Title: Protect My Heart

Author: Erik-in-CT

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Marvel Comics, and not myself.

"Good morning sir," Jarvis said as he switched the bedroom windows overlooking the ocean from opaque to translucent, letting the morning sun shine into the large bedroom. "It's 6 am, 68 degrees outside, with a predicted high of 84 for the day."

A low grumbling came from the figure lying prone on the large bed. "Too early," a groggy voice said as hands pulled the blankets up over his head. "Switch off."

"May I remind you sir, that your presence was requested at the reception hall this morning for…"

"Pepper can take care of it," Tony interrupted, already giving up on the idea of more sleep. If Jarvis was already hounding him, he knew trusty Pepper Potts wouldn't be long behind. Sitting up, he ran a hand through his tousled brown hair, pushing errant strands from his eyes. Searching through his computer-like mind, he tracked down the memory of why he was supposed to be getting up so early this morning, and grimaced as the correct information processed in his thoughts.

"Yes sir," Jarvis replied, a hint of resignation evident in his voice. He may be a computer, but thanks to Mr. Tony Stark's brilliance, he was much more than just an ordinary calculating machine. And frustration with his creator was one of the first emotions that Jarvis had learned. "Coffee is brewing in the workshop for you when you're ready sir."

That sounded like a good place to start. Pushing the covers aside, Tony stood and stretched as he looked out at the rolling waves of the ocean. He really was not looking foward to today. The high school tech fair that his company was holding had been going for several days already, and today was the final day. He was due in to be a a judge on the finalists, and present the prizes to the lucky winners. He wasn't too optimistic about it, as most of the projects that got entered into these things were simplistic at best. Only rarely was there something that was actually worthy of his attention. Ah well, at least it would just be a few hours in the afternoon, then he wouldn't have to worry about it again for another year.

Making his way downstairs, he headed straight for the coffee pot that was waiting for him. He had just finished downing his first cup and going over a few modifications to his armor when he heard the click-clack of Pepper's heels coming down the stairs. "Good morning, Mr. Stark," she said as she pulled open the glass door and made her way into the workshop. As usual, he ignored her, his attention focused on the thruster bank he was currently trying to install on the suit's back. And as usual, she ignored his ignoring of her. "Don't forget, you have a teleconference with the board in New York scheduled in an hour before you need to be at the reception hall. Happy will be here to pick you up in 3 hours." She set a small stack of folders on his desk and turned to watch him working on the suit. "I have the profiles on the finalists in the tech fair for you to look over as well."

"Anything interesting?" Tony asked as he set down his tools and looked over the pieces to make sure everything was secure.

"Maybe, but that's for you to decide when you get there." And despite the futility of her plea, she added anyway, "Please don't be late Tony."

He turned to make some snarky remark, only to see her back as she was leaving the room. Shrugging, he turned back to the monitor showing the power output on the suit modifications he had just finished. If all went the way it should, the new thrusters on the back of the suit should give him a little more stablization during flight. "How are we looking Jarvis?"

"Power levels are stable sir, the new thrusters have a negligible reduction from the main power supply."

"Excellent. Let's get it on the loading deck. We can give it a test run later and see how they work out."

"As you wish sir," Jarvis replied as he directed Dummy and You with the moving of the armor from the workshop table to the loading area.

Leaving the robots to move the parts, Tony picked up the manilla folders Pepper had left and quickly flipped through them. It was the usual expected selection of nerdy high school boys who enjoyed building fighting robots... however, there was a suprise. There was one girl in group of ten. Interesting.

Refilling his coffee, and taking the folders, Tony headed for his home office upstairs. Time to get the morning's business out of the way.

Author's Note:

Did Bella make it to Los Angeles? Find out in the next chapter.

Looks like this rhythm of updating once a week (Friday or Saturday) will continue, as it seems to work out pretty well for me. If I can update sooner I will, but at least once a week. I actually found (despite my great love of Tony Stark) that I had trouble writing Tony, so please forgive me if he seems a little OOC. I'll try to get better.

Thanks to everyone for the great responses I've received! Please continue to read and review! Feedback is an author's bread and butter.