"This is it." I deadpan. "This is the start of…of…"

"Everything?" Clint supplies.

"Pretty much." I nod. "The birth of Iron Man, Iron Beta, the closure of the weapons department…"

"That's not for a few months, though." Natasha reminds me. "First we have to wait three months."

I nod grimly. "Let's get this over with."

A~A~A

"You will be home in time for my birthday, right?" Taylor asks from the bed, sitting next to a duffle bag as Tony packs.

"Of course, sweetheart." Tony assures her as he digs through his closet. "The day you become a teenager? Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"He wasn't there, was he?"

"Nope."

"Okay. And just so you know, I'll be calling Rhodey every day. Just to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"I'm a genius-"

"-you can't do anything stupid. Of course, what was I thinking? I meant reckless."

"Hey!"

Taylor ducks the pillow sent her way as she slides off the bed. "Obie's in charge while you're gone?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't like Obie." She pouts.

Tony sighs and bends down to look his daughter in the eye. "Taylor, we've had this discussion before. Obie is perfectly safe, you have nothing to worry about."

The entire rom snorts in disbelief here.

"Stupid," Clint mutters. "Tony, listen to your daughter that was amazing foresight."

"But dad…"

"No buts. Now come on, I need your help checking some Jerichos."

Taylor watches from an open window in a sleek, black sports car as Tony boards a jet, stopping at the top of the stairs to briefly talk with a tall, African-American man in a uniform.

"Hi, Uncle Rhodey!" Taylor calls, waving, out the window.

"Hey Taylor," the man calls back. "Are you excited for your birthday?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course I am. You'll be there, right?"

"Of course. And I'll make sure your dad is too."

"Hey!" Tony protests from the steps. "I'm not going to forget her birthday!"

"You forgot Christmas last year," Taylor points out, "so I'm not putting anything past you."

"Alright," Rhodey chuckles, "come on, Tony, we have to take off in about ten minutes. See you in a week, Taylor, be good for Obie."

Taylor nods and waves again as the car window closes, as does the door to the jet.

"He'll be okay, right Obie?" she quietly asks the driver of the car.

"Sure he will, cupcake."

Taylor scrunches a nose at the nickname but says nothing.

"Taylor? Taylor, wake up."

Taylor lifts her head off her desk and looks up at Obie. "What?"

"You still have half the shipment load to do." He nods at a pallet of boxes next to the desk.

"Obie," Taylor yawns, "I've already made 50 missiles, today alone. It's really late – er, early actually – and I'm tired. Can I please go to bed?"

"You'll be fine." Obie assures her in a voice that clearly said there was no room for argument. "Now, get to work, I need these by dinner tonight."

Taylor just watches him as he leaves the room before sliding one of the boxes onto her desk. "Jarvis, a little help?"

If a computerized voice could ever sound sympathetic and angry at the same time, Jarvis did. "Of course, ma'am, I'll get Dummy, You, and Butterfingers right away."

"Thanks," Taylors yawns, "Just give me a hour." Before folding her arms on top of her desk and instantly falling back asleep as the bots whir and hum as they begin piecing together the missile.

"Wait, pause." Clint addresses the room. "Does that count as child abuse?"

"He never lay a hand on me." I give a small shrug.

"I don't know," Bruce answers Clint's question, ignoring me, "but still..."

"Where is this man? I will bring my wrath down upon he who mistreats the Lady of Iron!" Thor roars, and I can see his sentiment mirrored around the room, especially in Clint's eyes.

"Resume!" I call, before anyone can ask any further into it.

"Miss Stark…Dummy, no!"

Taylor wakes up as a fire extinguisher barely misses her head, suddenly wide awake as she jumps back. "Whoa, Dummy, watch it! J, what time is it?"

"2:30 in the morning, ma'am."

"Did you finish that-"

"Right here, ma'am."

Taylor gets up to carefully inspect the finished weapon, tightening a few screws and wiping a few smudges before declaring it finished and letting the bots load it into a secure case.

"Alright, come on boys, let's get to work." Taylor leads the bots back over to the pallet, grabbing another box and dropping it one her desk as she takes a seat and cuts open the box.

"51 down, 49 to go."

A~A~A

The room stays silent for a while after the screen goes dark.

"How long did this happen?" Natasha asks in a soft voice, turning to me.

"Just the first week, I promise. When I found out about my dad, I essentially told Obie to stick it and left the missiles to go search for my dad."

She nods. "Good for you."

"Why would he do that?" Bruce interjects. "Why would he push you like he did?"

I give a small shrug, "He knew – or at least he hoped – that my dad wasn't coming home. So he was planning on filling me with grief and then giving me only one way to get rid of it – through work. He didn't plan on what ended up happening."

All the air is suddenly forced out of my body by Clint wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his head in my neck, and I can hear the soft moans and whimpers he's trying so hard to suppress.

I thread my fingers through his hair slowly. "It's okay, I promise. I'm here, safe, and he's dead. I promise it'll be okay…eventually…"

"But why do you have to go through hell to see the light at the end of the tunnel?"

"…I do not know, Bruce."

.

Okay, so this starts the Iron Man timeline.

I'll be following the movie as best I can, but obviously I need to add a few lines, take away a few lines, and change a few names because I don't have Pepper here, just Taylor.

Also, I just realized that I'm not following the entire movie, just Afghanistan and the aftermath.

Skipping that one scene with the reporter, the award, and Tony's playboy reputation.