Pepper wasn't sure what changed between the time she left to go on her walk on the beach alone until she returned.
But something had changed.
She didn't argue with it or ask why either because the next eight days she got to spend with him were days she would never forget for as long as she lived.
The first morning she woke up her usual time, and turned over with a cautious stretch so she didn't wake up Tony on accident. She was startled by the sight of Tony's side of the bed being empty. Tony had almost always still been in bed when she woke up in the morning, so the fact he wasn't where she expected him to be, she sat up.
Burnt cinnamon.
The thing that stopped her from calling out to him had been the smell of burnt cinnamon.
Then the shrill, piercing sound of an alarm filled the air.
"What the…" she muttered, throwing back the covers, and slipping on her robe as she hurried towards kitchen. Seconds later she entered the kitchen in time to see Tony dump a blackened something into the trash, and turned on the exhaust fan over the stove. He then opened the sliding patio door to get rid of the lingering smoke.
When he still hadn't noticed her presence a few moments later, she cleared her throat, "Tony?"
He spun around, and coughing a little because of the smoke, he coughed when he asked, "Pep...per, what are… are you doing in h-here?"
"I think that's supposed to be my question to you," she said, gesturing towards the stove, "What were you doing?"
Tony coughed a little more and wrapped his arm around her, "Come on, I don't think it's a good idea for you or I.B. for you to keep breathing in the smoke."
Pepper nodded, and followed his lead, "Well for the record, it isn't good for you either. And I.B.? Also, you're avoiding my question about what you were trying to do in the kitchen?"
"Short for Iron Baby, of course, and I'm not avoiding your question."
Shaking her head, and smiling at the Iron Baby nickname, she insisted, "Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not!"
"Pretty sure in are, because you still haven't answered it yet!"
Sighing, he muttered, "I was trying to me you breakfast in bed."
"You were trying to make me-"
"Breakfast in bed, yeah."
Before he knew what hit him, Tony's wife was kissing him all over his face. She kissed him at least a dozen times before putting her hands on both sides of his face, and laying a long, deep kiss on his lips that left them both breathless.
When he had breath again, only one word came to mind, "Wow."
"Yeah."
"If I would have made you breakfast years ago if I had known you'd do that as a thank you."
"I'd say there's more where that came from but…"
"You're hungry."
"We're hungry."
"Well, it won't be breakfast in bed but I can try-"
Covering his mouth with her hand, she smiled. "How about we make breakfast together?"
He nodded, and she dropped her hand.
"What were you trying to make anyway?" she asked as they went back into the kitchen.
"French toast."
"French toast?"
"Uh huh."
"That sounds really good. Is there any bread left?"
"Hey! I didn't do that badly!"
Tony's attempt to make her breakfast in bed followed by them finally doing it together was only the beginning of their routine for the next week. For every day after that, they'd wake up together, watch the sun come up as she learned he had actually done on the morning of the failed breakfast attempt. The sun rises were breathtaking here so she welcomed being able to watch the beauty brigthen the skies wrapped in his arms.
After breakfast, they'd tidy up the kitchen real quick, then either go for a long walk on the beach or go to the pool. She would sit by or sometimes on the edge of the water, watching him as he would sometimes swim, but usually Tony would just sit with her, and talk to her. They would talk about everything in the world and nothing at all.
After a leisurely lunch that they usually had sent over from the resort's kitchen, a long nap wrapped in each other's arms was in order. Pepper smiled every time she would wake up to feel Tony's hand on her stomach, as he tried to include their son in everything as much as he could.
After their nap, they'd have dinner, again provided by the resort's kitchen, and then they'd spend the rest of the evening showing each other how much they loved each other. She would then be so drowsy glowing in the warmth of the love that she had both given and had received from her husband that soon she would fall asleep listening to Tony talk to their son.
She must have sensed something was different about tonight because instead of laying her head down, and drifting off to sleep listening to his nightly conversation with their son, she held him close. Neither of them said anything for the longest, as though they didn't know what to say.
"I saw him," Tony said in a quiet voice, breaking the quiet before adding a second later, "I've seen our son."
Pepper's fingers stilled from their trail through his hair, "What did you say?"
