Here's another chapter for all you lovely readers!

Enjoy!

It was late when Pepper finally made it back to the Avenger's complex. Three days. It had been three days since she had found out what had happened to Tony and she was finally able to get back to him. She had cursed her position from the moment she found out but the rational part of her, the part that she currently hated, reminded her that she could not just blow off everything, so she had done her job and stayed. Happy had been sending her continuous updates on Tony's condition and it had done nothing but make her more anxious. By the time she had gotten on the plane to come home, her stomach was tied in knots and all she wanted to do was sleep but she was so wired she knew there was no way that would happen until she saw him. And she was back now. Her assistant had cancelled everything for the next few days, and she was not opposed to making that longer, as she resolved to spend all of them intermittently begging Tony to wake up and yelling at him for being so stupid. Her thoughts were twisting around what she would find when she finally made it to his room and even the most basic thing she could come up with sickened her. Fortifying her resolve, she continued to the med wing.

Moving as quietly as she could through the darkened hallway she found Tony's room. Pressing down on the handle, she took a deep breath to keep from hyperventilating and quietly cracked the door open. The room was dark, the only light was given off by the machines that were keeping Tony alive. She was tempted to turn on the lights but something in her told her to leave them off, and a small part of her mind told her it was because then she could imagine Tony was just asleep, not beaten, battered, and in a coma. So she resisted the urge and instead stepped up to the bed, the tears starting to fall as she looked at the bruises that darkened his face, visible even in the dim light. Running her hand along the rail on the bed, she followed the curve to the chair she could see through her watery eyes, resolving to sit by his bed for the rest of the night. Taking a step back, she started to fall into the seat she knew would be there when something shot out from behind her.

Pepper spun and nearly fell back into the bed, only catching herself on the rail, her heart pounding in her chest as she tried to figure out what the hell was going on. That was when a figure appeared in front of her, hanging upside-down from the ceiling. In her panic, it took her a second to figure out who it was but as soon as she calmed down a bit, she squinted into the shadows, "Peter?"

"Ms. Potts?"

His voice was husky, deeper than it normally was and when she reached out to touch his arm, he was shaking. As soon as she made contact, the teenager dropped down from the webbing, landing easily in front of her. She could barely see his face but was guessing from the sound of his voice that he had been crying, "How long have you been here?"

He stood back from her, looking passed her at the bed, "I…uh…I was the one who fo-found him."

She knew that but it did not answer her question so she quietly repeated herself, "Honey, how long have you been here?" She stressed the location.

He finally stuttered an answer, "I – um – three days. I…think."

"You haven't left since you brought him in?" She knew the answer before she even asked it.

The teenager just shook his head in the negative. She could tell he was tired just in the way he was holding himself, his shoulders were hunched forward, his head dropped lower than she had ever seen it. When Pepper did not respond to his answer right away, Peter filled in the silence, "I'm sorry, Ms. Potts. I tried to save him. I did. I just…I wasn't quick enough. If I had been…"

Tony had always told her that the kid needed to have more confidence and hearing him talk after knowing what Peter had done to get Tony to where he could get help, she understood what her fiancé was always saying. She needed to stop this now, or Tony would never forgive her, "Peter, please stop." It was almost as if she had slapped him, he stopped as soon as she spoke and for a split second, she felt guilty but she needed him to realize what he had done. She started quietly, not wanting to scare him but she was so emotionally raw, she could not help the passion that worked its way in, "Happy explained everything to me, I know what you did. And I need you to understand, for Tony's sake, that you saved his life. Without you, he would have been dead so please do not apologize for not being there sooner. Without you, I would be planning a fune-" she stumbled on the word, knowing just how true it could have been, "funeral right now, not waiting by a bed for Tony to wake up." When Peter started to sniffle, she could not help going a little farther, "Peter, Tony is incredibly proud of you. What you did just proves that his pride is not misplaced."

