Hello
I have not abandoned this story. Life's just crazy and doesn't leave me time to write.
I just saw Spiderman No Way Home and I can't deal with it. I need lots of cute, fluffy fics to deal with everything that the movie made me feel.
Tony was pouring himself the first cup of coffee while he waited for Pepper to finish getting ready for the day. Even though they both went to bed pretty late, neither of them could really sleep, both dreaded with uncertainty for Peter and with the huge PR nightmare they would have to endure that day because of the previous night.
Right as he was about to take the first sip, the elevator doors opened. Not many people have access to their floor, nonetheless, it always scared Tony a little bit every time someone unannounced arrived.
"Happy" he greeted in a not very greetable way, "to what do I own the pleasure of seeing your lovely face so early in the morning?"
"I brought this," he said, throwing a shopping bag in his direction. Tony was beyond proud of being able to catch it without spilling one drop of his precious dark beverage.
"What is this?" he asked, opening the bag, "clothes?"
"They are kids' clothes. You have a child here, Tony. The kid needs to be dressed"
Tony left the bag on the counter to focus on drinking "I know but…why?" I mean, I appreciate it but it's just…unexpected".
"Well, I saw the kid last night, he seemed…dirty"
"Yeah, well, he showered"
Happy was amused "You bathed a kid?"
"Well, mostly Pepper but I did lend him some PJ's and I got him to stop crying "
"That he did," Pepper said, entering the room already dressed up and ready for anything. Tony so wish he knew her secret, she always managed to look perfect even if he knew for a fact that she couldn't have more than two hours of sleep on her. "and you know how he did it? He gave him a stuffed monkey. A monkey!" she laughed.
"What?" Happy laughed, "Are you not telling us something? Do you have some weird kinky stuff down at your lab?" he teased.
Tony glared with no real heat behind it. "It was a gift for Jonah," he said.
"Who's Jonah?" Happy asked.
"My nephew," Pepper answered, "his birthday is next week, and Tony was in charge of the present"
"You left HIM in charge of a present for a kid?"
"He's a kid himself" Pepper smirked, "it couldn't be more perfect"
The three of them spent the next few hours on the phone and computers, trying to get a grip on the whole Expo fiasco. Meanwhile, Tony has his team of lawyers trying to find Peter's family with what little information he has from the kid.
A little bit after Peter woke up and had breakfast, two agents from Child Protective Services arrive. Both Tony and Pepper know what's to come but still, they ask Happy to take the child away while they speak to the agents before letting Peter know that no one knew what was going to happen to him.
"Please, have a seat" Pepper invited.
"Thank you, Miss Potts." The female agent, Miss Brown said sitting down. "Where's Peter?"
"He's in the guest room with our head of security," Tony said, "he… he doesn't know about his uncle yet"
"We understand" commented Mr. Williams, the other agent.
"We.. we would like to know what's going to happen first" continued Pepper. "He's such a sweet child, we wouldn't want him to suffer more than necessary."
Agent Brown nodded her understanding, looking at her partner before adding, "Well, first we need to speak to Peter, get as much information from him as we can. Children that age usually don't know what their parents or tutors had planned for situations like this but maybe we can get the name of someone we could contact. Then he needs to know about his uncle and well, if we're lucky enough to get a name, we'll contact that person and see if they are able to care for the child in the time a judge decides what will happen. If not, then he will go to a center while he can be placed in a foster home".
"Listen," Tony said. "I had some of my lawyers try to find information regarding Ben Parker, so far, nothing important has come. At least we know he didn't have a criminal record." He handed the agents a folder that was delivered that morning. "If you go through that file, you'll find that Ben was a medical researcher and some information regarding his work, not much yet, but I have my team looking into it".
"We really appreciate your help, Miss Potts and Mr. Stark," Agent Williams continued, "We wouldn't want to bother you anymore. All of this can be done in our offices. If you bring Peter, we can take leave".
Tony and Pepper looked at each other, both saying everything they needed with their eyes.
"Why don't we all talk to Peter?" Pepper asked. "I think he liked us, maybe he'll open up to us. I mean, he did accept to spend the night here and he's kinda in awe of Ironman".
Both agents agreed and a few minutes later, Happy brought a freshly dressed Peter into the room, clutching the stuffed Monkey as if his life depended on it.
"Peter, these are Miss Brown and Mr. Williams" Pepper introduced, taking the child hand from Happy and bringing him close to sit next to her. "they would like to talk to you about your family"
"Hi Peter," Agent Brown greeted in such a sweet voice that Tony wondered if it was the same woman that had been sitting in his living room the past minutes. "My name is Linda Brown. Can you tell me your last name?"
Peter looked at Tony before answering after an encouraging nod from Tony. "Parker," he said in a shaky voice.
"That's a nice name" the agent continued, "do you have any siblings?" Peter slowly shook his head. "Who do you live with?
"My..my uncle…. But he's in the hospital right now. The doctors are making him better because he got hurt"
All the adults looked at each other then, all of the dreading the next couple of minutes.
"Peter, do you have any more family?" Peter again shook his head. "Can you tell me, who do you spend Christmas with?
"My uncle and aunt May," Peter said.
"You said you didn't have more family, kid" Tony intervened.
