Chapter 8:
It was Tony's birthday and a huge party had been planned. Of course Pepper was the one in charge of it. There would be two DJ's, one by the pool area and the other in the house. Lots and lots of food and even more drinks. She looked at the guest list and was pretty sure that Tony did not know this many people. She doubted that he even knew who they were.
Now she faced a dilemma. Should she give him a birthday present? Wouldn't that be inappropriate?
It would be awkward if I don't give him anything for his birthday, she thought.
Then, what? What can you give a man that has literally everything?
The following weeks were making the final adjustments for his party and searching for a present for him. At every hour, she became more and more desperate.
Everything she found sounded too impersonal, too superficial, and sure, he could buy at any time. Clothes? No. That man's closet had so many expensive things that she could bet that small countries wouldn't have that much fortune. Watches? Also no. He had a lot of those: one more expensive than the other. Anything high-tech? That would be stupid. If Tony wanted anything, he made it for himself. Honestly he had things that were not in the market yet. Probably would take decades for them to be commercially available.
It is already hard to getpresents for a man, but giving a genius billionaire man a present is impossible!
She wanted to give him something that made him feel like it was personal, so maybe that way, he would give it more value.
She spent hours searching for it on the internet, and still came up with nothing!
Pepper sighed heavily and looked at the man in front of her. He was too absorbed in his mathematical equations to notice her. Looking at him right now she couldn't deny that even though he put her in too much stress with his eccentricities and drinking habits he was, in fact, a good boss. She could even consider him a good friend.
Sure he was egocentric and narcissistic, but he also tried to help her in his own way. He made her laugh on a regular basis, even if she will not admit out loud he helped her control her stress level with his carefree personality, always lightening the mood - sometimes even too much and at inappropriate times.
Pepper had to admit that somewhere on the way they became boss/employee/friends and she wasn't sure how it happened. One day they were at lunch and she realized that they spent that hour not talking about work - which was surprising - but regular things, everything and nothing. It surprised her how easy it was talk to him when he wasn't acting like a spoiled diva.
She didn't realize that all this time she had been thinking about their relationship and his birthday present and she was staring at him.
"Like what you see, Potts?" He teased her and his voice took her out of her thoughts.
"I see a maniac writing in codes that only he can understand," she said, trying to sound annoyed.
"It's called being a genius, thank you very much, and you can stare, I don't care… If you want I can show you firsthand how all this works!" He pointed at himself. It always amazed her how he can change from being such a smug man to a charming playboy then to a nerdy genius in a matter of seconds.
"Trust me, I don't want to know!"
"Uhm.. so you like Voyeur huh? It's okay… whatever makes you happy."
She rolled her eyes and went back to work. It was useless to argue with him, although she wanted to rip that smile off his face sometimes.
But then, an idea suddenly hit her. It was something simple, silly even, but she thought he might like it.
-o-
His birthday finally arrived. Pepper left her apartment at 8pm dressed in a simple but elegant black dress, with beautiful but discreet silver jewelry.
Once she arrived at Tony's mansion, she saw most of the guests were already there. She took her gift and went inside the house. There, she found Tony distracted with a brunette in his arms while two others were trying to get his attention. Pepper decided that it was the best let him have his fun and looked at the present in her hands. She wanted him to see it. She thought about leaving it with his other presents but knowing him, Tony would probably not even look at those. Therefore, she went down to the workshop.
Here I'm sure he will see.
She left the present on his desk and left the calm environment of his lab to the mess that was upstairs.
When she arrived there, Tony was on the sofa with a girl that was wearing a very tiny bikini. She was kneeled in front of him pretending to be his table. Tony was daring her not to spill the drink that he put on her back and let his hand wander over her body while she purposely spilled his drink just to see if he would use his lips on her.
"Tony doesn't change, does he?" a rusty voice said to her and she turned to see Obadiah Stane on her side. She gave him a polite smile. He was a remarkable businessman, but there was something about him that she didn't like.
"Well, it's his birthday, let him have his fun!"
He laughed at her words.
"He is just like his father when he was young," he said to her offering her a drink which she accepted.
"Really?" she asked curiously.
"Howard was very womanizing in his youth, just like Tony. It lasted until he met Maria. After that he stopped with those habits. She was the only woman who could keep him interested, focus his creative side and control his destructive side. He did a lot of growing up after he met her."
"She sounds like a remarkable woman."
