hr

"Sir, Director Carter is requesting admittance."

JARVIS' voice startled Tony, who had been immersed in the final designs for Bucky's newest arm. The placement of the small Arc Reactor in the shoulder was vital to powering the new limb, but not until Tony found a replacement for the palladium. In the month since he'd been home, Tony's time had focused on his family, SI, and finding a solution to the heavy metal poisoning which was just making itself known.

At JARVIS' announcement, Tony straightened in his seat and rubbed a hand over his face. Even with talking to the mind healer and Dreamless Sleep Potion twice a week, his nightmares still limited his sleep to, at best, a few hours per night. A particular nasty one had him up at 3am and, while he'd been productive, his lack of sleep was catching up with him.

"Let her in, JARVIS," Tony told him, tapping the image on the glass flatscreen to minimize it.

The reenforced door swung open to admit Peggy Carter, dressed immaculately in tailored black trousers and a blue blouse, despite it being 7am. She shook her head when she saw him, stepping around his workbench to wrap her arms around his shoulders.

"Still not sleeping?" Peggy asked as she kissed his cheek.

Instead of fussing, Tony leaned into her, basking in the warmth of her touch. "It's complicated."

Peggy stepped back, her hands resting on his shoulders, eyes examining his tired face. "Then start taking naps, Anthony! They aren't reserved just for toddlers, you know."

Tony lips twitched upwards, remembering how Anna used to lay down with him when he was Harry's age. Footsteps pulled him out of his thoughts and Tony looked around Peggy to see Bucky carry in a medium sized pelican case.

"Where do you want this, Peg?" Bucky asked softly.

"Over by the couch, so Tony can be comfortable while he goes through it."

"Morning, Frosty," Tony greeted Bucky. "What's this?"

"It's all the personal effects Howard left behind at SHIELD when he resigned," Peggy told him, nodding a thanks to Bucky.

"What's in it?" Tony asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Peggy glanced at Bucky, who was turning to leave, but she shook her head. "You better stay, James."

Tony snickered at the eye-roll Bucky gave her, reaching for the cup of coffee that just popped up on his workbench. "Thanks, Taffy!"

"I'm gonna call you Margret," Bucky muttered threateningly as he moved back to the workbench.

"Only once, Buchanan!" Peggy snarked back, sitting elegantly on one of the stools. "I haven't been through what Howard left for you, and I don't think anyone else has either, as the trunk has been in my office closet since 1991. I know he refused to work with Zola—"

"The HYDRA Zola?" Bucky interrupted, an appalled expression on his face. "The one who tortured me?"

"The very same," Peggy confirmed grimly. "He was brought into SHIELD by Colonel Phillips after the war, in the belief he could aide our scientists to improve on the projects we were working on. After Howard found the Tesseract, he concentrated on attempting to harness the energy it produced and, I thought, stayed away from some of the other more questionable, experiments. The attempt to reproduce the Serum was all Zola and I didn't know Howard had become involved again." She took a deep breath. "I don't know whether there were any of his research notes in the trunk concerning the development, as he was supposed to deliver all his notes that night, along with the packages of Serum they'd managed to produce."

Peggy reached out to lay a hand on Bucky's flesh arm. "I hate to bring this up, for both of you, but do you remember if there were any file folders that night, James?"

Bucky shook his head, his face frozen and his eyes blank. "No, just a chrome case, noth—nothing else." He took a deep breath, his expression devastated. "Tony, again, I'm so sorry."

Tony nodded, swallowing hard as he struggled to contain his own swirling emotions. "What's this about, Peggy?"

"Specifically, I've heard some rumblings since you were kidnapped, Tony, about a secondary research path toward recreating Super Soldiers." Peggy tapped a manicured nail on the top of the work bench. "I think they're still trying to make Super Soldiers even now."

"Make them?" Bucky sounded as confused as Tony felt. "Without the serum?"

Peggy gave him a sympathetic look. "Do you remember HYDRA taking blood samples from you, Bucky? Or any other type of biological samples?"

"Yeah." Bucky shrugged; his eyes haunted. "Every time they dragged me out of cryofreeze, they took blood."

Nodding, Peggy looked at Tony. "Do you remember Howard taking blood from you?"

Tony slowly shook his head. "Not that I can specifically remember, but I don't recall him injecting me with the serum either." He sighed heavily. "Then again, he feed me enough alcohol to get me drunk on many occasions from the time I was six, so I'm really not sure what he might have done."

