December 5, 2002

The first sign that something was wrong happened when Peter woke up an hour early from his nap. Tony was in the lab working on the newest prototype for the company when the baby monitor relayed Peter's cries. At first, it was only sniffling and Tony thought the baby might settle down on his own. Unfortunately, for the inventor, the sniffling turned into screaming, and Tony hurried up the stairs to comfort his son.

Tony found Peter, red in the face, wailing, while holding on to the bars of his crib.

"Petey," Tony cooed while picking up his son, "what's wrong?"

Obviously, Peter didn't respond, but his screaming lowered to a whimper that melted his dad's heart.

Tony went to brush Peter's curly brown hair out of his little face, but as soon as he put a hand on Peter's forehead, he could feel the heat radiating off of him.

"Poverino," Tony whispered to his son placatingly.

Somehow, those words didn't work for Peter because not a minute later he threw up all over his dad's chest.

March 7, 2016

Peter's hand shook slightly as he walked into the kitchen holding the permission slip for his upcoming field trip. He needed one of his parents to sign it, and, naturally, the only way to get them to do that would be to lie. Peter's parents, Mary and Richard Parker, were disappointed in him for a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones was his hero worship of Tony Stark.

It wasn't clear to Peter why his parents hated Mr. and Mrs. Stark. (Maybe it was because of their money and lifestyle?) But for Peter, Tony Stark was his role model ever since the man became Iron Man. Mr. Stark had immense power and influence and instead of wasting it he used it for good.

This is why Peter had to lie; the field trip was to Stark Industries. It had been announced during Physics that Mrs. Emerson's freshman class would be visiting Avenger's Tower where the Stark Industries offices were based.

Of course it was just Peter's luck that his parents would never let him go on the trip if they knew where they were really going. His parents were always extremely controlling, and somehow their ideas of what was good never aligned with Peter's. He dreamed that just once his parents would understand that the people he admired weren't terrible. But until then the teen had a plan.

"Hey Mom." Peter sat down at the kitchen counter.

"Good morning dear," Mrs. Parker replied while pouring Mr. Parker a coffee.

"My class is going on a field trip, can I get you to sign the permission form?" Peter lifted his paper, showing her the consent form that had been carefully cut to remove the paragraph detailing the location of the trip. She barely glanced at the paper before grabbing a pen.

"That sounds fun," she remarked while signing her son's life away on the school form. "Where are you going?"

"Uh, Oscorp Industries," the teen said, phrasing it more as a question than a statement.

Mrs. Parker handed the paper back (mission successful)."That's interesting, what class is it for?" This was more questions than Peter was used to getting from his parents.

"Uh, physics class."

His mom stopped moving to look up at him. "Really? I thought Oscorp specialized in bioengineering?"

Peter stood up from his chair in case he had to make a run for the front door if his cover was blown."Uh, yeah, weird." An awkward pause stretched for a beat. "Anyway, I have to go to school, bye!"

March 11, 2016

Peter sat at the back of the school bus three days later with Ned on their way to Stark Industries.

"Do you think Tony Stark will be there?" Ned asked, talking almost too fast to be understood.

"He's probably in the building, but he won't be there there." Peter didn't want to get Ned's hopes up even though he himself was daydreaming of meeting Mr. Stark.

The pair of friends continued to chat for the rest of the ride and only stopped when their teacher started giving instructions.

"Alright class, remember when we step off this bus you're representing Midtown Tech, so I expect you all to be on your best behavior. We'll be going through security, so if you have any cameras on you please leave them here. When we get inside our tour guide will give us instructions. Any questions?" No one raised their hand. "Ok, follow me."

Mrs. Emerson and the other chaperone from the school, Mr. Ashby, lead the way off the bus and into the huge lobby of Stark Industries. Peter and Ned looked around in awe. The lobby was beautiful, a full wall of windows looked out on the street. The Stark Industries logo hung on the wall behind the long reception desk. A vaulted ceiling with railed balconies belonging to at least twenty floors towered above them. Metal and glass staircases connected the floors to each other in a spider web of organized chaos.

