A/N: Crazy to see all the favs and follows... Thank you! I hope that little insight into thoughts and feelings makes up for using all those lines y'all know too well. I just try to keep it as close to canon as I can. There will be more original dialogue/content in the next chapters, which is fun to write, and I hope you'll enjoy.

Killian sat down opposite her. "After years of dodging the President's ban on immoral," he made an air-quote gesture with his fingers, "biotech research, my think tank now has a little something in the pipeline." He pulled out a little box, attached what looked like a transmitter to the back of his ear, and continued, "It's an idea we like to call... Extremis."

Pepper watched as he turned the lights down, telling her to regard the human brain, and then opened his hand to expose three small globes which he bowled across the coffee table. They turned out to be some kind of nanobots, transmitting a colorful 3D hologram, which filled the entire room with light.

"Uh... Wait, hold on… hold on. That's... That's the universe. My bad! But if I do that," he pushed a button on his remote, "That's the brain."

The hologram changed, so now it indeed looked like someone's brain, and she couldn't help but stare at it, like it was one of the prettiest things she had ever seen. Although she had witnessed a lot of incredible things while working for Tony, this felt like something new, something really beautiful. Maybe if she had taken more of an interest into what Tony was doing in his workshop all day, she wouldn't think of Killian's tech this way. Would Tony be jealous of her thoughts? That she admired another man's work?

"Strangely mimetic, though, wouldn't you say?"

"Wow, that's amazing," Pepper gave voice to her astonishment.

"Thanks, it's mine."

"What?" She instantly looked back at him, thinking she misunderstood.

"This. You're inside my head. It's… It's a live feed," Killian said, hinting at the transmitter behind his ear. "Come on up, I'll prove it to you." Stepping onto the coffee table, he reached out his hand, and Pepper took it, letting him guide the way. Killian made her stand right in front of him and told her to pinch his arm. "I can take it. Pinch me."

She chuckled, pinched him, and gasped when she saw the light of the hologram flashing above her head. "What is that?" she asked, completely amazed by it now.

"It's the primary somatosensory cortex. It's the brain's pain centre," Killian explained to her. "But this is what I wanted to show you." With a hand on her shoulder, he made her turn around, and then explained the whole thing in more detail, so that it was easier for her to understand.

By using a 3D hologram of his own brain, he demonstrated to her how Extremis could upgrade a person's entire DNA and also showed off his understanding of the human body, as he explained how it was able to heal and regenerate human cells at an extraordinary level. Pepper was visibly impressed by the concept and Killian's presentation. In fact, she was so impressed by it that she didn't quite notice, or minded, how awfully close he had gotten. He was touching her, she was touching him, and what she certainly didn't see was the way he kept looking at her.

Happy did, though. As promised, he had kept an eye on him, and he saw everything they were doing through the glass windows. He didn't like it. He didn't like him. Not only was Pepper taken; she was taken and pregnant. So what that man was doing there, all the touching and the staring, was wildly inappropriate. If there was a way Happy could put an end to it, he wouldn't hesitate. But his thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his tablet.

"Hello?"

"Is this Forehead of Security?" Of course it was Tony. Who else would call him while he was at work?

"What?" He didn't have time for this. He was busy trying to make sure that Aldrich Killian didn't do anything stupid as far as Tony's girlfriend was concerned. "You know, look... I got a real job. What do you want? I'm working. I've got something going on here."

"What, harassing interns?"

"Let me tell you something. Do you know what happened when I told people I was Iron Man's bodyguard? They would laugh in my face."

Tony chuckled, as he walked down the stairs to the wine cellar of his workshop.

"I had to leave while I still had a shred of dignity," Happy said. "Now I got a real job. I'm watching Pepper."

"What's going on? Fill me in."

It wasn't like Tony was missing her—well maybe a little—but if Happy considered watching Pepper a real job, then there had to be something interesting going on right now that he'd like to hear about.

"For real?"

"Yeah!"

"All right! So, she's meeting up with this scientist. Rich guy! Handsome! I couldn't make his face at first... Right? You know I'm good with faces."

"Oh, yeah, you're the best," Tony remarked while chewing on some snacks.

"Well, I run his credentials. I make him. Aldrich Killian." Happy caught a glimpse of the man, who still was way too close to Pepper, and then focused back on Tony. "We actually met the guy back in... Where were we in '99? The science conference?"

"Um... Switzerland."

"Right, right, exactly."

"Killian. No, I don't remember that guy," Tony said, grabbing a glass of wine.

