**What? Bumble isn't dead and actually updating? I know I've been hella inactive, I have a ton going on rn and just can't sit down and write like I used to. But I'm back! This one is my own idea, imagine Peter is 27/28-ish. Enjoy!**

"Help," a little voice cried. Peter crept down the hall, zip zagging over the walls and ceiling to stay hidden in the shadows. The hall was abandoned, now, but you could never be sure with HYDRA.

Peter rounded the last corner, looking for the voice he kept hearing. There, at the end of the hall, Peter heard it again.

"Help, please!"

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Peter paced in the med bay, wringing his hands. His untouched dinner, courtesy of Pepper, was sitting on the waiting room coffee table. He was just too worried to eat.

3 hours. That's how long he'd been sitting there, waiting to know how the little girl was.

Sure, he didn't know her, but he did know that HYDRA was ruthless, and that little girl had probably been through a lot. When Peter had gotten her out of that dirty cell, she'd clung to his neck, not even letting go when they got back onto the Quinjet. It was a struggle to even get her to let Bruce take a look, but eventually, with a lot of promises to stay right outside from Peter, she'd agreed to get checked out.

"Peter?" Bruce popped his head in. "We're all done and she's asking for you."

Peter rushed towards his uncle, eager to know how the toddler was doing. "How is she?"

"She was very weak, with signs of malnutrition and fatigue," Bruce started. "We don't know a ton about her, but from what she remembers, her parents were killed by HYDRA operatives and she was taken for biological testing."

Peter's face contorted with disgust and anger, but Bruce hurriedly corrected himself. "She was basically a blood bank, Peter, they didn't do anything to her. They just took blood when they needed it, stuff like that. She doesn't have powers."

Peter sighed in relief. "Can I see her?"

"Sure," Bruce said, leading his nephew down the hall. "She's in there."

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A whole month had gone by, but Nina wasn't improving much. Nina was the little girl, of course. She actually didn't know her own name, and the team hadn't had much success in finding her records, so Peter got one of those baby naming books from the used book store down the street and helped the toddler pick out something she liked.

Nina meant little one or fire, and that seemed to fit the girl pretty well.

After some tests, and pure guesswork, they thought she might be about 3 or 4, but not much older.

Things had been going pretty smooth having Nina in the tower, but there were some challenges. For one, she refused to talk to anyone besides Bruce and Peter unless it was absolutely necessary. She wouldn't even let Dr. Cho check her out.

That, and the fact that she slept in Peter's room every night, was really starting to cause problems.

Pepper and Tony had both talked to Peter about it. If she kept this up, she'd have a harder time adjusting to an orphanage, and that would be an even bigger problem. Peter hated to admit it, but he winced whenever he heard that word. Orphanage. It sounded so cold.

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"Peter," MJ gasped when she walked into the office. "You look terrible."

"Thank you," the brunet said, taking a sip from his coffee. "And how was your weekend?"

"Fine, thanks for asking. Now back to you."

"Dude," Ned said cautiously. "Don't you think you might be working just a bit too hard?"

"No," Peter drawled. "I think I have a lot of projects to have done by the end of the week."

MJ shot Ned a look. "I think you need sleep, loser," she joked, knocking her friend's shoulder.

"I slept last night."

Ned raised an eyebrow. "How long? A couple hours? When we say sleep, we mean, like, 6 hours at least."

Peter sighed. "She's still refusing to sleep in her room."

"Who, Nina?"

Peter just nodded, taking another sip of his coffee. He didn't mind having Nina stay in his room, really, but there were times when it was a major issue. Like when he had 3 projects to finish by the end of the week and a toddler who can't sleep on her own. 

"Did you try the monster spray trick I used on my little brother?" MJ asked.

"We've tried nightlights, monster spray, lullabies, teddy bears." Peter pulled a free hand down his face. "She won't even close her eyes if Pepper or one of the others is with her..."

The young man trailed off, taking another sip from his coffee.

"3 year olds are tricky," Ned mumbled, trying to comfort his friend. "She'll grow out of this, man, you just have to let her get used to the Tower."

"It's been a month, dude."

"What about adopting her out?" MJ suggested with a shrug.

Peter bristled slightly, and the other 2 noticed right away, even if it was a brief moment. "No, I think that'll cause more issues," Peter said quickly. "She was in a HYDRA base, after all, and I can't just dump her on someone else, in a place she doesn't know, with people she doesn't know."

Ned and MJ shot each other a pointed look, but Peter was too absorbed in swirling his coffee around to notice.

"You could just lock your door?" MJ said, changing the subject.

"I can't do that to her," Peter whined. "She's got these puppy eyes I just can't say no to."

MJ raised her eyebrow and shot Ned a look. "Peter, you shouldn't get attached."

Peter looked at his two friends, each one clearly concerned about the situation. He felt bad about it, but secretly, he didn't want Nina to go. In some ways, he was attached. Was that such a bad thing? "It's fine, guys, I'll figure something out. I have a board meeting, I'll see you guys later."

