Hey Guys, guess what? I'm finally updating on time! It's been a long week but this morning I woke up and said "I'm going to update and write if it kills me!" I opened my laptop right after breakfast and here I am now. These next two chapters are actually some of my favorite chapters in this whole story. And to make up for not updating on time lately, you guys get a chapter that's almost double the length of any other we've had so far.

Disclaimer: Really, do I still have to say this? I don't own anything recognizable, everything belongs to their respective owners.

Happy Reading!


Over the course of the next week and a half, everyone in the tower learned something new. Several new things actually.

The first thing they learned was that if there was anything you didn't want touched or wasn't good for a child to have, it got put away asap. Gwen nearly had a heart attack when she found one of Tony's blasters/ flight stabilizers in her little brother's possession.

"He's five Tony," Pepper had explained when it had become clear the billionaire had no idea what he had done wrong. "He's curious, and when little kids get curious about something, they touch it. A blaster is not an appropriate toy for a little kid. Not even one as smart as he is. Unless you want to be the one who has to explain to Fury what happened?"

All electronics were kept in the lab after that and Peter was under express orders not to go in there unless there was an adult with him supervising.


The second thing they learned was that, while Gwen was best at it, not even she could completely control her brother.

"Peter Donovan Benjamin Parker, get down here this instant," Gwen called.

Natasha had offered to give Gwen a few lessons in self defense and they had brought Peter along to the gym so they could keep an eye on him. It didn't work out as well as they had hoped.

While they had been working, Steve had come in the door. A few seconds later, there had come a "What the-" from the super soldier. His head was covered in Peter's white webbing.

Twenty minutes and a lot of having to dodge Peter's spider webbing later, and Gwen was finally shouting up at her brother. She'd had enough.

"Ooooh, she used your full name bud, you're in trouble now," Tony called out. They rest of the team had wandered in at some point to watch what looked like a game of dodgeball, but with spider webs.

Gwen sent him a look that would have been able to peel the paint on his Iron Man suit, if he had been wearing it.

"I'm going to count to three Peter, and if you're not down here by then you won't be allowed to play any video games with the guys tonight or tomorrow."

"You wouldn't," Peter dared.

"Try me," Gwen challenged. "Come down here right now and I won't even put you in time out." Peter grinned impishly and shook his head.

"One," Gwen said slowly.

"She's counting Peter," Tony said. "I'd listen to her if I were you."

"Two. Three." Peter hadn't even moved from his spot. Gwen sighed and made her way over to the easiest place to get up to where her brother was in the rafters.

"Gwen, Clint could always-" Natasha cut off when Gwen gave a sharp shake of her head.

"Won't work, it has to be me. He's testing his boundaries right now. He's trying to see what's changed and what's still the same. Unless you all want to be the ones to set the limits with him, it's gotta be me. It'll be hard if its the five of you. Too many mixed signals."

With that, Gwen swung herself up to where her brother had camped out in the ceiling, realizing not for the first time, how much she took her brother's webs for granted.

When she was near enough, Gwen grabbed her brother and forced him to look her in the eyes.

"You are in trouble," she stated plainly. "Do you know why you are in trouble?"

"Because I shot Mr. Steve with a web," Peter replied.

"And because you didn't come down when I told you to and made me come up here after you," Gwen finished. "When we get down, the first thing you are going to do is apologize. Then you are going to go into the bedroom and think about what happened. No games, no books, ten minutes. No video-games with the guys today. If you are good I might think about letting you play tomorrow. And you're on web restriction for the near future unless I tell you otherwise."

She let Peter climb onto her back and then took the long way down to the floor. She caught Natasha's raised eyebrows when she touched the ground, but ignored them. Gwen let Peter slid off her back and his feet touch the floor. She sent him a meaningful look.

Peter looked down and shuffled his way over to where Steve was standing next to Tony, Clint, Bruce and Thor.

"I'm sorry Mr. Steve," Peter said quietly. "I shouldn't have hit you with my webs."

Steve went down on one knee so he could look the boy in the eye. "It's alright Pete, I'm not mad at you. Just try not to do it again, ok?"

Peter nodded solemnly. Then he went back over to his sister, who lead him out of the training gym.


The third thing they learned was that, with two kids in the house, especially two kids who would deny they were hungry till they were blue in the face, regular meal times were a must.

The avengers didn't always eat together. Most of the time during the day, they were so busy that if they remembered to breathe, it was an achievement. If they were lucky, they managed to end up in the same general vicinity as each other by dinner time.

Gwen and Peter were both used to being hungry. As a result, they neglected it until it reached the point that it would be fatal if they went any longer without food. They had been there five days when one of the group finally caught on.

