AN: I know this might be a little too soon after Endgame but I promise you my goal is to keep this story as angst free as I can, and if there is any, it'll be related to past events of my verse.

"You look so beautiful in the morning sunlight here."

Pepper smiled but didn't turn back towards the bed. She had awakened about twenty minutes ago and had come over to the window to spend a little alone time. She had become aware that Tony was awake about five minutes ago when she heard a change in his breathing, and then felt his eyes were watching her. She let another minute pass before she quipped back, "Well, I guess we'll have to stay here forever, since the morning sunlight can pull off miracles."

There was a huff followed by a sputter followed by, "You know what I meant!"

She still had a smile on her face when she turned around, and said, "Oh, I do?" The same sunlight he said made her beautiful must have been preventing him from seeing the playful, amusement in her eyes, "I do? Because to me it sounded like you just said the morning sunlight somehow enhances how I look." She sounded so serious that she almost had herself convinced that she was being serious.

"No, that's not what I… what a second! Are you laughing?"

While she listened to him, Pepper had fought not to laugh but was slowly losing the battle. Her shoulder started shaking, and her vision was getting blurred from the tears of mirth forming there.

"You are laughing at me, aren't you?"

Pepper finally lost it at his question and started laughing out loud. The volume of her laughter only became louder when she looked over and saw him give her a puzzled look. Her laughter only began to falter when he huffed suddenly, and turned over in the bed so that his back was now facing her. She thought he was only putting on an act of being upset with her laughing, so she didn't immediately stop laughing. When he didn't turn over or look at her again, she became concerned that she really had upset him, and quickly walked back over to their bed.

"Tony?" she said a bit timidly, leaning over him, becoming even more concerned when she saw his eyes were closed, "Tony?"

He moved in a flash, reaching out to grab her by her wrists and then he pulled on her arms until she toppled over into the bed. Pepper shrieked as she hit the bed. He pounced on her, and started to tickle her sides. Of course from the second he started tickling her, Pepper was shrieking again, but this time it was along with uproarious laughter.

The more he tickled, the more she laughed, and the more she thought about how the sound of her laughter was going to wake up their kids if she hadn't already. But the thought remained in her head as she couldn't get enough breath to say the word stop muchless point out they were being too loud! Sure enough a few seconds later they heard a little, sleepy voice.

"Mommy, what's going on?"

Tony thankfully ceased and desisted with the tickling, letting her go. Pepper partially sat up on her elbows, taking in several breaths before she could speak to answer the inquiry. It shouldn't have been a surprised to find both of their kids standing in the doorway of their room, not with as loud as she'd been laughing or not with as much noise they had been making, yet somehow it was.

"It's okay, sweetheart. Mommy and Daddy were just being a little bit silly!" At her son's skeptical look, she continued on, "Do you guys want some breakfast? Hmm?" Much to her husband's annoyance she was sure, she got out of bed again, and walked towards their children.

Eva was the one of them to answer her mother's question about breakfast, "Nuh uh… don't wan breakf'st. Sleepy!"

Ethan nodded his head in agreement with his sister.

"Okay, then why don't you both go get in bed with Daddy and sleep a little while longer while Mommy gets a shower then makes breakfast?" She didn't have to suggest it twice as both of the kids went over to the bed and crawled into it.

"Hey!" Eva protested, her voice just a little bit on the sullen side, "I wanna be next to Daddy!"

Although it was rare for siblings rivalry or jealousy to rear its ugly head with their kids, there were still moments when it happened, and when it did, they always tried to resolve it as quickly as possible in hopes of avoiding something happening that would cause hurt feelings. Of course this morning was no exception, and Tony nudged his son.

"Scoot over to Mommy's side, sport, and you come around over here, princess." Ethan gave what sounded like an annoyed huff but scooted over as he'd been told while Eva walked around to the other side of the bed. Once there, the little girl was helped into the bed by her Daddy, and soon the three of them were snuggling down underneath the covers.

