Chapter 3

The trip back to Malibu started out quiet. Each of them were lost in their own thoughts. Pepper had her left hand on Tony's forearm again. Tony kept glancing at Pepper's rings and smiling.

Suddenly there was a muffled rumble Pepper recognized as Tony's stomach. "How about I call Guido's and order our usuals to go? We can swing by on the way home and pick up the food." Pepper then smiled lustfully at Tony. "Wild monkey sex is always better on a full stomach!"

Tony's eyebrows shot up. "Err.. that's sounds great: both the food and the wild monkey sex part." Tony reaching over to squeeze her left hand "I am hungry" he added "for both!"

Pepper pulled out her Blackberry and in less than a minute had ordered their food. "Martin says it will be about 20 minutes." She then sent Jarvis a message requesting that the bots set up seating for two on the patio, complete with candlelight. As she sent the message another message was received, this one from her Grandmother. "My Granddad's birthday party is this Saturday."

Tony glanced over at Pepper his eyes turning very serious. "I don't want you to stay at the mansion by yourself after I leave tomorrow. Going to your parent's ranch is a good idea. I don't have many friends in the Middle East, but Al Qaida has a ton of friends here in the USA. I think this kidnapping has been organized by their top guys, so when I go busting heads over there they may plan a retaliatory strike here." He put his Bluetooth ear piece in and asked it to dial Happy. "Hey Hap. I'm going to need you to pick Pepper up at 8:00 AM tomorrow at the mansion, and fly with her out to her parent's ranch. No, I am going to be out of the country. I am sending along Tom's A Team also since the ranch is a little isolated and you're going to need some help covering it. Thanks." Tony glanced over at Pepper who looked on the verge of objecting when he asked the Bluetooth to dial Tom Wiggins SI's security chief. "Sorry about the late call Tom, but I am going to need your A Team on protection duty for Pepper until at least the middle of next week. This must all remain quiet. No one must know where you are and that Pepper is with you. Can I get them assembled at my private jet way by 9:00 AM tomorrow? Great! Thanks." Tony then asked the Bluetooth to call Bill Thompson. "Bill I going to need you and Jerry to fly Pepper to her parents ranch near Flagstaff Arizona. This trip needs to be kept quiet. You will need to stay there until about mid week. Hap and Tom's A Team are going with Pepper. Thanks."

"Remember we need to stop by Guido's." Pepper said as the Audi turned back onto the PCH.

Tony pulled into the circle drive at Guido's and saw Martin waiting for them. Tony handed her a $100 and she gave it to Martin with a smile in exchange for the large box of food. She used her right hand keeping her left hand out of sight. "Thanks Martin!"

"My pleasure Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark. Enjoy the food and the beautiful evening." Martin cheerfully told them and waved at them as they drove away.

"I think Martin is hitting on you." Tony said softly, stealing a quick sideways glance at Pepper as she placed the box between her legs on the floor. "You know I can be quite the jealous husband."

"Caught me, Stark." Pepper purred "I really do have a thing for 72 year old restaurant owners whose idea of a pick up line is to talk about the weather."

Tony smiled at her and she gently squeezed his forearm. The short drive to the mansion was quiet. Tony pulled into Pepper's basement parking spot and he quickly got out and moved to open Pepper's door taking the food box from her with one hand and using the other hand to pull her up out of the car.

"Welcome home, Mrs. Stark." He said leaning in to kiss her gently on the lips as he pulled her into him.

"Thank you Mr. Stark." She replied running her hands under his jacket and up and down along his stomach. He shivered at her touch, nearly dropping the box of food. "Let's hurry with the food eating, so we can get on to the wild monkey sex, shall we."

He smiled and kissed her again more roughly than before, sucking on her lower lip, which he knew she liked. Pepper moaned into his mouth. "If you keep touching me like that before we eat, the only thing that I will be eating will be YOU!"

She looked up at him, smiled, grabbed her briefcase, and then grabbed his hand pulling him up the stairs. As he had promised Pepper, Jarvis and the bots had the lights dimmed, soft music playing, and the fireplace lit for them. The patio had been set up with a small table, two chairs, and two candles in holders that were burning brightly. "Welcome home Mr. and Mrs. Stark! Congratulations on your marriage. Long overdue in my opinion."

