Chapter Text
Obie apologized in many different fashions over the next few months. First was the series of phone calls, some sounded sincere, others were complacent and telling Tony not to be so sensitive. Those ones didn’t help his case.
When it was clear the phone messages weren’t going to cut it, Obie went for a different method. He started sending gifts. Everyday a multitude of baby clothes, stuffed animals, and other baby toys arrived in the mail. Tony tried to throw them out just to make a point, but Pepper stopped him. While Elli already had all the clothes and toys she would ever need, Pepper convinced him they shouldn’t waste the gifts. So, at the end of every week the local orphanage had an anonymous package delivered as a result of Obadiah’s endless…generosity.
It was only when a snowy white pony with a big red bow on its tail showed up on the front porch that Pepper had had enough. Tony knew he could’ve kept it up forever, but his P.A. was adamant that he talked to his business partner/godfather. She wasn’t going to find homes each week for whatever animal Obie sent next. And so, Tony forgave Obie in words only. They were okay on the outside, but Tony wasn’t sure if he would ever see the man the same way again. And he was most definitely never taking Obie up on his offer to babysit. The man had only offered to gain back favor from Tony, after all.
It was around when Elli had started crawling that Obie felt he could show up at the mansion again and pester Tony about the company. They were in the lab, Elli sitting in a playpen that had a specially made mat so she could crawl without irritating the skin at the end of her legs. While Pepper had ordered special socks meant for amputees, Elli took them off each time and threw them as far as her little arm could chuck them. Which wasn’t very far but the kid had a point to make. Tony had laughed at Pepper’s frustration and proceeded to make a special mat for his daughter with Jarvis.
“I don’t have anything to show you, Obie.” Tony sits at his workstation with schematics that Obadiah could never fully understand floating around him. The man had shown up with a stuffed bear that was bigger than Dummy and had acted so excited to see Elli, Tony almost threw up.
“Come on Tony. You haven’t given me anything good since you adopted Elli. The board is getting impatient,” Tony snorted, “I know you still have been working everyday. Pepper told me. Why don’t you just show me what you’re working on so we can at least throw the investors a bone to chew.”
Tony glanced back at the man, the sooner he gave him what he wanted, the sooner he left.
“Jarvis, pull up Project Eleanor.” The current schematics and numbers blinked out of existence and in their place a what looked to be a drawing of an arm and a leg popped up. Looking closer, Obie’s eyes widened as he realized they were much more than that.
“You’re building her replacement limbs?”
“Well, yeah. Elli was the inspiration, but SI can produce them too. There are other people in the world like her. And they’ll be useful with our military contracts. War veterans and other amputees can put a mechanical limb to good use. I wanted to have them done and legalized before she starts attempting to walk, I would rather she learn with these then having to learn twice.”
Obie stared at the floating blueprints with his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. Only Tony could pull this off in such a short amount of time, and all on his own too. A big grin broke across his face.
“You had me worried there for a while. Thought you had lost your touch when Elli showed up,” Obie shook his head while his mind thought of all the profits to be made, he missed the glare Tony sent his way, “This is great Tony. Just fantastic. Make sure to send this to the research department by the end of the week.”
Without bothering to say goodbye to either of them, Obie bounded up the stairs already on the phone with a board member that had been particularly vocal the past few months. Tony only rolled his eyes and went to carry Elli upstairs for her afternoon bottle. He had sent the file two weeks ago, Obie just assumed Tony always asked for permission. Not.
Testing was later this afternoon; Tony was actually going in—he wanted to make sure everything was perfect. This project was different. While the weapons he made protected American soldiers, they also caused pain and destruction. These mechanical limbs were going to help a lot of people, not just Elli.
“Pep, I’m telling you she was trying to say my name earlier.” The two of them were sitting at the kitchen counter, Elli’s highchair next to Tony so he could feed her apple sauce. Elli’s hair was now long enough that Pepper was able to style it into a single pig tail that stood straight up on top of her head. Her onesie was a bright pink that said ‘I’m a Daddy’s girl’ in white cursive lettering.
“I believe you, Tony,” Pepper continued going through documents Tony needed to sign, humming in agreement but obviously not paying attention.
“Jarvis will tell you.” Tony huffed at her lack of enthusiasm.
“She was rehearsing all night, Sir. Must be stage fright.” Tony narrowed his eyes at one of Jarvis’s cameras while Pepper started to laugh. So she was listening.
“Har, har.”
