Tony had been the first to pick up on Maria's strange behavior over the past few days. Despite everything he had been dealing with, he was able to figure out that something else was bothering her - something unrelated to what was going on in his own life. He had done everything he could to try and placate her, keep her relaxed and calm, but still she was irate and moody. It wasn't anything August normally saw from Lissa either, so it was plain to see that something wasn't right. He had his suspicions and had been keeping a close watch on her, though he had kept his distance as not to upset her even more. When one's wife started threatening to kill people, one learned it was best to take a passive approach to the situation at hand. This particular day had been spent at home, away from the stress of Bergmen Industries and superheroes. The two of them had lounged around on the couch watching movies and eventually decided to cook instead of eating takeout as they usually did.

They had cooked a nice meal and were currently sitting by a warm fire drinking their wine - well, he was drinking wine while she drank water. That was a strange disruption from their usual post dinner ritual, but he figured maybe she wasn't feeling well and thought nothing of it.

They had enough to deal with - from his father to his reactor to Lissa and August planning to adopt - so he didn't want to add more to the list by confronting her about the strange way she was acting. Like he had with her, he knew she would come to him and let him know what was ailing her when she was ready. What mattered was that he had been able to pick up no whether or not something was off in the first place. He was doing everything in his power to cheer her up. Cracking bad jokes, making fun of the people she didn't care for, and kissing that particular spot on her neck she liked when he kissed. It seemed to be helping somewhat, and that's all he could hope for.

Tony eventually retired to his office to catch up on paperwork and do some reading, which meant he did more reading than work. He was a few pages into his favorite Stephen King novel (Carrie), glasses hanging halfway off his nose as he did so, when he heard a knock at the door. He peeked upward, over the top of his glasses, to look at Maria standing in the doorway and motioned her inside. "Time for bed?" he asked, assuming he had just lost track of time. He put a mark in the book and closed it with a thud and moved to stand up.

When she immediately motioned for him to sit back down, Tony knew something was up. Her attitude and body language had done a complete 180 since he'd seen her just half an hour prior. She was smiling, there was a spring in her step. "Maybe in a few hours," Maria said as she walked further into the room, eventually taking a seat on his desk in front of him. He didn't protest as she rested one of her bare feet on his knee; instead, his hands moved to rest on her hips as she continued on, "I mostly wanted to apologize for my behavior this week, and give you an explanation, now that I have one."

"Now that your have one...?" Though her expression said otherwise, he felt the urge to comfort his wife, so Tony pulled her swiftly into his lap, arms wrapping around her. She situated to accommodate, but they kept their heads far enough apart to get a good look into one another's eyes. "Is everything okay?"

When Maria laughed, his eyebrow lifted in confusion. What was going on? "Everything is okay, I promise!" As she spoke to him, her fingers moving along the rim of his arc reactor didn't go unnoticed. It was comforting but the more she spoke, the less he found himself paying attention to that.

"Okay, you're not going to believe this. Because I didn't believe it either, and I wanted to make sure I knew before I told you. I wanted to make sure it was really real and really happening because I didn't want our hopes up before I said anything and... okay, I'm rambling.."

Maria paused to kiss him, and Tony's mind was spinning. The way she was speaking to him, there was only one explanation. Both of them, August and Lissa, had wanted nothing more than to have a child of their own. Because Lissa couldn't conceive, they had decided to pursue other avenues. They had started the adoption process. She can't be, he thought to himself, knowing of all of the numerous tests she'd had done to prove it. Despite everything his mind was telling him, though, he knew that somehow she had defied the odds. Typical Maria Hill.

Before she could tell him what he already knew in his heart, one of his hands found the one of hers that was tracing along his tech node, and he gripped it tightly. As the words, "Tony, I'm pregnant," fell from Maria's lips, the excitement hit him like a ton of bricks. A wide, happy grin appeared on his face, and he was already trying to fight the tears of joy that were threatening to ruin his reputation.