Chapter 4 : The Reprise
Three days for the wedding and doing what in her mind was the last run for the bank to steady any sort of business for Stark Industries Pepper enters the bank in haste of caffeine and lunch hour. The traffic was hellish and so was the line for the reception and taking a calming breath (that didn't' work) she turned to Happy, who mentioned something about depositing some paychecks and smiled. "Well, it looks like I've got a line to get into."
Happy only nodded. "Tell you what; give me the checks and I'll deposit them. You go make sure Mr. Stark makes it to the press conference."
"Are you sure Mss. Potts? I can wait if you want."
"No, no, just do me that little favor and I'll call you as soon as I'm done here." At first Happy wasn't too convinced but looking at his clock and with urgent business from Pepper's side he decided to follow her plan. He handed her the envelope with his information and checks and left. Pepper took a deep breath and got in the line for the reception, purse tightly held on her shoulder. She looked around and smiled; this had been the bank her first robbery as Stark's broad was witnessed. She couldn't never forget the place, although now redecorated and more technological it was the same place she was held hostage, handcuffed to a railing she could easily identify and the windows that used to be exhibition stage where she was pushed to by some lunatic. Another deep breath, that did the calming for her nerves, followed to the dawning of this knowledge and Pepper smiled, really smiled as she remembered how the whole thing turned out to end; her in an ambulance completely frozen and Tony haranguing some poor guy about her having a fever. It warmed her heart.
"Alright nobody move! This is a stakeout!"
And so as she turned to look at the robbers that had just decided to make their move in her watch and smiled. how very fitting.
With her face plastered almost daily in every newspaper in the state, it only took minutes for the robbers to find Pepper among the hostages. And history repeated itself quite smoothly; in her head past the shock and in the side of irony (who seemed to be having a drink with annoyance) a single comment was whispered; let's get this going so I can be present for the 2:00 appointment!
The hour spent within the bank went by slowly and Pepper spend it ignoring a little kid that wanted to know more about Iron Man. She was in no mood to speak to children, now don't get her wrong she loved kids, but not other people's kids.
Outside the police had arrived, and she was pretty sure Iron Man was on his way. Specially if Happy had told Tony that was the exact bank Pepper was in. It was only a matter of time. And suddenly 'boom' and the barrier of sound as broken before Iron Man landed before the building. Wasn't he suppose to do something heroic and incredibly stupid like land inside the bank and rescue everyone but specially her in the process. One would expect so when he confessed to her so deeply while kissing her...
you are running away with yourself, Potts. Apparently that's her way for dealing with highly stressful situations, just run away with your own thoughts.
Lifted by her hair, quite literally and painfully so, Pepper was dragged to the front seat; the crystal clear windows. Again the sun attacked her and turning slightly away, Pepper heard the distinctive collective gasp that came with realization. Turning to the big crowd outside she saw police, happy and right in front of her; Iron Man. The huge robot's eyes seemed no narrow as it's head lowered slightly.
"You alright Pep?" The mechanized voice asked softly, but before she could reply she was thrown backwards by the robber.
And it proved a big mistake because by the slight miscalculation of a few feet she landed against one of the oak desks. She heard her own scream echo in the bank, gasps following by the other hostages and then darkness. All hell broke loose after that.
She came to herself again when something hard was lifting her limp form from the floor, and someone was calling for her, incessantly so. She turned her hurting head and the migraine she'd been holding at bay for three months hit full force to hit her. Iron Man was carrying her.
The bank was a complete mess.
The robbers were on the ground.
Tony's face was staring down at her, worried.
Paramedics were trying to take care of her but she was taking flight and in the hiss of wind around her head she lost consciousness again.
She lost twenty six hours unconscious.
Two days now to the wedding and the end of her career in Stark Industries, Pepper watched CNN replay the images of the bank robbery, the date and hour to one corner, and her head hurting. Not really understanding what she as seeing, Pepper saw herself been carried by Iron Man and then up, up and away. When realization sank, she realized she was in a horrible hospital gown, in a horrible hospital bed, windows closed and well covered with thick curtains and her sister sleeping to her side. She groaned, and turned away. The impact of her skull with the wood proved almost fatal, and the pain was exceptional.
Another word for very very bad booboo.
"Viv, Ah, thank god you are awake." Said her sister shooting up from the horrible uncomfortable looking chair. "I'll call the doctor."
"What happened?" Why was she even asking she knew exactly what had happened.
Iron Man saved her life. CNN was expecting to have Tony Stark talk to them... Good luck with that! Eve moved around the room and pressed the nurse's button a few times.
