December 5th 2002

Apparently in girls, there was a surge of hormones before the pre-teen hormones, before puberty should even be a thought. Dr Lucas had explained in detail- it often caused moodiness, emotional reactivity, and anger. Adrenarche it was called. He specified it wasn't early puberty, just her body preparing.

She had withdrawn from him a little, and if it wasn't for the increase in attitude he probably would have satisfied himself with the thought that she was focused on her school projects. But then he started noticing smaller details- she went to great lengths to do her hair, she kept a seperate diary that she tucked under her mattress (he didn't read it, mostly out of fear that there was something incredibly difficult to unsee within those pages), small arguments cropped up more. "leave me ALONE" became more common, and she cloistered herself often to her room- appearing again looking slightly ashamed and hugging him silently before resuming whatever they had been doing.

But it was here, at an afterparty of the second Lord of the Rings premiere, that reality hit him.

Astrid Maria Stark, was blushing and stammering in response to being introduced to the young star, Elijah. He crouched to speak to her, get on her level, and the tips of her ears reddened too.

'It's such a pleasure to meet you, Astrid' he offered his hand 'I heard you're doing some wonderful work with your dad'

'Yes' she nodded, slowly reaching to shake his hand 'It's... it's so nice to meet you too Mr Wood. I liked the movie'

'Well thank you, but you can call me Elijah' he smiled and looked up to Tony who felt rooted to the spot with the realisation that his tiny girl, his baby, had a crush. a crush on a man. 'I had a lot of fun making it' he released her hand 'Have you met everyone else? Do you have a favourite character?'

Astrid nodded meekly, angling just a tiny amount to her father. Home base. Tony needed to intervene, he could see her anxiety rising behind her fluster. 'We haven't met everyone yet! We'd love to be introduced, especially Eowyn and Arwen, they're our favourites, isn't that right Sweet-pea?' he offered her his hand to hold and she looked up, a little soothed. Her hand slipped in his and held tightly and she nodded again. 'This is Pepper Potts, my Assistant slash life manager' he gestured to his left and Elijah stood to shake her hand, successfully distracting from his girl 'Excuse us a moment, be right back Miss Potts'

Scooping her up and quickly finding Happy's eye, they sought a quiet spot in the garden. Happy gave her shoulder a reassuring pat and wandered the perimeter slowly, always watchful.

'Time to talk, sweet-pea' he said gently, guiding her to a bench and helping her up so she didn't damage her gown 'Bit overwhelming meeting someone you like?'

'I don't like what my brain is doing, daddy' she whispered, picking at her cuticles 'I feel stupid. Like I can't even speak sometimes'

'Especially when it's to someone handsome like Elijah?' he suggested softly, and she looked up a little horrified 'It's normal, to feel tongue tied when you think someone is pretty. It's okay, its normal'

'It's not just that' conceding to her attraction. god, not something he had thought he'd need to cover when his little girl was a few days from 8. 'I feel sad. And angry. For no reason, all the time! And then it goes away. It's like a big rush of emotion and a few minutes later like it was never there. I hate it'

'Dr Lucas told us about Adrenarche, do you remember?' he knew she remembered.

'Yes but' her eyes brimmed with tears 'it doesn't feel normal'

'You know humans are one of the only species born into the world with underdeveloped brains? and completely reliant on their parents for years? most other animals are up and walking the day they're born- but us, we need time to grow and learn. And we keep doing that for years baby. Average brain development isn't really complete until 27. So even daddy's brain wasn't finished cooking until you'd been here for two whole years!'

'I don't understand what you mean' she frowned, a tear spilling and quickly wiped away.

'This is normal. It doesn't always feel good, it can be confusing and embarrassing and make you feel a thousand different ways. But it is normal. There is nothing wrong with you. That beautiful brain of yours is always searching for answers, and understanding, and sometimes that makes it harder because you don't want to accept that this is just how it works. And that's okay baby, if it's something you're interested in, we can talk to the biologists and see what studies are done about it. But for now, right in this moment, I want you to do something for me'

She nodded, for a change not a hair out of place on her sleek, hairdresser tamed up-do. 'What?'

'Take a big breath, and remember who you are. You're Astrid Maria Stark. You're my girl. You are brave, and curious and smarter than most of the planet. Those hormones causing chaos? They're just a thing. Take another big breath' he waited for her to breathe, watching her shoulders pull back and her posture correct 'I'm right here beside you as long as you need. Now let's get back in there and dazzle the wits out of some actors, shall we?'

She took another deep breath 'Thanks Daddy'

'Always, baby' he kissed her temple softly 'by the way, not loving how much older you look wearing makeup'

She laughed a little 'I still look like a kid, playing dress up'

'Mmmmm' Tony shook his head 'you're creeping closer to full teenager and it scares me. You're growing up so fast'

'Did we just get two Stark's being vulnerable for the price of one?' she raised a brow at him, then leaning forward to slip off the bench, holding out her hand 'glad no-one was around to see that'

'Are you teasing me, Sassy Stark?' he took her hand and they walked slowly in step back towards the big party 'you share, I share, that's how it works, right?'

'Right. Team Stark'

'Here' Astrid held out the thick orange journal, dog earred, colour coded flags, typed pages stapled and taped in.

'I don't want to read your diary, sweet-pea' he shook his head, raising his hand in refusal

'It's not a diary' she pressed it against his palm and waited for his hand to close on it 'it's the start of my study. Study of one subject, so it's all anecdotal really, but it's...'

Tony flipped open the hardcover, eyes running swiftly down the subjects of the coloured tabs, then back to his watching, waiting daughter. 'Are you sure you want me to see?'

'How often do I do things without thinking?' it was a snappy rebuttal and he felt his lip quirk up. That was true. If there was a trait she hadn't inherited it was his impulsivity 'Sorry'

'Don't apologise. I know you, I don't need to question. I just thought it might be private' he shrugged, flipping the first few pages. Her tidy, small print surmised what she was tracking- emotion, cause, reaction, bodily response, logical view when emotion subsided. Anger. Frustration. Sadness. Attraction. Irritation. Overwhelm. Each had their own coloured tab. He was wildly happy to see very few purple attraction tabs.
She had viewed herself logically, critically, assessing with a cool detachment after each wave of emotion. Guilt, shame and irrational were her most common descriptors of how and what she felt in recovery from each outburst.

'This might be... a reach. But I thought maybe in the future, not now. Maybe Stark Industries might look into the field of biological psychology and psychiatry? It's picking up pace in society, therapy- and SI is Futurist...'

'Let's start with the biologists we have, maybe reach out to the current researchers at universities, and see where we stand after that? I'm not saying no'

'I know' she nodded 'you don't have to read it all. I just... I don't want you to worry. I know I've been awful. I'm trying, I've been trying to understand it. I just wanted to show you. And say sorry, for being awful. I've felt awful about it' she cringed 'I've said awful so much it's lost meaning'

'I don't blame you kiddo, and you're not awful. You're just growing up... precocious little Astrid Stark' he cupped her cheek, the soft, warm skin of his little angel warm against his palm 'and I'm proud of you for doing such in depth self analysis. This is brilliant work my love' She brightened, receiving his praise one of her favourite things, better than cake. 'How about from now on we work on this together?'

'I'd like that'