Eventually it was Stark who came looking for Peter.

The billionaire had woken to find the boy gone. In deference to wanting to keep from waking Ned, Tony had slipped carefully out of the bed and had immediately asked JARVIS where Peter was when he hadn't seen him in the room and the dark bathroom was a sure indicator that he wasn't in there.

Nick looked up when the motion caught his eye and he acknowledged Tony's arrival in the lounge with a nod and a slight smile.

"Looking for someone?"

Tony walked over, smiling down at the sleeping boy who was clearly comfortable in Nick's embrace.

"How long have you been like that?"

Fury glanced at the clock on the opposite wall.

"Almost three hours."

"You could have called me."

"Yes. I'm aware."

"Can I have him back?"

"My rear is numb."

A smirk played across Tony's handsome face, and he moved, reaching down as Nick shifted his grip in order to lift the sleeping child up to his father. Peter roused with a change in his breathing, although he didn't open his eyes.

"What's…?"

"Shhh…" Tony soothed, gathering the boy against his chest, and tucking him under his chin. "Go back to sleep."

"I'm not tired…"

Nick snorted softly at the automatic denial and got to his feet, as well, stretching. He looked out the window,

"Still snowing."

"Yeah. It's getting deep."

'What are you and the boys doing today?"

Tony looked out the window, as well. It was still dark, but they could see the snow falling in the glow of the security lights.

"They're going to want to play outside, no doubt. You?"

"We have a few SHIELD agents coming in for a preliminary briefing."

"Another mission?"

Nick nodded, but he smiled.

"Yes, but not one where Ironman will be needed. Go back to bed, Tony," the man ordered, patting his shoulder. "I'm going to do the same."

It was still early, after all.

"Yeah. Thanks, Nick."

"You're welcome."

They parted company at the entrance to the lounge. Nick heading for his rooms, and Tony turning toward Peter's. There weren't many people in the corridors this early, so he didn't run into anyone. He had no trouble putting Peter back to bed – the boy didn't even open his eyes – and Tony pressed a gentle kiss against his cheek, settling the bear into Peter's embrace before covering him up.

He could have simply joined him and Ned, but he had a few things to do before he went back to sleep, now that he was awake, and he definitely wanted to take a look at the weather forecast. Not something that he ever would have been concerned with, before, but if the city was getting dumped on like the compound was, it was very possible that there might be a snow day called, and as a parent, he needed to know.

He closed the door, silently, behind him as he left Peter's room.

OOOOOOOO

Breakfast was a hurried affair. Not for Tony, or for Natasha who joined him and the boys when they arrived at the lounge several hours after Tony had put Peter back into his bed, but Ned and Peter were both eager to make their way through their meal, and it showed.

"Slow down, guys," Romanoff said. "You're going to choke."

Since Peter had just shoved an entire piece of toast into his mouth, she really did look concerned.

"Chew that," Tony said, frowning at his son. "We talked about you doing that, remember?"

Peter nodded, but didn't reply, knowing Tony wouldn't want him to try talking and chewing at the same time.

"When we get done eating, we get to go outside," Ned explained. "We're going to build a snowman."

She looked over at Stark, who nodded.

"Yup."

"Are you going to help?"

"I'm going to supervise."

"Want to come?" Peter asked, mouth finally cleared enough to communicate.

Natasha smiled.

"I might, later. We have some people coming in, today, to go over some planning."

"For a mission?" Ned asked, eagerly.

"Something like that," she replied, evasively.

Tony wasn't the only one to smile at that.

"It is, isn't it?" Ned said. "Is it Thor? Or the hulk?"

"SHIELD agents," she told them. "If they stick around for lunch I'll introduce you."

"Wow."

"Have either of you actually built a snowman?" Romanoff asked the boy.

They lived in a big city, after all. There weren't a lot of places to do something like that, really.

"I have," Ned assured her.

"I haven't," Peter said. "But I've seen it done, before – and I saw Frosty the Snowman," he added.

She knew since she'd been there that day.

"I'll make sure he does it right," Tony said.

"You're going to need a carrot," Natasha pointed out. "And something for eyes and mouth, since I know we don't have coal."

"We have charcoal left over from the last summer barbeque," Tony said. "I'll dig it out, when we need it."

