Another chapter for you all! I hope this helps you heal. Writing seems to help me.

Chapter Two

Pepper felt guilty leaving her daughter behind when she had just gotten back from school and with it being her birthday and all but Morgan was right. She had been alone for a very long time. It was easy enough for her to make excuses not to get out when she was alone but Morgan wouldn't stand for them. Morgan was the one pressing her to get out and enjoy life. Her daughter wasn't wrong. Staying holed up in her house longing for the one thing she couldn't have wasn't good for her mental health so she forced herself out of her comfort zone. Mostly she did it for Morgan. Not that she didn't enjoy getting to know other people. Most of the guys she went on dates with were your fun, normal, every day guy. Most of them were even easy to talk to but she always found she could never go on more than one date with them. When they tried to set up another meet-up, Pepper never called them back. She just couldn't bring herself to do it. That was until Mark came along.

There was something about him that made her pick up the phone and call him back. Most likely because he didn't push her. He didn't try to get her to go back to his room with him on the first date. He didn't even try to kiss her until the end of the second date and that was a gentle kiss on the cheek. So when he suggested they go out clubbing for their third date, Pepper thought, what the hell? It had been years since she had ever stepped foot in a club but for some strange reason, it actually sounded like a good time. Plus it would make for a good story to tell Morgan since her daughter had called her a "party pooper" many times over.

Even though Pepper was now in her fifties, she didn't look it and she certainly didn't feel it. When she failed to go through menopause like most women her age she started thinking something was wrong with her. All of the doctors she saw said nothing was wrong. It didn't stop her from freaking out until Bruce pointed out it likely had to do with the fact she had the Extremis virus injected into her. While it was no longer running through her veins, it likely permanently altered her DNA, making her appear and feel younger. Well, if that's all it did to her in the long run and she wasn't in danger of setting things on fire or exploding into a giant fireball, then Pepper was all for that. After all, having an over-abundance of energy had come in handy while raising Morgan.

So she allowed Mark to drag her to an upscale club. They had danced for a couple of hours and Pepper had actually felt great. It was fun to finally let loose. Pepper had a few drinks too many and when he offered to take her back to his hotel room, she agreed. When they got back to his room, he asked her to join him in the shower but she politely refused.

And now as she nervously paced the floor, waiting for her turn to shower, goosebumps formed on her overheated skin. All efforts to rub them away failed because as the effects of the alcohol began to wane, she remembered the last time she shared a shower with a man...Tony. He would complain about how hot she liked the water, rambling on and on about how she was going to have to drive him to the hospital for third-degree burns, only settling down when she leaned forward and kissed the words right out of his mouth. She could still feel his big calloused hands on her skin, his soft lips on her neck, hear the way he whispered her name, like it was the most precious thing to him in the world...Pepper heavily plopped down on the edge of the bed as she ran her fingers through her sweaty hair, trying to undo the tangles. Dammit. What was she doing here? Who was she even fooling? She couldn't go through with this. She liked Mark. She really did. He was a good guy. He really was but he wasn't Tony. No one was.

As she was reaching for her purse, the sound of glass shattering made her yelp and leap to her feet. Her eyes focused in the direction of the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony, hands up in defense, ready for a fight. She was glad Natasha had taught her a thing or two about self-defense all of those years back because of course she couldn't just have a normal night like a normal person. It just wasn't in her cards. Of course some kind of villain would try and ruin her night.

Her hands fell to her sides and her mouth dropped open in shock as into the room strode the last person she was expecting, her daughter Morgan decked out in her Rescue armor.

As the helmet of the suit retracted exposing her face, there was a frown on her lips as she stared at her right hand, opening and closing it several times."Oh crap. I didn't mean to do that. These replusors can be tricky. I was just trying to open the door. I swear. I don't even know how that happened."

