Tony and Happy are boxing, a frequent pass time of theirs as of late. Happy is wearing protective padding, meanwhile Tony only has on work out clothes and gloves. He's training in hand-to-hand combat, since he knows he won't always be able to rely on his suit.

Grace is sitting on her knees at a low table with paper and colored pencils on it. However, she's spending most of her time watching Tony and Happy.

Then, Pepper walks in. "The notary's here! Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?"

Grace gets up and goes to hug Pepper, but Tony doesn't look at her and continues boxing. "I'm on Happy's time." Half on instinct and half not, he dodges one of Happy's blows and elbows him in the face — basically the only place that isn't protected by padding.

Happy stops. "What was that?" They hear Grace laugh.

Tony continues bouncing from foot to foot. "It's called mixed martial arts. It's been around for... three weeks now."

Happy rolls his eyes. "It's called dirty boxing — there's nothing new about it."

"Alright, just put 'em up," Tony says, relenting.

However, Happy's eyes are on something over Tony's shoulder. Tony turns, spotting a woman with long, curled, dark red hair walking in and holding a large, thin book.

She comes to stand next to Pepper, and Tony turns to look at them. Pepper almost absentmindedly has an arm around Grace's shoulders, hugging her against her side. The woman barely glances at Grace, which Tony takes as a good sign. Grace shouldn't be there, seeing as they have outside company, but it's too late now.

"I promise this is the one and only time I will ever ask you to sign over your company," Pepper says. The woman opens the book, revealing legal documents.

She hands Pepper a pen, then points at different places on one of the documents. "I need you to initial here, here, and here..." Pepper starts signing with her free hand. Grace stands on her tip-toes to see, her arms around Pepper, but turns when she hears Happy talking to Tony.

"Lesson one," he says. "Never take your eye off-"

Tony turns and kicks the padding covering Happy's chest, sending him back against the corner of the ring. Grace laughs. Happy, however, doesn't.

He almost actually starts fighting Tony, but sees Grace watching and thinks better of it. "That's it, I'm done. I'm out."

Tony takes a drink — it's green, which he's passing off as protein mix, though it's the medicine he's been taking to slow down his symptoms. He turns, looking back at the woman, who's closed the legal book. "What's your name, lady?"

She looks up. "Rushman. Natalie Rushman."

"Natalie is a pretty name," Grace says, mostly to Pepper, but Natalie hears her and smiles.

Tony notices this, but continues anyway. He points to the ring behind him. "Front and center. Invitation's been sent. No need to RSVP."

Pepper practically goes pale. "No, you're seriously not gonna ask-"

"If it pleases the court," Tony says, "which it does."

Natalie smiles a little, and Grace notices a glint in her eye as she begins to approach the ring. "No, it's not a problem."

Pepper apologizes anyway. "I'm sorry, he's very... eccentric."

Grace moves away from Pepper to get closer to the ring as Tony leaves it and walks over to Pepper. He looks at Happy. "Can you, uh, give her a lesson or something?" He sits down with Pepper in the chair closest to where Grace has decided to plant herself. "Who is she?"

"She is from legal," Pepper says, "and she is potentially a very expensive law suit if she gets hurt in that ring."

Tony waves her off, "She'll be fine." He looks at Grace, who's watching her with wide eyes as she talks with Happy. He has a thought. "I need a new assistant, boss."

"Yes, and I've got three great potential candidates waiting to meet you."

"Well, they'll have to meet Grace, too."

"Obviously."

"And this woman already has."

Pepper stops. "Tony, you can't be serious."

Tony gestures to Grace. "Well, look at the look on her face. She already likes her. And I'm not just gonna send this woman out into the world now that she's seen my daughter." He looks back at her; she's still talking to Happy. "How do I spell your name, Natalie?" She spells it for him, and he begins searching it up on the screen in the table next to him — a background check.

Pepper sighs. "Tony, look, I know you want to keep her safe, and I do, too, but all of these rules and protective measures are a bit excessive-"

"Nothing is excessive when it comes to her safety," Tony says seriously, turning to her. "Nothing."

Pepper is shocked at his sudden change in manner. "Okay-"

"I need you to understand that." She'll be the one of the people protecting Grace when he's gone, and he wants to be completely sure she's going to do absolutely everything she can to do that, even if it seems "a bit excessive." She's already brought an outsider into the room with Grace in it.

"Okay," Pepper repeats. "Okay."

He calms, turning back to the screen. "Besides, I don't have time to meet with people. And Natalie seems like she'd be a great fit. Very impressive background."

Pepper's brows furrow a little. "How so?"

"Fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin — who even speaks Latin?"

"No one speaks Latin. It's a dead language. You can read it, you can write it, but you can't speak it-"

"Oh, and look at this," Tony says, reading something. "She has a background in art."

"And?"

"And, that's Grace's new favorite thing. Which reminds me, I still haven't bought her that easel."

"So, what, you want her to teach Grace art? Isn't she already getting that on her online program?"

Tony waves his hand, dismissing it. "Yeah, but it's not the same."

Natalie turns at this moment, having heard Tony and Pepper talking the whole time. It's pretty obvious that they're talking about her. Happy is standing in front of her, his protective gear absent, save the gloves. He starts to take a swing at her — not hard enough to hurt, though. "Rule number one: Never take your eye off your oppo-"

Natalie, without hesitation, turns and grabs Happy's wrist, pulls it down, flips, wraps her legs around his neck, and takes him to the ground. All in a matter of seconds.

Grace's eyes widen in amazement as Pepper and Tony make exclamations of surprise behind her. Natalie lets Happy up pretty quickly, though it's clear she could've held him there for a while.

"I just slipped," Happy says, standing.

"You did?" Tony asks skeptically, going over to the side of the ring to ring the bell there. "Looks like a TKO to me."

Natalie gets out of the ring, and Grace practically runs up to her. "Can you teach me how to do that?" she asks excitedly.

Natalie smiles. "You'd have to ask your dad."

Grace looks at Tony, her entire expression pleading with him. Tony looks at Pepper, and she knows it's been settled.

Natalie Rushman is going to be his new assistant.

~~~~

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Tony asks for the twentieth time in the past hour. It's a bit late now; everyone's bags are packed and they're headed out the door.

"Well, you didn't want to leave her alone at home," Pepper replies, "so this was the only other option."

Tony looks back at Grace, who's holding her rolling suitcase by the handle and has her carry on bag on her back. She's excitedly talking to Happy and Natalie about the trip. She can't wait. She hasn't been out of Malibu — much less the country — in forever. She hasn't even been out of the house in two and a half weeks.

Tony sighs. "Are you sure there's not another one?"

"Yes," Pepper replies. "Besides, I think it'll be good for her."

"But she'll be by herself with Natalie-"

"And you were the one that wanted to hire her. She's proven to be nothing but trustworthy so far. Grace loves her." Pepper puts a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Relax."

He sighs, trying to do so.

They all get in the car, then head to the airport where the private jet is waiting. Tony walks with Grace to the plane, keeping her face hidden as Happy takes care of the bags.

They're all headed to Monaco, where the Grand Prix is being held. Happy, Pepper, and Natalie of course, had to go with Tony; Happy is his bodyguard, Natalie is his personal assistant, and Pepper is the CEO of Stark Industries. And Rhodey is busy at the moment.

So, here they all are.

Grace sits down next to Tony, and Pepper sits across from him. Happy sits behind Grace, and Natalie sits a little away from them, looking at a tablet and some papers. Pepper has a tablet of her own that she works on. Grace takes a lap desk, paper, and colored pencils out of her carry on bag and begins to draw. Tony watches her for a while, trying to figure out what she's drawing.

He recognizes himself and Pepper holding hands, and, despite himself, blushes. Pepper is oblivious, still on her tablet. Grace begins to draw a smaller figure next to them and Tony instantly knows she's drawing herself. If he's honest with himself, it's actually a pretty good drawing.

But they probably shouldn't hang it on the fridge just yet.

~~~~

After changing into fancier clothes on the place (except for Grace), they pull up to the hotel — the Hotel De Paris — in the back. Natalie leads Grace inside, then up to her hotel room.

Then, Happy pulls the car around front, and Tony gets out. A crowd has gathered and begins cheering for him, like he expected. Happy gets out and gets their bags out of the trunk, then Pepper gets out behind Tony.

Once inside, Happy takes their bags up to their rooms and relieves Natalie of Grace duty.

Meanwhile, Tony and Pepper turn into the main dining area, where a reporter is waiting to take Tony's picture. He and Pepper pose together.

Natalie walks up to him, a small smile on her face. "Sir."

"What's on the docket?" Tony asks, continuing to walk toward the back of the room, where his friends in high places are sitting.

"Dinner at nine thirty," Natalie replies.

"Alright, I'll be there at eleven. Oh, and speaking of, don't forget to get dinner for upstairs." She nods in response.

He greets a few people, then spots Pepper talking to Elon Musk and walks over. Musk mentions an idea for an electric jet.

He moves on to the other corner of the room, Natalie hanging back as she's talking to someone. Pepper moves with him.