OOOOOOOO

The morning was productive – for the boys. Tony didn't get anything done. Of course, he didn't have anything that he absolutely had to get finished, anyway. His newest suit was coming along the development stage, nicely. He'd have it done if he didn't have Peter to watch over and entertain, but Tony didn't even think of it that way. He loved having Peter, and the suit was still going to get finished, even if it took a little longer.

The snowman turned out great, and Peter's strength made rolling large balls of snow easier for the boys, even though Ned wasn't let in on his friend's secret. They had been interrupted by the arrival of the Quinjet, which had landed on the other side of the compound. Peter and Ned had begged Tony to let them go look at it, but he'd pointed out that the SHIELD agents would be leaving in it, too, and if they wanted to wait, then they could actually watch it take off.

They'd agreed, and had gone back to their snowman, talking excitedly as they created not one, but two of them before they finally had to admit that they were getting cold, and hungry – and maybe a little tired.

"We'll show them off to the others, later," Tony told the boys as they stuck carrots and charcoal briquets into the heads of the snowmen, making smiling faces on both. "Why don't you guys go get changed out of your wet clothes and I'll meet you in the lounge."

The two boys had nodded, running off into the closest entrance to the compound, while Tony lugged the half-full bag of charcoal briquets back to the shed he'd found them. On the way into the compound, his phone rang.

OOOOOOOOOOO

He was sitting in the lounge at one of the tables when the boys joined him. They were both wearing jeans and t-shirts; Ned was wearing the Batman shirt Peter had gifted him, and Peter had on a Captain America shirt. The boys ran over, smiling, and Tony couldn't help but smile, too.

"You look drier."

"Yeah," Peter agreed, climbing into his chair, which was right next to Tony's. "Warmer, too."

"Good." He looked at Ned. "I just got off the phone with Eric."

"Is he coming to get Ned?" Peter asked, hoping the answer was no. "We haven't seen the SHIELD agents, yet. Or the jet."

"No." Tony put his hands on the table. "Your school called me, as I was coming inside. They're canceling school, tomorrow, because of the snow."

"A snow day?" Peter asked, grinning. He liked school, of course, but snow days were special. "Wow."

It was clear Tony wasn't finished – even though he smiled at his son.

"When I got off the phone with them, I called Eric, to see if Ned's school had contacted him, too. They hadn't." He didn't give Ned a chance to lose the hopeful expression. "So Eric called them to find out what they were doing."

"Are they closing, too?" Ned asked.

"They are. So Eric called me back and asked if I wanted him to come out and get you, still, and I said that I had no intention of having him drive in this weather and that we'd be willing to host you another night out here, if you were interested."

Ned's expression was blank, just for a minute, as he made sure he'd heard what he thought that he had. Then it lit up with happy excitement.

"Really?"

"Really. If you want."

"Yeah. Yeah, definitely."

"Wow," Peter added. "That's awesome. We get an extra day to hang out."

The boy beamed.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Of course, Tony was glad to have the boy. He was an easy going kid, and Peter's friend. His adopted son didn't have a lot of friends, really and Ned was the closest to his own age – even if they counted Cooper Barton, who Peter didn't see much of.

The boys chatted, excitedly, about what they would do that evening, and lunch was brought to them. It wasn't anything fancy, soup with noodles and chicken, and sandwiches. They ate, hungrily, though, and so did Tony. When they were finished eating, the boys carried the dishes back to the kitchen, while Tony called Pepper to let her know about Peter's school day and let her know that they weren't going to be back in the city on time, so he wasn't going to be at the tower the next day.

She mentioned that she'd almost expected it, and since Peter was back at the table by then, she asked to talk to him. It wasn't a long conversation, but the boy was smiling by the time the call ended, and they all got up from the table. They were heading for the little table in the corner, where Peter and Ned were going to decide what they wanted to do instead of going outside, again, when there was a commotion at the entrance to the lounge, and Ned gasped, excitedly, as Natasha, Steve, Nick and Sam walked in with a couple of strangers wearing nondescript dark suits, despite the casual dress of the others.

"That's the SHIELD agents, isn't it, Tony?" the older boy asked.

Stark nodded, smiling.

"Yeah. Want to meet them?"

