"You know that you don't really need to stay…" Peter said when Natasha had shooed all of the others out of the tent.

"I know," she told him, sitting on the edge of the air mattress that was his bed while they were camping. "But you know that if I don't stay with you and keep an eye on you, then it will be Tony and Pepper who do. And your bed isn't all that big, so one of them will end up rolling off in the middle of the night."

That made Peter smile. He sat down, too, and shivered just a little in the cold air.

"Can't have that."

"Right? They'd wake you up – especially if they landed wrong and somehow managed to hurt themselves."

"True." He shrugged, feeling a bit off-kilter, but not in a bad way, or anything. It just seemed like something very important had happened – and that was definitely the case, now wasn't it? "You don't need your teddy bear?"

"No." She pulled the sleeping bags that Peter was using for blankets back and got into the bed. "Hurry up, it's cold."

"Yeah."

Peter joined her, wondering how he could feel so calm and cool even with the events of the night. It wasn't every day that something like that happened, after all. Luckily it was a good thing, or he would be nervous about sleepwalking that night – and who knew where he'd end up? Probably out in the middle of a pride of lions, or something.

"It'll be interesting to see if you ever sleepwalk, again," Alec said.

"What? Why do you say that?" Peter asked as he cuddled against Natasha's warm side, and closed his eyes when he felt her cover them both and then bring an arm around him.

She probably thought he might sleepwalk, too, he decided, and was making sure that if he moved away from her – even while she was asleep – he'd wake her.

"You wished for Tony to be happy," Alec reminded the boy. "When you sleepwalk, it worries him. So the uncertainties that make you do it, might be gone. Or at least faded enough that you don't worry enough to go mobile at night. That would be one less concern for your dad, and a step toward making him happy."

"Huh."

He'd said it aloud and Natasha nudged him.

"Huh?" she echoed. "What? Are you speaking to Alec?"

"Yeah." Peter rolled over so he was facing her, amazed – as he always was – by just how beautiful her eyes were. "He's thinking about side effects of the wish I made."

"If it really works…" Romanoff said. She was still a little skeptical of the whole wish for something and it magically happens thing. Of course, she was dating a sorcerer, now wasn't she? So she knew magic was possible. It was the scope of it that seemed far-fetched. "What kind of side effects?" she added.

"That I might not sleepwalk, anymore."

"What does that have to do with wishing to not be sterile?" she asked, frowning.

Peter smiled.

"That isn't what I wished for."

"What?" she couldn't think of anything else that Peter needed. Certainly not something he needed (or wanted?) so badly that he'd spend his only magic wish on it. "What did you wish for?"

Peter hesitated, but not because he didn't trust her – and he was aching to tell someone. But he didn't want everyone to know – especially Tony.

"If I tell you will you keep it to yourself?" he asked. "You can't tell Tony – or Pepper. Or anyone else, really – not even Stephen."

Natasha's eyes narrowed, slightly.

"Why am I suddenly nervous?" she asked. "You didn't ask for a battle rhino, or something, did you?"

The boy grinned, shaking his head as well as he could with it on the pillow.

"No."

"Tell me."

"Promise?"

"That I won't tell anyone?" she asked. "I promise."

"I wished for Tony to be happy."

"He's already happy," the assassin pointed out, smiling at the idea that Peter wanted to use his wish for Tony rather than himself. "You make him happy."

"That's what Alec said," Peter told her. "That he was already happy, I mean."

"But you wished for it, anyway?"

He nodded.

"It seemed like the right wish to make," he said. "Alec just said that he thinks that me not sleepwalking will make Tony less anxious – and will make him more happy. So he thinks I won't sleepwalk, anymore."

Her eyes narrowed, again, and then opened, a bit, in shock, surprise, and something else. Amazement?

"He might be right," she admitted. "If the wish works that way." Romanoff smiled. "And you having your problem fixed – but still having all of your Spiderman abilities – would also make him happy."

"Because he wants me to be happy, and I wouldn't be happy if fixing my problem would make lose the ability to be Spiderman," Peter said, feeling smug at having come up with the solution for it all – as near as he could tell.

