No Regrets

by MyCedarChest

Filling in the missing Pepperony in the Avengers Movie. Pepper's POV.

Most of the characters in this story belong to Marvel Comics and whoever else has current legal ownership of Iron Man and not to me, even in my wildest dreams. No infringement on anyone's rights is intended in any way. This story is not being written for profit.

No Regrets

Since youth, Pepper Potts had always had the ability to remain calm in the midst of chaos and danger. It seemed she was always the eye in the storm. This personality trait of hers was now being put to the test as she and her two assistants sat on the SI corporate jet inbound to New York City from Washington, DC, their eyes glued to the TV news reporting on the battle currently underway around Stark Tower. Minutes before Pepper had been engaged in a verbal confrontation with air traffic controllers at La Guardia who insisted that the SI jet would not be allowed to land there, citing the sudden Federal Government's order to close the airport to all but military flights. Frustrated, but determined, Pepper had then instructed her pilots to amend their flight plan and land at Teterboro Airport instead. SI had a hanger at Teterboro which housed several smaller SI aircraft as well as two crew helicopters. Pepper had already contacted one of the SI chopper pilots and had made arrangements for him to fly her straight back to Stark Tower immediately after their jet landed. As they continued to watch the TV, a reporter suddenly announced that the US military had launched a missile whose intended target appeared to be New York City. Pepper knew the military mindset and weaponry far too well because of the years she had worked for SI. As the camera tilted up to the sky, the vapor trail from the missile became clear.

"Oh god!" Pepper exclaimed standing up and moving closer to the TV screen.

As the camera continued to follow the missile's path, a red and gold figure appeared on the screen intercepting and then wrestling control of the flight path of the missile. Within seconds both Iron Man and the missile had turned skyward as they narrowly avoiding hitting Stark Tower, apparently headed directly for the space portal. Pepper knew at that moment what Tony intended to do and suddenly her heart was in her throat.

"Ms. Potts!" Anne, Pepper's assistant, cried out handing Pepper's cell phone to her.

Pepper's eyes went wide when she saw the missed call on her phone. She quickly returned the call, but she continued to get the intercept automated message of "All Circuits Busy. Call Failed." every time she redialed Tony's number. After failing for the 7th time, she turned her attention again to the TV screen

"Tony!" she cried out at the TV screen as both Iron Man and the missile began to enter the space portal. She quickly closed her eyes and began to pray in a way that she hadn't since Tony was missing in Afghanistan. Pepper felt her knees involuntarily give way and she slowly sank to the floor of the jet as the TV screen showed both Iron Man and the missile disappear into the portal.

Her assistants immediately came to her aid, helping her up off the floor and back into her seat. Pepper just sat there, her eyes closed, both of her hands still clutching her cell phone, as her assistants hovered over her, not really knowing what to do or say. They were very well aware of her relationship with Tony Stark.

As she sat there trying to regain control of her emotions, she felt her whole body tense like a tightly coiled spring as she focused on a plan of action. "Jarvis" she said into her cell phone activating the auto dial feature. She placed her Bluetooth into her right ear, opened her eyes and found herself once again focused on the TV screen.

"Yes, Ms. Potts." Jarvis replied.

"Are you still in contact with Tony?" she asked quietly.

"I lost contact with him 30.2 seconds ago as he entered the space portal, Madam." Jarvis replied almost sadly.

"What was his status as of loss of signal?" Pepper asked wincing a little.

"Redirecting the missile had depleted his suit's power to less than 1% and I regret to inform you that Mr. Stark's vitals indicated that he was slipping into unconsciousness at that point." Jarvis reported. "Mr. Stark did call you before he entered the portal, but all of the satellite communications links had been overloaded at that time and the call failed as a result." He added in a hushed tone.

A single tear ran down her cheek. "Are you still in contact with Stark Tower?"

"No Madam." Jarvis replied. "It appears that all power to the building has been diverted to an unknown device on the rooftop. Unfortunately the building's back-up generators had been damaged during the battle failing to go on line when the primary power was diverted, and the resultant loss of power has rendered the building's computer systems inoperable at present."

Wiping the tear roughly from her cheek with the back of her hand, Pepper simply refused to believe that Tony was gone. She and Tony had this weird, call it telepathic, connection between the two of them after being with each other for so many years. As she focused on this connection, she could sense that the connection was still there, but very weak. A small, solitary hope started to grow within her heart.

"Miss Potts!" Jarvis broke into her thoughts. "The portal is now being closed and cameras on the ground are picking up what appears to the Mark 7 emerging from the portal just now. The erratic path of the suit indicates that the suit is in freefall. I cannot make contact with either the suit or Mr. Stark."

As luck would have it, the Mark 7's path to earth was leading it straight back to Stark Tower. As a news camera tilted up towards Stark Tower, the Hulk could be seen quickly climbing up an adjacent building, taking huge leaps up the side of the building on the side facing Stark Tower. The Mark 7 continued its downward spiral picking up even more speed. At what seemed to be the last possible second as he clung to the side of the building, the Hulk leaped out and grabbed the Mark 7 as it plummeted past, slowing Tony's fall as the Hulk scrambled to hold onto the building with one arm, ripping pieces of the building off as they both slid down the side of the building in a somewhat controlled fall. The camera lost the image of the Hulk and the Mark 7 at about the 20th floor when the camera's view was blocked by another building.

Pepper jumped to her feet. "Jarvis!" she called out "Can you get a location of Tony's Arc by scanning for the arc's energy pulse signature?"

The AI's response was not instant, and Pepper wondered if she had lost the communications link with Jarvis.

"The Arc Reactor appears to still be functioning although at a reduced power level." He relied "However, without my link to the Mark 7 it is impossible to give you an update on Mr. Stark's condition."

"OK Jarvis." Pepper said moving towards the cockpit of the jet "Keep tabs on the Tony's location and send me updates on any movements. We are about to land at Teterboro and I will be flying back to Stark Tower by helicopter immediately after landing."

"Ms. Potts" Jarvis said gravely "Please use caution. It appears that the area around Stark Tower is in utter chaos at the present time. Flying into this area will no doubt be hazardous."

Pepper suddenly realized that Jarvis was very concerned for her safety. Without Tony, she was suddenly the AI's only "person", and she could actually hear what she thought was worry in the AI's voice.

"I'll be careful, Jarvis." She replied and she disconnected from the call as she opened the cockpit door. "Bill, what's our ETA at Teterboro?"

"Unknown at this time." Bill replied somewhat frustrated "We have just been ordered into a holding pattern around the field."

"Like hell we are." Pepper replied looking at Bill sternly "Butt in line. This is an emergency. I'll call the President if I have to in order to get clearance to land."

"Yes ma'am." Bill replied with a small smile looking over to Jerry, his co-pilot. "Ms. Potts give us about one minute to get ready. You and your folks need to go strap in tight. It may be a little bit of a rough ride down."

Pepper smiled knowingly at Bill as she turned to leave, closing the cockpit door behind her securely. Bill had been flying Tony around the world for over 30 years. Prior to that he had been an Air Force fighter pilot and a good one too. Pepper had the upmost confidence that Bill and Jerry would land the SI jet quickly and safely.

"Get everything secured immediately and strap in." Pepper called out to her assistants as she hurried down the aisle grabbing her laptop case and securing it. Her assistants moved quickly and within seconds they had everything stowed and they were all buckled in securely.

"Everybody ready back there?" Bill called out over the speaker.

Pepper looked around and nodded to her assistants. "Affirmative. Take us down, Bill."

Within seconds the SI jet executed a quick half barrel roll, turning portside and dropping into a very steep decent. The jet's engines seemed to almost stall as they continued dropping quickly. As they leveled off, Pepper looked out her window noting just how much closer to the ground the jet was now, and rapidly getting closer as the seconds ticked by. They were literally dropping out of the sky. Pepper was glad now that she hadn't had time to eat lunch. Suddenly the engines roared to life just before the jet settled over the runway. The jet seemed to hover for a few seconds before the landing gear gently touched down on the runway. Pepper reminded herself to make sure that Bill and Jerry got a well-deserved bonus in their next pay check.

The SI ground crew had scrambled to meet the jet at the SI hanger as Pepper eagerly looked out of the window. She saw that one of the SI helicopters had been dollied outside and the pilot was going through his preflight checks. Bill brought the jet to a quick stop just outside the hanger and the ground crew quickly moved the boarding steps into place, securing them.

Pepper's cell phone buzzed. "Jarvis." She answered as she moved towards the rear of the jet in order to change clothes. After years of flying with Tony all around the world in all kinds of conditions, Pepper had learned to always keep an emergency set of clothes on board. As she entered the executive restroom to change, Jarvis's voice was suddenly in her ear.

"Ms. Potts" Jarvis began "It appears that Mr. Stark is moving locations and changing altitude appearing to be traveling up into Stark Towers."

Pepper smiled. "Good work Jarvis." She replied "Keep me posted on Tony's whereabouts. I am about to board the chopper. Since there is still a gridlock on communications in New York, I don't know if you will be able to contact me once I get there."

"Ms. Potts" Jarvis began "I have already taken the liberty of re-homing your satellite phone to less congested satellite owned by SI. It is a secured link. We will be able to stay in contact with one another now".

"Thank you, Jarvis." She replied tying her hiking boots onto her feet securely after pulling on her jeans and a button down long sleeve cotton shirt. She walked out of the washroom still talking. "Hopefully Tony will get power back on in Stark Tower and you can reboot the mainframe. Keep me informed on any changes in location for the Arc."

"Yes, Madam." Jarvis replied as Pepper disconnected the call.

She packed her laptop and purse into an emergency backpack that was stored securely in one of the storage bins, and followed her assistants out of the jet.

At the bottom of the boarding stairs she met up with Bill and Jerry.

"All of you get a hotel close to the airport for the night. I will call you this evening and let you know what the plan will be for tomorrow." Pepper explained as she motioned for the chopper pilot. "Tommy and I are heading to Stark Tower now."

"Maybe not, Ms. Potts." Tommy reported walking up to the group. "I have been denied approval of flight plans into NYC."

"Then re-file them as part of search and rescue." Pepper replied. "If we still get denied, then I will fly the chopper there myself. I don't have a license to lose. Your bird has more bells and whistles than my Grandfather's chopper, but I believe I can still manage."

Bill laughed out loud at the stunned expression on Tommy's face. "Ms. Potts here has more than 1000 logged hours at the controls of a Bell UH-1 Iroquois, and if I'm guessing right, probably at least three times as many unlogged hours." Bill patiently explained to Tommy.

Pepper smiled as she looked knowingly at Bill. "At least that many."

"I'll file an amended flight plan and conveniently forget to wait for an acknowledgement, Ms. Potts." Tommy replied with a smile handing Pepper a pilot's helmet. "Shall we Boss?"

Bill reached out and hugged Pepper gently "Go find him, Ms Potts." He whispered to her "We're praying for both of you." Pepper's assistants had already told Bill and Jerry about what had happened to Tony.

Pepper gave all of them a tight but heartfelt smile as she put on the helmet and walked purposefully towards the waiting chopper putting her backpack into the passenger compartment of the crew helicopter as she climbed inside. She and Tommy strapped in and fired up the rotors quickly.

Bill smiled broadly as the chopper lifted up into the air about 100 feet and immediately made a sharp bank and climbed away from the airport at a high rate of speed. He announced to everyone. "At least Tommy is smart enough to let Ms. Potts take the controls for liftoff. Looks like she hasn't lost her touch."

