All Previous Disclaimers Apply
A/N: It's been a bit since an update for this one. Sorry for the wait. Let me know what you think if you have a moment. An interlude sort of chapter from Pepper's POV.
Pepper had never thought of herself as the kind to attend a support group. It wasn't that she had anything against them, or thought less of people who attended them. On the contrary, she was an enormous supporter of therapy. She was a high-powered woman in an occupation dominated by men. And most of them didn't believe that she deserved to be there. Any little flaw, any little slip-up, was seen as weakness and a failing of her gender. She was a strong, confident woman, but even a strong confident woman needed a safe place to discuss insecurities and work through frustrations. She had a standing appointment twice a month with her therapist, though at times it had been more frequent and she was certain there would be times in the future it would be more frequent again. She and Tony had attended couple's therapy more than once in their marriage. As much as they loved each other they were very different people and their communication styles didn't always mesh as well as they'd like. Tony had been resistant to the idea at first, but when he'd seen how much it helped them as a couple he'd found a personal therapist for himself. He had quite a bit to unpack from his childhood and it had taken him a while to find someone he felt even remotely comfortable with to begin the process, but once he had the difference had been remarkable. Therapy wasn't a cure-all, of course, but it had certainly helped them out considerably over the years and so, when Wong suggested the support group, they'd agreed to give it a shot.
And it hadn't been a disappointment in the least. Wong had been right. It was nice to know that there were others who truly understood what they were going through when Bucky had woken screaming three nights in a row and was so upset he couldn't stand to have them touch him, when Clint had an episode and climbed onto something insanely tall that nearly gave them both a heart attack and would not come down until he was good and ready, when Stevie was back in the hospital because, yet again, they couldn't get his oxygen levels in a safe range. Those in the group understood and could empathize without a patronizing sympathy. Just as they could understand when Bruce and Betty spoke of how Natasha, their beautiful seven-year-old little girl adopted from Russia, rescued from a child trafficking ring, had managed to fit herself into a cupboard she shouldn't have been able to get into to hide from a voice she heard on the television that reminded her of one of her captors, how they'd had to take the cabinet apart just to get her out and even then she hadn't been able to let Bruce touch her for a week, which broke his heart. How Betty always seemed to have her trust, could hold her and giggle with her and she would seem like any other little girl, but when he tried to be affectionate with her she looked at him with a distrust that someone so young should never have in their eyes. How they'd get to the point where she wasn't looking at him like that, where she was really learning to trust him, then another episode would happen and he'd have to start all over again. But, how he was going to do it as many times as it took until that look was gone completely because as soon as he'd seen her in the orphanage, all solemn eyes and fire hair, he'd known she was meant to be their little girl and he'd fallen in love with her then and there. They were able to celebrate when normally composed Betty had come running into group late one day, her hair a mess and a grin on her face, to tell them that Bruce wasn't going to be able to join them because Natasha had been scared by a thunderstorm and had sought him out, falling asleep in his arms comfortably.
They were able to understand when Thor, only twenty-one himself, spoke of his thirteen-year-old half-brother Loki, who he had fought for custody of after their parents were killed in a car accident, only to learn that the father he'd loved and looked up to all his life had been beating and mentally and emotionally abusing the boy since he'd moved out four years before to go to school. How Loki fought Thor at every turn, accused him of being just as bad as Odin when all Thor wanted to do was care for him. How Loki pushed him and pushed him and he'd lose his temper and yell at the boy…only to see the fear in his eyes and the way he flinched away if Thor raised a hand, not even to strike him, but just because he was a physically expressive person, and feel like he was just as bad as Odin. How Thor's girlfriend, Jane, hadn't been able to handle Loki and Thor's commitment to him and had left just weeks after she'd said yes to his proposal. They were able to celebrate though, when Thor, uncharacteristically shy, told them that he was seeing someone new, one of Jane's friends, Darcy, who was everything Jane wasn't and probably the best person for both Loki and Thor because she made them laugh, got them to actually talk to each other, and made them feel like maybe things were going to be okay. She was also the only person who could touch Loki without him lashing out.
