Pepper and her baby
Pepper grabbed onto Peter’s hand and walked with him downstairs to meet Tony in the kitchen. He was going to be gone all day and wasn’t going to be back until after Peter went to bed which gave Pepper a full day with Peter.
She planned on making it an extremely fun day since days like this didn’t come often enough and Peter was only getting older. She wanted to have a good relationship with her son.
It was hard with her working all the time and Peter being a daddy’s boy already so she had a bit of a competition but she wasn’t going to back down.
She lifted Peter up onto her hip once they got downstairs and walked into the kitchen. “Hey. You leaving soon?”
Tony nodded. “Yeah.” He spared a glance at Peter and frowned. He was getting his own separation anxiety from his kid and he had no idea how Peter was going to react when he leaves.
He’s been with Peter all day and all night for three weeks straight and now he is leaving for a full day.
He wasn’t even gone yet and he already missed his baby boy.
“I want to try and wean Peter off his pacifier.” Pepper blurted out.
Tony looked at her. “What? Why?”
She looked at Peter who was sucking on one of his many pacifiers happily. “Because he’s three years old and most babies stop using them at one and a half.”
Tony didn’t care about the articles Pepper was reading. “No. He’s fine. Peter’s not like most babies. He can have his paci if he wants it and he does so just leave it.”
Pepper sighed since they could never agree on anything when it came to how they wanted to raise Peter and what they both thought was best for him. “I don’t want his teeth to stick out.”
Tony didn’t think they would plus if they did, that’s why there were braces. “They won’t. He had pretty straight teeth when he was a teen, Pep. I mean they were still growing in but still.”
“Tony,” Pepper placed her hand on top of his and that’s when he knew she was about to say something he didn’t want to hear. “Peter isn’t going to be the same teen you once knew. That Peter… that Peter is gone. He’s getting a second chance at life now. He’s being raised with access to whatever he needs, a mom and a dad and he’s living in Malibu. You knew how he was raised before.”
It wasn’t like Tony didn’t know that because he did. He was just scared to think about the possibility of him messing Peter up. It’s his responsibly to make sure this beautiful and innocent child doesn’t get screwed up by him.
It was scary.
“I know. Of course I know. Just…” He was tired and stressed and he didn’t want to leave. “I don’t want to wean him off his pacifier. I think he’s fine. He needs it so let’s leave it.”
Pepper didn’t look like she wanted to agree with him but she didn’t fight it. “Okay. We’ll leave it.
“Thank you. I have to go now.” As soon as Tony said that, Peter heard those words and immediately started crying. Tony’s heart broke. “Aww, it’s okay, baby. I’ll be back soon.”
He picked Peter up and cradled him to his chest. “I love you and I’m sorry I have to go but I’ll be back soon.”
Peter continued to cry as Tony carried him over to the door so he could hold Peter while he got his shoes on. He hated listening to Peter cry and especially when he was the reason for that. “It’s okay, baby.”
“Daddy!” Peter fisted his suit in his tiny hand, only resulting in Tony’s heart breaking even more.
“Give daddy one last hug. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Tony squeezed Peter then handed him over to Pepper which had Peter crying impossibly louder. “Bye, Pep. You two have fun.”
Pepper bounced Peter in her arms and walked away from the door. She hasn’t had to deal with the separation anxiety for a few weeks but it wasn’t any better. Peter cried bloody murder whenever her or Tony had to leave.
She carried him into the living room and clicked the tv on so his cartoons started to play. It usually took twenty minutes to an hour for Peter to calm down so she was going to have to listen to this for awhile.
Peter slid off the couch and stood on the carpet, looking around the room. He took out the pacifier that was in his mouth and ran over to the other side of the carpet to grab one from on the ground and replaced it.
Pepper watched him. She knew she told Tony that she wouldn’t take Peter’s pacifier from him but she wanted to. She didn’t think that Peter needed it and only used it because it was there for him. Multiple ones.
Peter pointed to the tv and looked over at Pepper, making a sound. She knew that he wanted the tv on but because he was sucking on his soother, he wasn’t using his words. “I can’t understand you, Peter. Take out your soother.”
Peter walked towards her and pointed to the tv again. Pepper took advantage of Peter being close to her so she could take the pacifier from his mouth but Peter was immediately whining for it. He stomped his feet, desperately reaching out but Pepper held it away from his grabby hands. “Use your words and tell me what you want. Do you want the tv on?”
The toddler began crying now. “Paci!”
Pepper sighed. This was Tony’s fault. She quickly placed the pacifier back into his mouth and pulled him onto her lap. “Let’s watch some tv together, baby. You wanna watch your cartoons?”
Peter arched his back and slid off Pepper’s lap. Once he was back on the floor, he dropped onto his hands and knees and quickly crawled out of the living room.