"Thank you Jarvis." Pepper replied politely.

"Long overdue in my opinion also." Tony replied opening the door to the patio while Pepper turned to the bar to pull out a bottle of wine, two glasses, and one water bottle. "Jarvis are you finished with all of the calculations for the mission?"

"Yes sir." Jarvis replied "everything is complete and ready to go. I might also add that the success probabilities have increased tremendously from earlier this evening up to 48%."

"Let's hope for a little good luck too." Tony replied. "Let me know if anything changes, if not then I will talk to you in the morning."

Jarvis acknowledged Tony's request for privacy for the rest of the night. "Understood, sir. I hope you and Mrs. Stark enjoy your wedding night."

Tony smiled as he set the food box on one side of the table and opened it. As was Guido's custom, there were two ceramic platters of food each sealed with a plastic cover and two sets of silverware. Tony set the platters out onto the table across from each other and grabbed the box and the covers and took them back inside the house as Pepper was returning from the bar.

"All set." He said as he took the wine bottle from her hands and opened the patio door for her. He glanced at his watch: 9:38PM. With any luck he thought, he and Pepper would be having wild monkey sex no later than 10:30PM. His wish for a night of wedding lovemaking with the woman of his dreams just might be coming true.

Tony pulled out Pepper's chair for her and poured her a glass of wine before sitting down. Pepper smiled at him. He sat down and poured himself two fingers of wine, opened the bottle of water and took a long drink. They began eating in silence, occasionally glancing up at one another. They both wanted to finish eating quickly, but still took the time to enjoy their dinner together like they had done countless times in the past.

Since neither one of them had eaten lunch today, they both finished up their meal rather quickly. Tony got up and picked Pepper's plate and silverware with his own, and put the glasses and water bottle on top. Pepper blew out both candles and picked up the wine bottle. She had only had one glass of wine, so she re-corked the bottle and followed Tony inside. Tony surprisingly put the platters and silverware in the dishwasher and the glasses in the sink without prompting. He grabbed 4 bottles of water out of the fridge for later holding them easily between the fingers of one hand.

Pepper eyed the water bottles looking questioningly at him.

"I expect both of us to be doing a lot of sweating tonight, Mrs. Stark." He said waggling his eyebrows seductively at her.

"Really, Mr. Stark." She replied opening the fridge and placing the bottle of wine in, and pulling out two lemon-lime Gatorades. She then moved to his side putting an arm around his waist. "Then maybe we should include some Gatorades to keep your electrolytes in balance and to keep all of your gorgeous muscles working at their optimum level."

"God I love it when you talk dirty to me!" he said wrapping his free arm around her waist as they moved towards the stairs.

"Oh you haven't heard anything yet." She said seductively is a low, deep voice.

Tony's manhood twitched at the sound of her voice, and he responded by grabbing her hand pulling her up the stairs. Tony flung open the master bedroom door and stopped both him and Pepper in the hallway. He then took the Gatorades from her. "Wait here a second." He went inside the bedroom and sat all of the bottles on one of the night tables and then returned to the doorway. He smiled broadly at her and quickly picked her up bridal style and carried her into the bedroom. "Happy Honeymoon, Mrs. Stark." He whispered in her ear as he leaned his head down to kiss her.

Pepper's hands moved to the back of his neck as they both deepened the kiss. Tony gently sat Pepper down on the side of the bed and then sat down next to her without breaking the kiss. Tony's pants were already tented showing his arousal. Pepper felt goose bumps rise up on her chest and back, and her panties were becoming wet with lust.

"Please let me undress you." He breathed into her ear sending another wave of goose bumps cascading down her neck to her chest. She moaned her reply of 'yes' to him, and he began to take off her suit jacket, tossing it on the floor. He felt his fingers trembling and sucked in a deep breath, willing the trembling to stop.

Pepper pulled back from him and grabbed both his hands. "It's OK Tony. I am shaking too. I feel scared and happy, and horny all at the same time."

Tony's eyes went wide at her words. "Yeah, I feel the same way. What are we going to do about this?" he motioned between the two of them.

