TONY'S FUNERAL DIDN'T FEEL REAL as they stood there on the banks of the lake by Tony's cabin. With Peter's arm around her waist and one hand of hers holding Beth's, she felt like she was watching the scene through a third-person perspective. Part of her felt like Tony wasn't really dead, but watching the life leave someone's eyes in front of you changes a person. He was gone and Kaelyn would have to live with that; not that she wanted to. She never wanted to get used to the fact that Tony Stark was dead.

After the ceremony, people began to meander through the cabin, not much conversation happening besides a dull mumble. Aunt May, who had driven up behind them earlier that day, was comforting Peter with a gentle hand on his shoulder. Kaelyn stood off to the side before the woman looked over at her and held out her arm, pulling the teenager into a hug. She wanted to cry, to just let out everything she had been feeling the past few days, but for some reason, she couldn't. She just felt numb.

She pulled away from May for a moment, stepping into the cabin. In the living room, her eyes went straight to the mantle. There was Kaelyn and Peter's prom photo from their junior year, which made the girl smile, knowing that not only had Tony kept it, but put it up on his mantle for everyone to see. Right next to that photo was all three of them. Kaelyn couldn't remember the occasion, but it was a candid shot with the three of them sitting around a table in Stark Tower, containers of Chinese takeout littering the scene as the three of them laughed with each other. It had to have been taken by Pepper, Kaelyn wondered if that had been after a mission. So much had changed since that photo was taken. She and Peter had gone from stopping bank robbers to fighting to save the world. That sort of thing weighed down on a person. Kaelyn knew that girl in the photo no longer existed. She knew she would never be that girl again.

"He would have wanted you or Peter to have that photo," a voice interrupted her train of thought and Kaelyn turned around to see Pepper Potts standing there. "Something to remind you guys of him."

"No, no, you should keep it. Remember your husband," Kaelyn shook her head as the woman walked over to her, but her eyes began to tear up as she spoke those words. "Morgan will want to see all the pictures of her dad she has. Trust me, I thought my parents were dead since I was nine-years-old, you hold onto anything and everything you have of them."

"This whole place will remind her of her father, she even has hologram videos of him for her to watch when she's older. She won't notice one photo missing," Pepper insisted, pulling the photo off of the mantle and pressing the frame into her hands. "I know you kids aren't as close with me as you were Tony, but please, if you guys ever need anything--"

Kaelyn cut her off with a soft smile as she accepted the photo, "Thank you. I just... I was finally starting to see us as a little family. Granted, if we were a family it would definitely be weird with Peter and I dating, but details."

Pepper laughed gently, "He loved you kids so much, he never stopped thinking about you. He said watching you guys go was one of the hardest things. He never... never really got over it. Never forgave himself for getting you guys involved, either."

"It was our fault. Peter and I just chased after a space ship, we never knew what it would get us into. The worst part is I don't even know if we made a difference. I know that's selfish to think like that, but I don't think anything would have changed whether we were there or not. I hate to think that maybe if we hadn't been there, Tony would still--"

"Honey, no," Pepper shook her head, wrapping her arms around the girl tightly, "You did everything you could to keep each other safe. Tony... Tony knew what he had to do and he knew it would kill him. You can't blame yourself for his decisions, Kaelyn. I know the feeling. I blame myself for letting him get involved every time I see his face in Morgan. At the end of the day, he saved us all."

"But we didn't really win, did we?"

The woman shook her head, pulling away from the hug to meet the teenager's eyes, "No, but when you think about it, name one hero that was happy."

For the first time since she woke up that morning, Kaelyn let herself cry. Tears streamed down her face as she fell into Pepper's grasp who caught her in a hug immediately. She knew her makeup was running and she was certainly staining the shoulder of Pepper's dress, but she didn't care about that right now. All she needed was to let go. She had been trying so hard to keep it all together, but she couldn't anymore. She wasn't as strong as she wanted herself to be and Kaelyn was sick of acting like she was. She couldn't hold it all together anymore.

The noise of someone else walking into the room was heard and soon she felt another pair of arms around her. The smell of Peter's cologne filled her senses as she let herself be held. She was tired of being strong.

When she was finally able to control herself, the three of them separated. Pepper looked at Kaelyn for a moment before pressing a kiss to her forehead and leaving the room.

"God, I can't remember the last time I cried," Kaelyn chuckled softly, wiping her eyes and acting as casual as she possibly could.

"Kaelyn, you cry all the time," Peter retorted with a gentle smile as he wrapped his arms around the girl tightly, letting his head rest on her shoulder.

"Asshole," the girl scoffed, wrapping her arms around his waist and holding onto him as tightly as she could with the photo frame still dangling from her fingertips. She was never letting go of Peter ever again. "I mean, like, about Tony. I've tried to hold it together throughout this whole thing, but I just can't anymore."

She could feel Peter nod against her shoulder before he spoke, "You shouldn't have to. It's a funeral, you're allowed to cry. Losing someone is never going to be easy, especially losing Tony. But you have me and we have each other. You never have to worry about being strong with me, Kae."

"I know, Peter, I know."

"Why don't we head home? We can take May's car and she can drive back with Happy and Beth," the boy suggested, "Just me and you, let's get out of here."

She nodded, "Yeah, I can't be here anymore. Let's... let's go home."

"Home it is, then."

y'all paid the last chapter DIRT i better see at least one comment on this one I'm still mad