07-12-2000

There were three things that Tony Stark cared about: keeping up his Playboy figure, weapon designs, and having a fling almost every few nights. He barely had time to himself, hell, if he didn't have Obie to cover his business trips every once in awhile then he wouldn't ever have any time to himself just relaxing. It was a fact that Tony was a busy man, but he wouldn't have it any other way. There was just something about all the fame and attention that made it all worthwhile. There wasn't anything him personally wouldn't change.

That didn't mean the universe was going to stick with it.

Tony was currently downstairs in his garage with his music blaring over the speakers that were hooked up on the walls so he could hear it clearly wherever he went. He was under the hood, replacing the battery from the old, vintage car that he had recently purchased. No Sleep Till Brooklyn by Beastie Boys were blaring through the room when the phone had started to ring.

Since the music was so loud there was no way that he could've heard it.

"Mister Stark?" JARVIS called out to Tony.

Tony got out from under the hood, taking the wrench from his mouth. "Yeah?"

"I do believe your phone is ringing, sir."

Tony picked up the remote that controlled the stereo, muting it. He had to push things off of his dirty, scattered table to find the portable home phone that was ringing. The caller ID said that it was an unknown number, so he was a little wary of answering it.

Eh, what was the worst that could happen?

"Yeah?" Tony said into the phone once answering.

"Can I speak to Tony Stark, please?" A woman on the other end of the call asked.

"Speaking."

"My name is Sara from Child Protective Services." Tony's heart dropped, he knew he was going to get a call like this one of these days. "You there, Mister Stark?"

Tony cleared his throat. "Yes, yes I'm still here."

"Are you aware you have a daughter, Mister Stark?"

"Uh… No."

"Do you still reside in Malibu, California?"

"Yeah."

"High blood pressure detected, sir." JARVIS called to Tony who ignored him so he could still hear Sara on the phone.

"Well, we've been having reports that your daughter is in an abusive household, and since technically since you are still living we have to contact you first."

"Huh…"

"Mister Stark, are you willing and able to take care of your child?"

"I… One moment." Tony put the call on hold, sitting down while his heart was racing. "What do you think about this, JARVIS?"

There was a pause on the AI's end before speaking. "Mister Stark, if I may, I believe it would a good idea to take custody of your daughter. Especially if she's, in fact, in an abusive home."

Tony was staring at the wall across the room from him, thinking over this. He had no idea how to parent, even if he did he was so busy with his own life that he didn't know if he would be able to give her the time that she needed. On the other hand, he couldn't leave a child to stay in an abusive or a foster home when he knew damn well he could support them financially with no issue. Hell, there was no reason for him to say no.

Picking up the phone, Tony answered it again. "I'm able."

"That's wonderful to hear!" Sara said on the other side of the line, "It'll be filed under emergency custody until the courts give you full custody. We'll also have to do a full background check and have an inspection of your home."

"Wow… Sounds like a lot of work, but worth it. When and where do you want me to meet you."

Tony got ready as quick as he could as Sara and the local police wanted to meet at the woman's house. He grabbed his flip phone, calling Happy to fill him in on the situation.

"A daughter?!" Happy exclaimed.

"Yes, this is the third time I said it," Tony said as he got in his car. "What aren't you getting?"

"No, I get it. I'm just excited for you!"

"Well, don't get too excited, there may be a chance I won't get full custody right away."

"I'm sure you will, from what you said, it sounded like they were ready to give it to you."

"I need you to do me a favor. While I'm out, I need you to fill out one of the spare rooms with kid stuff. They'll be doing a house inspection who knows when."

"Only if she can call me Uncle Happy."

"Consider it done." He hung up the phone before driving to the address that was provided to him.

Pulling up to the small, run down house, Tony saw three police cars and a plain black car parked in the front. There was a woman dressed in a business suit that he had assumed was Sara. The drive there was enough to calm his nerves some, but actually getting to the house made the anxiety come back ten times worse than before. Tony took off his sunglasses, hooking them on his shirt collar as he walked up the the woman who was talking to the police.

"Are you Sara?" Tony asked her, standing behind her.

