Chapter Fifty-Six

After watching Peter sleep for a while, Tony accepted he needed to face his responsibilities and go check in with the others. He'd left them to deal with whoever was in the lab alone, and he would have felt bad about that if his need to be with Peter was not more pressing.

He asked Friday where they were, expecting to hear they were in the lab with what could only be called their hostage, but she informed him they were all gathered in the common room of their former quarters.

Confused and a little disconcerted, Tony headed there to find them.

What he'd expected was not what he found. With the situation being what it was, there should have been stress on their faces, perhaps fear. They looked a little wired, but it was more a look of anticipation than anything else.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"How's Peter?" Bucky asked at the same moment.

Knowing their need for answers was greater than his, he said, "He's okay. The wound wasn't deep enough to damage anything vital. The biggest problem he's got now is blood loss, which we can't do anything about. He's going to need to rest until that's fixed itself. He was awake for a while, but he's sleeping again. Right, Fri?"

"Yes, Boss. Peter appears to be comfortably resting."

Tony nodded. "Yeah. When he was awake, though…" He came deeper into the room and perched on the arm of the chair Rhodey was sitting on. "He knows about the time travel."

"You told him?" Natasha asked, brow quirked.

"He worked it out himself—well, him and his buddy Ned. He guessed time travel or alternate dimensions. We weren't nearly as smooth as we thought we were." He looked between Steve and Bucky. "I think the biggest hint was what happened with that illusion, but we all gave him things to question. He asked, so I told him."

"Does he know why you're here?" Rhodey asked.

Tony shook his head jerkily. "No, and he never will. I told him it was something to do with the enemy he knows a little about. He thinks I'm the one that figured out how to do it—which is kinda true. But, no, if we manage to keep nothing else from him, we're not telling him about the Stones and what it means for him."

"That's good." Tony looked to Vision and then recognized that it was Mind speaking. "Peter needs to experience the snap for his own reasons—not because he believes it is his destiny. Before, it was a single decision made on the battlefield, something that felt right for him to do. It needs to be the same again."

"Would it stop him being worthy if he knew?" Steve asked, brow furrowed with worry.

Mind shook his head. "No, it's more complicated than that, but Peter would not be able to live with that responsibility hanging over him. None of us could. You all know how you feel when you look ahead to what is coming and what it could mean. Imagine that was yourselves."

Tony thought he would actually find that easier, accepting his own death instead of his son's, but he conceded the point. He didn't want Peter living with that hanging over him.

"How did Peter take the news?" Rhodey asked.

Tony ran a hand through his hair. "Surprisingly well." He allowed himself a smile. "He knows how I feel now, what he will be to me." He huffed a laugh. "He's calling me Tony."

Rhodey laughed and nudged his arm with a closed fist. "About damn time, right?"

"You have no idea," Tony said. "I can't tell you how it felt. And…" He smiled. "He told me he loved me."

Steve beamed. "Well, we all knew that, but I'm glad he finally said it."

Tony nodded, his cheeks warm with happiness. "Yeah, and I got to say it to him, too. Before, in 2023, it took me so damn long to say it, to tell him, and I never have to hold that back again. I think it'll be a big shift for us."

"It will," Rhodey agreed. "I'm happy for you, Tone. We all know what this means to you."

Tony smiled again and then addressed the questions he had. "What are you all doing in here when we've got someone locked down in the lab?"

"He's not there anymore," Natasha said with supreme lack of concern.

Tony jumped to his feet. "What? They got away? Why didn't you tell me?"

"They didn't get away, Tony," Steve said, tone easy and—was it possible—amused. "Someone that can help them took them away."

"Who?" Tony asked. "T'Challa?"

"Nope," Clint said, smiling smugly. "Someone that's way cooler."

Tony was confused and a little annoyed. They were all being remarkably calm about what was happening. That person, whoever they were, had framed his son for six murders. It was a miracle the press hadn't found out. The whole city could have turned against Spider-Man, Peter could have been charged with homicide, and yet…

"Since you're here, is it time?" Bucky asked Mind eagerly.

Mind nodded. "It is. He is already here. Just waiting for his moment."

Bucky smirked. "Figures.

"Time for what?" Tony asked. "What's going on?"

Rhodey got to his feet and placed his hand on Tony's shoulder. "Relax, Tone, this is something good."

"Something awesome," Clint said, voice filled with expectation.

Tony was trying to formulate questions that would get him the answers he needed, and his anger was rising. But before he could make sense of his thoughts, the elevator chimed behind them, the doors slid open, and a familiar voice said, "Hey, Tony."

