Tony rested his head heavily in his hands, weary from the endless hours that never seemed to give so much as a break over the past weeks. His face was haggard and eyes dull from the sheer exhaustion marinating deep into his bones. Pepper looked much the same, but only he could see where it cracked through her makeup and all around put together look. They were about near their wits end and they had no idea what to do.

The root cause? The thing that has always been the catalyst behind the recent insane twists and turns in his life, his daughter...who he was currently having a war of mixed feelings and doubts about. All of the revelations from that fateful day play on repeat like a record player consisting only of an orchestra of cymbals in his head, clanging and bashing against the very foundation of what he knew to be true. It was one thing having to accept how she clearly had "gifts" (truly only a sadist would refer to those abilities as such); but it was another to have to tackle the idea that he hadn't had a choice whatsoever in his love for his-...for Anika...

He sighed out a sharp huff. Love, because he did, didn't he? He loved her like nothing else and it showed with every day of this last week, hadn't it? Waking up to every nightmare...letting Pepper be the one to hold and soothe her while he stood on just out of reach.

Anika was a wreck, nightly she'd be ripped from her sleep with panicked screams and cries far worse than any nightmare she ever had years ago. The only problem with giving comfort was that the subject of her dreams was in fact very real, who she confessed to meeting without thinking of the repercussions during that disaster of a meeting. All to try to bluster up a false sense of courage and confidence. It was difficult to try and comfort her after one particular nightmare especially. Instead of crying he walked in on her sat ramrod straight, a thousand yard stare showing she was far from being in this room and in the present. She only responded once his hands closed around her shoulders, "He told me to tell you he still has steadier hands," she croaked, shaking like a leaf, "he said he found them and to tell you Dad." Then she met his gaze looking far older than she should being ten, eyes positively haunted. "Who?" He had asked, already knowing but needing the confirmation that what she was seeing was real. "Yinsen." He had a difficult time looking her in the eye after that.

Since then he had allowed Bucky and Rogers to explain themselves and their bizarre claims (that only left a rotten taste in his mouth thinking about it rather than the explosive mix that was the addition of furious outrage at the meeting) and now was furious with the dementia ridden and addled Peggy Carter knowing she had plenty of opportunity to clue him in on this. Because it clearly already happened. Jarvis locked her age in those pictures to be about thirteen, it was so hard to tell with her she's always been just so little and dainty.

He noticed absently how Pepper went about preparing for the Parker's return, after much deliberation over the past two weeks they came to the agreement that they HAD to tell Ben and May the other highly sensitive revelation.

Instantly just thinking of it in passing had the memories hitting him like a truck. God, Peter, he had not a single clue what he was even supposed to do let alone what he wanted to do there. He had a SON, a son who came from his own package! Impressive, seeing how the amount of addictive substances in his body at the time he would have assumed was more than enough to kill off any sperm he might have had in the first place.

He didn't even need to wait for the DNA test to come back to know what it would say. All these years, and Ben had never spoken about his brother and sister-in-law, and Tony had never asked so what does that say about him? But it wasn't even work or effort to get Peter's mother's name...God...Mary- How could he have forgotten Mary? It's not a question as to how really, he knew how he just couldn't have imagined something like that from his past ending up quite exactly like this.

But Anika had used Peter in a blood ritual, her DNA now matched his and they effectively were half siblings. Interrogation brought up nothing, there was a gap in her memory that according to Loki might as well have been scrubbed clean with steel wool. Someone or something had influenced her to do this then wiped the evidence clean as if they KNEW that they would all go looking for it. That was another one of her nightmares, terrified that there were more things she had done where it wasn't her choice but the choice of another... manipulating her very body to do things she otherwise didn't know how to do. She didn't remember the words used in the ritual but Pete did, there wasn't any way for her to have come up with that on her own. Loki, begrudgingly, said as much when the paper with the words was slid in front of him. It was all just so complicated and confusing because she was suffering yet his personal hang ups just...were an effective moat spread between them he couldn't figure out how to get across.

"- Tony!" He jumped in place and the ambient noise of the room flooded back to him, Pepper's irritated tone quite effectively slicing through his musings.

"Yes dear?" It was automatic coming out of his mouth, seemingly reflex to anyone trying to get his attention but not exactly appropriate for his girlfriend.

