Eventually they got out of bed.

Peter was actually the first to become restless and finally just rolled himself over Tony (who had woken, again, by then, luckily) and left. His little bladder needed emptied, and he was ready to get outside and take a look around the boonies.

Pepper and Tony got up, too, then, of course. Not only because they didn't want to leave Peter unsupervised any longer than necessary (he was a good little boy, but still a little boy, after all) but because in the light of the day, the two of them weren't ready, just then, to lounge together alone in a bed. Tony did steal a kiss, though, before he thanked her for being so incredible, and offered to go start the coffee.

Peter was sitting at the table, already playing with Lego batman who was chasing Frodo around a salt shaker when Tony arrived in the kitchen.

"Can we go outside?"

"After breakfast."

"What are we having?"

"Cereal."

"Toast?"

"There isn't a toaster, buddy," Tony told him, looking around. "Sorry."

"Pop tarts?"

Peter knew they had them – and he didn't mind them cold.

"Sure."

They'd brought a box for a reason, after all – and it wasn't because Pepper and Tony liked them.

By the time Pepper appeared, having stopped in her room to change into jeans and a long-sleeved turtleneck, the coffee was done and Peter was working his way through a bowl of oatmeal, munching happily on a couple of pop tarts. Both smiled at her arrival, and Peter patted the table next to him.

"I saved you a spot."

Tony rolled his eyes, amused. Like there weren't going to be any spots left for her? But he didn't say anything, and he smiled when Pepper thanked the boy and sat down in the chair beside his.

"Oatmeal?"

"Yeah. Want a pop tart?"

"No, thank you." She looked at Tony. "Waiter? I'd like coffee and a muffin, please."

Stark smirked, and bowed, extravagantly.

"Right away, ma'am."

Peter giggled.

"I want to look around the property, today," she told the boy, uncertain if he'd been awake when she and Tony had discussed it. "Want to come?"

"Yeah."

"We'll check for anything weird happening outside your room, too," Tony said.

"Okay."

"Did your stomach hurt, last night?" Pepper asked him, accepting the cup of coffee she was handed. "Is that what had you so worried?"

"No. I just heard noises." In the daytime it didn't seem as scary, of course. "I don't know what they were… I thought maybe there was an axe murderer."

"The boonies have weird noises," Tony said, sagely, as he dished some oatmeal for himself and for Pepper, who looked at it, uncertainly, when he set it in front of her along with milk, brown sugar, raisins, and a spoon. "They're even different from the ones we heard when we were at the sledding resort, I imagine."

Peter nodded his agreement.

"It was a little scary."

"Because you've never been to the boonies." Tony seated himself at the table with his own bowl of oatmeal and reached for the brown sugar. "We'll walk around, today, and let you get an idea of what there is, so you won't be so nervous, tonight."

"Same things in the day as in the dark," Pepper added.

"Okay."

They seemed to be pretty sure of what they were talking about, and Peter trusted both of them.

Stark winked at Pepper, amused, when the boy turned his attention back to his breakfast.

"Tonight, though, I say we pile into Pepper's bed to watch a movie before bedtime. She's the only one with a TV – and her bed is bigger."

Peter looked excited by the idea, and glanced at her, hopefully.

"Can we?"

She nodded.

"Sure. If we can find any movies to watch."

They hadn't actually looked for digital entertainment, since there were plenty of boardgames to be had.

"Wow. That'll be fun."

OOOOOOOO

They finished eating, cleaned the kitchen and then bundled up into their heavy outerwear.

"Do we lock the door?" Tony asked, curiously, as they stood on the porch, looking around and deciding which direction they wanted to go.

"It's the boonies," she reminded him, using the phrase that Peter was so find of, because Tony said it all the time. "Probably don't need to. Knowing our luck, we'd lock the door, and then lose the key and spend the night sleeping in the car."

"You make a good point." He looked at Peter. "Which way?"

The boy shrugged, looking up at Pepper.

"Where do you want to go?"

Since the place was surrounded by nothing but trees, except for the road that they'd driven in on, and the frozen lake, Pepper didn't have a preference – as long as they didn't get lost. Luckily, they would leave the only footprints in the snow, and wouldn't have any trouble finding their way back. Something that Tony had pointed out to Peter to assure him that there weren't any axe murderers lurking in the area by where his bedroom was.

"West."

"The sun rises in the east," Tony said, looking at the boy. "Which way are we going, then?"

Might as well make it a lesson. He wasn't Daniel Boone, or anything, but he knew directions – and could even read a compass, if push came to shove.

Peter looked at the sun, which was up and shining full force, albeit weakly in the winter cold. Then he pointed the opposite direction.

"Very good," Pepper approved. "Don't wander off, okay?"

"I won't."

He proved it by jumping off the porch with as mighty a leap as an eight year old could make, and landing in the snow, and running off toward the trees that lined the edge of the clearing that the cabin had been built in. Before Tony could call out to bring him up short, Peter stopped and waited for them, smiling, happily.

The billionaire rolled his eyes, and Pepper smiled.

"He's going to drive me to drinking."

"I'm pretty sure that he's the reason you stopped drinking," she pointed out.

