Guest Review Responses
Thank you for the favorite/follows: luckyduck22.
Guest: Oh gosh, I just want to hug poor Tony and Pepper. Seriously, that's how good this story is every chapter. Not that I'm saying this is what will happen, but if they wanted to, there are other ways to have kids. Surrogacy is an option, extremis..? I can't wait to see how you wrap up the story. So good! – Surrogacy is definitely an option. We'll just have to wait and see :D
Pepperonylove: Oh dear oh dear. I love this chapter! I so love their intimate moments. I can just imagine Tony not being able to get enough of her! This gives me all the feels. Aaaaaaah. But im still anxious over what Pep did. Im still hoping she did not go with it. I want a Pepperony baby so badly! I hope they will get their happy ending with a family of their own, a genius child on the way would be great! :) Im glad you had a great birthday. And im so glad you updated quickly. Is it too much to ask for another soon? Hahaha. Keep writing dear, you are such a great Pepperony writer! :) – It is NOT too much to ask for another so soon! Here it is! Thank you!
Stark13 :Already a new chapter ? We're so lucky ! Thank you so much ! I'm really curious about how Pepper will explain what she did to Tony. I'm really impatient ! Read you soon – And another one right here! I am such a horrible person, making my Faithful Readers wait so long. Please forgive me!
PolishGirl: OMG! I totally love this chapter. Im grateful for the quick update, it was such a nice suprise! Can't wait for next chapter and I hope Pepper will soon tell Tony about the miscariages ;) – She will. Soon. Sorta. Kinda. coughcough You'll see :P
Chapter 13: Tokyo
It could have been a false positive. It had happened before, so it stood to reason that it could be the case again. But that had been just a week or so after her period had been late – a prime time to lose a pregnancy that, while it had tried, it had not really taken as it should have. It happened all the time, to women everywhere. Contrary to popular belief, getting pregnant was not easy. It required more than just unprotected sex and booze. It required unprotected sex, at the right time, on the right day in a woman's cycle, with good quality sperm from the man, that resulted in a correct attachment to the uterine wall. And even then, even after all those things happened perfectly, the development of said egg had to be normal, even in those early stages. And that was when most pregnancies ended. If the body realized the implantation was faulty, if the division of cells was not perfect, if the state of mind of the woman was not ideal, then the pregnancy would not take. Achieving pregnancy was not just a biological endeavor. It was a psychological one, as well.
This time, however, she was over two months late. This time, she had a doctor on the line, telling her that her blood tests had confirmed what the at-home tests had already told her, days ago.
She was pregnant. Again. Maybe even more pregnant than she had been before.
"Your HCG levels are in line with your approximate conception time. I would still wait until hitting the three-month mark to share the news with family members, though."
"How about the father? Could I… could I tell him?"
"In your case, I beg that you do. Mr. Stark needs to come to my office to give him a good lecture on what he needs to do if he wants this baby to come to term."
"Dr. Adler…"
"I'm serious, Ms. Potts. Your health depends on it, even if you weren't pregnant. As your PCP, your OBGYN, and your friend, I beg you: please bring him to your next follow-up."
"Which you will be…?"
"In two weeks."
"Two weeks?!"
"That should be enough time to tell him he knocked you up."
Pepper would have laughed aloud at the doctor's informal speech pattern, if she was not more focused on freaking out about the whole thing.
"For a normal person, maybe. But I have events to attend for the company and he has been busy chasing… uhm… bad guys around the world."
It was not a lie at all. Tony had been kept pretty busy with dismantling HYDRA, and Pepper had been doubly busy with Stark Industries because of it. Tony did not typically help much running the company, but the little he did do that was not getting done at the moment was enough to put even more pressure on the ginger. Especially, since they had started putting together The September Foundation Grant. And that was not even counting how much she had been supporting him and The Avengers with repairs and maintenance after their missions, AND Tony's Iron Legion peacekeeping program.
"The more the reason why he should get his ass to my office, Ms. Potts. Your stress levels. He needs to–"
"FINE!" the redhead spat, knowing that the doctor was right and that she would not let go of the issue until she won. "I'll tell him… soon… before the appointment. And I'm sure I won't have to drag him there. One of the other Avengers can do it for me."
"The Hulk might oblige."
"Any of them will jump at the chance to force Tony to do something that he may not want to do."
"Sounds like quite the team," Dr. Adler jested. "Just make sure you bring him, OK? I want to see you both in two weeks. And not in a rush, either. We have a lot to talk about. So, make plans to be here a while."
"OK," Pepper sighed in defeat.
"See you in two weeks, Pepper."
"See you in two weeks."
xxxXXXxxx
Mayako Miyake could have been Tony's twin. A slightly nicer and more empathetic version of him, but his twin nonetheless. She was intelligent. Driven. Ambitious. Snarky. Sarcastic. A superhero in her own way. She was about Pepper's age, even though she looked not a day past her mid-twenties; slim and short – quiet until she had something meaningful to say or wanted to call you out on bullshit you had just said, which had made establishing her own company very difficult. She wanted to appear nonchalant and disinterested to others and about others, but Pepper knew her to be as caring and concerned with the state of the world as Tony was. She wanted to make the world a better place. She wanted her inventions to bring a positive change to the world. She wanted to lay the foundation for future generations: one that allowed them to keep war at bay, people from starving, and the planet in one piece.
