I'm interested in what was going on back home during those three months… I hope you are too.

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JUST A JOB: Waiting, Week One

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Pepper didn't quite know how she got to work the next day. Certainly, she had risen, showered, dressed; certainly Happy had arrived at the house to drive her, looking concerned but professional. Certainly she must have taken the elevator up to her smaller office next to the one belonging to the head of the company. And, she discovered with some small relief, at least when she was up on the executive floor people refrained from stopping her in the hall to ask if she had heard anything. One more sympathetic litany might have done her in.

On automatic pilot, she turned on her computer, hung her jacket and purse, watered the plants along her window. Equally automatically she walked through the artfully hidden door into her boss's office, watered his often-neglected ferns, looked through his inbox, and was leaning to turn on his monitor before it hit her. He's not coming in today. Not even to stop through on his way back to the workshop. She froze, her hand on the power button. Blinking herself back to reality, she stood up straight, her face the picture of controlled professionalism. Get a grip on yourself, Potts. This may be your last day working here, but you're not going to fall apart. Frowning at her own negative thoughts, she went back through to her office, sat down at the desk, and clicked on the newsfeed.

She watched in a state of numbing despair. More and more often, the reports on Anthony Stark's disappearance were being given, subtly, in the past tense. In the form of an Obituary. 'He was' this, and that, and the other. She turned in desperation to focus on the office email, and her eyes went wide. "Three thousand?"

A soft knock on the door frame made her look up. Elise Truman, the head of HR, was standing in the open door, a young woman behind her looking a bit nervous. "Good morning, Pepper." The older woman looked completely professional, but her tone was warm.

Well, that was fast. "Hello, Elise. Am I out already?"

"Out? What do you mean?"

Pepper stood and walked around to the front of her desk, motioning for the woman to come in. "Well, it looks like my job may not exist anymore. I assume that –"

Elise held up a hand, stopping her. She turned to the young woman behind her. "Althea, please go and get two cups of coffee. And something for yourself. We just need a moment." The younger woman nodded to them both and dashed away. "Now. No one is assuming Tony – Mr. Stark – is dead. Missing. He's missing, and that's the company line until proven otherwise."

Pepper dropped her head, and Elise stepped a bit closer. "Frankly, Pepper, I like to believe he's out there somewhere raising hell. Tony Stark wouldn't leave this world without a comet blazing across the sky, at the very least."

Pepper smiled as she looked up, although her eyes were watering. "True. I don't think he'd have it any other way."

"Exactly. And hopefully his captors will find out just how difficult it is to get him to stay in one place."

"But what am I supposed to do? How do I personally assist someone who's… missing?"

Elise put a hand on her shoulder. "You do what you've always done, dear. You act as the buffer between him and the rest of the world." She smiled, gave Pepper a quick hug, and stepped back, looking more serious. "Did you check the email traffic?"

Pepper took a breath and seemed relieved to focus on business. "I did. It's ridiculous. It's going to take me a week just to sort through today's mail."

"And it won't slow down much until… he gets back. Which is where Althea comes in."

"Oh?" The puzzled look on Pepper's face was echoed a moment later when Althea returned to the office, holding three cups of coffee precariously between her hands, and looked up to see them both staring at her.

"I – ah – got the coffee… Sorry it took so long, I had to ask how you two like it…"

Elise swept over to help her, passing a cup to Pepper and taking one herself. "Nonsense, you were very quick. Pepper Potts, this is Althea Mendelssohn. She's going to help you sort things out until Mr. Stark gets back." Pepper looked at Elise with wide eyes.

"Oh?"

"Yes."

Althea stepped nervously forward, a façade of calm allowing her to extend a hand. "Miss Potts, it's a pleasure to meet you. You've been a role model of mine since college."

"Oh?..." Pepper didn't quite know how to deal with that.

"And I am so grateful to Ms. Truman for the opportunity, even though I know it's temporary."

"Oh, no. I mean – oh." Pepper frowned, looked helplessly at Elise.

