Chapter 41

Toni had known something was wrong the minute she picked up the phone and heard a sob on the other end.

"Peter?" she asked him carefully, unsure of what had happened, "Peter, what's wrong?"

"It's Aunt May," he said tearfully over the phone, "She collapsed and now we're in the hospital and no one will tell me what's going on, Toni. I have no idea if she's even going to be okay."

It had been a few days since she'd gotten back from Washington after visiting her uncle. She'd gotten JARVIS to increase the search parameters on the HYDRA files to pull up anything she could find pertaining to her Aunt Peggy in addition to her father and mother's murders, and she just hoped he would find something soon. The stress of waiting was killing her softly, and she needed answers.

She was ashamed to say it had been a few weeks since she'd checked in with Peter, given everything that had happened with HYDRA. She'd asked JARVIS and Ava to make sure that Peter wasn't on their radar given her mentorship of him, but when it hadn't yielded any results, she'd put any thoughts aside concerning him until things had calmed down slightly.

And now she'd found herself getting Happy to drive her to the hospital, knowing that while flying may have been the quickest way to get there, it would raise more questions than she'd felt like answering in her current state.

It was why less than an hour later she'd found herself in a hospital in Queens, walking towards the waiting room, where she saw her mentee pacing back and forth agitatedly.

"Peter," she said softly as she approached him, and his head snapped up so fast she was worried he'd hurt himself.

"I'm sorry," he said tearfully, "I didn't know who else to call. I know you're busy being Iron Woman and running Stark Industries, but I was scared. They've been running tests on her for hours and Uncle Ben is with her, but none of the nurses will tell me anything about what's happening. I don't know what to do."

"Hey," she told him firmly, "You don't need to apologise for calling me. You're important to me, Peter."

He wrapped his arms around her quickly, and despite being caught off guard she held him tightly, rubbing his back as she tried to sooth the young boy.

"I can't promise you it's going to be okay, Peter," she told him gently, "But I can promise that you won't be alone for any of this."

"I can't lose her," he sobbed softly, "She just fell, in the middle of trying to make dinner. Uncle Ben was teasing her about something, and she was joking back, but she spun around too quickly, and it all happened so fast. Before we knew what had happened, she was passed out on the ground. She was so pale. I thought, I thought she was going to die. I can't lose her too, Toni. I already lost my parents, and I can't lose her or Uncle Ben. I don't have anyone else."

"You have me," she told him firmly, "I know I'm not always the greatest at expressing my emotions or my feelings, but Peter, you've become like family to me over the last few years. The last thing I'd ever let happen is for anything to happen to you or your family. I promise, if there's anything that I could ever do to help, I'll do it, okay? You won't have to go through any of this alone. I know how scared you must be, but you have me, and you have Ava and Harry, you have Rhodey and Steve. None of us would ever let anything happen to you, okay?"

"Okay," he said, trying to calm his breathing, and she kept rubbing his back.

"I'm going to go speak to a nurse," she told him after he finally pulled away from her. "See if I can get some information for you, okay? Let's see if there's anything they can tell us about what's happening."

"I want to know," Peter said in a small voice, "Even if she's dying, I want to know. I don't want to be left in the dark because I'm a child. I deserve to know the truth."

"I know, Darling," she said to him, "And I would never dream of keeping it from you, okay? Let me just go see if I can find out anything."

He nodded, before slumping down into one of the chairs as she walked up to the nurses' station. If they were surprised to see her there, they didn't say anything about it.

"Hi, I would like to inquire about one of your patients," she said in a polite tone.

"Are you a family member?" the nurse asked, looking up at her curiously.

"I'm not," she shook her head, "But see that boy over there? He's the patient's nephew. And he's been out here for a few hours and hasn't heard a thing. Surely you can understand how difficult this must be for him. Even if you can't tell him any specific details yet, would you at least be able to provide him some information of what kind of tests is being done for his aunt? He has an inquisitive mind, and it might help him feel at ease if he at least knows what's happening and what the tests are for."

The nurse hesitated slightly, but one look at Peter was enough to change her mind. So she nodded and stood up as she followed Toni back to where Peter was as she began to explain the different tests that May was going through, with everything from a blood test to MRI and CT scans to see if they could figure out what had happened to his Aunt.

