CHAPTER 18
The Secret Is Out

The day Tony's perfectly kept secret was completely exposed started like any normal friday around the Lennox home. Tony came home from being picked up from school by Ironhide, as per usual. He entered the home to Will on the phone, and lunch on the table. It was pretty normal, as Will felt the school didn't provide any form of appetizing or appeasing lunch. But this afternoon, the intensity in the room was unnerving, Will seemed unhappy, and Tony could tell. "Listen here, alright? He can't have him if that's what Tony went through." Tony stared up at those words "I don't give a shit if the law says he has a right to him, okay?" He added "I'll fight for him, we both will." He added.

Tony knew what was coming before Will hung up and turned to him. Will made his way over, he seated himself down, and stared Tony in the eyes. "So, your parents, huh?" Tony was silent as Will said those words "I just got off the phone with Marie. Who told me that your Dad has been looking for you for quite a few months." He explained, Tony focused on his food "Tony, talk to me." He added.

"What is there to say? I tried my best to avoid him, I still am." Tony replied.

"Yeah, well, he isn't giving up Tony. Your rights were given up a while ago, but he's fighting to get them back." Tony stared at Will with wide eyes, fear painted in them "Tony, this could become a custody battle, and I really hope you're aware of that." Will explained, Tony felt his body tremble ever so slightly "Hey, hey, easy. Easy." Will gently took hold of his arm "We're willing to fight for you, we've told you that already." He whispered.

"But my Dad... He..." Tony felt his eyes fill with tears.

He met Will's eyes, and knew that Will already knew. Marie had told him, the comment before had been the obvious reason to deduce that. "He's a drunk, I know... Marie told me." Will nodded his head slowly "But I swear to God, Tony. Even if he does fight us for custody, I won't let him hurt you." He spoke low "You're talking to a former military colonel who took out giant fucking robots." He explained, Tony nodded his head slowly "One drunk who thinks it's okay to beat the crap out of his wife, and abandon her and his two year old will be nothing." He added.

"If I go back to him, I know he'd hurt me too." Tony whispered quietly.

"You're NOT going back." Will took Tony's hands gently "Son, I don't care how long it takes. I don't care how many custody battles I have to fight. He is NEVER going to have that chance." He added, very firmly, staring Tony straight in the eyes "There is no IF to this. You're getting adopted, by Sarah and I. This is your home." He nodded outside "And the Autobots? They have more connections at the Pentagon and the Government than you can imagine." He added, calmly.

"So there's NO way I'll go back to him?" Tony asked.

"No way, any custody battle we have is one-sided. It may seem bad but..." Will stood up a bit, grabbing a coke from the fridge "I know a lot of people, and so do the Autobots. That can make sure you stay here, at least through the custody battle, or battles." He explained, calmly, Tony nodded his head a bit "They can't legally just give you over to us. But we can make sure he won't even lay eyes on you unless he for some messed up reason gets you back." He explained.

Tony stared down, he played with an invisible object in his hands quietly. Will stared at him, face filled with concern, he knew that this was going to be a hard time for Tony, there was a custody battle on the horizon without a doubt. And when that happened, Tony would be stuck in the middle of a tug-of-war between the Father that abandoned him and the family that loved him. No child wanted that to happen to them, no matter how messed up their parents were, they never wanted to be in the middle of something like that, simply put.

"Tony, do you want to stay with us?" Will asked, trying to approach this calmly.

"More than anything. You, Sarah, and Ironhide are the only loving family I've ever had, Dad." Tony stated, almost surprised Will would even ask "And I know that if I want to I HAVE to go through this." He then added, quietly "I'm just scared at how desperate he might become if he looses." He then added, trembling quietly "I barely remember ANYTHING about my life before I was taken away... But I do remember one thing. Vividly." He was silent for a moment "One night when my Dad was really angry? He put a gun to my head, and told my Mom to either shut up or he'd pull the trigger." He added.

Every fear Tony had ever had about calling him Dad finally made sense to Will. The former military man was on his feet, half tempted to grab the shotgun hanging on the mantle, and going to find the man now. Was sick, demented, freak would do that? It was no wonder Tony was such a timid child, he was a traumatized one. That was worse than most levels of abuse, the thought that your own Father, however drunk he was, had put a gun to your head, and wanted to kill you. "Yeah, well, I got a nice big gun waiting for him if he so much as TRIES." He then added, lowly "And about ten or fifteen shells with his name on it." He added.

"Dad..."

"No, don't even defend his actions, Tony. Don't talk me out of it." Will felt his hand curl slowly into a fist "The very thought of that son of a bitch putting a gun to your head. Just over a FIGHT? Does Marie KNOW?" Tony looked up at him, he nodded his head slowly, but turned his head away "But she still is allowing him to challenge us... That..." Will fought back his words at that point.

"Dad, are you mad?" Tony asked.

"Hell yeah, I'm mad, but not at you. I'm mad at Marie, I'm mad at HIM. But you did NOTHING wrong." Will told him, trying to calm himself down slowly, taking deep, inward breaths "You did nothing wrong, and I hope you know that." Tony was silent, but nodded his head slowly "Sarah will tell you the same thing when she gets home." He added, Tony stood, and hugged him, and Will only hugged back "It's going to be okay, bud. He won't get you, I swear on my life, I'll take a bullet to the heart before I see that happen." He added.

Tony smiled a bit, feeling a lot more confident at that, he knew Will was telling the truth. He'd never lied to him before, neither had Sarah, and they were going to fight for him, he knew they would. Letting his son go, Will settled his hands on his shoulders. He crouched low so that the short you man could see him eye-to-eye. "From this moment on, I swear to you. No matter what happens, you're never going back to that man." He told him, firmly "You have my word, I will do everything to make sure, no matter what outcome this all has. I will see to it he never has a single right to you." He said firmly.

Tony's smile only widened, that had made him feel good. Yes, it was hard to imagine denying a parent rights to his only child. But when it came to Tony, no one would want that. His Father had severe problems, more so than anyone would like to imagine. And anyone who'd put a gun to the head of a two year old's head in a fit of anger towards the Mother, surely had no right to any child. "Dad..." Tony began, Will looked expectedly "Thank you... So much." He told him quietly.

"You don't need to thank me, i'm your Dad." Will told him quietly, gently leaning his forehead against Tony's "And as your Father, it's my duty to protect you, no thanks necessary." He added, then gently released him again "Now, what do you say we go out and do something?" He asked, likely wanting to get Tony more relaxed, if nothing else "Maybe go down to the lake and skip rocks, anything you want." He added.

Tony smiled a bit, and nodded his head, grabbing his jacket, he put it back on. His thoughts straying, he wondered how this whole thing would honestly go down. His Dad was, from what he'd vaguely remembered, possessive. Chances were if he couldn't have Tony legally, he'd go after him by other means, and it scared him. His thoughts, however, went to the giant robot who'd unofficially 'adopted' him as his own youngling. His Godfather. He closed his eyes slowly, knowing that Ironhide would never allow a man like him to go after him, ever.

Yet, even so, there was a certain level of fear. And he supposed until this was all over, it would always be there. That small fear that he'd find him, he'd take him away, and he'd never see the one loving family he'd ever had again. He'd never felt this loved, not even with his Mom before the drugs, and she had loved him a great deal back then. If he was taken away from them...

Well, he didn't even want to think about that.

...

A/N: I figured since we're getting closer to Tony's adoption/the final parts of this fic, it was about time Tony's secret was out. :) Hope it was worth the wait to find out just WHAT his Dad did.