It was fairly early when Steve came strolling into the room Peter was recovering in. He had Carol with him, and the two smiled a greeting to them as they walked over to the bed. The two chairs that had been beside the immersion chamber were now on the left side of Peter's bed, and close enough to the bed that either adult could touch the boy at any time. They were also close to each other, for a similar reason.

"How's he doing?" Carol asked, watching as Steve reached out and brushed Peter's hair back from his forehead, careful not to wake him.

"Slept through the night," Tony reported. "We were warned to expect a lot of sleeping, for the next few days at least."

"Were you warned that other people would want to sit with him and keep him company?" Steve asked, pointedly.

That made Pepper smile. She expected it, and knew Tony did, as well.

"Are you reporting for duty?"

"We are," Steve confirmed. "Go get some rest, something to eat and spend some time together. Carol and I will keep an eye on things, here."

"But you'll call if he needs us."

"You know we will, Tony," he assured him.

Stark looked at Pepper, making sure with that glance that she was alright with the idea. She glanced at her son's sleeping form and then nodded, getting out of the chair, gracefully.

"He isn't allowed to speak," she told them. "We'll leave the tablet; in case he wakes up and needs to write something out."

"We'll take care of it."

Tony and Pepper left, and Steve walked around the room, once, just to make sure that he knew where everything was before sitting in the chair that Tony had vacated. Carol smiled, picking up the Ironman doll that was tucked beside Peter's uninjured side.

"Why doesn't he have a Captain America doll, too?"

"Because Tony beat me to it," Steve replied, smiling as well. "Aside from a lot of pictures that the general public will never be allowed to see, it's all that's really left over from the toddler incident."

She'd heard about it, briefly, but they had plenty of time, now, and it was interesting.

"I bet he was adorable."

Steve smirked, and pulled out his phone.

"I have a lot of those photos, if you're interested?"

She put the doll back where it had been, and nodded, reaching for the phone.

Of course she was interested.

OOOOOOO

They decided to go to the lounge, first, before retiring to their quarters to get some sleep and clean up a bit. They walked into the room, hand in hand, and despite the relatively early time of day they found Rocket, Groot and Peter Quill sitting at a table, enjoying an early breakfast.

"Good morning," Pepper said, walking over with Tony, curious what a tree would eat.

Turned out, it was eggs and bacon.

"How's the kid?" Rocket asked, looking up from his meal with interest.

Tony wasn't offended. It wasn't an insult when a talking racoon called your son kid apparently, because he didn't even feel a stab of annoyance at the question.

"He's asleep, but he was awake enough in the middle of the night that we know he's lucid. Where's everyone else?"

"Gamora and Mantis are with Sirah," Peter said, rolling his eyes. "Drax is sleeping in."

"Did she happen to hear anything about the rest of Thanos' army?" Tony asked, curiously. "Did the light do anything?"

"No word, yet."

"He doesn't have much of an army left," Rocket pointed out. "And no generals to lead it, even if he did. Between the readouts that we have from the Milano and what we saw from your own people's sensors, it looks like he brought a serious show of force to bear – and they're all gone, now."

Quill smirked, looking pleased and smug.

"And good riddance."

"Thanks for the assist, yesterday," Tony told them, sincerely. Especially Quill, who had acted as wingman to him and Rescue as they'd worked on devastating Thanos' forces from the air. "Everyone's alright?"

"Once that light hit, yeah," Quill said. "Drax is a hands on kind of guy, but that thing works on every race and type, apparently, because he stopped bleeding before your medics could get to him."

Rocket nodded his agreement, pointing to an area on his cheek that was missing some hair, but was perfectly fine.

"I took a cut, and it was gone in an instant when the light went through me. Felt amazing."

"The hair didn't grow back, though," Pepper noted, visibly forcing herself not to reach out and pet him.

He was just that cuddly to her.

"Yeah. It'll mess up my pretty face for a while, until it evens out, again. No worries."

"You guys planning on sticking around a while?" Tony asked. "Or do you have someplace else you need to be?"

Quill shrugged.

"Gamora says that we need to take Sirah back to the Collector, so we'll have to do that, eventually, but I'm not in any hurry, if it's all the same to you. I kind of miss all the trees and greenery that comes with being on Earth, again."

"You're welcome here as long as you want to stay," Pepper assured him before Tony had a chance to say something similar. "But Peter won't be up to driving you down to the store for your junk food fix for a while, so we'll make sure someone else is available."

The man smiled, and Pepper decided that he was cute. He'd probably been adorable as a boy.

"I'm going to have to take you up on that, eventually. We're going to spend the day helping with some of the repairs around here, I might have a big mac attack later, though."

"I'll assign someone to be your liaison and driver," Tony told him. "You guys are set for now, though?"

"Yeah. We're good."

Tony looked at the young tree.

"Groot?"

"I am groot," he agreed, nodding, so Tony didn't need a translation.

They walked to the table in the corner, and Wanda Maximoff was sitting there, alone, but watching them as she nursed a cup of coffee. The young woman looked tired, but her expression wasn't as troubled as it had been, before, despite the events of the last few days.

