Chapter Twenty-One

Pepper was working away at her desk when there was a quiet knock on the door. She looked up and smiled at the visitor. "Hi, Rhodey," she greeted him, "have you come to check up on me as well?"

Rhodey gave a little laugh and walked into the room and held up a folder. "Got some papers for the resident genius to moniker. How's your first day back?"

"Good," said Pepper. She thought back to the way Tony had been so cute when she'd first arrived and the way he'd definitely noticed the 'up and at 'em' addition to her wardrobe. Pepper would be lying if she said she didn't like it. A secret smile crept to her lips. "Great."

Rhodey came to sit on her desk. "How's he been?" asked Rhodey with interest as he watched Tony through the office door, casually circle around the lounge room and pretending to be doing something other than checking up on Pepper.

Pepper made a rueful face. "Happy came in this morning and said if there was anything I needed, to just give him a call and has let me be. Tony on the other hand has been managing to find a need to talk to me every half hour on the dot. You can set you watch by it." Pepper rested her elbows on her desk. "So, in answer to your question, Tony has been alternatively sweet and annoying," said Pepper with a little smile, watching him as well. "Not necessarily in that order.

"Yup," agreed Rhodey, "that's his speciality alright."

"I know," said Pepper wryly.

"He was heartbroken without you, you know," said Rhodey, looking at her steadily. "He just went in on himself and no one could reach him, not even me or Happy."

Pepper moved a little in her chair, heart starting to beat a little faster. "I know he's happy to have me back," she said at last.

"It's more than that, Pepper," said Rhodey sincerely. "In a lot of ways you're all he's got and he needs you more than anyone."

Pepper looked down at her hands. "Tony needs me to organise him, I know."

"You do a lot more for Tony than organise him," said Rhodey knowingly. "And he knows it too."

Pepper wanted to ask Rhodey what me meant by that but Tony was now walking casually by the door. She glanced at her watch, seeing that it was just about to go one o'clock. "Here we go, four, three, two and-"

On cue Tony suddenly appeared in the doorway. He gave a vague nod in Rhodey's direction and then fixed Pepper with a bright smile. "Pepper."

"Yes, Tony?" she replied with quiet patience.

"Have you seen my-" Tony paused, obviously not having thought of an excuse on the way over, "-thing?"

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "Lame."

"If I had a dime for every woman he's asked that of then I'd be a rich woman," said Pepper dryly to Rhodey.

"No ganging up, you two," said Tony, waggling a finger at them. "I forbid it, my house, my rules."

"In that case, no, Tony," said Pepper, leaning back in her chair, "I haven't seen your thing. Is that all?"

Tony looked to be thinking fast. "I'm hungry."

"I'm very sorry to hear that," said Pepper evenly. "Do you want me to order something in for you? What do you feel like?"

"Pasta," said Tony decisively. He grinned at her. "Let's go to Italy and get some."

"I'm not going to Italy for pasta," said Pepper firmly.

"You don't have to have pasta," Tony informed her. "They have lots of other types of food as well."

Pepper tried to give him a disapproving look. "I mean I'm not going to Italy, Tony."

Tony frowned. "Why, what do you have against the Italians?"

"Nothing, but I've got a lot of work to do."

"Still?" asked Tony looking a bit put out.

"Yes," said Pepper in amusement, "still, and you've got work to do as well." She nodded over at Rhodey. "Rhodey has papers for you to sign."

"Again?" asked Tony in exasperation.

"Yes, again," said Rhodey calmly. "It won't take long if you'll just focus for five minutes."

"Mpf," Tony grunted, not looking like he was going to be particularly accommodating. He gave Pepper a hopeful look. "Last chance, how does Mexico sound instead?"

"Out of the question," said Pepper firmly. "Besides, I've already had a sandwich for lunch. I'll order you in some Mexican though."

"It's not the same as being there," Tony complained.

"Go and sign Rhodey's papers," Pepper shooed him off, "and I'll see you in a half an hour."

Tony looked completely innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Pepper smiled. "Of course you don't."

"Come on," said Rhodey, heading for the door, "let Pepper get some work done already."

"Fine," said Tony petulantly, "but if you get a 3pm hankering for quesadillas, it's not my fault."

"Duly noted," said Pepper wryly as Rhodey ushered Tony from the room. Pepper had barely started work again when the front door bell sounded. She stood up and made her way out of her office and to the front door. Pepper made a surprised face when she saw who it was. "Robert, what are you doing here?" she asked without thinking and then grimaced. "Sorry, that sounded horribly rude."

