Well, I don't exactly know how to apologise for keeping this from you guys for so long, only that I've had a lot going on over the past few months and it's kept me busy. But I got a new laptop for Christmas and I can't postpone this bad boy any longer. I've now finished the entire thing and over the next couple of days it'll be getting uploaded, just need to see if there's any tweaks to do. Now, if anyone's still following this, you may need to go and re-read a few things as I did, (luckily I've got notes) and to those who've still been reviewing over the last half decade since the last chapter, thank you so much. It means a lot to know that people are still reading this and want me to continue. Now without further ado, I give you chapter fourteen! Enjoy!
Tony's health was deteriorating faster than he could keep track of it. After the hearing, he'd pretty much collapsed when he got home having driven the entire way back. The stress of seeing Pepper and Hammer had taken too much out of him, and it took him nearly three days to feel well enough to get any more work done. Natasha suggested a trip to Italy, get some fresher air, but Tony vetoed that pretty much instantly, saying there were too many memories to drag him back under.
"You can't put your whole life on hold because of her, Tony." She'd said, arguing for the millionth time about Tony's moping. "It's not healthy and, frankly, it's a little insulting to see you looking like someone's died all the time when I'm trying to help. I mean you've got lots to look forward to."
This caught his attention and he snorted, looking up from where he was fiddling with yet another virtual diagram of a replacement for his arc. "Oh yeah? Like what, exactly?" he turned back and scrapped the whole hologram. "Name one thing I've got going for me before I kick the bucket."
Natasha glared at him, knowing he was in one of his childish moods, but she had a trump card. "Monaco." She said. "Remember? You've got the historical race…thing to go to. That'll be fun, right? Fast girls, fine food, lovely weather-"
"Are they going?" he asked, interrupting her.
"Not from what I can see on the guest list." She said, tapping it up on a 'spare' tablet on his desk.
Tony nodded, standing up and stretching. "When is it again?" he asked, brushing past her and up the stairs, expecting her to follow, which she did.
"Week after next." Natasha supplied, tailing him into the lounge. "You're supposed to be there by the Wednesday, assuming you RSVP-"
Tony clicked his fingers and turned to her with a smile. "I wanna race my own car."
Natasha blinked, assuming this meant he wanted to go. "Well, you are, you've got an Arc powered car-"
"No, no, I want to race my own car. Drive it." He beamed at her. "You can sort that out, right?"
"Now, remember what we talked about." Pepper whispered to Justin as they walked into the hotel around which the race would be held. "All you have to do is stop Tony wanting to punch you in the face-"
Justin snorted and wrapped his arm around Pepper's arms, strutting into the building like the cat that caught the canary. "I'd like to see him try, he looked sick as a dog last time he was on the news." He laughed.
Pepper sighed, partly because what Hammer said was true, and partly down to the fact that he even said it, as if it was something else he'd won over Tony. While it was true that she was now, as far as anything was concerned, Justin's, she still cared about Tony, and seeing him looking like he was at death's door had struck a chord with her. But she couldn't think like that. Tony apparently had that pay by the day hooker of an assistant, if the gossip magazines were to be believed, and she needed to concentrate on Justin.
"Just try and be professional." She continued. "If things go well, hopefully your suspension will be lifted and you can finish what you started for the military."
"Yeah, yeah, let's not talk about business for a second." He said, shit-eating grin in place as they sat down. "Listen, I've been wanting to ask you something for a while now, and I think now, with the romantic setting and the future looking good, well, now's the time to ask if you'd marry me."
Pepper, who'd just taken a sip of her champagne, spluttered a little, staring at him with wide eyes. "W-what? You…Justin, I really don't think that's a good idea."
"Why the hell not?" he asked, still annoyingly optimistic. "I love you, you love me, I'm handsome, rich and let's face it, a catch." He held his arms out and chuckled. "What have you got to lose?"
She pursed her lips and thought for a moment, and unfortunately couldn't think of any reason to say no, other than 'I don't love you', but she wasn't that cruel. "Can I think about it?" she asked, trying to give herself opportunity to back out.
"Does that mean…no?" he asked, the smug grin waning slightly.
"No." she said quickly. "No, it's not a no, it's just…I need to think about it." She sighed. "It's not a no, it's a maybe. I don't even know if I want to get married at all."
Justin screwed his face up, as if trying to work out exactly what she needed to think about, but as Pepper watching the gears in his head turn over, his expression changed back into that smug smile she was growing to hate.
"Tony! Tony Stark you son of a gun, how are you doing?"
Pepper turned as Justin stood up and walked towards Tony, steeling herself, but when she saw the aforementioned assistant grasping onto his hand like she belonged there, she felt something snap inside her and the sympathy she'd felt at the beginning of the day for Tony's health soon melted away to resentment.
