Jessica observed the notary public take the paper before her and hand her a new one.

"We'll be done as soon as you sign this last document."

"Finally..." She exhaled as she started reading the compacted blocks of text. After spending the last eight months going to an endless number of meetings, they were going to ultimately get it done. It had turned out that Stark did not only adopt Jessica, but had also decided to leave her to be the next successor of Stark Industries as well as a big part of his fortune. "Is that all?" Jessica asked once she had read it all and signed at the bottom of the sheet.

The notary public revised the document and nodded before putting the paper away. It had taken such a long time because Tony did not leave any official forms where he stated the nature of his will. Instead, he recorded a hologram. Another problem was that Jessica was legally a minor so she couldn't start running the company effective immediately.

"Yes, once you turn 21 you'll be officially co-owner and CEO of Stark Industries." The suited man reminded her of the agreement they had come to. "And when Pepper Potts opts to retire, it will be all yours."

"Perfect." Jessica stood up and turned to her right. She glanced at the three interns that usually followed her around whenever she visited the facility. She found it kind of funny that she had a group of people there to learn from her when she was technically two years younger than them. "How's the E.D.I.T.H. project coming out?"

"It's 95% configured." One of the interns reported. "It will be completed by the estimated time."

"Great." She nodded. "Any new findings of Tony's will in the system's memory base?" Even though she asked, she didn't want to spend any more time processing new will documents.

"Not that we know of." The same intern answered her. "We can't look that deep into the security system. Only Tony Stark would be able to do so."

Right before Jessica could reply to that, Pepper Potts came through the door and walked straight up to the public notary. 

"Oh, hi, Pepper." The seventeen-year-old greeted her adoptive mother. 

"Where do I have to sign?" She asked and the notary hurried to take out the paper Jessica had previously signed. She did the same with a swift movement and then turned to Jessica. "Can I borrow you for a second?"

"Sure." 

"I heard you talk in your sleep last night. Was it a nightmare again?" As they walked out of the office and down the hall, Pepper asked.

"Yeah... this one was pretty bad."

"Are you okay?"

Jessica nodded but didn't sound very convincing. "Yeah."

"Jess," Her mother stopped her, now concerned. "Tony also had nightmares. He obsessed over them and did everything in his power to stop them from happening. Or repeating." She added after a sigh. "I couldn't stop him from being consumed by those thoughts and I know I wouldn't be able to stop you if you also were."

"I promise," Jessica smiled. "I'm okay." 

"Okay." Pepper quietly said as she placed a kick kiss on her forehead. "I gotta go. I'll see you tonight at home."

As she saw the older woman leave, Jessica realized they had ended up at the end of the hall and she was standing right before a room with a part of Tony's old belongings. She entered, not being the first time she had. Most of the objects in the room where early productions of projects or unfinished models of robots that Tony didn't mind to complete. Jessica stopped in front of a funny-looking robot with an inscription on its side.

DUM-E

She chuckled. However, she frowned when she spotted a USB flash drive with a 'Mark II' label on it. She picked it up before her phone started vibrating. An unknown number was calling her but she sent it to voicemail. She took the flash drive and realized she had to go when she saw what time it was.

"Shit, I gotta go!"

. . .

She barely made it to the homeless support event. By the time she had got there, May had already finished her speech and Spider-Man had made his appearance. Only a few seconds had passed before Peter and his aunt entered into the backstage where Jessica pretended to have been waiting.  

"Jessica! You made it!" May ran to hug her as soon as she saw her.

"Hi, May." Jessica smiled into the hug, hoping they wouldn't notice how breathless she was from having hurried so much to get there. "That was amazing. You were great out there." She lied. She hadn't arrived early enough to see them. 

"Do you think so? I thought I was a bit stiff."

Peter, walking up to them, looked at his aunt incredulously. "No! What are you talking about? You were great!"

"Well, I actually did think that you were a bit stiff."

Peter stood silent before looking down and playing her comment off. "I felt that too, I felt that too..."

"Yeah... What was that? I told you to not give anything away, but that was-" 

The boy interrupted Jessica. "Hey! I got nervous!" 

"It's fine, it's fine..." She chuckled.

The door behind them unexpectedly opened and Peter was quick to put his mask on so he wouldn't reveal his identity. Luckily, it was just Happy carrying a giant check for May's fundraiser. 

"Happy! Let me help you with that." Jessica used her telekinetic powers to fly the door open, allowing the man to get in easier.

"Oh, Jess, is it official?" May did not lose time in inspecting the check. She knew about Jessica's meeting and had been aware of every update of the process. "Did you sign that?"

The girl shook her head. "No, I can't do that yet."