They baby proofed their whole house. Every corner, every door, window, staircase and more was baby proofed. At first, they didn’t think they needed to baby proof the spots of the mansion where Peter didn’t go but Peter went everywhere.
He went in places they never even thought was possible but Peter managed.
As much as Pepper knew how safe it was now, she still didn’t trust where Peter just crawled off to so she got off the couch and went to go find him.
When she walked down the hallway, she spotted Peter trying to open the office door where Tony usually worked during the day. She sighed, Peter was looking for his daddy.
“Peter, daddy’s not in there. Let’s go play outside. Come.” Pepper held her hand out for the toddler so Peter turned to look at her.
“Daddy in ‘dare?” He asked around his pacifier, looking up at Pepper with wide eyes.
“No. He’ll be backtomorrow.” Pepper picked Peter up and carried him down the hallway so she could change him and go play outside. “Do you know where your sippy cup is?”
“Yeah.” Peter answered, nodding his head.
“Where is it?”
“I don’ know.”
Pepper looked at Peter. “You’re so silly. Why’re you so silly?”
“Daddy make me silly.” The toddler kicked his legs out to be placed on the floor but Pepper didn’t let him go. She had to change his diaper and knew if she put him on the ground, he would run off and she would have to chase after him again. “I wan’ down. I go play.”
“I have to change your diaper first and then we’ll go outside.” Pepper sat on the floor, reaching over to grab a diaper and the wipes then laid Peter down but as soon as he was on his back, he was rolling onto his stomach trying to crawl away. “Peter. I’m not playing with you. Lie down so I can change you.”
Peter kicked his legs out and giggled. Tony was usually the one who did all the diaper changes but Pepper was there to witness him struggle to hold Peter down. It was a lot more funny watching rather than being the one having to actually do it.
She laid Peter on his back and pulled off his shorts, quickly undoing the diaper tabs and pulling the front down. “You went poo. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I gone poo.” Peter told her, being sassy about it.
She rolled her eyes at the boy. He may be a toddler but he was definitely smart and already picking up on his daddy’s sass, that was for sure.
“A little too late for that.” Pepper lifted his legs and started to wipe him clean. “You have to tell daddy and I when you go poop. So we can change you right away.”
Peter tried to grab the remote that was above his head. “No, I don’ do it.”
Pepper was trying to get Peter in the habit of being aware of his bathroom needs so they could start potty training him but Tony wasn’t agreeing with her on that and never encouraged Peter to say when he went poo or needed a diaper change.
It was frustrating but Tony was the one who was around Peter most of the time which meant that it was up to him and Peter as well but Peter was showing zero interest in using the potty.
After Peter had a clean diaper on, Pepper stood up to throw the dirty diaper out and wash her hands with Peter following behind her.
“Mommy?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Mommy?” Peter asked again.
“Yes, Peter?”
Peter took out his pacifier to speak. “I wan-I wan’ bring out um, the cars with you.” He was then putting his pacifier back into his mouth.
“How about I take this,” She took the pacifier from Peter and handed him his bottle before he started crying. “and you take your baba.”
“I wan’ both.” The three year old reached for his pacifier in Pepper’s hand but she didn’t want to deal with him crying, especially since she’s been spending more time at work than at home recently. So, she gave in.
Pepper began walking towards the back door to go outside and she thought Peter was following behind her but when she turned around, Peter was walking up the stairs that she forgot to close the baby gate to.
With a tired sigh, she walked over to him. “We’re going outside, baby. You can’t go upstairs now.”
Peter stopped to look at Pepper. “But I wan’ my nap in daddy’s bed.”
“No. It’s not nap time yet. Come.” She picked Peter up and carried him outside but she was feeling super off. She didn’t like how she was already tired and Tony wasn’t even gone for a full two hours yet.
She honestly had no idea how Tony handled Peter everyday with no help and no break. She didn’t know how Tony had the time to shower or get five minutes to himself.
Especially since Peter was going through a clingy phase.
He’s always been clingy but now, he would depend to be picked up and once he’s picked up, he starts thrashing and screaming to be put back down again.
It was frustrating.
Pepper sat down in the grass and watched Peter play with his toy cars in the dirt. He was squatting down with his back to Pepper so she pulled out her phone to take a picture and send it off to Tony as well as text a few people back.
While Pepper was busy, Peter picked up a pile of good looking dirt and shoved it in his mouth. He coughed and spit it out but he spotted another pile of dirt so he crawled over to it and put that in his mouth as well.
When Pepper looked up, she saw that Peter was a little bit further away. “Peter, come back closer to me.” She watched Peter turn around to face her and saw that his mouth, chin and the front of his shirt was covered in dirt and drool.
“Oh my god. Peter.” Pepper quickly got up to go wipe his face. “What did you do?”
Peter pointed to the pile of dirt. “I eat it, mommy.”
“Oh, no, baby. We don’t eat dirt. That’s yuckie.” Pepper used her white blouse to wipe Peter’s face clean and then took his shirt off.
