Chapter 10: Life Breath

The man who can keep a secret may be wise, but he is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep. (Edgar Watson Howe)

It had truly felt like Candyland for Bruce, oohing and aahing over the machines and prototypes Tony had dispersed in his workshop. The physicist was also a bit taken aback, for how neat and clean Tony's workspace had looked on the helicarrier, while here it sort of looked like an organized chaos that only the person who had caused it was able to overlook.

Tony let him stroll off after a few minutes, vaguely sure that the other man would not blow himself up, absolutely sure that his inventions were save with him. Bruce was not that kind of guy. At least he hoped so.

Loki had followed Tony like a wide-eyed child, keeping his distance to everything mechanical. He was curious, more than that, but he did not know what half of the things in here… oh, let's be honest, what most of the things in here were able to do. He was sure he could figure out most of the machines in here in no time at all, given the fact that Anthony was amenable to explain them.

His eyes strayed to the suits of armor that were on display in one corner of this huge room, behind a cage made of glass, as if they were just for that, being on display, and not for use. He could still see the scratches and dents on the one Tony had climbed out of when coming to the Penthouse to talk… to reason… to threaten him and the Demigod was actually wondering what had happened that the suit was that badly damaged. After all, it had withstood a fight with Thor and multiple hits with Mjolnir rather unscathed.

A beeping sound and Anthony's voice made him spin around.

"DUM-E, you put this fire extinguisher down this second! First off, it's not a weapon, not that I want you to use anything as a weapon, and secondly, Loki's a good guy, you got me?!"

Anthony was scolding a machine about his own height with a long arm that spotted three fingers at the end, a camera mounted there for resembling an eye. It was holding a red can, pointing it at the Demigod, making an almost disappointed noise as the engineer forbid it to use the device. Another machine was wheeling closer, similar, slightly smaller, more sophisticated, as if it was an evolved version of the first, making another beeping sound.

"Yeah, U's right, you've been just grounded for using the fire extinguisher too extensively. I built you to learn, DUM-E, will you ever?"

Loki by now was really wondering whether the mortal was really able to understand both machines. Especially after the noise that sounded utterly sad when DUM-E lowered its claw and the red can was clattering to the floor. When it was turning away, it was the engineer who reacted in a way he would never have thought.

"I'm sorry, buddy… that was uncalled for. I know you can only learn as fast as my programming lets you, and yes, actually, fire extinguishers are fun." The brunette was reaching out and petting the machine that made another sound, while U started circling around Loki, making the Demigod frown at the robot, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"A-Anthony…" U was coming closer, the claw reaching out to touch the Demigod as he took a step back.

"Oh, come on, U, leave Loki alone. Seriously, kids, we have to practice that. I know that you know how to behave!"

Taking another step back Loki realized that he was in the same space where J.A.R.V.I.S. had diced the table to prove a point. While he had been curious before, suddenly he did no longer feel very comfortable in the workshop.

"They're just curious, Lokes. You're included in Protocol Guardian which means they won't hurt you. DUM-E douses me every now and then because I think he finds it funny. And U always wants to touch things." Stark still had not removed his hand from the larger robot's… head? and was softly caressing it.

U made an offended beep and wheeled himself back, away from Loki who was still frowning when Stark's gaze strayed from his face to the glass doors behind them.

Pepper had changed into flats, a pair of comfortable jeans and Tony's dress shirt that he had worn this morning when they left. As soon as he was back home the engineer jumped out of any business suit as if it was strangling him, seeking comfort in jeans and a t-shirt, sometimes going for the Sheldon-Cooper-looks and putting on something long-sleeved beneath it. His dress shirts thus rarely smelt of anything else than his aftershave and the soft tinge of coconut that she liked so much.

"Hey, Peps, the bots are misbehaving, I don't know if they really deserve to know the news we wanna tell them."

He told her this as if they were a bunch of misbehaving kids who would be told to go to bed without having Dinner. U was wheeling himself over to the woman, beeping at her until her hand came to rest on its… head.

"It would be plain mean to not tell them. After all, their little brother already knows."