Pepper had stayed long enough to watch to see how the situation would play out. Before she turned to go get her shower, her eyes met with Tony's and he winked at her before he closed his own eyes to catch a few more minutes of sleep with their little loves.

After waking them up again, they all had breakfast together outside at the small table on the porch. Then it would be time for playing on the beach, which suited Pepper fine because the days of play in the sun were helping Tony to get some coloring back after his time in prison. Plus the added bonus of watching him dig and make sand castles with Eva was too precious beyond words

Pepper played with the kids too, but she also tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible since she knew she would burn way too easily. She wore sunscreen of of course, industrial strength in fact, but it still would not stop her from getting a really bad sunburn if she didn't stay in the shade some time! As she watched Ethan running around the beach with his sister and Daddy, she was thankful that both of her kids seemed to have inherited Tony's tendency to tan instead of getting burned.

It must be the Italian heritage from his mother, she thought, watching now as it appeared as both their kids piled warm sand onto her husband prone form. She let them work at piling the sand on a while without any comment but decided once they had him mostly buried, it'd be a good idea to put some kind of shade over her husband's head. She opened an umbrella smaller than the one she'd been taking shelter under and walked over to where by now only Tony's head was sticking out of the sand.

He looked up at her when he was suddenly in the shade instead of the sun, and smiled, "Thanks, honey."

Pepper had been about to respond, when a little voice spoke up first.

"Shhh, Daddy!" Eva said, putting her little hand on his lips.

Her parents exchanged a puzzled look with each other then Tony turned his head so her hand wasn't over his mouth any more, and asked, "What was that, princess?"

The little girl responded by using both of her hands to cover her Daddy's mouth, "Shhh, Daddy! You not s'posed to talk!"

"Why not, sweetie?" Pepper asked, looking at her husband again, "Why isn't Daddy supposed to be talking?"

Eva tilted her little head up in her mother's direction, "Coz!"

"'Coz' why, cutie pie?" Tony asked from behind her hands.

The little girl gave him an outraged look, and both of her parents might have laughed if it wasn't for the fact she also answered his question with, "Coz you dead, Daddy!"

The smile immediately vanished from her mother's face, and Pepper was pale as she choked out, "W-what was that? What did you s-say?"

Of course Eva didn't notice that what she had said so innocently had upset her mother and had her father wanting to get out from underneath the sand.

"Baby-" Tony started, seeing how upset his wife was getting.

"Quiet, Daddy! No talking! You dead!"

Tony watched his wife as their little girl continued to insist he was dead. He watched her turned white as a sheet for several seconds over their daughter's choice of words. He decided it was time for this game to be at an end before his little girl found herself in trouble with her mother.

He sat up, and as he expected Eva immediately reacted the way he had though she would.

The little girl put her hand on his shoulder and tried to push him back towards the sand, "Daddy-"

Tony grabbed her hands in his, "Let me just stop you right there, kiddo. You're about to get into a whole lot of trouble with Mommy. You need to please stop saying Daddy's dead, okay?"

"But she's just playing!" Ethan exclaimed, giving both his parents a look that said he didn't understand what the issue was but he was getting indignant on his sister's behalf just the same.

"We know, buddy. We know your sister isn't trying to upset Mommy but she should do what Mommy has asked her to do and stop saying what she's been saying."

"But-" Two little voices said in unison.

He put a finger on his lips, "Shhh, both of you." His son was clearly going to say something else that continued the subject so he added, "I mean it, Ethan. Drop it, now."

It was obvious the little boy wasn't happy about having to let go of the matter, but he did finally, swallow whatever words he'd been about to say. He returned to digging in the sand while his parents exchanged a relieved look with each other. They were here on the island to have time together as a family and the last thing either one of them wanted to do would be to enforce a consequence for one or both of their kids for being defiant.

"Okay, I think it's getting close to lunch time. Let's start getting the sand cleaned off before we go back inside," Pepper told them after a moment of silence.

"Awwww, Mommy!" one little voice, Eva's, complained.

