Tony had made FRIDAY darken the windows completely and instead had her turn the light in the lab all the way up to 100% brightness. It was a different working atmosphere, undisturbed by the changing light outside. It helped him focus, lose himself in the work without any way to tell if an hour had gone by or five. After Clint had left for the Compound, Tony immersed himself in all the files they had secured from the Parker's.
It had been years since Tony had actually worked off of paper documents. While he had FRIDAY scan every single sheet of paper - no matter if a handwritten note or official from - made her categorize them and then browse his own files as well as the internet for any connected data she could uncover, he kept the originals fanned out on the floor of the lab and shuffled through them in the hopes of finding a timeline. There had to be a golden thread. Some of the documents dated back years. There were financial records of different businesses, a restaurant, couple of car dealerships; newspaper articles about trade fairs, a local convenience store going under, a hand full of hit-and-runs; seemingly random files that dated back more than a decade, all based in New Hampshire. Then a clear cut in 2009. There were less than 10 files compiled around incidents between 2009 and 2016 spread out across New York state.
The application made under the Freedom of Information Act was the first of the files he examined. A request for body-cam footage for officers Sinclair and Fagan was filed on March the 3rd 2015 for the entirety of both officers' shifts on April 19th in 2008. The day of the accident. Tony shook his head and scoffed. The "accident". There had been nothing but paper files in the box that Clint had brought back from the apartment though. If the request had been granted then the relevant footage had to be somewhere else either in the apartment or a separate hiding place.
He was so deeply immersed in his thoughts, he didn't even register the elevator doors opening. Only when the footsteps were ganging up on him, did he register that he wasn't alone anymore.
"Cheerful in here." Natasha had her eyebrows raised at him.
Tony just gave a quick glance in her direction, didn't even bother to check Pepper's expression. Her face was bound to still be colored with disapproval after that scene earlier when she had physically kicked him out of the kid's room. His legs were stiff and his back ached but he wouldn't let it show, pushed himself off the floor as gracefully as he could manage. Natasha risking the trip to the Tower meant there was news. Vital information.
"They indicted her," Natasha said before he had even managed to stand.
His left calf was cramping but that was of minor importance now. Not that the indictment came as a surprise. They had expected this. It had been inevitable that it would come to this. Still, certainty was one thing, but the actuality of it happening another.
"Your poker face is shit." The spy didn't move, solid as a gargoyle. "You need to work on that. I've seen you do a lot better."
Tony's hands rubbed across his face then through his hair, not looking at either of them. Pepper stood off to the side of Natasha, her arms crossed in front of her.
"You also need a shower. Something to eat. Rest." Pepper sounded as exhausted as he felt and still, he couldn't help that his stomach ached with annoyance.
Just out of spite he reached for the cup of cold coffee on his workbench and downed it with one chuck, then turned his back for he couldn't help but grimace at the bitter taste. Pepper sighed, then stepped closer to him.
"You don't have to like her. You don't even have to pretend to like her. God knows, I'm not a fan. This isn't about her."
"I know that, Pep."
She grabbed his wrist and turned him towards her. "What are we going to do if she doesn't accept the legal help? What if Clarke offers her a deal? I mean," she groaned and shook her head. "He will offer her a deal. What if she takes it. A few years with a plea bargain or the risk of never getting out of prison?"
"He can't offer that deal," Natasha chimed in conversationally. "Only the DA can offer that deal."
"I know that." Pepper's tone was bitingly sharp. "Let's not play semantics."
Tony's head popped up, startled by the hostility that suddenly felt overwhelmingly intense. Pepper didn't look at him, eyes glued to the fanned out documents on the floor. Natasha though met his gaze head-on.
His eyes narrowed on the spy. "What's going on?"
"May Parker is a distraction, nothing more." She didn't shy away from him. "We need to focus on Barnes. If we can't reign in Ross—"
"We can deal with more than one issue at a time. Disregarding May Parker will leave me with a freaked out Spiderling and I have no interest in that." His eyes shifted back to Pepper but she was still avoiding both of them. "I need her to work with our legal defense. The worst-case scenario would be Clarke using her as leverage against us."
Natasha had her head crooked to the side minimally. "He can't if we refuse to play his game."
Pepper's head shot up, her face hard. "This is not up for discussion."
