So I guess I have to toss a slight rating warning out there...this Oneshot does push the envelope a tad, and is rated pg-13. It has a suggestive ending, but nothing graphic or anything like that. I don't write that kinda stuff, so if that's what you're looking for, sorry lol :) 

That being said, this chapter is all kinds of emotional, and I had such an amazing time writing this and I secretly pray that this is what actually happened in the five year gap. Also, no specific POV, it kind of switches back and forth a lot sorry hehe

Well, pepperony fanatics,
Enjoy. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The newlyweds have escaped.

They took the first flight out of New York just hours after their small, warm reception, retreating to a cabin somewhere in the forests of Virginia.

Pepper knows he's mentally exhausted by the evening of the first night when he allows himself to wander – not to anywhere in particular – he just aimlessly paces throughout their obnoxiously large thirty-one-hundred square foot cabin (that Tony insisted on renting), looking desperately for something to do. It's a habit he's never broken, something that Pepper was quickly forced to adjust to when she committed to a relationship with Tony Stark. He's anxious and fidgety because he doesn't have his lab to work in, doesn't have his trinkets and toys to play around with into the ungodly hours of the night, and he doesn't even have FRIDAY, the feminine AI that he imagines to look just like Pepper.

It was even worse after Thanos. He returned to Earth an outwardly similar man, yet on the inside he was very, very different – he was up and about earlier than what was considered normal for the otherwise nocturnally cognitive man. On the rare occasion that Tony came to bed with Pepper, she'd feel a shift in weight on the bed somewhere around 3:30 every morning, before Stark would vanish behind the door and meander for hours on end, insisting on fixing things that arguably didn't need it.

Two months ago, Pepper awoke to their blinding bathroom light. She had sat up, rubbing her eyes to be sure that she wasn't seeing things – that her significant other – who had only recently recovered from severe malnutrition and life-threatening dehydration – was scrubbing the tile floors of the master bath.

"Stained," he had said, his deep voice laced with evident exhaustion. Even though she couldn't see his face from where she sat on the bed, she knew his eyes were heavy and his lips formed a frown. He was on his hands and knees with his back turned to Pepper, scrubbing the flooring with a surprisingly fervid intensity that told Pepper that his mind was racing.. It was an unusual sight, to say the least, as it wasn't often that Tony found himself competing house chores. "It's stained. They're not clean," he insisted.

She nodded although he obviously couldn't see her. She struggled to recall any specific time that their floors had been stained or even partially damaged. Pepper decided that it wasn't in her best interest to protest, so she willed herself to stay awake until he came back to bed.

He never did.

Their Honeymoon-getaway was far from relaxing for Tony; he had been restless ever since his propitious return, and even in the months following their defeat against the Mad Titan, he'd struggled with focusing on much of anything else, which was most likely the reason for his sudden ADD.

Much like his body, his eyes were never still, they were always wandering the walls, climbing the stairs or tracing shapes in the crevices on the ceilings. His knee bounced whenever he sat down for dinner with Pepper, and he could never look at something too long before his eyes get "bored," as he always put it.

But she knows that he struggles with everything that's happened. The weight of his failures squashes him like the insect he claims himself to be, and she knows that he's hit rock bottom when he doesn't jump from the couch after Pepper declares that she's taking a hot bath before turning in for the night. That evening, only the third night into their Honeymoon, she sat alone in the tub, silently hoping that Tony would crack open the door and join her for the sole reason of putting her aching heart at ease.

And he does walk in. Only, his clothing stays on and he treads right passed her without a second glance, instead going to the sink and washing his face. He leans against the counter with his head in his hands as the faucet gushes dramatic amounts of water down the drain. His black blazer and trousers are almost loose on him; even after he gained back most of the weight he had lost while adrift in space, he was still skinnier than he'd been prior to the raging shitstorm that had fully derailed the billionaire genius. Everything about him, from the way he walked to the way he talked told anyone with eyes that he was drained, both mentally and physically. He'd lost his way and Pepper had done everything in her power to get him back on his feet.

Well, almost everything.

