Chapter Text
The Snap
“FRIDAY, what’s going on?” Pepper asked the moment she heard the emergency broadcast signals alerting them that something was happening. She had been trying her hardest to keep her mind occupied and not thinking about Tony heading up into space… hoping that somehow he was okay.
I’m unsure … there appears to be a strange phenomenon occurring around the world right now. World population rates are dropping … and fast.
Pepper’s heart beat quicker, realizing that Tony was stuck in space. Was he seeing this? Did he know what was happening? Was he alive? “FRIDAY, alert emergency services and activate security protocols, lock everything down.”
Already done. Powering down all company arc-reactors, the AI alerted her. Shall I contact the Avengers?
“I’m sure they already know… but send Colonel Rhodes an update… and page Happy Hogan.” Pepper said, heading to her room to pack a bag. She was on auto-pilot, knowing exactly where she was going to go. She didn’t want to go there, but she knew in circumstances like this that it was the safest place she could go. Soon, Happy’s voice came up on speaker phone.
“Pepper, what’s happening?” Happy’s voice was frantic and she could’ve sworn she heard him honking the car horn while he drove. “People are just disappearing. Turning into dust.”
“I don’t know, Happy… but we have to get to the compound upstate, we have to figure out what’s going on,” Pepper said, taking a deep breath as she tried to stay calm. “Will you come pick me up?”
“I’ll be there in fifteen… shit,” Happy’s phone call cut off for a moment and Pepper feared the worst until she heard the car horn again. “Pepper, I’ll be there in ten.”
Quickly packing a bag, she checked her phone to see if maybe there was a notification from anyone. When Happy arrived, she grabbed her things and the two of them headed out to Avengers HQ. Whether or not anyone would join them was entirely up in the air.
A few days later, the team returned. Pepper noticed they were more broken and defeated than she had ever seen them before. They seemed surprised to see Happy and Pepper there, but understood she was probably there looking for Tony… and she was equally heartbroken to realize her fiancé wasn’t there with them.
“Miss Potts… I’m sorry,” Steve was the first one to speak up. But Pepper held up a finger, telling him to stop talking.
“You don’t get to say you’re sorry,” Pepper looked at him. She wasn’t sure she could forgive him for what he put Tony through, but she was willing to set aside their differences for now. “But I need to know what happened.”
While Happy tried to get in contact with May Parker and a few other people, Pepper sat with the rest of the team in the conference room. Listening to every word they talked about: Thanos, Infinity Stones, gauntlet, snap, space invasion… it all sounded so familiar and foreign to her.
Later that night, she was sitting in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee when Rhodey found her there. Pepper had been numb for most of the day, but here she was, tears streaming down her face. When she saw him standing there, she wiped off her cheeks. “He’s not coming home… is he?”
“You don’t know that, Pep,” Rhodey said, offering a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “He’s come back before.” Rhodey had known Tony for longer, but their friendship had endured much of the same panic and heartbreak that Tony often brought.
Pepper was so used to Tony leaving and coming home, that even though she tried to brace herself for his death, she was still heartbroken. He’s come back before - that was all she could hope for right now.
Three Weeks, Post Snap
It was a week after the team returned back from Wakanda when someone came to HQ. Her name was Carol Danvers and she came all the way from Space. She appeared after they were fiddling with the pager they found with Director Fury’s belongings, demanding answers to questions no one knew how to answer.
They had been working tirelessly to see what they could to do. Rocket had been trying to connect to different satellites to see if he could connect to his spaceship. Steve, Natasha, and Bruce were compiling a list of missing persons, watching the numbers continue to grow every second. While Thor… well, sulked. Pepper was still acting CEO of the company. Working remotely from the compound, she canceled all Stark Industries projects indefinitely, making sure the company’s focus would be on the helping those affected by the snap.
“FRIDAY, what’s the status of the Stark emergency funds?” Pepper asked, typing vigorously as she read through some emails from remaining board members.
Funds are intact. Several employees are seeking financial assistance … mainly for bereavement services.
“I figured as much. We’ll give all employees compensation,” Pepper told the AI, filling out the paperwork for it. She was typing away when she heard a knock on the door. “Yeah?” She looked up from her computer and saw Rhodey peeking through. The look in his eyes brought her something she hadn’t had in a while - hope.
