The First Time

by MyCedarChest

Life is full of meeting people for the first time, and we all know that first impressions do tend to steer the course for future relationships.

8. Chapter 8

Most of the characters in this story belong to Marvel Comics and whoever else has current legal ownership of Iron Man at the moment. No infringement on any corporate, business, or individual's rights is intended in any way. This story is not being written for profit, just for enjoyment.

Author's Notes: With work severely limiting the time I can spend writing for FFN, your reviews have become the primary source of motivation for me to continue writing fanfics for Iron Man. So hit me up with a review or two or three! Thanks!

A Family First

Pepper sat around a huge table elbow to elbow with 4 cousins, 3 second cousins, four aunts, three great aunts, her sister-in-law, her mom and her Oma. She was seated directly between her Great Aunt Betsy and her grandmother Charlotte. It was the first time they had declared "Woman Time" since their annual family reunion had started late yesterday afternoon after they had all arrived at the resort. "Woman Time" had become part of all of their reunions in order to give the adult women of the family some alone time to talk and catch up on the family business that was not necessarily for the ears of the men or the children of the family.

This reunion was also the first time she had brought Tony with her so he could meet her family. Because of the absolute chaos that had ruled her life for the past two years, she herself had missed out on the last two reunions, so she was very happy to be here with her relatives at a small resort on one of the less populated islands of the Florida Keys. The table they were all seated at was located on a shaded deck overlooking their resort's private beach. They were all talking amongst themselves enjoying the cool sea breeze and some ice cold lemonade.

"It just seems so odd" Charlotte, Pepper's grand mom also known to Pepper as 'Oma' said loudly looking around at the group of females immediately capturing the group's attention. "that our family seems to be the only ones here now at the resort. I counted at least 10 vacant suites this morning.

Her Oma could smell a cover-up a mile away and she turned to stare pointedly at Pepper. Within seconds everyone at the table turned to stare inquisitively at Pepper. "Oma." she said flatly looking directly at her grand mom who was now smiling broadly knowing that she had just solved the mystery of the suddenly vacant rooms.

"Yes, Oma." Pepper answered slowly looking around at her relatives in turn. "You wouldn't let us pay for our room, so Tony and I bought out every other room here so we could have at least a little privacy for the family as well as space for our security folks. Tony and I are quite tired of life in the public's eye at the moment. We just didn't want another guest here spoiling our family reunion by Instagraming or You Tubing us into the news again."

Oma's face suddenly fell and she quickly grabbed Pepper's right hand squeezing it tenderly "I'm sorry, baby girl." Oma said softly as Pepper squeezed her hand back in acceptance. "I know you and Tony have had a rough time here lately and you need some space and time of your own."

Pepper sighed deeply, but managed a small smile back at her Oma. "The last couple of years definitely seemed to have had more 'downs' than 'ups' for the two of us, but we're going to be OK." she replied simply, not wanting to burden her family with the more ugly realities of her life since Tony had been kidnapped and held captive in that cave in Afghanistan.

"But now all the bad is behind you" her Oma started, smiling brightly at her as she continued "and there's nothing but good times ahead for the two of you." She reaffirmed making Pepper smile now at her enthusiasm "Take a look around you at your family, hun….the good times are right here, right now."

Pepper's relatives responded immediately with a loud mixture of words of encouragement, clapping, and cheers. Pepper pulled her grand mom into her arms and hugged her fiercely. "Thanks Oma!" she whispered into her ear as her grand mom hugged her back with equal feeling.

They were suddenly interrupted by loud cheers from the beach. Tony had been teaching Pepper's nephews and about 9 of her younger 2nd cousins how to surf. Pepper's nephews had come up with the idea yesterday that they all needed to learn how to surf while they were here on vacation. Tony had picked up on the idea and had subsequently walked into a local surf shop this morning with lots of cash and managed to rent out the surf shop's entire supply of rental boards. The surf shop had delightedly delivered the rental boards to the resort at no charge.

Pepper had been steeling looks at Tony earlier before "Woman Time" not wanting to distract him, and she was so happy to see that Tony was really enjoying himself with the kids. And the kids were obviously enjoying being with Tony. Tony was a good surfer and over the years had managed to even teach Pepper, who considered herself an above average surfer a few advanced techniques and skills. Tony was also actually quite patient when it came to most children. Pepper always teased him that the reason for his good communications skills with children was due to the fact that he was in fact part Peter Pan, forever refusing to grow up. And he definitely seemed to be in his element at the moment as he patiently taught the kids the basics of surfing. The water conditions were absolutely perfect this morning and every one of them appeared to be having a great time. Tony had already gotten over half of the group up on a least one wave and the rest appeared to be catching on and catching up quickly.

Tony had shaved off his goatee and had let his hair grow out for their trip, believing that he wouldn't attract the press as much when they were out in public. His plan seemed to be working because no one at the surf shop had recognized him this morning. And Pepper definitely liked his 'new' look. Shaving off the goatee had helped remove the years that being Iron Man had added to his appearance. He looked his age now. And aside from the 'fountain of youth' treatment, Pepper had always liked him with longer hair. She blushed slightly at the memory of last night just after dinner as they took a walk together alone down the beach when she told him just how much she liked his new look. He had immediately turned them around and quickly led her by the hand to their private room, barely getting them through the door of their suite before he began taking her clothes off. They had made passionate love for hours after that well into the night almost making them late for breakfast this morning. As it was they had been teased good naturedly by some of her relatives when they sat down quite late for breakfast.

Her mind once again focusing on the present, Pepper suddenly noticed what the cheering was all about as she watched Eddie walk up to Tony. Her Opa Eddie had apparently decided that he was going to let Tony teach him how to surf. Pepper quickly raised her hand and pointed to the beach group excitedly. "Look everyone!" she said with a laugh "Opa is going to learn how to surf!"

Never the one to be outdone, especially by her husband of 52 years, Charlotte announced to their group. "Well if that old fart can learn to surf, then I can too!"

One of Pepper's first cousins, Beth proudly announced. "I hereby proclaim the first challenge of our family's 38th year reunion!"

The women all cheered. It had been a long standing tradition at their family reunions that everyone there would accept a challenge sometime during the reunion, either from another family member or from themselves. The whole idea was that each year you would somehow better yourself by using the family peer group pressure to do something positive for yourself or for others. And although her Oma would probably not ever win any trophies at surfing, it would do her good to get in the water and just enjoy learning a new skill.

"Does that man of yours give private surfing lessons?" Oma asked Pepper quietly, her face falling slightly. "I don't want a crowd of nay-sayers watching me when I learn how."

"I'm sure that Tony will do that for you, Oma." Pepper whispered back to her reassuringly as the group continued to watch as Tony began to teach the basics of surfing to her Opa with the surfboard planted firmly in the sand. As her Opa stood up on the board from a kneeling position, Pepper noted that Tony had quickly leaned over in order to help her grand dad stand up. Pepper knew that learning to surf was definitely going to be physically taxing for both her Opa and her Oma. For all of her bravado, her Oma had always been just a little self conscious and so Pepper understood her request for private surfing lessons.

Pepper's great Aunt and Charlotte's sister, Betsy chimed in immediately. "Sign me up for private surfing lessons too!" she said with a good natured chuckle. "Not trying to horn in on you, Pepper, but if learning to surf will get Iron Man's hands on me, then I'm in!"

All the women starting laughing at Betsy and Pepper shot her a knowing glance. Betsy was two years older than Charlotte and her husband had passed away over 10 years ago. Charlotte had been constantly nagging her to get out on the dating scene again, but Betsy had steadfastly refused. Her Aunti Betsy was even more outgoing and outrageous than Charlotte, as impossible though it seemed given Charlotte's own 'over the top' personality. "I'll see what I can do for you, Aunti Betsy." Pepper replied with a huge smile.

"And if you ever do get tired of that gorgeous man, just let me know." Betsy replied with a knowing wink at Pepper.

"Betsy Lynn" Charlotte began to scold her sister "don't you hold your breath now. Have you seen the way those two look at each other? Theirs is a lifetime kind of love. I know my grand daughter will never tire of that man!"

Pepper smiled broadly at both of them and nodded her head in agreement as the younger women began to talk excitedly amongst themselves.

"Great Grandma," Karen, one of Pepper's second cousins and a professional photographer, spoke up loudly above the din of the group, looking at Betsy "please tell us the story again about how you and great Grandpa got married"

It was a tradition at 'Woman Time' that the older women in the family would tell stories of their sometimes misspent youth always seeming to come up with a good moral to their sometimes outrageous stories.

Great Aunt Betsy dramatically took a deep breath as everyone grew quiet around the table "Well you see, there was this Elvis concert in Phoenix in 1956…" Betsy began.

Pepper had heard this particular story at least two dozen times and the story was still highly entertaining, but Pepper still found herself drifting off in thought as her Great Aunt continued to tell her tale of unconventional romance. So much had happened to her since that faithful night in Florida on board the tanker just before Christmas that she still found herself stopping at various times of the day to just stare blankly ahead of her, lost in one of her horror-filled memories

As she focused on her Aunti Betsy once more, she firmly tamped down one of the bad memories threatening to over take her mind again, sending Pepper immediately into silent meditation. Tony had enlisted Bruce's help in his Extremis 'fix' for her after they had been picked up from the tanker in Florida by SI chopper and flown to Stark Tower in New York. Unfortunately, this fix wasn't really a cure for the virus but an engineered biological governor on her metabolism which prevented her from overloading her body and turning into a human bomb. Bruce theorized that Killian didn't have the time to complete all the Extremis injections on Pepper before Tony and Rhody showed up. Killian's aborted 'treatment' of her had not only left her with a hope of a treatment or cure, but it also thankfully left her without the super soldier/hopped up on steroids personality. Both Bruce and Tony had continued to work on finding a true cure for the virus still living within her. Bruce had also been able to use his research on her infection to further his research on his own condition, for which Pepper had been grateful to see some good come out of her predicament. But his medical help aside, Bruce had also offered to teach her how to control her own emotions by using his own unique form of meditation and emotion control techniques. So in obvious illustration to just how much her life had really changed since being injected with the Extremis virus, she now found herself with the 'Hulk' in Stark Tower, generally early each evening, attending Bruce's own home-grown anger management classes. And she was firmly convinced and very grateful that these self-control sessions with Bruce had allowed her the ability to gain control of her flashbacks just as she was doing right now.

