Stark Crossed Lovers

Chapter Thirty-Seven

"So you're not Mr. Starks biological kid?" Peter said listening to Sam finish her story. Sam cleared her throat and attempted to wipe the still falling tears from her face, "I'm not his kid at all." Peter looked at her and scrunched his face up. "I know that you're upset and all, and what Mr. Stark did was wrong, but I think that's going a little far." Sam instantly defended herself angrily, "How can you say that? He robbed me." Peter stood up emotions taking over him. "No Sam, the guy who shot my uncle robbed me, Tony didn't rob you, he gave you everything. You have every right to be upset that he didn't tell you and lied to you, but to say he robbed you is being selfish." Ned looked to Peter who was trying to hold back tears. Sam looked to Peter as well and started to stand up, "I just feel like I had a right to know, and he told me no, like it was his choice." Peter became very emotional as he spoke, "Because it is his choice Sam." She was unable to hide her emotions on her face. "You are still his daughter, don't you think there is a good reason for him to not want you meeting your biological father? He has met the guy before." Sam didn't like what she was hearing, mostly because she knew deep down Peter was right. "I think I'm gonna go home," Sam said looking at Peter with a strong face. Peter at first didn't know how to respond back, but then he thought about how much he cared for Sam, and Tony. "I don't want you to go home," Peter started "but if you feel like you have to, go. But when you get there can you promise me you will do something?" Sam turned to look at Peter, "What?" Sam said wiping more tears away. Peter grabbed her hand and looked into her deep brown eyes. "Just promise me that you will start to forgive him. Go home and hug him. Because I would give everything in the world to hug my dad again, and yours is just sitting at home, kicking himself because he wished he would have done things better." Sam looked at Peter and took in a deep breath. He was right. He was so right. Tony didn't do this to hurt her, yet here she was crying in the middle of the park. Sam nodded her head, "I should go see him," she said. Peter whipped his eyes getting rid of the tears that had not fallen yet and smiled at Sam, "I think you should too." He then reached out his arms and pulled Sam into a big hug. They stood in the park hugging for what seemed like forever, before feeling another pair of arms wrap around them. "Group hug!" Ned said holding both Sam and Peter tightly making them all laugh. "I should call Happy," Sam said pulling away from the hug. "We will wait until he gets here," Peter said smiling. Sam then pulled out her phone and called Happy to let him know where she was. After hanging up, she turned to see that Ned and Peter were looking at the playground, watching all the smaller kids leave. Sam walked back towards the boys and said, "You know that slide is humongous." Ned looked at Peter and smiled, "that's what sh...." But Peter smirked and shook his head cutting him off, despite finding it funny. "All those kids are leaving, we could test it out," Sam said looking to the boys out of the corner of her eyes and smiling. The boys looked back to her and they took off for the playground. The three of them played on the playground until Happy's car pulled up breaking up their fun. "I guess I gotta go now," Sam said halfway smiling looking at Ned and then Peter letting her gaze linger for a bit. Peter pulled her in for a sweet soft kiss and then pulled away saying, "You don't have to forgive him right now, but you need to go easy on him." Sam nodded her head still looking at Peter. "Come on kid parking isn't free on this street!" Happy yelled in Sam's direction breaking her gaze away from Peter. "I love you!" Sam yelled back to Peter walking towards Happy's car. "I love you too Sammy!" Peter yelled back, smiling as he watched Sam get in the car and pull away down the street. Sam got in and Happy immediately started talking, "Look, I know there's a lot going on right now but if you are going to torture your father anymore..." But Sam interrupted Happy's thought, "I actually want to go home to talk to him," Happy looked up in his mirror. "Oh um..." Happy trailed off having felt embarrassed and rolled up the privacy window. Sam spent the trip home staring outside the window still appreciating the city for the way it looked. Once Happy pulled up to the tower Sam felt her stomach fall. She wasn't completely ready to forgive him, and nothing felt the same, and yet at the same time she missed him. She stepped out of the car and made her way inside the tower. She hoped in the elevator and made her way straight to Tony's lab. When the elevator door opened she felt as if the air became ten times thicker. She opened the door to see Tony working on her suit. He seemed to be adding something to it but Sam didn't see the point in asking what. "Hey," Sam said standing in the doorway. Tony looked up to see his beautiful daughter looking back at him, he smiled weakly and turned back to his work. "Are you done hanging out with your boyfriend already?" He said not looking back to her. "I wanted to talk to you about....well everything," Sam said holding back her emotion. Tony froze preparing for the worse. Then turned around putting his tools down and stared back at Sam, lifting his hand to indicate she could start talking. "The only thing I will apologize for is calling you Tony, I know I already apologized but that was really wrong and I can't state that enough. But I can't call you dad not right now," Sam trailed off watching Tony turn around to seemingly go back to his work. "But I want to try, I don't want to lose you, because I love you." Tony was frozen in place again. She took a deep breath and continued, "I am not ready to apologize for everything, and I am not ready to forgive you, and I still feel like I should be able to see my papers, and know who my real family is. I'm going to need some time to work past all my feelings towards you right now, but I am willing to work past it because you're still my best friend." Tony slowly turned around to face Sam. He pushed back his tears and held out his arms which Sam ran straight into, embracing her father for what seemed like forever. Feeling Sam genuinely want to hug him back made his tears slip out of his eyes despite him trying to keep them in. "I love you too munchkin," he said kissing her forehead, Tony knew everything wasn't perfect, it would take awhile for it to go back to that, but things seemed to be on a track heading that way. As Sam and Tony tried to repair their relationship inside of Stark Tower the news was breaking. A man that was arrested was falsely identified, accused of crimes he didn't commit. The real man was, at this moment, standing on a building adjacent to Tony's lab. Watching. Planning. Waiting for his time to coordinate an attack. He'd been lurking in the shadows, gathering as much information as he could. And he had learned a lot.