Chapter 6:
It's amazing how a week can change your life completely! What started to be a great week turned out to be one of the worst ones in her life!
It all started last Saturday (12/13). With Christmas getting close, as usual, Stark Industries was hosting an End of Year Party. All employees, their families and some friends were invited to go.
Pepper was excited for it. She saw this as an opportunity for Richard to get to know her colleagues and more about S.I. She had started to love this company after seeing how devoted they were to finding new technology to help improve people's lives, especially after working with its CEO. Although he tried to hide, she saw how he sometimes took his time to help some kids that he met or that he heard about. He tried to do this in secret, as if the public got to know this, it would ruin his image.
She found out about it by accident. One time they were invited for an event in a Hospital. In the middle of the event Pepper realized that Tony was nowhere to be found. She went further within the Hospital searching for him until she saw him in one hall staring at something. When she questioned him what he was doing he said that he needed to go to the bathroom and went to the Men's Room, which didn't make any sense at all since the Hall had tons of bathrooms. Pepper looked at what he was staring and she saw a little girl without her forearm, and she was practicing how to write with her prosthesis and obviously was having a hard time.
While waiting for her boss to leave the men's room Pepper went to talk to the girl. They were having a nice time, until a couple minutes later, Tony step out and called for her. Pepper didn't think about it much until later that week until she was passing in front of the Hospital on her way home and decided to visit the girl. The girl was happy to see her new friend and Pepper was happy to be there. But what brought her attention was the prosthesis in her arm. It was different from that day, more high-tech. The girl's mother said it was an anonymous donation for her daughter. According to the kid it was lighter, more sensitive and she could easily hold a pencil. But Pepper knew better. She knew that technology and the design behind it.
After that day, Pepper started to pay attention and she found out that her boss often helped people that way but for some reason he didn't want the public to find out. After that her faith in him grew and so did her faith in the Company.
Pepper wanted Richard to see S.I. the way she saw it. The party at the end of the year would be a good opportunity. When they arrived at the main room, Pepper saw all her co-workers and went introducing her fiancé. They chatted… they danced… until they decided to find a table to rest and drink a little.
"So… what do you think?" asked Pepper, drinking a little of her Dry Martini.
"It's a nice environment, your co-workers seem to be nice people, and man..! That's a huge company! I lost count how many buildings we passed before got into this one!"
Pepper laughed at his face on his last statement.
"You introduced me to the Head of medical department, Head of biotechnology, Structure and development and so many others, but… " he paused for a dramatic effect, she already knew where he was going. "… I still haven't met the head of engineering and weapons development department, have I?" he asked, teasing her.
"Why are you so crazy to meet him?"
"You work with the guy. Actually you spend more time with him than with me, and I'm your fiancé… you travel with him, you talk about him, and most important… I need to see if he is all that they say he is. I need to know if I have competition or not." He said that half serious and half joking, but Pepper only saw it as a joke. Although she admired Mr. Stark, she would never, ever in a million years trade her fiancé for a womanizer, narcissistic man like Stark.
As if reading her fiancé's mind, Stark shows up at the entrance with James Rhodes by his side. At the first sign of him, a lot of women, most of them were invited to the party by an employee or friend, went straight to that area trying to get his attention.
They made so much noise that Richard turned his chair to see what was going on.
"Is that him?" he asked, curious.
"Yes," Pepper confirmed.
Tony went straight to the bar as he talked to the girls around him. He had a cocky smile on his face, a confident look in his eyes and walked through the place as an alpha male walked through his kingdom. Richard could only stare at his behavior. For a second their eyes met but the second later he saw Stark's eyes lay on the person beside him. Stark's smile grew and he left the bar and all the girls there and started to walk in his direction. Richard felt like he had just invaded the territory of another male.
Which is ridiculous!he thought. I'm here with my fiancée. If someone is invading another's man territory it's him... treating to invade mine! He couldn't help the feeling that he had done something wrong and now the Alpha was coming to remind him of his inferior status.
