A/N: Finally finished chapter 3. I had to do a bit of thinking and planning for this chapter. Didn't know exactly what I was going to write about seeing as I hadn't drawn up a plan when I began this story. Anyway, I've got a nice plot line drawn up now so theres many more chapters to come. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


It was 3am when his eyes touched the barely visible light emitting from their mansion. The dimmed lights coming from the garage/workshop indicated that Jarvis had probably estimated his time of arrival. He descended quietly to the ground before powering off his Mark V suit and walking inside. The warm air touched his face as he lifted the front panel of his helmet. He took a deep breath of the night's fresh air before entering his home.

The garage/workshop was lit with a dimmed light and the instant he had entered the boot up sequence of his three dimensional wire frame of every object in the room came to life. The different series of Mark suits appeared in a line as he walked toward the platform. The look of the calculations and numbers dancing around the latest Mark V suit made his head throb a little after the long and depressing day spent in the outskirts of Afghanistan. He didn't mind working for Fury or being part of a company that strove to protect the world. But Fury's knack for requesting his services the day before he was to attend the Firefighter's Family Fund Benefit with his boss was really quite inconvenient.

The other part he didn't like about these missions was the fact that it made him see things about the world. Things that he never knew even existed. It was as if a flare had lit inside his body and suddenly the world became a place of chaos in his eyes. The boxes of Stark Industries bombs and weapons he had seen earlier made him angry and sad all at the same time. It made him question just really how much dealings Obadiah had done under the table.

"Welcome home, sir," Jarvis greeted softly.

"It's good to be home," he replied as he made his way to the platform, "Where's Pepper? And why are you whispering?" he asked. He caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the glass and paused slightly. He noticed the dents and bullet holes that had penetrated the outer skeleton of his Mark V suit. He brought his hand up to touch a particularly large dent at his right shoulder and winced. He didn't even want to imagine the bruising that was going to appear on his arm later.

"She is asleep on the couch," Jarvis answered softly again.

He looked over toward the couch and noticed several strands of her hair hanging over the edge. He sighed and wondered why he hadn't noticed her sleeping there.

"What time did she fall asleep?" he asked as he continued to make his way to the platform.

"She didn't want to sleep actually," Jarvis responded quietly, "But I decreased the temperature and dimmed the lights every now and then before she eventually fell asleep approximately two hours ago."

"Good thinking, but why? She always worries about me when I'm on these missions?" he asked as he stepped up on the platform. He waited patiently as the suit was swiftly detached his body.

"Her stress levels were increasing rapidly and I didn't think it would be healthy for the baby," Jarvis responded plainly.

His thoughts momentarily paused for a minute before he smirked at Jarvis and said quietly, "I hardly thought you were one to be sentimental Jarvis."

He stepped off the pedestal as the parts of his suit became absorbed into different compartments.

"I didn't think so myself sir, the thought puzzled me at the time," Jarvis continued candidly.

"Well the thought was commendable," he remarked genuinely as his eyes touched upon the surface of her red elegant hair sprawled out on the couch, "Thank you for monitoring her vitals."

"I felt responsible for her in your absence, sir," Jarvis remarked, "Miss Potts can be quite stubborn sometimes." He smirked at the thought of Jarvis' statement. It was very true indeed; Pepper was quite stubborn at times.

His eyes never left her body as he made his way around the couch. The bump at her stomach was beginning to show now and it was only a matter of time before they would have to call a press conference to settle the record. He didn't really want to think of having to deal with the press right now but he knew sooner or later it was inevitable.

He couldn't help the overwhelming warmth that was suddenly brewing in his body when his eyes found her hand sprawled over the bump. It looked possessive and protective at the same time. He wondered at the thought of how strong the bond between mother and child actually was. It was always a wondrous thing at how women could so easily deal with kids while men stumbled about like big kids themselves. He quietly concluded that women were just genetically programmed to protect their offspring's.

He leaned down in a very un-Tony like fashion and pressed a gentle kiss at her lips. She stirred a little as he intertwined his hand with hers that had been resting on the bump. He made a feathery touch against the bump as if he were afraid a harder touch would harm it. But she tightens the hold of his hand and relaxes his tensed hand to rest firmly instead.

