By Any Other Name

"Mommy, why did that man just call you another name?"

Pepper looked up from her monitor to where her five-year-old son sat. He had been coloring quietly the entire time she had been on her video conference with the New York office, so quietly, in fact, that she almost forgot he was there. "What do you mean, Sweetie?"

"When you said 'Good afternoon,' he said, 'Good afternoon, Vir...Vir..."

"Virginia," she finished for him.

"Yeah. Vir-gin-ia," A.J. said. "Why did he call you that?"

"Because it's my name."

The child furrowed his brow, trying to understand. "I thought your name was Pepper?"

Pepper walked from behind her desk and sat on the couch across from the coffee table where he was. A.J. laid aside his crayons and crawled onto the seat beside her. "Virginia is my real name. Pepper is a nickname."

"What's a nickname?"

"It's a name that you call someone that's not their real name."

"But, you said it was bad to call people names," the child countered.

"It is, but nicknames aren't the same thing." Pepper thought of how to make this easier for him to understand. "What's your name? Your whole name."

"You meant the one you say when I'm in trouble?"

"Yes," Pepper said, smiling.

"Anthony Edward Stark, Junior," he said proudly.

"But, we don't call you that all the time, do we? We call you 'A.J.' A.J. is your nickname."

"Ok," he said, beginning to understand. "Where did your nickname come from?"

"From something that happened a long time ago."

"Who gave it to you?"

"Your daddy."

"Why?"

Pepper didn't think this child would ever run out of questions. "A long time ago, back when I first started working here, I found where someone had made a mistake in their math. I went to find Daddy to tell him. One of his bodyguards thought I was going to try and hurt Daddy..."

"This was before the suits, right? 'Cause nobody can hurt him when he's in his suits," A.J. stated firmly.

"Yes, this was before the suits," Pepper assured him. "This bodyguard thought I was going to try to hurt Daddy and squirted me in the face with pepper spray."

"Wow," the child said, wide-eyed with wonder. "I bet that hurt bad!"

"It did," she confessed.

"Did you cry?"

"A little. Daddy figured out that I wasn't there to hurt him and he helped me. He asked me what my name was and I said, 'Virginia Potts.' He said, 'You don't look like a 'Virginia.' You look more like a...'Pepper.'' I've been 'Pepper' ever since."

"Are me and you the only people Daddy calls different names?" A.J. asked.

"No." Pepper thought of the most delicate way to approach it. "Daddy's mind, um, works different from everyone else's, which isn't a bad thing."

"Nope. He said mine does, too, and it's 'cause we're awesome," the child said with a proud smile.

"Absolutely," Pepper replied, ruffling his dark hair. "So, Daddy thinks up his own names for people so it's easy for him to remember. Uncle Rhodey's real name is James and Uncle Happy's real name is Harold."

"I like Daddy's names for them better."

"So do I," Pepper agreed. She could practically see the little wheels turning in her son's head and prepared herself for whatever question he was forming.

"Did he call me 'A.J.' because I didn't look like a Anthony Edward Stark?"

"No. I called you 'A.J.' because you did look like an Anthony Edward Stark," she explained. "The day you were born, the nurse brought you to me and laid you in my arms. You looked just like your daddy."

"'Cept I didn't have a beard."

"No. You didn't have a beard, but you did have eyes like his and a smile like him."

"I may have a beard, too, one day," A.J. informed her, "but, it won't be for a long time." He cocked his head to the side and studied his mother for a long minute. "I don't think you look like a 'Virginia' either," he announced.

"You don't?"

"Nope."

"Well, what do you think I look like?"

A.J. took another minute. "You look like a...'Mommy.'"

Pepper's heart melted inside of her when she saw the puppy dog eyes looking up at her full of love. There was no doubt whatsoever he was completely sincere. Another trait he inherited from Tony was his unflinching honesty. "I'm glad," she told him, "because that is my favorite name anyone has ever called me."

"I love you, Mommy," the little boy said, wrapping his arms around his mother.

"I love you, A.J." Pepper pulled him close and kissed the top of his head. "Virginia." "Pepper." "Mrs. Stark." "Mommy." Whichever name she was called or whatever she answered to, it wouldn't change the fact that she was quite possibly the luckiest woman on the face of the earth.

Author's note: Plot bunnies prevented me from doing any more work on HAPPY BIRTHDAY until I got this story out of my mind. My BFF got me the IRON MAN MANUAL for my birthday (most amazing book ever, btw) and it had the pepper spray story for how Pepper got her name. (So, if you don't agree or think she got it another way, blame the book.) That being said, I hope you like it. Reviews appreciated. They make me want to keep writing. I hope to hear what you think. Happy reading. PEPPERONY FOREVER!