It was still dark outside the bedroom window when a motion from the boy bundled in the bed drew Tony's attention from his brooding. As he watched, Peter turned his head and opened his eyes, unerringly spotting Stark, who already knew the boy had some way of knowing who was around him, even when he was just waking up. There was a dark bruise on the side of his face, going sporadically from just below his eye down to his jaw, but he seemed fairly alert when he looked at Tony.

"Hey…"

Stark smiled, relieved, and put his hand on Peter's forehead, leaning over and pressing his cheek against the boy's bruised one for just a moment, wanting to hug him in relief but unwilling to put any pressure anywhere near his ribs or the stitches.

Peter was shirtless, with a wide bandage taped along his right side, from armpit to just above the bottom of his ribcage. There were a few bruises forming there, as well, since the claws that had hit him had apparently been accompanied by a paw that had terrific force behind it. Nothing like what Loki had done to him before, but still worth keeping an eye on.

"Hi."

"Where are we?"

"Your room at the compound."

Peter frowned.

"We're supposed to be camping."

"Bear attacks take precedence."

"But we're going back, right?"

"No. You're going to stay in bed until Stephen says it's safe for you to get up. Then we'll try to explain to May how I managed to almost get you eaten by a bear."

"It was an accident. The little bears were heading for the water – or the table, maybe – and they didn't see me or didn't realize I was in the way, and the next thing I knew the big one was after me and I couldn't get out of the way."

"There were other bears?"

"A couple littler ones," Peter confirmed, trying to sit up and wincing as he managed to do so. Tony put another pillow behind him, to prop him more upright. "How did I get away?"

"The cloak kept it from hurting you worse until I got it off you."

"Did you hurt it?"

Tony scowled, wondering how the boy would have reacted if he'd managed to blast the thing to save him, but was relieved that he didn't have to find out.

"No. Stephen made a portal and I chucked it through."

"Into the woods?"

"It's fine, Peter," Stark told him, impatiently. "You're the one it was trying to kill."

"I think it was hurt," Peter told him. "It was limping."

"It looked pretty healthy to me."

"Are you okay?" Peter asked him.

"Yeah. I was in the suit. Not even a scratch."

Just scared out of his mind with all new nightmare fodder to deal with, most likely.

"Did the little ones go in the portal, too?"

"No. I didn't see the other ones."

And wouldn't have taken the time to look if he had, he had to admit – but was wise enough to keep that to himself. His thoughts had only been on Peter.

"What about them?"

"They're fine, Peter. Bears are tough."

The boy looked down at himself, but he wasn't convinced, Tony could tell.

"So I'm okay?"

"Yeah. Some stitches and a bump on the side of your head."

"Then we can go back, right?"

"No. We're done camping – for now, anyway."

"But I was having a good time."

"So was I. But you're hurt, and I'm not-"

"You just said I was okay."

"You're okay for someone who was attacked by a bear," Tony told him, exasperated at the boy's single-mindedness. "You're not okay to go camping."

"Did I break anything?"

"No."

"I'm not still bleeding from anywhere?"

"No. But you have a million stitches keeping you from leaking all over the place."

"Is Doctor Strange okay?"

"Yes. They x-rayed his ankle and confirmed there's no break. But that doesn't mean we're going back," Stark told him, well aware where the boy's argument was going.

"But-"

"What's going on?" a voice from the doorway interrupted, drawing their attention.

Peter smiled automatically when he saw Natasha, and Romanoff walked over to the other side of the bed, climbed onto it so she could cuddle right up against him and kissed his forehead gently before carefully putting an arm around him.

"He wants to go back and finish the camping trip," Stark told her.

She frowned.

"You're hurt, though."

"Not bad."

"Bad enough."

"I could sit by the fire, or the lake, and could probably even still fish. It's not like I want to go on a hiking trip or anything, or even canoeing. It's just camping. You do a lot of sitting and I can do that with bandages."

Besides, maybe he could find the bear cubs and their mother. Or at least tell the rangers so they could try to find them. They needed to know about the guys with the bows, anyway.

"But what if the bear comes back for round two?"

"Please, Natasha…?" Peter said, looking at her hopefully. "I've never done it before, and I was having so much fun. I wouldn't do anything dangerous, and-"

"Hey," Stark interrupted, pointing his hand at the boy. "No. No puppy eyes. You're hurt, and you're staying in bed."

