Chapter 6
Peter was knocked out from his body being exhausted. It was the second to last day of week three since being diagnosed, which ment this whole week Peter was being pumped with chemo everyday. Pepper watched as Peter inhaled and exhaled softly, little puffs of air going in and out passed his overly chapped lips. She couldn't even get Peter to drink water anymore. One could tell how extremely malnourished he looked just by a single glance, his eyes slightly sunken in and his cheeks almost gaunt, like he belonged in a Tim Burton film. Tony was passed out next to him on the bed, he fell asleep running his fingers through Peter's curls trying to sooth him from the excruciating pain he was experiencing. Morgan was god knows where with Happy, Pepper reminded herself to give him another raise, he was being a saint through all of this. They couldn't have their four and a half year old daughter stuck in a hospital room just watching as her brother cried out in pain.
Morgan was a champ, she was brave with Peter. Always making him laugh and comforting him, even though she didn't understand why she was comforting him. She had started having nightmares since Peter's diagnoses, but she must be getting better because Friday stopped notifing her and Tony of her nightmares since last Tuesday.
Peter was practically bed bound at this point and because of this Cho had put a catheter in for him. Peter was barely sitting up, much less getting out of bed to go to the bathroom. Tony was in disbelief when Peter hadn't argued when Cho gave them her plan, it pushed a hole in Tony's heart. Pepper and Tony had been crying silently anytime Peter had fallen asleep, they always sobered up before he would awake so all their attention could be on him. That's another reason that they felt like bad parents, their attention was divided unevenly, Peter getting way more attention than Morgan. They tried at first, having Pepper be with Morgan while Tony was with Peter and then switching. Then Peter got more sick with round 2 of chemo week, they didn't want him out of their eye sight. Happy had told them that she was fine, she was hanging with him and Rhodey and even one day she was with the avengers in the gym having a blast. Tony knew they had to do something soon with her, or else she was going to feel abandoned.
Tony slowly woke up and cracked his neck to the side, hospital beds weren't made for two people to sleep comfortably, but he'd do anything for Peter at the moment. Tony looked down at Peter's sleeping form, he was sleeping at an odd angle. He usually squirmed around a lot trying to find any angle that alleviated some pain, currently his knees were up towards his chest with one arm tucked under him, while the other was sticking straight out, hanging off the bed. Tony smiled at the predicament. He maneuvered himself off the bed doing the best he could to not jostle Peter.
"Where are you going?"
Tony stretched his arms in the air and yawned, "I'm going to find Helen, I need to talk to her."
Pepper agreed with a nod, they both spoke the other day that this wasn't working. Peter was going down hill, fast. The medicine was making him too sick, the leukemia was stagnant and the chemo wasn't working well. They were fearful.
They haven't told Peter because they know his reaction wouldn't be good, but the spider DNA was working against him in every way. This wasn't like any other cancer, it wasn't 'normal' leukemia. They would beg for that instead of this. The radiation from the bite had caused the cancer, Helen had figured it out after the third day, she sent it by Bruce and he agreed. At this point they were just experimenting, Bruce had locked himself in his lab running test after test, trying different chemos and different combinations of medicines.
"I'll be back real soon," Tony gave a lasting look at Peter and then he was out the door on a mission.
He found Helen in a conference room, working on some papers.
"Helen."
"Hi Tony, what can I do for you?"
Tony shut the door and took a seat, this might be a long talk, "It's killing him Helen, he's going to die from this."
"I know. I've been speaking with Bruce, we want to switch his chemo regimen."
Tony sat with his hands on the glass table top, when he lifted his fingers they left a sweaty mark.
"His metabolism is all out of wack, so the first thing I want to do is get rid of the NG tube and insert a G tube instead. It's more permanent and we'll give him a bag he can carry the food in, it'll be a round the clock feed. If he's going to beat this he needs more calories in him."
Tony flickered his eyes at the ceiling, counting the lights that hung above them. He was breathing heavily through his nose trying to quell his panic attack away. This isn't about him. This isn't about him. This isn't about him.
