Chapter 20
Trying to rouse Ashley from a long nap was probably Tony and Pepper's most difficult job. They had delayed dinner until seven that evening. MJ and Ned had left about an hour earlier, with Happy being volunteered to take them home. He had come directly up to Ashley's room to collect them, which was in no way necessary, but Pepper didn’t mention it. Tony on the other hand did.
“Happy actually likes someone! And here I thought you didn’t care for anyone except Pepper and Pete's surprisingly hot aunt.”
“I don’t like you,” Happy had muttered back. “You make my job and my life difficult.” Obviously it was a lie, but Happy would never admit to having the world's best boss. He didn’t want to inflate that ego any more than it already was.
Both Pepper and Tony had gone into Ashley's room, carrying dinners of their own. They were trying to get into a routine of ‘family dinners’. But trying to wake the teenager took a lot of patience and effort. It always started with soft voices and gentle shoulder shakes before resorting to find the most obnoxious sounds and music FRIDAY could blast over the speakers. This time Tony had chosen to play a video compilation of wailing cats at a ridiculously high volume over the speakers, which had Pepper rethinking several of her life choices. Ashley woke up, pressing her hands flat against her ears in order to shield herself from the noise.
The three of them ate dinner together, with Tony easily filling any silent gaps. Mostly, he just filled Ashley in on whatever accident he or Peter had caused in the lab that day. While school was out for the holidays, Peter was often spending more afternoons working alongside Tony and Bruce, which upped the lab incidents that had to be reported to Pepper exponentially. Pepper was often caught massaging her temples once Tony started telling her about the explosions and spillages of potentially dangerous chemicals that had happened that day.
Friday nights were still movie nights for the team, but for Ashley, Friday nights (along with Wednesday nights and Sunday afternoons) were currently spent in her room with Matt, Foggy and Karen. They often came straight from work and were waiting in the penthouse while Ashley had dinner with Tony and Pepper. The aura of the main penthouse floor was stifling. In particular, Matt was on the receiving end of a lot of calculated stares, which he could feel burning into his skull. Karen and Foggy shuffled awkwardly on either side of him, and the three of them refused to sit down with the Avengers team, despite Pepper's insistence. The only reprieve from the glares and cold shoulders was the flurry of questions from Ashley’s friend Peter, who Matt had now deduced was Spider-Man.
“Mr Daredevil, is your hearing supersonic like a bat? How far do your senses stretch? Do you have super strength? Is Luke Cage really bulletproof? What's an Iron Fist?” The questions seemed to be never ending. At first Matt found himself flattered, but as time went on, he grew more and more agitated.
“Hey Spidey, do you always ask this many questions?” Matt hadn’t meant to get snippy, but the comment slipped out with a snarky tone. Peter had immediately flinched back, his ears turning beet read. Several of the Avengers stood up at that and Matt felt the air shift.
Steve stepped forward, getting close in Matt's personal space. The man was much taller and more muscled, but Matt didn’t back down when the first Avenger puffed out his chest threateningly. “I don’t know how you found out his identity, but if you do anything to hurt him or put him in danger, you'll have us to answer to.”
Matt held up the hand that wasn’t holding his cane. “First of all, anyone with half a brain cell can figure out the kid is Spider-Man. Secondly, why would I have any reason to reveal his identity? Especially seeing as I have now trusted you all with mine? I hope you will do me that courtesy at the very least.”
Clint broke out in a large grin. He was the only Avenger who had spent some time on the streets of New York working with the local vigilantes. Clint had (completely by accident) ended up working closely with Daredevil and Luke Cage a few times. He enjoyed getting in a good ol' fashioned fist fight, so their paths had crossed before on occasion. “Don’t worry about it Double D,” Clint said, clapping a hand on Matt's shoulder and stepping between him and the Captain. “Your secret's safe with us. These guys just take a while to warm up to people.” Clint then placed a hand squarely in the centre of Steve's chest and tried to push the super solider back. He knew Steve wouldn’t move by Clint’s force alone, so he hoped that the super soldier would take the hint and back down. Steve hesitated, but took a step back, glaring at the blind lawyer the whole time.
A moment later, Pepper and Tony appeared, having finished their dinner. Tony nodded in Foggy and Karen’s direction and greeted Matt with a simple “Murdock,” which was returned with an equally begrudging “Stark.” Pepper shook her head, rolling her eyes at the two men’s antics. She stepped into Matt’s space and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze, before moving on to embrace Karen and then Foggy in brief hugs.
“Matt, Karen, Foggy, good to see you again. Work keeping you busy?”
