The beautiful Italian countryside that went speeding by the windows of the train was a direct contrast to the mood inside. Tony sat across from Pepper, gazing silently out the window. His face was emotionless but underneath a volcano was rumbling, threatening to explode at any time. The tension in his body was radiating off in waves, the direct opposite of his usual travel habits. Pepper did not see this side often, this side usually only came out in New York when he truly meant business, and when she did, she knew to not set him off.

“Things will all work out for the best, Tony.” Pepper stated, trying to be reassuring.

“Keep telling yourself that, Potts,” Tony deadpanned without even looking at her. “You might begin to believe it.”

It had been arranged for a car to meet them at the train station in Torino. The Piedmontese roads were difficult and windy through the mountains to Marco’s villa and hard to follow even for a local. The villa was technically located closer to Asti rather than Torino in an area called Montferrato, an area filled with gentle hillsides and open spaces away from the main metropolitan area of Torino.

The driver pulled up to the main gate of the villa, revealing a beautiful garden with several large fountains showcased within them and a house that its designed harkened back to a time that could be called a cross between Ancient Rome and Victorian Europe. The driver let Tony and Pepper out and handed Tony the small overnight bag that they had brought. He instructed the driver to be ready when he called them to bring them to a hotel if necessary and sent him off.

“Ready for the most frigid reception you’ll ever receive?” Tony asked as he walked up to the front door and knocked.

The massive front door opened to reveal a middle aged woman with dark hair. “Posso aiutarli?” she asked politely.

“Noi vogliamo vedere Marco Carbonelli.” Tony answered.

“Chi si chiamano?”

Tony sighed. “Mi chiamo Anthony Stark e io sono il nipote di Marco. Possiamo vederlo?”

The woman paused and reluctantly opened the door and allowed them entrance to the villa. “Venite con me.” She instructed them as she waved her hand for them to follow her.

The inside of the house was far more modest than the outside. Aside for the fine upholstery on the furniture and a few paintings on the wall and house plants, there wasn’t much to the décor.

The maid escorted Tony and Pepper out to a large balcony where an old but seemingly still vital man sat over looking the gardens with a bottle of wine in front of him. He was dressed in a white button down shirt and khaki pants with a straw hat and sunglasses, seemingly oblivious to their arrival.

“Scusi signore, mi dispiace ti disturbo ma tuo nipote è qui.” The maid said.

“Io non ho un nipote.” Marco said bitterly as he sipped his wine. “Come si chiama?”

“Lui si chiama Anthony Stark.” The maid dutifully replied and was thoroughly ready to throw them out if necessary.

Marco slowly turned in his chair and took off his sunglasses to let the dark stare in his eyes bore into Tony for disturbing him. “Va bene Carmina. Tu puoi partire.” He said gruffly as he waved her off. “Chi è questa donna con te? Tua moglie?”

“No zio Marco.” Tony corrected him. “Ti presento signorina Virginia Potts. Lei è la mia impiegata, la mia assistente personale e la mia amica migliore.” He said as he pulled out one of the chairs at the table for Pepper to sit at.

“What did he say, Tony?” Pepper whispered, not exactly enjoying the language barrier here.

“He asked who you were.” Tony replied quickly since Marco was staring at him. “Che cosa il problema?” he snapped.

“Questa donna è più di un’amica. Tu hai i sentimenti per questa bella donna. Tu hai amore per lei.” Marco pointed out rather quickly.

“Si ma è complicata. Non lo so se lei ha i stessi sentimenti.” Tony responded before Pepper nudged his hand for a translation.

Tony couldn’t tell her the truth so he had to think fast. “He was complimenting your beauty.” He lied.

Marco nodded to the apparent thanks he got from Pepper before turning back to Tony disapprovingly. “Non è giusto, Antonio.” He scolded him. “Questa è una vergogna alla memoria dei tuoi genitori. Tu non sei l’uomo che hanno allevato. Tu sei una vergogna ai loro nome con questa vita.”

That was the trigger that Tony could not hold back from. “Io sono una vergogna? Non che pensare. Tu non hai il giusto di parlare dei miei genitori come questo. Se hai interessato in loro o appena mia madre saresti preso io in custodia.” He roared back in retailiation.

“Perche avrei cura di una persona chi era come tuo padre e era una memoria della morta della tua madre?” Marco said in a cold and heartless tone.

“Impossible!” Tony shouted in frustration before turning and storming off into the house.

As soon a Tony stormed off, Pepper was about to get out of her seat to go after him before Marco stopped her.

“Ferma, signorina.” He told her gently as he touched her arm. “Lasciarlo.”

