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Tony never slept much and when he did, it was certainly not the recommended eight hours.
However, given the past few weeks, he was running on empty. Pepper convinced him to go to bed with her. Okay, she had told Jarvis to lock him out of his projects until he slept more than two hours in a row.
Finishing off his whiskey, he climbed into bed next to her. Their bedroom was dark minus the bluish glow from his chest. The soft sheets, Pepper’s warm body alongside him; he felt his muscles relax as he sank deeper into the mattress.
Next thing he knew, it was morning and he had slept hard. Disoriented, he rubbed at his eyes. Uncertain, he didn't know where he was. He wasn’t supposed to be here, the cabin, wait was that a dream? He had dreamt.
It was the first dream, not a nightmare, since he had flown a missile over his shoulders into the black silent vastness of space. It was the first time he had slept without waking up, unable to breath and his heart pounding.
He had dreamt, and yet it seemed so real. Glancing around the bedroom, he was still surprised to be in the tower. Scrubbing his hands through his hair, he mumbled, “so real.”
The sound of footsteps had him turning over to see Pepper, fresh from the shower, starting to dress.
“What’s so real?”
“Pep, I had the strangest dream,” Tony sat up and twisted around to place his pillows behind his back.
“Another nightmare?” She asked as she leaned over him; pushing his hair from his forehead so she could kiss him.
“No, a dream,” Tony reached for her, taking her hands, “Pep, we had a kid and we are living in a cabin in the woods.”
Pepper laughed and tilted his face up to drop a kiss on his lips, “are you sure it wasn’t a nightmare?”
Tony tugged at her until she sat on the bed next to him, “It was so real. We had a little girl. Morgan, named her after your eccentric uncle.”
Rolling her eyes at him, Pepper snuggled into his warmth. Her damp hair landing on his bare shoulder, “Tony, us with a child? Living in the woods?”
“Pepper, we had an alpaca.” “
An alpaca?” She asked in disbelief.
“His name was Gerald,” Tony said with a stubborn lilt to his voice.
“It’s been a crazy month, aliens, gods, Avengers, funerals, rebuilding New York,” Pepper said, “your mind is just trying to process it all.”
Tony nodded in agreement, scrubbing his face with his hands then embracing Pepper, “it was just so real.”
"Were we happy?"
"Yeah, we were happy."