Robert Roberts gave an easy smile, clearly not bothered. "No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to drop in on you unannounced."

"That's fine," said Pepper and took a step back, "do you want to come in?"

He shook his head. "I can't stay," he said regretfully. "I was in the neighbourhood doing a house call and thought I'd drop by and see how you're finding your first day."

"You're doing house calls?" asked Pepper in amazement. "I didn't know doctors still did those."

Robert gave her a wink. "I'm old school."

Pepper laughed. "So I see."

Robert cleared his throat. "Actually, I had a bit of an agenda in dropping by." He gave her a nervous look. "I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me tonight?"

"Oh," said Pepper in surprise and hesitated. She wasn't the slightest bit interested in Robert in that way and didn't want to lead him on. "Oh, Robert, I don't know-"

"I promise," he interrupted her quickly, "no strings attached. I'm new in town and I'd just like to go out for a meal. I enjoy your company Pepper, but I promise, I'm not looking for anything other than that tonight." Robert grimaced. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have asked. I go a bit stir crazy sitting home all night every night."

Pepper bit her bottom lip, finding his hang dog expression hard to say no to. After all, Robert had been very sweet with her at the hospital and she did feel like she owed him this at least. Pepper couldn't help but think of Tony and how she'd much rather be having dinner with him but then, he wasn't asking. She forced a polite smile to her lips. "That sounds lovely, Robert, I'd love to go out to dinner with you. Where were you thinking?"

"How about that restaurant where it's like you're under the sea?" suggested Robert. "With all those fish swimming around you?"

Pepper nodded. "Atlantis, yes, it's very good." The restaurant was basically nestled under a huge tank of water filled with various fish and other sea life for people to enjoy while they dined.

"Shall I pick you up at seven?"

"How about I meet you there?" she suggested. At least it was better than eating dinner alone in her apartment which still had some unhappy memories for her Pepper mused. And Robert would be pleasant company. Where was the harm?

oooOOOOooo

Tony tilted his head and listened intently as he and Rhodey sat at his work bench. "Did you hear the front door?"

"Tony," said Rhodey in exasperation, "would you please focus? I need you to read through and approve these documents."

"Jarvis, was that the front doorbell ringing?" asked Tony, ignoring Rhodey's request completely.

"Do you mean the sound of bell ringing which is attached to the front door, sir?" Jarvis quizzed him.

"Yes," said Tony in annoyance.

"Then yes, sir, the sound of the bell ringing which is attached to the front door is indeed the front doorbell ringing."

Rhodey chuckled. "Funny."

"Don't encourage him," said Tony dourly. "Who is it, Jarvis?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Put it up on the screen," Tony instructed him.

An image of Pepper standing at the front door and talking to a man was suddenly displayed in front of them.

"Hey," said Rhodey happily, "It's Rob."

Tony glared at him. "Rob?"

Rhodey just stared back at him. "Yes, Rob."

"Best friends now, are we?"

"Ever since we got those matching tattoos," said Rhodey, straight-faced, "yes, yes we are."

Tony made an impatient noise at the other man's teasing. "Jarvis, give me audio."

Rhodey coughed the word 'stalker' into his hand and earned a glare from Tony.

"I'm not stalking," said Tony in annoyance, "I'm taking a proactive interest in one of my employees after a recent safety scare."

"Whatever you want to tell yourself," said Rhodey wryly.

"There is no audio for the front door cameras, sir."

Tony scowled. "Why not?"

"I believe at the time of installation you decided it was unnecessary."

"You don't always have to do everything I say," said Tony in frustration.

"May I have that in writing, sir?"

"What's the big deal," said Rhodey. "So, the guy's come to check in on Pepper."

Tony stepped closer to the screen, lips thinning in disapproval. "I think what you meant to say was check out Pepper."

"Tony, can we please get back to these files? I need them signed today."

Tony was studying the screen carefully. "What's your take on this guy?"

Rhodey sighed heavily. "I don't have an opinion beyond him seeming to be a nice guy." He waggled several sheets of paper at Tony. "The files, Tony, try and focus."

"Is it just me or are his eyes too close together?" asked Tony, staring at Robert intently. "I heard that is the sign of poor genetic breeding."

"What's a short attention span the sign of?" asked his long suffering friend impatiently.