Peter lifted his head a little higher when he heard that but Pepper also heard the telltale sounds of crying as the silhouette's shoulders started to shake. Feeling her heart break for the teenager in front of her, she took a step forward and laid her hands on his shoulders, as they started to shudder harder. She felt him wrap his arms around his chest, like he was trying to hug away the pain but he did not step toward her. Pepper kept her distance, not wanting to scare him, "Peter, honey, I think we should get you to your room."

"No!" He yelled, jumping away from her and landing on the back of the chair. His reaction scared her and she involuntarily took a step backward. Recovering quickly, she stepped toward him, arms held out in front of her, "Why not, Peter? You would be more comfortable…"

His quickly blurted answer stopped her, "I can't. I can't leave. I need to stay here." He was frantic, his head turning like he was afraid he would need a way to get away from her.

"Okay. Okay, Peter, I'm sorry. I didn't realize. Please come off the chair, I won't make you leave. I promise." She dropped her voice and tried to be reassuring, trying to get her fiancé's son calm enough to trust her.

He stayed for a moment more before slipping back down in front of her but he held himself back enough so he could jump away at any time, "You promise you won't make me leave."

"Not if you don't want to. But if you're going to stay in here, you should probably have a few blankets or something." She looked around the room, realizing she could not see anything. Calling out, "FRIDAY, can you turn the lights on the lowest setting?"

"Of course, Ms. Potts."

The calming voice that Peter always associated with Tony's suit intoned over the speakers, and made his stomach twist into tighter knots than what he had been dealing with for the last few days. He could feel the bile rising up the back of his throat and he barely managed to keep from being sick. He did not want to see Mr. Stark again, it just made him remember how badly he had failed.

As the lights came up, Pepper was finally able to see Tony lying in the bed, his broken nose, while set, was still swollen and purple while both eyes were nearly black. He had a deep cut above his eye that had been stitched closed and the swelling of his cheek indicated the shattered bone. Running through his other injuries, she moved her eyes to his arms, seeing the cast that rose up to his shoulder and the brace on his other wrist. Knowing that still more injuries were obscured by the blanket, she sighed and turned to take care of the teenager sniffling behind her. But she looked up only to see nearly the same treatment given to the boy. She could not hold back her gut reaction when she saw him, "Oh god…Peter." He was sporting his own double black eye and while his nose did not look broken, his cheek definitely did. There was a lightening ring around his neck where she assumed hands had been laid at one point. His wrist was bandaged and given he was favoring one side, he had taken a few hits to the chest. His hair stuck up at a odd angles, probably because he had been living in a chair for the last few days. And again, she could not help it as her heart shattered a little more at the sight of him. She unconsciously moved closer, laying her hand on his uninjured cheek as she gently turned his head from side to side, "Did they do this to you?"

He nodded slowly, still a little unsure of what Pepper was going to ask him to do. Instead of saying anything else, she just shook her head sadly and stepped over to the closet to grab a few blankets for the both of them. Blankets secured, she moved over to where Peter was still standing and handed him one. He took it hesitantly but stayed standing until she gestured to the chair he had been in when she had arrived. He obliged, curling back up the same way, she assumed, he was before she tried to sit down. Curled up, he stared at Tony's sleeping form, his head resting on his arm.

Pepper needed to understand, "Peter," she called and waited as he lethargically turned his head toward her. His eyes were hooded and glistened with unshed tears but still, he looked at her. "Peter, why have you stayed in here for three days? You have a room, you could stay there and come here during the day."

His answer was honest and determined, "He didn't leave me."

"Oh honey," she wanted to reach out again, to do something to comfort this kid who was obviously distraught but she did not know what to say. She knew what the reports had told her, that if Tony did wake up, there was a chance he would be different, that he would not remember chunks of time. Or he could wake up completely fine, save a few lapses in memory and a long period of physical therapy. Either way, it was going to take time. And for some reason, she was imagining Peter sitting by his side for the entirety. With those thoughts swirling in her mind, she gave a half-hearted reason that she knew would not work, "Peter, Tony would want you to take care of yourself."

