WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS ENDGAME SPOILERS! DO NOT READ IT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE. I have only seen the movie once so I may not get every flashback scene correctly. I tried to do as well as I could. Oh and also it contains smut. Yes because I need more Pepperony smut in my life. Especially right now. Of course there is also going to be fluff and family stuff too and eventually Happy and Rhodey and Peter so...here we go.
Chapter One
Chaos. That's the only word accurate enough to try and describe what was happening all around her. It was like something out of an apocalyptic novel. There was death. So much death. So much blood and fighting all around her. Aliens. Portals. Magic. Gods. It was unreal but it was now her reality and there wasn't time for her to try and process it all. They needed her now. Tony needed her. Her Rescue suit, an anniversary present from Tony which at first had annoyed her (because she quite frankly had enough of his suits by now) was now the best thing he had ever given her. She had to admit, fighting side by side with her husband was simply amazing. It was almost going to be worth all of the crap she was going to get from him about it later.
Eventually, in all of the craziness, she lost Tony for a bit but kept on blasting those hideous creatures as fast as she could. She had to destroy them. None of them could escape. She had to kill every last one of them to protect her family. To protect Morgan. To protect humanity.
A deafening sound filled the air followed by a flash of light, temporarily blinding her. What happened? Had she been struck by lightning? Well, at least if that was the case, the suit would protect her. She hoped anyway. And then...the monsters in front of her began to fade away before her very eyes. They turned to dust, floating away in the wind, littering the ground with their ashes. The fight was over. They won. Her heart soared. Tony! Where was Tony? She had to find him and when she did she was going to give him the biggest most passionate kiss in the entire world. She didn't even care if Rhodey saw them and called them seals. In fact, she hoped he did because she never got sick of recalling that night on the rooftop. Their first kiss. Her stomach fluttered as she remembered the way Tony finally kissing her had felt. Right. It felt so damn right. Nothing had ever felt as good as that. She could kiss him forever and would.
And that's when she saw it, Rhodey and Steve standing close together. She could tell by their body posture that something was wrong. Her smile wavered as she slowly approached them, noticing Peter was leaning over something on the ground. No. Not something. Someone. Somehow she knew who it was before she even saw him. Tony. It was Tony. He was hurt. When she was close enough, she heard Peter's tearful words.
"Tony, please don't go." Peter Parker broke down and Pepper pulled him away from his mentor, both supporting the emotional boy and wanting to get closer to Tony herself.
When she saw him, she swallowed a gasp. Bad. It was bad. Her eyes moved slowly over his limp body, taking in his injuries and quickly realizing what he had done. That idiot! He had used the infinity stones. Dammit! Why did he do that? She was no doctor but she knew his injuries were too extensive for him to recover. She was going to lose him. This was going to be the day Tony Stark died. She could tell he was struggling to hold on, struggling so hard to stay there with her because he didn't want to leave her. She knew that. Stay strong. She had to stay strong for him. He needed her.
"Hey, Pep," the words on his lips were soft but held so much emotion.
Hold it together. Hold it together. "Hey." As she gazed upon her dying husband, she could feel her throat tightening, the sting of tears behind her eyes but she pushed on. "It's okay, Tony. We're going to be okay. You can rest now," but even as she said the words her mind screamed the opposite. No. No. Please don't go. Don't go. Don't leave me. I need you. I can't live without you.
Those words must have been exactly what he needed to hear because she could see the moment she said them, he stopped fighting, finally at peace. She knew the second his soul left his body. She didn't need the fading light of the arc reactor to tell her that. He was gone. The love of her life, the father of her child, her soul mate was dead. And that's when she finally broke down and cried. She cried into his chest, clinging onto his lifeless body and begging for him to come back, knowing damn well he couldn't hear her but not caring. Years ago, he had said that she was the one thing he couldn't live without. Well, she couldn't, didn't want to live without him. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't someone else have done it? Why him? She screamed his name over and over until her voice was hoarse and when someone from behind her put a hand on her shoulder, she struck out at it. No. They weren't going to take him from her. He was hers. They couldn't take him. No. No. No!
A strong warm hand on her shoulder shaking her is what started to pull her out of her own mind.
"Pep. Come on, baby. Wake up. Open your eyes for me."
It wasn't until she heard the voice, the voice of the man she loved more than anything that her eyes flew open. Without really thinking, she obeyed, blinking rapidly as she tried to rid herself of the disorientation. It was night. The light on the end table next to the bed was on and there was someone else there with her, sitting on the edge of the mattress next to her. She sucked in a breath of surprise.
