I should sleep.
Pepper sighed as she looked around her office, it was perfectly clean, organized and neat, nothing out of place and everything where it should be. On the outside she was perfect. She always made sure of it, her appearance matched this room, Ironed and completely up to date in the fashion market, designer labels and beautiful shoes to match. It was almost 3am, and she was still sat here in the bottom of the Avengers Tower doing her work. Looking after Stark industries wasn't the hardest part, she'd been doing that since she first started working here. What was bothering her was looking directly at her, some of these files should probably have been read weeks ago, the latest of them should probably have been read when she was handed it that morning. But she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Part of her knew this was stupid, what harm could words do her? Each one of these file was the details of each of the female members of SHIELD and those that had been employed by Stark Industries.
Natasha Romanov
Maria Hill
Gwen Stacy
Darcy Lewis
Anna Marie
Lady Sif
The six files where in a semi circle on her desk, each one perfect and untouched, she'd not dared to touch any one of them. Pepper knew these women where probably more important than she was, younger, more successful, more beautiful and the reason she was hiding from the public. Behind closed doors was where she belonged, hadn't the attitude she'd taken with Darcys arrival proved that? Pepper had never been any good at sharing, never any good at letting anyone else into her life or into what had become her life, Her work.
What was she playing at?! She was a grown woman, not a child, not a teenager, not even a fresh-faced 23 year old still finding her feet. 30-something and still unmarried, childless and the only thing in her life was her work. She really had nothing else to do, or to care about.
So of course she'd over-reacted when they'd started invading her life! As stupid as it probably seemed to them, and SHIELD, and anyone else that was watching her. These new women had appeared from nowhere and turned her world upside down, Pepper had know that things wouldn't always be the same, wouldn't always be as sweet as they where before the Avengers started. She bit her lip and grabbed the first file, looking down at it with a scowl as she read the title.
Pepper could read this, it was only Gwen's file, and after all, the girl had always been lovely to her. She'd probably been the first one she'd made friends with. Surely it would do her good to actually know the backgrounds of some of the others around here, rather than automatically assuming that they where stupid.
Holding her breath she flicked it open, and tried to read the first few pages.
Gwen was so much more successful that she ever had been at that age, She knew it. Leaning across the desk she grabbed for the others, and they where all the same. The other woman where successful, young and the people that where going to change the future, they where the ones that could change the plot. Not her.
Dumping the entire lot on the table again she grabbed for her barely touched coffee, certain that it was a good idea at this god-forsaken hour. Taking one last look at the papers she pressed the mug to her lips.
Only once it was in her mouth did she realise it was cold.
Swallowing the little bit she'd tried to drink she coughed, accidence upsetting the mug she was holding and dropping the remainder of it on the files in-front of her. The liquid seeping though the papers and making the ink run, the entire lot stained a dirty brown colour. Typical. Virginia sighed and stood up, gazing down at the mess she'd made. At least this solved one problem, in a single sweeping movement she pushed the entire lot into the bin. She couldn't read it now.
She just didn't want to know.