"None of that, princess. You need to do what Mommy say without anymore whining. Okay?"

The little girl looked at her Daddy after he finished speaking, and seemed to decide she didn't want to test him because she started brushing the sand off of herself.

"Thank you."

After lunch, Tony and the kids got into a game of bocce ball. Well it was almost a game as he spent most of their time trying to teach the kids the rules and how to play the game. After they'd been playing for almost an hour, Tony looked over to his wife, "Hey honey, I'm really thirsty. Would you mind bringing out some lemonade for all of us?"

She was quite thirsty herself, she so readily nodded, "That sounds really good, actually. I'll go make us some glasses."

"Thanks, honey. Okay, kids, let's go see how the hammocks feel!"

Pepper came back out onto the porch a few minutes later with a tray of lemonade glasses in her hands. She stopped for a moment to look around then started towards the hammock where all had fallen silent while she went inside the bungalow. When she reached the area, she set the tray down on one of the nearby lounge chairs, and tipped toed over to the hammock.

Tony laid in the center of the hammock with his eyes closed. Ethan laid on his left side with his arm wrapped around his daddy, his head pillowed by Tony's shoulder. Eva was on Tony's right, her little arm wrapped around her daddy as far as it would go, her little head resting almost on her Daddy's chest. Both were snuggled tightly against him, being held by the man who loved them both the most. Wrapped in the security of his loving arms they, along with him, had all three fallen fast asleep.

Pepper watched them for a moment, smiling and wiping away tears, thinking about what had nearly happened a month ago. Once again a flood of gratitude that Tony was alive and still with them flooded her being. She truly did not have any idea how she would have explained his death to their children if the Avengers had not come through with an eleventh hour save.

Pepper went back into the house to grab her camera and as she walked back outside she made sure the flash was off. Although the natural lighting should be just bright enough, she mentally crossed her fingers just in case. She wanted so much to get the perfect picture of them snuggled together, asleep. She got as close to them as she dared, moved herself and the camera around, until everything was just right, then pressed the button. A few seconds later, Pepper looked at the camera screen, and smiled as she saw her effort had resulted in a perfect, priceless picture.

Satisfied, she walked a few feet away from her slumbering loves, back towards the bungalow where she quietly said, "BRUTUS?"

"Yes, Missus. Stark?" the AI immediately responded in the same quiet tone she was using.

"Do you know how long Tony and the kids have been asleep?"

"According to the bio-signs reading from the Boss's wrist watch, the Boss has been asleep for approximately for eight minutes. I would estimate that the kids fell asleep between five to ten minutes earlier than the Boss."

"Thanks, BRUTUS. Would you please vibrate Tony's watch when they've slept for an hour and no longer? And by they I mean the kids, not Tony."

She knew if they slept much longer than that, they wouldn't want to go to bed tonight, and they needed to get a good night's sleep tonight because tomorrow would be a busy day for them all. Tomorrow, their family would start arriving to join them on the island, and Pepper knew the kids would want plenty of energy so they could play with their cousins.

"Sure thing, Missus S."

With that settled, she returned to the lounge area, and laid down in one of the chairs. She thought about picking up the half read novel she had laying there on the table but decided watching the horizon would be more relaxing. She sipped on one of the glasses of lemonade she'd brought out, watched the clouds and the horizon, thinking back on the last week they'd spent here already.

Later in the night, after both kids were in asleep in their beds, their parents were outside snuggling together in the same hammock Tony had taken a nap in with the kids, stargazing among other things. Bur holding one another and enjoying the warmth of other is mainly what they did. After everything that had had had happened in the last seven months, after they were denied the ability to touch each other for most of those months, they needed to now make up for the time they lost but had been unable to, as of yet, been able to satiate that need.

They both doubted in their hearts they ever would reach that point.

The denial of physical touch had been one of the things that hurt more than almost anything else in the situation.

Only Tony's almost execution had left the both of them in more pain.

Speaking of which…

"Pep?" Tony began, unsure if she was still awake.

"Hmm?" she responded in a way that suggested she was half dozing, half awake.

