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~ "You seriously can't take one night off?" Izzy asked as she rolled on to her stomach to look at her friend.

Sue shook her head, nose scrunched as she squinted against the sun to look at Izzy.

The two were laying on the deck of the yacht that Tony kept in Greece, tanning in the warm afternoon sun. Izzy had managed to catch both Sue and Johnny during a week that they didn't have anything going on, so she dragged them to Santorini, neither put up much of a fight at the idea of going on a vacation.

"Once we get back from this, we're going to be diving into the project." Sue said. "The extra effort is the reason that I was able to get away for this week."

Izzy sighed. "Can I just say—"

"No." Sue instantly but good naturedly.

Izzy pouted as she leaned her chin on her crossed arms.

Sue smiled and reached out to pat her shoulder before tilting her head back a little to look at Johnny, who climbing back onto the boat after swimming. "Take Johnny with you." She said. "I know his schedule it free."

Johnny's head shot up in alarm as he heard his name mentioned in that sentence, without even knowing the context as Izzy shot up, leaning on her elbows to look at her other friend.

Izzy grinned, voice instantly sugar sweet. "Johnny—"

"I already don't like this." Johnny replied warily.

Pushing herself up, sitting back on her heels, Izzy smiled brightly. "You're gonna be my date to this big movie premiere that I have to go to." She said.

"What? Why?" He asked.

"Because I don't want to feed into the rumors that I'm dating the lead actor and we never do much together anymore." Izzy replied. Johnny opened his mouth to protest so she continued quickly. "Plus, you owe me for covering when you—"

"Okay!" Johnny said instantly knowing where she was going with that statement.

Sue lifted her head and looked at her brother with a suspicious glare. "What did you need her to cover for?" She demanded.

"Nothing." Johnny replied solemnly.

Sue looked at Izzy, who held up her hands in feigned innocence. Knowing the two as she did, Sue simply shook her head and rolled off her towel to stand up, heading inside for a minute. Sometimes it was just better not to ask and not to know.

"So, when is this thing?" Johnny asked as he took Sue's vacant spot, getting her towel wet because he knew it would annoy her.

Izzy grinned and shifted so she was facing Johnny. "Next Thursday." She replied. "I'll have a suit sent over for you to wear so that we're coordinated."

Johnny grinned as he stretched out, hands behind his head. "You know you're starting to sound like Pepper, right?" He asked.

Izzy smiled at his teasing tone. "I will take that as a compliment." She replied.

"It was meant to be." He replied looking at her.

The sincerity in his gaze startled her. For as long as anyone could really remember Johnny and Izzy had been inseparable, but they constantly bickered and verbally jabbed one another, it was rare that either would give the other a genuine compliment, but it was all done with love. It was just their way.

Clearing her throat, she stood up. "Come on, I'm hungry." She said. "Let's get off the deck."

Johnny stood, but as she reached for the light cover to put over her bikini, she missed the mischievous glint in his eyes as he moved closer. She squealed in alarm as he suddenly scooped her up and she screamed as they were suddenly falling down to the water below.

Holding her breath at the last second, she avoided water going up her nose, and as soon as she felt his arms loosen, releasing her, she kicked up to the surface. Taking a deep breath as she broke the surface she looked over to where Johnny had surfaced laughing, looking pretty pleased with himself.

"What the hell?" She cried though she was far from mad. That had been fun.

"You said you wanted off the deck." Johnny pointed out.

She splashed him. "You dork." She said.

Johnny grinned and dove under the water, quickly reaching her. He surfaced, hands reaching out to grip her waist, tickling her. Izzy shrieked as she tried to squirm away from him.

Both were laughing and splashing, Izzy had curled her legs up instinctively to protect her stomach leaving him to tread water supporting them.

"I surrender, I surrender!" She cried finally, wrapping her arms around him.

He ceased the tickling and the water slowly settled around them and it was a weirdly comfortable calm between the two as they stayed there, Johnny treading water, Izzy holding on, her forehead resting against the side of his neck for a moment.

"I seriously can't leave the two of you alone for five minutes."

Both broke apart startled, looking up to see Sue looking down at them from the deck. She looked amused, possibly even a little smug about something.

"Johnny decided to throw me in the ocean." Izzy called as she easily swam away from Johnny to the ladder to get back up onto the boat.

"I know, I saw." Sue replied as she handed Izzy a towel to wrap up in.

Deciding to ignore the obvious thought about how much she may have seen, Izzy moved past Sue so Johnny could climb up. As they went below deck to eat, Izzy found that she had been entirely too comfortable with Johnny's arms wrapped around her and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. ~

"Zee, you okay?"

Izzy smiled as she felt strong arms wrap around her, snuggling back as Johnny hugged her close, pressing a kiss to her neck as her eyes remained fixed on the beautiful moonlit water. "Yeah, I was just thinking…"

"About?" He prodded gently placing a kiss to her exposed shoulder where her sweater had slipped aside.