"I said that I saw our son… in a dream."
She swallowed back the sudden jolt of fear she'd felt, "Sounds like a nice dream."
He wanted to be able to say that it was, but knowing it was a vision of the very near future that he was never going to be a part of stopped him. So, he said, "It wasn't just a random dream, Pep. I believe what I saw was the future. No, I know what I saw was the future."
The sadness in his voice scared Pepper, and she pulled away from him to look at him, "Tony, what did you see? How do you know it wasn't just a random dream?"
He closed his eyes, sighing, "I know it wasn't random, honey, because there is something I haven't told you yet. You know when you went walking on the beach by yourself, and I stayed on the patio?"
"Yes?"
"Honey, well, I had a visitor while you were gone, and before you ask who or how, it was Doctor Stephen Strange." He opened his eyes in time to see a concerned… puzzlement cross her face, so he added, "Remember he's a wizard. I swear, Pep, he was here eight days ago!"
"Okay, okay, I believe you. So what did he want?"
Tony hesitated to answer her question. How did he tell her the reason Stephen came was to take away the pain? How could he say that that, until the wizard had visited him, the pain was fast growing to the point of where it was becoming unbearable?
"He came to help me with something."
"What?"
"Something."
"Tony…"
"Pepper."
"Why won't you tell me why he was here?"
Her question was met with silence.
"It's because you were in pain, weren't you?"
Silence again was her answer.
"Oh, Tony, why did you say something? The doctors-"
"Gave me pain meds strong enough to knock out an elephant, and being doped up to the point I wouldn't even know you were with me wasn't how I wanted to spend my last days!"
A tear rolled her face, and she swiped it away before saying, "I understand that, honey, I really do. But the thought of you being in pain, and refusing to use the painkillers the doctors gave you…" She covered her mouth to hold in the sobs.
He pulled her close again, "Hey, hey, shhh, now. Honey, I'm fine. I promise I am. I don't know what Strange did, but while he was here the pain stopped, and I promise you I haven't hurt one tiny ounce since his visit."
"You're not hurting?"
"No, I promise you that I'm feel fine."
She still cried, even after hearing he wasn't hurting right now.
"He's beautiful," Tony said, once she had cried herself out, "Morgan, our son."
Pepper didn't say anything, just curled further into him.
He kissed her hair, "I love you." She murmured something he knew to be I love you in return, and smiling, he pressed another kiss, "Why don't you try to get some sleep?"
After giving him a long look, she nodded, closing her eyes, "Don't stay up too late talking to our little guy. Okay?"
"Okay, I won't."
"Goodnight, Tony."
"NIght, Pep."
It had been over an hour since he had seen or heard any signs that Pepper was still awake. He was though. He was wide awake, and Tony wasn't sure why other than the nagging feeling he had been having for most of the day.
When they came to this place to get away from the world, where it was just them and their unborn son like they wanted it to be, they had both known he was dying. Helen Cho and every other doctor they had consulted, had said the same thing she had. They, had all estimated that he would not live more than a few months. The thought of leaving Pepper and his son behind to go on without him was definitely the worst part of this. It hurt Tony more than he dreamed anything ever could, almost to the point the pain was physical, but he had found little ways to make peace with it. If his death was the price for being sure the two people he loved most in the world would get to live out their lives in relative peace, then so be it.
He just wished he'd be around long enough to be able to hold his son in his arms just one time.
But it was not to be.
He knew it with every fiber of his being, and he had known since he waking up with his wife to watch the sunrise that morning, that he wouldn't be there to watch the next one with her. He'd kept the realization to himself because he hadn't wanted his final day spent with sadness or tears marring it. He had wanted today to be a happy day for the both of them, and except for the time just before she fell asleep, that is what it had been.
He wasn't sure how much time he had left, but he knew it was only a matter of hours now. Now that it, that the moment death would claim him was near, Tony realized, with some surprise, that he wasn't afraid. He could only take a guess why he wasn't afraid to die. One guess was maybe the fact he had faced it so many times over the last decade, that he wasn't afraid of dying anymore. Or the more likely reason, he wasn't afraid to say hello to death tonight was because he knew the beautiful woman who had been laying wrapped up in his arms earlier would go on. He knew without any doubt that Pepper would go on after he was gone, and she would have a good life with their little boy. Yes, he was sad that he wasn't going to be there to share it with them, and yes he couldn't help the grief he was feeling, but he knew they'd be okay.
