warning. this chapter contains
mature themes that may not be
suitable for all audiences.

this chapter contains non-canon
mentions of nausea, alcohol, drugs,
bruises + injuries, and needles; as
well as mentions to sa and child abuse.

warning. please be wary of
your personal triggers and stay safe.

Sara is sure she's going to be sick.

Her thoughts run rampant in her head as she nervously watches Happy and Rhodey carry Tony up the Stark mansion's staircase. What has he done? He promised it wouldn't happen again! Who did this to him?

Tony swore that it was only a business trip. He ensured Sara before he left, Ellie wrapped around his neck like a scarf, that nothing was going to happen and that he'd be home before they even woke up Monday morning.

It wasn't until Monday afternoon when she got the first call from Happy that something was wrong with him. And now here he is, nearly midnight, head hanging low between his friends arms and an awful smell of alcohol, mixed with things she won't name, around him. He can't even keep his eyes open on his own. Fear entraps her heart in a grip so strong that Sara wonders why she feels all of his pain herself.

Drugs burn in his system, the aftertaste of alcohol and bile stain his tongue. His entire body aches and he can barely even tell whose guiding him up the stairs of what he hopes is his house.

He feels lost. Sharp pains prod him in all places. And Tony is scared because he's blacked out before — but never like this. He feels like a little kid. And that part of him wants Sara. Wants her to be there beside him, taking care of him the same she did the last time him and Ellie got the flu. Tony wants Sara's gentle hands and soft voice taking away the pain. He wants this hurt gone and a desperate helplessness fills him to the brim like he's just a kid again. He doesn't know what's wrong but he wants it to end so badly that tears slip down his cheeks.

The other half of him doesn't want her to see him like this — stuck in a state of complete disaster and feeling irreparable. He's not used to letting people in like he has her, even when it comes down to her. The world already thinks that he's a mistake and a screw up. Tony thought that he was used to letting people down. But through his hazy eyes, the look on her face makes him feel even sicker.

Tony passes out again a few minutes later, tossed onto his bed as gently as possible, and Happy and Rhodey leave him in Sara's capable hands.

Sara tenderly undoes the half-fixed tie around his neck before putting it in a plastic bag. His shoes and socks follow, Rhodey having already taken off Tony's belt and jacket for Sara. She unbuttons his shirt after placing a cool, damp cloth over Tony's forehead. He's starting to sweat even more now that he's fighting the drugs and other shit in his system.

He reeks of it. Alcohol. Drugs. You name it. Worry and anxiety batter around Sara's heart. She's terrified for him. She's scared of the possibility that Tony has done something. Sara is petrified by the thought that someone did something. She's anxious to find out what happened, or what he remembers.

Sara's worried about him. She's worried about what the people who find out about this will try to do to him. She's worried that Ellie will find out and then they won't be able to hide her from Tony's image any longer. She's worried for the consequences he'll surely suffer for this.

Sara's worried and she, honestly, has no clue what she should do or even what she can do.

After about a half hour, Tony wakes and his eyes crack open. He doesn't know where he is. He doesn't know what that damp feeling on his head is. He doesn't know where he's laying. He doesn't recognize the presence he feels so close by him.

"Hey, hey," Sara whispers softly as Tony struggles a little, like he's panicking. She can feel his breathing picking up. "Tony, you're okay."

It's Sara. Sara is right there. A concerned, firm smile on her tense lips as she leans over him and changes out the cloth again.

Tony doesn't feel "okay". But Sara's there, for some reason she always is. Her eyes are concerned, worried. But Sara's there, and that's enough for him. He lets out a soft, gasping breath as he tries to calm his heart and relax his incredibly tense body. She has that look in her eyes that makes a million different feelings hit him like a punch to the gut.

"Do you need anything?" Sara whispers, watching him with tenderness in her tone and touch as her fingers ghost across his forehead. She can feel him burning up, a heated fever making him sweat as his body revolts against the shit he put into his veins.

Tony's voice is hoarse, low and scratchy. "Just some water." The fact that he manages words brings a little relief to Sara's heart as she moves to get him a drink.

Sara helps him take a few sips. Setting the cup to the side as he closes his eyes and takes several deep breaths. And then his amber eyes meet her soft emerald. Tony's voice is just as broken even after the water as he asks the question he normally has a strong enough filter to hide.

"Why are you still here?"

