For the last hour or so, Grace has listened to Harley tell the story of what happened starting from when he met Tony to now. She suspects that he over exaggerated his role in everything, but she'll be able to find the real story somewhere in between his story and the one her father will tell her later.

Now, she's sitting in the barn with Harley, eating what's left of the candy that Tony told him to eat. Savior is standing close by.

"Can it do all the stuff Iron Man can?" Harley asks, looking at it.

Grace shakes her head as she lay down on the couch. "No. It isn't fully finished yet. And there's restrictions on it. Dad has to give it a command for it to really do anything — or I have to convince it to let me do something. Sai seems pretty sympathetic."

Harley's brows furrow. "What do you mean?"

So, she tells him the story of how Maya and Killian took Pepper and how she tried to go back and save her. "I was too late because I was arguing with Sai," she finishes, guilt welling up in her chest again.

Harley is silent for a moment, thinking, but then he asks, "Is Pepper your mom?"

Grace sighs and shakes her head sadly. "No."

"She sounds like your mom," Harley replies. It's in the way she talks about her, not to mention her relationship with Tony.

"She's not biologically my mom," Grace says, "but... she's the closest thing I've got to one."

"Just because she isn't biologically your mom doesn't mean she's not your mom," Harley says as if it's obvious, though it probably wasn't him to just a few days ago. But it's not as if he's already starting thinking of Tony as a dad or anything...

Grace thinks for a moment, pondering on something she'd never considered before; she has a mom, even though she's not actually around. But if she doesn't want to be Grace's mom, then why should she be? Pepper has been her mom since she was little — before even Iron Man. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she says, almost happy, the thought of her Mom — her new Mom — being in danger still looming over her.

"And Sai is the AI?" Harley continues.

Grace nods, looking at Savior. "Yeah."

"Cool."

"She's not finished yet, either. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but then my dad threatened a terrorist, so..."

Harley nods. "Yeah, and then people took pictures of you."

Grace sighs again. "Yeah."

After a pause, Harley asks, "Why do you have to be a secret, anyway?"

Grace shrugs. "So I'll be safe, I guess. So somebody like Killian doesn't take me or whatever to get to Dad."

"That sucks."

"Uh huh."

"So..." He pauses, thinking about how to word his question. "Why don't you just take Savior and go fly to your dad and like... help him?"

"Sai would never let me. She let me go try to save Pepper, but Dad programmed her; I'd never be able convince her to let me help him. Also, she can't track a moving target yet, so I'd never be able to find him — at least, not in time."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

They lapse into silence again, still eating the candy. It's a comfortable silence, though — as if they've been friends for years.

Finally, Grace asks, "Do you have a pencil and paper?"

~~~~

Killian looks like molten lava, his skin black in some places, burning in others. He starts limping over to Tony, his voice gravelly. "No more false faces. You said you wanted the Mandarin. You're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start." He stops in front of Tony, spreading his arms, ready to attack. "I am the Mandarin!

And just when Tony thinks it's over, something swings in and hits Killian, knocking him to the ground. Tony turns.

Pepper.

Pepper, holding a metal rod, her skin glowing orange as she breathes heavily, looking at Tony, who looks back, shocked, confused, and relieved. He's breathing heavily, too.

"I got nothing," he says. Then, another suit comes flying in. Killian, Pepper, and Tony look up at it, but then Tony remembers the command he gave Jarvis. His eyes widen. "Jarvis, subject at my 12 o'clock is not a target, disengage!"

But the suit keeps coming.

Tony's earpiece fell out.

It fires a blast at Pepper, but she dodges, then looks at Tony as the suit flies back around.

"What?" Tony asks. Pepper starts running at him. "Oh, what, are you mad at me?"

Tony puts his arm up and raises his leg, bracing himself, but Pepper steps on Tony's leg and launches herself up as the suit flies back around. She punches straight through it, her glowing orange skin helping her melt the metal.

She lands in front of Tony, the suit with her. She looks at Tony, and he can only look back. She stands back up, rips the arm off the suit and puts it on, then hits Killian as he runs at her, knocking him into next week.

She kicks something on the ground toward Killian then blasts him, causing an explosion. There's nothing left when the dust clears. But Pepper still stands there, her arm still outstretched.

"Honey?" Tony asks cautiously. He's almost afraid she'll blast him next.

She turns, lowering her arm as she breathes heavily. She looks shocked. "Oh, my... That was really violent."

Tony sighs, relieved and shocked to the core. He's shaking. "Gosh, you just scared the crap out of me. I thought you were-"

"I was dead? Why? Because I fell 200 feet?" Pepper finishes for him sarcastically. "Who's the hot mess now?"

Tony shrugs. "It's still debatable. Probably tipping your way a little bit."

"You know, I think I understand why you don't want to give up the suits." She sighs. "What am I going to complain about now?"

Tony stands. "Well, it's me. You'll think of something."

He comes towards her, going to hug her — to hold her to him and never let her go again. But she backs away. "No, don't touch me."

"Don't worry about it-"

"No, I'm gonna burn you."

"No, you're not." He puts a hand on her arm. "See? Not hot."

"Am I gonna be okay?" she asks.

"No," Tony replies. "You're in a relationship with me. Everything will never be okay. But I think I can figure this out, yeah. I almost had this 20 years ago when I was drunk. I think I can get you better. That's what I do. I fix stuff."

"And all your distractions?"

"Uh, I'm going to shave them down a little bit." Then, he says,  "Jarvis. Hey."

"All wrapped up here, sir," he replies. "Will there be anything else?"

"You know what to do."

"The Clean Slate Protocol, sir?"

"Screw it, it's Christmas. Yes." He hugs Pepper to him, then, as the remaining suits explode above them like fireworks. He kisses her forehead. "Okay, so far? Do you like it?"

"It'll do."

He sighs. "It's Christmas morning. Grace is gonna kill me for missing it."

Pepper chuckles. "I don't think she'll care as long as we're okay."

Tony smiles. "Yeah, I think you're right."