But the Widow had her eyes still on him. "Tony—"
"You heard the lady." His voice was far more leveled than he thought possible. "We're not negotiating on this."
The corners of Natasha's mouth twitched but she gave a small nod in Pepper's direction. "She's still at the hospital. It's unlikely that they will move her any time soon even with the indictment. Not before she has recovered significantly."
Tony felt like wrapping his arms around himself but stayed tall. "He... he wants to see her. Maybe if..." Only the idea made his stomach turn. The idea of the kid leaving the Tower. If he would have to leave at all, the hospital was the last place Tony would feel comfortable taking him. The NYPD was still swarming all over that place. Barnes was still there.
"How about a video call?" Pepper cleared her throat. "Natasha, I assume this is something you could set up?"
Tony shook his head before the spy could even answer. "We can't blow her cover."
For the first time since they had walked into the lab, Pepper met his eyes. "They moved Barnes out of the hospital."
Tony's mouth fell open, his eyes shifted to Natasha. "Raft?"
She shook her head. "Trial."
A cold shiver went down Tony's back. His mouth clapped shut and he nodded along with his own thoughts. It was the best they could have hoped for. It would give them an actual chance to beat them in a public trial. "Alright." If they played their cards right. He swallowed hard. "Good."
Pepper huffed out a breath. "The only thing of interest for us at the hospital now is May Parker."
He considered it for just a second, then shook his head. "We can't, Pep. Nat's the one who took the kid's sample. If they get wind of—"
"Alright." Pepper held her hand up, stopping him. "Let's plant a phone then. Bribe someone to plant a phone."
Tony shook his head, fingers still twitching, but he forced himself to stop. "We can't be found meddling. They are just waiting for us to make a mistake. No, we..." He threw his head back with a sigh. "We'll have to do this in an official capacity."
"But..." Pepper blinked a couple of times, then frowned. "But that would be public record. The press would find out. It... it would be everywhere."
"Yeah." She stared at him like she was expecting a little more of an explanation and Tony blew out a low breath. "It'd be me openly throwing my weight behind her. Possibly shifting public perception on her."
Her eyebrows were drawn together and she stepped a little closer to him, a hand on his arm. "Honey..." She shook her head. "I... I don't know about that."
"We need her to trust us."
Her lips pressed flat, Pepper didn't answer right away. "Her... her to trust us?" She sucked in a lung full of air, reaching for control. "Her to trust us?"
He shrugged. "Trust me, if you like the sound of that any better."
Her pull on his arm was an attempt to get his attention like she didn't have it all along. "What reason would she have not to trust us? We're paying for her lawyers."
"We offered to pay for her lawyers. We also have the kid and she has no one, is looking at decades in prison. She doesn't trust anyone right now and that's not a wrong impulse."
"I... I'm sorry. The legal defense is one thing but... but she had... had Addy for a decade, I...." Her breathing was measured but not quite in control no matter how hard she tried. "To... to publicly... publicly endorse her, to pretend like all these years she didn't—"
"We're not endorsing her."
"That's what it will look like." Her eyes were wide, gestures wild.
"It will look like we're putting the kid's interest above our own." His patience was wearing thin. This was hard enough. He didn't want to argue his way through this with Pepper as well. "Which is what we are doing. It'll look like compassion for a woman who lost her own son as well as her brother- and sister-in-law in an attack that was designed to kill my son. Compassion for a woman who had to fight off the Winter Soldier because he was targeting Aiden."
"Well, if she hadn't had kept a kid that wasn't hers—"
"Pep." He grabbed her by both arms, pulled her out of her rant. "If she doesn't trust us, she'll find someone else to trust. Worst-case scenario would be Clarke." He let go of her. "We can't afford that."
Pepper didn't look at him, kept her eyes cast down, lips forcefully pressed onto each other. They had just started to make up again and now they had even more hurdles to overcome, things to work through.
"It's..." Tony blew out a long breath, taking control of his agitation. "It's fine. Just... just have the lawyers petition the court for a meeting. I'll... I'll tell the kid. About the indictment. He's already—" Tony shook his head at himself. He was doing what was right for the boy, he was. They'd get past this. They just had to. "I can be the bad guy in this, that's okay. Just maybe... maybe you could stay with him for the night, make sure he's okay and—"
Pepper's eyes met his. "He already knows."
