THE MOMENT THAT the two Starks and Pepper got back to the house, Claire had quickly headed downstairs to the lab to clean up her little mess while her father got settled in. When Pepper had came down earlier to tell her the news of her father being found, Claire hadn't even bothered to clean up the little mess she had made since all she had wanted in the moment was to see her father.

Right as Claire was picking up the outlines of the rocket boots that she had been working on and already organizing them into a pile, Tony had entered in the passcode to the lab and opened the glass door, watching her as he slowly made his way over to his desk.

"Hey, munchkin," Tony said, glancing down at the pile of papers she had in her hands. "What do you got there?"

Claire shyly shifted on her feet before she handed the outlines to her father. She watched as he gently took the outlines from her and waited for his response.

"What are these, munchkin?" Tony asked gently, flipping through the pages.

"Some designs for some rocket boots that I invented," Claire mumbled softly before she reached underneath the desk and pulled out the rocket boots, setting them on top of the desk. "Lizzie helped me with testing them."

"W-why did you make them?" Tony asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Claire glanced down at the floor, unable to meet her father's eyes. "To find you," she said quietly. "I... I didn't want to believe that you were gone. I... I didn't want to be alone or..." she whispers softly, "go back to mama or the foster system."

Tony frowned slightly at her words then he set the outlines onto the table before walking over to her and bent down in front of her.

"Hey, look at me, munchkin," Tony said softly. Claire hesitated at first but then she glanced up, meeting her father's eyes. "I'm here now, okay? I made you a promise, remember? You won't be going to your mother or into the foster system—not now, not ever."

Claire nodded and without hesitating, she threw her arms around her father's neck for a hug. Tony didn't hesitate as he hugged his little girl, having not had a hug from her in three months—and he couldn't lie but being here with his daughter—his little girl was exactly where he wanted to be.

"Stark Industries! I've got one recommendation! Ready? Sell, sell, sell! Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells? Let me show you the new Stark Industries business plan—"

Claire looked away from the tv from where she was sitting on the couch and towards Pepper, who had muted the tv. "This whole thing is a nightmare." Pepper said with a sigh.

"It has to blow over, right? When the next big scandal comes?" Claire asked curiously, trying to make light of the situation.

"I hope so." Pepper admitted truthfully.

The screen that was propped up on the coffee table lit up with an incoming call from Tony himself, who was still downstairs in the lab.

"Hey, munchkin?" Tony said into the intercom. "I need you to come down to the lab."

Claire looked extremely confused at those words as she blinked. "Um, okay."

She shared a confused look with Pepper before she stood up from the couch and headed downstairs. Once she reached the glass doors, she typed in the passcode and opened it, stepping inside the lab and shutting the glass door behind her as her brown eyes fell onto her father. Tony sat on top of a chair in the middle of the room, the arc reactor in his chest glowing bright.

"Come on, get your small hands over here, munchkin." Tony says.

"What is that?" Claire asks, eyeing the thing that was in his hands as she walked over to him. The closer she got, she finally saw what he was holding as her eyes widened. "How did you make arc reactor small? How come it's in your chest?"

Tony sighed and spoke up. "I have pieces of shrapnel in my chest and this prevents it from entering my heart."

"So, it's been keeping you alive?" Claire said.

"It was, it is now an antique," Tony said as he held up the other arc reactor. "This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future." He handed her the arc reactor.

The moment that Claire took the arc reactor into her hands, she immediately started studying it closely as she scanned the arc reactor over. Tony couldn't help but smile lightly as for a split second, he could've swore that she looked so much like him in that one moment.

"I was swapping it up for an upgrade unit and I just ran into a little... speed bump," Tony told her.

Claire frowned slightly, raising an eyebrow at her father. "A little speed bump?"

"It's nothing. It's just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device and it's contacting a socket wall and is causing a little bit of a short circuit." Tony reassured as he yanked the old arc reactor out of his chest.

"What do I do?" Claire asked curiously.

"Put that on the table over there," Tony told her as he handed her the old arc reactor and took the new one out of her hands. "That is irrelevant."

Claire placed the old arc reactor onto the table and turned back to her father. "Now what?"

