Here's where I step into the space between Iron Man and Iron Man 2. I do hope you enjoy.

THE NEXT MISSION: Developments

Virginia "Pepper" Potts poured a glass of cabernet, opened a box of chocolate truffles, and sat down at her desk at the Stark mansion. She checked the time on her computer and grinned. Seven-thirty, on the dot.

"Jarvis?

"Miss Potts?"

"Would you please put that call through now?"

"Of course, Miss. Connecting now."

It took only a moment before the screen showed her oldest friend, Ariel, who also had a glass of wine and box of chocolates in front of her. As the connection took, Ariel broke into a huge smile.

"Ginsing! It's so good to see you."

"You too, Ari. I really needed a girl's night out, even long distance." They lifted their glasses and clinked the screen before sipping. "Ooh. This wine is nice, you were right."

"I thought you'd like it." They both sipped again, nodding approval, and then sighed in unison. Ariel tilted her head with a laugh as she picked out a chocolate. "You first. What's new with the tin man?"

Pepper's smile sparkled as she ran a delicate finger around the edge of her glass. "It's been a little weird. I mean… besides all the 'Iron Man' insanity. Tony's been… or maybe I've been…" She paused, frowning. "It's been weird."

"Weird."

"Yeah… he's been... Hmh. I don't really know how to describe it."

Ariel pursed her lips thoughtfully. As usual, she seemed to know what Pepper was thinking better than her friend did. "Like more… forward? Is he coming on to you more?"

"Oh, I don't know if I'd say that." She took a thoughtful sip before continuing. "He's always been a flirt, you know that, but now he flirts harder. And I think, sometimes, he wants me to take it seriously."

"And what do you want? Do you want to take him seriously?"

Pepper laughed. "Oh, I don't know."

"Mmmhmm."

"Ariel…"

"Gin… you can level with me. I know how you feel about him."

"Great. Do you mind telling me how I feel about him, then?"

Ariel lifted her glass to her friend once more. "I would, but then I'd have to pull up the video I took of a certain song at karoke…" She waited, smirking, until Pepper lifted her glass and they clinked through the screen again.

"Fair enough. But I don't want to talk about Tony all night. What about you? How're you feeling about the mystery man over there?"

Ariel rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. I know exactly how I feel about him. I just don't have to like it…"

They laughed as old friends do, and talked into the night.

oOo

It is quite possible that her late night and the bottle of excellent wine explained why Pepper felt a bit fuzzy the next morning. Usually she could compartmentalize her thoughts easily; but today… she glanced up at the window and was staring blankly for a full minute before she realized she was looking for a rather colorful flying shape. Come on, Potts! Get a grip.

She shook her head and picked up her tea, taking a quick gulp while it was still hot. For a moment she blinked, trying to organize her thoughts; then took another gulp, nodded, and began to jot down notes.

Make sure legal is settled with the local businesses, Clear the architect plans with the zoning board, Find Tony and get him to –

Abruptly, the boss breezed in to her office with half a grin, not seeming to have a care in the world as he tossed an apple from hand to hand. "Mornin', Potts." He tossed the fruit into the air, caught it, and took a bite.

She shook her head with a bit of a frown. "It's afternoon, and barely that anymore. I didn't expect to see you today."

"Why not? I do own the place, such as it is."

Pepper paused to look around the temporary office space and shrugged. "It'll do for now. It's only another week or so." She looked back down at her notes. "And I didn't expect you because you haven't been in for more than a few days since this whole –" her finger circled in the air vaguely, "Superhero thing started. It would be nice if you were at least be available to answer a few -"

Tony put his hands on her desk and leaned toward her. A mischievous light in his eye put her on her guard, and she stopped. "But Pepper… I'm Iron Man."

They kept staring for a bit longer than was comfortable. Pepper's eyes narrowed and she fought to keep a straight face. "No, you're not."

