Conclusion
She was just finishing packing up the travel bags for her kids, all of whom would be spending two full weeks visiting their grandparents at SI in the city, while their parents celebrated their father's twenty-eighth birthday at their mother's private island, near the Bahamas. The Stark children – members of what was now known, thanks to the media, as the Iron Family – just loved to spend time with their parents, especially on the island that was yet to be named. But they also loved hanging out at the tall building that had their last name plastered all over it. There was always something fun to do there, too, and their grandparents always let them do things their parents did not, such as: playing video games until late at night, watching scary movies after curfew, and even eating pizza whenever they felt like it.
Yes. The Stark kids were going to have a blast, but so were the two adults in the family. It had not been since their honeymoon that Tony and Pepper had taken a real vacation, just the two of them, and by golly they were going to make the best out of every second they had of the upcoming one. The island seemed like the perfect location to do so, and ever since they had built a nice and cozy second home there, long-term staying at the isolated piece of land had become a breeze. The only drawback to visiting the island, at least for Tony, was that there was a no-technology policy at place. Time at the island was for growing closer together as a family, and for spending time reconnecting with the simple life and nature. Phones, computers, and even suits of armor, had no place there.
Luckily for them, no one had even thought about messing with the family of Starks; or at least no one ever since Tony's memories had been returned to him by Whitney Stane, five years ago.
Whitney's birthday's coming up, Pepper thought with a smile as she zipped closed the last bag. We should plan a girls' night out!
Her smile grew wider at the possibilities this opportunity opened up for her. She was yet to go to Las Vegas, and celebrating Whitney's birthday in the city of sin seemed the perfect chance to finally do so. Glenda Barnes and Jean Grey had also never been to Vegas in their entire lives, and as long as the kids were taken care of, Pepper knew that her friends would just love to spend some time being free adults. Plus, they would form an even group: two redheads and two blondes, it would be perfect.
Vegas, baby!
Pepper mused for an instant, stretched her arms above her head, and then felt the sudden change in the air that made her eyes open wide.
She held back a gasp, looked over her shoulder and towards the deck located outside the master bedroom, and then rushed outside. She stopped by the rail, both her hands holding onto it with a little bit too much strength, and she looked left and right. It was faint, almost imperceptible, but she knew it was there. She just knew he had to be there.
For almost a full minute, all she could see was the long line of trees of the greenbelt behind her house, for an instant reminding her why she loved this home so greatly. She had come here to avoid the city and start a new life, and she had stayed due to the friendly neighborhood, the natural park behind the land, and the fact that it made her feel as if she and her family could live a normal life while being here.
"Where are you?" she whispered, her eyes scanning the entire area once more. After a blink, her aura view turned on, and it was then that she was finally able to see the barely formed distortion by the right corner of the deck. She smiled as she took steps towards the cloud of unorganized aura, her right hand and arm stretched out towards it to transfer some of her own energy to him. Little by little, the disconnected mass began taking a human form, and when he finally looked more like an ethereal figure than a clump of barely visible smoke, Pepper felt her eyes fill with happy tears.
"Gene," she exhaled, tried to touch his palm, but her fingers simply went right through it.
"Gene," she repeated as she lowered her hand. "I… It's so great to see you again."
Gene Khan opened and closed his mouth a few times, but when he realized that no sound was coming out, he frowned. In response, Pepper took yet another step towards him, placed her palms before her so that they faced him, closed her eyes, and then transferred an even greater amount of her energy to him, using the very techniques he had once taught her.
"Pepper," Gene was shocked at hearing his own voice again. He had spent years floating in nothingness, having not been able to immediately pull himself together after Doctor Doom had separated his heart from his body, but being who he was – the one true great Mandarin – he was far from being down for the count. Although he had appeared to her a couple of times over the past few years, the stretches of time between were so great that it was still a bit startling for him to return to the material world, if only partially.
The redhead opened her eyes, took in a deep breath, and then blinked away the feeling of dizziness that overcame her as a result of supporting Gene's efforts to materialize before her.
"Too much," Gene said, hoping his short responses were enough for her to understand what he was trying to convey to her. He knew he did not have much time to be here before his atoms separated again – but he wanted to make the moment count.
"No," she breathed hard, held her weight against the rail to keep her from falling, and shook her head. "I'll be fine. I'll be OK. I've missed you, Gene. I've missed you so much."
"I… missed you," he struggled to say. "I… be back."