Oh my God. Tony. Her Tony was here. Really here. He didn't die. He didn't leave her. He was just as she remembered him. His soulful brown eyes were full of worry as he brushed her tangled hair away from her face. His thick dark hair was getting longer, curling at the back of his neck and falling over his forehead. His facial hair was perfectly trimmed like it always was unless he got caught up in a project. The right side of his face was fully healed now but would be forever scared. He was self-conscious about it but to Pepper he was just as beautiful as the day they first met. His right arm was completely gone, replaced by a prosthetic, if you could even call it that. It was an exact replica of the red and gold gauntlet on his latest Iron Man suit, down the working repulsor. Then again, he did call his Iron Man suit "a high-tech prosthesis" so it shouldn't have been much of a surprise. It wasn't until a few months ago that he had actually began to put on muscle mass again and Pepper had to admit, she liked it. She liked it a lot.
"Honey, it's okay. I'm here. I'm here. I'll always be here."
Her lip began to quiver as she held his intense gaze. Nightmare. It had just been a terrible nightmare. It had been a year since he had almost died in the fight against Thanos and at least once a week she still woke up in a cold-sweat, screaming for Tony, believing in her heart that he had died even when he hadn't. It had only been the quick thinking of Shuri who was able to heal him after Dr. Strange opened a portal directly into her lab that had saved him. Tony had been in a coma for three weeks before he opened up his eyes. It was at that moment that Pepper knew she hadn't lied to him during what she was sure was his dying breath. That they actually would be okay.
There were no words to express how happy she was that he was still here with her so instead of speaking, she sat up, grabbed his cheeks and pulled him in for an opened mouthed kiss. She poured everything she could into it; all of her fear, her sadness, her love. She needed him to understand how much he meant to her. How afraid she had been of losing him. He immediately responded, kissing her back just as enthusiastically as he pushed her down into the soft mattress. He covered her shaking body with his, mouth never once leaving hers as their tongues stroked against each other. She shivered. His kisses did things to her. Made her feel like a horny teenager. They had always done that. It didn't matter that they had kissed a thousand times before. Every time felt like the first time. It gave her butterflies. Heart palpitations. The whole deal.
Her hands slid up to card through his silky hair as her long legs stroked up and down the back of his thighs before locking behind his ass. His hands were under her nightgown, sending little jolts of pleasure through her as the fingertips of his real hand traced lightly over the top of her legs, barely touching her skin but she could hardly stand it. It was almost too much stimulation. This man knew exactly how she liked to be touched. No. Needed to be touched. Warmth gathered in her belly, pooling much lower as he took her earlobe into his mouth, sliding his hot, wet tongue along it in just the way he knew she liked, teeth clicking on her earring studs as he sucked and nipped at her.
Pepper couldn't help it. She moaned. Loudly. God. She sure as hell hoped she didn't wake Morgan up. They still didn't have a lock on their bedroom door and she didn't want him to have to stop. God, please. Don't ever stop. He whispered her name in her ear before nuzzling his nose against her cheek, facial hair scraping sensually against her skin, making her tingle down to the tips of her toes. When he detached himself from her to rid her of her panties and nightgown, Pepper whimpered at the sudden loss of contact, reaching out to him.
He must have seen the fearfulness reflected in her eyes because he leaned down to touch his forehead to hers and shuddered before pressing soothing kisses to each of her eyelids. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm not leaving. I promise."
His words reassured her, pushing that fear into the back of her mind. She believed him. She always believed him. When he bit down on the pulse point in her neck, she groaned and arched up against him, slipping her hands underneath his black tank top to pull it up over his head. She needed to feel the strong muscles of his shoulders moving underneath his skin. He was warm and alive. And all hers. As they kissed, she could feel him hard against her hip and knew at that very moment that she had to have him inside her or should would spontaneously combust. Her hands were quaking as she tried and failed to push his pants down over his hips. "Tony. Tony, please. I need you."
He did what she couldn't, wiggling out of his sweats and kicking them off. Pepper bit her lip. He wasn't wearing any underwear. Part of her wanted to ask why he even owned underwear if he wasn't going to use it but most of her just wanted him to fuck her into the mattress. She didn't need foreplay. Not tonight. The only thing she needed was him inside her, filling her up, making her whole again because she felt broken. She licked her lips as she reached out greedily, needing to touch him. He groaned as her fingers wrapped around his cock. She stroked him a few times from root to tip before releasing him and falling back onto the pillows, giving him her best "you better fuck me now or else," look. It was basically the same look she used to make him attend meetings. Her heart was hammering wildly in her chest as she waited for him to give her what she wanted, what she needed.
