Bruce just nodded and headed off to make some tea and meditate.

Pepper showed up about an hour later, still in her work clothes, and went straight down to the workshop. She knew where Tony would be, after a bombshell like Bruce had implied.

Tony was sitting in his lab, staring at nothing in particular. There were a few pieces of a partially-completed armor laying around, and a bottle of scotch right next to him, mostly empty.

Pepper absently gave Dummy a pat as she walked past the robot, and stepped beside Tony.

"Hey," she said softly. "Bruce called me. How bad is it?"

Tony looked at her for a moment before he shrugged.

"I've got--people." He still couldn't make himself say it. "Related. Jesus, Pep, they're--" He swore and kicked something metal and shiny away from him.

It took Pepper a moment to sift through what he was saying.

"Family?" she asked. "I thought you didn't have any other family. What's going on?"

Tony actually flinched at the word 'family'. "I don't know," he said. "The two ex-Hydra we brought in, the ones that Cap and Terminator adopted? They're... apparently, anyway. Bruce ran the tests. Results came back the same every time." He ran a hand through his hair. "Jarvis, pull up the-the results."

Without a word, Jarvis brought up the family tree again for Pepper to look at.

Pepper looked at the family tree and blinked.

"Oh my," she said. "Okay." She studied it for a moment. "I'm going to go ahead and say that the one on here upsetting you the most isn't Colbie, it's Maya." She glanced at him.

Tony made a face. "I never wanted kids, Pep, you know that." He sighed. "Colbie at least isn't my fault."

"I know," Pepper replied soothingly. She carefully settled herself down next to him. "We'll figure this out." She was quiet for a moment, and then nudged him gently. "You know, I think on some level I was always sort of prepared to deal with an unexpected child from you, but I never thought it would be quite like this," she teased.

Tony choked on a snort.

"Oh my god, Pep, really? Why are you so mean? Why are you being mean to me right now, clearly I am in need of anything but mean." He pouted at her, because so long as he wasn't thinking about the fact that he had a daughter and a half-sister, he was mostly okay.

Pepper raised an eyebrow, though she was grinning.

"Oh really?" she asked. "And here I thought you already had what you wanted down here, my mistake." She gave him a bit of a teasing look. "I mean, the scotch is almost empty."

Tony made a face at her. "Yes, it is almost empty, guess I need more now." But he didn't actually try to get up yet.

"Not yet," Pepper said, leaning against him a little. "Just sit here for a little while." She was quiet for a few long moments. "I wonder why nobody every said anything about Colbie," she finally murmured. "You would think there would have at least been a record somewhere."

"Depends," Tony said after a moment. "Mother might have made it vanish. All the paperwork, I mean." He was quiet for a few moments. "Haven't found any records yet."

"And if you haven't found them, it's not likely there are any to find, anymore," Pepper replied, nodding a bit. It didn't surprise her that Tony had already started Jarvis searching.

Tony blew out a breath. "If there's anything left, we'll find it," he said. "After I get even more staggeringly drunk."

"One more glass, Tony," Pepper said, looking at him. "After that you're being cut off."

Tony made a noise that was understanding but also disagreeing. Not that he was stupid enough to really argue the point with her, but still. It was the principle of the thing.

"I mean it, Tony, one more glass and that's it," Pepper said. She gently ran her fingers through his hair.

Tony made a grumbling noise but didn't protest, instead leaning into her a bit. She was calm, and soothing, and those were both things he kind of needed right then.

"What am I going to do with them, Pep?" he asked quietly. He was just at the right point of drunk and tired, just enough to loosen his tongue.

"I don't know," Pepper responded quietly. She kept running her fingers through his hair, gently scratching his scalp with her nails. "I suppose just give them a place to stay, for now. At least until you all know what you're comfortable with."

Tony was quiet for a few minutes. "Have you met them? Actually met them? I feel like you should meet them. Not right now, maybe in a few days, but."

"No, I haven't," Pepper replied. "You think it'll be okay?" She smiled a bit. "I'll ask again when you're sober, too."

Tony snorted at that. "They need people. Normaler people. Sane-ish people." He shrugged. "Makes sense to me. Besides, if they're related they'll love you, guaranteed."

"You're a bit biased, Tony," Pepper reminded him gently. She steadily ran her nails over his scalp. "Not everyone has to like me, you know."