clothes. You're going to help me run the company today."

"What?"

"Miss Howlett," Tony leaned forward on the table, looking very professional, "would you like to be my co-partner?"

Anna tilted her head, looking like she was actually considering it. Rhodey was leant back in his chair looking between the two.

"Do I get paid?"

"Within reason, of course."

"I wanna car."

Rhodey snorted a laugh, and Tony's brow went up.

"Oookay. I can do that. Though you are a bit young."

"You can buy me one when I'm sixteen. I wanna green one like yours but greener."

"You want a Corvette?"

"No, I don't want that. I'm not sure what 'xactly, but whatever it is, you have to get it. Deal?" she offered her hand to him over the table.

Tony sent a look to Rhodey who glanced back at him and shrugged. Tony accepted her hand.

"Deal."

Rhodey took off afterwards, having to get back to the base. He told her before he left that if Tony gave her trouble to call him and he'd come beat him up for her. This started an impromptu wrestling match in the parking lot. Military won. Tony took Anna to shop, a ridiculously priced one with more of those weird not-marbles in bowls. He decided that he was going to get a new decorator and have her change every room in his company that had the things in them.

Chontelle came up to them with a big smile that said 'I get paid by the commission'. She was sweet and accommodating, and was quick to learn to keep the pink away from this little girl. During picking out, trying on, and buying clothes and such, Tony worked out a plan with Anna, more of a prank. Having been witness to her 'spunky' attitude, he'd thought she'd enjoy it and he'd been dying to try this out anyway.

With an hour to spare and a trunk full of new clothes, a couple of bags and accessories, miscellaneous items, and some shoes, Tony sped back to Stark Enterprises with time to set everything up for the meeting.

Men and women dressed in dark suits with a spattering of color here and there sat around a long table waiting for Tony Stark to come and make a presentation about a new product and convince the assembled people to invest in it. Pepper was also in attendance, although at the moment, she was on her Blackberry trying to get in touch with Tony who was very near being late.

She was distracted, however, when there was a collective muttering throughout the crowd. She looked up and saw Anna walk through the doors dressed in a grey suit jacket over a purple shirt and black pleated skirt and heeled shoes. Her curly hair had been brushed back from her face, covering a part of her ears that had what must have been pearl clip earrings, and pulled into a clip at the back of her head. She looked at Pepper and smiled.

Pepper glanced back at the doors, expecting Tony to come in too. He didn't. It was not a good moment for her when she realized that her boss had sent a little girl in his place for a board meeting. Had he lost his mind?

Anna walked to the head of the table where the CEO was supposed to be. With a quick glance around the table, she said,

"Good afternoon, everyone. Mr. Stark sends his apologies, but he will not be making it to this meeting today. I hope you won't mind me taking his place."

"Is this a joke?" one of them asked. Pepper certainly hoped so.

She paused a beat and looked directly at him with an arched brow before answering him.

"Sir, I assure you this is no game. As Mr. Stark's partner,"

Pepper just got a little paler.

"I am here in his place as he is not available. Now, you can leave if you want," she turned to address the rest of the crowd. "But if you want to stay and listen to how this company is going to make you a whole lot of money, feel free," she ended with a wide grin.

Everyone sat stunned. Pepper was internally panicking. What if they left? This was crazy. Why was Tony letting her do this? Where was he?

In his office, Tony watched everything from his computer that he'd used to access the security feed and heard via the little Bluetooth in Anna's ear. With his own deviation of 'Tony Says', instructed Anna on what to do and say and how. He had to cover the mic as he laughed at the expressions on their faces.

It should go without saying that not one person left that room until its conclusion. Afterwards, they would go to their clubs and golf meetings, telling their buddies about the child genius at Stark Industries.

Pepper was now walking through the halls to Tony's office after Anna had left almost immediately after the meeting ended while she'd had to field questions about Anna and turn it all into a positive spin about the company. In the end, she'd left them all with the impression that Stark Industries was overrun with geniuses.

Pepper was of the opinion that it was run by a mad one. She walked into her own office that was separated from Tony's by a wall of glass. She saw Anna and Tony in his office. She was in front of him at his desk, apparently watching the funniest video ever. She walked in and stood in front of the desk, annoyance clearly written on her face. Tony looked up at her, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Pep, you have to see this. Grange looks like he's about to have heart attack when Anna starts talking about the theories behind atomic propulsion."

"Those were a lotta weird words," she giggled. "I don't even know what a lot of 'em mean!"

"Tony, how did it even occur to you to have her do that? What were you thinking? And how did you two pull that off?"

"Well, I've been thinking about it for a while actually. I just never had a kid before. And I didn't want her to be bored while I have to do all these fun meetings," he said with extra emphasis on 'fun'. He picked the ear sets up from the desk. "And we used these. We had to practice a little before I sent her in. That's why we were almost late."

"And 'cause ya almost pulled all my hair out. You don't know how to brush it right," Anna piped up, eyes still intent on the computer screen. She moved back and hopped up in Tony's lap who looked at her in surprise.

"Sorry."

"That's okay. You tried your best," she told him, patting his knee.

Pepper was taken aback as well, having been pretty sure that the two didn't get along at all. Apparently, they'd managed to bond.

"Uh, look, Pep, I'm sorry if I had you worried, but I had it all covered. Plus, if she'd blown it, there are a ton of other backers who'd love to get in on this."

At his words about 'blowing it', Anna glared back at him, offended.

"I'm sure you wouldn't have though," he quickly told her. When her expression didn't change, he changed tactics.

"That suit looks great on you. Doesn't she look cute, Pepper?" he stood her up and made her do a spin.

"Yes, she does."

"I didn't think I'd like this, but I really do," Anna said, tugging at her jacket. "That lady kept tryin' to make me wear pink."

"Pink's cute," Pepper defended.

"I can't wear pink. It looks weird with my hair."

"What are you talking about?" Tony was now leaning towards the computer screen again.

"Red heads can't wear pink."

Tony glanced at her head.

"That's not red."

"Is too. Daddy says its auburn."

"Yeah, not red. Look at Pepper's. That is red."

"My mama's is redder. Pepper's looks orangy."

At that moment, she wasn't sure if she should be offended that her hair had been called 'orangy'.

"Pepper's hair is way prettier than your mom's," Tony argued, now giving Anna his full attention.

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh-huh."

"So you think Pepper is pretty?"

"Yes!"

Anna smirked and crossed her arms. Pepper blushed and glanced down. Tony looked embarrassed that he'd just been Bugs Bunny'ed. Fortunately for the adults, and before Anna could come up with a way for this to lead to a date for the two, the phone started ringing.

"I'll get it out here," Pepper said and retreated through the glass doors to answer it in her office.

Tony watched her go, turned his chair away and towards the wall, dropping his head into his hands and sighing. Anna's triumphant smirk turned into a frown and she smacked her hand to her face.

"It's like they're working against me," she muttered.

Fine. That's why Rhodey was on her side. She had the advantage. Their combined two working against them as seperates. She was going to get them to get married if it was the last thing she did. She really wanted to go to a wedding!

A/N: And so, Anna's true motive is revealed!

So me and my sister are in the back and seats, and our friends are in the front. The brothers start a 'smack fight' while he is driving on the interstate. Fortunately, the better driver was in control of the wheel. In the back, we're just looking at each other like 'This might not have been the best idea.' This is just a long way to say that happens.

Queenith2: I haven't started on your request. Or Lord Shade's –aka the Godfather. Kiss the freaking ring- either. Just lettin' you know.