Sorry for the long wait. Long work week and I got a bit caught up with my other fanfiction.

Anyway, this Chapter is dedicated to:

MJClaire

thewarpedmind1 (thank you for your second review J)

Trinilynn

JustAlilFan

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Pepper leant back in her swivel chair.

"Jarvis, do the parameters I gave you give you anything on Tony?"

The Artificial Intelligence seemed to sigh – almost.

"Miss Potts, I have only just put in the data. I should be able to supply you with results by 6:32 a.m. tomorrow morning."

The redhead nodded absentmindedly.

"I know they're still looking for Islamic fundamentalists, but have you found any organisations which might be responsible?"

Jarvis paused whilst Pepper rubbed her eyes, exhaustion pressing on her.

"So far I have found one particular terrorist organisation that seems to have obtained Stark Industries weaponry: The Ten Rings. Their leader is known as Raza." he was brought up on the big screen in front of her. She studied his face but it blurred with all the other faces she'd been seeing over the months. He had a cruel twist to his lips and cold eyes but nothing could tell her if he was capable of kidnapping a world renowned weapons manufacturer. Or if he'd still be alive in this guy's hands. "They tend to attack smaller towns and villages in Afghanistan – sometimes they kidnap men. Women are either raped, sometimes kept as slaves or helpers, but most of them are eliminated right away along with the children though they have been known to keep both alive on rare occasions to put pressure on the men. The Afghan government has been unsuccessful in bringing anyone from their organisation in except for some of it younger members, but they have no valuable information to divulge."

Pepper nodded, absorbing the knowledge. She had looked at so many faces, so many groups in the last few months that may or may not be involved in Tony's capture. None of them stood out as more horrific or less. Some focused on slave trade, some on child labour, some on torture. Some liked going for hospitals or schools when they used bigger targets. All of it twisted her stomach; all of it was less than promising for Tony's health and wellbeing. Part of her hoped that Mr. Stark would return and change the direction of his company. She didn't know how much longer she could stand looking at these images and videos, how much longer she could stand knowing she contributed to this huge loss of life, this senseless destruction and horror.

"Any videos?"

Jarvis didn't respond verbally but instead magnified one of the screens to show her six videos. She forced herself to watch all of them – know thy enemy and all that. Immediately her eyes picked out the SI logo on the weapons. Some of the others had had a few weapons as well but this organisation stood out from the rest simply by the fact that ALL their weapons were Stark Industries. Pepper studied the videos intensely after that, making sure she wrote down the names and anything else distinguishable she noticed on these people. Maybe these were the ones that had Tony? Maybe they'd find a way to get him back?

"Jarvis, have you got any news from them in the last few months? Any patterns of where their home base is situated?" Pepper felt something akin to excitement rush through her.

"They have been fairly quiet throughout the last six months, Miss Potts which seems unusual for the pattern this group has established over the last nine years. As to their home base – it seems fairly interchangeable, unfortunately. The only constant so far has been that it was always deep into the mountains."

She nodded, not having expected to be able to obtain even this much information. At last, something that might help Rhodey. He hadn't called her for two weeks now and finally she could call him.

"Thank you Jarvis. Please call Rhodey."

"Of course, Miss Potts. I will have the information ready to be sent to him once your call has finished."

The dial tone echoed in the empty workshop and she could hear Dummy whirr next to her in confusion at what was going on. She never usually called Rhodey in here.

He picked up after the second ring and before he could call out a greeting she interrupted.

"Rhodey, mountains. Check near the mountains. There is this terror organisation called-"

She'd ignored Rhodey's three previous uses of her name but when he shouted it the fourth time, she halted involuntarily.

"They've stopped the search. I meant to tell you but with everything you were dealing with I didn't want to add even more to it."

Rhodey sounded bitter. And he had every right to – they'd called the search off? After everything Tony had done for them they gave up after a measly 2 ½ months? What was this?

