At times like these, Pepper missed Phil Coulson, who had taught her that not all government agents were soulless, hard-hearted jerks, incapable of empathy. If Phil were here, he would tell her what she needed to know, be it good or bad, instead of giving her vague answers whenever the indeterminate waiting became too much and she asked for an update. Natasha had taken her to a SHIELD facility, and Pepper hadn't seen her again. Not many people had spoken to Pepper after that, until Trevor Slattery, AKA the Mandarin, had been arrested—it was all over the news—and Killian had reportedly been eliminated by Tony and Rhodey at the Roxxon Refinery. It appeared Tony had dozens of suit hidden beneath the mansion, and used them to fight Killian and his Extremis soldiers.

At least SHIELD was still kind enough to give her a ride to the hospital. All she knew was that Ana needed medical attention, and Tony would meet her there. By the time Pepper arrived, Tony wasn't at the hospital, though. They said he was still being debriefed. Considering it was the President himself Killian had kidnapped, she understood the urgency. The Vice President had been arrested for working with Killian as well.

A nurse took Pepper to Ana's room, saying she had needed a minor surgery, for her broken rib was pressuring against the lungs. When she entered the room, Pepper saw that Killian had roughed Ana up really bad. Seeing her battered like that brought tears to Pepper's eyes.

"I'll leave you alone," the nurse said politely, and took her leave.

Ana wasn't awake yet. Pepper sat down on the chair beside the bed, wondering what had gone wrong. Ana had saved her. Why she hadn't been able to save herself?

"You poor thing…"

"Mom?" Ana mumbled in her sleep.

Mom. Ana had just called her 'Mom.' Well, Pepper had heard about people saying strange things under anesthesia. Ana would probably not remember this. But now, Pepper knew for sure that she wanted her as her mother, and it was all that mattered.

"I'm here," she said, stroking her hair. "You're safe now."

…

Half an hour later, there was still no word from Tony. Pepper was starting to get worried. She was thinking of calling Rhodey when Ana woke up. This time, she was fully awake.

"Pepper?" she asked, obviously surprised.

"Hey… How are you feeling?"

"Ugh, anesthesia really sucks."

"I can call the doctor…"

"No, I'll be fine… Is Dad here?"

"No, they're still debriefing him, I think."

She nodded slowly, then said, "Pepper, I need to tell you something."

"About Tony?"

"About me. I've been lying. I've been lying to you… for two years. And you hate secrets, so…"

"Hey, take it easy. Whatever this is about, I'm sure it can wait for another day or two." Ana was speaking with some difficulty. Pepper didn't want her to push herself too hard.

"No, you need to know. It's not fair to you."

She could be even more stubborn than Tony sometimes. "Very well. You know you can tell me anything."

"I invented time-travel. And teleportation."

"What?" Maybe she was still speaking under the influence of the drugs…

"It happened after the Expo… Dad knows. I asked him to keep it from you. I didn't want you to be scared."

"Scared of what?"

She smiled feebly. "Of me. Of what I can do… I should've trusted you more. It's not that I don't love you. It's just… I didn't want… I didn't want to force you to play mother around me."

For someone who had grown up with everything at her beck and call, Ana was too scared to want anything for herself. Pepper found this sad. "Oh, Ana… I'm not playing anything. I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

"And I believe in you. You can never scare me."

"Thanks."

"I didn't know you were working on teleportation, though. Where did that come from?"

"I wasn't. It… it was an accident."

"How can you accidentally invent teleportation?"

She shrugged. Seeing that she didn't have the strength to give a more detailed explanation, Pepper left her be. Soon, Ana drifted off again.

Pepper was growing restless now. She went to look out the window and started watching the busy city outside. Miami looked beautiful in Christmas. Too bad this had been the worst Christmas for them, she thought for a moment, then felt ashamed of that thought. She was one of the lucky ones. At least she wasn't mourning anybody. Tony and Ana were alive, and there was still hope for Happy. Wounds could heal, houses could be rebuilt. But the dead couldn't be brought back to life. There were people who had actually lost their lives to Killian's fearmongering campaign. People with families. She couldn't imagine what those families must be going through.