Tony's heart leaped into his throat, because Peter should not be out of bed, and Friday should have told him he was awake. Worried, he spun around and took a step forward, ready to steer Peter to the couch until they could get a wheelchair to get him back to bed.

And then he stopped.

Peter was standing there, but it was not the Peter he expected. He was wearing the sweats, t-shirt, and white socks he'd been wearing when Tony last saw him in a 2023 med bay bed. His eyes—oh god, his eyes—were the rainbow colors he knew so well, and his hair was longer and curlier than Tony had seen it since he arrived in 2016.

This was not the Peter of this time. This was his son as he knew him best.

With a strangled cry of happiness ripping from him, Tony staggered towards him, and Peter ran at him. They collided, and Peter's arms flew around Tony, lifting him into the air and squeezing all the breath out of him. He buried his face in Peter's too-long hair, the only part of him he could reach while held aloft, and smiled widely enough that his cheeks hurt.

"Oh, god, Pete," he said, voice catching like a sob. "You're here."

Peter set him down on his feet and then hugged him again, hiding his face in Tony's neck. Tony felt his warm and quick breaths, and his heart raced.

"How?" Tony asked.

Peter pulled back a little, though still holding him by the shoulders, and Tony cupped his face in his hands, just absorbing the sight of him, actually there, in 2017 with him—not a connection of minds through BARF—real and full of life.

"I could come," he said, his smile wide and showing his teeth. "I needed to come. Franklin needed me."

"Franklin?" Tony asked automatically, though he didn't really care for the answer while he was consumed with his son's presence.

"The kid in the lab," Natasha explained. "He was in school with Peter. Nemesis brainwashed him. Did you fix it, Peter?"

Peter nodded, eyes still fixed on Tony's face, and then he took a breath and seemed to drag himself away to take in the rest of the room. His eyes fell on Rhodey, and his mouth worked as if he was chewing something, then he shrugged and ran at him, giving him a hug that lifted Rhodey's feet a clear foot off the ground.

Rhodey grunted in shock. "Whoa, okay, I'm in the air."

Peter set him down and laughed. "Yeah. Sorry, I know we're not there yet here, not really, but… God, Rhodey, I've missed you so much."

Rhodey smiled at him. "I get that, kid. And it's great to meet you, this version of you. Though you're also pretty awesome at fifteen."

Peter grinned. "It must be crazy for you all—the ones that didn't come back. For me, seeing you all like this, is incredible. It's been me and the Stones in my head for a year, with only little breaks with BARF and you guys, then Franklin, but this... You're all here!"

Rhodey tousled his hair, and Tony quickly put his arm around Peter again, connecting himself to his son and the joy the touch gave him.

"Okay," Peter said, running a hand over his face. "Franklin. He's okay. We got the programming out, and we've set a barrier around his mind which works the same way as Baby Monitor Protocol did. Nemesis can't compel him again, but that means he's kind of connected to me in a way. I'll be able to keep an eye on him. He should be fine, since he has no memory of anything he did when he thought he was Spider-Man or meeting Nemesis, but there's going to be gaps in his memory. If he needs me, I'll come back, but we don't think he will."

Natasha nodded. "That's good, Peter. Well done."

"How long did it take?" Clint asked, thumbing at Mind. "He said forever and an hour."

"Well, not forever, but I kinda lost track of time. I didn't just work on the programming with him. I just took care of him, too. We were separate from time and reality, so everything was kinda abstract. Nemesis hurt him deep down, and that took a while to heal." He nodded to himself. "But he's fine now." He smiled. "He's a great kid."

"You want to sit down, bud?" Bucky asked. "Or do you not have long?"

Tony's eyes snapped to Peter, hoping for the answer he needed, and received it.

"No, I've got time," Peter said. "Technically, I've got nothing but time now, but I can't stay that long."

"Why not?" Tony asked, his voice not as steady as he would like. "If you don't need to be in 2023, you could stay with us."

Peter smiled with a little too much understanding. "I really can't. If I did, your focus would be split. It's the me here that needs you most. I do have an idea of what I'm going to do now, though, since I don't really want to head back to that bed and my own head."

"What are you going to do?" Bucky asked curiously.

Peter looked a little abashed, and he delayed answering by going to sit on the couch beside Bucky, who quickly put an arm around him and hugged him to his side. Tony took his other side and planted his hand on Peter's knee.

"Well, I don't think I told you before, not explicitly anyway, that when I went traveling, I also went back to see what I'd missed." He bit his lip and looked at Tony. "I wanted to know what I'd put you through when I was shut down. I saw some of it, what you all did for me." His eyes moved around the room, settling on Tony, Rhodey, Steve, Bucky, and Wanda in turn, before he went on. "I'd like to do that again. In the five years I was gone after the snap, I missed a lot of big stuff, and I'd like to see it." He looked at Tony with intensity. "I want to see the things that happened in your life when I was gone."

