chapter xxviii.
( homecoming )
i thought that we were close
but now that door is closed
when did we lose control?
guess you don't need me
i just wanna know
i just wanna know ─── nf
avengers facility, new york
august 2, 2016
( third person point of view )
A woman and a child only had each other.
A father was gone, unmentioned, unknowing.
The child had screamed.
The woman said nothing.
The little girl's face was red, but it was not from the tears that streamed down her cheeks. It was from the blood. Oh God, there was just so much blood. It was everywhere. All the time, it was absolutely everywhere. The little girl learnt very early on that so many things could be used as weapons, as a means to hurt, as a means to make her scream.
Plates. Books. Forks. Pins. Knives. Hands.
She was just a child, she couldn't stop crying. Who would do that to child?
The sky is a deep midnight blue and the air carries a light summer breeze while a black sedan remains parked outside the renovating Avengers Facility. A man in a jet black suit stands within a certain billionaire's office, staring at the two pajama-wearing people before him.
"Please sit down, Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts."
A very disheveled Tony Stark stares long and hard at the government official who was sent by none other than Secretary Ross. First, the man comes here in the middle of the godforsaken night without warning, demanding to see both Tony and, oddly enough, Pepper and now he's going to what? Could he seriously be trying to tell them what to do in Tony's own building? With a blank face, the government official carelessly motions for the two to sit in his chairs in his office. Tony grinds his teeth in distaste. Well, apparently he is.
Resisting an irritated sigh of her own, Pepper sits down in one of the chairs and expectantly stares at the man. Tony rolls his brown eyes a little, hardly enough to be seen, before he turns and sits down in the cushiony chair beside hers.
"All right, let's just get this over with quickly so we can get the heck back to bed. What exactly do you want now?" Tony's voice and his scowl sadly have nothing to do with his lack of sleep. "You've come here sixteen times asking me the same questions and I keep giving you the same answers: I don't know. I don't know where my daughter went. I don't know what she's doing. I don't know if she's 'plotting' something. I don't know anything."
The Stark doesn't realize how emotional he sounds until the man realizes that both the official and Pepper are staring at him sympathetically. The room grows uncomfortably silent. Pepper blinks away the tears in her light eyes and quickly crosses her gray pajama legs, looking away. Tony clears his throat and moves his gaze away from her as well. He can't stand to see her pain anymore than he can stand his own.
The official gives the kind of frown that causes wrinkles on his face, "Mr. Stark, we don't need to ask you where Mrs. Toomes..." Pepper and Tony both give him a pointed glare. "I'm sorry, where Miss Stark is." The official waits for a reaction from the parents, "We already know."
"What?!" Tony hurriedly stands up from his cushioned chair and his heart beats wildly in his chest, "You've found her?!"
"Is she all right?" Pepper stands as well, quickly coming to Tony's side, "Is she hurt? How is the," the woman stops suddenly and they all can see the tears in her eyes grow heavier.
How is the baby?
The unsaid words hang heavy in the air.
The baby.
Lisa's baby.
Oh God, their baby is pregnant with a baby of her own. And both of them are out there by themselves. People are chasing them and they're all alone. They're in danger and Tony pushed them away. He's hurt them. He's lost them. He can't help but wonder if Pepper blames him. He probably would if he were her. It is all his fault. Lisa would still be here if he hadn't been such an idiot. If he had kept her safe. If he hadn't have said any of those things. Lisa would be here, and their daughter and their grandchild would be safe.
What has he done?
"I apologize." The official quickly spouts, "I should clarify. We don't know where she is, but we do know where she was."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Tony angrily demands.
Pepper has the same scowl on her face as he does. He got their hopes up for nothing? He doesn't even know where she is? Tony swears to God that he could throttle him right here in this moment and, to be honest, he would probably enjoy it. Pepper has her arms tightly crossed over her chest and Tony's knee is bouncing as they both wait for the official to get the words out.
"Our facial recognition scanner found her on a security camera near a club in New York a few hours ago."