But the kid was not listening any more, he was staring at Tony again, his eyes drooping as his head rested on his arm and the blanket wrapped around his form. Pepper could not help but send up a short prayer for both of them. She watched as Peter fell asleep not long after that and she followed him soon after.

It was another four days before Tony started to claw his way back, he was not awake but he was improving, coming closer to waking up. The doctors had told Pepper this was a good sign but when she had told Peter, the kid had done little more than grimace before he went back to staring at Tony. The concern that had festered since she first found him in the room had finally reached the point where she could not wait for him to say something about it, there was something else going on. It was obvious Peter was not going to talk to her, so Pepper went to find Happy. Thankfully, he was not hard to find, having taken up residence outside of the room. She sat down next to him.

Bluntly getting to the point she asked, "Happy, what's going on with Peter?"

The head of security sighed tiredly before answering, "To be honest, I don't really know. I know that he's the one who found Tony and brought him here but outside of that, I'm not sure why he's acting the way he is. I've tried talking to him but he's not been forthcoming." His answer hung in the air only to be picked up again by a new voice.

"He's having nightmares again." Natasha appeared before them, shrugging as she explained her appearance to the startled pair, "I wanted to see how Stark was doing."

But Pepper was focused on what she had said about Peter, confusion in her answer, "He's been sleeping fine. I've been in there with him the last few days. He moves in his sleep but he hasn't been waking up or talking."

Natasha shrugged before answering, "Well then Stark has something to do with the nightmares and being in the room helps. But the first night he was here, Bruce and I had to stop him from tearing his own hair out. I know Bruce has tried talking to him since but he hasn't said much. Did something else happen?"

That Happy could answer, "I was down at the warehouse as the police were finishing their investigation but nothing was particularly strange about it, minus the spider webs of course. The only thing I remember was the detective on the scene was surprised more people weren't dead."

A lull passed between the small group as they contemplated the youngest member of the Avengers. Until Pepper broke it, "Is there anyone else he'll talk to about the nightmares? I know he usually talks to Tony but…" She trailed off, the implication clear.

"Cap won't be back for a few more days and he did not seem to want to talk to Bruce the other night, I could try asking him." Natasha offered, she had dealt with enough of her own demons, she could try to take on a few of the kid's. Then she continued, a deadly serious inflection in her voice, "He needs help dealing with something that happened. If he doesn't, it's going to get worse before it gets better."

The first thing he heard was an incessant beeping noise that poked at him the way a particularly annoying bug buzzes around its target's ears. He tried to get his brain to focus, to take in anything other than that beeping but it would not. Instead flashes of memories assaulted his mind, none of them made sense and all of them dragged him out of the blissfully calm floating he realized he had been in. The images did not make sense, they defied time and cohesion, ending up as a cacophony of lights and sounds that his foggy brain could not even begin to decipher. As the images assaulted his mind, he tried to make them stop but he had no control. Begging his mind to figure out something and bring his hand up to his temple, he felt his chest seize with panic when his arm did not respond. The panic sharpened the haze and forced him to focus on his body instead. As he did, a significant amount of pain slid through his memory-muddled mind, freezing everything, both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because the image in his head froze, finally ending the flashing and it was not a particularly terrible memory. It was Pepper's face when Peter turned down the Avengers the first time. But it was a curse because the mess of his head was apparently keeping the pain at bay and as soon as that image froze, he realized he was not in a good way. His body was heavy and his chest was tight like someone had laid Thor's hammer on it and left it there. Moving anything was not happening and he tried to force his eyes open but they were not responding either. His eyelids felt like lead. So he huffed his frustration to himself and focused on the one thing that seemed to be working, his hearing. As he pressed the pain that was quickly making itself known from his mind, he focused on the sounds in the room. His mind started to clear enough for him to register more than just the beeping and he zoned in on a soft snoring noise somewhere to his right. Still trying to fight off the last of the lead, Tony turned his head to the right side with a monumental effort. The snoring got a bit louder when he did and he tried again to force his eyes open. It still did not work but he could feel himself slowly taking back control of his body. The snoring did not change so Tony assumed whoever it was, probably Pepper or the kid, did not register him moving. After what felt like a lifetime, trapped in the ever growing painful shell that had apparently become his body Tony finally managed to wink an unfocused eye open. As soon as he did, there was a garbled voice that called out in the background, some quiet part of his mind told him it was FRIDAY but he was too focused on getting his eyes open to actually place it.

