March 1993

Wow, just look at us, Tony thought when he caught their reflection in the large glass window that overlooked the Manhattan skyline. He knew they both looked charming; he in his three-piece Armani suit, Ana in that white long-sleeve t-shirt and gray plaid skirt. They were a good team, and the whole world was going to see that when the new issue of Rolling Stone was released.

Tony had invited them to his office for an interview. It was something long overdue. He was tempted to hide his precious daughter from the world forever, knowing how cruel it might be. She was already a shy kid, and she was probably going to hate this celebrity lifestyle. Even Tony found it exhausting sometimes. But the thing was, people loved secrets. They would never stop coming after her if they realized if she was Tony's biggest weakness. But if he threw them a bone every once in a while—like a birthday party, or this interview— maybe they would leave her alone.

"Mr. Stark," a woman said. One of the photographer's assistants. "Whenever you're ready."

"We are. Let's get this show on the road."

Ana was calm during the photo shooting session. The photographer commented that she was one of the easiest kids he had ever worked with, but Tony knew her well enough to see how nervous she was. She was always nervous around strangers. Instead of throwing a tantrum, she would go quiet, and cling to her father as tightly as her tiny hands allowed her. Tony was gently kissing her and stroking her hair at every opportunity, to remind her that Daddy was here and she was safe. Funny, when he had first met her, he was too scared to even touch her, lest he would hurt her. Now it just felt so simple, so natural, as if she were an extension of his body.

By the time the interview started, her fingers had loosened, and she was just calmly resting her head on his chest.

"Hello, Mr. Stark, and thank you for giving us this exclusive interview," the interviewer said.

"The pleasure is all mine."

"Let's start with an easy question, shall we?"

Tony smiled. Why did all reporters use the same trick to intimidate him? Did they really think it would work on him? He wouldn't even let them be here in the first place if he thought he couldn't handle their questions. He was about to give a quippy answer when Ana suddenly tugged at his microphone.

"Ana, no," he said in a soft, but firm tone. She understood, and started playing with a button on his waistcoat instead.

"How old is Ana now?"

"14 months," he lied. Officially, her date of birth was January 25, 1992, but he wasn't going to tell the press that she was about two months old when he had found her on his doorstep.

"And the mother still wishes to remain anonymous?"

"Yes."

"Some find the timing of your fatherhood… suspicious, which leads to certain conspiracy theories. What do you think of them?"

"I'm sorry, what sort of conspiracy theories?" Of course, Tony had heard those conspiracy theories, he just wanted to see if this guy was bold enough to tell them to his face.

"Well, there are rumors that after your parents' untimely death, you fell into a deep depression, and creating another Stark was your therapy. Some take it even further and say you genetically engineered an embryo, and that's why the mother's identity is a secret."

"Oh, boy… Sorry to disappoint you, but Ana is 100% organic. Besides, genetic engineering is hardly my area of expertise. It would make more sense if you asked me if she's secretly an android."

The interviewer laughed. "Was she… planned, though?"

"No."

"How did you feel when you found out?"

"It was the best moment of my life."

He didn't seem convinced. "So, you weren't shocked at all? Or, confused?"

"Life's supposed to be an adventure. If you know what's waiting for you at every turn, where's the fun in that?"

"True, but we're talking about a major life change here. Weren't you at least worried about adapting to a more… selfless lifestyle?"

He bounced Ana on his lap a little and kissed the top of her head. At last, a question he could answer with pure honesty. "Nonsense. In this past 14 months, I came to realize that parenthood is not a burden, chore, or sacrifice. Ana is a part of me. How can an egomaniac like myself not love the best part of himself?"

"Well said," he had to admit. "Now, let's talk about Ana's future. Do you think she's inherited the Stark genius?"

"Well, she certainly shows the signs."

"Would you be disappointed if Ana refused to follow your footsteps, though?"

"Not in the slightest. Intelligence comes in many forms."

"What if she doesn't want to be a part of the Stark legacy?"

