The Secrets of Petra (Parker) Stark

21

"The results are in. Welcome home, Anne."

Petra scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. Anne? Who was that? Her name was Petra. She glanced at the others in the room to see Ms. Potts with one hand covering her mouth and the other gripping Mr. Stark's sleeve. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. Meanwhile, Mr. Stark had a hand over Ms. Pott's shoulder and seemed to be zoning out. Petra was obviously missing something.

"I... I don't understand."

Since Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts were both in states of shock, FRIDAY was the one to answer. "According to your DNA results, you are Anne Margaret Stark, daughter of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts-Stark."

This time, it was Petra's turn to be shocked. So much so that she promptly fainted.

-

Pepper watched helplessly as Petra's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell to the floor. Luckily, Tony was able to act quickly and catch her before she hit the ground. He laid her gently on the floor, cradling her head in his lap. 

"Maybe we should have given her time before we told her," Tony said.

"What's done is done," Pepper replied. "After all this time... I can't believe she's here."

"Me neither. She's so... I should've known."

A soft groan came from Petra- Anne- signifying that she was waking up. Petra blinked awake and looked up at Tony. "Mr. Stark, I just had the weirdest-" Petra cut herself off at the sight of both Tony and Pepper's tear field eyes. "Not a dream then?"

"No," Tony told her.

Petra sat up and put her head in her hands. "This is... insane. I don't... I..."

Sensing (her daughter!) Petra's distress, Pepper subtly motioned for Tony to give them some space. Tony opened his mouth to protest, but Pepper glared at him. He stood up. "I'm going to go check on Happy real quick. Who knows what he does when left unsupervised. I'll be right back."

Pepper offered a hand to help Petra stand. "Come on, let's get you off of the dirty floor."

Wordlessly and unfocused, Petra took Pepper's hand and allowed her to pull her off of the floor. Pepper had Petra sit on one of the stools at the work table and then sat on one herself. "I know this is a lot to take in," Pepper began. "To be honest, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, and I've been waiting for this day for such a long time."

"I feel like my life has been turned upside down," Petra admitted shakily. "I thought you would all hate me because I was found at Hydra... I wasn't expecting this."

"I know, and I'm sorry that all of this happened to you. Believe me, if I could turn back the clock..." Pepper trailed off, reminiscing.

"But I'm.... I'm here now, right? I'm her- Anne. She's me?"

Pepper gave a wet laugh. "Yeah. You're here, and you're her, and we're here, and you're... More wonderful than what Tony and I could've hoped for."

"She's right about that," Tony said from the doorway. "And, no, it's not just because you're Spidergirl, Petra, or because you're a literal genius, which I'm claiming you get from me by the way, but because of who you are." Tony walked over and joined Petra and Pepper. "I know this is sudden, very sudden, but... Can we try this? This... family thing?"

"And if you don't like it," Pepper added, "it can go right back to the way it was before. You're safe and alive, and that's all we've ever wanted for you, even... Even if it's not with us."

Petra hesitated, before nodding. Then, as if it were a split second decision, she all but collapsed onto Pepper in a tight hug, which Pepper returned just as tightly. For the first time in fourteen years, she was holding her daughter. Tony wrapped his arms around the two of them. Their family was complete at last.