~Broken Family~

Names and Pictures

"Harley?"

Tony's voice rang through his sluggish mind. He groaned, lifting a heavy hand to rub at his eyes.

"Tony?" he asked groggily. "What time is it?"

"Ten-thirty. It's been about two hours."

Harley groaned.

"Can I get you something to eat?" Tony fretted, rubbing comforting circles onto Harley's hand. "Cafeteria or vending machine?"

"I can't eat much, 'member?" he slurred. "On'y wike... ssaltines 'n stuff."

"Right..." He lowered his voice and murmured to the nurse. "Yeah, I only understood half of that."

"I'll be back in a jiffy," the nurse said with a smile, handing Harley a blue ice pop. He grabbed at it with clumsy fingers, wiping the drool that had dribbled down sometime between when he went under and when he woke up. The ice pop felt good against his sore throat.

The last month had flown by. Harley had had two more surgeries--this was his fifth. Hopefully it would be the last one. The temporary metal parts in his leg were out now, and all of his bumps and bruises had healed, even the nasty one that'd been just below his rib cage. The doctors said his leg was "on the mend--but not completely back to normal."

He knew it never would be---they'd told him time and time again. It was just taking awhile to sink in.

It was now June, which meant he had another two months to be walking before school started again. Seemed like an impossible goal, which was why he was going to strive to achieve it even harder.

Most people had accepted their loved ones weren't returning. A monument had been opened up yesterday called the Wall of the Vanished--Harley had heard that other states had been doing the same thing, as a sort of community project.

In a few short days, they were having a "ceremony" for Peter and Morgan.

Everyone knew what it really was. No one had to say the word.

The remaining family members and Avengers would be attending. It sounded strange, but Harley didn't think much of his family back in Tennessee at first. Tony had told him that his mother had been spared of the Snap, but Harley had pretended not to care. Inside, he didn't know what to feel. He was happy that his birth mother hadn't been killed, but...it wasn't like it made a difference anyway. She never talked to him. She didn't even know he had been adopted by Tony Stark.

Tony had arranged for Peter's name to be listed on the memorial as Peter Parker-Stark, even though his legal name was still Peter Parker, so that he could be next to Morgan. The things you could do when you were Tony Stark---override alphabetical order.

A soft knock sounded on the door and Pepper came in. She smiled in relief when she saw Harley awake in the bed, closing the door behind her with her foot and placing a box on a table across the room.

"What's that?" Tony asked as Pepper kissed the top of Harley's head. She went back to the box, eyes glued to the contents as she shifted it around.

"Oh, just---just some stuff for--for the ceremony."

Harley saw his Harley jacket draped across the top of the box, along with some picture frames. In one, he caught sight of Morgan's head, Peter's arm, his own hair, and half of the Disney castle in the background.

"You gonna be okay?" Tony asked quietly, giving her shoulders a comforting squeeze. She shook her head silently, sobs long learned to be stifled.

***