A/N: Holy turning pages, Batman, it's a new chapter! YUP! Another one, back-to-back, because your reviews showed me you wanted it! How much do you want the next? ;) ENJOY!
Chapter 8
Pepper Potts hardly ever dressed up in fancy clothes and today was no exception, but she did dress a tad bit more formal than usual. She was wearing dark brown skinny jeans, a tucked-in blue dress shirt and a light brown blazer. The look was complemented by blue flats and a matching headband she tied under her head, below her long hair. Across her chest she carried a brown bag in which she carried some important documents she was to deliver today.
Even Tony had made a comment about how she should dress like this more often, adding that it would probably bring in more clients to the office if only to stare at her, and she had rewarded him with a playful punch to his shoulder. It was all she could do to keep the smile from creeping up her face and the blush off her cheeks.
"Miss Potts?" the same receptionist that had led her to the spot where she currently sat in, called to her. "Ms. Hammer will see you now."
"Alright," Pepper said and stood up to follow the woman to the entrance of the CEO's office. She waited patiently as the woman announced the arrival of the representative from Stark Solutions and in the blink of an eye she found herself locked inside the office with the older woman. Pepper had run a background check on Sasha Hammer before she had arranged this meeting between them, and had also spent days preparing a successful strategy for her. Every word spoken today would count more than ever, and any wrong move on her part would mean ruining the chance to take a weight off Tony's shoulders. This, she could definitely not allow to happen.
Sasha eyed the girl up and down for a moment, but she did not offer her to sit down. She had every intention of making the ginger's stay neither pleasant nor welcome, even if the younger woman had never personally made a threat to the white-haired girl. The fact that the tables had turned and that the redhead was now the one who held a position of power that Sasha no longer had, was enough incentive for the older woman to see her as nothing more than a menace – a bug to be squashed… by any means possible.
"When they said someone from Stark Solutions wanted to meet with me," Sasha began saying, in a bored tone. "I thought they meant the man himself: Tony Stark."
Pepper smirked, walked closer to the desk and placed the bag on one of the two guest chairs even though she knew Sasha had not allowed her to do so.
"A lot of people do, but they soon learn what you're about to find out."
"And what is that?" Sasha asked, her fingernails tapping her mahogany desk.
"That Tony's too busy to waste his time with people like you."
If Sasha's unneeded sunglasses had not been on, Pepper would have seen the glare that she was currently directing at the redhead.
"I take it then, that you have time to waste?"
"Only a tad," Pepper made a gesture with her index and thumb of her right hand to symbolize the small amount she was referring. "At least more than Tony does," she added as she began walking around the office to stare at the décor, hands laced behind her back. "Or at least enough time to know that your company's in trouble."
Sasha smirked. The reason for Pepper's visit was becoming clear to her. Offers to buy the company had been pouring in like crazy, but the last offer she thought she would ever receive, would be from Tony's three-people start-up company.
"Oh. It's all over the news. No surprise there."
Pepper shrugged and moved from one wall to the opposite one, staring at pictures of Hammer's possessions and ridiculously expensive wall art, whose value could feed and clothe an entire village in Africa for years to come.
"You'd think that we would've found out by the news, but we actually found out by accident," she lied with an incredible ability. "Tony and I have been busy making a lot of people rich. Ourselves included, of course."
"So I've heard. The Stark Bike is quite the highlight of the year for many people around here, even if the item is a creation of our main competitor."
"Oh, Sasha," Pepper waved a dismissive hand toward the woman. "You haven't been our main competitor in a looong time. You'd think that by now you'd realize that, to be a competitor of anyone, you'd first have to make stuff that actually works."
"I see Stark's arrogance has rubbed off on you," Sasha deadpanned. "Is that a side-effect of sharing bed sheets with him at night?" she cocked her head to the side.
"It's too hot to use bed sheets in the summer," Pepper replied, completely unfazed by Sasha's implication and having expected it since she had walked through the door. Ever since last week's board meeting where Tony had announced Pepper was his sole point of contact and no one would see him unless they first went through her, appointments had been taking up every minute of her work time; even Mitch had sat in a room with the redhead for half an hour, only to be told his inquiry was not deemed Tony Stark-worthy.
That alone had been the highlight of Tony's start of the week.
Regardless of who had met with her, almost every single one of the potential business partners or clients that had spoken with her so far, all had used similar lines to get a rise out of the ginger. By this point, Pepper was immune to their sad attempts at breaking her, and while she had immediately denied any romantic involvement between her and the inventor to anyone before, letting Sasha think that Pepper had some advantage over her was part of her plan to get her to agree to sell the company to Stark Solutions.
"Besides, our balcony has a much better view."
"Kinky, aren't we? How long do you think that'll keep you at the top of the food chain?"
"I'm not sure," Pepper began and returned to stand in front of Sasha's desk. "But I figure that as long as I'm on top at night, he'll have no issue letting me take the lead."
"Confident, aren't we?"
"Have every right to be."
Sasha exhaled in annoyance and finally offered Pepper a seat with a sweep of her hand, but the ginger politely declined in an attempt to establish a sense of urgency in Sasha.
"My business here is quick. I have no time to waste."
"Very well," Sasha responded and took off her glasses to reveal a tired face that Pepper had to control herself to not react to. "What's your offer?"
