— a golden childhood

first birthday Arabella had to spent without her mother and she wasn't thrilled about it, not at all. She refused to have a birthday party or even a cake. All she wanted was her mom.

It was 11:18 a.m. and the now three-year-old girl hadn't left her room. She was debating with herself on whether leaving or not when someone knocked on her door. Her eyes widened. She quickly pulled the scarlet bedsheets over her and shut her eyes as she pretended to be asleep.

Footsteps could be heard and Bella tried her best to not turn around to see who the person was. Her breathing began to pick up, afraid that however the person was might find out she was actually awake and would force her out of the room.

A hand was placed on her small shoulder and she softly gasped, pressing her lips together forcefully while she mentally scolded herself. "I heard you." Her father's voice accusingly told her. "I know you're awake."

The little girl sighed in defeat, pushed the covers off her body and crisscrossed her pajama covered legs. Her brows immediately furrowed when her eyes landed on a red frosted cupcake.

Tony noticed and held the sweet out for her with a small smirk. "Happy birthday, Belles."

"Thank you." Her voice came out small as she reached out to grab the cupcake. Her little index finger poked the frosting and placed it in her mouth.

"I know you said no cake, but come on, it's your birthday." Tony scoped some of the frosting with his own finger and brushed it on her rosy cheek.

"Daddio!" Bella whined. Tony only chuckled at her cute scowl.

"Kiddo!" The father mimicked his daughter's whiny voice, making her scowl even more.

She scoped some frosting and smeared it all over his cheek. "We're even now." She smugly smiled.

Tony playfully rolled his eyes and ruffled her wild hair. His face turned into a serious one as he spoke, "I know you miss her." The air seemed to shift. "I want her to be here too." He rubbed his face and said in a softer tone, "But you and I know that won't happen."

She glanced down at her cupcake and angrily took a bit out of it. After Nina's death she got very sad, she wouldn't talk to anybody but the family's artificial intelligence, JARVIS. But soon that sadness turned into anger and she found herself angry at life for taking her mom away from them too soon.

With the sleeve of his shirt, he wiped out the frosting from the girl's cheek and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"How about I take you to In-N-Out and then to Randy's to make it better?" He suggested in a tone much brighter and Bella couldn't help but grin at his idea. "Just you and I. How does that sound, huh?"

"Sounds okay." She shrugged unimpressed trying her best to hide her excitement.

Tony rolled his eyes, making her giggle. "God, you're such a difficult child."

And so he took her to eat her favorite cheeseburgers and her favorite donuts, hoping that he was enough to make her happy.

Arabella's little hands patted the sand on top of Tony, who was covered in the golden sand from neck to toe.

The Starks alongside Pepper and Rhodey were enjoying a sunny weekend in Malibu. The strawberry blonde woman was helping the girl by handing her the sand on a bucket. Meanwhile, Rhodey sat down in a beach chair.

It had taken both ladies almost half an hour to get Tony beneath all the sand. But with one last pat from Arabella, he was all set.

"That color suits you, Tones." Rhodey pointed to the shimmering sand with a teasing smirk.

"Yeah, Daddy. You look amazing." Bella giggled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Yeah?" Tony quirked a brow. The three-year-old nodded quickly. "Well, I think it'll look better on you, Belles." With one sly smirk, he stood up from the ground.

Arabella's eyes widened and she let out a shriek as a sand-covered Tony began to chase after her. Her small feet carried her as fast and as far as they could with the breeze blowing her dark brown hair in every which way. And then a strand of hair got inside her eye and she tripped over a small rock. A small cry left her mouth as her knees hit the ground, scraping against the rough sand. She sat herself up to see that, in fact, her knees were bleeding and sand dug into them and she whimpered a little bit.

"Bella!" Tony ran to girl and lifted her up. His worry-filled eyes scanned her bleeding knees. "Come on. Let's get you inside."

While being carried to their house, Arabella did nothing but stare at her small knees. She didn't cry, she didn't complain, she just stared. Her knees stung but she bit down on her bottom lip and frowned, concentrating in not crying.

Tony cautiously placed her on the couch and Pepper sat next to her, hoisting Bella's legs on top of hers to clean the torn skin.

"It's going to hurt a little okay, Sweetie?" Pepper patted the wet cotton ever so gently on her knees, but it still made her pull a grimance of pain. But still not a single tear fell from her eyes.

Tony ran his hand up and down her back in an attempt to soothe the wincing girl. "It's gonna be okay, Baby." He pushed the strands of hair of her face. The sand was still glued to his body and it made him itchy but he didn't care at that moment.

"You're one brave girl, Arabella." Rhodey complimented. "You, obviously, didn't get it from your dad." He received a small chuckle from her and an irritated scoff from the older man.

Pepper finished the cleaning by covering the deep scratches with some colorful band-aids. "All done."

"Thanks, Pep." Her voice came out cracking at the end, from the tears she had been holding. The woman just gave her one of her usual sweet smiles.

"It would get better soon, yeah?" Tony reassured her with a faint smile.

Arabella's brows dipped. "I think a strawberry juice pop will make it better." She pouted.

Tony nodded without hesitation and stood up to get one from the fridge. "Alright, I'm gonna go get you-" he abruptly stopped, turned around and narrowed his eyes at his daughter. "Wait. That's-that's extortion, Little Miss."

Arabella gave him one of her sweetest smiles and yet there was a hint of mischief in her ocean eyes. At the sight, Pepper tried to contain a laugh by pressing her lips in a thin line. Rhodey, on the other side, didn't even try to hold it back.

Tony glared at them both before turning to the little girl. "You're very lucky you're my kid."

Hi! First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to read this story. I'm crossing my fingers for you to like it. I think you got the juice pop reference ;) So, this is kind of like the relationship between Arabella and Tony, not too sweet (I think) but not too harsh. The quote above is from Cesar Pavese. I hope you liked it and stick around!

Love, Lili

tales of sacrifice ; issue no. 1