"Bastard," Bucky muttered, crossing his arms.

"That he was," Tony agreed, meeting Peggy's eyes. "Are we talking about artificial insemination or human cloning?"

"Both," Peggy answered. "I know for a fact that samples were taken from Steve Rogers after he underwent the procedure. Dr. Erskine had told him it was required before he volunteered, as they would need to test his blood to make sure everything was all right after the procedure. Steve mentioned they also took skin and sperm samples."

"What the fuck!" Tony and Bucky exclaimed together.

Tony gritted his teeth when a truly horrendous thought occurred to him. "Do you know if SHIELD has scientists doing human genome experiments?"

The widening of Peggy's eyes told him she knew exactly what he was thinking, but slowly shook her head.

"What the hell is that?" Bucky gave him a wide-eyed look.

"Replacing the DNA of one person with the DNA of another individual or graphing them into an already fertilized egg," Tony explained. "I know there are scientific studies going on in the UK working on that, as well as cloning or duplicating a person from their own cells."

"And Erskine's formula was designed to change Steve clear down to the cellular level." Peggy added.

Rubbing a hand down his face, Tony sighed. "Which means the effects of the serum would most likely pass down to any children he fathered."

Peggy nodded. "And don't forget, if they have magicals working for them, it's not that hard to brew a Blood Adoption Potion or even do a ritual with someone's blood."

Tony could feel a headache begin across his forehead and took a deep breath. "All right, we'll have to readjust our priority list, putting Howard's trunk at the top. See what that might reveal." He turned toward Bucky. "How's the arm holding up?"

"It's fine, Tony," Bucky assured him. "You've already revamped this one a couple times and have other things—"

"Bucky," Tony interrupted. "I got the new one designed, I just need to find the right metal to make it lighter and see if we can't do something about the shoulder mount. I want to make sure the new one is as comfortable as possible."

"This one's fine for now!"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the stubborn man, Tony turned to Peggy. "When do you officially retire?"

"Well, in light of the recent HYDRA infestation, I'll probably be working several more months yet." Peggy shook her head. "I'd really like to get someone in to examine the computers before word of our crackdown has them destroying files."

Tony exchanged a glance with Bucky. "Well, with the Potter Invisibility cloak and Rhodey's help, we could probably get that done."

"I'll set it up, how about weekend after next for the closest facility?"

"SHIELD isn't on the internet?" Bucky asked, looking puzzled. "HYDRA was all about brute force and stealth skills, but I was trained on how to get into computer systems several years ago."

Tony would never admit to being gob smacked, but he felt it. "The internet only went public in 1993!"

Bucky smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "I seemed to take to it."

"Well—"

"Papa!"

Harry's voice interrupted him and Tony turned toward the open door. His son was making his way carefully down the stairs and Tony walked around the workbench in order to catch his son as he ran in.

"Bambino!" Tony smothered his face in kisses.

"Papa!" Harry tried to protest, burying his face in Tony's shoulder. "Stop! Taffy says breakfast is ready!"

"Is Daddy already up?" Tony spun Harry around.

"He's eatin' all the bacon, Papa!" Harry sounded indignant.

"Uncle Bucky may have some objections to that," Tony whispered loudly, leading the way out of the workshop.

hr

Two nights later, Tony had just put Harry to bed, the Bucky Bear he kept iborrowing/i from Bucky tucked up with him. Sirius met him in the foyer and drew him in for a hug and a quick kiss.

"Any problems?" he asked quietly, as Harry was going through a bit of a clingy stage.

Relaxing into Sirius' lean form, Tony sighed. "A little, but Bucky Bear seems to help." He pulled away slightly. "I think we need to get him his own set."

"Harry can keep that set," Bucky' voice called out.

"Maybe you can ishare/i the bears," Tony led the way down into the living room. "It would break Harry's heart if he felt you didn't like his special gift, Barnes!"

Bucky was standing in front of the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city, a bottle of beer in his hand. "Maybe you're right."

Tony heard the sigh Bucky made and Sirius caught his eye, frowning toward the former assassin. Tony gave a slight shake of his head as he walked over to join the man. He'd shared Peggy's conversation with Sirius, who had been outraged by the possibility of babies being created with such methods.

"You still brooding, old man?" Tony kept his tone light and teasing as he stepped up beside Bucky.

