A/N: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for all the story alerting and commenting! I woke up this morning and my inbox was inundated:) This is kinda of a short chapter, but remember there will be a LOT of chapters in this story. I'm going to start working on the next chapters now and keep uploading the seven as more reviews keep coming in:) Review! Review! Review! I'll be posting all my story alert-ers and reviewers at the end of the story, so keep going:)

Chapter 2

If the drive to the airport had taken any longer, Pepper probably would have exploded with nervous anticipation. It was the same feeling that she'd had when Tony came home from Afghanistan, except this time she wasn't deliriously happy. It didn't help that she'd completely lost her mind and called Happy for the limo. This was totally not sticking to her story.

Happy pulled up to the side of the airport and Pepper jumped out, checking for any signs of Tony. He was supposed to be leaving on an international flight to China today (if he didn't miss it) to talk about flight regulations and rules for flying the suit overseas (The Real Deal: Tony kept being shot at by officials who didn't know what was in the sky and they wanted to stop him flying over their countries.)

She sat by the gate rubbing her knees dressed in full business attire. This was not looking good for her. How she could even be compared to a model while dressed in this. She looked like a CEO, it was her job after all. She was getting plenty of looks from people who recognized her and lots and lots of pointing fingers. This was why, most of the time, Tony would send someone to pick up guests from the airport. But that wouldn't have gone with her story, besides, if she was at the house waiting, Tony would have a lot more time to interrogate her and figure out what was going on.

It was then that the flight emptied and she stood, watching for her parents, teetering in six inch heels. Then she saw them, her mother in jeans and a soft tee shirt, appropriate for travel, and her father in pretty much the same. They both had white hair, something she was definitely not prepared for, and their carry-on bags looked as old as they did. In fact, Pepper was pretty sure she recognized one as her own.

"Darling," said her mother running forward, and not hesitating to look her up and down, "What on Earth are you wearing?"

"Oh, nothing," she shrugged, kissing her father on the cheek, " Just the first thing that was in my closet."

The walk back to the car was even more strenuous.

"Why are all those people staring?"
"It's probably because of that hideous outfit she's wearing."
"Mother!" said Pepper, clearly affronted, "It's very nice."

"Maybe if you're 35 and a businesswoman, not for a 25 year old model…"

"Mom, it… wait, did you just say 25?"

So, Pepper was now twenty-five. That lie was going to be unraveled the moment her mother dug up her birth certificate, but no matter. Pepper was starting not to care. Her parents were turning out to be just as touchy and judgmental as she remember them.

Happy was waiting for her out front, lounging on the hood of his limo like someone who had been driving a long time. He tipped his hat to Pepper's parents as they approached and went to start the car, oblivious to the Mr. and Mrs. Potts' mouths had turned into "O's."

"You got a limo?" said Mrs. Potts, not looking happy.

"Surprise!" said Pepper, trying to form her face into something resembling a smile.

She was in desperate need of Tony. He would know what to say to lighten the mood. They climbed into the limo and settled into a stony silence until the car started to move again.

"What a scene! Virginia, I'm ashamed."

"I was just trying to be nice." She grumbled, her head bent down to her knees.

She unconsciously took out her blackberry and began checking her emails, sighing when she saw that the inbox was full. She began to answer each and every one of them. Some of them were easy, just "No comment," about she and Tony's relationship, but others were harder and she had to stop when she saw her father peering over her shoulder at something she'd written.

Her father turned to her mother, "Since when does a model have to write press releases?"

Pepper relaxed, that was an easy one, "You have to get higher up than I am to have someone do all these things for you. I just had to write a press release so everyone will know how I'm doing. You know, how the modeling career's going. Phone is just ringing off the hook these days."

As if on cue, her phone started ringing and she picked it up, seeing Tony's face on the caller ID she connected quickly, but not before her Father saw it and gave her a startled look.

"Hey, what's up? No… no… I can't. Not right now. Wait, what?" Pepper could feel her mother and father staring at her, "Don't you dare. I need you to clean the house anyway. Because it's dirty! No, I know… sorry… just a little stressed. Please don't do anything impulsive before I get there. Yah… would you? Okay… bye."

"Who was that?" Mrs. Potts asked.

"A friend of mine."

Pepper's father didn't say anything, just looked at her curiously; probably because he couldn't imagine Tony Stark as Pepper's friend. Her parents had always thought she would amount to nothing, after all, much of her family hadn't. The guys were supposed to be the strong ones. Women were the ones meant to stay at home and take care of the children. The fact that Pepper wasn't married by twenty-five (thirty-two technically) was horrible to them. If they found out that she was the co-CEO of a multi-billion dollar industry engaged to the other co-CEO who just happened to be an ex-playboy really hot billionaire? Well, four words; it would be real bad.

A/N: I had fun with this chapter. I love story development:) Now click the magic button! It's right there:) Click it!