“S’not yuckie. Daddy um, daddy-daddy maked me my lunch and it tastes the same.” Peter told Pepper, not even understanding that he just called Tony’s cooking skills awful and compared his food to dirt.
Pepper laughed. She was definitely going to tell Tony about that when he got home.
.
.
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“Do you want apple bubble bath or watermelon?” Pepper asked the toddler who was in desperate need of a bath. After they played outside and Peter decided to not only play in the dirt but eat it as well, the two of them played with slime which Tony didn’t have to know about.
He absolutely hated slime after that one time Peter rubbed it into the couch and Tony had to throw it out and buy a new one after he tried everything to get it out. It wasn’t because it was expensive, of course money wasn’t an issue for the Stark’s but Tony didn’t like how the slime mocked him. He tried and failed to get it out.
Whatever Tony didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Unless Peter told him which he most likely would since he was a daddy’s boy and told him everything.
Pepper was a little bit jealous.
Peter thought about it, sticking his tongue out in thought. “Ummm… wa’ermelon p’ease.”
“Please.” Pepper corrected him. She knew Peter could pronounce most words by himself but he was either too lazy or preferred not to.
Peter nodded, not bothering to correct his punctuation as he leaned over the bath tub to peak in. “Pour it in, mommy. I help.”
Pepper allowed Peter to help him pour the bubble bath in then she made quick work of stripping him from his dirty clothes and diaper before lifting him into the bath.
Peter was grabbing his bath toys in his basket and turning to look up at his mommy. “Daddy?”
“Daddy’ll be here tomorrow morning when you wake up and then it’ll be us three for a while.” She told the boy as she reached out to grab a washcloth and gently scrub his chubby face. She had a lot of time to take a step back and really think about a lot today.
She didn’t like being away from her family.
It was hard but she didn’t realize how hard it was until she actually witnessed first hand what she was missing out on. Peter was growing up. One minute he was two years old and barely talking and the next minute he was three with endless words.
He was growing up way too quickly and as much as she wanted to watch Peter grow into the beautiful boy he was going to become, she was going to miss these precious days and they were outnumbered.
Pepper wanted to be around for every second of it.
Maybe it was her turn to take a step away from work and spend more time with her two beautiful boys.
Pepper snapped a few pictures of Peter in the bath to send off to Tony, hoping that would get him home faster so they could be a family again.
Soon after that, Peter started to fall asleep in the bath so she pulled him out, wrapping him in a warm towel and carrying him out of the bathroom to lie on the bed but Peter was immediately making grabby hands for his pacifier.
Pepper hesitated.
There was a pacifier at almost every single corner of the house but her and Tony had two very different opinions on it.
Peter was almost three and a half and didn’t necessarily need it anymore. Tony and Peter disagreed.
That was a fight for another time.
She grabbed the closest pacifier she could find and handed it to Peter’s awaiting hands. “We’re going to say bye bye to soother soon, baby.”
Peter waved his hand at Pepper. “Bye bye.”
“Not me.” She shook her head fondly. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Peter yawned. “When yous go work.”
“I’m not. I’m gonna stay at home with you and daddy for a while now.” Pepper grabbed Peter’s after bath lotion and poured a generous amount onto her hands. She sighed at the thought of what Peter said.
In his mind, she was always at work and only came for a few days at a time. The sad part was that was the truth to some extent. She wanted to desperately change that.
She took her time lathering the cream onto Peter, giving the toddler a massage before bedtime before putting a diaper on him and getting him dressed in a grey onesie with the word love written on it.
Peter was quickly growing out of all his onesies so she wanted to get a couple more sleeps in her favorite ones.
Peter made grabby hands for Pepper so she picked her son up and cradled him in her arms on her way downstairs to get his bottle of milk ready.
Pepper wanted to wait up for Tony but she would rather fall asleep cuddling Peter in her bed so that’s what they did together.
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The only thing that got Tony through the extremely long drive back was the fact that he was going home to his family.
It was early in the morning. Too early for the sun to be up but possibly not early enough for Peter to be asleep still since the three year old often woke up before the sun even rose. Tony loved feeding Peter his morning bottle outside as they watched the sun rise.
Maybe he would be able to do that today.
When he finally got home, he quietly made his way upstairs and listened for any noise but it was silent which meant his favourite people in the world were still sleeping.
He tried to be as quiet as possible as he walked into his bedroom and his heart melted at the sight.
Peter was sleeping pressed up against Pepper’s chest with his empty bottle in his hand and his pacifier tucked into his mouth and gave the occasional suck even in his sleep.
Tony wanted to reach out and squeeze him so badly since he missed his baby boy so much but he didn’t want to wake him.
He would have to wait until morning to do that. For now, he would settle with crawling into bed and watching Peter’s chest rise and fall until he drifted off into unconsciousness as well.