Chapter 1

It was just before 7:00 PM on a quiet Tuesday evening. The TV was tuned to CNN as usual and the CEO of Stark Industries was steadily typing away on her laptop dividing her attention between her email and the TV screen. Suddenly, Pepper looked up from where she was sitting on the living room couch in Tony's mansion at the TV screen in horror. The reporter on screen was reporting a breaking news bulletin at the same time her Blackberry dinged: A text message from SI Public Relations. She couldn't tear her eyes from the TV screen as an Al Qaida video depicted 18 US Marines and 2 civilians both of whom she recognized immediately as SI R &D employees, Jack Jones and Tiberius Watkins, blindfolded, gagged, with their hands held over their heads. Their captors had rifles pointed at them.

Pepper immediately knew what the text message from PR was about. She had known Jones and Watkins for over 10 years and knew their families as well. Her heart sank.

What Pepper didn't notice was a quiet presence directly behind her studying the TV screen intently, his body becoming more tense as the seconds ticked by.

The reporter continued as an audio commentary to the Al Qaida video that inferred a direct translation to the Al Qaida voices on the video. The message was simple: Meet Al Qaida's demands for prisoner releases and troop withdrawals or the captive Americans would die. They promised release of more details of their demands later and the video abruptly ended.

The news reporter screen shot was quickly replaced by the CNN news anchor whose eyes confirmed the seriousness of this hostage situation. After a minute of speaking off camera to the news production crew, the anchor's image was replaced with a stateside reporter who had already cornered some family members of one of the US Marines identified as being held prisoner. The camera zoomed in on the face of a sad little boy about 6 years old with a buzz cut and tears in his eyes. "Someone please help my Daddy!" he cried in desperation, between his sobs of anguish. His mother quickly picked the boy up and carried him away from the camera as the cameraman and reporters tried in vain to catch up to the mother and child. One of the family members physically grabbed the cameraman and prevented him from pursuing the grief stricken pair.

Pepper felt the couch move behind her as Tony's hands came to rest on her shoulders.

"Jarvis" he said quietly, "I want the Mark 7 ready to suit up in 15 minutes."

"Yes, sir" Jarvis replied almost sounding sad. "If I may, sir, without further detailed analysis of this mission, the probability of success of a rescue attempt of this magnitude is less than a 5%."

"A little more helpful information would be appreciated, Jarvis." Tony replied moving away from Pepper.

Pepper bolted up off the couch and quickly put herself between Tony and the stairs to the workshop.

Without words Pepper stopped Tony by placing her hands on his chest on either side of the arc reactor. Their eyes locked. For a second it seemed each one understood what the other one was thinking. Suddenly fear and panic gripped Pepper and her hands grabbed onto his shirt and tried to push him backwards away from the stairs, but she realized that it was like moving a block of granite. Her hands balled up the fabric on his shirt. As Tony stood his ground, his face mournful, and his eyes stinging with unshed tears he knew that this mission could very possibly be a suicide one, but he knew that he was the only person with the resources capable of even attempting such a rescue. He knew he must try not only for Jones and Watkins but also for that little 6 year boy's daddy. He pulled Pepper into his arms and held her as she continued trying to shove him back away from the staircase, away from what she feared would be the pathway to his death.

It had only been two months since the Expo and their first kiss, and their stable-ish relationship had slowly been evolving into a genuine adult relationship (albeit a still unconsummated one) much to the surprise of everyone, including Pepper and Tony. They had started going on real dates out in public, in full view of the press. Tony had even uttered those 3 words to Pepper without the aid of alcohol. Pepper had been shocked, but did reciprocate, much to Tony's delight.

"You can't do this, Tony!" her voice muffled by his chest. "I don't want to lose you again!" She suddenly stopped trying to push him and wrapped her arms around him in a quick bear hug pulling him more tightly into her She knew deep down that Iron Man really was the American's only hope for rescue, but her desperation to keep Tony safe and with her was too strong to give up and let him go easily. She fought back her tears by biting the insides of her cheeks.

Jarvis interrupted the pair by replacing the CNN coverage with a satellite photo of a specific Lat/Lon and continued to drill down to a grainy but recognizable piece of ground looking like the mouth of a cave. "I have a definite ping point for Mr. Jones' transmitter. The depth below natural ground at the ping point is 833 feet. It is of course unknown the distance of the pathway from the entrance of the cave to the location of Mr. Jones' transmitter."

