Prologue
Pepper stared at the pregnancy test in her hand, mentally willing that one, annoying, horizontal red line to disappear. Of course it didn’t disappear, and from the looks of the other two pregnancy tests stowed into the depths of her purse, the unimaginable had happened, Pepper was pregnant.
Pepper stood up, fixed her ponytail, and put her game face on. She was going to fake it till she made it, at least until work ended. Then she was free to totally break down until she determined what to do next.
Her high-heels clicked on the linoleum flooring as Pepper strode into her office with fake confidence. She could do this. Pepper made a checklist in her head of everything she had to remember in order for the last two hours of the day to move on smoothly.
1.Make sure Tony is at least under an hour late to his board meeting.
2.Prepare pamphlets for said meeting.
3.Prep the R&D department for new interns coming in.
4.And most importantly, don’t mention or even think about the incident.
That incident being the very thing that had dumped her into this mess, Pepper found it almost impossible not to think about it. She buried the thought deep in her mind. If she was to last the day, she couldn’t think about what had happened 2 months ago.
Pepper’s plan went out the window when she walked into her office. Because there, standing awkwardly near her desk, was her boss, Tony Stark.
He was anxiously fiddling with her paper weight. Pepper was surprised Tony was here, and looking presentable with a nice suit and combed hair no less. He would be early for his meeting though…
‘No, he’s probably not here to talk about the incident, don’t think about that,’ Pepper thought to herself as she straightened her posture and walked in. She could deal with this.
Tony immediately stood up as soon as he saw her. “Ah, Miss Potts, I just came by here to uh,”
“Mr.Stark,” Pepper sat down on her chair and plastered on a fake smile, “What are you doing here?”
Judging by his awkwardness, Pepper could already guess. She inwardly groaned to herself. She could not do this. Why did Tony have to pick today of all days to suddenly stop pretending like the incident never happened.
“Okay I’m going to be blunt here,” Tony finally found his voice, “I know what happened on New Years, you know what happened on New Years...”
“I thought we under the unspoken rule that it never happened,” Pepper exclaimed exasperatedly.
“Okay,” Tony replied. He put Pepper’s paper weight back on her desk, “How would you like to go get drinks sometime, like a casual vibe kind of thing, maybe at that italian restaurant you love,” He tapped at the desk.
“Guiliani’s?” Pepper tried and failed to hide her smile. Why was this idiot so endearing to her?
“Yes, that’s the place. Unless you want to go somewhere else or not do that-”
Pepper took a breath. She couldn’t believe she was about to do this, but she was doing it. It was now or never.
“I’m pregnant.”
Tony looked at her in confusion. He looked at Pepper with his mouth gaping open. “Um, Pardon.”
Pepper sighed and repeated herself, “I’m pregnant, two months along.”
“That was not what I was expecting,” Tony deadpanned.
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Tony paced up and down the hospital corridors. The sterile white walls and squeaky floors were doing nothing to distract him from his overbearing thoughts. He briskly walked back to the waiting room, maybe it would smell less like hand sanitizer.
The waiting room was relatively empty. Tony sat down on one of the plushy fold-up chairs, tapping his foot on the carpeted flooring while staring at the mosaic mural on the wall.
Despite all of his efforts, Tony couldn’t seem to stop worst case scenarios from racing through his head. Happy, at his instruction, was buying some coffee, Rhodey was on some mandatory overseas mission, and Pepper was in fucking labor right now.
Tony put his hands on his face and leaned down, in an attempt to quell an upcoming anxiety attack. Today, or hopefully today, he was going to be a father, actually have a kid out there, his responsibility. This wasn’t just some AI where Tony could delete any screwed up code. If he messed up, there were no redos, no turning back. His kid would have to live with the consequences.
Tony couldn’t help but think that he had already failed his unborn kid. The fact that his personal assistant was pregnant with his kid had, despite their best efforts, already been leaked to the press.
Tony knew what that meant, because he had grown up in this reality. His child would be raised with the weight of being a Stark, and the Stark legacy bullshit. Their every move would be scrutinized by the press and judged by the entire nation.
In fact, Tony was surprised that the press wasn’t outside the hospital doors right now, waiting to have an interview with the first ever Stark baby, heir to Stark industries. Okay, he was being a bit dramatic.
Luckily, Tony had chosen this hospital for the sole reason that it was a private establishment and had an excellent NDA policy. He doubted the old couple in the back of the waiting room, or the weary looking nurses wheeling gurneys would take much interest in calling the press.
Happy’s voice lifted Tony out of his thoughts, “Here’s some coffee boss.”
Tony grabbed a cup and took a hesitant sip, before quickly replying , “Thanks.”
The two were silent for a few minutes, until Happy asked in a concerned tone, “How is she doing?”
“I don’t know,” Tony gripped the seat rests, “The doctors had to do an emergency c-section on her a couple hours ago, but they haven’t bothered to update me at all, which is rude.”
