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Peter remembered that he had been with different parents when he was just over three years old. He remembered his dad writing a phone number on his arm, he didn’t remember the number though.
Then he remembered when he first woke up in his room, he remembered that it had been unfamiliar and that the two adults hadn’t wanted to tell him why, all they told him was that they were his parents, but Peter knew that wasn’t true.
He was four years old now and he was in the car with the two fake parents on his way to meet his aunt and uncle. He remembered his uncle Rhodey and uncle Happy, but these were supposed to be an aunt May and uncle Ben.
When they arrived, his fake father Richard knocked on the door.
A man that looked sort of like Richard opened it. Peter guessed this was Ben.
“Richard,” Ben greeted. “Come in!”
“Hello, Ben,” Richard said. “You already know Mary, and this is our son Peter.”
“Gosh, has it really been over four years since we’ve seen you?” Ben laughed. Then he looked at Peter. “Hello, Peter, I’m your uncle Ben.”
Peter wanted to say ‘no you’re not,’ but instead he just said: “Hi.”
They stepped into the apartment and a woman greeted them and introduced herself as his aunt May.
“I tried baking something, but my cooking skills are still horrible so we don’t have anything but bought cookies to offer you,” she said.
Peter sat quietly while the adults talked. He wanted to find his parents again and this might be his chance, if he could just talk to one of the other two alone.
“I’m going to get some more drinks,” May said and stood up.
“I’ll help you,” Peter offered immediately and jumped up as well.
“Thank you, Peter,” May said. “We’ll go to the kitchen to get some.”
Peter carefully closed the kitchen door behind him.
As May started taking out drinks from the refrigerator he asked: “Kidnapping is bad, right?” He wanted to gauge her reaction.
She looked at him a bit weirdly before she said: “Of course it is, why do you ask?”
“I was kidnapped,” he started. Better to get it over with.
“What do you mean?” May frowned.
“Mary and Richard aren’t my real parents,” Peter explained.
May looked confused. “I’m sure there’s an explanation for that. If we just ask them–“
“No!” Peter exclaimed. “I already asked them. When I first woke up in their house, almost a year ago.”
“Peter, I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation,” May tried again.
“Would you please go to the police with me?” Peter asked her.
May looked torn. She was very confused by her nephew, she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t imagine Mary and Richard kidnapping a child. Then again, she didn’t really know them, so it wasn’t like she could imagine it of them less than anyone else she didn’t know.
“You probably didn’t know I existed until I was already three years old,” Peter said. And he was right, she realised.
“Alright,” May decided. She would indulge her nephew. Better safe than sorry. “I’ll tell them we’re going on a walk for some Aunt-Nephew bonding.”
“Thank you,” Peter said with relief.
As they reentered the living room, May and Peter placed the drinks down on the table and May announced that the two of them were going on a walk. Thankfully no one wanted to go with them.
“Don’t go too far,” Mary said. “Peter gets tired easily.”
May dressed him in a warm jacket and helped him tie his shoes. Then they said goodbye to the three other adults and stepped out.
Peter breathed a sigh of relief as the front door closed behind them. “Thank you,” he said to May.
“No problem, Peter,” May said, still uncertain.
She knew where the closest police station was around here, and it was only a short walk. She held Peter’s hand, but he didn’t seem inclined to run off anyway. At least until he spotted the police station. Then he began to pull on her hand and urge her forward.
“You’re eager,” May muttered.
“I haven’t seen my parents in so looooong!” Peter told her. “And my fake-parents are always so careful not to let me near a phone or go outside on my own, so I don’t know if I’d ever get another opportunity!”
“You’re really sure about this, hm?” May asked. “That Mary and Richard aren’t your parents?”
“Of course,” Peter told her. “I remember my parents!”
“Did you ask them if you were adopted?”
“I told you I asked them why everything was unfamiliar and where my parents were. And if I was adopted, I think they could have just told me.”
“Okay,” May gave in. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
Peter practically bounced with excitement when they entered the police station.
An officer came up to them. “How can I help you?”
“I was kidnapped when I was three and now I need to find my parents!” Peter told him excitedly.
The officer raised his eyebrows at the child and then looked at May questioningly.