"Am so." He pulled a magazine out of his jacket. "Even Time says so." He held up the cover with a broad smile. "Person of the Year. Not too shabby, eh?"

She looked at the cover and took it out of his hands. He finished the apple in a few quick bites while she studied it. A perfect shot of the ever-so-familiar armor… "Sorry. I'm afraid it says Iron Man is person of the year. Not Tony Stark."

"Same thing. Same thing. I was hoping for sexiest man of the year, but –"

Pepper rolled her eyes, but he noticed as he dropped the core in her garbage and walked to the window that she put in in her desk drawer with considerable care – which gave him enough time to notice that she had several other magazines in there, showing quite a bit of red and gold.

He pulled his face out of a grin with some difficulty. "So. You have questions for me?"

"Yes. The architect plans –"

"Already okayed them. Hell, I drew half of them."

"Yes, but –"

"Yes? You don't like them? You want a bigger office?"

"No! I mean, yes, I like them fine, but –"

"Then go ahead."

"Tony. The insurance isn't going to cover ninety percent of this."

"I know."

"You know? How do you expect –"

"C'mon, Pepper. We can afford it."

The 'we' nearly threw her, but not quite. "Well, yes, now, but without the military contracts –"

"And no one would insure the arc reactor, anyway. We were lucky to get coverage for neighboring businesses. Knew that going in. Hell, even before, I made specific investments to cover the costs of building one, eventually. We're just lucky Obie didn't know about them."

"Specific investments? What could possibly cover –"

"Ever heard of a little startup called Apple? Seemed like a fun idea at the time." He grinned smugly, and she shrugged. "Anything else? You wanna get lunch?" He turned toward the door and reached for the knob.

Pepper let out an exasperated sigh. "No. Wait, yes."

He turned and lifted his eyebrows. "Do I get a deciding vote?"

Choosing to ignore his comment, she stood and walked to the door. "Some things came over this morning." She eased past him and he followed her down the hall.

"Things?"

"Well, some packages. A couple large ones."

"So deal with –"

She stopped and turned, so quickly that he nearly bumped into her. "They're from some old storage at the plant." Hesitating just a bit, she added, "A display that your father must have left there." Pepper searched his eyes as she went on. "I didn't want it to get damaged during the rebuild, since it somehow managed to survive the explosions…"

The stare was replaced by a furrowed brow, and his eyes became more serious. "Show me."

oOo

Three hours later, after another room had been found, the display reconstructed and better temporary lighting installed, Pepper wondered if it might have been smarter just to agree to lunch. She was starving, and it wasn't helping her head.

Tony stared at the model of the 1974 Stark Expo. After a moment he squatted down behind it, reaching out to touch the arc reactor. "I remember this. I really do…"

"Okay…"

"No, I mean –" He stood and stared at the display. "I remember how important this was. It was- it was amazing. Bringing the world together… he had this crazy dream."

Pepper watched quietly as he prowled around the display. Eventually she said, "Did any of the buildings survive?"

"A couple. Most of them got eaten by the city." Tony's hand hovered over a building, several emotions playing across his eyes. "I hardly saw him at all that year. Well, not that it was much different from any other year…"

She gave him a sad smile, one that he didn't see. "It was a huge project, Tony. A lot of good came out of it."

"Right. Lots of good. You know…" She didn't notice the suddenly serious cast of his eyes. "Maybe we should do it again."

Pepper gave a little laugh. "Yeah, no problem there. Wouldn't cost a thing…"

"…Yeah." He frowned and shook his head abruptly, as if coming out of a trance. "Get this moved to my new office."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"In your actual office? Will there be room?"

"My rebuilt office?" He looked at her quite seriously. "Trust me on this one. There's room."

oOo

Two weeks later, Pepper was sitting in her newly rebuilt office. The view was spectacular, even better, in her mind, than the one from her boss's office. The thought that he may have done that on purpose gave her a little warm feeling inside… although she tried to pass it off as just a coincidence. Right, Potts. And when's the last time Tony Stark did something by accident?