And if it didn't fix everything (and there really weren't that many things that needed to be fixed) then that was fine, too, because Tony would still be happy.

"That's brilliant, Peter." She was genuinely impressed and didn't bother to hide it. "By wishing for Tony to be happy, you've made sure that Pepper will be happy, too."

"Yeah."

"And yourself."

"Yeah." Peter smiled, though. "I was already happy, really," he admitted. "So I don't imagine that anything will change for me – except the whole ability to make him and Pepper grandparents, someday. The wish was for me, though, see? So the crystal had to grant it as my wish."

"You're such a smart guy," she said, relaxing, again, and already relaxing a bit, certain that if Alec was thinking the sleepwalking thing might be fixed, then it probably was – although she'd still stick around that night, just to be sure. "Outsmarting an ancient relic like that."

Peter shrugged.

"I don't know that I outsmarted it," he told her. "It might be exactly what it wanted me to wish for, for all I know."

"Because it'll make you happy…"

"Yeah."

"That's pretty profound…"

Peter nodded.

"Yeah." But then his smile was back. "Or maybe it isn't, at all," he said. "Maybe it's just wishful thinking – or I'm reading too much into it."

"There's only one way to find out, really," she pointed out.

"Yeah." They'd just have to wait and see. "But you promised not to tell," he reminded her.

"And I won't." What a secret to have to keep, though! Especially since she knew Stephen and Wong would be incredibly interested in knowing the wish and keeping track of the potential ramifications of it. "Go to sleep, baby," she told him. "Tomorrow's a busy day."

"Yeah." He scooted closer to her, realizing that if he wasn't going to have to worry about sleepwalking, then this might be the last time they'd cuddle, together like this. "Thanks, Natasha…"

"She's not going to stop being your protector," Alec assured him. "If she thinks you need her, she'll be right there for you – even if it means keeping you safe while you sleep."

"True."

He felt better about that reminder – as he was sure Alec intended – and he closed his eyes, an image of the planet dream already forming in his mind as the mind stone reached out to him to relax him and insure that he slept, peacefully.

Peter felt himself relax, even as he felt Natasha gather him into her arms.

"You're welcome," she murmured, sounding like she was already falling asleep, too. "Good night."

OOOOOOOO

"Are you good?" Tony asked the others as they stopped outside of Peter's tent to separate.

They all nodded.

"It'll be interesting to see if the Ko really did grant Peter's wish," Stephen said.

"You think it's not real?" Tony asked.

"No. It's real," Wong told him. "I don't doubt it for a moment. Only the Collector would have something that ancient and powerful."

"And only the stones could have forced him to bring it here," Strange added. "What I meant was, I wonder if it's an immediate fix, or if it takes time for the cure to happen."

"We're not going to sanction him doing practical experiments to find out," Pepper said, firmly.

"I concur," T'Challa agreed, making the others smile.

Stark smiled, too, and turned to Strange.

"If there's a subtle way we can test it out, I'm good with that – as long as Peter is. Otherwise, we can wait and see what happens."

"Sounds good." He shrugged. "I'm going to go to bed."

Alone, apparently, since Peter had managed to steal Natasha's company for the rest of the night.

"I am, also," Wong agreed.

The others all said their goodnights, and separated, and Pepper reached for Tony's hand with a smile.

"We should, too," she told him. "Do you think we should check on him before we do?"

Tony shook his head.

"He's good. If he needs anything, Romanoff will take care of it – or call us, if she can't."

There wasn't anything that he needed to worry about, though, he knew. Instead, he turned and walked with her back to their tent, as well. Morning would be soon enough to make sure he wasn't feeling any side effects of having yet another magical relic in his head – even if it had only been for a few minutes.

Pepper smiled, and squeezed his hand, lightly.

"Come on, then," she replied. "It's cold out here."

"I'll keep you warm," he promised.

The billionaire felt a surge of happiness course through him at the thought, and he smiled, too, feeling almost giddy and for no real reason.

It was a good day, really.