The class was ushered over by the tour guide, and he greeted them. "Hi Midtown School! It's so nice to see you all! I'm Javon, I'll be your tour guide today. Before we get started, let's go over a few things quickly. You will be given a visitor's badge to swipe, and your fingerprint will be scanned before entering and exiting the building for security purposes. You'll also be going through a security check before entering the offices and the rest of the building. I have to ask you to refrain from taking pictures on phones unless I give you direct permission. Cameras are strictly prohibited.

"The tour is long, but I've made sure to have plenty of activities along the way to keep everyone interested. If anyone has to use the restroom on the tour, just ask. We'll be having lunch at 12:30. Any questions?" No one raised their hand, so Javon started handing out the badges: just white pieces of paper with the name of their school and a magnetic strip that could be clipped on clothes. The class then moved on to the security station where everyone swiped their pass and put their finger on a scanner before setting any bags on an x-ray machine and going through the metal detector. Peter was almost last in line with only Mr. Ashby behind him.

After the people in front of him trickled away, Peter swiped his card and placed his finger on the scanner. The guard's brow furrowed and he clicked a few things on the screen before requesting, "Can you try a different finger please?"

Peter put his other pointer finger on the scanner and waited. He tugged anxiously at the collar of his uncomfortable blue button-down shirt. The guard looked back at his screen, brow still furrowed.

"Sir, can I ask you to step out of line please," he said to Peter before whispering into his walkie talkie, "We have a possible Baby Bear Protocol."

Peter followed instructions and stepped out of the line, fingers twisting together in an embodiment of the anxiety inside him. He didn't know what he'd done wrong.

"Excuse me sir, I'm Peter's chaperone. Can I ask, what is this all about?" Mr. Ashby asked the guard.

"Uh... I'm not sure I can really say right now. I'm going to take him to a conference room right over here," He gestured to his left where a hallway was, "to ask him a few questions and clarify some things. You're his chaperone?"

Mr. Ashby nodded in confirmation.

"I'll need you to come with."

By this time all of Peter's classmates had noticed what was going on and were staring. What had Peter done?

December 5, 2002

Every parent panics when their child gets sick for the first time. Pepper Stark was no exception. After receiving Tony's call, the man also alarmed, she drove home faster than she ever had before. Tony was usually very composed, and hearing his frazzled voice scared her.

She barely stopped the car before jumping out and rushing in the house, scaling the stairs two by two up to Peter's room. The sight she found was not a pretty one.

Tony had a towel covering his shirt to protect it from anymore throw up. Her husband paced back and forth trying to keep their son from crying, and Peter was squirming uncooperatively in his arms.

"Ma-Ma-Ma!" Peter squealed and put his arms out for his mom to pick him up. She obliged, and he nuzzled into Pepper's chest. Holding her son in her arms helped her to calm down.

"He doesn't like the thermometer," Tony stated. He held up the white thermometer that was supposed to go in the baby's ear.

"Understandable, have you called his pediatrician?" Tony had told her over the phone that he would.

"Yeah, she was worried about dehydration. He has a 101.2 fever and I gave him Baby Tylenol, which the doctor approved." Tony ran a hand through his hair. "The doctor said to give him twenty-four hours and see if he can keep any fluids down."

Pepper looked between her husband and son. "Sounds like a plan."

March 11, 2016

The guard walked them down a hallway. He led them to a room that was empty except for a table with chairs surrounding it and told them that someone would come to explain everything in a bit.

Peter collapsed into a chair at the table and put his head in his hands. This was about the worst way the field trip could have gone so far. Mr. Ashby sat next to him.

"Peter, what happened?"

"I don't know!" Peter looked up, "I just scanned my fingerprint! I don't know what's going on." He'd never been arrested, and he didn't work at Stark Industries, there was no reason for his fingerprint to be flagged on the system. For all his daydreaming, Peter never thought up this scenario. The chaperone and student stayed quiet, lost in thought until a woman in a white lab coat came in the room only a few minutes later.

"Hi! My name is Kelsey, I work for Stark Industries. Can I talk to you, Mr. Ashby, outside for a second?"

Mr. Ashby looked reluctant to leave Peter alone, but his curiosity beat his worry and he left with Kelsey.

