Chapter Text
"It's yours, Mr. Stark."
The proof was indisputable, all labeled out clear as day in the paper in front of him. He searched through it, looking for anything that would prove the woman in front of him wrong, that he was not, in fact, having a child. Because he couldn't, he just couldn't. He wasn't supposed to be a father, and he most certainly wasn't supposed to be a dad.
He looked up at his assistant, who was checking things off on her clipboard, yet kept glancing at him expectantly, clearly waiting for a response. She waited a few more minutes before she got fed up with him sitting in his stupor, because she carried on.
"The mother, Mary Fitzpatrick, has asked for a meeting with you. I suggest you attend," she said, a hint of a warning in her voice, as if daring him not to meet the mother of his future child, "When would you like that scheduled, Mr. Stark?"
"Um, just--God," he covered his face and sighed through his nose, "Just get her over here as soon as possible. And I really mean as soon as possible. And, cancel everything else for the next few days."
"Very well. Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"
"Yeah--yeah yeah. That'll be all, Ms. Potts, just...don't tell Obie for the moment."
She gave him an odd look, but didn't question him, just continued typing and making notes. It was fair. He didn't exactly know why he didn't want to tell Obie, he'd known the man before he was even born, but something about the situation made him not want to. Tony knew how he would take it, it would be business as always, and that wasn't how he wanted to handle this...
How did he want to handle this?
"Of course, Mr. Stark. I'll alert you when she's ready to meet you."
"Thank you, Miss Potts," he grabbed a company stress ball off of his desk and threw it between his hands, just trying to find something to distract him from the news that was threatening to overwhelm him, "Dismissed."
Pepper left with a simple nod, her heels clicking on the floor as she did.
Tony leaned back in his chair, exhaling harshly through his nose. A kid, a baby. He was having a baby. Well, Mary Fitzpatrick was having a baby, he was more or less along for the ride. God, how had he been so careless? He should've, he should've--
Well, there was no point worrying about what he should've done, all he could do was plan for what he was going to do. And for now, the plan was to go home and...drink probably. To work in his lab and just try to forget, at least for a little while.
"Ughh, mmMMMm."
"Good morning, sir."
The voice of his AI rang through the room, worsening the headache that suddenly made itself apparent. He groaned in response, which Jarvis apparently took as a sign to turn his lights on, making him open his eyes before squeezing them shut again.
"I'm extremely sorry sir, but Ms. Potts has asked me to wake you up for your meeting,"
Meeting? He didn't have any meetings, Pepper had canceled them all. Unless--
Reluctantly, Tony got up, and, ignoring his throbbing head, he headed to the kitchen. When he looked out the windows overlooking the ocean, he realized just how late it must be. He vaguely wondered when he passed out last night, and how he got to his bed, before shrugging it off. It didn't really matter if he was being honest.
When he got to the kitchen Pepper was there waiting for him on her tablet, a pizza sitting on the counter next to her. He jogged over to her halfheartedly, making her look up.
"Good morning, Mr. Stark," she greeted.
"I hope that's for me," he said, forgoing a hello and grabbing the box, as well as pouring himself some juice. He stuffed a piece in his mouth, "Jarvis said I had a meeting, and I thought--"
"It's with Ms. Fitzpatrick. She also wanted a meeting as soon as possible so I went ahead and set it up for today. It's in a few hours at Stark Industries, and I'd advise you to not be late, Mr. Stark."
He swallowed his pizza nervously, feeling trapped under her piercing glare. Yeah, he should probably listen to her this time.
"Of course, Ms. Potts. Wouldn't dream of it."
He did end up being on time, for the most part at least. A few extra minutes making sure he got a good coffee couldn't have hurt, though judging by the look Pepper gave him as he walked into the pristine conference room, he was very wrong. She apparently decided to try and not make a big deal of it at the moment though, instead gesturing for him to sit down next to her. Reshuffling the stack of papers in front of her she turned to address the woman in front of her, who Tony had been pointedly ignoring.
He finally looked at her, and she looked right back, staring at him with a challenging gaze. Her curly hair was drawn back in a bun, and though she was probably seven or eight months pregnant she looked remarkably put together, sipping on a tea. She readjusted her glasses as they stared at each other until Tony finally looked away, turning to Pepper instead, who was leafing through her papers. The strawberry blonde didn't look up until she had found the one she was looking for.
"Now that Mr. Stark has finally joined us we can start," Pepper declared, setting a paper in the middle of the table, "This is a nondisclosure agreement, which we'll need you to sign no matter what decision you come to, which leads us to our next topic. What do you--"
"--I'm not keeping it," Mary interrupted, setting down her tea.
"What?" Tony asked, surprised. He understood that people generally didn't want to keep a one-night-stand baby, but the idea of his baby going up for adoption definitely irked him, "Why not?"
"I--well, being a mother in my line of work would be near impossible...I'm a SHIELD agent," she answered at their questioning looks, "And honestly, I just don't want to be a mother, but, well, I...I thought you might like the chance to be a father."
Tony let out a weird hacking noise, caught in between a cough and a laugh. Both women gave him strange looks, though Pepper's was definitely more judgemental. To be fair, he wasn't trying to be rude, but he had never been more caught off guard. And that was saying something.
"You-you want me to raise a child. I-I mean, the ways that could go disastrously wrong are numerous! I-"
"If you don't want it then you don't want it, Stark. I just thought you'd rather know, and that you'd rather have all the options laid out in front of you," Mary interrupted again, looking resigned.
That was true, he guessed. He couldn't imagine what it would be like if he Mary had had his child and hadn't bothered to tell him. But, him , raising a child!? It was crazy, ludicrous! And yet, he couldn't stand the idea that he would never know the kid, his kid.
