Michael wasn't sure what woke him up at first. Startled and a little disoriented, he grabbed the gun from under his pillow and pointed it at the door before realizing that it was his phone ringing. Trying (and failing) to move carefully so he wouldn't wake Fiona up, he picked it up from next to the bed.
"Hello?"
"Michael," it was Madeline, "I need you to come over right now. It's important."
"Actually important, or did your coffee maker break again?"
"It's about your brother."
"What did he do this time?"
"He didn't do anything, Michael. Just get over here as soon as you can." She hung up.
"What's going on?" Fiona asked.
"My mom called. Apparently there's something important going on and I have to go over there right away. Something about my brother."
"Sounds like you could use some backup."
"He probably just needs to borrow money or something."
"Or he might really be in trouble."
"I don't want to drag you into my family stuff, Fi."
"You're not...I'm coming with you, and that's final."
"Fine, we'll take my car."
***
Nate was already sitting at the kitchen table when they go there.
"Hey," he said, "do you know what this is about? Mom said she had something to tell me, but that it had to wait until you got here."
"No idea," Michael took off his sunglasses, "it's all a big mystery."
"Now you know how it feels," Madeline set a pitcher of iced tea down on the table. "Hi, Fiona. I'm glad you came. You're practically part of the family now anyway."
Fiona gave Michael a look, "See? You're not dragging me in."
Michael ignored her, "So, what's the big surprise?"
"I've been waiting for the right time to tell you this. Maybe I should have said something a long time ago, or maybe I shouldn't be bringing it up at all, but..." she paused dramatically, "Nate, Frank wasn't your father. Not...biologically, anyway."
There were blank stares from everyone for a solid 20 seconds before Nate said "He wasn't?"
"Mom," said Michael, "Nate is like dad was in so many ways...are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Madeline took a drag off her cigarette, "Does it really surprise you that much that I have a type, Michael?"
"So...if Dad wasn't my dad...who was?" Nate shook his head as though he had an insect lodged in his ear.
"Tony Stark."
"Are you serious?"
"Entirely. We met, well, your age plus nine months ago. He was down here for some tech conference thing."
Michael did some quick mental math, "Tony Stark would have been about 16 then..."
"Well I didn't know that at the time. He was in college!"
"And you...there is no part of this that I want to think about."
"So," said Nate, "why are you telling me this now?"
"Because after...I know none of you follow the news much, but after what happened in New York last month, it seemed like the right time. And Nate, I thought it...might be good for you to know...now that you're a father yourself."
"So," Fiona sounded unduly excited, "you're going to, what, ring the doorbell of Stark Tower and tell Tony Stark 'Hey, congratulations, you're a father'?"
"Because there's no way that could go wrong," Michael said darkly. He couldn't quite put a finger on what was bothering him about the situation, but he knew that it was there. He didn't want Tony Stark to be Nate's father, and if that had to be reality, he didn't want to interact with that reality any more than he had to.
"Well I'm all for it. I think it'll be fun."
"I'm glad someone does," said Madeline, "because we're all going to New York next week. I bought the plane tickets last night."
***
Out of sheer paranoid habit, Michael didn't tell Jesse where they were going, or why, when he asked if they could get a ride to the airport. Jesse, out of more than a year of working with Michael, didn't ask, and only said "Y'all have fun on your little family vacation or whatever." when he dropped them off.
There was something surreal for Michael about going through airport security as himself. He kept expecting someone to stop him, to realize that he was the Michael Westen and try to kill him for something he'd done.
Fiona was just unhappy about having to put her guns in her checked baggage.
"I'm not surprised," she said softly to Michael, once they had cleared security and were waiting near the gate "that you and Nate aren't full siblings. But...Tony Stark... Next thing, you're going to tell me that you faced off against the Black Widow during the '90s."
"Not that I know of..."
"Hi. What'd I miss?" Sam sat down on the other side of Michael.
Michael and Fiona both stared at Sam for a second.
"Sam," Michael smiled as though someone had offered to let him touch their pet slug, "what are you doing here?"
"You didn't really think I'd let you guys have all the fun, did you? I had one of my buddies check which flight you were gonna be on."
"I already think this is a bad idea. You don't just go up to a billionaire and say 'here's your illegitimate child'."
"All the more reason you need backup." At this, Michael looked exasperatedly at Sam, and then at Fiona, and then back at Sam. "Plus I hear the Black Widow is smokin' hot."
Fiona rolled her eyes.
"Now boarding zone four. Attention, we are now boarding all zones through zone four."
"This is us."
The plane ride was more or less as all plane rides are. Michael and Sam looked over a stack of files with information about Stark Industries. Fiona read the latest issue of Guns & Ammo. Madeline mostly just chewed nicotine gum and occasionally complained about not being able to smoke on the plane. Nate stared out the window, apparently lost in thought.
They called for a cab, because they needed on of the larger ones to fit all five of them. No one spoke on the way to Stark Tower. The building was still being repaired, and only the "A" in "Stark" was still there. As they entered the lobby the assumed a kind of natural formation with Madeline at the front, Michael and Nate flanking her and Fiona and Sam behind them. The bored looking young man behind the desk didn't look up or otherwise acknowledge their presence until Madeline spoke to him.
"Hi," she said, "I'm Madeline Westen. We're here to meet with Mr. Stark."