"He'll drive me back to drinking," came the correction.

He was amused, though, and with a nonchalance that he didn't exactly feel, he reached for her hand and led her down the stairs. In case there was some ice, he told himself. That way she didn't slip.

The fact that he didn't release it at the bottom step didn't mean anything.

They were both still holding hands when they caught up to Peter and he took off at a run, again, making sure to stay within sight of them, but too full of energy and youthful exuberance to match their sedate pace.

OOOOOOOOO

The weather was nice for the time of year. It was cold, but it wasn't snowing, and the abundant trees kept there from being any kind of significant wind to chill them. Tony and Pepper walked, watching Peter run around ahead of them, chasing the occasional squirrel up a tree, or crouching down to look at an interesting root, or rock (if it stuck out of the snow) and one time to pick up a dark colored one to bring over to show to them – only to be told by Pepper that she was pretty sure it was spoor.

Peter had to ask what spoor was, and then confirm with Tony that she really did mean that he was holding poop in his hand. The only saving grace was that he was wearing mittens, but he still spent the next fifteen minutes wiping that mittened hand on every tree trunk that they walked by, until it felt like it might be clean, again.

Then he took off like a shot and went back to running around – but he didn't pick up anything else to bring back to them.

"So?" Tony asked as they finally walked back up the steps to the front door, all of them chilled and hungry. "Are you interested in buying this place?"

She nodded.

"It's quiet, and not so rustic that I have to go outside to find an outhouse in the middle of the night. I might make an offer."

"And let us come visit, sometimes?" Peter asked, proving that he was listening.

"I'm not moving in," Pepper pointed out, smiling a thank you to Tony when he held the door for them. "It would just be a place to come on the weekends, sometimes. Or for a vacation if I wanted to get away."

"But we could come?" Peter asked, again.

"Of course."

He looked so pleased that she had to smile. "You look cold. Tony? Start the fire, please. I'll make some coffee for us and hot chocolate for Peter, and we'll see if we can thaw out."

The boy took his coat and boots off – and the mittens and hat – and left them by the door with the others. Then he went to sit on the couch, watching as Tony hung his coat up, as well, and then went over to start the logs that he'd set up in the fireplace before they'd left.

"How did you learn how to start a fire?" Peter asked, curiously, as the kindling caught on the first try. "Did your dad teach you?"

The billionaire shook his head, placing the screen in front of the flames before moving over to sit beside Peter, who immediately crawled into his lap.

"No. I learned in college."

"It was a class?" Peter asked, resting his cheek on Tony's shoulder.

"No. We'd have bonfires on the weekends," he said, running his hand along Peter's back, to make sure that he wasn't cold. He didn't seem to be. "On the beach."

"Will you teach me?"

"Of course." Tony turned his head and brushed a kiss against Peter's cheek, pleased that the morning had drained some of the boy's energy and had apparently left him in the mood to cuddle. That meant he'd be willing to settle in for games after lunch, and maybe a movie (if they could find one) after dinner. He wasn't in the mood to go back outside, for a while. "Not today, though. You're too young to be messing with fire. Right?"

"Yeah."

"Here, guys," Pepper said, walking over with a tray that she set on the coffee table. There were three mugs; two with coffee and one with hot chocolate. Tony saw that she'd even found a large marshmallow to put in Peter's. And a plate of cookies. "I had fun," she said, settling on the sofa while Peter climbed out of Tony's lap to sit in the space between the two adults and reach for a cookie and the mug.

"Me, too," the boy assured her. "Thank you," he added, politely, when she pushed the cookies closer to him.

"Only a couple," she cautioned. "We're going to have lunch, soon."

OOOOOOO

Once they were warmed up, Tony left Peter and Pepper on the sofa in front of the fireplace talking about the things they'd seen on their walk while he made their lunch. It was a simple meal of cold cut sandwiches, chips and canned soup, but they all ate heartily. Then, when they were finished, Tony reminded Peter that he had homework to work on, so the boy took his backpack and settled on the floor by the coffee table, while Pepper and Tony both pulled out their tablets and settled on the sofa.

That way Tony would be close at hand if Peter had any questions about what he was doing, but could still catch up on what was going on in the world, and emails. He and Pepper tended to subscribe to a few of the same news feeds – mostly financial – and they both were drawn to the headlines of the week, previous.

"That's odd," Pepper murmured only a few minutes into the first article.

"Yeah? What are you reading?"

"A couple of news articles that were forwarded to me from a foreign correspondences I have overseas. There have been some curious deaths over in Europe and Asia, the last week."

"I saw that."

They were very public, after all. Three CEOs of major European businesses had died, recently. Two in seemingly unrelated auto accidents and one by apparent suicide. Also topping the newly deceased list, Tony read, were two minor government officials in Germany, and a high profile entertainer in Austria. One was found in the park, an apparent victim of a mugging gone badly – with his bodyguards nowhere to be found – and the other having fallen off a very high balcony.

"Natasha's in Europe," Peter said, looking up from his math homework for a moment. "Maybe she heard of them, too."

Tony nodded.

"Maybe."

He exchanged a look with Pepper, and then turned his attention back to the tablet.