"You'll need help, Pepper. I would have waited for you to choose someone, but clearly, time is of the essence. I think you'll find Althea every bit as helpful as you are." Walking over to the door that connected offices, Elise opened it. "I believe the easiest arrangement will be for Althea to work here, in your office, and for you to use Mr. Starks."

Pepper felt the room spin just slightly. Part of her was screaming that there was no way she was going to move in to Tony's office, even though she had used it often enough when he wasn't here. Another more sensible, calmer part accepted that the plan made sense; and a tiny voice in the back of her mind just voiced relief at still having a job. She shook her head to clear it.

"Oh. Okay."

Elise nodded. "Good luck. Call me if you need anything else, or more people. We'll get through this." With a strong little smile, the older woman left, closing the office door behind her.

Pepper lifted a hand to her head and closed her eyes for a moment. "Okay. First things first." She motioned Althea to follow her behind her desk. "We've got to get through this email. I'll need you to sort the sympathy offerings from the business concerns first. Throw the business to me – there's a direct swipe to his desktop, here – and we'll come up with a standard sympathy response this afternoon. You get started. I'll try to answer some phone calls."

"Yes, Miss Potts."

Pepper had to grin, even as she stared at the mound of work. "Pepper. Just call me Pepper."

The younger woman grinned back at her and extended her hand. "Allie."

oOo

Shortly before noon, her intercom buzzed. "Miss Potts?"

"Pepper, Allie." She almost rolled her eyes, and then remembered that she was probably younger than Althea when she started working for Tony. "What is it?"

"Sorry. Pepper. There's someone from legal here to see you."

Looking over the notes spread hectically across Tony's normally pristine desk, she sighed. "Sure, why not. Send 'em over." Now what?

A soft knock was heard before the rich mahogany door opened. "Hi."

"Ken?" She stood and walked over to meet him halfway. "I didn't realize it was you. I thought it would be Sandra –"

"She's on maternity leave. I think it was just good timing." He looked into her eyes, and the smallest of frowns crossed his brow. "How are you holding up?"

She shrugged, awkwardly. They had dated for nearly a year before the relationship seemed to just fade away… at least, it had for her. From the warm look in his eye, she could see there was still a part of him that cared.

What, and you don't? He's a good man…

Yes. But he's not the right man.

Aloud, she said, "I'm doing all right. I wish we knew something."

He brushed his hand across her arm and she felt a warm little shiver. "I understand."

It would be so easy to fall into someone's arms right now, have him tell her everything would be all right… but she just gave him a steady smile. "So… does legal need anything?"

He nodded, acknowledging the purely professional relationship. "I just wanted to check in before the board meeting next Monday. Make sure you knew it was me on call, not Sandra. I figure you've had enough surprises this week." He shook his head, a wistful expression clouding his blue eyes. "Hell of a birthday for you."

She shrugged, nodded. "Yes, well…" He remembered. He would. "But I wasn't going to the meeting. I've got too much correspondence to catch up on –"

His frown stopped her. "Ah – I really think you should be there."

"Really? I'm not on the board… the only time I attend is when Tony asks me to take notes for him, or that one time he was in Switzerland."

Ken stared at her for a long moment, an unreadable expression on his face. "I think it would be a good idea for you to come."

Pepper blew out a breath. "Well, okay. Two o'clock?"

"One-thirty."

She rolled her eyes. "Great." Walking back around her desk, she stood facing him. "Hopefully, we'll be a little caught up by then. Or maybe he'll be back… Thanks for the heads-up, Ken."

He looked fondly at her. "No problem. Let me know if you need anything."

Ken left the office, and she found herself staring after him for a long moment before shaking her head and sitting down to draft the sympathy response letter.

oOo

Obadiah Stane swept the long conference table with a glance, giving a satisfied nod before sitting down at the head of it. "This meeting of the board will come to order. First order of business, the permanent transfer of leadership. As you all know, this requires a majority vote."

Pepper looked up from her pad with a frown. Her eyes darted around the table, seeing varying responses to what was said. She was ready to say something, when the head of R&D spoke up. "Permanent transfer? It's been a week, Stane. There's no proof he's dead."