"Of course you don't remember. He's not a blond with a big rack," he retorted, eyeing Killian with a side glance. "At first, it was fine. They were talking business. But now it's, like, getting weird. He's showing her... his big brain."

"His what?"

"Big brain. And she likes it. Here, let me show you." Pulling up his hands, he pointed the tablet's camera at Pepper and Killian. "Hold on. Let me... See?"

"Look at what?" Tony said, "You, watching them? Flip the screen, and then we can get started."

"I'm not a tech genius like you. Just–just trust me. Get down here."

Happy was getting mad at him for completely ignoring the threat this guy, Aldrich Killian, was obviously posing for Tony's relationship. He was sure that if Tony were there, he wouldn't act as calm as he did now. That was why he wanted to show him what was going on in Pepper's office. Unfortunately though, he really wasn't good with technology.

"Flip the screen," Tony repeated, seemingly growing impatient with all the fuss Happy made about his girlfriend and her meeting partner. "Then I can see what they're doing."

Should he actually be worried? He didn't know. Because one thing his old friend was good at, was creating drama. So, Tony had a really hard time figuring out if this Killian situation was something he should really worry about. Pepper had meetings all the time, with quite a lot of handsome men, and he had never had anything to fear, so why should it be any different now?

But Happy was almost yelling at him when he said, "I can't! I don't know how to flip the screen!" so it did in fact seem serious—which is why Tony decided to look this guy up. And he had to admit, he really was handsome. Was he Pepper's type? Maybe! He could be. Should he do something about it? Go over there and, like a dog, come in and mark his territory? He didn't have to actually pee on Killian, but Pepper still wouldn't like it. Probably!

Happy clearly didn't trust this guy, and Tony usually trusted Happy's instinctual perception about human nature, but there was reason for him to think it was smarter not to intervene. Because his usually very cheerfully girlfriend had been a bit fickle and capricious the last few weeks, staying out of Pepper's business felt like the better option. But thinking of it, he couldn't stop wondering why she was so easily infuriated with his antics these days, when she had always been so patient with him.

"Relax," Tony told Happy.

That was what he was going to do. Just relax and try not to think about the things Pepper was doing with Killian, or things she might do with him—Shit, he already was kind of thinking about it.

"Seriously?"

"I'm just asking you to secure the perimeter. Tell them to go out for a drink or something."

Maybe Killian would keep his hands to himself and off Pepper, if they were out in public. Tony wasn't worried. Was he worried? Nah, he wasn't.

He trusted that woman with his life, so trusting her with this guy wasn't hard. In fact, it was easy trusting Pepper, simply because she was the most honest and trustworthy human being he had ever met. She could never hide anything from him, because contrary to her belief, she wasn't as guarded as she thought she was. Not to him. She was an open book. Her face was full of expressions and there was no guile about her whatsoever. That woman, his darling Pepper, was the real deal.

"You know what? You should take more of an interest in what's going on here."

Happy was tired of Tony's attitude. Pepper had been nothing less but amazing to him. She had loved and supported Tony when he least deserved it, and Tony didn't even seem to care that another man was now horning in on 'his' territory. And if Tony continued to treat Pepper that way, then he shouldn't even dare to come to him—Happy— for any kind of relationship advice, because this right here, not caring, was how things got messed up in the first place. Tony could at least act jealous, but he didn't even give her that.

"This–This woman is the best thing that's ever happened to you and y–y–you're just ignoring her. Besides, there's something you don't know... Something you should know... and I think if you did know you would…"

Upon realizing what his loose tongue had done, Happy stopped, horrified by what he had said. It wasn't his place to say anything about the baby. Pepper would bite his head off, if he did. But this was exactly why he didn't like being the only one who knew about it. Happy didn't trust himself to keep this a secret. He wasn't good at keeping secrets; he'd never been, especially if he had to keep them from Tony.

"What don't I know, huh?" Tony was now all ears again.

"I'm–I'm–I'm not at liberty to say," Happy stammered.

"What do you mean you're not... Hap, since when are we keeping secrets? Is it about Pepper?"

"Look, Tony, you don't care, okay? I got it, but let me do my job."

"I do care about Pepper. How can you say I don't– Is she sick?"

Damn it! He knew he should have said something when he had heard her throw up behind closed doors that morning. But he had chosen to ignore it, because when she came back out of the bathroom, she had looked so beautiful, there was no sign of sickness or discomfort. And her smile—God, he wished he had a picture of it. Her smile had been so warm and bright; it made the stars in the sky look like metal flakes. And then Pepper had walked over to him and kissed him with those soft and succulent lips he loved more each time he tasted them and he had forgotten how to even breathe.

