I can't remember the last time I have updated but this one must be an earlier update than the last one and I'm doing this on my sick day off from school (I feel as though I'm going to die). Hmm, I think I will treat myself to a cookie for that…if it doesn't make anything worse. Well enough of my complaining. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

~December Roses~


Chapter Seven: Stress Level


The task had been simple enough.

Tony had handed her an envelope that had confidential stamped across it in bright red and even then she did not feel intimidated…and when he said he needed a copy of each of the blueprints in that secretive folder she had smiled brightly, thinking to herself about how easy her job was going to be with minor tasks like this…

But here she was, staring at the most complicated copier she had ever laid eyes upon…Worst of all, she had only seen copiers before, never had she actually used one of this massive size; a scanner, sure she's used one of those, but this contraption that Tony had designed, no doubt, looked more difficult than learning how to fly a jumbo jet. There were buttons, dozens and dozens of buttons…

"Which one do I press…?" Pepper trailed off anxiously as she bit her nail. The first blue print had been pressed on the scanner and she was staring at the small screen that had the simple word GO blinking rapidly. The only issue was that Pepper did not know how to GO.

Furrowing her brow she pressed the blinking screen and it quickly shifted to a bunch of options that she was not familiar with. If the thing was touch screen, why had she been staring at the numerous buttons for the last twenty minutes in confusion?

Whimpering in annoyance she pressed the standard option only for another option to come up. She grit her teeth as it asked her for the number of copies. She typed in the desired amount and paused as the machine began to process what she wanted. It wasn't until it began to hum that she began to worry. After about ten minutes of humming and no product, she, out of her frustration and impatience, bashed her fist down on the machine just as she had to that contraption she found in Tony's kitchen.

Big mistake.

"Oh gosh…" Pepper squealed as the machine began to spit out copies. She picked one up off the floor to see that only half of the design had been copied successfully. The next few copies were the same. "Oh…no…" She whimpered as she scrambled to pick up the messed up copies, although the copier was spitting them out faster than she could actually manage.

To make matters a little more difficult, the machine began to blink ERROR on its small screen as it made a groaning sound that functioning machines are not supposed to make. Pepper's eyes widened as the paper started coming out in twos and at twice the speed.

"CRAP!!!" She screamed pulling at her ginger hair as she scrambled around in her heels, which also was not her best idea of the day with all that paper littering the ground. It took only a split second for her heel to slip from under her causing her legs to fly up in the air before her back came in contact with flood that you thought was soft carpeting but it was really concrete with a thin carpeting over it.

Pepper winced as a small groan escaped her mouth while thinking to herself that no, the task had not been simple at all.

"Well are you doing down there you silly goose!?"

Pepper cracked her eyes open to see a familiar pair of green eyes staring down at her. She furrowed her brow, thinking it had been Rex that was speaking to her, but by the cheerful smile and bright eyes that were wide with optimism, she could only peg this girl as Kitty, surprisingly enough the naïve girl was the oldest out of her three sisters…by twelve minutes.

"Uhhh…" Was all Pepper could come up with. Kitty giggled girlishly as she stepped around Pepper and held out her hand to the fallen girl. Pepper cautiously grasped it and was quickly hauled to her feet with little effort on her part. She had to furrow her brow at Kitty's strength.

"I was just on my way to copy something, but it looks like you pretty much sent the copier on a frenzy." Kitty said as she moved to the still crazed copier and pressed some buttons. Pepper blinked stupidly as the papers ceased to fly from the machine and once again it was blink GO.

"Yea…me and technology don't exactly click as well as I wish." Pepper said sheepishly as she smoothed out her skirt and tugged at her jacket. Kitty giggled uncontrollably and Pepper cracked a small smile.

"Oh Pepper, you are so funny! I'm sure we are going to be the best of friends!" Kitty exclaimed joyously as she quickly wrapped her arms around Pepper's torso I a tight embrace. Pepper was caught off guard by the gesture and stood there stiffly. Kitty was…something else.

"Great…" She trailed off as Kitty pulled away. The auburn haired girl giggled behind closed lips and nodded as she turned back to the copier.

"I have such a good feeling about you Pepper. When I first laid eyes on you I thought we already had so much in common. I mean you wear pink and so do I not to mention you mouthed off Heather; I applaud you for that!" Kitty said flashing a grin in Pepper's direction before turning to the copier.

"Why does everybody have this thing against Heather?" Pepper questioned, It was not like she found the valley accented girl charming because Heather was anything but, although the way Reggie, Rex, and Kitty spoke of her was so…spiteful.

"Well as her sister I am speaking from the heart," Kitty began in that sugar sweet voice. "The girl makes rocks look smart. She has no clue what she's doing here. She is the dumbest bimbo I ever had my misfortune to be related to…but that's just one opinion!"

Pepper blinked at how dark Kitty had just sounded, and about her own sister. "Wow…" Was all she could say.

"Yea and trust me Pepper you have what it takes to knock her off her high horse. The girl gets attention for her looks and we look alike! What the hell is up with that!?" Kitty spat as she received her copies from the machine.

"That's actually a good point."

"I know Reggie has taken you under her wing and Rex is also pulling for you. I heard you exceeded Heather's head turning record on the cat walk." Kitty giggled.

