Peter frowned.

"What I want? What do you mean?"

"You're not dead, Peter, and this isn't heaven. But we could be together here."

"In the park?"

"In whatever reality you want it to be," she replied. "The park. The apartment. The house you lived in with your parents before they died."

"They'd be there, too?"

"Yes. Of course."

He hesitated.

"Then it wouldn't be real. They're dead. You're dead."

"Yes."

"But I'm not dead."

"Not right now, no."

She waited, giving him time to figure out what she was saying. Peter had seen enough movies that it didn't really take that long.

"So to stay here – with you, mom and dad – I'd have to die, too."

"Yes."

"Why can't you guys come be with me?" he asked, standing up, now, but not releasing the touch of his hand on her leg. "You could come back, and we could be a family, again."

"There's no going back," May answered, looking at him, sadly. "Once here, a soul stays here."

He frowned.

"But Alec didn't stay, though, did he? He said a soul for a soul and he's not in here, now."

"He's in your head, though," she pointed out. "It isn't the same thing. His body is long gone – and so is mine, and Mary and Richard's. Alec didn't return to his body, he was placed in yours – and even that isn't allowed. The exception was made so that he could help you with what you needed to do – to make it possible."

"To repair me," he said.

"That's what he was told," she told him. "There was more to it than that, though. Much more. He was the only one – living or dead – who knew how to shield your mind from the power of the stones. Who could protect you in order to allow you to handle them. So the deal was made. Just him, though." She smiled, but there was very little humor in it. "You can't have three more people in your head. It would drive you insane – and us, as well."

"So I would have to stay here… and die…"

"Yes."

She was silent, then, allowing him a chance to understand what he was being offered – and what he would lose if he took that. It didn't take him long, of course.

"I'd have to leave Tony and Pepper…"

"Yes. Right now, you're stable, but badly injured. If you decide to stay here, then you'll take a turn for the worse, and your body will die. Or you can get better and live, and stay with them – and join us, later."

"That's not fair," Peter said, bitterly. "Stay with you and be happy and make the others sad…" and he knew that they would be devastated to lose him. "Or go back to them and lose time with you – and mom and dad."

And being with them would pretty much be like meeting them again, for the first time, his memories that he had of them were so fuzzy.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," May said, and Peter immediately felt guilty for unloading on her.

He dropped back down beside her legs, and once more rested his head on her knees, arms going around her legs, possessively.

"It's not fair," he repeated, near tears, again. He was so close to having her back with him, only to hear that – as usual – it wasn't going to happen the way he wanted. "It isn't…"

He felt her hand brushing the back of his hair, could practically feel the love that she had for him emanating from her very being.

"Are you happy, Peter?" she finally asked, softly. "With Tony, I mean."

He didn't lift his head.

"Yes."

"Is he treating you right?"

"Yes."

"Doesn't beat you?"

He smiled at that, because she knew that Tony wouldn't beat him. She had clearly asked that just to startle him out of his tears.

"No. He let me keep Nutmeg."

"The Flerkin?"

"He's a kitten. He's cute. Tony got a pig."

"It sounds like he's being good to you."

"He's great, May. Him and Pepper, both. And the others. They all are. They take good care of me."

"Then why is this so hard for you?"

He sniffed, lifting his head to look at her, but not letting her go.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not going anywhere, Peter," she told him. "Go be happy with the others, and then, when the time comes, I'll be here for you."

Peter lowered his head back into her leg, ignoring the way her knees pressed into his nose.

"I miss you, May…"

Her hand went back to the back of his head, and she didn't seem to be in any hurry to move – or to let him go.

"I miss you, too, sweetheart. I'm so proud of you."

Peter couldn't help himself; he started to cry, again, but this time the tears weren't quite so bitter as they had been.

He'd go back. There really wasn't a choice to be made.

But not yet.

OOOOOOO

If Tony and Pepper thought that they were going to have Peter to themselves that day, they were wrong.

Nick left them after a few more moments of gentle teasing, taking Nutmeg with him. But before the two had a chance to do more than settle into the chairs – after studying the display, and the still form in the chamber – Steve and Carol walked into the room.