Hours, just a few hours. The parents almost feel relief. For some reason, it makes them feel a little bit better knowing where she was so recently. After months of not knowing where she was or if she was okay after all this time, it feels good to just know anything.
"New York?" Pepper repeats slowly, "Why would she come back to New York?"
Tony and Pepper glance at each other as the answer immediately comes to mind. Her brother. That's the only reasonable explanation of why Lisa would take that big of a risk.
"Because of this." The official clicks a few buttons on his tablet and, as they return to their seats, the large screen in Tony's office begins displaying a dark and grainy image.
The only way any of them can really see what is going on in the video is because of the orange streetlights that cut through the otherwise dark night. Nothing within the video really seems amiss for a good thirty seconds before the side door of what must be the club is thrown open and loud music filters out. Then, a brunette woman stumbles out of the door with what probably is a beer bottle in hand. Something about her seems familiar to Tony and his stomach uncomfortably twists into knots. The billionaire glances at the CEO only to find that the tall strawberry blonde is just as confused as he is.
Tony is glad she's here though, even if it's only because of this. To just see her, to just be in the same room as her, that's gotta be enough for him. It's better that way. Maybe not better for him but better for her. She meets his brown eyes for just a moment and then they both look back at the video playing before them.
The brunette's too tall of heels and whatever it is that has intoxicated her body makes her sway and stumble down the alleyway's pavement, forcing her to run her hand along the wall so she won't fall. The woman ends up tripping anyway and then she leans against the grimy concrete behind her. She pulls a cigarette out of her tight pants' pocket, lights it, and then holds the white paper up to her lips.
Tony squints hard to study her face. The footage is so dark and grainy that it's hard to register her features. Who is this woman? Why in the world would the official show a video of her? What is her importance? But then, suddenly, it all makes sense and Tony feels like he's about to slide out of his seat from the loss of feeling in his body.
"Dear God..." The Stark breathes out, pressing an arm to his now aching chest.
The official just nods at Tony, seeing that the man now understand.
"What? What is it?" Pepper looks at her ex-boyfriend quickly, straightening up from her position and pointing a finger at the screen. "Tony, do you know who that is?"
As Tony opens his mouth to respond, another voice speaks in his place, "Lisa."
Pepper lets out a quick gasp and Tony doesn't quite know what to do with his shaking hands, eventually choosing to grip his fingers around the chair's arms.
The brunette woman pauses with the cigarette still stuck between her lips.
"Or would you prefer 'Janice'?" The voice speaking sounds coarse and like the gravel that covers the alley's grimey ground.
Tony and Pepper watch with wide and disbelieving eyes as a young woman walks into the light of the street lamps. She has Tony's nose and a face shape that mirrors his too. A long white scar still cuts down the center of her face. Instead of the dark brown tone that used to match Tony's so perfectly, she's dyed her hair to be a light blonde.
The other woman's brown hair blows into her so terribly familiar blue eyes, a pair of eyes that Tony and Pepper would see every time they looked down at their little daughter.
"Lisa..." Pepper whispers to herself, pressing one of her petite hands to her lips.
The parents both study Lees, trying to see if she looks hurt in any way, shape, or form. But all they can really see is her familiar black boots and then a strangely flat abdomen within her jean jacket. And that horrifies the girl's parents. They knew she was hurt in the final fight in Siberia and she had said that she was alive, but she never said... She never said one way or another about the other... And, as they realize that they could lose the people they love all over again, suddenly they're terrified of the things that could happen to her as she stands across from her mother.
The mother who beat her. The mother who tried to kill her. And Tony and Pepper get it. But Lisa wouldn't ever kill someone in cold blood... would she?
On the screen, Janice pulls the cigarette from her mouth and blows out a puff of smoke, "Who're you?"
"Oh, Janice, what? Don't you recognize your daughter?"
"Oh, Tony, what? Don't you recognize your ex-wife?"
