Pepper awoke the next morning at her typical early hour and rose immediately to get ready and dressed. She wandered around the house aimlessly, absolutely bored out of her mind. All she wanted to do was get working. Ultimately, she decided that if she didn't go down to the office she was going to lose her mind, promise be damned.
She drove down to Stark Industries offices and was greeted in as usual, until she reached the doors to her office. That's where ran into the force field that was Happy Hogan, bodyguard extraordinaire. He was slumped in one of the overpriced armchairs in the area outside of her office. He was casually reading a newspaper, she immediately knew that Tony had put him on guard dog duty.
"Good morning Happy. I was just…" Pepper started with a smile she hoped would get her past.
He stood firmly in front of the entryway to her office, arms crossed. "I don't think so, Miss Potts. This area is strictly off limits."
Pepper sighed, "Tony put you up to this, huh?"
Happy nodded. "Yes ma'am. Mr. Stark gave me explicit instruction to keep you out. You can be anywhere but here."
Damn that man for knowing her so well.
She most definitely should have seen this coming. Tony had no doubt in his mind that she couldn't stay away from work, even for just a single afternoon. That was typical Pepper, and this was typical pain in the ass Tony to enlist Happy to keep her from working.
"Fine." Pepper said coolly, turning on her heel to exit the building.
She sat in her car for a bit, yet again clueless with what to do with herself. After a few moments, as if a sign, her stomach growled. Suddenly the thought of grilled cheese sounded really, really good. And cucumber.
That led Pepper to the aisle of the grocery store, leaving with a whole cart full of various things. While she was out, she decided it would be beneficial to stop by a health store to pick up a bottle of prenatal vitamins and a couple pregnancy and parenting books.
The rest of her evening consisted of "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and vanilla ice cream.
Pepper awoke the following morning to the sound of Jarvis' flat voice. "Miss Potts, may I recommend that you wake now, as Mr. Stark is scheduled to return in approximately sixty minutes."
She was still in the tank top and yoga pants she had been lounging in the night before. The book she was reading open and face down on the couch next to her, a bowl of melted ice cream on the coffee table. Her eyes shot up to the clock, 8:30.
She sprung up and began a mad dash to clean her mess and stash the books she had bought on the top shelf of her closet. With just under thirty minutes to spare she jumped in the shower, dried her hair, and got dressed. She was walking out of the bathroom when she heard the telltale sound of the heavy front door slam shut.
Pepper walked out into the kitchen to find Tony, with a duffle bag still hanging on his shoulder, with his head in the freezer. He turned around sticking his spoon back into a pint of ice cream and setting it on the counter. "Hey honey," he said around a mouthful of rocky road. "Nice choice." They rarely had any sort of junk food in the house, he always complained about Pepper being a pain with all her organic and healthy choices.
Smiling, she walked over to him and he caught her in a warm embrace that sent his bag banging against the floor. She nuzzled her head into his neck, "I missed you." He let out a pleasant laugh, "I missed you too, Pep." He keened his head down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. Pepper felt herself begin to tear up at the happiness of seeing him. Damn hormones.
They ended up lying in bed, her head pressed against his chest and his arm tight around her waist. There was a historic documentary of some sort playing in the background, but neither of them were really paying attention to it, they were comfortably dozing off. In perfect timing Pepper felt a gag form in the back of her throat and she began to cough, on the verge of throwing up. She was left with no choice but to abruptly throw off the covers and sit up in bed.
"Pep, are you okay?" Tony asked, alarmed, putting a comforting hand on her back.
She didn't have time to respond as she shot up and darted to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet.
"Pepper, what is going on?" Tony yelled from the bed.
"I'm okay." She lied, lifting her head from the toilet bowl, stomach throbbing. Once she was finished, she laid back against the wall rubbing her midsection. Eventually, she collected herself, brushed her teeth, and walked back into the bathroom, only to find Tony out cold. She had been in the bathroom no more than twenty minutes, but that was jetlagged Tony for you.
"I'm pregnant." She said softly to herself.
The following morning Pepper was up bright an early as usual, she had meetings that were scheduled to take up the majority of her day. She didn't see Tony until she got home later in the evening.
She walked through the front door and met him where he was sitting in the living room. "Hey babe," he said, walking over to her and kissing the breath out of her.
"Pep, please be honest with me, I know you aren't feeling okay. You have been so far from yourself lately." He pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "You've been all sick and puking and I'm getting really worried, so please tell me what's up."
Pepper took a deep breath and sat down on the couch, kick her heels off. Tony sat down next to her and she had to take another breath to try and settle her nerves, looking anywhere but at him.
Eventually, she had to. "I'm pregnant," she said calmly.
Tony's eyes instantly went wide and the color drained from his face. He sat there speechless for a moment, trying to soak in the jolting news.
"You're ahh… you're what?" He questioned, dumfounded, as he sunk further down into the couch.
"Pregnant, Tony." She said, looking at him straight in the eye. "We are having a baby."
He rubbed idly at the back of his neck, "You're completely sure?"
"Yes," she sighed. "I went to the doctor while you were gone."
Tony sat there in silence for another long minute, eventually standing up. Without any words, he got up and started making his way toward the front door.
"Where are you going?" Pepper questioned with a nervous tone.
"I, uh, I just need to go clear my head," he said blankly.
She followed behind him and gently grabbed his shoulder, "Tony, can't we just sit down and talk about this?"
Tony turned back to face her and looked at her for a long moment, "I'm sorry, I just need to be alone for a while."
"Can we please jus- "
"I didn't ask for this," Tony snapped in a whisper under his breath as he darted through the foyer.
Pepper heard the door shut and sat there alone, tears slowly making their way down her face.