Gwen was sitting in the rec room with one of her books, her history one, and Peter was sitting next to her with his game system in his hands. Thor was with them, watching television.

Thor looked around when an odd sound pulled him from the program he was watching. It wasn't until the third time the noise sounded, that he was able to identify it.

"Gwen, are you and your brother in need of nourishment?" the god asked.

Gwen looked up from her book and tilted her head to the side. It was a look that everyone had come to associate with the girl being confused.

"Maybe." She shrugged and turned back to her book.

Since when did someone not know if they were hungry?

"Gwen, when was the last time you or your brother ate anything?" Thor asked.

Gwen looked up again and thought for a couple of seconds. "Yesterday morning, I think." And with that, she was back to her book.

Thor took a couple of minutes to contemplate the information he had just gained, and then left. He went in search of Natasha. Out of all the avengers, she was the one that the two had warmed up to the most. She would know what to do.

The god found the elusive assassin in the gym, sparring with her partner. He arrived just as Natasha had pinned Clint to the mat. They stayed like that for a few moments before Natasha moved told help Clint up.

"Lady Natasha," Thor said, getting the two agents' attention.

"What's up Thor?" she asked.

"I have some disconcerting news regarding our two youngest companions," Thor said.

"What's wrong with Gwen and Peter?" Natasha asked as she and Clint both stiffened.

The demigod outlined what had brought him to them and noted that both of the avengers faces had gone stoney.

"I do not believe they are purposefully starving themselves," he concluded. "But I do believe that this should not be allowed to continue."

"And I agree," Natasha told him. "Clint, you go upstairs with Thor, don't bring this up. I'm going to order out and get some food here."

After lunch had been eaten, Natasha had taken Gwen aside and had a long heart to heart with the girl. Gwen admitted that it wasn't on purpose that they didn't eat, not really. While she trusted them, she was still coming to terms with the fact that she was living on their charity and didn't feel completely comfortable with just waltzing into the kitchen and helping herself with whatever she pleased.

Natasha had very firmly set the young girl straight. "You are here with us and it is our job to take care of you. But in order for us to do that, you need to let us take care of you. That includes food and clothes. You're fifteen Gwen, old enough to know better than to go days without eating if there's food available. It's not good for either of you. And if I, or, god forbid, Pepper, hear of you skipping any more meals like this, I will call Fury."

Gwen had nodded her understanding, her eyes suspiciously glassy, and thrown herself at Natasha in a hug. "Thank you," she whispered right before she pulled away.


Lesson four drove home to the avengers that, while both Gwen and, to an extent, Peter, acted like adults at times, they were still kids at heart.

Bruce had walked into the rec room to the sound of giggles. Clint had Peter on his back and was chasing Gwen around the room.

"We're gonna catch you Gwenny," Peter shouted from his perch on the archer.

"Never," Gwen shouted with a laugh as she vaulted over the couch.

It didn't take long for Hawkeye to catch Gwen, who was out of breath from running and laughing. From there it turned to a wrestling match, with brother and sister ganging up on the unsuspecting Clint.

While Bruce was sure that Clint could have beaten both of the kids in less than thirty seconds if he wanted to, he allowed them to take him down with fits of giggles. This was how the pair was supposed to look. Look like they didn't have a care in the world, like they didn't have to live each day as if it were life and death. They were supposed to look like a five year old and his teenage sister having fun.

"Alright guys, playtime's over," Pepper said, walking into the rec room. The two grumbled, but let Clint up.

"But Pepper," Peter whined.

He was joined by his sister a few moments later, to everyone's shock. "Yea Pepper, we were having fun. Why'd we have to stop?" Gwen whined.

"Because Clint needs to practice with Natasha and you two just ate. I don't want to have to clean up a mess on the rug," the CEO of Stark industries replied in her trademark no nonsense fashion. "Now, Bruce is going to keep an eye on you. I don't want to hear about you giving him any trouble."

Pepper stepped into the role of mother with no trouble. She smiled at Bruce as she breezed towards the elevator.

When Bruce turned back to the two kids, Peter was still giggling and Gwen was trying to get her breath back. She had the most unguarded grin on her face that Bruce had ever seen her wear. Even her eyes were smiling.

"It's like the days when we were still all together," Gwen said to no one in particular. "After dad got up out of the basement and we were having family time before dinner, I'd tie my blanket around my neck and pretend I had super powers. Then me and dad would wrestle around on the floor until mom made us break it up."

At that moment, Peter decided that play time wasn't over, they had simply lost their bad guy. So he decided to pick a new one. He launched himself onto Gwen's back.