Once again, she's shunned to silence and she sinks lower in the immaculate porcelain tub, twisting her wedding ring around her finger several times under the water as the painful silence settles uncomfortably between the married couple. Her thoughts drift, then fade away altogether as the faucet twists off and he leaves her, soaking in the suds of the tub that suddenly seem chillingly colder.

She's nothing if not disturbed by the pure sadness of the encounter, and the sinking in her gut intensifies. She stays in the tub ten times longer than she normally would, perhaps thinking that the water would magically cleanse her of her sorrows and of her guilt. She was deeply let down to find that her hopes were in vain.

Nothing else to do, she recalls a moment she'd shared just minutes before he was whisked away with who Pepper now knew to be Dr. Stephen Strange. Just after he had promised her no more surprises, one literally came strutting out of a portal.

Pepper remembers Tony's words like he'd spoken them only yesterday, maybe because to her it was only yesterday - words like this could not be so easily forgotten.

"Last night, I dreamt, we had a kid. It was so real."

He desperately wanted it to be real, more so than he thought Pepper was aware of. Both knew that was the genuine reason he'd brought the topic up discreetly in mid-conversation. It had shocked her, at first, though she'd spend the next month constantly wondering what she might have done differently had she known Tony would come so close to dying only hours later. He had wanted to have a child with her because he loved this woman more than anything in the known universe, and then in the blink of an eye, he vanished. She regretted every toxic thing she had ever said to him, every moment she'd wasted outside of his arms, and cursed herself for every time she allowed his subtle pleads for help go unnoticed. It was a cycle she was used to, however.

Potts had been gifted a horrid pain in her chest that had become so dreadfully familiar since she'd been in a relationship with Tony Stark – there had been many, many, times that Pepper, like Tony, would succumb to sleepless night, constantly worried sick that she would wake up the next morning only to find that he was gone. The memorable feeling sends shivers racing down her spine and she squeezes her eyes shut.

When she finally climbs out of the tub and dresses loosely in flannel button-up pajamas, she's feeling more apologetic for Tony than usual. Exiting the bathroom, she carefully paces into the kitchen, in search of her spouse.

She finds him by the fire in the living room, the flames hissing and growling into the cool night air that surrounded the "Invincible Iron Man," as the nickname went. She assumed people would be shocked to find that he wasn't as invincible as the world made him seem – in the public eye, Tony Stark was the untouchable, snarky, genius that was the man inside the metal can; but behind closed doors, he let down his walls and his true colors shone so agonizingly bright that his unmoving demeanor was almost blinding.

She took a seat next to him. His gaze was blank and almost lifeless as he eyed the burning orange and red flames, the only light shed in a room of almost total darkness, aside from a small tableside lamp. He hadn't shaved since they'd arrived, and she knew it was because it had simply slipped his mind. Ever the upkept person he was, it was rare that Tony forgot to tend to his outward appearance, be it sculpting his flawless trademark goatee or having his many blazers ironed or his trousers pressed. Lately though, he seemed to care less and less about what he looked like. Pepper still hadn't figured out if that was a good or a bad thing.

He surprised even himself when he started talking to her, although his voice was low and his eyes, for once, didn't move.

"Sorry," he mumbled; it was the only thing he said before he paused in anticipation of her response.

Sorry. It was a word he'd grown so accustomed to, and a word he primarily said to Pepper, and twice to Aunt May. In his previous life the man had no shame – he felt no remorse, no guilt. He could do no wrong. Now, however, the tables had turned.

It was a word that still felt odd in his mouth, and he wasn't used to hearing the one syllable-phrase fall from his lips. He thought about it a lot, though – all the things he was sorry for. All the people he was sorry for.

Pity – shameless self-pity is mainly what it was.

"What for?" his bride had responded. Her voice was flat and monotone, although he could tell that the emotionless sound was intentional. She was trying to piece him together, and she often succeeded.

"Earlier," was once again, a one-word response from the inventor.

Pepper's lips formed a tiny 'o' as she looked away from his features, realizing he'd been referring to their moment - or lack thereof - in the bathroom. It didn't bother her though...well, at least not in the way he probably imagined. What had truly concerned her about the situation was his visible lack of interest, as it was only once in a blue moon that Tony Stark turned down the "horizontal tango," (as he put it) even if something was nagging at his conscience.