By now, both machines were beeping, and this time it sounded offended. Tony was lifting both his hands in defense.

"No, it's not unfair that we told J.A.R.V.I.S. before you, because actually we did not tell him, but he figured it out."

Loki's eyes by now were flying between the engineer and his spouse who made her way over to the mortal, U wheeling right next to her. A side glance towards Banner told him that the physicist was utterly amused.

When Pepper was safely cocooned in Tony's embrace, the bots had gathered in front of them like eager children, waiting for their bedtime story.

"Okay. Good news number one: Pepper agreed to marry me. And yes, she liked the ring." Tony smiled at that, remembering the curious hovering of his bots around him as he had stared at the tiny object in the velvet box days before this accursed invasion, trying to figure out how to propose without making a fool out of himself. He had even considered practicing with DUM-E, yet, finding the ring in the foam from the fire extinguisher would have been a pain, so he decided against it.

The bots were beeping happily and waving their arms, and somehow it was an adorable look.

"Good news number two." This time Pepper talked, both heads whipping around to watch her. DUM-E even adjusted the camera. Suddenly unsure what to say she turned to Tony.

"Do we have to give them the birds and bees talk first? After all, all of their brothers are mechanical so far…" she trailed off.

Tony just shrugged. "J.A.R.V.I.S., make sure to let them know how human procreation works. Okay, guys, long story short, in about nine months you will have a new baby brother."

A confused silence radiated in the workshop. U was the first one to beep, his processor a bit faster in actually implementing what J.A.R.V.I.S. was transmitting about how their little brother would come into this world, that this time it would not be Tony flipping some switch.

DUM-E kept adjusting his camera on Pepper, ever so softly waving his head as he kept processing. He did not beep this time, but his arm moved, gently tugging at the shirt over Pepper's stomach. When he adjusted the camera once more on her face she could not help but smile and place her hand on his head.

"Yes, that's where he is in the moment. Are you happy?"

DUM-E beeped at that, and it sounded like a smile, if anything could sound like that. Loki kept watching the scene in awe, marveling at the machines and their creator.

How was it possible to create a machine with emotions? Because from what he had witnessed in the past days, both the robots in the workshop, as well as the ethereal voice from the ceiling very clearly were more than soulless beings.

J.A.R.V.I.S. had announced ten minutes later that Mr. Hogan had picked up Miss Potts' family from the airport and that it would take them about one hour and a half to arrive given the traffic and the destruction on West Street.

Interestingly, it was Pepper who got nervous at that time. The last time she had seen her family was at her nephew's first birthday, and this visit had been rather nerve-wrecking, because, well, she had just blown up an arc reactor and killed a man, while her boss had nothing better to do than tell the world that he was a frickin' superhero.

She had spoken all but two words with her father, and only chatted with her mother about how she was and if she liked her job. As if she could tell her the truth.

Her conversation with her brother had been even more nerve-wrecking. How could he not tell her that he had found a girl and got married and had a kid and she had to find out all of that when she was calling her mother, because her boss had just been kidnapped and maybe was dead and she wanted her Mom to make the world look good again?

Owen had not known what to say, other than they did not want to bother her. She had left the same day, crying in the private jet Tony had ordered her to take her all the way to Seattle, because why should she take a commercial line? She had exchanged all but two words with her sister in law, and was not even sure if she remembered the name of the woman correctly.

Oddly enough, Tony was the one to stay calm when she was wondering what to order for Dinner, because all of them must be tired from the travel, when she was fussing about the accommodations, he was actually taking her hand, showing her to the rooms, letting her fuss about the kid's bed, and kissed her when she was on the verge of breaking down.

"What if they don't like you?"

Tony had frowned at that, looking a bit fake-offended. "Seriously? What's not to like about me? I'm awesome and you're gorgeous. Stop worrying."

When J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that Mr. Hogan and their guests had arrived, Loki was just coming down from the roof from where he had addressed Heimdall, asking the Gatekeeper to forward a message to Thor to join them in three days to meet with the Avengers. A soft, uncomfortable tingle in his chest told him, that the older God indeed had his eyes on him, and while the Trickster was sure that Heimdall did not like him any more than before his fall into the Void, one could at least trust him to fulfill his duty and keep the acting king informed.