“I’m May Parker,” May said. “This is my nephew Peter, he’s the son of my husbands brother Richard Parker and his wife Mary Parker.”
Peter wanted to protest, say that Mary and Richard weren’t his parents, but he realized it was better to let May do the talking.
“He seems very certain that they aren’t his real parents and he asked me to take him to the police when the three of them came to our house today.”
“Hmm,” the officer looked back down at the excited child. “Alright, come with me, then you can explain in more detail.”
They were led to a room where two other officers a woman and a man were seated behind desks with computers. The first officer explained what he knew of the situation and then left them and closed the door.
“You must be Peter,” the woman said to him.
Peter nodded.
“I’m officer Laurence and that’s my colleague, officer Grant,” she indicated the man. “Could you tell us why you believe that Mary and Richard Parker aren’t your parents?”
“I remember my parents,” Peter said, attempting to stay calm so he could explain. “My mom has red hair and my dad likes to wear sunglasses and… I just know that they aren’t Mary and Richard. My dad’s name is Tony and I have an uncle Happy and an uncle Rhodey. They aren’t really related to us, but they’re friends. And we all used to go to the park together. And one day, I woke up in a room I didn’t know, and everything was different, I never had curtains at home and the bed was different, but I still had my jammies. So I got up because I wanted to call daddy, because he always said to call him if I get lost and his phone number was still written on my arm from the day before. Mary and Richard were in the house and they didn’t want to call my dad and they said they were my parents and that I couldn’t call him. I could never get near a phone, and I forgot the number now, but daddy also said to go to the police if I can’t find him, so you can help me find my parents, can’t you?”
“I’m sure we can, Peter,” said officer Laurence. Then she turned to May. “We have a birth certificate for Peter, but no adoption record or something similar. So his story is plausible for why he remembers different parents. Can you tell us when you first met Peter?”
“Well, I first met him today actually,” May said. “His father is my husbands brother, but we haven’t seen them in a long time. We only found out about Peter… about maybe half a year ago.”
“Alright, Clark, what do you think?” Officer Laurence turned to her colleague.
“We’ll get someone to check the authenticity of his birth certificate right away, I’d say,” said Officer Grant.
Officer Laurence nodded and made a quick phone call.
“Peter, do you know the last name of your parents?” she then asked Peter.
Peter shook his head.
“But your parents called you Peter as well?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know where you lived before?” she asked.
“I know the house, but I don’t know where it is. In the USA though, I think,” Peter said.
“Alright, someone should cross reference all missing three-year-old cases from a year ago,” said Officer Grant. “Mrs Parker,” he then turned to May. “Can you imagine Mary and Richard Parker kidnapping a child? Maybe why they would do it?”
“Honestly, not really. I don’t really know them though, I’ve only met them a couple of times.”
“Alright, when will they expect you and Peter to be back?” Officer Laurence asked.
“We told them we were going on a walk, so maybe another half an hour or so?” May guessed.
“Okay, send a patrol there, but don’t make it obvious,” Officer Laurence told her partner who nodded.
After a moment Officer Grant got some new information. “Alright, the birth certificate checks out at first and second glance, there’s even a record at the hospital, but the digital record was only added a year ago.”
“Does that mean Peter really was kidnapped?” May asked.
“Seems more and more likely,” said Officer Grant.
“Peter, to find your parents, we need to know as much as possible,” Officer Laurence said. “What can you tell us about before you lived with Mary and Richard Parker?”
“Um,” Peter thought. “What kind of things?”
“Anything about where you lived, what people you knew and lived with, what you did the few days before you woke up in a new house.”
“Well, my mom has red hair, but I don’t know her name, since dad just calls her lots of different nicknames. My dad is Tony and he loves to work on electronics stuff in his workshop, sometimes I can even help. Uncle Rhodey is often away, because he works for the military, uncle Happy is almost always around because he protects us. Uhm… we were in a park, mom, dad, uncle happy and me before I was kidnapped. That’s why I had dad’s phone number on my arm. The park wasn’t really close to the house, but we always walked there. I don’t go to kindergarten, but JARVIS is always around.”
“Who’s Jarvis?” Officer Laurence asked. “Was he like your nanny?”
Peter began to giggle. “No! JARVIS is not a nanny!”
