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Tony should have known that once his phone rang, his Carribean vacation with Pepper would be interrupted.
He was willing to ignore it, but then Pepper spoke up. "What if it's Peter?" she said, as she rolled her wet hair into a towel, and Tony decided to take her advice. Picking up his phone, he expected it to be the teenage superhero he often called his kid, but once he saw it was the house number and not Peter's cell, his face morphed into one of confusion, as he wondered why Morgan was calling them- and so late at night, too.
"Hey, Morguna," he said, once he connected the call. "I love you, but mommy and daddy are on vacation, and…" He trailed off from his usual spiel, however, about how the phone was only supposed to be used in an emergency, when he heard his daughter crying over the line. "Is everything okay, sweetheart?" he ended up asking.
"P-Peter's not waking up…" She sobbed over the receiver, sending Tony's heart into panic.
"Okay, what happened?" he asked, before turning around briefly and motioning to Pepper to come on over. Then, he clicked the speaker button. "Mommy's here, too. Just speak slowly, okay? Take your time."
"We- We were going outside to feed Gerald, and... and I slipped on the ice, so I grabbed Petey, but we both fell, and... and now he's not waking up, Daddy, and I dunno what to do!"
"Okay, Morgan?" Tony spoke, trying to keep his voice steady despite the fact his heart was pounding. "I need you to tell me where you are. Are you still outside with Peter?"
"N-No, I came in to get the phone, but Petey gets really cold really fast, and..."
"Okay, Mommy's gonna call Uncle Happy, okay? He's really close, so he'll be able to come help you," he explained, looking up as Pepper pulled out her phone and stepped into the bathroom to talk to Happy. "Until then, I need you to calm down a little bit. Take a deep breath through your nose, okay?"
He continued to coach Morgan through breathing exercises, trying to keep his mind from racing about the fact that Peter could possibly be dead, if not definitely freezing and injured, outside of the alpaca pen.
Not knowing what to say next, he was relieved when Pepper came out of the bathroom and spoke softly. "Okay, Uncle Happy is on his way, sweetheart. He said he'll be there in ten minutes."
"W-What do I do till then?" She asked, not crying as much, but her breathing was still erratic and any sign of worry would most likely send her back into a panic.
"Grab the blanket from the living room, and go back outside. Don't worry about it getting dirty. Like you said, Peter gets really cold really quickly, and I know it's snowing outside, so he needs to stay warm," Tony explained, before handing the phone over to Pepper. Nervous energy was bouncing around inside of him, his heart beating so fast he thought it'd jump out of his chest, and he needed to move. He needed to move, pace, maybe run his hand through his hair, but he couldn't just sit there and panic. He needed to do something!
"Okay, sweetheart?" Pepper started speaking again and, though she wasn't talking to him, he commanded himself to focus on her voice. "You need to go back outside, and see if Peter's waking up at all. If he isn't, I want you to see if there is any blood on him, and if he is, he needs to stay still. Make sure he doesn't move, and stay outside till Uncle Happy gets there."
"Okay, Mommy," Tony heard Morgan say before the phone clicked off and he felt two hands against his stiff shoulders, but who could blame him?
"Was it the best idea to hang up on her?" he asked, getting up and immediately going to the closet. He needed to get back to New York and it was a four hour flight, not counting boarding and departure.
"She can call us back if she needs to." Pepper spoke softly, the same tone they had been using for Morgan. "Are you getting on the next flight you can book?"
"Yeah. It's ten degrees over there, and if Peter hit his head and isn't waking up…" Tony trailed off, not wanting to think about all the injuries Peter could have; and the kid couldn't even thermoregulate, so if he was unconscious and lying outside for who knows how long... "Well, let's just say I'm very worried about him." He took all the hangers out of the closet and threw them on the bed, hurriedly. "You don't have to go, though," he said, as he put his hands on Pepper's shoulders. "You deserve this vacation and I'll probably be back in a couple days, anyway."
"We both know that isn't true." She smiled at him, and Tony couldn't help but love and hate the fact that she was, indeed, always right. "I'll catch up behind you, and bring the rest of the bags. Get your stuff, and go to our kids."
He kissed her cheek and pulled her into a quick hug. "You're a lifesaver, Pep."
"I've been told that before." She pressed a quick kiss against his lips. "Now, go, Tony."
•••
The only thing Peter could think was 'Oh, God, my head hurts.'
He remembered bringing Morgan with him to feed Gerald...
"Okay, Morgan, let's get our coats on!" Peter stated as they made their way to the back door. Snow boots and gloves already on, Peter handed Morgan her pink puffer jacket, before reaching for his blue one. "You got the food?" He asked, zipping his jacket up.
“Yeah!" Morgan exclaimed, excitedly, as she gave the box a little shake. Upon doing so, though, some pebbles of food fell out of it, and Morgan smiled sheepishly. "Whoops!"
