Sorry, this is taking a while. I've had some major writers block (despite having the next few chapters planned) so I hope you enjoy. I can't remember if I pointed it out already but I'm basing Tony and Pepper's ages on those of Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Cravings
Tony held Pepper's hand as he carried his daughter down the stairs of his private jet, there was a car waiting for Happy to drive them home when he too descended from the aircraft.
"Bef down?" The little girl asked. She'd learnt to say a few basic words including Ma, Dada, up and down with her first word being Juice (uice as she pronounced it), which irritated Pepper slightly but amused Tony.
Tony carefully placed the little girl down on the ground at 18 months she was really starting to get the hang of walking. He tightly held on to one hand and Pepper took the other and they slowly made their way over to the waiting Bentley where Tony strapped her in to the car seat.
"Home Happy and don't spare the horses!" Tony declared as Happy slid into the driver's seat.
"Right you are boss!" Happy said and he drove away from the small private airfield used by the Stark Industries Aviation department. They pulled up to the Malibu mansion and Happy helped unload the many bags from the car and left them where dummy and butterfingers would most likely help to put them away.
"Happy, we've still got a few days of vacation left, so you can take the rest of the week off." Pepper told him once they were finished she was holding Beth who'd fallen asleep on the way over.
"Thanks Pep." He said goodbye and left them there.
"So what's the plan for the rest of the week then boss?" Tony asked from the couch where he was absently flicking through the channels.
"We can start looking at pre-schools for Beth."
"She's not even two yet Pepper!"
"The good ones have waiting lists."
"What's the point of being a billionaire and a superhero if you can't even get your kid in to a good school?"
"We're doing this properly Tony. We need to find a good day care programme as well, I can't keep taking her to work with me or letting you take the day off."
"Don't need day care, all I do all day is hang out with the guys in R&D and design things, I'll look after her." Tony tried, he remembered what it was like to be handed off to day cares and nanny's and didn't want his kids going through the same experience.
As if she read his mind "It's not because we don't love them, in an ideal world we could look after her all day and do the work, but I took the time off, running the company from home, I need to be there, you need to be there and Beth needs to interact with people her own age."
"Do we have a day care at the office?"
"No, I suggested it once, but you don't like children or you didn't and said it would distract people."
"You're the boss Pepper, let's get one set up, we'll use the conference rooms set up for the weapons division. Don't need those anymore."
"Do you realise how hard it is to set up a day care?" Pepper asked thinking of insurance, staffing and facilities.
"Do you realise how nice it'll be to have the kids at the office with us?" He countered "You'd like that huh princess? Coming to work with daddy." He asked Beth who was now awake and playing with the arc reactor in Tony's chest.
"Uice! Dada uice!" Tony just smirked.
"The next stage will be Dada money, you know that right?" Pepper asked the day care conversation shelved as their attention moved to their child.
"As if there was any doubt daddy's little girl was going to be spoilt."
"We could try not spoiling her. When she asks for a pony you could say no." Pepper told him
"You think she'll want a pony?"
"Probably, every little girl does at some point."
"Perhaps I should look in to having a stable built."
"No Tony. No stables."
"But the little princess wants a pony!" He stood and put the little girl on his shoulders, she squealed with laughter as he practically skipped around the front room, Pepper shook her head and turned her attention to her ringing blackberry.
"Who is it?" Tony asked as he put Beth down by a small pile of toys left downstairs for her to play with.
"My brother, he's bringing the boys out to California for a few days over the long weekend. They're going to go to Disney Land want to know if we'd like to join them."
"Sounds good." He said and stood moving towards the workshop.
"Where are you going?"
"Beth's happy; I thought I'd go run some tests on the new suit components."
"Go play, but be back in time for dinner."
A few weeks later Tony was awoken by his wife running from the bed to the bathroom, he followed her, pulling her hair back as she vomited in to the toilet.
"Morning sickness?" Tony asked
"No Tony, just felt like the throwing up first thing in the morning." She replied sarcastically
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit Mrs Stark."
"I see why you use it then." She said before throwing up again.
"When's the doctor's appointment?"
"This afternoon." She threw up for another 10 minutes "Ok I think I'm done. I'm going to jump in the shower, alone, we've got a big day today." Today was the opening of the Stark Industries day care, the first group of parents had signed up including Tony and Pepper.
"I'll go get the little madam up and ready for her first day of day care." He placed a kiss on Pepper's forehead and went in to his daughter's bedroom.
"Ready for the first day of school little miss Stark?" He asked as he picked her up, she just snuggled in to her daddy's warm embrace. "And Disney land with Uncle Joey tomorrow?"
The family soon climbed in to the back of the Bentley driven by Happy. "Happy have we got time to stop at the deli on the way?" Pepper asked
"Uh, sure Pep we can stop."
Happy pulled up in front of Pepper's favourite deli, it was only two blocks from Stark Industries, Happy, Tony and Beth all sat patiently (well Beth was asleep, they'd discovered early on driving was a sure fire way to get the child to sleep) waiting for Pepper to return.
Pepper got back in the car and began to eat her sandwich. "Pepper what is in that sandwich?" Tony asked slightly disgusted by what his wife was eating.
"Ham, tuna, bbq sauce, lettuce, tomato, pickles and olives, lightly toasted as well" She said like it was the most normal sandwich in the world "Would you like a bite?" She offered the foul smelling sandwich in Tony's face.
"No, I'm not hungry." Tony didn't think he'd ever be hungry again, Happy looked in the back of the car slightly confused. They hadn't told anyone she was pregnant again, including the driver.
They arrived at SI and Pepper deposited the wrapper for her sandwich in the trash can and they made their way to the new day care to officially open it for everybody to see, they spent some time with Beth before Pepper attended a meeting and Tony went to R&D where Pepper would drag him from a few hours later.