Morgan was here. In her hotel room. She hadn't driven here. No. She had flown here. In the Rescue suit Tony had made her for an anniversary present and she had blown her way inside. It was such a Stark move. Pepper didn't even know where to begin. All she knew was that her shock was quickly fading, morphing into something else entirely. Anger. Her hands became tight fists at her sides. She could feel her cheeks heating up as her temper flared to life. "Morgan."

"Hi?" Morgan's voice was innocent as if she honestly didn't know why her mother would be using that tone with her. And then she turned up the charm, casting her giant brown eyes on her, blinking innocently. Oh no. She was not going to try and use the puppy dog eyes on her right now. She was grounded. She was grounded for the rest of her life.

Pepper pointed a scolding finger in Morgan's face. "Don't you dare, 'hi' me, Morgan H. Stark. What in the hell are you doing here? Did you hack my suit again?"

Morgan cocked a single dark brow at her. "Mom, nobody says hack anymore."

It was such a Tony thing for her to say that Pepper was speechless for several long seconds as she tried to figure out what to do next. Of all of the possible scenarios on how she thought the night would go, this was definitely not one of them. "I don't know what you think you are doing coming here but you have absolutely no right showing up like this. I hope you have a logical explanation."

Morgan nodded. "Oh, I do! It's dad. He's alive."

Pepper sucked in a dismayed breath as she found herself back on the battlefield at the Avengers Compound where Tony took his last breath, trying desperately to hold herself together when it felt like every atom of her was being violently ripped apart. After telling him it was okay for him to rest, that they would be okay, it was then she finally broke down, allowing the tears to come as she held him. She didn't need the fading of the arc reactor on his chest to tell her he was gone. She felt it herself. A part of her died that day. She clutched his lifeless body in her arms, sobbing into his chest until she was eventually pulled away by someone. She didn't even know who it had been. All she knew was that she had lashed out at them, striking them over and over again as she screamed at them that they couldn't take Tony away from her, no one could take him away...

As the hotel room came back into focus and she saw Morgan looking at her with concern, she blinked, trying to hold back her tears but failing miserably. Why was she doing this to her? Morgan knew how much Tony meant to her. But he was gone. He was never coming back. If she didn't want her to move on with someone, why had she practically pushed her out the door earlier? Pepper's chest constricted until it hurt for her to breath and she turned away from her daughter, motioning at her to leave her alone. "Don't. Don't you dare."

"But mom, I..."

Pepper spun back to face her daughter, tears of hurt shimmering in her eyes. She didn't know what her motive was for doing this but she would deal with it later. "I need you to go home now."

But Morgan didn't leave. What she did was grab Pepper's cell phone that was sitting on the end table next to the bed and turned it on, dialing a number. "He is. I'll prove it to you."

"What in the hell is going on?" Pepper jumped out of her skin at the booming male voice. Mark had appeared in the room wearing nothing but a towel, his dark long hair dripping in rivets down his chest, and Pepper had to admit, he did have nice abs. His green eyes were wide in shock as he tried to assess the situation. "Virginia, are you okay? Who the hell this that?"

Morgan didn't seem phased at all. "I'm Morgan. Her daughter."

Mark motioned to the mess on the floor and then toward the curtains flapping in the gentle breeze. "Did you break the sliding glass door? Why couldn't you just knock like a normal person?"

When Morgan let out a high-pitched giggle, Pepper shot her a warning glare that made her stop and take a breath. "I'm a Stark. Normal is not our thing."

This night was going south fast. Pepper had to try and fix it before things got any worse and Mark decided to call the cops on her daughter. She walked over to him and put a steady hand on his shoulder, drawing his infuriated gaze. "Mark, I am so so sorry. I will pay for the door and she was just leaving." She turned to face her daughter, crossing her arms firmly over her chest. "Weren't you, Morgan?"

Morgan furrowed her brows as she lifted her chin in defiance. "No, actually I just got here." Then she directed her attention to the phone and shouted, "Pick up!" into it before shaking it violently.

