Chapter 2(2)

Wednesday morning didn't bring much for Pepper, she found herself slumped over the toilet bowl once again. This little activity had been going on for a few mornings since the first time it had happened, and it definitely wasn't Tony's cooking or her overeating to blame anymore. Luckily, she had this day off, otherwise she would be calling in sick.

''Pepper?'' Tony called from the bedroom.

Pepper quickly stood up and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was pale, but not as bad as she was a few hours ago. Her hair was messy but she had just woken up. She looked fine, and so she opened the door to the bathroom and called back. ''I'm in here.''

Tony yawned and sat up. ''You okay?''

Pepper walked out rolling her eyes. ''I needed to use the bathroom, I'm perfectly fine.'' She pulled on her sweat pants and glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. ''If you're going to make that meeting, you need to leave really soon.''

Tony groaned. ''But...but I don't want to go.''

''Well Tony, sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do. I think they call it...life.''

''Ha ha, you're humor never ceased to amaze me.'' he stood up tiredly and walked past her to the bathroom.

Tony was quick getting ready, he was showered and dressed within an hour of waking up, and for Tony, that was incredible progress compared to his usual timing for him to be ready for anything, let alone a meeting with the Stark Industries board members. He was dressed neatly in a ensemble that Pepper had picked out and readied for him to wear, making sure he looked professional and prepared, although she knew he was not organised for the meeting at all.

''Hopefully I'll be home early.'' Tony told her as she straightened his tie. ''These meetings go for, what, an hour at the most, right?''

Pepper shook her head in disbelief and laughed. ''You have a long day ahead of you if you think you're getting out of that meeting within an hour.''

Tony sighed. ''This day is going to be terrible.''

''Don't think like that.''

''No, I can feel it.''

Pepper wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him. ''Well just think, you're loving wife will be here waiting for you when you get back.''

Tony smiled at that and kissed her for what seemed like minutes, trying to make up for that fact he wouldn't see her all day. ''Promise?'' he looked at her with a knowing grin.

Pepper giggled into his neck. ''I promise. Now go, you'll be late.'' she told him as she pushed him toward the door. ''I love you.''

Tony would never tire of hearing those words from Pepper, nor would he tire of returning them just as eagerly. ''Love you too.''

When Tony finally left, Pepper took it upon herself to do some housework for once. They had a maid for their usual days, but whenever one of them were home they didn't bother with cleaning or tidying anything up. Pepper was a very organized person and it had taken her a while to grow comfortable with the idea of a maid cleaning the house when she wasn't there, but since her days were long and she didn't have the time, it was actually a great convenience.

Pepper made the bed, rounded up clothes that needed to be cleaned and finished tidying up the living room to her standards. Then she headed into the kitchen to check a few things in the pantry, wondering if she would need to go shopping for anything since this was her day off and she really had nothing to do. As she was looking around at all of the items on the shelves, her eyes caught a glimpse of the calender by the side of the refrigerator. She kept staring at the dates, counting to herself the weeks that had gone by without notice. Something was definitely wrong.

Pepper walked upstairs to their bedroom, walking past the bed and straight to the bathroom. Hidden behind a bunch of cleaning supplied in their cupboard, she pulled out the pregnancy test she had bought the other week at the drugstore. She had been in denial for so long about the whole thing, thinking she was just overreacting and the stress of work had been adding to all of her suspicions, but after looking at the calender for so long and calculating just how late she was, it was time to actually find out what was going on.