"We could let the dishes wait until later," Tony said half an hour later as he brought a small stack of plates sticky with syrup into the kitchen and set them in front of Peter, who had pushed up the sleeves of his sweatshirt and started the water running in the sink. "They're not going anywhere."

"It won't take long to do them," the boy assured him. "Not with Natasha helping. Go sledding. Try the innertubes; they're a lot of fun. We won't be far behind."

"Don't spend too much time in here," he told them both as Natasha walked over with a dishtowel draped over her shoulder. "There's fun to be had."

"We're fine, Tony," Romanoff said, shooing him away with the end of the towel. "Keep Stephen company for me."

"I don't need a babysitter," Strange told her with a smile. He'd heard her comment just as he'd arrived in the kitchen with a handful of cups and cutlery to give to Peter. "Certainly not Tony Stark."

"I didn't say babysitter," Natasha corrected. "But it won't hurt you to have him keep you company."

"He makes my head ache," Strange told her, winking at Peter, who grinned. "But I'll spend time with him, anyway – for you."

"I can hear you," Stark reminded him.

"I know."

"Get out of here, guys," Natasha told them. "We have work to do."

OOOOOOOO

It snowed all morning.

They spent several hours on the hill sledding. Sometimes going down alone, sometimes doubled or even tripled up on one of the bigger tubes, sometimes in chains. Natasha had brought Jack with them when they'd left the cabin and the puppy spent much of that time chasing one innertube or another.

Not surprisingly, Clint and Peter eventually attempted a continuation of the snowball fight that they'd started in the meadow on Friday, but the snow was the dry sort that didn't pack, and they ended the contest with a wrestling match that started at the top of the hill and ended up at the bottom, with both of them covered in snow and a little worse for wear once they'd come to a stop in a breathless heap. Then they'd just stood up, brushed themselves off and started again, much to the amusement of the others – especially Ned and Bruce.

Strange was the first to leave the sledding area. He told Natasha that he was going to go get lunch started – after he had a chance to take a long, hot, shower. Pepper and Steve followed, along with MJ who was getting cold and then Natasha and Bruce. Ned and Peter stayed on the hill with Clint and Tony until a call on Tony's watch told them all that lunch was ready and if they didn't come eat soon, they were going to feed their share to Jack.

"That threat is real," Tony said, brushing snow from his coat and then the snow pants. "Let's go eat. I'm hungry."

And he was tired. And a little sore. And freezing. But he didn't bother telling them that. They were heading inside, after all. That would solve all of his problems. He put a gloved hand on Peter's shoulder and another on Ned's.

"I am, too," Ned agreed.

"What are you guys going to do after lunch?" Stark asked them, watching as Clint chased one of the innertubes that had somehow managed to get onto its edge and was being blown away by a stiff breeze that sprang up. "More 3-D chess?"

"I want to try snowshoeing," Ned said, looking around Tony toward Peter to see if he was up for it. "Yeah?"

Peter nodded.

"Sure."

"Not alone, though," Tony told him – told both of them. "We'll see who else wants to go along."

"It's not that dangerous," Peter pointed out. "We didn't run into any problems yesterday, remember?"

"That was yesterday."

"Tony..."

There was being protective, and then there was coddling. Peter loved that Stark wanted him to know he cared about him, but he didn't want – or need – to be wrapped in bubble wrap.

"Just see who else wants to go, okay?"

"Okay."

After a morning of trudging through the thick snowfall, going up the steep hill over and over and having the cold sap the energy out of them, it wasn't a surprise that there wasn't a lot of interest in snowshoeing from the adults in the group – although MJ said she would like to try it, too.

"I'll take them, Tony," Natasha offered as they finished up a meal that included soup, salad and all the sandwiches they could stuff into themselves.

Peter shook his head, knowing that the cold made her ribs hurt and not willing to subject her to that unless it was something that she really wanted to do – and he could tell she was tired, too.

"We can go alone, Tony," he said. "We won't go far."

"Yeah, Mr. Stark," Ned agreed. "Besides, if something did happen, we could call you, remember?" He held up the wrist that had the communications watch on it.

"What if you get turned around and can't find your way back?"

"We follow our tracks in the snow," MJ said, speaking up. She didn't say it, but her tone clearly added the word 'duh' to the end of her sentence.

Pepper hid a smile as she watched the three teens take on Tony Stark in a battle of logic and wills over course of the rest of the meal. She silently and very subtly shook her head when Steve started to speak up to tell Tony that he'd go snowshoeing. She wanted to see how he handled himself when facing a bit of rebellion. He was going to have to learn, after all. Better to start with something like this, rather than a really challenging topic.

Every argument that Tony made, one of the kids countered and he eventually looked over at Pepper for help. She shook her head and shrugged.

"They're smart enough to come back before dark, and to follow their tracks if they need to in order to get back here. They have watches if they need them, and we know that there aren't any cliffs in the area that could pose a threat to them in the snow. I'm okay with them going alone – as long as they stay together."

There was safety in numbers, after all.

The kids all nodded, and then looked over at Stark, who had clearly expected a much different kind of assistance to judge by the look he gave her before turning back to them.

"Fine. But you guys have to do the dinner dishes."

There was instant agreement, and they gathered their dirty dishes to take into the kitchen and then headed for the hooks that held their coats and snow gear by the door.

"I would have gone with them," Clint said.

Steve nodded, as well.

Pepper shook her head, though.

"He's sixteen and they're almost that. It's time to show them that we trust them – at least on a short leash. They were running around all morning, and Tony and Stephen both mentioned that snowshoeing isn't an easy thing to do. Peter has a lot of stamina, but Ned and MJ won't want to be gone too long, I don't think."

"Good point," Tony said, approvingly. He hadn't even considered that. "And Peter might not, either, since he really didn't get that much sleep last night."

"Now that that is settled," Strange said, speaking up. "Someone needs to do the dishes. Pepper and I cooked."

"I did breakfast dishes," Natasha said, smiling over at Clint, Steve and Bruce – all of whom immediately started playing rock, paper, scissors.

"Damn it."

Bruce and Clint finished eating and headed for the kitchen.

"Language…"