Pepper hadn't flown a chopper since she was 19, but just like riding a bike, her instincts returned quickly. Being raised on a ranch consisting of sections, not acres, of land, flying a chopper was one of the fastest and easiest ways to get around in the rough mountainous terrain. She started flying when she was 7 years old under the tutelage of her Grandfather who was a decorated Vietnam Marine helicopter pilot. Her and her Grandfather performed all of the routine maintenance on the retired war machine themselves. So Pepper had a very practical first hand knowledge of mechanics from an early age. Through the years, she had purposefully never let it slip to Tony just how mechanically inclined she really was. She knew that Tony suspected she had much more than accounting and business knowledge. She realized the very first time she was ever granted access into Tony's workshop and watched him work that she felt an immediate connection with him that transcended the boss-employee relationship. In that first look at him as Tony the mechanic, not Tony the eccentric billionaire CEO, he had absent mindedly asked her for a pair of snap ring pliers, not expecting her to know what he was even asking for. But when she immediately handed him the tool, he had raised his eyebrows at her in surprise as he thanked her.

Tommy, who had met Pepper about 4 years ago while flying her and Tony Stark to a meeting at Camp David, quickly lost his nervousness at letting Pepper take the controls of the helicopter after she flawlessly took the helicopter into the air, banking effortlessly as they rapidly gained altitude and speed. "I have seen some of the TV news and Stark Tower seems to be Ground Zero for the destruction." Tommy started talking into the com-link in his helmet as he continued scanning the airspace around them "The heli-pad may be damaged and unsafe."

"We will definitely need to do a visual before we land." Pepper replied also scanning the skies for other aircraft. "I am more worried about getting intercepted over NYC airspace by F-16s, or plowing into a news chopper." Even though as the crow flies, the distance from Teterboro was relatively short, they had to fly a circuitous route to avoid La Guardia air space and radar. The trip to down town New York would take a minimum of 45 minutes.

"Ms. Potts." Jarvis spoke into Pepper's Bluetooth "Power has been restored to Stark Towers using the Arc Reactor. Communications are still out all over New York City. I am currently working to reboot the main frame there now. I have also noted that the Arc's location has moved out of Stark Towers. I am feeding the Arc's new coordinates into your on board computer."

"Thanks Jarvis, keep me posted." Pepper was becoming worried again. Why would Tony be moving from the relative safety of Stark Towers? Three possibilities: Stark Towers is unsafe for occupancy, Tony had been taken away from Stark Towers against his will, or the Arc had been taken from Tony's body. The third possibility had Pepper momentarily trembling. She glanced quickly at Tommy and decided it was time to come clean with him on the purpose of their flight back to NYC. She proceeded to explain exactly what type of search and rescue mission they were really on, and who exactly they were searching for.

As downtown NYC came into view on the horizon, Pepper was struck immediately by the lack of news choppers. "Looks like the Fed had pulled all of the news choppers out of the sky which means…"

Suddenly their chopper was buzzed by an F-16. The Air Force pilot's voice interrupted her's mid sentence. "This area is off limits to civilian aircraft. Turn around immediately or be shot down." The pilot sounded on edge and just a little bit trigger happy, Pepper thought to herself.

She had already come up with a plan for this scenario and she hoped it would work. "This is Pepper Potts of Stark Industries. I have been cleared for entry in order to conduct a search and rescue by the White House. You can call and check yourself if you don't believe me."

Pepper was running a bluff of sorts. She was fairly certain that if contacted the White House would approve of her being here. She had good rapport with the President and even better rapport with the First Lady.

The pilot continued to buzz their helicopter, but Pepper never wavered in her flight path as the chopper continued flying directly towards Stark Tower.

After a few tense and silent minutes, the Air Force pilot broke the silence "You have been confirmed as cleared for entering the airspace. However, I have been ordered to oversee your flight." The pilot replied back tersely.

"Thank you for your assistance." Pepper replied cutting the connection with the Air Force pilot quickly. Under her breath she muttered "Now bite my shiny metal ass!"

Tommy laughed loudly hearing her reference to Bender from Futurama "Boss!" he chuckled "I like the way you roll!"

Pepper smiled. "Just couldn't resist." She replied glancing quickly at Tommy. "Jarvis?"

"Yes, Ms. Potts" the AI acknowledged.

"We are over the downtown area now. Is the Tony's location still the same as it was when we spoke last?" Pepper continued.

"Yes, Madam." Jarvis replied. "There has been no movement. The Arc appears to be stationary at ground level at this location."

"OK. I'll contact you when we find Tony." Pepper stated looking at the on board coordinates Jarvis had given her noting that this location was only two blocks from Stark Towers. "Tommy, let's circle Stark Tower once to look it over, then we are going to try to land as close to these coordinates as we can. Please take over control of the bird. I just don't trust my landing skills right now. I am too preoccupied. After we touch down, stay on standby with the bird." She turned and pulled an M-9 handgun from her backpack and placed it next to Tommy. "It's fully loaded and on safety. Just in case you need to persuade a looter that this bird is already taken." Being raised on a ranch, Pepper knew the value of firearms given their current situation.

Tommy glanced quickly at the firearm. "You got it, Ms. Potts."

As they circled Stark Tower, Pepper's heart sank. The damage to the exterior was extensive. She could see some damage on the inside of the penthouse too. Most of the construction cranes had been destroyed. They could see the remains of unknown equipment on the roof. There was no sign of life visible. Surprisingly the heli-pad looked fairly unscathed.

"Let's take her down, Tommy." She instructed as Tommy turned the helicopter away from Stark Tower and made a slow, cautious decent. There was a somewhat cleared area in the middle of the street about 150 feet from Jarvis' coordinates and Pepper indicated the spot to Tommy who nodded in agreement.

Their helicopter gently touched down and Tommy killed the props leaving the engines in standby mode ready for a quick takeoff. Pepper pulled off her helmet, but grabbed a walkie-talkie from the storage bin so she could directly contact Tommy.

Tommy did a quick radio check with her before waving her out the door. "I'll be listening for you. Good luck, Ms. Potts."

Pepper nodded to Tommy and placed the radio as well as another loaded M-9 in a medical first aid fanny pack she had put on. "Thanks." She looked at him seriously "If you don't hear back from me within an hour, get you and the chopper back to Teterboro."

Tommy stared at her and she could sense his hesitation to agree to her order. "Will do, Boss." He finally said.

With that said she immediately set off on foot down the deserted street in search of the building that Jarvis had indicated that the Arc was currently inside. Her heart rate sped up as she started to sprint down the street. She slowed to a cautious walk as she came close to the building's location. The front of the building had sustained only light damage. She took a deep breath and her mouth suddenly began to water. The sign outside the building read simply 'Shawarma'. Pepper had eaten shawarma several times while on trips to the Middle East, and had thoroughly enjoyed it. She had missed lunch today, and her stomach was now reminding her of that fact.

She carefully moved towards the doorway avoiding the debris and tried to look inside, but the heavy tinting on the glass of the door made it impossible to see inside. The odor of the shawarma flowed out of the door in an almost edible wave. She cracked open the door and peered inside. She could see a large table with people seated at it near the kitchen at the back of the restaurant. Her eyes glanced from left to right trying to identify the occupants of the table as she slowly opened the door wider and wider trying her best to be quiet. As the door moved to about 1/3 of the way open, she immediately spotted Agent Romanoff and sudden relief flooded her as she quickly flung the door open the rest of the way and stepped through. As she walked through the door she continued scanning the table's occupants until she saw Tony sitting near the end of the table facing her direction. Their eyes locked immediately and Tony turned his chair over, hitting the floor with a loud thud as he got up quickly and literally ran, limping slightly, to meet her as the front door closed behind her.

Pepper noticed the limp immediately as she moved quickly to meet him halfway, hugging him gently, careful not to aggravate any of his other injuries.

He hugged her to him tightly as if he never wanted to let her go. He pressed his cheek into the side of her head inhaling her scent deeply, wanting to reassure himself that she was really here and not some type of hallucination. "Pepper" he whispered into her ear. "Are you really here?"

She pulled back slightly cocking her head to one side, the corners of her eye crinkling with restrained laughter. "Yes, it's really me." She leaned back into him and breathed in deeply, instantly calming down at being in his arms. She quickly realized that he definitely needed a shower as she continued to breathe in his sweaty, male scent, but he was warm and firm in her hands and against her body, and that's really all that she cared about right now.

"How did you find me?" Tony asked in amazement pulling back from her slightly as he stroked up and down her arms with his hands, looking deeply into her eyes. "All communications are jammed and the military has the area locked down."

"I just followed your heart." She said reaching out with her right hand and placing it tenderly on top of his Arc Reactor. "We diverted to Teterboro after being turned away from La Guardia. Then I flew here on an SI chopper which is sitting about 150 feet from here in the middle of the road." She started to tear up as she continued. "I am so sorry that I missed your phone call. I tried calling you back, but I couldn't get through. I thought I had lost you, Tony." Tears began to roll down her cheeks.

Tony eyebrows shot up at her explanation and then he quickly pulled her back into his body in a tight embrace when she started to cry. "I tried to call you because I didn't know if I was going to make it back or not. And if I didn't, then I wanted you to know just how much I love you." he whispered, tears welling up in his eyes as he leaned in to kiss the side of her head tenderly.

After the kiss, Tony quickly hugged Pepper against his body tightly again, gently rocking them back and forth in utter relief of feeling her in his arms once again.

"I love you too." Pepper whispered back in his ear as she nuzzled his neck tenderly while they continued to rock. This was the very first time they had said 'I love you' to each other and Pepper's head was suddenly overflowing with many emotions, two emotions standing out above the rest: sadness and relief. Sadness because it took yet another near death experience to finally get them to admit their feelings for each other. And relief because they had finally broken through that huge emotional barrier between them. She now had the hope that feelings exchanges would be a little easier for both of them going forward.

Natasha had gotten up and walked over towards Tony and Pepper with a smile on her face. Clint watched her with interest. He had never seen her act this friendly towards another woman.

"Good to see you again, Ms. Potts." Natasha said as Pepper looked over to see her and smiled broadly at her as Tony continued to hold her in his arms. Pepper attempted to scrub away the tears on her cheek with one hand.

Tony felt her moving and released his grip on her. Pepper immediately walked over to hug Natasha, who hugged her back. "Good to see you again too, Agent Romanoff."

The two women exchanged knowing looks. "Tony's been driving your crazy again, hasn't he?" Pepper remarked managing a smile as she finished wiping the tears out of her eyes.

Tony grabbed Pepper's hand gently pulling her towards the table. "I most certainly have not." Tony interjected.

"He has definitely had his moments recently." Natasha replied with a small smile.

Dr. Banner stood up as Pepper and Tony approached him.

"Dr. Banner." Pepper acknowledged as he stood up. She quickly closed the distance between them and suddenly hugged him fiercely, surprising both him and Tony. "I'm Pepper Potts. I can't tell you how thankful I am to you for saving Tony's life."

"I was afraid that the news cameras caught that on tape. You saw that on TV huh? Well, OK. Sorta speaking for the 'other guy' here: You're welcome. But please drop the formalities and just call me Bruce." Bruce replied smiling shyly at Pepper as she released him from her hug.

Tony shot a questioning glance at Bruce and Bruce just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

Hawkeye stood up and moved towards Natasha as she was returning to sit down at the table and put out a hand towards Pepper who shook it firmly. "Clint Barrows."

Pepper smiled warmly at him as she let go of his hand. "Pepper Potts. Very pleased to meet you, Clint."

As Pepper made her way around the table towards Cap, Tony quickly moved to her side, placing his arm around her waist possessively.

Captain America immediately stood up putting his hand out in greeting as Pepper smiled at him. "Steve Austin, ma'am." He shook her hand gently, surprised at how strong her grip was.

"Pepper Potts. Very pleased to meet you." Pepper said looking up and smiling at Cap.

Tony shot Cap a stern look and Cap immediately narrowed his eyes at the man in a silent challenge. Bruce noticed immediately and sadly shook his head.

