Chapter 16

Pepperony

It had been three months since the incident with Justin Hammer, and life was as normal as it was going to get. Tony had taken Hammer to a foreign maximum security prison where he would spend the rest of his life. The government knew where he was, but none of them spoke about him again. Tony had to admit that he was indeed tempted to kill Justin Hammer after he took his family, but he wasn't that sort of person. Hammer had killed people before and done terrible things, but Tony would not stoop to his level for revenge, and he would rather Hammer live with his actions and the misery that came with his life that was now to be spent in a prison cell.

Abby was eight months old now, and both Pepper and Tony were watching her grow even more every day. Ever since he thought he would never see his family again, he never wanted to take them for granted. Iron Man was still protecting the world as usual, but his family was always going to come first to him, no matter what. He was never going to let anyone hurt them again.

''Pepper, she's doing it again.'' Tony looked over to Pepper in the kitchen, who peered around the corner to see Abby picking up all her toys and throwing them all over the room, giggling while doing so. ''How does she throw them so far?'' he whined, walking over to pick them up.

''I don't know, but if you keep picking them up, she's going to keep throwing them.'' she told him, walking in with two smoothies for her and Tony.

''I can't not pick them up, Pepper, she gets upset.''

Pepper chuckled. ''She has you wrapped around her little finger.'' Tony put the toys back in front of her and she clapped in excitement.

''Dada!'' she squealed. ''Up! Up!''

Tony picked her up and held her high in the air as she giggled. He loved hearing her laugh, it was a noise he couldn't explain. It melted his heart, it made him happy no matter what mood he was in and he would never tire of hearing it. Tony had been swaying her above his head like a airplane a few times, and now it was her favorite thing to do.

Pepper was reading her emails on her Blackberry, and she noticed an email from the Stark Industries team, remembering what they had to do today.

''We have to go in to the office today.''

Tony pulled Abby back down. ''What, both of us?''

''Yeah, board meeting.''

''I thought you didn't have to attend those any more?''

''I only go to the monthly ones, and that's today.'' she told him. ''It's at two.''

Tony glanced at the clock, it was only ten, they had plenty of time. ''Do I have to?''

''Yes, you do.''

''What about Abby?'' Tony asked, hoping Pepper would freak out and then he could stay home with her.

''Happy's going to watc.''

''Happy?'' he asked, looking over to Pepper with a laugh already coming to the surface. ''Think he can handle babysitting again?''

Pepper remembered back to the last time Happy had to watch Abby for a few hours. He thought it was going to be so easy, but it was the same time that Abby had discovered that she could squeal at the top of her lungs as if she was in pain. She would squeal and clap her hands, and Happy thought it was cute at the beginning, but it went on for hours. Sometimes she wouldn't squeal though, instead she would just make noises as if she was mimicking a conversation, but it drove Happy a little crazy. When she did manage to stop yelling, she would crawl around on the floor speedily and make Happy go get her and bring her back every few seconds. When Tony and Pepper got back home, Happy was on the couch almost asleep himself as Abby was taking her nap, and the living room was a mess of toys. Tony thought the whole thing was hilarious, and Pepper had to suppress a a laugh as she thanked Happy and apologized, explaining it was just a phase. Happy loved the little girl, but he couldn't handle that phase again. Now, she was out of that phase and into a new one - throwing everything in sight everywhere and waiting for someone to pick it up. It was her new favorite game, and Pepper knew she was going to drive Happy crazy yet again.

''It won't be for long.''

Tony laughed loudly. ''Oh god, this is going to be hilarious.'' he looked over to Abby. ''Remember to throw your toys everywhere Ab.''

''Tony!'' Pepper scolded.

''Oh, come on! She was going to do it anyw-'' Tony was cut off by a soft toy being thrown in his face, and Pepper tried not to laugh since she didn't want to encourage Abby, but it was funny. ''See?''

''Abby, don't throw those at people, it's naughty.'' Pepper told her, hoping she would somehow get through to her daughter.

Abby crawled over to her mom and put her hands up, reaching for the smoothie in Pepper's grip. Pepper moved the straw around and put it down to Abby's lips, letting her drink a little bit of the liquid, and then she pulled it away.

''Yummy, isn't it?'' Pepper smiled.

Abby made a face, approving the taste of the drink, and she reached for more. ''Mama,'' she whined, pointing to the drink. ''Yum!''

''Oh, Happy's going to have a breakdown.'' Tony chuckled.

It was around 12.30 in the afternoon when Happy called, not sounding his usual self. His voice was hoarse and rough, and he couldn't get a sentence out without coughing half way through and making Pepper cringe due to the sound.

''I'm sorry I didn't call earlier, it's these meds they've got me on, knocked me right out.'' Happy apologized. ''I didn't think it was so bad until I woke up.''

''No, Happy it's fine,'' Pepper told him, and Tony looked over his shoulder at her. ''Just stay at home and rest. Do you need anything?''

''No, I'm all good, thanks Pepper. Again, I'm really sorry.''

''Don't be, I'll see you when you're feeling better.''

Pepper sat the phone down and walked back over to the kitchen bench where Tony was looking at her, waiting for her to fill him in.

