Iron Heart: The Beginning

Chapter 7: Meetings

"Morgan," Pepper breathed, standing from her chair and rushing over to her daughter. She knelt down and pulled her into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head.

"Are you okay, sweetie?"

Morgan nodded, even though she was squished in her mother's embrace. "Yes. Where's Daddy?"

"He's resting right now, in that room over there," Pepper said, lifting up Morgan as she stood and gesturing towards the room where her husband was sleeping. "We're waiting for him to wake up."

Morgan nodded, not speaking as she contented herself with twisting and braiding her mother's long hair.

Pepper returned to her seat, and Happy sat down in the chair opposite her.

"Any updates?" he asked.

"Not many," Rhodey said. "But we do know that he's going to make it." Happy breathed a sigh of relief, his hand moving to his heart. "Oh, thank God."

"And we know that he'll look as handsome as he did before," Rhodey continued, a small smirk dancing on his lips.

"Hey, baby, what's wrong?" May asked, shifting herself so she was facing her nephew.

"Did something happen? Was it a dream?"Peter's breathing slowly evened, but he clenched his eyes shut. "It felt..." He coughed, causing his body to shudder. "It felt so real." He glanced up at May. "I saw – I saw Mr. Stark, I saw him –" He choked up, unable to continue.

"Oh, Peter." May pulled him into a hug. "It was just a dream. I promise."Peter buried his face into his aunt's shoulder, unable to respond.

Pepper hesitated, then adjusted how she was holding Morgan as she moved next to Peter.

"There's someone I'd like you to meet, kid," she said gently. "But only if you want to."

Peter gripped his aunt's shoulder tightly, but then relaxed his body and turned his attention to Pepper. The moment he did so his eyes widened.

"Is she...?"

Pepper chuckled. "Peter Parker, I'd like you to meet Morgan Howard Stark."

At the sound of her name, Morgan's focus drifted away from braiding her mother's hair to the teenager sitting in front of her.

"Morgan, you remember Peter, right?" Pepper asked.

"Daddy told you a lot of stories about him." Morgan beamed. One of her front teeth was missing. "Spider-Man!"

Tears welled in Peter's eyes, but he rubbed them away, smiling at the girl. "That's me."

Morgan held her arms out for him to take her, but Peter hesitated, looking towards Pepper for permission. Pepper nodded and carefully handed her child into the teen's shaking arms.

Peter's face was pale as he situated Morgan in his lap, but his brown eyes glimmered with a mixture of happiness and hope.

Morgan fiddled with Peter's collar, a satisfied smile on her lips.

"So, your dad has told you stuff about me?" Peter asked, grinning at the child and ruffling her hair.

"I'm flattered."Morgan nodded. "Mhm! He says Spider-Man is the best superhero ever. He told me a story about how Spider-Man saved New York from an evil villain who looked like a robot-vulture by crashing a whole plane!" She frowned. "He also said that Spider-Man would stay out past his bedtime and that I shouldn't do that."

Peter snickered, not noticing how with his laughter came a lightening of everyone's mood in the room. "Well, sometimes bedtimes have to be ignored in pursuit of justice."