"The individual in question is May Parker. I believe she is Peter's aunt."

Tony nearly spit his drink of coffee all over the table. "What?"

Peter's reaction was about the same. If he'd had a bite of food in his mouth, he probably would have choked on it. He just couldn't believe it. He hadn't seen nor heard from his aunt but maybe two or three times since his uncle had died, and both had been brief at best. How would she know what happened? Or even have the slightest clue where to find him?

Natasha looked down the table at him. "Did you talk to her, Peter?"

"No. We haven't talked in months except for a few pop ins, and not at all since this all happened. I don't- I don't understand." He wasn't entirely sure how to feel. He'd just started to get used to the idea of living here, and now… now he wasn't sure what to think.

"Well she found out somehow," Steve said simply. "So we should probably let her up, if for nothing else than to find out how."

Tony wiped his mouth and sighed. "Yeah, I suppose. Fri, let her up."

It only took a minute for the orders to be relayed, and another two for the elevator to make the ride up to their floor. But none of them were prepared for the whirlwind of pain and fury that was the May Parker that stepped off the elevator.

Tony stood up and headed to the elevator when he heard it ding, ready to play the ever gallant host. "Mrs. Parker, I-"

He didn't even get to finish. May marched right up to him, poking him in the chest with a heated look. "Where is my nephew, Mr. Stark?"

Tony froze, unable to contain his surprise. All he managed to say was, "Pardon?"

"Pardon? Is that really all you have to say for yourself?" May crossed her arms. In truth, she looked a mess. Peter knew her well enough to be able to see, even from a distance, that she was tired, probably having come off her normal double shift at the hospital, judging by the scrubs and the fact she appeared to be running off pure steam of her anger and what was probably copious amounts of coffee. Her hair was tied messily back in what had probably been a neat bun at the beginning of her shift but sixteen hours later was now just barely being held together. She clearly hadn't even stopped to change or fix herself up at all before coming here.

"Mrs. Parker, if you could just calm down, we could get you something to drink and maybe talk-" It was Steve who tried this time, but she didn't even tear her eyes off Tony.

"Oh, excuse me. Let me just calm down so we can have a rational conversation, yeah? Like that shouldn't have been the first thing that happened here. Do you have any idea what this is like, Stark? First I get a phone call that my husband's brother and his wife have been arrested and I have to come down to the station, again, to be interviewed and give a statement. So I miss the beginning of my shift to go down and get borderline interrogated to find out if I had anything to do with this — because apparently they were arrested for treason and illegal genetic experimentation, among a whole list of charges — and when I finally get a chance to put a word in, I ask where my nephew is, and no one has an answer for me. They hadn't even looked for him at all.

"So then I have to file a missing person's report for him because no one has any clue where he is and I'm his last living relative, and they're supposed to call me if they hear anything. So I do my due diligence and call all his friends, most of which inform me that no, they haven't heard from him, and he hasn't been to school in over two weeks. All except for Ned, who admits to me that he's talked to him before realizing he's missing and then hangs up on me when I ask him if he knows anything else. So I'm just left to worry and wait, until all of a sudden they inform me that they've found out where he is and that I need to go in to the office to talk as soon as I get off work.

"That was last night. So I go in this morning as soon as I get off shift, and what do I discover? That my rights to guardianship as his last living relative and a qualified caretaker are being contested by none other than Tony Stark, who they have absolutely no explanation for how or why he would know or how he ended up here, but somehow know that he is, after your lawyers filed for guardianship of him a few days ago."

Dead silence. Even Peter was stunned. Not only because he hadn't even considered the impact all of this would have on May, selfish as that sounded, but because he'd never expected her to even try to go after his guardianship. She was working full time, and she'd just lost Ben not even a year ago, and he'd only seen her a couple of times since then. She had a lot on her plate, and she wasn't even actually related to him except by marriage — his father was Ben's brother. So why would she want to take him on, especially with everything else she already had to deal with?

May just looked at Tony, arms crossed defensively as she stared him down. "Look, I don't know how you got him or what it is you want from him. But whatever it is, I have no problem with taking you to court and proving you unfit, and no amount of money you throw out can overrule that, even if it does get you out of whatever charges I'm sure I could get you brought up on. And believe you me, I've got a whole list written up I could push if you really want to fight me — kidnapping, for starters. But I'll give you a chance and ask you again. Where is my nephew?"

"I'm right here, May." Peter had heard enough. He felt bad for both of them — May for everything she'd gone through, and Tony for having to be on the receiving end of her anger because of it, despite it being pretty valid on both sides. He'd never seen May so angry. He could only think of one time she'd come close, and Ben had been there to calm her down. And it had worked, he remembered Ben telling him, because she'd been more upset than truly angry, and was just using anger to cover the emotions she didn't want to show.

But Ben wasn't here now. And Peter was no expert.

Still, he limped his way out into the foyer, in plain view of them both. Tony turned to face him, still looking shell-shocked but not hesitating to grab his shoulder immediately to steady him as May lunged toward him and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug. "Peter!"

Were it not for his super strength and his enhanced healing, he probably would have crumpled to the floor between the force with which she slammed into him and how tightly she embraced him. The pain wasn't as extreme as it would have been even a few days ago, but it still hurt. He winced as he hugged her back with his good arm. "Hey, May."

"Peter, Jesus." May released him after a long minute, taking him by the shoulders and looking him over. "I was so worried about you. What happened to you?" When their eyes met, hers were suddenly glistening with tears, and the sight hit him like a punch in the gut.

"I…" Peter hesitated, looking at Tony. The words rang in his ears — kidnapping, for starters. "A lot, May. It's a really long story, but Mr. Stark helped me, alright? You don't have to press charges on him."

May nodded, looking down and wiping her eyes. "No, I just…" Now that she'd seen him and he was obviously safe, if not exactly in one piece, all the anger seemed to just melt out of her. She just looked sad and exhausted. "I know. I just was so worried."

"I understand," Tony told her, putting a hand carefully on her shoulder. "No hard feelings. I'm sorry that I put you through all that. Would you like to come sit down and have some coffee? We should certainly talk, though it doesn't have to be now if you're not feeling up to it."

May shook her head. "No, now is… now is good. And I'd love some coffee, if you don't mind."

"Of course." Tony looked at Peter. "Why don't we go upstairs and talk, yeah? It's almost time for your meds again anyway, and I think this is a conversation best had in privacy." He looked back at the Avengers at the table. "Go ahead and head up and get settled down. You're not supposed to be on your feet too long anyway. I'll be up in a minute."

Peter nodded. "Okay." He watched Tony head back into the kitchen and then looked at May. "Come on, May. I'll show you where I've been staying, and we'll get you some coffee… did you eat yet?" he asked as they headed to the elevator.

May rubbed her forehead. "No. I haven't eaten in…" She had to stop and think about it, consulting the watch on her wrist. "Hours," she finally finished. "Lunch break on my first shift."

"Well that's unhealthy. Mr. Stark isn't a fantastic cook, but he won't poison us, if you want something to eat."

"It sounds like I'm going to be here a while, so may as well…"