Pepper shifted her body to the side, where her bag lay, and took out the forms she needed before sliding them over the desk to Sasha's side. The woman eyed the documents but did not touch them, and then covered her eyes with her glasses again.
"Declined."
Pepper scoffed. "You haven't even read the terms."
"I don't need to," Sasha said. "I know Stark Solutions can do much better than that."
"Oh, of course we can!" Pepper replied with a chuckle. "But we just don't want to. We don't need to, actually. We know you have no choice but to take whatever scraps we give you."
Sasha smirked, trying to call Pepper's bluff. "What makes you think I'll sell the company for such a lowball offer?"
"What makes you think your company is worth more than that?" Pepper retorted. "I know for a fact that even if all the offers you've already been given, suddenly decided to give you some charity and all combined together, they're not a fourth of what we're offering you today."
Sasha pursed her lips in anger. The rumors that the girl was good at research were turning out to be true.
"Double your offer."
"This is not a negotiation, Sasha. It's an acquisition."
"Double or nothing."
Pepper rolled her eyes and sighed. "I guess nothing," she replied and leaned over to grab the papers from the desk, but Sasha stopped her by placing her hand on top of the folder that held the offer. Pepper raised a single eyebrow at the woman and then took a step back.
"Double," Sasha insisted.
"Are you listening to me?" Pepper began. "I have a 3 o'clock I need to tend to, and since you've obviously declined, I have to go."
"Double," Sasha said again, louder this time when she saw Pepper grab her bag and place it across her chest as she was readying to leave the office. "You don't know what's gonna happen if you walk out that door without my signature on these papers."
Pepper smirked. "Actually, I do. I'll walk out and leave. I'll go to Tony and tell him what happened. I'll tell him that you want double the money. About thirty seconds later, after he gets done laughing, he'll then write a contract for half of what's on that paper right now, wait a month for your situation to get even more desperate, then send it to you via snail mail and you'll sign it anyway."
The silence between the two business women was long and deafening, but in the end the redhead knew she had won the war before the round had even started. She had meticulously planned every word, every retort, even every gesture and posture, to purposefully get a rise out of the CEO of Hammer Multinational. Pepper had wanted to place Sasha into a metaphorical corner, and she was glad to see that her efforts had not been in vain.
The scowl on Sasha's face was evident as she sorted through the papers to find the preliminary acceptance of the offer. She skimmed through the small details of the contracts, and with a sigh and a long string of curse words, she signed and dated the dotted line. A second later an ink pad was placed in front of her and the woman wasted no time pressing her right thumb on it and then imprinting its curves on the paper she had just signed.
Pepper took back the ink pad and put it away inside her bag and then grabbed the paper Sasha was handing her. The redhead made sure everything was in order with the documents and then gave the woman a wide smile while she slid the papers inside her bag and patted the outside of it in a triumphant manner.
"I'm glad you still have some sense, Ms. Hammer. You've made the right choice."
"I'll have my attorneys review the offer and send you the notarized papers tomorrow," Sasha said between clenched teeth. "Give me a call when Stark finalizes it and the money is wired."
"I'll call you on Thursday."
"No. Tony and tomorrow."
"No can do. I make Tony's calls, and tomorrow is my birthday. I'll call you on Thursday."
"Fine," Sasha said and closed the folder of her copy of the offer. "I guess you two will be too busy banging each other to give me a call."
Pepper grinned. "We probably will, and I'd invite you to join us if I didn't already know that Tony doesn't like threesomes."
Sasha's knuckles turned as white as her dyed hair. "You enjoy your time at the top, girl. One day it will all come crashing down on you when you least expect it."
"Like it did for you?" Pepper asked and began walking toward the door.
"Yes," Sasha admitted. "Like it did for me."
"Enjoy your retirement, Ms. Hammer," Pepper said and waved at the woman. "I'll sure enjoy mine."
The last sound in the eerie quiet office was of the closing door.
xxxXXXxxx
"Holy shit, Pep! I can't believe you got her to sign!" Tony held the paper in his hands as he twirled around in a rolling chair. "I really thought she was going to throw you out of her office the moment you walked in."
"If you had gone by yourself or we had gone together, she would've done just that, no doubt," Pepper replied and snatched the paper from his hands as she walked past him to store the paper in a secure location. "But it's different between girls, and your charm would've only made her mad. You should've seen her, Tony. She looked so tired and old, I couldn't believe she's not even ten years my senior."
"Good thing it was you who went, then," he agreed and followed her every move around their office with his eyes. "Although, I wish you would go with me today to the board meeting. They are going to flip out when I tell them what happened today. Are you sure you don't want to see the look on Mitch's face? I bet you it's gonna be priceless!"
"I'd rather not end the day being screamed at again. Once a month is enough for me," Pepper said and then returned to her desk. "It's the last thing I'd want the same day after meeting with Sasha Hammer and before my off-day. Is Rhodey down for tomorrow?"
"Yup," the inventor smiled. "He said he wouldn't miss your birthday surprise for the world."
"What is the surprise, anyway?" Pepper asked and eyed him suspiciously. "For the life of me I can't find anything in the logs to implicate you."
"It's a surprise, Pepper. And give up already. You're not going to find anything here or at home, probably not even at Rhodey's."
