Author's Note: This is complete and total Christmas fluff. I couldn't resist the pull of "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus." I hope you enjoy. Read and Review, please!

Pepper Potts had many Christmas traditions, and a few that she actually enjoyed.

She was currently taking part in her annual Christmas card sorting, something that was slightly less than agreeable. Tony Stark had always gotten fan mail. After all, men wanted to be him, and women (well, a vast majority it would seem) wanted to sleep with him. All of them, the men and women alike, seemed to send him Christmas cards every year. Of course, there were also the typical corporate Christmas cards from the heads of all the other companies, and then there were the cards from people within Stark Industries who hoped to get ahead by sending a card. What most of them didn't realize is that Tony Stark rarely ever read all of his Christmas cards. Pepper would patiently sort through them, and the cards that she thought actually meant something, those were given to Tony, who would then sort her already sorted stack and usually throw every single one of them away. She wasn't really sure why she actually sorted them, except that she always had.

Another tradition was the annual Stark Industries Christmas party. Well, they had to call it a 'holiday party' now, but she made sure that the decorations always said "Merry Christmas." Despite the fact that they had many employees of many different cultural and religious backgrounds, no one had ever complained about calling it a Christmas party. No, that had been the work of Christine Everhart, who wrote a scathing piece on the political incorrectness of Stark Industries. After that, the PR department thought it might be best just to call it a 'holiday party,' and she didn't have the energy at the time to argue with them.

Somehow, Pepper always ended up being put in charge of the party. The first year that she had worked as Tony's assistant, he had failed to inform her that she was supposed to handle it until two days before. The fact that she had managed to pull it off was an amazing feat in itself. The fact that she managed to pull it off with style, was even better. That might have been the moment when Tony knew that she would be around for quite some time.

Normally, she would have this all in hand. But thanks to Tony's recent admission to every major broadcasting network and every major newspaper in the country that he was, in fact, Iron Man, things had gotten a little hectic. There was simply too much to get done, and too little time to get it done in. As it were, she was already going to have to come in tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, and if she was lucky, she might manage to make it back to her apartment in time for Christmas. She had been so busy that she hadn't even had time to take part in one tradition she actually enjoyed: getting a Christmas tree. Every year she tried to take the time to get a tree and decorate it, and put little electric candles in the windows. Not this year. This year she had been up to her neck in meetings and fan mail and party arrangements.

Tony, just like he did every year, was meeting with Research and Development. The third year she had been his assistant, she had asked him why he always had an R&D meeting the day before Christmas Eve. He had answered quite simply.

"It's my Christmas present to myself."

"Your Christmas present to yourself?" she had responded, slightly confused. She didn't really think of more work as a good Christmas present, but Tony wasn't exactly like normal people.

"Yeah. I always get their newest stuff a few days before Christmas, and then I get to play around and tweak it over Christmas. It's the perfect gift for myself," he had explained. Pepper still thought it was strange, but she left him do it anyway, even if it was hell on her schedule. It was the least she could. After all, he did spend Christmas alone.

"Tony! You're going to be late for your R&D meeting," she said over the intercom. She knew that he had his music cranked up too loud to hear, but she thought she would give it a try anyway. When he didn't respond within a few minutes, she headed down to his workshop.

She was right. He did have his music turned up too loud, but at least it was seasonal. His usual AC/DC had been exchanged for some hard rock version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Pepper quickly entered the room and turned down his music.

"Please don't turn down my—"

"You're going to be late for your meeting. You know, your Christmas gift to yourself? Now got upstairs and get dressed," she said, her tone leaving no room for argument. Except that it was Tony, who would have argued with a stop sign.

"The guys in R&D don't care if I show up in this. I'm just going to play around with the knick knacks they've got down there anyway. What's the point in dirtying up a suit?" Tony asked, not taking his eyes off the specs he was looking over. Pepper sighed in frustration.

"You at least need to take shower. You're not going to have time to come back and change before the Christmas party—"

"Holiday party," he corrected.

"Since when did political correctness ever matter that much to you?" Pepper said, her tone challenging. They both knew that he was only correcting her to stall for time, and she wasn't having that today. Not when there was too much to do.

"Good point. There are showers at the office I can use."