Foggy smiled widely as he greeted Pepper. He didn’t really understand the politics of superheroes versus vigilantes, so he didn’t understand why the Avengers were so unwelcoming towards Matt, and by association, himself and Karen. Aside from Ashley, her friend who turned out to be the weird Spider-Kid, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Pepper, the others would barely speak to him and Karen, which was plain rude. Although, he had caught Scarlet Witch and the strange, red android guy, Vision looking over at them curiously. He figured they didn’t say anything in order to keep in line with the other Avengers. If Dr Banner had been there, he would probably be welcoming towards them, Foggy theorised, as the man had been nothing but kind to them in the med bay the previous week.
“We’ve got a few minor cases tiding us over at the moment. Some unlawful evictions and we’ve got a personal injury claim where a pedestrian was hit by a speeding car. Matt is currently working a larger case. He’s looking to take down a large construction company over the continued use of asbestos over the last twenty years in their building materials. It has been found in several apartment complexes across New York City, with five of them in Hell’s Kitchen alone. To top it all off, the works were left in a shoddy state and as such our client has developed health problems that is in direct correlation to the existence of asbestos in the building.”
“Ooh, that sounds like a juicy one,” Pepper commented.
“Yeah, settlement for our client could potentially be in the millions.”
“I’m sure I’ll be reading all about it in the paper the day after court.” Pepper smiled at the three of them softly. “You guys can go in, but she might be a bit on the sleepy side.”
Matt huffed out a chuckle and walked behind Foggy into the room, Karen leading him by the arm. He was still unfamiliar with the Avengers’ Tower and there were a lot of new sounds and smells, like the whirring in the walls that belonged to FRIDAY or the lingering smell of fresh coffee grounds that had been imported from Indonesia only a few days prior.
“Hey, kiddo!” Foggy greeted loudly as he entered the room at the end of the hall. In here, Matt could still hear FRIDAY whirring in the walls, along with the buzzing drone of the arc reactor supplying power to the building. The soft furnishings smelt strongly of citrus from the detergent used with an underlying hint of jasmine from the fabric softener. He couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose as he took a seat in the desk chair, turning to face Ashley. One thing Matt had noticed since his last visit was the sound of heavy, laboured breaths from his young friend were gone. He smiled at the thought, as it was a signal she was on the right track to recovery.
“Hey Foggy,” Ashley greeted brightly. Her voice carried a happy lilt, although it was slightly muffled as she tried to wake herself up further. “Hi Matt, hi Karen.” Both Matt and Karen greeted her as Foggy took a seat at the end of Ashley’s bed and Karen shrugged off her black dolly shoes and climbed onto the bed beside Ashley. The younger was quick to move into Karen's side, resting her head against the thin woman's shoulder.
“Your wings are away today,” Karen observed. “You feeling better?”
Ashley nodded once. She was clearly still trying to wake up if her heavy eyelids were any indication to go by. “Yeah, much better today. Just tired...”
“Sorry, you can go back to sleep for a bit if you want,” Matt spoke up from across the room.
“No, it’s okay. How was work?” Ashley asked.
Foggy launched into a detailed run-down of the cases he was working on with help from Karen. Ashley enjoyed listening to them talk. Once Foggy had talked her through everything that had happened in the last two days in excruciating detail, Matt gave her a short, one-sentence update on his case.
“The court date has been set for next Thursday.” Ashley raised her eyebrows, shooting a quick eye-rolling glance at Karen. “I can practically hear your eyes rolling in your skull.” Matt spoke with a smirk.
“You’ve got one of the biggest cases of the decade on your hands, yet I was more enthralled with Foggy's middle-aged pedestrian who got clipped by a swerving car!” Ashley sassed him. Foggy and Karen both burst into laughter, while the smirk on Matt's face simply widened.
It wasn’t until the four of them had exhausted every light-hearted topic they could come up with that Ashley finally asked a question that had been bugging her ever since she could form a coherent thought. “You were at the tent that night with Mr Stark,” she began, stating the facts she knew. Her memory was a little hazy, but she distinctly remembered Matt's gruff voice. “You were dressed in the Daredevil suit – I could smell the leather. How did you know that I needed help? Mr Stark came because EMMA informed Wanda through our watches. How did you know?”
There was a heavy silence hanging over them. Karen and Foggy schooled their expressions, knowing the conversation that was coming, and that it was likely to get heated very quickly. There was a deep sigh from Matt because he knew it too.
“Stark called me.”
“Why would he do that?” Ashley asked. Her tone was biting, daring Matt to tell her anything but the truth.
“Ashley, I need you to know I never told him your identity. But when these guys started hunting you, I called Stark to help. I told him that Spider-Man was on their radar, and he agreed to help find these people. He supplied the SHIELD files, not Wade.”