Duh.

With Peter on one side of him, and Ned on the other, Tony walked over to intercept the small group. Natasha wasn't the only one to smile at the approaching boys, but Peter suddenly lost his smile and held back, hiding behind Tony's leg, his arm hooked around it and his brown eyes uncertain as he looked up at the strangers.

"It's okay, buddy," Sam said, assuming the boy was being shy. It wasn't the first time they'd seen him do it, after all. "These guys are SHIELD agents. This is agent Sitwell, and this is Agent Rumlow."

"Hi," Ned said, stepping up, quickly, and offering them his hand. "I'm Ned."

Both men smiled at the boy, easily, shaking hands and introducing themselves. They turned to Peter, though, who buried his face in Tony's hip and refused to be introduced.

"He's shy," Tony told them, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder.

He frowned when he felt the boy trembling, though.

"Yeah, kids can be weird that way," Sitwell agreed, looking at the boy with interest that he wasn't bothering to hide. "This is the boy you adopted?"

"Yes." Peter shivered, again, never looking up, although his hold on Tony's leg tightened. "If you'll excuse us, we'll be right back."

"Of course."

Sam was engaged in conversation with Ned, who was telling him, Steve and Fury about the snowman that they'd built, but Natasha followed Tony and Peter out of the room.

"What's going on, buddy?" Tony asked once they'd moved away from the area and he had managed to get Peter to loosen the hold on him. "Are you alright?"

"My stomach hurts," Peter said, looking up at the two adults. "A lot."

Natasha frowned, her hand coming to Peter's forehead, even as she looked at Tony.

"You guys ate?"

"We just finished," the billionaire confirmed, also reaching for Peter's forehead. "It wasn't anything spicy, or anything that he hasn't had a million times," he added. "Soup and sandwiches."

"Are you feeling sick?" Natasha asked.

"No. It just hurts."

"We'll take it easy, though," Tony said, brushing his hand through Peter's curls. "Maybe we'll stay inside the rest of the day – just to make sure he isn't catching a cold, or something."

"You said we could watch the jet take off, though," Peter reminded him, the ache in his stomach already fading a little.

He definitely didn't want to miss that.

"We're still going to," Stark assured him. "But no more playing in the snow – at least, not today. There's plenty to do, inside, after all. Right?"

"Yeah."

"Sitwell and Rumlow are leaving, now," Natasha said. "We'll send them off, let Peter and Ned watch, and then I'd suggest the gym – or maybe Legos or hot Wheels."

"We could play a game," Peter suggested. "Sorry? Or Hungry Hippos."

Tony smiled, relieved that Peter already looked like he was feeling better – although he'd keep a close eye on him the next day or two. Just to be certain he wasn't coming down with something.

"Sounds like fun."

OOOOOOOO

"That little kid is worth a fortune…"

Sitwell frowned, looking around, even though he knew there was no one even close to them, just then. And they were out of range of Stark's nosy AI.

"Yes."

"Could you imagine what Stark would pay if someone were to kidnap him?"

"A fortune," the other man agreed.

"Why are you less enthused than you should be?"

"Because young Peter might be worth more than you are thinking that he is."

"What do you mean?"

"Phil Coulson is a friend of mine."

"Yeah, I know that. So?"

"So he's dropped a couple of comments that make me think the kid has other abilities that our… other employer… might find useful."

"I heard he's pretty smart."

"Other abilities," Sitwell repeated. "Extraordinary abilities."

"The kid's nine."

"He's eight," came the correction.

"Then he can't be that amazing," the man said. "Coulson's probably exaggerating. Whatever he told you."

"He didn't tell me anything," Sitwell said. "No matter how much I asked – or how many drinks I bought him."

"Maybe he was lying then, and you caught him."

"Or he's under orders not to say anything. Peter won't be eight forever," Sitwell pointed out. "If we delivered him to the right people, he could be raised to be incredibly useful."

"You'll never be able to get that kid from Stark," Rumlow said, shaking his head. "Or from Romanoff, for that matter. She'll kill you before you made it to the door."

"I don't have to get him from either of them," his friend told him with a smirk. "Not if I do it right."

"Good luck."

The man nodded, his expression clearly calculating.

"I don't need luck."