The Secrets of Petra (Parker) Stark

26

"Hey, Pep. If you find this recording, don't post it on social media. It's gonna be a real tear jerker." Tony leaned against the ship as he spoke into his helmet, which was currently recording him. "I don't know if you're ever gonna see these. I don't know if you're still... Gosh, I hope so. 

"Today's day twenty-one. No, uh, twenty-two. You know, if it wasn't for the existential terror of staring into the literal void of space, I'd say, physically, I'm feeling a little better today. Infection's run it's course thanks to the blue meanie back there. Oh, you'd love her. Very practical. Only a tad bit sadistic. 

"So, the fuel cells were cracked during battle and we figured out a way to reverse the ion charge... and bought ourselves about forty-eight hours of flight time. Uh, but it's now dead in the water. Thousands of light-years away from the nearest seven-eleven. Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning and that'll be it. It would've been easier to die with the rest. Is that terrible to say?

"Pep, I know I said no more surprises, but I gotta say I was really hoping to pull off one last one. But it looks like, well you know what it looks like. The worst part? She died in my arms. Poof. Gone. In her last breath she apologized. She apologized. For what? Why couldn't it have taken me instead?" 

Tony closed his eyes. "Please know, that when I drift off, I'll be thinking of you. Always about you. I love you." Tony clicked off the recording. Then he laid down right where he was and closed his eyes for what would most likely be the last time.

-

Everything in the compound trembled. Pepper and Natasha looked up in alarm. Pepper was the first one out the door, quickly followed by Rhodey, Steve, Bruce and Natasha. A giant space ship was coming towards them, seemingly carried by a glowing blonde woman. The woman set down the spaceship and stopped glowing. She looked at them with worry in her eyes. 

The door at the bottom of the ship opened, turning into stairs going to the ground. At the top of it stood Tony, supported by a blue woman. Steve immediately sprinted up to Tony and took him from the woman. He held Tony by the shoulder and the arm to help the obviously battered and malnourished man. 

"I couldn't stop him," Tony said softly.

"Neither could I," Steve replied, equally as soft.

"Is, uh, is..." Answering his unasked question, Pepper ran up to them, finally having gotten over her shock. "Oh, good."

Pepper pulled Tony into a hug as she sobbed into his shoulder, relieved that he was home.

Tony kissed her on the cheek. "It's okay."

-

Twenty-three days. 

It had been twenty-three days since the snap. Fifty percent of all living beings on the universe disappeared. Gone. 

Tony laid in a hospital bed in the med-bay. Pepper held his hand as Bruce connected the IV bag to his arm. Once Bruce was gone, Pepper asked, "What happened to her?"

"I sent her home," Tony said weakly. "She followed anyways. She fought. She was amazing. You would've been proud of her. Then... We lost. One by one, everyone began disintegrating and she... She felt it before it happened because of her senses. She was in so much pain. Begged me, 'Dad I don't wanna go.'" Tony choked back a sob. "I couldn't save her."

Tears flowed freely down Pepper's cheeks. She gripped his hand tightly as they both mourned. 

What was probably hours later, once the tears dried up, Pepper told Tony what she had been waiting to tell him since they were interrupted at the park. She moved his hand to rest on her stomach. "I'm pregnant."