[ That's all he needs, though it was probably going to happen anyway, anger rising up out of him like scalding bile. Tony pushes off the desk towards Stephen, that cool mask crumbling away to expose the raw human soul underneath. ]

I have a kid! I have a daughter, and Pepper -- and you're saying I have to let them go? I have to -- I have to leave Morgan alone, without her dad, like I had to -- when I was a kid and I -- I lost --

[ His words choke up in the tightness in his throat and his chest. He slaps a hand to his front as if it can calm his thundering heart and the adrenaline spike driving itself into his lungs, not sure whether it's a heart attack or panic or just grief but either way closer to it than he's been in years.

He wheezes in a breath like a sob, then buries his head in his hands so Stephen doesn't have to see it, turning away, bumping into a side table and tottering a pile of books so he has to reach out and grab it so he doesn't stagger. ]