"Thank god Jessica came here flying." Happy sighed relieved as he let the check down. "This thing didn't almost fit in the car. It's enormous. I mean the check, not the amount. Well, the amount is actually fine. It's really generous. Pepper Potts said she's sorry she couldn't be here." He pointed at May. "Is that a new dress?" There was way too much interest in his tone.

"Yes, it is! Thanks for noticing." She smiled, flattered. "You've grown a beard."

"Yeah, I grew it over the blip." Happy smiled back. "I call it my blip beard."

Jessica and Peter shared a look. There was definitely tension filling up the air in the room. They just didn't want to specify which kind of tension. 

"I think I'm gonna go check my vegan lasagna." May excused herself, ready to leave. "Spider-Man, go shake hands."

"Will do." He said goodbye to his aunt, waiting for her to leave before turning to Happy. Jessica also looked at him expectantly, with one raised eyebrow. "What just happened?" 

"Heads up." He tried to change the subject. "Nick Fury is calling you."

"Nick Fury is gonna call me?" Peter asked surprised and confused at the same time. "Why?"

"Why? Because he probably has some hero stuff for you to do."

It was then when Jessica's eyes opened wide as she remembered her mistake. An unknown number had called her previously that day and she had hung up on them. If Nick Fury was trying to reach her and she hadn't replied she was going to have to prepare to face a bigger confrontation. It was strange for her, though. Nothing had happened in the last months that had required Fury's intermission. Honestly, she was glad it had happened that way. He was the most intimidating man she had ever met.

"You're superheroes." Happy remarked. "He calls superheroes."

"I mean, if it was really that important he'd call someone else, not me." Peter tried to convince the older man that he wasn't the appropriate person to reach. He had forgotten Happy wasn't the one he needed to persuade.

His phone started vibrating on the table beside him and the screen showed the hidden number trying to contact him. 

"Apparently not."

"I don't really want to talk to Nick Fury."

"Answer your phone." Jessica told him, still looking at the phone.

"Why?"

"Because if you don't talk to him then he's gonna call me and I don't want to talk to him."

"Why don't you want to talk to him?"

"Because..." She ran out of excuses. "Answer your phone!" But instead of doing that, he decided to hang him up. Jessica's mouth dropped open. "You're unbelievable."

"You sent Nick Fury to voicemail?" Happy was startled. He had never seen that before. "You don't send Nick Fury to voicemail."

"You hear that? They are calling me." Peter found his way out of that situation as he put on his mask to go back where the journalists were. "I gotta go- I gotta go!"

"Peter, come back here-"

"Bye, babe." He ignored her while he walked further away. "I'll call him later. I promise I'll call him later."

The moment he stepped out, Jessica's phone started ringing as well. She looked at Happy in panic and he gestured her to pick up the phone. She stood frozen for a few seconds, not knowing what to do. After the hesitation, she decided to send him to voicemail once more.

"You need to stop doing that."

She would have replied to him if they hadn't heard the voices coming from the crowd getting louder and louder. She could hear from the backstage how they were suffocating him with questions.

"Are you the head Avenger now?"

"If aliens come back what are you going to do?"

"What is it like to take over from Tony Stark?"

Jessica decided to step in and help him with the uncomfortable interrogation. When she left the backstage, she found him surrounded by journalists pointing their microphones at him and cameras shooting its flashes. It wasn't long until people started to call her to try and get her attention.

"Jessica!"

"Cadmia!"

"I'm gonna go." The moment he saw all the attention shifting toward Jessica, Peter opted to disappear from the scene. "Thanks to everyone for coming!"

"I'll guess I'll be taking any questions you may have." She turned to the woman who kept asking about aliens. "If any extraterrestrial thread approaches again, we'll be able to confront it."

After all the questions were answered, Jessica managed to escape from the crowd of journalists and made her way out of there to try and find Peter. She found him sitting down on the edge of the top of a building right before a colorful mural of Iron Man.

"Peter?" She called him as she approached him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." He said without looking at her. Even though it was dark, the little lighting emerging from the street lights was more than enough to notice how puffed his eyes were. "I just got overwhelmed."

"Don't worry," She rubbed his back as she sat down next to him. "it all will be over soon. Nick Fury is going to kill us because we ghosted him."

That made Peter chuckle and Jessica couldn't help but laugh with him. She didn't ask him further questions, she didn't want to push him. She knew he missed Tony just as much as she did and life after him was very different. "How was the meeting?" He suddenly asked her, changing the subject.

"Everything is finally sorted out." She said leaning back and resting all of her weight on her arms. "I hate paperwork." And so did Tony, she thought. He didn't leave a single statement written down. She gazed nostalgically at the mural in front of them before turning to her boyfriend again. Things would light up for them the following morning. "Cheer up, Pete. We're going to Venice tomorrow."