Lucky Thirteen

There was a slap of something behind him and Tony turned away from his office window, where he'd been drinking his third cup of coffee and scrolling through his phone, to see his COO Pepper Potts standing in front of his desk with a hand on one hip and more sensible thermos of coffee in her other hand. She stared at him expectantly and finally he looked down in curiosity at his desk. He furrowed his brow and moved over to set down his mug and phone and pick up the science magazine. He raised his brow in her direction even as he began studying it.

"I think you should go," Pepper finally said.

His face fell as he saw the secondary headline on the cover announcing the upcoming science and technology convention in Germany. It was going to be one of the biggest meetings of minds of the year and she was crazy for suggesting it. Tony shook his head.

"You know I don't do conferences anymore. Stark Industries has enough brilliant minds it can send. You can go too if you want," he took a chance to jab even if he knew she was brilliant in her own way. "I don't need to be there."

He opened the magazine and skimmed the list of articles. It was embarrassingly last century and a waste of ink and paper since not everyone recycles, but his eyes caught on one title that looked particularly interesting about anti-electron collision and he began flipping through the magazine to get to its location. He was well aware that Pepper was still standing there with a frown on her face and he was equally aware that she was aware that he was now pointedly ignoring her.

She sighed. "Tony, it's been seven years."

"You say that like there's some expiration on—"

"I didn't mean that," Pepper snapped and set her thermos down on his desk. He looked up at her and she looked sorry for her outburst. "You know I didn't mean it like that."

He just gave her a nod. "I do know that," he conceded as his eyes scanned the first paragraph of the excerpt of a paper written by a Dr. Robert Bruce Banner. He was already intrigued so dog eared the page to come back to when he wasn't about to have a serious conversation with his friend. "Look, Pepper. I'm fine. I'm out in the world. I'm running this ship. I'm seeing people again. Isn't that enough?"

She folded her arms gently. "Not really, no. First of all, you've only been on, what, a handful of serious dates in the last two years? That's not exactly seeing people."

He rolled his eyes and looked back out the window at the Manhattan skyline. "First of all," he imitated, "I'm a busy man. Second of all you know how hard it is to find people interested in, well, me. As a person. Not just some billionaire tech magnate celebrity symbol or whatever the hell. And then there's the kids," he added, turning back toward her just in time to see the slight nod of understanding. "Not many people looking to be hoisted into the spotlight along with a ready-made family. Not even my charm and money is worth that kind of baggage to most. And the ones that seemed interested… it just wasn't right." He shrugged.

"Tony, that's not even what I'm really talking about here," Pepper said gently as she sat down in the chair in front of his desk. "Would I like to see you happy with someone again? Yes. Absolutely. But it's not a requirement. You have your kids and that is what matters."

Tony gave a half smile as he sat down in his own chair. He knew she wasn't finished so he just took another drink of his coffee.

"But…" She started slowly and he looked at her impatiently. "You may be out in the world and running this ship, but this is about you refusing to get out there and do anything that even remotely reminds you of Maya." His face fell at the sound of his late wife's name and he swallowed his drink hard. "She wouldn't want this, Tony. I know you're trying. I know you're better off than you were five years ago."

That was when he had found out that her accident two years prior had been no accident, rather a hit on them both ordered by a man he had trusted like an uncle. The hit had failed on him the first time by a matter of happenstance. Two years later Obadiah Stane had tried again, bringing about the revelation of what had happened to his wife. Tony, who had only begun to heal from the loss of his wife, had hit rock bottom with depression, anger, paranoia on behalf of his kids whom Stane had also threatened, and enough alcohol that he had almost lost those kids, who were also struggling with the betrayal and near-loss of their dad along with mom, unless he agreed to get treated for PTSD. Of course it hadn't even been an issue of whether to choose them or wallowing in fear and anxiety, but it had been an uphill battle and he didn't like being reminded of the event no matter how many years passed.