"How are we today Pepper?" Her gynaecologist asked.
"I'm good, a little hungry…"
"You stopped off for onion rings on the way." Tony protested
"Hungrier this time around?"
"Yeah, the cravings are a little weirder."
"You put tartar sauce on the onion rings."
"Shall we have a look?" The doctor asked. Pepper lifted her shirt and shivered when the gel was placed on. "Ok there's the heart beat." The soft whooshing noise filed the room. "And that's your baby, I'm going to estimate that it's 9 weeks old."
Tony and Pepper weren't even listening they were too busy looking at the small shape on the screen.
"There's its head and fingers and shoulders. The eyelids and earlobes are also developing now."
They stayed and talked to the doctor a little bit longer, who told Pepper, that given her age she'd like Pepper to take things easy and recommends taking an early maternity leave.
"Should make Disney Land fun tomorrow." Tony says.
"Well you can have all the fun and I'll keep an eye on our daughter."
Later that evening Tony and Pepper were trying to decide on dinner. "I feel like pizza." Tony declared
"Domino's?" Pepper asked, usually they ordered from a gourmet place in Malibu but she really felt like Domino's sauce was the best way to go.
"What pizza would you like?" Tony asked nervously, if her eating habits of the last few days were anything to go by then the pizza should be interesting.
"Large, extra cheese, tomato sauce uh…extra sauce, pepperoni, spicy sausage, ham, salami, Italian sausage, bacon…"
"Any vegetables?" Tony joked
"Shut up." Pepper snapped "Tomatoes, lots of olives, onions and pineapple." She smiled at her husband, who ordered standard meat lovers.
They sat eating their pizza when Pepper commented that all she could think about at the moment was pork and sausages, Tony used every ounce of self-control in to not mocking Pepper about her love of sausage, there were a great many dirty jokes running through his mind at the moment.
Joe Potts and his family arrived at the Stark mansion around 8am the next day and they were shocked at its size. Pepper greeted her brother and his family holding Beth on her hip. She invited them inside and smiled slightly as they were awestruck by the view of the Pacific Ocean from Tony's front room.
"You did good little sister." Joe said hugging her.
"Ginny, this house is lovely." Her sister in law Sarah told her.
"Mrs Stark, Mr Stark is pulling the car around now."
"What the hell was that?" Joey exclaimed
"Joe not in front of the kids!" Sarah told him.
"That's Tony's computer, he's called JARVIS, and he runs the house for Tony sort of like a virtual butler." Pepper explained
"That's creepy." Joe said
"You get used to it."
They arrived at Disney Land where people had started to notice the arrival of Tony Stark complete with the rarely seen baby. They went around the attractions with Pepper holding on the Beth and occasionally Ben and Scott when they wanted to go on the rides that they were unfortunately still a little too short for.
"Gin are you sure you don't want to go any of these?" Joe asked his sister as the group minus Pepper and the baby came up to her, all sopping wet.
"I'm absolutely positive Joey, I'm just enjoying my day off with the little princess." Pepper said as she strapped her back in to the push chair and they left to go and find some lunch. During lunch in which Pepper managed to order a fairly normal salad, she noticed herself getting more and more sick as the smell of the chicken irritated her more and more.
"Excuse me!" She rushed towards a bathroom
"I'll go see if she's ok." Sarah said, standing and following her sister-in-law, it wouldn't do well for Tony to be seen coming out of the women's room at Disney of all places.
"Ginny?" Sarah called, following the noise to the toilet.
"Yeah!" Pepper called out in between vomiting.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, it's just the chicken smell."
"It was the same when I was pregnant with the boys."
"How did you figure it out?" Pepper asked
"Not going on any of the rides, the throwing up, the glowing and the, oh what was it? That's right the ultrasound picture on your coffee table."
Pepper couldn't help but laugh. "You won't say anything right? We want to wait to tell people."
"You can count on me Virginia."
The rest of the day passed quickly, Pepper again avoided all the rides and Beth enjoyed some of the shows immensely especially the Fatasmic show that ended the evening.
"Will you guys be joining us tomorrow for California Adventure?" Joe asked his sister.
"No, you guys enjoy your vacation. We'll see you at Christmas anyway." Pepper smiled.
When they arrived home Tony, still wearing a ridiculous pair of ears that his nephews had given him (Beth had a small pair on and was clutching a stuffed Minnie Mouse tightly in her sleep), asked JARVIS to run a quick internet search for any mention of himself, Pepper or their daughter, especially after requesting the media didn't publish pictures of his child. Then he saw it a news article and a twitter trend.
Stark Expecting Again?
Today, sources say that Virginia "Pepper" Stark is once again expecting a child and that she confirmed it to an unknown woman at Disney Land earlier today…
Tony couldn't believe it, they wanted to keep it secret.
Stay at home CEO?
Given the reputation that Tony Stark has for his…extra-curricular activities it's surprising there isn't already a football team of tiny Tony's running around, his wife and Stark Industries CEO is apparently pregnant again. Mrs Stark only returned from maternity leave six months ago and it looks like she'll soon be taking it again. Is she planning to run the multi-billion dollar business from the maternity ward or will Tony Stark soon be taking back control of SI?...
He switched toTwitter where Pepper Preggers was a trending topic.
"Pepper?" He called out
"I've already seen it!" She called back.
So much for secrets Tony thought.
TBC…
All the cravings and the smell of chicken is what my friend went through pregnant, eating with her is a true test of an iron stomach I promise.
I'm moving so expect updates far and few between. I hope you enjoyed this and I'll appreciate the feedback more =)