"Harold, can you take out the trash?"

"Sure," Harold replied.

A few seconds later the sounds of footsteps could be heard, followed by the clicking of work boots against the metal steps.

He swung the heavy bag of trash over his shoulder, walking over to the elevator, pushing the numbers to the floor that he needed to be on.

He was the labor boy, the messenger boy, the delivery boy.

He didn't mind as much, Tony always gave him a good raise, and was actually the only one in the whole building that paid attention to him where as others ignored him or laughed at his klutzy ways. But Tony was always there. He always put a stop to it with 'my house, my rules'. After a while, the teasing and snickering everywhere Harold went had stopped.

He carried out his task; once the sliding doors in the front of the first floor opened, he went into the back end of the parking lot, dumping the trash out into the dumpsters. He would've continued on his merry way until he heard the crying of an infant. The sounds were coming from a cardboard box. He opened the lid of the box, wondering why there was a baby there in the first place. He knew it was wrong of him to think so, but maybe it was one of Tony's mishaps?

Somebody got tired of the baby and decided to dump it in the trash? Who would throw away an innocent baby that had nothing to do with it? It wasn't right, and Harold, although he knew that Tony would have a loud mouth about it and Pepper would probably flip at the idea of trying to look after a child in their home, he couldn't leave the baby behind.

It was filthy, and smelled as if he hadn't had a new bath in days. His blanket wrapped firmly around him was battered and old.

His thoughts of "one-nightstands-what ifs" were short lived when he finally noticed the week old note that was sitting beside the infant:

To whom it may concern,

We cannot look after our child anymore. It is too dangerous for him to stay with us, please keep him safe.

Signed,

Rick Parker.

Harold frowned, folding up the note into his chest pocket. He took another look making sure he wasn't missing anything important, and noticed the brief case that was sitting by the baby's side underneath the cardboard box. He picked up the baby, the brief case, and went directly to the elevator that went up to the living space of the building. The doors slid open.

"Welcome back, Harold. Mr. Stark is waiting for your return."

"Thanks," Harold said, flashing a small smile as the elevator stopped at the floor he needed to be on. The doors opened revealing Pepper pouring a glass of wine for herself and Tony. When she saw the baby she dropped the glass immediately from shock over load.

"Poor thing," Pepper cooed, "Who would do this to you?! It's a miracle that you haven't died!"

"I think this should say enough for itself," Harold handed over the envelope.

Pepper read it, her eyes narrowed in disgust. "If they didn't want a baby they shouldn't have had one in the first place!"

"Gimmie that!" Tony snatched the envelope.

"What do we say?" She scolded.

"Please?" He flashed her his trade mark grin. "To whom it may concern," Tony read, "We cannot look after our child anymore. It is too dangerous for him to stay with us, please keep him safe.

Signed,

Rick Parker. "

"It sounds like they're in trouble of some kind," Pepper mused thoughtfully. "I'd feel guilty if we didn't do anything."

Tony stared at her as if she had an extra head on her shoulders. He had things to do, and a kid in the way is just going to make things harder to keep everything done in the tight amount of the time that he had. He also somewhat feared the parental role. But, there was no way he was going to let anyone else besides him know that. "hell no!"

Pepper glared a look that would burn someone's iris's out of their sockets, "How could you be so selfish?"

Tony tried to ignore Pepper and the burning feeling of guilt in his chest. Maybe instead of CEO of Stark Industries, her new job title should be 'making things harder to do than necessary for others around her'.

"Easy," Tony said as if it were the most stupidest question in the world, "Be an ass!"

"Don't be an ass," Pepper shouted. "Now's not the time for it!"

"It looks like I just did be an ass." Tony smirked at her. "The answer is no."

"We need to-"

"No, Pepper!"

"Would you at least take the moment to think about it!"

"No!"

Harold cleared his throat in an attempt to get their attention. The baby started to wake up. His bright blue eyes fluttered open, looking around. He noticed Tony, his little hand reaching out to him. Harold tossed the brief case that he found along with the note towards Pepper, who caught it with ease as if it were a football or basketball.

"Nice catch," Harold teased.

Tony pointed accusingly at the child as he continued reaching out towards him. "Stop that, bad baby!"

