Just A Normal Kid

Chapter 39

Two days later, Peter was settled in at the Paediatric Ward in the Stark-Owned hospital a block away from the Tower. Apparently, his back was worse than they had expected, so he was ordered two weeks of complete bedrest. His super-healing did not seem to be working, which Rosie attributed to the severe emotional outbursts he had had recently. 

She told the frustrated teenager, "Wanda has trouble controlling her powers when she's really emotional; something about changes in hormone levels in the brain according to Bruce, so maybe it's the same for you? You've been through a rollercoaster of emotions in the last few days so that must be affecting your powers?"

Rosie had returned home when he had fallen asleep in the afternoon, returning in the evening with a StarkTab to relieve some of his boredom and help him start telling her how he wanted his room to be decorated. There was excited chattering from his room and Rosie curiously peeked in through the glass panel on the door to find a teenage boy sitting beside Peter's bed and telling him all about the things he'd missed in the last week at school.

From what Peter had told her, Rosie assumed the boy was his best friend Ned. The kid was on the bigger side, with an open, honest face and he was smiling as he talked to Peter. Rosie assumed he was part Filipino or something from his colouring and suppressed a snort at what he was excitedly telling Peter when she opened the door.

"-it had 2087 pieces, dude! Nearly two feet tall when finished!" She was well aware of Peter's obsession with Lego and didn't mind it. Apparently, Ned was a bigger enthusiast than Peter.

Poking her head into the room, she asked, "Am I cool enough to join you guys? Or do you want me to come in with all the boring adults?"

"N-not at all, ma'am." Ned stuttered. She handed Peter the StarkTab. "Now will you stop whining that you're bored?"

"Yes ma'am." Turns out, Peter was a cheeky little brat once he had found out she was family. "I won't annoy you any more."

"This side of you makes me wish for the polite little kid who listened to me as if I were God or something." She muttered, flopping down into the other chair in the room.

"Little? You're the last person to talk about height here." Peter immediately countered, a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Tony's going to love this side of you so much." She grumbled, before turning to the other boy in the room. "Sorry for that. You're Ned, right? Peter's guy-in-the-chair?"

"You know?" Ned whispered, looking between the two of them.

"Who do you think made him the suit?" She smirked, "Nice to meet you Ned. I'm Rosie Carter. I was quite impressed by  the way you tried to hack into the hospital records."

Ned turned red. "I-uh-um, Peter's-uh-"

"You were trying to delete their records of his blood work, weren't you?"

"H-how did you know?

"I designed most of the Stark databases and their protections. I know when someone's trying to hack into it."

"She's my boss." Peter added in, fiddling with the StarkTab.

"Boss?" Ned yelped.

"And cousin. I've heard a lot about you, dude. Glad to finally meet you."

"You too ma'am." He gingerly shook his hand.

"Call me Rosie. I only make the people I don't like call me ma'am."

"Who's that?" Peter asked curiously.

"The bigoted idiots who think Pepper's not good enough to run the company or accuse Tony of shirking his responsibilities when he's away on missions with the team."

Ned was frozen in shock. "T-Tony as in Tony Stark? Pepper Potts?" He rounded on Peter. "You have that high of a position that your boss works directly under the CEO and Iron Man?"

Peter shrugged. "I frankly think that the fact that she calls Black Widow Aunt Tasha is much cooler." Times like this was when she was surprised by how good of a liar Peter could be. There were some instances when he could not lie to save his life, but when it came to stuff that mattered, like his alter-ego, her dad or the classified work they did at SI, Peter's bluffing skills were as good as Natasha's.

Ned was looking at Rosie like she was an alien, his mouth agape and expression full of awe. Exactly at that time the door to the room opened and a man and a woman walked in. She said, "Sorry it took so long, Chris couldn't find a parking spot. How are you doing, Peter?"

Rosie's gaze switched to the man and it took her a moment to place him, but Peter's greeting helped. "I'm alright, Mrs. Leeds."

The man-Mr. Leeds-had seen her. His eyes widened and a brief moment of surprise flashed across his features before the corners of his lips twitched. Rosie couldn't help but laugh as she stood up to welcome Ned's parents. "It's a small world after all, Deputy."

"That it is." He agreed, shaking her hand. "My wife, Nicole."

"Nice to meet you ma'am."

"I assume you've met before?" Mrs. Leeds asked, an amused smile on her face.

"Yeah. The last few days have been a trip down memory lane for me."

"How is that?" Mr. Leeds asked as he and his wife sat down.

"Mrs. Lane's Peter's social worker."

"Susan Lane?"

Rosie nodded and Mr. Leeds laughed out loud. His son and Peter were looking quite confused so Rosie explained a little. "I was in pretty much the same position as Peter when I was fourteen, and Mrs. Lane was the social worker handling my case. It's all thanks to your dad, Ned, that I'm sitting here with you today."

"It wasn't anything like that-"

"It was, sir. If you hadn't put all that effort into finding us or arrested him in time or agreed to keep the case secret, I wouldn't be who I am now."

Mrs. Leeds and Ned still looked confused, so Rosie said, "It's a long story... Maybe Peter can tell you while I go and get him some food."

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