He thrust into her then, catching her cry in his mouth, kissing her languidly with lots of lazy tongue until she realized she wasn't shaking anymore. Huh. He knew she needed to calm down before they could continue or she would have shaken apart. He knew her so well. He rubbed his nose against hers, grinning down at her with the 100-watt Stark smile that made her heart soar. "You've got me, Pep. You've got me."
Then they began to move together. They came at the same time, clutching each other and gasping out the other's name before curling into familiar closeness. The nightmare was almost forgotten as she focused on Tony, alive and real in their bed. After they snuggled for a couple of minutes, Tony rose from the bed and padded over to the master bathroom, giving her a nice view of his ass on the way. God, did that man have a nice ass. He came back with a warm washcloth and set to work cleaning her up before helping her into a new pair of underwear and her nightgown. Tears of happiness filled her eyes, threatening to spill over at his act of love. What did she do to deserve this man? This genius, loving, self-sacrificing, idiot of a man that meant the entire world to her. All she knew was she was never giving him up. She watched as he got himself dressed once again himself before climbing back into bed and pulling up the covers over both of them.
After a few minutes of silence, Tony propped himself up on an elbow and turned in her direction. She didn't even try to hide the way she was ogling him. He was utterly delicious, his cheeks flushed with exertion, his hair sticking up in every direction possible. His lips were swollen from her kisses and she wanted to bite that delectable bottom lip of his and suck into her mouth. If he teased her about the way she was staring, she might just jump his bones again and fuck him into the mattress. "Not that I don't love being jumped by you but you want to talk about what triggered this?"
And then she was back there once again. Back on the battlefield that used to be the Avengers Compound, watching the life rapidly fade from his eyes and there was nothing she could do. He was going, leaving her behind. Letting out a quite sob, Pepper practically threw herself on top of him, settling her trembling body on top of his. She buried her wet nose into his neck, wrapping her arms tightly around him, afraid if she let him go, he would truly disappear forever. "Not really." To try and calm herself, she focused on the steady rise and fall of his chest underneath her, listened to the strong beat of his heart. He's alive. He's alive. He didn't leave. He is here. She felt him grunt in response to her answer. Figures. He wasn't going to let this go. He was too damn stubborn for that. "It was just a nightmare, Tony."
He began to rub her back. "The same one?"
As a response, Pepper shivered and not from arousal, hugging him tighter. "I watched you die," her voice cracked but she forced herself to continue, "I watched you die and I couldn't do anything. I didn't do anything. You were there with me and then you were just gone and I..." A sob escaped her throat and she felt his arms wrap her in a loving embrace.
"Hey." His voice was gentle. "I didn't die. You didn't lose me, Pep. I'm right here. I will never leave you, okay? You are stuck with me."
"Mom? Dad?" came a sleepy voice from the doorway.
Pepper rolled off of Tony, glad they had decided to get dressed as her eyes fell on the small form of their daughter. Her long dark hair was a mess and hanging in her eyes. Her favorite Iron Man plush was clutched tightly in her arms. Her big brown eyes were red from crying. She seemed so small and fragile in her pink nightie.
Tony frowned as he sat up straight in bed. "Morgo, you okay?"
Morgan shook her head and bit her lip in a gesture that Pepper recognized as her own. "I had a bad dream. Can I sleep with you?"
Pepper met Tony's eyes, a small smile forming on her lips and nodded. Tony never turned Morgan down when she asked to sleep with them. He was an absolute pushover when it came to his little girl. Pepper found it endearing. Well, some of the time. He turned his attention back to their little girl and patted the bed. "What are you waiting for, Morgie? Get your cute little butt over here."
Morgan's delighted giggle made Pepper grin. The little girl ran to the bed, crawling up under the bottom of comforter until she reached the top and popped her head out, settling in next to her mother, stealing most of the pillow like she always did. A yawn left her lips and then a few seconds later when Tony yawned, Pepper laughed. Like daughter, like father. "Love you 3000," Morgan whispered, falling asleep almost the second her head hit the pillow.
"Love you both 3000," Tony said as he reached over and turned off the light.
With Morgan curled up in front of her and Tony behind, his arms firmly wrapped around both her and their daughter, Pepper finally had sweet dreams.