Mild Language

"For the past 4 years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate.

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place," Steve countered the Secretary. "I feel we've done that." His eyes darted to you for only the flash of a moment, sitting on the level above as you listened to the meeting about the Accords. He could handle anything thrown his way when it came to the team, but you were young; not quite an adult yet, and he felt an overwhelming need to protect you. Maybe it was because you were Tony's daughter, or maybe it was because he felt like he had become almost an older brother to you; but no matter what the reason, he couldn't ignore the responsibility to consider you in all of this. He wondered why he felt the need to protect you even more so than your own father did, sitting just behind him with his gaze cast to the floor as he listened. He wondered why Tony didn't speak up more.

When the meeting had finally adjourned, you watched the group slowly push away from the table, one by one, each of their expressions telling a different tale of their internal turmoil. When Steve finally stood, followed by Tony, the two men exchanged a few quiet words that you couldn't make out, but with the look on Steve's face and the animated gestures as they spoke, you knew that none of them were anything that you should hear.

A few minutes later, after another escalating group discussion, Steve stood and left the group abruptly, leaving Tony finally open so that you could find out more about what was really happening. You weren't an official member of the team, but being Tony's only child put you in the middle of enough for you to know everything as it went on. You waited for the rest of the group to disperse before approaching him; he still had that guilty look on his face, now even sadder as he sat alone in the kitchen.

"Hey old man," you greeted, approaching him with as an upbeat of a voice as you could muster, "what's with the sadness?"

"Hey, kiddo. Uh...nothing. Not to worry."

"Ah, the lie of deflection. Classic Stark."

Tony could only shake his head and laugh, knowing that you would continue to challenge him until he finally gave in. There were moments like this when he worried that he had given you too much access to this life, and worried that you would take it up someday. He didn't want you to be an Avenger, but every day that passed seemed to make it more inevitable. "Did you stay for the whole meeting?"

"Yeah, I did. Sounded pretty serious." You cautiously pulled out a chair across from him, rather than at his side as you waited for him to continue. "Steve looked pretty pissed."

"He'll get over it. He has to sign or he's out, and I can't see him letting go of this life just yet."

"Unless he had a good reason to," you offered. You knew full well that Sam and Steve had been searching for Bucky for the past two years, and if they were to find him, it would be the perfect impetus for Steve to go.

"You know something that I don't?"

"No," you lied, "just saying."

"Hmm, well," he sighed, "I know that you two are pretty close, but you'd tell me if you did know something, right?"

"Depends on what it was," you answered honestly and without apology, seeing that it wasn't the response he wanted. "But you know that I'd do the same for you, Dad."

~~~

Steve and Sam never returned to the compound after the argument about the Accords, and with each passing day you began to worry. You hadn't heard anything, and your attempt to contact Steve went unanswered. Tony wasn't really telling you anything either, and then one day he was gone too. He hadn't been himself since that first meeting, now keeping Wanda under lock and key with Vision as her babysitter. You felt free to come and go to an extent, but you knew that Viz had a watchful eye on you just the same.

When your phone finally sounded after days of silence, you didn't expect the person texting on the other end to be Clint Barton, of all people.

(Y/N), I need your help.

I thought you were retired?

Yeah, didn't work out so well. Could you help me with a distraction?

Name it.

Cap needs me to break out Wanda, but I can't get past Vision alone. I need to get him out of the compound.

Okay, anything, but first you need to tell me if Steve's okay.

He's fine, (Y/N). I'll have him contact you when he can but there's a lot going down right now and I'm short on time. So, here's what I want you to do...

~~~

The next time your phone rang, waking you from sleep, it wasn't nearly as pleasant of a conversation. As soon as you saw Clint and Wanda leave, you had prepared for the inevitable call from your dad, but you hadn't realized just how angry he was going to be.

"Are you kidding me?! You let them go, (Y/N)! You have no business getting into the middle of this, and I can't fucking believe that you could take his side!"

"Dad, calm down-"

"No, I won't calm down! What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that you've kept me in the dark this whole time," you snapped, "so I don't owe you a damn thing. You just took off and left me without so much as a goodbye. My friends needed me, so I was there, unlike you."

"You have no goddamn idea of what you just did, (Y/N). No idea. Those friends of yours are about to be locked up, and it's because you helped them."

Your panic began to build at his words, buying into what he was saying, until you decided that he was simply using guilt to get you to take his stance. He couldn't handle that maybe you didn't agree with him, and he was grasping for you as he felt you slip away.

"They're being arrested because you're both too stubborn to work this out like grown men! You're such a child, Tony!"

"Listen here, young lady-"

You worked up enough nerve to hang up on him before he could continue, and you were immediately scared of what he could do. There was no doubt that FRIDAY probably already had you on lockdown now that Vision had left to chase Wanda, so leaving wasn't an option. Hurrying to give it a try before he could lock you out of your phone, you took a shot and called Steve.

There wasn't an answer that day, but when he did finally call you back, everyone's world had been turned upside down. Harsh choices had been made, vicious battles had been fought, and now you were the only one left to make a decision that would change everything; he was asking for your help in something that was likely to drive a wedge between you and your father that may never be able to be repaired.

—

"I need you to be sure about this, (Y/N). This is going to be dangerous, getting them out of there. There may be no going back, and you'll be on the run with us. Not to mention your dad-"

"Steve, I've made up my mind," you answered with confidence, "just tell me where to be."