The Demigod briefly considered hiding away in his room. On the other hand, he was ever so slightly curious about Lady Pepper's parents and brother, so he strolled into the living room and sat down on the couch, his eyes straying to the tablet on the table. Maybe Stark would be so kind to lend it to him again…

Bruce had settled into his room for a while after asking Tony whether he could borrow some more of his clothes, after all, he would not risk running into Ross when shopping for things. Tony had just laughed at that, equipped the other man with a another Stark pad and ordered his AI to get whatever Bruce wanted after the man took a detour to his wardrobe, coming out wearing another pair of loose fitting sweatpants and a hoodie.

When the elevator arrived at the Penthouse, Pepper was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown.

"I don't know if that was a good idea", she whispered as Tony took his place by her side, slightly snickering.

"What?!" was her offended reaction to that, making him lift his arms in surrender.

"Well, you're the brave Miss Potts, detonator of arc reactors, slayer of Stane and handler of the volatile Anthony Stark, and you're falling apart at the prospect of meeting your parents."

"I feel like a Valkyrie now", Pepper laughed to everybody's surprise, and just then the doors of the private elevator opened, revealing a slightly disheveled Owen Hunt who was carrying his sleeping son while his wife stood behind him, an annoyed expression on her face. Janine? Joleen? Elizabeth? What for heaven's sake had been her name? was following him, her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

It was Tony who greeted them with a silent "Hey" and offered to show them their bedroom right away to put the kid in a bed. Pepper let go off him reluctantly as her parents sauntered out of the elevator, eyes wide as they took in the exclusive interior of the Penthouse… well, if you neglected the rather big holes in the floor that were covered by wooden plates until they got the right marble. And the missing window. Also covered by a wooden plate.

John Potts took a good look around before his gaze wandered to his daughter who stood there, nailed to the spot, looking so grown up while still somewhat looking like the 16 year old brat who had written applications to all the colleges that where the farthest away from her hometown. Flats, jeans, a ponytail. He had been so ambivalent back then, wanting only the best for her, still being offended by her harsh behavior.

In the past years he had come to peace with her not thinking the same way he did, he had followed her developing career. Stark's reputation concerning women had not been the best already when she started working for him, but it seemed that he never tried anything with her, so at least he did not have to be worried about her sleeping her way up. And if he did worry about it, he kept it to himself, because Evelyn would have read him the riot act about thinking this way about his daughter.

Still, it was easier keeping out of her life, and when she called that fateful day her boss had gone missing in Afghanistan they did not really know how to react. And who would have thought that his daughter, who had started out as an accountant, suddenly would be leading an international company and be the girlfriend of the Tony Stark?

Evelyn strolled out right next to him, also taking in the damage and the luxury of her daughter's home. It was weird to think that people living under such circumstances would only wear Armani suits and Chanel costumes, but somehow she felt a bit disappointed after the brief glance of Mr. Stark in jeans and a band t-shirt, as well as her daughter in the same get up (and what appeared to be a dress shirt for men).

On the other hand, if this dress shirt belonged to Mr. Stark, it was actually quite cute.

"The aliens took quite a number on that part of the town, huh?" John asked, pointing at the window. "Any of them got in here?"

"Nope, that would be me taking the short way out there", Tony announced as he rounded the corner, offering his hand to the man and Pepper's Mom, officially introducing himself. When he felt four glances on him, because he was sure that Loki was sporting this How can I ever make this right? look on his face again, the engineer just shrugged.

"Desperate measures, I'll never do it again. Peps, you wanna show them their room? I guess Happy is bringing the luggage?"

His glance just briefly flitted to the ceiling, letting J.A.R.V.I.S. know that he was addressed and then regretted it almost immediately. His in-laws, after all, were even less acquainted with artificial intelligence than their resident Demigod.

It was too late now, though. At least J.A.R.V.I.S. was still is his beep-when-there's-strangers-mode, so he did exactly that before speaking.

