Chapter Four

"Okay, boss," said Happy, "now remember, just stay calm. We're just here to ask some questions of this guy."

They were standing in front of Alex Linden's hotel suite and Tony had just knocked on the door.

"I'm fine," said Tony coldly. "I've got this."

Alex opened the door, a confused smile coming to his face. "Tony, this is a surprise-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as all the pent up frustration and fear inside of Tony couldn't be contained any longer. Tony punched him in the face, hard.

The blonde haired man dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, hand flying to his face.

Happy groaned. "Not as big of a surprise as that, I'm guessing." He hurried over to the fallen man and helped him to his feet. "You're okay, nothing's broken," he reassured Alex.

Alex took a shaking hand away from his bloodied nose and looked at him in flustered confusion. "Are you sure? My nose really hurts."

Happy blanched when he saw the other man's clearly broken nose and covered. "Oh yeah, sure, you're fine, that nose of yours is fine."

Tony, meanwhile, had stalked into the room and taken in the fact that there was a half-packed suitcase on the bed. "Going somewhere, Linden?" he ground out.

"Yes-yes, I've got a flight back to London this afternoon," said Alex shakily, still nursing his broken and bloody nose. "Why did you hit me? Is this about Virginia?"

It really grated on Tony's nerves the way the other man insisted on calling Pepper by her proper name, like there was something special between them. He stalked over to him. "What have you done to her, where is she?" he barked out the questions.

Alex looked taken aback. "What do you mean where is she? How should I know?" He looked at Happy. "Has something happened to Virginia?"

"She's missing," Tony bit out, not buying his clueless act for a moment.

Alex stared at him in disbelief. "Surely you can't think I had anything to do with that?"

Tony jabbed a finger at his suitcases. "You seem to be in a hurry to get out of town."

"My return ticket was booked before I got here," Alex spluttered. "I swear, I have nothing to do with Virginia's disappearance."

"You were the last one to see her," Tony informed him coldly, making a bit of an assumption. He wasn't in the mood to be reasonable and measured right now. "You went back to her apartment."

"How do you know that?" asked Alex uncertainly.

Tony's eyes narrowed menacingly. "Are you denying it?"

"No, no of course not, I did go back to Virginia's apartment after lunch yesterday," he said unevenly. "I was trying to get her to reconsider my job offer."

"And what happened when she turned you down yet again, Linden?" asked Tony bitterly. "Did things get ugly?"

"God, no!" said a shocked Alex. "I told her if she ever changed her mind to give me a call and made plans to catch up next time she was in London. When I left, Virginia was perfectly alright."

"I don't believe you," said Tony accusingly.

"You should," said Alex angrily, "because it's the truth."

While they'd been talking Happy had disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a wet hand towel. He offered the sodden item to Alex. "Here, put this to your nose, it'll help."

Alex's voice was now muffled as he held the wet cloth to his painful looking nose and gave his own accusing look to Tony. "I'd never hurt Virginia. To even suggest such a thing is preposterous."

"I think he's telling the truth, Tony," said Happy.

"Of course I am," snapped Alex, dabbing at his nose with the towel. "I can't believe Virginia actually chose to stay with you, Stark. You're a Neanderthal. I can't see what possible appeal there could be in continuing to work for someone like you."

"You don't know the first thing about Pepper and me," Tony growled.

"For which I'm eternally grateful," said Alex haughtily. "I can't even begin to work out your twisted relationship and frankly, wouldn't want to."

Tony's jaw hardened. "There is nothing twisted about me and Pepper," he said tersely.

"She cleans up after you like she's your mother and yet here you are throwing your weight around like a jealous lover," Alex commented tartly. "And yet the both of you claim it's a strictly professional relationship."

"It is," Tony said sharply.

Alex glared at him. "No, a professional relationship is what I have with the chap who does my taxes. What you two have is some kind of warped co-dependence that neither one of you are admitting to."

"Pepper and I aren't co-dependent," Tony snapped.

Tony could hear the clack of Pepper's heels as she raced down the stairs to his lab. He didn't look up as she punched in the code to get into his inner sanctum. "Oh good, you're here," he said absently, concentrating on the task at hand.

"Are you alright?" she practically shouted at him. "What's happened, what's wrong?"

Tony looked up from where he was soldering two plates together. "What do you mean?"

Pepper was staring at him, wide eyed and flushed. "You called me and said you were in trouble, it was an emergency and you needed me."

"Oh yeah," said Tony casually, "could you hold this wire for me while I solder it in place?"

"Wh-what?" Pepper gasped.

"It won't take long," said Tony. "I just need to get this done tonight." He looked Pepper up and down, taking in her low cut green cocktail dress and the way her hair was swept up into an elegant up do and was wearing more makeup than usual. "You didn't have to get dress up on my account," he noted.

"I didn't," she ground out, "I was on a date when I got your phone call and you told me it was an emergency and you needed me right away."

"You should have said you were on a date," Tony informed her, putting his welding glasses on top of his head.

"I told you before I left," Pepper bit out, her eye spitting blue fire at him.

Tony couldn't help but be mesmerised by how beautiful she looked in that moment.

"You did this deliberately," Pepper said accusingly. "You always do this when I have a date!"

"Do what?" asked Tony innocently. "I just forgot. I can't be expected to remember all of your social engagements, Potts."

She glared at him. "This is the first date I've had in three months."

"He mustn't have been that interesting if you left in the middle of dinner," Tony reasoned. "Sounds like I saved you from a night of boredom. If you ask me, you should be thanking me." Tony knew he was pushing her buttons, but he just wanted to see the normally calm and collected Pepper lose her cool. He liked being the only one who really knew how to do that, how to bring Virginia Potts fully alive.

