three months later

CLAIRE WORKED NONSTOP within her father's lab, always working on her iron boots and making sure that they were in perfect condition. If she was going to save her father, she couldn't afford to have any mistakes with her iron boots. She spent day and night inside the lab for all hours, refusing to leave the lab for anything unless it was for the bathroom. Pepper would end up bringing her food down to the lab since Claire refused to leave, but the young genius would only take a few bites from it. In order to get her out of the house sometimes or as an attempt to try to take her minds off of her missing father, Happy Hogan would drive Claire to Burger King to get her a cheeseburger with fries

The lab was too quiet with just her. She missed hearing her father tinkering away on their inventions with her while the two listened to their rock music blaring loudly. She refused to think that her father could be dead, mainly because she didn't want to think about what would happen if he was dead.

Before he had left to search for her father, her godfather, Rhodey had stopped by to check on Pepper and Claire. That same day, he had knelt in front of his goddaughter and promised that he would find him and bring him home to her.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll find your dad and bring him home."

His words remained in her head everyday, all day along. She knows he won't stop till he finds her but what her godfather didn't know was that Claire was working on her own little invention in order to help join the search for her father.

Obadiah Stane—Obie, as Claire knows him by, who was a lifelong family friend made his occasional stops every now and then to check on her to see how she was doing. Not only that but Obie managed to run Stark Industries as normal despite the heated alternations.

"Claire!" The sound of Pepper's voice is enough to lift Claire from her work as she looks over, spotting the woman as she hurriedly enter the lab after opening the glass doors. "They found him."

Claire felt her eyes widened in realization, suddenly feeling her throat dry as she swallowed. She bit the inside of her cheek as she didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Daddy?" She asked softly.

Pepper nodded, giving her a soft smile.

"Your father's coming home."

Claire stood on the airport runaway next to Pepper, anxiously bouncing up and down on her legs as she waited. She watched the US Air Force plane land in front of them and she holds herself back from running, trying so hard to contain her excitement at seeing her father after the three, long months. She held her breath as the ramp slowly opened at the rear end of the aircraft.

The moment that Claire spotted him, she was no longer to contain herself and bolted, the seven-year-old racing to get to her father as she didn't want to waste another second. Rhodey stood beside Tony, letting his best friend lean on him for support and started down the ramp slowly. He let Tony go the moment the two stood on the tarmac, awaiting the hug from Claire that he knows Tony's been waiting for the entire flight back. Rhodey watches as Tony fells to his knees, catching his daughter as Claire collided into his chest and he wrapped his good arm around his little girl.

"Daddy!" Claire cried out with relief, tears of joy burned her eyes but she blinked them back while she buried her face into his neck with her arms wrapped around his neck, clinging to him for as long as she could.

"It's okay, I'm here, munchkin," Tony whispered to her quietly, pressing a long fatherly kiss on her forehead before hugging her with his good arm since his other one was in a sling. "Daddy's home."

"Daddy's here."

Claire then pulls away, letting her father stand up again. "Watch it, coming up here." Rhodey walked into the reunion as medical officers approached with a gurney.

Tony, however, dismissed them while keeping his good arm around his daughter. "Are you kidding me with this? Get rid of them."

As Rhodey waved off the officers and the stretcher, Claire held her father's hand from his good arm tightly as she refused to let go of him as the two walked over to Pepper.

Tony gives her a small smirk when he spots her red eyes. "Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

Pepper smirks in a teasing manner. "Tears of joy, I hate job-hunting. Besides, any tears you see are for your daughter since her dad is back."

"Yeah, well, vacation's over," Tony says before his smirk turns into a grateful smile. "And... thank you, for taking care of her." His good arm remained around Claire while he stared at Pepper, as he knew that he would never forget his gratitude for her.

Pepper nodded with a warm smile. "Of course."

Then, the three of them walked towards the limo and climbed inside, buckling up their seatbelts. "Where to, sir?" Happy asked.

