Sorry I didn't get this to you sooner.

Can I just confess my love to the guest reviewer Wile E. Coyote who reminded me of a very important fact in my story so thank you!

On with the show!

Steve sat patiently as needles were stuck into him. He sat still as the x-rayed him. And he sat silently as his cuts were cleaned and bandaged. It must have been hours as he sat there, quietly, being wheeled from room to room.

Tony had left quickly to help the other find Peter, he promised he would inform Steve immediately. At least, Steve would know that if he had been paying attention.

He knew that they had injected him with something, probably an IV bag or something. He didn't question why the needle went in so easily, normally his skin was pretty impregnable.

They must have put a strong sleeping draught into the IV bag or got it into his system some other way because the first conscious thing Steve noticed was shouting. He wasn't sure when it started but he knew he wanted it to end. The other thing he noticed was that his eyes were shut. He didn't remember shutting them, or feeling so tired.

The shouting was coming from the doorway. Steve forced his eyes to open and ignored the urge to go back to sleep.

"- don't care!" came a familiar voice.

"He needs sleep." Steve didn't recognise that one.

"No, he needs peace." The familiar voice argued. It was Tony. That voice was Tony. Tony was helping find Peter. Something had happened. He should have stayed to find Peter!

"Sir please-"

"...ony" Steve cut that doctor off. He didn't realise just how weak his voice was. "Tony..."

The doctor and Tony went quiet and then raced over to him.

"Mister Rogers, you should be resting." The doctor urged. Steve ignored the man and gripped Tony's arm with painful force.

"Where's Peter?" he begged. He stared pleadingly into Tony's eyes.

"We found him." Tony said sadly. He avoided Steve's eyes.

"But- b- please- don't tell me he's..." Steve stuttered.

"He's alive." a new voice declared. A woman's voice.

Steve spun around and looked directly at Natasha standing in the doorway. Her hands looked bloodly and scratched, probably from searching. She was covered in dust and had a bruise on her right cheek but otherwise, she was okay.

Natasha glared at the other men in the room and they took the subtly warning of -get-out-or-die- and left. Natasha then moved next to Steve and evaluated him in his hospital bed. She looked him over with pity. He obviously looked terrible.

"Peter's alive. Just." Natasha started bluntly. "He's lost a lot of blood, broken several bones and even cracked his skull. He also has severe burns on a majority of his exposed skin. Those are only the surface injuries. The doctors are operating on him now to remove a pipe that got lodged in his abdomen."

Natasha went quiet and let Steve soak in all the information. His head fell back onto his pillow and he stared longingly at the ceiling, as if hoping it would fall and crush him. Take him away from here, from the hurt and suffering.

"He's not going to make it." Steve murmured quietly. Natasha's eyes widened a fraction. Steve always seemed so positive, so ready for anything. This was not the man she knew. She knew she had to do something to help him regain some of the hope that had some how vanished.

"Steve," Natasha said, regaining his attention. "There was no way Peter could have survived that explosion. He should be dead from the injuries alone. The explosion should have already killed him but somehow he's survived. That's got to say something, right? He's not ready to die. He's fighting. He will keep fighting Steve. He can't give up now."

Steve looked into her eyes and knew that she was convincing him as much as she was trying to convince herself.

"Please," he asked softly. "Can he be moved in here?"

Natasha looked around as if evaluating the space and then looked at Steve.

"I'll see what I can do." she said. She gave the smallest lift of her lips. Steve knew that meant she'd try all methods humanly possible including threatening and torture. It made him feel the smallest bit better.

"I hear you're pretty bashed up." Natasha said, changing the conversation.

"How bad?" Steve groaned.

"Well, other than the obvious cut on your arm and other scratches, the bullet wound you sustained before the explosion was pushed further into your body. They knocked you out for surgery." Natasha explained. Steve was shocked by that. He didn't even remember going into a surgical room. "I'm guessing hiding behind your shield prevented burns and a majority of the damage. Banner found it by the way."

Steve saw the shield by the doorway. Natasha must have brought it in when she entered.

