Chapter Text
Tony unlocks the door and pushes the highchair box into the house.
He glances around the kitchen and living room areas. A pot of decaf coffee had been brewed since he had left, so Pepper must be up by now.
Tony calls, “Hey, Pep?”
There’s no answer.
Tony hums quietly as he shuts the door. He leaves the box in the middle of the room as he treks upstairs.
A muffled melodic voice comes from one of the rooms, unaccompanied by anything else–not even a piano.
It was beautiful. Chilling, even.
He steps onto the landing and the voice is clearer. It’s coming from the baby’s nursery.
Was it Pepper?
“–records as you, but I do… we tell stories and you don’t know why I’m coming off a little shy, but I do,” she sings quietly. There’s a pause. Then louder, just barely, she continues: “…and you throw your head back laughing like a little kid, I think it’s strange that you think I’m funny ‘cause… he never did…”
Tony tiptoes through the hallway and stops just before the doorway to the nursery.
It’s quiet again for a moment, but she continues: “–been spending the last eight months thinking all love ever does is break, and burn, and end… but on a Wednesday in a cafe, I watched it begin again.”
Another pause.
“And we walked down the block to my car, I almost brought him up… but you start to talk about the movies that your family watches every single Christmas… and I want to talk about that and for the first time, what’s past is past…”
She stops.
Pepper starts talking, “Are you happy now, kid? Will you stop kicking my ribs now? Sometimes I wonder how your Daddy managed to rope me into this, but you’re worth it, I’m sure…”
Tony smiles weakly. So it was her singing.
He waits a moment or two before knocking on the cracked door and walking inside. “Hey.”
Pepper looks up from where she sat in the glider, folding 3-6 month clothes. She smiles. “Hi.”
They share a chaste kiss.
“I got the high chair you asked me to get,” Tony says after he sits down on the floor.
“Thank you,” Pepper says as she sets aside a stack of tiny pants.
“How are you?” Tony asks. “How’s Morgan?”
“I’m fine,” Pepper assures quietly. She scoffs. “And the baby’s fine. She’s just being stubborn today… like someone else I know.”
“Yeah, I heard you talking about that. She kicking your ribs again?”
“She was,” Pepper answers.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “What’d you do to stop it this time?”
Pepper’s eyes widened. “Uh… just talked to her a little.”
“Talked?”
“Yeah, talked,” Pepper answers.
“You realize I know when you’re lying, right?” he inquires.
She stares. “You heard me, didn’t you?”
Tony nods with a goofy grin sprawling on his face. “You’ve got a beautiful voice… almost as beautiful as you.”
Pepper rolls her eyes.
“When were you going to tell me you could sing?” he asks.
She carefully rips off a clothing tag. “Oh, I don’t know… in one, two… never?”
Tony frowns. “Why?”
She folds the baby cardigan. “It didn’t seem important?”
He gasps. “‘Didn’t seem important,’ my ass. You have the most beautiful singing voice I’ve ever heard. Ever, Pep.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re my husband.”
“No,” he disagrees. “But actually, you bring up a good point. We got married two months ago, dated for six and a half years before that, and known each other for twelve before that! You mean to tell me you kept this from me for almost nineteen years?!”
“Yes,” Pepper says.
“Why?”
“Because it truly didn’t seem important that you knew, Tony,” Pepper assures. “Just like how it didn’t seem important for you to know I was classically trained in ballet.”
Tony stares. “You were classically trained in ballet?!”
Pepper nods. “The Potts children grew up in a very creative household. I was Aurora in my ballet school’s rendition of The Sleeping Beauty my senior year. I also took piano lessons until I was ten.”
“Oh my God!” he exclaims. “I’m calling your Mom and asking for all the documentation of ballet Pepper.”
“No!” she yelps.
“Why?”
“Do you really want to piss off your pregnant wife? ‘Cause, you’re about to cross that line, Mister Stark,” Pepper warns.
Tony pouts. “Pep…”
“No.”
“I’ll let go of the ballet thing if you’ll let me listen to you sing,” he begs sweetly. “Please? It’s a beautiful voice in a gorgeous woman.”
“You already heard me sing,” Pepper says.
“Only once! And you didn’t even know I was listening,” Tony says.
Pepper sighs. “Fine.” She pauses. “The only song coming to my head... it makes no sense unless I explain to you why I even know the song exists.”
“Then explain how you know it,” he persuades.
“My sister had a conference with her job back in 2010,” Pepper explains. “It was in Tennessee. She walked by this outdoor concert on her way from the convention center to her hotel. And, the artist was performing a song about this childlike hope… childlike fear while trying to set out on a new path. She stayed to listen before finishing her trek. She called me after she got there, told me to listen to it… reminded her of how I described what it felt like to lose our Dad at ten and not know when to let my guard down because I watched men come in and out of our lives before Joel… and while Joel’s not my favorite, he was never the one to purposefully hurt any of us. She also sent it to me when you and I had just started dating and I hadn’t told anyone yet… not even my Mom.”
“Oh,” he says. “Wow.”
“Close your eyes,” she says.
Tony closes his eyes.
He hears her take a breath. “She set out to make a change, leave her broken and shattered past behind… get back to the fairytales she dreamed about when she was just a child. She used to be the optimist, but now she sees the obvious… she’s running out of places to call home… and at night time she cries out, lets the lights be her audience… ‘cause no one bears to listen to a lonely soul…”
She stops and breathes.
“She’s looking for an antidote.” Her voice isn’t as clear when she continues onto the chorus. Was she crying? Tony opens one eye to see a stray tear on her cheek. He rests his right hand on her knee and closes his eye again. She breathes out sharply, and grasps his right hand with her left. “She’s looking for a man who won’t take advantage of her heart and steal her soul… leave her in the freezing cold… a remedy that can take the pain away, so she can start her life all over again and let the broken pieces mend…”
It’s quiet for a moment.
She continues, “ Something deep inside her heart rekindles and ignites a spark… and it burns like candles lighting up the dark. She feels the air and breathes it in, and dares herself to dream again… she's going on a search for something worth believing in.”
She squeezes his hand. “I’m not singing the whole song, you can open your eyes now. That was the first verse, chorus, and bridge.”
Tony opens his eyes and looks at her fondly.
“What?” she weakly asks.
“You started tearing up before the lyric about the man,” he says. “You alright?”
“Yeah,” she says. “Not sure if those were my hormones or real emotions coming into play there… but, uh… yeah, you’re essentially the one I was thinking about there. As in, the one not like the others.”
“Well… I’m glad that I got to be your antidote,” he answers quietly.
It’s quiet again.
“Tony?”
He looks at her.
“Can you promise me something?” she asks.
“I’ll do my best,” he says. “What is it?”
“I know my father, he had no choice… but, God… I really need you to lay down the need to protect everyone but yourself now.”
Tony stares.
“Tony, we have a baby on the way. She’s due in two and a half months… too many people hate Iron Man too much to realize he’s got a family waiting for his fateful return home. I don’t want her to live the same childhood I did… not like… that.”
He nods. “I promise, honey. You don’t need to worry.”
“But I have to,” she says.