A/N: Oh dear... I'm on a roll. This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written for this fic. Enjoy. :)

As dawn peeked from the horizon, the sunlight seeped through the curtains of their very homely hospital room.

He hummed softly to the little bundle in his arms that slept oblivious to the world around her. He smiled warmly at her little pink button nose and her beautiful tuffs of hair sprouting around her little head. He felt something warm lingering in the pit of his stomach as he gazed over her, protecting her from the world even though there was nothing much to protect her from at the present moment. It was barely past 5am and judging by the shadowed footsteps outside, the level of security had not lessened. There was a part of him that swelled with honour that he had such friends in high places who wanted to protect his family without him ever asking in the first place.

He tried not to think about Ironman, pushing the thoughts from his mind as he simply told himself to enjoy the peace and serenity whilst it lasted. They would soon be discharged from hospital and soon he would be taking his little family home. He dreaded to think about the multitudes of protocols he would have to reinitiate the instant he arrived home. He liked to think Jarvis would take it upon himself to initiate them but knowing the familiar AI, Jarvis was probably enjoying a nice break.

He sighed quietly to himself, drinking in the atmosphere of such a homely hospital room. There sat a photo frame of the four of them at one corner of the room by the window sill and another photo of the Avengers beside that. He smiled to himself at the thought of Pepper always adding a personal touch to a place other than their home. It was almost as if she couldn't go by without adding some sort of personal touch to the place without feeling at ease with her surroundings. It had always been a habit of hers and he had the pleasure of only discovering this during those years their relationship shifted from friendship to lovers. All those years ago when babies were a figment of their imagination. All those years ago when he actually thought he had it all.

He had been so very wrong.

There wasn't a day that went by now where he swelled with pride at being a father. The thought alone was enough to give him that extra encouragement to get missions done and be home by 6. There were days when that was impossible but he still tried, pushing himself past the 24 hour mark to at least make it home by morning to see Jared off to school. He knew it wasn't much and he knew Jared was much too young to really understand what being awake for 24 hours and being battered and bruised all at the same time was really about, but the look on Pepper's face on those mornings always touched something deep inside his heart. He always wanted to tell her that she was in his thoughts as well and that he didn't just push himself to be home in the mornings so that he could see Jared off. But he was pretty sure she knew anyway, because those kisses and time spent in the bedroom after Jared left for school spoke a lot more than words ever could.

He smiled warmly this time, letting the smile spread across his lips as he glanced at her. His Pepper sleeping just as obliviously as little Julia in his arms. She held Jared in her arms as she slept, sharing the bed with him just like she always shared everything she could with everyone she loved. That was one of the many things he loved about her. Well, that and the fact that of all people in the world she choose him, Tony Stark to share all of life's greatest accomplishments with. He will never fully understand it even though the world classified him as being amongst the genius of all genius's. He will never understand why she saw him at his lowest but stuck around for him to finally make it to where he always needed to be. He liked to think that maybe all those years ago when she stepped through his doors and sat down for her interview, that somehow by some sheer dumb luck she had seen something in him. That maybe she had seen something in his eyes that he hadn't discovered at the time.

He always thanked whatever brought them together. Sometimes, he even wanted to thank Obidah and his madden desire to rule the world by destroying it from the inside out. Because had he never been kidnapped he wouldn't have realized how much she really mattered to him until it was possibly too late. He wouldn't have become Ironman and he wouldn't have felt what it was like to have her slip between his fingertips, brushing so closely to death.

He sighed, incandescently happy at how all those years led up to here and now. He couldn't imagine being anywhere but here sitting beside her bed holding his daughter in his arms, watching her share a bed with his son…their son.

Oh how he loved her.

His thoughts snapped away the instant Julia's little fist thumped at his chest. He glanced down quickly and smiled at his daughter.

"Isn't that right, Julia," he cooed softly, "And to think all those years ago I thought babies were disgusting and alcohol was a better substitute for human emotion."

"I can't believe you just said that to our daughter," her familiar voice murmured to him.

He glanced up to see her staring at him amused at his words.

"I was reminiscing," he whispered in return and matched her smile.

"I could see," she replied softly, brushing at Jared's messy hair as she kept her gaze on him.

"See my thoughts?" he remarked sarcastically.

"Oh yes," she hummed, "Your eyes always go all soft and warm, and your face has this really goofy expression."