"Make love to each other until all we feel is happy." She replied pulling his jacket off and tossing it to the floor on top of hers. She pushed him down on the bed and pulled his legs around onto the bed. She then hiked her skirt up to her waist and straddled his thighs, her eyes moving from his face to his growing manhood. She looked up and smiled at him and then reached down to unfasten his tie and slowly unbutton his dress shirt. She took off his cuff links and leaned over to place them on the night stand making sure that her breasts moved right over his face. Then she slowly pulled his shirt back to expose his chest running her fingers in circles around his nipples, pinching them. She planted a soft kiss in the middle of the Arc Reactor. Tony sucked in a quick breath and felt himself getting harder by the second. She reached for his belt, undoing it and pulling it out of the belt loops in his pants in a fluid quick motion, tossing it over the side of the bed. She then started unfastening his pants.

After recovering from Pepper's covered breasts being suddenly up close and personal, Tony's hands became just as busy as Pepper's. He was unbuttoning her blouse and pulling it back onto her shoulders. She briefly stopped with his pants to shrug her shirt off and onto the floor. She was wearing a light blue lacy bra which fastened in front. Tony licked his lips as he ran his fingers under the lace and pulled slightly on the bra.

She suddenly pulled him up to her, peeled his shirt and tie off, and deposited them swiftly on the growing pile of clothes next to the bed, immediately pushing him back down on the bed going back to work on his pants.

Tony had always loved a bossy Pepper. He had to force himself to keep his hands away from her bra, wanting to prolong the foreplay. He reached behind her instead and felt for the zipper to her skirt, and using both hands, managed to unzip it and tug it gently upwards to just below her bra. This movement exposed her blue lace thong and lots and lots of hips. Her panties were very wet with her arousal. Tony moaned loudly. "God, you are so gorgeous!"

Pepper had successfully now unzipped his pants and was debating her next move. Tony was very distracted massaging her hips with an intensity that bordered on painful. So, Pepper decided to speed things up a bit.

She reached down and pulled her skirt over her head in one quick motion, throwing it onto the ever growing pile of clothes on the side of the bed. Then she rose up to her knees, reaching down at the same time to goose Tony in the ass shooting him up off the mattress at the same time she pulled Tony's dress slacks down to his knees exposing his Iron Man boxer briefs.

Tony's eyes widened. "Wow, I have never had my pants taken off like that before! I think I'm in LOVE!"

"You better believe it, Mr. Stark." Pepper said sitting back down on this thighs and smiling at his choice of underwear for the night. "Let's see if there really is an Iron Man inside here." She ran the fingers of one hand over his bulging erection starting at his balls and ending up at his tip.

Tony growled deeply and grabbed her by both butt cheeks and pulled her towards him by slowly sliding her wet panties across his thighs and onto his waist to rest next to Iron Man Jr.

Pepper hissed and tried her best not to rip his underwear right off of him right then and impale herself on his rigid manhood. She barely restrained herself and found herself breathing so rapidly she wondered if she were going to hyperventilate. She distracted herself by turning and pulling his slacks further down his legs. Tony then kicked his pants along with his shoes off the bed.

"The first time can be with my shoes and thigh highs on if you like." She lustfully whispered into his right ear licking his ear lobe "After that Mr. Stark, I want my shoes off because my feet are killing me."

Upon hearing those words Tony quickly grabbed her and flipped their positions, and hovered over her. He yanked his underwear off with a flourish and tossed them over his shoulder. Then he slowly undid the front clasp of Pepper's bra helping her slide the straps off of her arms. He reached down with his mouth and tugged the bra out from behind her dropping it on her stomach. Then he licked his way down to her panties. He slid his tongue into the waistband of her panties and then gently tugged them down to her knees using his teeth finally pulling them off with one of his hands. He nipped and licked his way back up her body to her head making sure he spent extra time suckling both breasts.

Pepper was on the verge of both an orgasm and insanity at this point. Tony's eyes were so dark with lust they looked black in color. She shivered under his heated gaze.

"I am so hungry for you Pepper." He growled at her. "I am going to make you come so hard that you are going to forget about every other man except me." He moved his head back down between her legs hoisting both of her legs over his shoulders. As he nipped, licked, and sucked her, his hands ran up and down her thigh highs to her shoes and back up again.

