Summary: Our baby spider is finally showing his rebellious teenage side (gasp), Tony's an overwhelmed, frustrated dad, and Pepper is as wise as Solomon.

Chapter 10: Miracle Worker

Tony tried to stop his hands from trembling as he led his son back up to their penthouse. He had almost lost Aidan for good—less than two fucking days since Tony got him back.

Had his son... tried to jump off? Tony felt the blood completely drain out of his face as he recounted how he had just witnessed his son jumping up slightly towards the railing as Tony was rushing in towards the entrance of the sky garden. He suddenly felt an aching pain cut through his chest, which caused him to clutch onto his Arc Reactor with his right hand, hard.

No. Tony had seen people jump off to their doom several times throughout his life—how their eyes were either completely lifeless and resigned, or oozing with anxiety and pain. But he had seen Aidan's expression. Tony had seen his son look back towards the row of sofas for a couple seconds before jumping, and his eyes were gleaming with... excitement?... in a similar way to when baby Addie used to be enraptured in his favorite cartoons or rode the swings in the playground.

There was something really odd about the jump too. If Tony remembered correctly, Addie had his arms held upwards while jumping, sort of like he was pretending to be flying likeSuperman. He'd have to check with FRIDAY if there were any footage he could watch of the jump, but it seemed more likely that Aidan really fell by accident while he was imagining he could fly. Addie did have a knack for imagination ever since he was a baby.

Tony let go of his grip and shook his head back and forth. Aidan was fourteen now. He should know better than to be so careless in potentially dangerous places. He fought the urge to smack his son one more time for nearly giving him a heart attack so early in the morning. Although he hated to admit it, maybe that Dana woman was right. He had to make it absolutely clear to Aidan that he couldn't be so reckless with his safety.

"What do you want for breakfast, Ads?" Tony asked while faking nonchalance. He needed to make sure Aidan ate something first.

"I'm fine with anything, but... maybe some cereal?" Aidan replied slowly, clearly apprehensive about their upcoming conversation.

"Sure, champ," Tony said while opening the pantry stocked with all kinds of cereal boxes. "We have Cheerios—well, the tasteless, healthy kind that your mom likes—, Fruit Loops, Cap'n Crunch, Lucky Charms, Raisn Bran, Cocoa Puffs,andFrosted Flakes."

"Uh...can I get some Cocoa Puffs?"

"Coming right up," Tony announced. He fixed a bowl of Cocoa Puffs for Aidan and a bowl of Lucky Charms for himself. Tony desperately needed all the luck he could get before starting this discussion.

The two ate in silence for a while before Tony put his spoon down and started to talk.

"You gave me quite the scare just now, Ads. I can't have you be so reckless with your own safety."

"I know... I said I'll be more careful now," Aidan replied while finishing up his bowl.

"Let's just get this over with. While Pepper might have her own rules for you to follow, I just need you to promise me three things," Tony said as he held out three fingers in the air.

"And they are...?" Aidan inquired nervously.

"Always make sure I can contact you, don't lie straight to my face, and don't endanger yourself needlessly, pal."

"Oh," Aidan started shifting uncomfortably in his seat and twiddling his thumbs.

"Aidan, can you just promise me those three things?"

"I don't know..." he whined, his eyes glued to his thumbs.

"Addie, come on. I don't care if you fail a couple classes now and then, eat only cake and ice cream for a whole day, or hell, even if you get a tattoo on your arm that says 'IRON MAN SUCKS' in all caps. Sure, Pepper might ground you for a couple of those things, but I personally won't punish you for any of that stuff. I just have to make sure that you are safe, Aidan. Can you just do that for me, bud?"

"I'll try..." Aidan mumbled softly after a prolonged pause.

Huh, not the 'yes' that Tony was hoping to hear, but he'll take it.

"Here. I made this for you," Tony said as he handed Aidan the phone he built for him the other day. "I want you to always have that phone with you wherever you go, Ads. Especially when you start going back to school again on Monday."

"Fine," Aidan retorted succinctly, still averting his eyes from his father.

Tony was getting pretty annoyed by his son's sullen attitude now.

"And Aidan, if you break any of those promises, especially the one about endangering yourself, just know it's very likely that my hand will be having a lengthy conversation with your backside, and it won't involve much talking."

"What?! Noooo!" Aidan squeaked as he finally made eye contact with Tony with a horrified look on his face.

"Yes, Aidan. I'm sorry, buddy, but I won't take any chances when it comes to your safety," Tony stated firmly.

"But I don't need to be sp... punished like that! Can't you just ground me instead?"

"Sorry, pal, but I'm not changing my mind."

"Well, they won't even work on me, so there's no point trying," Aidan grumbled while crossing his arms.

Tony raised his eyebrow. 'Oh really? We'll see about that,' he thought.

"There's another thing we got to discuss, Ads. I had a conversation with your foster mom yesterday when we went to get your stuff, kid. She let me know that this wasn't the first time you've been conversing with drug dealers and trying to hunt down your... uncle's murderer." The man wasn't really Aidan's uncle, but Tony couldn't think of another suitable title to address the guy in front of Addie.

Aidan's eyes shot up from his cereal bowl in shock and betrayal. Tony could tell immediately that Addie was very uncomfortable with Tony addressing the elephant in the room. He barely mentioned this uncle guy yesterday to Pepper and him too, although he spent hours rambling on about his friends from school.

