No More Lonely

Ch. 4

While Peter napped, Tony went down to his lab and worked with JARVIS to researched recent murders in the area Peter had been found. He was so engrossed in the work that he didn't notice Pepper walk in until his music was turned down. As she walked into the lab, Pepper handed him a file and glanced at what JARVIS was scanning through.

"I see you just couldn't wait," Pepper teased. Tony shrugged and returned to his work. "The stations wouldn't give us anything, so I'm glad you have JARVIS running it. How are you coming along on those DNA tests?"

"Haven't yet," Tony told her, setting aside his work. "I keep forgetting. We went shopping this morning, by the way."

"How'd that go?" Pepper asked. From the way she asked, Tony figured she already knew. He gave her a look and she pursed her lips. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Tony said with a nod. "A little shaken up, but unhurt. He's napping right now."

"Good," Pepper said, "He probably needs it." Tony agreed. "Go see if you can swab some DNA real quick and have JARVIS scan that, too. I sent out a PSA for any man with the last name Parker and two have responded. We'll meet them tomorrow."

Tony saluted her. "Yes, ma'am."

Pepper smiled and he kissed her quickly before running upstairs to see if he could find something that could have Peter's DNA in it. Unfortunately, the dishwasher was clean and nothing else was sure to have only Peter's DNA, Tony sighed. He'd have to go look in Peter's room then. With a little luck, he wouldn't wake the kid when he walked in. When he pushed open the door however, he saw Peter staring up at the ceiling instead of sleeping.

"Hey, kiddo," Tony said, drawing Peter's attention. "I thought you were going to take a nap."

"I can't fall asleep," Peter replied, sitting up on his bed.

"Well, would you like to help me down in the lab?" Tony asked. Getting DNA would be easy if he could get Peter to just spit in a cup.

"Yeah!" Peter exclaimed, jumping out of his bed.

Grabbing Tony's hand, he walked with him down to the lab. They passed Pepper on the way down and when Peter grinned at her, he almost missed a stair. Tony steadied him and once Peter was back on his feet, they continued the rest of the way down the stairs.

"Alright," Tony said. He grabbed a Petri dish and turned to face Peter. "Can you spit in this for me? We're gonna do a science experiment and JARVIS is gonna help us."

Peter nodded excitedly and spit into the dish. Turning away from Peter, Tony placed the dish into a small box for JARVIS to scan.

"Got it, J?" Tony asked, knocking on the glass window.

"Of course, sir."

Peter grinned and Tony turned him around to face the Iron Man suit. His jaw dropped.

"How would you like to help me fix it up?" Tony asked. Peter nodded so fast Tony was worried he would hurt his neck.

While they waited for JARVIS to run the DNA results, Tony let Peter help him with the suit. It didn't really need work down, but Peter seemed happy enough to stand beside him and hold a wrench while Tony took care of a few ticks. By the time they had finished and Tony had put the suit back together, Peter seemed to have forgotten about the science experiment. With a promise of dinner, he and Peter headed upstairs.

After their initial attempt at making lasagna ended in spilt tomato sauce and uncooked noodle, Tony knew they needed a new plan. Catching sight of the blender, he grinned.

"How about we make smoothies instead?" he suggested.

Peter cheered and Tony took that as a yes.

He had Peter pull out the fruit from the freezer drawer while he grabbed the milk from the fridge. After Peter had dumped in more than enough fruit and Tony added the milk, he made sure the lid was on tight and turned on the blender. Peter almost fell off his stool at the sudden noise, but then he grinned and helped Tony hold down the lid. Just as their smoothie finished blending, Pepper walked into the penthouse.

"We made smoothies!" Peter told her, running over to the lift as she stepped out. Pepper smiled and walked with him into the kitchen.

"I see that," she said. She pressed a short kiss to Tony's cheek then helped Peter carry his cup of smoothie over to the table.

Grabbing the other two glassed, Tony joined them a minute later.

While they ate, Peter told Pepper all about their day. He told her about the shopping and the paparazzi. Then he told her about their science experiment and working on the Iron Man suit.

"I don't know why we need spit for the experiment, but I guess I'll find out when it's over," Peter said. He took a big gulp of smoothie then continued. "JARVIS did something with it, too."

"It sounds fun," Pepper said with a smile.

Peter nodded and chugged down the rest of his smoothie. As soon as his lips left his straw, he grabbed his head and squealed. "My head hurts!"

"Brain freeze," Tony told him. Peter frowned and Tony explained what it was.

"It hurts my head," Peter said, swinging his legs under the table.

Once Tony and Pepper were done, they took their glasses to the sink and Tony unloaded the dishwasher. Peter went to play with the Lego blocks Tony had brought up while Pepper finished up some paperwork. After putting all the clean dishes away, Tony announced he would be going back down to the lab to check on JARVIS's progress. Pepper just nodded, not really paying attention, and waved as he walked down the stairs. He typed in the code and the door slid open.

"What do we got, JARVIS?" Tony asked, slipping into his computer chair and sliding across the room towards his desk.

"I believe I found the murder of Peter's mother."

He pulled up the report and Tony read through it twice. Although her identity was still unknown, the victim had been stabbed behind a restaurant only one month ago. Her murder had been reported by a small child and the suspect had been found and imprisoned. The child that had reported it had gone missing, though, and officials were unable to find him.

"That's awful," Tony muttered. He only glanced at the attached photos, but he didn't like what he saw. Whoever had killed the woman had obviously held something against her. He was kind of surprised Peter hadn't been killed as well. A four-year-old at the scene of a crime? He definitely should not have survived.

Closing the report and spinning around to look at the Petri dish, Tony asked, "How are we on the DNA test?"

"82% complete, sir."

Tony nodded and stood up.

"Send a copy of the results to Pepper's tablet and one to mine when they're done," he said. JARVIS promised he would so Tony got up to leave the lab. "And J? Get me the name of the murderer."

"Of course, sir."

The lights shut off as Tony locked up the lab and went back upstairs. He wanted to know who had killed Peter's mom and why. He also wanted to know if he really should have taken Peter out. Maybe someone had an eye out for him. If that was the case, there was no way Tony was letting Peter out of his sight.