Pepper was so wet and needy that she found herself writhing against Tony's head, her voice spilling out all sorts of words, some of them making sense, but most of them not making any sense at all…guttural random words urging him on, letting him know he was doing all the right things for her. As his tongue circled her clit and he began to suck, all of her physical and emotional barriers broke down at once. As the contractions of her orgasm overtook her, she screamed out his name and then broke down into tears, the release wringing out every emotion she had pent up inside her. She slowly became aware of Tony's hands stroking her stomach and her hips and murmuring her name.

"It's OK Pepper, I've got you. Let it all out Baby Mama. I love you so much." Tony whispered to her as he held on to her. He wanted to satisfy her totally and unselfishly. He was quite sure that he had never felt this way about anyone ever before. As her breathing rate slowed, he gently placed her legs back down on the bed and tenderly removed her high heels and her stockings. He massaged each foot for a few minutes hearing her moan in appreciation. Then he slowly moved his body up along hers, kissing every part of her he could reach and stroking all the other parts until he came to her lips. He kissed her passionately using his tongue like he wanted to use his manhood on her, driving his tongue into her mouth. He moaned in pleasure as her hands massaged his back muscles running her hands down to knead his buttocks and then back up again.

"I think it's time for that wild monkey sex now." She whispered in one ear and taking his earlobe into her mouth and nibbling on it. "Do you think the Stark Weapon of Mass Conception is ready for action?"

Tony pulled away from her and rose up on one elbow and gave her a big smile. With his free hand he positioned his tip at her entrance, took a deep breath, and gently pushed inside of her stretching her as he pushed. Her walls were like wet porcelain and the friction created between them was amazing. He found a slow rhythm that had her pushing back against him with every thrust. Tony knew that their first time would be short but sweet. "Can't… Hold… On… Very… Long." He managed to get out to her as his breathing became labored.

"Tony, just let go for me. I want you to come for me. I love you!" He started thrusting harder and his speed increased. Pepper met every one of his thrusts by arching up into him. Her Pilate training had enabled her to put just the right pressure on him as he drove himself in and out of her. Suddenly, she couldn't believe she was about to have another orgasm, but her body definitely seemed to have other plans. She started to tremble and her inner walls started to convulse around Tony. Her mind went blank and she swore she could see stars. "Oh god, Tony!"

Tony felt her contractions and began to thrust even harder and deeper. She cried out his name and dug her finger nails into his back and his neck. The pulsing of her orgasm finally pushed him over the edge and he came inside of her with a loud groan as he pulsed inside of her. His thrusts became erratic and he finally stopped doing his best not to collapse on top of her.

Tony slowly pulled out and rolled off of her, making them both moan again. He reached over and grabbed a discarded pillow and gently placed the pillow under her hips.

"This will give my boys the gravity advantage." He said curling up next to her and wrapping his arms around her. "You need to stay still for a few minutes and give them a chance to swim upstream.'

"OK" she murmured drowsily "I don't think I can move anyway. I love you Mr. Stark." Her eyes drifted closed.

He felt his eyes closing too, but not before he pressed a kiss to her forehead "I love you too, Mrs. Stark." Tony found himself praying that their first time would produce a Stark baby. He wanted to make sure that if something did happen to him on this mission, Pepper wouldn't be alone. After a few minutes, his body finally shut down, giving into sleep.

Tony became aware again as he felt a moist mouth gently sucking his rapidly hardening manhood. He looked down along his body only to find his view blocked by a somewhat messy head of strawberry blond hair moving slowly up and down. He felt his balls being massaged gently. "I can honestly say that I have never been woken up like this before and I like it!" He told her in a deep, sleepy voice as he gently stroked her hair. "I like it a lot!" He glanced over at the clock and saw that it was 1:03 AM. "How long have you been awake?"

"Just a few minutes" she managed to get out between licks "I was awoken by Tony Junior here trying to poke a hole in me and thought I needed to remedy that." She took his balls into her mouth one at a time.

Tony threw back his head onto the pillow and groaned. He pulled his hands out of Pepper's hair and grabbed the sheet on either side of him and held on. He was so hard his manhood was throbbing in time with his heart beat. He knew he was getting close "Pepper… please… I want… to come… in your… Pepperpot.. not your… mouth." He managed to get out between moans.

Pepper stopped moving and Tony could feel her shaking with laughter. "Did you just call my vagina a 'Pepperpot'?" she asked as she rose up to look over his chest to his face?