"Mr Stark." She said with an icy tone, barely glancing at him as she swapped her attention to Natalie. "And Miss…"
"Rushman." Natalie supplied, holding her free hand out to shake Pepper's. "You must be Pep- Virginia Potts." She said, noticing Tony's flinch at the brief mention of her old name. "Nice to meet you."
While the two women exchanged pleasantries, Tony was trying not to self-combust. He'd been under the impression that neither Justin or Pepper would be there, and seeing her again was bad enough, but having her treating him like a stranger, calling him by his surname as if they'd been nothing more than boss and employee, was killing him. His eyes were downcast as everyone else conversed, the only thing stopping him from suddenly feigning illness was Natalie anchoring him down, nails digging into his hand. She understood exactly how much this was affecting him, and the fact that someone actually cared about him was enough to stop his head exploding. Finally, Pepper was dragged away to talk business with a few of Justin's associates and the man himself turned to watch her leave with a sigh.
"You let a good one go there, Stark." He gushed, nudging the other man's shoulder. "A real find, my Virginia."
The use of Pepper's actual name caused Tony to glower dangerously at the smaller man for a moment before Justin laughed and pretty much shattered Tony's world.
"Virginia Hammer…doesn't really go together does it?"
Tony blanched and finally raised his eyes to stare at Justin for a moment before glancing at Pepper. Muttering apologies and trying his best to maintain some sort of decorum, Tony excused himself and practically ran to the bathroom, checking that no one was in there before raising his fist and slamming it into the mirror, causing the glass to smash and splinter. He panted, trying to calm down, pulling his hand back and examining the damage before looking up at his reflection in the broken glass.
"Got any more bright ideas?"
Pepper didn't notice that Tony had left. After she's spoken to Justin's associates, he dragged her off to get a prime seat on the veranda and then went to get them both a drink. She'd sat down for a total of ten seconds before once again, Tony Stark made her entire world stop turning. The hotel had supplied TV sets all over the place, most of which were showing view's from the pits, and the one she'd happened to zone in on was the one for Tony's car, and what she happened to see was Tony basically kicking the driver out of the pit and donning a set of leathers and a helmet. She should have known from there that the day wasn't going to go the way she'd thought, and her fears were confirmed when the race was about a third of the way through and a huge man pretending to be an official ran on to the track and started attacking the cars. She was out of her seat in an instant, bumping into Happy on the way out.
"Oh my God, Happy, what the hell's going on?" she asked as people in the hotel started running out to the track.
"Seriously?" Happy asked, glaring at her. "What's happening is that Tony is going through some kind of mental breakdown because you left him, now do you wanna keep asking me questions or help him not get killed?"
Tony, on the other hand, was desperately confused. He'd turned the last corner for the home straight and come face to face with a sea of wrecked million-dollar race cars, and some guy standing in the midst of them all, brandishing electric whips. At first he started questioning his sanity, but then he heard his car tearing apart and felt himself flying through the air, upside down, landing with a sickening crunch on the tarmac a hundred feet from where he'd taken off. He managed to get his bearings and crawl out from the wreckage of the car, but the guy kept trying to whip Tony. But Tony was a hell of a lot quicker than him, and despite some near misses and a quick floor-level dance routine, he managed to fend the guy off. And then Happy appeared out of fucking nowhere and smashed the Bentley into him. And nearly into Tony.
"Who were you aiming for? Me or him?!" he yelled and went to get into the car, stopping when he spotted Pepper in the back seat holding the Football. He was about to ask what she was doing there when the-guy-with-the-whips started up again and sliced the open door off the car. God, what was it with this dude and Tony's cars?! Tony dodged around to the other side of the car, quickly followed by a whip which sliced the entire roof off of it. Happy was yelling, trying to reverse and then speed forwards to slam the guy back into the fence, Pepper was screaming in fear and all Tony wanted was the Football. Finally, Pepper managed to compose herself long enough to hurl it out of the window at him, and then Mr Whippy was done for. He suited up and immediately set about pummelling the guy into the ground, taking a few licks along the way but ultimately kicking his ass. Tony had to get the suit off pretty sharpish once the fight was over seeing as the whips had caused a few components to short circuit, and once it was off, he turned to find Pepper stepping out of the wreck of the car. His heart was immediately in his throat as he stared at her. He was very aware that his illness was leaving a mark on his neck which she was bound to notice if she got any closer, which she seemed to be doing. Either that or he was moving closer. Either way, they were nearly within arm's reach of each other-
And then Hammer turned up.
He immediately rushed over to Pepper, kissing her deeply and hugging her close before rounding on Tony. "Now listen here, buddy." Hammer started, pointing at Tony and trying to look threatening. "You had your chance, don't go bringing Virginia in trouble when-"
But Tony had had enough. Drawing his fist back, he slammed it into Justin's face, the other man's glasses smashing instantly. Hammer crumpled to the floor with a yell of pain, clutching at his face. Tony simply strode over him, flashing a glare at Pepper before stalking back towards the main building, grabbing Natalie's hand as she appeared in the doorway.