Chapter 45 - Cocktail Hour
The windows of the kid's room were darkened. The high August sun still shone strong on the cloudless sky but the boy needed rest and FRIDAY had made sure to keep the light low, to shield the kid's senses. The boy had been asleep when he entered the room and hadn't woken up since. He almost preferred it this way, for now. The kid needed rest and his senses still seemed to be dampened enough that Tony's appearance didn't wake him from his nap.
It was nice, the silence. It gave him some room to think. Some time to look at the boy without seeming creepy. To look at Aiden. At Peter. At his son.
Fuck, what a mess they had gotten themselves into. There were so many different scenarios he had dreamed up over the years, so many ways he had imagined finding Aiden. This wasn't one of them. Not by a long shot. This mess was so tangled Tony didn't even know where to begin with all the problems and complications they were facing. The mystery around May Parker. How the boy had come to live with the Parker's in the first place. His powers and every consequence that brought. Ross. The Accords. The NYPD's feud with Spider-Man. Spider-Man—
The watch on his arm vibrated once and with a short gesture from Tony it projected FRIDAY's alert right in front of him. Natasha was on the move. Had just entered the medical wing. No. This wasn't going to happen. She wasn't getting in here. Not now.
He quietly got up off the chair and stole out of the room. It was only one corner away from the boy's room, down the corridor when he ran into her.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Natasha's eyebrow arched. "See how the boy is doing?"
"Stay away from him."
"Tony—"
"I mean it, Romanoff. I don't want you anywhere near him."
"It's a couple of questions. Nothing more."
"No. He's asleep. Resting. Healing. Leave him the fuck alone."
She sighed. "I'm not going to tell him, Tony. I understand that you need time but I need some more information so I can get the best—"
"Information on what? You think he knows what happened? He was two years old!"
"Does he know he's adopted?"
Tony crossed his arms. "Obviously. He knows May Parker isn't his mother."
"Why does he think she's his aunt? Why does he call her that if he was only two and a half years old when he came to live with them?"
"I..." He blinked, eyes darting away from her. He hated it when she had a point. Why indeed? One of those many questions Tony still had to figure out.
"I'm trying to help you. You and the boy."
"He's sleeping. He needs the rest. This... yes, we need to find answers to all that but those things can wait till he's doing better."
"Fine." She blew out a long breath, clear annoyance in her tone. "I'll get ready to drive into town then. I got the equipment. I'll go live before I walk in the building."
He bit his lip, eyes still on her. "I could just hang out at one of the tables. She'd never even know I'm—"
"No."
"Nat, come on. This is about my son."
"Exactly."
It would kill him to sit on the sidelines for this. His head was already swimming with questions and frustration and more questions.
"Tony, you'd never be able to hold back. You don't need me to tell you that. You might have her pinned to the wall by her neck if she breathes the wrong way."
He glared at Natasha. "I wouldn't."
"Really?" One of her eyebrows twitched upwards and she folded her arms in front of her body, mimicking him. "You're telling me if the woman who's had your son for a decade, that son that you've been searching for, put your life on hold for, that your heart bled for... if that woman starts to talk about how she managed to get her hands on him, maybe teases the back roads they used to trick the system you—"
"Stop." His heart rate was elevated. He turned away from her to pace, his whole body buzzing and he had the sudden desire to punch a hole straight through the concrete wall right next to him. "Fine. You made your point."
"I promise I'll be thorough, Tony." There was compassion in her face that rang too true. So true he'd have to convince himself it was fake not to lose his composure. "You don't even have to trust me. Just trust that I know what I'm doing."
Tony gave a sharp nod. Yes. Yes, that was something he could put his trust in. She was the best. Objectively, there was nobody better to get him the answers he was craving. Still, he waited for her to turn away and leave the medical wing before he made his way back to the boy's room.
He opened the door silently. At first glance, the room seemed very much the same, just like he had left it a few minutes ago. Something was different though. Tony carefully stepped to the chair he had vacated earlier and sat back down. It didn't take much skill to notice how the initial calm had left the kid's body. Where there had been a peaceful ease to the way he had slept before, his arms were now lying stiffly on top of the covers, the muscles around his eyes and mouth tense and twitching. It made the remaining marks the gag had left on his face stand out more, that small cut over his eyes as well, as the kid's eyelashes fluttered. They should heal, possibly by the next day. No point in putting his body through more treatments no matter how much Tony hated that they were still on kid's face.
