Pepper was a little disappointed that Peter didn't join them while they had coffee. The boy was going from table to table, extremely conscientious about his duties – even though they were a punishment. Or maybe because they were a punishment. He looked healthy enough, she decided, watching him chatting with the guardians at one of the tables a little bit apart from the one she was sitting at. His hand might be hurting, but he wasn't letting on, too much, if it was, and he wasn't limping or anything that she could see as he walked from table to table, bringing drinks, plates of food and anything else that someone might ask him for.

"He's fine," Tony told her, bringing her attention back to her company.

She blushed, slightly, chagrined at ignoring them in favor of watching the boy.

"I know. I just worry about him doing too much, too soon. Maybe we should hold off on the helper thing until he's healthier…"

"His hand does not hurt him that much," Shuri assured her, also looking over at Peter, but frowning slightly when she saw him talking and apparently teasing Sirah. "He told me this morning that it simply aches, somewhat."

"And Stephen is going to be here, later," Tony reminded her. "He can take a look at it if it starts to bother him. He suggested we start physical therapy by the end of the week, so we can do that, too."

"True."

"Relax, Pep," Tony said. "It's your birthday."

She rolled her eyes, looking around the room at the decorations and the throne that she was sitting on.

"I can't forget."

OOOOOOO

When Stephen arrived, Peter was forced to call an end to the server duty for the day. Not because he was tired or because he wanted to, but because the cloak arrived with him, and the ancient relic was quick to find him and wrap around his shoulders. He dropped the tray that he'd been carrying – luckily he'd already handed out the two cups of coffee and had handed out the plates of toast. The cloak crooned cheerfully into his mind – greeting Alec, silently at the same time – and Peter picked up his scattered items and took them back to the bar.

Strange smirked when he saw the throne Pepper was sitting on, but he walked over and gave her a formal bow before reaching for her hand and pressing a kiss against the back of it.

"Happy birthday."

She smiled.

"Thank you."

Peter joined them at the table, sitting himself next to Shuri, but finding himself immediately the focus of Stephen's attention.

"How's the hand?"

"It's fine."

"And you'd tell me if that was not the case?"

"Sure."

Tony rolled his eyes, exchanging a glance with Pepper, since they both knew Peter's tendencies to keep his discomforts to himself as much as he could to avoid worrying them. They'd both been watching him the last hour or so, however, to gauge how he was doing with his injured hand as he served the tables with drinks and late breakfasts – although there were few of those, now. He hadn't shown any indication that the injured hand was bothering him.

Well aware of their scrutiny, Strange looked at the two, and Tony shrugged his acceptance of what Peter was telling him.

"He doesn't seem to be favoring it, too much," he told his friend.

"Good." He winked at the boy, and the position he was in made it so only Shuri, Peter and Natasha could see it. "Enough server duties for the day, though. I don't want him overdoing it."

Peter didn't argue. He didn't mind being a server; it was new and fun, although he was sure it would get old after a while – otherwise it wouldn't be much of a punishment, now would it? There was a lot going on that day, and he didn't want to miss out.

Tony and Pepper didn't argue, either.

"You're reprieved for the day," Tony said.

Shuri giggled, and forced down her smile, looking innocent as Pepper and Tony looked her way.

"I spoke with my brother," she said, instead. "He will be ready when you send word."

"Word about what?" Pepper asked.

"If Peter is finished, I am going to steal him for a while," the princess said. "We are going to talk to Sirah."

"About a job in Wakanda?" Pepper asked.

"Yes."

"We were talking about it, earlier," Tony said, impressed at the way the girl had redirected Pepper's question so smoothly. He couldn't have done better, himself. "We thought it might sound less like an order and more of an invitation if it came from Peter and Shuri."

"Makes sense," Pepper approved.

"I will invite her to return to Wakanda with me when I go home this evening, and allow her to see both the palace and the orphanage so she may see what both are like. Then, if she is interested, she can choose which would appeal most to her."

"Room and board are included in both jobs," Peter said. "So she'll be good."

"And if she decides she's tired of doing whatever role she chooses?" Stephen asked. "Then what?"

Shuri shrugged.

"Then we find her something else. Wakanda is diverse, and we will educate her in the ways of the earth as she desires. She will have a bright future with my people. T'Challa and my mother approve."

Peter obviously approved, too.

Pepper waved the teens away with a gesture that was regal enough to befit the throne she was seated in.

"Go on, then. Have fun." She turned to Stephen and Natasha as Peter and Shuri left, Peter absently taking Shuri's hand with his uninjured one and heading for the bar with the cloak still along for the ride. "Cards?"

Romanoff shook her head.

"Not right now, sorry. We have to go check on some things."

"We can play cribbage," Tony told his wife. He, too, looked at Stephen and Natasha. "Barbeque starts at one."

"We'll be here in plenty of time," Strange assured him, also standing – and offering Natasha his hand. "Wong will be here by noon, if I'm not back by then."

"Perfect."

"Wong's coming?" Pepper asked, pleased – and a little surprised.

The magician was usually reluctant to accept invitations to the compound when he'd much rather be in his library, researching something.

"He is," Stephen confirmed, making a gesture toward the cloak. The ancient relic detached from Peter before the boy even reached the bar to turn in his apron, and soared through the air to find its normal position on the magician's collar. "He said he wouldn't miss this afternoon for the world."

They left and Pepper turned to Tony.

"Seriously? What are you planning that will bring Wong out of the sanctum?"

"Barbeque, honey," Stark told her with an innocent shrug. "Everyone loves a good barbeque, right?"

Except Stephen, of course.