When It’s Meant To Be

Tony and Pepper were trying to get Peter ready to go to the park.

It had been raining non stop for the past few days so they had been stuck inside.

Tony and Pepper haven't spoken about possibly moving to Malibu since the night in the bathroom it was first brought up so Tony dropped it. He knew it wasn’t going to happen anyways, it was just a thought that would be nice.

Peter had also gotten into a hiding phase which was cute at first but now it was simply annoying.

Tony would turn his back for one second and Peter would run off and hide somewhere. Sometimes it would be obvious like under a blanket or behind a curtain but sometimes he would full on hide and it was impossible to find him without the help from FRIDAY.

Like now, Tony is in charge of getting Peter ready for the park while Pepper gets the diaper bag ready but Peter decided that now was the best time to hide and Tony is done with it.

“Peter. Come out. Daddy isn’t playing and I’m getting mad.” Tony said as he sat down on the carpet in Peter’s bedroom, holding a diaper in his hand. He turned around for two seconds to grab a new package of wipes and Peter was gone.

Tony heard nothing so he sighed and stood up to go find Peter. He knew that Peter was obsessed with going into his closet so he went to go check there first and low and behold there was Peter sitting in a laundry basket.

“Hey, I don’t like you hiding from daddy.” Tony said and bent down so he could pick Peter up. Peter was giggling and trying to run away again so Tony smacked him on his diapered butt.

It wasn’t hard since the diaper patting blocked it but it was enough to get Peter to listen to him. “No thank you. Daddy doesn’t like it when you hide from him because it’s dangerous and you could get hurt.”

Peter frowned and tried to run away again but Tony held his hand and stood up. “Walk next to daddy while we go to your room.”

Peter ran next to Tony, only for him to get pulled back so he would purposely swing from Tony’s hand. Tony just shook his head at Peter.

Over the past few weeks, he’s definitely seen more of a personality coming out of him and some more bad behaviour so he’s scared for the terrible twos to start.

Tony shut the bedroom door once they got into Peter’s room so Peter immediately tried to get it open but he couldn’t quite reach the doorknob just yet.

Tony sat down in the same spot as before and patted the ground but Peter was still trying to open the door simply because he knew that Tony didn’t like that. “Peter. Come. Diaper change.”

Peter ignored him so Tony reached over and grabbed Peter by the back of his diaper so Peter had to walk backwards but he ended up falling down. “No! I don’ like.”

Tony lifted him up and laid him down but Peter tried to squirm away so Tony grabbed a teddy bear and placed it on Peter’s chest. “What’s that one's name?”

Peter stayed still and lifted the teddy bear up to look at it. “His name Big.”

“His name is a big name?” Tony asked while he hurried up with wiping Peter clean before Peter got bored again and wanted to run somewhere.

Peter shook his head. “No. It Big. Big, daddy.”

Tony didn’t know what Peter was saying but he wasn’t really listening anyways. He put a new diaper on Peter and grabbed a pair of blue track pants to put on him.

Peter was bubbling on about something that Tony couldn’t understand but he added in his own words as if he knew what Peter was talking about.

Tony grabbed Peter’s new shoes that were white, black, red and green. Peter had never worn them before but Tony had immediately fallen in love with them once he first saw them.

“Time to put your shoes on.” He said as he grabbed the shoes but Peter stopped him. Tony struggled to hold one leg down so he could get the shoe on but when he went for the other shoe, Peter tried to take the one that was already on, off.

“Keep it on, Peter.” Tony said through gritted teeth but he eventually gave up and picked Peter up with one shoe on and no shirt.

“Daddy mad?” Peter asked, trying to grab Tony’s face to make the man look at him.

“Daddy’s getting mad because his baby isn’t listening to him.” Tony said and looked over at Peter who had the audacity to be smiling at him. Tony couldn’t be mad at his kid. He was too adorable.

They walked out into the kitchen where Pepper was packing some food and bottles into the diaper bag. “We’ll be back before nap time but I’m packing his nap time milk so he can drink it in the car on the way back.”