The memory plays within everyone's heads so clearly, the picture of a young girl's tenth birthday when Lisa's biological mother showed up at the Malibu mansion's front door. Janice once said her own version of those words to Tony before she sold Lisa, like a thing to own or to possess. Oh God, they all remember the things she said that day. Lisa's clearly thought through everything that she would say to her mother. She has a script and she has a plan, and neither Tony nor Pepper are sure they're going to like how it concludes.
Janice drops her cigarette-holding hand to her side as Lisa patiently waits, and then her blue eyes widen, "Whoa."
"Mm, 'whoa' indeed." Lisa's lips twist into a smirk and the twenty year old hums in agreement, "Nice to see you again, Janice. You look..." Her eyes drift over the woman's form that looks much more haggard than Tony can ever recall seeing, "Well, horrible."
"What do you want?" Janice seems actually... well, nervous and a sick sort of satisfaction can be seen on Lisa's face. The woman who used be a redhead suddenly spits out, "You know I could call the cops on you? Everybody's looking for you."
"What?" Lisa says the words so emotionlessly that a chill runs down her parents' spines, making them shift uncomfortably where they sit. "Oh God, you think I'm here to torture you, don't you?" Janice straightens and her teeth grit within her mouth, "To kill you?"
Lisa's hands twitch at her sides as Pepper bites worriedly at her lip.
Janice doesn't respond, her eyes narrowing and her jaw growing somehow tighter.
Lisa nods a little, readjusting her shoulders within her oversized jean jacket, "I considered it. I never got the chance to kill Edgar, but God forgive me, I really did consider killing you. Because you beat me and you degraded me and you let men do horrible things to me. Because you did things to me that I can't even say aloud."
Janice pushes her lips out and then gives a careless shake of her head, "I don't remember that."
Pepper glares and Tony stands angrily up from his chair.
Lisa's face pales and a harsh breath scoffs out of her lungs, "You don't remember... How could you not-not...? God..." Her words die out while her hands curl into fists around her thrusters and she squeezes her eyes shut, "I didn't come here to kill you. And I didn't come here to hear an excuse because I know you don't have one."
A small silence follows between the two women. All that can be heard is the distant sound of sirens and children crying in the apartment that stretches up beside them. Lisa's lungs slowly drag in a breath and she twitches her head into a small shake.
"I didn't come here for you; I came here for me." Her eyes finally open and she steps towards her with a hard expression, pointing a long finger in her direction, "Because I want to let you go. Because I want to live and I can't do that until I say this... I'm done letting what you did to me define me, and I'm done letting it rule everything. I'm done being the victim. Janice. I'm done with you."
Small and nearly saddened smiles of pride work their way through the glares still on the faces of those in the present. Janice's face becomes like a stone wall against her words.
"And so I'm not asking for an apology, but for once in my life, I want the truth from you."
Janice squints her eyes, "Truth? You want something from me?"
"You chose my name. You could have had any name and you chose 'Lisa'." Her blonde head shakes and the question that has building within her for as long as she can remember trembles out of her lips, "Did you ever, in even the smallest measurement..." She softly whispers, "... love me?"
There is a long pause in which Lisa's mother, the woman who created her, just studies her. Janice looks Lisa over, analyzing each part of her face and her body, taking her in, measuring her up to whatever standard she's always held her to. Lisa never understood what it was that she wanted from her. She asked and she asked, but it was too late. She was already grown up and Janice was already a villain in all of their minds.
Janice takes in a small breath, slowly cocks her head to the side, squints her eyes, and then responds with a question of her own, "How could anyone ever love a pebble in their shoe?"
Pepper's teary eyes slide closed and Tony yanks his hands from out of his pockets, clenching them into fists at his sides. This woman, this monster just called their daughter a pebble, an annoyance, and an inconvenience, something to be discarded, thrown aside. Nothing more. Lisa takes a few steps back from her, nodding sharply as if she's finally coming to terms with something.
