TWO WEEKS LATER

The nursery had been neglected, which wasn't a huge deal since the baby was sleeping in a cradle in Tony and Pepper's room anyways. It was just nice to have it done and sometimes be able to lay the baby down to sleep if Pepper was sleeping or if the baby needed to be rocked. It was just NICE to have it done. Tony hadn't realized how much having a nursery was helpful until they came home and didn't have one. Sure, they had everything they ABSOLUTELY needed, but it just wasn't the same. And maybe he was just making up for the months that he was the worst human being in the world. Whatever it was, Tony was determined to get this project done.

"Why did you have the room painted this color?" Sophia asked him.

Tony looked from Sophia to the painted walls and then back to his eldest again. "Why? What's wrong with it? It's the color your mom wanted."

"Oh-kay…"

He looked at the wall again. He swore that was the color Pepper had wanted and she hadn't SAID anything after it was painted. Tony had had some kind of super duper non-smelly paint used and then they'd added clear vanilla just to ensure that the room wouldn't reek from the paint or contaminate the rest of the house as well.

"I don't get what's wrong with it," Tony mumbled.

"I like it, Daddy," Charlie spoke up.

He reached out and rubbed Charlie's head, moving the cap upon her head about a bit. She giggled in response. "That's my girl."

"You're not supposed to have favorites…" Sophia pointed out from the other side of the room.

Tony pushed the assembled crib into place. There was a drawing of what was supposed to go where and he was determined to have it all finished before dinner. The girls were in there and were supposed to be helping them. So far, they were just making him question everything. "I didn't say favorites…"

"You said that Charlie's 'your girl'."

"And you're my princess," Tony told her. He looked over to see Sophia considering that as she worked on arranging the clothes in the dresser. They'd received so many gifts, so they had been unpacking them...they had already washed all of the items that needed to be washed before use and now they were putting it all away. One thing that he'd noticed is that Sophia really liked to keep drawers neat and organized...just like Pepper. So, he let her do the job that she wanted and that he knew she'd be good at.

"What if I want to be a princess?" Charlie asked him.

"You can be whatever you want, Charlie. You know that," Tony reminded her as he watched her arrange books on the bookshelf. Every couple of books, she'd thumb through a few pages before putting them back. "If you want to be a princess. We'll support it. If you want to be a rocket scientist...hell, what am I saying? You're pretty much already there."

Charlie just laughed in response.

As he stood there, Tony had no idea how he could ever make up for all of those months that he was gone. All he knew was that he never wanted to leave them again. All he knew was that he needed to be the man that they all saw him as. That was a lot to live up to. He'd spend every day of his life trying, though.

"How are you all doing?" Pepper asked.

He turned around to see her leaning against the door frame. She was absolutely beautiful even though she looked absolutely exhausted. He assumed that since she was there without Ethan that that meant that he'd finally fallen asleep. "Apparently Sophia doesn't think it's the right wall color."

"It's not."

"You didn't say anything before…"

Pepper just smiled and crossed the room to him. "It's a few shades off...it's not that big of a deal...and you TRIED...that's really all that matters," she told him before kissing him.

Distracted for a moment by her kiss, he found himself melting a bit. When they finally separated, he spoke again. "I can have it repainted." He wanted to make sure that everything was right and correct.

"No. No...it's good. I think it makes it brighter."

Watching her, he tried to gauge if she was really okay with it. To him, she really seemed to be happy with it. He was glad. "We almost have it all done. I have to move the rocker and the ottoman and then put the bedding on the bed."

"I can do the bedding," Pepper told him.

"You're not supposed to be lifting anything except the baby," Tony reminded.

Pepper just smiled at him. "I don't think that a crib sheet is heavier than Ethan."

"You sure? Because I can do it...it might not go on right, but then Sophia will fix it and tell me how I was doing it wrong."

"I can't help it that I know how to do things," Sophia spoke from the other side of the room. "Or that I know how mom wants things."

She was right.

Man, she was growing up so fast.

Tony took a moment to remember how it was for Sophia and Charlie, when they'd brought them home. Things were so different now. It seemed like just yesterday that they'd gotten married… Time passed so quickly and as much as he liked to think he KNEW that life was precious and that time was fleeting, he realized then that he needed to take more time and enjoy the little moments in life because they wouldn't always be there.

He moved to move the rocker into place. "Maybe I should anchor some of these things to the wall," Tony suggested as he looked around. There was a low bookshelf, a changing table, a dresser, and a nine cube square thing that held toys. They lived in Malibu, California and earthquakes suddenly worried him.

"You do realize that nothing is actually anchored in this house."

"That's not true," Tony argued. "I have the cases that hold the suits anchored to the walls…"

Pepper already had the entire set of bedding put together for the crib and she was looking at him. "And how did that work out for you when a missile was launched at the house?"

He stood there and thought about it for a moment. "Point taken."

It was the middle of the night when Ethan's cries woke him. Tony felt Pepper stirring, but he was out of bed first and over to the cradle to scoop him up. He managed to quiet him before Pepper could even sit up.

"I've got him," Tony told her. "You sleep."

"But-"

"I know where the extra milk is," Tony assured.

"He might not take the bottle."

"If he doesn't, then I'll get you," he told her as he walked towards her and then pressed against her forehead. "Just try to sleep...I've got him." With that, he headed out of the bedroom. Ethan started to fuss again. Tony tried to hush him, but that only seemed to piss him off more. "I'm working on it," Tony told him.