Tony gave him a minute or two before he spoke up.
"So, how long can I plan on this whole 'I'm still asleep' routine to last?"
Right away, the boy opened his eyes just enough to squint at Tony.
"How are you feeling, kid?"
Tired eyes blinked at Tony before he croaked a single word. "Numb."
"Hm. Helen was here then? Gave you another shot?"
The boy gave a tiny nod and scanned Tony's face. "Your cut is gone."
Tony couldn't help it and rubbed a hand across his forehead. Just a reflex. There wasn't any pain to how the cradle worked but it had left him a little dizzy.
"I have a very persistent CEO."
The kid's eyes were still on his face. "They shot you."
Underneath his shirt, Tony could still feel the impact that the bullet had left on his chest. None of them even knew about that one, except Natasha and Helen whom he hadn't been able to hide it from. Nothing the cradle could do for blunt force trauma, so it'd have to heal the old fashion way and there was something comforting about the low throbbing of the bruise when he thought about what the bastards had done to the kid.
"They did a lot worse to you."
The boy looked away at that.
"Kid, it's gonna be—"
"What are you hiding this time?"
Tony froze. The boy turned his eyes back to him, his face a mixture of defeat and annoyance.
"FRIDAY is not talking to me."
"FRIDAY?" Tony shot a glance up at one of the ceiling cameras.
"I am talking. I am responding according to the current directives."
The boy gave him a look before he turned his eyes up to the AI. "FRIDAY, what happened to the men who took me hostage?"
"I am not at liberty to share this information with you at this point."
"FRIDAY, how long have I been back at the Compound?"
"I am not at liberty to share this information with you at this point."
"FRIDAY, do people know about my powers?"
"I am not at liberty to share this information with you at this point."
Tony's heart rate picked up. He should have seen this coming. He should have expected the kid to ask questions like that.
He didn't look at Tony, just stared down at his hands. "That's what she would always say when you were in the coma. When you were trying to hide what happened with—"
"They are dead, kid. They are gone. I'm not..." Tony wasn't even hiding anything about that. He might have been a little over-cautious when it came to containing what FRIDAY knew.
The boy looked up at that. "They... they are? They are dead?"
Tony sighed and pulled his chair a little closer to the bed. He hesitated for a moment, had wanted to take the kid's hand but then changed his mind and just squeezed his lower arm instead.
"Yes. They are. All of them."
There was moisture in the boy's eyes as he nodded. "That's... that's good. I mean, no. Not good. I don't mean it's good. It's not good when someone is dead, it... that's not... not a good thing it—"
"It's alright. It's okay to be relieved, kid. I'm glad they're dead. That you're safe." Tony studied his face. Searching for the right thing to say. "That you don't have to be afraid of them."
The boy's teeth were gnawing on his lower lip, eyes trying to blink away the tears of fear or frustration. Maybe a bit of both.
"They... they know, don't they? They figured it out?"
Tony swallowed hard. Did he remember after all? That call? What Sallic had been saying. Then the kid looked up at him.
"About my powers? They... they found out. They... they couldn't knock me out."
"I think..." Tony tried to get his breathing in check, not to let the wrong thing slip. "I think they figured out that you're enhanced. Not sure... not sure if they made the Spider-Man connection, but..." He had to get a grip. Yes, his son was Spider-Man but this wasn't the place to freak out about that. "But even if they did, it doesn't matter now. They are gone. They can't tell anyone. They can't hurt you, kid. Not... not anymore."
The kid wasn't really looking at him, more like staring at something invisible in the air right next to Tony's head. "I... I remember some stuff. I... I'm not sure if... I'm not sure how much of it was real. It's all... Everything's so..." His eyebrows knitted close in a frown. "So squishy."
"You just need to rest, buddy. Heal."
He shook his head, not really acknowledging that he had heard Tony. "Was... Steve Rogers. Was he really in that basement? I mean, that would... that would mean..." His eyes did find Tony's at that. "He knows? He knows who I am?"
A wave of goosebumps traveled down Tony's spine. "They do. They do know."
"They?" Peter's eyes went wide.
"Rogers. Romanoff. Barton." Tony pursed his lips. "Helen Cho. She treated you, I... I had to tell her."
"It's why Miss Potts is here, isn't it?" Fear was plain on his face. "What's... what's gonna happen? What will they do?"
Tony scooched closer. "They won't do anything. You're safe. Nobody will lay a finger on you, alright?"
