A/N new story! Now that I am out of the hospital and home recovering from my surgery I thought I'd start a new tale. There should not be a lot of blood and guts in this, but you never know what may happen, so I will stick with my rating being a high one. Just in case!

OOOOO

The conference room was well populated, with eighteen chairs surrounding the table and all of them full. The attendees were varied; older men in sharp suits, older women in professional pantsuits or business dresses, and a few younger men and women who were dressed just as carefully as their older counterparts but still had that eager just into the workforce look about them. All of them were watching the man standing at the end of the table, who was presenting a slideshow dealing with the exponential growth of sales with the courtesy that was due any kind of project that was explaining where three billion dollars had been made in only a matter of months.

"We merged with the Mericum company and maintained-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt," they all looked over at the glass door that opened into the room. Standing there was a young man holding a cell phone and looking slightly chagrined at having interrupted a meeting of so many powerful business people. "There's a phone call for you, Miss Potts."

All eyes turned now to Pepper, who smiled apologetically at the man giving the presentation.

"Jonathon? Who is it? Tell them I'll call them back when-"

"It's the nurse at Peter's school. She says that he's not feeling well."

Pepper stood up, and the man giving the presentation turned off the widescreen display that he was giving his presentation on. None of the people in the room needed to be told that their meeting was over – or at least delayed for the moment. It was firmly established by then that anything having to do with Peter Parker took precedence over anything that had to do with Stark Industries. Whether they liked it or not – and most of them understood completely – the boy came first for Pepper.

And she was the CEO, so that was the way it was.

"Is that her on the phone?" she asked, already walking to meet him.

"Yes."

He handed her the phone and all eyes watched as she had a very short conversation with the person on the other end of the call. Then she handed the phone back to her assistant, her expression concerned as she turned her attention to the room – especially the man doing the presenting.

"I'm afraid I need to leave. Walden? We can finish this tomorrow. Your division is doing a wonderful job. Please let them all know how impressed I am with them."

"Yes, Miss Potts. Thank you."

She was already heading out the door, now, her attention now on her assistant.

"Have Happy meet me in the garage, please."

OOOOOOO

The drive to the school was a quick one – and not only because it wasn't that far away from the tower. Happy didn't exactly break the speed limit, but he did bend it a few times and he used a couple of shortcuts. They parked in a loading zone and he told her that he'd stay with the car, but to call if she needed anything, and Pepper surged out of the car and into the building, the same force of will that allowed her to run a multibillion dollar enterprise making the few people in the hallways move aside for her as she made her way to the nurse's office.

When she arrived, she found the nurse sitting in a chair beside a low-slung leather sofa. On the sofa, curled into a ball of obvious misery, was Peter, who was clutching his stomach with one hand and a small blue bucket with the other. Even as she moved toward them, the boy's entire being tensed and he started retching, holding the bucket close – although nothing appeared to be forthcoming for the effort.

"What's going on?" Pepper asked, worried, sitting on the sofa beside Peter and supporting his head as he heaved.

"I'd say it's a stomach ailment," the nurse replied, since Peter obviously wasn't going to be able to. "He started complaining of a stomach ache during first period, and was brought to me about 30 minutes ago – which is when he started vomiting."

"Does he need to go to the hospital?" she asked.

The nurse smiled, and shook her head. She was well aware that Pepper Potts was new to the parenting thing and was subject to all the paranoia that came with it.

"No. It's not that serious – unless he can't keep any liquids down. Obviously, he'd be better off in bed, though, and not on my sofa. Take him home and put him to bed, give him clear fluids – no sodas, unless he can handle Sprite, or something like that – and keep an eye on him. He should be fine by this evening."

"You're sure?"

"I'm fine," Peter told her, looking up from the bucket and trying to look healthy. He failed, though, and just looked miserable. "I can go back to class."

The nurse shook her head.

"That isn't happening," she replied. "I send you back to class and you start throwing up… pretty soon I have 35 more kids in here, all looking for my blue bucket." The nurse brushed her hand against his cheek, clearly checking for any fever before turning her attention to Pepper. "Take him home, all right?"

"Yes."

OOOOOO

Happy was leaning against the car when Pepper and Peter walked out of the school. Her arm was around him, and he looked pale – and she was carrying a couple of barf bags that the nurse had handed her on the way out – just in case.

"Is he okay?"

"He's got a stomach ache," she said, ushering Peter into the back seat of the sedan and then joining him there. "The nurse told me to take him home and put him to bed."

"Tower or the compound?" Happy asked, closing the door behind them and then getting behind the wheel.

Which was a good question, really. Peter had a bed at both places, and if they went to the tower, they'd be close to a hospital if it turned out something was seriously wrong. Of course, there were plenty of very good doctors at the compound, too. And that was where he was most comfortable.

"Go ahead and take us to the compound, please," she decided, reaching over and buckling Peter's seatbelt for him since he didn't even attempt to do it, himself. "Call Tony, too. Let him know we're coming."

"Okay."

Happy started the car, and Peter shifted in the seat enough to lay down across the backseat and put his head on Pepper's leg, closing his eyes. She adjusted the seatbelt a little and rubbed his back, gently.

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?"

"Okay."

"You didn't eat that shrimp, did you?"

"Yeah."

"I told you it didn't look right."

"It was in the fridge."

"For three weeks. Next time throw it out when I tell you to. Okay?"

He nodded, but didn't open his eyes and before she could say anything, her phone rang. She smiled and answered it, already knowing who it was going to be.

"Pep?"

"Did the school call you?"

"Yeah. What's going on?"

"Your son ate that shrimp and is paying for it."

"It looked okay."

"Did you eat any of it?"

"No."

"Good."

"Is he alright?"

"The nurse said he will be. We're to put him to bed and give him lots of fluids."

"Does he need a doctor?"

"Only if he doesn't hold anything down later. She seemed pretty calm about it."

"You're coming home?"

"Yes. We're leaving the school, now."

"Okay. I'll see you when you get here."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you, too. Tell Peter to hang in there."

Pepper looked down at the boy, and smiled. He'd already fallen asleep.