I watch with hopeful eyes as the plane lands. I could feel tears building up as I waited for the back hatch to open and see my father for the first time in three months. I looked to my right to see Pepper has tears building up in her eyes as well and reached over to grab her hand in comfort. She gave me a thankful smile before the two of us looked back at Happy and Alex who are standing behind us. I made eye contact with Alex, who gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled back at him before I looked over at Happy and he gave me a nod. I looked back ahead of me and watched the ramp slowly lower, revealing Uncle Rhodey helping my dad stand from a wheelchair and walk down the ramp. Rhodey was dressed in his dress blues and dad was dressed in one of his usual suits. He had his arm in a sling, causing his suit to just be draped over his shoulder on one side. I sniffled and felt a few tears drop from my eyes as I watched dad complain about the gurney that was being wheeled in his direction. Rhodey waved them off as dad continued walking forward. I watched him walk forward a few more feet before I let go of Pepper's hand and ran towards him.
As soon as I reached him, I jumped into his awaiting arm because he couldn't hug me with his other one. I hugged him tightly and let my tears fall onto his shoulder as my dad hugged me tighter to himself as well. I could feel myself start to sob as he rubbed his hand up and down my back. I pulled away after a few minutes and looked up at him with tears running down my face.
"I-I was so worried. I-I thought that you were actually d-dead and that they were never going to-to find you. I thought I had lost the only family I really had left," I stuttered out through my sobs.
My dad took my face in his hand and started wiping the tears away as best he could. He frowned at me and I could see tears forming in his eyes as well. "Now, you should have known better than to think that. What do I always tell you, huh?"
I sniffled before I smiled through my tears. "We're Starks."
"And what do we Starks do," He questioned me with a proud smile.
"We persevere," I sniffled.
"Yeah, we do. Come here," He whispered to me, pulling me into a hug. He moved his head and placed a kiss on the side of my head before whispering in my ear. "I promise you that I will never, ever, leave you alone again. I will do everything in my power to make sure you're not alone in this world." After this, Dad pulled out of the hug and smiled down at me again. "I hope you've taken good care of my company since I've been gone?"
I chuckled a bit before looking up at him. "I tried my best. Pepper was a lot of help."
"Speaking of Pepper," Dad said, looking behind me.
"Oh, yeah, come on," I sniffled, grabbing his hand and walking over to everybody else.
We continued walking until we were standing right in front of Pepper. My dad let go of my hand and threw his arm around my shoulders. He looked at Pepper wth a blank look but I could tell that he was really wanting to smile.
"Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long lost boss," Dad questioned Pepper smugly.
"Tears of joy. Your daughter is too much for one person to handle," Pepper said with a smirk as she glanced over at me.
"I'm gonna pretend like I didn't just hear that," I said quietly.
"Let's get out of here," Dad said to the two of us, beginning to walk to the car.
I left dad's side and began walking to the right side of the car while he walked to the left. Happy moved to open the door for dad while Alex moved to open the door for me and Pepper. I slid over into the middle of the backseat so I was sitting in between dad and Pepper and Alex and Happy sat up in the front two seats.
"Where to, sir," Happy questioned as we all got situated.
"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy-," Pepper started before dad cut her off.
"No."
I snapped my head to the left to look at him incredulously. "No? Dad, you have to go to the hospital."
"No is a complete answer," Dad argued back at me.
"The doctor has to look at you. Who knows what could be wrong with you after everything you've been through," I argued with him.
"I don't have to do anything. I've been in captivity for three months. There are three things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, the other things -," Dad gets cut off by me and Peppers disgust.
"That's enough of that," Pepper says immediately followed my exclamation of "Ugh, gross, dad!"
"Is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now and I want to spend time with my daughter since I wasn't able to celebrate her birthday," He finished.
I smiled over at him and could feel tears coming to my eyes again before I leaned my head lightly on his shoulder to prevent from causing him any pain.
"Call for a press conference," Pepper questioned him in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"What on earth for?"
"Hogan, drive before I replace you with Coulson. Cheeseburger first," Dad commanded Happy, causing the said man to put the car in drive and take us to the nearest Burger King.