"What's gonna happen, Mr. Stark?" Wide hazel eyes looked at him with panic and fear. "What's gonna happen with me now?"
It was like the kid knew to poke at the very thing that Tony had nothing to say to. He had none of the answers. His stomach hurt with the level of incompetence he was exhibiting at this crucial time. He should know. He should be able to do something but he was paralyzed by emotion and lacking half the facts he'd need to even understand everything that added to the mess they were in, let alone solve it. He took the boy's hand at last, rubbing the back of it. He had no solutions yet, but he would find one. All he could do till then was to have the kid trust him.
"We'll figure it out, alright? There's a lot about... about these people that we're still trying to find answers to. But whatever's gonna happen, you'll be safe, buddy. I promise you'll be safe."
"You're... you're figuring things out?"
"I am. You don't need to worry about any of that. All you need to do right now is rest and get better. Everything else... everything else we'll figure out later, okay?"
The kid nodded and rubbed his other hand across his face. "I'm sorry—"
"Alright now." Tony forced his lips into a smirk. "You need some food? Something to drink?"
Finally, with a little shake of his head, he settled back into the cushions, relaxed a bit.
"Boss, Miss Potts is asking for your presence for—"
"Yeah, thanks FRI!" He squeezed the boy's hand before he got up from the chair. "If you need anything—"
"I'm supposed to tell FRIDAY. I know." The kid pulled his hand back on top of his stomach, fingers picking at each other, not even a sideways glance in Tony's direction.
How could he even blame the boy for his suspicions? He had kicked him out, threatened him when he had been supposed to teach and guide him.
"You can trust me, you know that, right?"
But the kid didn't look up, just kept his gaze pinned down to his hand. "Yeah. Yeah, of course."
There wasn't much that he could do about this right now. It would need time to bridge what the last week had broken between them. Probably even more time when Tony would finally tell him the truth. For now, the best thing he could do was to figure out this whole messy business not just for himself but also for his boy. To do that, he'd need to find Pepper.
The Compound was still mostly empty, especially on the wing the living quarters were in. Tony found her in the common room, cooking.
"Do you want rice or pasta with the fish?"
He shook his head. "I already ate."
"Oh yeah?" She didn't look up, only opened one cupboard door after the other searching for ingredients. "When was that?"
"Don't know." He shrugged. "Sometime last week."
"Thought so."
"I'm not hungry."
"If you only ate when you think you're hungry you would have starved years ago. Fine. I'll pick then. Rice it is." She pulled a full container from one of the cupboards.
His back leaned against the kitchen counter. A pot with water was already on the stove, boiling. Pepper might have not had a lot of practice recently. Of course, he could only speculate about what had been going on in her life over the last few months, but her work schedule suggested that there was little time for her to practice her cooking skills. She hadn't had that kind of time for years, even when they had been together, time had always been scarce.
Things had been different in the past. There had been a couple of years in their lives when this hadn't been out of the ordinary. When he'd have come up from the workshop to find her preparing lunch or dinner, Aiden happily stacking building bricks in a playpen close by or later on even helping out.
"We haven't done this. Not in a long time."
Pepper didn't look at him, just stirred the rice. "No. I guess we haven't." She bent down, opened the oven and pulled out the tray, checking on the fish, then turned the oven almost all the way down. "How is he?"
"Exhausted." Tony blew out a deep breath. "Suspicious and full of questions."
She grimaced. "When are you planning to tell him?"
"I... I don't know. I guess..." Tony shook his head. "I guess maybe tomorrow or... or when we know more. When I know what to do and... and how to keep him safe."
Pepper didn't press him on it any further and they spent most of the meal in silence both shuffling their food around on their plates more than actually eating until FRIDAY broke the silence.
"Sir, Miss Romanoff sent an update to her progress. She made it to Brooklyn and expects to set foot in the hotel May Parker works at in about 30 minutes when all her preparations are done."
Tony's eyes shot up at Pepper. He pushed his plate away and got up. "Thanks, FRI."
"Alright, you go ahead." She collected the plates and made for the kitchen. "I'll take care of this. I'll meet you in the lab."
He gave a short nod then strode down the corridor. His nerves were on fire. He didn't really know what to expect. He had no idea how much May Parker knew. All he could do was trust Natasha to get everything she did know out of her.
On his command, FRIDAY pulled up the collection of the research they had been working on. By the time he had set up the connection to Natasha, Pepper walked into the room, eyes just as wide and nervous as his must have been as well. There certainly was some comfort in not going through this alone.