At some point, the door opened. It was Tony.

"Finally!" Pepper exclaimed in a hushed voice, and went to kiss him. He had bruises, and cuts, too, but other than that, he was still her handsome boyfriend.

"Hey, Pep," Tony said, after kissing her back. Oh, how she had missed this, to be kissed and held by him… She was a bit embarrassed to admit that apart of her wanted to have sex with him as soon as possible, but then reminded herself that it was natural to want to have sex after a life-threatening experience, or even attending a funeral. Tony had said it had something to do with the subconscious wanting to defy death or something like that.

"What took you so long?" she asked to distract herself. The hospital wasn't the best place to have sex. Besides, she could sense that Tony wasn't… in the mood.

"Oh, boy… If the President gets kidnapped again, remind me not to get involved."

She chuckled.

"Are you okay?" he asked, studying her from head to toe.

"I'm fine."

His gaze shifted on the bed, and pain, remorse, and anger crossed his face all at once. Pepper didn't know which one was worse: Seeing how badly Ana was hurt, or how it affected Tony. There was a reason most of his enemies went after Pepper and Ana instead of attacking him directly.

"How is she doing?"

"She's been drifting on and off… God, Tony, what happened?"

"The usual drill. I made a mistake, you girls paid the price."

"Tony…"

"It's the truth." He approached Ana, took her hand, and pressed it against his lips. Around his daughter, Tony was at both his strongest and most vulnerable at the same time. "I got cocky. I thought I could take on the Mandarin and protect you two at the same time. And yet, here we are."

"She called me 'Mom' in her sleep," she said, knowing that would be enough to cheer him up, but even that didn't seem to work.

"There was a time I thought I could give her everything. How could I be so delusional, while I couldn't even give her a mother… until you came along."

"She doesn't ask for much, you know. Just a peaceful, happy family."

"Same as you?"

"Yes," she admitted.

"Well, maybe I can make that happen. Better late than never." He put Ana's hand down, grabbed Pepper's instead, and dragged her to the window. "Look."

"Look at what?" she asked, confused.

"JARVIS, you know what to do."

A second later, she saw the fireworks over the horizon. "I don't understand. Fireworks? I mean, sure, they're nice, but…"

"They're my suits. JARVIS is blowing them up."

"All of them?" she gasped.

"Yeah, all of them. No more distractions."

"Thank you," she said, not sure what else to say. She knew what the suits meant to him. He had a great gift and the things he built were the manifestations of that gift. And yet, he had stopped, just because he knew it was what Pepper wanted.

As she watched the fireworks in his arms, she came up with an idea. The Starks were geniuses; it was unfair to ask them to go against their nature and pretend to be ordinary. Yes, Tony had just made a huge compromise, and she wanted to return the favor by making a compromise of her own. That was the only way they could be a family. If she didn't want to be left out in the future, she had to be able to keep up with them.

"Ana told me something," she started.

"Told you what?"

"Time-travel. She can really do it, can't she?"

He clicked his tongue. "In theory."

"What does that mean?"

"She needs something. A very rare element called gravitonium. Officially, it doesn't even exist."

"Well, I'm sure we can afford it."

"Money isn't the problem. Convincing Ian Quinn to accept it in exchange for gravitonium is. Ana suspected he'd found some. JARVIS hacked into the Quinnworldwide mainframe and… She's right."

Pepper knew Ian Quinn. Not personally, but she had heard the name. He was a successful businessman and a famous philanthropist who was very loud about his negative opinions on government interference in private business. He harbored a special resentment for SHIELD. "Are you sure?"

"For 20 years, he operated on 12 different mines around the world. All of a sudden, he finally stops at one. And his old friend from college, Dr. Franklin Hall, is an expert on gravitonium. I don't think it's a coincidence."

