2. Playdate(s)

"So, are you ready for your playdate this afternoon?" Pepper called out from the kitchen.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a playdate, I need something that sounds more manly." Tony said walking into the room. "I would say maybe 'hanging out', but it doesn't sound as special or specific."

Pepper chuckled. "I was talking to Morgan, but, yes, you get to 'hang out' with your new friend, too."

Tony leaned on the counter while he watched his wife put together a fantastic meal to bring over to the Kent Farm. She had been working all day in the kitchen and he had been kicked out for a majority of it. She was enjoying this work and he loved to see her smile. He didn't know how she pulled off being so put together, her strawberry blonde hair pulled back donning a white button down shirt and jeans. He has been the master of many creations and the only thing to be perfect enough to be tied with her was Morgan. That was a fun creation.

As he went to go pick at the bread she had pulled out of the oven she quickly smacked his hand away.

"Ow!"

"Don't touch the food."

"We're going to eat it anyway…"

"Yes, when we're at the Kent's place. Not before then." She said, giving him a stern look.

He knew better than defy to her so he backed up away from the kitchen and into the living room. As he turned around, he stared at the pictures that adorned the wall in the hallway. All the new memories they had made.

It was complicated how they came to be in Smallville. In this world at all, actually. While working to fix the world he had always known from the damage and chaos of Thanos, he had stumbled upon elseworlds in the middle of figuring out time travel. These worlds where many of the same people existed, sometimes leading very similar lives and other times not. But, with the right equipment and equations it was possible to jump to another Earth.

In the battle with Thanos it seemed that there was only one possible outcome to defeating him. Tony took his chances. Made his calculations. And when the moment came, with the look from Dr. Strange, it seemed like there was going to be only one end result to save the world. But in that snap, something had happened. Tony, some part of himself, was thrust into an abyss of light that ultimately turned into millions of balls that he learned, through knowledge flowing through him that there other Earths all existing at the same time, witnessing memories and people past, present, and future. It was a beautiful and astonishing sight. He was connected to it. He could see the possibilities. This must have been what it was like for Dr. Strange, possibly? Though Pepper's words "We're going to be okay" echoed to him and reverberated in his consciousness. It vibrated through his body and triggered the watch he had created. He was stuck in a limbo until he was able to pinpoint his world and travel back, expecting the death of Iron Man, of Tony Stark. Instead of staying, bringing Tony Stark back to life for the public to acknowledge, he and Pepper made the decision to let Iron Man's legacy stay as it was and quietly retreat (while carrying over money and as much of his technology as he could) to another world where The Avengers didn't exist. Where Iron Man was unknown. Where they could live their life as a family with no secret identities.

It was difficult to leave that life behind, but he had another chance. He wasn't going to waste it. He fought too hard to keep it.

"Is it time yet? Is it time yet?" Morgan asked, hopping down the stairs.

"Soon, you little bunny."

"Bunnies are Callie's favorite!"

"Is that right?"

She nodded and ran past him.

"Hey, hon, you didn't make rabbit right?" He called behind him to the kitchen.

The Stark family drove down the long road along the farmland. More stalks of crops than the population of the state. Morgan sat in the back with her headphones on watching her iPad, oblivious and carefree.

"This is very scenic. Lots of….corn." Pepper remarked.

"You picked this place."

She shrugged. "It seemed quaint. I liked that. And you promised me a farm."

"I liked our rustic cottage slash lake house. We could have found the same thing in the same area."

"I did, too. But I like a farm. Keeps that alpaca further away."

'Oh no. Not the alpaca discussion again,' he thought.

"You love Gerald II. Admit it."

"I won't admit that. This one still eats my berries."

"Maybe he's having a hard time transitioning to farm life."

"Are you projecting onto the alpaca?"

"No, I'm just saying that Gerald II and I read some stories, me reading and him more making weird sounds and then eating part of my research…"

"Tony."

"Just listen, I've been reading up on it, on this town. A lot of strange things have happened here."

"Like, what? The meteor shower? We knew about that."

"Right, but here's a list for you: people who can control bugs…" He started, counting to one on his finger as he drove.

"We knew people who could shrink like bugs and web-sling." Pepper interjected.

"Okay….well, there's shapeshifters…"

"We knew those, too. They were also alien."

"People who could turn invisible, inexplicable memory loss in the population, a high school cheerleader who suddenly runs a cafe. I mean, you can't tell me that's not strange."

"A wizard who could turn invisible who's name is Strange, a being who could wipe out a population with a snap, and you were CEO of a corporation at a young age."

