Real Dad...// Irondad

26➳It Was Him

...

➳Earlier with Carol...

May ordered a black coffee and so did Carol. She led the way to a table in the middle of the hospital's cafeteria and they sat opposite to each other.

A few sips into the silence and May started speaking again.-"You're here for Petey I'm guessing...is anything wrong, is he alright?"

Carol smiled and nodded gently.-"Yes, he's perfectly fine, meet him this morning at the training room, he's a very promising teenager."

May's eyes shone prideful.-"Hope he's behaving there."

"He is."-Carol reassured.-"Do you miss him much now that he's gone?"

"He's not gone-gone, he visits when he goes out on patrol, he calls me every night before sleep and messages me for every little inconvenience he comes face to face with."-May chuckled.-"Yes I do miss having to clean up his dissolved web nets, or do his laundry clean up his suit or throw out his failed experiments, or clean up his wounds even though they heal the next morning...I miss him much."

Carol looked down at her coffee.-"You must really love him like your real nephew."

"Yes, who wouldn't Peter has just this shining personality tha-...wait..."-May just realised what Carol had said and now her big eyes where staring back at her.-"Did you just...How'd you know?"

Carol's heart tightened in her chest.-"I didn't. So it's real. Peter is not your real nephew? May...please tell me the truth."

May had nothing to hide.-"Yes it's real."

"Does Peter know?"-Carol asked than.

May nodded.-"Richard and Mary wanted him to know, they also wanted him to know they loved him as their son, and nothing could ever change that."

Carol was now getting mad.-"He had a family May...Peter had a family!"

May understood she was getting ready to explode into some supernova so she shook her hands.-"We did! We searched everywhere, Richard did everything he could, but we found nothing to connect Petey to his real parents."

Carol was gripping the coffee paper cup tightly now.-"Where'd you find him?! Did you kidnap him? Found him on the hospital and thought yes we want this one?!"

May was now trying to control her tears.-"What? No! Peter was almost dead when I found him! He had a wound on his chest, heart operation...Richard and May's real child had just died, his name was Peter too, they had signed a paper to donate the little baby's heart for another case on the Extel hospital. I was on my night shift when they brought the baby, he was covered in a sheet, but the sheet was slightly moving, I went to check it and there he was, faint heartbeat. We gave him medical attention, I called Richard and asked them to help me. He promised to take care of the baby till we found the real parents, but turns out, the other parents had been such a mess after taking the news of the death that they'd left without signing the papers at the Exter hospital. Took us years, but when Peter turned 3 Richard gave up on the useless search..."

"Useless search?!"-Carol was also eyes filled on tears.-"That child had a family! His father was a wreck after the news, we where a wreck after the news!"

May opened her eyes wide in shock.-"You know the parents?!"

Carol nodded.-"Yes...do you have any papers that belonged to Peter before you found him?"

"Richard collected a few, bug I gave them all to Peter in case he wanted to reopen the case when he's older."-May said.-"Wait...I think I have one at home. It was the old death certificate, it had a date and half of the name written on it. No signature from his parents, but there's a date. Is it enough to prove he's the child you're looking for?"

Carol felt her heart swell.-"Yea! Yes please."

"I can get it for you. If you wait one more hour till my shift finishes."-May said having forgotten her now cold coffee.

"I can wait...I can wait."-Carol said trying to remain strong.

➳Nightfall/sunset

May opened her door to a cranky little apartment, Carol following her behind her tail. May ran to her bedroom opening every possible drawer in search of the papers she knew she still had somewhere with a bunch of other important copies of the ones she gave to Peter.

Carol was patient, as she looked at the little frames on the living room. Peter was in each of them, somewhere he was a little cute toddler with a man and a women who she guessed where Richard and Mary, and at some he was older and there only was May.

She stopped at one particular picture of Peter when he was around 5 years old. He was smiling bug even though a front baby tooth was missing, his eyes, bid doe eyes like his fathers shining like little stars. He looked like an little angel.

May came back to the room with the death certificate on her hands.

Carol wasted no time on taking it from her.

She checked the date and than she gasped.-"It's him..."

May smiled genuinely.-"Have we finally found his real family?!"

"Yes...We have."-Carol said hugging her even though she was still a little angry she got to spend more time with their Peter than Tony and Rhodey and she had. But they had raised him, into such a wonderful man, she could never be mad at them for that.

She stepped back.-"I have to tell Tony..."

"Tony...as in Tony Stark?"

"He's his father...Tony is Peters's father! His name used to be Peter Stark, that's why his name is not fully written here. And the signature is undone, Tony was devastated when the news came in. I can't wait to tell him May! He'll be the happiest!"-Carol was about to fly out of the apartment when she looked back at the little picture of little Peter.-"Can...Can I have this one?"-She said to May with little tears in her eyes.

May who was still surprised, nodded.-"Yes! Please, take it, I have a million more. I can give some of them to if you want."

Carol took the one from the frame.-"This will do for now...thanks May...and thanks for taking care of our Peter."

And with that she few out to the tower.

...