And then we were two (Tony stark's daughter fic)

Hey Jarvis you up?

Tony was sullen, Pepper's words not his. It had been a full month since miss Decro had removed his daughter from his care. He'd tried to pretend he didn't notice but he had. He missed the sound of the ridiculous children's cartoons blaring from the living room. He missed her laughter. Finding a pair of black socks with very pink sculls in his workshop had prompted three days of iron man testing on the newest suit.

Pepper tried to encourage him to at least call the social worker. Even if he didn't resume custody he could at least go see his daughter. She'd barely been able to utter the words before he'd been racing off again, as if somehow he could make his suits fast enough to outrun his own emotions.

When miss Decro appeared on his doorstep nearly a month and half after she'd taken the girl it was Pepper who greeted her. The woman's eyes flashed furiously as she marched out onto the front porch, firmly shutting the door behind her. "I'm not sure why you'd bother coming back here miss Decro but I can assure you you've done more than enough already. You will not be speaking to Tony."

The social worker gave Pepper a scathing look, "how convenient, act all protective so I won't see her. Where's Adeline?"

Pepper faltered visibly, "what?"

"Very nice acting miss Potts I do believe you missed your calling. I'm sure I shouldn't have been surprised. Pretend to go along with the logical, best course of action for the child and then spirit her away after."

Pepper seethed, "I can assure you if Mr Stark changed his mind about that little girl he wouldn't have to kidnap her. As a very respected business man I'm sure any court would grant him custody of his child."

Miss Decro snorted derisively, "Adeline should never have been placed in that man's care. He's immature, irresponsible, and impulsive. As for respected, well I'm sure we can both agree any respect he's ever given comes from his name and company, not his own merit."

"She doesn't like being called Adeline," Tony's voice stated softly behind the two women. "What's going on? Where's my kid?"

"That's what I'm here to find out," the woman huffed and pushed past him, eyes scanning over the rooms. "Where've you hidden her Stark?"

Tony ignored her and glanced toward Pepper questioningly as Christi stormed around, ranting and searching for signs of the girl.

Pepper shrugged helplessly, "she seems to think we're hiding Addy."

Christi had stormed up the staircase without them and was flinging doors open, their knobs slamming into walls and furniture with resounding bangs as she went. "I will find her Stark, and have you up on charges for kidnapping!" She threatened as he stepped into the hallway.

"How long has she been missing?" He ground out through clenched teeth.

The woman ignored him as she leaned down to peek under what had been Addy's bed.

Tony tugged her up, none too gently, pinning her with an icy glare. "How long?"

"Adeline vanished nearly a week ago."

"And you're just telling me now? And only because you believe I have her?" Tony growled.

"Well where else would she be Stark?"

"I DONT KNOW MAYBE WITH THIS GRANDFATHER WHO WAS MEANT TO BE A GOOD GUARDIAN?!" Tony roared. "WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"I don't know!" Miss Decro nearly screamed, fear lighting up in her grey-blue eyes. "I don't know. He called four days ago, said something along the lines of her having run off. We checked the grounds and I came here."

"I should have never let you take her," Tony hissed quietly, throwing her arm away from him as if she were something toxic. "I'll be calling your supervisor. And, when, I find my daughter, she will be coming home with me. Get out of my house, now."

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Addy scuffed the toe of her sneaker nervously against the sidewalk, wincing as she bumped a blister. She'd tried searching a phone book she'd stolen off someone's doorstep for Tony's number but he wasn't listed. A day later she'd chanced using a computer at the library and googled for it, with no better luck. She was fairly certain she'd strained her eyes, rolling them at the iron man pages and blurry snapshots of him. She'd decided to call it a day when the librarian had started asking too many questions, wondering when her parents expected her home and if they were coming to pick her up.

It was that interaction that had her hesitating now, she didn't even know which direction Tony's house was in. Besides, even if she managed to google the correct route the girl was tired of walking. Addy took a deep breath and walked into the library. She wandered through the stacks for a while, not wanting to rush straight to the computers and draw attention to herself and what she was planning to do. Hacking was only illegal if you intended to succeed right? She just needed to do enough to catch attention.

Finally deciding she'd waited long enough the girl wandered to a free computer somewhere in the middle of the rows and stared at the screen, how did one even go about finding the right page to begin hacking? She tugged on her hair absently, pulling strays from her ponytail and twirling them around her finger as she typed random queries into google, hopefully nothing incriminating enough to get her booted.

Her eyes were tired and overworked by the time she stumbled, mostly by mistake, onto the correct server. Addy straightened suddenly, nearly tumbling from the rolling desk chair in her rush. She smiled sheepishly at the startled librarian and began to type. There was no hacking algorithm or other techie mumbo jumbo the little girl couldn't understand. Instead, she typed a sentence repeatedly, hoping with everything inside her Jarvis would notice and understand. "Jarvis it's Addy help?"

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"Tony I understand I miss her and I'm worried too but you need to calm down!" Pepper pleaded hurriedly, her heals clacking loudly as she raced down the metal staircase after him. "What exactly do you hope to accomplish? He doesn't have her!"

"Let me just ask you something, Pepper, one thing. Did Addy like me, even a little, when she got here?"

"I don't see what that-"

"-just answer the question!" He snapped.

The woman huffed and crossed her arms, glaring, "not especially, no."

"Did she run away?"

"Tony I really don't-"

Tony rolled his eyes and stepped away, calling his suit to him. "She didn't. That's my point. I was an oblivious asshole who ignored her, lost her, and actually called her a mistake and she didn't even once try to leave."

"Maybe she simply missed you and wanted to come home," she stated, exasperated. "It's not such a stretch to believe Tony. I know you didn't completely miss her begging you not to let her go."

A muscle ticked in the man's jaw at the memory. "She's angry at me for letting her go, Pep. I'm going to have to show I really want or need her before that kid accepts me again. She didn't run away because she missed me that much, she ran away because her grandfather is a bastard and I handed her over to him. I should've known better."

"You can't know that," Pepper whispered.

"I-"

"Excuse me Mr Stark," Jarvis interrupted the pair.

"What is it Jar?"

"I have miss Addy."

Tony blinked in shock, "patch her through."

"Not on the phone sir, she's attempting to hack my server."

The man seemed to dissolve into a fit of helpless laughter, "of course she is, where from?"

"The public library in Marshall, Nevada"

"I'll have Happy bring the car round."

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🎶🎵They're gonna get her back, they're gonna get her back, they're gonna get her back hey hey hey hey 🎵🎶

Well...I think so anyway lol