Okay...Next chapter! :D This is so exciting...LoL just kidding, I hope you like this next chapter!
Chapter Nine
Pepper slowly opened her eyes, blinding white lights made her eyes water. "Oh man...." She moaned.
"Hey Pepper, it's me. You'll be all right." She heard someone say. She focused harder, and she could slightly make out the faint outline of Tony.
"Tony?" She asked pathetically.
"Ya, I'm here. You're going to be okay." He repeated.
"What happened?" She asked.
"You got in a car accident, both you and the other person were injured, but not critically." Tony said softly, holding her hand.
Her eyes drooped, "Is anything broken?" She asked.
Tony laughed, "Only your car. You just got knocked unconscious. They said you'll be sore for days though."
Pepper took in a deep breath, "You know, I was looking for a clock for you. That's why I was out. I blame you." She tried to laugh, half joking.
Tony's smile faltered, "I know Pepper, and I'm sorry. When I got the news from Happy, I realized that you and I weren't on very good terms when you left."
Pepper started to say something, but Tony shushed her, "I really am sorry. I'll make it up to you. Take a few days off, and I'll get everything done." He smiled.
Pepper couldn't believe it. "What?" She said, rather loudly. "I'm sorry Tony, but I quite frankly don't believe you could do that." She said matter-of-factly.
"Well, I'll prove it to you." He said, smiling. "AND, as another part of the deal, though, I need you to stay at the mansion. I don't want you sneaking to your computer at your apartment and doing work." He said.
Pepper's mouth hung open, "You can't make me." She said, narrowing her eyes.
"Oh, I can. It's actually doctor's orders. They need someone to be watching you for the next couple of days so that you don't show any signs that your brain might be swelling." He stated.
"Maybe they just want me there so that I can watch YOUR brain for ego-swelling." Pepper said.
Tony made a puppy face. "Fine. Okay, I'll stay at the mansion." Pepper agreed.
Tony's eyes lit up with a smile.
They left the hospital hours later, Tony pushed her in the wheelchair, her hand covering her face.
"This is so embarrassing." She said quietly.
"Oh Pepper, you don't always have to be in control of everything." Tony chided. He opened the passenger door to the car (he had told Happy to go home and get the guest bedroom ready) and offered a hand to help her out of the wheel chair.
Pepper pushed his hand away, "I'm fine, I can do this." She got up from the chair and stepped forward, a little too quickly.
Pepper's vision went blurry and she started to fall forward. Tony stood right up against her and wrapped his arms around her. "So...you still want to try to do this yourself?" Tony asked, chuckling.
"Okay....just give me...a second." Pepper stood, her legs shaking slightly. Her head was up against Tony's shoulder, and he was hugging her tightly to him. She suddenly became aware of just how close she was to him, she could smell him and only him, she could feel his arms around her and how amazing it felt.
"Pepper? You ready to move?..." Tony asked.
Pepper's eyes widened, "Yes, uh, yes. I'm okay now." She stuttered.
Tony shuffled so that they were trading places, Pepper shifted herself so that she could easily get into the car. "Thanks, Tony..." She mumbled.
Tony smiled, placing his hand on the top of the door, "Anything for you Pepper."
She was expecting a little laugh right after he said that, but when she looked up to his face, all she could seen was certain concern, his eyes boring into hers.
"Thank you." She whispered, smiling slightly.
He nodded and closed her door. He went around to the driver's side and hopped in, starting the engine and driving straight for the mansion.
The next couple of days were decent, Pepper tried to sneak to a computer or find her blackberry a couple of times, but Jarvis would not tell her where her phone was, or the password change on Tony's computer. She had nothing to do but watch television. She hadn't watched TV in so long, she had no idea what kind of shows were played. She flipped it on and sat on the plush couch, rubbing the back of her neck. She had been pretty darn sore after all the medication wore off, but some things were starting to feel better. Tony had cooked her meals, let her sleep in, watch TV, practically anything except work. Her eyelids started to close slightly, watching TV put her to sleep faster than anything else would. She grabbed for her romance novel on the coffee table, but realized she had finished it yesterday.
Now what? Take a nap?
Yes, that would be perfect. She laid down on the couch, kicking off her slippers and grabbing a pillow. She didn't have the energy to get a blanket.
Tony was downstairs on the computer sorting through hundreds of e-mails containing boring nonsense. "How does Pepper sort through all of this stuff?" He asked himself.
He put half of it in the junk folder and kept going. About fifteen minutes later, he decided it was time for lunch and headed upstairs.
He stopped short when he noticed Pepper asleep on the couch, shivering slightly. In the summer, he always kept the air conditioning at a pretty low temperature. He swiftly made his way to the closest bedroom and grabbed a blanket.
Tony placed it gently over Pepper, watching her slowly stop shivering and snuggling into the blanket. She was too cute. Tony groaned inwardly. Why? Why had he chosen the one girl that seemed not to have any interest in him? He thought they had something when they were younger...
Tony took a deep breath and turned in the direction of the kitchen.
"Tony?" He heard a soft whisper, and turned around to see Pepper peeking out of the blanket. Oh man. She really was too cute.
"Thanks." She gave a small smile and cocooned herself in the blanket.
"Sure." Tony couldn't help but grin. If only.
Pepper woke later to the smell of something delicious. She sat up and looked around, almost startled to see Tony on the other couch, sipping away at some soup, while pointing toward a bowl left on the coffee table. Apparently it was for her.
"Wow, did you make this?" Pepper asked.
"Yes..." Tony said, smiling sheepishly, "It's actually one of my mom's recipes. I loved this when I was younger, especially when I was sick."
Pepper stared even harder, "You made this from scratch?" She said, completely perplexed.
