Files

He noticed it as he was walking up from his basement to the kitchen. She had left it on the coffee table as she went in search of a file folder. He didn't like the look of it at all.

"Jarvis, what is the performance on this thing," he said pointing to Pepper's very used laptop.

"I have kept it running at peak performance within the confines of its hardware," Jarvis noted.

"How old is it," he asked and he picked it up and began to examine it with a mix of horror and disgust on his face.

"1 year, 153 days, 11 hours and 4 seconds, sir."

He noted the keyboard was so worn that he could hardly see the letters on the keys, not that Pepper needed them. The exterior was scratched and there even seemed to be signs that she may have dropped it on more than one occasion, whether accidentally, or after he IM'd her one to many times from the basement quoting song lyrics.

"Well this just won't do Jarvis! I can't have my assistant wandering around in public with this," he said has he laid it back down on the table and then wiped his hands on his jeans as though it was going to give him some sort of disease. As someone who liked everything new and shiny, the latest and greatest, he could barely look at the thing.

"Jarvis, please order the very top notch laptop there is, with all the bells and whistles, and have them put a rush on it," he ordered the A.I. "And have it delivered here, to me. It will be a surprise," he added as he wandered back into the kitchen to see if there was any leftover pizza from the night before.

With three slices in hand and not even bothering with a plate he headed back downstairs. "Oh, and Jarvis? You know that blue gown Pepper wore a few weeks ago? Order the laptop in that color."

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She didn't know why she was practically ordered to go out and pick-up the chinese food on Friday afternoon but here she was driving around in circles trying to find a parking place. She got the feeling that Mr. Stark was trying to get rid of her so he could do some crazy experiment without her trying to stop him from killing himself.

She left strict instructions with Jarvis to try and not let Tony do anything stupid while she was gone. His only response was a, "I always try, Ms. Potts."

That wasn't very reassuring.

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Tony had gotten the new laptop the night before. After charging the battery he finally figured out how to get Pepper out of the house without her laptop.

Of course he picked the farthest away restaurant as he could find and didn't ask her to go get it until everyone else was on the road for their lunch hour.

He didn't think this would take very long but he just wanted to make sure. Most of the items she worked on should be on the company server but he didn't know how many of his private files she kept on the laptop.

He told Jarvis to keep an eye out for Mrs. Potts as he plugged the laptops together and turned on the new one.

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"Well that only took two hours!" she practically yelled as she walked into the house but it was so quiet that she knew Tony must still be downstairs.

"Jarvis?" she asked quietly, afraid of the answer, "is Mr. Stark still here?"

"Yes, Ms. Potts. He is currently in his lab working on upgrades to the stabilizers."

"No injuries or property damage?" she asked incredulously.

"No, everything is fine, Ms. Potts."

"Okay then…" she said, still suspicious "tell Tony that the food is ready. Does he want me to bring it down?"

It was silent for a moment as Jarvis was talking to Tony.

"He says that he will be up in a moment."

She set the boxes out on the counter, grabbed her box of sweet and sour chicken and some chopsticks and headed back to the couch to finish up her e-mails before she went home for the weekend.

She stopped short at the shiny new laptop that was sitting on the coffee table with a ridiculously huge red bow on it.

She sat down slowly, stunned. She didn't even reach for it; she just continued to stare at it.

"You like it?" asked Tony as he stepped up behind her slightly bouncing on his toes like a child waiting for praise.

He had a smile on his face and it made him feel good that not only did he notice she needed something but he went out of his way to get it for her. The old Stark would have just ordered to get a new one herself.

"Where's my old one?" she asked quietly still trying to stay as far away as possible from the new one.

"You don't like this one? I transferred all your files over, set-up your e-mail and all of that," Tony said trying to reassure her, although his smile had fallen from his lips. This was not how this was supposed to go. She was supposed to be happy. Maybe even some jumping up and down and dare he even think it – a hug.

"Tony please, please tell me you still have the old one," she said on the verge of panic and tears.

Silently he went and retrieved it from his office, laying it down on the couch beside her. She immediately grabbed it and held it to her chest as if it were a lost pet that found its way back home.

"Thank you Tony," but then she noticed he had gone back down to his work room.

"Oh," she said to no one in particular. She would have to apologize later. Right now she had to make sure her files were still there.

Once her old laptop had booted up she asked Jarvis to move the file folder to the new computer.

"But Ms. Potts, the folder has already been copied to the new computer by Mr. Stark."

She felt like fainting. Not only did she hurt his feelings by not being appreciative of the new laptop, now he saw her folder.

"Are you sure Jarvis?" she asked as she brought up the folder on the new laptop and opened it.

Jarvis was right, there they all were, all 237 of them.

"I thought this folder was hidden," she said mostly to herself as she began looking through the files.

"It was Ms. Potts but Mr. Stark is anything if not thorough," Jarvis responded.

There they all were, eight years of photos. Her and Tony, just Tony, just her, Tony and Rohdey, Her and Rohdey all still safe and sound. Her family for the last eight years still there to look at when she started thinking about her biological family.

She barley heard Jarvis response as her attention had become fixed on a newly added photo.

She opened it to find it was her in her blue dress. She had just gotten out of the town car and was walking into the event. She didn't even notice anyone had taken her picture.

"You're not the only one who keeps photos you know," said Tony who had snuck back upstairs and was now standing behind the couch again.

Pepper was so startled that the laptop fell from her hand as she jumped in fright.

Tony nearly fell over the back of the couch to catch it. "Now Ms. Potts I expect this computer to last you more than one day," he joked as he set the laptop safely on the couch.

Having gotten over her initial shock, Tony didn't see it coming when she climbed back on to the couch on her knees so that she was facing him. The back of the couch the only thing separating them and nearly threw herself around his neck, once again almost knocking him over the couch with surprise.

"Oh Tony thank you, thank you, thank you. The laptop is wonderful, your computer skills are wonderful and the new photo is wonderful," she whispered into his ear still not letting go of his neck making him a little light headed and wishing there wasn't a couch in-between them.

She let go of him quickly once she realized how uncomfortable the atmosphere had become.

"Thank you Tony, it meant a lot to me," she said quietly as she got off the couch, looking everywhere but at him.

He could see she was back to business. "You know you can actually print some of those out and put them in frames," he teased her, trying to lighten the mood.

"I do have pictures! They're at my house, you've just never been there that's all."

"Is that an invitation Ms. Potts?" he asked as he came around the couch to face her.

She started to blush. "No, Mr. Stark, just an observation."

"Your office has always looked a little empty," he commented to her hoping to get her talking again.

"Well my space at Stark industries is just a very large desk outside your office and here, well this is your house. I wouldn't feel right putting my personal stuff around."

"You work here and you are my friend, this is your space to," he said seriously as he moved toward her, gently lifting her chin up to look into her eyes.

"Of course Mr. Stark," she said nervously as she tried to swallow the lump that had caught in her throat. His face was so close.

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Monday morning found Pepper Potts staring at the once empty wall of her office in Mr. Stark's home. It was now cover floor to ceiling with framed pictures. Some that belonged to her, some that must belong to Tony and even a few from Rohdey.

She had to shut her office door so Tony wouldn't see her cry.