"It's okay." Peter made a waving motion with his hand before zipping Morgan's coat up. "We'll clean it up when we get back."
...and then Morgan slipping on the ice...
"Petey!" Morgan screamed, as her foot skidded on a patch of the frozen gravel. Watching as she began to topple forward, Peter quickly reached a hand out and grabbed the only thing he could- the hood of her coat. Sensing Peter trying to keep her upright, Morgan swung an arm backwards, catching on to his sleeve. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as she thought, though, as she ended up bringing Peter down with her and gasped in shock when he fell face-first, the thump of his head striking against the ice.
...but nothing after that.
"Peter! You're awake!" Morgan's sudden shouting pulled Peter away from his memories and he scrunched his face up, the noise making his head spin. Her voice sounded close, but also far away, and Peter couldn't quite figure out where she was coming from. "Uncle Happy is coming, but Mommy said you need to stay still. You can't move until he gets here."
'Wouldn't think of it,’ Peter thought to himself, but instead of saying that out loud, he just swallowed and tried to think with the pounding in his head. "Morgan?" he asked. "What happened after you slipped?"
"I grabbed you, and we both fell," Morgan explained, as she came into his eye line. Moving his fingers slightly, Peter grabbed the edge of the material that was on him, as he realized that it wasn't there before. 'Morgan must've grabbed this to keep me warm,' he thought to himself. "Then," Morgan continued, "you wouldn't wake up, no matter what… until now."
"Okay, um…" Peter trailed off and had an urge to rub one of his hands over his face, but with how much his left hand was hurting, that probably wasn't a good idea. "Morgan, did you get hurt when we fell down?"
Morgan, in response, cast a glance at her hands, but shook her head when all they were covered in was dirt and dissolved snow. "I don't think so," she mumbled, before crouching down on the ground beside him. "Are you bleeding? Mommy said I had to check."
"I don't know," Peter replied, but as something began to trickle down the right side of his head, he had a feeling he was. Morgan would panic, though, so he couldn't let her know that. "I can't move to look, Morg."
Luckily, Peter was saved by the crunching of tires on the driveway and immediately Morgan jumped to her feet and ran toward the noise. "Morgan!" Peter shouted, panic washing over him. "Don't run in front of the car!"
But her footsteps faded further out, and his head was pounding so much he didn't even want to attempt to hear her, so he did the only thing he could do, and tried to avoid closing his eyes for fear of falling asleep again.
Fortunately, he heard both Morgan and Happy's footsteps approach him quickly, and managed to open his eyes once something was secured around his neck.
"It's a neck brace," Happy supplied, before lifting Peter into his arms, blanket and all, trying not to move him around more than he had to, but also sending his head pain and hearing into overdrive. "Morgan, I need you to open the door for me, please."
He closed his eyes again, but instead of trying to sleep this time, he was just trying to block out the lights, the noise and the sound of something dripping, most likely water from the gutters, but it felt like a loud crash every time it hit his ears, and it hurt.
Peter heard a few more doors open before he was gently laid down on a bed that he recognized as the downstairs' spare bedroom, and once he heard Happy give FRIDAY the go-ahead to dim the lights, he opened his eyes, but noticed Morgan was nowhere to be seen. "Where is she?" he asked. "Where... Where's Morgan?"
"In the kitchen, getting the first aid kit. I figured you could do without more noise than necessary," Happy explained, making sure to keep his voice low. "Can you move your toes?"
Peter nodded, which he immediately regretted due to the renewed throbbing, and wiggled his toes inside his snow boots.
"Okay, I'm gonna take the neck brace off. After that, I think I need to Google how to tell if you have a concussion."
"You could call Dr. Banner," Peter offered, as Happy started taking the neck brace off, before he moved on to slipping him out of his jacket. Then, once that was done, he started untying the double-knotted laces on the snow boots. "Or you could call May. They might be more help."
"I'll call your aunt once I know what the plan is, but calling Bruce is probably a good idea," Happy agreed, once he pulled off Peter's socks. Though his clothing wasn't necessarily wet, it was cold from the snow outside, and Happy figured that getting Peter into something warm was probably a good idea and their best bet of preventing hypothermia. "I'm gonna talk to him and make sure Morgan is okay. Stay here, and get FRIDAY to call me if you feel worse or something bad happens."
"You got it," Peter mumbled, draping an arm over his eyes and finally feeling some peace from the throbbing as he heard the door shut behind Happy.
But, seemingly seconds after the door shut, it opened again. This time, though, the footsteps were much faster and softer.
'Morgan,' Peter realized.
Lifting his arm from his eyes, Peter forced a small smile her way. "Hey, Mo-Mo. How you doing?"
