Little Adoption

Tony had a hard time falling asleep, the little that he got was filled with Pepper and him with a Little, a giggling Little playing hide and seek, shouting for Dada and Mama in joy, reaching for hugs and with Tony holding the Little with Pepper beside him while they pepper kisses all over a giggling Little.

When he woke up from the dream he could not help but smile. Soon it wouldn't be just a dream, today is the day they go out in search and hopefully find a Little.

Tony gets out of bed slowly as to not wake Pepper, it is only 5am and Pepper needs her sleep, she has a bit of work to do before they leave in the afternoon for their first appointment. So he gets up and makes himself a cup of coffee before heading down to the lab to work on a few things before they have to leave. 

After 3 hours of working Tony is called up for breakfast, once Pepper and Tony eat, Pepper heads down to her office to get some work down while Tony goes back into his lab to finishing working on his upgrades. 

~*~

12pm comes quickly for the two who got lost in work, they both meet up in the penthouse to get ready to leave. They both shower and Tony gets dressed in a suit but doesn't wear a tie, Pepper gets dressed in a nice skirt and a nice blouse. At 1pm FRIDAY alerts them that Happy is waiting for them downstairs in the parking garage. 

Even with all the traffic they make it to Brooklyn's Adoption home with five minutes to spare.

Tony gets out and holds a hand out to Pepper, together they walk up the pathway and knock on the door. It seems like it takes forever yet no time at all before the door opens to reveal a middle age lady. Her hair is in a high pony tail, she is wearing red dress pants with a beige dress shirt. 

"Hello, welcome to Brooklyn's Adoption home Mr. and Mrs. Stark, please come in," She stands aside with the door open so that Tony and Pepper can walk in. "My name is Mary and I will be showing you around today. Before we get started, I just wanted to confirm that you are looking for a Little in the A0 to A2 category? Any preference in gender or age?"

"No we have no preference, we are just hoping to meet everyone we can and see if we feel a match with anyone," Pepper says kindly.

"Of course, please follow me. You know I was shocked to see your names on the appointment list, I didn't know you were a caregiver Mrs. Stark," Mary says.

"Oh I am only half a Caregiver, it is Tony that is a full Caregiver, which if you wouldn't mind not sharing that information we would appreciate it. It isn't knowledge that is public at the moment, and I believe we faxed over an NDA that was signed and brought sent back to us," Pepper says.

Mary stops at this and turns to face the Starks, "really? Well we take confidentiality here very seriously, regardless of NDA's or not but yes we did sign it, if it gets out it won't be because of anyone here, not if they value their jobs." Mary then smiles at the couple, "follow me, all the Little's that are in the age category that you specified are here in the play room."

Tony and Pepper follow Mary to the play room where they see two women and two men who stand up when they enter the room. Playing with the toys are three Little females and one Little male child.

"Mr. and Mrs. Stark, this is James, Lily, Ashley and Matt, they are our full time Caregivers for our Little's. We believe in equal opportunities here. I am going to leave you with them while you meet our Little's and I will be back in an hour to see how it all is going. If you need more time, just let me know, otherwise we will meet at 3pm," Mary smiles.

"Thank you Mary," Pepper says and watches as she nods and walks away leaving them with the Caregivers. 

During the hour they met and spent time with each Little, the three girls were Lisa, Ella and Hannah, they mostly stayed around the 2 year old headspace during the visit, their real age is 8, 11 and 14 years of age. The boys name is Arthur, he stayed around 1 year old headspace and his real age is 16.

Pepper and Tony had a great time with all the Little's there was a few hiccups but that was expected when dealing with Little's. At the end of the hour Mary shows up. They walk out of the play room and into the hallway by the front door, "So how did you meeting the Little's go?"

"They are all beautiful Little's," Pepper says, "well behaved too, I am surprised."

"Yes, I try to have a fun loving environment here. Everyone gets the attention and their needs met as best as I can. My goal is to find everyone a new home, however I believe that in the mean time this is their home and they need to feel safe and loved," Mary smiles. 

"That is very kind of you, not many places of this type have that mentality," Tony says.

"Yes well, as someone who grow up in those other places I am aware. That is why I worked hard to get this place, the work I do means a lot to me," Mary says.

"Well if you ever find yourself in a hard place Stark Industries has a help line foundation that companies can apply to if they are struggling and we would be more them happy to move you up the list and help anyways we can," Pepper says.

