Here it was again, the Stark Industries charity ball. They had so many each year it was hard to keep up with them, and they only attended a select few. Tonight was one of them. Ever since having Abby, both Pepper and Tony decided to make most of the charity events family events where everyone could bring along their children for the night, but they still had a few that were strictly employees only.
However, tonight was one of those family nights and Pepper was actually excited, which was different to how things used to be. She had given up working now that she was seven months pregnant and didn't want to risk anything, so getting out of the house and socializing with everyone she works with was going to be fun.
''Dress dilemma?'' Tony walked into the bedroom, finding Pepper staring at the bed where she had three different colored dressed laid out next to each other.
Pepper nodded. ''I don't know what to wear.''
Tony walked over next to her. ''I like that one.'' he pointed to the red one.
Pepper scrunched her nose up. ''I actually don't think I'll even fit into that one.''
''What about this one?'' he pointed to the deep green dress.
Pepper shook her head again. ''It's too short.''
Tony smirked. ''I wouldn't mind.''
Pepper playfully hit his arm. ''Oh I'm sure a pregnant woman in a short dress would be so appealing.''
''Anything you wear is appealing to me.'' he kissed her on the cheek.
''Hmm,'' she looked at him curiously. ''Did you break something?''
''What? No, why?''
''Just checking.'' she eyes him off again suspiciously.
''What? Can't I compliment you?''
''You can compliment me all you want but I know when you're trying to either tell me something you've done, or make up for something you've done.'' she explained.
''I've done nothing wrong at all.'' he shook his head, trying to remember what he had done all day. ''I think.''
Rhodey was bringing along his girlfriend tonight for the first time. Although Pepper and Tony had already met her and got to know her pretty well, no one else knew that Rhodey was in a relationship and although he wasn't exactly a part of Stark Industries, being War Machine meant that people wanted to know all about him, just like Iron Man.
Pepper, Tony and Abby arrived at the charity just after most of the other guests had arrived. Pepper had decided to go with a light blue, full length dress and since Abby was allowed to choose whatever dress she wanted, she was wearing her pink dress that resembled one of a princess since that was her favorite. Thankfully, after going to a few of these, Abby had got to know some of the other young children that were attending and wouldn't have to sit with Pepper and Tony while they talked to all the adults, she could go play with the other kids.
''Mommy!'' Abby tugged at her mothers dress, pointing over to where there was a little group of children over at their own table.
Pepper smiled down at her daughter. ''Off you go then, Ab.'' she nodded.
Abby lit up with a smile and rushed over, taking her own seat at the table and instantly laughing with the other kids. Pepper watched on happily, knowing that Abby was going to be the best big sister.
''Hey,'' Tony walked up beside her, looking over to Abby. ''Least someone's having fun.''
''We just got here.''
''But I'm bored.'' Tony whined.
Pepper looked over his shoulder. ''Rhodey's here.''
Tony turned around to see Rhodey walking over to them, dressed in a tux with a beautiful woman on his arm. Tony was happy for his friend for finding someone, they seemed perfect for each other.
''Nice to see you man,'' Rhodey smiled. ''You look beautiful Pepper.''
Pepper smiled widely. ''You look quite handsome yourself, Rhodes.''
Tony looked between the two of them. ''I'm right here.'' he pointed out.
''You look beautiful too.'' Rhodey told him jokingly.
''I know.''
''Nice to see you again Sarah.'' Pepper spoke to the woman as Rhodey and Tony starting rambling on with something.
Sarah smiled politely. ''You too. You look amazing, Pepper, really.''
Pepper was blushing like crazy with all of these compliments. ''Oh, thanks, I-''
''Mommy!'' Abby called out from beside her, lifting up a lollipop. ''Can't open it.''
Pepper looked to her daughter and took the candy to unwrap. ''Are you gonna say hello to Sarah?''
Abby looked over to the woman, smiling up at her. ''Sarah!'' she spoke with joy.
One of the things Sarah had always been nervous about when meeting Rhodey's friends and family was that they would all like her, but she especially hoped this little girl liked her. Rhodey always talked about his beautiful goddaughter and how perfect she was, he would smile every time he spoke about her. She was extremely important to him, and Sarah was so glad that she liked her.
