Peter walked into the compound expecting to see Tony but was surprised when he sees Pepper sitting in the common room with her tablet instead. She greeted him with a warm smile.
"Hey Pete, how are you? Don't bother lookaying for Tony in the lab, he's not here." Pepper said with a grin.
Peter joined her on the couch and gave her a warm hug.
"Hey Pepper I'm great. I hope you are as well with Tony, God knows" Peter said with a chuckle "Where is he then?" Peters tone changed to slightly worried.
"Currently in Wakanda, T'Challa, their king, contacted him earlier this week about some important matters; he should be back by tomorrow." Pepper said while rubbing his back comfortably.
"Oh okay, why didn't he tell me he was going then?" Peter said sounding hurt.
"I don't know Pete maybe he thought he was going to be back before you came over again so he didn't want to worry you." Pepper answered giving him a sad smile.
"Do you know what important matters they're discussing Pepper?" Peter asked bluntly.
"I know very little Pete" Pepper responded.
"Is it about Thanos?" Peter asked looking at Pepper straight in the eyes
"I believe so Pete." Pepper said giving him a weak smile.
"Why can't he realize that I fought Thanos too?" Peter said angrily.
"Pete trust me you and I both know he'll forget that." Pepper replied.
"Then why won't he allow me to be part of these meetings? He always do them when I'm not around. I'm not a baby, I'm 17 years old. I'm old enough to decide what I'm ready to hear." Peter said in annoyance.
"Pete it's not that he thinks you're a child. At the meetings, they were talking about all the details regarding Thanos which includes when he had seemed to have won. You obviously have your own scars from that day but Tony had to witness someone he thought of as his child plead for his life and him be helpless to stop it then being forced to watch you die then go months experiencing it over and over again even after they defeated Thanos. He doesn't want you in those meetings because you'll learn things that you will never be able to unlearn and they will haunt you and Tony doesn't want that for you." Pepper said with a shaky voice.
Peter did not know what Tony had to witness, it made him feel awful for being mad at him.
"I knew about the nightmares but I can't imagine what he had to suffer through." Peter said looking down.
"Pete he's fine when you're around him at the compound, that's the happiest I've ever seen him but when he talks about Thanos, I think he thinks it's the only time he's failed you, so you being in the meetings is also a reminder of that guilt." Pepper said rubbing Peter's back comfortably.
"He didn't fail me though, he brought me back." Peter said confused.
"Yes he did but it will never erase that memory from his mind and it will haunt him till the day he takes his last breath" Pepper said sighing.
"Yeah he's full of demons even though he doesn't need to be" Peter said sighing.
"Trust me I know" Pepper responded.
"Well Tony was talking to me about his nightmares but he never really went deep in. I guess I can see why."
"Pete getting Tony to open up is a hard thing so if you got him to tell you anything, you're already a miracle worker" Pepper said smiling at him.
"He's generally pretty open with me, just not about Thanos or any of that stuff but I get it now. I won't push it and will just be there when he's ready to talk. He's always there for me." Peter said with a smile.
"That's a great idea Pete and you know I'm always there for you too." Pepper gave him a warm smile.
"I know you are which is good as there are certain things I'd rather not talk with Tony, he'd never let me live it down." Peter said with a laugh.
"Oh are these things to do with a certain girlfriend?' Pepper said with a smirk.
"Maybe, see you're already doing better. Tony saw us kissing and asked me if I already had the sex talk" Peter said laughing.
"Oh my god of course he did." Pepper said laughing.
"Yeah I seriously can't believe Tony hasn't told you about that yet" Peter said with a grin.
"So what do you need help with MJ?" Pepper asked.
"Uhm we've been dating for a month and I want to do something special but I don't know what." Peter mentioned.
"Hmm do you cook?" Pepper asked.
"I'm okay at it, not as bad as Tony or May but I rarely cook anything" Peter answered.
"Cooking her a meal is more intimate than going out all the time and there's plenty of easy recipes you can learn before the date. I'll give you hand if you like" Pepper said with a smile bringing up recipes on her tablet before handing it to Peter.