Tony decided to ignore Jarvis and Pepper’s teasing. Mostly because it had been a good day so far. Since testing had begun a month ago, the volunteers had reported little to no problems adjusting to the prosthetic limbs. In fact, every subject loved them. A young woman that had once been a marathon runner but had lost her left leg in an accident actually hugged him today. It had felt…nice.
At the rate RD was going, Elli would be fitted with her own in the next year or so. Clemmons said babies generally start walking at a little before the age of 2 and Elli was estimated to be about 8 or 9 months old. It would be perfect timing. And Dr. Clemmons had doubted him. Ha.
“Come on Elli, say ‘Dada’ so I can shove it in Pepper’s face.” Elli gurgled incoherently in response but there was definitely a ‘da’ sound in there somewhere.
“Watch daddy now,” Pepper looked up from her papers as Tony elongated ‘Dada’ into Daaaaaaada, “See, Dada. Now you try.”
“Daaaaaaaa...”
“Pepper,” without looking over, Tony began smacking Pepper’s shoulder, “Pepper it’s happening. Oh my God, Jarvis you better be recording this.”
“Of course, Sir.” Tony was practically vibrating in his seat.
“…Da. Dada.” Elli grinned as Tony flew into the air and took a victory lap around the kitchen.
For the special occasion, Tony had dressed Elli up in a fluffy pink dress with gold sequins sown into the skirt. Pepper’s gift was currently in Elli’s hair, the gold butterfly bobby pins keeping the white tufts of hair out of the toddler’s face. It was an anniversary/birthday party due to no one actually knowing Elli’s actual date of birth. So Tony decided to just make it the day she had appeared in his living room. They had spent the entire day getting ready. Even though it was going to be a party of five adults plus a 1-year-old, Pepper had insisted on decorating the living room and kitchen. Pink and green streamers hung from every corner of the ceiling and balloons were everywhere. For some reason, Tony had a helium tank in the lab and Pepper had used it to her advantage. A cake with frosting flowers sat on the counter. You would think Tony would have the self control not to stick his finger in the frosting, but unfortunately Pepper has had to have Rhodey guard it all day.
Happy and Dr. Clemmons were coming later, around 6 o’clock. Obie was not coming—he was currently in Japan—but had had a fluffy Golden Retriever puppy with a pink ribbon wrapped around its neck delivered earlier in the morning. Pepper thought she was going to have to take it home until a certain toddler’s squeals of delight melted Tony’s dislike of small furry creatures. Despite Obie’s objection however, Tony had let Elli name the dog and, due to her limited range of sounds, had declared the name to be ‘Deedee’. They were currently learning the names of animals and ‘deedee’ was as close as she could get to ‘dog’.
“Elli do you want some apple juice?” Rhodey was in charge of the toddler while Tony and Pepper moved presents from some closet in the mansion to the kitchen table.
“No!”
“No apple juice?”
“NO!”
“That means yes in Elli-speak. She is in a ‘no’ phase right now.” Tony walked past Rhodey with a box wrapped in silver paper with blue balloons.
Nodding, Rhodey filled a purple sippy cup and brought it over to the playpen Elli and Deedee were currently sitting in. There weren’t too many presents, a 1-year-old didn’t need much. After Pepper had arranged the gifts to be aesthetically pleasing, the three of them sat down to chat. Rhodey drank beer, Pepper a white wine, and Tony black coffee. Not being able to hide his shock, Pepper explained to Rhodey that Tony barely drank anymore. Elli required too much attention for him to be constantly buzzed like her used to be. In fact, Tony hadn’t been to a party since last year when Elli had come into their lives. Parenthood had changed the man greatly.
“Sir, Dr. Clemmons and Mr. Hogan have arrived.”
“Great, now the party can start!” Tony hopped out of his chair and scooped Elli up to go greet the guests at the door.
The group opened presents first. The presents had included puzzles, books, and various stuffed animals. Tony’s favorite gift had been a frame with a photo of Tony bottle feeding Elli. Pepper had snuck it on her phone one day. Tony was wearing a ratty old ACDC t-shirt and his favorite pair MIT sweatpants. It had been early in the morning, so both of their hair had had a bad case of bedhead sticking up at all angles. Despite his worn and torn appearance, Tony thought he looked happier in that moment then any one of the photos published by the press in the past ten years.
When it was time for cake, Tony had blown out the candles for the toddler. Everyone had clapped and cheered causing Elli to giggle with excitement. Elli had then been placed back into her highchair with her own slice to dig into. The adults had laughed when she ignored her spork and dug in with just her bare hand. It was while they were eating their own portions of the cake that Tony suddenly jumped out of his chair, startling everyone.
