Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading! I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

Adjustment

It had been three days since he'd brought Penny Parker to the tower to live with him, and all things considered, Tony would say that it had been a success. Pepper didn't fully agree…not that she didn't like the kids. She did. More than he'd expected her to. She'd taken them both shopping on Sunday, and unlike him, she had no trouble making conversation with the two of them. Tish remained easy to talk to, just like the first day they'd met. The nearly two hours they'd spent watching Moana on Sunday night had been the longest stretch of quiet they'd gotten from her so far, and even then she'd whispered to Penny off and on, asking questions that Penny continued to answer with an amused "I don't know, Tish, I haven't seen it before!" He'd learned so far that she loved cooking, especially with Pepper teaching her, and pancakes were her favorite breakfast, but she thought omelets were fun too. Tony privately thought she just liked flipping things in the skillet.

On Monday afternoon, he'd found her in the kitchen after school, standing in front of their pantry with her hands behind her back like that might keep her from touching anything. And, not seeing Pepper around anywhere, he'd decided that it was up to him to make conversation.

"Hey, kiddo. How was school?" It had struck him as a ridiculously 'dad' thing to say, but Tish hadn't seemed to think it was weird. Instead, she'd spun around, eyes wide with surprise before she'd relaxed a little.

"Hi Mr. Stark. It was fine…how was…work? Do you have a job?" she'd wondered, cocking her head, and he'd had to chuckle.

"I do."

"What do you do?"

"Research and development mostly. I work in the lab and build things. Phones. Watches. I work on renewable energy projects. Sometimes I go to meetings."

"Do you still talk to the Avengers?"

"Um…sometimes. Mostly I meet with government people, or people that work for my company."

"Did you build the phone that Pepper gave me?"

"I built the plans for it. The ones that go out to the public are mass produced."

She'd seemed to think, nodding a little, and he'd found himself smiling at this impromptu game of 20 questions, deciding to ask one of his own.

"Do you want something to eat?"

She had nodded, glancing again at the open pantry. "I didn't know if I was allowed," Tish had confided.

That had made his chest hurt, and he'd dropped a hand onto her shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. "You're allowed. Eat whatever you want, whenever you want. Kitchen's always open. And if there's something you want that we don't have, just write it on the list." He'd jerked his chin towards the Iron Man themed pad of paper stuck to the refrigerator, grinning when she noticed it for the first time and smiled.

"Do you go grocery shopping?"

"Rarely. I have an assistant that does that for the most part. Or we'll order grocery delivery. Sometimes Pepper likes to go to the farmer's market."

"Do people stop you and stuff when you go outside?"

"Sometimes."

"Do you mind?"

"Not really. They're usually nice people." That had been a bit of an exaggeration, but she'd accepted it anyway. Then he had gestured once more to the pantry and she'd grabbed a canister of mixed nuts, giving him one last glance as if to make sure it was okay. "Do you think Penny wants anything?"

She'd shrugged. "She's not here. She's out being Spider-Girl."

If Tish was an open book, then Penny Parker was one with the pages glued shut. At least with him. He didn't know if it was because she didn't trust him or if she was afraid, but the most conversation he tended to get from Penny was a 'good morning' when he saw her at breakfast and a 'good night' before bed. And, of course, the 'thank you' he got every time she was given food. Happy reported that she'd told him she didn't need him to pick her up after school, and Tony had assured him that was fine. She was out doing her spider thing, just like he'd told her she could. Each day that week she had climbed in through her balcony before dinner, and she alway helped clean up after they finished eating. She was polite to a fault and patient and gentle with Tish. She would even chat a little with Pepper at meals sometimes.

He had no idea how to make her feel more welcome than he already had. She didn't seem interested in talking to him, unlike Tish who had moved on to asking questions about Iron Man and the various missions he'd gone on. She only really showed up at mealtimes, and Tony wasn't sure how to remedy that, or even if he should. He wasn't her father. Just a guardian, and barely that. She didn't need anyone keeping tabs on her or giving her rules or anything like that. She took care of herself. Besides, he told himself, he was busy. Like he'd told Tish, he had actual work to do. Meetings to take. Phone calls with Ross to put off until the last possible minute.

And, as was the case on the Thursday after he'd first brought Penny and Letitia to live with him, Rhodey to visit. His friend was finally up for visitors, according to Helen Cho who had gone to work as the head doctor on his case, and so at 10:15 in the morning, he stepped into his best friend's hospital room.