Tony didn’t say anything but he knew that she knew that he appreciated what she was doing. Tony stood Peter up on the counter to get his shirt on and his other shoe. He wanted to put a sweater on Peter but he could do that later. “Should we put sunscreen on him here or at the park?”

“Um, maybe now so he’ll actually sit still.” Pepper handed Tony the bottle of sunscreen so Tony could apply it on the toddler now.

Tony barely touched Peter’s face and he was already squirming away. “Ew. It yuckie.”

“It’ll protect your skin from the sun, baby. We don’t want you getting burnt.” Tony explained to the toddler as he covered all of Peter’s exposed skin. He definitely over did it since Peter was looking like he just got back from spending the night at May’s. Pale and sickly.

“It go’d all over, Daddy.” Peter said to Tony as Tony was lifting him back onto his hip. Peter started mumbling something to himself that Tony didn’t understand.

“Are you excited to go play at the park, Pete? You get to go down the slides and swing on the swings.” Tony asked Peter. He poked him in his pudgy belly to get a reaction out of him.

Tony had no idea how busy the park was going to be.

They were going to one in Queens today since the other one was closed down for maintenance which was odd considering that Tony had never seen a park closed down for maintenance before but then again, he never paid any attention to that before he had Peter.

The car ride was loud and Tony’s ears were ringing by the end of it since Peter had screamed at everything that moved outside of his car window which was every single thing. Tony didn’t have the heart to tell him to be quiet since he was so happy.

By the time they got to the park, Tony was relieved to be getting out of the car so he shut his door and took a few seconds to let his ears stop ringing before he was opening up Peter’s door and greeted with his smiling toddler.

“Hi baby. Are you ready to play at the park?” Tony asked him as he unbuckled Peter from his car seat and lifted him into his arms. Peter started to drool again so Tony used Peter’s shirt to wipe it off his chin.

“Should we bring his diaper bag or leave it in the car until we need it?” Pepper asked Tony once he walked around to the trunk of the car.

“Uh… let’s just leave it in here because the park is kinda busy and I don’t really wanna be changing his diaper with an audience.” Tony glanced back at the park and saw just how busy it was but that was fine because they just had one kid between the two of them to watch.

Pepper shut the trunk, leaving the diaper bag in there but bringing one of Peter’s bottles with them just in case Peter got really thirty.

“Dada, down.” Peter kicked his legs out so Tony placed him on the ground. “I walk.”

“Hold daddy’s hand please.” Tony told Peter so he didn’t go running off. Tony looked around and saw that there were already people staring at them. Tony knew that he couldn’t keep Peter hidden away from everything his whole life just because he’s scared of the media finding out that he has a kid but he does not appreciate people taking pictures of them while they are at the park.

Maybe it’ll push him more to address the rumours that have already spread.

“Daddy! I go s’ide.” Peter tried to get his hand out of Tony’s hand so Tony reluctantly let him go and kept his eyes trained on his kid. He walked into the park, cringing at the sand already getting into his shoes.

Peter started climbing up the stairs of the slide and Tony read a sign that said 5+ so technically it was illegal for Peter to be on the play structure but Tony didn’t care. He wasn’t about to take Peter off of it now.

“Daddy, I c’imb.” Peter said excitedly as he crawled up the steps. Another boy ran past him so Peter tried to quicken his paste to get to the top.

“Good job, buddy. Look at you go.” Tony encouraged him. Peter got to the top so Tony lost sight of him momentarily. He walked around to the side where the slides were on and saw Peter at the top trying to decide what slide he should go down.

“Come down this one, Pete.” Tony told him and patted the smallest of all the slides. The other ones were quite large and had a big bump in the middle so Tony didn’t want Peter to go down those ones.

“Catch me.” Peter told him so Tony went to the bottom of the slide and waited for Peter to sit down and get ready to slide down but another kid was pushing Peter out of the way and sliding down herself.

Tony stepped out of the way and gave the girl a dirty look but he couldn’t say anything since she was only a child. He looked back up at Peter who was trying to get into another position to go down the slide but then another kid pushed him out of the way to go down.

“Hey, didn’t you see him up there?” Tony asked the other boy, annoyed that he just pushed his kid out of the way. The kid ignored him and ran off which Tony expected.

