REVISED VERSION 10/7/18 – This is almost the same as before, I just wanted to make it cleaner and add a few details. I'll keep the original author notes as well

Hello! This is my first work on fanfiction ever! I really like the Tony has a secret kid plot so that is pretty much what this is, haha.

Summary:

The team knows Tony—he is a selfish, impulsive, playboy that doesn't work well with others. Which is why they don't understand why Pepper still works for Tony or why Fury lets Tony do whatever he wants. It's only when the team discovers that Tony is hiding something—someone, that it becomes clear they actually don't know Tony at all.

Pairings: N/A

There are some mentions of child abuse (very minimal) in this story but I have the more detailed sections in bold with a little warning beforehand if you still want to read. This work as of right now has no pairings but I will most likely add some in later. This is set before the first Iron Man movie but it will go pretty fast through the events of the movie since I'm going to focus on the events of the first Avengers movie and then go from there. Tony is a little younger in this, late twenties I'm thinking.

I do not own any Marvel characters or movies. All rights go to their owners.

A drunken Tony Stark stumbled into the mansion, greeting Jarvis with a low slur before collapsing on the Italian leather couch. It was one of the rare nights he didn't feel like living up to his playboy persona. He thinks he was at a charity dinner but he doesn't tend to keep up with what event he was attending—he just went where Obie tells him to go and hands out checks when asked. Plenty of the women there had thrown themselves at him—not only was he extremely handsome but after his parents' deaths he was the richest young bachelor in the world. Most of them had been pretty, some drop dead gorgeous and meeting the superficial standards of his nightly conquests, but even he got tired of one night stands every once in while. Pepper would be pleased at least. A morning where she didn't have to escort a disgruntled and sometimes very pissed young woman out was a wonderful way to start any day.

He lasted about five minutes staring at the ceiling until he decided to head down to the lab. After the last time he had tinkered while drunk, Pepper had put a ban on all of the fun tools—specifically the flame thrower. He didn't see what the big deal was, he only had mild burns and the company had ended up with a new top of the line product. Pepper threatened to quit however, and so, even though he could easily override Jarvis and unlock his tools, Tony stuck to using holograms to make designs and Jarvis fabricated the best ideas in the mornings.

Plopping down at his work station, Tony cracked his fingers before stretching his arms above his head. Dummy wheeled over with a package of blueberries and mug filled with scorching black coffee. The robot whirled and clicked in satisfaction as Tony patted its head and took a deep gulp of what he believed to be liquid gold.

"Jarvis pull up last night's schematics. I thought of some improvements we can make to the repulsorlift function."

"Of course, Sir." 3D blueprints surrounded Tony as the latest missile he was working on was pulled from the server. Jericho was written in cursive on the top of the schematic. It wouldn't be on the market for year or two, Obie liked to release Tony's inventions at a slower rate—often saving the best ones for after Tony's latest scandals. Investors tended to forget a drunken escapade when a shiny new weapon is dropped into their greedy little hands.

"Jar, make the power system bigger- "

A crash makes Tony stop and whirl around in his seat in an attempt to locate the source of the noise.

"I swear Dummy, if you broke another Goddamn coffee pot I am going to disassemble you into scrap metal." The robot was nowhere to be seen.

"Sir, I do believe the crash came from the living room."

Grumbling, Tony makes his way up the stairs to find out what kind of trouble the bot got himself into this time. He knew he shouldn't have given Dummy access to the lift—he just got sick of the bot trying to get up the stairs and falling all the time. It isn't until the wailing starts that Tony's heart rate quickens and confusion makes him pause. That didn't sound like a robot. Only when the sound gets louder does he start running up to the main level taking the steps two at time. His eyes widen as he spots Dummy whirling around the coffee table frantically.

(if you are squeamish or don't want to read the more morbid parts skip the ****bold**** sections)

A small thrashing lump is the source of the wailing, a dark red liquid slowly seeping into the rug around it. Tony carefully pulls back a sticky blanket to find golden eyes staring back at him. The wailing stops for a second in surprise but soon the golden eyes are flooded with tears and what Tony has now realized is a child—no a baby—is screaming at the top of her lungs.

****Tony pulls back the rest of the blanket and his eyes widen even more as shock and disgust fill him. Three stumps and one right arm extend off the child's torso. Both her legs end just above where her knees would have been; her left arm forearm were missing. He tries not to gag at the smell of burned flesh. The appendages seemed to have been recently removed—sutured would be more correct. The burned ends caused the wounds to not bleed as badly as severing them would have—but it is clear to Tony that he needs a doctor here now.*****

"Jarvis call Dr. Clemmons. Tell her its an emergency and I'll pay her whatever she wants once she gets here."

"Of course, Sir."