"Your hair's a little singed but I'm sure you'll get over that fact." She teased with very little humour in her voice. "Other than that, you should thank the serum for making you so resilient, you've only broken two ribs."

"So cuts, bruises, a previous bullet wound and two broken ribs." Steve summed up. He internally felt for the wounds and realised that the pain was dull.

"And singed hair." Natasha pointed out with a little bit more of a smirk. She had finally distracted Steve. Steve gave a small smile.

"And yourself?" He asked.

"Some bruises." She explained. "Hulk grabbed me at the moment of the explosion."

Steve nodded. They fell into a comfortable silence.

"I'm going to go and make some room arrangements." Natasha said, breaking the silence, before walking out. Steve sighed. Peter was alive, he had to believe Natasha in saying he would survive. With that new found hope, he gave into the silent urges of the sleeping drug still in his system and fell back into the dark abyss of sleep.

The next interruption came in the form of talking. There was no shouting but it didn't sound like civilised talking. The hushed voices were obviously disagreeing with each other.

Steve groaned intentionally to gain there attention. Hopefully then they would stop talking in bad forms of whispering and actually keep him in the loop.

He opened his eyes. Bruce and Natasha were watching him. Bruce seemed to have come across a clean set of clothes since changing back from his large, green alternate persona. Opposite them stood a female doctor and the doctor from earlier. The unknown doctor was in scrubs, as if she had just been in surgery.

"Hey Steve." Bruce greeted, trying to get rid of the tension in the room.

"Bruce." Steve responded formally with a nod of his head.

Everyone kept glancing at each other as if they were having a silent conversation which no one seemed to understand.

Finally, Bruce sighed and stepped towards Steve's bed.

"Steve, Peter's lost a lot of blood." Bruce explained carefully. "He needs some more immediately but after analysing his blood, the doctors think there's a strange mutation in the blood. They don't have time to analyse the mutation and get him the blood in time."

Steve stared at Bruce, waiting for him to continue.

"There is a chance that the mutation is because of you." Bruce continued slowly. "It could be the serum that was passed through the genes and Peter has it. If that's the case, the doctors," he gestured to the man in the white lab coat and the doctor in scrubs, "are unsure of which blood type to give him, what effect it might have on him."

Bruce paused again to allow this to sink into Steve's brain. He didn't need to think about it.

"Give him mine." Steve ordered quickly without thinking. Bruce was in shock for a moment before coming back to his senses.

"Sorry, what?" Bruce asked.

"Give him my blood." Steve ordered. "If my gene is causing the mutation then give him my blood. If you don't have much time then do it, do whatever it takes to keep him alive."

Bruce looked at the steel gaze of the man in the bed and then nodded. He looked back at Natasha and the doctors and Natasha took over.

"You heard the man." Natasha said. "Let's get started."

"But, we need to know blood types. We don't know-" the female doctor was cut off.

"Mister Parker is an A positive." Bruce interrupted. "I had Tony check his medical file."

"So am I." Steve declared. He then glared at the doctor, as if begging her to protest again. She kept quiet and she and her colleague left to get the equipment. In no time they were back and drawing blood.

At first the doctor had been adamant about not drawing a lot of blood from Steve, claiming that he was in bad enough shape as he was. Steve countered her and ordered the nurse in charge, a slightly chubby, old woman, to take as much as they needed to help Peter.

Steve started feeling a little dizzy from all the blood withdrawal but ignored it as he watched the space next to him being prepared for the new occupants arrival.

Peter was carted in. It made Steve want to cry. It was hard to make out much flesh since a majority of him was covered in bandages, even his head. There were wires and tubes poking out of him everywhere and several machines monitoring his heart and lung functions.

Steve lay there staring at the boy. The doctor looked sadly between them. This one was a young man, probably just finished medical school.

"Were you close?" He asked Steve softly.

"We-" Steve stopped. They hadn't been close. He had vanished when Peter first arrived, he had been busy when Peter normally got back from school. They had had an argument before this had happened and not made up.

"I wanted to be." Steve announced honestly, his eyes never leaving Peter.

The doctor nodded sadly, as if pretending to understand.