Once Pepper was sure Mark wasn't going to dial the police, she focused in on trying to calm her agitated daughter. Maybe Rhodey was right. Maybe she should have taken Morgan to a therapist to talk about her feelings. She had assumed that talking to her was enough but what if it wasn't? Maybe all of this was her fault. "Morgan, I'm going to need you to listen to me for once and go home. Can you do that? Please? Just go home."

"Maguna, are you giving your mother a hard time?"

Pepper gasped at the familiar voice coming out of the phone or rather she tried to but no sound came out.

"Pep? Baby, are you there?"

"Tony?" When she finally was able to speak, her voice did not sound like her own.

"The one and only. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, but I'm back, baby. I'm back and I'm never leaving you ever again."

It was Tony's voice. Her Tony. Suddenly she found she couldn't catch her breath. Black spots danced in front of her eyes as her knees began to give out. Morgan's hands shooting out to try and grab her was the last thing she remembered seeing before everything went black.

When she finally jerked awake, completely disoriented and unaware of her surroundings, she flailed around helplessly as she tried to remember. Where was she? What happened? Something wasn't right. Gentle hands on her shoulders tried to hold her down.

"Whoa. Mom, relax. Don't worry. You are safe at home. After you passed out, I flew you back here. Take a second and breathe. Just breathe."

Pepper obeyed, pulling deep breathes into her lungs and out through her nose. She focused in on her daughter's worried face before taking a good look around. Sure enough, they were back at the house and in a place she hadn't been in in years. "Why are we in your father's workshop? Didn't I tell you it was off limits?"

Morgan grinned at her sheepishly and shrugged. "You did. Many different times over. But I didn't listen. Did you really expect me to? I mean, Tony Stark is my dad after all."

Pepper shuddered out a sigh as she sat up. Morgan did have a point. Gotta love that Stark stubbornness. Then she remembered what had made her pass out in the first place. The phone call. "How did you do that back there at the hotel?" From the confused expression on Morgan's face, she didn't know what she was talking about. "That trick you did with the phone call. How did you make it sound like I was talking to your father?"

It was Morgan's turn to be shocked. "You-you actually think I tricked you? Why in the hell would I do something like that?"

Pepper flew to her feet, completely unable to stop herself from gesturing around wildly, something Tony used to do when he was worked up. "I don't know, Morgan! I don't know, okay? All I know is your father is dead. I was there when he died. I promised him we would be okay. I promised him but I'm not okay, okay? I'm not okay and you obviously aren't okay so I lied. I am a liar. I lied to your dying father. What does that make me?"

Morgan's face softened, her arm reaching out to try and touch her. "Mom."

But Pepper pulled back from her daughter as she continued to pace in front of the couch. "It makes me a terrible person. That's what. It makes me. I tried to do my best raising you on my own, Morgan. I swear I did. I know I messed up a lot along the way but I tried my hardest and my hardest wasn't good enough because it is obvious you are hurting. I'm hurting too." Pepper took a deep breath and forced herself to keep speaking, "I was actually about to leave when you showed up. I was just gathering my things to come back here."

Morgan cocked her head to the side, making her come off as a confused puppy. "Why? I thought you liked him."

"I do but..."

Morgan raised her brows, urging her on. "But?"

"I'm still in love with your father, okay?" All of the air seemed to leave her lungs at her admission. And there it was. The crux of the problem. "I know. I know he is gone and he is never coming back, but it doesn't matter. I'm not over him. I will never be over him. I will never love anyone else. He is it for me. I can't accept that he's gone."

"Well, that's good to hear because quite frankly, I can't leave the house and if you didn't love me, things were about to get really weird."

Pepper's eyes widened as she slowly turned around until she was facing the direction the voice was coming from and there, standing not more than two feet away was her dead husband, Tony Stark. She could have sworn her heart stopped beating. Or maybe it finally started beating again after all of those years. He looked exactly like she remembered. His deep brown eyes were shining with so much love they could barely contain it as he grinned at her. He was wearing his favorite Black Sabbath shirt, a pair of ripped blue jeans and his old scuffed work boots.

