A/N: And finally here comes the moment everyone's been waiting for... the wedding :) It's not too long but it's short and sweet. Enjoy.
He was normally a man of words paired with confidence, arrogance and a callous charm. The term love had never even crossed his soul before and he had quietly vowed many years ago that it never would. It wasn't that he wasn't capable of loving anyone or that he was afraid of commitment. It was quite the contrary. There was more to him than many had understood. He was after all a sophisticated man. But yet despite his determined vow to never fall in love, somewhere between becoming Iron Man and saving the world made him realize how much he actually craved it. He wanted it. He wanted someone to be here when he finished up saving the world for the day. He wanted to relax and hold her, cherish her and protect her from everything. He wanted to be loved and he wanted to love in return. There was always something about those women he flirted with that never quite felt right.
But then he became Iron Man and between the many battles and bruises, bullet wounds and fractures and even a rather close brush with death itself, he had finally found her. It had taken him several months to actually realize it and embrace it. But as he had told her that night under the stars on the balcony, the same night he proposed to her. He was in love with her. It had taken him so close to death to actually realize it. He realized how much he depended on her and how he trusted her beyond any other living person. He realized how much he wanted her and lastly he realized how much he loved her.
He was very prepared that month to die. He was prepared to let it go, to circum to death because he had no other option. It was only then that he began to realize everything he had ever done to hurt her. He felt very ashamed of the whole notion, but the gift of life from his father gave him another chance. He had taken it and now here he stood at the altar staring down the very strange path he thought he would never be on.
His palms were sweaty and his thoughts raced like the first time he flew in the Iron Man suit. He was scared, nervous and completely overwhelmed with love all at the same time. He mildly thought of his trembling heart and wondered if it were even possible for his heart to completely beat out of his chest. But the thought made him grimace and he chose not to think about it further. He stared narrowly at the door at the opposite end of the room and he fidgeted several times as the music spilled into the room.
"Just relax," Rhodey said beside him.
He grimaced lightly and threw the colonel a sharp pointed glare.
"It's only Pepper," Rhodey replied coolly with an assuring smile.
"It always has been," he mumbled.
"I know."
He gazed around the empty room and saw Fury and few other SHIELD members sitting on the left occupying only a single row. He thought mildly at how ironic the situation actually seemed. He and Pepper wanted a quiet wedding, a simple one without the fuss of the press. They wanted it to be special and something that both of them could completely attend to with unguarded expressions. But yet here sat five distinct heroes, members of SHIELD. He didn't think this room could be any more secure with so many heroes sitting in it.
He had almost missed it the instant the creak of the door sounded. He almost missed watching her walking in with that very regal look on her face. She was the epitome of beauty to him as she walked toward him in that very simple yet elegant white gown. She had an arm around Happy's hand and he smiled warmly at the thought of Happy giving her away to him.
She was everything that mattered and everything that he wanted and now had. She is that breath of fresh air and that sigh of relief when he steps out of his Iron Man suit. She is the hope that keeps him alive and the goal and determination that gets him home after a disastrous mission. She is the sun that lights his day and the moon that keeps his night lit. She is that voice inside his head, the one that tells him that no matter what happens everything will be okay. She is that warmth that touches his soul and that overwhelming feeling that engulfs every inch of his body. She is everything and the only thing he will ever love.
She was the one that he told all his secrets too and the one that knew him from good to bad, bad to worse. But he didn't mind and it didn't even bother him when he realized that she could leak his secrets to the world and destroy him in a matter of seconds. But he knew that she wouldn't and he didn't really know why he thought that. He trusted her and that was all he had to live by. She was all he ever had and all that he could ever come to call home. She was the only one that listened to him and now despite everything he had ever done to hurt her, she had brought herself to even love him. Although he wondered sometimes whether she had loved him all along.
Happy gave him a very comical grin as he slipped his hand from Pepper's hold and stepped to the side somewhere next to Rhodey. He was completely flawed at her gaze. He didn't know what to think again. He wasn't even sure if he was breathing or if his heart was beating. He felt hot and sweaty and completely uncomfortable as she gave him her very endearing smile.
He didn't hear the priest or the drowning sound of music dancing in the background. He didn't hear it when it stopped or when the priest began to announce their special day to the small congregation made up entirely of their friends. He didn't care if Natalie was busy ogling at Happy or if his fellow heroes were watching him intently. He didn't care if Fury would comment at how unguarded he seemed. He didn't care even if Rhodey would brag him out later that he was acting like a complete hopeless romantic idiot.