"Mr. Hogan is loading the luggage in the private elevator as we speak and is asking whether he should come up and help with carrying it to the rooms."

Curious glances were directed to the ceiling and Tony decided that he would just go on as always. After all it was his home. If he wanted to talk to thin air, he would. If the thin air answered, even better. So he just shrugged and answered: "No, it's fine, J.A.R.V.I.S., we will take care of it. Please tell him we are done for the day and will need him tomorrow around noon."

"Will do. Sir, the food has arrived. Shall I tell Mr. Hogan to send it up with the luggage?"

"Sure, thanks buddy. Hey Pep, what did you order?" Tony let go off the older woman's hand and turned to his spouse who was actually slightly flabbergasted at the engineer's… normal… behavior.

"Uhm… Gino's. You love their lasagna, and I thought Loki and Bruce might like their vegetarian version. Mom, Dad, I'll show you your room. Will you take care of the food and the luggage?"

Tony smiled reassuringly at her. "Yeah, sure. I'll get Bruce to help if it's too heavy. He's still not accepting my job-offer, somehow he should earn his living here, right?"

At least that made her laugh when she turned to her parents. "Stop prodding the poor man. First we have to get General Ross off his back. Mom, Dad, this way, please. You can see the Empire State Building from your room…"

While Pepper and her parents were heading towards the guestroom Loki had occupied before, Tony chose to wait right in front of the elevator, slightly rocking back on his heels as he did so, slightly hoping that his in-laws did not choose to take half of their wardrobe with them when going somewhere for three days. Pepper had this bad habit, dragging at least five pairs of shoes with her everywhere.

When the doors to the elevator finally slid open, he left the luggage (which was composed of a considerate amount of suitcases and bags, thank God… uh, and a guitar?) right next to it, because he did not know which belonged to whom, and took the bags with the food heading for the kitchen just as Owen returned.

"Oh, hey, Dinner's arrived, I hope you like lasagna, Gino's make the best in town. I'll help you with…" Tony started, but Owen waved him off.

"No problem, I'll get the bags to the rooms and will fetch the others."

Only now Tony could take a closer look at Pepper's brother. He was tall, almost Loki's size, sporting the same long, elegant limbs and the strawberry blond hair and a beard of the same color, and sky-blue eyes, just like Pepper (well, except for the beard). He looked bulkier than their resident God, though, and was easily shouldering the bags before taking the suitcases.

"I hope you ordered enough, I could eat a horse", the other man then smiled, making Tony laugh.

"Oh, believe me, we're ordering here in amounts that could feed an army. Could you do me a favor and knock on the room at the end of the hallway, please? Bruce is hiding away from us otherwise."

Owen just shrugged. "Sure, no problem", before turning and heading back to the guestrooms, while Tony was briefly thinking whether it was impolite that he was letting the other man haul the luggage to the rooms. On the other hand, Owen had offered it, so…

Finally shrugging, he rather went into the dining room, setting down the bags with their food before getting crockery and cutlery, throwing a quick glance at the Demigod on his couch in the living room who at the moment was looking out of the window and appeared to be daydreaming.

"Hey, Loki, Dinner's ready. You gonna join us?"

He startled the other man, and only now the engineer realized that the Demigod was not looking out the window, but had been watching the wooden plate substituting the one he had shattered with Tony's body.

"They'll replace the window as soon as possible. You know what's weird? The thing was damaged, somehow, already before your temper tantrum, otherwise it would not have broken, not even under my bodyweight. I'm getting the new one for free."

Loki just looked at the Man of Iron, before turning his eyes back to the window. If it had been made to sustain forces like these, Anthony most probably would have been injured badly, not to think of what his mind-controlled self would have done to him. Fisting his left hand, he took a deep breath, avoiding looking at the engineer again.

Tony was not letting him off the hook this easily, though. "You planning on doing this again?" he asked, making the God's head whip around.

"No! Of course not!"

