Family Secrets

Damage Control

Tony knocked on Peter's door softly. The music stopped abruptly and the older man heard the teen get up and move some stuff around.

The door opened to reveal a very red eyed Peter. He sniffled a little, rubbing his nose on his sleeve. "Yeah?"

"Can I come in?"

"Okay," Peter said, stepping back to let his father enter.

"First thing's first, you did nothing wrong and your Uncle can be an ass sometimes."

Peter smiled a little, before breaking into tears again and throwing himself into Tony's arms.

"I'm so sorry, Dad, I messed everything up! I was muting my senses cause I pick up every little thing with Mom now a days, like even just stumbling and stuff and it makes me anxious so I was muting them and I know that was stupid. Ned was falling and I- I- I couldn't think and I just asked and- and- I know- know it w-was stupid- know it was stupid, and I-"

Tony cut him off. "Woah, woah, Peter. You're picking up that much? You had, and still have, every right to mute that, it must be driving you crazy to worry every 5 seconds!" Peter nodded, and his dad kept going. "You made a perfectly fine choice to mute those senses, I would have supported that 100%. And you weren't stupid for saving Ned, you and I both know that Ned wouldn't have forgiven you if you hadn't and you should always do what is right. You're Uncle was... scared. I think they are all scared.

"Your Uncle was really young when he got his powers. And it scared him that you got yours even younger than he did. I'm not saying that what he said was right, because he was absolutely wrong, but I am trying to help you understand.

"Everyone in this Tower, everyone who loves you, has done something they regret now because it scares them to think it might come back to haunt them. You want to know what I regret?"

Peter nodded slowly.

"I regret being so public about being IronMan. It put your mother in danger, and if I had been married when I made that choice, or had you, I would have never said anything. Peter, your family is scared because they've all been tortured or had loved ones killed and they don't want you to go through that or be hurt by someone trying to get to us."

"I know that. And that's why Uncle Steve is right, it was stupid of me! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"It wasn't, Peter! You saved Ned, and that is worth more than this secret."

Peter cried again and fell into his father's arms, knowing his father was right but feeling like he had still let everyone down. As if Tony could sense this, he whispered in the teen's ear.

"You didn't let anyone down, and you didn't do anything wrong. We'll take this on headfirst and together, like this family takes everything on."

The spiderling nodded, and pulled away, sniffling and wiping his eyes.

"Do you mind if I send your Uncle in to apologize?"

"Not at all," Peter smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pepper had come home much later than expected. She looked dazed, as if something was bothering her, but she quickly refocused on Peter and what had happened. After she was been filled in on the situation, and Steve and Peter had made up, the whole family discussed what to do now. Peter was careful in choosing his words, thinking about each of his Uncles' and Aunt's situations before speaking.

"I think we should be honest about it, I mean, there's no point in disputing it. That being said, I don't think we should give any details on how long I've been Spiderman, or about how I got my powers, or about any specifics besides what people already know: I can climb and I can shoot webs."

The family thought on this, deciding it was the best course of action when it came to making sure Peter had the least amount of exposed weaknesses. After all agreeing, Pepper suggested that Peter relax, so the family watched a movie.

Peter fell asleep on Pepper's lap, and she took that opportunity to have Bruce take him to his room. Tony had gone to bed a bit ago, and Sam, Bucky, Steve and Clint were engaged in the movie. Pepper made her way down to Natasha's room, where she heard the familiar sound of Classical music and the shower running. She stepped in, deciding to wait for the ex-assassins return.

Natasha stepped back into her room, a towel wrapped on her head and wearing a robe.

"Pepper," she started. "You scared me."

"Sorry, Nat, I just," Pepper faltered. "I need to tell you something."

"Go ahead." Natasha sat on her bed next to Pepper.

"I... I miscarried today and that's why it took so long to get home. I had to stop at the doctors."

"Oh, Pepper."

"I think it was from all the stress and I fell a few days ago but Happy helped me up and Bruce said I looked fine so I didn't tell Tony and then when you called all I could think about was that something happened to Peter. The doctor said it could have been the stress or the fall, or really anything this early. He said that if I hadn't of gone in to do all the fancy testing, I probably would have just thought I had a late period."

Natasha was at a loss for words, so she simply wrapped her arms around Pepper's shoulders and let her cry.

"Have you told Tony?" The question startled Pepper out of her crying for a moment.

"I haven't had the time," she answered, feeling like a monster for not telling her husband.

"Okay," Natasha said back. The two women stayed like that, one letting the other cry into her shoulder, until Pepper pulled away and took a deep breath.

"I'll tell him in the morning," she said, standing. "Thank you, Natasha. For everything."

**A/N: Sorry guys, sad chapter... I was planning something else for Pepper, but this was the least sad of three options and I decided to go with this one. Thank you to everyone who is reading, I'm honestly so honored and excited to be writing for you all!!**