Pepper held Peter while the medic (and why wouldn't there be a medic in the small army of agents that were clearly assigned to shadow them?) cleaned the injury, examined it, minutely, and then bandaged it securely before announcing that it probably wouldn't need to be amputated.

"Should we get him home?" Pepper asked, running her fingers through Peter's hair, but looking at Happy and the medic.

"Only if he wants to go," the man said, winking at Peter before gathering his kit together and standing up. "He's a tough little guy. A hurt hand isn't going to keep him out of the game, is it?"

"No," Peter agreed, reacting to the teasing exactly as expected. "I'm okay."

"How's your stomach?" she asked, also standing, now.

"It's okay, too."

"You don't feel sick?"

"Not anymore."

"Well, that's good," Happy said. The others were already working on clearing the large branch from the path. "Do we keep walking, then? Are you guys sure you're up for it?"

"I am," Pepper replied. She looked at Peter. "You?"

He nodded, and now he was looking animated.

"That was pretty exciting, huh?"

"A lot exciting," Pepper agreed, rolling her eyes at Happy, who smiled.

The fear was gone, and now it was an adventure.

"You're alright?" the driver asked Pepper.

"I'm fine." Of course, she'd landed on Peter, so hadn't been injured when he'd pushed them down. "Thank you."

"Make sure you tell the boss how amazing I was," he replied.

The SHIELD agents were vanishing, now, fading back into the bushes from where they'd come swarming.

"Should I call him?" Pepper asked, offering Peter her hand, which he took with a smile.

"He already knows what happened," Happy told her. "He'll probably be calling you as soon as he's-"

They were interrupted by the sound of Pepper's phone ringing.

She walked Peter over to a park bench and sat down before answering. Tony's worried face came up on the screen, immediately.

"Pepper?"

"He's fine," she assured him, immediately, and turned the phone so he could see the little boy climbing onto the bench to sit beside her. "Just had a scare, is all."

"I hurt my hand!" Peter said, holding it up to show his father. "And Happy pushed us down and there were people everywhere, and I was smooshed under Pepper, but it was only a tree branch, and we-"

"Are you okay?" Tony interrupted.

Peter nodded.

"Yeah."

"Pepper?"

"We're fine," she said, again. "Just a branch coming down onto the path. It probably happens all the time."

"Probably," he agreed. "Everything else alright?"

"I had cereal and pop tarts for breakfast," Peter told him, crowding into the conversation, again. "We're going to have pancakes, tomorrow. Pepper said she's going to make them from scratch."

"You know how to make pancakes?" Tony asked her, surprised – and distracted from his worry.

"Of course, I do."

"You've never made me pancakes."

Peter spoke up.

"I'm cuter than you."

Pepper and Tony both smiled at that.

"Younger, maybe…" Stark replied. "But I don't know about cuter. I'm pretty cute."

"His curls and eyelashes put him over the top," she informed him. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah. We're probably not going to be done by tomorrow, though. You don't mind keeping him through Monday, at least?"

"He's good company."

That made Peter smile. He rested the back of his head against her, but was still watching Tony's image on the phone.

"Happy will coordinate things with the SHIELD people. Maria will still be the one to pick him up, but you're going to have to feed him his snack and deliver him to daycare."

"I can do that."

"And a snack for Peter isn't celery sticks. Is it, buddy?"

"Nope. I get cookies."

Pepper was pleased to see that both of them were over their worry, now.

"I'll take some from the stash you keep in your desk."

"You do that. I need to get going, but call if you need anything."

"We will."

"Bye," Peter said.

"Take care of Pepper for me, son."

"Okay."

The call ended.

"Ready?" Pepper asked, putting her phone away.

"Yeah."

He hopped down from the bench and waited for her to stand before reaching for her hand, once more. But she saw him look up at the trees above them, suspiciously, and it was several minutes of walking before he finally released her hand and ran ahead, again.

OOOOOOOO

The rest of the afternoon was relaxing compared to the morning.