Death was so close now, he could practically feel the Grim Reaper breathing down his neck. Tony considered waking Pepper up but in the end he didn't. He had told Strange he wanted to be looking at his wife when he died and so he was. She was so beautiful to him that she took his breath away. Although he'd seen and been with many countless beautiful women in his life, Pepper was the first woman he could honestly say she was the only woman who took his breath when he looked at her.
She still did, especially now with the glow of motherhood upon her.
Man, he didn't think he'd ever seen a more beautiful woman in his life than the angel sleeping peacefully beside him.
He started to reach out, and caress her face, but stopped himself short of doing so. He didn't want to wake her up. Instead he lightly placed his hand on her stomach, and after whispering I love you, he looked down where his hand laid. He smiled when he felt a light kick underneath it, then frowned slightly. He moved closer, and murmured, "Hey, mister, let's not wake up Mommy, huh? She needs her sleep, and you'll be keeping her up nights soon enough. In fact, I think maybe you need to go to sleep yourself, okay?"
He got even closer to his wife's stomach, and began humming quietly, wanting their son to go to sleep so his mother could continue to sleep for a few hours. Exhaustion would be here soon enough for Pepper without her waking up tonight, and only would be made worse by watching something she couldn't stop.
He hummed on for several minutes, and once he was sure the baby had fallen asleep, he began talking, "I know we've not met face to face yet but I love you, Morgan. I love you more than I've loved anything else… well except for your Mom, of course."
He took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to keep the tears in his eyes where they were, "I… I'm so sorry you're going to have to grow up without your old man around. I know exactly how it feels when your Dad's not there, and I hate it that in a way, I am going to do to you what my own Dad did to me. But I can't change… can't change what's already happened or the choice I made. I made the choice that you, and your Mom, and Peter…" He stopped there, unable to go on for the lump in his throat.
He started rubbing Pepper's stomach again, hoping that he wouldn't wake her or the baby. But he had to do this because this was the only way for his son to feel his touch in their last moments together. After a few minutes of fighting to reign in the agony he was feeling, he start talking again.
"I made the choice that you, and your Mom, and Peter… you were all going to have the lives you deserved. I knew when I made my choice to save you, and your Mom, and Peter, and the universe, I would have to pay some kind of price for it. But that's okay… you are worth it, and so much more. You, your Mom... all of you mean more to me than… than me getting to go on being one of many residents of planet Earth for another few decades. I decided that I was willing to pay whatever the cost no matter what it was, orthose extra decades I got in exchange if I hadn't done it wouldn't have meant anything. Without you or your Mom, they would have have been way too empty."
It would been so unbearably empty that, without the people he loves, and he knows he would have blown his brains out before five… before even one year had passed.
Like the time inevitably coming in, a sudden wave of tiredness washed over Tony, accompanied with the realization his time was almost over. He swallowed, and took a few breaths before he said, "Your Daddy has got to go to… sleep now. Be good for your Mommy, okay? And remember just because I'm not here anymore doesn't mean that I don't love you. I love you, son. I will always love you no matter what. Dying doesn't change that, and if I had to do it all over again, knowing the price I'd have to pay to give you and your Mom the lives you both deserve, I'd do it without hesitation. I love you, Morgan."
After a few more rubs on his wife's stomach he turned his eyes to Pepper's face, and stared at her sleep relaxed face before whispering, "I love you, Pepper. You were the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm sorry I didn't show you that you were often enough. Please, honey, don't cry too much after I'm gone." It was getting harder to talk so he just laid back, and looked at her for another moment.
I love you.
Yawning then stretching, Pepper could fill the warmth of the tropical sun spilling across their bed, and for a moment she just laid there basking in it. There was no need to rush to start the day, although she would need to get up soon since her son was currently pressing on her bladder.
Her son.
Their son.
She smiled, remembering how excited and joyous Tony had been when she confirmed they were going to have a baby. He had whooped out loud, and picked her up before spinning both of them around.
