Chapter 12

The ginger walked back to her bed, soda in her hand, grabbed the remote to the television and used it to turn on the device. Now that the airheaded blonde was gone for the weekend, Pepper could finally enjoy some well-earned peace and quiet –and rest her injured leg she had to keep a secret from the meddling roommate. Ever since the flowers had arrived to the dorm and Sandra had found out that Pepper had a significant other, the irritable woman had not stopped annoying the redhead to find out who the mystery guy – or girl, was. In all honesty, Pepper was starting to wonder if keeping her involvement with Tony a secret was worth listening to the woman constantly yap like a Chihuahua dog.

"From a commoner to a lesbian. Nice." Pepper shook her head at the prospect of Sandra insinuating that the ginger had to be gay to be able to find someone to love, as no "respectable man," – as the blonde had put it – would ever lay eyes on a scrawny and unattractive girl as she.

That woman needs a life, Pepper thought and continued channel surfing. She was stretched out over her bed, with the lights off and her laptop next to her on the mattress. Every now and then her eyes would land on the device's screen to see if Tony had sent her the e-mail he said he would send when he left MIT. So far it had been an hour since his last e-mail had arrived and there had been no sign of him yet.

I hope he's not in trouble for missing class, the redhead mused. She then sipped on her soda before placing the cup on her nightstand by her left side, next to Tony's gift. Her eyes focused on the beautiful flower arrangement and its accompanying card, and she could not hold back a smile. In her eighteen years of life, she had never been given flowers by anyone other than family members, and most of these floral gifts had been given to her by her dad on every birthday of hers ever since she had turned thirteen.

Oddly enough, not even when she had dated Happy Hogan did the jock ever think about giving the girl flowers, chocolates, cards and such, and the boy had been the first guy she had seriously dated, despite the fact that she had only started going out with him to save face in front of Whitney Stane. She had dated Happy for a couple of months, which should have probably earned him the title of boyfriend, but he never called her his girlfriend, and she never truly considered him as such, either.

In fact, now that she thought about it, her experience in dating Happy and her current dating situation with Tony were completely different. Happy had been more relaxed in his approach and hardly ever tried to contact her outside of school. He had been a gentleman to her at all times, however, and had respected her in all possible aspects, but she had never felt a special connection with him. Their dates were the typical outings: dinner, movie, maybe even a stroll thru the park, but other than some hand holding that she had initiated herself – and Happy offering to walk her home after school a few times – Pepper and Happy had never actually bonded that much despite the time they had spent together.

Dating Tony Stark, however, was a whole different ball game for her and at some level for him as well, she knew. When he had dated Whitney, he had kept missing out on their dates due to his Iron Man life, and when at school he had spent more time with Rhodey and the redhead than he had spent with the rich blonde. In fact, Pepper could probably count on one hand the times that Whitney and Tony were seen together at all.

So far, Tony had been moderately attentive with her – more so than she had ever seen him be with Whitney, in fact. The redhead was slowly discovering a side of the inventor she had never known existed. One second he was still the arrogant, overly confident rich boy she had learned to deal with, and the next second he turned into this overprotective, devoted, loving young man. It was as if she was dating two completely different people, but for some reason she loved them both equally. The ginger had to wonder, however, if he also saw two different people within her.

Tony, the girl thought about the troubled boy and stared down at her leg. She had to change her bandages every day for the next two weeks, and then by the third week she would have to let it air so it would heal better and faster. She had already resigned herself to having a battle scar where the burn mark was, but she knew that as soon as Sandra saw that her roommate was further "imperfect," she would have to deal with her constant teasing until the end of the year.

I should've just let Tony prank the hell out of her, Pepper thought bitterly as she changed the channel and landed on a news report about her mission. She raised the volume to hear the details of the aftermath, and smiled when everything she heard about Rescue was glory and praise.

"You can tell that Rescue has been trained by Iron Man," one of the saved victims said to the reporter in a recorded interview. "She really knows how to handle that suit. If it wasn't for her quick thinking, I'd be toast now."

Pepper took another sip of her drink, shamelessly basking in the commendations she was receiving from the witnesses, and as she was putting down the glass on the nightstand again she heard a knock on the door. The redhead's eyes landed on the laptop screen but there were no new e-mails, so she shrugged, stood up and walked over to the door.

She closed one eye and stared through the peephole but did not see anyone outside; the occurrence, however, was not new to her. Last time this had happened, the RA on schedule had left a package from her father to Pepper on the floor, so figuring it was happening again, the redhead unlocked the door and opened it up. As expected, a small package was on the floor on the right side of the entrance against the wall, so she stepped out and picked it up.

She then looked from side to side to see if she could catch the RA to thank her, but when she realized it was just her in the hall, she shrugged and returned to her dorm room.

Once inside and after locking the door, she began unwrapping the small package that was actually addressed to her. She sat on the edge of the bed next to her nightstand, turned on the lamp, and examined the unmarked white box that she had unveiled. She then pulled the top cover off the box and frowned when she saw that inside there was a small cylindrical container with the logo of a tiger on it.

