SO, you guys are all, like, super awesome. That's all. Roll story.

Tony, Taylor, and Tyler were sitting outside the house, waiting for the firefighters to finish putting out the numerous small fires inside (with fire extinguishers, NOT water, at Taylor's insistence) when Pepper arrived. One of the things Tony loved about her was her tendency to not freak out. She was too analytical for that. Instead, she simply surveyed the scene, which looked somewhat like a disaster movie, and heaved a long sigh. It was a 'what did you do this time' sigh.

Tyler and Taylor began strategically positioning themselves far, far away from the awkwardness that was about to ensue.

"Tony?" Pepper asked, her tone icy enough to . The twins sent praise to every God that existed that she was blaming their father. They usually got away with a lot because of this very phenomenon. Every time their mom saw a catastrophe, she just assumed it was Tony's fault and ran with it.

Of course, their father immediately sold them out. "Those two little bastards started a fire!" he shouted, pointing frantically at the twins. Tyler was alarmed to realize that Taylor looked somewhat proud.

"What did I do?" Tyler whined, a teenager instantly regressing to a five-year-old. "It was all her!"

"Hey, I warned you what setting off the sprinklers would do."

"Before it was too late to do anything."

"I didn't know that!"

Pepper put her head in her hands for a long moment. Then she fished a container of Advil out of her purse (Tyler was not at all surprised that she had to keep one on her at all times) and popped two in her mouth. They all froze for a moment, waiting for her verdict on the situation.

"I don't care whose fault it is. Just fix it. Tony, I came here to tell you that tonight, there's going to be a Stark Industries gala, for the investors. You need to be there. You haven't been seen in public since the press conference when you shut down the weapons wing-"

"That was this morning!"

"-and stocks are falling dramatically. You need to restore faith in your company quick, or we'll both be jobless before the end of the month. You need to look professional, and not like you just escaped from terrotist captivity. You could start by taking a shower," Pepper said briskly, not even looking up from the thin StarkPad in her hand or pausing for breath once during her tirade.

"You'll be jobless and poor. I'll still be a billionaire," Tony complained.

"Wow, he's immature no matter how old he is," Taylor whispered to Tyler, who found himself snickering. Both of their parents jerked their heads around to stare at them. The situation really wouldn't have been that funny in normal circumstances, but these were far from normal circumstances. Both twins doubled over laughing. Pepper rose an eyebrow at Tony.

"What is that supposed to mean? Is that angry? Disapproving? Joking? C'mon, Pep, you have to give me more than just an eyebrow twitch."

"No, I don't. For the love of God, get yourselves cleaned up."

When Tyler and Taylor shot her questioning looks about her use of a plural, she just nodded. "Yes, you too. You two look like you were just dragged behind a garbage truck along a particularily sooty road."

"That hurts," Taylor complained quietly, but didn't dare to object too loudly. She didn't want to draw the full force of her mother's anger down onto her.

A fireman strode up to the small group. "Mr. Stark, I believe we've managed to extinguish all of the fires scattered throughout your home. I have to say, I've never seen such a random arrangement of fires before. We found one in the garage. Anyways, the sofa is destroyed as well as a few chairs, one of your cars has some scorch marks, and none of the lights will turn on, but other than that, there's no major damage."

Tony groaned loudly. "Do I at least have running water?"

The fireman hesitated a moment. "I don't know, sir. When we were instructed not to use water, we decided not to test it. We weren't sure exactly what the consequenses might be."

"That was probably smart," Taylor said, examining her fingernails. "Any water in the pipes right now is electrified. You're gonna want to run it for a while before taking that shower."

Pepper just sighed. "I don't care if you bathe in the ocean. Just get clean, okay? I have to go. I have another one of your meetings at," she paused for a moment to check her watch, "-five minutes ago. You're welcome, by the way, for not dragging you along with me like a disobedient puppy."

She turned sharply on her heel and stalked back to the limo she had driven up in. Tyler guessed it was on permanent loan from Tony. That was an impressive display of trust from him, considering that they weren't even dating yet. Were they? Tyler had just confused himself. Time travel screwed with his brain, which was slightly impressive considering that he had an entirely different level of reasoning then the rest of the human race. He wondered what it was like for Taylor.

"So, Pepper said we should bathe in the ocean. That sounds good to me," Taylor said absentmindedly.

Tony grinned enthusiastically. "All right! Swimming!"

Tyler sighed. "I know you're a genius, Dad, but sometimes I feel like I'm the only one here with half a brain. Is the arc reactor even waterproof at this point in time?"

Tony flinched. Memories of his head being plunged into scummy water, over and over again until he was soaked, flashed through his mind. "...yeah. Yeah, it's waterproof."

"Would you even have some swimsuits that fit us?"

"Actually, Pepper and I have some that we outgrew a while ago. Those would probably fit you. Hey, fire dude, is it safe to go back in yet?"

The firefighter looked surprised at being addressed as such, but nodded wordlessly before returning to a quiet conversation with some of his coworkers. Taylor and Tony practically ran inside, while Tyler followed more carefully, already trying to think of ways that this could go wrong.

By the time he thought of one, they were already down at the beach. Tyler was rinsing all of the soot from the fire off of himself, and Tony was apparently testing whether of not the arc reactor really was waterproof. Taylor had just finished changing, and was about to enter the water.

Tyler's eyes went wide.

Taylor's foot touched the water and a radius of lightning covered the bay.

Sorry for the cliffie. I decided that this was a good place to end it (the chapter, not the story. The story still has a long, long, long way to go).

I had fun writing Pepper in this chapter! Coulson should show up soon, don't worry. And Natasha's got her undercover job coming up!

:)