A/N Between the upcoming holiday and the crazy work schedule – as well as a meeting with the surgeon about my ankle this coming week, the chapters might be a little erratic, but I'm still here.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Dinner was a busy affair. As usual, Stephen and Pepper cooked. It wasn't anything incredibly fancy; stew, fresh bread and pasta salad for anyone who wanted it, but there was plenty to go around and it was a good meal to end their first official day being snowed in.

"Should we wake Peter up to eat?" Ned asked Pepper as he started clearing dishes to take them into the kitchen where Clint and Bruce had offered to do the dishes.

"No," Strange replied, buttering a final bread roll. "I want him to sleep through the night, if we can make it happen. We'll feed him a big breakfast to make up for it and then see about getting him on his feet for a little while – or at least a bit more upright."

"Aren't you worried about him sleepwalking?" MJ asked.

"Not really." Strange wasn't used to being challenged by a 15-year-old girl and it showed. "As much as he hurts right now, if he tried to get out of bed, he'd most likely wake himself before he managed to get his feet under him."

She didn't look convinced, but she didn't argue. Instead, she helped clear the table as well, then everyone but the dish washers gathered around the freshly cleared table and pulled out board games, since no one was really in the mood to go outside and get cold – at least for the rest of the evening. They played Clue a couple of times and then when Clint and Bruce joined them they switched to Scattegories which was made for a bigger crowd of players.

It wasn't the most active of evenings, but they all had a good time. Elmer took some photos of them, showing Ned his camera equipment when the boy showed an interest, and then showing him more of the photos that he'd taken, both before and after being found out in the woods half frozen by Peter and Tony. They broke up into smaller groups, then, as the evening wore down. Ned and Elmer, and somewhat surprisingly, Natasha, looked through his photos at the dining room table. Strange and Clint played chess, while MJ, Bruce and Steve turned their attention to playing the 3-D chess game – although Steve left several times to take Jack outside or tussle with the puppy to keep him distracted and out of mischief.

Tony and Pepper excused themselves to go into their room and check on Peter. When they'd found him still asleep in the same position that Tony and Stephen had left him, it had been too tempting to resist joining him, and the two had done just that. Closing the door and turning off the light, they had cuddled up against either side of the boy, leaving the pillows where they were to avoid jarring him, and maybe waking him, and had simply spent the rest of the evening talking about little things in a soft murmur that didn't disturb Peter.

Eventually, they drifted off, and the others also started looking for their beds as well. Elmer took the couch instead of the floor, and Strange wasn't the only one to raise an eyebrow when Natasha had found him an extra blanket in a closet – just in case it grew chilly once the fire died.

"Is it my imagination, or have you had a sudden change of heart regarding Elmer?" he asked Natasha as they were getting ready for bed a short time later.

She shrugged.

"It's not your imagination."

"Really?" He'd expected her to give him a look that would freeze time quicker than any gem he could ever wield, and then deny it. "What happened? I was under the impression he was fairly far down on your naughty and nice list – for obvious reasons."

"He was," she agreed.

"But…?"

Romanoff hesitated, and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Have you ever been in anyone's head? Not with a mind game kind of thing, but with some spell or something? Have you ever actually seen and heard another person's thoughts? What they think? Or feel?"

"No. I can read people fairly well and assume I know what they're thinking, but I can't say that I have heard someone else's thoughts."

"I did," Natasha told him. "While you were with Tony putting Peter to bed earlier, Pepper and I were talking to Rupp about Peter – and I basically threatened him if he were to do anything to Peter."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I wanted to be perfectly clear about his expected behavior while we're snowed in – and it was a good opportunity to address it. And then, he's telling me that Peter has no reason to ever fear him – that he'd already basically done worse to him than he's ever done to anyone before."

"Which is probably true. The man seems like your ordinary family man and not a psychopath running around the woods."

"As he was telling me that, I suddenly had a flash of what looked like a memory – and not my own."

"What kind of memory?"

"Being cold. Scared. Sitting in the dark in front of a tiny fire listening to terrifying night sounds until someone snapped a tree branch or something right outside my line of vision and reacting automatically because the first thing to flash through the thought was a pack of wolves or a mountain lion. And immediate concern and anguish upon seeing the bloodstain spreading on Peter's jeans."

"You saw Elmer's memory?"

"Had to be his," she said. "It was only a flash – it didn't take as long as it did for me to describe it – but I know it wasn't mine."

"You're intelligent enough that I don't need to ask if you think you were imagining it, so I'll assume it actually happened. That sudden flash of insight made you believe that he's not a danger to Peter?"

"It made me believe that he's genuine about his remorse that he shot Peter and that he's not some kind of plant for someone who was looking to be 'rescued' and get an in with us – and with Peter."

He was surprised.

"You considered that possibility? It's a snowstorm. People can't control the weather."

"No. But they can take advantage of it. And yes, I considered it a possibility. Maybe not a completely realistic possibility, but there's always a chance. I consider every possibility before I dismiss any out of hand. It's what I do."

"Where do you think this vision and sudden insight came from?" he asked her.

"It felt a lot like the dreams I get about Peter wandering where and when he shouldn't be, so I'll say it might have been the Mind stone without having further proof one way or another."

