I don't know if any of you remember me, but once upon a time, I wrote quite a bit for this site. I loved it; I loved the reviews (I am an unabashed review whore); I loved having others enjoy these little stories I write when I should be doing other, doubtless more important things. And then life happened, and I found myself unable to write anything for roughly a year – which, to an obsessive writer like me, is borderline hell.

So anyway, if you know me: I'M BAAACK! And if you don't: Hello. :-)

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, initially, this was planned as a one-shot. However, a couple reviewers left good suggestions, so I took these points as a challenge to myself.

Thanks to all who reviewed.

Of Cheeseburgers and Storm Clouds

Pepper, on her rare days off, loved to drive out into the hills, park her car on the side of a desolate road, and just breathe. It was freeing, somehow, to simply tilt her head back to rest against her cushioned seats and allow the cool, crisp air to flow in and out of her lungs. In and out. In and out.

Drat. Now she wanted a hamburger. Honestly, the way her mind jumped from one topic to the next… It was absurd. Pepper hadn't always been so tangential. In fact, there had been a point in her life where she had been the most straightforward, forthcoming, and (more than likely) dull person you could ever come across. But over the years, the veneer had just sort of… melted away. Maybe that isn't quite the right way to put it. Because it hadn't so much disappeared as morphed into something else entirely. And sometimes, it irked her. She would catch herself racing from one unconnected thought to the next. She occasionally had difficulty focusing. She could understand the mutterings of her slightly unhinged boss.

And that is what annoyed her most. She was starting to think like him. To be like him. She knew the moment she comprehended his "drunk talk" that something was wrong.

Pepper didn't like that thought. She didn't like the idea of becoming like Tony Stark (albeit mentally). She didn't like having to control herself from saying something brash or ballsy – something he would do without a second thought. She never used to have this problem. But now…

Pepper shut her eyes tightly and brushed a wayward lock of red hair out of her mouth. The wind was starting to pick up. Clouds – dark, ominous ones – were looming in the distance. It was probably time to head back home.

But not quite yet.

In, out. Just relax. Breathe. In and out. In and out.

God, I want that cheeseburger.

Well, what did you think? Please review and let me know. Reviews genuinely make me happy. I am not just saying that for the heck of it. :-) *Hint, hint*