Someone was shaking his shoulder, frantically.

"Peter!"

He rolled over, confused, and in the dim light coming from the field spotlight outside of his bedroom window, he saw Pepper leaning over his bed, shaking him.

"Pepper?" he asked, frowning. She was wearing a silk nightgown, but nothing else, and looked like she'd just gotten out of bed. "What's wrong?"

"We need to go, Sweetheart," she whispered. "Come on. Quietly. So they don't hear you."

"Who?"

"Come on. I'll explain it to you later."

She pulled his blankets back, and he blushed. All he was wearing was boxers. She didn't seem to notice – or she didn't care.

"Let me get dressed," he said, sitting up.

"There's no time, Peter," she said, looking around, clearly worried, and then looking out the window.

"Where's Tony?" he asked, allowing her to pull him out of bed and use the same hold to guide him through his living area and out into the corridor. "Shouldn't he-"

"We'll call him when we get there," Pepper told him. "Quiet, okay? Otherwise they'll hear you."

"Who?"

Peter didn't see anyone. He didn't feel anything that told him there was anything dangerous going on around him. No tingle that said anyone was after him.

"Hurry!"

She practically ran through the corridor, forcing Peter to jog to keep up. Pepper wasn't constantly sparring with the Avengers or working out in the gym, but she was in good shape and she was a lot faster than Peter had guessed. He realized that they were going to the garage.

Now he did feel a slight tingle of warning as she walked up to the sedan and opened the passenger door for him.

"Pepper…"

"Get in."

"Where are we going?"

His spider senses were screaming at him, and he was sure he didn't want to get in the car – he just couldn't figure out why.

"My family's farm."

"Isn't that in Ohio?"

"Yes. Get in the car, Peter. Hurry."

"But-"

"Now, Peter!"

He recoiled at the panic in her voice and her expression and opened the car door. Satisfied, Pepper went around and opened the driver's side door and slid in behind the wheel. Peter watched as she looked for her keys, and raised his watch to push the button to call Tony. Something was definitely off, and he didn't understand what was going on.

"What's going on?"

He gave a sigh of relief when he saw Tony had entered the garage, and realized that Friday's protocol to advise Stark when Peter would leave his quarters at night – presumably sleepwalking – would have alerted Tony that something was happening.

"I don't know, Tony."

"Peter?" Stark frowned. "What's-"

"I'm not sleepwalking," he said, quickly.

"Close the door, Peter," Pepper ordered, pulling the visor down and making an approving noise when a key fell into her lap. "We need to get going."

"Where are you going?" Tony asked, still at Peter's door, but now talking to Pepper.

"I'm taking him someplace safe," she replied.

"Pep-" he stopped, looking at Peter, who hadn't shut the door. "What's the law of conservation of energy?"

"Energy can be transformed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed."

"Right." Satisfied that Peter wasn't sleepwalking, he gave him a confused look. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," he said, worriedly, as Pepper started the car and his spider senses screamed that this was a problem. "Pepper? Maybe I should drive," he suggested, reaching over to the steering column and turning the key to turn off the ignition.

She turned to him, obviously annoyed with him for interfering.

"You can't drive all the way to Ohio."

"Ohio?" Tony asked, completely confused.

She was certainly acting as odd as Peter normally did when they caught him sleepwalking.

"She said she's taking me to her family farm – to be safe."

"Okay. Yeah. Do not give her back the key."

"Okay. What-"

Tony walked around to the driver's side of the car and opened the door.

"Honey, where are you going?"

"I have to take Peter someplace safe, Tony. I just got him. I can't lose him, now."

"You're not going to, Pepper," Stark assured her, caressing her bare shoulder, reassuringly. "He's right here – with us. No one can hurt him."

"But when he's gone? At the hotel? We won't be there – and he'll be alone. They've grabbed him twice, already – and I'm not going to let them have him, again."

"He's not gone, Pepper," Tony told her, gesturing to Peter to help him. "Come on, let's get him back to bed so he doesn't catch cold."

"No. I'm going-"

"I'm pretty cold, Pepper," Peter interrupted. "Maybe we could wait and go tomorrow? Please?"

She looked over at him, her hand coming out to brush his forehead and slide down to palm his cheek.

"Yeah, sweetheart. Let's get you back to bed." She looked at Stark, and got out of the car. "Tony, let's put him in our bed, tonight. I don't want to lose him."

She headed around the car to Peter's side and waited for him to get out of the car – which he did, and when Tony joined him, Peter handed him the key to the car.

"Looks like you're coming to bed with us," Stark said, softly, putting his arm around Pepper and then guiding her toward the garage door.

"Peter…"

Pepper slowed enough to wait for him, and he looked down at himself.

"I'm not dressed, Tony…"

"You're fine," he told him. "Come on, I want to get her to bed. Catch up."

Peter moved up to walk beside Pepper, who put her arm protectively around him, drawing him close to her side as they headed back to their quarters.

"Just go along with it," Tony said, softly, behind Pepper's back as they walked into their bedroom. "We'll put her to bed and keep her there."

"Okay."

Tony released Pepper enough to guide her to the edge of the bed and gently pushed her down. She went willingly enough, but pulled Peter down beside her, pulling her blankets up over the two of them and bringing him right up against her, tucking his head under his chin and crooning gently to him – obviously trying to reassure him that everything was alright.

He put an arm around her, doing what Tony told him to and going along with it, and only a few minutes later, she went silent beside him and her grip on him slackened.

"What's going on?" Peter asked Tony, who had been on the other side of Pepper, rubbing her back, tenderly, trying to ease her back to sleep the same way he did when Peter would sleepwalk.

"Tell me what happened."

Peter told him what had happened from the moment Pepper woke him in his room, up until when Stark had intercepted them in the garage.

"She kept telling me she wanted to keep them from getting me."

Tony nodded.

"Yeah, I heard that."

"Has she done this before?"

"Not since college," he replied. "But she's worried about you. I suppose worried enough that it's gotten into her head."

"But I'm fine. I haven't had a sleepwalking thing in a long time, now."

"No, it's the trip, Peter. It's going to be your first time away from us."

"I've been gone overnight at the sanctum," he reminded Tony, softly.

"Where you've been under the protection of Stephen and Wong. It's a lot different to her when the only one around to protect you from potential kidnappers is your science teacher."

"She's worried about us driving up, still?"

"No. My guess is that she's worried about lack of security at the hotel. I have to admit, I am, too. If someone wanted to make a grab for you, the hotel would be the place to do it."

Peter looked down at Pepper's sleeping form. Even though it was dark, he didn't have any trouble seeing how worried she looked – even asleep.

"Well… maybe we could figure something out. For the hotel, I mean."

"You'd be okay with that?"

"If I can drive up, yeah. I don't want her worrying about me like this."

"We'll discuss it in the morning, alright? I'm going to keep her home from the tower and I'm going to keep you home, too."

"What are you going to tell her?"

The boy was clearly rattled by the events of the night, and it showed.

"I'll think of something." He leaned over and pressed a tender kiss against her cheek, and she smiled and murmured something they couldn't understand. "Go to sleep, Peter."

"Okay."