Graduation: Chapter Two of the Fireheart Saga

Part One: Making Way For Tomorrow

Things changed rapidly after Tony went and spilled the beans on live television. The flashing cameras, the nosy reporters, they all remained, but the pressure, the scrutiny doubled. No longer was Amelia just another rich kid, another legacy, she was the Iron Daughter. Or at least that's what Harry liked to call her.

Graduation came and went and despite her rocky finish, Amelia passed with flying colours, submitting a thrilling thesis that had her leaving top of the class with honours. A lot of honours, too many honours in her opinion. Tony even came to this one, fighting Uncle Rhodey for the title of loudest cheerer, and Amelia finally understood what it meant to have a parent embarrass you publicly. She didn't like it, not one bit, and she subsequently banished Tony from any further graduations. 

 "Like you could stop me." He smirked, ruffling her black hair fondly and Amelia just blinked.

After everything that had happened, all the bad, with Tony's kidnapping, Obadiah's betrayal and everything in between, it left Amelia with stuff to figure out. But the one silver lining, the one good thing to come out of it, was her father's attention. He actually invested himself in her life now, they spent so many nights catching up over the summer whilst Amelia interned at the company. The new direction Tony installed took a lot of time to figure out, the Stark Industries of today was not the company Amelia grew up with. The company she knew, the company she was prepared to work for. Not that she wasn't proud of Tony's responsible new direction. More than anything, she'd wanted the company to stop selling weaponry, and now they were finally digging into anything but Amelia found herself wanting to take charge even more than before. Just so long as she knew what she was taking charge of.

"Are you hiding?" Amelia smirked as she poked her head into the office, catching Tony with his feet propped on the desk, snoozing lightly.

"No." Tony yawned, peering at Amelia over the top of his dark tinted sunglasses. "What makes you say that?"

Amelia gently shut the door behind her, crossing her arms. "Because you know Pepper won't come looking for you in here." She glanced around at the cozy office, the plush gray carpet, the mahogany brown cabinets lining one of the walls and the modern glass desk to match the giant windows behind it looking out over the water. "An office is where people get work done." She glanced over the ugly painting hanging on the wall, the long gray and brown brush strokes matching the room and making her nose crinkle. "Although how anyone can get any work done with this horrid thing hanging over them, I've no idea."

Tony clapped his hands together, "Just like me." He pulled his feet from the table as Amelia stepped over, dropping into the seat opposite him. "So, this came this morning."

Tony waved an envelope around, leaning across the desk and Amelia dove to swipe the letter from his hands. "Why didn't you tell me you applied to MIT?"

"Because I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to go." Amelia answered truthfully, running her fingers over the letter addressed to her, the MIT logo clear in the corner.

She hooked a nervous finger under the flap, tearing up the seam of the envelope and pulled out the letter inside, unfolding it slowly as Tony came round to peer over her shoulder. For a moment she misread the letter, her heart sinking through the floor and it made her realize just how hopeful she'd been. Just how much she wanted to study there. Then Tony snatched the letter from her hands, cheering girlishly, and yelled for Pepper. "My daughter is going to MIT!" he shouted excitedly, voice echoing through the living room and Amelia dropped her head in her hands exhaustedly.

Tony drove her up to Cambridge himself that autumn, Amelia didn't know how many times she told him not to, that Happy could help her out fine, but he still showed up outside her door. It looked completely surreal to watch him pack her boxes into the back of a van, all the while bickering casually with Happy, and Amelia had to pinch herself when they reached her dormitory to make sure she didn't imagine the sight of him setting up her dormitory.