Chapter 14
"Stephen, why is Friday even online?" Was the opening question once the family was almost done eating. The question had the good doctor freezing briefly as he moved to take another bite but finished his motion and set aside his fork to answer once he was done chewing.
"I, uh, might have snagged her from a doomed timeline," Stephen admitted uncomfortably. "She shares our timeline memories up to a certain point and I collected her just before the divergence. I... didn't want Tony to loose another child since I originally thought we would be loosing your younger self, which we have."
"Not entirely accurate," Tao corrected. "I could still be born it just won't be Pepper who is my second parent. The mystic side of things is far more active than in the original timeline and as champions you will both be in the thick of things out of necessity. Normally, I would scold you for fetching her but I do understand your reasoning. Just keep her away from the public for another couple of years or Daddy will have to pretend he started coding her much earlier."
"I have no problems with that, princess," Tony said cheekily. "She's based off of her brother's coding so a fair bit could have been copied over to a new file and shortened things considerably. She's obviously her own person and developing in her own way since they're both primarily learning programs but I understand where you're coming from. So do Jarvis and Friday, right kids?"
"Of course, Sir./You got it, Boss!" Came echoing from the speakers.
Tao gave him an unimpressed look but chose to drop the matter and finish her food rather than argue the point.
"So, why did you come over?" Peter chose that moment to ask before stuffing his face with too much mac and cheese from his dinner. He looked like a baby squirrel and the adults manfully refrained from laughing at him.
"Peter, you forgot that they had to be able to go to the bathroom when you trapped them," Tao smirked. "Next time you want to do a friendly kidnapping keep that in mind, alright?"
Peter squeaked in mortification but the bright red blushes from both him and Tony were perfect! Stephen, as a doctor, just rolled his eyes. He had dealt with such things during his residency and hadn't actually needed the bathroom yet by the time she got there. Still, it was a good lesson for Peter so he didn't say anything.
"The magic that Madam Web and Coyote did probably shared out some stuff to us on top of making you our kid by blood," Tony opted to explain. "That's why we're getting just a bit more done than usual. I don't see anything wrong with the minor strength boost you noticed but its gonna take a while before the Order decides we won't have any more side effects from what they did. That's part of why Stephen hasn't tried to move out yet. There are other reasons that I don't want to get into but those are the official medical reasons why he's working from home and staying close enough to count as stalking me in my own house."
"I know you're dating too so you don't have to hide it," Peter said matter-of-factly. The wide eyes looks of shock from Tony and Stephen just set Tao to cackling.
"You definitely have solid access to your teenage side," Stephen sighed dramatically.
"I think I might be getting slightly aged up at least in mind," Peter admitted grumpily. "Its hard sometimes to balance being under ten with memories of being older."
"We get that," Tony reassured him. "You don't actually need to go to school right now and it would be a waste if you remember everything anyway. I figured we'll test you to see where you're at and then you can homeschool or something. Spending time around normal people at least once a week will be mandatory just to avoid wrecking your social skills but otherwise you don't have to worry about being bored with your schooling."
"Cool! Thanks!" Peter said excitedly. He figured he would address the slightly stronger healing he'd noticed from Tony getting hurt on his tools later.