AN: I'm not sure I am completely satisfied with this chapter but I am posting it anyway.

The next chapter will also be Tony and Pepper centric heavy as their day alone together continues!

A light breeze flitted in from the ocean through the open window of their bedroom waking Tony up enough to kiss the side of his wife's head. The kiss was followed by the tightening of his arms around her, which in turn made Pepper wake up. After a few more nuzzles into her hair and neck, the warmth of the morning sun worked in concert with the warmth of her body against his to send him drifting off back into sleep… until he felt her pull her way out of his arms.

"Hey!" he complained, opening his eyes, "Get back here!"

The woman he loved did nothing but smile at him, nothing making move to meet his demands that she to her former position in his arms. Instead she wrapped herself up in the light bathrobe, before she went over to the window. She did not fight the smile that crossed her lips when she heard him give another groan of complaint, completely feeling his eyes on her as he watched her from the bed.

"It's beautiful outside," she said, watching the horizon for a moment.

"Mmmhmm," Tony murmured unenthusiastically with a yawn, "Come on, Pep, come back to bed. We can sleep in today. Let's not waste the chance!"

"But we didn't waste it! It's almost eight thirty!"

He groaned, and pulled the sheet up over his head, "It's just almost eight thirty? I think ten sounds waaaaaaaay better! Honey, come back to bed, and let's get some more sleep."

"But if we sleep until ten we'll be wasting almost half of our day!"

A grunt was the only reply that he gave her.

"Come on, Tony! Get up so we can go outside and enjoy the day!" Pepper said, turning towards him. When he didn't move or give any indication that he was going to get up, or was even alive she flounced over to the bed, and snatched the sheet off of him.

"Hey!" he protested before sitting up and trying to grab back the sheet.

His wife wisely stood just out of his reach, but that didn't stop him from getting up on all fours anyway and trying to grab the sheet away from her, "Give that back to me!"

"No, I want to go exploring the island and I want you to come with me! Come on, Tony! Get up and get out of bed!" She waved the sheet around just within his reach, and pulled it back whenever he made a grab for it.

He made a few tries to grab it, and then sat back on the bed, shaking his head, "You're not going to come back to bed, are you?"

"Nope."

He tilted his head, thinking, then said, "So you want to spend the day exploring, hmm?"

Pepper nodded, "Yes, I do. I mean since it's something we can't do too easily when the kids are with us."

Running a hand through his hair, Tony had to nod in agreement with his wife's was true, they really couldn't. Ethan and Eva were both at the age they'd rather spend their time on the island playing on the beach with their parents than go exploring with them. That would probably change in a few years from now but until then exploration with them had to be ruled out since they both wanted their children to enjoy their time here as much as their parents were enjoying theirs..

"So, you want to go exploring, huh?" he repeated.

"Yeah, I do."

"Okay then, we'll go explore the island," he said, getting out of bed at last, "But first, I want to go take a shower."

"Alright, while you're doing that, I'll go pack us up some food and drinks to take with us while we're exploring."

"Awww!"

Pepper had turned away to make her way to the kitchen, and she stopped when she heard him grumble, "What now?"

Tony shrugged, shooting her his imploring look as he said, "I just thought maybe you'd like to join me?"

"Tony…"

He had walked up to her, and started trailing kisses down her neck, murmuring into her ear between the kisses, "Come on, baby, we've got all day to ourselves to do whatever we want."

"Yeah, but I wanted to get an early start…"

"The island will still be there waiting for us. Please come and take a shower with me?"

Tony had kept on kissing her as he spoke, and she could hear the longing in his voice. Pepper sighed, and finally allowed herself to melt into his touch, nodding, simply saying, "Okay."

The kisses stopped, "Okay?"

She looked at him, and nodded, "Yeah, okay. I mean you're right about how we're not in any real hurry. This is our day to do whatever we want, whenever we want. We don't have to be anywhere at any set time. Right?"

"Yeah… right."

Smiling, she took his hand, and it was she who led the way into the bathroom.

They walked out of their bungalow's door almost an hour later, then went straight to the jeep parked in the nearby detached garage. The jeep was normally used by the island's hired live on caretakers, so last night before they had gone to bed, Tony had checked just to make sure the vehicle had enough gas for the day of exploring they wanted to do.

Pepper opened the jeep's passenger door, then climbed inside while Tony finished stowing their picnic basket and blankets in the back. Before he closed the back up, he called out to his wife to ask, "Hey honey, did you want to drive?"

She looked back at him, and gave a shake of her head, "No, I'm fine with letting you drive."

She could see he was hesitating, and she knew she had answered in a way he wasn't completely expecting because he knew she wasn't the biggest fan of his driving. It was true since the kids had come along in their lives, he was far more careful behind the wheel but whenever they went anywhere together, she still preferred Happy to be the one to drive them.

