So I'll be getting internet back on Friday! That's the good news, bad news…this story is nearly over.

Mayhem and Matrimony

Rhodey's ears perked up at the sound of bickering making its way up the stairs.

"Hey guys, how was your vacation?" He asks nervously when Tony and Pepper come up the staircase, he's sat with some toy jets playing with Ed, who seemed fascinated by aeroplanes and flying.

"Great!" Tony declared smiling

"Awful." Pepper deadpanned at the same time.

"Come on Pepper it wasn't that bad." Tony looked at her.

"Our boat SANK!" She stared at him.

"I thought you guys went to that house in Tahiti?" Rhodes asked

"We did…" Pepper started but was cut off

"Which is still available for your honeymoon if you want it." Tony said quickly.

"…We did go to the house in Bora Bora but I arranged a boat ride like the one we had when this idiot proposed."

"You didn't think I was idiotic when I proposed…" He protested Pepper's statement.

"That's debateable." She quipped and Tony feigned a look of hurt. "Anyway, everything was going great until some idiot on a jet ski crashed in to our boat and it sank."

Rhodey suppressed a chuckle.

"It was an adventure Pepper! Your favourite movie is Titanic…"

"That doesn't mean I want to experience it!" She argues

"I'll pay to send you down if you want, birthday present maybe?"

"Back to the story guys!" Rhodey prompts.

"Well that's it Platypus! The boat sank and I played Pepper's personal DiCaprio." He saw the sceptical look on his wife's face. "I gave you my chunk of wood to keep you out of the icy water,"

"It was hardly icy Tony."

"But I still braved the water, floating there waiting for a rescue that would never come." Pepper just shook her head in disbelief before going to cuddle Edward who hadn't even really noticed they'd come home.

"Where's Beth?" Pepper asked.

"Having a tea party with Joanne in the playroom." Rhodey told her.

"I'll go get her." Tony said before looking Rhodey "Are you coming?"

The got in to the elevator to take them to the top floor of Tony's mansion.

"So…" Rhodey said awkwardly as the elevator moved up.

"So? So what?" Tony asked, already knowing the answer but irritating James Rhodes is and always has been one of his favourite hobbies.

"So, the point of this vacation was to talk, in private…" Rhodey trailed off.

"You've not asked an actual question Rhodes. But the answer to your implied question is we talked and we decided that the past is the past and we're going to leave it there. Start fresh and all that."

"Really?"

"No. Well, yes about moving forwards and the past being the past. I agreed to couples therapy."

"That's big man." Rhodey couldn't believe it. The Tony Stark he knew was always a hundred per cent against therapy of any kind.

"Her and the kids are all I've got and if this is what fixes us."

"I'm proud of you Tony."

"Shut up, that's enough about me." He laughed at Rhodey's face. "Yeah, you're only going to here that once in your lifetime. " He chuckled again. "Right, so bachelor party. I'm thinking Vegas!"

"No." Rhodey was adamant. No Vegas.

… …. ….. … …. …. ….. …. …. …

Tony won. Tony always won with Rhodey and Tony, Rhodey, Happy and some of Rhodey's friends from the Air Force walked through the lobby of Caesar's Palace.

"How did I let you talk me in to this?" Rhodey whined

"I offered to pay." Tony stated smiling at the people who were pointing at him.

"I swear to god Tony if this turns in to some shit from the Hangover I will kill you!"

"Well it's a good thing I get to remain sober, so when we leave you on the roof I'll remember it." Tony was taking his relationship with Pepper seriously and if that meant sobriety then that's what was going to happen.

The night started like any other night in Vegas, it consisted of Tony gambling away a ridiculous amount of money and winning it all back, although it differed from his usual Vegas habits when he avoided a strip club and was still sober when he helped Happy carry a drunk Rhodey back to the room. So when they were on the jet awaiting the arrival of the groom Tony couldn't help but wonder where the hell Rhodey has gone.

