Author's Note:

Hello!

Summary - After looking into the background around his family, Tony can only think about spending time with one person. Short one-shot!

This story is written as a birthday present for the amazing Violet! Thank you so much for not only being my friend but for being an amazing individual too! I remember you telling me once that you liked Pepper and Tony (before I made you a fan of Romanogers) which is why it is focused on them!

Tony Stark was a very complex individual, whose life is just as complicated. Most people who know him now forget or ignore the fact that he was adopted by Howard and Maria stark when he was born. And even though he and his father weren't on the best of terms when he died, or through most of his adult life, he loved both of his parents.

Tony had a very high appreciation for his father, Howard - for his intelligence, the business he created, his dedication to everything he did, and even his ability as a father. Tony was provided with everything he needed, and hell, everything he wanted too.

And his mother, dear Maria, really did try her hardest when it came to him. She did her best to be a mother, the mother he needed.

Although Howard and Maria were not natural parents, they probably shouldn't have become parents and Tony never knew why they decided to adopt him. Of course, he had heard why they didn't have a child of their own - Maria being unable to - but never knew the real reason he was adopted.

Regardless, he never looked into who is biological parents were, even when he fought with his parents, he wasn't interested. However, after a completely unrelated conversation with Pepper, he decided to do a search.

That is what brought him to be standing in his lab deleting any record that there was. His parents were just a normal woman who did four surrogacy for couples - and the most shocking this he discovered, was that he was biologically Howard and Maria's son. Over four decades he refrained from looking, only to discover that his parents had actually paid for a surrogate to carry him to term.

Tony felt more loved right then than he thought he ever would. He smiled to himself, a genuine smile, and left his lab to find Pepper.

It didn't take long for him to find Pepper, as she was upstairs doing some out of hours work for Stark Industries - he had now just realised how late it was. "Pepper, let's go out to dinner. I feel like celebrating."

Pepper looked up at him, raising an eyebrow at him, more curious than anything, but there was an obvious look of dis approvement. "What occasion?"

"Just to celebrate life," he decided. He couldn't be bothered to go into a long explanation, mainly because he was sure Pepper would ask 101 questions. At her skeptical expression, he moved closer to her. "Come on, Pep - when was the last time we went out?"

"Three weeks ago," she answered instantly. "And you left early."

Tony sucked in a breath, now he remembered that night, he had left early - in fact, it was halfway through dinner when he had left. Although, at the time he did seem like a valid reason - but it really wasn't, right now, that wouldn't stop him from this dinner. "I won't leave, this time, you have my word.

"Tony," Pepper started as she closed her laptop. "It's 9pm." She informed him.

Pulling out his phone he confirmed that it was indeed 9pm. "Then we'll order in or I can whip something up in the kitchen."

Pepper seemed intrigued by this, and he couldn't tell whether or not she would agree. Her expression changed before the two options - yes or no - minutely several times before agreeing. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have a bite." She replied, her skepticism subsided.

"Fantastic," Tony replied. He offered her his hand and helped her up before they walked to the kitchen. "How are you today?" He asked - and even though he didn't appear to be interested in her response, he always listened to the majority of what she says. Well, usually anyway. At least half the time in general when she spoke. "Great." He said after Pepper finished talking, having not heard a negative tone or terminology after not actually listening to the words she actually said - it was all about work anyway.

"What brought this on today?" Pepper questioned.

Tony looked at her and took his time to answer. "I was just doing a bit of family research, and now you are my family - thought I'd give you some attention." He replied honestly and then winked at her before they separated so he could whip them up some food.

Pepper smiled brightly at him. "I'm your family." She repeated in awe.

He chuckled and was tempted to shrug it off but decided that he should take advantage of these moments. "You are." He confirmed and he didn't know it was possible for her to smile that little bit more and it made him smile in return. Turning away from her he opened the fridge and collected the eggs. "Scrambled or omelette?"

"Scrambled."

Tony grabbed a frying pan and cracked a few eggs. "As you wish," he replied almost cheekily, tempted to make her an omelette instead, but scrambled them again.

"Whilst we're here…" oh he hated her starting with that sentence. "...I've heard an apprentice for Stark Industries."

Tony turned around and looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Why? Why not just hire a fully educated individual?" He asked. What was the point having to teach somebody the job when you could hire individuals who already know what to do and are specialised in the area needed.

Pepper placed a hand on her hip. "Tony…"

"Fine, fine, you can have your little apprentice." He agreed, turning back to the eggs.

He could feel her smile in her voice and couldn't help but chuckle almost silently to himself. "Great. Violet starts on Monday."

Violet? What kind of name is that? Must be a nickname then. He decided it would be wise to not comment on that and continue on with the nice evening.

Soon the two of them headed up to their bedroom and he really couldn't complain about what followed.

Thank you for reading!

And happy birthday Violet!