(FT) Detection
Peter crawls through the window FRIDAY opened for him and he drops down to the ground as his nanotech suit recedes back into its housing bracelet. The family floor was surprisingly quiet, and a quick look around confirmed that everyone was either out, in their own rooms, or on their own floors. Which was a rare occurrence. Someone was always doing something or other in the penthouse.
He decides to make himself a couple of sandwiches and raids the fridge to pull out the fixings and put them on the counter, and as he finishes making the first sandwich, the elevator door open and Tony steps off. Peter grumbles when his father walks over and snags the sandwich, and then opens the cabinet to grab a glass to get himself some water.
"You're welcome."
"Thanks for the sandwich Underoos." Tony says after taking a bite and Peter scrunches his nose.
"Okay, first of all, gross. You tell us not to talk with our mouths full so you should practice what you preach. Two, I'm twenty. Don't call me Underoos."
Tony raises an eyebrow at him. "Granted, I shouldn't be talking with my mouth full, but you also have a one year old that has puked on you multiple times so this shouldn't bother you...and I'll call you whatever I want. I'm your dad."
Peter ignores him and finishes making both sandwiches before biting into one. "Where is everybody?"
"He asks with a mouthful of food." Tony snarks and Peter grins. "Your brother is still in class, Diana is at school, and Mom took Cassie, Valerie, and Emma to the store."
"Please don't say they went to-"
"Target." Tony confirms and the younger groans. "They left shortly after you did for patrol."
"That doesn't mean anything. They can be there all day."
"At the most they'll be there until the Diana is out, which is…" Tony looks at his phone. "Five minutes ago."
Not even a moment later, a portal opens in the kitchen and Stephen steps through with the girls directly behind him. He and Cassie set some bags on the counter as Peter polishes off his first sandwich, and Diana retreats to the living room to do her homework. Valerie on the other hand, remains next to Stephen's leg, quietly holding the teddy bear that the sorcerer bought for Peter when he was turned into a baby for the third time. It was big, but it was also small enough that Valerie could still easily walk around with it. At least when she wasn't glued to someone's leg. Emma was more outgoing than her three year old aunt.
That was a weird thought. Peter's youngest sister and his daughter were close in age.
The arachnid shakes the thought away and looks through the bags, and huffs when Cassie slaps his hand away and holds Emma out to him.
"Hold her and finish your lunch."
"Did you buy the whole store?" He half seriously wonders as he takes Emma from Cassie and holds her in one arm so he can eat with his free hand.
"Of course not. We just restocked on some things we were low on." She responds and moves a few things into a different bag.
"Shirts?"
"They're for Quill." Stephen answers.
"Why?" Peter holds his sandwich out of Emma's reach after taking a bite.
Cassie rolls her eyes. "Because he keeps losing shirts!"
"I'm pretty sure that's Scott's fault."
"I try not to think about it."
Peter sniggers and finishes his second sandwich just as his daughter requests juice, and after getting her to compromise for milk, he pours some in a sippy cup for her. There was a second request for juice after Emma was happily drinking her milk, but it came from Valerie so Peter grabs a juice pouch from the fridge and hands it to his father. Stephen and Cassie were still busy sorting what they had bought at the store, so Tony had to help Valerie with her juice.
"Go watch tv for a little bit, topolina." Tony mutters softly as he brushes Valerie's hair back with his hand.
The little girl nods and mumbles a quiet 'thank you' before wandering off to the living room. Peter follows her so he can put Emma in the playpen, and the baby lays down as she drinks her milk and turns her attention to the tv. The fact that she was willingly laying down meant that she was likely to take a nap and thankfully not tired enough to fight it. Peter was glad for that. He already spent a few hours apprehending criminals and didn't want to fight his daughter to take a nap.
"Hey tiger, think fast." Cassie tosses a bag of Doritos at him and he opens it with a grin after he catches it. "Don't eat the whole thing at once."
"Maybe you shouldn't give me the entire bag then." He holds the bag out towards her. "Want some?"