"Now, I just want you to reach in... and you're gonna gently lift the wire out," Tony stated calmly.

Claire blinked at his words. "You want me to reach inside your chest?"

"Yes, I want you to reach inside my chest. Come on, it'll be fun!" Tony told his daughter with a smile.

Claire glanced down at the hole where the arc reactor was supposed to go. "Um... is it safe?"

"Yeah, it should be fine. Think of it like operation," Tony said. "Just don't let it touch the socket wall. You just gotta gently lift the wire, okay?"

Claire nodded slowly as she sucked in a deep breath before she slowly reached her hand inside the socket wall but then quickly pulled away.

"I don't think I'm qualified to do this, daddy." Claire said.

"You're fine, you're the most capable, qualified, and trustworthy seven-year-old I've ever met." Tony reassured.

Claire took in one more deep breath before reaching inside the socket wall again. "Ew! What is this squishy stuff?" She asked in disgust.

"It's a plasmic discharge," Tony explained. "It's from the device, not my body."

"Well, it stinks!" Claire complained.

Tony chuckled lightly at her reaction. "Yeah, it does."

As Claire continued to feel around in the plasmic discharge, she felt her fingers touched a wire and grabbed it. "You got it?" Tony responded as Claire nodded. "Now, start to lift it up... and don't let it touch..." Tony trailed off as the wire touched the side of the socket wall. He hissed in pain and Claire quickly began apologizing. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Tony assured his daughter, who looked extremely worried as the last thing she wanted to do was to hurt her father. "You got this. Now, just lift the wire."

As Claire then lifted the wire, Tony spoke up again. "Make sure that when you pull out the wire, you don't pull out the magnet at the end of it—" but it was already too late as Claire had yanked the wire and a magnet came out.

"That was it... that you just pulled out. Oh, god, I was not expecting that." Tony said as the computer next to him started beeping.

"What's happening? What do I do?" Claire asked, unsure of what to do next and brought the magnet closer to the socket wall.

"Don't put it back in." Tony told her as Claire set the wire off to the side and turned to her father, who was already turning pale.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" Claire asked.

"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest cause you yanked it out..." Tony trailed off when her eyes widened.

"What!? Daddy! You told me that this was safe!" Claire argued with a frown.

"Take this," Tony said as he handed her the new arc reactor. Immediately, Claire took it while muttering words underneath her breath. "You gotta touch that to the base plate and make sure you—" Tony let out a small yell when Claire placed in the arc reactor.

With the arc reactor now in place, Tony turned to his daughter with a smile. "See, that wasn't so hard, right?" He asked before he started laughing.

"Not funny," Claire said with a pout, holding her hands that were covered in the smelly plasmic discharge away from her. "My hands smell awful now because of you!"

Tony couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction before he grabbed a nearby towel and wiped his daughter's hands. Once he was done, he set the towel back onto the table.

"Don't ever ask me to do that again." Claire told her father.

"But then, who would I ask, munchkin?"

"You have Pepper."

"Yeah, but, you're all I got."

Claire stared at her father before she wrapped her arms around his waist, glad and relieved that her father was back home with her. "You're all I got too, daddy," she whispered before she pulled away and smirked. "Asides from Pepper, Happy, and Uncle Rhodey."

Tony laughed at her words. "Of course, munchkin."

Turning back to the table, Claire took the old arc reactor back into her hands as she once again began examining it. "What are you gonna do with this, daddy?" She asked curiously.

"You can give that to Pepper," Tony said as he slipped a shirt on. "She can incinerate it."

Claire immediately snapped her head over to look up at him at those words. "Wait, you don't want to keep it?" She asked.

"Munchkin, I may be a lot of things but one thing I'm not is nostalgic." Tony answered.

"Liar," Claire responded instantly. "You still have all those birthday cards and pictures I made for you."

"That's different, I don't need that." Tony told her.

Claire glanced down at the arc reactor then back up at him, an idea coming to her head. "Can I have it then?"

"For what?"

Claire shrugged. "Just to study it, that's all." She lied.

"Sure thing, munchkin."