"Good!" Morgan set the first aid kit on the bed before pawing her way up and burrowing against his left side. It was something she had done for weeks post-snap and still did now, seemingly forgetting that Tony was the only one of them without a right arm. "Are you okay?" she asked, upon seeing a rather dark bruise on his left temple.
Reaching up to feel the bruise, Peter drew his left hand back when a shot of pain flashed through it and, instead, opted to gently squeeze Morgan's shoulder in reassurance with his right one. "Yeah," he replied. "'M okay. Your uncle's gonna fix me up real good."
The two stayed like that for a few minutes, and Peter was starting to drift off again, when Happy knocked lightly on the door before coming back into the room. "Alright, Bruce gave me instructions." He placed the notepad with the instructions on the bed, before he took a seat near Peter's waist, opened up the first aid kit, and grabbed the penlight. "Alright, bright light."
Peter tried not to wince at the renewed throbbing in his head when Happy shone the light directly in his eyes, but ended up ducking his head away anyway. "Ow." He groaned.
"Sorry, kid," Happy apologized as he clicked the light off and put it back in the kit in exchange for a Q-tip. "Can you follow this with your eyes?"
Peter nodded and attempted to follow Happy's instructions, but definitely failed once the object left the middle of his vision. It made his vision double and made him sick and nauseous, and Happy quickly shoved a trash can under his chin while Peter gagged and spat up the juice pops him and Morgan had had for dinner that evening.
"Yeah, that's definitely a concussion," Happy said once he was done, and Peter gladly took the washcloth and water bottle that was offered to him afterwards. Taking a brief sip of water, Peter wiped his mouth with the towel once more, and set the items aside so Happy could clean the cut on the right side of his head. "Bruce said that you need to rest and if your head hurts, you need to take Tylenol," the man mentioned as he dabbed at the injury with a cotton ball. "I'll wake you up periodically until Tony gets here, but I need to know if you're injured anywhere else."
Peter yawned, starting to drift off, despite the stinging on the side of his head. But, before falling asleep, he managed to respond with a "Yeah, my left hand really hurts."
"I'll look at it after I finish cleaning this." Happy took out some rubbing alcohol and a butterfly bandage and set the items aside. "Get some rest."
And with the reassuring feeling of Morgan pressed against his side, Peter blocked out the pounding in his head and drifted off to sleep.
•••
Finally, Tony could see his house. No matter how fast the plane was, when one of his kids was in peril, it seemed as if everything moved at the pace of a snail- jet, and Audi, included. Pulling into the driveway, he turned off the car when it was beside Happy's, before getting out.
He definitely should've put on warmer clothes, because of the difference between the sunny Caribbean and the ten degree weather that was plaguing New York. Nevertheless, though, Tony fished his keys out of his pocket and opened the door, the wind slamming it behind him. Once Happy came out of the upstairs guest room, Tony stopped him.
"How's the kid? Is he okay?" he asked, worriedly. No one had texted him while he was on his flight, and the last he heard, Peter was still unconscious and out of it. For all Tony knew, he could be on his deathbed.
"Yeah, he's okay." Tony breathed out a sigh of relief. "He has a mild concussion and his left hand is sprained, and he threw up earlier, but otherwise he's fine. Bruce said he got lucky and that it could've been a lot worse. Him and Morgan are napping upstairs." Happy stopped to pull on his winter gear. "I'm gonna go feed Gerald. Poor guy hasn't had any food yet."
"Okay." Tony nodded, and once Happy went out, he walked down the hall and into the bedroom, smiling when he saw the two kids curled up to each other, sleeping soundly. Or so he thought.
As he walked closer, he was nearly startled out of his skin when Peter softly said, "Hey, Mr. Stark."
Tony went limp with relief and a smile spread across his face as he approached the bed. "Hey, Pete," he greeted, running a hand through the boy's floppy curls. "How're you doing, bud? I heard you took a bit of a fall earlier."
"Yeah." Peter nodded, but stopped when that began to make him nauseous and, instead, just leaned into the hand journeying through his hair. "'M tired, and my hand hurts…" He yawned, wiggling his hand free from Morgan to show off the splint wrapped around it. "And my head hurts, but you're... you're stomping around, so I can't sleep."
"I'm not stomping, mister," Tony spoke with obviously fake annoyance in his voice, but made a mental note to call Bruce in the morning if Peter was still suffering from a sensory overload. "And if I was, it's only 'cause I was worried about you and wanted to get here quickly."
Peter nodded his head slightly, and Tony took the chance to grab the weighted blanket at the end of the bed and draped it over his kids. "Night, Mr. Stark." Peter yawned again, too tired to joke as his eyes started to flutter shut. "And be quiet."
"I will." Tony smiled before pressing a kiss against Peter's head, making sure to be careful with the butterfly bandage above his cut. "Night, kid."
And it was indeed a good night, because Tony had seen his kids safe with his own eyes.