I do not own any of the named/recognizable characters present. They belong to Marvel. Other recognizable things belong to their respective owners. This was written purely for fun.

"Ready to head to bed?" Pepper whispered in his ear.

The battle had been a tough one, but in the end, the Avengers had succeeded. They had all been weary by the time they had finished the debriefing and had returned to the tower, though Tony had found the energy to sweep Pepper up into his arms and kiss her when she had announced that the order from a nearby Chinese place would be arriving shortly.

Empty cartons and drained water bottles now littered the coffee table in front of the sofa. On the television screen, the movie's end credits began to roll. It was only like seven in the evening, but with the fatigue from the fight, Tony was more than ready to call it a day.

Tony smiled and leaned in, his nose brushing against Pepper's cheek as he whispered back "Yeah."

Pepper and Tony carefully extracted themselves from the sofa. "Alright, guys," Tony began softly, "we're out."

Clint and Natasha glanced over at the couple from their place on the loveseat. "Good night," the spy bid them with a soft smile. The archer tossed them a loose salute before he settled back against the cushions.

"The night is still young," Thor commented quietly as he retrieved his water bottle from the ground next to the armchair he was seated on. "One more movie, perhaps?"

They all looked to Steve, who was settled on the other end of the sofa Pepper and Tony had just vacated. He was sitting comfortably, letting his fingers continue to absently card through Bruce's hair while the other man slept peacefully. Bruce had fallen asleep not long after they had finished eating and had settled in to watch the rest of their movie. When he had slumped against Steve, the super soldier had only smiled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders to get them both more comfortable.

Steve was smiling now as he glanced thoughtfully back at the screen. "One more movie," he agreed in a whisper so as not to wake up the man sleeping against him.

It was remarkable. Back before Bruce had been changed into a boy, he had very rarely fallen asleep in the presence of the team. Yet now, a month later after being changed back, this was the third time he had let himself fall asleep surrounded by the team, let alone fallen asleep against someone. The first and second times it had been Tony in Steve's position, acting as a body-pillow and playing with Bruce's hair while the other man slept. It was astounding, seeing how far Bruce had come in the past month.

The thought that Bruce was feeling comfortable enough to fall asleep against their friends made Tony smile. It would still take time for him to truly accept his place with them, but it was a start.

Tony let his fingers tangle with Pepper's. "Good night, everyone," he said before he and Pepper moved silently toward the elevators. Tony stole one last look at Bruce's slumbering form before they both slipped into the lift to return to the penthouse.

They rode up in silence and Tony let himself be led out of the elevator by Pepper. They walked down the hall toward their bedroom, where they both started getting ready for bed.

"You know it's only seven, right?" Tony asked as he pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms. He watched her take the elastic tie out of her hair that had been holding her bun in place all afternoon. "You don't need to cut your night short."

"Oh, I know," Pepper replied, brushing her hair out, "but I know you sleep better when I'm with you." She then gestured with the brush over to the tablet sitting on the nightstand next to her side of the mattress. "I have some emails I need to catch up on."

Once her hair was brushed smooth, Pepper retreated into the bathroom to start removing her makeup. Tony lingered next to the mattress for a moment before he headed out of the room to grab two bottles of water.

On the way back to the room, however, he paused in the hallway.

A few minutes later, he felt Pepper come up behind him and wrap her arms around him. He leaned back into her warmth and they stayed like that for a few silent heartbeats, both of them looking down the hall toward where Bruce's room once was.

"You miss him," Pepper breathed softly against him, holding him a little tighter.

Tony couldn't very well deny that. "I do," he replied quietly after a moment, still staring down the hall he had walked so many times during that six week period. Memories of tucking that little boy in and wishing him a fond good night, whispers of I love you being traded between the three of them, all flashed through his head.

Even the painful memories of cradling the crying child after a nightmare passed through his head, but he couldn't help but look back on everything fondly.

