Epilogue

Tony was fast asleep, in his room, at dad's house, when a loud alarm came on. It beeped intensely until a hand popped out of the covers and hit the snooze button. Then he checked the time. It was 9:40. Pepper would be here at 10:20. He got up, disabled his alarm, and walked downstairs.

"Good morning, Tony. Up early, I see." Howard said, quietly, as Tony grabbed a bowl for cereal, and poured some cheeriosinto it.

"Yeah, I promised Pepper that I would show her around." He said, pouring milk into his cheerios.

"Oh. Still coming to the lab? We do have some catching up to do."

"Yeah, I'll be there. I'm showing her the lab, too. Then we might go for lunch with Rhodey."

"Alright. Tony, I'm glad you're outgoing, just like I wanted you to be. That's good, im proud." Howard smiled.

"Thanks, dad." They continued breakfast in silence.

Tony was getting a little finishing touch done on his charger, which he now had installed in his room, when he heard a knock on the door. He opened it and she was standing there, smiling.

"Hey, Pepper." He said, smiling.

"Tony! Hi! Oh my gosh, your house is soooooooo big. It's like, awesome!" She said, being her super-hyper, talkative self.

"Glad you like it. Let's go." Tony walked Pepper in, and they walked past the kitchen, where Howard was still reading the newspaper.

"Well hi, there. You must be Pepper, I take it?" Howard proclaimed, guessing correctly.

"Yeah, nice to meet you, Tony's dad!" She said, super exited. They then walked into the attic, so Tony could get just one more thing he needed, and told Pepper to sit tight for a second. So Pepper sat down on an old chair, and something on the floor next to her foot caught her attention. She picked it up. It was covered in dust, but she wiped it off to reveal the title: Sonya's Photo Album. Who's Sonia? She opened it to find out. The first page had the name Sonia on it, as a sort of title page. She turned to the next page to see a young, beautiful woman with long, flowing brown hair, wearing a white long-sleeve shirt with a v-neck going ending above the chest area, with a blue tank-top covering the showing skin underneath. With that, she had blue denim jeans and some chestnut boots. She was holding a little boy, who looked about 3 years old. He was wearing a red shirt and blue denim overalls with red stripes on each pant leg, and some little red sneakers. Pepper gasped. It was Tony, and that had to be his mom. She turned the page, and the same woman, and the same boy, about what looked like 10 years later. They were both so happy. She must have picked up a few pages. Then, she turned the page again, and everything was blank. No pictures, no colors, no words, no nothing. Just plain, blank pages. They did have titles written on them, but nothing else.

"That's back before she went missing." She heard a startling voice from behind her. She looked behind her and saw Tony lingering over her, developing a sad, longing look in his eyes.

"Tony…i-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have opened this." She said, trying not to sound like she was laying a guilt trip.

"No, it's ok. You were just curious. Yeah, that's my mom. These pages are blank, because when I was 13, we took that picture, we went home, and somehow, she didn't." He said, trying to blink back his tears. A single tear escaped and rolled down his face. Pepper stood up, and wiped it off. Then she hugged him for comfort. He hugged back, and it felt like magic. They released, and Pepper said one last thing before they went to go see the lab.

"Tony, I'll always be here, I'll never leave. I promise." She said, as they slipped into a kiss, then they walked out.

The two walked into Stark Industries, and as everyone said hello, they walked up to the top floor, where the lab was. Soon, they walked in, to see Howard already there.

"Hey dad." Tony said, walking to his station.

"And, ta-da! This is the lab." Tony exclaimed, letting Pepper walk around and see everything.

"Wow, Tony! This is soooo cool. NO, it's more than cool, It's amazing!" She said, putting a huge smile on her face.

"Well, that's because it's mine. Everything I own is awesome." He said, sounding superior.

"Don't get so full of yourself, son, I'm still beating you." Howard said, dropping into the conversation.

"Yeah, that was before I invented a suit of super-powered armor." Tony said, gaining championship once again.

"Well, Pepper, Rhodey should be meeting us for lunch now, so we should go. Bye, dad." Tony said, walking out, holding hands with Pepper.

When they came to a café, a few miles from Stark Industries, they sat down at a table and got smoothies, and waited for Rhodey. Then Rhodey walked in, and sat down with the two.

"So, how's life treating you at your old, old home?" Rhodey said, instead of a hello.

"Pretty good, so far." Tony responded.

"That's cool. Hey, are you guys, you know…..dating, now? Or whatever you want to call it?"

"Oh, yeah, that. We're-" But then he was interrupted.

"Yeah, we are. Tottaly!" Pepper finished.

"Oh. Cool. Dudes, I knew it would happen." Rhodey said, acting like he saw it from a different view than they have. Soon, they ordered lunch, and they sat in the café, talking. They reunited, and it seemed their lives have went back to normal.

Epilouge……to the epilogue? Something like that.

After, Tony and Pepper lasted all through Pepper's high school and college graduation. Pepper became a CIA agent, and spied on people that were being suspicious, like her dad. Tony soon took over Stark International, after his dad claimed to be too old for owning a busness. Tony moved out soon after Pepper got out of college and got his own home, in the residency part of the city. Pepper moved in with him, and took over her dad's job after he soon retired. They got married at age 23, and had 2 kids. One was a boy, and his name was Alexander, and he had reddish-pink hair that draped over his face, and wore a white, long-sleeve shirt with denim shorts, going down to his knees, and white sneakers. The other was a girl, named Eliza. She was 6. She had brown hair that went down to her collarbone. She wore a white long-sleeve shirt with a red tank-top over it, and denim jeans with red flip flops. Eliza was smart, but not Tony Stark smart. She got all A's in school, and had many friends. Alexander was the genius. He was only 8, yet he was already making his own cell phones, iPods, and other simple already-invented technology.

And as for Rhodey, he met a pretty gal in his senior year of college, but they're still dating. Rhodey lived in a nearby town, but it wasn't hard at all to get there. Tony and Pepper dropped their kids off there, whenever they needed a babysitter . And Uncle Rhodey was glad to be it. Their Aunt Whitney lived in a town called Auburn, but it was in the same state. They never saw her often, only for Christmas and New Years, only because Pepper still hated her so much. The only reason she hated her in high school was because she was winning Tony over. It was just pure jealousy. That, and she always rubbed it in Pepper's face that she was awesome and perfect, and she called Pepper Tony's pet.

And that, my friends, is the end. :D