"Wh—what?"
"I told him."
Tony turned sharply to face Natasha directly. He opened his mouth to speak but his mind was still trying to catch up. "You... you did what?"
Her back was straight, arms resting by her side. "I told him that she was indicted."
"You said a little more than that, didn't you..." Pepper was livid. She was positively fuming and all of a sudden everything clicked into place. It wasn't even Tony she was upset with, at least not the most.
"What the fuck did you do?" He looked back and forth between the two women.
"That boy is going down a spiral of self-pity and blind righteousness that puts your self-destructive habits to shame. It needs to stop before he hurts himself and all of you right along with it."
There were no words. Tony could not think of a single thing to say to this, his throat dry as he went to storm past both of them, one thought overriding everything else. He had to check on his kid. Had to make sure that he was okay, but Pepper held him back with a hand on his arm.
"Rhodey is with him. He's... he's alright. He'll be alright."
Natasha threw her hands into the air, shaking her head at both of them. "Of course, he will be."
He bounced off of Pepper and just stopped short of putting his hands on Natasha. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? You have no right—"
"The fuck am I doing? The fuck are you doing?" She pointed a finger at his chest, not in the slightest intimidated by his anger.
"That's my son you're messing with!"
"He's not just your son, Tony. He's a highly enhanced vigilante with worse impulse control than his father, which is saying something."
"You should be lucky for that little impulse control I have right now." His hands were balled up into fists to keep himself from reaching for her.
"Well, that little bit of control would go a long way for that boy."
"Romanoff, I'm warning you, if I ever get another whiff of you—"
"Tony. Calm your mother-hen temper tantrum and fucking listen to me! You need to get that boy in line or—"
"Get him in line? Get him in line? He's not one of your little soldiers! He's a—"
"Fuck's sake... if I have to hear 'He's just a kid!' one more time I'm going to have an aneurysm." Her hands didn't push him back but standing this close to her, he could see some cracks in her cold, matter-of-fact facade. "Yeah, he's a kid, but that's just where our problems start."
"Our problems?" His pulse was racing, hot anger pulsing through him but she didn't flinch away. Natasha locked eyes with him, stared at him until he took a step back, not sure what to do with his hands as he couldn't find it in himself to actually strangle her for the nerve she had. He ran them through his hair instead.
"I told you I would look out for him." Her voice was low and measured and that somehow just made it all worse. "I swore I would protect him."
Tony's eyes flickered to Pepper who had her arms crossed, not looking at either of them. Natasha was quiet, waiting for him. It wasn't until he stared right back at her that she continued to talk.
"I went up to that apartment, door pulled off its hinges, window blown out, the whole apartment was a battlefield and that little son of yours was hanging on the outer wall of the building, blood dripping from his arm, May Parker unconscious on the floor. I told him to get inside. I told him to stop. He could have stopped at any point after we got there. But he didn't."
Goosebumps that traveled down his spine made Tony want to turn away, but she wouldn't have that, made sure he was looking at her.
"He stood in that street, Barnes' damn gun pointed at Steve and refused to move even an inch. I tried. I tried to make him leave with me, to get him out of there but that boy of yours has no self-preserving instincts whatsoever. I thought you had a problem, but this..." She shook her head. "Tony, he's not just a little boy, he's a little boy that lacks any and every sense of understanding for the consequences of his actions. He's never been taught how to deal with his powers and no kid should have to figure out abilities like he had to on their own. He needs bounds and limits and he needs them fast. He's going to kill himself if he keeps at this. You can't keep drugging him with that tranquilizer until the trials are over."
"I..." At last, Tony flinched back from her. "I'm not—"
She waved her arm, stopped him in his tracks. "Not complaining about the side effects though, are you?"
He did pull himself away then, a quick glance in Pepper's direction. That wasn't true. That wasn't... entirely true. He didn't drug the kid, not to control him. He would never do that though the thought of what the boy would do when his strength was back... Tony could still see the scene right in front of his eyes: Rogers, Wilson, and Barton in Brooklyn and the kid right opposite them. Peter had been buzzing with a need for justice. His "justice". Had refused to back down, refused to listen to Tony, instead attacked Wilson and Rogers over and over again until it had almost been too late for them to get out of there. All of them.
