𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 floor of her bedroom in her small apartment with a metal box open in front of her. Spread out on the floor were several black and white photographs. Many of them were of Peggy's family that Grace happily took. However, it wasn't a picture that caught the brunette's eye. It was the family tree that Tony had done as a child for a school assignment.
Grace picked up the paper as her eyes scanned over the tree. Howard Stark Sr. married Victoria Henderson and they had two children: Howard and Grace. Howard married Maria and they had a son: Tony. Grace never married and remained the devoted, ageless aunt that she was.
Her gaze shifted to her father's name as she stared at it. Every memory she ever had of him came flooding back. Tony was ten years old when he was assigned the family tree assignment and while his mother had answered all of his questions regarding her family, Howard was never around to provide his son with information about the Stark family. Which only left one person: Grace.
"Aunt Gracie?"
Grace looked up from her book to see Tony walking toward her with a notepad in his hands. "Hi, little penguin," she said, setting aside her book and pulling her nephew on her lap. "What are you up to today?"
"I have to do a family tree," he replied, giving her the notepad. "Have you seen Dad? He was supposed to help me with your family."
"Really?" She let out a breath and rested her head on his. "Well, I'm afraid he already went on his business trip. He won't be home for a few weeks."
"Oh." Tony looked down at the tree before looking at his aunt with wide eyes. "Well, then can you tell me about your parents?"
Grace pursed her lips and nodded. "What do you wanna know, little penguin?"
"What was Grandpa like?" he asked. "What did he do for work?"
Grace paused and ran her hand through her nephew's hair. "Um... well, Grandpa sold fruit," she said, her eyes trained on the paper in his hands. "He, uh... he was a strict man. He liked order, and... he loved your grandma. More than life itself."
"How come you don't talk about him much?" he asked and she pursed her lips. "And grandma."
"It's complicated, little penguin," she replied, swallowing the growing lump in her throat. "Why don't you go work on that family tree, okay?"
Tony nodded and hopped off his aunt's lap, leaving her with her thoughts. She hadn't thought about her father in years. And she didn't want to be thinking about him at all.
Grace tore her sight away from the family tree just as JARVIS spoke up. "Miss Stark, you asked me to remind you that the benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund is tonight."
She nodded. "Thank you, JARVIS." She pursed her lips and locked the metal box, putting it under her bed. "He's not here anymore," she whispered to herself, standing up. "Nothing is going to happen."
⸻ ~~~ ⸻
𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 bright lights as she got out of her car and walked toward the benefit. "Miss Stark." She let out a breath at the sound of the voice and turned around to see Phil Coulson standing next to her.
"Coulson," she replied shortly while smiling at the guests who had greeted her. "I didn't know you would be here tonight."
"I'm still looking for your nephew, ma'am," Phil said and she nodded, waving at a guest. "I suppose he would be here?"
"Well—"
"What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?" Grace let out a breath and nodded, gesturing to her nephew.
"Yes," she said. "He is here. If you must talk to him, not a word of me being a founder. He doesn't even know about the organization let alone my involvement in it."
Phil nodded. "Understood, ma'am."
"Then, there he is," she said, pointing at the man. "Good luck, Agent Coulson." She turned around and her eyes fell on the strawberry-blonde woman. "Pepper, you look very nice. Blue really is your color."
"Thank you. Your nephew actually got it for me as a birthday gift."
Grace nodded with a knowing smile. "Right. Well, I was unaware that Tony had such an eye for fashion."
"Well, that's rude," Tony said and she chuckled. "You look fantastic," he said to Pepper. "I almost didn't recognize you."
Grace patted his shoulder as she walked away. "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." She smiled softly at Pepper. "Ah, young love."
⸻ ~~~ ⸻
𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 bed with her sketchbook open in front of her. She was working on her latest design and didn't notice that Steve was standing in the entryway of her tent. "I thought you would be with your brother."
She looked up at his voice and shook her head, returning to sketchbook. "Why?" she asked with a sigh. "Because it's the anniversary of his company's founding?"
Steve shrugged and sat down on the foot of her bed. "For starters." She pursed her lips and he frowned. "Are you okay? You've been quieter than usual this whole week."