“Elli you come back down here right now!” Everyone’s eyes had widened exponentially as they looked up to see a floating toddler. The girl was giggling as she began spinning slowly, an electric blue glow outlining her body. Happy fainted at the sight. Tony chased after her as she floated about the kitchen. Finally, the glow dimmed, and the toddler dropped into her father’s waiting arms. Dr. Clemmons inspected Elli for any injuries as Rhodey looked up in complete disbelief at what his life had become.
“Is that frosting on the ceiling?”
Elli wasn’t quite sure what to make of the new extensions of her arm and feet. When they had first appeared, they had hurt quite a lot, but now they were just kind of there. She was able to get the hang of having a left arm pretty quickly, after all it was just like her right one. The feet were more difficult. She and her daddy were sitting on the floor in front of the T.V. He had placed her on his lap so she could see both of their feet together.
“Now Elli, see how I am curling my toes? Can you try doing that for me?” Pepper had painted both of their toes earlier that day. Her toes were orange because that was her favorite color that week while her daddy’s were red and gold.
Concentrating really hard, Elli watched as her new feet twitched a few times before her toes curled just like her daddy’s. Her head shot up to smile at her daddy, a bright smile on his face as well.
“Good?”
“Very good, sweetie. Can you try bending your knees now?” Elli nodded and followed her daddy’s example.
“Looks like it is going well.” Elli squirmed out of her daddy’s lap and held her arms up.
“Peppa! Peppa! I can wiggle my toes!” The woman scooped her off the floor and Elli lifted one of her legs to show her.
“Amazing!” Pepper showered her with kisses and then plopped her on the couch so Elli could watch Mickey Mouse. Deedee hopped up next to her and put her head in Elli’s lap. Using her left hand, Elli practiced petting gently. Her daddy said that her new arm was very strong, so she had to be extra careful.
“They look so real. It’s like she had them all along.” Elli decided to only pay somewhat attention to what her Aunty Pepper and daddy were saying, Mickey was currently singing the clubhouse song.
“I know. I’m so glad that marathon runner mentioned her friends saying she looked like a cyborg. I wouldn’t have thought to make the faux skin sealing.”
It was when Elli decided she was thirsty that she discovered she had a problem. Her juice was all the way over on the coffee table! Now normally she would just make it float to her, but her daddy was making her wear her special bracelet. When she was wearing her special bracelet, she didn’t float on accident but she couldn’t make stuff move to her either. And daddy usually let her take it off in the house, but he said she had to wear it until she got used to her legs since she kept using her powers to move them on accident.
Frustrated and unable to get her daddy’s attention, Elli shimmied off the couch and landed on the floor with a soft thump. Gripping onto the leather couch, Elli glared at her legs. She could do this; her daddy used his legs to move all the time.
Tony was extremely pleased with how the surgery had gone. Elli’s prosthetics were slightly different from the others—hers had interchangeable parts due to her being a child, she would need to get upgrades as she grew—but they worked just as well, if not better than the original designs. The faux skin was a great addition that he would introduce to the SI models as well. The only hint at where the prosthetic began was the thin line where the seal met actual skin. Pepper had jumped at the chance to paint Elli’s toenails for the first time, and when his baby girl had insisted his be painted too, he hadn’t even hesitated. The young marathon runner, Grace had been her name, had told Tony how much she had missed having painted toes. She had said how she felt silly, since it was such a minor thing, but it was what she was looking forward to the most—after being able to run again, of course.
“Oh my gosh, Tony turn around.”
Tony whipped around just in time to see Elli take her hands off the couch. The coffee table had been moved so that Tony could sit with his legs stretched out in front of him, so it was a little farther than usual. Both of them watched in silence, Tony cheering internally as to not break Elli’s concentration. He almost wants to laugh at the Frankenstein walk she is doing; they’ll have to work on her bending her knees and ankles some more. When she makes it the four feet from the couch to the coffee table, Pepper and Tony burst in excitement causing Elli to fall onto her butt in alarm. Jarvis made sure to take plenty of pictures.
“Come on Tony, you’ve barely had anything to do with the company in the past three years. The kid can be watched for a while you go to Afghanistan.”
Tony wheeled around to look at Obie on the screen. He was getting some work done in the lab while Pepper took Elli to the park. She was old enough that he could get her to wear tinted glasses and a knitted hat that hid her hair and eyes well enough that someone would have to be paying attention to notice the unique coloring.