"Boo," she responded and returned her attention to her laptop to begin wrapping up for the day. Tomorrow, both she and Tony would take the day off for her birthday, opting to pick up Rhodey at his house and spend the day together. Unfortunately, neither young man had spilled the beans about what their plans were going to be and as Tony had just confirmed, there was no way she would be able to find out beforehand by this point.
Tony eyed Pepper from the corner of his eye as he stood up from the chair and pretended to be busy with the VR Designer. Needless to say, he was worried about tomorrow for many reasons, the main one being the fact that Tony's big birthday surprise was to take Pepper to the Makluan Temple and reveal to her that he was Iron Man and that Rhodey was War Machine. He also planned on telling her about Rescue and Gene, but how much detail he could go into would depend on whether or not Pepper passed out of shock or surprise.
"Hey, Pepper?" he asked after a long silence.
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to hear part of your surprise?" he asked with a tentative voice, and when she stopped typing and looked up to stare at him, he knew he had her full attention. "I'm going to tell you everything."
It took her a split second to understand the meaning of his words, and when she smiled brightly to the point that even her eyes danced, Tony knew he had made the right decision, all consequences of it be dammed.
"You… you promise?"
"Yes."
"No more secrets?"
"No more secrets."
"Oh, Tony!" she clasped her hands on her chest. "That would be the best!"
"It will be, but no peeking, alright?" he warned her. "Don't spoil the surprise."
"OK! I get it! I'll stop searching," she stood up and ran to him with extended arms. Tony immediately responded to the gesture and surrounded her with his arms. "You're serious about it this time, right?"
"When have I not been serious about it?"
"Well, you haven't told me much in a few weeks. Only stuff you had to tell me because I remembered a little bit or because I needed to know for work."
"Oh, yeah, well… we've been busy, right? I know you've kept your end of the deal, so now it's time to keep mine… even more."
Pepper smiled but did not say anything. Tony did not have to know she had kinda broken her end of the deal by looking up the information about Harold "Happy" Hogan last weekend. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her. Either way it was a good thing she had, too. It would have been extremely awkward to start college in a couple of weeks and run into her future college peer at ESU and not know who he was – or remember the important fact that she and Happy had dated in high school.
Although, after seeing his school records and biography, she had no idea how in the world she had become interested in a jock in the first place; it just did not seem like her type – not that a genius kid did either, mind you. No wonder she had broken it off with both of them. One was too into sports, and the other was too into science – two things she did not care much about.
"Your board meeting's going to start soon," she said and took a step back, breaking the hug. She then unwrinkled the front of his shirt with her palms and straightened out his collar with her hands while she continued speaking. "I'm going to get your reports and see you off."
"Oh, come on, Pep! You don't have to baby me! I'm the adult here, remember?" he teased her as he watched her go inside his private office and close the door behind her. The walls and door were made of thick glass, and through them he could see her make an exaggerated gesture with her hands that stated she could not hear him, and although the walls in his office were somewhat sound-proofed, he knew that she had heard him mock her before the door had closed.
"Take your time, I'm in no hurry," he told her, but she shrugged and turned around to begin collecting and organizing the papers Tony had scattered throughout the office.
He says he's the adult but he can't clean after himself, Pepper thought as she found papers even under the desk on the floor. Or, it's probably because he knows you're going to clean after him, the voice in her mind told her and she frowned.
Or maybe he just pretends he can't so that I stay around, she thought with hope, but then shook her head. I need to stop thinking like that. It doesn't do anyone any good.
When she finally had all the papers in order and inside the folder, she stood up from the floor, looked up to stare outside the office and her heart dropped.
At some point during her task, Maya Hansen had walked inside the office and was currently locking lips with Tony Stark in the middle of the room. Pepper looked down at the floor and swallowed hard. She then took in a deep breath and cleared her throat, and when she felt composed enough, she walked out and cleared her throat again.
"Sorry," she said in a truly apologetically voice when the couple pulled away from each other. Had she not been trying to avoid their stares, she would have seen the look of guilt that momentarily befell the inventor.
"I… here are the reports," Pepper waved the folder in her hand and left it on her desk, not daring to get near them.
"Sorry, Pepper," Maya said and meant it. "I just… I haven't seen him since our date and I… sorry…"
"It's alright," Pepper smiled as best as she could. "It's kinda my fault. I've been keeping him busy."
"No, it's OK," Maya began and then walked away from Tony to reach Pepper's desk. "I understand. That's just how it is at work. My dad's been busy, too. Besides, tomorrow's your birthday and you get him all to yourself, but after that, could you please make some room for me?" the brunette gave her a pleading face. "Please?"
Pepper nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry. I will," the redhead assured her and Pepper had every intention of making good on her promise to the brunette. She knew any other girl dating Tony would have probably seen her as competition – an obstacle to be crushed immediately and indefinitely, but Maya had been nothing but understanding and kind to the ginger.
Meanwhile, Tony was yet to say anything or even move; his eyes were studying the interactions of the two women in his life with keen interest. Even though he had yet to see or hear Maya talk down or bad about Pepper, he was not yet completely trusting of Pepper's safety around Maya. It appeared his experience with Whitney had forever made him be on his toes regarding how his other female friends or dates would respond to the ginger, and he now wondered if his and Pepper's fate would have been different had Whitney and the redhead been friends despite their common interest in him.
I'll never know.