******************************************************************************
We pulled up to the front of Stark Industries to find all of the work personnel and Obie standing outside clapping for my father's return. I rolled my eyes and waited for the car to stop as Obadiah came rushing up to the door to open it for Dad.
"Tony," Obie sheered as dad got out of the car while eating one of his cheeseburgers. He pulled dad into a hug as I got out of the car behind dad with the help of Alex who had already gotten out of the car once it stopped. I gave him a thankful smile as Obie pulled away from dad and gave him a confused look. "We were going to meet at the hospital."
"No, I'm fine," Dad reassured him.
"Look at you," Obie said happily to dad before pulling me into a hug as well. "What the hell is going on," He whispered to me.
"Don't ask," I whispered back to him, plastering a smile on my face.
Happy came around the back of the car after opening the door for Pepper holding the bag of Burger King cheeseburgers out to dad. Dad reached in and grabbed one before he started walking.
"You had to have a burger," Obie questioned dad as he started walking.
"Well, yeah, come on," Dad said to him like it's obvious.
"You get me one of those?"
"Uh, there's only one left. I need it."
Pepper, Happy, Alex, and I followed after the two men as we walked into the company building for the press conference dad called. Dad unwrapped his cheeseburger while walking and began eating it as Obie explained what's been going on at the company since he was gone. Dad nodded along as if he was listening, but he was probably only half-listening. We walked around the corner into the conference area to see all of the reporters gathered there.
"Hey, look who's here! Yeah," Obie announced as we walked into the area.
"You won't need me, yeah," I questioned Obie before he walked up to the front with my dad.
"No, you're fine. Stay back here with Pepper," He reassured me.
Thank God! I don't want to be CEO anymore! I stayed at the back of the conference area and stood to Peppers's right side, wondering where the hell Happy and Alex went. I was looking around in confusion trying to find the two men before a man dressed in a suit came up to Pepper and me and stood to Pepper's left.
"Miss Potts, Miss Stark," He addressed us.
"Yes," Pepper answered him, turning to him with a smile while I continued looking around.
"Can I speak to the two of you for a moment," He questioned us curiously.
"We're not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now," Pepper informed him, gesturing to the front of the large room.
"I'm not a reporter. I'm Agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division," He said, pulling a business card out and handing it to Pepper.
"Well, that's quite a mouthful," She said in acknowledgment, accepting the business card.
"I know. We're working on it," Agent Coulson said in agreement.
"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA...," Pepper listed off.
"We're a separate division with a more specific focus. We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape and Miss Stark about the original attack," He said, causing me to snap my head over at him and look at him in confusion.
"I'll put something in the book, shall I," She questioned him, noticing my reaction and trying to get him away before I join the conversation.
"Thank you," He nodded at her.
She nodded back and looked back at the front of the room. However, I continued staring at the man in front of me. Something about him was familiar, I just couldn't put my finger on it. Not looks-wise, just his demeanor and how he talks to people. I continued staring at him, causing Pepper to elbow me.
"Allison, don't stare, it's rude," She scolded me.
"I'm sorry, it's just...," I trailed off, causing her to look over at me in confusion. I continued staring at him for a few more seconds before I remembered what he said his last name was and realization suddenly came over me. "I'm sorry, did you just say that your last name is Coulson?" Said man hummed in acknowledgment and nodded at me. "Do you know an Alexander Coulson?"
Agent Coulson nodded with a proud smile. "He's my nephew."
"Really," Pepper questioned him in shock, not making the connection until just now.
"Yes. I've heard a lot about you, Miss Stark. I can tell Alex really enjoys this job because of you," He told me with a bright and knowing smile.
I blushed and looked down at the ground with a smile on my face. "Alex hasn't ever really told me much about his family," I informed the agent.
"I'm afraid that's my fault. I raised Alex and taught him that his personal and professional life should remain separate. He's always had his guard up because of that," He explained to me.
"You raised him," I questioned curiously.
Coulson nodded at me before looking back at Pepper. "Thank you for your time Miss Potts. I'll leave you and Miss Stark to yourselves."
"Thank you," She nodded at him before looking back to the front of the room.
