Loving The Hawk

Chapter 6

Clint snuck out of my room around three in the morning and into his room. I informed Jarvis of this before hand and made sure that dad did not get a notification about it. After he left I fell asleep for a little bit longer but was up by eight as per usual. I got dressed in something comfy and headed out to the living room to see Pepper sitting on the couch, alone.

"Good morning," I called to her. She lifted her head and turned to smile at me.

"Morning. Did you sleep well?" she asked. She raised an eyebrow at me and smirked.

"Yes I did," I replied, chuckling a bit. "I forgot how comfy dad's beds are. I need one for my apartment. Cal is probably still knocked out. Where's dad?"

"In his workshop. He came to bed around one in the morning and was back up at around four. He didn't sleep well last. He has his nights where he has nightmares still," she explained sadly.

"Still? I thought he had worked through those?" I asked. She shook her head. I sat there for a minute, silently wishing there was something that I could help my dad somehow. Just then, Clint came walking down the hall, in just his pajama pants, his hair a mess.

"Good morning Clint," Pepper said, smirking.

"Morning," he said grumpily. I laughed. 

"He's not a morning person," I laughed.

"I would have been fine if I wouldn't have been woken up so rudely at three in the morning and kicked out," he grumbled.

"Well you needed to go to your own room," I replied smirking at him.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. Pepper just laughed.

"You two are too cute," she chuckled.

"Wait, where's Tony?" Clint said suddenly, looking afraid.

"He's downstairs in his workshop so you're good for the moment babe," I said softly, walking over to give him a good morning kiss. He visibly relaxed, and kissed me back. Just then the elevator dinged telling us someone was coming and he bolted to his room to put more clothes on. I sighed and chuckled with Pepper. 

"I can't tell why he's so nervous," she said sarcastically, coming over to the counter.

"I mean my dad is Iron Man, who wouldn't be nervous," I laughed. Just then the elevator door opened and dad stepped out looking tired.

"Morning dad," I called to him, pouring myself and Pepper a glass of orange juice. "Are you hungry?"

"Morning kiddo, and no I ate a little while ago," he replied. He sounded frustrated.

"You ok?" I asked, looking over at him. 

"Yeah, just really wanting this project to go right," he said sounding distant.

"Hey, it'll be fine," I reassured him, walking over to hug him. He held me tight for a minute and then let go.

"Well go get something to eat, we will be going here soon. I need to get going with this as soon as possible. If this goes the way I want it to, I want to hold the celebration tomorrow night," he said calmly. Just then Clint came back down the hall, fully dressed. He looked upset.

"Good morning Mr. Stark. Miss Stark, may I speak with you privately please?" he said, giving me a look. I was a little worried at this point.

"Of course, I'm coming," I replied, setting my glass down and heading down the hallway to his room.

"Jarvis activate soundproofing, please," I ordered as soon as the door was shut. "What is it? You look upset."

"Coulson called me. He said they need me back at base immediately. He didn't say why but he said it couldn't wait. He sounded freaked out and I don't know why but something tells me it has to do with the tesseract. I'm worried but I want you to stay here with your dad. You'll be safe here," he explained, taking me in his arms. He held me close for a moment before pulling back and looking into my eyes. "Don't worry kitten, I'll be fine, but I need you to stay here."

"Ok, well you need to go then. I will keep your clothes here and if you can come back, come back. If not then be sure to call me and keep me updated as much as you can. I love you," I said sounding scared. He kissed me deeply and pulled away.

"I have to go now kitten. Just tell your dad that I was needed for something by your employers and I should be back soon," he said giving me one last peck and walking out the door. I stood there for just another moment while I collected myself and then walked back out to dad and Pepper.

"Hey your guy said he had to leave but didn't say why. What's going on kiddo?" dad asked, sounding confused.

"Oh they needed him at headquarters for a meeting, he should be back soon," I replied, trying to sound normal but not able to look at him.

"Oh ok, well let's get ready to get this show on the road huh?" dad yelled, sounding excited. "I'm going to head back down to the workshop, just head down there when you are ready kiddo."

"Hey dad, on second thought, I think I'm just going to stay in the tower and help Pepper. I'm not completely sure on how to fly a suit of my own yet and I don't want to get in the way. Besides I think I'm of more use here anyway," I said looking over at him. He looked slightly hurt but just shrugged.

"If you're sure kiddo," he replied and got in the elevator. As soon as the elevator doors shut, Pepper came over and pulled me into a hug.

"Ok something isn't right. What's wrong?" she asked, guiding me over to the couch.

"Coulson called Clint while he was getting dressed. Something is going on at base and they needed him back immediately. They didn't tell him why but he has a feeling it has something to do with our latest assignment. It's not good news if that's the case," I said, fear creeping into my mind. Being a Stark, it was hard to frighten or stress me out. But right now, in this moment, I was afraid. I had just had a bad feeling about the whole tesseract project from the get go and now it just seemed to be getting worse. 

"It'll be ok, Rory," Pepper said soothingly. "Clint has been an agent for a long time. He will be ok, and he will come back to you. I just know he will."

"Thanks Pep," I said hugging her back. "Let's focus on getting this tower finished." 

We finished eating breakfast, and called down to the workshop to let dad know we were ready. He got his suit situated and flew up from the workshop, to our floor and landed on the balcony.

"Alright, so just keep an eye on the control panel. It's going to show you all of the levels that you need to have. You know what to look for in order to keep things steady. I will probably be a couple of hours at least so I will let you know when I'm close to being done, so that we can finish it together," he explained excitedly.

"Alright dad, sounds good," I replied, Pepper nodding beside me. I booted up the control panel and sat down in a chair next to it. I took out my phone and sent a text to Clint to see if he was ok. Instead of texting back, he called me.

"Hey babe," he sighed.

"You ok?" I asked, stepping out onto the balcony. There was a nice spring breeze and I could feel my stress level decreasing just because of the fresh air.

"For now. Dr. Selvig has been having issues with the tesseract. It keeps doing weird stuff. It keeps shutting the device off and on. He said it's acting like a little kid. I'm staying up in the nest trying to keep an eye on everything all at once," he replied. I smiled at his nickname for his favorite spot in the rafters where he likes to sit to take in his surroundings in any situation.

"Has anything serious happened yet?" I asked him.

"You say yet like you are expecting something to happen," he chuckled. "Nah nothing serious, other than the tesseract changing things up. More than once, Dr. Selvig has said he wished you were here."

"Tell him if he needs me, he is more than welcome to call me," I said hoping to still be helpful.

"I'll think it'll be ok. I think Coulson may have over reacted on this one. Hopefully, I'll be back at your dad's by tonight, tomorrow at the latest," he sighed sounding tired.

"I love you. I have to go, dad just left so I need to keep an eye on things here. Keep me updated ok?" I asked.

"I will. I love you too," he replied. I hung up and walked back inside.

"You ok?" Pepper asked, seeing the look on my face.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I replied. I squared my shoulders and walked over to the panel. "Let's get this done."