"Hey, what's this?" Maya asked with a playful smile and pointed to Tony's outside work desk.
Pepper followed the path her finger was pointing at and then frowned with curiosity. "What is that?"
Maya giggled and walked over to the wrapped box, picked it up and wiggled it in her hands.
"Oh! It looks like someone's got an early birthday gift!"
"Oh, my gosh! Are you serious?" Pepper walked over to Maya, carefully grabbed the box from her hands, and immediately unfolded the card that was attached to it. When she saw that it was something from the girl herself, she could not help but to give her a hug.
"Thank you, Maya!"
"It's nothing," the woman replied and then broke the embrace after a hard squeeze. "Open it, open it!"
"Is it… uhm… guy-friendly?" Pepper had to ask after receiving another early birthday present this morning from Howard's assistant, Tricia – or Trish, as she had insisted that Pepper should call her – and it had turned out to be a black, silk nightie she had opened in front of Tony's surprised face. "Or should we kick out Tony from the office?"
"Hey! This is my office," Tony said, even if just to have something to say after the awkward moment of remembering the indecent thoughts that had crossed his mind at seeing the piece of lingerie. "If anything, you two should be the ones kicked out!"
"Oh, shut up!" Maya rolled her eyes. "Man, he does get grumpy right before going to a board meeting. How do you deal with him every day?" she asked the redhead and Pepper nodded.
"You've got no idea! It's like dealing with a child!"
"HEY!"
"Quiet!" Pepper joined in the fun before looking down at her gift. "So, can I open it now?"
"Yes!" Maya said, and in an instant both girls were giggling by Pepper's desk as the redhead tore apart the wrapping. A moment later, Pepper squealed when she took out from the box a bath robe, and inside one of its pouches she found a gift certificate for a full-day spa.
"Ooh! This is awesome!"
"What's awesome?" Tony asked and walked over to the commotion. Maya surrounded his left arm with both of hers and Tony had to fight the urge to pull away. "What did you get her?"
"Spa tickets and this!" Pepper extended the plush bathrobe for Tony to see.
"Spa tickets? What for?"
"To take a weekend off from changing your diapers, Stark!" Maya spat and pulled him closer to her. "So you better be a good boss and cut her some slack. What the hell would you do without her reminding you to eat?"
"I'd be ten pounds thinner?" Tony offered with a shrug, earning him a glare from both girls. "Or not. Wow, it's like walking on eggshells with you two in the same room."
"And don't you forget it," Maya said and pulled in Tony to kiss him on the lips, but at the last second Tony moved his face so that she only got his cheek.
"Thank you so much, Maya," Pepper said and hugged the girl again once she let go of Tony's arm. "You didn't have to, but I'm thankful you did. I love it."
"Oh, don't read too much into it," Maya winked. "It's purely self-serving. I've got to keep you happy or Tony will stop dating me," Maya said, partially joking and partially being honest.
"What?" Tony was taken aback and Pepper rolled her eyes, understanding what Maya had meant and taking no offense by it. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, Tony," Pepper said and placed her gifts inside the box. "It's been great, but I have to go. Jarvis will be here any minute to take me back home."
"Already?" Tony asked and looked down at his watch. "Damn, you're right. I'm late for the meeting."
"Don't forget your reports," Pepper said and Maya made sure to slam the folder onto Tony's chest for the redhead's sake.
"Yeah, yeah," Tony said and grabbed the folder. "See you later, Pepper."
"Bye, Tony. Bye, Maya!"
"Bye, Pepper!" Maya said and waved Pepper off. Once the office was clear of the redhead, Tony narrowed his eyes at the brunette and she shrugged in response. "What?"
"Are you now going to tell me what you meant by me not dating you if Pepper wasn't happy?"
"Really? Are you that clueless?"
"About what?"
"You ARE clueless," Maya said and briefly pinched the bridge of her nose with her left index finger and thumb. "OK. First: it's not just me. It's any girl you ever date. And, second: there's nothing wrong with it. I can tell Pepper's important to you, and as such her opinion must be important, too. Or, am I wrong?"
"No," Tony replied with a frown. "Pepper is very important to me, as is Rhodey. They're my best friends."
"Right, but Rhodey's opinion of me wouldn't matter to you because he's a guy. Pepper's, on the other hand, could very well end our relationship in an instant."
"Are you telling me that you're just pretending to like Pepper so that I date you?"
"What, no! I actually like Pepper, a lot. She's fun and easy going and a saint for putting up with you for so many years. But I'm not stupid and I'm aware of my place in the food chain. It's… it's like an unwritten rule: the female best friend of the guy has dibs on choosing who the guy dates."
Tony's frown deepened. This conversation was too familiar for his taste, particularly the part about the food chain and unwritten rules. The last thing he needed was a reminder of one of his many mistakes of the past.
"I guess so."
"There's nothing wrong with it, Tony. It's like when you try to get a girl's parents to like you. Only this time it's a girl trying to get your friend to like me," she began and pulled Tony in for a hug. "I like you, Tony, a lot. And I think you like me enough, too. And I'll do anything in my power to make sure this works between us."
"Anything?" Tony asked, a memory of the lengths Whitney had gone through to get even with him clouded his mind. "Even get Pepper out of the picture?"
Maya frowned, knowing exactly what Tony had meant. "I'm not Whitney Stane, Tony. I'm not hurting Pepper, if that's what you're implying."
