"'I am quite well, I am only distressed by some dreadful news which I have just received from Longbourn.'" - Pride and Prejudice, ch. 46

How many times does Peter have to promise himself that he'll act normal before he's forced to accept that this feeling―like he's just been flipped upside down on a roller coaster going at top speed―might be his normal for whenever Michelle walks into a room (or onto a secluded beach)? He reminds himself that he wanted her here, wished for it less an hour ago. Now, in the midst of this sensation, he thinks he would've maybe preferred Brad's dirty looks. Specifically, his cold dirty looks because, with Michelle here, Brad's definitely still giving Peter dirty looks, but they're furiously intense, like he wants to throw Peter on the barbecue and close the lid.

And Brad's not the only one looking at him. Although Happy, May, Monica, Wanda, and Betty are all more subtle about glancing between Michelle and Peter, he can totally see them. They're all guests here, yet Peter's the one attracting attention. He'd like to play dumb, but he knows why. If he weren't at the center of this and it was Ned who organized an outdoor dinner, spur of the moment, because a girl he used to like came into town (somebody like Betty, maybe, Peter thinks again), Peter would be suspicious. It'd be great if the atmosphere weren't so weird.

When Brad's not glaring at Peter, he's positioning himself in front of Michelle, always finding one more thing to say. Even though Brad keeps glancing at him like Peter's already 'won' and he's pissed about it, his behaviour suggests that he has faith in his ability to secure Michelle for himself. It's really fucking stupid. (So why is Peter annoyed?) He looks particularly sour when Michelle sidesteps him to herd Monica and Peter together, saying just enough to facilitate a conversation. It's obviously important to her that they get to know one another; Peter gets that upside down feeling again. Luckily, they do get along and have plenty to ask each other, occasionally circling back to Carol when their conversation begins to stall. Peter's forgotten about Brad when he butts in and interrupts.

"Hey, Peter, I heard Liz Allan left Albany. Wasn't your family, like, obsessed with her?"

He laughs unpleasantly. Peter sees what he's doing―trying to undermine any appeal Peter might have for Michelle (though she's not in their little circle, Brad spoke loudly enough that she probably heard) by implying that Peter's hung up on another woman. It's a cheap shot in more ways than one. Brad's a fucking imbecile because the person those words are going to hurt the most is Michelle. Sure, having the name 'Liz Allan' sprung on him unsettles Peter, but the mention of her will dredge up so much shit for Michelle. Brad's superficial comment has penetrating cruelty.

"Not really," Peter says, just so Brad won't ask a second time. "We actually didn't know her very well at all."

Until Michelle told me everything is what goes unsaid. Peter's certain she'll understand what he left out though and he turns his head to find her, standing beside Wanda at the barbecue. She's looking right at him. There's gratitude in her eyes, but he can see by the slackness of her expression that she was totally unprepared for Brad's comment. Meanwhile, next to him, Monica's shifting and looking like she wants to say something to Brad. After all, she was involved in Liz's scheme too, being appealed to for information and resources after Michelle turned her away. Monica's respect for her cousin's privacy and peace of mind seems to win out and she takes a long drink instead. Brad evidently knows nothing about that part of the story and not enough about the full history between Liz Allan and Michelle Jones.

Because Peter's reaction is so mild, Brad seems to get bored and drops the subject. He wanders over to the grill―possibly to see his sister, possibly to see Michelle―and Michelle darts away to let him have her spot next to Wanda. Peter almost grins. Not only did Brad just fail to convince Michelle that Peter's into Liz, he actually repelled Michelle and sent her straight over to Peter. It's more than enough for Peter that Brad witnesses how fast Michelle's back moves away from him; he doesn't need to know about the small smile she gives Peter as she approaches. When they sit down to eat, Michelle sits next to Peter and Monica takes the place on her other side. Brad's way over on the far side of his sister, while May and Happy are between Peter and Wanda.