He almost started not to say what he was thinking, knowing what he wanted to say would wake her up from the comfortable place she was in. But then, he knew what he was thinking needed to be said.

"Honey, you know Eva was just playing and didn't mean anything bad when she kept saying I was supposed to be dead, right?"

He heard her sigh.

"Yes, I know she didn't mean anything bad but… Tony, we almost had to really bury you last month!"

While running a hand up and down her arm her reminded her of an important fact, "But honey, she doesn't know about my almost ex… that I almost died. Neither of them do, and I hope we can keep it that way until they're both way older, and can hopefully understand it when we do tell them."

Pepper gave a humorless snort, "How can they understand it when I myself can't understand it?"

"That's why I said, hopefully, keyword there. But my point is, they don't know what happened, and Eva didn't have a clue why what she was saying was upsetting you. She also didn't know you were on your way to blowing your stack either. You were too, weren't you?"

He felt the motion of a nod against him.

"Yeah," she muttered, "Yeah I was on my way to getting angry… to losing my temper with them. With both of them, I'm sorry have to say that, but I was oh very much closer than I want to admit to being." She huffed out a breath, "So thank you for intervening before it went any further."

"No problem… I just wish…"

"You just wish what?"

When he didn't answer her, Pepper brought her head up far enough to repeat her question.

Tony shook his head, sighing, "I just wish I didn't have to get so serious with them sometimes. I know I've been a Dad now for eight years but… but I really kinda hate it when I'm forced to be, well, a grown up with them. I guess when I actually have to be their Father instead of just being their Daddy. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah… yeah I do know what you mean because the times I've had to get super serious with them."

"Fortunate for us, though, they're both great kids."

"Right now they are."

"What do you mean, right now?"

"Well, they haven't hit their teenage years yet. I don't know about you…" Although I bet I can imagine. "But when I hit those years, there were a few bumps."

"Ooo are you telling me you were a wild thing during your teenage years, Mrs. Stark?"

"I'm not sure wild thing describes my teenage years, but there were times I wasn't as respectful to my father as I should have been. I really regret it now because my Dad's health started to go down during the latter part of those years and then he died a few months after I turned twenty."

"Oh, honey… I'm sorry…"

"It's okay. I've made peace with it as much as I can, and I know… I know…"

"You know your father always loved you?"

"Yes, I know he did. Even when I was being a brat to him."

Tony tried to lighten the mood by saying teasingly, "Huh… Miss Virginia Potts was bratty as a teenager. Imagine that! I can't!"

Pepper lightly smacked him, "You just better hope my bratty self doesn't return when Eva hits puberty because then you'll find out exactly what my Dad dealt with!"

"The time is now eleven P.M.," BRUTUS stated, interrupting any further conversation.

"What? Already?"

"'Fraid so, Boss."

"Well, we better get to bed soon," Pepper said before she started untangling her body from her husband's.

"Yeah, I guess so," Tony groused, reluctantly letting her leave his embrace.

"Sorry we invited company now?"

"No, of course not!"

She arched an eyebrow at him as he sat up in the hammock.

"Well okay, yes... a little but not in the way you're thinking."

"Then how exactly?"

Tony didn't answer as he got to his feet, and then put his arm around her waist. They started back inside when he said, "I think more than anything, I am not looking forward to seeing Steve again. You've watched and known us long enough to know what our issues are with each other. I know it's way past time time for us to bury the hatchet. I have a feeling that while we're all here, there will probably be a day when he and I will go off somewhere, just the two of us, to make our peace with each other."

"I'm sure it will turn out fine, Tony."

"You think so?"

"Yes, I do, and it'll be better than you think."

"I hope so because after what he did for us… for me something has got to give between us. I want us all to be a family, Pep, a real family. Like we should have been all along."

They had stopped just outside their house, and facing her husband, Pepper reached up to touch his face, "Have faith."

"Faith?"

"Mmmhmm… faith that everything is going to work out just fine. The way it is supposed to."