Lithe (S.R) Book 1

Half

He knew she was mostly talking back to the night of his birthday party. "I'm sorry I did that, Bec. There is no excuse for me to act like that to you. I just didn't want you to see me get worse." Tony's knuckles ran across the plate in the middle of his chest on her shirt. "But your SHIELD friends seemed to have helped me out with that."

"You swear?" Becca's eyes clouded over, remembering a very similar promise coming from him when he returned from being held hostage.

"I swear to you. I'm fine." He watched a family sit down a table away from them. The young girl with pigtails reminded him of his own daughter now sitting across from him as a grown woman. "You aren't getting out of this that easy."

She leaned back, pulling a hand through her hair, feeling tired from the conversation already. "I never expected to."

"Two years." He murmured the words, letting them sink in before really demanding an answer. "Two years, Becca? How did you even manage this?"

"A lot of help from good people." Sure, she had her moments of uncertainty in this organization, but they honestly dealt with so much from her to keep her hidden. She owed a great deal to Clint, Natasha, Coulson, and Fury. "This was something that was brought to my attention. I didn't go looking for it."

"From the beginning." He spun his fingers in a circle to get her to start at the foundation of her story.

"I'm only going to explain this if you promise to not get upset or throw a fit with me." Her eyes were dead set, something he realized that she had picked up from Pepper many years ago now.

"Becca, you are a grown adult. I can't tell you what to do or not do."

She nodded, fingers playing with the cloth napkin in her lap. "That doesn't mean your opinion doesn't matter to me still."

She started the story from the beginning, how Coulson met her at school to Clint saving her life, to training, meeting Natasha, missions. All of it. She saved from telling him some harder missions, knowing he wouldn't approve much of them. For the most part Tony sat back, quiet, taking in everything his daughter had to tell him. He was always attentive with her, always making sure to not just acknowledge but listen intently to everything she ever had to say to him. Separating his childhood from hers this way.

"Knives? Really?" That was his first comment after letting her tell her story.

The brunette rolled her eyes, a chuckle leaving her lips. "Yes, knives. They're more intricate."

"Never one to back down from a challenge." Tony shook his head with his own laugh. If he didn't laugh he was sure he was going to lose it over his daughter, his baby girl, officially putting her life on the line. One thing was present on his mind more than others. "So that guy that tried to attack you, do you know who he was?"

Becca shrugged. "No. Neither did Clint. We just assumed it was something trying to get to you actually."

"Oh, he was trying to get to me." He cleared his throat, his hand coming up to smooth over his goatee. "Two weeks before everything with Obi, right?"

"...yeah."

"He was working for Obi. Goddamn it-" Now the anger was present but it wasn't directed to her. "-he-he had threatened me about you. Saying something about you being across the states and not being able to stop what was coming. But nothing had happened to you, at least you had told me. So, I thought it was all talk."

Even from his grave, Obadiah Stan could make her father's blood boil.

"It's over. Nothing to worry about anymore." Becca finally repicked up her chopsticks. She felt weightless for the first time in two years. Having her father finally in the know made her breath just a bit easier. "So...you and Pepper."