REVAMPED!

[Holy shit, twenty chapters already? I could've sworn we were only at like six. Damn, that means this story is almost done? *cries*]

[2019: This chapter actually didn't exist before, but I was inspired by a Shay Mitchell pregnancy video].

Mark XX: A Working Mom

Instead of going into the office, Pepper sits in the middle of her bed. Paperwork surrounds her, her phone is charging on her laptop, and a half-eaten bag of chips is on top of an overflowing folder. She didn't feel like getting out of her pyjamas and making her way to her office, but she wanted to work.

So at least she was doing it in the comfort of her own home. In her bed, in her pyjamas. What a life.

"Okay," Tony says as he walks into their room. "So you, while carrying our child, can do some company affairs. But I, while not carrying the child, can't tinker around?"

Pepper looks up at him and closes her laptop. "Those are two different things and I never said you couldn't tinker around."

"I know, but all of this is freaking me out because you only have six weeks left, granted that she shows up on time." Tony moves some of the paper piles over to make room for himself to lie down. "Why don't you just use what's left of your pregnancy to relax and enjoy it?"

Pepper shakes her head, moving the paperwork that Tony pushed over. "I can't just sit around."

"Pep - "

"I still have so much to do and I already know that I'm going to be unavailable when the baby's born. I can't cut anything in half or - "

Tony climbs up on his knees, brushing more work to the side and puts his hands on Pepper's shoulders to silence her. Pepper looks up at him.

"Pepper, you're also eight months pregnant."

"So you want me to just lie around?"

"Yes."

Pepper narrows her eyes at him. "But the doctors say that everything's fine and ur baby isn't complaining. If she was, she would've kicked my ribcage out of place."

"How are you feeling?"

She's didn't show up to the office but is sitting in bed in her pyjamas so he knows the answer. Tony's just waiting for her to say it not only to have another moment in history where he's right.

"Tired," Pepper says.

It's another point for him but he won't tell her (at least, not yet). Maybe that's something for when they bring the baby home from the hospital.

"And you always tell me you're tired but you always find something to do," Tony says.

Pepper scoffs. "If only you could be the pregnant one."

Tony takes a seat next to her, moving more papers over. He forces Pepper to lie down on his lap and she lets him. He holds her almost like a baby which relaxes both of them. Tony even takes the bag of chips and starts finishing it off.

"Take a nap," Tony tells her.

"With you crunching in my ears? No thanks." She shifts her position a little. "My mind is awake, my energy wants to work, but my body won't let me."

"The baby won't let you."

"Don't give her more power than she already has."

"I believe in her. She may not be a super-soldier or demigod but our kid can kick their asses any day."

"She's going to kick our ass when she's born."

[I should probably rewrite that story to improve it. Yeah, I'll do that]. [2019: This makes no sense under this new chapter, but it foreshadowed my revamps - and, yes, the hint at the matriarch's power was done on purpose].