Peter looked devastated, and Tony had to look away to keep from changing his mind. Natasha's grip on the boy tightened, imperceptibly, and she glanced over at Stark.

"What does Stephen say?"

Since Strange hadn't wanted to go camping in the first place, Stark realized that he would probably be the perfect ally in this battle of wills. He was Peter's doctor, after all, and Tony was sure that with his injured ankle the last thing he'd want to do was go back to the lake.

"We haven't spoken to him, yet."

"It probably wouldn't kill him to sit by the lake for a few days…"

"It almost did."

"I didn't almost die," Peter objected. "It wasn't that big of a bear, and-"

"You didn't almo-" Stark scowled and stood up. "I am not having this conversation with you right now."

"But-"

"No. I mean it. You stay in bed and get some rest. Romanoff? Keep him right there. Sit on him if you have to, and try to talk some sense into him."

He stalked out of the room muttering to himself and they watched him leave.

"It sounds like it was a pretty big bear," Natasha said, resting her cheek on Peter's head and running her fingers through his hair, soothing him as she had so many nights when he'd been sick.

"There were little bears, too," he told her, leaning into her until his cheek was pressed against her collarbone and then closing his eyes. She relaxed him just by being with him, and he knew she always would. "They're probably looking for her."

"They're fine," she said. "Even if they're yearlings, by now they're old enough to know what to do to keep themselves safe until she finds them."

He didn't even ask how she knew so much about bears. As far as he was concerned, she knew everything. He just nodded.

"I hope so."

"You'll see."

She held him until he fell asleep, and then continued to hold him to avoid waking him. And because she wanted to.

OOOOOOOO

Stark found Strange in the lounge, despite the late hour. The doctor had had his ankle expertly wrapped by one of the medical staff that had helped him work on Peter, and was now sitting on a sofa with his foot propped in a chair with a fresh icepack on it. He was carefully checking the cloak for any damage or tears that he might have missed before, and the cloak wasn't making it easy, since it apparently wanted to cuddle – or maybe it was just trying to convince him that he didn't really need to clean it later.

He looked over when Tony flopped down beside him with an exasperated sigh.

"Do I even want to know why you look so annoyed?"

"Peter woke up."

Strange frowned.

"And that annoyed you because…?"

"He wants to finish the camping trip."

"He just got attacked by a bear."

"I know."

"He could have been killed."

"I know that, too."

"Is he crazy?"

"He's worried about the bear."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Something about baby bears and that it was hurt, and-"

"There were cubs?"

"Apparently."

"That probably explains why the bear attacked him, then."

"No. The bear attacked him because he looked like a human s'more or something. A bear friendly midnight snack."

"Highly unlikely, Tony. Remember, those park rangers said that bears are shy. I imagine if there were young involved it would be a different story. Females can be dangerous when protecting the young. Even I know that."

"Which leads me to the next issue. Romanoff."

"What about her?"

"Peter gave her his big sad eyes and now she's not against the idea of him going back. She asked what you thought about it."

"It's crazy. He's got 43 stitches holding him together. The last thing he needs is to be in the great outdoors. He should be in bed, taking it easy."

"Great. I'm glad to hear you say that. Go tell her, will you?"

"She's not going to listen to me. You know that."

"You're a doctor. You're Peter's doctor. She'll listen."

"She'll listen, and then she'll talk me into whatever it is she wants me to do."

Strange was well aware that Natasha Romanoff had him wrapped around her little finger, and most of the time he was fine with it – even if it meant admitting it to Stark. Of course, Tony had the same issue when it came to Pepper – and he'd been there a lot longer. It helped a little to know that Peter had Natasha wrapped around his little finger, too. She was indomitable, but even she had a weakness.

"Just talk to her, okay? Tell her your foot hurts and you can't put any weight on it and it wouldn't be fair to make me play nursemaid to you and Peter at the campsite – and do all the cooking, and the dishwashing."

"I'll talk to her in the morning," Strange promised him.

"Good."

"You might as well go tell Pepper we'll be going back to the campsite tomorrow, sometime."

Tony scowled.

"Try a little harder than that, okay?"