Iron Man's Daughter

“Australia’s got coral reefs. We could go to Tokyo and I could buy you a phone that won’t come to the U.S. for another five years. Paris has plenty of fashion shows this time of year. Barcelona’s beautiful. Switzerland’s fun to go skiing at...in the winter. Where do you want to go?”

Tess stared at Tony with mild fascination. He was giving her all these choices, naming them off like a grocery list, while they sat in his private jet. Maya sat happily in Tess’s lap, purring loudly. Tess took a drink of her Dr. Pepper and sighed.

“Mr. Stark–”

“Call me Tony,” her dad interrupted. He knew by the way she acted around him that she wouldn’t be calling him “dad” anytime soon. He didn’t blame her.

“Tony. I don’t need you buying your way to make me like you. I still don’t particularly like you very much.”

Tony smiled from under his glass. “I know. I’m just trying to...apologize.”

Tess rolled her eyes. “Well, I appreciate it, but I still don’t completely forgive you.”

Tony nodded. “I understand. So where to?”

Tess sighed again. “I don’t know...Paris?”

“Hey, Bill!” Tony called, turning in his seat. “Take us to Paris!”

~

Tony and Tess walked out of the third museum they’d visited that day. Tony had been incredibly patient, simply following her around as she enjoyed her time in the city of love. They’d already been to one of the biggest fashion shows of the year and he couldn’t help but smile at the look on her face as she watched the models walk down the platform. She was very easy to impress. Tess was swinging a bag in each hand, the faintest hint of a smile on her pretty face as she recalled the unforgettable day she’d had.

Tony noticed this. “You should do that more often.”

Tess looked at him, her eyebrows scrunching together. “Do what?”

“Smile. It fits you a lot better,” he explained, opening the back car door for her. He’d rented a chauffeur to drive them around for the day.

Tess didn’t say anything, only rolled her eyes. When Tony slid in, they were off across Paris again.

“Are you hungry?” Tony asked.

“Kinda,” Tess said with a shrug.

“Great, I know the perfect place then.”

The two of them sat in front of a small café under a large red and white striped umbrella. They ate their ice cream in silence, Tess’s eyes wandered the area around her. The little café was on the corner of the street with black, iron chairs and tables scattered around for the customers to sit and watch the pigeons. The pigeons were rather cute, in Tess’s opinion.

“So...” Tony started, breaking the silence. “Have any plans for college?”

“I want to be a doctor,” Tess said, taking a slow bite of ice cream.

Tony nodded, slightly impressed. “That’s a lot of schooling. But I bet you’d be great at it.”

Tess quirked a thin eyebrow at him. “How do you know?”

Tony shrugged, looking out into the crowd of people through his sunglasses. “You're smart and you just seem like the ‘doctor-y’ kind of person.”

Tess snorted a quick laugh. “I...Okay, whatever.” She thought for a moment, scraping the last bits of her treat from the bowl. “What made you want to become an industrialist?”

Tony looked at her with his chin propped on his hand. It was impossible to see what he was thinking with his sunglass-covered eyes.. “My dad–your grandfather–was in the weapons business and I was just supposed to do it too.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t really ever given a choice.”

“You’re giving me a choice?” Tess asked incredulously.

“Did I say anything that sounded like ‘No, you can’t be a doctor’? Tess, I had a dad that really didn’t care about what I thought, didn’t really care for me in general. I want to be better than that.”

His daughter chewed on the edge of her spoon, thinking again. He was making it awful hard not to like him, which in turn made her dislike him more in some ways.

After another round of shopping stops they were finally on the plane, heading back to Malibu. Tony scrolled through his phone, taking note of the market and other business things. Tess’s legs were tucked under her, Maya back in her lap.

At first, Tony thought she was asleep, until she spoke. “Tony?”

“Hm?” he answered, never looking up from his phone.

“Thank you.”