"Thank you very much, I will keep that in mind if I ever run into financial trouble. I would never take money away from people who need it more then me," Mary says.

Pepper turns to Tony and already sees that Mary will be getting a sizable donation regardless of if she needs it or not. "As to your earlier question, we need to discuss about our time here today before we make a decision," Pepper says.

"Of course regardless if you found a connection here or not, I wish to thank you for dropping by and taking our Little's into consideration," Mary says holding out her hand to shake theirs.

Both Tony and Pepper shake Mary's hand and said their goodbyes before walking out the door where Happy is waiting for them. Tony opens the door for Pepper to climb in and he follows after her, shutting the door, Happy has the divider down.

"So how was it?" Happy asks.

"It was great being around all the Little's, Tony how did you feel about them?" Pepper asks.

"My heart felt good being around all the Little's, but I didn't feel a connection with any of them, I got to hold each of them but none seem to have, I don't know how to describe it," Tony says.

"I understand Tony, because I felt the same, I liked being around them but I didn't feel the connection either," Pepper places a hand on top of his and gives it a squeeze.

Tony sighs, he was really hoping that he would connect with one of them, but it wasn't meant to be I guess. He turns to Pepper, "thanks Pep, maybe tomorrow will be better."

"Yes keep positive, we have tomorrow, and if tomorrow doesn't work out then we have New Jersey."

"Ya but you know how I am with waiting, I hate waiting."

"Oh I know it," Pepper laughs.

Tony and Pepper get home and when they do they are immediately greeted by the team, all looking at them with hopeful eyes, "sorry guys, no luck today," Tony says.

They all look disappointed, but quickly cover it up, "well you have another appointment tomorrow right?" Wanda asks.

"Yes in Queens, a place called 'Little Adoption,'" Pepper says.

"Well maybe tomorrow will be the day," Sam says.

"Yes tomorrow when you get back we will have the beers ready to celebrate!" Clint grins.

Tony and Pepper laugh, "Should be have a team dinner tonight?" Tony asks.

"Yes it has been a while since we had a team dinner, and then we can all watch a movie to pass the time," Pepper says.

"Then it is settled, FRIDAY will you please tell Jolly Green that we are having a team dinner and movie night tonight so to get his ass out of the lab," Tony says.

"Yes Boss," FRIDAY replies.

Pepper left him with the team to go take a phone call, soon everyone was present and they all talked and argued about what to have for dinner, they finally decided on Chinese. After dinner they all moved to the living room and watched a movie before heading to bed.

~*~

Once again that night Tony had a hard time sleeping but when he did sleep he dreamed of the same Little as the other night, only this time he could see brown curly locks bouncing as the Little ran around and laughed, large brown bambi eyes shined with laughter running around in an Iron man onesie.

Soon the dream ends and he wakes up with a start, "FRI alarm off please," Tony says as he looks at the clock, it reads 6:30am.

Pepper groans beside him, slowly stretching to wake herself up. She turns over and looks at Tony, "good-morning," she yawns.

"Good-morning beautiful," Tony says. "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good, I had a dream about us having a Little, it was so nice, the giggling and joy I felt, it felt real."

"You dreamed of having a Little too?" 

"Huh? Did you as well?"

"Ya, giggling and laughter, Iron Man onesie brow-"

"Brown curly hair-"

"Brown Bambi eyes," Tony and Pepper looked at each other in shock. "Did we have the same dream Pep?"

"I think so, do you think it is a sign?"

"Maybe."

"Just because we dream of the same Little doesn't mean it is OUR Little, don't let this dream cloud our judgment today when we go out. If we feel connected to a blonde hair blue eyes Little then that is who we choose."

"Of course, it is just a dream, a weird coincidence, but a dream non the less," Tony says.

"Great, now let's get up and ready, we have until 8:15am until we have to leave," Pepper says getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom to get ready.

While she is getting ready Tony heads downstairs into the kitchen after stopping briefly to look into the Little's room. He makes two cups of coffee for him and Pepper and pulls out some fruit and cereal for breakfast. Pepper sits down across from him and takes a drink of her coffee, and begins to eat.

Once finished Tony goes up to get ready for the day as well, Pepper is in nice dress pants that are black and a pale pink blouse, her hair is up in a messy bun with a few locks hanging down framing her face; Tony wears grey dress pants with a red button up top with the sleeves rolled up, his signature glasses on. He goes downstairs and sees Pepper waiting in the living room doing something on the starkpad.

