A/N: I own nothing related to Marvel except my dvd's.
And here it is; Tony's proposal to Pepper. All mistakes are mine.
"Home sweet home." Tony said as they pulled up in front of the Malibu mansion.
"As much as I love the Tower, I've missed this place." Pepper said getting out of the car.
After they had unloaded the car and unpacked, Pepper followed him down into his workshop.
"Daddy's home." He said snapping his fingers as Jarvis brought all the computers and robots back online.
He took a seat at one of the tables and Pepper sat at another one and opened the laptop she had brought down with her.
Tony kept an eye on her and the other on his machines coming back to life.
"Stop starring."
"Can't help it, you're beautiful."
She looked up and smiled at him before focusing on her computer as he started working on his.
Since they had been gone for several months, he had Jarvis run a complete systems check. He took the time it was running to engage Pepper in some conversation.
"So would you like to have dinner with me Wednesday night say about 6:30?" he asked.
"Okay, our first date night back in Malibu."
"Is that a problem?"
"Not at all, I'd love to go out with you. You know that."
"So pick you up at 6:00?"
"I'll be waiting." She said with a smile.
On Wednesday night, Tony got ready and went down to his workshop while Pepper was taking a shower. When Jarvis announced it was 5:55 he went up to their bedroom and knocked on the door.
"Wow." He said when she opened the door.
"You like? Natasha helped me pick it out on our last shopping trip."
"It's gorgeous; of course a burlap sack would look great on you."
"Thank you, Tony." She stepped out into the hall and linking arms they left the house for dinner.
They made small talk as Tony drove them to a little Italian place Pepper used to get take out from all the time.
"I love this place, I hope the still have the same cook."
"They do, I checked."
"Always prepared now aren't you?" she joked.
"I try to be."
He got out, tossed the keys to the valet, and then opened the door for Pepper. He escorted her inside where they were promptly seated at a table in the back.
"So how's work?" he asked.
"Fine, is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything is good, is everything good with you?"
"Yes. You seem a little distracted."
"Oh sorry, I'm running some simulations back at the house."
At her look, he backtracked. "But I'm putting that aside and focusing on you."
She smiled at him before turning to the waiter that appeared at that moment.
After giving him their wine order, Tony reached across the table and took one of Pepper's hands in his.
"I love you, Pep."
"I love you too." she smiled but he could tell she was still concerned.
"So did Natasha tell you what Clint did to Steve?"
"Another practical joke?"
"Of course, and I had nothing to do with this one."
"That's good to hear, I'm tired of having to protect you from Steve when you actually do deserve it." She grinned when he gave her hand a sharp squeeze and let out a laugh at his look.
At that point the waiter came back and poured their wine, putting the bottle in the bucket of ice. They placed their food orders and he left.
"So what did Clint do?"
"He emptied all of Steve's punching bags and filled them with all these stuffed talking animals, so every time he punched it, they went off. I had Jarvis play back the feed and it was pretty hilarious."
"Well, I'll have to watch it when we get back home."
"Actually I was hoping the night wouldn't end with the restaurant."
"So what did you have in mind?"
"Well, I have something to show you when we get back to the house actually."
"Is that so?"
"It's not what you think; I have a surprise for you."
"Then I can't wait."
They continued talking through the rest of dinner. On the drive home, she reached over and turned the radio on, hoping something would come on that he would sing along to. Very few people, actually just Rhodes and herself, knew that Tony had a great singing voice.
He looked over and saw she was watching him, he knew what she wanted, so giving her a small smile, he started singing to the next song. Halfway through Foreigner's Feels Like the First Time, she started singing along and by the end of it she was laughing more than singing while playing air guitar and he was using the steering wheel as a drum set while still belting out the lyrics.
They were still laughing when he pulled up at the house. He opened her door for her but instead of entering the house he led her around the side, to the cliff's edge.
"Where are we going?"
"I told you I had a surprise for you."
"You're going to push me over the side?"
He stopped and turned towards her; he pulled her in for a kiss but pulled away when she tried to deepen it.
"Surprise." He said.
"I still don't see what the surprise is."
"Oh right." He pulled on their joined hands to lead her deeper into the shadows of the house. They walked to a point about five feet from the house when the area lit up with lights.