"Call Pepper too. Tell her the same thing. Leave the front door unlocked."

"Right away, Sir." The baby is only sniffling quietly now, her screaming having tired her out. Tony is terrified to touch the child but he knows he can't leave her bleeding on the floor. He scoops her up as gently as he can and unconsciously coos at her when she whines in pain. He drops the dirtied blanket on the floor, leaving the child in only what he assumes is a diaper.

Doing his best to soothe her, Tony carries the infant over to the kitchen table that the interior decorator had insisted he get, it had cost $20,000 and was made out of the most expensive wood the woman could find. He had never once used it until now. It would most likely be ruined after tonight and the tiny blonde that had designed his kitchen would die in despair. Tony had no regret pushing the matching table set off to make room for the child in his arms. Dummy bumped into his leg causing Tony to look down at the robot. In his mechanical claw is a couple of towels as well as some blankets thrown over his body.

"Good boy," the genius pats the robot and grabs the cloths.

Tony wraps the child in a blanket and uses the towels to loosely wrap around the stumps. Increased whimpering causes him to go slower and try to provide some comfort. He can't help but wonder how she got here, but he'll worry about that later.

"Sir, both women have arrived."

Tony turns to see Pepper and Dr. Clemmons round the corner into the kitchen area to then pause in shock. Clemmons recovers quickly and rushes to look at the child's wounds. Pepper stands with her mouth agape.

"How did she this happen?" Clemmons is unwrapping the towels as the child starts to become more distressed at her wounds being touched. Tony grabs the only hand she has left and runs his other hand through her hair. Teary golden eyes stare at him as her whimpers soften at his touch.

"I don't know, I came up from the lab when I heard a crash and I found her over there."

"You don't know how she got here?" Clemmons raises an eyebrow at him.

"No."

"Jarvis would have the surveillance footage of the room, right?" Tony looked to Pepper and nodded. She pulled out her Stark tablet and walked to stand next to Tony. While Pepper had initially been frozen in shock, she had recovered and returned to her normal, professionally cool self. Tony had never been more grateful that he had stolen the red head from his company, her composure in all situations was one of the many reasons Tony kept her as his P.A.

"Jarvis play the security feed from the living room from a few minutes before Tony came up stairs."

"Yes, Ms. Potts."

Clemmons continued to treat the child as the pair watched the tablet. Only an empty living room is shown on screen until a few minutes later when Dummy rolls into the view with a couple mugs dangling from his claw. The robot must have been doing the dishes. Dummy leaves the living room quickly and the activity on the screen remains non-existent for a couple of seconds. A sudden bright light above the coffee table causes the screen to light up and blind Pepper and Tony momentarily. What can only be described as a vortex of white and blue throws a cloaked figure onto the coffee table, shattering the glass. The figure stands up quickly, slightly stumbling but manages to gently place the bundle on the ground along with a note off to the side that Tony hadn't noticed before. The figure clutches its side and reaches out to the child one more time before falling back into the closing vortex.

"What the actual fuck was that?" The pair blinked at the screen.

"Tony- "

"Who was that?" His breathing was becoming erratic, some cloaked dude had just broken at least a couple dozen law of physics!

"Tony we- "

"Pep I'm kind of freaking out here because that was not okay. What even technology makes a weird teleportation-vortex thingy?"

"Tony listen- "

"And what was with the weird Assassin's Creed guy? Who wears a cloak anymore? Did he do this to her? Who the hell cuts off a kid's arm and legs? We have- "

"TONY!" Tony stopped his hysterical rant to look at Pepper.

"Tony we have to call someone. This isn't for us to handle."

Tony blinked and looked and the little girl on the table in front of him. Her golden eyes were locked onto his form and her bottom lip was trembling. Silvery-white hair that he hadn't noticed before was sticking up at all angles on the top of her head. He looked to see he had never let go of her hand despite Clemmons having finished before they finished watching the tablet. Her hand was tiny with chubby little fingers that were wrapped around his index finger. She couldn't be older than a couple months.

"No. No, we can't do that." Pepper's eyes widened as she stood up in shock.

"Tony, this kid just came from a vortex. That isn't normal! We have to call police or the government or something!"

"We can't call anyone, Pep," the billionaire poked the child's belly and felt his heart warm as she giggled, "What do you think they will do when they found out how she got here? You're right, anyone can see she isn't normal. She'll be sent to a lab or be stuck in some government facility for the rest of her life."

"He is right you know. Even while I was treating her, the burns were already healing at a rapid rate. Her body would have sealed the wounds on its own even if you had not called me." Tony and Pepper look at Dr. Clemmons as she began to pack her medical supplies back into the bag she had brought with her, "Every lab will want to get their hands on her for research."

