A/N: Enjoy.
"Tony!" Pepper called. He could hear her heels clicking down the stairs, followed by a soft thump, thump. He turned to look through the glass door and window that he had kept as part of the design in his new lab in the tower in New York and grinned when he saw his two angels.
Pepper was dressed in a blue blouse and gray skirt, hair up in a ponytail and relatively low heels. Next to Pepper, getting to her feet after having slid down the stairs on her butt (as three-and-a-half year olds were oft to do) was their brown haired, brown eyed daughter, Anastasia. Tony slid off the stool and strolled over to the door, grinning.
When his daughter saw him through the wall, her face lit up and she waved a chubby toddler hand at him. "Daddy!" Anastasia said, toddling towards him as fast as she could manage. Tony hurried to reach her but Pepper caught her before she could trip over the parts all over the floor.
The princess made a noise of protest and pointed at her father. "Daddy!" Tony crossed the rest of the floor to take his daughter from her mother, kissing Pepper hello.
The strawberry blonde smiled affectionately at the daughter-father pair before her mind turned to business. "You said you'd make time to watch her this afternoon, because I have to go sign the papers for the building in England-"
Tony waved his free hand in a dismissive gesture. "Go ahead. I got this." He turned to the little girl in his arms. "Right, Pap?" Tony had developed the silly nickname for Anastasia of Paprika. According to Blue's Clues, (Tony would deny watching the show along with his daughter if ever asked) Paprika was the daughter of Salt and Pepper. So according to Tony's logical mind, if Pepper was Pepper, he could be Salt and Anastasia could be Paprika.
Also, it was just a really cute nickname. Not that he'd ever tell anybody.
The girl nodded. "I wanna help with the robots."
"Sure thing, kiddo," he said, tugging gently on her braid and turning away from Pepper, carrying her towards his workbench with ease. "Uhf, you're getting heavy."
"Natasha and Thor are here if you want any help with her-" Pepper called after him, if he would focus on anything but the precious bundle in his arms. She smiled at the two of them, starting sort out a pile of gears and bolts. She heard Anastasia laugh as Tony jokingly berated Dummy, a burbling giggle that was low for a little girl but dear to her ear all the same.
Pepper sighed, backing away towards the doorway. Maybe she could hurry up with these papers and get back in time for Blue's Clues…?