Now that Peter was alone he pulled out his cell phone, to find twenty-seven missed messages from Ned asking why he was taken away by security. Peter put his phone away without replying; he didn't want to disrupt Ned's trip, and he also didn't know what he would say anyway. He needed to know what was going on.

Peter stayed seated at the table playing video games on his phone, trying desperately (and failing) to clear his mind, until Kelsey opened the door again.

"Hi Peter! We just have to run a quick test then we'll tell you what's going on, how does that sound?" She smiled kindly waiting for Peter's reply.

"What kind of test?" Peter asked.

"I just need you to swab the inside of your mouth then put it in this tube for a DNA sample." She held out a small tube that Peter took. Swabbing the inside of his mouth then putting the cotton swab back in the tube, he did as he was told. It probably wasn't legal to take a DNA sample without his parents permission, but he was willing to do almost anything to be told why he was being kept here at this point.

She left him alone in the room again. He was so anxious even video games couldn't take his mind off of his situation. Different scenarios of what could happen ran through his head. What if they involved the police? His dad would be ticked if Peter got in trouble with the law. The teen wasn't sure how long he sat alone in the room.

Finally the waiting ended when the door opened again, and this time it wasn't Kelsey. It was Tony Stark.

December 6, 2002

In 24 hours Peter only got worse. Pepper and Tony made the decision to take him to the Children's Hospital of LA where he was admitted. Peter was dehydrated and was being treated with IV fluids. He had his own room with a little crib and a futon for his parents.

"Da-Da! No! Da-Da!" Peter sat in his crib picking at the sock covering his forearm protecting the IV.

"I can't take that off right now Petey," Tony placated, leaning over the crib bars to see his son.

Peter huffed in dismay, then immediately forgot his discomfort and yawned; it was almost past his bedtime.

Pepper had gone home to sleep. There was only room for one person on the futon, and Tony had volunteered. There was a guard outside of the room, just in case anyone figured out Tony Stark was at the hospital with his son. Fans were crazy.

"It's bedtime Petey." Tony lifted his son out of the crib, careful of the IV. He watched Peter's eyelids droop as he read Sleepy Bears, his son's favorite book.

The father placed his son back in the crib and whispered a line from the book, "Sleep, my baby bear, I'm here."

Peter was asleep not five minutes later. Tony followed suit after two hours, so no one was awake to prevent what was to come.

March 11, 2016

Tony Stark hated paperwork. That was part of the reason he appointed Pepper CEO of Stark Industries. Unfortunately for the billionaire, it turned out co-owners of companies still have to sign things. That's where he found himself every Friday, sitting at Pepper's desk in their penthouse, signing whatever she gave him. He had more fun on the days she was there with him, but that particular Friday the CEO was on a business trip in the UK.

Needless to say, Tony was not in a good mood. He was happy to take any opportunity to get away from the office. So when the phone call from the security department at Stark Industries came in, he picked up. The man didn't even gripe about the interruption to his work like he usually would.

"What's up? A national emergency I hope. I'll probably have to leave work all day, what a shame."

"Um, not exactly sir." The man on the other end of the line sounded nervous. "The Baby Bear Protocol was triggered." Tony dropped the phone. It felt like all the air had left his chest. The protocol Tony had made years ago had been triggered. The protocol that would only go off if his son's fingerprint were scanned by either the police or the security system at Stark Industries.

Tony recovered enough to pick his phone back up. "Are you sure?"

"A DNA test came back positive sir. He's on the ground floor."

The father managed to say, "thanks, I'll be down in a second," and hung up before a sob made its way up his throat. His kid was back, but they had missed so much time with him. How was he found? Was he hurt? Did he know who his parents were? There was only one way to find the answers to his questions. Tony went to find his son.

oOo

A Stark Industries security guard met Tony as he exited his private elevator.

"Where's my son?"

The guard didn't reply; he just led the way silently. They only had to walk for a few minutes before stopping in front of a door. A middle aged woman with brown hair and matching eyes stood up and stuck out her hand. "Mr. Stark, I'm Jennifer Lawson. I'm a social worker here to talk to your son."