"Well, that's different. I could count higher." Making a fist he touched his forehead and then the steering wheel. "Oh, how about this! There was an article about an exploding baby!"

Pepper's head snapped toward him. "A what?!"

He held up one hand while the other was still on the wheel. "I swear."

She rolled her eyes. "Tony…"

"What?"

"We agreed this was a new start. That we would be together and try to be normal. You actually convinced me. Why are the tables suddenly turning?"

"Yeah, well, trouble seems to find me."

"Says the man who researched and was making a list of trouble in Smallville." Pepper put her hand over his. "Let's just enjoy this. We can make friends who are normal and take a step away from the superhero stuff."

Tony grabbed her hand and brought it up to his mouth and kissed it.

"You always know what to say."

"Well, it's always been my job for as long as I've known you."

"That it has…"

Tony spotted the large sign that read "Kent Farm" and turned down the long driveway.

"This is adorable." Pepper said when she spotted the yellow farmhouse and large red barn.

As Tony took it all in he was reminded of the farm Clint had lived on, the family he had kept secret for so long. Clint had that family back now. A smile pulled at his lips. As they parked their SUV adjacent to the house, Callie, with her bright blue eyes shining with excitement, came running out the door.

"Morgan!" She yelled.

Morgan quickly undid the seatbelt and opened the passenger side door.

"Callie!" She squealed.

The two girls embraced and ran off in the direction of the barn. Tony couldn't help but smile at his daughter's delight of having a friend. Just then Clark and his wife exited the house and began to walk toward them. He was slightly taken aback at how attractive Lois Lane was in person. He glanced at the gentleman in the nerdy glasses, wearing just a black shirt under dark plaid this time, to the brunette with sunkissed highlights and a dusty pink blouse, he was a bit baffled. Then again, how many times had he heard his father talk about the skinny kid from Brooklyn who caught the eye of Peggy Carter before his transformation. It was comparing apples and oranges, but still a momentary head and Pepper stood side by side as the couple reached them and he put his arm around his wife.

"Pepper, this is Clark and his wife Lois."

Pepper smiled and shook their hands, a picnic basket hanging from her arm.

"It's great to meet you. Morgan can't stop talking about Callie." Pepper said.

Lois nodded. "Same here."

"Why don't you come on in." Clark said leading them to the side door and into the kitchen.

As they were passing through the threshold Lois slipped Tony a folded paper and whispered, "The list of wackadoodles."

"Your best piece of writing, yet."

She smiled and winked. He tucked the paper in his front pocket. They were definitely getting off on the right foot.

When Tony walked further into the house he could feel the warmth of family immediately. There was something about a farmhouse that did that, but this one in particular really exuded it. He stopped to look at the framed articles on the wall. He had read many of these, learning about Superman and feeling connected to his fate while battling some monster called "Doomsday". That thing was no Thanos, but it wasn't a contest. He scanned the writing again and took a quick glance at the couple leading his wife in. The synapses started firing, gears turning in his brain. His eyes on the article then back to the couple. He shook his head. This wasn't the time for such thoughts. Pepper would strangle him.

"Here, this is for us." He heard his wife say and returned to the conversation.

"Oh, wow. Thank you." Lois said taking it from Pepper and placing it on the counter. "It smells great. I'm really impressed."

"Pepper is a culinary wonder in the kitchen." Tony said causing Pepper to blush.

"I mainly wonder if Lois will burn down the kitchen when she's making something."

Lois smirked and then jabbed Clark's stomach with her elbow, causing him to jolt forward and wince.

"I wonder where you'll be sleeping tonight, Smallville." She said, biting her teeth.

He smiled at her brightly as he recovered and she responded in kind. Tony thought they complimented each other very well, as much as he did with Pepper. He noticed that Lois had playfully called him "Smallville". When he had first met Clark, the big guy that he was, he first had wondered if Asgard had existed in this universe, too. Yet, the contrast of his down to earth farm boy demeanor to his muscular physique did quell any expectations of god-like caliber. Maybe he was just reading too much into it again. He shook his head of his thoughts. He wasn't going to weigh down Clark Kent with the characteristics of his superhero friends.

"Come and sit." Lois said, leading Pepper and Tony into the living room.

"Can we get you anything?" Clark asked.

"Clark's mom made an amazing batch of lemonade."

"That sounds lovely." Pepper smiled.

