Chapter 2
It was nearly one in the morning when Pepper heard the door open. She stood from where she had been waiting on the couch and took a deep breath. When Harley had been driven home by Happy, with no sign from Tony, she had begun to worry. Harley had too her what had happened, she began to panic. She sent Harley to bed, promising an explanation in the morning. Then she sat on the sofa with a book open in her lap that she tried to read, but she couldn’t focus on the words on the page. At quarter to 12 she received a text from her husband that didn’t loosen the tightness in her chest like she had hoped it would.
Pep, I found him. Peter is coming home. I’m trying to keep it together so he doesn’t freak out but. It’s him. It’s my baby and he all grown up.
I love you, see you soon.
Pepper had of course known about Peter for years. She knew how the guilt ate at Tony, even after all these years. She couldn’t image the Tony of 17 years ago being responsible enough to have a child, and she never judged him for his actions, no matter how harshly he judged himself. How much he regretted the choices he made regarding Peter and how much he wished he could take it all back. So she knew how much this second chance was going to mean to him.
But still. She worried. From what Harley had told her, Peter wasn’t all that happy to see Tony. Who knew what kind of life he had been living. What had happened to him over the past 12 years. Pepper wanted to be as excited as Tony was, but someone had to be the levelheaded one. They had two other children to think about. How would Peter react to them? How would they feel about Peter? What would happen if Peter tried to hit Tony again? Her thoughts were spiraling and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to still her mind. She would never tell Tony that Peter shouldn’t stay with them. He was Tony’s child, just like Harley and Morgan. They would do whatever it took to help him adjust.
So when Tony came walking into the penthouse with Peter shuffling behind him, Pepper put on her warmest smile and extend her hand to the boy.
“Hi, I’m Pepper, Tony’s wife. You must be Peter. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
Peter eyed her hand warily but didn’t reach out to shake it. Instead he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and nodded at her in response. Pepper dropped her hand, smile not moving an inch. “You must be exhausted, why don’t I show you your room and you can put your things away.”
Peter made a show of looking around. “Oh yes, all of my zero belongings. Thank god I’ll have somewhere to put them.”
Pepper realized how stupid she had been, he clearly didn’t have anything with him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice. Well, Tony can grab some pajamas from Harley’s room that you can borrow for the night.”
“Don’t bother. I’m good with what I’ve got.”
“Don’t be silly, you’ve been in that all day, I’m sure you don’t want to sleep in it.”
“When you’ve got exactly three shirts to your name, you can’t really be too picky, can you?” Peter’s voice was void of emotion and his eyes were dark and expressionless.
“Why don’t we just let Peter get some rest and we can talk in the morning?” Tony interrupted. Peter followed Tony down the hall to a bedroom that he assumed was normally for guests. The pale blue walls and airy drapes gave the room a light, calm feeling. There was a huge bed with a fluffy white comforter. The white oak dresser matched the two bedside tables and was an arm chair off to one side. A tv hung on the wall across from the bed. It was the nicest room Peter had been in in a long time and the thought of sleeping surrounded by such decadence made his hands clammy. But he didn’t let on, rather he turned to Tony and Pepper who were standing in the doorway.
“There’s a bathroom through that door,” Tony pointed to a door on the left side of the room, “and if you need anything, anything at all, just ask FRIDAY and she can help or get us.”
“Friday?” Peter questioned.
“Our AI. She’s wired through the whole tower, so just ask for her and she’ll respond.”
“You got cameras set up everywhere too?”
“No, no. I mean, there’s ones in the main living spaces, but no one checks them unless there’s an issue.”
Peter looked doubtful but shrugged, “Whatever.”
Tony and Pepper left after a slightly awkward goodnight. Tony yearned to hug his son, but his face still ached from the punch and he figured it was smarter to let Peter adjust without Tony pushing him. When they reached their own bedroom, Pepper collapsed onto the bed.
“Well, this is not how I expected our night to go.”
Tony laid besides her. “I know I should have talked to you about it first. But things were happening so fast and I just couldn’t bare the idea of letting him out of my sight again.”
Pepper rolled over to face her husband, “I understand Tony, I’m not upset, just a little overwhelmed. There’s a lot to do. We need to figure out what to tell Harley and Morgan tomorrow.”