As soon as Stark came close, he saw his smile and his eyes were all on Pepper.
"Look who I found here!" Stark spoke to her, ignoring Richard's presence. "Having a good time and for the first time, not working!" he teased her.
Pepper gave him a small smile. "Good evening Mr. Stark".
"Come on Pep. Drop the Mr. Stark thing. It's a party, we are supposed to have fun, no formalities!"
Pepper rolled her eyes at him and decided to ignore his statement.
"Mr. Stark," she said, emphasizing his name. "This is my fiancé, Richard Miller."
For the first time on that night, Tony's eyes stopped on Richard's. He could feel the genius eyes look at him from top to bottom as if he was studying him, judging him. Out of nervousness, he gave Stark his hand to greet him.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Stark."
Stark looked at him and then at his hand, and gave him a flat smile and a nod.
"So he is the one," said Tony, ignoring Richard's hand.
Richard could swear that he heard the billionaire murmur "interesting". Second later Tony's eyes were back on Pepper and he was giving her a charming smile.
"Don't let my presence spoil your party, Miss Potts-"
"I thought you said to drop the formalities-" she said, joking as he kept on talking.
"-just here to have fun-" He smiled at her last statement.
"That's what I worry about. Your definition of 'fun'."
"-Just a few drinks."
"A 'few drinks' has different meanings between you and me."
"-see new people…"
"Then I hope you enjoy the party."
"-Have a good time!" He stopped to look at her, and Richard felt the need to put his arm around Pepper's waist.
Tony didn't miss that movement, nor did Pepper. "Have fun you two!" A second later Tony was out and already surrounded by women and ordering a refill for his drink.
"What was that?" Richard demanded, looking at her while she was sitting back at their table.
"What?"
"That, between the two of you? He is your boss... is that how he treats all his employees? So intimate?!"
"I told you, Mr. Stark is anything but formal with his closest employees."
"He was flirting with you!" He raised his voice a little.
"Look at him. That's what he does with pretty much every woman on the planet!"
"You should sue him for sexual harassment!" he said looking at the billionaire at the bar.
"That was harmless… it's just his way, he can't help himself. Just look at him."
"I knew it was a bad idea you working with him," he murmured.
"What?"
"He was threatening me…"
"…What?!"
"It's man stuff, Ginny… All his body language was yelling at me that I'm trespassing over his territory."
"… 'his territory'?" Pepper took a deep breath and looked at her fiancé. She decided to grab her purse and she got up from the table. "Come on."
"What are you doing?"
"You obviously need to talk about this and I'm not making a scene in front of everyone that I work with," she said, trying to be calm and collected. He frowned as he followed her.
The car ride was in complete silence. Pepper was trying to calm herself, it was obvious that Richard was jealous. She had seen Tony's presence have this effect in many men. There was something about him that intimidated them. Probably was the way he threw his charms at everyone, especially the females. The thing is, Pepper was so used to seeing Tony do this that she didn't take it seriously and it amazed her how other women fell for it.
As soon as they arrived home she started to talk:
"Look, that's his way of being, it's just who he is, especially at events like this. I've seen other men have the same reaction that you're having now, but that doesn't mean-"
"I want you to stop working for him!" he announced.
"…What?"
"You heard it. I don't want you near him."
"Where did this came from?"
"He is into you."
"He is Tony Stark… He is into every female of the world."
"No… this is different."
"You think it's different because it's me, and it's you. But Tony behaves like this all the time-"
"Tony? He is Tony now? Jesus! Are you on first name basis with him?"
Pepper took a deep breath.
"He is a good friend-"
"He is your boss!" Richard was almost yelling
"We spend a lot of time together-"
"Exactly, you are with him, more than you are with me. If money was the problem, we have more than enough now, you can drop it and find another job!" he yelled.
