There's something about her that makes her different.
It's the way she looks at him and listens to him when he rambles on about one of his latest inventions. It's the way she smiles at him and the way she holds onto his arm as if it is the most natural thing to do in the world.
It's the way she says his name, softly, gently, warmly...And it's the way he needs her, in so many ways and not just for his social security number.
And even as they cross the boundaries of their friendship and hover somewhere between lovers and a steady relationship, he realizes she was never like the others. Never like those skimpy dressed, busty blondes that he knew so well. She never would be.
"Tony," she murmured softly beside him.
"Mhmm..." he hummed.
"Stop thinking," she whispered as she nuzzled her nose into his neck, "You need to sleep."
He smiled warmly and pressed his lips at her forehead. "I've never slept beside a beautiful woman before," he whispered.
"Don't even try that line with me," she lulled as her hold around his waist tightened.
"It's true," he replied swiftly. "I've never just slept with a woman before, Pepper. It was always...you know."
"Mhmm..." she hummed this time as he held her closer.
"But it's nice," he mused.
"Nice?"
"It's fulfilling to enjoy such a simple moment and such a simple gesture or act, whatever you want to call it...just laying here and holding you, it's...it's like as if I've accomplished something and it feels wonderful and as clichéd as this will sound, it feels perfect."
"Mhmm..." she lulled as she pushed herself up on her elbows and stared down at him. "You need to stop talking, Tony...I can't sleep."
"Uh huh..." he mumbled as she kissed him.
"And we've got a long day tomorrow," she murmured as he slowly guided her till she was on her back.
He smiled down at her as he hovered above her, carefully brushing back the bangs at her eyes before he whispered, "As nice as it was holding you, I still think making love to you is indescribable. For some reason it goes beyond my ability to comprehend because kissing you reduces me to low moans and unexplainable emotions."
"I think the word love is what you're looking for," she whispered as he kissed her.
He leaned back a little and just stared at her beautiful blue eyes. "I love you, Pepper," he said softly.
"You can be hopelessly romantic when you want to be, you know," she murmured as she pulled him down for a kiss.
"It's all in my charms," he mused as she laughed.
And as he kissed her and loved her he realized she would always be something more and something worth dying for. She was something that he loved and not just for today but for tomorrow and next week and until the end of time. She's something that matters to him, someone that he trusts not just because she's all he has but because she is all he's ever had.
She's something that completes him and makes him whole and perfect. She always would be the only one and even though he lived a decade trying to find that, he found it now and he was never going to let her go.