Exhaustion

The call came at three in the morning which, in general, meant something was wrong. Not that Tony minded talking to May Parker. She'd taken the whole 'the girl that was basically her daughter was secretly a vigilante and Tony had taken her out of the country without her knowledge to fight Captain America' thing decently well, in his opinion. She'd only called him a rich bastard twice according to Happy. Maybe more…he hadn't asked Penny because he doubted the girl would tell him even if she had.

Things with Penny Parker were…better. At least, he'd say so. She'd done good with the Vulture. She was back to patrolling, and he tried to check in every once in a while. She seemed fine. Her grades were good and there had been no major injuries…she was fine. He'd sent her and May a Christmas card and had gotten a very sweet, very appreciative text, which had been pretty notable since she rarely texted him, and only to answer if he texted her first.

He'd thought about making her fake internship a real thing at some point but just hadn't gotten around to it…not when Ross was still breathing down his neck and the 'rogue' Avengers were in hiding and he had moved to the compound full time. He'd also thought about inviting her out to the compound just to give her a tour and let her work in his lab but things had been busy and he was leaving for a trip to Beijing with Pepper for SI in a few days and honestly, he thought, the kid was better off without him anyway.

But then May Parker's name flashed on his phone and he realized it was past three in the morning and that he'd once more lost himself in his work for way too long. Pepper wasn't going to be happy. Sighing, he picked up the phone, trying to ignore the mounting dread in his stomach. There was, he told himself, a perfectly reasonably explanation for May Parker calling him. Hell, he thought, she might have just decided to yell at him again.

That would be better than the only alternative he could think of.

"Mrs. Parker. How can I help you on this fine morning."

"Tony, something weird is happening."

That was never good. "Weird? Weird how? Is the kid okay?" He ignored the feeling in his chest at the thought of Penny Parker not being okay. She had to be okay. She was just a kid and he'd given her that suit and she'd hugged him in the car and had been so upset when he'd taken her suit…she had looked at him with so much hope the last time she'd seen him, like he could be someone to her, only she didn't know that Stark men weren't fathers and they weren't mentors because they weren't good for children…they would hurt them. Break them.

So he'd sent her home with a smile and hadn't contacted her since. It was better this way. Better for her. One day she'd look back and be grateful.

"I got home from my shift an hour ago and when I checked on her, she was fine. But then I heard a noise just now and when I went into her room, she was crawling around on the ceiling in her suit and…and she wouldn't answer me when I was talking to her. I kept calling for her but then she jumped out the window and was swinging away. I don't know where she is. She doesn't have her phone."

The woman was trying very hard to stay calm which only scared him more. In his limited experience, not much rattled May Parker…not like this. "Okay…no problem. She's got her suit on?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I'll find her. There's a tracker in her suit. I'll be right there."

"Thank you," she whispered, voice wavering with what sounded like relief.

"Of course." Already, the suit was forming around him and he was hurrying towards the nearest exit. As soon as he ended the call, Tony shot out of the building, the Avengers compound disappearing behind him as he headed for the city. "Friday, give me stats on her suit. Where is she?"

"Spider-Girl is currently swinging towards the river."

"Okay…um…call the suit." She did. There was no answer. Sighing, he tried to remember the last time he'd spoken to her. He'd seen her a few months ago when he'd updated something on the suit. Then about two weeks ago, he'd called her while she was patrolling and she'd seemed fine. Normal. Hopeful. He'd told her she was doing a good job and had ended the call after four and a half minutes. He knew that because he'd stared at the little counter for a long time, wondering if it was enough or too much…if he was getting her hopes up or just letting her down already. "Call again. Force it through."

Friday did and the girl's face appeared in the corner of the screen, her eyes glassy and unfocused. She didn't greet him…didn't even seem to know that he was on the phone, which was not how she usually acted when she was caught doing something she shouldn't, at least based on the ferry incident. "Kid?" he asked. According to the little dot on his screen, she was moving fast, making her way towards an industrial park not too far from the river. "Hey, Spiderling?"

No response.

"Kid!" He didn't mean to yell…he never wanted to yell at her. Had always hated when his father had yelled. Had always felt so afraid and, later, so angry. But she still didn't glance towards the camera in her mask that would approximate eye contact. "Penny!" he tried again.