The father shook her hand. "Thanks," he gave a false smile, "I think I can take it from here."

"Sir, I don't think you quite understand."

"What I understand is that my son, who was kidnapped and missing for thirteen years has been found. And you're trying to tell me not to go in and talk to him." Tony put on his best 'give me what I want or I'll destroy everything you love' expresion. "Is that right?"

The look didn't work. "Mr. Stark, this is a complicated situation. Your son has been living with people he believes to be his adopted parents."

Tony opened his mouth to ask a question but Jennifer did something almost no one ever did: she interrupted him. "They faked adoption papers; they're in police custody."

"I don't care about protocol right now. I just want to see my son." The tone of desperation finally broke the social workers will.

"I'll make a deal with you Mr. Stark. You can go in that room and talk to your son for a few minutes before I go in, but you can't tell him that he's your son."

"What?" Tony was indignant.

"You heard me Mr. Stark. I don't trust you to break the news to your son in an appropriate manner."

The man sighed. He knew when there was an argument he wasn't going to win. "Fine, I'll let you tell him."

March 11, 2016

Mr. Stark stood in the doorway looking more nervous than Peter had ever seen him on TV. The man held his left wrist as if it was in pain. The billionaire wore jeans and an old band tee shirt, a level of casual not usually seen by the public.

Peter stood up from his chair, stumbling as he got up. "What... I... do..." Peter somehow composed himself enough to say, "I'm sorry uh sir, do you- do you need this, um, this room I can... I can go..." Peter just looked at Mr. Stark with his mouth unknowingly open. It felt hard to breath but Peter wasn't sure if that was the fault of his asthma or not.

"You don't need to go, kid," Tony murmured as he closed the door behind him and stepped further into the room. He sat at the table and Peter scrambled to follow, almost tripping as he did.

Tony sat there not saying or doing anything but looking at Peter for a while before Peter finally worked up the courage to break the silence.

"I just want to say I'm- I'm a big fan of your work, uh, sir."

"You don't have to call me sir, Peter."

The teen in question nearly choked. Tony Stark knew his name! Wait, was he in trouble with Tony Stark? Was that why his fingerprints were flagged at security?

They sat in silence, Peter's knee bouncing up and down. He wasn't going to say anything else in case Mr. Stark was angry at him.

Eventually Tony realized the teen wasn't going to do all the talking for him and he spoke, "How's school going, kid?" Tony knew it was lame and forced as soon as he said it, but he couldn't take it back now.

"It's pretty good. High school's pretty different from middle school." Peter had to force himself to speak, but graciously held on to any topic the billionaire offered. He was just happy to talk to his hero, he didn't care that it was about his experience as a freshman in high school.

"Yeah? Different in a good way or a bad way?"

"Oh- uh, there's a lot more freedom which is nice." Peter was surprised that Tony Freaking Stark was actually engaging in his dumb conversation.

"Do you have a favorite class?"

"I really like physics?"

Mr. Stark smiled at the table. "You like science?"

"Yeah!" Peter decided how much he should show his fan-ism. "Actually, um, you- you're what made me interested in, uh, in the STEM fields." Peter looked bashfully down at the table and didn't notice Tony's eyes fill with tears.

This was basically Peter's dream-to get to talk to Tony Stark-but it was also nice to talk to an adult that seemed genuinely interested in his life. Of course, Mr. Stark was probably just being nice.

Peter still wasn't any closer to figuring out why he was being kept here… or why Tony Stark (Tony Stark!) was willingly having a conversation with him.

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but the door opened again.

A woman with brown hair and kind eyes walked into the room.

Mr. Stark stood up, he seemed to understand what was going on. He smiled and said, "I'll see you in a minute kid," before leaving.

The woman took Mr. Stark's seat. "Hi Peter, I'm Ms. Lawson, I'm a social worker. I'm going to explain what's going on. Does that sound good?" She talked to the teen the way you talk to a scared child, which, understandably, Peter was in that moment.

The high schooler just nodded back; he was ready to know what was going on. He didn't like being kept in the dark for so long.

"Have you heard of Pepper and Tony Stark's son?"