She heaved a huge sigh of relief and quickly glanced down at the beach watching as Tony continued to work with her Opa, now getting him on the surfboard in the water. Even though Tony wore a surf shirt, her eyes were automatically drawn to his chest as she scanned him for solidity as was her habit since his heart surgery. She thought back to just how much Tony had gone through physically since she had been infected with the Extremis virus. He had decided to 'clean slate' himself by having his arc reactor removed by Doctor Wu, but only after he was satisfied that her medical condition was now stable enough for him to have the delicate surgery without worrying about her own health. He had given her the right to have final approval for his operation, and after much thought and deliberation, she had agreed to talk to Dr. Wu before finally making her decision. She had been convinced by the Doctor to let Tony have the surgery. She knew just how much Tony wanted to physically separate himself from his own technology and symbolically start his life all over again. Tony had insisted that Rhody be there with her during his surgery and she had been grateful to have Jimmy with her before, during, and after the surgery for both physical and moral support. As it was, she had nearly panicked just as he went into surgery and Rhody had calmly talked her out of her stopping the surgery before it had even started.

Tony had recovered from the surgery well, and several skin grafts and bone implants later, he had been enjoying a normalcy with his own body that she had also begun to share with him. She had grown so accustomed to the blue glow from his chest as an indicator to her that he was physically OK, that it took her some time to adjust to the absence of her 'night light'. She had panicked on more than one occasion upon waking next to him and not seeing the blue light of the arc reactor. She began to sleep with her right hand over his heart so that she would be able to feel that he was alive and well anytime she awoke during the night. Six weeks after his final graft, Dr. Wu released Tony from his care, the Doctor being very happy and satisfied with Tony's full recovery. She found herself suddenly lost in the memory of their last trip to Beijing.

She and Tony had gone to dinner in Beijing to celebrate being released by Dr. Wu, and Tony had of course arranged for their privacy at the restaurant by renting out a private banquet room with a separate entrance from the main restaurant in order to avoid the press. After dinner he had insisted that the two of them go out on the restaurant's balcony to enjoy the spectacular view of Beijing at night.

As she leaned onto the railing and relished the cool breeze and the beautiful night view of the city, she felt Tony's hands grip her shoulders lightly, turning her slightly away from the railing.

She had known the man for so long that she could tell that he had been keeping something from her all evening. She also knew instinctively that he was now about to reveal his secret to her.

"Pepper" he said his voice low and serious as he began to drape what appeared to be a necklace around her neck. "I wanted you to have this." He continued and she pulled her hair out of the way as he fastened the necklace at the back of her neck.

She looked down and saw a huge heart shaped ruby with a solitary diamond at the end of the necklace. She also noticed the odd shaped pieces of metal attached along the delicately woven silver chain and was puzzled for only a second as to the origin of those pieces of metal. The realization of what he was giving her hit her almost immediately as she slowly turned to face him and his hands moved down to her hips helping her turn around and into him. He turned his head back to her as they locked eyes for a few seconds and she knew that this silence between them spoke volumes as she suddenly realized that he had symbolically just given his heart to her. She reached up with her right hand to stroke his left cheek tenderly. She watched him look down at the necklace solemnly, then close his eyes heaving a huge contented sigh. She closed her eyes as well and she leaned forward to gently touch foreheads with him. They stood like that for a long time as their arms slowly encircled one another in a loving hug.

"Even though my heart is fixed now and I no longer need the arc reactor, my heart will never be completely whole again without you and your love, Pepper. I love you." He said quietly gently pulling her even closer to him.

She squeezed him back tenderly. "I love you too, Tony." She whispered to him solemnly. She then felt him pull back from her slightly and she opened her eyes to find him staring at her intently.

"Let's go back to the hotel." He said half pleading half insisting.

"But we haven't had dessert yet." She teased him as she released her hold on him and he reached down to take her left hand in his, pressing a soft kiss to the back of her hand.

"I fully intend to serve you dessert in bed, babe ….but later." He teased back tugging on her hand gently, imploring her to return to their table. "Let's go….please."

She had of course given up on finishing their meal, knowing that Tony's persistence and persuasive techniques would eventually win out. So they had returned to their hotel room, their ride in the back of the limo filled with passionate kisses and caresses. And it had been a major struggle for her not to give into temptation and let Tony have his way with her during the private elevator ride up to their suite. In an almost comical show of impatience, he took her hand in his and rushed her down the hall once the elevator had stopped on their floor. Tony had opened the door for her allowing her to enter their suite first, and then quickly closed the door to their suite with a kick of his foot as he picked her up bridal style. He then walked hurriedly over to their bed, carefully laying her down, and as he stood over her, his dark eyes revealing his immediate intents for her. This was to be their first time making love since they had made love in the shower the night before their Malibu mansion was destroyed. They had agreed to wait until both of them had recovered sufficiently out of concerns for the other's health. Both of them were definitely quite eager now for not only the physical release, but the emotional intimacy that their lovemaking always brought them.

True to his word, Tony had fed her a wonderfully decadent dessert in bed later that night, as well as breakfast in their bed late the next morning. She had meetings with SI's regional directors late in the afternoon, and they fell quickly back into their roles as SI's CEO and CTO. Pepper had worn the necklace that Tony had given to her to the meeting and she had fielded many compliments as well as questions about it.

They had flown home that evening. The late night/morning had finally caught up to them, and they spent most of trip back to New York asleep in each others arms.

They fell back into their SI routines after they returned from Beijing, but every day they worked hard at making more time for each other. She and Tony planned their every day schedule so they were able to work out together every evening and slowly both their bodies, as well as their minds began to mend.

An unexpected 'benefit' of the Extremis virus went well beyond healing the injuries she had suffered on the tanker when she fell into the fire. After the many medical exams using both x-rays and sonograms, they discovered that her body was now free of even her pre-Extremis defects. She had now grown a set of very healthy tonsils which had originally been removed when she was eight years old, the various scars on her body from various injuries over the years had disappeared completely; the broken arm and leg she had suffered as a teenager were totally fused to the point at which they were no longer even visible on x-ray, and her endometriosis had been completely eradicated. For her the most annoying physical side effect of the Extremis was that all of her body piercing holes had healed closed which prevented her from wearing her favorite posted earrings. She had to finally give up on ever getting her ears pierced again when she realized that within seconds after getting her ears pierced for the fourth time within five minutes, the holes had healed closed before she could even insert the post.

Fifteen minutes had gone by before Betsy had finished her story. Without exception all of them were literally holding their stomachs and in tears, because they had all laughed so hard at her outrageous, but true story. Even though she had heard this particular story many times, it was a really funny one. Pepper too had laughed so hard that she was really glad that she had refused that second glass of lemonade, knowing her bladder would not have stood up to the strain.

"Cousin Pepper" Rachel, one of Pepper's younger second cousins who had recovered her breath before everyone else suddenly piped up "Can you tell us about you and Tony, please."

Pepper looked across the table to find everyone now staring intently at her, all of them silently waiting on her answer. She knew that all of her family were very curious about her and Tony's lives, but out of respect for them had never asked them any personal questions because they all knew the stress each of them had been under recently and they didn't want to make them feel uncomfortable.

She only hesitated a few seconds before giving in to Rachel's request, feeling some how at ease with the prospect of catharsis in her story telling. Other than the Avengers, Rhody, and Happy, no one else really knew the details of the story she was about to tell her family.

"Two warnings for you." Pepper said seriously, looking at each of the women in turn "One: this story is going to be a sad story, but it will have a happy ending. And two: none of what I am about to tell you can be repeated to anyone."

They all nodded their heads to her in silence. "Pinky swear." Pepper challenged them as she got up and went around to each and everyone at the table to make them swear, linking the pinky on her right hand with the pinky finger of all of the women at the table in turn. It was true than no one outside of her family would even believe that the CEO of Stark Industries would perform such a silly, childish ritual, but she knew that in her family a pinky swear was considered serious business. As she made her way around the table, she silently wished that her business dealings could be carried out in the same trust filled manner.

Pepper sat down and closed her eyes, sighing heavily as she thought back to the events of two months ago, and then she slowly opened her eyes as she began to speak. "Tony had been released by his doctor following his open heart surgery to remove all of the shrapnel from his heart, and we were continuing to work in New York during the week, flying out to California on Thursday nights in order to oversee the rebuilding of our home in Malibu on the weekends…." She began as a hush fell over the group of women as they listened intently to her story.

It was about 3:30 on a Thursday afternoon. Pepper was trying her best to finish up a financial report before her 4:00 PM standing staff meeting. She starting having these meetings in order to make sure that her and her staff were up to date on everything that needed to be done while she was in Malibu on Friday. Overall it had been a good week for her and Tony. All of their Avenger friends had been staying at Stark Tower with them for the past two days. And getting all the Avengers together in one place without a disaster of some sort was a rarity given all of their chaotic schedules. They had cooked dinner together last night and even Phil Coulson and his girlfriend had been there. The dinner had been great and the conversation even better. It had been good to catch up on all of the happenings in each other's worlds. Pepper knew that Tony was meeting with Steve, Bruce, Thor, Natasha, Clint, and Phil this afternoon about some super secret Shield happening that Tony no doubt was going to tell her all about tonight. She smiled as she remembered how Phil had told her about the Shield security clearance he had gotten for her only a week after the Chitauri invasion because in Phil's words 'Tony Stark can't hold water'.