Pepper continued when he didn't respond. "Tony, I think this is the next step and Maya would want you to take it. She wouldn't be happy to know you refuse to go to conferences that you belong at. She wouldn't be okay with you isolating yourself from the science community eighty percent of the time because you're afraid of getting close to that world again."

"What is this really about?" Tony finally asked because he wasn't an idiot – he was a genius actually – and knew Pepper had to have some ulterior motive if she was suddenly pushing him to do this now. The dating thing he could understand. But she knew that science conferences were his sorest spot having had met Maya at one a little over fifteen years prior. So there had to be a reason.

"It's about Skye," Pepper answered, not one to deflect a question. "She really wants to go to the junior conference," she said in reference to the conference held simultaneously in another pavilion. It was a way for young scientists to meet with other young scientists or in other cases a safe place for parents at the conference to leave their children while they lectured or listened.

Tony narrowed his eyes in confusion. "She hasn't said anything to me about it."

Pepper gave him a soft glare in return. "Of course not because she's afraid to ask. She just assumes you'll say no."

Tony frowned as he felt a pang of guilt settle across his chest. "So she came to you?"

Pepper hitched a shoulder. "She knows you would never let her go on her own and no matter how much you try to tell them otherwise so they won't worry about you, she's not stupid, Tony. She knows that this is about her mother. She knows that you wouldn't go with her if she asked."

Tony slumped backwards in his chair. "Has it really gotten that bad? That my own daughter can't even come to me about this?"

"Tony, she's almost 14," Pepper said gently. As if he needed the reminder that he was the father of a teenage daughter… "It's a confusing time for her. I think she cares about not hurting or upsetting you, but at the same time she wants to come to you. This is only going to get harder if you don't deal with it now."

"Maya would be disappointed in me, wouldn't she?" Tony asked as he leaned forward again and reached for the magazine.

Pepper reached out and placed a friendly hand atop his. "I say this because you're my friend and because Maya was my friend, but yes I think she would be a little disappointed. But I also think she would understand that you're a little out of your depth. You've been a hell of a single father for seven years, Tony. So don't sell yourself short on that. She wouldn't want that. But she would want you to finally move on and stop needlessly hurting especially if it's what's best for your kids."

Tony sighed, hating that she had a point. He did his damnedest to be a good father, but it had been easier when the kids were younger and still clung to him and came to him about everything. She was right that he had been struggling as of late now that none of them would be under the age of ten before the year was over. He needed to approach the problem head on even if it meant getting over his own issues for their sake.

"Think you and Happy can watch the others?" He asked as she drew away her hand and he grabbed the magazine.

"Of course," she said with a smile.

Harley sank into his chair almost as soon as Tony walked into Principal Coulson's office at the S.H.I.E.L.D. – which stood for Science Humanities Information Engineering Languages Diplomacy, the school's focus programs – K-8 Academy and fixed his son with an unhappy look. Tony had been in the middle of a conference call with Fujikawa, a subsidiary in Japan, when he had gotten a message from his personal AI, JARVIS that Principal Coulson had called.

"You are in serious trouble," Tony said to the point as he shook Coulson's hand and then took a seat next to his youngest son.

"Yes, he is," Coulson agreed as he opened a drawer and then quickly placed a homemade potato shooter on the desk in front of him.

Tony's eyes widened and he scrubbed his face before looking at Harley in disbelief. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't going to use it unless I had to," Harley replied sulkily with a shrug.

"No, no, that's not an answer. There's no reason whatsoever for you to bring that to school let alone use it. I'm…" He threw up his hands and looked back at Coulson in distress. "I don't know what's gotten into you if you think that this is acceptable." Tony shook his head.

"Harley, can you give your father and I a moment?" Coulson said evenly, fixing Harley with a look that said it wasn't actually a question. "We'll discuss your punishment afterwards."

Tony watched his son roll his eyes disrespectfully as he left the room. "I don't even know what to say," he said as soon as he was alone with the principal.

