Chapter One

Protection from the Misery

It'd been a day after the funeral and memorial.

He knew that he shouldn't be taking it as hard as he was. There was no reason for it since there were people who had known him better and had been closer to him.

Happy had been closer to him than he had been.

Colonel Rhodes had been closer to him than he had been.

Mrs. Stark had been closer to him than he had been.

His daughter, Morgan, had been closer to him than he had been.

His five year old daughter.

He couldn't help but laugh at the thought that he had been gone for five years and he had no idea about it.

Pain lanced up and down his spine. He could feel it coming, could feel it seep down into his bones, and he could feel it as it tore apart his bones and organs and skin. He was falling apart and he could feel it with every molecule that was destroyed. He fought it, fought it hard, but there was little he could really do but slow it.

"Mr. Stark…I-I do-don't fee-feel so good."

He shook his head as he stared at the screen in front of him. One of the holographic screens that Mr. Stark had kept in his private lab in his cabin. The basement like it almost always was.

His hands quickly ran over all the codes and information and projects that Mr. Stark had been working on for his company or for his own entertainment. Each project hadn't really been finished as it hadn't been the man's priority anymore. No, he had something much more important than the projects in his basement.

He growled to himself as he brought up the schematics for what seemed to be a new ventilator for comatose patients. That looked interesting as it was based on the nano-technology that Mr. Stark had completed. He could start on this project and then present it to Mrs. Stark, which still blew his mind as he had missed the wedding, so that she could present it to the committee.

"Friday, pull up all specks for the Nano-Ventilation System. Give me all the materials that Mr. Stark was going to use." He ordered the computer system.

"Of course Peter." Friday instantly did as told and pulled up all the information, including the one that had been used to make Mr. Stark's Iron Man armor. The Bleeding Edge project.

He grinned sadly at the information before diving head first into it.

He couldn't save him in the end.

He couldn't even help him.

But this, this he could do.

He could keep the company running with his inventions fully completed and maybe take some strain off of Mrs. Stark when she was forced to return as CEO of Stark industries.

He could Mr. Stark's legacy running even with the man himself gone.

So that was what he was going to do.

PM

"Thank you so much for allowing him access to Tony's lab." May said as she sat on the couch next to Pepper, Morgan playing somberly with her toys on the floor in front of them. "He's going to be like this for a while." She stared sadly down at her tea, remembering all the two times the boy had done this before, the second the worse than the first.

Pepper nodded her head, staring at her own cup of tea. "It's not like it'll get much use otherwise. Tony was the only one who ever understood what was happening in there. Most of it I don't even understand the basics of." She chuckled humorlessly. "Will he be alright in there though? I know he worked with Tony before but will he understand all of what's in there?" Her own worry for the boy came through her own grief. A lot of the projects down there were dangerous and she wasn't sure about letting the teen mess with them.

"If there's one thing Peter has been holding back on, it's his brains." She admitted. "More so than his own super strength. He's been holding back so that he could stay with his friends in high school. He could have been in college at twelve and graduated at fifteen if he had wanted to." She explained as her head turned towards the stairs where the lab was located at the end of. She could hear some bangs and cursing, telling her that Peter was hard at work. "He just wanted to be a normal kid for a while before he really pushed himself."

The CEO stared at the woman in disbelief for a long while before her own eyes moved towards where the lab was. Maybe it was much worse than she thought it would be if the kid was as smart as Tony. Especially if his coping mechanism was anyway similar to Tony's own. "What exactly does he do when he's grieving?" She questioned as she looked at the other woman, worry running through her mind. She hoped it wasn't anything as bad as Tony but that boy was more alike with the man than she wanted to admit. It drove her nuts.

May smiled sadly as she set her tea on the side table and then clasped her hands together. "He makes things. Builds them from scratch. When he was six and his parents died in the plan crash, he created designs for a new plane that would minimize chances of crashes and then we had the design sold. A solid twenty five thousand dollars that we put in a savings account for college."

"He was six?" Pepper questioned, eyes wide in disbelief. "Oh dear, this is sounding much too familiar for me." She held a hand up to her mouth. She was half tempted to run down there and pull the boy out of the room that instant.