As Pepper and Tony moved around Cap, Thor stood up quickly taking Pepper's offered hand and gently turning her hand, placing a gentle kiss to the back of her hand. "I am called Thor."

"Hey" Tony interrupted, glaring at Thor.

"Pepper Potts. Very pleased to meet you, too." Pepper said smiling at Thor's gesture.

"She's taken already, Thunder Thighs." Tony snapped at Thor, immediately gathering Pepper gently into his side and away from Thor's grasp as he led Pepper back to his seat, picking up his chair for her to sit in, and gently pushing her down to sit at the table. He moved to get another chair for himself and placed the chair right next to Pepper's chair.

"Says the self proclaimed 'playboy'." Cap interjected, glaring at Tony. "Does she know about your lifestyle?"

"Pepper has known me for almost 12 years." Tony countered "She knows everything about me. My playboy life is past history now."

"Twelve years, huh?" Cap replied astonished. "I can't stand being around you for more than 12 seconds at a time Stark." Cap glared at Tony. His gaze softened as he looked over to Pepper "Ms. Potts, you must have the patience of a saint, ma'am."

"He speaks the truth." Thor added nodding towards Cap. "Tony Stark is a very trying human being. To be bonded with such a human, Pepper Potts, you must not only have great patience, but great strength and resolve as well."

"Wait." Tony said quickly sitting down next to Pepper who had just taken a big bite out of what was left of Tony's sandwich, "What? Bonded? What the hell does that mean?"

"What, Stark." Cap challenged "You afraid of a commitment, Mr. Playboy?"

"Pepper is my…my significant other." Tony countered nervously looking over at Pepper.

"What the heck is a 'significant other'? " Cap questioned as he finished his sandwich.

"A significant other" Bruce explained quietly and patiently "is someone that is very important in your life, like a best friend, but with legal and financial responsibilities."

"Sounds like weasel wording to me." Cap responded. "Where I come from, a man would do the right thing and marry his "significant other' in order to prove to her that his intentions were honorable."

Bruce winced at the implications of Cap's words. He hoped that the 'other guy' didn't have to make an appearance here any time soon in order to break up a fight between Tony and Cap.

"Butt out, Austin." Tony said fiercely, "My relationship with Pepper is none of your damn business." Tony quickly stood up and moved his chair back out of his way. Pepper, with her mouth full of shawarma, looked at Tony in utter disbelief as she watched him square off with Steve.

Pepper swallowed quickly and immediately got to her feet planting herself directly between Tony and Steve trying her best to be nonconfrontational in her body language. "Being the other half of this relationship I think entitles me to jump in the middle here." Pepper said, keeping her voice calm and steady as she spoke, looking first at Tony and then turning to look at Steve. "Considering where we started almost 12 years ago and where we are today, my relationship with Tony has come a long way. I do, however, appreciate your thoughtfulness, Steve in trying to help our relationship along. But saying that this is neither the time nor place for such help is an understatement given the destruction and chaos just outside of this restaurant, and the very real threat of military action against the Avengers by the US Government at the current time. Perhaps you both should all be agreeing on a plan of action instead of arguing over the difference between a significant other and a spouse."

Thor stood up and moved to stand between Tony and Steve, alongside Pepper. "Pepper Potts gives us wise counsel."

The two men looked at Pepper and Thor and then both slowly sat back down. Thor returned to his seat and Pepper sat back down next to Tony.

Thor continued. "Loki and I will return to Asgard with the Tesseract tomorrow."

"Eventually Hawkeye and I will need to check in with Fury." Natasha remarked.

Bruce just shrugged his shoulders in a non-committal way.

"Well then, you can all stay at Stark Tower tonight." Pepper suggested "Jarvis has the building secured again. You guys can plan your next moves from there after a good night's sleep."

They all nodded to each other in silent agreement as they stood up from the table together. They were all verging on exhaustion. A shower and a good night's sleep were indeed very tempting to all of them.

Tony took Pepper's hand in his as they stood. They all gave their thanks to the restaurant owners who had refused to let them pay for their meal.

"I had ordered grocery deliveries yesterday afternoon before I left with Phil to go to the airport, so there should be plenty of food at the penthouse." Pepper said to the group as they made their way towards the restaurant door "And with the SI chopper we can all be on the heli-pad at Stark Tower within 5 minutes without any stair climbing."

Tony froze mid step, pulling Pepper into his arms suddenly and locking eyes somberly with hers. "Agent Colson didn't make it." He said flatly.

Pepper pulled away from him. "What do you mean' he didn't make it'?" she said heavily, fearing what his answer would be.

"He was killed during the fight." Tony answered pulling her back into his arms.

Pepper squeezed hers eyes closed. "He was a good man. She said quietly putting her arms around Tony's neck and burying her head into his shoulder as a few tears escaped from her eyes. "He was a good friend too. I'm going to miss him."

Thor walked up to Tony and Pepper. "Agent Colson was a brave and honorable man. I will miss him also." Thor said sadly "He faced death without fear. I am proud and humbled to have known him."

The rest of the group was silent. Tony continued to stroke his hands up and down Pepper's back. Pepper sniffled quietly once. then picked her head up from Tony's shoulder looking into his eyes sadly. "Let's go home." She said weakly as Tony reached up to her face gently wiping her tears away with his thumbs, reaching then reaching out to take her hand as he led her towards the door.

They walked slowly and cautiously towards the SI helicopter. Pepper opened the co-pilot's door as Tony opened the passenger compartment's door allowing the others to enter before him. He took the seat which backed up to Pepper's co-pilot's seat, wanting to be as close to her as possible.

Pepper managed to see the surprised look on Tommy's face behind his sunshield when he turned in his seat to take a good look at his new passengers, as the doors to the chopper were secured and everyone was buckled in. He handed Pepper her pilot's helmet. She had grown fond of Tommy during their short flight to NYC. Pepper had always been blessed with an intuitive sense when judging good from bad people. And Tommy was definitely a good one in her book.

"Where to Boss?" Tommy asked her over the com link as the engines and rotor noise became loud enough to drown out non-electronic conversations.

"The Stark Tower heli-pad." Pepper replied "Given the current conditions in and around the city, we will all stay the night there. That includes you, Tommy. We will need you and the chopper."

"Sure thing, Boss." Tommy replied "You want the stick or shall I ?" he asked indicating the helicopter's controls.

"Why don't you, Tommy." Pepper decided glancing back towards the passenger compartment.

Pepper smiled at Tommy as he lifted the helicopter off of the street beginning a slow and cautious climb towards the Stark Tower heli-pad.

In less than a minute, the chopper had touched down on the Stark Tower heli-pad. Once the rotors had stopped, Tommy and Hawkeye jumped out and pulled out the tie downs and secured the helicopter as everyone exited the aircraft.

Upon entering the penthouse they were greeted by a very British voice.

"Good to see you again, Madam, Sir." Jarvis said as Tony and Pepper entered the penthouse first.

"Good to be seen again, Jarvis." Tony replied smiling up at the ceiling "What's the status on Stark Tower?"

"I have rebooted the main frames and power levels have stabilized." Jarvis began "Elevators 11 - 20 are off line due to cable supporting structures being damaged. Elevators 1 - 10 are all on line, but in security lockdown. All backup generators are off line due to damage to main and back up switchgear. Unable to complete exterior camera sweep to verify the extent of the exterior damage due to a multitude of damaged cameras. Interior damage appears to be heaviest in the upper floors in particular your pent house, sir."

"Yep." Tony replied shrugging his shoulders "We do have a little fixing up to do, don't we?"

Much to Pepper's amazement, Tony actually led the Avengers and Tommy through the penthouse as he unofficially assigned bedrooms, pointed out bathrooms, as well as the location of the linen closets for future reference. Pepper was left alone in the living room. She had helped to design Stark Tower, and had made many site visits during the building's construction. This was her first big project as CEO. She spent so much time working on this project that Tony had even starting calling Stark Tower 'her baby'. She looked around sadly as she walked around the living room slowly, noting the strange almost human shaped concrete damage in the floor. She would have to ask Tony about that later. The windows were all damaged in the living room and broken glass littered the floor. She noted that the kitchen area seemed relatively unscathed. The rest of the bedrooms were also on the interior of the building and Pepper hoped they were also undamaged. The master bedroom shared an exterior wall of the building and Pepper feared what she would find when she walked into this room. As she moved towards the master bedroom, Tony walked up to her, taking her hand in his as he opened the door for her.

As CEO, Pepper had implemented many new policies at SI. Most of them were the HR type. Pepper was a firm believer that taking good care of employees was the best way to ensure the continued success of any business. Being involved in running a small family business since she was 5 years old had also made her passionate about just how important small businesses were to the US economy. In support of small businesses, she had initiated a new purchasing policy which mandated that all SI purchases be made from small US businesses whenever possible. Pepper had planned to decorate all of Stark Tower with US small business artisan wares. She had started the decorating process with the Penthouse and in particular with the Master Bedroom of the Penthouse. Pepper felt the need to make the Penthouse a natural sanctuary of sorts surrounded as it was by man-made concrete and metal buildings. Much like Central Park provided a natural relief to the City of New York. She had purchased a rustic king size bed that had been handmade using virgin ashe juniper slabs by The Old Cedar Post, a small furniture business located in New Braunfels, Texas as well as natural edged tables, chairs, chest of drawers, an old fashioned chifforobe, and even two rustic rocking chairs. Tony had first laughed at the rockers, but after sitting in one, he quickly became addicted to the soothing motion that his hyperactive body could create by sitting and rocking in one. The juniper odor reminded her of her family's ranch and the odor brought back good memories and a feeling of serenity and security to her. Tony had of course been pleased that she had chosen a bed for him, telling her that this was the gift that would keep on giving only if she would share it with him. She had politely refused. Pepper replayed that particular conversation in her head as she walked through the bedroom door concerned for the condition of the furniture as well as the room itself.

All of the windows in the master bedroom were shattered. The furniture had been rearranged no doubt by the same force that had broken the windows, with the majority of the furniture being shoved haphazardly against the wall opposite the window, but looking surprisingly intact. Tony let go of her hand and moved over to the bed pulling one of the night tables off of it and setting the piece back on the floor.

"Hmmm" Tony began as he started to roll up the thick comforter covering the bed, keeping the broken glass safely inside the comforter. He placed the comforter on the floor and looked the bed over critically. "Looks like the bed is OK. And I think I like it up against the wall like this too." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her. "Makes it harder for you to get out of bed without me knowing it."

She raised her eyebrows at him and couldn't resist teasing him. ."You'll have to get me in your bed first, Mr. Stark."

"Is that a challenge, Ms. Potts?" he replied moving towards her and pulling her into his arms kissing her firmly on the lips. Her hands went to the back of his neck, deepening the kiss. He gently pulled back from the kiss looking deeply into her eyes, his own eyes darkening with emotion.

She quickly leaned into him again, her lips meeting his, and his hands went to her hair, raking his fingers through the strawberry blonde strands, pulling her gently deeper into the kiss.

"Excuse me sir, and madam, but Mr. Austin is asking about your whereabouts." Jarvis informed them as they suddenly broke apart from the kiss, startled by the AI's voice.

"Austin can kiss my ass." Tony replied leaning back into her to plant a quick kiss on her lips as she smiled at him. "Jarvis don't ever interrupt me and Pepper doing anything" he paused trying to come up with the right word "romantic again unless it is an emergency, and answering to Mr. Austin's beck and call is NOT an emergency."

"But sir" the AI started "given you and Ms. Potts' growing propensities for long romantic interludes, matters requiring immediate attention will not be attended to in a timely manner."

"You and I are going to have a chat sometime soon about what is and what is not an emergency, Jarvis." He replied looking up at the ceiling.

"Of course, sir." Came the AI's sarcastic reply.