"You didn't even hit me."

Taken aback, he blinked a few times, trying to make that make sense. When he failed, he shook his head. He hadn't…hit her? Of course he hadn't hit her! He would never hit her! "Come again?" he asked, trying to sound like her words hadn't affected him…like he hadn't immediately pictured his father's fist or the girl backing away from him the day the ferry had nearly been destroyed.

Nothing. No response. So he tried a different tactic, working hard to keep his voice from shaking. "I don't know if you know this, but it's a little past your curfew, kiddo. Mind telling me what's going on?"

She didn't answer, but the dot abruptly stopped moving, her eyes closing on the screen as her head jerked forward, then was still, the little red alert in the corner of his display letting him know that she was injured. "What the hell? Kid, what happened?"

"Sir, Karen has informed me that Penny has sustained a mild concussion and lacerations on her arms and legs."

Tony's jaw dropped, his heart rate spiking. "Did you just fall?" he demanded, but she didn't respond. "Friday? Did she fall?"

"Karen believes Penny is sleepwalking. She fell from a second story building when she jumped without deploying a web soon enough."

"Sleepwalking?" Penny didn't sleepwalk! At least, according to her medical records and the little he'd learned about her in the last eight months or so. She'd had asthma as a kid. She used to wear contacts. She'd broken her arm when she was ten and had fallen off a skateboard. Tonsils out at eight. A bad case of pneumonia at thirteen. But she didn't sleepwalk. "Penny! Hey…wake up!" he called, eyes darting back to the little red message in the corner of his display as he tried to remember if waking her was bad. Surely it wasn't worse than her swinging around the city and falling again!

The girl's eyes fluttered for a moment, then stared straight ahead, blinking a few times as if orienting herself. "It didn't even hit me."

He pushed more power to the thrusters, shooting towards the dot. He had to get to her before she started swinging again! What if she fell? What if she got hit by a car? "What do you mean, Penny? What didn't hit you?" he demanded.

"I dodged it but…it didn't hit me. It took out the supports."

"Okay, where was this?"

"I didn't have it," she said then, voice soft and flat.

"Didn't have what, kid?" If he could keep her talking, he thought, maybe he could wake her up! So he made his voice loud but not yelling because he didn't want to yell at her…he just needed her to wake up!

"My suit."

And then the display went black.

"No! Fuck! Friday…"

"It appears as though Penny has removed her mask."

"Yeah, no shit!"

"I believe she also removed her suit."

"Jesus it's freezing out! Is she wearing a coat?"

"According to Karen, Penny was wearing pajama shorts and a t-shirt."

"Fuck!" The display told him that the temperature was thirty three degrees…there was snow on the ground! "Find her, Friday!"

In another corner of the display, security footage flashed in front of his face as Friday searched all available surveillance cameras. The dot that showed her suit's location got closer and closer until he was able to spot the alley, but there was no Spider-kid to be seen. Just her suit, crumbled in the corner, and a smear of blood in the snow. "Goddamn it! Friday?"

"Still searching, boss."

Did her enhancement mean she'd be okay in nearly freezing temperatures? Or did the spider part of her mean she was going to curl up and die in the cold? "Friday, was she wearing shoes?"

"No, sir."

Swearing again, he grabbed her suit and shot into the air, hovering just high enough so he could see for several blocks, making circles around the immediate area. How far could she have gotten? Was he going to have to call Steve? It hit him then that he would…that he would gladly ask Spangles for help if it meant she was safe and not dying of hypothermia while he desperately combed the city for her. New York was too big and she was just one kid! How…

"Boss, I believe I have located her."

"Show me! Coordinates!" he barked, barely able to get the words out as he grabbed her suit and shot towards the new dot in his display.

The security footage showed the kid walking through the snow, barefoot, gray dots that he was afraid were blood leaving a trail right to her that he was able to follow when he got close enough, dropping down to the ground and practically clawing his way out of his suit when he reached her. She was standing in pajama shorts and a long t-shirt just like Friday had said, right at the edge of what, according to Friday, had once been a parking garage. It was just rubble now, with graffiti covering the huge chunks of concrete wherever various taggers had been able to reach. Penny swayed a little at the edge of the rubble, the little dots of bright red blood leading him right to her. She wasn't wearing shoes, and the snow on the ground was uneven, probably concealing glass and pieces of concrete and who knew what else!

