. . .‧₊˚ ✩ CHAPTER THREE ⁺◟༉ . . .
❨ ∘ 𝔞𝔠𝔱 𝔦 ∘ ❩
PROTECTIVE DAD
❛two-five years old❜
━━━━━ ✧༺✶༻✧ ━━━━━
Tony sighs as he hurries to get back home after a meeting he had to be at. Lydia was now two years old.
Happy was waiting for him with the door open as Tony went to get in when someone calls his name.
Tony glared at the screen along with Happy, Pepper, and Rhodey seeing the woman coming towards Tony.
"Mr. Stark! Excuse me, Mr. Stark! Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine. Can I ask you a question?" A woman asks coming towards Tony who sighs looking towards her.
"She's cute," Happy Hogan whispers to Tony.
"She's all right?" Tony says as he turns to face Christine.
"Wait is that how you decide to talk with someone? If there cute or not?" Steve asks Tony doesn't even look toward him. As if Steve wasn't there.
"No it's a secret way for us to communicate to see if Tony wants to speak to her or not," Happy tells Steve who nods.
"Hi," Christine Everhart says smiling at Tony.
"Yeah. Okay--," Tony says waving for her to start.
"It's okay?" Christine asks making Tony nod.
"Go," Tony tells her making Christine smile.
"Mr.Stark many want to know would you have been happier having a son than a daughter?" Christine asks Tony who immediately tenses up looking at her.
"Someone to inherit your father's company," Christine finishes as Tony removes his sunglasses looking at her as Happy shakes his head.
"She did not just say that?!" Maria yells angrily as many nods.
"Not surprising she would say something like that," Natasha says as many glares at the woman.
"I'm just going to say this once. So listen closely," Tony says as he looks at the woman who nods moving her phone closer with a bright smile.
"My daughter saved my life. And I will never regret her. I am beyond happy that I had a daughter and if someday she wants to inherit the company then she will. Or if one day she wants to become a vet when I give her all the damn animals she wants!" Tony tells her angrily before getting in his limo and leaving.
"Good job!" Ana tells Tony with a bright smile as Peggy scoffs rolling her eyes.
"You would think that a woman would support another but no instead she didn't. Digesting," Peggy says shaking her head.
"Does she want to take over the company?" Howard asks his son but Tony just looks at him with a glare not saying anything as Pepper answers for him.
"Lydia loves the business. She is the mastermind of so many things and she knows how to manipulate and get people on her side making others seems crazy," Pepper says proud of the little girl she saw as her own.
"She is a CEO through and through but she has a good heart," Rhodey says thinking of his goddaughter.
━━━━━ ✧༺✶༻✧ ━━━━━
Tony arrives home and the first thing he does is head toward his daughter's room. Walking into his daughter's bedroom he sees her asleep cuddling her stuffed bunny making Tony walk towards her.
"Oh I love her room," Maria says as Pepper and Rhodey share a look before laughing as Tony sighs.
"It should be. Tony spent four months designing it and having it decorated he had to have it perfect," Rhodey says laughing.
"But Lydia hardly sleeps in there though. She loved sleeping with Tony. She's cuddly and the only way to get her asleep is by listening to AC/DC or Tony," Pepper says laughing as Tony shrugs.
He loved his cuddly bunny. She was attached him to the hip most of the time even as she got harder Lydia was always with him.
Tony squats down and kisses Lydia softly on the forehead as he runs his hand through her hair as the door behind him opens.
"Life is going to be difficult for her isn't it," Tony states as Pepper sighs walking towards the two.
"She's not only the heir of a multinational industrial company and the largest tech conglomerate in the world. But she's a girl. She's a female and will forever be judged for that," Tony says sadly as he looks at his daughter.
"She deserves more. You know my worst fear is she will find someone like me. I never want her to ever be with someone even remotely similar to me. She deserves better," Tony says looking at Lydia who leans into his hand.
"You are not the same man you used to be Tony. You changed. You have become someone worthy enough to have a daughter. You are not the same man you were," Pepper tells Tony who nods.
