This is the beginning of the story for an OC that I created a few years ago. Her name is Danielle (Dani) Maria Stark. Tony's daughter, in case that wasn't obvious. :) She's become a favorite OC of mine, and I'm kind of excited to post her story. For those reading my story about Red Rogers, I will keep posting her story as well. Because why have one OC story going, when you could have 2? :)

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1999

Tony Stark's world flipped on a Thursday. He had been home from Switzerland all of a week, when a vaguely familiar woman appeared on his doorstep.

"Sir, I think you'll want to answer the door," JARVIS announced when Tony ignored the initial ring of the bell.

"I'm busy, JARVIS."

"I know, sir, but this is someone you'll want to see."

He sighed in frustration and set his tools down. "This better be good." He walked up from the workshop and opened the door. "Oh..." he stared at the woman, his eyes automatically going to the baby in her arms. "Uh...Melissa...?"

She glared at him, "it's Melody." She held the baby out, and before he really knew what was going on, he was taking it. "You left this in my Vagina nine months ago, and so I thought I'd return her." She dropped a bag at his feet, "starter pack from the hospital. They send their congratulations. You'll need to name her and sign the birth certificate soon."

Tony was struggling to believe what was going on.

"Wait, wait. What? You can't just-"

"Oh yes I can. You're legally her father, so she's all yours." She began to walk away. "Have a nice life."

"Wait!" Tony took a few steps to follow, but the baby started to cry. "Hey, hey," he looked down and tried to soothe the cries. "Don't do that. Please don't. You're okay." He looked up, but Melody was gone. "That's just...that's great," he muttered, going back into his house and closing the door. "You could have been a bit more specific, J."

"Apologies, sir. I didn't know how to explain the situation."

"A woman with a baby would have done it," he walked to his bedroom and lowered the baby down in the middle of the bed, stepping back to look at her. "What am I supposed to do with you?"

The baby opened her eyes and looked up at him, before crying out and flailing her arms.

"Oh, okay, okay. Hey, shh," he undid the blanket and rewrapped it tightly around her arms. "Am I doing this right? Yes? No?" He picked her up and laid her against his chest, bouncing slightly and patting her back. "Do you like this?" She slowly quieted down. "I'll take that as a yes," he craned his head to look down at her, smiling as her eyes slipped close. "Okay. Yeah. This is working. This is great. I've got this."

. . .

"You look like hell," Rhodey said when Tony opened the door to him.

Tony chuckled tiredly and ran his hand down his face. "Well gee, it's good to see you too."

"What's going on with you? You're not on something again, are you?"

"No. But I'd like to be."

The baby began to scream from the bedroom, and Tony nearly burst into tears himself. "5 minutes," he said tiredly. "I just want 5 minutes."

Rhodey stared at him in complete confusion. "Do...I want to know why a baby is crying inside your house?"

"Just come in. It's a long story." Tony walked back to the bedroom and picked the baby up, bouncing and rubbing her back. "What's wrong? Huh? You just ate, you're not poopy. Why are you complaining?"

Rhodey walked into the bedroom and stared. "Dude I was gone for a week. What the hell?"

Tony looked at him, trying to get his brain to function and put his thoughts into words. "Do you remember Melody from 9 months ago?"

"Melody...Melody...um...vaguely. You met her at a weapons conference?"

"Yeah. Her. Turns out we weren't as careful as we thought we were and well...here we are."

"How did you get the baby?"

"Melody came by..." He fell silent, and tried, again, to get his brain working. "What day is it?"

"Sunday..."

"Really? Huh. She came by last Saturday, put the baby in my arms and left. I've been working to keep her alive since."

Rhodey continued to stare, his mouth open slightly. "How?"

"Well Melody was kind enough to give me a...baby starter pack with enough supplies to get me through the first 3 days and then Happy ran out to get more supplies. She eats every 2 sometimes 3 hours, I change her diaper just as often, she likes to be wrapped up tight like a burrito, with her arms pinned to her chest, except for her right arm which has to be up by her head. I've successfully determined the difference between her hungry cry and her tired cry. Her favorite time to have a conversation is from 3-5 in the morning and she knows that if she makes the smallest of cries when I'm putting her down that I will abandon the attempt and simply hold her."

"Holy...crap, man."

"Yeah," Tony craned his head to look at the baby and took a deep breath. "Okay, let's try this again." He slowly set her down in the middle of the bed. "There we go." He stepped back and looked at her, holding his breath in anticipation for her to start crying again.

"So you're going to keep her?" Rhodey asked.

Tony straightened and looked at him. "Well yeah. She's mine. I can't just give her away to some stranger. Besides despite the rollercoaster of a week, I've actually grown sort of fond of her. I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of attached."

"You do realize that you kind of have a multimillion dollar company to run, right?"

"Yeah, but who's to say that I can't raise her and run the company. And I won't be doing it alone. I'll have you and Happy. A kid needs uncles."

Rhodey scoffed and looked down. "Okay. This is insane and nowhere near how I thought today was going to go." He moved closer to the bed to get a better look at the baby. "She is rather cute."

"Right? Although, cute isn't the word I'd use when she's screaming bloody murder at 3 o'clock in the morning."

Rhodey chuckled, "You got a name for her?"

Tony sighed and shook his head. "I've had a few going around in my mind. I was thinking Peggy, but she doesn't look like a Margaret or a Peggy. Then I thought Maria, but again I'm not settled on it. Just recently the name Danielle came to mind."

"Danielle?"

"After Daniel Sousa. He was Peggy Carter's husband, and was always nice to me when I was growing up."

"Right," Rhodey continued to look at the baby, tilting his head slightly. "Well you could call her Elle. Or-"

"Dani," Tony smiled slightly. "I think I'll call her Dani." He fell into an armchair and rubbed his face with his hands. " You know, I've never given much thought to how stressful naming a baby would be."

"I like Dani."

Tony nodded, resting his head in his hand. "Me too."

"So try it out. Start calling her it for a few days and see if you settle."

Tony nodded again, and closed his eyes for a few seconds. He was exhausted. Truly, deeply exhausted. "I can do that."

"You clearly need sleep. I'll watch her for a bit. You go get some sleep."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Go crash in the guest bedroom. We'll be fine in here."

Tony stood, and looked down at the baby. His baby. His daughter. "Thank you," he looked at Rhodey. "I mean it, Rhodes. Thank you."

Rhodey smiled and clapped Tony on the arm. "If you're keeping her, and she's my niece, then I better get used to doing some Uncle duties."

"Make sure she keeps breathing, and if she wakes up and is hungry, there's a bottle in the fridge, and-"

"Tony, I'm in the air force. I think I can handle watching a baby for a few hours."

Tony chuckled, "right. Of course."

"Go, Tony."

Tony nodded and staggered out of the room, going to the guest bedroom and crashing onto the bed. His exhaustion got the better of him, and he was asleep within minutes.

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It's short. I know. There will be more. Hopefully you're interested in the more.

Okay, notes. This story obviously exists in the timeline where Peggysous was canon. If you don't know what that is, go watch "Agent Carter". I know, I know, Steve goes back in time and marries Peggy. That's great. I'm all for that timeline existing. This story, however, exists in the timeline where that doesn't happen. So yeah. Daniel Sousa is the namesake for this OC. I like the idea of Tony knowing his dad's friends from work. So, I hope you guys like it! :)

I would love to hear any thoughts that you guys have! :)