Tony grabbed some magazine with a power drill on the cover and started absentmindedly flipping through it.
“That baby didn’t want to come out, like you when getting up early.” Happy’s attempt at humour did little to lighten the mood.
The pair were silent for a few minutes until a new voice was added into the mix, “Well Tony, why aren’t you passing cigars out already?”
Tony sat up in his seat and turned to face one of his father’s oldest friends, “Huh, that’s funny Obie, I thought you were against Pep and I keeping the kid.”
Obadiah, dressed in a blue blazer and yellow power tie, was clutching a blue teddy bear in his right hand and cigar box in his left.
“I’ve changed my mind, since you and Pepper decided to have the kid, I might as well deal with it. Plus, I can be uncle Obie.”
“So you decided to be less of an asshole?” Tony retorted.
“Oh come on, give me a break, I got the kid a toy for goodness sakes. I was never an asshole, just worried about how this kid would affect your work productivity.”
“This kid will always come before work,” Tony’s gaze locked with Obadiah, with a determined look in his eyes he replied, “Because he is my kid.”
“Look Tony, I know you have this weird complex with Howard but yo-”
Obadiah was interrupted when the door to the main hospital hallway opened and a nurse in green scrubs walked out. “Mr.Stark-”
All thoughts drained out of Tony’s mind except one, “How is she doing?”
“Miss Potts is awake and weak, but on the road to recovery, she’ll have to stay a night.”
Tony swallowed.
“The baby was born 30 minutes ago at 7 pounds 3 ounces,” The nurse smiled, “If you would like to see them, you can follow me.”
Tony nodded to the nurse, so she turned around and held the door open for him as he followed her. Tony’s chest constricted in anticipation and his hands were clammy with nervous sweat.
Was Pepper truly okay? Why did she have to stay overnight? Was his baby boy okay? Was he healthy? Tony couldn’t even fathom what he looked like.
Before opening the hospital room door, Tony wiped the sweat off of his hands. Pepper was laid on a comfy hospital bed, propped up by pillows. Her sweaty hair was matted to her forehead and her hospital gown was flecked with blood, but despite all of this, she was the most beautiful person Tony had ever laid eyes on.
In Pepper’s arms was an ugly, wrinkly thing with a head full of dark brown hair and pink skin. Tony almost gasped when he suddenly realized that that baby, sleeping calmly in Pepper’s arms, was his. He had actually helped create a human being.
Tony silently moved towards Pepper’s side, sitting down on a chair next to her bed. “Hi,” he said, in a daze, not able to take his eyes off his son.
“Shhhh,” Pepper softly whispered, “I finally got him to stop crying.”
“He’s so ugly,” Tony whispered, because he had literally nothing else to say.
“Well so far he has your hair color.”
“Is that even natural? Should I get a doctor to come over, may-”
“Tony, it’s fine. My mom told me I was born with a full head of hair.”
Tony sat back down in seat, relaxing a little. Self-deprecating and guilty thoughts still raged on in his mind. Anxiety, that he wasn’t fit to be a dad, still racked his brain. But as Tony stared at his baby boy and the loving woman holding her, he couldn’t help but think that everything was going to turn out fine.
“Welcome to the world, Edwin.”
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The two years before that dreadful day on the 4th of September, a few weeks after Edwin’s 2nd birthday, were both incredibly stressful and happy for Tony and Pepper.
In the first week of Edwin’s life, the new parents spent their days changing diapers, feeding the newborn, and sleeping 3 hours instead of their regular 5 hours. Tony had gained Pepper and him a leave of absence for at least 3 weeks, much to Obadiah’s disliking, so at least they didn’t have to worry about the company.
Tony and Pepper’s bubble of Edwin, themselves, Happy, Obie, and Rhodey when he finally left that mission, came crashing down after 9/11. The country was at war, and with Stark Industries producing the best quality weapons, Tony’s company was at the forefront.
Tony had to leave his leave of absence, reluctantly losing sleep over creating weapons instead of changing diapers. He knew in his heart that he had to be a fixture in Edwin’s life, but with the middle east in chaos, finding the time to spend time with him became harder and harder with each passing month. ‘I’ll make this up as soon as things cool down in a month,’ Tony thought to himself everytime he passed out from exhaustion before he could find the chance to rock Edwin’s cradle for a few minutes.
America’s war with Iraq heaped a million more responsibilities onto Pepper’s plate as well. Now she had to schedule Tony’s meetings with military generals along with other science corporations and the stockholders. As Tony’s plate grew in the R&D department, Pepper became the CEO of Stark Industries in everything but title. She did all the work of a CEO, managing to keep Stark Industries at least ten steps ahead of its competition. Like Tony, as the months dragged on, Pepper found less and less time to be a mother to Edwin.
A couple months turned into a year and pretty soon, Edwin was turning one years old. Much to Obie’s dismay, Tony put his foot down, he and Pepper were going to spend the entire week with their son who had spent more time with his nanny than with his own parents.
