If They Knew All About You

Nothing To Worry About

The trees and houses rushing past the window outside of the car were more than familiar. For weeks and months, Pete had been traveling back and forth from the city to the Compound. It had been a while since he had left the general vicinity of the Compound though.

They had gone out to dinner twice to a place somewhere in Poughkeepsie that Pepper had organized. A little Italian restaurant. The entire dining area had been empty except for them. Even the waiter looked distinctly like one of the agents Pete had seen before at the Compound, even if he had changed into black trousers and a white shirt instead of the dark leather and camo gear they would usually wear.

He had stared at the "waiter" as he hurried away then down at his pizza. "I really hope you don't have more agents hidden in the kitchen."

Tony had raised his eyebrows at him. "Not manning the stove."

Pete's mouth had popped open but he wasn't entirely sure if Tony had been joking or not. Tentatively, he had taken a bite of his pizza. Not like there was anything wrong with it. It was perfectly fine pizza. With a cringe, he had pushed away the question if they had even made it there or if they had just had it delivered to give him the illusion of eating out, but in all honestly, he didn't really want to know.

As he sat in the car that took both him and Pepper back into Manhattan, he couldn't help but think back on that night. The way her leg was jumping next to him now, the nervous energy that was radiating off her, he wouldn't be all that surprised if his suspicion had been correct. Both of them had been nervous about the change of location. Pete had been mostly annoyed with having to move again.

Pepper had her arms crossed but repeatedly looked down to her phone then out of the window again. The road was mostly quiet. What traffic there was, affected the opposite direction but she had been jumpy ever since she had made him breakfast, insisting that she was too busy to sit down. He hadn't seen Tony at all that morning. Well, at least not after sunrise. He had been there like he always was when Pete had dragged himself out of his nightmare.

"Pepper?"

Her head shot around, eyes wide. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." Pete frowned. "Are you?"

She reached over and squeezed his hand. The corners of her mouth twitched with the attempt of a smile. Not a convincing one. "Just trying to think of everything, darling."

He bit his lip. That wasn't true. "You don't have to worry," he mumbled, then looked back up when a low chuckle he hadn't expected rolled off her tongue.

She squeezed his hand again. "I'll never not worry about you, darling." Her eyes found his in a sideways glance. "I mean that in a good way."

"Right." Pete's teeth gnawed on his lower lip. "The good kind of worry."

Her eyes were a lot softer when she leaned towards him, one hand carding through his hair. "Only the good kind."

In all honesty, he hadn't been worried but the closer they got to the Tower, the more antsy Pete became. The car made its way through the light traffic in the city unnoticed. There were no paparazzi lining the streets like they had when news about his parentage had first been exposed. Still, it was strange seeing the city as lively and bustling as it was after weeks and weeks of isolation at the Compound.

Not just seeing it, feeling it.

His skin was prickling with everything his senses picked up around them like they had grown more sensitive after such a long time of lying dormant.

He rubbed his hand over his arms but the goosebumps didn't go away.

"Oh, sweety..." Deep lines of worry had appeared on Pepper's face, her eyes squarely on him now. "You don't have to be scared." She cupped his cheek. "You know Tony would have never agreed to the Tower if he didn't think you'd be safe there."