He loved her and right now, right here as he held her hand in his and stared into her eyes, that was all that mattered. She was all that mattered and that announced bump at her stomach only punctuated that fact.
"Tony..."
He blinked out of his thoughts and noticed the very pointed gaze of the priest. He coughed and tried to compose himself but she touched his arm and he melted again. He turned his gaze back to her and she gave him a small smile as she squeezed his arm. That simple gesture sent him into spirals of thoughtless silence again. It was as if the world blurred from him and all he could see was her.
"Your vows," she said softly with an understanding smile.
"I...uh..." he paused momentarily as he gathered himself together and pulled the words from his heart. "There are... There are many things I want to say to you, and when I thought about it last night I realized that most of it starts out with, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you cry and for making you worry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was dying and I'm sorry it took me 10 years to finally realize how much you meant to me," he paused again and then continued after mere seconds, "but I'm not sorry I became Iron Man or that a dozen or so people want me dead, because if I never discovered that I wouldn't have ever had the courage to love you." He smiled warmly before he continued again, "You complete me, Pepper. You make me..." he stalled as he thought of the word, "You make me, me... And that's who I always wanted to be. I can't promise you the world, Pepper Potts, but I can promise you I will love you, cherish you and protect you from everything or anything for the rest of my life."
He felt overwhelmingly gratified with himself. He had said everything entirely from his heart. He wondered how he could even speak so eloquently. The speech he had carefully crafted the night before was completely different to what he had just said. But beyond his silent congratulatory musings in his own mind he realized that the entire room was completely silenced. She looked completely awed at his words and he noticed the priest was giving him a very questionable gaze.
"You wrote that?" she asked with a very open and unguarded smile.
His smile widened a little as he answered softly, "No, I didn't."
"Uh... Pepper..." the priest mumbled quietly, "your vows..."
She continued smiling as she drew in a little breath before she started, "I'm uh... I don't know what to say...I mean, your words, they were so..." she searched around for the word before she continued, "they were so pure and simple and..." she paused again. "I really do love you Tony and despite everything you've put me through. Between picking up after you and making sure you were on schedule for meeting... I lived for you and it wasn't because the pay was amazing or great but because I felt like I had too because nobody else would and I wanted to make sure you did it right. I didn't have to, but I wanted to... But then Iron Man happened and I realized that bigger things were happening, things beyond your control and I realized how much I actually cared for you, but then I found out you nearly died and I didn't know what to think other than the fact that for the briefest moment I realized I could have never had the chance to let you know how much I loved you..." she smiled widely and her eyes were slightly glazed as she continued, "But we're here now and I'm pregnant and we're doing this and all I can think about is how much I love you even though I once thought you were an callous bastard."
He heard Rhodey sniggering behind him and he mentally threw the colonel a glare behind him. Her words were so overwhelming. She said everything that he was and she still loved him anyway. He couldn't think of anything else to do other than to pull her to him and kiss her. The rest of the ceremony be damned but he loved her and he couldn't wait for the 'I do's' part and the 'you may kiss the bride' instruction. He poured everything into the kiss as his palm pressed her lower back against him. He felt her hand encircling his neck as she deepened the kiss. Her slightly rounded stomach pressed against him and the sudden realisation of its existence between them jolted an array of warmth through his veins.
He briefly heard the priest calling out his name and telling him to stop because they weren't at that part yet. But he didn't care and judging by the way she had kissed him back, he didn't think she did either.
She moaned his name as he pressed her against the door of their hotel room. He felt her arch toward him and he moaned equally into her mouth. He was never a man that moaned when having sex before. It was very unlike him and a part of him that he never knew existed until he made love to her. It was as if she drew it out of him. It was as if she had the power to render him completely beyond mortal comprehension. She left him without words and all he could do was feel. The feeling of her body against him was magnifying, and unimaginable.
He loved her so much. He said it hoarsely several times as they kissed. He trailed his kisses down her neck as he felt her fingers running carelessly through his hair. He could feel the bump pressing into him and he felt even more overwhelmingly happy and aroused. He could feel her body practically moulding against him and he wondered if it was because their bodies were simply designed to be together. His thoughts were wildly interrupted as she pushed against him and ran her hands up his chest.
