Archive of Our Own ^beta

So, on the night marking the third month of his disappearance, Pepper prayed. She wasn’t religious and she knew Tony definitely wasn’t religious but she prayed for his safe return. That if anyone could beat this, it was Tony Stark. 

Then, in the middle of the night, she got a call.

“Miss Potts...?” It was Colonel Rhodes. “Pepper?”

“Hmm?” Pepper muttered, still half asleep. 

“We found him,” he said again and Pepper’s heart jumped. “Tony’s coming home.” 

That morning was a blur, but Pepper managed to get herself ready for Happy to pick her up to head to the airstrip where Tony was going to be. 

She did her best to hold back the tears, but she was so damn relieved and happy to know he was back that she couldn’t help to let a few tears fall. Tony was back.

Seeing him step off the plane, she smiled as he looked at her.

Tears for your long lost boss?

“Tears of joy… I hate job hunting.”

Two

She's right. The party's over. Then again, the party was over for me, like, an hour and a half ago. The after party starts in fifteen minutes …  And if anybody, Pepper, doesn't like it, there's the door.

After Happy’s help getting away from the terrible scene in Tony’s house, Pepper found herself so angry that tears were forming in her eyes. She did her best to hide them, but Happy noticed. “Did you get hurt?” He asked from the front seat. Pepper shook her head, wiping the hot tears that were streaming down her cheeks. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him lately…"

Pepper shrugged. “You and me both, Happy,” she leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. “Just take me home please. I can’t even think right now.

She felt betrayed; embarrassed; humiliated. Not only in front of some colleagues and mutual friends, but in front of strangers. Pepper remembered Tony’s hardcore partying days, but this was completely different. Something was off. 

When she got home, Pepper’s phone was blowing up. People were concerned, but honestly she didn’t care right now. She wasn’t Tony’s babysitter anymore. She was supposed to be running his company and right now, it looked embarrassing. 

However, she turned her phone off and immediately went to bed. Everything hurt. Pepper was so stressed out that it was already messing with her health. Why did she think this was a good idea? What was actually going on with Tony…? Lord did she know. Closing her eyes, she didn’t get much sleep, but she tried anyway.

Three

“You flew a what into space?” Pepper looked at Tony when she heard him. A bomb… a nuclear bomb. “Tony, you know that could’ve gone completely and horribly wrong.” 

“I know! Pepper, I knew what I was getting into when I did it,” Tony sighed. “I knew I needed to save the city. Sending a nuclear bomb to blow the city up wasn’t going to do that… so I did what I had to do.”

“You could’ve died,” Pepper’s voice shook as she crossed her arms over her chest. Although, she couldn’t be too upset with him, because he did save an entire city from being leveled by a bomb, but it still hurt to know that he was willing to die to do that. She was getting used to what he was doing as Iron Man, but something about this really hit home. She loved him. She didn’t want to lose him. 

Closing her eyes, she hoped the tears wouldn’t fall. It wasn’t fair for her to be this upset. It was actually really selfish, yet, she couldn’t help it. She signed up for this when they started dating. 

“Pep… please don’t cry,” Tony reached out to take her hand, pulling her in close so he could hug her. “Look, I know this is crazy and stressful and aliens just came out of the sky, but I’m here. I’m right here.”

Pepper rested her head against his shoulder as she cried. “Don’t do anything like that again,” she said… although, she knew he couldn’t make that promise to her. 

Four

Zipping up her suitcase, Pepper pulled it over toward the bedroom door as she went to grab the last couple bags she had. She had been crying for a while, hating every second of this, but it had to be done. They tried working it out, but nothing seemed to be working. 

“Do you need any help with those?” Tony appeared in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. He was upset with how everything happened and it definitely wasn’t how he wanted to end things, but this is what Pepper wanted and he’d do anything to please her. He just wished she didn’t have to go.

Looking at Tony, she saw the look in his eyes, which only made the tears that were staining her cheeks continue. “Sure, thank you…” she said, using her sleeve to wipe them away. It was frustrating, having to leave like this after four years, but nothing was working. She loved Tony with all her heart, but was starting to fall down the same self-destructive path he began almost six years ago. For her health, she had to leave. 

Grabbing her bags, Tony carried them to the car. He hated this. But Pepper had a point. They had been trying to fix what they had the past couple years, but things kept coming up. He’d never stop loving her, which is why he knew they needed this right now. It hurt, but he’d survive and hopefully they’d get to talk again soon.

As soon as her car was packed up, Tony looked at the redhead in front of him. “Take care of yourself, Pep,” he said, reaching to stroke her cheek. He half-expected her to flinch, but she didn’t. Instead, she leaned into his touch.

“You too, Tony… please,” Pepper said, hoping that he’d stay safe. “I’ll see you around, okay?”

He nodded, using his thumb to wipe away a stray tear. “I’ll miss you Pepper Potts.”

Pepper tearfully smiled as she got into the car to go. She cried the whole way back to her new place. It wasn’t going to be the same.