"Yes, very smart. The next time he went through that was when Ben died. That lasted much longer than when he was six and the things he built…." She gulped as she remembered the equipment piled in his room, the motherboards and circuits and wires and all sorts of other things. It had been an engineer tech's dream. "I realize now that they were equipment for his Spider-Manning now. He also built his own computer too and fixed my oven and made me my own computer too. Then he went to help our land lord update the security and power of the building. He did a lot more as well that I probably don't know about." She shrugged her shoulders.

"He could be in there for days." Pepper's brow furrowed as she stood up and moved to the stairs. "We can't let him do this to himself."

"Pepper, please, just let him be." May grabbed a hold of the woman's arm, knowing that the red head would try and pull Peter out and that would just make things worse. "This is how he grieves. He'll come out of it when he's ready, so just be patient and let him be."

The CEO wanted to refuse, knowing how destructive that attitude could be to an individual. She had watched Tony do it for years and he hadn't been able to rest until he had died saving the world. He had worked himself almost to death, building things that could be used to save the people he cared for or protect them. "What do we need to do until he comes out?" She questioned instead of voicing those thoughts.

"Just take food in and drinks in, make sure he's doing ok. He might not eat or drink it right away or at all, but it'll be there for him when he's ready to eat." She explained calmly. "Other than that, just stay out of his way, especially now that he has those powers. I don't reckon either of us could drag him out even if we wanted to."

Pepper sighed as she nodded her head and sat back down on the couch, staring down at her little girl. "I didn't realize just how close those two had gotten."

"Neither had I." The two sipped at their teas once more as they allowed their minds to wonder to those they loved and lost.

PM

"How long has he been down there?" Rhodey asked as he looked down the stairs with furrowed brows. "Has he come up at all?" This was starting to get disturbingly familiar in a way that he had never thought he'd have to deal with again.

"This is going on the third week." Pepper sighed tiredly as she stood next to the man. "I've just barely gotten him up here long enough to shower and then he's back down there to work." She rubbed at her face, wondering if she needed to call in Bruce to drag the kid out or not.

"Has he eaten at all?" The man questioned as he maneuvered his wheelchair around to face the woman. His bionic legs hadn't been able to get fixed and the only other person that could have fixed them was no longer there. "Drank or slept?"

"Some of the plates we've taken down have been empty but most we've brought back up full. He is drinking the water though, at least that's what Friday told me." She grimaced as she motioned for the man to follow her back to the living room. Morgan was with May at the moment, baking cookies in the kitchen, to try and distract her from the absence of her father. "From what she's told me as well…kid hasn't slept since he got down there, not really. He passes out for a bit and then he's back up and working again."

Rhodey sighed as he stopped in front of the couch while Pepper took a seat on it. "We can't just let him stay down there like this. He'll kill himself at this rate." He thought of ideas to try and get the kid out and maybe the other people he could call to get him out as well.

There was Harley who had kept in contact with Tony since the whole extremis fiasco. Though the kid had gone back to his home in Tennessee and he wasn't sure he'd come back to help another kid while he was grieving as well.

Then there was Bruce who was on an intellectual level that could keep up with the kid, just like he had with Tony. Though he had disappeared into New York to begin work on a book he wanted to write about all that had happened. He didn't expect to see the giant green man anytime soon.

Wanda knew what it was like to lose multiple people one after another and could help Peter cope with the emotions. She could also pull him out of the lab with her powers as that seemed what it would take to get the kid out of there. That would mean they'd have to go hunt her down at Clint's farm, where she had been invited to stay and recuperate while the Avengers Facility was rebuilt in a new location.

Speaking of Clint, he could definitely help. The man had lost his entire family and had suffered greatly for it to such lengths that he had gone down a dark path. There was a chance the man could help Peter express those emotions, but that was only if he could pull the man away from his family.

Sam was still trained as a counselor and would happily help out. Only he had disappeared sometime after the battle. No one knew where he had gone and it only got worse when they realized that Bucky had gone with him as well. Either one of them would have been perfect to help Peter through this but neither were around at the moment.

He wasn't even sure where Steve had gone. No one but Sam and Bucky had seen the man since after the battle.

