"Come in!"
Pepper had her hands clasped on her desk as she looked up to see who had knocked on her door. She wasn't sure who was about to walk in as she had no scheduled meetings, but the fact the person had knocked let her know straight away it wouldn't be her most common visitor, aka, Tony Stark.
She smiled warmly as Natasha walked in despite knowing it wouldn't be returned; The master assasin very rarely smiled which Pepper always found to be a shame.
"Natasha, I haven't seen you for a little while. How are you?" Motioning for the other woman to sit down she lent back in her chair a little.
If she'd blinked she would have missed it but Pepper was certain there had a brief upwards curve of the corner of her lips as the agent took the seat on the seat on opposite Pepper and looked her straight in the eye.
"I'm well and yourself Miss Potts?"
"Please call me Pepper, and I'm good thank you." She smiled again, "But I'm sure you're not here for idle chit chat, how can I help you?"
Natasha did smile then. A brief small smile that made her whole face light up for that second and it took Pepper's breath away. There was something about Natasha, other than the fact she could more than likely kill her with her pinkie, that had fascinated Pepper from the start. She had always wanted to get to know her better but knew it would be a pointless venture. Natasha was the definition of a private person and Pepper respected that.
"I'd like to take you to dinner."
Pepper tilted her head, eye widening a little
"I..I'm sorry but could you repeat that?"
"I'd like to take you to dinner."
Natasha didn't seem phased by the fact she managed to reduce Pepper to a blushing, stammering mess in with one sentence, if truth be told she found it a little cute.
Pepper was a beautiful woman. Honesty, loyal and it had not escaped the spy's attention that while the others had tried (and failed) to get information out of her about her past, Pepper had always respected her want of privacy not pushing or probing, not even a little.
Pepper opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, a confused smile crossing her face.
"How did you know I liked woman?"
"I have my ways."
Natasha was as cool as ever patiently waiting for a reply and Pepper felt a little intimated by it. She knew she was as red as a tomato and stumbling over her words a lot more than she would like, but she also loved how Natasha didn't seem to be put off by it. There was nothing mocking or unkind on the face of the woman currently asking her on..on a date?
"You want to take me on a date?"
Pepper asked quietly glancing down at the papers on her desk for a brief moment as she did, worried she may be barking up the wrong tree. Natasha might just want some female company, after all she did work in a team full of men.
"I do Miss P..Pepper."
Pepper smiled widely as she heard the use of her first time, trying to ignore the sudden butterflies in her stomach. Something about the way it sounded coming from those lips...
She stopped herself from going off into a daydream and nodded.
"I'd like that, in fact, I'd like that a lot."
She grinned at the other woman, the butterflies showing no indication of dying down soon and Natasha returned with a brief smile of her own, reaching over to lightly touch Pepper's hand for a moment.
"Nineteen hundred?"
"That's perfect."
With a nod the assassin stood, "I look forward to picking you up Miss Potts."
Before she could reply Natasha turned and walked from the room, leaving Pepper to bite her lip trying to suppress a girlish scream of delight.