Peter nodded again, not sure where this was going. Everyone that was even remotely connected to popular culture had heard of the missing Peter Stark.

"When you scanned your fingerprint today it matched one that was already in the Stark Industries system. They matched Peter Stark's."

Peter just stared at her dumbfounded for a second. "But I'm— I'm not... that Peter. I'm Peter Parker. I was adopted, not kidnapped! Wouldn't I know if I was- was kidnapped!?"

"I know this is hard to believe, but we did a DNA test. It came back positive." Ms. Lawson stopped talking to give him a minute to process.

Peter stared down at the table, lost in thought. His dad (was Richard Parker still his dad?) had always been a jerk, but would he really kidnap a baby? Maybe this is why they hated Tony and Pepper Stark. Heck, when the Starks had moved to New York his parents(?) had talked about leaving the city. Maybe they wanted to move because they didn't want to be found out.

Peter had dreamed about meeting his birth parents. He'd thought about what he would say to them, if he would yell or cry. This is never what he had imagined.

"What's gonna happen now?" Mr. Stark coming in and talking to Peter had probably been him deciding whether he still wanted his now teenaged son. Peter probably blew his one chance of having a relationship with his birth parents. Would the Starks even want a teenager? Would they want someone they didn't raise?

"Mr. and Mrs. Parker were arrested for your kidnapping." She cringed internally as she said it. Telling a kid that their parents were going to jail was never easy. "There's going to be an investigation and the FBI will probably want to talk to you at some point."

"Am I going into foster care?" Peter's voice was barely above a whisper. He stared down at his fisted hands as he waited for a reply.

"No honey." Peter looked up at Ms. Lawson's soft reply. "Mr. and Mrs. Stark want their son back. Does that sound good to you?"

Peter couldn't speak so he just gave a jerky nod.

Ms. Lawson got up from the table. "Mr. Stark's waiting for you if you want to follow me."

December 7, 2002

"Mr. Stark? Mr. Stark?" The doctor's voice woke Tony from his sleep.

"I'm awake," he mumbled, sitting up. Tony opened his eyes taking in the small hospital room again. The crib was empty. "Is Peter okay?" Tony questioned.

"We don't know where he is."

"What the hell do you mean you don't know where he is?" Tony yelled, fully awake now.

"Your security guard is missing, could Peter be with him?"

"No! He doesn't know Peter! Who runs security at this hospital?" The doctor opened her mouth to speak, but Tony interrupted her, "You know what, I don't care, just take me to them right now!"

The doctor obliged, leading the distraught father through the halls of the hospital. She led him to the door of the security office. Tony ventured in by himself.

"Mr. Stark," the security guard, an older woman with dark hair coiled in a bun that was coming loose, looked terrified. "Um… sir I reviewed the security tapes from outside your room and," the guard took a deep breath, "it appears that a masked man took your son off hospital property." The guard started saying something about the police, but Tony couldn't hear her words. His world had stopped. His son was missing.

Later, after years of therapy, Tony would be able to process the rest of what happened that day, but in the moment, all he knew was pain.

March 11, 2016

Tony paced back and forth in-front of the room where his son was. (His son!) Tony had called Pepper while the social worker talked to Peter. They had their baby back. She was on a plane back to New York and was scheduled to be home before dinner.

At some point Tony would have F.R.I.D.A.Y. find any available information on Peter and the Parkers, but he couldn't focus on that yet.

Tony stopped pacing when the door finally opened. The social worker Tony didn't remember the name of stepped out with Peter in tow. Peter stood looking at the billionaire awkwardly shifting from foot to foot. Tony stumbled forward, meeting his son with outstretched arms. He wrapped his arms around his son lightly as if the teen would break. Peter reciprocated the hug, not sure what else to do. The father cradled his son's head in the way only a parent does, the way you support a baby's head when they have no neck strength.

"I'm so sorry kid," Tony whispered so only Peter could hear.

oOo

A/N: Thanks for reading!

The Book mentioned is actually a children's book that exists and one that I really enjoyed as a child. It did exist in 2002.

I hope to update within the month, with the next chapter:)

Feel free to PM me with any questions or suggestions or leave a comment down below!

Happy Reading!

-Jewell