How do you heal?

Flashback: 1993

July

Tony walked up to the small house bottle in hand while Happy waited in the car. In the two years since he met Ferris he had stopped over about a half dozen times. While Ferris was in a different stage of life with four kids and a wife, Tony liked to sit and talk with him. About music and movies and just the way of the world. Ferris was a great listener and Tony was a great talker. He knocked on the door and waited longer than usual. Looking in the window when no one answered he saw Ferris' oldest son, Fletcher, sitting on the couch. Tony knocked on the window and watched as Fletcher looked back and forth between him and the kitchen before standing up and going to the door.

"About time kid, this humidity is killing me. How do people even survive in this state." Tony made to walk into the house past Fletcher but the boy stopped him.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but I don't think now's a good time. My dad is on the phone with his lawyer."

"Lawyer? What's he talking to a lawyer about, is he in trouble?" Tony asked, taking off his sunglasses and peeking his head into the house to try and listen.

"No sir. He's not in trouble. It's about my sister."

Tony looked down at Fletcher perplexed. Ferris had two daughters but they couldn't be older than ten, why on earth would they need a lawyer? "The girls? Are they okay? Where is your mom?"

Fletcher looked around again unsure and stepped back, indicating Tony should enter. "My mom has Finch and the girls at the store right now but this isn't about them."

"What are you talking about kid? You just said it was about your sister and now you are saying it's not about the girls. Do you have a secret third sister somewhere?"

Just then a smash came from the kitchen followed by Ferris yelling. "God dammit!"

Fletcher looked at Tony. "I think you should talk to my dad."

The boy pointed Tony into the kitchen where Ferris stood next to a phone, hand pressed against his face. When he looked up at Tony his eyes were rimmed with tears.

Tony pointed to the bottle in his hands. "Wanna talk about it?

A while later the two sat on the back porch looking out into the yard, the bottle almost gone. "So let me get this straight. April is your second wife and the boy's step mom but the girls are hers?" Tony asked.

"Yep." Ferris answered and took another drink.

"But before you met April you had a one night stand that resulted in another child that you didn't know about until she was five?"

"Yes. By an absolute miracle one day I had to pick up the boys from school because April was taking the girls to a doctor's appointment. I was waiting outside for the kids to be let out and I saw the woman from the one night stand walk up and call out to a little girl. I turned and a redhead was walking past me and with those eyes I knew instantly she was mine."

"And the lawyer phone call earlier?"

"Cherry is an abusive drunk. We started getting visitation with Anna after almost a year of fighting and a lot of back child support. She'd come over with bruises and bumps everywhere. Cherry played it off like she was just clumsy but Anna flinches or freezes anytime there's a loud noise or anyone raises their voice. She barely speaks and the kid is neat as a pin, like if she drops a crumb the world is going to end and she cries whenever I drop her off. I've been trying to get full custody since she was nine but Cherry is a manipulator and doesn't want to lose the child support or her little maid. She charms the pants of every judge we see. We are doing our best but four kids on top of the child support doesn't leave much room in the budget for a good lawyer." Ferris' eyes began to tear up again. "She's my kid, Tony, and I can't protect her.

Tony left the Easton house that night and made a phone call. "Hey I need you to get me information on a Cherry Harris from Steel City, Ohio, who has a kid named Anna. Oh and the best custody lawyer willing to travel to Ohio on my dime."

December

Tony sat down at a table after mingling at the Eastons Christmas party. Ferris had called him a month ago to invite him and tell him that Cherry had suddenly decided to give up all rights and Anna had just been moved to their house. He was surveying the room and its occupants looking for Happy so they could get going when a small voice came from beside him. "Mr. Stark?"

Tony turned to see a girl around twelve with red hair and bright green eyes standing next to him, holding a decorative box. "Do I know you, kid?" He asked looking over the rim of his glass.

"No sir. But I wanted to give you this," she said, placing the box down on the table in front of him. "And say thank you."

Tony looked at the box then back to the girl. "What's in the box and why are you thanking me?"

The girl bit her lip and looked around as if to see if anyone was listening to her then nodded towards the box. "Butterscotch bourbon blondies, April helped me make them. I know you did what you did for my dad but it helped me too. So thank you."

Tony looked at the girl again and realized she must be Anna. He flipped the lid of the box up and took out a blondie, tearing a piece off and popping it in his mouth. Wow, that's good. "Anna, what is it that you think I did for your dad?"

Anna smiled sadly. "Annie, please. My mom wasn't exactly quiet about the fact she'd be getting a monthly payout and her freedom back."