A/N: Hey Guys! I'm uploading this as a trial. I haven't finished writing the story (it's in the early stages) but I wanted to see if anyone would be interested in reading it. This is my first published story, so feel free to critique. If you want to read, leave a comment, rate, or whatever it is you do, and I'll work on getting the rest uploaded. Any suggestions for situations you want to see Tony and Alessandra in, leave it in a comment!

THIS IS NOT A TONY/OC ROMANCE! I love Rhodey, Pepper, and Bruce, but I feel like Tony needs a platonic soul mate (and someone who understands illness because IM2&3 feels). The JD to his Turk, the Ted to his Marshall, the Joey to his Chandler, etc. I'm hoping Alessandra can be that for him.

Thanks!

-E

Chapter 1

October 26, 2009

There was something soothing about the California coastline. Just sitting still and looking out over the water had given Alessandra a peace she hadn't felt in a long time. It settled on her shoulders in a gentle embrace as she breathed in the salty air. It was incredible how the waves seemed to drag her problems out to sea with them as she allowed herself to lose track of the night.

The last time she had been to the ocean was over a decade ago. She was six years old and her mother surprised her with a trip to the sea. Living in landlocked Nevada didn't give them many opportunities to visit the coast, but this trip had been special. Her mother had looked content, and even a little bit happy, as they drove for several hours through the desert. It was a nice departure from the uneasy looks she had been sporting those last few weeks. Her tense phone calls and the outings that followed had left Alessandra home to fend for herself. Not that she had minded all that much. She was capable of brushing her teeth and getting herself ready for bed. Her mother had important adult things to do so she was happy to wait for her return.

Unfortunately the outing that preceded their trip to the ocean had taken much longer than Alessandra had anticipated. When she had woken up the next morning, there was no trace of her mother. She tried to convince herself that her mother was fine as she poured herself some cereal and brushed her teeth, but after staring at the front door for another four hours her calm façade broke. She cried as she grabbed the phone from the wall and dialed the only number she could remember. She cried as a voice spoke on the other end. And she cried as she opened the front door to find her Nonna standing there.

At the sight of her granddaughter, Luciana Costa's anger flared. How could her daughter leave her little Alessa alone? Quickly schooling her features, Luciana puttered around the apartment hoping to distract her granddaughter from her mother's absence.

When her mother finally returned to the house two days later, it was obvious that she had been crying. Alessandra was not sure what happened after that because her Nonna had sent her to play in her bedroom. All she could hear was quiet conversation and harsh tones.

The very next morning her mother packed up the car, woke Alessandra at the crack of dawn, and told her that they would be taking a road trip to the beach. She hadn't known that the beach trip would be the last time she would ever see her mother, but maybe if she had, she would have appreciated their time together a little more.

As Alessandra sat up against a large rock facing the ocean, taking in the midnight sky, she contemplated the last few months. It had been five months since the day that single-handedly destroyed her. Just a week after her eighteenth birthday she had unceremoniously passed out in the hallway of her high school. Alessandra was familiar with the symptoms of fatigue and when she woke up lying in a hospital bed hours later, she began to cry. It was back. There was no other explanation. She had been healthy and strong for two years and just when her life was back on track, it was ruined.

The doctor she was so familiar with walked into the room with a sad but measured face and her fears were confirmed. Her cancer was back.

"I'm sorry, Alessandra," was the only thing Dr. Matthews said. He just sat in the chair next to her bed and waited for Alessandra to gain control of herself. When she had, he informed her that they had called her grandmother.

She nodded her head and sank back into the pillows of the familiar bed. Flashes of the last time she had been in the hospital ran through her mind. The horrible sounds and smells. The pain and nausea. The chemo. The radiation. More pain. Everything ran on a loop and the only thing she could think to do was wait for her Nonna.

A hand was shaking her shoulder when she woke from an uneasy sleep. Looking up she had seen them. The two officers that had come to deliver news worse than that of her illness. Her Nonna, the only family she had, was dead. She had been on her way to the hospital when she was struck by a car. Luciana Costa was dead before they had even loaded her into the ambulance.

That was all it took for Alessandra to well and truly freak out. She began to scream and cry as she thrashed around in the bed. The officers looked on in alarm as Madison, her favorite nurse, ran into the room with a large sedative. She passed out for the third time that day. By the next morning, she had snuck out of the hospital, walked through the deserted morning streets of Las Vegas, packed a few of her possessions, and began driving in a random direction. Alessandra then adopted a new personality to match her new lifestyle; one of uncaring nonchalance.

Since then she had been all across the United States, making money hustling pool in bars, and trying anything she had been too afraid of before. She was dying and she was all alone in the world. The only person to ever care for her was 6 feet under and no amount of pleading phone calls from Madison or Dr. Matthews would convince her to fight for her life. There was no point. Alessandra had nothing left to fight for, so she decided to live her life to its fullest while she could. It was her own form of reckless suicide. And she embraced it fully.

The loud purr of an engine broke Alessandra out of her memories. She was content to ignore it as it drove by but with a squeal of tires, the engine cut out just behind her. She froze and stopped breathing for a moment, listening to the sound of a door opening and slamming shut. There was a quiet shuffling for a moment before complete silence. Sitting there, completely unnoticed, was quiet possibly the most awkward situation she had ever found herself in. Should she make herself known? Should she just sit there and wait for whoever it was to leave? They were on a fairly deserted stretch of road so maybe making herself known isn't a good idea. He or she could be a psycho axe murderer!

You have cancer. You're dying anyway!

