This is for Sara and Reikajen ^^

MEMORY OF A KISS

Tony Stark felt so relaxed after spending the evening swimming in his new mansion's private pool. The New Stark Mansion in Malibu was entirely designed by Pepper and himself and it truly felt like a real home. The home they had decided to raise their little mini Stark in.

He was now stretched out unconcernedly lying over his favorite sunbed. It was a remarcable fact, indeed, given the degree of incredible excitement in which he had been immersed for days. Taking those hours to clear his mind, had been a great idea. Soon sleep began to overcome him, falling into an immediate state of light slumber. And then he was sleeping heavily. Nothing strange considering the ammount of hours he had been woken up working hard in his new technological project. But all of his exhaustion was worth it for his baby girl. For her to have the securest baby room in the world.

He was so fast asleep that he didn't even hear Pepper aproach him when she came back home. The first thing his wife thought when she walked through the garden half an hour later and found him there snoring like a bear and spread like a koala on a branch of eucalyptus over the sunbed, was about how many days the crazy genius of her love would have spent without taking a good nap. She was sure he had only slept a few hours a day. And only on those in which she managed to persuade him that it didn't matter it took him some few more days to finish his next big project: their baby's crib.

Tony had taken their safety so seriously. It filled her with tenderness as only one month ago they've learned she was carrying a baby girl, and from that moment on, he had gone mad thinking about her safety. Knowing she was there slowly growing inside her mother, seeing her in the ultrasound, face, little hands and feet, suddenly made her imminent arrival into the world real for both of them. Even in a world without Thanos or other alien menaces, even in a world with a new team of Young Avengers who will fight bravely for humanity and against all kind of threaths. He was so scared something could happen to their baby. Old habits were difficult to overcome.

Pepper went a little closer, let her purse fall in the floor, near the sunbed and sat on the grass to get a better view of his handsome sleeping husband. She sat there for a long time wondering about how he was so cute asleep. She loved to see him so innocent and calm. It was one of her favorite activities in the world. The redhead swallowed a smile of sincere adoration as she bent down slightly to caress his right cheek affectionately.

Tony stirred a little under her soft and familiar touch, murmured something unintelligible and smiled, still unconscious. His wife struggled for a moment between letting him sleep or waking him up. It was obvious that the poor man needed his rest, but perhaps he would sleep better in bed with her than by punishing his back in that impractical designer's sunbed.

Pepper decided that she liked the second option better. She would wake him up and then they'll climb upstairs to cuddle together in their comfy bed. Her day had been exhausting and to have Tony engulf her in a warm hug as he intently listened to her explaining what happened in the Stark Industries shareholders meeting, would certainly make her night.

So she hovered over him a little and laid a soft, loving kiss on his parted lips. The friction and pressure were enough to bring Tony back from his light sleepy state, who hastened to reciprocate her, deepening the kiss and tangling his tongue with hers in a subtle dance. The sensation was so pleasant that they only parted minutes later, to breathe, eager for oxygen.

"Welcome home, Mrs. Stark" His husband said in a deep sleepy voice as he opened his eyes and recovered all his sense little by little.

"Thank You, Tony…" She whispered back tenderly.

Suddenly, with consciousness recovered, her husband had stared at her intently, still close, her face and lips a few inches away. He stepped back a little to look at her with renewed interest: her hair neatly pulled back, her navy blue suit sitting on the lawn with her legs crossed unconcernedly and bending over him. Her beautiful eyes still closed, her lips parted, still tasting the sensation of the kiss shared with him seconds before. Precious. The engineer ran a hand through his hair in a distracted gesture and then spoke slowly, his brain still a little bloated:

"Pepper, you'll think I'm crazy… But this… Situation right here…" He gestured with his hand between them. "It seems very familiar to me. It's like… I had a wonderful dream once. So long ago, before we were even together… I wasted a lot of nights after that thinking about it. It was such a vivid dream, it even implied lovemaking between you and I… In a time we never touched each other more than by accident or you straightnening the tie around my neck…" He swallowed hard and then laughed. He was trying to sound casual. But deep feelings were pouring from his statement.

