Warnings/Tags - Major Character Death, Mild Endgame Spoilers, Alternate Endgame.
Character Focus - Peter Parker, Pepper Potts, Morgan Stark.
Pepper had prepared for a lot of different outcomes when Tony had left to go with Strange into the large ship that loomed over New York. She hadn't prepared for the idea that after watching many of her employees turn to dust, that she would get a phone call from Natasha telling her that they lost, completely and utterly. She hadn't known what to do about any of it, so she had sat in her office, the door locked as she fought against the fire burning beneath her skin, the Extremis itching to be used for something, anything.
It took her a few hours, but eventually she set to work, getting a system figured out while FRIDAY took a headcount of what SI employees were still in the Compound.
Time passed by in a blur.
The longer she waited, the more likely it was that Tony had died, she knew, but there was some part of her that held hope. A part that swelled at the sight of the derelict space ship being lowered onto the yard in the compound. She had marched out there, nearly sprinting in heels as her blood burned, desperate to see Tony, desperate to see his stupid face with that stupid fucking smile that infuriated her as much as it made her love him.
Peter and Nebula being the only ones stepping off the ship hadn't been easy. Her hope withering in her chest as the blood vessels beneath her skin begin to glow, rage burning in her heart, the desire to hurt something, anything, growing and festering in her stomach. She and Steve are the first to reach Peter, and Pepper has half a mind to punch the Super Soldier then and there. But Peter beats her to it, his too young face twisted in a snarl of rage, his free hand gripping Tony's helmet with a force almost enough to dent the metal where his fingers touched it.
Pepper reaches out and grabs his wrists, and when his large brown eyes turn to face her, they lose all the rage, all that burning hatred as he studies her face.
"I lost him, Pepper. I lost him."
His voice was hoarse, perhaps from disuse, or perhaps dehydration. His eyes were red, and if it hadn't been nearly a month since the Devastation, she had no doubt he would have cried. But the kid looked like he was standing on force of will alone.
"It's okay, Peter. It'll be okay."
It wouldn't. Not for a long time. Not when Tony wasn't there. They both knew that though.
Peter healed from everything quite quickly, and before anyone realized what was happening, both Peter and Pepper had vanished to the Eco Cabin. Pepper had long since discovered that May Parker had been one of the people that turned to dust, so that meant Peter had come back to no one, and she couldn't leave him alone. They had never quite spent too much time together before, with Tony hogging most of the boy's time in the lab or watching some movie or another, they had still talked, and she liked him.
He had that effect on people, Tony told her. After spending only a few hours with the kid, she was liable to agree with his assessment.
Life began to move on, and eventually, Pepper told Peter what she had been hiding from Tony when he had left. She was pregnant, and beginning to show. They had both had a small breakdown about it, but they did so together, holding each other tightly on the couch, listening to the rain pound against the windows as a storm raged outside.
Peter had nightmares, she discovered. Violent nightmares the likes of which even Tony never had on his worst of days. So, he eventually started sleeping in her bed with her, the two of them clinging to each other for some sense of comfort. It was the only way for him to ever get any sleep, and the only way for her to be able to deal with the fact that Tony wasn't there to keep the bed warm next to her anymore.
There was nothing romantic about it, not to them anyway. They were both broken people, left alone without their most important people.
The further along Pepper got in her pregnancy, the more Peter stepped up, handling more and more of Stark Industries, until he's practically running the show on his own, showing up on time to each of the virtual meetings, making sure that the company was still going in a direction that Tony would have been proud of. SI branches off into medical fields, ranging from the emergency medical spray that Peter had based around the composition of his webbing, to prosthesis not altogether dissimilar to the type used by Barnes.
SI continued to grow, and in the meantime so did Pepper. In a graceful way, of course. Funnily enough, her Extremis seemed calmer now than it had ever been, and she had only ever had a single flare up, and that had been when Steve had dared to show his face at the cabin, trying to ask Peter to come with them to space to finish off Thanos, and hopefully revert everything.
Steve had left pretty quick after that.
Peter was dutiful in taking care of her, making sure to meet all of her insanely stupid cravings, as well as skillfully dealing with all of her massive mood swings. If she were being honest, she probably couldn't have done all of this without the kid. He hadn't needed to do all that he had, but he did without the slightest of complaints, good natured teasing aside.