She had met Tony at a research and development conference, a very long time ago, when she had corrected his drunk ass on something related to engineering, and the inventor had been impressed. Needless to say, the genius had immediately tried to get into her pants, but he had never succeeded. Time and time again, on every occasion that he visited Tokyo since meeting her, he had tried to get her into bed. He had tried every trick in the book. Every idea that had crossed his mind, as cheesy as it had seemed, but he had always come up short. Then, one day, he had finally realized why Mayako had no interest in him – and the genius had backed down and had accepted defeat. From that moment on, however, instead of trying to get her to sleep with him, he had helped her start the company she had always wanted to have. Tony Stark felt that it was one of the best decisions he had ever made.
She was all that anyone with a remarkable brain, political influence, and in power should be. Practically perfect. Tony loved her. Found her to be interesting and a great working partner; even if the woman had at first begrudged him for supporting her the way he had only after she had made it clear that he would never see her naked. Nevertheless, she was one of the very few women that had earned his admiration and respect without having to be anyone but themselves. One of the very few that had not given a shit about who he was or what he had, and who treated him like he was like everyone else: full of flaws and fumbling through life.
All-in-all, after a somewhat rocky start, Mayako and Tony had a good relationship; business and personal alike. Which meant that, any other day, he would have been thrilled to see her and learn about what she had been working on lately. At any other occasion, he would have been excited to share with her what he himself had been working on, before spending time in her lab tinkering with shit he had never seen before. Any other goddamned time, Tony Stark would have been bouncing off the walls at the thought of spending an afternoon with who could have been his sister in another life… But that day was not today.
Nope. Not today. Because today, whether it was on purpose or not, she was currently irritating the living shit out of Tony. Because, on top of everything else she was and did, Mayako was openly gay. And she was hitting on Pepper. A lot. Right in front of him. Or at least that was what it looked like to him.
Tony sighed loudly as he watched yet another too-touchy-for-his-taste interaction between the redhead and the brunette sitting by the desk. They had been at it the moment they had arrived at Mayako's office, practically ignoring his presence after introductions had been exchanged, leaving the billionaire to sit in a corner and pout. He had his left arm bent against the edge of the couch he was sitting on, his head resting on his upturned hand. His right arm was splayed atop the back of the couch; his fingers restlessly tapping against the cushioned back of it. His eyes were narrowed and glued onto the talking pair, an annoyed look on his face. He had never seen Mayako talk this much about something that was not science, and he was quickly growing impatient with the fact. It was as if Mayako had been holding back on behaving like a typical woman her entire life, and Pepper's presence had made all of it come out in one sweep.
This was, by no means, the first time that Mayako and Pepper had met or spoken. But it was the first time that it had been for something other than just to engage in small talk while setting up a meeting with Mayako and Tony. As far as Tony knew, the two women had never exchanged personal information or had engaged in girl talk, but maybe he had been wrong all along. The evidence before him spoke of a possible long-standing friendship that he was not aware of – or maybe it was just that Pepper was that good at keeping their investors interested in them.
Whatever it was, Tony was not pleased with it, no matter how much he liked and admired both women before him. He knew that his fear and discomfort was irrational, unfounded even, and pretty much downright stupid of him to feel it in the first place, but he still did. He was human, after all. And, to this day, he still sometimes felt inadequate to be Pepper's partner.
Before he could jump into the conversation, however, his chiming phone stopped him in his tracks.
"Have you told her?"
Tony held back a groan at Happy's text message before texting back.
"Been kinda busy surviving a snowstorm. Get off my ass?"
It took nearly a minute for Happy to respond; the speech bubble appearing and disappearing a few times on the screen, but he did.
"Is that what you plan to tell the media when they find out your marriage is a sham?"
"Nope. My plan is to tell them to go fuck themselves."
"And the investors? The company? The Board? Gonna tell them to fuck off, too?"
Tony held back a sigh. "I told you, Hap. I'll get to it when I get to it."
"That's your code for: NEVER!"
"Oh, you know me so well. GTG. Bye."
Tony snapped shut his phone and put it away in his pocket before he rubbed his face with his palms, pulling down on his skin as he did so. Things did seem to be looking up between him and Pepper, so perhaps Happy's insistence was well-placed and timely. Then again, they still had three more investors to visit, albeit in a rushed manner due to their time constraints. Perhaps making those last three encounters awkward and tension-filled was not the best way to end their trip. Moreover, he was quite enjoying whatever freedom Pepper had allowed herself in behaving as if they were still together. He was not going to waste that with something that could still wait.
Because it still could, right?
"So, what do you think, Tony?" Mayako's voice made him look up, eyes wide as a dear caught in the headlights.
"Uhm," Tony swallowed hard, his gaze shifting from staring at Mayako to looking at an expectant Pepper. He pursed his lips, scratched his neck, cleared his throat, and then continued his response. "Well, that's a loaded question, if I ever heard one. You're gonna have to be more specific, May. You know thinking is all I do."
Pepper snickered and shook her head, knowing exactly what Tony's response meant, but she did not any comment in the matter.
