Pepper glanced down at the clock on her office desk, realizing she only had one more hour left before she finished for the day. With that in mind, she slowly made her way through the decreasing pile of work in front of her, pleased to go home and take a long shower. Tony always tried to convince Pepper to just take time off work now to take away her stress, but she insisted she stay until it was time for her allocated maternity leave. Even though it was their company and Pepper could take as much time off as she wanted to, whenever, she was still determined to do her job for as long as possible before her life changed dramatically. When Pepper eventually did take her time off, there were employees ready to fill in for the major jobs that needed to be done, employees who both Tony and Pepper could trust.
''Mrs. Stark,'' Heather opened the door. ''Here you go.''
Pepper smiled and welcomed her over to her desk. ''Mm, thank you so much.''
Heather had been more than helpful these last few weeks. Ever since Pepper hit a certain milestone in her pregnancy, her appetite had increased wildly. Her blueberry muffin and cookie no longer satisfied her cravings, nor were they the food that Pepper was craving. It could be an hour after she arrives to work and Pepper suddenly gets a craving for something she would normally eat for dinner, it was extremely annoying. Luckily for Pepper, Heather was more than happy to run down to a take-out restaurant or cafe and buy whatever Pepper felt like, evening bringing something back for herself. Pepper thought facing the long days at work would be difficult now that her body was rejecting coffee, it was the only thing that got her through all of the meetings and the piles of paperwork, but those fruit smoothies that Tony had introduced her to seemed to be replacing her usual caffeine hit.
''It's no problem at all.''
''Honestly, thank you for the past few weeks. I know I've been a little bit...all over the place, but you've been insanely helpful and I really appreciate it.'' Pepper told her genuinely.
Heather smiled. ''Thank you Mrs. Stark, but I'm only doing my job, there's no need to thank me.''
''You're doing more than just your job,'' she pointed out. ''You're my office assistant slash receptionist, there's nothing in your job description that says you're obliged to run down the street to get me a sandwich, you're not a personal assistant. Trust me, I know.''
''Oh, that's right.'' Heather nodded her head as if she had only just remembered. ''I forgot you used to be Mr. Stark's P.A.''
''That's right, for a very long time as well.'' Pepper reminisced. ''Although, it really wasn't that long ago, but it feels like it was years ago. Probably because so much has happened since then.''
''I can't believe the two of you married so quickly.'' Heather thought aloud. ''Sorry, I was just...sorry.''
Pepper laughed. ''Don't be, I still can't believe it either. But, when you've been in someone's life for as long as me and Tony have, it just feels right.''
Heather smiled. ''I can't wait to get married.''
Pepper raised her eyebrows. ''You're engaged?''
''No, not yet.'' she shook her head. ''I've been with my boyfriend for two years, and I just know, like you said, it feels right.''
Pepper smiled to herself at Heather's obvious love for her boyfriend, remembering that same feeling she had when Tony asked her to marry him. It did feel right, in every way possible, despite how long they had been a couple. She had made the right choice when she said yes to him, knowing how lucky she was everyday to have someone like him in her life. Pepper wished that feeling would never go away, and to this day it still hadn't.
Tony was down in his workshop that afternoon, as he usually was, his eyes glued to the computer monitor in front of him as he was working on something new. He prided himself with this idea he was working on, hoping he could finish everything in time.
''Incoming call from Colonel James Rhodes, sir.'' Jarvis interrupted to inform him.
''Put him through.'' Tony's eyes were still on the screen as he stood up and walked over to the hologram plans he had set up.
There was brief moment of silence as Jarvis connected the line. ''Tony, you there?''
''Yeah, what's up?'' he asked, moving holograms about and analyzing them.
''Listen, I didn't want involve you in this one, but we need your help.'' Rhodey told him seriously.
That grabbed some of Tony's attention. ''What's going on?''
''There was an air-force training exercise-''
''Is this one of those ''training exercises'', or is that actually the real line?''
Rhodey sighed. ''No, that's the real line. Anyway, something went wrong and we have two aircraft teams missing that need rescuing.''
''Seems simple enough, so why do you need me?'' Tony asked, knowing there was something else going on as well.