He looked back up at Peter and saw him struggling to sit up again. “You have to slide down, baby. There’s too many older kids.” Okay so maybe there was a sign that said 5+ for a reason.

Peter sat down and slid down the slide so Tony rushed to catch him at the end and lifted him up. “Was that fun?”

Peter nodded excitedly. “Yeah. ‘Gin.”

“How about we go to the baby play structure instead with more kids your age?” Tony suggested but he wasn’t actually giving Peter a choice since the play structure he was just in was too violent for a two year old.

Pepper walked over to them and rubbed Peter’s back. “Are you having fun, Peter?”

Peter nodded his head, his eyes trained on the new play structure that they were going to play at. Tony placed Peter on the ground and followed him over to the smaller play structure where there were about five other toddlers Peter’s age or younger.

“I go on.” Peter said to the other toddler and crawled up the steps with him. Peter sat on the base at the top and then the other toddler followed him and sat down as well.

Tony leaned against the bars to watch the two of them talk to each other in their baby language. He wondered if they were actually saying something to each other or simply just making noises.

Peter then stood up and sat on the slide and slid down. He came running around the side and started giggling as soon as he saw Tony standing there.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Tony said playfully and went to grab Peter but he started running in the other direction laughing loudly.

“Hey, Tony, let’s bring him over to the swings.” Pepper suggested so Tony looked over at the baby swings and saw that no one was using them so it was the perfect time to let Peter go on them.

Tony reached forward to grab Peter by the back of his pants so he could get ahold of him and then he lifted Peter up in his arms. “Let’s go on the swings. Do you want to go really high, Pete?”

Tony knew that Peter had never been on the swings before since he had never put Peter in them so it was funny to see Peter excited to go in one.

Tony placed Peter inside, making sure that each leg went into the proper hole and then he grabbed the front piece and lifted the swing up. Peter was kicking his legs excitedly, waiting for Tony to let go of the swing.

“Hold on tight.” Tony then let go of the swing and felt his heart melting when Peter started giggling. It was the cutest sound that Tony had ever heard and he never wanted to stop hearing it.

Pepper was taking pictures of them but Tony was so caught up in the moment that he didn’t even realize what she was doing.

“Go high, Daddy!” Peter screamed so Tony pushed him a little bit harder but it was a bit too high since Peter’s neck was bending back so Tony slowed the swing down. “I wan’ go play ‘dare.”

Tony looked over at where Peter was pointing and saw the bigger park that he was on before with all the older kids. It had gotten even busier than when they got there so Tony didn’t like that idea very much.

“No. We’re gonna go back to the one for kids your age.” Tony told him. He lifted Peter out of the swing and felt that he needed a diaper change soon. “You have five minutes and then we need to go change your diaper.”

Peter was wiggling out of Tony’s arms and whining so Tony placed him on the ground. “Not that way, Peter. Peter!”

Peter started running in the direction of the other play structure and Tony went to go grab him but he was already climbing under one of the structures since Tony couldn’t reach him there.

“Come out, Peter. You aren’t behaving so we’re going home.” Tony told him firmly but Peter was grinning and laughing at him.

“No! I stay.” Peter crawled out the other side so Tony stood up to go get him but Peter was already climbing up the stairs. “I c’imb.”

“Okay. Come down the slide over here.” Tony walked to the other side while keeping his eyes on Peter. He bumped into someone but he didn’t look at them since his eyes were trained on Peter. “Oh, sorry.”

A little kid came up to Tony and was tapping him on the leg. “Excuse me! Excuse me! Are you Iron Man?”

Tony looked down at the little boy who was looking up at him in awe with bright blue eyes. Tony smiled at him. “Yeah but it’s a secret so don’t tell anyone you saw me here.”

The little boy started jumping in his excitement. “I love you so much, Iron Man. You’re my hero.”

Tony ruffled the boy's hair. “Thank you, kid.”

He never knew what to say when kids would come up to him and say that they love him since he doesn’t exactly want to say that back. The kid gave him a quick, unexpected hug and then he was running off somewhere.