"He's very strong. I would have thought his burns should be more severe but somehow, its as if they've healed slightly. What I'm trying to say is that he's strong." The doctor concluded. Then his face faltered.

Steve looked at the doctor, curious as to why he now looked so down trodden if he believed in Peter so much.

"Will he be okay?" He asked. The doctor looked Steve in the eye.

"We've estimated there's only a five percent chance he will survive the night." The doctor replied honestly. "After that, we're not sure if he will even wake up. He has a lot of internal bleeding and some of his cuts just won't stop bleeding."

Steve nodded and tried to look strong in front of the doctor. Once the man left, Steve sat up properly and looked at Peter. He climbed out of bed, careful not to pull any important wires or tubes as to alert anyone of his movements. He didn't want to be shoved back into bed. He was careful to move the IV drip with him as he walked over to Peter's bed. His legs felt weak but at least they moved. Steve stood over Peter and watched as the sheet slowly moved up and down in accordance to the boys breathing. He looked so horrible and beaten up, even from the limited amount of skin shown.

Even when Steve had fended off bullies or joined the war, he hadn't thought people could get this hurt. He knew there was pain and he knew there was death. Until Bucky's death it never truly registered that this could happen to those close to him. Sure, he had lost his parents but he hadn't been close to his father and with his mother being ill and depressed all of the time, the fact that she passed away was just an imminent way of life. It was going to happen.

Bucky had died too early. That had hurt a lot. It was his first true loss. Then he found out that Peggy had died years before with basically his entire family in tow. All but Peter. And now here Peter was, the last of his family, probably on his death bed.

Peter had mentioned a curse on the family, a curse where everyone in the family died. Steve had said – no, he had silently promised, that they would be alright. He had said they were made of sterner stuff. They were meant to survive, they were meant to keep going. But here Peter was, dying. Maybe it wasn't there family that was cursed. Maybe it was Steve. Steve had loved Peggy. He would have loved his family. Some cruel fate had decided to rip that away from him, it knew he was coming back so it decided to steal what could have been his. However, this evil fate had left a crumb of hope, it had left Peter. Allowed him to get close to the boy, finally feel that things would be okay and now, that same evil fate was trying to steal him too. It was as if it was a cruel practical joke was being played and it was being played on him. He hated it!

Steve pulled a chair from the other side of the room and collapsed into it, it hurt badly but Steve didn't care. He gripped Peter's unbandaged right hand as gently as possible but as firmly as he dared, trying to convey his strength into Peter, trying to give Peter a support line to come back to, to guide him back to Steve. With that, Steve fell asleep.

Steve woke several time. Some from nightmares, others from voices (he was convinced that some were complaining that he wasn't in bed) and some times from the hope that Peter had moved. Out of the three, only the last one never happened. There was no response from Peter. The only indication that he lived were the steady bleeps from the machines. Steve noted that he had a blanket covering himself. Obviously someone had put it on whilst he slept.

"Afternoon, Cap." A voice called from behind.

Steve turned slowly in his chair, without letting go of Peter's hand, to see Clint perched on the window sill with one leg inside the building and the other outside. The archer was dressed in jeans and a light grey t-shirt.

"Afternoon?" Steve asked.

"Yep, you've been asleep for about a day. You're bodies been recuperating and what not." Clint explained. "You even missed a visit from Thor. He heard about the explosion and came by to see how everyone was doing. As far as I'm aware, he's still around. Something about wanting to protect his friends. So now we have an Asguardian bodyguard."

Clint grinned at the idea of Thor in a tux with a wire coming out of his ear. It just was not imaginable.

"There's also a really pissed off doctor outside. Something about how you need to be in bed or something." Clint said mockingly with a growing grin.

"I-"

"Please don't try and explain. I hate doctors, thank you for pissing them off."

"It's a pleasure?" Steve replied with a raised eyebrow. Clint just grinned.

"How are you feeling anyway?" Clint asked, his smile dropping.

"I've felt worse." Steve responded before changing the focus point. "I hear you got out before the blast."

