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Chapter Text

-ˋˏ ༻𖤓༺ ˎˊ-

 

It was a sunny day in California.

The 26- year old billionaire was riding in his Corvette with his new driver. His driver was three days old and he almost drove them off a cliff. Almost. That billionaire? My father.

And where was I on this faithful day? This is when my tale starts.

Sunny California.  They drove on the unoccupied rode that over looked the setting golden sun settling on the sea.  Palm trees above swayed slower than the blasting music in coming out of the car much to Tony's content.

"Hey, Hogan. Could you turn it up?"

Tony asked with a bit of smugness, just trying to piss off his driver, which was a horrible idea because he could drive him off a cliff. Like he would do that. Reluctantly, Happy turned up the music which was gonna make him deaf if it didn't stop.

Over time, Happy will not become deaf from Tony's blasting music.

Tony scrolled on his phone. He was currently swooning a local journalist. And ignoring the death threats from her partner.

He was Tony Stark it's not like he could die. He was also currently looking for a new assistant, because the other two.. were... too much?
He needed someone that will let him breathe and do what he wants.

Even though his assistant couldn't let him do that.

At home, the place of parties and bad decisions, there was probably a stack of Stark Industries documents and reports piling to the roof, that he needed to get rid of one way of another.

The bright white mansion sits on the ledge of cliff with big gates that had. T.S. In black lettering. He added it when his parents passed eight years before. No, it was only seven. Tony, don't think about that.

He dispelled it from his mind and when Hogan approached the gates to the large Stark Mansion he stopped.

"Hogan?" Tony asked putting his phone down.

"There is something in front of the gates." Hogan unclicks his seatbelt and Tony furrows his brows and follows outside and what waits for him is the rest of his life.

Lying in some damp newspaper, tired together with some bright blue masking tape, a small note card tucked into the paper was a baby, cold and freezing.

The card?

Lenora.

Chapter Text

-ˋˏ ༻𖤓༺ ˎˊ-

 

There I sat in a pile of newspaper as my father stared at me. With a look of, 'oh god no.' My greenish brown eyes bore into his as small tuffs of hair curl around my face.

"Do you want me to call the cops?"
Tony just stared at the baby (me) and I stared right at him. I stretched out my thick baby hand and I tapped his face. It smooth and his eyes weren't like my mom's. They weren't icy, but soft in a state of panic. Even baby me could sense that.

"Tony?" Happy asked again looking at the baby in front of his boss that really really annoys him.

"Do you think she's mine?" He mutters gently tapping my forehead like I was a foreign species.

"I'm gonna call cops." Happy grabs his phone.

 

A few hours later that sat in a hospital room as I was being hooked up to machines. I was malnourished and I developed hypothermia from the cold of being outside.

 

A few hours later they were at the hospital so they could help me. Hypothermia turned my body a bit blue and I had a dangerous case of malnutrition. I was also small from my age, doctors estimated I was around one.

There was a social worker by Tony as my childlike eyes stared into his panicked ones. He looked scared. Why was he scared?

"So, Mr. Stark, you have many options. This child was left at your doorstep, does she have a name?"

Tony was still frazzled as he speaks slowly, "uh.. Lenora. She had a card with her, that said Lenora."

"Okay, so Lenora. We could take her, put her up for adoption" The social lady suggests but Tony narrows his eyes.

"Is she my kid?" Tony asks with a hint of bristle in his voice. He didn't know what he wanted at this point, and if he really asked himself he never knew what he wanted.

He just didn't think. But now he needed to. He had a life in his hands. He knew how corrupt the system was because sometimes he was left at a home by his father and his mother had to pick him up.

"They are getting the tests done, but we are just talking about the possible options." She offers a soft smile, as she continues but Tony doesn't listen as his eyes go back over to me in the small children's bed. I was a little toddler with brown hair and bright eyes. Why did he have to decide my fate?

"When do the test results come in."

"In a few days from now."

