Pepper was surprised – maybe not, as she thought about it – to see Peter and Tony both coming out of the front door when she pulled up to the front of the house. Tony was simply wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt against the chill of the evening, but Peter had been bundled into his coat and Tony was pulling the hood up even as they came to a stop by the driver's side of her car.

"Hey, guys," she said, smiling when Tony opened her door for her, and Peter moved into the space beside her before she could even unbuckle the seatbelt. "Hi, Peter," she added, unable to help that her smile grew at just how happy he looked.

It couldn't all be because she'd brought dinner, right?

"Hi, Pepper," he replied, putting his hand on her leg, leaning close. "I'm glad you're here."

"So am I, honey," she replied. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes."

"I brought chef salads."

"Oh." He had clearly hoped that she was bringing burgers, or anything less green, but then he smiled. "Good."

Pepper looked up at Tony, who was smiling, obviously amused at the exchange. He simply shrugged, though, and she turned her attention back to Peter, and reached for the bags that were sitting in the passenger seat.

"Will you take these inside the house for me?"

"Yeah."

He took them all and backed up to let her get out of the car, and then ran up the porch and into the house.

"He's certainly in a good mood," she commented, as Tony offered her his hand to help her out of the car. Unnecessary, of course, but she had to admit that she thought it was sweet. "Is that a good sign?"

"He's excited," Stark confirmed. With Peter listening in as he'd called Pepper, earlier, to let her know they'd love to have her come to dinner, he hadn't really been able to give her a report on how the conversation had gone. "We talked about you and I being an item."

"How did it go?"

"He's excited, of course."

Awww.

"That's nice."

"He asked me about you moving in – because that's what May's boyfriends did."

"Oh, no." she smiled. "What did you tell him?"

"That he isn't allowed to ask you to move in, because we don't want you to feel obligated to live with us, if you don't want to." He kissed her, lightly, amazed that he was now able to without her scowling, or threatening him bodily harm. "I explained we have to show you we want you here without actually saying anything."

"That should be interesting…"

"Yeah, I'm not sure he understands the concept."

"He'll figure it out."

"And don't even get me started on when he asked if you and I did it…"

Her hand went to her mouth, to hide her shock – and the smile that the thought of Tony facing that particular conversation with his eight-year-old brought to her face.

"He didn't."

"He did."

"What did you say?"

"I told him yes."

"No."

"I wasn't going to lie to him."

"He's eight."

"He asked me, directly, Pep. It was just easier to say yes than try to come up with a lie. Not to mention, he's come to know me pretty well and probably would have caught on that I wasn't telling the truth."

"Oh, Tony… he's too little to understand-"

"He doesn't understand it, at all, I'm guessing," Stark assured her. "Don't worry. I told him that he's not allowed to ask you anything about it – or bring it up in conversation. He won't."

"And if he does?"

"Then you can try lying to him. Good luck with that."

She shook her head, but shrugged, knowing that he wouldn't be bragging to his eight-year-old son about a conquest, or something, so there wasn't anything malicious involved. And Peter was hard to resist, she knew. They'd had conversations about her and Tony, too, after all, and she'd found herself being honest and unable to come up with any prevarication in the face of his pointed questions.

"Is there anything else I should be prepared for?"

"He asked if we were getting married."

"Jesus. What did you say?"

He smiled.

"That it was another one of those things we can't ask you, directly." The billionaire offered her his arm. "Tonight's going to be fun. He's so excited, and has been trying to figure out how to show you he's happy you're here and not mention anything about moving in, or marriage."

"Or it," she added.

"Yup. Not to mention, he is going to have to pretend to be happy eating salad for dinner, when I know he was hoping for a pizza."

"You two need to eat healthier."

"We do better than I used to."

"True."

OOOOOOOOO

They ate at the dining room table.

Pepper had stopped at a local place that she liked and had brought all the makings for chef salads, like she'd told them, along with bread sticks and a small chocolate cake with rich frosting. While she dished up their salads into bowls and put all the extras on top, she asked Peter about his appointment with Dr. Wayne, and the boy told her, cheerfully, that they'd talked about his sleep patterns, and that he'd told him all about Valentine's day weekend at the compound and what he and the avengers had done.