May Parker was going to be sent to prison. It was going to happen, the only question was for how low. The prospect of what Peter would do then made Tony's vision blur with anxiety.
Pepper's arms were tightly wrapped around herself, the lines on her face still twisted in anger. "That boy has lost everything he knew in just a couple of days. He needs peace and quiet to get back on his feet, not a self-righteous lecture from someone he hardly knows or trusts!"
Natasha didn't speak for a moment and the lab fell quiet. Only Tony's steppes echoed off the walls as he paced up and down.
"He needed a wake-up call." Her voice was firm and she stood tall. "I understand that it's hard for you." She glanced from Tony over to Pepper. "For both of you. If it means that I have to be the bad agent in this, then so be it."
Pepper let her arms drop, annoyance swinging in her voice. "Why does anyone have to be a bad anything. He doesn't need to get strong-armed and controlled. He needs to work through his trauma, preferably with a professional. He needs to trust us to do what is best for him. After everything he went through, it's normal that he would be impulsive, only trusting himself."
"Trauma therapy with a professional." Natasha looked at her like she had just suggesting training rhinos to show-jump. "A majority of his trauma is connected to his abilities. Good luck explaining that to a therapist."
"We'll make them sign an NDA." Pepper's breathing was heavy. "They wouldn't dare break confidentiality. They'd be ruined if—"
Natasha shook her head. "Repercussions for breaking the NDA will not help the boy once his secret is out there."
"She's right." Tony swallowed hard. "It's not a risk we can take."
Pepper turned towards him, eyes wide. "Tony, he needs help. We can't do this on our own."
"I know! I know that..." His feet wouldn't stop pacing.
Natasha cleared her throat. "If only we had someone on the team who..."
That did it. That made Tony freeze. "No..."
"...had some experience with post-traumatic stress therapy who..."
"No!"
"...we could trust to keep the kid's secret."
He stepped back up to her, eyes wide. "There's no way in hell that Wilson comes anywhere near him! The kid is terrified of him."
Natasha crooked her head at him. "I'm sure with time—"
"Wilson hunted him through half of Manhattan and he ended up stabbed!"
"Come on, Tony." She was looking for his attention, the tone of her voice imploring him to look at her. "None of us knew that—"
"No! No way! Not happening!"
"Wait..." Pepper stepped between them, a hand on Tony's arm. "Sam is why he got stabbed? What the hell—"
The agent got a little closer, determined to be heard. "He's not why the boy got stabbed."
Pepper's eyes were wide, now focused on Natasha, clearly not willing to let this go. "That's not what it sounded like. Why was he even chasing him? How dare he chase a 13-year-old..."
"We didn't know, did we?" Tony could almost admire how soft the Widow managed to keep her voice when she was addressing Pepper, like that would help in cooling the mood.
"A 13-year-old boy after he helped you guys as well! Who does—"
Tony groaned. "Alright, just stop. Both of you!" He had turned and pulled Pepper away from Natasha, getting some distance between them. "Unless we can make sure the kid is safe, physically, there is no point in arguing about any of this. If we can't handle Clarke and Ross, potential access to a therapist will not be the worst problem we face. We'll need to set up that meeting with May Parker."
Pepper was right in front of him, blinking rapidly. "Tony—"
"It's the only way. We can't... we can't risk the kid. I can't... I won't!"
Her hands were on him, his arms first then his face. She cupped his cheek, then leaned in, her own head cradled in the crook of his neck.
"It'll be fine." His voice wasn't even steady enough to convince himself. "We'll just... we'll do what we can for May Parker and he'll..." Tony swallowed hard, then pulled Pepper a little closer against him. "It's what he needs to trust us, so that's what we will do." He nodded to himself. "If it takes a public stand, then that's what we'll do."
"Tony..." Natasha's eyes hadn't left them and her tone made it clear that she wasn't happy with the direction this conversation was taking. "It's not that easy. This is not just about what May Parker did."
Pepper frowned then pushed herself off him, her head turned towards the spy. "What do you mean?"