"Good work Jarvis." Tony leaned his head back to Pepper and sighed softly into her hair. She looked up at his face now with curiosity, her eyes still glistening with unfallen tears.

"I have a feeling that this could be the beginning of a plan." Pepper whispered with just a little hope creeping into her soft voice.

Tony grunted a reply and gently moved his arms outward carrying Pepper with them. He was creating a gap between them on purpose, and she made no move to fight him.

"A decided advantage to a direct assault on the cave entrance would be to work under the cover of darkness. The lunar calendar indicates the moon is in its dark phase at this location for the next two days. Calculating the use of Mach 1 speed in stealth mode required to prevent detection of travel, the estimated optimum departure time for Mr. Stark from Malibu would be 7:00 AM PST tomorrow morning. This would provide us with approximately 7 hours of daylight surveillance time before nightfall." Jarvis spoke with a most noticeable increase in both volume, as well as almost an emotion which could almost be described as hopefulness.

"Before they left the States, both Jack and Tiberius had me embed GPS micro chips in the soft tissue of the inner side of one of their arms. They had teasingly told me that their respective wives wanted them to do this in order to keep tabs on them while away from home." Tony explained as he locked eyes with Pepper once more. "But I told them both that they were just too valuable to SI to get lost in the desert while they were looking for a bush to piss on. I think it made them feel a little better knowing that I knew where they were at all times. This chip is similar to the chips we both have. Jarvis probably can't get a read on Tiberius' chip because of some type of shielding. Jack is the practical one of the two. He would try to position himself where the transmitter would be most effective."

"Let's hope their captors don't figure this out." Pepper remarked as she placed her hands gently on Tony's cheeks rubbing her thumbs into his goatee her blue eyes still locked with Tony's bourbon ones. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly trying to calm herself down. "I love you" she said softly.

Tony's hands fell to her hips in a very familiar and comforting fashion. "I love you, too" he replied in a whispered tone as he leaned in to kiss her.

Pepper's hands automatically moved from his cheeks to behind his neck alternating between roughing up and smoothing his thick wavy hair. Their kiss deepened and now involved a slow dance between their tongues, continuing until breathing became a necessity for each of them.

Tony suddenly released his grip on Pepper. "I need to go get something from upstairs. I'll be back FAST."

Pepper shook her head and smiled. Tony was always very spontaneous. But leaving her in the middle of such a kiss was definitely new for him. She wondered what he was going upstairs to get.

Tony literally leaped down the stairs and jogged back over to where Pepper was patiently standing, and stood motionless in front of her with both hands behind his back.

"During the last week that I was held captive in that cave, we worked without sleep for the most part." Tony started. "Once when I fell asleep on the work table, Yinsen woke me up. I was disorientated and groggy and my mind and body were on the verge of just giving up on finishing the suit. I think Yinsen realized just how far down I had fallen both emotionally and physically. He grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me hard and asked me this question intending to inspire me to finish the suit: 'If you only had one night left to you, Stark, and could spend it any way you wanted, how would you spend it?' My mind suddenly cleared enough to actually think about his question. It only took me a few seconds before I had an answer for him. I told him that that night would be my wedding night with you, Pepper. That was the motivation I needed to get the hell out of that cave."

Pepper's eyes grew wide and her posture changed from relaxed to tense as she suddenly understood what Tony was trying to tell her in relation to the desperation of their current situation. She realized that Tony believed that this was to be their last night together. Tears started to well up in her eyes. Tony noticed the change in her posture, and immediately locked eyes with hers, looking at her with such depths of devotion and love that Pepper actually felt her knees go weak.

Tony's hands came around from behind him holding an old, beat up cigar box with the words "Property of Tony Stark" written across it in a child-like scrawl with red crayon. Pepper's eyebrows shot up as she looked at the box and a smile broke out on her face.

"I've been hiding these since two weeks after I hired you as my PA." Tony softly said. "You and Obi were in your office late one day and had gotten into a very heated discussion in which you had defended me to him. Obi hadn't closed your door completely when he walked into your office. Completely by accident, Rhody and I just happened to be walking down the hall to leave and go bar hopping when we heard the loud voices. We overheard most of your conversation with Obi. I had never had anyone since my mom defend me with such passion and determination. You backed Obi completely down. I suddenly felt I had been struck by lightning and I stood there paralyzed with the realization that I was hopelessly in love with you. Rhody shoved me hard, damn near knocking me down and pushed me down the hall to the elevator before Obi could leave your office and find us eavesdropping. Once we got on the elevator, I looked Rhody in the eye and called you my 'Baby Mama'. I remember Rhody grabbing me by the shoulders, giving me a hard shake, and with that drop-dead serious look in his eyes said: 'Tony, YOU need to grow up and be a man instead of a baby if you EVER expect Pepper Potts to have YOUR babies!'" Suddenly, Tony's expression fell slightly and he looked at her with hesitation. "I just hope that I have grown up enough in your eyes now Pepper."