Rhodey was sitting up when Tony arrived, and he grinned at his friend, the relief making it impossible for him to keep up his usual mask of cool nonchalance. "Hey, buddy. How are you feeling?"

He still saw it nearly every time he closed his eyes…Rhodey falling. His best friend plummeting to the ground in a dead suit. The blood running from his nose…the cold, icy fear gripping his heart. Because he'd given Rhodey that suit and he'd brought him to that fight and he'd been the one who'd failed to catch him.

"Hey, Tones. I'm alright. Going to be starting physical therapy soon and everything to try and get me back on my feet, so you can stop looking like that."

"Don't know what you mean, platypus. They treating you alright in here?"

"They are. They let me watch TV and everything," his friend told him with a raised eyebrow. "Speaking of TV…"

"What kind of physical therapy are we talking? You need any help? I'm working on the armor and…"

"Tony, when did you decide to adopt two children?"

Tony sighed, running a hand over his face. He'd known that his friend had to know…everyone did. Hell, even the 'rogue Avengers' as the press was calling them now probably knew. The press conference on Monday had gotten plenty of coverage, even if Tony hadn't given the names of either of the girls, or any identifying information. As expected, his request for privacy had been completely ignored as the less reputable news outlets had started digging, which was why Happy still drove the girls to school, and drove Tish home. "I didn't adopt two children. I am fostering two children."

"Tell me this isn't some publicity stunt bullshit for Ross."

Tony met his eyes, jaw going tight, and the offense obviously showed on his face despite his best efforts. "No. Of course not."

His friend softened a little, shifting in bed and wincing a little. "What's going on?"

Tony took a seat beside the bed in an uncomfortable metal chair, clenching his hands in his lap and wishing they could just talk about Rhodey…about how he was doing and how soon he'd get to come home. He even wished they could talk about Steve and what had happened with the Accords, and about how Tony liked to put Ross on hold, which would inevitably lead to a scolding from Rhodey and a lecture on taking the government more seriously. Because all of that was easier to explain than Penny Parker.

"She's Spider-Girl. The older girl," he explained softly. Tony knew that Penny wanted to keep her identity a secret…thus the mask…but he also knew that Rhodey would never tell. And he'd probably come by the tower as soon as he could and meet her anyway. Penny didn't seem to care that Pepper knew, so he'd just have to hope she wouldn't care if he told one more person. "I found her on Youtube and…and once I figured out that she was a fourteen-year-old girl, I started making her a suit. She was running around fighting crime in a onesie." He shook his head, smiling a little. "But then I met her and…I just wanted to ask her to help me restrain the others. I never thought it would come to an actual fight."

"I know."

If there was anyone left on the team that would give him the benefit of the doubt, it was Rhodey.

"She wasn't anything like I expected. Her foster sister took me to the library where she was working on homework and…and she told me that Penny never went to that apartment and always avoided her foster father. And…the guys at the apartment building called him a creepy fuck." Tony shook his head. "Then…then I met her and asked her to help me out and she told me that she'd help on one condition…that I get her foster sister taken out of that house."

Rhodey stared at him, and Tony could see the realization wash over his face, the pieces coming together for him like they had for Tony.

"She said that the foster father didn't mess with her anymore…but she was afraid he'd start with Tish. Wouldn't even agree to go until Letitia was away from him." He shook his head, staring at the floor for a moment. "I couldn't leave her there, Rhodey."

"Jesus, man."

Tony just nodded.

"Alright. So how's fatherhood treating you?" Rhodey asked, voice a little softer.

"I'm not their father. I'm just…giving them a safe place to stay. My lawyers are working on Letitia's case…trying to get her father out of prison. He shouldn't even be there."

"And Penny?"

Penny…Penny was the one he didn't know how to talk to. The one he couldn't figure out and was afraid to try. He couldn't be a father. He didn't know the first thing about parenting teenagers. "She does her thing. Goes to school. Does her homework. Goes on her patrols. I mostly just see her at meals."

"Does she…talk to anyone?"

Had she ever talked to anyone about what Steven Westcott had done to her? Had she ever reported him? Had anyone noticed that she was suffering in a home that strange adults had left her in after she'd lost her entire family? He had no idea, but he doubted it.