Tony looked at the caller ID on his cell and chuckled when he saw the name.

"Rhodes, waiting on you buddy. Come on! Wheels up 20 minutes."

"Why the hell did I wake up tied naked to the welcome to Vegas sign?" Rhodey shouted down the phone.

"I don't know, last time I saw you, you were drooling on a pillow." Tony looked at the planes other occupants and was unsurprised to see Rhodey's Air Force friends chuckling in the corner.

"Tony…"

"It wasn't me Rhodey. It really wasn't this time, your boys in blue might have an idea…"

"I don't care, come bail me out!"

"I'll be there soon." Tony said making no move to stand he heard Rhodey shout something vague about bringing him some pants when he hung up the phone. "Wheels up! Sour Patch is finding his own way home!"

The other occupants of the plane laughed and it was high fives all round, shame Rhodey didn't find it so funny when he was released later that day to find his friends abandoned him and a ticket for an economy seat on a flight back to LA.

…. …. ….. … ….. … ….. …..

"Well aren't you the prettiest little flower girl ever!" Tony said as he scooped his daughter up.

"Mommy said to tell you, you look han..hand…what was the word Mommy?." Beth told him, she wanted to show her dad her flower girl outfit so Pepper had knocked on the door where Tony and Rhodey were getting ready for the wedding.

"Handsome." Pepper said from where she was waiting by the door, to take her back to the bridal party.

Tony had been allowed to retain his best men privileges even after leaving Rhodey is a Vegas jail cell. Although Tony had been warned if he did anything else wrong, then Rhodes was going to hunt him down and kill him, Iron Man or no Iron Man.

"Well your Mommy is out of control gorgeous." Tony pretend whispered at Beth who giggled.

"Edward leave your bowtie alone." Pepper called from her corner. Rhodey's soon to be nephew was the ring bearer so Ed, who sulked at being told to leave his bowtie alone, had been made a groomsmen so he didn't feel left out being the only Stark not actually in the wedding.

"Don't worry buddy, I don't like wearing them either." Tony told the sulking child.

Rhodey who'd been largely silent in this conversation asked Pepper how Joanne was doing.

"She's great Jim. Wait till you see her, she looks fabulous."

Rhodey just nodded and went back to panicking in a mirror.

The wedding was wonderful, Pepper cried, Tony will argue he didn't but Pepper will tell you otherwise. The reception however was proving to be a problem for Tony and Pepper.

Flashback!

"What do we do about the alcohol?" Pepper said in the car on the way to the church.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I can't drink and I used to say, that I wasn't drinking so I could keep an eye on you and drive you home but I don't think that's going to work now since you don't drink anymore!" Pepper was in what Tony called a full blown Potts panic.

"Ditch it in a plant, or we'll do a super-secret switch of our glasses so you end up with the non-alcoholic and…" Tony trailed off as he couldn't think of what to do next.

"We could just tell Rhodey and Joanne."

"And steal their thunder?"

"I don't know Pepper, I think the toasts are going to be an issue for you."

"What about pretending to take a sip and then leaving the glass on the table and switching to water."

"That could work." She mused.

End Flashback!

So that's what Pepper did, during the pictures and the toasts she pretended to take a sip of her drink and she thought she had everyone fooled until she was dancing with Rhodey.

"So you're pregnant." He stated.

"What? No!" She tried to deny.

"Pepper, please." Rhodey told her in a tone that said he knew differently. "I've been watching you and Tony, neither of you drinking alcoholic drinks and your hand keeps resting on your stomach and you've been more emotional, you spent all of this morning throwing up and then there was the onion rings and ice cream you had as a midnight snack last night."

"Sorry, Jim we didn't want to steal your thunder."

"I appreciate that, but I'm happy for you guys."

"Thanks."

"Besides…" Rhodey grinned "Joanne's pregnant too and you're both glowing."

TBC…

So there we go happier! Do you know what makes me happy? Feedback! (its appreciated really)