Thanks everyone for hanging in there on this one. It has been fun to write, and I love reading the feedback and comments. PLEASE keep them coming!

One more chapter to go after this one…

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Tony's house was different; Pepper noticed immediately when he opened the door. Max was asleep in his carrier, the drive from the airstrip having lulled him to sleep after a rather restless flight. Stepping aside, Tony walked past Pepper and set the carrier on the kitchen counter; she watched as he extricated Max from his cocoon of sleep and safety. There was something strange about seeing Tony in his home with their son, something seemingly out of place. Max's eyes opened wide then closed again as Tony settled him against his shoulder. She watched them walk away, up the stairs, but for the first time she realized how hard on Tony it must have been to leave them behind month after month.

Returning a few minutes later, Tony slid the carrier off the counter and put it on the floor, then asked Pepper if she wanted something to drink. She declined and sat down on the couch, pulling her feet under her body. On the chair across from her, Tony sat down, leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "Max is in his crib, in my room," he said. "He never really woke up."

"Good," Pepper answered.

"I'm glad you agreed to come here, to allow me some extra time with Max. It would have been hard to leave him, considering," Tony said, looking at her to make sure she understood.

Pepper nodded. "To be honest, I needed the time off too."

Glancing at her, Tony's face showed his surprise at her admission. Her willing admission forced Tony to realize that leaving them was hard, but so was being a single mother. Closing her eyes, Pepper leaned back against the couch. Quietly, Tony got up from where he was seated and slipped in between the couch and the coffee table, sat down so he was facing her. She didn't open her eyes, and fleetingly he wondered if she knew what he was going to say.

"This isn't going to work anymore," he whispered, letting his hands rest on her knees.

Pepper didn't open her eyes, and Tony noticed she didn't seem surprised or alarmed by his words. All she said was, "I know."

"My parents died when I was a teenager." Tony had rarely ever talked about his parents, it was too painful, but he didn't want there to be any miscommunication and he didn't want her to feel threatened. He wanted her to understand. "Things were …I have never been the same. Nothing has changed this void I've carried with me my entire life. Nothing has removed the pain."

"Tony, it's not the same. You are alive. You are here. You visit him, I talk to him about you."

"Yes, and I appreciate it, Pepper. But it's not the same. It's not and Max will begin to wonder one day, maybe when he hits his first homerun or builds his first bot, or wants me to meet the first girl he's fallen in love with, 'Why isn't the old man here when I need him?'" Tony drew in a breath that bolstered his confidence. "Some moments have already passed. Moments I will never get back. And despite my insane genius, I won't ever be able to turn back time and fill the void of my absence, so what he'll know is that I love him, but I'm never really there when he needs me. I could be the fun dad on the weekend, the one who teaches him pick up lines and how to build a hot rod, but who can't really shape him because our relationship will be everything on the surface and nothing that lays a foundation. And I have already lived enough of my life like that."

"So, what are you saying?" she asked, looking to all the world as though she wished she'd never agreed to come back. This conversation was far too difficult on her already raw emotions. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought of Malibu as a place where she lost everything, a place she left because there was nothing left to lose.

"I'm saying we have to rethink this situation, I'm saying I want you in my life, but if you decide against it, one of us is going to have to move to be near the other so we can truly raise Max together."

She felt cornered, she felt as if he was exerting over her an ultimatum, and it wasn't fair because if he hadn't been such a coward then this discussion would not be necessary.

"Mike wants for us to be more than just friends," she told him.

Tony found it hard to follow her train of thought. He sat, wide-eyed, and of its own accord his hand slid up her leg to her thigh and he tightened his hold on her, afraid to hear her next words.

"Mike wants to try, because he thinks we would be good together. He's offered to help me with Max. "

Tony felt the cold edge of jealousy and hatred stab through him, making him want to say a thousand things to hurt her, but he'd done that before and he was still trying to find a way to make amends. He bit the inside of his cheek and stayed quiet, but his hands slid down her legs, over her knees, and rested in his lap, his nostrils flaring.

"It sounds like you've discussed this with Mr. Mullet in great detail," Tony commented.

Pepper said nothing, but averted her gaze almost guiltily.

"And have you made your decision?"

"I have," she whispered. He felt as though a million years passed in the few seconds before she spoke again. "Whether or not Mike and I would be good together doesn't matter, Tony. I mean, the pull is there, I guess. He's a nice guy. He's smart and funny. It's an opportunity for another life. You know, for so long, I've been focused on you. I'd convinced myself the only way to be happy is if we were together. And then we were, and it was beautiful but you took that away from me. I gave you all I could give – time, friendship, love, myself and then you changed your mind and decided you didn't want any of it."

"Pepper, argh. Damn it, I've tried to apologize! I was wrong," he countered harshly.