Heading with him to the conference room, everyone was gathered around the screens. A hologram message paused in front of them. When they saw Pepper, they played the message and watched as Pepper’s emotions turned from relief to heartbroken in a matter of seconds.
Hey Miss Potts …
“And when was this sent?” Pepper asked, swallowing the lump in her throat as tears began to sting her eyes.
“As far as we know… hours ago,” Rocket said. “The transmission was damaged, I can’t get an accurate reading on when it was sent, but the signal is there. If I can just try to trace it back, I can get the location for it.”
“Do it,” Pepper looked at them. “He deserves to come home.”
It was late when Rocket found the signal, finally locating the ship. Carol flew into space to retrieve it and everyone waited anxiously. Pepper herself tried to go to bed, but found herself wide awake, staring up at the ceiling, wondering if this would finally be her greatest fear come true.
However, it was after midnight when the compound began to shake. For a moment, Pepper thought it was an earthquake, but soon realized this was it. Grabbing her robe, she ran from her room heading outside. She wasn’t even wearing shoes, but she didn’t care at this point. Her heart was beating fast as Carol was landing the spaceship on the ground and she didn’t even notice the others running out too.
Soon it was the moment of truth. The back of the spaceship opened up and Pepper’s breath was taken away when she saw Tony being held up by someone as they carefully made their way back onto Earth. For a moment, Pepper couldn’t even move. She was worried this was all a dream, but when she saw Steve running over to help Tony, she knew this was real.
The two men were chatting about something when she finally ran over. Making eye contact with her fiancé, Pepper was relieved and worried, but so happy. “Oh my god…” she looked at him in disbelief for a moment before wrapping her arms around him. “Oh my god.”
She could literally feel Tony’s sigh of relief as she hugged him and soon stepped back to look at her, then leaned in to kiss her cheek. “It’s okay,” he spoke, voice barely a whisper right now. Heading back inside, they brought Tony over to the medical wing so he could get checked out.
“I’m fine, let me talk with them,” Tony insisted, trying to pull out the IVs they were just putting in.
“Tony… honey,” Pepper looked at him. “You’ve been in space for three weeks. You can talk to them later, let’s just get some fluids in you.”
Although he wanted to argue, Tony didn’t have the strength to argue and when he saw the look Pepper was giving him, he was asleep minutes later.
She slept at his bedside that night. Pepper was worried that if she didn’t stay close to him, that she’d lose him for good this time.
“We should get married right now,” Tony’s voice filled the room that morning.
Stirring awake, Pepper opened her eyes and looked at him. “Excuse me?”
“We should get find someone to come marry us and just sign the paperwork. Right here, right now.” Tony looked at her.
Shaking her head, Pepper looked over his frail and gaunt figure. Tony looked like a shell of himself… and for a moment thought he was hallucinating. “You know I want to marry you more than anything in the world right now, but I think we need to wait a little longer. Just a little, I promise.” She already knew they weren’t going to have the wedding they’d been trying to plan the past year, but whatever they ended up doing would be enough in the end. “Please rest. You’re exhausted.”
Though, she knew he wouldn’t be able to rest. Barely a few hours later he was back in the conference room, in a wheelchair with his IV attached, talking with the team about what had happened. Pepper knew she wouldn’t be able to keep him in his bed, so she let him go. She headed down to the kitchen to see if she could make anything to eat.
While she was brewing some coffee, Pepper soon noticed the blue woman that had come off the ship with Tony - soon learning her name was Nebula. She was quiet, as if she didn’t want to be seen. But Pepper looked at her. “Thank you for taking care of him…” she said, offering her a soft smile. “I owe you so much.”
Nebula nodded, acknowledging her before heading back to where the others were. Pepper shrugged and went back to her coffee. It felt unreal, knowing Tony was home and relatively okay. She wasn’t sure if anything would ever be normal again… but at least they could try.
However, she was soon alerted that Tony had collapsed and she immediately ran back to find Bruce sedating him. “What happened?” She asked, throwing accusing eyes over at the team. Rhodey closed the door after Pepper came in and explained what was going on. Sitting beside the bed, she reached for Tony’s hand and thanked Rhodey for the update. She watched as Rhodey took off Tony’s glasses and wished them a good night before heading out.
