Saving Grace

Forty Five

In the car, Grace gets a text from an unknown number: 'It's okay :).'

Peter.

She bites her lip, wondering what to say in reply. She can't think of anything, so she goes ahead and adds him as a contact.

'Parker,' she types. Then, she replaces it with, 'Peter.' She frowns and erases it, typing, 'Parker,' again. Then, she adds a red heart emoji, but second guesses that too.

A different colored heart isn't the same as a red heart, is it? Like the purple one, for example. But the red is like... a thing, right? The only reason she used that one was because... he's Spider-Man. But if her dad saw it for whatever reason, he certainly wouldn't take it that way.

He probably wouldn't like her having Peter's number at all, but it's still better to be on the safe side. She changes it to a blue heart.

Finally, she simply texts him, 'I'll keep you posted,' then puts her phone down. She sighs quietly.

Truth be told, when she first saw him, her first thought was of how cute he was — actually, no, her first thought was, Oh, my gosh, it's Spider-Man, but her second thought was of how cute he was.

He just walked in, this sorta tall, adorable, awkward boy. His jacket was almost too big for him, and his hair was neatly pushed back out of his face. And, then, when he started talking...

His voice was a little high, in a cute way, and he didn't know what to say, so he just kept stuttering and trying to act casual. It was adorable.

And then the sympathy on his face, the sincereness with which he agreed to help her. She was so nervous about telling him everything and asking him in the first place, but he understood. He'd only just met her, but she could tell that he cared.

She just has to believe that her plan will work, as underdeveloped as it feels.

~~~~

Soon after that, Clint helps Wanda escape from the compound, which means Cap will have two more people on his side. Grace texts Peter about it.

Meanwhile, Tony is making a new suit for Peter in his lab and talking on the phone to Happy, who's finally back. He's going to take Peter to Berlin.

"Am I going with Happy too?" Grace asks after Tony tells her.

He shakes his head. "No. I want to keep you with me." But then he stops and looks up at her, cautiously adding, "If that's okay with you..."

She knows saying yes would prevent her from talking with Peter in person again — about the plan, of course — but her father is just so hopeful that she has to say yes. He wants to know for sure that she isn't mad at him anymore, and nothing can be put above that. She smiles. "Yeah, that's okay."

"You know, you don't have to go at all if you don't want to," he continues. "I mean, it is kinda crazy I'm even taking you to this fight, but... well, I figured you would convince me to take you anyway, and you going could really help us, but-"

"Dad," she interrupts. "I want to go."

He nods, looking down. "Yeah, okay."

She discreetly grabs two ear pieces and leaves him to work on the suit, worried by his state of mind. He's so stressed — it's obvious — and he feels guilty for driving Pepper away and the whole fight that's broken out, even if the latter wasn't entirely his fault. He just wants to keep people safe, which Grace saw on further reflection. It's why he built Ultron — and his suits. But none of it worked out the way he wanted it to, and he had to fix it.