A/N: This chapter is done by my friend MiraculouslyTrashy. She wrote this a couple of months ago and allowed me to share it on this story. All credit goes to her, so please go give her a follow and check out her work on FFN, or Wattpad, or AO3. She is a wonderful author and is extra amazing because she edits all my chapters before they go up, so a massive thanks to her.

"Morgan's finally down," Pepper sighs, settling onto the couch next to Tony, turning on the baby monitor resting on the table.

He wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close, "I think that's a new record time for you too. Someday you'll be as fast as me." He chides, kissing her temple.

She rolls her eyes, but knows he's right, "She loves your voice. I've seen her roll over to the bars of the crib so she can watch you read Dr. Suess."

"Really? I haven't noticed?" He smiles cheekily, popping a few goji berries in his mouth.

Pepper nabs some berries away from his bowl, "Well now, we have the rest of the night to ourselves... maybe we could have some adultfun, no baby talk or stuffed animals..."

Tony sits up, "I know just what you have in mind." He stands up and holds out his hand, "Close your eyes and follow me, Mrs. Stark."

She grins and closes her eyes, placing her hand in his. He leads her through the cottage, even spinning her to disorient her slightly along the way, "Tony..." she complains after being spun.

"Almost there," he assures her, stopping to open a door and guiding her through.

As soon as her bare feet cross the threshold she knows where she is, sensing the change in flooring. "Tony." She says more sternly, opening her eyes to find herself in the garage as suspected.

This isn't the garage where Tony and his family keep their cars, or at least it had been before he decided to build a separate garage for them to make more room for his 'toys'. His tinkerings and projects very quickly outgrew the small workbench that stood against the wall of the garage. Pepper knew it was only inevitable before the whole space became his to work in. "What do you want to show me?" She asks him, the same thing she asks every time her husband coaxes her out here.

He knows that tone of voice well, "Stick with me, don't run away yet. We're still going to have fun, I promise. Think of this as an early anniversary gift." He says, backing up towards a sturdy metal cabinet, past a chamber of swirling nanotech bots.

"Sometimes your definition of fun is different from my definition of the term," she raises an eyebrow, but follows him, nonetheless.

A keypad appears on the cabinet's surface as Tony approaches, prompting him to quickly enter a 6-digit code. The doors automatically slide apart, revealing a new sleek, steel blue, ironman suit.

The sight of the suit doesn't exactly surprise Pepper, but it does take her a moment to realize that the proportions of the suit are different than usual. "This... this is for me?"

Tony's face would have normally been beaming with pride when showing off his new tech and inventions, but his demeanor is serious instead. "Yes. Just in case"

"In case of what?" She probes gently, still walking closer to him and the suit.

He presses his lips together and shrugs, "In case. In case, in case you need to get Morgan out of here and to the safehouse. In case I'm not around to protect you guys. In case Thanos-"

"Tony, please," she begs, cutting off his rambling, "I don't want to think about any of that, not now." She holds a hand to his cheek, and he closes his eyes. "I understand where you're coming from, but I can't." She shakes her head slightly, sighing.

Tony opens his eyes and sighs, "I know, but this is the only way I know how to protect you. You andMorgan. If anything happened to you two," his voice strains, he clears his throat and continues, "I couldn't live with myself. So, this is really a precaution for my own sake, as well." He gestures and lets his hand fall against his leg. "The code is Morguna's birthday."

Pepper cracks a sad smile, reaching up and wiping a stray smudge of grease on Tony's cheek. "Alight. I'll keep the suit in mind,"

His shoulders relax at that simple promise. "Thank you, Pep." He kisses her forehead, holding her against his chest. "Hey, I promised you we'd have some fun, so... please humorme and let me guide you through using the suit."

She looks up at his exaggerated, goofy grin, unable to turn him down, "Fine, as long as it doesn't wake Madam Secretary."

He beams, guiding her a few steps back from the cabinet, angling her in relation to the suit. "Promise. So, all you have to do is call 'Rescue'. I've already attuned it to your voice patterns, hope you don't mind." He waves his hand over the workbench, pulling up a holo-display of the suit's readouts.

Pepper takes a deep breath, "What's going to happen when I call it?" She asks for clarification, worried about what she's gotten herself into.

One of his hands rubs the small of her back, while his attention is really on the display graphics in front of him, "It's just gonna put itself on ya, introduce itself." He makes a small adjustment to one of the levels, "Go ahead, I'm right here."

"Okay..." she clears her throat, "Rescue?" She states in a clear voice, causing the eyes of the suit to glow. It steadily propels itself from the cabinet, it's front face opening up to allow Pepper to step inside. She turns and steps back into the armor, letting it close in around her. Pepper is able to remain calm through the process, given she's not a complete stranger to being inside one of Tony's suits.

