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. :)
Even with her busy schedule, Pepper had continued her exercise routines and yoga throughout her pregnancy, and as a result her body was still strong and, in Tony's engineering opinion, very capable of carrying around the 38 extra pounds of unbalanced load. Pepper became insistent that both she and Tony eat good, healthy foods. After the second week of vegetables, he was certain that he would never again look at spinach the same way ever again. She cooked more often and he pitched in and helped her whenever she let him, which became more often as her pregnancy progressed. Being a genius however, Tony did manage to sneak in a few pizzas and greasy burgers with Happy on the side without Pepper getting too suspicious.
Much to Tony's delight, her body continued to change steadily during the course of her pregnancy: her hips had become noticeably fuller and more rounded, her belly had grown to the size of a large beach ball, and her breasts had grown by two cup sizes creating quite a stir in Tony's pants anytime he happened to look at her, which, of course, was all the time. Tony had always thought she was gorgeous, but being pregnant had added an irresistible glow to her skin that made him want to crawl in bed with her and never get out again.
Pepper suddenly jerked awake in his arms, rousing him quickly from his thoughts. "Tony" she said quietly "I need to go to the bathroom."
Tony immediately rolled out of bed and quickly rounded the bed to offer a hand to Pepper in getting up. He pulled her up gently and wrapped one arm around her as they walked slowly towards the master bath. They had barely made it in inside the master bath when Pepper stopped suddenly, looking down.
Tony looked down also and saw a trickle of clear liquid running down one of her thighs. "I'm sorry sweetheart" he apologized "I didn't get you in here quick enough." He was well aware of Pepper's bladder control being compromised due to her advanced state of pregnancy.
Pepper turned to him with a look of near panic in her eyes. "Tony" she panted in pain as a strong contraction overcame her. "My water just broke."
Tony looked up at her and noticed the pain in her eyes. "How long have you been having contractions?" he asked breathlessly.
"Since about 1:00 AM." She winced. "I thought they were just the Braxton-Hicks again, but they have gotten stronger the past two hours and changing positions hasn't helped."
She and Tony had just finished making love for the last time around midnight. Tony was getting worried now. "How far apart are the contractions? And how long are they lasting?"
"They are about 20 minutes apart and are lasting about one minute or so." She said between groans. "I've been using the clock on the night table as my timer, but I've been dozing off and on, so I'm not exact on my measurements."
"You should have woken me up." He gently fussed at her. Making love to her always sent him into a deep post orgasmic sleep which he knew he was very difficult to rouse from. He suddenly felt bad. He hadn't been there for her during her first real contractions. "I'm so sorry that I slept through your contractions."
"You look so cute when you sleep, I just didn't have the heart to wake you." She replied gritting her teeth, noting the sadness in his eyes. "And besides, I wasn't really convinced that they weren't Braxton-Hicks, either."
He smiled at her and pulled a chair over for her to sit on while he got out a wash rag and began to gently wash her off. He noticed that the fluid was slightly yellow and had a surprisingly sweet smell to it. He looked up at her and smiled again. "Jarvis, engage protocol 'Special Delivery'." He quickly said looking at his watch. "Contractions started around 1:00 AM and are 20 minutes apart, duration of contractions approximately one minute. Water broke at 3:30 AM. Fluid color slightly yellow and sweet smelling."
"Affirmative, sir." Jarvis said quietly. "I will begin making calls immediately. How long will it be before you and Mrs. Stark will be ready to leave for Dr. Summer's clinic?"
Tony looked at Pepper with thinly disguised amusement. "No makeup or primping for you this morning Mrs. Stark." He teased. "Ten minutes, Jarvis. That should give Hap enough time."
"And Jarvis be sure and make the family and friend's calls at a more suitable hour." Pepper added. "With first borns, labor is always the longest. No sense in waking people up unnecessarily."
"Acknowledged." The AI affirmed. "Mr. Hogan is already on his way. He should be arriving about the time you will be ready to leave."
"Thanks, Jarvis." Pepper replied.
"My pleasure Madam." Jarvis said "The Stark household will be eagerly awaiting you and the children's return home."
"You better be including me in that." Tony interjected, leaning down to kiss her softly on the lips.
