Next chapter! 40 Chapters already, I can't believe it! And we're still far from the end of this story! At the moment, I can't even say how many chapters this will have in the end, there is still so much to come. I hope you like this chapter, please let me know what you think! And thank you so much for the reviews! It makes me happy to read them.
I don't own the characters or places!
"Hey Pepper." Natasha greeted her when she entered the kitchen. Nat was sitting on a chair and smiled widely.
Pepper smiled back at her. "What are you doing here, all alone?" She asked curiously.
Natasha shrugged. "I just needed some time for myself." She said, which didn't sound like her at all.
Pepper sat down next to her and raised her eyebrows. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked softly. "Otherwise you wouldn't have waited for me here, right?"
She sighed. "I forgot how attentive you are." Natasha muttered. "And I bet you were looking for Tony, I don't want to bother you, Pepper. After a day at work, you've surely got better things to do than to listen to me."
"You know that it's not true." Pepper argued immediately. However, Nat was right. She had been looking for Tony. After finishing her work, Pepper had changed from her dress into something more comfortable – jeans and a t shirt – and then she started to look for Tony. She could also have asked JARVIS, but this didn't seem right to her. She wanted to make sure that he was alright and not walking around, it wouldn't do him any good at the moment. But Natasha looked distressed and now that they were here, she had to listen to her problems. Pepper would be a lousy friend if she just left now. "So what's going on?"
Natasha looked around, probably to make sure that they were alone. "Do you remember the shopping trip I want to make?"
She nodded. "I would have time for that soon." Pepper explained. She'd nearly forgotten Natasha's request after everything that happened.
Nat smiled slightly. "That would be great. And I bet you want to know the reason for it."
"Is this about Bruce?" She asked and Nat's surprised expression told Pepper that her guess was right.
"How do you know that?"
She chuckled. "Come on, do you think I'm blind? I see the way you look at him. And the way he looks at you. You spend much time together recently. Tony said something similar once."
To her surprise, Natasha blushed. "Tony noticed it as well?"
Pepper smiled reassuringly. "You know that he notices more than everyone thinks."
Natasha sighed. "That's true. Do you think the others…?"
Pepper smiled slightly. "I bet Steve saw it too. And Clint."
Natasha groaned. "You want to tell me that Thor is the only person who might not have noticed anything?"
"They're your friends, of course they notice something like that. And it's not a bad thing." She tried to calm her down.
However, Natasha's face darkened. "But it is."
She frowned. "What do you mean by that?"
"I just don't know what to do. About Bruce. This never happened to me before. Normally, I know exactly what I'm doing. But with him… He always surprises me. And it's so easy to be around him, but then I remember who he is again, and who I am, and everything gets complicated…" She sighed in frustration.
"What do you mean by that?" Pepper asked slowly, already having an idea what she was talking about.
"I'm not supposed to feel like this." Natasha muttered. "And especially not for someone from the team. Feelings are dangerous when they're mixed with work. Then, things can go wrong very fast. And you know what Bruce can do. He can't always control it."
"Feeling is nothing bad." Pepper argued and her thoughts wandered to Tony. "Yes, it can be difficult sometimes. Especially in dangerous situations. But it's worth it."
"You're speaking from experience." Natasha noticed.
Pepper nodded.
Before she could reply something, Nat continued. "But with you and Tony, it's different. You're not both in danger, when we go out on a mission, you stay here. You're safe then. That makes it easier for him. With Bruce and me, it wouldn't be like that. We can't just stay behind."
"Would you even want that?" Pepper asked.
She shook her head. "Or course not. And Bruce wouldn't do that either."
"So you're afraid that it would make things complicated when you're on a mission with the Avengers." Pepper summarized what Natasha just told her.
The other woman nodded.
"But there's more to it, right? If this would be your only fear, you could just talk to Bruce and figure things out." Pepper noted. Natasha seemed nervous, was she afraid?
"Maybe you're right…" She muttered now. "It's childish. But I'm already behaving like that, so I can also just tell you… What if Bruce doesn't like me?"
Pepper raised her eyebrows. "But you surely must have noticed how he looks at you. And feeling isn't childish at all."
