"Sir, Agent Coulson is on his way up with what he insists is very important news." Jarvis's voice echoed through the bedroom and Tony groaned as he rolled over, looking at the clock on his bedside table. It was almost two in the morning, and Coulson had decided to drop by. WHY?

With another disgruntled groan, Tony drew himself up and shuffled his way into the living room. Without even bothering to meet Coulson at the elevator, Tony headed straight to the bar instead. Once he had poured himself a generous amount of scotch, he took a swig and nodded at Coulson as he made his way over, placing his hands on the bartop and tapping his fingers distractedly.

"And to what do I owe this visit, Agent? Did aliens decide to attack New York again, or did you just miss me that much?" Tony snarked, taking another swig of his drink. If he had to be awake, he was at least going to enjoy it.

Coulson looked up at him, seeming almost guilty, and then sighed. "Mr. Stark, tonight at approximately nine o'clock, SHIELD scientists picked up an odd energy reading coming from one of the old SSR laboratories downtown. Agents were sent to investigate and came back with a man. A man claiming to be Howard Stark." Coulson spoke slowly, carefully, and Tony's heart stuttered for a moment before he fell back on the stool behind him, distractedly taking another long swig of alcohol from the bottle closest to him. Coulson watched him carefully and continued when Tony looked up at him, still shocked into silence.

"He was brought back to headquarters in a blacked out van. They ran a few blood tests and he was telling the truth; he really is Howard Stark. He says that the date is September 12, 1952, which makes him 38 years old. For him, it's only been eight years since Captain Rogers went down in the ice and he doesn't even know he has a son; for him, you haven't been born yet."

All Tony can think is that the bastard doesn't even know about me. The man being held at SHIELD headquarters doesn't know all the shit Tony's had to put up with through the years because of him; his childhood, what that man's death did to him. Unable to say anything, Tony took another drink and stared at Coulson, lost.

After a long moment of silence, he finally asked, "What do you want me to do? You said he doesn't even know about me."

Coulson seemed prepared for that and smiled reassuringly. "We just thought you might want to go and see him. Or at least know that he's here. A few of our men are working on how he got here in the first place, but they haven't gotten very far."

Ah, that's what the rush was all about, but even so, Tony grew a little annoyed at that comment. "So you're not only bringing me in so I know, you're bringing me in because you don't know how the hell it happened or how to send him back."

The agent looked embarrassed but nodded. "Well, yes. That's another perk of you knowing." He sobered quickly and stared Tony down. "But remember, Tony, he doesn't know you. All the things you've been through, he hasn't done them yet. Don't take it all out on him, if you do decide to meet with him."

Tony glared at Coulson and snarled, "I don't give a shit about him. I'll help send him back, but I don't want to talk to him. Or see him. Unless I get to beat the living hell out of him, keep us in different rooms." Coulson nodded, the embodiment of understanding, and made to leave.

"Wait, where do you think you're going? I'll come now, just let me get dressed." When Tony noticed the odd look Coulson was giving him, he shrugged and frowned, pointing at his watch. "Well, you already woke me up, and I'm not sleeping after that. The sooner this nightmare is over, the sooner I can get back to," he trailed off, waving his hand vaguely at the tower and his lab. Coulson nodded and waited near the elevator while Tony changed.

When Tony walked through the doors, he was handed a file full of the energy readings from Howard's arrival. As he was flipping through the pages, he heard a somewhat familiar voice shouting.

"I don't know what the hell's going on, so I demand I get some answers! Something happened that's beyond you as well, or you would've sent me back already."

Someone tried to calm him down, saying they didn't know what he was talking about, he was still where he had always been, there had just been an unexplainable power surge and he had blacked out. Even Tony scoffed at that explaination.

"Oh, please. I can tell this technology is at least twenty years ahead of what I have, and I'm pretty far ahead of everyone else. Where am I?" Tony was starting to feel uneasy. Even if the man was a bastard, he felt he would be reacting the same way if he were in his situation.

Hearing enough, Tony threw the folder down on a table and stomped over, barely glancing over his father before turning to the SHIELD agent, his stomach making odd flip-flops. Thankfully, he recognized the kid. "Hey, Norton. That's enough. I got it from here, why don't you go tell Coulson what's up?" Norton turned to Tony and gaped, turning from Tony to Howard and back. "It's alright. Tell Coulson I changed my mind. But I won't punch him, I swear."

Norton nodded and almost sprinted away. Tony watched him go with a cocky grin that quickly disappeared when he turned to look at the now-suspicious Howard.

"Who were you threatening to punch? That Coulson fella, or me?" When Tony didn't answer and simply rose a bored eyebrow, Howard sighed and decided to stare Tony down, instead. "You look familiar. Have we met before?"

That made Tony grin wide and break down into long, loud, slighly-mad laughter that made Howard's eyes go wide. "Are, are you alright? Mister, I didn't say anything funny, what's going on?"

Trying to sober quickly, Tony stood straight again and wiped away the tears from his eyes. "Oh, God. Sorry, that was just. Ugh, too funny. Sorry." Taking a deep breath, Tony extended his hand. "Tony Stark. Nice to meet you. Kinda. Well, this version of you, anyway." Howard gave off a forced air of nonchalance, even though Tony noticed his hand twitching in agitation, and then shook Tony's outstretched hand.

"Howard Stark. So, how are we related? Cousins, or something?"

Tony grinned again, turned to the surveillence camera pointed straight at them, and winked. "Naw, nothing like that. I'm actually your son." When Howard's jaw clenched and he was looked up and down increduously, Tony leaned forward and mumbled, "The year's 2013. Somebody, we don't know who, ripped you forward about sixty years. These hacks are trying to figure out how the hell it happened, but after six hours, they decided to call me in."

Howard watched Tony warily, not quite sure if he should believe him or not. "Sorry, Mister, but why should I believe anything you've just told me? How can I possibly know this is true?"

Tony sighed long-sufferingly, and only hesitated for a moment before gripping Howard's shoulder and leading him toward the doors. "Coulson!" he shouted out as he saw the agent watching him with a thinly veiled glare. "We're going to the Tower. We'll work on stuff there. You guys just, keep trying to figure things out here. We'll be there." Tony threw his free hand around, pointing and waving as he spoke, and then led the bewildered Howard out of the building. Coulson sighed as he crossed his arms but allowed them to leave. No big deal. They were being tailed, anyway.