Tony sat down on the couch next to her and glanced at the room's photographs and the scrapbooks on the shelf. He let himself relax and grabbed the lemonade handed to him by Lois. He took a sip and it really was amazing. Maybe he could get used to this.

When the girls had returned from outside both families ate the delicious meal that Pepper had prepared, many compliments going to the chef. Lois had brought the six month old Chris downstairs for Tony and Pepper to meet. When Tony saw Pepper holding the baby in her arms he couldn't explain the feeling that had come over him. Maybe another creation to be worked on in the near future.

Lois and Pepper then went on a tour of the house as the girls continued to play and asked to go back outside to Callie's "Fortress of Solitude" as she called it. Clark had laughed it off. Then the men walked a bit of the property and Tony couldn't help but start making some connections to the articles he had been compiling.

"I've been, uh, reading up on Smallville." Tony remarked.

"Yeah, like what?"

"Just some of the strange occurrences. It's actually coming to mind that weird symbols were burned out here."

"Yeah," Clark said, shrugging them off. "Just pranks."

"Pranks? No idea what they meant?"

"I don't think they meant anything except to get attention. What's with the fascination?"

"I am, what Pepper calls, 'looking for trouble'." Tony said, leaning on the fence.

"Any reason why?"

"Boredom?" He offered.

Clark chuckled. "Then I guess you need a hobby."

Tony looked out into the distance, land as far as the eye could see. "That might get me into more trouble."

As the girls screamed in play in the background, both men turned to watch their daughters. Callie and Morgan were jumping from hay bales and hitting the air with their fists. Callie ran with her arms extended in front of her as Morgan ran with her arms as sides with her palms straight and facing the ground, mimicking the sound of a jet pack. If he knew any better…

"I don't think you ever did tell me what you do."

'Oh, where to begin…' Tony thought. However, this was not the time nor the place to unload his secrets on someone he barely knew. Using his computer skills, Tony has been able to mock up identities for his family. In the interest of not having to memorize new information, he kept many details of his life, their lives, as close as he could to the truth.

'"Trust fund kid with a love for science."

"You, uh, don't happen to run in the same circle as Lex Luthor, or did at some point in time?"

"Luthor? Like the president? No. And he seems like a dick."

Clark started laughing and patted Tony on the back.

"Good answer."

"What hobbies do you have, Kent?"

"I have a whole barn full of hobbies." Clark responded as they started in that direction.

"I hope you have a running list of your things in there. Morgan's known to have sticky fingers with my projects. I'll give her the shake down later before we leave."

"Thanks, that's...comforting."

The men laughed as they kept walking toward the large barn. Tony stopped for a moment staring at the side wall, recreating the symbol in his mind that had been burnt onto it from the picture he saw. Curiosity was getting the best of him. In many of these stories there was a common factor. All the dots were connecting.

"You okay?" Clark asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his index finger.

Tony laughed to himself and shook his head. Out of all the places, out of all the people to meet, he realized he met one on a similar journey as him.

"Yeah, never better."

As he walked in with Clark he glanced around to see if a one eyed, patch wearing, tall, dark, and stealthy agent lurked behind the mounds of hay. He was almost disappointed when Fury's doppelganger didn't appear. No, this Earth didn't have Avengers. He looked at Clark and smirked. Here, there were heroes in a whole different league.

Pepper watched as Lois checked the baby monitor through her phone.

"Chris is adorable. I can see both you and Clark in him."

Lois smiled. "Thank you."

Pepper wandered for a bit and found herself by the Daily Planet articles on the wall.

"I'm admiring these articles you have framed here. They're extraordinary. You seemed to have a close relationship with Superman."

Lois stopped mid sip of her lemonade and cleared her throat. "I was his ally at the paper. When he was starting out there was a lot of fear about him and I trusted what he could do. He never forgot that and was generous with his interviews."

"Well, the 'I spent the night with Superman' is an attention grabber."

Lois smirked."Exactly what that headline was supposed to do."

"Did Clark mind that?"

She shook her head. "He knew Superman, too. There was a lot of trust there."

Pepper nodded. "That's good. The trust."

"There has to be. The trust. The support. Being a team. I have his back and he has mine." She smiled.

"It's like that with Tony and me, too." Pepper said sitting back on the couch. "Though this move has been new and I know he struggles sometimes. We lived in California for a time, a beautiful house on the cliff looking over the ocean. Tony just says now we live in a sea of corn. I like it, though. A break from the chaos."

"It grows on you. Pun intended." Lois said sitting in the rocking chair.

"How long has Clark had this farm?"