"Pen? Kid?"

He hurried to stand in front of her, flinching a little when he caught sight of the tears running down her face. Her eyes stared straight ahead, though, and she continued to sway until he put a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

"Penny?"

"It hurt."

"Hey, we have to get you inside. You're freezing!" Her bare feet were buried in snow up to her ankles and she was shivering, only she didn't seem to notice.

"I couldn't get out."

"Out of where?"

"I can't get out."

"Kiddo, you're outside. With me. In the middle of January. Work with me here, Pen. You've got to wake up!"

"You didn't even hit me."

"Of course I didn't hit you, Pen…what are you talking about?"

"It took out the supports."

And that's when the picture started to form. "The supports?" he asked in a whisper, then glanced at the building behind them. "Do you mean that building?" He pointed, but her gaze didn't follow his finger. Instead, she seemed to stare through him.

"I don't have my suit…I'm trapped…" More tears fell then, her breath catching. "I can't get out! I can't…please…help…"

"Penny…come on, kiddo. Wake up. You're not trapped. You…" He closed his eyes, turning his head away from her. He needed the whole story but he needed her warmed up more, only he was afraid to try and pick her up and fly her back. What if she woke up and freaked out? What if he dropped her? She was already hurt! Gripping her shoulders, he shook her a little. "Wake up! Spider-Girl! Wake up!" He was practically screaming in her face and he hated himself for it…hadn't Howard done the same to him? But he wasn't trying to hurt her! He needed her to wake up! "You're sleepwalking! Wake up!"

The girl's eyes fluttered a few times before closing, and to his horror, she started to sink to the ground. She would have fallen into the snow if he hadn't caught her, scooping her into his arms, her whole body going limp. "Penny? Kid!" he called, but she only shivered in his arms, and he hesitated outside the armor. He'd have to put her down to climb back into the armor, and he'd die before he put her back in the snow and besides he couldn't risk flying her! "Friday!" he called to the suit. "Call a car. Get someone down here to help me!"

"You didn't hit me," she murmured then, turning her head so her ice-cold nose was pressed to his neck, and she shivered, curling up in his arms. "I can't get out…please…he took my suit…please help," she all but sobbed and he tightened his arms around her, all too aware of who 'he' was in this dream.

"I've got you, kid. You're okay. I'm going to get you warmed up." He rubbed an already cold hand over her arm as best he could but her feet were practically blue in the light from the street lamp and so were her lips. "Friday! ETA on that car!"

"Happy Hogan is on his way and will arrive in ten minutes."

"Not fast enough! Change the lights! Do something! Shit! Um…warm up the exterior of the suit. Hold the arms out!"

The suit did as it was told, and Tony placed the girl in its arms. She shuddered at the feeling of the warm metal and he grabbed one of her cold feet, rubbing his hands over it and then just holding it, desperate to warm her up. "Kid, you with me?"

"Took…took out…supports…"

"I know…I know, kiddo. I'm going to get the whole story later. Just stay with me for now, okay?"

"He took my suit."

Closing his eyes, he swallowed back the guilt that tried to choke him. Not yet. Not until she was safe. "I know…I…I'm sorry." He hadn't said that before. Why hadn't he said that before? God knew his father had never apologized to him…not that he was her father. But still. Hadn't he wanted to break the cycle?

Something had taken out the supports of a building. This building? Had it fallen on her? How could she have survived that? These were all questions for a different time. For now, he yanked his own shirt off, leaving him in a tank top, and draped it over her, rubbing warmth back into her feet until Happy pulled up with a screech of tires, and then the suit followed him with the girl in her arms, the two of them hurrying to the car as Happy yanked the door open.

"What the hell?"

"We have to get her back to the compound!" Taking her from the suit, he flinched at the twinge in his back as he eased her into the back seat.

Happy yanked his coat off, wrapping it around the girl. "She's not wearing shoes! What the hell is going on? Why isn't she wearing shoes? Or…clothes?"

"Later, Happy," Tony snapped, climbing into the back seat with the girl as the suit folded back into a manageable shape and dropped itself into the front seat. He practically held her in his lap as Happy cranked the heat up. "Penny? Kid?"

