Chapter 1

It was just another day in May when Pepper Potts stepped off the jet at Stark Industries' private airstrip at LaGuardia, the late afternoon sun warming her freckle-scattered face.

Happy jogged ahead of her to meet the car waiting on the tarmac while Thor's heavy footfalls echoed off the metal steps behind her, and Pepper let out a light sigh as she slipped into the car, stretching her legs out in front of her.

She kicked off her Jimmy Choos and curled her toes as Thor moved in next to her, shutting the door so Happy could drive toward the airport exit to Grand Central Parkway.

"I never realized how mentally taxing a day spent speaking could be," Thor pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers, his other hand splayed against Mjolnir's side where it rested on the cushioned seat between them. "I should have taken more heart in my father's lessons when I was young."

Pepper let out a hollow laugh as she cracked open a bottle of water and took a delicate sip, "Dealing with our government is always going to be trying, but you did very well negotiating that protection agreement on Asgard's behalf. Odin will most definitely be proud."

He tipped his head, "Thank you for coming to advise me in Jane's stead, Lady Potts. I understand why she chooses to avoid that, and why Darcy has decided to alter her academic future to better assist our initiative."

"If Darcy wanted to continue with political science and get her masters, I'm sure she would have done great, but selfishly, I'm so thrilled she decided to stay on with us and help me when I'm not in the city. Tony really needs the help being kept on track these days."

They chatted for a while as Pepper checked the messages she missed while they were transferring from the plane, and eventually Happy pulled the car up to the curb in front of Stark Tower.

Slipping her tablet into her briefcase's side pocket, Pepper reluctantly put her shoes back on before Thor helped her out of the car, "Thank you," she smiled, but it slipped off her face when she a little girl with disheveled brown hair get out of the taxi in front of their car before the yellow vehicle pulled back onto the street with a screech of its aged breaks.

"Thor," she caught the demigod's attention and tilted her head toward the girl standing alone in the middle of the sidewalk, a bright pink backpack resting on her shoulders while a matching trio of cheap vinyl suitcases rested at her feet.

She winced when a pair of the many Avengers groupies that were always lurking in the public areas in front of the building—eagerly awaiting the sighting of any one of the heroes and more than a few cheering behind the barricade for Thor's attention—moved around the little girl and another couple nearly knocked her off her feet.

Thor's brows were furrowed, but he accepted Pepper's briefcase and watched as she redhead walked over to the girl and bent down to her eye line, "Hello there," the girl blinked up at her with wide blue eyes. "Are you lost?"

Smiling toothily, she shook her head, tangled hair whipping over her shoulders, "Hello! My mommy said I'm saying with family at Stark Tower at One Avengers Plaza."

Pepper's heart froze when she saw the crinkled envelope in her outstretched hand, and she forced a deep breath into her lungs, and then two more when the first failed to return her to equilibrium.

While she had been prepared for this day long before she became the CEO of her boyfriend's company, years and years and years ago, when she had only just started out as the only personal assistant who didn't fall for Tony's charms—except eventually, she did—but that didn't mean she was ready for it.

She was never ready for it

For this very moment, staring her in the face with an innocent grin and tiny hands.

Pepper frowned at the quivering in her fingers as thought after worrying thought raced through her mind at speeds faster than Tony's suits could ever imagine reaching, and then she peaked down at the short missive inside the envelope, swallowing hard at the words she found.

Shaking out of it, Pepper finally looked back down at the smiling girl who was taking in the sights of the plaza with wide eyes, "Sweetheart," she said around the lump in her throat. "What's your name?"

"'m Charlotte."

"Well Charlotte, my name is Pepper. It's very nice to meet you," she straightened and held a hand out. "Why don't you come inside with my friend Thor and me, and we'll get you settled in."

The little one turned her wide eyes on the man who moved to stand at Pepper's shoulder and he gave her a little wave, "I know you!" Her voice was bright as she pointed a tiny finger. "That's Mew Mew!"

Thor's eyes flared and he favored Pepper with a questioning look, but the redhead's face was impassive as she took the girl's hand and led her through the crowd into the lobby.

He rushed to follow, leaving Happy to add the pile of pink suitcases to the cart already stacked with the pieces of luggage from their two-day trip to Washington, "Lady Potts," he said low once they reached the private elevators that led to the residential levels. "Is she-"

"I'm not quite sure what's going on," she said out of the side of her mouth while Charlotte stared with wide eyes back at the massive statue in the middle of the room. "But we will get to the bottom of this."