Pepper blushed cutely. She always did when he expressed his vibrant desire for her before their relationship changed. It was damned cute to see it from Tony's point of view.

"You were always horny back then…" Pepper jokes.

"Uh? It's that so?'" He asks jokingly back, his hands over her hips, bringing her closer to him.

She nods in a yes, playfully smirking.

"I know honey. Not my best moment. I tried to fill the emptiness in my heart the wrong way for so many years…"

He's tense now, and she can feel it.

"I know,Tony. I've always known…" Pepper clarified. "There's no need to…"

"But that's not what I meant… You, Pep… Damn it, I was head over heels over you and I didn't even know it… Silly me." Tony admits finally to her. "But the intensity of the kiss was what remained with me for weeks. I never told you anything because at the moment I wasn't ready and then I simply forgot about it..." He said sitting straight in the sunbed and staring puzzled at her.

Suddenly, his adored Pepper's eyes widened and she became strangely tense. She lowered her head slightly and sighed deeply as she chewed on her lower lip uneasily as she always did whenever she was nervous or worried about something... Tony was a little scared. Was she suddenly so tense because of his silly remark about the past?

"Is everything okay, baby?" He asked cautiously "It was just a stupid dream so long ago, I don't even know why the hell I just told you…"

Pepper was widly surprised by the fact that he would remember their first kiss. Their TRUE first kiss. She thought maybe it was time to tell him. After all, he remembered. It wasn't fair to let him live longer in deception.

"Look, Tony… That dream you had…" She started cautiously, looking into his brown eyes, taking his hands in hers in a soft caress. She sighed deeply and exhaled the air before continuing. "It isn't a dream. It's a memory. It… It really happened. In your workshop, at night. You just saved me from some asshole in a bar. You really were so nice to me that night… You were soundly asleep I thought you wouldn't even remember because you had so many drinks…"

"What?" Tony looked at her in confusion, trying to process the information.

"Our kiss in the rooftop at the Expo wasn't our first one. That one was…" Pepper explained.

He blinked several times and then finally spoke again. "So… That really happened?"

"Only the kiss. I won't take the blame about the other sexual things you imagined us doing in that dirty mind of yours" She clarified, her smile shining.

"Oh sure it was hot as hell. But reality beats it all. Luckily I've been having sex with you, my gorgeous wife, for years and years now… Mmmm" He said distracted by her words. Then went back to his earlier train of thought "You mean you kissed me while I was asleep? Pepper, how naughty of you..." He playfully teased her. "Taking advantage of a poor exhausted man while he's unconscious…" A playful smile had started creeping into the corners of his lips.

She smiled at him broadley.

"Oh you are so attractive while you sleep. That big mouth of yours so shut." She teased him back.

"God, Potts this is huge! Why did you take so long to tell me? We've been married for two years now… If I didn't get the subject out, I guess I would have never heard of it…" He was truly bewildered by the fact he had kissed her back then.

"You are oh so right Mr. Stark," She replied, stealing a soft kiss from his lips. Tony looked at her with deep adoration as they parted. "But I think that doesn't beat that time you didn't tell me you were dying uh? So we are at odds here…"

"Woah… Our trust in each other sucks, wife" He teased her "But I never mentioned it to you because I thought it was just a dream. So intense and real but a dream after all... Do you realize? You were silent on purpose! Mrs. Stark. But how did you dare? I could have told you that I loved you much earlier. And you..."

"I didn't dare to mention it… I was so afraid of your reaction. We both know you weren't ready to have a stable relationship back then, Tony. I was fearing if you knew you would retreat from me and never want me near you again. I was afraid of myself too. I didn't want to feel what I was feeling for you… I tried to bury those feelings so deep..." She explained.

"Because of my old playboy way of life." He ended the sentence for her. "It's okay honey, you were protecting your own heart. And with good reason. I'm not even sure old me wouldn't have been such a big jerk as to ruin ours before it could even start so… You did more than okay, sweetheart. I can see it now." He assured her.

