Isolated Incidents

Agreements

Tony held the baby close, burying his own nose in the baby's shoulder. Now that the poor kid was cleaned up and dressed in soft pajamas, he smelled sweet. Like strawberries (the shampoo Tony used was strawberry) and baby powder (Tony had been watching YouTube to learn about diapers all weekend) and detergent (he was using a soft and gentle kind for the baby clothes now).

It wouldn't be long until Howard and Maria were back from their trip, and Tony was going to meet them at the door. Their 15- almost 16 year old son, a baby on his hip.

"Huh? How does dinner sound?" Tony jostled the baby in his arms, still getting used to the way it felt to hold another living person. A baby. His baby. "Let's go see Jarvis, okay?"

Jarvis had been great. He'd been more than great, actually, he'd been... he'd been perfect. Without Jarvis, Tony was pretty sure Peter wouldn't have lasted through the first bath and the first bottle and the first diaper change. Jarvis had also been surprisingly responsive, given that Tony had shown up at 2 in the morning, a baby practically falling out of his arms, and crying out of his mind. Tony, that is. Tony was the one crying.

Jarvis had a bottle ready to go when Tony got down to the kitchen. Peter latched on happily and began drinking. Tony shifted the baby into the crook of his elbow so he could look up at Jarvis and talk easier. "When are you leaving to get mom and Howard?"

"In a few hours," Jarvis said as he wiped down the counter. "Are you going to meet us at the door as usual?"

Tony nodded. "I think it would be best. I didn't even know he existed for a year, and now he's here with me. I don't want anyone else to not know."

Jarvis hummed, but it was a telling hum. A hum Tony knew well. "Bad idea?"

"No, not a bad idea," Jarvis corrected gently. "I just want you to be ready for anything. We both know how much of a surprise it was to run into Olivia again, especially in the... condition she was in. To discover you had a son, Anthony, must have only made that shock all the more painful. I do not want you to relive those pains when your parents return."

Tony was carefully waving a finger in front of Peter's face, touching the baby's delicate nose every now and then. Peter laughed between sucking on the bottle, watching Tony with big, brown eyes.

"I think I'll tell them over dinner. So you can watch Peter and keep him away from... whatever happens."

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Jim stared at the door that had just been shut in his face. He didn't loose his temper too often, but when he did, it was explosive. It was loud. It was usually a little scary, too, because he towered at 6'3" and liked to stand above them when making a point.

Unsure of what else to do, Jim took the closest bus and went to Target. If he was going to beg for Tony's hospitality, he better do it with a gift in hand for Peter.

If there was one thing Jim had figured out in the short time since he met Tony, it was that Tony was a science freak. He was undoubtedly raising Peter to be the same - Jim had already gotten a good look at the robots plastered across Peter's blanket, and the "daddy's little genius" embroidered on he baby's onesie. Something educational, then.

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"What is this?" Tony turned the blocks over in his hands and noticed they had circuits painted over the top of them to connect. Not real circuits, of course, but the little green and red wires and random stops were accurate enough for a baby to start thinking about them, and for a kid to start matching up the circuit lines. Actually, these were pretty awesome, and Tony was pissed he hadn't found them earlier.