To the sounds of laughter and squeals, Bruce mulled over what he had learned.


Lesson number five was the lesson where Gwen and Peter learned just exactly what they meant to the Avengers.

At Pepper's insistence that seven days inside was not under any circumstances healthy for anyone, everyone decided that a field trip to central park was in order.

When Gwen and Peter stepped out of their bedroom, everyone suddenly understood why it had taken them an hour to get ready. Peter's hair was freshly cut and he wore the nicest looking play clothes he had. His eyes had somehow changed from their normal blue to a sea green.

Gwen's transformation had been a little bit more drastic. Her hair had been curled to within an inch of its life and stuck out every which way. She was wearing the heels that Natasha had bullied her into getting along with a pair of nice black slacks and a silky green top that matched her now sea green eyes. A scar ran right down her left eye.

"Pepper," Gwen said shyly, "Can I please borrow a necklace and some earrings?"

With her jaw dropped in shock, all the carrot haired woman could do was nod and disappear into her room.

"Oh my god Gwen," Tony said, "Damn, if you were legal-"

"Finish that sentence and you'll find out how it feels to have a heel shoved where the sun doesn't shine," Gwen retorted.

"Couldn't have said it any better myself," Natasha said. "Good job with the outfits."

"What happened to your eye?" Thor asked with a puzzled frown.

"Nothing. I used some make-up to make it look like I had a scar," Gwen replied.

"Why would you do that?" Thor asked.

"Attention focusing," Gwen explained. "People will notice the scar but really won't pay too much attention to the rest of my face. And I can get it off quick if I need to, then when people ask about a scar faced girl, they won't be looking at me."

Natasha agreed with the teen's reasoning and sent her an approving nod. Pepper returned with a jewelry set and helped Gwen get the necklace on as she slipped in the earrings.

"Well, shall we be off?" Pepper asked.

They made an odd sight as they trooped down the streets of New York towards Central Park. There was Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and his CEO/ girlfriend, Virginia "Pepper" Potts, strolling leisurely in front. Clint and Natasha, by silent, mutual agreement, were on the outsides of the group, keeping an eye out for potential threats. Thor brought up the rear and Steve and Bruce were towards the center with Gwen and Peter.

Gwen felt like her arm was about to be yanked out of its socket. Peter was trying to see everything at once, take in the people's reactions to them and keep up a running stream-of-consciousness commentary all at once.

Sure, they had lived in New York for roughly two years, but most of that time was spent in hiding. If they had needed to move locations, they did it at night when there were less people likely to be around. Peter had never really gotten the chance to actually live in the city they called home. But just because she could understand why he was acting the way he was, did not mean that she had to put up with it.

"Peter, please, we get to the park in about five minutes and then you'll be able to run around till you fall down with exhaustion, but until then, can you please stop trying to murder my arm?" she pleaded with her younger brother. He managed to hold himself calm for all of ten seconds before he was tugging at her hand again.

"He's just excited Lady Gwen," Thor said from behind them, "Allow him to behave in the way his age dictates."

"I don't mind him being five, I really don't," Gwen said over her shoulder. "But what I do mind is the way he keeps dashing around everywhere." Then she had to turn her attention back to her brother really quickly as he attempted to break out of her hold so he could pet the dog that was passing by them.

"You should listen to your sister, Peter," Steve said as he grabbed her brother's other hand. She flashed the man a quick smile in thanks.

Between them, they managed to keep the boy from getting into any mischief on the way to the park.

"Gwen, who's that?" Peter asked pointing at a bronze colored statue of a girl sitting on a mushroom and surrounded by odd creatures.

Once in the park, Gwen had finally allowed her grip on her brother's hand to loosen and the boy was off like a shot. Fortunately, Gwen was prepared for that reaction and was able to keep pace with the 5 year old. He had skidded to a stop in front of the statue he had asked about.

"She's a character from a book by Lewis Caroll," Gwen said. "I don't remember the name of it though."

"Hold up," Tony said as the rest of the group caught up with them, "You and spidey here have never heard of Alice in Wonderland?"

When Gwen looked at the ground sheepishly, Tony had his answer. "That's it, mandatory movie night when we get back to the tower. I don't think Capsicle here has seen that one yet."

"I didn't know they had made a movie of it, but I remember the book," Steve replied.

Peter looked up at him with stars in his eyes. "Really?" the boy asked.

"I was sick a lot when I was younger," Steve said, "my mother would take her copy of it from the shelf in her room and come sit on my bed with me and we would read to each other."

