If Souls Return (Then Tell Them I Say Hi) - Tony Stark's Daughter in Gotham

Chapter 9: Anxiety In the Flesh

Tony was talking to his college friend on the phone while he cooked dinner. He was venting about the suit upgrades he had been working on that afternoon and how they hadn't come together like he wanted. Between flipping their burgers on the stove, Tony massaged the side of his face where his eye often twitched when he was stressed. Peter liked to tease him about being an old man when it happened.

Amberly sat on one of the island's bar stools, anxious and unsure what to do with herself. It was one of those rare weekends where Peter was staying with his aunt and Pepper had taken Morgan with her on a business trip which meant it was just Tony and Amberly.

Realistically she knew or at least hoped Tony wasn't as upset as he looked while he talked on the phone. That didn't mean it didn't make her at least a little bit uncomfortable. Normally when he got in a bad mood, Pepper would ease things over. Amberly wished she was here now.

Eventually Tony covered the phone with one hand and addressed Amberly. "Could you grab the pickles and ketchup out of the fridge?"

Eager to help in any way, she immediately got up. Anticipating that they might want more than just those items, she stuck the jar of pickles in her arm and also grabbed a few other condiments. Balancing them all was a struggle as she walked towards the table, one that she quickly lost.

The glass pickle jar slipped and crashed to the floor. Unable to see over everything she was holding Amberly's bare foot landed on some of the glass shards when she took another step to balance herself.

"Don't move!" Tony shouted dropping the spatula on the counter and hanging up the phone. "I'll call you back Rhodey."

Tony caught her arm as she tried to stand on one foot. He emptied her arms of the rest of condiments and set them on the floor.

"I'm sorry," Amberly said worried Tony was going to be angry with the mess.

"One second we've got to be careful." He grabbed a towel from the counter and began inspecting her foot. He was careful pulling out a few pieces that had gotten stuck in her skin, even apologizing himself when Amberly teared up.

She wasn't struggling against keeping her eyes dry because of the pain though. The fear of what Tony was going to say terrified her more than anything else. He would at least reprimand her for being so careless, if not for also interrupting his conversation.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again choking up.

"I'll need to get the first aid kit," Tony said, but Amberly was only half listening.

He stood up fast and she flinched back unintentionally when his arm extended to drop the bloody towel on the counter. Unfortunately, Tony noticed her reaction and slowed his movements.

"Sorry," she said again.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked too gently.

"I can clean it up." She brought a hand up to her face and chewed on one of her fingernails nervously. Tony didn't look pleased with her response and only frowned. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make it worse."

"Make what worse?"

"You're day. I know you were upset about whatever you were working on. I'm sorry."

Tony wearing slippers didn't hesitate to step closer. "Can I hug you?" He opened his arms and waited until Amberly was ready to embrace her. "You don't have to apologize. I'm not mad," he said when they finally hugged. "I was a little annoyed earlier yes, but that had nothing to do with you. I'm sorry you felt like I would get angry with you over an accident."