He would talk to the kid but at the moment, the only way he was walking around was if he got into a War Machine suit, otherwise he was stuck in the wheelchair until new braces could be engineered for him. Which meant no stairs for him at the moment.

"What are we going to do?" He groaned in annoyance, knowing that they needed to do something before the kid ran himself into the ground.

"Nothing." Pepper sighed out as she glanced towards the kitchen where she could smell burnt cookies. May really shouldn't have been the one baking cookies with her daughter but she needed something fun to do while waiting for her nephew to make a reappearance. "We let him do as he please until he's ready to come out. At least, that's what May said to let him do."

The Colonel frowned but nodded his understanding. "Are we sure this kid isn't Tony's long lost son?"

"I've had him tested, trust me when I say they aren't."

"I'm not sure if that makes this worse or better."

PM

"Peter?" Pepper called as she entered the lab, taking in all the different inventions that were littering the floor of the place. Most of them were all completed and held pieces of paper on them to label and explain what they do. "Hey, it's time for you to come up and take a shower." She said as she walked over to the table the boy was sat at, tinkering with a little square box of some sort.

"I'll take one later. I've almost got this finished." Peter grumbled as he held the welder in his hand carefully. He had started on this little project the other night after he had completed the braces that Tony had outlined for Colonel Rhodes. He'd have to take those to the man once he was done down here.

The woman frowned and put her hands on her hips, glaring down at the teen who didn't seem to care she was there at all. "You have been down here for days since your last shower, you need to go up and get a shower and maybe a nap." She stated firmly. "Don't make me activate the Exhausted Tony Protocol."

That made the teen pause and look over his shoulder at the woman. She had already used that protocol before, which had shut everything in the lab for a full day. He hadn't been able to continue building until the next day, but that hadn't stopped him from using a tablet and continuing on blueprints instead.

Though he didn't want that to be activated again so he sighed. "Fine. I'll go and take a shower, but I'm coming back down to finish this afterwards." He stated as he motioned towards the little red and gold box. He really wanted to finish this little gem he had found in Mr. Stark's files.

He felt it would help out a lot more than they all would expect.

Pepper frowned but nodded her head. "I want you to bring some food down after as well. You need to eat more, especially with your enhanced Metabolism." Her eyes roved over the too thin body of the teen that had been nothing but muscle a month ago. He was paler and the dark bags under his eyes could care the entire Iron Legion in them. She was tempted to pinch his skin to see if he was dehydrated as well.

Peter rolled his eyes but nodded along with the woman's demand. "Whatever. I'll go take that shower then. Friday, save all data on Project MMB5." He ordered.

"Already done Peter." She replied, her voice much more quiet than normal, as if she herself was mourning the loss of her boss. "It is 2:55AM, I suggest you get some sleep after your shower."

"Thanks for the advice but I'll be back down." He stated before looking over at Pepper. "Is my Aunt sleeping here again?"

She nodded her head as she followed the teen out of the lab. "She's asleep at the moment, she had a full day of playing with Morgan and me." She smiled at the memories of the older woman helping keep her daughter preoccupied. The young girl hadn't fully comprehended that her daddy wasn't coming back.

Most nights she was busy comforting the child as she cried out for Tony over and over again.

It broke her heart each time she listened to the child.

"Well, I'm going to bed. I hope you get some sleep as well Peter." She ran her hand over the boy's hair before cupping the back of his neck. She had seen Tony do it to the teen before and it had relaxed him then, she hoped it gave him some comfort now.

He sighed as he leaned back into the hold and shrugged his shoulders. "I doubt it. You get some sleep though, I heard you'll be taking the reins back at Stark Industries here soon. You'll need all the strength you'll need to get through it."

Pepper smiled at him and leaned over, kissing his cheek. "Yeah, I know. You'll need just as much strength for when you go back to school." She countered.

Peter sent her a tired grin before walking away from the woman. Seeing her here, eyes filled with sorrow and pain from her loss, it burned him greatly. He wished he could have done more to protect her husband but Peter just hadn't been strong enough.

He shook his head as he jumped into the shower and allowed the warm water to run over his body. It was nice but his muscles refused to relax and he ached from how tense they were.

The shower didn't last long, he just washed his hair and washed his body before jumping out of the shower. He smiled at the clothes laid out for him, just like it had been the last few times this had happened.

