Look, my first update of the summer! I know a lot of you are waiting on a chapter for HDG, but this is what came to me first. Though, I do have the next chapter pretty planned out and I've written a part of it, so it shouldn't be terribly long. :) It didn't help that my not had my internet been, my computer had been acting up and wouldn't even let me use my offline writing program. This is why I need Word back... And apologies for this chapters, its not going to be as outrageous and random as the first chapter. Though, its a slight continuation, it's not directly connected to first chapter.

Disclaimer: IMAA does not belong to me. It belongs to its rightful owners.

A slow grumble alerted him of his hunger and reminding him that he needed to move on with his day. He ignored it for as long as he could, before he felt his hunger slowly growing more uncomfortable. At that point, he decided that it probably time to stop waiting for his wife to get home from work and cook his own meal. Hopefully this time he wont start the house on fire... Shaking his head of the memory, he slide away from the computer where he'd been working on a new plug-in device for the computer and sluggishly brought himself to the kitchen.

When he opened the fridge he was disappointed to find that all the leftovers had been spoiled or only a bite was left. He knew of only one person in this house that did that. Maria. He'd have to have yet another talk about leaving behind only a literal bite of leftovers. It wasn't a Tony-sized bite, but closer to a Maria bite. Sighing, he realized that he really was going to have to cook something to satisfy his hunger need.

Suppose he can make the one thing he knew how to make. Mac and Cheese. Surprisingly, the one food item he's ever cooked that the family actually enjoyed—even more surprising, Maria actually liked his better than Pepper's.

"Hey dad," Maria greeted him, having arrived home from school.

"How was school?" He inquired, as he always did.

Maria shrugged, evidently school was more boring than usual. She usually had some sort of crazy and odd story share. Like that one time her classmate unleashed 100 gerbils into the classroom and made the teacher leave the school. Or the other time a different classmate wrapped everything in the classroom with bacon. "Eh," was her only verbal response as she licked her lips.

"Hungry?" He wondered, checking to make sure he wasn't burning anything. Luckily, it seemed to still be alright.

Maria nodded and headed straight for the fridge. Either she hadn't noticed that he was cooking food, or she was oddly not in the mood for the food he was making. "Um, not in the mood for this?"

His daughter glanced over at the stove, strangely with a bowl of yogurt with fruit already prepared in her hands. Where had that been hiding? He wouldn't have minded a bowl of yogurt and fruit. "I suppose," she proceeded to set her yogurt on the counter and stood behind her father.

Tony raised an eyebrow, ready to tell her that she needed to either clean up the yogurt bowl or put it away for late, but as he spoke his own timer went off. He quickly removed the pan from the stove and poured the cheesy noodles into a serving bowl.

It was turning out to be a pretty average day in the house of Starks. His wife, Pepper, had been off at work as a journalist. Apparently, being a surgeon wasn't for her. He didn't exactly know the full story to that one, it was quite the strange one if he remembered correctly. There was two reasons. One being that she didn't like the uniform, the colors were too bright, yet dull. The other being the house visits. Oddly, every house visit she made the patients always tried flirting with her and one had even kissed her. Tony never doubted her loyalty to him and their relationship, but Pepper still quit all the same. The next best thing, he guessed, had been writing. Yet, she wouldn't allow him to read a single book she wrote claiming they weren't worth it. He argued, but she was stubborn as always.

His normal day shifted as the day came close to a close. For better or worse, it was hard to tell at the time.

He had been playing a game of cards with Maria, trying to get her to retell her story about the time she "accidentally" threw a burrito at the class bullys' face the other day, when he heard his wife return home. He let her be for a moment, letting her settle down before barraging her with questions of her day. It was also that exactly moment that he started feeling nauseous and uncomfortable. Maybe it was the slice of fruitcake his neighbor brought over. It was probably a bad idea to share some with Maria, because now that he thought about it, his neighbor liked to spike their food a lot...

Pepper had just walked in, still wearing her coat and everything, when Tony first felt his stomach churn. Pepper barely got to greet him before he was bolting to the toilet to empty his stomach of its contents. Which was strange, because despite the spiked fruit cake, it shouldn't have been a problem for him. Maria on the other hand, should.