"What do you mean they've stopped? I presume you don't mean for the night. You really should've called me but it's okay, we'll figure it out. I'll call up the General and with a donation I'm sure we could-"

"Pepper, I have been at them for 2 fucking weeks. They don't care. They are still getting weapons from Stark Industries and yeah, they're not as spectacular as when Tony invented them nor are they outstripping their competition by a large margin anymore but bottom line is that they're still getting what they want and they figure they've spent enough time and resources on finding Tony. I have been put on suspension for arguing with a superior officer and am trying to keep searching for Tony. But damn, this is all fucked up. It wasn't meant to be like this." Rhodey knew better than anyone else that Tony wasn't exactly well versed in fighting – except for bar fights. He didn't know the reality of war except for in the abstract way that numbers and figures provided. He'd never really been confronted with the reality and Tony did not handle these things well. Not well at all.

Pepper sighed, the exhaustion just kept getting worse. She now realised she'd also woken Rhodey up as it was only early morning there.

"Jarvis, transfer money into an account for Rhodey. Rhodey, we'll send helicopters and pilots across to you along with a medic team on standby. I really should've thought of this earlier! For the next day just look at some maps to see where you want the helicopters. I'll send 8 across to you, anymore and I'll have a fight with the Afghan government, I think. They've been suspicious enough in my last phone calls about spies and interfering with their governing bodies." Rubbing her left shoulder she tried to relax the taunt muscles that kept pulling at her neck.

"Jarvis found a terrorist organisation called the Ten Rings which seems to have a huge amount of SI weapons. They tend to nest in the mountains, quite deep in. Hence why I am sending you helicopters – you'll need to go quite low to see anything. I've been looking at the mountain ranges with the satellites but there's too much overhang for me to see much of anything."

She was grateful when Rhodey did nothing but acquiesce. She wouldn't have handled it well if Rhodey was having doubts about Tony's continued survival as well – though she doubted he'd share them with her.

"Thanks, Rhodey. Give me a call in a week's time for an update or call anytime if you need anything else."

They hung up shortly afterwards. Pepper still hadn't been able to figure out how these bastards had obtained the weapons. She'd gone through the logs, compared them to the manufacturing logs and statistics of previous months even, just in case someone had erased them from both. But there was no large discrepancy, nothing amiss. How had Stark Industries lost weapons without actually having lost any? It made no sense.

With a sigh she decided she'd need to get two hours of sleep at least before convincing the Afghan government of her plans. And four hours after that was another press conference –sharks, the lot of them. She still didn't understand why Tony had slept with that one reporter just before he'd left though he'd never made much of a distinction in what profession his paramour's were in. Why start now?

With a smile she noticed that Dummy was already next to her, holding the pillow she'd left down here for Stark when she noticed he'd frequently fallen asleep down here.

"Thanks, Dummy." She couldn't help but smile when she noticed that Butterfingers and You brought her an entire duvet across. The robots were beyond lonely. Tony spent sometimes days down here and all she could afford was a few hours here and there – there was simply too much to do. She'd even contemplated hiring a secretary for herself but she didn't have enough time to do the interviews, which was just sad in and of itself.

With a smile to the robots she stretched across the backseat of one of the many beautiful cars Tony had restored over the years and shook off her stiletto heels. With an instruction to Jarvis to wake her up she fell asleep and was dead to the world.

The two hours were over quickly and it took the combined efforts of You and Butterfingers to wake her up. She was glad she had as she saw Dummy racing across the grounds with the water hose. Unfortunately she had to admit it wasn't her first experience with Dummy's more interesting methods of waking her up.

"No- Dummy, no!" Despite her protests she still felt herself sprayed with the icy water before Dummy stopped.

Spluttering with the water in her mouth, she stared at the robots, red hair plastered to her face and hanging heavily around her head whilst her clothes were thoroughly drenched. Just fantastic. At least she felt more awake.

At the machine's sad whirring noise she rolled her eyes slightly. She could understand why Tony had grown so fond of these even if she still found it hard to believe how young he'd been when he built these.

"It's okay. I needed to wash anyway" she found herself saying as she made her way upstairs to the showers and a change of clothes. It was always easier to act more professionally when she was dressed like it – even if the other party couldn't see her.