"Gwen, can we? Can we do that? Can we, can we, can we?" Peter asked.

"Don't know Pete," his sister replied with a stealthy glance at the rest of the adults. "We'll have to see how things work out. Ok?"

"Kk, sissy," Peter chirped. "Race you to that tree!"

His sister, more than used to her brother's abrupt shifts in focus, was off after him not a second after he took off.

"I'll order a copy of that for you when we get home Cap," Tony said. "Would it hurt them to wait for us for once?"

Finally, after letting Peter get most of his excitement out, the group was able to settle down on the edge of a large play field and watch as the two newest members of their group got the chance to be kids.

Gwen, for her part was enjoying the feeling of knowing she didn't have to keep her guard up constantly, that she had a team of people that she trusted to have her back. She giggled as Peter attempted to do a handstand in the soft grass. His spider powers seemed to give him better balance and increased strength than other kids his age, but he was still only five.

"Here Pete, let me help you," she said, grabbing her brother's ankles and steadying his balance. "Now I'm gonna let go really slow, ok?" The look of intense concentration on his face was so cute that Gwen couldn't help but smile as she slowly released her hold.

Peter was so excited when he discovered that he was balancing all on his own that he shouted with triumph and promptly fell down.

"Did you see it Gwen?" he asked excitedly. "Did you see me doing it all by myself?"

"I sure did Peter," Gwen replied. "I'll bet you can hold it even longer next time."

As Gwen held her brother's ankles again, she noticed a group of teenagers slowly making their way over. Ignoring them, she praised her brother when he managed to hold the handstand for a full minute all on his own. Peter giggled when he fell and looked up at his sister with the biggest grin on his face.

"That's a pretty cool trick," said one of the teenagers, walking over to the pair. "I've never seen you around here before."

"Just moved into the area," Gwen lied.

"Let me guess, your parents made you watch him to get him out of the house," said a girl in the group.

"No," said Gwen, "I love spending time with my brother."

"Gwen, stai bene? (Are you ok?)" Natasha called from over where the rest of the group sat.

"Si, zia Tasha, stiamo bene (Yes, aunt Tasha, we're fine)," Gwen called back.

"Who was that?" one of the boys in the group asked.

"Our aunt," Gwen replied smoothly, picking up Peter and putting him on her hip. "She's Italian."

"Well, since your aunt is here, why don't you dump your brother off on her and hang with us? I'm sure we could show you a good time," the first girl who had spoken said.

"Um, I don't think so," Gwen replied, slightly edging herself away from the group that had surrounded her and her brother. "I promised this one here that I'd spend all day with him and you really don't want to see him throw a temper tantrum."

"Awww, let him whine," a boy said walking to stand right in front of Gwen, "You deserve a little time to yourself don't you?"

One of the other boys in the group had just stepped up next to his buddy when Gwen's view was suddenly blocked by a person standing in front of her, separating her and Peter from the group of teens.

"Are these people bothering you Gwen?" Clint asked, his voice laced with a deadly stiffness.

"I was just coming back over to you and Auntie Tasha, Uncle Clint," Gwen replied, sidestepping the question. "Peter's getting tired, what with the move and all."

"Why don't you take Peter over to her while I have a little chat with these kids, alright?" Gwen knew that the steely tone of her "uncle" was one that brooked no argument so she went to do as she was told. She didn't envy the teens who had clearly gotten on the Hawkeye's bad side.

"Are you alright?" Steve asked when the pair finally got back to the group. "They weren't harassing you were they?"

"It was fine," Gwen said. "They were just being a little bit too pushy for my tastes." Gwen let her brother out of her arms, but kept a tight grip on his hand, a fact that she knew did not go unnoticed by the other avengers.

"Stai bene? (Are you ok?)" Natasha asked, switching to Italian.

"Stiamo bene (We're fine)," Gwen replied.

"No," Natasha said, shaking her head. "Stai bene? (Are you alright?)"

Gwen nodded her head as Peter once again tore her hand out of her grip. She didn't go after him though and that was a testament to how much trust she had in the team who was slowly becoming their surrogate family. Instead she watched with bright eyes as Peter chased after a grinning Steve and a booming Thor.

"You alright Gwen?" Clint asked as he walked back over to them. The group of kids who had been trying to intimidate her hightailing it out of the park. "They didn't try to hurt you?"

"No," Gwen replied absently, her eyes glued to the group of men and a boy who had taken to running around the field in a huge game of chase/tackle. Even Tony had joined in on the action and was carrying Peter around piggy back style as they chased the other two superheros around. Bruce had opted to stay out of the fray and was instead cheering them on from the sidelines.