Pepper was breast feeding and she'd pumped some extra and Tony was fairly sure he still knew how to do it all and where they'd put the bottles (since he was fairly sure that possible both Pepper and Sophia had rearranged everything after he'd put things away). It took him a couple of minutes, but he had figured it out and gotten Ethan to calm down and take the bottle. Sitting hadn't worked, however, which was really fine with Tony. He was preferred to walk, even if it was back and forth, he always felt like there was less chance of him falling asleep and smothering his poor son. Pepper had made him go to new parenting classes before they had Sophia and they'd basically been given a run down of all the things you COULD do, but that you could also potentially murder your kids...ever since then...Tony had been terrified.

Co-sleeping.

What position the baby slept in.

Blankets.

No blankets.

No moving rails on the crib.

No bumper pads.

There was a lot of things you could do to kill your kid, let alone everything you had to worry about when it came to things you couldn't really control like SIDS. They'd lived in absolute terror with Sophia for the first year, getting up to check on her every five minutes...until Tony had come up with a monitor. There were monitors out on the market, but they were bulky. This one was a lot like a patch or a bandaid and through JARVIS would alert them and emergency services if the child stopped breathing. That had really eased things, but that didn't stop him and Pepper from still getting up to check on their kids while they slept through the night.

Eventually they made their way down to Tony's workshop. He really just didn't want to wake anyone up by walking around upstairs between the rooms. Ethan had been fairly quiet, but he just didn't want to risk it. Plus, then he could tell him all about all of his projects...and possibly even get some work done.

"Sir, Ms. Potts is awake," JARVIS alerted him some time later.

Ethan had drifted off to sleep over thirty minutes before, but Tony had been working at a console with one hand and had just not been ready to stop just yet. "Let her know where we are," Tony said as he continued to bounce a bit in place, ensuring that Ethan would remain asleep. He didn't want Pepper to worry.

"I already have."

"Excellent."

He wasn't surprised. JARVIS seriously liked Pepper more than him. He didn't know how or when it had all happened, but it had. If he and Pepper ever got divorced...he'd somehow lose the AI he'd created along with everything else.

It was a few minutes before he heard the near silent footfalls from a bare footed Pepper. It helped that he knew that she was coming down or else she would have completely surprised him. He was certain that it was something that Natasha had taught her when she'd been working undercover as their assistant.

"Is he asleep?" she whispered.

He turned around to see her wrapped up in her robe and looked rather sleepy. Her hair was up in a messy bun and he swore she looked a bit too pale. She wasn't getting enough sleep, which was expected, but at the same time...he really was trying to pitch in to help in that area where he could. "Yeah...I just was-"

"Working?"

"I got caught up in this project," Tony admitted. He displayed the holographic representation of what he'd been working on. There shouldn't be secrets between them. Never again. Everything he did in life, it was for Pepper and their children. He knew that he needed to keep proving to them and to himself that he was really the man that THEY saw. He just hoped that he could be good enough to live up to it.

Displayed was a sort of pod. All of the notes were displayed as well. "This is for the kids," Pepper commented slowly. She'd been around his work enough to understand it and sometimes it surprised him at how WELL she DID understand it. Then he always reminded himself that he wasn't the smartest man in the world at EVERYTHING.

"It's an emergency pod," Tony explained. "Like the armor, but to keep the kids safe…" He brought up a series of pods. "I thought about making a bunch of different sizes. They would be able to be remotely activated and would be sequenced to specific DNA."

"Are you worried about another attack on the house?" Pepper questioned seriously and her gaze turned to him.

Tony looked down at the tiny baby he was holding in his arms. "I just want to be prepared...there are obviously things in this world...strange things...and beyond...things that we're not always prepared for...and I don't ever want to lose you or the kids… I want to make sure that you're all protected."

"So...this would be like the suits?" Pepper asked. "They could be summoned to the child?"

"Yes," Tony confirmed. "Either one of us could enact the protocol or I could even code it so that JARVIS could activate it as well," he explained. "JARVIS monitors the house and everyone inside...he would KNOW when to deploy them." He was really quiet for a long time. "I hope that these never have to be used...but...at the same time...it would be nice to have that piece of mind… Tony Stark and Iron Man have far too many enemies in this world...and outside of it… The least I can do is ensure that my legacy is preserved, even if I am not…"

Pepper just stared at him for a long silent moment. Her face was serious and he was awaiting some kind of lecture. He wasn't sure which one was coming, but it was definitely a serious enough face for lecturing. No lecture came though. Eventually her face softened and she shut down the project and the console he'd been working on. "Let's go to bed," she whispered.

"But-"

"You can save the world tomorrow, Tony."

"I don't want to save the world, Pep," he told her with a sigh and then wrapped his free arm around her and guided her towards the steps. "I just want to be a good husband and father."

"You can do that, too, but you need the sleep...and I need you in bed with me."

"Four more weeks, Pep," he reminded with a slight groan. He grinned almost as quickly as she did and it earned him a slap on his free arm. "I'm just kidding… THAT can wait…"

"I just want to know that you're here with me...that you're home...I don't like waking up and you not being here," Pepper explained as they continued up the stairs.

"I'm not going anywhere…"

"You better not."

"I have too much to live for right here."

The End.