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It was just two weeks until Charlotte's first birthday and it was becoming quite unbelievable at just how fast time was passing. Sometime in the early afternoon whilst Tony was in the middle of a full day of business meetings and interviews, Pepper had taken her husband's overly booked schedule to bring her work home. She was in the middle of completing Tony's portfolio and schedule for the next week of Stark Industries work when she heard Charlotte begin to grizzle from her playpen in the centre of the living room.
Marking her workplace, Pepper made her way over to where her daughter was having a rather intense conversation, in her language of course, with her yellow bear which had aptly been named Ro, after her Uncle Rhodey. Placing the child on her hip, Pepper bounced her lightly as she walked back over the couch and sat down. Charlotte did not seem to settle and started to fidget.
"What's wrong, Charlie?" The nickname had sort of happened by accident. Tony had said it once while trying to coax Charlotte into eating her lunch a couple of weeks ago and it simply stuck.
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- Three weeks previous -
Charlotte scrunched her face and grunted, twisted away from the offending spoon in front of her.
"Come on, baby. You have to eat something." Tony tried to coax her into at least licking the spoon. Granted, it did not look the most appealing food, nor did it smell great. He tried once more, but he soon found it to be in vain as the scoop of orange paste-like food landed on his t-shirt. "Okay." Tony sighed, raising an eyebrow at Charlotte as she giggled widely from her high chair. "Looks like we can cross carrot off the menu."
Dropping the spoon back into the car, he looked at the splash of orange again. He pulled his shirt out to inspect it further; giving it a smell, Tony found himself reacting in a similar fashion to his daughter. He exhaled, mouth closed tightly, and turned his head away from the stain. "Yeah, I don't blame you, kid. I don't know what that is, but it isn't a carrot." He grabbed the jar and threw it straight into the nearest trash. He sauntered over to the fridge and swung the door open. "Now then, Charlie. Let's make you some real food."
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Setting her keys and portfolio onto the table in the hallway, Pepper sighed heavily feeling the muscles in her shoulder tense, aching after her long day. "Tony?" She called, wandering further into the house. Due to the lack of response, she presumed her would be in his workshop or office, and Charlotte was taking a nap. That was until she heard music, laughter and mechanical whirring coming from the kitchen. Shifting her path towards the kitchen, Pepper followed the high and happy squeals; she rounded the corner and paused for a moment as she braced herself for the disaster zone that was her kitchen.
Stepping inside, she took a deep breath and feasted her eyes upon the scene before her.
The lack of smoke was reassuring, to say the least. Tony had pulled Charlotte's high chair up to the breakfast bar, and she was happily hitting a spoon on the tray table. "Tony," Pepper sighed as she cast her eyes on her husband standing over an open-topped blender that was filled almost to the brim with a suspicious-looking brown paste. "What is all this?"
"Oh, hey sweetheart." Tony quickly wiped a splash of the brown sludge from his arm and walked around the bar top. He wrapped his arms around her middle and placed a kiss on her head. "How was your day?"
"It was fine. What are you doing here?"
"We are making baby food." He motioned to the blender and then to Charlotte who was now sucking on her plastic spoon, seeming content. "Our daughter is quite the connoisseur, and quite literally turned her nose up at the 'carrot'", he placed these into air quotes, "flavoured slop, that was most definitely not carrot or edible".
"What is that?" Pepper motioned to the blender, half expecting it to begin to bubble. "I don't trust it when it's that colour."
"It tastes a lot better than it looks." Tony licked the spoon her was holding and licked his lips as if he had just created a five-star meal. "It's chicken, sweet potatoes, corn and a little bit of milk and blueberries for flavour." He casually explained, whilst placing some of the food into a bowl and setting it down in front of Charlotte once again.
"That's disgusting, you know that right?"
"Someone disagrees." Tony pointed towards his daughter who was now happily reaching towards the spoon as he fed her. Pepper walked to the blender and sniffed the concoction it held. She wrinkled her nose and turned her face away. "Everyone's a critic, aren't they Charlie?"
- Present-day -
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The news channel that was playing quietly in the background suddenly caught Pepper's attention, when a live video feed of Stark Industries flashed on the screen. The television was muted, but she watched as the cameras followed Tony and Obadiah Stane as they walked across the courtyard of the offices with a group of sharply dressed men. Pepper immediately recognised them as a group of potentially big investors Tony was scheduled to have a lengthy meeting with that afternoon. As a close-up image of her father flashed up on the screen, Charlotte began to wriggle in Peppers lap and with one arm extended, she thrust her small, chubby hand towards the television.
"Who is that?" Pepper cooed, placing Charlotte on the rug, smiling as she pulled out her phone knowing that Tony would appreciate the video at the end of his stressful day. Charlotte began to slowly crawl towards the TV, squealing happily to herself. "Who is it, Charlie?"
"Da."
Pepper stared at her daughter in amazement. "Did you just say, Da?" Charlotte had made it to the coffee table and had managed to pull herself up using the coffee table as leverage. She bounced happily and squealed. "Da! Da-da!"
Oh my god. Her first word. And of course, it had to be Da. Pepper laughed in astonishment, knowing that Tony would never let her live it down. "That's right, Charlie! That's Da-da!".
"Da-da?" Charlotte turned to look at Pepper with a puzzled look; she had to stop herself from laughing at how her daughter was getting steadily angry at Tony, through the screen, for not answering her. "Da-da! No!" Pepper had to stop recording after Charlotte threw her teddy bear in the direction of the TV.
"Charlotte, no. We do not throw things at Da-da." She stooped down and scooped her daughter into her arms, settling her stuffed toy back into her grasp. "No matter how much we want to at times."
