"Come on, sweetheart," Pepper said, propping his son up in her arms before handing him the cool plastic teething ring, "Let's go see how they're coming along with Daddy's... very special place."

At the invitation of the curators, she had brought Morgan to the site where a public outdoor monument was being erected for the Avengers. No one on Earth ever wanted to forget what they did or the sacrifices made by them during the War that was being dubbed the Infinity War or simply, The War.

"Please let us know if you have any concerns, comments, or suggestions," one of the curators called after her.

She looked over her shoulder, nodded, but kept walking deeper into the newly established national park. She wasn't walking slowly but she wasn't going too fast either, wanting to take in the sights. She had to admit to herself that it was very beautiful, peaceful as they'd left much of the old spruce trees and many of the flowers growing there already alone whenever possible, forming a natural pathway for visitors to follow alongside them.

The plan and design for the monument was for each of the Avengers to have their own plaque on a stone marker. Each would be spaced every so often as you walked along pathway. One the stone markers, visitors would be able to read about the Avenger it belonged to, telling them a little about who they were before the War, and if applicable, what their lives were like now afterwards.

Pepper took a little time to look at each, reading some of the details aloud to herself in Morgan. It was a delaying tactic, she knew, as she was dreading the moment she would see Tony's memorial for the first time. The source of her dread came from the fact the design committee t had informed her that Tony's memorial, like the one belonging to Steve Rogers, would be different from the others.

They'd have statues.

She had been told that there wanted to have two statues for each of the men. The first, they'd explained, would portray them as their superhero identities, while the second one would try to portray them as they had been outside their masks.

She hoped and prayed for her husband that this didn't mean they would just use Tony's famous public persona as their inspiration for him. She hoped the artist would somehow manage to capture some tiny bit of the essence of the man she had known, and loved.

Both of the statues were still being sculpted off site, and it would be several months still before they were finished. She was glad the statues were not finished yet since she wasn't sure she could handle seeing someone else's life-sized vision of Tony. Still when she reached then finally continued on from Steve's memorial, she took her time walking down the path. She needed to prepare herself for what she'd been seeing and reading when she came to Tony's memorial.

"You can do this. You can do this," she muttered, and took a few breaths, then started walking forward again.

.

When she exited the treeline, Pepper slowed a little when she looked at towards the site where it was, and saw someone standing there in front of the unfinished monument. At first she thought maybe it was one of the workers who hadn't left this area yet, but then she remembered the curators had promised her that she'd be able to view what they'd finished on her own. So it wasn't one of the workers, and she considered going back the way she came because if it wasn't one of them, then somehow, someone who shouldn't be here had gotten into the park and -

Her train of thought halted when the man turned slightly, and she could see a side view of his face.

"Doctor Strange?" she inquired, only half unsure. "Is that you?"

As if to confirm for her that it was the sorcerer's familiar Cloak flew over to him from wherever he had put it, and settled around his shoulders.

"Hello, Mrs. Stark," he said in his deep voice, finally turning all the way around to face her, "I am sorry if I scared you. I know the curators told you that no one else would be here in the park while you were here. I will leave if you want-"

"Oh no! You can stay if you want to! I don't mind really! I just wasn't expecting anyone other than us to be here is all." As she spoke, she walked over to stand beside him at the base of the monument.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure... please do stay."

"Alright."

Before either of them could speak again, the baby had dropped his teething ring for favor of grabbing two little handfuls of the red Cloak. Immediately his mother used her free hand to try to pry his little hands off.

"No, no, sweetie. Let's not grab onto other people's... cloaks like that and put them in our-" She didn't get a chance to finish the sentence as her son lifted the part of the Cloak he was holding, and inserted it right into his little grinning mouth. She, of course, gently removed the piece of garment from the baby's mouth, then quickly had to turn to comfort mode once his little face crumpled up and he began crying. Shifting her son around in her arms so he was facing away from the man who was watching them with a smile on his face, she said, "I'm so sorry about that."