''Happy's sick.'' Pepper told him, concerned. ''He didn't sound good at all.''

''He's so faking it.'' Tony commented.

''Tony, he wouldn't do that. He sounded really sick, he didn't want Abby to catch anything.''

''Hmm, I guess he's got a point.'' Tony nodded. ''So, no meeting?''

Pepper sighed. ''We have to go, I already told them we would be there. We haven't gone in a while, not together anyway, we need to go.''

''Then call Rhodey, he's on babysitting duty today.''

''Tony, he's busy, I don't want to bother him.''

''This isn't going to bother him.'' Tony shook his head, already picking up the phone and dialling. ''Besides, he's not that busy.'' A few seconds later, Rhodey answered. ''Hey, how'd you feel about fulfilling a godfather duty for the day?''

''I have everything you'll need in this bag, you've got mine and Tony's cell but if they don't go through, call the office and-''

Rhodey nodded as Pepper filled him in on what he would need to do if anything happened or if he was worried about something. Pepper was the one who was worried, because they had just sprung the whole babysitting day on Rhodey without any warning, and if the military needed Rhodey, it would be chaotic trying to organize everything again.

''Pepper, seriously, I got this, calm down.'' Rhodey took the bag from her hands. ''I can take care of her.''

''I know you can, but she's...she's just a bit of a handful and I know you're busy with work and all.''

''Hey, I've always got time for my goddaughter, right?'' he smiled at the little girl in Tony's arms.

Pepper let out a sigh of relief, accepting that they had to go now. ''Okay, we'll be back in a few hours, and call if you need anything, I mean it.''

''Will do.'' Rhodey nodded.

Tony gave Abby a kiss on the cheek before gently handing her to Rhodey, saying goodbye.

''Remember our deal Ab.'' Tony winked as he stepped away.

Rhodey didn't know what he was talking about, but he waved off the issue. Pepper kept looking back at Abby and Rhodey standing outside his front door, looking back at them. She didn't like leaving her daughter, she never would, but it was something she needed to do, and she had to get used to the idea.

''Bye!'' Rhodey waved at them, encouraging Abby.

''Bye bye!'' Abby waved back, her little hands flailing about.

Rhodey laughed at her adorable farewell. ''Alright, let's go play with some toys.''

For the first hour, Abby and Rhodey sat on his living room floor playing with all of the toys he could find. He had a bunch there that he was planning on giving her, and he always kept some for when they visited. Rhodey was trying desperately to get Abby interested in the model jets he had, hoping one day he could tell her he flew them for a living and he would be the coolest uncle out there, but she was more intrigued by the noisy toys that would screech and sing. She did happen to throw around all sorts of toys within that time, and Rhodey just walked over and picked them up again, dropping them down in front of her to do it all over again. He was thinking that Tony had set that up, probably applauding her for doing so because it was funny.

Something Rhodey had failed to remember was the fact that Abby was able to crawl around on her own now, and she was very speedy. He always kept his eye on her, but when he managed to turn around in order to answer his phone, he looked over to where she was sitting and saw that she was no longer there.

''Abby?'' he called out, thinking she was probably just around the corner of the couch. ''Ab?'' Rhodey called out a few times, and then he stood up to look behind the couch himself. When he saw that she wasn't there, he quickly hung up on whoever was on the other line and searched the living room. ''Abby?''

Rhodey wondered how fast she could actually crawl since she didn't seem to be in the living room at all anymore. He was sure there was nothing dangerous laying around his house for her to get into, but he couldn't trust himself, he instantly became worried that she was hurt somewhere. After searching the living room properly, he walked out into the hall and looked for her. The doors were shut to all the rooms, there was no way she could get into anything, but that made Rhodey even more panicked as he tried to narrow down where she could be. She was just a baby, how could she leave a room and manage to get lost in his house?

''Abby?'' he called out again, a little louder and more desperate. ''Abby, come on out.''

Rhodey was panicking. He had only looked away for a few seconds to answer a call, he didn't know she could move that fast. If she hurt herself, he would never forgive himself and he was sure that Tony and Pepper wouldn't either. They had trusted him with their daughter, and after all they had been through, that was a big deal to all of them. Rhodey was one of the very few people that they knew Abby would be safe with, and now he had managed to lose her within the first hour of her being here.

As he made his way to the other side of the hall, he could hear a giggle coming from his office area, he must have left that door open. He hurried down the hall to the room, but before he got there he heard a loud crash, and then he was running. When he made it to the room, he found Abby inside sitting on the floor, playing with the empty paper boxes he had stacked in the corner. She had managed to throw them onto his desk itself and knock over a filing stand, which is what the crash happened to be.

''Oh my god,'' Rhodey sighed with relief. ''Don't you ever do that again Ab, you hear me?'' he took a few moments to let the panic and worry drift away. ''Your parents would kill me if anything happened to you.''

Abby just smiled innocently in response and continued ripping the box apart, tossing pieces everywhere, meaning Rhodey would have to clean it all up again later, but he didn't even mind, as long as she was okay and happy. Rhodey didn't even see it happen, but the next second, Abby threw a piece of the cardboard box up onto his desk again and it managed to knock over the pencil stand he had positioned on top and the paper weight consequently fell to the floor, shattering on impact with the hard ground.