"Neighbors food?" Pepper questioned, clearly having experienced their generous offerings. Actually, Tony's had several of their dishes. The couple next door was always bringing something for the family of three.

Tony rinsed his mouth and flushed the toilet before nodding. He debated whether or not he should inform her that Maria had a bite or two—a slice or two more like it. "Should've known, right?"

Pepper only shrugged and walked out of the bathroom, likely in search of their daughter. She stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder quickly. "Clean the toilet, will you? It's disgusting," she commented, glancing at the offending object. "Oh," she suddenly rose her voice excitedly. "I'm pregnant." She then proceeded to walk away as if she hadn't just dropped the ball on him.

Tony, having started to brush his teeth, instantly began to choke on the toothbrush or the toothpaste—he couldn't remember. "What?"

xXx

It was close to nine months late, probably closer to the middle of the eight month than anything, when Pepper went into labor. Tony wasn't new to the whole pregnancy and birth deal, having been to his daughters birth only seven years previous. Not including the baby that Rhodey surprised everyone with, only because he had barely just proposed and had been very clear with the couples decision to wait a long while before kids came into the picture. Thought, that's a little off topic.

Though, Tony was no stranger to birth, the occurrence of Pepper going into labor had hit him differently then when her water broke when she was pregnant with Maria. Unlike then, when he was calm and collected as he drove her to the hospital to have their first daughter, he had become a complete nut case as Pepper described it, or in simplest terms: he panicked.

It was so bad in fact, that he had run arround the house several times before Pepper even had a chance to get out of bed that night. Not to include the fact the he woke Maria up in his pre-parental panic, or whatever the doctors liked to call it. The irony of it all, was that through it all, Pepper didn't complain once, she didn't panic, she didn't get angry, or anything. Instead, she ended up packing all the stuff in the car and calming collected their daughter and her things before driving her whole family to the hospital. All while in labor.

Tony didn't know whether he should appalled by this detail or impressed by the feat of it all.

Apparently, news spread fast. By the time they arrived at the hospital, family was already waiting at the hospital for them. Their parents, Happy, Rhodey, and surprisingly enough even Gene had shown up looking as serious and calm as per usual. Even both sets of neighbors had shown up, the food-spikers looking almost as panicked as Tony.

"Good luck in there," Happy cheered as Pepper calmly walked into the hospital, family in toe.

Hours later, Tony—who'd been kicked out after his continued panic interrupted the doctors work—heard the most life changing news of his life thus far. He was unsure whether or not he should believe the nurse who informed him of the new development. He was just so much to take in.

He walked in the room, Maria's hand locked in his as he silently hoped the nurse was playing a trick on him. Though, it appears the news was no lie, it wasn't a trick. It was real.

"Tony," Pepper smiled, her face red and soaked with sweat, but she looked happier than he's ever seen her. "Meet your new daughters."

He stared, hopefully not for too long at the three—yes, three—bundled infants before him. There was three. He couldn't believe it. There was three little bundles of pink. All of them, girls.

"How?" He stupidly spoke as he was now speechless. Maybe this explained his sudden panic. His mind knew what was coming before anyone of them even had a clue.

"Um," Pepper frowned. "You know how babies are made."

Tony groaned. "No, I mean, how three. The doctor only saw one on every ultrasound. One. How is there suddenly three!?"

Pepper shrugged obviously not affected by the new development. At least, not as much as Tony seemed to be. "Lucky, I guess."

Lucky was one way to put it. Cursed was another way to put it. Though, agreeable that Maria was an easy child compared to Rhodey's infant who seemed to be a living nightmare. The little boy was always crying, screaming, or tearing into something important. Even so, it didn't mean that Tony could now handle three of them all at once.

Pepper hummed in thought, before looking suddenly as if she realized something. "I bet, it's because of all the watermelons I ate and the cartoons. That's why."

Tony blinked. "What?"

"Think about it," Pepper theorized excitedly. "Watermelons are associated with girls—hence all the girls. And children love cartoons, which is why there are more of them. Makes sense, right?"

