It's been three months since Morgan Stark was born and she brought immense joy into Pepper and Tony's life. They finally got her sleeping for 6 hours through the night without feeding and Tony had the idea that Pepper might want to have sex or at least hoped she might. They haven't had sex since before she was born and he breached the subject once before and Pepper freaked out so he was going to try to gently approach the subject. He didn't want to seem like an insensitive jerk but he wanted to start easing back into sex or he was going to go crazy.
Tony's sex drive wasn't what it used to be but it was still high and that combined with his energy and the millions of thoughts running through his brain at any given moment sex was sometimes the only outlet for him to release it. But it was more than a release. He craved the closeness to Pepper.
Tony put away all the leftover dinner and looked at Pepper on the couch. She looked sad and aloof. This would be the time he would normally give her a glass of wine but she was breastfeeding so she couldn't have it. He was desperately trying to be a good husband and help her but he didn't know what she needed from him. He walked over to the couch and sat beside her.
"Did you like the food?" he asked trying to make conversation.
"It was very good. Thanks"
"So we have Morgan down for like six hours which means that we have like an hour to ourselves and then sleep so I can think of some ways we can kill the time" he said as he placed a kiss on her neck testing the waters.
"Tony I'm exhausted and I've had her on me all day that's the last thing I want to do" she said knowing what he was implying.
"Ok ok I was just putting it out there. I want you to know that I miss having sex with you and that I would like to have sex with you in the near future" he said gently.
"I don't want to have sex. I'm sorry I just don't" she said plaintively.
"Ok. So is it me? Are you not attracted to me anymore?" Tony asked.
"No Tony that's not it" she said.
"Ok I'm just making sure because you don't even like when I touch you at all or hold you so I'm just trying to figure out what the problem is so I can fix it" Tony said.
"I'm not one of your projects Tony. You can't just fix me" Pepper yelled.
"That's not what I meant Pep. I meant fix me and what I'm doing wrong" Tony said.
"I'm going to bed" she said trudging up the stairs.
Once Tony was sure Pepper was upstairs he brought up some research on why women don't want to have sex after a baby and what to do about it.
His eyes scanned over the possibilities. Depression, low self esteem, exhaustion, always having the baby on top of her, hormones from breastfeeding causing low libido, fear of painful sex and needing your husbands presence. Tony went over the list obsessively in his head wondering if he was there for her and how he could fix some of the other things on that list. He read some suggestions online and they were as follows : foreplay, date night, a makeover, don't expect the sex to be perfect, a solo masturbation session, shower or bathe together, watch a romantic movie, have sex somewhere new or different, and for her to initiate.
Pepper isn't going to initiate so I can knock that off the list, she doesn't want me to touch her at all so foreplay is out too. Can't have sex somewhere new if we're not having sex so that's out. I will have to try these other things to see if she's into it. I wonder if she'd be mad if I surprised her in the shower he thought.
He went upstairs not sure if Pepper was going to let him sleep in the bed or not. He grabbed the doorknob and he was thankful it was unlocked.
Pepper was curled up pretending to be asleep. She was so upset. She felt bad snapping at Tony. It wasn't his fault. She missed sex with him too and he wasn't wrong for bringing it up. It had been three months and she knew how badly he needed a release. She knows how crazy he can get without sex. She just couldn't get out of her funk. Her body looked weird, she was afraid it would hurt, and she was exhausted.