A Little Mother Daughter Talk

When Pharoah didn’t answer Serena sighed and took a step to move away from him. However, when he began to speak she stopped to listen to him. It was difficult to wrap her head around what he was telling her. He could see the future because of the strong emotions she and Peter shared? She was immediately interested when Pharoah told her he could show her how Peter saw her. Although when he said he would need to touch her in order to make that happen she hesitated a moment. She really looked at him and studied his face and eyes. There didn’t seem to be any hint of madness that she could detect. If anything he seemed lonely. Her mother wasn’t around so she decided to trust him. “Alright,” she said as she held out her arm towards him.

Pharaoh despised his drink on a small table near where he stood. He let Serena come to him and he cupped his hands. “Place your hands under mine please,” he said softly. His voice was gentle and soothing and drew the ear to hear him. Once she complied the room suddenly changed.

The ceiling was replaced by a starlit sky and the moon was large and bright above her. There was the sound of a waterfall nearby and when she looked she saw it coming down a mountainside into a small clear pool. Her perspective changed and she was in the middle of that scene on the ground looking up. The stars seemed to draw in to one another and a golden image appeared in that sky. It was her image highlighted in gold as if she were some kind of goddess. She was seeing herself as she appeared to Peter in his dreams sometimes. She was extremely beautiful she saw. With long, flowing hair and she wore not a stitch. Her body was gold as well as if chiseled by an expert artisan. Detailed and beautiful. The goddess, her, reached out to him and smiled down at him with love in her eyes.

Serena stepped up closely to Pharaoh and cupped her hands under his. Almost the second her hands touched his everything around her changed. She appeared to be outside, under a moonlit sky. She could hear the sound of running water nearby. As she looked over she saw a waterfall flowing down a mountainside into a small pool below. Suddenly, she found herself down in that scene and was looking up. She saw herself looking up at the stars and then suddenly she saw herself surrounded by a golden halo of light. The feeling of love she felt was almost overpowering. It was incredible to know that this was how Peter felt about her. However, at the same time she felt as if she were invading his private thoughts.

After one last look the scene faded and she found herself back in the Tower. She had a few tears in her eyes and she had to take a moment to wipe them away. She then remembered something Pharaoh had told her earlier. "What do I need to do to help Peter after his defeat?"

Pharaoh put his hands into his pockets as he listened to her request. He looked at her and a grave look came over him. “It’s a simple matter, you need to…” he began but then her mother Isabella rang out into the large space.

“Serena!” She snapped and even snapped her fingers. She only did that when she was angry and she stepped toward them but stopped about half way. Her eyes could have burned holes into Pharaoh who only raised his eyebrows at the rude interuption.

Serena waited anxiously for Pharaoh’s answer. He had just started to tell her when suddenly she heard her mother’s angry voice. She sighed and looked over at her. She had never seen her mother so angry at her before but she stood her ground. “Everything’s fine Mom. We were just talking.”

IsAbella narrowed her eyes and moved up to them. She had the look of a hawk that was about to pounce on her prey.

“Go to your room Serena, I will speak to you shortly,” she said in a tone that would brook no argument. Pharaoh watched her approach calmly and his face held a blank expression.

Serena started to open her mouth to argue but she quickly shut it when she saw her mother’s look. She sighed and walked away. She walked towards her room but then spotted her father alone in another room. She glanced back to be sure her mother wasn’t behind her before stepping inside.

“What’s going on with Mom right now? She’s behaving weirdly and she is forcing me to stay away from Pharoah.”

Behind her she heard her mother speaking heated words at Pharoah and trying to keep her voice down as well so they wouldn’t hear her.

Tony ofcourse knee what the problem was. Pharaoh had said some personal things about Isabella soon after they met. If it hadn’t been in mixed company, Steve and Kate were there as well, Tony might have been able to talk it all out. He had said something quite alarming about her father who has been dead for years. She had shaken his hand and he had jerked and began talking as if he knew what he was saying. It was all crazy things he said but Isabella became so angry it took Tony the rest of the afternoon to calm her down.

