"So I was right? It's just the power stone?"

Pepper rolled her eyes at the image on her display, and across the room at his desk – where he was, technically, taking a physics quiz – Peter smiled.

"Yes, husband. You were right."

"So, it's serious, but not something that we didn't already know about."

"Correct. The run of the mill where do I put the magic stone to keep it from destroying the universe when I'm not there to watch it kind of thing."

Peter snorted, which made Pepper look over at him and smile, ignoring the fact that he obviously wasn't working too hard on his quiz. She had asked the boy if he minded if she shared with Tony what they'd talked about on the way into the city, and Peter had given her his permission, gratified, really, that she'd asked, first. So, he'd settled in with his quiz, and Pepper had taken advantage of the free time she had just then before her meetings started to call Tony.

Tony smiled.

"We can discuss it more, later. How are things, otherwise?"

"Just starting our day. You?"

"I just saw Romanoff and Barton leave, and I'm going to go do some measuring before I start finishing the replacement part of the hood."

"We'll leave you to it, then."

"Tell our son that I love him."

She looked over at Peter, who was smiling and not even bothering to pretend that he was focusing on his quiz.

"I'll do that. Love you."

"Love you, too. Bye."

The billionaire ended the call and Pepper leaned back in her comfortable chair, and reached for her coffee mug.

"Your daddy loves you."

Peter's smile widened at the verbiage.

"I love him, too."

"Good. Finish that quiz."

"Yes, mommy."

She rolled her eyes, but she was grinning, too, when she tapped her display, next, to see what her first meeting was going to be.

OOOOOOO

There were several people in the garage to meet them when they pulled in that afternoon. Peter was surprised to see that Bruce was there – transformed into Hulk – and he was standing off to the side talking with Clint, Natasha, Steve and Tony somewhere near where the Pontiac was parked. Stark broke off from the conversation when they pulled up, walking over to Pepper's side of the car to open the door when she stopped.

As he usually did, he took her bag from her with a loving kiss, and offered her a hand out of the car.

"How was the drive?"

"It was sunny and clear," she replied, smiling at the others, who were waiting. "Just how we like it."

"Good." Tony looked over at Peter, who was getting out of his side. "Come look at what we've done."

The boy nodded, walking over to his car, and greeting the others. He stopped, surprised, and couldn't help that his mouth fell open.

The car was intact. Well, all of the pieces were where they were supposed to be, anyway. The hood was attached, the bumper, lights and grill and all the chrome was gleaming in the light of the garage and what little was filtering in from the open door.

"Wow. You got it done?"

"Not completely," Tony told him, looking smug. "But it's all there. We were waiting for the rest of the front end, and the headlights, of course. When they came in – and Natasha and Clint just happened to return at the same time – I couldn't help but come in and see if everything would fit together on the first try."

"I did the heavy lifting," Bruce/Hulk told him, looking pleased.

Both at how happy Peter looked, and almost certainly at being able to assist in his other form.

"I helped with the engine," Steve added, holding up his grease-stained hands for proof.

"I helped with the alignment and smart ass comments," Clint said, smirking.

Peter looked at Natasha, who shrugged.

"I just looked pretty."

The boy laughed, and hugged Tony, first, but then each of the others – including Bruce in his Hulk form – which was just as amazing to him as it probably was to Banner.

"Wow. Thanks, guys."

"We still need to finish a few connectors," Tony told him, obviously pleased with himself. "And we'll have to paint it, of course. But, yeah, it's going to be ready for a test drive by tomorrow and ready to drive by the time you're ungrounded."

"Wow." The boy stepped up, running his hand along the fender. "That's amazing."

His eyes filled with tears, and it was Natasha who pulled him into her arms and hugged him.

"It's the least we could do for you, baby," she told him, kissing his cheek. "You know, because you bought us ice cream."

Peter chuckled, and wiped his eyes on her collar before pulling away.

"Thanks."

They all looked pleased with themselves, now, and not at all concerned by the tears. Pepper had put her arm around Tony, who kissed the top of her head. One more closure for their boy, right? They were getting there.

"We should celebrate," Pepper told them. "Everyone get changed – Bruce, lose the green guy – and I'll take you all out to dinner."

"At the truck stop?" Steve asked, hopefully, making Tony scowl.

He didn't like going to the truck stop – although it had nothing to do with the quality of their food and everything to do with past memories of Peter being mistreated there. None of which had been the staff's fault, and the others knew it, so they still frequented the place – and Peter was a favorite of many of the waitresses, there, as well as some of the regular drivers who came through every few days.

Pepper didn't miss Tony's reaction, but she also noticed that Peter looked hopeful, too.

"Sure. We can go there."

"Yes."

Steve smirked, triumphantly, at Stark, who rolled his eyes but gave in with a little grace, and Peter chuckled at the interplay between the two men.

"Sally's working, tonight," the boy said. He knew all of the waitresses' schedules, for the most part. "She probably baked cookies."

Only partially mollified, since he knew the woman made amazing cookies for the place, but he could always have Peter or Pepper just go pick him up some, Tony shrugged.

"Sounds good."

"Is Carol coming?" Peter asked Steve as they all started heading for the exit.

"I'll see if she wants to," came the reply. "She's been with Nick all day, so she's probably ready for a break."

"What are they up to?" Peter asked, waving to Tony, Pepper and Bruce when they turned off at one corridor and the rest went the other direction toward their own rooms.

"He's picking her brain on what else is out there that we need to know about," Steve said, amused. "He's been doing it for a while, of course, but with everything calming down, he's using the opportunity to take the time to finish with it."

"Is he learning anything?" Natasha asked.

Rogers shrugged.

"There's always a threat out there, Nat," he said, casually. "You know that.

"If there weren't, we'd be out of business," Clint pointed out, not looking any more concerned than Steve.

"True." She smirked. "Maybe I'll see if Stephen wants to come to dinner."

They all knew he wasn't a fan of the truck stop, either – except for their coffee, which he was willing to admit was pretty good stuff.

"Even better," Clint said. "Don't tell him we're eating out, and then he can have the happy surprise of finding out when we leave."

She wasn't the only one to chuckle.

"I probably owe him that for the ugly t-shirt," she agreed.

They were all still grinning when Peter ducked into his quarters, promising that he'd see them soon and feeling pretty cheerful about the whole day, really.

Right up until he walked in on Nutmeg gnawing on the Ironman doll and felt the toddler inside scream in indignation even as he rescued the small stuffed doll from the kitten, checking for any damages that needed repaired. He tapped the world's most dangerous kitten on the nose in admonishment.

"You keep that up, and I'm going to have to learn how to sew," he chided.

The kitten didn't look guilty and the toddler wasn't mollified. Peter ignored them both as well as he could, put the doll back up on the high shelf where it had been, and debated calling T'Challa then and there, so he could get rid of the power stone and get his polymorph back and use it for what it was best at being; a 4 million dollar cage to keep his stuffed doll away from his crazy kitten.