Author's Note: I was lucky enough to meet the man himself, Robert Downey Jr, at the Iron Man 3 red carpet London premiere... And yes he is is even more handsome in real life than on screen! J I hope you all enjoyed that movie by the way! And just a reminder that this is set after IM2 and before Avengers and IM3!

CHAPTER FiVE:

"Hey! Dad, look at what I built!" Young teenager Tony ran into his father's workshop holding a robot he'd spent days building. "It's voice controlled although it seems to only understand French, I was wondering if you could help me fix that."

Howard Stark was laying on the ground tinkering with his latest motorcycle project. He barely glanced at his son as he carried on working. "You made it, you fix it."

Tony frowned. "I've tried everything, please da..."

"How about you work with your old man on a proper project then, like this one here. You won't get anywhere building these toys of yours." Howard sat up revealing an open bottle of alcohol next to him.

Tony stared at it and shook his head he could have guessed. His father seemed to drink more and more these days. "Thanks, but I'm going to go and fix this myself."

Howard looked at the bottle and then Tony. "Don't you like bourbon?" he asked sharply. "

Tony rememebed when he was six and his father made him down a glass of single malt bourban to 'make him a man', he hated it and he hated seeing the look on his mother's face who had witnessed it. But he'd done it to win his father's approval, the same approval he was still trying to gain now.

He took a deep breath, "Yeah," he lied. "Me and a few of the lads at school keep a bottle hidden in our dorm."

Howard chuckled and handed Tony the bottle, keeping a watchful eye on him as he took a swig. Tony reluctantly swallowed the foul tasting alcohol and gave a weak smile as he handed back the bottle.

"That will put hairs on your chest." Howard took a mouthful from the bottle next, obviously enjoying it more than the younger Stark. "Here let me have a quick look at that robot of yours."...

"Tony!"

"Yeah?"

"You've been standing out here with that glass of bourbon in your hand since you got back. The kids are asleep, today must have been quite exhausting for them." Pepper walked up to the balcony railings next to Tony.

The view wan't as nice as the one from his Malibu cliff house but, he'd been staying over at his penthouse apartment lately whilst doing business at the Manhattan main head offices of Stark Industries. Pepper also had her own appartment nearby as she wasn't very keen on the idea of him carrying her for a daily flying commute. Although, unsurprisingly during their Manhattan stay she'd neglected her own place recently in favour of his but on the odd night she went back there when she needed to get work done uninterrupted.

"I was just thinking." Tony swished the glass around, since getting with Pepper he hadn't really drunk as much as he used to. He took a small sip and screwed his face up as he swallowed it. Even now he couldn't stand the taste.

"I've read the letter." Pepper rested her hand on top of his and rubbed it softly with her thumb.

"I'm sorry Pep."

"You don't need to apologise to me."

"I don't want to drag you into mistakes I made in my past." He paced around and took another mouthful of drink.

"You're not dragging me anywhere, I'm willingly following. And why are you drinking that stuff? You don't even like it."

Tony put the glass down. "It'll put hairs on my chest," he explained. "That's what my father used to tell me when I was a kid. I was six when he forced me to down a glass. Then, when I was a teenager the only way I could get him to spend time with me in between boarding school was to join him for a drink or help with his projects," he sighed. "Yet in the tape he left me he said everything he'd built and worked on was for me and that I was his greatest creation. I never managed to understand him. If, just if the impossible does happen and those DNA results come back positive am I going to turn out to be all like my father?"

"It's okay to be scared Tony."

"I'm not scared," he insisted. "I simply don't want to risk bad press for giving my child alcohol."

"You're not going to turn out like your dad. You're smart enough to learn from his mistakes so you don't have to make them," said Pepper then she jokingly added, "and if you go wrong we'll simply blame it on the babysitter for mistaking a juice box with a beer bottle." She grabbed his arm and pulled him close.

Tony hesitated but the look on Pepper's face was enough to reassure him for now. "Okay," he said as he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss upon her lips. In a couple of hours he'd planned to wine and dine her but he guessed that plan was out the window. Although he still wanted to tell her that he loved her.

Right now, no fear just three easy words to say. It was simple, they were on the tip of his tonuge, all he had to do was shove them out and get his lips to form the right shapes. A genius such as himself could manage that no problem. Calm, cool and collected that's how Tony Stark rolled.

"I love you," he mumbled quickly before his brain could talk him out of it.

"Excuse me?" Pepper looked up at him, he couldn't read her expression.