"What did they want?" Clint pressed.

"Me to 'hang' with them," Gwen replied, her gaze never leaving the four playing in the field. "They aren't the kind of kids I would 'hang' with even if we had had a normal life."

"And who would you socialize with ideally?" Bruce jumped into the conversation.

"Teens who appreciate school and learning but aren't super brainiacs or snobs about it. Who know that there's much better literature out there than simply fad novels. It would be great if they had younger brothers or sisters for Peter to play with. Kids his own age. It's been awhile since he's been able to socialize."

"I thought that Osborn had a son?" Bruce asked.

Gwen's face darkened. "He was younger than me but older than Peter. He was an ok kid but he's going to take after his father too much for my taste. He left Peter behind when they were playing and Osborn thought he could do no wrong."

Before anyone could think of a reply to that, Steve ran over to them, Peter on his shoulders laughing hysterically. Thor and Tony came running up behind them.

"Gwen, Gwenny! We won! Did ja see? Did ja see?" Peter said excitedly from his perch on the super soldier's shoulders.

"Yes, Pete, I saw. You did a great job!" Gwen exclaimed as if she hadn't just been talking about Norman Osborn a moment ago.

"I swear, this kid can go forever," Tony said as he huffed and panted.

Gwen smirked and cast a critical big sister eye over her little brother. Past the grin that was so big it threatened to crack his face in half were the signs of Peter's exhaustion. "Nope, he's going to drop in about half an hour," she said.

"I say it take him another two hours of us running around to even get him to contemplate taking a nap," Tony challenged.

"I agree with the Man of Iron," Thor said. "I do not believe he will run out of energy so soon."

"You're seriously going to bet against the sister?" Pepper said, coming back over to join the conversation after taking a phone call. "That's even worse than that time you bet Bruce wouldn't get mad at you if you switched his tea with coffee."

Tony made a face at the memory. He'd woken the next morning to a JARVIS speaking in some obscure African dialect that had taken him the better part of the day to reverse. Lesson learned: do not mess with the green man's tea.

"I didn't bet that he wouldn't get mad," Tony defended himself. "I bet that he wouldn't get mad enough to Hulk out.

"Doesn't matter, Tony," Clint said. "Bruce is dangerous enough even without the Hulk."

"Why don't we go get some Ice cream?" Pepper suggested.

"Ice cream?" Peter's face lit up at the mention of the coveted treat. "You really mean it?"

"Of course we mean it, kid," Tony said, ruffling Peter's hair.

All of a sudden, there was a scream that rang through the air. It was followed by the sound of several more screams and plumes of smoke rising from the city.

"We might have to take a rain check on that ice cream, Peter," Steve said as Clint's phone went off.

The archer answered and listened for a few moments. "Understood sir," he said to whoever was on the phone, then ended the call and looked at the rest of the group. "Coulson. He said that there's a new villain and something about a festival in time square?"

"The World Unity Fair," Bruce supplied.

Tony snorted. "Oscorp is trying to play catch up with my Stark Expo."

"Focus Tony," Natasha said. "Did he say who the new villain was?"

"Said that they were seeing a green figure on a glider. He's already brought down one of the balloons. Gwen?" Clint's voice was laced with concern.

When Gwen had heard what exactly was wreaking havoc in the city, she felt her face drain of color. In seconds, she was shaking like a leaf. She had faced down the barrels of loaded guns and barely batted an eye. But right now, the one thing that she feared more than anything in the entire world was entirely too close for comfort. A severe shudder ran up the length of her back, it felt like someone had just walked over her grave.

"Ow, Pete, I kinda like my hair in my head," Steve said, making Gwen look over at her little brother. He was still sitting on the super soldier's shoulders, his hands had fisted in the man's dirty blonde hair. His eyes were already tearing up and his face was as colorless as her own.

"Gwenny," Peter whimpered and Gwen's big sister instincts went into overload. She was over to him in a shot and caught him as he clambered down. He latched onto her, grabbing fistfuls of her shirt in his hands, trying to get as close as he could to her. Her shirt was already soaked with his tears.

"Shhh, Peter. Shhhh. I'll be ok. Everything will be alright." Gwen swallowed her own fear in favor of soothing her brother's. He sobbed into her chest as the rest of the group looked on.

"But Gwen, its him. Its the Goblin man," Peter whispered.

"Gwen, what's wrong? What's going on?" Pepper asked worriedly.

Steve put an arm around Gwen's shoulders as she held her little brother. "Gwen, what's wrong? Do you know the guy that we're going up against?"