"Then let's go. Now. We're going to be fifteen minutes late as it is." Much to her surprise, Tony flipped off his desk lamp and headed up the stairs and out the front door to where Happy was waiting with the Bentley. Pepper sighed a sigh of relief and followed him, grabbing her Blackberry, her laptop, her dress and Tony's tux on the way out the door. As she sat down in the car, she whipped out her Blackberry and placed a call to Philip Richardson of the R&D department.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Richardson? It's Pepper Potts," she said, her tone businesslike.

"Hello, Miss Potts. How are you?" he asked, his voice definitely more than polite.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking. I just wanted to call and let you know that Mr. Stark is running a bit late today."

"Is he ever anything else?"

"Very true. We are on our way, but we're going to be fifteen to twenty minutes late. If you could let everyone know, that would be great. I know everyone is trying to get as much done before the Christmas party as they can, so there's no point in being there when Mr. Stark isn't."

"I'll let everyone know. We'll see you when you get here," he said.

"Thank you," Pepper replied politely before hanging up.

She went back to work on those e-mails, her fingers flying like lighting across the keyboard. This was yet another tradition that she didn't really enjoy. The annual before-Christmas rush. Everyone was trying to get as much done before Christmas as they could, which meant that Tony was getting e-mails by the droves. And naturally, Pepper had to answer each and every one of them. Luckily, Tony's meeting with R&D would give her time to do that. She could answer e-mail and oversee decorating…she had done it in years past, and she would do it again this year.

"He sounded…friendly," Tony commented.

"What? Oh, Phil. Yeah, well, he's a friendly guy."

"Is he always that friendly?" Tony asked, an edge of jealousy in his voice. Pepper couldn't hold back her smile.

"Yes, he's always that friendly. As I said, a friendly guy."

"Right. So, what are your plans for Christmas?" Tony asked. They had this conversation every year, always on the way to the R&D meeting that Tony was always late for. It was another of their silly traditions.

"Well, it mostly depends on what I manage to get done today. I might have to come in for a bit tomorrow to finish up a few things," Pepper answered. This, however, was not the traditional answer that Tony had been expecting.

"What about your Christmas tree? You always get a tree on Christmas Eve."

"Well, maybe I'll be able to stop and get one of those cheap little ones that you see at the grocery stores. It's not a big deal. Most of my ornaments got broken last year, anyway. "

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll be having my traditional tinker in the shop day. It's going to be a good time. You could come join me, if you'd like," he said innocently. Pepper knew better than that. Whenever Tony used his innocent tone of voice, it always meant that he wanted something very un-innocent.

"Because I would love to put together engines on Christmas," she responded.

"Great! It's a date, then," Tony answered, purposely missing her sarcasm.

"I have a date with a great book, thanks though."

"You always have a book. That's no way to spend Christmas."

"I could say the same thing about your mechanical parts, Mr. Stark."

"Oh, now, I don't think it would be so terrible to spend Christmas with my 'mechanical parts,' Miss Potts," he said, his tone overtly suggestive.

"Well then, I guess this break will give you plenty of time to play with them," she replied. She wasn't entirely sure how she managed it, but she did keep a straight face.

Luckily, before the conversation got any more embarrassing for either of them, Happy pulled up in front of Stark Industries and Pepper ushered Tony from the car. Pepper walked at his side, trying to fill him in on all the details that she hadn't told him in the car. He, of course, looked like a child on Christmas morning, anticipating presents from his wildest dreams. Pepper couldn't help but smile.

"After you get done with your meeting, you're going to need to shower. I'm going to hang your tux up in your office. I also hope that you have a speech prepared, because last year when you tried to wing it—"

"Don't remind me. I'll come up with something. It'll be fine."

"That's what you said last year."

"Well…last year was different."

Last year had been different. Last year, Pepper had spent most of her time chatting with her old friends from the accounting department while Tony had spent most of his time charming a leggy brunette and perky blonde. He was also completely hammered by the time he stood up to give his annual speech and hadn't remembered any of it the morning afterwards. He had spent the better part of the next day recovering from his hangover and the embarrassment of having to deal with the morning after.

This year, they both new that he was going to be sober when he gave his speech…or at least not completely drunk. They also knew that he was going to be bringing home any female companions. Since his return from Afghanistan, he hadn't brought home anyone, and Pepper could honestly say that she was very glad about it. This year, it seemed, some of the old traditions, less savory traditions, were going to be replaced.

"Okay. Well, go play with your toys, take a shower, and be ready to give your speech. In that order, please," Pepper reminded him gently. He smiled at her before walking into his meeting. Pepper continued to walk on, heading towards Tony's office. She dropped off Tony's tux before settling into her own office. She quickly filed some of her papers and packed the rest of what she would need into her laptop case.