Pepper laughed at the indignant look on Tony's face as he stared up at the ceiling and she gently poked him in the ribs to get his attention. "Remember my promise to you from the other night?" She asked him quietly as he recalled the memory of her whispered promise and turned back towards her, a huge smile on his face.

"Of course I do." He replied his smile actually growing larger.

"Well, it's getting late, so if I am going to keep that promise, I had better get busy." She told him pulling gently out of his arms.

"Let me help." He said plaintively taking one of her hands in his and squeezing it.

"Only if you promise to wash your hands first." She teased leading him out of the bedroom.

"You know I always wash my hands before." He replied smugly.

Pepper smiled to herself as they walked back through the penthouse and into the kitchen. Since coming home from Afghanistan, Tony had actually started cooking a little on his own. And Pepper had started cooking more and more for them too. Tony now seemed to prefer home cooked meals over take out, or even going out to a restaurant. Pepper couldn't figure out if his new fascination with home cooking was because of his new found paranoia of having his food tampered with by restaurant cooks with a score to settle with Iron Man, or if his experience as a captive in Afghanistan had just dulled his appetite for the public eye. He had even started to help her when she cooked, and even though sometimes she wanted to kick him out of the kitchen for being a pest, she found herself actually enjoying having him around her while she cooked. In the aftermath of the Expo destruction, and then the construction of Stark Tower, she had even less time to cook for him, and she found herself missing their home cooked meals more and more. Her whispered promise to Tony from last night was that she would prepare his favorite meal for him in exchange for him doing his 'homework'. She knew that this meal would be a great incentive for him, since she hadn't cooked this dish for him in almost 2 months. He claimed that her recipe was better than his mother's. So when she had ordered in groceries, she had ordered enough to make two pans, planning to freeze the second pan so they could enjoy it together later when she didn't have time to cook. Given their overnight guests, two pans would be perfect for tonight's dinner.

They walked into the kitchen moving to the sink, standing side by side as they washed their hands in the large sink. Tony then moved towards a cabinet and pulled out a huge frying pan, moving to set it on the stove top. "I'll cook the sausage." He said opening up the huge commercial refrigerator and pulling out a large package of Italian sausage.

Pepper pulled out a large saucepan and started pulling Italian spices out of the spice cabinet. She pulled vegetables out of the crisper bin and a cutting board and knife out on the counter. She washed the vegetables, and then proceeded to cut them up, placing them into the saucepan as she did. Within minutes the kitchen had filled with the aromas of their dinner preparations.

Bruce and Tommy had walked up to the bar/counter that separated the kitchen area from the living area and sat down on the bar stools. "Something sure smells good." Bruce said smiling at Pepper who was moving the saucepan over to the stove top.

"I hope you like homemade lasagna." Pepper said smiling back at him.

"Yes I do." Bruce replied "Can I help with anything, or can I just sit here and be amazed and impressed to see Tony Stark actually cooking?"

Pepper laughed quietly at Bruce's comment. Her people radar indicated that Bruce was a good man, and the fact that he had saved Tony's life today had helped cement that idea in Pepper's head.

"Very funny, Jolly Green." Tony replied, not looking up from the pan of sausage. "For your information I am simply assisting Ms. Potts. She is the real chef here. Pepper's lasagna is so good that it is legendary as a matter of fact. And better than sex too, I might add."

Both Bruce's and Tommy's eyebrows shot up at Tony's last statement.

"No, we don't need any help." Pepper replied glaring at Tony. "But thanks for asking. Dinner will be ready in about an hour and a half."

"Well then, I guess I will have to go and run the table on Tommy again at pool." Bruce said seeing it as an excuse to leave the couple quickly before a lover's quarrel broke out.

"Are you kidding" Tommy replied quickly as he stood up to follow Bruce, also wanting to get away before he saw or heard something he wasn't meant to. "I was just letting you win."

After Tommy and Bruce left, Pepper continued to glare at Tony.

"I guess I shouldn't have made the 'better than sex' comment." Tony remarked looking over his shoulder at her.

"No, you shouldn't have." She replied with a huff.

"What I meant to say was that your lasagna was better than sex unless that sex was with you." Tony tried to explain shaking his head in disbelief as just how stupid even his own words sounded to him at the moment "That didn't sound right either, did it?"

"Would you like a shovel so you can dig yourself a deeper hole, Mr. Stark?"

She replied looking away from him trying to hide the beginnings of a smile. "And how do you even have a basis for comparison since, by my recollection, we have never had sex before?"

"I have my fantasies." Tony countered glancing over at her and seeing her try to hide the smile growing on her face. He turned back to the stove top and focused again on cooking the sausage. "And no where in my fantasies has there ever been a shovel, so I'll pass on your offer."

Suddenly a balled up dish towel hit Tony in the back of the head with surprising accuracy and force. "Just be glad that wasn't a shovel." Pepper commented as Tony smiled to himself. Within 15 minutes, the sausage was cooked. He drained off the excess liquid from the pan and set the pan on the counter next to the cook top.

Pepper was patiently stirring the simmering sauce in the saucepan as Tony wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning over to kiss her on the neck. "I love you." he whispered into her ear.

Pepper was both shocked and delighted to hear those words from him for the second time today. Shocked that he said it so spontaneously and delighted that he felt comfortable enough with her now to vocalize his feelings. She could definitely get used to this new romantic side of Tony. She smiled turning slowly in his arms as he loosened his grip on her so she could face him. "I love you too, Tony." She whispered back to him kissing him softly on the lips. Her eyes suddenly became serious. "As we were flying here in the chopper today, I promised myself that I would never again live with regrets about us." She paused looking him deeply in his eyes wanting to put as much emotion as she could into her next words. "I want…"

"Boy, something sure smells good in here." Clint said loudly as he walked into the kitchen. He stopped dead in his tracks seeing Tony and Pepper locked in an embrace. "Ooops!"

Tony released Pepper and looked at Hawkeye disdainfully. Natasha poked Clint in the back as Clint turned to look at her.

"We were going to offer our help, but it looks like you have everything under control, Pepper." Natasha deadpanned.

"Yes" Pepper started blushing slightly "I am about to put the lasagna in the oven."

She continued, turning quickly out of Tony's arms and moving to open the refrigerator. "We should be ready to eat in about an hour."

Natasha raised one eyebrow at Tony who shrugged his shoulders at her in reply. Natasha then tugged on Clint's hand.

"Very well." Natasha said with a small smile to Clint. "We'll be back to help set up and serve in an hour."

"Thanks." Pepper replied continuing to set up the pans and the ingredients in a line on the counter. She quickly folded the eggs and ricotta cheese into the sauce mixture

Tony fell into a silent cooperation with Pepper, adding the sausage and lasagna noodles as she layered the sauce and mozzarella cheese in each pan. They filled both pans up quickly. Pepper added the final layer of cheese on top of each pan, while Tony pulled out the foil and tented each pan. He then slid each pan into the oven after she opened the oven door.

Pepper closed the oven door and Tony quickly pulled back into his arms. "You were saying Ms. Potts before we were so rudely interrupted and I might add once again too, that you wanted to do something, preferably with me or even better, to me." His eyes were crinkled with humor as she regarded him with a mixture of annoyance and long suffering patience, sighing loudly.

"Tony" she whispered moving closer to him, his expression turning serious as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm not entirely sure about your intentions for our relationship, but I want to make myself very clear to you with regards to my feelings on this. I realized today when I was in the chopper searching for you that I am through living with regrets about our relationship, Tony." She leaned her head towards him and kissed him softly on the lips as he closed his eyes and held her close. She pulled back slightly watching as he slowly opened his eyes his pupils instantly dilating with emotion. "I want to be with you." She said with a small smile. "And I hope you feel the same way about me."

His eyebrows shot up questioning her words. "You mean be with me as in being with me, or as in BEING with me?" he asked pulling her body tightly into his. "Because if you mean BEING with me, then hell yes I feel the same way."

"God, we have got to stop expressing our feelings in such nebulous ways." She explained, taking her right hand and pulling on his chin whiskers as if to make a point. "So I'm going to start right now: What I am saying, Tony is that I want you to share my life, my heart, and my bed."

He smiled brilliantly at her. "Pepper, you don't know how long I've been waiting for you to…"

"Pepper Potts!" Thor's voiced boomed into the kitchen "What delicious food is it that you prepare for us? The smell of it cooking is wondrous."

"I guess that having the Avengers stay with us is preparing us for having children, right Pepper? We seem to always be getting interrupted just when things are getting hot between us." Tony teased in a low voice that only she could hear, as he slowly let go of her. He turned to glare at Thor as Dr. Selvig walked up to join Thor.

"Thank you for the compliment." Pepper replied to Thor, a huge smile breaking out on her face. "But please reserve your judgment until after you taste the food." Pepper held out her hand to Dr. Selvig in greeting "Pepper Potts."

"I am Eric Selvig, Ms. Potts." Dr. Selvig replied returning her smile with one of his own. "Thor has told me about you. He says that you are Tony Stark's better half."

"Is that so?" Pepper laughed looking at Thor who smiled at her.

Tony had snaked one arm around Pepper's waist and pulled her into him possessively. "Well for once Hammer Head is correct." Tony said cutting his eyes at Thor as he spoke to Dr. Selvig. "Pepper is also the CEO of Stark Industries."

"Yes, I know." Dr. Selvig remarked "You are leading the new energy revolution. I have been following this development with much interest. My congratulations, Ms. Potts."

"Thanks, but actually Tony here is the one leading that charge." Pepper replied wrapping her arm around Tony's waist and squeezing affectionately. "It seems that I am responsible for only about 12% of that effort."

Tony shot a quick glance at Pepper as she turned to smile enigmatically at him, her eyes sparkling with hidden humor. "Ms. Potts here is obviously being very modest about the percentage of her involvement in this project. I wouldn't have ever miniaturized the arc reactor had it not been for her." He turned his head to lock eyes with her, his gaze dark and serious.

She returned his gaze with very obvious affection. She could see many strong emotions battling for dominance in his eyes. He had finally confessed to her several months ago that the only reason he wanted to make it out of that cave in Afghanistan alive, was to get back to her. She had thought he had been teasing her at the time. Now she wasn't so sure.

"Mr. Stark" Dr. Selvig began "we are in need of your engineering expertise down in the lab where we are currently keeping Loki sedated."

Tony looked from Dr. Selvig to Pepper, hesitating to respond.

Pepper leaned over and kissed him tenderly on the cheek. "Go do what you need to do." She started. "I need to call my folks at Teterboro and let them know what is going on anyways."

Tony reached for her hand as he slowly moved away from her. "I'll be back before the lasagna is done to help with dinner." He promised as he squeezed her hand gently and pressed a kiss to the back of it just before he let it go.

As the three of them walked away from Pepper, she saw Tony pull up his right hand to check the time on his watch. Pepper suspected that Tony would indeed be back in the kitchen in time for the lasagna to be taken out of the oven.

"Jarvis" she called towards the ceiling "keep an eye on the lasagna please. Be sure to reset the oven to the 'keep warm' setting in an hour if I'm not back here."

"My pleasure, madam." The AI cheerfully acknowledged.

After Pepper had called her assistants and also spoke with Bill, she decided on a quick shower. Since the other bedrooms were now taken with Avengers, she decided to use the shower in the master bedroom. She quickly stopped by the bedroom that she routinely used when staying overnight at the Penthouse. She knocked on the door quietly; not knowing if anyone would answer.

"Hi." She said to a sleepy eyed Natasha who opened the door. "Natasha, please feel free to borrow any clothes of mine you want. I know that nothing feels better than a change of clothes after a shower." She knew that they weren't anywhere close to the same size; however, some of the casual clothes that she kept in her closet here would work out for Natasha on a temporary basis.

