Blood Lines

[ TWELVE ]

Clover shakes her head, "Not at all. Peter what's up with that?" she says, mimicking her mother's tone from before.

"I just, I just...I just know how much you love surprises, so I thought I would let you know wh...Anyway what did I apply for...exactly?" Peter says.

"That's what I'm here to hash out" Stark states.

"Okay. Hash-hash out, okay" Peter mumbles.

Tony then looks to Aunt May, "Its so hard to believe that she someone's Aunt and mother"

May blushes fiercely, "Well we come in all shapes and sizes you know"

Tony then takes another bite of the loaf, "This walnut date loaf is exceptional"

Clover and Peter both look at each other knowing full well that no one likes May's cooking, especially her walnut date loaf.

"Let me stop you right there...Does this grant have like money involved? No?" Peter asks.

"Yeah. It's pretty well funded, I mean look who you're talking to" Tony says, motioning to himself.

The whole family chuckles in response, realizing that they are asking a billionaire if something of his is well funded.

Tony looks to May, "Can I have 5 minutes with him?"

The next moment, Tony is leading Peter into his room and closing the door behind them. Clover pokes her head down the hall, tempted to go and eaves drop on the conversation. However, as she takes a step into the hall her mom scolds her and tells her to give them privacy.

"Let them talk Clover, come sit with me" May says, patting the cushion next to her.

Clover walks around and sits across from her mother, legs crossed gaze locked on her mother. They both stare at each other for a bit until May motions to the walnut date loaves. Clover hastily refuses the offer and holds back a gag.

"He didn't tell you about it?" May says.

Clover shakes her head, "There's a lot he hasn't told me about mom"

"He's different Clover, he's been different for a while now. I had just hoped that it was grief" May says, taking another date loaf from the plate.

"Well, I realized a while ago that he won't ever be the same person he was before, no matter how much time we give him" Clover sighs.

May takes her daughter's chin in her hand, "You're a wise girl you know that? Just like your dad, always saying the smartest things"

"Well I'm still no genius. Peter takes that title" Clover laughs.

May laughs along with her daughter until they hear the door open back up again and the two men step back into the living room.

          It barely takes anytime at all for Tony Stark to explain what the second part of the grant process is. Peter is to attend a September Foundation conference in Germany with all of the other recipients around the world. It's a three day excursion, fully funded from the flight to the meals by Stark Industries. May can't be more proud of Peter, neither could Clover, but she doesn't trust Mr. Stark, she can tell that there is something odd about him. Something feels fishy to her about the whole September Foundation conference as well. But nothing can be done about it, Peter will be leaving later tonight, picked up by Stark himself.

Clove helps her cousin pack, since his idea of packing is throwing clothes in a suitcase. They don't talk much, just the odd question from Peter about which shirt to bring even though he knows full well it isn't the shirt he needs. Mr. Stark has asked him to come to Germany to fight against the other Avengers, because they are going against the law and helping a terrorist evade capture. Although Peter doesn't know all the specifics, he wants to help, not only to help innocent people, but to impress Mr. Stark. If he does that, maybe Mr. Stark might owe him a favour later on down the road.

"You'll call won't you?" Clover asks as Peter zips up his suitcase.

"Yeah, yeah for sure Clove" Peter says.

"What do you want me to tell Liz about your date?" Clover says.

Peter winces at the mention of Liz and his date, he completely forgot that he had sort of asked her out, "Tell her that I'll take her out when I get back. I promise"

Clover pats him on the back as they walk down the hall to the front door, "Go make history Peter...or whatever you do at a September Foundation conference"

Hugging his cousin and Aunt, he rolls down the hall with his suitcase and towards the elevator. Outside, Tony waits for him in a black limo. As Peter approaches, a man takes his suitcase and Tony rolls down the window.

"Hey kid, hop in, we've got a lot of ground to cover and not very much time to do it"