I don't own Marvel

Chapter 35

Pepper woke up to Alex kissing her cheek. "Mommy up peas." She opened her eyes and looked into his brown eyes. Her two-year-old lay on her with his little face directly on hers, "I'm up sweetie." She sat up and picked Alex up with her. It was 8:00 PM. She went into the bathroom and dressed. She wore casual clothing and hoisted Alex up to her hip.

Her husband and friends were around the table, setting up the table and serving Thai food around. Steve and Bruce smiled at her. "Congratulations Pepper." Darcy squealed and hugged her. Jane smiled and kissed her cheek. Bruce hugged her too. Steve kissed her cheek, "You'll be a great mother." He smiled and kissed her again.

Natasha was the last one to congratulate her, "We are happy right?" The Russian spy asked as she hugged her. Pepper laughed, "I'm extremely, ecstatic. If I was happier I would burst." She hugged Natasha back.

"You couldn't wait. Could you?" she laughed and pecked her husband who pulled a chair next to him for her.

"Can't blame me Pep, I'm not good with impulse control." Bruce and Darcy laughed.

Pepper was too happy to be mad at him; she put Alex on his high chair and started eating her food. She smiled all the time and Tony looked incredibly happy. Who would have thought five years ago that she would be Mrs. Stark living in New York with a child and one more on the way?

Five days later they were waiting for Dr. Brooks, one of the best Obstetrician/Gynecologist from the eastern seaboard. Tony drummed his fingers against the magazine he held. Pepper was collected as always. She read through her emails and other messages. They waited for another five minutes in which Pepper almost los her patience with her husband. She was about to snap or hold his hands when the doctor called them in.

The doctor smiled politely and let them in. She had brown hair and a pretty face; she looked too young to be a doctor. "Excuse me, how old are you?" Tony asked as a way of introduction Pepper looked at reprovingly at him and then looked at the doctor's surprised face.

"Please forgive my husband. He's a little nervous." She said as an apology. The doctor smiled back and looked at Tony. "I'm thirty eight, if you must know."

Tony nodded, "How long have you worked as a doctor? What is your success rate? How many babies have you delivered?" Pepper blushed and elbowed her husband.

"Pep, this is important. We need this information." He said unrepentantly.

The doctor was impassive now. "I understand your concerns. If you have any doubts about me, I could refer you to one of my colleagues."

"That won't be the case. Dr. Brooks." Pepper said firmly. "Dr. Marquez recommended you specifically. Tony is just anxious about all of this."

Tony quieted when Pepper glared at him. He investigated this doctor, he wanted to make sure that Pepper's pregnancy went as uncomplicated as possible. Pepper liked Brooks' career profile and decided to visit her practice.

The Doctor began her questions. "Will this be your first child?"

"No, we already have a son." Pepper answered quickly.

"This is not your first pregnancy then?" the doctor asked.

"Our son is adopted. I had a miscarriage last year."

The doctor nodded and asked about Pepper's symptoms and the reason why she had the miscarriage.

Once the questioning was done, the woman motioned Pepper to lie on the examination table. "I'm going to do an ultrasound. We'll know how old the baby is. You'll get to see it for the first time."

Pepper felt a little uncomfortable; Tony held her hand and they looked at the monitor. "There it is." They saw a little outline of what would be their baby.

"It looks like you are two months pregnant Mrs. Stark." the doctor pronounced

"Not a reconciliation baby then." Tony said absently and Pepper laughed.

"Why can't we hear a heartbeat?" whenever they saw movies, the parents would hear the baby's heartbeat first.

The doctor smirked and clicked on something. "I always wait for this moment. This is when we are sure there's life."

They hard the unmistakable heart beat sound, "It's so fast." Tony's voice was full of awe. The same awe he experienced when Pepper told him she loved him for the first time, when Alex called him daddy, when his wife told him she was pregnant.

He kissed his wife smiling face. "You are magnificent Pepper Stark." he said seriously. Pepper kissed his lips softly and caressed his face.

The doctor gave her some vitamins and scheduled another appointment for next month. They had their pictures of the ultrasound and a video of it. Tony placed a file under Baby Stark next to his Alex Stark file. He archived the first picture and video of the baby.

Soon in Stark Tower everyone had seen the new addition to Tony's family. Steve was especially amazed. "That's a baby. Pepper and you made that." Thor was as amazed as Steve, "Lady Pepper how they did take a picture from inside of your body. Didn't it harm the child?"

Jane who sat next to her boyfriend explained everything about ultrasounds and their now safe equipment. Natasha wasn't as excited as the others but she congratulated her friend once again. Bruce had to agree with Tasha.

The Russian spy and the physicist were the first to retire after the ultrasound showing. They were in bed naked after sex. "I'm happy for Pepper. I really am but all this baby stuff makes me uncomfortable. I don't know how to react…" Natasha said while playing with Bruce's arm around her waist.

He chuckled and nuzzled her neck. "Believe me I understand, all Tony talks about is Alex and the new baby. It is driving me crazy." He laughed.

"You don't want children." She said a little relieved, she didn't have anything against children. She loved Alex but she just wasn't the motherly type. "I don't hate children. But you are right. I don't think having children and me would be in the same sentence. I assume you don't want children either." He asked.

Tasha turned around and looked into his brown eyes. "I don't, it was why Clint and I never worked. He wants children one day, even though he denies it. That was a deal breaker for our relationship." Bruce kissed her. "I'm glad we are on the same page." He smirked and rolled over her. Natasha moaned and soon they were busy with other more pleasant activities.

Tony was late for the business meeting, he actually cared about this one and Pepper would be furious when she found out he was late. She was on her third month already and the mood swings made her a little difficult to be around when she was on the scheduling warpath. This was the fifth time this week they had to reschedule this same meeting. His wife already had him on the doghouse because of Bruce's latest experiments. They had been working tirelessly for about five days without any big results as of yet. Pepper dragged him out of the lab and made him shower earlier so that he could be on time for this same meeting. He sat next to her and kissed her cheek softly. She did not acknowledge him at all, "Let's begin with the meeting."

The meeting went well, statistics, figures, mergers, legalistic crap etc. etc. Tony was able to keep up to date with all of the Stark Industries new business deals. He glanced at his wife and noticed that she looked uncomfortable, fidgety even. He tried to listen to Warren Blunt from accounting but he couldn't help but look at his wife's pale face. The accountant explained figure 74 and 75 Tony tried to flip to the next page when Pepper suddenly grabbed his hand. He looked up into his wives terrified eyes. "Tony. I think I'm bleeding." She said fearfully.