Three Months Before


It had been just a standard mail delivery; just a few parcels dropped into his office and a few dozen letters tossed across his desk. But it had become so much more than that, so much more than Tony ever imagined.

"This...is a weird letter," Tony squinted, picking up the heavy white envelope. "Private, confidential and delivered in person rather than in the rest of the mail,"

Happy sat over on the couch in the corner, watching as Tony played around with the letter, investigating the address it came from and the name on the front. It was definitely for him, Happy had inspected it before bringing in with the other deliveries.

"Seems important," Happy added.

"Hmm," Tony mused, ripping it open.

Happy watched the man's eyes skim over a few lines before his lips parted and eyes widened. It was a look that Happy had never seen before. Even after watching Tony become an armoured hero, almost losing everything, almost dying, he had never seen the expression on his face in that moment.

"Boss?" he asked quietly. "Everything okay?"

Tony didn't respond, flicking over pages and pages of the envelopes contents and drawing his brows together in concern at each word.

"Get Pepper in here," he spoke quietly. "I think I need a lawyer,"


Grace awoke with a fright, hearing a plate shatter from another room. Body jolting up in bed, she quickly adjusted to the loud screaming on the other side of the wall, rubbing her tired eyes and letting out an annoyed sigh as she fell back against her pillow.

"How are we meant to pay rent if we aren't getting the cheques!"

"What do you want me to do Jen? I can't argue with social services!"

Grace didn't even need to know the specifics of their conversation, it was one she had heard so many times before over the years. Just when she began to get comfortable in a new home with a new family, she would be pulled and thrown into another. It had been two years since she stopped letting herself settle in somewhere, stopped making friends and stopped believing she would finally have a home.

"They can't just take her,"

"They can," Phil explained. "They've found a blood relative,"

Grace's eyes opened in shock, her lips parting as she took in a sharp breath. A blood relative. It was impossible. She had been in foster homes her whole life, there was no family out there for her. Every kid in a foster home had the thread dangled in front of them once or twice before. The thread of a family, a real home and belonging out there somewhere, and each time it was ripped from them.

Pulling on her old sneakers and grabbing her jacket, Grace marched out of the room and slammed the door.

"Grace!" Jen called out, seeing the teenager head toward the door. "You're not going out!"

"A social worker is coming by in an hour Grace," Phil told her calmly. "You need to be here,"

"So I can be assigned to my next bullshit stopover family?" she shook her head. "I'm not sticking around for that,"

"If you're not here, we don't-"

"You don't get your money this month, I know," she groaned. "I'm sure you'll get a new kid soon,"

With one last glare toward her temporary caregivers, Grace turned toward the door, slipping her arms into her coat. But it seemed she wasn't going to escape the visit of the department she knew all too well.

As she opened the door, standing outside on the front step of the run-down apartment was the social worker scheduled to arrive in an hours time.

"Hello Miss Greene," the man smiled. "Heard you weren't great at keeping appointments, so I thought I'd come a little earlier,"


Pepper sat by Tony's side as the lawyer looked over all of the paperwork, piling it up into a mountain that seemed to grow and grow. All of it was legal ramblings, covering all bases to make sure Tony was protected from whatever was about to come out in the press about any of this.

"This isn't the first time someone's claimed Tony as the father of their child," Pepper spoke up, remembering all of the times she was the one in charge of sorting out that mess.

"Except this time no one's claiming it," the lawyer sighed. "The mother isn't around to prove a thing,"

"She's...not around?" Pepper asked, confused.

"She passed away when the child was three and half years old,"

At that, Tony finally spoke up from his still and silent demeanour he had been sporting for the last twenty minutes.

"Wait, run that by me again?" he asked, confused.

"Leah Greene, the woman you remember," the lawyer spoke, lifting up the photo of the woman Tony had been looking at all day. "She's deceased,"

"It didn't say that in the letter," Tony sighed, shaking his head. "So who's claiming all this?"

"Leah's father. He's been in a care facility since Leah passed away, and last week he too passed away. In his will was a statement from Leah and himself, identifying you as the father of Leah's daughter,"

"That doesn't make any sense," Tony scoffed. "Why didn't he expose it all when she died?"

"It says it all in the statement," he explained, handing Tony the document. "You can read it if you like. Basically, he wasn't a fan of you or the fact you allegedly got his daughter pregnant. Didn't want you in the picture unless it was the very last option, and now that he's passed away, we seem to be at the last option."

"So where's the daughter? Was she was the grandfather?" Pepper asked as Tony read over the letter.

"The daughter had no idea about the grandfather. She's been in the system since Leah's passing,"

Tony heart sunk at the lawyers words. Regardless of whether this child was his or not, the idea of a three and a half year old being thrown into foster homes and the social service circus was horrible.

"When can a test be done?" Tony asked.

As absurd as it was to imagine the idea of Tony being a father, there was a very real chance of it being true. Tony remember Leah, he remembered the week he spent with her in Vegas all those years ago, and he knew that this wasn't another false accusation. This was a real possibility.

"We can start the process right now,"


Sitting in the office of her social worker, Grace tapped mindlessly against the desk with her feet, chewing on her gum loudly as if all of these sounds would drown out all of the chaos going on around her. This was the furthest she had been in finding a family member, and yet she still didn't believe anything would come of it.