Natasha's lips twitched. "For you that may be true. But I've been raised differently." Her tone made it clear that she didn't want to talk about this anymore. "Do you really think that Bruce likes me?"
Pepper nodded. "Don't you think so too?"
After a few moments of hesitation, she shrugged. "I'm not very good at this." Natasha admitted.
"Then trust me, he likes you very much. You should have seen his face when you arrived in Malibu last week and you were hurt. He looked devastated."
Now there was a small smile on Natasha's lips. "He saved my life. Together with Tony."
Pepper nodded. "You've been lucky."
"Tony said this as well." Suddenly, she grinned. "And you can be lucky that we came to Malibu. Otherwise, you would still be ignoring each other and being miserable."
Pepper sighed. "Probably you're right."
"I know."
She rolled her eyes. "Alright, thank you!" Pepper muttered. "Even if I really don't want you to come back from a mission like that again."
"The last one wasn't that bad." Nat argued, but she stopped when she saw the look on Pepper's face. Tony came back injured, that shouldn't be that bad? "I'm sorry, Pepper. Next time, we'll all come back uninjured." She said sanguinely.
"You better make sure of that." Pepper muttered darkly, the image of Tony coming back to her mind, being half carried by Steve and bleeding. She shivered.
"Hey, no dark thoughts." Natasha interrupted her. "So when can we go shopping?" She changed the subject quickly.
"I would be free on Saturday." Pepper suggested, glad about the new theme.
"Because you won't work on that day, or because you won't have to keep an eye on Tony anymore?" Natasha asked mischievously.
"Both." She replied immediately. It was true, then Tony would be allowed to move again, even if he still should take things slow.
"Alright, then Saturday." Natasha agreed.
"And why do you want to look good for Bruce?" Pepper asked slowly. "I mean, just look at you. You're always beautiful."
Natasha chuckled. "Well, I don't know…" Suddenly, she frowned. "Or is this a bad idea?"
Pepper shook her head. "Not at all. And I could use something new as well. I bet it'll be fun."
They talked about clothes for some time, when the elevator opened and Clint came into the kitchen. His hair was still wet from the shower and he wasn't wearing shoes. He groaned when he sat down. "Remind me that I'll never train with Thor again." He muttered and Natasha laughed.
Pepper used this moment to excuse herself. She wanted to see Tony now.
"So now tell me why you tried to hack the government." Tony said slowly, his tone still cold. It wasn't easy to control his anger right now, but somehow he managed it. "And be honest with me, I hate it when people lie." He already knew that she wasn't going to be honest with him.
"After the incident with Hydra and Project Inside, it's not that easy to get new information anymore." Maria Hill started slowly. "You know that Fury worked with the government. He might have not always liked it, but it was useful. When something strange happened, we were informed immediately and could have a look at it. And Fury was always informed about the latest changes in international policy."
Tony frowned. "And why is that important for SHIELD?"
"We're working all over the world. So we need to know what's going on. When something happens and it's in a country where a war takes place, we have to operate differently than usual." She explained it calmly, but Tony could still see the storm in her eyes. She was also angry, but she had it under control.
"Sounds logical." Tony agreed slowly. "You're telling me that you didn't get any information from the government anymore since Fury's gone." He summarized her words.
She nodded. "Which makes it more difficult to plan our missions."
He frowned, looking at the piece of paper with the reports that was still lying on the table. "Doesn't seem like you've problems at getting new cases." He muttered thoughtfully.
"You don't know how many missions we've planned and carried out before all this happened. This is just a fraction of it."
"Most of your agents are gone." Tony reminded her.
She sighed. "That's true. But we still could do more, if we got any information."
"What about the new director? Why doesn't he communicate with the government?" He asked curiously. Somehow, this whole story sounded strange to him.
"It's now well known who the new director of SHIELD is." Maria said elusively.
He narrowed his eyes. "Why? He's running your organization."
"It's complicated. And I can't speak of it. He doesn't want everyone to know." Now her tone was hard.
"Im sure I could find out about that." Tony said immediately, looking at her provocatively.
She stared at him angrily. "I bet you could do that." She muttered, it was obvious that she wasn't happy about it. "But that's not important right now. Let's just say that we don't get much information."
