Chapter Text
Another week, another party hosted in the name of Stark Industries.
Everyone has a single name in their words- Tony Stark...
And the face of the representation is- surprisingly- Pepper Potts. But no one bat an eye to the change as they continued to mingle, congratulate Pepper and form connections- typical in a party hosted by a millionaire and above. She is escorted by Harold Hogan, Tony's primary security detail, who continued to stare suspiciously all around, as usual.
Pepper shook her hand seeing a familiar woman greet her, "Ms. Potts, it's so good to see you. Congratulations on another success"
Seeing the glittering dress along with probably the most expensive diamond necklace she has ever seen, adorning the smooth dainty neckline, Pepper gave a camera-worthy tight-lipped smile, knowing what she'll say next, "It's good to see you too, Mrs. Smith. I'll be sure to inform the team of your good-will"
As she predicted, she can see her eyes subtly move around before settling on her again, "It's pretty surprising for Tony not to attend his own party"
Pepper suppressed the twitch in her eye with a convincing chuckle. There it is...
It was no secret that almost all the ladies invited wanted a glimpse of Tony Stark- doesn't matter what. He's considered the most brilliant and richest of his generation so it's not a surprise women tend to flock around him on a daily basis. Yes, even the married ones- they love to catch any chance with the billionaire bachelor. Apparently, marriage is just a title for these rich people.
Mrs. Smith is one of those women who constantly seek the attention of young adults. Pepper's not surprised that the 32 year-old woman is not satisfied with her 4th millionaire husband, who is nearly three decades older.
She hid her secretive smile with the sip from her wine glass, "He's becoming more busy day-by-day to be present every time. So, I'll probably be representing him most of the time"
Pepper knows how to handle these people so without another word, she went to the other side of the room, with the bodyguards ever so alert, practically feeling the disappointment and jealousy radiating from the woman. She knows what type of thoughts are revolving in the woman's head, so instead of acting on impulse, she flashed her practiced smile hearing another greeting.
Meanwhile, far from the venue...
Faint calming tunes was emitting from a room, along with the random humming of a deep voice. The door opened, which made the tunes heard clearly by the man, who smiled seeing the small chubby hand swat continuously at the overhanging charms attached to the crib. He sat down and peeked inside the crib seeing the wide blue eyes shift from the charms to his face and a gummy smile adorned the baby's face.
"I can bet you are going to beat your old man in a handsome contest"
A loud giggle echoed the room as if understood by the 4-month old baby. She patted his goatee before tugging on his nose, "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!"
He picked her up when she started to tug even harder. He rubbed his nose lightly, "Damn, aren't you strong? I feel like you've elongated my nose even more"
She thumped her fists on his shoulders before she stared off into space, babbling under her breath. He rubbed her head, where he could see light ginger hair starting to grow, still feeling the fragility of the small baby in the hands designing weapons.
"You know, princess" he started making her eyes move back to his, "You bring me more joy than I felt exploding the biggest water balloon on Pepper's head"
She giggled in response making him continue with a similar smile, "Are you sure you don't have a secret power? You can tell me, I can maybe keep it to myself"
His fingers tickled her belly making her laugh out loud while wiggling continuously. Suddenly, she stretched her tiny arms, letting out a wide yawn hearing him comment, "Whoa, big stretch for a little lady. Someone's ready to rest before another blast again, huh?"
She curled herself for a moment in his hands, before blinking lightly. She patted his chest to his shoulders before tugging his shirt. He lowered her on his chest where she nudged her face and rested with a pop of her mouth. He sat still until a tiny snore began to vibrate on his chest. Today was one of the days where she'll be sleeping on her father's chest instead of her softest and fluffiest cradle.
It was a sight seeing Tony Stark, probably the richest man alive, feeling immense happiness just from a small human being sleep in his arms. He didn't think it would be possible to be this attached to someone at first sight. He remembers the day he found her vividly.
Silence echoed around the living room, where Tony sat drinking his ninth shot. Another argument, another day of Pepper disappearing to let him cool down. He remembers a junior whispering that they fight more than a real couple ever could. He also remembers addressing him directly and cut his pay of that day to 65%.
People would say that in every argument, Pepper would be in the right and Tony in the wrong. But for the first time ever, they both knew that it was the opposite this time. And the matter of argument was sleeping in his room without a care of the world.
When Tony found the little baby in his room, his first thought was that Pepper was getting back at him for the balloon incident. So naturally, he called her to burst her bubble. But upon her increasing denial of playing a prank, his next action was to check if the baby's real or not. So JARVIS analyzed the body and confirmed that indeed she's real and apparently, she shares his DNA.
That's when he blanked out. It is impossible for the 1-month old girl to be his relative. He knows he's an only child and his parents had passed long ago. He's the only Stark left. So he pulled up the AI's systems and checked everything- codes, functions, backgrounds, mechanisms- while commenting that there's some bug in his operated AI to be concluding such absurd thing.