"But, I'm Tony Stark." He tries to argue, but the social worker didn't crack. Good for her.

"I'm sorry, but you can't control that, Mr. Stark."

He just scoffed and shook his head. And I was the child.

"So, when she's all rested up, we can take her until-"

The thing my dad says next always makes me question if gut feeling is real or what he was even thinking.

"I'll take her, back to my house. The system is beyond fucked up."

"I'm not-

"I'm taking her."

 

DAY ONE

HOUR SIX

 

"JARVIS? How do I burp a baby?"

Tony was in his lab that was currently in his lab learning to be a parent. I was in front of him in a large baggy T-shirt that was covered in food, milk, and.. he didn't really know. My diaper was backward, and there was a pile of failed attempts sitting by the already full trashcan.

How can a baby go to the bathroom this much. Was she even a baby or is she considered a toddler?
Let's say his mind was racing. Did he have to start potty training.

Slow down this probably wasn't even his kid.

 

"First pick her up and support her back so it's straight." Tony gently hoisted me up and looked to make sure I was sitting up straight, like the worried fathe-no-person he was, "Now, gently pat her back."

Tony slowly pat my back, gently. There was no way in hell he was gonna hurt this kid- I spit up on his black tank and he pulled me away immediately, holding me far away from him as I laughed. He was funny. My baby laugh was gentle, and it was more of a giggle.

He held me like I was diseased and slowly looked at the vomit that lined his shirt and skin.

 

"Dammit, Lenora." Tony hugged and put me back on the table, and I sat up and continued laughing, and then a small, "uh-oh!" left my lips. It felt odd. I was scared to use my voice, I didn't want to get yelled at. Would he yell at me like Mommy?

He froze and then my baby face morphed into my big eyes staring at him with my mouth open. Was he gonna yell at me?

He better not yell at me. This man has a talking-something that I can't see.

"Did you just say a word? JARVIS? Can babies say words?" Tony asked still looking at me with wonder in his eyes.

"Considering the fact Lenora is 12 months old, she should start developing the use of language at this time, sir." JARVIS responds with his calming robotic voice.

Tony looks at me as I still have that waiting look on my face, that I can't quite describe. I knew I was nervous but I didn't think he was gonna hurt me. A large smile came across Tony's face.

"What else can you say, Lenora?" Tony asks, and I tilt my head.

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?"

"Uh-oh."

"Okay, Miss Uh-oh, we need to make sure that my shirt doesn't get stained for life." He gently picks me up as he asks the thing in the walls.

"JARVIS? Order me a few new shirts."

"Of course, sir."

 

DAY ONE

HOUR ELEVEN

It was the dead of night and Tony was working in his lab, still because Tony Stark didn't sleep, but I did. In the back of his lab, the only place he baby proofed, I was laying fast asleep in a grey bouncer that he had ordered because I wasn't gonna sleep in newspaper ever again.

Sure, he had so many other things to worry about. So many other things, to do, but he wasn't gonna put the poor kid in cardboard box. He wasn't working on some new weapons for Stark Industries that Obadiah and him designed a few weeks ago.

It was a handgun that could shoot with the power of a rocket launcher. Something that could be easily tucked away, and do major damage that wasn't a grenade.

He had made this business thrive, and he was falling asleep. He groaned and went over to the coffee maker where Lenora was sleeping. It was been a while since he felt the need to rest. Well, he probably needed it after that last few days. He found a baby at his door and he decided to take the baby home.

Stupid Stark.

 

DAY TWO

HOUR SIX

 

It was 7:00 in the morning and Tony woke to, "Good morning. It is 7:00 in Malibu and It 74 degrees. It is partly cloudy with the chance of rain later this afternoon around 4:00. So, I would bring an umbrella today."
(Around 23 degrees Celsius, got you readers from around the word :))

"Uh-oh!" I yawn as my eyes look out the window where I wasn't last night. I remember falling asleep looking at the man working at something, the warm lighting pouring over his work station as the dark surrounded me.