"Still full of shit, huh?" Mayako rolled her eyes before tilting her head to stare at Pepper from the corner of her eye. "Told you the fucker wasn't listening to us. We could've been making out over here and he wouldn't have noticed."
"You what?!" Tony bolted from the couch and shook his head as if trying to clear his ears to hear better.
"COULD'VE!" Mayako emphasized.
"But didn't?" Tony half-asked, half-stated.
"Really, Tony?" Pepper winced. "Are you really THAT insecure?"
"Have you MET me, Honey?"
Pepper's only response was to smile.
"Anyway," Mayako began. "As I was saying, do you wanna go get that massage, Pepper? You're only here for one day and business is done. I'm sure you don't get a lot of time for yourself taking care of this dude's company, so why not take advantage of it."
"Business is done?" Tony frowned. "When?"
"When you were over there, daydreaming," Mayako replied.
"How long was I distracted?"
"Two hours," Pepper deadpanned.
"Two–" Tony stared at his watch. "Are you kidding me?"
"That's what we said," Mayako replied.
"Why didn't you shake me, Pep?"
"What for?" the redhead shrugged. "You know Mayako wasn't going to give us any grief. And we had a lot of things to catch up on."
"Yeah, Stark. Who do you think I am? Yolandi Venter?"
"Don't you EVER say that name in my presence again," Tony said with mock indignation. "Say her name three times and the witch appears at your door."
"Or in your bed," Mayako sniggered.
"May your tongue turn to lead!" Tony said as he walked closer to the duo and hugged Pepper from the side.
"Rude," the ginger said with a small grin that showed him she was not really upset at his childish behavior and then returned her attention to Mayako. "I'll take you up on that offer, May. I could use a massage."
"I could give you one," Tony said, his grip on her tightening up to make his point.
"A professional massage," Pepper added.
"Now who's being rude?" Tony scoffed. "I offer my help, no strings attached, and this is the thanks I get? I'm hurt."
"You'll get over it," Pepper replied and patted his arm.
"Or under it," the inventor said near her ear; the suggestiveness of his words making the redhead blush.
"Ugh! You people are disgusting! Get a room, all right?"
"Have one. Would like to use it. But you wanna take my wife away from me."
Mayako rolled her eyes and grabbed Pepper by one arm. "You can have her back in a few hours, you big baby."
"Or I can have her right now, if you know what I mean."
"Dude!" Mayako groaned. "I don't have to know everything you do to her, OK? Keep that info to yourself."
"Rude," Tony deadpanned before reluctantly releasing Pepper. "Fine! Go do whatever you want to do. I'll be here. Waiting for you, Pep. Or, I might not. Whatever. It's cool."
Both women laughed at the billionaire as he pretended to be nonchalant about the situation but majestically failed. Then, as he dug his hands in his pockets, shrugged and kicked an invisible rock with his left foot, Pepper turned in place and held his face in her hands.
"I'll be back before you know it," her smile made him swoon. "And I'll be relaxed and rested. Ready for anything," she winked, "If you know what I mean."
"You too? Do I need to throw cold water at you?" Mayako's whining tone of voice made the couple laugh. It was all in good fun, anyway.
"Good deal, Hon," Tony replied with a curt nod to Pepper before he tilted his head and leaned forward a bit, his intent to kiss her becoming obvious. Pepper met him halfway, kissed him deeply, and then pulled away to see her smile reflected on his face… and that Mayako had given them some privacy by leaving the room. Noticing this, Tony kissed Pepper one more time, longer and deeper than the first time, before finally pulling away from her completely.
"Stay out of trouble," the redhead warned.
"Will try."
"That's all I ask," Pepper said as she picked up her purse and began walking towards the door to join Mayako.
"Love you!" Tony yelled at her retreating form.
"Love you, too, Stark!" Mayako retorted from the hall before Pepper could reply.
"And I just like you a lot," Pepper added with a wink before she turned around and closed the door behind her.
After the two women left and their laughter disappeared, Tony scratched the back of his head, thinking about what to do with all this time he now found himself having. It was only a handful of hours or so, but he had gotten used to spending every waking moment with Pepper during his trip, so his mind was currently drawing a blank as to what to do.
Nonetheless, he had not been born knowing her. He had, in fact, spent a good amount of time without her. He was not a child. He was an intelligent, independent adult, who was perfectly capable of finding something to entertain himself with while she was gone. Something that would be fun and relaxing, and that it would not get him in trouble, as well.
Yes. There had to be something out there that would fit all those requirements. And he was the best person to figure out what this idea might be, too.
Yes. He could do this.
It would be as easy as pie.
xxxXXXxxx
How hard could it really be to tell the man with whom you had had a steady friendship and relationship for so many years that he had gotten you pregnant? That, oops, one of the many times you two had had sex, there had been one to come with a prize?
Evidently, as Pepper Potts had found out since her conversation with Dr. Adler, it was harder than it would sound.
The redhead could not understand why it felt as if she was getting ready to tell him that his life was over as he knew it. Maybe it was because that was how it would probably feel for him, the way he was. He had freaked out about the false positive pregnancy test that he was not even supposed to have known about. Why would she think that the real deal would be any different than that?
