Thank you all so much for reading and supporting the story. This is a lighter one with some Morgan time and a trip to Walmart.

Thank you Randomskycolor and Prongs100 for pre-reading.

Thank you to Your uwu slave for the review that prompted me to post.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Tony pulled the truck he'd taken from the base outside his house and cut the engine as the door flew open, and Pepper's puzzled face morphed into a smile as she caught sight of him behind the wheel.

He was out in a moment, running towards her in the next, and she rushed across the porch, down the steps, and into his arms. He gripped her tight, drawing in deep breaths of the combined smell of her lilac perfume and honey shampoo, and just let himself feel the moment. He'd missed her so much, and there had been so many times he'd wished she was there to help take on the load of everything he was going through with the skill and strength she always had. Now she was in his arms, and he felt as though the weight that had been on his shoulders since the battlefield had lifted at last.

"God, Tony," she breathed in his ear and then pulled back, hands on his face. "I was so worried. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said. "Really, everything's—"

He cut off as her lips slammed into his in a hard kiss, and then they parted the merest amount, and she whispered, her breath tickling his lips, "I love you."

Tony hugged her again, burying his face in her neck.

They clung to each other for an indeterminable time, and then both pulled back in perfect synchronicity and smiled.

"It's good to be home," he said.

She stroked his face with a warm hand. "It's good to have you home. We've missed you."

Tony smiled. "I missed you, too, and I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner, but Peter—"

She pressed a finger to his lips. "He needed you more, I know that, and I didn't begrudge you a minute with him. I was worried about him, too. I saw Steve carry him through that portal, saw your face as you followed, and I knew where you needed to be. How is he?"

Tony shook his head. "That's a really long story. God, Pep, I've got so much to tell you. And I will. But I need to see my girl first. How is she?"

"Hyperactive as ever, missing her Daddy and mad that she's not seen her brother yet." She laughed. "Tell me she's going to see him soon because there are only so many tantrums that I can take in a day."

"I'm working on it," Tony said. "But Pete's not ready yet. It's all so damn complicated."

"I bet," she said. "She's sleeping, but if she finds out you're here and she's not seen you… Well, like I said, I've handled too many tantrums already. Go see her."

Tony pecked her on the lips and darted into the house, up the stairs, and to his daughter's bedroom. He stood in the doorway for a moment, just absorbing the sight of her, her brown curls spread over the pillow and her rosebud lips pursed around the thumb in her mouth, a habit that Pepper was trying to break but Tony had patience with since his own thumb sucking habit had been broken by his father, which it hadn't been a gentle process. Clamped to her chest was the stuffed toy Rhodey had brought her, which was apparently her latest favorite of the many she owned. It was a rolling preference from the many she had to choose from, which was, according to Pepper, entirely down to him and his first shopping trip for her—a fond memory in which he'd stacked a cart in Toy Zone with everything he could imagine his brand new baby ever wanting.

He crossed the room and perched on the side of the bed, running a finger over her soft cheek. "Hey, Maguna," he whispered.

Her brow scrunched, and her thumb slipped out of her mouth. "Breakfast time?" she asked drowsily, eyes blinking slowly. "Pancakes?"

Tony chuckled. "Not breakfast yet. It's still bedtime."

Her eyes opened fully and fixed on him. He saw confusion quickly replaced with happiness as drowsiness seemed to abandon her, and she said, "Daddy!" She scrambled up and climbed onto his lap, her small arms wrapping around his neck with a monkey-like cling. "You came home!"

"I did, baby girl," she said, rubbing her back. "I missed my best girls."

She squeezed him tighter and then released him and looked into his eyes, her own bright and eager. "Did you bring my brother, too?"

Tony's smile fell. "No, Peter's got to stay somewhere else for a while, and Daddy will have to go back to him again, but I'm here now for lots of hugs."

"Can I come with you?" she asked.

"Not just yet. Soon, though, I promise."

She pouted. "That's not fair."

"No," he agreed. "It's not, but Peter is still very tired and needs lots of sleep before he'll be ready for the full force of Maguna on a mission. As soon as he is, though, you'll see him."

She seemed to consider it for a moment. "Is he sick? I sleep lots when I'm sick. Momma makes me chicken noodle soup. Have you made him chicken noodle soup?" Her rapid flow of words cut off, and she looked at him expectantly.