"I…. guess…I….did." He said through clinched teeth with his eyes tightly closed still deeply concentrating on fighting off his orgasm, as her hands were still very busy squeezing and kneading his balls.

She stopped what she was doing and scooted up on the bed and then leaned over him, pulling his hands away from the sheets. "So, you don't want to waste any of that Stark baby batter?" she said placing his hands on her breasts.

He cautiously opened his eyes and looked at her. "Nope" was all he managed to get out, his brain barely connected to his mouth at this point, his hands busy kneading her breasts.

"Then come here big boy." she said lustfully wrapping her arms around his neck and lowering herself onto the bed pulling him with her. "Let's make babies."

Tony sprang into action and pushed her down flat on the bed lifting her closest leg up and over his waist as he sank deeply into her. Both of them moaned loudly. Tony sucked in a quick breath and began thrusting deeply inside her. Their position allowed Tony to massage her breasts with his left hand as he began to alternate between squeezing and stroking each breast. He then moved his hand further down and gently pressed on her "Pepperpot' making her groan and whimper even more. "Oh god, Tony. That feels so…good…..don't.…ever…stop."

Tony grunted and thrust even harder into her. His right hand held on to her shoulder and he kissed and suckled her neck. Her hands stroked his arms and chest.

She could feel her orgasm building and she could feel him speed up his thrusting. "Just…a …little…more" she moaned.

Tony pushed down a little harder on her clit and he felt her gasp once, twice and started to feel her walls contract around him. He couldn't hold back any longer as he felt the orgasm start at the base of his spine and spread out into his manhood. As he surged into her hard and began emptying himself "Pepper!" was all he could manage to get out of his mouth between moans. He thrust a few more times into her before everything went black and he lost consciousness.

He awoke in the same position a few minutes later to the sound of Pepper's soothing voice and her hands caressing his cheek. "Tony, it's OK, just rest for a while. I love you."

At her words he smiled and whispered into her neck. "All I'm feeling now is happy, Pepper."

"Me too." She replied and they both drifted into a deep post orgasmic sleep.

They woke up an hour later and made love all over again. This pattern repeated itself twice more before Pepper was awakened by her Blackberry chime at 5:30AM. All of the water and Gatorade bottles had been emptied and were now scattered all over the floor amongst their clothing.

Tony was still sound asleep and she debated going downstairs without waking him, but thought better of it. "I'm going downstairs to start baking bacon in the oven." She whispered in his ear as she pulled herself out of his arms. "You stay here and sleep and I'll be back in a few minutes."

Tony cracked open one eye and reached over to grab one of her arms. "M'kay, I love you Pepperpot."

"I love you too, Tony, now go back to sleep." She stroked his abs for a minute until he settled back into a sound sleep, lightly snoring. She leaned down and brushed the hair from his forehead and planted a soft kiss there, then eased herself off of the bed. She padded over to the closet and pulled out one of Tony's bath robes, put it on, and quietly left the bedroom shutting the door behind her.

Pepper got in the kitchen and pulled the bacon out of the freezer and placed it into the microwave to defrost while she turned on the oven. She loaded and set the timer on the coffee machine. Then she pulled out the pancake mix and made batter for 8 pancakes. She pulled the chocolate chips out of the freezer so they could thaw out. The microwave dinged and Pepper pulled the bacon out and laid 12 pieces on a cookie sheet. Then she covered the bacon with brown sugar and slid the sheet into the oven. She programmed the oven to have the bacon done by 6:15AM and walked back upstairs to the bedroom.

Tony was wide awake and laying with his head propped up on two pillows staring at the bedroom door. "After you left I just couldn't go back to sleep. It suddenly dawned on me that not only can't I live without you, but I can't sleep without you either."

"Oh Tony." She whispered laying down with her head on his chest. She ran her hands up and down his ribcage. "When you get back from the mission, you're going to meet me at my parent's ranch, right?" He nodded and she continued. "My granddad has a 1941 Ford ½ ton pick-up with a 221 flathead that he needs help repairing. I think you and he could work on it together and get it running right." Pepper knew that Tony loved old cars and trucks and she wanted to give him something pleasant to think about and plan in the back of his mind. He lived to multi-task.