"What the hell is this?" She took out the card underneath it, unfolded it, read it and smiled.

"It will help your burn heal faster. Love, Dad."

"Aww!"

She stood up from the bed and walked over to the side of it where her closet lay. She had hid the supplies for her leg from Sandra inside it in a plastic box, and after digging for it in the back she took it out. She then laid it on the bed and put the balm container inside one of the available compartments and returned the box to the closet. Consequently, she stretched her arms above her head and yawned. Her eyes landed on her left wrist to check the time, and then she stared at her still inactive e-mail inbox and she frowned.

"Where the hell is he?"

A loud explosion sound coming from the television made her head snap up to watch a slow motion repetition of the moment the bombs had gone off on the bridge. Pepper walked closer to the television and narrowed her eyes as she watched and heard the commentary of the expert on the show.

"Yesterday afternoon, Iron Man issued a written statement to the press that Rescue was alive and well, but the fact that she has not shown herself since the day of the attacks leaves us wondering if she really did make it out unscathed. I mean, look at this footage! We all know Tony Stark builds great stuff, but even his tech has its limits."

Pepper's shoulders deflated at hearing the familiar argument about limits, and she sat on the foot of the bed to observe the rest of the analysis of the fight. The footage on television continued to show the details of the attack and she nearly gasped when she saw the moment the metal tube Tony had mentioned to her was seeing flying toward her. The video had to be slowed down considerably in order to see the projectile aiming at her, and she did not even remember seeing it coming at all when the fight was live.

"Clearly," the expert on television continued, "Rescue saved a lot of lives here, but I have to question her ability to pull this stunt again. This time she was lucky her tactic worked, but what about the next time? I bet you a million dollars that Tony Stark – Iron Man, would've ended this quicker by simply snatching the trigger off the madman with his repulsor ray."

"Oh, shut up!" The redhead spat and changed the channel. "What do you know?" she mumbled as she searched for something else to watch – anything else, and landed on a random movie. "Stupid expert," she groaned.

She tapped her knees with her fingers and her face turned to her right, staring deeply at the closed entrance door. It was not like Tony to just leave her hanging, especially after how much he claimed he was looking forward to spending the weekend together, so her annoyance with him for not reaching out to her just yet quickly turned into anxiousness when it dawned on her that maybe there was more than what he had said to her.

What if he went on a dangerous mission and he didn't tell me?

Karma had a terrible way of showing its ugly face.

"Dammit, Stark!" Pepper shouted and grabbed her laptop. She placed the device on her lap while still sitting by the foot of the bed and began composing an e-mail to the inventor. Her fingers flew over the keyboard and before she was to press send, she heard someone scream.

She nearly jumped out of her skin and almost dropped her laptop but she managed to catch it just in time. Her eyes followed the noise and landed on the television to watch a girl in a skimpy outfit being stabbed by a masked man. "What the hell is that?" Pepper rolled her eyes. "That's what you get for running through the woods with no shoes!" The redhead pointed an accusing finger to the woman on TV.

"Anyway," her gaze then reverted to the laptop's screen for a moment to send the e-mail to Tony before she put the device away from her lap and back on the bed, and returned her attention to the movie. She slowly slid the rest of her body onto the mattress and dragged herself up to the wall, her eyes never leaving the grotesque scene on display. When she finally reached her nightstand again she turned to her left to grab her soda only to find it gone.

"Where'd it go?" she mumbled to herself and her head moved from side to side until she saw the glass lying on the window sill on the opposite side of the room. The ginger frowned and got up from the mattress, walked around Sandra's bed to the window, and stared down at her drink. "How did you get here?"

She remained quiet as if expecting the glass of soda to actually respond to her question and when she realized she was acting silly, she shook her head, grabbed the glass and returned to bed. "What's the matter with you, Potts," she told herself. "Get it together," she added before taking another sip of her drink and left it on the nightstand once more.

On the screen, the madman was now chasing after a group of men with an axe, his intentions to end their lives was quite obvious. Pepper bit her thumbnail as she waited for what she knew was the fate of the idiotic frat boys on television, but right before the murder weapon came down on them, the television turned off.

"What the hell?" The ginger spat and her hand reached over for the remote she had left on the bed by her right side only to find it gone. She then stood up from the bed and patted herself and the bed, trying to find the darned device. When her search proved unsuccessful in the vicinity of her position, she began walking around the dorm room, turning on the television by hand when she walked by it, and after a few turns here and there, she finally spotted the remote control on the same window sill the soda glass had been.

The girl tilted her head to the side as she walked over to the window and picked up the remote. "Did I leave you here when I came to get the glass, huh?"

Truthfully, she could not recall.

Shrugging and shaking her head she returned to her position on the bed, remote in hand. She watched as the murderer on television now walked back to the cabin where the rest of the victims awaited their death, and she made a mental note to never ever go on a camping trip in the middle of the woods. Her hand then reached over to her nightstand to grab her soda but it was gone again.

