Chapter 5:
Pepper watched as Tony whirled around the penthouse suite overlooking Hyde Park. The penthouse was gorgeous with white leather sofas and an opulence that Tony had been raised with, something that Pepper knew could be attributed to Maria Stark. Since leaving the hospital, reluctantly and with her pulling him out, Tony had laser vision on one thing and one thing only . . . getting the lawyers on board for filing for custody.
She watched has he threw his phone against the plush white leather sofa in a huff.
"I don't get why this can't be simple," Tony muttered. "For God's sake, I am the child's biological father." Tony tugged at his hair in frustration. There was no way he wanted Harry to go back to Petunia's.
His mind was going a hundred miles an hour. Lily was killed when Harry probably was just learning to walk, learning to speak. He wondered idly what his son's first word was and what his favorite subject was in school. He could tell that Harry was intelligent by the way he talked, hell the kid read Business Week and he was only eight years old. Most kids would have just read about him in Wired Magazine if anything, or just saw the gossip on the internet.
Not his son.
The reality hit him again that he was, in fact, a father.
He wandered toward the bar, pouring a glass of whiskey. He could kind of understand why Howard drank all the damn time. The thought stopped him in his tracks. He sure as hell never wanted anyone to compare him to Howard Stark – absentee father extraordinaire.
"Tony, it's close to midnight. No one is open, the lawyers can't file any motions until the offices open," Pepper tried to reason.
"Unacceptable. I am Tony Stark, part of what makes me, well me, is making the impossible possible," Tony grumbled.
His eyes were blood shot, more so then what Pepper considered healthy.
"What is unacceptable is that you are running off of virtually no sleep for the past . . . Jarvis, how long has Tony been awake?" Pepper asked.
"Approximately 72 hours, he has gone longer before, but his was much younger," the AI replied.
"I am going to have to look at your programming," Tony muttered. "Jarvis, look up all you can about Petunia Dursley, nee Evans. More specifically her address."
"At least take a shower while Jarvis is looking up this stuff. You are paying hundreds of dollars a night for this penthouse which happens to have a steam shower, you might as well take advantage of it while Jarvis is hacking whatever database he needs to hack." She looked at her boss, knowing he was stubborn as a mule, if not more stubborn. "There is nothing you can do right now, all you can do is wait. It's past midnight and we can't show up at their door this late at night. We need a game plan, and a way to protect both you and Harry's interest in this."
"I am not good at waiting. Do I look like I am a man who waits?"
"I am sure that your grade school report cards pretty much said, does not play well with others, suspected ADHD, and wiggleworm . . . but Tony, you are not doing anyone any good trying to get people to pick up the phone past midnight. If it helps, I will have Happy gas up the Bentley first thing in the morning, have breakfast delivered to Harry after his surgery, and then go meet the lawyers at noon. I already made the appointment right after Nathan supplied us with the DNA test. It was Crayton's first available appointment. I already cleared your day, all you have to do is be sharp an alert for Harry. He is going to be in surgery for three hours and in recovery for a bit after that."
"I hate it when you make sense." Tony pouted, putting down his whiskey glass. Truth be told, he knew he needed to sleep, but even in the most expensive suites, he had a hard time falling asleep.
"Somebody has to." Pepper threw him her patent, don't screw with me look, and watched as Tony turned toward the shower. She waited until she heard the water run before she addressed Jarvis.
At first she didn't know what to thing of the AI, but she could admit genius when Tony figured out a way on bring him online and portable. The AI was a great asset when it came to spying on the man.
"Jarvis inform me when he falls asleep, make sure he gets at least 4 hours. He isn't 20 anymore."
"Yes Miss Potts."
"Alert me first thing when he wakes up, we can't have him going after the Dursley's half cocked."
"Understood Miss Potts."
"Thank you Jarvis."
Pepper stood and headed out to the penthouse right next to Tony's. They would have been staying in Tony's mother's London apartment, but Tony wasn't sure what state it was in as it hadn't been used for years. Pepper made a mental note to have all of Tony's properties looked at sooner rather than later. She would have done it sooner if she had known about it.
She shook her head wondering how Tony was going to raise a little boy all by himself, but as Tony pointed out, he made the impossible possible, so why not make the improbable probable.
She got herself ready for bed, looking down at her StarkPad noting that Jarvis sent her a message letting her know that his creator had indeed gone down for the night.
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Harry woke up, seeing the early morning light stream in. The night nurse had been very kind, making sure that all of his needs were met, making sure that he wasn't in any pain. The pain had lessened overnight without the use of medications, instead of a stabbing pain, it was more of a dull throb, something that Harry was very much used to feeling, and it seemed as if the dull throbbing pains would never go away.
