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"Alright, now we've got a special treat for all of you who weren't too hungover to watch us this New Year's day." Diane Watson looked out at the banks of camera for her Saturday morning news and entertainment show. The mix of gossip to actual information tended to run 60/40 and not in information's favor. Which of course meant ratings were through the roof.
"Today we have with us Ms Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair magazine." She gestured to the chair opposite her. "Welcome Christine."
"Hi, Diane." Christine's smile was easy. "Thank you for having me."
They went back and forth with the ease of old friends before Diane got down to the business at hand. "Now, you're not just here to catch up with your old college roommate."
"Who are you calling old?"
Diane chuckled and again wondered how Christine ever let herself be wooed off the TV track for print journalism when she was a natural in front of the camera. "You're actually here to give us a sneak peek at this month's exclusive Vanity Fair piece you've been working on."
"That's right." Christine's megawatt smile began to fade into a more serious expression. "Everyone knows that 2010 was a bad year for Tony Stark: public drunkenness, erratic behavior, rumored health problems, it seemed like Stark Industries and Tony were under attack from all directions culminating in the tragedy at the Stark Expo that cost more than forty people their lives." Christine paused with a sad shake of her head.
Diane held up the advance copy of Vanity Fair. "You write all about the events that led up to the Expo, but you also write that along with all the bad, there's been one shining bright spot." She had no idea what bomb Christine was about to drop. She'd called up Diane's producer at the last minute promising to give them something no one else was going to have. Diane had pushed for it knowing that Christine would never dare come on the show without something good. Now all she had to do was set the stage and wait for the ratings to roll in.
"Yes, you see I've written about many facets of Tony Stark in the past. We've all seen Tony the boy genius, the corporate wunderkind, the Merchant of Death, the costumed hero, and always Tony the playboy but this year behind doors Tony's been playing a new role - the devoted father."
"...Tony Stark's a father?" It took everything Diane had not to jump across the coffee table and kiss Christine.
"To a 19 year old Columbia student. Apparently during Tony's youth he got involved with a girl and got her pregnant not long before his parents died and he went MIA to Europe. She had the baby, kept him and raised him for the last 19 years without ever telling Tony. But this year the two connected."
"And there's proof that Tony Stark is the boy's father?"
"A positive paternity test."
Diane sat back in her seat as her producer waved wildly that they were going over time and had to wrap up for a commercial. She turned towards camera 3 and smiled. "You heard it here first people, if you want the whole story you're just going to have to go out and pick up this month's Vanity Fair which is on the newstands as we speak."