He finally nodded, closed the back hatch, and walked around to the driver's side. He climbed in, then started the jeep's engine, "Okay, let's get this show on the road." He turned the jeep around, and started down the path that would lead them to the other side of the island.

"So," Tony began as he watched his wife tread water in the pool in front of the waterfall, "Have you given any more thought about us just selling out of the company and taking an early semi-retirement?"

Her answer to his question make him wait a little while so she could take another lap around the pool of water. He didn't know if she was trying to get a reaction out of him or not so he just shrugged when she swam away, deciding that he would wait for when she was ready to give him an answer to his question. After she swam around for another five minutes she came back over to him and exited the water.

Pepper still didn't speak as she dried herself off and tied her sarong around her waist. Sitting down beside him on the blanket, she gave him a look, before she nodded, "Yes, I have been giving it some more thought."

"And?" he inquired, watching as his wife opened up her water bottle.

She took a sip, shrugging, "I… uh honestly don't know. I mean it's only been… since like a very short time since you made the suggestion."

"Yeah, I know it's only been a little while," he replied, "But I just thought that you might have some... uh you know more thoughts on it."

"Well, considering you only brought it up like literally yesterday, on the same day we convinced two of our friends to have their wedding on our private island, I have to say I haven't given it too much more thought. " Out of the corner of her eye, when she saw him nod, she turned her head fully towards him where she could see what she knew to be disappointment on his face, "But I'm open to talking more about it right now if you would like to?"

Tony stared at her for a moment, "I uh would… but only if it's okay with you if we do?"

"Yes, it's okay."

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't want to rush-"

"Tony, it's okay... really," she added that last part when he gave her a skeptic look, "So where do you want to start?"

"Well, maybe we can start with what do you think of the idea of selling out?"

Pepper thought about it for a few seconds, then answered, "I don't know. It's hard for me to know what to think when I have never thought that selling out would be something you'd-"

"We'd... something that we'd want to do," he corrected then signaled for her to go on.

"Okay, then we'd want to do... although technically I think I should still be saying you because you are the one who was born with the last name of Stark. I just married into the family."

"Just married into... Pepper, honey you did more than just married into the family... and you have no less of a right to the claims of being a Stark than I do! In fact, I think sometimes that you have more of a claim to being a Stark than me!"

"And how do you figure that?"

"Because you are the owner of my heart to begin with. For another, you are the mother of my children... who will of course be my... well our heirs since they're the next generation of...-" His voice trailed off when he looked over at her to find she was shaking her head, and had an amused look on her face, "What?"

"What?" she repeated. "What?"

"Yes. what? And why do you look like you're about to laugh at me?"

"Because I am about to laugh at you maybe?"

"Okay mind telling me exactly what did I do to earn your mirth?"

"What did you do? I can't believe you are asking me that question!"

"Well, believe it because I am asking you that question! So what did I do?"

Watching him scowl in confusion and consternation at her, Pepper finally couldn't contain her laughter any longer, and the bright sound burst forth from her lips. She tried to stop, she really did but when her husband tried to give her an attempt at a menacing look, he only succeeded in making her laugh that much harder.

Finally Tony rolled his eyes, and threw his hands into the air obviously completely clueless as to why his wife was in the middle of a mad giggle fest, so he just huffed (bad mistake as it made her laugh harder), and decided to just let her get it all out. Eventually when she stopped laughing, he decided to try again, "So what was so funny?"

"You!"

"Care to be a little more specific, Pep, or should I just try to read your mind?"

Still giggling just a little, she started to answer his question, "What's so funny is... the fact that you asked me what I think of us selling out of the company you were about to go off on some sort of side... train of thought just because I made the statement that I wasn't born into the Stark family or name like you were!"

"Oh, is that what set the laughing at me off?"

"Oh my but YES!" was all she could get out.

He tried his best to scowl at her but it lasted all of five seconds before he was smiling at her, and shaking his head. She was wiping away tears of mirth when he wrapped his arms around her, and pulled them both down onto the blanket. Another few minutes went by as Pepper continued to get the last of the giggles out of her system. In the meantime he kissed the side of her head every so often, patiently waiting for the moment he could resume talking to her about the issue.

"I love hearing you laugh," Tony said after she finally just beginning to settle down.

"Oh, you do, do you?"

"Mmm hmm, I do. Even when it's at my own expense."

"Even when it's…" Pepper stopped there, propping herself up on her elbow she looked down at him, "I was going to ask you if you were being serious, but I can see that you are, aren't you?"

He nodded.

"You really like it when people laugh at-"

"Not people, honey. You. I'm only okay with being laughed at it's at my own expense when it's you who is doing the laughing… and no one else… well except maybe…"

"Jimmy?"

"Yes, but don't you dare ever tell him I said that."