"Mr. Stark, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. I think Harley has become a favorite target of bullies." Tony felt himself become indignant on behalf of Harley in spite of his disappointment with him at the moment. "The only problem is I haven't been able to catch it in the act. I'm not even sure it's physical or if it's only verbal and emotional. And Harley won't open up when I ask him. He says he's fine. But he doesn't have many friends and he's become gradually more despondent over the course of the school year." Coulson gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm very, very concerned about him. He's a bright kid. He's a joy to have in class according to all of his teachers. And usually he's quite energetic and talkative. Sometimes too talkative," Coulson added with a small smile.

Tony smiled also as he was well aware of that fact. There were times when Harley would get going and simply wouldn't stop. Everyone joked that it was an inherited trait from Tony. His older sister Darcy was much the same way.

"I haven't noticed any problems at home," Tony said honestly with a shrug.

Coulson sighed. "No, I imagine you wouldn't. I'm sure he still feels safe at home and up until today I'm assuming he didn't have any reason to blur that line. But that line will blur now, Mr. Stark if nothing is done. Clearly something has escalated for Harley to feel the need to protect himself with a weapon. I can only assume that had I not found out about it from his teacher that you would have begun to see the signs at home as well." Coulson paused. "Fortunately, we're coming up to the end of the school year so we have timing on our side. We can proactively address this prior to the next school year."

Tony listened, a million thoughts whirring through his mind that he attempted to reign in. He wasn't always level headed in these situations. He just wanted to protect his children from anything and everything. He was the kind to quickly point a finger in a million different directions at once. But Harley had created a weapon and taken it to school without his knowing so as angry as he was at the school for not telling him sooner that there might be a problem, he couldn't help but feel guilty for that happening under his own watch.

"I promise I will deal with this," Tony finally said. "But his punishment?"

Coulson gave him an even look. "I want to suspend him for two weeks." Tony opened his mouth to respond, but Coulson held up a hand. "I think it's for his own good. I want him out of this environment for a little while or at least until we can get to the bottom of the problem. That said I also want him to report to the counselor at the high school for the remainder of the year."

"At the high school?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"I've found that students don't always trust that what they say to their own teachers won't spread to their classmates somehow. An objective, outside source is sometimes what they need. S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy has that benefit of pulling sources from one school to the other. In this case, I believe it would be beneficial for Harley to speak with someone outside of this school."

Tony sighed and nodded. "Understood. What can I do?"

"What you always do, Mr. Stark. Be there for him. Love him. This can get better. In the meantime, I'll arrange it with the counselor and you can expect a call sometime this afternoon." Coulson stood and moved toward the door. "Harley, we've reached a decision on your consequences if you'd please step back in here."

"You're mad at me," Harley said when they were done with the meeting with Coulson and heading to the SUV.

"Well, I'm not particularly happy," Tony replied, but kept his tone even.

His father had always used a sharp tone of voice with him when he was angry. It was always a sharp, condescending kind of anger meant to cut him down to size and remind him that Howard Stark was the king. His father had been cold and distant and it was the opposite of what Tony had determined to be for his own children – even though in his teen years he had never planned on children at all – so that meant being as open with them as he could, even when he was unhappy.

"Look, Harley, I'm unhappy that somewhere along the way you decided you can't come to me about whatever this is." He sighed. "I'm unhappy with myself if I haven't taught you that weapons aren't the answer. But mostly I'm just unhappy that something or somebody has made you think this might be the only viable solution," he said with honest anger in his tone geared toward his son's oppressors.

There was silence until they reached the luxurious model of an SUV. It was Friday and he had given the kids' driver the day off. He made sure to be the one to pick up his kids at least once a week, days varying, if he could.

"I'm sorry, dad," the nine year old said when they stopped on the passenger side. "I won't do it again," Harley promised.

"Damn right you won't," Tony replied with a smile that belied his words. "You know how I know?" Harley shook his head. "Because you're a good kid. And you're the kind of kid who learns from this kind of thing and bounces right back." He ruffled his son's hair and then squeezed his shoulder before looking down at his watch. "Alright, kiddo. Let's go get some lunch and then we'll crash your brother's track and field meet. Sound like a plan?"

