Chapter 1
Pepper was the first to arrive at the hospital.
Not surprisingly, really, since she lived closest and was also the only one Tony had called. The waiting room was small, but it was private, and Tony was pacing when she walked in, closing the door behind her.
“Peter’s sick?” she asked.
He’d called her to tell her that she needed to cancel any meetings that he had the next day, since he wasn’t going to be coming into the tower. She’d – obviously – asked why and had been given a very short explanation. And had sounded so worried that she’d decided to come check on things in person, rather than send an aide, or someone else.
Stark nodded.
“Yes.”
“What’s wrong?”
Peter was a healthy young man. Very young, really, but there was no denying since the day that he’d met Tony that her boss loved him and doted on him. She didn’t, necessarily, approve of the age difference, or their dynamic, but it was clear that Peter was loved, and Tony had been stabilized drastically with the addition to the boy in his life. Especially once Peter had moved to the east coast, and then in with Tony.
“They don’t know,” Tony said, wringing his hands, absently. “It came on quick. He was fine this morning when he left for classes, and when I came home from the tower, he was already looking ill, and had a fever. He threw up a couple of times and FRIDAY reported that his blood pressure and heart rate were sky high, so I brought him in to be checked out.”
“And…?”
“And now he’s in the ICU.”
She was shocked.
“What could it be?” Pepper asked. “What did he do, today?”
“They had a science thing, today…” Tony told her with a shrug. “Went to check out some research in one of the big labs – kind of a career day sort of thing… I don’t know, beyond that.”
“Was Ned there?”
Tony was truly in love with his baby and wanted him with him every waking minute, but he hadn’t needed anyone to tell him that Peter needed more than just his daddy to remain the happy, healthy, person that he was. With that in mind, he’d been the one to approach Ned once Peter had decided to transfer from Seattle to Columbia and had asked Ned if changing schools would be something that he, too, might be interested in doing. Not to live with Tony and Peter, of course, but in a small and clean place of his own. Close to school and close enough that he and Peter could still hang out and be buddies.
Ned had been excited at the thought of moving (or maybe just that it had been Tony Stark who had asked) and had eventually agreed. Transferring schools hadn’t been difficult, either, since both boys had applied to Columbia and had been accepted well back in their high school days. They’d only decided against it because of the prohibitive cost of living in New York, compared to other schools that provided just as impressive courses.
Now money wasn’t an issue. Tony had used his considerable pull with one of the R&D scientists that worked out of the tower and Ned had been given a well paying job as a research assistant that worked well around his class schedule, and had himself a comfortable (but not flashy) apartment in a clean and secure building.
“He was,” Tony replied. “I called him when the doctors told me that Peter was exhibiting signs of some kind of sickness that they didn’t think was food related. He also has some kind of mark on his shoulder – by his neck. A bite mark, or something, that they think might have infected. Ned told me that they didn’t go near any of the experiments that were dealing with radiation – and as far as he knows, nothing bit Peter.”
“Maybe it happened, earlier.”
“He didn’t have it this morning.”
Tony knew that for sure.
“Do you mind if I wait with you?” she asked, settling into a chair without waiting for a reply and hoping that the action would help settle him, as well. “I want to know what they find out.”
“No. Of course not…” To her surprise, he did sit down – although he popped right back up to his feet only a moment later to resume his pacing. “I can’t imagine what it could be…”
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It was still just the two of them when a doctor came looking for him. Tony had seated himself, again by then, but when the door opened and he recognized that it was a doctor, he went back to his feet. He felt a flash of concern when he recognized that it wasn’t any of the initial doctors, either. This one was older and looked more experienced than the doctors in the emergency room had been – and looked concerned.
“Mr. Stark…”
“How is he?”
Tony wasn’t in the mood for introductions and came right to the point. Luckily, the doctor wasn’t offended.
“He’s stable,” came the ready reply. “We’re not completely certain what we’re dealing with, however.”
“What do you mean?” Pepper asked, also standing, now, and next to Tony.
“It looks like radiation poisoning,’ the doctor told them. “But Peter says that he wasn’t exposed to radiation, today.”
“That’s my understanding, as well,” Tony confirmed. “He was with a group of other students, and they were looking at some experiments, but there weren’t any occurrences that could account for any sickness – and nothing leaked. I checked the logs.”
He’d gone through every experiment that was being done in the labs that Peter and Ned had visited that day, and while some of them definitely had had radiation involved, none of them had had any indication of anything that raised any red flags. And Ned had told him that he and Peter hadn’t gotten too close to any of them. Peter wasn’t interested in radiation experiments; he was more into the physics side of things, like Tony, and it showed in his studies and in the conversations that he had with Tony while working on schoolwork.
“Well, we’re keeping him in ICU,” the doctor told him. “Just in case his condition deteriorates.” She held up a hand before he could say anything. “He’s stable, right now,” she repeated, and we don’t see anything that will make it change, but if something happens, having him where we can watch him, closely, will be in his best interest.”
“Can I see him?”
She shook her head.
“I’m afraid not. Not because of any concern of making him sicker,” she added. “But because there are other dangerously ill people in our ICU right now, and we’d prefer to safeguard their health, as well. In the morning, we’ll see how he fared overnight, and determine what course of treatment we want to pursue.”
Stark wanted to protest, but he couldn’t. The woman hadn’t said he couldn’t see Peter because he was on his deathbed, or something, but because there were others to consider. Tony didn’t care about those others – only Peter – but he knew Peter wouldn’t approve if he barged or bullied his way into the room just to make sure he was alright. Tony was the dominant person in their relationship, of course (he was the daddy, after all) but he lived to make Peter happy, really, and didn’t want to see disapproval in his baby’s expression.
“You’ll let me know if anything changes?”
The doctor nodded.
“Of course. Where can I reach you?”
He gestured to the room they were standing in.
“I’ll be right here.”
Where else would he be?