Her desperation had led her to searching online for clever ways to tell your partner that he was going to become a father, and it had only made her sick to her stomach. The negative feelings had made their appearance not because the recommendations she had found were not useful, but because they all came with side notes and anecdotes of happy couples that had been trying so hard to conceive, that sharing the news with the world was a relief.
What if Tony decided fatherhood was not for him and opted to leave?
What if she was unable to follow her dreams, like many women were expected to do once they became mothers?
What if they could not protect their child from the many enemies they already had, and the future ones they were sure to make?
What if…
"What if I stopped worrying about it and just do it?" the redhead told herself with a shake of the head. She had faced the Iron Monger with no protection whatsoever, and had outrun him in high heels. She had hacked into her own company server to dig up dirt on Obadiah Stane while he had been sitting but a few feet away from her. She had used the Iron Man suit, on her first try, to save Tony from being flattened by their collapsing home. She had then later used it, along with Extremis, to kill Aldrich Killian. She, Pepper Potts, had killed someone to defend the man she loved! She could totally tell Tony Stark that he had knocked her up!
"Or maybe the baby can tell him, when he or she starts to talk."
xxxXXXxxx
This was going as well as it could be expected. Perhaps even better than he had imagined. Maybe he was not a total trouble magnet after all.
Without much other to do while Pepper and Mayako had their Girl's Afternoon Out, Tony had left the building shortly after the women had departed. He knew that he would probably stand out like a sore thumb out in the streets, seeing as he was, well… himself, but at least the people that had recognized him so far had tended to mind their own business either way. He had been walking around downtown Tokyo by himself for at least an hour, and no one had so much as given him a second glance. At first, he had been offended as fuck by people's lack of acknowledgement of his presence – an immediate reaction left from days past. Now, however, he was grateful that people were allowing him room to breathe.
It was not common for him to be able to take the time to browse stores and take in his surroundings without being flooded with requests for pictures and autographs. Every now and then, he had experienced the once-common situation in which a woman would try to make a pass at him, asking him to sign her bra or trying to gift him her panties, all with the hope of spending the night with him. Years ago, he would have immediately jumped at the opportunity to get laid. Today, though, he just smiled in feigned flattery and politely declined. It was not unknown to the world that he had been in a committed relationship for many years, but it appeared that for some people, no ring meant not real. Then again, he had no doubt that some of these people would still try to get him to sleep with them, even if Pepper was standing right next to him, with three of his children and expecting the fourth.
Children. Tiny human beings that depended so much on the big humans that had brought them into the world to survive everyday life. Such as the one that was tugging on his pant leg right now. It took him a second to realize that the tugging was not his imagination, and yet another second or two to look down. Once he did, however, his confusion only rose at seeing the four-year-old look up at him as if he had all the answers in the world.
"Hi," Tony said with what he hoped was a friendly face and tone of voice. "Can I, uhm… can I help you?"
The child said nothing. He simply continued staring at Tony with a tiny frown.
"Where are your parents?" Tony lifted his head and craned his head from side to side, but no one seemed to notice what has going on. "Are you alone?"
Once more, the tyke did not reply.
Tony frowned, briefly wondering if the child was mute, but he then remembered that he was not in the States.
"Friday," Tony said as he took out his phone and placed it close to the child. "Japanese translator: Can you ask him if he's lost?"
His AI did as told, which prompted the child's frown to grow deeper and his eyes to shine with unshed tears.
"Ah, shit! I mean…" Tony shook his head as he picked up the kid from the ground. "Wait, you don't speak English, anyway, right?"
The child sniffled and tilted his head to the right.
"I'll take that as a no. So, where are your folks? Friday?"
The AI proceeded to translate for the genius, but the child did not so much as shrug.
"Okay…" Tony sighed. "Let's find us some cops, all right?"
Tony shifted in place, child still in his hands, meaning to find the first person that looked to be a member of the law, but before he could open his mouth to call attention to anyone, a loud growl made him stop in his tracks.
Small hands landed on an even smaller belly, and Tony alternated between staring at the child's face and his stomach. It took him a moment to understand what had just happened – where the sound had come from, and his priorities immediately changed after that.
"How long have you been lost, buddy?" the inventor patted the kid's hands delicately where they lay on his stomach. "Was that rumbly from your tummly? Friday?"
Surprisingly, after the AI finished the translation, the child nodded in reply.
xxxXXXxxx
It was perfect. Just perfect. And not in a sarcastic way, either, but in a This-will-distract-Tony-from-the-initial-shock way. Like jingling keys to a fussy baby or throwing a ball to a dog. She had no idea they even made the damn tiny things, but she guessed that it should have not surprised her that they did. She was sure that there was no patent request on file for them, though, but if the clothing item helped her tell Tony the big news, she would forgive the company that had been producing and profiting from Iron Man onesies without checking for violation of intellectual property and trademarks.
The armor design was old – she recognized it to be the Mark II, but it was adorable in baby size. The colors were all correct and it served its purpose: dressing up your newborn like Iron Man.
They had them available for pets, too. And they even had naughty, babydoll ones… probably a marketing scheme for the customer to eventually have to get the baby one.
"Maybe I should've gotten that one, too," Pepper tapped her lips with a pen, thinking about the Iron Man babydoll. "Soften the blow with it."