"Can we join you?" Pepper asked, knowing that she was sometimes uncomfortable with others, since she was almost always able to catch their thoughts.

With people who knew she could do it, it sometimes made them uncomfortable, which she caught from them. She smiled, though, and nodded. Tony was her friend, and she knew it, and Pepper was, by extension of that.

"Of course. How is Peter?" she asked, even though she could get the feeling of relief from them and had to know that he was doing better.

"He's out of the immersion chamber, and sleeping in a bed, now." Tony couldn't hide the relief in his voice. "As soon as he's able, we'll get the mind stone out of the vibranium ball and get it back where it belongs."

Maximoff nodded at that.

"I appreciate-" she interrupted herself, her expression turning distant, just as Tony's communication link beeped, softly, in alert. "Natasha and the others are back," she told them, while Tony answered the call he was getting in soft tones to avoid anyone else.

He smiled over at Pepper, apologetically.

"Natasha wants me to meet her and the others in the gym. Are you alright here?"

"I'll have breakfast with Wanda and meet you in our rooms."

Stark left, and Pepper turned to Wanda.

"Is it serious?" she asked, fairly certain the young woman had some inkling of what was going on.

"No. Interesting, though."

OOOOOOO

The gym was in shambles, Tony saw, when he walked into the room. Several of the alien dogs had broken into it, and had clearly been met by a security team, because there were signs of confrontation and melee everywhere. Broken windows – despite the protective bars and grates – damaged walls and bleachers, and Ironpig's neat little enclosure was destroyed, which made Tony relieved that he'd sent the piglet away for the duration.

Standing at the other end of the room, though, were Natasha, Clint and Bruce, and Tony walked over to them, his eyes checking Bruce for any sign of injury – although no one else seemed to have been excluded from the healing light, so there wasn't really any reason that Banner would be, either, he supposed.

"You okay?" he asked as he walked up to them, even though he looked fine.

Bruce smiled, positively cheerful.

"Yeah. Nat says we took some casualties, here?"

"Yes. It was intense for a while. The Wakandans and The Asgard came and backed us up, though, and they took some losses, as well. No injured, though," he added. "You saw the light?"

"While I was in my hotel room," he confirmed. "Trying to figure out how to get here to help."

"We could have used the other guy," Tony agreed. "Presuming we could convince him not to smash the good guys, too."

"Funny you should mention that," Clint said, amused.

"Oh?"

The archer and Natasha both looked at Bruce, who took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A moment later, Tony jumped back, activating his suit, automatically, when The Hulk suddenly made an appearance, taking Bruce's spot.

"Relax, Tony," Natasha said, holding up a hand. "Bruce?"

"Yeah. I'm good."

Stark stared at the Hulk, shocked at hearing his friend's relaxed voice coming from the normally volatile creature in front of him.

"What the hell…?"

The ugly green face was suddenly creased with a smile, despite the shredded remains of the shirt he'd been wearing. Luckily, Bruce and Tony had developed pants that would stretch and accommodate the change a long time ago, or they'd be getting a much more varied display.

"It's okay, Tony," Bruce/Hulk said, also holding up a hand. "It's me."

"Bruce? What's going on?"

"Beats me," his friend said, shrugging those massive shoulders. "I was in my room, and the light comes rushing up. Next thing I know, I'm changing before I can stop myself – only my mind didn't change with my body."

"What?"

The hulk was suddenly gone, and Bruce was once more standing in front of him, pulling off the remains of the shirt that he'd ruined.

"I can still feel him," he said. "But when I change – and I can do it at will, completely now, without being angry – I have control."

"Seriously?"

Banner grinned, looking relieved – and more relaxed than Tony had ever seen him. Ever.

"Yes. Whatever the light did, it gave me control of the other guy. We're still two in one, but I can control what happens, now."

"That's incredible."

"He didn't want to risk coming home on a commercial flight," Natasha said, looking pleased, as well. "And I don't blame him."

"We'll want to run some test," Bruce told Tony. "Just to make sure it isn't something temporary, and I don't get set off before I can stop it, but so far it looks like I'm in control, now."

"Wow."

Bruce grinned.

"Yeah. Wow." He turned to Natasha and Clint. "I'm going to go change and unpack and then check on Peter. Breakfast, later?"

"Definitely."

Banner left the wrecked gym, and Tony and the others watched him go.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Clint asked, also smiling.

"That's one word for it, yes."

"How is Peter?" Natasha asked.

"Slept through the night. Steve and Carol are with him, now, but I imagine he'd be fine with a little more company if you want to go check in with him. If he's awake, though, don't let him talk to you. Stephen wants to protect his lungs and throat, right now."

"I'm going to go look in on him before I go to bed," she said.

"I'll come with you," Clint told her.

They left, and Tony looked around the ruined gym, his eyes once more going to the piglet's shelter. He'd have to get contractors started on repairs to the interior of the compound as soon as possible. But first, he'd get something to eat with Pepper – and Wanda – and then get some rest.

Then he'd spend more time with Peter.