That week was a huge wake up call for the couple, well, unofficial couple. Tony couldn’t believe how much Edwin had grown in just one year. He went from an ugly pink baby, to a less ugly baby with a mop of dark brown hair and the most adorable bambi brown eyes.
Tony and Pepper spent their time playing and taking care of little Edwin on the beach. They marvelled at his talkative nature, constantly babbling words like nana, dada, and mama, into incoherent sentences. Even though it was hard to keep an eye on their rambunctious son, the two preferred this life to working for their company.
Pepper was disheartened at how much she had already missed in Edwin’s life. She had missed his first words and his first step. Of course Jarvis had recorded those moments, but it wasn’t the same. Pepper yearned for a life where Tony and her spent more time on Edwin than work.
After that blissful week, the two started downsizing Stark industry’s role in the war on terror. Obie and the stockholders were angry and disapproved of this sudden turn in the company, but in the end, Stark industry was Tony’s not theirs. Pepper and Tony spent half of their time working and half with Edwin, living a happy little existence, until that fateful day.
Edwin’s 2nd birthday was a simple, yet joyful, affair. Tony, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, and even Obie, were there to wish the boy a happy birthday and spoil him with presents. Edwin had grown a lot since last year. He was now running around, making it very hard for the couple to babyproof the house. Tony had programmed Jarvis to follow his every move and had developed about 100 emergency protocols, so it was safe to say that Edwin was probably the most protected 2 year old in the world.
Those emergency protocols didn’t protect Edwin from his kidnappers on the 4th of September. For the next 12 years it would be a mystery as to how exactly Edwin, living with a highly advanced security system, was kidnapped in a home invasion, a home invasion that happened right under Tony Stark and Pepper Pott’s nose. The famous Stark kidnapping would be in the headlines for the next year, and in tv shows like unsolved mysteries and crime until it was solved.
To say that the kidnapping of their son devastated Tony and Pepper would be an understatement. For the first few months, they were both living in denial. The two knew the likelihood of their son being alive after the first 24 hours, but continued to search for him regardless. As the cases grew cold and the months dragged on, the once happy couple grew apart, unable to look at eachother now that the reason why they were together in the first place was gone.
As it became more likely that Edwin would never be found, Pepper threw herself into her work to distract from that fact. Stark industries was once again beating its competitors, but at what cost? Tony adopted his playboy tendencies that he had stopped after Edwin was born once again, drinking and partying as if it was his last day on earth. It didn’t matter what he did, Tony knew he would always fail, because he had failed the one person who mattered most.
Every year, on Edwin’s birthday, Tony and Pepper would be hit hard with the fact that their son was never coming home. Every time a new lead came up, they would grasp onto their dwindling hope until it was inevitably shattered by the case growing cold once again.
Life went on. Tony was kidnapped, Obadiah betrayed them and Iron Man was born. The years flew past Pepper and Tony after Tony announced his super hero status to the world. Suddenly Tony had to deal with Aliens falling out of the sky and killer robots while Pepper became the head of Stark Industry.
The two had an on and off relationship during those crazy times. After Ultron, they never found the time to be with each other in between their busy schedules. Pepper was heading a new clean energy initiative. Tony was not going on every Avenger mission, but he was supplying them with tech while also heading the R&D department for Stark Industry at the Avenger’s tower and Compound.
Because of this, when the news that Tony and Pepper had been desperately hoping for for the past 12 years reached them, they were 3000 miles away and on a break.
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November 24th, 2015
Tony was flying over the Atlantic with the team. It was one of those days, which were becoming fewer and farther between, when he took out the armour and partook in a standard Avengers mission.
The mission was completed easily, some Hydra base in Croatia that had turned into a human experimentation ring. Probably because all of the available avengers had shown up, including Clint, who was supposed to be retired, but joined a mission every six months or so. Wanda and Sam, who weren’t technically avengers, had been given the okay for this mission. Even Rhodey joined, it was a few days before Thanksgiving so he was free from his military duties anyway.
The mood in the quinjet could only be described as contented. It was a rare moment when no supervillain was out for revenge, Pepper and him were on a break, but it was an amicable break, and the villains the avengers had to deal with were ridiculously easy for them to overcome.
Wanda was lifting small blocks with her powers while Nat sat with a tablet in hand, watching and taking notes. Clint was convincing Sam to come to his house for Thanksgiving, the rest of the team, including Tony, had already agreed because they had nowhere else to be. Steve was showing Vision some of his drawings while the later looked at them with interest. Tony watched the group for a split second, before standing up. He decided to keep Rhodey company in the cockpit.
If Bruce and Thor were there, Tony would have said this moment was eerily similar to the days right before Ultron happened. He should have known it was the calm before the storm.
“Boss,” Friday said louder than usual and with such urgency that everyone stopped what they were doing. “The Baby Milk Protocol has been activated.”