It was the day before the gala, and Penny had taken to strolling around Stark Tower in search for something interesting to do. Usually, she either helped Bruce and Tony with whatever they were doing in the lab, or she watched television with Thor and Steve. Steve liked the History channel best, "It helps me understand and learn the things that have happened while I've been MIA." He says when Tony questions him, Thor, on the other hand likes to watch wrestling.

She was whistling along the corridor when she heard sobbing coming from the toilets. It sounded like a woman, and she guessed that Natasha didn't really cry; she didn't even know if she was capable of producing tears. So that only left one person.

"Pepper?" She asked through the door, "Pepper are you okay? It's me, Penny." The door clicked unlocked and Penny opened the door and walked in. Pepper was huddled in a ball on the floor, crouching next to the toilet. She smiled up at Penny through the tears before hunching over the toilet bowl to vomit.

Stepping into action, Penny pulled Peppers hair back so she didn't get any sick in it. "Pepper if you're ill then you should probably go lie down…" Pepper shook her head quickly as she sat back on her bum, Penny slid down the wall to sit next to her. "No," She sobbed, "I'm not ill."

Penny smiled, "I used to say that all the time, but trust me once you're in bed you'll feel-"

"I'm pregnant." She choked out quickly, and Penny stopped her pep talk. Pepper began to cry into Pennys shoulder as she instinctively placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to her consolingly. Tony Stark was going to be a father. He would have to physically look after someone, Penny wasn't even sure if he could look after himself properly, let alone a baby.

"That's great Pep," She whispered, still in shock from the sudden revelation, "So why are you crying?" Pepper sniffed and wriggled before answering.

"Because I can't be a mum. And Tony certainly can't be a dad!" She placed a timid hand on her stomach, "How are we meant to look after him? Tony's off being Iron Man, I'm CEO of the company. He'll be in danger, constantly! And I don't want that, nobody would. And as if that isn't enough, we've both got far too busy lives for a child, he'd never see us!" Pepper sighed and started to cry into Penny's shoulder again.

"He?" She smiled slightly, and Pepper laughed. "Yeah, he. It just feels like a he, you know?" Pepper smiled and sat up straight. Penny laughed, she didn't know. She'd never gotten that close to someone to even talk about having children, let alone actually be pregnant.

"Yes Pepper, as you can see by my many invisible children." They both laughed dryly, standing up Pepper's smile faded. She looked to her friend with worried eyes, there was so much that could go wrong.

"What if Tony doesn't want it?" She asked quietly, biting her lip as soon as the question left them. Penny's smile faltered too, "That's just something you'll have to deal with when it comes to it Pep," Pepper looked up at her, "But for now, how about you just focus on actually telling him?"

Pepper nodded as they walked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her, Pepper made her way towards the lab. "I think Tony would make a great dad." Penny whispered, Pepper was slightly shocked by her statement, she never thought the words 'Tony' and 'Dad' went together in the same sentence. But looking at the situation, she had hope.

Pepper bit her lip again, "I'm going to go tell him now. Come with me?" Pepper asked as she pushed the button for the lift, Penny nodded. "I'll come with you, but I think you should tell Tony on his own. It might be better that way." She smiled reassuringly at the ginger woman, they spent the ride down to the lab in silence.

"Ah! If it isn't my two favourite women come to visit!" Tony chuckled happily, seeing the stern looks on their faces he quickly quietened. "What's happened?" He asked quickly, looking at Bruce and then the women again.

Penny marched over to where Bruce was working and slid her hand in his, "Come on big guy, Tony and Pepper need to talk." Bruce let himself be led out of the lab quietly, taking pleasure in the small contact.

"Talk? What for?" Tony asked worriedly, Pepper released Bruce's hand and gave Pepper a hug before they climbed into the elevator. Pressing the button for the roof, the doors slid closed. Penny prayed that Tony took it well, if he didn't then Pepper would be crushed.

"What's going on?" Bruce asked nervously as he took Penny's small hand back in his large rough ones. They walked onto the roof and sat on the sofa Tony had put up there, Penny huffed and looked out at the sunset.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them before continuing, "Pepper's pregnant." She said slowly, and glanced at Bruce for his reaction. He wore a smile as he looked out at the busy New York City. "How did that happen?" He asked quietly.

Penny giggled, "Well you see Bruce, when two people love each other very much they-"

Bruce held his hands up in surrender, "Okay! Okay! Stupid question, I know." He chuckled, and slyly placed an arm around Penny's shoulders. His heart beat quickened in excitement, the gala was tomorrow and he still had yet to ask her.

"I know, I just like teasing you." She smiled and let her head rest on his shoulder, adjusting so she was flush against his side. She could feel her nerve ending stand on end as her heart beat speed up considerably.

"How do you think Tony will take it?" She asked quietly, Bruce let out a breath and searched the sky.

"Well, I think. I mean, he'll be shocked at first. Who wouldn't be? But I think he'll quickly brighten, for some reason, I can imagine Tony making a great dad." Penny smiled, she had thought the same, but Pepper's doubt made her uneasy; "Same here." She said as they fell into a comfortable silence with each other.

"Do you have any kids Bruce?" She asked, biting her lip and cringing once she did so. She didn't like the idea of Bruce having a family with someone, she knew it sounded selfish, but she hated it. She hated the thought that he once had a happy family with kids and a dog and a wife. She felt like such a terrible person.

He laughed dryly, "No, I was always too busy with my work to even think about settling down." He paused, "Do uh, do you have any children? Or a husband or anything?" He felt stupid for asking and he could feel his cheeks heat up; if she did have a husband then she wouldn't be cuddled into your side numnuts.