"I know," she dried her face from her tears. "I know it'll take you a while, but I'll be here when you do. And, if you need help. If you need energy, just stop by."
In a rare moment for the both of them, Gene Khan smiled.
"Gene!" the redhead and the Mandarin were both startled by the sound of Tony's voice. Gene furrowed his brow, wondering if the inventor could see his apparition. Yet, when a pair of little legs suddenly appeared on the deck, ran towards Pepper, and then hugged the front of her legs, Pepper's eyes glued to her friend's to gauge his response to what he was about to learn.
"Gene Edwin Stark! Get back here, you little troublemaker!"
The little boy giggled, curled onto himself while still standing between Pepper and the Mandarin alter ego's ghostly form, and then took a quick peek from behind his mother's legs.
"Seriously, Gene," Tony huffed as he caught up with the two-year-old who had learned, just a few days ago, that he could temporarily outrun his father. "Do you really think you can hide behind Mom?"
"Mommy!" the boy tried to seek his mother's support, but Pepper shook her head at him.
"No, no," she began, picked him up from the ground, and the turned around in place to face Tony. "You have to do as Daddy says."
"Thanks, Pep," Tony grabbed the child from her, placed him against his right hip, and before he got the chance to kiss his wife to wrap up showing his gratitude to her, another set of hyperactive legs ran past them.
"Daddy! Want to play with me?"
"Marie," Tony looked down at his daughter, whom he often referred to by his nickname for her, honoring her mother's middle name and his own mother's first name, at the same time. He narrowed his eyes at her, and then placed his left fist on his hip. "What do you mean want to play with me? You were supposed to be watching your brother for me!"
"But, Daddy!" the almost-five-year old pouted. "That's boring! We want to play with you!"
"But it's story time," Tony reminded the little girl. "Don't you want to listen to me read you a story?"
The little girl gasped in anticipation, clasped her hands under her chin, and then nodded her head sharply.
"YES! STORY TIME! YAY!"
The child threw her hands up in the air before she tried running away towards the bedroom, but Tony quickly picked her up by her waist.
"Oh, no you don't!" the father adjusted the little girl's position on his left arm so that she was facing down, his grip tight around her midsection. "Now, where's your brother?"
"Right there," Maria pointed to Gene's current position on the other side of her father.
"Not this one! Howie!"
"Oh," Maria shrugged. "With Patty?"
"Patty's not even home right now," Tony replied, for an instant wondering why he was even having an argument with a child. "Anyway, let's get ready for–"
"Mom!"
"There he is," Maria said, pointing towards her older brother. "I found him."
"Oh, man," Tony looked back and forth between a running-towards-them James Stark and himself. "Pep, why do we have three kids if I only have two hands?!"
The redhead, who had been enjoying the entire show, laughed aloud.
"Just grow another hand, Daddy," Maria suggested. "Howie grows back stuff AAAALLLL the time."
"What stuff?" both parents stared at their older child; said youngster simply shrugged while his eyes shifted left and right.
"Uhm…"
"Marie: are you making bets again at school that your brother can grow back body parts?"
"No?" the girl pursed her lips. "Uhm… story time?"
Tony looked up to the sky and then sighed. Three children were definitely a handful. But he would not exchange any of it for the world.
"Well, everyone: it's gonna be story time in three minutes," Tony said. "If you miss it, that's your fault!"
As the genius began walking towards the door, Maria extended her arms and legs as straight as possible, almost resembling a plank as her father carried her under his arm. She made swooshing sounds, prompting the billionaire to suddenly stop his walk, and for Pepper to momentarily forget that Gene Khan was watching everything unfold.
"What are you doing, Maria?" Pepper asked, her brow furrowed.
"I'm flying, Mommy!" the talkative little girl said. "See? I don't need your jetpack no more!"
"Good," Pepper smirked. "That means you won't try to take it again."
Just like that, the little redheaded girl pouted, crossed her arms over her chest, and then whined.
"I want a jetpack," she mumbled.
"Come on, Howie: it's story time!" Tony said as he walked inside the master bedroom, his other two kids in tow, not even bothering to make sure his oldest son was following him at all – he knew Howie was the most obedient of the bunch, anyway. Nonetheless, when James remained very still, Pepper's eyes landed on the child. As she was about to tell him to listen to his father's orders, the look in his eyes told her that his attention was somewhere else entirely at the moment. And it took her a second to realize where it actually was.