Tony's eyes widened as he understood what Peter was carefully not saying: he was going to see Morgan. Though it wasn't something Tony could do, and the absence of his daughter was something he felt every single day, he loved the idea that Peter would have a chance to see her life from a newborn baby to the sister he loved in 2023. He knew what they would mean to Peter, what it would give him. It would also show Peter the role he'd had in Morgan's life from the very beginning, even though they'd never believed the two of them would meet.

"I think that's a great idea," Tony said, smiling widely.

Peter nodded. "It's too tempting to miss out on. And I've got the energy to do it. The only challenge that's coming for me is taking you back to 2023, which is a thing, but right now, as I am. I can do what I want.

"You could visit us sometimes, though," Steve said. "Just now and then."

"I could," Peter said thoughtfully. "But I don't think I will. When it comes to me, your focus needs to be on the me that belongs to this time. He's the one under attack. I don't know what Nemesis will do next, but we know they didn't set everything on Franklin. They've got a year left to act, but I don't think they'll stay that long. Ross is probably hating being here with Ellis as President. We think they'll act soon, and that's what you need to be focussed on."

He planted his hands on his knees, took a breath, and then nodded.

"One thing I did learn from Franklin was that they used you, Nat," he said. "They lured Franklin to where they programmed him by saying Spider-Man needed him. The person—I don't know who it really was—was wearing a Veil that made her look like you."

Natasha cursed under her breath. "So they could look like any of us."

Peter nodded. "Exactly, so you've got to work out some way of communicating with each other to know you're the real one. Maybe a gesture or word. I don't know. You'll figure it out. But be on your guard. If one of you starts acting weird, it's probably not the real you."

"Awesome," Clint said. "We need a dumb secret handshake to weed out the imposters."

Peter pointed an accusing finger at him, though his eyes were shining with mirth. "First of all, there's nothing dumb about a secret handshake. Me and my best friend have one. Second, I'm not saying you've got to do anything complicated. Make it look natural. Hell, tap your pocket or something, or Tony can set you up with comms watches. Whatever you do, keep it private."

"Yeah, the last thing we need is Josef showing up here as one of us," Bucky said.

Peter nodded. "Yeah. Josef. He was there when Franklin was programmed, but there's no way Nemesis are just using him as a lackey. He's way too lethal for that. He has a role to play, so you've got to be ready for it."

"We will, Queens," Steve said. "Don't worry. We're going to work this out. It'll be okay."

"I know," Peter said. "I trust you."

"What about the other you?" Bucky asked tentatively. "I mean, after what me and Steve did to you, have we destroyed it all."

Peter shook his head. "No. I mean, yeah, it was awful, and I didn't understand what I'd done wrong, but Tony explained enough. I can't say I'm not going to be wary, because I might, but it's not destroyed it. Maybe just give me time if I need it. I don't honestly know what I'll need since I only dipped it to check on what happened before I dropped Franklin off home and came here."

Bucky looked a little sad still, but he nodded and forced a smile.

"Boss, May Parker is in the lobby," Friday reported.

Peter brightened. "May!"

Tony sighed. "I've got to go see her, Pete. She needs to know what happened."

Though he knew he had to do it, his reluctance was clear in his voice as he didn't want to leave his son already.

"You do," Peter said, getting to his feet. "I should head off, too."

"No!" Bucky said. "Just a little longer. We could watch a movie."

Tony could tell Peter was torn. He wanted to do this, but he thought he should go now before May could glimpse him.

"Friday can tell you if anyone else is coming up here," Tony said, also unwilling to lose his son yet. He wanted a little more time with him.

Peter sighed. "Sure. A little longer. We're watching Star Wars, though."

"We'd expect nothing less," Steve said.

Tony rose, gave Peter a hug which he didn't want to break but knew he must as May needed him, then strode out of the room and headed to the elevator while Peter settled beside Bucky again and leaned his head on his shoulder.

"I'll fix some popcorn," Wanda said cheerfully.

"Awesome," Peter said.

With one last look behind him at his son and family, Tony pressed the button to take him down to the lobby to meet May and prepared himself to see her through her distress.

Even though he was going to another version of his son, whom he loved just as much as the one he was leaving upstairs, he wished he could be with them both at the same time.

He accepted that Peter had given them a gift with this visit, though, and he was going to cherish it.

Thank you for reading xxx