"I thought you didn't have work until this afternoon?"

"I don't I am just checking my schedule and seeing if any e-mails need my attention at the moment before we leave."

"Fair enough."

"Boss, Mrs. Boss, Happy is down in the parking garage waiting for you, when you are ready," FRIDAY announces. 

"Alright Mrs. Stark ready?"

"I am ready Mr. Stark, let's go," Pepper smiles.

Tony and Pepper make their way down to the garage where Happy is waiting for them with the door open.

"Good-morning," Happy says.

"Good-morning Happy, how are you this morning?" Pepper asks.

"Fine, thank you."

"Hey Hap, ready for another day of driving?" Tony grins.

"Tony, I look forward to waiting in the car while you play with all the Little's," Happy rolls his eyes.

Tony laughs, he knows damn well that isn't what Happy does when they are inside a building. Usually he uses his starkpad to have FRIDAY hack surveillance so he can keep and eye out for danger. However because they are going into a house type building he will do a perimeter check and then keep an eye out for anything suspicious. "Sure after all cross word is best done in silence," Tony grins.

"Oh yes, your talking always distracts me," Happy says as he shuts the door and then climbs into the drivers seat. "Where to today?"

"'Little Adoption' Queens," Pepper says and then they were off. 

Arriving at Little Adoption is very different then when they pulled up into the Brooklyn house. Little Adoption is a brick style building, looks to be two stories tall, there is a sign above the door that read 'Little Adoptions' There is a brick fence style around the building with a steal gate as the entrance with a buzzer.

Pepper walks up to the gate and rings the buzzer, she looks up and see four windows on the right side and four windows on the left side, one on top of the other. On the right side top window she sees a face, she can't make out any features but sees that someone is there.

'Probably one of the children living here,' Pepper thinks. Tony stands beside her while they wait for someone to answer.

"Hello? How may I help you?" A voice comes through the speaker.

"Yes my name is Pepper Stark and I am with Tony Stark and we have an appointment at 9am," Pepper says.

"Oh Mr. and Mrs. Stark, welcome, please come in," there is a buzzer sound and the gates open.

Pepper and Tony walk through, once through the gate closes behind them and a woman appears in the door way.  She has black hair that is pulled into a tight clean bun, she is wearing a white blouse with a dark blue blazer and dark blue dress dress pants. She hold out her hand that is clean and manicured, no jewelry, Pepper shakes her hand and Tony just watches.

"Welcome to Little Adoptions, my name is Julia Anderson and I run this adoption house. Please come in, she steps aside to let Pepper and Tony inside; once inside she closes and locks the door.

"What is with all the gates and locks?" Tony asks.

"Sorry about that, I know we don't look great on the outside but unfortunately here in Queens we do have a lot of petty crime and teenagers like to vandalize our property and try to break in. Our Little's are precious to us and we don't want them traumatized by such acts. The front is not much too look at but we have a beautiful bricked in back yard with a big tree and swings and a small garden and flowers, the Little's love it."

"I didn't mean to offend," Tony says.

"Non taken we get that a lot with first time Caregivers coming to visit. So Mrs. Stark you said your age category is A0 to A2?" Julia asks

"Oh yes I am only half a Caregiver, it is my husband here who is the full Caregiver," Pepper says. 

Just like Mary, Julia is shocked by the news," Oh? I heard that Mr. Stark is an Alpha."

"Well that is was just a decoy to protect Tony from any backlash, however please remember we had you and your staff NDA's before arriving which all signed and faxed back to us."

"Of course, we stand by our word here, and NDA's or not we have our own confidentiality agreements, we need to protect out Little's after all," Julia says.

"Of course, but as to your earlier statement yes we are looking for age group A0 to A2, we don't have a specific gender or age in mind, we are simple here and are hoping to feel a connection with one," Pepper says.

"Alright, I can work with that, if you will follow me I will lead you outside to our play area where they are at the moment. The Alpha and Omegas are studying so I tend to keep the A0 to A2's outside from 9am until 11am when it is time for snack and then their nap," Julia explains.

"Perfect we will follow you," Pepper says. 

As they walk down the hallway and through the living room towards the back door, Julia explains that they can stay until naptime, they have one caregiver per two Little's they have eight Little's in total three boys and five girls, so because they have so many appointments are usually a whole afternoon visit, longer if wanted in the afternoon, however if they don't find the connection they are looking for then they can choose to leave earlier. Julia takes them outside and introduces them to the four Caregivers, two males and two females Michael, Danny, Sue Yong and Kristen.

