AN: The conclusion.

It was four days after she had told Rhodey and Pepper everything that had had the night she was mugged, that she worked on some paperwork after dinner Morgan was sitting close to her on the floor at the coffee table. The little girl was working on a drawing of some sort that would no doubt turn out to be a masterpiece once she was finished with it. The fact that the little girl was finally returning to her art made her mother smile. Morgan had always loved to draw but she hadn't wanted to do it for a long time after her Daddy's death. The fact she was starting to draw again was something Pepper knew was a good sign because it meant that things were slowly starting to approach what would become their new normal in life. She knew them finally beginning to find their new normal for their lives after such a long, hard road was something she knew her grief counselor would call a good thing when she shared the news with her.

Pausing her work a moment to watch her daughter, Pepper couldn't help but hope that perhaps being an artist would be what Morgan decided to do with her life. Life as an artist would be quiet, safe, and so completely unlike her father that even now Pepper knew it was a hope in vain because Morgan reminded her so much of Tony in so many ways.

I can still hope though, she thought to herself.

"Miss Potts?" FRIDAY said suddenly, interrupting her ruminations along with the quiet of their evening.

"Yes, FRIDAY?"

"Peter Parker has just arrived in the building and asked me to inform you of his presence."

Hmm, I wonder what he wants? Of course she always welcomed Peter to visit them at any time, but he was usually more conscientious about calling her before he would come over.

"Peter says that he needs to see you alone, ma'am."

She glanced over at Morgan, and was relieved to see that the girl was still engrossed in her drawing. She put aside her paperwork, "FRIDAY, ask him to come up and we'll talk in my office alone."

"Yes, ma'am."

With that, she once again turned to her daughter, "Morgan honey?"

"Yes, Mommy?" the little girl replied, while she kept on scribbling her colored pencil across the paper.

"Sweetie, we're about to have a visitor."

This made Morgan finally stop and look at her mother, "A visitor?"

"Yes, a visitor."

"Who?"

Pepper hesitated in answering her, because what sort of excited reaction she knew her answer would solicit from Morgant. But, she decided, there was no getting around it because she would see for herself as soon as Peter arrived.

"It's Peter, sweetie," she said. and as she expected, Morgan's eyes lit up after hearing her brother's name. "Morgan, Peter is visiting because he has something he wants to talk about to me... with Mommy about and he needs to talk with Mommy alone. So after he gets here, and after you tell Peter hello, we're going to go talk in Mommy's office. Alright?"

She truly hated seeing her daughter's face fall with disappointment. Morgan adored Peter so much, and Pepper was sure that her daughter, with Peter being so busy with other things, felt like she didn't get to see him as often enoughShe knew Morgan felt this way because she herself felt exactly the same. But that was life sometimes, she knew, and Peter was working hard to live his life in a way that would make all the people he had loved that he had lost in his young life proud.

When she realized Morgan had not given her answer, she prompted her, "Okay, sweetheart?"

"Okay, Mommy," Morgan replied, clearly not liking this.

Her timing was good because as soon as she had finished speaking, the doorbell rang. Pepper got up to answer it, but of course Morgan beat her over to it. Thankfully the eight year old knew she wasn't supposed to unlock the door.

She opened the door without bothering to make sure it was Peter on the other side since FRIDAY would have alerted her if it were someone besides him.

"Peter?"

His back had been facing the door way as he looked down towards the end of the hallway. He turned around at hearing her say his name, and immediately saw she was standing there with her arms opened wide. With a smile, he accepted the hug she was offering to him.

"How are you doing, Peter?"

As they pulled apart, he answered her with a shrug, "Oh, I'm okay."

There was something underlying his tone that belied his words. He sounded a little tired to her, so she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

The moment ended as they both her a squeal of, "Petey! Petey! Petey! Petey! Petey!"

He looked over Pepper's shoulder to see a certain little girl bouncing on her feet, holding her arms up indicating she wanted a hug. Peter exchanged an amused look with the little girl's mother, and braced himself for her to fly at him once her mother moved aside. He settled down on one knee a split second before her little arms were encircling his neck.

