Pepper awoke the next morning to the sound of her alarm. She and Tony had spent the majority of the night playing with the day-glow body paint, and playfully, yet very tenderly, making love, and for that she was actually grateful. Tony was right. It was a great way to relieve stress, and they'd created some very fond memories in the process. They were both covered in the now-dried paint, and Pepper found she had to quite literally peel herself away from Tony's body in order to shut off her alarm on her phone and get out of bed. Tony grumbled when she did this. "No, stay. Just stay here," he mumbled, pulling her back into his arms. "Take the morning off. You're pregnant. You're allowed."
"Yes, but I'm CEO of your company," Pepper argued, trying again to leave his embrace and climb out of bed.
"Precisely my point," Tony said, letting her go and rolling over onto his back.
"I'm just expected to be there, is what I mean," Pepper retorted. "Especially right now. There is far too much to do for me to play hooky with you. However tempting..." she said, turning and bending to peck his lips. He kissed her back. "That may be," she finished. Pepper hopped out of bed before Tony could snag her again, and walked into the bathroom.
Tony grumbled again. "Damn your sense of loyalty and commitment," he called out to her.
Pepper appeared in the doorway, brushing her teeth. "That is why you hired me, remember?"she reminded him, with a mouthful of toothpaste.
Tony nodded. "Well, that's why I kept you around, anyway," he admitted. "I hired you for an entirely different set of reasons. I just lucked out that you made me look so smart for doing it." He climbed out of bed and joined her in the bathroom. Pepper was standing in front of the vanity now, just finishing up brushing her teeth. Tony wrapped his arms around her and they both looked in the mirror at the spectacle of their naked bodies covered in brightly colored paint. Pepper had drawn flowers and swirls up and down his arms, and around to his back, and Tony had drawn robot-looking joints on her hands and arms and angel wings on her back in blue paint. Their faces were covered in various dots and lines, making them both look like they belonged to some kind of hippy Amazonian tribe. Streaks of pink paint highlighted Tony's hair, making it spike upward or outward in ridiculous places that made Pepper laugh. They giggled at all of the designs they'd put on each other, and the places that were smeared from the sweat when playtime suddenly turned into something far more passionate.
Tony tenderly put his hand beside the stick-person baby he'd drawn on her belly and they both smiled.
Pepper sighed. "I hate to wash it off," she said.
Tony shrugged. "It's not exactly a masterpiece, Pep," he replied.
"Well, it's very sweet all the same. But I can't go to work covered in body paint, so off it goes," Pepper said regretfully, breaking away from him and turning on the shower.
"Then I'll join you," Tony said.
The water heated up and they both climbed inside. Pepper wetted down her hair, and grabbed the shampoo, but Tony took it from her and motioned for her to turn around. She did as instructed and he gently began to wash her hair. Pepper loved when Tony did this for her, so she smiled and closed her eyes, reveling in the attention. "Wow, I got a lot of paint in your hair," he commented.
Pepper chuckled. "You got a lot of paint everywhere," she purred.
Tony chuckled in reply. "So did you, Pep," he reminded her. "It was fun though, right?" he asked.
Pepper nodded. "Oh yes," she agreed. "And you were right. I feel a lot more relaxed this morning."
"Well, I'm glad," Tony murmured in her ear as he reached for the detachable shower head to rinse her off. Pepper felt Tony's hands glide through her hair and around her body, rinsing off all the paint. When he went over her belly, she opened her eyes and looked down, reluctantly watching his little green drawing of their baby wash off her body and down the drain. Tony kissed her temple and handed her the sprayer. "My turn," he said.
They did an about face, and Pepper repeated the same action for Tony, washing his hair and rinsing off all of the body paint. She chuckled at the pink hand prints she'd left on his behind, and the giant pink and blue flower she'd put on his back.
"Goodbye, ass prints," he quipped, chuckling. And Pepper giggled.
XxXxXxXxXx
They'd finished their shower, and about an hour later, Pepper appeared from the bedroom, looking perfectly polished as usual. Tony whistled. "Look at you," he purred, pecking her lips. "Gorgeous."
Pepper smiled and sighed. "But tired. Staying up all night isn't as easy as it once was. Especially, now," she said, patting her belly.
Tony grimaced and nodded in understanding."I'm sorry, Pep. I'll try to remember that for the future," he said regretfully.
Pepper smiled. "It's fine. I would say last night was well worth it," she assured.
"Well, take care of yourself today, okay?" Tony asked. "Shut the shades and take a nap, if you need to." His eyes brightened. "Or, better yet, cut out early, and I'll take one with you!" he offered. "Yeah. Nap time with Pepper. Sounds delightful."
