Author's Note: Okay, so I had this idea and it wouldn't go away, so now here it is. The chapter's a little short, but I hope you enjoy. Read and review. =)

As long as Pepper Potts had worked for him, she had never had plans of her own. Ever. Well, at least not any that interfered with his plans. So, needless to say, when she came in to work on her birthday, a year after his kidnapping, he was shocked when she once again tried to hurry things along so that she could get out early. This wasn't sitting well with Tony, who had actually remembered her birthday this year. Not that he had actually forgotten last year. He had every intention of getting her something nice, but the date just kind of snuck up on him. So this year, on account of her last birthday being so terrible, Tony was planning to make up for it. This year, he actually had a present, and he was going to make her birthday unforgettable. Which he was hoping would lead to it being pretty unforgettable for him, too.

Not that he was just trying to get into Pepper's pants, because that wasn't it at all. It's just that…well, he loved her. He knew that it was her voice that kept him going in that cave in Afghanistan, though he had never told her. They didn't really talk about the time that he was in Afghanistan. It was just referred to as the time 'when he was away.' He liked to think that he was protecting Pepper from the evils of the world, but there was a small voice in the back of his head telling him that she was a grown woman and that it was her right to decide what she did and didn't need to know. This knowledge didn't stop him from trying to protect her, though.

But today, all the Iron Man business was going to be no where in sight. It was Pepper's birthday, and it was going to be about Pepper. Or, at least, it was supposed to be, but she wouldn't stay in one place long enough for him to pin her down and ask her about her plans. She had always worked quickly, but today it seemed like she was moving at the speed of light. One minute she was in her office, another she was in the kitchen, then back into the office. Finally, he had Jarvis send her down to the workshop, where he was working on one of his many cars.

"You needed me, Mr. Stark?"

"Always, Miss Potts." He smirked at her blush, which ran all the way to the roots of her hair. "You've been running at high speed all morning. What's going on?"

"It's my birthday—"

"I know."

"Really?"

"Yes, actually. Which is why I was wondering if you had plans for the evening." He held his breath, anxiously awaiting her answer.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I seem to recall being allowed to have plans on my birthday," she said with a smile.

"Yeah. You do. You're right. You have—you can have plans on your birthday…what are they?" he asked.

"I'm having dinner with a friend."

"Oh good. That sounds like it will be lots of fun," he said, secretly cursing the person who was keeping him from being able to execute his special plan that he had entitled Operation: Pepper's Birthday. Not original, but it sufficed.

"It will be. I always enjoy the company," she answered. "Now, is there anything you need?" Tony was silent for a moment, trying to absorb everything that she had said. He had been a little upset that his plans for her birthday were going to be ruined, but he then realized that she "always enjoyed the company." The not-so-little green monster of jealousy reared its ugly head.

"I thought you said…you said that I was all you had," he said, his voice confused and slightly hurt.

"Tony, it's my birthday. Can we talk about this another time?" Pepper asked, exasperated.

"Yeah," he said, trying to push the jealousy out of his head. "Um…I got you something for your birthday, but um…I left it at the office. I'll give it to you tomorrow."

She smiled, and her smile was brilliant. It was almost unbearably bright and beautiful, that smile was. It was almost worth letting her have the night alone with her friend, just so that he could see that smile again when he actually gave her the present. Of course, he had been lying through his teeth when he said that he had left it at the office. It was sitting underneath all the spare parts on the second shelf of his desk. But he wanted the whole affair to special, and he was definitely going to do his damndest to make it so.

"Okay. Anything else you need?"

"Um…what's your schedule like tomorrow?" he asked.

"I'm going to be in the office tomorrow. I've got some stuff up there I need to do. I'm not really sure how long I'll be. Do you need me here?"

"Tomorrow I'm going to be doing new upgrades on the suit. It would be nice to have you here, you know…just in case anything went wrong. Not that it will, because, I don't make mistakes."

"Right," Pepper answered sarcastically. "I'll be here. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do." She was halfway up the stairs before he thought to ask the question that had really been gnawing at him since she had said that she had plans for the evening. He ran to the foot of the stairs and got her attention.