I watched as Coulson moved away from the two of us and stood to the side of the room. I couldn't stop looking over at him every few seconds in thought as the press conference began. Obie stood at the podium at the front of the room as dad moved in front of it and sat down on the steps, leaning against it. Obie looked over the front of the podium at my dad as he spoke into the microphone awkwardly.
"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down," Dad called out to the reporters as he pulled another cheeseburger out of his suit pocket. Obie moved around the podium and looked down at him as dad gestured for everyone to sit down. "Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can... a little less formal and..." Dad trailed off as he started on his cheeseburger. All the reporters looked around at each other awkwardly before the slowly started to lower down to the floor of the room. Obie took a seat next to dad as well and smiled at all the reporters. I looked over to my left to see that Pepper had taken a seat on the ground as well. I shook my head before I heard my name being called. "You too, Allison," My dad called out to me. I raised my eyebrows before rolling my eyes and taking a seat on the ground with Pepper.
"What's up with the love-in," Rhodey questioned Pepper and I as he leaned down towards us.
"Don't look at us. We don't know what he's up to," Pepper told Rhodey for the both of us.
We all three looked towards the front of the room to watch dad.
"Good to see you," He told Obie.
"Good to see you," Obie nodded back at him, reaching over and placing a hand on dad's shoulder.
"I never got to say goodbye to dad. Neither did Ally," Dad told him, causing me to furrow my brows at his words. Obie looked up at him in confusion before dad turned and looked over all the reporters. "My daughter and I never got to say goodbye to my father." He placed his cheeseburger down on the ground beside him before starting to get serious. "There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels." Dad paused for a moment, letting what he just said sink in for everybody. "I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. I saw my daughter, my only child, almost get killed by the very weapons I created to keep her safe, and all I could think about was that the same thing was going to happen to her that happened to me. That if, God forbid, anything happened to me, she wasn't going to get to say goodbye to her old man. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."
I felt tears welling up in my eyes at his words about me. Because it seemed as if he was able to look directly into my head these past few months. These were things I was thinking about but were too afraid to admit out loud to myself or anybody else. Some of the reporters began calling out dad's name and dad pointed at one of the young men at the front with a smile.
"Hey, Ben," Dad greeted him.
"What happened over there," He questioned dad curiously.
Uh, I-I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up," Dad continued, standing from his seat in front of the podium and moving behind it. "And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International." All hell broke loose. The reporters all stood and began yelling out Dad's name. Obie stood at the podium to try and get dad to stop talking. I stood from my seat on the ground and looked up at my father as if he were the craziest man on earth. "Until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be. What direction it should take. One that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." Obie pushed dad away from the podium and dad walked back down to the front of the podium and sat down to continue eating his cheeseburger while Obie started doing damage control.
"Okay, I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers. What we should take away from this is that Tony's back. And, uh, he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little, uh, internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up."
******************************************************************************
"He's crazy, I mean, he's psycho. Does he not realize what this decision is going to do to the company," I ranted as I paced back and forth in the living room of the house.
"Ally, calm down," Pepper tried.
"I'm not going to calm down. Stark is going to go down in flames because of his decision. I can't even imagine what grandpa would say if he were around today. He's probably rolling over in his grave right now as we speak. He would probably love to come back from the dead and ask dad what the hell he was thinking."
"Allison, I am not going to ask you again, please sit down and take a minute. I already have enough on my hands with your father being home and pulling this stunt, I don't have the capability to handle two Starks that are having mental breakdowns at the same time," She scolded me.
I gave her a blank look before sitting down on the couch. I sighed out of frustration and began rubbing my forehead before looking up at the TV to see the business channel talking about our stock.
"Stark Industries! I've got one recommendation! Ready? Ready? Sell! Sell! Sell! Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells? Let me show you the new Stark Industries business plan," He shouted out, placing a coffee mug on his desk that read Stark Industries on the side and then using a baseball bat to hit it off. I cringed in my seat and ran my hands over my face. "Look, that's a weapons company that doesn't make weapons!"
I shook my head at the TV until dad's voice came over the intercom. "Pepper, Ally, uh, how big are your hands?"
I furrowed my brows and looked down at the intercom in confusion as Pepper lowered the volume on the TV.
"What," She questioned in confusion.
"How big are you guys hands," Dad asked again.