Peter looked agitated but as the nurses began explaining some of the procedures to him and what the tests meant, she could see him beginning to calm slightly, the knowledge giving him some sort of reprieve as he no longer felt left in the dark.

"Thank you," she told the nurse softly, one she'd finished, as she walked her back to the nurses' station. "I know you are all busy people, and it means a lot that you took some time to explain things to him. He's a smart boy, and not knowing what's happening was killing him."

"He's lucky to have someone like you in his corner," The nurse told her. "But you don't need to worry about May. She's one of the kindest nurses around here and everyone loves her. She's in good hands."

"Good," Toni nodded, "This is going to be a trying time for her family, and I don't want them to have to worry about any of this, financially speaking. Send her hospital bill to Stark Industries, we'll cover it. Get her a private ward, the best doctors, anything she needs."

"We'll have to clear it with the family," The nurse warned her.

"I know," Toni said softly, "I'll talk to them. Just make sure she gets the best. She deserves that much."

"Of course, Ms Stark," The nurse said, leaving her to get back to Peter.

It was a few hours later before Ben came back into the waiting room. Peter had fallen asleep on her shoulder, and she'd been careful not to wake him as she had spent the time researching possible reasons why May would have been in the hospital and what it would have meant.

"Thank you for coming," Ben said tiredly, when he saw her. "I didn't want Peter to be alone here, but I didn't want him to see May going through all those tests. It terrified me, and I wanted to protect him from that. I know you must have been busy. But I was hoping that you'd be able to send Ava or someone else if you were."

"I'm never too busy for Peter," she said simply. "Or any of you."

"It's a brain aneurysm," Ben said, slumping down in the chair across from her and her heart sank, knowing it was one of the possibilities. "They don't think they can operate safely at this time, but they're going to put her on some calcium channel blockers to reduce the growth of the aneurysm so they can hopefully operate at a later time."

"I'm sorry," she said tightly, "What are you going to tell Peter?"

"I have no idea," he said, exhaustedly. "He needs to know the truth. If something happens to her, he'll want to be able to say his goodbyes. But he's so young, Toni. How can I tell him that there's a chance she may not make it?"

His voice broke at the end of his statement and she squeezed his hand.

"You need to prepare him for all possibilities," she told him gently. "I lost someone I cared about when I was younger, and I visited him in the hospital. I was there when he passed. And it broke me to see him that way. But it would have devastated me even more if I wasn't there. If I had found out about it later, and thought he was fine all along. Peter is so smart, Ben. He knows something is wrong already. And no matter how badly you want to shield him from the truth, he deserves to know."

"I can't lose her," Ben choked out, "I already lost my brother and his wife. I can't lose my wife. She's everything to me. What if something happens to her?"

"Let me help," she told him gently, "I have access to some of the best surgeons and doctors in the world. And I found a doctor who could help. A Dr Strange who is one of the best neurosurgeons in the world. He's located at Metro-General. I can book a consultation with him for her. If anyone can help her, it would be him."

"We might not be able to afford his fees," he shook his head, "I'm already don't know how we're going to pay for any of this. A cop and a nurse might make enough to raise a family but not to pay the bill payments for something like that."

"Let me take care of it," she said, and Ben immediately began to protest. "I know it's not easy to accept money for things like this, but something like this won't hurt me financially, Ben. I can pay for her and still have money to spend for days. But losing May would hurt Peter. And it would hurt you. It would hurt me. You've all become like family to me over the last few years, and if there's anything I can do to help, I want to do it. Please, let me take care of this."

"I don't even know how we'd begin to repay you if we did accept it," Ben shook his head.

"You don't need to repay me," she said gently, "That's what family does for one another, Ben. We help each other out. this is my way of helping you."

"Okay," Ben said after a moment. "But only because I can't lose her."

"Of course," she told him gently, "I wouldn't assume you were doing it for any other reasons."

"He trusts you," Ben said, gesturing to his nephew sleeping peacefully on her still. "I didn't think when you first showed up at our door all those years ago that you would take him in as you did. But you've treated him with nothing but kindness and respect. And I'm so grateful for everything you've done for our family."

She swallowed, "He's important to me. You all are."