Janice suddenly turns, tilting her chin up ever so slightly so she doesn't have to look at Lisa, "So scat, run off, leave..." Lisa's eyes stay on her turned back before she mumbles four last vehement words, "Just like your daddy."
Tony pales ever so slightly and Pepper's eyes sharply dart over to look at him.
And something within Lisa snaps. Anger shows itself on their daughter's face and she practically shudders from that always building rage she just couldn't satisfy. Neither Tony or Pepper and most definitely not Lisa have ever been sure where this rage comes from. It's always been part of her. Something they're scared she just might give into it.
But then, the girl gives a laugh just the same, "Of course, of course."
Lisa turns to leave before she suddenly whirls around and grabs onto the woman's throat, slamming her back into the wall. Janice shrieks and chokes at Lisa's tightening grip around her throat; her hands claw at her daughter's, desperately trying to be released. Lisa's head turns slightly to the side as she observes the woman struggling under her grasp. An almost pleased expression flickers across Lisa's face.
"This isn't like before." Lisa hisses the words out, seething a kind of viciousness her parents have never seen, "I'm not that little child lying bloodied on your bathroom floor and you're not standing over me."
Janice's fingernails still dig into the skin on Lisa's hands until her blood is drawn and it slips down her wrists. But Lisa doesn't seem to feel a thing.
"It's not as fun when it's a fight tipping in my favor, is it?" She tilts her chin closer to Janice's face, still gritting out through her clenched teeth, "It's not as fun when I'm not weak and defenseless, right?!"
Janice rasps for air as her skin begins to grow pale and her usually wild blue eyes are beginning to snake and burn with red. Pepper is wringing her hands in front of her, breathing deeply as she struggles to watch the television screen. Tony is gnawing on one of his knuckles, worriedly glaring at the scene before him.
"What an interesting thing. To see my fear on your face." The girl whispers hoarsely, thinking back to it, to all of it, "Uh oh, are you confused?" She mocks with a slight twitch of the head before hissing, "I would think you'd understand this gesture. It's called strangulation. Typically, it takes about a recorded seven to fourteen seconds for the victim to pass out and only minutes after unconsciousness for the victim to suffocate completely. You should be able to remember. You did this to me once."
Tony and Pepper naturally hates Janice as much as Lisa does, but they don't want their child to become a murderer. They don't want her to live with that pain. Tony almost became one. And he doesn't want his child to feel the despair that he feels now. Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. The words chant within the parents' heads as if they can change the past.
Lisa's face begins to flash with a wild mix of emotions. Anger. Pain. Fear. Hatred. And then finally guilt.
Lisa suddenly harshly pulls away from the woman and Janice drops to her knees before her daughter, gasping for air with a high-pitched sound. Lisa forces herself to stay a few feet back from her, seeming almost worried that she'll suddenly do something out of her control. Her gaze lingers on Janice and her trembling hand curls in and out of a fist, a yellow light building within her thrusters. She sharply shakes her head and unsteadily paces to the alley's opposite wall. With another silent breath, she rests a hand against it for support while her head ducks, making her blonde hair to fall around her face.
"I didn't come here to kill you." Her voice is hoarse. "I honestly came here for peace." She swallows and turns back around to face the still gasping woman. "I know you don't want my forgiveness and I know that it's not what you deserve. But I need to give it to you. For me."
A glare takes over Janice's sharp features and she pushes herself to her stumbling feet, "G-God, you're even more pathetic than I thought you were."
Their daughter doesn't react to her biological mother's mockery, "I forgive you, Janice. I do."
She nods slowly and she turns to walk away, but a sudden hand grasps onto Lisa's arm. Before she even has a chance to react, Lisa is yanked back around and Janice throws a fist at her face. Pepper shrieks and Tony panickedly steps towards the screen as Lisa is thrown to the ground. But there is absolutely nothing either of them can do because what they're watching in the present is now the past. They can't go and save her. They can only stay and watch.