Helen continued her thoughts after reading off the paper in her hands, "I want him two weeks off chemo in order to get it fully out of his system, so we can start fresh with the new chemo regimen without interference. His neutrophil count is low, so I'm hoping the two week break will help it get back up." Helen said the next part cautiously, she wasn't sure how Tony would react to what she was going to refer, "I also want you to consider putting Peter in a support group for kids with cancer," this got Tony's attention back on her face. "It's very beneficial," she adds.
"Really?" Tony spat out skeptically, he wasn't into therapists. He tried before, well he tried Bruce and it helped for a day but that was it.
"He needs this Tony. He's been falling into a depression."
"He's sick Helen, no shit he's depressed. You don't think I see it. When he's awake he doesn't even want to talk."
"Exactly why it would be beneficial, Peter is isolated here. He needs to see that he isn't the only kid his age struggling. Please trust me on this and consider it."
Tony gave Helen a tight lipped smile. "Maybe." He left before she could speak again.
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"I think that's a great idea."
Tony just ran Helen's ideas to Pepper. He knew Pepper would fall for it,but he still didn't want his kid being brain jacked by a therapist.
"Honey," she placed her hand over Tony's, "we can send Peter for one session and if he doesn't like it then he doesn't have to go. Okay?"
"Fine," he turned his head to look back at Peter on the bed.
"And don't act sour when we tell him, he needs something positive."
She was right. She was always right.
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After Peter was done with his last chemo session, he was kept in the hospital for five more days. He was just too sick to not be monitored. He was with multiple IVs that were pumping fluids, along with antibiotics as Helen feared sepsis could be causing the low neutrophil count. She was thankfully wrong. Peter had gotten rid of his NG tube and now sported a G tube that was hooked up to his abdomen. A nurse showed Peter and his parents how to tend to it on their own so she wouldnt have to go down everyday to the penthouse. Peter received physical therapy, they didn't want his legs to get too atrophied. He was feeling so much better today, he even went to the bathroom by himself.
Helen sent them away from the med-bay with a smile and a goodluck wink to Tony as she knew today they were going to tell Peter about therapy.
Peter laid on the couch, propped up with a pillow, his backpack that held his G tube feed was on the ottoman. The bag was a bit heavy, but Peter didn't want to say anything, besides he needed to get his muscles back if he was ever going to be Spider-man again.
"Alright Pete, we gotta talk to you," Tony was trying to sound positive, just like Pepper had told him to be.
"Okay..." Peter said wary, he wasn't sure where this was going.
"Pepper and I think that you should go to a support group," there he did it, he ripped the bandaid off.
"Support group? Like for what?"
"Cancer sweetheart," Pepper took over, "it'll be other teenagers who are going through this."
"Uhm, that's okay I got Ned."
"Peter, you'll always have Ned, but Ned can't relate to what you're going through. These kids might be able to answer questions that Ned or even us can't."
"Uh-huh." Peter was avoiding eye contact, Pepper could tell he was uncomfortable with this.
"There are some things that you might not want to talk about with me or Tony," she placed a reassuring hand on Peter's knee, "and that's fine. We both understand that, right Tony?" Pepper was trying to engage Tony in the discussion so that Peter would be more inclined towards the idea.
"Right. Right, we understand that," Tony offered a another smile.
"Does that sound alright, trying it out for a session?" Pepper was beyond hopeful.
Peter tilted his head in thought, he moved his knee so Pepper's hand would fall off, "Fine, I'll try it."
Pepper swallowed her excitement, she didn't want to seem desperate and make Peter feel bad, "Perfect. It'll be next week Wednesday."
"Can I sleep now?" Peter sounded younger than he looked and right now he was looking pretty young.
"Yes baby, you can sleep," Pepper ran her fingers through his curls, like she always has and always will. Peter had confessed that it reminded him of May, she always did it when they watched movies together. Pepper wasn't sure how he'd react if she took over the simple act of comfort, but he welcomed it right away. Deep down she felt May's presence, smiling at her baby. Pepper hoped she was okay with her job at stepping in as mother figure, she thanked May at raising a good kid. She couldn't take credit for Peter's manners or behavior, but she could help him keep them intact.
She could help him be okay.