"Tony, social services are outside waiting for you." Pepper announced, sauntering into Tony's office, her face panic stricken and stress bubbling on the surface of her emotions, ready to erupt at any moment.

"The hell do they want?" Tony questioned; he was messing with some metal parts on his desk trying to assemble some sort of mini bot with his brow furrowed in concentration. Pepper frowned.

"I don't know, but whatever you've done now, you better fix it – pronto." She stated.

He sighed as she walked out of his office without even saying goodbye or good luck. What had he done now? Recently he'd been keeping the whole 'superhero' thing pretty low-key after recent stresses involving being kidnapped and then almost murdered by one of his loyal companions. It had been quite a month and honestly, he thought that he deserved a vacation. He hadn't had any recent scandals and nothing that would lead to social services knocking on his door – he was in the blank.

As if on cue, a stricken-faced and ingenuous woman with dirty blonde hair and an unnecessary amount of makeup strode into his office and sat down on one of the dark leather seats in front of him, her legs folded and a serious look on her face. He tapped his pen on the tabletop in anticipation.

"Mr Stark?" She asked, her lips pursed.

"That is I."

"I am here today on serious business and although it is wrong for me to assume, I have heard from many reporters that you don't always take matters seriously," she said, taking Tony aback, "but this is a very serious matter and I wish for you to be completely content with me."

Tony stared at her with an ambivalent look plastered on his face. He was lost for words. She nodded to herself and carefully pulled out a hefty stack of papers from her maroon bag and she held them out for Tony to take. He hesitated.

"I have a thing about people handing me things. A pet peeve. Could you slide them over the desk?" Tony muttered sheepishly. She sighed aloud and slid them across his desk, knocking over the mini bot that he had previously assembled.

A picture of a little boy, about six with dark black hair and freckles stared back at Tony. His heart dropped and he gulped – the kid looked a lot like him. Too much like him.

She was trying to hold his eye contact, but Tony couldn't stop looking at this kid. "His mother passed away two weeks ago." She said softly, trying to stifle the blow.

Tony said nothing. He already knew what was coming.

"We've done all of the DNA tests and it's confirmed that you are the father, Tony. I know it's a big responsibility and a shock, but he has nobody there for him – you're his last chance, so please help him, be his father."

They sat in silence for a few fleeting minutes, while Tony thought about the blow that this woman had just thrown in his direction. He closed his eyes and he felt a headache coming on.

"What's his name?" Tony asked.

"His name is Leo ... he really needs you Tony, he already had issues before, but now – after having to go through the loss of a parent, he needs somebody desperately."

"Issues?"

"He didn't really connect with people; he wouldn't ever talk in public and he was falling behind in school because he wasn't developing his skills so he couldn't properly apply himself. His therapist said it was down to social anxiety and his mother was considering more mental help for him before her untimely death. It's a whole mess, but with help it could easily be fixed."

"Well, it doesn't seem like I have much choice," Tony started, tapping his pen again, "but I can't be a good dad, I really don't know how to be a parent, after all I'm described as a billionaire genius,# playboy philanthropist. None of those words really scream dad to me."

"It doesn't matter Tony, you are the biological father! That is enough, just take him on and give him the life he deserves."

And that is how Tony Stark ended up with a 6-year-old kid standing on his doorstep, staring up at him in fear and clutching onto a battered old teddy bear and a suitcase that held all of his life's possessions. It was going to be interesting.