The elevator doors slid open, and Pepper nudged Charlotte in ahead of her, "JARVIS, the penthouse please."

Tony Stark's personal lab was a massive, high-ceilinged space with all the high-tech equipment you could shake a stick at.

And then some.

It didn't take him long to allocate corners for Bruce Banner and Jane Foster to work out of now they were full-time residents in the Tower.

On one side of the lab, Tony was tinkering under a console, his bare feet sticking out from one side as he argued quietly with JARVIS about something Darcy Lewis was only half paying attention to.

She sat at her desk—a microscopic space crammed between the edibles-only (I'm serious you guys. PLEASE don't mix them up) refrigerator and a massive pile of boxes that probably weren't going to be unpacked any time soon, if ever—going over Clint Barton's surprisingly long list of requirements for the new recurve bow the SI techs downstairs were developing for him.

Because apparently that was her life now, making sure that the new Avengers team didn't blow through Tony's billions before they even had the chance to save the world again.

After terrorists blew up his Malibu mansion—among other things—Pepper and Tony relocated to the renovated tower, joining Bruce—who hadn't really left after the now famous Battle of New York.

Seriously, there was an action blockbuster due to come out next summer.

Jane and Thor moved in not long after the pair of clusterfucks that hit London and D.C. within months of each other, and Darcy took the opportunity to come right along with them and take over the guest suite in their apartment.

After everything she went through with them, she wasn't about to say no to Jane's offer.

Clint then stumbled into town a few weeks after D.C., a postcard from Natasha in hand.

The neat print on the back of a photo of a generic beach with the words 'Best From Key West' ordered him to take his head out of his ass and bring it to the city from whatever desert he was sulking in or she was going to tie him up and send him to New York via shipping container.

That note now hung in a place of honor in the center of the refrigerator in the common kitchen, held up by a pair of spider magnets Darcy happened upon during the first few days she took to explore her new hometown.

She was finishing up with Clint—who was perched cross-legged on the topmost box of the pile to her right and flinging multicolored paperclips at her—when JARVIS stopped talking to Tony mid-sentence before the speakers adjusted to carry his voice throughout the entire room, "Ms. Potts and Lord Odinson have returned. They're requesting that everyone join them in the penthouse lounge."

Because there was one thing that could kick Jane out of a science-induced stupor these days, her head jerked up from where she was going over atmospheric readings on the rebuilding Bifrost with Bruce, "I thought they weren't due back until tomorrow," she mused as she turned off her tablet and set it aside.

Darcy smacked Clint with the pile of forms before she tossed them into her makeshift out-box—empty 72-packs of PopTarts really worked wonders, and hey, wasn't recycling great for the environment—and hopped off her stool, "I don't care, I just hope they ordered dinner."

Tony led the way off the elevator and into the penthouse—because it was his home, he liked to insist that he should always be the first to set foot in it, and Darcy chalked it up to a combination of weird billionaire habits and his undiagnosed slash blatantly ignored PTSD—and Darcy almost ran into his back when he stopped short in front of the doors.

"Pepper, light of my life, my only everything," he gasped and dramatically pressed a hand to his chest. "If you're leaving me, couldn't you at least pack in the Rimowa luggage set I bought you last year?"

The woman in question was perched on the couch in the sunken lounge, her bare toes curled in the carpet, and her gaze flicked up from something on the coffee table to the pile of battered bags tucked under the entry table before she let out a delicate snort, "Why would I leave you if I couldn't take my twelve percent of the building with me?"

The others managed to get around Tony as he muttered something under his breath, and Darcy arched a brow when she saw Thor standing on the far side of the room, exuding deity with every breath even though his slacks were tousled and his shirt was untucked as he stared out the window.

Her frown deepened when she spied the back of the head of a little girl standing at Thor's right, her tiny hands pressed to the glass as she looked out to the city lit up in gold by the sunset.

"Who's the kid?" Clint asked the question rattling around her brain as he sidled over to the bar and hopped onto a stool, resting his bandage-clad right arm against the cool granite as he reached over the lip for a beer in the ice-filled sink.

Pepper stood, her hands clasped in front of her, but before she could say anything, the girl spun around, and Darcy smacked a hand over her mouth, "Oh my god! Charlotte, what are you doing here?"

She was stick skinny and pale, but there was no mistaking the girl's bright eyes and the wave in her tangled hair, and she grinned a mouth full of crooked teeth, "Darcy, Darcy!" She squealed as she ran across the room, her flip-flops slapping against the smooth concrete floors, before she flung her arms around Darcy's waist. "Mommy said I was going to stay with you! Like a vacation!"

