Steel Meets Iron

Chapter 2

No matter how many times he reviewed the results of the blood test Tony's stomach had yet to untie itself. He was a little impressed with Ms. O'Shaughnessy the second he announced that he wanted a blood test she had whipped out a tiny vial of blood, apparently Irene Moore, who ever she was, was taking no chances with him to make excuses. Within minutes he had his results, a nearly perfect match, the arc reactor had left traces itself in his blood yet little Raven's blood had matched everything else. She was his, his daughter. He stared at the picture of her once more, dark hair and eyes like most Starks, secrets in those intelligent eyes like all Starks and yet hardly a Stark at all. She was his, genetically but she wasn't his at all. He could have told them no, they would have left given no silent judgment, he could have made a check out for her and put it behind him. He could have let Raven Rocher fly away, she had no idea who he was anyways, he wouldn't have hurt anyone. But he didn't walk, he had opened his damn mouth and said he'd take her. Part of him didn't want to but he saw how Pepper looked at Raven's picture, the soft smile, that instant spark of adoration women got, on a dime, at the sight of any sweet faced kid. Pepper would have hated him if he turned his back on her. She wouldn't say it but she would have never forgotten her face.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?" He asked himself.

Tony hadn't left the lab since Pepper had announced she was setting up a room for her- Raven, upstairs in one of the vacant rooms he had built for Bruce when he came to rejoin civilization. She had immediately sprung into action and was working to keep Raven's arrival as quiet as possible, well at least she wasn't mad at him. She even said that she was surprised there weren't more paternity cases coming his way after all his "years of debauchery" as she put it. Didn't he know how to pick them? Pepper probably was looking forward to having another girl around the house, or maybe she just liked kids. He didn't know and was too tired to mull over it.

"Tony?" Pepper touched his shoulder. "Getting cold feet?"

He gave a scoff, "Well, I see you're handling the idea of my bastard child well."

"Don't call her that," she scolded. "She's just a little girl. And who knows she may even warm up to you with you being a superhero." He grumbled inaudibly. "And," she continued, "she might even be into robots and gadgets. You could have a little assistant, or partner in crime."

"Or she could hate me," he offered. "The bastard that let her mother walk away into the arms of a murderer."

"Tony..."

"Have to consider all the outcomes Pepper," he finished his scotch, "not just the Disney ones."

Ms. O'Shaughnessy came back in two days with Raven in tow, Happy had brought up the four boxes that was Raven's life early in the morning and Pepper insisted they unpack her things before she came so she would feel "more at home". It wasn't much to unpack but why did it have to be so early? Tony couldn't remember ever being up this early for years.

Pepper began unpacking her clothes, she was glowing brighter and brighter at every tiny article of clothing that she picked up. Tony still could not believe she was taking this so well. Weren't women supposed to be catty and jealous with the presence of a new female. Expressing scorn at the reminder of a carnal fling? She seemed happy that his bastard daughter had fallen into their laps. Women.

She had a box full of books, just books. A little bookworm.

"She's read these?" Pepper picked up a book about reptiles. It was thick with a worn spine and dog-eared pages. There were many books about animals, most of them were thick reference books that you saw high school kids scanning for end-of-year projects. Tony wasn't much for nature, he had enough knowledge not to look ignorant but he never dived into it. A naturalist Stark, he thought with a grumpy quirk. Raven also had kid's books, though mostly Dr. Seuss, and clearly British kids series he had never heard of. There even was a Sherlock Holmes book. Pretty serious book for a seven-year-old. She probably was a bookworm, a little boring little bookworm. A girl hardly interested in technology. Perfect.