The replacement nurse came in, looking at him. "Hey, it's time for a set of x-rays, the doctors can't find your other ones from yesterday and they need to make sure they are going in the right place."
Harry nodded, not wanting to kick up a fuss. The night nurse helped him into the wheelchair, not jostling him too much. He flashed her a smile. "I hope this isn't causing you too much trouble," Harry talked to her, trying to kick up a small conversation. He found that if you spoke to people that they assumed you were will adjusted and didn't tend to poke around in his business. The last thing he needed was a little bit of respite only to have a concerned cop or social worker showing up at the Dursleys.
They never tended to act well when people showed up unannounced. And, they always seemed to take it out on him.
He knew it wasn't his fault, he knew that instinctually, but of course it hurt. All he wanted was an adult to care.
But that would never happen for him.
He knew nothing happened in life by wishing for it. Look at his idol, Tony Stark, he worked for everything. Yes, Howard Stark may have built a multi-million corporation, but Tony was the innovator, and it was on him to keep his father's legacy up and running.
Harry sighed. Maybe there was a way he could get back to the expo. He didn't get to see much of anything before his cousin pushed him into the DNA reader.
He shook his head and a flash of determination coming over him.
The Stark Expo didn't go to London often and it may be his last time to get to see some of the innovating science before the Expo left in a couple of month . . . and he was closer to the Expo then he would be then when he was in Surrey . . .
It wasn't fair.
Life just was never fair.
But once, just once, Harry was going to make sure he got to do what he wanted.
He went willingly to the x-ray lab, knowing that people for outpatient procedures normall left their clothes in dressing rooms, and since Harry wasn't going to be supervised, and he figured that the x-ray would take awhile to get back . . .
5555555555
Tony strode into his lawyers office after having Happy drop him off promptly at 7:30 in the morning, an hour and half earlier then the office would have opened, but when you are a billionaire, money talks.
At least that is what he hoped. He couldn't stand the idea of any child staying with Petunia.
He strode in through the office doors, right past the secretary who looked a little tired, but honestly he couldn't fault her. He did make the office open early. She started the coffee as the lawyer ushered him into the office.
"I guess what Obi always feared would happen finally did," Mr. March said, closing the DNA file.
"You haven't told Obi yet, have you?" Tony asked forgetting that he hadn't told his mentor yet.
"No, I will leave the pleasure all to you, besides it is hardly my place with lawyer/client confidentiality," he replied. March had been a family friend introduced to Howard by Peggy Carter. "Why do you want him Tony?"
"He needs me," Tony answered simply, scrubbing his face in only a way he could. "I need him. I can't explain it completely, but when I saw him, even before the test said he was mine, I felt like he was mine."
"I have read the file, and started looking up the Dursleys. Frankly, you would be better off staying away from them," March looked at Tony's face, holding up a hand to forestall the interruption he knew was coming. "At least until paternal responsibility and physical custody has been granted to you. And as quietly as possible. The are awful people, and well will try to fleece you for parental support."
"Whatever it is I will pay it." Tony snapped. He knew logically that those damn people wasn't owed one red cent, but for Harry's sake he would pay it quickly and quietly.
"I am going to try to keep your name out of it," March told him. "All we have to do is take them some custody papers, have them sign it, and then have the judge grant you paternal responsibility. I assumed you can provide financial support and a good home for the child?"
"Harry," Tony sighed, "His name is Harry, not child, and yeah. I can provide Harry with the best home and support that I money can buy."
March smiled. "There is a lot of Maria in you."
Tony waved his hand, not paying attention, just staring out the window. "So me just showing up at their doorstep demanding that they just give me my son is a no."
March sighed and shook his head. "I would strongly advise against that. Profiling them, they would drag you and Harry through a lengthy process . . . extort you for more money . . . and prolonged exposure to them and the press . . ."
"And as much as I want to shout that I have a son from the top of the rooftops, that would put him with a target on his back for kidnappers, best to keep it quiet," Tony surmised, even though it wasn't his style.
But he was a father now. He would gladly pay the Dursley's any amount they wanted to keep his son away from them, but Marsh was right. Put Tony's face on anything and people tended to get greedy fairly quickly, but he wanted to make sure that Harry was going to be taken care of first and foremost, and he needed to learn to think before leaping, which wasn't his best quality. Tony sat for a minute, thinking as fast as his brilliant mind would whirl. He sighed, coming up with the conclusion he didn't want to acknowledge. Custody would have to be handled the good old fashion way, through the courts and hopefully with his name kept out of everything.