The television in her office was on; permanently tuned to the news as had been her habit throughout her years of doing damage control for Tony as his PA. As the minutes ticked by, Pepper was finding it harder and harder to concentrate on the report. She suddenly felt restless and on edge. She blew out a gust of air and told herself that her feelings were just hormonal and tried to focus once again on the report.

Suddenly there was a knock at her office door.

"Come in." Pepper said quietly, not even looking up as she continued to try to focus on the report in front of her.

One of her assistants, Christopher, quickly entered her office and walked over to her wall mounted TV screen, tapping away furiously at the controls. "Ms. Potts" he began "I think you need to see this."

Pepper looked up and watched as he changed the channel on her TV and un-muted it.

What unfolded in front of her eyes on the TV screen made her heart nearly stop beating. A reporter was standing in front of one of the downtown subway entrances and NYPD and NYFD personnel could be seen hurrying in and out of the entrance behind the reporter. She noticed what appeared to be smoke or dust rising out of the subway entrance. She suddenly felt herself grow cold as fear suddenly gripped her.

"…it's been confirmed that the Avengers are the ones responsible for the rescue, and the children and their teachers have now all been accounted for, suffering from only minor scrapes and bruises. The current theory behind the collapse of the roof of the subway tunnel is that the supports were weakened because of flooding from Hurricane Sandy and suddenly just gave way. We have been told that an investigation is already underway as to the actual cause." The reporter paused to catch his breath looking around him quickly. "And there is still no word on the condition of Tony Stark who we've been told had been critically injured during the rescue of the children."

"I have already called up your security team for you." Christopher said solemnly as Pepper stood up and slowly moved towards the TV screen almost stumbling. Christopher moved quickly to her side and took her arm gently attempting to support her.

She waved him off as she stopped directly in front of the TV. "Thank you, Chris." She managed to get out as her eyes continued to be transfixed upon the TV screen.

Suddenly her cell phone started ringing with Rhody's ringtone and Christopher sprinted to her desk and back to her handing her the cell phone quickly.

She quickly punched the answer pad and spoke quietly into the phone "How is he, Jimmy?" she asked her voice low and concerned.

"He's in surgery right now." Rhodes answered her breathlessly like he had been running. "How fast can you get down to Bellevue?"

Pepper looked towards the door, seeing her security team including Happy standing there waiting for her. "How fast to Bellevue?" Happy flashed both hands at her indicating a ten minute trip for them to Bellevue. She felt Christopher's hand on her arm leading her to Happy who immediately took her by the arm leading her quickly past her staff who were sharing concerned looks over the distraught condition of their boss. He led her into the private elevator. "I'll be there in 10 minutes. I'm leaving Stark Tower right now." She replied back to Rhody as the elevator doors closed behind her. "How bad is it, Jimmy?" she asked closing her eyes. She knew him so well and could tell by his voice just how upset he was now. She became even more worried.

"Just get over here as fast as you can." He said quietly "Come to the emergency room entrance and I will be waiting for you there.

The trip over to Bellevue was quiet. Happy sat in the back of the limo with Pepper holding onto her left hand tightly as he glared at the traffic around them silently willing the traffic to part for their limo. Their driver and security lead, Jules, made short work of the trip, managing to get them to Bellevue in only seven minutes in spite of the heavy afternoon traffic.

They pulled the limo up into the private parking area and Happy got out quickly, pulling Pepper gently up and out of the limo. Rhody who was dressed in USAF blues was immediately at her side, gathering her into him and leading her quickly into the hospital with Happy following closely behind them. Pepper faintly heard Jules giving orders to the SI security team who had pulled in just behind them in the parking area as the tinted hospital doors swooshed closed behind them. As she leaned against Jimmy, she was so thankful that he happened to be in town for a conference at the UN and was able to be with her now.

Rhody led Pepper immediately to an elevator. "Third floor, Hap." He said as Happy pushed the third floor button. Pepper felt Rhody squeeze her tenderly "He's still in surgery and the doctors are doing their best to save him, Pep." Once the door opened, Rhody led Pepper to a small conference room that the hospital had apparently loaned them for use as a private waiting room.

Once inside, Rhody made her sit down on the small couch. Pepper looked around quickly seeing Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Thor, and Steve. With the exception of Bruce who was dressed in clean sea foam green scrubs, the rest of the Avengers were dressed in street clothes and were all covered in dust and dirt. Pepper also noticed that without exception all of their eyes bore the look of either fallen or forming tears, confirming that her worst fears may have finally come true. She suddenly felt like she was going to faint and she was now glad to be sitting down. She closed her eyes tightly, doing her best to hold back her own tears. She had grown quite close and comfortable with the Avengers since the Chitauri invasion of New York, and she was glad to be surrounded them as well as Rhody and Happy right now. She suddenly felt the couch dip on both sides of her and she opened her eyes to find Bruce on one side of her and Natasha on the other with Thor kneeling down in front of her. Bruce placed his arm around her shoulders and Natasha held tightly onto her left hand. Thor looked at her with a helpless look in his eyes as he reached to take her right hand in both of his huge hands.

"What happened?" she asked looking up at Bruce who immediately looked her in the eyes, sadness and despair clearly showing on his face.

"One of the sections of flooring on one of the loading platforms collapsed trapping an elementary school group on one of the subfloors." He began "We thought we could dig them out until we realized just how unstable the floor had become. There was a small opening that we could see into, but none of the kids or their teachers were tall enough to pull themselves up into the opening to get out." He continued to patiently explain as he watched Pepper close her eyes once again. "We could hear the concrete creak as it continued to shift around and knew that we didn't have a lot of time to get those kids out of there before the entire floor collapsed again. Tony volunteered to go squeeze through the hole and go down to help them saying he was the perfect size for the job. He didn't have room for the suit so he climbed out of it and lowered himself into the hole. He immediately started handing kids and teachers up to us. He had just gotten the last one up, and Thor reached down to take his arm and help him up, when the debris shifted again pushing a piece of rebar right though Tony's left femoral artery. I was able to get the rebar out, but I couldn't stop the bleeding." Bruce paused, his head lowered in sadness. "The EMTs did their best but Tony just kept bleeding out. They airlifted him to the ER and I rode with him." He paused as Pepper opened her eyes and saw that Bruce's brown eyes now had tears in them again. "I'm so sorry, Pepper." He said as he hung his head down again.

"Oh Bruce" Pepper said leaning into his tightening grip "I know you did the best you could….all of you did…..trying to help Tony."

"'twas not enough, I fear." Thor replied quietly looking down at his hands as they gently squeezed hers.

Suddenly the door opened up and a doctor, dressed in surgical scrubs entered the room, pausing only a second as he surveyed the room's occupants. He then walked up to where Pepper was sitting on the couch. Thor immediately got up and went to stand next to Steve at the window.

"Pepper, I presume." the doctor said as Bruce and Natasha quickly got up off the couch. Natasha went to stand next to Clint who put a supporting arm around her. Bruce motioned the doctor to sit beside her on the couch and the doctor slowly sat down, as he offered his hand out to her in greeting. "I'm Dr. Simonson, head trauma surgeon here at Bellevue."

"Pepper Potts, Dr. Simonson." Pepper weakly acknowledged "How is Tony doing?"

"He's hanging in there." Dr. Simonson said as he took her right hand in his own and squeezed it tenderly. "And that's saying a lot considering what he's been through. He is suffering from Hypovolemic shock which is shock caused by the sudden blood loss as the result of damage to his Femoral artery. We were able to repair the artery in surgery and we are infusing blood and fluids into him as fast as his body will accept. We are now running tests to determine the extent of damage to his vital organs."

"What is his prognosis, Doctor Simonson?" she asked quietly looking at him directly in the eyes.

"The next three to four hours will tell us the extent and proximity of the organ damage and if his body will be able to recover." He said squeezing her hand tenderly again. "All we can do is keep transfusing and monitor his vitals for now." He looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry, but we have done all we can for him. It's up to him now." He let go of her hand and stood up "I will be personally overseeing his treatment and I want to assure you that he will receive the best of care here at our facility. We have now moved him into a private ICU so you can stay with him and keep him company. I believe that is vitally important that he know that you are with him right now in order to keep him connected to his loved ones." He looked at Pepper thoughtfully and then quietly continued. "We couldn't risk fully sedating him during the surgery, and he regained consciousness several times during the surgery, complaining that quote/unquote 'Pepper' was going to make him sleep on the couch because he was going to be late for 'date night' tonight." Dr. Simonson smiled a small smile at Pepper and she couldn't help but smile a small smile back at him in return…that was just so Tony. "So I told him that I would write him a Doctor's excuse for him being late and that seemed to calm him down. And so to keep my word, here is one official doctor's excuse." He said as he handed her a handwritten signed note.

"Thank you Doctor Simonson" she said taking the note from him, genuinely touched by his sentiment towards Tony.

The Doctor held out his hand to her offering to help her up off of the couch. "Let me show you to his ICU room now." He said quietly.

Pepper took his hand and let him help her to her feet.

Rhody moved immediately to her side. "I've got her Doc, thanks." He said as the Doctor nodded to him.

Happy opened the door for the group as Dr. Simonson led the way out of the room and down the hall. The Doctor quietly opened a windowed door and Pepper's gaze immediately fell on a very pale Tony, his dire medical condition underscored by the shear volume and complexity of the medical equipment that both surrounded him and connected to him. Two nurses were busily attending to him.