“Obie I’ve never been gone for more than two days. I would rather not travel to a war zone the first time I’m gone for longer than that.”
“Okay so a week, tops. And Tony, you’re going to be with the U.S. military in the middle of a desert demonstrating a missile. Nothing bad is going to happen.”
“For some reason that doesn’t make me feel better.” Tony snorts and turns back to what he was working on.
“Please Tony, the investors want to see you. Not me, it’s not my name on the company.” Tony didn’t pick up on it but there was a hint of bitterness as Obadiah said those words.
“I’ll think about it.”
Tony squeezed his daughter as tight as he could without breaking her. She giggled sweetly as his beard tickled her cheek as he kissed her in an exaggerated motion.
“Pwomise you’ll be back?” Tony leaned his forehead against Elli’s as she tried not to pout. She was a big girl and her daddy had assured her he would be back home soon.
“I promise, muffin.”
“Peppa said we could go the pawk wheneva I wanted but I don’t want Peppa to take me to the pawk. I want you to take me to the pawk.” Elli sniffled, it’s not that she didn’t like Pepper. She just really loved her daddy.
“I know, baby but if you promise to be a good girl for Pepper, we’ll go to the park AND get ice cream when I get back.” Elli’s eyes lit up.
“Ice cweam?”
“Of course!”
Tony chuckles at her excitement, he knows she won’t be forgetting that promise. He reaches down into his pocket when his phone starts to ring.
“What’s up, platypus?”
“Tony, your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago.”
“That's funny, I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me
to get there.” Rhodey sighs at his friend.
“I know there is some separation anxiety…”
“Excuse you, Elli is three. She can have all the separation anxiety she needs.” Tony blows as raspberry at the toddler on his hip causing her to burst into a fit of giggles.
“Not talking about Elli. Tony just hurry up and get here already.” A click ends the conversation as Pepper walks up to the father and daughter.
“That was rude.”
“He has a point, say your final goodbyes.”
“Alright, alright. I love you princess.”
“I love you too daddy.” Tony passes his daughter off to Pepper before being herded to the town car by Happy.
“Remember bath time is a 7! And no juice after 6!”
“Tony, I keep track of both of your lives. I know the schedule, just get to the airport before the plane leaves.”
“Doesn't it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?”
Before Tony can even exit the town car, reporters are swarming. He definitely hadn’t missed this.
“Mr. Stark, where have you been the past three years? Is it true you have become a hermit?”
“Mr. Stark, there has been rumors of a Mrs. Stark causing you to end your playboy lifestyle. Can you confirm this?”
“Mr. Stark is it true that you are terminally ill?”
Tony deflected most questions by repeating the phrase no comment as he made his way through the crowd, but one woman was extremely persistent.
“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! You've been called the da Vinci of our time. What do you say to that?”
“Absolutely ridiculous. I don't paint.” Well not masterpieces at least. Elli loved to finger paint.
“And what do you say to your other nickname? ‘The Merchant of Death’?” The woman was practically in his face now.
“That's not bad,” his weapons had caused a lot of death, but they protected the young men and women serving his country so he had little to no guilt, “Let me guess. Berkeley?”
“Brown, actually.”
“Well, Ms. Brown, it's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got,” if this world were perfect, Elli would have never have had to suffer like she did, “I guarantee you, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll stick to only making prosthetics and baby bottles.”
“Rehearse that much?”
“Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime.” He had stopped walking now, the other reporters having been left behind when security pushed them back. How she managed to sneak past, he would never know.
“All I want is a serious answer.”
“Okay, here's serious. Until it is guaranteed that our children are safe, I’m going to stick to my old man’s philosophy, ‘Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy.’”
“That's a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks.”
“My father helped defeat the Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, including your professors at Brown, would call that being a hero.”
“And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering. You are still making money after you blow people up with those new prosthetics.” Tony was ready to hit the bitch.
“Tell me, do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs, military funding, honey.”
Before she can say another word, Tony turns on his heel and practically sprints toward the plane. God, did he hate the paparazzi. Vultures, that was the only word for them.
“What's wrong with you?” Tony looks up to see Rhodey scowling.
“What?”
“Three hours.”
“Elli needed extra kisses and then I got caught doing a piece for Vanity Fair.” Tony shrugs his shoulders. Nothing he could do about it now.
“For three hours. For three hours you got me standing here.”
“Waiting on you now. Let's go. Come on.” The sooner they left and got this demonstration over with, the sooner he could get back and see Elli.