"She's fine. Takes care of herself."

It was true, even if his voice did sound hollow even to his own ears. Penny seemed mostly self-sufficient. It didn't make him any less guilty about not knowing how to talk to her.

"Tones…"

"She doesn't want to talk to me. Hell, she barely trusts me enough to be in a room with me."

"I think that's pretty normal, considering what she's been through."

"I know. So…I'm giving her space, you know? She talks to Pepper sometimes. And she looks after her sister. They're smart kids."

"Well, I'm just going to have to get out of here so I can meet my new nieces. You got any pictures?."

"Foster nieces," Tony corrected. "Barely. I'm going to get Letita back with her father. And…Penny would probably be better off with someone else…a real family. Not me." Still, he pulled out his phone and tapped on the school pictures he'd saved of each of the girls. The picture of Tish was first, appearing in a slightly blue hologram above his phone. She wore pink and purple beads in her hair and gave the camera a toothy grin.

Rhodey smiled at the picture, glancing at Tony. "What's she like?"

"Smart. Chatty. Always asking questions. On Monday she asked me if I had a job."

Rhodey chucked. "Probably thought you were Pepper's trophy husband."

"Yeah, I don't blame her. She's started asking all about the armor now. And the Avengers. Told me that Falcon was her favorite but that 'I'm cool too.' She loves Penny. It's like…like she knows that Penny would do anything to protect her."

Without being prompted, he tapped Penny's photo. The school photo had been taken while she was living with Westcott. Even if he hadn't had the time stamp, Tony would have known. She smiled at the camera, but she had bags under her eyes, her cheekbones sticking out sharply.

Rhodey's eyes dimmed a little.

"She looks better now," Tony told him. "After she got her powers…she was able to protect herself."

"No one could look at her and figure out something was wrong?"

"If they did, no one did anything about it," Tony told him bitterly.

His friend tore his eyes away from the photo and Tony minimized it, the hologram disappearing. "I'm sure you're doing fine, Tones."

He wasn't. He was failing. And he didn't know how to do any better. Penny avoided eye contact with him. She didn't come home after school until dinner time, and she usually went straight back to her room. He'd been able to feel her eyes on him when they'd watched a movie together Sunday night, and she'd actually seemed to relax after a while. But for the most part, she avoided both him and the tower. Hell, according to Friday, she slept outside every night.

"I saw that kid in Germany. She's impressive. She obviously looks up to you. Have you taken her down to the lab?"

"No…"

The idea hadn't really occurred to him. The last thing he wanted was to make Penny think she had to come to the lab and be in a room alone with him. But the more he thought, the better the idea sounded. He could have Tish come too. Maybe try and make that internship real. She was smart enough for it, after all. They both were.

"Maybe you should."

"They only have a few weeks left of school. Maybe this summer we can get a real internship started."

He didn't want to bother Pepper with the idea until it was ready, mostly because she had enough to do without adding 'design entire internship program from scratch,' but he could do it…plan projects for them to do and teach Penny how to work on the suit. His mind flashed to the classic car he'd been building on and off for years now, then dismissed it. No way Penny wanted to learn to build a car with him. But she might like working on the suit. And he could make sure she got school credit too. An internship with Stark Industries would look really good on her resume. And maybe spending some time in the lab would help her relax a little.

Talk, thankfully, turned back to the Avengers and Rhodey's rehab, and by the time he was leaving, Tony was already thinking about leg braces that would make walking easier for him. He'd already started drawing up plans for the leg braces that he hoped he never had to build…hopefully Rhodey would be able to walk fine on his own after some physical therapy. But he knew it was better to be safe than sorry, so when he got back to the tower, he had Friday pull up the plans and got to work.

When he finally resurfaced from his work that evening, it was to a text message from Pepper she'd sent hours ago, reminding him that she had a meeting and that she would be working until 8:30 and to make sure the girls got dinner.

Right. He had two kids living with him now. Kids he was supposed to be feeding. Wiping a hand over his face, Tony swore when he checked the time. 6:13. It could have been worse, he told himself as he hurried to the elevator and took it back to the penthouse. He could have been lost in his work until 1 in the morning. He could have forgotten about them entirely. He could have yelled at them for wanting to eat at all if they happened to be in his way. All popular tactics of his father. But he wasn't going to be like his father. He was going to go upstairs and cook them a late dinner and…

He smelled the pizza the second he stepped into the penthouse. Following his nose, he found Penny and Tish sitting on one of the living room sofas, eating slices of pizza right from the box that sat on the coffee table on top of what he guessed was a second box of pizza, and he felt his lips tug into an automatic smile when Penny laughed out loud.

