Goodness! Thank you for reviewing my teeny chapter!

Well, after going through parts of Pepper's life before the movies, I've finally joined up with where we first see her. This is not going to be a novelization of the films however. There is still a lot going on for me to write about…

Enjoy! (Hopefully)

Oh, I own nothing.

Happy Birthday

For my thirty-fourth birthday, Tony gave me the best present of all: a snotty, fake blonde reporter with a bad attitude. She was the first woman I'd had to deal with in a few weeks, and- silly me- I'd begun to hope there wouldn't be anymore. I should've known. Tony is Tony. He likes sex, minus the whole relationship part.

This blonde, as I said, was a bitch. She had the audacity to insult me, while wearing nothing but my boss' shirt.

"You must be the famous Pepper Potts," she quipped after I handed her freshly pressed garments to her.

"Indeed I am." I, at least, would attempt to keep my dignity. Or what was left of it.

"Huh. After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry cleaning." Her mouth twisted into an unkind smile.

Um. Okay, bitch, if that's how you want to do it… "I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires. Including, occasionally, taking out the trash. Will that be all?" I returned the smile. She frowned, stuck her nose up, and sauntered upstairs to dress. I'm surprised she didn't flip me off.

I had plans. It was the first time I'd had plans in a long time. Therefore, I wanted to get Tony off to Afghanistan as soon as possible. My friends Tanya and Ashley were taking me out to "party." The past few years had been pretty dull, and dammit, I wanted to have fun. Do something crazy. Maybe have sex- it had been a while. A long while. I turned down Tony's music and began to prattle away as soon as I entered his workshop. He wasn't cooperating.

"What are you trying to get rid of me for? What- you got plans?" he asked. Shit. Was I really that obvious?

"As a matter of fact, I do," I answered primly.

"I don't like it when you have plans." He really didn't. He wasn't jealous of my company in a… romantic way, but he felt that I was his property and territory, and no one else could take up my time. It was kinda weird, really. And a little flattering.

I smiled. "I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday." Somehow, he could remember the day he hired me almost ten years ago, yet my birthday was annually forgotten. It didn't hurt, though. I'd gotten use to it. I'd come to accept my boss' thoughtlessness and selfishness; his vices and his few- though redeeming- virtues.

"It's your birthday?- already?"

"Strange- it's the same day as last year."
"Well, get yourself something nice from me."

"I already did." I'd come to accept that his credit card was as equally mine as it was his, and that he expected he to buy myself expensive things with it.

"And?" he asked, genuinely interested. It was almost sweet: how curious he was over what he'd gotten me.

"Oh, it's very nice, very tasteful. Thank you, Mr. Stark," I replied. I couldn't help but smile. Our flirtation over the years had become second nature, and more friendly than suggestive. He didn't even look at me as a sexual woman anymore. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"You're welcome, Miss Potts." He returned the silly smile, as well as the flirty usage of formality. With that, he strode off, bid me farewell, and was on his way to a weapons demonstration he should've left for two hours ago.

Over the years, I'd come to accept that Tony was Tony. Nothing would change him into the sort of man I'd wish he'd be. I'd come to accept that whatever I'd once felt for him needed to take a backseat- those feelings weren't wanted anymore. They made things too complicated.

I was in the middle of eating a slice of incredibly sexual chocolate cake when my cell phone rang. I took it out and looked at the time. It was a little past two in the morning. As my phone continued to ring, I kept staring at that cake. It was damn good. I chucked the phone onto the coffee table and continued to stuff my face.

My birthday had actually gone pretty well, and despite the fact I hadn't had sex, I did get the number of a really hot guy I'd made a date with for next week.

In a way, it was weird being at my own house. I was so used to Tony's, and-

The phone started ringing again. I tried to ignore it, but it rang again and again. I finally gave in, cursing all the while. Somebody had damn well better died-

"What?" I demanded harshly as I flipped open my cell.

"Pepper- oh my God- I'm so sorry-" It was Rhodey. It sounded like he was choking or- or crying? No, Rhodey never cries.

"What?" I asked again, though gently this time. My heart fell to the pit of my stomach. Something was wrong, I just knew it.

"Pepper-" he started again. He paused, took a deep breath- "we lost him. We lost Tony."

What should have made me weep did nothing. I felt absolutely nothing.

"Is this a joke?" I asked, sounding rather like a robot.

"Oh God," he muttered. "No Pepper, but I wish it was. We lost him- after the ambush-"

What ambush? What the hell was going on?

"-We got attacked just after the demonstration. Half the convoy was killed- the guys with Tony are all dead-" his voice trailed off.

Tony was dead? When Rhodey said that they lost him, does that mean he was… gone?