"Don't you remember? You were in a bank robbery."
"Ah, again."
"You were thrown against a desk and lost consciousness. You have quite the concussion. It was a miracle you didn't break your neck." Did they threw her that hard? "Mom is on her way from Florida and Mr. Stark is..."
"Is she awake?" Asked Tony entered the room without knocking. He seemed lost for a second and when their eyes met, he relaxed. "Potts you gave us quite the scare."
Pepper didn't reply, she was stupefied by the hit and his beauty. Manly beauty at that she wouldn't make him less manly for been beautiful. "How are you feeling?"
"Like hell." Had the side of her brain that had to be proper died in the accident? I'm still here, it murmured sounding sore and tired.
"Well the doctors I got you will make you feel better in no time. You'll see." And so the real doctors entered the room, and explained to her in very complicated words that she apparently was suppose to understand, that what she had was a hell of a concussion and has to rest for the next week or so. That she would be kept for a few more hours but that by the end of the day she could go home. But not be alone just in case she had a fainting episode or something. "not to worry doc, I'll be taking her to my place and treating her like a princess."
She laughed out loud and leaned back to her pillow. This would be fun.
"Ah, no, my parents are flying from Florida and we'll be taking care of her."
Mr. Anthony Stark and Evelyn Potts hated each other's guts.
"Right, your parents can stay in my hose while I take care of her. Thank you."
Pepper turned, and actually sat up.
"I don't' think so, with you and your wedding coming up I think you are more than busy."
Finding her clothing she actually started to dress. The doctor was about to interrupt them when Tony continued.
"No, she's going to my house and there'll be no wedding until she's fully recovered."
Taking a deep breath and pulling her jacket over the ugly hospital gown, Pepper turned to the doctor.
"Ha! As if you could take care of anyone. You can't' even take care of yourself."
Rhodes was the one who stopped Pepper from escaping the room, standing outside just about to knock on the door to see her was surprised to find her waking out of the room.
"Hey where are you going?"
Both Tony and Eve turned to see Pepper trying to leave.
"See? You can't even watch her while in the same room!"
"You were right here with me! You did nothing to prevent this." They screamed at each other as Pepper was dragged back to bed. Rhodes again had to interfere.
"You two stop this! Pepper needs her rest now get out!"
"There is no way in hell I'm leaving her!"
"Go to your own girl, Mr. Stark, I'll take care of my sister."
"I recommend you both leave this room immediately, you are disturbing the patients' rest!" Said the doctor suddenly picking the guts to go against Mr. Stark and the enraged woman.
"You shut up!" Tony and Eve said at the same time.
The door opened and Mrs. Potts entered the room, eyes setting on Pepper quickly. She quickly pushed
Tony out of the way, along with Rhodey and sat by her daughter. "Honey," She kissed the woman as if a five year old and hugged her. "How are you feeling?"
"Bad." Said Pepper in a little voice that melted Tony's anger, and so he turned to his P.A. and watched. Mr. Potts entered the room, eyeing both Eve and Tony, and kissed his youngest daughter. "Daddy."
"Viv." Said the old man sitting at the other side of the bed, hand cupping Pepper's pale cheek. "What happened?"
"Bank robbery. I'll be fine. I just have a nasty headache." Slowly both Rhodney and Tony were hushed out of the room, along with Eve ("Hey I'm family!"). "I miss you both so much." And as the door closed Pepper saw Tony staring at her from outside, eyes full of something she wasn't sure what it was.
One day for the wedding.
A countdown began in her head as she sat on her bed, hurting everywhere and pampered like a bratty little princess. At the end her parents convinced Tony that they were better suited to take care of her, and although reluctantly, he allowed her to stay in her house. Eve and Daniel had just gotten there, and were handing David to her father. Suddenly the broken image of herself handing a little Stark for her father to hold seemed out of reach yet so beautiful... Tears formed in her eyes but she wouldn't allow them to slip. The child would have inherited her looks, but his brain. He or she would have been so perfect... They would have made beautiful children.
Chuckling softly, Pepper closed her door and headed to her closet. A dark set was selected and after a quick shower, she don it. It was an improvement to her old sets, more expensive and rich looking. White shirt, pants, and a jacket. Just like the one she wore for her job interview at Stark Industries. From her reflection on the mirror Pepper saw Evelyn staring at her from the doorway, a sad expression on her eyes. Pepper gave her a heartfelt smile and turned.
"You are going to do it, are you?"
"Yes." Pepper, no... Virginia swallowed hard and started to fix her hair, but the pain at the back of her head made it impossible for her to create her trademark bun. So she let it loose. "i have to do it."