Once they've eaten, they pack up pretty quickly to avoid bugs and the darkness that'll come up any time with the sun threatening to slip down behind the hill the cottage sits on. Peter doesn't know how it happens that he and Michelle are the last two to head back up, but they find themselves alone for no more than a minute or two. He lifts the bin containing their plates, cutlery, and empty cans and waits for her while she repositions a chair. Moving it reveals a can and when Michelle places it in the bin, the inside of her wrist brushes the back of his hand. She stares at him for a second (he's staring back), then says they better hurry up. They don't really talk on their way up to the house, just glancing at each other from time to time and almost always finding the other person glancing back.

Peter and his family head out, followed shortly by Betty, and Brad starts in on his bullshit. MJ doesn't care if he sees her rolling her eyes. He criticizes things Peter said, what he wore, how he ate his hamburger―anything he can think of, apparently. Monica just gives Michelle a look and goes into the cottage with Wanda (the Maximoffs are staying longer and Michelle wishes it were only Wanda); Michelle's happy to see that look. It says that her cousin also thinks Brad's being a jealous asshole and that she doesn't think Peter deserves this. Monica told her yesterday that she really liked Peter and Michelle tried not to let her see how much that endorsement meant to her. Oh, she's happy for her cousin to recognize that she appreciates her approval, she's just not ready to say out loud why that approval matters so much in this instance. Michelle doesn't use the word 'love' a lot in conversation.

She and Brad go inside too and while she's sorting the garbage from the recycling and Monica and Wanda are starting the dishes, he corners her to talk more shit about Peter. Doesn't he get tired of this? What possible reason does he have for thinking that she'll suddenly like him because he says awful things about someone? Well. She did kinda used to be that way too. Maybe she didn't talk about Peter Stark in the kindest terms at the beginning there. But things have changed, dramatically changed, and she has no plans to backslide, as hard as Brad's fighting to take her back there. She only has to endure him for the rest of this evening. He can go ahead and get this ugly enviousness out of his system and watch how little it affects her.

"You think Peter was sick?" Brad asks. "He didn't look so good. I guess he's used to being indoors at their compound all day. Can't handle a little fresh air."

"I ran into him outside all the time in Tribeca," MJ replies with a shrug. "Besides, I don't think he gets sick, with the super-genes or whatever."

"Well, he can still get sunburnt. Either he's allergic to the sun or his skin's just so pale that it gets fried to a crisp. Looked awful."

"I didn't see any sunburn. He definitely had more freckles though, right across his nose. I love freckles."

That trips Brad up for a few seconds, long enough for MJ to finish her task and walk out of the room. He chases after her.

"Peter's not good-looking though." He says it like a challenge. She just glances at him. "He's short and... and... and there's something weak about his eyes."

MJ almost laughs at his attack on the way she once said Peter's eyes were powerful. Is Brad serious right now? That's the one opinion he knows for sure that she has about Peter's appearance and he's directly countering it? Why the hell would he think that was the way to go? God, he's more twisted up about her liking Peter than she thought. Brad clearly can't feel like he's won with her staying silent and he prods her again.

"I can't believe that guy was Spider-Man," he scoffs. "Or that you ever thought he was decent to look at."

Clenching her jaw, MJ turns on him.

"Mhmm, it's wild that I only thought Peter was decent. If you asked me now, I'd say he's the most attractive guy I've ever seen in my life."

It's slightly disappointing that Brad doesn't ask, since he's the one who pushed her to say it. Funny that she answered with something he didn't want to hear.

While they were down at the lake, Peter noticed his phone struggling to get reception and turned it off. He only remembers to turn it back on after they've returned to Burlington. Happy and May invited him to go out with them, but he's trying to give both them and himself some space―them for their relationship and himself for his thoughts―so he walked with them as far as the closest fast food place, bought himself some after-dinner French fries there, and headed back to the hotel alone. When a long message from Vision pops up on his screen, Peter stalls in the hotel parking lot. At first, he's happy to hear from his brother. Then he starts reading.