Obadiah tried unsuccessfully to stare down the engineer. Most of the engineers in research and development were devoted to Stark; he gave them anything they needed, and supported almost everything they wanted to try. I'll have to work on that, maybe hire a few of my own. "Listen, Dave. I'm not saying he is. God knows, I probably want to see him alive more than anyone at this table."

Pepper watched skeptically as Obadiah seemed to be trying to hold back his emotional response.

"But we have to make sure this company is safe. That it goes on. Tony would have – Tony would want that."

She felt herself stiffen, but was distracted when she shifted her eyes and saw Ken glance around the table as if he were counting something, and then looking at her thoughtfully.

"So we need to vote, all of us. I ran this company for almost five years, and most of you know how much I run it now, with Tony's blessing. It just makes sense to make sure that the chain of command is in place. Just in case the worst comes about." His voice, rasping with emotion, rumbled in the board room. "I move that I, Obadiah Stane, be placed in the position of company president of Stark Industries until the resolution of the whereabouts of Anthony Stark are determined."

Dave from R&D spoke up. "I move for an anonymous vote." Obadiah shot him a glare, but it subsided rapidly.

"Fine. Break out the paper."

For a few minutes there was no sound except for the scribbling of pens and folding of papers, the soft shushing sounds as they were passed down to Ken, who opened, and counted, then counted again. Obadiah looked impatient. "So?"

Ken took a deep breath. "It's a tie." Stane frowned darkly, and there was a murmuring at the table as people questioned what he meant. Pulling his laptop closer, the lawyer proceeded to read a passage. "The company bylaws state that in the event of the board being deadlocked, Mr. Stark can cast the deciding vote."

Stane gave a humorless laugh. "Well, I happen to know that if Tony's dead, that vote falls to me." He stood, and began to speak. "I formally –"

"Mr. Stane." Ken was staring thoughtfully at his computer. "I'm sorry, but that's no longer the case."

"What?"

"Mr. Stark evidently filed a new representative for a proxy vote."

"Bull. When?" Obie's voice was furious, but Ken sat calmly behind his legal documentation.

"According to the records, last year." He scrolled through the copy of the document. "…and in the event of my death or disappearance, my personal power of attorney and board duties will be filled by..." Ken stopped, avoided a grin as he looked up at Stane. "By Virginia Potts."

All eyes turned to look at Pepper, who looked a little shocked. "What? Are you sure?"

Ken nodded. "It's all here, Miss Potts." He clicked a few keys on his laptop. "I'm sending the documentation to all board members."

Obadiah hitched his hands on his hips and stared her down. "So, Pepper? What's it going to be?"

Pepper stared. What I really want to do is crawl into a hole, and wait. She seemed to hear a voice speaking, and it took her a moment to realize it was her own, sounding calmly professional.

"Mr. Stane, you have been the de facto head of Stark Industries whenever necessary. Your work in that capacity has been stellar. I see no need to change that status at this time. My vote is 'no'." The atmosphere in the room changed, as Obadiah Stane found himself thwarted by a lowly personal assistant. For a moment it seemed that he would burst into a rage – but then the moment passed.

"Very well, Miss Potts." They stared at each other for a few seconds more. "For now, we'll leave things as they are. I just hope you don't live to regret it."

oOo

Back in Tony's office, Pepper sat at the computer and stared at the monitor. She wasn't sure why, since all that was there was the same document she had read six times – but she stared, nonetheless. Perhaps it was because the photographed image had his signature on it. Her fingertips brushed the monitor where his scrawl was pictured, and she sighed.

Come on, Potts. Just finish this up. Then you can go home and… Blinking herself back to some semblance of attention, she reached for the mouse at the same instant the document vanished. Her monitor went dark for a moment, only to be replaced by the tasteful, glittering star field of her screensaver.

Stars.

In her mind's eye she was suddenly standing in a basement workshop, surrounded by stars, pressed close to the warmth of another body, looking into eyes so deep and dark, she felt that if she let her guard down for even a moment, she might drown in them...

With a little gasp, she stared at the monitor. Then, quietly, she put her head down on her desk and wept.

Oh, Tony. Come back, please…

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…please feed the author…