"I said," he spoke clearer this time, "I love you." he didn't get a reply and he still couldn't read Pepper's expression.

"This is really awkward right now, I think this is where you say 'Oh Tony, I lo...'"

"I love you too." Pepper's face suddenly changed to a picture of overwhelming happiness and at the same time Tony couldn't help the extremely goofy smile his mouth made.

He put the children and the mystery that surrounded their mother to the back of his mind. This was a perfect moment and he wanted to make it last for as long as possible.

*IRON MAN*IRON MAN*IRON MAN*

"Where's Lucas!?"

The woman carried on reading her book until she finished the current page, unfazed about the man who had just forced his way into the apartment.

"I wasn't expecting you to find me so quickly." She calmly folded the corner of the page and put the book down on the table in front of her. She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms.

"Don't mess with me Di!" The man towered over her, he was well built and stood just over 6 foot but Diana knew him too well to be intimidated by him.

"Where is the boy?" he asked again.

"Gone," Diana replied, looking the man straight in the eyes she chuckled, "do you actually think I was going to sell my son to you like he's some sort of science project?"

The man's blue eyes narrowed. "You wasn't saying that when he was born! He'll be dead with in a few years if you don't hand him over!" He grabbed Diana's arm and harshly pulled her up, growling at her. "Do you think you or anybody else are capable of saving him?"

"Nope, not me." A smirk grew on her lips, she yanked her arm free from the man's grip. "But, haven't you heard that his father is some sort of scientific genius?"

"You didn't?"

"I had no choice Julian." Diana walked up to a book case in the corner of the room which also doubled as a shelf to photos of people whom she didn't recognise. That was not surprising seeing as she didn't even know who's apartment this was. "You're the one that wanted to face off with him anyway."

The man, Julian came up next to her. "You think that you and that Stark man will end up like that?" he tapped a photo of what was presumably a married couple and their three young children.

"No," she snorted, she was no fool, she'd long given up hope of that. "But I know he'll look after the children."

"Tony Stark can barely look after himself, you saw the news didn't you?"

"Don't kid yourself you know that he's different now."

"The boss isn't going to be happy about this." Julian ran his hand through his thinning black hair. "You've handed over our weapon against Iron Man to Iron Man."

"My son is no weapon!"

"But my son is!" Julian slammed his hands down on the bookcase sending some of the photos to the floor, their frames smashing in the process. "You let me believe he was mine when he was born so that scientific experiment I created belongs to me and I want it back!"

"This revenge thing you've got in your head isn't going to change anything. I'm sorry. So you can tell your boss guy that you and him can just back off! You're never going to get Lucas now."

"Revenge is all I have left! That man ruined my life Diana! You both did, but you know I can't hurt you." Julian tenderly traced his finger down Diana's cheek. "So now I'm going to ruin his just when he's happy being superhero of the hour I'm goignt to take it all away from him. And the fact that he knows about Lucas now will make oh so better when I use the boy to bring him down."

Diana slapped his hand away from her face. "Just give up!"

"So I guess you told Stark about this?"

"I didn't tell him anything, I thought I should give you a chance to change your mind and see sense."

"Liar!" Julian spat. "You're just scared that Stark won't be able to cure Lucas and if Stark destroys me then there really is no hope for him."

"Jul..."

"I'll win at last."

*IRON MAN*IRON MAN*IRON MAN*

It was 7:12am, Tony sat alone at the breakfast table everybody else was still asleep. Infront of him was a bowl of cornflakes that had gone mushy from sitting in the milk to long, he pushed them around the bowl with his spoon and groaned. This was the morning that he found out if he really was a father to not one but, two children.

He'd lied to Pepper last night, he was scared. He was scared about being a father and also there was something he couldn't quite put his finger on about the message Diana had left him. His gut instinct was telling him that if these test results came back positive it wouldn't just mean responsibility, it would mean danger too.

On the table his more than just smart phone stared to flash and play it's all to fimiliar and catchy ring tone.

'He's a man on a mission, in armor of high tech...'

Not bothering to look twice at the caller ID Tony didn't hesitate to pick it up.

"Mr Stark?"

"Speaking," Tony replied, he recognised the voice of Dr Michaels.

"I realise that it's early, I hope I haven't woke you up."

"It's fine," said Tony impatiently. "Can we skip to the results now Maury."

There was a silence which Tony was sure was the doctor's intention in trying to make things dramatic.

"Mr Stark, you're the father of both children."

Tony slumped back in the chair. "Are you sure?"

"100%"