"Urgh. No." Cassie blanches and pushes aside the bags that are for her parents. "Juice sounds good though."
Peter tilts his head. "You sick babe? You love Doritos almost as much as I do."
Cassie waves her hand flippantly in his direction. "A little. I should be fine tomorrow since I caught it early."
Stephen's hand was on her forehead before Cassie even finishes her sentence and the sorcerer frowns. "You don't have a fever. What are your symptoms?"
Tony watches the exchange curiously as Cassie lists off her symptoms to the doctor. "Mama Bear's sixth sense didn't work?"
Peter shrugs as he pops a couple of chips into his mouth, and his chewing slows to a stop when his spider senses pick up an odd sound. The sound wasn't odd per say...but the circumstances were. He looks around the kitchen and counts four people (including himself), and then takes the three girls in the living room into account. Seven people...and he waited a few moments to see if anybody would come off the elevator (or in the rare chance the stairwell), but no one did. His spider senses weren't detecting any danger either.
So why could he hear eight heartbeats?
He puts the bag of chips into the counter and closes his eyes as he tunes into that eighth heartbeat. Maybe it was Tibbs or Athena? No. Their heartbeats were faster and the wolf was probably still with another team member and unaware that Stephen was home. Tibbs was probably wandering throughout the tower...so where the hell…?
Peter's eyes snap open and he stares at Cassie. He knew exactly where that heartbeat was coming from and it had him freezing. His breaths started coming a little faster as he tried to process what he discovered, and it was obvious enough to alert his parents and Cassie. Tony quickly leads him to one of the chairs at the table before he collapses, and helps him get his breathing under control before asking about his sudden panic attack.
"Bambino, what's wrong?"
Then the danger sense went off just before Quill threw the door to the stairway open and storms toward Peter with his galaxy eyes glowing. The arachnid jumps out of his seat and up to the ceiling on reflex, and the celestial wills some of his light into his hand just before Tony stands between them with his hands held out.
"What the hell is going on?!" The billionaire demands and Quill growls.
"He couldn't wait until after they tied the knot-"
"I literally just found out and we're engaged!" Peter argues and Tony and Cassie look between them in confusion.
"What's going on?" She asks.
Stephen sighs heavily. "I think I know." He looks at Peter. "You can hear it?" Peter nods and the sorcerer turns to Quill. "And I'm assuming you can see it?" Another nod and Stephen looks at Cassie. "What did you say was your main symptom?"
"Umm...I've been nauseous and-" Her eyes widen in realization before she turns to look at Quill with a glare. "Papa! If you're making up for not being able to beat up Peter for the first time, then knock it off! I already have a baby! A second one isn't much of a difference!"
Tony stares at Cassie just as Emma starts to cry from being so rudely awakened, and Cassie orders Quill to calm down and go take care of her. The god dismisses his light and his galaxy eyes with a heavy sigh before he disappears into the living room, and Peter cautiously hangs down from the ceiling by his fingertips. Once he makes sure that Quill isn't going to come back for him, he releases his grip on the ceiling and lands on his feet next to Tony who folds his arms.
"You couldn't say something?"
"I didn't have the chance." Peter mutters.
The elevator doors open and Scott rushes off and looks around wildly until he finds Quill in the living room and he sputters.
"What the hell was that all about?! You ran off in the middle of a conversation with no warning!"
"Talk to your future son-in-law!" Quill growls out and Peter groans when Scott looks at him.
"Please don't break my ribs again."
The thief looks at him with utter confusion and Peter watches as comprehension eventually creeps into his eyes. Scott inhales deeply and then marches into the living room where he promptly smacks the back of Quill's head in annoyance.
"You got bent out of shape because Cassie is pregnant again?"
"Ow, babe--"
"Don't 'babe' me! The first time is one thing but this is the second and they're engaged. Papa Bear needs to simmer down!" Scott leaves the living room and joins the others in the kitchen, where they had been stifling their laughter. "Do you have any juice?"
