The Stark Trap

~20~

Tony got a rental car and Melissa sat in the front seat, directing him on where to go while also texting Andi. 
 
Melissa didn't like lying to her father, she told Andi that she thinks that she should tell him that Andi wasn't actually arrested, and surprisingly enough, her sister actually agreed with her. She said that it was probably better to get that out of the way before they got to the house.
 
"Hey uh, Dad… I have something to tell you…"
 
Tony looked over at her from the corner of his eye. "Is it, by chance, that Andi wasn't actually arrested and that this is just a ploy to get me to California?" He asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking slightly.
 
Melissa's eyes widened. "Wha- How did you-"
 
"Firstly, you're a horrible liar-"
 
"You didn't know it was me pretending to be Andi for weeks"
 
Tony nodded. "I didn't say you weren't a good actor, I said you weren't a good liar. Secondly, there are a lot of holes in your story."
 
"Like?"
 
"Like 1. Andi wouldn't have gotten arrested, she would probably have just gotten held by the store. 2. They would have released her to your mother, it doesn't matter that she isn't the custodial parent. Plus they wouldn't even know that your mother wasn't the custodial parent. And 3. I'm Tony Stark, even if all that stuff did happen, I could literally just call them and they'd let her go so there'd be no reason for me to fly all the way to California"
 
Melissa sighed. This is why she should have thought everything through, she knew the getting arrested story wouldn't work. "If you knew all of this, then why did you go along with it?"
 
Tony shrugged. "Well for one, getting into a fight in Walmart and getting arrested is totally something Andi would do, so I thought that maybe it could have actually happened and that you wouldn't have known what would actually happen to Andi if it did. And also I want to drag Andi's ass back to New York and take you home before your mother freaks out"
 
Melissa looked down. "So you're just going to take Andi home and leave me here?"
 
Sighing, Tony reached over and put his hand on her shoulder, keeping his other hand on the steering wheel. "I have to, kid… I love you so much, I really do Honey Bee, you have no idea how much I love you, but your mother has custody of you and if I keep you without her consent she could have me arrested. It's technically kidnapping. Maybe your mother and I can talk and come up with a new agreement, but right now, I have to take you home…"
 
Melissa didn't say anything. She just looked out the window, pointing which ways they had to go and occasionally texted Andi. She looked in the side mirror at Peter, who mouthed 'Sorry' to her when they made eye contact.
 
After another twenty minutes of driving, they made it to Melissa's house. "Andi said that M ran to pick up a few things from the store so she's not here right now" Melissa said, noticing that Tony looked nervous.
 
Her father nodded, looking at the house. "Did she know we were coming?"
 
Melissa shook her head, unbuckling and climbing out of the car. She heard Tony tell the boys to stay and then Peter protested, saying something about wanting to see Andi.
 
Not wanting to argue, Tony allowed them both to come with them. Melissa went up and unlocked the door with her key, stepping inside her house for the first time in a while.
 
She had missed being home, it was the longest she had ever been away. She missed a lot about California, but she also grew to love a lot about Manhattan, she was going to miss it…
 
"Long time no see"
 
Melissa turned to see Andi walking down the stairs, wearing a red tank top and black shorts, something that she must have brought with her from New York.
 
Peter's face lit up when he saw her and Melissa could swear that his eyes were literally sparkling.
 
Tony, on the other hand, wasn't as happy to see her. "Andrea Marie Stark you are in so much trouble!"
 
"Chill Dad. Don't get your panties in a twist" She said, jumping off the last few stairs. "How was your flight?"
 
"We're not here to exchange pleasantries," Her father said, crossing his arms.
 
Sighing, Andi led them into the living room. "Mom went out for groceries, she'll be back back in a few, why don't we wait for her to get back before you chew my ass off"
 
Tony was about to say something before they heard the front door open.
 
"Andi, I'm home!" They heard Pepper's voice yell from the foyer.
 
Tony visibly stiffened when he heard it. He hadn't thought about how he would feel seeing Pepper again, he had pushed the thoughts out of his head, otherwise he would have turned the plane around.
 
The kids all shared a look as Pepper walked into the living room. She looked up from the bag she was holding and dropped it when she saw Tony. "T-Tony…? What are you doing here…?"
 
This was the first time that Tony had seen her in sixteen years… She looked the same, but also different. Her hair was shorter and a little more auburn, she had a few more wrinkles around her eyes but that just added to her beauty, she was wearing a tank top and leggings, the latter of which Tony had never seen her wear before. He had forgotten just how beautiful Pepper was… She seemed even more beautiful, if it was even possible…
 
"Pep…"
 
Pepper slightly cringed at the nickname. No one called her Pep anymore, she forbade it. John and anyone else she met after the breakup knew her as Virginia, both of the names Pepper and Pep had reminded her of Tony… "Andi… Care to explain…?"
 
