a/n: I know, another Christmas chapter but honestly, it's my favourite holiday and I think it's the best to reunite with people.
December 2010.
The following weeks had been a total mess. She has had to deal with SHIELD, with Hydra, with Karpov alone and the whole deal about SHIELD and Nat watching Tony which she didn't even know about.
Nat was surprised, they all were. Karpov knew, of course he did. He just didn't expect her to find it out. At first, she had gone to see him to tell him she was dropping out of Hydra, that she couldn't do it anymore but she had changed her mind last second.
One thing had held her back, it was Winter. She couldn't just leave knowing he was still in there. And also, she didn't think Karpov would've let her just go like that. He would never let her go, not her, his Rose.
Winter had gone back to Siberia safely, she supposed. She wouldn't know, Karpov wouldn't tell her a thing. She had no idea where he was right now or if he had gone back under ice.
Oh, and now she had a name. Hailey Margaret Stark. Honestly, it was so weird to have to adapt to another name after being named Rose her entire life and Roxane for the past few years. Sometimes she would just forget Hailey was her actual name so she didn't answer when Tony would call her.
And she knew her birthdate now. She was born on the 11st of October, 1986. It felt unreal to discover all those things about herself, things she had perfectly lived without all those years. All of this felt like a dream. Sometimes she thought she was gonna wake up in the Hydra base in Siberia where nothing would've changed. But she was here and it was real. And it was also really weird.
She has had a whole conversation with Nick and Tony about wether they should reveal her to the public and the answer had stayed no. At least, not for now. Tony and her really wanted to keep the news private, at least until they knew how to properly announce it.
Anyways, she had spent the last two weeks at Tony's house. She had met his girlfriend, Pepper. She was really nice and she was perfect for Tony, would really put him back in his place. And she was really nice with Rose. At first, she was a little skeptical but it was totally understandable. Grumpy was his grumpy usual self but Rose knew he secretly liked her.
But fortunately, the media didn't find out. They had managed to keep it secret. At least for now.
—three weeks later—
Hailey was awaken up by the sound of a Christmas song playing at full volume in her room. Her eyes shot open and she took one of her pillows to throw it on Tony who she knew was dancing on her desk.
"Oh my god, Tony ! Go the fuck away !"
"What ? I thought you liked Christmas"
"Oh, I do" she said as she sat up on her bed, "Not when I just woke up, you piece of shit !"
"Oh, then I give you my most sincere apologies" he chuckled.
"You can shovethem up your ass, your shitty apologies" she mumbled as she buried her head back under her pillow.
"I'll just leave you to fall asleep again" he said as he planted a kiss on her temple, "Good morning nap, sissy"
She groaned a "mm" and tried to fall back asleep but that was when she realized the music was still on.
"Tony ! The music !" she yelled, "Tony ?" she asked as she opened her eyes to see where he was, "Tony ! Close the fucking door when you leave ! Tony ! You come back and you fucking close it !"
"What ?!" she heard him yell from downstairs, "Can't hear you, the music is too loud. You wouldn't mind turning it down, would you ?" he innocently asked.
"I swear, I'm going to MURDER YOU" she screamed as she got up and walked out of her room, "I'll make you regret ever finding me again !" she leaned against the barrier of the mezzanine which was right over the living room.
Tony was standing in the living room, in the middle of thousands of gifts. She gasped at the sight, only remembering now it was Christmas.
"Yeah, I'd like to see you try" he scoffed, "come on, get down and come open your gifts"
"Holy shit, Tony" she said as she practically ran downstairs to hug her brother, "Tony this is amazing ! Can't believe you got me all those gifts" she nervously chuckled as she took a look at all the gifts around them.
"Anything for you, dear sister" he laughed as he pulled away.
"I didn't get you anything though" she pouted.
"Nah, that's fine. This is our first Christmas together since 1990, you deserve to be spoiled"
"Holy fuck, this is amazing"
"It looks like it's your first time doing Christmas" he chuckled as he parted her back.
"Kind of is, though" Hailey made a grimace, "My adopted parents didn't celebrate Christmas, always said it was just commercial. And when they died, it was just me, I wasn't going to celebrate Christmas alone" she quickly explained.
"What about Natasha ?" Tony frowned his eyebrows.
"Oh, we're- I used to celebrate Christmas with her but most of the times, we were both on missions during that time so... I must've celebrated it like twice since I got into SHIELD. But it's fine really, I don't like celebrating that much, I just like the vibe of the period" she shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, from now on, we're celebrating together every year. And I don't care about all the missions, I'll go talk to Fury myself if I have to"
"Please don't, I'll do that myself" she scoffed.
He stared at her while she only looked at all the gifts and the huge Christmas tree.
"Where is Pepper ?" she asked, turning to look at him.
"In the kitchen. She's making brunch"
"Should we wait for her to open the gifts ?"
"There is just two I really want to give you now and I'm not sure I could wait" he walked to the pile of gifts and started looking through.
