Chapter 14
Peter and Tony both turn to see an older, heavy set man in a police uniform behind them.
“Lawman Lawrence.” Peter said, his disdain for the man obvious, “Nice uniform. Guess you didn’t pass the Sargent exam huh?”
“Shut up kid, before I make you.”
“Whoa whoa whoa,” Tony stepped in between Peter and Officer Lawrence, “Don’t talk to my kid like that.”
Lawrence looks Tony up and down. “I had heard Brooks finally kicked him out. Are you his new foster dad?”
Tony shook his head. “Like I said, he’s my kid.”
“No kidding. Parker is Tony Stark’s bastard. Can’t say I saw that coming.”
Tony felt his anger grow and he tried to stifle it down. “Again, don’t talk about him like that.”
“I heard you’ve got two other kids.”
Tony frowned slightly, not sure where this sudden change of topic was going. “I do. A 16 year old son and a daughter that’s 5.”
Lawrence shook his head. “I wouldn’t let that kid within 100 feet of my daughters. You hear what he did right?”
Tony sighed, so that’s what this was about. “I am aware of what happened between him and one of his former foster fathers. But he was 14 and there’s no way it was unprovoked.”
Lawrence scoffed, “I’m not talking about Westcott, though that should be proof enough for you. I’m talking about how he knocked up his girlfriend then beat her half to death. Kid hadn’t been out of juvie for more than 3 months. The baby died and the girl was so afraid of what else he’d do to her, she refused to speak a word against him. She kept saying that she just fell down the stairs.” Lawrence laughed bitterly, “You don’t get two black eyes and a split lip from falling down the stairs. Parker should have been thrown right back in jail and left to rotten there for the rest of his pathetic life for what he did to her and his baby. Instead he’s not only free, but living like a prince with you. Makes me sick to even think about it.”
“There’s no way that’s true. Peter loves Skyler, he would never hurt her.” Tony defended.
“He’s a dangerous-“
“He’s a child!” Tony shouted, face red and voice raised, “He’s a child and whatever you think he did, you’re wrong. You obviously don’t know what you are talking about. You haven’t seen how patient he is with my daughter. You haven’t seen how protective he is of Skyler.“
“You are making a huge mistake letting that animal into your life. Don’t be surprised when he turns around and bites the hand that’s feeding him. I just hope to god that your little girl doesn’t end up paying the price for your naivety.”
Tony lunged towards the officer, grabbing him by his shirt collar and slamming him up against the wall. “Don’t you dare ever talk about my son like that again. He is not an animal, he is my SON, and he is already a better man than you will ever be.” Tony heard rushed footsteps coming up towards them.
“Ok that’s enough.” Simon Chang barked out and he pulled Tony away from Lawrence, who was red in the face and fuming.
“You do realized that you just assaulted an officer in a police station right? Now I can see where Peter gets his violent streak. Like father like son.” Lawrence spat out as he straighten his shirt.
“Oh back off Jim, that was hardly assault, and you were taunting him intentionally to get a rise out of him. Get out of here.” Simon snapped. To Tony he said quietly, “I know why you did that but it was really, really stupid.”
“You should have heard what he was saying about Peter!”
“I did! I’ve heard it dozens of times. That doesn’t make it ok to attack him. Just like it doesn’t make what he says true.”
“Why would he say that? Why would he make up such an elaborate story?”
Chang sighed, “He thinks it’s true. A lot of people around here do.”
“Why?”
“Because it actually happened. Not, Peter beating Skyler up, but, pretty much everything else.”
Tony’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
“My shift just ended. Let’s go outside and I’ll explain everything. Where’s Peter?”
“What do you mean “where’s Peter?” He’s right-“ But as Tony turned back to look at where he thought Peter was standing by Officer Chang’s desk, he realized Peter was nowhere to be seen.
“He was just here!” Tony spun around, looking for Peter with panicked eyes.
“Why is it that everytime I’m with you, you lose Peter.” Simon muttered.
“That’s really not helpful right now!”
“Ok, ok, calm down. It’s like I told you last time, if Peter doesn’t want to be somewhere, he’s going to leave, and trust me, he does not want to be anywhere near Officer Lawrence. They have a less than pleasant history. He’d want to go somewhere he feels safe.”
“Back to Skyler’s?”
“After what Lawrence was saying, I doubt it.”
Before Tony could say anything else, his phone started to ring. He answered it without checking the caller ID, hoping it would be Peter telling him where he was. “Hello?”
“Hey it’s me.”
Tony sighed in disappointment. “Pepper, I can’t really talk right now, I’ll looking for Peter.”
“I know, that’s why I’m calling.”
Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean you know? We just lost him 5 minutes ago.”
“Skyler came over looking for him. He texted her that he was on his way to the tower.”
“Oh thank god. Ok, I’m on my way home.”
Tony hung up and pocketed the phone. The relief he was feeling must have been clear because Officer Chang asked, “Good news?”
“Yeah, he texted Skyler that he was on his way back home.”