"It's the Goblin man," Gwen said, her voice soft, but audible. She heard somebody suck in a breath. She felt Steve's arm squeeze around her shoulders in a hug.

"Tony, get Happy on the phone and have him escort Ms. Potts and Gwen and Peter back to the tower," Steve said, taking charge of the situation. "Bruce, if there's a lot of civilians there then I don't think we're going to want to call out the Hulk unless its a last resort. Clint, call for a pick up for the rest of us from here. We'll work out the battle plan when we find out the rest of the situation."

Tony and Clint made their calls. As they waited for their respective rides, Gwen rocked Peter back and forth, soothing him and calming him down till his tears had subsided to the occasional sob. She kept her fears firmly in check. She couldn't let Peter know how scared she was. It would just make him get worked up even more.

Natasha made a point to talk to Gwen before they left.

"It'll be ok," the spy told the girl. "We'll take care of him and we'll be back at the tower before you know it."

Without warning, Gwen launched herself at the master assassin who had quickly become trusted almost to the same level as Uncle Nick. Peter got squished between the two of them.

"He's ruthless," Gwen murmured. "Nothing is sacred to him and I mean nothing. He will pull your heart out of your chest, split it in two and shove it back in. Come back."

Then Gwen pulled away as fast as she had come at her. Then she followed Pepper to the limo where Happy was waiting to take them back to the tower.

The Avengers all returned to the tower tired and frustrated. They had gotten to the scene to see a man on a glider wearing a insect-like green suit. What had ensued was the shortest battle in the history of their team and the bad guy had gotten away. Stark had been holding up the balcony filled with people when the Goblin Man had set off some flash bangs, throwing Natasha into the side of a building. The Goblin had managed to evade all of Hawkeye's arrows and even catch him in the shooting arm with a spinning blade. Steve had started clearing people out of the rubble while Thor took to the skies with his hammer. In the end, people had died, everyone was wounded, and Goblin Man had gotten away.

"Pep," Tony called as they walked off the elevator. He still had the suit on, though his helmet was off. "You ok?"

"Fine. Happy got us back safe and sound. Peter started crying again and Gwen took him to their room to calm him down. I checked on them a little while ago and they were both asleep."

"How was Gwen?" Steve asked. "She seemed really shaken up earlier."

"I don't know," Pepper said. "She won't tell me anything. I couldn't even get if Peter was alright or not."

"I'm alright, sissy's not though," came Peter's voice from the hallway. Everyone watched as the five year old walked in, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "She's having a bad dream about Goblin man, I can't wake her up."

From the direction of their room, a blood curdling scream rang out.

Peter was quick on his feet, racing back to the room where his sister was in the throes of a nightmare. The rest of the team wasn't far behind. Everyone piled into the room behind him, watching as Gwen tossed and turned on the bed.

"No! Stop, stop, STOP!" she screamed, the last note nearly taking out everyone's eardrums. "Don't you dare hurt him. Don't you dare. Peter, Peter!"

"I'm here Gwenny," Peter called, getting up on the bed. "Gwenny, I'm here. I'm safe. Gwen!"

"Back up a bit Pete," Steve said, moving to the side of the bed. "You don't want to accidentally get hit."

"No, if she wakes up and I'm not here, she'll freak even more than she is right now," Peter said, stubbornly standing his ground, trying to wake his sister up.

"We need to wake her up before she hurts herself," Bruce said. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a rich, deep baritone began to fill the room

"Seal dá rabhas im' mhaighdean shéimh,

'S anois im' bhaintreach chaite thréith,

Mo chéile ag treabhadh na dtonn go tréan

De bharr na gcnoc is in imigéin.

(Once I was gentle maiden,

But now I'm a spent, worn-out widow,

My consort strongly plowing the waves,

Over the hills and far away.)"

As Thor sang, Gwen slowly relaxed, she still tossed a little and she mumbled under her breath, but it grew less and less.

"Sé mo laoch mo Ghile Mear

'Sé mo Shaesar, Ghile Mear,

Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas féin

Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo Ghile Mear.

(He's my champion my Gallant Darling,

He's my Caesar, a Gallant Darling,

I've found neither rest nor fortune

Since my Gallant Darling went far away.)

Gwen was awake by the end of the song and the first thing she did when she woke was search for Peter. When she saw him, the wild look in her eyes lessened somewhat, but her head was still on a swivel. Everything in the room was examined and labeled threat or not.

"Gwen," Natasha said. Gwen's head whipped around to her so fast that Natasha was surprised that nothing had broken. The red-haired spy held her hands up. "You're safe in yours and Peter's room at the tower. Everyone is here, we were worried about you."