Natasha's eyes were glued to Tony though. "If you back her.. If it becomes public knowledge that you do, that you let the boy spend time with her, if you go as far as support her in the trial, everything will be put on the table. You will need to explain why Barnes was after him. How you know that it wasn't her and her family that stole the boy. It means that you will have to publicize what happened with Stane. All of it. It means you have to tell the public that you have been lying to them for over 8 years about what really happened when you became Iron Man. How your business partner really died. You'll throw SHIELD under the bus, you'll throw yourself under the bus. You sure, you're ready for that? Ready to risk that for May Parker of all people?"
"It's not for her. I don't—" He groaned, his feet twitching to pace again but Pepper's hands were on him, holding him steady. "We have no choice. All of that will have to come out in Barnes' trial anyway."
Natasha studied him, her eyes flickering back and forth between him and Pepper. "This might backfire, Tony. There is a real possibility that public opinion will turn against you."
"We have no other choice." Nausea lay heavy in his stomach. It was going to be a delicate affair. They'd need to plan when they would bring out which details in court as well as to the public.
Natasha hadn't moved. Her stoic frame only a reminder of how much Tony's nerves were fighting to let panic take control. "There is a chance that May Parker will refuse you when she finds out why her son really died. Why she almost died."
Tony tried to center himself, deep breaths to take control. "We... we'll find a way. We'll just have to be smart about it. If... if we set up a meeting where she can see the kid, where she gets to remind herself why she did all this, then she'll take the legal counsel and then... then we'll have to tell her."
Natasha tilted her head a little. "We'll have to tell her?"
"Me." Tony's voice was shaking, control so far out of his reach, who knew if he'd ever get it back. "I'll have to tell her."
"Tony..." Pepper pulled at his arm but he stayed firmly in his spot.
He needed to get a grip on himself. This wouldn't do. "It's my responsibility."
"It's not!" Pepper's hand moved him so he was looking right at her. "This was not on you."
"Pep—"
"No, that's not happening! This is insane! You might as well have the boy tell her! If this is your fault I guess he's just as guilty!"
"Come on..." he groaned.
"She's right, Tony. There is nothing to be gained from you being there. Or the kid being there. Get a grief counselor and let the lawyers handle this. She will not want to see you."
"Well, it's not like I want to be there, is it?" Temper was slowly overtaking the queasy feeling in his stomach. "It's still my responsibility to—"
Natasha threw her arms up. "Oh, here we go again."
"Well, it is! I won't be hiding from the consequences of—"
"Tony, just stop." Natasha held her hand out towards him and somehow it worked like a charm, stopping him in his tracks. "You want to ignore me when it comes to the kid, fine. But listen to me on this. She might not even want to see the kid until she had a chance to cool down. This needs neutrality."
He turned away from her to Pepper instead. His girl's eyes were wide and pleading, irritatingly on Natasha's side. "Alright. Fine."
"You have your hands full with the kid and Barnes." Natasha's lecture bugged him but he couldn't deny that there was truth in it. "You can't be everywhere at once."
"I..." Pepper held his gaze, then swallowed hard. "I'll call Brian. Have them petition the court."
Tony gave a sharp nod. "Okay."
"We'll... we'll have to debrief them." Pepper hesitated a beat. "Stane. Barnes. All that."
He nodded again. The lawyers would need time to set everything up, but the prospect of going through all of that...
"I can debrief them." Pepper's voice was soft and she stepped a little closer to him again. "Honey, it's going to be okay. I'll go and call Brian. You can stay with Addy and I—"
"No." He cleared his throat. "No, I have... I have things to go through here." He bit his lip, pointing towards the fanned out documents. "Plus, he... he doesn't want to see me right now and—"
"Tony—"
"Just call the lawyers. Rhodey's with him. He's safe with Rhodey and—"
"Hey..." Pepper pulled him closer. "I know this morning was—" She slammed her mouth shut, then turned towards Natasha. "Do you mind?"
"We're not really done here, are we..." Natasha pulled her attention away from Pepper and focused on Tony instead. "They will fast-track Barnes' trial. We need to prepare for that."
"Right." Tony nodded but his hand came up, keeping Pepper close to his side. "We'll talk about that just... go downstairs. Take a nap. Eat. We'll talk after."
Natasha stared at him, face unmoving. "A nap? It's 6 pm."
"Romanoff..." Tony blew out a long, annoyed breath.
"Fine." She turned on her heel and stalked towards the elevator.
Pepper was still right next to him, her voice no more than a whisper. "Downstairs?"
