EPILOG

The lanky boy looked up, half-listening. He brushed the dark hair out of his eyes and impatiently looked at the car, waiting until the lecture died off.

"Okay, *okay* mom, I promise. I know the rules, I know about discretion and all that jazz. Now can I please, please have the car tonight?"

"What's the first rule about Diablo?" she prompted teasingly.

The boy rolled his eyes, smirking."The first rule about Diablo is we don't talk about Diablo," he shot back, making his mother laugh. She let the amusement fade a moment, and then reached over to touch his cheek, feeling the scanty, soft stubble there.

"Just hang on a few minutes more . . . I'm pretty sure your father will be home and he'd like to see this, you know."

"You guys are soooo . . ." the boy chuffed, "Sentimental. Seriously, I'm taking Lien down to the grill and a movie; it's not even twenty miles round trip!"

"Max," she chided, "Just a few minutes more. Besides, Diablo is more than good about making up lost time," she sighed wryly, "believe me."

"The night I was born story again?" the boy smirked. "You know nobody really believes it. They all think dad souped Diablo up with some fancy rocketry and remotes. Not one person actually believes the car did all the driving."

"With both of us in the back seat and me about to . . . pop you into the world? Diablo HAD to," she shuddered. "God, I wouldn't relive that part of the night for anything. Having *you* was the wonderful climax, but the lead-in left a LOT to be desired!"

It was, Pepper felt, the understatement of the decade.

"Is it true all three cats were with you too?"Max demanded.

"Yes," Pepper nodded, her mouth in a wry twist. "Oh yes. I had Jack wedged near my shoulder, Queenie yowling under the driver's seat and Ace riding shotgun in the passenger seat. Your father was—" She paused, not sure if she wanted to explain the bizarre position that has left her with one leg up against the back rest of the back seat and the other hooked around Tony's hip as he frantically pleaded with her to stop her from delivering the baby right then and there.

"Pre-occupied?" Max offered, and grinned. He looked so much like his father in that moment that Pepper felt her heart lurch.

Maximilian James Stark. Sixteen years old, with dark hair, freckles and long lanky limbs. Pepper didn't think she could love another person as much as she loved Tony Stark.

Max proved her wrong.

"Hey! Anybody home?" came Tony's cheerful call. He bounced down the stairs to the garage and pulled off his tie at the same time; Diablo gave a little muted honk of recognition, and from the heated cat bed, Jack, the lone survivor of the original trio, looked up, along with the new kitten Flush.

Tony took in the sight of his son leaning on Diablo's fender and sighed deeply; a surge of emotion welled up inside, but Max held up a hand, eyes bright. "Mom already gave me the entire lecture, complete with footnotes, a bibliography and a reading list, so . . . can I just go?"

"Sure," Tony nodded. "Diablo, curfew is twelve."

"Dad!" Max blurted. "It's a Friday!"

"You can stay out until one if you like," Tony agreed. "But the car's coming home by midnight, take it or leave it."

"Man," Max grumbled. "When *you* were my age you were partying until the sun came up."

"Look where it got me," Tony retorted cheerfully. "A party-boy screw-up who finally needed a hole blown in his chest to reconsider his priorities. You have—" he checked his wristwatch, "—six hours to put the moves on your date, so I'd get going if I was you, Maxinator my man."

The boy blushed, but gave his father a one-armed hug and caught the keys that Pepper tossed his way. Slipping into the driver's seat, Max whooped, turned the ignition and Diablo—pristine as ever, gleaming in the fluorescent light of the garage—roared to life.

Forever Young blasted out of the speakers.

Pepper came over to Tony and slipped an arm around him; he tightened his own grip around her waist.

"You okay?" he murmured.

"Yes," she replied, leaning her head on his shoulder. "I feel a lot better with him in Diablo instead of one of the other cars."

Tony nodded. He turned his head and lightly kissed Pepper's forehead. "So, we're all alone tonight . . . we might have to find something to do."

She laughed. "All right, I can think of a few things."

"Good," Tony replied, his voice in that low and intimate register she knew so well. "But we need to get to sleep early you know. We've got garage sales to hit tomorrow."

Pepper groaned through her grin, and lightly punched his arm.

END