"Hey, Pep."

Hearing him repeat the last words he had ever said to her made her knees buckle for the second time that day. Morgan only barely managed to guide her back to the couch before she collapsed under the weight of what was happening. It was Tony. Tony was actually here right now. But how? How could this all be happening?

Morgan let out a small growl of disbelief. She rolled her eyes at her father and plopped down next to Pepper. "Really, dad? Like you couldn't have waited until she actually sat back down?"

Pepper was now clutching Morgan's arm too tightly but she couldn't bring herself to loosen her grip. "Tony." It was hard to talk around the giant lump that had formed in her throat. "Tony is that really you?"

He smiled that apologetic smile of his that she knew so well as he approached her. "Yeah, baby. It's really me."

"How?" Tears were rolling down her cheeks but she didn't even try to brush them away.

"I managed to upload my consciousness from my body before it shutdown completely and then Morgan here," he motioned toward their daughter, "downloaded it into this computer so here I am."

With a shaking hand, Pepper reached out, longing to touch him after all of this time but her hand went right through him. She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from whimpering.

"Yeah, I don't actually have a physical body but hey, this is better than nothing right?" He spread his arms out in front of himself before turning slowly in a circle and even through her tears, Pepper couldn't help but ogle him a little.

Pepper sniffed. "Well, at least you can't grab my ass at random times when I'm bending over and scare the shit out of me."

Tony snickered. "Oh, come on. You love it when I grab your ass. You told me so."

Morgan cleared her throat to remind them that she was still in the room and clearly not okay with where the subject matter was going. She pried Pepper's fingers from her arm and practically threw herself toward the door, trying her hardest to escape before they said too much. "Yeah, so...I'm just gonna let you two talk for a bit and then I'll catch up with you later. Okay, dad?" Morgan didn't even wait for a reply before disappearing and shutting the door.

"She sure is something else. Isn't she?"

"She sure is," Pepper agreed, still not quite able to believe all of this was really happening. "When she showed up earlier in my suit after blasting her way into my hotel room, I was about ready to ground her but now it makes sense why she was acting the way she was."

"You mean besides her being my offspring?"

Even though Tony's words were playful, the guilt of knowing what she had been about to do with Mark before Morgan showed up made her stomach lurch violently. "Tony, I..."

When Tony appeared right next to her on the couch, she wanted to lean into him so badly, wanted him to put his arms around her and pull her close. But he couldn't. He put a finger up in front of her lips, and Pepper only barely resisted kissing it. He seemed so real. So solid. It hurt that she wasn't able to touch him. "Don't you dare apologize, Pep. You have nothing to apologize for."

Even that being the case, Pepper felt guilty. She had almost slept with someone else. The stinging behind her eyes was starting again. "Nothing happened, Tony. I swear."

"Pepper. Don't. Please. Stop punishing yourself."

Pepper sucked in a breath before biting down on her bottom lip to stop it from trembling. "It's all my fault. I'm the one who kept Morgan out of here. It's my fault we were separated all of those years. It's my fault Morgan grew up without a father. I was only trying to protect her but I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have tried to keep her out of here. This was your life, our life. Dammit, Anthony Stark. Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"I wasn't for sure it would work and I didn't want you to count on me always being there for you and it's not your fault, Pep. It's mine. I'm the one who chose not to tell you about this. Please stop blaming yourself for things that can't be changed and just be here in this moment with me. Can you do that?"

Pepper wiped her tears on her sleeve and as she gazed into her husband's hopeful eyes, she suddenly knew for a fact that everything was going to be okay. It was then her heart began to heal. Just a little bit. She nodded at him, grinning from ear to ear as she realized she would never be alone again. "That I can do. So will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

His eyes sparkled mischievously causing her stomach to flutter. "Far from it, Mrs. Stark. We have only just begun."