"It's just made me think about how fragile all of us are," Ben said after a moment. "I'm a cop so I always knew there's a chance when I go to work, I won't come home. But I always thought May would be there for him. I never thought that there could be a chance that she'd be the one who'd be at risk. If something happens to both of us, I don't even know what would happen to Peter."

"Nothing," she said firmly, "I'd make sure he was taken care of. And if I wasn't allowed to take care of him, I'd make sure someone who I trusted was given custody. He'd be taken care of. But either way, you can't think that way, Ben. He needs you. He needs both of you."

He didn't say anything, looking pensive instead, and she let him have a few moments to himself, as she simply held Peter tightly, letting the boy get some sleep for a few hours before his world changed forever when he learned the news of his Aunt's illness.


Steve paced back and forth as he looked down at his phone, wondering if Toni would send him any more updates on May Parker's condition. She'd left in the middle of the night, asking JARVIS to let him know when he'd gotten up that she'd left the tower.

She hadn't come to bed that night, but that wasn't most different than most nights these days. Ever since she'd found out about HYDRA, she'd thrown herself at the problem, trying to find out what had happened to her parents.

That wasn't to say he didn't have his own suspicions what had happened. Howard and Peggy had gotten too close to finding out the truth, and they'd been taken care of. And while he had no idea what had happened to Peggy, he had a bad feeling of what had happened to Howard.

He hadn't said anything to Toni, not yet. Not until he knew the truth of what happened. Because all he had were theories and those were no good to her. She needed facts. She needed the truth of what had happened to her parents. To her mother whom he knew she had loved more than anything.

And all he had was a horrible feeling.

He couldn't tell that to her, not until he knew more. It had been one of the reasons he'd been so desperate to try and find Bucky. Because he owed it to his friend who he'd let down to find out the truth and save him. Because if he'd just been able to have caught Bucky then maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe he would have lived a normal life. Found a wife and had kids. Maybe Toni would still have her mother. Maybe she never would have been kidnapped in Afghanistan. Maybe everything would have been so much different. Maybe even better.

His heart clenched and the selfish part of him was glad it didn't work out that way. Because as horrible as everything they'd gone through was, his best friend, his brother, was still alive. And he had an amazing girlfriend, who he didn't know what he'd do without.

As horrible as it all was, he didn't know what he'd have done without either of them in his life.

"Toni's rubbing off on you," Rhodes said as he walked into the common kitchen to grab a snack. "She gets that same expression when she's thinking about something but doesn't quite know what to do."

"I don't know how to help her," he sighed, frustratedly. "Her parents and godmother were targeted by HYDRA and one way or another, they took her family from her. And there's nothing I can do to help. Ava and Toni are busy scanning the databases, trying to crack the files. And I've gone on a few missions, but I'm no closer to finding out the truth of what happened to them. I feel so useless. I need to be able to do something. I have to help. But instead, I'm just sitting here waiting for them to find out anything."

"I know how you feel," Rhodes said, as he sat across from him at the table. "I was there when Toni was taken. I tried to convince her to ride with me, but she wanted to bond with the soldiers she'd been meeting with. She knew I had some stuff to discuss with the Generals about whether they were going to buy her bombs or not. The same ones that had gotten her kidnapped. And I know that realistically there's nothing I could have done. But I couldn't help but think that if I had just been there, I could have stopped all of it from happening. I searched for her the entire time, and there was a point where the Military threatened to strip me of my titles if I didn't stop. And I just told them that if they didn't let me look for her, I'd resign. And if they really thought they would have any contracts left with Stark Industries after letting her die, they were solely mistaken."

He let out an angry sigh, and Steve knew that despite it being years since Toni was taken, he was still rattled by it.

"It's the worst feeling in the world, feeling powerless and unable to do something to help when your loved ones are going through something painful," Rhodey told him. "If I could go back and have protected Toni from all of it, I would have. I never liked Stane, and after the truth got out, I couldn't help but think what if. What if I said something? What if I made it clear I didn't trust him? What if I listened to my instinct and just looked for the truth? Because there was an abundance of it when we got down to checking. But none of us ever did. We always trusted. And that's something that will weigh on me for the rest of my life."

He let those words mull over, and he looked at the man in respect. He knew Toni loved the man as family, and that he'd been there for her for decades. She told him stories of their time together at MIT, and how his family considered her their own. But hearing Rhodes talk about his feelings as such, it was very evident that he loved her, just as Steve loved Bucky. And that there was nothing he wouldn't do for her.