“Good.” Chang grabbed his jacket from where he had left it hanging on the back of his desk chair. “Why don’t I walk back with you. I can catch you up on what Lawrence was talking about.”
————————————————————————————————————
Pepper and Skyler were waiting at the kitchen island for Peter, quietly sipping at the coffee Pepper had made for them, when he slammed the door open. He rush passed them, not even acknowledging Skyler.
“Peter,” She called after him.
“Don’t!” He shouted without looking back. Both women stared at the hallway Peter had disappeared down in confusion.
“I should go check on him.” Skyler stood, somewhat hesitantly.
“Maybe give him a minute.” Pepper smiled gently. “Let him calm down a little. Tony will be here soon, he can explain what’s going on.” Skyler nodded, and sat back down.
Not 5 minutes later, Tony and Officer Chang walked through the door. Skyler could instantly tell by the pitiful looks they gave her that they knew, or at least, they thought they did.
“I’m fine.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Skyler, I’m sorry, but I had to tell Tony what happened when you and Peter were 15. An officer brought it up while they were at the station.” Chang at least had the decency to look somewhat apologetic for spilling their secrets.
“Let me guess, Lawrence?”
Simon just nodded.
“That explains why Peter locked himself in his room.” Skyler ran a stressed hand through her hair.
“I’m going to check on him.” Tony said, but his words were unsure. Turning to Sky he added, “Unless you want to. He’d probably prefer it was you.” But Skyler was already shaking her head.
“No, I’m actually the last person who should be talking to Peter right now. I’ll be no help to him.”
“I should get going, but please don’t hesitate to reach out for anything Tony.” Simon said, shaking Tony’s hand before leaving the three of them in the kitchen.
“Right, well, I’m going to see how Peter doing.” This time, Tony walked down the hall in the same direction that Peter had run off in.
Pepper looked over to Skyler. “Looks like it’s just us again.”
Skyler just nodded, keeping her gaze on the nearly empty mug in front of her.
“You don’t have to tell me what’s going on, but I am more than happy to be a listening ear if you want to talk about it.”
Skyler took a grounding breath. She barely even remembers her mom, and she certainly wasn’t around when Skyler had needed her most. When everything had gone down, all she had wanted was a mom she could turn to. Years later, Pepper’s offer reignited that desire. After all, Pepper might not be her mom, but she was a mom. And maybe that was good enough.
“I got pregnant when I was 15. Everyone thought it was Peter’s, and we didn’t bother to correct them. At first I was so scared, but Peter was amazing. He started working and saving. He came with me to all my doctor appointments at the free clinic He made sure I had everything I needed. He wasn’t the father, but he was the dad, you know? We had plans, we were going to make it work. We were going to make sure that our baby had the life we never got. It was going to be so loved. And then my dad found out.” Skyler closed her eyes for a moment to steady herself. Pepper saw how her hands shook and wrapped them within her own, silently encouraging her to continue.
“He went ballistic. He always had a temper, but never like this. He- he just started hitting me and wouldn’t stop. He shoved me and I fell down the stairs. That’s when I started to bleed. I begged him to stop. To call an ambulance. But he just stood there. After almost an hour he finally called. He told them my boyfriend had done it. That he came home to Peter running out of the house. I swore that it wasn’t him, but I was too scared to tell them it was my dad. I knew what life was like in the system for Peter. I didn’t know what to do. So I decided to stick with the devil I knew.” A tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped at it with her sleeve. “I lost the baby. Obviously. Dad tried to get Peter arrested, but I refused to say it was him, and he had an alibi. But a lot of people still believe he did it. They still look at him like he’s a murderer.” Skyler’s tears were falling too quickly for her to keep up with now, so she ignored them as she continued. “We named the baby Mercy. It was too early to know if it was a boy or girl, but Peter was always convinced it was a girl. Losing her broke a part of me, but he was there to glue me back together. I wish I could have been strong enough to fix him too. He still blames himself for the whole thing.”
Pepper was at a loss for words. Skyler had always seemed so tough and confident. But the girl sitting across from just looked like a scared little girl. “You said the baby wasn’t Peter’s. Do you mind me asking-“
“It was my dad’s coworker’s. He had come over for a poker game just before Peter was released from juvie. It wasn’t-I didn’t-“ Skyler couldn’t even get the words out.
Pepper felt as like she was going to be sick. “Skyler, did you ever tell anyone?”
“Peter. There was no one else to tell.”
“We need to go to the police, he can’t get away with this!”
For the first time since she had started talking, Skyler smiled. “He didn’t get away with anything, trust me. Peter and his new connections from juvie made sure of that.” And Pepper knew that there would be no point in pushing the matter. Skyler had opened up as much as she was going to.
“I know it doesn’t mean much, but I’m so sorry that happened to you Sky.” Tears weld up in Pepper’s eyes.
“Yeah well, life sucks.” Skyler tried to laugh as she rubbed at her eyes, but it just came off as a choked sob.
Pepper stood and embraced Skyler in a tight hug. The girl turned into it and let herself feel the warmth and motherly love that she had always wanted.