"It's been in his family for generations. It's such a part of this family. We almost sold it years ago. I would be at the paper late some nights and Clark was thinking that he needed to move on from this place. But then, he had a change of heart." Lois then pointed to a carved wooden block over the fireplace.

"Always hold on to Smallville." Pepper read aloud.

"We balanced life in Metropolis and here at the farm. And then…"

"Then what?" Pepper asked.

"Doomsday happened." She said shifting in her seat. "It took a toll on Clark. It scared him. It scared us."

"So you moved back out here." Pepper concluded, understanding that motive completely.

Lois nodded."Clark needs this right now. We all kind of do. I think this is a good place to regroup. It always kept us grounded. And wherever Clark is, that's home for me. And I know it's the same for Callie. So, this is just our break from the chaos."

"We went through something similar. Tony had a bit of a close call. I mean, I honestly thought this was it, that we'd lost him. It was a miracle. This is a second chance for some normalcy, but I know Tony thinks about our old life. I don't know if he yearns for it, but I know it keeps him awake some nights."

Lois leaned forward."Mine goes into the barn and works on the tractor, sometimes when it doesn't even need fixing. What does yours do?"

Pepper grinned."Tinkers around with machines in his workshop in the basement, even though he thinks I don't know about it."

Both women laughed. They certainly seemed to have a lot in common, as did their husbands.

"They really do think we don't know. What dopes."

Pepper laughed, enjoying the ability to talk about her husband in this manner. She felt like Lois really could empathize with her.

"No wonder they gravitated towards each other." Lois finished as she took a sip from her glass.

"Maybe they'll balance each other out." Pepper offered, hoping that many more things would become balanced, as well.

"Here's to that." Lois said, raising her lemonade..

Pepper extended hers and they 'clinked' the glasses together.

"Glad I have someone to vent to." Pepper voiced.

"Oh, any time." Lois smiled. "Those guys are a handful."

"I couldn't agree more."

Lois got animated as she declared,"Thank god they have us!"

"I'll drink to that." Pepper said, raising her glass to her lips with a smile.

Morgan was asleep in the backseat, tucker out after playing with Callie for hours. They were all pretty tired. It was the first time they had enjoyed themselves and felt normal, felt like they belonged in this place.

"I like the Kents." Pepper as they started their trek back home. "Lois is pretty amazing. Did you see the awards in their office?"

"Yes, I did." He said, looking at her earnestly.

"You're waiting for me to say that you had more awards, aren't you?"

"I mean, if that's what you observed," he shrugged.

She leaned over and kissed him on his cheek. "Just tell me what you need to feed that ego of yours."

"That's a good start."

She laughed as she adjusted herself back in the passenger seat."You have fun on your playdate, too?"

"My 'hang out'." He corrected. "I still don't like that term either. I have to come up with something cooler."

"Yes, your 'whatever you want to call it'." She said using air quotes.

Tony stared out into the road and became serious for a moment. "He reminds me of Rogers."

Pepper rubbed Tony's shoulder in comfort. "You miss them, don't you?"

"I do. But they would understand. But after everything we've been through…"

"I know." Pepper said and comforted him once more. "You want to share with me the artificial intelligence I know you've been fiddling with?"

He averted his gaze and then slowly turned to her. "Am I in trouble?"

She shook her head, "No, you're not in trouble as long as it doesn't come to life."

"Deal on that." Tony said as he hit a couple of buttons on the console of the car and the screen turned to a gray with a straight yellow line running across the middle.

"You connected it to the car?"

"Of course I connected it to the car."

"Okay, let's hear it."

Tony gave a nod and then commanded the system. "Test run fifty-seven. Speak to me."

The line moved as the voice replied, "Yes, Boss."

Pepper gasped when she heard the voice, a tear coming to her eye. "Is that?" She asked, pointing at the system.

Tony grinned as he said, "Happy,can we find a better route home?"

"You are on the best route home. Would you like me to reroute you to a burger joint?"

"Not necessary, Hap."

Pepper smiled and wiped a tear away from her eye. "I think this is your best invention yet."

"Nah, the best one is back there." He said nodding to Morgan.

"That goes without saying."

He nodded and he and Pepper held hands all the way until they got to their property. Once parked, he got out of the car and got Morgan out with Pepper's help. He carried her into the house and up the stairs to her room. After placing her in the bed he kissed her forehead and treasured another moment of her existence. His best creation.

"I love you, 3000, kiddo." He breathed and then closed the door.