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. :)
It was a thirty minute trip into the Clinic under the full moon. They didn't even see any other vehicles on the road until they got into town. Pepper had another contraction during the trip which put her now at 15 minutes between contractions, this one lasting 2 minutes. Tony had massaged her back, but in a seated position she couldn't get her back muscles to relax properly no matter how hard Tony tried to massage them. And Tony absolutely forbid her to take her seat belt off for safety reasons. He grimaced as he looked in her eyes. Pepper was definitely in pain, but he was adamant about her wearing the seat belt. Tony continued to massage her back as best he could and kept up a one way conversation of positive encouragement in her ear for the rest of the contraction.
As promised, Dr. Summers was waiting there for them at the door to her clinic. She had two of her nurses with her. The birthing center took up the entire second floor of Karen's building. Happy pulled up and stopped as Tony opened the door up and helped Pepper out. He felt her tense up immediately.
"Another contraction?" he asked as she nodded to him. He quickly tucked her into his side and walked her inside the clinic's doors.
Karen hugged Pepper gently noting the pained expression on her face, "Contractions still at 20 minute spacing?" Dr. Summers asked quickly as she helped Tony get her inside the door.
"No, the last one was only 15 minutes ago." Tony replied "They are lasting over two minutes now."
Karen let go of her and led the way inside past the waiting room and into the elevator leading to the birthing center. Pepper raised her arms and leaned into the wall of the elevator as Tony massaged her lower back gently. When the elevator doors opened they found that the birthing center was currently empty.
"Lets get you in here and comfortable." Karen insisted as she motioned for Tony to help her into Pepper's designated room.
Happy brought up their bags as Tony helped Pepper sit down on the birthing ball in the corner of the room. Tony began to immediately massage her back as she rocked back and forth on the ball. Four of the SI security men had come up the stair well, standing next to the door waiting to get security orders from Happy. Happy placed their bags on a table and then backed out of the room quietly closing the door behind them.
"Wow." Karen teased putting on examination gloves "You two almost look like you know what you are doing."
Pepper shot her a hard look as Tony chuckled. "Yes, we actually listened to you." Pepper said with a grimace. "Amazing isn't it."
"Yeah" Tony added teasingly "especially the part about sex helping to induce labor."
Pepper reached back and poked Tony hard in the ribs making him grab onto her so she wouldn't lose her balance as he laughed in earnest.
"Oh you're testy now, huh?" Karen teased "About 12 hours or so of labor aught to straighten you right out."
Pepper stopped rocking immediately and glared at her. "Not funny, Kar."
Karen just smiled sweetly at her as Pepper grimaced. "Once this contraction is over, you both need to change clothes." She pointed to two sets of clothes on a table next to the bed. "I like to keep my newborns germ free."
Pepper moved to get off the ball as Tony held on to her. He kept one arm around her as she walked towards the bed slowly.
Karen impatiently snapped her fingers as she walked "Lose the clothes, Potts." She ordered "I want to check your cervix for dilation. Then we can get an approximate labor time for you."
Tony smiled at Pepper who just rolled her eyes. Tony helped her lay down on the bed. Tony then retrieved the floral top from the table and handed it to Pepper who had already pulled her t-shirt off. He quickly untied her shoes and pulled them off leaving her socks on. He knew that Pepper was cold natured and being barefoot on the clinic floor would be uncomfortable for her.
"Lay back and I will get these pants off." He told her quietly with a gleam in his eyes.
"When have I heard that before?" Pepper deadpanned. "Why yes, I believe that was last night, wasn't it?"
"Maybe." Tony teased pulling her pants gently off of her. He pressed a tender kiss to her tummy when he finished. Then he wrapped the sarong like bottom around her tucking it gently under her baby bump. This bottom provided a certain amount of modesty, but with a great deal of accessibility.
"Enough with the romance already." Karen fussed moving an instrument tray towards the bed. "Remember, that's what got you into this mess, Pepper." She turned and pointed to the restroom. "Daddy, you can change in there. I don't want my patient here getting any more ideas about sex."
Pepper lay on the bed and laughed, relieved and relaxed for this first time in hours. She looked up at the clock on the wall. 4:28 AM.
Tony picked up his scrubs. He noticed that the top had written on it in bold lettering 'I'm the Daddy!' on both the front and back. He smiled and hurried into the private restroom to change. He didn't want to be away from Pepper any longer than absolutely necessary.
He walked back into the room as Karen pulled off her gloves.
"Our girl here is doing great." Karen said happily patting Pepper on the tummy. "Four point five centimeters. Those Stark babies should be out ruling the world by no later than noon."
Pepper looked up at the clock. It was now 4:35 AM. She sighed and looked over at Tony, noticing his scrubs. A smile lit up her face. "Nice duds, Iron Man."
"That's Iron Dad, if you don't mind." He replied leaning over and kissing her on the forehead.
"We're going to get you and the babies wired up now." Karen said as one of her nurses came in to help.
They placed an assortment of telemetry leads on Pepper's tummy as well as strapped a wireless transmitter to her thigh.
"OK" Karen commented as she pulled the Doppler ultrasound cart up to her bed "Let's get a look and see how those Stark babies are doing."
Karen turned the monitor so Pepper could see it from where she was laying in the bed and Tony quickly moved around the bed so he could see too.
"Looks like your daughter will be the first one out of the chute." Karen remarked moving the scanner slowly across her tummy from their daughter to scan their son. "It seems that Tony Jr. here is in no hurry to come out. Why am I not surprised." Dr. Summers paused to shoot an accusational glance at Tony. "They both look comfortable and in good positions for moving into the birth canal when the time comes. The telemetry indicates a low stress level. Using the birthing ball will get gravity to help get the two of them rotated the rest of the way into position. Everything looks good" She continued "Your contractions should increase in length and the time between them will start to shorten quickly now." Dr. Summers turned off the machine and pushed it away from the bed. "Do both yourselves a favor, and try to rest between the contractions. Since you two were apparently following my orders about speeding up the onset of labor by having sex, I would wager neither of you much sleep tonight."
As if on cue Pepper reached her hand up to stifle a yawn. "Would it be OK if Tony got in bed with me?"
Tony looked at the bed. It was wide enough for the two of them. Apparently by design.
"I don't see how I can stop you." Karen chuckled as she turned down the lighting in the room at the control panel next to the door. "Just keep your clothes on. I don't want you two scaring my nurses."
"I'll do my best to control myself." Pepper laughed as she looked deeply into Tony's eyes as she smiled coyly at him.
Dr. Summers opened the door to leave. "We will be monitoring you and the babies from the nurses' station, but if you need anything at all just press the 'Call' button on the bed's control panel."
As the door closed, he toed off his shoes quickly and moved behind her on the bed as she turned on her side. She sighed as he pulled her gently into his body. He took a deep breath as he nuzzled the back of her head. The scent of her always soothed him. He pushed his nose gently into her neck and placed a tender kiss there as he closed his eyes.