She still could remember too vividly seeing Tony naked for the first time. They had been working together for five months and it was turning out to be another late night. She was just finished printing some more paperwork that required his signature before tomorrow, when she had become more aware of the noises in the room behind her.

About half an hour ago, at midnight, she had taken the time to have a very late dinner in the kitchen a few rooms away in an attempt to quench her hunger and keep her brain operational. She'd never eat at her desk – she had nightmares with noodle spread across important paperwork, so no; just no, not happening.

As she had only just returned ten minutes ago she had not been particularly focused on Mr. Stark's office but now she was intrigued. The noises were too muffled to make out but her overactive imagination was quick to supply her with potential burglars.

Deciding to ensure that everything was okay and it was probably simply Jarvis that Mr. Stark was interacting with, she grabbed the paperwork she needed signed and entered his room. The sight in front of her had her stopping entirely; she could've sworn even her heart and breathing stopped. Before her was an entirely naked Anthony Stark. Not only that but he had busty brunette on his knees in front of him and a pale blonde all wrapped around him, kissing him. He was moaning and so was the blonde, the brunette made different noises. She absorbed all this in shock, but her hands shook and she dropped her clipboard with the paperwork to the ground.

The noise of her dropping the paperwork to the floor, eyes wide and cheeks flushed in furious anger made them suddenly take notice of her. After a flabbergasted moment where even Tony seemed somewhat embarrassed, he took hold of himself and sent her his most charming smile. Whilst her brain was still trying to grasp that she caught her boss in a threesome in his office, naked with huge windows which could potentially mean the paparazzi was catching this entire fiasco on film right now, Tony started talking.

"Want to join us, Miss Potts?" He even dared to wriggle his eyebrows at her. That snapped her out of her stupor quickly.

"You- I think that'll be all for tonight, Mr. Stark" she said in a tightly controlled voice as she crossed over to his desk and dumped the paperwork on his desk. "I expect those signed prior to the meeting tomorrow."

With that she'd left his office in a hurry and closed the door firmly. She only paused long enough to grab her purse and jacket, whilst hitting the speed dial for Happy on her way out. He had dared to have sex whilst she was outside working – she'd thought he'd been hard at work too! That stupid, stupid bastard! She would make sure to schedule all the meetings he absolutely hated with the most slimy business man she could find for the next week - that much was certain. He'd learn not to piss off the PA that was in control of his life.

Grim satisfaction flooded her as she finished the call with their Japanese clients –she had invited them for the day after tomorrow. These were ones Tony had been holding off on for three months so she knew he didn't like them. Yes, it was petty, but it made her feel so much better.

The next day Jarvis informed her that Tony had now given her full access anywhere and everywhere. Anytime she wanted to know where Tony was, Jarvis would tell her. Not even Mr. Stane had that amount of access to Tony's artificial butler. It worked wonders towards soothing her especially once she saw Tony the next day with dropping shoulders and puppy dog eyes, like a boy who had been caught with his hand dipping in the cookie jar – or two cookie jars as the case may be.

But after that she'd made sure that Tony knew not to have sex in his office anymore and it became one of their rules. They didn't have many as Tony lived to destroy rules but they had a few which they'd agreed on and which even Tony wouldn't dare cross anymore.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

It hit her whilst she was on the phone with the Afghan ministry that they had hit the three months mark yesterday. After convincing and bribing her way through the ministry she finally received official permission for the helicopters and her teams to fly in. She called on Jarvis to organise them and included Andrew – the ex-black ops security guy working at Starks Industries in the team.

Three months. Not 2 ½, 3 long months. A part of her wondered if she would ever get the chance to see Tony again. She missed him and his antics. Once, when he'd been really bored she'd found herself sitting down in her office chair only to hear a loud farting noise. She'd been incredulous to find a whoopee cushion beneath her. A whoopee cushion! She challenged anyone who thought he didn't act like a five year old to explain that one. Needless to say Tony still insisted that even the engineers on the first floor had heard her scream his name from the fifteenth floor. It had, however, taught her to never, ever leave Tony with nothing to do. She was probably half the reason he had so many cars in his basement – whenever he'd get bored she'd order another one that was more than scrap worthy through Jarvis from their local scrap yard. At one point she used to send him on holidays or business travel when he got bored but the fiasco with the strippers in Cuba had quickly taught her differently. She had to work day and night for two weeks to stop that from becoming a global incident. Since then he got old cars whenever he got too bored.