"Then stop beating yourself up because of it. I convinced the entire frickin' planet that it's not your fault, but I'm willing to spend some more hours to convince also you, and just so you know it, I can get rather annoying when I'm talking for hours. The suit caught me, that's all that matters. You coming now? That Veggie-lasagna smells quite good, actually…"

Tony kept looking him in the eye, and while Loki never had been one to back down, he now rolled his eyes to keep from averting them again. He believed that Anthony would actually make the effort, and actually, they had other, better things to do in the moment.

"I will join you, Anthony." With that he got up from the couch and indeed joined the other man in the dining room area of the Penthouse, and, to Tony's surprise started to distribute the plates.

In the end, the engineer just shrugged and started on the cutlery, his mouth by now watering at the delicious smell in front of him.

"I… never intended to harm anyone. Still, everyone I held dear, many innocent people around me were hurt, because of me… how does one live with this guilt?" He was asking quietly, never straying from his chore to set the crockery, not even knowing why he was speaking it aloud.

"By getting up every day and trying to make the world a better place. At least that's what I'm trying to do", Tony stated, continuing distributing the cutlery. It got him a scrutinizing glance from the Demigod.

"What would you know of this kind of guilt, Man of Iron?" The mortal was a hero on this planet. People looked up to him, for saving their world, flying around in his creations, and nobody was looking down on him for using his brain.

The clatter of the cutlery stopped as Tony once more looked him in the eye.

"I was not wearing the moniker Merchant of Death for nothing, Loki."

"Mer-Merchant of...", Loki echoed.

"I was producing weapons, Lokes. And they were good, oh, I was so good at inventing things that actually killed people, and I rather chose not to think about the collateral damage, I chose to believe that we only killed the bad guys. It took my business partner, the man who was like a father for me, stabbing me in the back and seeing innocent people getting killed by the very same weapons I designed to defend them that I finally admitted the truth to myself. I shut down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries and changed my life. That's what I'm doing. Getting up every day and trying to make the world a better place. It took me some time to figure out how, and somehow I still manage to make obscene amounts of money with what I'm doing…"

Loki just watched him for a while before setting down the next plate.

"You really do talk a lot", he said then, still processing what he had heard, making the inventor roll his eyes and snicker.

"Well, for a guy who's been named Silvertongue you're awfully quiet."

Pepper decided right after her second bite of lasagna that she did not really know whether she liked her sister-in-law. Her name turned out to be Emma. She and Owen had met at some fund-raiser for his hospital, when his ex-wife had still been looking for new acquaintances for him.

It caused Pepper to glare at her brother. There was an ex-wife before this wife?! It made Owen squirm under her glance, oh, he so would tell her everything!

Tony was still busy cutting Loki's food into pieces when Emma told them she was a vegetarian, and did not even realize that Bruce told Pepper with only a tiny side-glance that she should give her his vegetarian food, he would be alright with the regular thing. She did not say anything more, and was just sitting on her chair, waiting until everyone was served.

Tony and Loki shared another glance, and the engineer actually bit his tongue and focused on producing bite-sized bits for the Demigod who Pepper and he somehow had placed between the two of them at the table to keep from asking tons of questions just to break the tension.

Tony found out that his brother-in-law to be was actually his half-brother-in-law, which also explained the different family name. Evelyn had lost her first husband when Owen had been five, and it took her a while to give in to John's courting. Owen was already ten when Pepper joined their family, making the trauma surgeon six years older than Tony.

John and Evelyn indeed had had financial problems, however, a company that was producing electricity with solar panels had bought the land around their farm and now actually was paying them good money to herd the sheep that were supposed to keep the grass low. Interestingly, they started to make money with the organic mutton they were selling. Emma had helped setting up a store on their farm, making most of the people secretly glance at the quiet woman who had said all but two sentences since she arrived here.

Her father had only said the company's name once, causing Pepper to regret placing Loki in the middle, because she wanted to catch Tony's hand, squeeze it slightly. She resorted to smiling at him warmly, making the engineer blush slightly. He had known… and he had helped. He had known that her father was way too stubborn to accept any help from his daughter or her boss. So he had helped indirectly. And now she finally knew why Tony had been so desperate to buy that tiny, Midwestern company named Solaris.

