The portal was already formed when Tony, Natasha and Dr. Adams arrived in Stark's work room. Tony and Natasha recognized the terminus as the main entrance to the sanctum – they could even see part of the staircase. Dr. Adams looked a little wild-eyed at the magical contraption but to her credit she followed the other two through it, carrying not only the air cast that had been specifically requested but a bag that had plenty of other medical supplies as well.

When they emerged, they came upon a scene that made Stark wince and Natasha frown.

The doctor was at the bottom the giant staircase, on his rear and leaning back against on of the sides. Wong was beside him, holding an icepack against Stephen's right knee and the Cloak of Levitation was wrapped around Strange, caressing his cheeks. The doctor's face was pale and rigid. He was obviously in a lot of pain.

"What happened?" Tony asked, walking over to crouch down next to him.

Natasha moved to support him from behind, putting herself in a position that put her out of the way but gave her a good view of what was going on.

"He fell down the stairs," Wong said, moving as Dr. Adams took over, also kneeling beside Strange – but right next to the knee that was obviously being favored. "Landed bad – we both heard the snap."

"It's broken?" Natasha asked.

Adams had removed the icepack and was cutting through the leg of Strange's slacks to allow a better look.

"I'm sure of it," Stephen told her.

"What have you administered?" the compound doctor asked.

"Just a shot of Oxycodone, so far," he replied, holding up the syringe.

"We'll immobilize it and get you stabilized and then get you to the compound for x-rays."

"Yes."

Which had been the plan, really. No sense having friends with access to all the medical facilities that the Avengers had if you couldn't take advantage of it when it was needed.

They all watched as she finished baring the leg, which was already swollen above and below the knee and vividly bruised. Then she wrapped it carefully and applied the air cast, and started inflating it.

"How did you manage to fall?" Tony asked, relieved. Yeah, it was a nasty looking injury, but there wasn't any blood spurting from anywhere, and at the sanctum, it wasn't impossible to get yourself into a real pickle if you weren't careful. "Doesn't your cloak fly?"

"If I'd been wearing it, it wouldn't have been a problem," Strange admitted. "I wasn't, though – and I was distracted."

"By…?"

"We were discussing Ned's driving test," Wong said.

"How did he do?" Natasha asked, curiously.

"He failed the parking part," Stark told her. He wasn't surprised that she hadn't heard. Romanoff would have been the last person that Ned would have wanted to tell of his failure. The boy had a bit of a crush on her, after all. "Hit a parked car, which means he failed the rest of the test before he even got started."

"Poor guy."

"Yeah. He'll get over it. He probably already has."

"He'll get over it sooner than I will," Strange admitted, wincing when the cast started to stabilize his knee with pressure from all sides. "Gah… that hurts."

"Poor baby…" Natasha crooned, brushing her palm along the same cheek that cloak was caressing, as well.

He closed his eyes, willing to let them take care of him – at least for the moment.

OOOOOOOO

Peter was behind the bar in the lounge when Pepper walked in. Talking to the bartender and to one of the scientists that worked mainly with Bruce, but sometimes with Tony, he was polishing the surface of the bar while listening to her tell a story about a research project gone wrong. He looked up when Pepper walked in and excused himself to walk over to meet her at the table in their corner.

"Where's Tony?"

"Stephen just called him to the sanctum," Pepper said, sitting down with a smile to let him know it wasn't serious. "It's just you and me until he gets back."

He sat down across from her.

"Is everything okay?"

"I don't know. We'll assume it is unless we hear otherwise. He didn't ask for everyone, so it can't be too serious, right?"

"Yeah."

She decided that he did look a little distracted, but it could be the news from the sanctum. One way to find out, really.

"How was school?"

"It was good."

"Homework?"

"Already done."

"And how is MJ?"

Peter blushed.

"She's good, too. Everything's going good."

"Well… that's… good." Pepper smiled. Time to stop beating around the bush. "Anything I need to know about?"

"What? Oh. Um… no. Not really. Well… maybe?"

"Yeah?" He was so discombobulated that she had to assume whatever it was involved MJ. She was the only one who could get him as flustered as he was. "What's up?"

"Oh. Well, the Spring Formal at my school is coming up…"

Ah-hah! Got it.

"And you want to ask her?"

"Who?"

"MJ."

"Oh. No. Not her."

Pepper frowned, a little surprised. And then she smiled.

"A different girl?"

She was definitely going to have to have Tony talk to him if he was going to start showing so much interest in the opposite sex that he wasn't settling on a particular girl to chase.

"Not a girl," Peter said. "I mean, a girl, yes. A woman…"

He sighed, frustrated with himself, which only made Pepper smile. He was so adorable.

"So, you want to ask someone to the Formal?"

"Yeah."

"But not MJ."

"Right."

"Do you think she wouldn't want to go?"

"She's already going," Peter said. "With someone else."

"Oh." Poor baby. "Anyone you know?"

"Oh. Um… yeah. It's her dad. Her father, I mean."

"What?"

"The Spring Formal is a Father/Daughter, Mother/Son dance," Peter explained. "MJ's dad will take her. Ned's mom is taking him. I was just wondering if… I mean, if you're not doing anything that night. I know you're not officially my mom, but you're really the closest that I have. You don't have to," he added, quickly. "If you didn't want to, or-"

"Of course, I'll go with you," she interrupted, feeling warm and gooey, but also a little saddened that he was still uncertain enough that he didn't know for sure that she'd want to take on that role for him. It looked like it meant a lot to him, after all. "Did you really think I'd say no?"

He smiled, relieved, and he shrugged.

"I wasn't sure," Peter admitted. "This is the first year I'm eligible to go since freshmen can't and it's a lot of hassle – being formal and all. I just didn't know if you'd want to…"

"How formal?" she asked.

"I have to get a tux."

"Really?" Pepper smiled, enchanted at the idea of seeing him dressed so sharply. Usually, it was jeans and a sweatshirt, or a t-shirt. "That means I get to go buy a new dress."

"Yeah."

"When is it?"

"Saturday."

"And you're only telling me now?"

He shrugged, looking down, embarrassed.

"I didn't know how to bring it up. I'm sorry."

Pepper reached out and touched his cheek and he looked back up at her.

"I'm glad you asked me."

"Yeah?"

"Absolutely. And the next time, ask me, then, too. Okay?"

Peter nodded.

"Okay. Thanks."

She smiled.

"Do you know how to dance?"

"A little. May taught me some… it's been a while."

"That will give us something to do this week, then."