Janice throws herself on top of Lisa to hold her down, her knees pinning her legs and her own hands attempting to pin Lisa's arms. Trying to fight her hold, Lisa lets out a grunt and a yell as Janice begins to tear at her, pulling her hair and her skin. Lisa does everything she can to protect her head with her one freed arm while trying to pound her mother in the chest.
Why doesn't she just shoot her?!
Lisa doesn't want to.
That's why.
There's blood all over their daughter and Tony is pretty certain that he is hyperventilating. Suddenly Lisa throws a firm knee into Janice's back which makes the woman scream in pain. Then Lisa curls her arms around the woman's neck and throws her over her head. Janice lands hard on the pavement and smacks into the wall. Lisa lies a few feet away for a brief second, coughing and gasping at the pain in her body. With a quick grunt, she scrambles to leap back up, although anyone can see it's painful for her, and she hesitantly raises her bloodied fists. As blood drips down Lisa's temple, Janice slides her hand across the ground and Tony can see her fingers curl around a long shard of glass.
"Oh God, oh my..." Pepper stands and grasps onto her ex-boyfriend's arm.
Seeing what her mother is doing, Lisa lets out a quiet breath, "Janice, don't."
The woman dives for her, but Lisa quickly dodges and sends her into the wall.
"Janice!" Lisa yells, "I didn't come here for this!"
The woman lunges for her once more, but she's not quick enough this time and she gets a shard of glass stabbed into her shoulder. Lisa cries out and sends a hard elbow into Janice's chin, once, twice, three times. She then raises a foot and kicks into her gut. Janice stumbles back from her, ripping the glass out and keeping her grip on it.
"Janice." Lisa tries to keep my distance while she subtly dials up her thrusters, "Don't. Just stop this. This isn't necessary. I didn't come here for a fight."
The shard of glass suddenly slashes across Lisa's body again and the twenty year old shrieks, stumbling back. Janice pulls back with a heavy and satisfied breath at having made her bleed, watching her tiredly as she slowly presses her hands against her stomach. She then carefully pulls them away to hold them up to the light. They're covered in a horrifyingly deep, dark red. Pepper's ears start ringing and Tony's chest feels tight. His legs suddenly crumble out from underneath him and he falls to his knees.
Lisa shudders in pain before raising her arm to block another attack, being stabbed by the glass once more. With a growl, she snatches onto Janice's wrist, skillfully curls it behind her back, and then holds the raging woman against her bleeding front. Janice screams and yells horrible things, but Lisa doesn't let go.
"Just stop!" Lisa shouts loudly, "Stop!"
She continues to fight to get free, slitting Lisa's wrists more in the process.
"Janice!" Lisa takes the brunt of each blow, still trying to restrain from killing her mother, "Janice! Stop!" She screams, "Mom, please!"
But even this final title does nothing to sway the woman who never cared about Lisa Stark.
Suddenly Janice frees herself, whirls around, and then raises the glass shard high above her head. But before Janice can murder Tony and Pepper's child, Lisa raises her repulsor and then blasts a hole through her biological mother's chest.
Tony's lips pull apart and Pepper gasps in shock.
Silence fills the video.
Janice and Lisa stare at each other for a long moment, neither of them sure of how to react to this. All of the blood that Lisa ever spilled at the hands of her mother seems to pour out of the woman's chest. Janice's expression contorts into one of agony as dismay fills Lisa's. And still, neither one of them utter an apology.
The mother of Tony's child falls to the ground and the child is left standing there, breathing heavily.
Janice Montgomery is dead.
Lisa doesn't move for a long moment, still just staring at her mother's body before she turns and ragefully kicks at the dumpster nearby. Still gasping for air and covered in blood, Lisa's hands once again press into her stomach and she winces at the pain. Her blue eyes flick about before she wraps her jacket tightly around herself and then she disappears from sight.
The official turns off the feed, saying nothing.
Tony and Pepper feel like vomiting.
"Have you checked around in nearby hospitals for a blonde-haired, blue-eyed young woman with an abdominal wound?" Pepper finally breaks the silence so emotionlessly that Tony actually cringes.