Owen was heading the department of surgery and leading the department of trauma surgery in the hospital in Seattle he was working at. Emma actually did cut in there, complaining how much he was working, and what little time he had he spent with...

J.A.R.V.I.S. silent beeping interrupted the awkward silence that followed her comment.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hunt, your son is awake and appears to be confused about his whereabouts."

Emma kept on eating while Owen got up to look after the boy.

He returned with the kid that was wearing Despicable me pajamas on his arm.

"Samuel heard we were having lasagna and decided he was hungry, too, right, buddy?"

The child answered with a shy nod, clinging to his father. Owen obviously did not have any problems sharing his food with his son, as soon as Tony had organized for another fork, both Hunt men were digging into the lasagna.

Emma got livelier after her second glass of wine, telling them about her former job in perinatology, telling them about a woman who demanded a C-section because her wedding was in two weeks and she wanted to fit into a regular dress. After her third glass of wine she also seemed to be not offended anymore when Pepper had declared that all that mattered was getting married and that she would not go shopping for a special dress.

Interestingly, Evelyn had backed up her daughter. When this obnoxious man had called her in the middle of the night, declaring he was going to marry her daughter and it would be nice if they'd come, she had thought Tony Stark would make a show out of it, with lots of glitter and pomp.

By now she could imagine a tiny, intimate ceremony, only them and a Justice of the peace, and yes, it would be all they needed.

John had just shrugged and said that not everybody wasted 3 grand on a dress you were wearing only once and not even fitting into it anymore.

Emma sent an offended huff at her father-in-law. Yes, her dress did not fit anymore. But that had something to do with the missing extent of the baby bump she had been sporting at her wedding.

She excused herself after her fourth glass, saying she was tired. Sam was nursing a glass with apple juice by now, never having left his father's lap, who by now had closed both his arms around the boy, hugging him close.

Tony took some time to watch the boy, a spitting image of his father and tried to picture himself like that. He failed miserably, because somehow, something was missing. The scene would be incomplete without Pepper…

Bruce and Pepper's parents were the next to leave. Bruce made another joke about going shopping now, while the two older people were just exhausted from the travel, wishing all of them a good night.

John stopped briefly next to Owen, looking at his grandson expectantly. "Hey, kiddo, you gonna help your Gramps scaring away the monsters under the bed so Granny can sleep well?"

Evelyn right out laughed at that, while Sam declared that he did not think monsters would climb up all the way to the top of the tower to hide under the bed.

"But I'll help you anyway, Grampa", he laughed, extending his arms to be picked up by his grandfather, oblivious to the thankful glance Owen sent his step-father, because he knew that Sam would end up being told a story and cuddling with his grandparents, eventually falling asleep in their bed. At least the boy would not have to witness the argument that for sure would be following later or the next morning because... just because. Emma did not need a reason to be mad at him. If he was lucky she would give him the silent treatment.

A warm hand on his forearm made Loki jerk up. He had dulled out most of the conversation, busying himself with his food, trying to avoid looking at the others. Pepper had filled his plate twice during Dinner, and only when he was done with wolfing down everything he realized how hungry he had really been.

"You look tired", she said now, her fingers gently squeezing his arm as he looked at her.

"I am", he admitted, and he really was, despite the hours he had spent sleeping during this day.

"Why don't you go upstairs, hmm? Sleep. It's not like you've got to be anywhere tomorrow morning. If you need anything, let J.A.R.V.I.S. know. And Peps and I are right next door." Tony leaned back on his chair, softly placing a hand on his stomach. He'd had too much. But that stuff from Gino's was just that delicious.

"I think I will do that. May I borrow your flat computer again, Anthony? Maybe J.A.R.V.I.S. can find me some more books."

"Sure, it's yours, you can keep it. Sleep tight."

Loki just threw him a thankful glance as he got up and then wandered into the living room, picking up the tablet from the table. He slowly made his way up the stairs, clutching it to his chest, disappearing in his room.

Tony threw a worried glance at his fiancée while Owen was still watching the stairs.

