Chapter Two

A Violet A Day

"So, tell us more about yourself."

Lily fiddled with the edge of her napkin. She liked Ms. Potts - the woman had a knack for making people comfortable. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep Lily from glancing nervously every now and then at the man seated across her. You can't really help it when you're two feet away from the guy who almost had you arrested for putting flowers on a park bench.

She bit her lip. "There's not much to tell," she said carefully. She noticed Pepper was also throwing brief looks Tony's way. It was the kind of look Lily's uncle would give her, whenever he was forced to bring her along on his dates. The one that said behave yourself or so help me I will mash you into potato and feed you to the pigeons.

"So, what school do you attend?" Pepper prompted her.

Lily blushed. "I don't. My uncle makes sure I study at home, though," she added hesitantly, "so I don't fall behind."

The woman didn't miss a beat. "I think that's nice. What grade are you?"

Another blush. "I don't . . . know."

Lower than average, that's for sure. Lily could never really understand why her uncle had pulled her out of high-school the day he assumed guardianship of her. She suspected it had something to do with that assessment test he'd given her a few months after her parents died. She was pretty sure she'd failed.

"I'm . . . I'm a little behind." Just a little, she thought. Her humility had its limits. "I'm not really sure how the curriculum works in school, but um, I'm studying integrated rate laws for second order kinetics, and how to use the Bq." Lily felt shame rise up in her throat as she said it. For all she knew, this was probably middle school material. She wondered uneasily if kindergarteners studied chemistry.

But, as soon as the words left her mouth, the orange juicebox choked. Much to her dismay, she saw Tony Stark sit straight in his seat and look at her intently. Then he said, a hint of surprise in his voice: "Nuclear chemistry?"

...

Pepper was impressed. Well, that and confused. Between privately wondering if Bq stood for barbecue and marveling over the kid's obvious genius, Pepper couldn't understand the look of embarrassment in Lily's face. Nor could she explain the eyes that dropped so quickly to the tabletop when Tony mentioned "nuclear chemistry," as though studying such an advanced topic at seventeen were a crime instead of an accomplishment.

It was almost as if the girl didn't realize how smart she actually was.

Pepper was glad that Tony had finally joined the conversation . . . well, she was glad. That was before the conversation metamorphosed into an entirely different language, complete with numbers and codes and words Pepper was pretty sure weren't in the human dictionary.

This is what you get for putting two geniuses in the same room. Absolute gibberish.

But Pepper was content, even touched, to watch Lily quickly warm up to Tony. Clearly, nuclear chemistry was just the thing to get this girl out of her shell. But what surprised Pepper even more was Tony himself. The man looked earnest, even fascinated, which was saying a lot, given Tony's self-proclaimed reputation as "the man who knows everything."

". . . But what you're saying is an atom of uranium can manipulate other atoms of the same element." Tony shook his head in disbelief. "That's incredible."

"Incredible," she laughed, "Or incredibly stupid."

"Self-degradation." Tony nodded. "I like it." He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head and sighing contentedly. "Nothing screams genius like a pinch of humility."

Pepper rolled her eyes. Finally, a topic she could understand. "Well then, clearly, I didn't date a genius."

Tony frowned. "Um, I believe I said 'pinch of humility.' Emphasis on 'pinch.'"

Lily giggled. Pepper sighed. "Dessert, anyone?"

First impressions don't really tell you much. Tony and Pepper learned that after inviting Lily over the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. The girl, who had once struck them as shy, timid, rather grim, and peculiar, turned out to be a little daredevil in the making. (But still peculiar. Like that time Tony caught her drinking coffee in the rain. Apparently, it tasted much better with precipitation pelting down into her mug.) It wasn't long before Pepper concluded that her new friend was really a five-year-old masquerading as a teenaged girl.

But one thing was for sure. Lily was making life at Stark Tower normal. At least, as normal as a home could be with a seventeen-year-old who had a knack for trouble . . .

. . . like that day Pepper came in from work and found a note that said Tony was being held for ransom and would be dead in less than twenty-four hours. She'd called the FBI, the CIA, the marines, goodness, even S.H.I.E.L.D before Lily and Tony popped out of Pepper's walk-in, giggling like children. At least one of them actually had an excuse.

. . . or that time Pepper was late for a meeting because she couldn't find her dress. She went down to the basement, just to make sure, and found Tony wearing her stilettos and a generous amount of rouge on both cheeks. Lily was clucking around him, a lipstick pen in her hand, and, at the sound of Pepper's gasp, said calmly, "Now, now, dear, don't bother granny-she's busy."