"Why are you being like this? You are my fiancé, you are the man that I love! I'm marrying you. This is just a job!"
"Then drop it. You've been with him for half a year, that's more than enough time for a good letter of recommendation."
"I'm not dropping my job because you are being irrational and jealous. I like my job!"
"You like your job or do you like being around Tony Stark? Because you can be assistant of someone else!"
There was a moment of silence where Pepper was looking at him with disbelief and trying to control her rage. She took a deep breath and decided to speak again.
"I don't need this. I don't need to talk to you like this. Tomorrow when you are more calm we can sit and talk." She took her things. "I'm sleeping in the other room," she announced and disappeared inside the house. Pepper spent half of the night crying and thinking of a solution to rescue her relationship. She felt like he was being unfair. She never gave him a reason to not trust her. Sure the job requires that she arrived late sometimes, or that she had to travel with him, or even take calls at extremely late hours… but she already knew that when she took it, and so did he!
Maybe I'm not being very fair with him either… she thought before eventually falling asleep.
-o-
[12/14 (Sunday)]
Next day, Pepper woke up and Richard had already made her breakfast and was waiting for her. She looked at the man in front of her.
"I'm sorry," he admitted.
Pepper was quiet and waited for him to continue.
"You are an amazing woman, and I guess I just felt intimidated by Tony Stark being so close to you. He can be very… intense... I got scared."
"You don't have anything to be scared about," she said in a quiet voice.
"I know."
"He is my boss, and that's it," she reaffirmed.
"I know."
"We spend a lot of time together… That relationship won't always be a hundred percent formal. But he is my boss, and nothing will happen between us."
"I know."
"… Well... I guess I should apologize too.."
He looked at her as if he didn't understand her.
"I should have prepared you for the intensity that is Tony Stark. I've seen men react the same way that you did before.. and also… I will try to find more time and get home earlier so we can spend more time together, but I'm not resigning. I like my job. It's challenging, it's fun… I'll have a talk with Mr. Stark and I will try to work with the schedule."
"Thanks... That you will try to spend more time with me... it means a lot."
"Well… we do have a wedding to plan right?" she smiled at him.
It was true. After that bonus that Stark gave her they had more than enough money to do the wedding.
"Let's start planning it, right?"
She smiled at him, and they spent the rest of the day planning the wedding, calling realtors to find a perfect house for them. It was time. Finally! They were putting in practice their dreams.. They were going to get married, the sooner the better. By the end of the day the atmosphere between them was so warm and friendly that it didn't seem possible that only last night they'd had the worst fight of their relationship.
-o-
[12/15 (Monday)]
The next day Pepper and Richard went to work. They had plans for that night to meet with a wedding planner.
As usual Pepper went to Tony's place, it didn't surprise her when JARVIS informed her about Tony's companions.
I hate this… why can't he face his conquests and tell them he doesn't want anything more than that? It's not like he is expected to marry them!
With that in mind, Pepper went to the guest room - where Tony usually took his girls - and saw two brunettes and one blonde woman. They seemed a little confused (probably because of JARVIS). Pepper held their clothes in her hands and greeted the girls.
"Good morning," she said in a professional tone. "Your clothes have been dry cleaned and pressed. There's a car outside ready-"
"Where's Tony?" the blond interrupted her.
"Mr. Stark is unavailable right now. But he left the driver at your disposal."
The girls complained a little, saying that they had a connection last night… Tony liked them… At some point Pepper just stopped listening. After leaving the girls with Happy she let out a long sigh. As she went back to the house Pepper was surprised to see Stark looking at her computer.
"Good morning, Mr. Stark."
"Miss Potts…" He gave her a boyish smile. "It was nice to meet your fiancé… although I always thought that you would like a different type of man."
Pepper was taken back by his comment.
"Okay… I will buy it. What is the type of man that you imagine me with?"