He's still too weak to stand.
"We've checked all local and state hospitals. No one matching that physical or injury description has been found. Besides, we have footage of her crossing state lines into Pennsylvania. She's not even in New York anymore."
Pepper shakes her head and closes her eyes.
"Th-the, uh, wound." Tony chokes out, squinting and rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand, "Um, it's not, you know, deep enough to kill...?" He can't actually finish.
The official looks at him with a grim expression, "Our doctors who have studied the video said that if she hasn't found medical treatment by now, around two hours after this event took place..." Pepper and Tony watch him as the man slowly shakes his head, "Then all of the theories about Lisa Stark's death have come true."
♕♕♕
My arm stays wrapped around my bleeding stomach, my hand curled into a trembling fist as I try to keep the blood inside of me. My free hand trails the wall's length in the hallway, giving me some sort of support. Blonde and sweat-wet hair falls down my back and against my cheeks, sheltering my face from the orange hallway lights that illuminate my path. I keep forcing myself to blink, trying to battle the black that keeps seeping into my vision. But it turns out closing my eyes doesn't much help either as each time I see the darkness, it beckons me further. A small chant has filled the sound of my mind, one step, stay awake, one step, stay awake.
My feet finally scrape to a stop before a familiar wooden door and I slump against the doorway. Pain shoots up my wounded shoulder and back into my chest, making me visibly grit my teeth in a wince. The black in my vision comes back, stronger this time and I know I don't have much more time now. I pull my arm from around my stomach and then unsteadily push at the doorbell, leaving a smudge of blood against the plastic.
Stay awake, stay awake, stay awake, stay awake.
The door suddenly opens and I painfully lift my head to see none other than May Parker standing across from me.
"Hi." I give a half-hearted smile, blood still dripping down the side of my face, "Can I come in?"
May's eyes widen in horror, "Oh my, God!" Her voice drops as her arms hurriedly encircle me, "Lisa! Oh my, what happened?!"
"I-I'm sorry." I whisper, struggling to speak coherently, "I didn't know where else to go."
She hurriedly guides me into the apartment I have been to three times now, kicking the door closed behind us. The place that was beginning to look a little familiar is now swimming around in my vision. The warm ceiling lights burn and the room seems to spin and flip and contract and expand. I quickly give up on trying to make my surroundings make sense as I still shudder in her hold, reeling from the pain in my body.
"There shouldn't be trouble. No one saw me. No one knows I'm even in New York." I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my foggy head as she places me down on one of the couches, "Nat did me one last favor before she left the country."
May stares at me in confusion before she jogs into the kitchen and begins pulling out different supplies.
The blackness swallows up my eyesight and I swallow hard, still trying to speak, "I-I know I have a lot to answer for."
"Just stay there, Lisa, it's okay." May calls back from the kitchen, "We're just going to focus on this right now. Okay?"
I wince as I try to pull my eyes open and I dazedly stare at the picture frame of both my aunt and my brother from when he was still a little boy. He's smiling so big, he just looks so happy. I killed his mother. I did that. I sway and painfully catch myself before I spot the small bottle sitting on the coffee table, half-full of white milk. My heart jumps within my chest and I let out a heavy breath.
"May..." My voice sounds scratchy and distant as I call out for her.
"I'm here, Sweetie, I'm here." She crouches down in front of me suddenly, opening up a first aid kit, "Hold still, I'm going to fix this. I'm going to fix you."
"May..." I press, the blackness not leaving my eyes now, no matter how much I blink.
"Peter!" She begins to scream his name, the name of my brother, "Peter, I need your help! Quick!"
"May!" My bloodied hands snatch onto hers, my voice struggling to sound firm, "Just listen, before I black out." I can already feel myself slipping, "Is Maria safe?"
May presses her hands against either side of my face, whispering, "Yes, Lisa. Your daughter is safe."
I barely nod before the blackness takes over completely.