They were in the park until hunger drove them to find some lunch. Well, technically, Happy drove them there, but that was fine. He was invited to join them at McDonald's, where Peter ate chicken nuggets and fries, happily, and then went to play on the indoor playground with a couple of other children who were near his age. Happy watched him, carefully, of course, but there was no indication that any of the people in the restaurant had any idea that the little boy who was sliding around the brightly painted tunnels was Tony Stark's adopted son.

Eventually, even Peter began to lose interest in playing, and allowed Pepper to bribe him out of the play area with an ice cream cone. He ate it as they drove back to her apartment, and Happy told the two goodbye, reminding them that he was available the next day, as well, if they wanted to make an excursion of some sort.

With an overly dramatic sigh of exhaustion, Pepper flopped gracelessly onto her sofa.

"I was thinking we'd just have a quiet evening, tomorrow," she said, looking at Peter. "What do you think?"

He smiled.

"Okay."

He didn't care what they did – or even if they didn't really do anything. Peter had plenty of chances to get outside and have fun, and he liked being inside, too. Watching movies, playing with toys, and even playing video games were all good ways to keep him occupied. The little boy sat down beside her, his coat already off and only wearing socks on his feet since he'd left his shoes to dry by the heater near the door.

"Let me see you hand, honey," Pepper said, holding her hand out.

He skootched closer to her, and put his bandaged hand in her own, watching as she examined the bandage itself for any sign of blood leaking through.

"It seems alright," he told her.

"Looks like it," she agreed. The SHIELD medic had given her some instructions for caring for the scrape, but it was minor, and he hadn't been worried about infection, or anything like that. "We'll keep the bandage on, tonight, and see how it looks, tomorrow."

"Okay."

"Do you want to watch TV?"

He nodded, and greatly daring (considering she had a very good chance of ending up watching Teletubbies all afternoon) she handed him the remote control for the huge TV that hung over her gas fireplace.

"Thank you."

Peter settled in beside her, secretly pleased when she put an arm around him and pulled him close enough to cuddle. He found Spongebob and set the remote control aside, resting his cheek against her as the show began, and not noticing her roll her eyes – even though there wasn't anyone there to see the action.

"I had fun, today."

Peter nodded, but didn't turn his gaze from the screen.

"Me, too."

OOOOOOOOOO

"Aren't you supposed to be out trying to save the world?"

"I am," Tony assured Pepper. "But I wanted to check on you guys, first."

"We're fine."

"How's Peter's hand?"

"It's probably going to have to be amputated," she said. She smiled at the little boy, who had turned the TV off when Tony's call to Pepper had interrupted their Spongebob marathon. "Show him your hand, honey."

Peter smiled, too, and dutifully held up his bandaged hand.

"Does it hurt, buddy?"

"No. Only a little. I'm okay."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"Pepper's being nice to you?"

Peter nodded, enthusiastically.

"Yeah. We're watching Spongebob."

"We've been watching it since we returned home," she added, forcing herself to keep her tone light so Peter would know that it wasn't as annoying as she wanted Tony to think it was. "I didn't realize there were so many channels that had it on…"

"Think that's interesting," Tony said with a slight smirk on his handsome face. "Try eight hours of Lego Batman…"

"Go find some bad guys to pester," Pepper told him. Preferably before he gave Peter any ideas. "I'm going to feed your son a nutritious dinner and then we're going to play games, or something."

Peter definitely looked interested, so Tony smiled.

"I'll check in with you guys, tomorrow, then. Unless you need me, before."

"Bye," Peter said, waving his bandaged hand at the image on the screen. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, buddy. Thank you, Pep."

The screen went black before she could reply, and Pepper set her phone aside.

"What do you want for dinner?"

"Chocolate chips."

She shook her head.

"That isn't going to happen. Try again."

"Grilled cheese?"

"That's better. With soup?"

He smiled, and nodded.

"Yeah. Please."

"Want to help me?"

Peter nodded, again, looking pleased at the invitation – which made her glad that she'd asked.

"Can I?"

"Of course, you can."

She got up and waited for him to do the same, and then led the little boy to the kitchen.