Thankfully spinning hadn't last long because he said he was afraid he'd hurt their baby, but she knew it was really because of his condition. He was quite winded for some time after that, but the sparkle never left his eyes, and or the smile on his lips.
She was so happy that even in their current situation, they had something so wonderful to share together, and Tony's daily interactions with her stomach were an unending source of amusement. He was constantly touching her stomach whenever they were close together (which was always), and more than once she had fallen asleep listening to the sound of his voice talking to their child about everything under the sun.
How was it possible she was falling in love with this man more with every day that passed? How was it possible she had left him for any length of time, no matter how brief it was? Looking back on their time apart, she now regretted it with every fiber of her being and would give anything if they could have the time they'd lost then back.
Stop it! she told herself angrily, You can't turn back the hands of time. All you can do now is love Tony with all of your heart for as long as he's with you.
He would be with her forever and always, she knew, even when his physical presence was gone. He would never leave her heart for as long as she breathed in air.
She was brought abruptly out of her thoughts when she felt a sharp couple of kicks to her side. She raised her hand to rub her stomach and say, "Okay, okay, I get the idea. You want Mommy to get up and go pee!" But as quickly as she going to rub, she had to stop. Something familiar was on her stomach.
Smiling she opened her eyes, and quickly caught sight of Tony's hand laying on her stomach. Her smile grew as she turned her head towards his, "How are my favorite two men this morning?"
There was no response from Tony.
Maybe he's still asleep? she thought, moving her head forward to kiss him awake. She immediately pulled back because something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
First, he still wasn't giving her any response, and second, his lips felt cold.
Too cold.
Feeling how upset his mother was becoming the baby started to kick again.
"Tony?"
There was nothing from him.
"This isn't funny!" she said, his voice rising, "I mean it! Tony, open your eyes!"
He didn't move.
Pepper stared at him, not wanting to do what she needed to do next. She continued to stare at him for five minutes before another kick from the baby brought her out of her stupor.
Please no. Please, God, don't let him be... be...
Slowly she raised her hand to the side of his face. His skin was definitely cold to the touch, and there was a pallor to it she hadn't noticed before. Biting back a sob, she slowly trailed her hand down from his cheek to his neck, and felt there.
Nothing.
She couldn't feel his blood flowing underneath her fingertips.
"Nooo!" she yelled, sitting up as fast as she could while being pregnant.
His hand fell onto to bed between them.
She reached out to shake him.
"Tony! Wake up! Please wake up now!"
But he couldn't wake up. He would never wake up again.
Sobbing, she finally stopped shaking, and instead pulled him up as best she could into her arms. Rocking him gently, she continued to sob into his hair as she stroked, and kissed it, "No! I'm not ready yet! I'm not ready for you to leave me yet!"
"Strange?" Wong said, as he pushed the door to the other's room open, "It is..." He stopped speaking as he entered the room, and found the other sorcerer sitting up in bed, wrapped in a blanket.
"Over," Stephen said, hoarsely, "Yes, I know. I felt him go the moment it happened."
"How? He was not one of us!"
Pained eyes met his, "He wasn't a Master of the Mystical Arts, Wong, but he was one of us. He defended the Earth with his life as much as we do, and although I really didn't like him when we first met, I know now he was our brother." When Wong didn't leave his room after that, he asked, "Why do you keep staring at me like that?"
Wong's answer was to conjure up a mirror in front of Strange's face. He immediately saw what was causing Wong to stare, and shrugging he turned his head to better study the new white sections gracing his hair, "I can't say I'm surprised this happened. He was in a lot of pain."
His words absorbed into the following silence and then he threw back the blanket wrapped around him to the foot of his bed. Getting out of bed he was dressed the second his feet hit the floor, and the Cloak of Levitation settled on his shoulders with a flourish.
"What are you doing?" Wong asked as Strange attempted to open a portal.
"There's someone I need to talk to."
"But you are weak."
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not. I know what you did to help him, and you are weak because of it."
As if to prove the other sorcerer's point, Strange stumbled and not just a little. The only reason he didn't do a face plant on the floor was the Cloak kept him on his feet.
