A/N: Another extreme long update. I think it's going to be like that for a while. I'm terribly sorry for prolonging the evil cliff-hangers here and there. But either way here it is! The long awaited update. Thanks for all the lovely reviews too :).

She entered the boardroom with an unconscious hand pressed at her stomach and the other holding several stapled documents close to her chest. This was her last day at work, the last day before a very much needed time off to actually relax and prepare herself for the birth of their second child. It wasn't as scary to her as it was when she was pregnant with Jared. She was more experienced now and she knew almost exactly what was coming and the pain involved during child birth.

She couldn't help but reminisce on the day she gave birth to Jared as she sat at the head of the board table awaiting her colleagues. She remembered Tony cringing at almost every moment from the constant pressure she supplied to his hand when she gave birth to Jared. He had winced and grumbled, nicely but then dissolved into a more direct, gentle instruction for her to lessen the pressure on his hand before he would resort to a more dramatic endeavour.

She still remembered him muttering away that he would and possibly should excuse himself from the birth for a few minutes so he could retrieve his Ironman gauntlet and wear it to protect his hands from her torturous ministrations. She laughed at the thought despite Natalie walking in whilst holding a few layers of files in her hands. She noticed Natalie's questioned gaze but yet amused expression etched in her features.

"Something I miss?" Natalie asked as she sat on the chair to her left and quietly disposed of those files she held ever so tightly to the space on the table before her.

"No, no," she hushed softly, "I was just reminiscing on the past."

"Let me guess the board meeting we had a month ago where Phil from finance waltzed into the room with his bright orange boxers exposed slightly from his unzipped fly?"

She laughed again and shook her head. "No, no, not that. I'm afraid Phil will never live that one down."

"Yeah, I doubt he ever will," Natalie smiled as she neatened the papers before her in their proper respectful piles. "So what were you reminiscing on then?"

"I was thinking about the time I gave birth to Jared," she mused softly, her thoughts fluttering back to where she was before Natalie entered the room moments ago.

"From what I heard, Tony had quite a match with your hand," Natalie laughed.

"Oh he did," she smiled widely, "He's already started to suggest this time that he will put on his Ironman gauntlets to save himself from getting his hands semi-broken again."

"Oh no, he didn't!"

"Yes he did, I swear for a man with an exploding ego and matching ability to share it with the world he sure does squeal like a baby at such little things sometimes," Pepper laughed.

"It's just the way he is," Natalie smiled. "Men are always like that."

"Yeah," she smiled warmly this time as she thought about him, "They are," she paused briefly to gather the documents in her hands as the others began to slowly enter the room, "but we love them anyway, despite their ability to act like such babies sometimes."

The meeting finished roughly exactly to the hour and she couldn't be more relieved as she and Natalie made their way down the familiar hallway to her office. She suddenly craved for the silence and serenity from her office after having been choked up with poor ventilation in the board meeting room with all the directors of Stark Industries. Their conversations of planning and strategies for Stark Industries was getting to her head and the only thing she could think of right now was sitting on her comfortable chair and drinking a nice glass of pure, pulp free orange juice.

Natalie excused herself within a few feet of her office, muttering something about having to meet Happy at reception to make some arrangements in picking Jared up from school. She knew very much that 'making plans to pick up Jared' was easily done by phone but she knew how closed they had become and how once she had been giddy with love a long time ago before any kids got drawn into the picture. She smiled quietly to herself as she mused at how she was still often giddy with love and that with kids or without kids it seemed their love life only elevated to a deeper and longing level.

She pushed the door of her office open without glancing at her chair, her thoughts far too absorbed in thinking about him.

"A penny for your thoughts, darling?" his familiar voice murmured and she glanced to her chair instantly.

The smile that had been plastered to her lips widened almost splitting her face as she regarded him with a raised brow.

"I didn't even see you," she murmured as she neared him, "How long have you been here?"

"A while," he answered as he pushed himself to a stand and quickly reached for her elbow. "I saw you in the board room and I really couldn't bring myself to sit in one of those things again."

She laughed at his momentary cringing expression at the mention of board meeting.

"There's something about that meeting that brings out the worst in me," he muttered as he flashed a warm smile at her.

"You seem exceptionally cheerful today, Tony," she mused softly as he lowered to press a kiss at her lips.

He paused short of her lips and murmured, "That's because I get to take you home and make sure you abide by the 20 rules that Jared and I made up of how to be lazy and do absolutely nothing because any moving is adding unnecessary stress to your body."

She rolled her eyes at him as she slipped her hands around the collar of his shirt and muttered, "Just because I'm pregnant doesn't make me an invalid and I can't believe you and Jared are ganging up on me like that."

He chuckled and smiled sweetly at her before pressing a very much needed kiss at her lips. "What can I say, our son is concerned about your well-being and it so happens I am too…But I assure you Pepper darling that we won't be too harsh. Jared will probably get bored with the whole idea after a few minutes and decide to do argue with Jarvis or something, you know how easily bored he gets sometimes."

"And what about you?"

"I'll be following you around like a policeman with a whistle and a hat."

"I really shouldn't have fainted, it's only led to a much more darker part of the infamous Tony Stark and his ability to completely ruin my fun."

He smiled at first then lowered his expression to something more serious as he pressed a hand at either hand rest on her chair. "I love you, Pepper and I promise I'm not going to make you be too super lazy, only slightly."

"Promise?"

"Okay maybe a little bit more than slightly, but nothing to extreme," he murmured softly before adding, "I'll even let you wake up at that unearthly hour of the morning if you want too even though I think you're ridiculously crazy for doing that when you're supposed to be having time off."

"It's called a routine, Tony."

"I'll make you relax, just you see," he smiled.

"I can hardly wait," she murmured as he leaned in for another lingering kiss.