"Thanks, Pepper." Natasha smiled genuinely in reply. "Don't you need to pick up some clothes for yourself too? Not that I am prying into your relationship with Stark, but Shield data does not have you two cohabitating… at least not yet."

Pepper smiled coyly at her. "Not yet." She agreed. "And yes, I would like to pick up some clothes to take back to the master bedroom with me."

Natasha stepped back to let Pepper into the room and Pepper made a beeline to the large closet at the back of the bedroom. She returned with a several tops, two skirts, one semi-formal dress and assorted intimate wear.

"I'll see you and Clint for dinner." Pepper said smiling knowingly at Natasha.

Natasha replied to Pepper's comment with a small smile as Pepper turned to walk back down the hall towards the master bedroom.

Pepper really liked and admired Natasha, and she hoped that things would work out between her and Clint. She was a little curious about why Tony had given her bedroom away to Natasha for the night. Tony's mind worked in strange ways sometimes, and she wasn't positive, but she believed that Tony was trying to limit Pepper's choice for sleeping arrangements to the Master Bedroom. She continued to internally debate with herself about Tony's intentions with regard to their relationship as she entered the Master Bath. Since bedroom assignments had happened prior to their recent kitchen conversation, she was fairly certain that Tony had intended for their relationship to change tonight, as was she. She quickly showered and dressed wanting to get back into the kitchen with sufficient time so she could make the salad before the lasagna was done.

Pepper had just slipped four loaves of Italian cheese bread into the convection oven for cooking and she was currently busy washing and cutting lettuce and spinach when she noticed Tony had entered the kitchen. Her gaze moved from his bare feet rapidly up his jean and t-shirt clothed body. His hair was damp, curling loosely from a very obvious quick shower, and he had shaved his evening stubble leaving his goatee looking very crisp and sharp. He must have taken his shower immediately after hers in order to be down here so quick, she thought. It seemed it was just a matter of circumstance that he didn't join her in the shower. But Pepper knew better than that.

"Let me help you Ms. Potts." He said as he noticed her eyeing him. He smiled seductively at her. "I wouldn't want you to cut yourself while you ogled me."

Pepper raised one eyebrow at him in a silent challenge. "Be careful what you say to an armed woman, Mr. Stark." she teased as he leaned carefully over her arm holding the knife and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. "You can get out plates, and bowls. We also need to get the bottled waters out of the fridge and out on the bar. I'm almost done with the salad."

He turned to the cabinets and started pulling out dinner plates onto the counter below. "I know now is not the time to continue our conversation regarding our relationship without interruption, so could we talk later?" He stopped setting bowls on the countertop, meeting her eyes with his.

"Yes, of course we can." She replied with a small smile. "How about right after dinner?" Based upon the ending of their last relationship conversation in the kitchen, it was his 'turn' to put himself out there in discussing his feelings about their relationship. She didn't want to crowd him or make him feel hurried. She was willing to wait for him to start this particular conversation back up again. However, she was not intending to wait for an extended amount of time.

"Sounds good." He said smiling back at her.

As if on cue, Natasha and Clint walked into the kitchen. "Clint and I have cleaned off the dining table and reset the chairs. They are a little dinged but still functional."

Pepper's eyes widened suddenly. She had forgotten about the damage to the dining area. "Thanks for doing that. I had forgotten about the exterior exposure of that area."

"Not a problem." Clint replied "I just swept the broken glass up against the window frames."

Tony picked up the plates and set them on the bar/counter and went back to pick up the bowls setting them a little farther away from the plates, leaving room for the silverware and napkins. He then pulled a case of bottled waters out of the fridge setting the case on the counter. Clint quickly produced a knife and cut the case open for Tony and they both set out bottles on the bar/countertop.

"Ms. Potts" Jarvis announced "the lasagna is now ready to be removed from the oven."

"Thank you Jarvis." She replied moving to turn the oven off, only to find that Jarvis had already turned the oven off.

Tony had moved over to the oven quickly grabbing two oven mitts. He opened the door pulling the lasagna out one pan at a time placing each of them on the cooling racks on the bar/countertop.

Pepper placed the salad serving bowl on the bar/countertop. "Tony, while you have the oven mitts on, can you get the bread out of the convection oven, please?"

"Yes, dear." He replied turning to the smaller convection oven adjacent to the large oven. He pulled out the four loaves of Italian cheese bread. "Would you like me to slice them up too, Sweetheart?"

Pepper turned to look at him curiously, a small smile slowly breaking out on her face. "Of course, Darling." she replied.

He smiled back at her, then walked over and pulled a drawer open, pulling out a serrated knife.

Pepper looked at Natasha and Clint who were standing there now obviously curious too about their new pet names for each other. "If you wouldn't mind calling everyone to dinner, we can get started eating."

Both Natasha and Clint nodded their heads, suddenly moving in opposite directions through the penthouse in an effort to round everyone up for dinner.

Tony had pulled out a huge bread basket and had inserted a clean, dry dishcloth into it. He started placing the slices of bread into the basket. "I like the way you say 'darling'. Say it again, pleeeaaassse."

She walked up behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders, and whispered huskily into his ear. "Darling."

He exhaled sharply and she could see actual goose bumps developing along his neck, disappearing into the neck of his t-shirt. She smiled to herself, happy to pull such a reaction from him with just her voice. She also noted that his hands had frozen mid-slice.

"Now get back to work." She teased as her right hand tugged gently on his right ear lobe.

"Just promise me that you will call me 'darling' again soon….like maybe later tonight." He responded, his hands once again busy slicing the bread loaves.

"Of course, Sweetheart." She replied smiling at him as she walked past him to the silverware drawer, pulling out forks and spoons. She then walked to the storage cabinet, pulling out a tall stack of dinner napkins. She could feel his eyes tracking her as she walked. She carried everything over to the bar/countertop and placed them in line next to the dinner plates.

"Maybe you could work 'sweetheart' into our after dinner conversation." Tony said as he continued slicing the bread. "I'm suddenly starting to like the sound of that word too."

Voices could now be heard coming closer as the seconds passed. Within minutes all of their guests had arrived.

"This is serve yourself" Tony announced loudly as he placed the bread basket next to the salad serving bowl. "All compliments can be directed to Ms. Potts, and any complaints can be directed to me."

The men respectfully allowed Natasha and Pepper to go first in line. But surprisingly, Steve actually motioned for Tony to go next after Pepper. Tony nodded his head curtly at Steve, but made no comment. When they got to the dining table, Tony pulled out Pepper's chair for her and then helped her sit down. He sat down right next to her, their knees touching.

Except for Pepper and Natasha everyone had seconds on the lasagna. Thor had thirds and almost an entire loaf of bread. Conversation was almost non-existent and Pepper suspected that all of their guests were simply too tired to talk and eat at the same time.

After dinner, Pepper produced two ice cream cakes which not surprisingly disappeared as fast as the lasagna did.

Pepper smiled as she looked around the table. Everyone, even Dr. Selvig was sitting motionless, their eyes at half mast. Thor's eyes were actually closed, and he appeared to be on the verge of falling out of his chair. "OK everyone, bedtime." She announced loudly startling everyone including Tony, who had propped himself up by wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leaning onto her.

"No, we will help with the cleanup, Pepper Potts in gratitude for the wondrous meal." Thor said quickly sitting up straight and picking up his plate and bowl and stacking them on top of Dr. Selvig's. He then picked up both sets up and walked towards the kitchen. "This 'lasagna' of yours was truly delicious."

"Legendary indeed, Ms. Potts." Tommy added smiling at Pepper, as he picked up his plate and bowl and followed behind Thor.

"Better than sex." Bruce added earning him surprised looks from everyone left in the room. He quickly looked around the room with a twinkle in his eyes "Hey, I'm just repeating what Tony had said about Pepper's lasagna." He then smiled broadly at Tony as he picked up his plate and bowl and slowly moved into the kitchen chuckling to himself.

Pepper turned to glare at Tony again and Tony winced slightly.

"You do have a way with words, Stark." Clint commented as he picked up Natasha's plate and bowl with his own carrying them into the kitchen.

"You are such a dork, Stark." Natasha said, moving to collect the empty bottled waters from the table and following Clint into the kitchen.

Tony proceeded to slide Pepper's plate onto his, piling both their bowls and silverware onto the plates.

Steve looked over at Tony and simply shook his head in a disapproving way. "Ms. Potts, your lasagna truly is the best I have ever tasted. Thank you very much for cooking for all of us."

"You're welcome, Steve." Pepper politely replied to him as he picked up his plate, bowl, and silverware. "I am glad you enjoyed the meal."

As Steve left the dining table Pepper turned again to Tony. "Please don't hit me with the shovel, Pepper." He said plaintively giving her his best puppy eyes. Her look softened slightly, and he took that as a good sign immediately leaning over to her and kissing her on the cheek, tenderly. "Your lasagna really is the best. Thanks for cooking dinner for all of us."

Pepper looked at him tenderly, her annoyance vanishing, and she reached up to stroke his cheek. He closed his eyes at her touch. She smiled at him. "You know I just can't stay mad at you for very long at a time."

"Really." He teased "what about the time I…"

She tweaked his nose. "Don't press your luck, Mr. Stark."

"Yes, dear." He replied getting up from the table with their dishes in his hands.

Pepper followed him into the kitchen and was immediately surprised with what she saw. Bruce and Tommy were loading the commercial dishwasher. Thor was looking longingly at the empty lasagna pans, as he handed Bruce plates bowls after Dr. Selvig had prewashed them in the sink. Natasha and Clint were cleaning the countertops. Steve was bagging garbage.

Tony handed Dr. Selvig their plates and bowls, then walking over to Steve, taking the garbage bag from him and walking towards the utility room with the bag. Tony came back into the kitchen, and put an arm around Pepper.

""Thank you for cleaning up after dinner. I'm cooking breakfast tomorrow morning." Pepper announced. Thor snapped his head up and looked at her and smiled. "Homemade pancakes." She added as Thor's smile became even bigger.

"It is our duty, Pepper Potts. You cook, we clean." Thor replied proudly. Bruce looked up at Thor and rolled his eyes at the use of the word 'duty'.

They finished up quickly thanking Pepper once again for the dinner. They had all agreed to meet after breakfast to discuss and then implement their plans for tomorrow. They walked out of the kitchen leaving Tony and Pepper alone at last. Tony smiled broadly as he took Pepper's hand and pulled into the living area. He unrolled a hologram mat onto the bar top pulling Pepper close to him.

"During dinner I thought of a few modifications that we could make to the Tower when we rebuild." He started as she moved her hand over the mat bringing the hologram of Stark Tower to life.

Tony explained his ideas to her, both of them working together to come up with a remodeling plan. He had fixed them both drinks, surprisingly non-alcoholic as they worked. She had kissed him tenderly on the cheek in thanks. She was very thankful they didn't have to rebuild the Tower from scratch, and Tony's new security and defensive ideas made sense in light of what had happened today.

Jarvis downloaded their modification plans and Tony rolled up the mat. He then took one of her hands in his and pulled her over to sit next to him on the couch by the fireplace.