Peter, Vision writes, I attempted to call you, but as I was unable to reach you, this will have to do in the meantime. I do not wish to alarm you, so rest assured that we are all safe and this is not an emergency, but something unfortunate has occurred. In case you've lost track of the days while away, I will remind you that Harley was expected home from Boston yesterday. He failed to arrive. All of us assumed that he had extended his trip with his friend and was simply remiss in informing us. You and I are both aware that he was looking forward to this brief freedom from familial obligation, though he had been putting a moderate effort into staying in touch with Pepper before you departed for Vermont. Well. Late this afternoon, Pepper received a short email from Harley's friend, checking to see if Harley had made it home, as he hadn't heard from our brother either. I imagine Pepper was selected as her contact information is easiest to find online, rather than Harley having left his friend anything to assist him in getting in touch with our family. I'll tell you precisely why I doubt Harley would have made this easy for him. According to his friend, Harley met up with a former acquaintance at a bar last night. Before they went off together―to the annoyance, though not the surprise, of his friend―Harley informed him that they wouldn't be seeing each other at their hotel again that night, nor in the morning. His friend implied to Pepper that he suspected Harley planned to spend the night with this acquaintance and leave for home from wherever she was staying the next day. I was shocked by the identity of this acquaintance, though I'm sure you won't be: Harley has disappeared with Liz Allan.

Forgive me, but I've told our family just enough to give them to understand that this situation must be regarded as incredibly serious.

Tony has located his car, still parked at the hotel Harley originally stayed at. A second signal revealed his phone to be locked inside. Thus, we have been unable to track Harley. It is possible that he remains in Boston, though, in my opinion, unlikely. Why should he stay when he probably believes himself to have a head start on us looking for him? Sadly, he is correct in that. I assume he has left the city and done so in Liz Allan's car, very probably with Miss Allan herself behind the wheel.

Without your input to counter my natural optimism, I'm afraid to say I've been hoping for the best. In my projections, this involves a joyride of a day or two, during which Harley revels in his break for a truer freedom (in that he takes it unobserved by his parents or any technological extension of them, namely FRIDAY) with a woman he's developed formerly unrequited feelings for. I also imagine that Miss Allan is better than what you and I have heard her to be. Yes, Peter, I can picture the look on your face, but until we're able to act on this matter, what other recourse do I have? I hope that Harley and Miss Allan's fleeting excursion will be for purposes too intimate to record even the suggestion of here, rather than any attempt by Miss Allan to manipulate and take advantage of our brother's personal wealth and connections.

Tony and Pepper continue to execute every promising idea in an effort to find Harley and bring him home. Perhaps it is incorrect to feel this way, but I can confess to you, Peter, that I'm glad they are ignorant of Miss Jones's account of Miss Allan. It would only aggravate their fears.

Peter stares at Vision's words, stunned. Then, he tears himself away from his brother's best-case scenarios and fantasies in which Harley's a more responsible, less girl-crazy version of his regular self. Vision's right to assume Peter doesn't see the situation the same way at all. Sometime while he was reading, the bag containing his fries slipped out of his hand to hit the pavement, but he doesn't pause long enough to pick it up, just fumbles with his phone to call Vision.

"Hey, I―"

"I assume you read my―"

"Yeah," Peter agrees. They both pause. "Man, Vision, what the hell happened? I mean, I know, but..."

"I understand you. Everything's a bit of a mess and we are equally muddled."

"Well, what's going on? Have you heard anything new since this afternoon?"

"Nothing distinct. However, there has been cause for speculation."

Although Harley left his phone behind in his car, Vision tells Peter that Liz has posted a couple of tantalizing hints on her social media―which Tony has FRIDAY monitoring. The first is general and suggests a big change to her business will be coming soon. Peter and Vision agree that, on its own, that doesn't necessarily refer to anything involving Harley. The second specifically mentions the anticipation of capital as well as physical resources and was posted late the night before, when they know Harley was already with Liz. That one doesn't seem to have too many possible interpretations.