"Oh my God…" It was really happening, then. Ana was going to be the one to invent time-travel.

"She doesn't know yet. It's going to be a surprise."

"And once she has it, what's she going to do? She's not looking for her mother anymore."

"She doesn't want it to go to the past. She wants to go to the future now. For me."

Pepper understood. "She wants to see if aliens will come back…"

"Yes," he said, almost apologetically. "I'm sorry, I know this is too much for you, but—"

"Would it stop your nightmares? Permanently?"

"Yes," he said again, in the same apologetic manner.

"Then I'm in. I'll do whatever I can to help you guys."

…

Tony never did anything halfway. Perhaps this was why they were here, at a hospital in Beijing, to have his Arc Reactor removed by Dr. Wu. He gave Pepper, Rhodey, and Ana a thumbs up before the operation started, then a nurse drew the curtain, for which Pepper was grateful. She would never leave Tony's side, but she wasn't exactly looking forward to watching him being cut open either.

They could go back to the hotel, of course, but none of them would be willing to leave the hospital until the surgery was completed, so it hadn't even been discussed. Dr. Wu must have figured that much, too, for he had offered them a private room to wait in. They went there.

"I'm going to get coffee," Rhodey announced. "You girls want anything?"

"Coffee would be nice," Ana said, and Pepper nodded. Rhodey went to fetch the coffee.

"Ana," Pepper started, and took the necklace out of her purse. She should have given it to its rightful owner a long time ago. "I found this in the debris after the attack."

"Sigyn's magic pendant!" she gasped. "I thought it was lost forever! Thank you!"

"Don't thank me. I was almost not going to give it to you."

She had thought this might anger Ana, but it didn't. "Why not?" she just asked calmly.

"Because I was jealous."

"Of Sigyn?"

She laughed at her own pettiness. "Yes."

"Pepper, you know Dad doesn't even see other women anymore, right?"

"You misunderstand me. I never thought Sigyn could be a threat to my relationship with Tony. I thought she was a threat to my relationship with you."

"Seriously?"

"She was the perfect mother for you. She was the one who brought you to Tony. All your life, she looked out for you, until she was banished. She's beautiful, kind, smart. There's no way I can compete with her."

"You don't have to! Yeah, I learn a lot from her, but that's all. I just need her knowledge. And she doesn't care about me. She cares about my grandfather, who'd probably hate both you and me if he were still around. Sigyn took me to Dad to pay a debt she thought she owed for some reason. I was just the payment."

"Come here." Pepper extended her arms for Ana, who eagerly accepted the invitation and buried her head in the crook of Pepper's neck. Knowing how hard it was for Ana to trust anybody, Pepper felt incredibly lucky that she had chosen to trust her with all her heart, the way she trusted Tony. "I love you, Ana."

She pulled herself back to look her in the eye. "I love you, too. And I'm sorry if Dad and I sometimes make you feel left out. It's not like we—"

"You two have a connection. It's okay. Tony, he… he knows how your mind works. And you know how his mind works. I can't be a part of it. Still, I was hoping this would be enough to prove how much I care about you."

She took out the second surprise out of her bag. An invitation, to the annual Quinn Worldwide shareholders' meeting. The way Ana was beaming at her could be the best thing Pepper had ever seen.

"It's in September. You're going to have to wait for 7 months, but you have a guaranteed spot, so—"

Ana threw her arms around Pepper's neck. "Thank you!" She released her, and looked at the invitation again, as if she wanted to make sure it was real. "You have no idea what this means to me. Especially coming from you."

"You have the power to end Tony's nightmares. This is the least I can do."

Her smile faded. "What if the future is a nightmare, though?"

"What if it's not? What if you prove he fears for nothing? But, Ana… You do realize this is corporate espionage, right? And Quinn is a citizen of Malta. You're not. If you get caught, you know the consequences."

"I do."

Pepper had to hope that she was doing the right thing by helping her. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to live with the regret.