A/N: Alright friends, here's another chapter! I'll hopefully be cranking out more of these seeing that I have either severely bruised or broken my ribs from all the coughing I did when I had bronchitis :) So I can't really do much else right now :) I'm convinced the universe is giving me sympathy pain for all of the injuries I've inflicted on the Parker and Leeds clan.
Anyways, please leave reviews because I eat those things up! Seriously, as long as you're not just being downright mean, I love any and all criticism.
I want to wish everybody a happy holiday season! I hope that, whatever holiday you celebrate (if any) that you have a wonderful time with friends and family.
After getting the kid settled into his bedroom, Peter promptly passed out amidst a pile of 'Get Well Soon' cards and an assortment of goodies. Tony smiled to himself as he watched the boy's chest steadily rise and fall in his sleep. It was a nice change to the earlier hyperventilating episode Peter had down in the medbay. Tony couldn't help but brush some stray strands of hair off of Peter's forehead, snorting at the way his eyebrows scrunched up in his sleep.
As quietly as possible, Tony slipped out of Peter's bedroom and almost tripped over his own daughter.
"Morgan!" Tony whispered in shock, steadying his five year old.
"I want to see Petey!" Morgan explained, trying to get past her father and into her pseudo-brother's room.
"Not right now little miss," Tony said, scooping the girl up into his arms and swinging her down the hall, "Petey finally fell asleep and he needs to rest so that he can get better."
"And then I can see him?" Morgan asked.
"Then you can see him." Tony confirmed.
Morgan leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing and head cocked to the side.
"Promise?"
"Your mom taught you how to do that, didn't she? That's not fair. The two of you are conspiring against me." Tony exclaimed as he entered the elevator, heading to the common floor.
Morgan was not fazed by his little outburst.
"Yes, I promise." Tony sighed, shaking his head when Morgan's face lit up like a Christmas tree at his confirmation.
The elevator opened and Tony carried Morgan towards the couch, leaning over and gently dumping her into Pepper's lap.
"Well what a nice little delivery!" Pepper said, beginning to tickle Morgan mercilessly.
The floor was suddenly filled with the sounds of Morgan's laughter which caused most of its inhabitants to pause and smile towards the scene.
"Hey Tones," Rhodey said, coming up behind Tony and clapping him on the shoulder, "Happy texted about five minutes ago, said he was a few hours out. What should we say to him?"
Tony sighed and turned so his lower back was pressed up against the couch.
"I guess we'll just start by telling him exactly what happened, I'll say that amidst the chaos I didn't think to tell him but once I did we decided it would be best to break the news in person rather than over the phone. I can offer to let him see May but I don't know if that'll do more harm than good." Tony confessed, rubbing a hand down his face.
"It should be Happy's decision Tony, you just have to be there for him." Pepper said, curling her arm around Morgan as she leant back against her mom.
Tony nodded absentmindedly, trying to discern the best way to break the news to one of his best friends.
"Hey, have you heard anything from Ned's parents?" Tony asked, turning around to address his wife.
"No," Pepper shook her head, "I haven't been able to get ahold of either of them. I'm a little concerned, surely they should've expected Ned to have called by now."
Tony bit back a groan. Why did the universe have to make everything incredibly difficult for him at all times? Rhodey sighed and squeezed Tony's arm before heading towards the kitchen.
"We'll figure it out Tony, we always do."
It had been about three and a half hours since Peter had been moved to his bedroom and while Friday said his vitals were fine, he still wasn't 24 hours clear of his concussion and Tony just wanted to check on him with his own two eyes.
Steve, Clint, and Vision were in the kitchen making tacos, tostadas, and quesadillas. Rhodey had been sitting at the counter with Sam while Natasha, Bucky, and Wanda played 'Go Fish' with Morgan. Thor was off on his floor, Bruce was down in the medbay, and Pepper was on a business call. Tony thought it was the perfect time to slip away.
However, he barely made it halfway to the elevator when Friday announced that Happy had arrived with the shipment of Vibranium.
Sam and Steve both offered to take care of the metal while Rhodey and Tony talked to Happy. With a plan in order, all four men piled into the elevator and made their way towards the garage. Once the door opened, Sam and Steve broke off towards the convoy while Tony and Rhodey lingered around the elevator. Happy was talking with Steve for a second before he made eye contact with Tony and rushed over.
"Hey, have you heard anything from the kid? I tried calling him and May a bunch of times but neither have answered their phones and she was supposed to call me when they got to DC but she can be forgetful although I'm not really sure why neither of them have answered my calls." Happy said all in one breath.
Tony sighed and glanced at Rhodey before motioning Happy to follow him back into the elevator. Happy complied and Friday immediately took all three men to the medical floor. When the doors opened, Happy's brows furrowed in confusion but he stepped out nonetheless.
"Sit." Tony said, gesturing towards the waiting room chairs.
Happy, still confused, hesitated before slowly sitting down.
"Okay, now I need you to know that this wasn't something that we thought you should hear over the phone, which is why you're only just hearing about this." Rhodey began, taking a seat next to Happy.
"What's going on? What happened?" Happy asked, eyes wide and breath slightly elevated.