Tony shifted on his pillow, his interest definitely peaked "A 221 Flathead huh, yeah, I might be able to help him out." He kissed her on the top of the head as he rubbed circles on her back. "Wait a minute, how do you know about flatheads?"

"Tony, I was raised on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. We were 5 miles from our nearest neighbor and 20 miles from the nearest town. That isolation forces you to become mechanically inclined. For extra money, I worked summers at the local tractor dealer in Flagstaff as a mechanic."

"You were a diesel mechanic? Why am I just now finding this out about you?" He exclaimed rolling himself over on top of her and looking down on her.

"Two reasons: 1: You never asked, and 2: You don't own any diesel powered vehicles that I could amaze and impress you with my mechanical abilities on." She pulled him down into a kiss as he slid the robe off of her and he began to suckle her breasts. "Shower for two, Mr. Stark?"

He lifted his head from her chest, pressed a quick kiss to her lips, and rolled off the bed pulling her with him and pulling her out of the robe. "Shower for two Mrs. Stark." He backed her towards the bathroom door as he continued to plant kisses on her face and neck. By the time they reached the shower he was already sporting an erection and his manhood was pinned between their stomachs.

"Have you ever made love on a creeper under a tractor?" he asked her breathlessly.

"No" she replied matter of factly "there's not enough ground clearance on most tractors to do that, Tony."

"I guess that depends on the size of the implement it's pulling, doesn't it?" He replied kissing her deeply and squeezing her backside lovingly "I have a pretty big implement you know."

"I have heard rumors to that effect, Mr. Stark" she replied trying not to look down between their bodies. "Almost as big as your ego." She backed into the shower, gently pulling him in with her. "You and your implement need to get in the shower now!"

Tony's shower was big enough for four people, so the two of them had plenty of room. Pepper gently pushed Tony onto the seating ledge as the warm water of the shower blanketed them. She put her arms around his neck again and kissed him passionately as she lowered herself on to his rigid manhood. The ledge was the perfect height for her to ride him and she started out slow relaxing her muscles on the downside and contracting when she lifted herself up. His hands were on her waist and his head was against the shower wall, eyes screwed shut in ecstasy, his mouth slightly open. She let his hands dictate the speed of travel. After a few minutes, Tony's hands became more demanding, and Pepper sped up her movements. She waited until he was moaning and trembling with lust and then she started contracting her muscles as she moved downward also. She was getting very aroused herself and she found herself leaning forward so their pelvic bones collided on every down stroke. After a few more minutes, their movements became more intense and somewhat out of control.

"God Pepper!" Tony cried out as he grabbed her hard and pulled her down onto his lap as his orgasm hit him. He pulsed into her once, then again, then again. He had never recalled ever coming this hard before, and then he suddenly felt like he was on the verge of blacking out again.

Feeling him coming inside of her, Pepper lifted her legs and ground herself into his pubic bone as her orgasm tossed her with wave after wave of pleasure. "Tony! …Oh my! ..Tony! ..So good, so good." She tried to regain her footing, but her legs became weak and she fought for her balance, grabbing onto the handrail just to the left of Tony's head. This motion also pulled her chest into Tony's face.

Tony felt her breasts in his face and all thoughts of blacking out were gone immediately. "Pepper, are you OK. I didn't hurt you did I?

"I'm fine" she replied kissing the top of his head "I just have a case of the jelly legs, give me a moment and I will get up."

"You don't have to get up" he said sucking on one of her nipples conveniently placed near his mouth "I like where you are!"

"We need to wash up and finish our shower so we can eat." She said moving her legs back under her.

"I know, I just want to stay like this a few more minutes." He whispered desperately. Tony didn't want to let go of her. As much as he had been trying to keep negative thoughts about their future together locked away in his mind, he was starting to weaken as his time for departure grew closer. This could be the last time he would be with Pepper, and he wanted to hang on as long as he could.

Pepper stopped moving away from him immediately. She sensed a change in his mood. She suddenly wanted to make this moment last a little longer too. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him gently. "I love you, Anthony Stark."

"And I love you Pepperpot Stark." Tony whispered planting more kisses to her breasts and chest, glancing up quickly at her to see if she had caught his name reference.

Pepper smiled at his new name for her "You know that you absolutely can not call me Pepperpot in public, right?"

"Yes. dear." He replied in between kisses. "I will call you Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons in public!"