Shivering, the girl moved impossibly closer to him and blinked a few times in the dim light in the back seat. "Cold," she muttered, teeth chattering.

"I know…hang on, Pen. You with me?"

"You…you didn't even hit me…"

"Still dreaming. Perfect."

The second they pulled into a spot in the parking garage, Happy was pulling her into his arms, following Tony into the elevator that took them straight to the Medbay. She'd stopped mumbling to herself, but her eyes opened every so often, staring off into space before dropping her head against Happy's shoulder once more. She looked so small in his arms…so young. It made Tony's chest ache to see it as he dropped the girl carefully onto a bed, immediately pulling a blanket over her as Tony grabbed the black bag in the corner.

"Friday, scan her! Get a doctor in here…try to figure out why we can't wake her. Turn the heat up." He put the bag on the table beside her, then hurried over to another bed to steal that blanket and wrap it around her too.

Happy stood by the door, looking uncomfortable as he watched Tony wrap the girl in a third blanket.

"Miss Parker is showing decreased heart rate and appears to be having some difficulty breathing. I contacted a doctor on staff and they are on their way."

"Okay…does she need oxygen? What can I do here, Fri?"

"My suggestion is to keep her warm and wait for a professional, as you are not a medical doctor."

He gave the ceiling an unimpressed look, glancing down at the girl again before tucking the blankets around her and standing back to wait. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait too long, as Dr. Viv hurried into the room a few minutes later, taking one look at the girl in the hospital bed before grabbing the bag Tony lad left for them and pricking her finger. Moving fast, they moved over to the workstation and began analyzing the blood, then took her pulse and blood pressure, putting an oximeter on one of her fingers and grabbing an oxygen mask before fiddling with a dial on the side of a machine that began pumping what Tony assumed was warm air onto her face.

They'd obviously tumbled out of bed and had thrown on a lab coat over their sweatpants and tanktop, their messy hair pulled into an approximation of a ponytail. But despite the bags under their eyes, they worked with an intensity and focus he had to admire.

"What have we got, doc?" he asked, trying to sound like he wasn't freaking out.

"Friday is running a tox screen. The warm air will help. Her temperature is rising." They lifted the blanket at her feet, then took one of her hands. "No sign of frostbite. Friday said she was out in the snow?"

Tony nodded, not wanting to share the fact that she was enhanced if he didn't need to. If they started connecting dots, there was nothing he could do about it, though. Still, they were discreet, and he doubted they'd go around telling people about her. Dr. Viv had been with him for about four years now, and he trusted them.

It was another five minutes before they had any answers, and when they finally got the results, they stared at the tablet for a long time before glancing up at Tony and Happy. "Um…it looks like she has a lot of sedatives in her system. Like…a lot."

Tony furrowed his brow, crossing his arms to try and hide how his hands were shaking. "How much is a lot?"

"At least four times the recommended dose for a girl her size. Does she have any history of suicidal tendencies? Any history of self-harm?"

He shook his head, jaw tight, even though he had no idea…at least, not concerning the last year or so. There was nothing in her record that would indicate anything like that. But, a traitorous voice in his head whispered, he'd basically dropped out of her life the moment after he'd stepped into it. She'd looked up to him and he'd…

"No," he told the doctor, not able to accept even the thought of that. "No way…she wasn't…she couldn't have been."

There was a flicker of sympathy in the doctor's eyes. "Okay. If it was a mistake, she should know that a dose like this can be lethal…although it doesn't appear to have had any side-effects other than some trouble breathing and sleepwalking."

"Right. Okay. What do we do?"

"Since she's not having trouble breathing anymore, I say we wait for the sedatives to work their way out of her system and then have a talk with her when she wakes up. Judging from her levels, she probably took the sedatives about three hours ago, and they're working their way out of her system pretty quickly, so she'll probably be back to normal in another hour or two."

"Okay. Thanks, doc. Really."

"Of course. Here are the tox screen results." They handed Tony the tablet. "Let me know if there's anything else."

And with that, they headed out, leaving Tony to stare at the results of Penny's blood toxicology report. They'd been right…she'd taken an insane amount of sleeping pills by the look of it. Had it been a suicide attempt? Had he driven her to it? She'd stopped giving Happy reports and she'd looked so hopeful the last time he'd seen her before he'd sent her away.