Tony sidled into the bleachers along with the other parents that were there a little early for the afternoon meet. Parents didn't have to come as it was being held within school hours, but they were invited just the same and Tony had planned on it anyhow. Currently some of the S.H.I.E.L.D. students on the team were practicing or warming up.

"Hey, Uncle T!" Sam noticed him and waved before saying something to his friends and bounding up the stairs toward them. "You're here early. And hey, little dude! Didn't expect to see you," he said with a smile at Harley.

Tony smiled at his best friend's infectious son, who was also his off-and-on charge. It was a little strange perhaps, but he acted as Sam's secondary legal guardian whenever Lt. Col. James Rhodes was stationed overseas – which he was currently. His friend Rhodey didn't want Sam holed up alone in military school, Tony wholeheartedly agreed having been sent away to boarding school as a kid, and Tony didn't mind having his surrogate nephew of sorts around. It had been their arrangement for nearly twelve years. It had been Maya's suggestion when Rhodey hadn't known what else to do the first time he was deployed after Sam's mother had up and left them.

"I got suspended," Harley said and Tony thought he sounded maybe a little too boastful about it, as if it were some feat worthy of street cred. He mused that it must be some sort of sins of the father type deal.

"Suspended?" Sam looked at him in disbelief. "That doesn't sound like you at all." Harley just shrugged. "Well, then is Mr. Big and Bad too tough to cheer me on now?"

Harley smiled as he scoffed. "Of course not. You're number one on the track team. Only an idiot wouldn't."

Sam beamed. "Yeah, well, I'm just glad I'll be out of here before Pietro shows up," he then said and Tony smiled proudly in regard to his middle son. "He'll probably shatter my record the first time he steps on the track."

Tony continued to smile and he nodded. "Probably. That kid was born to run."

"Nah, Uncle T. I don't think running is even fast enough."

Tony snorted. Sam might have a point on that one. "Yeah, he's been bugging me to let him try junior racing. I might look into it for his thirteenth birthday," he considered out loud.

Tony caught sight of his oldest son, Clint coming onto the track and field with his bow and quiver; he was a part of the archery team and although archery wasn't technically a track and field sport the school combined the archery competitions with the meet since it was such a small sport on its own. Clint was already good enough that he was a member of USA Archery, had competed for a time when he was younger on a youth team – before Maya passed and he lost touch with it for a while – and looked forward to trying out for a spot on the USA team when he was old enough.

"Hey, Clint!" Harley yelled for his brother, but he didn't acknowledge them.

Sam snapped suddenly. "Right. Forgot I have his aid. He wanted to take a swim to loosen his muscles. Be right back," Sam said and hurried back down the stairs.

Tony watched as Sam got Clint's attention, speaking into his right ear as the boy was legally deaf in his left – the ear that had been turned toward the bleachers thus his not having heard them. Clint then turned with a grin and waved at them while Sam grabbed his track bag and dug out the hearing aid. Once Clint had secured it in place, he came bounding up the bleachers without bothering with the stairs. Sam followed behind more practically, using the stairs as he obviously didn't want to risk injury before running.

"Hey, punk. What are you doing here?" Clint asked with a ruffle of his younger brother's hair.

Harley pushed his hand away. "Here to watch you suck and then rub it in your face," the younger boy taunted.

"In your dreams. I have eyes like a hawk. I never miss," Clint said smugly. Some parents might warn a kid not to be overly confident or show off-y. Tony most certainly did not subscribe to that methodology as he himself was an egotistic asshole at times – in an endearing way, of course. "Seriously though, how come dad sprung you from prison and nobody else?" Clint looked at Tony curiously.

"More like he was so awful the prison didn't even want him," Tony teased, nudging his younger son.

"What?" Clint looked just as disbelieving as Sam before it turned up into a smirk. "Way to go, punk!"

