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“Where’s my dad?” Peter asks for the twelfth time in the past three hours.
“Peter, I swear to God, if you ask where your father is one more time…” Obadiah warns, shaking his finger at the anxious boy.
“Hey, Peter, how about we go visit Marlin?” Pepper asks, deflecting Obadiah’s anger away.
Peter’s face lifts just a tiny bit and he nods. Marlin is the old alligator that likes to hang out at the lake down the road. Pepper likes to run there when she’s feeling anxious and when Tony would work long hours, she would take Peter to watch the alligator lay its head along the shoreline. Tony had affectionately called the animal Marlin after Peter dragged him to see him. Something about the alligator looking like a stressed-out dad trying to find his son.
Peter stands at the shoreline. He tosses a rock in where Marlin would usually be sat. Of course, he chooses today of all days to be absent.
“You know your dad is one of the strongest people I know,” Pepper starts, resting her hand on Peter’s shoulder.
“Yeah, but we don’t even know where he is. We don’t even know if he’s…”
“He’s not. Peter, he’s not.” Pepper states, tears forming in her eyes to oppose her very words.
The fact is, she doesn’t know if he’s alive. She has no clue if that bomb killed him. If he’s gone for good. If he’s dead and she’s here telling his son that he’s fine. She didn’t even get to explain just how much he means to her.
“But the bomb…” Peter trails off, furiously rubbing at his tear-stained face. His eyes are red and puffy and it looks like he hasn’t slept since the moment he found out his dad was missing three days ago.
“How do you know about that?” Pepper questions softly.
“I saw the news, I’m not dumb,” Peter replies, frustration laced in his words.
Pepper nods. She knows he’s not dumb. In fact, he’s the second smartest person she knows after Tony himself. His most recent hobby is building his own computers from parts he finds in Tony’s lab. She thinks Tony must really enjoy the company because they will sit down there for hours on end tinkering and laughing.
There had been a time when Pepper thought she’d never hear Tony laugh again. After his mom died, she thought she’d never be able to pull him from the depths. Thankfully, the little miracle named Peter showed up but a year later. Now, she’s just praying Tony will perform a little miracle of his own and return to them.
“Rhodey’s doing everything possible to find your dad. He’ll be back to us in no time.” She insists.
It’s three months before they find him. Three deeply painful months of sitting with Peter trying to help him fall asleep. Of waking up in the middle of the first good sleep she got to hear his screaming. Three months of nightmares. Three months of updates from Rhodey where he sounded more and more broken each time.
Three months until she gets the call. She and Peter are out the door within the minute. She’s holding her breath the entire time Happy is driving them to the airport. She thinks they all are. Even Happy who acts like he doesn’t care has deep bags under his eyes and is tightly gripping the steering wheel.
They park on the airport tarmac just as the plane begins to open up. They hastily get out of the car just as Tony begins to limp out of the plane, an arm around his best friend. Pepper’s eyes immediately well up with tears as Peter wastes no time in running to his dad. As utterly broken as he looks, Tony still uses whatever strength he has left to lift his son up into his arms. Rhodey goes to complain about Tony hurting himself but closes his mouth instead at the sight of his sobbing nephew. Tony hugs his son close to his chest and looks past him to see Pepper’s tearful face.
“Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?” Tony asks, a small smirk adorning his face.
“Tears of joy. I hate job hunting,” She says with a smile.
“Well, vacation’s over.”
Tony has a newfound determination in his eyes as he, his son, and Pepper all get back into Happy’s car.
“Where to boss?” Happy inquires from the driver’s seat, face content.
“To the hospital please, Happy,” Pepper answers for Tony.
Peter nods in agreement as he looks up at his dad. Tony meets his eyes for a moment before shaking his head.
“No, I don’t need the hospital. I want you to call for a press conference.”
“A press conference?”
“Yes. Hogan drive. Burgers first.”
The press conference goes about as bad as a press conference could possibly go. Tony reveals his plan to stop manufacturing weapons. It ends with reporters hounding Tony as Obediah leads him off stage. The whole world is shocked, and half of it is making fun of him. All Pepper knows is Tony is someone different now because of what he experienced in that cave and she’s not yet sure if that is a good thing or not.
As soon as they return to his home, Tony flops onto the couch pulling Peter down on top of him. They both fall asleep within seconds. Pepper thinks maybe Tony’s not all that different from before after all. He just had his eyes opened to the darker side of humanity again.