Things that need tending to often happen at very inconvenient times.
Tony Stark had held that opinion for years, and often found him in situations which proved it.
Tony had told JARVIS to alert him when and if Izzy started improving, no matter where he was or what time it did. After Afghanistan, Izzy hadn't woken up. It had been a few months, and she was still unconscious. After the hospital had said there was nothing else they could do, he'd had her brought to his house. JARVIS had an eye on her – well, not literally, since he was a computer – but he monitored her 24/7. There was no reason why she should be asleep still, but she hadn't so much as twitched in the year or so since everything had happened.
He was worried, and he wanted to know the moment she started to wake up.
But, of all the times she picked to wake up, it was in the middle of the opening of the Stark Expo.
He was at the side of the platform as a video about his father played for everyone to watch. His cell phone buzzed. Tony moved his hand to turn the phone off, but something made him step off the platform and down next to the stage to answer.
"Hello, Sir," said JARVIS's voice.
"JARVIS? Is something wrong at the house?"
"Your friend is waking up. You said you wanted to know when she did, Sir."
Now? She could have picked a worse time to wake up, he supposed. Like when he went to Gulmira the year before. Or during his fight with Obie shortly after.
Still, did it have to be during the middle of the opening of Stark Expo?
00000
Bella woke up lying on something soft. She lay there for a moment, then opened her eyes, then quickly shut them again against the bright light.
She tried again.
She wasn't in a hospital room. There were several needles and tubes in her, but it wasn't a hospital room. It looked like a room in someone's house. A large room, though mostly empty. How had she gotten here?
The door swung open.
"Izzy?"
"Mr. Stark?"
Everything came rushing back.
"How are you doing?"
"Fine. Where am I?" She sat up.
"At my house," said Mr. Stark. "In California. You've been out for a year."
"What!?" yelped Bella. "Anything interesting happen?" She couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Yes. First, I shut down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries. Yinsen told me not to waste my life. I didn't want a body count to be my only legacy."
"There's five other girls from my program to produce them. Between them, they could easily develop enough weapons to satisfy all the armies in the world. Not to mention the terrorists."
A faint glow emitted through the suit Tony was wearing.
"How's the arc reactor?"
"It's… working fine," he said. "I built a suit that's powered on it and became a superhero."
"What?" said Bella. "You've been busy, then."
"Yeah. I'm Iron Man. What do you think?"
Bella was still stuck at "I shut down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries" and said nothing, but Mr. Stark didn't wait for a response.
"Okay. I need to ask you something. You remember I said you could stay with me after we got out of Afghanistan?"
"Yes?"
"Do you want to?"
"If you want me around."
"Sure I do." He hesitated a moment, as if trying to figure out how just how to word something. "Would you be okay with being legally adopted?"
"What?"
"I know it's kind of sudden, but I do need to get started on it. If there are people who know who you are, they'll want to get you back, but they might hesitate to go after Bella Stark."
"Of course I don't object, Mr. Stark."
"And call me Tony."
"Okay. Tony." It felt so strange to call an adult by his first name. She'd never done that before in her life. "If you're not inventing weapons, then what are you doing?"
"Nothing much, at the moment. I'm still deciding which direction to take the company."
00000
Tony's cell phone buzzed. Probably Pepper, wondering why he wasn't at the Expo. That could wait.
Izzy's blue grey gaze directed toward the ceiling. Tony just watched her. Her brown hair spilled over the pillows. Her face was very pale – though it had always been pale, due to a lack of exposure to light, it was even paler than usual. She looked far from well. But at least she was awake.
What was he going to do?
With the palladium his arc reactor poisoning him, he wouldn't be there forever. He was going to die, and she'd be alone.
He would hand over his company to Pepper, his personal assistant. He'd considered every possible candidate, then realized that she was really the only person he could ever give it to. He would break the news to her soon.
What about Izzy, though?
Again, Pepper seemed the best choice. He didn't doubt that she'd take care of the girl, no matter whether she actually wanted to or not. But Izzy would have people after her. No matter what, the girl always have to watch her back, always have to be extremely careful who she trusted, always have to make sure that no one was coming back to get her. If Pepper took care of her, then she would be pulled into that as well.
The name "Stark" was, at least now, one that would give anyone who wanted to go after Izzy some pause. But if he wasn't there, then it wouldn't help her as much.
He would have to talk to Pepper and ask her. It wasn't fair to involve her in this without telling her everything. And to do that, he'd have to tell Pepper everything. He wasn't ready for that.
It could wait a little longer.