A/N: I won't include every single scene from the movies because that'd be boring af, but take what I think works well with this theme. And then of course I'll try to cover the time in-between movies. I really don't know if this has been done before, so anyone who has actually published something similar may forgive me. I got this idea when RDJ talked about Tony wanting to be a dad and it just kind of snowballed from there. This is my first piece about Pepperony, though I've been in love with them forever, and I'm not sure I even know how to write them, but I'm willing to try. Also, I'm not a native to English, so kindly excuse any serious mistakes.

I own nothing. If I did, Pepper would've had her solo movie by now.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked, giving her a very concerned look, as she exited the restroom. Pepper looked surprisingly well, considering how much she puked today. "You know, I really think you should tell him. I don't feel good being the only one, who knows about… It's just too much responsibility for me. What if something bad happens?"

Happy stared at her with wary eyes, until Pepper laughed nervously. She didn't know when, but at some point, she had turned into a nervous wreck about breaking the news to Tony that he was going to be a father. While she would've welcomed such a gift from Mother Nature not too long ago, the recent alien incident in New York had changed all that. Now, she spent every single day, thinking about all that could go wrong. Happy feared something bad might happen to her or the baby? Well, she was living with that fear ever since she found out about the pregnancy.

"I will tell him tonight," she said, smiling at the thought of her upcoming date with Tony. Getting to spend an entire evening with him alone, while his suits were safely locked up in the workshop, was rare. But she looked forward to spending a romantic night together, undisturbed. "And I am not your responsibility Happy," she added, softly.

"But I–I care about you." He sounded slightly offended.

"I know that," Pepper assured him, "and it's really sweet, but you don't need to worry, okay? I'm fine." She took the folder, that he had been so kindly holding for her, and ran her spare hand across her still flat stomach. "We both are."

He sighed. "And you're sure there isn't anything I can do to–"

"You can tell me about the... um... thing you wanted to talk to me about earlier, before I decided to work on my upchuck reflexes."

"The thing?" Happy frowned. "Oh, that thing. Yes. Right. So, listen," he started, as they walked down the halls of Stark Industries. "Since the company is doing so well now, we have a lot of people working here, you know, and folks come in here every day… to meet with you or Tony. It's hard for our cleaning personal to keep up... I saw it, Pepper. I mean, you've just been in there. You saw it, too, right? Then, there's the things that need fixing, like day-to-day fixing, and so I told Tony about the problems we have and–"

"Happy?"

"Yes?"

"Make it quick."

"Quick. Okay. Well, Tony thinks... I mean, I think... Well, we both think we can use some of these old bots that he has. They can do a lot more than our janitorial staff can do. I mean in a shorter amount of time and the best thing is, you don't even have to supervise them. They're programmed to work on their own. That's what Tony said... you know, like DUM-E. But then he also said, DUM-E constantly needs someone to look out for hi–" He paused as Pepper rolled her eyes at him. Shoot! He knew better than to mess with Pepper Potts, especially if her pregnancy hormones were raging. "Tony has got them in his basement. They're wearing party hats. This is an asset that we can put to use," he finished off quickly, as they entered the lobby.

"Uh-huh," Pepper let out, grabbing a pen from one of her staff members to sign a document on the way. "So, you're suggesting that I replace the entire janitorial staff with robots."

"What I'm saying is, that the human element of human resources is our biggest point of vulnerability," he argued. "We should start phasing it out immediately."

"What?" she screwed up her face and raised her arm in disbelief, emphasizing how ridiculous his suggestion was. "Did you just say that?" Sometimes she couldn't help but think that she was the only one, out of the three of them, with any common sense. "Happy?"

"Yes?"

"Okay." She didn't want to offend him, so she had to break it to him nicely. Maybe if she smiled, Happy wouldn't take it the wrong way. "I am thrilled that you are now the Head of Security, okay? It's the perfect position for you."

"Thank you."

"However..."

"I do appreciate it."

"Since you've taken the post..."

"You don't have to thank me."

God, would he just listen?

"We've had a rise in staff complaints of 300 percent." Pepper's tone was serious now, a little more serious than she had intended it to be.

"Thank you," Happy replied contentedly.

"It's not a compliment," she noted, face-palming herself internally.

"It's not a comp–It is a compliment! Clearly, somebody is trying to hide something."

"I..." Pepper paused. She didn't even know how to respond to that. Confusion registered on her face, as she tried to make sense of his words. But before she could, her secretary interrupted them.

"Excuse me."

"Yes," she answered, slightly harsh. Hormones, Pepper, she told herself. She could always blame her hormones for her foul moods. But then people would know about her pregnancy… and no one knew yet. Well, no one but Happy.

"Miss Potts, your 4 o'clock is here."