"But he won't just give her whatever she wants, will he?" Peter asks his brother, desperately, as if he has a definite answer.

"I'm not sure. Harley has been rather... keen to command Liz's attention. I think there is a danger of his trying to buy his way to an extension of her affections."

"Until she has everything she wants and doesn't need him anymore. If he gives in and writes her a cheque or signs a contract stating that he's been commissioned to build anything for her... God, that idiot better not drag Stark Industries back into the weapons business. Dad'll kill him."

"Thankfully, the majority of his wealth is held under Pepper's supervision. Harley hasn't made any withdrawals from those funds. Though we may deem it prudent to freeze him out of certain accounts, we do not have the authority to do so. The only thing compromising Harley's judgement is his... well..."

When Vision trails off, Peter supplies the word: "Penis."

"Correct. And that is simply not a justifiable reason to request the rightful holder of that money be denied access to it."

"So what do we do? If he decides to take out money and give it to her?"

"In that scenario," his brother says cautiously, "we would have to hope for a contract."

"But we don't want him offering her anything else!"

"No, Peter. Miss Allan would have to sign a contract, bringing her company under the Stark Industries banner."

"Oh. Do you think she'd do that?" It's the first real hope Vision's given Peter and he paces as he waits for his brother's response.

"Based on your communications with her, I believe that Miss Allan is interested in security. She seems to have taken risks for her business only because she felt she had to, to support herself. If she were to feel she had a chance to be in a more secure position, our knowledge of her indicates that she would embrace it."

"That would be bad for us though, wouldn't it?" Peter checks. "We can't harbour her within SI when she's doing things that are totally against what Dad's company stands for. And the law," he notes.

"The benefit to us would be control. We would be able to dictate that she cease the illegal side of her operations. It would be her trade-off."

"Ok, but... how are we going to make her see any of that, let alone agree to it? It makes sense and it's a savvy enough business move that Harley'd probably come up with it himself if his sole mission right now weren't to sleep with her."

"I agree. There is a manner in which we'd like Harley to get in bed with Miss Allan, but it's purely metaphorical."

"Good one, Vision," Peter acknowledges, but his voice sounds weak and worried. "God! Fuck! I can't believe that jackass is shutting us out like this."

"Perhaps he'll purge some of his desire for her and return to his senses."

"Gross, dude."

Vision stutters about not meaning his words literally.

"I doubt they will have gone far," he says when he's coherent again. "Miss Allan had only just moved into Boston. Presumably, there is much she left behind in equipment and personal possessions. She has no guarantee that Harley will do as she wishes. It therefore seems unlikely that she would gamble everything on his usefulness. I would theorize that she is currently indulging Harley, giving him the burst of freedom he sought, but intending to retract his leash before he can realize how short it really is."

"What if she hurts him." Peter says, suddenly, quietly. It's too heavy a thought to lift into a question.

"She will not," Vision replies adamantly.

"Morgan..."

"Morgan is understandably distressed, but she will see Harley again soon. We're all going to make sure of it."

Peter doesn't have words to express his gratitude for Vision's strength, but he can feel it propping him up.

"Ok, I'll... I'll tell May and Happy. We'll be home as soon as we can."

"Please know that we are continuing to make every effort to find him," Vision says. "Traffic cameras, credit card payments. We have our eyes open."

"Ok," Peter says again, and hangs up.

He's in such a confusing headspace, too mentally dizzy to feel around for his bearings, that when he sees Michelle walking towards him across the parking lot, he's not immediately certain that she's real.

"Peter?"

"Oh hey, um, what are you doing out here?" he asks, brushing his phone along the seat of his jeans twice before managing to get it into the pocket.

"I drove Wanda and Brad back to town in Monica's car. Their hotel's right across the street from yours, I guess. It's quiet out here. I thought I heard your voice..."