Tony's face turned somber and he pulled back from the embrace as if it had scalded him.
"Just making sure. Because if you do try to hurt Pepper, I will hurt you back."
"I'm well aware of that," she replied, all giddiness drained from her face.
"Good," he responded and then took a step back. "I have to go, too," he finally said and began ushering her to the door. "Thanks for Pepper's gift. She's never had girl friends before."
"And while you're in the picture, she probably never will," the brunette added before she turned on her heels and walked down the hall, putting as much distance between herself and the inventor as she possibly could.
xxxXXXxxx
Her eyes snapped open and she immediately directed them to her alarm clock to see she had woken up way too early for her birthday celebration – two hours early, at least. She could not help it, though, as today she turned eighteen and everything was going great for her – well, almost everything.
The scene of Maya and Tony kissing in the office had depressed her for the rest of the day, and she had gone as far as pretending to be fast asleep by the time Tony returned home from the board meeting. She knew she had no right to be upset by it, but she could not help the pain in her heart. If only she could go back in time to prevent whatever she had done to destroy her relationship with Tony. If only she could remember what she had done to him in the first place.
Knowing there was no way she could go back to sleep now, she sprung off the bed and walked over to the bathroom to wash up. She did not have to get ready for at least an hour, so she just concentrated on brushing her teeth and cleaning up her face. Once she finished, she ran a brush through her hair a few times and then exited the bathroom and her bedroom with the intention of going to the living room and watching TV until sunrise.
Her plans were thwarted, however, when she saw the lump that was Tony Stark at the dining table. The left side of his face was resting against the cold surface and had he not been moaning, she would have thought him to be passed out.
"Tony?"
His only response was an even louder moan.
"Tony, what's wrong?" the ginger asked and walked over to him. She placed her hand on his forehead and quickly pulled it back. "What the hell?"
He was burning up.
"Tony? Tony, wake up!"
"Pepper?" he said and tried to rearrange his position on the table but failed. "I'm… I'm alright… I… your birthday… today's your birthday…"
Pepper bit her lip. "No, Tony," she lied. "It's tomorrow. Tomorrow's my birthday."
"Are… are you sure?" he opened one eye to stare at her.
"Yes, I'm sure," she smiled confidently and patted his back. "Who would know my birthday better than me, right?" she kneeled down near him. "What happened to you? How long have you been up?"
"Uhm," he tried to swallow so he could answer, but his throat was so dry and swollen it hurt and he coughed. "I don't know. Am I up or am I dreaming?"
"Oh, brother," Pepper whispered. "Stay right here, alright. I'll be right back."
"OK, babe."
Yup, he's out of it. Pepper ran back to her room and grabbed her pod. She dialed Rhodey's number and after three full rings, a groggy-sounding man answered the call.
"Da'hell, Pepper? It's four in the morning…"
"Yeah, I know. Listen up," Pepper said in her no nonsense voice. "Tony's sick. We're going to have to call it off."
"What?" It took three seconds for Rhodey to process Pepper's words but he was almost completely awake after that. "What happened?"
"I don't know. I found him at the dining room, moaning and with a fever."
"Are you serious? Is it a cold or what?"
"I guess so," she said with a sigh. "It doesn't matter, anyway. We'll have to cancel today's plans. Can you do that? I mean, I don't know what he had planned, but if we were going somewhere and we have to cancel…"
"Yeah, alright. I… I'll take care of it, don't worry."
"Thank you," she said and stared at her open door.
"What about you? Do you need reinforcements?"
"No. I'll be fine. Besides, with you leaving for the Air Force Academy this weekend and Tony being sick…" Pepper did not need to finish her sentence, knowing Rhodey understood what she meant.
"OK, but if you need help…"
"I know, Rhodey. I know. Can you call his dad to let him know? Tell him not to send Jarvis over. He might get sick, too."
"What about you?"
"Too late for me," she joked. "Save yourself."
"Ugh, Pepper, I'm sorry. It's… it's your birthday and all."
"It's alright. He might be better tomorrow, right? It might just be a 24-hour virus, you know?" Pepper instantly offered to try to qualm Rhodey's concerns. She then felt the slightest hint of déjà vu when she heard her words repeat in her mind, only to associate them with the image of a panda dressed in basketball attire, for some odd reason. How the words related to the panda she could not figure out, so she just brushed it off to being another random forgotten memory.
"Anyway," she continued. "It's not the end of the world. We can celebrate another day, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Don't worry about it, Rhodey. We'll be fine."
"OK, alright. But I'm a phone call away."
"Yes, I know. Thank you, Rhodey."
"Happy Birthday, Pepper. I'm glad you came back to us."
"Thank you, Rhodey," she smiled. "I'm happy to be back."
The moment of truly emotional friendship between them renewed her commitment to doing whatever she could to get her life back to normal for the sake of her friends and family, as soon as possible. She had hardly had the time to hang around many of them since she had been released from the hospital, except with Tony of course, but she knew that every moment spent with the inventor got her closer to returning to the state of mind she was in before she had been taken away.