"Yeah," Bucky muttered, then taking a swig of his bottle. "I'm not sure which bothers me more: that I might have a child out there I don't know of or the ones who didn't make it through the experimentations."

Tony felt his face blanch; he'd not stopped to actually think through what might happen to the babies who were created by HYDRA. The thought had his stomach twisting with nausea and the breath catching painfully in his chest.

"Shit!"

A warm hand grabbed his left wrist and Sirius' arm wrapped around his waist as Tony felt lightheaded.

"Fuck! I hadn't even had time to think through the situation that far!" Tony was devastated at the thoughts swirling his mind.

"We'll go to Gringotts, Bucky," Sirius promised the other man. "They should be able to tell you whether there are any children related to you by blood."

"They won't be able to tell us how many of the attempts failed, however," Tony whispered.

"We need to get into their computers as soon as possible," Bucky stated firmly. "See if we can find out where the bastards are doing this, because most of the documentation at HYDRA is still paper files."

Tony turned his hand over and slid it up to grasp Bucky's hand. While he was pretty sure the heritage test he'd taken in London would have shown if he had any other living children, but they'd had Bucky for fifty years. He shuttered to think what they might find, but he knew what they would do if they found any children.

"If there are—if we find any kids out there, yours or Steve's, we'll bring them home, Bucky," Tony promised.

Bucky turned his head, his eyes searching Tony's face and he gave a sharp nod. They all stood there for a few more minutes, before Tony tugged on Bucky's hand before releasing it.

"Let's go down and see what we can find in Howard's trunk," he suggested, looking between Bucky and Sirius. "It'll be like a treasure hunt."

The lab wasn't as big as the one he had in Malibu, but it was comfortable for the three of them to gather around the trunk. Bucky sat on one of the rolling stools, while Sirius sat on the couch beside him. It took several minutes to figure out how the lock worked as it resisted Bucky's attempts to break it.

"Go figure," Tony muttered when the latest combination worked. "Captain America's birthdate."

Bucky stared at him. Tony knew he'd ranted a bit about Howard's obsession with Steve Rogers, but he apparently hadn't thought Tony was serious. He arched an eyebrow at the man, while Sirius looked between them. Lifting the lid, Tony let it fall to the side as they all looked at the contents. On the top were several rolled up blueprints and binders, with a film canister.

"JARVIS, find a projector for 8mm film, please." Tony asked the AI as he lifted the canister. "Here, dogman, see what this is, will you?"

Tony handed him a binder full of papers and reached for a second one underneath it, which he handed to Bucky. "Here's one for you, Frosty."

Bucky gave him a deadpan look as he took the binder and braced it in his metal hand as he gingerly opened the cover. Reaching in again, Tony took out a stack of notebooks and set them on his lap. Opening the first one, he found it was about the 1974 Stark Expo. As he began to thumb through the pages, Dum-E appeared carrying a case, which turned out to be the right projector for the film.

"Tony, this contains all the notes on your father's search for Rogers in the Arctic." Sirius held up a list of coordinates. "Apparently, there are also maps in the trunk which show what areas they had searched."

Nodding, Tony paused in setting up the projector to look over what Sirius had found. "Well, I was always sure his expeditions to the Artic were stupid, but considering what Bucky survived, I guess it is plausible that the Serum could have put Rogers into a state of suspended animation when he was frozen."

"There's a chance Steve is still alive?" Bucky whispered, looking from Sirius to Tony.

"Possibly," Tony agreed, considering what they now knew. "Sirius, see if they have the last known coordinates on the Valkyrie in the notes and we'll have a place to start."

"Won't we have to factor in the gravitational drift and seasonal ice shifting?" Bucky inquired.

Lifting his head, Tony looked at Bucky with wide eyes. He knew James Barnes was an intelligent man and Peggy had said that between he and Rogers, Bucky was the smart one, and he was awestruck to have that proven true.

"A simple algorithm should help with that," Tony suggested and watched Bucky brighten at his words. "Let's separate all these into categories and we'll prioritize them, because you're right, Buckaroo, we'd have to do all the calculations. I know I'd rather find Captain America before SHIELD or HYDRA finds him."

"Magic might help us in finding him as well, Bucky." Sirius smiled as he carefully set the binder to one side and slid down to the floor. "I'm going to see if I can find the maps it was talking about."

Bucky gave him a small smile. "Thank you and I'll help in any way I can."

"Try not to get your hopes up too high, though," Tony said softly, concerned how Bucky would handle another blow if they couldn't find his friend.