"You know, I could have J.A.R.V.I.S. look up her vitals right now and tell me what's wrong?" he commented, taking a large sip of wine.

"You could really do that?" Happy tried to keep his voice calm, but he was seriously afraid Tony could find out about the pregnancy before Pepper had a chance to tell him.

"Um, no... Not yet. Cause that'd be spying... technically... and she'd kill me if I spied on her. You know her," Tony said, a smirk twisting his lips as he thought of how Pepper might react. "But I could make J.A.R.V.I.S. do it in, um, twenty minutes? Thirty... tops." Tony paused, thinking. "You know, I actually like this idea. A lot. It's brilliant. I should definitely work on that. It'd be so much easier to protect her... I gotta protect her."

"Yeah... how about you just come over here and protect her from this Killian guy," Happy growled with frustration.

"Is he threatening her?"

Tony's mind had already wandered with his thoughts. His brain was now solely focusing on the idea of getting Pepper's data uploaded to the system, so in case something happened to her, J.A.R.V.I.S. would be able to tell him right away if her heart rate was dropping, if she had any internal injuries, broken bones, if there was brain damage or if she was poisoned... There was a lot he had to consider, a bunch of things that could happen to her.

"Well no, he's not threatening her... Wait, what?" Happy felt like hitting himself against the head with the tablet. "I just told you what's going on, Tony." If Killian was threatening anyone, it was Tony... with the way his filthy hands were roaming all over Pepper's body.

"A giant brain?"

Tony tried to focus, as he was still considering if he should initiate the 'Potts vitals' program without her permission. Maybe it would make him feel better. Maybe it would help him deal with the fear of losing her. Certainly the fear of losing Pepper intensified the desire to have her. He had never wanted her more. He had never loved her more. But every day, thoughts of a life without her flooded his mind like the gushing rivers during monsoon rains, and he knew losing her would take his soul, take everything worth living for. He would die from a broken heart.

"Yeah, there's a giant brain. There's a shifty character. I'm gonna follow this guy. I'm gonna run his plates and I'm gonna– You know, if it gets rough, so be it." Happy's voice brought Tony back to reality.

"I miss you, Happy," he confessed, as he grabbed another bottle from the fridge, a white wine this time.

He had done a lot of thinking and it was time for him to do some more work, to make sure he was at least in some way prepared for the worst case scenario. It didn't feel right to upload every data he had of Pepper to the system without her consent, but there were other options. One option: If he calibrated the sensors of Mark 42 to fit her profile, he could command the suit to wrap itself around her if needed. That way he could protect her. Maybe not from any kind of threat, but it was a starting point. Then later, hopefully, he would get Pepper's permission to record her vitals.

"Yeah, I miss you too... But the way it used to be," Happy said. "Now you're off with your super-friends. I don't know what's going on with you anymore. The world's getting weird."

"Hey! I–I–I hate to cut you off. Do you have your taser on you?"

"Why?" Happy frowned. Not only was the world getting weird. Tony certainly was getting weird too, a lot weirder than he usually was.

"I think there's a gal in H.R. who's trying to steal some printer ink," Tony mumbled, as he placed the communication device inside the fridge. "You should probably... go over there and... zap her."

Happy wanted to say something else, but noticed communication was cut off. He shook his head in disapproval. He really didn't know what was going on with him. Tony was toast in milk, flopping side to side. And then sometimes he was standoffish and uncompromising, and didn't even listen to whatever anyone else had to say. Happy was worried. And he knew Pepper was worried about him, too. That was probably why she hadn't told Tony about the pregnancy. Because she was scared of how he would take it.

"Just don't fuck this up, Tony," he said to himself, as his eyes settled on Pepper and Killian.

Pepper, who was now sitting in front of Killian again, had to admit that his presentation hadn't been bad at all. Except what Killian was trying to convince her of, what he was trying to get Stark Industries to invest in, didn't seem like it was in the best interest of Tony's company.

Hacking into the hard drive of any living organism and recording its DNA sounded incredible—she told Killian that in all honesty—but there was a downside to it that Pepper simply couldn't ignore. The fact it could be taken advantage of by the wrong people to do wrong things raised all kinds of red flags for her. And Tony had been there before—creating weapons. He had explicitly chosen to give it up. He would never support this, and she didn't either.

