In the last three hours, Tony had gone from locking himself in his room to doing the exact same thing in the lab. Bruce had fed and hydrated Pepper while waiting for the arrival of his redheaded partner. At least Pepper could already make use of her own bed, the problem was that Banner didn't want to see Tony in the lab while he was drunk, so he used the main room as a reading center. He had genetic books, mutations, and pregnancies scattered all over the coffee table, but he was reading the second title of genetic mutations that had fallen into his hands. The clock struck seven.

"Wow, anyone who sees you would think that you are the one who is going to be a father" the spy tried not to startle him too much and then looked at the books on the coffee table. Bruce took off his glasses and set his book aside.

I wish, the physicist thought.

"Natasha," the scientist looked tired. "I did not hear you arrive."

"Missed me, Doc?" She walked to where Banner was sitting and touched him affectionately on the shoulder in greeting, before getting behind him and recharging her arms on the back of the couch. Bruce just gave her a tired smile, happy to have someone to share his stress with. "So, how is your research going?"

"I'm not sure if I should be scared or if the reading reassures me, although I still have a lot to read."

"When is Stark planning to act?" The girl didn't know if she should knock out the playboy now or if she had to wait.

"He gave me a month and a half to wait for the baby to grow bigger so I can perform a DNA analysis."

They both stared at the stack of books in silence for a few moments. Natasha wondered if she should also start reading them, but she let out a soft sigh and looked at Banner.

"You're not reading anything you don't know already, Bruce..."

"I am preparing for the worst ... Tony can separate the virus from his DNA if it's the same one that was injected to Pepper and hasn't mutated, but even if it has, the baby should be able to adapt to it…. I hope. We have to be able to figure this out…."

"But…?" The Russian looked carefully at the man in front of her.

"He received the virus at an early stage of its development, so he may accept it and mix with it, which would make a separation impossible because it would kill him. I am reading this to see if I can make a scheme that will help me to act if the case arose" he looked frustrated at the floor. "I don't know what I'm going to do with Tony if that happens.

"How much does Pepper know? " The redhead asked. During the time she pretended to be his assistant, Pepper was the closest thing to a friend she had, aside from Laura.

"She assumes that the baby can become unstable over time, just as it could have happened to her. This situation may not last even a month."

"Well, I'm here now. I'll see what I can do with Tony when he is not that drunk. I also think I know what to do to cheer Pepper" now she was smiling, largely to reassure him. If things went wrong, at least Pepper deserved to enjoy those days without Tony reeking of alcohol and Bruce not being on the verge of having a green code.

"Oh God ... did you go through the lab?" He covered his face with his hands, in frustration. As much as he loved Tony as a brother, he knew that if he went beyond the assassin's patience things could go VERY bad.

"I just took a look. He is completely asleep and everything has an aroma to whatever it is that has him so drunk these hours. I threw a half-full bottle to the trash and plan to remove all the liquor in the tower from his reach, at least until things calm down."

"Thanks Natasha, really."

The next morning, Anthony had a severe headache and a dry throat. He spent the night on the lab floor and his whole body was protesting in pain. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he encountered was a girl with reddish hair sitting cross-legged on a chair in front of him.

"I think I took too much" the engineer sat up and sat on the floor watching her.

"You think?" The assassin looked at him coldly.

"And now it's talking to me" Tony got up awkwardly and looked at the bottles he had left on the floor, mentally reading the brand. "Jarvis, don't let me buy those bottles again." Natasha got up and pinched Tony's side, to which Tony responded with a pained gesture. "Oh no, she's real."

"If you do something to Pepper I'll break you a rib."

"Excuse me, do something to Pepper? I'm trying to save her!" The engineer was starting to get irritated and his headache became slightly worse.

"By getting drunk?" Natasha arched an eyebrow "Yes, now I see why she is so worried."

"Look Romanoff, I needed a distraction, ok? Brucie won't let me do anything" the man ran a hand through his hair.

"Pepper won't let you either because she is not willing to lose it. You fixed her, right? You can do the same with your son."

"Not if it becomes unstable. Why doesn't anyone understand it?" Tony hit one of the lab's desks. The tone of his voice was strong and deep. He seemed on the verge of crying in frustration "I'm not upset because Peps is going to have my child, I'm upset because I could lose both of them and nobody lets me do anything!" A chair flew out thanks to a strong kick from him. Natasha sighed.

"Tony ..." she looked at the man from top to bottom, but he had the body almost with his back to her, with his hand covering his mouth, under which he bit his lips hard, and a fist resting on his hip. " We are not trying to kill Pepper. We are trying to save both of them. And Stark, you should be with her, she feels very lonely."

" … I'll try. But first I need bottled value" Stark set out to find another bottle outside the lab, but before he could leave Natasha interrupted him.

"Good luck" the girl smiled to herself, already wanting to see it when he doesn't find a single drop of alcohol in the whole building. Oh and Tony, if you think about seeing Pepper" she gave him a critical look "take a shower before."

There was not a single corner Tony had not searched for. And there he was sitting on the kitchen floor, his head leaning on the counter.

"Natasha!" The man shouted, as if he had discovered a child doing a prank, but didn't get an answer.