“So he’s just a friend of the family as well?”
“I guess,” Peter said. “Daddy made him.”
“Your dad… made him?”
“Yeah, he’s an artificial intelligence system,” Peter explained proudly. He remembered that he’d tried really hard for a long time to get those words right.
“I might have an idea…” Officer Grant said. He typed something and then turned his computer screen to Peter. “Peter are these your parents?”
There was a woman with red hair in a long dress and a man with sunglasses and a suit in the picture. Peter jumped excitedly. “Yes, yes!”
“Tony Stark!” May exclaimed.
“You know my dad?” Peter asked her curiously.
“Peter,” said Officer Laurence. “Tony Stark is famous. Everyone knows him.”
“Alright, it says this case was handled by the FBI,” said Officer Grant. “We’ll have to call them. And our half hour is almost up, so we should ask the Parkers to come in, but have someone ready in case they try to flee.”
Tony and Pepper were just sitting down for lunch when they got the call. They didn’t eat together often, but they tried to make time every once in a while. Tony divided his time between looking for Peter and working for the company, while Pepper was back to only working. He sometimes feared that she might have lost hope already. It had been eleven months, and the chances that their baby boy was still alive were slim. And if they found him, they had been warned that he likely wouldn’t remember them. Sometimes Tony himself thought that Peter couldn’t possibly be alive anymore, but he refused to give up before there was a body.
“Sir, the FBI is calling,” JARVIS told him.
He locked eyes with Pepper. They always hoped when these calls came. “Patch it through.”
“Mr Stark,” said a male voice.
“Yes,” Tony said.
“We have good news,” the man said.
Tony could swear his heart skipped several beats. “Have you found him?”
“We believe so.”
“You haven’t done a DNA test yet?” Pepper asked.
“Is that Miss Potts?” The man questioned. Tony affirmed. “The results aren’t back yet, we’ve had him for less than an hour. But he remembers you.”
“He remembers us?” Pepper breathed, she almost couldn’t believe it. They would get their child back!
“He sought out the police to find you,” the man told them.
Tony could have laughed, he was so happy. “Where is he?”
“In New York City, Queens,” the man said. “But we’re transferring him to the FBI headquarters in Manhattan. How soon will you be here?”
“JARVIS?” Tony asked.
“The jet is being prepped as we speak, the trip will take approximately three hours.”
“Three hours then,” Tony said. “You better keep him safe.”
“You have our word, Mr Stark,” the man assured.
They ended the call and Tony hugged Pepper tightly, before they quickly put the untouched meal into the fridge and left as soon as possible.
May went with Peter to the FBI headquarters. Since she had brought him to the police, the chance that she was involved in the kidnapping was slim. She still felt like she was being watched very closely for any wrong move.
Mary, Richard and Ben had been arrested. She had been told that Ben was cooperative, which raised her hope that he’d had no idea.
She played with Peter at the FBI while they waited for his parents to arrive. She didn’t know how she felt about her nephew going to live with Tony Stark, but really the man was the Peter’s father, while she barely knew the kid. Peter on the other hand seemed very excited.
“Where is he?” She heard someone shouting on the other side of the door. Peter heard it too and looked up in excitement.
“Just through here Mr Stark,” another voice said and the door flew open.
Pepper Potts, closely followed by her husband, stormed into the room and immediately rushed to Peter.
“Mom!” Peter shouted and embraced her.
“Peter,” Pepper cried. “Oh, my sweet child! I’ve missed you so much!” She peppered his face with kisses. “I can’t believe we have you back!”
Peter then turned to his dad and gave him the same greeting.
“I’ve missed you so much, buddy!” Tony Stark told him as he lifted Peter into the air. “You’ve grown so much! You’re so big.”
May thought she would never ever see Tony Stark this emotional, but here he was.
“Thank you,” Pepper suddenly turned to her. “Thank you so much for helping him.”
May was startled. “Of course!” She exclaimed. “I still can’t believe it, but of course I’d help him.”
“Well, I can imagine his story must have seemed unbelievable,” Pepper told her.
“Well, he was very adamant that he was right. He really loves you two and he remembered so much, it’s incredible,” May said.
“It is,” Pepper smiled.