"Get everything in line. Speak to the judge about obtaining custody quickly. Can I at least petition for some kind of emergency custody given the abuse reports from the hospital? Is there anyway to keep our names out of it?"
"Tony, there is no way in hell we are letting that child out of our sight. We are going to get him away from that so-called-family very quickly. And as for keeping your name out of it, there may be just a way to do it."
"I'm going on a walk. Contact me when you have some news."
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Tony weaved his ways through the street, texting Pepper about getting the penthouse ready. He was going to need to prove to the court systems that he could provide Harry a home, and that meant opening up the penthouse. He hadn't wanted to use it during their time in London, but even he could see reason behind using it now.
Tony strode through the Expo, walking through the displays, looking at each one, observing different presentations. Most companies just highlighted their products, other's had presentations, others had interactive displays. Tony remembered always enjoying the display that he came up with, the circuit boards. It was a way to help kids understand the way the closed circuits and transistors worked.
It took the concept of play and science and helped kids learned.
Maria had fawned over it, but Howard didn't seem impressed. After all the man had built a car that hovered for 5 seconds that year.
Tony was sure he could make it work, but he never wanted to have anything to do with it. Anything to stick it to the old man, even though he was dead.
Anyway, circuits and coding were the future.
Tony turned, going toward the Fortis technology, wanting to talk to the man about the technology and find out more about what led him to his son. He walked up seeing a familiar face, and it wasn't who he expected.
A person who he hadn't seen in ages, and someone he thought had been lost to him as well.
Remus Lupin.
What was he doing working for Fortis?
He started walking toward him when his phone started ringing.
Pepper Potts
Not now Pepper. He sent her to voicemail.
Tony was a man on a mission. He walked over to Remus, waiting for him to look up from what he was working on. Tony took a minute to look over the man.
The years hadn't been kind to him either.
Tony's affliction was alcohol, women, and parties.
Remus, he knew, was afflicted with lycanthropy. Shame filled the man, he knew from Sirius and James that the man had a hard life, that no one would hire a werewolf. Tony sighed, he had hoped they were wrong. He hadn't forgotten about the man, but he hadn't thought to find him after Lily's death.
Maybe if he had, all this could have been avoided.
"Are you going to say something, or just stare at me working, Anthony?" Remus' voice rang though the crowd. He tapped his nose.
Tony looked at the name tag he was wearing. R John Lupin. "Going by John now?"
"It helps to blend in."
"What are you doing working for Nathan?" Tony asked, curious about his credentials.
"Nathan gave me a shot. I needed to catch up after 7 years of schooling out of the county, I graduated a couple of years ago, and well, 28 is old in the tech industry. Also, Nathan was willing to work with my unique schedule."
"What do you do?"
"Genetic engineering," Remus replied. "Trying to figure out, well you know . . ."
Tony nodded, he filed it away to investigate a little further. He needed to focus on Harry now, not get carried away with a puzzle.
But . . .
Nathan walked up, "Are you getting ready to shut down for lunch? Please tell me Tony isn't trying to poach you. Good help is so hard to find, and I didn't write a no compete clause in your contract."
"Remus and I go way back," Tony supplied. "Like I grew up with him way back."
Remus nodded, shutting down the display.
Nathan handed Tony some more papers. "I ran it a couple more times, but . . ." Nathan stopped, looking at Remus. Tony looked over at his one time friend.
"Its okay, you can speak freely around Remus, I know he will keep my secrets."
"How is he?"
"Good, we spent a couple of hours talking last night, he should be going in for surgery, but I wouldn't know. The doctors won't tell me anything even though I am the bio dad."
"Oh good Lord, you procreated?" Remus snorted, not hiding his mirth. "James and Lily would get a kick out of this . . ."
At least Tony knew then that Remus didn't know that Harry was his child.
Tony opened his mouth to retort, but his phone buzzed again.
Pepper . . . again.
He sent her to voicemail again.
"Laugh it up Lupin," Tony mumbled. Firing a text to Pepper.
Busy.
Tony, call me now, it's urgent.
Tony shook his head.
"I have to make a call, sorry, my assistant says it is urgent." Tony sighed, giving in to his assistant. "Pepper, this better be urgent, I am kind of in the middle of something."
"Tony, well . . ." Pepper hesitated, not knowing what to say. After a second she figured the most direct route would be best with him. Tony did not do well with talking around things. "Oh God Tony, Harry is missing."
AN: If any of you remember the original, well you know that this chapter is a completely new. I just let the muse take me wherever. Give me ideas on pairings, how soon do we want to introduce Padfoot, also if anyone knows anything about the custody laws in the UK, let me know, or else we are just going to get what I can find on google. As always, reviews rock my socks.