Tony paced back and forth. The call with the DNA results should be coming through any minute now. Along with the court test, Tony was having Stark Labs run one of their own, just to make extra certain that the results were correct. But Tony was impatient in waiting for said results.

Pepper grabbed Tony's arm, and pulled him down on the couch so he was sitting next to her. He looked at the CEO carefully. "Do you really think it's possible that I'm biologically her father? How would that have even happened? I mean, if it was a result of an unexpected pregnancy, of me being sloppy and not careful, then I could understand. But how does one unknowingly donate half the DNA necessary to make a test tube baby?"

Pepper shook her head. "If it's true, then I'm not sure I really want to know, Tony."

Tony sighed. "Why would Ava have ripped those pages out? Why wouldn't she want me to know if I'm her real father? Was she disappointed to learn that?"

Pepper quickly shook her head, and grabbed Tony's hands. "Honey, I'm sure that that's not it. Maybe she was scared? Scared that if you knew you were her father, you'd think that it was all too much, and you'd suddenly kick her out?"

Tony scoffed. "Come on, Pep. Give me some credit here. I would never do something like that."

The redhead hesitated. "Well, to be fair, you have made some poor decisions under the influence of being shown your responsibilities before, so it's really not so unreasonable to think that this would just be yet another situation that you try to resolve with some money. I'm not trying to hurt your feelings or insult you, Tony. I'm just trying to think of a reason Ava would have to keep something like that from us."

Tony got up and walked over to the mirror that was hanging in the bathroom. He peered at his brown eyes with a slight frown. "Well, she certainly didn't get my eyes." He paced back out of the bathroom.

Jarvis broke the silence a few minutes later. "Sir? Mark West is calling from Stark Industries."

Tony walked over to the tv, and subconsciously straightened his tie and smoothed back his hair. "I'll take it down here." The screen turned on, and a moment later, Tony was looking at one of the men who had actually managed to impress him several times before. "Well?"

Mr West raised one eyebrow. "Congratulations, it's a girl."

Tony sank down onto the couch, while Pepper felt the need to stand up, and move behind the couch. Tony cleared his throat. "How is this possible? I never gave anything to anyone to go making test tube babies with."

The scientist didn't look fazed by Tony's grouchy demeanor. He was confident that he wasn't getting fired any time soon, after all of the contributions he'd made to the tech produced by the company. "Well, we've been thoroughly analyzing the pages that Ms Ava's lawyer gave us. They passed the dating test, so they're definitely from fifteen to twenty years old. And I don't know if you got a chance to read them-"

Tony scowled. "For some reason, no one will give me so much as a little crappy copy."

"Well, they describe an entire lab division of Stark Industries that none of us had any idea existed. It pre-dates Miss Potts' reign as CEO, and probably even yours. It was run and funded by Obadiah Stane. The journal doesn't specify exactly how, but it does say that your DNA was obtained, and used to create Mr Stane's version of the first cyborg."

Tony frowned. He wouldn't exactly call Ava a cyborg of all things, but he had seen inside her head, and he'd seen the literal tangle of wires that she had up there. Honestly, it was amazing that she hadn't snapped sooner when she had never received the proper care from the people who'd taken on the responsibility of being her parents from the moment they first stole her away. That was another thing that bothered Tony. "Did the notes… Did they mention why the Bench's stole her?"

Mr West nodded. "Yes. Those idiots felt like they had some pretty decent ideas, Stane didn't want to hear them, so they took his prize project."

Tony clenched his hands into fists. "Are you kidding me? Not only do I have a kid, an actual, literal kid, who shares my DNA, but the only reason she was kidnapped in the first place was because there were a couple of idiots who were too stupid to realize that their ideas sucked?"

Pepper, who was standing behind Tony, reached forward to rub his shoulders comfortingly. "Tony, you do know that even if Ava hadn't been taken by Margie and Stan Bench, Obadiah would have probably raised her himself. Maybe he would have said she was his kid, and if he was planning on her being a secret weapon, then he would have treated her well. She would have had no reason to dislike him, and you'd both go your whole lives never knowing the truth."

Tony frowned. "Why 'Ava'? I mean, if they really care so little for her, how did they pick her a name that seems to fit her so well?"

Mark cleared his throat, reminding the couple that he was still patched in. "Well, according the entries, the project was known as Project Avalon."

"Pretentious little prick," Tony grumbled under his breath. He sighed. "So Ava's really my daughter. I have a daughter, and it's Ava." He glanced at the scientist with some hesitation. "Is there any way to know who the mother is?"

Mr West shook his head. "I'm afraid not. We would need a sample of DNA to match with Ava's, but we don't have any."

Tony sighed. "Thanks, Mark. Don't be surprised if you have a promotion coming

your way sometime soon." He ended the call and turned to Pepper. "I have a daughter." He suddenly stood up. "I have a daughter with superpowers!"

Pepper smiled softly. "Tony, even if your DNA didn't match, I still don't think she'd be adverse to calling herself your daughter." She shook her head. "Now all we have to do is bring her home."

Tony nodded. "Right. Bringing Ava home is the priority right now. And then once we get her home, we'll find a way to disconnect her from Obadiah so he can't monitor her at all times. Then everything will be perfect, right?"

Pepper actually laughed at that. "Are you forgetting who you're talking about? Ava Bench. Well, I'm assuming that once you gain custody, you'll change it to Stark. But either way, she's just as stubborn as you, and now we even know why. She's going to want to work with the Avengers, you know. She's not just going to let her gift go to waste."

Tony nodded. "That's true. I suppose that one DNA test isn't going to automatically make her be willing to listen to me. But hopefully it'll be a start. And if not, then we'll find a way to work things out. She's going to come home, and then we'll find a way to work things out."

Pepper smiled. "Well then, let's get to work. We wouldn't want our daughter to be stuck in the system for any longer than necessary."

Tony pulled Pepper into a kiss. "You're the most wonderful woman in the whole world. What did I ever do to deserve you?"

Pepper shrugged. "I suppose that you'll just have to be thankful for your blessings." She turned to leave the room. "Now leave me alone while I do boring paperwork. You're probably allergic to that stuff anyways."

Tony grinned. "You're right, I probably am. I'll just head downstairs to tinker while you do all of that disgusting paperwork."

Pepper nodded. "Sure thing, Tony. Sure thing."