"I'm not hungry."

Tony frowned.

"You need to eat something, buddy."

Peter's expression was uncertain, but he shook his head, looking at his father almost apologetically.

"Later."

Pepper made a soft noise from where she was sitting near the boy at the table. She'd checked on the two when she'd woken, which had been earlier than usual – even for her – and had found Peter sprawled on Tony in the bottom bunk. The little boy had been above the blankets, making her think that he probably hadn't started in the bottom bed, and he was laying across Stark's body, his little butt in the air and a knee in Tony's side.

It was a wonder that the man was able to sleep like that, and she'd snapped a picture on her phone before closing the door, silently, and going to start coffee.

An hour or so later Tony had joined her, looking rumpled and still a little sleepy, but the cup of coffee that she offered did wonders to restore him. Peter had gone back to sleep, he'd told her, reaching for his tablet and taking another sip of coffee.

The boy was awake, now, though, and was dressed and ready to start his day. But he wasn't enamored of the idea of breakfast, they soon discovered when he'd joined them at the breakfast table and had declined anything to eat.

"Is your stomach still hurting you?" Pepper asked, reaching out and brushing her fingers along his cheek.

"No."

"Then you really should eat something," she said. "If it doesn't hurt, you probably won't throw up, again."

"It was just too many marshmallows, son," Tony confirmed. "It overloaded your belly. Maybe some oatmeal would help you feel better."

And would reassure him that food wasn't the enemy.

In normal quantities, anyway.

"I didn't like it."

"You threw up on me," Tony reminded him, tousling his hair to make sure he knew he wasn't annoyed. "I didn't much care for it, either. But oatmeal is bland and won't upset your stomach."

"Promise?"

"Sure."

Peter looked skeptical, still, but when the bowl was placed in front of him, with a slice of lightly buttered bread on a plate next to it, he took a careful spoonful, and then a nibble of the corner of the bread and waited, clearly expecting a new eruption.

When it didn't happen, he took another bite, and then another.

Pepper smiled over her cup of coffee at Tony, who simply shrugged.

"When we get done eating, I want you to go pack all your things," Stark told the boy. "We're not coming back if you forget something – not until the next time we come for a weekend visit – so check under the bed, and in the bathroom. Yeah?"

Peter nodded. He looked around the inside of the cabin.

"I like this place."

"I do, too," Pepper agreed. "Thanks for checking it out with me."

"You're welcome."

They discussed what they liked and didn't like about the cabin while they finished eating and then Peter left the table to do as he'd been told.

"It probably wouldn't work out for every weekend," Tony said as he started stacking dishes. "But it's a nice getaway place, isn't it?"

"We'll have to come up sometime in the summer," Pepper told him, getting up to help. "It might be noisier, then – and in the fall, in case there are hunters out and about."

"Good point."

He wouldn't risk Peter near anyone with a gun (aside from SHIELD and Avengers, of course) and definitely didn't like the idea of strangers with coolers and picnic supplies traipsing through the serene woods making a lot of noise.

"Are you planning on coming to the tower, tomorrow?"

"Depends on how long the doctors take," he replied. "The pediatrician is at nine and the psychologist is at eleven. There's no sense having Peter go to school a half day, so if he's feeling up to it after being poked and prodded and put on the couch, then I might bring him in with me after lunch."

"I'll keep your schedule clear, then," Pepper said. "Just in case."

"Thanks." He sighed. "I'm going to go find a garbage bag and take care of the blankets and clothes from last night."

"You're really going to throw them away?"

"I'm certainly not going to clean them. Tell the owner we'll buy her new bedding, first chance we get."

"Too bad he wasn't wearing his Batman pajamas," she said with a smirk.

"Next time."

"If we don't dawdle, we could take another walk before we go. Maybe down to the lake and check it out."

"Good plan. I'll go see what the boy is doing."

She smiled and watched him go, garbage sack in hand, and then looked around the cabin.

"It is a nice little retreat," she murmured.

OOOOOOO

"You're good?"

Peter hesitated, looking up at Tony, uncertainly, and then at the receptionist desk where a woman with a friendly smile had watched them enter the pediatrician's office.

"The SHIELD doctors looked at me…" he reminded Tony. "They said I'm fine."

"And they're very good doctors," his father agreed, resting a hand on Peter's shoulder to keep the boy from hiding behind him like he tended to do when he was nervous about meeting anyone new. "But Dr. Allen is a doctor for kids. Besides, we want someone closer to the house as your permanent doctor – just in case something was to happen. Makes sense?"

"Yeah. I guess."

Tony swept Peter up into his arms and carried him over.

"I checked her out," he assured him. "She's a nice lady. You'll see."

"Okay."

The receptionist had – of course – recognized Tony, and knew who Peter was, by association. She smiled when the two reached the desk.

"Good morning."

"Good morning," Tony answered, feeling Peter's nose pressing against his neck. "My son Peter has an appointment at nine."

"We're pleased to have him," she assured the two. She handed a clipboard of paperwork to the billionaire. "These need to be filled out, please. And you guys can hang out in the waiting room until we call you."

"Thank you." He turned, still holding Peter, and saw that the waiting room they were pointed toward was filled with all kinds of toys and brightly colored furniture; child-sized tables, chairs and bookshelves. There were tons of coloring books, magazines and toys and a couple of decent sofas. Tony sat down, but dumped Peter off his lap onto the plush leather so he could fill out the paperwork.

"Go play, son."

Peter rolled off the couch, doing as he was told, and was excited to find that the doctor's office had a lot of Legos and an entire table that was set up to build directly on the surface. He smiled and picked up some blocks and got to work.

Tony watched him long enough to make sure that he was fine, but then turned his attention to the paperwork in front of him. No matter how long the doctor had them waiting, he was sure that he wasn't going to have it filled out before they called Peter's name.

OOOOOOOO

"Well?"

"Well?"

Pepper rolled her eyes.

"How did the doctor's appointment go?"

"Doctor Allen is a very nice woman and Peter seemed to like her just fine."

"Good. Did you learn anything that you didn't already know?"

"He's remarkably intelligent, and is pretty small for his age," Tony reported. "Both of which we already knew." He smiled. "She commented on the fact that he was wearing Ironman briefs, and Peter pointed out to her that no one had warned him that he was going to have to take his clothes off."

Pepper chuckled.

"Everything looks alright, though? Did she find anything that explains how he does what he can do?"

"Not by looking at him," Tony said. "And she drew blood, just as a baseline, but she won't find anything abnormal there, either. SHIELD took blood when he was sick and they didn't find anything."

"You let them?"

"I asked them to. Just in case there was something I needed to know." He shrugged. "Short of doing a DNA test, or something, there isn't anything that shows up – and I'm not going to authorize a DNA test. We know where he comes from, already."

"Where is he?"

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Flirting with the receptionist. We're making another appointment for a couple of months out, and then we'll go find a playground until it's time for Dr. Wayne. Give him a chance to run off some energy before we ask him to sit still."

"Is Peter nervous?"

Tony looked over at the boy, who had already charmed the receptionist – and the pediatrician.

"I think he's holding out hope that it's Bruce Wayne in the flesh."

Pepper's smile was amused, but not surprised.

"Let me know how it goes."