Cover image from Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki

"It's beautiful, Tony," Pepper said as her husband sat down beside her on the dock. "All of it, the house, the lake. It looks like… it looks like…"

"Like a home," Tony finished.

"Exactly," Pepper said.

"It's our home," Tony said, "yours, mine, and any robots, pets or children that come along."

Pepper laughed. "You with a live pet?"

"Yes!" Tony said. "Maybe an alpaca or something."

They both laughed at that one.

"But really," Tony said, "it's home because I'm with you. All I want for the rest of my life is to be with you."

Pepper took his hand. "That's all I want either."

"Good," Tony said and kissed her.

They sat looking at the evening sunlight on the lake for a while before Pepper spoke again.

"That reminds me of something I've been thinking for a while," she said.

"Oh?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"I know you said when we got married that you were retiring, that you were done with Ironman."

Tony nodded.

"But I know you. I know that you feel like you have a duty to the world and those you love. I know that if there was a big enough threat, if it came down to staying retired or protecting what you loved, you would put the suit on again."

Tony opened his mouth, to argue or defend himself Pepper didn't know, but she didn't let him start.

"And that's not a bad thing. It's probably a good thing."

Tony closed his mouth. "Go on."

"What I don't like about you being Ironman isn't that you're unselfish or protective. It's that being those things gets you hurt. That I can't know what will happen when you leave. I have to sit and wonder if you're alive or dead or wounded. I know that even if I could know how you were, there's nothing I would be able to do.

"I hope you never need to be Ironman again, but if you do, I want to be with you. I know you keep suits for emergencies; I want you to build me one too."

"Really?" Tony asked.

"Really," Pepper said. "You're my husband now, and if you go out there, so will I."

"Okay," Tony said. "Pepper's to-the-rescue suit just took its place at the top of my to-build list." He smiled. "You know, you can already be pretty scary in a business suit. You'd terrify bad guys in a hero suit."

Pepper smiled and leaned against Tony's shoulder. This was how they were best: together.

"Seriously, though," Tony said, "what do you think about an alpaca?"

Pepper laughed.

When the time came and Tony put his suit on again, Pepper stayed behind. Her feelings hadn't changed, but they had a daughter to consider now. Tony and Pepper decided that only he would take the trip into the past. Pepper wouldn't have to wait long for news, and if anything went wrong in the past, Morgan would still have one parent left.

"If anything else goes wrong, though, I'm coming," Pepper said. "If there's a threat in the here-and-now, I can protect Morgan by stopping it."

"Hopefully, nothing will go wrong," Tony said.

Pepper smiled wryly. "I'd love for that to be true. Unfortunately, your track record says that things don't like to go as planned."

"Well if they don't," Tony said, "you'll come to my rescue."

Pepper chuckled. Tony's name of "to-the-rescue suit" had been shortened to Rescue, the superhero name Pepper hoped never to need to go by.

"Love you," she said.

"Love you three thousand," Tony said, and they laughed before going to bed.

Of course something did go wrong. Tony had called to tell her that Bruce was about to snap, and a few minutes later, birds reappeared in the backyard. Morgan was delighted when a deer reappeared feet from her. Pepper smiled, knowing they had done it. She didn't relax, though, waiting for Tony to call and say he was safe.

He never called. Instead, FRIDAY alerted her that a missile strike had just been launched on the Compound.

Pepper quickly told Happy what was going on and said goodbye to Morgan. Then she headed to the workshop. It was time for her to put her suit on.

The battle was terrible, but Pepper was glad she was there. The universe needed protecting, so did Morgan, and so did Tony. Pepper was glad that she didn't have to wait for news. Even when she and Tony weren't fighting aliens back-to-back, he was only a comm away.

Pepper blasted back an alien that had attempted to attack Tony from behind, and he gave her a grateful thumbs up. She heard their new strategy, and flew off to help get the gauntlet to Scott's van.

Unfortunately, they never got it there. Pepper gained a new understanding of the infinity stone's strength when Carol Danvers, the woman who had just destroyed a whole fleet of ships, couldn't take Thanos down once he used one of them.

Then that understanding was making her heart beat wildly in her chest because Tony was charging Thanos. Pepper knew it had to be done. Thanos's horrible plan could not be carried out, but she wished it wasn't Tony battling him. Of course it was, though, so she fired her repulsers the instant the fight began; Tony would face the titan with her by his side.

Before she could reach them, Tony was slammed to the ground. Pepper landed beside her husband, and saw what no one else saw: the gems in his hand.

As Thanos made his boast, Pepper and Tony locked eyes. She could tell what he was going to do, and they both knew what it would cost him. She remembered the day on the dock: what they most wanted was to be together. Tony saw the look in her eyes and understood.

"I am inevitable," Thanos said, and snapped, a hollow ringing his only reward.

Every eye on the battlefield turned to where Pepper and Tony knelt, hand in hand, the infinity stones glowing in Tony's gauntlet.

A was of burning pain rolled up Pepper's right hand and flowed over her body. She squeezed Tony's hand tighter.

"And we…" Tony told the giant, "are… family."

He snapped his fingers.

The world went white as the energy of the universe flowed through them. It would have destroyed one of them alone, but together…

Pepper opened her eyes, the familiar while hospital room coming into focus. She tried to twitch her right fingers, but they remained unresponsive. Pepper wasn't surprised. The doctors had said that neither she nor Tony were likely to regain the use of their right arms. With therapy, though, they though Pepper and Tony would both be able to walk without a brace eventually. The doctors had expressed surprise that their injuries were so similar, even to the pattern of scarring on their faces and necks, when Tony had been at the center of the power. Pepper wasn't surprised, however. The stones weren't average weapons. She thought that the stones had recognized that they weren't being wielded by two people, but by one pair.

Pepper looked over at Tony, and was surprised to find his eyes open and clear. Except for the few minutes they'd stayed conscious on the field after the snap, when Pepper was awake, Tony was either asleep or groggy on meds and vice versa.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Morning," Tony said, "or afternoon, or whatever it is."

She chuckled.

"So we survived," Tony said. "I have to say when Thanos showed up, I kinda didn't think I would, but I had great back up." He smiled.

"That was amazing," Pepper said. "I didn't know there were so many heroes out there."

Tony gave her a sweet little smile. "I meant you."

"Oh," she said. "It was an experience. I'd rather not do any of it again, except maybe the flying, but I'm so glad I was able to do it this time."

"Me too," Tony said. "Pepper, you saved my life." He gave her a loving look. "Really, though, you've been doing that for years. My rescuer in every sense."

Pepper smiled back, so glad that she could, that Tony was still there to see it.

"I think I told you once that you wouldn't survive on your own," she teased gently, then turned serious, "and I'm so glad I didn't have to spend the rest of my life on my own either."

Tony reached over to take her hand, and she could feel his warmth through her scars.

After a little he said, "You know, I picked the color for your suit to match the dress you wore the night you told me that."

"Really?" Pepper said. "Why?"

"That's the night I realized I loved you," Tony said, guiding her hand over to kiss it as they were too far away to kiss properly.

Pepper smiled. Her injuries were a small price to pay for Tony to still be here by her side, a life of conversations like this one in front of them.

The night Tony is referring to is the night he and Pepper dance in the first Ironman movie. What Pepper says here is a paraphrase of what she says then. I saw a headcanon on Pinterest that Tony had matched the shade of her suit to the shade of the dress she wears in that scene, and I whole heartedly accept it.

Stay tuned for a fluffy epilogue!