Chapter 6
“Mama!” Penny called out when Pepper finally reappeared in the penthouse. Pepper watched her daughter leap over the couch as she ran towards her excitedly, “You didn’t tell me you did ballet!” Penny accused as she tucked herself into Pepper’s side, “Or had an emo phase,” She added with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
“I thought I burned all of those pictures?” Pepper directed at her mother and just received a smile and a shrug in response.
“What kind of mother would I be if I didn’t keep at least one, right?” Mrs. Potts answered. “I kept all of your pictures. You know that,” She told her as Penny took a seat on the couch next to her again.
“Right,” Pepper said a little too quickly, “I’m going to go change,” She disappeared a moment later and quickly made her way to her room. “I don’t have any pictures of her,” Pepper whispered to herself as she stepped into her closet, “What kind of mother?” She shook her head as tears filled her eyes.
“Mrs. Stark, if I might interrupt?” FRIDAY spoke softly, “Check your phone,” The AI told her.
Pepper pulled her t-shirt and pajama pants onto her body before grabbing her phone. She opened the notification from FRIDAY to see countless photos of Penny since the girl had started coming to the tower. There were even photos of her from before Pepper ever met her. Her tears fell down her cheeks then.
“Thank you, FRIDAY.”
0~0~0
Penny had had a successful afternoon of patrolling. She’d called Tony before heading out being that he was out of town picking up new parts for War Machine’s suit. He’d told her that the new web fluid she’d created had been perfect and was already installed in her new shooters. They’d talked for a while longer before she’d hung up and leapt off of the top of SI.
She’d stopped a mugger on the streets a couple hours ago. She’d kept a couple of bullies from beating up a younger child not long after that. She’d even helped with a shop lifting incident at one of the bigger grocery stores.
It was coming up on time for her to head home for dinner and to see Pepper. She’d promised not to be out too late after all. She listened out for any last-minute issues and zeroed in on what sounded like a robbery.
Penny changed course and swung towards the gas station where the commotion was coming from. She handled the situation in moments and had the guy webbed up to the wall and cops on the way before turning to leave. She heard the shot moments before she felt any kind of pain. Looking down she could see blood seeping out of her suit just above her hip on her left side.
“Karen!” Penny said suddenly, “Do not call dad,” She insisted.
“Penny, protocol states that I must-” Penny cut her off as she ran from the store and away from any prying eyes or ears.
“Karen, I know what the protocol says. He’s not even here. I’m not too badly hurt. I’m heading home now, and I’ll go straight to the med bay. Promise.”
“I suppose we will override the protocol for right now,” Karen relented, and Penny breathed out a sigh. She drew her hand away from the wound and frowned. It wasn’t healing meaning the bullet must still be lodged in the wound. Great.
Penny carefully swung herself home with her right arm doing most of the work as it hurt greatly when she swung on her left side. She stuck to the side of the building next to her bedroom window and asked FRIDAY to open it for her.
Once she had crawled in and closed the window back, she peeled her mask and suit off. Looking at the wound in the mirror, she grimaced. There was no way she could tell Pepper about this. The woman would have an actual fit.
Penny grabbed the first aid kit from her bathroom, located a bandage, and placed it as best as she could for the moment. She then located a dark colored shirt and pulled it on over her head as well as a pair of shorts to pull onto her body as well.
“FRI? Where’s mama?” Penny asked as she picked her phone up and pocketed it.
“Mrs. Stark is in the kitchen,” FRIDAY answered her. Penny bit her lip. She’d have to walk right by Pepper to get to the elevator. She took a breath, shook her head, and left her room. She hoped Pepper wouldn’t notice the slight limp on her left side.
“Hey, baby. Dinner’s almost ready. You want to tell me about patrol?” Pepper asked as she looked up and smiled brightly at Penny.
“I’d love to, mama!” Penny said and nodded, “I’ll be right back though. I left my textbook in the lab,” She gestured towards the elevator. Pepper nodded as she turned back to the stove and Penny made a bee line for the elevator.
“FRIDAY?” She asked once she was in the elevator with the doors closed. “Where’s Uncle Bruce?”
“Dr. Banner is in his lab.”
“Perfect. Take me there please,” Penny requested. She stepped out of the elevator when the doors opened and glanced around looking for Bruce, “Hey, Uncle Bruce,” She called and Bruce looked up and gave her a smile.
“Good evening, Penny, what brings you down here?” He asked her as he focused on his work. She clumsily placed herself on the counter next to his workspace and lifted her shirt. She grimaced as she realized the bandage was already nearly soaked through with blood. “Penny!” Bruce exclaimed as he got to his feet and stepped in front of her, “What happened?”
“I got shot,” Penny told him as he gently pulled the bandage off of her abdomen, “It’s not healing,” She told him softly.
“That would be because of the foreign piece of metal still in the wound, dear,” Bruce said as he sighed exasperatedly, “Where’s Stark?”
“Out of town,” Penny said nonchalantly. Bruce looked up at her and raised his eyebrows. “What?”
“And where’s Pepper?” He asked and Penny conveniently looked anywhere but him, “Penny?”
“She’s upstairs finishing dinner,” She answered and looked down at her gunshot wound, “Do you think you could get the bullet out?” She asked him sweetly.
“Oh, no way. I am not touching that wound if your mother doesn’t know about it. I may not be scared of many things. But I am terrified of Pepper Potts-Stark,” He told her seriously.
Penny groaned, “FRIDAY?” She asked and then sighed, “Will you call mama?” She asked. She watched her phone start to call the woman and hesitantly put the device to her ear.