Tony looked back up at the slide once the little boy ran away to get ready to catch Peter at the bottom but Peter wasn’t there. He walked around the other side to get a better angle since Peter had probably just gotten stuck in the crowd.

There were way too many kids to see Peter and the more seconds that passed where Tony didn’t have his eyes on Peter, the more he started to freak out.

“Pete?” Tony called out and walked around to the stairs to see if he could see Peter from that angle. “Peter? Where did you go, bud?”

Tony still didn’t see Peter and he felt his heart drop. He started to run around the other side of the play structure, not noticing the strange looks that he was getting from all the other parents.

His heart was pounding heavily in his chest and his hands were starting to sweat. He took his eyes off of Peter for two seconds and now Peter was gone.

There were about fifty kids in the park, not including parents so Tony was trying to look around everywhere for Peter running around or hiding from him.

“Peter?! Stop hiding from me, it’s not the time. Peter!” Tony started looking around wildly for his kid but he couldn’t see him anywhere. “Peter?!”

Someone grabbed his arm but Tony didn’t pay any attention to who it was. “Tony Stark? Did you lose someone?”

Tony nodded frantically. “Yes. My kid. I don’t know where my kid is.”

The woman had a calm voice but it did nothing to calm him down. “You have a child?”

“Yes. He’s two. Have you seen him? Have you seen a little boy running around? He likes to hide. Oh fuck.” Tony ran his hands through his hair and stepped away from the group of moms who had crowded around him now.

Pepper saw the commotion and came running up to Tony. She stood in front of him and grabbed his face but his eyes were focused somewhere else. “Tony? Tony, look at me.”

“I can’t find Peter. I… I looked away for two seconds and he was gone.” Tony said to her but then he saw a little two year old boy running in the distance so he pulled away from Pepper and ran over to the toddler.

“Peter?” Tony grabbed the boy by the arm but saw that the boy was in fact a girl and not his Peter.

He let go of the kid and stood back up. “Peter!”

Tony knew he was about to have a panic attack if he didn’t see Peter in the next minute. He ran his hands through his hair again and felt everything move in slow motion. He was grabbing the attention of almost everyone in the park, even some of the kids but he didn’t care because he was too out of it to notice.

He shouldn’t have ever taken Peter to the park without Happy or another bodyguard to watch Peter and make sure he stays safe.

Tony felt sick.

Someone could have taken his kid. Someone most definitely did take his kid because Peter would have come out by now if he was hiding.

Pepper was standing in front of him and trying to get his attention but all Tony could think about was that someone had taken his baby.

He didn’t know what their intentions were with his two year old son but he knew it wasn’t good. Maybe he was going to get a text for some ransom money but he knew that he would pay whatever he needed to to get his kid back.

“-ony! Stop. You need to breathe.” Pepper coached him and shook his shoulders a bit. Tony tried to focus on her but he couldn’t. Not when his kid had just gotten kidnapped. “We’ll find Peter but you’re no help to him like this so breathe.”

Tony listened to her. He was helpless to Peter like this so he took a few calming breaths to try and get his breathing under control.

He then pulled away from Pepper and started making his way back towards their car so he could get his phone that he left in there since he wanted to give his full attention to Peter at the park.

Tony like he was going to vomit as he opened up the back door and saw Peter’s empty car seat. He picked up his phone that he threw on there on a last minute decision after he lifted Peter out of there only an hour prior.

The sight made him feel sick so he slammed the door. “FRI, send me a suit.”

“No. No, Tony. If someone took Peter then we need to call the police.” Pepper told him and already started pulling her own phone out of her pocket.

“Someone did take him. And I just let it happen so I’m going to find my kid. Whoever took him, took him because of me.” Tony said through gritted teeth and slammed his hand on his car in anger.

Tony looked at Pepper for the very first time since he noticed Peter was taken and saw that she was crying but he could tell she had been crying for a few minutes since her eyes were all red.

“I’m calling the police and you need to stay here until they come so we can give them a proper description of Peter.” Pepper's voice broke when she mentioned Peter. Tony looked away from her.