Tony’s eyes flickered over to Isabella and Pharaoh then back to the pad he was looking at. “It’s not my place to speak of it tiger,” he said and lifted his head up to give her a smile. “There was an ‘incident’ between them and she evidently is not over it yet. He said some...things about her family…” he began then stopped. “As I said, best if she told you, I don’t think I want to be Pharaoh right now nor later for that matter,” he said.

Serena sighed and clearly did not like her father's no answer answer. It irritated her honestly. Something had happened between her mother and Pharaoh so why was she being dragged into the middle of it?

"My life is already complicated enough to now be ordered to avoid someone who lives here with me. I can't handle this." This would be the first time Serena had actually voiced any unhappiness about living in the Tower with the Avengers and having a family that was constantly in the spotlight. She had always handled this life with the grace it required, but the truth of the matter was was that it was difficult trying to be a normal teenager when your last name was "Stark". It carried certain expectations that always had to be maintained and her thick armor was starting to crack under the weight of it all.

Tony nearly rolled his eyes at that comment. And he certainly didn’t want to be between his wife and his daughter. “Serena, she told me what she said to you,” Tony looked at her with one raised eyebrow. “A few weeks of avoidance would have fixed this. And we’d all be happy. Pharaoh had some important abilities we lack. I need him,” tony said. And then he shifted suddenly to looking at his tablet.

Isabella came into the room and closed the door behind her. “Serena, I don’t ask much of you, what is so difficult with avoiding Pharoah?” She said angrily. Tony wasn’t saying anything and continued to stay out of this.

Serena was starting to get angry, something rare for her, especially towards her parents. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at her mother. "I didn't seek him out. We do live in the same building and therefore the chances of running into one another are fairly high. I don't have an issue with him so I don't understand why I'm being dragged into the middle of all of this."

Isabella couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Serena had never been this defiant before, never! And all she expected was for her to politely avoid interacting with the man.

“You could have easily and politely avoided him Serena…” She began and then her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What were you two talking about?” She asked quickly. And this was the real reason he wanted her to avoid the man. He ‘knew’ things about people it seemed. Deep emotional things that Isabella wished he had kept to himself. How he knew what he knew about her she did not know but having a long kept secret exposed like she had and in mixed company had been startling. So much so that she slapped Pharaoh and called him a liar to his face. But he hadn’t lied Isabella had lost her temper. She was always a spirited woman and she had been very close with her mother.

Serena sighed a little but hesitated in answering her mother’s question regarding what they had been talking about. She did not want to reveal that it was about Peter. She and her father were already suspicious enough about the two of them. “Nothing. He was just introducing himself.” She was curious to know what Pharoah had said to her mother to make her this upset though. She decided not to make the situation worse though. Clearly whatever it was was serious enough that her father wouldn’t even tell her.

“I’m just going to go back to my room,” she said, hoping to diffuse the escalating situation.

Isabella’s eyes grew even more intense and she took a step toward her daughter. “You’re lying,” she said and it was clear, to To Tony at least that she might actually get physical with Serena if Serena continued on like this and as he suspected as Serena tried to move past Isabella, Isabella’s arm moved to catch Serena by her wrist.

“Ok, that’s enough,” Tony broke in and out himself between them. Isabella let go of her wrist and her anger turned into Tony. “I know she’s lying!” Isabella insisted and Tony put his hands up. “I said, that is enough Isabella,” he repeated. Finally Isabella took a step back and folded her arms across her chest.

“He obviously didn’t harm her so I am not sending him away. What happened was unfortunate Isabella but the harm is done and it can’t be undone. “You know he did not mean to upset you,” Tony added then looked at Serena. “He put his hands down, one on Serena’s shoulder and the other on Isabella’s. He pulled them both close to him and Isabella put her head on his shoulder and looked to be about to cry.

He kissed Serena’s forehead. “It’s alright Serena, go on, I’ll talk to you in a bit,” he said softly and calmly.