He got up quickly and went down to the rooms in order to find her, but each and every one of them was empty, although perhaps if he didn't have a hangover it would have occurred to him to ask Jarvis, who conveniently remained silent. He then went to the laboratory to check if by chance she was there, but the one he found was Bruce, who looked at some papers while waiting for the distillation of a blue liquid.

"Bruce, have you seen Natasha?" Tony poked his head through the glass door.

"I think she said she was taking Pepper for a walk" the scientist didn't look away from his notes, still focused on them.

"Well… I suppose it'll have to wait". Bruce didn't answered. Tony gave him a second glance and then headed for the coffee maker. "We still have coffee, right?"

"Last I checked."

Tony made himself coffee when he saw Bruce's mug and decided to make him tea. He knew he had been a jerk, with both his girlfriend and his science-bro. He took a long sip to his coffee before he went to sit beside the physicist. He let the mug close to him.

"Herbal, no sugar." That got Bruce's attention. He accepted it with a tiny smile. "Look, I… I am sorry. About yesterday, I mean. You know, for being… me."

"I'm not mad at you for being you, Tones," Bruce took his glasses off and looked directly in Tony's eyes. "I'm mad at you because you didn't even thought about it. Because getting rid of a baby crossed your mind. Your baby."

"I know, I just…. I don't know what to do, Bruce. I lost her once. Everytime I sleep I see her falling into an endless fire pit, over and over again, and it gets away only when I wake up and I can see her there."

"I… I know, Tony," Bruce reached out and put a hand in the shoulder of the engineer. "I know you are scared, but… I also know we can solve this mess in other ways," Tony half smiled him.

"That's kind of the same thing Nat said."

"And you know," Bruce crossed his arms and leaned again in his chair " I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

" I screwed up too much this time, didn't I?" he asked with a grimace.

"I didn't said anything," Bruce raised his hands in surrender.

" I guess I have to go and clean my mess now," Tony got up and started to head for the exit.

"Wait, I was going to show you this when Pepper came back but… I want you to see something. I think you'll like it," he said, leaving the papers and the mug on the desk. He walked to the lab fridge and took two cristal bottles, one filled with an incandescent blue liquid and the other with glowing orange liquid that Tony recognized immediately.

"You synthesized the Extremis."

"There was no other way I could test the serum. I didn't want to risk Pepper if it turned out it didn't work out"

Bruce took a petri dish, in which it lied a single leaf. He put a little bit of the blue serum in it, so the leaf was covered in proceeded to fill a syringe with the Extremis and injected it. The leaf glowed and started regenerating, only to slow down to an imperceptible pace.

"You neutralized it?" Tony asked.

"No. But this," Bruce hold the Petri dish closer to Tony "will keep the Extremis stable if it is active. It slows it down so there is no way it explodes. Still, it's a temporary solution."

"Why?," Tony took the glass in his hands "it seems safe to me."

"Because I can't make anything else before I do the DNA tests. If your baby have the Extremis there are two possibilities. Either he accepted the virus and we can extract it or he absorbed the virus and it is mingled with his DNA. If that is the case, an attempt to extract it can kill your baby."

" So what you are saying is either I have a normal baby or a sometimes glowy baby."

Bruce chuckled. "Well yes, that's one way to put it"

"So… how are we gonna do this?"

"I have to inject the serum in the amniotic liquid to have it work."

"Pep's going to be very happy that you poke her with a needle" Tony snorted.

"It is for your baby, she is not going to mind."

"I know," Tony hugged him. "You are a genius uncle Brucie!"

Pepper knew Bruce wouldn't accept an expensive gift. He was living with them after all, and she had the impression he was apologizing for that everytime she looked at him. But Bruce was doing so much for them... and even before that, she considered him part of her family.

So, when she and Natasha walked by a tea store, she knew it would be perfect. The thing was, she knew she needed someone else to deliver it to him in order for him to accept it. Tony, although being the perfect candidate, was unavailable. The only option left was Natasha. Anyway, she had the feeling he had a soft spot for the redhead, if not flinching under her touch said something, even if they were painfully oblivious.

"Do you mind giving this to Bruce?" Pepper handed her a wooden tea box with a note on the cover. "He won't accept it if I give it to him."

"You are gonna be fine by your own?"

"Yes."

"Then sure, I don't see why not."

"Thank you, Nat."

As soon as the assassin left, Tony stormed through the room, desperately wrapping his arms around his girlfriend.

"Tony! What-"

"I'm sorry," He muttered on her ear. Tony was finally sober and clean. "I really am. I was… I am scared," he let go a little so he could see her face. "I can't lose you again, Peps. I know I was an idiot. I know it was our son I was talking about," he started tearing up "but I thought we could try later if that mean you were going to be safe."

"Tony…" Pepper had tears in her eyes too.

"I won't do that again, I promise. But then I wasn't there for you, and my best friend had to call for backup and make me see how stupid I was."

"Tony"

"I should have gone to Bruce to solve it, not to get rid of-"

"Tony!" She grabbed the sides of his head so he could see her.

"What?" he mumbled.

She softly wiped away his tears. "I know."

Tony looked at her eyes for a bit, then he leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. He sighed, relieved, and kissed her softly.