Small Bump Chapter 13

The Helicarrier had been quiet, business as usual, as much as the business of hiring assassins and sorting out supervillans could be.

"Director Fury." Maria Hill was usually the model agent, staying quiet and not questioning everything the boss of SHIELD decided to do, no matter how strange his ideas where. However, this decision of the past few months had been bothering her, sending three of SHIELD's finest on what was basically a babysitting mission for a fully grown woman who already had the Avengers to look after her, more than anything it had been getting on her nerves and causing her to send Agent Wilson on actual missions for once.

"Mhm?" He seemed slightly too busy with the paperwork in his hands to actually take any notice of the unimpressed woman stood in front of him.

She bit her lip slightly before finally getting the nerve to just say it: "Why did you send Barton, Romanoff and Morse to Stark Industries?"

The director finally looked up at her, letting out a slight sigh as he put down the paperwork, interlocking his fingers as he looked over at her: "Did you read the mission Brief, Agent Hill?"

"Yes, Of cours-"

"Where my reasons not perfectly clear in that?" He snapped, cutting her off before she could rant.

She scowled, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at him: "Not really, We have enough internal informants and information to know every working of that company and members of SHIELD on the avengers that are obliged to tell us whats going on with them."

He rose from his chair, giving her a stern look before crossing the room behind her to lock the door. Marias eyes followed him, looking away quickly as he turned around: "Do you want to know the truth, Agent Hill?"

"Yes Sir."

"Starks accident was not an accident. It was planned." The woman's scowl hardened, keeping her gaze away from her boss as he paced the room: "And we have reason to believe whoever attacked Mr Stark will attack Miss Potts and her Child. The Avengers are not exactly the most reliable people to protect her."

"That doesn't seem like a reason to send so many agents in at once Director."

"Agent Hill. Whoever this enemy is took out Iron Man in public, without leaving a trace as to who they where or how they did it. What chance do you think a pregnant woman has against a supervillan?" He asked, sitting down again: "SHIELD protect the public and their interests from criminals, and sometimes need to protect specific people for the interests of the public. Virginia Potts counts as one of those."

The dark haired woman continued to glare at him, she wasn't getting the answers she wanted, just more complete rubbish that sounded like a quote from the SHIELD handbook. Nick fury glanced up, noting her expression as he carried on: "That woman knows the internal workings of the Avengers and more about SHIELD she should, as well as the internal workings of a multi billion pound company, she's a gold mine of information that could easily be extracted from her by the right person. People who we believe will be in attendance at tonight's gala. Until we have eliminated the threat placed on her she will remain under SHIELD protection. Do you understand Agent Hill?"

"Yes Sir." She nodded, turning to leave before remembering the other reason for her visit: "The preliminary trials of the secret project where a success, Doctor Pym, Doctor Banner and our associates in Wakanda appear to have found a way to re-start the Arc Reactor Technology."

Director Fury couldn't help the slight smile that pulled on his lips at those words, and the feeling of relief that the scientists had actually achieved something.

"Begin the program immediately. We can't wait any longer."

Steve Rodgers never had liked keeping secrets; especially not secrets from people he cared about, and Tony Stark's girlfriend had somehow become one of those people. He been stood outside her office for the past ten minutes, feeling like a child about to enter the principal's office, not quite daring to knock in-case he disturbed her. The door swung open and he finally managed to steady his nerve enough to speak: "Miss Potts?"

His voice made her jump, she'd been lost in the trance from earlier, her mind still on the first case of PDA she'd ever been involved in. Turning on her heel she smiled, one arm still wrapped self-consciously around her bump: "Steve, How many times do I have to tell you to call me Pepper?"

Captain America couldn't even bring himself to make eye contact with her, deciding the floor was less likely to look like it had just had its heart broken. He hadn't really wanted to do this, especially not alone, Bruce should have been there but the emergency phone call from SHIELD had distracted him.

"Whats wrong?" She couldn't help but ask, placing her hand on the blondes shoulder as her mind started to race, had it finally happened? Had Steve come to tell her the words she'd been dreading for the past few months? Was it over?

The bump seemed to agree with her, shifting and forcing the sick feeling up her throat again, making her cringe slightly as she tried to keep it down: "Steve?"

"I-I slept with Tony…" He finally muttered, not daring to look up.

The feeling of relief was probably what made her laugh, slipping her hand under his chin and forcing him to look up at her: "I know!"

"You… you know?" Steve asked, looking completely confused by her smile: "And you don't…?"

Pepper paused, looking up into his blue eyes: "No, I'm not angry at you, and I won't kill you for it, or anything else. Everyone thinks I expect Tony to be completely faithful to me, but I know he isn't, or at least he wasn't. I fell in love with a playboy, I never really thought even I could make that stop."

Steve still couldn't understand, something in his head was still confused by the thought of sex before marriage, but she looked completely calm about it, and he was reasonably sure she didn't have a weapon concealed somewhere on her body to murder him with.

"Steve," the Ginger woman sighed a little as she rested her hand on her bump, calming it down gently, still gazing at him: "I know he loves me, but I knew he was interested in you, and Bruce. I saw how he looked at you both. I've never expected perfect, I never even expected my relationship with him to last this long, I knew he wasn't prince charming from the start. So when he decided to see if he was gay or not, despite the fact I told him not to sleep with one of his friends, I let him. If this is going to last then I have to make him stop wondering about everything and everyone else."

Pepper stepped back, letting him go as she pushed her hair from her shoulders, acting like her usual businesswoman self: "I love Tony Stark more than anything else in the world, I always have and I always will" She turned away, heading down the corridor again: "and if he needs to sleep with the whole world before he decides he loves me back, then so be it, because I'll still be here waiting for him when its all over."

Tony Starks sleeping form wasn't exactly the most attractive thing in the world, but it was certainly one of the most peaceful. Which was the opposite of how Bruce Banner felt right now, he could already feel himself going green around the edges. Unpacking the last of the equipment from the rucksack he usually carted around. This project had been a secret, something they'd never expected to work, but the theory had made sense.

The reactor was Starks heart, so surely if they kick started that it would wake him up, like CPR with more charge.

Recharging his batteries. That's probably what Tony would have joked about the situation. If he could have had his own way Bruce would have had the body moved out of here and into the Labs, it would probably have been safer for all involved to do that, but since Director Furys call, and the threat of an imminent attack on the Avengers (as usual) the final tests where going to have to be carried out here, there wasn't time to mess about.

The device was almost completely strapped on, the hospital wires pulled out and abandoned: "This had better work," Banner muttered, scolding the other man under his breath as he plugged the device into the wall: "you had better wake up."

He carried on talking as he worked, leaning over to unhook the life support machine to replace it with their own invention: "Or else." Ignoring the shriek from the machine as it flat lined, a single line running across the screen. The noise reminded him of Peppers screams when she'd found out. He chose to ignore it, slamming both shock pads onto Tony's chest, strapping the final two to his arms and stepping back, kicking the electric back on at the wall.

The noise didn't stop as he grabbed for the controls, taking on notice of the sound of running feet and panicking hospital staff already running up the corridors. Desperately trying to calm the big guy as he slammed down on it, closing his eyes as the green flooded in to meet him.