Before she could change her mind, however – and knowing that it was too late to get one, Pepper put the baby onesie, along with the details of their doctor appointment next week – during which she would even get her first ultrasound – inside a gift bag and taped it closed. The bag itself did not give anything away of what the contents of it were. It was just a plain red bag with gold polka dots: another nod to Iron Man. Another way to maybe distract him from the full effect of receiving shocking news.
"OK," Pepper breathed hard as she cracked her knuckles. "Let's do this."
"Ms. Potts?" the sudden sound of Bambi at the door made Pepper jolt and hastily throw the bag inside one of the drawers on the desk.
"Yes?" Pepper smiled, trying to sound and seem nonchalant as she closed and locked the drawer.
"I'm afraid I have some news."
Pepper felt her heart skip a beat; her eyes immediately staring at her phone for missed calls.
There were none.
"What news? What's going on?"
Bambi sighed, cleared her throat, walked inside the office, and then carefully closed the door behind her. "It's about Mr. Stark."
Pepper felt blood leave her body and her heart stop.
"What about him? Is he… is he…?"
Bambi gave her the most apologetic face she could muster and then shrugged. "We don't know."
xxxXXXxxx
He was pretty sure that people could tell this child was very likely not his own, based on obvious racial differences alone, but he was sure as shit not going to return him just yet if the kid was starved. Who knew how long it would take for the officers to get to his case, for the parents to be found and contacted, and for said people to get to the station to pick him up. He had no idea how the missing child system worked in Japan, so the poor, hungry child could have been further deprived of sustenance for too long.
Nope. Not his kid. That much was clear as day!
If the cops approached the table at the American cuisine – a.k.a. burger joint – they were in and asked for a paternity test, his ass would be thrown in jail before he could explain his good intentions. His face would be all over the news, and Pepper would have to bail him out. But damn it, it would all be worth it if this kid had a bite to eat while the cops handcuffed his sorry butt.
Speaking of which, I should find out what to do about it, huh?
Trusting that he still had enough time to control the situation before it escalated with the authorities, Tony began searching for the closest police station, as well as researching what the process was for returning a would-be missing child. If anything, he wanted to make sure that the child was reunited with his family as soon as possible, and he could not make sure of that unless he knew what to expect. The process, once read over a few times with a translator, made sense to him. What did not make sense to him, however, was that the child was now gone.
"The fuck?" Tony sprung up from the couch as if he were on a trampoline. "Where did he go? Crap!"
The food was gone, so he had at least finished eating, but he was now nowhere in sight. Tony felt panic engulf him, feeling like an utter failure for not being able to watch over one child, while he had been two feet away from him. Was this the feeling his parents were currently experiencing, not knowing where their child was? If so, what a horrible feeling it was.
"Hey! Kid!" Tony began saying around him, trying not to bring much attention to himself as he walked around the restaurant. "Kid? Where are you? Come on, kid! Come on out!"
He searched under the tables and behind the counter. Inside the trash bins and in the bathrooms. He thought about asking strangers if they had seen him, but he had no idea how to even begin communicating that. He did not speak the language, had no idea how old the kid was, or what his name was. He did not even remember what he had been wearing! Why had he not paid more attention to that? How the hell could he have lost a child who was already lost? Was that even a thing?
Dammit!
Tony pushed the front door open and rushed towards the streets.
Once outside, he looked left and right, closer to the ground, hoping to see the little bugger sitting somewhere, waiting for him. Yet, nothing stood out to him. Everyone near him was an adult. And no one looked as if they had seen a random child hanging around on his own.
What if some bad person had taken him? What if someone, who was not as kind as he, had plucked him from the streets?
Tony felt his heart racing; his phone nearly slipping from his hands at how sweaty and shaking they were. He took in deep breaths to calm himself, knowing he needed to go about this rationally, only to then catch sight of what he had thought he had lost.
There, in the playground across the street, trying and failing to get on a swing, was the child.
"Oh, thank God!"
Tony rushed towards the playground, barely missing being hit by two vehicles in the process, and made it towards his destination as quickly as his legs had carried him. He almost went off on the kid as soon as he was standing in front of him – told him how worried he had been about him, but he then realized that he had no right to do so. The boy was just a kid; doing kid things, and it was not his call to raise him to be what he would have preferred him to be right now: a tiny person that became glued to whatever surface he happened to sit on.
"All right, that's enough of that. Let's get you back to your parents before I lose you again, OK?"
The idea seemed simple: the kid had been fed and now he needed to be returned. However, as soon as the child felt that he was being taken away from the swing, his wail told Tony that he had other plans.
"Really?" Tony groaned. "You want to play now?"
The child replied by holding on the seat of the swing with more force than the billionaire thought a kid could have.
"Fine!" Tony threw his arms in the air, admitting defeat. "Just a few minutes, OK? Then we have to go back."
As if somehow understanding what Tony had just said to him, the child smiled. And, despite himself, Tony smiled as well.
xxxXXXxxx
It was like the Chitauri invasion all over again. Except this time, for some reason, it seemed worse.
She was not in a helicopter and there were no aliens falling from the sky, but something was rising towards it – something that should have not. Something that was probably going to return to its rightful place on Earth. Eventually. Because gravity worked.