Penny laughed out loud uncontrollably, "No," She said sternly, "I was way too busy for that. But someday maybe." She laughed and rested comfortably against him.

"Someday?" He asked, She giggled. "Yeah, everyone wants that whole 'big house with a picket fence, a husband and kids' dream right?" She smiled up at him shyly. Bruce nodded but faltered a bit when he tried to smile.

"Yeah…" He trailed off, he doubted that he'd ever be able to have children because of the accident, there would be too much risk in passing it onto them and he wouldn't want to risk it; he couldn't risk it.

"I'M GOING TO BE A DADDY!" They heard from downstairs, running over to the edge, they saw Tony shouting it off his balcony quite happily. They both smiled and laughed at the hilarious sight.

"Well," She said leaning on the rails as she turned to face Bruce. "At least now we know how he's taken it." Bruce grinned in response, "God help that child, it will be the most spoiled baby around."

Penny nodded in agreement, "At least now he shouldn't be too grumpy for the Gala tomorrow." The gala. Bruce still had to ask her, but how?

"Yeah, about that…" He trailed off, searching for the right words. Penny glanced at him worriedly, "You're still going aren't you?" She asked quickly, Bruce looked at her wide green eyes.

"Yes, I don't think Tony would let me miss it. But I was wondering…" He trailed off again and fiddled with his fingers before turning to face Penny fully; Penny quirked her eyebrow in confusion.

"Would you, I mean, I understand if you don't. But uh-well I," He chanced a glance at her face and mustered his courage as he took a deep breath in, "Would you, want to maybe, be my date? For the gala?" He stared at his hands as he felt a heated blush creep up his neck and onto his cheeks. What if she said no?

Penny smiled the biggest smile and mentally squealed with delight. "I'd love to Bruce." She answered excitedly, a blush forming on her cheeks too.

Bruce looked up at her in shock to see her smiling and blushing, well that's a good sign! He grinned and nodded awkwardly, searching for something to say next. "Great, I think we're all traveling there together so I don't need to pick you up…Uh…" What should he say? He had no clue when it came to women, and even less of a clue when it came to women he had feelings for.

"Bruce," She smiled as he looked at her shyly, "relax." She said soothingly as she grabbed his hand. Remembering the tips that Tony had given him, he quickly gave a tug on her hand and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her as he did so.

Penny giggled joyously, "Was that one of Tony's moves?" She had seen him use it on Pepper many a time when he wanted something, more often than not, it was when she was withholding kisses from him. Her laughter quickly died out when she realised how close they were, their bodies were pressed flush against each other and his hands rested on her lower back.

Bruce could feel his body heat up at the contact, and tried to push everything else out of his mind and just concentrate on the moment. Penny looked up into his big brown lion eyes as he spoke softly, "So you'll go with me?" He asked one more time as their heads began to gravitate towards each other, each turning in opposite directions slightly.

Penny gulped, "I'd love to, Dr Banner…" His lips were soon on hers and she felt like she'd been set alight. Their lips worked in synchronisation as his hand gently travelled slowly up her back and into her hair. Bruce quickly made to deepen the kiss and licked Penny's lower lip, allowing him entrance their tongues began to explore the others mouth. Her hands moved from his chest and to his neck, one rested there while the other ran its fingers in his curls happily. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, both wrapped up in the other as their thoughts and troubles faded away.

Slowly breaking apart, they rested their foreheads together and smiled happily. "I never thought you'd actually kiss me." Bruce admitted, and Penny dipped her head for another kiss. Pulling away she giggled to herself, "And here I was thinking that you'd never kiss me." Smiling, they decided to head downstairs and congratulate the new parents; but not before having a quick kissing session in the lift.

The living room was filled with smiles and drinks when they walked in, Pepper noticed them and quickly ran towards Penny who met her halfway. The girls smiled at each other and hugged again, "I'm so happy for you! See? What did I say? I told you he'd be fine!" Penny grinned as she pulled away.

Bruce had walked over to Tony and shook his hand and congratulated him, "I'm happy for you," He said sincerely and glanced at the hugging women quickly. "Thanks, did you ask Penny yet?" He asked quietly as Bruce grinned as Tony took in their appearances; both had slightly messed up hair with flushed cheeks, each sporting slightly swollen looking lips.

Tony looked at Bruce surprised, and grinned before clapping him on the back. "You did the move?" He asked proudly, Bruce nodded and smiled goofily at his friend, "Yeah," He replied shyly.

"I'm telling you my friend," They began to walk over to the rest of the group who had taken to patting Peppers stomach, "You can't fault the move, works every time." Bruce certainly had to agree with that.

Loki was sitting in the chair that they had killed the doctor in, he had taken a liking to it and had started sitting in it everyday to think. It was the one place the idiotic mortals knew not to enter, he'd made a point of that when one of them disturbed him. It had been six days since S.H.I.E.L.D would have received the tape, and there was still no sign of Penny. Standing up, he walked out of the room and into the kitchen area where the mortals spent the majority of their time.

"Get ready, we're moving tomorrow." Loki stated as he stood at the head of the table, one of them looked up at him.

"Why did we wait a week before going to get her? We've jut gave them time to prepare for us!" He shouted angrily, Loki glared but ignored him; he couldn't afford to kill another one off. Not yet anyway.

"So we have time to prepare also you insolent mortal!" He snarled before recovering and smoothing out his We make attack as soon as they've been lulled into security." Loki spun on his heel and walked to the doorway before pausing.

"Security? Sir?" One of the smarter croonies asked, Loki turned back slightly.

He smirked menacingly before answering, "The Iron Man is holding a gala, and we'll be paying a visit."

They kissed! They finally kissed! :'D Remember to review and tell me how I'm doing :)

-Readers Assemble!-