"Tony," she yawned a little as she blinked her eyes open, she stared up at him with relief written all over her expression.

"Hey," he smiled warmly and pressed another kiss at her lips, "I just got back a few minutes ago. You should be in bed."

"I know, I know...But I just-" she mumbled as she stretched up and held onto his shoulder for support.

He winced almost instantly and drew back. He noticed her sudden worried gaze and he shook his head and waved a hand as if waving off his pain.

"It's nothing, probably just a scratch," he replied plainly.

"Let me see," she instructed and turned his body around to have a better look at his wound.

He heard her gasp, followed by light feathery touches of her fingers on his shoulder. He wondered how bad it actually looked. Surely it wasn't broken but maybe bruised from the indent in his Iron Man suit?

"Is it bad?" he asked, his eyes peering behind him.

"What were you doing, fighting off an army?" she asked as she scrambled for the first aid kit sitting on the table behind her. He blinked at how quickly she had the first aid kit. He wondered whether she had placed it there as if to ready herself for tending to his wounds. He decided to ask her later.

"It was nothing," he brushed off quietly, turning his gaze to the floor. He doesn't know if he wants to tell her about what he had seen and done today. He doesn't even want to think about it himself. But she deserved to know if nothing else, he concluded quietly at the back of his mind.

His eyes found hers in a matter of seconds as he felt her hands sliding past his shoulder and turning him back around again. Her gaze was mixed with reassurance and understanding as she stretched a hand to rest on his neck. She fingered the hair behind his neck and he smiled because that was very much a Pepper thing to do. She knew that it was his weakest spot and he realized he hadn't actually told her that before. Then again before they began this relationship, he didn't even know he had a weak spot.

"Was it bad?" she asked, her eyes filled with concern and sincerity that makes him want to put his suit back on and destroy every evil thing in the world.

"I was in Afghanistan since this morning, had to do the regular surveillance for Fury, that guy from SHIELD," he started, his voice filled with anguish.

She nodded and he felt her hand slipping into his as she intertwined their fingers.

"My mission was to survey the area, make sure everything was okay," he paused a little as if he were bracing himself for the next part of the story, "I saw a kid, he was probably 4 or 5, he saw me flying above and he gave me a little wave. He lightened up my dull morning and everything was going according to plan, I was sure that I could be home by dinner at the rate the mission was going."

She gave his hand a little squeeze.

"I was just about to pass over that village when I heard the explosion...

He saw the flames erupting from one of the buildings and then a glint in the sunlight caught his eye. He stared down at the source of the glint only to discover several men pouring into the city in dark clothing. There were men and women and children running in every direction.

He called in to the others and requested backup. He flew down to the nearest dark clothed man and instantly threw the man back several yards. He took hold of the bomb and counted approximately "00:10" remaining. His startled realization hit him and he grabbed hold of it and flung it as high into the sky as he could.

The explosion hit the sky and filled the area with smoke and debris. His suit's target locked onto the darked clothed men running in the other direction. His miniature turrets took care of them but before he could make a start toward the bomb, it exploded and threw him back a little. He coughed a little at the thrust of the bomb.

"Tony," he heard Fury over the intercom in his suit. "We're at the east end, what's your status?"

His ears rang a little at the aftermath of the bomb and he mumbled, "West end, cleared two bombs."

"That was you then?"

"What?"

"The blast in the sky?"

"I had nowhere else to throw it," he replied as he searched around for any other bombs.

"Circle to North end, I think that's the end of the bombs. What's the target body count?"

"Six so far," he answered as his eyes continued to search the area.

He heard another explosion ring off to the west and he figured that Fury was probably on to it now. He was about to circle to north when he heard it.

It was distant at first but he followed the sound and it soon grew into a murmur of a child crying. His head snapped to the direction of the sound and he was taken aback at the collapsed building. He heard the crying growing louder and began pulling parts of the building away. He threw them at the side as the crying continued.