"You know what, I've not made him soup yet, but I will. He's not sick, he's just very, very tired because he did something very special and important."

It was easier to explain Peter as being tired—which he definitely was right now—rather than still too unsure of himself and his power to see her. Tony knew he would never hurt Morgan or anyone else, but Peter needed time to believe that, too.

Morgan nodded. "Momma said Peter's a hero, but I can't tell anyone because it's secret." She lowered her voice. "She says he saved the world." Her brow furrowed. "Was the world sick? Is that how he saved it?"

"The world was having a little trouble," Tony said carefully. "There was a bad man, but Peter made him go away, and now he can never come back. No one bad can come. But it really is a secret."

She nodded. "Momma says you were a hero, too."

Tony huffed a laugh. "If I was, your momma was, too. She helped Peter save the world. All of Daddy's friends did."

She stared at him for a moment and then shrugged and yawned. "That's good."

"You're tired," he said, internally scolding himself for waking her. "You should go back to sleep. I'll still be here in the morning."

"I'm not tired," she said, an obvious lie as her excitement at their reunion was defeated by weariness.

"You are," Tony said. "And if you don't sleep, you won't be awake to eat pancakes in the morning. I'll make them for you myself."

"Minnie Mouse shapes?" she asked.

"Can they be Mickey?" he asked. "Minnie's bow is hard to do."

"Okay," she said. "Mickey. With strawberry syrup and chocolate chips?"

Tony eased her off his lap and laid her down, tugging the blankets over her. "If Momma hasn't hidden the chocolate chips, we can have them. But you know she hides then so she can eat them all herself because she's a chocolate monster."

Morgan giggled. "Yeah, Monster-Momma." She yawned again. "Will you stay with me?"

"Of course," Tony said.

"All night?" she asked hopefully.

"I can't stay all night because I need to see Momma, too, but I'll stay until you fall asleep. Move over."

She wriggled over and snuggled under the blankets as Tony climbed into the small bed beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and smiling as her head settled on his chest.

"Can you tell me a story?" she asked.

"Sure," Tony said, knowing she'd soon drift off it he was reading to her. "What one. The Caterpillar book?"

"No, I want a Spider-Peter story."

Tony found himself smiling. "Okay, a Peter story, which one?"

"Any," she said, closing her eyes and clamping her thumb in her mouth again and then corrected, her words slightly garbled, "One with a cat."

Tony chuckled. "I've got lots of them. Peter likes cats. Hmmm…" He closed his own eyes and called to mind just one of the reports Happy had gotten on a voicemail in the early days of his relationship with Peter, the voicemails he'd listened to and laughed at. "There was this old lady called Mrs. Gopesetti, that had a cat called Chloe that liked to climb trees. The problem was Chloe wasn't good at getting down again, so Peter had to climb up to get her down…"

He told her the story as he remembered Peter reporting it, including the fact the cat has scratched him on the way out of the tree, but before he'd reached the part about Mrs. Gopesetti buying him a churro as a reward, his daughter was fast asleep, nestled against him.

He watched her for a moment, the soft lines of her face that were so like Pepper's, though his genes had their way in her hair and eyes, and thought he'd stay just a little longer with his daughter before going to his wife.

When Tony got downstairs, Pepper was sitting on the couch with her legs curled under her and a glass of wine in her hand. She leaned over to the table and poured one for him, which he took as he sank down next to her and breathed a deep, contented sigh.

"Thanks," he said, sipping it and feeling the cool, crisp taste slip over his tongue.

"It looked like you needed it," she said.

"I did," Tony agreed. "But that's a topic for another day."

She laughed softly. "Tony, honey, it's a topic for today. I know you've had a lot going on, and it's been hard, but I've been here without knowing everything that was going on with any of you. You're finally here, there's no great crisis, so you've got to tell me what's going on so I can quit with the wild speculations."

"Sorry. I should have told you more, I know. Things were crazy, though, and I didn't want you to worry."

She pushed back her hair with a small laugh. "Did you really think I wasn't already worried? I saw what Peter did, I saw you flying through the air and disappearing, then you were back and following Peter and Steve through that portal, and then I was in the dark. You hardly told me anything when you called. What exactly happened in Wakanda?" She frowned. "And why haven't Peter and Morgan met yet? Why haven't I seen him? What's holding you back?"