"She's right Tony. I truly thought you were going to drive yourself into an early grave but the moment you held Lydia. Everything changed. You changed. You became better and continue to be better," Rhodey tells Tony who smiles at him nodding.
"I want to make this world better for her. For all women. They deserve it. She deserves better," Tony says kissing Lydia's forehead before getting up.
"Goodnight sweetheart," Tony whispers before leaving the room with Pepper making sure the bunny nightlight was lighting up the room just in case and the door was cracked in case Lydia wanted to get up. But J.A.R.I.S would let him know when she woke up.
━━━━━ ✧༺✶༻✧ ━━━━━
"Lydia! You have to have pants on!" Tony yells as he chases his five-year-old daughter who laughs running away from him.
"No! Daddy! Pants bad!" Lydia tells him as Tony sighs shaking his head.
"Tony used to do the same thing. Hated pants removed them every chance he could," Howard says chuckling remembering when his son was small and adored Howard before he missed everything up.
"Sir Obadiah Stane is here for you," J.A.R.I.S tells Tony who was confused since he didn't even invite the man over.
"Is that my voice?" Jarvis questions as Tony nods.
"It is an artificially intelligent system, tasked with running the business for Stark Industries as well as security for Tony Stark's Mansion and Stark Tower," Tony tells him as Jarvis nods.
"His name is Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. Or J.A.R.I.S after you," Tony tells Jarvis who smiles heart warmed hearing that as he smiles at Tony nodding.
"Uhm yeah let him in," Tony says as he heads towards Lydia who was laughing as Tony picks her up spinning her around.
"Here you go," Tony says handing Lydia her sippy cup full of coconut water.
"After you finish your water you can get some juice," Tony says kissing Lydia's forehead who smiles at him nodding as he sits down Lydia to let her watch Little Einsteins her favorite show.
"Tony!" Obadiah says walking into the room with something in his hands.
The one who knew what Obadiah Stane did glared at the man.
"There the little lady. Hi Lydia," Obadiah says as Lydia glares at him moving away from the man.
"We should have realized when Lydia didn't like him something will up," Tony says making Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy nod.
"What's going on?" Tony asks as he hands Lydia her stuffed bunny that she holds tightly making Tony smile at her.
"So I brought you this," Obadiah says making tiny confused as he grabs the pamphlet from the older man's hand.
"Institut Le Rosey?" Tony reads out before his jaw clenches.
"Yeah, it's one of the leading boarding schools in Switzerland. Where rich tradition meets modern outlook," Obadiah tells Tony who shakes his head.
"Why are giving this to me?" Tony asks angrily as he looks toward Lydia who wasn't even paying attention.
"Well, Lydia is at the age where she needs to go to school. Thought it would be a good idea to start looking at boarding schools. This is one of the elites and best," Obadiah tells Tony who scoffs.
"No. My daughter isn't going to boarding school in Switzerland. She isn't going to boarding school at all," Tony tells Obadiah sternly.
"My parents sent me and it was one of the reasons I despised them. I will not be doing the same to my daughter," Tony tells Obadiah angrily.
Howard and Maria looked down at that. Sending Tony out was one of their biggest regrets. They shouldn't have. Maybe if they didn't things would have been slightly different.
"Tony I'm just thinking about what's best for Lydia," Obadiah tells Tony who scoffs shaking his head.
"She's my daughter. I will decide what's best for her. I already have Pepper looking into tutors for her. She's a Stark and will probably have a Stark brain. She needs to be taught a certain way. Even if I have to teach her myself," Tony tells Obadiah angrily.
"No, leave my house Obadiah before I say something I will not regret," Tony tells Obadiah as he heads back to Lydia.
Lydia smiles at him as Tony wraps his arm around her. She wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Obadiah looks at the two before leaving the mansion as Lydia giggles making Tony laugh at her.
❀ ༄ ❀ AUTHOR NOTE ❀ ༄ ❀
So what did you guys think?
Also, there will be probably only one more chapter then Iron Man will begin.
I probably won't show all of Iron Man like what happened in the cave because it's Tony trauma but I will show Lydia's trauma regarding her father's kidnapping
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I love you all! <333