Hey guys! I know it's been much too long! I'll explain the details of why I stopped writing in the next chapter as I really need to get to bed right now but wanted to post this for you guys. It's not the best but your support is what made me decide to get back to writing. Thank you all so much!

"All I'm saying is that life would be much easier if you just chilled out with the robot building for a little while." Atticus said as he watched Tony pick tiny pieces of metal out of his hair.

"Yeah, and I'm sure you know so much more than I do." Tong mumbled as he glared over at the boy.

"I do, actually."

Tony laughed. "Yeah? What makes you say that?"

"Well," Atticus pointed to the screen behind him "you forgot to end the html. Which may or may not be the cause of this mess."

Tony couldn't help but let out a frustrated groan before pushing Atticus's chair along with his smug expression out of the way. He stomped over to the computer and typed in a few words.

"That should fix it then?" Atticus asked, biting his cheek to hold in his laughter, thought it wasn't working too well.

"Shut up."

"I'm just saying, you're getting old."

Tony shook his head and walked back over to the rubble that sat in front of him. "No I'm not." He started picking up the pieces before glancing back at the boy. "Who taught you code anyway?"

Atticus shrugged and looked down. "It was supposed to be my skill set. It's all I knew."

"I thought they based your skills off your parents," Tony knew he shouldn't pry, but lately he'd had this strange feeling. He didn't know what it was or why, but suddenly he had become much more interested in Atticus's past than he should've been.

Atticus looked down and away, careful to seem nonchalant. "Well I didn't really have those so I filled the open space."

"Huh."

"Yeah," Atticus replied. "Can you hurry up? I'm bored."

"Then go take a nap or something, you look dead."

Atticus rolled his eyes "Gee thanks."

Tony turned around to look at him. "I'm serious. I don't think I've ever seen anyone that pale before. What's up with you? You sick or something?"

Atticus shook his head, and Tony couldn't help but notice his eyelids drifting shut slightly. "Nah, m' just tired."

"Whatever you say." Tony turned around and started working on his newest invention again. "Have you eaten anything la-"

A loud crash sounded out from behind him and he turned just in time to see Atticus's legs slip off the chair onto the ground as he fell, clearly passed out.

"Atticus?" Tony couldn't help but yell as he stood up and ran over. "Shit kid, what part of 'peppers going to kill me if you get hurt' do you not understand?" He shook him slightly. Still nothing. Luckily there was a pulse.

Without a second thought Tony lifted Atticus into his arms, groaning as his back popped. Maybe he was getting old. He hurried to the elevator and headed up to the medical bay, expecting to find Bruce there. Strangely enough, the doctor was no where to be found.

"The one time I need you Bruce, the one time." Tony mumbled as he layed Atticus down on a table. Jarvis quickly assessed the situation and provided Tony with the necessary supplies to help revive the teenager that was laying in front of him.

Within minutes Atticus had woken up, and was already looking less pale.

"Tony?" He asked.

"Right here bud." Tony said, still looking at the screen as he finished up some blood tests.

"Sorry."

"You're fine. Just try to to pass out all over my stuff again. You nearly took out my new system."

"Sorry."

"No big deal." Tony paused and looked over at him. "This happen a lot?"

Atticus shook his head. "It used to but then they started giving me doses of this stuff. Injected twice a year. My last one was right before I left, and it's been over six months. It's nothing though, I swear."

"Doesn't sound like nothing according to this," Tony mumbled. "I took some blood test-"

"Why?" Atticus cut in. "You don't need to do that."

"Relax, it's nothing major. I just wanted to see what's up."

Atticus of course, always the rebel, didn't relax.

"Hey kid, it looks like you've got some sort of blood disease, if I'm reading this right."

"Oh."

"It looks like... Pernicious anemia? Does that sound familiar?"

Atticus shrugged and looked down. "Nah. Sound familiar to you?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah, I had it when I was your age. It can be fixed with B12, especially if you've got it pretty mild."

"Sweet, so drug me up quick so we can get back to work. It's no big deal."

