Stark's Kid - Tony Stark's Daughter

48; Goodbye

Wednesday Morning...

The muffled sound of voices downstairs woke me up slowly and I rolled onto my back, breathing in and then letting it out. Today was the day.

I know Tony would probably try to leave without waking me, he didn't like goodbyes, but I wasn't about to let that happen. I didn't know when I would see him again. I quickly pushed the blankets off my body and sat on the edge of my bed. A note on my bedside table caught my eye.

'I love you. -Dad.'

I rushed to stand up and tripped in the tangled sheets, falling onto my chest.

"Ow..." I groaned. I could hear a door opening then closing again downstairs and scrambled to stand up and shake the sheets off my foot. I ran downstairs and saw Tony and everyone else standing around the kitchen. My sudden appearance from the overhang caught their attention and Tony looked at me with pain in his eyes, dropping his shoulders. I walked down stairs and met eyes with Nat first, gave her a hug, then Bruce, Clint, Thor and Steve. Peter appeared from the group, I hadn't seen him before because he's shorter than everyone else. I felt tears prickle my eyes and threw my arms around his neck. He lifted me off the ground with his arms wrapped tightly around my waist.

"Please be safe." I whispered in his ear.

Finally, I turned around to see Tony standing with his arms by his sides and a blank expression on his face. My bottom lip started quivering at the thought of all the possibilities for the upcoming days. I ran to him, he crouched down and we wrapped our arms around each other. I didn't care that everyone was watching and cried into his shoulder, probably soaking his shirt. For the first time, Tony let himself cry too. I leaned back with his arms still around my torso. I placed my hands on his cheeks.

"You're crying." I stated. He sniffed with a smirk and looked down embarrassedly, but I just pushed his chin back up.

I wrapped my arms around him again. "You're coming back."

"You know I will."

"No," I leaned back again. "I don't." He gave me a pained look. "I'm a big girl, I know things happen. But I also know you're extremely smart, and good at what you do. And I know you keep your promises." I stuck out my pinky.

Tony smiled and wrapped his pinky around mine.

"Look," Tony wiped his nose, grabbing something from the counter behind him. "I was going to get Pepper to give you this when I left, but since you're here I'll give it to you now."

I took the small box from him, giving him a questioning look. I pried open the velvet box. Inside was a beautiful necklace with a small arc-reactor at the end. An exact replica of Tony's. Electrical waves moved through it, like in the one implanted in his chest.

"It's beautiful."

"That's not all," he said. "There's a button on the back."

I took the necklace from the box and pressed the button. It began glowing bright blue and I looked up at Tony with a big grin on my face. That wasn't all though, Tony's chest was glowing as well.

"It's connected to mine. When you make yours glow, it makes mine glow. That was we have communication even if I'm far away."

Everyone soon piled out of the house, mumbling their goodbyes to me as they left. Tony was the last to go and shot me one last glance before shutting the door behind him.

"I love you." He said.

"I love you too."

Then he was gone. The door shutting echoed through the big house and made me feel even more alone. I didn't move at first and, instead, just stood staring at the front door with tears streaming down my face. Unlike the constant chatter of people that usually occupied the open space, now there was just white noise filling my ears. I heard the sound of an engine outside and ran to the front door, ripping it open and staring as the aircraft began levitating. I walked down the front steps and stood barefoot on the asphalt, which was extremely hot and burned my feet. As the aircraft floated up it blew my hair back and dried my eyes, making me blink repeatedly.

I blocked the sun from my vision with my hand and noticed Tony sitting in the driver's seat of the aircraft. He raised his hand to his forehead and saluted me, making me giggle and then return the favour. Then they were off, disappearing into the clouds.

I walked back into the silent house and looked around. I picked up the open box from the counter and took the necklace in my hand, unclasping it and wrapping it around my neck. I came up with an idea and ran upstairs to my bedroom, picking up my laptop from the desk on the way and sitting on my bed. I opened the screen and looked up Morse code.

I followed the chart and pressed the button to spell out 'be safe'.

Tony

I sat in the pilots seat with my hands grasping the wheel firmly. Everyone else was chatting amongst themselves behind me but all I could think about was Victoria. I began having second thoughts about leaving her, but I knew if I didn't then there was an even greater chance of losing her. I knew this was the right decision.

Suddenly, a glowing from my chest caught my attention. I let the aircraft glide freely as I watched and realized she was using Morse code. Of course she would.

'Be safe.'

I grinned and ignored the tears burning my eyes, blinking them back. I tapped quickly on my chest, remembering from memory as much Morse code as I could.

Victoria

While waiting for a response from Tony, though I didn't know what it would be or how it would show, I sat on the floor leaning back on the side of the island. Finally, I saw my necklace glow and wrote down the code. I translated it.

'I am Iron Man.'