Most of the characters in this story belong to Marvel Comics and whoever else has current legal ownership of Iron Man and not to me, even in my wildest dreams. No infringement on anyone's rights is intended in any way. This story is not being written for profit.
This story was written for all of you who wanted a sequel to my story "The Sense of Touch". I sincerely appreciated your kind words and encouragement and I hope that you enjoy this story. :)
Karen had remarked to them during Pepper's check up two days ago, much to Tony's surprise and Pepper's obvious delight, that having sex would also help to speed up the onset of labor. It seems sperm contains a hormone that helps to soften the cervix. Pepper didn't need to be told twice. They had made love three times that evening, two times the next morning, three times that evening, three times the following morning, and three times last night. Tony was positive that he had had more orgasms in the past 36 weeks than he had had in his entire life. Pepper had never suffered from morning sickness, so her overactive hormone-induced sex drive had been in high gear from the very beginning of her pregnancy. Tony had always had an over active libido, but a pregnant Pepper was definitely giving him some serious competition in the libido department now.
He was hoping that her labor wouldn't be bad enough to make her not want any more children, because he was thoroughly enjoying her being pregnant. But surprisingly not for the sex, because making love with Pepper was always amazing, but just being around her and doting on her with the realization that a part of him now lived in her. It gave him this weird sense of destiny. And being pregnant just seemed to make Pepper…. happy. And her happiness was very important to him.
She was not happy, however, when her normally flat tummy began to change 11 weeks into her pregnancy.
They had just finished their morning shower and Pepper clutched her bath towel in her hands as she stood transfixed at the full length mirror next to the double sinks.
"Oh my god!" She said quietly as she turned to the side looking at her reflection in profile.
Tony stumbled out of the shower still hazy from a breathtaking orgasm just minutes ago, courtesy of his wife of three and a half months. He immediately turned to look at her, concerned over the worry in her voice. He suddenly became worried too when he saw the expression on her face.
"No, no, no!" she said running her hands down to her lower abdomen. "I can't be showing already!"
Tony's shoulders sagged with relief knowing now the source of her concern as he focused his eyes on her body, starting at her breasts of course and moving lower following her hands. There it was: The Stark Baby Bump. Tony was ecstatic. He was suddenly as proud of that baby bump as much as he was those rings on her left hand. He had always been possessive of her and now that she was carrying his children, he wanted the whole world to know about it. It had been nearly killing him keeping Pepper's pregnancy a secret at Pepper's request up until now. He hadn't even told Happy or Rhody. The former highly suspecting, and the latter highly hoping. The presence of the Stark baby bump meant that Pepper was finally going to have to go public with her pregnancy, and that he could now have total bragging rights over knocking up the love of his life.
Tony quickly moved to hug her tightly, pulling her towel from her arms and dropping in on to the floor. With Tony Jr. sated and resting against one thigh, he could feel her baby bump pressed up against his abdomen now. He smiled against the side of her head "You're gorgeous…your baby bump is gorgeous." He breathed out tilting his head so he could kiss her on the temple. "I love you so much. And I love our babies."
She sighed deeply, her shoulders noticeably sagging. "I didn't want to release a press statement until I was at least fourteen weeks, and this is only week eleven, Tony." Her voice full of concern.
Tony leaned back and looked at her. Something was going on in her head that continued to worry her. "What's up Pep?" he asked softly "Everything's OK, right?"
She pulled him into her tightly, her breath noticeably hitching in her throat. "My mom miscarried twice, both of them at twelve weeks. I'm just scared that the miscarriages were somehow genetic and that I am predisposed to miscarry."
Tony hugged her tightly back and then started moving his hands up and down her back, stroking her lovingly. "Karen says everything is going good for you and the babies. And you know that your mom had been sick both times she had a miscarriage. You are very healthy and you're going to stay that way. A little too much stress at work, but your new assistants will soon fix that."
"I know, I know." She said her voice muffled against his shoulder. "It's just that my damn hormones get the best of me sometimes."
Suddenly Tony got an idea. "Hey, you are the big boss now and you can do what you damn well please as far as work schedules go." He said "Just work out of the house on Mondays and Fridays. I can go in with you on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and play decoy for the paparazzi and press. You know I'm really good at being distracting." He waggled his eyebrows at her and she rolled her eyes at him in response. He lowered his voice suggestively. "You can wear those Versace dresses that I bought for you that have are designed to be loose around the middle and no one will be the wiser. How much can our babies grow in three weeks anyways?"
Apparently quite a bit. Tony noticed every day that her baby bump continued to grow in size. And he was pretty sure that he wasn't imagining it. Pepper's baby bump had now become Tony's default hand position in the weeks that followed. When they were alone together, one or both of Tony's hands invariably found their way to her growing belly. He had to really watch himself in public because his wondering hands always tried to make their way to her baby bump. He knew that they couldn't show their hand (or bump in this case) just yet.
So Pepper altered her schedule and Tony proved to be very distracting, but surprisingly discrete, when they were together in public. Decoy Tony combined with her change in wardrobe seemed to have temporarily solved the baby bump early exposure issue.
Pepper had to go shopping for another dress for the next charity ball they were having on Saturday, just two weeks after the initial appearance of the Stark baby bump, because she realized that none of her other dresses fit now. Tony had gone with her to help pick out the dress. He realized then as he was in the large dressing room with her that more than just her tummy was changing. Her hips were getting fuller as were her breasts. She looked absolutely radiant. And he was now faced with the added dilemma of keeping his hands (and mouth too) on only the PG rated areas of her body when they were in public. He and self control were still new to one another, and he feared that his new found friend and he were about to be put to the test.
