Whatever It Takes

Chapter Fourteen

Tony peeled away from the school with Emma shrinking in his mirrors. He gave her one last unknown smile and turned his eyes to the road. His heart fluttered, and in one breath, the weight overbearing his chest fell to the floor of the car. He smiled widely, until he was sure the corners of his mouth were touching his earlobes. Her favorite color was blue, she liked milkshakes and cheeseburgers, her favorite season was Fall, and her birthday was September 15th, 2000. She was 16 and had lived enough to be well into her twenties. Never did Tony think he would be so happy in a situation like this, but here he was, in his car gliding down the road with his hands drumming a happy tune against the steering wheel, feeling more elated than he had been in so long. Maybe since he had somehow convinced Pepper to be his girlfriend back in 2010.

Now, for May.

It was as if Happy Hogan could sense his thoughts, because just as anxiety began to creep back into his muscles and tighten like a wrench were twisting them, the phone in his car started to ring. Now at a red lght and getting closer to the apartment complex, Tony took a second to accept the call.

"Tony?" Happy sounded his usual amount of annoyed distress, which means Tony had definitely forgotten something. He quickly ran down a list in his head, searching for a meeting or conference or charity event, but was stumped. "What's up?" he said casually.

"What's up is that you're supposed to be all the way in India right now for that wedding! Did you forget?"

Tony's heart skipped a beat. Shit. He did forget. After all the time he was enjoying with Emma and everything that happened today, a wedding was the last thing on his check list. A hand flew to his face and rubbed his features, "yeah, I did," Tony admitted with a sigh, "I uh.. Had some other things I had to take care of. I'm sorry, it slipped my mind." The light switched to green as Happy spoke with a few seconds pause in between. "Was it the girl?"

Tony bit his lip, "yeah. I took her to the compound and had a DNA test done. She's mine, Happy." Tony didn't sound upset at all, but there was a hint of nervousness at what his friend might say. Not to mention thinking about what he would say to May and what she might say. "I was actually on my way to talk to her aunt. I guess that'll have to wait though, right?"

"I wouldn't skip this one, Tony. Get here quick and we can talk about it on the plane," there was a seconds pause while Tony chewed his bottom lip and made a U- turn towards the compound. "Do you want me to call her?" Happy added. Maybe he was still convinced or worried it didn't go well and she wouldn't answer Tony's call. Tony piped up quickly, however. "No, I've got it," he smiled to himself, "it actually went pretty well. I don't think she'll ignore me this time." Though he couldn't see it, Happy smied on the other end. "Alright then, You'd better tell me everything once you get here though."

Tony smiled a final time, telling Happy he was on his way. The call dropped, and Tony started a new one with his smile still in place. "FRIDAY? Call Emma Hansen."

***

"Are you serious?!"

Emma had pulled Peter through the football field until they were surrounded namely by jocks who couldn't care less to eaves drop. Emma shushed him and willed him to stop bouncing up and down like a school girl. Once he was calm, he looked around and gave a small apology, but the big dumb Peter grin on his face looked pretty permanent. "Yes," Emma said, "but you can't tell anyone, okay? I'm already this close to killing Ned. Which by the way, where is he?"

"We're picking him up," he said, "why?" Emma breathed a sigh of relief as they kept walking, "because Tony is probably headed to the apartment to talk to Aunt May. I didn't want Ned freaking out." Peter was about to say something in understanding when Emma began to dig in her pocket to find her buzzing phone. The screen only read "private number" which Emma assumed was Happy. With a brow dipped and the other raised, she answered.