"Boss?"

"You can go…I'll stay with her."

Happy hesitated, glancing at the girl buried under a mountain of blankets. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Go back to bed. We'll be fine."

Once Happy was gone, Tony grabbed a chair and pulled it over to Penny's bed, tablet still in hand, then sat down, sighing and closing his eyes. Despite the hour, he wasn't tired. Not even a little. His heart was still racing and all he could think about was Penny Parker in a building she couldn't get out of, unable to call for help because he'd taken her suit and left her to her own devices, sure that would keep her safe. Or Penny Parker, downing sedatives because…

Because she couldn't sleep?

Because she wanted to die?

He wiped a hand over his face and shook his head. No. He couldn't jump straight to that. He wouldn't. He would get her side of the story first and then…then he'd figure something out. At the very least, he'd tell her to knock it off with the drugs, which wasn't something he'd ever considered having to say to Penny Parker. Pulling out his phone, he selected May's number, smiling sadly when she answered on the first ring.

"Tony?"

"I've got her at the compound. She was sleepwalking."

"Oh my god…" The woman gasped out a little sob of relief and Tony wished he could share in the feeling. "Is she okay? Is she hurt?"

"Not hurt. She's fine."

"Can I talk to her?"

"She's still asleep. I'll have her call you when she wakes up."

"Thank you…Tony…"

"Don't mention it. Try to get some rest."

Then he grabbed the tablet once more. "Friday, can you figure out when that building collapsed and show me the footage?"

She could. And she did.

It had been the night of her Homecoming. According to Friday, it had been the Vulture's home base up until that point, and on the grainy security camera footage, he watched Penny Parker, dressed in her old suit, climb inside. Then, not fifteen minutes later, he watched it come down. There was no audio…he was glad. He didn't know if he could have stomached hearing her call for help.

Had she called for him? Had she hoped he would come?

Then, several minutes later, he watched her climb out of the rubble he'd found her standing in front of, straining under the weight of the concrete before throwing it off of her. He didn't know how strong she was…wasn't sure exactly how to measure that without running the risk of hurting her. But he'd never guessed it was this strong. She'd been buried alive under a building, and then she'd stopped the Vulture by crashing a plane. And he hadn't been there to help. He hadn't even apologized.

It was another hour before she stirred, probably thanks to the same mutation that had saved her life on the night of her Homecoming dance. Under the blankets, she shifted, head turning from side to side as she mumbled into the oxygen mask, and he carefully removed it, hanging it back up on the pole, careful not to snag her hair. It took a few minutes, but her eyes fluttered, and he sat back, watching her stare blankly at the ceiling for a moment before her eyes narrowed, as though trying to remember something.

"What?" she asked out loud, turning to find him sitting at her bed and flinching back. "What?"

"You with me, Pen?"

"I…Mr. Stark?"

"Got it in one." He wasn't sure how his voice had gone so gentle…hadn't known he could sound like that. But suddenly it was so easy to be gentle with her. "How are you feeling?"

"What happened?" she demanded instead of answering, eyes darting around the room she'd never seen before. "Where am I?"

"You're in the Medbay in the Avengers Compound. May called me. You were sleepwalking. In your suit."

"I don't sleepwalk."

"Not normally. But apparently taking enough sedatives to take out a small horse will do that."

He hated the look of fear that passed over her face…hated, suddenly, that he'd set the terms of their relationship like this and that he'd done nothing but push her away. Because if she was suicidal, why the hell would she ever come to him? What about the way he'd acted would make her think that she could confide in him?

Tony didn't know how he was going to fix this…but he had to at least try. "Do you feel okay?"

Hesitantly, she nodded. "Yeah. I'm…I'm fine."

"You were having some trouble breathing when I first brought you in."

"I'm okay." Her eyes were boring holes into the blankets covering her, and he thought about reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder, but he had no idea if that would be welcome.

"Okay. Let me know if that changes."

She nodded.

"Think you can tell me why you're taking an excessive amount of sleeping pills?"

She refused to look at him as she responded simply, "I couldn't sleep."

"Yeah?" He waited, but she didn't elaborate. Instead, she started to sit up.

"Can…um…can I get a ride home?"

