"What is that?"
Pepper asked it, but Tony was staring, as well, and Sam was the one to answer, grinning.
"Giant Connect Four game."
The thing was taller than Peter, but there was a step stool for the little boy to stand on as he dropped a red chip (that was bigger than his head) into the slot, allowing gravity to pull it down on top of a black chip that Natasha had placed there. Peter was clearly having a good time.
"Are you kidding me?"
'You don't like Connect Four?"
"Of course, I do." Who didn't? It was designed to make you think – and it wasn't that complicated. Peter had one in his bedroom back home. One that was normal sized. "I just don't understand the need for the giant proportions."
"it's more fun that way."
Peter hadn't noticed their arrival, immediately, because he'd been concentrating, but when his turn was over, and Romanoff was debating where to put her own chip, he happed to glance over and he made a happy noise when he saw the two.
"Pepper!" He ran over to where they were standing at the entrance. "What are you doing here?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her and shaking, excitedly, when she swept him into her arms.
"I came to see you, of course," she replied. "I wanted to make sure you weren't hurt."
He smiled, still holding her, which made Tony smile, too. It was convenient for him that Peter liked Pepper and that she liked the boy. They were pretty much the two people he saw the most of, after all.
"I hurt my arm," he said, letting her go so she could examine the bruises on his upper arm. "A man grabbed me. They were trying to make me go with them."
"That must have been scary."
He nodded, but she noticed that he didn't look scared, at all.
"It was. But Natasha stopped them." He grinned, glancing over at the assassin, who finished making her move and was watching him, clearly giving him a chance to greet the newcomers, but not ready to forfeit the game. "Look what they got," he added, pointing. "It's a giant Connect Four game."
"That's incredible." Pepper put him down, and he ran over to look at the chips, and decide where he wanted to play, next. She and Stark walked over at a more sedate pace. "I wonder why Tony didn't think to get one for your new house."
"Nick gave Peter Giant Jenga for Christmas," Tony reminded her. "I don't want to set a precedence. Giant Monopoly would almost certainly be next, and the house is only so big."
Pepper smiled.
"Who has winner?"
"I do," Sam told her, just as one of the little foam balls from the pit in the corner came sailing over and hit him in the head – courtesy of the incredibly good aim of Clint Barton. "I'm going to go take care of an annoyance, though," he said. "So you can take my place."
They watched as he walked over and started a battle of foam balls with Clint, and Peter made his move with the Connect Four game, smiling at Tony.
"It's pretty neat, huh?"
The billionaire smiled.
"Yeah."
OOOOOOOO
"He really doesn't do car rides well, does he?" Pepper asked, softly, glancing into the rearview mirror of the car at the little boy who was sleeping in her backseat.
"He does them great," Tony disagreed. "No complaining. No whining. I've never heard him ask if we're there, yet."
She smiled.
"You know what I meant."
His own smile was amused. He loved having a chance to mess with her, and it didn't happen as often as he'd have liked.
"He's good company any other time, but yeah, he can't stay awake in a car."
"Which means he'll be recharged when I get you guys home."
It was to his credit that Tony didn't look at all concerned by that. Instead, he smiled.
"That's fine. We'll spend the evening working on any homework that he has and then playing with Legos, or something. Whatever we need to do to make things as normal as we can this weekend."
"That's nice."
"Yes." He put the visor down so he could use the mirror on it to look back at Peter, as well. "I think I'm more freaked about this whole kidnap thing than he is."
"He doesn't understand just how much danger he was in," she pointed out. "Of course you are. I am, too, probably."
"And Romanoff got him out of the hall before he could get a good look at the damages done to his abductors, luckily. He has enough nightmares, already. I don't want this thing to add to them."
"He didn't have any while he was staying with me," she told him. "Weird ones, but no nightmares."
"The weird ones are bad enough…" Tony smiled over at her. "Besides, you'd never let a nightmare get to him when he's under your watch. He probably knows that."
That made her smile. Pepper turned her gaze back to the road, but her hand went to his and she felt him take hold of it, resting it on his leg the rest of the way back to the city.
OOOOOOOO
"You could stay…"
Peter nodded his own agreement to that, his body turned upside down in Tony's grasp, and his backpack hanging from his right hand.
"You could stay for dinner," he added, looking at Pepper, hopefully. "We're going to have meatloaf."
Pepper raised an amused eyebrow at her boss.
"You know how to make meatloaf?"
"I did some research. We're going to try it."
"I'll pass, tonight," she told them both. "But thank you for the invitation. Do you two need anything?"
Peter shook his head, still hanging upside down, but smiling at the treatment. Tony echoed the motion.
"We're fine, Pep. We're going to goof off, and then have dinner. Thanks for coming out to check on us, and thanks for the ride home."
"Yeah. Thanks."
"You're welcome. Let me know how the meatloaf turns out."
"We'll send you the video director's cut."
They stood by the front porch and watched as she drove down the driveway and out the gate, and Tony set Peter on the ground.
"I like Pepper," Peter told his father as they turned to go inside. "She's really nice."
"Yes."
Tony was having a hard time disagreeing. Of course, the woman had held his hand the entire drive back to the city, only releasing it when Peter had woken up in the backseat, not far from their home. He was a little confused, just then, and somewhat distracted by his inner thoughts. Did she like him? More than as a boss? Was she just trying to be reassuring and comforting? He was very much aware that he didn't want her to comfort him. He wanted her to-
"What are you thinking about?" Peter asked, watching him and having no trouble realizing that Tony was distracted.
"Meatloaf," Stark replied, automatically, forcing himself to concentrate on Peter, instead of Pepper. "We'll have JARVIS bring up the recipe. If I remember right, it takes a while to bake, so we'll want to get started, otherwise we'll be eating at midnight."
"Yeah." The boy looked at the suitcase that held the Ironman suit, hopefully. "Can I carry your suit? Please?"
That made Tony smile.
"Sure. Let me carry your backpack."
"Okay."
The two of them turned and headed for the door, both smiling and ready to spend the weekend doing nothing too crazy.