little piece of heaven (tony stark's daughter)

1

rosie's p.o.v

"good morning rosalie" pepper beams as i enter the living room the next morning. she has a plate with a pop tart which she hands me and i flop myself down onto the couch. i mumble some form of greeting, a little overcome by sleep. jarvis woke me up this morning and i can't quite remember why but i'm pretty certain it's important.

"as soon as you've eaten that you need to get dressed, we have court at nine and your dad wants you to be there" she informs me diligently as i take a bite out of my breakfast, my reaction to her words being to pull a face of disgust.

"why?" i roll my eyes and sink further into the sofa. i'm not entirely sure what use i could be in court as an eight year old girl.

pepper offers a sympathetic smile and shrugs "i'm not sure, he might just not want you to be here on your own".

i continue to grumble and complain all the way to court, and then sit at the back of the room and complain to myself. i hate going along to these kinds of things because everybody underestimates me and no one takes me seriously at all. it's tedious and irritating and i'd rather be anywhere else.

literally everyone here is about as interesting as a wedge of cardboard, their personalities shining as bright as a black hole.

at least dad seems to be having fun though, earning laughs from the rich people all around the room as he continuously mocks the senator. pepper isn't paying attention to me, i think she's forgotten i'm even here whilst she glares at my very smug father. the senator has gone very red and though i wasn't listening, i assume somebody just said something he shouldn't have.

"i'm no expert in weapons. we have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. i'd now like to call justin hammer, our current primary weapons contractor" the senator nods over to someone stood in the corner and i immediately screw up my face. this guy does not give off good vibes at all. he's smug, even more so than my dad, looking very pleased to be the current centre of attention.

dad rolls his eyes at the smarmy man "let the record reflect that i observed mr hammer entering the chamber, and i am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance". i laugh a little at this, glad that my dad doesn't like him either because i don't exactly want a repeat of the whole obadiah thing.

"absolutely. i'm no expert. i defer to-"

i allow my mental sieve to filter out the drone of this hammer guy, i can't be arsed to listen to him. i must have been doing a great job of ignoring because i didn't even notice rhodey was here until i'm suddenly dragged into the debate.

"rosie! be useful will you and put your tiny genius brain to work" dad gets up and hands me a stark tablet, ruffling my hair, then walking back to his seat and leaning back into it. i stare at the tech in my hands for a moment, thoroughly confused about what he wants me to do.

"intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are, in fact, attempts at making manned copies of  mr stark's suit. this has been corroborated by our allies and local intelligence on the ground... "

i stare from rhodey and back to the tablet and i can feel my mission dawning on me "oh!" i exclaim suddenly, everyone in the room turning to stare at me momentarily, a smile on my dad's face. pepper frowns at me but i ignore her as i get to work.

rhodey continues to talk and i can feel eyes on me as my dad begins to run out of patience. "rosalie?" he taps his wrist.

"hang on i'm almost there" i frown as i tap the last few buttons and my eyes drift up to the screen at the front of the room. "there we go!" i grin in satisfaction as a video pops onto the screen.

i stand up from my seat and move quickly over to my dad who lifts me onto his lap "good job cub".

he continues to narrate the videos and i can't stop myself from laughing when hammer himself pops onto the screen with his own fail of an iron man suit. as soon as the no-longer-smug man pulls the plug out of the tv, dad launches into one of his 'hero' speeches. i'm balanced on his hip as he waves and grins at the people who seem to just fall at his feet, praising himself constantly. it's sickening, but also quite funny and i can't help but laugh as he spins me around the room going on and on about how he is responsible for world peace.

pepper and rhodey don't look so amused as we leave the building, heading straight for a car.

"what the hell was that?" pepper snaps as soon as we're out of earshot of the reporters.

dad clearly decides that the best option in this situation is to act innocent "i don't know what you mean".

"it's one thing to be a prick but it's another to drag your daughter into doing your dirty work" rhodey attempts to take me from dad who tightens his grip on me, turning his body so rhodey can't reach me anymore.

"at least i know that rosie will have my back" dad spits and i widen my eyes at the confrontation.

"oh come on tony i didn't have a choice, besides my words were taken completely out of context" rhodey argues.

pepper pushes herself in between them both, breaking their eye contact "you two children can continue bickering later, but not around rosalie. besides she has dance and we have to go".

dad walks away from pepper and rhodey, poking his tongue out at me to lighten the mood as we get into the car.

as funny as it is when dad takes life as a joke, i have a gut feeling that it isn't going to be funny for much longer.