Tony really has every intention of going to see Max, like he had called and said he would. On his way, he just happened to have gone far out of his way to Bleecker Street, standing hesitantly on the doorstep of what everyone knew was the home of Doctor Strange. He wasn't really sure what he was doing there. He mainly wanted to fix things after whatever issue occurred between Max and Strange to have her dislike him so much. If, doing this, he convinced Strange to see reason and work with the Avengers, then that would be an "unexpected" bonus. His own knock sounded way more weak and unsure than he wanted. It was just a house, but there was just something about it that he didn't like. Almost as soon as he knocked, the door opened leading into the entryway of the house.

"Is there something I can help you with, Stark?" Stephen asked, walking down the stairs toward him, "I assume you're here to make sure that I'm not upset about not working on the energy project, because it's in the best interest of your team to know that you can count on me when you need to."

"Wow. Good guess."

"You can," Stephen assured him, "I told you before that I would be willing to help you if and when you need it. I don't change my mind so easily based on how well I get along with your assistant or not."

The look on Strange's face hinted that he found the situation humourous.

"I know how weird it sounds, especially when you say it out loud," Tony shifted awkwardly, "But...I can't help think that there's an elephant in the room. Something's off about this. I don't know what happened with you and Max, but it doesn't look good. Did one of those meetings go bad and you're not telling me or...there's something."

"The meetings that I've had with Miss Stark went fine," Stephen answered casually, "She was perfectly polite. We don't have any problems. I only think that I should leave the energy project alone."

"Is...is that it?"

"It's fairly simple."

Tony stood there still, shaking his head slightly.

"No, that can't be it. There's something."

"I'm sorry, Tony. I can't help you there. Is there anything else bothering you?"

"How much time you got?"

Stephen shrugged and waved Tony to follow him as he went back up the stairs. Tony followed. He was led to what looked like Strange's living room, so he casually sat down and looked around, surveying the room.

"Nice place. Big."

"Thank you."

"I'm not gonna waste a lot of your time, Strange," Tony huffed, "I just needed to know what the issue is with you and Max. Apparently, there isn't one, right?"

"Yes."

"So, that means that I'm wrong...again. I swear, I used to know whenever anything was wrong with that girl. Now, I didn't even know she was dating."

"So, you're having family issues then," Stephen sighed, "Something stronger than tea?"

"You read my mind."

Stephen chuckled a bit before suddenly holding a drink in his hand, which he offered to Tony.

"I'm sure there's a rational explanation for...that."

"So, she found someone then? Isn't that a good thing?"

"You don't have any kids, huh?"

"No!" he emphasized, "That's not really a good lifestyle choice for me."

Tony glanced around the large, creepy house once more.

"That's probably a good call, Doc. The thing about having a daughter is that you want her to be happy, but, when the time comes, not with a guy. I didn't even know she was interested in dating anyone seriously. I mean, sure she's been on a few dates, but nothing serious. Now it is serious."

"Is it now?" Stephen asked, nonchalantly.

"Yeah, she's crazy about this guy. I don't even know who he is."

"There's probably a good reason she hasn't told you," Stephen suggested, albeit a bit selfishly.

"I know. I trust her and I'm glad she's happy," Tony sighed, "When she's ready for me to meet him, she'll tell me. Until then, I just hope she's alright. You know, he's probably the reason she called off today. She never calls off sick."

"You think she's with him?"

"Maybe. It would make sense. I'm...me, so I can't judge her for that. I'll let it slide. I just worry about her."

He took a long sip of his drink and let out a deep breath.

"That seems understandable, but why come to me?"

"I guess I needed to think that her weird behavior was due to that problem with you or me...or both. Now, I guess it's not a problem."

"You'd rather she have a problem that you can fix than a relationship that you're not involved in."

"Good observation."

"Excuse me," Strange said out of technicality as he left the room.

Stephen walked back out into the hall and up to his room, where Max had returned to hide out.

"Who is it?" she asked, wondering who had been at the door.

"Interesting story there," Stephen huffed, "Your father."

"Tony? Here? Why?!"

"He came to talk me down from any issues he thought you and I had, since you really just don't like me."

"Okay, I never told him I didn't like you!"

"No, but you did tell him all about me, aside from a name," he smirked proudly.

"I...I may have mentioned that there was a guy. He was catching on fast. He's still a genius after all."

"And he thinks that you're crazy about this amazing guy," he went on, pulling her toward him by the waist, "And that you seem really happy and distracted. He even thinks that you might be calling off today to spend time with your Romeo."

"He thinks that?"

"He's suspicious?"

