Disclaimer: I don't own Tony or Pepper. If I did I wouldn't be sitting here writing this, I'd have Tony drug off somewhere doing things I dare not mention here.

Tony knew he shouldn't have

Tony knew he shouldn't have. He knew Pepper was going to kill him, but he just couldn't resist. It'd been a year since he had brought any girls home and he'd cut back on the drinking…a lot. Surely she'd give him at least a head start on running away before she strung him up in his own workshop. He looked up at the ceiling and he draped an arm over the reactor to hide the glow as the warm body beside him shifted. How he was going to get out of this mess was beyond him. Closing his eyes he tried to focus on what had gotten him into this situation to begin with.

……..

He hadn't been drunk at any point during the conference. A little tipsy toward the end but it was only to endure the long-winded bellowing of his board of directors. Bellowing is all it could be described as. Taking a glance around the room it was obvious he wasn't the only one bored. That caused a smirk to slowly curl his lips. The board's lack of talent to keep the crowd entertained did brighten his quickly darkening mood a little. No one could pull off the sarcastic wise cracks faster and more efficiently than Tony Stark.

After nearly four hours of pure torture he was more than ready to leave. Maybe if he had managed to beg Pepper into going with him it would have been better. "Of course it would have! Anything's more tolerable if I've at least got Pepper within sight." he told himself. Maybe if she had of gone what was about to take place never would have happened.

He caught sight of her just as he got under the streetlight. She was standing at the corner of the alley, long blonde hair slightly mussed up. Tony stood there for a moment then let out a sigh as he walked over to the solemn blonde. His fingers lightly touched the silky blonde hair as dark expressive eyes looked up at him. Another sigh escaped him as he nodded his head slightly.

"Ok…ok."

Turning he walked back to his silver audi as the now eager blonder trotted after him. Opening the passenger door for her he shot a glance skyward. This was going to be an interesting night.

The shower proved to be the highlight of the night. They were both a bit of a mess so Tony didn't think it'd hurt to kill two birds with one stone and just share the shower. A quick scuffle to get in the shower, he lost count of how many times his back caught one of the knobs…those were going to leave bruises, and she bit him! The crazy bitch bit him!

……

Now several hours later Tony watched as the shades were pulled back from the window and the early morning sun lit the room in a warm glow. He could practically hear Pepper's heels clicking against the floor downstairs. Giving a sigh he carefully pulled his arm out from under the slumbering blonde and sat up on the side of the bed. Raking a hand through his hair he stood up and headed out of the room. The sooner he got this over with the better he supposed.

Pepper glanced up from her laptop as Tony walked into the kitchen. The first thing that caught her eye was the small bruises littering his back. A frown creased her brow and she slowly closed the laptop lid.

"Tony, what happened? You were suppose to go to that conference last night, you promised me you would."

"I did. I even sat through the entire thing without getting drunk….a little tipsy, but not drunk."

It was then she noticed the gauze wrapped around his hand. With a small sigh she stood up and walked over to him. She started to wrap her arms around his waist but he quickly dodged out of her reach.

"It's really nothing that bad. She just…bit me…"

Her bright blue eyes took on a dangerous glint.

"She? You couldn't even have the decency to tell me you didn't want anything more to do with me besides my job?!"

Tony edged back away from her till his butt bumped into the counter. He had seen Pepper mad before but this was far beyond mad and very frightening.

"Wait, Pepper, let me explain!"

"Tony, you're a bas—"

Her eyes suddenly widened and she cut her rant short as the golden retriever walked around the corner into the kitchen.

"I saw her as I was leaving the conference and I couldn't just leave her there. She was a mess and by the time I got her home we both were so I tried to give her bath while I got cleaned up. She bit me and that's also where the bruises came from."

Pepper just looked between him and the dog for a long moment. Suddenly she spun around on him and roughly shoved him back against the counter as he tried to step away from her.

"Anthony Stark, you asshole! You could have fucking told me "she" was a dog! I hope next time she bites your damn dick off!"

Tony was left stunned as he watched the fiery red head stomp out of the kitchen. After a moment his usual lopsided grin spread across his face.

"That could have went worse."

The dog gave a soft woof in agreement.