“Excuse me,” Pepper said politely. “I don’t speak Italian.”

“Leave him,” Marco repeated in English. “Let him go.”

“You speak English?” Pepper repeated in shock. “Why wouldn’t you speak to Tony in English?”

“Because his Italian needs work.” Marco said with a small laugh.

Pepper reluctantly sat back down, fighting the urge to run after Tony. It wasn’t often she saw him that upset and when she did, it was her job to calm him down. “What did you say to him to upset him so badly?” she asked in a coolly polite tone.

“Nothing to worry yourself about, signorina.” Marco said dismissively as he poured her a glass of wine. “Just some old wounds that never healed right. Now, tell me about yourself since my rude nephew neglected to do so. How long have you worked for him?”

Pepper thanked Marco for the wine and took a sip but her expression didn’t change. She quickly understood why Tony got so angry. “More than twelve years and he pays me to worry about him. So, could you please tell me what upset him so?”

“He may pay you to worry about him but just by watching you I know you would watch over him for free.” Marco stated, calling her feelings out on to the table. “I do admire your ability to hide your feelings and keep things professional. It took me a while to pick up on you because of that.”

A slight blush crept into Pepper’s cheeks at the fact that Marco so easily picked up her feelings for Tony. “You still haven’t answered my question. Does this all go back to when his parents died?”

Marco froze for a moment. This one was perceptive and it was no secret now why Tony was attracted to her. “That was a long time ago but this goes back farther.”

Pepper sighed; she would need to be direct about this. “Tony said that you were asked to take care of him temporarily after his parents died and you said no. Why would you do that? He believes that you have no affection for him at all.”

“I have always cared about my niece’s son. He and I were always very much alike but no one saw it. He was always compared to that miserable father of his and it would not have worked. I was angry and grieving and unfortunately I took it out on Antonio.” Marco admitted as he took a sip of wine. “But lately, I have been reflecting on my past and wanting to correct it.”

“Why now?” Pepper asked cautiously.

“Because I won’t be around much longer.” Marco admitted. “I can’t let my stubbornness and bad blood follow me to the grave. I need to clear the air of what happened.”

“Could you tell me what happened?” Pepper asked.

“This is not something you really need to get into, signorina.” Marco stated, trying once again to dismiss her questioning.

“Forgive me but you clearly pointed out that I care for Tony, both professionally and personally. Right now, he is angry and incredibly upset. Now, I have dealt with him and managed him for quite sometime and you said you want to make amends with him. If you tell me how all of this started, I can probably help.” Pepper insisted.

“You are very persistent, aren’t you?” Marco pointed out as he finished his glass of wine and poured another. “This started when my brother Edoardo, decided to immigrate to America and start a new life away from the family. He left Italia and changed our name so there were no ties to the old country. It got worse when he approved the marriage between Maria and Antonio’s father. He was the worst sort of American so I refused to even go to the wedding. As far as I was concerned, since I wasn’t there…it didn’t happen. I did not speak to my brother for five years after that.”

“Then there was the family reunion…” Pepper interjected.

Marco nodded. “My brother was trying to mend fences but to do so he had Maria call me. To make my niece happy, I agreed to go. I know she was trying to impress me by having Antonio show off how much Italian he knew but he insulted me. I still believe that was Howard’s doing or my brother. I got angry and was going to reprimand the boy before his blasted father stepped in and I washed my hands with all of them. The next thing I knew, I heard that my niece had been killed in a car crash.”

“And you went to the funeral…” Pepper slipped in, just to try to keep him talking since she was quickly putting the pieces together.

“I went to the service in New York. I wanted to just pay my respects and leave without being noticed but it didn’t work. Antonio recognized me, which I still wonder how he did considering how rarely I saw him. I know now what I did was foolish but I wasn’t thinking then. A lawyer came up to me and asked if I could take Antonio in for a few months while everything settled. Now, I did not know that he had already graduated college and was working full time so I thought he was just an average seventeen year old. I had no experience raising children since my wife died in childbirth and I had no children after that so I didn’t feel I was qualified. Then I was blinded by hatred and saw only Howard in the boy and not my niece so I said no. It was only after I had said it did I see Antonio standing there, crying, as the lawyer asked him to translate what I had said. I turned away and left as what I assumed was the boy’s butler gathered him up and took him home. I haven’t seen him since.”

As the whole story unraveled, Pepper totally understood why Tony was so upset. “None of that was Tony’s fault. One time he needed family around him, he didn’t get it. Why didn’t you ever try to make amends sooner? You said you wanted to make things right. What did you mean by that?”