"Alright," Natasha said. "I'm heading in then. I assume you're recording this."
"Obviously." Tony bit his lip. "They have security cameras inside the hotel. It wouldn't be too hard—"
"No." Both Natasha and Pepper cut him off at the same time.
Natasha's voice was incredibly clear even with the hidden wire. "Don't draw any more attention to us than you need to."
"It's also illegal." Pepper's face clearly stated that she would draw the line at blatant illegal stuff.
"Fine. Okay. No hacking the cameras." He pulled a face, but they had a point. There was no need for the video feed other than to satisfy his need to see what the Widow was doing.
He was walking up and down along the length of his workbench. Natasha had made her way into the hotel, into the bar and ordered a fancy cocktail. Then two. It was at the third cocktail that Pepper made him sit down on the chair next to her.
"You're making me lose my mind, Tony."
"Excuse me, if I'm nervous..." He shook his head but sighed as she reached for his hand and squeezed hers back.
Progress was slow. They could only hear what was happening around Natasha. She didn't say anything except for when she ordered the drinks. There had to be a spy trick on how she was emptying the glasses without actually drinking the alcohol. Surely the Black Widow had built up a certain tolerance to strong drinks but she'd still avoid dulling her senses as much as possible.
Losing his patience, Tony hit the button that opened up their mic. "Nat, what's happening."
She didn't answer and Pepper pushed his hand away from the button.
"What? She's not doing anything."
"She's obviously doing something. She's not just sitting there having cocktails."
Tony crossed his arms in front of him. "Or that's what she wants us to believe."
"What happened with you?"
"Wh—what?" He found her eyes waiting for him as he looked over.
"This isn't just a squabble." Her forehead was drawn in thought. "You might have been cautious with Natasha but you never outright distrusted her. What happened?"
Tony bit the inside of his lower lip. This wasn't the time to get into that shitshow as well. Why was everyone so hellbent on airing out all the secrets all at once? He would have to talk to Pepper about everything that had happened and he would do that. At some point. Definitely not right now.
"Pep, I—"
"It's Siberia, isn't it. I knew you were lying about that. What happened?"
His hands were positively sweating now. This was a longer conversation. Not one he was willing to have just before Natasha tried to wrangle information out of the woman who had kept his son hidden for a decade, but Pepper wouldn't let it go.
"You said... you said she told you to watch your back. When you were fighting earlier. That was when things were leading up to Siberia, wasn't it?"
He shook his head. He hadn't even wanted to say that in front of Pepper. It had just slipped out, his self-control not as tight as it should be. "That doesn't matter right now. We'll... we can talk about all this. I'll tell you, but... but not now."
"Who else was at that bunker in Massachusetts. Romanoff? Who else?"
Tony sighed, eyes on the floor. "Rogers. Barton. Romanoff. That's it."
"Where is the rest?"
He shrugged. "They're all over the place. A few false flags to throw off Ross. A few genuine missions."
"Are you... but are you working with them right now?"
"No." He shook his head and made a point to look at her. "No, I'm not."
"But you're still trying to oust Ross."
"Of course."
"And they are, too."
"I... I guess, yeah."
She turned away from him at that, face buried in both her hands. "This is such a fucking mess."
"I know." He kept his distance, just staring at the ground. "I know that."
There were so many levels to all these different fights and agendas it was starting to make his own head hurt to keep to track of everything. Her soft suppressed sobs echoed through the lab and he couldn't blame her for being overwhelmed by everything right now.
"Pep, please..." Tony took a step towards her, still unsure about the level of intimacy that was appropriate between them. "Please, don't cry. I'll... I'll talk you through it and we'll figure this out somehow we—"
She let her arms fall and turned towards him, her cheeks dry, eyebrows drawn in a frown. "I'm not crying."
Right then, he realized that the crying was coming from the speakers, not from Pepper. His eyes went wide. That was Natasha crying.
He shook his head in confusion. "Why is she crying?"
Pepper just shrugged. "How should I know? I didn't go to spy school."
Over the next minutes, the low soft hiccoughs turned into full-on sobs that rang through the speakers, making the hair on Tony's back stand up straight.
"She's just sitting there? Crying?" He needed results. "How is that gonna do anything, huh?"
"Tony, just... I get that you're anxious, just let her do her thing."
It took another 10 minutes, maybe 15 for something to finally happen.
