All Roads Lead Home
A shrill ring broke the silence in the bedroom, "Tony it's your phone." Bruce mumbled into said geniuses neck. The six people snuggled in the bed all groaned, it had to be Tony's the man who was farthest from the pile of phones on the nightstand.
"J.A.R.V.I.S, who's calling?" Tony asked cause if he was going to interrupt his sleep it had better be good.
"Mount Sinai Hospital, sir." They all were wide awake, knowing that Tony was the I.C.E for only three people who weren't in this bed, and if one of them were hurt they needed to be there for them.
"Okay J. Put the call on speaker," Clint asked the AI knowing that they would all need to deal with the conversation.
"Hello, Mr. Stark? I'm Nurse Moore with Mount Sinai emergency room. I have you listed as a contact for a woman named Mary Parker, and her daughter." The woman's voice was clear and confident. It still didn't make it hard to believe, Tony knew who Mary was they had a fun week together that involved a lot of time in a bedroom. But why was he her I.C.E, or one for her daughter? "Mrs. Parker and her husband were killed leaving you as Power of Attorney for your daughter." What?!
"He'll be there in fifteen," Natasha answered for him, as they all scrambled out of bed pulling on clothes and grabbing phones as they rushed out. "Will you need directions?" The nurse asked over the rustle of clothes. "No, we'll be fine." the red head replied back before the nurse hung up the phone.
They usher Tony out the door and endured traffic to the hospital, Bruce riding with Tony in a heavy silence processing the information, did Tony really have a daughter? What did that mean for the little family they had made? More importantly, why hadn't Mary told him told him?
The hospital came into view as Happy parked at the door letting them out before looking for parking with only a sad nod to Tony. The rest of the group was already in the ER since most of them were able to weave through the traffic on their bikes. They ran up to the desk were a nurse with curly dark hair and glasses, her name tag reading 'Moore'. "You called me about Mary Parker."
"More about her daughter. The child is currently asleep in observation right now but you are her power of attorney for the moment. Doctor Daniels should be out in a moment so please have a seat." She pointed her pen in the direction of a ginger haired woman in a suit who seemed to have a ton of paperwork around her. "Mrs. Parker's lawyer is here as well to speak with you about custody I can have her removed if you'd like." The nurse offered to them but Tony shook his head the custody stuff needed to be worked out or the girl might end up in foster care.
He approached the lawyer who seemed to be talking with Natasha. "I'm Jenna Floyd. It's terrible that we had to meet under these circumstances." She extended her hand which Tony shook. "Now to the point Mary stipulated that if she died custody of her daughter would go to you, the biological father. No, we can do a paternity test if you would like to be certain after all there must be others who have tried to get money from you by lying about children."
"Good Idea," Natasha said as Clint went to go ask the nurse if it would be possible to get a paternity test done. Tony stayed surprisingly silent as the nurse took his blood and walked away with it.
"What happens next?" Tony finally asked, either way, he couldn't leave this child to suffer alone he didn't know how good of a father he'd be but he wasn't doing it alone anymore. The woman pulled out one of the many folders she had she looked overworked, to be honest.
"Well you are listed on the birth certificate and named to take custody of Penelope in Mary's will so there shouldn't be any court appearances just some paperwork if you choose to take guardianship of her but you are free to waive your paternity rights." She explained handing Clint the file which was snatched by Tony. He opened the folder first noticing a picture of Mary, the man he assumed was her husband and there she was a little girl. She had his coloration in her hair and eyes, her chin looked like his had as a child. Penelope Parker was the name listed on the file, she had turned four a month ago. Even just looking at her picture and reading over the details of her life he was already in love.
The doctor came out with the test results with a mixed look on her face. "The test is positive, congratulations Mr.Stark you have a daughter."
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A truly astonishing amount of paperwork Penny, as she had been dubbed by Tony, was officially adopted they were bringing her home tonight, so it was all gears to finish the final details.
