It was Saturday morning, early, when Tony and Peter came knocking on the door of Pepper's upscale apartment. She'd known they were coming, though, and was up, dressed, and even had coffee going when she opened the door. Peter was wearing his warm coat, and carrying his backpack, which was loaded down with all of his important things – for fear they'd be lost in the move, otherwise – and Tony was holding a box of donuts and muffins.

She smiled.

"You two look like you could use a place to hang out, today."

Peter was smiling, too, and his brown eyes were shining with happiness and excitement.

"The movers are boxing up all our stuff."

"And they kicked you out?" she asked.

"They made sure we had what we wanted, and then we left. They were bringing in all kinds of boxes, and bubble wrap."

"Which we couldn't help but pop some, before we left," Tony confirmed. He handed her the box of treats. "Thank you for letting us stay here, today. We definitely didn't want to get underfoot. Did we, buddy?"

"No."

"Come in," Pepper offered. "I have coffee."

"Great."

Peter looked around as they walked in, and he pulled his backpack off, setting it by the sofa, which was expensive but tasteful – just like the rest of the place. He didn't know anything about designers, or the different styles, but it looked comfortable, really.

"Give me your coat, honey," she told the boy, who complied, and then went to sit on the sofa, but was watching the two adults – and the box of donuts.

"Want a donut, buddy?" Tony asked, well aware that he did. "Peter helped me pick them out," he added to Pepper.

"Very nice. Is there a chocolate one?"

"Two," Peter confirmed. "You can have whatever you want."

That made her smile, and she cast a glance over at Tony.

"You're paying attention, right?"

Stark rolled his eyes.

"Yes." He handed Peter a maple bar and put a paper napkin over his lap. "Do you have chocolate milk, Pep?"

"Yes."

She'd known they were coming for a few days, now, and knew from Tony what Peter's go to morning drink was, so she'd gone to get some the evening, before.

"Thanks," Peter told her.

"How long will it take them to move your apartment?" she asked, pouring milk for Peter, while Tony poured himself a cup of coffee.

"A couple of hours to pack up the apartment," Tony told her. "The majority of the time they need is for unpacking at the house, making sure it's all where it belongs. They're pretty efficient, though, so we should only be in your way until early evening."

"You're welcome here," she assured them both, handing the glass of chocolate milk to Peter with a smile, and then sitting on one side of the boy, while Tony sat on the other. "Are you going to sleep in the new place, tonight?"

Peter nodded.

"Yeah. And they'll have all my stuff right where it was – only it'll be in my new room, instead. Even my bed."

"That's amazing."

"Yeah."

"Before you get too comfortable, show Pepper what you got, yesterday," Tony suggested.

The boy's eyes lit up – again – and he handed his chocolate milk and donut to Tony, who smiled, trying to juggle his coffee and the muffin that he'd just chosen along with Peter's. It all went onto the coffee table as the little boy tumbled himself over the back of the couch, rather than trying to squeeze between one of them and the table.

Pepper raised an eyebrow looking at Tony, but she didn't ask what Peter was suddenly digging into his backpack for. Instead, she waited for him to return – and this time he came around to the front of the sofa and leaned against her knees, one hand bracing himself, while the other handed her two cards.

"Look," Peter said, excitedly.

She smiled when she realized what she was looking at. The first was his official Stark Industries admittance security badge. It had a picture of Peter's head and shoulders and the special barcode that allowed him all access to the entire building. It also had his name; Peter Stark. The second one was similar. It, too, was an ID badge, but this one was from Peter's school. Again, his picture, his name and a couple of other numbers that were codes of some kind.

"It's official, then," she said, admiring them with the scrutiny that such precious items (at least as far as Peter was concerned) deserved. "That didn't take long."

She'd been the one to send in all of the paperwork that had been needed to officially change Peter's last name to Stark, so none of this was a surprise, really. But it was still something that she never would have believed six months before. Not if she'd been hit on the head and woke up from a coma, or something equally implausible.

"We wanted to make sure it was done before he goes back to school," Tony said, smiling at how happy Peter looked. "That way there isn't any confusion in the system, or anywhere else."

"Smart."

"They're pretty neat, aren't they?" Peter asked, practically wriggling with happiness.

"They're amazing," she agreed, handing them back to him.

He looked at them for a long moment, still leaning against her leg, and Tony reached over and tousled his hair, drawing his attention.

"Your breakfast is getting cold."

Peter smiled.

"It's chocolate milk and a donut; they're supposed to be cold."

"Eat."

The boy's smile never faded, and he did as he was told. He carefully replaced his cards into his backpack, and climbed back over the sofa, landing between them, once more and settling in, cheerfully, before Tony handed him his food.

"We could do something this morning," Pepper suggested, handing him a napkin, once more. "If you guys want to, that is."

"Let's wait and see how the morning goes," Tony replied, retrieving his coffee. "I want to be available if the movers have any questions, and Peter's pretty content with Saturday morning being for cartoons. Right, big guy?"

"Yeah."

He looked comfortable, Pepper decided.

OOOOOOOO

They spent the day with Pepper – which was probably a good thing, really. Tony was a bit of a micromanager, and without her there to reach out and take his phone from him any time he pulled it out of his pocket, he would have been calling the moving company supervisor every half an hour for updates on their progress.

"Let them do their job," she told him, firmly, when he scowled at her the first time she did it. "If you keep pestering them, it's only going to take them longer."

Peter giggled at the way he rolled his eyes, and that made Stark pretend to scowl at him, too, and wrestle him down and tickle him until Peter was breathless.

Rather than have them hanging out in her place simply waiting for the phone to ring – and itching to call for updates (again and again) Pepper suggested that they go for a drive. She wanted to see the Christmas tree farm where they'd found their tree, she said. Tony grumbled, but Peter looked excited by the idea, and took Pepper's side in things, his hopeful brown eyes making short work of Tony's protests that he should be close at hand if the movers had any questions.

They loaded into the SUV and headed out of the city, with Peter talking nonstop from the backseat for the first half hour of the drive and then falling silent. When Pepper noticed, she turned to look, concerned, and found that he'd fallen asleep with his head pressed against the glass of the window, his stocking cap cushioning the hard surface and the seat belt holding him in place as they drove.

Tony smirked, following her gaze using the rearview mirror.

"He never lasts long."

"He's so cute."

"Shh," he cautioned. "Don't let him hear you."

"Why?"

"Because the car is only big enough for my ego."

Pepper rolled her eyes at that, but she didn't argue.