"Don't be," she said, wrestling to keep her voice as flat as possible. "You're usually the one that pursues that type of thing," she spoke. "So much so, that it upset me that you didn't."

"Still," be persists, chestnut eyes glued permanently to the sizzling fireplace. Oddly enough, he tries for a smile that's intended to be comforting, but Pepper, as usual, sees right through it. "This is our god damn Honeymoon," he continues. "We...I...have better things to be doing than moping around."

As much as she wants to giggle at his remark, the opportunity slips through her fingers as she starts. "I think we both know that you're perfectly entitled to feel a little beaten, Tony." He frowns. "Whether or not you'll admit it, is another story," she quickly adds.

They both pause, listening as the fire continues to sizzle and pop quietly in the background. The silence isn't awkward, no, it's just...there. A lingering hesitance between the two as they await one another's next words. In the end, he's the first one who decides to act. It's a simple touch, as he gently places his hand on her shoulder, draping his arm across the back of the couch. "I love you, you know that, right?"

"Tony, if I didn't know that for sure, we wouldn't be sitting here right now." She laughs softly.

"You have no idea how grateful I am," he starts, and she shoots him a quizzical glance.

"I do, actually," is her light, cautious response. Pepper is treading awfully deep waters and she's fully aware of it. "You're not the only one who got really lucky." She pauses and considers the hand that is still lingering on her shoulder, drawing tiny circles on the fabric of her pajamas. She places her hand on top of his, and the cool sensation of his platinum wedding band sends a slight shiver across her skin; she welcomes the feeling.

With a soft smile she elects to speak again, as she notices Tony's drifting gaze, a tell-tale sign that his thoughts are beginning to run wild. "You need to stop blaming yourself."

"How can I not?" he retorts with an undertone of defeated anger. "You weren't there, Pep." His voice is soft. "I had to sit there and watch as this kid died in my arms, pleading with me to make it stop. He had his entire life ahead of him, Pepper...I've lived most of my life, just tell me how that's fair-"

"Hey," she sternly cuts him off. "You had a lot to come back to, too, don't doubt that for a second."

"I don't," he quickly replies. "Pepper, you're the most important thing in my life. You think I wanted to be on that spaceship? There was nothing more I wanted than to be having dinner with you that night, just like we'd planned; but as I sat there, waiting to turn to a heap of ashes, I thought to myself, 'she could be gone, too.' And that was the scariest part, not knowing that if I survived, there was a hell of a good chance that you wouldn't be there if I got back. That alone was enough of a motivator – I wouldn't have cared if I-"

"Stop." Her eyes close softly, and she wrestles a steady breath into her lungs. She doesn't want to think about what was going through his head right then, and hearing him say out loud that he was ready to die . . . it was too much. With a slow sigh, she says, "Tony, I've had to deal with 'not knowing' for as long as I've been with you. Every time you left the house, there was a risk; and I never knew, had no way of knowing if you would come back or if I would wake up one morning and find out you weren't coming home."

"I know," he lightly replies. "And that's not fair to you, I knew that every time I went out there, but-"

"You can't stop," she finishes for him, as a sad smile emerges on her face. His grip tightens on her shoulder as he casts a sorrowful look in her direction. The silence tells Pepper that he agrees. She looks deep into those dark irises, that are glazed with a mix of total surrender and absolute exhaust; Pepper isn't sure if it's the casting yellow glow of the fire, but his eyes appear slightly glassy, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and every piece of him was slowly cracking under the pressure. She yearns for him to feel better about himself, wishes he could see just how much he's done for trillions. Even if he lost, he had still been there, prepared to fight to the death and put everything he loved on the line.

He examines her as well; her soft gaze, warm features illuminated by the heat of the hissing fire. Pepper's delicacy with him has never ceased to amaze Tony; her sincerity and love was like nothing he'd ever received before. Stark can't imagine living the rest of his life without her with him, as the person who keeps him grounded and the one he can love unconditionally. "After all this, there's still you," he says, more to himself than anything, but apparently, she hears because her head tilts to the side and she furrows her brows. "It'll always be you."