“I wanted to try to find him. I did once but by that time he wasn’t a man I wanted to speak to. More recently, my health hasn’t been the best.” Marco replied. “I only hope I’m not too late now. But if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I need to take my medicine.” He added as he excused himself from Pepper’s company.

As soon as Marco left, Pepper went in search for Tony. She went back into the house and got fairly lucky. After looking in a few rooms, one of the house staff pointed to the terrace on the other side of the house, looking over the city. Tony was standing there, gazing out across the landscape, so keyed up that he was shaking. “Tony?” she called out softly to let him know that she was there.

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Tony said softly with a shaking voice. “The man has always hated me and that hasn’t changed.”

“Tony, I have just spent the better part of the last hour with your uncle and I am going to have to disagree.” Pepper said gently as she walked up next to Tony.

“How the hell can you refute me on this? He doesn’t lower himself to speaking English.” Tony spat as he looked at Pepper with reddened eyes.

“Well he spoke it very clearly to me,” Pepper replied. “He also admitted to being a stupid, jealous and angry fool and he took it out his frustrations on you when you had nothing to do with it and he has always regretted it but he is also stubborn and can't get himself to apologize. It’s something he wants to correct now that he has the opportunity.”
“But why now? What the hell took him so long?” Tony snapped.

“Because he’s dying and he doesn’t want this lingering on his soul while he has a chance to fix it.” Pepper stated. “Please, go talk to him,” she pleaded with him as she took hold of his hand.

Tony wanted to fight it but it wasn’t worth it. He knew Pepper would win eventually and he let her guide him back to the terrace where his uncle was sitting.

Marco had returned to his seat at seemed at peace at least on the outside, despite the battle that was going on within. He straightened up a bit and stood when Pepper came back in but could not speak first to Tony. It was a perpetual standoff which one of them would need to break first.

“So I hear you speak English now?” Tony said sarcastically as he leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.

“In Italiano, Antonio,” Marco corrected.

“Don’t go giving me this bull shit when I know for a fact you have just been speaking with my assistant in English for the last hour,” Tony countered. “And my name is Anthony. Stop calling me Antonio. When the hell did you learn English and why have you been making me do tricks here for so long?”

“I took it up again when I wanted to try to get in touch with you,” Marco responded with a bit of ice in his tone. “I make you speak Italian because you need the practice.”

“Well, your English sucks so I think that makes us even.” Tony spat angrily as he prepared for a battle of wills with his uncle. There was no way he was cracking first as he started pacing back and forth like a caged lion. “Pepper said you wanted to talk to me.”

Marco nodded and extended his hand to offer Tony a seat at the table. “Sit down please. I feel its time we get to know each other because I don’t have much time left.”
Tony didn’t even flinch towards the table. “Why should I care? You didn't care about me when I needed you most.” He growled back angrily.

“That is one thing I wish to talk to you about but it would be easier if you were seated.” Marco insisted.

“Easier? Why in hell should I make anything easier for you?” Tony roared as his body tensed up like a volcano ready to explode. “You sure as hell didn’t do that for me. In fact I think you went out of your way to make my life harder.” By this time, Tony was shaking with anger as his temper was building. “Explain something to me because even with my two Master’s degrees from MIT, I still don’t have the intellectual capacity to understand this. Tell me how you can look a crying seventeen year old boy in the face and have the gall to tell him you want nothing to do with him after he had just buried his parents. What kind of inhuman bastard does that?” Tony ground out as his eyes glassed over with angry tears that were threatening to fall.
“I’m so sorry for that,” Marco said honestly. “I was a stupid fool who let old anger cloud the right path to take. I blamed you for everything and none of it was your fault. I have wanted to apologize for so long but I have been too stubborn and my pride got in the way.”

“But you’ve had years to do this. You’re telling me that not once you considered picking up a phone or writing?” Tony spat as angry tears rebelliously fell down his cheeks.

“I did once.” Marco quietly admitted. “The bank had a business transaction with Stark Industries, shortly after you became CEO. I asked to speak with the man in charge. They told me you were otherwise detained. I already knew that it meant you were either drunk or with some puttana so I spoke to a Mr. Stane instead. I realized then you were not a man I ever wanted to deal with.”

“Traitorous bastard,” Tony growled under his breath as he wiped at his eyes harshly. “So what changed your mind? Something must have or you would have thrown me out the second you saw me.”

Marco sighed deeply, obviously trying to center himself and keep everything together. “It was the news of your capture,” he said quietly.

At that phrase, Tony stopped pacing.

