"What are you going to do today?" Pepper asked Tony the next morning. "Drive out to the compound to watch them experiment on Peter?"

"With Peter, not on," Stark corrected with a slight smile, well aware that she was teasing him. "And no. I don't want to distract him. Which was one of the reasons they wanted to take him to the compound, this weekend."

"The others being…?"

"I think Romanoff has a crush on him."

She snorted, delicately, amused, and smiled when he brought her a cup of coffee.

They'd woken in his bed, in each others' arms, and rather than it being awkward, it had been nice. Nice enough that it had been a while before they made their way to the kitchen, stopping for a communal shower, and to get dressed for their day – just in case they received a call from the compound.

"I can understand why. He's cute."

"As cute as his father?" Tony asked, sitting down across from her so he could watch her as he took a sip of his coffee.

"He's younger, and less hairy."

"I can't compete with a cute little kid."

She smiled, because he didn't look upset about that, at all, very much secure and confident.

"Luckily, you don't need to compete with him."

"Good thing." He turned, slightly, as if to tell her that he wasn't speaking to her. "JARVIS? What's Peter doing?"

"Sleeping."

"Still?"

Pepper glanced at her watch.

"It's still early. Especially if he was up during the night."

"Which he was," the AI confirmed.

"How do you know?" Tony asked. "There isn't a monitor in his room – because he left his room."

"Correct. He left his room at four minutes after midnight, and ended up in the lounge."

"Did he sleep on one of the sofas there?" Pepper asked, comfortable with conversing with the AI, directly.

"No. Surveillance indicates that he played Legos in the lounge for twenty-seven minutes and was interrupted by – incoming call from Natasha Romanoff."

"Put her through."

"Good morning," Romanoff said, looking cheerful and awake, despite the early hour.

"Agent Romanoff," Tony replied. "How fares my boy?"

She smiled.

"He's asleep." She turned the camera of her phone, slightly, and Tony saw that she was still in bed, but Peter was sound asleep beside her, with his bear tucked against his side. "I found him in the lounge, early this morning, and decided that he might be missing daddy, so I took him back to bed with me, rather than leave him alone."

Now it was Tony who smiled, watching the little boy sleep.

"Is he alright?"

"He's fine, Tony. I just didn't consider the fact that he wouldn't be able to climb into bed with you if he was lonely. Tonight, we'll figure out something else. Maybe I'll have Steve take the bottom bunk so he has someone to cuddle with if he needs one."

"He's a pretty good cuddler," Stark agreed.

"That, he is."

"What do you have planned for today?"

"We'll feed him, keep him occupied playing outside for a while, and then after lunch, we'll run him through the warehouse that we have set up – to see if he can feel people hiding, or if it's something that only warns him if there's danger."

"Obviously you're not going to be actually threatening him, and if it only comes up when he's in danger, nothing will happen."

"Right."

"Need me there?"

They'd already discussed it, but if Romanoff had changed her mind and wanted him to be present, then he would be.

"No. Only if you feel a burning desire to be here. Otherwise, we'll call it an Avenger experiment instead of a dad one."

"Then I will find something else to do to occupy myself," Tony told her, glancing over at Pepper, who hadn't said a word, and wasn't on the right side of the table to show up in the video call.

Pepper smiled – and so did Natasha.

"You do that. I'm going to nap for a while and cuddle with your son until he's ready to start his day."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

The call ended, and Tony took another sip of his coffee.

"I seem to have a clear schedule, today. Want to spend more time with me?"

"Are you going to make me breakfast?"

"You could make me pancakes," he countered.

"I'm the guest," she reminded him.

"True." He reached for her hand and smiled when she took his. "I'll make breakfast. Then we can go for a walk. In the park, though."

"Sounds good."

OOOOOO

"So what do I do?"

"You walk through the maze," Natasha replied. "And pay attention to your stomach. If it starts hurting, tell me. Or if anything feels weird to you."

"Are things going to jump out at me?" Peter asked, uncertainly, looking at the entrance to the large room that had been so carefully prepared. "It sounds scary."

She shook her head, and reached for his hand.

"No one's going to jump out at you," Romanoff assured him. "I'll walk with you, too. What we're doing is trying to see if your stomach will tell you when someone is close by that you don't see. Or if you have any other abilities that we haven't discovered, yet."

He understood that; they'd discussed it over breakfast with Sam and Steve. But what had seemed exciting when they'd discussed it, now looked scary. Peter was a pretty little guy, after all.

"Okay."

He didn't release her hand, though, and he trembled, just a little, when they walked into the room and along a large partition that formed a 'wall'.

"Feel anything?"

"No."

His stomach was a little tense, but he knew it wasn't the same as the ache that he'd felt when the two men had tried to kidnap him. They walked on, with Natasha allowing Peter to set the pace. She was beginning to think that maybe the whole thing was a bust and that she should call a stop to it to keep him from being scared when Peter suddenly stopped at an intersection.

"You okay?" she asked.

"There's something over there…" He pointed with his free hand toward a corner where Romanoff knew a SHIELD agent was crouched. "Not scary, and my stomach doesn't hurt, but I feel it… it's weird."

"Very good…" Natasha murmured, squeezing his hand, lightly, but letting him go, because he was relaxing. They were walking though a little warehouse type room, after all, and there wasn't anything for him to be afraid of, he knew that now. "Let's keep walking."

"Yeah."

The two of them spent twenty minutes or so winding their way through the many small corridors of the room a few times, and twice more Peter sounded off that he felt something weird near at hand. Both times were SHIELD agents hiding. The boy didn't catch all of the people that were there, but Natasha was impressed by the ones that he did – although she didn't make a huge spectacle of it.

"You did great," she told him when they finally walked out and ended up back in the hallway that led to the lounge. "Your stomach never actually hurt, right? Just felt weird…?"

"No, it didn't hurt."

"Because there wasn't any danger," Steve said, walking on the other side of Peter. "No one here wants to hurt Peter." Obviously. "I don't get how you can feel danger like that, but it's a helpful ability for a guy that might be a superhero, someday."

Peter smiled, excitedly, at that.

Sure, he'd mentioned wanting to be an Avenger, but he was eight. Just a little kid, and he knew it. Steve Rogers was Captain America, though, and if he was saying that it might happen, that was a lot different, now, wasn't it?

"But… you can't come to count on just that stomachache thing," Natasha told him as they walked into the lounge and she steered him over to the table. "Because you might not always feel it. You need to always be aware of what's going on around you, too."

"Okay."

"She's right," Steve agreed. "Your eyes and ears are going to be your best asset when it comes to keeping yourself safe. But don't ignore your gut. Right, Nat?"

"Absolutely." She hefted him up into his chair, on top of the stack of books. "Your stomach can often tell you what your eyes don't see."

"It's saying it's hungry," Peter told her and Steve.

Which made them both smile.

"We'd better feed him, then," Steve said. "We're having hotdogs, Peter. You're good with that, right?"

The boy nodded, eagerly.

"Yes, please."

Natasha pulled a chair over to sit closer to Peter and pulled her phone out while Steve headed for the kitchen area.

"Let's call your dad and check in with him," she told the boy. "That way he doesn't think we lost you, or anything."

Peter smiled at that, but sat up, a little more, and leaned toward her, looking at the display, cheerfully.

"Okay."