"You know me Pepper." He began, taking both her hands in his "I have lived my life with few regrets. But most of the regrets I do have in life revolve around you." He looked deeply into her eyes, pausing as if to collect his thoughts. "You know that I get tongue tied whenever I try to talk to you about us, Pepper. Considering that you are the only woman I have ever been around that reduces me to babbling, I knew when I first met you that you did something to me that no one else could…and I don't mean just the babbling part either. I regret not manning up when I first met you and giving up the drugs, the booze, and the women for good. I regret not being man enough to tell you how I felt about you when I came home to you from Afghanistan. That you were the reason why I made it back home alive. I wanted to, but I was just too scared that you didn't feel the same way about me, and you would leave me if I told you how I felt. I have always wanted you in my life, Pepper. From day one actually. But I was smart enough to know that you deserved a better man than me, but just too greedy to let you go. And believe it or not, you have always been in my heart. You are my conscience, as scary as that may sound to you. You are the most unbelievably patient and kind person that I have ever known in my life. I really regret that my parents couldn't have known you…..I have no doubt that they would have loved you as much as I do. And of course, I have always wanted you in my bed, but I did have enough sense to know that as long as the drugs and alcohol were still in my life, there was a chance that I could hurt you and drive you away from me forever if we shared a bed. It just wasn't worth the risk, so I kept myself somewhat sane around you with my fantasies. Of course most of those fantasies were about sex, but my favorite fantasies were about us just being together, getting married, you being pregnant with our children, Father's Day surrounded by you and about a half dozen Stark kids. I had actually resigned myself to being the last Stark before I met you. But you gave me hope that someday I would have kids with you. Today when I couldn't reach you as I flew into the space portal, all of these regrets came back to haunt me. And I actually prayed for another chance with you to set things straight between us. As I closed my eyes for what I thought would be the last time Pepper, the last thing I remember seeing was your face."

As she listened patiently to him, she couldn't keep the tears from welling up in her eyes, threatening to spill over onto her cheeks at any second. She desperately wanted not to cry, but she was finding it harder with every word, every confession, that spilled from his lips. Today had been an emotional rollercoaster ride for her, and her self control was at the end of its rope. As he finished speaking, a silent sob involuntarily escaped her mouth and she buried her head into his chest, the tears she had been holding back now streaming down her face in a silent cascade. As she held onto him, he wrapped his arms around her tightly and she could feel his body shaking with each breath that he took. He was crying too. After a few minutes, both of them began to quiet down, leaving only a few sniffles between them. She slowly raised her head from his chest and looked into his reddened eyes. As she gently wiped the tears from his cheeks, he smiled shyly at her.

"Don't tell anybody that Iron Man cried." He teased in a hushed tone "It's not very becoming of a super hero you know."

"Don't worry Iron Man" she replied as he wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs "Your secret is safe with me."

He slowly let go of her and stood up from the couch, at the same time reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small box. Going down on one knee in front of her, he took her left hand in his right one.

"No more regrets, Pepper." He said quietly to her, locking his serious eyes with hers. "Virginia Anne Potts. Would you do me the honor and marry me?"

She sucked in a quick breath in surprise as he asked her the question, but there was no hesitation in her voice at all with her reply. "Yes I will."

Tony smiled at her as he fumbled with the box, opening it, and pulling out the engagement ring. She noticed that his hand was shaking slightly as he slid the ring on her finger. She reached down, taking him by his shoulders and gently pulled him to her. He sat next to her again on the couch as she locked her hands behind his neck, leaning into him and kissing him passionately on the lips.

He moaned as she opened her mouth to him. As her rational mind slowly slipped away from her, the last coherent thought she had was that today had been such a day of extremes in emotions for her: from absolute sorrow in thinking Tony had died, to overpowering joy in agreeing to be his wife. She became dimly aware of herself being pushed gently backwards onto the couch, one of his hands pulling her legs up to lay comfortably on the couch as she moved into a supine position under him. He continued to devour her mouth with his as they lay in other's arms on the couch.

They both became aware of a throat being cleared at the same exact moment. Tony quickly turned his head towards the sound and Pepper could feel his body tense immediately. He gently rolled his body off of hers and stood in front of her in what she recognized immediately as a typical-Tony defensive stance.

"Your timing sucks Austin." Tony growled as Pepper sat up and leaned over in order to see around Tony's body and immediately recognized a look of embarrassment on Steve's face.

"Sorry, but you weren't answering your com link." Steve explained glancing over to Pepper in an apologetic way. "We need help repairing the case for the Tesseract for tomorrow's transfer of Loki to Asgard."

Pepper could visually see Tony's shoulders sag. He turned and looked at her sadly. "The containment case really needs to work right for tomorrow." He explained to her leaning down to kiss her tenderly on the lips. "I won't be long." His voice dropped to a whisper as he reached down to push a lock of her hair back into place. "I love you."

He reached out his hands to her as she pulled herself up from the couch immediately putting her arms around him and touching her forehead to his. "I love you too." She whispered back to him.

He kissed her quickly on the nose as they released their hold on one another and he turned away from her, walking down the hall as he followed Steve to the stairwell.

Pepper checked the time and found it hard to believe that it was only 9:00 PM. This was, without a doubt, one of the longest days of her life. She walked over to retrieve her backpack from behind the bar, slung it over her shoulder and walked into the Master Bedroom. She knew that she was emotionally exhausted, but that sleep would not come to her until after Tony was back in her arms. She pulled out one of Tony's robes from his closet and walked into the Master Bath. She shrugged out of her clothes and put on the robe, relaxing immediately being surrounded by Tony's scent. She looked at the engagement ring on her finger and actually touched it with her other hand just to make sure it was real and not a hallucination. The ring was a simple, yet elegant design. Not at all the gaudy, diamonds whose reflection could be seen from outer space, type ring that she would have expected Tony to buy. The ring seemed to fit her personality and she liked it. She laughed to herself and made a mental note to ask Rhody if he had picked out the ring instead of Tony. She quickly scrubbed her face and brushed her teeth and hair. She felt more relaxed, but still too wound up to sleep so she pulled out her laptop and began to compose a press release detailing SI's response to the battle for NYC. Her eyes misted over when she recalled how Iron Man and the Avengers had saved the entire city both from both the invasion and nuclear destruction. She had to tone down her feelings about the government's nuclear missile response into a more politically correct CEO version. However, she did still manage get her point across. Working for Tony for almost 12 years had honed her writing skills to expert level. She finished the press release and started working her way through the 1,129 email messages that had inundated her inbox within the last 12 hours. After about an hour, she found herself finally growing sleepy but steadfast in her resolve to not go to sleep until she held Tony again. She was determined that tonight there would be no regrets for her. But her body had devised plans of its own and she found herself nodding off repeatedly as she sat propped up against the headboard with her laptop perched on her lap.

"Jarvis, lights please." She said quietly as the AI complied immediately reducing the amount of light in the room.

"What time shall I wake you, Madam?" Jarvis asked.

"Please wake me when Mr. Stark leaves the lab, thanks." She replied.

"Yes, Madam." He quietly said.

She powered down her laptop and put it on the night table. She pulled out another comforter from the closet and laid it on the bed. She breathed in the aromatic scent from the juniper bed and her mind started to drift back to her family's ranch as moved under the comforter and laid her head down on one of the pillows. She had missed her weekly call into her family. She would call them tomorrow.

"Mr. Stark has just left the lab and is walking towards the stairwell, Madam." Jarvis reported.

"Thanks, Jarvis." Pepper replied suddenly wide awake.

She waited in the darkness for a few minutes until she heard the Master Bedroom door open slowly. She could make out Tony's body slowly and quietly walking into the room looking around quickly as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.

"Hi" she said quietly as he jerked his head towards the sound of her voice.

"Sorry" he began as he slowly walked towards the bed. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"I wasn't asleep, Tony" she replied "No regrets, remember. I planned on sleeping with you tonight, not by myself."

She could feel his weight on the edge of the bed as he sat down. "I don't know if sleeping with me is a good idea." He began "I mean as much as I want to sleep with you, I don't know if I could keep my hands and other body parts to myself."

Pepper could hear the hesitation in his voice. "It's OK Tony." She replied "We're engaged now, so I think that each other body's parts are not off limits anymore."

Tony sighed loudly. She waited on him to explain what was really bothering him. "I just thought that we could wait until after we were married." He explained.

She thought quickly about the true meaning behind his words. "When do you want to get married?" she asked him as she sat up and moved a pillow behind her back as she leaned against the headboard.

"Is tonight too soon?" he asked quietly. "Surprisingly my ego is not opting for the wedding of the century here, Pepper. That is unless you want a large wedding."

"I really don't want to waste the time we have together planning a wedding. It seems that life is too short as it is." She answered somberly "I just want to wake up everyday for the rest of my life in your arms. If that means that we elope tonight then that would be fine by me."

His eyes having adjusted to the darkness in the bedroom, he moved up the bed and sat next to her, turning his head to face her. "I have to help Thor get Loki the hell off the Earth tomorrow morning, and that task is a matter of urgency as well as safety. But I know a Federal judge in New York City who was one of my Dad's best friends and could marry us with no questions asked tomorrow afternoon at the Federal Courthouse only six blocks from here. We can then get Tommy to give us a lift back to Teterboro and hop the jet straight to our honeymoon."

Even in the darkness she could make out him waggling his eyebrows at her when he said the word 'honeymoon'. She laughed softly at him. "I agree." She replied reaching out to touch his cheek tenderly "but on one condition."

"Anything my betrothed." He said gallantly, pulling her hand to his mouth and kissing it softly.

"No regrets, remember." She repeated "I don't know how dangerous what you will be doing tomorrow with Thor is, but I promised myself that when I got you back today, that I would never let you go again until I have my way with you." She pulled back the comforter and reached out for him, pulling him close to her. She moved her hands to grasp the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it up and over his head. He moaned softly as she tossed the t-shirt onto the floor "What that means to me is that we make love tonight and get married tomorrow." She reached for the top of his jeans and slowly started undoing the top snap.

"Let me go brush my teeth first." he began leaning over to kiss her tenderly on the lips "Then you can have your way with me, soon-to-be Mrs. Stark."

She laughed quietly and kissed him back. "I'm glad we are in agreement, Mr. Stark."

After he entered the Master Bath Pepper looked up at the ceiling. "Jarvis, please wake us at 6:30 AM."

"Yes, Madam." The AI replied.

After just a few minutes, Tony emerged from the Master Bath. Pepper had already laid down in the bed, but only after removing Tony's robe. She felt the bed move and turned to see him pulling up the covers and climbing into the bed to join her. She had noticed that he was wearing his boxers.

She turned leaning up on one elbow to look at him. "Aren't you a little overdressed, Mr. Stark?"

"I just have boxers….OH MY GOD!" he exclaimed as he started pulling the covers down to show her his boxers when he noticed that Pepper was lying next to him quite obviously naked.

She laughed out loud at the look of surprise on his face. "I suppose I needed to tell you that clothing was optional, then."

He smiled at her and proceeded to reach down and remove his boxers with a flourish, tossing them over the side of the bed. He then dramatically collapsed onto his back as she rolled on top of him quickly, not giving him a chance to reply before her lips descended on his. He wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her and pulling her deeper into the kiss as he opened his mouth into hers, their tongues entwining in a slow sensual dance. Her hands gently roamed his chest before finding the back of his neck, pulling at his dark curls.

She moved her legs so that she could straddle his waist. She broke the kiss as they ran out of air, moving to kiss down his neck to his collarbone, her hands massaging his pecs, planting two small kisses on the Arc as her hands gently caressed his abs. The taste of his body was overwhelming her. She wanted more. She felt his hands on her shoulders pulling her head back to his as he kissed her passionately again. Her right hand however continued the southerly journey, lightly tracing the pattern of coarse hair from his navel to his manhood. As she lightly touched him, he began to moan deeply into her mouth. Her hand began to stroke him feeling him harden quickly in her hand, his whole body trembling at her touch. She reached lower with her hand taking each one of his balls into the palm of her hand and rolling it gently.

He pulled back from her mouth. "God, Pepper." He moaned "if you keep that up I won't last long."

With that said, he rolled them over to the center of the bed, his body now on top of hers. He leaned his head back to look her in the eyes. "Before we go much further I need to know if you want me to use a condom."

Pepper looked up at him as he looked down at her, his eyes full of desire and love. He knew that she wasn't on any type of birth control. She knew that she was in the middle of her cycle and could possibly get pregnant. She debated internally for a fraction of a second, her heart winning. "No condom, Tony." She whispered reaching up to gently brush the hair from his forehead "You want children, I want children. No regrets, remember."

