AN: I tried not to post this tonight but could not resist in the end.
Two more chapters after this, and I warn you now, the angst only gets turned up from this chapter on out.
"Why didn't you call for me sooner, Tony?"
He heard the voice of Stephen Strange a second before the Master of the Mystical Arts appeared beside him.
"Hello to you too, Doc," Tony replied, briefly taking his eyes off of Pepper who was walking on the beach below to look at Strange.
Although there were chairs available for him to use, the sorcerer was floating beside him, having seated himself in the air.
"I'm serious, Stark. There was no need to allow it get this bad."
Tony shrugged, "I guess I didn't want to admit to myself that it was getting this bad. But the painkillers they gave me aren't working anymore. Not even taking the edge off now."
Stephen nodded, "It's because the painkillers you've been using are meant to help with post operative pain, and not the pain that comes with terminal illnesses."
Tony didn't ask how he knows exactly what kind of painkillers he'd been using up until today as the man is a wizard after all. Instead, he attempts to sit up in the lounger and immediately feels beads of sweat break out on his face as the movement jacks up his pain level to almost off the chart levels.
"I know," he ground out as soon as he had enough breath to do so, "But I... I don't want to... use anything stronger. They make... make you sleep and I need to spend whatever... time I've got left... awake. I want to be looking at Pepper's face when I... die."
"And so you will be, my friend," Stephen replied softly, waving his hands.
The pain was instantly gone.
Tony took a long, deep, refreshing breath and look at him, "Thank you. It was getting harder to breath." So hard in fact he knew he would soon have needed to use the oxygen the doctors gave them.
"You are welcome. I only wish there was more I could do." I wish I could save your life.
"And I wish I had our first meeting to do over again, Stephen. If I could, then I wouldn't be the same pain in the-" His voice trailed off when he felt the other man's hand on his shoulder.
"What's done is done, Tony. I wasn't exactly a big warm teddy bear to you either. It's over now, and although it's probably not much comfort, everything happened as it was supposed to. Everything."
"How do you know everything happened like it was supposed to? Because you saw it all?"
"Well yes, it's because I saw it but also because we're sitting here, having this conversation now. If Thanos had won for keeps, trust me, we wouldn't be here," he answered, looking down at Pepper, "And they wouldn't be here either."
Tony rolled his eyes, and chuckled, "Is there anything you don't know about?"
It was Stephen's turn to laugh, "Well I could say it's because I'm a sorcerer or I was eavesdropping on your conversation with Mrs. Stark that day I came to find you in the park. But as it is, I am only using the Doctor part in front of my name." He nodded towards Pepper.
Tony looked at his wife to see that Pepper had her hands on her stomach and was rubbing it.
"It's true I was a neurosurgeon in my former life, but I saw enough expectant mothers to recognize what she's doing means."
"I want this so much... want to be with her. I was such an idiot with her for the longest time, couldn't see what I had in her because I was too busy wasting my life away with booze, parties, and a different woman in my bed almost every night. And..."
He paused, rubbing his scar from the arc reactor, "And if it hadn't been for my time in the cave in Afghanistan, and for the friend who died saving my life asking me not to waste my life, then I'd still be living in a haze of booze, parties, and women."
"If it hadn't been for the cave in Afghanistan, you would have died years ago, and then we'd all be dead now because there wouldn't have been anyone else here who could have defeated Thanos."
"Don't you think you're being a little too melodramatic? If I hadn't been here, someone else would have stepped up to fight Thanos. Steve-"
"Only did his part. He couldn't do what was destined to be yours."
Steve had died on their last battlefield, shortly after Thanos himself had taken his final breath. If he closed his eyes now, he could still see the blood pouring out Steve from wounds that not even the serum couldn't heal them in time.
Steve had died fighting at his side, helping to save the universe and before he went, Tony had forgiven him.
For everything.
"Remember Tony, I saw every possible outcome. Without you... without Tony Stark, the universe as we know it would be gone, and everyone we love would now be dead."
"Careful, Doctor, or I really won't be able to fit my head in my helmet."
Thinking of how untrue and just judgmental his words to Tony had been then, Strange smiled. He knew better now. They had bitten each others' heads off so much in those first hours they'd known each other, and truth be told, until he had seen the sacrifice Tony would make for the universe, he really did not like the man. But seeing that outcome had changed his perception of the billionaire because he saw hidden underneath all that annoying arrogance, beat a heart that truly did care about everyone around the man. But more than that, he had seen the depth of love contained within that same heart.
And perhaps it cared a little too much, as he came to to realize a little too late.
"So," Tony said after a brief lull in their conversation, "I don't suppose you would know a spell that can speed up time or slow it down enough for me to see my baby being born?"
He hated having to lie to the man he owed his continued existence to, but he also knew the dangers of messing with time. The whole war with Thanos had made it clear to him that time spells must be left alone, no matter the cost.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. It's okay."
