Always Been You | Tony Stark

Captiolo (40) Quaranta ~ Harley Keener

"We'll be in Tennessee shortly, ma'am." The pilot told me from the cockpit. Tony had let me use one of the quintets to get to Tennessee. At first, I refused, trying to convince him that a regular plan would be fine, but he wasn't having it.

"I've got a car ready for us when we arrive, Miss Lynn. We'll be Rose Hill before you know it." My bodyguard, Patrick, told me from where he sat.

"Thanks, Pat." I nodded, looking out the window and to the ground below. As much as I loved them, planes made me a bit nervous nowadays, especially with things like turbulence. I always seemed to be on edge when on them, especially if Tony, Rhodey, or even Pepper weren't on it with me.

We thankfully reached the small airspace relatively quickly, and I was ushered into a small black car. Patrick opened the back door for me, helping me in before carefully shutting the door. As he loaded our luggage into the trunk, I pulled out my phone, sending Tony a quick text to let him know I was in Tennessee.

Anthony

Alright, be safe. We're over the North Atlantic now, so don't know when I'm gonna be able to talk to you next. Feel free to text if you want. I'll respond when I can. Love ya

I smiled at the text, putting my phone away once Pat got into the driver's seat, starting up the car, and taking us to the house Tony rented out for me.

~~

"We're here, Ma'am," Patrick told me, stopping the car in front of a small, one-story home.

I silently nodded my head, unbuckling and getting out of the back of the car. I stared at the home, noticing the plastic toys that littered the yard, the garage beside the house lit up.

I walked straight back to the garage, noticing the open door to the left. Walking threw it, I saw a young boy, no older than 13 sitting at a workbench, all his attention on some piece of tech in front of him.

"What'cha workin' on?" I asked, stepping more into the garage. I watched as Harley jumped in his seat, goggle-covered eyes quickly moving to where I walked around the space.

"Um, it's... It's a new blaster I've been working on, Miss Lynn." He stammered, quickly taking off his goggles.

"Impressive." I smiled. "Though I would expect nothing less from Tony's protegee."

"I thought you were sending someone to help me?"

"Plans changed. Tony wanted me out of the house while he was gone, so here I am. Why, you got a problem with it?" I raised a brow in question.

"No! No, ma'am. Just surprised, is all."

"So, where's this mother of yours? Am I going to meet her any time soon?"

"I don't think so. Whenever she comes home she's half asleep. She works during the day, goes out to gamble at night. She's never really home anymore."

"I'm sorry, Harley. I know what it's like to have parents that aren't there. Though our situations were a bit different." I walked over, sitting on the couch behind him.

"Your parents were gone too?"

"My dad died when I was super young from a car crash. My mom hopped from boyfriend to boyfriend, each one worst than the last. When I found out my mother had spent all of my college fund money on drugs and alcohol, I decided to join the military, the Air Force, to be specific, since that's what my dad was in."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I wanted you to understand that you're not alone. That I know what it's like to have parents not there for you, even if it's under different circumstances."