The Christmas Party this year was being held at the Ritz, and she had to get over there to check on the decorations. It wasn't that she didn't trust the interior decorator that she had hired; it was just that Pepper wanted everything to be perfect. Her Christmas vacation might not be, but this party would be. It was perfect every year, and she wasn't going to let her tradition of excellence go by the wayside. She quickly called Happy, who brought the car around and promptly got her to the Ritz, just in time to see the decorator.

"Miss Potts, how are you?" she greeted Pepper.

"I'm doing fine, how are you?"

"Just fine. What do you think?" the decorator asked, gesturing around the room.

The room was, ironically, decked out in red and gold. The several Christmas trees were all adorned in red and gold ornaments. The bows on the wreaths were red, trimmed in gold. The table clothes were the same way. Pepper couldn't help but smile.

"It's fine. Um…is there any way that we can get some more green in here? The wreaths and the garland are great, but maybe in the table cloths could have some—"

"Honey, you work for Iron Man. Red and gold is just perfect!"

"I would like more green, please. It would be fine if you got green table cloths instead, or green and red and gold. And the presents under the trees could be wrapped in green paper, also," Pepper suggested, though her tone made it more of a command than a suggestion. The decorator looked shocked.

"Yes, we can do that."

"Thanks so much," she said, her voice mockingly sweet. She checked the decorations off her metal checklist before calling the caterer. Somehow he had managed to get his times mixed up and she spent the better part of two hours on the phone trying to get things straightened out. By the time everything was set right, it was almost six-thirty. The party was supposed to start at eight. This left her very little time to get dressed and make sure that the caterer didn't manage to screw up. The decorations still didn't have enough green in them, but she decided that it would just have to do.

She walked to the front desk, her arms full of dress, laptop and Blackberry. The woman behind the check-in counter took pity on her and put her phone call on hold to speak with Pepper. Pepper said a silent prayer of thanks.

"Hi, I'm Pepper Potts. I needed to check on the rooms that Stark Industries had reserved for the evening."

"One minute, please," the woman responded with a smile. Pepper always made sure to reserve some rooms at whichever hotel they had the party at, because every time there was bound to be a few people too drunk to drive home. She desperately hoped that this would go smoothly. The Christmas party hassle was not something she enjoyed, and she really didn't want anything else to go wrong today.

"Everything appears to be in order, Miss Potts." Pepper sighed in relief.

"Thank you. Now, I would like to check in to one of those please, if you don't mind." Within minutes, she had a key and was headed upstairs to get dressed.

It actually felt like the evening might turn out alright. It was eight thirty and there hadn't been a mishap yet. Well, other than the few usual crashers, whom Pepper had escorted out promptly. Tony had managed to arrive only fifteen minutes late, which was early for his standards. When he'd arrived, he had found her chatting, as usual, with some old friends from the accounting department.

"Hey. You look great," he said. He wasn't wrong. She was wearing a midnight blue gown that, unfortunately, in Tony's opinion, had more of a back than the one she had worn to the Fireman's Charity Ball. It still managed to hug all the right places without being too slinky. Her hair was pinned up in an updo, mostly because she hadn't had time to style it like she had wanted to. But it didn't matter; she looked absolutely fabulous.

"Thank you. You're late," she responded.

"Not that late. Just late enough to make an entrance. You wanna dance?"

"No. Not really, no," she said. Tony, of course, wouldn't take no for an answer and dragged her on to the dance floor. Pepper could feel her cheeks burning as she began to blush all the way to the roots of her hair. But she couldn't deny that she was enjoying herself.

"At least this time I'm wearing deodorant and my dress has a back," she whispered to herself. However, when Tony Stark dances cheek-to-cheek with his beautiful assistant, he pays attention to everything she says, even if he isn't supposed to hear it.

"You know, I think that last part is a bit unfortunate," he said softly. Pepper didn't respond. She just blushed redder, if that was possible. "Let's get some air." He pulled her by the hand out onto the balcony. The whole situation was far too déjà vu for Pepper's taste. She knew that at any minute something was going to happen and her perfectly planned Christmas party would be ruined.

"Do you have your speech planned?" she asked. He smiled at her.

"Yeah. And for once, I have every intentions of sticking to the cards."

"Oh good, because when you don't—"She was interrupted by his phone ringing. He pulled it from his pocket, checked the caller ID, and swore.

