Wee Little Stark

chapter 1

Wee Little Stark

Summary:

James Rhodes was confident in his ability to remain calm in high stress situations. Being best friends with Tony Stark will do that to a guy.

What he is NOT prepared for is a toddler standing on the mansion's doorstep with a letter addressed to Tony.

Rhodey, Tony, Happy, Pepper and JARVIS learn together to care for and love the little Darcy, and together they navigate rougher waters when it's made clear that the baby girl is even more special than they could have guessed.

Notes:

This is my first fic, so be gentle with me please! I'm not sure how long this will be, but it will definitely make it through the Iron Man movie, and possibly the second as well.

Let me know how I'm doing!

i don't feel like this is necessary, but here goes:

all of the character etc belong to marvel, i just mutilated the timelines and destroyed canon. yay!

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

James Rhodes was confident in his ability to remain calm in high stress situations. Being best friends with Tony Stark will do that to a guy.

Stark shows up completely plastered to another board meeting? Eh, nothing to see there.

Stark's newest assistant runs from the Malibu mansions cursing up a blue streak at their former employer? Rhodey can sympathize with that, actually.

He had a similar reaction when he met JARVIS for the first time. Well, he says "met," but Rhodey first faced off with the AI when he tried using his copy of the mansion's key, only to be on the business end of a machine gun that came out of a hidden panel and a computerized British man asking him If he has a scheduled appointment with Sir because if not he was going to have to be asked to leave the premises. After a near heart attack, lots of confused yelling from Tony and scolding from Rhodey because you can't just go around creating AI's goddamn it, Tony, Rhodey was properly introduced to JARVIS, and finally, Rhodey had someone else to help look after Tony.

So yeah, Rhodey was great about keeping a cool head when the situation called for it. Unfortunately, now was not one of those times.

He stared down at the little girl standing on Tony's doorstep, mouth opening and closing like a fish. Rhodey blinked, thinking perhaps his years of friendship with Tony finally cracked his mind. Nope, still there. She looked back up at him, blue eyes almost to large for her face with her wide-eyed curiosity. The toddler was barefoot and wearing a dirty red sundress, and her hair was a giant mess of curls that looked like it hadn't been brushed properly in days. In one hand she held a small blue stuffed robot, and in the other was an envelope.

Rhodey was thankfully saved from his gaping by JARVIS cutting into the impromptu staring contest between the two.

"Sir, might I suggest returning inside? I've detected no threat from the child."

The AI's voice broke through the fog clouding Rhodey's mind, and he ushered the little girl ahead of him into the mansion. He looked incredulously at the nearest security camera when JARVIS's final comment sank in,"Of course she's not a threat! Jeez, she's probably only three for Christ's sake!"

"Two," a little voice piped up. The tiny girl had shuffled ahead of Rhodey, not scared of her new surroundings or Rhodey in the slightest, and determinedly made her way to the sofa where she began to pull herself up on the overstuffed monstrosity.