Saving Grace

Chapter LIV

"So who is this that needs patching up?" Grace asked as she and Tony entered the elevator.

"A little.....friend....of mine," Tony hesitantly answered.

"You don't some too sure of that."

"No, he's definitely a friend of mine," Tony quickly backpedaled. "He's just......"

"Is he like you and the others?" Grace asked solemnly.

"You catch on quick, Miss Wonderland," Tony muttered.

Grace just smiled gently. "I'll help him any way I can." She huffed out a sigh. "Hopefully HYDRA didn't block out too much of my training."

The elevator dinged open, and Tony led Grace out through the Med-Lab floor.

"Let's see; Happy put him in examination room six. Down this hall......turn left.......room four.....five.....Here we go! Number six!" Tony rapped his knuckles on the closed door. "Hey, Pete; I'm here with help. Ya decent?"

"Mr. Stark!" Sounds of movement followed the muffled cry, and the door jerked open to reveal a teen boy with messy brown hair.

"You said he was like the Avengers!" Grace gasped.

"He's got powers, yeah," Tony shrugged.

"But he's just a kid!"

"Don't worry, Ma'am, I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man," the boy piped up earnestly.

"What? Nevermind; sit," Grace pointed to the padded exam table, her eyes already trying to assess his condition. Tony watched in amazement as she went into professional nurse mode as if a light switch was flipped.

Gone was the uncertain HYDRA victim; this was the Army Corps nurse from the war. In a firm but gentle voice, Grace asked what hurt, where the damage was, how bad was the pain, quickly find the greatest injury seemed to be Peter's shoulder.

"Yeah, I kinda landed on it pretty hard," Peter explained. "I couldn't use this arm to swing anymore."

"Swing?" Grace asked in alarm. "What do you mean?"

"I have this webbing," he replied, showing her the web slingers in the wrist of his suit. "I can swing....you know.....like, from building to build and all......with it............catching bad guys.................and...stuff..........." he trailed off. With his every word, Grace's eyes grew larger.

"And how old are you?" she asked in a soft, calm voice.

"Um, seventeen...?"

She looked at Tony. "And you knew all about this.......swinging?"

"Well, duh," Tony rolled his eyes. "Of course, I did! You do you think gave him that totally awesome suit?"

"And you let him? A seventeen-year-old?"

Tony and Peter both cringed at her quiet yet deadly tone.

"It's okay, Miss......Whatever-Your-Name-Is! Really! I don't do the big stuff like Mr. Stark and Cap; just the little stuff," Peter rambled in an attempt to placate her. "Just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, remember?"

Grace's lips pressed into a thin, disapproving line.

"Woah, she looks just like Cap when she's mad," Peter muttered to Tony.

"You have no idea, Pete."

Grace moved behind the table to look at Peter's shoulder. "Very well, Mister...?"

"Parker. Peter Parker!"

"Very well, Mr. Parker," she nodded, then pressed a certain way on his shoulder. "Does this hurt?"

A cry of shock and pain escaped from Peter's lips.

"I'm afraid for all your suits frills and all your abilities, you are still human; your shoulder is dislocated," she stated.

"Aww, geez, kid," Tony groaned. "How did you manage that?'

"I don't know?"

As the boys bantered, Grace had gone to the cabinet beside the exam table and was rifling through the drawers.

"Uh, what are you looking for, Alice?" Tony asked, looking slightly uncertain.

"Something for him to bite down on."

"Bite down on?" Peter yelped. "Why?"

"I have to set your shoulder back into place. It's going to hurt. A lot."

"Look, Alice-"

"Mr. Stark, you asked me to treat him; if I'm going to do this, it'll have to be done my time's way," Grace overrode him. "I can't risk using modern methods without proper training." She settled on a roll of gauze and handed it to Peter.

"What do you mean 'your time'?" Peter asked, thoroughly confused and nervous. "Are you a time traveler?"

Grace paused. "Not exactly," she answered. "Go ahead and bite down on that, Mr. Parker."

He quickly twisted to look at her as she got into position behind him. "Are you sure about this?"

Her gaze softened. "Look, hun, this is far from my first dislocation. I've reset dozens of dislocations and broken bones." A small grin made it's way onto her face. "Plus, I have a very high patient satisfaction rate. Just ask Steve and Bucky."

Peter's eyes widened. "You know Cap and Mr. Barnes?"

Grace gently guided his hand that held the gauze roll to his mouth. "No more distracting. Bite." Peter solemnly nodded and obeyed.

"I can't watch this." Tony dashed from the room.

"It's okay, Mr. Parker," Grace soothed as Peter gazed in surprise and sudden nerves after Tony. "It'll all be over in a moment. I'm going to go on three, okay?"

Peter nodded and made sure the gauze was firmly between his teeth. Grace gently maneuvered Peter into position.

"One.......two.........CRACK!"

A muffled cry tore from Peter before he went limp in relief. Grace quickly guided him to lay back on the raised end of the table. "You did really well, Peter," she soothed, combing his messy hair back from his face as a tear leaked from the corner of the boy's eye. "It's okay; it's all over now."

Peter nodded mutely and took the gauze out his mouth with a shaky hand.

Grace took it from him. "I'll be right back; I'm going to find some morphine for the pain."

"Morphine?" Peter croaked. "Where did you go to med school?"

"U.S. Army," she wryly answered as she rummaged through the cabinet once more.

"You're in the Army?"

"Used to be. For heaven's sake, where did they put the pain-killers?" Finally, she came up with a bottle of pills. "Naproxen sodium........hmmm....." She carefully read the instructions on the label. "I think this a pain-reliever. Let's see.......two tablets every six to eight hours..." Opening the bottle, however, proved to be a problem. Grace had ever seen a child-proof cap before. After Peter explained it to her, she was able to open the bottle and hand him two of the little blue tablets and a cup of water.

Finally, Tony returned. "How is he, Grace?" he asked urgently.

"After some rest and some healing time for the shoulder, he'll be fine, Mr. Stark."

"How about it, kid? Nurse Gracie treat you okay?"

"Yeah, she was great," Peter answered. "Hey, I thought her name was Alice."

"Nah, that's just nickname," Tony answered.

"Well,...then who are you?" Peter asked her as she bustled around tidying up the counter and drawers.

"Grace Rogers," she smiled over at him.

"Rogers?" Peter gasped excitedly "You mean like Cap?" Then, slapped his hand over his mouth. "Did she know that? Is she allowed to know that she has the same last name as Captain America? Did I just blow top secret information-"

"Relax, Peter, I've known Captain American's name since long before he was in Army," Grace commented as she straightened up and walked over to him.

"You knew him during the war?"

"During the war?" Grace answered good-naturedly. "Sweetie, I've known my big brother since the day I was born."

"Big brother? Are you SERIOUS? That's so COOL!"