Tony's teasing smile turned into a glowering look aimed at the sixteen year old. "Uh, no. We're not encouraging this. What he did was wrong and he's being punished."

"I don't get how being kicked out of school is a punishment," Clint said with a shrug which was a fair point.

However, Harley deflated beside Tony. "I have to see your guidance counselor every day for the next two weeks," he mumbled.

Sam tried to bite down on a laugh. Clint kept his face impassive, but Tony could see the hint of impish delight there. "Ouch. Sorry, man. But, hey, Dr. Drumm's not so bad. Well, I better get back to practicing," Clint then said and he and Sam left.

"And then Mr. Pym had the audacity to suggest that robots are incapable of ever becoming sentient on their own regardless of how advanced our programming becomes," Tony's middle daughter, Wanda said as they worked on a robot together in his home workshop before dinner arrived – Fridays and Saturdays were rotated among the kids to pick what they wanted for dinner and Clint picked pizza.

"Well, he sure would have a fit over JARVIS wouldn't he?" Tony asked with a laugh.

Thank you, Sir, the AI intoned on his own as if proving the point.

"I would have told him he was wrong, but I've already gotten three tallies in his class this month," Wanda said next and Tony shook his head. He wasn't always sure whether or not he should encourage his children's right to question the things presented to them by their teachers if they were clearly untrue. "It didn't seem like the kind of thing to get detention for no matter how wrong he is. It would be a waste of time as nobody would take my side."

"That's my girl," Tony said with a smile as he attempted to splice a few wires. This behavior he definitely could encourage. "Take it from me, learn how to pick your battles now and you'll be better off later. If it wasn't for your mother, I'd probably still be fighting the wrong battles and I wouldn't have you and your brothers and sisters to fill my life with—"

"Chaos?" Wanda asked with a teasing raise of an eyebrow as she reached for a wrench.

"Yep," Tony replied. "Wonderful chaos that I wouldn’t trade for the world."

They worked in tandem without anything further said for several moments. Every now and then Tony would step back and let Wanda take control as she was deeply focused on her work. Of all his children, she was the one who had taken most to robotics and she was increasingly good at it.

"Hey, dad," she spoke again finally. "Do you think you'll ever marry again?"

Sometimes her questions came out of left field. Of all of his children she was also the most perceptive and had a way of just broaching these kinds of topics without segue way. She looked at him curiously and his face softened after the initial shock wore off.

"Honestly, sweetheart, I don't know one way or another." He hitched a shoulder as he fiddled with his wire cutter. "These things are complicated."

She tilted her head and studied him. "Sometimes you seem lonely."

He gaped slightly. "How could I be lonely? I have six kids. Seven if you count Sam when he's here," he added with a small laugh. "And then there's Dummy and U and Butterfingers and JARVIS too. Let's not forget the practical menagerie of animals you guys somehow keep talking me into letting you keep," he said it with a chuckle and defeated shake of his head.

"Dad, that's not the same and you know it," Wanda protested. "Mom would want you to find love again."

"Somebody's been watching Hallmark movies with Happy," Tony accused playfully. He then became more serious. "I won't say I wouldn't ever try again with somebody, but it's a matter of finding the right person," he explained, trusting she would understand. "Your mother was amazing and that's a hard act to follow. The man or woman who could do that would have to be so special that I'm just a little afraid they don't exist. They would have to love you and the others just as much as they love me and that's a lot to ask for some people. Make sense?"

Wanda looked thoughtful. "Well, I think if he or she fell in love with you, they would love us too by default. Right? Or else you would know it wasn't real."

Tony offered her a half smile at her simple conclusion. He wished it was that easy, that he could be that naïve about the matter, but he decided not to shatter her illusions with complexities of the heart and emotions and real life. You don't always choose who you fall in love with or how they feel in return, after all.

"It's a good start," he said simply.

