Work Text:
Tony Stark looked at his three lawyers who were standing in front of him. It was one of those rare days when the whole team was gathered in the tower. Thor had taken up baseball with Steve and Loki was reading what seemed like a gay Highlanders romance novel. Peter was helping Bruce move some equipment while Vision, Clint, and Wanda were doing yoga with Natasha as their instructor.
-Something wrong?
-Sir, there has been a problem with the department in charge of paternity claims
- Do you need more of my DNA?
Tony was rich, a party animal, and had had a lot of sex before the monogamy of his relationship with Pepper. Before being Iron Man he received at least five paternity suits a month, after being Iron Man they increased to twenty-five until he went public with his relationship with Pepper.
-No, the case… There is an error in the protocols.
-A mistake?
-It is very clear what to do when the DNA tests are negative, but we did not know what to do with the positive result.
Tony knew at which point all the Avengers started paying attention to them.
- How many positive tests did you have before you contacted me?
The lawyers looked at each other and the ten exhibits were spread out before Tony, all with the word “Positive” underlined in red.
-Four tests of hair, four of blood and two of the mucosa of the inside of the cheek. She passed them all.
She. Tony swallowed hard. He had a daughter, a daughter. And now she had claimed her rights and she wanted Tony to acknowledge her. Or her mother had brought her to demand alimony
-The situation is also delicate. ----- The lawyer ran his hands through his already sparse and very gray hair. – She has not asked for money or other things. The young woman's lawyers did not.
-Her lawyers, does she have lawyers? She then she is of legal age. And why does she contact me? It's not that I judge if she wants a relationship with me. But most paternity suits want money or the like. Not just knowing that the rich and famous man is her father.
The three lawyers looked at each other and one took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face.
-The… The Duchess Peverell, Dorea Lily Potter, has contacted us through her lawyers to confirm her paternity and request that a compatibility test be done.
-Compatibility? Is she sick, does she need a transplant? – Bruce was the one who spoke as he stepped forward adjusting his glasses
- From what Dr. Murray found out from her medical history, she is in an extremely early stage of leukemia and it may be that a bone marrow donation from Mr. Stark will save her from it.
The lawyers started giving legal jargon about what they could do if Tony didn't want to be the donor or if she wanted to be. Like cover Tony's back in every possible situation.
-I'll take the test. If I am compatible I will donate. What hospital should I go to? Can she be transferred to the Tower?
The lawyers looked at each other.
-She is unable to travel and she is currently at St Mungo's Private Hospital in London
-Then I will go to London. Even if I am not a compatible donor she is still my daughter and she is sick. At least I want to see her and I am going to help her in every way possible.
-----------------
Tony watched the team as they boarded the plane to London, to the hospital where his daughter, Dorea, was dying of leukemia. Thor recognized the solemnity of what was happening after Bruce explained to him what leukemia was in a simple way.
-Most of these demands for tests come when the child is born. A mother comes, young and scared in most cases, calculating and cold in others. They shouted “My baby is his son”. "Look how they look alike." Then they refuse to do the DNA test and continue to demand a pension, some of them so relieved with the negative results. Then there are the children. The children whose mothers have told them that I was their father and those children come to see me to find out why I am not part of their lives. --- Tony ran his fingers through his hair. – I had to hire a psychologist to explain to these children that their mothers lied to them and that I was not their father. Some even had photos of me with their mothers in compromising positions. Some of them were reported to social services. And after so many negatives I thought…
Tony sighed and rested his head on the seat.
- You didn't expect to be able to have children. – Steve patted Tony on the back
-Statistically speaking there should be at least one positive, and given all the unprotected sex I've had... I thought it was sterile. In fact, I was planning on going to a fertility clinic if Pepper and I decided to have children. And now I know I have a daughter. and she is dying
- The doctors have explained the procedure to you. They have detected it very quickly and are acting accordingly. With your bone marrow donation and the medication, it is very likely that she will be cancer-free in a year.
-It's a cancer, Bruce. One can never be sure with cancer. It may appear again in six months or in thirty years. --- Tony ran his hands through his hair. – The procedure may fail and she may die.
-From what I have seen, she has had the diseased bone removed and replaced with a bone graft from a healthy donor in addition to medication. Your bone marrow will only be insurance for the treatment to work.
---------------------
The hospital looked like an ordinary apartment building, but Tony had been to several hidden hospitals like it before. He walked in to find a smiling receptionist in a somewhat old-fashioned dress. With him were only Bruce, Pepper and Steve
-Mr. Stark?- The woman upstairs
- I want to see my daughter
- First you have to go to the meeting room. There the samples will be taken and you have to talk to Lady Potter's husband
-Husband?
