Chapter 64

The Aftermath

So, looks like we're back in action! Carrying on from the previous story, to an extent. Will be going back and altering some storyline pieces and characters as I feel like things got horrifically a little lost. Some chapters may be altered, some may be removed altogether. What an adventure!

Three days had passed and Peter was still hiding in his room at the tower; he had flat out refused to return to the apartment he shared with his Aunt. May had ended up packing a bag and moving into one of the towers spare rooms, as Peter had made passing comments about his fear that she would become a target of The Doctor. SHIELD, specifically Agent Robertson, had tried their hardest to convince Peter as well as The Avengers that they could provide security of their own and he would be perfectly safe in his own house.

"If he wants to say here, he's staying here." Steve told them and finally, they were left in peace.

The team took it in turns to run patrols of the tower, just in case and whether or not it helped to calm any fears Peter may have, it helped to calm some of Tonys.

"Boss." Friday said on the morning of the third day. "I have noticed some speech patterns from Mister Parker and I have some concerns."

"…He's been in his room since he got here." Tony said. "Have you been spying?"

"Doctor Banner asked me to monitor for any signs of shock after the incident, and I have been doing so discretely."

"Alright." Tony said with a tired sigh; he's been tired for days now. "What's going on?"

"Mister Parker has said the phrase 'she knows' fifty-two times since arriving, twenty three of them occurring today."

"That is…concerning…okay, okay; keep monitoring it without going overboard. If you have any concerns about his safety, contact Banner first before alerting me to anything. He'll have a…better reaction, probably be more immediately helpful."

"Of course boss." Friday said. "Have a good evening; try and get some rest."

Friday left Tony in silence; he was in his lab, hard at work doing…what was he doing? He was meant to be working on something important. The scribble covered notepad that was sitting under his hands provided no clues so he let out a sigh and got up from the bench; maybe he needed a cup of coffee. Yes, that would help, he knew it.

Everyone else was already in the kitchen when Tony stepped into the room; Bruce was standing near the kettle while he waited for it to boil.

"Evening everyone- Bruce are you eating a pop tart?" Tony asked, surprised that the usually health conscious man was munching away on a poptart. Bruce waved his empty hand towards a plate stacked high with already cooked, hot pop tarts, with a muffled "Help yourself".

"Uh, yeah sure, why not?" Tony shrugged and grabbed two pop tarts off the plate, which he munched on while he set to work getting the coffee machine going. "Why are we all hanging out in the-"

"None of us can sleep." Natasha said. "Me and Clint…we only got back a little while ago; SHIELD called us out into the field for a city wide search."

"…For her?" He asked, staring at his cup as he lifted it up from the machine and looked at the liquid; his appetite was gone. "Any luck?"

"None." Clint grumbled; he was spread out across one of the lounges off to the side, in the sitting area near the TV. "She just up and disappeared into the city, so that's gonna be…fun to think about until we find her again."

"You both sound exhausted." Tony said. "You all look exhausted."

"We're doing patrols soon." Steve said. "Nat and Clint can sit theirs out tonight, we can cover-"

"Like fuck I'm not doing a patrol." Clint snapped, sitting up on the couch and glaring at Steve. "You're not the only one worried, let us do our patrols-"

"Apologies for the interruption but there is a phone call for Agents Barton and Romanoff." Fridays voice came from the ceiling a moment and the two Agents pulled their phones from their pockets and answered the shared call that came up a second later.

"Barton."

"Romanoff."

They sat in silence as the rest of the team milled about the kitchen getting drinks and pop-tarts before settling down in the lounge and switching th TV on; Tony began to flick through the stations, sitting on each channel for a few seconds before changing again. He ended up settling on an early morning news channel and settled into the couch with his coffee and a pop tart.

"Friday, TV off!" Clint shouted and the screen immediately went black in response.

"Hey!"

"Apologies for that, Stark." Phil Coulsons voice came from the ceiling, apparently having been patched through into the speakers by Friday. "I wanted you to get the news from me rather than the NEWS broadcast; I can't imagine it will be well covered. I only just found out myself, no idea how the news are already airing it-"

"Airing what?" Steve asked.

"They found The Doctor." Phil said. "Killed on sight, says the report."

The team sat in stunned silence for a moment; Steve was the one who broke it in the end by asking "Are you sure?".

"I can only go by reports Captain but…it isn't something anyone would risk lying about so I have no reason to question it. For now, until anything else happens, I'm going by the information given in the report. So…you can all relax, it seems."

"That's…good news." Tony said. "Are we allowed to tell Peter?"

"Of course, tell him when you're ready. Let me know if you need any security or anything for his apartment." Phil said. "Talk to you later, get some rest. That is not optional."

"Well…I'll go talk to Peter." Tony said and when no one tried to stop him; he was partly hoping for some sort of 'not yet' or even a 'one of us can do it'. His team mates said nothing, they just nodded and smiled at him as he climbed out of the couch and headed off to Peters room.

"Kid?" Tony called out as he knocked on the door. "You up?"

"Yeah, come in." A soft voice came from the other side of the door.

Tony opened the door and stepped into the room, where Peter was sitting up in bed, with his knees pulled up to his chest.

"Kid-" Tony was lost for a moment; it looked like Peter had been crying.

"I saw- I saw the news."

"Oh for- I was coming to- Sorry kid, you should've heard it from us."

"It's fine…I'm just…glad I don't need to worry about it anymore."

Tony dropped onto the edge of the bed and let his hands rest on his lap.

"Peter…I need to ask you something." He said. "Up to you if you wanna tell me."

"…Okay?"

"Friday noticed you repeating the phrase 'She knows' and was…concerned. Is there- was there something you were worried about?"

"There…was but I'm not worried about it anymore." Peter said softly, not letting his gaze sit on Tony."Sorry I-"

"I don't want any apologies from you Pete; you didn't do anything wrong. None of this was your fault, okay? You and May can head back to your apartment when you're ready…unless you'd both rather stay here. Just let me know, alright?"

"Maybe…it'd be good to stay here, just for a few more days. I need to go back home and get some stuff for school-"

"School?" Tony asked with a laugh. "You nerd; you can have some time off Pete."

"I- it never feels like I can." Peter said and finally let his eyes find Tonys and hold the mans gaze. "It feels like things get worse when I try to take a break. What if May gets hurt next time I want to take a break? I can't let that happen-"

"I feel like we're not talking about what I came to talk to you about anymore." Peter blushed at Tonys words. "Has this been bothering you for long?"

"A- a while."

"What would you do if you could have a break?"

"Go somewhere with Ned and MJ…just out for the day, without having to worry about being Spiderman for a few hours." Peter said; he had laid back a little now and was resting against the wall. "I just worry about leaving May at home on her own now…and I can tell she worries as well; I wish she'd just tell me though. You know?"

"Wish people would tell you about things that are bothering them?"

"Yeah- hey, shut up."

"You started it, kid." Tony said. "I'll let you try and get some rest; one of us can go with you to your place when you're ready, might need two people to carry all your school work, ya nerd."

"Right, out, out you get." Peter said as she pushed his feet against Tony and easily shoved the older man off of the bed.

"Ow! Hey, hey! Alright I'm going." Tony said as he got up from where he had fallen onto the floor of Peters room. "Just for that, you don't get to pick who goes with you."

"Not scared!" Peter called out before breaking into laughter as Tony closed the bedroom door once he was in the hallway. The team was still hanging out in the kitchen, eating pop tarts and drinking tea that Bruce had made.

"How'd it go?" Clint asked.

"Good." Tony said. "Who wants to go to Queens?"