An AC/DC shirt with a pair of sweats.

He gulped as he pulled the shirt over his head, the scent that was so familiar and comfortable still on the fabric.

He slammed his eyes closed as tears threatened to fall.

He thought he had run out of tears to cry but apparently he still had plenty.

He sniffed as he wiped at his eyes and finished dressing. He walked out of the shower and stopped in the hallway, listening to the people in the cabin carefully.

His Aunt May was sleeping with Mrs. Stark again, probably making sure she was comforted when the woman would eventually wake with tears in her eyes and sobs in her throat.

Happy was breathing softly in his own room, deeply asleep from a long day of protecting what little was left of the Stark family and trying to get Peter out of the lab.

Colonel Rhodes was awake but was quietly laying in his bed at the moment, not moving. He was probably thinking about his best friend again. Peter really needed to get those upgraded braces to the man so he could walk around again.

Then he listened in to where Morgan was supposed to be sleeping. He blinked though when he heard the sound of sniffles and hiccups. The kid was awake and crying from the sound of it.

He hesitated for several long moments, trying to decide on what to do. He thought about going and getting Mrs. Stark or his Aunt May, but the two of them had been exhausted from what he saw of them throughout the day. Happy and Colonel Rhodes were in the same states and so he wasn't going to bother.

He'd have to go and help her himself.

With that in mind he walked over to the door and opened it. The room itself was a typical little girl's room, stuff toys and pictures of puppies and kitties and some of her and Tony and Pepper, and then the frilly bed sheets and blankets. He could see the little nightlight that was a rose in a lightbulb that was put in a pot. It glowed a pink and green that gave off just enough light for him to see as if it was daytime.

He looked over to the bed and saw little Morgan sitting up in her bed, hands over her mouth to stifle her sobs, big fat crocodile tears falling down her red splotched cheeks. Her brown hair was messy around her face and her little white pajama sleeves were soaked, most likely with snot and tears.

"Hey there." He said as he walked over to her, shifting nervously as he stood at the side of her bed. He wasn't sure what to do but steeled himself as he sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the floor.

He listened to cry for what seemed like ever. He was sure she was exhausted at this point but he knew from experience that she wouldn't be able to sleep. It would be a wasted effort to try and make her too. "You miss him, don't you?" He questioned her quietly.

He looked over to her and caught the nod of her head. "I-I wa-want my-my Da-dadd-dy." She sobbed out as tears and snot ran down her face.

Peter bit his lip before reaching over and pulling the child into his lap, face in his chest, and ran a hand through her hair. "I know." He said as he felt his eyes blur and sting. He didn't try and hide the tears from her as they fell down his face. "I-I want him h-he-re too." He buried his nose into her hair and just held her from there as they both sobbed.

There was nothing he could really do to make this better. Nothing would ever make the feeling of losing a father any better. He would know, he had managed to lose three of them now.

The only thing he could really do was just comfort her while she cried and try and make the longing for the man as better as he could.

His mind wandered to the project he had in the lab and looked down to the little girl in his lap. She hadn't fallen asleep even though her sobbing and crying had faded some. He knew that neither of them were going to be able to sleep tonight and so he stood up, taking the girl with him as he did.

He didn't bother saying anything as he took the child with him down into the lab with him. He didn't have anything dangerous out at the moment and so it would be safe to settle the girl in his lap and let her watch him work.

"You know…" He said as he welded some wires together as Morgan watched with tired and dead looking eyes. "Your dad was a great man but he was a big dork too." He chuckled as he remembered some of the interactions he had had with the man. They would banter back and forth like crazy when they were in the lab. "I remember when he caused an explosion during one of our lab meets and he blamed it on me when your mom came down to find out what had happened."

"Daddy was silly like that." Morgan agreed as she rubbed at her eyes tiredly. "He never let me down here though."

"Probably because a lot of what he worked on was dangerous." His eyes flickered over to where some of the Iron Man Suits were set up at the moment. Nanotech suits and older suits as well. They were all locked down at the moment as Peter didn't want anyone touching them until he had gone over the blueprints to figure out how to replicate or improve upon them. He already knew that Colonel Rhodes was going to continue as War Machine and would need them in his line of work.

