And then we were two (Tony stark's daughter fic)

From the ashes

Addy stood transfixed as what was left of the flames licked the timbers of her home, or what had been her home. Orphan, that's what her best friend Cam's dad had whispered when they'd got the call, all that meant for Addy was that her mother was gone and life had just become a bit more uncertain.

They'd raced to the scene hoping the rumor mill had it wrong, maybe it was just a fire and her mother would be out flirting with the firefighters. One look at the sooty faces of our heroes in red confirmed the awful truth, her mother hadn't made it out. Smoke inhalation they said, she might have made it out in time had she not been drinking.

The firefighters kept looking at the child nervously, her silence making most uneasy. She hadn't screamed, hadn't cried, she simply stared into the wreckage. Curling iron, that's what caused the fire. The girl nearly laughed at that, her mother had forgotten that so many times it was almost poetic, in a morbid sort of way, that it had caused her death.

Addy wasn't a heartless child, she did care that her mother had died,left her alone. It was probably due to the depth at which she was effected that kept her silent, frozen in shock.

"Hey kiddo," Cammy's dad began gently kneeling in front of her, "this is miss Christie Decro, she's going to look out for you ok?" He tried to sound cheerful, encouraging but Addy wasn't fooled. Social worker. The system. That's where she was headed. She knew it like she knew her name.

"Hello Adeline it's so good to meet you," the woman said with a falsely cheerful grin. She was a short woman average build with heavily made up grey-blue eyes, thin over plucked eyebrows, and a toothy smile behind pale pink lipstick. Why she'd even attempt cheerfulness at a time like this was beyond the young girl's comprehension.

"It's Addy," she whispered in a tiny voice.

"Where will she go?" Cam's dad asked as the woman straightened from her bent position.

"We'll check next of kin first," she responded carelessly, as if Addy wasn't listening. "If no one can be found, foster home most likely." She shrugged, "sometimes, circumstances like this they end up in a group home."

There was a whirlwind of activity after that. Cammy offering some extra clothes, cramming them into her little green back pack. Riding to the social services office for the initial check. Then back to the car for the two hour drive to Malibu where her, apparent, father was said to reside. That had thrown her, a father, obviously she realized she had a father at some point, Addy was smart enough to understand you needed both to make a child. Still, her mother had always been so adamant he was gone, Addy had assumed she meant dead.

The sun had been up for about an hour by the time they began their drive up the long paved driveway to the crisp white structure she assumed was her father's home.

"Alright, here we are miss Noble," Christie said as she opened the car door leading her up the steps to the enormous mansion. She rang the bell glancing with a warning look at the silent child.

"Who may I say is calling please?" A voice called over a speaker.

"Miss Decro with child and family services, I'm here to speak with a mister Anthony Stark."

There was a pause before the door clicked open. "Please wait here mister Stark will be with you in a moment," the automated voice instructed.

Addy let her eyes travel around the entry and rooms visible from there. It was all bright, shiny, open. Light streamed in from multiple angles, windows making up nearly every wall, as far as she could see. A fountain at the center of her view drew her attention and a tiny sleeping part of the silent child longed to run her fingers through the falling liquid.