She gets close enough to see under the yellow glow of one of the lot's security lights and judge, Peter assumes, that he's not exactly himself.

"Are you ok? You don't look ok."

He doesn't have it in him to joke about that being an insult, especially when she reaches out like she's going to touch his shoulder, though she ends up letting her hand fall before it can make contact.

"Yeah, I just have to, I have to call my aunt. Sorry. It's urgent." Saying the words reminds him and he fumbles his phone out of his pocket again. It slips through his fingers, but he snags it out of the air with his other hand before it can hit the pavement.

"Peter." Michelle sounds honestly alarmed now and she does touch him. It's lower though, his forearm, and with her free hand, she eases his phone from his grasp. "Here, I'll dial."

"How do you know May's number?" he asks, because she just taps it in instead of going to his contact list.

"She gave it to me this afternoon," Michelle tells him without looking up. "Here."

She hands the phone back and turns away to give him privacy. Peter wishes she wouldn't; her grip was kinda reassuring. He almost asks her to hold onto him again, he's actually lowering the phone, when he hears his aunt pick up at the other end. Without getting into details, he tells May that something's happened at home. That nobody's hurt, but that they need to cut their vacation short. Demonstrating her usual efficiency, she gets with the program and says they'll be on their way back to the hotel in a few minutes. Apparently, they'd just ordered drinks and, as May speaks to Peter, Happy's hastily paying their bill.

He ends the call and Michelle cautiously rotates to face him.

"Are you going to pick them up?"

"Can't. Happy took the keys."

"Ok, come on," she says, reaching for him again. She tugs his arm. "I'll drive you. Do you know where they went? Text May back and get the name of the place."

But Peter's shaking his head, starting to feel overwhelmed again. Michelle notices right away and releases him. This time, he grabs her hand, meaning to bring it back to his arm, but she twists her fingers through his and he accepts, distantly, that this is better.

"I don't want to scare them when they get here," he explains. "It's good if I, if I have a few minutes to get my shit together, you know?"

"Yeah," she agrees softly. "I know."

Michelle glances around for a second, then stoops to pick up Peter's bag of fries and gently pulls him over to the low concrete curb at the edge of the lot. The bag's torn and it's probably for the best that she tosses it into the nearby garbage can before lowering herself to the curb.

"You'll get dirty," Peter protests.

"I'll sit on my coat."

Michelle tucks the tail of her raincoat under her butt and they sit, stretching their legs out into the empty parking space.

"Can I get you anything besides some dirty French fries?"

Her thumb's gently rubbing the back of his hand now and it's so, so nice.

"No, I'm good. I'm..." Peter sighs. "I'm not good. I'm really worried."

He looks sideways at her, searching her eyes for something he never thought he'd seek to find there: comfort. Michelle's other hand closes over his, now trapped and warmed between her palms. She doesn't say anything to encourage him to spit it out and he finds some peace in her silent patience.

"When you heard me talking," he starts again after a minute, "I was on the phone with Vision. God." Peter pauses to pass a hand over his face and rub his fingers hard into his closed eyes. "You'll probably hear about all of this online soon. I don't know if you know this, but my family's kinda famous."

She gives him a sympathetic smile in exchange for that pathetic joke and lets him continue.

"Harley took off. He went to Boston with a friend and he was supposed to come home yesterday, but he didn't because he..." Peter looks down at their shoes―his chunky hiking boots and her dirty rain boots―then back up at Michelle's face. "He ran away with Liz Allan."

"What?"

"We don't know where they are because Harley didn't take his phone and we're assuming that she's driving her own car. Vision says they probably haven't gone too far, but that's just a guess. If Harley had taken off with any other woman, this might've been embarrassing, especially right now, when my parents are working on restructuring the company and this kind of press is distracting, but it's Liz. You're the last person who needs me to spell out what Liz wants from Harley." Peter kicks his heel against the asphalt dejectedly. "Same thing you told me she wanted from me."