Stephen smiles and points to the fridge, and the thief helps himself as Peter and Cassie go into the living room to check on Quill and Emma. After the verbal lashing he got from Scott, he made himself comfortable on the couch and laid Emma on his chest, and Valerie was currently crawling onto the couch. She wiggles into Quill's side just before he throws a blanket over them, and he closes his eyes with the intent to take a nap with the girls. The other reason was because he had yet to master the purring noise he made when he slept while he was awake, and his snoring always soothed the girls.
"You're not gonna take a nap with Quill?" Peter asks Diana as she puts her homework folder into her backpack.
"I'm too old for naps."
Cassie snorts. "You'll regret those words when you get older."
"Daddy said that too." Dia looks up at Cassie. "Can we make brownies?"
"If Mom says it's okay then absolutely. Papa is taking care of Emma so I'm all yours right now." Cassie says with a smile and Peter gawks when they head out of the living room.
"What am I? Chopped liver?!" He exclaims and Cassie laughs.
The elevator opens again and Harley steps onto the floor tossing his keys up and down, and he stops and looks around when he notices the still fading tension in the air.
"Did I miss something?" He asks.
"Not really." Peter sighs and greets his brother with their handshake. "Didn't you have a test today?"
"Nailed it." Harley claims with a grin. "I still feel like I just missed something."
"Quill tried to kill me."
Harley frowns. "Why?"
Peter jumps when Quill's purring finally starts, and he watches as Valerie and Emma relax against him. It would only take a few more minutes for them to fall asleep, and as long as Quill slept, they would too.
"Cassie and I are having another baby."
"Dude...keep it in your pants." Harley chuckles when Peter shoves him. "Does Scott know?"
"I already smacked Quill for being overdramatic." The thief calls from the kitchen, and Harley and Peter walk in and watch Cassie and Diana grab stuff to make brownies as Stephen puts away Peter's sandwich mess.
"Thanks Mom." Peter mumbles a little sheepishly.
He was was normally good about putting things back when he was finished, but after the whole discovering an extra heartbeat and then being threatened by a god, he was a little frazzled. He and Harley decided to do their college assignments at the table while Cassie and Diana made brownies, and Scott retreated to the living room to watch tv quietly. Quill continued to snore for the next hour until Peter asked Scott to wake him up so Emma wouldn't sleep too long, and it didn't take very long for the younger girls to wake up from their naps after that. Peter and Cassie didn't have to tend to their daughter immediately since Scott and Quill were happy to play with her and Valerie, and that was another load of help. It made it so Peter could finish a good amount of his homework and Cassie could finish helping Diana make brownies. Tony and Stephen were content to curl up on one of the other couches where they either read or answered emails for SI. At least until Athena finally made it back up to the family floor and noticed Stephen was home. She didn't waste any time running over to him, jumping on the couch, and then laying down with her head in his lap.
"Brownies are ready if you want them warm!" Cassie calls to the ones in the living room, and then carries a couple over to the table for Peter and Harley.
"Thanks babe." Peter tears off a piece of brownie and throws it into his mouth, but just before he starts back on his homework, he freezes.
"What's wrong?" Harley asks.
Peter covers his mouth and shoves past Cassie once he gets up, and she and Harley watch as he races up the stairs to his room. Harley furrows his brows as he takes a bite of the brownie curiously and he looks at his future sister-in-law.
"Cass, there's peppermint in the brownies."
"What?!"
She tries a piece of Peter's abandoned brownie and curses as she rushes over to the counter and looks at one of the ingredients she and Diana used. Sure enough, what they thought was vanilla extract was actually peppermint extract, and she throws it in the garbage.
"Why is that even up here?!"
"It must have been grabbed by accident. He's going to be sick for the rest of the day." Harley says.
"I can't believe I poisoned my fiance." Cassie groans and smacks her forehead.
"Just say the word and I'll make them disappear." Quill says when he walks into the kitchen.
"Papa, you are not eating the entire pan of brownies." Cassie smacks his hands.
"I won't! I'll put one aside for your dad."
"Ugh."
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