Pepper Potts
Pepper often looked back and wondered how her life got so hectic. Not that she would change things, she quite liked how her life had turned out.
She was currently sitting in the car with Tony and Iris Potter-Stark. They had just gone to collect eleven-year-old Iris from her summer camp and the young girl had been bedazzling them with stories of her summer.
Pepper had been let into the secret that was Iris' parentage a year ago when she had surprised the young girl by sneaking up behind her. Iris had yelled and fell off of the countertop she was sitting on. Except instead of hitting the floor she floated in midair.
Pepper wasn't sure what to think when she had gotten the truth out of Tony, but in the end, after a minor freak-out and a pay rise, Pepper had realised it made a lot of sense. It certainly explained all the odd little occurrences around the Stark house that had been happening since Iris moved in.
Originally Pepper had just chalked it up to Tony working on something new, it was always Tony's fault, but this new explanation made a lot of sense.
Tony hadn't been the one making the lights flicker, or turning the kettle on from a different room, and it wasn't Tony that was getting the breakfast to make itself, or the books to fly through the air.
Yes, it made more sense now. It wasn't Tony.
The only other people the playboy had told about his daughter were Happy, Rhodey and the private councillor that he had hired for her. Pepper was surprised that they had told her the truth rather than a lie, but she supposed it just made their lives easier.
Pepper loved Iris, she was her self-proclaimed aunt, and the new information didn't change that. Tony had always been like her annoying brother, and she cared a lot for him, so she was glad that he was happy. She loved watching the father due interact with each other. Like then in the car.
Iris was telling them about how the activities director Chiron wouldn't let her or her best friend Annabeth go on a quest. Tony was listening with rapt attention. He always loved learning about her world and asking so many questions.
Like what did Chiron the centaur eat? Horse food or human food? Did he have two stomachs? What happens on quests? Why does she want to go on one? Why isn't she allowed to? Does her magic give her an advantage over the others?
Pepper chuckled at the two, as Iris answered all of her father's questions with as much enthusiasm as he was asking them.
Yes, they were a lovely pair.
Pepper had to admit, at first she had doubted Tony's ability to be a father, especially to such a scared little girl. But Iris had flourished under his care. She was happier and healthier and nothing like the quiet child she had first met. That's not to say she didn't still have her issues.
Her panic attacks were horrible, and there were times she just wanted to hide in her room all day. And sometimes she could be so volatile that it scared Pepper. Or so quiet you forgot she was there. But Tony had taken it all in stride. It was admirable how well he could handle Iris and her mood swings.
Tony was better now as well. He didn't drink as often, he didn't party quite as hard, and he avoided bringing women home if Iris was in the house. He did still do these things mind you, he just tended to wait till the summer when Iris went to her camp.
The press had often remarked on his change as well. Tony did a good job of keeping Iris out of the public. They only became aware that he had adopted a daughter when she was nine, and even then no one knew what she looked like. At first, there was talk about whether or not she was the result of one of his affairs, but that died down soon enough.
Pepper was cut out of her thoughts by a snort coming from Iris. They were laughing at something Tony had said about one of his new projects.
That was another thing that astounded Pepper. After Tony had found out about Iris' ability to remember everything (she couldn't for the life of her remember the name of the condition) he started teaching her advanced math and science, it took a few days before she was caught up with her year in school, and after that, she started learning the hard stuff. Tony said that at the rate she was learning things, she could defiantly join MIT at around fourteen or fifteen like him. He was so proud when he told her that.
Although at first Iris' hyperthymesia seemed to only be a good thing, it became very apparent very quickly that that was wrong. Her counsellor, Linda, had reminded them that yes she learnt stuff quicker, but it also meant that she remembered, in very clear detail, everything bad that ever happened to her.
Pepper felt awful for the young girl then. She knew that Iris hadn't been treated well by a lot of her past foster families and she couldn't fathom the idea of remembering it all so well.
One of the incidents she had heard about was how one of her foster mothers would lock Iris in a dark cupboard full of spiders for days on end when she wanted to go out. Because of it, Iris was terrified of the dark and spiders. She could have a panic attack if she was faced with one. Pepper didn't blame the redhead, if she could remember it all so clearly she would probably have the same reaction as the girl.
But she was with Tony now, she was safe, and her father would make sure she had a good life. If he failed Aunt Pepper would make it all better. The poor girl deserved to be happy.
They had arrived at the airport so that they could get on the Stark jet that would take them to the mansion in Miami.
For a while, Tony had thought about moving closer to New York so that they could be near the camp, but both Linda the counsellor and Iris said not to. Iris because she had grown attached to her room and the house, plus she had made friends in the school she went to. Linda said it was a bad idea as it could have negative effects on the redhead if she was moved around again. What with her history of moving around so much in the foster system. So in the end they stayed in California.
Pepper was glad. Miami was gorgeous and she loved going for walks on the beach with Iris in the evenings.
She got onto the jet across Iris who was next to Tony. It would be a long flight, but the father-daughter duo would be sure to keep her entertained. She was sure of that.
