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It was a quiet, rainy afternoon at the Stark cabin. Pepper had just returned with Morgan from the grocery store, but had disappeared to take their daughter upstairs to put her down for her nap, so Tony took it upon himself to start getting some of the groceries away when he noticed the small package on the counter.
“What’s this?” He grabbed the packet and opened it up. Inside was a stack of photographs, something he was shocked to see still existed considering pretty much everything was digitized these days. However, it made him smile when he saw what some of the pictures were: a few of baby Morgan from a couple months ago when she started reciprocating smiles, some were from when Morgan was born, others were old selfies of himself and Pepper (a few more flattering than others). It was actually really nice to see. He was still looking through the pictures when Pepper reappeared.
“Oh, those were supposed to be a surprise,” Pepper smiled when she saw Tony going through the pictures. “I found some picture frames the other day when I was unpacking a box and figured we could actually fill some of them in now.”
Tony looked at her, holding out a picture of a selfie they took the day Pepper had moved in the mansion when they still lived in Malibu. “I can’t believe you still had this one on your phone, it’s how old now?”
Laughing, Pepper shook her head. “Well, when you created a phone with practically unlimited storage, I don’t need to delete things off my phone,” she told him before coming over to look at the ones she had printed. “Not to mention, we’ve been living here for over a year now… we can start decorating the place some more.”
He knew she was mostly teasing, but she had a point. Besides the few pieces of artwork they brought with them from the city, they had very few family pictures around the place. But, now they could change that.
“This is one of my favorites,” Pepper pointed to one. It was a newer picture, from the day they brought Morgan home. Rhodey, Happy, and Tony were all sitting on the sofa together, while Tony held onto the baby. “It’s one of the sweetest and funniest pictures at the same time. I swear Happy was crying.”
“He probably was,” Tony mused, flipping through some more of the pictures. It was crazy to think how much of their life they spent together, and now it was here, chronicled in picture form. Then he stopped on another picture, this one of just him and Pepper on their wedding night. They were so happily in love that night, even though it hadn’t been the wedding of their dreams. Putting the pile down, he leaned in to kiss her. “What a great idea, Pep. I’ll help you hang these later.”
And so it became their thing. Every few months or so, they’d get pictures printed off. Soon, their house started to become a home. Something Tony had been dreaming about for so long. Starting a family with Pepper, having a home, being a father, it was all so… blissful. It made him smile.
“Oh, look at this one,” Pepper smiled, showing the picture she got of Morgan taking her first accidental selfie with the phone. Even though the picture was blurry, the toddler had a big grin on her face. “I think she gets that from you,” she told Tony.
“Of course she gets that from me,” he grinned. “I’m naturally photogenic.” Tony pinned the picture to the growing collage on the side of the cabinet by the fridge. The collection was growing and it made him glad they were able to display the little things that brought him joy.
Joining him, Pepper looked over at the collage, smiling as she took a trip down memory lane. There was almost a decades worth of pictures from their life together, and scattered around the house were a few from each of their childhoods. They had pulled out those old albums to see who Morgan looked like more (for the record, some days she looks more like Tony and others she looks more like Pepper).
Kissing his cheek, she added another picture, this one from when Tony made Pepper pose with the very first magazine cover she graced as the newly-appointed CEO of Stark Industries. It was a silly picture, because she was in the middle of laughing, her eyes closed and her cheeks red from being embarrassed, but it was still a fun photo. “I look so young there… what happened?”
“You look fine, Pepper.” Tony said, wrapping his arms around his wife. “Honestly, I think you look more beautiful now than you did then… and you looked great back then. Motherhood suits you.”
“Oh does it now?” Pepper gave him a look, laughing when she heard him. “Because I think I have more wrinkles.”
“Hey, at least you aren’t sporting any gray hairs yet, Potts.” Tony shook his head, laughing. They might both be getting older, but at least they were having fun doing so.
~
“Mommy, when was this one taken?” Morgan picked up a picture of her and her dad. They looked really happy. She was wearing a pretty dress and her favorite pink shoes that she accidentally got all wet the other day when she got too close to the lake.
Pepper looked over her daughter’s shoulder to see the picture. The smiles on Tony and Morgan’s faces, looking at how happy they both were… it was so beautiful and painful to look at. “That was taken on your Daddy’s birthday last year. We went to the park and had a good time.”
Moving to sit next to her daughter, Pepper picked up the little pile of pictures on Morgan’s lap. Even though it had been a while since they last printed out some pictures, the last time Pepper went to the store, something compelled her to print some out this time. It was something that always made them both smile and reminisce.
Though, it was harder than she thought. This was something she and Tony did. It was their thing. But there was something refreshing about it, sitting here with their daughter, looking through the different pictures, remembering the good things about life. Maybe this could be her thing with Morgan now.
“Oh, this is a good one,” Pepper said, showing Morgan a picture of her and Gerald the alpaca. “Remember when Daddy brought him home?”
“Yeah. He ate your goji berries and you got so mad, your face turned red!” Morgan giggled and cuddled up to her mom. “Look, at this one.” She pointed to a picture of her and Tony.
Looking at the picture, Pepper could already feel her eyes watering, tears threatening to fall. It was a relatively recent picture. They had gone out to the farmer's market in the nearby town and after picking up a good haul, the family took a quick pit stop at the ice cream shop in town. Morgan was sitting on a bench right next to Tony, both of them eating their ice cream cones when Morgan had said something funny, causing them both to laugh. Pepper remembered taking that picture, it had brought her so much joy then... "That's a good one," she told her daughter. Both of them looked so happy and her heart hurt that they wouldn't get to have another moment like that again.
“Mommy?” Morgan looked up at Pepper, seeing the shine in her eyes. “I miss Daddy.”
Pepper shook the sad thoughts out of her head and wiped the tears off her cheeks before she looked at her daughter, offering her a gentle smile. “I do too, Little Miss. But you know what… anytime we miss Daddy, we can just look at all these pictures we have and remember all those good times. We’ll look at them together.”
“Promise?” Morgan asked, still clutching the picture in her hand.
“I promise,” Pepper kissed the top of her head and held her close.
“Mommy?” Morgan asked again, showing her the picture in her hand. “Can I keep this one in my room?”
“Of course you can,” she told her, then put the pile of pictures on the coffee table before picking her Morgan up. “Come on, I think I have the perfect picture frame to put it in.”
That night, after she was tucked into bed that night, Morgan stared at the picture that was now proudly displayed on her nightstand. "I love you 3000, Daddy," she said, before closing her eyes to go to sleep.
Fin.