Though Michelle doesn't respond, her hand tightens around his.

"This is all my fault," Peter groans. "When Harley told me Liz was leaving Albany, I thought, great, don't have to worry about that anymore. I never told anybody but Vision what kind of a person she really was, and then it seemed like it wasn't going to matter! I thought the best thing to do was to let my family forget about her. Stupid."

"Are you sure? Are you sure he's with her?"

"Harley's friend met her the night they took off. I'm sure he got her name, and he knew what she looked like. I'm assuming he told that stuff to my mom when he called her about Harley. There's also the fact that Harley's super into Liz and probably would've followed her to Boston on his own without this trip giving him the opportunity. I thought it was a dumb crush. I never thought he'd really..."

"It's ok, Peter. I get it. If you want to feel stupid because you were duped by Liz Allan, get in line," Michelle suggests hollowly. She sighs. "So, what are your parents doing about this?"

"A bunch of stuff. They're trying to track him remotely. My dad would be out the door in a second if he thought he could do more on the go, but until they know exactly where Harley is, the compound has the most resources. If it were Morgan missing, he'd already be tearing Boston apart brick by brick looking for her. Harley's twenty-three. Apparently, we have some expectations for his ability to get himself out of problems of his own making. I have no idea why. I'm sure my mom's spending half her energy keeping my dad from summoning the Iron Man suit," he admits, ready for Michelle to make a sarcastic comment about Tony Stark still pretending to be a hero or something.

"That's nice," she says instead. "It's nice that he cares. He wants to protect you guys."

"More than anything."

Michelle lets go of his hand and cups her face as she turns it away from him. Peter doesn't try to get her back; she must be thinking about what he just told her. If he had more natural tact, he wouldn't have said anything. She doesn't deserve to be reminded of Liz Allan out of nowhere. Actually, what she's probably thinking is what a bunch of buffoons his family is. Was he talking to her about publicity? Fuck, she's going to think he cares more about how his family's name is treated in the media than his brother's safety. The Starks are just a stinking celebrity sinkhole and maybe Michelle never entirely forgot about that, but she obviously compartmentalized it long enough to fall in love with Peter. That'll be all over now. He makes so many mistakes, has meltdowns over bad press, and never manages to shake Liz Allan. That has to be the worst combination of traits Michelle would ever want to find in so much as an acquaintance, let alone a friend or something more.

And even though his hands are shaking when he places them on his thighs and pushes up from the curb, Peter totally understands. He understands how he's just disqualified himself from having a place in Michelle's life. He understands, with the force of the asteroid colliding with Earth to wipe out the dinosaurs, that he's in love with her. This woman sitting on the curb in her raincoat, her hair every shade of brown between yellow and black in the artificial light and real shadow. Now he loves her, when he's finished revealing enough to make sure she can never love him back.

Before he can get too selfish again, he remembers Harley. Peter swears quietly to himself and hears Michelle clamber up from the curb behind him.

"You probably want me to go," she guesses. "This is a family thing. I'm so sorry."

"Thanks." He turns his head, but not enough to meet her eye. "Oh, um, tell Monica it was really nice to meet her."

"Right, you're going home. Tonight, do you think, or...? Sorry, that's not important."

Of course it's not, Peter thinks. There's no reason for you to spend another second caring about the guy who turned out to be exactly who you thought he was.

"I'll see you later then," Michelle says. "Or not, maybe. I hope you hear from Harley soon."

He nods.

"Take care, Peter," she adds very quietly, and he hears her move away.

When Peter gets up the nerve to look, he turns to spot her already on the other side of the road. He watches her get into a car and drive away. His eyes are overflowing with stress and concern for Harley. That's all. Fine, he's crying, and it's because he'll probably never see Michelle again. He takes a couple of pointless steps across the lot, like he's going to break into a run and follow her car, then halts. They've been everything from judgemental strangers to whatever someone would call people who fall in love and almost get together but don't. A dumbass, probably, in his case. He doesn't think there's a better word for a guy who forcefully rejects a woman only to cry when she's gone.