"Oh my god." Pepper blinked at the sudden brightness.
"There are motion activated lights all around this side of the house now and also…" he tugged over to the cliff edge, "there are lights leading down to the beach, to light the stairs I had put in so we go down to the beach whenever we like without driving."
"Wow, thanks."
"Do you actually like them, or do you like them like you liked the giant Christmas bunny?"
"No, I love them. Thank you, really." She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned in for a kiss.
"Want to try them out?" he asked.
"Now?"
"Sure, why not."
"It's getting late and it's dark out."
"Hence the lights."
"Okay, let's do this."
They made their way down the stairs and when they got to the bottom, they stepped out onto a deck.
"Nice." She said, looking around at the beach before he led her over to the few stairs it took to get from the steps to the sand.
He stood at the bottom and held his hand out to her, "Walk with me?"
"Of course." She took his hand and stepped onto the sand.
They started walking down the beach, but didn't get that far before Pepper took her shoes off to be better able to walk. They walked along in mostly silence, only talking to point out different things they noticed on the beach.
When they made it back to the deck Tony showed her how he had a shower installed in the corner so they could wash sand off before going back to the house.
"So I was thinking we could add chairs down here, maybe expand this area, put in a grill, just really develop this as an area to relax."
"That would be really nice Tony." She smiled.
They made their way back up to the house. As they were changing out of their dress clothes Tony announced he needed to go check on his simulations.
"Okay, hurry back. I've got plans for you." She said kissing him.
He let out a strangled moan before breaking away from her lips. "I promise I'll be right back, 10 minutes top." He promised kissing her again before leaving the room.
Pepper finished changing into her pajamas and climbed into bed with her Starkpad, to check her email. After forwarding some to Tony, even though she knew he would probably delete them without opening them, deleting a few of her own and responding to a quite a few. She glanced at the clock and saw that it had been twenty minutes and Tony still hadn't come back up.
She pulled on her robe and went down two flights of stairs to his workshop.
"I thought you were going to be right back?" she asked when she walked in.
Tony was sitting at one of the tables with one of the emails she had just forwarded him opened on the screen. He typed something in reply and sent it back to her before he spoke.
"I got distracted when these emails started coming through that apparently needed my urgent reply."
"Why, yes they did." She smiled at him. "It's nice to see you actually taking an interest in the company." She perched on the edge of the table next to his computer.
"Well, I make no promises that this will continue, you know just a slip of judgment."
"Oh sure."
He rolled his chair over so he was between her legs, where she put her feet on the seat and tucked her toes under his butt.
"Cold?" he asked.
"Yeah, I should have put my slippers on."
"Well maybe I can help warm you up." He said holding onto her waist with one hand and letting the other roam under her shirt touching as much skin as he could reach.
"Mhm, sounds nice." She said scooting forward a bit.
"You make me happy, Pep. You make me want to be a better person. I go out and try to make the world a better place, to make it safer for you. I never imagined my life turning out this way and I am so grateful it did. If I could go back and change anything, of all the screwed up things I've done, it would be to go back and realize I loved you years before I actually admitted it to myself. You complete me, Pepper."
He pulled back away a little bit and when he brought his hands out from behind her, he pulled out a ring box too.
"Pepper Potts, will you marry me?" he asked opening the box.
"Tony!" she looked back and forth from the ring to his face a few times. "Of course I'll marry you."
He stood up and pulling the ring from the box, he slipped it on her finger before kissing her deeply.
"I love you." He said.
"I love you too." She said pulling him in for another kiss.
"What do you say we take this upstairs and really celebrate?" he asked against her lips.
"Let's go." She tried to slide off the table, but Tony picked her up and carried her out of the workshop and up the stairs.
They next day back in New York Natasha's phone went off. When she pulled up her messages she saw it was from Tony. She opened it to find a single word, 'YES!' she smiled at the phone and handed it to Clint.
"'Bout time." He said tossing the phone aside and pulling Natasha back into the reclining position they were in before her phone went off. "Now where were we?" he asked reattaching his lips to her shoulder.
A/N: Okay, so thank you to everyone who read this, please hit the review button and drop me a line to let me know what you thought.