A/N: Ahh... I couldn't resist writing this. I just finished watching the first Ironman again. It's so amazing! I love it! This story is sort of a complementing piece to "A Memorable Morning". It dwells deeper into the time when their little baby was a bit stronger to be able to sit in the room with them. If you haven't read "A Memorable Morning", it's okay. You don't really need too. It just fills in some of the blanks that's all. Enjoy.
The first thing he noticed is how blue and how perfect those eyes were. It was mesmerizing, captivating as he lost himself in ocean swirls of blue. The lump at his throat tightened and that feeling of overwhelming warmth encircled him as he stared at the little face before him. The little bundle wrapped up in blue cloth, tightly protected from the world and from every danger ever possible.
He feels that sense of protectiveness, of pride and of joy erupting in his soul. He wasn't ever going to let anything come even remotely close. He was going to protect them even to his dying breath. He vowed it, he promised it and he was going to live by it until the day he died. He was going to upgrade all security protocols, all possible ways of impending danger that could possibly face them. He was going to make sure that no matter what, no harm will ever come to them. He was going to make sure of it even if it meant him dying.
His heart exploded with warmth when he felt a little hand encircling his thumb. He stared down, tears practically welding in his eyes as his lips curled at either side to the little face. The little pair of eyes stared at him with wonder and he couldn't bring himself to think about anything else right now. It was as if the world didn't matter, that he was here now and that was all that mattered.
"I'm your daddy," he murmured softly and glanced briefly to her.
She was beautiful.
The most beautiful thing that ever touched his soul. The only thing that he ever let into his world. The only person he trusted and believed in beyond everything. She was the ultimate thing to him, the best and most glorified dream that he could ever have hoped for. She was the sun in his day and the moon in his night. She was that thing that gave him a reason to be. The thing that gave him a reason to breath, to believe and hope and live. She was everything he could ever want all welled up into one person.
She was his life.
He had wasted so much time with all the other women, the alcohol and money. He was a man that had everything but nothing at all. He would never forget Yensin; never forget those words that haunted him. But there was one thing he had and one thing alone. He had her and that was all he needed. That was all he wanted for a long time. And now he had her and he had this, and them together with something much greater than anything. It was greater than any of his inventions or all of his Mark suits combined.
She was like the ultimate invention, like the most glorified and treasured puzzle that completed him. She was more than the world to him, she was everything.
His expression softened as he gazed at her and implored her. She looked beautiful in that bluish grey hospital gown looking ragged and disarrayed. She was beautiful even though her hair was bed ridden and face was filled with exhaustion and sweat and everything that resembled tired. And he wouldn't have her any other way. She didn't need make up or dresses of enticing lengths and sways of silken cloth. She was beautiful with or without that.
His lips curled slightly at either end as he looked at her. The doctor mumbled something to her and he was slightly amused because he knew she wasn't listening. He knew that right then and there, it was only them.
The world didn't matter, nothing did. Only them.
He smiled openly after several minutes and he moved the little bundle until the little blue swirls of delight stared in her direction. He watched as she smiled in return, her expression suddenly alit with explicit joy at his simple gesture.
"And that's your mommy," he murmured softly.
And that was all he needed. That was all he wanted. Just him, Pepper and their little bundle of joy.
He would do right by them. He had too, because he was Ironman for the people, he was Anthony Edward Stark for Stark Industries and he was a father to their little baby.
But most of all, he was where he wanted to be.
He made it here, with her and that was all he ever wanted.
Now, he had everything.