Turning around, the woman had no idea who was talking to her, but when she realized she had a huge smile on her face as if she was surprised that he showed up. "You came!"

"Of course I did. I had to show up to get my daughter, right?" Tony gave her a small smile. "So, how's this gonna work? Are we gonna walk in there to get her, or?"

"We're gonna let the police handle it, Mister Stark."

They watched as the police tried to politely knock on the door to give the woman a chance to surrender the little girl without causing a scene. At first there was nothing from the other side of the door, and Tony was about to ask if she was even home. That was, until, there was a loud crashing from the inside followed by a child screaming. Tony hasn't even met his daughter yet, but was already feeling extremely protective. The police kicked the door in, their pistols up as they entered the home. Of course, it was never so easy.

There was another scream coming from the house, this time it sounded like a grown woman, followed by yelling at the police to "get the fuck outta her castle." Mental note, Tony totally called it. He had a hunch that the lady was insane, only insane people beat their children and abuse them.

Although Tony has never been a parent, knowing the fact that his child was in that house instantly gave him parental instincts. And his parental instincts were telling him to get into that house right now and get his daughter out of there. On the other hand, he had no idea what that crazy bitch has on her, she could cause damage to either his daughter or himself.

Putting his pride aside, Tony started walking towards the house. Sara grabbed his arm from behind, stopping him from going any further.

"I think we should just let the police do the work, Mister Stark," she told him with a worried look on her face. "They'll get her out safe."

"Yeah, but-" Tony stopped talking, looking from her to the front of the house where the police had a woman who clearly hasn't bathed in months in handcuffs. He was feeling the anxiety building up in his chest again when he didn't see a child coming out of the house.

As soon as he was about to speak, another cop came out of the house with a girl who couldn't be more than three years old wrapped up in a blanket in his arms. The girl's eyes squinted, as if she had never seen the sun before. Her hair was matted, she had dirt all over her face and had quite a few bruises across her body. Tony felt furious that he wasn't aware he had a daughter, even more furious that nobody had told him so he could've taken her away from this life as soon as she was born. The mother was insane, saying how "the government was starting the nuclear fallout with Jesus."

"What's your name, sweetie?" Tony asked the girl since nobody bothered to give him her name. She just looked up at him with big brown eyes, as if she had no idea what to say to him. Tony tilted his head slightly to the side, waiting for her to say something. She was three, she should've been able to talk by now.

"Her name is Amanda Stark," Sara told her, running her fingers through Amanda's matted hair, causing the little girl to wince when it pulled too hard.

"She can't talk yet?"

"Yeah, or walk. She wasn't taught that, I guess."

Tony held his hands out to Amanda who just stared at him with confusion, she had no idea who this man was or why he was here now. The cop holding her gave handed her over.

"Would you like a DNA test to confirm that you are the father?" He asked Tony as a standard procedure.

Tony looked at the girl snuggling up to him. "Nah, look at those eyes. She's a Stark."

"Listen, Mister Stark-"

"Call me Tony," he interrupted Sara.

"Tony… I would like to just get this out of the way since you clearly are capable of taking care of your daughter. Since I have other cases to get to, would you mind just showing us the house and let us have a quick inspection?"

"Yeah, no problem. I have my friend setting up a room though."

"That's fine, as long as you have a room for her. Do you have a carseat for her?"

"Bought one before I came here. We should be set."

"I'll follow you there."

Sara smiled at him before getting into her black car, while waiting for Tony to get set, she was looking through all the paperwork that was needed to transfer all parental rights over to him. She was surprised at how smoothly this was all going, but… she knew that maybe Tony wouldn't take her when she told him of Amanda's condition.

Tony opened the backdoor of his car, putting Amanda in the car seat. She never seen or been in a car before, so the experience was all new to her. Although, she didn't care for the part where Tony had to buckle her in. She was struggling to get free even though the seat buckle was too tight around her so she couldn't do anything except whine about it.

"Okay, I'll be right back, sweetie," Tony told her before closing the back door.