Tony saw her call on her phone. She put her phone up to her ear and spoke, “My kid has been k-kidnapped. Yes. We’re at the park and… he’s two years old.”

Tony zoned out after that. He couldn’t stand to listen to that. His baby was kidnapped and he did absolutely nothing to stop.

Tony didn’t know how long he was leaning against his car for, staring at nothing. It most likely hadn’t been that long because the police were showing up and parking next to Tony’s car.

Pepper was the first person to greet them. Tony was too out of it to notice the confused looks they all had on. No doubt from the fact that they had no idea Tony Stark had a two year old son which was the truth only a few months ago.

After Pepper spoke with them, Tony not hearing a word that was said, they walked up to Tony. “Mr. Stark, we would like to ask you some questions.”

Tony rubbed his face and looked at the man. “Yeah.”

“So your son is two years old, his name is Peter Stark and I just need to know what he was wearing?”

Tony knew what Peter was wearing but it was hard to think about it at that moment. “Uh… he’s wearing a red sweater with um… blue track pants and… white, black, red and green coloured shoes.”

The police officer was writing it down while the others started to make their way over to the park to look for the missing child as if Peter was just hiding there and Tony just didn’t see him.

“So you were at the park watching him and then he was just gone?” The police officer asked Tony.

“Yeah, I took my eyes off of him for two seconds and…” Tony looked away. His kid was probably crying for him and scared out of his mind and Tony wasn’t there to hold him and wipe his tears away.

“Alright. And do you know anyone who could possibly have taken your son? A friend, family member? Someone who knew you were here?” The police officer asked but Tony shook his head.

No one knew they were at the park and no one even knew he had a kid or would snoop that low and actually kidnap his son…

“Wait. There’s this woman, a-a family friend. Her name is May Parker.”

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May got out of her car and walked to the park where she knew Tony and Peter were.

She had seen on a celebrity update website that Tony had taken her kid to the park. Peter’s face was blurred out but she knew it was her baby and she knew where the park was.

So she put her hair up, put on a hat and sunglasses and waited for the perfect moment to take Peter.

May knew that Tony was protective of Peter so it would be hard to find the right opportunity but this was her only chance so she had to take it.

She sat herself down on a bench and waited for the perfect opportunity but every time she would get up, Tony was right at Peter’s side again.

It wasn’t until Tony placed Peter on his feet after he took him out of the swing and Peter was making a dash for the play structure. May stood there and waited for her chance.

She saw Peter crawl under one of the climbing equipment where Tony couldn’t reach him so she walked around to the other side.

She watched Peter crawl out and then start to climb up the stairs.

“Okay. Come down the slide over here.” Tony said then walked around so he could stand at the bottom of the slide. May walked behind him and bumped into him on purpose. “Oh. Sorry.” Tony said to her, not looking at her.

May didn’t say anything. She kept walking until she was standing at the stairs of the play structure. She watched a little boy walk up to Tony so she saw her opportunity and reached up to grab Peter by the back of his pants and pull him until he was in reach to pick him up and set him on his feet.

“Hey, I have a pacifier but you have to come with me, Peter.” May said to the toddler who was already whiny from her grabbing him the way she did. “Do you want it?”

Peter nodded his head and made grabby hands for the supposed pacifier. “Mine.”

May grabbed onto Peter’s hand. “But you have to come with me first.”

May started walking, pulling Peter along her side. She looked back to see the little boy hug Tony and then run away so now she only had a few seconds to get Peter into her car.

Peter started to pull back on her hand and May couldn’t make anything suspicious so she stopped walking and looked down at Peter. “What do you want?”

Peter pointed back at the park. “Daddy.”

May continued to walk, pulling Peter along. “Okay, Peter. We’re gonna go see daddy right now but I have to take you to him first.”

“Daddy ‘tat way.” Peter pointed back at the park again but May knew she had to get out of there quickly so she picked Peter up and started rushing into the parking lot.

Peter immediately started crying once he was in May’s arms but she ignored it and continued to rush to her car. She unlocked the driver's door and threw Peter into the passenger seat then got in herself, started the car and drove away.