"You need to rest, and recover your strength before you leave the Sanctum."
"I'm not planning on getting into a fight, Wong."
"Nevertheless-"
"Wong! I'm okay... or I will be long enough to do what I have to do. I don't expect this to take long and I will come straight back here. I promise." He added the last part when it looked like his friend would protest further.
Wong nodded, "Should I accompany you?"
"No, I think it's better if I do this alone." With those words, Stephen succeeded in opening a portal and stepped through to his destination.
"Are you certain that is the wisest course of action, Doctor?"
The sorcerer nodded, "Yes… Mrs. Stark is in no condition to let you inside herself. As it is, I have my doubts she will know you are there at first. It's only been a little over an hour since he..."
"The Earth has lost one of the greatest defenders she will ever know."
"Yes, and in there is a woman who has lost the man she called the love of her life not all that long ago."
The head opposite of him nodded, "I will do whatever I am able to do to assist her. But should this privilege not fall to someone else, Doctor? I am acquainted with Mrs. Stark, of course, but it is what I believe what most would call a passing acquaintance. I believe Colonel Rhodes would be a more suitable choice."
"No, you're wrong about about someone else being more suitable. Trust me when I tell you, you'll be able to give her initial comfort in a way that no one else will be able to. Not even Rhodes."
"But-"
"You need to go inside now. The authorities will be here only after another half an hour, and no more. Go."
Vision nodded, and after watching the sorcerer disappear through the portal he opened, turned to the wall of the house. Phasing his body, he passed through with ease to the interior, immediately hearing the sound of someone mourning. As he was still learning about human emotions, he hesitated to go in but only a fraction of a moment. Having a relationship with Wanda had taught him much, and if he admitted to it, the parts of JARVIS he still had inside of him had also helped a lot.
Perhaps it was this part of his being he should call upon now.
Perhaps what was left of AI could now guide him in helping the woman his creator, their creator had loved with his very being.
Perhaps.
"Vision..."
The wizard's voice interrupted any further thoughts he may have had.
"Can you-"
"I will give Mrs. Stark whatever aid I can, Doctor Strange." He saw the snow white head nod before he turned, "And, Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"Might I suggest you seek out assistance of your own? You appear to be quite ill."
"I will. You need to go, now."
"Miss Potts?"
"J-JARVIS? Is that you?"
"Yes."
"Oh, JARVIS, you have to call for help!"
"I assure you, Miss Potts, help is presently on their way and will arrive here momentarily."
"Tell them to hurry, JARVIS! I can't get Tony to wake up and he feels so cold!"
"Help is coming, ma'am."
Vision had so often heard humans talk about how the passage of time seem to vary in its speed. He had heard them talk about how the years would go by so slowly one moment when they were looking forward to something happening, like the birth of their child. Then in true paradoxical fashion, he would also hear the same people talk about how fast their children were growing up, and how the years were flying.
For him the speed of the passage of time remained the same, even during those two years that he was always waiting patiently for the stolen moments he shared with Wanda to arrive again.
Now as he stayed just out of sight, and he listened to the now widow of Tony Stark mourn his loss to arrive, he perhaps for the first time, now begun to understand why humans talk about time passing by so slowly in a way he never thought possible.
After an interminable length of time, Vision heard the arrival of the island's authorities. He knew they would have the means to enter the house, so he elected to maintain his vigil by staying where he was. Less than a minute later, they entered the hallway he was standing in,
Holding up a hand to halt them, he called out, "Help has arrived, Miss Potts. They would like your approval to enter."
"Yes! Yes! Send them in, JARVIS! SEND THEM IN!"
After giving them a nod, the android stepped aside to allow them access to the room where Tony Stark, the Earth's Best Defender as Captain Rogers once called him, laid dead and growing colder by the second. Any further contemplations he may have had were interrupted by a voice that did not belong to Pepper.
"Please, ma'am, if you want us to help your husband, you need to let go of him."
How strange, he pondered, that she was asking for JARVIS to call the authorities to come give help, yet when after they have arrived, she will not relinquish Mr. Stark's body over to them.
It's because she already knows, Vis.
She already knows what, Wanda?