"That's the guy who tried invading our planet? He looks like chewed on and spit out."

"I guess you also saw the evidence on tv that he was mind-controlled. I dared not yet asking him what the Chitauri did to him that it worked, but I guess it's not pretty. You want a beer?" Tony asked, watching the other man. Owen had stuck to apple juice, just like his boy, and now shrugged.

"If you don't mind, I'd rather have something from your bar over there."

"Sure. Pep, why don't you take your brother to the living room? Take the good stuff from the bottle with the square lid. I'll take care of this mess here."

Owen threw her a wary glance when she handed him the scotch, one single ice cube tingling in the glass.

"I never would have thought that Tony Stark of all people would know how to load a dishwasher."

Pepper chuckled slightly, sitting down right next to her brother.

"Well, since he built our dishwasher, he's more or less the only person to properly use it. For all I know this thing could also fly to the moon if you pushed the correct buttons. And since we don't even have a maid it's either one of us doing it, or Tony inventing a bot to do it."

Her brother chuckled at that, letting the ice cube circle in his glass. They grew silent as he took his first sip and then chose to rather stare at the humongous TV setup that actually looking at his sister.

"Samuel looks just like you, you know?" she offered after a while, studying his face as it lit up with a smile.

"He's a great kid. Shy as a stray cat, but once you get to know him, you'll like him."

"I already like him now, Owen. I just wish…" She trailed off. She did not want to reproach him for not staying in contact.

Her brother just sighed heavily, taking another sip, making her reach out for him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to…"

"No, Gin, it's ok. If not for your man phoning in in the middle of the night, calling me an idiot for neglecting my sister this long, I would not be here for your wedding, I guess." His eyes were never leaving his glass, the cube once more spinning in it.

"That really sounds like Tony." This time it was her face that beamed with a fond smile, making Owen smile in turn. The smile faded quickly, though.

"My… my life has been a mess in the past years, somehow. I came back from my second turn in Iraq, and find myself in Seattle, trying to impress one of the medical assistants by stapling my own leg… you don't know how often I wanted to call you, Gin… and then I thought why should I bother you with my problems?"

"You could have tried at least before deciding that most probably I didn't want to know." She had heard about a gun rampage, about a plane crash that nearly cost him his job in those rare phone calls, when she just couldn't stand not hearing her brother tell her that everything was alright. He was a bad liar, but at least he still was alive.

Taking a deep breath, Pepper revived her smile. "So, you got all I don't feel any pain to impress Emma?"

She unconsciously reached out for him when his face turned oh so sad.

"Owen, what…?"

"No… it… Emma came later. Actually, Cristina talked me into dating her."

"The Ex-wife, I guess. What do I have to do to her for leaving you?" Pepper asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. A broody Owen was not good.

A sad smile appeared on her brother's face. "Nothing. We were not meant to be. We're like two magnets… if you turn them the right way, they are drawn to each other… but just twist them a bit, and they're pushing each other apart. She's been working in Switzerland for the past three years."

Owen was staring at his glass again, while Pepper was watching him.

"You know that I will interrogate you about everything, right?"

"I served in the army, Gin, I'm not that easy to break."

Pepper just sent him a smile. "I'm living with Tony Stark for more than ten years. I do know how to weasel out information from other people."

Owen threw a look at the man who was still rummaging around in the kitchen.

"Why is he calling you Pepper, Ginny? Why's everybody doing that? Even Forbes is using that name."

He watched how his sister blushed, still embarrassed by that incident so many years ago, with poor Happy in the line of her temper.

"Uhm… there was pepper spray involved, and that is all I will say", she answered.

"You… Pepper spray? I guess I can skip the shovel talk with him, then, huh? You seem to have everything under control."

At that Pepper actually laughed.

"I did not use it against him. And please, no shovel talk for Tony. He's a good guy. Once I figured out that he really wanted me, it was a matter of seconds to fall for him. I've never regretted it. He keeps telling me I'm collecting the hopeless cases, though, since we took Loki in."

Owen turned serious at that.