"Yeah but not only that. Three years later you were kidnapped, then Iron Man, then everything changed… Then the palladium poisoning… Everything was out of control. Your strange behaviour... You not telling me things. You seemed to have gone back into your old habits, so I kept that sweet memory to myself. As a treasure. As something that would never happen again between us" She sheepishly smiled as they were now married and expecting their first child.

Tony smiled in quietly understanding. What a pair of fools have they been. But besides everything they had always loved each other so deeply. That was undeniable.

"Pepper" He whispered in awe of her. He would absolutely love her for evermore.

She looked into his eyes.

"And then, against all hope you kissed me when I was telling you I wanted to quit from your life forever." She smiled at him "And I kissed you back. All our repressed feelings trough so many years of loving each other in silence poured into an awesome kiss and we started a romantic relationship. It was no use to bring that back."

Pepper beamed at him caressing kindly his hands still in hers. Their fingers intertwined.

"Speaking of the blue Expo days… Do you know why I wanted you to give me a kiss so badly back then?" He asked his eyes bright with emotion.

"I don't, but you were so insistent..." Pepper looked at him slightly alert, because that bright look on his face always meant problems for her... "I'm sure I'll regret this..." She smiled at him fondly, tapping his fingers. "Why Tony?"

"Because I had dreamed that I kissed you and it was the best thing I had ever felt in my life, those sweet and sexy lips... So wonderful I convinced myself day after day I had to experience that dream in reality. More so when I suddenly realized in a cave how much I loved you…" He confessed. "It was a need when I came back. I wanted to tell you how I felt and kiss you, God" He finished with obvious astonishment.

His wife was overjoyed, she truly adored him.

"We are together, everything else doesn't matter anymore. The past is in the past, so to speak."

Tony nodded affirmatively and shrugged.

"Come here, baby." He opened his arms for her. "I've missed you. And little Maria too"

Pepper granted him his wish. While they were hugging, her husband gave her a kiss on the cheek. Lost in her precious eyes, blue as the sea, the engineer's right hand went to his wife's abdomen and stroked it in soft circles."

"Little Bean are you still there? Did you behave? We don't want Mommy to be sick…"

"Tonyyyy…" Pepper laughed while giving him a gentle tap on the shoulder. "Of course she's still there, and for another four long months she's not going anywhere."

His husband beamed at her.

"It's amazing, Pep you show such a round baby bump… It's sexy…"

"Tony…"

His gaze brightened with pure happiness.

"Those pregnancy books are right, you are glowing. And you'd never been more beautiful. But, seriously, honey, how have you been?" He asked every bit concerned about her wellbeing.

"Well, my stomach hurt a little this morning... Don't worry, now I'm just tired. The usual exhausted after a long meeting."

"You are not going to more meetings until Maria is four. I'll go, Pep."

"But Tony… You hate them…"

"You need to rest" He said seriously.

"I was hoping we would cuddle together tonight." She added smiling.

"Your wish is my command, my beloved…" He smiled at her again. "But before, Mrs. Stark… You are going to pay for keeping big secrets from me!" He ended mischievously.

Tony started tickling her sides, because he knew that Pepper was always much more relaxed after a good tickling session. The CEO laughed and writhed wildly in her husband's arms.

"No... No don't tickle me there... Tonyyyyyyy stop… Stop! Ahahahaha please... You are so… Ahahahaha incorrigible…"

"You must pay for hiding me for years that you kissed me while I slept." He continued exultant.

They both laughed together non-stop as the sun slowly set in the wonderful garden of their new home in Malibu, a big modern farm, and Tony thought the air smelled of hope and love.

A lot of people asked me for a continuation of this story. Most of you wanted Tony to remember the kiss. Here it is. I hope you like it. I've written some more short stories to go with this, so if you liked it let me know in the comments.

Thank you all for reading my stories and for your wonderful feedback and suggestions :D