December 2010
Malibu, California
"Tony?"
Have a holly jolly Christmas
It's the best time of the year
I don't know if there'll be snow
But have a cup of cheer
If there was one thing Pepper Potts did not like, it was last minute cancellations. Specifically cancelled flights, such as the one she should have been on an hour ago. December weather in Malibu was nothing to complain about, but apparently the rest of the nation wasn't as lucky. Her flight home to Connecticut was cancelled due to snowy conditions so with a sigh and one apologetic phone call to her family, she made her way to her genius, billionaire, playboy newly acquired, boyfriends cliff side home.
"Tony, my flight got cancelled!"
Silence.
Seriously? She was just here last night before she went home to pack, what trouble could he have already ran off to cause? The Expo was over, Hammer was in jail, and Vanko was…well…not around anymore. After hauling the last bit of her Louis Vuitton luggage through the door and closing it behind her an idea came to her.
Have a holly jolly Christmas
And when you walk down the street
Say hello to friends you know
And everyone you meet
"J.A.R.V.I.S.?"
No answer. So much for that idea.
Okay, what's going on, the last time he was offline was-
Of course her mind instantly went to the worst possible scenario. When you start dating a super hero, as she's come to find out these past few months, you always have these terrible, horrific, morbid situations playing through your head and when you see that they are okay, you feel completely ridiculous.
The sounds of footsteps vibrated off the walls of the living room around her, and with a sigh of relief let a smile creep onto her lips.
Oh ho the mistletoe
Hung where you can see
"Tony, hey my flight got canc-"
Somebody waits for you
Uhh, you're not Tony
Kiss him once for me
She must have said her thoughts aloud because now the "not Tony" was staring right back at her with a look of a deer in headlights.
She could hear her heartbeat in her ears as her mind began to catch up. She took in the figure in front of her with wide eyes and a racing heart. The tall girl in front of her was all legs with an olive skin that resembled something of a sunglow tan. She could make out brown eyes through the sliver of space her bangs allowed as the rest of her long wavy hair framed her face that was currently tipped upwards in mid swig of the bottle of beer she was holding. The girl lowered the bottle away from her face and held it close to her chest.
Hey, wait a minute
The bottles new residence brought Pepper's attention to the average built girl's attire—or lack thereof. She was clad in only in a yellow Jimmy Buffett tshirt that came down to her thigh where she could make out a pair of cotton shorts underneath. Her bright pink socks were the last thing Pepper took in before she became aware of the tears on her face and just how long she had been staring as the girl was now racing back down the stairs towards the lab.
Walk away, walk away, walk away, you knew he would do this eventually, walk away, walk away
"Stupid, stupid, stupid Pepper—as if he would give that up"
She continued muttering to herself as she tried to gather her luggage all at once. Her mind instantly went back over the title of said billionaire and added the word playboy back into it, along with some other choice words.
"Pepper! Wait!"
Ha! Yeah, right.
His deep voice bounced off the narrow walls around the staircase leading up from the lab. As if she would wait to hear where he picked this girl up at.
"Pepper please, stop!"
Fingers wrapped around her elbow and without hesitation she immediately drew her arm back to her.
She now stood face to face with said playboy whose dark brown eyes reflected something along the lines of concern. His ordinary white, although she was certain gained its stains from the garage, tank top and grey sweatpants replaced Pepper's despair with red hot anger. Who cares if it was a normal, everyday outfit, that wasn't the issue right now.
"Pepper," he repeated slowly almost out of breath from his dash up the stairs, "I swear to you, it's not what you think."
The girl had made her way back upstairs and now stood some distance behind Tony, with a similar look on her face. What was that? Shame? Scared? Remorse?
"Tony, it's fine—I mean, it's not fine—but I guess in the back of my head I always knew this would happen and I mean I hoped it wouldn't but—"
She was rambling. Trying to hold on to any logical thought about the situation and how she could leave with her head held high.
Is it bad when you start rambling and your own brain tunes you out?
"Pepper!"
Her attention snapped back to his face and it was then she realized he had both hands holding her shoulders to keep her in place. His eyes held hers in a quiet stare. She wondered about the possibility of her being wrong, and quickly shoved that feeling aside. She deserves to be angry. He was with another girl while she was supposed to be gone! Right?
There's those morbid situations again.
She gathered herself calmly and brought the bite of a tone she saves for her company dealings, "then what is it? Because it looks like a girl who is hardly wearing any clothes, hanging out down stairs in the lab with you!"
Tony drew in a steady breath as he slowly released one of Peppers shoulders to slightly move to the side and glance back at the girl who was slowly moving towards her.
Have a holly jolly Christmas
And in case you didn't hear
"Pepper, he's telling the truth."
"Excuse me – woah – how do you know my name?"
Her brain was on overload. In all the times she's had to take out Tony's "trash", the only one to ever acknowledge her name was Christine Everhart, and even then she couldn't recall if she used her nickname. A nickname given to her by Tony himself.
"Pepper…come on, let's all go sit down and-"
"No! I'm going back to my car. I am not dealing with this."
She was losing control and was determined to not fall apart in front of them. Virginia Potts would never give anyone that satisfaction. She began to turn around as she tried to shrug off the hand that still held her arm when she heard someone behind her let out a breath of air.
"Just go ahead and tell her Tony, it's fine."
Pepper glanced back to observe the exchange between the two when the girl wrapped her arms around herself as if she was cold.
"Are you sure? It won't cause any-"
The girl nodded and Tony turned back to Pepper with a tint of a smile in the corner of his mouth as he released a small breathless laugh.
"Pepper"
Oh by golly have a holly jolly
Christmas this year
He looked back once more as his hand rose and fell as a gesture to the girl who was now apparently sharing the same inside joke as Tony. Peppers brow furrowed, she was not amused and he better hurry up because she's got things to do, clothes to unpack, things to break and—
"She's my sister."
Santa Claus is coming to town