"Take us to the hospital please, Happy." Pepper answered, but Tony immediately refused.

"No."

"Tony, you have to go to the hospital. The doctor has to look at you." Pepper told him with a worried glance.

"Daddy?" Claire questions worriedly, a small frown on her face.

"I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger." Tony says.

Claire immediately felt her face lit up at the mention of a cheeseburger as the image of delicious and juicy cheeseburger filled her head. It was clear that she got her love for American cheeseburgers from her dad.

Tony continues, "And I want you to call for a press conference."

"Call for a press conference? For what?"

"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first."

"Can I get a cheeseburger too, daddy? Please?" Claire asked her father just as Happy started driving the limo.

Tony pressed another fatherly kiss against her forehead. "You can get all the cheeseburgers you want, munchkin."

As said, they ended up going to Burger King first where Tony ordered six cheeseburgers for himself and two kid-sized cheeseburgers for Claire. Once they had ordered the cheeseburgers, Happy drove the limo to Stark Industries while the two Starks happily enjoyed their burgers. As Happy pulled up in front of the building, the press and paparazzi were already there, waiting with their cameras. Obie made his way through and towards the limo as he opened the door.

Having been done with her two burgers, Claire frown slightly upon hearing the crowd that had began to holler and shout questions as she suddenly felt nervous about walking through them. Even if she had gotten used to the media coverage and her name being in the headlines, Claire still didn't enjoy this part since it made her nervous to this day, especially since she was still a child.

After unbuckling himself and his daughter, Tony steps out of the car and takes Claire's hand with his good one. "Stay close to me, okay?" He told her, not wanting her to get lost in the crowd.

Claire nodded. "Okay, daddy."

"Look at this! Tony," Obie embraced Tony, patting him on the back. He puts both hands on his shoulders as he steps forward, staring directly into his eyes. "We were supposed to meet at the hospital."

"No, I'm all right," Tony confirms, holding his Burger King bag in his free hand.

"You had to get a burger, didn't you?" Obie said as he turned towards Claire. "I hoped he got you one too."

"I had two." Claire confirmed with a smile.

As they made their way into the building, Claire made sure to stay close by her father until they reached the main foyer where Tony turns to her and bent down in front of her. "I'll be right back, stay with Pepper." He tells her, pressing a quick kiss on her forehead before he makes his way towards the podium stand.

Claire sticks close to Pepper as cameras continue to flash while reporters shout out questions.

"Miss Potts?"

"Yes?" Pepper says as she and Claire turns to see a man dressed in a suit approaching.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"I'm not part of the press conference," Pepper replies, not recognizing him as a reporter.

"I'm not a reporter." He answers. "I'm agent Phil Coulson. I'm with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Linguistic Division."

Claire blinks at the long name while Pepper comments, already reaching for the card he was giving her. "That's a mouthful."

"I know, we're working on it." Coulson said.

"SHIELD."

Both Pepper and Coulson turns to Claire. "What?"

"You said you were working on it, the name," Claire explains. "SHIELD."

Coulson nods lightly at the name. "That's not bad, I like it."

Pepper smiles lightly at her and places the card in her suit pocket before turning her focus back to the press conference; it seemed to be going smoothly expect for the fact that Tony was sitting on the floor, eating his fourth burger.

"You know, we have been approached by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..."

"We are a separate division with a more specific area of focus. We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape."

Pepper nodded. "I'll put something in the books, shall I?"

Coulson nodded. "Thank, Miss Potts." Looking down at Claire, he gave her a small smile. "Miss Stark." She returned the smile and watched as he turned and walked away.

Once he had left, the two of them turned back to the press conference just in time to hear a reporter ask Tony what had happened in Afghanistan. Tony had stood since and was moving to stand behind the podium.