"Thank you, (Y/N)," he replied softly. "Knowing that you still have my back means a lot to me." When he paused, you heard the sounds of the stolen quinjet in the background as he made his way towards you, and you were more eager than ever to join him. Tony had done nothing to regain your trust since the last time you spoke, and there didn't feel like there was anything left for you here. "Okay, go two miles up the dirt road just east of the compound. The one on the far side of the lake. I can land there without being seen, but we still need to hurry."

"Got it," you agreed, throwing your pack over your shoulder, "see you soon, Cap."

You had your hand on the door; you were almost there. You were just about to be free when an uncharacteristically meek and gentle voice stopped you.

"Please don't."

"I'm sorry, Dad..." you whispered, not turning to look to find him. He sounded like he was close, but not close enough to actually stop you. "I've made my choice. Just like everyone else has."

"But this wasn't the choice that you were supposed to make," Tony argued, albeit quietly. "You chose the wrong side."

"I chose the side that I believe in. Isn't that what you've taught me to do?"

He muttered a few curses under his breath, realizing that you were right and had caught him in his own argument. His shoulders dropped in defeat, his hands pressed to his hips and his gaze cast to the floor as he relented, "yes, I hope that I have."

"Then let me go, Dad."

"Don't put me in this position, (Y/N), please. I'll...I'll have to stop you."

With a final push of resolve, still refusing to turn to him, you shoved the door open and ran. You ran as fast as you could, pushing your legs to their limits, desperate to outrun both him and the doubts that were suddenly filling your mind.

—

It had been almost a year and you were still running.

You had known that siding with Steve and his team would force you into a life lived undercover, and that you wouldn't be able to return home, but it made it no less difficult to do day after day. Sam or Steve would give you the occasional report on what Tony was up to, for as much as they could find out, just to keep you feeling connected to him. There were so many times that the two of them wanted to drop you off at the compound and refuse to look back, merely out of their own sense of guilt, but at the same time they knew that it wasn't what you wanted and would do nothing but make you more miserable.

But it had to be inevitable that the day would come that stopped your momentum with a hard slap to the face. You and Steve were working undercover when it happened; you saw Tony. He looked the same for the most part, working as hard as ever, but when your eyes met as you rounded a corner to run into each other, they still looked as sad as the last time you saw them. Even when they grew wide at the sight of you, they held their pain as they held your gaze.

"(Y/N)?"

"Tony."

"Are you...where have you..." he stopped, taking a breath to gather his nerves, "...are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Tony stood steady and looked around himself anxiously, both in part because he had no idea how to act around you now, but also because he wanted to protect you from anyone who might see you with him. "Okay, I don't feel like it's a good idea to keep you here in one place," he advised, "but would you consider maybe coming to talk to me at the compound? I promise...no tricks, no motives. I just want to see you."

"I don't know if that's a good idea-"

"I think it's a great idea," Steve interjected quietly, moving to stand behind you. "You two have been apart too long, and that's my fault." He took your arm and pulled you back a few steps, leaning in close to drop his voice to a whisper, "(Y/N), go ahead. I'll come get you whenever you're ready. If you want me to, that is."

You looked up at Steve, who was watching you in earnest and hoping that you would take his offer, then glanced over your shoulder to see Tony looking at you the exactly the same way. Between the two of them you felt like they were maybe right, and that the only way to reconcile how you had been feeling would be to just talk to your dad once and for all. "Okay," you replied softly, "but I'm going to call you later."

"Great," he sighed in relief, turning you back around. "Take your time."

Tony opened his mouth to thank Steve for pushing you to agree, but before a single syllable was uttered, he was gone. "That must be a new trick, that whole disappearing act of his."

"Can you blame him?"

"No, I suppose not." He paused for a moment to take you in, looking at you as if he hadn't seen you in an eternity, and to him, it had been. You had left him so abruptly and in such a traumatic way, that he had almost convinced himself that he would never have this moment again; that thought was still the most prevalent in his mind. "Are you going to disappear too?"

You took a deep breath and shrugged, taking steps next to him as he led you to his car down the block. "I don't know, Tony. There are things going on that I'm not sure we can ever reconcile."

"So..." he replied quietly, turning away, "I'm Tony now?"

"Well, we didn't split on the best terms, so I wasn't sure if I was allowed to call you dad anymore, and honestly, I'm not sure if I wanted to. I'm not sure how I feel right now."

"You and me both, kiddo."

He stopped at his car and reached out for the door, preparing to open it when you put out your hand and halted him from grabbing its handle. "You're not going to arrest me? Are you sure that you want to put yourself in this position? You'll be harboring a fugitive, and completely going against the law that you signed."

"A year ago, I would have," Tony nodded, "but now...after not having you in my life for so long...no. I could never do that. Whatever happens to me because of it, I'll deal with it." He pushed forward and reached past you, finally connecting with the door to pull it open for you. He watched you with expectant eyes, waiting for you to look back, giving him his answer without another word. You took his invitation and lowered yourself inside, hearing his sigh of relief as he closed the door carefully.

What you didn't see was Steve, still standing only a short distance away and watching you both. As much as he needed you on his side, and as much as he had come to rely on you as his friend, he was ready to give you up to repair your relationship with Tony. He pulled his phone out and stared at the screen for several minutes after the car drove away, considering blocking your number so that you couldn't reach him again.

He took a harsh breath, his chest rising and falling heavily with the weight of his decision; his thumb danced over the screen for only a few seconds before it was done. Steve convinced himself that he was doing this for you, and that you needed your dad back, but as he pushed his phone back into his pocket and turned to leave, he realized something that he would never be able to admit aloud; this was for Tony.