When he was confirmed that indeed the AI is 99.973% fully functional, he gazed at the snoring baby for minutes without blinking. By now, JARVIS alerted that Pepper has entered and was heading to his room. The little time she took to arrive in his room, he took in the features of the foot-long human child.
Her skin was few shades lighter than his, she was sprawled just as much a baby could on the comfortable bouncy mattress. Her head didn't have any hair, naturally, so he doesn't know who possibly might be her mother. Yes, he can find out with reversing the arrangement of her DNA but somehow, it feels... invasive...- nah, it's unnecessary.
Just then, the door slammed open.
Small talk turned to accusations, then to the regular fight, and ultimately full-on crash-out. Good thing, the baby slept like a log, but just in case, they moved to the living room when finally Pepper yelled out, "Why can't you understand that she might be a mistake of your flings?!"
It was the first time she had yelled at her boss but she was tired of his deflections. They stared at each other for a moment before she finalized, when she saw him open his mouth, "This is your responsibility, Stark. Either own up to it, or call me if you want to send her away"
Picking her bag from the glass table, she stormed out feeling guilty and apologized under her breath of calling an innocent child a mistake. She was so sure he would surely fire her this time, after saying he can't take care of a child, ever.
Fortunately, two days later, he called her and hearing the sentence made her light up, "I need your help, Pep"
She drove there and upon entering and seeing the scene made her still, to capture the moment in her brain. JARVIS was reciting some steps found online while Tony was visibly panicking to calm the screaming baby. His room was covered in all the things a baby can need, so much that the floor was not visible. She can clearly see that many things are not even necessary until she's older.
She stepped up when Tony scolded JARVIS loudly when a step clearly didn't work leading to a wailing child.
She took 8 seconds to calm Tony enough to easily cradle the baby and talk in baby words after that. She asked Jarvis to heat the bottle Tony was holding because he was trying to make her drink the cold milk. Within seconds, the bottle was warm enough for the little girl to drink in peace. JARVIS lowered the brightness of the room and a melodious tune echoed in the soundproof room as asked.
Pepper walked around the floor, feeding her, while informing Tony and also JARVIS the correct steps to care for a child. When she asked about the legal papers for the guardianship, Harold Hogan entered the room holding the said papers, along with James Rhodes. The former stood straight while the three sat around talking about the small girl, who smiled at Tony's friend. Her father lightly filled the papers and printed medical reports to attach.
James noticed when he stopped at the name section, "Surely you aren't going to name her after a singer?"
Tony raised his eyebrows in challenge, "Maybe I will"
A chuckle passed through the friends before he turned to his assistant, "What you think?"
She looked up from the sleeping baby, "It's your daughter, boss How can I-?"
"Pfft. You can't think of a decent name"
She raised a perfect brow, "Says the one with zero creativity"
He glared lightly at her audacity, before turning to the bodyguard, ignoring his friend's uncontrollable laughter, "How about you?"
The man blinked twice making Tony sigh, "I could swear I had heard you speak when I hired you"
He cleared his throat, "W-Whatever seems right"
Smiling sarcastically at the unhelpful answer, Tony was about to comment when James interrupted, "Tony, really. It's your daughter. What name do you think would suit her? Like what do you see or feel when you look at her..."
He drowned his further words when he looked at the snoring baby, her skin radiating from the full moon outside the window. He looked out the glass wall, seeing the stars gleam just as brightly as those nights he spent stargazing with his mother.
Within few weeks, he got lectured about the proper care and necessities along with spending quality time. So, he began to spend time while talking over the low volume tunes of AC/DC to the silent, attentive baby. He worked on less dangerous materials around her and ensure full safety control under JARVIS. Pepper scolded him about working with a child around but knew instantly when the girl cried the moment she was carried out the workspace.
So with multiple empty promises, she let the child rest where Tony kept before, beside him.
After 2 months of finding (discovering?) the strange child, Tony adapted his daily routines to integrate his daughter in everything, besides his occasional night-time activities, obviously. He wouldn't even accept his meals until his little princess is dozing off in his arms.
He cradled her steadily in his arms, "JARVIS, you know the routine"
He exited the saferoom he specifically made for her and took the elevator to his room to sleep with the comfort everyone wishes they could have- holding the most precious girl on the chest.
It doesn't matter that the little baby was left on his bed when he didn't even get informed about someone breaching his house. Even JARVIS said he was somehow cut out for like 4 seconds before he found a heat signature in his room after accessing back on. It doesn't matter that even after surfing the whole internet and search reports, no one had ever asked about this fragile being. It doesn't matter where and how she was created.
All that matters is that she's a perfect human baby and she has half of his DNA.
All that matters is that she is his daughter and he is her father.