Pepper's face drained of color as she looked at tiny child laying on the table. Her tiny body fought to stay awake but exhaustion was slowly getting the better of her. Tony was right, they couldn't call anyone.

"What do we do with her then?" Clemmons smirked at Pepper as Tony began to run his hand through the child's hair again. After retrieving the note from the floor she held it out to Pepper, it read simply:

Take care of her.

"Well it looks like whoever left her isn't coming back. And it seems like they have bonded," the older woman watched the genius's expression closely, she'd seen that look many times in her career.

"Oh no, Tony couldn't do that." Pepper shook her head; Tony could barely take care of himself.

"I think I want to." Her head snapped to look at Tony, he was still focused on the child in front of him.

"Tony, you can't be serious."

"I am serious. She needs me Pep." Clemmons had helped settle the infant into Tony's arms and he was now looking at her with those damn puppy eyes of his that were hard to resist on a normal day. She stood no chance with him holding a broken child in his arms. She huffed in annoyance and hoped this wouldn't backfire on her.

"Fine, but you have to take care of her. And that means no partying every night," Pepper put her hands on her hips and gave her best no nonsense tone to the adult man in front of her.

"Of course."

"I mean it Tony. She needs to be bathed and clothed and fed and dear God, what have I just agreed to?"

"I don't know yet, Pep, but I think it's something good." Tony didn't know why, but ever since he had first gotten a glimpse of those golden eyes he felt like she should be his. He needed to protect her.

Pepper's shoulders just slumped in defeat. All she could hope for is that she wouldn't regret this later.

***line***

Dr. Clemmons returned the next week to check in on the young patient. Tony hadn't bothered to ask her to keep the child a secret, he knew she would never violate his trust. There was a reason why she was his private physician. In that week, Pepper had gotten papers drawn up and paid their way past the usual legal channels in order to make the adoption quiet and quick. A baby swing and other new additions of baby-themed furniture had also been added to the room.

Dummy sped past her to meet Tony at the top of the steps leading to the lab. The broken child she had met the week before was giggling as Tony praised the robot and took the bottle from the extended claw.

"How is she doing?"

"Well she sleeps a lot. And eats a lot. And poops too. Like a lot. Like more than five times a day sometimes. Pepper said its normal but I don't believe her. Is that normal?"

"Yes, Tony, that is normal." Clemmons chuckles as Tony sits on the couch and sets the bottle down on the new coffee table. The baby girl looked annoyed that her meal had been cut short.

"It looks like the skin has healed over the wounds." Tony held the infant so Clemmons could examine her without the child making a fuss, "I don't think she has been blessed with the ability to back limbs however."

The three stumps were now smoothed over as though she had been born that way rather than having the appendages removed later. Clemmons was amazed by the child's quick healing, it made her wonder if it was a natural ability or if she had been experimented on. She had a feeling it was the latter.

"Yeah, I figured. I'm already working on something to help her when she gets a little older. I'm going to need your help with it though."

Tony picks the bottle back up causing the baby to wiggle in anticipation. Clemmons only raises a single eyebrow as Dummy hands her a tablet.

"You're going to make her mechanical limbs?"

"Not yet, she is too little for me to fit anything on her but I want to start researching now with your help. You can stick your name on it—equal credit, it would be a great move for your career. I can use SI to introduce them and legalize them in the medical world. By the time she is ready to walk, we could have them ready for her."

"Most babies take their first steps at around ten months. You're telling me these mechanical limbs will be integrated into the medical world in the next year?" Tony rolls his eyes at the doctor as she ruins his hopes and dreams. Well delays them at least.

"Okay, so maybe more like when she is three or four. She'll be late on walking but she'll be ahead on everything else, I guarantee it. She is a Stark now after all."

"Is she now? Did you finally name her then?"

"Eleanor Maria Stark, Elli for short."

"What a beautiful name Tony." The man only grins as his eyes shine at his now legal daughter. Clemmons never thought she would see the day when Tony Stark had a look of parental pride. It suited him. Elli continued to giggle and gurgle causing both adults to laugh as well. Dummy whirled up next to them, Elli squealing in delight while reaching for the robot with her good arm. As her skin grazed the robot's metal exterior, Elli's eyes flashed an electric blue and the lights began flickering. Once her eyes returned to their golden shade, the lights returned to normal albeit shining slightly brighter than before and Dummy began twirling in excitement.

"Is that normal?"

"No, not really."

"Didn't think so."

Sorry for any grammatical mistakes! I have troubles catching them. Okay, so next chapter I'm going to deal with Obie meeting Elli and start going to into the events of Iron Man. Sorry if Tony seemed a little out of character or a little too eager to jump in on the parenting thing. It will kind of be explained later. Elli's little light show will be explained later too. Thanks for reading!