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Peter put his bag down on the chair by his desk and put his StarkPad down.

The young man grabbed a folder off his desk labeled "Exp. 467" and headed out to the kitchen in the penthouse, where Steve was making dinner. He plopped himself down at the dining table and opened the file, scanning over the information quickly and marking a few areas for what he needed to revise later.

"No work at the table," Pepper said, coming out from the elevator and shooting Peter a look.

"Fine," Peter grumbled, pushing the file to the other side of the table.

Pepper sighed, like she was preparing for something, then lowered herself into the seat across fro the young man. "Peter."

"Pepper," the brunet countered.

"We need to talk about Nina. She needs a home, somewhere permanent. She can't keep staying here."

Peter started panicking, but kept it under control. "She's still healing."

"Bruce said she's fine to go."

Peter racked his brains for something to say, but found his mouth suddenly dry.

"I've already found a few places that could take her, I thought you might want to make the-"

The elevator dinged, cutting Pepper off. The patter of little feet caused Peter to slide out of his chair and open his arms just as Nina came around the corner, jumping up into Peter's arms and wrapping her arms around his neck. "You didn' come see me."

"I had to work," Peter said patiently. "And then I had meetings."

"You always haveta work."

"I don't always."

The little girl scrunched up her face. "You seem to haveta work a wot."

Peter laughed and opened his arms, letting the little girl out of the hug. "You should really be getting on jammies, Nina, why don't you head down the hall to your room and get changed?"

The little girl marched off dutifully, and Peter stood up. He didn't know what to do, but he knew the only way he was leaving the kitchen was to take the information Pepper had and promise to look it over.

"I'll look at them," Peter said, reaching for the paperwork on the orphanages Pepper had. "We'll talk about this later, 'kay?"

Pepper nodded, pretending not to notice the water in the young man's eyes. It was for the best, wasn't it? It wasn't like Pepper wanted to send Nina away either, but she already had a handful of a daughter.

Peter fell onto his bed with a deep sigh, tears finally squeezing out the corners of his eyes. He was so lost for a moment, he didn't hear his door open.

"Why are you sad?" Nina pulled herself up onto the bed, crawling over to where Peter was.

Peter quickly wiped his eyes and sniffled. "I'm not sad."

"You look sad."

There was something about the way Nina cocked her head to the side that made Peter smile, but it also made him want to cry again. "Nina, you deserve a family that loves you. A mommy and a daddy. To find you that, though, you have to go away."

The little girl furrowed her brow. "I thought I was staying here, with you."

"I want you to," Peter admitted slowly. "But I have work, and Pepper and Tony want to help you find someone who doesn't work so much."

"What if you don' work as much?"

Peter felt his heart clench, but this was how kids were, right? They asked the hard questions.

"I have to work, hun. Pepper and Tony are counting on me to run this whole building, and I can't let them down."

Nina seemed to think about this for a moment before rolling over and pulling on the blankets. "I want to stay with you, but if I can't, I guess a new family would be okay. But only if you still come to visit me. If you don't, I'll never forgive you."

Peter swore he felt the world spin when she said that. The brunet had to do something, and suddenly, it was the easiest decision in the world. He pulled his phone off his desk and quickly typed out a text.

Meet me in the office in 10, we have a legal emergency.

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Peter raced down the hall, his normally slicked hair and pressed suit messed and wrinkled. He pushed past people, barely slowing down to say sorry before rushing off again.

He threw open the door to the little office at the end, where his friend from school, Cindy, worked. "Can we do it?"

"Paperwork is on it's way down to the court office now."

Peter pumped his fist in the air. "This is a sure thing, right? She's gonna be up in a couple hours, I want to tell her."

Cindy nodded, and Peter pumped his fist again, this time with a whoop.

Racing back down the hall, he bounced on the balls of his feet waiting for the elevator. When it finally opened, he jumped inside, nearly knocking Ned out.

"Pete? It's 5 am, why are you up?"

"I've been up all night, Cindy and I were working on something."

"Cindy? The lawyer?" Ned connected the dots quickly. "You didn't."

"I did. Paperwork is off to the court house."

Ned pretended to look disappointed, but a little smile betrayed him, and he broke into a grin. "That's great, dude, I'm so happy for you!"

Peter laughed. "Thank you! Say, tell MJ. Come up for dinner tonight."

Ned nodded just as the elevator opened again. He watched his friend bounce down the hall with all the energy and pep he'd had before this whole ordeal.

It didn't take long for everything to be finalized. Actually, he got the confirmation that everything was signed by noon that day, and even though a legal name change would take a couple weeks, he had a fancy certificate drawn up downstairs and framed.

So by 6 o'clock, when the whole Avengers team, plus Ned and MJ, were seated around the table, Peter brought the framed certificate out and hung it over the fireplace, Nina rested on his hip.

"Everyone," he said with a smile. "I'd like you to meet Nina Parker, who as of today, is my adopted daughter."