Chaos definitely reigned supreme around the large dining table as the kids all chattered about school and what they wanted to do for the weekend. Tony listened and played with the schedule on his phone. He could remember the days when he couldn't do any of it without Maya and then Pepper's help after Maya was gone as he'd been unable to do much of anything at first. But he had gotten the hang of it eventually. He wasn't perfect and still mis-scheduled things or forgot stuff until the last moment, but he usually figured out how to fix it if he could.

"I need to go take care of Scarlet," Wanda said of her horse that they housed at a nearby stable.

"Can I come?" Darcy asked her older sister.

"I just want to hang out here," Clint said around a bite of pizza and Sam agreed.

"The surf is supposed to be good tomorrow," Pietro chimed in.

Tony took a bite of pizza and shook his head, feeling a little overwhelmed. "Oh, wait." He suddenly scrolled back up on the schedule and noticed the appointment already at the top. "Darcy, you have your glasses fitting with the optometrist tomorrow morning."

He looked over as she slumped forward in the chair on his right hand side. She sulkily put her elbows on the table and rested her cheeks against her closed fists. "I don't want glasses. Why can't I have contacts?"

"We're not having this discussion again," Tony said firmly before taking a drink of soda.

She had begged and pleaded and thrown a fit to get contacts, but she was only ten and the eye doctor was perfectly clear that it wasn't suggested unless the child was extremely mature and responsible. Frankly, Darcy really wasn't responsible enough yet and he had no desire to have to rush his daughter to the hospital should she forget to take out the contact and it get lodged behind her eyeball or something else along those lines. He had literally had nightmares of all kinds of gruesome situations after the doctor had explained potential risks of not maintaining a rigid care regimen.

"But the kids are going to make fun of me even more now," Darcy whined. "They already call me fat!"

Tony frowned. "That's just because they don't have any imagination, sweetheart."

"It's cuz they're not about the bass, 'bout the bass, just treble," Skye sing-songed near the other end of the table and kept repeating it over and over as Clint and Sam laughed and Pietro joined in.

"Ugh, that is not music!" Wanda complained. Tony was inclined to agree.

"Now I'll be fat with four eyes," Darcy continued to whine. "It's not fair!"

"You're not fat, Darcy," Wanda said, though Tony didn't miss the roll of eyes toward her older sister as she continued to lead a chorus in pop music.

"Your sister is right," Tony said gently. "And if they call you fat with four eyes then you use that clever tongue of yours to dish it right back," he then said with a cheeky smile.

All of the others stopped and turned to look at him in surprise. "Dad, that is like the worst advice ever!" Skye said with a laugh that the others joined in on.

After that they continued dinner and figured out the plans for the weekend before the kids made a mad dash toward the recreational room where most Friday nights were spent together like a nice tradition that had sort of just happened.

"Go ahead and rack 'em up and I'll be there in a few minutes," he told Clint, Sam, and Skye before they left the room, taking the extra pizza with them. They almost always started with a game of pool. "Hey, Pietro," he called to his middle son before he could fly off. The boy stopped in his tracks. "Don't think I didn't see the letter pinned to your backpack, kiddo. Go get it."

While Pietro left, in no hurry for once, Tony cleared any remaining items on the table, somewhat lamenting the loss of his own childhood when he'd had faithful butler Edwin Jarvis to do this type of thing. But it wasn't too bad now that the kids were older. The only left over plates were Darcy's and Harley's and there were some empty boxes of pizza and forgotten drinks that the kids would probably come back for at some point passing through – after also consuming whatever drinks they could get their hands on in the fridge in the rec room. He often wondered if Maya would tell him to run a tighter ship, but at the very least caffeine was limited to Friday and Saturday so he hoped he wasn't doing too miserably. And he was always a firm believer in all work, no play being a horrible way to live.

"Here," Pietro said tossing the envelope on the table. "It's a recommendation for stupid summer school," he said, bouncing a little on his feet as if uncomfortable.

Tony just nodded, opened the envelope addressed to him and took out the brochure and letter from his home room teacher. He quickly scanned over the concerns of the teacher. "She says you've improved drastically in English and you're getting there in math." He offered his son a smile. "So it sounds like you've been working hard and paying attention to the tutoring."

