From the ashes
Addy stood transfixed as what was left of the flames licked the timbers of her home, or what had been her home. Orphan, that's what her best friend Cam's dad had whispered when they'd got the call, all that meant for Addy was that her mother was gone and life had just become a bit more uncertain.
They'd raced to the scene hoping the rumor mill had it wrong, maybe it was just a fire and her mother would be out flirting with the firefighters. One look at the sooty faces of our heroes in red confirmed the awful truth, her mother hadn't made it out. Smoke inhalation they said, she might have made it out in time had she not been drinking.
The firefighters kept looking at the child nervously, her silence making most uneasy. She hadn't screamed, hadn't cried, she simply stared into the wreckage. Curling iron, that's what caused the fire. The girl nearly laughed at that, her mother had forgotten that so many times it was almost poetic, in a morbid sort of way, that it had caused her death.
Addy wasn't a heartless child, she did care that her mother had died,left her alone. It was probably due to the depth at which she was effected that kept her silent, frozen in shock.
"Hey kiddo," Cammy's dad began gently kneeling in front of her, "this is miss Christie Decro, she's going to look out for you ok?" He tried to sound cheerful, encouraging but Addy wasn't fooled. Social worker. The system. That's where she was headed. She knew it like she knew her name.
"Hello Adeline it's so good to meet you," the woman said with a falsely cheerful grin. She was a short woman average build with heavily made up grey-blue eyes, thin over plucked eyebrows, and a toothy smile behind pale pink lipstick. Why she'd even attempt cheerfulness at a time like this was beyond the young girl's comprehension.
"It's Addy," she whispered in a tiny voice.
"Where will she go?" Cam's dad asked as the woman straightened from her bent position.
"We'll check next of kin first," she responded carelessly, as if Addy wasn't listening. "If no one can be found, foster home most likely." She shrugged, "sometimes, circumstances like this they end up in a group home."
There was a whirlwind of activity after that. Cammy offering some extra clothes, cramming them into her little green back pack. Riding to the social services office for the initial check. Then back to the car for the two hour drive to Malibu where her, apparent, father was said to reside. That had thrown her, a father, obviously she realized she had a father at some point, Addy was smart enough to understand you needed both to make a child. Still, her mother had always been so adamant he was gone, Addy had assumed she meant dead.
The sun had been up for about an hour by the time they began their drive up the long paved driveway to the crisp white structure she assumed was her father's home.
"Alright, here we are miss Noble," Christie said as she opened the car door leading her up the steps to the enormous mansion. She rang the bell glancing with a warning look at the silent child.
"Who may I say is calling please?" A voice called over a speaker.
"Miss Decro with child and family services, I'm here to speak with a mister Anthony Stark."
There was a pause before the door clicked open. "Please wait here mister Stark will be with you in a moment," the automated voice instructed.
Addy let her eyes travel around the entry and rooms visible from there. It was all bright, shiny, open. Light streamed in from multiple angles, windows making up nearly every wall, as far as she could see. A fountain at the center of her view drew her attention and a tiny sleeping part of the silent child longed to run her fingers through the falling liquid.
Heels sounded along the hardwood floor alerting the visitors of someone approaching. A tall woman with strawberry blond hair in a grey business skirt and white blouse entered near the fountain, she smiled brightly at the pair. "Hello I'm Pepper Potts, Mister Stark will be with us shortly, is there something I can do for you?"
"I really must speak to mister Stark himself."
Pepper nodded focusing on the small child clutching the stuffed green bag, "you can go sit on the couch if you like, Jarvis start some cartoons for the child please?"
"Right away miss Potts," the automated voice responded.
Addy stepped gingerly toward the couch as my little pony cued up on the television. She only half focused on the, usually favored, show as a man joined the women in the foyer. He had thick brown hair sporting a deceptively messy style, his facial hair, a carefully trimmed goatee, the antithesis of his carefree mop of hair. The man wore a black suit and red sunglasses, his shoes shining as much as the floor. "Hello, who's this," he questioned Pepper as he strode over to the pair.
Pepper shook her head in amusement at her boss, "this is miss Decro with child and family services."
"Ah, well sorry miss but I have neither child nor family so I'll not be needing your services." He dismissed her shortly.
"Mr Stark do you remember a miss," she paused checking her paperwork for reference, "Candi Noble?"
"Uh, no. Why is she cute?"
Pepper rolled her eyes.
"She's passed on mister Stark." The woman replied in an exasperated tone. "You were listed by her as the father of miss Adeline Nadia Noble, I've come with your child."
"It's Addy," the girl whispered in a small broken voice, "no one calls me Adeline unless I've been bad."
The woman made a face rolling her eyes at the girl's statement. "Are you willing to assume custody of the child mister Stark?"
Tony stared at the girl in shock, she did sort of resemble him, same dark hair, same complexion, hers possibly a shade lighter, same chocolate brown eyes. "What happened to uh..."
"Candi." The woman supplied for him, "she died, last night, there was a fire."
"You people work fast." He mumbled glancing over the paperwork Pepper had handed him.
"Yes well we try not to have to place children in group homes if they have a viable parental option." She replied eyeing the billionaire as if she found him beneath her.
"Group home? That's uh-that's the only- um option?" He stumbled out nervously.
Miss Decro sighed almost sadly, the first non hostile emotion they'd seen from her. "If you don't take her in Adeline will be put into the system. From there she'll be placed in foster care if she's lucky, more likely a group home or institution."
"Tony can I talk to you, for a moment please?" Pepper questioned pulling him away, "we'll just be a mo'."
Addy watched nervously as the pair whispered.
"Tony you can't let that little girl be put into the system." The redhead whispered where only he could hear.
Tony sighed rubbing a hand through his hair, "Pep I'm not father material, I don't know how to...I don't have any kind of-example."
"Tony you are the most capable, brilliant man I have ever met, are you telling me you can't figure out how to care for a- how old is she?" She called the last bit to miss Decro.
"Seven."
"You're telling me you can't handle a seven year old?" She continued in Tony's ear. "Come on, she needs you, be better than your father. Be more."
Tony walked nervously back toward the social worker. "I just uh, sign?"
"Yes sir, the paperwork's all here. Once you sign you'll have full custody of Adeline." Christi replied holding out the papers. "Someone will need to check in a month or so to see all of her needs are being met provided you meet all requirements that will be the end of it."
Tony walked quietly over towards the girl. Her large brown eyes tracked his movements as she rested her chin against the bag in her lap. "Hey kid, do you wanna stay here?"
"I don't wanna go in the system," Addy whispered in reply.
"Ok," Tony nodded signing the paper with a quick flourish and handing it up to miss Potts. "Alright kid. "