Faultlines

The Scottish Starks

"Yes.", she responded, "It was all right. And it is good to see you, too. Thank you so much for having me." If either of the Stark men noticed that she was purposely avoiding using his name, they were polite enough to ignore it.

Their luggage was stashed in the car boot and Tony graciously offered the passenger seat to her, so Pepper could enjoy the scenery more.

"I have been here before, after all.", he joked and got in the car behind her.

The first thing Pepper noticed was that it was obviously a family car. There were booster seats in the back, crumbs all over the floor and somewhere in between a tiny stuffed animal. Of course Pepper knew that Harry was married and had kids, but not much more than that. Having grown up in the limelight himself, Harry did his best to keep his family private and it seemed to be working out fine so far. Well, Pepper thought, if this is how he looks and behaves outside of work, then I am not even surprised.

"Sorry.", Harry grinned apologetically, "I meant to clean this thing, but we had a minor crisis this morning and I simply ran out of time."

Pepper just stared at him in horror. Whatever she had expected from Harry Stark's home life, that wasn't it. Didn't he, like Tony, have people who took care of everything?

"Everything taken care of at home then?", Tony asked from behind her.

"Oh yes. Lily made a run for it with some of Teddy's things from school. Certain things were spilled and it was chaotic all over. But we managed the clean up and Teddy and I had a very nice discussion on how you do not store your potions ingredients anywhere near toddlers."

"Mom gave me and Dad the same stern talking to after you almost electrocuted yourself once.", Tony grinned with a slightly nostalgic smile.

"Well, it is good to know that some things do not change.", Harry laughed.

Pepper's head was spinning. She had hardly ever heard Tony bring up his parents, she knew it was a painful subject. But obviously that was not the case when it came to Harry. Involuntarily Pepper found herself smiling at the two brothers. It was nice to know that Tony had someone he could tell everything to.

"What did he do?", Pepper asked quietly.

"Who? Harry? Oh, he was chewing on things that did not react well to Toddler-spit.", Tony laughed, "The nanny actually got fired for that one."

"Rightly so.", Pepper shuttered.

"The poor girl was probably not even that much at fault. It took Harry ages to start to walk, but once he did... well, he didn't really walk. He just ran everywhere."

"Mostly I ran after you.", Harry laughed, "Which would also explain why I was even in the workspace. Tony was allowed in and I was just sneaky."

"Yes, that's true. Trouble maker, that one, Pepper, always remember that. No one knows how he does it, it's the world's greatest mystery, but Harry is always right where the trouble is and manages to be in the midst of everything."

"Like you then.", Pepper shot back and Harry's explosive laughter made her grin even wider.

The kept laughing and teasing each other the whole 30 minute trip and at some point Pepper just blocked them out to enjoy the amazing scenery. She had never been to the highlands before and the cold and drizzly place was way more breathtaking than she could have imagined.

Harry stopped, and this time Pepper was not surprised, in front of a huge iron gate on the slope of Loch Ness itself. The house was almost visible behind it, a big, old building hidden behind the trees.