"What are we doing here?" Peter asked, nodding a thank you to the security guard who held the door for him and Tony.

"I want to make sure Pete has some money," Tony replied, also nodding a thank you to the security guard and then leading his confused son over to the side where one of the bank executives was coming out of an office to meet them. "I know that when you had May you guys weren't hurting for money, or anything, but I saw what she had in the bank when she passed, and you weren't rolling in it, either."

"We did okay," Peter replied, feeling a little defensive. "Not Tony Stark okay, but we had plenty."

Tony slapped Peter's shoulder.

"I know, son. And I'm sure that May and Pete are doing fine, too."

"But…?"

"But he's been gone for forever, right?"

"Yeah."

"And she's probably worried sick about him."

"I'm sure of it."

"Then he should be in a position to buy her something nice when he gets home. Kind of a sorry I scared the hell out of you and I'll be more careful the next time I want to touch a statue in the sanctum present. Don't you think?"

"Yeah. Probably. What did you have in mind?"

"No clue. Pepper suggested we send him home with flowers for her – so you and I will take care of that, next stop, but I was thinking some hard cash would be helpful."

The bank manager greeted both of them before Peter had a chance to answer. The teen didn't know her, but she obviously knew who he was – and of course she knew who Tony was. Peter decided that Tony had called ahead to let them know he was coming – to avoid waiting, or to avoid being mobbed by fans once they figured out who he was.

"Makes sense," Alec approved. "There's a time for being the center of attention and then there's a time for being allowed to handle the things you're trying to get done in a certain time frame. He's pretty good at being able to avoid the first when he wants."

"True."

Peter knew that there was a time when Tony wouldn't have hesitated to be the center of attention every chance he got. The boy sat down when invited to do so, and Tony settled easily next to him.

"You have it?" he asked the manager.

"Of course, Mr. Stark." She went behind her desk and opened a drawer, and Peter watched with surprise as she pulled out a few stacks of tightly bundled bills and set them on her desk. "Ten thousand dollars. Older bills, non-consecutive." She smiled. "No bill smaller than a twenty, but only a third of them are hundreds, as you asked…"

Tony echoed the smile. She didn't know what he wanted the money for, or why he'd wanted it to be an assortment of bills, instead of a bunch of crisp hundreds, and it was her polite way to ask but still give him the chance to decline the explanation.

"Someone kidnapped Peter's goldfish," he told her. "We need to ransom it back."

Peter rolled his eyes, blushing, slightly.

"I don't have a goldfish," he told her.

"Because someone kidnapped it," Tony repeated, smirking and offering the woman his hand as he stood. "I appreciate your help."

"Our pleasure, Mr. Stark. Would you like a small case to put it in?" she asked. "Or a bag."

Tony smiled.

"I've always wanted to walk out of a bank holding a bag of money like I just robbed the place."

That elicited a chuckle from the bank manager and a groan from Peter, but they were all cheerful enough as she produced a nondescript bag and started putting the stacks of money into it. Another round of thank-yous and he and Peter were headed for the door and back out into the chilly early afternoon sunshine.

"Now what?" Peter asked, taking the bag when Tony handed it to him so the billionaire could fish his keys out of his pocket.

"Now we go find flowers. You know May best, so you'll be the one to pick out the ones she'd like. Yeah?"

"Yeah."

OOOOOOOOOOO

"How's it going?"

"We're done, Tony," Pepper told him. "Stephen and Pete are just waiting on you two."

"Are you about finished for the day?"

The image on his phone display nodded.

"Stephen tells me that they're ready to send Pete home," she said, looking to the side at someone off the screen. "I'd like to spend some time with him before he goes."

"We're on our way back to the tower," Tony told her. "We'll see you when we get there and Stephen can give us a quick trip to the compound."

He smirked, then, because the way she smiled at that told him that the sorcerer supreme had heard him. And had probably rolled his eyes or something equally amusing.

"We'll see you soon."

Friday ended the call and Tony turned his attention to his son.