"Yes...with the help of Jarvis. I guess I'll give him some credit." Tony said thoughtfully.
"Thank you sir." Jarvis piped up.
"Wow, I am very impressed, Tony." Pepper said, smiling.
"Thank you, I'm glad you feel that way about me." He gave her a knowing smile.
"Oh ha ha, you're so funny...Mr. Stark." Pepper said, giving him the same smile.
"You're not working! You're on a vacation! Well, sort of. Vacation from work, I guess. While you recover. No 'Mr. Stark' nonsense." He states.
Pepper just laughs, "All right, all right. You win." She pauses for a moment, "So, when do I get to go back to work?" She asks.
Tony thinks it over for a minute, "Well, how are you feeling? Honestly." He says.
"Well...I have a check up tomorrow, so I guess we could just see what the doctor says and go from there?" She says, hopeful that she can start working again.
"Ya, that'll do." Tony yawns, getting up from the couch, "Do you want me to go with you? Or are you just going to have Happy take you in the car?" He asks politely.
Pepper wasn't expecting that. "Uh....I don't know. I didn't think about it." She said.
"Because, you're definitely not driving yourself again for a bit. Sorry, Pep." He winked at her as he left the room.
"I guess I'll just have Happy take me." She called after him.
Tony was just a little disappointed that she didn't want him to come, but he understood. Maybe. "Okay, sounds good!" He called back, trying to sound upbeat, like it didn't really matter.
The next couple of weeks went by smoothly. Pepper was feeling better, her body taking its own course of healing. But now, she was stressed out, trying to plan Tony's trip to Afghanistan, and coordinating things with Rhodey.
"Please, Pepper. Try to get Tony there on time. Please." Was all Rhodey could ask her, over and over again.
"I will try my very hardest, Rhodey." Pepper said, slightly agitated.
Pepper sat down on one of Tony's nice couches, leaning back and taking a deep breath. Every night since she had found out that Tony was going back to Afghanistan was a living nightmare. The only thing that she thought of when the word "Afghanistan" was voiced was Gene Khan, and that horrible day so long ago. It felt like a lifetime ago.
She put a hand to her forehead, gently rubbing it, trying to work the images out of her brain. She had nonchalantly asked why Tony had to fly all the way to Afghanistan to test a missile, but he replied with, "Because we'd rather not test it here where we get a lot of publicity, and I have to go over weapons development and set up offers with the President in Afghanistan. He won't come here, he's just too stubborn. Don't tell anyone I said that."
And Pepper would nod her understanding, trying to keep from bursting into tears. She was so good at keeping her emotions in check, but when it came to reliving her fears, it just kept building up in her system, threatening to release.
Pepper looked at the calendar on her blackberry, and was almost shocked that it was so close to her birthday. "How did that creep up on me?" She asked herself.
"How did what creep up on you?" Pepper jumped at the voice behind her. Tony laughed, "Was it me that you were referring to?"
"Ha ha, Mr. Stark, very funny."
"Well, thought I'd try." He shrugged.
Pepper looked up from her calendar, "You have exactly two weeks before you leave. You think you're ready?" She asked.
"Yup! I'm ready to go get this thing done and over with." Tony looked down at the floor for a moment. "You know, you could always come, have fun with us kids and our toys that blow up!" He said, half joking.
"Tony, you know I'm not going." Pepper said softly. She still didn't think Tony knew the real reason.
"I know, Pepper. Just thought I'd try." Tony winked, "I didn't think you'd like the heat over there and all the politics of it."
Pepper almost laughed, oh how did he not know? "You're completely right, Mr. Stark." She tried a good smile, but seemed to fail.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked immediately.
"Nothing." Pepper said quickly.
Tony eyed her for a moment, "You're lying."
"No. No, I'm not..." Pepper said.
"Well, I won't pry it out of you, but if you ever want to talk about it-"
"I feel like everything will happen all over again!" Pepper cried out.
"What?" Tony asked, taken aback by Pepper's outburst.
Pepper stood from the couch, standing in front of Tony, "I can't help but think of everything that happened when we were in Afghanistan! When I was taken from New York, was forced to take that stupid ring! Was dragged through a Temple, was almost crushed!" She took a deep breath, tears stinging her eyes, "Seeing you battle, get hurt, the immense pain I felt, watching Gene get...get blown up!!" She was yelling now, flailing her hands around.
Tony hadn't seen her like this in years. This was the old Pepper coming out. He almost felt relieved by it, but...not in that she was so distressed about him leaving.
"Pepper, Pepper! Calm down." Tony grabbed her shoulders, backing her up toward the couch and almost forced her to sit down. "I'll be fine, nothing will happen to me. Things will be okay. I'm sorry. I'll never tease you about going there ever again, I had no idea that you were so weighed down by this."
He sat down next to her and wiped stray tears from her cheek, "When I get back, it'll be like I didn't even leave. You don't even have to think about me being there, you could pretend I'm in England!" Tony smiled, trying to help.
"It's not the same, Tony! You saw what happened in Afghanistan, you saw what happened to Gene. That place is not somewhere I want you to go! Or Rhodey, too!" She cried, "It's tearing me apart." She said quietly.
Tony squeezed her hand, "I'm sorry, Pep, but I really have to do this. I'll be fine, I'll come back. I promise."
Pepper leaned forward, her head hitting his shoulder. Tony wrapped his arms around her for the first time in so long. When he had hired Pepper, she had taken on a whole different persona, trying to be so professional. He had hardly seen her emotions at all for the past couple of years. And here they were, sitting on his couch, Pepper spilling out her emotions only two weeks before he had to leave. There wasn't much he could do about it now.
All righty! There it is :) Hope you liked it! No flames please...but Reviews would be loved.