"Tony Stark," he answered tersely. Pepper couldn't hear the person on the other end, but judging by the look on Tony's face, that something that she had been expecting to come up and ruin her perfect plans had just arrived. Tony quickly wrapped up the conversation and turned to Pepper, disappointment in his eyes. Pepper let her expression ask the question.

"That was Nick Fury. Something has come up. I've got to go," he said unhappily. Pepper sighed, knowing that she didn't really have any other option than to just let him go. Tony hated the disappointed look on her face; it hurt his soul. Pepper had planned the perfect Christmas party, and now SHIELD was going to ruin it for her. "I can give my speech really quick before I have to run off, if you'd like me to."

"No, that's okay. It's a bit early for speeches anyway. I'll…I'll come up with something. You go. It seemed urgent." Pepper tried to keep the disappointment out of her tone and off of her face. She knew that he was going to feel guilty about the whole thing, and she didn't want to make him feel worse, especially if he had to go off on a mission. She didn't want him preoccupied.

"I'm sorry about this—"Tony began.

"Tony, you've obviously got bigger things to worry about than a speech. Now go. I'll take care of things here."

"Are you sure? Because if you want me to give my speech--"

"Tony, its fine."

"All you have to do is say the word, and I'm in there giving that speech." Pepper bit her lip, contemplating him. He wasn't happy about having to go, and it might actually make him feel better if he gave his speech. SHIELD would just have to wait one or two minutes longer.

"The word," she said.

"That's what I thought. Let's go," he said as he ushered her back inside. He grabbed a glass off the middle one of the tables and clinked it several times before smashing it onto a table top. That quickly got everyone's attention.

"Attention, everyone. I know a lot of you are looking to get out of here and head home for Christmas, so I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Christmas is a time for joy. No matter what your traditions are, whether you head to church on Christmas Eve and then settle in with a good book," he said with a smile as he looked at his assistant. "Or you spend it around the Christmas tree with your family; no one should forget that Christmas is a time for sharing that joy with family and friends. At Christmastime, we reflect on the good things in our lives. I have many good things in my life. This company, and the people who are a part of it, make me proud to call myself the CEO of Stark Industries…"

Pepper was trying to pay attention to every word that was coming out of Tony's mouth, but she was distracted by his eyes. Despite the fact that he was giving this speech to the entirety of the LA branch of the company, he was staring straight at her, their eyes locked. Like all this talk of joy and family and friends is directed at her. She was blushing furiously once again, and it seemed that everyone in the room was staring not at Tony, but at her. She smiled sheepishly and wished that her hair were down, if only to hide her blush.

Applause pulled her from her reverie. Apparently he had managed a great, heartfelt speech, and was stone-cold sober while doing so. He acknowledged the applause before quickly exiting the ballroom. Pepper followed him.

"Tony!" she called. He turned to look back at her, his eyes serious. "Thank you, for doing that. It was a nice speech."

"Yeah? Told you it would be fine. You should listen to me more often."

"Maybe I should."

They stood there for a moment, silence between them. It wasn't really an awkward silence, but instead the silence that passed between two people who didn't have to say anything. They both knew that they were important to one another; that went without saying. Pepper broke the silence.

"Please be careful."

"I will. Now, you'd best get back in there. Someone's going to miss you," he said.

"Really? Someone in there, or just someone in general?" she asked, before she realized what she had asked. Then she bit her lip nervously.

"You know, someone." Then he closed the small space between them and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and breathed in the smell of him and etched it into her memory, certain to never forget. They stood in that embrace for a few minutes, neither of them wanting to be the person to break it. Finally, he pulled away just enough to kiss her lightly on the cheek before getting into his car and driving away. Pepper just stood there for a moment, before she touched her cheek where Tony had just kissed her, her heart fluttering. At least one good thing had come out of this mess, she thought. It wasn't full of passion or anything, but it was sweet, which, from Tony Stark, that was a rarity.

She took a deep breath before she headed back inside to take care of things. Despite the mess, she couldn't keep the smile from her face.

By the time everyone left, it was close to three in the morning. Pepper stayed to oversee the clean up, and didn't manage to make it out to the car before four. She practically collapsed in the back seat.

"Happy, take me to the Stark estate, please."

"Yes, Miss Potts."

"And…you'll probably have to wake me up when we get there."