"Slow down, it's a vitamin, not heroin." Tony shook his head, staring at the screen as the sinking feeling in his stomach worsened. "And it isn't no big deal, its a medical condition. And this form is very rare. It's passed down genetically too. One of your parents would've had to have the gene. It's even less common in boys, so the chances of you having this are extremely low." He glanced over at the boy, who refused to meet his gaze.

Atticus could feel Tony studying him, he looked anywhere besides his face, for fear or revealing himself. "Well, I guess I'm special then." He joked, before jumping off the table and walking down the hall.

Tony sat behind for a minute and watched him walk away, his oddly familiar dark hair bouncing with each step.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Sit down."

Rory complied easily and quickly fell into the huge chair opposite of the desk. It's massive size dwarfed her small frame, and she had to lean to the sides in order to see around it. She glanced around the office that she had known her whole life. It was essentially empty, even after all these years, void of any color or sign of life (or pictures of her, she couldn't help but think for a brief second).

"Stop squirming. Look at me."

She again complied, slowly raising her eyes to face her father. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize, just control yourself." He muttered, already looking tired of her. "I have a meeting in five minutes, but first we need to have a talk."

She stared down at her hands, waiting for him to continue.

"Your grades are dropping, you haven't been doing your homework, and I just got a phone call that you skipped class last week. Do you have any explanation for this behavior?"

She shook her head quickly. "No. It was a mistake. I was just helping a friend and I promise I won't do it again (or at least I won't get caught). I'll study more this week, get my grades back up."

"Helping a friend? What kind of friend could possibly need help so badly that you see fit to become careless? I have a reputation to uphold Rory and I will not have you wandering around like you don't know who you are. If this public school that you were so insistent on going to provides you with friends who make you act this way, then I will not hesitate to send you to a much nicer, private institution. Am I clear?"

Rory nodded furiously. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"Good. I have worked hard to make myself who I am today and to provide this lifestyle for you. I don't want you near anyone but the best, because that is what you are. Do you understand what I am saying?"

She nodded once again.

"Okay. I have to get to my meeting. Go do your homework and don't forget we have dinner with your mother at five tonight. I'm deciding not to mention this to her as I am positive it won't happen again."

"It won't, I promise."

She watched as her father stood up from his chair and walked around the desk, awkwardly patting her head as he walked by. As soon as he left, Rory jumped up. She checked once again to make sure the coast was clear, and then flung open the first desk drawer, sifting through the files until she found what she was looking for. With one final glance she grabbed the document and walked out.

Minutes later she was back in her room and had dialed a number. Quickly the person on the other end answered.

"Atticus?" She said, her voice still quavering slightly from the meeting. "I got it."

As Steve Rogers stood in the elevator, he couldn't help but think that he hadn't been this nervous in months. Years maybe.

After hours of thinking about it,he had finally come to a decision.

He had made a mistake, him and Natasha were better together than they were alone, no matter what. He could only hope that she would agree.

With a shaking fist he gingerly knocked on the door to her apartment. "Nat? It's Steve. I need to talk to you. I-I think I made a mistake."

He waited for a moment, but received no response. He figured she was listening on the other side, waiting for him to make his case.

"I love you. I always have and I always will. No stupid decision is going to change that. I hope you can forgive me. At least let us talk things through."

He again waited. No response. "

"Unless you don't want to. Then I respect that. But please Nat, don't give up on our family."

He waited for one final time. Again he received no response. Just as he was about to turn and walk away, he heard a very quiet but distinct sound inside. The sound of something shattering on the ground. Immediately he went into autopilot. Something was wrong, he had to get into that apartment.

As if sensing what needed to be done, Jarvis unlocked the door. Steve ran in, and straight around the corner where the light was on. He ran up the door and skidded to a stop when he saw it was wide open.

He mind barely registered the shattered cup in the corner as he looked at Natasha, who was standing in the center of the room, fear written all over her face.

"Steve.." she said, barely a whisper.

He glanced down and felt his heart drop all the way into his stomach.

On the floor directly underneath where the now six month pregnant Natasha stood was a puddle of blood.

He looked up at her, his expression now mimicking hers.

She met eyes with him again.

"Something's wrong."