"Really?" Pepper said as her brow shot up. She thought her not so graceful crash would have her lose points in the long run.

"Yup; 107 and that is definitely better than 86 if my math skills are up to date." The auburn haired secretary joked with a slight shrug of her shoulders. Pepper actually laughed lightly and this caused Kitty's expression to brighten dramatically. "Aw, your laugh is so adorable!"

"Thank you…?" Pepper muttered as she stepped up to the copier for a second time in hopes of getting things to turn out a little smoother now that she saw the youngest of the triplets effortlessly make her own copies.

"So…you and Mr. Stark go way back, huh?"

Pepper glanced up for a split second, noticing the mischievous gleam to the girls green eyes. She narrowed her eyes as she turned back to the machine with a shrug. "Yea, Tony and I are best friends."

"Just best friends…not close friends or…friends with benefits?" Kitty breathed nonchalantly. Pepper stiffened and turned to look at Kitty once again to see the young secretary smiling coyly as she innocently inspected her manicured nails.

"W-What would make you think that?" Pepper stammered as the copier began to spit out the copies she had been ordered to make. "Tony and I have always been best friends…l-like siblings even."

Kitty continued to smile, giving off the impression that she was unconvinced. Pepper cleared her throat awkwardly as she turned away from Kitty to hide the blush that was creeping its way across her freckled cheeks. Kitty giggled behind her and Pepper heard her approaching before a hand came down on her shoulder.

"Whatever you say Pepper…" She muttered. "I'll see you later."

Pepper nodded simply as she ducked her head and bit her lip as her cheeks turned an even darker shade of red.


"Who drinks pumpkin spice coffee anyway?" Pepper muttered as she rolled her hazel eyes in an annoyed fashion. Before she could even deliver the copies she had been asked to make she was sent to off to fetch coffee, a direct order from Mr. Stark. Pepper had once again thought the task was easy enough with a Starbucks just a block over but when Mr. Stark asked for coffee he did not want any coffee…He only requested the best.

So that's what sent Pepper to the other end of the city to a coffee shop run by three elderly Columbian women who took about twenty minutes just to translate your order than another hour to grind the coffee beans to perfection and add in the proper spices to make "the best coffee around", as Tony had referred to it as.

At first Pepper was not so annoyed with the whole going across the universe for a small cup of coffee thing…but that wasn't the end of it. Once she had finally returned, having already used up her lunch break to retrieve the coffee she had been looking forward to sitting at her desk and simply taking calls… but that's not what a personal assistant does.

As soon as she stepped foot back into the building Reggie had handed her a stalk of files that needed to be alphabetized and stored in the proper cabinets. Pepper had grit her teeth, but forced a smile nonetheless and nodded.

After spending a good two hours organizing and storing the files she had went to take the now chilled coffee to her wonderful boss, only to be halted once again by Heather of all people.

"Can you like schedule some appointments for Mr. Stark? You are like the manager of his, like, agenda." If the annoying valley girl accent wasn't enough to cause Pepper to twitch with annoyance, it certainly was the smug smile on the girl's bright red lips.

"No problem." Pepper laughed sweetly. Heather nodded and left; strutting with unnecessary emphasis on the ass she did not have. Once out of ear shot Pepper groaned loudly. "Why does this man need someone to do everything!? He's a big boy, he can do it himself!"

"And it's that kind of attitude that will get you fired." Rex deadpanned before gliding past her.

Pepper could only blink in response.

So…

Once Pepper had the copies organized, the coffee in hand, the files stored away and the agenda set up correctly after many mess ups, she was on her way to Tony's office. The annoyance was apparent in her expression. Her brow was knit and her nails were digging into the coffee cup. She kicked the door to the office open causing Tony to jump at his desk. Pepper stomped her way over, dropped the copes causing them to scatter and dropping the cup as well.

"There, I finished every tedious task you had sent for me to do. Sorry about the cold coffee." She said flatly as she crossed her arms under her chest. Tony cocked his head to the side as she tried to shuffle the papers together.

"I asked for coffee…?" He questioned scrutinizing the cup. "Ohhhh…I did, didn't I? Well I don't want it now."

Pepper could feel her last bit of sanity burn up as her eyes twitched.

"Listen here you rich ass punk, I was attacked by a copier, I got at least thirty paper cuts organizing files, I have schedules your appointments up to date!" Peppered yelled slamming her hands down on his desk.

In her rage she reached for his tie and jerked him forward so that their noses now touched and he could clearly see the fire that flared in her eyes. If he didn't know any better he would have said that her hair was on fire as well.

"Not to mention my feet are screaming in pain, and I had missed my lunch break to go fetch this fifty dollar coffee from a coffee shop located in the boondocks! I do not care what you want because, cold or not, you are going to drink that coffee and you are going to like it!" She screamed jerking him forward, into her a bit more.

"Hey kid I…" Reggie's words died on her lips as she stared at the two a mere movement away from crashing faces together. She quirked her brow as Pepper snapped around to face her panting for breath. "I don't even want to know…"

With that Reggie spun on her heel and exited the office chuckling to herself.


This chapter was a so much fun for me because I could just picture pepper flipping out under the pressure of stress, I mean, she has done it before, hasn't she? Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter just as much as I did. Thanks for reading and I hope you review as well and tell me what you think.

~December Roses~