EPILOGUE

"We must be out of our minds…"

Tony smiled at Barton, turning his attention from the three boys standing in the middle of the clearing listening to Steve, who was showing them – and Sam – how to put up the tent they were going to be sleeping in for the next four days. The big man clearly knew what he was doing, just like he'd told them he did, because the little domicile was taking shape, and the slight breeze that was blowing in from the lake wasn't budging it.

"Why do you say that?"

"How many times have you been camping, Tony?" Clint asked, not looking worried, but definitely amused.

"Counting this time?"

"Yeah."

"Once."

The archer made a 'there you go' motion with his hand.

"See? I've never been, either. Sam said that he's gone a few times, and none of the boys have. We're city slickers, and we probably should have elected to go to your cabin in the boonies."

"We'll be fine."

Tony wasn't worried. Not about the camping trip, and not about Peter.

It was June, now, and he'd been a married man for three months and a father for just over six, now. Things had settled in nicely, too. Peter was still not always sleeping through the night, of course – the psychologist wasn't worried, telling Tony and Pepper that there wasn't an immediate solution and that time was going to be the cure, if there was one – but he was much more secure in his place in Tony's world.

Occasionally – very rarely – JARVIS would warn Tony and Pepper that their bed was about to become a bed for three, and sure enough, a few minutes later Peter would come into their room. He never knocked, because he knew that if JARVIS said it was alright, then it had to be alright. He'd climb into the bed, silently, and would find the spot that he loved so much. Right between Tony and Pepper. It was a ritual that Tony would ask if he was okay, but those rare times that he needed to be comforted, Peter would simply tell them that he had a dream, would cuddle against one of them, and then simply go back to sleep.

Mother's Day had come and gone, and they'd celebrated the day with breakfast in bed for Pepper and then a day of the two guys in her life pampering her, outrageously. She hadn't been allowed to do anything for herself, and Peter had been especially cheerful, since it was – in a way – his day, too. He had a mother, now, to celebrate Mother's Day with, and he'd been so excited when Tony had picked him up from daycare the afternoon that Ella and the other staff in the place had told him about the upcoming holiday. Excited enough that he'd hugged himself when the billionaire had smiled and suggested that they would have to go shopping the next day and find his mom the perfect gift to celebrate.

Father's Day was next, Tony reminded the two of them much later that Sunday, when they were all three lounging on the sofa getting ready to watch a chick flick, because that was what Pepper had requested and since it was Mother's Day, they'd watch whatever she wanted. He pointed out that he wanted something exotic and dangerous. Pepper had raised an eyebrow, amused, and had suggested that since Peter was going to be out of school for summer holiday by then, why didn't he take his son camping?

Peter's eyes had widened, and he'd turned to his father, hopefully.

"At a hotel?" Tony had asked, forcing himself not to smile at the way Peter groaned.

"I think not," she'd said. "I remember Steve mentioning something about a camping trip out to a lake. Why don't you get together with him, and see what he would suggest?"

So he had. Not that day, of course, but the next weekend he took Peter and Ned out to the compound for an overnight stay, and brought it up with not only Steve, but Sam, Natasha, and Nick. Romanoff had immediately bowed out – especially when she found out that Pepper wasn't going to go.

"If it's a Father's Day thing, then make it just the guys," she'd told them. "I'll help plan it, if you need some ideas, but I think it'd be more fun for you guys to do it, alone."

She didn't have any desire to go camping – although she refused to admit it.

"And you're afraid of being eaten by a racoon, or something," Sam guessed, smiling, and looking excited at the idea of a camping trip – at least they all assumed it wasn't excitement at the idea of Natasha being attacked by angry wildlife.

"Of course not," she'd scoffed, her arms wrapping around Peter, who had been in her lap. "Someone has to stay here, though, and mind the store."

"Nick?"

"I'm going to mind the store with Romanoff."

"Can I come?" Ned had asked, excited.

And why wouldn't he be? A camping trip with the Avengers?

"If Eric says it's alright," Tony had replied. "Of course you can."

"Yes!"

Ned was sure that his dad wouldn't say no.

"You might mention it to Clint," Natasha added. "He and Cooper would probably be interested."

And so they had.