Blinking once, Darcy shook her head hard before dropping to her knees and wrapping the girl in a proper hug, "That's such a great surprise Charlie!" Running a hand over her hair, she glanced over to Pepper and mouthed, "Where did you find her?"

The uneasy look on Pepper's face told her something was definitely wrong, and worry coiled in the pit of her stomach as she felt the weight of everyone's eyes on her.

Her mother didn't even call.

She pasted a grin on her face as she pulled back, her hands on Charlotte's shoulders, "What do you think of my friends, Kid?"

"Pepper and Thor are really nice! And I got to see Mew Mew!" She was nodding so fast Darcy thought her head was going to fly off. "And JARVIS! Did you know he's a computer? That's really cool!"

Darcy nodded, "He is," she angled Charlotte toward Jane, who stood at her side with her hands stuffed in the pockets of the oversized flannel shirt—one of Thor's—she wore over her t-shirt. "Do you remember Jane? We Skyped with you when we were living in New Mexico."

"Hi!"

Jane waved, and Darcy nodded slowly, "She's going to make you a snack while I talk to Pepper, okay?"

Charlotte took the hand Jane offered and they went into the kitchen, and Darcy nodded thankfully as she stood and made her way into the lounge where Tony and Bruce had joined Pepper and Thor.

"I swear I had no clue she was coming," she hissed, anger flushing through her voice crossing her arms over her chest as she watched Jane help Charlotte onto a stool at the counter. "I had no idea they even left Seattle! And where the hell is my mother? Ugh! This is so like her."

Wincing, Pepper reached for the envelope resting on the slice of petrified tree that made up the coffee table, holding it in her hands as she explained how she and Thor found Charlotte outside the Tower.

"I've dealt with more than my fair share of potential 'accidental Stark' incidents," she rolled her eyes as Tony let out a derisive snort. "Over the years that it didn't occur to me that the name on the envelope and in the letter wasn't Tony's. I'm so sorry Darcy."

She waved away the apology as she pulled the piece of notebook paper from the envelope and glared down at her mother's nigh illegible cursive.

Darcy,

I'm sorry I didn't call, but I need her to stay with you.

You know I was never cut out for this, and you're in so much better a position to give her what she needs.

I'm sorry and I do love you both,

Your mother

"Oh are you serious right now," she dropped back onto the couch and read the letter again before she crumpled it up and tossed it aside. "Not five months after moving into the Tower and she decides that she's just not cut out to be a parent? Jesus Christ!"

With a groan, she dropped her head in her hands and leaned back against the cushions, "Oh god."

A hand touched her shoulder, and she nearly flailed violently and jumped out of her seat, but instead managed to drop her hands to see Pepper's smiling face, "Everything will be just fine Darcy," she assured. "Charlotte is more than welcome to make her home here like you do."

Tony held a hand up, "Don't I get a-" he broke off at the pointed look Pepper leveled at him. "Never mind! The kid's more than welcome! The more the merrier. Except not, because I don't do diapers."

"Oh my god," she groaned again, smacking her forehead with one hand. "I can barely raise myself, let alone Jane, Tony, and a genius four-year-old."

"Excuse me, but I don't need any minding."

All eyes turned to Tony, and despite the emotions churning in her chest and the fact that she kind of wanted to throw up, Darcy let out a snort, "And you are full of it," the fact that her sister was here smacked her in the face again, and she buried her face back in her hands. "Oh my god, what am I supposed to do? I don't even have a bed for her. I live in Jane's guest room!"

The hand on her shoulder squeezed gently, "Darcy, we can remodel one of the guest floors for you both," Pepper said calmly. "It won't take long at all, and everything will be just fine."

Her chest heaved as she took a deep breath, "Thanks Pepper," she managed through her fingers. "I can't even, I just don't know what to do."

"Give it a few days, and we'll get you both resettled. You're not alone in this."

Darcy sighed again and shifted her fingers to press against her eyes to stop the throbbing that started as soon as she read the words on that stupid piece of crinkled paper.

The pattering of tiny feet forced her to drop her hands, and she plastered a smile on as Charlotte darted over, Jane at her heels, "Darcy, this place is really cool!" She gushed, her voice high. "Jane shared her chocolate PopTarts with me! Mommy never buys chocolate PopTarts!"

