Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any of its characters and lines from the movie used in this story. What is written here is for entertainment purposes only. I do not make any profits from it.
"You really need to take the nanotech out of my office," said Pepper who was putting on her nighttime face cream.
Tony, who was removing the covers out of the bed, paused. "What? You don't like it?"
"I liked my office better when it wasn't constantly changing every time I walk in the room."
"It picks up on your mood. The nanotech is only trying to be helpful."
"Tony, I just want a normal desk with a normal chair and a normal—"
"Mommy?"
Both Tony and Pepper stopped what they were doing and saw their six-year-old son out of bed, standing by the open doorway of their bedroom.
"I don't feel so good," came his whimper and let his mother come over and feel his forehead.
"Friday, scan his temperature," Pepper murmured, pushing back Morgan's hair.
"A hundred degrees, Mrs. Stark."
Morgan shivered and Pepper picked him up. "It's okay, baby. You have a fever. Let's lie down on the bed with daddy, alright?"
Morgan nodded against her neck.
She laid him down on her side of the bed and caressed his cheek. "Don't go to sleep yet, okay. I'll give you some medicine."
"My stomach hurts," he said wincing.
Pepper's eyes darted to his stomach and she gently prodded around it.
"Where does it hurt, baby?"
Morgan grimaced, close to tears. "Everywhere."
"Friday?" Pepper asked, hoping the AI spotted something she didn't.
"There appears to be abdominal swelling and inflammation of the appendix."
Appendicitis. Of course. "I'm going to try something okay. You just tell mommy if it hurts."
Pepper took one of his legs and tried to bend it towards his stomach. When Morgan cried out in pain, she quickly put it back down.
"Okay, okay. It's going to be fine. We're going to the hospital, okay? The doctor will fix you."
She caressed his cheek one more time as she said, "Tony, he definitely has appendicitis. Get the car ready, we'll meet you downstairs."
There was no reply.
She looked up.
Her husband was standing shock still, just staring at them with his eyes wide and his hands tightly clenching the bed cover.
"Tony!"
He snapped to and he looked at her quite helplessly. "Huh?"
"Get the car!"
Later in the hospital while Morgan was in surgery, Pepper asked Tony, "You okay?"
Tony shrugged, avoiding looking at her. "Yeah. I'm fine. I'm not the one with the appendicitis." She didn't need to worry about his mental health at this moment.
Pepper pressed her lips together. "Listen, I'm not going to press if you don't want me to. But our son needed you and you weren't… responsive. Tony, I need to know if that's gonna happen again."
He looked at her for a long time before he finally said, "For a moment I was back there."
"Back…?"
"In Titan. And Peter was… he said… Before he 'died,' he said he didn't feel too good and when I heard Morgan say that, I just… I froze. It was like Thanos all over again." He ducked his head in his hands. "I'm sorry."
"Oh, honey, don't be." She took his hands, forcing him to look at her. "Peter's alive."
"I know that. But that doesn't change the fact that I saw him crumble to dust and I couldn't do anything. You and Morgan mean everything to me. If I lost either of you—"
"We're right here," she reminded him. "And Morgan's going through a routine procedure. He's going to be fine. We're both not going anywhere."
Tony nodded but she doubted her words were of any comfort at the moment. What he really needed was his son. His other son.
She let go of his hands and took out her phone.
She sent a quick text. He needs you.
…
"Look who came to visit you!" said Pepper, rounding the bed to go to her son's side.
Morgan's face lit up when he saw his favorite person enter his room.
"Peter!"
Peter Parker, no longer the teenager that he was, gave a little wave and a 'Hey!' before settling down on a seat opposite from Pepper.
"Pepper told me you ate some radioactive spider and had to get it taken out. Were you trying to be Spider-Man again?"
Morgan giggled and shook his head. "I have app—app—" He looked to his mother for help.
"Appendicitis," said Pepper.
"Pepicitis."
Peter nodded gravely. "Wow. That's one supervillain you managed to defeat. Well, I asked your mom and she said I could give you this."
Peter handed him a watch and Morgan's eyes widened. "YOUR SPIDER WATCH!"
"Yeah. I don't use this one anymore and I figured a superhero like you could use something like this. You wanna give it a try?"
Morgan nodded excitedly and let Peter strap it on his wrist. Then Peter proceeded to show him its features which weren't too hard for Morgan to get a hang of. He was a Stark after all.
Pepper left the two boys to tinker with the watch and walked over to where Tony stood in the corner of the room, watching their interaction. His eyes were glued to the scene and he had a small smile on his face.
She slipped a hand in his and he glanced at her.
"I know what it is you're trying to do."
Pepper put on an innocent smile. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Bringing Peter in wasn't just to distract Morgan. It was to distract me."
"Okay, sure. Let's go with that."
"You wanted me to stop worrying about something that happened in the past and focus on what's in front of me: two perfectly healthy boys." Tony smiled and kissed Pepper on the cheek. "Thank you."
Pepper squeezed his hand. "You mean the world to me and the boys too, you know."