"Well, Howard is throwing a party in the middle of a war for his company," she said with a shrug. "He's done it every year since he founded it. I don't like them."
Steve nodded and she glanced up at him from her sketchbook. His eyes found hers and it felt as though every worry she ever had melted away with just one glance. She had secrets of her past buried deep down but he made her feel comfortable enough to share.
"He was eighteen," she said quietly, playing with the end of her pillow. "I was sixteen when he left for Europe. He always wanted to own his own company and he finally had his chance as soon as he became an adult.
"Our mother had died only a few days earlier and from that moment on... our father became a different person. He..." She pursed her lips and swallowed the growing lump in her throat. "He had this belt. We always called it his favorite. If Howard was disobedient, he would bring out the belt. If I did something he didn't like, he brought out the belt.
"Mother was always able to convince him not to do anything. He listened to her more than anybody..." Grace trailed off, thinking about her late mother. "After she died, he fell into a hole of despair. Nothing happened while Howard was home. But when he left... suddenly it was just me and him. The daughter who looked too much like his late wife. Hard liquor was his favorite."
As much as she wanted to stop, she couldn't. Every memory she had kept buried deep down came flooding out. And Steve listened. He never once interrupted, simply sitting at the edge of her bed with an attentive look on his face.
"I wrote to Howard every month for two straight years," she continued, swinging her legs off her bed and walking to chest next to Steve. "I always thought he never replied." She opened the trunk and pulled out a stack of sealed envelopes. "I found these last week. He never opened them." She gave them to Steve and motioned for him to open them. "The person who always told me he would protect me from everything didn't do that." She shrugged and chuckled to herself humorlessly. "And everyone thinks that he's this... this titan. That I should hear him out. But... what could he possibly say to make this right? 'I'm sorry I never read your letters, but he's gone now so he can't hurt you'?"
Steve pursed his lips as she leaned against the table in the middle of the room. "Do you want my honest opinion?" She nodded, looking at him. "I've always believed in second chances. That everyone deserves a chance to right their wrongs. But... maybe not all wrongs can be righted. This seems to have been a big part of your life and... I think as much as you love your brother, you're too hurt by what he did or didn't do."
Grace stared at him before nodding. "So what do I do?"
He shrugged. "I think you need to talk to your brother," he said and she sighed. "Tell him your version of what happened. And go from there."
"I don't want him to look at me differently," she whispered, biting her bottom lip.
"Like what?"
"Like a victim," she said quietly and he frowned. "Like I'm his defenseless baby sister all over again."
"You are anything but a victim," he told her and she looked at him doubtfully. "You didn't do anything. You just need to remember that. But I think you'll feel better once you've told him everything." She nodded and leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling his hand rub her back. "So... new weapon, huh?"
Grace smiled and chuckled, pulling out the sketchbook once again. When Peggy went to her best friend's tent with a slice of cake, she paused outside when she heard voices. She peaked around the opening and saw Grace laughing while Steve told her a joke. Peggy smiled softly to herself at the sight before walking away quietly.
Grace never did tell her brother about what had happened with their father. He was always too busy to make time for her and before she knew it, he had died with his wife. In fact, the only person who knew the full story was Steve Rogers and he never told a soul.
⸻ ~~~ ⸻
an: I think I'm gonna make
some chapters longer so I
can finish Iron Man and move
onto Iron Man 2
I've gotten a few people
wonder why steve and grace
got together so fast so I thought
I would share my thought process.
1. It was the war and it was
an uncertain time. People fell in
love/got married quickly and it
was just a thing of the time
2. Grace's past trauma with
her father made her more
wary of men and steve was
the first man her age who she
felt completely comfortable with.
Other than Howard, of course,
buteven then she still felt
more comfortable with steve
than her own brother
3. The same could be said for
Steve. He had always been so self-conscious while his best friend
got all of the girls. It seems
natural he would fall quickly
for someone who would look
at him first
4. I just needed them to have a
past because it makes it all the
more heartbreaking while she
lives in the present but her
heart remains in the past
5. Finally... all the details that
wasn't in act one are revealed in
the subsequent acts
If you read all that, I'm
impressed. More Grace &
Tony moments next chapter :)
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