The sky was dark outside Peter's bedroom window by the time Tony and Stephen arrived in Peter's quarters. Both men were somber, eyes red and puffy from their own sorrow, and expressions bleak. They took in the scene on the sofa with approval when they noticed Peter was asleep and being bolstered from both sides by Pepper and Natasha. He'd need that support in the coming days.

Strange wasn't surprised to see that the cloak had made its way to Peter, either. The thing had wanted to be with Peter from the beginning of the ordeal, and it had taken both Strange and Wong to explain why it wouldn't be able to be there until after May was gone. How it knew that had happened, the doctor didn't know. Either it was tuned into his mind, or to Peter's – or maybe to both of them. They still didn't know everything about it, and now wasn't the time to find out. The relic would come to him if something came up and he needed its assistance, but right now Peter was obviously its priority.

Stark leaned over the back of the couch and pressed a kiss against Pepper's cheek, and she reached her free hand up to brush her fingers against his jaw, lovingly. He looked tired, and sad, and she wanted to hug him, but couldn't just then.

"Is everything taken care of?"

"Yeah," he told her, softly. "We'll have the moving company start boxing up the apartment soon, but there's no real rush."

The same meeting of minds that had given Tony custody of Peter had also transferred Power of Attorney for May's estate to Stark, so he would be able to take care of all the little details after her death. Which included moving her things from the apartment to a storage area in the tower until Peter felt up to looking through them to see what – if anything – of hers he might want to keep before the rest was taken care of. He'd also be the one that handled getting her life insurance and other financial assets into Peter's trust, but again, that could wait and was more a job for the lawyers to handle.

Right now, he was well aware of the fact that Peter's well-being was now his responsibility. More than ever before, and he was taking that responsibility to heart.

"We'll let him sleep himself out, then feed him and see if he can sleep some more."

They knew the boy was short on sleep. They all were.

"I'm going to take advantage of my rooms here," Strange told them. He didn't see that anyone needed him just then, and he wanted a chance to be by himself. He could have gone back to the sanctum, of course, but he wanted to be close by. "If anyone needs me, just call."

They nodded, and all of them watched him leave the room.

"He's taking this hard," Stark said, softly.

Not surprisingly. Strange had spent a lot of time with May initially when Peter had gotten sick, keeping her apprised of his treatments, asking her a million questions to make sure things stayed on track, and continually giving her updates and reassurances when things took odd turns. Then, when Peter was better and back home, he'd kept in touch with her to come up with a schedule to allow the boy time at the sanctum with him and Wong. Tony knew he probably knew May better than he, himself, did.

And had liked and admired her.

"I'll go talk to him," Natasha said, recognizing that Stark could take her place on the sofa with Peter – and almost certainly wanted to.

Tony nodded, moving around to the other side of the sofa and watching as the cloak released its hold on Romanoff, allowing her to move carefully away from Peter's side, transferring the boy's weight to Stark, who slid into her vacated spot smoothly. Peter stirred, and started to lift his head, sleepily, but Tony brought it down to his shoulder and made soothing noises, reassuring him that he wasn't alone. The boy's hand came up and brushed absently against Stark's jaw for a brief moment, and then he settled back into sleep without a sound.

Once he had, the cloak resumed its position, draped over Peter, Tony and Pepper, who were huddled closely enough together that it could cover all three for the most part.

"Call me if he needs me," Natasha said.

Stark nodded, and shooed her away before she decided to stay.

OOOOOOOO

He was sitting in one of the upholstered chairs in his living room area when Natasha tapped lightly on his door and let herself in without waiting for a reply. Strange looked up at her entrance, and shook his head when she closed the door behind her and walked over to him. Realizing that there wasn't room for her to sit beside him in the chair, she simply lowered herself onto his lap, taking his hands and bringing them around her as she rested her cheek against his jaw, silently asking to be held.

"I failed him, Natasha," Strange told her, holding her closely, needing the contact and grateful to her for being willing to provide it. "Both of them."

"No more than the rest of us," she pointed out.

"The rest of you aren't doctors," he said, bitterly.

"And you're not all-powerful," she reminded him. "You did everything you could."

"It wasn't enough."

"People die, Stephen. You know that as well as anyone."

Or he should, anyway.

"I wanted to save her…"

Romanoff nodded, and pressed her lips against his ear.

"I know. We all did."

He sniffed, and she held him, knowing that all the words in the world weren't going to make him feel better just then. Instead, she was there for him, lending him the shoulder that he needed and the comfort that he never would have asked her for. He just wasn't used to having that option available to him, being far more solitary by nature.

Strange's shoulder shook as he cried out his own sorrow, and Natasha murmured gentle words of comfort as he did, her hands soothing him. Only when his tears ebbed did she finally slide out of his lap and take his hand, pulling him to his feet before he realized it was happening.

"Come on," she told him.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I'm going to put you to bed. You're exhausted."

"I'm alright," he assured her. "There are things that need to be taken care of that can't wait for-"

"Don't argue with me," Romanoff said, leading him into the bedroom and pushing him down onto the edge of the bed so she could help him get his shoes off. "Just get some sleep, okay?"

He nodded; the idea of uninterrupted sleep tempting – especially since he was already on the bed. It wouldn't hurt if he took a few hours and recharged while Peter was sleeping. Then he'd be ready to help the boy through the rest of the process.

She watched as he pulled off his shirt and then she turned the blankets back for him.

"You'll stay?" he asked, not ready to be alone just yet.

"Of course."

Romanoff slipped out of her shoes, too, and slid under the blankets beside him. He closed his eyes as she covered them both warmly, and turned on his side to bring his arms around her, holding her close. His head went to her shoulder and he was asleep almost immediately. Natasha pressed a kiss against his ear and shifted a little to get more comfortable. She had options available to her to get him to go to sleep - and had used one in the past - but she'd known she wasn't going to need to do more than let him cry himself out and then get him into his bed. He'd been tired. And so was she.

She brushed her fingers along his temple, and then she slept, too.