Air I Breathe

Chapter 2

Chapter 2
Sunday, December 22

May hasn't slept since Tony called her on Friday afternoon. She's used to the night shift and being awake for longer than should be humanly possible, but it's different when it's her Peter that's thousands of miles away and sick enough to need surgery.

She's had more than enough time in an airport, and then a hotel room, to worry. She's been getting hourly updates from Tony, who she's convinced is a saint because from the sound of it, he hasn't left Peter's bedside since he picked him up from school two days ago. She trusts Tony and Pepper, knows they're the only reason she's able to travel for her new job. May had been waiting to take an administrative position for a global nursing company for years, but Peter's spider bite, and everything that came with it, had changed everything.

The sneaking out. The lying. The Snap. The battles and overall danger of being an Avenger as a teenager. All of these things had been enough to make her question whether Peter was ready for her to be away so often, but in the end, it was Peter's asthma attacks that had kept her from taking the position.

Mostly, it was their tendency to happen at night, coupled with the fact that Peter wouldn't talk to her about how he was feeling until he was wheezing in her bedroom doorway at 3 in the morning. Over fifteen years' experience as an emergency room nurse, and May couldn't help but feel absolutely shaken by the sight of Peter struggling for breath.

And then Tony had stepped in and assured her that he'd be happy to look after Peter when she was away, had the technology to keep an eye on him 24/7 and get his attacks under control. It hadn't been an easy decision, nor a quick one, but in the end, May knew it was the right choice. It had to be, because Peter.

Three cancelled flights, two nights in two different hotel rooms, and finally, finally, she's landed in New York. Tony's sent a car for her despite her insistence that the AirTrain and subway would suffice, and she's caved because she hasn't slept, needs to see how Peter is with her own eyes before she lets herself get any ounce of sleep.

Dr. Grastin called her personally to give her a general update full of medical terms and medication dosages, but it's been Tony's text updates that kept her from falling apart completely. You raised quite the tough cookie, May and I've never seen this kid sleep so much in my life. Didn't think this was even possible. The humor and care in his messages brought her to tears more than once, and she'd had to explain to more than one passenger and flight attendant that she was fine, that her baby was sick and she just wanted to be home with him as soon as she could.

She's been let in by Happy, the driver who picked her up at the airport, and is advised to ask that the elevator take her up to the residence. May hasn't realized just how apparent her sleep deprivation truly is until she sees herself reflected in the elevator panels. By the time she's whisked up to the correct floor, it's too late for her to fuss over her hair or wrinkled clothes, and as she steps out and walks quietly toward Tony and Pepper's voices, she realizes, upon seeing them, that they, too, are just as disheveled and exhausted. Pepper, whose arms are crossed against her chest, has her blonde hair in a messy bun. Tony's beard is unshaved, the front of his shirt rumpled. She watches quietly from afar, nervous to interrupt what sounds like an argument. She worries for a moment that something's happened with Peter, but then she hears Pepper say, "You want to adopt Peter." It doesn't come out as a question, but a statement, and May's first instinct is to pounce. Adopt Peter? She's suddenly not so sure what, exactly, their intentions are, what they've been, and she's shaking her head, can feel tears stinging her tired eyes.

"I didn't say adopt, did I? I said guardianship. Do you know how many laws we've probably broken in the last three days, Pepper? If Peter's school had sent him to the hospital, we'd never have been allowed past the emergency room doors. We don't have legal custody over Peter, yet because we brought him here to be treated, we've been able to make all of the decisions while May's been away," Tony rationalizes, and May feels her defensive walls fall. She's not angry that Tony and Pepper have been making the decisions, has tried to keep the imaginative scenarios of Peter going to a conventional hospital out of her mind because she shudders to think of how they'd handle his unconventional genetics and chemistry. She hates to think that her exhaustion has sent her thoughts spinning toward the negative once again, that she's doubted the goodness of the two people who have obviously been putting Peter before themselves while she's been away. "If something like this were to happen again-"