That he is gone, and there is no helping him now. But she still had to call for them… or she would hate herself for not doing everything she humanly could to bring him back. I know… I know this is what she is thinking because I have thought the same thing in the past.
He felt a wave of sympathy from her, and had been about to say something to her again when the same male voice brought him out of the moment between them.
"Please, ma'am..." the voice pleaded, with an underlying hint of growing frustration.
Without thinking or any further hesitation, Vision stepped into the bedroom. Because of how he felt for Wanda, the android knew that if he indeed had a physical heart, it would be breaking at the sight before him. Pepper was laying with her back against the bed's headboard, clutching her husband's body in her arms. Anytime any of the island officials tried to approach them, she send them a look that while grief stricken also told them to back off from them.
Go to her, Vis.
No further urging was needed for the android to cross the room.
The young man who appeared to be a paramedic look back at Vision when he got closer.
"Please, allow me to try."
After a second of hesitation, the medic nodded, and then moved out of his way.
Vision took a step closer to the bed, and with her eyes watching him, dropped down on one knee so he would be closer to her without the appearance of trying make her do what he would be asking of her. He needed to be gentle with her, he knew, and when he spoke, he made sure to keep his voice as kind as he could.
"Miss Potts?"
Confusion joined the unclouded pain in the woman's eyes as she hoarsely asked, "JARVIS?"
Although it was not completely true, but was not complete lie either, Vision nodded a confirmation, "Ma'am, you need to relinquish your hold on Mr. Stark, and allow these gentleman…" He looked back towards the waiting group, "and lady to take him so they might help him."
Even while he was speaking, the android knew his words were hollow ones because he could see the parlor of death on Tony's body. There was no hope that Tony could be brought back as he'd been dead for hours, probably for hours before she had realized it but wasn't the point.
"Please, Miss Potts." Vision added gently.
Looking at the officials standing in the bedroom ready to take her husband from her, she locked eyes with the older man of the group and asked, "Will you be careful with him? He's not been well."
The man's frustration had melted away, and his eyes were compassionate as he answered her, "Yes course, ma'am. You have my word will we have the utmost respect for your husband."
"Thank you."
"May we take him now?"
Pepper did not answer him right away. Instead she lifted one of Tony's limp hands, and brought it close to her lips, pressing a kiss on the back. She whispered into his ear words they could not hear, and finally she looked at the older man again, nodding. She laid Tony down on the bed, and with Vision's help, stood up.
Vision guided her to the side of the room so they could have room to work.
She emitted a cry when one of the officials, employees of the local coroner's office Vision now realized, brought forward a plastic body bag.
Surprised by his own actions, Vision put an arm around Pepper, and tenderly guided her until she was facing away from them, and her head was laying against his shoulder. His eyes watched the coroner's people work, and before they could place Tony's body in the bag, he spoke, "Please, sir, would you delay… encasing Mr. Stark in that?"
The coroner paused, then nodded. His people took out the body bag, and instead a gurney was brought into the room.
"Thank you."
The official nodded at him.
Within minutes of being allowed into the room, the coroner's people had taken Tony from it, and then the house. The coroner spoke to Vision, and told him that they were leaving contact information for his office on the kitchen table before he left himself.
Once they were gone, the android found himself at loss about what he should do since Pepper was now clinging to him, crying again. He considered consulting with his own love for advice regarding this when the presence of another in the house became known.
James Rhodes.
"Pepper?"
"Rhodey!"
Before the android could blink, she had flown to the man's arms, and began sobbing again.
Later, after Rhodey had gotten Pepper to calm down enough to both eat a small meal, then sleep, they talked.
Vision learned it was Wong who had brought Rhodey to where they were as Stephen Strange was in too much of a weakened state to leave the Sanctum so soon. Neither of them understood why the sorcerer had chosen to bring Vision to Pepper first but both did have to acknowledge, his presence had been a comfort to the grieving woman.
"Don't sell yourself short, Vision," Rhodey said while the android pondered the whys and wherefores, "You were able to give aid to and more importantly, comfort to Pepper. I'll be grateful to you for that, forever, and wherever he is right now, I'm sure T… Tony is grateful too."