It took a while for their tears to taper off, so much contained grief couldn't be held for long without forcing itself to be shown through tears, and both of them had been holding it for far too long. They helped each other up and somehow moved to the sofa, a comfier surface than the floor had been.

Tony sat staring at his hands in his lap. May sat next to him, almost a mirror image except she glanced up at him. Tony didn't know what to say luckily, he didn't have to think for long as May started speaking. "Now as…. lovely as that was, I didn't come here to cry out my grief with you." Tony looked up at her as she continued talking, "I came to talk to you. I knew you would blame yourself and I know P-peter" she stuttered on the name, "he wouldn't have wanted that." She swallowed. "I'll admit when I first found out Peter was missing I panicked and then you were announced missing as well. I knew he had gone off to be heroic, but I also knew you were probably with him. Then people started disappearing and Peter didn't come back. You did, but he didn't." she hesitated but he just nodded at her to continue, not able to speak past the lump in his throat.

"At first I blamed you, I'm ashamed the admit. I was furious at you for getting him involved in that world, for taking him with you, for not bringing him back, for not protecting him." Her voice wavered, and Tony choked on his tears, each of her words feeling like a stab to the heart, but knowing they were true. May seemed to compose herself and carried on, "But then I realized it wasn't true" she silenced Tony who started to protest "No, its true. You didn't bring him into that world, he got bitten by a radioactive spider. No one could have prevented that just like no one could have prevented him from becoming Spiderman. You know as well as I do that he is too kind and compassionate to sit by with these powers and not help people when he could. I realized you didn't drag him, he walked – ran- in without hesitating, but you did make it safer for him while he was out there. I also realized that you wouldn't have taken him with you, not to space, the very place you feared for years. I wouldn't be surprised if he snuck on board the spaceship or something" Tony's lip quirked, just the smallest amount at how accurate she was.

"I also know how ridiculous it was to blame you for him not coming back. If he did- if he did… fade" she stuttered. Tony swallowed. "you wouldn't have been able to stop that. He would have disappeared even if he was safe on earth, away from whatever that happened." She stopped and took Tony's clenched hands in hers, her face imploring him to listen to what she was about to say. "I also know, without a shadow of a doubt that you would have done anything and everything to protect him and there would have been no way you would have slacked off that" she squeezed his hands as his breathing became stuttered again, more tears welled. 'why don't these things ever end' Tony thought as he angrily wiped them away. May just hugged him tight again.

"You are right about a couple of things, but wrong on others," he said as he pulled away. May cocked an eyebrow. "you were right about the fact that he did sneak on to the spaceship. I tried to send him home but-"Tony shrugged and May knew exactly what he meant, having known Peter for all his life. "but you were wrong about the fact that it wasn't my fau-" May cut him off "No it isn't. and you know Peter would be heartbroken if he heard you say that" Tony was going to protest that it was, in fact, his fault before she added that last part in. he swallowed back his protests not wanting to say anything that would break the kid's too big heart, even if he wasn't there to hear it. "and what else was I wrong about?" May asked before he could get too buried in his thoughts. "You said I would have done everything and anything to protect him" she nodded, confusedly. "well, I'm not done yet, so I don't know why that is in past tense." Tony and May shared a look that spoke more than a thousand words.

"Well," May reached for her handbag, "I came to give you something as well" Tony looked to where she was digging around in her bag, his interest piked on something other than how to save the universe for the first time in days. May withdrew her hand from the bag and in it was a simple black memory stick.

Author Note

I know, I know, This is really late. I am so sorry that I didn't upload this sooner but school work and revision have been kicking me in the backside and I have hardly had time to write at all this week and I'll try and get the next chapter to you faster and try to have a more regular update schedule. But there it is, chapter 4. its a bit shorter than the others but I had to cut it of there or it would have bled into the plan I have for what happens next. I also know that there was a lot of speech in this chapter, but I felt they needed to get those things clear off the bat, that May didn't blame Tony and that he shouldn't blame himself as there was literally nothing he could have done. I also wanted May to have a believable reaction, of course she was going to initially blame him because she needed someone to blame, and of course she would realise it was no way his fault and he was probably blaming himself and that Peter wouldn't want that.

So, what did you think of that little conversation between May and Tony?

What do you think is on that USB?

What will happen next?

Reviews appreciated

Until next time