The voice of a different woman echoed out of the speakers. "Miss, is everything alright?"
Pepper looked up, her lips almost moving soundlessly. "Is that her?"
His head tilted, he sent her a look. "She can't hear us, Pep."
"Miss, are you... do you need help? Are you okay?"
Tony tried to concentrate. Tried to remember May Parker's voice. "Yeah. Yeah, must be her." A loud wail rang through the line and Tony cringed. "What the hell is she doing? Is this some kind of a torture routine?"
"I can... I can call someone. Do you... Do you want me to call someone for you?" Parker's voice was hushed and just the right mix of urging and comforting.
"There's nobody to call, I..." Natasha's voice was rough with tears and a distinct slur. "I don't have anyone. Anyone."
Tony sat back down next to Pepper. It was weird on the side of extremely uncomfortable to hear Natasha's voice carry this much pain. Something that didn't seem to be lost on May Parker either, even though the woman was a stranger to her.
"I'm so sorry. Let me... let me help you then. Why don't we—"
"Help me? You think you can help me?"
"I can try?" The soft rustling of a chair being pulled back was all Tony had as a hint of what was going on as May Parker's voice came a little closer. "I'm May. I'm on the night shift here today. What's your name?"
"I..." Natasha blew her nose, her voice still heavy. "Linda."
"Linda, how about we both have a glass of water and you can just calmly tell me what—"
"Calmly? Calmly?" The volume of Natasha's voice picked back up. "Too hysterical am I? This uncomfortable for you, is it? Getting in the way of all you people having a lovely time."
"Please, Linda. I didn't want to imply any of that. I just want to talk. You seem to be having a really bad day and I just—"
"A bad day," Natasha spat out like a curse. "I've had a bad year. A bad decade."
Pepper puffed out a deep breath. "Jeez, she really has that role down, doesn't she?"
He looked over at her but just nodded, still completely lost as to where the Widow was going with all this.
"I'm so sorry to hear that, Linda." Glasses were clattering on the table, the sound of water being poured in the background. "You can talk to me if you want."
Natasha huffed out a dry laugh. "You wouldn't understand."
"Why don't you try me?"
"I... believe me. You don't want to hear this. It's not... It doesn't even matter, I..." She sobbed again, blew her nose noisily.
"Listen, I don't know you and you don't know me. I..." Parker cleared her throat. "Whatever it is, you will likely never see me again. Nobody would even know that you told me, right?"
For a moment the line was quiet and all they could hear in the lab were soft noises of the other guests in the background, cutlery clinking on plates, hushed whispered conversations.
"Just give it a try." The comfort and kindness in Parker's voice had Tony equal parts agitated and questioning his hatred towards that woman.
"I..." Natasha cleared her throat. "I'm in the city because... because I had an appointment. An appointment with—" Her voice broke and she tried to stifle a couple of sobs. "With a young woman. I... I was going to adopt her... her baby, but now... now she changed—" Natasha started crying again, swallowing her words.
"Oh Linda, I'm so sorry. I..." Parker was closer now. Judging by the rustling of fabric she might be petting Natasha's arm or back for comfort. "I'm so sorry to hear that."
Natasha cried some more and the other woman was trying her best to calm her down, trying to keep her voice low.
"So..." Pepper cleared her throat. "Natasha is trying to make May Parker intervene, to stop her from making a scene, am I getting that right?
She looked over at Tony and he pulled a face. "I guess? Maybe it's a bonding thing? I certainly wouldn't have thought of that, I can give her that."
The Widow certainly knew what she was doing. "All the big agencies have rejected me because... because I'm alone and... and the hours I work, they said I couldn't but I would, I would be so good. I just... I thought this would be it. After everything, I..." Natasha broke off and pressed out a couple more sobs. Then she just kept talk, telling May a tale about her ex-husband who she said had remarried and the baby pictures he posted on social media after they had tried to have children for years. How they had tried again and again and how nothing had succeeded.
Parker desperately tried to make Natasha keep her voice down, completely oblivious to how she was being played. "Linda, I understand, I do, but—"
"You can't. You couldn't. It's... I get that people think they know but—"
"I do. I do know."
Natasha sniffed in what sounded like a dry laugh. "People like you will say anything so you can avoid a scene."
"Please, Linda, let me be honest with you. Yes, I'm a little concerned for our customers, I am, but believe me, I do... I do know what it's like. I've... I've been there. It's never easy but I do need you to calm down for me right now."