They could understand and empathize with Wong and Stephen Strange, his husband, when they spoke of the terrible nightmares that their twins had of being buried alive in the remains of their apartment building that had been destroyed in an explosion when the civil war in their country had been at its peak. Their parents had already been killed in the war and they'd been living with their only surviving relative, their grandfather, but he'd died before they were able to reach them in the rubble, so the twins had been laying with his body for almost a day before they were found. Wanda, their daughter, still had a hard time telling between what was real and what wasn't when she was stressed and their son, Pietro, could barely sit still after having been confined for all that time in the dark. How hard it was for Stephen, with his high functioning Asperger Syndrome, to connect with them at times, despite how much he really did love them. How Wong sometimes felt stretched too thin trying to take care of them all and be the glue that held them all together along with helping those cases he was assigned to.
Scott Lang was unique among them in that his daughter, Cassie, was his biologically, but she'd lived with her mother and stepfather all her life due to his record. When her stepfather, a cop, had been paralyzed in the line of duty, and her mom had been having too hard a time taking care of them both while he recovered and learned how to live all over again, Cassie had been sent to him for the first time in her life. While his ex and her new husband had never really spoken against him, they'd never really spoken for him either, so he and Cassie were virtual strangers, trying to form a relationship and make it work without really having a place to even start from. Scott's girlfriend, Hope, had tried to be understanding, but Scott had had to put their relationship on hold until he had a firmer grasp on the relationship he was trying to have with his daughter. Hope had told him that she understood, but that she couldn't wait for him, which he understood, but still wasn't what he'd hoped he'd hear. But, bit by bit, Scott and Cassie were becoming a unit and they all couldn't be happier for them.
Their support group had really become more like an extended family and Tony and Pepper had been more grateful for them over the past few months than they could say.
"How was the first day back at school?" Wong asked with a smile after they'd all calmed down from the laughter of yet another of Loki's pranks that Thor had to lecture him for, but secretly found hilarious.
"Anti-climactic," Tony admitted, sounding almost disappointed.
"How is that?" Scott asked, a curious look on his face.
"I suppose we just expected…more." Pepper said quietly, "Clint and Bucky were a little nervous to be starting at the new school and neither of them were particularly fond of the uniforms, but I think we'd prepared them pretty well for the transition, because once we dropped them off it was basically business as usual. I think they were happy to get out of the tower after so long with just us and Peter and Stevie for company."
"Well, that's only natural," Betty said quietly, "I mean, that they'd want to be around kids their own age again."
"Right," Tony huffed, dramatically, "But, did it have to be so easy for them to leave us? Where was the separation anxiety? Where was the need for reassurance? Where was the god damned trauma?"
"Sounds like there was plenty of it," Stephen said, raising an eyebrow, "Just not from the boys."
"Yuck it up," Tony mumbled when they all began to laugh, "At least my Stevie didn't desert me."
"I thought Stevie was supposed to start daycare today?" Bruce asked.
"We're truthfully not certain he's going to be able to go to daycare," Pepper sighed, "His health is still so fragile. What would be a simple cold to the other kids could be something that puts Stevie in the hospital. We just…we can't take that chance until we understand more about what's causing his health problems. So, instead Stevie spent the day in Tony's lab."
"Best person to bounce ideas off of, I swear." Tony grinned, "You know, I never thought that I'd ever have a kid at home all the time, even with Pete there was always a sitter or a program he wanted to do or something. And Pep was the one who stayed with him when he was small like Stevie is now, but it's kind of nice. We get up, have breakfast with everyone before they leave, get a little work done, have some lunch, have a nap, get a little more work done, and then head back to the apartment with enough time to order in dinner. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever been on anything like a normal schedule in my life."
"Stevie's a miracle worker, all right."
Pepper smiled at her husband and couldn't help the wave of absolute love and affection that warmed in her chest. Tony had always been a good father, she knew that Peter had nothing to complain about in that area, but with their younger boys he'd also become more of a care-giver, because they needed the care, and it was a beautiful thing to see. She'd been the one to take time off after they had Peter because it made the most sense. She was the one who gave birth to him and, at the time, Tony's work was the more intense at Stark Industries. She never had and never would regret the time she'd taken to be with Peter, and she was glad that Tony was getting to experience it now. Because there was nothing quite like having your child fall asleep trustingly on your chest, or knowing what to do for every little mood swing your child had. And with Stevie's health, it was better to have someone who knew what was normal for him at any given time with him.
She reached out to take his hand and smiled when he grinned back at her before they both turned to Scott, who was telling them the dangers of navigating Cassie's emotions as puberty was setting in, both utterly content and at peace with the world for at least that moment.