Chapter 29

Edna was walking back with a bag of food she got for Dane, Pepper and herself, when she entered the corridor and saw an outline sitting in front of Dane's room. As she inched closer, she recognized that man to be Tony. The man was looking bad, even worse than the day he rang the bell at her house not more than a couple of days ago. When she had seen him that day she had thought he was at his worst, but seeing him now, she realized she had been very wrong. She arrived next to him and said his name softly to get his attention. Tony turned his head slowly toward her. Normally, he would have at least pretended to look happy, but he couldn't, so he just nodded at her with a fake smile.

"I found some food for Dane," she started, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Nice," he said, trying to seem interested to what she was saying.

"How did it go?" She finally asked, giving up on small talk.

Tony stood up, trying to give himself a bit more composure, "Pepper, I mean Virginia, told Dane that I'm his father," he answered hesitantly.

"Oh," She said knowingly not really surprised. She knew her daughter would eventually tell him, and she had been the one to tell her that the sooner the better. At least now, there was no need to be scared that he would discover it by himself. "How did he react?" She asked, knowing already the answer at the sight of Tony's face

"Badly," Tony whispered. Edna gazed at him and so he added, "Dane doesn't want to see me or talk to me anymore."

"He's in shock Tony, give him time. This is very big for him," Edna couldn't believe she was actually trying to comfort him; she didn't really like the man but she's known for years that the life of her daughter was somehow entangled with his.

"Yes, I know you are right…" Tony trailed off.

"But?" Edna asked, knowing that there was a 'but' after his sentence.

"But I screwed up! I'm not sure I deserve him or her to ever even talk to me again," he said angrily to himself.

"Yes, that's true," She stated coldly, breaking a bit more of Tony's already beaten heart.

She sighed, "But I can tell you that they will eventually…" she finished in defeat. Tony looked at her, puzzled. "Don't be mistaken Stark, I don't like you and I barely did in the past. You are nothing like the man I wanted for my daughter."

"I know Mrs. Potts. I've never deserved her and I still don't," he stated self-deprecatingly.

"That's also true. My Ginny is an amazing person of great integrity, she is smart, hard-working and tenacious, which is probably what made her stick around you for so long. She sees something in you that I don't always understand but I do trust my daughter's choice." Tony was still staring at her, confused. "What I mean Tony is that I'm sure they will eventually come back to you and you better be ready and not screw it up that time," she concluded.

"I wouldn't be that sure," said Tony.

"You know why Ginny hasn't been able to live far from you for so many years?" She asked him. Tony shook his head. "It's because of Dane. She had a part of you that she could love. And do you know how I know that? It's because I did the same when Ginny's dad passed away. Without her reminding me of him, I would have never been able to live as well as I did after he passed away. The difference between me and my daughter is that you are not dead but alive and back in her life now."

"But nothing is different, she still has Dane, and she still hates me for what I did to them," Tony exclaimed.

"Okay, she does hate you!" Tony winced at her words. "But she also loves you," Edna finished. "There is only a thin line between love and hate, Tony," Edna said while moving toward Dane's room. "It's on you to help her make the decision between one side and the other," she said while opening the door and entering the room, leaving Tony sitting in the corridor in front of the closed door.

During that time, in Dane's room,

Dane finally calmed down in Pepper's embrace. After few minutes of silence, Dane asked, "Why did he come back?"

"I don't know, sweetheart," Pepper answered, realizing she didn't really know the reason of his return either. He said he had missed her, but that wasn't an actual answer.

"Mummy?" Dane said, still snuggled close to Pepper.

"Yes sweetheart?" She answered, waiting for Dane's question. After a long period of silence, Pepper moved Dane from her embrace to sit him in front of her and looked at him in the eyes, "What is it baby? Don't hesitate, you can ask whatever you want." She tried to comfort him.

"I'm lost" He admitted. Pepper gazed at him curiously, "I mean, I don't understand why." He started and then stopped.

"Why what?" She encouraged him.

"Why he doesn't love us," Dane said, gazing down at his bed sheets.

"Dane, baby," she said while propping a finger under his chin to make him look at her, "I don't think that it is the case. I think Tony loves you and cares about you a lot. You know it was a surprise for him too. He didn't know he had a son and he's only known from the day he came to our house. And since he found out, he's kept on doing things for you and trying to spend time with you. Don't ever think that your father doesn't love you," she said reassuringly. Even though it was Tony's fault that she had to leave, it was part of her fault that he never knew that he had a son.

"But, he left you alone. He didn't love you anymore. So how come he could love me?" he asked, using his child logic to understand.

Pepper sighed, "It's more complicated than that," she said. But was it really? She wondered. She knew that right now she would have to try to explain to her son something that she didn't even believe herself. She would have to try to make him understand and believe what Tony had tried to make her understand 5 years ago. "Tony loved me a lot and that's why he tried to protect me in the most stupid way possible," she said, emphasizing the word stupid as she talked. "He thought that me living and being with him was too dangerous for me. That Iron Man's enemies would always try to attack me to reach him. So he decided that it was better for me to live far from him, so I could live a more safe life," she spat the answer in a harsher tone than she intended to.

Dane was trying to weigh all the words of his mother and her tone gave him a hint on the fact that what did Tony was bad from her point of view "I think I understand why Tony did it," he said. Pepper shook her head with a faint smile on her lips, unable to deny that Tony's logic was reflecting in Dane's logic. "But I think it is very sad because it made you mad," he concluded.

"Yes it is true baby, but me being mad at him doesn't have to have anything to do with your relationship with your father. Tony didn't know about your existence, and so you don't have to be mad at him. What happened or what will happen between Tony and me, has nothing to do with what has to happen between you and him." She tried to explain. "Do you understand me?" she asked.

"Yeah I think I do." Dane answered. Pepper stroked his hair and smiled at him. He smiled back and she gathered him close again. Dane waited a few seconds and asked, "Are you still mad at him?"

Pepper was taken aback at his question. Was she? She didn't even know herself what she felt about him. She decided to answer with the truth, "I don't know sweetheart, part of me is still very angry and the other one is like you…" she sighed, "…lost," she admitted.

Dane stayed silent for few more minutes while Pepper was stroking his hair. Everything was racing in his head. All the information he'd just received, all the time he spent with Tony the last couple of days. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere he stated, "So Iron Man is my father?!" Like he was just realizing it.

Pepper smiled despite everything and acknowledged, "Yes baby, Iron man is your father!"

"Cool…" he said, his eyes sparkling.