To Sleep, Perchance To Dream
Tony Stark picked up the ice cream container from where it sat beside him on the couch. Upon further inspection, he saw that there were two or three more bites at the bottom. He scraped them out with the spoon stuck inside it, ate them, and sat both container and utensil on the table that was barely within reach. He looked at the red head resting in his lap. At least her late-night cravings were easier to accommodate in New York than they were in California. At the Malibu mansion, they involved getting one of the cars from the garage and driving all the way into town. Luckily, Tony had found an all-night market just down the block from the new Tower. He could walk there and back in practically no time and spare Pepper the multiple phone calls wondering where he was with her hankering of the day. Last night, it was beef jerky and root beer. The night before that was peanut butter and bananas. Tonight had been mint chocolate chip ice cream. Pepper ate what she wanted of the ice cream and promptly went to sleep lying on her husband. Tony decided to join her. He stuck one of the throw pillows behind his head and just dozed off when someone knocked on the door. After the second round, he decided "knock" was too gentle of a word for what the person on the other side was doing. It sounded more like they were trying to bust down the door. Cursing under his breath, Tony began to extricate himself from under his sleeping wife. He slid the pillow he'd had behind his head under her head and trotted across the room, bent on punching whoever was banging on his door. Steve Rogers was standing on the other side. His hand was poised mid-knock when Tony yanked open the door. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"No, but…"
"Do you know the first rule is for sleeping pregnant wives? It is let sleeping pregnant wives sleep. This is very hard to do when there is a maniac beating down your door in the middle of the night."
"Sorry," Steve apologized, "but…I have to ask you something."
"Put me down for a box of Thin Mints and some Peanut Butter Patties," Tony said, attempting to close the door.
"I'm not selling Girl Scout cookies," Steve replied, putting his hand on the door. "Are you building giant fighting robots?" he blurted out.
"Huh?"
"You work on stuff all the time, but, is any of it a…giant robot?"
Tony stepped toward Steve and sniffed. "You don't smell like you've been drinking. You don't seem like the kind to use hallucinogenics, either. That rules out a bad acid trip." He looked at the man in front of him with a critical eye. His shirt and face looked damp and Tony was pretty sure he'd never seen Steve Rogers look so shaken. "Something has you all torn up, though. What gives?"
"I had this dream…"
"And I was in it? Wow, I'm flattered Rogers, but, uh, you're not my type."
"What?! No! Be serious, Stark!"
"I would if I knew what I was supposed to be serious about."
"I dreamed that you built this whole fleet of robots."
"Robots?"
"Yeah, but not just any robots. They were this…flying robot police force. They were supposed to take care of criminals and let us have a break."
"By 'us' you mean…"
"The Avengers."
"I see. The idea didn't work?"
Steve shook his head. "One of them went rogue and decided to try and take over the world."
"This giant fighting robot just up and decided to conquer the world all by himself?"
"No. He made himself a bigger suit and possessed these other robots and took them with him to try to wipe out all humanity."
"And I made all this?"
"You and Banner."
Tony scrubbed a hand across his face. "You haven't told him about this dream yet have you?"
"No. Not yet. I was going to after I told you and…"
"Don't." He placed his hand on the other man's shoulder. "It was a bad dream. A nightmare. Go back to your room, drink some warm milk, read a book, watch cartoons…whatever you need to do to get settled back down to sleep again."
"You don't want to hear the rest?"
"Dear God, there's more," Tony mumbled with a roll of his eyes. "No," he said, this time directly to Steve. "Trust me, I've heard plenty. I will take you to the lab tomorrow and prove to you there are no robot policemen under construction. Just go back to your room."
"Tony?" a drowsy voice called from inside the apartment.
"Uh…I'll be right there, Pep." Tony gave Steve a murderous glare. "If this results in me having to make another trip to the store tonight, I'm coming over and kicking your star-spangled…"
"Who's here?" Pepper asked.
"Steve, but he's leaving."
Steve stuck his head around the door. "Hi, Pepper," he said with an awkward wave. "Sorry to bother you."
"Good night," Tony added. Steve turned to go back to his quarters and Tony closed the door, locking the dead-bolt for good measure. He walked back to the sofa. He sat beside his wife and laid his head against the back cushion.
"What was that about?"
"Rogers had a dream I built robo-cops to take the place of the Avengers that turned into man-killing maniacs. He came to make sure I hadn't turned into Dr. Frankenstein."
"As long as nothing's wrong…" Pepper yawned and laid her head on Tony's chest.
They sat like that for a few minutes. The longer they sat, the more Tony thought. "But, you know...?" he said, vocalizing his latest thought.
"No, Tony," Pepper said.
"You don't even know what I'm thinking."
Pepper sat up. "I know exactly what is running through your mind and the answer is 'no.' The world does not need mechanical replacements for the Avengers."
"They wouldn't be replacements, more like…helpers."
"Okay then, the Avengers do not need mechanical helpers."
"But…"
"No."
Tony raised his head as if suddenly struck by an idea. "They could handle the small-time stuff. It would leave us free to…spend more time together. We could be more spontaneous, take a trip whenever we wanted, go somewhere romantic for some alone time." He punctuated his point with his most charming smile.
Pepper took his hand and placed it atop her rounded belly. "We do that already or, did you forget that a spontaneous trip for alone time is how this happened?"
"Don't you think that the others deserve the same opportunity?" he countered, schooling his features to appear serious.
"To knock up your wife?" she said, just as solemn.
"No," he said, recovering quickly from her response,"to have a real life."
She brushed the hair off his forehead and ran her hand down his face, cupping his cheek. "Tony, I know you mean well, but, seriously…there is no way this turns out to be a good thing. What if, despite everything you try, something did go wrong? Did you think of that?"
"No," he conceded.
"You have a good heart. That's one of the things I love about you, but, the best thing for you to do is forget this…completely."
"How about I make just one test model? Not even full-sized. Just a miniature."
"Tony..."
"Okay." He laid his head back on the sofa again and Pepper returned to her spot on his chest. "What's your favorite?"
"What?" Pepper asked, almost asleep.
"You said my heart was one of the things you loved about me. What's your favorite?"
"That was just a figure of speech."
"It's my butt isn't it?"
"Go to sleep, Tony."
"Not that I blame you. I do have a nice butt."
"Tony..."
"You can be honest. Just say it. 'Tony, I love your butt. It's my favorite.' I don't mind."
"You really want to know?"
"Yes."
"Right now, it is the fact that you are so cute when you're asleep."
Tony wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulder, holding her close. "Hey, Pep?" he said after a long silence.
"Yeah?"
"If you have a dream about something weird...save it for in the morning, okay?"
Author's note: Nancyozz & I were having a conversation about AGE OF ULTRON and, out of the blue, I thought "What if it was all a dream?" That morphed into this. Thank you, so very much, to my BFF for her help on this. It would not have been possible without her. She was my source of information, seeing as how I haven't yet seen AoU yet. You're the best Bestie EVER! This was just an idea I had, which may stink, but, it was kinda different and fun. Honestly, if Pepper had been there, don't you think she would have nipped the Ultron idea in the bud? :P Feedback is wanted and welcomed. Reviews are awesome. :) Let me know what you think. Happy reading. PEPPERONY FOREVER!