"No dressing for Peter, Pep," Tony said when she brought out several different packets. "He doesn't like it."

She looked surprised.

"You don't?"

Dressing was a convenient way for salad to not be bland, She'd assumed that Peter was a fan – considering how little he enjoyed salads in the first place.

"No. It tastes funny," the boy explained reaching for the boiled egg on his salad and shoving it into his mouth. "And then it makes everything else taste funny, too."

"That makes sense." She pointedly handed the boy his fork, and he took it, but then reached for a bread roll and gnawed on that, instead.

Tony had been watching, and his smile was amused. She'd never seen them eating salad, but in deference to her wanting them to eat healthier, he and Peter had tried the chef salad thing, before. He knew how this was going to turn out, if she allowed it, like Tony had.

"Did Tony tell you that he's going to see a psychologist, Wednesday?" Pepper asked Peter, knowing the man would have told his son about something like that rather than hide it.

It was another way to remind the boy that therapists weren't for crazy people.

Peter nodded, stabbing some chicken with his fork, but being careful not to get any lettuce on it.

"Yeah. He said that it's in the morning, so he'll be back before I come from school."

"If something happens and I'm running behind, Maria will deliver you to Pepper's office, instead," Tony said, reminding Pepper that she'd offered – just in case.

"Okay." He fished a handful of ham from the salad – still avoiding the lettuce. "What do grown up psychologist talk about?"

"Same kind of things that kid ones do," Stark told him.

"Legos?"

Pepper snorted, amused, and both of them looked over at her. She raised her hand.

"Sorry. Ignore me."

Tony smiled – and Peter did, too, although he didn't really understand why she was laughing. He picked up another slice of ham.

"We talk about what keeps us up at night," Stark replied, answering Peter's question as the boy shoved the meat into his mouth and followed it with some cheese – still not touching the lettuce. "And if we have weird dreams, the doctor tries to help us understand why."

"Oh." Peter didn't think that it was at all unusual that Tony had weird dreams. He fished another piece of turkey from his salad. "Do you want me to go with you?"

He was touched by the offer, and it showed, but he shook his head.

"You have school."

"I could miss it." He picked some cheese chunks and another hard boiled egg from the bowl in front of him. "I wouldn't mind."

"I'll be fine. Thank you, though."

"Are you planning on eating your lettuce?" Pepper asked, finally catching on to what he was doing.

The boy looked down at his bowl.

'All the good stuff is gone."

"Lettuce is good for you," Pepper pointed out.

"It makes you poop," was Peter's reply. "That's all."

Tony rolled his eyes and buried his face in his palm, while Pepper frowned, but was unable to hide her amusement.

"Who told you that?"

Peter looked at his father, who gave her an innocent look, bringing his hand down.

"Technically, it's true," he said. "We looked it up. It's roughage, but there isn't a lot of nutrients."

"And it's gross," the boy added, helpfully. "It only tastes good on cheeseburgers. And tacos. And it's okay on sandwiches. Sometimes."

She rolled her eyes, giving Tony one of those looks that he hadn't seen from her in a long time.

"Tony…"

"He's a little guy, Pep. You probably didn't like salad when you were eight, either."

He didn't mind them, now, but he still wasn't a huge fan.

"I suppose."

"It's okay," Peter said, quickly, remembering that they were supposed to be making Pepper happy. "I'll eat it."

He stabbed a forkful of the lettuce and put it in his mouth, trying to look cheerful and enthusiastic about it. Pepper wasn't fooled for a moment, but she was touched to the core at the gesture, and her expression softened as she reached out and touched his cheek.

"You don't have to eat it, honey," she told him. "Tony? Make him a sandwich and a can of soup."

"Yes, dear." Tony winked at Peter as he got up. "Turkey?"

Peter hesitated, looking at Pepper, uncertainly.

"You don't mind?"

"Of course not. It's still healthy."

But it was an indication to both adults that Peter wasn't going to have any trouble adapting to having Pepper be a part of their little circle that had only been two, but was now expanded to three.

"Even healthier," Stark added, reaching for Peter's bowl of lettuce. "Because he'll actually eat it."

She smiled.

"True."