Pepper smacked him on top of his head as they both started to laugh.

They slowly finished their shower, lovingly washing each others bodies and hair. Time was getting short as they got out to dry off, brush teeth, and brush hair. Tony didn't want to shave before the mission (a superstition he had developed). They put on Tony's sweat pants and t-shirts and went downstairs to eat.

Pepper turned the griddle on, and as she waited for it to heat up she pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven. Tony leaned over one of her shoulders as she pulled the bacon off the sheet. Pepper took one of the slices and held it over her shoulder. In a flash Tony put the entire piece in his mouth. Then he moved over to the coffee machine getting two mugs from the cabinet. He fixed her coffee the way she liked it and took both mugs to the counter that bordered the kitchen and placed them in front of two bar stools sitting side by side.

"Could you get the chocolate chips out of the fridge for me please" she asked him sweetly.

"You bet!" Tony replied pulling out the bag "Wait a minute, are you fixing chocolate chip pancakes for me?"

"Of course." She replied as he handed her the bag. He quickly placed a kiss on her neck after moving her damp wavy hair out of the way and squeezed her hips tightly.

"You approve I take it." She said. He replied by kissing her on the other side of the neck.

"Yes, Mrs. Stark, I approve." He started to turn away from her but something about her caught his eye. "You look different this morning."

"My hair is wet and curling like a poodle, and I don't have any makeup on. Surprise: this is the real morning me." She joked pouring out four pancakes onto the griddle.

"No, I don't mean that" he tried to explain. "I mean your whole skin tone is different, almost like you're glowing."

"It's hot standing over this griddle, Mr. Stark" she replied "Or it could be all of that hot loving that I've had last night and this morning!"

"That's it. You're my hot Baby Mama now." He teased turning away from her.

She placed the cooked pancakes on a platter and poured the remaining 4 pancakes on the griddle and thought to herself about what he had just said. 'No, it couldn't be, could it? You couldn't be pregnant already could you?' She flipped the pancakes.

Tony was busy setting out plates and silverware and also thought about what he just said. 'She couldn't be pregnant already, could she?'

She put the cooked pancakes with the others on the platter and set it on the counter top between the plates next to the bacon that Tony had already set down and eaten half of. Then she opened the fridge and got out butter, maple and blueberry syrup, and of course the can of whipped cream and put those on the counter top.

She walked around as Tony pulled her bar stool out for her and he sat quickly down beside her. The clock on the wall displayed 6:40AM.

They ate in silence until Tony, who had just eaten the last slice of bacon, asked the question that both of them had on their minds. "Do you think you're pregnant?"

"I've been asking myself that same question." She admitted "I do feel a little strange, but so much has been happening in the last 12 hours, that this feeling may be just stress"

"Pepper, you've been under stress for 11 years. If you feel different now then maybe you are pregnant."

He got up to pick up dishes and started putting them in the dishwasher.

She started to get up to put away the butter, syrup, and whip cream, and she stopped suddenly and looked at her coffee. "I need to change to de-caf."

Tony turned to her quickly a smile breaking out on his face. He locked eyes with hers. He suddenly looked down at his crotch and gave it a slap with one hand "High five, Tony Junior. Good job!"

Pepper rolled her eyes at him and smiled. "No matter how many kids we have, there is always going to be one more, right Tony Junior."

"Oh yeah!" Tony replied strutting towards her taking her in his arms, leaning her backwards, and kissing her passionately.

"It's time to begin suiting up, Mr. Stark." Jarvis announced.

Pepper pulled Tony close and hugged him tightly. They put their arms around each other as they moved towards the staircase to the workshop in silence.

"Keep in touch with Jarvis so you can call Rhody and get the cavalry to me when I need them. Jarvis will fill you in after I leave on the specifics of the plan and tentative time line." They entered the workshop to find the bots waiting next to the assembly pad. Pepper helped him put on the neoprene suit. They were trying to keep their emotions in check. He stepped up on the pad and the bots starting the suit assembly process. There would be no goodbye kiss for them. That omission was also another superstition of Tony's. Before the helmet slid into place, Tony turned to look at her, as was his habit (another superstition actually) and shouted at her "You complete me, Mrs. Stark!" And with that Jarvis opened the hatch door and Tony blasted out of the workshop and into the cloudless morning sky.