With a violent sniffle, Peter reminds himself that's all over now. He needs to focus on Harley. Happy and May should be back any time and it'd be good if he could offer them something encouraging. That can't be what Vision said about having Stark Industries acquire Liz's business, thereby rescuing Harley's connection to her by forcing her to legitimize. The idea's aspirational, but completely far-fetched. They can't count on Harley holding firm against Liz (gross, gross, gross, Peter thinks, not literally), or that there'll be time to intercept them and put the deal in place before she's made some other agreement with him. Vision just likes the way it sounds because he's so good at solving problems. Unfortunately, everyone besides him behaves too unpredictably for his models to pan out the way he projects.

The one thought Peter has in his more careless brother's favour is that Harley isn't doing this on purpose. Oh, he definitely sought Liz out on purpose and left Boston with her on purpose, but he'd never intentionally hurt their family or SI. Harley doesn't know that Liz has a history of taking advantage of the people close to her and, beneath his own manipulative nature, really isn't cynical enough to suspect the worst from anybody. Peter was suckered in by her easily enough and, even after he heard the truth, struggled to let go of his own conception of her. He ribs his brother about the impossibility of Harley getting a girlfriend, but it's all playful bullshit. Harley's got enough going for him without the Stark name and its accoutrements that he'd never need to question whether a woman liked him for himself. Right now, until Liz screws him over, he's probably congratulating himself on getting the girl. Smug, naïve, lonely bonehead. Peter knows Harley's been striving for something of his own. Something he's worked towards and succeeded in, with no one holding him back. And, with all his 'multiple girlfriends' talk, he doesn't really want to mess around, he wants a companion. It's another way he's like their dad.

When Peter gets back to the compound, he'll do whatever he can. If his dad decides they're going out after Harley, Peter will even put the Spider-Man suit back on. He's confident that he could handle that now. It's hard, not being home already, and having to wait to see what he's going to need to do.

He figures he better stand under the light of the hotel's awning so his aunt and uncle can see him, and he just reaches it when he spots them walking quickly towards him. May insists on listening and moving at the same time, so Peter hurriedly tells them everything Vision said (only more jumbled and probably dropping details here and there) and they make their way up to their rooms.

The three of them might be wired right now, but they've had a long day and they need to be rested before making the drive back. Though Peter's antsy to leave immediately, he understands the logic there. His family at the compound is already doing everything they can. There's nothing Peter specifically has the power to contribute at this point, and he can stay in touch with Vision until they get back for updates. He's about to leave his aunt and uncle's room for his own―with no idea how he's going to get any sleep―when May catches him in the doorway.

"I'm sorry we're cutting the trip short, Peter."

"It's been great, but Harley's more important. It's just a vacation," he says with a shrug.

His aunt gives him a knowing look.

"If it were just a vacation, I wouldn't be apologizing to you. You'd have to be a real brat to want to stay on vacation instead of helping your brother. I mean that I'm sorry to be taking you away from Michelle Jones. I wish we had time for you to see her and explain this in person."

"Oh. Yeah."

Peter goes to his room contemplating the fact that he did get to see Michelle, and that, when it comes to desperate situations involving Liz Allan, she has a much more thorough understanding than he does.

The sleeping thing doesn't work out. After brushing his teeth, Peter packs everything besides what he's wearing and lies down in his clothes only to stare at the ceiling, wide awake and worried, for hours. He's grateful when, at just past four in the morning, his uncle knocks on his door and says they're leaving. Happy and May couldn't get to sleep either. They check out and are on the highway before dawn.

Author's Note:

So, on the upside, MJ loves Peter's freckles. On the downside...basically everything else. The Starks and Hogans regroup in the next chapter and one of the kids cracks the Case of the Missing Idiot Brother wide open.