The last concrete he pulled off and the sight that caught his eyes made his heart drop. The same little boy he had seen minutes ago was lying down with his legs buried under several fragments of the building. The blood was pouring across the floor, surrounding the boy's small body as his ragged crying grew louder. He sprang into action and lifted the front cover of his helmet.

"It's okay, I'm going to help you," he soothed the child as he began to pull off the concrete fragments away from the boy's legs.

But the boy's legs were far from help; they were shattered and bloodied and had taken the form of something else other than a perfect pair of legs. He glanced back at the boy and saw nothing but emptiness. The boy's pale skin and closed eyes indicated one thing to him. He was dead.

...They bomb their own people, Pepper," he said with disbelief, "how could anybody do that?"

"To make a statement, for belief in whatever it are they as being the right and only way," she answered, pulling him against her.

"I held his hand for so long... I was the last person he ever saw," he mumbled into her neck.

He felt her tears dripping down his shirt and he pulled her against him for the much needed comfort. She held tightly onto him, her hands running up and down his back as he breathed away the memory and focused more on the bump he was feeling between them. It pressed against him as if reminding him of what he had to protect now, that between him and his Iron Man suit, he wasn't going to let anything like that happen to Pepper or their unborn son.

It was much later when he awoke to a silent and empty workshop. He felt her empty place beside him and wondered where she had gone. He brought himself to sit properly on the couch before he caught a glimpse of the bandages wrapped around his arm. He looked down at his neatly bandaged arm and winced when he tried to stretch his shoulder. He felt with his uninjured hand at the tender part of his right shoulder. He could feel the muscles trembling beneath his touch as he settled back comfortably on the couch.

"Jarvis, where's Pepper?" he asked as he slipped a finger under the bandages. He tore at the corners and swiftly removed the bandage. The scratch that started at his hand stretched to the bend of his elbow.

"Good morning sir, Miss Potts is in the living room," Jarvis replied.

"What is she doing and what time is it?" he asked again as he carefully scratched his arm.

"She is talking to Miss Rushman and it is 10:40am," Jarvis answered simply. "Would you like me to let Miss Potts know that you are awake?"

"No, that won't be necessary," he said as he stood up. He glanced wearily at the Mark V suit sitting on the wall and noted the dents and bullet holes on its exoskeleton. "What is the damage percentage of the Mark V suit?"

"Commencing diagnostic on Mark V…" Jarvis noted with a brief pause before he continued, "The results show that the damage percentage of Mark V is 65%."

He sighed and leaned against the couch as he began instructing Jarvis "Display the damaged Mark V suit in wire frame mode." The wire frame three dimensional model of the Mark V suit appeared in front of him within seconds.

"Identify all dents and bullet holes," he instructed again, "the highlight them in red."

"At once," Jarvis replied.

"Okay," he muttered as he ran a hand across his face, almost the entire suit itself was highlighted in red, "run diagnostic of the highlighted areas."

"Sir, according to all highlighted areas it appears that the exo-skeleton of the Mark V suit will need to be replaced, there is much impact and penetration damage that cannot be fixed," Jarvis explained.

"Well it was obvious without a diagnostic I suppose," he mumbled and sighed again as he spun the Mark V wire frame around. He layered his hand and brought the Mark V to a horizontal position. He touched the area at the right shoulder plate and noticed a rather large indent. He winced at the pain he suddenly remembered emitting from his shoulder.

"Alright," he started, "how does the inner-skeleton look?"

"It appears to be undamaged sir."

"Display wire frame of original Mark V, departmentalize Mark V into exo-skeleton and inner-skeleton frames."

The original wire frame of the Mark V suit appeared beside the damaged wire frame suit. It reacted to the instructions of his hands as he split the inner-skeleton from the exo-skeleton.

"Strip the damaged exo-skeleton from the Mark V and replace it with the original exo-skeleton, commence render once the exo-skeleton has been removed from the damaged Mark V suit," he instructed as he walked toward the fridge.

"The estimated time of completion is in 12 hours, 45 minutes and 27 seconds," Jarvis responded.