They had DNA samples, they had paperwork, they had everything they needed to convince her that it wasn't a dream or a prank. But Grace was far too comfortable in her constant state on denial.

"Where am I off to this time Mike?" she asked, watching the man walk into the room and close the door. "I haven't been North for a while, why not send me that way?"

"You know, you're acting a lot like you don't want to get out of the system," Mike sighed. "How many times have we talked about this Grace?"

Watching him, the smile fell from her face.

"And how many times has it been real? How many times have I been pulled from homes, promised a real family and a nice house and a school? It's all bullshit and you know it,"

"Not this time," he announced, sliding over a file.

Grace looked at the papers in front of her, glancing between them and the man behind the desk. There was no hint of joking, no sign of doubt, only patience. Grace reached out for the file, pulling it into her lap as she flipped open to the first page.

It was an overview of all the tests that had been run over the past few weeks, ensuring all bases were covered and complete accuracy was achieved. Results had been checked multiple times, all signed by the correct officials.

But as she flipped to the next page, her heart beating out of control, her body anxious and trembling, she was sure there had been a mistake.

"Anthony...Stark?" she asked, looking up at Mike. "Stark? As in...as in Tony Stark?"


One Day Before

Tony sat out on the balcony of his Malibu home, looking out at the waves crashing against the shore beneath the cliff, listening to the wind blow wildly. It was almost midnight, but Tony had no plans to try and sleep. It was going to be useless.

These past fews days had been the hardest in his life, and that was saying something. In all these years, Leah Greene had never crossed his mind. Since the last night they spent together in Vegas all those years ago, she had been lost among his memories. And all that time, she had given birth to their child and raised her for three years on her own without a single word to the billionaire.

And now that child, his child, had suffered through a life he wouldn't wish on anyone.

Tony always thought that when he became a father, he would devote all he had to making sure their life was better than his own. They would be appreciated, nurtured and supported all through their life. And they would be safe and loved always, they would never have to question that.

And now, without his knowledge, he had ruined all of that.

"Tony?"

Turning to Pepper's tired voice, Tony did his best to reassure her with a small smile.

"Just getting some air," he told her softly. "Go back to bed,"

Ignoring his words, Pepper walked over to him and placed her hands on either side of his face, feeling him lean into her touch. Pepper knew every tone of his voice and what it all meant, and right now she knew he didn't want to be alone.

"Talk to me," she encouraged.

Tony closed his eyes, lifting a hand to place on top of hers, feeling her warmth.

"I don't know if I can do this," he admit quietly. "I'm not a father, Pepper. Maybe this kid is better off without me,"

"This girl has been from family to family her whole life," Pepper shook her head. "Now she finally has a real family, and that's you. I bet all her life she dreamed of having a father, and now you're here,"

"She dreamed of having a father, not me. Look at everything I've done in my life Pep, and all that time...that girl, my daughter..."

Pepper held Tony close, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

"Don't do this to yourself," she pleaded. "You have a chance now to give this girl a life, a good life. You are the only family she has in this world, and I know you would never turn your back on that,"

Tony nodded, knowing that no matter how much he argued with himself or how much guilt he felt, leaving his daughter to anyone else wasn't an option.

"Her mom seemed to hate my guts, her grandfather too," he shook his head. "Maybe she'll hate me too,"

"Let's just focus on meeting her tomorrow, okay? One day at a time,"

"Right," Tony nodded, rubbing his eyes. "If I don't have a heart-attack before then,"


The Day They Met

Grace wore a pair of black jeans with her sneakers, a maroon hoodie thrown on over her long brown hair which had a matching black beanie pulled down over the top. To anyone else, she looked like a typical fifteen year old teenager. But to everyone else in the quiet, emptied-out cafe, she was Tony Stark's surprise offspring.

"How long do I have to be here?" she asked Mike who walked beside her toward the cafe doors.

"Depends," he sighed. "Getting to know your father can take some time,"

Folding her arms in annoyance, Grace bit down on her lip as she paused by the door. The moment she walked inside, she was officially going to be someone's daughter. And not just a temporary one.

Inside the cafe, Tony saw the teenager approaching, and then stopping just outside the door. His heart almost jumped out of his chest with worry as he considered the possibility of the child running off, refusing to take a step inside to meet him. He couldn't blame her at all if that's what she chose to do, but just seeing a glimpse of the girl make Tony wish she was right in front of him.

From his research, he had found a few baby pictures of Grace along with some of her and Leah when she was a baby. But nothing about what she looked like now. He wanted to see for himself the reflection of Leah in her looks, the reflection of himself.

Pepper sat by his side, squeezing his hand, watching the same girl outside pull the door open and step into the cafe.

Tony's lips parted at the sight of the girl, immediately seeing Leah. She looked just like her mother, she had her nose and her frame, even the way she walked mimicked Leah. But as each step brought her closer, Tony could see parts of himself in the teenager's looks.

With all tests aside, with no context or knowledge of anyone else, Tony knew this girl was his daughter.

"Mr. Stark," Mike greeted, extending his hand for Tony to shake before turning to the girl at his side. "This is Grace."