"Oh c'mon," Pepper gave the brief case to Tony, grabbing the child from Harold, tickling his chin and earning happy squeals from him. "He's adorable!"

"All babies are adorable to women. " Tony groaned, "Just wait until he gets older, then he won't be so cute anymore."

Pepper gave him the look that he hated. Pouts were his number one enemy. He hated them even more when they were cute pouts or the pathetic 'I'm a kicked puppy-dog' pout. Pepper somehow managed to combine the two pleading looks.

"Fine." Tony sighed, his shoulders slouching in defeat, "But you're doing the diapers! I'm not going anywhere near that crap!"

"Deal," Pepper replied, beaming a delighted, small smile at him. She walked past him to prepare the things she needed for the little one. Once again Harold was put up to task of buying whatever it was that they needed for them; everything from diapers to bottles of milk, clothing and medical care.

While they ran around doing all the work that needed to be done, Tony sulked in the corner with a bottle of liquor.

"I would not be surprised if the baby's favorite word ends up becoming 'no', " Harold smirked at Tony, earning himself a smack in the face with the nearest love seat pillow.

Later on that evening, Tony and Pepper did research on names. Tony was being very picky, causing Pepper to grab at her hair. His cocky excuse was "hey, you wanted him, not me" as they continued to search for suitable names.

At first he was going to be called Damion, but Pepper said it made him sound like he was demonic. Before another argument could start, Tony rolled his eyes and continued with Jarvis along his search of proper names for the child.

"Sir, I'd hate to interrupt," Came the echoing voice of Jarvis, "but what about the name Peter?"

Tony scratched at his chin, giving off a shrug. He honestly didn't care much about the name, all he cared about was as long as it sounded right with 'Stark'.

Parker would be his middle name.

Peter Parker Stark.

A day turned into a week, a week turned into a month, and finally a month turned into a year. Peter grew since then, the child was happy and healthy ever since Harry found him and brought him in. Peter was very active, and he wouldn't sit still no matter what Tony or Pepper tried to do with him.

Time outs didn't work for him when he was in trouble, he always found new creative ways to escape from his baby sitters. It didn't help that Tony encouraged him to do it from the side lines, and it drove Pepper nuts.

There was a loud crash that bounced off the walls from the corridors. Tony groaned, he knew what those were. Or, in this case, used to be. The child wasn't even a year old yet, and he was already giving him a run for his money.

"Jarvis," Tony sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Yes, sir."

"Order a couple of new decorative vases and statues off the site I normally get them from, would ya,"

"Yes, of course, right away, sir. Perhaps you should keep them in an unbreakable casing of some sort."

"That's what I'm going to have to do," He groaned. He wasn't sure how much more of this stress he could take. His patience with the child was starting to grow thin. This was the hundredth thousandth time he had to replace something because of a child. Before all this chaos he didn't have not one single problem to worry about when it came to his precious items.

"You have a visitor, sir."

Tony sat upright in his bed, noticing little Peter by the door way. His head fell back onto the pillow behind him with a heavy plop, arm resting over his forehead. I'm too old for this! He thought miserably.

Peter crawled up onto his bedside, crawling over his chest and accidentally stepping onto the arc reactor. It gave a spark, making Tony panic briefly even though Jarvis was able to keep it from going out. He snatched the child up by his arm holding him by the elbow. "Listen you! Stop breaking things!"

"You might want to watch your actions around Peter, sir."

Tony turned his attention back to Peter, but stopped his tirade when he saw how frightened he looked. He stared at the child for a moment, as if studying him. He continued to hold onto the boy by his under arms, his grip was harsh, causing the child to cry in fear at the pain.

He loosened his grip, his expression softened when he realized he was acting just like the way his father acted towards him. He pulled the toddler close, cradling him against the chest, hoping it would calm him down. He realized right then and there that he could do a lot better than his father did.

He would do better, and, he always loved a good competition. He'd show the world what an amazing person he could really be if he put effort into it. He'd give Peter everything he ever wanted, anything he ever needed, with the word "no" to this or that scratched from their vocabulary.

His child would probably grow up to be spoiled rotten to death, but that was better than being hated on like how he feels with his own father. People throughout the world knew Tony as the "genius, billionaire, play boy philanthropist" and the "world's largest asshole ".

As selfish as this probably sounded, he'd be able to turn his image around with Peter's help.