They started making their way toward the bed as he felt her working the knot of the tie out from his neck as she haphazardly threw it on the floor. He encircled his arms around her and slipped the zip behind her back to let the gown fall loosely. She pressed against him the instant she stepped out of the gown and continued her ministrations. He felt her unbuttoning his shirt as he pressed kisses all over her neck and shoulder. She nudged him a few times to loosen his embrace. He only smirked and laughed several times at her very hurried gesture.
She smiled back sheepishly several times as she completely stripped him of his shirt. She pressed against him the instant his chest was exposed and he moaned a little again when he felt her against him. He felt her fingers swiftly unbuckling his belt before he felt his pants slipping to the floor. He encircled his arms around her and very gently and slowly laid her down on the bed. He grinned up at her as she smiled equally at him. Her body was beautiful as he implored her for a brief moment. He leaned down as he kept his eyes on hers and pressed a single trail of kisses from her thigh to her stomach. His eyes darted down when he realized he had reached her very visible and naked pregnant stomach.
The thought of their child made his heart swell. He suddenly felt completely uninterested at her enticing body. Instead he looked warmly at her and back at the stomach. He shifted slightly and pressed an ear to her stomach as if trying to listen for their unborn child. He couldn't hear much other than the sluggish sound of liquids in her stomach. But he felt it briefly at his ear. He felt the little lump and he drew back almost instantly as if he were afraid that a simple touch would harm it.
She regarded him warmly as he gazed back at her again with an open and unguarded smile plastered on his face. He leaned down as he kept his eyes on her and pressed a very warm kiss at her stomach.
"I don't think you know just how happy you make me," he said softly the sense of gratitude and overwhelming love for her pouring out of his voice as he gazed at her.
She tilted her head to the side and smiled warmly at him. "I know how much I make you happy, Tony," she paused for a brief moment as she stretched out her hand and gently raked his hair with her fingers, "I see it every time you look at me."
"About what I said...my vows and all," he punctuated his words as he gently brushed her pregnant stomach with his thumb, "I meant every word and I know it sounded completely unlike me but..." he struggled for the right words to convey his love to her, "I wanted you to know just how happy you make me feel and how you simply complete me."
Her unguarded smile slipped into her lips as her eyes glazed at him. "You were always the charmer, maybe that's where your secret romancing side came from."
He glanced briefly at her stomach and settled with his chin gently resting on her stomach. "I love you and that was all I needed to make me realize how hopeless romantic I could be."
They stared at each other for a long time, neither moving an inch as words unspoken dwindled in the air between them. It was as if everything they felt and everything they went through hung around them, reminding them of where they started out and where they were now. He knew a lifetime would never be enough to thank her and so he vowed that in place of a lifetime of thanking, he would love her until he died instead.
"Reily," she said suddenly.
"Reily?" he asked as he crawled up beside her. She settled her arm over his waist as he pressed a kiss at her forehead.
"Reily Howard Stark," she answered simply as he tightened his hold around her.
It took him a moment to realize what she had suggested and the moment he did he couldn't express to her just how much he loved her in that moment. He was so taken aback that he didn't quite know what to say to her. But he thought about them and how they were laying together in bed practically half naked. He was completely stripped of all his clothes and left only clothed in his boxers. She was rather the same, stripped of her gown and only left in her under garments. And he loved it, loved this; he loved how they could do something so simple and make it so intimate. He loved how she brought out the love in him and the fulfilling achievement of being a better man. Because he knew true and well had he been the same man he was before Iron Man, they would have done it and split hours ago. They wouldn't be lying together discussing names for their child. But here they were on the most memorable evening of his life, sharing such a simple and endearing conversation.
"Reily Howard Stark," he said, listening to the sound of the name.
"It was just a thought," she said as she leaned back a little to look at him.
He gazed down at her and smiled warmly. "It sounds perfect. Howard Stark and Reily Potts, I didn't even think of it."
"Or Howard Reily Stark," she suggested to him softly.
"No, I like Reily Howard Stark," he said again and smiled wider as he turned to his side. "It sounds better that way cause you know, it'd look really weird when I hand the company over to him. I mean imagine it on paper, Howard Anthony Stark to Anthony Edward Stark to Howard Reily Stark. Too many Howards surrounding me."
She laughed at his explanation and pressed a enticing kiss at his lips. He moaned into her kiss as he pulled her closer. Between looking at her stomach and feeling overwhelmingly happy to discussing names for their child, he couldn't think of how more perfect their wedding night could be.