She was right. Happy did have to wake her up when they got there. She made a beeline for one of the guest rooms, which had been designated as hers. Since the Iron Man escapades had begun, she had started keeping a few spare sets of clothes there, because she found herself spending the night waiting on Tony to come back. The shoes were the first to go, followed by the dress. They were replaced with yoga pants, a long sleeved t-shirt, and slipper socks. Then, as was common when she was waiting on Tony to return, she took a one of her books and a blanket, and made herself comfortable on Tony's sofa. It wasn't five minutes before she was sound asleep.

Pepper awoke early on Christmas Eve. She moved to her office to finish up the work that she hadn't gotten done yesterday. She was quickly submerged in her work, and she didn't come up for air until well after three o'clock in the afternoon. Trying to keep the worry at bay, she grabbed a book off of her bookshelf and went to wait on the couch.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Can I have some Christmas music please? Something soft, not that hard rock that Tony listens to."

"Yes, ma'am. Will Bing Crosby do?"

Pepper smiled. "Bing Crosby will work nicely."

As she waited, she alternated between pacing the floor and sitting on the sofa with her face buried in a book. Nothing was distracting her. That moment outside after Tony's speech was burned fresh in Pepper's memory, and she replayed it over and over in her head the more nervous she got. The smell of him, the way his body felt against hers, the way his hands felt on her back…it was all so vivid. Finally, she couldn't stand doing nothing.

"Jarvis, are there any Christmas decorations around here?"

"I believe they are stored in the attic above your wing."

"It's not my wing. I just stay there sometimes."

"Mr. Stark has programmed that as 'your wing,' therefore that is what I call it," Jarvis responded.

"I'll have to talk to him about that. Thank you, Jarvis."

"You're welcome, Miss Potts."

Her apartment obviously wasn't going to get decorated, but that didn't mean that the Stark estate couldn't be festive. After all, it seemed that she would be spending Christmas there anyway. And who really liked to spend Christmas at home with a book and a bottle of wine? It was relaxing, sure, but quite lonely. When she was little, she used to watch It's a Wonderful Life with her parents, but since they were dead and gone, and she didn't have any other family, it just made her lonely. Hence the book. It was one tradition that she wouldn't mind changing.

She hadn't expected to find so many Christmas decorations in the attic. As long as she had been working for Tony, she had never known him to decorate, and he didn't have any long-term girlfriends who would try to decorate for him. She made a mental note to ask him where they came from. Or…

"Jarvis, where did these decorations come from?"

"The person assistant that Tony had before you bought them for him. He never put them up."

Wow. That was…almost ten years ago. She had worked in the accounting department for several years before catching a mistake that Tony had made. When she pointed it out, he had hired her immediately. It was amazing that he had managed without a personal assistant even in that small amount of time. It seemed like such a long time…eight years of her life, she had been his personal assistant. They had never really celebrated Christmas. She would get him a little something, and she would buy herself a Christmas present from him…this year, she had decided was going to be different. She was going to start a new tradition, and it would be one that she actually enjoyed.

There was garland and an artificial tree. There were also wreaths and ornaments and everything that she would need to make a perfect Christmas wonderland. Rolling up her sleeves, she dove in head first, determined to make this Christmas memorable in some way other than "Iron Man's first Christmas."

It was well past ten when Pepper finally stood back and was proud of her handiwork. Garland adorned the stair railings, wreaths hung on the doors, and there was a fully decorated Christmas tree in the living room, complete with a star on top. She had even found a miniature tree to put on top of the piano. There was a fire in the gas-log fireplace, and two stockings draped over the back of a chair. Nat King Cole played in the background as Pepper sat and waited anxiously for his return.

Shortly before midnight, she heard him come in. There was a loud crash as he landed in the garage, and she rushed down the stairs, almost afraid of what she would find. The armor was riddled with bullet holes, but that didn't really concern her as much as it used to. Tony got shot at, but the armor kept him protected, so he was never actually shot, per say.

"Tony? Are you alright?" she asked, her voice an octave higher than normal.

"Yeah, just a little…sore, that's all," he said from inside the armor.

"Did everything go alright?"

"As alright as could be expected. There were no civilian casualties, so that's something."

As he was stripped of his armor, she could see the stiffness in his movements. She was willing to bet her life savings that he was riddled with bruises and didn't want her to know about them. He moved slowly up towards his bedroom, at first not noticing the decorations. He stopped about halfway across the living room and turned to look at her.

"You did this?" he asked.

