Prompt: Hairbrush

She lays her head back against the pillows, taking comfort in the fact that her pain medication hasn't completely worn off yet. She is alone for the first time in nine months, and can't wait to see the product of her – their – hard work.

When her husband comes back into the room holding their hour-old son, her eyes fill up with tears. She has never seen a more beautiful sight. He hands the baby to her and she puts him to her breast, immediately drawing comfort from the brand new life in her arms, the life the two of them had created together.

She smiles at her husband and sees the love in his dark eyes. The things they've been through to get here make her love this moment even more; she never wants to forget it.

After what felt like hours, she finally broke the silence. "Gosh, I bet I could use a hairbrush after all that, huh?"

"I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," he tells her.

"You used to use that line on all the girls," she jokes, as she gently places a hand on his cheek.

"But now," he says, as he brushes his lips against hers and traces his son's tiny cheek with his finger, "I've resorted to only using it on the ones who have my baby."

Prompt: Gift

Pepper sits, bewildered, holding the small velvet box in her hand.

"It's Christmas," he says, a boyish smile on his face and hope filling his voice. "It's a gift."

"No, it's not a gift. It's a ring. An engagement ring," she counters. "You're unbelievable! I already told you, I'm not marrying you."

She snaps the box shut with a loud click and hands it back to him. "Take it."

"No," he says, smiling even wider. "I told you, it's a gift. It's for you."

She brings the box back to her hand, sighing as she opens it to stare at its content.

"Well…" she starts, "I guess it is pretty…"

She looks up and can't help but fall in love with him all over again when she sees the goofy look on his face, realizing just how persistent he really is.

"Okay Tony, fine! You win. I'll wear it. But it's not an engagement ring, and it's going on my right hand."

His face lights up and he crosses the small distance between them to envelop her in his arms and take the box from her hand.

"One of these days," he says, as he brings her hand up to his face, kisses her finger, and slips the ring on.

"Maybe," she says softly. "One of these days."

Prompt: New Year

She sits in her home on New Year's Eve, praying – begging even – for a new beginning. Anthony and Andrew, their twin boys, are sleeping over at Rhodey and Kim's house. Now, much to Rhodey's dismay, and not thanks to his insistence that she need not be by herself during times like these, she will spend the New Year alone. It had become a tradition, a way of life, something that she expected.

She stares at the weathered photograph on the coffee table in front of her. She keeps it with her at all times - not because it was her favorite memory of him, like she tells everyone who asks, but so she won't forget what he looks like. Dark hair, dark eyes, that smirk, that suit and tie. When she looks at the photograph she swears she can almost smell him, taste him.

"Why?" she asks aloud, voice broken on a whisper. "How could you leave me, you bastard?"

But she won't let herself cry, not this year. She reaches for her second bottle of champagne and pours out the very last drops into her glass – not in celebration, but in memory of him on this December 31, the anniversary of his death.

"To you," she toasts, as she lifts the picture in one hand and her glass in the other, and takes one last sip before her world goes black.