It wasn't Father's Day weekend. There just hadn't been time to do things right and have the trip that weekend – and Tony's schedule was a bit full the Monday after, and he'd already mentioned that it should be more than just an overnighter – or two. He wanted at least a few days, just because Peter had mentioned that he'd never been camping, and so had Ned.

Any and all mention of the trip had been kept fiercely guarded, and JARVIS had closely monitored the web to make sure it stayed that way, deleting any search histories that were made by the group that might lead some enterprising adventurer/reporter to their secluded spot by the lake. Eric had signed off on the trip, reminding Ned that he was to listen – and not get eaten by anything - but he hadn't allowed the boy to take his puppy, insisting that she would be left out being the only female. Peter's former foster father was invited to come, too, of course, but he'd declined, since they'd just brought in another boy and he wanted to be there to help settle the youngster into the household.

Tony and Peter had swung by to get Ned that morning before heading out to the compound to meet up with the others and the drive had been animated, with the boys excitedly asking Tony all about the camping spot – even though they already knew as much as he did.

Now here they were, and Steve was proving to be far more adept at the whole camping thing than Tony or Sam – which wasn't that surprising, Stark pointed out. The guy was old enough to be an actual founder of the Boy Scouts, right? Clint had smirked, but a quick query to JARVIS had placed the dates pretty close to each other. Close enough that Tony had simply turned the tents over to Rogers, with the boys and Sam as his helpers. He and Clint unpacked everything that wouldn't be stored in the vehicles (to keep bears from attacking their supplies) and then had waited until the rest was stowed into the now erected tents before calling the boys over to the fireplace.

"We've got some ground rules," Tony told them as they gathered around.

He waited to make sure he had all their attention, and that the other adults were listening, too.

"What rules?" Ned asked, curiously. "No playing with the fire? I was already told I can't do that."

"That's a good rule," Tony conceded. "No playing with the fire," he told Peter and Cooper.

"Okay."

Peter hugged himself, excitedly.

The last months had been amazing. He had more hugs and support than he could ever remember having in his life. He felt safe, and had even taken the little treasures that were stored in the safe behind Batman out of the envelop so some of the photos could be framed and hung on his walls, or put on his dresser. Even better, he was going to be spending time that summer at the compound, where Steve and the others were going to see if they could help him figure out how to actually climb the walls that he was so good at sticking to. His life was amazing. Pepper was amazing and so was Tony.

Tony smiled at the boy.

"No going in the water without one of us with you," he said.

The boys all nodded at that. Peter had done swimming lessons at the YMCA only the month before, so he was comfortable in the water, and the pool in their backyard was going to be filled, soon, but he knew that he'd be in a lot of trouble if he tried swimming – or wading – without supervision. At home, or at the lake.

"Okay."

"Don't wander off," Clint told them. "And if we're out in the woods and you get lost, what do you do?"

"We stay put," Peter said, looking at Tony. "So you know where to find us when you come looking for us."

The billionaire nodded.

"Exactly."

Of course he'd coming looking for them.

"What else?" Ned asked.

"Don't get eaten by anything."

The boys laughed at that, since all three of them had heard that advice from various parents and siblings ever since the trip had started to take shape.

"Is that it?" Steve asked, looking at the others.

"I think so," Tony confirmed. "Make sure you have a good time, too," he said. "Because we might want to do it, again, sometime."

There was a lot of murmured agreement, and the little group broke up a bit as they all tried to decide what they wanted to do, first. Peter went over to Tony, looking up at him, his brown eyes excited.

"Do you want to go for a hike?" he asked. "We can look for something to bring back for mom."

Pepper had told them to bring her back a souvenir before they'd left the house that morning. It wouldn't be spoor, because Peter knew what that looked like, now, but maybe they could find a pretty rock, or something.

Stark swept the boy into his arms, hugged him for just a moment, and then hung him upside down, making him giggle.

"Yeah, son," he said. "Why don't we go find something to take back for mom?"

Life was very good, after all – and it was so much better than it ever had been, as far as he was concerned.

THE END

AN: Well that was a lot of fun. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. When I wrote the story that turned Peter into a toddler, I knew I'd eventually want to revisit the idea of the relationship between a younger Peter and Tony, and I couldn't do it in the AU that I've created, so I had to go outside of it. It turned out pretty well, I think.

Thanks for indulging me. The next story here will be back in my familiar AU and we can see what trouble Peter and the gang can get into