With a final click, the helmet adjusts itself into place and a display pops up inside the suit for her, "Nice to see you, Mrs. Stark" a familiar AI welcomes.

"Thanks, Friday." She replies; a soft whirringradiates off the joints of the armor as she accustoms herself with the suit.

Tony looks over the readings one more time before turning to his wife, "You doing okay in there? Not too constricting?" He reaches for her hands, taking one in each of his and guides her through some arm circles.

"It feels fine, Tony." She smirks inside the suit, now glad to let her husband run his exams on the suit and her.

He lets her arms down, smiling to himself, "Friday, let's go for a walk." He instructs, causing the garage door to open as he leads Pepper into the cool night air. "How's your mobility? You should be able to walk feel like you're walking normally, and not wearing a quarter ton of metal."

She follows him out onto their gravel driveway, "Um, yeah, feels pretty natural so far." She nods, and it's true. There was still a bit more effort to move in the suit but just barely, it easily compensated for its own weight and the strategically placed joints and rotators made it effortless to move.

Their feet crunch on the gavel, putting a good distance between them and the house. "The suit is pretty intuitive," Tony goes on, "it's able to infer from your body language what you want to do. So, hover for me please."

"Now?" She questions.

"Well I believe the saying 'you gotta walk before you can fly' holds true and you seem to be walking just fine. Besides, it's the next best thing to seeing you in heels." He smirks, taking a half step back from her.

She sighs, "It's 'walk before you can run'."

"Same thing, just go for it." He waves off while encouraging her.

She plants her feet, trying to gain a solid foundation before she even attempts to fly in this new suit, trying to learn its intricacies. Taking a steadying breath, she lifts up her heels slightly and the suit instantaneously takes over, the boosters under her feet kicking in.

A blue glow emanates from under her soles as she begins to hover about a foot off the ground. She attempts to remain still to keep her balance, but finds the opposite is needed to maintain a stable flight. She loosens up, self-correcting her posture to stay in front of Tony.

The smile across Tony's face was almost as proud as the one he made when Morgan took her first steps. "You've still got it in you," he nods, "you think you can take a lap across the lake and back?"

Gaining some confidence, she boosts higher and starts her arch across the lake. Tony tracks her on his portable display, looking up occasionally and smiling.

Once she touches back down on their side of the lake, her face plate lifts up, "Satisfied?"

"Almost. Send a repulsor beam at that tree." He points to a fairly large tree near the edge of the water, "Make a dent in it."

She makes a face, "I don't want to singe our trees, Morgan will see them and wonder what happened."

"So, I'll wave one of her stuffed animals in her face and she'll forget all about it." He justifies, pulling up a video recorder on his display.

"I'm less easily distracted," she notes, "I don't want to ruin the natural beauty of this place, it's why we chose this area." She reminds him, trying not to lose her temper.

"I wanted to live out here so I could get an alpaca" Tony counters, "Just one little zap won't hurt the tree."

She scoffs, "Fine!" She flicks her wrist up towards the tree trunk, sending a massive blast of energy its way, tearing the tree in half with a terrible rip.

Pepper gasps, pulling her arm back as they both watch the top of the tree collapse into the lake, sending waves across the water.

She steps out of the suit and covers her face with her hands.

Tony comes up behind her and puts an arm around her shoulders, "I'll turn down the sensitivity, I think." He says jokingly, trying to lighten the mood, but she doesn't look up. He sighs and kisses her temple, "I'm sorry I got you worked up."

She slowly lowers her hands and wraps them around his waist, "I hope we never have to use this suit." She laments, resting her cheek on his shoulder.

He holds his wife close, "Me too."

He suddenly gets an alert on his display, flashing red across the screen.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Pepper worries, dropping her arms and turning towards the holo-display from his wrist.

Tony nods gravely, "I'm afraid so." He touches the alert, bringing him to a live feed of the nursery, "Morgan's awake." He dramatically, seeing their child restlessly rolling around in her crib.

Pepper sighs, "Well, I probably woke her up, so I'll go." She turns to head for the house.

He puts a hand on her shoulder, "I'll go. You can put Rescue back in the cabinet."

She smiles gratefully, kissing him on the cheek, "She doeslove her daddy's voice."

He kisses her back before treading towards the house, "Meet you in bed?" he calls back.

Nodding, she steps into the Rescue suit, "Definitely, I'm exhausted." She hovers her way into the garage.

Tony yawns, "Same. Might end up crashing in Morguna's rocking chair, on second thought."

By the time he reaches the garage, Pepper has already locked the suit away. "Then maybe I'll come with you, make it a sleepover."

He chuckles, "I think Morgan would really like that."