Ginny snuggled against Tony's chest, and soon fell back to sleep. As soon as he noticed this, he laid her back down and left the room, heading out to the balcony, his phone in his hand.
He dialed it, and soon heard the voice of his best friend.
"Colonel Rhodes?" Rhodey answered.
"Yeah, hi, Rhodey," Tony said, anxiously running a hand through his hair, and looking back behind him to make sure Ginny was still asleep on the couch. "It's, uh, it's me," he said, turning back around.
"Tony? What's wrong? You sound..."
"It happened again, man," Tony said cutting him off.
"What happened?" Rhodey said cautiously.
"Pepper," Tony replied. "She came to me again. I fell asleep on the couch, and..."
"Well, there you go," Rhodey said with a little relief. "Sounds like it was just a dream."
"No," Tony argued. "I heard her call my name, and I woke up. Suddenly, there she was, standing in front of me again."
"Tony," Rhodey warned. "Really. This is..."
"But this time? She was...," Tony started, ignoring him, but his voice faltered as he swallowed hard, trying to fight the lump forming in his throat. "She was different. She was...pregnant, Rhodey."
"Oh, come on, Tony, this isn't funny," Rhodey said wryly. "A post humus pregnancy, huh? Who knocked her up? Elvis?!" he mocked, instantly regretting his crass words. He let out an uncomfortable sigh. "Scratch that, man, I didn't mean..."
"No,no. I get it. I sound crazy," Tony admitted softly. He took a deep breath. "Hell, I feel crazy. Don't you think I wish I was calling for a different reason? I mean, you don't know what this is doing to me, man. Seeing her? And being able to feel her again? I put my hands on her stomach, Rhodey. And it felt as real as..."
"Yeah,okay," Rhodey said. He sighed heavily. "I know I'm gonna regret asking this," he said. "But...did she speak to you? Again?"
"She said 'save us'," Tony replied softly.
"Save us," Rhodey repeated. " Us. Who's us?"
"I don't know," Tony said. Suddenly, he gasped, as a realization hit his brain. "Oh my God," he murmured.
"What? What is it?" Rhodey asked.
"What if...no, that couldn't be,"Tony said, shaking his head in denial. "She would have told me," he muttered to himself.
"Told you what? Tony!" Rhodey said impatiently.
Tony couldn't speak, the pieces quickly falling into place in his mind. Just before Pepper died, he remembered she was exhausted and not feeling well. He thought it was because she'd been up at night taking care of H.A. when he was sick, and her system might have been fighting what he had. But now, she may have been exhausted for a reason totally unexpected.
"Oh my God," Rhodey said, suddenly fully understanding. "Don't tell me you're actually suggesting that Pepper might have been pregnant when she died?" he asked.
Tony shook his head again."No. If she knew, she would have told me. I know it. She wouldn't have been able to keep it a secret," he murmured.
Rhodey sighed heavily. "I hate to say this because I know I'll only be encouraging you," he warned. "But what if she...didn't know."
Tony stood stone still, as he processed Rhodey's words.
"Hello? You still there?" he heard his friend say.
"Yeah, I'm..." Tony stammered. He's right. What if she didn't know?, he thought. He shook his head sadly, trying to push the thought out of his mind. "I guess we'll never find out, will we?" he said.
"Look, Tony, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." Rhodey explained.
"No, man, you're fine," Tony assured, trying not to think about the idea that Pepper might have died carrying a child he'd never get to meet.
"You're sure?" Rhodey asked.
Tony smiled and nodded. "Yeah, buddy. We're good. Can't cry over what can never be, right?" he said, a little glumly, though he was trying to sound upbeat. He took a deep breath to clear his mind. "And you know what? I've been thinking a lot about what you said. And you're right. It's time to let go. I need to move on. It's what Pepper would want."
"Right," Rhodey said. "But do it because you think it's what you should do."
Tony looked out toward the ocean, watching the waves lazily lick the shoreline. "I am," he said with quiet resolution.
"Good," Rhodey said. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
Tony smiled at his friend's support. "Thanks, man. And I will," he said.
The two men bid each other goodbye, and Tony tucked his phone back into his pocket. He ran both hands through his hair, and took another deep breath. Then, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked back into the living room, walking over to the couch to check on Ginny. She was still fast asleep, and Tony was grateful that he hadn't woken her. He leaned over the back of the couch, and gentle stroked her hair. She smiled softly in her sleep, and Tony smiled back. "I love you," he whispered to her, bending down to give her forehead a tender kiss before going downstairs to search for some boxes. He'd resolved that that night, after the kids had gone to bed, he's started clearing Pepper's things out of the closet.
XxXxXxXx
It was around 10:00 that evening, and Tony had just put his kids to bed. Ginny was still complaining of a headache at dinner, but he'd given her more pain medication, and that had taken the edge off enough for her to think she'd be able to sleep. He tucked her in, and gave her a kiss good night. She'd smiled at him, and given him a big hug before turning out her bedside lamp, and curling up in her covers.
Tony closed her door softly, and took a deep breath. "Well," he said to himself. "Let's do this."
He walked into his dark bedroom and flicked on the light to the walk-in closet. He glanced around the space where Pepper's clothes still hung. After she'd died, he'd found himself standing in there on several occasions, just staring at them. The closet had held her presence for so long, as wisps of her perfume would tease his senses every time he was in there. But now, it was very faint, if even still at all existent, and it only created a throbbing ache in his heart to be in there with all of her belongings. "Time to let go," he muttered, grabbing a few items. Almost all of them had designer labels, and he knew any area second hand store would die to have them, so he shifted whatever he pulled into a large box he'd brought upstairs earlier that afternoon, hangers and all. Once he'd cleared at least half of all of the hanging items, he stopped, surveying the dent he'd made. It was an odd feeling for him, to stand in front of her side of the closet and see bare walls for the first time since she'd moved in so many years ago.