Pepper went into labor on May 16th, and Morgan Stark was born at 2:37 AM, May 17th, 2019. Aside from Pepper herself, Peter was the first to hold her, lost in her small form.
She couldn't help but stare at the sight, a dopey grin on her face. Honestly, Peter didn't look too far off from Tony, so she could pretend if only for a little bit that Peter was her son, holding his little sister for the first time. It made her heart swell with pride and affection.
And then her heart stopped entirely.
Peter hadn't known what to do in the moment as doctors rushed in, gently guiding him from the room, Morgan cradled gently in his arms as he hums softly to the newborn, eyes staring intently at the door. She had to be okay. Pepper had to be okay.
Later, they would tell him that Extremis had reacted violently in her body after Morgan's birth, that it had overheated her organs. So much of it had been focused on caring for the fetus and ensuring it was healthy that once Morgan was out, it had nowhere to go and the latent energy had seeped into the rest of her.
They told him it was entirely painless.
He was numb. Entirely unsure how to feel.
The courts didn't want to allow him custody at first, regardless of the fact that he was Tony and Pepper's sole heir aside from Morgan. It wasn't until a couple of SI's best lawyers got involved that it was decided that he could keep her, and Peter finally took her home to the Eco Cabin, the home having long since been equipped for Morgan's arrival. Having the little girl was nothing like he expected, but he hadn't expected to have to do it alone. He adored her though, and did everything in his power to make sure that she grew up knowing her parents loved her more than anything.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, and soon Morgan's first birthday is already approaching. She had been a perfectly happy and healthy baby, and Peter had made sure she never wanted for anything. He knew he was spoiling her, something Rhodey was always willing to point out with a teasing grin whenever the man would visit, but he didn't care. She was his sole purpose for existing right in that moment, and if that meant she grew up a little spoiled, then so be it.
He brought her with to visit Pepper's grave. They hadn't made one for Tony, could never bring themselves to do it. He had never really been the type for it, honestly. So here he was, sitting in a small cemetery in Arlington, bouncing a giggling Morgan as he regaled Pepper with tales of the first year. It was hard, harder than even dealing with May. He had done a lot of growing in the last year, mentally and physically. His hair was a little on the longer side, and with the wild stubble on his jaw and the playful glint in his brown eyes, it was almost like looking at a young Stark, if you knew where to look.
"Maguna doesn't seem to like Star Wars very much, but she's still young yet. There's still time to corrupt her. And you don't have to worry, I make sure she's always happy, eating whatever I can get her to enjoy. She seems to have a fondness for applesauce. Oh! She's not allergic to strawberries, although she doesn't seem too crazy for 'em."
He chuckles softly, looking down at Morgan and giving her a silly grin, drawing a giggle from the little girl. He exhales softly as his face relaxes, a hand brushing over the grass he was sitting on, uncaring of whether or not the suit he wore was getting grass stains. Far too much like Tony in that regard. He swallows roughly, and clears his throat, hoping to dislodge the lump that had made itself at home there.
"I really miss you, Freckles. I know you always said I'd make a good dad, but this...I never wanted to do it without you."
A short pause, his voice cracking. He gives Morgan another bounce, drawing yet another excited noise from the one year old.
"She ah. She said her first word, about a week ago. She said 'Da'. I think I about broke down then and there. It's hard, yknow? Because I want her to know you guys, know that you're her parents, that I'm just...I'm just Peter. I got it all on video, Fri was teasing me about how choked up I got. One of these days I'm going to sell her to Oxford. Make her a glorified librarian."
His mouth twists into something like a grin, but there's not really any humor behind it.
"I gotta go, Freckles. I promised Maguna that I'd take her to the zoo. They finally started to reopen most places. The big ones, anyway. We're flying back to New York. Might hang out with Rhodey. God knows someone has to annoy him now that Tony's gone."
He stops, and sighs softly, before beginning the process of standing, carefully balancing Morgan in one hand as he picks up the backpack containing emergency baby supplies, as he playfully dubbed it.
"Should I alert Colonel Rhodes that you'll be visiting, Boss?"
FRIDAY chirps from his watch. Peter smiles, before wiggling his finger against Morgan's left side, right where he knew she was ticklish.
"Nah. Let's surprise him. It'd do him good. Besides, Nat might be around too."
