Fin (Irondad)

4

9 Years and 31 Weeks Ago

The journey into the planned parenthood centre was an ordeal in itself.

Tony Stark, playboy billionaire, felt wildly out of character in a pair of worn, scruffy jeans and an inconspicuous t-shirt, a baseball cap completing the look and shielding his face. It wasn't that he didn't dress scruffy, of course he did, the flashy designer suits were purely for the public. However, being a magnet to the press, leaving his home without a designer suit had become a distant memory. Therefore, stepping out of a hideous green ford (which he drove himself), Tony felt particularly under-dressed.

Pepper slipped out of the passenger seat, not having bothered with a disguise. She insisted to her partner that he was being ridiculous, that the press were going to find out sooner or later and it would be a weight off of everyone's shoulders to have the news out and dealt with. "It wouldn't be fair on that baby to hide them away from the world, Tony", she'd insisted, "They're going to be in the public eye and we're not going to be able to protect them from it". (She refused to refer to the baby as a 'he', Pepper Potts runs on facts).

It wasn't that Tony wanted to hide his baby from the world, he wanted to show them off and broadcast their intelligence, whilst simultaneously holding the power to whisk them away from the spotlight and keep them safe and happy. He didn't want the baby to be coddled, but with considerably less public appearances than he was coerced into.

For Tony, timing was crucial. He hoped that when the media eventually got their hands on the information that he would be much more secure in his fatherhood future, no longer wobbling on matchstick legs about the whole scenario. In addition to this, he didn't particularly like the idea of the press harassing Anais, less out of concern for her well-being than the knock on effect it could have on his child.

The duo made their way into the centre, thankfully unrecognised, with a convincing air of faux calm. Having called ahead in order to establish his status, Tony waltzed straight through the waiting room and past the front desk, Pepper trailing behind and smiling apologetically at the other patients.

The mechanic kept moving towards his destination without so much as a sideways glance, silently afraid that if he stopped he might not move again. It was only as he stood outside the consulting room that he froze.

He stood for a moment, his usual bravado replaced with sheer anxiety.

What if something was wrong with the baby? What if it wasn't developing correctly? What if Anais miscarried?

Though absolutely terrified to take care of an infant, Tony couldn't deny that he'd be devastated if something happened to it. It was his child, planned or not.

Pepper's hand pressed gently into his back, "Go on Tony, it'll be okay".

***

Dirty, off-colour water soaked up from the public bathroom floor and into the knees of Tony Stark's jeans. Both the sensation and the scent were stomach-turning, as though the billionaire needed any assistance in the retching which echoed around the grimy space.

He raised a weary hand to flush away the pathetic amount of food he consumed over the past few hours before the stench could cause a rise of bile.

Even after emptying his stomach, the man felt totally and utterly sick. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. His history of intoxication and hangovers awarded him much experience in this department, but never before had the twisting and flipping consumed him completely. It was as though the world crashed and burned with four words.

Tony was just about conscious enough to acknowledge the creak of the door as someone entered; he recognised the clicking of shoes on the floor to be heels, and realistically the only woman entering a disgusting men's public bathroom was Pepper.

"Oh, Tony", a gentle hand ghosted across his back, as though afraid to put any extra pressure on the already buckling figure, as though one wrong breath could send the structure tumbling to become one with the dirt. "Tony they'll be okay, you will be okay". Her voice was almost pleading, begging him to step back from the precipice of panic and accept that he had no control over the situation.

"You can't say that", the stomach acid had taken a toll on his throat, the words gravelly and torn, "You can't tell me that they'll be okay because what if they aren't? It's a high risk pregnancy, high risk of things going to shit, that combined with the high risk of me majorly fucking up when they're here I-". He paused to lower the volume of his rising voice, "The odds are hardly in our favour, Pep".

The woman tutted, moving her hand from the billionaire's back to his shoulder. This time, her grip was firmer. "Tony, look at me".

In an empty moment, everything was still. Tony Stark kept his sweat-slicked forehead pressed to the toilet seat of a public bathroom at the planned parenthood centre. Part of his brain was distantly screeching at him to get as far away from the germs as possible, to peel himself away from what could possibly be the grimiest setting he'd ever found himself in and run. He would run and run and run and never come back. There would be no consequences because he wouldn't stop to hear them and they'd fall like bodies in a war-torn field: unacknowledged and insignificant. He'd never sleep because that would be when his fears would pounce, he wouldn't eat because of the possibility of vomiting, he'd simply run and run and run and never come back.

Except it wasn't the right decision, Tony knew that.

So he peeled himself off of the undoubtedly disease-carrying porcelain and turned to face his beautiful girlfriend.

She offered a sympathetic smile, a reassurance of sorts, before taking a deep breath. "We cannot live our lives in fear of things which haven't happened yet. There is a chance, however slight, that the pregnancy will be smooth and empty of complications. On the due date Anais will go into labour and you will have four beautiful, healthy babies. And if not, then we will work through it together. You've saved the world on multiple occasions, Tony, you can do this too".

Once again, Tony Stark's life had been flipped upside down with a few simple, faux innocent words.

"Congratulations, you're having quadruplets".