"Why don't you communicate with the government?" Tony asked simply.
"And then I'll tell the world that SHIELD still exists and is part of Stark Industries now?" She raised her eyebrows sceptically.
"You're not part of SI." He argued immediately. "So you want to operate out of the shadows now, even more than before."
She nodded. "Makes it easier. Then something like the story with Hydra won't happen again."
"And then you just try to hack into top secret government files?" Tony raised his eyebrows. "You know that they could have followed the trace back here, right? And who do you think would have gotten into their view first?"
She sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't think about it like that."
"Of course you didn't." Tony muttered. "Why should you care when they're arresting me for doing something illegal?" At his words, she flinched.
"I won't do it again, I promise." Maria muttered and to his surprise, she really looked guilty now.
"You will not be able to do it again." Tony corrected her. "I already made sure that this won't happen again. And I deleted all the traces that could lead them here. I didn't want my name to appear combined with those hackers."
Maria's lips twitched, but she was still looking unhappy. Her anger seemed to be gone. "I'm really sorry, Tony." This time, he didn't correct her.
"And what are you going to do now, without those files?" He asked simply, still not believing her story.
"We'll go on as always." She said.
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Alright, so you're telling me that you tried to hack into top secret files to get information for your missions. That didn't work and now you say it doesn't matter either way, and you're just going on as always." He raised his eyebrows. "Somehow, this doesn't work for me."
She frowned. "Do you want to say that I'm lying?"
"No. I know it." He said simply. "You should know that it won't do you any good."
"But this is the truth." She was looking distressed now. Was she just a good actor, or was this whole situation not easy for her? Tony wasn't so sure. This reminded him again why he didn't like Maria Hill very much. It was difficult to see through her mask.
He sighed. "Do you want to tell me the truth now, or do you need a night to think about it? But you have to consider that you won't be able to leave this building before I know the whole story. No more lies."
"But I'm not lying to you!" She shouted and her loud voice made him raise his eyebrows again.
"You're so stubborn."
"This sentence out of your mouth." Maria muttered angrily.
"Can we now please BE HONEST WITH EACH OTHER?" Slowly, he was losing his patience again.
"I am honest!" She shouted back.
He groaned. "Maybe we should continue our conversation tomorrow. And you won't leave this building before I know the truth."
"How do you want to make sure that I won't leave? You can't even help yourself at the moment." Maria muttered and looked at his injured leg appraisingly.
He looked at her coldly. "You think that I'm defenceless?"
She looked at him for a few moments, her eyes narrowed. Then she shook her head. "I shouldn't underestimate you."
He nodded. "You 'd better not do that."
"I won't be able to leave the building?" She asked, suddenly sounding curious.
He scowled. "We both know that you'd never run away."
Maria sighed in frustration. "Why do you always have to be right?"
Slowly, Tony was getting tired of this ups and downs in her mood. "You have two possibilities now. Tell me the truth now or tomorrow. I want to know why you tried to hack into those files. And no more lies. But you have to consider one thing. Tomorrow, Steve will be here with us."
This seemed to surprise her, she looked puzzled. "Steve?"
He nodded. "You're in the Avengers tower. So it's his business as well."
"You're not playing fair."
"I never said so." Tony said, holding up his hands in a defensive gesture.
Pepper had nearly reached the lab – she'd taken the stairs and not the elevator – when she heard loud voices. Apparently, Tony had company. She stopped when she recognized the voice of Maria Hill. They were still talking? But didn't he tell her that she would come hours ago?
Pepper forced herself to go on walking. When she got closer, she realized that they weren't just talking. It sounded as if they were arguing. She frowned, staying out of sight.
"Can we now please BE HONEST WITH EACH OTHER?" Tony shouted and Pepper held her breath. She'd barely heard him this angry before. What had happened between them?
"I am honest!" Maria Hill shouted back.
Pepper knew that it was wrong, but she couldn't help listening to their conversation. Her heart was racing and she would have loved just to storm into the lab and tell Maria Hill to leave Tony alone, but she knew that he wouldn't like that. This was his fight, whatever it was about. Not hers. And when she took a closer look, Pepper noticed that the doors of the lab were locked. Why did Tony lock them inside together?