He took out a very little gift, it wasn't even a box. She wondered what it was. She squealed with excitement as he walked over to her. She felt like a kid, this was so weird. He gave her the gift and she happily took it. She gave him one last suspicion look and he nodded towards the gift before she started to open the gift.
"Are those... keys ?" she asked, frowning her eyebrows, "What are they for ?"
"Come on, I want to show you something" he said as he held out his hand for her to hold it which she did.
He leaded her to the front door and he opened the door. She instantly gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.
"You didn't !" she exclaimed as she slowly walked over to the car.
"Yes, I fucking did" he chuckled, "It's yours"
"Tony, this is..."
"I swear if you say too much, I'm not giving you your other presents"
"I wasn't going to say that" she denied as she shook her head.
He sighed. "Hailey"
She grimaced at the sound of her name. God this felt so weird to hear. Everyone called her Hailey now and it wasn't that it didn't feel right, it did feel right but it still felt weird.
"This is our first Christmas together and this used to be our favorite holiday so I'm spoiling you wether you like it or not. And I don't care if you didn't get anything for me" he shrugged his shoulders.
She bit her bottom lip, resisting the urge to argue. But she knew deep down he was kind of right. And she really wanted to enjoy this day without having to worry about anything else.
"What about the second key ?" she asked, now remembering there were two keys.
"Oh yeah, that's right. Uhm, we're now neighbors, surprise !"
She widened her eyes and her jaw fell right open. "Wha- Neighbors ? You- you, you bought me a car and a house ?! Are you crazy ?!"
"If wanting to spoil my sister because I haven't seen her in 19 years means I'm crazy then yes, I am. Look, I just want you the closest possible, okay ? The house is in the neighborhood. It's not too big, I know you wouldn't like it if it was too fancy and there's the sea, you're gonna love that and-"
"Yes, yes, I get it, Tony. But buy me a house ? Seriously ? I mean, I could've bought it myself"
"Nope, no way. You're paying for nothing" he shook his head, making her laugh.
She then bit the inside of her cheek, trying to hide her excitement. This was the most that anyone had ever done for her in years. In one day, he had managed to do more than anyone her my life. Anyone but Nat. Nat had done more than buying her things, she had cared for her.
"And I've already talked about it to Fury, he agreed to mute you here" Tony quickly added, "please tell me you'll move here. Think about it. Whenever you want, you can come hang out here. Your house has a pool, a private beach and it's huge. Way more than your little apartment in New York. The neighborhood is completely safe and you'd be right next to me. We could talk whenever we want"
"Fine" she rolled her eyes.
His face dropped. "Wait, really ?"
"Yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be that bad, I guess" she smiled.
He squealed and ran to her to hold her right against him. "Oh my god, I'm so relieved you agreed. Happy owes me fifty bucks"
"Yeah, like it would mean a difference to you" she laughed as she wrapped an arm around his neck.
"We're gonna be neighbors !" he said as he lifted her off the ground, "holy shit, you're heavy" he immediately put her down.
"What's that supposed to mean ?" she frowned her eyebrows.
"Nothing. Come on, get inside. You're gonna get cold, you're only wearing one of my shirts"
"Thank you, Tony. Thank you thousands times. This means so much, you have no idea"
"Yeah... hey, I actually have something to tell you"
"Sure, what is it ?"
"This is actually the first Christmas for the both of us" he admitted as he looked down, "I- I haven't celebrated either. I mean, I'd go to parties but I didn't buy a Christmas tree or buy gifts or whatever. It just didn't mean anything without you guys so this is also a first to me" he finally said with a smile.
She couldn't help but smile at his soft side he trusted her enough to show her. She patted his shoulder as she gave him a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, well, I'm here, aren't I ? So why don't we go inside and eat snacks while we open gifts ?"
"That'd be great" he sighed.
They both got inside and they were welcomed by the amazing smell of Pepper's cooking. She glanced over at the kitchen table and even though she didn't technically need to eat, she could almost feel her stomach growl at the sight and smell. Pepper turned around with a smile.
"So. Did you like the car ? The house was my idea by the way" Pepper winked at Hailey.
"Thank you" Hailey walked to her and quickly hugged her to thank her.
"You're welcome" Pepper softly responded, "now, let's open gifts. I've been dying to open them" she laughed.
Hailey laughed back and the three of them went to the living room and sat down on the couch.
Tony really had spoiled both of Pepper and Hailey. He had got Hailey clothes, decoration for my future new place, just random things, an ugly Christmas sweater that reminded her of one she was wearing in one of their old family pictures, jewelry even though she was not really a fan of rings and necklaces and all of those useless things. It had always bothered her.
After that, Pepper unfortunately had to go because she had promised her family she'd be there, leaving Tony and Hailey alone.
