A/N: I am dreadfully, extremely, completely and utterly sorry for this super, super late update. Life has been rather hectic these past few weeks and trying to accomodate myself with work and life in general is seriously challenging. I starting to miss being a kid... things were so much easier. Anyways rather than dwelling in the past I'll get on with this update :) . It's a short one, but it's a cliffy so expect a update relatively soon... most likely by next weekend. Thanks for the lovely reviews!
It all started at 6:52am that morning.
She awoke to Jarvis' routinely wakeup call and much as she normally loved his enthusiastic chimes about it being a lovely sunny day, this was one particular day when she just really couldn't give a damn. She remembered having grunted in response to his cheery awakening before sitting up and swinging her legs over the side to begin another mundane day. However the next thing she knew between the blur of hasty waddling and the momentous leap she took over that rug she always somehow managed to trip on, she found herself face buried in that dull white toilet bowl.
She presumed last night's takeaway had encouraged this morning's discomfort or perhaps that double white chocolate and triple dark chocolate ice cream Jared introduced her too. She did find that ice cream sickeningly sweet and torturingly creamy. Although at the time when she actually consumed it, she couldn't think about anything other than how wondrous it tasted.
She half-heartedly checked this morning as being another one of those extreme morning sickness days as she threw up the contents of her stomach. She ignored the fragrant sour smell emerging from the toilet bowl and instead pushed her thoughts toward the day ahead.
She had a weekly board meeting at nine and a follow up meeting with finance at eleven. She had that torturous Friday afternoon meeting at two and that meeting with Tony at four. The meeting that normally resulted in her sitting in her office receiving the world's best foot rub from her one and only. He normally pampered her with flowers, chocolates or promises of much more else for that evening ahead. He always knew how to make her Friday afternoon's enjoyable.
She sighed as she reached for the nearest hand towel. But much to her surprize a familiar hand outstretched in front of her and the next thing she knew, she was being lifted from her position on the bathroom floor. She caught his eye for a fleeting moment as he gently holstered her onto the toilet seat. She smiled warmly at him as he reached to wipe the warm towel at her mouth. She wondered quietly how he had managed to warm up the towel without her even knowing.
"Thanks…" she murmured.
"Nah," he mused softly to her, "it's part of my job."
The rest of her morning passed by as it normally did. She enjoyed a bath Tony drew up for her followed by a nice breakfast she highly suspected Jared had prepared. She was sure Tony at least knew that the soup spoon was not used for cereal or she hoped anyway.
She made it to the office by nine and much to the greatness of being the companies CEO it really didn't matter if she was late to her own meeting. Instead she was greeted with polite smiles and kind words of how her pregnancy had added a 'glow' to her features. It was the normal small talk she endured with being in the spot light all the time. In the past she probably would have cared about being late. But given the rude awakening and slight uneasy feeling of this morning she once again, couldn't give a damn.
The meeting went smoothly as she had predicted. There was something about being fully eight months pregnant and being in her peak of moodiness that made the entire staff of Stark Industries agreeing with everything she had to say. She highly suspected that Tony had something to do with it. But in all honesty she didn't really mind. There was something about being pregnant and accommodating the worst ever bouts of morning sickness that completely derailed her normal work ethics. She only hoped she wasn't as bad as Tony.
She found herself sitting quietly staring out the window at noon feeling completely uneasy and at odds with what exactly was causing her to feel so strange. She frowned as she glanced downward at her swollen stomach. She was sure it wasn't that orange juice she drank earlier or that muffin Natalie bought for her.
"Pepper, I've got those reports for finance," Natalie's familiar voice stumbled into the room.
She turned slightly and smiled at the younger female.
"Are you okay?" Natalie asked with concern in her tone.
"I'm alright…" she managed before she suddenly felt completely faint. "I…I don't think."
"Pepper, you're completely pale…I think-"
The next thing she knew, everything was black.