Now, I stared outside at the looming blue and the looming blue above it. So, far away. My head turns to the sound of footsteps behind me.

"Uh-oh. To you too, Lenora." Tony unhooks me from my bouncer and pick me up as he pass down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Let's hope I never drop you down the stairs, because that would be an uh-oh." Tony jokes as he sets me on the counter, "Probably should change your diaper before I feed you."

After that, Tony grabs a bottle from the fridge. He needed to wash it again.

So, after he washed the bottle he filled it with the milk the hospital provided. He was gonna have to get some more. Where he was gonna get it? He didn't know. New assistant added to the never ended things he needed to do.

"JARVIS? How many times should I fed her again?"

"Three to six times a day, sir."

Tony puts me in a makeshift high chair, and holds the bottle by my mouth and puts it awkwardly in my mouth.

"JARVIS? Am I doing this right?" Tony asks, but before he can answer I'm already droning the milk.

"Never-mind. I got it."

"Sir, I would suggest-"

"I got it."

His phone rang and the name, 'Obadiah appears on screen and JARVIS' connects the call after Tony tells him too. People need to stop talking from the walls. My baby brain thought as the words processed in my head.

"Tony. I'll see you at work today?" It was asked as a question but delivered as a statement.

Tony looked over at me and scrunched his nose and I repeated the gesture, which made a small smile appear on his face but it dropped quickly when he spoke to Obadiah again.

"I'm gonna stay home, again. I'm not feeling the greatest," Tony faked coughed and hit his chest. He was not fooling anyone. Even little me knew that.

"Well, you better take some Ibuprofen and toughen up, son because the marketing team meeting is today and you need to be here for it"

Tony put his hand over the speaker and grained and looked over at me, "Can you hold down the fort for today?"

I just blink, "uh-oh!" I wanted to learn how to talk like him, so I could tell him not to leave me alone. Mommy was gonna get me.

"Okay, I'll be there give me an hour." Tony huffed and Obadiah smiled and laughed over the phone.

"Great, see you there Tony."

Tony sighed and then groaned putting his head on the ground and I copy his movement from earlier and scrunch my nose.

"JARVIS? Babysitters near me."

 

DAY TWO

HOUR SIX AND A HALF

 

"You said you were 60." Tony looked at the photo of the old women he hired and then up to the blonde teenager that looked like they just got done smoking a huge pot of weed.

"Spiritually." she answered and was this man crazy?! Was he gonna leave me with this crackhead?

He was slowly walking out the door.

No. He was not leaving me.

"Hey, baby." The teenager said, "where is your dad's alcohol?"

I didn't even look at her and I just cried. I wanted the man with the goatee back. Not this crazy woman who smelled like Mommy.

"Just chill." She lifted me from my bouncer as I cried at she put me on the counter in the kitchen, and then she walked away as she figured out how to use the speakers to drown out my cries.

For the last 40 minutes she was on her phone. I didn't fall off, and I cried more and she groaned, "Just.. stop!!!"

After more time on the counter passed my cries stopped because the music was so loud, and I almost rolled off the counter, until the door slammed open. The man was yelling at the girl and she looked like she was yelling back. I couldn't quite pick up what. He wanted her to leave. He pointed at the door.

 

"Get out of my house you crack head." Tony yelled as he walked back in to the mansion and JARVIS turned down the speakers.

"Woah, you're early. You gotta pay the early charge, man." The teenager gets up off the couch with a shrug.

"My kid is on the counter about to fall off. I don't owe you shit!" Tony yells while his hands make a big motion and she scoffs.

"It's an independence skill!"

"She's one!"

"You're still gonna pay me."

"Hell no." Tony annunciates the hell, as the teenager storms past him.

"Well fine, no one wants the money of a war criminal!" She slams the door and Tony runs a hand through his hair a very obvious sign of frustration.

"JARVIS? Make sure she can never come back here." Tony commands as he makes his way over to me, while trying to paste a smile to his face.

"On it, sir." The voice in the was replies.