Kissing the top of Tony’s hand, she sighed softly. “Tony… I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
Then, as soon as Tony gained back his strength and wasn’t completely skin and bones anymore, he and Pepper left Avengers HQ and didn’t turn back. He was done and for now, that was enough.
Two Months, Post-Snap
"We want you both to be there, please,” Pepper looked at their friends from across the table. “Look, we know it’s not the wedding we’d been planning, but given everything that’s happened, we just want to get married. Plus, we need a witness and who better than you two?"
Rhodey and Happy grinned when they heard Pepper’s request. The three of them were seated at a little coffee shop downtown. The city was still in shambles, but now that months had passed, people were trying to pick up the pieces and move on. Businesses closed while other’s opened. Many stores that had been looted upon the initial crisis were back operating with business as usual. Although everyone was still on edge, they had to continue.
“We’ll be there,” Happy told her, grinning when he saw the way Pepper lit up. He had been rooting for Tony and Pepper since day one and he wouldn’t miss this for the world.
“You don’t have to dress up super fancy or anything, but be here at this time. I just hope Tony will like the surprise,” Pepper smiled as she bit off a piece of her croissant and gave them the day and time to show up at the courthouse. “There is something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Are you two…?” Rhodey looked at her, insinuating that Pepper was expecting.
“Pregnant? No… definitely not,” Pepper told him. That was something she hadn’t discussed with Tony yet. Especially not after that dream he had… and especially not after what happened to Peter.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed,” Rhodey told her, though Pepper could pick up a slight hint of disappointment in his eyes.
Pepper smiled and shook her head. “It’s all right,” she reassured him. “I wanted to tell you that we’re moving out of the city soon. Tony bought this gorgeous little house out by a lake, far away from here. We just need to be away from here.”
The two men grinned, looking at their friend. “That’s fantastic to hear. If you need any help moving, we’re here for you,” Happy reassured her. “You both deserve this."
It felt good telling people that. Seeing as Tony resigned from avenging for now, Pepper was going to enjoy every moment while it lasted.
A couple days later, Pepper and Tony stood in city hall, waiting for their appointment to see the judge. Pepper, in a white midi dress with a matching blazer, stood beside Tony, holding his hand while they waited. Soon, Rhodey and Happy appeared in their business casual gear, grinned when they saw the genuine look of surprise on Tony’s face.
Soon, they signed on the dotted line and were officially married. They shared their first kiss as a married couple in front of a judge, it wasn’t what they planned, but this was perfect.
After taking a couple pictures and making sure they filled out the rest of the paperwork, the four went back to their apartment to have a nice dinner. It was a good night filled with fun stories and great times. After Rhodey and Happy left for the night, Pepper and Tony enjoyed this moment.
While they laid in bed that night, Pepper leaned over to kiss Tony’s cheek. She looked over at the wedding bands on their fingers and smiled. “I’m so happy,” she told him.
“You didn’t get to wear the beautiful white dress or walk down the aisle in front of everyone,” Tony sighed, looking over at Pepper - his wife. “I’m sorry.”
“Tony… this was so much more than I ever could’ve asked for,” Pepper reassured him. “I got to marry you and I couldn’t ask for anything better. I love you.”
“We got lucky,” Tony said, pulling her close. “We got a second chance. I promise I won’t screw it up this time.” He kissed her gently and held her close. He still hadn’t been sleeping well since he came back from space. Nothing would ever truly be the same. He still felt like a fraud with all this happiness he had been given. He didn’t deserve to be happy after he lost Peter or after half of all living creatures disappeared. But if Pepper was here to reassure him why this was okay, then he’d do his best to live with it. She was technically the boss.
They left the city about a week after their wedding. Even though Tony wasn’t going to be a part of the Avengers anymore, he gave Rhodey his address and instructed him that he could tell the team if they wanted. But he was done, effectively retired. He wanted to live this life with Pepper and hopefully maybe start a family soon. He wished them all luck, but he was done.
Arriving to the little cabin (or as Tony described it, an ‘eco-lodge’), Pepper was impressed by its simplicity. Something about it was so unexpected, but perfect at the same time. This was their home now… and she couldn’t wait.