Golden orange streetlights glitter in through the rain speckled windows. A mother and a child lie in the back of a taxi that drives through the gri dark streets of New York. The red-haired woman leaves her two year old child sleeping as she exits the taxi.
"Don't leave me, Mama, you promised!" The little girl cries and pounds her small fist on the window.
A loud banging can be heard in the distance, catching the girl's attention. In another time, the red-haired woman is the source of the banging as she carelessly drops her limp child into a large metal box. The dumpster bangs as the two year old's body makes contact with the hard metal, being the only sound in the otherwise silent and orange streetlight night.
Another mother and another child lie in the back of a taxi as the rain pours down.
I softly press my lips into the short soft curls that cover my daughter's head, "I won't leave you, Maria, I promise."
"Why didn't you come when I called?" A voice breaks through the blurriness in my mind.
And a voice, a voice that sounds so familiar, responds, "I'm sorry. I was- I had my headphones in."
"For five hours?"
"Y-Yeah."
I squint my eyes open and let out a quiet wince as I slowly try to sit up, interrupting whatever conversation is going on. The two other people in the room turn to me with wide eyes. May quickly sits on the coffee table in front of me and a boy, the boy, stands worriedly off to the side.
"How are you?" May squints at me, "How are you feeling?"
I run a hand over my stomach, feeling a line of stitches where a slice once was, "Sore but better." I nod a little, "Thank you."
May nods quickly, her lips pursing into a frown.
I glance over at the boy that's still watching me worriedly, "Hey Peter, long time-no see, huh?"
"Ha, yeah." Peter gives an awkward laugh and a faltering smile, "You know, if you wanted to see us, you didn't have to go through all of this."
I give a weak smile back, "Okay. I'll keep that in mind for next time."
"Yeah..." He pulls at his sleeves, cringing as I try to stand.
"Okay." May drops her chin as she stares up at me, "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"We should get going." I carefully pick up my jean jacket before glancing around, "Where's Maria?"
"Who's Maria?" Peter looks between me and our aunt with wide eyes.
May stands up too, shaking her head at me, "I don't think so, Lees. You are staying here."
I wrap an arm around my waist, "I can't put you guys at risk like that."
"Yes, you can, and you will. You and that little baby are the only family we have."
"Baby?!" Peter is still left so confused.
"We lost you once, Lisa..." May's lips are still pursed into that frown, "We're not going to lose you again." When I see that she's not going to relent, I sigh and she nods, "Good. Okay. We're going to figure this out. But, for now, I think you should just get some rest."
Rest sounds honestly amazing so I don't argue with that, either. Peter quickly offers to let me sleep in his room before he helps me into his room and sets me down onto his single twin bed. He glances over his shoulder quickly to make sure May is not around. I press a hand to my aching temple and squint at him in confusion. He turns back to me so suddenly that I jump.
"Are you okay?" The question leaves both of our lips at the same time, making us both pull back to stare at the other.
"Me?" Peter makes a face, "I'm supposed to be asking about you. Are you okay, Lees?"
I give a small and tired nod, "I'm okay, Peter."
"I'm so sorry that this happened to you!" My little brother brown brows furrow and he shakes his head down at the ground, mumbling, "I should have been there. I should've been there to protect you. I should've stopped whoever did this to you!"
"Whoa, wait, Peter..." I stare at him for a long moment, slowly lowering my hand from my head so that I can rest it on his shoulder, "This wasn't your fault. This was my fight. I'm not your responsibility."
He looks back up at me with his big brown eyes and he says in a voice so sincere that it breaks my heart, "Yeah, you are."
My lips pull apart and I'm just about to respond when our aunt walks back through the door, carrying a small bundle in her arms. An immediate smile breaks onto my face and a weight lifts off of my chest. Peter stares at May with bulging eyes as she carefully sets the small infant into my waiting arms. Maria lies safely against my chest, her body so small and warm against my body as I cradle her. Her brown hair stays soft and curled on top of her head and her little eyelids are sealed closed, hiding the warm blue eyes that lie underneath. Her little pink lips are puckered out and her nose is scrunched into a little smile as she sleeps. Peter gets up onto his knees and his head peeks over the crook of my arm to stare down at her.