Tony gently hoists me up and smiles, "You are never gonna see that crazy girl again."

Chapter Text

LENORA'S EPIC VIBES PLAYLIST

Flowers in Your Hair             The Lumminers

Chiquitita                                                   ABBA

Deceptacon                                              Le Tigre

Banana Pancakes                        Jack Johnson

Uptown Girl                                         Billy Joel

Chapter Text

-ˋˏ ༻𖤓༺ ˎˊ-

 

DAY 2

HOUR SEVEN

"I know, I know!"

The man yelled over the phone as his brows threaded together. He looked funny to me and it made me giggle. He was silly.

"I can't make it in today, I'm really busy." Tony paced the kitchen looking over at me who was sitting in my proper high chair that he had just got.

"Tony, you need to be here." Obadiah urged from over the phone.

"I just can't." There was no way in hell that Tony was gonna take me to his work. Stark Industries was no place for a baby, or a toddler. JARVIS had corrected him when he was about to text Rhodey about it.

 

He didn't it.

"What's stopping you?" Obadiah asked clearly frustrated.

Tony paused and looked at me and then held is phone away form his mouth, and whispered to me, "Your gonna get me in trouble, short stake."

I just laughed a bit too loud and he covers the speaker with his hand.

Uh-oh!

Tony made a gargling sound to the speaker, "Bad reception!" He turned on the garage disposal in the sink and continued with his gurgling before he hung up.

I smiled and he smiled back as I laughed then he laughed a little and shook his head. He gently unclipped me from my bouncer and hoisted me up into his arms.

"I gotta work, and you're coming with me, Lenora."

Tony walked down into the lab and opened the glass door and stepped inside clearing a small counter and placing me there. "That better?"

He works and chats with me even though I can't talk back.

"Okay, so this part needs to be attached to the red wire, hence that is why we put in the red wire before the part."

 

I just stare at him, my head tilted as he rambled on. 

"So, then after you attach that part. You have to make sure the green wire doesn't touch the red because it'll blow. Then-"

He looked at me and sighed feeling stupid. Because who has he talking to this random toddler.

"You don't even know what I'm talking about do you, Lenny?" Tony smiles and is confused at his own words. Lenny. He just called this kid, Lenny.
He gave his kid a nickname.

The lab felt more silent than it  ever has as he stared  at me with shock.

Uh-oh!

Someone was getting attached. Both ways.

 

DAY 2

HOUR TWELVE

"Sir, it is time to feed Lenora."

Tony sighed and rolled his chair over to where I was watching him for a few hours. He worked well, and it was interesting and he told me what he was doing. Not like I completely got what he was trying to tell me or I didn't care I can't tell. The lab was bright and a melody hummed from the walls with strings of syllables I couldn't understand.

 

Why can't I understand this and why can people understand it?

Now, I'm being scooped up into Tony's arms as we pad up the stairs and get sprayed with the sunlight we very much need. This man needed light that was not artificial.  Cradling me in one arm, he opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle from where he had put them a few hours ago when he filled them.

 

Slowly he tilted the bottle to me. He was holding me, Cradling me with a gentle smile on his face, like I was everything.

 

Who was this man?

Soon, a small melody left Tony's lips as he rocked me side to side in his arms. The song was something he grew up with and he couldn't explain why he felt the need to sing it to this child but he did.

 

"Heaven must be missing an angel
Missing one angel, child, 'cause you're here with me right now
Your love is heavenly, baby
Heavenly to me, baby"

Tony rocked me as he softly hummed the song and as a result my eyes grew heavy. It was peaceful, it was different than the usual things I heard, like Mama screaming at her new boy or plates being crushed in the middle of the night.

My eyes close shut and as he continues to rock me. 

"JARVIS? What is the status on the DNA results?" 

"It should be arriving early tomorrow morning."

What was he even going to do? If this was his daughter then his whole life was gonna change. He didn't even want a change, but why were these two days the most peaceful he has gotten in years?