"You know… taller, a little more muscular, brown hair, amazing and heart breaking chocolate eyes, incredibly brain..-"
"In other words… you!" She secretly rolled her eyes at his attempt to flirt.
"Why Miss Potts… that thought neverrr, everrr crossed my mind… but if you wanted we could work things out." He said that looking down at her and closing the distance between them. Pepper took advantage of the situation and grabbed the files on her desk as soon as Stark came closer, she dropped the files in his hands.
"Good thing that you aren't busy at the workshop-"
"You know that I hate to be handed things-"
"We need to go through the Accounting forecast for next year-"
"I'm always busy at the workshop-"
"And the meetings for tomorrow. The Head of Financial and Biotechnology department wanted to talk to you. I scheduled the meeting for tomorrow afternoon."
Seeing Tony's lack of response she decided to look up to him. He was holding the files and looking at her with a serious face that she had never seen before. She shut her mouth at this vision.
"I should have told you. I won't work tomorrow. Cancel everything. And take the day off."
"What? Why?"
"I have other plans."
"What plans? I am the one that organizes your plans."
"Just do this. You don't have to come here. Take the day off. Be with your fiance. Ronaldo right?"
"It's Richard."
"Whatever… I'll be downstairs looking at this." He showed her the files that she just gave him and disappeared to the workshop.
Pepper had no idea what was going on but she didn't question it… not after the weekend she'd had with her fiancé. Yeah they needed some time together. The rest of the day went pretty much as usual… the morning they stayed at the mansion, Pepper working in the living room, Tony in the workshop. By afternoon they went to S.I. Tony had some meetings with potential clients. And then they went back to the mansion, Pepper ordered the dinner for Tony and as soon as it arrived she took it downstairs… Tony didn't even notice her entering as he was too focused on the hologram in front of him. She left his dinner at the workshop's little kitchen and asked JARVIS to remind him to eat it.
After that she went straight home. It was time to meet with the wedding planner. It was asked for her and Richard to make a list of the guests so they could start thinking about the best location and accommodations, and also, they needed to search for a Minister.
"Well, we've got a lot to do," said Pepper, looking at the printed plans. It was a resume of all they had to talk about with the wedding planner.
"Yeah, I guess all the time that we have together now we will be doing this from now on," answered Richard.
Pepper gave him a sympathetic smile. "Well… we could have one day to ourselves before this madness begins," she said playfully. When Richard looked at her curiously she continued. "I have a day off tomorrow."
"Really?!" he said, surprised.
"So…" She dropped the papers on the desk and went for her fiancé, with a playful smile on her face and she put her arms around his neck and sat on his lap. "You think you can get a day off?"
"I think I can get the afternoon off." He kissed her neck… "I will find a way, because this is a rare event."
She laughed. "We can have the day for ourselves, and a romantic dinner… What do you think?"
"I think we have a deal lady!" He kissed her passionately. Finally a day for themselves. They didn't have one of those ever, not since Pepper had started to work as Tony Stark's PA. Pepper thought about what Richard said to her during their fight and she could understand his feelings. But tomorrow it would be about the two of them and nobody else.
-o-
[12/16 (Tuesday)]
When the morning arrived, Richard went to work but he promised to be back at 4pm. Pepper stayed home alone. At first she used her time to put some things in order that she was meant to do for days but ended up always postponing it. That didn't take much of her time and by the lunch, she was already bored.
I guess it wouldn't hurt if I go to S.I. to advance my work for tomorrow.
She looked at the clock, it was around 11am. Which means that I can get some work done and get back here for my evening with Richard before 4pm.
With that in mind she took her purse and her car keys and drove off to Stark Industries. As soon as she arrived at the office, she started to work at Tony's agenda. MIT was pressuring her to find a way so he could do a speech there in June. Pepper was always looking at the time so she wouldn't be late to meet with Richard. Around 3pm she decided to pack her things and go, and there was some folders that needed to be delivered to Mr. Stark.