"Yeah, I heard Jarvis's warning right after he told us Pepper was here and asking for Tony. I was about to come back in when the whole thing went ka-boom." Clint explained. "Apparently the intruders positioned themselves so that the building fell vertically instead of horizontally which means that basically no one outside the building got hurt."

Steve was glad of that fact. It meant he wouldn't be adding to the number of casualties who cried to him in his nightmares, wondering why he couldn't help them, even if he wouldn't have been able to save them anyway.

He looked at Peter, praying that his voice wouldn't scream at him among Bucky's and many others.

"Any developments with Peter?" he asked, looking between the archer and the teen.

"Well," Clint said, looking a little uncomfortable. "He made it through the night which was an achievement. Doctors are still sceptical that he'll make it though."

Steve glared at the door. This was not the type of news he wanted to hear.

"I see why you hate doctors." Steve muttered darkly. Clint gave a sad smile.

"Sadly, you can't blame doctors for giving morbid news, you can just blame them for sticking needles in you and assigning you to pointless bed rest which you obviously don't need." Clint said trying to lighten the mood. Steve sent him a small, thankful smile for the effort.

The two of them chatted for a while. Steve learnt that Thor had been hanging around with his girlfriend Jane and had seen the explosion on television. Or at least, Jane had insisted that this was not one of those 'movies' that Thor had been told about, and was actually real life.

He also learnt that Tony was digging through the wreckage and trying to salvage his and Bruce's research. Along with that, he was collecting any undamaged property like the safes he had put in everyone's rooms. He had found three apparently. They all seemed dented but otherwise intact with their valuables still hidden. Even Tony couldn't access two of them since they weren't his. One turned out to be Natasha's and the other was either Steve's or Peter's since no one else could activate it. Since Steve hadn't used his, he guessed it was Peter's. He had no idea what was hidden in there but gave strict orders to Clint that it must not be opened in any circumstance and Clint was to tell Tony that. Clint just nodded.

They talked for a while longer, discussing anything but hospital when the door opened. Thor stepped in, clad in his formal Asguardian attire, with the red cape and even the hammer.

"Captain Roger, it is good to see you well." Thor announced in his booming voice. Steve greeted Thor with a friendly nod.

Half of Steve wanted Thor to quieten down, he didn't want to wake Peter up. The other half wanted the man to jump about and talk as loudly as possible in hopes that it might stir Peter from his slumber.

"I hear that this is a brethren of yours." Thor motioned to Peter.

"No, he's not my brother." Steve said, staring at Peter. "He's my great grandson."

"He is you descendant?" Thor clarified.

"Yes."

"I wish we could have met under more fortunate circumstances." Thor said morbidly. Steve nodded in agreement.

Thor sat on Steve's unoccupied bed and told them of his time with Loki, travelling to the different realms and protecting Jane. He explained how Fury had helped cover up a majority of the incident and how, since then he had been staying with Jane Foster.

When Thor told of Loki's heroic death, Steve gave his condolences. Clint said nothing and stared blank faced out of the window. Steve and Clint filled him in with their lives since they had last met. Apparently he had met Fury before coming to the hospital. It had been Fury who redirected him. The one eyed man had given him a brief run down of what the team had been up to since their last meeting. They filled in the gaps.

A doctor, one of the ones from the night before, had come in to tell Steve that he couldn't have guests any more since visiting hours had finished and had instead, frozen. He must have thought not to at the sight of a man daring to sit half in and half out of a window; the sight of a large god sitting on a hospital bed and a man who had been upgraded by a super serum in a vaguely grumpy and protective mood (how would you be if your great grandson was dying in hospital). The doctor turned and walked back out. Steve looked over at his friends and saw Thor looking confused and Clint looking a little too gleeful with a cheeky glint in his eyes. That man had too much fun scaring doctors.

At some point Steve drifted off to sleep. It had been dark outside when he fell asleep but when he awoke it was bright outside. He guessed he must have slept the whole time. There was food waiting for him on a table by his bed which he ate. In all honesty, he couldn't remember the last time he ate. Maybe he had eaten at hospital at some points and just not registered it.