She let out a soft sigh of content as she reached her right hand back, gently cupping the back of his neck as her left hand laced with his over her hip. "About when I first started to fall for you." She said quietly.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, pulling her closer. "This I wanna hear."

She smiled. "It was right down there." She said pointing down to the Santorini waters. "You threw me off the boat."

Johnny laughed, recalling the memory. "Hey, I jumped in too." He replied.

She turned in his arms, gently wrapping her arms around his shoulders as his went behind her back. "So chivalrous." She replied teasingly before kissing him.

I think sooner or later he's going to notice.

Izzy pulled away as the words came back to her. Johnny frowned, obviously confused by her abruptness and she cursed herself for it. "Sorry, I just—"

"Stop." Johnny said quietly, surprising her. She turned wide eyes up to him. "Unless the next words are going to be what's really going on, I don't want to hear them."

It was a perfectly fair statement, it was, but she instantly felt her throat close, paralyzing her vocal cords, and tears begin to roll down her cheeks as if he had screamed at her. Stupid hormones!

She pulled out of his arms completely and walked back inside from the balcony, sniffling and brushing her tears away though they refused to stop.

"Damn it!" She heard Johnny mutter quietly and he followed her inside. "Zee, I'm sorry. Please wait."

She shut the bathroom door separating it from the bedroom and locked it, leaning back against the wood. She felt the gentle knock against her back.

"Zee, please open the door." Johnny called. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry."

She tried to speak but it just came out as a small whimper.

He sighed and she felt a slight thud against the door right above her head, probably from his leaning his forehead against the door. "I know that you have been through so much lately." His voice was muffled slightly by the door, but she could still hear him clearly. "I've tried not to push you; I've tried to be there for you—hell we're here because Pepper thought it might help—but ever since Steve didn't come back from the past, you've been avoiding me. I don't know if it's everything going on…or if it's me…" There was a pause. "If you're having second thoughts—"

Izzy turned the handle and pulled open the door quickly, looking up at Johnny's concerned expression. "I'm pregnant." She said simply.

Watching the immediate misfire in his brain would have made her laugh is her heart hadn't been racing so badly. When Johnny didn't say anything for a full minute, Izzy slipped past him to go sit down on the bed, tugging her sleeves down nervously and wrapped her sweater tighter around herself. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, she waited for him to snap out of it and face her.

After another thirty seconds he turned and walked towards her. "You're…what?" He asked still clearly in shock.

"Pregnant." She replied watching him warily.

"Wait…so the mystery flu a couple weeks ago—"

She swallowed. "Morning sickness." She replied.

He blinked, still having trouble. "So, you're…"

"Pregnant." She sighed a little impatiently not sure if she wanted to get angry or cry again.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at her, looked down at her belly, not showing yet, and back up to her face. Suddenly, a tentative smile formed. "Really?" He asked, voice gentle.

Despite all her nerves and spinning emotions, she felt a bit of warmth start in her chest. "Yeah." She nodded with a tiny smile.

"Oh my god." He scooted forward and reached out, taking one of her hands and placing a hand against her stomach as she loosened her arms. "We're gonna have a kid."

The joy on his face made new tears spring to her eyes, but this time happy tears.

…

A few hours later, they were both lying in bed, Izzy on her back and Johnny resting his head gently against her belly in silence.

"Johnny…" She whispered into the quiet as her nails gently scratched at the back of his neck.

"Mm?" He said softly, almost lulled to sleep.

Izzy took a breath, smelling the ocean air. "I'm really scared." She whispered almost silently.

Johnny opened his eyes and looked up at her, instantly awake.

"It's why I didn't tell you." She said looking up at the ceiling. "We already have such big targets on our heads as it is. This baby…what if we aren't enough to keep it safe?"

Johnny considered her words seriously, not just jumping to instantly reassure because they both knew there was never a total assurance. After a second, he placed a kiss against her stomach before he moved up the bed to wrap his arms around her, holding her securely as she turned curl against him.

"Honestly, I'm scared too." Johnny replied quietly. "But I know that to my last breath I will make sure that he or she is protected. I know you will too. And we have a team, our family that will be there as well. For now, that's all we can do."

It wasn't enough to chase away her fears but knowing that he shared her concerns did help ease the burden a bit. She snuggled closer to him, closing her eyes.

"Who else knows?" He asked quietly.

Izzy opened her eyes. "Pepper knows, she's been trying to get me to tell you." She said. Biting her lip, she whispered. "And Steve knew before he left."

She felt him nod. "I wish you would have told me." He said quietly. "Not just for the sake of me knowing, but because I don't ever want you to be scared and not feel like you can tell me. I want to be there with you for everything."

"I know that." She whispered. "I know that I should have told you sooner, but everything has been so off since—" She broke off and his arms tightened around her again. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you first."

Johnny chuckled. "I'm just glad you told me before you started showing. I really wouldn't have wanted to ask." He replied.

Despite herself, Izzy laughed. "Now I'm kind of wishing I had waited just to see you squirm." She replied.

They laughed quietly together as they tangled up more, eventually drifting off to sleep.