"Sirs," JARVIS called out then, and he wondered if Toni had sent any updates on Peter's Aunt's condition.

"Yes, J?" Rhodes asked, and Steve looked at one of the hidden cameras where Toni had once explained to him was.

"I found something," he said simply, "And I think it is better I show the two of you first before I show it to Ms Stark. The contents are rather…graphic. And I think it would be wise for the two of you to be present when she watches the video."

"Video?" Steve asked, narrowing his eyes carefully as a sinking feeling filled his gut.

"I found a video of the accident," JARVIS answered, and Rhodes let out a breath. "It was heavily encrypted, and I've already pulled it off the internet so no one else will stumble upon it. It took several hours to crack the file itself, but I viewed the contents, and it is my belief that she should not be alone while viewing the clip, given the contents."

"Please play the clip, J," Rhodes said, as they moved over to the living room, and it began playing on the television.

He watched in horror, as he saw the car the Starks were in driving down the road, as a man on a motorcycle came up from behind and punched a hole in the window. The car swerved then, hitting a tree.

And the rest of it, the rest of it was completely indescribable. The brutal violence as Howard Stark was murdered, and his wife Maria followed.

The thing that haunted him the most was that Howard recognized the man with the metal arm before his death. And that Bucky seemed not to recognize him back.

"Oh God," Steve said in horror as the clip finished playing. "Howard, Maria. I can't."

"That's your friend?" Rhodes turned to him, a calm in his tone, despite Steve hearing the anger bubbling underneath the surface. "Did you know it was him?"

"I had a terrible feeling," Steve sunk to the ground, "But I wanted to wait until we had more information. I didn't want to tell Toni until we knew for sure. I didn't want to hurt her like that."

"And now?" the man asked him carefully. "Are you going to tell her now?"

"How can I?" he snapped, "You saw that video, Rhodes. Do you really want her to have to watch that? It was horrible. How can I ask her to sit through and watch that video? Knowing what happens on it, and how it's going to hurt her. I can't ask that of her. It would destroy her to see that happen to her mother."

"So what, you're just going to hide this from her?" Rhodey narrowed his eyes, "Bury it and pretend it didn't happen? Because JARVIS answers to Toni. He'll tell her even if you don't. And even if he didn't, I sure as hell wouldn't keep that from her. Not when you're trying to protect your best friend from your girlfriend."

"Do you think that little of me?" he asked the man, slightly hurt. "It wasn't Bucky's fault. You know that, and I know that. He was brain washed for years, tortured and put on ice. But that man was once my brother and I know he's still there somewhere. I know you feel the same way and would do anything to help protect Toni if that was her. But it doesn't change the fact that I love her. Me not wanting her to know has everything to do with the fact that this would destroy her. Not because I don't trust her. If that was my mother I saw on that screen, it would devastate me. How can you ask me to make her watch this? Knowing what's on the clip. She shouldn't have to see this. I'll tell her what happened, but I can't make her watch this."

He closed his eyes, sinking down on the couch, and Rhodes came over to sit next to him. The man didn't say anything to him for a few minutes, simply letting him come to terms with the video and what it would mean for Toni.

"She's stronger than all of us," Rhodes told him gently. "The best of us. You're right. Watching this is going to break her. But she never stays broken for long. She always puts herself back together, stronger than before. And if you really think we can get her to agree not to watch the clip and tell her the contents, you're sorely mistaken. She needs all the facts. She's a woman of science. She'll need to see the evidence herself. And I know it's going to hurt her, but it'll hurt her more if she thinks we don't trust her enough to let her see it. The most we can do is be there for her when she watches the video and let her know that we're here for her no matter what. She's strong enough to get through this, I promise."

"I never thought we'd find anything like this," Steve said heavily, "I thought it would be a file or something. Or a mission report. Not the actual video. But I guess HYDRA did their due diligence in making sure Howard never made it to the Pentagon."

"We'll tell her together," Rhodey told him firmly. "When she gets back from visiting May in the hospital. We'll be there for her and make sure she knows that she's not alone through any of this. That she has us in her life."

"Okay," Steve exhaled, staring at the screen in front of him. "Okay."

He just prayed that Toni would be okay after seeing the clip.