Tony suddenly got down on one knee in front of Pepper and placed the cigar box on the floor. He then pulled out two black boxes and opened one of them. He pulled a ring from the box with his right hand and gently took Pepper's left hand with his own left hand. Pepper quickly sucked in a breath finally understanding what was about to happen.

Tony's eyes had become dark and pleading "Pepper, please let me have this night with you as my wife. Ms. Virginia Potts, would you do me the honor of being my wife!" Then he flashed a quick smile "Oh, and be my Baby Mama too!"

Pepper decided quickly what her answer would be, and suddenly she felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her soul. She felt a glimmer of hope that maybe this mission wasn't a suicidal one anymore. She also realized that she had to be the one to take the positive lead for tonight and tomorrow, as well as for the remainder of the mission, encouraging Tony and herself thru this stressful and dangerous time. "Tony, I would love to be your Baby Mama…AND your wife too!"

Tony wanted to stand up right then and grab Pepper and swing her around the room, but he resisted the urge. With a shaking right hand he placed the engagement ring on the ring finger of Pepper's left hand. It fit perfectly. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief and willed his hand to quit shaking. Pepper turned her left hand to hold his right hand and their eyes met. Suddenly Pepper started giggling. Tony stood up and held both her hands against his chest over the arc reactor.

With a twinkle in his eyes "OK Baby Mama, what's so funny?"

Pepper looked down to the floor "A cigar box? Really? What is the man with the latest and greatest security on the planet doing keeping valuables in a cigar box?"

"It worked for almost 11 years, didn't it?" Tony defended himself as he bent down to gather up both the cigar box and the ring boxes. "Actually, it's a very high tech cigar box."

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him. "I absolutely refuse to ask what makes it so 'high tech'."

Tony quickly tucked the cigar box under his left arm and opened up the ring boxes. It suddenly dawned on Pepper that she hadn't even looked at her engagement ring yet. She tilted her left hand up to take a good look at the ring. It was very elegant, the band a platinum one and the setting being a single large diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds: definitely expensive, but not gaudy.

Tony caught her gaze. "Yeah… Platypus helped me pick out the rings. You know me. I would have gotten you the biggest diamond on the planet, but he talked me out of it." Tony held out the wedding bands to her for inspection.

Pepper nodded her approval and closed both her hands around his, sealing the rings within both their grasps as a sign of acceptance to him. "Now we just need to find someone to marry us tonight." Pepper looked back towards the couch.

"Vegas?" Tony prompted.

Pepper had already made it back to the couch and retrieved her Blackberry. Her fingers were working quickly dialing a number from her contacts list. "I absolutely refuse to be married by Elvis or any of his impersonators."

"Damn" Tony laughed "I was really looking forward to wearing my blue suede shoes at the ceremony too." He carefully placed the two wedding bands side by side in one of the boxes.

"I am sure that you will get over that disappointment once we start our honeymoon." Pepper smiled coyly at him. Her expression immediately changed into a serious one when a low voice answered her call. "Judge Gonzales, this is Pepper Potts. I apologize for the lateness of my call, but I have a huge favor to ask of you" Pepper started as she motioned for Tony to go get cleaned up and changed.

Tony was convinced that everyone in the world owed Pepper at least one favor. She was helpful and generous by nature and people naturally responded to her in kind. Tony smiled at her and headed upstairs placing the empty ring box in his cigar box as he bounded up the stairs taking two steps at a time. He got to his bed room and placed his cigar box once again in the hidden compartment built into the headboard of his bed. 'No security indeed' he mumbled happily to himself. He placed the wedding band box on top of his dresser.

"Judge Gonzales, I really appreciate you doing this for us on such short notice and at such a late hour." Pepper had known the judge and his wife Sophia for almost 8 years from the various fundraising for not-for-profit organizations that they all supported. Judge Gonzales had agreed to perform the wedding ceremony and his wife had agreed to be witness. Pepper had requested that the ceremony remain private and the Judge and his wife agreed to not mention a word of it to anyone. Pepper didn't know how long they could keep this from the public. The Judge agreed to wait to email the paperwork to the county for recording for 14 days.