May’s heart was beating so fast in happiness and in fear for what she just did. She just took her child back from Tony. Even though she knew that she basically just kidnapped Tony Stark's child, she didn’t care.

Peter was with her now.

May pressed on the gas a little bit harder and took off her hat and glasses which caused Peter to start crying a little bit harder once he saw who it was.

She knew she only had a matter of minutes before Tony either got in his suit or called the cops so May had to move quickly.

She drove back to her apartment to grab a bag of clothes and whatever else she might need until they were out of the city and off the radar.

May parked her car and got out then walked around to the other side to get Peter out. Peter was screaming loudly but there was nothing that she could do about it now.

She held the crying toddler on her hip and went into the elevator, begging it to go faster. When it finally arrived on her floor, she rushed into her apartment and placed Peter on the ground while she started to quickly pack a bag.

Peter banged desperately on the front door but May ignored him. She took her bag into the bathroom to grab all of the pills that she started using ever since Peter had gotten de-aged.

After she was sure she got everything, she grabbed Peter by the arm and held him by his wrist as she walked out of her apartment. Since there was no one in the hallway, she carried Peter by his wrist into the elevator and dropped him on the floor so she could lift him up properly now.

Thankfully the apartment was always kinda quiet so she didn’t bump into anyone on the way down to her car.

She placed Peter back in the passenger seat of her car and threw her bag in the back seat then got in the driver's seat and drove away. She didn’t know where she was going just yet since she didn’t think that far ahead yet.

She just knew that she had to take Peter out of the city.

After she had been driving for almost an hour with no sign of Peter quieting down just yet so she pulled over to the side of the road and put the car in park.

She looked over at Peter. “Do you want daddy?”

“Daddy!” Peter cried and made grabby hands at nothing in particular.

“Then you need to stop crying and I’ll take you to him.” May told him but Peter continued to cry. She looked at the screaming toddler and hated how Tony dressed him in such baby clothes when he was in fact a fifteen year old boy.

May grabbed Peter’s ankles and took his shoes off one by one. She zipped down the window and tossed his shoes out then took his pants off and tossed that out as well. The next was his sweater and his shirt which both went out the window.

Peter tried to stand up to get out the window as well but May shut it and continued to drive. Peter sat down and crawled down onto the floor of the car to continue to cry there but May pulled him back into the seat.

“It’s too dangerous down there my baby so you have to sit here.” May said to Peter, not taking her eyes off the road.

Peter continued to cry for his daddy who wasn’t there to comfort him.

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Tony had sent his suit home but he couldn’t go home.

He couldn’t arrive at the park with his kid and simply leave without him. It wasn’t going to happen.

The police had shut down the park, taking statements to see if anyone saw anything but they got nothing. No one knew what they were looking for since no one knew that Tony Stark had a kid.

The police didn’t allow Tony to help out at all but since when did that ever stop him. He couldn’t just sit around and wait while they spoke to random parents about what they did not see.

Tony had called May about five times to ask her if she took Peter but obviously the fact that she wasn’t answering her phone was a huge giveaway.

He had gotten FRIDAY to hack into the cameras near the park to see if anything was picked up but it was taking a lot longer with only his phone on him.

He was in the middle of watching a video and trying to watch out for anything strange of someone taking his kid when one of the police officers rushed up to Tony and Pepper.

“One of the moms said that she was taking her kids out of her car when she saw a woman throw a crying boy into the passenger seat and drive off.” The man said to them and Tony felt his heart drop for the hundredth time that day. “We’ve already sent a unit out to Ms. Parker’s apartment.”

“I’m going there.” Tony said and opened his door to get into his car but the officer shut his door.

“I’m sorry Mr. Stark but we can’t let you do that. Let us handle it-” The police officer cut himself off because his radio was going off. He stepped away to answer it while Tony struggled to listen in.

The police officer then turned back to Tony. “She’s not there but the front desk worker said that he saw her carrying in a crying baby and walk out with him so we’re going to track her car.”

Tony turned and opened the car door to get into the driver's seat. He could track May’s car faster than the police could so he got FRIDAY to do that. He had no idea why he didn’t think about doing that before but his mind was all foggy so he didn’t think about it.

