chapter twenty-eight
the story of grace victoria stark

tw: contains mentions of abuse, sexual abuse, neglect

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 kitchen, fidgeting with her fingers. Why did she say she would tell him everything? That was possibly the worst thing she could have said. The only person she had told her full history to was... nobody. Not even Steve or Peggy had known the full truth. Howard was too delusional to know the full extent of everything she had gone through.

Grace walked out to the living room where Tony was sitting in an armchair. He looked up when he saw his aunt enter and raised his eyebrows at the large bottle of whiskey in her hand. "Do you want me to get glasses for that?"

She shook her head and sat down on the couch. "This is for me," she said, unscrewing the top. "If you want some, there's more in the cabinet. If you're getting the full story of my life... you might want some alcohol." Tony looked at her and she let out a breath. "Are you ready?" she asked him. "Because there's no going back once we've started."

"Are you ready?" he asked in response and she pursed her lips. "I know you want to tell me, but you don't have to."

Grace nodded. "It's time," she said quietly, pulling a pillow onto her lap. "Just... I don't want you to hate your dad because of me... It's not an easy story to hear."

"Aunt Gracie, you were there for me when he wasn't," Tony told her. "Now I'm going to be here for you."

Grace sucked in a breath and nodded. "Okay. Well... the very beginning is the day after your grandmother died..."

Grace pushed the dresser in front of her bedroom door, feeling the force of her father push against the door. "Daddy, it's me!" she exclaimed desperately, hearing the dresser shake. "It's Grace! Your daughter!"

"You look like Victoria!" he said and she whimpered. "Too much like her." Grace fell back at the dresser fell over and her father stumbled over drunkenly. "I should do something about that..."

"Daddy, please..." Grace whispered, shaking her head. "I—It's not my fault that I look like her. She's my mother. Howard looks just like her, too."

"Well, Howard isn't here, you are," her father contradicted and Grace's bottom lip trembled. Her eyes glossed over seeing him pull out his belt. "Don't worry, my dear, it won't hurt a bit."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

"𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐎 you?" Tony exclaimed, standing up and looking at his aunt in shock. "And he did it how many times?"

"That's not important—" Grace started to say and he scoffed.

"The hell it isn't," he contradicted and she held her head in her hands. "He sexually assaulted you. His own daughter. Why are you not more upset?"

"I am," she answered, looking up at her nephew. "But he's been dead for seventy-four years, Tony. Nothing you do will take away what he did to me. You can't fight him."

"Well, what did Dad do about it?" Tony asked, sitting back down and she pursed his lips. "He may have sucked at times, but you were still his younger sister. He had to have done something... right?"

Grace clicked her tongue. "He... I didn't tell him," she said and Tony threw up his hands in exasperation. "How was I supposed to tell him? His mind was too far up his own ass to care about anyone who wasn't himself."

Tony sighed. "Okay, fair enough... So your dad died and you escaped to Europe with Dad..." he repeated and she nodded. "What happened next?"

"Howard met Doctor Erskine," she replied, letting out a breath. "They started a partnership of some sort. And it led to Doctor Erskine wanting Howard's help with the super soldier serum. The one that... made Steve Captain America."

"Is this story going to include you and him together?" Tony asked, interrupting his aunt and she raised her eyebrows. "I don't think I need all the details."

Grace shook her head. "Anyway... Doctor Erskine..."

"Ah, and you're the sister of the infamous Howard Stark." Grace looked away from her sketchbook at the sound of a German accent and saw Howard and a man she had never met standing in front of her. "Are you as much of a genius as your brother?"

"I'm sorry, you are?" Grace asked, furrowing her brow.

"Ah." The man cleared his throat and held out his hand. "Doctor Abraham Erskine," he introduced himself and she shook his hand in confusion. "Your brother and I have been in a partnership of sorts."

Grace nodded, glancing between the two. "Well, uh, it's nice to meet you," she replied, hugging her arms. "And to answer your question, I'm not a genius."

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking at the designs that were open in her sketchbook. "Because these are extraordinary. Mr. Stark, your sister has quite a mind," he told Howard and Grace raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Why haven't you told me about her before?"

Howard shrugged, pouring himself a drink from the cabinet. "It never came up," he said and Grace pursed her lips, closing her sketchbook with a disappointed sigh. "I wasn't even aware that she was interested in inventing."

Grace smiled weakly at Doctor Erskine who looked at her at Howard's words. "You never asked..." she mumbled, walking away and hugging her sketchbook to her chest.

"Okay, so Dad ignored you, and Doctor Erskine was aware of your inventing abilities," Tony summarized. Grace nodded and he let out a breath. "Well, Dad never was an angel. When did you start making weapons for the Army?"

"At Howard's Expo in '43, I met Steve," Grace recounted, the memory of their first meeting swirling in her mind. "That night, Howard told me that he and Doctor Erskine were going to make a super soldier. Not intentionally, he was drunk."

"Of course."

She nodded. "Well, Peggy wrote to me and asked if I would visit the Army base. That same day, Howard found my designs and thought they were impressive."

Tony blinked. "It took him three years for him to notice the designs?" he asked incredulously. "Oh, Dad..."

"When he did see them, he said he would write to Colonel Phillips," Grace continued, clearing her throat. "I visited the base, talked to Steve some more, and got to know him. And before I knew it... he was turned into a super-soldier."

"And that's when you started making weapons?"

She nodded. "More or less," she said with a shrug. "Colonel Phillips gave me a chance when... when nobody else did."

"He was smart," Tony told her with a smile. "Okay, so now you're making weapons for the Army. When did SHIELD become a thing? That's my biggest question."

