Wee Little Stark

chapter 3

When Pepper looked back, it seemed as if once they all discovered Darcy's mutant abilities, time flew by.

Just the other day Pepper was having a tea party with Darcy and the 'bots, but now she was facing down an irate Tony. Rolling her eyes, Pepper focused back on what the man was saying.

"-he's a punk! A no-good, dirty, smelly punk of a kid! And he wants to 'take Darcy out?!' Pepper! This isn't okay! Bot's gotta focus on school! Not boys! Why didn't we send her to an all girl's school?"

Raising her hand and placing it over her boss' mouth, Pepper sighed at the moment of silence it granted her.

"Tony. Your daughter is sixteen, this is normal for girls her age. I think it'd be good for her, in fact." Now that she had spoken, Pepper was cautiously hopeful that she could have a conversation with Tony, rather than having him have a panic attack.

"Good for her?! How? How could my baby girl going on dates with stupid boys be a good thing? He's going to want to take liberties, Pepper! LIBERTIES!"

Replacing her hand on his mouth again, Pepper spoke quickly before the genius realized that he could just step away and be free from her grasp.

"Darcy is sixteen, has mutant abilities, and is a Stark. She has JARVIS and three robot's as brothers, three additional adults acting as parents, and another little AI as a pet/companion." She smiled at the thought of little FENRIR, the little bot was always one step behind Darcy, rolling after her with adoration and enthusiasm that was on par with a puppy.

Shaking herself, she came back to her argument. "Darcy has been seeing private tutors since she waseight, has already completed high school, and is almost done with her college curriculum. Tony, don't you see? Nothing about Darcy is what anyone would call normal. But the fact that she met a boy she likes? That is so normal it seems strange to us. So yes, Tony, her going on a date with a boy is a good thing."

Slowly, as if not to startle the man, Pepper removed her hand from Tony's face, watching as he seemed to contemplate what she told him. She sighed in relief when his shoulders relaxed from their defensive posture and he rubbed a hand on the back of his neck.

"So I may have overreacted," Pepper rolled her eyes at him, getting a chuckle in response. "Okay, so I definitely overreacted. I am still not happy with this, but I'll shut up." He began backing away from Pepper, who was now suspicious of the look of mischief on his face.

"What are you planning, Tony?" She used her 'board-room' voice, the one that usually left men in pieces under her gaze. Unfortunately, after living in the mansion for so long, Tony was immune. At least, outside of conference rooms he was.

Hearing the tone of her voice, Tony wasted no time in doing an about-face and fleeing from Pepper down the stairs to his lab, shouting over his shoulder, "Doesn't mean I can't put a tracker in Bot's purse and have JARVIS do surveillance!"

Pepper groaned as his cackles of manic glee floated up from the stairs, but smiled as she heard Tony swear, followed by a crash, and knew the man had tripped over the mess he left. Instant karma, how nice.

"I'm okay! It's all good-DUM-E, NO! Put down the fire-ack!"

Darcy was deep in her closet, pulling outfits out and tossing them over her shoulder into her room, hoping that one of them would be good enough for her date.

I have a date! She giggled to herself as she grabbed a black sundress, feeling the soft cotton between her thumb and index finger. Dad's totally having a cow. She had peered into the mansion's security camera's and watched the confrontation between her Dad and Pepper, heart warmed by the woman's words.