I'm trying to break out of the habit of shortening the length of each chapter, the last being a mere 500 words. With Word being bitchy, I can only pray this is longer.
I'd intended to do this chapter in two parts, Pepper and Sara's, Happy, Gil and Tony's. It didnt work out. Its also possible that you are getting this chapter because I left my wallet in my locker at work and cant retrieve until tomorrow. You lucky buggers! I'll warn you now though, if I dont see reviews, I'll assume you;ve all stopped reading and stop writing. I know, its hard, I have trouble myself, but if I dont know that people like what I'm writing I get the nagging feeling that I'm a shit writer and no one cares. Which is very depressing. I'm also attempting to wirte a non-ff book which I'll post on WeBook when I have a few chapters together for y'al to check out.
SPOILERS: Mentions of Living/Dead Doll and Iron Man 1, but nothing too serious
Enjoy
:-)
It had been a long hour, Sully having left after clearly upsetting Sara. Pepper felt a cold prang in her heart. The possibility of losing Gil could quite possibly have the potential of tearing her family apart, not to mention losing Tony as well. It was Afghanistan all over again, only Happy and Obadiah weren't here this time.
Thoughts of Happy Hogan were unfortunately overruled by Stane's betrayal, memories of a machine gun pointed at her head sending heavy shivers down her spine.
Sara had pulled on a large sweater with the hood pulled up, covering her face as she shuffled into the kitchen. Silently (in heels it was something she'd never accomplish) Pepper made her way down the steps, watching Sara's hands shake uncontrolably until she had to take the cup away and place it on the counter.
"Sara?"
No receiving an answer, Pepper hesitantly raised her hand, gently pushing back the hood, causing Sara to look up. Her eyes were red and swollen, the tell-tale streaks of tears still evident on her cheeks, and, for a brief moment, Pepper wondered if she was seeing a reflection of herself almost a year ago when Happy had found her curled up on the lab floor shortly after finding out that Tony was missing. Not knowing what else to do, she wrapped her arms around the distressed woman. They stayed there for several moments until a knock at the door broke them apart.
"Take a seat Sar, I'll get it." The Sara she knew in college would have put up a fight, but her sister-in-law was too weak to argue, curling into a ball at one end of the couch on the upper floor. At the door was a broad shouldered man, somewhere in his late fifties with a serious buzz cut. "Can I help you?"
"Is Sara here? I'm Captain Brass with the Las Vegas Police Department."
"Let him in Pep." Came the muffled response from over her shoulder. They gave each other a quick look before making their way over to her. While Pepper took the cushion next to her, Brass decided to sit on the coffee table, taking her fragile hand in his larger one.
"It's not good, is it Jim?" Brass shook his head.
"The car's plate came back to Gil. There's also the possibilty that...someone was shot. Until the lab can run DNA, we don't know whose it is."
"What do you know Jim. And screw lab policy, Pepper may need to hear this as well."
"The car is Gil's so we're assuming he was the driver. Flight manifests say the plane was owned by Tony Stark." He rattled off from his notes.
"He's my employer. He was supposed to come down with me but something came up in Malibu. That's why I drove."
"And who are you?"
"Pepper Potts."
"The Pepper Potts? Damn Cookie, you've sure got friends in high places."
"She's actually my sister-in-law."
"You're Gil's little sister?"
"Crazy huh?"
"Jim."
"Any way, we're having a few problems. We know Mr Stark was on the flight. We also know that he had a passenger, but with it being privately owned and the owner missing, we don't know who the other person was." Pepper leant forward on to her knees, head in her hands, muffling her speech slightly.
"I thought he was joking."
"Miss Potts?" Her moved her hands, resting her chin on them.
"Harold Hogan. The other passenger is Harold Hogan. H-O-G-A-N. Tony called me before I left, told me Happy was coming. I didn't for a second think that he was being serious."
"Is there anyone that you know of that we can contact?"
"I don't think so. Tony's parents died when he was seventeen and as far as I know, Happy was an only child."
"I know this is hard, but is there any way for us to get a DNA sample?"
"Obadiah Stane gave a sample to the army when Tony went missing in Afghanistan. I'd have to contact someone at Stark Industries for Happy."
"If you can provide a contact number, I'll have someone do that for you. Will you be staying in town?" All she did was nod. Brass took note that at some point, Sara had reached over and taken hold of Pepper's hand in nothing more than a friendly manner. He said his fairwells and left.
"Its Afghanistan all over again."
"Feels like Natalie all over again. Only in reverse."
Pepper didn't need an explaination for that one. It was all over the news, but all that was revealed was that a CSI had gone missing and with no ID, Pepper hadn't paid it any notice.
Until Gil rang in a panic, ranting that some psyco bitch had kidnapped his girlfriend, but that's all that seemed to make sense. It broke her heart. He'd called the week before, telling her all about the woman he was seeing, asking for advise because he was goddamn sure she was the one and he was gooing to ask her to marry him.
Sara laid her head on her friends shoulder and Pepper was beginning to wonder if anyone in their family was supposed to have a happy ending.