"So let's not tell Pete about the money we got for him, okay?"

Peter frowned around the huge arrangement of flowers that he was holding in his lap while they drove back to the tower.

"He's going to notice it."

"Not right away, though. I want you to stash it in his bag, or something. I'll put a note telling him what it's for and he can find it when he unpacks, later. It'll be a surprise that way, and we can avoid any awkwardness from him trying to tell us that he doesn't need it or want it. What do you think?"

"Sounds good to me. Make sure you put in the note that it's to buy something for May – and why – and he'll be more willing."

"Think so?"

"I would be."

Peter would have done anything for May. There's no reason to think Pete was any different, after all.

"I'll take care of it when we get to the tower. You stash the bag in your backpack." He always had his backpack, even when doing half day because of the holiday, after all. "And we'll find a way to get it to him."

"Goody bag of Avenger swag as a goodbye gift?" Peter suggested.

"That's perfect."

OOOOOOOOO

They walked into Pepper's office about twenty minutes later. Pepper smiled at the huge flower arrangement. It was bright and cheerful, and – of course – perfect in every detail. Tony wouldn't have gone to a less than perfect florist, now would he have?

"Where's Pete?" Peter asked, curiously.

He was eager to see the tattoo, of course, but he also had a bag of money stashed under his tucked in sweatshirt that he needed to transfer secretly into his backpack.

"He and Stephen went to the cafeteria," she told him. "They should be back, soon."

"Give me the flowers, son," Tony said, reaching for them. He smiled at Pepper. "What do you think?"

"I think they're lovely," she assured him.

"Think May will like them?" Peter asked, heading over to his desk against the far wall and reaching for his backpack.

"She's going to love them."

Pepper, of course, knew what Tony's errands were, and approved, completely.

"We thought-" He was interrupted by the arrival of Stephen and Pete – still wearing the SHIELD tech to make him look like Benjamin. "There he is!" Tony said, cheerfully, glancing over to Peter, quickly. The boy was already shoving the bag of cash into his backpack, though, so no worries. "How did it go?"

There was no confusing what he meant, and Pete grinned, cheerfully, lifting up his t-shirt to bare his chest.

"Look."

He and Peter both went for a closer look. The tattoo was still red and somewhat swollen, but with Pete's healing abilities, it wouldn't be for long. The design was only a little different from the initial one, proving that Elena had thought up a couple of modifications that Pete had approved of and had implemented.

"Wow," Peter said, grinning. "That looks awesome."

"Tell me you had her put another one on your butt…?" Tony said, also approving, completely.

The tattoo wasn't gaudy or huge, and while he was a bit partial to the Avenger ones the others sported to be in the Wakanda tribe, he had to admit the magician one wasn't too bad, either.

Pete shook his head, looking down at the tattoo, which was covered in clear plastic, still, but that could be removed, soon enough.

"She asked if we were going to just do the one, but Pepper said that was it before I could think of anything."

"Probably just as well," Tony commiserated. "We don't want to give May a heart attack or something."

"And we don't want her to kill you just when she gets you back where you belong," Pepper added, smiling.

"True." He looked down at his chest, again. "It's pretty cool, though."

"Yeah it is," Peter agreed. "Did it hurt?"

"No. Kind of."

"Are we ready to head back?" Stephen asked. "Wong and I are going to run through a few things when I return to the sanctum, and then I'll come collect Pete once we're ready."

"We're ready," Tony replied.

"How do I get myself invited to the sanctum to help make sure Pete ends up in the right place?" Peter asked Alec as he went back to his desk for the backpack.

"Stephen already knows you're needed."

"He does?"

"Of course."

"Peter?"

He started at Tony's questioning look, and then blushed.

"Sorry. I'm ready."

Everyone looked at Stephen.

"Your quarters," he told Peter.

"Okay."

There was less chance of running into anyone there, of course – and Karen could tell them through Friday if there actually was anyone there. When Friday didn't speak up, Strange lifted his arms.

"Let's go," he said. "And don't forget those flowers."