CHAPTER 10

October, 2011: Afghanistan

Normally Iron Man would have bugged out and returned to Malibu as soon as the military showed up to do mop up duty, but this wasn't an ordinary mission. With Pepper and a team of Stark Industry volunteers on site to research ways the new Stark Charitable Trust could help victims of the monsters SHIELD dealt with, Tony refused to leave. The Iron Man suit could fly surveillance better than any UAV and, unlike some distant pilot staring at a computer screen back in the USA, he could immediately fly in for closer inspection or deal with the problem without delay.

As far as he was concerned, flying babysitter patrol was normally a ridiculous waste of his time. The military could, and did, provide adequate security for mop up in most situations. In this instance, however, Tony wasn't willing to take any chances. If anything happened to Pepper, he would be devastated.

Tony chastised himself for retaining vestiges of his selfish old self, namely, not wishing to lose Pepper because she had never seen what he had seen and couldn't relate to his need to do something about it. If it wasn't for the overwhelming consensus that Pepper was about to dump his sorry ass if he went out on another mission, he would never have allowed her anywhere near Afghanistan. Unfortunately, Pepper had gotten more of an eyeful than either he or SHIELD had intended.

He had arranged for a well-guarded convoy to transport her, the Stark volunteers, and all the emergency supplies they needed directly to the triage area so they could immediately get to work helping survivors. He had even built her a suitcase armor (which she refused to even try on). Unfortunately, the road had been impassible and the security team had been directed to walk the last couple of miles through the village. They had been there nearly half an hour before SHEILD alerted him Pepper was onsite. He had found her there on her hands and knees, surrounded by the dead, heaving her lunch onto the earth and sobbing.

Another pang of guilt gripped his chest and he began to dread she would dump him on the spot for encouraging her to see such terrible things. Night had fallen and there was no sign of enemy activity. It was time to go see how Pepper had fared in the triage area and face the music.

He found her there amongst the Afghan refugees. The line of wounded had largely worked its way through the makeshift hospital and the most grievously injured had been relocated into three portable Stark Industries self-erecting shelters where they could be given better care. Most homes on this side of the village had been spared destruction, so the more fortunate villagers took in as many as they could. Unfortunately, there were still a significant number of refugees with no place to go.

This time of year, the arid Afghan climate roasted you in the daytime and then froze you half to death at night. Anyone caught outside without shelter, especially someone suffering from trauma, would likely die of exposure. As he flew in, he saw Pepper was directing security personnel and able-bodied refugees to construct a crude lean-to against the makeshift hospital out of building debris and plastic to house the remaining refugees. Tony was impressed … he had no idea Pepper even knew survival skills.

"Hi, there," he greeted cautiously as he plunked down for a landing and opened his visor. "Need a little help?"

He felt relieved when Pepper turned to him, her look thoughtful, then smiled. "Yeah, could you please fly these two ropes up to the roof and wedge them in that crenellation so we have something to secure these poles to?"

Tony immediately complied, tossed the rope to two waiting refugees, and then flew back down. "Where'd you learn to do that?" he asked.

"Girl Scouts," Pepper replied. "I was a Senior, although these days they call us Ambassadors. Our troop leader was gung-ho about tromping through the woods and eating berries. Building shelters out of available materials was part of our annual camping trip."

"So that's how come you're so self-sufficient?" he teased. He was relieved that she appeared to have sublimated her earlier trauma and could inject some levity into the situation. "Girl Scout. Figures... No wonder you're so goody-two-shoes."

Pepper just smiled. She looked exhausted. It was time to leave the helping to somebody else and bundle her off to the shelter for some sleep. Tony removed his right gauntlet and reached for her hand. "Pepper, it's time to go…" he quietly stated.

"Just let me finish up here," she weakly protested, brushing a lock of red hair that kept escaping her khimar out of her eyes. "It won't take long. I can't leave these people here with no shelter."

Tony smiled. Pepper had obviously been bitten by the helper bug. That was a good thing. It also meant that they wouldn't be getting sleep anytime soon unless he moved things along. "Tell me how I can help?" he asked.

"Well … we've got enough plastic and a partial tarp to wrap these poles, but there are no more blankets," she stated. "Could you see if there's someplace you could scrounge some up?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, putting his gauntlet back on and giving her a mock salute. "JARVIS, please interface with the military and find out where we can locate more blankets."