He smiled at her and immediately moved his head to her chest, taking each of her nipples in his mouth in turn. He nipped and sucked each one as his hands massaged her hips, alternately moving down to stroke the insides of each of her thighs always ending up at the end of each stroke at her core, tenderly parting her folds with his fingertips. She was rapidly losing all control as she felt her passion spread throughout her body. Her core was now dripping with her desire for him.

He moaned as he continued to suckle her. "You're so wet for me, Pepper." He growled in a voice that sent shivers through her entire body "I want to taste you." She desperately held on to the bed sheets with her hands too afraid that she would accidently hurt him if she laid her hands on him right now. She was already on the verge of an orgasm and she knew that his mouth on her core would send her over the edge quickly. She felt him kiss his way down her abs stopping briefly to suckle her belly button before she felt his lips at her center. As he nipped and licked her, she couldn't help herself and moaned his name softly. He immediately sped up his tongue, thrusting it into her deeply, following it with a gentle nip to her clit. Pepper squeezed her eyes shut as her orgasm swept through her. She saw stars behind her eyelids and suddenly felt her body melting at the feeling of sudden release. It was one of the most intense orgasms that she had ever experienced. As her senses slowly returned to her, she could hear Tony calling her name and felt one of his hands on her forehead stroking her hair back from her face. She finally opened her eyes and saw him hovering over her, his body propped up on one elbow.

"You are the most beautiful woman in the world, you know that." He whispered to her leaning his head down to kiss her tenderly on the lips as his hand moved from her forehead to caress her cheek.

As they kissed she could taste herself on his lips. Her body immediately responded to the taste, and she was shocked just how quickly she became fully aroused again. She raised herself up and gently pushed him down onto the mattress. "Your turn, handsome." She whispered back to him as his eyes darkened immediately with desire.

She quickly moved her head down the length of his body, placing quick open mouthed kisses along his chest, arc, abs, inside his outie belly button, following the trail of coarse hair until she reached her goal. Her hand closed around his shaft as she took his uncut tip into her mouth. She carefully licked the pre-cum off, feeling his body tense, a low moan/growl slowly resonate through his body. She sucked and gently nipped her way from the tip to the base of his turgid shaft. She moved her hand down to cup one of his balls and gently knead it between her fingers. She suddenly felt it start to move up towards his shaft and she realized that he was already getting close. Her primitive instincts suddenly took over, and she realized that the one thing that she wanted more than anything right now was for him to come inside of her core, not her mouth. She let go of him with her mouth and hand and quickly shifted her body so that her hips were directly above his. She leaned forward and with one hand guided his tip to her center. Breathing out quickly to relax her muscles, she immediately lowered herself onto his hardened shaft. Tony let out another long, loud moan moving his hands to her hips as he squeezed his eyes shut in concentration, and she leaned forward a little more in order to adjust the angle between them. She placed both hands at the spot where his pecs joined his shoulders as he squeezed her hips urging her to move. She started rocking her body against his, setting up a steady rhythm as the coating of sweat on their bodies merged, and their combined beads of sweat rolled down into the twisted sheets that lay beneath them. He was now meeting every one of her down strokes with a thrust from his hips, burying himself even deeper into her. She suddenly became aware of her own orgasm starting to build. She tried to tamp down the feeling, but Tony reached out one hand to brush over her nipples, and her self control immediately failed as she felt her body tensing again, signaling her impending orgasm. She then focused all of her effort into her vaginal muscles and clamped down hard on Tony. Almost immediately, his hand dropped to her hip again. She could feel him increase the strength of his thrusts as she continued to clamp down on him. She became aware of a rumble starting to build deep within his chest, increasing in strength and volume until suddenly his eyes, which had been closed the whole time she had been rocking against him, suddenly opened wide in ecstasy, pupils totally dilated.

"God Pepper!" he roared pulling her into his chest as he started to orgasm.

She could feel the heat from him flow deep within her each time he jerked his hips as he came. After the fourth jerk of his hips, she felt her body give in to his, as his heat overtook her and her body melted down in an orgasmic fire of epic proportions. She squeezed her eyes shut as darkness overcame her, momentarily producing an almost out of body experience. She became aware again as her head lay on his shoulder, her body laying limply on top of his. She could feel his hands gently stroking up and down her back. She slowly opened her eyes, turning her head to look at him. His hair was stuck up in all directions, but his face was relaxed and peaceful. She noticed that his face, which had started to age prematurely because of the stressful life he had led after Afghanistan, suddenly looked years younger. He now looked close to his age. And in this moment she thought that he had never looked so handsome. His eyes suddenly opened, looking up at the ceiling. He then turned to look at her, his bourbon eyes filled with emotion.

He leaned his head over to hers and kissed her temple tenderly, sighing softly. "For the first time in my life I can say that I have really and truly made love." He whispered to her, then kissed her temple tenderly again. "I love you so much."

Her eyes misted over at his confession. "Oh Tony." Her voice cracked over his name revealing just how emotional she was. He smiled brilliantly at her in response, as she found her voice again. "I love you so much, too."

"Are you going to be mad at me if I fall asleep now?" he said covering his mouth as a yawn tried to escape. "It's been a long day and you have just worn me out, woman." He teased, closing his eyes briefly.

"I would be mad at you if you didn't fall asleep." She replied leaning over to kiss him tenderly on the lips. "We do have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

Tony opened his eyes again, smiling at her as his eyes drooped and then closed again. Within seconds she could hear him softly snoring. As she continued to lay on him wrapped in his arms, she followed him into dreamland within minutes.

She woke up slowly, slightly disoriented and realized that during the night she had rolled to her side facing the Master Bath. The clock on the dresser read 5:19 AM. Tony had moved behind her as they slept, his body tightly holding on to hers as if he never wanted to let her go. She was saddened at the thought that he was worried that she would leave him in bed. She realized that this morning was already a first for him, just being in the same bed with her. She gently stroked his arm as it lay possessively around her waist and sighed softly. She immediately felt him shift his hips towards her and felt his erection pressing into her backside. He shifted his head and his lips began to trail kisses along her neck. She could feel the morning stubble on his face and she squirmed at the sensation. The arm around her waist moved up and his hand began to caress her left breast. She slowly rolled over and found Tony wide awake with a huge smile on his face.

"Sleep well?" he asked leaning into to kiss her tenderly on the lips.

"Most definitely." She replied kissing him back passionately wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him on top of her. She instinctively spread her legs as his hips found hers, wanting him in the most primitive way. He pulled back from her kiss.

"I want to make love to you Pepper." He said simply, love and desire showing in his face.

"And I want you to make love to me." She replied leaning up and capturing his lips in another searing kiss. As they kissed she could feel him raise up slightly on his elbows and knees lessoning his weight as he lay on top of her. She rubbed his backside in long strokes from his shoulders down to his clenched gluts as he deepened the kiss. She felt him position his manhood and, with deep moan, felt him push gently inside her. The friction between them was amazing.

As he set up a steady rhythm of thrusts mixed with hip grinds, his lips continued their assault on her face and neck. She knew that she would no doubt have a case of beard burn from his stubble, but at the moment the gentle scratching seemed to arouse her even more. Being in this position, their bodies seemed to fit together seamlessly. He leaned his head down and suckled her breasts raising goose bumps on her chest which seem to spread out in a wave of passion to her abdomen and lower into her heated center where they were joined.

He raised his head to look at her face and she saw a line of sweat had formed on his brow. His eyes were hazy with lust, the bourbon color of his irises nearly lost as his eyes were almost fully dilated. She gently wiped away the sweat with her index finger using it like a squeegee, wiping the sweat on the pillow behind her head.

He leaned his head down until his mouth was even with her ear. "I. Love. You. " he whispered into her ear in time with his thrusts. "Come for me Baby."

His words sparked another wave of arousal in her as his thrusts grew stronger until he was burying himself totally within her with each thrust. As their pubic bones came together, Pepper felt a familiar tension grow within her and she felt her orgasm build quickly at the new sensation. As their pubic bones met again, he suddenly shifted his hips against hers. She gasped as her orgasm quickly crested.

"God Tony!" she cried out as her orgasm ripped through her with such force that she grabbed him by the shoulders holding on to him as wave after wave of pleasure rippled through her body.

She tried to keep her eyes open as she rode out the after effects of her orgasm, wanting to watch him come. She felt him speed up his thrusts, his body tensing in her arms. He suddenly leaned back from her, his eyes squeezed shut and his face tense as his hips began to jerk.

She could now feel his manhood jerk with his hips as his liquid heat flowed into her. He placed his head along side hers on the pillow moaning her name over and over again. He lowered himself onto her as his hips came to a stop. In the silence of the room, she could hear both of them panting.

He leaned over and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. "I'm crushing you." He said as he raised himself on his arms and knees again. "Let's roll over on our sides. I just don't want to pull out just yet. You feel so good, Pepper. Like I could just stay with you forever."

She opened her eyes and gazed at him lovingly. "You are it for me, Tony. No one else, only you."

He pulled on her shoulders gently and he rolled them both to their sides, being careful to keep their hips connected. Both of them had their eyes open as they moved. She felt him squirm in her arms as he gently pulled the sheet out from under them and tenderly covered her with it.

"I don't want you to get cold." He said as he tucked the sheet in around her back.

"You generate so much body heat, Tony" she teased kissing the tip of his nose. "I could never get cold being with you."

"Wait a minute." He said smiling at her "Did you just call me hot?" he teased, kissing her softly.

"Well I suppose I did." She replied kissing him back. After the kiss she smiled at him, as she fought to keep her eyes open. She noticed that his eyes were starting to slowly close too. "Naptime?" she asked.

"Naptime." He answered, closing his eyes his face relaxing.

"I love you." She whispered softly.

"I love you too, Pepper." He whispered back as she felt his body grow limp in her arms as he fell soundly asleep. She closed her eyes and quickly drifted off as well.

"It is now 6:30 AM, Ms. Potts." Jarvis said is an overly cheerful voice.

Pepper opened her eyes and tried to sit up in bed, but she was being held down by Tony's arms wrapped tightly around her. She had always been a light sleeper, so the sound of Jarvis' voice had her completely and totally awake. Tony however totally ignored Jarvis' wake up calls and this morning was no exception. Pepper always found it amusing that Jarvis had found so many truly creative ways to rouse Tony over the many years, up to and including dousing him with a fire sprinkler as he slept. She slowly unwrapped Tony's arms from around her and started to move away from him. She realized almost immediately that Tony was very much still erect inside of her, and as she tried to move away, he moved his hips with hers, his arms tightening again around her.

She knew he needed the rest and her plans were to leave him in bed asleep, so she could shower and head down to the kitchen to start breakfast. She knew that the Avengers planned on getting a fairly early start today.

"Don't go." He whispered to her in a low, gravelly voice that made her heart melt. He thought that she was leaving him in bed. She realized just how fragile Tony's emotions were right now and immediately changed her plans for the morning.

"We need to get up and take a shower before I start breakfast." She said hoping to soothe his worries. She felt his body tense as he opened he eyes and looked at her.

"A shower?" he said still drowsily, his voice becoming stronger "You mean a shower ….together?" he asked perking up even more.

She smiled at him as his face brightened. "Yes, a shower together."

He smiled back at her as he released his grip on her. He slowly pulled back away from her, his erection now bobbing in the air between them. He quickly rolled out of bed, standing up, and then leaned back down over her in bed picking her up easily in his arms.

"Tony!" she gasped as he walked with her into the Master Bath. "Put me down!"

"Yes, dear." He replied as he lowered her onto the floor of the oversized shower. He put his arms around her and leaned over to kiss her passionately as the water turned on. "Together." He breathed into her ear after the kiss.