He was going to get his kid back.

Tony had found May’s car and where she was headed which was out of the city. It would take about an hour to catch up to May’s car if they left now and Tony didn’t want to spend another minute without his kid so sent the location of May’s car to the police officer that was helping them.

“Are we going to follow them?” Pepper asked, already getting into the passenger seat.

Tony started the car and pulled out of the parking space. “Peter’s gonna need me when we get him.”

Tony didn’t want to think about how Peter was feeling right now. He was probably over tired, hungry and thirsty and Tony knew that another diaper rash was bound to happen.

He wanted May dead.

He knew he was horrible for thinking that but he didn’t care.

“You what?” Pepper asked him with concern in her voice.

Tony took a second to glance over at her, taking his eyes off of the road and the two police cars they were following into the countryside to get Peter back. “What?”

“You said you wanted May dead.” Pepper told him, not upset by the thought.

Tony had no idea he said that out out loud. He was going crazy without Peter so he didn’t know what he was thinking or saying. “Oh. Yeah. I know that awful of me but she’s hurting my kid.”

Pepper turned to look outside. “I don’t blame you for thinking that. She has been everything but kind to Peter. We had to take him to the doctors because she handed Peter back to us in such bad shape.”

Tony shook his head and hit the steering wheel. “I should have never let her get close to him. Fuck. This is all my fault.”

“Stop. It’s not your fault, Tony.” Pepper tried to reassure him but it didn’t help. “You tried to give May a chance to be in Peter’s life. More than once and she messed up every single time.”

Tony continued to shake his head. “It’s my fault she took him. We shouldn’t have brought him to the park.”

Pepper placed her hand on Tony’s arm. “It’s not your fault. If she wasn’t there then Peter would be fine. You can’t keep Peter inside his whole life in fear that May will hurt him.”

Tony was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were white.

“No. She’s not going near my kid again. I’m making sure of it.” Tony pressed into the gas a little bit harder. He had to get to his kid. “She can’t get away with this. She kidnapped my baby. She’s going to jail.”

“I know. This isn’t going to happen again.” Pepper agreed with Tony.

Tony saw one of the cops drive off so he had no idea where they were going but Tony still had May’s car on the map so he was going to stay on the right road to follow her. He couldn’t risk losing track of her.

They drove in silence the rest of the way, Tony swearing to himself every now and then as he thought about how he failed as a father.

It took them just over forty minutes to reach May’s car but by the time they got there, the police car that had pulled off onto another road had already pulled May over and was aiming a gun at the driver’s window.

Tony pulled the car off of the empty countryside road and ran out of the car. His heart dropped as he ran closer to the car and heard the crying that sounded like Peter was in pain.

“Hey! Put the gun down! You’re gonna shoot my kid!” Tony yelled at the officer who was aiming into the car.

The police officer listened to Tony and slowly put his gun down then started yelling at May. “I need you to put your hands where I can see them and step out of the car.”

Tony’s fatherly instincts kicked in even more so all he knew was that he had to get to his kid. He saw May step out of the car with her hands raised and then one of the other officers opened up the passenger front seat to lift Peter out.

Tony looked at his kid and his heart broke. Peter was just in a diaper and socks, his face was all red and blotchy and he looked exhausted. His screaming was echoing down the empty road which made it worse for Tony to hear.

The police officer carried Peter around the car but then May’s eyes landed on Tony. Tony made eye contact with her and as if everything happened in slow motion, she turned her head to look at the officer holding Peter and launched at him.

Tony rushed forward at the same time but he felt like he was frozen and he could barely move his arms and legs.

The officer turned his back to May to try and shield the toddler from the crazy woman.

Tony heard all the shouting that was happening around them but he didn’t pay any attention to it. He lost sight of Peter after the officer turned his back and held Peter to his chest.

May was ripped off of the man and held down by two of the other officers while the one who had Peter in his arms turned around and walked away from the commotion on the ground to hand the screaming toddler to his father.