"Are you sure?"
Again another smile, Virginia walked to her sister and hugged her. "It's alright. It'll be fine. Daddy and I spoke last night and we booked a flight for tonight."
"You are going to Florida?"
"For a while, I might travel around until I decided where to settle." That smile she was giving Eve was devastating. "For now I must do this." And so she picked up her large handbag a white envelope from her dresser and a box from the bedside table. "I'll be fine, don't worry."
And so she left the room. A kiss to her nephew, her father, a quick farewell and Pepper was on her way to do what she had dreaded to do for years now.
Her first stop was the nearest Starbuck. She ordered a caramel latte, a chocolate hazelnut and cappuccino with extra whipped cream, three muffins and enough sugar for an army. The guys at the little coffee shop knew her well and before she knew it she had her order in hand and was on her car again. Driving swiftly and not hitting much traffic, Pepper arrived at the Stark Mansion at eight sharp. As usually she entered the house and greeted Jarvis.
"Shall I summon Mr. Stark?"
"No, I have it. Don't worry."
"Very well ma'am. He's at the workshop, apparently asleep." Carrying the extra whipped cream cappuccino and one of the muffins, Pepper made her way silently downstairs. The glass was darkened and unsure of how to proceed; Pepper punched her code to enter. The glass cleared and she stepped inside. Everything was dark and blissfully quiet. She could make out Tony's limp form over his couch, covered with a towel and snoring softly. Smiling, Pepper settled the cup of coffee and muffin on his desk (over a clean sheet of paper) and moved silently to Tony. With the A.C in high, the room was cold and Pepper found the sheet on the floor. She quickly covered her soon to be ex-boss with it and smiled. He looked so innocent like this... Childlike, what he was suppose to be even when he was pushing close to a middle age crisis (which she wasn't sure this wedding was symptoms of or not). How she longed to actually have pressed her lips to his at the Disney hall. But that could be remedied, right? Pressing her fingers to her mouth she pressed a kiss there and quickly place it on the space she was more than sure was the reactor, humming alive to keep him alive. She loved that little night light more than her own life, because it saved him. She lingered longer than she wanted to and finally turning she walked out of the
shop. When the door was closed the darkness slowly returned to the glass.
"Jarvis, why does the glass do that?"
"Mr Stark created it so he would have some privacy from Mss. Chandler." Ah, no wonder he brought her back down when they ... ahem made out.
"Oh, I see." And so Pepper walked upstairs, bumping with Rhodey. "Jim, hi."
"Pep, are you feeling better?"
"Better than ever. Here," She said walking to the center table of the living room. "I brought you a caramel latte and a muffin."
"You're a life saver, Potts. Are you going to stick around?"
"No, I have some things to do."
"For the record, if you don't find someone to marry, I'm available."
She laughed. "I'll consider it, alright?"
"Don't' tell Tony, he might kill me."
"My lips are sealed. And so are yours right, Jarvis?"
"Indeed ma'am." Rhodey went away, humming and biting into his muffin. Goodbye Jin, she wished to whisper but instead turned away. Pepper picked the box she had brought and clearing her throat moved upstairs. Everything was quiet, exceptionally quiet. And she even wondered if Marie was still living here. Pepper entered her office as quietly as possible, almost as a mice, and closed the door as swiftly. She moved around her desk and decided to leave the place as it was. There was nothing here that could really be taken by here, everything was Tony's... except the frame under the lamp at the side of the desk. She saw herself and Tony, from one of the last whatever ceremonies, taken by Rhodey. She picked the silver frame up, and set her box right in the middle of the desk. There was nothing else she needed from this room. Looking up at the corner hidden from the door, she saw Marie's wedding dress standing proudly on a headless mannequin.
That it's my dress she'll be wearing!...No it's not fair! The words rang on her voice every time she looked at the perfect dress. Today was no different. As she caressed the sleeve of the dress she wondered very deeply in how she had gone so far without breaking down.
"What are you going?" Pepper turned harshly to the voice and saw Marie standing at the door, looking at her quite seriously. Pepper dropped the sleeve of the dress and turned fully to her.
"I was just admiring the dress."
"Listen, Mss Potts I've been wanting to tell you something for a while now; stay away from Tony, alright? He's mine now. NO matter what you do I will be the one marring him, understood?" The words were harsh, painful but not as shocking as Pepper had expect them to be. Pepper smiled and lowered her gaze.