"Yeah. I thought that, you know, if I couldn't decorate my apartment, your house would just have to do instead. All this stuff was up in the attic—"

"It's nice. I especially like Mr. Nat King Cole." Pepper couldn't help but smile. "You're not going anywhere?" he asked.

"No. I'm about to settle in for my long winter's nap."

"I'm going to hit the shower."

"Please do. I can smell you from here."

"You know, there are always a few hard to reach places. You could—"

"Go shower. I'm not going anywhere." Tony smiled at that before making his way into the shower. He was in the shower forever, but when he finally emerged, he headed back to the living room in search of Pepper. He saw her lying of the sofa, a book in her hand.

"And what to my wondering eyes should appear…?" he said, teasingly.

"I'd like to think that I'm not the size of a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer," Pepper said with a yawn.

"No. I do think you would look nice in a kerchief, though."

"Yeah? And you in a cap?"

"We'd make a fine pair…we do make a fine pair." Pepper bit her lip in that oh-so-charming way that he loved. He collapsed onto the sofa next to her and picked up one of the books that was sitting next to her.

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," he read. "Seems a bit…juvenile for you, don't you think?"

"My mother used to read it to me when I was younger. I think I was in third grade when I started to seriously question the idea of Santa Claus, and when I woke up on Christmas morning, this was sitting on top of my presents. Every Christmas since then, I've always read it. It's kind of a tradition," she explained.

"Yeah? Let's take a look at it…" Tony said, opening the book. He looked to Pepper, an unspoken communication going on between them. This time, she closed the space between them, and rested her head on against his shoulder gently, for fear of hurting him. He rested his head on top of hers, and breathed in her smell. It was fresh and clean and bright, and he would never get tired of it, just as Pepper would never get tired of the smell of axle grease and his cologne.

"Dear Editor: I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. My Papa says that if it is in The Sun it's so. Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?" he read. His voice soothed Pepper, and she relaxed even more, coming to rest against his side. He slid his arm around her, pulling her closer as he continued to read. Pepper sighed in contentment.

"Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge," he continued. "Do you really think an eight year old could understand everything he's talking about?" Tony interrupted his own reading.

"You're almost at the best part. Keep reading," Pepper encouraged.

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished..." Tony trailed off as he felt something wet against his shoulder. Pepper was crying.

"What's wrong, Pepper?"

"Nothing. It's just…it's so true. In this world it is so easy to be skeptical and jaded. My downstairs neighbors didn't even tell their children about Santa Claus. I suppose it makes me sad to see the innocence being taken from children…from the world. It's just…the story gives me hope, you know? That there's still goodness in this world."

"I have to agree with this guy…the world would be very dreary if there were no Virginias…especially this one that I know...she's a source of goodness in my world."

"No one calls me that, anymore."

"Really?"

"No…nobody. Now finish the book."

"Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies…" Tony read on until he reached the last page, when Pepper joined him, her voice nasally from crying. "No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."

They sat in silence together for a long time after that, content just being in each other's arms. There was no need to say that they were in love with each other; they both knew it already. There was no point in saying that they would never spend another Christmas alone in reading a book or tinkering with engine parts, because they both knew that too. When they finally kissed, there was knowledge that this was the first of many, and last of first kisses. When Tony pulled away, Pepper knew that it wasn't a lack of desire that made him do so; it was the bruise blossoming across his ribs. He knew that when she kissed him there, that she would always take care of him, and she knew that he would always let her.

Tony rested his forehead against hers, his arms wrapped around her. He knew that he didn't have to say it, that she definitely already knew, but it was too much for him to keep inside. He was bursting at the seams to tell her that he loved her; he'd been waiting since…well, since Afghanistan, if not before, and he wasn't waiting any longer.

"I love you."

Pepper's smile was radiant. Her whole face shown with joy like a child on Christmas morning. She had just gotten the best Christmas present anyone could ever give. She kissed him, feather-soft on his cheek, just as he had kissed her the day before.

"I love you, too."

Tony's smile mirrored hers, his face alight with that same beautiful, uncontainable joy. They sat back on the couch together, his arms around her, her head resting on his chest. Christmas Eve came and went with them in the same position, lost in the beauty of their moment. Occasionally, he would stroke her hair or kiss the top of her head, and she would kiss his shoulder lightly, but neither of them had to say anything else. They were perfectly, blissfully happy on Christmas.

It was a new Christmas tradition. One that both Tony and Pepper enjoyed immensely.