"The Avengers floors," Tony whispered back.
The elevator door closed behind Natasha and just as they did, Pepper cleared her throat, shuffling a little away from him. "I thought we had those floors cleared and reallocated as staff offices and overnight rooms".
"We talked about doing that."
Pepper's expression didn't change. She just looked at him. "You kept the Avengers housing floors?"
He wasn't in the mood to discuss this of all things, so he just shrugged.
"We built them a whole Compound upstate and you still kept those floors?"
"We have an interplanetary crisis waiting to happen. I thought they might come in handy at some point." Tony gestured towards the door. "Case in point."
"But..." She shook her head, flabbergasted. "We discussed this. We agreed—"
"Pep, is this really a priority right now?"
Her hand flinched back from him as if she had been burnt. "I... no. No, I guess not." She pulled her shoulders back, trying to collect herself.
"Just... you go and call Brian. I will just..." His eyes flickered over to the documents that were still spread out across the lab floor. "I still have work to do."
Pepper shook her head, not so much to contradict him it seemed but to focus. "Honey, you need to go and talk to him, okay? He... you can't abandon him right now! He needs—"
"I'm not abandoning him." With Pepper half an arm's length away there was nothing to stop him from pacing again. Not far, just up to his workbench to pick up his coffee mug only to remember that it was empty already. "I'm giving him space. Time to think."
"Tony, you're the only one here he truly trusts. Rhodey's been here a day. I... I've been here for less than a week."
"I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here. He just..." It wasn't that simple. He might have been around but all that had done was giving him more time to screw things up. "Let's just... let's just arrange that whole thing with the aunt and... and I'll tell him when we have confirmation."
Pepper swallowed hard but nodded in the end. "Okay."
Tony was leaning on the workbench, his thoughts going in circles. "What else did she say?"
Pepper's feet shuffled back and forth but she didn't answer.
"Natasha." He turned back and faced her straight on. "You said the indictment wasn't all she said."
"I..." Pepper shook her head. "I wasn't there. Rhodey only overheard the end of it so—"
"Why was nobody with him?" His chest was full with all the agitation he forcefully tried to keep out of his voice. "I asked you to stay with him! I told you I don't—"
"Rhodey gave him some privacy to brush his teeth and things. Come on, Tony..." She didn't move, clearly waiting for him to give in. "Just talk to him."
"I will." Just not right now. "I will when he's had time to—"
"He doesn't need time, he needs you there. The stability, reassurance that he's safe and cared for."
"Well, maybe I need the time." He felt the dam break and there was very little in him that could hold back the bottled-up frustration. "Maybe I'm not ready to go back up there, to have him pine for that woman, to have him pick her every time, I—"
Tony slammed his mouth shut. He needed to build a fucking bridge and get over it but he was so far away from that he had not even applied for the right permit for that hypothetical bridge yet.
"You don't have that luxury, Tony. Not right now. I..." She blew out a shaky breath as she walked after him. "I know this sucks. I hate this, too. I hate all of this."
Tony didn't hesitate. He did a sharp 180° turn and stepped up to her, pulled her close. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't be asking you to do this when I can't—"
"Shh, stop." Her hands ran up and down his back. "We'll make this work. I..." She shuffled on her feet a bit but did let go of him. "Whatever you need, okay? Both of you."
"Right." Tony closed his eyes, let himself be swept up by her presence. They still had each other. Things couldn't be all that bad as long as they still had each other. "I love you, honey."
"I know that." Pepper had her head cushioned on Tony's shoulder. She stayed quiet for a couple of beats. "Those documents... is that... is that the stuff on Ross?"
Tony followed her line of vision all the way to the files that were still waiting for him on the lab floor. "Those are Ben Parker's."
She stiffened, then her head shot up. "What?"
"Well, we think they probably are. They are from the apartment."
Pepper pushed herself off him with enough strength that he let her go. She crouched down next to them, taking in the different sections Tony had broken them up into.
"Ben Parker's?"
"That's what Clint thinks. Just from where he pulled them from in the bedroom. Apparently nowhere near the aunt's things."
Pepper frowned. "What are they?"
If only he knew. "A bunch of different things. I... I'm trying to find a connection I just... I don't really see a common threat. I had FRIDAY scan it and sift through everything she can find to see if there's a connection."