"It's not me," he said. "It's Pete." He took a large swig of wine, then set the glass down and ran his hands over his face. "Okay. What happened… Well, once we got to Wakanda and they were working on Peter, we found his hand and arm had been trashed by the Stones when he snapped. The burns were horrific. He would have lost the hand if not for Helen Cho. She was able to recreate the tissue he'd lost, which was a lot. He's all healed now."

"That's good," she said with palpable relief. "But if it now because he doesn't want to freak her out with wounds, why is he holding back on meeting Morgan?"

"Because he's scared," Tony sighed. "The Stones didn't just disappear after the snap; they moved." He drew a deep breath. "They moved into Peter. He has the Stones inside him now."

She stared at him blankly. "They're in him? What does that mean?"

"It means he's got a lot of power, at least that's a part of it—probably the smallest part when it comes down to it. They're actually sentient, Pep. They talk to him. He can use them." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "He wants to use them. He's got it into his head that he can be some kind of protector of the world thanks to T'Challa. Already he's done…" He whistled. "The place we're staying, it's by Avalanche Lake, or it was. Peter used the Reality Stone—or the Stone used him—to protect the place, which apparently means he's moved us out of our reality. It looks like we're on an island now, but you can get in and out by literally driving into the lake. You get this feeling that's kinda like bad turbulence, and then you're driving along a back road to highway nine." He huffed a laugh. "I had to drive right into the water."

Pepper blew out a breath, and he thought it was in reaction to what he'd said about the drive, but she caught him off guard when she said, "How is he even handling that amount of pressure. If he wants to protect the world, he's got to be feeling the weight of the world. And he's so young."

"I know," Tony said heavily. "And I don't think he is handling it, not really. Things have been nonstop since this started. We didn't even have a couple days after he was released from the hospital until he was back in there after being attacked. Then we got to the new place and Fury showed up." He squeezed his eyes closed and took a deep breath. "Ross wants Peter, and he doesn't even know the half of it. He just wants him since he knows it was Peter than snapped, but news came out of Wakanda about the Stones, Peter's power, and it almost reached Ross. Fury blocked it, and T'Challa is dealing with it now, stopping it happening again, but…"

"Ross will want that power," Pepper said quietly.

"He will. He'll want to use him, and I know Peter is scared of it. Hell, I'm scared of it. Peter can protect himself, I know, but he couldn't stop himself being attacked in Wakanda and overdosed, though I don't know why. If Ross comes for him and gets hold of him. Pep, it'll be us against the entire US government and all their power. And I can't…"

Pepper stared at him a moment, her eyes wide and wet, and then she pulled him towards her, tucking his face into her neck, and said, "I know."

"It just keeps coming," Tony said, his words muffled against her skin. "And then he was hiding us, which knocked him unconscious again."

"That poor boy," she said, her voice pained.

Tony pulled back and looked at her. "And I messed up. After Fury left and his hid us, which was out of this world, he dropped a bomb that I didn't handle it right. He told us he can't die."

She sucked in a breath. "He can't die!"

"No. The Stones have basically made him immortal. I don't know quite how it works, or why, but I think he'll age still, but death…" he snapped his fingers, "that's out. And when he told us. I was happy. You know I lost him, he just turned to ash in my arms on that damn planet, and when I got him back, it was like a miracle. Then he snapped, and I thought he was dead, he came through, though, and then some asshole tried to kill him with an overdose. I just saw the good—that I'd never have to worry about losing him again, he'd always be there, and he was not on the same page."

"Of course he wasn't," she said, her brow pinched. "He's sixteen."

Tony held up a hand. "Rhodey already gave me that talk, I know what I was missing. I messed up big." He ran a hand through his hair. "I keep messing up for the kid."

Pepper patted his shoulder and said, "Tony, you're doing your best, and I'm sure Peter knows that. It's not really a surprise you saw the good in it. I know what it cost you to lose him, and selfishly, I'm happy I won't have to see you go through that again."

"But we don't get to be selfish, do we?" he asked.

Pepper shifted closer and pulled his hand down from his face, stopping him digging his fingers into his temples, and said, "Here, at home with me, you can be selfish about it. Let yourself feel the good it in here and now. I am, too. If you let yourself now, you will be able to see it from his point of view when you're with him again."