"That's a fair assumption," he agreed. "So we're not worried about Elmer?"

She scowled.

"I didn't say I'm going to invite him to the compound some day for milk and cookies, but I'm not worried that he's going to purposely hurt or do anything to hurt Peter or any of the others."

Which reminded Strange that Natasha Romanoff didn't just worry about Peter Parker's safety. She was always looking for any danger that might be posed to any of the people she felt responsible for. He mentally added himself to that list, although he didn't say anything.

"I suppose it's a good thing the gem stepped forward and shared that. Otherwise it might have made the snowed in business a little more awkward for some."

"Most likely."

"You're an amazing woman," he told her, finally pulling the blankets up over the two of them, ready to get some rest and refresh for whatever may come the next day.

Probably more sledding – although he privately hoped not. He had enjoyed the trip and the weather more than he's anticipated, but he was ready for some time in front of a fire, drinking coffee – or something stronger – and doing nothing for a while.

Natasha cuddled up besides him, clearly in total agreement just then.

OOOOOOO

A hand on her shoulder woke her.

"Pepper?"

She smiled, rolling over and already planning to tease him, ready to say that she had a headache. The serious expression she saw looking down at her made the quip die before it could even start. Tony wasn't serious unless he needed to be, and she knew him well enough to understand that about him.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't panic. He's going to be fine. I-"

She sat up in their bed, immediately panicked.

"Peter?"

"Yeah."

A surge of panic went through her and she pushed the blankets aside. Tony caught her hand, though, holding her in place for the moment. She allowed it, but knew he'd better do some fast talking.

"What happened?"

"We went out," Tony told her. "He was restless – had to be feeling something was wrong – because he pretty much knew exactly where to go."

"And? Tony, this isn't the time to make a short story into a long one."

"We found a guy lost in the woods. A photographer who was turned around and pretty much freezing to death."

"Is he here, then? What does that have to do with-"

"He had a gun and panicked when I stepped into view, thinking that we were wolves or something and the gun went off."

"Oh my God. Tell me the bullet didn't hit Peter."

"Not directly. He knew it was coming, and tried to push me out of the way. The bullet hit me, - my suit - then ricocheted and grazed his hip. Stephen's taking care of it, now."

"He was shot?"

"Grazed."

She bolted out of the bed, stopping only long enough to grab a robe and tie it on as she went into the living room. A small crowd was gathered around the sofa. Natasha, Stephen and a man she didn't recognize. Strange saw her coming and held his finger in front of his lips to indicate that he didn't want her making too much noise and she realized Peter was asleep. Or unconscious – but probably not worse.

"Stephen?"

"He's fine, Pepper. Or he's going to be, anyway. It's shallow, although it'll hurt a bit. I've cleaned the wound and given him antibiotics and a fairly potent painkiller. Which is why he's asleep."

She looked at the boy on the sofa, leaning against Natasha's side. Her boy, as far as she was concerned. He was pale and even asleep looked like he was in pain. Pepper stepped forward and carefully brushed her fingers along his cheek, but he didn't respond.

"DO we take him to a hospital?"

"It's not so serious that we can't take care of him right here," Strange assured her. "He's going to be fine."

"You're certain?"

"Absolutely."

"Honey? This is Elmer Rupp."

She drew her attention from Peter and turned to the man who was standing next to Tony, now, by the fireplace. The man who shot Peter. Who had almost taken him away from her. From them. She couldn't even imagine how Tony would have reacted to losing the boy. She couldn't imagine how she would have reacted. A wave of fury, and then fear, rushed through her, and she opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, when he spoke, first.

"I'm truly sorry," the man told her, sincerely, looking from her pale face to Peter's and back. "I thought they were wolves – or something. I didn't know that there was anyone out looking for me, or I would have been calling for help and might have heard them coming."

She stirred, restlessly, thinking to herself that so much had already happened to Peter. Things that she couldn't protect him from. This had been something that shouldn't have happened. Not that she didn't understand how it happened, now, and she was sure that Elmer Rupp was sorry. He'd spent a lot of time telling her that he was. She thought she should hide Peter somewhere. Somewhere that he wouldn't be hurt. Under a lounge chair back at the compound? Or in the sanctum? Stephen and Wong didn't let anyone else in the sanctum. No one could hurt Peter, there. But she couldn't stay there, and that wasn't an option. She needed to be there for Peter.

She started to move. Uncertain where to take him, but definitely planning on gathering him – and Tony – and taking her family someplace safe.

An arm came over her side, holding her fast.

"I'm here…" came a sleepy voice that she didn't need to open her eyes to know belonged to Peter.

She woke, then, abruptly, from the disturbing dream and looked at the boy. He wasn't awake, and sometime in the night had lost one of the pillows propping him on his side. Now he was pressed against her side, instead, and his arm was holding her. Cuddling her to his side. Reassuring her when she had no idea how he'd even known she needed it.

Without moving from his grip, Pepper pulled the blankets back up over them, and risked waking him by settling her hand on his side, above the bandages that protected his hip.

"Pepper…?"

"Shhh," she soothed. "I'm here. Go to sleep, sweetheart."

He mumbled something about not living at the sanctum and was still – probably never awake in the first place. Pepper wasn't far behind, too tired to stay awake and worry.