"You want a massage?" he asks her.

She sighs, and it sounds like she doesn't really mean her answer. "No, I don't want a massage."

"I'll make you an appointment-"

"No-"

"I don't want you to be tense."

"I'm not tense-"

"By the way," Tony says as they make their way to the empty spot at the bar, "make sure Natalie gets some food for upstairs." Upstairs meaning Grace. "I told her, but I don't know if she made a note of it — oh, and I forgot to tell her: Nothing fishy. No vegetables, unless they have cooked carrots. Pasta would be the best bet. And a dessert. Doesn't matter what it is as long as it has chocolate in it."

"I know what upstairs likes, Tony," Pepper replies. "And I'm pretty sure Natalie does, too by now."

Suddenly, a new voice — one that grates on Tony's ears — pipes up. "Anthony! Is that you?"

Tony says to Pepper, "My least favorite person on the Earth — Justin Hammer."

Justin walks over and pats Tony's shoulder, smiling. "Hey, pal!"

"Hi," Tony says stiffly.

"How are you doing? You're not the only rich guy with a fancy car." There's a slight pause, but then he asks, "So, how's your daughter? Haven't seen anything about her in a while."

"Don't ask about my daughter," Tony says seriously, glaring.

"Alright, fine, just trying to be friendly-"

"Well, stop."

Justin turns, quickly changing the subject. "You know Christine Everhart, from Vanity Fair. You guys know each other?"

Christine walks over, wearing a bright blue dress. "Hi."

"Hi," Tony says. She was the reporter that wrote that spread and story about him — after flirting with him, thinking that would be the best way to get a story out of him. Luckily, he didn't tell her anything about Grace.

Pepper greets her as well, and Justin points to her, talking to Christine. "BTW, big story — new CEO of Stark Industries. Congratulations."

"I know," Christine says brightly. "Actually, my editor will kill me if I don't grab a quote for our Powerful Women issue."

Pepper seems surprised. "Oh."

"Can I?"

"Sure."

Justin butts in, "Um, she's actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair right now."

"Oh, well, she did quite a spread on Tony last year," Pepper says.

"And she wrote a story as well," Tony adds.

"It was very impressive — very well done."

Christine smiles. "Thank you."

Pepper starts to move away. "Well, I'm gonna go wash."

"Don't leave me," Tony says to her. She goes anyway.

Justin puts his arm around Tony's shoulders. "Hey, buddy, how you doing?"

Tony leans away from him, almost pushing him away but trying to be subtle about it. "I-I'm alright."

"Looking gorgeous."

He fake smiles a little. "Please, this is tough."

Tony turns and see Christine's got a recorder out, and there's someone taking picture of him and Justin. Christine asks, "Can I ask you-"

"Say, 'Brie'," Justin says as their picture is snapped.

"Oh, that's awful," Tony says, fake laughing. Justin takes his arm off Tony's shoulders.

Christine goes to ask her question again. "Can I ask if this is the first time you've seen each other since the senate?"

"Since he got his contract revoked," Tony says, going to walk away, "when you were attempting to-"

"Actually, it's on hold," Justin explains.

"That's not what I heard. What's the difference between 'hold' and 'cancelled'?"

"Yes, what is?" Christine asks.

"The truth?" Tony offers, still walking away.

"No, no," Justin says, following. He motions to Christine's recorder as they sit down at an empty table. "Let's just- let's put that away. The truth is, I'm actually hoping to present something at your Expo."

"Well, if you invent something that works, I'll make sure I get you a slot," Tony replies.

Thankfully, Natalie arrives to save him. "Mr. Stark? Your corner table is ready."

Tony stands, going to leave with her, "Oh, by the way, about the food for upstairs-"

"I have a slot," Justin says to Christine.

"Hammer needs a slot Christine," Tony says, cutting himself off.

"I have a slot. We kid. Yeah, we kid. We're kidders," Justin says, desperately trying to save the situation. "Oh, and speaking of kids-"

"Don't," Tony says, whirling back around. "Don't. That's none of your business — that's no one's business. Ever."

"Sorry-"

"Yeah, sure," Tony replies, turning back around and resuming his instructions for Grace's dinner.

Once he's done, he reminds Natalie to be discreet, then she goes off to the get food. He looks around for Pepper, but doesn't see her, so he heads into the bathroom.

The thoughts crept back in. It started with Grace, but spiraled. He's not entirely sure how, but he knows he started thinking about her having to grow up without him.

He takes a blood toxicity test.

Fifty three percent.

He looks at himself in the mirror. "Got any other bad ideas?"