coffeeandheels_ (coffeeandheels_) wrote in na_electronics, @ 2015-05-10 18:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | lex luthor, pepper |
A special job opening
Who: Pepper - Open to Tony and reactions
When: 5/10/15, Mother's Day
Where: Daily Bugle, NYT
What: Special Announcement
They had made it to ten weeks, and that was almost more than Pepper had dreamed of without anyone catching on that something was different. Her doctor and the medical staff and all been good as gold, in spite of Pepper's pragmatic belief that at least one of them was bound to mention something to a spouse, or partner, or friend, and the five pounds she'd gained over the last two and a half months had easily disappeared behind very slight alterations in wardrobe (and a new bra). Other changes were a bit more conspicuous, and those were the ones that kept Pepper on alert. She was resting more, eating regularly, peeing like it was going out of style, and doing a lot of clandestine reading. There were no plans yet for exactly when they would tell anyone, beyond 'not till we have to', but beyond that, and how they'd handle the ensuing storm, Pepper and Tony had made few plans on that, their least of concerns.
Which is why Pepper felt a little panicked, and frankly, resentful, when Margret Cheedleman approached her in the cafeteria one morning where she was triaging Tony's inbox, and struggling with a bottle of orange juice.
"Let me help you, sweetie." The woman had been there when Pepper was hired, and although only ten years older than her - about Tony's age - insisted on calling Pepper 'sweetie', like a mother hen. Margret looked at the bottle and frowned. "Oh, no, you don't want this one." Before Pepper could protest that, yes, she did want that orange juice very much, thanks, Margret was off, returning in a bit with another bottle of orange juice. "This is pasturized," She explained. "You only want to drink pasturized juice, unless you're watching the fruit get pulled from the tree, washed, and squeezed yourself."
Pepper stared, wondering if this was some sort of health nut kick. Taking the juice before it was retracted again, she opened and drank it eagerly. "Thank you," she signed. "Suddenly I can't get enough of it."
Margret nodded understandingly. "With my last one, it was prunes, of all things. Prunes. They say constipation is a problem during most pregnancies, well, let me tell you..."
Pepper's jaw hit the floor, and she looked from the orange juice, to Margret, and back again. Surely it couldn't have been the juice that had given her away, how in the hell...?
Margret laughed. "You've been coming down here a lot recently. I may not know what you usually drink, but I do know you didn't keep that figure of yours eating half a container of hummus and pretzels for breakfast."
She hadn't even realized it was there. Pepper slid the food back into its bag before anyone else noticed, making Margaret laugh.
"I'm not going to tell anybody, sweetie, no. I remember what it was like in the early part, when you wanted it keep it all to yourself. You just be smart now."
Pepper waited until Margret was gone. Until she was sure Margret was gone, and then threw all of her things in her bag (except the orange juice, that she drank) and raced back upstairs to find Tony.
In the Mother's Day edition of the Daily Bugle, and the New York Times, special ads had been taken out. It featured two business cards side-by-side, and a third below it. A family tree.