The One That Got Away

Chapter 4 – Orange Juice

Abigail woke up wrapped around her pillow, the sound of the sea in her ears.

But she didn't live that close to the ocean nor did her bed feel as if she was lying on a cloud. Whatever bed she was on certainly wasn't hers. This bed made her own bed feel like cardboard laid over springs and her bed was pretty damn comfy. She sighed and rolled over onto her back before slowly opening her eyes to an unfamiliar darkness.

"Hello, Miss Pierce,"

Abigail's eyes went wide before sat up with enough speed to make her head spin. She was in a strange room and, as a few seconds went by, the lights came on and the windows cleared to show a beach scene. The room had barely anything in it but what furniture was there looked expensive compared to what was in her apartment. And then there was the best view of Malibu California's coast she'd ever seen in real life just outside her window.

"Jarvis?" she asked carefully, running a hand through her static-y hair.

"Yes, Miss Pierce?"

"Where am I?" she asked, slowly climbing out of the heavenly bed, wrapping her grandfather sweater tightly around her before padding over to the window.

"You are in the guest room of Tony Stark's home in Malibu, California. It is currently 5:53 a.m. and Miss Potts would like to be informed when you have awoken. May I inform her now, Miss Pierce?"

"Sure. Thanks, Jarvis,"

Back when Tony and her had been dating they'd tried making their very own AI program with a mixture of Abigail's brilliance and Tony's tech. Back then Jarvis had been a low level AI with the ability to learn your name and say hello. Apparently, after many years, Tony had kept him and updated him to the point of an AI that ran his home better than Alfred Pennyworth. It was impressive.

Not a minute later there was a gentle knock on the door before Miss Pepper Potts walked into the room with a pile of clothes in hand. She looked an awful lot like Abigail had when she was younger except Pepper's hair was much lighter and had a sweeter face though it was masked by a serious expression. Pepper wore a dress suit with a pencil skirt, her hair up in a high ponytail with her bangs hanging over her forehead, a clipboard also in her hands.

"Good morning. I have another set of clothes here for you to change into. The bathroom is through there if you'd like to shower. There is food in the kitchen downstairs. And Tony would like to see you once you're ready,"

"You must be the famous Pepper Potts," Abigail smiled, seeming to have ignored all that Pepper had just said, stepping forward to shake Pepper's hand politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Abigail Pierce. Thank you for getting me these, I probably smell rancid. But, on the other hand, you probably do this a lot… or at least, something similar to this,"

Pepper let a small smile appear on her face as she remembered the various girls that she'd had to take care of for her employer. "Yes. I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including occasionally taking out the trash,"

Abigail laughed. "That has to be the best way I have ever heard that put,"

After a quick shower she changed into some new clothes- a blue V-neck shirt that was a little tight and a pair of yoga that were a little loose, putting on her sweater over it all- and then headed down stairs. Though the house was large it wasn't hard for her to find her way around. The size was mostly spent on the size of the rooms, not the number of them. She easily found the living room where a certain red head typing away on her computer, her cell phone wedged between her ear and her shoulder, talking low and fast into the receiver. Abigail decided to let her be and moved on to the kitchen, searching around for something to eat. She decided to steal the water bottle shaped orange juice container, drinking straight from the bottle and then taking it with her as she returned to the living room to find Pepper waiting for her.

"So where's Tony?"

Pepper led her down a flight of stairs off of the living room. Most stairs that lead down into a basement- or in this case workshop that was half garage and half converted workshop for Tony's inventions - usually felt like one is descending into the earth. These however, gave her no feelings of claustrophobia, partly contributed to the glass wall that allowed her to see into the workshop even before she'd entered it. At the bottom of the stairs, Pepper pressed three numbers into the holographic screen, shutting off the loud music and opening the door.

"Please don't turn down my music," Tony said immediately without turning around.

He was sitting beside his hotrod, several of its parts scattered around him on a sheet as he took it apart. The car was a black hotrod with red flames along the sides that looked to have once been a model T. Personally, she thought looked like it was having a really bad day.

She then walked the rest of the way into the room behind Pepper.

"You are supposed to be halfway around the world right now," Pepper said back, ignoring him as she pulled out her trusty clipboard.

"How's my hair?" Both of the women gave a confused look to the back of Tony's head before he finished what he was doing and turned to smirk at Abigail, moving to sit on the wheel of his car. "You, Miss Abigail Pierce, said I looked like a mob boss from a B rated movie. So… how do I look?"

Abigail's face melted into a smile before she rolled her brown eyes at the millionaire playboy and crossed her arms over her chest, eyeing him for a long moment. She took in the freshly washed dark brown hair that flopped over his forehead, no longer the curly mop he used to have, but definitely still handsome on Tony.

"Much better. Now you look like a human being," she teased, making Pepper let out a snort before she tried to cover up with a polite cough.

"Good," he smiled.

Tony took Abigail in one quick glance before he turned back to his hotrod, pulling up a plate to look at in the light. She was wearing her new clothes which fit her poorly but she still had on her big sweater which hid her body from him, an orange juice bottle awkwardly stuffed into one of the pockets. Her cinnamon colored hair was darkened and wet from a shower and was pulled back into a loose bun, a great deal of shorter hair coming loose and hanging around her face and neck.

She was just as gorgeous now as she was last night and all of the nights he had seen her as a sixteen and seventeen-year-old. He never lost interest in her. But he pushed Abigail out of his mind and focused on the plate before he turned his attention to Pepper who still stood behind him.

"So why are you trying to hustle me out of here?"

"Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago," Pepper told him, flipping through the files on her clipboard before she looked back up at him again, pen ready. "But I need to speak to you about a couple things before I get you out of the door,"

"That's funny. I thought- with it being my plane and all- that it would just wait for me to get there. Doesn't it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?"

"Larry called…"

Abigail blocked them out as she walked through Tony's workshop, looking around at the various forgotten projects, files, cars and tech. Every sweep of her eyes brought to her attention something new that intrigued her. But mostly it was just the elaborate computer system she'd spotted with the same holographic look to it as the rest of the systems in the house. She was intrigued and felt her fingers itching to tough the screen where the keyboard would be and taking a look inside the system herself.

"Okay. You,"

Abigail jumped in surprise, spinning around as she hid her itchy fingers behind her back. She quickly looked over at Tony as innocently as she could, watching as he pointed at her.

"Who, me?"

"Yes, you. You are coming with me," he told her, a hint of a smile playing on the corners of his mouth as he watched her guilty form.

"Where?"

"To a demo of one of Stark Industries new missiles. We can catch up, talk, laugh-"

"That's what you said last night,"

"You're the one who fell asleep on the way home,"

"True,"

"So will you come with me?"

"… Where exactly is this demo?"

"In a warzone,"

Her eyes went wide with shock, sure that Tony had gone crazy in the years they'd been apart. "A warzone? You want me to come with you to Iraq?"

"Afghanistan actually,"

"You're crazy," she said instantly, sitting down in Tony's favorite chair, resting her head against the brown leather headrest, crossing her legs as she looked up at him.

"That's what people keep saying. I don't see where they could possibly get that impression," Tony said seriously before he grinned down at her as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from him. "Come on. It'll be fun. I'll even call off the flight attendant stripers,"

"Very funny, Tony," she murmured, trying not to smile as she looked up at him again.

"Who said I was kidding?" he said, giving her a strange look before he walked off, dialing a number into his phone before he held it up to his ear.