"Tony..." Pepper gave her head a subtle shake and looked up at him. "I... I get why this might be intriguing but..." She glanced back at the documents and then up to him again. "Is this really a priority right now?"
He blinked, a little taken aback. "I... I mean, I just... I don't know. I don't know what this is. Unless I can figure out how all of this is connected, I won't know if it's helpful."
"Maybe... maybe just ask May Parker? When... If things work out that she takes us up on the offer and all that."
"Pep, I'm not sure if May Parker even knows that these exist. It's—"
"Honey." She grabbed him by both arms, eyes intent on him. "Unless you think that Ben Parker had any connection to Ross, this is not something you should focus on right now. As... as intriguing as I'm sure those files are."
Tony's mouth opened to argue but the words froze in his mouth as he took in the dark circles under Pepper's eyes, the line carved by worry and pain on her pale face. "Right. Yeah... no, you're right of course."
"You told me we need to get something on Ross and with that trial for Barnes coming up we need to move fast."
Tony nodded along with her. She was right. He'd started down that rabbit hole when he had a potentially life-altering battle ahead of him.
"I will. I know. You're right. I just... I got distracted but you're right... there's no time for this, no time to—"
"Shhh." She pressed her finger onto his lips. "You'll find a way out. I know you will."
He was silent until she pulled her finger away. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Pep."
Her lips pulled into the ghost of a smile. "I love you, too." She tilted her head a bit and Tony planted a kiss into her hair. "We'll just have to stick together. I'll think of something." Pepper's voice was solemn but sincere. "For the May Parker thing so you can focus on Ross. I'm sure there's something that will distract the press. Get the heat off the kid."
"There's always Barnes."
"Right."
Tony huffed out a low breath. "I'll get Natasha back in here. Figure out what the strategy will be. Compound tomorrow still on?"
"Yeah." Pepper pulled away a bit but only so she could look at him. "Helen said he's strong enough for the cradle. It'll be tiring but at least his arm should be okay after that. With all that pain gone. She said one session no more."
There was a strong urge in him to look away whenever she brought up the kid but he tried to be tougher than that. "He eating?"
"Yeah, he's eating."
"How... how about the drip?"
Pepper's face was soft, except her eyes that shone way too sad. "He's mostly off it. Helen said a couple more hours tonight. A couple more tomorrow morning and then we'll see how he's feeling after the cradle."
"Alright." Tony didn't know what to do with his hands so he buried them in the pockets suit pants he was still wearing. "Does he... does he know? About the Compound and things? I mean, I know we mentioned the cradle before but he was so out of it."
"You can just come and talk to him about it, honey." Her eyebrows were closely knitted together, quite openly imploring him to do just that.
"No, I..." It was a bad idea. He didn't trust himself to keep it together and the kid didn't need any more drama. He needed to recover, to rest and—
"Honey..."
"Will you stay with him tonight?"
Pepper's head was tilted again, concern on her face. "You need to rest, too."
"I'll get some rest. I have some things to look at first. I just don't want him to be alone. I don't want him to start coming up with dumb ideas."
"Dumb ideas?"
Tony shook his head. "You heard Natasha. He thinks he can fix things and—"
"Come up for dinner then. I know you want to see him."
"I can't, Pep. I need... I'll just lash out at him again and he doesn't need that right now."
Her eyes were sad and Tony couldn't really tell if it was pity or if he had just let her down.
"Ross is the priority." He pushed past her and sunk down to his knees next to the files. "I'll talk to Natasha and we'll come up with a plan."
Pepper stood behind him, watching him as he collected the fanned out documents one by one.
"Alright. I'll be upstairs then. I'll stay with him after I called the lawyers."
He nodded, not turning back around. There was another minute of silence until Pepper's steps echoed through the lab. By the time the elevator doors closed behind her, Tony got to his feet, the stack of documents in his hands. He dumped them back into the cardboard box, stalked over to his wall panels, and locked them in there. There would be time for this. There would be time to look into all of that once he had made sure his boy was safe. Once Ross was taken care of.
"FRI, tell the Widow to get back up here."
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[author's note: Thank you guys as always for reading, the chapter votes and leaving comments.
I'm struggling a bit with the current chapters but I'm hoping I won't have to make you wait too long ;) ]