“You called him? Involved the Avengers?” Ashley seethed between clenched teeth. As Matt spoke, her expression had gotten darker and darker, her lips setting in a thin line and her eyes turning such a dark shade of green they were almost black. “You lied to me.” Matt didn’t miss the choked sound between the words. She was hurt and upset. A tear slid down her face and was soon joined by another and another until her eyes were streaming. “You should leave.” The weight of her words ached more than any punch Matt had ever sustained.
Matt didn’t put up a fight or argue back. He knew there was nothing he could say that would make it go away. He also knew if he could go back in time, he wouldn’t have changed a thing. Maybe he did betray her trust, but he thought it was the best course of action to keep her safe. He stood up, unfolding his cane and moved towards the door, placing a hand out in a stopping motion when both Foggy and Karen made a move to follow him. He walked out into the penthouse, letting the voices of the Avengers, (who were arguing over what movie to watch) lead the way.
He felt the air shift before he heard the voices stop in the penthouse. It felt as though the air had dropped a couple of degrees as he heard the tell-tale click of heels getting louder, indicating that Pepper was walking towards him. A gently manicured hand was placed on his shoulder, squeezing ever so lightly as she led him away from the Avengers. Whispers started up amongst the gaggle of superheroes, getting more and more distant, yet still clear as day to Matt as Pepper lead him away.
“What happened?” Pepper’s voice was soft. It didn’t hold even an ounce of the same distaste that Stark, or the majority of the Avengers seemed to have for him. Matt liked Pepper. She seemed very much an honest person. She would tell you the truth, even if you weren’t going to like it. She also didn’t hide her emotions and spoke freely. If she was pissed at you, you’d know about it, but if she liked you, she wouldn’t put up a façade just because her family (in the loosest sense) didn’t like you.
“I lied to her.” Matt stated. “Understandably, she’s not too happy about it. Anything I say to her now will add fuel to the flame because I do not regret my actions. I was keeping her safe.”
Matt heard the deep sigh from Pepper on his left. Her fingers tightened their grip ever so slightly on his shoulder, before relinquishing him completely. “Give her a few days, I’m sure she’ll come round eventually.” There was a brief pause while Pepper decided what to say. “She needs you, Matt. You’re just as much a part of her life as me and Tony are. In fact, you’re probably a bigger part of her life than we are currently. Tony won’t acknowledge that due to his pride and over-inflated ego, but those are the facts. As long as she is here, you, Foggy and Karen are welcome at the tower.”
“Thank you, Pepper.” Matt offered her a genuine smile as she saw him to the elevator. The constant whirring of the building was not too friendly on his senses, and he couldn’t wait to get out of the tower.
Once Matt was gone, Pepper walked over to Ashley’s room. She stepped just inside the door to find Ashley wrapped up tightly in Karen’s arms. There were silent tears running down her face as Foggy recounted the story of how he nearly became a butcher to try and cheer her up. Ashley of course had heard the story a few times already, but she never got bored of it. She even let out a soft giggle when Foggy told her that his mother just wanted to benefit from the prospect of cured meats on demand.
“Everything okay in here?” Pepper asked, grabbing the trio’s attention. Foggy and Karen nodded but made no effort to move.
“Yeah, it’s fine Pepper,” Ashley spoke.
Something jolted in Pepper’s brain. This was the first time she had been addressed as anything other than Ms Potts by Ashley, who hadn’t blinked an eye at what had slipped out of her mouth. Perhaps she was still tired, so she didn’t notice or perhaps she was aware but wasn’t making a big deal about it. Either way, Pepper found a large grin stretching her mouth.
“I might crash in here with you guys if that’s okay. They’re watching some silly action film in there.” She walked around the large bed as she spoke and took up a seat on Ashley’s other side.
“Perfect,” Foggy declared. “We were going to introduce Ashley to some sitcoms. Brooklyn Nine-Nine or The Big Bang Theory?”
The four of them settled in comfort on Ashley’s bed and it was nice. But Ashley couldn’t bring herself to describe it any other way. She loved Pepper and she loved Foggy and Karen, but it just seemed like such an odd jumble of people together. At first, she wondered if she regarded Foggy and Karen (and Matt) as one part of her life, and Tony, Pepper and the Avengers as another, and now the two worlds were converging on each other. But that wasn’t what unsettled her. It was the gaping, Matt-shaped hole. Her eyes wandered over to the now vacant desk chair that should have his form, sitting up straight, cane folded up and placed on the desk beside him, and if he was feeling really relaxed, red glasses folded up and resting neatly in the pocket of his dress shirt.
As the night drew on, Ashley’s attention wavered further and further from the TV and was more focused on Matt. For the last six months, he had been the most constant, stable person in her life. As she got used to her powers and her new responsibilities that she had opted herself in for, he had been the one coaching her, supporting her, and helping her stand when she fell down. Matt had taught her how to fight, how to defend and how to see with more than just her eyes. She understood why Matt involved Tony and the Avengers and she wasn’t even mad about that. It was the fact that he had lied about it. Did Matt not trust her? What else had he lied about?
