"Is he asleep?"

"Not, yet," Tony replied, coming over to the sofa and settling near Pepper, but not close enough to be touching her. He poured himself a drink, offered her one, and then took a sip. "He asked me what a publicity stunt was."

She nodded, understanding, immediately.

"You'll have to address the media, eventually."

He scowled at that, even though it was the exact thing he'd told Peter.

"We should find some little mom and pop newspaper and let them have the exclusive."

Pepper smiled.

"It wouldn't work, and you know it. We'll have a media day – at the tower, where we can control who comes in and who goes out. Give them an hour."

"Not a huge crowd."

"No. Very few, to make it less overwhelming. Maybe we can let them come have a snack, let them ask Peter some questions – with you right there beside him, and maybe Natasha Romanoff looming in the background looking dangerous to keep them from getting too comfortable."

He nodded his approval of that, and knew Romanoff would agree if he asked.

"No video cameras and lights, though," he added. "Just some pictures and paper to take notes with."

"Sounds fair."

"And they all need to bring him a present."

She rolled her eyes.

"Why?"

"Why not?" he asked, shrugging. "If they want to spend any time with him, then they can bring him something. It'll make him happy."

Pepper shook her head, amused.

"I'll start sending out feelers when we get home," she told him. "We'll allow three people."

"Don't invite anyone in particular," the billionaire suggested. "Let them fight each other to be the ones who get to come."

"You don't care who it is?" she asked, surprised.

"Not in the least. If they're warm and caring and careful, they'll stay. If they're assholes, they're out on their ear, and I don't care what they brought Peter."

She hesitated, and then shrugged.

"Alright."

He smiled, leaning back and relaxing in a way that he never really had in her company, before. It was nice.

"Tomorrow is going to be an easy day," he said. "New Orleans square, the haunted house and riding the railroad. Loud, but slow."

"You really think he's going to be alright with the haunted house?"

"We'll see. If it's too much, we'll skip it and do the Indiana Jones ride, again."

Pepper rolled her eyes.

"We rode it six times."

"I know. Peter likes it."

And so did Tony, really.

"We'll try the haunted house, first."

"Yeah."

And then the Indiana Jones ride.

OOOOOOOOO

"Got him okay?"

Tony nodded, smiling down at the sleeping child that he was holding, and then over at Pepper who was sitting across from him on the plane.

"Yeah. He's good."

Even though it was early evening, it was still dark by the time they boarded the jet to go back to New York. Since there wasn't anything to see out the window in the dark, Peter had settled in the chair beside Tony to start the flight, and then, when they'd taken off and leveled out, he'd crawled from his seat over to sit in Tony's lap.

When the billionaire didn't do anything more than put an arm around him to hold him in place, the boy had relaxed and had fallen asleep almost immediately. Stark had absently pressed a kiss against Peter's temple and had turned his attention back to the conversation that he'd been having with Nick.

It hadn't been a long one, and when the SHIELD director had ended the call, Tony had switched his attentions to Pepper, who had her shoes off and was relaxing in the plush leather seat across from his. The flight had been relaxed, and they'd both ended up dozing off, worn out from a week of chasing a little boy through acres of theme park.

"I had a good time," Pepper told him. "Thanks for siccing Peter on me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said innocently. He smiled, though. "I'm glad you came. It was a good time."

"And I had a chance to get to know Peter, better," she said. "So there's a personality behind every story you tell me about him, now. And I might believe you if you try to tell me that he needs your attention more than I need you to be at the tower for a meeting."

"Added benefit," Stark said, smirking. "I didn't think about that. Don't I qualify for some kind of paternity leave, now?"

"I believe that you might," she admitted.

"And I can't wait for the tax right-offs."

"He's one little boy," she reminded him. "Don't go crazy, now."

They both smiled at that.

"I think we're going to spend the weekend recuperating," he said.

"And school on Monday?"

"No. As a matter of fact, according to Nick, we're going to need to keep Peter out of school all next week."

"Why?"

"Because half of his SHIELD agents – including Maria Hill – and most of the Avengers have come down with Peter's cold."

He was clearly amused rather than concerned.

"Oh, no."

"Yes." Tony brushed a hand against Peter's hair when the boy stirred in his embrace, but he didn't wake. "So, since his security detail is sick, and the corridors of the compound reek of Vape-o-rub, we're going to wait until everyone's healthier and we can have the school vetted, completely."

"It might be a good idea to just wait, then, until the media meet him."

"I'll talk to Nick and Romanoff."

"And to Peter," Pepper reminded him. "To make sure he understands why the delay."

"Yeah. Good point." He was going to have to get used to the idea of bouncing things off the boy, after all. "Want to come over this weekend?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"You're not tired of me?"

"Nope."

She smiled.

"I'll think about it. But I have a lot to do. No promises."

"Fair enough."

OOOOOOO

Happy was at the air terminal when they landed. He greeted Tony and Pepper with smiles and didn't bother to hide the amusement that he felt seeing Stark carrying Peter, who was still asleep in his arms and hadn't made much effort to wake when they'd landed. The little boy was clearly worn out from the trip, too, but Tony knew that he'd enjoyed himself.

"Drop Tony and Peter off, first, Happy," Pepper said, softly, as they loaded into the car. "He needs to get Peter into a bed."

"Yes, ma'am." The driver didn't even look to see if Tony agreed. He simply finished putting their luggage into the back – and the bags of souvenirs that had been purchased – and had quietly shut the trunk and gotten behind the wheel. "Did you bring me anything?"

Tony smirked.

"There might be something in one of the bags. You'll have to wait, though, until tomorrow, at the earliest."

"I'm patient," Happy assured him, starting the car.

OOOOOOO

Peter woke when Tony was putting him to bed.

"Tony…?"

"Shhh… go back to sleep."

"I'm not tired." He closed his eyes, again, though, and smiled, sleepily, when Stark covered him with the blanket and then kissed his forehead. "What are we going to do, tomorrow?"

"I'm going to sleep until noon," Tony said, softly.

"Then what?"

"I thought we might go look at some houses."

That made Peter open his eyes.

"Really?"

"Yeah. The realtor has been sending me some pictures. We'll look at them, tomorrow, and decide if we want to go look at them. What do you think?"

"That sounds good."

"Go to sleep. We'll discuss it, later."

Peter nodded, and dozed off, again. Tony waited until he was sure he was asleep, and then turned the light off and left the room.