"Why am I down here?" She looked around before looking back to where Peter finished up welding some of the wires together and then began the task of closing the casing.

"I didn't think you wanted to be alone or sleep tonight." He knew that it was normally detrimental to a child's growth if they didn't get enough sleep, but he wasn't going to try and force her to when he wasn't going to sleep either. That'd make him a hypocrite and that was the last thing he wanted to do. "Thought you might like to keep me company instead while I finished this."

"What is it?" She pointed at the box as Peter quickly sealed the box completely before pressing a button on the side, frowning when nothing happened. "Is it not working?"

"IT was something your dad designed." He explained as he pulled open one of the sides that showed glowing circuits and gizmos. There was even a mini Arc Reactor inside that was apparently powering up the little box. He probed for a second before grunting in surprise. He picked up the soldering iron again and quickly hit a spot before sealing the box again. He pressed a button once more.

Morgan gasped when the sound of piano came through, playing a familiar song that her daddy had played for her on his piano. It only got better though when a little blue light came up from the top of the box and a holographic image appeared. "Daddy?" She cried out in surprise.

It was indeed Tony in the image, but it was of him sitting at a grand baby piano, a small smile on his face as he played the instrument. He looked like he had always looked, if a little more gray in his hair and beard. He lacked the sunglasses and wore an AC/DC shirt and blue jeans.

It was a little video that he had Friday find for him and thought that it would be perfect for the little girl that missed her father so desperately.

"He was designing this for you before everything happened." He explained, hugging the around her waist and dropping his chin on her head. They both watched the image as the song began to come near an end. "I thought I'd finish this for you so that you can always have something of your dad near to you."

He held the child as she began to sob once more, crying for the man that was playing the piano. He pressed the button again when it ended and the song and image popped back up. The two children watched the video over and over again, crying together in misery and sorrow. Both desperately missing the man that had such a powerful role in their lives.

He couldn't tell how long they sat there and watched the Music Box, all he could say was that sitting there with the daughter of Mr. Stark and crying with her lifted something that had sat on his chest for far too long.

He wasn't sure when they both fell asleep. Peter's arms wrapped around securely the little girl while her head was settled against his chest while his head was leant against her own.

It was the best sleep either child had had in a long time.

PM

"Morgan!" Pepper cried out in worry as she ran around the cabin, looking for her daughter. The child hadn't been in her room when she went to wake her up. She had ran to Happy's room and woke the man up to help, May already running around yelling for the child. "Happy, Morgan is missing!"

The man leapt up from the bed in a fluster, eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to wake himself up more. "Wha?" he questioned as he stared at her with confusion. "Morgan?"

"She's missing! Help me find her!" She hollered before leaving the room and running to Rhodey's room. "Rhodey, wake up! Morgan is missing."

"Have you asked Friday where she is?" He questioned as he was already moving into his wheelchair to help find the child. He had heard the shouting and had gotten ready as quickly as he could.

That made the woman pause and her panic to halt. "Shit, no I haven't." She growled at herself before taking a deep breath. "Friday, do a search for Morgan."

"She is currently down in the lab with Peter." Was the instant reply that had the two adults turn to each other with wide eyes.

"She's not supposed to go down there!" Pepper cried as she took off for the lab stairs, Happy and May meeting her there. "Why would Peter take her down there!? He knows how dangerous it is!"

"Peter wouldn't take her down if he didn't think she'd be safe." The Aunt assured as comfortably as she could. "You know he would never endanger her like that."

"Kid doesn't even know the little Stark." Happy snarled as he lumbered down, Rhodey left at the top of the stairs due to his wheelchair. "Not to mention he's done too many reckless things in the past before. This shouldn't be as surprising as it is."

Pepper shook her head as she slid to a stop in front of the lab doors and put the code in quickly and ripped the door open. She stopped though when the lights came on, telling her that no movement had been made in at least thirty minutes. "Peter! Morgan!" She called as she ran over to where the wheelie chair was.

She whipped around to face it and came to a dead stop at what she saw.

May and Happy came to a dead stop as well and stared at the scene that they saw.

The two kids were clinging to each other, their faces completely tearstained and their cheeks blotchy pinks and reds. It had obviously been a hard night for both of them.