"Do you really think it is a good idea, having him here? I mean, he looks harmless with the sling and he moves like he'll need some time to recover from all his bruises and sprains, but…"

Pepper interrupted him there. "Please, don't. Picking at Loki is not what you want to do around me. I insulted the Queen of Asgard on his behalf. We know but nothing about him, and what little I do know made me want to strangle the God of Thunder yesterday.

The man on her couch just snorted.

"Virginia Potts, being on top of the of Forbes' top fifty companies is not enough, huh?"

"You know me, Owen. Always aiming high."

They smiled at each other, and her brother was catching her hand, eventually.

"I miss you, Ginny. All of us do. We… just didn't know how to…approach you."

Pepper sighed.

"Believe me, I didn't know how, either. Sometimes, Tony's big mouth can be an advantage…"

Silent laughter behind them made her look up, seeing the man in question walk up to the couch, a box in his hands.

"I never thought you'd ever admit that loudly, Pep. Gino's sent some desserts. Maybe Emma would like some panna cotta. I put the tiramisu in the fridge, I think Loki might like it with it tasting like coffee and being sweet."

Owen took the box out of Tony's hand, briefly looking at the other man. "I guess she might, yeah."

Tony was the first one up the next morning, after somehow ending up going to bed early without the drama of the last few days, knowing that J.A.R.V.I.S. was watching them and making sure they were all safe.

He slept like a baby, not even waking up when Pepper was done finding out all that had happened in her brother's life.

Ten hours of sleep did not help his tiny problem of being slightly inarticulate in the morning, though, so he was leaning on the counter, next to his trusty coffee maker, waiting for his fuel of life while he was pondering over how to finally repair the broken palm repulsor of MARK VI.

John Potts found him like this in the kitchen, staring into nowhere, clutching an empty cup, only reacting to the second "Good morning!" the older man was offering.

Tony startled at this, his head snapping around to his soon-to-be father-in-law. "Good morning. Do you also want some coffee? J.A.R.V.I.S., what do we have for breakfast?"

Before the engineer could scold himself once more for springing his AI on people who were not used to it, J.A.R.V.I.S. answered after softly beeping: "That depends on what you want to offer, Sir. Miss Potts and Mr. Laufeyson might want granola, as usual. I ordered the ingredients for continental and English breakfast."

"Yeah, I'm not cooking, J. You know what happened the last time. Coffee?" the engineer asked again, as John was still busy watching the ceiling and had to shake himself out of his stupor.

"Uh… yes, thank you. What happened the last time you tried cooking?" the older man questioned, rounding the counter to sit down on one of the barstools as Tony poured the first cup and placed it in front of John before he turned around and hunted down sugar and cream.

"I know how to cook, I've been feeding myself since Howard shipped me off to the MIT before I had turned 14. Nothing too fancy, but…" Tony shrugged. There were restaurants for fancy food. He was fine with being able to produce a decent pasta and scrambled eggs.

"I just get distracted too easily. Burnt eggs smell disgusting, and instead of turning off the stove, J.A.R.V.I.S. decided he'd rather let it rain in my kitchen. We had a long talk about that afterwards. The toaster's working miracles since then, though."

Both Tony and John were still laughing when Evelyn exited the guestroom with her grandson in tow, watching how the engineer placed sugar and cream in front of her husband, as if he knew exactly how John was having his coffee.

On second thought, most probably he did, since Virginia was having it the same way. Evelyn preferred her coffee black.

Tony had just poured himself his first cup, taking a scalding gulp, sighing at the bitter taste that ran down his throat, ignoring the critical glance John threw him. Yeah, most probably he was lacking heat receptors in his throat – which was weird, since spicy food was making him tear up in seconds.

Arriving in the kitchen she also offered a "Good morning" to both men before helping Samuel up on one of the barstools and gladly agreed on the cup of coffee she was offered.

Clutching the cup in both hands she smelt the rich aroma before sadly having to set it down on the counter, because it was still scalding hot.

Smiling at her son-in-law, she straightened her back. "Okay. Where's the eggs and bacon? I'm making breakfast."

She ignored the engineer's faint complaints and then got to work.