He stares down at her for a long moment, so many understandable questions building up inside of his fifteen year old body before he finally whispers out a very smart question, "What?!"
I roll my eyes and gently bump my head into his, "This what is my daughter, Peter."
He looks up at me with wide eyes, "I'm an uncle?"
I laugh a little before May points her finger at me, "We'll talk more about this in the morning too."
My smile drops and I nod, knowing that I really do have so much to answer for.
"For now, Peter can use a sleeping bag before we can get his bunk bed set back up. Lisa, is it okay if Maria sleeps with you in the bed? I don't have a cradle or anything."
"This is fine." I give my aunt a small smile before whispering with teary eyes, "Thank you. For everything."
She nods and kisses my forehead, then Maria's, and then Peter's before she turns and leaves for the night. Peter and I glance at each other, neither of us really knowing what to say now.
Finally, he gives a small and snarky smile, "So, you're a mom now, huh?"
I roll my eyes, kicking my foot at his thigh, "Shut up."
We lie down into our designated spots, me feeling bad about taking his bed and him reassuring sixteen different times he doesn't mind the sleeping bag on the floor. As I cradle Maria between my arm and the side of my chest, we both fall back into another silence and simply stare up at the dark ceiling. So much has happened in past few months. So much running and so much fear and I had to find a way to survive by myself and I had to give birth to a child alone. But now the woman who started all of this is dead, and now I'm free with my brother beside me and my child in my arms.
I can't help but feel as if this time when I'm with Peter is starting something new, something good, something different. And I'm ready for it. Oh God, I'm so ready for it.
My brother breaks the silence after what must be a half hour later, "Hey Lisa,"
"Hey Peter," I smirk as I lay on his mattress and he lays on the floor.
"Once you, you know," he awkwardly clears his throat, "f-found out, why didn't," he sighs, "well, why didn't you come find me?"
I don't reply for a long moment as guilt builds a bomb within my chest.
"You don't have to answer." He quickly rushes to say.
"No, no, I do. It's just," I drop a hand against my forehead as I stare up at the ceiling and hold a sleeping Maria close, "I was... jealous of you, Peter."
"Huh?" He raises up on one elbow so he can look at me, "Jealous? You were jealous of me? You're a Stark!" His voice lifts in pitch and quickly lowers when he remembers the sleeping baby in our midst before he fumbles on, "You're Iron Man's daughter! You're the Red Raven!"
"And you're Spider-Man," I roll on my side so that I smile over at him, making sure to keep Maria far from the edge of the bed.
"It's different..." He grumbles as he plops back down in his sleeping bag.
"Maybe. But being Tony's daughter has nothing to do with it..." Sadness creeps into my tone as I think about the mother that we shared, the mother that hated me and loved him, "You know what I mean."
There's a long pause before he responds, "Yeah, I do."
I give him a sad smile, "Good night, Peter."
"Good night, Lisa."
Whew, that one took me like twelve years to write! I am so sorry for the delay. I've been traveling, being with people (this is big for me, okay?), going to more medical appointments, and, frankly, I just was struggling with this chapter so it took me a while. And I know a few of you were asking for this chapter so hey, it's here!
What did you think? We were sort of all over the place with Janice (agh, what did you think of all of that?!), introducing Maria (who is such a cute nugget, oh my gosh), and finally getting Lisa into the Spider-Man: Homecoming plot (thank God, I was so ready to be here). Annnd we got some cute sibling time (expect to see SO MUCH MORE of that in the next chapters). What did you think?!
OH! Next chapter we get a very fun new character: NED LEEDS! AHH so excited (he's such a fanboy)
Funny Thingamabob:
It's at the top of the chapter with a funny video about Yondu as Mary Poppins. You're welcome.