"I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up." Tony says as his gaze goes past the reporters and lands on Claire, instantly reminding him why he was doing this. After seeing everything he did, he was—no, he wanted to give his daughter a better legacy; a legacy that she can actually be proud. "I came to realize that I have so much more to lose now than I did when I took over this company. And that is why, effectively immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries."

Reporters immediately stood, throwing out their questions while Obie whispered lowly into Tony's ears, trying to move him away from the podium—but Tony remained where he stood.

"Until such a time I can decide what the future of the company will be. What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." Tony concludes.

Obie steps up to the podium and bends next to the microphone, as Tony casually walks off the stage and goes over to where his daughter is with Pepper.

Claire stands next to her father within the Reactor building of Stark Industries. Tony is standing in front of the railing that blocks off the large arc reactor that powers the building and Claire looks at the large reactor in front of her. For as long as she can remember, she's always been fascinated by the giant arc reactor that powered the entire building but to Claire, she always believed that Stark Industries could do something more—something that can help others instead of just making weapons.

Claire looks over her shoulders to see Obie walking inside with a big cigar in his mouth. Tony slowly looks over and watches as Obie approaches, placing his hands on his hips and pushing back his suit coat.

"Well, that," he sighs sarcastically. "That went well."

Tony nods slightly. "Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" He pulls his sling off.

"Your head? What about my head?" Obie asks. "What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?"

"Ah, optimistically," Tony starts. At the same time, he and Claire answer, "40 points." Tony glances at her with a smile before focusing back on Obie.

"At minimum." Obie says. "Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer."

"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy. That's it."

"That's what we do. We're iron mongers. We make weapons."

"It's our name on the side of the building." Tony said as he motions between him and Claire.

Obie ignores him. "And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos."

Claire frowns slightly at those words. She knows Stark Industries could do a lot better things but she didn't exactly understand why Obie seemed so persistent on making weapons.

Something about it didn't sit right with her.

"Not based on what I saw." Tony tells him.

It's silence between the two grown men for a while before Obie looks down at Claire for a second then back to Tony. "Why don't you let her go with Happy outside while we talk?" He suggests, but Claire knows it's because he doesn't want her to be in room, hearing them talk about the company's future—a company that would be hers in the future.

"She's fine right here," Tony says, remaining firm in his place. "It's going to be her company one day anyways."

It's silence between the two of them again and Tony knows he won. "I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology." He says.

Claire snaps her head up to look at him questioningly while Obie shakes his head. "It's a publicity stunt. We built it to shut the hippies up." He answers.

"It works." Tony says.

"Yeah, as a science project," Obie says. "Arc reactor technology, it's a dead end, right?"

"Maybe," Tony says before he glances down at his little girl. "What do you think, munchkin? Is it maybe a dead end?"

Claire looks up at him, giving him a cheeky smile. "I think maybe you figured it out."

Tony smiles lightly at her before he looks over at Obie. "So, this tech... arc reactor technology is a dead end, isn't it? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what 30 years?" He questions.

"That's what they said." Tony replies, but the look on Obie's face gives him his answer. "Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me who told you."

"Never mind who told me, show me," Obie says.

"Rhodey or Pepper," Tony says. "It's Rhodey or Pepper."

"I want to see it." Obie persists, and Claire frowns again. First, he was against shutting down the weapons manufacturing program and now, it was this—nothing about Obie felt right to her.

"Okay, Rhodey," Tony says as he moves his shirt a little to show the reactor in his chest, instantly catching Claire's attention as she's already staring at it. "It works."

"Okay, okay, we're a team," Obie says. "There's nothing we can't do if we stick together. Now let me handle all this cause we're gonna take a lot of heat. You gotta promise me you'll lay low."

As Claire watches Obie and her father, she shifts uncomfortably with a frown on her face. The entire time, she didn't feel anything that felt right about Obie's words. She knows that her father is trying to do something that was better but Claire got the feeling that Obie seemed to have other plans in mind.

And she didn't like it one bit.