AN: Nope, still don't own it.
I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who have reviewed this story. It's my favorite story so far and it means a lot. Also, I just checked and I have 2,850 hits on this. So yeah, that makes me happy. Very happy. Like, Tony-Stark-surrounded-by-gorgeous-women-and-booze happy.
Special Note: Italics mean flashback.
"Pepper?"
The redheaded assistant groaned sleepily and rolled over, burying her face in a soft, white pillow. She muttered something incoherent.
"Pepper! Wake up!"
"Five more minutes, mom…"
Through her bleary half-sleep daze, Pepper heard a snort of laughter. "I'm not your mom. Thank God."
She rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. Hovering about three inches away from her nose was the grinning face of her employer.
Pepper shrieked and jumped, narrowly avoiding breaking Tony's nose. She relaxed against the pillows, chest heaving.
"GOD, Tony, don't do that to me!" she said, breathless from her brief scare. "You nearly gave me a heart attack." She looked around the bedroom. "How did I get in here?"
Tony shrugged, running a hand through his hair. "I carried you up after you passed out again. You're pretty light, you know."
Pepper blushed and stared at her fingers as she fiddled with the edge of the sheet. "Look… Tony… I'm sorry I freaked out like that, you just-"
He cut her off before she could finish. "It's alright. I understand."
She sighed, relieved. "You do?"
"Yeah." Tony stared around the room, avoiding her eyes. "I made unwanted sexual advances on you. I provoked you. It was unacceptable and I promise it won't happen again."
Pepper gaped at him.
"If you want to turn in a letter of resignation…" he grimaced at the thought, "…then I won't stop you. But it was an accident, and I'm sorry."
He walked towards the door and opened it. Without turning to face her, he addressed her. "I have greatly appreciated your service, Miss Potts. I… don't think I could have done a lot of the things I've done without your help. "Goodbye."
Pepper opened her mouth to say something, but before she could form a sentence, the door had swung shut without a sound, and Tony was gone.
Seconds too late, Pepper's words came out anyway.
"Tony, wait!"
It had been meant as a shout, but emerged from her lips as a whisper.
-
Tony shuffled dejectedly out onto the porch. The day, which had only a few hours ago been sunny and warm, had quickly shifted along with his mood, becoming cold and gray.
He rested his elbows on the railing, staring out over the water as he descended into a deep cloud of melancholy. Tony had been coming to grips with his trauma in his own, easy-going way, but every so often when something bad happened he would get depressed.
Take, for instance, the swift and painful alienation of his personal assistant. Who also happened to be his best friend. And the only person he could really talk to.
The billionaire industrialist buried his head in his hands, exhaling loudly.
Now Pepper hated him. The one woman he'd actually had to TRY to get, and she'd ended up like all the other girls in his life: Just another woman scorned to add to the already long list.
"Nice going, Stark." He muttered to himself.
-
"…and y'know, Jarvis, she almost sent me into cardiac arrest! Can you believe that?"
Tony was fiddling around with one of the sports cars in his workshop, picking it apart and adding new components to make it faster. He was talking to Jarvis as he worked, if yelling over the oppressively loud music that was blasting from the painfully expensive speaker system mounted on the wall could be described as talking.
"Yes, sir, I can believe it. I witnessed the entire thing.
"Oh yeah. Well, anyway, it was pretty funny. She freaked out when she zapped me!" Tony cackled. "She's pretty cute when she's worried."
"I concur, sir."
Tony closed the hood of the car and wiped his hands on a grease rag. "Of course you do, Jarvis."
-
"This is the worst thing I've ever caught you doing!"
Pepper was so mad steam was practically coming out of her ears. She had just witnessed Tony doing… indescribable things to an up-and-coming supermodel.
At the moment he was perched atop the arm of the sofa, clutching an icepack to his head where Pepper had hit him with her Blackberry.
"Oh, c'mon, Pepper, it was hardly that bad…"
"From where I was standing, it looked pretty fucking bad."
"Did you just curse?" he said, unable to keep the slightly amused tone of voice hidden.
"Yes. I did. And that's not all I'll be doing if you don't stop acting like such an immature brat!" Pepper fumed. "Sometimes I don't know why I stay here and don't just quit!"
Tony jumped off the couch. "Don't leave." His face and voice had regained their seriousness. "Pepper, you can hit me and yell at me and do whatever you want with my sorry hide, but do not, I repeat do NOT, leave. Ever."
Pepper folded her arms over her chest. "And why shouldn't I?"
Tony stared at his feet, then looked up and stared her right in the eye.
"Because you're all I've got, Pepper."
-
Tony blinked at the memory. That had been about a week before he left for Afghanistan.
He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. He stared down at the glowing blue orb under his shirt. He still hadn't changed it out for the newer one, so it was still the original arc reactor.
Pepper's proof.
Proof of his humanity. Proof of their friendship. Proof of… proof of what?
A single drop of water fell through the sky, splattering against his hand. He stared up into the sky as the rain began to pour down, rivulets sliding down his skin, cold against the warm flesh.
He closed his eyes and felt the rain pound against his body, driving away any warmth that he may have felt.
"I love Pepper." He whispered into the air, a solid testament against the weeping sky. Immediately after saying it, he realized that it was completely true.
"I love Pepper." He said again, this time with more conviction. And again: "I love Pepper!!" he repeated the three words again and again, until he was yelling them, rain mingling on his face with what may have been tears.
"I LOVE PEPPER!" he screamed, completely lost in his epiphany.
Okay, I really liked this chapter. If you people have any souls at all, you will leave really long, really detailed reviews. I will reward the winner of the longest review by giving them this large sugar cookie, which I have painted to resemble an arc reactor.
