The cool wind blew through her dark, chocolate curls as the two of them stood on the top of the hotel tower. She usually preferred to have her hair in its natural state, long and straight, but tonight's special occasion made her feel she had an obligation to dress her finest. Mira woke in the early hours to make her appointment with a professional stylist. Her hair was the one thing she truly loved about herself and normally she never let anyone touch it. Mira almost didn't go to that appointment, but her uncle insisted. He told her that she needed to pamper herself more.
Tony stood beside her. "What's the problem, kiddo?"
"Don't call me that," she said sternly.
"Okay. What's the problem, young adult who hates being called kiddo?"
"Please stop making jokes."
"You should know me by now. All I do is joke."
She pushed her hair aside. "And that's the problem. You won an award tonight, but instead of accepting it, you ditched us. Obadiah had to go up there and make up some speech to make you sound like you were too busy working when the truth was, you were off goofing around."
"I wasn't goofing around."
"Yes, you were. Tony, I don't think you understand why I'm so mad."
Tony shifted uncomfortably. "No. No, I really don't. You were always a complicated kid, you know that?"
"Just like my mother?"
"Exactly like your mother." He raised his hand to move a stray hair from her cheek. "You look just like her you know? Especially in that dress. Is that the one I bought you?"
Mira's eyes looked down at the dress she had been wearing almost all day. It was a black, strapless, floor length gown with a slit that went up the right leg. Dressing in these clothes was something Mira had to do her entire life, but never got used to. She always felt like something she wasn't, a void of who she really was. To her, dawning this dress made her feel like a liar. "Yeah," she answered hesitantly.
"I have good taste."
"Can you be serious for two minutes?"
"I am being serious. You look great and I have amazing taste in women's wear. Maybe that will be my next project. Stark Industries female clothing line. What do you think? Got a nice ring to it."
Mira had had enough of his games. "I'm done trying to talk to you." She turned away from him and began to stomp away. Her high black heels slowed her down and Tony grabbed her arm.
"Okay, Mira. I'm done. Let's talk. Please don't leave. I hardly get to see you anymore."
Her face lit up with disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me."
"What?" Tony's face shook with confusion.
"I came tonight to spend time with you!" She forced her arm out of his grasp. "I canceled a fundraiser I was running to raise money for the rain forest. I wanted to be here and support you on this big achievement. I dressed up, put on make up, got my hair done. I did all the things I hate doing all because you asked me to come with you tonight. When you left my hotel room, I thought you would actually show up. I can't believe I got my hopes up. You always do this." Her breathing quickened.
"Mirabelle, you need to calm down."
"Don't call me that!" Mira never liked her birth name. It was too long and it made her sound like some highty tighty rich kid who never needed to work a day in her life. That was the image she so desperately tried to get away from.
"Sweety, you're going to start hyperventilating again." His arm fastened itself around her shoulder.
"No, I won't," she tried to push him off, but her breathing picked up momentum. "I... I..." It was happening again. Whenever she got too worked up about something, she found it difficult to control her breathing. She had just learned to control it in public situations, but there was something about her uncle that made her forget her breathing training.
Her legs gave out from under her and she collapsed into Tony's arms. Tony knew all too well about these episodes. They had started a few weeks after she was placed in his care. He took her to doctor after doctor, but the only answer they could give him is to keep her stress level down. They seemed to happen less and less. Her teen years saw the worst of it. Not a day went by that she wasn't in his arms on the ground gasping for air. The episodes started to cease in her senior year of high school. After that, they rarely happened at all. He only learned to expect them if the two of them were arguing. He tried his best to keep the conversation light, but it never seemed to work. She always managed to find a way to blow things out of proportion.
Tony held his niece on the ground and petted her head. "It's alright. I gotcha, kiddo. I gotcha."
They stayed like this for awhile. Her breathing slowed with each passing breath as she became more comfortable in the position she sat. Mira hugged Tony's arm and gave one long breath. He knew this was the sign for it being over, but he didn't dare move. They stayed silent for a few minutes, neither of them wanting to speak about what happened.
Mira closed her eyes in embarrassment. She worked so hard to try and prevent this from happening, but her stress got the best of her.
Tony swallowed hard. "You really did look beautiful tonight."
Mira didn't open her eyes. "Thank you."
"You're right. I should have showed up tonight. I know how much that fundraiser meant to you and I blew it."
"You didn't blow it. I overreacted."
"No. You had every right to be mad at me."
She chuckled. "I never said I didn't have a right to be mad. I just should have been less mad."
"Okay, I can agree with that." He laughed with her before his smile fell. "I really am sorry, Mira."
