Dependence

Chapter 4

"Mr. Stark, I'm working on this kind of personal project I was wondering if you could help with..." she began. He looked up at her.

"Sure, what do you need?" he asked, giving her his full attention. Peter had looked up too, he had been getting excited about their little search. She was a little surprised at how attentive Tony seemed to be and she hadn't even begun to speak yet.

"Uh, so like I said our mom and step dad died in a plane crash when we were young," she pulled out her laptop and opened up the file she had named 'project progenitor' "Well our mom was the only one who knew who our birth father was. So I've been looking into it, but I haven't found much information. I thought maybe with your resources you could maybe get farther with it. I know she was staying at a small inn called 'Jane's Inn' in Florida the spring break we were conceived. I've been trying to compile a list of people who were with her but that's a bit harder." she explained. She looked up to see that Tony looked extremely uncomfortable. He quickly shook it off and she wasn't sure if she had imagined it or not.

"You might not like what you find." he said.

"Maybe, but this is an entire side Peter and I don't know about." she sighed.

"Mr. Stark, Aunt May is all we have. We want to see if there's any other family out there." Peter said. Tony nodded slowly and cracked out a smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do for... 'Project Progenitor'," he said, reading the title. She nodded and closed her computer.

"Thank you Mr. Stark. I can email you the file." she offered. He nodded but didn't say anything else.

~~~

Tony was in a good place with his kids, he felt. They might not know who he was, but they were good. Peyton was no longer furious with him, Peter was listening to him, and they had worked out a schedule to where Tony could be around them. Of course it was just his luck that on their first meeting Peyton would drop the bomb on him that she was looking for him. He thought about telling them right then, he probably should have, but he chickened out.

She didn't have much though. He and Mary had met her second day in Florida at some party and they slept together. Then they saw each other again the next night. And then the next. And then the next. And then she was gone. That was it. That was until she found a way to get a hold of Pepper and insist she talk to Tony about her twins that she insisted were his.

The only people still alive that knew was Pepper, Rhodey, May, and himself. He wondered if Mary had told any of her friends that were with her that week. She had been with a large group of ladies she could have told any one of them. They had to have seen Tony hanging around and then leading the young woman to an empty room. What if they told?

For the twins next visit he gave them both new Stark phones and a Stark laptop that had Friday on it. He claimed this was all to give then more tech and help, but in reality, he was monitoring everything. He found all of the ladies that had been there and of one of the twins tried to contact them, he'd know. Hopefully Friday would be successful in throwing them off the trail.

He knew it was wrong. He should tell then the truth. He should stop lying to them, but he was terrified. How could he possibly, tell them that after all that time he was their father? Especially after promising to help them look for him. He had dug himself in deep and this time wasn't sure if he could dig himself out.

~~~

After their second visit Peyton sat in Peter's room looking over the new laptop. It was a kind gesture and the both of them really did need a new one. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. She set hers down. She then took her phone and set it down on top of it.

"Peter, come here." she said, standing up. He looked up from his phone and went to slip it into his pocket when she shook her head.

"No, leave your phone here I just want to show you something. In the kitchen." she said, giving him a look. He squinted, confused, but did as was told.

Once they were in the kitchen Peyton felt more calm. She sat down at one of the chairs and Peter looked at her expectantly.

"Something isn't right." she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean Tony's gone past monitoring your suit and putting a tracker in your suit. Our electronics are monitored by Friday." she said.

"You think so?" he asked. She nodded.

"Peter, I'm almost 100% positive." she said.

"Why would he do that?" he inquired.

"I don't know, but I'm not doing anything important on either things and you shouldn't either." she said.

"Even if he is monitoring us, that doesn't mean we can't still trust him. It's not like he's a villain or anything. He's just being controlling, which is annoying, but not evil." Peter said.

"I know just... I get the feeling something isn't right." she said. He nodded.

"Okay, so no more full trust of Mr. Stark?"

"No. Not anymore."