I'm just going to drop these at his house, leave him a note and that's it. He won't even notice I was there.
That was the plan. She had done this many times before, especially on the weekends. She was in and out and Stark never noticed her. This wouldn't be different.
She arrived at the mansion and went straight to his office. Once she got there Pepper realized something: the house was quiet, too quiet. JARVIS didn't greet her, there was no noise coming downstairs, no loud music, no TV on, no bots wandering around. Nothing…
Pepper left the files and wrote him a note, and grabbed her things to leave. She was already at the door when she stopped. The uneasy feeling wasn't leaving her alone…
"JARVIS? Are you there?" she decided to ask.
"Yes Miss Potts. I'm here," answered the AI in a lower tone than usual.
"I didn't hear you when I came in," she commented. "Is Mr. Stark out?"
"Sorry about that Miss Potts, I was put on 'Quiet mode'. Yes, Mr. Stark is on the porch."
Quiet mode?! she thought. This wasn't unusual… Tony sometimes lost his patience with JARVIS's comments and set him to quiet mode. But what was unusual was the complete silence in the house. Tony, even being quiet, was making some kind of noise. He was always typing something, listening to something – music or the TV news as a background sound – the bots were always doing some sort of work for him…
Pepper looked at the clock. She had to leave, it was almost time for Richard to come back home. She left the house and entered her car, left her purse on the passenger seat, turned the engine on but she couldn't bring herself to drive off. Her mind remembered the look he gave her when he told her about having a day off today. He had a serious look, but there had been something else there…
Sorrow, maybe?! she sighed. I'm not going to be in peace if I at least go check on him.
She stepped out of her car and decided to go to the porch. As she entered further in the house she could see a lot of broken objects, one of Tony's trophy's broken in pieces, one of his PHD's certificate that was famed was also broken on the floor.
What happened here?! She walked through the broken glass carefully so as not to hurt herself. She finally found him. He was sitting on the porch, still with yesterday's clothes, looking at the sea, one bottle of whisky in his hand. On the floor, there was broken or empty bottles. He was a mess, like he had spent the night drinking. Pepper had seen him drunk, very drunk, but never like this.
"I thought I told yzou not tfo come," he said in a clumsy voice not even bothering to look at her. He took the bottle in his hand and almost drank half of it at once!
"What happened here?" she asked in disbelief.
He laughed. Not the beautiful and charming laugh of his… but an empty, full of hurt, laugh…
" Nmy annual celebration…"
Pepper could see tears forming in his eyes. She had never seen him cry, actually she had never seen him sad. This was so surreal for her.
"…for beingg stupid," he murmured. He lifted something from next to him, something framed.
Pepper couldn't see what it was but Tony kept looking at it as he finished drinking the bottle in his hand.
Pepper came close to him and sat on the chair beside him.
"Tony… what happened?"
He looked at her, his eyes glassy from the tears that were forming.
"I didn'et saw him."
Pepper frowned, trying to understand what he was saying and what he was talking about.
"Saw who? Who came here?"
Tony kept looking at the sea as if he hadn't heard her. He dropped the empty bottle and his hand went to the other one that was full, still untouched under his chair. Pepper watched as he struggled to open the bottle. When he finally did, he threw the bottle cap away from him.
"Tony… don't you think that's enough?" she asked, picking up some other bottles that he still hadn't touched and putting them away from him.
"I nwas mad…" he spoke, still not looking at her… His eyes were very far away from her, or the sea… like he was seeing something that only he was capable of.
"You were mad? That's why you destroyed so many things?"
"…at sometinhg… so stupid."
"What made you so mad?" And then he started to murmur and Pepper was having a hard time trying to figure it out what he was saying
"He was beiiing sjarcastic because…he aluways liked to comprare me with… it made me mad!"
But the complete sentence she couldn't get it.