It was at midday that the peace in his room was interrupted. A nurse came in to evaluate Steve's wounds and Peter's vitals. Apparently his heart seemed to be a little stronger but until they removed the bandages they wouldn't be able to check the exterior wounds.

Members of the team came in and out over the next four days. Well, all of them but Tony. Apparently he was still working through the wreckage and working on their future accommodations. Pepper popped by to comfort Steve and check on them both but Peter still hadn't woken up. It was agonising.

Steve felt better each day. He watched as his cuts faded. On the forth day things went down hill again.

He had been sitting, talking to Peter, somehow this had become a regular occurrence. He hoped that Peter could hear him. The doctors had taken Peter out once again to replace his bandages. Apparently he was healing at inhuman speeds which was amazing! Steve just assumed that it must be his blood working wonders, as long as Peter was getting better, he was okay with that.

It was over an hour and still Peter had not been returned. Steve started pacing the room. No one had come in to tell him anything. Last time it took more than half an hour, they had apparently take him to have a few tests to check that he was actually getting better. That time though, they had told him that they were going to do the test.

Five minutes later, someone came in with his lunch. It was the nurse who had taken his blood on the first day. She came in quietly and put down his plate. Steve was wondering why she was being so silent. He grabbed her wrist.

"Ma'am, could you please tell me what's taking them so long with Peter?" He asked politely. The woman stuttered out a few words as if terrified to upset him. He had three doctors and two nurses attending him and Peter. They had been informed on who they were, they had seen other Avengers milling about near here and they had shared stories of how they had walked in while someone was having a rant. She looked terrified that should would upset him and set him off.

Steve relaxed his face and his hold on her wrist.

"Please," he said softly. "I need to know if he's okay."

"He's," She chose her words carefully. "he's had a relapse. Apparently there's some debris inside him from the explosion, the doctor even assumes there is something from before the explosion but we're unsure."

The nurse stopped and Steve gave her and encouraging look as if trying to tell her to continue.

"The things inside him are becoming infected and causing swelling and a mass of bacteria inside the body. It is also causing some cuts to reopen." she finished.

Steve let go of her arm completely and sat down. After a moment of contemplation he asked, "Will he be okay?"

"I'm not sure. I do not know the severity of the situation but I will keep you informed as much as I can." She said comfortingly.

Steve thanked her quietly and she stood awkwardly. In the end she decided he needed the company.

"Is he your son?" she asked, pulling up a chair. She may know names, code names and medical status's but she didn't know the whole relationship thing.

Steve let out a small smile. They had guessed someone might come to that assumption.

"No," he smiled softly. "he's my great grandson."

He looked up and gently laughed at the woman's shocked face.

"Oh yes, I remember my mother telling me about the great Captain America. I was just a baby when you went missing." she smiled. "I couldn't believe it when I saw that you were still alive."

Steve nodded, "Think how I felt being alive. I still haven't learnt how to use all this new... tech."

The nurse laughed.

"You're a dinosaur like me then." she laughed. "My son's always trying to teach me how to use his tablet."

Steve laughed, thinking of Tony trying to teach him how to use all the holographic screens. He had declared that one day he would teach Steve how to convert things from the tablet to the holographic screen and vice versa. He hadn't even learnt how to use either equipment yet.

"How many children do you have?" Steve asked, feeling comfortable in the old ladies company.

"I have a boy and two girls. I've also been blessed with seven grandchildren." she smiled nostalgically.

She then went on to tell him about her children and the two girls and four boys she had for grandchildren. She told him of the mischief her elder grandchildren get up to, twins around the age of nine. Apparently they look cute but would more likely put a whoopy cushion under your chair then hug you (unless that was the easiest way to get the cushion under your bum). Steve listened and laughed.

Finally the woman stopped.

"What's wrong with your relationship with Peter then?" she asked.

Steve looked at her incredulously.

The woman raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"A mother always knows when some thing's wrong." she informed him. Steve gave a small smile.

He told her about the fight they had had. How he hadn't apologised and how he just wanted Peter to get better.

The woman, who Steve found out was called Betty, took Steve's hand gently in her own.