Tony had never seen her like that…had never heard her laugh. She sounded like a kid.

She was just a kid.

"She did not," Tish was saying, shaking her head.

"Yes she did!"

"So what did you do?"

"I climbed the tree and got her spider off the roof."

Tish gave an exaggerated shudder. "No! You touched it!"

"Yep. And it tried to crawl up my arm!" Penny leaned over, walking her fingers up Tish's arm, and the girl shrieked in laughter, jerking away.

"No! Ew!"

Tony couldn't help the chuckle or the soft smile or the way he wanted to sit on the sofa with them and hear the story from the beginning. This, he realized, was who she was. Under all the fear and pain, this was the kid who had gotten super-powers and had decided to use them to help people. This was the girl that loved her sister and would do anything to protect her.

Both girls jumped a little at his laughter, and he felt a pang of sadness when Penny's smile dropped, her shoulders going stiff. Tish, on the other hand, looked sheepish. "Hi, Mr. Stark. We asked Friday if she could get you but she said you were working and you had told her not to let anyone bother you while you were working, and she told us we were allowed to order pizza for dinner. Is that okay?"

"I can pay you back," Penny put in quickly. "I asked Friday to order it."

She spoke with the air of someone ready to be scolded, moving just a little in front of Tish who dropped her eyes.

"You can order pizza anytime you want," he told her simply. "Sorry kids. It's my fault. I got caught up in the lab. Fri, change that setting. If Penny or Letitia need me, go ahead and let me know. Doesn't matter what I'm doing." Then, without any more fanfare, he took a seat on the other sofa, making sure to put plenty of room between him and Penny. "What kind are we having?"

Tish grinned. "We got cheese and Supreme."

"Sounds great. Pass me the Supreme, would you?" She did, and he took a bite of the slice, leaning back against the sofa and making sure to look completely at ease. "So. Pet spiders, huh? I guess it's fitting, considering the name."

Tish giggled, and he counted it as a victory when Penny gave a snort, rolling her eyes, her lips tugging up just a little.

"Do you save lots of household pets?"

"All the time," Tish told him. "Last week, she saved an iguana. And once, she had to chase someone's parrot all over the city."

Penny's shoulders came down a little, and she lost some of her stiffness as she grabbed another slice of pizza.

"Did you catch the parrot?" Tony asked, and once more, Tish answered for her.

"Of course she did!"

Penny gave the younger girl a soft smile, then turned to Tony. "It took almost two hours. And it bit me."

"Ingrate," he declared, and Tish giggled, sitting back and grinning and Penny who smiled back at her. "What else did the friendly neighborhood spider-kid do today?" he wondered.

And, surprise of surprises, she told him, starting hesitantly with giving tourists directions and then, when he just listened, asking the occasional question, she opened up a little more, telling him about stopping a man from stealing a woman's purse and helping a family get back into their apartment when they locked themselves out by climbing in through a window.

And as she spoke, it hit him. She wanted to tell him about her patrols. What Rhodey had said came back to him then…she'd looked up to him. It made sense. He was a literal superhero after all. But it was so hard to see through the walls of protection this girl had put up between them that he'd almost missed it. Penny was a kid. Kids wanted attention. They needed it. How long had it been since an adult had sat down with her and listened to her talk? How long since she'd felt safe enough with an adult to open up to them?

She would be safe, he vowed. She would be safe and she would feel safe and maybe he couldn't be a father but he could be something.

"You do good work, kid. Queens is lucky to have you." He took another slice of pizza and Tish grabbed the remote, turning to Penny who was staring at him, eyes wide with surprise and something else he couldn't quiet name. Maybe hope. Or maybe he was reading too much into it.

"Can we watch a movie?" Tish asked.

Penny hesitated, glancing over at him. He just ate his pizza, giving her a brief smile when she met his eyes and lifting his eyebrows in question, hoping she understood that it was up to her. He certainly wasn't about to tell them they couldn't watch a movie.

"Sure. What do you want to watch?"