"I do miss him," Tony said again before he carefully turned in Pepper's arms, until they were standing flush against one another. He wrapped his arms around her and returned the embrace, kissing her softly. "…but I think I miss the relationship we had shared more."

A knowing smile touched Pepper's lips. "The father-son relationship?" she asked unnecessarily.

Tony knew his answering smile was touched with longing. "Yeah," he answered honestly. "I had always thought that was something I could do without, something I never wanted, but…"

"That was before you experienced it first-hand," Pepper finished for him. When he gave a nod, another small smile crossed Pepper's face. "You know," she went on, "before everything that had happened, I never thought you'd be ready to be a father, but now?" She paused, her smile growing until it was this gorgeous thing that filled the hall with warmth and made Tony's heart flutter. "Now I see I was wrong."

Tony smiled and leaned in a little closer. "Yeah?"

Pepper closed the space between them and pressed a soft kiss against his lips. "Yeah," she replied in a whisper. "You'll make a wonderful father."

The words sent happiness radiating through his body and Tony kissed her again. "And you'll make a wonderful mother," he returned. He hesitated for a moment before he looked her in the eye. "Is…Is that something you're still interested in doing, somewhere down the line? Raising a kid? Starting a family?"

Pepper smiled and held him a little tighter, holding off in answering for a moment as she glanced back down the hall. "I miss it, too," she answered softly, "the bond we had shared. It…It was nice, having that mother-son relationship."

Tony felt something in him tighten in anticipation. He couldn't help but be taken back to that moment they had discussed this the first time, when they had been sitting on the sofa together while the little boy had been taking a bath. He remembered imagining a life—their life—with a child in the picture.

Their child.

When Pepper's eyes returned to his, Tony felt himself fall a little more in love with her.

"We still need to really talk it through," she finally answered quietly, "and I don't think we're ready for it quite yet."

But then another one of those beautiful smiles touched her lips, and she leaned in to press those smiling lips against his in a tender, loving kiss.

When they broke apart and met each other's eyes again, Pepper smiled again. "But it is something I'm very interested in doing with you."

Love and happiness blossomed in his core, and Tony felt like he could burst. He beamed and pulled her into another kiss.

Together, they finally walked back into their bedroom. Before climbing under the covers, Tony found himself staring at the newly framed drawing hanging on the wall nearby. It had only been hanging for maybe two weeks, but after they had gotten Bruce's go-ahead to hang it up, Tony hadn't wasted any time. It was the same drawing of everyone together, with little Bruce sitting in front of adult Bruce.

Tony couldn't wait to have more drawings like that from their own little boy or girl.

After sharing one last kiss with Pepper, Tony lay down. The fatigue from the battle earlier in the day was catching up with him. When Pepper settled on the mattress, sitting up against the headboard and answering some work emails, Tony threw his arm over her legs and let his forehead rest against her hip.

Drawing a breath, Tony turned his head enough to glance up at Pepper. "Think we can start talking about it tomorrow?" he asked softly.

Pepper peeked down at him, and that same gorgeous smile touched her lips. She let her hand card through his hair, lightly scratching at his scalp that had Tony humming contentedly. "Tomorrow," she promised softly. "Get some sleep, sweetheart."

Tony hummed again and settled against the mattress again. "Love you, Pepper," he breathed as he let his eyes slip shut.

He could have sworn he felt the room warm up as she let her fingers continue to play with his hair. "I love you, too," she whispered.

Tony smiled and let himself slip away into sleep, thinking of what tomorrow would bring.

A/N: Oh man, this has been such a crazy ride. Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with me throughout this story. This has seriously been such a pleasure to write, and I can hardly believe it's over. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment and to even push that Kudos button. Your feedback never failed to make me smile. But perhaps most importantly, thank you to everyone who decided to give this story a shot and gave it a read. Seriously, thank you so much.

If you're interested in seeing what else I have planned, you can always find me on my tumblr, as shown on my homepage here. Thank you so much for reading!