"Petey, I missed you so much!" she exclaimed, burying her face in his neck.

Although it had only been a few days since they'd last seen each other, Peter went along with it, "I'm missed you too, night monkey."

Then just like with any other time she had watched them together, Pepper found herself blinking away tears while her thoughts went off to her lost love once more, Tony, oh how I wish you could see them together.

It was a dream he never got to see realized and that hurt her more than she could convey.

"Okay, Morgana, I need to talk to your Mom alone now," Peter patiently said after a few moments of conversing with her.

"Petey, nooooo!" the little girl whined in response.

Pepper's mouth was open to say something but stopped herself when Peter shook his head. She nodded, and stepped back to allow the young man to handle it.

Peter turned his attention back to his little sister once he knew it was okay for him to handle the situation, "We're just going to talk for a little while and then we'll do something together. Okay?"

"Can we go swinging?"

Of course he hadn't missed the horrified look on her mother's face, and he was quick to answer her, "No, of course we can't go swinging!"

"Why not?"

Boy he now regretted the times he had taken her swinging through the trees at the lakeside cabin. He'd been extra careful when the couple of times they'd done it, like making sure they were closer to the ground than to the top of the trees, and he had made sure that he always had an iron grip on her. But they were in the city right now, and he knew there was just no way he could safely take her swinging while they were there.

"Because I'm not wearing my web shooters, silly goose!"

"But don't you have your special bag?" She asked pointing to his messenger bad which was slung criss cross over his body. She was too aware, and too familiar with his habit of carrying the shooters in his bag when he wasn't wearing them.

"Yeah, I do have my special bag with me, squirt! But they're not in there today!" He was so glad that he in fact had not put them in there today because he didn't want to have to lie to her. He wanted Morgan to be able to trust him always, and building that trust with her meant he couldn't lie to her.

She gave him a deflated, "Oh."

"Sorry." He stole a peek at Pepper, and she gave him a relieved nod. He returned his eyes to Morgan, "Okay, your Mom and I are going to have our talk now."

"Okay."

The little girl still sounded reluctant about them going to talk in another room without her but at least she wasn't fighting them either of them over it. Pepper told Peter to go ahead to her office, telling him she'd follow there in a second. He stayed in the hallway long enough to hear her setup Morgan with one of her pre-recorded TV shows, before he stepped into her office.

While he waited, Peter looked around the room. He noted a long time ago that Pepper had kept the room's decor simple but always classy. The walls were painted in a soft cream color, and a dark wooden desk near the back wall of the room. In the opposite corner, a matching bookcase had been placed. Of course since she was none other than Pepper Potts, everything he could see on the desk and bookcase were in the neatest, most organized order. His eyes were eventually drawn to the various family and friends some photos that Pepper had placed throughout the room. He tried not to study them in depth because he knew whose face he'd see among them.

It had been five years since they'd lost Tony. Peter was doing okay, a lot better than he had been after it had first happened. For the longest time afterwards, he didn't think he would ever be able to get over watching Tony take his final breaths in front of him. Tony's death had hurt him as much as his Uncle Ben's had. He still had some days where something would trigger the hurt all over again, and make him feel like it had just happened the day before. But those days were coming less and less now, and because he didn't want to ruin the streak of good days he'd been having by looking at the pictures now.

"I'm sorry about that," Pepper said as she came into the room and closed the door most of the way.

He turned around, smiling, "It's okay."

She walked over to the couch in another corner of the room, and sitting down, gesturing for him to join her. She waited until he was sitting by her to ask him, "How are you really doing, Peter?"

"I'm good." When she raised a skeptical eyebrow, he hastily added, "Really I am. I mean I'm a little tired but…" He shrugged, "that's because I've been so busy with school and work and..."

Pepper laid her hand on his arm, and squeezed, "Alright, Peter, I believe you. You don't have to keep going on to convince me!"