"Where would it go instead? If-if I didn't take it," he asked, eyes wide.
"I'd look into families--I've been looking into families--but it'd most likely go up for adoption,"
Adoption. He...didn't know how to feel about that, but it seemed to gnaw at him. He hadn't really planned on having children, hadn't thought he'd be suited for fatherhood, he still wasn't, but imagining his child with someone that wasn't their own family, felt like a cold slap to the face.
It took Tony a moment to realize that both Mary and Pepper were waiting on him to make a decision, looking at him expectantly. Whatever he decided would determine everything about the future of the child and--he could feel his breaths becoming shorter and his heart beating faster as the weight of the moment set in, as everything he had been ignoring and pushing to the back of his mind caught up to him.
"I-I need to think about it," he blurted out, just to say something . Mary blinked in surprise, probably just expecting an NDA and a big fat 'no.' To her credit, she recovered quickly.
"Of course, Mr. Stark. Will you-"
"We'll be in touch, Ms. Fitzpatrick," Pepper smiled, reaching over and shaking Mary's hand and getting up to show her to the door, "Call me if you have any further questions. And we'll make sure to give you a call soon."
The two women walked out of the room, Tony assumed that Pepper was going to walk her to her car, or at least the lobby. Tony didn't even get up from his chair though, the situation seemed to be weighing him down, as if he had been chained to the chair the moment he had sat in it.
And so he sat, his chin in his hand, and pondered. Pondered the future of his child. If he chose to not take it, it would grow up without him, he might never meet them, and would that really be so bad? They might grow up with a loving family, one who does a better job than him, and maybe the kid should. But, for all his reluctance, he couldn't stomach that picture. A little doe-eyed boy or girl cuddled up with their family, their father--and it wasn't him.
The thought struck a nerve in him, and in an instant, the invisible weight that had been chaining him down only moments before lifted and was replaced with the need to move, to do something. He stomped out of the conference room, making his way to his car on autopilot.
He'd gotten to the parking lot and opened his car door, so close to being home free, when--
"Tony, m'boy!!" yelled a familiar voice from behind him. Not now. He held back a groan, instead putting on a smile and turning around.
"Hello, Obie," he greeted through grit teeth, hoping that he looked happy to see the man.
"What're you doing here? I thought you were working on the new missile at home."
"Oh, um, yeah," he replied, grasping for an excuse, "Pepper wanted me to come in and um, check over a few things. I'm just as surprised as you are that I came out here."
Obie chuckled good naturedly, taking his cigar out of his mouth lazily.
"Well, while you're here, care for a drink with me in my office? I've got a few things I've been meaning to go over with you."
Tony cringed, just wanting to be at home, alone, preferably. His friend looked at him expectantly, but Tony waved him off.
"No thanks. I just needed to be here for a couple hours, I'm at a real break through on the missile, so I'll have to pass," and without another word he climbed the rest of the way into his car, giving Obie a wave as he blasted off, leaving a trail of dust behind him.
He kind of regretted it, he realized as he drove off, not telling Obie. He'd known the man for longer than he could remember, and while he could be a little insensitive, he was always ready to help Tony with what he was struggling with.
Whatever, it's only been a couple of days. It can wait, he can wait.
He wanted to tell Rhodey, if anyone could help, it was him. But unfortunately, he was overseas and Tony wasn't able to contact him at the moment. It always sucked, but this was the worst possible time for the man to be away. He had always had bad timing, crazy good advice though. It made him wonder what he'd say.
Probably something helpful.
When he got home he still didn't know what to do, which was fair, he guessed. He'd been given the chance to be a father only an hour ago. It wasn't exactly a decision to be made lightly.
He walked over to the bar and poured himself a scotch, sipping on it slowly.
How could he be expected to raise a child when he was drinking at the thought of his own? How could he be expected to be a good father when he'd never had one himself? He had no example, no reference on how to do this. And God, what would Howard even think about this whole thing? He didn't even want to imagine the disappointment and shame that would burn in his eyes.
But, what would his mom think? She'd be disappointed sure, but she'd be so excited to have a grandchild, why, she would've spoiled the kid rotten. She would've given them everything they ever wanted and then some. There was no doubt she would’ve loved the kid.
"Jarvis, what makes a father? A good father?" he asked, borderline desperate on what to do.
"I'm afraid I don't understand, sir."
"What makes a good father? How..." he swallowed, " How can I be a good dad to my kid?"
"Sir, I am afraid I am not capable of answering this question."
Tony sighed, taking a long swig from his glass. It was at times like these that he missed the real Jarvis, who would've known what to do, who would've spoiled the kid just as much as his mom. Both of them would've loved his kid, loved them more than life itself.
And so would he.
He'd love this kid, tell them every day, they'd never question just how much he loved them. But, he could only do that if he took the kid. Mary didn't want it, and giving it up just wasn't an option for him.
Then there was only one option left. And if he was being honest, he wasn't dreading it as much as he thought he would.
"Jarvis, make arrangements for a meeting with Mary, as soon as possible. And, order everything a baby would need. A crib, toys, diapers. And I want every parenting book ever."
"Of course, sir," was it just him, or did Jarvis sound kinda happy? "I shall alert Ms. Potts that you intend on keeping the baby."
Tony smiled, before the feeling of his heart in his throat stopped him. He looked around his house in dismay, at his bar and the memories of countless women in these rooms. He wanted this kid, but he had a lot to do before they got here. It wouldn't stop him though, he was going to be a dad, and nothing could stop him.