"Young man, you may be older than me in some ways but in wisdom you are not." she joked softly. "I've looked after enough kids to know that when they argue with their parents like this, they forgive them. Maybe not instantly, and maybe not always, but they try to hold firm until the adult breaks. They want the adult to prove that he or she has done wrong and they can admit it, the kids want to know that grown ups know when they are wrong, even if they don't phrase it like that. That young man probably already forgave you. He would drop everything to sit by your side if you were in his place. If he hasn't forgiven you then he will when he wakes up. No man, other than that of a genuine parent demands that their blood is taken when they themselves are hurt just so that the child is protected. Once he gets better, I think everything will be fine with you two."

Steve stared at the wise woman in front of him and, after a moment of sheer shock, he hugged her. He had needed to hear that, even if he didn't know it.

Betty laughed softly and hugged him back. She then told him she would go and check on Peter's progress. Steve sat in silence.

She called me a parent, he thought gleefully. She thinks that I'm fit enough to be a parent.

Steve contemplated her words again and again.

Ten minutes later Betty rushed back in. This time, she did not look so cheerful.

"He's lost too much blood and we've used up all the blood we took from you." she explained quickly. Without hesitation, Steve stuck his arm out.

"Take more than you need." he demanded. Betty gave a warm smile, as if to say I told you and set to work.

She ran out once she had a pint of blood and went straight to where they had Peter. She then came back and took more. Steve insisted she take more until he started feeling dizzy. Betty seemed uncomfortable taking so much but did as Steve said until she could take no more.

Peter was rolled back in about an hour later. He had a few less bandages on and so Steve could see his pale face more clearly and saw all the burns and scratches. Steve didn't think the burns looked as bad as everyone had claimed them to be but decided to drop it. As the doctor has said, apparently he was just healing well.

Betty and one of the doctors, the young male one apparently called Scott, stayed behind, talking in hushed voices. Even with Steve's superior hearing, he didn't listen in. He was too focused on Peter.

Scott cleared his throat to attract Steve's attention. Steve looked up. Neither doctor or nurse was showing enough emotion to guess what this conversation might be about.

"I've been told by Betty that you know about the infections that we have just encountered." Scott said.

Steve nodded.

"Peter is healing at exponential rates, even faster than yourself." Scott said, as if suggesting that something else, other than Steve's blood, was doing this. "The burns have died down a bit, some cuts have practically gone and even his head wound has cleared up nicely."

Steve glanced between the two of them, nodding his head in the universal gesture of yes, get to the point.

Scott sighed.

"Now that things have cleared up a bit we've noticed things that have previously..." Scott stopped, deciding not to bother with beating around the bush. "We've noticed some scars. Three to be exact, running across his torso. They've been distorted by some more recent injuries, but they're still there. There are also a number of other scars that seem to be fading. Would you know anything about them?"

Steve looked between the doctors and Peter.

"No, Peter never told me anything." Steve said, his throat going dry. Peter was keeping secrets. Secrets that were causing him to get hurt, to be in pain.

"Well, if you think of anything, please tell us." Scott said.

He thought back to all their conversations and could not find one that suggested that Peter was doing something dangerous. Maybe he was being bullied? Or he was into extreme sports? No, that didn't seem like Peter.

"One last thing." Interrupted Scott. "The mutations in your blood, Peter's body is accepting your blood but your mutations are different. I don't know if it's just because of it being passed down a few genes but I thought you should know.

Scott and Betty left Steve to his thoughts.

Steve sat there dumbfounded. He had no idea what to think of that last fact.

Steve was brought out of his thoughts again when he heard shouts from outside. He stood up, reluctant to leave Peter, and pushed open the door. Outside the room was a desperate Gwen Stacy screaming at the guards, sent by SHIELD, preventing her from going further into the corridor.

He was about to intervene when someone got there before he did. An arrow whizzed past one of the guard's left ear causing him to spin. At the end of the corridor, by the window (obviously) stood Clint, in jeans and a light blue shirt. Clint looked relaxed but his bow was in his hand with another arrow notched, resting by his side. Steve knew he could shoot it again in half a second without a second thought.

