They both finished dressing, and went downstairs for breakfast. Pepper made Tony some eggs and bacon, and she drank some peppermint tea and ate dry toast. Tony frowned at the fact that she was still feeling a little queasy, even after taking the nausea pills. But Pepper assured him she would be fine in an hour or two, and that peppermint tea and dry toast had been the norm for her for breakfast in the last week.
After they ate, they took the elevator to the infirmary. It was pretty quiet, on account of it being a holiday. Emergency medical staff was always on call, but since none of the Avengers were in need of urgent medical attention, the halls and rooms were empty. This meant they had the place to themselves.
Tony led Pepper to the Diagnostics lab. He flipped on the overhead fluorescent lights, casting everything in a sterile white, clinical light. It looked a lot like the kind of medical bay you'd find on a futuristic space station, with cutting edge medical equipment sitting everywhere. Some of it Pepper could make out as to what its function was, but with others she was clueless. In the center of the room that Tony led her to, was a large piece of equipment that looked like a large white doughnut with a long rectangular table going through the hole. Tony instructed Pepper to lie down on the table while he turned the equipment on. Pepper felt a bit nervous, excited that they'd get a chance to see their baby for the first time. She raised her sweater above her belly and lowered the waistband of her pants to bare her lower abdomen, watching Tony as he entered information on the touch screen control display on the side.
"Okay, Pep," he said. "It'll scan your entire body from head to toe first, and then it will zero in on Mini-me," he said. "When it does that, you'll see the images of the scan pop up on the screen in front of you," he said, pointing to the screen directly over her the middle of her body on the round part of the machine going over the top of her. "So lay back, and let it do its thing, alright?"
Pepper nodded. "This is safe, right? For the baby?" she asked, looking up a him.
Tony nodded. "Of course," he said. "No x-ray's, no radiation, just sound waves created by a transducer. Like any other ultrasound. Except this one's really cool," he said, smirking. "It'll give us a pretty detailed look at the little guy."
"Or girl," Pepper corrected him, smirking.
Tony smiled widely. "Right. Or girl," he replied.
Just then the big mechanical doughnut-shaped apparatus began to move, positioning itself at the top of her body. Pepper startled, her eyes going wide when it suddenly moved into place, the sound of the hydraulics and the electronic buzz of the inner processor disrupting the silence of the clinical room. Tony just smiled and patted her shoulder. "It's okay, Pep," he assured, trying not to chuckle at her startling. "Just relax."
Pepper nodded and put her hands to her sides as the machine began to scan her body, moving slowly over the top of her and down to her toes. Pepper could hear the whir of the processor as it recorded her body's information.
Finally, once the machine had reached her toes, the screen read, Scan Complete, and it hissed and whirred to a stop.
"Next...comes...the main attraction," Tony murmured. Pepper looked up at his face. He was watching intently, his face softly showing the signs of his own excitement at the prospect of, any minute, laying eyes on their child.
The machine shifted and buzzed and then began to slowly make its way back up to Pepper's middle. It stopped, level with her pelvis, and buzzed again. Suddenly, the screen blipped to life and a grainy picture of what she could only guess was her uterus came on the screen. Tony grabbed her hand in one of his, and tapped the screen with the other. Brackets appeared where he'd tapped, and he spread his thumb and forefinger out a few times on the screen to zoom in on the image.
"Okay, help me out here, J," Tony requested.
"Certainly, Sir," the AI replied.
They both watched as JARVIS moved the image on the screen closer where they could start to see a tiny little bean-shaped mass. Slowly, the grainy 2-D image morphed into a 3-D image. JARVIS zoomed in closer and closer to show the tiny being wiggling and squirming. It was just barely recognizable as something in human form, but they could make out a faint little flicker in the middle of it. Tony pulled up a chair next to Pepper, still keeping a hold of her hand. "There," he said, a proud smile slowly spreading across his lips, and pointing to the screen. "There's...our baby," he murmured, in awe. It continued to wiggle and squirm, and JARVIS helped to keep the image steady as they both watched in fascination.
"Oh my God!" Pepper murmured, bringing her finger tips to her mouth, and biting her lip to keep from crying. Tony chuckled warmly, and kissed her forehead.
"Can JARVIS tell how far along I am?" she asked him.