“I’ll have to tell Harley the truth. He’s old enough to understand and he’s probably pretty confused after what happened. But Morgan,” Tony sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, “I can’t explain everything to her. She barely older than Peter was when… when he left. The last thing I want is for her to worry that I’ll send her away too.”
“Maybe we could tell her the same thing we did with Harley. That he needed a home and we are his family now.”
“But it’s not like it was with Harley. He was always a part of Morgan’s life, so she never asked questions.”
“Let’s just keep it simple for now then. We’ll tell her that Peter is going to stay with us for a while.”
“And distract her with juice pops if she tries to get more details.”
“Exactly.” Pepper’s eyes softened, “How are you holding up Tony?”
“I freaking out.” He whispered honestly. “I never thought I’d have the opportunity to make it up to Peter. I never thought I’d see him again to begin with. I knew Obadiah sent him somewhere on the East coast but that was it. He told me he’d be taken in by a loving family that couldn’t have kids of their own. But he’s in foster care. And you should have seen the place he was living, it was disgusting. God only knows what he’s been through.”
“But he’s home now, and we are going to make up for it. We will make it right.”
______________________________
Tony woke to FRIDAY’s voice coming through the overhead speakers. “Boss, there is police officer named Simon Chang downstairs requesting entry.”
Tony shot up from bed, “What time is it FRIDAY?” He hurried to pull on the first thing he could find, a pair of oil stained jeans and a black tee shirt.
“It is 8:16 am. Should I bring Officer Chang up to the penthouse?”
“Yes, yes, let him in.” Tony rushed downstairs to find Pepper at the kitchen island with Morgan.
“Good morning Tony.” Pepper kissed his check as then whispered, “The boys are still asleep and I haven’t told Morgan anything yet.”
“Ok. The officer I met yesterday is coming up. He was going to pick up Peter’s things.” As he said it, the elevator dinged and out stepped Officer Chang, who was dressed in light denim jeans and a sage green polo. Despite being out of uniform, Tony noticed he still looked around the penthouse with suspicion, as if he was here to investigate rather than just drop off a bag of clothes.
“Officer Chang, thanks for stopping by.” Tony shook his hand.
“It’s no trouble, I hope I didn’t wake you.” Even though his words were friendly, his tone was standoffish. He clearly wasn’t as enthusiastic about this arrangement as Peter’s social worker had been.
“No of course not, I’ve been up for hours.”
Officer Chang raised an eyebrow but didn’t call Tony out on his lie.
“I can take that,” Tony nodded to the paper bag Officer Chang was holding, “Peter is still sleeping.”
Chang’s grip on the bag tightened, “I’d rather give it directly to Peter, it’s his property. Don’t take it personal, I’d do this with any other foster placement.”
Tony wanted to say that Peter wasn’t a foster placement anymore, but that wouldn’t technically be true. “Fine, FRIDAY,” Tony called, “can you ask Peter to come downstairs? Let him know that Officer Chang is here with his stuff.”
“I’m sorry Boss but I am not able to do that.”
Tony frowned, “Why not?”
“Peter is not currently in the Tower and he does not have a device on him that I can reach.”
Tony could have sworn his heart stopped. “What do you mean he isn’t in the tower? Where is he?” He felt panic starting to build.
“I do not know. I am unable to trace him. He left the Tower this morning at 3:22 am.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” His kid had been missing for hours, he could be anywhere by now. How could he lose him after just getting him back?
“You did not ask me to notify you about Peter’s movements.”
“Ok just, calm down and stop yelling at your ceiling.” Officer Chang said, unfazed by the situation.
“Calm down? My son is gone! He’s been gone for hours!”
“Alice didn’t warn you about this? I’ll have to remind her for the next one.” He muttered half to himself, then, louder, he said, “Peter doesn’t tend stay put. He goes where he wants and he clearly doesn’t want to be here. So he left. It’s fine.”
“So what, you think we should just leave the porch light on and wait like he’s an ally cat?” Tony asked sarcastically.
“No, I suggest we go get him.”
“That would be a great idea, if we knew where he was!”
“I’ve got a pretty good feeling that I already do.”