He kept going: "We shjould have meetz laterrr… I didn't tollld him, neeverr did. But I toldd herr…" He gave a small and sad smile and finally his tears started to drop. "I toldd herr…"
Pepper had no idea what to do. She had never seen him like this and she had no idea what had happened to make him like this. He was just fine yesterday. What happened in the meantime?
He took the bottle to his lips again and when he stopped Pepper looked at the whisky in his hand. It was almost at the end of it!
You've got to be kidding me?! He just opened this one. If this keep going he could be in alcoholic coma soon.
"Tony, I think you've had enough alcohol for today…"
He looked at her, his tears still falling but he didn't pay attention, like he had never noticed he was crying.
"Youu shhouldn't bee here… one shhoullld…"
"Well, but I'm here…" She gave him a reassuring smile. He look puzzled.
"…whyy?" he asked as he drink a little more.
"Because I wanted to be here." It was the only thing that she could give as an answer at the moment. She took the bottle that he was holding in her hand. "Why don't you give me this uhn?"
"No, no, no… I need this.." He didn't have strength to fight her off.
And he sounded like a kid that had been separated from his favorite toy.
"Why don't you give me this and let's go to your room so you can have a good night of sleep?" she suggested.
"Don want to slheep," he murmured, as she successfully took the bottle away from him.
"I suspect that you haven't eaten anything, have you?"
"…No…" he slurred, stretching his arms to try to get the bottle.
"I will get you something to eat while you rest a little… how does that sound?"
"Don want to.."
"I will be right back."
He tried to get up to get the bottle back but he was so dizzy that he fell again on the chair.
"I'll… stay," she heard him murmur.
Pepper went straight to the kitchen and searched for something so she could make for her intoxicated boss. While she was getting the ingredients for a soup together, she decided to ask the one person who could help her out now.
"JARVIS, who came here yesterday?"
"After you left the house no one came by Miss Potts."
Pepper frowned at his answer."Did Mr. Stark leave the house?"
"Also negative. Mr. Stark spent part of the night working and then drinking as much as he could, as you saw."
That doesn't make any sense, Pepper thought.
"What happened that made him like this?"
"I believe it's today's date,"JARVIS answered simply.
"'Annual celebration'?" Pepper murmured Tony's words as she met him. "What day is today, JARVIS?"
"It's the death anniversary of Mr. Stark's parents."
As if he wanted to prove the point, JARVIS created a hologram next to Pepper with an old newspaper. The front page was a picture of Howard Stark with the headlines: "Howard and Maria Stark die in Car Accident". Pepper took a moment to look at the old newspaper in front of her. Now the things that he was murmuring started to make sense to her.
Pepper finished the soup, took a plate and went for her mourning boss. He was asleep in the same position that she had left him. She took the framed object out of his hands and finally she could take a look at it… It was a family picture. Tony looked like he had been around 19 or 20 years old. On one side was Howard Stark and on his other, a woman who Pepper could only guess was Maria Stark. She looked at the passed out man in front of her and felt her heart break for him.
She never heard him speak about his parents other than, "It was a project of my dad…" or "My old man had a philosophy…"… It was clear he had buried his feelings deep and missed them very much.
"Mr. Stark," she called him, while nudging him gently. When he woke a little, she gave him the soup. "You need to eat something."
He accepted the plate without complaining. He ate in silence while she was next to him.
When he finished she took the plate from his hand. "Why don't you go lay down in your room?" she suggested.
"Uhn no… comfy here," he murmured and he lay back down on the deckchair and went to sleep.
Pepper sighed. It was no use in trying to get him out. But it was getting colder… She went inside and searched for a duvet. Back on the porch she covered him and left a couple of Advils and a glass of water next to him.
She took advantage of his sleep and cleaned away the broken bottles the best way she could without disturbing him. Then, she came back for the empty bottles and the ones that he hadn't touched yet. She ordered JARVIS to ask for DUM-E or U to clean up the hall as silent as they could and leave Tony to rest in the porch.
