"How's the apartment hunting going?" Pepper asked sitting across from her cousin at the table, Kolhara put her iPad down and sighed.
"Difficult. I'm having issues getting anyone to rent to me without trying to inform Cyrus of my new address." Kolhara pinched the bridge of her nose. "I just want to have my own place so I can stop imposing on you and Tony."
"Kol, you're not imposing on us. Tony and I love you and you know you can stay here as long as you need to. I'd rather have you at least wait until the divorce is finalized before moving out." Pepper grabbed a bagel from the plate in between them spreading some butter and adding some cinnamon sugar to it. "We don't even know if he's gotten the divorce papers yet. And I don't like the idea of you being alone and him coming for you." She took a drink of coffee, "You're much safer here."
"I know Pep... I just... I miss being able to walk about however I please. And the loud noises coming from Tony's workshop gets kind of annoying." She shrugged. "This wouldn't be so hard if Cyrus hadn't added himself as my previous landlord. The bastard..." She murmured the last part under her breath as she picked up the iPad off the table to continue scrolling., after a few minutes of silence Kolhara spoke up. "Where is 179 Bleecker Street? Is the area nice?" She flipped through pictures of the apartment.
"Bleecker..." Pepper thought to herself for a moment. "Oh yeah! The area is nice. Has a really beautiful building across the street. I think it's a church or something." She leaned over the top of the iPad looking at the pictures upside down. "It looks nice!" She encouraged. "And it's open immediately. That's what you're looking for."
"It is..." Kolhara looked through the pictures again. Two bedroom, one bath, decent sized for New York. She could have a bedroom and an office. She hit the email button at the bottom of the screen and put the iPad down. "I did it." She sighed. She leaned back in her chair. "That's one less thing to focus on right now." She took a small sip from her coffee in front of her. "How was the bagel?" Kolhara asked.
"It seemed like it was missing something." Pepper said taking another bite. "Almost like it isn't-" She trailed off and threw it at Kolhara, it disappeared with an inch between her face and the bagel. "I should have known!" Pepper gave a chuckle. "Now seriously, where are the real bagels?" She stood up glancing around.
"The cupboard above the sink." Kolhara said sipping her coffee again. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice."
"I almost didn't." Pepper said sitting down again with the real bagels in front of them. "I may not have if you hadn't brought it up." She cracked one open and repeated the same steps she had with the fake one. "You're getting really good at using your powers, Kol. You were even distracted this time."
"Yeah, well being stuck at home most of the time..." Kolhara looked into her cup of coffee like it was going to give her next words to her.
Pepper reached out towards Kolhara and put her hand on her arm. "Hey, but you aren't anymore." She squeezed her arm smiling at her. Her eyes shone with tears. "And you never will be again." She let go and leaned back. "You know, until you get caught up in another book again and lock yourself away for six weeks." They both gave out a loud giggle.
"Yeah, honestly I'm excited for that to happen again. I could use a good distraction." She drained the rest of her coffee and placed her cup in the sink. "I'm going to go drive by that apartment, get a lay of the land. Is there anything you'd like me to pick up while I'm out?" Kolhara shuffled towards the kitchen door in her pjs and slippers.
"No, just enjoy yourself." Pepper smiled at her cousin as she walked out of the kitchen and up to her room. "You deserve it Kolhara." She muttered to herself as she took another bite.
As Kolhara got into the guest room Pepper and Tony had given her for use until she found her own place, she aimed for the en suite bathroom. Stripping down she quickly showered, washing out the sweat from the night terrors that had her awake at 4:30 this morning. She let the hot water run through her dark chestnut hair and down her bruised body. She had been at Tony and Pepper's place for a few days. The bruises were still there, but had started to fade. The one on her face was still dark, but had started to lighten up a little bit around the edges. The ones on her face always took the longest to heal. She kept her sea green eyes closed as she ran soap and water carefully over her face. After the quick shower she stepped out and quickly got dressed. Choosing a comfortable pair of high rise flair jeans and a dark blue spaghetti strapped shirt, covering it with a pastel blue light long sleeved baggy sweater. She put on some light make up, doing her best to cover her bruise. A little eyeliner, and eye shadow and she was appeased with her look. She slipped on some zip up boots, grabbed her purse, phone, and walked out and to the front door. Out the door she turned to the garage where parked outside was Happy.
"Moning Happy." Kolhara greeted him giving him a small wave. "Waiting for Pepper?"
"Morning." Happy said grumpily. "Yeah. We're running late." Happy said looking down at his watch as if to indicate this fact. "She was finishing up breakfast last I knew. I'm sure she'll be out any minute now." She gave him another smile and walked into the garage. Tony was standing at the sink he kept in the garage for whatever he needed it for, this time it was for washing his hands. "Morning Tony." Kolhara greeted him.
He gave her a wet handed wave before grabbing a towel and turning towards her and drying his hands off. "Going on an adventure?" He asked.
"I've got an apartment I found. I wanted to go check out the area. Before I look at it." She looked out at his collection of cars. "Mind if I barrow one?"
He grabbed a pair of keys off of a board next to him and threw them at her. She knew the logo was for a Volkswagen, she scanned for a Volkswagen car, the only one showing was a little blue brand new beetle. "Pepper picked this out for you while Happy was picking you up. It's all yours." He gave a smirk. "You can take it up with her." He winked. "Drive safe. I have uh stuff to do." He turned around and headed to the lower level of the garage. Where the Ironman stuff was held. Kolhara let him go, a door opening and closing outside the garage made her pop her head outside. Happy was walking around to the drivers side to get in. The back window rolled down and Pepper stuck her head out.
"Tony give you the keys?" She smiled at her, she had obviously been waiting for this moment.
"You didn't have to do this. I was looking at cars."
"Yeah, and you already risk losing so much because of Cyrus, this way, until after the divorce it's in my name, and he can't take this from you." She gave her a serious face. "He's taken enough from you." She put the smile back on. "I've got to get to work, please, have fun." She stuck her head back inside and Happy took off. Kolhara stood there for a moment, tears wanting to leak. She looked down at the keys in her hands, she gripped them tightly and gave a small jump when the beetle beeped from her hitting the unlock button.
"Well... alright then." She let herself grin and she tried not to run to her new car.