''It's not simple. They're in a notorious area for rebels, we don't know if they've been captured or not.''
Tony stopped what he was doing then, Rhodey's words instantly meaning something to him. ''Where?''
Rhodey knew why the location was important to Tony. ''No, it's not where you Tony. I have coordinates with me, but we don't have an exact yet until we're closer.'' he explained. ''Listen, I understand if this one's gonna be tough...but we have no one else. I have no one else to count on.''
Tony shook his head. ''I'm not being left out of this one Rhodey.'' he told him firmly. Tony wished that there was someone to rescue him when he was taken by the Ten Rings, and he wasn't going to let them win again this time, he wasn't going to leave them to suffer that same fate. ''When do you need me in?''
''Whenever you can get here.'' he informed him. ''I'm sorry man, I didn't want to ask you, I know you don't wanna leave Pepper right now.''
Tony sighed, thinking of having to leave his wife again. ''You know why I have to be in on this one-'' he paused, hearing the front door shutting upstairs. ''I'll be there when I get everything ready.''
Tony ran his hand through his hair, thinking of how he was going to tell Pepper he needed to go do this. If he told her what was going on, about the rebels and the possibility of those people being taken hostage, she would never let him go. She hated him having to relive that time in his life, but he needed to do this for that reason in particular. He needed to help those people and save them from the same thing he got himself out of.
He rushed upstairs and calmly entered the kitchen where Pepper was, making herself a sandwich and sipping on a glass of orange juice. She looked so exhausted, he hated the idea of leaving her even more that ever now.
''How was work?'' he asked, easing into the conversation.
Pepper groaned. ''Paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork.''
''Maybe you should think about cutting down your hours a bit more.'' he looked over to her. ''Just by a little.''
''I'm fine with the hours I'm on now.'' she insisted.
''Pepper, come on, it's a lot of work for a normal person let alone someone who is six months pregnant.''
Pepper narrowed her eyes at him. ''What, so because I'm pregnant I'm not a normal person?''
Tony instantly knew where he went wrong there. ''That's not what I meant, I just mean someone in your condition shouldn't have to face all of that by yourself.''
Pepper relaxed. ''I know, but it's fine, I promise.'' she smiled. ''I know you're only trying to help and I'm sorry.'' Tony walked over and stole a kiss from her lips as she looked up at him. Pepper could see something was bothering him by the very simple fact that he didn't retort to her apology or the fact she had acknowledged he was trying to help her. She knew him far too well, and that meant she could see the concern in his eyes. ''Are you going to tell me what's wrong?''
Tony sighed, resting his head in his hands as he leaned down on the bench. ''Rhodey called.''
Pepper knew what that meant. Iron Man was needed. She nodded her head understandingly, assuming it had to be important since Rhodey had been purposely leaving Tony out of all the military business and exercises since he knew Tony didn't like leaving her since she was pregnant.
''When are you going?'' she asked.
Tony lifted his head and looked over to her. ''As soon as I'm ready.'' Pepper nodded, but Tony could see the sadness in her eyes. ''I'm sorry.''
''No, this is your job. You're Iron Man, you help people.'' she gave him a smile, however weak it was. ''Do what you have to do.'' Pepper reached out and took his hand, holding it in hers as if she wanted to feel his warmth for as long as she could before he left. ''When will you be back?''
Tony shrugged his shoulders. ''I don't know, Rhodey didn't have an exact location yet.''
''Well, you better get ready then.'' Pepper got down off the bench stool and walked with him down to the workshop.
Tony admired her for always accompanying him to get ready every time he had to go, even though she was pained to see him fly away from her. She done everything she could for him, even making a checklist at one point to make sure he had everything he needed including safety gear and locators in case something happened. She was so understanding when it came to Iron Man, mostly because she was the only person who truly knew why Tony did this and what it meant.
After his suit was assembled, he walked onto the dock and the pieces of metal began forming around him. Pepper was always mesmerized to watch the little pieces click into each other and fit perfectly, astounded by what Tony had created.
''Is that everything?'' she asked him as he walked over to her, his helmet off for the moment.
He nodded. ''That's it.''