Stephen shrugged, "Believe me, the Cloak of Levitation has been a lot worse than having a little bit of baby drool on it and survived. And I am pretty sure it doesn't mind at all." As if to prove his point, while he was speaking, the Cloak began stroking the back of the baby's head, "See? It takes more than a little drool to offend the Cloak of Levitation."

"Unlike using a cauldron of something or another to keep your balance while stretching?"

"Tony told you about that, hmm? And it was the Cauldron of the Cosmos he was using as a prop. I wasn't crazy about him doing that but the Cloak liked it even less resulting in the smack."

"The Cloak liked it even less?"

"Yes, it's actually a magic relic in its own right. It chose me, I didn't choose it. For example, I'm not making it do what it's doing now and I didn't make it smack Tony, although I'm pretty certain he thought I made it smack him since I'd made it crystal clear I didn't like him. You should have seen the look on his face."

Pepper looked at him through teary eyes but she was smiling, genuinely smiling, "I can just imagine the look." She wiped away a stray tear, "So, you said you didn't like him?"

"No, I didn't. Not at that moment in time."

"But your changed your mind later?"

"Yes."

"Would you mind if I asked what changed your mind, Doctor-"

"Stephen. Please call me Stephen."

"Only if you'll call me Ginny?"

He noticed her request was for him to use her old nickname… the one she had before she had met Tony, He guessed it was too painful for her to keep being called Pepper when Tony was no longer the one doing it.

"I can do that."

"Okay, Stephen? Same question? What made you change your mind about Tony?"

"After we... landed on Titan, I begin to see that there was to Tony than what my preconceived and personal first impressions of him led me to believe. His cockiness and the biting, sarcastic retorts... they were as much his mask, and his weapons as the Iron Man armor was."

Pepper could tell that this wasn't something he was entirely comfortable talking about, and she wasn't surprised. If he were Tony and she were asking him about why or how he had changed his mind about about Doctor Strange, he'd probably feel the same way the sorcerer was feeling presently. So she waited with patience, to see if he would add anything else to what he had already told her.

Her patience was rewarded.

"You know that one of the Infinity Stones controlled Time?" he asked, and after she nodded he went on, "The Stone of Time allowed the bearer to control Time itself. Most of the wielders would use its power to see into the future, and I confess, seeing into the future is what I used the Stone for more often than I did other things."

"Like seeing into the past?"

Stephen nodded, "Yes, like seeing into the past."

When his words sank in, a realization dawned for Pepper, and she said, "That's what you did, didn't you? You looked into Tony's past and saw something there that helped to change your mind!" It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

Holding Morgan even closer to her, she quietly spoke, "What you saw... it was about Tony's father." Once again she was stating not asking him a question.

"Yes."

"What did you see, Stephen?"

"What I saw... some of the past events of his life... were things that should not have happened to anyone... not even to someone who was born into wealth, and especially not to a child."

"Oh my... you didn't see his father actually..."

"No!" He knew he'd spoken too quickly from the skepticism on her features, and so he added, "No, nothing of the sort of nature you are thinking of."

"Then what…"

"I saw a tiny sapling longing for the grand warmth of the sun. But instead of being provided the love it sought from the sun, it languished in the cold success of the great tree beside it."

"What does that mean?"

"Uh, sorry, I've been around Master Wong too long."

"I heard that, Master Strange!"

Stephen smiled at the annoyance in his voice while Pepper briefly looked around for him.

"It means once he was born, among his other many issues, I think Howard Stark was jealous of Tony."

"He was jealous of… that… that!"

Strange guessed she probably wanted to call Howard a few choice names, but was refraining from doing because of the baby in her arms. With the way she stewed for the next few minutes, Stephen found himself wishing she could have joined them in the fight against Thanos.

The Mad Titan would have never known what hit him!

He chuckled to himself.

Pepper gave him an inquiring look, and he shook his head/

"It's nothing. Just a random thought I had."