"Thank you?" she shouted at him. "You want me to thank you for systematically invading every area of my life, Tony Stark?" Pepper marched over to the bench where there was a series of lead pipes laid out. She grabbed the largest one she could pick up and made a bee-line for Tony's beloved roadster.

Tony jumped up, suddenly worried. "Pepper, what are you doing?"

"I'm thanking you," she yelled at him. Pepper drew back her lead pipe and smashed it down on the restored antique car's windscreen, which promptly smashed into a thousand pieces.

Tony ran towards her, going for the pipe before the incensed Pepper could go in for another swing. In his attempts to wrench the weapon of mass destruction off her, Tony didn't notice the stack of books at his feet and he stumbled over them, falling to the ground and taking Pepper with him. He landed with a thud on his back and Pepper landed on top of him. Tony made a groan of pain as the edge of one of the books dug into his back.

Pepper looked down at him in horror. "Are you hurt?" she asked anxiously, all of her ire with him seeming to be gone in light of that possibility. "Tony, did I hurt you?"

Pepper's slight frame wasn't any kind of weight on him and Tony had to admit enjoying feeling all of her soft curves pressed up against him. "I don't know," he said unevenly, "give me a moment. Don't move."

Pepper was staring down at him with wide, distressed eyes. "I should get up."

Tony's hand went to her bare back and it reminded him of the night they'd danced together. "No, stay where you are, my back just needs a moment."

"I'm sorry," said Pepper unhappily. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"You weren't," Tony told her, their faces very close. He smiled. "Kind of liberating, isn't it?"

Pepper scowled at him. "Why am I not surprised that you're advocating not thinking as a valid life choice?"

"You think too much," he chastised her affectionately.

"I have to," she said in annoyance, "because you never think."

"That's not true."

Pepper gave him a suspicious look. "Tell me the truth, Tony. You intentionally broke up my date with Adam, didn't you?"

Tony hesitated. "I don't like it when you have plans," he reminded her.

"Tony," she groaned, "you don't own me, I'm allowed a life."

"I know," said Tony simply, but didn't apologise for the way he felt.

"You drive me crazy," she said in resigned exasperation.

"Is that so bad?"

"Tony, this isn't normal."

He gave a small smile. "And what's so great about being normal?"

Pepper moved a little restlessly on top of him and Tony suppressed a groan of approval. "Car windscreens don't get smashed for one thing," she noted.

"I can get a new windscreen," he said easily. "I guess I had it coming."

"Is that an apology?"

"Do you want me to apologise?"

"Would you mean it?" she challenged him.

"Not really," he said truthfully.

"Tony," she groaned.

He smiled charmingly up at her. "I'll make it up to you, I'll make you dinner."

"You can't cook."

"I'll order dinner in."

"I have a dinner waiting for me."

"Yes, but I really think I might need someone to keep an eye on me after my accident," said Tony, managing to look suitably fragile. "In case I black out or something."

"I look after you all day," said Pepper in frustration, but Tony noted she wasn't moving.

"So, what's a couple more hours?"

"I need to get back to Adam," said Pepper unevenly.

"It'll take too long," Tony predicted. "You're here now, stay."

"I'm still really angry at you," Pepper noted, that disapproving look Tony knew only too well back on her face.

Tony made a rueful face. "I know, but you'll stay anyway, right?"

Tony shook his head, attempting to dispel the memory. "You don't know what you're talking about," he muttered.

"I know I had nothing to do with Virginia's disappearance so I suggest you leave me alone and try and work out who really did this," said Alex in annoyance.

Tony fixed him with a hard look. "Don't leave town."

"Well, I did have a flight booked," said Alex bitterly, "but now it seems I have to go and have my broken nose looked at."

"Do you need a lift?" Happy offered. Alex glared at him and Happy held up a placating hand. "It was just a thought." Happy looked over at Tony. "We should go, boss."

Tony walked out of the room, frustrated he still had no idea what had happened to Pepper. As of right now, they had no leads and Tony knew he had a wealth of enemies who could come after Pepper as a way to get to him. And that was before there was even Iron Man to consider. He and Happy were almost back at the car when his cell phone rang. Tony quickly answered it, having a wild hope it might be Pepper.

"Hello, Mr. Stark, lose something valuable lately?"

Tony stopped walking. "Who is this?" asked Tony sharply.

The voice on the other end of the phone gave a little laugh. "I'm your new best friend, Tony."

The caller's voice sounded vaguely familiar to Tony and his mind raced to place it.

"A best friend who has something of yours, something I'm guessing you'd like back," the voice continued on.

Tony's hand tightened on the phone. "Where is Pepper? What have you done to her?" The questions were so cliché, but they were the only things Tony was worried about.

"All in good time, Tony, first you and I have to have a little chat."

Tony's jaw hardened, even as he hurried to the limo so he could start a trace on the phone call. His heart was racing but at least now he had some kind of lead on Pepper and Tony wasn't going to lose it. "Alright," he said as he climbed into the car, "so let's talk..."

A/N: Okay, I must to confess to not being entirely happy with this chapter (is that a bad thing for a an author to say?). It just wouldn't flow for me for some reason.

The flashback scene for me is a little OOC for Pepper, but in my head I can justify it because in the movies we only see mostly cool and calm Pepper, but after all of this time she must have the occasional meltdown and go a bit crazy. How can you not around Tony, he's maddening. LOL I like the thought of Pepper losing her cool on occasion, because it makes her seem more real to me.

This fic will be a little heavier going in parts then my other fic 'Precious' but it is very Pepperony heavy and is all about their relationship, so for all the Pepperony lovers, I hope this fic works for you. :D Thanks for reading, guys.