coffeeandheels_ (coffeeandheels_) wrote in newalliance, @ 2016-03-26 22:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | black canary, pepper |
Who: Pepper, Dinah, (Open to Tony, Bruce, other Manor denizens or frequenters)
When: March 26, 2016
Where: Wayne Manor
What: Pepper makes a housecall
As soon as they'd discovered she was pregnant, Tony had made sweeping changes in company policy on that very subject. Maternity leave, paternity leave; changing tables in both men's and women's restrooms; nursing rooms, on-site daycare and more. While there were criticisms that the changes had only been made because of his own partner, there was mostly praise for actions that still weren't all that common. As there had been two other pregnant women, plus one expectant father, at the New York office alone at the same time as Pepper, and five more since, no one there really cared why he'd done it.
So Pepper and Tony were technically on leave, but nothing was that simple. He was the CEO, and she was his assistant. They could find people to cover for them, but not to replace them, not all the time. Stark Industries had worked very hard at helping to give them time with Kaylee, but after four months, it was getting more difficult. The work was coming to them, which meant Kaylee was officially an employee, at her mom or dad's side, whether they were at the office or at home. This was nothing new, in fact, it was less than they were used to, but torn between increasing demands from the office, Tony's work in the lab (which had never stopped), and a baby who was still working on sleeping through the night, they were exhausted. And it was becoming clear that they were going to need some help.
Which was why she had packed the baby in the 'family car' - an Aston Martin Vanquish, a four-seater British import that Tony thought sounded very 'mature' - and made a long-overdue trip to Gotham.
Pepper was still in the stage where travelling with Kaylee required an inordinate amount of luggage, and somewhere along the way the pink-spotted giraffe diaper bag had replaced her purse. Her phone was tucked into a side pocket, and Pepper dropped her keys inside, never to be found until she dug for them later. Kaylee, secure in her carrier, craned her neck to look up at the old house that wasn't their own. She looked pensive, and Pepper couldn't blame her. Gotham had that effect on people.
Alfred stopped them at the door and refused to announce them for a full fifteen minutes until he'd been allowed to hold Kaylee, grinning broadly, and pronouncing her, "a fine young lady", to which Kaylee simply stared and chewed her fingers. Alfred beamed.
At last, after making Pepper promise she wouldn't leave without letting him see the baby again, he sent word to Dinah, and when she appeared, Pepper said, "I hope you don't mind my stopping by unannounced. Tony's working on something, he said he'd try to stop by later, but-" she had to pause for breath. She'd forgotten to breathe. "What I really need right now is someone else to hold her for awhile so that she doesn't start crying when I put her down, and someone told me you'd be perfect for the job."