"You all can sit in the back section of the room." Doctor Simonson said to them pointing to the cluster of chairs and two small couches at the back of the room by the window. "That door over there is a restroom complete with shower. And the cafeteria is on the first floor." He then pulled up a chair next to the Tony's bed and motioned for Pepper to sit down in it. She quickly sat down, immediately taking Tony's non-IV'd right hand in her right one, leaning down to press a soft kiss onto the back of his hand and laid her cheek down onto his arm as she began to stroke the back of his hand with her thumb.

"I will check back shortly in order to re-evaluate the results of his latest blood work." Dr. Simonson said as he patted Pepper gently on the shoulder. "Diane and Debbie are my best ICU RNs and they will take good care of Mr. Stark for you." He then walked across the room and out the door leaving them suddenly with only the noise of the monitors in the room.

Immediately after Dr. Simonson left the room, Agent Coulson walked briskly into the room and over to where Pepper was seated, laying his hand gently on her left shoulder in a silent offer of his support for both her and Tony. Pepper turned and smiled weakly at him. He then walked to the back of the room to join the others. Pepper could hear them quietly talking amongst themselves.

Pepper reached up with her left hand and began to tunnel her fingers through the damp, matted hair on the back of Tony's neck. She could have sworn that she felt him shudder slightly at her touch. His heart rate increased slightly on one of his monitors causing both the nurses to smile at her.

Debbie turned to Pepper and smiled broadly again at her. "He knows you're here." She said glancing over at Diane who nodded her approval. "He has only been given a local anesthetic in his leg to eliminate the pain from the surgery. Because of his condition he will continue to lapse in and out of consciousness. So go on and talk to him. He needs to hear your voice right now." She said softly. She then walked away with Diane to the back of the room with the others trying their best to give her and Tony a little privacy and still remain within sight of the monitors.

Pepper thought for a moment and then began to talk to him, lightly scratching the back of his neck just the way she knew he liked it. "Dr. Simonson gave me the excuse note, so you won't have to sleep on the couch tonight, Tony." She whispered loud enough for him to hear her, watching as his eyes moved slightly under his eyelids. "But I expect next week's date night to be something extra special to make up for tonight." She couldn't help but gasp as she saw his eyes begin to open slowly and he stared up at her with a look on his face that told her that he somehow feared that she was somehow not real.

"Pepper." He whispered hoarsely as she moved her left hand to stroke his cheek taking care not to dislodge the oxygen tubes from his nose.

"Yes, it's me, sweetheart." She replied with a teary smile. "I'm right here with you. So are the rest of the Avengers. Happy, Rhody, and Phil are here too."

"Banner" He said back to her, sounding somewhat like both a question and a statement to her.

She nodded at him and squeezed his hand tenderly "Yes, Bruce is here, Tony."

"Need Banner." He whispered, his eyes suddenly drooping with fatigue.

At first Pepper was confused, but then she quickly turned towards the back of the room. "Bruce" She started looking directly at the man who also looked somewhat confused. "Tony wants to talk to you."

Bruce quickly walked toward the head of Tony's bed, opposite of where Pepper sat and placed his hand tenderly on Tony's forehead as if trying his best to soothe his friend's pain. "You wanted to talk to me, Tony." He said quietly as Tony's eyes slowly turned to focus on him.

"Gotta a promise to keep, Big Guy." Tony replied softly his voice sounding gravelly and strained.

Bruce quickly reached in his shirt pocket and produced a small jewelry box, opening it and pulling out what appeared to be a ring holding it out for Tony to see.

"Can't get down on one knee to ask you." Tony whispered as he weakly turned his head back to her as Bruce moved the ring towards her so she could clearly see it "But will you do me the big honor and marry me?" he asked quietly, totally out of breath with his last words.

Pepper was absolutely stunned by his question and looked at him in silence, confused for a few seconds, then the realization of what was happening hit her.

"Just in case …..I don't make it… I want the world to know what we really mean to each other." He explained as he frowned slightly, his words coming out slow and labored as he took the ring from Bruce with a very shaky left hand. Bruce quickly helped him and steadied his hand for him as Tony slowly took the ring between his fingers shakily held it on his own.

Her eyes immediately filled with tears as she quickly answered him. "Yes Tony. I will marry you." She said leaning over to kiss him softly on the lips as her tears fell down on his blanketed chest. Bruce helped him put the ring on her finger as he fumbled slightly, and she noticed that tears had started to roll down Tony's cheeks onto the blanket too.

She suddenly realized just how much this meant to Tony and she quickly turned to the back of the room "Is there a minister here at the hospital who can marry us right now?" She asked Debbie and Diane as their eyes grew as big as saucers at her question.

But before either one of them could answer, Coulson stepped forward. "I am an ordained minister, Pepper." He said as he walked up and took Bruce's place at the head of Tony's bed noting the confused look in Pepper's eyes. "I was ordained long before I became a Shield agent. It's sort of a family tradition." He explained to her with a small smile and slight shrug of his shoulders. Bruce handed the jewelry box to Coulson, nodding his approval to him as Phil moved close to Tony and placed his hand on Tony's shoulder gently squeezing it. He then silently joined Tony's hand with Pepper's and gave them each a small smile. "A wedding is the celebration of the miracle of love" he began quietly as Tony slowly turned his head to face him. "Virginia Anne Potts and Anthony Edward Stark, in the presence of God we will now celebrate this miracle of love in your lives." He began as everyone began to move quietly towards Tony's bed in a show of support of the ceremony. Pepper quickly glanced over and noticed that Dr. Simonson was now standing next to Bruce. "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. And love never fails. Learning to love each other and live together in harmony is one of the greatest challenges in marriage. Marriage is not to be entered into lightly, and you must forever hold your marriage in high honor at all times. I charge you both, as you are here in the presence of God and your friends to remember that love, trust, and loyalty are the foundations of a happy and enduring marriage. No vows are more sacred than those you are about to make. If these vows are kept unbroken, then your lives together will be full of joy and love."

Coulson paused briefly and then turned to Tony. "Do you Anthony Edward Stark take Virginia Anne Potts to live together in marriage, and will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in health and in sickness, in prosperity and in adversity, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you shall live?"

Tony blinked quickly and slowly turned his head towards Pepper locking eyes with her. She gently pulled the oxygen tubes out of his nose and over his head as he suddenly struggled to remove them from his face "I do." He whispered to her.

"And do you Virginia Anne Potts take Anthony Edward Stark to live together in marriage, and will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him in health and in sickness, in prosperity and in adversity, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you shall live?" Coulson said turning to Pepper with a small smile.

"I do." Pepper responded simply, squeezing Tony's hand tenderly.

Coulson picked up their wedding bands up out of the box. "These rings are symbols of eternity and the unbroken circle of love. Love freely given has no beginning and no end. Today you choose to exchange rings as a sign of your love for each other and a seal of the promises you make this day. We ask that God bless these rings as well as the union of these two souls."

Phil helped Tony take Pepper's ring in his hand. "Repeat after me, Anthony…with this ring I thee wed."

Tony struggled but managed to place the ring on Pepper's left ring finger with Coulson's help "With this ring, I thee wed." he repeated in a hoarse voice.

Coulson then handed Pepper Tony's ring. "Repeat after me, Virginia….with this ring I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed." she repeated, tears now making her voice sound heavy with the emotion of the moment as she slid Tony's wedding band onto the ring finger of his left hand being careful not to pull on his IV as she did so.

"Anthony and Virginia, you have consented together in holy matrimony before God and your friends, and you have pledged your vows to each other and exchanged rings as tokens of your love and commitment to one another. So in accordance with the laws of the State of New York and the authority of God's word, it is with great joy that I now pronounce you husband and wife." He paused and then smiled at each of them in turn "Mr. and Mrs. Stark, you may now share your first kiss as a married couple."

Pepper leaned down and kissed Tony gently on the lips. After the kiss Tony smiled up at her. "I love you, Mrs. Stark. I always have and I always will." He whispered to her, tears welling up in his bourbon eyes.

"And I love you, Mr. Stark." She replied gently re-inserting the oxygen tubes in his nose and trying her best to blink away her own tears. "But you need to get some rest now so you can get well and take me on our honeymoon. I'll even let you pick the place as long as the weather's warm there."

He smiled up at her as he closed his eyes slowly. Suddenly she noticed that his body seemed to go limp.

Almost immediately alarms started sounding on all of the monitors surrounding Tony. Pepper refused to let go of his right hand as Debbie, Diane, and Dr. Simonson rushed up to Tony's bed, immediately elevating his feet and injecting various drugs into his IVs. Phil had moved quickly out of the way and walked over to join the rest of the group who were now intently monitoring Tony's condition.

Pepper noticed that the medical staff had only silenced the alarms. Pepper knew her way around medical equipment after years of producing medical equipment for SI. A cold chill suddenly ran up her spine as she realized that Tony's vitals were tanking rapidly. Tears filled her eyes as she began to pray fervently.

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to find Dr. Simonson looking down at her, sympathy clearly showing in his green eyes. "I've seen these wide fluctuations of readings happen lots of times with critically injured patients."

She sniffed once. "Dr. Simonson, I have worked with medical equipment for years in my job duties at Stark Industries." She said managing to hold his eyes as hers filled with tears once again. "I know what the readings mean." She blinked her eyes trying to rid them of tears so she could see the Doctor's face more clearly. "How much time does he have left?"

The Doctor closed his eyes, slowly opening them to look directly into her eyes. "I'm sorry Mrs. Stark, but based on his current vitals, he may only have a few hours left to him."

She hung her head as her tears started up again. Rhody walked up and put his arm around her shoulders tenderly.

"His body is still accepting the transfusions, which is encouraging on its own." Dr. Simonson explained quietly, "But it appears that his organs are starting to shut down." He paused for a moment and reached out to take her hand in his. "We are doing all we can medically for him. All we can do now is pray for his recovery."

