A/N: I am so very sorry for updating this so late. I hope I haven't lost a ton of readers but at any rate here is the update. It's short but it's something.
She stirred from her dreamless slumber to the dimmed sunlight emerging from the horizon. Its orange glow radiated through their room and very rudely announced his empty space beside her. She sighed loudly at the thought of him being at another one of his missions. She could only imagine how sluggishly sweaty and exhausted he would be when he returned presumably later in the day.
She had spent the entire week hoping that they would be granted a Saturday morning of simply laying together in blissful silence enjoying the sounds of the ocean crashing on the shore bed. But as the seconds ticked pass and coldness grew beside her she gave up all hope of him returning any time soon to enjoy the remaining hours of the morning.
She grunted and pulled the blanket over her head at the thought of how neither her persuasions nor kind requests to the great Fury made any difference in lessening his missions due to the final stages of her pregnancy. It seemed that the general was completely oblivious to her rather implied request to simply 'keep Tony at home more and not spending half of his time battling in the other side of the world'.
"You're cute when you grunt, you know…"
She halted her thoughts and kept completely still to determine whether she had even heard what she thought she heard. At the sound of silence she was sure she had completely made his voice up and highly likely had fallen asleep and was currently dreaming.
"I know you're awake," his familiar voice murmured again.
With haste she flung the blankets from her and turned as quickly as she could turn her swollen stomach. She saw him sitting on her chair with his legs apart and his elbows resting on his knees. He looked devilishly handsome wearing his semi-tight suit he normally wore inside his Ironman suit. But strangely enough his eyes were warm, curious and yet strangely filled with sadness.
She frowned as she softly murmured, "You're home?"
His lips curled as his eyes softened at her. "Yes, I am."
"How long have you been home?" she asked.
"A while," he replied softly as he lowered his gaze to the floor.
"What's wrong?" she asked as she stretched her hand across and slipped her hand into his.
He glanced slowly back at her as he replied, "The mission I went too last night…I met this guy, he was showing me around the village, explaining the ambush points…that kind of stuff…and when we returned to his hut, or tent, whatever you want to call it. I noticed he had this picture of a little boy…probably around the same age as Jared. I thought maybe he was one of those ex-military that Fury had hired to sit out there and I asked him when he was going to see his boy again…." he sighed and glanced down at their intertwined fingers, "And he told me in this very sad tone that he didn't need too because they were already here with him."
"Oh, Tony…"
"He lost his wife and his son to the very machines that I built to supposedly save the world," he muttered disgustedly. "And I can't help…I just can't…" he trailed off into silence for a moment before he continued, "I just can't help but feel like I should be sad. But then I come home and I see you and Jared, and even though I should be sad, I'm happy. Am I being selfish?"
Her expression softened as she slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed and slipped her other hand together with his. She nudged him slightly and waited until he glanced up at her.
"You're just human, Tony…" she murmured softly. "We've all made mistakes and some worse than others but what counts is that you're trying to rebuild a better world. You're dodging rockets, bullets and all kinds of insane weapons not for money or for personal glory. You're doing what you do to help others and that's all that matters."
He smiled after a momentary silence. "I really do love you, you know," he murmured softly.
"Well I certainly hope so," she smiled, "I am a walking whale after all."
"No," he whispered, "You're beautiful."