"The military is completely out of those supplies, Sir," JARVIS replied from inside his helmet. "However, they said one of the soldiers saw a bunch in one of the partially destroyed houses on the South side of the village. If you fly over there and ask for Private Stevens, he will show you where."

Tony flew over, found the Private, and had 11 blankets in short order. The building was on the verge of collapse and he had to move some debris to access it, but it was an easy task with the robotics in his suit. He also discovered an unbroken jug full of olives , a basket of slightly-stale bread, a rug, and some woven sleeping mats which he bundled up in one of the blankets to carry.

"Your Majesty," he humorously bowed upon his return, "my quest for your hearts' desire has been successful. How else may your loyal knight, pack mule, chamber maid and waiter serve you?"

Pepper smiled at him, but did not laugh, sobering his jocularity. Was she angry with him after all? He felt nervous as he watched her expression for hints of what she was feeling. It had been his intent to give her a rude awakening about the world he lived in, but not the harsh kick in the head she had been given. She had to realize by now that a reality slap had been his intent. Would she ever forgive him?

Pepper passed out the blankets and food to the remaining refugees, translating through her security guard, Jack Martin that this was the best she was able to do for them. They only had 11 blankets, 6 sleeping mats, and one carpet for 32 refugees. They would have to share. The last of the refugees filed into the makeshift lean-to and huddled together for warmth. They weren't happy, but they did not complain and seemed content to have someplace to lay down their heads and food to eat. The security guards passed out snacks and bottled water while another lit several fires around the perimeter, close enough to add a little warmth to the night, but far enough away that a spark didn't ignite the plastic.

"Pepper," he quietly stated once again, "it's time to go. You've done all you can for them tonight. They need rest. You need rest. We'll be able to do more in the morning."

"But…" she protested.

"Sleepy time, Pepper," he quietly insisted. "Or I'll drag you off to bed kicking and screaming."

Pepper looked like she was going to argue with him, but then her shoulders slumped and she just sighed. "Sleep sounds pretty good right about now. I don't even know where I'm supposed to go."

"The fourth self-erecting building is for Stark employees," he stated. "They've set it up over by the military personnel. We have our own double cot off in a corner. I arranged for a queen sized air mattress and a partition, so we shouldn't be too uncomfortable."

"Isn't it forbidden in Islamic cultures for unmarried men and women to sleep together?" she asked. "Won't we be stoned to death or something?"

"Oh," he replied, "I told them all we're married. We'll be stoned to death if we don't sleep together." He waggled his eyebrows and gave her his most mischievous, shit-eating grin.

Pepper didn't rise to the challenge. "That wasn't very nice, Tony," she complained, exhaustion permeating her voice. "What happens when we come back on another mission and they realize we were lying?"

"You plan on coming back on another mission," he asked, surprised, and a little hurt by her total lack of response. "I'd have thought one look would be enough to last a lifetime."

"Of course I'm coming back," she replied. "I'm the director of this new charitable foundation. How am I going to fine-tune what we do I don't see it first hand?"

"I don't want you coming back," he complained. "It's dangerous in these places. You could get hurt. The only reason I suggested it in the first place is, oh, ahm, well, I just wanted you to see just once so you could plan from there." Whew, he thought to himself, he almost let THAT selfish little cat out of the bag!

"You mean you wanted me to get a taste of the medicine you've been swallowing for the past two years so I'd stop bitching about you going out on missions," she stated wearily. "Well, it worked. I came. I saw. I understand. But you can't just expect me to witness the same things that turned you into Iron Man and then go home to wait for your return, Tony. I wouldn't be the person I am if I just saw a problem and didn't do something about it."

This was not a good turn of events, Tony ruminated. Pepper definitely didn't have any flies on her and had caught on to his hidden motives, although she didn't seem too bothered by it. Of course, Natasha aka Black Widow would be pleased. She had felt certain Pepper would want to take a more active role once she had been exposed to the dark underbelly of being a superhero. Unfortunately, Tony was not pleased. An active Pepper Potts was a Pepper Potts who would always be putting herself into danger.

"This the one?" Pepper inquired as they approached a lone self-erecting building amongst the military personnel tents. He had been so engrossed in his own thoughts that he hadn't even realized they had arrived. "C'mon," she said to him, gripping the finger of his gauntlet in her hand and pulling him up the steps to where the others were already sleeping.

