The Keeper of Infinity

Can we find her?

July 24, 2025; 5.30 pm; Surline Elementary School, USA

Being a woman was hard, Pepper had read somewhere and she whole-heartedly agreed. Being a mother was harder, she thought, because the mere idea of screwing up the new life she had given birth to was terrifying.

Being a single mother though was a journey that constantly tested you and your strengths. It wasn't an easy path and it definitely wasn't what Pepper had envisioned her life to turn out to be.

Pepper hadn't planned on being a single Mom — well, nobody did, she supposed.

In all honesty, she had never really imagined herself as a domestic woman. Her dreams, her aspirations, her ambitions were far too many and much too driven for her to ever allow herself the luxury to visualise a domesticated married life.

When Tony had adamantly fought his way into her equally stubborn heart, tackling himself a solid first place there despite her brain's horror, Pepper had nearly ruled the possibility of children out of her life. After all, Tony Stark wasn't a man that came to mind when one thought of a father.

And then she saw him be a mentor to Spiderman, she saw his constant efforts to not become his own father, his care for the boy, his love for the young superhero, and Pepper knew then, Tony would make an excellent Dad.

And he did.

The effortless and seamless manner in which Tony had slid into his role of a husband and a father was commendable. He had not only taken a step back from his active involvement as SI's R&D Head but also from his superhero duties just to devote more time to their daughter.

Morgan was probably the most loved child with her overprotective parents and equally overprotective uncles.

Tony had been a forgetful man, especially when he holed himself up in his lab, but till date, Pepper could not think of one instance where Morgan had wanted her Dad and he hadn't showed up.

Be it to pick her up after school or take her for ice-cream, be it to play dress up with her or to entertain her four-year-old brain's endless questions on what happened to day when night came and why it was called day and not something else.

Tony had always been there for Morgan and allowed Pepper the space to fulfil her role as SI's CEO.

Sometimes, Pepper wished Tony hadn't done that, if only so that leading their lives without him wouldn't be so damn difficult.

She knew she probably shouldn't but comparing herself as a parent to what Tony had been to Morgan, she only managed to feel like the worst mother to have ever walked the planet Earth.

Case in point: She was late to pick Morgan up from school. Again.

This was the fourth time in a row that she had made Morgan wait and it was not okay.

The worst part was Morgan wouldn't even complain, simply smile and launch into chattering away about her day. Pepper had once asked her why she didn't make a fuss for having to wait to be picked up like other kids her age would and her reply was that she understood that Pepper was busy with the Company and that she was trying her best.

Tony had taught that to Morgan apparently.

Pepper took a deep breath to avoid the tears that would inevitably well up in her eyes whenever she thought about Tony for more than a minute. It had been more than two years since that fateful day and she still couldn't talk about him without devolving into a panic attack.

She didn't think she'd ever heal from that nasty wound that left her heart gaping.

"Mommy!"

Pepper's lips spread into an automatic grin as the small figure of her six-year-old came bounding up to her, her short legs carrying her at her maximum speed as she clashed into her like a whirlwind of chaos. It was times like these where Pepper saw an abundance of her late husband in her daughter.