The media was having a difficult time reporting on the incident, live. The reporters that were on the ground were running for their lives, as was everyone else. There were not that many high-quality videos available for showing because of all the chaos in Sokovia, but the short videos posted by regular citizens on social media – some taken directly by civilians amid the battle, and some aerial shots taken by drones that quickly got hit by the flying robots and hit the ground – were enough to get a good idea of how quickly the situation was escalating… of how quickly The Avengers were losing the battle to their own robots.
Pepper's hands were shaking, her breathing ragged, and her hand clutched her phone so strongly that her knuckles were white. She had tried getting a hold of Tony and JARVIS, but the calls and texts were not getting through. All she had to go by to know Tony's status other than the spotty and unreliable live media reports was the app she had on her phone that monitored Tony's vital signs while in the suit. After the incident in New York, and after discussing Tony's failed attempt at calling Pepper during what he had thought would be his final seconds alive, Tony had created a custom app so that Pepper could know how he was fairing. She had been resistant at first, simply because she had reasoned that the app was just a way for her to know if Tony had died in battle, but right now she was grateful that she had it at her disposition. Even if the damned app was not helping her communicate with him.
Then again, it seemed that Tony was pretty busy; several of the videos showed him flying around, blasting robots and getting hit back. Distracting him was probably not a good thing to do at the moment. And Pepper did not believe for a second that the inability to call him or text him right not was not by the inventor's design.
"Still nothing?" Pepper heard Happy ask and she shook her head.
Bambi and Happy were both with her at the CEO's office at Avenger's Tower, all watching with the rest of the world from multiple broadcasts how a piece of Sokovia was now in the air, reaching unnerving altitudes by the second, while placing the entire world in danger should it suddenly fall. Experts on television were not shy of relaying this worst-case scenario to the terrified viewers, causing panic that Pepper could see was already making some people rush to the streets, as if leaving the Big Apple would somehow spare them from the planet experiencing a smaller-scale version of the natural event that killed the dinosaurs. Pepper was no scientist, but she knew enough to know that if the piece of rock suddenly fell back to the ground at any speed other than the pace of a snail, it was going to be the end for many, many, many people, if not of everyone and every living thing.
There was so much going on that the reports that did come in were conflicting; some saying that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been spotted getting citizens off the floating city, while others were reporting that rescue efforts were unsuccessful. Some said that the battle had already been lost, while others reported that it was still going on strong. She was more inclined to believe any reports that spoke of the battle still going, simply because Tony's heart was still beating, according to the app. And, as long as he had air in his lungs, she knew that Tony Stark would not give up the fight.
And, as long as he did not give up the fight, neither would she give up hope that he would come back to her and their unborn child, alive.
xxxXXXxxx
From all the things he had expected could get in the way of him returning this kid to his parents, getting caught in the middle of a parade had not been one that had made it to the list. Then again, unexpected shit like this always happened to him. He should have known better than to think the task at hand would not turn Olympic in nature.
To coax the kid to finally leave the playground, Tony had resorted to using a bribe: a promise of an ice cream cone, as long as the kid did as he was told. Almost instantly, the kid's behavior had changed, all just so that he could receive his prize in the end. And he had gotten his ice cream; two scoops of it, but that had not been all. As soon as Tony had paid for the treat, his eyes had landed on a couple of incoming cop cars. It was a sight for sore eyes, seeing as he had not been able to find one single cop in the entire time he had had the child with him, and he was not looking forward to walking the fifteen blocks it would take to get to the closest police station. He would have taken a cab with the boy to get him to the authorities, if he did not suspect that the driver would call the cops on him before he could say where he was taking the kid.
Nope. He had opted to instead walking up to the slowly moving cars himself, kid in his arms, until a mob of people had cut him off. Much to his annoyance, he had quickly realized that had been caught in the middle of a parade he was not even aware was taking place – the reason why the cop cars had been cruising along – holding a child that was not his, while trying to find a way out of the predicament.
That had been fun, in no way whatsoever, especially when the cameras had started flashing, taking pictures of him and the child, no doubt wondering what Iron Man was doing in a parade in Japan.
He was not sure how many blocks he had walked with the parade until he had been able to escape, but he had been glad to have rushed towards the park bench that had called his name. His feet were aching. His skin was hot. And he could not imagine the kid being any better than him. That was, of course, if he did not count the fact that the kid had passed out.
Halfway through the parade, the boy had shamelessly gotten comfortable where he was, uncaring of the chaos unfolding around him. The left side of his face had ended up resting on Tony's shoulder. His hands had clenched the fabric of his shirt. And he was sure as hell that the kid was drooling leftover ice cream on him, but he was just glad that they were both out of the damn sun and under the shade.
And this was where he found himself now, an hour after escaping the parade: sitting on a bench, with a sleep, lost child in his arms, and his feet begging for a massage.
"At least I know that you won't run away again, kid," Tony whispered to the child as he carefully took out his phone from his pocket so as not to disturb the child's slumber. "Let's find your folks, OK?"
No sooner than the inventor flipped open his phone, the sound of incoming yelling made him look up from the screen. His eyes looked left and right, trying to find the source of the commotion and, once he did, he knew what he was looking at.