"Ready to meet the Little's?" Julia says smiling.

Tony and Pepper notice that unlike in Brooklyn, Julia doesn't leave them alone, she goes and sits on a chair with a table that has a coffee mug and watches as they interact with the Little's.

The five girls are immediately drawn to Pepper saying how she is pretty, they seem shy around Tony. The girls names are, Katie, Stephanie, Molly, Ashley and Janelle. The boys were very excited to see Tony as they love Iron Man and heard of him, the three boys names are, John, Edward, and Charlie.

Tony smiles at the Little's they were interested in stories about his adventures as Iron Man, Edward asking questions about some science stuff but when Tony starts on some more difficult stuff he sees he lost him, but he tried. After an hour the girls seem to have warmed up to him and begin asking questions too, and wanting to show him their dolls.

Soon the Little's got distracted by their Caregivers in the garden, when a butterfly shows up. It has been 2 hours since they met the Little's, Tony and Pepper look at each other and both give a sad smile.

Neither one felt a connection with any of the Little's, "Pep," Tony says dejectedly. "Are we asking too much for a connection, should we just choose who seems to fit?"

"No Tony, don't give up hope, we will find the one for us, just, we have to be patient," Pepper says grabbing his hand to give it a squeeze. "Come on, we should get going, we can go home and call the one in New Jersey and make an appointment maybe who we are looking for is there."

They both stand up ready to tell Julia that they are ready to leave when they suddenly hear a loud voice, even the Little's look up.

"WHAT is GOING on HERE?!"

Tony and Pepper look towards the sound of the voice and see it is coming from a woman who is standing at the back door, arms folded across her chest and she is glaring daggers at Julia. 

The woman has long brown hair that is pulled into a high pony tail braid that ends at her mid back; she is wearing  blue pants, and a red fluffy long sleeve shirt with her shoulders uncovered. Her eyes are ocean blue from what they can see as they walk closer.

"Mrs. Russell, welcome back, I thought you would be gone longer," Julia says.

"Ya I bet you did, you stupid Alpha, but guess what I am back and just in time too it seems," Mrs. Russell says as she walks towards the Starks, meeting them half way. Her eyes soften when greeting them, "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Stark, My name is Amber Russell and I am the fifth and lead Caregiver here in case she didn't mention me," Amber says shooting another glare at Julia.

"Hello, Mrs. Russell, I am Pepper Stark and this is Tony Stark my husband," Pepper says putting out her hand to shake.

"Please call me Amber, it is a pleasure to meet you, I see you met all the Little's that Julia allowed you to meet, did you make a connection with anyone?" Amber asks.

Tony and Pepper just look at each, "Sorry but we didn't," Tony says, then becomes confused. "What did you mean by the Little's we were allowed to meet?"

"AMBER DON'T YOU DARE!" Julia shouts.

"That's Mrs. Russell to you!" Amber says in a stern lower voice and glares at Julia, "and if you don't lower your voice you will scare the Little's."

Julia looks over to see she did in fact scare them as they were huddled up and sobbing with their Caregivers.

"You said you were a Caregiver right?" Pepper asks. "You seem more like an Alpha."

"Yes I can see how right now that would seem like it, however when a Caregiver is in charge of a Little they tend to get very protective of said Little and when the Little is being left out or bullied or neglected a Caregiver can come off as an Alpha," Amber explains. "I also don't take shit from no body, I don't care who you are."

Pepper can't help but smile a little at Amber's attitude, seems like they may have the same personality, her eyes then narrow at the reason she is acting this way, "what do you mean by a Little being left our or neglected?"

"Please Mr. and Mrs. Stark don't listen to her, I would like to apologies for her, she doesn't know what she is talking about," Julia says as she tries to come between them.

Amber shoots out an arm stopping Julia from standing in front of her, "Julia you are going to sit down, drink your coffee and watch these Little's while I speak with the Stark's or you can stand in my way and I will make a formal complaint and this would be your final one before they remove you. I am the only thing standing between you and being on the streets so shut it and let me fix your mistake," Amber growls.

"You can't possible think that 'he' should be introduced to these fine up standing people do you?" Julia says baffled.