No, Tony immediately thought, buy only shrugged. "Sure."

Thankfully, nurse saved him from Pepper's exhausted mind and theories.

"Congrats," the nurse spoke. "It's not often we see triplets in this hospital."

She proceeded to hand Tony one of the infant girls—the smallest of the bunch. He looked down one of the three new daughters of his. She was looking straight at him, wide away unlike the other two who seemed exhausted from the birth. Her hazel eyes no doubt from mother, but her nose and hair was definitely her father's. He wondered if any of the three children got Pepper's red hair. Maria was almost an identical copy of Tony, dark hair and electric blue eyes to boot.

"Tony?" Pepper wondered, looked a little upset. "Are you disappointed?"

Tony shook his head and smiled reassuringly at her. "They're beautiful, just like their mothers. I couldn't have asked for anything different."

"Even though I had triplets," Pepper inquired softly, looking down at the two little girls in her arms.

"I was just surprised is all," Tony promised, settling down in a chair beside her. "A pleasant surprise."

"I have sisters?" Maria wondered, speaking for the first time.

For the rest of the night, they spent introducing the three infants to Maria and eventually the shocked family who awaited them in the waiting room. A couple days later they brought home the three little girls: Edith, Jamie, and Hope.

xXx

Two years had passed. Two of the longest, yet quickest years of his life. It was filled with laughter, screams, cries, and spit-up. Though, it was some of the best years of this life despite how busy life had gotten. Pepper decided to take her work home and took up painting as a career, when writing hadn't turned out so well for her. Tony was only slightly jealous when she was already better at painting than he was, thought he hasn't picked up a paintbrush in years. Maybe it had something to do with the sudden appearance of the triplets.

It was a Monday morning, about an hour before they needed to head out for school for Maria, when Tony walked into a strange scene. Well, it was more sad than anything. He found her in the triplets room, gazing deeply into the crib of the smallest one, Jamie.

"I like this one," Maria spoke when she realized that her dad was in the room with her. She spoke as if picking a puppy for adoption—something Maria's been begging for since the birth of the twins.

"Jamie?" Tony stood behind his eldest daughter, looking down at the slumbering infant.

"She doesn't cry so much," Maria explained, sticking her pinky into Jamie's open fist. "Can I have her?"

"What?" Tony had to verbalize his confusion, because now it really did sound as if she was looking for a puppy to adopt. "She's already your sister, she's not going anywhere."

"Yeah, but I have to share her," Maria pouted.

Tony couldn't help but laugh softly. "Well, there's plenty to go around, she's your sister."

The door behind them opened and Pepper silently slid in. "There's my whole family," she smiled. "I was looking for you."

Tony kissed her on the forehead and then the cheek, much to Maria's disgust. "Ewww!" She whined, sliding far away from her parents. "Get a room!"

Both parents choked on their laughter, having never heard Maria say such words. "Excuse me?" Pepper finally found her voice.

Maria looked embarrassed, but only slightly as she defiantly replied, "That's what Uncle Rhodey says!"

Her loud response encouraged all three infants to abruptly wake up, much to the parents dismay. Tony sighed and tried to settle down two of the three, while Pepper took on the third.

As Maria left the room and the children thankfully calmed down, Pepper side-stepped closer to Tony. "I have something to tell you."

"You're changing jobs are you?" Tony wondered, worried that Pepper would never have a stable job as she refused to work at the company with him. More because of the children now.

"No," Pepper assured him, but still avoided his gaze. "But..."

"Don't say it," Tony suddenly told her, a knot forming in his stomach. "Don't."

"I'm pregnant!"

So, there you have it. It became longer than even I had anticipated, don't know if that's good or not, but it's something. :) Next chapter though, I promise if it goes like I plan, will be far more cracky and random and strange. But, honest, this is basically my sim game. They always have twins or triplets when I least want them too. -_-

Question Time: Which story of mine do you wish be updated next?

Because I can't think of a fun fact (sorry), I decided when that happens, I'll leave a question. For this question, I make no promises to when or if, but I'd honestly like to hear what you want me to update. :) Sometimes it helps to have an objective in mind.

Hugs and Love, SilverPedals! :)