He nodded as he grabbed an ice coffee from the fridge. "Sounds good, is Natalie still talking to Pepper?"

"No," a voice started from behind him.

He turned around and smirked when his eyes fell on her. She was standing at the door of his workshop looking rather comical in loose pants and one of his MIT shirts.

"I see you took off the bandage," she said as she rolled her eyes and sighed.

"My hand was itchy," he replied as he made his way to her. He placed the iced coffee on the table and slid his arms around her waist. "Besides, it feels better now."

"It hardly looks okay," she complained as she took hold of his hand to gain a better look. "How will you even manage to wear your suit tonight without it bleeding through?"

He shrugged and pressed a kiss at her lips. "I'll put on another bandage before I suit up for the dinner or party or whatever it is tonight," he said indifferently as he shrugged her hand away so he could slip his hand around her again.

She stared curiously at him with a complex gaze.

"What's wrong?"

"You remembered that we've got the Firefighter's Family Fund Benefit casual cocktails tonight?" she asked in return.

He chuckled and nodded, "How can I not? I'm curious to see the excuses you'll make when people offer you alcohol, boss."

She gasped, "I completely forgot about that and stop calling me, boss."

"We can always cancel and stay in for the night," he suggested as he leaned in to press a lingering kiss on her neck. He pressed a few trailing kisses from her jaw to her neck. He felt her arching toward him and light bump of her stomach pressing into him. The warmth spread through his body at the thought of it and he suddenly found himself smiling like a hopeless idiot.

"Mhmmm… as great as that sounds, Tony, we've already confirmed that we are going, they won't like us much if we-" she moaned as he slipped a hand under her shirt to slide up her bare back.

His uninjured hand was on the verge of slipping the shirt of her body before Jarvis' caution instruction had halted the rest of his imagination.

"Sir, Miss Rushman is on her way down the steps," Jarvis alerted with a tone of caution.

He paused momentarily, his hands buried somewhere inside her shirt touching her sensitive and soft skin. He sighed at the kiss he had pressed against her neck. She too had stopped running her fingers through his hair and mildly retracted from arching her body against him. They went from being heatedly engrossed with each other to displaying an affectionate and harmless embrace. He burrowed his face into the crook of her neck and breathed in her scent as she too replicated his gesture. They remained like that for a minute until he slipped back and noticed Natalie hurriedly retracting back up the steps.

"Jarvis, tell Miss Rushman not to hurry off, we're decent now," he said as he reluctantly pulled back from the embrace. He gave her a quick lingering kiss on the lips before they caught a glimpse of Natalie's feet coming back down the steps.

"She has an incredible knack for inconvenience," he muttered quietly before Natalie came into view.

Pepper smiled quietly beside him and leaned against him as they watched Natalie punching in her code into the glass door.

"I know, that's the price you pay for a PA."

"She's a SHIELD in disguise as a PA," he commented.

"Well at least I know I can trust her," Pepper said under her breath as the glass door swung open as Natalie walked in with a rather convincing gaze.

"What may we do for you, Natalie?" he asked briefly as he stretched for the ice coffee he had left on the table.

"A letter from Fury to you Mr Stark," she said simply and handed him an envelope.

"Not another mission?" he asked as he took hold of the letter. "If it is I'm afraid I'm going to turn it down, Pepper cannot go unescorted to the Firefighter's thing tonight."

"It's a payment," she answered, "For the damages," she motioned to the suits hanging on the wall.

He glanced back at the suits for a moment.

"I don't really need the money, I get plenty from my boss here," he added as he motioned to Pepper.

"I really wish you would stop calling me that," Pepper mumbled beside him. "It's hard enough to remind myself that I'm not your PA anymore."

Natalie smiled warmly at them before turning her gaze to Pepper. "Miss Potts, I've got your dress from the dry cleaners and I've placed it upstairs in your room and Mr Stark I've got your suit pressed and ready as well."

"Do we really have to do this?" he asked, looking between Pepper and Natalie.

They looked at him pointedly and he sighed.

It was going to be a long evening.