After finally ending the call with Rhodey, she took a moment to collect her thoughts and placed the pod back on her nightstand. She then exited her room and entered Tony's. His bed was unmade and his bathroom lights were on, and when she walked inside the bathroom, she gasped. The place was completely trashed and the contents of his medicine cabinet were scattered all over the tiled floor. The thought of Tony trying to force himself to feel better for her sake made her feel even worse about the entire situation and she sighed.
"Dammit!"
She turned on her heels and made a beeline for his bed, which she quickly rearranged to better serve the inventor she was bringing back over to it. The bathroom mess would just have to wait as her first priority was to get Tony tucked in. She returned to her room and rummaged through her closet until she found what she was looking for and was never so grateful for keeping the contraption she had hated for weeks.
"It'll be alright, Tony," she whispered as she carried the wheelchair with her, back to the living room. The inventor was still where she had left him, and as soon as she stood next to him, she began unfolding the chair. "How are we doing, Tony?"
"Oh, hey, you're back," he mumbled and extended his hand to touch her, but his arm did not lift at all.
"Can you stand, Tony?"
"I am standing," he said, even though he was not. His disorientation worried the ginger that much more. "I missed you, Pepper. Where did you go?"
"I had to call Rhodey," she responded as she finished locking up the wheelchair in place.
"Oh! How is he?"
"He's OK. He says 'hi'."
"Who says hi?"
"Uhm… no one," Pepper said and shook her head. "Here, let's get you out of here."
"Where we going?" he asked as he tried to stabilize himself when Pepper carried his weight from the chair to the wheelchair, and he almost fell in the process. "Are we going on a trip?"
"Yes," Pepper told him.
"Where are we going?" he asked again with a wobbly head when Pepper began pushing the wheelchair in the direction of his room.
"Bed. We're going to bed."
"Together?" he asked and tried to look back over his shoulder. "We're going to bed together?"
"Yes," she answered and maneuvered the chair into his room.
"Really? Cool," he said even though his voice was more of a slur than anything else. "I'd always wanted to sleep with you."
He's sick, Pepper reminded herself. He's sick. He's sick. He's sick.
"So, uhm, Tony, why is there a mess in the bathroom?"
"Mess? What mess?"
"Your medicine cabinet is empty," she added and began pulling him up from the chair and dropped him on his bed. "Were you looking for something?"
"Oh, that!" he said and tried to snap his fingers, but he could not get them to do so and instead ended up staring at the weird shape his fingers bent into in the process. "I was looking for medicine."
"Medicine for what?" she asked him and moved his legs so that he was lying on his back on the bed. He was not wearing anything other than his pajama pants, so the fact that he had a high temperature was even more concerning to her. "What are you feeling?"
"Nothing. I'm fine now."
I'm sure you are, she thought to herself.
"What did you take?" she placed the blankets over him and pressed her left hand onto his forehead to confirm he did have a fever. Tony smiled at her and waved her closer to him with his hand and the redhead complied. Once she was bent down by his face, Tony lifted his head and spoke into her ear in a voice he probably thought was a whisper but was not.
"Everything."
Oh, shit.
"OK, Tony, we're going to play a little game," she readjusted his head on the pillow.
"Are we? What game?" he eyed her with sudden interest.
"Stay indoors and drink lots of fluids."
"That sounds boring," he complained, just like a child, and then rolled his eyes.
"It's not. It's very fun," she assured him. "The first part of the game, though, is to tell me what you took. Now, I'm going to get all the medicine you have and you're going to point to me what you took, alright?"
"OK," Tony said but then frowned. "What do I get as a prize?"
"A, what?"
"A prize! If it's a game and I win, what's my prize?"
"Uhm," Pepper cleared her throat and looked left and right. "What do you want?"
"A kiss," he said without missing a beat. "A kiss from you."
"Uh, how about some candy?"
"No! No candy! A kiss!"
Pepper sighed and silently counted to ten.
"Alright. A kiss it is. But you have to tell me the truth. OK?"
"Yes!"
"OK. Wait right here."
"OK."
Pepper returned to the bathroom and tidied it up as much as she could. She then grabbed all of the medicine and placed it inside a plastic bag. Seconds later, she turned off the lights of the bathroom and closed the door behind her before she sat by the edge of Tony's bed. She dropped all of the contents of the bag on the empty side of the bed and Tony immediately sat up and began sorting through the medication without waiting for the redhead to tell him to do so. Pepper watched him as he made two piles of medicine; one pile had about 80% of the boxes and/or bottles, and the rest were in the second pile.
Pepper concentrated on the smaller pile, grabbed one bottle at random and frowned when she saw it was nausea medicine.
"Tony, why did you take nausea pills?"
"I didn't," he said and shook his head for good measure. "I took the stuff over here," he pointed to the larger pile and Pepper's heart nearly stopped.
Oh, my God! Please, don't drop dead. Please, don't drop dead!
"Okay," she said and began inspecting the medicine he had taken. It all pointed to her that he had a cold, or at least many of its common symptoms. He had taken fever reducers, pain relievers, and cough suppressants… all of them… plenty of them… at the same time.
"Tony, this is bad."
"Yes, yes it is. I still haven't gotten my kiss."
Pepper eyed him with an incredulous face, but she still leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"There, now lay back down."
"What? That's it? No fair!"
"What? You asked for a kiss and I gave you one," she said and began putting away the medicine in the bag. "Now lay down!"
"I wanted a real kiss!" he pouted. "The kind you should give your boyfriend!"