Andi bit her lip. "Uh… We kinda lied to Dad and said that I was arrested so that he'd come here…"
 
Pepper sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Why?"
 
"They're Parent Trapping us" Tony answered.
 
Pepper rolled her eyes. "Of course they are…" She looked at Andi with a raised eyebrow, and then looked over at Melissa, who she hadn't noticed since she was kind of behind Tony. She looked between the two girls, seeing them together for the first time in sixteen years… "You two are together…" She said, tearing up.
 
Andi and Melissa smiled and nodded. "It's been a while huh" Andi said. 
 
Tony also looked at the two of them, also now realizing that both of them were together. He turned back to Pepper. "I just came here to drop off Liss and bring Andi back to New York… We have to come up with a new situation Pep, we can't keep them apart anymore"
 
"You shouldn't have kept them apart in the first place…" Peter said quietly.
 
Pepper looked at Peter with a confused look, trying to figure out who he was, before it hit her. "Peter…?" She smiled slightly. "Little Peter…"
 
Peter smiled shyly, giving a small wave. "Uh hi…"
 
"I knew your Aunt… I haven't seen you since you were very young…" Pepper said. "May used to bring you here when she came to visit" She explained when Peter looked more confused.
 
"I hate to interrupt, but we really either need to come up with a new plan for the girls or me, Andi, Peter and Harley need to go"
 
Nodding, Pepper sighed. "Let's sit…" Pepper and Andi brought everyone a glass of iced tea and some snacks and then sat down. "What do you want to do about the girls, Tony?"
 
"Do we get a say in anything?" Andi asked.
 
Tony rolled his eyes. "Your guys say would be having your mother and I get back together and us be a happy family, but that can't happen"
 
They all sat there and discussed what should happen now. It was harder to come up with a plan, now that the girls were almost adults, but they managed to come up with a plan for the year until they turned eighteen. For now, the plan was that Andi would spend Thanksgiving with Pepper and Melissa in Malibu, then they would celebrate Christmas in early December and Tony would get the twins for Christmas day. Pepper wanted the girls for New Years, which Tony allowed. Other breaks from school were divided between them, Tony got the girls for half of the summer, June and half of July, Pepper got them the rest of July and August. Then after that, they would turn eighteen in October and could determine what they wanted to do on their own if they wanted.
 
After their talk, they all just kind of hung out and talked about the girls' life growing up. It was kind of awkward for Tony and Pepper in the beginning to be around each other, but it got a bit easier as the day went on.
 
Though Pepper wasn't really happy about some of the things she found out…
 
"You're telling me you've been living off of nothing but take out and junk food?" Pepper asked Andi, glaring pointedly at Tony.
 
"Not just take out and junk…" Andi said. "May makes us food a lot, sometimes Zia Nat will come over and have dinner with us. Or Peter makes food, he's a really good cook"
 
Pepper sighed, rubbing her face with her hand. "You shouldn't just be eating junk all the time… And why would you let our sixteen year old daughter get a nose piercing?" She asked, looking over at Tony.
 
"I didn't" He said, putting his hands up defensively. "She apparently had a fake ID and used it to get it without permission!"
 
Pepper sighed again. "You… How did you not know that our daughter had a fake ID?"
 
"Cause he's rarely ever home" Andi said to herself.
 
Unfortunately, her mother heard her. "What do you mean he's barely home?"
 
"He uh.. He kinda works a lot… I guess… Usually it's just me and Harley at home, and Peter when he stays over. Sometimes we'll go to May's," Andi said, shrugging.
 
"I shouldn't have let you raise a child by yourself," Pepper said, standing up and walking into the kitchen. "I thought maybe it would be fine with you having the other Avengers there to help and May but apparently not. What do you even do for the company Tony? I'm the CEO, I do most of the work. I don't think there's enough for you to do that would make you always be at work"
 
Tony sighed. "I still work there Pepper. And I'm an Avenger, I have Avenger related things to do"
 
"What else is going on in New York?" Pepper walked back into the living room, throwing her hands up exasperatedly. "Does Andi have a whole bunch of tattoos? Is she pregnant? Does she have a hooligan boyfriend that she skips school to go see?"
 
Andi made a face when Pepper mentioned skipping school and her mother sighed again.
 
Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose. "You skip school…? Please tell me it's just that part and not any of the other stuff I said…"
 
"I skip sometimes…" Andi said.
 
"I always try to stop her but she doesn't listen to me," Peter said.
 
Pepper sighed, yet again. "Okay I don't want to talk about this anymore. Let's talk about something else…"
 
Everyone was quiet, unsure of what to change the topic to.
 