She sighed at herself. "Virginia, you're a hopeless romantic. Now shut up and get to work." She stood to refill her coffee, when a flash of light called her attention back.

A message abruptly popped up on her monitor, startling her as it always did. Only one person had direct access to her computer, and usually used it for important messages like 'order pizza' when he didn't want to get up and find his phone.

In capital letters it read POTTS, and underneath was 'see how much it would cost to get Flushing Meadows. And look at real estate in the area. Preferably open, but anything big.' Almost as an afterthought, the signature read 'TS for IM'.

Pepper frowned at the screen. "Oh, no…" She looked around her large, comfortable office and shook her head. But I was just settling in here… if we do something in New York City, that means new spaces again… There was another flash from her monitor. "What now?" Seconds later another message appeared. 'Back by morning'. Thoughts of New York vanished from her head. "Oh, Tony…"

For the last month, he had been taking off for 'missions' on at least a weekly basis. While the government was trying to keep him in line by actually attempting to assign him these missions, it seemed he always had the information first. He had spoken to her once about that, about 'friends in low places' that had the guts to be trying to find out what was going on in war-torn, or terrorist-torn areas of the globe. Pepper remembered saying that they were lucky to have Iron Man, and she remembered him staring at his chlorophyll shake for a long time that night before he gulped it down, almost as if he wanted to say something else.

Potts shook her head, trying to organize her thoughts. There was something else about today… "Oh!" Grabbing her phone, she hit a button and waited. After a few seconds there was the slightly airy sound of Iron Man's suit mic.

"You didn't get my message?"

"I did, it's just-"

"I thought I was clear –"

"Tony, there's a board meeting this afternoon. I've put it off once already, you can't –"

"Handle it, Potts."

"But, Tony-" Suddenly there was a laugh that she recognized, the one that sounded like he remembered why he loved this suit so much. The sheer joy of flight. Apart from everything else the Iron Man suit was… it was pure freedom. Usually the laugh came when he passed a jet, or a flock of birds. "Tony?"

"You can do it, Pep. I believe in you. See you in the morning."

The line disconnected and she stared at the screen. "Great." Sitting down at her desk once more, she glanced at the clock, figured she had an hour before the meeting, and pulled up a file of her New York area contacts. "Another fully planned afternoon, complements of Tony Stark."

oOo

Tony got home quite a bit later than he thought. The terrorist cell was a bit reluctant to give up their cache of his missiles, but Iron Man was able to convince them it was a safer idea than the alternative. It was another long flight home, and after the machinery in his lab removed his armor, he trotted up the stairs. Or tried to.

Halfway up Tony found he was leaning against the wall, catching his breath. He blinked a few times, concern touching his normally calm expression. "Damn. Why am I so tired?"

Jarvis answered calmly. "Well, sir, it could be the fact that you've been gone for a good ten hours today, and if my download is correct, haven't eaten in that time…"

"More than that." He considered sitting down on the stair, but pushed on and got to the kitchen, where he downed a pint of water before putting together a chlorophyll protein shake. A slight frown creased his brow as he worked silently, and he drank the green concoction as if his life depended on it.

"Jarvis?"

"Sir? Do you need anything?" There was an oddly endearing tinge of concern in the computer's voice.

"Just a shower, at the moment. When I get back down to the shop, though, I want the information on the blood testing equipment we were looking at yesterday."

"Yes, sir. Are you feeling ill? Shall I call Ms. Potts?"

"No. I don't want Pepper knowing about this…this project. Not yet. Just… get it."

"Indeed, sir. Ms. Potts will not have access. The files are waiting for you."

"Thanks. I'll be down in… half an hour."

Tony stared into the glass and drank the last few drops. Then, still frowning, he walked toward his bathroom suite, pulling off his shirt and dropping the day's dirty work behind him.

oOo

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oOo

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