Tony stared at her for a long moment, feeling his lips curve into a wide smile that didn't stop him from feeling a pang of guilt. "I won't lose him, Pep," he said.

She beamed at him. "No, you won't. You'll never lose him again."

Tony's head fell back against the couch, and his eyes fell closed as the sense of joy and relief coursed through him. He would make this the time and place for this happiness, to relief, and he would be the support Peter needed when he was there.

But for now, with Pepper curling against his side and leaning her head against his chest, he let himself feel good about the fact he would never lose his son again.

Not unless Ross came at least…

"Pink," Morgan announced.

"No," Tony said firmly, plucking the throw pillow out of her hand and putting it back on the shelf and picking up a blue one.

"Boys can like pink," she informed him, her small arms crossed over her chest and jaw jutting out in a way that Pepper said came from her Stark side—but Tony knew the Potts family also had a streak of stubbornness.

"They can," he agreed. "But Peter's not a pink guy. Trust me, he'll prefer blue." Morgan pouted and then skipped off down the aisle and stroked her fingers over the blankets on offer.

Tony watched her for a moment and then grabbed a pink cushion from the shelf and tossed it into the cart.

"You just said…" Pepper started.

"It's not for Peter," Tony said with a smirk. "It's for Rhodey's room. Since he left me in charge of soft furnishings and being the first to drive headlong into a lake, he can deal with my color scheme."

Pepper rolled her eyes. "You're such a toddler sometimes."

"And yet you love me," he said smugly.

"Yeah, more fool me," she said, hurrying up the aisle to catch a squealing Morgan who was making her way around the corner and out of sight.

Tony grabbed blue blankets for Peter's room, lilac for Rhodey, and a stock of white and grey for the others that they could divvy up amongst themselves.

The cart was already pretty full, and he'd not reached the technology section yet. He might have to leave this one out of the way and get another—as he already had done four times before.

He might have gone a bit overboard with the stuff he'd brought, but he wanted to make that place home for Peter—for them all—and that meant facing the horror that was Walmart with a four-year-old.

For Morgan's part, she'd been happy to shop, even though Pepper had made it clear it wasn't the usual toy store splurge with her daddy she was used to. She'd seemed eager to get stuff for her brother, though, which pleased Tony.

The easy way she spoke about Peter, as if she'd known him all her life and this was just a short absence between them, warmed his heart. He knew Peter was going to love her when he met her, though he wasn't sure when that would happen. Rhodey had texted him a shopping list with a note that said Peter had slept late and was hanging out with Steve while Sam and Bucky worked on breakfast for them all. Tony had resisted the urge to call him to talk to Peter himself, but he wasn't sure Rhodey would put him on the line if he tried. Besides, he would be back there later and able to see for himself.

Morgan had been surprisingly understanding when Tony told her he was only staying one day as he needed to check on Peter. She'd just elicited a promise that he would come back again soon and accepted it. It was strange as a she had been technically only child all her life, and the sole focus of his and Pepper's total adoration, she was readily accepting of needing to share her father was someone else. That had to be Pepper's nature coming out, since Tony had apparently proven he wasn't good at sharing lately if the statement from Rhodey and hints from the others were anything to go by.

Pepper came back with Morgan clinging to her arm and swinging her feet, and said, "You nearly done?"

Tony looked at the cart. "Uh, maybe. I've got to get some entertainment stuff, still, but I think the bedrooms are taken care of. Can you think of anything I forgot?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, does this place have a kitchen sink or do you need one of them, too?"

Morgan giggled and imitated her mother's tone. "Yeah, Daddy, do you need one of them, too?"

Tony laughed softly. "No, it's got a sink, but I might need to upgrade the TV we got. It's not that big."

Morgan's eyes widened. "Can I pick?"

"No," Pepper said. "If you've got a TV, you don't need another. I know you like to go big, Tony, but you don't want to overwhelm Peter. He's not going to care how big the TV is." She tugged his arm. "Let's go stock you up on video games."

"Peter gets to play video games?" Morgan asked, lip pooching out. "I don't get to play video games."

"You play games all the time," Pepper reminded her.

"Nahuh," Morgan said. "Tic-tac-toe isn't a game."

"It is so a game. And you play it with Friday," Tony reminded her. "Not every kid has their own AI interface to play games with."

"Max plays Mario Kart," she said. "He told me so."