"We're not living in the Dark Ages anymore. As a futurist, I'm all for individualism."

"Yet you chose to follow your father's footsteps. And he was a futurist, too."

You son of a bitch. "Yeah, but it was my choice. No one forced me to do it," he lied again. "I'm just grateful that I didn't have to build a company from scratch myself to do the job I love."

Thankfully, the rest of the questions were all about business, and nothing personal. The hardest part was over. Once the interviewer was finished and thanked him again, someone removed the microphone. As the crew packed up their equipment and left, his secretary approached Tony and asked if he wanted them to take Ana. God, why did people think he would want his kid out of sight the moment he was done showing her off?

Once they were alone in the office, he placed Ana down on the black leather couch and crossed to the fridge to get a bar of chocolate.

"I guess you earned a treat," he told her, unwrapping the bar.

She took it, broke it in half, and gave one of the pieces to him. She didn't start eating hers until he did. Tony laughed, but he was actually so happy that he wanted to cry. He had always known how much he was going to love his kid. What he hadn't known was, how much she was going to love him back once she was old enough to love. The purity of it broke his heart a little.

He went to pour himself some Scotch. Ana was watching him expectantly. "What?" he asked, taking the first sip. "Don't look at me like that, you're not getting any."

He caught a reflection of himself in the glass again. Here he stood, looking down on the world from his father's office. He still didn't feel like he belonged here. When he was a kid, this place was almost sacred. He was rarely allowed to enter, and whenever he managed to sneak in, he was immediately taken out by an employee. The might Howard Stark couldn't be disturbed while working, not even by his own son.

He was actually planning to leave New York behind and make a fresh start. He could run the company from LA. He was having a custom mansion built in Malibu, but his property manager had said it wouldn't be ready for at least another six months. Jarvis didn't know about the new mansion yet. For some reason, Jarvis hated California. Tony had a feeling that something bad had happened there, but he hadn't asked Jarvis what it was.

All of a sudden, the phone started to ring. Whatever it was, it had to be important, because very few people knew this number. So, he picked it up. "Hello?"

"Mr. Stark?" a woman sobbed.

He recognized the nurse's voice. "Claire? Is everything alright?"

Of course he knew everything wasn't alright. Nothing was alright. He knew it, yet he had to ask. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark. Mr. Jarvis is dead."

…

On the way home, Tony was numb. He just held Ana in his arms as tightly as he could without hurting her, like a little boy who was holding his favorite cuddly toy while after waking up from a nightmare. Ana must have sensed his mood, for she was quiet, too. He knew he should have been prepared for this day. He had had more than a year to prepare himself, yet he had failed. The truth was, even after three losses, he still had no idea how someone could be prepared for death.

The Rolling Stone reporter had asked him if creating another Stark was his way of handling the grief. While Ana's creation was an accident, it had turned out to be exactly what he needed. After all, weren't some of the world's greatest inventions purely accidental? He had overcome the pain of losing his parents by creating a new Stark, but how was he going to overcome this loss? How was he supposed to create another Jarvis?

The car stopped in front of the mansion. The driver got out and opened the door for him.

"Sir?" he asked when Tony didn't step out.

He wanted to stay here. He wanted to stay in this moment forever, with his darling daughter, and not go out there to face the horrid reality. Nevertheless, the reality came to him.

"Mr. Stark?" Claire cried, running up to them. Ana stirred in his arms.

"How did it happen?"

"When his condition deteriorated, I called an ambulance, but it was too late. He didn't seem to recognize me, or Amy in his final moments. He was asking for Ana, though…"

Yeah, the question was, which Ana? Tony got out of the car, and gave his Ana to the nurse. "Take her to her room."

Claire left with her. Tony followed them into the house. An invisible force was moving his legs, carrying him to Jarvis' room. The door was closed. The same invisible force made his hand open it.

He was lying in the bed. They had covered the body with a white sheet, but it was him. Maybe Tony should just leave him like that. He didn't have to remember what death looked like. But he had always been a hopeless masochist.

It wasn't the same. There was a terrified look on his parents' faces, like they still had some unfinished business in the land of the living. Jarvis just looked like someone who was ready to rest. It didn't feel right. Jarvis was supposed to have an unfinished business, too. Tony still needed him.

Tony's agony was slowly being replaced with anger. Why? Why did he have to lose Jarvis so soon? Sure, he had been in a tough spot after the accident, but he had pulled his shit together when Ana had come into his life, had he not? He had taken good care of her and Jarvis. He had become the CEO. Every day, he would wake up early, go to work, work hard, and return home to his daughter and the man who loved him as a son. He dedicated all his free time to his family. No more fooling around. He was being decent. Responsible. Using his second chance well. And this was how the universe rewarded him. With another death.

…

Thousands had attended the funeral of Howard and Maria Stark. Edwin Jarvis' funeral, on the other hand, would be a much more modest one. In fact, Tony had assumed he and Ana were going to be the only ones present. So, he was quite surprised to see an elderly couple here. He remembered them. They had attended the grand Stark funeral as well. His mom had once told him that the woman was a government agent and a liaison to the company, but maybe there was more.

Tony was glad that his dad had been able to find a spot at the interfaith section of this Jewish cemetery when Mrs. Jarvis had died. She was Jewish, and Jarvis was a Christian, but now, they could rest together.

Ana was very quiet during the funeral, and Tony didn't think it had anything to do with her being shy. He held her close to his heart, as close as possible, for she was the only reason it was still beating. After the burial, the old woman approached him.

"Hello, Tony."

He tried to remember her name, but couldn't. "Hello, Mrs…"

"Agent Carter."

"Right… You were a government liaison to Stark Industries, right? I had no idea you knew Mr. Jarvis."

"He was a good friend of mine."

This confused Tony. If they were really such good friends, why had Jarvis never mentioned her? Carter's attention shifted to Ana. "Your daughter?"

"Yeah."

"Well, hello there," she cooed at Ana.

"Hi," Ana said. She might be shy, but she had manners.

"What's your name, mm?"

"Ana."

"What a beautiful name." Damn. If she knew Jarvis, then she probably knew his wife as well. Then, he recalled something else, a vague memory from his early childhood. Another funeral that had taken place right here. Ana Jarvis'. He could swear he had seen this couple at that one, too. Carter wasn't lying. She knew the Jarvises. Tony wished she would just leave.

"Her vocabulary seems quite advanced for her age…"

"Well, she is a Stark," he muttered.

Agent Carter must have understood that Tony wasn't in the mood for small talk. She and her husband left. Now it was just Tony and Ana.

"Jeeves?" Ana asked, looking around.

"I'm sorry, baby girl. Jarvis is gone. We're on our own now."

He had never shed any tears for Jarvis until now. All his life, he had been taught not to cry, not to show any kind of weakness. But seeing Ana asking for Jarvis like that as they stood right in front of his grave had been the match in the powder barrel.

"Dadda, no," she said this time, wiping away his tears with her small, beautiful, delicate hands.

"Huh… "

Suddenly, he didn't feel so angry anymore. Yeah, the universe might not have cared for his efforts to be decent, but then, this was how the universe was. It was indifferent, to everyone and everything. Good deeds went unrewarded, and if you were smart, you could get away with any atrocity. There was no divine justice, or karma. There were no angels and demons, no heaven and hell. No reason to bother to try and be good. Except, he had been able to create his own personal angel, someone to strive to be worthy of. And as long as he had his daughter, he would never have to be alone in this infinite vastness of chaos.

"You're an angel, you know that, right? You're Daddy's little angel. Come on, let's go home."

A/N: So, this was my little tribute to Edwin Jarvis. Hope you enjoyed. I'm also planning to post another series of one-shots about Tony and Ana's life in Malibu pre-Iron Man era. If you prefer longfics, though, you can check out the main stories of the Secret Sisterhood. I'm also working on a spin-off to the original trilogy, one that takes place in an alternate timeline.