Pepper quickly pulled herself away from Tony, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes. 'I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry,' she chanted. 'I am a strong woman and I will not cry over his thoughtless, careless words. I would have become an emotional wreck years ago if I let his words affect me.'

Tony's brow furrowed in confusion as Pepper quickly pulled out of his arms, watching as she got to her feet. His eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of the tears filling her baby blue eyes. 'Wait, what's wrong? Why's she crying?' he thought. He felt his confusion grow as Pepper began to pace the room, raking her hand through her disheveled locks.

"I-I know we never discussed having a kid," Pepper said, her voice hoarse as she tried to fit back her tears. She refused to break down and cry in front of him. 'If Tony doesn't want to have the baby, then fine; I'll have the baby by myself.' The thought of going through her entire pregnancy without Tony by her side, without him there to experience all of the big moments caused her to bite her bottom lip to hold in a sob. "But I won't give up this baby, Tony."

Pepper's words hit Tony like a ton of bricks, causing him to jump to his feet. 'Is that what she thinks? She thinks I don't want to have the baby? Why would she even think that? I mean sure we've never really talked about having a kid of our own and I don't exactly know how to be a dad; I didn't have the world's best role model. But I never said I didn't wanna have the baby; where the hell did she get an idea like that?' Tony thought frantically as he walked over to her. "Pepper."

"I mean it won't be easy having a kid alone," Pepper said, ignoring Tony as she continued to pace. "There'll be doctors appointments to go to and baby books to read-"

"Pepper," Tony said a bit louder.

"And I'll have to take a maternity leave toward the end of my pregnancy, but I'll probably be able to work until I'm eight months along or so. And I can always work from home during my leave; I won't need to go into the office."

"Pepper!" Tony shouted.

"What!" Pepper replied, turning toward him.

Tony grabbed Pepper's waist, pulling her body against hers as he kissed her forcefully, effectively ending her rant. Pepper froze momentarily, confused by his actions, before she melted into his kiss. 'A kiss can only be a good sign, right?' she thought, wrapping her arms around Tony's neck to pull him closer. Tony broke the kiss gently as his lungs began to burn from lack of oxygen, leaning his forehead against hers as he tried to catch his breath. "You're absolutely insane, you know," Tony said breathlessly, his arms wrapped around her loosely.

"I'm confused," Pepper replied honestly.

"Why the hell did you even think that I didn't want to have the baby? Our baby? Have you lost your mind?," Tony said gently, brushing an errant strand of hair from her eyes. "Come on, Pep; I always thought you were the smarter person in this marriage. How could you even think I wouldn't want to have the baby?"

"But…you said you're pregnant," Pepper replied. "Not we, you."

"You got all upset over semantics? Seriously?" Tony asked incredulously. "Sure this is our kid, yours and mine, but technically you're having the baby, not me. This baby, our baby is growing inside of you." Tony pressed his palm against Pepper's perfectly flat stomach, a small smile on his lips. "Don't ever, ever, ever think I don't wanna have this baby, okay? Sure we didn't plan to have a baby or even talk about it, but I want to have this kid; I wanna have this kid with you. The only reason I wouldn't wanna have the baby would be if you didn't want to have the baby; I would never force this on you."

"Oh Tony," Pepper said softly, tears streaming down her cheeks. The weight that had settled in her heart at the thought of having the baby without Tony's love and support vanished; she felt as if she could breathe again. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Potts," Tony replied, brushing the tears from her cheeks. "Just so we're clear now, you want to have this baby? You don't feel pressured by anything; you, Pepper Potts-Stark, want to have this baby?"

"Yes, I want to have this baby," Pepper replied, smiling slightly.

"We, and I'm emphasizing the we because semantics are everything, are having this baby together?"

"Yes, we are having this baby together."

"You are willing to carry around my little genius demon spawn inside of you for nine months?" Tony asked, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Mom said I was a holy terror through her pregnancy and most of my childhood."

"And most of your adulthood," Pepper added. "Yes, I'm willing to carry your child for nine months; if I can manage to make you behave, I'm sure I can get our child to behave. The baby is one-half me so he or she should have more self-control than you."

"Out of curiosity, exactly how did we get ourselves into this wonderful situation?"

"With a lack of self-control," Pepper replied dryly. "Lack of self-control, you nearly dying on a mission, and my birth control being changed. It was a recipe for disaster or I guess pregnancy."

"I hate to say it, but it was bound to happen eventually," Tony said, smirking as Pepper swatted his arm gently. "Well you know what we have to do now, right?"

"What?"

"We have to celebrate," Tony replied mischievously, scooping her into his arms and walking toward the way. "With a lack of self-control."


Yay! Things have worked out perfectly ^_^ What could happen next? Reviews please