She considered asking what it was, but then didn't as she remembered something about not interfering in the affairs of wizards.

Something about them being subtle and quick to anger?

Anyway, she let it slip and a few moments later...

"May I ask you something that might be a little... personal?"

The sorcerer nodded, "Yes, of course. Ask away."

"What... what happened to your hair? Because when I saw you at our wed... wedding, it was dark with only a few streaks of white."

However instead of answering her question, Strange turned away, looking back towards the memorial.

Pepper wasn't ready to let it lie though, and she lightly touched his shoulder, "Stephen, please tell me. I want to know."

"Actually I'm not sure that you do want to know."

"Because the reason has to do with Tony," she concluded.

He gave the slightest nod of his head, "Yes."

"Tell me."

"The reason is... there are no words powerful enough prepare for how horrible it is or why I am so reluctant to tell you."

"Alright, I know you're trying to give me one last chance to back out of you telling me but I want... I need you to tell me, Stephen. Please if you don't, I'll just imagine the worst things possible!"

He gave a long sigh, "Very well, I will tell you although I don't think anything you could imagine is worse than what I am about to say, but here it goes anyway. During the last battle with Thanos, after the Titan had given Captain Rogers his fatal wounds, he turned his attention back to Tony. He spoke a curse, and I don't mean he swore at Tony either, but he spoke an actual curse that once given could not be undone. The curse is so powerful, that even if every sorcerer on Earth joined forces with me in trying to break it, it could not be broken."

In truth, he doubted that even the Asgardian magicians who were considered to be the masters of the mystic arts throughout the known universe, would have been able to break it.

Pepper closed her eyes, and bowed her head so she inhaled her son's sweet baby scent, trying to ground herself from what he just told her.

It should not surprise her that Thanos had used every bit of his power to ensure Tony would pay dearly for his defeat. She should have known that price would mean it would not just be with his life only. He had, after all, been a powerful being with a twisted, perverted sense of what was right, and what was wrong. he had to have been furious when he realized that a puny human being was going to not only defeat him but help to bring about the end of his life.

He had to have been furious, and which meant he would have had wanted to not only see Tony dead as his revenge, but he would have wanted...

No, she could bear herself to think that thought out to its fullness but she found herself inquiring of the sorcerer before she knew what she was doing.

"The curse he put on Tony wasn't just about killing him, was it?"

Stephen said nothing,

If she was going to know the entire horrifying truth about this, she would have to figure it out for herself.

Pepper's eyes narrowed as she stared at him, "It wasn't."

That wasn't a question.

"Oh my... he didn't just want Tony to die. He wanted... he wanted Tony to... to s-s-suffer before he died, didn't he?" Although there was most certainly a question mark at the end of that sentence, Strange knew that Pepper knew the answer to her own question without him confirming it.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she covered her mouth with her free hand, "Oh… my… Tony…"

If she were not holding Morgan in her arms, Pepper knows she would have sobbed, would have wailed at this revelation. The thought of anyone wanting to torture the man she still loved with her entire being to literal death...

It as almost more than she could bear!

She wanted to scream out her pain so desperately but would not because she did not want to scare her son.

This however, did not stop the baby's little bottom lip from beginning to tremble. Neither did it stop the crocodile tears from spilling down his sweet little face or keep him from throwing back his head, and begin wailing at the top of his lungs.

At hearing her son's distress, Pepper immediately snapped out of her tormented thoughts, and started to rub Morgan's back, "Shhh, sweetheart, Mommy's here and she's sorry that she got you all upset by getting so upset herself. Shhh, please don't cry, baby." As she continued to soothe her baby, she realized that her own emotions would have to wait until a later date. Maybe after they went back home today she would ask Happy or maybe even her assistant Jennifer to watch Morgan so she could take a long walk and scream and cry as much as she wanted to.