Pepper looked up at me questioningly, causing me to shrug at her and shake my head because I didn't know the reason why.
"I don't understand, why...," She trailed off before dad interrupted her.
"Get down here, I need you two."
Dad hung up and Pepper placed her laptop on the table in front of her before she grabbed my wrist and dragged me down to dad's workshop with her. I groaned and walked down the stairs and stood behind her as she put in her code. The two of us walked in the lab and I looked at my dad curiously when I saw him laying in some kind of chair with his shirt off and hooked up to a heart monitor.
"Hey," Dad said in greeting. "Let's see them. Show me your hands." Pepper and I walked closer to dad as he stared at us. "Let's see them," He demanded again, lifting his hand to show us he wanted to see our hands. Pepper and I both lifted our hands and dad looked between them before nodding. "Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed. I just need your help for a sec."
I looked down at what dad was holding in his hand and then up to the device that's currently in his chest.
"Oh, my God, is that the thing that's keeping you alive," Pepper questioned dad in shock.
"It was. It is now an antique," Dad explained to the two of us.
"It looks like a tiny arc reactor," I pointed out.
"That's because it is. This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump."
I looked at my dad in amazement as he explained the situation to Pepper and me in the simplest way possible.
"Speed bump, what does that mean," Pepper questioned him worriedly.
"It's nothing. It's just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device," Dad explained as he started twisting the current arc reactor to release it from the center of his chest. "And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It's fine," He finished, pulling the arc reactor out of its home and tugging on it slightly to unplug it.
When the plug was released, he handed the old reactor to Pepper, and she fumbled and awkwardly grabbed it from his hands. "What do you want me to do?"
"Put that on the table over there. That is irrelevant," Dad explained to her.
Pepper turned and handed the old reactor to me, so I turned and placed it on the work table behind me before turning back around to face the two of them.
"I just want you to reach in, either of you, I don't care who, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out," Dad explained to the two of us calmly.
Pepper stepped forward and looked up at dad cautiously. "Is it safe?"
"Yeah, it should be fine. It's like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes "beep," Dad explained to her in order to reassure her.
"What do you mean Operation," Pepper asked him curiously.
"It's just a game, never mind, Just gently lift the wire, okay? Great. Okay," Dad sighed, settling into the chair he is in.
Pepper slowly started to place her hand inside the hole, but she pulled back at the last minute with a reluctant hiss. "You know, I-I don't think that I'm qualified to do this."
"If you won't do it I will," I spoke up from behind her.
"No, Ally, you stay right there," Dad scolded me before looking up at Pepper. "You're fine. You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great," Dad reassured her. Pepper still looked reluctant, and dad started getting impatient. Causing him to rush her on her decision. "Is it too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I'm..."
"Okay, okay," She said in exasperation.
"I really need your help here," Dad emphasized.
Pepper sighed and nodded at him one more time before reaching her hand into the hole in dad's chest. I stepped a little closer so I could look over her shoulder and watch what she's doing. Pepper slowly reached her hand in farther until she started to wince and pause where she was at.
"Oh, there's pus," She whined out in disgust.
"Oh, my God, now I'm really happy he didn't have me do it," I said in disgust, gagging from behind Pepper at the noise of the pus moving around Pepper's hand.
"It's not pus. It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body," Dad explained to her in reassurance.
"It smells," She whined out.
"Yeah, it does," Dad said in agreement.
"How bad does it smell," I questioned, moving closer. I leaned over and gave a sniff, causing me to gag again and move away, covering my nose. "Nope, I'm out. I can't do this. God, that smells so bad. It smells like roadkill mixed with rotten eggs." I started walking out of the garage until dad stopped me in my tracks.
"Ah, ah, you stay here young lady. You're going to put my new reactor in once she gets done," Dad called out to me.
"Oh, god, dad, please don't make me do this," I whined out.
"Get your ass over here," He demanded me in his fatherly tone.
I groaned and walked back over to Pepper's side. I looked over her shoulder once again and watched as she continued rooting around. "Did you find the wire yet?"
"Does it look like I found the wire yet," She snapped at me.
I widened my eyes at her in shock then looked back at dad with the same reaction. Dad tried to remain calm and unmoving on the chair as Pepper tried to find it.