The ever patient Jarvis had many years of routines and upgrades to temper his interactions with Tony and Pepper. They were the two humans that lived in his "house", so he had lots of exposure to their personalities and emotionality. Reading romance novels and watching talk/reality TV shows had done little but confuse the AI about human behavior in general and Ms. Potts and Mr. Stark's behavior in particular. Jarvis had always liked Ms. Potts and felt she thought more logically than other humans he had interfaced with, especially Mr. Stark. One need only to peruse the many YouTube videos of an inebriated Mr. Stark to confirm this. However, since his return from being held captive in Afghanistan, Jarvis had noted that Mr. Stark had become more self-controlled and logical and seemed to be working very hard to create a better media image of himself. Jarvis surmised that Ms. Potts' change in attitude towards Mr. Stark's advances was the result of these changes in Mr. Stark's personality. Being able to multi-task as a super computer had its advantages: Currently the AI was also working on formulating a battle plan for the rescue mission beginning with site analysis. "Sir, I wish to inform you that my site analysis is complete for the target area. And also sir, I wish to offer my congratulations on your engagement and pending marriage to Ms. Potts."

"Thanks Jarvis." Tony said as he stepped off into the shower. "Make sure you calibrate the Nemesis to disperse over the entire surface area surrounding the cave entrance including the guard stations. At night we may still have clusters of guards in the fringe areas. I want to try to get as many of them down as I can before I need to get into that cave. See if you can locate the generator supplying lights and power in the cave and the power cable routing. I will need to take control of that generator quickly once I'm on the ground. Because of distance limitation on cabling requirements it should be located close to the mouth of the cave. These guys don't have the equipment or skill to drill power duct runs through that rock."

"Yes sir." Jarvis noted.

"Be sure and check the mirror alignments for the Shield trip wire too. I don't want the Shield folks getting suspicious and involved. Too risky for both them and me."

"Already checked and will be double checked just prior to your departure, sir. The Mark 7 will allow for maximum stealth."

"Thanks Jarvis." Tony was scrubbing the last of the dirt and grease from under his fingernails. "And also thanks for the congratulations for me and Pepper too." Tony paused and become somber at the thought. "If our mission isn't a success, and I don't make it back you know what to do, right?"

"Affirmative sir. I will activate protocol Spring Thaw after Ms. Potts, soon to be Mrs. Stark, declares you dead."

"Let's hope you don't have to ever activate it." It suddenly dawned on Tony that Jarvis had just called Pepper 'Mrs. Stark'. Tony was positive he LIKED the sound of that. "I would like nothing more than have about a dozen Stark babies running around the house supplying you with endless opportunities to expound your vast wisdom and knowledge." Tony smiled at the thought and silently prayed he would see it a reality.

"I would thoroughly enjoy hearing the pitter-patter of baby Starks around the mansion, sir. I am sure I also speak for Dummy and Butterfingers." Jarvis countered.

"Pitter-patter? You have been watching way too much daytime TV again haven't you?" Tony laughed as he grabbed a towel to dry off with and his razor from the counter top.

Tony dried off and shaved quickly and moved into his closet. He stopped to remember which business suit Pepper was wearing and picked out one of his best Armani suits that would complement Pepper's outfit. 'Just because we don't get to have a lavish wedding doesn't mean we can't look good together for the civil ceremony' he muttered to himself as he dressed in record time. He grabbed the wedding band box off of the top of the dresser and stuffed the box inside his jacket pocket as he made his way back downstairs.

Pepper looked up at the stairs as Tony came down with a shocked expression. "Did you really just shower, shave and get dressed in less than 15 minutes?"

Waggling his eyebrows suggestively and totally ignoring Pepper's sarcastic comment, "I was motivated. The faster we get married, the faster we get to work on making Stark babies!"

"I have given Jarvis Judge Gonzales' address already. Let's go in my car in order to avoid attention." Tony made a disapproving face and started to sulk. Pepper chuckled and hugged him around the waist. "OK, you can drive then Tony!" A blazing smile suddenly blanketed Tony's face as he grabbed Pepper's bag and fished her car keys out.

"Shall we Madam!" Tony said as he pulled Pepper's right arm around his left elbow, leaned over and planted a soft kiss on her cheek, and then quickly tugged her down the staircase to the garage.