She had really upset Morgan this time, she realized since few minutes later he was still crying hard, and would soon have the hiccups if he didn't stop crying so hard. She knew how much much the hiccups would upset him, so she continued with her efforts to calm him down. She gave Strange an apologetic look, and was given a patience nod of understanding in return by the sorcerer.

After another few minutes of the baby continuing to cry, Pepper was a bit startled when the cloak around Stephen's shoulders went flying off. She watched it as it went behind her, and she lost track of what it was doing since every time she turned to look at it, Morgan would whine in protest.

"The Cloak's trying to cheer up your son and is doing tricks to entertain him," Strange explained, smiling at the garment's antics.

Pepper nodded a thanks, and continued rubbing the baby's back for several minutes without comment.

Neither of them spoke again until they heard a tiny peal of laughter originate from Pepper's shoulder.

Pepper had perhaps never wished for anything more than in the moment she wished she had the ability to see what was going on behind her. She jumped a little when in front of her something that was mirrorlike appeared, in which she could see the acrobatics magical garment behind her was doing to cause her little boy to laugh.

"Thank you, Stephen," she began as she watched the Cloak entertain her baby, "And I don't mean for the… mirror either. Thank you for what you did for Tony."

He nodded, "It was a privilege to help Tony in anyway I could, Ginny, both as a friend and as a doctor."

The instant the words left his mouth, it was as if Thor directed a bolt of lightning into her mind and heart to reveal the truth the man before her wasn't saying aloud, so she said the words aloud for him, "The week before Tony… he wasn't hurting at all. I think he had been hurting up until then and was trying not to let me know that he was. But you visited him the week before… and after that, he was himself again. You took his pain away, didn't you?"

The sorcerer kept his silence.

Pepper looked at him, and notice not only was his hair white but he seemed to have grown older than the last time they'd met. Now granted, the day they had meet had been on her wedding day, so needless to say she had been almost entirely focused on the man she had just married. But she remembered enough of this man's face to know that whereas the skin around his eyes had once been smooth, were now wrinkled.

"But it was more than just taking away the pain, wasn't it? You not only took Tony's pain, but you also took it inside yourself, and that's why your hair has gone white!"

There was no point in denying the conclusion she had so rightly drawn.

"Yes."

"Thank you," she said, wiping away a stray tear, trying not to imagine how excruciating the pain had to have been to result in him physically, visibly changing so much.

"As I said before, it was a privilege."

She still wanted to and needed to have a really good cry after finding out what Thanos tried to do to Tony. She really would need it now, after finding out what this man had done to help her husband during his final days. She supposed her dstress must have been showing on her face because he spoke again.

"Don't concern yourself over what it was like for me during those days. Whereas Tony didn't have an escape, I did have an escape the pain of the curse."

"Through your magic?"

"Yes."

But even after hearing his reassurances, Pepper still planned on having a good long cry later on. Tonight would be the night since tonight was was Rhodey's turn to listen out for his godson during the night.

"Thank you," she told him again, then wiped away another tear,

She then turned to watching Morgan and the Cloak as they continued to play together for a little while. It was only after little Morgan began yawning, and it was obvious that he wouldn't be keeping his beautiful brown eyes much longer, did she realize something. She realized during those few minutes, while watching her little boy's face light up, the darkness for her was beginning to lift. She could see for the first time since she had lost the love of her life, that Tony's light with still with them.

With her.

She knew then that she would be alright.

They would be alright.

End Notes: Well, it's done. I really didn't believe this one would get finished... not after my muse for this fled from me, and after I started regretted the fact I had started it. I think not thinking about it for a few months while I finished my Pepperony epic helped, like a lot.

This isn't a promise set in stone but one day I may revisit this story in some way. I would like to may write out a scene with Peter, and how he handles Tony's death. I know what thing I'd like to do is write a scene where Tony's will is read but we'll see. I am considering this story finished until maybe one day I want to pick it again to write that scene.

Thank you for everyone who read this and encouraged me. This story literally would not have been finished without you!