"How is he doing?" Danvers asked, quietly – as if afraid she was going to wake the boy.

"Holding his own," was the reply.

Steve walked right up to the chamber, pressing his palm against the side, much as the others had done.

"He looks like he's doing alright in there," he said. "Is he in any pain?"

"He shouldn't be," Tony answered, but he stood up to double check the readout, once more, for any indication that Peter might be in any discomfort. "It looks good."

"Can we do anything?" Carol asked.

"No. It's just a waiting game right now."

"Peter heals quickly, though," Steve assured her. "Stephen said that this goo that he's in is going to augment that."

"What have we missed?" Tony asked, ready to change the subject.

Not that he didn't want to talk about Peter getting better, but he almost felt superstitious talking about the healing abilities – as if talking about them would jinx them, somehow.

"Grady has been closeted with his general and the JCS," Steve said. "They'll get a heavily edited version of what happened."

"What are we telling everyone?" Pepper asked. "You're not mentioning Peter, right?"

"No. Of course not. We're going to mention a very generic benign alien power – wielded heroically by Thor – and let the rest of the world sit back and see what comes of the light. So far, its healed everyone it touched."

"But it doesn't stop people from hurting themselves," Carol added. "Just because you were healed, you can still get into a car accident and be hurt or killed. Or fall off a roof. We've been watching the media, and social media, of course, to see what's happening. And he definitely didn't cure stupid."

Steve wasn't the only one to smile at that.

"Do you guys need a break?"

Tony shook his head, appreciating the gesture, but not ready to give up his spot, yet.

"We just got here. Thanks."

"We're going to go into the city, then, and check on a few things and a few people. If you need something, call."

"We will."

"Did you check in with your people?" Tony asked, once they'd left – with Tony and Pepper both eyeing them, speculatively, and privately wondering if they were walking just a little closer to each other than Steve walked beside Clint or Natasha.

"You own the company," she chided. "They're your people, too. You know that, right?"

He rolled his eyes.

"I couldn't tell you the names of a third of them, Pep, you know that."

"I should make you spend more time in your office," she said. "Maybe when all this is over, I'll take a vacation and leave you in charge of things there."

"And you'll come back a day later and the building will have burned down and we'll all be standing on the sidewalk looking confused."

She pursed her lips, but didn't disagree.

"I checked in with the people who report to me, and told them to check in with their people, and work the way down the tree. If there's anything I need to know, they'll call me and let me know."

"Everyone was alright?" he asked, taking her hand.

"They seem to be, yes."

Before she could say anything else, Shuri walked into the room with Stephen, and Tony and Pepper both moved out of the chairs to give them room next to the chamber's control panel. The princess was the one to actually manipulate the controls, but Strange didn't seem at all nonplussed to be allowing her to take the lead on Peter's care. He looked over at the two watching them.

"It looks promising," he told them. "The minor burns are already fading."

"And his hand?" Pepper asked. They weren't able to really see their son's right hand, since his body was blocking it, so neither had actually had a chance to look at it. "Any progress?"

Shuri brought up a different display, which flashed through several different segments of Peter's body before stopping on the hand in question. She and Stephen both studied the readout, with Tony looking over their shoulders, as well. Pepper's hand in Tony's tightened when she saw the damage, but his own squeeze was reassuring.

"There's already improvement," Shuri told them, not looking up from the display. "I programmed the nanotech to concentrate on the right side of Peter's body, first. If we can get the hand and arm repaired enough to be able to bring him out of the fluid, the rest will heal without issue, I think.,"

"I agree," Strange added, making Pepper smile, because Shuri was looking rather pleased with herself at having someone who was a famous surgeon agreeing with her. No one ever declined validation – even princesses. "We can probably keep him in there another three days, safely."

"Two," Shuri corrected. "A third if absolutely necessary."

"We'll see," Strange said.

He knew Peter's healing ability better than she did. He'd been exposed to it much more than she had been, after all.

"Is there anything I can bring you?" Shuri asked.

"No," Pepper said, shaking her head. "We're just going to keep him company for a while."