"Hey Hap" Tony said cheerfully as the Bentley pulled up to the red carpet entrance to the gala on Saturday evening "Pick us up in 2 hours. My baby mama and me have a romantic date planned for later." Tony had called Pepper his Baby Mama for nearly as long as they had known each other. It was one of his many pet names for her and was usually used when he was either drunk or high or both. Tonight he was neither. But, as usual Happy simply just ignored Tony.
Happy looked at Pepper in the rear view mirror who nodded in agreement after smiling at him. "Sure thing." Happy replied getting out of the car and moving to open the door for them.
Tony stepped out of the car and turned back extending both hands into the back seat to retrieve Pepper who graciously accepted his hands as he pulled her gently out of the car.
As usual, camera flashes began going off and reporters started calling them by name trying to bait them into a few words. Tony smiled at Pepper as he gathered her into his arms ignoring both the paparazzi and the press. As was their custom, Tony and Pepper would turn back to pose for the cameras just before entering the building. However this time when they posed Tony's hand instinctively moved to cover her baby bump possessively, accompanied by a look on Tony's face that screamed to the world 'I'm the proud Daddy!'
Tony realized too late what he was doing and before he could move his hand, he saw more flashes go off. He quickly moved his hand to her hip, kissed her soundly on the lips and pulled her inside the entrance to the hall as the flashes continued.
Tony tried his best to forget about his blunder, and he managed to behave himself for the next two hours. Surprisingly Pepper acted as if nothing had happened. Tony thought she may have just become so accustomed to his hands on her baby bump by now that she may not have even noticed what he had done. During the gala it was business as usual for them: he stayed at Pepper's side, drank ginger ale, and threatened any male who came within 5 feet of Pepper. And Pepper, as usual, was at Tony's side, sipped the ginger ale Tony brought her, and her grace, warmth, and charm soothed any hurt feelings over Tony's protective behavior.
Happy was waiting for them when they left the ball. Only a few press were still left covering the front of the building, but unfortunately they proved to be most unfriendly towards SI in general and Tony and Pepper in particular as they shouted out outrageous questions and comments most of them containing the words 'mass murder', murderer, or killer'. That night the press's behavior had annoyed him even more than usual and Tony had to restrain himself from throwing the bird up instead of his trademark peace sign at them as they left. But within 20 seconds of exiting the building he had Pepper safely in the Bentley and Happy began pulling out into traffic and away from the hall.
"Congratulations Boss." Happy had said out loud as he began to drive. "I saw the picture on the web. I thought something was going on with you, and I was hoping it was a good thing."
"What picture Hap?" Pepper replied too anxiously to suit Tony.
He suddenly got a bad feeling about the direction that this particular conversation was headed.
Happy handed her his iphone and Tony craned his neck so he could see the photo too.
"Pepper wouldn't let me tell you Hap. She wanted to keep it quiet until after she was past the 14 week point." He defended as he looked the photo over. He felt Pepper stiffen under his arm as she gazed at it. He had to admit the photo was a good one. But he also knew that the accompanying text was going to send Pepper through the roof.
'Looks like there is an Iron Baby on the way for Pepper and Tony Stark.'
Within seconds, Pepper's Blackberry went off. Pepper recognized the number and answered it quickly. "Good evening Charles." She said feigning a calm and sweet voice at without question the crankiest, most obstinate, and genuine pain-in-the-ass member of SI's Board of Directors. "Why thank you. Please tell your wife thank you too. So very nice of you to call. Yes, I will be sure to pass your kind words on to Mr. Stark. Have a nice evening."
In the dim light of the back seat, Tony was fairly certain he saw smoke coming out of Pepper's ears. She moved away from him slightly, turning in her seat belt to look him dead in the eyes. She didn't have to say anything at all. After 15 minutes of non-stop ringing, Pepper just turned her phone off. Tony knew at that point that he was in deep trouble. Tony didn't even want to look at his cell phone, currently on silent and buried deep inside his tux pocket.
The rest of the ride home just like his phone setting: silent. Yes, Tony could definitely smell smoke. He helped her out of the Bentley and they made their way in continued silence to their living room. He tried to join her in the elevator for the ride up to their bed room, but she held out one hand in stop to him. Tony recognized the 'I need some space' gesture from her and he immediately stopped short of the elevator door. As the door closed between them, Tony turned to withdraw to his workshop, still in his tux.
As he tinkered with a new invention, an hour passed with no sign of Pepper. It was getting late and he was bone tired. He sat down at his desk and put his head down on the smooth top and closed his eyes, wishing that he had been able to control himself at the ball. But touching her growing belly had already become a habit for him. Yes, he knew Pepper was upset, but he found himself actually proud of that picture. He had no idea how long he had been there in the workshop asleep when she woke him with a kiss on the top of his head as she placed a hi-def copy of the 'picture' mounted in a 'World's Best Dad' frame on his workshop desk right next to the picture of him and his dad. With a soft smile she then led him upstairs into their bedroom and they made love for hours as the night slowly turned to morning. SI stocks soared on Monday after Pepper issued her press release announcing her pregnancy. It seemed that stock market analysts had high hopes for the future of Stark Industries now that there were heirs to the Stark throne.