Mira released his arm and wrapped hers around his torso. "I know you are, Uncle Tony. I know."
He shifted under her. "Come on. We better get going. I have a plane to catch tomorrow morning." Tony pushed her off of him and he stood before she could gain her footing. He reached out a hand to her and she grabbed it without a second thought.
"Where are you going?" she questioned as she dusted off her gown.
"I gotta go and do a weapons demonstration overseas."
Mira sighed. "I really wish you would stop making weapons."
"Well, it's how we made our money. Why stop?"
"Because people are dying and the Stark Industries' bombs are helping that happen."
Tony gently grabbed her hand. "I know you don't like it, Mira, but this is how it has to be."
Her eyes stared at their hands. "I know," she admitted.
He tapped their hands with his free hand and grinned. "Good. Oh and when I die, which hopefully won't be for a very long time, don't dismantle the company."
"I told you a hundred times, I don't want the company."
"Well, I guess I'll have to come back from the grave and run it for you."
Mira smiled that dazzling smile of bright white and perfectly straight teeth. It was a smile that took years to develop, but to her, it was worth it. "Sounds like a plan."
Tony extended his arm out to his niece like Rhodey had done for her earlier. "Shall we?"
She took his arm gleefully. "We shall."
Together, the pair strolled across the roof of the hotel to the door to the stairs. On the door, it read 'Do Not Enter. Employees Only.' Of course, Tony had so much money, that if they got caught, he could pay whoever found them to keep their mouth shut. Mira still didn't understand why they always ended up meeting on the roof to talk about their problems. "Uncle Tony, why the roof?"
He shrugged. "It's cool, refreshing, and private, just how you like it."
She lightly tapped his shoulder. "You know me so well."
He tapped her back. "You never told me how you learned to fight like that."
"I took a lot of classes. I mean, I travel everywhere. Every once in awhile I would go with you over seas and I never felt safe. I wanted to learn to protect myself. I knew it would come in handy."
"You're telling me. You really put that guy in his place."
"I've learned to deal with creepy people."
"Did you want to come with me tomorrow?"
Mira's eyes scrunched up. "Overseas? No thanks. I have some things in America that I need to take care of."
"Come on. It will be fun. And Rhodey's gonna be there. You feel safe with him, right?"
"Never said I didn't. I just don't want to go. I'd rather stay in America for a little while. I haven't spent much time here this year."
"i can respect that."
The pair climbed into the elevator and soon were on the first floor of the hotel building. People with cameras crawled everywhere trying to get a good picture of Tony and Mira. Tony welcomed it, of course, but Mire tried to hide her face as best she could. She knew that it was still a light shade of red from her episode and she didn't want anyone to notice.
Once outside, a car awaited them. The driver opened the back door and Tony escorted Mira inside. Rhodey met up with them. Tony pulled him in real close, but Mira could still hear him whisper. "She had another episode while we were talking. I'm gonna get her home and then we can talk about tomorrow."
Rhodey didn't answer. He only nodded. After being friends for years, Rhodey knew all about Mira's episodes. He even had to deal with a couple himself back in the day. He practically helped raise Mira and hated to see her in such distress. If a huge crowd wasn't gathered around them, Rhodey would have smacked Tony upside the head because he knew that Tony was the cause of the latest episode.
Tony was about to enter the car with his niece when he was stopped by a young, blonde, female reporter. "Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark. Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine. May I ask you a couple of questions?"
He turned her way. "Yeah. Okay, go."
Mira knew that her uncle had one thing on his mind, but she figured she might as well wait and see. It's not like she had anything better to do.
"You've been called the da Vinci of our time," the reporter started. "What do you say to that?"
"Absolutely ridiculous. I don't paint."
Mira tried to hide her smile. Tony always had a way to make her smile, even when he wasn't trying to.
"And what do you say to your other nickname? "The Merchant of Death"?
Mira's eyes widened. She was surprised someone else had the guts to call him out to his face like she did.
"That's not bad," Tony answered. "Let me guess. Berkeley?"
That was Mira's cue to go home. She crawled over to the front of the limo and opened the window to the driver's seat. She poked her head through. "He can get another car."
The driver didn't question her. He had been through this routine before. He was to drive Mira back to the Stark house, where she still lived with Tony, make sure she got in safely. Mira would go straight to her room and turn on her stereo and try to tune out her uncle and the girl he had brought home. She wished he was courteous enough to get a hotel room like she was, but it was still his house. He did have a right to bring home whoever he pleased. And the hotel room that she would get was more so she didn't get caught. She may have been twenty-five, but to Tony, she was still a kid.