"J? You heard the lady," Tony said. "How old is Baby Stark, right now?"
"Approximately six weeks," JARVIS replied.
The both looked at each other. "Thanksgiving," they said in unison. They chuckled.
"Or there and abouts," Tony said, shrugging. "Teach me to use a condom one month shy of its expiration," he joked.
Pepper chuckled and nodded. "Looks like you'll be paying for that night for the rest of your life, Stark," she teased.
"Eh," he said, shrugging again. "As life sentences go, this isn't a bad hitch to have," he joked. He gazed at the screen in wonder. "Amazing. Truly amazing," he murmured. "Hey, J? That flicker in the middle. Am I correct in assuming that's the heartbeat?" he asked.
"You would be correct, sir, yes," said the AI. "And, by my count, it is currently beating at 85 beats per minute, though this will increase dramatically in the weeks to come. The fetus measures about ΒΌ inch in length, and is currently building the circulatory and nervous systems. Soon, the limbs will begin to develop."
They both grinned. "Wow. That's so cool!" Tony cooed in amazement. Pepper giggled, smiling proudly at her husband before turning her eyes back to the screen.
"JARVIS? Does everything appear to be normal? Is everything okay?" Pepper asked.
"By my estimation, yes, Madam," the AI answered. "But I have to recommend that you begin seeing an obstetrician as soon as possible. I cannot replace traditional pre-natal care."
"Of course," Pepper agreed. She tore her eyes away from the image on the screen for a brief moment to look at Tony again. "Any chance we can get pictures?" she asked him.
Tony nodded emphatically, and grinned. "Absolutely! Are you kidding?! I'm bragging to anyone who will listen!" he cried. Pepper laughed. "Hey, J?" he asked his AI.
"Yes, sir?"
"Send the video of the imaging to our private server, if you please? And do a few screen shots for the baby book. Make double prints, if you could, too. I'm sure Grandma will want a few copies," Tony said. He looked down at his bride and smiled proudly.
Pepper smiled lovingly back. "Grandma," she purred. "Oh, I can't wait to tell her! She'll be so excited."
Tony frowned. "Speaking of which," he said, looking at his watch. "It's about that time, babe. We should get a move on."
Pepper nodded in agreement, though she was a little sad to have to end the ultrasound. She frowned and pursed her lips."Just a few minutes longer. Please?" she asked Tony. She looked back at the screen. "I can't take my eyes off of him," she murmured lovingly.
"Him?" Tony said, looking at her in surprise.
Pepper giggled. "Or her," she corrected. She sighed happily. Tony squeezed her hand and scooted closer to Pepper's side. He bent down to kiss her forehead again. She glanced up at him and smiled lovingly. He smiled back at her and they both turned their eyes back to the screen, watching their little one wiggle and squirm, as the flicker of the heartbeat fluttered. "I'm already in love," Pepper murmured softly, after a few silent moments.
Tony smiled. "Me, too," he murmured.
XxXxXxXxXx
After a few more silent moments spent in quiet admiration, they both agreed, reluctantly, that if they expected to make their lunch date in a half-way timely fashion, that it was time to end their session with the ultrasound machine.
Tony stood up and walked to the touchscreen control display. He shut down the machine, and the big doughnut-shaped scanner went back into its original position.
Pepper went to sit up, and Tony offered her his hand. She thanked him, and took it graciously, coming to a sitting position on the table. She pulled her sweater back down, refastened her jeans, and stood up. Tony wrapped his arms around her waist. "Well, what do you think, baby?" he said, smirking. "Feeling a little more reassured now that you know everything is okay?"
Pepper grinned and nodded. "Yes," she said sheepishly. "I just wanted to know that I hadn't messed anything up before I even had the chance to get used to the idea of being pregnant," she said. She grinned. "Wow," she murmured, shaking her head in disbelief. "It's still such a shock! I still can't believe that we got engaged, married and found out we're pregnant all in the same week!" she said. "You're right! Who does this?!" she teased.
Tony chuckled. "Didn't I tell you that being with me would be anything but normal?" he teased back. She giggled, and he kissed her sweetly. When the kiss broke, he bent down and tenderly kissed Pepper's belly. She giggled again. He raised back up and winked at her, pecking her lips one more time before grasping her hand. They walked out of the lab together, hand in hand, beaming.