"Well," she began and walked around the bed, plastic bag in hand. "You didn't specify where you wanted it and you're not my boyfriend."
"Yes, I am! Or, I was… and… and you left me…" his head hung. "You left me, for a long time…"
Pepper closed her eyes and sighed.
"I'm sorry I left you."
"It wasn't your fault," he said sheepishly and his current behavior reminded her of the first time they had met back at the hospital. "It was mine. It was my fault."
"I'm sure it wasn't your fault," she said and then pressed down onto his chest to force him to lie down. "I'm sure it was both our faults."
"No, it wasn't," he held the hand that she had just used to press on his chest, in both of his. "It was mine. I was a jerk, and I was blind. I almost lost you, Pepper. You almost died."
"But I didn't," she said, pulled her hand away from his grip and then used it to brush his hair. "I didn't die and I'm here with you now. Now close your eyes and rest. I'll be right back, OK?"
"You promise?" he asked, eyes already closing.
"I promise, Tony."
The redhead waited a few seconds before she stood up from the bed and walked out of his room, leaving the door open to hear him in case he moved. She tied a knot in the plastic bag that held the medicine and threw it inside her closet, along with the wheelchair, before closing the door behind her. She walked down the hall, into the kitchen and searched through the cabinets until she found the compression bag and filled it with ice from the freezer. She then filled a pitcher with water and grabbed a plastic cup before taking all of the items with her, back to Tony's room.
She figured Tony had probably passed out by now, but as soon as she laid the cold compress on his head, he moaned.
"That's cold."
"I know, but I need to bring down your fever."
"I have a fever?"
"Yes, you're sick, Tony."
"Really? Aw, man!" he whined and then lightly pulled on Pepper's pajama shorts. "Are you staying with me?"
"Yes."
"All day?"
"All day," she replied with a smile before she grabbed the pitcher and the cup and filled it up with water. "I need you to drink this. Can you do that for me?"
"Whatever you want, Pepper," he said and immediately chugged down the drink. "Huh, I didn't know I was thirsty. Can I have more?"
"Yes," she said with a light chuckle and before she knew it, the pitcher became empty. "Do you want more?"
"No. No more."
"Alright. Now close your eyes and open your mouth."
Tony instantly did as she asked. She put a thermometer in his mouth and then pushed his jaw close. She waited a moment and then took out the stick from his mouth and frowned. His temperature was high; not alarmingly so that she had to rush him to a hospital, but high nonetheless. If the fever reducers did not start kicking in soon, she would have to dunk him in a cold bath.
"Pepper?"
"Yeah?" she asked and left the thermometer on a handkerchief on his nightstand.
"Are you still mad at me?"
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"Because I walked out on you when you needed me. Because I fucked up. I should've stayed with you when you asked me to stay. If I had, Whitney would've not taken you away from me. She would've not hurt you and you wouldn't have forgotten about me."
Whitney was the one that hurt me?
Pepper pursed her lips. Curiosity peeked its ugly head. She wondered if he was referring to the short flashback she had had of them arguing before, on their way home from work. While she was tempted to find out more about it, she did not want to take advantage of his current state to get the information she knew he would freely provide in his medicine high. He had promised her answers, but this was not probably what he had had in mind.
"It's alright, Tony," she patted his arm. "Already forgot about it."
"Are you sure you're not mad?"
"I'm not mad."
"Are you staying here with me, then?" he asked again.
"I'm staying here with you."
"Don't leave."
"I'm not. I won't," she said, but then sighed when Tony patted the empty space next to him on the bed.
"Please?"
"Tony, I… I don't think…"
"Please?" he begged and she inwardly sighed.
"OK."
The redhead walked around the bed again and sat where he had patted. She pulled her knees to her chest and before she could stop him, Tony sat up as well.
"Hey, none of that. Lie down."
"No," he said to her.
"Lie down or I'll leave," she said in her most threatening-sounding voice.
"Why?"
"Because if you're not going to listen to me, then there's no point on me being here to make you feel better."
"But, I feel fine," he said despite feeling the room spinning around him.
"I'm sure you do," she mumbled under her breath and then turned around to face him, suddenly thinking of a different approach. She cupped his face in her hands and the inventor immediately closed his eyes and exhaled in bliss.
"Please lie down, Tony."
Tony opened his eyes and stared directly at hers, giving her all but two seconds to realize what he was about to do next.
He kissed her.
And she kissed him back.
Tony's mind wandered, sending him back to a time not long ago when he had been in a similar situation with the redhead, only it had not been her but someone who looked a lot like her as part of a trap he had devised. He had been waiting for the opportunity to do this with the real girl in his life, and now that the chance had presented itself, he was not going to lose out on it. It had been ages since he had been able to kiss Pepper without holding back and without remorse, and everything and everyone else could go fuck themselves if they tried to stop him now.
"Pepper…" he whispered after he broke the kiss and pulled her to his lap.
"Tony, I… we…" Pepper tried to put together at least one coherent sentence, but her mind was clouded by his actions. Next thing she knew, she was sitting on his lap, his back against the head of the bed and their lips locked again.
"Pepper," he whispered to her in a hungry tone and kissed the side of her neck.
The ginger moaned lightly in response. "Did you miss me, Tony?" she whispered in his ear.
"Yes," he responded immediately. "I missed you so much."
