2. A Love, a Father, and a Legacy (Peter Parker)

Chapter 16

Tony opened my car door before I could even unbuckle. He started pulling me by the arm inside but when I yelped in pain he stopped. He stared at me, most likely contemplating picking me up and carrying me. Instead, he settled for just punishing me.

"Go up to your room and stay there until I tell you that you can leave. Because now not only are you on bed rest, you're also grounded. Give me your phone."

I stared at him in disbelief. Finally, I was able to form words. "Can you just stop already? You're not my father so stop acting like it. I get that you've done a lot for my mom and I and that's great, but you're not my father and you never will be. Stop pretending like I'm supposed to be your perfect little daughter because I'm not!"

He looked at me with an incredulous look on his face. I had left him speechless, a skill that only I seemed to possess. I walked past him and made my way to the elevator. I knew that I had just broken his heart but mine seemed to have iced over.

* * *

I walked down the hall towards the cafeteria when I heard Natasha call out to me. I turned, half expecting her to start yelling at me because that seemed to be a common occurrence among adults. "Please tell me you're sneaking out for some food and not to go see Peter again."

"I don't think I'd make it all the way to his apartment again on my own. I'd prefer to be alive the next time he sees me. Though yesterday he seemed like he would be okay if I was dead.

Natasha shook her head. "You know that's not true."

"You didn't see the way he was yelling at me, Nat. The look in his eyes. It was as if he wanted to break my heart. I just don't understand why. What happened?"

Nat reached up and put her hand on my shoulder. "I understand your frustration in not knowing what happened, but I can't tell you. And not because Tony told all of us we couldn't. I just think that in the long run, it's going to be better if you find out from Peter himself."

"But I don't know where he is! And even if I did he clearly has no intention to speak to me. Does he not love me anymore?" The words came out before I could stop them. It was as if everything I had been thinking had all been summed up in those six words. Tears started coming out of me like a broken dam. Natasha pulled me close to her, softly rubbing my back to try to comfort me. After a few seconds, I was too tired to cry anymore.

Natasha pulled me away from her enough so that I was looking up at her. "Let me tell you something. That boy is one hundred percent, head over heels in love with you. Don't you ever think differently."

I nodded my head, not knowing what to say.

"I'm meeting Steve for pizza at Antonio's if you want to join us. There's only so much Ramen noodles one girl can eat."

"I'm not really that hungry anymore." I lied. "I think I'm just going to lie down for a while."

She looked at me for a moment, knowing I was lying but probably wondering if she should let me go or make me come with her. "Okay, let me know if you need anything. All of us are always here if you need something." She pointed to my bracelet and smiled. I didn't bother forcing one myself.

* * *

I walked into school completely dreading every event that was about to occur. It's been four days since my talk with Natasha and I still wasn't feeling any better about the situation. I'd spent a lot of time in my room lately, mostly because Tony wouldn't let me leave the building but also because I reprogrammed F. R. I. D. A. Y. so Tony can only enter my room if I say he can. It most likely won't take him long to fix what I did, but for the time being, I don't have to deal with constant visits from him. On one of the rare occasions I did come out of my room I swallowed my pride and asked Tony if I could finally go back to school. Surprisingly, he didn't argue with me. He mumbled something about how he didn't like the idea of it but eventually told me I could go.

As I walked down the hall the stares of passing students followed me like I was a ghost back from the dead. Though to them it probably seemed like I was back from the dead. The story that Tony told the school was that I was shot by a mugger. Though most likely the story was amplified through rumors, the downfall of being associated with a Stark.

"Sam!" Sarah's voice echoed down the hallway and I looked up to see her sprinting towards me. I immediately shot my arms up in defense so she wouldn't tackle me and rip my stitches open. She must have caught the hint because she slowed down when she got to me and lightly hugged me. "I was so worried about you! Are you okay? Should you even be here?"

"I'm fine Sarah, I promise. According to my doctor, it missed everything important. I'm lucky to have healed this fast." This wasn't entirely true. When I got shot Tony wanted to send me all the way to Wakanda to use their technology to heal me very quickly. When my mom refused to let that happen, she agreed to let someone come over to help speed the healing process along and help me wake up. Of course, I wasn't going to share this with Sarah, or the true events of what occurred.

"Well, I'm happy you're okay. And maybe next time you get shot you let me know right away so I don't worry for a week about where you are? Your social media was so cold it was like you died."

"Sorry, overprotective Tony took my phone so I wasn't blabbing about everything on social media and causing a big uproar or something. He was definitely overreacting." Got to love having Tony's antics to help cover up a lie.

"Well you were shot, I mean you could have died. He probably was stressing since he found out and will be most likely for a long time. Maybe even the rest of your life."

"Oh god, an even more overprotective Stark? No thank you." We both laughed, but what she said made me realize that maybe I have been a little too harsh on Tony. I mean I really could have died. Should have died, at least in Will's point of view. Nobody ever told me what happened to Will except that he wouldn't be bothering me ever again. I took that as him being shipped off to juvie or some other facility quietly set up by Tony so no one would find out the truth of what happened. I started to feel a little bit of guilt until the one question I was dreading the most spewed like venom from Sarah's mouth,

"How's Peter? Did he bring you lots of chocolate and flowers while you were in the hospital?"

"Um...I don't think he, uh, visited me. At least I didn't see him. He might have come when I was sleeping but I never saw him there. He hasn't talked to me since it happened." I felt a tear roll down my face. Sarah didn't seem to notice or didn't point it out in fear I would start a scene in the middle of the hallway.

It appeared that the latter couldn't be true because she started a scene of her own. "Are you freaking kidding me? That kid had the audacity to not come to see you at all! Who does that! I'm about to kick his ass so bad right now." She turned and started walking away before I could grab her arm and stop her. I walked after her, my ability to run still unavailable, and caught up with her just in time for her to start badgering Ned with questions.

"Where is he?" She was furious now as if her walk over here had only inflamed her rage. Ned stared at her, terrified, as if she just threatened to kill him if he didn't do everything she said. The look on her face made me feel as if she wasn't that far off from threatening his life. "Dammit Ned, where's Parker? I'm going to kill that son of a bi-"

"Sarah stop, you're scaring Ned. He looks like he's about to pee himself." I tugged on her arm but she didn't budge from where she was firmly planted in front of Ned, blocking any path he could use to escape her wrath.

"Good. He deserves to have that much embarrassment if he's willing to harbor that little fugitive."

I looked at her shocked. "Sarah he's not a criminal. Maybe he was busy, or-"

"To busy to go see his own girlfriend after she was shot? I don't think so. He's a criminal in my book. And when I see him I'm going to rip him a new one." She stalked off and I gave Ned a sympathetic look before chasing after her as best I could.