His wife smiled at him before she laid back down, putting her head back on his shoulder, "Are you sure you don't want me to tell him that?"

"I'm sure I don't want you to tell him that!"

"Why not?"

"You mean besides the fact he'd take every opportunity that comes his way to take me up on what I said?"

"Yes, besides that."

"I uh… he will enjoy it too much?"

"That's not a reason, Tony."

"It's not?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Then umm…"

She knew he was getting flustered, and was trying to find a way to figure out good enough a reason for her to not betray what he had told her in confidence. She let him sweat it out a few more seconds and deciding he had had enough, let him off the hook, "Relax, I am not going to tell him!"

"Promise?" he asked, feeling her shake her head.

"I promise, I won't tell him."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome but would it be so bad if he knows?"

Tony knew all Rhodey would do would be to tease him relentlessly, but that's what brothers did, or at least he thought that's what brothers did. He couldn't be one hundred percent sure since he didn't get to grow up with his older brother. Even so still he did have an idea from watching how his own children interacted with each other, along with how his nieces and nephews. The boys definitely loved to tease their sisters a lot. He knew from many hours of observation that Ethan teased Eva a lot. But by virtue of those same hours, he also knew his son loved his little sister like crazy, and would protect her in a second if he needed to. His kids were as close as he has imagined that he and his brother would have been if Steven hadn't-

Steven may have died before Tony could ever remember him but he knew he hadn't lost having a brother completely. Not when he had Rhodey and not when they'd always been thick as thieves since the day they'd met at MIT.

We have always been brothers, We always will be brothers, he thought.

"Yes, you will," Pepper softly declared, breaking into his thoughts.

"Hmm? W-what?"

"I'm just confirming what you said about how you will always be brothers with Jimmy."

"Did I say all that I was thinking out loud or something?"

"Well I don't know if you said all of what you were thinking out loud, but you did say that part about how you and Jim will always be brothers, and I just had to agree with you. So was that your answer to my question about would it being so bad?"

"I… uh suppose it was?"

She smiled at the uncertainty in his voice, and once more she let her husband swaet a little before she repeated herself , "Don't worry. I won't tell him if you don't want me to."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. So is there anyone else you don't mind them laughing at your expense just so you can hear them laugh?"

"I think after it being like pulling teeth to get you to promise not to tell Rhodey, honey, I think I am going to let you take a guess about who I may or may not mind laughing at my expense if it means I can hear them laughing."

"If I guess out loud, will you tell me if I am right?"

"I uh... guess I could?"

He sounded uncertain about doing this, probably because he didn't want to give them ammunition... or more likely, he didn't want them to know he was softer than they already believed him to be. Little did he know but they already knew he was actually softer than he decades long public reputation said he was. So she decided that she wouldn't ask him if any of the Avengers were in this particular group of his, even if she was sure that they were. Instead, she'd only ask him about the one other person who had known him longer than she had but not quite as long as Rhodey.

"Happy."

"What about him?"

"He's one of them, isn't he?"

While she waited for him to answer, Pepper could feel his fingers playing with her hair, betraying his nervousness. She nodded her head, and confirmed aloud, "Yes, I'm sure. I am not going to repeat this. So am I right? Is it Happy?"

He mumbled a single syllable answer to her question.

"What? What did you say?"

"Yes. I said yes, Happy."

Happy, so she was right.

"He's just serious all of the time you know?" Tony said, gesturing with his free hand, "He needs to loosen up sometimes and if it takes him laughing at me to get him to laugh... well I guess I can take one for the team."

"Yeah, you're right about Happy," she agreed, "He is too serious most of the time... when he's working."

"Which is always!"

"Yes, well if he's always working and serious, you do know it's because of us right?"

"Because of us?"

"Yes, because of us."

"Pep, how can it be because of us when we try to give Happy time off regularly and he doesn't take it?"

"Regularly, Tony?"

"Semi regularly?"

"Close but still no banana," Pepper chuckled.

"Okay, okay, if you're going to be so technical about every once and awhile. But either way, he still won't take us up on it. You know he doesn't."

"I know he doesn't but I think it's only because he's worried something will happen to one of us if he's not there to watch out for us. Maybe we could try harder to get him to take some days off?" The moment he said the words, Tony knew how ridiculous they were, and he laughed, "I know you don't have to tell me that it won't work. Happy's a bit too, as I've heard a certain someone say on the battle a few times, stubborn son of a gun to trust us with our own safety for a day."

"Son of a gun?" His wife inquired in an amused tone.

"Uh huh, and I know you can guess which one of us used that phrase!"

Yes, she could easily have guessed who used that phrase, and she didn't need to say her guess out loud as she knew that her husband knew who she'd say. Instead she replayed the their conversation in her head,and realized they were far off the path of the original subject they'd started out on. "You asked me what I think about us selling out of the company?"

"Mmm hmm, I believe that I did."