Her pointed look to his guilty cringe showed she was thinking the same thing, "I was asking if you decided on telling them everything."

Tony frowned, "Everything, everything?" Despite his complicated feelings he did not in any way truthfully want to tell anyone else about the stupid "child of death" shit. He knew ultimately that she wasn't actually fully human but confirming that fact to even one other person outside of the family means it's one more potential pair of loose lips that could leak such damning information to the press. Such a release would bring sycophants, perverts, hell worst case scenario a mob of pitchforks and torches, Anika would inevitably end up a social pariah. He would not allow that to happen.

Pepper nodded her head yes, "They're going to find out about the two of them now being siblings, it will happen Tony they need to be told today." Then she sat heavily beside him, completely weary now that it was just the two of them and their two additional mouths with the Parkers. "We've got to talk. I don't know what happened between you and Anika but fix it. Now."

Some talk, Tony inwardly scoffed knowing he was far from brave enough to test her exactly like THAT. "I'm working on it." It was true, he just was at his own pace. There was a little voice in his head though that was determined to be heard, whispering nasty little things about how his pace was going to end up taking his daughter from him. He was purposely ignoring that little voice, though not well enough if the uncomfortable feeling in his belly had anything to say about it.

"Tony." Pepper was clearly on edge with the way she bit his name, "She desperately needs you and you're ignoring her. I need you and you're always at arm's length, I won't even begin to touch on your nonsense with Pete! What has gotten into you?" His own nightmares, he often wondered if she shared any of his.

"I don't know." Was all he said, because he could internalize this all day long but it won't mean he knew how to talk about it.

He was saved by Pepper's angry retort by Jarvis, but par for the course it would have been too good to be true- he sounded positively 'freaked out'. "Uh, Sir? The Parkers have returned...you might want to prepare yourself for-" yet he was cut off by the front door slamming hard into the wall and a frantic sprinting into the living room.

"We've got a problem," Ben gasped beside his breathless red in the face wife. Tony was stuck frozen in place, he couldn't find his words, he couldn't find anything that could have made this nightmare suddenly make sense. Because in Ben and May's arms were two babies that bore STRIKING resemblances to Peter and Anika. The fact only further confirmed the second the smaller baby saw him and her eyes lit up with absolute unmitigated excitement. Her legs kicked and jerked and she squealed into a quick happy pant all while in the midst of throwing herself out of May's arms and towards Tony. He was struck dumb and only caught her out of reflex, staring blankly even as she smiled open mouthed saying, "Dadadadada." Jesus that was cute...he shook his head to clear it.

"What the HELL happened?" The demand was sharp, and he felt the difference the second it came out. Anika stiffened in his arms and her lip wobbled, eyes glistening up at him even as her body pulled back.

"We don't really know," May said wringing her hands and looking completely out of her element, "they were with us one second and the next they were gone! Then they were just around the corner sat on some steps just like this."

He wasn't fully hearing her, intent on just pushing down his oncoming panic attack. This was all too much, he couldn't do this right now- Tony passed Anika to Pepper who easily accepted but did it with obvious anger.

"I'll be in the lab." He said with ultimate finality, leaving room for no question or interjection.

None apart from Anika it would seem, the instant he started to leave the room her confused utterance of, "Dada?" It was quickly followed by a more desperate one. When he still continued on to his lab without even turning back a heartbroken and devastated wail pierced the air, and little did he know two maternal instincts were sparked. Though the spark was far more dangerous as one by a river over the timber box Pepper and May together made. Their twin flames of fury swarmed into a cascading rain of fiendfire, and it was all aimed at one poor, unsuspecting man.

Tony could swear he felt multiple someones walk over his grave.

A/n

Okay, don't hate me I KNOW I suck, I suck a whole bag of bootie holes. Can't and won't promise on publishing dates though, I mostly worked this in a sprint because I'm trying to move, whether it manages to be cross country remains to be seen but eh sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. It was actually EATING me for a while how I was going to move onto Iron Man 3 and I knew I wanted to throw the deaged trope in there (guilty pleasure, sue me) as far back as my first planning this story concept as far back as 2016 haha so don't flame me yet it'll make sense eveeeeentually