The first indication that something might be off with Peter came after dinner. Lamenting that they didn't get a real vacation, the others had to go and take care of things that had been on hold while they'd been spending time with Peter. Now that Tony was there, they could work on things they needed to do and not feel like they were abandoning the boy.

With a promise to see him in the morning, the others left them at the table, and Tony and Peter decided to watch a movie. Since it was only the two of them, however, they didn't use the theater room. Instead, Tony had Peter get ready for bed, and then he went and changed into sweats and a t-shirt before joining the boy in Peter's room. The TV wasn't huge, but it was still plenty big enough for the two of them.

He settled himself on Peter's bed, and a moment later the boy nestled up beside him, comfortably.

"Ready?" Tony asked, reaching for the remote.

They didn't have JARVIS in the room, yet, after all, so they had to push all the buttons themselves.

Peter sniffed, and then coughed, but nodded as he wiped his nose on the sleeve of his pajamas.

"Yeah."

"You okay, buddy?" Tony asked, looking for a tissue, or something better for Peter to use, but not finding anything.

"Yeah. I'm great."

The boy rested his head against Tony's side, and Stark hit play on the movie they were streaming, then set the remote aside and turned off the light.

Peter sniffed, again, and then fell silent as the movie started.

OOOOOOOOOO

Tony wasn't too surprised that the boy fell asleep during the movie. He'd expected it, really – one of the reasons that they'd watched it in Peter's bed, after all. He surprised himself by dozing off, as well, however, and the credits were done rolling, and the screen was blue when he woke with a start.

The boy beside him was coughing, softly.

It wasn't normal. Tony had been around Peter a fair amount, now, and was familiar with the little noises that the child made when sleeping. A cough wasn't even close to being right. Feeling unsettled, he turned the light back on and looked at the boy.

Peter was asleep, despite the cough that had woken Tony, and he had his face tucked against the man's side. Tony frowned, reaching a hand out and brushing his palm against the flushed little cheek, wondering if he felt warmer than normal, or if it was just because he'd been pressed up against him, sharing his body heat.

One way to find out. He reached over and put on the glasses that he'd set on the stand next to Peter's beside when he'd joined him. He was never far away from those glasses, after all.

"JARVIS?" he asked, softly. "Check Peter for me. Is he fevered?"

"Temperature is elevated," the AI confirmed. "However, it is well within normal range for children his age."

"What does that mean?" Tony asked, noting the display in his glasses was reading Peter's temperature at just above 100 degrees. "Is he sick, or not?"

He was over a hundred. That had to be bad. Right?

"Children range higher than adults, generally. Peter's temperature is not high enough to be of a concern, on its own."

"Do I call a doctor?"

Peter coughed, again, and Tony's hand brushing against his cheek made him open his eyes to look up at him, sleepily.

"Tony?"

"Shhh… yeah. I'm here."

"Is it time to get up?"

"No, buddy. Not yet. How do you feel?"

"Sleepy."

"What else?"

"Just sleepy," Peter told him, closing his eyes, again, and rolling onto his side. "Is the movie over?"

"Yeah. Do you feel sick?"

"What?"

"How do you feel?"

"I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

"I think so." Even sleepy, though, he must have caught something in the billionaire's voice, or his tone. He opened his eyes, again, and looked over his shoulder at him. "Am I?" he asked.

Realizing that he might be overreacting and that he also might be frightening Peter by doing it, Tony nodded, and smiled, bringing his hand down to brush Peter's hair back from his forehead – which just happened to allow him the chance to check his temp the old fashioned way.

"Yeah, Peter. You're fine. I'm going to let you go to sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

The boy closed his eyes and drifted off, but Tony didn't leave, just yet.

OOOOOOOO

There were two full time surgeons on the staff at the compound. Both were specialized in trauma and both had over 30 years, each, of experience. Mostly military for one of them, and the other had been chief of a major urban hospital's emergency room until the lure of working exclusively with SHIELD and the avengers brought him to the compound. They were competent, no nonsense, and very much aware that they could deal with anything that came their way.

And both scowled, mightily, when they were pulled from their beds by Tony Stark.

He met them in the corridor outside of Peter's door, and told them what was going on. Neither man looked worried about what they were being told, and one cracked opened the door enough to look into the room at the little boy sleeping in the bed.

"What's his temp?"

"One hundred."

"That's not a fever, Stark," he was told. Proving that even if these men were used to working with adults, they both were well-rounded in their profession. "Little kids can go as high as a hundred and one – even more if they're more active. Sleeping kids can be warm, too."

"He coughed," Tony added.

"And…?"

It was Stark's turn to scowl.

"And he sniffed, once or twice."

"Right. What else?"

"That's it."

"Then it isn't something to be too concerned about. It's probably just a cold."

"Probably just a cold?" Tony echoed. "What do we do about it?"

"Keep him warm, let him sleep and make sure he gets a lot of fluids when he's awake."

"That's it?"

"Yes."

Stark turned to the other doctor, clearly asking for a second opinion.

"He's right. Kids catch colds. As long as his temp doesn't go above one hundred-two, and he isn't aching, hacking, and throwing up, the best thing for him is rest."

"Maybe you should go check him out."

"If I go in there and wake him up, it's only going to freak him out, since he has no idea who I am. Then he won't get back to sleep."

"It'd freak me out," the other doctor agreed. "If it'll make you feel any better, I'll swing by and check on him in the morning. Around breakfast."

"Fine. Thank you."

He clearly wasn't impressed, but the two weren't going to let a nervous parent tell them how to do their jobs. Even as the two doctors walked away, shaking their heads, Tony saw Nick headed toward him, wearing sweats, a long-sleeved t-shirt and shoes with no socks. He'd clearly been either in bed, or ready for bed.

Fury nodded at the two doctors as he passed them, but his attention was on Stark.

"What's up?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Someone pulls two trauma surgeons out of their beds, I'm going to get a call," Nick explained. "What's happening?"

"Peter has a fever."

"Is it serious?"

"They don't seem to think so," Tony grumbled, gesturing at the retreating backs of the two surgeons. "They said it's not high enough to be worried, and that he's probably caught a cold."

"They're doctors."

"They adult doctors," Tony corrected. "Maybe I need a little kid doctor. A pediatrician."