She smiled at him and motioned for him to turn around. He smiled at her and slowly turned his back to her. She grabbed one of the loofahs off of the shower rack and poured some body wash into it and began to scrub his back. She heard him moan at her touch as she continued working her way down his backside. As she washed his gluts, she saw the muscles there tense, as another deeper moan escaped his lips. She put her hand on one of his butt cheeks and spun him around slowly rinsing off his backside. She poured more body wash on the loofah. His erection continued to bob up and down slowly as she moved closer to him. She gently washed his neck, moving down to his shoulders, then his pecs, taking the time to tweak each of his nipples getting yet another moan out of him. She washed his abs, and then moved lower into his thick patch of pubic hair. She poured body wash into the palm of one hand, gently rubbing his manhood, moving down to wash each of his balls in turn. She glanced up to his face seeing that his eyes were now closed and his mouth opened slightly, a look of pure contentment on his face. She picked up the loofah again and leaned over to scrub his thighs, knees, and calves in turn enjoying the feel of his thick, wiry body hair in her fingers.

She stood back up and placed her hand on his hip turning him slowly into the shower spray to rinse off. She put the loofah back on the rack grabbing Tony's shampoo bottle. Squeezing some into her hand, she rubbed her hands together before running her fingers into his dark, wavy hair, massaging his scalp as she rubbed the shampoo in. He moaned loudly as he shifted slightly from one foot to the other. After she was done, she once again moved him under the spray, running her fingertips through his hair to thoroughly rinse his hair out. She then poured his conditioner into her hand, rubbing her hands together before rubbing it into his hair tenderly. She laid her head on his back counting to 120 in her head as he stood there swaying slightly in her arms. After she finished counting, she gently turned him again into the shower spray, gently using her fingers to help rinse out the conditioner from his hair. She then moved to stand in front of him, taking his shampoo and putting a small amount in the palm of her hand. She gently rubbed his goatee as well as the rest of his face with the shampoo, being careful not to get any in his eyes. Then she picked up a wash rag and gently rinsed his face with water using the wash rag. She then placed a small amount of his conditioner into the palm of her hand and rubbed it into his goatee using her fingertips. She put her arms around his waist and hugged him as she counted to 120. She rinsed out the wash rag and used it to rinse the conditioner from his goatee. She stepped back from him to admire her work, as well as his well built body. He was clean and slick and looking highly desirable, she thought to herself. She felt a surge of arousal hit her, knowing that her turn was coming up.

"All done Iron Man." She said quietly as he opened his eyes and looked lovingly at her.

"That is, without a doubt, the best shower I have had in my life." He said kissing her softly on the cheek. "Can we do this every morning?" he asked smiling "And we haven't even gotten to the best part yet." He added taking the loofay from the shower rack, motioning for her to turn around.

He washed her body and her hair lovingly, stopping frequently to kiss the part of her body that he had just washed. She especially liked it when he pressed his lips to her core. She noticed that his erection had grown while he washed her, and his manhood now stood stiffly at attention as he turned her to rinse the conditioner from her hair. She noticed that her nipples were now as stiff as his, and she was finding it harder and harder not to jump him right then. He massaged her scalp as he washed her hair and she felt her legs go weak at the sensation. Even her arousal took a back seat to the sensation of his hands on her scalp.

"All done." He said quietly as he rinsed the last of the conditioner out of her hair.

She turned around and gently backed him against the wall of the shower which held the bench, and he slowly sat down taking her hands and gently pulling her down with him. The height of the bench was perfect as she hovered her hips over his. She reached out and guided the tip of his manhood into her heated core as she lowered herself onto his waiting lap. They both moaned loudly as she lowered herself onto his lap. She held on to his shoulders for balance. He put his hands under her thighs and pushed up gently helping to raise her up as she began to ride him. She was suddenly very thankful for her continued fitness training as she moved up and down on his shaft using the strength in her legs to keep up a steady rhythm. She felt him tremble beneath her as he heard his head hit the shower wall with a dull thud as he leaned back and squeezed his eyes closed.

She leaned forward slightly and felt her breasts move against his chest and face. The adjustment brought her clit in contact with his shaft every time she bottomed out on him now. She knew that she couldn't hold out much longer. The pleasure was just too much and all of her self control was rapidly leaving her. She felt her abdominal muscles tense as another wave of passion overtook her quickly. She pulled herself into him as he moved his arms to wrap them around her waist.

"Tony!" was the only word that was able to make it out of her mouth before she collapsed onto him. She could feel him thrust his hips a few more times into her before she could feel the heat of his release empty into her as he came.

"Pepper!" he growled as he came repeatedly in her, thrusting up into her as he pulled her down onto him.

As both of them stilled, only the sound of the water running in the shower could be heard.

"Wow." Was all she could think to say at the moment. Making love to him in the shower had been a fantasy of hers since she started working for him, although she would never admit it out loud. And the reality of it was so much better. She looked down at him and saw a look of bliss on his face as he sighed loudly. She tried to stand up but his arms tightened around her, holding her against him.

"Stay." He said as he kissed each of her breasts tenderly and then hugged her. "I don't think I can move anymore."

"Well' she began as she kissed him on the top of the head. "If you don't move you are either going to drown or become so wrinkled that we are going to have to start calling your Iron Prune." She teased.

He looked up at her, his face contorting with disgust. "Do you know just how nasty prunes are?"

She moved to stand up again and he helped support her thighs as she did. She immediately felt cold as she left the warm comfort of his body and she began to shiver.

"Hey" he said standing up quickly and moving over to wrap his arms around her "Are you OK?"

"Fine" she managed to get out still shivering.

"Jarvis, bump up the temp on the water ten degrees." He asked the AI who complied immediately. He began rubbing her back, trying to warm her up.

She wrapped her arms around his waist pulling his body heat from him as fast as she could. "I'm better." She said after a minute, pulling gently out of his arms. She picked up the body wash and poured some in her hand and proceeded to tenderly wash his manhood and balls. He stood still and watched her, love clearly etched on his face.

After she finished, he took the body wash bottle from her and poured some in his hand and proceeded to wash her from her breasts down to her center. "There, good to go." He said proudly, kissing on the belly button.

"You need to shave." She said as she squirmed with his kiss.

He looked up and smiled mischievously at her. "Maybe I should just give you a hickey while I'm down here. You know, mark you as mine."

Pepper pointed to her engagement ring. "You already have."

He straightened back up and kissed her soundly on the lips. "You're right, I have."

They left the shower and dried each other off. Tony shaved while Pepper brushed her teeth and her hair. She walked behind him as he was putting on after shave and brushed his hair. He watched her in the mirror until she was done.

"Thank you." He said leaning back and kissing her.

"Teeth." She said smiling at him as she walked out of the Master Bath.

"Teeth. Right." He repeated pulling out his toothbrush and toothpaste.

They dressed and went into the kitchen. The Pent House was quiet. Jarvis had already made coffee and Tony poured two cups. He walked over to Pepper and handed her the cup. She looked at the cup strangely.

"What's wrong, Pepper?" he asked concerned about her and the coffee.

"No caffeine for me." She answered putting her hand to her lower stomach. "Bad for the baby."

Tony nearly dropped his cup as he looked at her in surprise. "Already?" was all he could get out, his eyes wide in amazement.

"Well, your last medical check up indicated your plumbing was in good shape." She explained "So was mine. I am in the middle of my cycle right now. So maybe all those Iron Sperm that you were so free with last night and this morning may have found their target." She continued "I drink too much caffeine as it is, so even if I'm not pregnant, it would be a good idea for me to quit."

He looked at her questioningly. "When will you know if you are… if you are …pregnant?" he asked almost shyly.

"After two weeks." She replied moving to the refrigerator taking out milk and eggs. "I can use one of those home pregnancy tests then." She walked to the pantry and pulled out the rest of the ingredients for the pancake batter.

She noticed that he was still standing in the same position she left him in and smiled. "Could you get out the ham and grill about half" she paused thinking about Thor "make that all of it."

He blinked his eyes rapidly as if coming out of a trance. "OK." He answered walking over to get the ham out of the fridge and turning on the grill. He silently started slicing ham and placing the slices on the grill, as Pepper mixed up the pancake batter.

Natasha and Clint walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning" Clint cheerily called out.

"So much for lightning never striking twice in the same place." Natasha said "Stark is actually cooking again."

Tony looked up at her and just smiled. No snarky comment. No nothing. Natasha was visibly shocked and looked over at Pepper who simply shrugged her shoulders and smiled at her. "Good morning to both of you." Pepper replied.

"Can we help with anything?" Natasha asked moving towards Pepper.

"Clint can set the table, if you would like to cut fruit." Pepper replied. Natasha nodded. "I'll show you where we store the fruit."

As they walked into the pantry, Natasha spoke softly to Pepper. "My grandmother use to have this saying that when a man and woman were meant to be together, that the man would take on the look of the woman. And Pepper, right now, you look good on Tony. So should I give Shield an update on you and Tony when I report in today?"

Pepper smiled at her "Why don't you give us until tomorrow, Natasha."

"I will do that." Natasha replied, a genuine smile breaking out on her face. "And by the way, congratulations." Natasha walked over to Pepper and gave her a hug.

"Thanks." Pepper said hugging her back "for everything."

When they walked back into the kitchen, they found everyone else had made into the kitchen.

Pepper ended up cooking 42 pancakes, four at a time, all of them custom made with various fruits or nuts in them. Everyone had pitched in to help and breakfast was over and done with in less than 45 minutes. Pepper and Tommy joined the Avengers in the living room to discuss and finalize plans for today.

Tommy would transport Steve, Bruce, Clint, Natasha, and Dr. Selvig back to the Shield base now floating in the water off of the New York coast. Steve, Bruce, Clint, and Natasha would meet Tony and Thor with Loki in tow at high noon in Central Park to set up the Tesseract transport of Loki and Thor back to Asgard. Steve had planned on leaving from there going on and making good on his wish to take a journey across America by motorcycle. Natasha and Clint would drop Bruce off somewhere currently being decided by Bruce. And Natasha and Clint would go vanish back into the Shield web.

Pepper was happy and sad both as the Avengers left the Penthouse. She was happy to have become friends with all of them. But she was sad because she didn't know if she would ever see them again. She said a prayer for all of them, especially Tony. Of course Tony promised her that he would be back in time for them to make their 2:00 PM meeting at the Federal Courthouse to get married. He had even remembered to get the wedding bands and put them in his pocket for safekeeping. After they were married, Tommy was to fly them to Teterboro to board the SI jet bound for a surprise honeymoon destination planned by Tony with Jarvis' help. Pepper really didn't care where they went as long as Tony was with her.

As the Avengers stood together one last time in the middle of Central Park, everyone had said their good bys. Thor and Loki left for Asgard. Steve rode off on his new Harley.

Bruce walked over and pulled out his duffle bag from Natasha and Clint's Shield vehicle and turned to Tony. "You still have an opening in your R & D department for a part time Doctor?"

Tony smiled at him. "Sure do." He replied and Bruce threw his duffle bag in the back of Tony's sports car. "But it will cost you."

Bruce was suspicious. "How much?" he asked as he opened the door to get in Tony's car.

"You got a driver's license on you?" Tony asked a puzzled Bruce.

"Yes." Bruce replied still suspicious "But what does this have to do with me working at Stark Tower."

"How do you feel about being a witness for a marriage ceremony?" Tony asked as Bruce smiled, suddenly figuring out what Tony was planning. He had noticed Pepper's ring this morning. And even though he hadn't known the two of them for very long, he was very happy for them. They just seemed to belong together.

"I think I can do that." Bruce replied laughing as Tony hit the accelerator leaving tire marks on the payment as they headed to Stark Tower.