"Of course. You should also call your aunt. I let her know that you were here, and that you're safe." She still looked so tired…he didn't want her to go. He wanted her to lay back down and sleep some more, but after learning about the building that had been dropped on her, he had a feeling that he knew why she couldn't sleep. So he decided to dive right into the deep end. "You took off your suit. I found you by a building that collapsed on the night of your homecoming dance."

No response, but her lower lip trembled and he wanted to apologize…wanted to let it go. But he couldn't. Because what if May hadn't heard her leave? What if Penny had frozen to death in the snow, alone? Or what if she'd taken more…what if she'd taken another bottle of sleeping pills and died in her sleep?

"You were talking in your sleep. Kept saying that it didn't hit you. You said it took out the supports."

She turned her face away and he finally gave in to the urge to rest a hand on her shoulder.

"You were in that building when it came down."

It wasn't a question, but she nodded anyway.

"And you couldn't call for help. Because I took your suit away."

She nodded again, turning fully away from him, shoulders shaking a little, and he had to close his eyes for a moment at the sight. It hurt, facing his failures, but then again, he thought, he should be used to that by now.

But he wasn't going to fail a second time (a third time?) Not with her. "I'm so sorry, kiddo."

She pressed a hand to her mouth then, a sob escaping anyway, and he moved so sit beside her on the bed, feeling like the worst kind of asshole. No…not just that. Feeling like his father. He'd wanted to break the cycle but hadn't he done the same thing his father had? He'd pushed her away. He'd put up a wall between them, never letting her get close, and the first time she'd made a mistake, he'd cut off all contact. The only thing he hadn't done was hit her, but the Vulture had apparently taken care of that for him.

So he wrapped an arm around her, feeling at least a little gratified when she turned, hiding her face in his chest and sobbing so hard she shook. He'd been afraid she would shove him away…that her hero worship of him would have turned to hatred. Instead, she clutched his shirt so tightly that he felt the fabric strain and nearly rip. "I'm sorry, Pen. I shouldn't have left you without a way to call for help. I'm so sorry. It's not going to happen again, okay? I promise."

"I'm so tired," she whispered, voice breaking. "Mr. Stark…I'm so tired…but I can't sleep!" Tony rubbed a hand over her back, pulling the blankets up so she'd stay warm, unable to stop remembering how cold she'd been, barefoot in the snow. "I keep dreaming about it and…and I thought…I thought they would help! But just taking one doesn't do anything!" He squeezed her a little harder, wishing he could make it stop…wishing that he didn't live in a world where children were superheroes and where one of those children had been crushed by a building. Alone. What if she'd died?

Pushing her away wasn't going to keep her safe. Neither was taking her suit. Or checking in periodically and having her leave voicemails for Happy. No…this kid deserved better than that. She looked up to him…practically worshiped him. She wanted him to be something to her. A mentor. A…constant presence in her life. And she needed help. That much was obvious. So he was going to go all in and hope he didn't fuck it up too badly.

"Alright. We're going to fix it. Okay? I'm going to help you."

She looked up at him, bewildered, and he didn't blame her, but he swore she wasn't going to be confused for long. He was going to take care of her and mentor her and she would be okay. This kid wasn't going to have to do it alone anymore. But telling her all that wouldn't mean anything. Anyone could talk. No…he'd have to show her.

"First, why don't you text May and let her know you're alright. She's probably asleep right now, so you don't have to call her just yet if you don't want to. Then, you can try and get some more sleep." He went on when she opened her mouth, obviously about to remind him about the nightmares. "I'll stay with you, okay? I've got some work to catch up on anyway, and I can do it from here." It was a blatant lie, but one she seemed too tired to argue with.

Once she'd texted her aunt and was settled under the covers once more, pressed to his side, Tony propped his tablet up on the table that he rolled over to her bed, pulling the arm out so it rested over her stomach. "We'll put a movie on. Just rest, Pen. If you have a nightmare, I'll wake you up. Ill be right here. Promise."

He knew this wasn't enough. But it was a start. He'd make this right. He'd help her through this. And he'd be better than his father ever was. And the girl must have seen something in his eyes, because she let him pick a movie, then slowly but surely, her eyes drifted shut, her head resting on his shoulder instead of the pillow.

And while she slept, he made a plan.

Thanks for reading!