"Who are you meeting?" he asked. She just grinned and continued up the stairs, refusing to answer his question. This bothered him more than it should have. It really, really bothered him. Why wouldn't she just answer the question? It wasn't like she had anything to hide from him…did she? The question ate at him, despite his many attempts to push it from his mind. He tried to ignore it by working very diligently on the hotrod, but it wasn't working. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he managed to smash his thumb before he finally realized that he wasn't going to be able to get this question out of his head. Investigating Pepper while she was in the house, however, was a very bad idea, so he tried to waste time until she left.

She finally left at four thirty, considerably earlier than usual, and Tony set to work. He started in her office, pouring over her written schedule, which she kept in a black, leather-bound planner in her top desk drawer. All he managed to find was that she had blocked off a large block of time for dinner this evening. It made sense. When friends got together for drinks or dinner, sometimes things ran long. Pepper, he knew, was definitely the type of woman who would plan on things running long. That way, if it ended earlier, she would still be on schedule.

Unfortunately, she hadn't written the full name of the restaurant or bar or whatever. She had just written initials in her very neat script: Dinner, H.H. What in the world? Tony wracked his brain, trying to think of some restaurant with the initials H.H. Finally, he asked Jarvis to run them.

"Jarvis, can you scan a list of restaurants and bars in the area that have the initials H.H., please?"

"Will do, sir. May I enquire as to the reason for your search?"

"You may."

"Why are you searching for restaurants that have the initials H.H.?"

"Pepper said she had plans this evening. In her date book, it says "Dinner, H.H." I'm trying to figure out where H.H. is."

"Of course. The list is on your screen now, though none of these would appear to be to Miss Potts's tastes."

"Jarvis, can you pull up Pepper's schedule for me?"

"On the screen, sir."

This schedule didn't reveal anything that he didn't already know. It was exactly the same as the one in her planner, which he had expected. Pepper was too neat to have two different schedules. Dinner, H.H…H.H. could be a person…

And then Tony knew. H.H. Happy Hogan. Pepper was having dinner with Happy. No wonder she didn't tell him. She knew that he would have been insanely jealous, which he was, and that he would want to fire Happy, which he wouldn't. Okay, maybe she didn't think that he would fire Happy, but that's about how he was feeling.

He was jealous and hurt and betrayed. He had put himself on the line all those months ago when he told her that she was all he had, and he hadn't been lying. Yes, he had Rhodey, and he had Happy, but Pepper was…Pepper. She was everything that he wasn't. She was practical and reserved and she held him together. She spent her days riding his ass, trying to get him where he was supposed to be. But she was constant. He had always thought that out of everyone, she was the least likely to leave him. Rhodey was career military, so there was always a chance, and Happy was a bodyguard. Pepper was his personal assistant, who had always been there when he needed her. He had never imagined her not being his.

Not that she was his…at least, he didn't think so. Well, now he knew so, given that she was very likely having dinner with Happy at this very minute. He wasn't all that she had. Then why would she have said that he was? She wasn't the type of person who said things that she didn't mean. This left him wondering when this Happy-Pepper relationship had happened. Had he really been so blind that he didn't see it? Or perhaps he was just too proud to see it. He had always assumed that Pepper loved him…maybe he had been wrong.

He paced up and down the living room, trying to get this emotions under control. He was failing miserably, and before he knew it, there was a drink in his hand. Downing the scotch in one gulp, he had poured another before he realized that he had. Looking down in disgust, he set the drink down on the counter and began pacing again. It seemed that the drink on the table was beckoning to him, and he was completely unable to resist. He grabbed the drink and downed it again. When he realized that he was still far too sober, he took the whole bottle, submerged himself in his workshop, and decided that tonight, he would get drunker still.

Author's Note: Okay, so there it is. It is going somewhere, I promise. Just let me know what you like, dislike, made you want to blow brains out [hopefully there's less of that stuff], that sort of thing.