What else had he lied about?
That particular question struck a painful chord in her chest. Her teeth resumed their earlier activity of grinding slowly as her thoughts spiralled. “Jessica…” she muttered. She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but her mind couldn’t stop taunting her with the idea that maybe, just maybe Matt had lied to her about that too. It wouldn’t come as a great shock, and Matt probably thought he was protecting her.
Ashley didn’t miss the way Karen stiffened beside her, shoulder rolling back and locking in position. Foggy’s eyes darted in Karen’s direction at the same time, opened in a wide expression. More lies.
“She got hurt because of me, didn’t she?” It wasn’t really a question. “You knew.”
Foggy hung his head down in shame while Karen was just nodding beside her. “We’re sorry. Matt asked us not to tell you – he thought it would help keep you safe.”
“They hurt Jessica because she was dragged into this.”
Foggy shook his head at that. “No. They hurt Jessica because she decided to fight against these terrorists that are taking people like her. Jessica is enhanced, and enhanced people are targets. It appears they have a list of enhanced people they’re after, and maybe Jessica’s on that list or maybe she isn’t, but she got involved because she feels that it’s her fight too. You’ve met Jessica. Unless she is invested in the outcome, she doesn’t get involved. These people made it Jessica’s problem when they started taking innocent enhanced people and mutants off the streets of New York.”
Foggy was of course right with everything he said – he was always the voice of reason. It didn’t make Ashley feel any less guilty though. She pulled away from Karen, leaning into Pepper’s space. “I’m tired,” she stated, hoping that Foggy and Karen would take the hint. To their credit, they did. Both of them apologised again, on behalf of both themselves and Matt as they left, with Foggy firing off a quick text to Matt.
Foggy: She knows about Jessica. Start praying. 21:28pm
Pepper stayed with Ashley that night, mostly because Ashley had at some point grabbed hold of a fistful of Pepper’s blouse and wasn’t appearing to let go any time soon. Tony had wandered into the room sometime around eleven, by which time Ashley had long been asleep. Pepper had kicked off her heels and was lying under the covers with Ashley, holding the young girl close against her chest.
“I take it she had a fall out with the three stooges,” Tony stated. He sat himself on the other side of the bed, sitting up against the headboard. Pepper had been idly watching some documentary on the TV before he came in, the sound on low, which caught Tony’s attention for all of two seconds before he switched it off.
“I was watching that,” Pepper seethed quietly.
“Sure you were,” Tony fixed her an amused expression before his eyes wandered over the scene beside him. Pepper’s thin arms were cradling the young girl tightly, chasing off any bad thoughts or nightmares that might have come knocking at the door. Ashley looked content in her sleep, her face nuzzled softly into the side of Pepper’s neck. The sight brought a fond look to Tony’s face. Nothing seemed out of place – not the young girl now taking up permanent residence in his penthouse, not Pepper cuddling her as she slept, and not even Tony as he sat beside them. “Is she okay?”
Pepper nodded, bringing one hand up to comb through Ashley’s hair. She shifted ever so slightly in Pepper’s arms, a soft, contented sigh slipping out. “Yeah, she’s fine. It was a big day for her today and I think the whole thing with Matt tuckered her out.” Tony rolled his eyes at the lawyer’s name. “Don’t do that Tony. Whether you like it or not, we’re going to be seeing a lot of him. He’s a good person and Ashley cares about him very much, so get used to it.”
Tony simply waved her off nonchalantly. “So, we’re doing this then? The parent thing…”
Pepper smiled, lifting her head up to meet Tony’s eyes. The dark hazel orbs were wary as they stared at Ashley. Tony didn’t talk about feelings, but Pepper could read him like a book, and right now, Tony’s book was open, slap bang in the middle. “Yes Tony, we’re doing the parent thing. You seem to have settled into it very naturally.” She didn’t miss the slight upturn of his mouth at her words.
“I really didn’t think I’d be cut out for… this.” Tony gesticulated in Ashley’s direction, making a deliberate move not to meet Pepper’s gaze. “But something about it feels…” he trailed off, the words getting caught in his throat.
“It feels right,” Pepper finished for him. Tony simply nodded curtly. “I just wish we’d found her sooner.” He found himself agreeing with every word Pepper said, and a part of that scared him. Sure, he could be a decent mentor to Peter and Ashley, but being a… father? At no point did he ever believe that was on the cards.
“Let’s just hope we don’t mess this up,” Tony muttered as he moved further down on the bed, settling down for the night.