Pietro stopped fidgeting. "I wish I was smart like the others," he said forlornly.

"I hate to break it to you, buddy, but you are definitely not the only Stark to need summer school," he said plainly. "Clint and Skye have both done their time in the past."

"Skye?" Pietro looked flabbergasted.

"Yep," he said, popping the 'p' as he laid aside the letter and brochure and moved to put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Don't you remember when she was Harley's age and she had to work hard to get better?" He was almost two years younger, so maybe he didn't. "Just like you're working hard right now. Your sister might be a tech whiz, but that doesn't make her an expert at everything. We all have our strengths. Yours just aren't strictly academic and that's okay."

"So I really have to go to summer school?" Pietro looked up at him with a grimace.

Tony gave him a sardonic pout. "Yes, you really have to go to summer school. Sorry. Now let's go take out our frustration on some games, yeah?"

Pietro huffed, but then smiled in agreement to that idea.

Tony knocked softly on Skye's bedroom door. "Still up?"

"Yeah, come in," she called.

He entered to find her lounging against her head rest, knees pulled up, and reading something on her tablet. "Anything good?" He asked.

"It's called The Girl At Midnight. It's okay so far," she said with a shrug. She then set aside the tablet and sat up in a cross legged position, clearly expecting him to have something specific to say.

"So I hear there's a science conference in Germany next week," Tony said to the point and her eyes widened. "I was thinking of going. Maybe you and Sam could tag along." He might still be a little paranoid, but he would feel better if Sam went with her to the Junior Conference.

"Really!?" Skye bounced a little and looked at him hopefully.

"Yes, really. I'm already looking into some last minute accommodations and registration. I'll speak to Principal Fury and your teachers to excuse you next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. You'll probably still be jet lagged come Monday, but I'm sure you'll manage."

"Yeah, I'll manage!" she exclaimed. "I can't believe it. How did Aunt Pepper talk you into it?"

Tony sat down on the edge of her bed. "She just told me you mentioned wanting to go."

"Is that all she mentioned?" Skye asked, sounding uncertain and worrying her lip.

"No," Tony answered honestly. "She also mentioned that you were worried that something like this would hurt me so you didn't want to just ask me about it."

"It's just mom…" she started, but her sentence trailed.

"Yeah, mom. But mom would be kicking me in very uncomfortable places right now if I didn't get over that so I can make you happy. Sure, it might be a little difficult for me, but, Skye, it's also difficult knowing you think I'll just shut you down without even listening."

She sighed and looked down at her lap. "I know. I started to ask you like ten times. I even almost asked JARVIS to put it on your calendar or something."

He snorted quietly. "Yeah, that sounds like something you would do. Look, I'm not mad okay? I don't want you to think I'm mad that you went to Pepper. I get it. Aunt Pepper's probably going to be fielding a lot of issues over the next few years and I'm just going to have to deal with that. But when it comes to stuff like this, I hope you can still come to me, okay?" He fixed her with a serious look.

"Okay." She nodded and he stood to his feet, satisfied that he'd made his point with their heart to heart. "Thanks for letting me go. I love you, dad."

Tony smiled softly and walked over to lean over and give her a hug. "I love you too, princess." He kissed her on the forehead. "I know it's Friday, but try not to stay up too much later, okay? Don't want to end up with my sleeping habits," he said with a teasing smile before wishing her good night and leaving the room.

Tony made his way then to his own room and sat down at the food of his king size bed. He wasn't particularly tired, certainly all the soda hadn't helped, so he had a pretty good feeling that after he cleaned up and changed into sweats and an undershirt he would end up just watching television or maybe even heading out to the garage to work on one of his vintage cars.

He sighed as he looked around the vast, empty space of his room. Tony hated to admit it, but Wanda had been right. Sometimes when it was just him in his bedroom or in the garage or even in his workshop, he was lonely.