Santa's Mistake
Pepper did her best to contain the laughter building up inside of her as she approached the holding cell. There stood a dishelmed and angry Tony Stark, in a Santa suit, with a slightly swollen right eye and a small amount of dried blood in the otherwise snowy white beard that hung around his neck. By the time they got into the car she just couldn't hold back any longer; throwing her head back against the head rest and laughing like she had never laughed before. Full fledged booming laughter, complete with a few snorts and tears in her eyes.
"Really Pepper? Of all the stupid things I've ever done this," Tony waved a hand in front of his face. "This gets you rolling?" Tony rolled his eyes and looked out the window at the snow covered streets and people passing by. "Unbelievable," he muttered while shaking his head.
"I'm sorry Tony, I really am," Pepper giggled. "But what on earth were you thinking!" She wiped away her joyful tears and placed her hand over her mouth in an attempt to quiet herself.
"I finished up early with Fury and wanted to surprise you," he replied quietly, not moving his eyes from the window.
"Well congratulations Stark, this is one hell of a surprise," Pepper said with sparkling eyes.
"Yea…Surprise," Tony mumbled, closing his eyes and resting his head back in his seat.
The ride back to the house was quiet; occasionally Pepper would steal glances at her pouting partner beside her and smile to herself. She was pissed when Fury called him away two days before they were scheduled to leave and that meant that she would most likely not see him on Christmas day. Now here he was sitting beside her on Christmas Eve, bloodied and bruised, over a failed, yet sweet attempt to cheer her up.
They sat in the driveway in silence for a short amount of time after she turned the engine off. Pepper reached across the center console and found his hand in the dark and laced her fingers through his. Tony sighed and rolled his head over on the head rest to face her.
"Do I really have to go in there?" Tony pleaded with regret behind his deep brown eyes.
"You'll be fine Tony, more than fine, you're going to be great," she assured him, brushing the hair from his face.
"What if they don't like me?"
"They will." Pepper leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
"How do you know?" he asked, looking towards the house.
"Because I love you, and they want to see me happy," she said softly. "Now let's go Santa, I have the sudden urge to get you out of that suit."
Just before they reached the door Pepper stopped and turned to face him, resting her small hands on his chest.
"Just for the record Tony, my parents address is 11375 Forrest Hills, not 11735," she grinned before slipping her hands behind his neck and pulling him down for a kiss.
"Well I know that now Pepper," he chuckled. "But seriously, who the hell punches Santa!"
"If a strange man was coming in through your living room window you'd punch him too," she laughed, opening the door and stepping inside; happy that she got the one thing she wanted this year for Christmas.