"I have to remove my armor and come back," he stated. "It will wake everyone up if I drag the robotic aids in here and do it. Go ahead inside and get settled in and I'll be back in 20 minutes." He bent down to give her a hungry kiss. They were both exhausted and, with no privacy, there would be no lovemaking tonight. He looked into her eyes, disappointed, when she broke away.

"I'm all dirty, Tony," she stated, her expression unreadable. "I need to go get cleaned up."

"See you in a bit," he replied, his pride wounded. He handed her the red suitcase, which he had retrieved from Jack-the-security-guard before leaving. Was Pepper angry at him? How could she not be?

He walked over to the temporary JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) tent where his portable robotic aids were being stored and waited while they removed his suit. It would have been quicker if he'd flown, but the noise of the repulsor arrays would have woken everybody in the camp. The suit would be safe there while he slept, especially as the aids tucked his suit into an indestructible virbanium alloy case (the same alloy he had used to refabricate Captain America's broken shield). It was booby trapped with numerous non-lethal failsafe devices so nobody but he (or Pepper) could gain access. He took advantage of a makeshift shower enclosure the military had set up near the latrine (no point in going to Pepper smelling like a goat) before walking back to the volunteer shelter.

When he got there, Pepper was already sound asleep, a thin curtain and a couple of feet of space separating their sleeping quarters from the other 15 Stark volunteers. Although (at Peppers insistence) they had avoided announcing their relationship to the media, the fact they were a couple was no great secret amongst Stark employees and he did not share her self-consciousness about letting the others know they shared a bed.

He slipped in as quietly as possible so as not to disturb her sleep and wrapped her protectively in his arms. How long should he wait, he wondered, before he let her know what was on his mind and made her an honest woman? His jest about telling the villagers they were married had been his way of gauging her feelings on the topic, but she had not reacted the way he had hoped. In the movies JARVIS had compiled, the girl always got dreamy-eyed or excited at the slightest hint of marriage, but Pepper seemed … indifferent.

He would ask Natalie's advice, he decided as he drifted off to sleep. No point in muddling his way through it and botching things like he had done when he was trying to let Pepper know he loved her. JARVIS was good at compiling data, but he was only a machine. Tony would ask for human help this time…

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

He wasn't sure what time it was, but sometime during the night he was awakened by Pepper thrashing in her sleep, murmuring about crows. A nightmare. A nightmare that was his fault. Tony held her closer, gently caressing her body and whispering reassurances in her ear until she quieted down. Had he done the right thing, bringing her here to see? Guilt kept him awake as he watched her breathing even out and settle back into a deep sleep.

His thoughts turned once more to the problem of how he was going to bind Pepper to him forever so she would never leave. Having seen him in action during his bad-old bachelor days, Pepper was immune to expensive gifts, jewelry or romantic getaways to exotic locations.

He shuddered when he remembered how his attempts at "ordinary" gestures, such as cooking her breakfast and bringing strawberries, had caused him to fall flat on his face. Although, in her defense, Tony had really been acting like an ass by not telling her the reason he had been behaving so erratically.

Pepper did seem to like his morning poetry routine (little did she know it was all coached by JARVIS), although when he thought about it, it was hard to tell. She was, after all, fast asleep when he whispered sweet nothings into her ear each morning and, for all he knew, she dozed right through it and didn't recall a thing.

Flowers were another item she was immune to thanks to his bad old days (although she had gotten enough of a laugh out of the 500 dozen roses and sky plane in Paris that she had forgiven his last boneheaded infarction). She did enjoy it when they danced. He snuggled in closer to Peppers' sleeping form, drifting back to sleep with thoughts of her swaying with him on the dance floor, her long red hair caressing a blue dress with no back, her blue-green eyes held captive in his stare as he tried to work up the courage to ask her to marry him.

It was Pepper who woke him a few hours later as she shook him awake and rumbled in a low voice, "Tony, I want you to teach me how to use the suit."

"Whaaaaat?" he asked groggily. He had been having a very pleasant dream about him and Pepper dancing a can-can on the International Space Station with a bunch of dancing cartoon furniture singing Be Our Guest (okay, who ever said dreams had to make sense?). It took a few minutes for his mind to adjust to where he was. "What time is it?"

"The suit, Tony," she said. "You need to show me how to put it on. Just in case..."