"-But we'll keep looking for him Pepper. Whether we find him dead or alive, we'll keep looking till we do," he said, his voice hoarse and strained. I could only imagine what he'd gone through that day.

"You promise?" I whispered.

"Yeah. I promise, Pepper." We both hung up. There was nothing more to say.

Tony was missing. Someone had taken him. But why? What were they doing to him?

I didn't want to think about it.

The first week, my optimism ran high. I daily expected a phone call from Rhodey, saying that they'd found Tony. He'd just wandered off during the fighting, and he was perfectly fine, though maybe a little sunburned. He was Tony Stark. Of course he was alright. I continued to go to work as though nothing was wrong. I continued to make calls, answer emails, go to meetings, all the while expecting that phone call.

But it never came.

After three weeks, Obadiah came to me and told me that even though things were looking pretty grim, I shouldn't give up hope. They'd find Tony, he assured me. He always was a lucky son of a bitch. By this point, my hope had begun to falter, but Obadiah's encouragement lifted my spirits again. Obi was never wrong- he loved Tony like a son. As long as he hoped for the best, so would I.

That's more easily said than done. After two months, all the big magazines started running the story of Tony's death, even though a body hadn't been found. I stopped answering his emails. I sat there, alone, in his house, for hours- thinking about nothing in particular. The entire second month, an unfathomable emptiness lay inside me, and nothing I did could fill it.

I pretended that I didn't really care- that Tony was just my boss. It helped me to get through daily life. But the third month was almost unbearable. A tiny ray of hope still lingered inside me, but I didn't hold on to it.

The worst moment came when Obadiah called and told me to join him at a board meeting. I had no idea why, but I obeyed. When I arrived, everyone was wearing black. Mr. Johnson- a rather pompous man- stood up, and said that we needed to move on, and stop wishing for the impossible. Tony Stark was dead. It had been three months. He couldn't survive alone in the desert more than three days, and if he'd been captured, he was dead anyway. I opened my mouth to protest, but Obadiah put his hand on my arm and stopped me. When I looked into his eyes, he shook his head. I almost burst into tears on the spot. Tony was dead. He had to be dead. Obadiah had given up. So I did too.

After the board meeting, I sped away to Tony's house and ran downstairs to his workshop. I could almost believe he was still there- I hadn't touched a thing since he disappeared. I wandered around for a while, eventually falling asleep in a guest bedroom after I cried myself into oblivion.

A few days later, I was sitting on the floor in Tony's mansion, sorting through boxes of my stuff that had accumulated over the years. It really hurt to finally accept defeat; this job, these people, had been my life for almost ten years. Tony really was all I had, in a pathetic sort of way, and now I didn't even have him. Rhodey and Happy just weren't the same- they weren't what I needed. I needed Tony.

I was annoyed when my phone began to ring- I had been putting this chore off for a while and I didn't want to be interrupted. I was going to ignore it altogether, but something inside me desperately wanted to know who was calling. I gave in to my curiosity. It was- I didn't know who the hell it was.

"Hello?" I asked, my voice oddly low and monotone. Depression, I suppose.

"Hey- Pepper-" a strange voice croaked. It was dry and scratchy- I didn't recognize it at all.

"Hmm? Who is this?" I asked.

"Don't tell me you forgot about me already."

No. No way. It was impossible, it couldn't be him- yet a lump formed in my throat and my heart went berserk.

"I- I- Tony?" I whispered.

"Yeah, Pep?" he asked as if nothing was out of the ordinary, though I could tell from his voice that he was smiling.

"Tony?" I said again, surer this time.

He chuckled dryly. "Yeah, it's me."

I had to stifle a squeal of glee. "Tony! Are you okay? Where have you been?"

He sighed. "To hell." After a moment of thick silence, he began to laugh.

"What? Tony! Oh my God!"

"You been okay?"

"Of course I'm okay! How have you been?" I asked.

"Been better," he answered. "I mean, have you been okay without me?"

What was that supposed to mean?

"Of course-" wait, that sounds like I'm glad he was gone- "I mean-"

"Oh, you enjoyed your vacation?"

"No! No, Tony, I didn't mean it like that. I mean, I- stop laughing at me!"

"Sorry, couldn't help myself."

"Tony?"

"Yeah?" His voice was so rough and quiet.

"I'm- I- when are you coming home?"

"Couple days-" he stopped when another voice started in the background. "I gotta go. Platypus told me not to call anyone. I'm such a bad boy."

"Alright. You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I'll be home in a couple days, Pepper."

After we hung up, I was tempted to dance around the house, but- but why not? It wasn't like anyone was going to see me. What the hell, right? Live a little.

I don't think I've ever been that relieved in my whole life.

So what did you think of my take on what happened? Please review and let me know. Remember, reviews make me smile!