Tish turned to him. "Mr. Stark? Do you want to watch a movie with us?"

Kicking his feet up, he toasted her with his slice of pizza. "Sounds good. Friday, bright up a list of movies." Friday did, bringing up every movie in her archive, and he cleared his throat. "Uh…make that a list of age appropriate movies." At least a third of the movies disappeared, and he gestured to the TV. "Pick something, Tish. You want popcorn?"

Despite the fact that they were still eating pizza, Tish nodded, and he hopped up to go make it.

It took a little while, but once he'd returned with two bowls of popcorn and they'd wrapped up in blankets, Penny relaxed, sinking into the sofa and watching Hocus Pocus despite the fact that it was nearly June. It was strange…his family had certainly never done movie nights. He couldn't say for sure if his father had ever even watched a movie. If he had, Tony had never witnessed it. And he and Pepper rarely had enough free time at the same time to sit down and watch a whole movie. But he found that he liked it. It was oddly domestic, and the three of them were just sitting in relative silence, but still. It was nice.

With only about twenty minutes left in the movie, he glanced over at the girls and saw that Tish had once more fallen asleep, her head on the pillow at the end of the sofa, her feet pressed to Penny's leg. "She almost never makes it through a whole movie if she's seen it before," Penny told him in what may have been the first unprompted thing she'd ever said to him when she saw him looking.

"Yeah? Pep's the same. Not that we watch movies all that often. But she'll nod off in the middle of a book most nights."

Penny watched him stand, following his movements as he grabbed the boxes of pizza.

"You finished?" he asked, trying to be quiet so he didn't wake Tish, and she nodded, about to sit up.

"I can get it."

"I've got it. You need anything? Water? Dessert? Pet spider?"

Her lips tugged up a little and she dropped her eyes. "No thank you."

"Alright. Let me know if that changes. Or let Friday know."

Penny nodded, and he consolidated the pizza, putting the empty box in the recycling. And then he stood there for a minute, staring at the refrigerator and wondering if he was doing this right. She was relaxing, inch by inch. He'd forgotten to feed them, which he wouldn't let happen again, but they'd taken care of themselves. And Tish seemed to like having him around. So he counted it as a win and headed back to the living room to watch the rest of the movie.

By the time Pepper stepped into the apartment at a quarter before 9, Penny had woken Tish and the girls had gone to their rooms, both wishing him a soft 'good night,' and she found him still on the sofa, staring at the empty TV. He'd wondered briefly if it was weird that a teenager and a girl who was close enough were going to bed before nine, then figured they were just going to play on their phones or something for a while.

"Tony?" Pepper asked, slipping out of her heels and sitting beside him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders on auto pilot, rubbing a hand up and down her arm as she leaned her head on his shoulder and brought her legs up beside her. "How's Rhodey?"

"He's starting physical therapy soon. He seemed okay. Doing a lot better."

"Good. How about the girls?"

"They ordered pizza for dinner."

"You forgot to stop working and eat, didn't you?"

"Yeah," he told her with a sigh. "But it was fine. They had pizza. We all watched Hocus Pocus." He paused for dramatic effect then, trying for nonchalance. "Penny told me about her patrols."

To anyone else, it would have been a completely innocuous statement. But Pepper sat up, mouth open in a little 'o' of shock, and he had to smile.

"Tony…that's great!"

"Yeah."

Pepper leaned against him again, laughing incredulously under her breath.

"Apparently she saved someone's pet spider today."

She snorted. "As long as she doesn't bring it here."

"Honestly, if it made her happy, I might be willing to live with a spider."

Pepper was quiet for a moment before pulling away, her smile soft.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What?" he asked again, and she shook her head, running a hand through her hair.

"I think you're going to be good for her."

He huffed out a laugh. "In case you forgot, I forgot to feed her today."

Pepper just kept giving him that mysterious smile, getting up and folding the blanket Penny and Tish had left on the other sofa, then draping it over the back of the couch. "Did you save any of that pizza for me?"

Tony nodded. "In the fridge. I'll get it. Sit down," he urged, jumping up to make her a plate. "Anything new going on with my company?" he called from the kitchen.

"Nothing you'd be interested in."

He laughed.

"Have you talked to Ross?"

"I put him on hold yesterday," he told her, putting the plate in the microwave. "I'm sure he'll call back."

Thanks for reading!