Pepper sensed movement in the room and she turned her head slightly to see the Avengers, Happy and Phil move closer to Tony's bed.

"We shall pray for our friend Stark." Thor said loudly turning away from the group and walking quickly to the window, as he looked up at the sky and closed his eyes in silent prayer. Steve and Phil followed him, their heads now bowed in obvious prayer. Clint and Natasha walked over and sat on the couch with their heads bowed in silence. Bruce was now sitting in one of the chairs, his head hung low, obviously in deep meditation or prayer and she could plainly see the tears falling from his eyes.

Happy moved to Tony's left side and reached out to squeeze his left bicep tenderly. "Don't leave us, Boss." He whispered as tears began to run down his cheeks. "Who else am I going to spar with?" His other hand quickly reached up and wiped away the tears from his face as he sniffed loudly. "You're a fighter, Boss. Don't let this beat you." He then quickly turned away and walked to the other side of the room to stand by the window, his hands still wiping away his tears.

Rhody followed Happy's lead reaching down to squeeze Tony's left shoulder gently, "Happy's right, Starkster." He whispered, tears falling down his face rapidly as his voice became strained. "We all need you, man." He blinked several times trying to clear his eyes and focus on his friend's face. "Come on tough guy. You can beat this, little brother." And with those words he turned away from Tony and leaned over to Pepper, kissing her tenderly on the cheek. "He always does what you tell him to do. Make him stay here with us. Don't let him go, Pep."

Pepper looked up at Rhody and smiled a sad smile. Rhody did his best to smile back at her, but he couldn't. So with a gentle squeeze of her hand he slowly turned away from the bed and walked over to where Happy was standing at the window. Happy quickly reached out to the smaller man putting a supporting arm around Rhody's shoulders as they both stood there in silence.

Pepper looked over at Dr. Simonson. "I want to be alone with my husband now." She pleaded quietly, barely registering that she had just called Tony her husband for the first time. Dr. Simonson nodded to her and motioned to his nurses and the rest of the group to leave. Silently, one by one they all walked out of the room.

"We'll be close by." Rhody said, being the last one out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Pepper took a deep breath and slowly got up and walked over to the couch table where Happy had set her purse. She pulled out a small printout sheet of green paper folded neatly into thirds from it and then turned to walk back to Tony's bed. She knew that Tony was near death now, but she still steadfastly refused to give up on him pulling himself out of the arms of the Grim Reaper yet another time. She tenderly placed the folded sheet of paper in his left hand, taking care to fold his fingers around the paper. She then quickly toed off her shoes and gingerly climbed into the bed with him wrapping her left arm around his neck, and moving her right hand under the blanket to his stomach as she began to gently rub what she knew was soothing circles into his cold, damp skin.

"You're going to want to read that when you wake up, Tony." She whispered to him as she continued to rub his belly soothingly. "Karen told me that I needed to start checking out new styles of business suits, because it wouldn't be very much longer until I would need to make a wardrobe adjustment." She managed a smile through her tears as she kissed him tenderly on the cheek. "And you're going to have to make some adjustments too….Daddy." She laid her head down next to his on the pillow and her words became whispered breaths of air against his neck. "It seems you hit the bull's-eye at least twice, maybe three times in our hotel room that night in Beijing when Dr. Wu released you. I was going to surprise you with the news at date night tonight, but I didn't want to wait until next week's date night to tell you the good news." She paused, lifting her head and kissed him tenderly on the lips. "Looks like we're going to have that family we wanted after all, but instead of one at a time, it looks like we are in for twins or triplets the first time around."

"I love you so much, Tony." She said simply as she lay her head back down on his pillow. She felt her silent tears trailing down from her face onto his pillow. "Please don't leave me and our children alone. Our children need their daddy, and I need my best friend and my husband." She paused as she kissed his cheek once again. "Who else is going to play Santa for our kids, teach them how to surf, or design and build their first PCB?" she continued to ramble in whispered tones against his neck, her mind suddenly coming up with all sorts of scenarios for Tony and their children. "And when our girls start to date, forget the old-fashioned answering of the front door with a shotgun….you'll no doubt be opening the door to our daughter's first date wearing an Iron Man suit."

Under normal circumstances, Pepper was really a person of few words when it came to expressing her innermost feelings, believing that actions spoke louder than words. But she quickly found herself talking to him non-stop as she laid there cradling Tony in her arms and the seconds, minutes, then hours began to slip by. She continued to rub his stomach tenderly, run her fingers soothingly through his hair, and kissed him tenderly as she talked about her future plans with him and their new family. She steadfastly refused to look at the monitors, not wanting to know the technical aspects of how Tony's body was medically slipping away from life and from her and their unborn children. She just simply chose not to acknowledge the monitors. Instead she focused on his heart beat. As the gentle words continued to flow from her lips, she inwardly felt that his heart beat was somehow growing stronger as she continued to talk to him. And she silently prayed that she was right as she continued with her monologue in whispered tones for him.

She had lost track of the time caught up in the emotion of the situation and she was almost startled when she suddenly heard the door open and soft footsteps grow closer to the bed. She looked up to see Dr. Simonson walk around Tony's bed to stand on the left side of him. He looked down at Tony and then over at her, a small smile now lighting up his face. "Whatever it is you're doing for him, keep doing it." Dr. Simonson said in a quiet voice. "His vitals have been improving steadily during the past hour and I'm going to draw more blood now for testing."

Pepper smiled back at him, a few fresh tears springing forth from her eyes.

"If the test results look promising, then we may want to insert a catheter, so we can get a urinary output on him." He explained as he drew two vials of blood from Tony's IV. "Resumed kidney function is the key to his recovery."

Pepper nodded at him trying her best to blink away the tears from her eyes so she could see the Doctor clearly. He smiled again at her as he reached over to squeeze her right hand tenderly and then turned to leave the room.

Hope suddenly filled her soul. As her spirits lifted, her practical self immediately took over her thoughts. She closed her eyes tightly and thought about the fight Tony was going to put up having a catheter inserted in him. When the doctor came back, she was going to ask him about perhaps another method of urine collection for Tony. In the silence of the room, she suddenly heard the sound of crinkling paper and she opened her eyes to see Tony's left hand moving her report within his fingers, as if trying to open it.

"A little help here, please." Tony whispered as Pepper quickly leaned her head close to his. He had opened his eyes halfway and was now visibly struggling to keep them open.

She smiled broadly at him and sniffled once tying her best to keep the tears from pouring from her eyes in her happiness to see him awake again. She then reached across him and gently pulled the green sheet of paper from his hand and quickly unfolded it. She held it up to his face so he could see the actual report. "Karen said because of my genetics, age, and the high concentration of hCG in my urine that we are expecting either twins or triplets." She told him patiently.

His eyes suddenly opened wide and he slowly turned his head to look up at her. "So I wasn't just dreaming about us having a family." He said in an amazed tone.

"I can't tell if that was a question or a comment, Tony." She teased leaning over to gently kiss him on the lips being careful not to bump the oxygen tubes in his nose.

"Both, I guess." He replied, moving his right hand slowly up her back, weakly pulling her into another brief but loving kiss.

Pepper leaned back from him and smiled at him, watching as a silly grin formed on his face at the realization. "I'm gonna be a daddy." He whispered as if to himself as he slowly closed his eyes, the smile never leaving his face.

She continued to watch him as he slowly turned his head and opened his eyes to look down at his left hand at the same time raising his left arm slightly.

"Sooooo… we really did get hitched." He said looking back to her, his eyebrows raised in what she knew was a teasing gesture.

"I do seem to remember something like that happening, yes." She teased back as his face broke out into a radiant smile which she couldn't help but counter with one of her own.

She immediately reached under his blanket and began to rub his stomach tenderly again, settling down with her head next to his on his pillow. She turned her head towards him and kissed him softly on the cheek. "Enough with the talking, Mr. Stark. You need to get some sleep now."

"Yes, Mrs. Stark." He whispered hoarsely as he closed his eyes and weakly pulled her into his side with his right arm. "Sorry we didn't get to have our beach wedding." He added quietly and sadly.

After they had become intimate, Tony had hinted to her several times that he wanted to have a beach wedding. And even though those hints had become more frequent after what happened to them in Florida, she knew that he still harbored the fear that she would somehow say 'no' to him when he formally asked her to marry him. She knew that only the thought of dying without asking her to marry him had spurned him on to propose to her earlier.

"Don't be sorry, Tony." She replied noting the regret in his voice, and she rose up once again to look down on him. She leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips. Then she gently placed the printout back into his left hand and she watched as his fingers tightened around the small piece of paper. "We can always renew our vows on a beach somewhere when you get well." She leaned down and softly kissed him on the lips again. As she lay her head back down again next to his on the pillow, she felt and heard him sigh contentedly. At that point she knew that her prayers had been answered and she offered up another prayer of thanks. Tony seemed to be beating the odds once again.

She suddenly felt him stiffen under her and she raised her head up in alarm fearing another downturn in his health. She watched as his eyes opened widely and immediately locked eyes with her.

"Absolutely, no catheter." He said quietly, but firmly, his eyes then closed and a frown formed on his face. She knew right away that he was entering 'Tony Pout Mode".

"I'll see what I can do for you." Pepper teased as she smiled at him and leaned her head down to kiss him on the tip of his nose. Tony quickly opened, crossed, and then closed his eyes in a huff with all of the drama that he could muster at the moment. Tony had obviously heard what Dr. Simonson had said earlier. "Go back to sleep, mister. And you can consider that a direct order from your wife. You keep forgetting that you need to save all your strength for our honeymoon because us pregnant Potts women are horny women…it's in our genes."

"Duly noted, baby mama." He his frown quickly changing into a small smile as he tiredly closed his eyes once again.