But, he couldn't raise a kid. His parents did a shitty job with him, why does he think he can do any better?

Once the letter gets in he is taking me to the adoption center.  No matter what. 

But, he still rocked me and watched my baby breathe leave my body.

She wouldn't remember me he thought, trying to make him feel a bit better for his decision he came to.

 

DAY 2

HOUR FIFTEEN

Is it normal for a toddler to sleep this long? I fell asleep at 12:00 and it was 3:00 and I still hadn't woken up.

Did he kill me?

No, JARVIS checked my vitals every hour and updated Tony if anything changed but I wasn't dying. Just a toddler sleeping her little head off.

I was in my carrier next to him as he sketched out another design after it blew up in his face.

I slept through that.

"So, what do you think, Lenny?" Tony looked at me as he held up his new blue print, "Solid right?"

I was silent because I was asleep.

"Stay asleep if you think it's going to work."

He waited for a few silent seconds.

"Okay, I'm gonna take that as a yes."

He continued to talk on and on about his project, until his phone buzzed a It was Obadiah. Crap.

"Obidiahhhh." Tony said in a fake happy voice.

"Tony." Obadiah said in a stern voice making Tony run a hand through his greasy hair. He needed to fix that.

"What do I owe this pleasure?" Tony tried to joke but Obadiah didn't return the sentiment.

"The marketing team flopped and the whole meeting went sideways, Tony. You need to be here. What the hell is happening with you?"

Tony debated on telling him the truth, but how would he phrase it, "Oh a baby is at my house, and I think it's mine." He couldn't just say that! That's ridiculous.

"Tony?" Obadiah questioned with more of a worried tone, "Are you sick?"

"No." Tony pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Then what is the problem Tony. You know you can be honest with me." Obadiah cooed as Tony finally snapped.

"I currently have a baby in my care because she might be mine." Tony huffed placing his head in his hands.

 

"Oh."

 

"Yeah, uh-oh."

"How many days do you need off?" Tony can hear Obadiah grabbing some paper from over the phone  and he sighed in relief.

"Until the results come in so maybe two days?" Tony suggests while Obadiah hums approvingly.

"Can do. You need anything, Tony? Advice? To talk things through? How the hell to deal with a kid?" Obadiah suggested and Tony laughed with a sigh.

"Yeah, yeah that would be great. So, should I be worried, like what if she is mine."

Obadiah and Tony talked for a while about parenting, Tony's fears, his questions. It all felt so surreal. He had someone to trust to ask questions about how he could  handle being a parent for a few days.

He was acting like this was gonna be his whole life. This wasn't his kid. Right? He didn't look like him because how could a baby look like a grown man? That's not a thing.

 

Also, I was still asleep. It was normal for me to sleep a lot, but this was a lot. Guess I'm just a tired baby. Tony asked Obadiah about getting rid of me and he didn't say to get rid of me or not. It was his decision.

 

After the phone call, he noticed my face was scrunched up and he gently rocked my carrier back and fourth and slowly but surely my face softens and so does Tony's face.

JARVIS butted into the sweet moment with, "Sir, the test has arrived early."

 

Here we go.

Chapter Text

TW: Mentions of Child Abandonment

 

-ˋˏ ༻𖤓༺ ˎˊ

 

Tony hasn't driven in years.

He had the envelope on the dashboard of his Porsche, while I sat in the front seat next to him in my carrier. Probably wasn't supposed to sit up there, but the wind through my bald baby head was nice.

He didn't wanna ask the new driver- Saddy, (Later, he learns it's Happy) to drive him to drop off this kid at an adoption center. Is this even how it worked? Oh, well he would figure it out.

I had a probably backwards diaper on and a baby onesie, which was a peach pink. He kept the windows up and made sure if he saw anyone he slumped a little.

A few days ago he was remarking that the system was horrible and now he was driving
me to the system. But, he was the least qualified person to take care and raise a baby so he couldn't possibly keep me.