"Mmmmmm," he grumbled, "do we have to talk about this now?"

"Yes, now," she whispered intently, her eyes glowing feverishly in the light of his arc reactor. "As soon as it's light out, I want you to teach me how to put the suitcase armor on in case I need it."

"Okay," he agreed. She had been so adamant about never wanting to wear the suit he made for her back in Malibu that he was surprised at her sudden change of heart. If she had asked him to get up and teach her right this moment, he would have readily agreed. Dragon skin armor could stop a regular bullet from piercing the vital organs, but it wouldn't stop a .50 caliber bullet. Or shrapnel. And there were lots of other equally vital areas a person could be shot.

"And I want you to ask Natalie to teach me a few of those Black Widow moves of hers," Pepper continued. "Do you think she'd be willing?"

Tony stared at her in disbelief. "Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?"

"Natalie … do you think she'll be willing?" Pepper repeated again, one eyebrow lifted in question. He realized she was dead serious.

"Whaaa-, why do you want to be a trained as an assassin?" he asked. This sudden interest was definitely not an outcome he had contemplated when he had first proposed Pepper pay a little visit to a refugee camp.

"Not an assassin, Tony. I just want to learn how to take care of myself," she continued. "If I'm going to be putting myself into dangerous situations like this, I need to learn to defend myself."

"Dangerous situations," he questioned, puzzled. "Just put on the suitcase armor and you'll be fine."

"Tony, look what happened with Vanko," she replied. "If we hadn't gotten your suit to you on the racetrack, you'd be dead right now. The bad guys just aren't going to just stand around and wait while I say "Excuse me, Mr. Bad Guy, just let me put on my armor …""

Around them, he heard the other Stark volunteers stir and grumble. They were waking the others up. He didn't want to have this conversation right now, so he did the only thing he could think of to shut her up. He leaned in and gave her a big, long kiss.

At first she tried to push him off as she obviously had things on her mind, but after a few moments she began to respond and melt into him, moaning with expectation. He "rose" to the occasion, of course, as he groaned and slipped his hand under the waistband of her pajama bottoms to grip her bare bottom. A stray thought that there were 15 Stark employees in close proximity right now probably thinking their horn dog former boss and current CEO were having wild sex in their midst crossed his mind, so he broke it off and just stared intently into her eyes in the faint light of his arc reactor. "Okay," he whispered. "I'll ask Natalie to teach you."

"Thanks," she replied, a sweet smile lighting up her face as if he had just agreed to give her flowers or pony's or rainbows, not lessons on how to incapacitate a room full of assailants. She snuggled her head back into her favorite spot on his arm, her cheek resting against his chest so that her peaceful smile was highlighted by the light of his arc reactor, and promptly fell back to sleep.

Definitely not an outcome he had predicted! His mind whirred a bit longer, ruminating about Peppers' 180 degree change in attitude and what it would mean for their relationship, but at last exhaustion overtook him and he drifted back off to sleep.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Three feet from their bed on an adjacent cot, Janice Farriday, director of the new Stark Charitable Trust medical assistance division, was awakened by their conversation. It had been no secret amongst Stark employees that Tony Stark and their new CEO Pepper Potts were in a relationship, but Miss Potts was always so well composed and proper and Tony Starks' reputation as a former playboy so bad that there had always been an atmosphere of incredibility that the rumors could be true.

Tony Stark had slept with half the female staff at Stark Industries at one time or another, while the other half were either extraordinarily plain (like herself ) or had been hired in the two years since Tony Stark was captured and suddenly stopped hitting on them. Every female who laid eyes on him, to this day, fantasized about getting their incredibly handsome superhero former boss into the sack, whether they were happily married or inclined to act on that fantasy or not. Herself included. Hey, she was human!

Janice smiled. She was a realist, which is why she had been chosen to for this project. She also happened to like Pepper Potts. War horror or not, it was nice to be drawn into the periphery of the Stark Industries/SHIELD Superhero club and she felt privileged.

Janice realized Pepper was right about the superheroes not always being around when the Stark Charitable Trust (SCT) volunteers arrived to mop up their mess. The Taliban were notorious for targeting foreign aid workers. They weren't the Red Cross, so there was no need for SCT employees to be burdened by the same pacifist restrictions. She would approach Pepper in the morning about all of the volunteers getting some type of enhanced armor (not necessarily a suit, but something) and some hefty self defense training.