She laid her head back down on the pillow and nuzzled his neck. She heard him breathe out a long breath and within seconds she began to hear his soft snores. She was never so happy to hear snoring in her whole life.

Pepper felt herself starting to drift off to sleep when she suddenly heard the door open and quiet footsteps on the floor. She looked up to see Dr. Simonson again standing to the left side of Tony's bed. He had a big smile on his face as he held out a quart sized men's urinal to her. "I have heard that he doesn't like to be handed things." The doctor said simply, his eyes crinkling with humor.

Pepper smiled back at the doctor as he handed her the urinal and she placed the urinal between Tony's knees for future use. "You were going to have a fight on your hands if you were going to insist on inserting a catheter in him. Thanks, Doctor Simonson."

"His blood results are showing marked improvement. We may still get some fluctuations and a few downward results, but those should be only temporary. His condition appears to be improving quite rapidly, and he is no longer in decline." He explained looking down at Tony's left hand and then skillfully and quickly checked his IV. Tony was still clutching the small green printout in his hand. Dr. Simonson suddenly looked over at her questioningly. "One of my internships was at an OB-Gyn clinic." A smile then appeared on his face as Pepper smiled sheepishly back at him. "So I do recognize the printout paper that Mr. Stark has in his hand." He paused looking back down at Tony's hand again, then back up to lock eyes with her, happiness clearly showing in his own eyes. "That kind of good news has pulled many a man back to the side of the living, Mrs. Stark. Congratulations to you both."

"Thank you, Doctor." Pepper replied sincerely with a small smile, as she rose up from the pillow so she could look at the Doctor on a more even level using her body posture to help convey the seriousness of her next request. "But if you could keep that bit of information to yourself, we would both appreciate it." She patiently explained. "Our lives, as you have seen for yourself can be pretty chaotic. And I want to give Tony time to heal and things to settle down a bit before we go public with an announcement."

They both suddenly heard what sounded to be a fight breaking out in the hallway. Pepper could clearly hear Thor's voice booming over the din.

"You people are not allowed in here." Thor's voice sounded through the door.

"Get out right now, before we throw you out." Steve's voice quickly followed Thor's.

The sound of shuffling feet could now clearly be heard through the door. Pepper could just envision reporters being bodily dragged down the hall and away from Tony's room. She inwardly winced.

"It seems the press has found us." Pepper noted quietly looking over at Doctor Simonson.

Dr. Simonson immediately pressed a button on his pager. "Not for long." he said "Our security is on their way up here right now, but I'm almost tempted to let the Avengers handle them."

"Knowing the Avengers like I do, that really wouldn't be in the hospital's best interests." Pepper said with a small smile. "Welcome to my world, Dr. Simonson."

The doctor started laughing quietly. "No offense." He replied "But I'll stick with emergency room medicine: it's much quieter, calmer, and safer." He reached over and took her hand and gently squeezed it. "Mrs. Stark" he began in earnest "Just in case you ever need a change of scenery, our hospital board is always in need of an experienced Chair. You know the type: someone calm in the face of calamity and who has the ability to herd doctors as easily as she herds the Avengers."

The hallway had grown quiet and both of them turned to look at the door curious now at the sudden silence. Pepper turned back to Dr. Simonson and smiled. "Me navigating through the chaos that surrounds my life is as normal to me as it is for you being the middle of your emergency surgical center calmly saving the life of a critically injured patient." Dr. Simonson smiled back at her warmly. "And I wouldn't trade my sometimes hectic life or job for anything in the world." She told him as she squeezed Tony's right hand gently. Tony snored once and then sighed loudly, pulling Pepper gently into him. She slowly put her head back down on his pillow and snuggled into his side as Dr. Simonson nodded knowingly at her and with another warm smile for both her and Tony; he quietly walked out of the room.

Pepper calmly looked around the table at her relatives. Without exception, all of the women now had tears in their eyes at her story. Sniffles could be heard from around the table. Some of the women were even using the paper napkins from their lemonade to wipe away their tears. Both her Aunti and her Oma had firm grips on each of her hands.

"So Tony ended up staying in Bellevue for 7 days total, driving everyone, including me up the wall." She continued with a smile. "And I could only manage to keep him in bed resting for just another week after that. But looking on the positive side, it seems that Tony's hospital stay has inspired him to design several new emergency room infusion machines that Dr. Simonson has high hopes for incorporating into his emergency rooms. So it looks like some real good will come from all of this."

"That's quite a story, baby girl!" Charlotte said squeezing Pepper's hand again.

All the women agreed, all of them getting up and coming around the table to give Pepper a hug, and a few kissed her on the cheek.

"It's the type of story you'll be telling your children and grandchildren, Ginny." Anna, Pepper's mom said quietly with a small sniffle.

"Thanks, Mom." Pepper replied looking over at her mom and smiling broadly at her.

Laura, one of Pepper's first cousins suddenly spoke up. "Hey I've got a great idea!"

Laura was one of Betsy's granddaughters and it seemed she had inherited her personality directly from Betsy.

"Let's have it Betsy Junior." Beth chuckled as the others joined in to laugh with her at her well deserved nickname.

"Since I am an ordained minister now" Laura said leaning forward towards Pepper. "I can renew you and Tony's wedding vows and we can have the ceremony right here on the beach." A few of the women gasped in excitement at the idea. "That way you both get your wish and our family gets yet another reason to celebrate at our reunion….It's a win-win situation if I've ever heard one."

The group of women quickly became silent with anticipation as they all turned to look at Pepper in unison.

"That does sound wonderful" Pepper began smiling sincerely at Laura "but I will need to consult with my other half before we can say 'yes' or 'no'."

"So we'll go get lunch started and you go consult with that handsome husband of yours." Betsy chuckled as she stood up from the table. "Just bear in mind that our clan did plan on throwing you two a party in celebration of your marriage anyway. So if it becomes a wedding party then so much the better for everyone."

"Thank you all." Pepper said with a huge smile as she stood up to join the others. "I'll let you know what we decide." Pepper got up and walked quickly around the table to hug Laura. "Thanks for thinking of us, cuz."

Laura hugged Pepper back immediately. "I have to admit a little ulterior motive here, cuz." Laura replied with a huge grin. "It's not every minister who can say they re-married Tony and Pepper Stark." Beth promptly poked her sister Laura in the back in annoyance as she walked past the two of them and Laura pretended to ignore the jab as she continued to talk to Pepper "Just think of how good this will be for my ministry business!"

Martha, Laura's mother then walked passed them also reaching out to also poke Laura in the back. "You are so your grandmothers' granddaughter." She told Laura. "And you should be ashamed of yourself, but I know you aren't."

Pepper and Laura looked at each other and started laughing, hugging each other once again.

Laura turned to follow the others into the resort's dining area which they had also rented along with the commercial kitchen and huge entertainment hall for the kids. Pepper turned to look out at the beach and saw that the surfing lessons had wrapped up and the kids were carrying their surfboards back with them to the four beach showers located on the lower deck. Her Opa was directing the kids one by one into the showers, his hand motions making him look like a traffic cop of sorts. Tony then walked up to her Opa setting down his surfboard on the deck alongside the others. Her Opa quickly reached out to take Tony's hand and they shook hands briefly. Opa was no doubt thanking Tony for his surfing lessons. Pepper felt pride well up inside of her at the sight. She suddenly thought back to what Claire, her first supervisor at SI had said about Tony and that was that he was a good man at heart. She smiled at the memory of that particular conversation with Claire about Tony. And time had proven that Claire had been right on all counts, not only about Tony, but about her future with Tony as well as her future with SI. And if Pepper remembered correctly, which she was fairly certain she did, when Claire had retired, she had moved to the Florida Keys to be close to her husband's family. She reminded herself to look her up this evening and arrange to visit with her while she and Tony were down here. And if Tony agreed to the ceremony, maybe she could get Claire and her husband to be a part of the ceremony too.

As she walked down the stairs, she passed by her Opa, exchanging greetings with him and giving him a quick hug on her way down to talk to Tony. As she approached the showers, she quickly realized that everyone else had gone and Tony was the only one left. Pepper felt her hormone-fueled desire suddenly rise up as she watched him wash the sand and salt water from his muscular body, his back still turned towards her. She silently wished that they were both back in their room right now, so she could not only join him in the shower, but tear those black and tan surf trunks off of him and have her way with him. She shook her head at the thought, trying desperately to change the rating of her thoughts back to PG, but as she continued to watch him, those X rated thoughts just kept coming back to her. He then turned around to face her, his eyes closed in concentration as he pulled off his surf shirt throwing it over one shoulder. Her eyes were automatically drawn to his chest and muscular arms. He then pulled his surf trunks out away from his body in order to wash the sand out of his crotch area and with the knowledge of exactly what it was that he was rinsing, she quickly realized that she could no longer restrain herself. She glanced quickly over her shoulder and noticed that everyone in her family appeared to be inside the dining area now.

"I believe you missed a spot." She said quietly reaching down with her right hand to cup his manhood gently, making sure her body would shield her actions from the upper deck just in case anyone happened to come outside.

Tony immediately pulled her into the shower and she giggled as he turned her around in the shower soaking her completely. The warmth of his body more than compensated for the cold water as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately, wrapping his arms around her tightly until they both struggled to breathe.

As they broke apart, they both began to laugh.

"I heard you saying 'Hi' to your grandfather, and I had a feeling that you would try to ambush me here in the shower." He confessed.

"So you being the last one left in the shower was planned. Very clever, Mr. Stark." She replied looking back over her shoulder to make sure that no one had come back outside. "I needed to make sure the coast was clear so I could do a little ogling and groping without being seen."

Tony pulled her back under the shower after he hit the shower button again. He pressed his hips back into hers. "How about we skip the meal and go straight for dessert back in our room, babe?"

