A/N: Hey all, this, I've got to say, is one I'm really pleased with! Please enjoy!
Lucksby xx

CHAPTER 3

Ten days later…

Ren and Celena both flopped onto their beds as the door to their hotel room swung shut; it had been a really exhausting day. The school trip was shaping up to be one of the best either of the girls had ever been on; in just three days in Washington DC they had been able to visit the Supreme Court, the Lincoln Memorial, the museums and even the White House.

However through all of the amazing sights they had been able to see, there was a fear lurking in the back of Ren's mind, a fear that had a lot to do with the city they would be travelling to tomorrow. She didn't know if she would be able to control herself, the very thought of being so close to her father, but unable to see him was physically painful. And, with the might of the Stark Tower scarring the New York skyline it was going to be hard to forget it.

"Mmh, what are you feeling like having for dinner tonight Cel?" Ren enquired of her friend.
"There is that diner down the road; their steaks are to die for!" The other girl visibly brightened at the mention of food, and Ren let out a snigger.
"As I have always told interested male parties, the way to your heart is through your stomach Cel."
"And yours isn't?" Cel questioned raising an eyebrow, "I seem to remember an incident with a chocolate cake that-"
"Yes, fine, okay, point taken!" Both girls laughed as they began to get ready to go out, Ren throwing on a jumper and then searching for her favourite pair of Ugg boots. These were the best times in her opinion, they were the moments when they could just forget everything else and have fun being teenagers. She loved it.

In New York Tony Stark lay sprawled across a sofa in the communal floor of what, in four short days, would become the Avengers Tower, with a glass of scotch next to him. He was, as was his way, trying to get so drunk that he would just forget everything. More specifically he wanted to forget that it was only four days until the first anniversary of the Battle of New York. Currently it wasn't working.

He realised what he was doing was cowardly, but he was so sick of getting recurring nightmares of flying through the portal and not being able to get back, he just wanted them to end, but as the fateful date drew closer they were only getting worse. If that wasn't bad enough, Pepper had said he would do a speech on the day outside the Tower so that he could announce that it was going to become the base for the Avengers in person.

"Bloody terrible idea." He moaned into the empty space; no one had wanted to spend time with him once they had realised how much he intended to drink.

It was however a terrible idea that he would have to put some thought into, that much he knew, because whilst Pepper would prepare a speech for him, and even write it up onto flash cards if he asked nicely, it was bound to be totally wrong for him. One of Pepper's mass produced speeches was fine on a normal day, but this was beyond personal for him, and he at least wanted to make people realise that he cared.

In the last year he had become more worried about what people said about him, he had realised, perhaps it was because he finally felt like he was redeeming himself after all of the monstrosities that he had facilitated by producing weapons, and he didn't want to screw it up. Or maybe he was just losing his thick skin along with his sanity. One of the two.

What he wanted right then, more than anything was someone he could trust to tell him the truth, and only that. He wanted someone to tell him what he needed to do to fix himself, psychiatrists weren't making the cut, they all tried to sugar coat it rather than attacking the problem head on, which was much more his style. He was missing something, it was eating away at him, he was missing having someone who didn't judge him, missing the unconditional love, missing…

"Missing Ren." He whispered hoarsely, that was the truth of it. He missed his baby girl. She wouldn't be a baby now though, he realised, she would be seventeen now. How time flies…

Flashback…

"Daddy!"
"Ren-Ren, not now honey, Daddy's going out with his friends." Her face fell, and she dropped her gaze to the ground.
"Okay, have fun Daddy." Tony swept out of the door without as much as a goodbye, buoyed by the prospect of a wonderful evening with another stunning woman. He didn't look back to see Carenza's face watching through a first floor window as he tore out of the drive in a cloud of tire smoke.

"JARVIS?" Her voice seemed so small ringing through the big empty house.
"Yes Ren?" the AI answered, "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Do you think he will remember?" The question carried more gravity than a ten year old ought to be able to possess.
"I honestly couldn't say Ren", JARVIS answered, sounding almost dejected, "however I feel that it is safe to assume that he will not be up to much tomorrow after the night he will no doubt have tonight."
"That's what I thought." She said looking down at her hands, "he never remembers the plans we have for my birthday." It was Carenza's curse, her birthday was the day after her Daddy's and sometimes he had so much fun that he forgot that it was her birthday at all.

Suddenly Ren had a great idea, "JARVIS, can you get me a recipe for a chocolate cake, and check if we have all the ingredients please. I want to make him a surprise."
"Of course Ren. It is up on the screen now, and I believe you do have all of the correct ingredients."
"Thanks JARVIS, you're the best!" She smiled, "can you talk me through this, I've never done it on my own before?"
"It would be my pleasure."

She enjoyed spending time with JARVIS, and just recently Ren had taken up cooking with him. Generally they had all been simple recipes, and JARVIS had always taken special care that Ren was okay, and that she didn't hurt herself. There had been one or two close calls, but for a ten year old she was very mature, and took all of his warnings to heart. This night however, would be a little different.

"Ren, the cake has been in the oven for the recommended length of time."
"Thanks J, I'll just get it." Ren found a pair of oven gloves, and gingerly took the two baking trays out of the big oven that was rather underused because of Tony's general ineptitude in the kitchen.

"Okay, next I need to leave them to cool out of the tins, so I just-"

Ren's scream echoed through the house, followed immediately with the clanging of metal as she dropped the hot tin on the marble counter. In her short life, Ren had never felt pain like that before, and there was already an ugly red welt across her palm where she had been burned as she had gone to pick up the cake tin forgetting that she had taken off the oven gloves.

"JARVIS!" She whimpered, "It hurts so much! What do I do?" She had begun to sob uncontrollably her injured hand clamped between her knees.

"Miss Stark, you need to place your hand under cold water, you need to do that now." Ren did as she was told, yelping as the water came into contact with the long burn.

"Ren," JARVIS said when she had calmed down a little, "I am going to call your father and inform him that you are hurt."
Her head shot up, "No JARVIS don't call him, it'll spoil his night, you can't call him."
"Ren he would-"
"No." Her voice was surprisingly forceful given the situation. "No, you are not to call him. You are not to call anyone. You are going to tell me where to find medical supplies, I know that there are some here somewhere, and then you are going to talk me though what to do."
"Ren, I insist-"
"And you are not to tell him about this when he gets home. JARVIS," she said, "that's an order. Please don't tell him, or I'll find a way to reprogram you."

That was very out of character for her, she never threatened the AI who was one of her only friends, and because of that, JARVIS did as she said. He took it as an indicator that this once, he should go against his better judgement and do as she asked, rather than what Mr Stark would want.

Flashback ends…

It had taken Tony weeks to find out what had happened. All he had known to start off with was that Ren had baked him a cake, it had been sitting on the kitchen table when he arrived home the next morning. However, with a pounding alcohol induced headache, he had stuck to his lab most of the day, and the day after JARVIS had informed him that she had gone to a friend's house for a sleepover. That wasn't unusual, but hardly seeing her at all for a whole week was, and it had made him wonder if something was up.

It hadn't been until he had gone back through JARVIS's video files that he had discovered the root of the problem, and he had been horrified at himself for being so unobservant, and so unapproachable that his now eleven year old daughter would rather suffer in silence than call him. The worst part about the whole thing wasn't that though. Looking back so many years later, Tony could now see it. The worst thing was that he hadn't learnt from his mistake, its lesson had stayed with him only a few months, and now that he had lost his daughter for good that was a monumental failure on his part. He had pushed her away again, chosen to spend time elsewhere, left the state and even at one point left the country leaving her alone.

And he hated himself for it.