"I won't."

With coaching from JARVIS, Tony figured out the projector and began to watch the reel. Bucky's head popped up as well as soon as he heard Howard's voice. A look of profound sadness flitted over the man's usually stoic face and Tony felt bad.

"You want me to turn it off?" he asked quietly.

"No," Bucky shook his head, eyes still glued to the wall where the image was projected.

Sirius looked up as they watched Howard try to get his presentation right, while dealing with a four-year-old Tony, and Tony silently sighed as he saw the highball glass Howard had seemed perpetually filled with scotch. He was about to turn the projector off when Howard once again spoke, calling his name. The three of them watched Howard as he told Tony about the new element he'd discovered, but couldn't synthesize.

Tony stared at the wall as the film ended, trying to understand what it was about the Expo that would give him the information his father had left for him.

"Where is that model?" Sirius asked.

Tony frowned. "The one in the background?"

Bucky nodded with Sirius. "I think he meant that's where the information was."

His eyes widened when Tony realized what they were saying. "Taffy!"

The little elf appeared immediately. "Yes Master Tony?"

"I need a couple of house-elves who are familiar with my office in Los Angeles to retrieve the model of the Stark 1974 Expo. Have them bring it to my Malibu lab."

"Wes do it, Master Tony!" Taffy disappeared.

"JARVIS, when the model gets there, could you kindly Vac-U-Form a digital wire frame? I need a manipulatable projection."

"Yes, Sir."

"Tony?" Bucky looked up, the binder he'd been looking at in his hands. "These are notes on Project Insight and about the effect of the Serum. There's even the unofficial report on the experimentation Peggy took from me after Steve brought us back from Azzano."

Tony slid the reel of film back into the trunk, then leaned toward Bucky. "Why would he have those?"

"Maybe he was trying to gather evidence on Zola?" Bucky asked as he continued to page through the binder. "There aren't any notes about creating the Serum, though."

"Damn," Tony swore and speared a hand through his hair. "All right, let's see what else we can find."

Between them, they uncovered blue prints for the original Arc reactor that powered the Los Angeles factory, as well as evidence that Howard's co-creator on the project had sold US secrets to the Soviet government. Tony set those to the side for the moment, finding a new element and Steve Rogers the two top priorities at the moment. Nowhere in the contents was there any evidence that Howard had worked with Zola to try and create more Super Soldiers.

There was also no evidence Howard was aware of Zola's continued HYDRA connections.

"Sir, the 1974 Stark Exposition model is ready for viewing." JARVIS' voice sounded loud in the lab.

Tony sat up and stretched out his back. "Put it on the screen, J."

The model appeared on the glass monitor above the workbench and Tony swept a finger over it to spin the model. While the glass touchscreen was one of the most advanced tech that Tony had created, it had its limitations. He muttered instructions to JARVIS to change the perspective and lose some of the extraneous elements of the map. The unisphere caught his eye and Tony paused to study its position among the other pavilions.

"Highlight the unisphere, J, and move the model until it is in the middle." Tony stared at the model.

"Sort of looks like a nucleus," Bucky muttered, staring at the screen.

"Son of a bitch!" Tony exclaimed. "Still teaching me lessons from the grave!"

"What is it?" Sirius asked, frowning at the displayed image.

"A new element – Howard apparently discovered it, but couldn't synthesize it in 1974."

"Will it work as a replacement for the reactor?" Bucky inquired, Artic map in his hand momentarily forgotten.

"It should," Tony answered. "As soon as I find the closest particle accelerator."

"The new element should serve as an acceptable replacement for the palladium, Sir." JARVIS confirmed. "Also, there is a particle accelerator large enough for the synthesizing at the Stark Industries factory in Hoboken."

Sirius held up a handful of metal scraps from the trunk. "There's a note that says these are Vibranium."

"Just what we need to anchor the new element to make a core!" Tony clapped his hands, a relieved grin on his face.

In the end, creating the element was anticlimactic, especially with Bucky and the house-elves assistance. The trunk, minus the notes and maps on the search for the Valkyrie, was repacked and stored in the Stark vault in Gringotts New York branch. The stress the whole household had been under, eased as soon as the new core was in his arc reactor. Bucky had put off his ancestry test as he dove into working with JARVIS on trying to plot the trajectory of the Valkyrie.

hr

Tony's birthday snuck up on him. He'd not been keeping track of the time since he'd escaped captivity just under two months, with all the other things he needed to get done. Rhodey showing up on a random Tuesday should have told him something, but Tony just gave him a hug as he appeared at his side between meetings at SI. His best friend swept him off to lunch at one of Tony's favorite sushi restaurants in Manhattan, something they hadn't done, just the two of them, in years.