"Oh, now you've 'been there', have you? Are you really that desperate that you would make up something like that? Really May?"
"I... I'm not... I... I have... I lost my son." She whispered so low, Tony had trouble hearing her at all.
Natasha fell quiet. "Wh—what?"
"It was... it was just a freak accident. Nobody's fault. It just happened and we had... my husband and I, it took us years to adopt. I... I do know. I do understand."
Tony had to sit up straight and hold onto the edge of the table. He shot a glance over at Pepper, checking if she had just heard what he had just heard. Her eyes were on the table, staring unseeingly. The expression on her face as blank as his brain felt.
His hand went for the button, his voice flat. "She's lying, Nat. That's not true."
"Tony..." Pepper shook her head at him and he let go of the button.
Natasha was sniffing but kept her voice low now. "What do you mean, an accident? You... you lost your son?"
"I... yes, I..." May Parker's voice broke and Tony couldn't help but stare into Pepper's face. "8 years ago, I... I lost my son. He was in an accident. Believe me, I know how hard it is to want a child and then... and then lose it."
Tony's heart was hammering in his throat. He went for that button once more. "She's lying, Nat. They only adopted one kid. Ask her about the accident. It's impossible that—"
"Boss, the connection to the audio transmitter on Agent Romanoff's earpiece seems to have been disconnected."
"Did she... did she just mute me? What the—"
"Shh!" Pepper slapped his arm, trying to shut him up.
"I... I don't..." Nervous laughter bubbled out of Natasha, then she sniffed a couple of times before she blew her nose again. "I don't understand. Is this... Do you usually go around and just... just tell strangers that your son died?"
"I don't know, do you usually tell strangers about the trouble you have conceiving a child?" Parker's tone was harsh but teary. It sounded sincere when it was impossible to be true.
"I..." Natasha fell silent for a moment, then her voice was even lower than before. "I don't. I... I never do."
"Me neither."
Both women were quiet now, nothing but the bar's noises echoed through the speakers around the lab.
"That's when they moved."
Tony looked up at Pepper, eyebrows knitted together. "What?"
"8 years ago. That was 2008. That was when they moved from New Hampshire to New York."
"Huh." Tony's brain was blank.
Pepper had stood up, studying the projected pieces of intel FRIDAY was still projecting all around them. "Maybe something did happen."
"Wait, the kid... the kid told me that his parents died in an accident. I... I thought he meant like his foster parents or something, but..."
"Shh, Tony listen."
The Widow's voice rang through the speakers once more. "I'm so sorry for your loss."
"Thank you, it's... it was a long time ago."
"You know if you..." Natasha cleared her throat. "If you want to talk about it..."
Parker actually gave a teary chuckle at that and Natasha joined in. "If I want to talk about it, I will likely never see you again and nobody would know that I told you?"
"Something like that." Natasha spoke a little clearer now, but the emotion was still heavy in her voice. "It's a little different, isn't it? Losing a baby, a pregnancy, that's one thing, but—"
"Yeah." Parker cut her off. "Yes, it's a little different. Both is painful."
"Have you... I—" Natasha blew out a deep breath. "I'm sorry if this is too personal but have you ever like... tried again? Adopted again?"
"We..." For a moment, they were both silent, only deep breaths and a few sniffs were transmitted through the wire. "No. We... we didn't have the money. Banking crisis and all. Had to... erm... lost... we lost our house and... never... it never worked out again."
"I'm so sorry, May. I'm so sorry for your loss."
Natasha's voice was sweet and Tony wanted to gag. "She's fucking lying!"
"Thank you." May cleared her throat. "I'm really sorry for you as well, but I... my colleagues are about to go home. I have to go and look after the bar now. Listen, Linda, let me just... just be careful. I know... I know it's difficult but don't... don't fall for any of these expensive private agencies. Especially the ones that promise you a lot if you just pay them they... just... just don't. Be careful."
"What do you mean?"
"Just... just don't trust them. I... I understand how difficult the process is, how tiring and expensive, but some of them... some of them are bad people, alright. Do not trust them. Try for a privately directed adoption or... or even foster first."
"Why, what... what did they do?"
"They... they are bad actors, okay. They use those children to make money, nothing more. Use your grief to make money. It's... you should stay away from them. Maybe... Listen, I.. I have to go now. You take care."