Not understanding what was going on, Amanda was scared that she couldn't see Tony anymore. She was afraid that he was gone forever and was going to be left alone forever in this restraint. It wasn't long until she started crying in fear, she honestly just wanted to have more skin-to-skin contact. The only skin-to-skin contact she ever had in her life was when her mother smacked her while she was crying, but the caring kind that Tony provided was what she was craving.

Her ears perked up when she heard the driver side door open and then close. She saw her dad now sitting in front of the car. She held her hands out to him, saying that she wanted to be picked up without using words while tears were running down her face.

"What're you crying for, sweetie?" Tony asked, looking at her through the rearview mirror while putting his sunglasses back on. He reached in the backseat, grabbing onto one of Amanda's small hands for reassurance. "It's gonna be okay, hun. We'll be home soon."

He dialed Happy's cell-phone number as he started taking off with Sara's car following behind them. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel while listening to the ringing, getting a little antsy waiting for him to pick up. Amanda seemed to be content now that Tony was in her sights again as she was babbling to herself. Physically she was a three year old, mentally she seemed to be a one year old, but Tony was prepared to give her a lot of time and attention to make sure she catches back up.

"Hello?" Happy answered, finally picking up the phone.

"There you are, was starting to think you took my money and ran with it," Tony said sarcastically with a smirk on his face. "How are things coming at the house?"

"Fine… fine…"

Tony raised an eyebrow, "you sure about that?"

"Just… uh… having a little trouble setting up the bed." Tony laughed through the phone, causing Happy to roll his eyes. "Look, not everyone is good at building things like you are."

"Whatever, as long as you have it. We're coming home for the inspection."

"What's her name? I'm dying to know!"

"Amanda Stark." Just hearing her name caused Amanda squeal loudly.

"Awww!" Happy cooed, hearing his niece through the phone.

"Be home soon." Tony hung up the phone, tossing it on the passenger's seat.

Back at the house, Tony and Sara parked in the front instead of the garage where Tony normally parks. Now thinking back on it, Tony realized that he had a lot of things he had to make child-proof before he let Amanda run free. Well, he could get Happy to do it for him.

He got out of the car, before he could get around to the other side of the car to get Amanda out, Sara caught his attention.

"Listen… Tony…" She started slowly, looking at the ground. "I should've told you something before you agreed to this."

"What?" Sara handed him a file that had Amanda's full records, including medical records. "What's this?"

"Amanda has a medical condition." She let out a shaky breath, worried about Tony's reaction to this. "While her mother was pregnant with her, she did a lot of drinking. She doesn't have fetal alcohol syndrome, but because of all the alcohol it caused Amanda to have kidney failure in both kidneys. She has to have dialysis treatments and medications which are listed in the file."

"Were you scared to tell me about this?"

Sara shrugged slightly. "A bit, I guess. I was worried that you wouldn't want to take her in due to the fact she has a medical condition. You'll be surprised how many parents about to take custody of children change their minds over that."

Tony smiled. "I appreciate you telling me, but that isn't going to change my mind. In fact, I'll make sure she has the best care possible."

"You truly are one of a kind. I wish more parents were like you."

Happy was standing outside waiting on them. "If you'll follow Happy he'll give you a tour of the place."

Sara smiled, going inside the house with Happy.

Tony opened the door on Amanda's side, she had a huge smile on her face when she saw him. She held her arms out to him, wanting to be held. "We're gonna try something a little different," Tony told her, unbuckling her from her seat. "I want to see if you can walk at least a little." He picked her up, then sat on the ground with her standing up. She could balance just fine, but couldn't seem to understand how to walk. Tony held out his hands to her after he scooted back a bit. "C'mere." He motioned her to walk towards him.

Amanda pouted, she didn't want to work for this, she just wanted to be held. Not even a day with Tony and she was already spoiled out of her mind.

"Don't be that way, c'mon."

Trying her best, Amanda took one step forward, wobbling a bit and was struggling to keep her balance. It was clear that she was ready to start walking, but was never actually given the push to do so at her old home. Amanda stood there for a minute, trying to decide what she was supposed to do now.

"One more time, c'mon, you're almost there." Amanda took another step, but that was as far as she could get before tumbling into Tony's arms. He chuckled, hugging her tight. "Good job. You'll get there soon I just know it."