"I suggest you let the young lady through. I'd hate to spoil this romantic visit." Clint said with a threat lacing his voice. The guards automatically stepped out of Gwen's way allowed her to go forwards.

Steve made himself more prominent in the corridor and held the door open, showing her the way to Peter. Clint followed quickly behind. Once they were all in, Steve shut the door and assessed the new people in the room. Clint had moved to Steve's unoccupied bed and was squatting at the edge. Gwen stood at the end of Peter's bed, her hands covering her mouth and tears forming in her eyes.

Steve wasn't sure what to do at that point but he moved forwards and put a comforting arm on Gwen's shoulder and guided her to the chair he sat on. Gwen looked up at Steve with tearful eyes.

"Will he be okay?" she asked quietly. Without his super hearing, Steve thought he might have missed it.

"The doctors say he's healing phenomenally quickly." Steve told her. She nodded absently and looked at Peter's pale face.

"Oh Peter." she murmured quietly. She grabbed his hand as if to check he was still alive and kissed it.

"We'll give you a minute." Steve said softly, squeezing her shoulder encouragingly. Again, she nodded absently.

Steve motioned for Clint to come over with him and they went to the window. Steve looked back and saw Gwen resting her head on Peter's bed, staring at his face.

"What's up, Cap?" Clint asked, drawing Steve's attention back to him.

Steve told Clint about the scars the doctors mentioned. He told him exactly what the doctors told him.

Clint stood in silence, looking over at Peter as if the teen would wake up and sing all of the answers.

"Has Peter mentioned any of this to you?" Steve asked. Clint looked at Steve, analysing everything as always.

"I've not really talked to the kid, especially not in private. Sorry Steve, I don't know anything about this. Maybe his girlfriend will know the answers." Clint suggested pointing towards the lovers.

Steve looked over and noticed that Gwen was now sitting up straight. It sounded like she was murmuring something but her voice was getting louder and louder.

"- you promised." She was saying. "You said you would be alright. You promised you wouldn't leave. Please, please, I can't lose you too."

She broke down, hiding her face in Peter's bed sheets.

Steve looked at the two of them. She probably knew all the answers but Steve couldn't bother her with them now. Instead, he strode right over, knelt beside her and pulled her into a hug. Betty had know exactly what he had needed in the way of comfort, and now, somehow, he knew what Gwen needed. Gwen wept into Steve's shoulder for a very long time. She wept until she had no tears left. Finally, she pried herself from Steve's comforting arms and whipped her puffy eyes.

"I'm sorry." she mumbled.

Steve had held men in the war who had wept for those they had lost. In his eyes, he didn't think it made a person weak, it made them honest. Every person needed to release there feelings somehow.

Steve shrugged it off.

They all sat in an awkward silence before Clint broke it.

"He loves you a lot, you know." Clint said softly. His voice made Gwen jump in the silence.

She smiled softly at Peter.

"Yeah, I know." she smiled.

"Got any blackmail material?" Clint asked mischievously.

Gwen laughed, rubbing her eyes again, thankful for the distraction.

"Well, he's a bit of an idiot sometimes." she began. "He keeps trying to use humour at the worst times."

Steve laughed. Clint grinned, happy Gwen was cheering up.

"Once, a bully tried picking on a kid and Peter started insulting him. Such stupid insults." She confessed, hiding her face as if she herself were embarrassed by the memory. "the clutz spent the rest of the night at my house, worried that the guy was stalking him to kick his arse."

Gwen laughed at the memory.

"Gwen," Steve asked seriously. "the doctors mentioned scars, they said he has three on his abdomen and several other scattering his body."

Gwen went pale, her eyes darting between Clint and Steve.

"I need to know where he got them." Steve pushed on. "I want to help him."

"I-" Gwen started. She looked between them feeling trapped.

"Is he still doing what he did to get those scars?" Asked Clint neutrally.

Gwen's eyes kept darting between them. Apparently her face told Clint yes.

"He's going to keep getting hurt if we don't know what it is. Do you want him to get hurt?" Clint asked almost accusingly.

"I-" Gwen looked over at Peter. "No- No- no, I can't I swear, I can't."