When Maria hinted that she could just hurt Tony to leave the tower, Pepper saw red. She had to clench her fists tightly and her nails were digging into her skin. However, this was the only thing keeping her calm. How dare she spoke to Tony like this! And Pepper was sue that he wasn't defenceless, it sounded as if he knew what he was doing.
They continued to talk and when Tony mentioned Maria trying to hack into files, everything fell into place. There had been two hackers! And Tony didn't want to tell anyone who the second person was. So this was the reason why he hid it. Apparently, he wanted to confront Maria with it alone. "Because it wouldn't look good for him when someone found out about it." Pepper muttered to herself.
Then Tony gave her the choice between telling him the truth now or tomorrow, when Steve would be there as well. Pepper knew that she should leave, if Maria decided to tell Tony the truth now. It wasn't right to listen to them secretly. However, she had the feeling that Tony already knew that she was there. He didn't miss anything that happened in his tower.
"I already told you the truth!" Maria Hill shouted again and Pepper sat down on the stairs. Even to her the lie was obvious.
"Then we'll see each other again tomorrow, Agent Hill." She heard Tony say. "JARVIS, make sure that someone accompanies her to her room."
"Shall I inform Captain Rogers?" JARVIS asked, however Pepper didn't hear Tony's reply. There was silence for a few moments, before someone called her name.
"You can come in now, Pep. She's gone."
Slowly, Pepper stood up and walked into the lab. Tony was looking tired and his hair was a mess, but he smiled when he saw her. "How much did you hear?"
"Not much." Pepper admitted. "I just came when you started shouting at her."
She didn't want to sit down on the chair, so she walked to the couch. "I shouted at her more than once. You have to be more precise, Pepper." Tony muttered and stood up slowly. Then he sat down on the couch next to her. Pepper took his hand.
"She was the second hacker?" She asked slowly.
He nodded, looking frustrated again. "And she refuses to tell me why she did it."
"I noticed that." Pepper replied dryly and Tony's lips twitched.
"She's exhausting."
"You look tired." She remarked, the worry in her voice obvious.
He shrugged slowly. "It was a long day."
"You want to talk to her again tomorrow?"
Tony nodded. "With Steve."
"Won't he be surprised? About all this?"
To her surprise, Tony laughed. "Nope. JARVIS informed him about our conversation." Now he grinned. "From what I've heard right before you came in, Steve's also confused."
"Doesn't surprise me." Pepper said and frowned. "Why would she lie to you about this?"
"I bet it's something personal. I don't believe that SHIELD needs those government files for their missions." Tony frowned.
"And you think that she'll be honest with you tomorrow?" Pepper noticed that she sounded doubtful.
"Probably." He shrugged. "Otherwise, we have to find a new solution. I don't want someone who's constantly lying in my building."
"You consider throwing them out?" She asked, not sounding disapproving at all.
Tony raised his eyebrows. "Shouldn't you tell me that this is a bad idea now?" He asked, his tone curious.
Pepper smiled slightly. "Maybe I've also had enough of Maria and her games." She said slowly.
Tony thought about it for a few seconds, before he grinned. "You're hot when you're angry." He muttered and placed a hand on her cheek. He kissed her on the lips quickly but drew back after it. Then he frowned. "She wouldn't hurt me." How did he always know what she was thinking? Yes, she was still angry at Maria Hill. For lying to Tony. But mostly for threatening him.
"She shouldn't talk to you like that." She noticed that she sounded unhappy now.
He laughed. "I can deal with her. Even when I'm injured, I had the situation under control."
"Tony…" Pepper began slowly, but he shook his head.
"The suit was ready, the others would have been there fast if I'd called them, and I can also fight without the suit. Steve taught me many tricks. And once I'm healed, we'll continue with the training." He smiled at her. "You don't have to worry. Not in my own tower. In here, nothing can happen to me."
He leaned in and kissed her again. This time, he let her kiss him back and they stayed like this for some time. When they finally parted, she smiled too. "I wasn't worried." She admitted. "To be honest, I would have liked to throw Maria Hill out myself."
At her words, Tony laughed. "That's my Pepper!" He grinned and wrapped his arms around her. "I love you."
"I love you too." She whispered and kissed him again.