Pepper closed to rest of the distance between them, reaching her hands up to cup his face. ''Please be careful.''
Tony dipped his head down to kiss her with as much passion as he could, determined to make it back to her unscathed. ''I will.'' he told her as he broke the kiss. He could see tears forming in the corner of her eyes, making them glisten. ''I'll be home before you know it. Won't even know I'm gone.''
Pepper shook her head. ''I always know when you're gone.''
Tony could feel his own sadness building. ''I promise I'll be back as soon as I can. Please get some sleep, don't wait up for me.''
''Don't worry about me right now, you've got a mission to attend to.'' she reminded him.
''You always come before any of this.'' he told her with a smile before she felt his hands on her stomach. ''You and her.''
Pepper wiped her eyes of the tears that had fallen, placing her hands back around his neck and kissing him one last time. ''I love you.''
''I love you too.''
Pepper watched as he slipped his helmet over his head, looking back at her one last time before he flew out, leaving a silence in the room that loomed over her as she focused on the flying object in the sky as it slowly disappeared. For some reason, it was harder to let him go this time. Maybe it was because he hadn't left her in so long, they had been together every night, it was a nice change to the impromptu missions that Tony had to attend to a few times a week.
She looked around the room, for once enjoying the sight of his tools lying about everywhere in a mess. His computer monitors were on, prompting Pepper to walk over and switch them off. As the screen lit back up when she touched the keyboard, the sight of what Tony had been working on took her attention. It was a nursery plan, with equipment that Tony was working on as well as color schemes and everything that a nursery would need. Pepper sat down on his chair and looked over the plans. He had worked out exactly what they needed for their baby and had a room setup prepared for when he began renovating it. Pepper couldn't help smiling at the fact he was doing all of this himself, surprising her since she had been so busy lately, it made her miss him even more although he had only just left, and she knew this was going to be a long night.
The house was always colder when Tony wasn't around, Pepper had noticed. Everything was silent, and even when she turned the television on, it didn't feel right. She was used to him leaving by now, she even had a routine every time she walked downstairs and helped him get ready, but she would never grow familiar to the fact that he wasn't here with her. Every time he would come back from one of these things, he was always injured in some way whether it be a few bruises and cuts or gashes and broken bones. She hated the fact that one day he might not come back, but that's what he had to do and she knew how much it meant to him.
It was around ten at night when Pepper finally got up from the couch and took a hot shower, returning to the kitchen in hopes to make a warm cup of tea and go to bed. However, when she finished making her tea, she didn't want to move from her position on the bench stool. Instead she pulled over a baby book from her pile of magazines and opened up the search through all over the different possible names for their daughter. There were so many, she couldn't decide which was nicer than the last one she read. She went through the alphabet picking out one possible name for each letter, writing them down so she could read over them again in the morning. She knew she was only prolonging the night so that she didn't have to go try and sleep in bed alone, because she knew it was pointless when all she could think about was the fact that Tony wasn't there, but she had to try.
The sheets ended up on the ground yet again from Pepper's tossing and turning, finding herself sprawled out in the middle of the bed. She couldn't sleep on her side when Tony wasn't here, it reminded her of when he held his arms around her, and there was no way she could sleep on his side because all she could smell was his scent. There wasn't going to be much sleep for a while yet, and she could feel the baby kicking against her stomach with such force that Pepper thought even she missed him.
''I know,'' she ran her hand over her round belly, trying to calm her daughter's kicking. ''I miss him too.''
Pepper woke up at eight the next morning feeling tired after only getting a max of four hours sleep the whole night. She wished she could have slept in a few hours longer, but it was clear that this was the best she was going to get of her rest.
''Jarvis, is Tony home?'' she asked in a soft voice as she yawned.
''I'm afraid not, Mrs. Stark, and he has not returned all through the night or early hours of the morning.''
She sighed, trying not to worry since Tony did tell her he didn't know when he would be home since they didn't have an exact location, but she couldn't help feeling paranoid that something was wrong. He would have called if he was held up somehow, left a message with Jarvis at least to let her know he was okay and was going to spend the night somewhere if he was too exhausted to fly, but there was nothing, which meant whatever he was doing was still going on.
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