"Brilliance," said Tony distractedly. Pepper was smiling and laughing at the guy and Tony didn't like it one little bit. Pepper was the only woman he'd ever gotten jealous over, even before he'd realised he loved her. Now that he did know he loved her, Tony hated it even more when there were other men who were clearly interested in her. "I'm going to go and break this up."

"No need," said Rhodey, "Robert's leaving."

Tony frowned. "What do you think he wanted?"

"Probably checking in to see if you've signed these documents yet." Rhodey treated Tony to a pointed look which the other man ignored.

Tony's eyes narrowed suspiciously, watching as Robert walked along the driveway to his car. "No, I'm pretty sure that wasn't it."

oooOOOOooo

Happy wandered up the stairs from the garage and into the darkened lounge room, almost done for the day seeing as it was past six o'clock. He distractedly flicked on a light and then started at the unexpected sight. "HOLY CRAP!" he yelled in fright. Happy glared at Tony who'd been sitting in one of the chairs in the lounge room. "Why the hell are you sitting here in the dark, Tony?" he asked in annoyance. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

Tony was just staring ahead. "Pepper's on a date."

Happy put down the bag of trash he was holding. "I know." Pepper had told the both of them just as she'd been leaving and was gone before Tony could react. Happy had thought Tony had gone off to sulk in his lab, not sit in the dark, probably coming up with a bad plan.

"And it's not with me," said Tony, still staring straight ahead.

"Yeah, I caught that too."

Tony's jaw hardened. "It should be with me."

Happy sighed heavily, knowing that look on Tony's face all too well. "Are you about to do something stupid, boss?"

Tony fixed him with a determined look. "I think we both know the answer to that, Happy."

"You know, you could just wait until tomorrow until Pepper's date was over and then finally tell her how you feel," pointed out Happy logically.

"The last time I waited for her to come back to me, Pepper was kidnapped and trapped in another dimension," said Tony unevenly. "I'm not going to let that happen again."

"I have to say the odds of something like that happening again are pretty low, Tony."

Tony wasn't to be swayed. "He who hesitates is lost and I've already lost so much time, I'm not prepared to miss a minute more." Tony stood up and looked ready to take on the world. "I love Pepper and she's going to know that, tonight."

Happy leant against the kitchen counter. "You don't think that will make her date with Robert just a little bit awkward?"

Tony's eyes narrowed. "I sure as hell hope so. I don't want that evil weirdo circling around her anymore."

Happy rolled his eyes. "He's a doctor, Tony. He heals people for a living."

"Oh yeah," said Tony sarcastically, "and who's ever heard of an evil, weirdo doctor – Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, Doctor Phil, anyone?"

"Doctor Phil?"

"No one has that kind of moustache without something to hide," said an unrepentant Tony.

"Well, clearly you've thought this through," said Happy dryly. He made a face. "You don't want me to drive you to this potential cataclysm, do you?"

"No," said Tony determinedly, "I need to do this myself."

"Thank God, because I see zero chance of this going horribly wrong." Happy went to leave. "Call me if you need bail money."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," said Tony flatly.

"Hey, I'm on your side, boss, truly I am. Break a leg."

Tony thought of Robert. "Gladly," he said grimly.

"Yeah, no, don't do that," said Happy, immediately knowing what he was thinking. "Well, while you're off finding true love, I'm going to be watching the game on the big screen, is that cool?"

Tony waved him away. "Sure, whatever."

"I've got my cell phone if you need me," Happy reminded him. "Just try and make it during half time."

"I'm not going to need you, Happy," said Tony determinedly. "I'm going to meet my destiny tonight."

"Well, just call me in case your destiny isn't as thrilled to see you are you think she's going to be," said Happy wryly and headed off towards the theatre room. He'd done as much as he could for Tony, now it was up to the other man to come through and say all the things he should have said ten years ago. Better late than never Happy mused as he settled in to the overstuffed sofa and loosened his tie, ready for a night of relaxation and blissfully unaware that his night was going to be anything but...

A/N: Okay, guys, are you ready, here we go at long last. :D It's all going to happen in the next chapter. Depending how wordy I get with it all, we've got one or two chapters until the end of the story and then I'll probably just throw in a short epilogue as a bonus. Basically I want to be done by Friday... which is Thursday I think for a lot of you.

So, almost there guys and it's all come down to this. Tony off to claim his girl, Pepper unaware she's about to be claimed and Robert thinking he was going to have a pleasant evening... boy, is he in for a surprise. LOL