Don't You Worry Child

War

A/N – I know it's been a while and I have no real good reason other than that I've just started university and haven't had time to type up the four chapters I had written. Then I got distracted writing my Sherlock fanfic, Undo It, (Sorry for the total – sort of shameless – promotion there guys). Anyway, I feel totally horrible about this, but I will reward you with multiple updates today – I hope.

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Chapter Summary: Samantha's publicity war on HYDRA begins and it seems like it's all fun and games but things could go wrong at any moment and nobody is more certain of that than Samantha herself.

Soundtrack: War by Edwin Starr

They'd done it, well Steve had done it – with a little help from Samantha, he wasn't afraid to admit. Between the two of them, they'd persuaded Coulson to allow a publicity war between S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA to begin. Tonight was to be the first battle.

To begin with, subtlety was the aim of the game – in essence, declaring war without making it look like they were declaring war and in a publicity war that only meant one thing: Chat Shows. The first show Samantha was to talk on would be The Tonight Show. Here, she would promote one of Stark Industries' new products, the very one she'd worn the night of the attempted bombing – the earring earpiece.

Now, backstage, Samantha was nervous – typical stage fright sort of thing. She'd gotten the same type of nerves ever since she was a child and her mother forced her into talent shows and child beauty pageants. Each time, she'd gotten over it quickly as she knew she would do now.

She was dressed in a black Narciso Rodriguez dress with cut-outs along her rib cage. The dress itself stopped midway down her thigh, showing off her tanned and toned long legs to perfection. This, she'd paired with a pair of gold Jimmy Choo sandals (a brand that was fast becoming her signature as Manolos were Carrie Bradshaw's) and a gold Oscar De La Renta crystal-studded necklace. The aim was for a look of confidence and by god was she going to achieve it.

She walked onto the set as The Roots played a funked out version of Billy Joel's Uptown Girl, a beaming smile on her face while waving to the audience, most of whom had no clue as to who she was. She kissed Jimmy Fallon on both cheeks, like you're supposed to on these sorts of occasions, while he embraced her in a small hug. She sat down on the seat closest to the desk, crossed one of her ankles behind the other and placed her arms on the arms rests. "So, I'm a little confused as to how I address you, do I call you Your Starkliness? Princess Stark?" Jimmy asked and she laughed a true, hearty laugh. Once upon a time, she'd been the subject of Game of Thrones references because of her surname, now she was always going to be seen as Tony Stark's daughter – it was an odd sensation.

"Most of the people who know me seem to call me Baby Stark but Samantha's fine. Although I have gotten the odd Game of Thrones reference," she answered with a cheeky grin.

"Are you obsessed with it too?" he asked and she laughed.

"A little bit... Everyone compares me to Sansa because of the new surname but I always saw myself as more of a Daenerys," she joked and so the interview began.

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The next week, she was on Late Night, doing the same routine all over again. Nerves, entrance, laughter, comfort: Simple as that. This time, she wore a black Milly strapless jumpsuit with black patent leather and suede Jimmy Choo pointed pumps, a Kenneth Jay Lane gold multi-strand necklace and a Lele Sadoughi gold and pearl bracelet.