"As long as you let me make you a real lunch afterwards." She replied reaching out with both hands to pull on his gluts bringing his hips firmly into her hips as she twisted her hips, making him close his eyes and moan loudly. "You need to keep your strength up, so you can keep other things up as well." She teased as she twisted her hips into his once again.

"God, woman!" he growled taking her left hand in his right one and pulling her gently out of the shower as it shut off automatically "You are driving me crazy."

"I did warn you that we pregnant Potts women are horny women." She teased.

"Yes, Mrs. Stark. You did warn me." He replied as he began to tug on her hand gently leading the way up the beach along a path that would take them to their room and away from the dining hall.

They spent their break from Pepper's family in each other arms making love twice, once on the bed and once in the shower. Sated and sleepy, they lay on the bed together after they had dressed. She told him about Laura's offer to renew their vows in a beach ceremony and Tony was more than happy to agree to the beach ceremony. He admitted to her that he was having a hard time remembering their wedding ceremony at Bellevue and considering the condition he was in at the time, Pepper understood his memory loss. He told her that he was looking forward to them renewing their vows so that he could have a lifetime of memories of them getting married, even though technically it would be their second time.

Pepper also asked as a favor to her if he would teach Charlotte and Betsy how to surf. Tony happily agreed to teach them, but he said he would feel better about their safety if Pepper would 'arrange' to have their security team conveniently down on the breach on one of their 'breaks' during the lessons in order to help keep an eye on them and keep them safe in the water. She had wholeheartedly agreed with his plan because she knew that their security team's presence wouldn't embarrass either her Oma or her Aunti.

They walked hand in hand into the dining area to find about a dozen or so adults of the family still left at the tables. The rest of the large group was in the adjoining recreation hall, and loud voices mixed with a few shouts could be heard coming from the hall.

"Hey you two." Charlotte spoke up with a big smile of welcome when she saw them walk in. "We were just about to put up lunch, so the food is covered up on the kitchen counter."

"Thanks, Oma." Tony replied smiling warmly at Charlotte as he led Pepper by the hand into the kitchen.

Within minutes the two of them walked out, Tony carrying two plates and Pepper carrying two large glasses of lemonade.

They sat down in two empty chairs directly between her Oma and Betsy who both eyed their plates with skepticism. "I know you are eating for three or four Pepper, but don't you think five sandwiches is a bit much, sweetie?" Betsy said as she looked at Pepper.

Pepper started laughing as she reached over to hug Betsy. "Aunti Betsy, four of those sandwiches are for Tony."

Betsy leaned over quickly to stare at Tony who just smiled serenely at her.

"All of that consulting work must have made you work up quite the appetite." She teased back nudging Pepper in the shoulder good naturedly.

"Consulting?" Tony managed to get out of a mouth full of sandwich.

Pepper put her arm around his shoulders and leaned into him. "I'll explain later." Pepper giggled, leaving Tony with a perplexed look on his face for a few seconds.

"OK." He replied shrugging his shoulders, taking another huge bite of a sandwich, and nudging Pepper with his shoulder gently. "Eat, babe."

She smiled at him and picked up one of the sandwiches off the plate, and took a big bite out of it. Even as he was recovering at Bellevue, Tony had begun to insist that she eat often and well. He had told her that from his and Jarvis' research that pregnant women need seven to ten small, healthy meals a day and should drink lots of juice, water, and milk. She was actually surprised, but happy with just how much more attentive to her needs he had become since she told him she was pregnant.

As the two of them continued to eat, Tony quickly devoured his four sandwiches and shared Pepper's plate of homemade cole slaw, potato salad, and baked beans with her, making sure that she was the one who ate the majority of the food. Pepper had almost finished her sandwich and she had starting eating the fruit salad which she knew that Tony wouldn't touch because there were no blueberries in it.

Tony turned his head looked at her, his eyes imploring her to eat more. Pepper leaned over to lay her head on his shoulder and she finished the last of her sandwich for him with mock flourish. Tony quickly kissed her on the top of her head tenderly.

"God, I hope you didn't just get mustard in my hair." She fussed pulling her head quickly away from him.

"With your hair color, no one is going to notice or care. Besides that a quick dip in the ocean will take care of it." He teased her back as she tilted her head to look up at him, amusement quickly showing in her face as he smiled warmly at her.

"I sensed a disturbance in the 'force', and I just knew that you two were here." Laura teased walking briskly into the dining hall with Beth right behind her. "The Jedi knights of wedding planning have now arrived." She continued as both of them sat down in the empty chairs directly across the table from Pepper and Tony. "Now that you both have 'consulted' and eaten lunch, what's the verdict on the beach ceremony?"

Tony turned to look at Pepper his eyebrows raised in a silent question upon hearing the word 'consulting' for the third time.

"I told the girls that I had to 'consult' with you before we could agree on renewing out vows at the beach during our reunion." She patiently explained pulling his right hand into her left one and squeezing it tenderly.

"So that's what we were doing." He teased her, as he pulled on her hand gently and turned his head to come face to face with her.

Her eyebrows immediately shot up on her face in surprise at his remark followed quickly by a deep blush. "Tony!" she exclaimed as he leaned in to rub noses with her, causing all the women at the table to giggle and all the men to stand up suddenly.

"We are so 'outta here." Opa said loudly, winking at Pepper as he, Pepper's father, two uncles, and two adult male cousins all began to walk out of the room.

Tony glanced up and smiled at Pepper's father who patted him gently on the shoulder as he walked past them. "Good luck, son." he said as he left the room. They could hear all the men laugh as they walked out of the room.

Pepper knew that Tony was now in his element surrounded only by women, and she counted down the seconds before his Stark charm button engaged. She managed to get only two seconds counted off in her head before he spoke, his patented heart-melting smile lighting up his entire face as he turned to look at all the women seated at the table.

"Ladies." He announced in a deep voice "Pepper told me that you wanted to help us renew our wedding vows and I just wanted to sincerely thank you all for offering to do that for us." He reached over to put one arm around Pepper as he spoke. "I can't tell you just how happy I am now that I'm going to get a marriage ceremony that I can actually remember!" he added teasingly.

Pepper elbowed him gently in the ribs as the ladies laughed at both their antics. "You make it sound like I shanghaied you the first time, Mr. Stark." She teased him back, rolling her eyes dramatically.

"But sweetheart, you know the only thing I remember clearly from our marriage ceremony in the hospital was me saying 'I do'. Everything else is a little fuzzy." He replied leaning his head over to hers and giving her a quick hug.

"Wow!" Laura spoke up "I'm surprised you remembered that much." She continued with a big chuckle. "Most men only remember their wedding night and not the ceremony."

The group laughed and Pepper noticed that Tony actually pinkened at Laura's comment. She was actually surprised at his embarrassment.

"Well… we really didn't get to have a wedding night for me to remember" He defended "because we never quite made it to our honeymoon." He added looking over at Pepper with raised eyebrows.

"Somehow I'm not surprised considering how unconventional your lives together have been." Anna responded quietly. "But our family will make sure that you get the ceremony that you both will fondly remember for years to come."

"And just maybe you can talk your new bride here into a honeymoon after our family reunion." Beth spoke out smiling at them both. "After all you are practically in the Caribbean as we speak."

Laura spoke up again. "We Jedi Knights of wedding planning have had time to consider just what type of ceremony would suit you two." She announced loudly to the group. "And we have come to a unanimous decision that a Hippie Chic wedding ceremony is in order."

Pepper started giggling and Tony turned to look at her and smiled at the expression on her face, knowing somehow that Laura, Beth, and she were somehow sharing thoughts telepathically.

She looked at him, noting the curious look on his face and she reached out to stroke his cheek tenderly with her right hand. "When the three of us were 14, we spent an entire rainy weekend together each of us planning out our dream wedding." She explained laying her hand on his shoulder. And my dream wedding was a hippie wedding."

"Done deal, then." Tony smiled broadly at her as he reached over to take her left hand in his right, squeezing it tenderly. "Tie dye it is, my darling." He said pulling her left hand up to his mouth and kissing the back of her hand.

"There is a boutique in the town square that has enough Hippie clothing in it to fill up 20 VW Beetle buses." Beth chimed in.

"We should be able to get everything set tomorrow, so how about we have the ceremony Wednesday evening just before sunset?" Laura said looking at Karen who nodded enthusiastically at her. "The lighting will be perfect for Karen to take pictures."

"We can bake a tie dye cake." Anna said excitedly. "I saw a really good recipe for one years ago and I bet I can go on line and find it again."

Within seconds all of the ladies at the table began talking at the same time. In the deafening chaos that followed, Tony looked from one to the other and smiled to himself, happy to see his new family really enjoying themselves. He cleared his throat once and then spoke up loudly trying to get everyone's attention "Well seeing how I am both outnumbered and outgunned here, I think I'm going to go get the guys and plan out my bachelor party then."

Silence suddenly filled the room as all heads turned towards Tony. Tony smiled at Pepper and leaned over to kiss her cheek tenderly. "And since you already know my clothing sizes by heart, babe, there's no reason for me to stay here any longer." He continued to tease. "So I'm going to see about setting up my party at the go cart racetrack on the other side of town. All the kids have been talking about the place today." He paused for dramatic effect as he stood up from the table to leave. "Just remember, Mrs. Stark. No matter what Aunti Betsy and Oma say, you cannot have male strippers at your party. You know how jealous I get."

Laura quickly spoke up. "Don't worry. Your lovely wife will be enjoying some spa time with her 'girls' at her bachelorette party, thank you very much."

"No promises on the male strippers though." Betsy said loudly punctuating her statement with a huge smile, making everyone at the table laugh loudly as Tony smiled back at her and quickly walked out of the room.