"That's great, Kid," thanking Jane with a nod, she pulled Charlotte onto the couch next to her and then arched a brow when she saw Bruce and Tony looking at the little girl with matching looks of extreme curiosity on their faces. "Don't tell me you haven't seen a tiny human before."

Bruce tilted his head as he continued to look at Charlotte, "You said, 'genius'?"

Darcy ran her hand down the girl's hair, "Pretty sure. Remember how I said that Jane and I Skyped with her?"

"Yes."

"Well she was two," she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the surprise that flicked across both faces. "She can probably use the iPad I bought her better than I can, and she doesn't even go to school yet. She probably should. I should look into that if she's going to stay—oh my god."

Ignoring Tony's scoff at the Apple product and the following mutterings about how much better StarkPads were—StarkTech in general, really—Darcy pinched the bridge of her nose and looked back down at Charlotte, "You want to go on a tour, kid?"

"Yeah!"

The guest suite in Jane and Thor's apartment—also known as the set of small rooms that Darcy had called her home, a serious upgrade from staying on Jane's mom's couch—was like a really, really nice room at a five-star hotel.

Not that she expected anything less since Pepper had all the influence on furnishing the residential levels after the Battle of New York.

The room opened into the siting area arranged around the massive television that took up like, half the wall, while her bed took up the other half of the room, and the attached en suite was one of the biggest Darcy had ever seen.

Fresh from her bath, Charlotte was curled up on the massive couch that split the living area from the bedroom side, watching a cartoon about a girl—who apparently was also a sorcerer in training, because of course—who suddenly had to adjust to the life of a princess when her mother got married to their kingdom's king, while Darcy unpacked the tiny trio of suitcases she came with, the sparse piles of clothes arranged on the padded bench at the foot of her bed.

Sitting on her knees on the hardwood floor, Darcy grabbed the last suitcase by the closest wheel and dragged it to her side, a frown crossing her face when she discovered a thick, legal-sized manila envelope tucked in the bottom under a small pile of t-shirts.

"Hey Charlie?" She looked up as the girl poked her head over the back of the couch. "What's this?"

Blinking at the envelope, Charlotte shrugged and dropped back down, "Dunno," her voice was muffled and distant as she turned her focus back to her show, and the little sorceress and her friends were now harassing a young witch, which made zero sense. "Mommy said it was for you."

Darcy shifted off her knees and sat cross-legged as she picked at the tab, her jaw dropping a little when she found Charlotte's birth certificate, immunization records, social security card, everything.

And at the bottom, there was an even thicker packet of legal documents.

Her eyes scanned the paperwork, and she let out a quiet curse as she snagged her finger on one of the red tabs pasted next to a line awaiting—oh seriously?—her signature.

She jammed her finger into her mouth as the coppery taste of blood burst across her tongue, "Oh my god."

Charlotte popped back over up, "What's that?"

Letting the paperwork fall back into the envelope, Darcy shook her head and forced a smile to her face—like she'd been doing all afternoon.

It was really starting to make her head hurt.

"Nothing important, Kid," she stood and grabbed Charlotte around the waist, easily flipping her legs over her shoulder and tickling her stomach. "Come on, let's get you into bed."

The stick skinny girl—and good god, had her mother even been feeding Charlotte all this time?—looked so tiny as she curled up in the center of Darcy's massive bed, burrowing under the blankets and tucking her battered stuffed cow against her side, "I'm going to run upstairs for a little while, but if you need anything, ask JARVIS, and he'll let me know, okay?"

Charlotte grinned wide as she sat back up and held her arms out, "I want a hug and a kiss!"

With a laugh that was probably the first genuinely happy sound she made all afternoon, Darcy did as asked, "Good night Kid, I love you, and I'm really happy you're here."

"Love you too!"

Tucking the blankets back up, Darcy smacked another kiss to Charlotte's forehead before she swiped the envelope off the floor, glaring down at it as JARVIS wordlessly dimmed the lights and she slipped out of the suite.

Jane and Thor weren't in the apartment when she stepped out, and she made her way out to the elevators, still pondering what the paperwork meant as she asked the AI to take her back to the penthouse.

The doors opened seconds later, and the other members of the Avengers residence were still scattered about the living room, Jane and Bruce bent over that tablet from the labs while Clint was mixing drinks for Thor at the bar, and Pepper and Tony were curled up on the couch.

Jane looked up as the elevator dinged, "Is Charlotte asleep?"

"Out like a light before I left the room," rolling her eyes, she padded in. "She actually thinks she's on vacation. Ugh, I could kill Mom."