Sirius and Bucky met them at the Woolworth Building after lunch, as Bucky had an appointment with the goblins and Sirius wanted to do some shopping. Rhodey hadn't had the chance to see the shopping district yet and Tony smirked, knowing his Honey Bear would be wowed. Bucky was a bit twitchy and Tony guessed it was partly the heritage test as well as leaving Harry at the penthouse. Despite the knowledge that Harry was in class with Remus, along with a virtual battalion of house-elves to protect him, Tony knew he was anxious about leaving. Arcturus was also visiting and was still a formidable wizard.

Sirius led the way into Gringotts with Tony behind him, both of them nodding their head in acknowledgement of the goblin guards' bow. Rockjaw was standing near the Chief teller's desk when they walked in and Tony headed toward him, a hand on Bucky's elbow.

"Good afternoon, Rockjaw." Tony grinned as he reached to shake the goblin's hand. "You look to be in a fine mood this afternoon."

"Indeed I am, Tony!" The goblin guided them down the elaborately decorated hallway. "I am most pleased with the new investments we've made, especially those from the Carbonnell and Emrys vaults. Lord Black is also very pleased by the returns to the investments he had made in the mundane world, especially those in the businesses you suggested."

"And the children's homes?" Tony asked as they entered Rockjaw's office.

"The London facility is running smoothly, the children, house-elves, and the employees are happy. The New York facility is at about 60% capacity and running smoothly." Rockjaw sat behind the desk. "Although, I think a visit might be in order as it opened just before you were able to escape captivity, so you haven't gone by yet."

Tony winced; he'd forgotten all about his promise to take Harry over to visit the children. "We'll make time in the next week or so, Rockjaw, things have just been crazy."

"Is that what we are calling three months in captivity now, crazy?" Bucky deadpanned.

"Shush you." Tony wagged a finger at him as he sat down in front of Rockjaw's desk.

"Good morning, Mr. Barnes," Rockjaw acknowledged him with a nod of his head, and Tony could see everything they needed on the top of the desk. "I'm sure Tony has explained the procedure to you."

Bucky nodded; his hands clenched in his lap. It wasn't the first time he'd come into Gringotts with Tony and Harry, but he'd never been directly addressed.

"Then, shall we begin?"

Tony watched as Bucky stood and leaned over the desk, silently going through the ritual as it had been explained to him. The seven drops of blood swirled into the golden potion covering the bottom of the shallow bowl as Bucky watched in amazement, his palm already healed. Rockjaw slid the glittering parchment into the bowl and they all watched as the swirling red became writing. Rhodey looked as fascinated by the magic as Bucky did and stood on the man's other side, watching avidly.

When the bowl dissolved, Rockjaw looked over the family tree with interest. "This shows your mother was a Macmillan, one of the founding wizarding families of Great Britian. You're also distantly related to Sirius and the Black family through that link. Your father's family are primarily Irish-Scots warrior mages."

Tony followed the red script down until he found Bucky's name and his heart sunk. There were two gold lines coming off his name, both ending in numbers: 017 and 079. There was also another name attached to the numbers by a gold strand: Steven Grant Rogers. A million and one scenarios rolled around in his mind, all progressively more heinous, and Tony's heart went out to Bucky – HYDRA had taken so much from him already. This was a nightmare worse than they could have imagined.

Bucky staggered back, falling into the chair as his fingers reached out to trace the golden stitching. "Goblin Rockjaw, what does this mean?"

Tapping his fingers on the desk, Rockjaw contemplated the family tree in front of him. "It seems to designate that you share one or both of these children with Steven Rogers."

"How can that be possible?" Bucky whispered.

"There's no indication of a mother, so probably not through a blood potion," Sirius observed.

"Damn HYDRA and their experiments!" Tony swore. "Either attempting to clone you or genetic splicing of some type, I think."

"But how would they get blood from Steve?"

"Probably took a number of samples after he underwent the procedure with the serum," Rhodey suggested. "Likely under the guise of studying what had changed during the process and to make sure he was all right."

"Is there any way we can track them down?" Tony asked, watching Bucky shutdown, his face turning to stone.