Shrugging to herself, Alessandra listened to her own thoughts. What the hell, right? Peeking over the large rock she had hidden behind, she gaped at what she saw. The other person was in fact a man wearing a baseball cap, large sunglasses, and a black leather jacket. His appearance isn't what had her staring in awe, but his car was another matter entirely. It had to be the most expensive thing she had ever laid eyes on. Her eyes raked over the pristine paint job before resting them on the license plate. It was personalized STARK11.

Stark? Stark, Stark, Stark… Stark! Tony Stark!

So the guy disguised as a serial killer was Tony Stark. Looking closer at the figure reclined on the hood of his car, she could see dark hair peeking out from under the hat and his very distinct facial hair.

Alessandra had heard all about Iron Man. A few days before her arrival in California, stories blew up about two men wearing suits of iron armor destroying half a city block. Of course, her first thought had been bullshit! but yesterday, when none other than Tony Stark, richest playboy alive, proclaimed that he was the Iron Man, her reaction went from skepticism to full-blown amusement. Who the hell builds an iron suit to run around in?! It was crazy and ridiculous in all the ways her life wasn't.

Seeing him now in the flesh, with a hard look on his face, Alessandra wondered what exactly happened that day at Stark Industries. Whatever it was seems to have upset Mr. Stark. Maybe I should talk to him…

She argued with herself for a moment before standing as quietly as she could and walking around the other side of the boulder.

"You look like crap."

Her loud admission had Stark tumbling off the side of his car with a loud yelp.

Seeing one of the richest and most famous men in the world squeal had Alessandra hunched over in laughter.

"Oh my god!" She gasped out between laughs as Tony Stark stood from his place on the ground. He was grumbling to himself as he looked toward the laughing teenager.

When Alessandra finally controlled her breathing, she began to feel extremely faint. All that energy spent laughing at the billionaire had left her swaying on her feet. She stumbled back a bit and ended up slumped against the rock she had been hidden behind. Closing her eyes, she took deep breaths and counted to twenty. It wasn't the first time Alessandra had felt exhausted after exerting a small amount of energy but her faint spells were increasing in frequency. Her cancer was spreading.

"Woah," Stark said, dragging out the word. "You on drugs or something, sweetheart?"

Alessandra couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Or something, Mr. Stark." At the use of his name, his head snapped from the left and right. It didn't take long for her to see that he was making sure nobody else was around. Hell, that horrible disguise and his appearance on a random beach told her enough. He was hiding. "You should get a better disguise if you didn't want anyone to recognize you. And maybe ditch the fancy car. It's a dead giveaway."

Tony glanced at his license plate before rolling his eyes and cursing under his breath.

"Chill out. It's not like there's anyone out here anyway," she assured him with a small smile.

"Yeah, except you," he said quickly, "what do you want?"

"Nothing," she said as she slowly made her way over to the front of his car. He watched her warily as she approached. "What do you want?"

The way she emphasized the word you did not go unnoticed by the billionaire, but before he had the chance to answer, Alessandra had hopped up onto the hood of his car and reclined against the window.

"Seriously? You're just gonna-," he cut himself off with a sigh and hopped up next to her. Obviously he wasn't in the mood to argue.

They sat in silence for a while, looking out at the ocean. It almost felt like a contest, Alessandra thought, a battle of wills to see who would speak first. I mean, it's not every day that you spend quality time with a stranger on the hood of their car; never mind that said stranger was a billionaire. For Alessandra, she had spent a fair amount of her childhood in silence, waiting for news from the doctors. She could do this all day, but for Tony, he wasn't as patient. He needed things done quickly and as loudly as possible, which is why he was the one to break the silence.

"This asshole broke into my house."

Alessandra raised her eyebrows at him in a silent question.

"Yeah. My house! I have J.A.R.V.I.S. and that asshole still got in! Talking about some super secret boy band he wants me to join." He said all of this loudly, gesturing with his hands in frustration. "Not sure if he noticed but I don't exactly play well with others." Alessandra snorted. "Who does he think he is? I don't care if he is the director of some spook agency, he messed with J.A.R.V.I.S.! Nobody messes with J.A.R.V.I.S.. He better watch his back."

Not knowing what else to do and not knowing who this Jarvis person was, Alessandra nodded along to his rant… until he got to the part of the guy being the head of an agency.

"Maybe you shouldn't," Alessandra was cut off by Tony jumping off the hood and pacing in front of her.

"Yeah. That's what I'll do. This guy thinks he knows everything about me. Now it's my turn." As she shook her head and tried to interject, he pulled out his phone and spoke into it. "J.A.R.V.I.S.! Dig up everything you can on S.H.I.E.L.D.. I wanna know all of their dirty secrets."

"As you wish, sir," an accented voice spoke back.

"Umm… Mr. Stark, are you sure you should be," she was cut off again.

"Ugh, call me Tony. Mr. Stark was my father." He said, while still muttering to himself.

"Right," she said slowly, wondering if he was more madness than genius. "Tony, you probably shouldn't-,"

"You are absolutely right, kid. Good idea."

With that last comment, Tony walked around the side of the car and opened the driver's door. Not sure exactly what had just happened, Alessandra just sat there staring at him. He got into the car and started the engine before noticing that she hadn't moved from his hood.

"Move out of the way or I'm gonna run you over." She jumped down and watched as he slipped his sunglasses on, unnecessary really since the sun was coming up, and revved the engine once. "Bye, kid."

Alessandra raised her hand in a silent salute as she watched the billionaire speed down the road.

What the hell was that?

A/N: So that was the first chapter. Let me know what you think or if I should fling this project off a cliff. If anyone knows a great beta, hit me up! Also, next chapter is Tony's drunken antics and Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl, so there's that.