Five

“So, you’re all wondering why you’re here...” Tony addressed the crowd of reporters and cameramen in the room. He had Pepper call for this press conference to introduce Spider-Man as the newest Avenger, but when the kid turned him down (which was responsible, of course), he had to improvise and what better way to do that than completely embarrass the woman he’s been in love with for the past eight years. 

Pepper was standing next to the podium, confused and not really listening as she tried to put together what just happened not even five minutes ago. After checking in on them and finding out that the kid turned him down… Tony sprung an engagement ring on her. It wasn’t even a real proposal and she was too weirded out to question why Happy had been holding onto the ring for so long, but now as she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of getting married. 

“And well, turns out Spider-Man is just as responsible as he is reckless. So while you’re not getting that breaking news story, I thought I’d give you one equally as fun,” he continued his speech.

Pepper hadn’t been listening or paying attention until she heard the crowd gasp and for a moment, she wondered if someone had fainted, but she quickly saw Tony down on one knee, holding onto the ring Happy was just in possession of a few minutes prior. 

“Virginia Potts, will you marry me?” Tony asked with a nervous smile on his face. 

Oh god, he put the pressure all on her now. Although, Pepper only had one answer in mind. 

“Took you long enough,” she said with a laugh. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you.” 

Tony gently slid the ring onto her finger, before leaning in to kiss him. The commotion in the room grew as they kissed and they could hear all the snapping of the cameras taking pictures of that moment. Was it a little more public than Pepper would’ve preferred? Yes, but she didn’t mind. 

“Sorry, no questions,” Tony soon announced before taking Pepper’s hand and pulling her back out of the room. “Oh wow… what a rush.” He was laughing about the entire thing when he soon looked at Pepper, whose eyes were glossy. “Pep? Oh god… did I do something wrong?” 

He wrapped his arms around Pepper, rubbing her back to calm her down, but that only made her cry more. “Dammit Tony, you put me on the spot,” she said, trying to wipe her eyes, but couldn’t. 

“Oh Pep, I’m sorry…” Tony said, then immediately panicked that he did something wrong. “I just thought… Oh, I screwed that up, didn’t I?” 

Just when he thought he was about to get an entire speech about what he did wrong, he was surprised when Pepper started laughing. “No… this is so on brand,” she said, finally wiping her eyes when he let go of her. “I mean, I was hoping for something a little more romantic, but I’ll take it.”

“So this means you still want to marry me?” Tony looked at her.

“Yes. A million times yes.”

Six

Pepper woke up early that morning, which wasn’t anything new, but today was a special day. It was Tony’s first Father’s Day. Morgan was only a couple months old, so it wasn’t like she could contribute much to it, but it was still special. 

Tony was still sleeping with Morgan resting against his chest, so she carefully slid out of bed so she didn’t wake him, and went downstairs to get his breakfast ready. Though, Pepper had something else planned too. He told her not to worry about it, it was just a Hallmark holiday, but he had gone out of his way to make her first Mother’s Day really special, so of course she had to do something.

So, even in her somewhat sleep-deprived state of mind, Pepper began working on Tony’s favorite omelet and fresh juice for breakfast. 

Stirring when he felt movement on his chest, Tony opened his eyes and found Morgan looking down at him. “Morning, Little Miss…” he chuckled and leaned up to kiss her forehead. The baby cooed, gripping some of his t-shirt as she rested on his chest. “Look how strong you are. Good for you.” He turned to see Pepper was no longer in bed with him, but that was fine, he didn’t mind spending time with their daughter. 

It was incredibly cheesy to say, but in a way, Morgan was their miracle. Tony had dreamed of them having a kid, and here she was, an amazing little bundle of joy. It was more than he deserved, but he’d do his best to make sure she had the best life possible. Plus, it was impossible to not smile when she was around. Even at a few months old, Morgan managed to make his world so much better. 

“I don’t know how I got so lucky, Little Miss… but you’ve already changed everything,” Tony said, sitting up as he kissed her cheek. He was still sitting in bed, holding Morgan and playing with a few toys when Pepper appeared with a tray of food in her hands.

“Happy Father’s Day… hey, are you okay?” Pepper looked at him as she noticed tears in his eyes. “I didn’t even give you my sappy as heck card.” 

Tony laughed, wiping his eyes when he heard Pepper. “Sorry, I guess I just started thinking about how lucky I am, because I don’t deserve this,” he shook his head. “Not after everything that happened.” 

“Hey… look at me,” Pepper said, putting the tray down in front of Tony as she sat on the edge of the bed. “You deserve this… Morgan’s brought so much joy into our lives, especially at a time like this. I know you feel guilty about what happened… but there’s this new life we’re going to have together. We got lucky, I know… but you still deserve this.”

Smiling, Tony leaned in to kiss his wife. “Thanks Pep… that’s not what you wrote in the card, right?” 

“Hey now… that’s rude,” Pepper laughed and used her thumb to wipe away a few of his tears. “Happy Father’s Day, Tony… Morgan’s got a great one.” 

Fin.