Gwen's eyes scanned the room quickly, then she wrapped her arms around Peter and allowed herself to relax. Not more than a second later, she bolted upright again. "The fight," she said, turning to them with wide eyes. "Goblin man."

"We're fine," Clint said quickly, "all extremities still attached."

"You're bleeding," Gwen said, her voice flat but a note of hysteria in her eyes. She turned around the room and fixed each of them with a stare. "You're all hurt."

"Scrapes and bruises," Thor said, "nothing more than that, you can be assured."

"You're all hurt," Gwen repeated.

"Hey, big green is scratch and bruise free," Tony pointed out. "And Cap here has already healed from anything he might have gotten. Now that I think about it, Thor doesn't bruise really-"

"Enough Tony, you're not helping," Pepper cut the billionaire off. "Let's move this pow-wow into the rec room. I'll get JARVIS to get our usual take-out order. We want Chinese or Indian?"

"We'll figure it out in a few Pepper," Natasha said, her eyes locked on Gwen as the girl slowly rolled out of the bed. "Once we all get settled in the rec room."

'Getting settled' turned out to have a completely different meaning than anyone could have construed.

Natasha found herself getting tackle-hugged for the second time that day almost as soon as she sat down on the couch.

"You came back," Gwen whispered.

Trying not to show just exactly out of her depth she felt, Natasha brought up her hands to return the hug. "Of course we came back," she told the distraught girl. "I promised we would, didn't I?"

"Promises are broken as easily as glass," Gwen mumbled.

"Not our promises," Clint said. "Our glass is shatter proof, bullet proof, bomb proof and just about any other kind of proof you can think of." He came to sit next to Natasha while Peter snuggled up to his sister's side.

"Including a few other things that haven't been invented yet," Tony added.

"Everyone lies, everyone breaks their promises," Gwen said.

"Gwen, listen to me," Steve said, coming to kneel in front of the couch where Gwen was holding onto Natasha for dear life. "We are not Norman Osborn. We are not Goblin Man, we are not Lab Rats. We are the people Director Fury put in charge of yours and your brother's safety. We won't lie to you and we won't ever not come back."

"The good Captain is correct, Gwen," Thor said. "We will never abandon you."

"But what if something happens that's out of your control? What if... what if-"

"We can spend our lives wondering about all the 'what ifs' in the world," Bruce said, standing behind the couch and putting a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "Or we can stop focusing on what might never come to be and actually live."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience," Gwen mumbled, her voice sounding tight with unshed tears.

"Believe me, if I contemplated all the 'what ifs' in my life, I'd never get out of bed in the morning," he replied dryly.

"Gwen," Natasha spoke up, "Gwen. Yes, we do dangerous things. Yes, sometimes situations are controlled by people other than ourselves. But there is one thing I know for sure no matter what happens. We have fought and will fight tooth and nail to get back to our family. You and Peter are part of that family now."

Gwen sat in silence for a few moments, and then it was as if the dam broke. Everything the girl had been holding back, all the fear and sadness was let go of and she sobbed in Natasha's arms. Surrounded by her family, old and new, Gwen cried.

It was nearly an hour later that Gwen finally calmed down. She lay sleeping in Natasha's arms. Natasha, for all that she was uncomfortable for being thrust into the role of mother, found that it wasn't all that bad.

"Ok, what the hell just happened?" Tony asked, breaking the silence that had settled on the group.

"That, was Gwen finally realizing that this is real. That she and Peter finally have a place that they can label safe," Clint said, carefully standing up so as not to wake the sleeping sister and brother. "Expect her to be a little off-balance for the next 24 to 48 hours or so."

"How are you so informed on this?" Tony asked.

"Did the same thing about a year after I got into SHIELD. Took nearly four hours for Coulson to get me calmed down. Tasha had her moment about two years after I recruited her. Though she was a little more subtle."

"I nearly shot Director Fury," Natasha deadpanned, "I don't see how that's 'subtle.'"

"Yea, but you try and do that on a near weekly basis," Clint replied, "how was that any different?"

"One moment, why would you wish to kill the Director?" Thor asked.

"He snuck up on me and I was feeling jittery," Natasha explained. "If Clint hadn't snapped me out of it then Fury wouldn't be Director at the moment."

"Should we put them back to bed?" Steve asked, "That can't be comfortable for you."

Natasha shook her head quickly. "Like Clint said, she's going to be off balance for a little while as she comes to terms with this. She knows she fell asleep in here with us, if she wakes up in any environment other than the one she fell asleep in, we're going to have another Coulson episode on our hands."

"What can we expect from her and what do we do about it?" Bruce asked.