One day, Pepper decided to turn the tables on them. She knew Tony was working on some updates to his suit and would be busy the entire afternoon. Lily would come over for dinner that evening. So that meant a good one, two hours to plan. She got home early from a business meeting with the board and hurried straight to the kitchen.

"Jarvis? What's the best way to embarrass someone?"

"I'm sure I don't know, Miss Potts."

Pepper smiled. "You get them to do it themselves."

A few hours later

"Hello Lily." Pepper smiled sweetly as she held open the door. "I've made a special dinner for us tonight."

Lily grinned. "What's the occasion?"

"Oh, you know," Pepper shrugged nonchalantly, "To celebrate our friendship."

"I didn't know you were sentimental, Miss Potts."

"She can be, when she feels like it." Tony appeared at the foot of the staircase, the old smug smile pulling at the corner of his lips. Pepper was looking forward to wiping it out; already she could imagine the shock and betrayal dawning on his face -

"Well, what did you cook?" Lily looked up expectantly.

"Halibut, seared scallops, and sweet-corn puree." Pepper paused, then, with a wicked glint in her eyes, "But the vanilla milkshake is the best part."

"Yum!"

"Let's get started," Tony said at the same time. This was going to be too easy . . .

"The halibut was delicious, Miss Potts!" Lily gave another one of those wide, sunshiny grins that made Pepper's heart melt. She could feel her resolve slowly slipping away. No. She had to be strong. Tony, of course, had it coming to him. But Lily was so . . . innocent looking. And no one had ever complimented Pepper's halibut before. Maybe she didn't deserve this. Pepper shook her head. Lily was fooling her. She was a little minx in disguise. Remember all those pranks, she thought. All the near death experiences.

When she looked up from her plate, Pepper's resolve had fully returned. "So, who's up for milkshake?"

"Cheers!"

Pepper struggled to hide the excitement in her eyes as she watched Tony and Lily gulp down their drinks with relish. I'm actually doing this. I'm pranking people. Hahahaha, Pepper Potts is a prankster! She bit back a decidedly undignified giggle and took a sip from her own glass.

"So," she said carefully, "What did you really think of the halibut?"

Tony grinned. Pepper thought she saw him-wait, did he just wink at Lily?

The girl, in her turn, grinned devilishly. "I thought it was really delicious, Miss Potts. And this milkshake! No words. Absolute heaven. I'm curious, though. What did you put in it?"

Pepper answered almost automatically. "Two cups of vanilla ice-cream, a teaspoon of salt, two cups of milk, and 5 mL of a truth serum Jarvis gave me." Pepper blanched, horrified, and peered at her own glass of milkshake. She couldn't have possibly - switched the cups - she glanced at Tony and felt her heart sink. He was holding a paper. Her list. The questions she had thought up so diligently beforehand.

"Let's see," Tony said, "Questions For Truth Serum. Now, Pepper, if you're going to prank somebody, don't write such interesting titles and then leave them in plain sight. I found this on the countertop." He scanned the page. "Here's a good one. When did Tony fall in love with me? I think we can turn that around. My dearest, darling Pepper, when and how did you fall for my, ah, dashing self?"

Pepper bit her tongue. She could feel the truth fighting its way out. "December, the second year I began working for you." Tony, I'm going to kill you. "You carved a wooden pony for your mother."

"Awwww," laughed Lily.

Then, somewhat to Pepper's satisfaction, Tony's ears turned pink. Maybe this wasn't so bad, after all.

"My turn to ask a question!" piped Lily. She took the paper from Tony and began reading down the list. Suddenly, her face turned pale. "You were going to ask me . . . who my first crush was."

Tony laughed. "Now that would have been interesting."

Lily screwed up her face. "No, it's not that. It's just . . . I can't rem-"

"I hate to interrupt, Miss Lily, but Mr. Stark, there is someone at the door."

Tony stood up, grumbling loudly, and Pepper and Lily followed closely behind.

"Who is it?" said Pepper. Then, much to her surprise, Lily spoke up.

"Uncle P!" she exclaimed, running down to give the ruffled man a hug.

Pepper and Tony exchanged glances. "Um, his first name is agent."

a/n: dun dun dun! Ehhhh, this story is moving at an alarmingly slow rate. Sniffles. I really don't know what to think of this.