"Uncle Gene," the boy whispered, causing Pepper to turn around to face Gene once again.
The Mandarin smirked and nodded once, not at all surprised that the eldest Stark child could see that he was there. James Howard Stark could see everything. He then watched as James' hand extended towards him to transfer some of his own power to him. To both his and Pepper's surprise, the amount of invisible energy James had just transferred to him was much larger than what Pepper had been able to do on her own. Even more shocking was the fact that the seven-year-old had not even broken a sweat after doing so.
"It's story time, Uncle Gene," James added, his words sounding very much like an invitation to join them, and then ran back inside the home, both sets of adult eyes following his every move.
Pepper stared at the door for a second, just to make sure that no one else was coming back out. When she then returned her eyes and attention to where Gene had been standing, she did so only to find out that he was gone.
"Gene," she gulped. Her eyes scanned her surroundings again, but there was no sign of him at all. She tried to randomly augment the aura around her, used the maximum amount of her aura manipulating abilities, hoping he would be able to come back, but after nearly half a minute of no luck, the redhead gave up on her task.
"Pepper!" she heard her husband call from inside the bedroom. "It's story time, for crying out loud!"
"Coming!" she replied, gave the deck one final good look, and then sighed. She had not known when Gene would come back – although she had known that he would eventually, for good, since he was immortal due to the rings – and she now berated herself for wasting the opportunity by not thanking him for his sacrifice. Everyone had helped greatly during the war, but it had been Gene's actions that had finally made Victor von Doom a thing of the past for the entire world.
Next time, the ginger told herself. Until next time.
"Pep!"
"Mom!"
"Mommy!"
"Mama!"
Pepper grinned at hearing her family all call for her in their own way. She exhaled sharply, turned on her heels, and then ran back to the door to hers and Tony's room.
The scene before her made her grin turn into a full smile. Her entire family was on the bed, their backs against the headboard. Tony was in the middle of it; James sat to Tony's left, snuggled under his arm, ready to flip the pages of the digital book with his fingers when his father told him to do so; Maria sat to Tony's right, also under his arm; and on her lap, baby Gene waited patiently, suckling on his thumb, his sister's arms around him, both waiting for the story to start.
They were an endearing sight to see; the little girl cuddling with baby Gene. Maria Jill Stark simply adored her little brother, and had decreed herself his personal protector. She also greatly looked up to and idolized her big brother, James. Nobody really understood why, but like Pepper, Maria just seemed to understand and get along with boys more than she did with girls. She was not shaping up to be a tomboy; she was very much what one would think of as a girly-girl. Be that as it may, the child genuinely seemed to enjoy and prefer the company of her male siblings, and her parents truly felt sorry for any girls who ever tried to hurt or take advantage of her brothers someday. They were going to face the wrath of a very protective and vengeful sister if they tried.
The moment Pepper appeared by the door, Tony lifted his gaze. He winked at his wife, and they stared at each other's eyes for a long moment – a moment in which Pepper once again thanked Maya Hansen and Whitney Stane for doing what they had done. If it had not been for Maya's anti-reboot serum that she had made for him in case the restart dose Pepper had put him through failed; if it had not been for Whitney waiting patiently for Tony to truly want his old life back, waiting for Extremis to be ready for receiving said serum – one which the blonde had been given the responsibility of administering since before the counterattack had begun – Pepper Potts would not be witnessing the tender moment before her.
If it had not been for her two former romantic rivals working together to help them, she would not be readying herself to snuggle near her kids and her husband, to listen to the inventor's latest bedtime story.
"Come on, Pep. We're about to start."
Pepper wasted no time to jump on the bed, opting to sit by Maria and Gene's side, and then cleared her throat to let them know she was ready for the show.
"Alright!" Tony said with enthusiasm. "Tonight we have a brand-new story to tell!"
"New?" Maria clapped excitedly. "What's it called, Daddy?"
"It's called," Tony waited for James to slide his index finger on the screen of the tablet to deactivate the screensaver, "The Last Chronicle of the Mandarin."
"Last?" James furrowed his brow, recalling from the previous years when Tony had read bedtime stories for him, that the Mandarin was the evil ruler who would not let the smart, handsome hero be with the beautiful redheaded princess. They had not heard much of the Mandarin in stories lately; the oldest Stark child was surprised to hear of him again.
"Is the villain finally stopped, Dad?"