''Hey there Ab,'' Sarah bent down to her level. ''You're getting so tall!''
Pepper was still trying to unwrap the candy when one of the Stark Industries board members took her attention, wanting to introduce her to someone very important to the company. Sarah looked up and saw Pepper nodding to leave, looking back and forth to her daughter.
''Here,'' Sarah reached up. ''I can stay with her while you go.''
Pepper sighed with relief. ''I won't be long, thanks.''
Being away from work so long, Pepper was the one everyone was going to tonight, telling her of changes and things she had missed. Tony was actively avoiding anyone important, trying not to get swept up into a long, boring conversation.
''There you go,'' Sarah handed Abby the little red lollipop.
Abby looked at it happily before popping it into her mouth. ''Thank you.'' she accepted politely. ''Your dress is pretty.''
Sarah looked down at her yellow dress and back up at the little girl. ''I don't know, yours is pretty hard to beat.''
''It's a princess dress.'' Abby told her proudly. ''Do you want a lollipop?''
Sarah chuckled lightly. ''Sure.''
They two of them headed over to the little children's table and sat at their own peacefully as Abby searched for a pretty colored piece of candy for her, holding it out to her like it was a piece of gold. Abby liked Sarah, she was just like Rhodey. She played with her, she was funny and when Abby went to Rhodey's for the day every now and then, Sarah would always play dress-ups with her. She was becoming a perfect Aunt.
Rhodey rolled his eyes at something Tony was saying, a common occurrence in all their conversations, and his eyes locked on Sarah and Abby over at one of the kids tables. Two of his favorite girls, he was so happy they actually got along. She knew Abby was a bit shy around new people and didn't like change, just as any other child, but he couldn't have been happier at how must she liked Sarah. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he looked over at them.
''Uh, hello?'' Tony pushed against Rhodey's shoulder.
Rhodey looked back at him. ''What? What were you- what?''
Tony looked over at what had caught Rhodey's attention and turned back to him with a smirk. ''Can't stop staring at her, can you?'' Rhodey shook his head, looking away. ''Wow, you guys are really...serious aren't you?''
''What do you mean? I don't jump from woman to woman unlike someone I used to know.''
''Defensive, hmm, that's the first sign.'' Tony narrowed his eyes as if he was analyzing Rhodey's behavior. ''So you can't take your eyes off her, pretty sure you smile like a madman every time you talk about her and now you're getting all touchy about things.''
Rhodey looked at him with a sigh. ''What?''
Tony chuckled. ''You love her.'' he told him. Rhodey just looked away, not wanting to discuss this with him right now. ''You do, don't you?''
''What do you think?''
''I think you are.'' Pepper's voice came from beside him, moving over to stand with Tony. ''And I'm happy for you.''
Rhodey smiled at her with appreciation, but Tony kept making his remarks. ''You totally love her, I'm right!''
''Tony.'' Pepper scolded, lightly pushing him.
''Hey, I think I can remember a certain someone who couldn't take his eyes off someone else and also couldn't stop grinning like crazy whenever they talked about her.'' Rhodey told him, reminding Tony.
''Uh, yeah,'' Tony slid his arm around Pepper's waist. ''That someone? I married her because I loved her.'' Pepper smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek as he explained things to Rhodey. ''Which only proves my point further, so thank you.''
''And what are we proving here?'' Sarah's voice came from behind them, startling them all into silencing their conversation. ''Oh, am I...interrupting something?''
''No, just Tony being himself, you didn't miss much.'' he waved the issue off, ignoring Tony as he knew there would an unimpressed look in his face at his words.
Sarah had Abby in her arms so she could be apart of the conversation as well, stilling eating her lollipop just as Sarah was. Pepper could even see how good Sarah was with children, she was obviously someone Abby really liked spending time with.
''I gotta say,'' Sarah pulled the lollipop out of her mouth to speak. ''your daughter has a sweet tooth.''
Pepper laughed before looked over to Tony. ''Hmm, well she certainly wouldn't get that from me.''
Tony avoided her gaze on purpose, looking over to Abby. ''Where's mine? You said you'd keep me one.'' he joked.
Abby nodded her head. ''I did daddy! It's a blue one!''
''Now we're talkin'.'' he chuckled, taking Abby from Sarah as they made their way through the crowd.
