Chapter 3
Tonys POV:
She was here. Right here in front of me. God the last time I saw her she was 3 or 4. Her mother hated my guts because I refused to pay more child support. I was already paying the dribble amount of what was required by state! I didn't want Charleen to live only from my money. After I told her that, she screamed at me to go away and never come back. So I did. I knew I wasn't meant to be a father. I knew she would be better of without me in her life. I left and broke off all contact we had. I never told anyone about her, not even Pepper or Rhodey. Brooklyn was my secret. I was afraid of breaking her like my father broke me, so I put every memory of her away and never spoke about it again. I always thought she was happy. Sure her mother was never a fan of me, but I sure she loved Brooklyn. It was impossible not to love her. Seeing her now standing here in front of me, asking for my permission to leave every family she has behind, it broke my heart. What happened to her ? What happened to my sweet little girl ? When I looked into her eyes I saw nothing. No shine, no fire that used to be there every time she looked at somebody. I don't like it. Scratch that, I hate it. I wished I could just take her into my arms and tell her everything's going to be fine like I did when she was younger, before I left. But I couldn't, she hated me and I understood. But I also couldn't let her leave.
"You're not getting emancipated !" I declared firmly. Rolling her eyes she huffed and looked at me again. Her gaze completely indifferent.
"Why ?"
"Why ? Simply because I'm not going to allow my 16 year old daughter to live all by herself."
"You know, you kinda lost all your rights to allow me anything a long time ago." Okay she got me there. I did leave. But it was only for her best, I'm no father material. I don't even want to imagine in how many ways I would've fucked her up. But even with that in mind I couldn't sign those damn papers. I looked at her once again. Took in her hair, the worn-down clothes, which she still managed to make them look as if they were in purpose for a kind of street-style look, her deep-brown eyes that looked scarily like mine. But most importantly I took in the look in her eyes. Nobody, especially nobody this young, should have that kind of look in their eyes, so distant, as if she stopped caring for anything in this world especially for herself. Seeing this look I made up my mind. If she doesn't want to live with her mother she's going to live with me. I'm her father, I can make her live with me right ? "Your not going to get emancipation."
"Well I'm not gonna live with mum either sooo you either signing that paper or I'm going to hide from the state and live on the streets." she said matter of factly.
"Wrong there is a third option."
"And that would be ?"
"Your gonna live with me. Here. At the tower. We have enough space and I am your father, it would be totally acceptable for you to live here." Silence. It was as if I felt every single eyebrow in the room being raised. I looked over at Pepper for reassurance, but she looked even more flabbergasted than before. Great. The entire room had the same expression. Even Nat was surprised and normally it was impossible to see any kind of emotion on the spy's face. I flinched at the sound of a sudden laugh. It was Brooklyn's. I could tell it was fake. Her real laugh was contagious. It used to brighten the entire room. God I would do anything to hear that laugh again instead of this one.
"You. Want me to live here ?" she said gesturing around the tower. "Wow. ehrm. ok. Didn't know you could be so funny stark, gotta say that..."
"I'm not joking." I interrupted her.
"Tony. Can I talk to you for a second ?" Pepper suddenly piped in. She must've recovered from the initial shock. She yanked me a few feet away from Brooklyn and the rest of the team.
"Pep, Honey, Love of my life, listen. I know what you think, but I can't let her live on her own. She wouldn't be safe. And I know it's a big shock that I have a kid and I didn't tell you guys, I couldn't and-"
"Did you think this through?" she interrupted me in her what I call boss voice. Normally it was reserved for business meetings or when I was about to do something stupid. Ok I get why she would use it now.
"What do you mean ?"
"Tony, there are obviously some serious issues between you two and I don't know the story behind it. But if you really want to go through with this, you need to be completely serious about it. This is not a thing you can do halfway. You either commit fully to it or you don't do it at all. So I'm asking you now, did you think this through ? Are you sure that you want to do this ? Because then I'm gonna call our lawyers first thing tomorrow morning so there won't be any leaks that you taking in your teenaged daughter and that nobody could take her away from you."
It's impossible to describe how much I love this woman right now. She doesn't ask any questions why I didn't tell her or tries to change my mind. No she simply takes it in as if it is a normal day and ask ME if I'm sure I wanna do this. She doesn't even think of going away or backing down. "You, you would be ok with that ?"
She smiled fondly at me,: " Would I be okay if you would take care of your daughter at take the responsibility ? Of course I would be okay with that. I just want to know if you are ok with it."
"I am. I know I'm no father material, you know the stuff with Howard. But I can't let her just leave like that, I can't."
"I know." We started going back to the others and Brooklyn when she leaned in and whispered "and for what its worth Tony, I think you have the potential to be a great father." Seeing me rolling my eyes at that statement she just smirked and mouthed you'll see.
Coming back, Brooklyn was still in the middle of the living room. Her face showed no emotions just like before, but it was clear as day from her body language, she was feeling out of place and she didn't want to be here. The thought of her not feeling welcomed in my home made my heart ache for some reason. It didn't even make any sense, of course she wouldn't think of the tower as her home, she was never here before. I cut off all the contact. Taking a deep breath I started the conversation again.
"Brooklyn, you are going to live here."
"No"
"Yes"
"No"
"Yes"
She looked me dead in they eyes. I knew what this was. A battle on who would give up first. "You have two options. You either are going to live here or with your mother, you definitely are not going to live on your own."
"Why do you even care ?"
"What kind of superhero would I be if I would allow a minor to practically run away from home."
At that sentence she scoffed. The most reaction I saw today. Even the argument we were having right now was emotionally based only one sided. I was about to explode from frustration about her and she just looked annoyed. Her voice sounded tired and fed up, as if all of this was just an enormous waste of time.
"Let me get this straight. This is all about your image ?! Cause believe me I would be the last person going around telling anybody that we are related. No worries on that front." the teenager said.
"This is not- urgh" I ran a hand trough my face. I was already tired of this. Why couldn't she just listen. "I'm giving you two options, you can decide... Am I calling your mother to pick you up or to tell her that you gonna live with me ?" And I saw it. I saw how she was deciding wich would be the smaller evil. I don't know what exactly was going through her head but I was sure she would chose to live with her mother. That she would realize how much she hates me and go back to her. You could practically feel how much she disliked my presence so I was certain that after today I would never see her again. Thats why it took me so off guard.
"Fine. It's not like at least on of my choices is a good one." her voice dripping from sarcasm.
She chose. She wanted to stay with me. I could see how uncomfortable the decision made her so I couldn't stop to wonder what exactly went down with her mother that made her choose like that. Me being me I simply asked.
"What happened that you want to get away from your Mum that desperately ?"
"I would say that is none of your business."
"Fine. I'll let it go. For now."
"Whatever" and she rolled her eyes again. "Where am I gonna stay ? To be honest I'm tired and want to sleep."
Bless her heart, Pepper jumped in on the cue to separate us two again. "Come with me sweetie I'll show you your room."
Brooklyn followed her but just before they were out the door she turned around again "Oh and Stark, this doesn't mean I like you. I still hate you and if I could I would have nothing to do with."
Great. Just great. This can only end in a disaster.