Pepper took a deep breath before looking around the area, taking in the soldering iron that was unplugged and pushed way out of the way and that the finished projects were held behind a wall of glass windows with a code to get into them. The only real thing that had been left out was a red and gold box that sat in front of the two with a little button that was on top of the box.

There wasn't a single dangerous thing left out that could harm her child.

She took a deep breath before looking at the two children again. "Friday, how long have they been asleep?" She questioned quietly.

"Four hours and seventeen minutes."

She looked at the other two with a soft look on her face. "That's over eight times more than what he's been sleeping lately."

May was smiling even as Happy frowned. "He still shouldn't have brought her down here. What if she had gotten into something while he was passed out?" He pointed out.

"Everything is put away and the only real thing is unplugged and pushed out of her reach." May stated before walking over and tugging on Peter's hand that was pressed against the little girl's back. The two other's tried to stop her but watched in disbelief as the hand refused to budge. "Besides, he's stuck himself to her to stop her from going anywhere."

The boy hadn't twitched at the hand pulling at him and instead slept steadily.

The two other adults could only stare in disbelief before a giggle ripped from Pepper. "Wow, who knew he could be such a good babysitter." She said happily.

"Oh, yeah, he's actually pretty good with kids if he's not a little shy at first." May looked back at Peter as she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture real quick, Pepper following her lead and doing the same. "He'll get attached to her real fast, I can tell you that much from just looking at them now."

Pepper couldn't even say she was mad about that morning panic now that she could see the two children that Tony had so loved holding onto each other. "Maybe we should leave them here for now." She whispered as she looked at them softly. "Peter needs as much sleep as he can get and this is the first peaceful rest Morgan has had in a while."

Happy rolled his eyes but nodded his head. "Fine, I'm heading up to get some coffee." He said as he turned and left the room.

"I'll go and let Rhodey know not to panic." May said next as she followed the other man up out of the room, but only after she had placed a kiss on Peter's forehead and ruffled the little girl's hair.

Pepper stood there for a long moment, her eyes eventually drifting to the little box that sat on the table. Her own curiosity got the better of her and she pressed the button on top of the box, gasping when My Little Sunshine began to play out, followed by a holographic image of Tony playing on the piano.

She didn't even try and stop the tears that fell down her face.

PM

A.N. Alright, so I'm doing the whole 5+1 thing! This one is going to be about Peter just being there for Morgan, no matter the situation. I know it says protecting Morgan but this just about the teen being there for her when she needs him. This is the start of it and I want to tell people that if you read this, there are definitely going to be spoilers so if you haven't seen EndGame yet, don't read this. I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone so just don't read this if you haven't seen it yet. I hope you all understand that and don't get mad because I'm putting warnings as many times as I can. With that, I hope for those who read this liked it and review and let me know what you all think.

I would like everyone to think about some of the authors on Fanfiction that died recently or a while ago. Some of them died in tragic accidents or illnesses and have left stories unfinished or had others finish them for them in memory. I would like everyone reading this to lower their heads, clasp their hands together and pray for those who have been lost. Allow there to be a moment of silence for wherever you, the reader, are and remember not just the writers here on this site but those who have been lost in your life or in tragic events.

Please remember that life is short and that you should love those in your life while you can and show your appreciation for water comes into your life.

Again, thanks to those who have lost their lives for spreading inspiration through their works.

I've written a story that wasn't exactly all cuddles and snuggles and some of the

comments made my blood turn to ice. I worry for those who suffer from abuse of any form or depression of any form and so I decided to look for numbers to offer to those who need them. So I hope all of those who need one or more of these numbers will make use of them.

You all are loved and I pray that none of you give up on your life because of the assholes around you. Know that we are here for you and all you need do is reach out and we'll all help where we can.

Suicide: 1-800-273-8255

Bullying: 1-800-420-1479

Self-Harm:1-800-366-8288

Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Lifeline: 1-800-784-8433

Greif Support: 1-650-321-3438

Depression: 1-630-482-9696

Drug/Alcohol: 1-877-235-4525

Eating Disorder: 1-630-577-1330

Mental Health: 1-800-442-9673

Abuse: 1-800-799-7233