The grief, the sad acceptance in his voice resonated so deeply in his mind, indeed his heart that the sorcerer knew he couldn't leave Tony behind without trying to fulfill this dying wish for him in some way.
"There might be a way I can help you," he began slowly, considering his words carefully, "It won't be exactly what you want, you wouldn't be there in any sense of the word physically, but I may be able to provide a way for you to witness the birth of your child."
"Whatever it is you mean by that, I'll take it. Even if it's something like a dream, I will take it."
"Prophetic choice of words, because that is precisely how I will show you."
"When?"
"Now if you wish."
Tony looked in Pepper's direction, and saw she was still walking peacefully along the beach.
"Have I mentioned that she can't see me?"
"No, I think you neglected to say that. So she doesn't know you're here?"
"No, she doesn't."
"Can I tell her?"
"If you wish."
"I will later. What do I need to do for you to show me?"
"Lie back in the lounger, and get comfortable. Let me know when you are."
Tony nodded, and wiggled around in the lounger until he was relatively comfortable.
"Comfy?"
"Yeah."
"Close your eyes."
He did as Strange instructed, and jumped a second later when he felt the sorcerer's hand touch his forehead.
"Relax, Tony, I will not harm you."
"I know. I trust you, Stephen."
"I'm going to help you sleep now. You will dream of your son."
Tony's eyes met his, "So we will have a son?"
Stephen smiled, "Yes. Now, close your eyes. Relax. Take deep breaths. Listen to my voice. You will sleep, and dream of him… of your son."
"Will I forget the dream when I wake up?"
"No, this will be burned deep into your mind and your heart for the rest of your days. Sleep."
He watched Tony relax into sleep, and once he was certain he was asleep, dreaming, he said quietly, "Goodbye, my friend. We won't meet again on this plane of existence. But I will look for you in others. Goodbye."
"Okay, what? How the… how did I get here?" Tony muttered as he looked around the hallway he was standing in.
The walls were a calming shade of blue with pictures dotting it every so often.
He couldn't really make out the pictures, and he knew somehow it didn't really make a difference anyway.
He was just considering going to look for someone so he could find out where he was when he heard a woman scream.
In pain.
"What the…" he muttered when it dawned on him it was Pepper's voice he had heard screaming in pain.
She was screaming again before he could make his feet move towards the direction he heard it coming from.
He entered into a good sized room that was mostly filled with people he didn't know. He didn't have time to ask himself who they all were because his eyes immediately looked for his wife.
Pepper was half laying on a bed near the far wall of the room. Her face was red, covered in both sweat and tears, and she was saying, "Tony! I want Tony!"
It was only then he noticed the hand of his best friend using a white towel to wipe away the sweat that was almost in her eyes. His other hand was locked tightly into that of his wife's.
"I know you do, Pepper," Rhodey said looking into her eyes/
Tony stepped forward, "I'm here! Honey, I'm right here!"
Pepper's face scrunched up with pain again, and it was then he noticed the presence of the scrub clad man seated on a stool in front of his wife, right between her legs.
"Give me two more big pushes, Mrs. Stark, and your son will be in your arms soon after!"
Pepper nodded, taking a deep breath, let loose a scream as she pushed as hard as she could.
When the contraction passed, Rhodey wiped her brow again, "Almost there, Pepper! He's almost here! Just hold on for a little bit longer!"
She nodded again, and feeling another contraction coming on, took a deep breath and…
A baby's cry filled the room.
"And congratulations! Your son is here!" The doctor said, as he hand the newborn off to a nurse.
Tears flooded down Tony's face as he followed the nurse over to where she cleaned the baby before she put his son on a scale to weighed him. She then quickly swaddled him before putting a little cap on his head. She gently scooped him up, and carrying him over to his mother's waiting arms.
It was almost like the baby could feel the very moment he was laid in his mother's arms because he immediately stopped crying. He stopped crying and his mother started as she gazed down at his red, wrinkly face.
"Hi there, sweetheart! It's me! It's your Mommy!" she cooed at him.
Tony noticed that Rhodey just stood nearby watching mother and son get acquainted with each other. He also noticed his best friend was trying not to cry, and was surreptitiously wiping away the tears that did escape their way down his cheeks.
Tony had opened his mouth to say something to Rhodey, but never got to because Pepper was talking again herself.
"He's so beautiful, Tony, and he looks so much like you. I wish you could be here. I wish you could hold him."
He was crying again, hearing her words. He got as close as he could to the bed, and leaning over them both said, "I'm here, Pep. I'm right here, and I'll never leave you or our son. I love you both so much. Please, honey, hear me. I need you to hear me."
But Pepper never gave any indication she could hear him and, he supposed, it was something Strange never promised him. He had told Tony he'd witness his son's birth, but he never said that he'd get to be an active participant in the events.
It was okay.
It was enough.
It had to be.
He saw Pepper look up then over at Rhodey, and the words she said made his heart ache.
"Come over here and meet your godson, Rhodey."