Hailey turned to look at her brother who was napping on the couch. He was definitely not getting enough sleep recently. Hailey thought he was being on edge for a few weeks now and she also thought it had something to do with her. She felt bad, honestly. It felt weird to feel bad. It was like her stomach was twisting on itself and it felt like she couldn't even live with herself anymore. She hated it.
Her brother suddenly jolted in his sleep and his eyes shut open, a gasp escaping his lips in a panic. She rushed over him and he glanced over at her.
"You okay ?" she asked him.
He slightly frowned his eyebrows like he couldn't believe she really was there. Her stare softened and she sighed as she placed a hand over his shoulders.
"I'm here, Tony. And I'm not going away anytime soon. You can relax" she said in a soft voice.
Tony finally seemed to relax as his whole body rested on the couch and he took a deep breathe, momentarily closing his eyes before he looked at her again.
"I'm really glad you're here, you know"
"I'm really glad I'm here, too. I'm glad you found me Tony, I really am"
He nodded as an answer and she pressed her lips in a thin line. She took a deep breath and she clapped her hands on her knees.
"I went looking and I found a family album. I just... You never mentioned you had an album of our family. But all of those photos are like twenty years old so... So maybe, with time, more recent pictures will come fill it up"
He looked up at her and smiled. This meant everything for the both of them. It meant she was going to stay, that she was going to leave again.
"I thought that maybe, you could explain to me the backstory of every of these pictures ?" she asked, a bit embarrassed.
She wanted to know more about her family history, about herself and her brother. She wanted to get to know Tony more.
Tony laughed and they moved on the couch so they sat next to each other. Tony explained her every backstory of every pictures in the album. Her personal favorite was the story where Tony had taken her to New York just to get ice cream and they had come back home with a dog.
"I actually still have the video when dad saw us coming back with the dog." Tony said, a hint of nostalgia in his voice.
"You do ?"
"Yep. Wanna watch it ?"
"Of course I wanna watch it !"
"Alright, I'm gonna get it"
Tony got up and walked up the stairs to get the video. She sighed and smiled. She couldn't believe what was happening right now. She had her family back. It was actually happening.
"I found it !" Hailey heard Tony yell across the house.
She laughed as she watched him walk down the stairs with a entire bag of video tapes.
"Are those... ?" she started to ask.
"Our family videos, yes. Your first step, your first word, our first vacation all together and some random stuff. Damn, I'd forgotten I even had all this stuff" he sighed.
"Let's watch them, shall we ?"
"You ready to watch your life ?" Tony asks as he knelt in front of the TV.
"Yep, definitely" she smiled at him.
He smiled back and turned on the TV. He put in the first video tape and her baby self appeared on the screen. She only had two tooth there.
"Argh, that's disgusting. Just move on, please." she said, making a grimace.
Tony laughed but both of their smiles dropped when they heard their mom's voice.
"Yeah, you got two tooth ? Yeah, you're a big girl. That's my girl there !"
Tears started to fill up her eyes. This was the first time she heard her mother's voice. She seemed so sweet and nice.
"She was beautiful" Hailey whispered, looking for the first time at her mom.
Hailey really wished she could remember her parents. As far as she knew, Tony didn't have the best relationship with their dad but Hailey still wished she could meet him again. She missed her parents. She missed them a lot. Missing someone you didn't remember meeting was an odd feeling Hailey wasn't sure of appreciating.
"Yeah, she was." Tony quickly answered before clearing his throat and changing the video tape to another.
Hailey suddenly burst out laughing when she saw the first image of the video. It was a video of when Tony had met her for the first time right after she was born. He was sixteen and had acne all over his face.
"Don't make fun of me ! I bet you had acne, too" he pointed a finger at her.
"Actually, I didn't. I was a very healthy girl when I was a teenager. No acne, nothing"
"I'm gonna need some pictures to prove this" he argued.
"I was beautiful" she shrugged.
Tony only scoffed at her very Stark attitude.
"You were beautiful as a baby, too."
"Stop lying. All babies are awful."
"True. But you're my sister, i have to tell you you're pretty or mom and dad are gonna come back and haunt me."
They both laughed at the thought of their parents haunting them.
"When I first looked at you when you were born, you were this little thing. I think I could've held you in one hand. I couldn't believe that such a little being could be apart of my family."
"I'm not so little anymore"
"At least, you're not taller than me"
She laughed as Tony changed the video tape.
She kept a smile on when she saw father carrying her in his arms and dancing slowly. She must've been barely two, there. Howard smiled at the camera and whispered something in her ears. Her baby self turned her head around and waved happily at the camera. The video had no sound. Shame, she wished she could know what music they were listening to.
Tony and Hailey kept watching family videos and pictures until there were no more to watch. They just kept talking about each other's life and laughing around for hours.
She had never felt like this. Even with Natasha or anyone else. Tony brought her comfort that only her family could ever give her. And the instantaneous familiarity between Tony and her was so spontaneous and natural she honestly couldn't believe it's real. But it was. It was real.