Rockjaw pursed his lips. "Anchoring a blood-based tracking spell is easier than searching for someone by blood, but there was an ancient ritual which may be of help. Sirius, there may also be applicable spells documented in the Black Family library, if you could ask Lord Black to look for us."

Sirius nodded. "I will, Rockjaw, and any expense, please take out of our family vault."

"Sirius—" Bucky began, before Tony cut him off.

"You are part of our family, James Buchanan Barnes! And don't you dare deny it, as it would break Harry's heart. We are going to find these kids and they will be raised with Harry as the siblings he wants."

Bucky stared down at the parchment, but nodded his head in agreement, before whispering. "Thank you."

Tony called for two of the house-elves to take he and Bucky back to the penthouse, while Sirius took Rhodey into the shopping area. Without a word, Bucky went directly to his room, parchment in hand, and Tony watched him with worried eyes. He felt he'd come to know to know James Barnes pretty well in the past six-months and knew Bucky would blame himself for everything. The two children he hadn't know about, plus the seventy-seven iattempts/i who hadn't survived the experimentation.

"Taffy?"

The house-elf popped up beside him. "Master Tony?"

"Will you please send up some hot chocolate and cookies to Bucky's room?"

"Right away, Master Tony."

Throwing his suit jacket over the back of a chair, Tony climbed up the stairs, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. He had no idea what he could say to Bucky to help, but he wasn't going to let him deal with it by himself. The door to Bucky's bedroom was ajar and Tony pushed it open silently, to find Bucky curled in a ball on his bed, face buried in his hands.

"All right, up you get!" Tony clapped his hands, before he reached out slowly to pull on Bucky's shoulder. "Let's get you into something softer, Buck."

Bucky allowed himself to be manhandled and changed into a pair of sweat pants and a tee-shirt. Taffy's hot chocolate and a plate of cookies sat on the bedside table as Tony opened his arms. With a sob, Bucky fell into his embrace and wrapped his arms around Tony. With silent thanks to his son, Tony held on, his own emotions swirling in his chest. To find his son had had his magical core blocked and left to an abusive family had been bad enough, he couldn't imagine the pain Bucky was feeling. To know he had two surviving children somewhere, even now possibly, being experimented on.

"We'll find them, Bucky. Both Steve and the kids, we'll find them, I promise," Tony assured him, moving them both to sit on the edge of the bed. "I—"

"Papa? Why is Uncle Bucky sad?" Harry stood in the doorway, his hands tugging at the hem of his shirt.

"Come here, Bambino," Tony extracted one arm to motion his child into the room. "Uncle Bucky had some sad news today and could use a cuddle."

Harry walked over and patted Bucky on the knee. The man pulled far enough out of the embrace to allow Harry to climb up into his lap and under his arm, which Bucky then wound around Harry. He continued to lean against Tony as Harry tucked his head under his chin. Tony loosened his hold, drawing his hand back to rub circles on Bucky's upper back, as he did when Harry was upset. Bucky drew a shuddering breath, before drawing away from Tony, but keeping Harry in his lap.

Tony took the opportunity to pick-up a mug of chocolate and pressing it into Bucky's free hand. "Sip on this, Buckster, it has medicinal properties."

Harry shifted until his back was against Bucky's chest, his one hand gripping the metal arm Bucky had around his waist. "Can I have a biscuit, Papa? I'll share it with Uncle Bucky."

Smothering a laugh at Harry's expression, Tony carefully handed him a cookie. "I think there are enough, if Bucky wants one of his own."

Tony ended up giving his hot chocolate to Harry and slipping out of the room when his son started whispering to Bucky. With a smile on his face, his chest feeling a little lighter, Tony went down the stairs to his workshop, only to find Rhodey already there. His best friend stood up as he walked in.

"Sirius explained what was going on, how can I help?"

They spent the next few hours going through the HYDRA notes Bucky had given them, plus the intelligence Aunt Peggy had acquired during her investigation. They were able to identify two possible facilities in the New York and Washington DC areas that warranted investigation. Bucky had given them information on a bunker in Siberia where he had remembered being iconditioned/i to become the Winter Soldier, but it was a training facility for him and five other Soldiers, he'd never seen any other experimentation. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Bucky had been moved around to other facilities in Europe until he was sent to the United States.