The drive was longer than he thought, but to be honest he didn't remember the last time he drove somewhere. All that went through his mind was getting this whole situation over with so he could get back to his totally amazing life.

Tony couldn't bare the silence any longer and turned up his favorite radio station.  He turned up one of his favorites-

Whoa!

Darling, you got to let me know. 

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

The next sound the followed almost made the man swerve off the road.

Baby Babbling .

Little 1 year old me babbling along with the song. Tony didn't know if that was normal, but he went with it. A little bit a joy before he ruined my life.

"Sing it, Lenny!" He laughed as I continued to babble along with the lyrics and he let out a small laugh and sang with my babbles and the song. 

"If I go there will be trouble! And if i stay it will be double!" He laughed and I laughed as we drove down the road. It was a further drive then he thought.

 

The car felt heavy once it parked in between the two straight lines. Tony looked over at me and I was obvious to the decision he was about to make. He could open the envelope, but it would just make it harder, or easier, but that envelope was never opened.

He took a breath and turned off the radio and actually put the car into park. Slowly, he looked over at me, Lenora, the kid on his doorstep.

He couldn't think too hard or he would never leave the parking lot. Chest heavy, he slowly pulled out of the car and walked around to the other side where I was sitting. He had a grey cap on and a zip up jacket to maybe hide who he was.

How was he supposed to do this? Sign a few forms? Hope it doesn't get to the media? 

He pulled me from my seat and hoisted me into his arms. 

One step.

"There is a baby at Tony Stark's gate entrance."

 

Two steps
"I'm taking her."

 

Three steps
"Oh you just spit on me."

Four steps
"JARVIS! How do I pop up a stroller?"

 

Five steps, the concrete felt mushy
"Is that how you hold a bottle.. or...."

 

Six steps
"Which wire should I attach first green or red?"

 

Seven steps, it felt like the concrete was sucking him under, his steps heavy.
"I think green."

Eight steps
"We were wrong."

Nine steps, don't open the door.
"Lenora."

 

Ten steps, he's just standing there. 
"Lenny."

The door finally got pushed open as the sterile air conditioner filled her nose and I sneezed as he stepped in the hallway.

It felt heavy, a Sterile room. The floors were a dark brown concrete, while the walls were a light chipped blue that needed to be repainted. It seemed almost like a doctor's office.

There was a brown bench across from a check in spot with a lady working on some paper work behind a piece of glass. Above the bench was a picture of a kid crossing a bridge, and it put an odd metaphor in his head.

A bad feeling settled in his gut, and his mind was telling him to turn the hell around.

 

Then he saw a kid being dragged away from his mom, while she apologized profusely. He was being dragged away trying to get back to his mom. Tony looked at the scene as the mother covered her nose and her mouth with tears streaming down her face as she promised to find him again, and that she would be better.

 

He felt nauseous as the bright white light from the flickering light bored down on him and I. I was asleep at this point. I found a certain type of comfort when I was in his arms.

For him, the world felt like it was spinning on his side. How could he make this decision? He slowly put his hand on the wall to steady himself from falling flat on his face.

Then he looked at my face and everything started to click into the place. The world turned upside. (In a Good Way)

"Sir, Do you need some help?" The woman asked looking at the two of us with slight confusion.

"Uhh...Wrong door!" Tony said hurriedly before scattering out the door back to the car.

 

One step
"Lenny! Don't touch that?"

Two steps
"Why not?"

Three steps
"Because you will blow up."

Four steps, the ground seemed to get lighter
"Hey, Dad?"

Five steps,
"Yes, Len?"

Six steps,
"How'd you find out I'm your daughter."

Seven steps,
"I'll tell you when you're older?"

Eight steps,
"You say that every time."

Nine steps,
"Why do you doubt your my daughter?"

Ten steps,
"I don't."

He opens the car door,
"Good, because you are a Stark, in every little thing you do, don't doubt yourself."

Tony sits back into the car while sleeping me is beside him in the passenger seat.

"Sleep well, Lenora Stark."