He nodded, falling quiet, smiling as his cheeks flushed a little, and he dropped his head, "I just don't want to waste it you know? I mean me having the best life I can is the only way I know how to... to thank him for... for..." Peter gulped, and looked away from her, blinking back tears.

She watched as he took in several deep breaths, trying to get a hold on his emotions. She gave him a moment to wrestle with his feelings before giving his arm another squeeze, "Peter? Please listen to what I want to say to you, okay?"

A nod was the only response she got from him but it told her he was listening.

"You don't have to keep doing certain things to the point of exhaustion or burning yourself out just to show you're grateful for what Tony did."

Wet eyes met her eyes, "I'm not. I'm not doing it just because I'm grateful! I'm... I am doing it too because wherever he is, if he can see me... see us... I want him to be proud of me too!" He turned his head away from her again, raising a hand to swipe away what she knew was a tear.

"Oh honey, I know I asked you to listen to me before but I really need you to listen to me now, alright? I think you need to know and understand something very important. First of all, Peter, I know I have told you this before but I am going to say it again because I think you need to hear it again. Tony loved you so much. You are part of the small circle of people he loved so much that while you were gone, he was never quite the same. He couldn't or wouldn't be the same as long as you were gone. And don't you dare say the words'But he had you and Morgan and and...' Yes, he had us and loved us too, more than anything. But Peter, even with us with him, his heart was incomplete. Do you know why? It's because while you weren't here, he also had a Peter shaped hole in his heart that no one, not even Morgan or I, could ever fill. Okay? You hear what I am saying to you, Peter? You were special to Tony, and were you loved by him. Don't you ever ever doubt it again."

Peter nodded, sniffling a little bit as Pepper pulled him into a hug.

"I mean it, Peter. This is the last time I ever want you to doubt how Tony felt about you. Okay? You hear me?" As she began to pet his hair, she felt him nodded against her shoulder. They stayed this way for a few minutes, and then Peter pulled back, wiping at his eyes with his the heel of his hands. "Feeling better for real now?"

He bobbed his head, "Yeah, a little..." A tissue appeared in his field of vision, and taking it he gave her a small smile, "Thanks."

She gave him a little time to allow him so he could pull himself together, then she gently asked, "So, what was it you needed to see me about?"

Peter wiped his nose again, and he picked up his messenger bag from the floor. He opened it, reached inside, and just before he pulled out whatever it was inside he looked at her, "I wanted to see you because I wanted to give you this." He pulled out a blue jewelry box and held it out towards her, "This belongs to you."

"This belong to..." Pepper repeated, not sure she understood the meaning of his words but nevertheless took the box into her hand, "What do you mean?"

He smiled at her, "Well you've gotta open it to see."

In her heart, she already knew what she was going to find once she had removed the box's lid. But even so, when she put aside the lid and saw what she knew would be there, she still gasped. Then all she could do was stare at the contents of the box until her vision started to blur.

"Uh, Miss Potts?" Peter said, voice tinge with concern, "Are you okay?"

Pepper's answer to his question was for her to throw her arms around the young man and hug him as tightly as she could, "Oh Peter, thank you! Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome," he muttered in return, then asked again, "Are you okay?" To his relief, she pulled back, nodding as she did. He grabbed a couple of tissues from the box and offered them to her like she had for him just minutes ago.

Nodding, she took the tissues, wiped her eyes, and then looked at the necklace again. Running her fingers over it, she reassured him, "I'm... so much better than I was on the night that I lost this." She looked up at him again, "Oh Peter! Where did you find this? How did you find this?"

"Uh where I found it?"

She nodded again.

"Let's uh just say that I found it in an interesting part in town and..."

An interesting part of town? Pepper knew the translation for that meant something along the lines of, It was actually a dangerous part of town! Pepper swallowed hard at the realization, even while she imagined how Tony would have reacted at hearing that Peter had gone after the guy who had mugged her. She didn't doubt he wouldn't have liked it one bit and neither did she really.

