second chances「tony stark.」

1| Stay for Dinner.

I'm going to kill him. Helena repeated the words in her head the entire drive to Stark Industries. It was Tony's weekend to have Lauren, knowing it was his responsibility to pick her up from school to make a simple transition for her. But instead, he's at work and Helena ended up receiving a call from her school informing her about Tony being over an hour late. This wasn't the first time it has happened, but this weekend was different and important to Lauren.

"I can see the steam coming from your ears, mom," Lauren noted, quickly following her mother. Helena tried to flash her daughter a brief smile, trying her best to hide her true emotions. But Lauren knew better and could read her like a book.

Helena took a deep breath and thinking about what to say. She didn't want to go into a rant about Tony. She never wanted her opinion of him to affect the relationship between her and her father.

"Mommy is just frustrated that you had to wait an hour for your father to pick you up. He knew it was his weekend, and it wasn't right to you."

"He's busy sometimes, but it's not his fault. He's a special man, right?" She asked.

"A very important man," a voice called out. The two turned to see Tony walking towards them. Lauren's eyes lit up as she rushed to him and he was quick to wrap her in his arms, then gave her a quick peck on her temple. "I'm sorry I was late, Lollipop."

"More like you didn't show up," Helena said under her breath, but she knew from the brief look Tony gave her, he heard her.

"I'm sorry, Lena. There was a meeting, but what we were working on was revolutionary; life-changing stuff. You understand, right?"

"Revolutionary?" Helena scoffed. She opened her mouth to say something else, but when Lauren's eyes fell on her, she immediately stopped herself. She didn't want to fight with Tony, especially not in front of Lauren. They had to continue to be cordial for her sake.

"What's revolutionary is Lauren's acting as Wendy from Peter Pan. And I'm sure she's excited to show you what she can do this weekend, right honey?" Helena smiled innocently at her daughter and gently ran a hand through her hair.

"Oh yeah! But daddy, I hope you play a better Peter than mommy. She was so...stock it?"

"Stoic?" Tony guessed.

"Yeah! That's it. Stoic."

Helena's mouth dropped at the word, and Tony simply smiled innocently and shrugged.

"I've been teaching her some words."

"Clearly." She pulled Lauren's purple bookbag from her shoulders and held it out towards Tony. "I double-checked to make sure she had everything before I left. Also, please make sure she gets some reading done over the weekend."

Suddenly, Helena feels her phone vibrate in her pocket and quickly glances at the message that appears on her screen. She smiles slightly before bringing her attention back to Tony and Lauren.

"I hope you have fun this weekend, Lauren. I'll see you on Monday after school, okay?" She gave her daughter a quick kiss on the forehead and started for the door.

"Wait, you're leaving already? I was just starting to have some fun," Tony called after her.

"Some of us still have some work to do, Tony," she called back.

"Helena, wait!" He called after her, hurrying to her and jumping in front of her. "I was thinking, why don't we all have dinner together, huh? It's been a long time since we've done that." He then turned his attention to Lauren. "What do you want, Lollipop? Do you want Chinese or pizza tonight? Or do you want something else? It can be anything."