"Hey Pep, manage to find out anything?" Iris asked her aunt.
Pepper just gave her a blank look, having been working on her laptop she was ignoring the Stark family and their conversation. Iris rolled her eyes and Tony laughed from next to his daughter.
"About the wizarding world? Get any information on it?''
Tony had been looking to see what he could find out about the wizards so that his daughter could be a part of her world, and he had gotten Pepper to help when she became aware of the family secret. However, it was to no avail. It seemed the Wizards were very secretive. There was no sign of any of them anywhere.
Pepper shook her head and smiled softly at Iris. The young girl sighed and Tony pulled her into his chest for a quick hug, kissing her forehead. They had been looking for a while and had found nothing. It had upset Iris a lot.
When Tony had told her that he was going to try to find out where she came from, Iris had been ecstatic. She thought she would finally be able to find her younger brother. She spoke about him all the time, how he looked like her Wizard father James, but he had the same eyes as her and their mother. You could tell just how much Iris loved Harry by the way she talked about him. It broke her heart how little could be done.
Even though Iris could remember everything, she didn't know where her birth family had lived. She mentioned seeing a part of a sign one time when James and Lily took her and her brother out for a walk around the village. All she was ever able to remember was the word Hollow. And she knew that they lived in a little cottage-like house.
It always frustrated Iris to no end that she had this rare ability to remember everything and yet she didn't know where she used to live. Because her family had been in hiding they didn't go out much, so there were no landmarks she could remember to point them in the right direction.
She also didn't know where Harry had been taken, she just remembered flying in a motorbike before they landed and she was handed over to a woman before being put to sleep. When she woke up she was in a hospital in New York.
Pepper was extremely sympathetic. The poor girl always seemed to be having a hard time. Even the absent parent Ares seemed to give her shit.
She remembered when Tony had left a meeting the year before that he was needed in and flew down to pick up Iris early from camp after she had called him. She was quiet the whole trip back until they got in the house. Pepper hadn't even shut the door before Iris burst into tears and collapsed on the floor. Pepper had left the two Starks so that Tony could comfort his daughter, only coming back in to give them both a hot chocolate.
She later heard from Tony that Ares had shown up after Iris refused to fight against some of her older siblings after they argued. Iris got beaten up anyway and then Ares proceed to call her a disappointment. What really boiled Peppers's blood was when she heard that the God had raised his hand in a mock slap, then called Iris weak when she flinched.
The poor girl couldn't catch a break, and she started up again with one of her old habits of panicking when someone touched her.
Said girl leaned forward, touching her arm and gave her aunt a dazzling smile when she looked up. Iris could tell when someone was getting angry, and she could also make you lose your temper. She didn't use the latter gift often as it typically led to violence and she liked to avoid that, but she was great at calming you down if you needed it.
Pepper smiled back, before getting up.
"I am just going to go to the bathroom," She said to the other two.
''Kay,'' Iris said, ''I'm going to get some food, want any dad?''
Tony nodded and Iris headed to the fridge the jet kept fully stocked whilst Pepper headed to the bathroom.
She was just shutting the bathroom door when she heard a crash and a muttered 'shit shit shit' coming from behind her. She turned around to see Tony still sitting in his seat that was opposite hers, his feet on the chair next to hers where she left her laptop. He was looking guiltily at it. The device in mention was smashed on the floor next to a guilty-looking Iris.
''What happened?!'' Pepper yelled, her hands in the air by her head. She had important things on that!
Iris looked up at her then at her dad, then back to her, before pointing an accusing finger at her father.
''It was his fault!''
Tony looked affronted.
''Me?'' He said, pointing to himself. Iris nodded her head furiously at him.
''You're the one that stepped on it!'' He said
Pepper looked at Iris who had switched from nodding her head to shaking it.
''Well, you're the one that knocked it onto the floor!'' She replied.
''Only because you distracted me!'' He scoffed back.
''Did not!'' She replied. Pepper sighed and rubbed her nose tiredly.
'Will you two shut up?' She asked
They both held guilty looks on their faces and Iris muttered a 'sorry'.
''It's fine, I'll make you a new laptop, better than your old one,'' Tony replied.
''Tony there was a bunch of important stuff on that that I won't be able to get back,'' Pepper replied exasperated. ''You have just made my job a million times harder.''
Tony smiled innocently and Iris grinned her cheeky grin. It was the type of look where her eyes lit up and you knew she had been up to something.
''Would it help if you had your old laptop back?''
Pepper huffed and put her hands on her hips with a raised eyebrow.
''What are you two up to?'' She asked suspiciously.
Then Tony pulled a laptop out from under his jacket that was on the chair next to him.
It was her laptop.
Pepper huffed and snatched it out of Tony's hands as he and Iris laughed.
''You're not funny you two.''
But Iris laughed harder when Tony pointed out the smile she was hiding, whilst he picked up the fake laptop.
Pepper had often looked back and wondered how her life got so hectic. Not that she would change things. She loved this family and all the little moments like this.