"Do you miss Whitney?"
Tony scoffed. "Whitney, who?" he responded before kissing her lips again and the redhead's hands flew to the edge of his shirt, pulling it off him in one swift move as she pulled away from his face.
"I'm so happy you were able to rescue me, Tony," the redhead purred and slid her hands up and down over his chest, tracing his muscles with her fingertips. Tony smiled and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand.
"And I'm so happy you've returned to me," he said to her before he kissed her again. The redhead's hands held onto his back belt loops and pulled him closer to her. He reciprocated the gesture by tightening his grip on her hips.
"Do you love me, Tony?" she asked after she broke the kiss.
"Yes. I love you, Pepper. You know I do," he whispered to her, still caught in his own world, and brushed the side of his nose against her cheek. "Don't ever leave me again."
"Tony," Pepper pulled away from his face. "We shouldn't… you're sick. You don't know what you're doing…"
"I do," he said and then trailed kisses down her neck, all inhibitions down thanks to the overdose of the medicine he had taken all night.
"You don't know even know what's going on."
"I do," he insisted and switched sides of her neck. "You're Pepper and I'm Tony and we're together, like we should be."
"Tony, stop," she said but did little to pull away from his welcome caresses. "What about… what about Maya?"
"Who?"
"Maya! Your girlfriend!"
"You're my girlfriend, Pepper. You're my only girlfriend."
"I'm not… we're not… Tony, stop!" she finally pulled away from him and he stared back at her with wide eyes.
"You… you're still mad at me."
"No, Tony, I'm not, but… this is wrong. You… you're with Maya now."
"Who the hell is Maya?"
Pepper groaned and lifted herself from his lap.
"You need to sleep this off."
"No, Pepper, wait," he said and watched as she straightened out her clothes. "Don't leave."
"I'm not going to, but I'm staying over here," she said, dragged his work desk's chair near the door but did not immediately sit in it. "We shouldn't be too close."
"Why not?" he demanded. "Don't you love me anymore?"
She stopped in her tracks and stared back at him with a shocked face, and her heart suddenly began trying to beat out of her chest. Now she was not sure if it was just him or her that was dreaming and/or high on over-the-counter drugs.
"If I said I still did, would you remember it tomorrow?"
"Why wouldn't I remember it tomorrow?"
"Because you forgot it before?"
"When?"
"When we broke up," she ventured to say even though she was not sure how things had unraveled between them.
"That doesn't mean I stopped…" he trailed, swallowed hard and stared at her with the slightest hint of fear. "That doesn't mean I don't right now."
Pepper bit down on her lower lip. She could feel her entire body begin to shake and she was not sure if it was in anger, frustration, fear, excitement or all of the above.
"But, you're with Maya."
"For the last time: I don't know any Mayas!" he spat and then began patting himself up and down. Pepper eyed him with confusion as he looked around himself until he found what he was looking for: his wallet. He opened it up to make sure his prized possession was still there and then threw it towards Pepper. The redhead caught it with no problem, and when he urged her to open it she did and gasped.
Inside his wallet, inside the only spot for photographs, was a picture of her as a baby, surrounded by her mother and father. The image confused her at first, but it then inevitably brought another flashback to her.
"Come on, let's get ready for class. You can borrow my books. I don't even need them."
"I don't feel like…"
"No, Pepper. Screw them! If you go home they'll know they've got to you. I'll walk you to every class, alright? They're just desperate and don't know what else to do. Besides, since when do you give up so easily, huh?"
"It's not that… I don't… It's just…"
Pepper turned slightly back to the locker, opened the door, and from inside the mess she pulled an almost unrecognizable piece of paper. She used the sleeve of her ruined uniform t-shirt to wipe off some of the mess from the paper. "This is the last picture I had of me, my dad and my mom before they got divorced. I can't replace this."
"I fixed it for you," he said and tried to stand up from the bed but ended up falling onto the floor.
"Tony!" she ran up to him and helped him sit up.
"Why is there three of you? Which one gave me the kiss? Can I kiss the other two?!"
"Tony," she began, shook her head and put him back on the bed. "Stop moving. You're sick."
"I'm not sick," he said to one of the Peppers before him and then sneezed. "OK, maybe I am…" he held his head in his hands, the effort of the sneeze had caused a spike of pain to go through him. "But that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm saying."
"You know what?" she asked, covered him with the blankets once more and placed the compress back on his head. "If you remember this tomorrow, we can talk about it. OK?"
"Why do you keep saying 'if'? Why would I forget about us?"
Because I did, she thought bitterly. "No reason."
"You're weird today, Pep," he said to her before he closed his eyes, suddenly feeling really tired. "I love it when you're weird. That's why I fell for you."
"OK, Tony," she smiled sadly. "It's time to go to bed now."
"Is it night already?"
"Yes."
"Oh, OK. Kiss goodnight?"
"Kiss goodnight," she said and leaned down to kiss his lips even though she knew it was wrong for them to do so. Tony responded to the kiss as she expected he would, and when she finally pulled away, Tony had a bright smile on his face, eyes still closed.
"I love you, Pepper."
"I love you, Tony," she told him before he passed out for the rest of the day.
Needless to say, he would not remember anything about it the next day.
A/N: Check my profile for Pepper's outfit when she visited Sasha. Review if you liked!
