Hello again! Thanks for the reviews (Harm Marie, johncorn, Guest, The13thGirlWithoutASoul and viridianaln9) =]. Sorry for the wait, I started on Bruce but ran into a block.
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter Two: Clint
Four meetings is a normal day for Pepper. Today, however, has consisted of four meetings (two in California and two in New York) and a press conference that is unfortunately focused more on her relationship then the new Stark Industry technology. She hasn't caught a break in weeks and she can't help herself from releasing a sigh of relief as she steps into the Tower and walks briskly to the elevator after greeting the guards and receptionists.
"Welcome home, Ms. Potts," Jarvis greets as the elevator doors slides shut
"Hello, Jarvis" Pepper smiles while standing her luggage bag up "Can you give me an update on where everyone is?"
"Mr. Stark is with Doctor Banner and Captain Rogers in the Common Floor kitchen," Jarvis reports immediately "Thor is with Doctor Foster on vacation in Mr. Stark's home in Vienna. Ms. Romanoff has been on a long-term mission in Siberia and Mr. Barton has hidden himself from my sensors." Pepper frowns, Tony in the kitchen is slightly worrying, but Bruce and Steve have proven to be very good Stark-sitters in the months that they've been living with Tony. She isn't very surprised that Clint isn't with the team, because he tends to practice at night, but she's a little concerned that Jarvis can't get a read on him.
"Bring me up to the Common Floor, please" Pepper says as she leans against the wall and takes off her heels. The elevator dings as it reaches the Common Floor and the elevator doors slide open. She hears the pounding of feet and a shout that faintly resembles "Pepper" and "Be careful, Tony!" before Tony hurtles into view, beaming at her. Pepper squeaks when he picks her up bridal style and kisses her while spinning around.
"Hi Pep," Tony grins setting her down and taking her shoes from her "I missed you. Bruce and Steve are fun, but they won't kiss me. Not that I'd let either of them, of course." Pepper laughs and removes her luggage bag from the elevator.
"I certainly hope not, or I'd have to have a few words with them," Pepper replies "and I missed you too Tony." Tony then proceeds to pull her into the kitchen, where she is greeted by the sight of Bruce cleaning up glass and Steve setting plastic cups on the glass dining table.
"What happened?!" Tony exclaims. Steve and Bruce turn simultaneously to give Tony an exasperated look, but it's Steve that speaks up.
"I told you we should have used plastic cups Tony, precisely because we all knew you would end up knock something over in your excitement." Steve turns his attention away from Tony who is about to start babbling "Welcome home, Pepper" Bruce waves with a sheepish expression when Steve greets her and clears his throat softly.
"Uhm. Well I- I mean we made you food." He pauses, contemplating something "Well Tony and Steve tried to, but I don't think you really want to eat what they made." Twin glares settle on him and Pepper notices two plates of burnt…. Meat? Food? Placed next to a platter of fried rice. "We haven't eaten yet," he adds "it would be very nice if you joined us" Bruce gives Tony and Steve a look and they quickly escort her to her seat and soon the four and eating and chatting amicably. Bruce and Tony debate if political science is really a science while Steve and Pepper trade stories about themselves that Bruce (who has lived with Pepper and Tony longer than all of the team) and Tony already know about. When they finish dinner, Steve and Bruce start to clean up the table and Tony pulls Pepper's legs onto his lap in order to give her foot a massage.
"So," Pepper says when Bruce and Steve settle back into their seats "do you guys know if Clint's in his room, I want to go say hello before I turn in for the night." The three men still and look at each other, the room gains a slight tension.
"Well…" Tony hesitates "Since Natashalie has gone on her mission he hasn't exactly come out of hiding."
"We've each found him," Steve adds "but he's… Aggressive, when we try to get him to join us."
"We've been feeding him," Bruce says "we leave the food outside of his door. Every time we find him he hides somewhere else. We can't find him anymore."
"Did any of you guys try to talk to him when you found him?" Pepper questions while sliding her legs off of Tony's lap.
"I did." Steve says grimacing "He got angry and threw me down the stairs." Pepper stands up, drawing the attention of the room to her.
"I'll go talk to him" she says softly. Tony grabs her wrist and the two stare at each other intensely. Bruce and Steve watch their silent exchange in fascination, Pepper and Tony's eyes flash at each other angrily before Tony's demeanor softens and Pepper drops a chaste kiss on his lips. Bruce and Steve look away and hear Tony mumble "fine" and Pepper walking away.
OOO
Pepper finds Clint on the roof an hour later. She's insanely grateful that she's wearing dress pants and is used to high and unsteady heels, because she's positive that walking on the beams she had to past to get here would have turned out very badly otherwise. Pepper almost misses Clint, who is clad in all black and blending in with the night sky, the first look around. He is hanging off the roof's railing, legs hooked on the middle rail, feet pointing in her direction.
"Clint?" Pepper's voice is cautious as she approaches the rail to stare at the upside-down archer whose gaze is focused on the city below them. "Clint?" she tries again. This time he turns his head to look at her.
"Hello." His eyes are carefully blank- she knows that look, Tony does it every time he's upset and doesn't want to talk about it. Pepper stares back at him, giving him her special "I'm- not- stupid" look and he responds by giving her a glare of denial.
"I'm not going to leave then." Pepper states, turning up her glare. Clint turns his gaze to the city and Pepper sighs. She sits down next to him, resting her forehead on the upper railing, holding on lightly to the lower rails and dangles her legs off of the roof (near his head, as a visible confirmation that she's there).