But Tony was endlessly entertaining, bored or not and he loved needling her and flirting with her. She enjoyed the attention and the easy rapport the two shared. They both knew they'd never start anything with the other as neither of them had any intention of ruining the good relationship they had.

Tony had always been a very physical person – she thought that was probably why he built the robot arms and why he slept around so much. His father had never been very hugging, more focused on building and creating than physical interactions with his son. With Rhodey he got the odd 'manly' slap on the shoulder. The robots pushed and played with him. His... companions at night gave him most of the contact.

Back in high school Pepper had a friend who similarly always craved human touch. She was so used to incorporating it into her every-day-behaviour, she hadn't thought twice about it once she'd recognised the same signs in him. Pepper started touching his hands when she handed over paperwork – her hands still tingled and it stole her breath away the first time she'd done it. She remembered the way his head had snapped up as she made contact, his eyes fiery in their intensity as they focussed on solely her. From then on she brushed his back slightly when she walked behind him or touched his shoulder or arm when she talked to him.

Tony sometimes came very close and into her personal space until he was only separated by a hairs breadth from her. Those days she knew he'd find someone to spend the night with. But the man had such an intoxicating presence about him, it still sent her heart speeding and caused her eyes to dilate.

On a few, very few occasions she'd been allowed to hug him. Ironically enough, Tony was very aware of his personal space and who invaded it. He allowed it, especially with women but he was very aware of anything they did, how they moved. He didn't like hugs in the sense that they seemed to make him uncomfortable. They made her uncomfortably aware of him too, and send her senses reeling but he seemed to think of them as pity or weakness, she wasn't sure what it was exactly but he refused it most times. He only allowed them when it looked as though she was the one needing one.

Those were the memories she found herself chatting to Dummy, You and Butterfingers about as she tried to calm herself down enough for the upcoming press conference.

Suddenly Jarvis interrupted her mindless chatter.

"Miss Potts, it seems as though Mr. Stane has rearranged the press conference for an hour earlier. They are expected in fifteen minutes."

Pepper cursed as she put her heels on. She'd been prepared for the last few hours but it would've been very plausible for her to still be asleep. Obadiah Stane had kept pulling innocent stunts such as this one over the last three months and she was sick to the teeth of this man.

Checking her makeup, clothes and hair were all still in order as Butterfingers seemed to currently be the one fascinated with pulling apart single strands of her hair, she quickly moved up from the workshop. Checking her clothes one last time she left the mansion and met the crowd of reporters outside.

"Good Morning and thank you all for coming here this morning. My apologies for the last minute rescheduling but another meeting took precedence."

With a smile at the reporters she put her hands on the podium, hiding her shaking hands behind it. Reporters are sharks and sharks smell fear she kept telling herself, smiling at them. Calm, controlled. You are in charge, Pepper. Get a grip.

"The military has ceased their search due to the large expenditure of resources. Stark Industries are very grateful for the American government and its military for spending two months scouring the depths of Afghanistan for one man. Stark Industries has now taken up the mantle. We dispatched our helicopters this morning and have obtained the permission of the Afghan government to continue the search for Anthony Stark. We have a lead but cannot divulge any further information beyond that at this point in time. Stark Industries will, in the mean time, keep up the manufacture of weapons and hospital equipment. Our engineers are some of the leading experts worldwide and our position as market leader remains strong." With the she elaborated on their latest figures and newest partners. 10 minutes later she opened the floor to questions.

"Miss Potts, is it true that you don't expect to recover Mr. Stark alive?"

"Miss Potts, what about the allegations that Stark Industries is selling weapons to the highest bidder?"