"You don't seem too broken up about that."

"That's because I get the better end of all of this," he smiled, leaning in to kiss her.

"Mmm...have you seen my phone?" she asked, pulling away, "I think I left it lying around somewhere."

"Well, maybe you dropped it when you tackled me onto the couch," he joked.

"Oh, no! That was your fault!"

"Suit yourself."

He stubbornly pulled her back in to kiss her again, this time not allowing her to pull away as easily. Finally, she smacked his shoulder with the heel of her hand enough for him to let go.

"See, I thought you liked that," he noted, pouting slightly.

"I do, and I love you," she replied, "But you can't just leave him sitting in there while you're- mmpf! Stop that!"

"As you wish," he sighed, backing away a few steps with his hands raised in surrender, before he walked out of the room once more.

Tony hadn't waited in the living room wrong before he began to get restless. Pulling out his phone, he pulled up Max's number once more. He wasn't the type of parent to hover over their adult kid, but he really did just want to know that she was safe and that he still wanted to come over and make sure she was alright and didn't need anything. That wasn't all that outrageous to him...was it? He dialed the number and waited as it rang. It came as a weird surprise to him to hear Max's ringtone for him coming from the room he was in. He looked around oddly, realizing that he wasn't imagining the sound. Setting his own phone down, he searched for the sound, eventually finding the other phone between the cushions on the large couch. Sure enough, when he looked closely at it, it was Max's.

"What…?" he wondered to himself, "How did you get here? Why would Max even be here? She's sick or off running around with…no. No. It couldn't be Strange. They barely met."

He shrugged off the idea, firmly believing that it was ridiculous to even think about. Not only had they barely even know each other, but they were on opposite ends of the science spectrum. Strange studied magic and medicine, while Max's interests were all in energy and mechanics, like her family. Not to mention that she should know better; Doctor Strange was dangerous, unpredictable, and almost twice her age. Max would know better than to get mixed up in that. That didn't explain why her phone was there. He considered asking Strange, but, instead, elected to slid the device in his pocket and wait. When Stephen returned, Tony excused himself and left the house. He would just go see Max himself and work this out.

Tony knocked again at the door to Max's apartment, but, again, no one answered. With a sigh and some hesitation, he pulled out his spare key and let himself in.

"Max?" he called again to be sure.

No answer. He knew that he should walk out and come back when she turned up. She was her own person and snooping would be invasive of him. Unfortunately, he was also really curious because he was Tony Stark. He was only planning on checking the apartment over briefly for anything out of order before he left. It was only when he did find something out of place that he got worried. Sitting out in Max's room, he saw the duffel bag. He must have told himself a dozen times not to go through it, so he was frustrated with himself when he did. He barely had to open the bag before seeing the men's clothes and shaving kit.

"Okay, Max," he sighed, "Seems like you're having sleepovers sooner than I thought. That's...fine. You're a grown woman. That's…but who the hell is sleeping with my little girl?!"

Reminding himself how pointless getting upset would be was amazingly unhelpful. He just began to search more thoroughly for more clues.

"If I were a girl," Tony asked himself, ignoring how ridiculous he sounded, "Where would I hide things?"

He circled around the bed, before getting an idea. Crouching to the floor to look underneath the bedframe, he spotted an old photo box.

"Nah, can't be that easy," he huffed, pulling the box out and opening it.

There were receipts from cafes, ticket stubs from movies, programs from one or two plays, and other small mementos like the tag from a tea bag or two. At the bottom of the box, face down, was a single photo. Tony hesitated, hovering his hand over the photo. Was this really something he wanted to be doing? He wanted his daughter to trust him and trust went two ways. He should have just put everything back and walked out. There was just this nasty habit of making bad choices that always caught up with him. He grabbed the photo and pulled it out, looking at it in a blank, confused shock. His mind would barely reconcile the happily smiling man in the photo with Max with the Stephen Strange that he knew, yet they were the same person. It was a perfectly innocent photo of two close people, but something in his gut told him he wasn't about to hear the good news that they were really just good friends. He should be happy for the girl in the photo with a beaming smile brighter than he'd ever seen. She was happily hanging on to the man's arm, while each of them held matching coffee cups from the same cafe. He looked closer at the cups to see the name of the Black Leaf Cafe. All of the receipts in the box had the name of the same cafe on them. It was the cafe that Max had breakfast at almost every morning, and the one that she brought Tony food from when she was late. He wondered to himself if all of this was the reason for her being late. If the two were always there in the mornings, then she would likely be late again tomorrow.

"Strange, you son of a bitch."