"Unfortunately, to my ears, it also sounds highly weaponizable. As in, enhanced soldiers, private armies, and Tony is not–"

"Tony, Tony..." Killian repeated his name as though he was annoyed by the mention of him. "You know, I invited Tony to join A.I.M... 13 years ago. He... turned me down. But something tells me, now there's a new," he pointed at her, "genius on the throne who doesn't have to answer to Tony anymore... and who has slightly less of an ego."

"It's gonna be a no, Aldrich. As much as I'd like to help you," she stood by her word, declining his offer, and noticed his expression change slightly.

Killian's face tightened, his jaw set in defiance, and Pepper was almost sure it was because he had thought she would react differently. He had done a lot of persuading, using his charm—that he definitely had—to get her to take his offer, but Killian should've known better. She wasn't like any other woman. Almost every day, she had to deal with this kind of sexism by men trying to push their agenda on her by appealing to her beauty, her feminine qualities, rather than her mind. And that was one thing she appreciated most about Tony; that he loved her mind as much as he loved her body.

As far as her job was concerned, he had never made her feel as though she could be convinced easily if he only batted his eyelashes hard enough. Of course Tony had tried doing that in the early stages of their working relationship, but ever since he had made her CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper felt like he really saw her as an equal and partner in this; as the hard-working business woman she had always been. Tony had always trusted her with the company, but now she finally felt like she had the job she was born to do. It was hard, but it was fun, and she loved having the authority to make decisions.

"I... We... just can't get behind this, Aldrich. I'm sorry!" As they walked out of her office, she glanced at him and was glad to see the stern look had left his face. She didn't want to be on bad terms with him, no matter what she thought of him. It wasn't good for business.

Pushing the entrance door open, he turned to Pepper and said, "Well, I can't say that I'm not disappointed. But then, as my father used to say, 'Failure is the fog through which we glimpse triumph.'"

"That's very deep," she said, "And I have no idea what it means." She offered him a warm and genuine smile.

"Me neither. He was kind of an idiot, my old man," Killian commented amused. It made her chuckle and her smile grew wider. "I'm sure I'll see you again, Pepper," he said, bending forward.

Pepper's expression immediately hardened while Killian reached out and gripped her arm, his face only inches away from her head. God, he wasn't supposed to come that close. What was she supposed to do? Push him away? But he wasn't doing anything bad, was he? Not really. Although that depended on whom she'd ask. But then Aldrich pressed his mouth to the soft skin of her cheek, giving it a peck, and just for a split second Pepper felt herself leaning into him. Had he even noticed?

She continued to stare at Killian, as he walked towards his car, hating how she had involuntarily responded to him. Was that the hormones, too? Maybe it was because Tony had been a bit distant lately. He still was affectionate towards her, but sometimes—too often—it felt like his mind wasn't really there; like he was a million miles away from her. She couldn't remember the last time Tony had looked at her like he truly adored her, or how it felt when he kissed her out of the blue simply because he couldn't resist anymore. She missed the intimate moments they used to share all the time. It was as though the fire between them had been banked for a while now, and she didn't know if she could rekindle it. But that was what date night was for… right?

"Happy!" She inhaled sharply as she noticed him staring at her. His look was all about Killian, she could tell, and she felt her cheeks getting red. Why was she blushing? It was not like she had kissed him.

"Car's ready, if you're ready to go," Happy let her know, eyeing her a bit suspiciously. Why was she acting so weird?

Pepper watched Killian get in the car while she still thought about the thing that just happened. Should she be worried that it had made her feel something? It was nothing serious, but maybe even the thought that Tony's affection for her had died down a little, could be considered some kind of betrayal.

"Yes, I just, um... God, I forgot my... other things, so... I'm just gonna..." Pepper hated the way her voice stammered the words out.

She disappeared into the building and went straight to her office. She sat down on the chair and inhaled deeply, waiting for the calm to settle over her. Pepper hoped and prayed she would be able to keep things together when she saw him. Her emotions seemed to get the better of her today and she really had to tell him about the baby. She had waited long enough. And perhaps, she would also tell Tony about Killian and that kiss on the cheek, even if it was totally harmless.

She sighed, her hands cupping her belly. It felt the same as always, but deep inside the miracle of a new life was developing. Maybe she hadn't chosen to get pregnant, but it was her choice to become a mother, and she would shower this baby with all the love she could give. She hadn't imagined it would be this difficult to rebalance her hormones. She faced that challenge every day. But if she had managed to handle Tony Stark for decades, she should be able to handle this too.

"Let's go tell daddy, little peanut," she whispered, smiling, as she rubbed her belly.