chapter seventeen
aunt gracie

"𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒, 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋, and I want them now." General Gabriel turned around and saw Grace marching toward him with a furious look on her face. "It's been weeks. My nephew went to Afghanistan to show off weapons for your Army and he's still there. Where the hell is he?"

"Miss Stark, we..." He trailed off and Grace clenched her jaw.

"Listen up, General," she said, leaning down on the table. "I'm not Howard Stark's younger sister anymore. I'm Tony Stark's aunt. So you better tell me what the hell happened to my nephew. Right now."

"We think he's been captured by a group of terrorists," he replied and she crossed her arms. "We don't know where he is. His Humvee was attacked. The soldiers he had been traveling with were killed. We're doing everything we can, Miss Stark."

"Well do more!" she exclaimed in frustration. "The only reason I thought it would be safe sending him to that country was that the United States Army would be protecting him."

The General nodded. "And we did."

"Well not enough," Grace said, shaking her head. "I understand that you're doing your job, General, but I've already lost my brother. I'm not losing my nephew, too."

"Miss Stark," the General sighed, turning to fully face her. "I understand that you helped the Army during the Second World War, but we have this completely under control. We will bring him back, I promise. But we can't do anything to provoke them or it will start an unnecessary war. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"No, but—"

"We will bring your nephew home," the General told her and she let out a breath. "Let us do our jobs."

Grace sighed and nodded, walking out of the conference room. Happy was waiting for her outside beside the car and he looked at her. "Any news?"

"They'll bring him home," she replied, shaking her head. "That's all they will tell me. Happy, could you possibly bring me somewhere?"

"Of course," he nodded from the driver's seat. "Where?"

"The city," she said, looking out the window. "I have an old friend to visit."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 months since Tony had been kidnapped and Grace was losing her patience. From the moment her nephew had been born, she promised she would always protect him. Their bond was more than an average aunt-nephew relationship. It particularly grew after the death of Howard and Maria Stark.

For the majority of his life, Tony's relationship with his father was strained, often feeling second-best to his business. And whatever slack was left by his father, Grace picked up. She was the one who attended every single one of his science fairs growing up. She was at all of his events and Tony would often look out into the crowd to find his aunt's proud, smiling face looking at him.

Tony loved his aunt with his whole heart, which was rare for him to admit. But she was the one constant during his childhood and even when she was mourning her brother's loss, she was always making sure that he was okay.

Grace knelt on the floor of her bedroom and pulled out a small metal box from under her bed. Opening it gently, she sat cross-legged and delicately picked up a photograph from the day Tony was born. She was sitting in a chair and cradling her baby nephew with a soft smile on her face. He looked to be the spitting image of his father with his mother's eyes. However, he had inherited his nose from his aunt.

Grace smiled softly at the photograph and continued to dig through the box, pulling out several photographs she had of her nephew. His first birthday party; his first science fair; his graduation from MIT; the day he was named CEO of Stark Industries.

She let out a breath and set the photos aside on the floor before pausing. She looked inside the box and took out another photograph. It was one of the few photos she had of her and her brother together. They had been too poor to afford a photo when she was a girl and as they got older, there didn't seem to be a need for the two to sit in front of a camera.

Grace looked down at the photograph. Her arms were wrapped around her brother's upper body while he was sitting on a chair. They both had the same smile that filled their face. The more she looked at the photo, the more she saw how much they looked alike. They had been told for their entire lives how much they looked like the other, but they never believed it. But now Grace understood. The same dark brown hair, the same crinkle at their eyes when they laugh, the same eyes.

"Miss Stark." She looked up when she heard the voice of her nephew's AI that he had installed in her house. "I have a message from Colonel Rhodes."

"Yes?"

"He's been found, Miss Stark," JARVIS said and she let out a breath of relief. "Mr. Hogan will be arriving in a few minutes to collect you and Miss Potts."

"Thank you, JARVIS." Grace put the photographs back in the box and briefly saw a newspaper clipping at the bottom. She carefully picked it up and read the headline: 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝚂𝙰𝙽𝙳𝚂 𝚂𝙰𝚅𝙴𝙳 𝙵𝚁𝙾𝙼 𝙴𝙽𝙴𝙼𝚈 𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂. Below the headline was a picture, one of her and Steve when he had returned from rescuing the 107th from Hydra lines. He was looking at her with a soft smile and despite the picture being in black and white, the inventor was blushing.

The brunette let out a breath, locked the metal box, and put it under her bed before standing up. She glanced at the box for a moment before turning off the light and closing the door.

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐂 with her arms crossed and her foot tapping on the concrete. She closed her eyes at the force of the wind as the giant plane landed on the tarmac and the ramp lowered revealing Rhodey helping Tony down.

She let out a breath of relief at the sight of her nephew and ran a hand through her dark brown locks.

"Hi, Aunt Gracie," Tony said once they reached the bottom and she smiled softly at the sound of his voice.

"Hi, little Penguin." She pulled him into a tight hug and stroked his hair. "Don't you scare me like that again, you hear me?" She let go and looked him in the eye, cupping his cheek. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," he replied, and though she didn't fully believe him, she nodded and her nephew turned to the strawberry blonde beside her. "Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

"Tears of joy," she said while Grace was hugging Rhodey tightly. "I hate job hunting."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, vacation's over."

"Thank you, Rhodey," Grace whispered in his ear and he smiled softly. "Thank you for not giving up."

"I promised you I wouldn't, Grace," he replied and she kissed his cheek before following Happy to the car where Pepper and Tony were already in the backseat.

"Where to, sir?" Happy asked from the driver's seat.

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy," Pepper said and the man next to her shook his head.

"No."

"No?" Grace repeated, turning around from the passenger's seat. "What do you mean 'no'? You have to go to the hospital, Tony."

"No is a complete answer," he said and she frowned. "You taught me that, Aunt Gracie."

She shook her head. "Don't use my words against me, young man. Besides, that's not entirely what I meant when I said that."

"The doctor has to look at you," Pepper told him but he continued to shake his head.

"I don't have to do anything," he replied. "I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger and the other..."

"That's enough of that."

"... is not what you think," Tony continued and Grace looked at him. "I want you to call a press conference?"

"A press conference?" Pepper and Grace asked at the same time. He nodded. "What on earth for?"

"Hogan, drive," he said to the man. "Cheeseburger first."

Grace sighed and turned back to face the road. "Of all the things you had to inherit from me, aside from my nose, it had to be my love of cheeseburgers?"

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

an: sorry these are so short
but we're starting to get into
more of the plot for iron man.

and iron man 2 will also be in
this act. i just don't want iron
man to only be like seven
chapters because that feels
rushed to me.

okay, thanks for reading <3