Morgan perked up at the mention of Natasha, and Peter can't help but smile. There were times when he forgot that she was only just now one year old today. She always seemed to be so much smarter. While she didn't talk outside of an occasional 'Da!' here and there, she definitely seemed to understand words and connect them with people. He gave her another year before she was saying other peoples names, if not even more.
"You like the sound of that, Volpe mio? Gonna go bother Aunt Nat and Uncle Rho? I'm sure we could even rope them into coming to the zoo with us! Although I'm still sure that the aquarium is superior."
He teases, reaching a hand up to poke Morgan in the nose. The little girl giggles, and nods, poking Peter in the cheek. He chuckles softly, and begins to walk back towards the car, his free hand brushing against the headstone on his way past.
"Bye, Pepper."
Visiting Pepper became a yearly ritual on Morgan's birthday, and on the year of Morgan's 4th, whenever the duo returned to the Eco Cabin, there were a few visitors waiting for them. Peter's eyebrows furrowed slightly at the unfamiliar car, before his eyes narrow at the sight of not just Natasha, but Steve "God's Righteous Man" Rogers, as well as a face that Peter vaguely recognized. It took him only a few moments to realize that it must be Scott Lang, the guy who got huge. He had studied the man after the whole airport battle, seeing as he was the only true unknown in the equation as far as Peter was concerned.
"Something I can help you guys with?"
He keeps his words polite, climbing up on the porch and setting Morgan down, whispering to her to head on inside and get a movie going. She nods and runs inside, and Peter turns to look at the four guests. He gives Natasha a smile before giving Rogers and Lang an unreadable look.
A short conversation later, and he's left staring at Steve and Scott with annoyance, although a bit of curiosity lingers in the background.
"You guys are really trying to get me to help you fuck around with time?"
Peter's voice is shaky, and his mind has already started running through the possibilities, the math of it all. Theoretically it was possible, but theoretically you could give a cow wings, doesn't mean it's actually feasible. And beyond that, messing with time carried serious consequences.
"Look Pete, if we can get the stones, we can snap our fingers, it'll be like nothing ever happened."
He can tell Natasha's trying to help with her statement, but he gives her a blank look, before glancing into the house. Morgan was sitting in front of the tv, and the Little Mermaid was blaring through. She really needed to stop sitting so close. She'll end up with vision issues if she wasn't careful.
"Nothing ever happened, huh? Yeah, I can't risk that. I'm all she has, and she's all I have. Can't risk that on an if. I'm sorry."
"Parker, wait-"
He shakes his head, and moves to open the door. Steve reaches out, grabbing his wrist, and Peter's a whirl of movement, his hand around Steve's throat and lifting the Super Soldier off of his feet. Peter had grown a lot over the last four years, and he now stood an inch or so taller than Steve and maybe two inches shorter than Thor, and his powers had grown exponentially. White hot rage burns through his body, searing through his heart as he stares up at the man who had almost killed Tony once upon a time, a man who could never seem to shoulder any of the blame he had accumulated through the last few years.
"I said no, Rogers. Get it through your thick fucking skull. We lost everything last time you went picking a fight. Everything. I can't do that again. I won't."
A hand is gently placed on Peter's shoulder, and he releases Steve, looking over at Natasha, brown eyes meeting green. He fights to push down the anger, and he glances inside once more, a sigh of relief slipping past his lips when it was clear that Morgan was enraptured with the movie.
"This could be a second chance, Pete. For all of us."
Peter forces his face to blank, and he shakes his head, more out of exasperation than denial.
"This was my second chance, Tash. I won't gamble that on a maybe."
Morgan was worth too much to him.
"You're welcome to stay for lunch if you want, Mama Spider. I know Morg's missed you. Been a while since you swung by."
It was almost a peace offering, but he knew she would turn it down. He could see it in the determined glint in her green eyes, see it in the set of her shoulders. He didn't hold it against her, couldn't. He knew how stubborn she could be. If anything, he would have been more worried if she had given up.
When it was clear she wouldn't be joining him, he shrugs, and heads inside the cabin, not once looking back.
A longer one, and the ending of it was a little too close to canon for my liking, but overall not an unenjoyable thing to write. I may or may not put out a sequel to this one detailing further into Endgame at some point.