"She's not my aunt aunt," Peter explained. "She's uncle's Ben friend and she was my mommy and daddy's friend.
"Do you see her a lot?" Agent Williams spoke.
He clutched his new toy closer to his chest before answering. "Sometimes. When she comes back, we always see her and we always go to the park and the movies"
"When she comes back? Where is she?" Pepper asked noticing the child's discomfort and caressing a hand on his face.
"She's a doctor and she…she helps people who don't have doctors".
"Do you know her last name?" Peter again shook his head.
"Peter," Pepper continued, "when your uncle has to work or goes out and he can't take you, where do you stay?
"Sometimes with Aunt May and sometimes with Ned"
"Ned, your friend?" Peter nodded.
All of the adults looked at each other in a silent understanding that they wouldn't get more information out of the kid and that the dreaded moment was there.
It was Agent Williams who spoke first. "Peter, did your uncle ever tell you what to do if something happened to him?"
Peter shook his head, noticing the tension between all the adults. "Where's…where's my uncle? Mr. Ironman, I wanna go see my uncle now" he said, turning to Tony, tears already starting to fill his eyes.
"Honey" Pepper started but realized she couldn't continue.
Agent Brown took over, "Peter, I'm so sorry to tell you this but unfortunately, your uncle Ben died last night".
Silence. No one dared to say a word while the small child took in the new information.
"That's not true" he finally said. His voice filled with confidence only someone as new to the world as him could muster. "He's in the hospital. He was hurt by a robot last night and the doctors are making him better"
"Buddy," Tony tried, "last night, your uncle was pretty hurt and the doctor did their very best but he was just too hurt".
"No, that's not true. You're lying, and lying is bad!" The child cried. "If you lie more, you will get a time out!"
"Peter, I'm so sorry but we are not lying" Agent Williams added.
"Please Miss Pepper Virginia" he cried, turning to hide his face in Pepper's neck, clenching fists of her shirt in his small hands. "Please tell them not to lie, lying is bad. I want to go see my uncle now, PLEASE!"
"I'm so sorry, honey" her voice inevitably broke. "I'm so sorry this is happening to you"
"I don't want this to happen. I want to go home. Please take me home"
Those were the last words Peter was able to pronounce before every sound coming out of his mouth was a horrid cry.
The child broke into heart-wrenching sobs, babbling in between cries about going home and seeing his uncle.
Even though both agents were used to going through difficult situations with children every day, it still broke their hearts to break the news to them, especially when they were as young as Peter.
Everyone knew that they needed to move on but it seemed impossible to detach the kid from the hold he had on Pepper.
Not knowing what she was really feeling, she decided that Peter had had enough, so she stood up, taking the kid with her, and exited the room, leaving Tony and Happy to deal with the two agents.
Finally, Tony broke the silence "What happens after this?"
"Well," Williams said, "We take him to a center until we are able to locate someone who can give us more information. I think this May might be our best lead. We'll look into Ben Parker's information and see if we can come up with a last name for her so we can contact her"
"Meanwhile the kid goes to an orphanage?" Happy asked
"Well, we don't call them that"
"But that's basically what it is, right? You're taking that sweet, young child to an orphanage the same day that his uncle dies".
"Well, Mr…."
"Hogan" Happy replied.
"Mr. Hogan. We have protocols that we need to follow for situations exactly like this one. We'll do our best to find him a good foster home as soon as possible"
"You mean, he's going to a family he doesn't know?"
"Well, yes. But I can assure you, I'll personally look into the family he goes into, and hopefully, once we find his aunt, we'll have more information and he can go to someone who wants to care for him".
"Listen" Tony interned, "we all know this situation sucks and there's no good outcome. The kid just became an orphan for the second time in his short life. Maybe the third, we don't even know. What we do know is that he's a child and he's been through more than enough. How about…. How about he stays here while we find his aunt?" Both agents seemed that they were about to argue. "Hear me out, the kid agreed to spend the night here, he obviously liked Pepper and I don't think it will help the situation if he had to meet more people and spend the night in another strange place. So, why don't you let him stay here and we can use my team to hunt down this aunt?"
"Mr. Stark, although we appreciate your help in fostering Peter last night, you are not qualified to foster children"
"Who do I need to talk to?"
"Well, those kinds of decisions are usually made by my supervisor".
"Say no more" Tony responded, standing up, phone already in hand and exiting the room. Five minutes later, he came back and sat down in the exact same spot he had vacated at the same time Brown's phone rang.
Her conversation was brief. "How did you do it?" she asked as soon as she hung up the phone.
"I'm Tony Stark" was all he needed to answer.
She nodded. "Very well. As I'm sure you know, we'll be in touch. I speak on behalf of the whole Child Protective Services department when I say again how much we appreciate your and Miss. Potts help. I'm sure Peter will be in good hands while his case is being reviewed. We will be in touch. We still need to go over a few details with Peter and especially with you if you're going to take care of him but we'll give you some time to deal with the situation." Brown said standing up. "This is my card, please contact me with any questions or information you may have. Peter's wellbeing is our top priority"
Tony took the card from her hand and shook hands with both agents before Happy walked them to the elevator.
It took Tony two minutes of silence before the weight of what he just did came crashing down on him. He had just agreed to take care of a grieving, orphan, child.