Chapter Twenty-Nine: Pepper's Got A Secret

Here we go, the last actual chapter until the epilogue, in the authors note on the bottom of the epilogue will contain the preview of the fourth installment which I am currently working on and Raven's story won't be all that long, maybe ten chapters or a few more or less but anyways I am working on multiple stories and I hope to get this new story finished rather quickly currently 26 chapters are complete. So be sure to comment and favorite this story.


"Yes I have a criminal record," I sigh, exasperated. "Not that it's any of your business to begin with because those are my decisions that I made for reasons that I felt were worth it."

While this discussion of my past seems to be an always present event for us, I never hid my criminal record on purpose because I don't regret my decision for I had valid reasons for doing what I did. Reasons that Dad will never quite understand, and while even when I did these things, I knew they would be a black mark on my record for college I did them for the right reasons.

Dad sets my record down on the coffee table in front of us and I can read all the charges, all of them were dropped, but they still remain a piece of my past and some of these are still left over from when my mom was alive and I lived with her. NASA is a much harder reason to explain but I did do it for a good reason like hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D. was about my dad, before I knew him.

They were the only ones who really had any tabs on him or his whereabouts and being able to hack into their system allowed me to check in on him and see if he was okay when I really wanted nothing to do with him. I've come a long way since when I lived on the streets but somehow, even now, my past still comes back to bite me in the ass and it sucks.

"And I was arrested in school one time for hitting the principal of my middle school but he deserved it okay? He was such a gross pervert who always checked out the underclassmen's asses in P.E. and so I decided an eye for an eye and got revenge for all of them, they all felt extremely uncomfortable because of him and I decided to do something about it."

Dad stares at me, confused by the sudden burst of information.

"I hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D. to keep tabs on you, the NASA thing is a much more complicated event to explain but I wanted to check and see how a machine I created would impact the solar system and so yeah, I hacked into the system and was another reason that I destroyed the machine, which ended up being pointless as it was recreated anyways."

"Are you okay?" Dad suddenly asks, and I glance over at him. What the hell is wrong with him? He tells me we need to talk or whatever about something that happened or that he found out about while I was gone and now he basically ignores the answers I just provided and asks me how I am!? I shot him a look that literally expressed what I was thinking.

Suddenly it dawns on me, he's not mad, but it's obvious that he wants something from me. Typically he is all nice when he needs me to do something, the only thing I'm wondering is what he could possibly need me to do. It's not very often that he asks me to do something for him, so whatever has him worried must be a pretty big concern for him.

I raise an eyebrow and say, "what do you want?"

"Pepper's been acting a little... odd lately, I know you've noticed as too and I figured it'd be best if you asked her what's wrong, what with you being a girl and all, plus if it is a woman-thing, it would be extremely awkward if she answers."

My eyes narrow. "So basically you want me to ask your wife what's the matter because you don't want to fear of awkwardness."

He pauses a moment, tilting his head from side to side like he's thinking it over before nodding only a few seconds later. "Yeah pretty much so, will you do it for me?" he asks, pleading in his tone.

Sighing, I nod my head and get to my feet. "Okay, fine but we better be getting so damn food after this because I'm starving."

He flashes me a grin. "Fine, we'll go anywhere you want. When you find out, report back to me like the good little spy you are. Now shoo..." he finishes, waving me away with his hands. Rolling my eyes I hurry off in the direction where Pepper vanished through. I already knew something was up with her when I first saw her since getting back but I'm still curious as to what it could possibly be.

She's always been such a calm, emotionally balanced person so something that could rattle her this much, has to be a pretty big issues that she's struggling with. In that case, their aren't to many 'big' type of issues that it could possibly be. While in the it of my stomach I can feel a lump that weighs me down, one that tells me I already know what it is. My instincts are nearly never wrong.

I try to keep an open ind but the endlessly long and overwhelming silence of the tower really isn't helping to easy my anxiety that is flaring at an all time high right now as I maneuver my way through hallway after hallway. Just as I reach the end of the hallway where Dad and Pepper's room is I see her standing outside on the balcony that is on the dead end wall before me with a glass sliding door as a desperate from inside to outside.

While April is typically the rainy season for everyone, today it seems as if the rain has decided to skip New York City, New York for whatever reason of its choosing. A gentle breeze seems to be blowing as from how Pepper's strawberry blond hair flows with the northern breeze sweeping past. She sits on a lawn chair with her knees pulled up to her chest.

She shutters with each breath but I can't see her face as it is buried in the knees. Taking a deep breath, I slide the glass door open and slip out onto the balcony where Pepper resides. Her voice is hoarse from emotion but she speaks to me nonetheless.

"W-what do you n-need Panic?" she asks, voice wavering with emotion.

"Is something wrong? You've been acting a little different lately and I know I've only been back for not even quite a day but even Dad's noticed and so I wanted to know what's wrong. Maybe I can help you out somehow," I say, sitting down on an orange chair similar to that of the one Pepper is sitting on. Glancing up at me I see her face for the first time since getting outside.

Her face is puffy, red, and splotchy and her eyes are red and swollen from crying. Pepper's bottom lip wobbles as she attempts to keep from bursting into tears and that's when I know something is really wrong.

"Pepper, what's wrong."

She just shakes her head and shutters as she silently cries. More tears trickles down her cheeks. "I-I can't... He can't know abou... H-how could I-I ever be-be able to tell h-h-him...?"

I listen to her squawking attempt at making a coherent sentence that makes sense to anyone other than her and try to piece what information I can together from each line and incomplete thought and idea. Something about her and not being and 'he' Dad, not knowing and her being afraid to tell him. My eyes widen to half-dollar coins as I put it together.

Pepper glances up an notices my expression and slowly gives a sad nod.

"I'm pregnant..."


A/N: Okay so I know this is an odd way to end this story but there is an EPILOGUE THAT WILL BE POSTED SOON and it will be the official end of the story, as for the Raven story it'll be a fairly short story with maybe ten chapters and will take place between this story and the fourth story. ALSO there will be a sneak peak of the fourth story installment in the epilogue so be sure to check that out.