Once inside her car, Pepper looked at the clock. It was past 7pm. The day hadn't gone as she had been hoping for but at least she could have her night with Richard. On her way home, Pepper couldn't stop thinking about her billionaire boss. He looked so lost, and so alone, that she felt pity for him. He didn't have many friends, but he knew a lot of people, however most of them wanted to use him for something. Pepper could see that it hurt him when Tony realized their true intentions, although he tried to hide it, he was a lonely person which was why he surrounded himself with robots.
It was almost 8pm when she arrived home. She saw that Richard had already put the dinner table together, and there were some candles, and an empty bottle of wine, she suspected that he had drunk it, but her fiancé was missing. Pepper left her purse at the dinner table and was about to search him when she heard his voice coming from the corner of the room.
"Where were you?" He sounded serious.
She smiled widely as soon as she saw him.
"Sorry. I was planning to get back here before you, but things got out of hand."
He nodded and asked again.
"And...? Where were you?"
She sighed in defeat. "Well I got bored here doing nothing all day. I'm not used to it anymore, so I went to the office to get some work done for next week."
She walked to him and tried to hold him, but he avoided her contact and took a deep breath - Pepper could see that he was trying hard not to lose his patience.
"I thought... that we had a day for ourselves, and then you went out for work? On your day off?!" His voice was rising a bit.
"I'm sorry… like I said things got a little out of hand."
"What happened then..? What was so important, on you day off, that made you forget about our day together?!"
Pepper looked down and breathed in. Like she had suspected he had drank all that wine. She was hoping to avoid talking about Tony with him but she wasn't seeing any other option.
"I left the office before the time you said you would come home-"
"Then why Ginny?!" he yelled.
Pepper closed her eyes and continued: "I went to drop some files at Mr. Stark's house but when I arrived there-"
"I knew it…" he said with a sarcastic smile on his face. "I knew Stark had something to do with this… Everyone tried to warn me… but I didn't listen because I trusted you!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You and Stark!"
"We already talked about this… There's nothing going on between us! Tony is my boss!"
"Right… 'boss'," he said mocking her. "And yet you decided to spend your day off with him and not me."
"That's not what happened. I was coming back home to meet you. I dropped the files at his house and was on my way home when I saw him. The man was almost in coma with so much alcohol…" she paused and lowered her voice before continuing: "Today is the anniversary of the death of his parents… That's why he gave me the day off, so he could drink himself until oblivion." She was hoping that he could see it wasn't a normal situation.
"So..? What has this got to do with you?" he asked with a cold voice. She frowned.
"I just couldn't leave him like that-"
"Oh.. of course you could!"
"Richard… It would be inhuman…The man was in pieces. You didn't see him. I was just making something for him to eat, and put away the alcohol and then I left…"
"Because he lost his parents?! Ah give me a break, he is a grown man.. he can handle it.. besides Stark is inhuman… This would be just the world getting back at him. He is a mass murderer… and yet you still choose to be with him!"
"He is not a mass murderer… and I didn't choose him over you!"
"Yes you did… People told me that this would happen… I mean, I saw the magazine's saying that you do more than 'assist' him!"
"…What?" She had already seen those tabloids, and so had Stark who'd threatened to destroy the magazine if something like that was published again. "Richard, those are just magazines trying to sell… they would say anything…" She softened her voice and touched his arm. "Come on, it's still early, we can still have the night for ourselves-"
"No. I can't do this," he said pointing between the two of them. "Every time you travel with him I almost go crazy with the scenarios in my head. But I could manage it because it was your job, and you said that after you got the money you would leave. But now… today, it wasn't your job, you wanted to be there, and last weekend you made it pretty clear that you wouldn't leave the job anymore-"
"Don't do this… don't say this…" Pepper could feel the tears forming in her eyes.