She sucked in a breath that no one could hear, forced herself to breathe evenly, calming her emotions. She felt completely stressed out. Today had been rough and exhausting. And if that wasn't enough, she had been nauseous since the minute she opened her eyes that morning. Maybe telling Tony about the pregnancy would make her feel better, and if not, then at least she could be in a bad mood and nauseous with him knowing.

"Thank you," she said, wishing she could go home right now instead.

"Did you clear this 4 o'clock with me?" Happy asked, fixating his gaze on the woman next to them, but Pepper stopped him.

"Happy, we'll talk about this later," she said, smiling—almost as if she was looking forward to it—"but right now, I have to go deal with this very annoying thing."

She would indeed rather be swamped by Happy's flood of words and listen to whatever strange thought he had than hearing anything Aldrich Killian had to say. Just being in the same room with him was unpleasant, as far as she remembered. The man hadn't exactly been an expert on pick-up lines and she had quite enough reason to vomit these days.

"How so?"

"I used to work with him," she whispered, entering her office, "and he used to ask me out all the time, so it's a little awkward."

"I don't like the sound of that," Happy remarked, wondering if he should call Tony and let him know that this guy might be trouble.

"Pepper," the old acquaintance welcomed her with a grin on his face.

His smug face, Happy noted. That guy was definitely trouble.

"Killian?"

When Pepper spotted him, her jaw almost dropped to the floor. She couldn't believe the man standing in front of her was the same guy who had shamelessly hit on her back then; that same nasty guy. She hadn't recognized him. Lord, she still didn't recognize him. Aldrich Killian wasn't a long-haired geek with glasses and physical infirmities anymore, but appeared tall, lean and tan, and—she hated herself to even admit it—handsome. The ugly duckling had apparently grown into a beautiful swan. Well, he wasn't that beautiful, just… different. Good-looking.

"You look great," he noticed, while she was still stunned by his appearance. "You look really great."

"God, you look–you look great. I–I–I can't–" Pepper stammered, realizing that she wasn't going to be able to ignore his good looks, but still trying to think of some way dismiss it. "What on earth have you been doing?"

"Nothing fancy. Just five years in the hands of physical therapists," he explained. "And please, call me Aldrich."

"Uh, you were supposed to be issued a security badge," Happy piped in.

He never stopped eyeing Aldrich, suspiciously. Seeing Pepper's reaction and Killian's obvious enjoyment of the affect he was having on her, made Happy even more suspicious of him. He could only hope Pepper knew what she was getting herself into. She loved Tony, Happy knew that. He actually trusted Pepper more to not ruin their relationship that he did Tony. But he didn't trust this Killian guy. Oh no, he didn't trust that smug bastard one bit. Killian was drooling all over Pepper, like a bullmastiff; just like Tony used to do—like Tony still did.

"Happy, it's okay," she assured him, "We're good."

"You sure?" Because I'm not, he thought to himself. But there was no point in arguing with her. He didn't have a choice. He had to leave them alone.

"Stand down," Pepper basically pushed him out of the door.

"I'm gonna linger right here," Happy said, as he shot Killian one last look to make sure that he knew he was damn serious about keeping tabs on him—as the Head of Security, but more so as Pepper and Tony's friend. He wouldn't let anything or anyone mess with their relationship.

"It's very nice to see you, Killian," Pepper mentioned with a smile, as she walked past him to go sit down on the couch.

Feeling a nauseous ripple in her stomach, she put a hand on her tummy, rubbing circles, and prayed that her baby wouldn't make her throw up again during her meeting with Aldrich. She didn't want to explain to him, what made her run off to the restroom. This kid, this fetus, seemed to be as fidgety as its father already. Pepper yearned to see the day when their child would finally be born into this world—the moment she could hold it in her arms and kiss it with all the love she could find. Unfortunately though, she still had at least three goddamn months of morning sickness ahead of her and then a few more with a belly the size of a beach ball.

"You okay there?"

It had only been there for a second, but Killian had seen the pained look on her face. Was he actively staring at her? Pepper couldn't tell. She hadn't kept her eyes on him. But it made her extremely uncomfortable to be with him, carrying this big secret inside that could very well explode like a bomb, if she dared to be careless for just a second. A simple act of moving her hand in circles across her belly. She couldn't do that. He'd notice. But if she pulled it away too fast, he might also notice.

Pepper managed to fake a smile to draw Killian's attention away from the lower part of her body to her face, then swiftly removed her hand from her stomach. It worked. He hadn't noticed. Of course, it had worked. After all, she had spent weeks, perfecting that move—the fake smile, to hide this pregnancy from Tony. Whenever a sudden wave of nausea would hit her or she had felt a small pain while they were talking, she had used that on him. But what possessed her to wait till Christmas to spill the beans? It would have been so much easier for her to do her job if everyone just knew… especially Tony.

Pepper nodded. "It's been a long day," she answered and then got straight to the point to distract him further. Maybe she was being paranoid, making a mountain out of a molehill. "So, what's your pitch, Killian? You said something about funding and research of... a program?"