"But of course, sir." The AI replied sarcastically "We do of course, recognize the small part that you played in the act of fertilization."
Tony glared and shook his fist in mock anger at the camera in the master bath as Pepper chuckled quietly at his antics. Tony grinned at her as he wet a washrag and began to gently clean her legs. Pepper ran her fingers through his thick, dark hair in a loving gesture as he continued to clean her. After he finished and carefully dried her with a soft towel, he slowly pulled her up out of the chair and led her back to their bed. He lowered her down gently onto the bed and then walked over to her dresser. Pepper had started to relax as her contraction subsided. She was soon back to normal, or as normal as you can be while expecting twins at any moment. As he turned his back on her and starting pulling out clothes for her to wear, he instinctively knew that she had her eyes glued to his backside, and in particular his ass.
"Ten minutes is long enough for us to… you know." She teased keeping her voice low and sexy and trying to lighten the mood "You know we won't get to do it again for a couple of weeks at least."
Tony had started pulling out clothes for her to wear, when he stopped and looked over his shoulder at her in disbelief. "Here you are going into labor, and all you can think about is sex." He replied frowning. "I have created a monster!"
She laughed quietly as came back over to her with a pair of panties, socks, a large bright yellow t-shirt that had "Construction Zone" printed on it, and a pair of cotton sweatpants. He gently helped her put her panties and sweatpants on. She pulled on the t-shirt. Tony pulled on her socks and gently placed her feet in a pair of running shoes that were comfortable on her, lacing up the shoes carefully.
"Well, at least I will be able to see my feet again soon." She said quietly.
Tony could hear a little fear creeping back into Pepper's voice again. Pepper had always been afraid of being the center of attention. As CEO, she was getting more use to it, but she still disliked it. He continued to watch her as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second. Giving birth to the twins would no doubt be easy for her. Putting up with being the center of attention for the foreseeable future would not be.
Tony recognized her breathing pattern. She was slipping into battle mode. Pepper was one of the toughest people he had ever met. Her high tolerance to pain, both emotional and physical, intelligence, strength, and endurance were remarkable. Pepper had decided on natural childbirth for the twins. Dr. Summers had given them personalized instruction on natural childbirth which let them know exactly what to expect pain-wise, and had given them the techniques that would help both physically lessen the pain, as well as increase Pepper's ability to mentally deal with labor pain. Pepper and Tony had been practicing the techniques using breath control, massage, pressure points, and body stretches and positioning. Karen had taught them how to use the birthing/labor ball and they had practiced the different positions using the ball. They had a MP3 player full of her favorite music, massage oils, and aromatic oils that would be used to help relax and comfort Pepper packed away already in their 'birthing' bags.
These bags had been packed for two weeks. As usual, Pepper wanted to leave nothing to chance. The bags went with them wherever they went just to be safe. Dr. Summer's clinic had the birthing center on the second floor, and the clinic itself was only two blocks from a major hospital. A generous donation from Tony to the hospital's pediatric wing recently had assured Pepper of immediate care just in case they encountered difficulties during delivery.
Tony quickly put on underwear, jeans and a thick black t-shirt which hid the arc from casual detection. He finished up by pulling on some comfortable running shoes.
"Mr. Hogan has just arrived." Jarvis informed them.
"He must have run the entire way." Pepper commented as they heard heavy footsteps quickly coming down the hallway ending with a gentle knock on their bedroom door.
"Come in." Pepper said as Happy opened the door. Happy was trying hard not to pant, but Pepper noticed a line on sweat on his brow. "Happy slow down and calm down."
"Do what she says, Hap." Tony said picking up their birthing bags "I can't carry both you and Pepper if you pass out on me."
"Very funny." Happy replied taking the two bags from him and slinging both of them over one shoulder as he led them out of the bedroom.
Tony put his arm around Pepper and led her into the elevator and then into the garage to the waiting car. Happy quickly placed the bags in the trunk and then got in behind the wheel. There were two Escalades full of SI security there in the garage waiting to accompany them into town and ready to set up security around the clinic. Since it was Sunday, the security team was optimistic that setting up security points around and inside the clinic would be easier than on a weekday.