"So after we sell out, what did you have in mind? Were you thinking that we should take a super earlier retirement? Because if that's what you are thinking I might have some thoughts on the subject."

When he didn't say anything, she took it as her cue to go on, "Well, you know how ever since I left home to go to college."

"Yes?"

"Well, I uh think going into an early retirement might actually be a shock to my system. I've been going to work almost every day since I left home for college that I might not know what to do with myself if all of a sudden I don't have to go to work anymore."

"Uh honey, you don't have to work now. Look at who you're married to."

Pepper rolled her eyes, which of course he couldn't see, so she very lightly smacked him on his abdomen, laughing while she asserting, "I'm pretty sure you know what I meant!"

He made a show of rubbing the spot she'd struck but she hadn't been using much force, so she knew she hadn't hurt him, and besides that he was also laughing with her.

"Yeah, I know what you meant by that."

A minute or two passed while the two of them got their laughter out, and then they were both quiet for another minute or so. Finally, Pepper resumed what she'd been saying before he'd interrupted her with his joke.

"When I said I don't have to work, I didn't mean I didn't I have to work. I've known that for awhile now that I didn't have to actually work anymore to support myself like I did in college. Or like when I had just graduated and needed to pay off all of my student loans. Even before you decided to make me CEO, I didn't have a life or death need to work anymore."

She left unspoken the fact she knew he had always been more than generous with what he paid her. Even when she was just his personal assistant, she had made more than enough money to meet the payments on all of her bills every month, and then had plenty left in her bank account to live comfortably on.

"But I can't help but think that if we decide to sell out, I will be out of a job since I doubt the board will want me to stay around."

"Awww, you shouldn't underestimate yourself, Pep, or how much the board loves you!"

"Whether they love me or not, I don't think they are going to want me around running what will be their company once we sell out. I mean once we sell out, I will essentially become an outsider, and honestly, if you were them, would you want an outsider running your company?"

"Under normal circumstances I would say, not I wouldn't. But when the outsider is you, the answer should be a yes, without a second of doubt or any hesitation! Or at least that should be the case with anyone who has half a working brain!"

"Well thank you for the compliment and vote of confidence, dear, but I still don't think once we sell out they will want me staying on board at Stark Industries."

"So what if they don't?" Tony said, breaking the few seconds of silence between them, "And if they don't, it's like we've said, you don't need the job. If that's what happens, I hope we can take a little time off together for just us and the kids before we do something about it, And before you say anything let me say yes I think I have an idea in mind about what we could do if after awhile you decide you want to go back to work."

"Are you going to share the idea right now or am I going to have to wait until a later date to hear them?"

"I'd say you will have to wait to hear it later but if I do that-"

"You might forget what it is are in the meantime?"

"Knowing me, yeah, I probably would forget the idea by then."

"So, what is your idea?"

"It's a simple, yet brilliant one."

"Wanna share with the class, Professor Stark?"

"We start our own company."

"We start our own company?"

"Yes, we start our own company."

She sat up and looked at him, "You're being serious, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am because you're right when you said once we're out they aren't going to let us back in. Unless, of course, we buy our way back in. And I bet they would use the opportunity to make back the money they paid when they bought us out!"

"Oh, I'm sure they would! Wouldn't you?"

"Yes, I probably would, which is why I think us building our own company from the ground up will be the only option we have."

"Unless..." Pepper started, and paused a moment before suggesting, "I go work at another company that's already been established."

"Huh yeah, I guess you could do that... if you want to be bored."

"I wouldn't be bored!"

"Yes, you would!"

"No, I wouldn't not!"

"Yes, you would!"

"No, I would not be bored, Tony!"

"Yes, you would," he countered again, using his fingers to cover her lips when she parted them to argue with him, "You know you would be because if you go work for an already established company, you'd have to follow their rules, and their goals, and their way of doing things!"

"You do know that unlike someone who shall remain nameless, I don't have a problem following the rules." She heard her husband give a huff, and adding before he could verbally respond, "But that said, I suppose you're right. I would have to follow their rules and guidelines."

"Which sounds boooooooooooring!"

Pepper rolled her eyes, thinking about how much he sounded like their son just then.

"Besides the following their rules, you'd also have to follow their schedule. You wouldn't be able to make your own."

"Well you know that, even with our own company, making my own schedule would eventually become a moot point. I mean that's always been the case in the past. Because once have it off of the ground you know as well as I do that the scheduling will start to dictate itself."

He thought about what she had just said, and he had to admit that she was right. It always seemed that no matter how much his wife had tried to wrangle in her work schedule back into line, it always found a way to wrangle itself right back out of line from her

"Forget I said what I said about the schedule then."

"Okay."

"But unpredictable schedules aside, you know setting up a new company will be a challenge,. I know you love challenges, Pep. I mean you married me, so you must."