Sara's eyes widen a little, thrown off her guard by the surprisingly vulnerable question from Tony. And she answers the only way she knows how.

"I'm the Stark nanny. It's my job to be here."

She says it softly, gently. A kind smile on her lips as Sara grabs the wet cloth and dabs at the side of his face gently. She answers his question, and opens up a multitude more for Tony.

"For El," Tony adds, voice almost turning desperate as though this strains him. "Your job is to be here for Ellie. So why me?"

Sara's eyes try to avoid the bruises growing on his neck and collar. The unmistakable trace of an intimate moment. Scratches and handprint marks seem to trail under his shirt. He looks like the "usual" image of Tony Stark the world sees. Yet, there's a sinking feeling in Sara's heart that screams that there is so much more to this than she can see.

"You're not as bad as everyone thinks," Sara says softly. Her eyes turning away from his for a moment. "And you don't have anyone else."

The one thing the pair share, a lack of family at their sides. That fact, it makes Tony's heart clench in his chest. His eyes don't leave Sara, not for a moment.

She turns back to him, voice timid and worried. Sara can't ignore the state he's in. She can't ignore that he went back on his word, or that he seems genuinely scared of his current state.

"What did you do?"

And there's that unmistakably feeling of fear clawing at his insides. Darkness and hazy memories that make him hurt.

"I don't know."

They finally know a year and seven months after that night. And it's a more horrific incident than the night the police knocked on the Stark mansion door to tell Tony that his parents were dead.

Tony pukes the moment the words of this detective register in his ears. Sara just stands there, eyes wide and every part of her in shock. Pepper leaves the sitting room to call Peggy and Daniel within minutes of the police laying out the incident for them.

Tony had slept with a woman that night almost two years ago. But he doesn't remember that.

And what's terrifying is that there's a reason for that. The woman had drugged him, he hadn't been that loopy by choice. He hadn't done that by choice.

The police are at the mansion though, because that woman has just been arrested and put in jail for child abuse and endangerment.

Tony has another child.

A little girl who's been used by her psycho mother as a human volunteer for her science experiments. Super soldier experiments.

Sara paces outside of the hospital room with Daniel, Ellie, and Gracelyn. Tony and Peggy are inside of the hospital room of the little girl with the detective and a pair of doctors.

Sara glances toward Ellie and Grace, the eight and eleven year old well entertained by Daniel in the moment and completely oblivious to the severity of this moment. At least at first glance they look oblivious, but both children are too smart for their own good. Sara's eyes go back to the door and she bites the nail of her thumb.

This, this changes a lot for the Stark family.

Peggy talks quietly with the detective and doctors, getting as much of the full story as she can. Meanwhile, Tony can't take his eyes off of the sleeping ten month old covered in bandages, wired with tubes of all sorts, and attached to a multitude of monitors.

Small, soft beeps fill the room. One monitor gently rising and falling as the child breaths evenly. Tony can barely see her under all of the tubes and wires and bandages. But he knows one thing as he looks at her — mine. Whether he knew or not, wanted her or not, she's here and she's his.

"A neighbor called it in," the detective explains, showing the case file to Peggy. "Said that they heard a sound like screaming from next door and that no one was answering the door when they decided to knock. Law enforcement went out, and well, they found a mess. We've found out that Selina Alvarez was fired from her job at Advanced Idea Mechanics, and black-listed from the world of science, for wanting to use inhuman methods to achieve results."

"From what Mr. Stark has explained about that night roughly two years ago, it appears that Alvarez seduced and drugged Mr. Stark to... create a child of her own to use for tests. A number of chemical solutions were found in the apartment, but most of the solutions and research was damaged during the arrest."

A doctor takes over now. "So far, there seems to be no permanent damage to the patient physically. There are several scars and small wounds that have been treated that seem to have been from injections and needles. Experiments were definitely done, but it appears that Alvarez had no results."

Tony's mind is trapped in a hamster wheel of thoughts. He'd been used to create a child that had been tested as a subject to recreate his own father's greatest creation - the super soldier. He feels his heart drop into his stomach, watching the small child breath on the bed. His hands turn white as he grips the guardrails of the bed with all his might. Tony can only imagine the pain and torture this child has gone through. His child.

"There's no telling what lasting effects this may lead to, physically or mentally," the other doctor adds. "We can't determine what was used on the patient due to Alvarez destroying her lab during the arrest."