Tony is taken by surprise when she kisses him gingerly on the lips, just a slight caress that reminds him that he's right...that it's always her, and it always will be. When she pulls away, Stark is hugging her, wrapping his arms around her body and drawing her near, relishing in the comforting warmth she emits and breathing in the smell of her still slightly damp hair. Pepper nuzzles her way into the crook of his neck to find her favorite perch, resting against his chest and curling into his frame.

For a while, it is silent. The newlyweds huddle close on the sofa as the burning fire slowly begins to burn out. He places a tender kiss to the top of her head, his arms trailing up and down her back in delicate caresses. Tony is still again until Pepper pulls herself away from her favorite spot and kisses him again, slower, with more passion, taking his face in her hands and guiding him to her lips.

He responds with equal fervor, as his fists bunch in her pajamas. However, the kiss is far from needy – it is nothing intense or lustful; it's affectionate and filled with understanding, a revelation that they share and a harmful disclosure that does nothing but bring them closer together. Pepper shifts her weight against him, both in perfect sync as she pushes back on his shoulders, coherant thoughts escaping her because she's lost in the feel of their lips pressed so familiarly together.

When oxygen comes calling, they pull apart briefly but their eyes remain closed, gulping in the air they need before finding one another again. Heat stirs in both of their stomachs and before Pepper knows, Tony is slowly and steadily standing them up.

It's familiar and new at the same time; the couple's been together for years, and these are roads they've long walked down; only, the certain circumstances that have surrounded the past few months have made everything suddenly and drastically different. They're more sincere and innocent than they've ever been, as this time these affirmations and touches aren't for pleasure but instead a suppliant of faith; a dire belief that things will turn around and that optimism will soon return.

Tony kisses her one last time before he's lifting her up bridal style, hoisting Pepper up by the underside of her knees. It's awkward at first, and he grunts not because she's heavy but because he's gotten older and he's not as strong as he used to be. He manages to slowly walk them up the small flight of stairs, albeit her feet bump and slide against the wall for their entire treck, as the staircase is uncomfortably narrow. Her left hand is pressed to his chest and her nose is nuzzling his neck all the way up, almost as if she's checking to make sure his heart is still beating. He hardly notices.

He masterfully collapses them comfortably on the bed, something years of practice has taught him. Their eyes lock before Pepper pulls him to her by the lapels of his blazer, claiming what's rightfully hers, and their lips mold together in a way only inseparable lovers can.

Tony doesn't grin or slyly smile like he normally does so she decides to do it for him, and her soft, pink lips barely form the shadow of a toothless grin just as he angles his head to kiss her again. Pepper is being slow and a lot gentler, because she knows after years of surrounding herself with this complicated man that stability is something he never admits he needs.

His knees are on either side of her hips, whether he's pressing them together involuntarily or not is debatable. His eyes are no longer empty, instead replaced with life and unmistakable adoration. His calloused hands are oddly cautious and tender, treading familiar waters as their fingers interlock and are pressed to the mattress at their sides. The feel of their wedding rings is still unfamiliar, but the sensation is entirely welcome by the both of them as a dawning realization of their intimate and long-lasting connection.

Pepper shifts underneath his masculine, aging, frame, her hands escaping his as her nails draw invisible lines up and down the length of his clothed back. They're barely caresses; merely dainty touches that are meant to keep Tony conscious of the reality of the situation; the realness of her presence and the permanence of her love.

Eventually, she tugs at his blazer as he cues in on her desire, and shrugs the piece of clothing off of his shoulders before diving down to meet her again, letting his lips wander across her skin. They know each other like well-studied maps and both of them know it – after all, it's been what...eleven years? Twelve?

The couple kisses like it's the last thing they'll ever do, which only intensifies the impact of the moment for Tony, because it very well could be true; that being with the one person he cares for more than his own life is the only thing he wants as he's laying on his death bed; for her to be there, at his side, to the very end.

Tony has never been one-hundred percent sure of anything he's done in his lifetime; alternatively so, it's now that he decides that the undeniable love he has for the softhearted, gorgeous woman in front of him is the one thing in his life that's he's certain about.

He only slightly hesitates as Pepper's curious hands move south. Almost as if by instinct, he mumbles against her the three words that had become so familiar to the pair, it was comparable to reciting the ABC's.