Gwen pushed back on the chair and hurried to the door but Steve was faster. He jumped in front of her.

"Gwen, I want to help him, please." he pleaded.

Gwen started hyperventilating.

"No, no, I really," she breathed. "It's not, I can't."

Steve grabbed her shoulders and helped her calm down. She still looked (and felt) like a trapped rodent.

"I can't," She said. "It's not my secret to tell."

With that, she ran out of the room.

"Well, that was enlightening." Clint said sarcastically.

Steve went after her to apologise but couldn't find her anyway in the hospital grounds. In the end he ran back in when he found that his hospitalisation had been leaked and a number of news cameras were outside. Thankfully, he didn't think they saw him.

When he got back upstairs he found that he had even more guests. Bruce and Tony had come to visit, or so Steve thought.

They seemed to be arguing about something. It seemed that Tony was being as stubborn as ever.

"Glad you could visit." Steve said sarcastically. Both men seemed shocked at how spiteful he sounded. Clint looked understandingly.

Tony shrugged it off and stepped forward, obviously ignoring whatever Bruce had told him.

"Do you have any idea what the kid was doing in my labs?" he asked bluntly.

"Sorry, what?" Steve questioned harshly.

"I take that as a no." Tony brushed off. "I found some weird data, not from any of my research, and apparently not from Bruce's. I asked Jarvis, had to go through some protocols and found out that Pete had been working on something. For some reason, Jarvis is being damn cryptic about what was going on. Practically all the research is burnt up, papers, notes and so on. Test tubes are smashed, nothing salvageable. Any ideas?"

"Wh-" Steve was confused and annoyed. How dare Stark be so blunt to him. "I have no idea what in the hell you're on about!"

Bruce pushed past Tony and glared at the billionaire.

"Look, we just wanted to know if you knew anything, just to clear some things up." Bruce explained. He glared at Tony, as if asking him to go on. Tony rolled his eyes.

"You could ask Fury." Clint said. Tony jumped, forgetting the archer was even there. Steve and Bruce just raised questioning eyebrows.

"Yeah, Natasha was ordered to give Peter something. Apparently the content was classified along with the reasoning for it. Whatever it was, I think only Director Fury and Peter knew what was in it and why." Clint said.

So not only was Peter hiding scars and a secret life which only his girlfriend knew about but now he was hiding some secret experiment.

Steve slumped. Did Peter not trust him at all?

"Well, we could ask Fury and demand to know. Or we could open his safe box. Maybe it holds all his dark secrets." Tony suggested simply. Bruce glared at him, Clint rolled his eyes.

If they spoke to Fury, what would they find out? Steve couldn't even think. And if- no – when Peter woke up? Would he be mad at Steve for interfering in his life again? Would he trust Steve less or want to leave? And what about what Gwen had said. She knew what the scars were from. She probably knew about this experiment too. She had said it was Peter's secret to tell.

It was Peter's secret to tell. He would tell Steve when he was ready.

"No." Steve said in his most authoritative voice. "We don't ask Fury, we don't pry into Peter's things. Peter will tell us. If he want us to know, he will tell me when he's ready."

He glared at each of them as if telling them to contradict him. Even Tony cowered slightly. Bruce nodded with the result.

"We also brought his Safe for when he wakes up." Bruce said, pointing at the dented black box beside Peter's bed.

"Yeah," Tony said, recovering. "And I've moved any salvageable stuff I've found to the new housing."

Steve looked at him questioningly.

"Seriously? You only expect me to have one house? Jeez! I was having another building set up with a jet pad and everything. It's the Avenger's Mansion" Tony announced proudly.

Steve just rolled his eyes.

The next thing surprised everyone, Peter started groaning.

I've been informed by my dear friend that I'm travelling with that if I kill off Peter... I die too. Maybe Peter will live to the end then ;)

Anyway, I love you all for reading this, I almost cried when I saw the number of favourites, followers (over 1000, SERIOUSLY) and soooooooo many reviews! I never thank you enough, so thank you!

Please tell me if this chapter is any good. I'm scared it's terrible, please tell me!