A/N: So, here's the next chapter. Hope y'all like it. Enjoy.

The small group sat in Maria's hospital room, just catching up while waiting for the others to come up from the cafeteria. Jakes phone was blowing up with texts, presumably from his daughter or his soon-to-be ex wife.

"Who's texting you?"

"My daughter. She's asking about you. You really hurt them when you just upped and left. The kids and I woke up the day you moved here and found you and Emily gone. I actually didn't think I would see you again. I thought the next time I saw you, you'd be dead." Jake answered, quickly answering all his texts.

"Yeah, she has a habit of doing that?" A voice said from the doorway, making everyone look up to see Maria's brother and Coulson standing in the doorway.

"Danny? Where's dad?" Emily asked, raising an eyebrow at her older brother.

"He came while you two were still asleep. He thinks he'll make things worse, especially that little episode a few days ago. Anna is trying to get him to come see you, but no such luck."

Maria and Emily's facial expressions dropped as Danny said that, and the only one who seemed to notice was Gamora. Their dad missed out on enough in their lives as it was, nor had he really been there for them when they were in the emergency room as children. Although to be fair, Maria was in the emergency room on his account as a child, and now this was his chance to prove he cared.

Gamora got up and quickly left the room, Peter following and calling after her. When he finally did catch up to her, she was waiting for an elevator.

"What's wrong? You just ran out of there without saying anything." He asked out of breath.

"It's all my fault."

"What's your fault? That Maria and Emily ended up in the hospital? We all knew there was a possibility that they'd get hurt."

"No, it's not that. Maria and Emily already have a bad relationship with their father, and it's because of us it's getting worse." She said, raising her voice ever so slightly.

"So your plan is to just go to his place? Think that's a good idea?"

"What choice do I have? Are you coming with me?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Do you even know where he lives?"

"I can bring you." A voice said from behind them.

Steve.

"You're not going to stay with Maria?" Peter asked, confused. Since they had arrived, since Steve got back from that mission a few days earlier, he hadn't left Maria's side, he often stayed with her like a lost puppy. Maria had explained that it was because Steve had lost a lot of important people in his life, which is why she sometimes let his clingy behavior slide.

To be fair, Maria could be just as clingy to Steve as he was to her, but they knew when to give each other some space.

It reminded Peter of his and Gamora's relationship, and he knew when to give Gamora some space as well. Especially if she was angry about something.

"She got sick of me."

"Sick of you as in she doesn't want to marry you, or sick of you as in she's sick of you doting on her and asking a million questions?" Peter asked, half joking.

"The second one. I don't want a repeat of the last time she asked me to leave her alone and I didn't listen."

"Sounds like Peter needs to take some tips on listening to his girlfriend from you." Gamora said, giving Peter a side glare, "So will you bring us?"

Steve sighed, "I suppose."

They got to John's place less than fifteen minutes later, knocking on the door of the older mans apartment until he answered. He looked as though he had lost weight since they last saw him, which wasn't too long ago. He had bags under his eyes, probably from not getting enough sleep, and his greying dark hair was unkempt.

"Steve...and what's their faces, come in."

"Oh, you didn't officially get to meet them. This is Gamora and Peter."

"Nice to meet the two of you, and I apologize for my behavior a few days ago. Could I interest you three in some coffee?" He asked, only for the trio to shake their heads in response. John sighed and looked at Steve, "What can I do for you, son?"

Peter found it a tad bit funny that John was calling Steve 'son' even though Steve was older than him. He just didn't look it.

"Actually, it was Gamora that wanted to speak with you." Steve said, giving Gamora a nod as his way of telling her to start talking.

"You've upset Emily and Maria. When Daniel told them that you would not be back to visit them, it hurt them deeply. If you do care about them as much as you say you do, you'd have waited for them to wake up."

John sighed, "For your information, I had a doctors appointment, to talk with my doctor about my blood test. I didn't know she and Emily were even in the hospital until Steven called and told me. I just stopped by on my way out, and I was going to visit them when they got out of the hospital."

"Why'd you go to the hospital to see a doctor? Are you sick?" Gamora asked curiously.

John hesitated, "What about you, Gamora? Do you have kids? What's your relationship with your father like?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Don't change the subject. You are sick, aren't you?" Steve asked, noticing that Gamora got a grave look in her eyes at the mention of kids or Thanos.

"Yes. Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I went to the doctor because I was bruising easily, getting weird rashes, swollen lymphnodes, weight loss and loss of appetite. I used to be a doctor and knew that those were clear signs of leukemia. I went a couple weeks ago for tests, and went back today to have it confirmed," He explained, leading them into the kitchen and sitting down at the table, "That's why I said all those things to Maria. I'm trying to distance myself to make my passing less painful. I doubt she'll even miss me a little, if at all. She and Emily don't know. Only Daniel and Annabella know and I intend to keep it that way."

"You can't just keep something like this from your daughters. Yes they're stressed, but they'll be even more stressed and distraught when they find out their dad died of cancer and he didn't tell them," Peter explained, raising his voice, "Most parents actually want their kids closer to them in their final days, weeks, months, however long you have left. They don't try and push them away!" Peter snapped, turning and leaving the apartment with Gamora following closely behind.

John sighed, "Steve, I don't ask for much, but i'm asking you this: please do not tell Maria and Emily. I'm not ready to break it to them."

"You do realize that you're asking me to lie, right? John, I can't lie. Least of all to Maria."

"I know. You suck at lying."

Steve sighed and just nodded, "Fine, but i'm giving you until next week to tell them. If you don't tell them, then I will. That's a promise," He started, sighing, "Stark is throwing a party on Friday. It starts at five o' clock sharp. You should come."

Gamora sat behind Peter's seat in Steve's truck.

"Are you alright, Peter?" She asked quietly.

Peter let out a shaky sigh, "No, Gamora. I'm not. My mother spent her last months with me before she had to be admitted into the hospital. She had the same type of cancer that John has and that cancer spreads really fast. She started out just fine in the first few weeks, but then weeks turned to months and she got worse. A year later she was gone. And it makes me mad that John is pushing his children away."

Peter looked as though he was about to cry.

"Peter, I know it's hard, but you must understand what he is going through."

"I do, it's just that I don't understand how he can act like everything is alright. Like he can't tell his kids."

"He needs time."

"Yeah, but my mom still told me and my sister the day she found out."

Gamora raised her eyebrow at the mention of a sister. That was news to her.

"You have a sister? You did not tell me that."

"Yeah. She was six when I left, and I have no idea where she is or if she is even alive." He answered, sighing.

"Peter, look at me."

The former outlaw turned around in his seat to look at his girlfriend, who kissed him on the lips. The kiss grew very heated, very fast, only having to break apart when Steve got back into the truck.

"Okay you guys, break it up. You can wait until we're all back at the tower." He said, sighing as he started the truck to take them back to the hospital.

This was turning out to be a very stressful day.

A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)