A/N: Nope, to answer the question many of you asked (in reviews and PMs) Natasha isn't pregnant. I toyed with that, but decided that it wouldn't be fair to have her get pregnant without knowing that it was possible. I want her (and Stephen, of course) to be allowed to choose since it's a big decision. But they CAN now.

OOOOOOO

By the time Peter's two hours were up for the evening, he was ready to stop being the server. Not that he minded helping; because he didn't. But his hand was aching just a little from trying to carry the tray with both hands instead of his left – for more stability since he was also tired of picking up dropped dishes. Deena took the apron from him with a smile, and handed him a plate with his own dinner on it that she'd been keeping warm for him. He took it with a smile of thanks and carefully carried it to the table where Stephen, Natasha, Pepper and Tony were now playing cards, while Shuri cuddled Nutmeg, who was asleep.

"How's the hand?" Tony asked, looking up from his cards at the boy's approach.

He'd been watching Peter all evening, of course, and it didn't seem to be too bad. The dropped trays weren't a surprise, and he'd snorted in amusement when Deena had brought over the pieces of paper that his son had been writing everyone's orders down on. Peter was tight-handed, and it showed. The scribbles were barely legible, and Strange had pointed out that it looked more like hieroglyphs than dinner orders.

"Aches a bit," Peter admitted, proving it by trying to eat left-handed despite having his fingers available to hold the fork. "I'm okay, though," he added before any of them could look worried.

He was going to worry them enough that evening, he knew. Alec had spent the past two hours talking to him about the infinity stones and reminding him that they needed to be separated as soon as possible. Now that his hand was out of the bandages, they could at least take care of getting Vision back on his feet, which would definitely cheer up Wanda – who was spending a lot of her time at the compound sitting next to the construct in the small workroom.

Peter was anxious to get that taken care of, since his connection with the mind stone was making it harder and harder for him to keep her worry out of his head. Only Alec's presence was stopping her from completely overwhelming him – even though it wasn't on purpose on her part.

"Why don't you take it easy the rest of the night?" Pepper suggested. "It's Shuri's last night here, after all. Keep her company and go do something together."

"Four inches apart, though," Tony added, only somewhat seriously.

He winked at the girl, who rolled her eyes, but smiled. Peter, however, shook his head. Since the opening was there, he might as well take it. But he had to get away from Shuri, as politely as he could, since she didn't know everything that they were discussing and Peter didn't want to spend her last night at the compound explaining things that were so unbelievable.

Peter looked at Tony.

"Can I borrow you for a second? To help me carry my stuff back to the bar?"

To his credit, Tony didn't n hesitate. He stood up and reached for the now empty plate, while Peter picked up his water glass and the one that had held the cola he'd been sipping on all evening.

"I'll get that, Peter," Stephen told him, also picking up on the cues.

Of course, there was no doubt the others had, as well, but they were too polite to say anything as Tony, Stephen and Peter all walked to the bar.

"What's up?" Tony asked, leaning over to put the plate and silverware in the appropriate places to be washed, later. "I was only kidding about the four inches. You know that, right?"

Peter nodded, but he didn't smile.

"Actually, I was thinking that we could get the Mind stone back where it belongs," he told both of them, speaking softly enough that only they could hear him. "My hand's well enough to touch the polymorph and Alec seems to think that the sooner we start separating the stones the better off we'll be – and everyone else, too."

Tony and Stephen both looked worried – like Peter had known they would.

"Are you certain that's wise?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'm okay. I'm not sore and tired – I napped this afternoon – and Wanda's really upset, and I can feel it."

Tony looked even more uncertain than Stephen.

"Alec's on board with this?"

"Yes." He looked at Strange. "We can get yours back to you, too, this way – and that's two less for us to worry about, later."

"You're sending the reality stone with the guardians when they go?" Stephen verified.

"Yes. And the space stone needs to go to Asgard, where I took it from."

"You are not going to Asgard, tonight," Tony told him, in no uncertain terms. "You're grounded, remember?"

"No. I know."

He was grounded from his phone, though, and not traveling – as his trip in the Quinjet had proven. But he wasn't ready for a trip of that distance, really, and he wasn't ready to deal with the magical energy of Asgard, either.

"How difficult will it be to put the stone back in Vision's head?" Stephen asked his friend.

Stark shrugged.

"Should be pretty easy. A couple of minutes, at the most." He looked at Peter. "My question is; how do we stop the stones from overwhelming you and hurting you while you pick the right one?"

"I think the polymorph will do that," Peter replied. "If I have it just shift its elements enough that I get just one stone at a time, Alec can buffer me."

OOOOOO

"What do you think they are discussing?" Shuri asked, watching as Peter started talking to the two men in low tones that made it impossible to hear what they were saying.

It must have been more serious than where to put the dirty dishes, however, because Stephen and Tony both looked concerned – while Peter looked like he was trying to be reassuring and was gesturing to his hand.

"Maybe making sure what he meant by four inches apart," Natasha said, smirking, even though those who knew her best would be able to see that she, too, was wondering what the discussion was. "Boys his age are clueless about pretty much everything that is going on around them."

Shuri sighed.

"Yes."

Both women turned from the silent (to them) conversation and looked at the princess.

"Problem?" Pepper asked.

She'd spent the day with Shuri – more or less – and the girl had seemed fine. But no longer.

"How…" Shuri hesitated, and then shook her head as the conversation at the bar broke up and the three walked back to the table. "No. No problem. Nothing that you can help with, that is. Thank you."

"Everything alright?" Natasha asked.

Stephen nodded.

"It seems to be."

"We're going to borrow Peter for about half an hour," Tony told her. He looked at Shuri with a smile that was teasing. "After that he's yours for the rest of the night."

"Secret Avenger things?" Shuri asked, smiling at the mystery.

She was curious, of course, but she was also princess enough to know that whatever was going on was something that they obviously didn't want to share with her, and she wouldn't stick her royal nose where it wasn't wanted. Her brother had royal secrets that had to be kept private (although she usually knew what they were) and security was always a secret that needed to be kept private, also. Shuri understood that.

Besides, it was always possible that Peter would tell her, later.

Peter smiled, too, but it was Tony who answered.

"Exactly."