"On the pill?"

It was rather pointless . . . Pepper was almost always on the pill anyway, and not for the reason one might think; it was mainly due to medical reasons they had yet to disclose to anyone outside of themselves. Plus, it was common sense to be prepared for this type of thing whilst on your Honeymoon.

But then he heard her firm reply and pulled them apart almost immediately.

"No," she boldly says.

No?

"Unusual for you," he remarked curiously before he rocks back on his knees to lean over to the nightstand.

He's quickly confused, however, when Pepper grabs onto his wrist mid-reach to the drawer, her nails pressing hard enough into his skin to create tiny crescent moons on the back of his hand. She instead decides to tug the two of them close again, twining their fingers together as Tony is pulled back to her. "No," she reaffirmed, although her tone was far from stern and instead sounded soft and almost comforting.

It took him a moment, but the second her eyes sparkled, and her lips found the sleek, cool metal of his wedding band, the light bulb went off in his head; when he realized just exactly what she had meant, understood the gravitation of what she had just offered to him, offered for him –

His heart had already been pounding, only now it was throbbing heavily in the back of his throat and he forced himself to swallow the growing lump and bite back the oncoming urge to cry.

He was genuinely surprised, something Tony Stark rarely felt and was hardly used to. He was at a total loss for words, something else that was strangely foreign to him, as he found himself staring down at his wife, fingers still resting against Pepper's thin, impossibly soft lips.

Her eyes were knowing and glimmering with anticipation and even slight desperation as she patiently awaited his response. She could see the wheels turning in his head, hear his mind going a million miles a minute.

He wasn't sure how long he'd paused in shock, but the next words to fall from his lips did so in a voice hardly above a whisper.

"Pepper, are you sure?"

"I'm sure," she murmurs back as her hand tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck pulls his lips to hers once again.

She was more than sure. She knew what he wanted and part of her wanted it as well, and if there was anything tony needed right now, it was for one of his wishes to come true; or at least allow it to.

"I love you," he mumbles against her.

"You better," is her response.

~~~

They awoke the next morning entangled in each other's embrace; Tony held the world in his arms; this woman was singlehandedly the most important thing that had ever happened to him.

The first thing he'd said to her after she'd woken up, was "I love you." Quickly following, though, was a comment about the marks she'd left on his back, to which she chuckled heartily and placed a chaste kiss right onto his swollen lips. He buried his face in her neck, breathing in her scent, the smell of home. She hummed in content, accepting the arm around her waist with a broad smile, grasping his hand in hers and drawing it tighter around her frame.

Their hearts were beating in sync, faint smiles outline their faces; if there's one thing Tony's learned in his life, it's that scars are painful reminders of the past, but with time, and the right person, they can heal. In Tony's case, he'd become the luckiest of them all. He'd found himself a woman that somehow knew him inside and out, someone who loved him for everything he was; there was nothing he desired more than to settle down with this miracle in the making and start a family. Perhaps, if he tried hard enough, he could forget about what had happened in the past. After all, there was nothing he could do to change it, right?

"Thank you," he mumbled happily into her hair.

She broadly smiled, even though he couldn't see it. Instead of answering, she kissed the hand that was tightly wound around hers. It was nice to hear him content for a change.

"I love you, Pepper."

"I love you more, Tony," she says even though he doesn't believe her. There's no possible way anyone could love anything as much as he loved his Pepper. It was something that couldn't be put into words – how much he cared for this one person, all the things he'd do to keep her safe.

It seemed only fitting that Pepper would find out only weeks later, that she was indeed, pregnant. She told him on a peaceful, December night, and he was shocked and so ungodly happy that he'd even allowed a few tears to escape. Rhodey and Happy were the next two to get the news; Happy was shockingly stupendously ecstatic, which surprised Tony and Pepper, strangely enough. Rhodey was looking forward to being an uncle, and he'd be the best one ever, according to the colonel.

Pepper, too, was over the moon; she was going to be a mother, and Tony a father; she was going to have a baby with the love of her life – nothing could possibly live up to that. Maybe they – he – was finally getting the happy ending she knew he deserved.

Still, though, despite everyone's elation, no one was more overjoyed than Tony.