Which is why Natasha and Clint are at a toy store, they don't know the little girl's personality deeply since she only wanted to talk to Steve, which surprised no one, to be honest. He'd given them a list of her interests which included science, learning, and reading. So the two split up with Tasha going to the bookstore attached to the toy store. Clint looked through the more educational toys trying to find something science-y for her. Finally picking up a set of experiments that could be done with household items like shaving cream or sponges, sure Tony would bitch about being able to make better things but this will be things she can do with the none science nerds, he also picked up a leap frog because his nephew seemed to like his a lot. He knew she was smart for her age but he didn't know how much smarter, so he picked up stuff that were recommended for 2nd and 3rd graders too. They didn't need a whole lot since Penny would be bringing her stuff from home but they wanted her to feel welcome.
Clint went to find Tasha in the bookstore but the langue section caught his eye, browsing down it, he searched for any books for teaching children languages. Things like ASL and Russian which were the 'foreign' languages used the most though he still maintains that ASL is an American langue but that was neither here nor there. Ah, Bingo! He found a book of Russian folk tales which had lessons to help learn the language and an ASL dictionary. "Tasha between us and the books I figured we could help her learn." He knew the woman was beside him before he looked over, a bonus of working together for years. Clint did look over as she lifted a shopping basket which was overflowing with all kinds of books. He hoped Steve and Thor were finishing up Penny's room they were going to need those book shelves.
Across town Bruce and Tony had been all but thrown out of the tower for a while but they were given a mission go get the things from Penny's old room. It felt strange walking into the house and looking into a life that had just stopped. But they had things to do they decided to move her decorations and combine them with new things in the hope, that while space would be familiar it would make Penny too home sick and allow her to heal. Her furniture had already been moved to the tower now they just had everything else. Most of it was shades of blue with purple. The two packed up box after box. "You know Bruce I could pay someone to do this," Tony complained as the hauled boxes downstairs.
"Tony, I know that you'd rather do this yourself, complain all you want but this catches you up with her life and you want that." Bruce put the boxes in the truck they had rented. "Plus if you hired someone you'd be back in the tower bugging Steve and Thor to show you Penny's room before it's done." Bruce was right but it'd didn't stop Tony from complaining the rest of the day. Bruce figured the man was just grumpy because he'd been booted from the tower.
The two finally got back along with Clint and Tasha but Pepper called before Tony could try to see the room about an hour in he realized that Pepper was just distracting him, so she was in on this too, traitor. "Yes, Pepper a corgi would make a great mascot for any other company. Now I've got to go and see this room and make sure its perfect." She sighed and hung up, Tony frowned at his phone but hurried up to the room, it was by their own room on the top floor off the conman area, the part of the tower with the most security. Hell you needed 4 out of 6 passcodes to access it from the room and a passcode for the elevator to even open, if it hadn't already red flagged you to be dropped off in the basement to a greeting of various law enforcement group, and J.A.V.I.S was always active but Tony just added extra when everyone moved into the same floor.
He saw everyone there looking with a satisfied grin. "We were about to get J.A.R.V.I.S to get you," Nat said as she looked over her shoulder gesturing for him to come closer what he saw warmed his heart Clint and Steve talking with Penny showing her around the room she smiled a soft little smile as Tony entered the room.
"I know this is a lot Penny, but I promise that everything will be okay." Tony said kneeling down to her eye level, looking at eye's so similar to his own. "I promise that we will protect you. you're family and I know it doesn't feel like it but this can be your home." He smiled gentle but was shocked when she placed her hand on his own. She smiled at him though she didn't say anything he knew that they were connecting. She was their daughter and she would always be loved and safe.
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Tony was sitting by Penny's bed watching her sleep, making sure her breathing was even the same thing he did when she was sick. Except she wasn't sick this time she was hurt and in danger. Worst of all they let it happen, they let her be spider turning a blind eye because they thought she could defend herself. But they never tried to teach her how to defend against mind control and she had been a prisoner for three weeks locked in her own mind.
Tony stood up, he needed to reach out to The Defenders, they need to combine their information and resources they had a mind controlling rapist to hunt down, and someone will have to stop The Avengers from tearing the man apart.