“Hey, darling, what’s taking so long?” Pepper asked as she answered the phone.
“Hey, mama,” Penny hedged and then caught Bruce’s eyes, “Can you come down to Uncle Bruce’s lab for a minute?”
“Sure, darling, be right there,” Pepper answered her. Penny hung up and dropped her shirt so it would be covering her wound when her mother entered the lab.
“She’s going to kill me, Uncle Bruce. You totally could have already pulled it out,” Penny pouted and Bruce just sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Your father pulled this several years ago and I endured the wrath of Pepper then for the first and last time ever. Never again. Not even for my favorite niece,” He told her. Penny sighed but couldn’t help the smirk on her face.
When Pepper entered the lab, she spotted Penny sitting on the worktable and Bruce leaning back against the counter across from her, “What’s up, baby?” She asked as she neared the two.
“Umm,” Penny bit her bottom lip, “So I got hurt on patrol,” Penny said softly, “And I didn’t want to bother anyone, and I figured it was an easy fix. But Uncle Bruce is being a total wuss,” She got an indignant sound from the man in question and continued, “And he wouldn’t help until you were here,” She finished.
Pepper furrowed her eyebrows and glanced between her daughter and Bruce several times before she saw Bruce shoot her a pointed look, “Penelope Parker-Stark, what did you do?” She asked.
Penny sighed and lifted the end of her shirt again and earned a startled gasp, “Mama! It’s fine,” Penny assured her and tried to cover it again.
“A bullet hole is hardly fine!” Pepper said and batted Penny’s hands away so she could lift the fabric again herself, “Why didn’t you tell me?” Pepper asked her.
“Because I thought you’d freak out,” Penny said dryly, “So glad I was wrong,” She finished sarcastically.
“Not the time, Penny,” Pepper said evenly, and Penny swallowed and nodded, “Why isn’t it healing?” She asked.
“That would be because she still has a bullet in there,” Bruce finally spoke up. Pepper looked to him in question and he nodded. She stepped back and Bruce made quick work of removing the bullet and placing it into a metal pan next to Penny.
“Cool,” Penny whispered as she reached out and picked it up.
“That’s disgusting,” Pepper admonished. She glanced down again and could see the wound already starting to heal, “You’re grounded.”
“What?!” Penny exclaimed wide eyed. Pepper just nodded and spun to head towards the elevator. Penny jumped off of the table and started to go after her mother before spinning to face Bruce again, “Thanks, Uncle Bruce!” She said and just got a smirk and a fond shake of his head, “Can I keep this?” She asked as she held up the bullet. Bruce rolled his eyes at her but nodded and shrugged anyway.
Penny then chased after Pepper and caught the elevator just in time. She placed the bullet in her pocket so Pepper wouldn’t see it, “Grounded?” She asked.
“Yes,” Pepper said sharply and Penny took a step back suddenly. Anything else she was going to say died in her throat.
“Yes, ma’am,” Penny said around a sob that had threatened to bubble up out of her throat. Pepper had never used that tone with her. Penny could feel her heart hammer in her chest and her breathing start to quicken, “I’m sorry,” She whispered, eyes fixed firmly on the floor.
Penny didn’t step off of the elevator when they arrived in the penthouse. She vaguely registered that Pepper did leave the elevator only to stop steps away and turn to look at her, “Penny?” She asked softly. The girl shook her head, “Penny, baby, oh darling,” She cooed as she neared her and caught both of the girl’s hands in her own, “Baby, you have got to breathe,” Pepper told her. Penny forced her gaze to land on her mother. “Come on, darling. You’ve got to breathe for me.” Pepper wrapped her arms loosely around Penny, knowing that physical touched helped to ground her, “Can you feel me breathing, baby girl?” She asked and felt a feeble nod against her shoulder, “Can you try to match that for me?” She asked.
Penny forced in ragged breath after ragged breath until she was breathing mostly normally again after several minutes. “I’m so-rry,” Penny gasped out and tried to pull away from Pepper. Pepper shook her head and held the girl in her arms more tightly.
“Penny, if you’re apologizing for that panic attack, then there’s no need, darling,” Pepper told her as she kissed the side of her head, “I realize now that I was really harsh with you. I’m sorry, darling. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.”
“No, mama,” Penny protested, “I was bad and you-”
“Penny, never say that again,” Pepper cut her off quickly, “You are not bad,” She told her softly as she thumbed the girl’s tears away, “You acted recklessly, you made a thoughtless choice, but you are not bad,” Pepper told her firmly, “You scared the hell out of me, Itsy Bitsy. I’m sorry I snapped at you. I was just terrified seeing you hurt,” Pepper finished.
“I’m sorry for making Karen stop the protocol,” Penny sobbed and leaned back into Pepper’s arms, “I didn’t want to worry you and I thought I could get it taken care of and no one would need to know. I won’t do it again. I promise. I’ll never do it again, mama,” She swore.
“Thank you, baby bug,” Pepper cooed into her ear.
“How long?” Penny asked her as she powered her phone off and handed it over. Pepper took it with a small smile and put it in her own pocket.
“A week,” Pepper told her. She started to stand and realized Penny was still clinging to her, “Pen?” She asked softly.
“Sorry,” Penny whispered, “I think I’m just now realizing that I was shot,” She said softly. Pepper smiled gently at her and lifted her daughter into her arms. Penny wrapped her legs around her mother’s waist as she buried her face into her neck. Pepper could feel her shaking as she carried her into the living room and sat down on the couch with her, “Thank you, mama. Even though I lied to you.”
“I will always be here for you when you need me, Penny. Always.”