"Aidan, you're just a child. It's not your job to get justice for that man. And it's not your fault your aunt and uncle passed away either. You've got to stop blaming yourself, bud."

"I'm not a child. I'm fourteen," he scowled, glaring at Tony. Tony almost did a doubletake. His son was actually glaring at him.

"Fourteenisa child, Aidan. And what you are doing is unbelievably reckless and dangerous! You can get yourself killed! I can't allow you to endanger yourself like that when you are just a kid!" Tony rebuked.

"Well, I'm not justa kid, Tony. You know absolutely nothing about me!" Aidan snapped back.

Tony couldn't believe what he was hearing. Where was this tone coming from? Was his sweet Addie really talking back to him like this?

"And this is something I have to do for Uncle Ben and Aunt May! It's for them! It doesn't concern you at all, so you have no right to try to stop me!" Addie was almost screaming at him now.

"Actually, you're wrong, Aidan. I have every right to stop you as your father. If I ever catch you snooping around drug dealers again and trying to play detective, you're getting a spanking, young man!"

Aidan stood up abruptly and clenched his fists. "No! You can't! You're just being crazy and paranoid! This is just bullshit!"

"Aidan! Watch your language!" Tony scolded while also standing up rapidly.

God, did he really just say that? He was turning into Rogers now. He groaned inwardly. Rogers could never find out about this.

"What the hell? You swear and do dangerous shit all the time too! You're such a hypocrite!"

"Well, I don't want you to be like me, Aidan. I want you to be better!"

"That's not fair at all! And I'm not agreeing to any of this!" Aidan yelled out as he stormed into his room.

"Tough luck, kid! I'm the one who calls the shots around here!" Tony hollered back as he heard his son's door slam shut with a loud thud.

"Well, that was a complete success," Tony muttered to himself sarcastically. He grabbed his aching forehead in frustration and sank into his chair. Tony was flabbergasted by what he had just experienced—whatever that sudden outburst of teenage angst was. He was starting to realize that dealing with teenage Aidan might be a lot more challenging than dealing with the toddler version of him. Who knew that his sweet angel had such a fierce and rebellious side to him?

Just then, the elevator dinged open, and Pepper briskly stepped inside the penthouse, looking like a stunning goddess as always. Christ, it's only been three hours since he had last seen his wife, but how he had missed her so!

"I heard yelling on my way up here. Are you and Addie ok?" Pepper asked as she approached Tony.

"Ah, Pep! You just missed several historical moments, my love. First shouting match. First door slam. First cussing at the old man. It's a real shame."

"Are you being serious, Tony? What happened?" Pepper questioned, her voice laced with concern.

Tony updated Pepper on what happened this morning, from the moment FRIDAY alerted him that Aidan was standing close to a ledge on the 78th floor, all the way to when Aidan angrily stormed into his room. Pepper listened silently, only interrupting with small gasps now and then.

"Oh, Tony," Pepper sighed. She wrapped her arms around Tony, giving him a comforting squeeze.

"Thanks, gorgeous. I really needed that," Tony murmured, closing his eyes.

"I'm just so relieved you were there to catch him when he almost fell. Do you think he tried to..." Pepper started to say, her voice shaking slightly.

"God no, it was clearly an accident. It really seemed like our baby got carried away while pretending to fly," Tony reassured her quickly.

Pepper let out a sigh of relief as she sat on the chair next to Tony's.

"You should have waited for me before having that talk with Addie about rules and consequences. You know you're not the best at easing people into hard conversations."

"So I've been told once or twice." Or... maybe on a weekly basis, he admitted to himself.

"And you've clearly hit a nerve when you talked about his uncle, Tony. Whether we like it or not, Addie's uncle was most likely his surrogate father, and it's only been 6 months since he tragically passed away with no lead on finding who the murderer is. It's no wonder Addie got angry."

"Well, if you put it that way..."

"Tony, let me go talk with Aidan. I'll let him know that you and I will start looking into his uncle's murder case and update him frequently about what we find out, so that Aidan doesn't feel the need to take matters into his own hands. I'll also get him to apologize to you. You'll see," Pepper asserted, giving Tony a small wink as she got up from her chair.

"God, Pepper, I love you so much," Tony whispered. How did he get so lucky, getting this woman to be his wife?

"I know," she casually replied while walking towards Aidan's room.

After around twenty minutes, Tony heard Aidan's bedroom door open again. He saw Pepper slowly leading Aidan into the kitchen, gently holding onto his hand. Aidan shuffled in behind Pepper, his posture slouched and his eyes glued to the floor. The mother and son duo stopped right in front of Tony.

After a slight nudge from Pepper, Aidan began to speak. "I'm sorry for yelling and cursing...and for slamming the door. I still think you are kind of paranoid though..." he mumbled.

Tony decided that he would just ignore that last part. "Thank you for the apology, Addie. I'm sorry I yelled at you back."

Aidan nervously glanced up to check Tony's expression, then quickly looked down towards the floor again. After a while, he nodded slightly.

"Alright Aidan, why don't you go work on these homework assignments your teachers handed to me this morning? I'll call you out when we eat lunch in a couple hours," Pepper said while handing Aidan a stack of paper.

"Okay... mom," Aidan replied after some hesitation. In response, Pepper smiled affectionately at Addie and ran her hand through the boy's curls.

Tony let out a big sigh. Thank God that was over. He silently thanked Pepper, giving his miracle worker a wink and a smile, then got up to head back to his study. He'll try to get some work done before the gang came over for dinner.