He rolled his eyes and paused to press a kiss over Julia's little head when he noticed she had fallen asleep. He turned his eyes back to her with his cheek now pressed to the top of Julia's head and he smiled…really smiled in the sort of way he did when he couldn't think of anything else to say because the love in the air was simply suffocating any coherent thought in him.

"She's beautiful," he whispered to her, "I love you."

The atmosphere in the room shifted when she too smiled as she pressed her cheek against Jared's messy locks. "I love you too," she whispered.

"How did I get so lucky?" he asked, not really seeking an answer but hoping she had some sort of cheesy answer up her sleeve like she always did.

"I'm not sure," she murmured, "But all I know is you had me at hello."

"All those years ago?"

"When I handed you my resume and sat down, hoping I would get the job."

"Pepper, darling," he murmured, "You had the job the instant I saw you in that pencil skirt sitting outside my office."

She rolled her eyes and grumbled, "There was a really nice atmosphere in the room for a moment there but that completely killed it."

"You love me for it," he smirked as he slowly brought himself to a stand.

"Yes I do," she sighed, "I'll never know why."

He smiled warmly at her before he turned around to carefully place Julia in the moveable crib beside him. He winced when he accidentally knocked the crib and he kept completely still as if waiting for the sound of her wail. But she continued sleeping and with every muscle in his body he crept backwards slowly until he was sure it was safe enough to turn around. He met her amused eyes and threw her another one of his dashing smiles that he knew would surely make her roll her eyes at him. She did just as he thought and he nodded as if to tell her 'you know it and you love it'.

He slid his arms under Jared, and paused to press a light lingering kiss at her lips before pushing off and carefully taking Jared in his arms. He turned to gently deposit Jared in the small bed at the other end of their small hospital room. He pulled the blankets over Jared and paused briefly to press a kiss at Jared's messy locks.

He turned back to her and smiled warmly as he neared her. She opened the blankets almost immediately and as quietly as he could he removed his shoes and slid under the blankets beside her. The bed was far too small for the both of them, but letting her lay as much as she could on him was enough to make it almost spacious. He held her securely in his arms, sighing in her hair as she tucked her arms between them.

"I'm sorry, Pepper," he murmured softly after several moments of silence.

"For what?" she whispered.

"I didn't just give you the job because I thought you were sexy," he said softly, "I gave you the job because you told me you wouldn't sleep with me just to get the job."

"I wasn't lying either," she murmured after seconds of silence passed between them.

"I know."

"Why? I'd hate to think you had some sort of personal goal to hire me just so you could somehow woo me with your good looks and charms into sleeping with you."

He kept quiet for several moments as he pondered the best way to answer her.

"Tony? Oh god! Please don't tell me I was a goal on your 'to sleep with' list…"

He chuckled softly and whispered, "For a while you were, and by awhile I think that was only about a month or two."

"What drastic thing did I do to remove me from that list?"

"Jealous?"

"More like curious…"

"You cared," he blurted.

"I don't understa-"

"I was drunk, not the normal drunk but the extreme kind of drunk and I think I made a move on you or something," he explained softly, "From what Jarvis told me you were already one foot out the door, or at least that was until…"

"Until?" she urged on gently, reaching up to slide her hand onto his cheek as if to tell him it was okay to go on.

"Until you found out it was the anniversary of my parent's accident," he said, "I never…I never think straight on their anniversary. I think all the heart ache from missing them just sort of destroyed something inside me every year all those years ago."

"I remember that," she whispered and smiled at him, "I cared because that day I knew that you were what you were because you were just trying to forget."

"Yeah, I guess," he sighed, "But funnily enough when I think about it now, every year after that you-"

"Cleared your schedule and made you help me clean the kitchen."

"Oh god!" he chuckled, "You made me your cleaning whore once a year just so I wouldn't get miserable and drink myself to oblivion?"

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him. "You know it and you love it."

He smiled warmly this time and leaned in for a longer lingering kiss. "Where would I be without you, Pep?"

"Trying to find your way here?"

"Nah," he whispered as he pressed his lips at her temple this time, "You would have eventually given in to my dashing looks and charming personality."

"Try harder, Tony."

"At least admit the first thing you thought when you met me was 'damn he's hot'?"

"And why would I want to feed your ego, Tony?"

"Because you love me."

"And why I will never know…"

"Because of my dashing good looks and charming personality, that's why."

"Okay," she sighed and then murmured, "Whatever you want to believe, darling."