The russian spy looked helplessly at her partner. She may have been the one that the two had warmed up to the most but that didn't mean she knew what she was doing.

"She's going to be weird for the next day or two I expect," the red head said slowly, trying to draw upon what she knew of her's and Clint's experiences and fit them to what she knew of the girl sleeping peacefully in her lap. "If she does something, roll with it unless it's going to endanger her or someone else. She's going to be suspicious and unsure of everything. Remember, this is a girl who has been trained all her life to only allow places to be safe if a parent labeled them as such. She's taking a giant leap here because she's in the authority position and if she makes a bad call, she's not the only one who goes down."

"So, make sure she knows that she can trust us and that she didn't make a bad call?" Steve paraphrased.

"Pretty much," Natasha replied.

"Don't let them alone," Clint added, "One of us needs to be with them at all times."

"That is what we shall do then," Thor stated, "We have taken them as family, we will do whatever we must."

"And truer words were never spoken," Tony piped up, "Alright, this is so sweet I think I'm gonna start barfing rainbows. Can we talk about a different subject, namely food? I was really feeling up for Shwar-"

"Does this mean I should take the burger back?" Pepper asked, walking in with three very large paper bags of fast food in her hands.

"That works too," Tony said, bouncing up to take the food from Pepper.

"I got a happy meal for Peter and a plain burger for Gwen," Pepper said. "There's a burger for Tony in there as well. This bag is for Steve and Thor. Bruce, I went to your favorite Indian place and got your usual, the owner even sent to tea for you. Oh, I forgot, there's a vanilla milkshake for Steve somewhere and a drink for Thor too. Clint, I got German food from that place by Park. Natasha, I seem to remember that you like Italian so there's some in there."

"Pep, you're a lifesaver," Tony said.

"There's also a phone call for you. And I need you to look over those contracts I sent you before you disappear back down to your workshop," Pepper said sweetly.

"I thought you were trying to save my life, not bore me to death," Tony replied.

It seemed that the smell of food was enough to rouse Peter from his nap. He lifted his head from its resting spot on his sister and blinked owlishly about the room. "Food?" he asked plaintively.

"Chicken nuggets alright, Pete?" Pepper asked around her argument with Tony.

The little boy gave her a wide grin and a nod as Pepper placed the small white paper bag in his lap. "Did you guys mean what you said earlier?" the boy asked as he dug into his food.

Natasha doubted there would be anything else that could make the avengers go stone silent in so little time. Even Tony had stopped trying to get out of the work Pepper needed him to do.

"We meant everything we said little one," Thor broke the silence finally.

"Then you're gonna be our new family? I don't remember our real one, but sis tells me stories sometimes. You gonna be our family and we'll all live happily ever after?" None of the superheroes were spared from his wide, bright eyed stare.

"We're going to be your family forever, Pete," Steve said as the first to find his words again. No one was prepared for the five year old to fly off the couch and give the super soldier a huge hug.

"Does this mean I can call you Uncle Steve?"

"Of course it does, Peter," Steve said, bending down and returning the little boy's hug. If possible, Peter's smile got even wider.

"Uncle Steve," Peter said, looking the man straight in the eye. "Uncle Thor, Uncle Tony, Uncle Clint, Auntie Tasha, Auntie Pepper." He turned as he spoke, staring at each of them as he named them. "Family."

"Family," Steve repeated. Peter stood there, looking happier than anyone had ever seen him.

"Don't tell me we're gonna have to watch Lilo and Stitch now." Tony, of course, just had to ruin the moment. Pepper smacked him in the head.

"Good job, Tony," Bruce said. "Can we please eat now?"

Everyone agreed with the scientist and for the next fifteen minutes or so, the only sounds were that of food being devoured at an alarming rate. Every so often, Gwen would murmur something in her sleep, occasionally in english, sometimes in Italian or gaelic, but mostly in a language that not even Clint or Natasha could identify.

A few minutes later, Gwen woke. Natasha felt the girl stiffen against her as she returned to wakefulness. The assassin was careful to remain still as Gwen got her bearings.

"Wha' happened?" Gwen muttered, still half asleep.

"You fell asleep," Natasha informed her. "Pepper got food. You will eat."

Gwen nodded as a bag of food was thrust at her and she began to eat.

She and Peter were safe. She and Peter were home.


And that's the chapter. I know there wasn't a lot that happened in it I know but there were some important revelations that the Avengers and the kids needed to have before we get back to the action. Things really start heating up either next chapter or the chapter afterwards. So guys, please review? Love it, hate it, let me know!

Until next time!
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