"May... wait!" The noises in the background shifted and Natasha clearly went after her. "What happened when you—"
"Please. Just—" May was very close to her, her voice clear but low and sharp. "You had... you had a lot to drink. You should go to your room and sleep it off, Linda. It's late. Don't... just go to bed."
"But May, I—"
"Everything alright here, ladies?" A third voice, male, came into the mix.
"Yes, thank you, Jon."
Pepper turned towards Tony. "Who is that? Do they have security in that building?"
"I could tell you if you had let me hack the cameras!"
Tony's head was throbbing. May Parker had to be lying. There was no record of another child and the boy, his child, who was living with her, was very much alive.
"FRIDAY, how's the kid?"
"Your son is asleep, Boss."
A cold shiver went through Tony's veins. The boy was safe. Of course, he was. He was in bed, resting just like he was supposed to.
They listened to a couple more minutes of Natasha arguing with that Jon guy, but the moment was gone, that much was clear. Even if she would manage to stay it was unlikely that she would get Parker to spill anything else at this point.
Tony had turned back towards the projections, just looking at them like the answer would simply jump off them if he stared just hard enough. "Did you hear how weird she sounded when she talked about adopting from an agency?"
"I'm a little preoccupied with that thing about her dead son, Tony."
"She's lying."
Pepper blew out a breath. "How do you know?"
"There's nothing in the records of another child. And the one they adopted is very much alive."
"Hey, you guys still there?"
Tony lunged for the speak button as Natasha's voice sounded again.
"What the fuck, Nat!"
"You were babbling in my ear," she bit back. "I was trying to work."
"Well, she was lying!"
Natasha was quiet for a moment, only the traffic noises of a still busy street in Brooklyn blaring through the lab. "She wasn't lying."
"What do you mean?" Tony's mouth was dry. "Of course she was. It contradicts everything we found."
"I know that, but she wasn't lying. There's something there. I'm at the car. Will be back within the hour."
Natasha cut the connection but Tony didn't even care. "FRIDAY, re-check everything we know about May Parker."
"Right away, Boss."
"There's only one adoption case that is connected to the Parker's." He didn't turn to look at Pepper but he felt her step up right behind him. "There are no other birth certificates, nothing. It's impossible."
"You said something about his... his parents?"
Tony did turn at that. "Right." The kid had talked about his parents, his fake parents like he had known them. More than once. That first time Tony took him to the Compound. Most notably that day at the Tower, when the boy had lost control of his senses.
"Yes, he... it was some time in spring. I... FRI, the day Peter came in when he didn't want to go see his aunt and wanted to stay and work instead? What day was that?"
"April, 19th, Boss."
Pepper shuffled from one foot to the other. "He didn't want to see her?"
"No, he said... I don't... he got really upset, really upset. It's... it's a problem with his senses. He said they usually put down flowers or something and he never likes it. He and his aunt, I guess. FRI, what did he say?"
"He said that it was the anniversary of his parents' accident and that they, I quote 'usually go to put down like... flowers or something'."
"He didn't want to talk about them. I... I tried, but he just, he completely blocked the whole thing and I... I didn't think that it was my place, I mean, I... it was personal and I... I'm such an idiot."
She held his hand and squeezed it tight. "You couldn't have known. How could you have known?"
"I could have... I should have... what kind of asshole doesn't even—"
"Stop." She pulled him closer, made him face her. "This is not your fault."
Tony huffed and bit the inside of his cheek. Of course, she would say that.
"Tony, we've been here. We've already talked this through. They did this to you." She had both her hands on his face now, forcing him to look right at her. "Someone did this to you. To Addy. You don't get to blame yourself for this." Her eyes searched his face, waiting for a response but Tony couldn't quite bring himself to give in. "We'll fix this, alright. You and me and..." She pulled a face. "and I guess Natasha. We'll fix this."
The corners of his mouth twitched at that. Maybe they could fix this. They could try at least.
He took a deep breath, pulled away from Pepper and made for the door of the lab.
"Tony, what... where are you going?"
Something he should have done a long time ago.
"I will find out what the kid actually knows about his parents and how they supposedly died."
###
(author's note:
So after spoiling you with a bunch of updates I should have maybe saved them and spread it out a bit ;)
Unfortunately, I've been keeping to the bed with a major headache, aching limbs, and fever for the past 16 days. Gladly no coughing, so I'm hopeful it'll be over by this week (though I thought the same last weekend).
Thank you all for all the comments and follows! Stay safe and healthy.)