"Everyone deserves a chance, even if you don't like them, even if you think low of my Bambi, you are not a Caregiver and only think about the business, I am in charge of the Caregivers and the Little's you should not have had this appointment without me here. So once again, sit down, shut up and I will take it from here," Amber says her tone is final and leaves no room for arguments.

"Hey Pep can we have her too? She could do wonders at Stark Industries," Tony whispers. Pepper chuckles, she was actually just thinking of that.

They watch as Julia walks away mumbling something about 'freak' before she sits down and takes a drink of her coffee while glaring at Amber's back.

"Please ignore her, she means well for those she considers worthy however she is not in charge of the Little's I am, she simple does the business aspect of this job and should not have been allowed to host an appointment without me here. She is brilliant at her job, she just has a shallow view of Little's and has certain expectations that not everyone here can meet." Amber says, "Now if you will follow me I will take you inside were we can have chat away from Little's and their ears."

Tony and Pepper follow Amber inside and she leads them to the living room, she points for them to sit on the couch while she takes the chair in front of them.

"Please do not think badly of this place after witnessing that scene, it isn't bad here at all, but unfortunately Little's with strong wills and certain expectations from their Caregivers are viewed as bad in her eyes. She believes a Little must listen and behave a certain way, and she is wrong. That is why I am here, I am trying to get her to change but unfortunately it isn't going well. I know you have been here a while but I would please ask you to at least meet with him for a few minutes. Even if you have no connection with him, I know meeting you would make him so happy, you are his favorite superhero, Mr. Stark, and he hasn't been truly happy in a long time." 

Tony and Pepper look at each other, they both nod, "sure we can do that, I am always happy to meet a fan, and if I can cheer him up then I would be more then happy to meet him," Tony says.

"Excellent, thank you. Since you agreed there are a few things I should tell you about him, I will not tell you too much because I don't want to share his story with anyone who isn't interested in adopting him. However he is special, his real age is 13, he came to us a little over a year ago, he is small in stature about four feet one so we knew he was going to be a Little, sure enough he is. It took us a time to get him tested when he turned 12 last August, he is terrified of needles and doctors, we think it is the white coat, because once they took it off it was just the needle he was scared of. Anyways, he is a Little who lost everyone he loves, he is alone in this world and as suffered a lot. On top of that he has a really high IQ, scary smart, and has been traumatized by certain events that have happened and unfortunately some of it is from here. When I took over it seemed to have helped, but the trauma was done." Amber looks down at her hands, "I have been trying my best but I can only do so much."

Tony and Pepper look at Amber with sadness, "I am sure you did the best you can with what you can do, I am sure he is grateful," Pepper says.

"I hope so, the worst part is that he is terrified of his headspace, with his smarts his is he managed to find a way to appease his Little without being a Little and remaining Big," Amber says, "so when you meet him don't be alarmed if he is shy or acts Big."

Tony and Pepper look intrigued at the mention that the Little is a genius, but then horrified, what Little could be scared of their headspace? That is just heartbreaking.

"So knowing all that are you still wanting to meet him?" Amber asks standing up she grabs a package that was leaning against the chair.

Tony and Pepper stand up as well, "Yes," and "Absolutely," came from both their lips with determination in their eyes.

Amber sees this and smiles, "perfect follow me." Amber leads them up a flight of stairs, "He tends to stay in his room because it is what makes Julia happy, unless I bring him outside and stay with him. She will find any little thing to blame him and then send him to his room, so he just skips the middle part. I really do have to get that woman fired," Amber growls. "Sorry I am venting to you guys and it is not your problem, I just have a hard time not saying what I am thinking. No filter," Amber turns her head and smiles.

"That is alright, I would be angry too in your position," Pepper says. "As for the no filter well, I have been married to Tony for five years and working for him longer then that, so I am used to it," Pepper gives Tony a playful wink.

"Hey I am not that bad," Tony pouts.

"Calling Norman Osborn an unethical, bastard in front of an entire convention is called having a filter?"

"Hey he started it by calling me soft for switching from weapons to helping the environment."

Amber laughs at the two, "Bambi was very happy when you made the switch, he started thinking of so many things to send to you to help with your quest to helping the environment and Stark Industries. I am sure he would love to show you his improvements for your Iron Man suit as well."

"Bambi? You called him that before," Tony says.

"Oh trust me once you meet him you will know why I call him that," Amber laughs. They stop in front of a closed door, Amber stops and turns to them. "I will go in first and let him know you are here and then I will bring you in," Amber then knocks on the door.