"The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it," He questioned her.
"Okay, I got it! I got it," She told him, beginning to pull her hand out of the hole.
"Okay, you got it," Dad asked her, causing her to nod yes at him. "Now, don't let it-," Dad cut himself off with a shout after the heart monitor let out a buzz as well. I jumped in shock and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Touch the sides when you're coming out!"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Pepper continued apologizing as she pulled the wire out.
"That's what I was trying to tell you before. Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't pull out the... there's a magnet at the end of it- that was it," Dad cut himself off when Pepper pulled the magnet out of the hole. The heart monitor to my left started going crazy and I looked back at dad worriedly as Pepper held the magnet over the top of him.
"What," Pepper questioned him breathlessly.
"You just pulled it out."
"Oh, God," Pepper groaned out.
"Okay, I was not expecting- don't put it back in! Don't put it back in," Dad shouted at her when she moved to put the magnet back into his chest.
"Okay! What do I do," Pepper questioned him, moving to place the magnet over on the workbench.
"Dad, what's wrong," I questioned him worriedly.
"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest 'cause Pepper yanked the magnet out like a trout," Dad explained to me.
"What?! I thought you said this was safe," Pepper questioned dad loudly from behind me.
"Okay, Pepper, calm down," I shouted back at her.
"We gotta hurry. Take this. Take this," He yelled over us, handing me the new reactor. "You gotta switch it out really quick."
"Okay. Okay," I said calmly, taking the reactor from him. I leaned over him to start placing it in, but paused really quick and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Dad?"
"What," He questioned.
"It's going to be okay."
"Is it?"
"It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna make this okay," I reassured him.
"Let's hope."
I leaned forward and stuck the plug end of the reactor into the hole. I moved my hand down with it and began wincing and gagging when I started touching the discharge inside.
"Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure you..."
I plugged the reactor in, causing dad to let out a shout and the heart monitor to go back to normal. I placed the reactor fully in and started twisting it into place until I heard the faint click. I was breathing heavily and pulled my hands away from dad to see him smiling over at Pepper and me.
"Was that so hard? That was fun, right?"
"Are you okay," I questioned dad.
"Yeah, I feel great. You okay," He shrugged at me.
"I feel like I'm gonna puke," I breathed out to him.
"Okay, well, if you do that, do it over in a trashcan, not over here by me," Dad told me before he started laughing at Pepper and me.
"Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask us to do anything like that ever again," Pepper snapped out at him.
"I don't have anyone but you two," Dad shrugged at the two of us.
Pepper and I stared down at him in annoyance before I clenched my hands into fists and turned away from him.
"Anyway...," Dad groaned out as he started getting up from the table and taking all of the medical equipment off of him.
"What do you want me to do with this," Pepper asked him, holding up his old arc reactor.
"That? Destroy it. Incinerate it," Dad told her, wiping his chest off with a towel.
"You don't want to keep it," She asked him curiously.
"Pepper, I've been called many things. "Nostalgic" is not one of them. Except for when it comes to my beautiful daughter that I love so much," He said, gesturing over to me with a smile.
"You already got what you wanted from me, don't kiss up anymore," I rolled my eyes at him, walking over to the sink to wash my hands.
"Will that be all, Mr. Stark," She questioned him professionally.
"That will be all, Miss Potts," He nodded at her. The two stood in silence for a few seconds before dad moved away and pointed at DUM-E. "Hey, Butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk?" I watched as Pepper walked away looking down at the reactor in deep thought before I looked back over at dad and walked over to him at his desk.
"You know, this is the first time I've been down here since what happened," I told him, causing him to turn around and look back at me. "I wanted to after you went missing, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. All I could think about was how... this is really the only connection I had to you besides Stark Industries. But coming down here, and remembering what you used to do down here, all of your work, felt like I was admitting you were gone and you weren't coming back. It meant that I was going to have to eventually pack up all of your stuff away and put it in storage or give it away. I couldn't do it. Everything remained in its place and stayed how you left it the day we left."
"Did you really miss your old man that much," He questioned me with a smile.
I let out a little chuckle and sniffled back some tears before looking up at him and pulling him into a hug. "More than you could ever imagine."