There was still, however, one item still hanging up at this end of the closet. It was in a long, black garment bag. Tony furrowed his brow and cocked his head, curious as to what this bag held. Slowly, he lifted it off the closet rod, and walked out to the bed, holding it in front of him. He unzipped the bag and gasped.
Inside, was Pepper's wedding dress, still as perfect and pristine looking as it was when she wore it on their wedding day. Tony worked to free it from the confines of the bag, and once he did, he held the hanger out in front of him, letting the dress's full length fall to the floor. He bit his lip, his chin quivering at the sight of this vivid reminder of her. "Damn it," he admonished himself, as he swiped at fresh tears.
He hung the hanger on the top of the closet door. A sob caught in his chest as he took a step back and put a hand on his hips, as he surveyed it, bringing the other to his mouth. He couldn't take his eyes off of it. He remembered how stunning Pepper looked that day, like she'd walked straight out of a dream, and somehow miraculously agreed to spend her life with him. "I could never understand why you'd be crazy enough to want to be with me, Pep," he joked out loud. He chuckled through his tears. "I always wondered when you were going to wake up and realize I didn't deserve you." He laughed to himself again, but his mirth quickly left, and was replaced by all-too-familiar anguish. "God, you were so beautiful," he murmured. "I've never seen anyone look as gorgeous as you did. And the best part was, you were mine, Pep. All mine. To have and to hold, right, baby?" He smiled again. He gazed at the dress for a few more moments, and then grabbed the garment bag off the bed. He began tucking the dress away inside it again. "Well," he said, carefully zipping the dress back into the bag. "This one I'm keeping. We have a daughter who would probably love to wear it one day. And..." Tony said, pulling it up by the hanger and carefully hanging it back in the closet. "She'll be almost as beautiful as you were in it, too, Pep. I'm sure," he said proudly.
Tony looked to the floor, suddenly noticing a box that had been tucked behind the garment bag in the corner. He bent down, and pulled it to him. The lid read Maria across the top, and Tony slowly lifted it off, revealing an assortment of old momentos he recognized from long ago. "What is this doing here?" he murmured, wondering to himself as he sifted through it. There were pictures of him with his mother, and she and his father. There was a small scrapbook containing newspaper clippings about Tony from his childhood, and ribbons, medals, and small trophies signifying many of his achievements growing up. On the bottom, was a leather bound diary, nave blue in color, with his mother's initials in the bottom right hand corner, embossed with gold leaf. He sat down on the closet floor to read it, but JARVIS interrupted.
"Sir, Ms. Stark isn't well," the AI said urgently. "Her pulse has rapidly increased, her respiration is quite heavy, and she's begun to seize. I suggest you..."
"On it!" Tony barked, scrambling to his feet and tossing the diary on top of the box of Pepper's clothes as he ran out the door and down the hallway.
He bolted in the door of Ginny's bedroom, and he could hear her gasping for air. Tony flicked on the bedside lamp to see her eyes were wide and frantic, and her body was jerking and seizing violently.
"Ginny?!" he cried, panicked as he laid eyes on what was happening. "JARVIS! Call an ambulance!" he instructed. He watched as she tried to bring her eyes to his, but she couldn't keep them steady. "H.A!" he called out. "Come quick!"
He could hear the boy scrambling to get out of bed in the next room.
"D-Dad-Daddy?" she said, her voice trembling as she shook.
Tony shook his head, and shushed her. "It's okay, baby. I'm here. I'm here," he assured, pulling her into his arms.
"Dad? Oh my God!" he heard H.A exclaim over his shoulder. Tony glanced behind him to see his son standing in the doorway, wide eyed, and paralyzed with fear.
H.A glanced back and forth between his sister and his dad. "Is sh-she-she, is..." H.A. stammered.
Tony broke away from Ginny, and ran to his son, grasping his shoulders in both of his hands. "Son, listen to me, okay?"
The boy just nodded numbly, still glancing between his father's face and his sister, violently convulsing on the bed in a seizure.
"The ambulance will be here soon. Go downstairs and wait for them so you can let them in, okay?" Tony said. "Please, son."
H.A. stayed silent. He nodded and left his father's presence. Tony watched him run down the stairs, his heart breaking that his boy would have to go through this again. He spun around and ran back to Ginny's bed. Her seizure had stopped, but now she laid limply on the bed, her breathing heavy, and her eyes closed. Her skin was cold, pale, and clammy, and she was completely unresponsive. Tony pulled her back into his arms, brushing her hair back from her face, watching her every breath. "Hold on, baby. Daddy's here. I won't let you go, okay? You'll be alright. Help's coming," he assured his daughter, softly. He held her to him, rocking her back and forth for a few minutes before he heard the siren for the ambulance approaching outside. He knew what he had to do, so he forced himself to pick her up in his arms and carry her down the stairs, the world suddenly moving in slow motion as he was being made to relive the night Pepper collapsed. H.A had let in the EMT's, and Tony met them at the bottom of the stairs, his little girl in his arms, as they brought in a gurney. As soon as Tony laid her down on top of it, H.A ran to his father and squeezed him tightly around his middle, sobbing uncontrollably as Tony tried his best to answer their questions, his ears ringing and his heart shattered with the sudden shock of what had so quickly transpired in just a matter of minutes.
"Dad?" H.A. asked, raising his head to look up at his father. "Is she gonna die?" the boy asked. Tony couldn't respond. He felt paralyzed, watching silently, helplessly, as they strapped an oxygen mask to his daughter's face, secured her on the gurney, and rolled her out to the ambulance.
Tony worked his jaw slowly. "I don't know,H.A," he said finally, weakly. "I just don't know."