In response, Abby immediately began crying. Rhodey thought it was from the loud smashing noise, but as he rushed over to her, he also noticed a little cut on the leg from where the glass had scattered at cut her. It was a small cut, but it was enough to bleed.

''Hey, hey it's okay,'' Rhodey picked her up, stepping over to glass as he carried her out of her room while she cried. ''We'll fix it up, it's okay.'' Rhodey took her into the kitchen and sat her on the kitchen bench, making sure she didn't fall as he lifted multiple band-aids into her view. ''Here you go, you can pick whatever one you want.''

Abby pouted her lip as she stopped crying, rubbing her eyes of the tears so she could see the colorful selection of band-aids that he showed her. She knew what they were, she had seen plenty of them on her dad, but none of them were as nice as these ones looked.

''T'at one.'' she pointed at the purple band-aid.

Rhodey tossed the others to the side and began to lift away the band-aid to put onto her cut. Abby kept staring at the purple colored band-aid as Rhodey moved away from her leg, showing her that the cut was gone now. She was fascinated by the fact that these little sticky things could fix things so easily, she couldn't stop looking at it.

''Is that better?'' Rhodey asked.

Abby nodded her head sadly, looking up at him. ''Mm hmm.''

''Does it hurt?'' he questioned, hoping it wasn't so bad, but Abby nodded her head again. Rhodey felt horrible that it had been his fault she got hurt, he should have been watching her closely. ''I know what to make it better. How 'bout some ice-cream?''

Pepper and Tony arrived at Rhodey's two and a half hours after they had dropped Abby off. The meeting had gone longer than they had expected and Pepper hoped that Rhodey didn't mind babysitting for so long. Pepper practically ran to the front door, and Tony couldn't help chuckle at how anxious she was. Rhodey answered the door with a yawn, and Pepper was looking for Abby in his arms, but she wasn't there. He had bits of paper stuck to his shirt and he looked genuinely worn out.

''She's asleep,'' Rhodey told her, seeing her concern.

Pepper smiled. ''Thank you.'' They walked inside. ''I hope she wasn't much trouble.''

Just as Pepper finished speaking, she walked into the living room and realized she had found her answer. There were pieces of ripped cardboard all over the living room floor, a trail forming from down the hall and they were scattered everywhere. The toys were thrown across the room, as Pepper had suspected since Abby had found a new hobby, and there was a cartoon playing on television in front of the couch where Abby had fallen asleep.

''I was going to move her, but I was afraid she'd wake up.'' Rhodey told her.

Tony looked around the room, suppressing a laugh since he knew Pepper would scold him for doing so. He had expected Abby to toss toys everywhere and just make Rhodey pick them up like she done with him, but this had taken it to a whole new level.

''Well, this is almost as bad as when Happy had to babysit.'' Tony chuckled. ''Did you give her heaps of sugar or something?''

''We had ice-cream.''

''Oh, well that explains things.'' Tony laughed, giving up on his earlier self-control.

''She was the same before the ice-cream.'' Rhodey defended. ''She just has way too much energy, I was wondering when she was going to fall asleep.''

Pepper bent down and scooped Abby up into her arms, careful not to wake her. ''I'm so sorry Rhodey, this place is a mess.''

''Don't worry about it, we had fun.'' he smiled. ''And I'll gladly babysit anytime.''

''I'll hold you to that then.'' Tony hit his shoulder playfully.

''Oh, and uh, there was...one tiny thing.'' Rhodey eased into the conversation. ''A paperweight kind of...smashed, and a little piece got her leg. I fixed it up though, it was just a little scratch really. I should have been watching, I'm sorry, she just took off crawling around and got into my office and the-''

''Rhodey,'' Pepper smiled. ''It's okay. It's hard to watch them every second, believe me I know what it's like when they take off. She almost got down to Tony's workshop the other week.'' she explained.

''Luckily, I've baby-proofed the place even more now.'' Tony defended. Rhodey sighed with relief. ''Thanks for babysitting. I guess we'll call you first next time.''

''Absolutely.''

Tony raised his eyebrows. ''Really? You want to do all of this...again?''

''Sure. I like spending time with her. She's a little wild, yes, but I've put up with you for years so I'm used to anything she can throw at me. Literally.''

Pepper walked over to them. ''Thanks again Rhodey, we really appreciate it.''

''Anytime.''

They said their goodbyes and headed to the door, and just before the door closed, Rhodey heard a little voice calling back to him.

''Bye bye,'' Abby raised her hand tiredly, her voice soft as she was barely holding her eyes open.

Rhodey called back to her and waved, admiring the little girl. She was a handful, but he was warned. He expected nothing less though, she was the daughter of Tony Stark and Rhodey knew just how child-like Tony was, so he really was used to the whole situation. He didn't mind cleaning up the mess and gathering up all the toys again, he was just glad that he got to be part of her life. He never knew if he would have the chance to have kids in the future, and being a godfather to a little girl like Abby was the closest he was, and he never took it for granted.

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