The woman just smiled and led them into a room where there was a stocky young man with a hard expression and strong features, with thick eyebrows. He looked serious and his hair was almost shaved off and he had the shadow of a stiff beard. He was wearing a shirt tight on his muscular arms and dress pants. Next to him was a doctor
-Good afternoon, I'm Viktor Krum- The man held out his hand. He had a thick central European accent, similar to Wanda's but different.. – I'm Dorea's husband.
-As far as I know, Dorea is only eighteen years old.
-We have been dating since she was fourteen and we married with separation of property. We actually got married so that I could make medical decisions for her if she got too bad. - The man smiled sadly. – I had planned to ask her on her 20th birthday, but life went ahead
Tony sat across from the man, after being poked a couple of times.
-Can I know how they found out that she was my daughter before the results arrive? As far as I know, the former Lord and his wife died when she was about fifteen months old. It is a long time
-James and Lily left some diaries in a safe deposit box. They said that Dorea had been conceived in an orgy at an Underground club in this very city. That James wore a deer mask and Lily one of lilies. You wore one of a mountain lion. - Tony blushed remembering that night. It had been a wild three-day orgy. But he only remembered the man in the deer mask and the woman in the lily mask on the first day. Then something made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. They had arrived at the place masked, how had they known it was him?
- How did they know it was me?
- James Potter couldn't have children. Inbreeding continues to affect many noble families. ---Viktor looked at his hands. --The mother of his father, Mr. Stark, was the daughter of a scandalous union. Rufus Potter seduced and impregnated the fiancée of his nephew Fleamont, Dorea's great-uncle. Rufus' last name was hidden, but he still had a daughter with the woman he stole from his nephew, his paternal grandmother. James and Lily Potter were tracking him because they wanted a son, but they wanted him to have Potter family blood so the child could inherit the family title.
Tony gasped and put his hand to his chest. Steve put his hand on his back and Pepper rubbed his arm. His great-grandfather had stolen his nephew's girlfriend and that's why they had taken his daughter from him. And he didn't imagine that his sweet grandmother could be the fruit of such a scandalous union.
-They left a letter for you. At least it will be better than the diary, that was like a chronicle of everything they did with some sexual overtone. – The young man smiled. – But it's in a safe and only Dorea can access it.
-And how did you two meet?
The young man blushed and part of his concern was erased from his face.
-She was thirteen years old, I think, it was a sporting event. I had attended, she and I ran into each other and talked a bit. She seemed cute to me, she supported the Bulgarian team, she had our flag painted on her cheeks.- The young man smiled slightly. Remembering something happy, memories that seemed like he had avoided her in the current situation. – That year I was participating in an exchange program and I met her at the boarding school we went to. There was a dance of hers on Christmas day and I knew it, that I was in love with her. But I was seventeen and she was fourteen, so I kept my hands to herself until she came of age.
A nurse came in while Tony kept asking Viktor questions about how he had met his daughter. Apparently they weren't even taking him with her because she had had a very bad night and they wanted to let her sleep as much as they could before the afternoon check-up.
A nurse handed the envelope to the doctor and he opened it causing expectation.
-She is compatible, Mr. Stark
-----------------------
It was a very tight knot of limbs, the only thing out of place was an arm with a line from which some medication was leaking. The female body was angled and long limbs. Her head was shaved. Apparently she did it herself when she was told the medicine would make her hair fall out. Tony had seen the photo Viktor kept of her a year and a half ago at a friend's brother's wedding. In the photo of her there was a girl beaming with life, she seemed a little worried, but her long black hair reached her waist and she was laughing at the photographer as she tried to get away from the liquid that fell from the her friend's cup
The contrast was to burst into tears. And part of Tony knew that she didn't look half as bad as someone in her situation might.
-Is she not she is she very thin? - Bruce said, his words aren't so coherent. He was in shock
-She was always very skinny. - The doctor shrugged his shoulders. - Even so, she has lost about five kilograms that she did not have left over
Viktor had walked over to the bed, putting a hand on her shoulder and kissing her cheek. She blinked and Tony took in the beautiful shade of emerald green that brought a whole new glow to her face. Viktor helped her sit up letting her lean against his body.
-Hello…. How do you greet your father who you just met and who is not who you thought he was? -She smiled softly and Tony laughed
- I think we started with the basics. You know… Like on those weird dating shows?
She wrinkled her nose in distaste.
-I will not have a date with my own father
- I know, I meant to look for common ground… - Tony looked at her. - You're making fun of me, young lady. Know that I have the authority to punish you for another eighteen years due to the unwritten laws of parenthood.
-Aw, it was just a little joke.
The conversation lasted until she was clearly exhausted and they had to leave her to go back to sleep.
Tony was happy to meet his only daughter