"I can't… I want to come home and be with my wife… I want to be able to make plans for the night without being interrupted by some guy that wanted to travel half of the world just because he feels like it! I want to sleep without the phone ringing in the middle of the night, I want to spend a day off with my wife without being afraid that she will decide to go check on her crazy boss… But most of all, I want to have a wife and not share her with anyone."
His comment made her angry. "I'm not having an affair with him!" she yelled desperately.
"I can't do this Ginny… I just can't," he murmured and started to walk past her.
When Pepper turned to face him he was already with his car keys in hand and had left the house.
Pepper stood alone in the living room crying over the fight that they just had. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Her engagement was broken, her fiancé mad at her… She didn't want to be alone right now so she dialed the number of a good friend.
Half hour later Karol, a friend from college that recently moved to LA, came to her house to pick her up. When they arrived at Karol's, Pepper told her everything. Karol was a good listener, and she let Pepper speak for hours. She needed this and it was the best way to put her ideas together. At some point in the night, Pepper fell asleep only to wake very early in the morning.
She found herself in Karol's living room when the smell of fresh coffee came to her senses. Pepper went to the kitchen and saw her friend making some pancakes.
"Good morning!" Karol greeted her with a smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Ah.. like shit. I'm sorry about last night." Pepper gave her an apologetic smile.
"What are you talking about? You needed a friend… That's what I'm here for..." Pepper looked at her friend. Karol was always carefree and happy. She always cheered her up and that's why Pepper was so happy when she decided to move to LA.
"Have you decided what you want to do now?" she asked.
Pepper looked at her engagement ring before speaking. "I can't be with someone that doesn't trust me… Even if I leave my job now, in his mind, I would always have had an affair… He won't trust me like before." Both of them were in silence for a while until Pepper spoke again. "I guess I'll go home this morning, pick up my stuff and leave the house… He was the one who found that house so I'm going to find a place to live."
"You want me to help you?"
Pepper smiled at her. "Yes… If you can, it would be faster this way."
Karol nodded. "And you can live here if you want to… until you find a place."
Pepper took her friend's hand and thanked her.
When Pepper and Karol arrived at Richard's, there was no sign that he had returned home. Everything was the way Pepper had left. The two of them work fast, grabbed her stuff and went back to Karol's. After they had packed things up, Pepper took a shower and decided to get ready to go work. She needed a distraction and work was the best medicine. She still wasn't sure of how she would face Stark or his reaction of her being there. She only hoped that he didn't fire her for being too invasive - that would make her week a completely disaster.
When she arrived at Stark's, JARVIS greeted her and she went straight to her office. She was already working when a movement caught her attention. Tony had entered her office. He looked fresh, shaved, and had his favorite jeans and a Black Sabbath's shirt on… He looked nothing like the man he was yesterday.
"Morning Potts…" He looked at the clock and smiled, teasing her, and she wondered if he remembered anything from yesterday. "You're late."
"Morning, Mr. Stark. Sorry about that, won't happen again." Unconsciously she brought her hand to where her engagement ring used to stay. She didn't notice, but Stark didn't miss that movement.
"It's okay though, you work too hard."
He leaned against the door and Pepper could see that he was holding something behind him but she couldn't see what it was.
"Thank you, sir. Now, your schedule for today…" She started to talk to him about his agenda and he was surprisingly responsive. Pepper decided that this is what she needed the most, her routine back. After that, they agreed to leave for S.I.
"I'm going upstairs to change… unless you want to help me with that," he teased her.
"You are more than capable of doing that yourself." Pepper could only smile at his attempts to flirt with her.
"I was talking about choosing my tux, Pep!" He pretended to be offended.
"Of course you were." She smiled a little. Tony came closer to her desk and dropped what he was holding on her table, then he looked at her with the most sincere eyes she had ever seen him use.
"Thanks Potts," he whispered, and seconds later, he was already out her office.
Confused, Pepper looked at the table and saw the files that she had dropped here yesterday. She couldn't fight the smile off her face.
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