"Peter, while I don't know how to thank you for getting this back for me, I really wish you hadn't put yourself in a dangerous situation like that. Yes, losing this hurt me so much but... but getting it back wouldn't be worth it to me if you had been hurt..." Or even worse, killed!

He shrugged, "It wasn't a big deal at all, Miss Potts. Not really. See all it took to find it was sending out a few drones to do a little surveillance, and I found where the guy was trying to sell it off to some other guy, who I think was a black market creep or something."

"Peter..."

"It's okay, Miss Potts. I promise 'cause even if I hadn't surprised them... they were way too busy and focused on how much black market guy was gonna pay the stupid robber guy to even notice I was watching them! Even when they did notice, they weren't really a match for me!" When she raises a skeptical eyebrow in his direction, he added, "I promise I wasn't in any real danger!"

She had watched him as he talked and Pepper could tell that he was probably holding something back.

Oh well, she thought, Might as well better let it go unless you want to accuse him of lying. Just be grateful that he this back for you, Potts!

She was grateful too. With Tony gone, there would have been no way for her to ever replace so precious a gift. Although the same was true if he were still with her since the metal he had used to make it had been the shrapnel that'd been embedded around his heart for years following Afghanistan.

But if he were still here, you wouldn't need to have the necklace!

"Miss Potts?"

She heard Peter saying her name but she didn't respond to until he did something he'd only done a handful of times over the years.

"Uh... Pepper?"

The sound of Tony's old nickname of endearment falling off of Peter's tongue broke the spell the necklace had cast over her, and she raised her eyes up to his concerned face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She slowly nodded, "Yes, I'm okay. I just...I just thought this was gone and I don't know what to say other than thank you so much for getting this back for me, Peter!"

Peter's face flushed, and he gave her what she was sure was an embarrassed smile, "You're very welcome, Miss Potts, but like I said it wasn't that big of a deal."

Pepper had been about to reassure the recovery of the necklace was indeed a big deal but FRIDAY broke into the conversation, "I am sorry to interrupt, Miss Potts, but I think young Miss Stark maybe be getting bored. The third episode of her program just finished playing and she isn't sitting as still or as quietly as she did during the first two episodes."

"Hmm, I guess that means we should..." she glanced at her watch as she spoke, "Wow! We've been here longer than I thought we were!"

Peter looked at his own watch, "Yeah wow, I am really surprised that she's not interrupted us before now." He knew how much Morgan loved playing with him and it looked like their playtime tonight would either be very short or canceled all together since he was certain his little sister still needed to get a bath. "Hey, since it's getting close to Morgana's bedtime how about I come over tomorrow night after dinner and spend some time with Morgan?"

Placing her chin on her hand for a moment, she considered it. then she nodded, "Okay, but only if you don't have something else already planned for tomorrow night."

"No, I don't have anything already planned."

Something told her that wasn't exactly true but she decided not to press the matter any further. She decided to press another point instead, "Okay, then it is a deal if and only if you'll come over to have dinner with us too."

He only hesitated a second, "Okay, I can come for dinner too. That's no problem."

"Well, I think we have a deal then, Mr. Parker."

"Yeah, I think we do, Miss Potts."

Pepper rose from her seat, "As much as I hate to disappoint Morgan tonight by telling her you two can't play before she goes to bed, I suppose I need to get it over with."

"Yeah," Peter agreed, hating the thought to himself, "But hey maybe it'd soften the blow a little if we said it's okay I read to her or maybe tell her a story? That is, if that's okay with you if I do?"

"Of course it's okay, Peter. Come on, let's go talk to her before she-"

"MOMMY!"

Shaking her head, Pepper asked, "Why don't you go tell Little Miss about the change of plans while I put this away?"

Peter nodded, "Okay, Miss Potts."

After he left her office, she went over to her desk where FRIDAY had already opened the drawer for her, "Thanks, FRI. Locks this up please and restrict access to this draw to me only until further notice."

"Yes, Miss Potts."

She kissed the jewelry box before putting it inside the drawer, and watched as the AI closed it.