If anyone is interested, I am writing a Doctor Strange film fix-it as well as a Doctor Strange/Sherlock/Doctor Who Advent story. Just thought I'd mention it - especially since that last one has more Tony!

No copyright infringement is intended. Please don't sue me, I am just making you some free publicity. I do not own anything from AC/DC either - just publicising a bit for you guys!

Warnings for slight mentions of medical things?

TapTap

Tony puttered around the lab. He'd given Claire the day off - keeping track of her hours was the last thing he was focused on, but he had decided he had definitely seen her around for too long. If he let her overwork too much, Pepper would definitely have his head. "I'll have to ask Claire if she can take on the job of being her boss," he told Dumm-E. Pepper would give him a "look" at that kind of thinking, but from what he'd seen so far, Claire might just refrain.

He had argued with Pepper about his new lab assistant at first, but he had to admit that Claire was a brilliant help around the workshop. Like Bruce, she followed what happened in his head at least sometimes, and she really was a very innovative engineer. Not his level, nope, nor his or Bruce's level of intellect, hell no, but still very clever and full of ideas that actually were at his level.

As he pondered that, Dumm-E, after being addressed, had promptly buzzed off in the direction of the coffee pot Tony kept down here. Now, the eager bot came whirring back, offering Tony a cup. Indulgently, the master engineer and inventor took the cup, surprised to only smell a delicious roast, not even a whiff of motor oil. "Jarvis?" He questioned.

"It is perfectly drinkable, Sir," came the reply, so he took a cautious sip, only for his eyes to widen in surprise. Not just drinkable, this coffee was fantastic.

"Very good," was all he said, giving the pleased bot a pat on the gripping claw, making him even happier. With a contented smile of his own, Tony settled in to work, humming to himself and convincing Jarvis to blast AC/DC all over the place.

Pepper sat in the examination room, staring down at her hands. They'd taken a number of tests, and she would probably need to wait for results a few days at least and...

"Miss Potts?" She looked up to see her doctor, a woman about her own age with chocolate skin and a lovely smile. "We have some preliminary results, but I would like to do one more thing to confirm."

"Already? Don't you need lab time and..." Pepper bit her lip, but nobody could blame her for being a little nervous in these circumstances.

"Normally, yes. You're right." The doctor smiled at Pepper, waiting as a technician rolled in a device beside her, before promptly leaving them alone once more. With privacy restored, the doctor continued. "But even a brief glance at your values is pretty telling, so I think we can go ahead and guess. An ultrasound test will confirm it, but..."

They used that on tumours, didn't they, Pepper suddenly recalled, apart from the obvious use.

"My professional opinion is that you're pregnant," it took the CEO a moment to hear, and several more to start to understand the words. "Probably as late as the fourth month. Have you not noticed the signs? Most women who feel sick connect the dots pretty quickly - while throwing up is absolutely a sign of brain tumours, it is mostly men who reach that conclusion."

Pepper's head spun, and she shook it, very, very slowly not to feel even more sick. "I am in a relationship with another woman, I... I never thought..."

"Yes, look, that'd be her little feet," the doctor assured Pepper as they looked at the foetus together. At Pepper's stricken - happy in a way, but still stricken - look, she looked sympathetic. "Will this cause problems with the girlfriend?"

Pepper shook her head. "No... we, we've only been together for three months, and I know it is not from then." It felt very important to point that out. While she was not sure why, not to the doctor, it still did.

"Well, this baby is definitely much older than that. Month five, I'd say," the Doctor assured her comfortingly, tone dead sure.

"Five... that was when I broke up with Tony..." Pepper thought out loud. "We hadn't been intimate, hell, we hadn't been on the same continent, for months! That's why I didn't think..." She suddenly blushed, remembering their half-finished attempt at connecting that evening, before she left and Tony got blinding drunk. He probably wouldn't even remember.

"Remembering now?" The doctor smiled, finishing checking up on the baby.

"Yes. Break up sex. I've tried not to think of that evening for months," Pepper admitted, feeling both sheepish and foolish. She was looking at the doctor cleaning the gear to distract herself as they talked, and that was why she saw her make the connection.

"Will your girlfriend understand?" The doctor made small talk, probably sensing how much she needed it.

"Yes. She's an Avenger, so it was always I who was going to carry a child anyway. Hopefully we can make it work."

"An Aveng... You are...!" Between her name, the use of the "Tony", and the stories doubtlessly plastered over every gossip magazine a few months ago as well as those about her and Natasha now, it was no wonder it finally hit her. The doctor froze and stared for one heartbeat, then she made a self-deprecating smile and, quickly regaining professionalism, ended the line of thought with, "Well, at least then he can afford to pay child support."

Pepper laughed. She couldn't help it. All the tension building up over the weeks, the fear, and now this. "Oh, Tony won't be difficult. Everyone and everything else might be, but he is actually a really nice guy, beneath it all. He's not the one I worry about." Kindly, the doctor smiled at her before she wrote out the paperwork Pepper would need.

Seven minutes later, Pepper left the doctor's office, the folder with images of her unborn daughter clutched in her hand. Even aside from her relief, they made her very happy. She wanted a baby, well maybe not exactly now, but they didn't come when you expected them to. They came when they did. Now, it was just a matter of telling Natasha, and Tony. She was much more worried about telling Natasha.