~~~~

Tony made it back to Rose Hill while Pepper went on to New York to begin the process of getting back to normal. Tony found Grace and Harley in the barn with Savior. Grace had been drawing pictures; there were a couple of Harley, and they were uncanny.

Grace jumped up when she saw him, running to hug him. "Where's Pepper?"

"On her way home now," he replied. Grace turned, looking at Harley, who was still sitting on the couch. She waved him over impatiently, and Tony actually hugged him. "Your sister's watch got broken," he said. "But don't worry, I'll get her a new one."

Grace left a couple of drawings with Harley — of himself and Tony — then took the rest with her, getting his home phone number so they could keep in touch. In the short time they spent together, they ended up feeling like they'd been friends for years.

~~~~

Later, at home, Grace burst into tears and hugged Pepper when she first saw her. "I'm so sorry," she said through her tears. "I tried to save you, but I was too late, and I'm so sorry-"

"No, no, no, honey, it's okay," Pepper said immediately, also beginning to cry as she held her. "You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault."

"But I could've saved you and I-"

"No," Pepper says firmly, pulling back and wiping Grace's tears away. "That suit was designed to keep you safe; it did its job, and you did yours. If you would have been in there, Killian would've taken you, too. And even your father couldn't defeat him — I had to." She laughs a little.

Grace hugs her again, knowing how she almost lost her because Tony told her the whole story on the way home. Shakily, but with the guilt lifted off of her, she says, "I love you, Mom."

Pepper gasps softly, looking over Grace's shoulder at Tony, who's crying and smiling at the same time. Pepper closes her eyes and kisses Grace's temple, hugging her tighter. "I love you, too, honey."

Happy woke up soon after, and they all immediately went to go see him in the hospital, Grace hiding her face better this time.

"Hey, kid," Happy said, smiling when he saw her.

She hugged him, too, and then they told him the whole story.

~~~~

Grace, Pepper, and Rhodey stood in the hospital, looking through a window at Tony, who was being operated on.

After fixing Pepper, he figured out a way to fix himself — how to get the shrapnel out of his chest.

And he did.

After the operation, he had the shrapnel made into two necklaces — identical, shaped like hearts.

He gave Grace hers first, leaning down to put it on her. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart." She held the heart in her hand, looking at it.

Then, he put Pepper's on her. She turned, and he rested his forehead against hers, then kissed her.

Grace shook her head. "I'm going to my room now."

Tony and Pepper laughed as she walked up the stairs, probably going exactly where she said. It reminded Tony of the plans he already had in the works to redo it, make it more grown up for her. All of her Christmas presents — except Savior — were destroyed, so that would have to do.

He'd already spent a bunch of money on Harley, giving him updated tech and toys. The whole barn was renovated. And, as promised, there was a new watch. Harley called Grace and they talked about it for hours.

Meanwhile, Tony was throwing his arc reactor in the ocean and salvaging whatever he could from the mansion's wreckage.