Pepper giggled. "I'll see what I can arrange," she said, patting his shoulder and walking into the kitchen. Tony had boiled some water in the kettle and she poured herself a cup, dunking a peppermint tea bag into it, and setting about making some dry toast. "What I wouldn't give for a cappuccino, right now," she wished.
"Still can't handle coffee, huh?" Tony said, lifting his own coffee mug to his lips guiltily and taking a sip.
Pepper shook her head. "No. The taste, for one, just turns my stomach. But I also don't think I can drink that much of it at the moment anyway on account of the caffeine."
"Really?" Tony said. "No caffeine for the next few months? Is that true?"
"I know you're supposed to watch your intake. But how much is too much? I don't know," Pepper said, shaking her head while she bobbed her tea bag up and down in her mug. "I'll just be happy when we can get to the doctor, and make sure that everything is okay, and we know that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and the baby's growing properly. That's all I can think about right now."
Tony nodded in agreement. "Me, too, Pep," he said, smiling warmly at his wife.
XxXxXxXxXx
A few weeks later on the morning of Pepper's first doctor's appointment, she had sleepily trudged into the bathroom, as per usual, to get ready for work. She flipped on the light, turned on the faucet, put the toothpaste on her toothbrush and set about brushing her teeth when suddenly she'd noticed something very different. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed. She hurried and spat out the toothpaste, her eyes wide. She spun to the side and yanked down the waist band of her pajama bottoms while lifting her t-shirt to reveal her stomach. "Tony!" she yelled. "Come here! Quick! You need to see something!"
Tony heard her call his name, and grumbled as he awakened. "What is it?" he mumbled, his words muffled from his face being smashed against his pillow. But then the urgent tone of her voice registered in his brain, and his eyes popped open with alarm. "Fuck!" he mumbled, suddenly thinking the worst. He scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom doorway, bracing himself against it on both sides with his arms. "What?! What is it?! What happened!" he exclaimed breathlessly, his face panicked.
Pepper smiled. "Only the most wonderful thing you could imagine!" she gushed, turning so he could see her profile.
Tony looked down at her body, and spluttered. Then he looked back up at her face in amazement. "Oh my God! You...wow...you're..." he stammered. Pepper just nodded in excitement.
"Wow," Tony gasped. He went to her and laid his hands on either side of her now slightly swollen belly. "That's...amazing," he said, awestruck. He shook his head in disbelief. "When did this happen?" he asked.
"Overnight, I guess?" Pepper said, shrugging. She ran a hand over her new baby bump. "Isn't it wonderful?" she mused.
Tony chuckled. "Yeah, and it couldn't have happened on a better day," he said. Pepper grinned and Tony raised his eyes to look at her lovingly. He kissed her lips and then broke the kiss to kneel down and kiss her belly. Pepper ran her fingers through his hair tenderly as he rested his forehead against her stomach. He rubbed his hand over her baby bump and smiled in adoration. "Hello in there," he murmured softly. He glanced up at Pepper to notice joyful tears were threatening to spill onto her cheeks. He stood back up and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. "What a great way to start the day," he said.
Pepper chuckled. "Well, leave it to your child to make a grand appearance," she quipped.
Tony laughed, and pulled back to kiss her lips tenderly. He laid a gentle hand on her bump when the kiss broke. "Now the doc will have to believe that your pregnant," he teased.
Pepper giggled. But then her face fell. "Yeah," she said. "Along with everyone else in the world!" she muttered, frowning.
"Whoa, hold on," Tony said. He could see a Pepper-level meltdown starting. "Pepper, slow down."
"Oh, God!" she cried, in a panic, ignoring him. "What did we do, Tony? How are we going to hide this? The rest of the world can't know about my pregnancy! They don't even know we're married! I'll have to go into hiding! I'll have to resign! And that stupid Dianna Wardly will get her way! Oh, why did I let this happen?!" she exclaimed.
"Pepper, listen to me," Tony reasoned. "Let's take this one day at a time, okay? Today's our first doctor's appointment. Let's just go, meet the doctor, get our questions answered, and figure the rest out after that, alright?"
Pepper looked at him, her face still stricken with worry. She stared at him, blinking, mouth silent for a few moments before she relaxed slightly and nodded in agreement. "O-okay," she said. "Yeah, that...sounds right," she agreed.
"That's my girl," Tony said, breathing a sigh of relief at averting the potential crisis for the time being. "Today's a happy day. You're showing, baby! How awesome is that?" he said, smiling proudly.
Pepper smiled, despite her anxiety. "It is awesome," she said, grinning sheepishly.
Tony smiled back. "We get to meet our baby doctor today, and we'll get to hear the heartbeat! So let's just focus on that, okay?"
Pepper nodded. "You're right," she said. She smiled weakly and then slowly turned to examine her stomach in the mirror again. She ran a loving hand over it and smiled sweetly. "Today is a happy day, isn't it?"