"A cub?" MJ echoed. She wasn't the only one to crane her neck to try and get a closer look – although Peter, Ned, and a couple of the guards looked around, instead. "What happened to it?"

"And where's mom and dad?" Ned asked.

Chai was kneeling next to the furry little body, but one of the other guides was looking at the ground and the close by area.

"It may have run afoul of the bull elephant," came the reply. "Most likely trampled by it and then left by her pride when they could not waken her."

"It's a girl?" MJ asked, kneeling beside the lion cub. The little creature might have been unconscious, before, when its parents tried to wake it, but it was aware of its surroundings, now, and clearly not happy. She hissed up at them, showing a formidable set of little sharp teeth as she warned them to stay away, even as she lay still, too hurt (or in shock) to get up. "What do we do?"

"If we leave her alone perhaps her family will return for her," Shuri suggested, kneeling beside MJ.

"She will not survive even if they do," Chai told them, looking at one of his men and snapping his fingers. "She has an injured leg and would not be able to keep up with them."

"What do we do?" Peter asked. "Take her with us?"

"The Border tribe and the Mining tribe both have reserves dedicated to the rehabilitation of injured animals," Chai told them as he accepted a jacket from the man he'd been gesturing to. "The Mining camp is closest and they will care for her."

He carefully wrapped the jacket around the cub – who was about the size of Jack – making sure to keep his hands away from her claws until he had them firmly engulfed in the tough cloth, and then he picked her up, smiling at the concern he saw – especially in MJ and Shuri's expressions.

"Do not worry."

"Has this happened, before?" Peter asked, offering one hand to Shuri and the other to MJ to help them back to their feet. "The elephant thing, I mean?"

"Man is not the only – or the greatest – danger to the animals out here," Chai told them. "It is not unheard of for elephants who are irritated to try and trample the young of predators. When we find the injured, we assist them as we can."

It went unsaid that they didn't always find them.

"Can I touch her?" Ned asked, walking beside the man as they turned to head back toward their camp – and the protection of the shields, once more.

"Wait until we return to camp," Chai told him – and the others. "If she calms down, perhaps you can even take a few photos before Darus leaves with her."

"Wow."

"Not many," the guide cautioned. "We do not want to stress her any more than necessary to get her to safety."

"Of course."

Ned stayed right beside Chai on the walk back, with MJ on the other side of the oldest guide, while the others ranged themselves around them. The adults were very much aware of the fact that the lions could still be in the area and were wary enough to keep weapons handy. Peter didn't feel any kind of uneasiness within his stomach, so he wasn't too concerned about any attacks coming.

He felt Shuri's hand take his and looked over at the contact.

"Do you think she will be alright?"

He smiled and squeezed her hand, reassuringly, even though he didn't know any more (and probably knew a lot less) about lions than she did.

"It doesn't look like she's too hurt," he assured her. "Probably just hurt her leg and got knocked out."

Wishful thinking, he knew, but it did look like the little cub was a little more alert than when she'd been found.

Shuri didn't say anything, but she didn't release his hand, either.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Did you get this?"

Strange looked up from the book he was reading and took the phone Wong was holding out to him. He frowned when he saw the picture that was in the text message from Peter.

"Is that a lion?"

"A young one, yes."

"Alive?"

The thing had its eyes open, after all, but he couldn't imagine why the boy was taking pictures with a lion. Or why anyone would think that it would be a good idea. There were adults with the kids, he knew, and someone had to have better judgement than that.

"Looks alive."

"And perilously close to Peter's face."

"Think they found it?" Wong asked with a slight smirk. He wasn't worried about Peter being eaten by a lion.

"I wouldn't even hazard a guess," Strange said. Now he smirked, too. "Think he's going to ask Tony if he can keep it?"

Wong snorted.

"I hope so."

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The meeting was an important one and one that Tony and Pepper both needed to attend. It didn't stop them both from glancing down, inconspicuously, when they felt their phones buzz. Since they were sitting across from each other, they did make eye contact, but neither was concerned. The message was from Peter and there was an image, but since there wasn't anything about an emergency in the text, they simply smiled at the reminder that he liked sending them updates on how the safari was going and turned their attention back to the meeting and the discussion at hand.

Only when the VPs and Department heads were filing out did Tony look at his phone, again, and he frowned when he opened the photo, finally. It was a picture of Peter perilously close to a lion. A lion that was looking at the camera and its head was right beside Peter's.

"Did you see this?"

She looked over his shoulder and he saw her reflection frown when she saw what it was.

"What? Where did they find a lion cub?"

"You don't think he stole it, do you?" Tony asked, only half joking.

She smiled.

"I imagine we'd have heard something…"

"I'm going to call him."

It was still fairly early there in New York but getting on in the day in Wakanda. Pepper nodded and walked with him to his office, rather than the two of them staying in the conference room. They didn't discuss the meeting – they could do that later – but they didn't speculate about the photo that they'd seen, either. No sense worrying until they had reason, after all – and they were certain that if something bad had happened, they would have received a call.

He held the door for her and then closed it behind them, walking over to the sofa rather than wrestle her for the chair behind the desk. He was already pressing the speed dial as he sat down, and Pepper settled beside him so she could join the conversation as needed.

Peter answered on the second ring, his image coming onto the screen.

They both immediately made an assessment of his expression; to see if he looked stressed, or worried – or if he was bleeding or battered. Their boy was smiling, though, and looked cheerful in the light of the campfire.

"Hey, guys."

"Hello, son."

"How was your meeting?"

They weren't surprised that he knew about the meeting. Both assumed that he would have asked Karen what they were doing, and it would have kept him from being annoyed when they didn't respond to his text, immediately.

"Thrilling," Tony told him. "Do we even want to know why you have a lion in the camp?"

Peter smiled, widely.

"She isn't in the camp, anymore."

"Where did she come from?" Pepper asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Of course." Before Peter could say anything else, Shuri put her head on the boy's shoulder so she could see Tony and Pepper, as well. "She was hurt."

"By the elephant, the guides think," Shuri added. "We found her while we were out exploring."

"She has a hurt leg and a couple of scratches," Peter told them. "She probably got knocked out, too."

"Is she still there?"

"No. Darus and Malla took her to a reserve that the Mining tribe runs to take care of hurt animals that they find. There's a vet, there, who will take a look at her and make sure she's healthy."

"Are they going to find her family, again, then?"

Peter shook his head, now he did look a little sad – more resigned, though, than upset.

"No. She can't go back to them. They wouldn't accept her."

"What happens, then?"

"They'll raise her and then release her near a new pride that she'll be able to join as an adult."

Tony was watching his son for any indication that this new development had upset Peter, but he didn't look stressed. Which was a relief.

"You're okay?"

Might as well make sure, after all.

Peter smiled, understanding the reason for the question.

"I'm fine, Tony. She'll be well taken care of."

Shuri smiled her agreement which was a good gauge of Peter's state of mind. She was relaxed and happy and that made Tony and Pepper relax, as well.

"Good. Need anything?"

"We're fine. Getting ready to have dinner. You?"

"We're good, son," Tony told him. "We're going to discuss this meeting and then have lunch."

"Okay. I'll talk to you, later, then."

The call ended, and they both gave a slight sigh of relief.

"That wasn't too bad," Pepper said.

"No." The billionaire smiled. "I was almost worried he was going to ask to keep it."