"I have a question," Melissa said suddenly. "What made you guys name us Melissa and Andrea? Usually people do cringy twin names but you guys didn't"
 
Pepper smiled, sitting back down in her spot. "Well Melissa was a name that I had loved since I was a child, and I knew that at least one of you was going to be Melissa. We were originally going to do where I picked the first name for one of you and Tony picked the middle name and then vice versa for the other twin, but Tony wanted one of your middle names to be Marie, after his mother Maria, and I didn't didn't Melissa Marie fit, so we decided to each pick the first and middle name for one twin each. And obviously we both got final say on the names"
 
"Ironically enough, the twin we named was the twin that we ended up taking after the break up" Tony said. "Your mother chose Melissa's middle name Jane after, who was it? Your grandmother?" He asked, looking over at Pepper.
 
She nodded. "My grandmother's middle name was Jane and I thought Melissa Jane was really cute. Natasha was actually the one who thought of Jane"
 
"Why did you choose Andrea?" Peter asked Tony.
 
Tony shrugged. "I liked the name, and it's Italian, and my mother was Italian so I thought that was a plus-"
 
"Isn't Andrea an Italian male name?" Andi asked, despite already knowing the answer.
 
"I mean yeah but it's also an American girls name and I thought it was cute"
 
Peter nodded in agreement. "I thinks it's really cute"
 
Tony motioned to Peter as if it proved his point. "I also thought it had some cute nickname ideas, Anne, Andi, Drea like Peter calls you, I think Nat even mentioned the nicknames Dee and Angie?"
 
"Ew" Andi said, making a disgusted face.
 
Tony ignored her, though he smiled slightly. "And I really like the way Andrea Marie sounded"
 
"Do you not like your name?" Pepper asked.
 
Andi shrugged "It's not that I don't like it, I just think it's too girly. I like Andi better. I'd change my full first name to Andi if I could"
 
Tony rolled his eyes at his daughter. He looked at his watch and sighed nervously. "I hate to cut this short but I think we should be getting home…"
 
"WHAT?!" Both twins yelled in unison. 
 
"But I don't want to leave!" Andi said. "I've barely gotten to spend time with Liss, and with mom as myself and not Melissa!"
 
Shaking his head, Tony sighed and stood up. "I know and I'm sorry but you'll see them again soon. We have a long flight ahead of us and I don't want to stay here too late and be getting back home at five in the morning"
 
Andi looked at the time on her phone. Melissa had texted her saying they left around 7am, they got there around 1:30. It was now 4:25, so if they left now they'd be getting home around 10:30.
 
"Your father is right, it's a long flight and you'll be getting there late enough now as it is" Pepper said. "You'll see us again soon, and you guys can call or facetime whenever…"
 
Andi and Melissa shared a look. There was no way they'd be able to convince them to let them stay longer, and there was absolutely no way that their parents were getting back together tonight… If at all…
 
Pepper, Peter and Harley followed Tony over to the door, Andi and Melissa took their time, heartbroken over the fact that their plan didn't work.
 
"They were talking so nicely, telling each other about our childhoods… I thought it was going well…" Melissa whispered to Andi
 
Andi nodded. "I did too Liss, I did too…"
 
Peter and Harley could tell that the girls were upset, and they felt bad that everything didn't go as planned. 
 
"You ready to go?" Tony asked Andi as she and Melissa got to the foyer.
 
Andi crossed her arms. "I don't want to go! And I shouldn't be forced to go! I'm almost almost an adult, I should get to make my own decisions about where I get to be."
 
"You're still a minor and I said you're coming home with me"
 
Andi shook her head. "Why would I want to go with you?! You lied to me my whole life! You didn't tell me anything about my mother, you didn't tell me I had a twin and you kept me away from her my entire life! I missed out on so much with Liss! Why would I ever trust you again after you lied to me for my entire life!" She yelled suddenly, shocking everyone
 
Tony sighed. "I know hun, I know. And I'm sorry for lying to you, but I didn't know how to tell you everything… You can always come back and visit and Melissa and Mom can come to New York if they want. But right now, I just want to help home… I've had a long day and I don't want to be getting home too late."
 
"Your father's right Andi," Her mother said, putting her hand on Andi's shoulder. "Go home with him and rest and later we can talk about the next time you come up and visit…"
 
Andi didn't want to go, but she also didn't want to fight, especially when she knew she wouldn't win… "Fine…" She said, giving her mother a hug. "I'll miss you guys…" She went over and hugged Melissa.
 
"You'll see us again…" Melissa said, hugging her back.
 
After what felt like forever, the girls pulled away and Andi, Tony, Peter and Harley left. Both twins had silent tears running down their faces…
 
They hadn't known each other for long, or even spent a lot of time together, but they were already so close, and they didn't want to miss out on any more time together… They had already missed out on so much…
 
All they had wanted was their family back together, that was all they had ever wanted, but Andi knew that it was too late now… Even though the movie The Parent Trap ended where you think that they won't get back together but in the end they do, Andi knew that this wouldn't be like that.
 
She had known from the second she had seen that ring on her mother's left hand when she came home that afternoon…
 
It was already too late…