Grace let out a breath and leaned back on the couch. "Steve went in the ice in '45," she said. "The SSR was still around, Peggy worked with them. Howard was wanted for crimes by them."

"That's a new one," Tony commented and she chuckled softly. "Tell me that story next."

Grace shook her head in amusement. "By the '50s, Howard was trying to reform himself. And in doing so, he wanted to form an organization. He got me, Peggy and Colonel Phillips to join him. And we founded SHIELD. The SSR became the science division of SHIELD and suddenly, the people who talked down to Peggy had to report to her."

She played with her fingers and looked back at her nephew. "It started out small," she continued, letting out a breath. "Not like what it is today. The point of SHIELD was to... was to protect the US from threats. Ones that couldn't be handled by the United States military. They still do that, just... nobody knows they do.

"We were all running it for the first few decades of SHIELD. And after Colonel Phillips died, things changed. But... it was your father's death that changed everything..."

"How so?"

Grace sucked in a breath and swallowed the growing lump in her throat. "It's the whole reason I kept everything a secret from you."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐈𝐙𝐙𝐀 delivery man and walked back into the living room. She placed the pizza on the ottoman and sat back down. "Okay, where were we?" she asked.

"Dad's death is why you kept everything from me," Tony replied, opening the pizza box and frowning. "Sausage?"

"What's wrong with sausage?"

"It's boring."

Grace rolled her eyes. "So your dad died..."

Grace paced in the conference room while Peggy sat helplessly at the table. "Gracie, please, just sit—"

"No, Peggy, I won't sit down," Grace snapped, looking at her friend. "My brother is dead. And nobody will tell me why."

"We told you," Peggy said calmly. "They died in a car crash—"

Grace shook her head. "No, see, because he didn't have any alcohol in his system," she said, crossing her arms. "I saw the autopsy report. There is no way he would have lost control and crashed that car sober. Not with Maria in the car with him. He would have fought anyone to keep his wife safe. She was the person he loved most in the world."

"Gracie, their funeral is today," Peggy told her friend and Grace let out a breath. "I know you're angry, but you have to think about Tony."

"I am," she replied with a nod. "It's why he can never know about SHIELD. However Howard died... it wasn't a car crash. Which means he was targeted. And that target was because of SHIELD. If Tony were to find out... he'd be put in danger, too. I can't let that happen. He's all I have left, Peg."

"So is that why you looked so tense at their funeral?" Tony asked.

Grace shrugged. "More or less."

Grace stood outside of the church with Tony as Howard and Maria's coffins were carried out of the service. They were placed into cars and to be driven in the direction of the White House where the President had wanted to pay his respects.

"Wait!" Grace stopped the driver from starting the car and glanced in the back of the car at her brother's coffin. "Wait a minute..." She cleared her throat and laid a hand on the coffin. "Goodbye, Howie..." She blinked back her tears and pursed her lips. "I love you."

Grace walked back to her nephew who she pulled into a tight hug as the cars drove away. She kissed the top of his head and rubbed his back.

"It's just us now, little penguin," she whispered, watching her brother's body disappear. "And I'm not letting anything happen to you."

When she finished her story, Tony looked at his aunt and immediately hugged her. "What's this for?" she asked, surprised at the sudden embrace.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear and she furrowed her brow in confusion. "Your life has been pretty shitty. And Dad was even more distant than he was with me. I didn't think that was possible."

"He had some redeeming qualities," she said and Tony frowned.

"Like what?"

Grace cleared her throat and scratched the back of her neck. "You know, I'll get back to you about that." She let out a breath. "Look, Tony... I didn't intend for this to be a lie. It was never meant to be a lie. I just didn't tell you because—"

"You wanted to keep me safe," he finished and she nodded.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "But you've grown up... and I can't protect you from everything anymore. In my mind, you're... you're still my little penguin. The little boy who would run into my arms whenever he saw me. But you're this grown man now who revealed himself to the world as a hero. I can't stop you from doing that. No matter how much I wish I could."

"I'm always going to be your little penguin," he told her. "You know you're my favorite person. I know why you didn't tell me. But why now? Why do I know now?"

Grace sighed. "Because your father worked with Anton Vanko and his son is after you," she replied.

"Oh."

"And... I'm guessing you know that Natalie is actually Agent Romanoff," she continued and Tony nodded. "And she informed me that you're dying. So now it's your turn, little penguin. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know how," he said quietly. "You've always taken care of me whenever my parents were out of town. You were always at whatever silly thing was happening. Every science fair, every graduation, every birthday. How was I supposed to tell you that I was dying?"

Grace closed her eyes and held her head in her hands. "The injection she gave you is only temporary. So we'll find a solution."

"You'd help me?" he asked and she frowned.

"Well, I'm certainly not going to let you die," she replied, shaking her head. "Of course, I'm going to help."

Tony smiled lightly. "Thank you. Oh, and I appreciate you leaving out the details of your relationship with Steve. I didn't know any of that."

Grace chuckled and patted his shoulder. "I think your dad already told you everything," she said, standing up and walking to the kitchen. "Well, except for one thing."

"What's that?"

Grace looked back at him. "Despite popular belief, Steve didn't go into the ice a virgin."

"Aunt Gracie!"

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

an: I'm not sure how I
feel about this chapter
but it was time for Tony
to know everything
(even if he didn't want
to know everything :))

Anyway, there will be a
new original character
getting introduced in act
three named adelaide snow

she'll be getting her own
spinoff book (so steve &
grace will be present in
that book too)

go check out my tiktok to
learn more about her
(a little): wp_lucy

And I think there are
only a few more chapters
or so left of this act
before act three... and you
know what happens in
act three :)