"That's a great idea, thanks Pepper" Peter said looking at the tablet.
Peter looked for a little while and with Pepper's suggestion, he picked spaghetti and Pepper was going to show him how to make it later that night. Peter was about to close the screen when he noticed one of the last screens Pepper was on was showing baby cribs.
"Hey Pepper, why were you looking at baby cribs?" Peter asked showing her the tablet.
Pepper's face got red and she quickly grabbed the tablet from him.
"Uhm… Someone at SI had a baby so I was going to give a gift." Pepper said nervously.
Peter wasn't buying it at all "uhm who? Tony has mentioned a lot of the employees to me, at this point it's probably someone I know" Peter said with a grin.
"Uhm it was…." Pepper finally broke "It's for me, I'm Pregnant" she said sighing.
Peter's eyes lit up and he reached over and hugged her.
"Pepper congratulations, I bet Tony is thrilled" Peter said with a huge grin on his face.
"I haven't told him yet, I found out the day after he left." Pepper said.
"Well as soon as he gets back, tell him, I bet he'll be so excited." Peter said.
"I hope so" Pepper said sighing.
"Why wouldn't he? He loves you Pepper" Peter asked.
"Before the threat of Thanos, Tony kept telling me about dreams he had where I was pregnant and he kept wishing they were true and that we should have a kid and I laughed him off cause I thought it was crazy at that time, but once he got back he never even mentioned a kid again and if I mentioned that dream, it upsets him so I don't know, he may not want a kid anymore." Pepper said obviously upset.
"Pepper from what you told me, losing me obviously affected Tony. He probably thought he wouldn't make a good father so he didn't want to seek it out but the moment you tell him, he will be overjoyed and rise to the occasion like he always does. He did for me" Peter said with a smile.
Pepper wiped her eyes then smiled "Thanks Pete that's just what I needed to hear" she said giving Peter a kiss on the check.
"No problem Pepper" Peter said pulling her into a hug.
Not long later, Pepper was showing Peter how to make spaghetti when they heard the Elevator open, "Honey I'm Home" Tony said with a smirk.
"Hey Tony" Peter said greeting Tony with a hug.
"Hey kiddo what are you and the missus up to?" Tony asked amused and gladly accepting the hug.
"She's showing me how to cook spaghetti" Peter said smiling.
"I could have taught you that" Tony said pretending to look offended.
"I'd rather not have another fire" Pepper said from the stove.
Peter laughed and went over to finish while Pepper greeted Tony.
"I missed you" Pepper said pulling him into a hug and kissing him.
Peter made a gagging noise from the stove.
"Kid, just close your eyes then because I own the building" Tony said with a grin.
"Tony I have something important to tell you. Will you come with me?" Pepper asked.
"Peter it should be done now, just turn off the stove and put it on a different burner. We will be back in a minute." Pepper added.
"Okay got it Pepper" Peter said with a grin as he noticed Pepper leading Tony out of the room.
As they walked to their room Tony sensed Pepper's nervousness so once inside, he immediately asked, "Pep what's so important?"
"Tony you should probably sit when I tell you this" Pepper said nervously.
"Honey you're scaring me what is it?" Tony said staring into Pepper's eyes.
Pepper sighed, took a deep breath and spoke.
"I'm pregnant Tony, you're going to be a dad" Pepper said.
Tony just stared at her for a second before he broke into the biggest grin and went over and hugged and kissed her.
"Pep why were you scared to tell me? I'm so happy" Tony said
"I don't know, it's just that after everything, you didn't seem to have kids on your mind anymore so I thought you didn't want them anymore, I don't know but Peter made me realize I was being foolish." Pepper said.
"Of course he did" Tony said with a grin "but honey I'll do anything to keep you two safe" Tony said leaning down to kiss her stomach.
"I know you will" Pepper said kissing his cheek "come on Pete made dinner we need to see how he did" Pepper added laughing.
They started walking back to the kitchen as Tony spoke, "By the way Pep, I'm already a dad" Tony said pointing to the teen siting at the counter on his phone.
"Yes you are" Pepper replied with a chuckle.