"There was an accident yesterday morning. A drunk driver hit a bunch of people, including May. She's…. she's not doing too well right now. She slipped into a coma early this morning and she has some pretty severe injuries. They're concerned that Ned may be paralyzed and they've put him into a coma to keep him from moving around while his spine is healing. Peter is resting upstairs. He's hurt but he's already healing." Tony explained, eyes never leaving Happy's the entire time he spoke.
"We know this is a lot to take in, but we thought it would be better to tell you in person." Rhodey said, resting a hand on Happy's arm.
Happy mutely nodded as he glanced down at his hands, rubbing them together as he took measured breaths, trying to calm down. Tony and Rhodey remained quiet, allowing Happy to pull himself together before saying anything else.
After a few minutes, Happy looked up at Tony.
"I want to see her."
Tony took a deep breath as he left the elevator onto his own floor. It had been a two hours and all Tony wanted to do was wake Peter up and see if he was up to eating dinner. He also needed to give him another dose of his pain medication, per Bruce's request.
After Happy had requested seeing May, Tony and Rhodey took him through the medbay and waited for Bruce to let them into the ICU. Bruce kept them outside May's room, explaining in great detail all of her injuries to Happy, trying to prepare him for what he was about to see.
Tony had opted to stay outside. He didn't think he could stomach seeing May, the normally lively and spitfire woman that she was, on the brink of death lying incredibly still in her room. Apparently neither could Happy for he immediately turned around upon first seeing his girlfriend and promptly threw up out in the hallway.
After a few sips of water and some breathing exercises, Happy went back into May's room and didn't leave her side for two hours. The entire time he held her hand and talked to her - telling her about the trip he had just come back from, about how proud he was that she was fighting to get better, and about how much he loved her.
Tony stayed outside the room the entire time. He wanted to be there for Happy but he felt like he would be intruding on an intimate moment if he stayed directly at Happy's side. Around the hour and a half mark, Rhodey went back upstairs to make sure the team had left some food for them. Thirty minutes later Bruce came by with Peter's medicine and kindly, but firmly, kicked Happy out of May's room.
The two men made the trip to the elevator in silence until Happy promptly announced that he was going to turn in the for the night and got off on his own floor. After confirmation from Rhodey that there was in fact food leftover, Tony made his way to Peter's room.
As he got closer to Peter's room, the sounds of a television and giggling grew louder and louder. At first, Tony assumed Morgan was watching TV in her room next door, but upon opening the door he found said girl snuggled up in Peter's bed with him.
"What are you doing in here, little miss?" Tony asked, crossing his arms as he stood firmly in the doorway.
"I came to check on Peter and he was awake and so I asked him if he wanted me to stay with him and he said yes so I said let's watch Scooby Doo and he said okay so that's what we're doing." Morgan explained, curling closer to Peter.
Said teenage, albeit bruised and looking beyond exhausted, seemed content to be propped up in bed with a five year old snuggled up next to him.
"I was just about to call you or Pepper when Morgan showed up. Figured one of you would come looking for her eventually." Peter shrugged.
"Well, I hate to cut this cartoon marathon short but it's somebody's bedtime and somebody else is due to take their medicine." Tony said, walking towards the bed and carefully sitting at the end.
"But daddy!" Morgan whined, puckering out her bottom lip.
"Yeah, but daddy!" Peter mocked, also sticking out his bottom lip.
Tony couldn't help the bellowing laugh that erupted from deep inside him, causing him to throw his head back and scrunch his eyes at the sight of the two of them. His outburst only caused Morgan to look indignant while Peter bit his lip to hold back his own laughter.
"Well, normally you two would be very persuasive, but… not tonight. Morgan, go get mommy and tell her you need help brushing your teeth, please. Tell Peter goodnight, you'll see him in the morning."
Morgan huffed out an aggravated sigh before leaning over and giving Peter a gentle hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Goodnight Petey! Feel better, I see you in the morning!" Morgan exclaimed before sliding down off the bed and rushing out of the room.
"Five bucks says she doesn't get Pepper and you're going to be finding toothpaste in a lot of interesting places for the next two weeks." Peter said, grabbing the remote and turning the TV off.
"Good point, hey Fri, get Pepper up to Morgan's room please." Tony said, before turning towards Peter, "You up for eating anything? We have homemade Mexican but we can get you something a little more bland if you want. You also need to drink something because Bruce is concerned about you getting dehydrated and if that happens it's back to the medbay you go."
"Um… Maybe I'd be down for some rice if you guys made that." Peter said, trying to shift into a more comfortable position and wincing in the process.
"Yeah, once we get some food and liquids inside you then you can take some of these good pills and you won't be feeling any of that," Tony motioned at Peter's body, "anymore."
"Sounds good to me." Peter mumbled, smiling slightly at Tony.
Tony leaned over and ruffled Peter's hair before planting a chaste kiss on Peter's forehead.
"I'll go find you some rice. Stay here." Tony commanded as he got up off the bed.
"I don't know Tony, I was thinking about taking a walk downtown, maybe getting some ice cream or something." Peter smirked.
"Ha ha, you're ever so funny." Tony snarked, rolling his eyes as he left in search of food for his kid.