The abandoned SHIELD facility at Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, appeared to be the best place to start, as Peggy had said it was Zola's base up until his death in 1972. The HYDRA location in Washington was a maintenance facility for the Asset, but might be a means for them to get into the internal computer system. Once they were able to gather information, they should be able to pinpoint where the experimentation labs were located. It was frustrating, akin to looking for a needle in a haystack without a magnet, as Tony didn't have all the necessary variables.

After an unusually quiet dinner with Rhodey, Sirius, Harry, and Bucky, Tony had grabbed his best friend and returned to the lab. They dug into the notes Howard had left on his search of the Artic waters for the Valkyrie and Captain America. The Tesseract had been easy to find, with the unique energy it gave off, however using that as the starting point for the search for the Valkyrie hadn't gone as well.

"What were the last coordinates transmitted from the plane, before contact was lost?" Rhodey asked as he studied the map of the search area.

Looking around the messy workbench, Tony found the folder of notes under another map and handed it to Rhodey. "Rogers was talking as they lost contact with him, and I think there is an audio recording, if that would help."

"No, I'm trying to calculate how fast the plane was moving as its obvious to me that the Tesseract somehow dropped out of the plane before he ditched it," Rhodey told him, before looking up at Tony. "Why didn't he just eject before it crashed?"

Tony blinked at him before shrugging. "I actually have no idea, Honey Bear."

"Hmmm." Rhodey turned back toward the map. "You don't think—"

"What?" Tony asked, trying to think where his friend was going with the conversation.

"Well, this all happened within days of Bucky falling from the train," Rhodey observed. "I just wonder what Rogers' frame of mind was."

The thought hadn't ever crossed his mind and, apparently, hadn't ever occurred to his father, either, as Howard had never spoken of anything other than Rogers' heroism and innate goodness. He'd have to ask Bucky what he thought, but later, not until his emotions settled a little.

Tony was surprised when Rhodey started to put things away at midnight and was then hustled upstairs. Sirius was waiting in the living room for them and Tony was about to protest when he caught the gleam in Sirius' eye. Rhodey rolled his eyes and be lined for his own room, telling Tony that Bucky was watching over Harry for the night, while Sirius dragged him into their bedroom.

Later, boneless and sated, Tony had no trouble falling asleep. Sirius had even had the foresight to spell on his sleep pants, which came in handy when Harry bounced on top of him in the middle of the night.

"Happy birthday, Papa!"

Startled, both by the child and the greeting, Tony groaned and rolled to the side, capturing Harry against his chest. "Munchkin! It's the middle of the night! And it can't be my birthday!"

"Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday!" Harry kissed his nose and laughed as Tony tickled him.

"Actually, love, it's almost 7am, and Harry wanted to have breakfast with you before he had to go to school." Sirius set a mug of coffee on the bedside table, before scooping Harry into his arms. "Happy Birthday, Tony."

"Uncle Bucky and I helped Taffy make waffles, Papa!" Harry bounced in Sirius' arms as he was carried out of the room.

Shaking his head, Tony couldn't help but grin as he quickly showered and dressed. He had honestly forgotten the date; with all they had going on. Heading to the kitchen, Tony found his makeshift family gathered around the table, all with huge smiles. A Belgian waffle sat at his usual place, blueberry eyes and a whipped cream smile, and a candle in the middle. With a snap of her fingers, Taffy lit the candle as Tony approached and Harry cheered as he blew it out. Hugs from Pepper, Peggy, Rhodey, and even Bucky, a kiss from Sirius, were enough manhandling, and Tony was grateful to just get nods from Happy, Arcturus, and Remus.

Breakfast was chaotic and Tony loved it. He'd spent too much of his life by himself, mostly by his own choice, but he preferred this cluttered, noisy version. Harry climbed into his lap as soon as he was finished eating and hugged him tight.

"Daddy says we can't give you presents until dinnertime," he pouted and gave Tony his best sad eyes.

Tony laughed, marveling over how much Harry had grown in the past eleven months. "Which is good, otherwise you and Remus would be late to class." He kissed Harry on the nose and set him down.

Everyone disbursed to their own jobs and activities, while Tony padded down to his workshop. Today was his day and he was going to spend it finalizing the Mark II armor he'd built over the past weeks. JARVIS would fabricate the completed suit at the Hoboken facility, where Tony would go to do flight testing this weekend. Tonight, there was a family dinner to celebrate and Friday night his birthday gala to raise money for the Maria Stark Foundation.

After that, they would move on the plans they had to eradicate HYDRA, locate the Valkyrie, and find the children.

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