Peter was asleep when Tony walked into the boy's bedroom almost an hour after Natasha returned from rescuing his doll. Now the thing was safely tucked inside Peter's sling, while Nutmeg was curled up in the small space formed between Peter's body and Natasha's. The assassin was sitting up on the bed with a tablet in one hand and the other resting lightly on Peter's shoulder. She looked up from the display as he entered.

"Where's Pepper?"

"Taking care of a few things. She'll be here, soon. How is he?"

Which told her that Stephen had pulled them aside to discuss their son's mental and emotional health as well as the physical.

"Stayed awake a while, but he's tired." She brushed gentle fingers along Peter's cheek, proving when he didn't wake at the touch that she knew what she was talking about. "Poor baby."

Tony's expression was tender.

"Anything I need to know?"

"He's missing homecoming."

"Yeah. And school, too, I imagine. Nothing we can do about it, right now. Not only would he have a lot of people asking what happened, but he's really not healthy enough to be there, anyway. We'd just be setting him up for failure if we let him go. Even to homecoming. He'd just fall on his face. We'll make it up to him, somehow."

She smiled.

"A dance here?"

"Or something. What are you watching?"

"Debriefs." She made a wry face, which didn't do anything to diminish how beautiful she was. "I was knocked out of the fight fairly early."

"Yeah, I know. Someone got in a lucky hit?"

"A wave of someones," she told him. "It might have ended badly if not for Groot saving me."

Tony hadn't heard that and made a mental note to look for that footage if it was available.

"I'll have to think of a way to thank him."

That made her smile – which made her more beautiful than ever, as far as Stark was concerned.

"Are you good here?"

"Yes, Agent Romanoff. You are released from your responsibilities as bed warmer and cuddle-buddy for my sixteen-year-old son."

She rolled her eyes, but phrasing that might have earned someone else a scowl – or worse – from the superspy only made her shrug. It was true, after all, and Peter was worth putting up with Tony's smart-assed comments every now and then. She eased herself away from Peter's side, but the boy roused at the movement and sleepily reached for her.

"Shhh…" Tony murmured, slipping himself into the spot Natasha vacated. He picked up Nutmeg to avoid the kitten getting pressed uncomfortably between them, and Peter muttered something incomprehensible and settled, once more. Only now he was cuddled against Tony. "We'll stay with him, tonight," he told Romanoff. "You guys can have him in the morning."

"I'll pass the word," she said.

She handed him the tablet that she'd been using and left, and Tony settled himself, looking down at Peter to make sure he was resting comfortably before he put Nutmeg back where he'd been. The kitten yawned, mightily, and then reached a paw out to catch Stark's finger and started gnawing on it turning arguably one of the most powerful men on the planet into a chew toy.

He rolled his eyes, and swapped the tablet to the other hand, turning it on. He'd watch some of the debriefs, too.

OOOOOOO

Quill was sitting with Danvers, Steve and Bruce when Gamora walked into the room with Drax, Mantis and Sirah. As they walked over to the table, Shuri joined them with Rocket and Groot, blushing, slightly, when Steve smiled at her, but reminding herself that princesses do not have crushes on men who are so much older (and she knew he was like a hundred, so it was even more inappropriate) it was just the fact that he was a superhero, of course.

"Did you find anything out?" Peter asked, curiously, as Gamora sat next to him and the others found chairs – even Sirah, who looked uneasy most of the time.

Earth was a confusing place to her – especially since all the people were so nice to her, and no one had put her to work, yet. They simply kept asking if she needed anything and making sure she was comfortable. It was odd for someone who had been a servant since she was much, much, younger.

"The light's still out there," Gamora reported, knowing that Steve would be interested to hear it, too. "It's moving through this galaxy and in some places has already expanded."

"Looks like Peter's going to be affecting a lot more than just this place, then," Rocket said, unable to hide how impressed he was.

"It's healing everywhere it goes?" Steve asked, knowing that Tony would be interested.

"I don't have any contacts on any of the planets it has been seen," she admitted. "So I'm not completely certain what it's doing."

"What does the light have to do with Peter?" Shuri asked, curiously.

"He created it," Rocket told her, wondering how she'd managed to miss that particular piece of information. It was the most interesting thing that had happened that entire battle. "When he snuffed Thanos, he did it with the light."

"But we're trying to keep that under wraps," Steve said, quickly, to the princess. "The less known about Peter's involvement with that, the better. For him, especially."

She nodded, awed. She hadn't had any idea, really. Of course, she'd been focused on healing the injuries caused by the stones' contact with her friend, and that had taken much of her focus. Now that he was out of the chamber and on the road to recovery, she could learn more – but not from the Avengers, she was certain. She had access to Tony's tech, somewhat, and also residual access to Peter's AI from when she'd made his suit for him and had integrated it. She could probably find her own answers.

She had plenty of time to look for them, since Peter was asleep and likely would be until the next morning.

"I understand, Steve."

Quill glanced at Bruce, and then brightened, considerably.

"Show them your trick."

The scientist frowned, but then smiled, looking at the others around the table.

"I probably shouldn't. It might scare someone."

"What trick?" Shuri asked.

"Yeah." Rocket looked interested. Bruce wasn't a very interesting-seeming guy, really. If Quill was that interested, maybe there was more to the guy than what met the eye. "What trick?"

Bruce looked at Steve, who shrugged.

"It's up to you."

He could see that Bruce wanted to, though. Not to show off the 'trick', really, but because it was still so novel to him that he could change at will. And still maintain his own senses. He was testing himself each time he did it. Trying to see if it was temporary or not.

Banner got to his feet, looking around the room. The rest of the lounge was empty, aside from the bartender, who had just vanished into the kitchen area behind the bar.

"You guys know who the Hulk is?" he asked.

"Of course," Shuri said, brightly.

"No clue," Rocket disagreed.

Groot and the rest also shook their heads.

"That's me," Bruce explained. "My alter-ego."

Shuri frowned.

"I do not understand."

"Only one to way to really prove it," Steve told his friend, turning to watch Shuri's reaction.

A moment later, Bruce was gone; transformed into the Incredible Hulk. There were several gasps and Rocket almost immediately reached for a weapon that he wasn't carrying. As had Drax, and Gamora. Mantis remained calm, well aware that the mind of the beast that was suddenly in front of them was as calm as Doctor Banner's had been. Shuri paled, but Sirah looked as if she was ready to run away – and only the fact that she was frozen to the spot with fear stopped her.

"That is really you, Doctor Banner?" Shuri asked, amazed as soon as she got over her shock.

The horrible face broke into a smile.

"Yeah."

"Pretty cool, huh?" Quill asked, obviously having already witness the transformation, but just as excited to see it happen, again. "Could you imagine what we could do with him? The bounties we could claim? The people we could bring in?"

The Hulk vanished, replaced by Bruce, once more.

"I've seen your spaceship," he told them. "You're probably better off waiting to make sure my control doesn't eventually slip, because the other guy would make pretty short work of the thing, and you'd all be walking."

"My master would give much to have a creature such as the green beast in his collection," Sirah said, suddenly looking hopeful. "If I brought him the creature, perhaps he would allow me to continue to serve him."

Quill scowled at that.

"You let us worry about him," he assured her. "You're not going to be left out in the cold. Right?" he asked, looking at Steve.

"Of course not."

As far as Steve was concerned, he wasn't going to allow her to go back where she came from only to be treated as a lowly – and disposable – servant, anyway.

He'd have to talk to Tony about that once Peter was feeling better.