Clint almost flinches when Pepper's (bare) feet swing close to his face, a quick glance at her tells him that she's not trying to get his attention and is just looking out at the city. It's been forty minutes and fifty-two seconds, and she's really not leaving. He slowly bends his upper body up, looping his arms around the cool railing and resting his chin on the upper rail. Pepper looks at him but only smiles slightly.
"Why are you here?" He asks
"Because you're up here" She replies easily
"You should go to sleep"
"You should eat dinner"
"Why are you really up here?" Clint's storm-grey eyes narrow at her suspiciously
"We're worried about you, Clint." Pepper says frowning "Steve, Bruce, Tony and I."
"I can take care of myself."
"I didn't say you couldn't," Pepper sighs "Clint, please tell me what's wrong." Clint clenches his jaw tightly and examines the woman in front of him. He can tell that she's been up for close to twenty-four hours by the smudges underneath her eyes, running around a lot by the blisters on her feet, and he knows she's stubborn- mostly by the way he's seen her interact with Tony and sometimes Natasha.
"How did you find me?" He asks instead. She gives him an exasperated look.
"It was a gut feeling." She responds. Then her lips twitch. "Plus, I've been here before. There used to be stairs and a door up to this roof." She turning her gaze towards a pile of rubble, eyes clouding with what had to be a bad memory.
"What happened?" At Clint's question, Pepper looks at him again, her eyes closed off, hard and piercing.
"A story for a story," She bargains, ever the business woman "and not just any story, what has been bothering you." Clint could see her reading his body language "It's about Tony before any of," she waves her hands while turning around so she can sit in with her legs crossed and lean against the rails "this; Superheroes, avengers, Iron Man."
"Fine." Clint acquiesces taking a deep breath and getting off the railing to imitate her position.
"Well," Pepper starts looking at the sky "Before… Iron Man. Tony was- well he was an alcoholic. And a party-boy. And play boy. He used to throw giant parties where he'd get wasted and Rhodey or I would have to get him to make sure nothing bad happened. Usually we were lucky. No damage. No stomach pumping. But this time… This time he had come up here after one of his parties and he was drunk and still drinking. Rhodey and I had followed him up and were just about to get him to go down the stairs when he pushed us away from the stairs." Pepper pauses looking at Clint with a look of pain "There was a bomb, Clint. Even drunk, his mind works faster than ours and he pushed us out of the way as it detonated. The explosion combined with Tony's shove had Rhodey and me on the ground. This entrance had completely collapsed and we were on the roof for three hours before a helicopter came to get us. Jarvis kept us updated the whole time. He told us that Tony was thrown down the stairs and had broken ribs, a concussion, burns and alcohol poisoning. Jarvis said he almost didn't make it to the hospital and is broken ribs complicated the process of pumping his stomach." Pepper starts to look angry "The most frustrating part of the whole incident is that we never found out who did it. And the police never bothered to look. Assassination attempts on Tony happened once in a while and they just brush it off as another failed attempt. No death no foul." She finishes bitterly giving him an expression that clearly says "your turn." Clint sighs in resignation and folds his arms.
"Natasha was sent out for a mission in Siberia." Clint says watching as Pepper nods slowly "Most of it is classified, but the part that matters is that it is listed as a Black mission- potential suicide mission. We've done them together before, and have come out on top every time, but this time…" Clint's hands ball up and Pepper sees his nails biting into his palms "I begged her not to go. We've lost five agents to this mission in the past year and I couldn't lose her too. So when she wouldn't listen to me, I… I told her I loved her. It was a stupid move. She hates sentiment. But if she's not coming back… I just wanted her to know." Pepper puts a comforting hand on his shoulder and he takes a shaky breath "She looked so angry. Wouldn't even talk to me after that. Just left."
"Clint," Pepper says beseechingly "you can't just assume she's angry with you. And you most definitely cannot assume that she's dead. It's insulting to the twenty-seven suicide missions that she's been on as the Black Widow," Clint shoots her a surprised look "not that I'd know anything about it."
"Well what do you think I should do?" He asks unfolding his arms and throwing his hands up
"I think you should come and eat dinner," He gives her an exasperated look "then I think you should wait with us for Natasha to come back. I refuse to think that she won't. And don't assume she's mad at you, she probably needs time." She pauses in contemplation "Phil once told me that I had good instincts- said that it reminded him of his brother" Pepper gives Clint a pointed look "My gut tells me that she's alive. What about yours?" Clint's lips turn up in half a grimace and half a smile.
"She's not dead." He replies. They sit in silence for a few moments before he speaks up again, "You remind me of Phil." Pepper lifts an eyebrow "Before I really knew him I knew I could trust him. He was right most of the time too."
"Which means that if I tell you that you need food then I'm right," Pepper says laughingly "and you will be okay, Clint. No matter the outcome of this. You just have to trust the rest of us a little more." Pepper stands up and stumbles slightly "Now come on, the other guys are worried about you." Clint stands up slowly and brushes dust off of his pants
"Yes, Ma'am" He says with a fake salute "You might as well let me carry you back as compensation."
"There's no need for compensation," Pepper mumbles sleepily as Clint piggy-backs her back inside "we're family; we take care of our own." As she slips into sleep's embrace, Clint's voice drifts back to her.
"Thanks Mom"
Annnnd! This marks the end of Chapter Two! (I don't really like this, so I may come back and rewrite it, who knows?) The next chapter will be the lovely Ms. Natasha Romanoff!
Was Clint's little thing too long? Too short? I feel like if Clint was to tell anyone about his problems he'd be a little more to the point, but I don't think that translated to writing too well _
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=] and again, any corrections would be much appreciated!