"I know that," she said in a placating tone. "I've always known your weaknesses and I've accepted them, that's one reason I stayed as long as I did. But when we crossed that line together and you backed out – I didn't feel like I could ever trust anyone again, because I never, ever believed you would do something like that. Not to me."

"I'm sorry." His apology was desperate but it was not enough to undo what was done.

"I know you are," she said. "I don't doubt your sincerity."

"What are you saying, Pepper? What's the end result of this discussion?"

"What I'm saying is that I've been yours for years. Years, Tony, ever since I met you." Pepper couldn't help the tears that slid down her cheeks. "And I'm saying I have alternatives, hundreds of choices that could take me out of this room and back to San Francisco or anywhere but Malibu. And I'm saying that it's flattering to be desired by a man who isn't you. But no matter what I do, no matter where I go, you're the only one who has ever really mattered."

Sitting up straight, Tony cleared his voice, "So what does this mean? What are you saying?"

"I'm here, Tony. For you."

Pulling her to him, he let fly a litany of apologies. He whispered in her hair and let his lips kiss across her cheek, and his hands were everywhere but nowhere for too long.

"I need to hear you say it, just one time, Pepper. Just once," he trailed off as he pressed his face against her neck.

She had not withheld the words in an effort to be cruel, there were reasons why they didn't come easily, but there would be time later to tell him about that particular heartache. The words fluttered up and out of her body, like a long kept secret and she said them softly, her lips pressed against his ear, "I love you." Her lips moved to his and the fire and passion of months ago was reignited in a whisper of breath. They moved together seamlessly, a heat and passion bubbling just below the surface, barely contained. Their kisses intensified, their need escalating. He eased her back on the couch and lay on top of her. She gasped as he kissed his way down her throat and to the neckline of her shirt.

Max whimpered once, again, and then began to cry, as Jarvis reported, "Sir, I believe young Master Stark has awakened. It would seem he has his father's impeccable timing."

"Can it, J. Or I will reprogram you with a monotone female lilt and call you Siri," Tony responded as he withdrew from Pepper with a small smile.

"Uh, I'll get him."

"I'm sure he's probably hungry," Pepper said as she stood up from the couch and smoothed out the wrinkles in her clothing and adjusted her ponytail. As Tony made his way up to get the baby, Pepper looked around his home, at what once was so devoid of life. It was different now, and not just because there was a diaper bag sitting on his counter or because there was a crib next to his bed. Seeing Tony making his way down the stairs, Max against his shoulder, she smiled.

Their conversation – and other activities - were pushed to the backburner in favor of feeding the baby and changing a diaper that smelled like toxic waste Iron Man had landed in, but Max was healthy and whole, and neither one of them complained. Sitting side by side, they watched in wonderment of this tiny being who was in so many ways a second chance. They laughed and talked, but Tony managed a scowl when Max's burp turned into a full-fledged regurgitation of all he'd just eaten, most of it slithering down his back. Pepper laughed, handing him the burp cloth.

He held the baby out to Pepper, and she laughed and took him, situating Max on her shoulder his face turned toward her neck as Tony went to change his shirt. When he returned, they made plans to go to Shield, Tony admitting he'd been dying to show off Max. "Pictures just aren't the same," he said sadly, looking at a picture of Max that was framed and sitting on his coffee table.

Yawning, Pepper asked, "When do you want to go?"

Letting his hand skim over Max's head, he answered, "Whenever, there's no hurry."

"It's going to be awkward," Pepper said, and then grimaced.

"Probably," he agreed.

Pepper stretched out on the couch, her feet pushing against Tony's thigh, and mumbled, "Tomorrow."

Tony nodded, although Pepper didn't see it because her eyes were already closed. Before drifting to sleep she told him in a soft voice, "There is still so much we need to talk about. I love you, but that doesn't automatically solve everything."

Glancing at Pepper he again nodded, then added, "I know," so she would know he heard her. Max's baby talk and cooing filled the air, and Tony held his son close to him, the warmth and squirming, the baby drool and smell of powder, Pepper asleep beside him, all he needed for the moment.

Eventually they moved to the bedroom, Max an arm's length away. His soft sighs and squirming in the crib woke Tony occasionally, but it was a peaceful drifting out of sleep, a contented if disoriented awakening. Pepper stirred in the middle of the night, half-asleep, claiming she heard Max crying. "Max? Is he crying?"

"No, no," Tony soothed. "Dreaming," he said groggily.

She glanced over to the crib where Max lay softly slumbering. Tony reached over to her in the darkness and pulled her closer. "Come here," he offered. She accepted, scooting closer to him in the warm bed, and into his waiting arms. He kissed her, gently, and her return of affection was all the only affirmation he needed as he slowly and tenderly made love to her, showing her in every way that he knew of just how much he loved her. And for once, it was enough.