A Different Skin

Peter had long since stopped crying and was listening to her. Her voice soothed him and it was calm and familiar. He thought about what she had said about their children. And them having a girl named May. It made his heart heal though it was only a little bit. He had jumped right back into it all without giving himself a moment to grieve and he wondered if that had been his mistake.

“Do...do you really mean that? About naming our girl may?” he asked. When she said she did she heard him getting up. He unlocked the door and when he opened it he flung his arms around her. “I miss her so damn much Serena.” he said trying to hold back more tears.

After they lounged for a while on the recliner together Peter heard her stomach grumble and decided to go get them something to eat. She opted for Chinese again and it would take him a good 20 minutes to get there and back. Plenty of time to get his suit sampled at least. However as she stepped out of his room and headed with it toward the Lab Steve saw her and wanted to talk to her about watching William. He noticed the suit and it struck him as odd that she had it.

“Oh, Peter’s new suit. I thought I saw Peter just leave,” he said looking at her and then looking at the suit then her again. He was curious what she was doing and naturally just wanted to know.

Serena knew that it was just going to take time for them both to heal. What had happened had been traumatic for her as well and she knew that she needed to give herself time to grieve that loss as well. When Peter came out they lounged together on the recliner with her in his lap. She told him about the name that she liked if they had a girl, Willow May. Peter's face lit up upon hearing it and she was glad that he liked it.

After Peter left to go get them some Chinese food she got up and picked up the black suit. She wanted to take it to her father and have him look at it with her. She figured he would be in the lab. He spent a majority of his time there. She was walking down the hallway with the suit in hand when she ran into Steve. She saw him looking at the suit curiously.

"I think there is something seriously wrong with this suit. I don't want Peter wearing it again. I'm taking it to my father to have him look at it. Just holding it gives me a bad feeling."

Steve looked at her curiously. “Did you tell Peter about this? I just saw him leave, want me to catch him?” He gestured toward the elevator. He wasn't certain if a suit could give someone a bad vibe but Serena wasn't one for flights of fancy either.

Serena hated being deceitful but she loved Peter and knew she was going to marry him one day and have children with him and she wanted to know he was alright. "No, I didn't tell Peter about this. I'd rather not tell him right now. I don't think he realizes that the suit is affecting him and he's so upset about his aunt. Please...can we keep this between us?"

“Well I won’t say anything Serena but if he finds out you went behind his back like this he might not take it well. I saw him at the Hydra base. He had actually killed a guard I think and seriously injured others. I find it unlikely that it has anything to do with a suit and much more likely that the loss of his Aunt has unbalanced him. You say you are doing this for him and yet he didn’t ask it of you. Are you sure you want to do this?” Steve asked.

“You could just bring it up when he returns and tell him you won't ask him again about it if he lets you take a sample of it,” Steve said.

Serena sighed. She knew Steve was right and she really didn’t want to make Peter more upset than he already was. She ran a hand through her hair and thought about the situation. “Fine, I’ll talk to Peter first, but I’m at least going to get his other suit back from my dad. Maybe when he has that suit he won’t want to wear this one.”

She took the black suit back down to their room and then went to see her father in his lab. She found him there working as usual. “Hey Dad,” she greeted as she walked over. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” When he nodded she sat down next to him. “I don’t like that new black suit if Peter’s. There is something wrong with it. I don’t know where Peter got it from but I get a bad feeling from it. Can you please give Peter back his other suit? I don’t want him wearing this new one anymore.”

Tony was busy doing a test of a new conductive material when he heard his daughter come in. he paused the electrical current and switched off the power. “Sure kiddo,” he said as she stepped closer. When he heard what she said he shook his head. “No, I’m not doing that. Especially considering what happened at the Hydra base. He’s unbalanced and that suit is far to powerful for him how he is. Why are you here asking, if Peter wants it back he should ask, not you,” he said.

Serena was becoming increasingly upset. Why was no one listening to her?! “So you’re just going to continue to let him use this new suit that came from out of nowhere when I’m telling you that something is wrong with it? It’s affecting him and was probably the cause of most of his actions.”

“Well if you want me to ‘test’ it, just bring it here and I’ll ‘test’ it...daughter,” he said stiffly. He didn't understand why she was being short with him at all. “That way we can rule out that anything is wrong with it,” he added as he looked at her confusedly. He didnt understand why she wasnt doing this. She was a scientist, she knows what to do.

Serena was frustrated and didn’t know what to do. “I don’t want to test the suit behind his back. He’s upset enough as it is and he doesn’t want to talk about the suit. I was hoping if you would just give him his other suit back that he would forget about the black one.”

“You do realize how very odd what you just said sounded, don't you? Just wait for him to come back, tell him your concerns and we test it yeah? Because I’m not giving him back his suit Serena,” Tony said, though he didn't sound happy about that. He really liked Peter and seeing him like this was not easy.

Serena just stared at her father for a long time before finally forcing herself to speak. “Do you know how under valued I feel on this team? I’m not some child making this up. I love Peter and I know him better than anyone here, but no one is listening to me.” She pulled off her wrist comm and dropped it on the table. “I’m done. You’ve got your wish. I no longer want to be apart of this team. Take my suit and trash it for all I care.”

She walked out without another word and went back to her room to wait for Peter to get back.

Peter came back with 2 of her favorites and 2 of his. Now that he was an avenger he had money. And money meant when he want to get chinese food, he could get what he wanted to get. He came into their room and set the food down on her desk. “Hungry?” He asked as he looked at her.

Serena had decided not to do anything with the black suit. She put it away back in his drawer. She had hated touching it. She looked over at Peter when he walked back in with the food. She had actually lost her appetite after quitting the team. All she had ever wanted was to be apart of this team but she realized she had been fooling herself to think that she actually was apart of it. She lied to Peter though and nodded and faked a smile.

“Yes, I am.”