A young couple, perhaps in their late twenties, was frantically running towards him. The woman had tears cascading down her cheeks. The man, while not crying, also appeared to be in profound distress. Tony could not tell what they were saying while they gestured towards him, but the fact that they picked up their speed when he instinctively stood up from the bench confirmed what he already suspected they were.
The boy's parents. They had to be.
Then again, why would they be here, so far away from the place he had first picked up the kid?
His innate paternal alarms went off, and he pressed the kid closer to his body. He would have even taken a step back from them, but the bench was behind him and in the way. What proof did he have that these people were the parents, anyway, other than assuming so by how relieved and worried they looked? Maybe they were child abductors, pretending to be the parents, and that was how they got their dirty work done.
No. He could not just hand the kid to them without some sort of explanation on their part. What kind of man would he be if he did?
Having his phone already open, Tony invoked his AI, asking her to translate for him once more. The replies coming from the couple were short and closer to rambling than to complete sentences, but the overall meaning became clear to him in a heartbeat. The words lost, search, parade, television and pictures were all indicators of what had brought the parents to find him and the kid. They had been looking for him, had seen Tony's pictures on display TVs from the parade, and had probably caught his escape from the mob while chasing after him. It all made sense. It absolutely did. Yet, he refused to let go of the kid just yet.
Sensing his hesitation, the woman opened her purse, took out her wallet, grabbed all the bills she had in them, and then offered them to him with shaking hands. The husband, realizing what his wife was doing, immediately did the same with the little money he had at hand, which only made Tony cringe.
"No," Tony shook his head. "I just… Friday? Translate."
The look of understanding quickly flooded the couple's face once they heard Friday translate what Tony was saying, which prompted them to stash away their money and take out pictures of their child instead. They showed them to Tony, along with other documentation they had with them, hoping it would be enough to identify themselves.
Once Tony was almost convinced that he was handing the child to the right people, the kid himself gave him the final stamp of approval on what he was hesitant to believe.
"Mama!"
It was the first word the child had said while around him, but it was enough for Tony to release his grip on him, as he knew that the word was an informal manner of referring to one's mother in Japanese, just as it was in many languages.
Both parents hugged their child at the same time, flooding him with kisses and words Tony did not understand, other than what he knew from the documents to be the child's name. The boy looked happy and excited; no doubt relieved to see his family once again, and Tony could not help to smile at the scene… until he realized that he had done what he had set himself to do, and that his presence was not needed anymore.
Neither the parents nor the kid were paying any mind to him anymore anyway, so he took it as his cue to leave. He opened his mouth to say something, however; anything, as simply walking away could be seen as rude, but words seemed so pointless right now. He had no connection to this family whatsoever other than stumbling onto the kid by accident and keeping him alive and safe while he got them together again. There was nothing that could be gained from adding words for the sake of adding them. It was best to remain silent and slip away.
There was nothing else to be said or done from either side, and they had already thanked him for his help as the child had been handed over. It was time to move on.
So, he did.
Nevertheless, a tiny voice behind him made him stop in his tracks and look over his shoulder at the smiling preschooler waving his hand at him.
"Buh-bye, Iron Man!"
Tony smiled and waved back.
"Buh-bye, Ken."
xxxXXXxxx
"Iron Man has been spotted under the floating city. I repeat: Iron Man is trying to slow down the fall."
Pepper Potts almost scoffed at the reporter's words, spoken as if they were brand-new information to her. She knew that Tony was down there, trying to hold a damn piece of land up in the air with nothing but his suit and his will: his heart rate was off the charts. Yet, knowing was not exactly comforting at all.
She could not decide where to keep her eyes, either: glued to the television or to the app itself. The television showed her live scenes of the chaos unfolding in Sokovia. The app showed her live feeds of the status of Tony Stark.
Neither of them showed anything good, but not staring at them was just as bad.
Tony's heart was beating extremely fast but hardly any oxygen was being taken in. His blood pressure was rising to dangerous levels. He had blunt-force trauma warnings all over the place. His stress levels were in the red. He was pushing himself to the extreme; fighting and losing to an enemy that required all of his being.
She briefly closed her eyes to say a prayer, asking God to spare his life and bring him back home, even if the entire world went to shit. She asked for a chance to tell him that he was going to be a father. She asked for a chance to prove to him that being a parent was not the worst of things. But, above all, she asked for the opportunity to see him again – to be able to tell him and show him how much he meant to her. How much she loved him with every fiber of her being.
With absolutely no warning of any sort to prepare her, pain radiated through her lower body; sharp and widespread and unexpected, and a small groan escaped her lips.
Her hands flew to her lower belly, pressing against the area as if the movement alone could stop the raw aching. She further clenched her eyes shut and breathed through the pain for a few seconds before she opened her eyes once more. The first thing she did was look to where Happy and Bambi were standing to see if they had noticed her momentary discomfort, but they were too engrossed in the newscast to take note of her issue.
As soon as the pain had appeared, it went away, only to then come right back. She bit on her lower lip to keep herself from yelping, not caring that she was now tasting her own blood. The pattern repeated itself three more times and the pain subsided just as many times, slightly decreasing in intensity and length, allowing her enough time to finally look up towards the screen at the exact time that a burst from the arc reactor in Tony's suit seared upward, where it was met with a massive bolt of lightning flashing downward from the other end, summoned by the mighty Thor, causing the floating city to blow up.