"Miss Potts, have you seen the destructions Mr. Stark's latest weapons can cause? The Jericho is intended solely for taking lives, not maintaining peace!"

"Miss Potts, when will you call off the search for Mr. Stark?"

"Miss Potts, according to statistics the chances of recovering victims of kidnapping after such a long time alive are slim to none. What do you think?"

Pepper kept the smile on her face but only with a lot of effort. She addressed the last question first, reminding herself to remain polite.

"I think Mr. Stark has always been good for a surprise. He will probably annoy his kidnappers sufficiently they'll be glad to let him go." That drew a few chuckles from the reporters who had seen that side of Tony more often than not.

"On a serious note, I think Anthony Stark is certainly stubborn enough to survive and find his way back to Stark Industries. The statistics are against him, but there have been a fair few cases of victims recovered alive after over a year." She smiled. "As to your question of when I'd call of the search. Stark Industries will never give up on its rightful CEO, the son of the founder. We will search high and low for years, if need be. Mark my words, we will find Anthony Stark and we will bring him back to America. Our only mistake was letting him go in the first place." Patriotism always seemed to work. And keep smiling, Pepper, she told herself before tackling the next question.

"I have seen the effect of the Jericho, however I am certain that our government will only use it when it is required and when they need to. Yes, it causes destruction but that is the goal of it. It is there for occasions when our forces are overwhelmed and this will be their only solution and a way to escape. All the weapons are only there to keep our men and women abroad as safe as possible." God, who would actually believe these lines? Weapons only ever bred more destruction. She'd always been far more comfortable with the non-weapon orientated inventions.

"We only sell weapons the US military and other governments that the US is in partnership with. I assure you, there are no biddings involved. As to your first question – no. That is certainly not true, not for me personally nor for Stark Industries. We fully expect to recover Mr. Stark alive. If that is all, then I would like to thank you at this point for taking the time to come here and-"

"Miss Potts, is it true that you sleep at Mr. Stark's house?" It was that Brown graduate that Tony had slept with. Instinctively, Pepper disliked her.

Raising an eyebrow, the redhead turned back to the reporter. All the other ones were now holding their microphones up again, eager for some dirty laundry.

"If you mean to ask if I work there until 4 a.m. and then come out for press conferences at 7 a.m. then my answer is yes, I sleep there. However, I am sure you have a much more personal and better experience of sleeping in this mansion and Mr. Stark's bed specifically, if I recall correctly, if that is what you're after."

A murmur lifted up in the crowd as everyone stared at their fellow, now blushing reporter. With a quick thank you Pepper disappeared whilst the sharks descended onto one of their own, having smelt blood.

"Very well done, Miss Potts, if I may so. I am afraid to announce that the new parameters have not yielded anything further beyond what we already knew." Jarvis spoke up as soon as she had entered the halls.

Pepper laughed. "Thanks, Jarvis. I think we already have a good chance of finding Tony now." She rubbed her head lightly.

"Jarvis, as I have no meetings planned I think I will go grab another few hours sleep, if I can." She took off her shoes as she walked to Tony's bedroom already well used to the path her feet took.

Walking into his bedroom, she still felt as though she was surrounded by the man.

"Hey Tony. We'll find you soon." Jarvis closed the blinds and shut off the camera in the room to leave her to herself.

She spent the next few hours crying, talking, laughing and occasionally sleeping, clutching onto a jumper she'd gifted him with ("Ooh, does this mean we're going steady, Miss Potts?") and a photograph she'd taken once when she'd seen him showing off his hot rod to Rhodey, shirt covered in black oil and grease marks, arms before, mouth open in a wide smile and eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

Part of her wondered what it meant if you were talking to an empty room but for the most part she needed the time to have her emotional breakdowns every now and then and she'd agreed with herself to not worry about it any further beyond that.

It was only three days later that Rhodey called her to tell her that they'd found him. Alive.

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Yay! I finally wanted Tony back in the story. Sorry. We'll probably keep having flashbacks to her three months alone but hey, it's only half as fun without Tony to throw some stones in the way.

Hope you enjoyed this – let me know what you think J