"No," Tony shook his head, "He's not the villain anymore, Howie. He's the hero."
Gene Khan, who did not have enough energy to speak out loud, and only had enough left to appear ever so lightly by the door to the Stark bedroom, silently gasped.
Pepper sensed his quick appearance, prompting her head to snap up, and she then mouthed to him the words she had wanted to say to him, all this time.
Thank you, Gene.
Gene smiled. He then closed his eyes, and slowly disappeared from view, his ears hearing only the first few lines of the tale.
"Once upon a time," Tony began, "Long, long ago, there was a very smart, but very bad man called: Dr. Boom…"
xxxXXXxxx
Sunrises were always beautiful at the island, especially when you had a front-row view from your very own balcony, atop the maximum altitude on the entire mass of land, even if you had to stand up throughout it all. The breeze was warm and soft. The air was clean and refreshing. And Tony's arms suddenly around her waist and his chin resting on her left shoulder was just what she had needed to truly enjoy this moment of her life.
She placed her arms on his, pressed her back against his chest, and he snuggled his face against her neck.
"Good morning, Pep," he kissed her exposed shoulder. "Sleep well?"
"Uh huh," she closed her eyes to fully enjoy his lips sliding across her skin. "You?"
"Yup," he ceased kissing her neck and shoulder, and then opted to simply rest the side of his face against hers. "Well, not until someone stopped snoring."
"What?" her head snapped back. "I don't snore!"
"Sure you don't, babe. It was probably just in my head."
"Tony!" she pulled away from him, faced him completely, and then narrowed her eyes at him. "I. Don't. Snore."
"I have video evidence to the contrary, Pepper."
"Gah!" her hands flew to her mouth, but when she remembered that there was not much holding the now slowly falling bedsheets around her body, she quickly grabbed onto the fabric with a huff. "Quit it!"
"Quit, what?" Tony chuckled, a simple towel wrapped around his waist.
"You know what! That smug smile of yours!"
"What smug smile?" he shrugged, pretending rather poorly that he had no idea what she was referring to.
"You know damn well which one!"
"You mean this one," he pointed to his face, "Or this one," he added while somehow making his smirk even that much more arrogant than before.
"Dammit, Tony! You're such a jerk!"
"Am I?" he closed the distance between them, his hands now on her hips.
"Yes! You're, like, King of the Jerks. And, if there was a city of jerks, you'd be the Mayor of it!"
"Wow! That's a whole lot of jerk there."
"Yes! Jerk!"
Tony chuckled, much to her dismay and reddening cheeks. He then tilted his head to the right, kissed her lips slowly and tenderly, and then pulled back. His eyes took in all of her face, freckles and all, and after tilting his head to the other side, he huskily whispered to her.
"Your jerk, right?"
Just like that, her anger melted away.
She pulled herself closer to him, also taking in every inch of his facial features. So far, his birthday celebration had been rather enjoyable for the both of them, but she knew there was much more to come.
She returned the favor by fervently kissing him, running her hands over his chest, and then pulled away to make sure she gave the proper reply to his inquiry.
"Yes," she nodded, ran her hands down his face, and then gave him a broad smile. "My jerk."
THE END
Well, Faithful Readers, after nearly a full three years, we have finally reached the end of this epic. It's been a lot of fun, and I really think it has allowed me to grow and improve as a writer. While I do have some ideas to revisit this continuity a few times in the future with some smaller, just-for-fun stories, I'm going to give this one a good rest for a while, and turn my attention to some of my other pending stories.
I want to take a moment to give out some much-deserved gratitude. Firstly, to my always helpful Hubby, Teen Tyrant. Not only has he helped me edit all of these stories, and even supplied some scenes in them himself, but he is also the one I bounce all my crazy ideas off of. When asked what he thinks of a potential scene, he would say something along the lines of: "That's pretty good," or "Yeah, that's perfect," or "Oh, fuck no, don't write THAT!" Naturally, those are the ones I ended up writing, and you guys seemed to love them. Thanks for the help, Sweetie!
Most of all, I want to thank each of you, my Faithful Readers, every last one of you, whether you have followed along with this tale since the first posting of The Last Month, or came in while the story was still in progress and caught up to all this craziness. It is your praise and demands for more that have stoked the fires of my inspiration. None of this would have meant anything without you.
And there's still a lot more heading your way, so stick around everybody, 'cause I'm just getting started!