Pepper looked up and nodded with her chin at the enveloped she clutched in a white-knuckled grip, "What is that?"

"I was hoping that you, with your much more advanced knowledge of legal whatever, could explain some of the paperwork, and maybe confirm that they're not what I think they are," she muttered as she stepped down and held the thick packet out to her.

Passing her tablet to Tony, Pepper's brows flew to her forehead as she flipped through the first few pages, swallowing hard before she looked back up, "Oh, I'm so sorry."

She flopped onto the couch with a groan and stared up at the ceiling, ignoring whomever it was that sidled up next to her until they pressed a cool glass against her fingers, and she drank it down.

"Thanks," she found Clint at her side, and he handed her the glass in his other hand, trading the empty with another full one.

Pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand, she took a short sip from glass number two, "Pepper, please, for the love of all that is holy, tell me that it's not what I think it is."

She sighed, "Your mother wants to sign Charlotte's custody over to you."

"Oh hell."

The room had gone silent, and Jane wordlessly passed her tablet off to an equally stunned Bruce before she made her way over, "Oh Darcy."

Ignoring her, she downed the rest of the amber liquid in her glass, wrinkling her nose as the burn seared the back of her throat, "I mean seriously," she shrugged Jane's arm off her shoulders and scooted away. "This is some drug-fueled nightmare spawned from a lab accident. This can't really happening to me. My mother can not possibly be this stunningly irresponsible."

Tony leaned around Pepper and rested his elbows on his knees, "I'm sure we can track her down. In fact, JARVIS and I will have to have a long discussion if he can't find her."

Throwing her arms up, Darcy pushed off the couch and started pacing up and down the length of the sunken lounge, her toes bashing against the side of the concrete steps on her first pass, "What's the fucking point? Crazy woman made it clear she doesn't want Charlie anymore. What am I supposed to do? Force her into responsibility?"

"Worked for me," he shrugged.

"Well a billion-dollar corporation isn't exactly the same as the welfare of a small child."

Pepper clasped her hands together, "Not that it matters, but you'd be surprised how similar it really is."

On her fourth pass, Darcy gave up and dropped onto the step, burying her face in her hands, the glass she still held cool on her forehead, "I'm going to need the whole damn bottle if I'm going to feel any better about this," she scoffed. "Except I can't, because hungover!Darcy can't handle people, let alone a needy four-year-old. Damn that woman."

Jane rushed across the room and sat next to Darcy, nudging her gently with her shoulder before she moved back a little to give her some space, "Whatever you decide, you know we're going to support you, right?"

"She's my little sister. What am I supposed to do, send her away?" She tried to rub away the pounding under her right eye, but it persisted. "Pepper, can I have the paperwork please?"

"Are you sure?" She asked as she stood and grabbed a pen that was lying on the coffee table.

Sighing heavily, she nodded, "If that's the way she wants to play it, then fine. It's fine. I'll sign the papers and I'm so beyond done with her. Charlotte can decide whether or not she wants to track her down again when she's old enough to understand that she was abandoned by her own mother. Good god, she left her right out in the middle of the street. Ugh."

Her jaw ticked as she accepted the forms and scribbled her name and date next to each tiny flag—especially the one dotted with her blood—her fingers clamping down at the edges of the paper and the words blurred from the angry tears that flooded her eyes.

She jumped when Jane plucked the pen and packet of papers from her hands, "Take a deep breath," she ordered sharply as she squeezed Darcy's shoulders. "You need to calm down Darcy."

"But how the hell am I supposed to be a parent?" She screeched. "I never wanted any of this. I don't want any of this."

Pepper padded over and kneeled in front of them, "You've got us here to give you all the help you need. All of us. We'll do everything in our power to make sure Charlotte has everything she needs. You have nothing to worry about."

Eventually, she rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath, the force of it sending her shoulders all the way up to her ears, "Pepper Potts, you are a damn super hero. Don't let anyone tell you different."

Blushing, especially when Tony chuckled in agreement, Pepper placed a hand on Darcy's knee and patted in gently, "You're too kind. Why don't we have lunch tomorrow and discuss the renovations? There's plenty of room in the empty apartment on the floor we set aside for Steve."

Tony let out a derisive snort, "If he ever decides to stop running after that tall, cranky Russian of his."

Tilting her head, Darcy smirked, "I'm so telling Agent Romanov you called her that."

"But I didn't-"

"She won't know that."

He let out an affronted huff, "Not fair!"