Peter saw Tony and then was crying harder, almost desperately, and made grabby hands for his dad. Tony brought Peter into his arms and held him tightly. His eyes burned with unshed tears at having his baby back in his arms.

“Peter. It’s okay now. Daddy’s here. I’m so so sorry, baby. My baby.” Tony whispered into Peter’s ear and continued to hold him in his arms. He was never letting Peter go again.

May was put in handcuffs and lifted off the ground but she still tried to get to get at Peter in Tony’s arms. “He has my kid! That is my fifteen year old kid! He kidnapped him! Arrest him!”

Tony turned his back to May so she couldn’t see Peter while also trying to block most of the yelling out. Pepper was rubbing Peter’s back and Tony’s to try and calm both of them down.

May continued at it. “Arrest Stark! I did nothing wrong, that is my kid in his arms! He turned him into a baby but he’s fifteen! He’s a fifteen year old! Ask the kid!”

“That’s the smallest fifteen year old I’ve ever seen.” One of the police officers said as they put May into one of the cars.

“May Parker, you are under arrest for the kidnapping of a child. you have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future.” The policeman read May her rights and Tony sighed in relief. May was arrested and was most likely now going to spend a long time in jail.

Tony leaned his head against Peter’s and felt the tears run down his face and fall into Peter’s hair. He would never let anything like this happen to Peter again. He would protect Peter no matter what, even if it killed him.

No one was going to cause Peter this much pain ever again.

Tony walked back to their car with Peter while Pepper spoke to the police. Tony just wanted to get Peter into a new diaper and give him his bottle then get home.

He opened the trunk to get Peter’s diaper bag and carried it to the driver’s seat so he could lay Peter down and change him.

When Tony went to lay Peter down, he started crying harder and grabbing onto Tony’s shirt. “Shh, it’s okay, Peter. I just have to change you, baby. Please stop.”

It broke Tony’s heart to listen to Peter cry like that. It sounded like he was exhausted and traumatized which is exactly what he was. Tony tried to pry Peter from his arms again and it probably hurt him more than it hurt Peter since it was his job as a father to protect his kid and he failed.

“I’ll be quick. Peter, baby, it’s okay.” Tony managed to untape the sides of the diaper but his hands were shaking a lot which was making it hard.

“Daddy! Up!” Peter cried and desperately tried to reach for him.

Pepper walked up behind Tony, scaring him. “Is everything okay?”

“I… my hands are shaking, I just… can you change his diaper?” Tony rubbed a hand over his face and realized that he had been crying. He quickly wiped away the tears and moved aside for Pepper.

“Of course, Tony.” Pepper switched places with Tony and pulled down the front of Peter’s diaper, seeing that he had no rash. “He doesn’t have a rash so that’s good.”

Tony nodded. He didn’t trust his voice to speak. He was trying to hold onto Peter’s foot to give him some kind of comfort but Pepper had to lift his legs up to wipe his bottom so Tony let go and waited.

Pepper finished wiping Peter clean, trying to be as fast as she could because Peter’s cries were painful to listen to. She put a new diaper on him and lifted the toddler up to hand him over to Tony.

“I’m Uh, can you drive? I’m gonna sit in the back with him.” Tony cradled Peter in his arms and tried to rock him to calm him down but Peter was still crying just as loud.

“I’ll drive.” Pepper dug in the diaper bag and turned around to hand Tony a blanket and a bottle of milk. “Here you go. Try to see if this will help him.”

Tony held Peter up so Pepper could help wrap the blanket around the toddler but it caused Peter to cry even harder because Peter thought that Tony was letting him go again.

“Almost done.” Tony reassured Peter but it went unheard. He held his baby in his arms again with Peter’s head cradled in the crook of his arm. “It’s okay now. Daddy’s here.”

Tony took the bottle from Pepper and climbed into the back seat. He didn’t bother putting Peter in his car seat since he knew that Peter needed to be held and he needed to hold his baby.

Once the bottle of milk was placed in Peter’s mouth, he started to drink from it quickly which immediately made the car silent and told Tony just how hungry Peter was.

Tony watched Peter fall asleep in his arms as they drove back home and all Tony could think of was that May was never going to go near his baby ever again.