Not a second later, the app on her phone beeped, showing her an all-caps message blinking off and on that read: HEARTBEAT NOT FOUND.
Ironically, at that moment, Pepper did not think she could find hers, either.
xxxXXXxxx
He returned to the couch he had been sitting on, hours ago, and allowed his body to collapse on it. He was exhausted. He felt as if he had been fighting HYDRA all day, without the suit, but he had simply spent five hours trying to get a lost kid reunited with his parents. Granted, he had also kind of played babysitter for the little shit, as sneaky and slippery as he had been, but that should have not tired him as much as it had. Then again, if he were honest with himself, he was not tired just because of the physical efforts he had put into the task today. He was tired because the entire thing had been emotionally draining to his soul.
He had almost forgotten it. He had almost pushed it back to the deepest parts of his mind and heart, what he had been dreaming about achieving for months before Pepper had called it quits on them without a warning. The idea of starting a family, at his age and in his profession, was selfish and stupid and all kinds of wrong, but he had longed for a little bundle of joy that was his and Pepper's alone. A tiny human that would be part him and part her, and who would grow up to be what his father could have never been.
Legacy.
Piero Abbiati's words had made sense to him when he had first heard him, and they made even more sense right now. Watching over the kid, caring for him while they found his parents, and then finally reuniting him with them, had been a sad reminder of what he did not have. And what he would probably not have, ever in his life, if he and Pepper did not work things out. Everything was OK between them right now, sure, but he was under no delusions that the tables would not turn the moment they landed in New York. This was a nice vacation. A very extended getaway. And once reality surrounded them from all sides once more, their arrangement would come to an end; whether he wanted it or not.
"This place is great for us, as long as it's just the two of us. But we may not always be just the two of us."
That had been how he had broached the subject with Pepper, a day before she had broken up with him, and it had led them nowhere. She had promised him that they would talk about it, and he had expected a long and meaningful conversation once she had had the time to process it. Instead, she had ended it all. She had told him that she was moving out. That she needed time away from him. That she reproached him not truly giving up Iron Man. That she was better off alone.
To this day, Tony had a nagging voice in the back of his head that told him bringing up the topic of children had probably scared her off. And not because Pepper was not mature enough to seriously consider the consequence of such a major decision, but probably because she had been afraid to have children with him. What kind of commitment could she hope to expect from him, if he could not keep a simple promise of not being eternally suicidal by throwing himself in front of anyone in danger? How could he have possibly thought that Pepper would believe that he would be there for her, every step of the way, if he could not even commit to stop being Iron Man?
It had taken him a while to understand this, but he eventually had. Coming to that realization had helped him heal from the early damage the breakup had done. It had allowed him to push past the initial feelings of hate and blame he had been drowning in. It had enabled him to see the reasoning behind what Pepper had done. It had taken him too long to see it, let alone to understand it, but he did not fault her for what she had done. Anyone in her position would have done the same. Hell! He would have done the same thing if he had been on the receiving end of it all. The heart had always been such a fragile thing, since the beginning of time. Safeguarding it with extreme measures was just a natural self-defense mechanism. There was no harm in that.
She had done what any other person in her situation would have done. She had protected herself first.
And for that, Tony had loathed her for a little while. But then, he had come to terms with it all. He had seen his supposed hate for her for what it really was: pained love that had no idea how to fight back to regain what had been its lifeline for so long.
Yes. He was over their breakup, in more ways than one. And all he felt for her anymore was just love. He did not hate her anymore – not that he ever really did. He did not blame her for the pain he had gone through – it was obvious that it had all been difficult for her as well. He did not hold it against her for the time they had lost, or for the fact that she had ended the best thing he had ever had going for him.
No. There was no feeling in his heart for her other than love; even if that love was to be never requited again.
As such, when the redhead and Mayako walked inside the office once more, looking happy and relaxed, Tony Stark beamed. And when Pepper reached for his hand, he did not recoil. And when she had enquired how his day had been, and had then asked him if there was something over which she should be worried about his outing, he had smiled widely, held her in his arms, kissed her, and then had given her his honest response.
"No, Pep. Nothing to worry about at all."
A/N: Hey! It's me! AGAIN! XD I just wanted to again thank you all for still being here after my ass takes forever to wrap this up. We have three more investors to visit and we're done! I already have half of the next chapter done, and almost all of the one after it, too. I have the last chapter and Epilogue all written in my head, so that leaves only one chapter that is not ready. I'll see if I can squeeze one more before I go back to work on Monday :D
I also wanted to take a moment to clarify something about the adventure Tony goes into in this chapter. I know it seemed kinda rushed, but I didn't want to do a disservice to Japan by writing about their culture incorrectly. I did some research to get SOME of the details used here as close as possible to what might be the norm there, but I also didn't want to push it and offend anyone with my ignorant, uneducated writing of foreign countries (as I'm sure I've done at some point during this story. SORRY!) I hope the message was clear, though: Tony is adorkable when it comes to kids :P
Thanks for reading and reviewing! This fic has been therapeutic for me, and I hope, a joy for you to read!