Pepper woke up to FRIDAY's announcement, "Ms. Potts, Mr. Parker, Mr. Stark seems to be waking up." It took a second to work its way through her mind but she finally took the AI's meaning.

"Tony!" She demanded, jumping up from the chair and leaning over the rail trying to get as close as she could.

His eyes were partially open but he was not focused. He seemed to know her though because as soon as she called his name, he turned his head up slightly toward her, "Pep?" He rasped. He could hear her worry in her tone and it made him feel guilty but he was having a hard time wrapping his head around why, he was still trying to force his eyes to focus. Then he heard her say something behind her but he could not make out what it was.

Excitement and relief drove her now and Pepper turned around to the teenager behind her, "Peter! Peter, wake up." As soon as the teenager started to wake, she turned back to Tony, gently laying her hand on the side of his face, "Tony, please open your eyes, focus."

Tony felt something soft on the side of his face. It felt nice and he turned his head farther into that feeling when he heard Pepper's insistent voice. This time he understood what she was saying but he eyes were not quite there yet, he was still fighting with his senses. Nearly there.

Pepper could see his fight as the frown deepened on his face and his eyes continued to flutter. He had pressed against her hand so he definitely knew she was there. For a moment, she wondered why Peter had not appeared at her side yet and she chanced a glance behind her. The teenager was still there but he almost looked frozen. He was staring wide-eyed at Tony with a sick expression on his face. But Pepper did not have time to figure out why because Tony groaned again, demanding her attention, "That's it Tony, just focus on me."

With that encouragement, Tony managed to force his eyes open and focused on Pepper, "Pep?" He asked again, only this time he had managed to focus on her beautiful face.

"It's me, Tony. I'm here." She was close to tears as she whispered under her breath, "Oh thank god." She turned around to look at Peter again but when she did, he was not there. She heard some insistent calls in the hallway but was too distracted to really comprehend what it was.

Tony seemed to focus a bit more, as he relaxed into the pillows, "Hey Pep."

"Hey yourself," she answered before helping him drink some of the water on the tray near the bed.

The coolness helped him to focus a bit more clearly and he saw how tired and worn down she looked. That guilt he had felt before coalesced into something he could understand and he managed to squeak out, "'kay?"

She smiled at him, the gesture erasing some of the tiredness, "I am now." She whispered, rubbing her thumb across his cheek.

He weakly smiled back up at her but could not fight the tiredness pulling at his own eyes. It did not take long before he surrendered, closing his eyes again but still fighting to stay a bit more awake. Then he remembered something about when he was waking up, there had been another sound in the room. Forcing his eyes open again, Tony lazily scanned the room, "Pep?" He started, fighting the scratchiness of his throat. Swallowing hard, he tried to continue, "was someone here? …heard snoring, you don't snore." Unfortunately, he could not wait for an answer as his eyes fell closed again but he was still listening, breath hitching slightly as Pepper paused in an answer.

Pepper was again pulled back to the fact that Peter had left without an explanation, still she could not lie to him, "Peter was in here but he left."

Tony hummed his apparent understanding but Pepper was not sure of how much he actually got of that, his eyes were closed again and he seemed like he was quickly falling back to sleep.

Then he whispered, "why?" But he was not able to open his eyes and even though he did not want to, he fell back into a dreamless sleep.

So Tony is finally awake but Peter is gone. One more chapter to go!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!