"Marie," She said the name softly, tenderly. "I love tony for such a long time. And I'm not going to even try to take him away. But I hope thatt you realize what a catch you've made. And deep in my heart I hope that he shares with you half of what he shared with me." The other woman stared at Pepper with stone cold eyes. "I brought you a chocolate from Starbucks, it's downstairs, the muffin is also so for you. Now I'm going and I'll be making sure your cake makes it tomorrow here, and then I'll be going to headquarters. After that you'll hear no more of me. I promise." And with that Pepper gripped the photo frame tighter in her hands and walked to the door. She opened it and turned back to the woman. "Congratulations on your wedding." And the P.A. left the fiancée standing eyes wide and surprised in the small office.
Again downstairs, Pepper quickly stuffed the frame into her large bag and while placing the strap around her shoulder smiled. Taking one last long look at the living room tears threatened with bursting from the self imposed damn she'd created. So many memories hid here, in every corner of every possible situation imaginable. They called forth sounds and noises, laughter, tears, messed up dinners, parties, meetings, music, silence, TV., movies, food... Love. Tony.
Her Tony.
There was one last thing to do. Fishing her blackberry from her bag, Pepper turned it off and placed it on the arm rest of the sofa and slowly slipped her hand away. Gripping the handles of her bag tightly, Pepper turned and started to walk to the door. "Jarvis, you were a pal."
"Likewise, Mss. Potts. I shall see you soon, drive carefully."
"Thank you for everything."
"My pleasure ma'am."
The door opened for her, one last time, and Pepper Potts was dead.
Virginia slipped outside, and looked at the sunny Californian day with a smile. A few meters away, Happy was washing the limo and upon seeing her he rose his hand to wave.
"Hey Hap,"
"Morning Mss Potts."
"I'll be seeing you around." She said walking past her gray silver Audi, waving back at him. Frowning Happy watched as Pepper walked down the hill and out the gate to the street. This stroke him as odd, but he'd seen so much odd in this household he just shook his head and continued working.
Virginia Potts had been called a woman of power.
There was no better way to explain this than when she stepped into the lobby at Stark Industries Headquarters. Secretaries followed her around and giving her updates of stock holders, meetings, anything that needed damage control. She was like the very CEO in disguise, and very good looking disguise at that. As she walked to her office a few things needed her signature and she obliged them. She would miss this little things. Entering her office, and letting everybody know she wished to speak with Mr. Levits, Head of Human Resources, she found peace on the controlled environment of her private huge office.
Walking to finally seat on her chair, Virginia searched for the House of Cakes phone and called.
"I'm calling for the Stark Wedding Cake."
"yes, ma'am I tried to get a hold of you yesterday but was unable. We had a little trouble and the cake as made entire in devil's food..."
"There's no problem, it's perfect."
"Good, we were so worried."
"Remember to deliver the entire cake at eight sharp to James Rhodes, he'll tell you where to put it. And do not let Mr. Stark get a taste, he might end up eating the whole thing himself before the wedding."
"The other order was it to your liking, ma'am?"
"Yes, very much, thank you. I shall send a little tip to your people for that."
"Our pleasure ma'am. We'll see you tomorrow then?" Virginia smiled.
"Yes. We'll see." And the line went dead. Virginia looked at her desk and opened the first two drawers, nothing personal just pens and clips and staplers. On the bottom drawer she found her address book and shove it into her bag, a bag for emergency make up sessions and a Mentos box. To the other side nothing else required her pick up. But over the desk another picture of herself with Tony, and this time Rhodes was lifted and placed inside her bag. She would miss this place. Tracing her hands over the desk again, Virginia stood up and again melancholy hit her. There were more memories here, specially on the small couch to her left; tony had taken countless naps over it. Ignoring the image that attacked the silence of him sleeping there, Virginia walked out the door almost bumping with one of the other secretaries.
"Mss. Potts, Mr. Levits is ready for you."
"Thank you Valerie, you're a sweetheart." Walking to the Human Resources Office Virginia remember the first time she'd walked this hall. As a simple job hunting, which she hated. Who would have though she would end up Tony Stark's assistant? She knocked on the door and entered; Mr. Levits got up real quick and welcomed her, offering a chair for her to sit. "Actually I'm here in a hurry." She searched her bag, and found the white envelope, placing it over the man's desk. "I quit." The man looked up at her stunned. "And it's irrefutable. Give Mr. Stark my biggest thanks you and that it was a pleasure working with him. The opportunity was greatly appreciated."
"Mss. Potts but..."
"Please." She said lifting her hand, stopping the man. "Please." And then she turned and left. She made it home before lunch, and placed the photo frames around her living room. Her father mentioned she looked good in both pictures and she said that they were old memories of a life long gone by.