Their entire family worked together the next day preparing for the ceremony, still having plenty of time to relax and play on the beach. Tony was able to teach both Betsy and Charlotte how to surf and one of Pepper's younger second cousins managed to secretly record each of them standing up on the boards and riding some small waves. She had posted the videos on Vine and within only a few hours, the videos had thousands of hits and were well on their way to becoming viral. And of course Betsy and Charlotte both handled their new found web popularity with their own brand of ribald humor making everyone in the family swear to never video tape them ever again.

Wednesday morning found all the male members of the family at the go-cart center where they rented the entire complex including the pizzeria for lunch. The complex had a huge game room, batting cages and a miniature golf course too, so everyone even the adults had something that they liked there. Pepper's youngest cousins took great delight in beating 'Iron Man' on the track and Tony had somehow managed to be graceful even in defeat.

Pepper and her 'girls' spent the morning at the spa and each of them had pedicures and manicures done as well as their hair styled. Pepper's youngest cousins couldn't decide how Pepper should have her toe nails painted, which they decided was a very important decision since both her and Tony would be bare footed at the altar. Pepper had laughed and told the little girls the story of how she had dreamed of her hippie wedding as a teenager. She also told them that she had decided as a teenager to paint every toenail differently for her wedding, being the independent person that she was even at that young age. So with her young cousins squealing their delight, Pepper had agreed to paint each of her toe nails differently just like she had dreamed about as a teenager.

When Wednesday afternoon rolled around, everything was set for their ceremony. All the food had been prepared. The enormous tie dye cake was sitting proudly in the dining hall awaiting the after-ceremony dinner. They decided to have a beach dance after the dinner and they had managed to find a live band that would play songs from the 60's and 70's of course.

Pepper had managed to track down Claire yesterday and had sent two of her security team to pick up Claire and her husband, George this morning. Oma and Aunti Betsy had immediately bonded with Claire and within an hour had formally adopted her as a sister, much to the delight of everyone.

Pepper now found herself in her and Tony's room which was had been turned into a huge dressing room for the bride and the bridesmaids after Tony had been kicked out earlier. Opa had come to the room to get Tony and had to take Tony by the arm along with two hangers full of clothing for him to wear for the ceremony promising Pepper that Tony would be dressed and on time for it.

The shadows on the wall indicated that there wasn't much time before they would be called down to the beach. Laura and Karen had already left the room in order to prepare for the ceremony. Pepper suddenly realized that the room had grown quiet.

"Nervous, sweetheart?" Betsy asked reaching down to take Pepper's right hand.

"A little, Aunti." Pepper confessed as everyone in the room turned to her. "When Tony and I got married there wasn't any time to really think about what was happening." She looked around and smiled at everyone. "It's good to have time to reflect. It makes you really appreciate your family and friends and how important they are in your life and how happy they make you feel during this important time in your life."

"We all love you, Pepper." Oma said, "And we love Tony too. We want nothing but the best for both of you."

"You make a beautiful bride, baby." Anna said wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

Suddenly a loud knock came from the door. Beth opened the door slowly to find Ronald, Pepper's dad standing there dressed in a very loud tie dye shirt, bright blue bell bottom corduroy pants, and a sheepish grin on his face. "I just had to draw the line at the flower headband, Pepper. Sorry." He then held out his arm to escort her down to the beach.

Everyone in the room started laughing. Pepper reached up to adjust her own crown of flowers which garnished the top of her head.

"It's OK Dad." Pepper replied taking his arm. "I'm taking bets on whether or not Tony will have his flower headband on."

"You know that man will do anything for you, Pepper." He replied with a laugh walking her out the door "Of course he has his headband on. And believe me he was teased unmercifully about it too, but he kept it on anyways." He glanced over at her "You look beautiful, Ginny."

"Thanks, Dad!" she replied squeezing his arm tenderly. "And you're looking pretty good yourself, too. Even without the headband!" They both laughed together as they walked away from the room.

Pepper felt the warm breeze ruffle her long dress and move the ringlets of her hair as they began to descend the stairs to the beach. They could now hear music playing softly as they got closer to the water. She could now see her family standing in front of the chairs that had been set up in front of the archway under which Laura, Tony, and his groomsmen stood. She saw that all eyes were upon her and she smiled broadly at her family. The sand felt cool as her feet sank down into it with each step she took.

As she and her father got closer to where Laura and Tony were standing, she began to focus all her attention on Tony. She noticed just how handsomely he was dressed in his long sleeved gauze shirt with the leather lace up front and his tan corduroy pants. She also noted his bare feet sticking out from under his pants and smiled as she thought of her own brightly painted toes currently hidden under her 1970s Gunne Sax Edwardian white prairie lace gauze wedding dress. Per Laura and Beth bare feet were mandatory at this ceremony. Tony locked eyes with her as they walked up to the archway filled with flowers and a huge peace sign. Pepper's heart began to race with the look of longing and love on Tony's face as he looked at her.

As they approached Tony, Ronald held out her arm to Tony and Tony eagerly took her left hand in his right one and they turned towards Laura who was dressed up in a beautiful flowered dress with a enormous button pinned to the collar of the dress which read 'Make Love, Not War'. She smiled at both of them and began to speak loudly enough to be heard over the sound of the surf in the background.

"When you first joined hands and hearts in marriage six weeks ago, you didn't know where life would take you." She began with a smile looking at both of them intently. "You promised to love, honor and cherish one another through all things. And your life together has brought you both wonderful blessings and difficult challenges. But you and your love has stayed true and strong. As you continue on your journey together, I ask you to remember these words of advice:

Let your love be stronger than your anger.
Learn the wisdom of compromise, for it is better to bend than to break.
Believe the best of your beloved rather than the worst.
Confide in your partner and ask for help when you need it.
Remember that true friendship is the basis for any lasting relationship.
Give your spouse the same courtesies and kindnesses you bestow on your friends.
And remember to say "I love you" each and every day.

I must remind you that marriage is a precious gift; a lifelong dedication to love and a daily challenge to love one another more fully and more freely."

She paused to smile at both of them, and then turned to look directly at Tony as she continued.
"With this understanding, do you Anthony Edward Stark continue to take Virginia Anne Stark as your beloved wife? Will you continue to be a tender, faithful husband? And will you continue to love and cherish her, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and keep yourself only unto her?" Laura asked Tony.

"Yes, I will." Tony said somberly squeezing Pepper's hand tenderly, his bourbon eyes now locked with her ocean blue ones.

Laura turned then to Pepper and smiled broadly at her. "With this understanding, do you Virginia Anne Stark continue to take Anthony Edward Stark as your beloved husband? Will you continue to be a tender, faithful wife? And will you continue to love and cherish him, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and keep yourself only unto him?" She asked Pepper.

"Yes, I will." Pepper replied seriously squeezing Tony's hand back tenderly as she smiled softly at him as he softly smiled back at her.

Laura then continued. "When you first married you gave each other rings as the outward symbols of your commitment to each other. So Anthony, touch Virginia's ring, reminding yourself of all the reasons that you gave it to her and repeat after me. 'From this day on, I recommit myself to you, and this ring is a symbol of my pledge.'"

Tony obediently took Pepper's left hand in his right one and reached over to touch Pepper's wedding rings with his fingertips. "From this day on, I recommit myself to you, and this ring is a symbol of my pledge."

Laura smiled at Tony and then turned back to Pepper. "Virginia, touch Anthony's ring, reminding yourself of all the reasons you gave it to him, and repeat after me. 'From this day on, I recommit myself to you, and this ring is a symbol of my pledge.'"

Pepper took Tony's left hand in her right one and reached over to touch Tony's wedding band with her fingertips. "From this day on, I recommit myself to you, and this ring is a symbol of my pledge."

Laura reached out with her hands and laid her hands on top of both Pepper's and Tony's entwined hands. "Marriage is a commitment to learning to care for one another in mutually fulfilling ways. It is not an act but a life-long relationship that is always in the making.

May the sun bring you new energy by day.
May the moon softly restore you by night.
May the rain wash away your worries.
And may you live the days of your lives in peace, love, and happiness.

Having witnessed your vows of affirmation with all who are assembled here, and by the authority of God's word and love itself, I do affirm that you have been and will always remain husband and wife." Laura pronounced with a huge smile lighting up her face.

With those words, Tony immediately pulled Pepper into a deep kiss as shouts and cheers from her family drown out even the sound of the waves for the moment.

Laura slowly turned Pepper and Tony towards the seated group as they broke from their kiss. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I now present to you: Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Edward Stark."

Everyone then stood up, clapping and cheering again for them. Pepper smiled and waved at her family as Tony placed his left arm around her waist and pulled her snugly into him. She quickly turned into his arms and pulled him into a strong hug, suddenly not wanting to ever let go of him. She felt tears well up in her eyes at the feel of him so strong and alive in her arms.

Suddenly a feeling of déjà vu passed over her as she continued to hug Tony. In her mind eye, her years at his side quickly passed before her as she continued to grip him as if her life now depended on her physical connection with him. But then given her belief that he was her soul mate, maybe her life really did depend on it.

Tony pulled back slightly from her, a lopsided grin on his face and a sparkle of mischief in his bourbon eyes. Pepper's eyebrows raised in a silent question back at him as she waited to find out just what he was up to now.

"Why Mrs. Stark, I get the distinct feeling that your art deco toe nails have their own story to tell." He teased glancing down at her feet.

"They do indeed, Mr. Stark." she teased back batting her eye lashes coyly at him. "But I'm saving that as a bedtime story for you later tonight."

"I can't wait." He whispered seductively in her ear as he led her towards their waiting family and friends.

Who would have ever thought that 20 years ago, a tall, skinny red headed fourteen year old girl in the middle of nowhere on an Arizona cattle ranch would wish for a hippie wedding at the beach only to realize that 20 years later she had gotten her wish. She leaned over and brushed her lips across his smooth cheek near his ear. "Me either!" she whispered back to him.

FIN

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