Tony grumbled. Max was a kid she'd met at the pre-school Pepper had insisted Tony let her attend—something about being well-rounded socially—and the kid seemed to have everything in life Morgan wasn't allowed.

Personally, Tony didn't think there was any problem with letting her play a few video games, but Pepper said they would make her too competitive too young. Tony figured she was already doomed to being competitive with him and Pepper as parents, but he bowed to Pepper's wishes and backed the rules. Besides, Morgan seemed just as happy to work with him in the garage on the tech he was teaching her.

"Max is a spoiled brat," Tony muttered.

Pepper slapped his arm and hissed, "Tony!" before saying, "Everyone's different, honey, and Max's parents get to decide what he can do while we decide what you can do."

She frowned. "Then who decides what Peter can do? Is he old enough to decide himself?" She looked hopeful. "Will I be old enough to decide soon, too?"

"Daddy and Peter decide together," Pepper said when Tony failed to answer.

He was thinking how much easier his life would be if he was the one that got to decide what Peter did. He'd have nixed the idea of using the Stones from the very beginning, he'd have gotten Peter confident with living with them without using them, then he'd have stuck him back in school. He was pretty sure that was impossible now with Peter's commitment to protect and need to be concealed. He had two children that he loved, but one of them was much harder to parent than the other.

Morgan seemed to consider than, and then she nodded and said, "Okay, but can I pick the games Peter gets to play since he's not here to decide for himself?"

"Absolutely," Pepper said. "Lead the way."

Morgan grabbed her arm and towed her away along the aisle, around the corner, and Tony followed at a more sedate pace, occasionally grabbing things from the shelves that he thought Peter might like and tossing them into the cart.

He caught up with them in the middle of the video game aisle where Morgan was grabbing at the cases with abandon, saying, "This one, and this one, and I like the dinosaur on this one so he can have it, too."

Pepper watched her with a fond smile, and Tony went to help unload her arms so she could grab more. If Peter felt overwhelmed with the amount of stuff he was bringing back, he'd have the solid excuse that it wasn't him that had chosen them.

Morgan held up a box with a small frown and said, "Daddy, why do they have your special face on this?"

Tony moved closer and examined the box. Displayed as Lego characters was him and the other Avengers in full costume and an apparent state of warfare. "When did they come up with this?" he asked Pepper. "And who gave them permission?"

She smiled impishly. "Technically, I did. The Avengers franchise started after New York. I guess it's going through a resurgence. How did you not know about this sooner?"

"I don't play video games, Pep," he reminded her. "And I definitely don't play with Lego." He turned the box and examined the pictures on the back. "There's a Loki Lego? Isn't that in bad taste? Hell, Steve's on this, too, and he's a criminal."

"He was," she reminded him. "He's not anymore. Not even Ross will be able to prosecute after you all saved the world." She patted his cheek. "You're going to have to get used to seeing your face all over the place again."

"On Lego," Tony said scathingly.

Pepper nodded. "Yep."

"Is Daddy Lego?" Morgan asked. "Can I play with him?"

Pepper bent down and stroked a hand over her daughter's hair. "Absolutely. You can have your own little superhero daddy to play with."

Morgan beamed. "Is there a superhero Peter, too? A Spider-Peter one?"

"Afraid not," Pepper said.

Morgan scuffed her heel. "That's not fair."

"It's not," Pepper agreed. "All the biggest heroes should have toys, shouldn't they? But I don't think Peter would want one." She glanced up at Tony, who shook his head.

Rhodey said Ross wanted Peter, and if he got hold of him, kids' toys with his suit on them would be the least of their troubles. If they were lucky, Ross would want to turn Peter into a poster child the way Rhodey thought. Either way, it wasn't happening. Ross was going nowhere near Peter. He couldn't do much to protect his kid anymore, not from danger or what he would do to himself with the Stones, but he would keep him safe from Ross and his now even more powerful cronies.

Tony would make sure of it.

So… Some Tony and Morgan time. Some Tony and Pepper time. How much are you all missing Peter? We'll be back with him in the next chapter.

Prongs100 had an issue with the fact Tony went to Walmart without being mobbed. I didn't want him to have the place shut down as I thought that would be pretty assholeish and I wanted to show him with his family doing something normal in his 'retirement'. If it doesn't work for you, too, I apologize, but I liked it. We'll just pretend people are being respectful of him and his family's privacy.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx