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It was just after eleven PM when she heard her cell phone start to vibrate against the wood of the nightstand. Pepper quickly folded the corner of the page in her book down to mark her place, grabbed her phone, and hit the talk button, “Hey there, Handsome! What are you doing?”
“You mean besides giving the beautiful love of my life and mother of my daughter a call?”
Although he sounded tired, she could hear the smile in his voice, “Yes, besides that. How are things going there? Have you guys made any progress into this… what did you say Lang was calling it?”
“Time Heist. He’s dubbed it a Time Heist…”
She could practically her his eye roll as he had repeated those words.
“nd to answer your question… we finished planning it out today, late this afternoon. Since then we’ve just been all trying to uh recharge and rest to get ready for tomorrow.”
Pepper rubbed her stomach, feeling it suddenly twisting into knots at hearing his words, “So, you’re going to do it tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Yeah we are. Tomorrow morning at oh seven hundred we’re a go for Operation Time Heist.”
They were doing it.
The Avengers really were going to travel through time to undo the mad Titan’s act of murder than had killed half of all life in the universe.
The knot in her stomach tightened further, and her mouth felt suddenly dry. She reached over and grabbed the waiting glass of water.
“Pep? Honey?”
After taking another drink of water and swallowing, Pepper returned the glass to the nightstand, “I’m still here. I was just thinking…” She glanced at the clock, “With a seven AM go time, maybe you should be getting to bed now? I mean you’re all going to be doing something that no one has done in recorded history and everyone is going to need you to be at your sharpest.”
“I’m actually in bed right now. I tried to go to sleep for probably an hour before I decided to call you. My brain won’t shut off, it won’t stop reminding me what we’re doing tomorrow is something right out of science fiction!”
“Tony, you been making plans with a walking, talking raccoon for days now along with a blue alien woman who has cybernetic body parts! So how can the fact you’re all going to go time traveling tomorrow still be considering something right out of science fiction?”
“When you put it that way, it only sounds half crazy and maybe not as science fictiony as I first thought.”
She heard a sigh over the line.
“I still wish there was another way to do this without messing around with time because when you mess with time, there’s a good chance it’s going to mess right back, and probably in ways we’re not going to like. But enough about the insanity we’re attempting tomorrow. I actually didn’t call to talk about that as much as I have.”
Pepper was about to ask him why did he called when he answered her question without hearing it.
“I called because I’ve been missing you and Morgan like crazy, and I wanted to hear your voice. I wish I had thought to call before bedtime for our Little Miss because I’d love to be able to hear her voice right now too. Speaking of which, how did bedtime go with Morgoona?”
"It went... like it's gone the past few nights. Morgan misses you and I will always be her second favorite person when it comes to the tucking into bed department.”
“Oh come on, Pep, you know that’s not true. You know you’re number one to her when it comes to being her Mommy."
"Yeah, I may be number one in her eyes when it comes the department of being her Mommy, but she still prefers her Daddy tucking her in at bedtime over Mommy. I know it’s a special time that you both share together, and that's okay because a little girl should get special time with her Daddy. Especially when she's as much of a Daddy's girl as Morgan is."
It was true.
From the moment she was born, from the moment she was held by Tony for the first time, there had been an instant connection between them, and their little girl had always been a Daddy's girl. Her mother knew she would always be a Daddy's girl, which was fine with Pepper, because she saw how much her husband not only loved their daughter, but was in love with her.
Before Morgan was born, Pepper never would have thought it possible to love Tony more than he already did. But she found out that it was more than possible after seeing how wonderful a father he was to their little girl. She loved him more with every day they all spent together in their home in the woods by the lake.
She heard a sigh over the phone line, then his voice brought her out of her thoughts.
“Listen, honey, I am going to try my best not to do something tomorrow that’s going to get me hurt or… worse. But since I can’t shake the feeling that what we’re doing is really tempting fate, so you should know that I made a recording for you… and Morgan… and everyone else. If something happens… well FRIDAY will know when to play it. Okay?”
Pepper nodded, although he couldn’t see her, the knots in her stomach tightening even impossibly further, breathing out, “Okay.”
“I love you, Pepper. I love you so much, and the last thing I want to do is to… check out permanently on you. I mean we… I finally have everything I always wanted and… and…” He stopped there.
“I know, Tony, I know. I love you too…” They were the only words she found herself saying. She loved him more than anything in the world, except for the little girl sleeping in the room next door to her. She wanted him to come home to them but she was feeling something, something she didn’t quite know what it was and it scared her. Still she wouldn’t tell him not to do this and he needed to come home to them instead of going on one last mission with the Avengers. She wouldn’t tell him not to do this because she did love him, too much, and she knew he’d never be able to live with not being a part of bringing back the ones they’d lost.
He would never be able to live with knowing he wasn’t a part of bringing Peter back. There wasn’t any doubts in her mind about this because she knew he had barely been able to live with knowing he was part of the reason the kid was no longer here.
“I love you, Tony. Promise me you’ll be as careful as you can, okay?”
“Oh, I had already planned on that, honey. I am going to try to keep the stupid risks down as much as possible.” But that didn’t mean he’d take them if it were necessary and they both knew it. “Anyway, it’s getting to be what I guess you’d call late. So I guess that means I need to actually try to get some sleep now.”
Pepper held in a sigh, and although she didn’t want this to end, she knew he was right, “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Give Morgan lots of hugs and kisses for me? And tell her that I love her three thousand plus… no, wait forget that last part. We’ll save that for when this is all over and I’m home. Just tell her that I love her three thousand… and smother her with kisses for me?”
“I will. I love you.”
“I love you too, Pepper. I’ll be seeing you sometime tomorrow after we get this thing done.”
“Me too. Me too.”
“Well, I guess there’s nothing left to do but to say goodnight.”
“Yeah, I guess there isn’t. So uh goodnight… and have nothing but good dreams, Tony.”
“Oh, I will because I will be dreaming of you… and Morgan. I love you.”
“I love you.”
The call ended after she finished saying the words. She sighed, fighting tears as she put her phone down on the nightstand, and turned off the light. She slid down into bed, and facing Tony’s side, put her hand out on the bed, “FRIDAY, if Morgan doesn’t wake up around that time, then wake me at six tomorrow morning.”
“I will.”
She sighed again, looking at his pillow, “I love you, Tony Stark. Please… please come back home.”