Illegitimate Prodigy

Goodbye, my Belle.

 Obadiah towered over Lizzie while they both stood and stared from afar. What Annabelle had said prior--'things would change. For all of us.'-- started to make more sense. He only wished that his daughter's mother wouldn't have said anything to Annabelle, until he knew what she was going to do. What this all meant. Obadiah loathed Lizzie, as well as Annabelle. He pretended to warm up to the idea of Tony becoming a father, putting some of his responsibilities aside to become a family man. However, Stark knew better. 

Obadiah was the reason that Whitney Frost was planted in his life a little less than a year prior to this exact moment. Why his love life with Lizzie was utterly pointless when it was all said and done. Not to say Tony didn't have a choice with Whitney--he could have--he should have rejected her the second she walked into his office. The moment she seduced him and took him on a four month getaway. Away from Annabelle. Away from Lizzie.  He didn't know that she really was just using him to try and save her sick father. Realizing that he needed to get back and fix his very damaged personal life, Whitney's father died in the process, and she went--nuts. There were rumors that she was cloning herself. That her face was damaged in an explosion where she attempted to burglarize one of Stark Industries warehouses. Tony hadn't seen her since then. 

Lizzie never really trusted Tony after that. Even more so than she did before, and it appeared at every turn in the custody battle of Annabelle, Obadiah was there to try to steer it the direction he wanted it to go. The courts chose in Lizzie's favor. Annabelle lived with her mother, and saw her dad as much as Lizzie allowed him to. Not that she truly kept her from him, he was able to see her as much as he pleased. Unfortunately, nothing was the same since he stupidly left his family for the short time that he had. Things changed. 

"Am I missing something here?" Tony spoke sternly. "What the hell is going on, Lizzie?--and why the hell are you here?" The last question was directed at Obadiah, whose gaze didn't falter.

They glanced at the parents briefly walking by, and letting them enter the building. Obadiah stayed behind, but Lizzie began to slowly pace Tony's direction. Lizzie picked at the lace of her dress on her sleeve nervously. Her expression wasn't angry--it almost seemed forlorn. Like she was going to regret what she was about to do. "Tony." Her voice was soft. "After tonight," she dropped her blue eyes to her black heels, and scanned her eyes back to Obadiah momentarily. He simply nodded. "You can't see Annabelle anymore." 

Tony's jaw instantly clenched, both fists closing tightly. "Come again? Are you kidding me?"

"No..--no, I'm not. Obadiah and I feel--"

"Obadiah and I? OBADIAH wanted Annabelle aborted 5 years ago. Obadiah shouldn't have a choice in the relationship with MY daughter." 

"He said you will only get worse, Tony!" She yelled. "You lost your ability to keep your daughter when you flew off with that bimbo, and left us behind." She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, her aquamarine eyes pooling with tears. "This is just the beginning. Soon enough it will be longer trips.."

"No it wont be," he quickly retorted.

"Yes, yes, and then you'll never come back. And then I will have to pick up the pieces of a broken little girl. Not to mention your father's legacy that you need to uphold."

Fuck my father's legacy, he thought to himself. In the first time in forever, Tony felt his heart sink, and his eyes water. This wasn't about Annabelle, Obadiah just made it about Annabelle. This was his way of keeping Tony in the company without distractions. He brainwashed Lizzie thinking this was the best course of action. To erase Tony from Annabelle's life completely. 

"You could not be--" he closed his eyes, a slight but hardly noticeable sniffle escaping him. "more wrong, Lizzie. I would do anything--ANYTHING, for her. You can't.." his voice cracked a little. "You can't just take her away from me." 

"Tony." She pleaded. "We have a plan in place for her. Obadiah is going to pay for a special psychiatrist...it's going to be like you--you.."

"Like I was never there?" He brought his hand up to the knot in his tie, pulling it aggressively until it came completely loose. Turning he tossed the tie into the passenger window of his car. "You're incredible." The sarcasm was very obvious, and Lizzie let out a very heavy sigh. When Tony swung back around, his brown orbs scanned to meet Obadiah. A man that he's always swayed back and forth with trusting. It made him wonder how his father dealt with him for as long as he did. Maybe Tony didn't have as much control over Obadiah as the legendary Howard Stark did. 

His confidant paced over to them, his hands intertwined behind his back. "She's right, Tony," His right hand released, rubbing his jawline briefly before continuing. "As disheartening as it is to say it, Annabelle.." he paused briefly. "Don't you remember how you felt with your father? As he rose to the top of his empire--how he made you feel?" 

"I'm not my father." His voice was low, his eyes falling from Obadiah back down to Lizzie who helplessly stared at him. He could tell with all her heart that this was what she wanted. What she thought was best for Annabelle, regardless that the highest expense of it all would be destroying Tony. 

Obadiah wasn't wrong in that moment, either. Granted, Tony didn't think he had a right to say anything about Annabelle and what was best for her, but when it came to the relationship between Howard and Tony, it was a different story. Howard was cold and calculating, and always made the impression that he didn't have time for his only son. That he was more an inconvenience than anything else. 

Sadly. In this particular time frame in his life--he didn't realize that Obadiah was excellent at manipulating people into thinking he was right, and creating a facade of nothing but lies. Convincing the 20 something Stark that never seeing his daughter again was the best approach. This was the part where Tony didn't fight for his daughter. Like he should have.  

Lizzie allowed Tony to stay and watch her recital-- to watch his little girl twirl on her tippy toes for hours. He wished hadn't taken so many of her other life events for granted-- that he shouldn't have done one more trip to do a weapon demo or going to Vegas on a weekend instead of taking her to the beach. How much he so badly he could take all those moments back. 

Tony was the first in the parking lot, watching as all the other families flooded out of the large burgundy doors of the school. Obadiah had left, evidently thinking his job was done with. It was a few minutes of him leaning against his car once he saw Lizzie and her parents leaving the building. Annabelle clung to her mothers arm, very excitedly. Tony retreated to his trunk, pulling out the bouquet. Instead of holding it up, it hung loosely at his side. Once Belle's big brown eyes fell on her dad, she immediately started running toward him. Practically leaping into his arms. "Daddy, did you see my twirls? Did you see them?!" He felt a lump in his throat form.

"I did, I did. I wasn't aware you were so good at twirling." He lifted the flowers, letting her little hands wrap around the stems. Ungracefully, she shoved her face into the flower petals and took a deep breath in through her nose. He couldn't help but grin a little. "Do those smell okay?" 

"They smell beautiful, Daddy, thank you!" The moment she kissed his cheek, felt like slow motion. His body trying to absorb the warmth of her cheek on his face, the look of her shiny cheeks that gleamed against the lights coming from the windows of the school. More strands had fallen from her tight bun, and onto the sides of her face. With each minute, he could feel himself dying inside little by little. 

"Annabelle, say bye to your dad," the call from Lizzie was more to give Tony a warning that it was time. He shot up a glare at her anyway. He exhaled sharply, his eyes finding his daughter again. "Listen to me for a second." Tony spoke softly, trying extremely hard not show that he was upset. He hoped this was just a fluke, just a time that Lizzie would just be confused for awhile, and take it all back. His right hand rose to her little face, tucking his index finger under her chin. He guided her eyes to his. "This is going to sound kind of silly, but just listen," he nodded, he blinked, not even realizing his eyes were watering. "No matter what happens to you. Where you go, what you do...Annabelle, sweetheart. I will always, always be with you."

"Daddy?" Her little voice was sincere. "Are you crying?"