“I heard on the news that you were taken captive in Afghanistan and I was hit with the reality that I may never be able to fix what I did to you. When I heard that you had been taken, I went straight to Rome and lit an entire row of candles at San Pietro for you and prayed daily for your safe return. I made a vow that if you returned home safe, I would make amends with you for all I had done because I could not pass on with this lingering between us.”

“I appreciate the sentiment but where I was, no will of God was going to reach. When you are that deep in the seventh level of Hell, only brute force and explosions can get you out.” Tony stated quietly with a sniff as his eyes welled up again. “But I have been home for months and nothing. What were you waiting for?”

Marco didn’t answer at first but instead bowed his head in shame.

“He had been ill, Tony,” Pepper chimed in, saying what Marco couldn’t.

“Why wasn’t I told sooner?” Tony snapped.

“Because a prideful, stubborn old man would wait until the last minute to tell anyone he was dying.” Marco countered finally. “I didn’t want you here just because you thought I was dying. I wanted to make peace with you before anyone knew. I don’t want pity or sympathy. I just wanted to finally let you know that I have always loved you.”
Tony froze as his uncle spoke. He didn’t know how to respond to that or what to do. “Forgive me, but I never really learned how to say good bye.” Tony said quietly.

“I don’t want a goodbye from you; I want a hello and your forgiveness. That is all I need.” Marco stated. “Can you forgive an old man a lifetime of mistakes?”

Tony swayed on his feet a bit, the adrenaline and anger that had flooded his system had dissipated and the lingering sadness was threatening to overcome him. Pepper, who had been forced to watch the whole explosion helplessly while Tony suffered, got up from her chair and guided Tony over to it to sit down as she stood behind him, offering what comfort she could. As he rested his head against her stomach and let the emotions that he had been fighting all day claim him, Pepper gently kissed the top of his head, wrapped one arm around him and ran her fingers lightly through his hair to calm him down.

“Antony?” Marco asked again when he didn’t get an answer at first but hesitated to repeat himself since he could clearly see his nephew was crumbling in front of him.

Tony couldn’t find his voice at that moment. As Pepper held him, he nodded his head in acceptance to the deal and his understanding of his uncle…finally.

Translation

“Posso aiutarli?” – May I help you?

“Noi vogliamo vedere Marco Carbonelli.” – We want to see Marco Carbonelli.

“Chi si chiamano?” – Who is calling?

“Mi chiamo Anthony Stark e io sono il nipote di Marco. Possiamo vederlo?” – My name is Anthony Stark and I am Marco’s nephew.

“Venite con me.” – Come with me.

“Scusi signore, mi dispiace ti disturbo ma tuo nipote è qui.” – Excuse me sir, I’m sorry to disturb you but your nephew is here.

“Io non ho un nipote.” – I don’t have a nephew.

“Come si chiama?”- What is his name?

“Lui si chiama Anthony Stark.” – His name is Anthony Stark.

“Va bene Carmina. Tu puoi partire.” – Very well Carmina. You may leave.

“Chi è questa donna con te? Tua moglie?” – Who is this woman? Your wife?

“No zio Marco.” – No Uncle Marco

“Ti presento signorina Virginia Potts. Lei è la mia impiegata, la mia assistente personale e la mia amica migliore.” – May I introduce to you Miss Virginia Potts. She is my employee, my personal assistant and my best friend.

“Che cosa il problema?” – What’s the problem?

“Questa donna è più di un’amica. Tu hai i sentimenti per questa bella donna. Tu hai amore per lei.” – This woman is more than a friend. You have feelings for this beautiful woman. You love her.

“Si ma è complicata. Non lo so se lei ha i stessi sentimenti.” – Yes but it’s complicated. I don’t know if she has the same feelings.

“Non è giusto, Antonio.” – This is not right, Anthony.

“Questa è una vergogna alla memoria dei tuoi genitori. Tu non sei l’uomo che hanno allevato. Tu sei una vergogna ai loro nome con questa vita.” – This is a disgrace to the memory of your parents. You are not the man that they raised. You are a shame to their name with this life.

“Io sono una vergogna? Non che pensare. Tu non hai il giusto di parlare dei miei genitori come questo. Se hai interessato in loro o appena mia madre saresti preso io in custodia.” – I’m a disgrace? I don’t think so. You don’t have the right to talk about my parents like this. If you cared about them or even just my mother, you would have taken me in.

“Perche avrei cura di una persona chi era come tuo padre e era una memoria della morta della tua madre?” – Why would I take in a person like your father and who was a memory of the death of your mother?