"What in the wretched name of a motherf - AHH!" The ginger did not finish her question when a loud bang was heard near her. At first she thought the noise had come from the movie, but when she heard it again and louder this time, she realized it had come from her own door.

Calm down, Pepper, she told herself and exhaled. No need to get jumpy, it's probably the RA coming back to make sure I got the package.

She took a deep breath and got up from the bed. Her steps toward the door were short and slow, and inadvertently she had grabbed the remote in her hands in the same fashion she would have a baseball bat – just in case. Once she reached the door and looked through the peephole to find no one standing behind the door. She bit her bottom lip, rested her left hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it around.

The door creaked loudly when she pushed it back to open it, and she then peeked outside with just her head. She looked from left to right, and when she confirmed there was neither a package nor a person around, she tiptoed back into the room. When she closed the door again, she dropped the remote on the floor when she became startled by the sink's faucet turning on.

"Jesus!" she said and bent over to lift the remote from the ground before she walked inside the bathroom. She eyed the still running faucet with suspicious eyes before she poked it with the remote she still held in her hands. She tried this strategy a few more times, and when the faucet continued to waste water, the redhead groaned and turned the knob to shut it off.

She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, wondering if she was starting to see things that were not really there. Her eyes then shifted from the sink to the door, and she wondered if the closing of the door had caused the faucet to turn on.

"Let's test that, alright?" she said to no one and walked over to the front door. With her eyes still staring at the faucet, the redhead unlocked, and opened and closed the door several times, attempting to recreate the move that she believed had caused the sink to turn on again. When it did not happen, Pepper snorted and locked the front door once more. "You're not thinking right. I need to chill out."

She returned to the bathroom to grab the remote from the bathroom sink counter. She then kneeled on the floor and eyed the plumbing underneath the sink, poking it with the remote as she had done so with the faucet itself. When nothing she did triggered the sink to run on its own, Pepper stood up in place and nearly tripped on her own feet when she saw that the glass of soda had appeared on the counter. "Oh, my GOD! How the hell did you get here, huh?" she yelled and pointed at the cup with the remote in her hands. "I…you…no…no…"

She shook her head and ran out of the bathroom, slamming the door to it with as much force as she could, and then resting her back against the door. It took her a few moments to realize the dorm room was now eerily quiet, and when she faced the television she saw it was off once more. "No biggie," she began as she gulped and walked over to the television to turn it on again. "It's probably just the power failing…there…are…no such things…as…g-g-g-hosts…"

Then again, she did know of a guy that went by that name, and if he was around, she was in deep trouble.

Please don't let it be him, please, please…Oh, my gosh! What if Tony was late because he was fighting Ghost? What if he defeated Tony and somehow found out I'm here.

The ginger cursed under her breath at the lack of available armor, and at the fact that she was terrified. She slowly walked back to the bed and slid under the covers, bringing them up to her chin and holding them there with her trembling hands. Her eyes shifted left and right, eyeing everything around her, and when nothing out of the ordinary happened again, she allowed herself to relax a little.

"You're acting silly…just…calm down and everything is going to be…oh…my…God!"

Before her and above the ground she saw her glass of soda, literally floating in midair coming from the hall that led to the exit. With wide eyes and the hairs on the back of her neck standing, the ginger's mouth hung and her eyes followed the path of the floating glass as it began coming closer to her. Just a few feet before the glass reached her nightstand, the girl had had enough.

"AAAHHH!"

She stood up from the bed, grabbed a pillow and threw it at the glass before she sped down the hall and into the front door. Her hands surrounded the knob and she turned it, but no matter how hard she pulled on the door, it would not budge. The volume of the television suddenly rose up, scaring her even more and causing her to slam her back against the door. The glass was coming near her again, and this time it was doing so much faster. She yelped and ran toward the bathroom, and from his vantage point, a stealth-mode Iron Man began to laugh aloud.

He finally placed the glass on the same table the television was being held on before he began walking over to the bathroom, practically bending over in laughter, to let his girlfriend know it had just been a prank on his part. The scientist, however, should have made his presence known beforehand, and he would have avoided what happened next.

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING ME ALIVE!" From the bathroom emerged Pepper, toilet plunger in hand, maneuvering it in every direction she could. Her eyes were closed but her aim was still impeccable, and one of her hits landed on Tony's exposed face as he had already removed his suit and had retracted it to its backpack form.

"Oh, SHIT! Pepper! OW!" The ginger heard his familiar voice and then a loud thud and it took her a second to stop her attack on the up-to-now unknown assailant even though he was down on the floor. Her eyes then opened wide when she realized who it was she had hit, and in her shock she let go of the plunger in her hands to cover her face, but the wooden plunger did not fall on the floor.

It fell on Tony's crotch.

"Ugh!" the inventor rolled over to his side and moaned, all the while Pepper remained standing near him, trying to process what she had just done.