"But, she'll live?" Tony asks, his eyes don't leave the little girl who looks unnaturally small in the hospital bed.

The doctors share a quiet look of surprise. As though they can't comprehend that the man before them cares about the life of the small thing before him. One nods, "we can't guarantee a long life with our limited knowledge, but from what we know right now, the patient is merely scarred and malnourished, both things that can fade with care and age."

A heavy silence hangs in the air. Peggy reads the file carefully, taking in the doctors words and the detective's insights. Tony still doesn't move from watching the little girl as his mind even attempts to come to terms with all of this.

The detective clears his throat, looking between Peggy Carter and Tony Stark with a slightly timid tone in is voice. "I do have to ask. The DNA test that was run has provided the evidence that you are her biological father, but if you'd like to back out of this situation Mr. Stark, now is the time."

The look in Tony's eyes is enough to send a chill down the detective's back. Peggy reaches out and places a gentle hand on Tony's arm, looking the detective in the eyes herself. "We'll be doing nothing of the sort, detective. Tony and his staff are fully capable of taking on another child."

The detective gives a stiff nod. He collects the file from Peggy, and moves to exit the room. "Then my job here is done."

But the doctors have a whole new collection of questions and files for Tony and Peggy now that both have made it very clear that Tony will be keeping her.

Sara is allowed into the room at this point. The woman's eyes immediately go to the baby in the bed and a soft sound leaves the back of her throat as she goes to the side of the bed and looks down at the little girl. It physically hurts her. A child. An innocent baby. Damaged and tortured by her own mother.

The moment Sara looks at Tony, she knows that this little girl is going home with him. And that thought alone seems to lesson Sara's pain for the baby, because then, it'll be in her own power to ensure that this child never goes through anything like this again. Sara knows that she would do anything for her girls.

One doctor comes over to Sara, showing her the child's medical file and explaining all of the different things that Sara will need to do as the baby heals. He tells her signs to watch for in the child, that the things her mother did to her could appear at any moment in time. It's terrifying. To look at such a small, frail thing that never had a choice and be told that she may not even have a chance.

The second doctor talks to Tony and Peggy. A new birth certificate will need to be made. They'll have to have someone come in and legally hand over the child to Tony.

"Along with the new birth certificate," the doctor speaking to Tony hesitates slightly, "we'll need your signature Mr. Stark. As well as a name."

Tony freezes, his eyes piercing through the doctor. The presence of playboy, billionaire Tony Stark is no where near this hospital on this night. And that is a frightening realization for this doctor as he slowly explains even more heartbreaking news to the father of this child.

"The patient, your daughter, Mr. Stark. It doesn't seem she was ever given a name."

Sara gently reaches down and brushes the forehead of the sleeping baby. Her dark, curly hair is soft, but matted in some spots. Signs of neglect evident no matter which way Sara looks at the baby.

Tony closes his eyes. His fists clench at his side. But when he opens his eyes and looks back at his new daughter. And there's a look in his eyes that says one thing — he's never letting anything happen to this little girl again. She's his now.

The entire world riots at the reveal of the newest Stark. Although her true story is kept from the world, and she is kept with her father, the world cannot believe that Tony Stark could be so irresponsible as to make that mistake, again.

But that's not what Tony sees as the nursery is fixed up for his new baby.

That's not how Sara looks at the little girl that she's gotten so used to waking up to now.

And that's not what Ellie knows as she marvels over the small being she's been told is her new sister.

"Welcome, home," Sara whispers to the baby, holding her gently, protectively, in her arms as Ellie clings to her waist in the soft green nursery.

The Stark's become three, and the mansion they live in becomes something more than a home.

08.19.2023

when katie actually updates >>>

enjoy this absolutely mind-slamming, emotional rollercoaster of a chapter that only one person knew to expect.

the whole point of my marvel series is to change what marvel is, to give the mcu a refresh. Tony Stark's life and character are a huge part of that. and him not being as absolutely, chaotically awfully viewed as he is is something that's going to change.

this chapter can only hold so much. so much of this chapter is not just a one and done stop, i plot things out to every degree... so all of this stuff isn't over <3

I love you all so much!! I hope that you enjoyed!!
Please remember to vote/comment to keep my spirits alive!! Hopefully I'll be updating this fic next on my birthday like when I first published it!!

my guilty pleasure is now making memes of myself and my fics so these are going to be popping up a lot now^