Vegas Baby
Las Vegas,February 2008
Tony was in the backseat of his Rolls Royce with his son being driven by Happy. Unfortunately in the past year, since Peter started school, more and more pictures of him had surfaced. Tony and Pepper had been absolutely ruthless with anyone who published any pictures of Peter but they still inevitably got out. Hiding Maria was so much easier only because no one was looking for her. People had been looking for Pete since he was born.
They were making a quick trip so Tony could receive his Apogee Award at Caesars Palace but while they were in the air, Peter had started to get a fever and sore throat, so they were stopping at a drug store first. Happy pulled into the parking and ran into the store to get medicine for Peter while Tony stayed in the car with him.
“How you doin bud?” He asked as he brushed Peter's bangs off his face.
Peter just pulled his blanket tighter and let out a mumbled, “I’m cold.”
“I know bud. As soon as I get that award we’re back on the plane and heading home.” He said with a sad smile. “Sound good?”
All he got in response from the sick six year old was an even more mumbled, “Uh huh.”
Happy came out of the store, bags in hand and went right for Tony’s door.
“They have everything?” Tony asked as he immediately started going through the bags looking for the children's cold medicine.
“Yeah boss.”
Before he could close the door, a small voice from the seat next to him could be heard. “Thank you, Happy.” Before he started coughing.
Happy gave the kid a small smile. “Anytime kid.”
With that they continued onto the hotel. Usually, Tony wouldn’t bring Peter with him to these things but he was leaving for a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan tomorrow and would be gone for a couple days so he wanted to spend some time with him. Although, the kid being sick wasn’t part of the plan.
As they pulled into the hotel driveway Peter was already asleep. Tony fixed his jacket before he got out of the car.
“Hap. You good staying here with Pete?” He asked his driver/bodyguard quietly.
Tony could see Happy nod his head yes. With that, he got out of the car and made his way into the casino along with the extra security he brought with them. As he’s making his way through the casino he could see Rhodey walking towards him, all dressed up in his Airforce Uniform.
“You are unbelievable.” Rhodey said, stopping in front of his friend.
Tony merely rolled his eyes at the Colonel “Oh, no. Did they rope you into this?”
Rhodey was clearly pissed. “Nobody roped me into anything!”
Tony put his hands up in mock surrender. “I'm so sorry.”
“They told me that if I presented you with an award, that you'd be deeply honored.” Rhodes shot back, annoyed.
Tony grabbed his best friend by the shoulder, “Of course I'd be deeply honored. And it's you, that's great.” He let go and continued on into the casino and called over his shoulder. “So when do we do it?”
Rhodes called back, having not moved. “It's right here.” Tony turned around and noticed the award was in Rhodey’s held up hand. “Here you go.”
Tony walked back to his friend and took the award. “There it is. That was easy.” He said as he looked at it. “Wow. Would you look at that? That's something else. I don't have any of those floating around.
“You really are unbelievable. Missing your own award.” Rhodey said incredulously as they turned around and started making their way back out.
“What do you want from me? I’ve got a sick kid sitting in the car.” Tony defended himself.
“Shit.” Rhodey said, some guilt started to take hold at the mention of Peter before he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “How sick are we…..”
Tony quickly cut him off. “He’s got a 100 degree fever, sore throat, and a cough asshole.”
Rhodey raised his hands in defense. “Sorry. Just making sure.”
As the two friends walked they continued to banter. Once they reached the lobby, Rhodey started to break off. “This is where I exit. Tomorrow, don't be late.”
Tony turned around and started to walk backward looking at his friend. “Yeah, you can count on it.”
Rhodes called back. “I’m serious.”
As Tony made his way towards the exit, he handed the award to the man in the Caesar get up that was taking a picture with someone.
As he got outside, he saw Happy standing outside the car next to Peter's now open door. He had just reached the car, intending to go to Pete’s side to see what was going on, when he heard a voice call from behind.
“Mr. Stark! Excuse me, Mr. Stark! Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine. Can I ask you a couple of questions?”
Tony wanted nothing more than to tell the woman to go to hell but Pepper had just yelled at him to start and play a little nicer with the press. The evil woman had even used the setting a good example for Peter argument on him. God he hated her sometimes. Putting on his proverbial mask for the press, he turned around to face the blonde reporter and put some distance between him and the car.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” She replied right back and he fought the urge to roll his eyes.
Figuring that he would have to be the one to start this. “Okay. Go.”
The reporter looked confused at first but quickly snapped out of it. “You've been called
the da Vinci of our time. What do you say to that?
“Absolutely ridiculous. I don't paint.”
“And what do you say to your other nickname? "The Merchant of Death"?” She asks suddenly with a cold edge about her that kind of caught him by surprise.
He hadn’t actually heard that one before. “That's not bad.” He said before addressing Everhart. “Let me guess. Berkeley?”
“Brown, actually.” She corrected.
“Well, Ms. Brown, it's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got. I guarantee you, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals.”
“Rehearse that much?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime.” He said sarcastically. In truth he had just made that up on the fly.
“I can see that.” She said in a tone that made Tony think she was looking for a little more. When she realized that he was going to hit back she pressed on. “All I want is a serious answer.”
Tony desperately wanted this to end. “Okay, here's serious. My old man had a philosophy, "Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy”."
“That's a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks.” She shot right back.
God he hated Pepper right now. “My father helped defeat the Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, including your professors at Brown, would call that being a hero.”
“And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering.”
Okay, he was done. “Tell me, do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs, military funding, honey.”
“Have you ever lost an hour of sleep your whole life?” She asked.
Tony merely smirked at her, “Most nights but probably not for the reasons that you think.” With that said he walked back towards the car and motioned for Happy that they were leaving.
He looked over at his son and saw him smiling at him. Tony just ruffled his hair as Happy started driving them to the airport so they could head home.