Tony always took Abby with him when walking around during events like this so no one would bother him with important conversations as he had made it clear to almost everyone that when he was with his daughter, he wasn't to be disturbed with business or media.
The rest of the night had been spent peacefully talking among the other Stark Industries workers and the important people who were making the donations to the charity as well, and then they sat at a table for the remainder of the night and just spent some time talking and having a good time. It was better than Tony thought it would be, he usually hated these things, but with his family and friends there, he didn't even care about the other annoying people there.
As usual, Abby had fallen asleep in the car ride back to the house and Tony carefully carried her up to her bedroom as she slept against his shoulder, placing her in bed gently and turning on her night light. Looking back to her sleeping soundly made him feel a warmth inside of him, and he couldn't help the smile on his face.
''I'm going for a quick shower.'' Pepper told him once he walked into the bedroom behind her.
''Is that an invitation?'' he smirked, raising his eyebrows.
Pepper chuckled and shook her head, walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. Tony took that as a no, and began taking his coat and tie off, laying back on the bed and waiting for her to come back out.
When Pepper emerged from the bathroom ten minutes later, she had her robe on tied around her waist, making her huge stomach stand out that much more. Tony couldn't believe how big she was, but she looked just a beautiful as ever. Tony sat up, thinking she was going to walk over and get changed into her pajamas, but she walked over to the wardrobe to change behind the mirror door.
''What are you doing?'' he asked, raising his eyebrow at the odd behavior.
Pepper looked over to him confused. ''I'm getting dressed.''
''I know that,'' he shook his head. ''but what's with the whole door thing?'' Pepper shrugged her shoulders, ignoring his question. ''What's up?''
''Nothing.'' she defended, walking over to the bed once she was dressed.
''No, something's up, I can tell.''
''Why because I wanted to get changed in privacy?''
''Come on Pepper,'' he gave her an exasperated look. ''You've been acting weird with things like that for weeks now and it's confusing me.''
''I don't know.'' she shook her head, crossing her legs as best she could in front of her. ''There's just...some things I don't like, I guess.''
Tony knew he was entering dangerous territory now. Pepper was always so self-conscious lately, but he didn't think she would be like that around him, he always told her how beautiful she was and assured her she was perfect. He sat up closer to her, one hand holding his head up as he leaned on his elbow looking up at her.
''What do you mean?''
Pepper sighed, she didn't know how to explain it. ''I know my body's supposed to be like this, and I have no problem being pregnant at all, I love it, but I just got so big this time 'round, and...I don't know how to explain it Tony.'' she shook her head. ''I feel so big all the time, and I have...stretch marks.'' she softened her voice at the last comment, almost embarrassed.
Tony gave her a comforting smile. ''Pepper, there's nothing wrong with the way you look-''
''Stop saying that.'' she shook her head. ''I know what I look like, I can feel it.''
Pepper knew that sometimes she reacted to her appearance a little dramatically, but lately she could help feeling that way. Maybe it was hormones, maybe it was just these past few weeks, she didn't know.
''Pepper,'' he moved to make her looked at him. ''There is nothing wrong with the way you look.''
''But I'm-''
''No, listen,'' he shook his head, ignoring her protests. ''There is nothing wrong with it, okay? You look just as beautiful as you always have. You will never not be beautiful, you got that?'' Tony sat up closer to her, his hand resting on her stomach. ''I don't want you to to think that you're not, ever. And I especially don't want you to think that I would ever think differently.''
Pepper wanted to argue back at him and tell him how she felt, but there was something about the way he was talking to her so intimately and honestly, she soon found her lips lifting into a light smile at his words. She didn't say anything when his hand slid under her shirt and lifted it over her stomach, revealing her bump. His hands wandered over it gently, and he smiled up at her when he could feel the baby move.
''Looks like they agree with me.'' he nodded toward her stomach.
Pepper chuckled and put her hand on top of his. ''Can you do me a favor?''
''Mm hmm,'' he looked up at her, his chin resting on her stomach now as he relaxed.
''Can you just do that all the time, when I'm in these moods.''
''Do what?''
''Make everything better.'' she smiled.
Tony sat up further and pressed his lips to hers for a moment. ''I'll do my best.''