"She was. A very rare type of woman. Kind of like you." He pointed at her and Pepper smiled shy.
"No."
"Yes. You are the only one who can control that!" He pointed to Tony who now had two girls kneeled next to him.
"He doesn't listen to me."
"Listens more than you believe."
Before she could answer he left her side to talk to some acquaintances. Pepper looked at Tony once more who was now walking some girls out of the living room to one of the guest rooms. At some point his eyes met hers and he gave her one of those rare smiles of his. She smiled back before he disappeared with his conquests.
She looked around. People were talking, drinking, and there were people swimming in the pool. She met Rhodey and Martha and spent half of the night with them chatting. At some point during the night, she saw Tony at the pool, again, surrounded by girls.
Pepper left his house earlier as she would probably would have some cleaning up to do the next day. And she wasn't wrong, the next day the house was a mess! She was there guiding the cleaning crew and waiting for the girls who slept in his house wake up. Happy was already ready to take them home. Didn't take long for JARVIS to wake them up and she had to go through all that familiar routine that it was get his girls out of the house.
It was past 10am and she was sitting in the living room searching for news of his party. Most of them were pictures of paparazzi from people getting in and out of the house. A few mentions of Tony's drunk behavior and his womanizing tendencies, but nothing too big that could cause a PR nightmare.
"Morning, Potts!"
Pepper looked up and saw Tony dressed in his jeans and MIT shirt. For some reason he looked extra happy. There was a different light in his eyes. "You went home earlier yesterday."
"Morning, Mr. Stark. Unlike you, I had to work today."
"Come on, it was fun! You missed a lot!" he said while he went to the kitchen.
"I'm sure I did," she murmured.
"You know," he started while he was coming back, "I found a really nice surprise today." He sat in front of her and put his coffee mug on the table. The background of it was a light blueprint of whatever engineering project that they found online to print on the mug. Witten with big black words was the phrase: World's Best Boss. But next to it, written in a delicate female handwritten with red paint, was the word "Friend". So the full message was: World's Best Boss/Friend.
He gave her a full smile, one that Pepper noticed that he only gave when the two of them were alone, before drinking a little of his coffee.
"Thank you, Miss Potts."
She gave him a smile in return.
"Happy Birthday, Mr. Stark."
That mug was constant on hand after that. Every birthday of his, she would come up with small ideas like this, a shirt designed by her, a framed picture of them reminding him of a funny moment. All small but significant presents like that.
-o-
Months after his birthday and Tony's dependency of her increased, either to help with his personal requests, or something for the Company or even her simple presence.
It had been almost a year since she and Richard had broken up. A year and a half since she started to work directly with the billionaire playboy and now, often Tony left the workshop with a notebook or a notepad, sat on the sofa across from her and started doing his designs and calculations there, or sometimes he just lay there listening to her typing.
When she questioned him about it, he simply said that he was thinking. Whatever it was, he wanted her around him and Pepper saw herself leaving his house late at night… not that it bothered her. She didn't have anything to do at home anyway…
In general, his presence didn't bother her, it actually made it easier if she had to ask him something or comment something to him.
Today, however, he was a little different, he was slower, walking carefully, didn't talk much, no smart comebacks, spenr the day at the workshop lazily working on the Red Hot. She didn't ask since acting weird was Tony's thing, from time to time. She should have asked.
Pepper left his house late as always, but instead of going home, she went to a Pub next to her house where she met a couple of friends there. It was Saturday; they were having fun, letting the stress of the week leave their bodies.
Pepper met these girls after she moved to her new apartment. They were about the same age.
Sandra was a dentist, focused on putting together her own ontological office. She lived on the first floor of Pepper's building and they met the day Pepper moved in. Later, Sandra introduced Pepper to Betty, who was married, works in an office, and lives in the building across the street. They were all really busy, but from time to time, they managed to meet and chat for a while.
"Ahhh I swear to god. If I have to look inside people's mouth again today I'm going to snap!" said Sandra, making the girls laugh. "Sometimes I question myself why do I even chose this profession."
"Can't be that bad," said Betty.
"Yeah…You are about to have your own office, that's a huge thing!" said Pepper.
"Bet, Pep, let me complain a little," she cried, pretending to be mad.
Betty looked at Pepper. "You are making success tonight."
"What? What do you mean?" asked Pepper, not understanding her friend.
"There's a guy that can't stop looking at you."
"Yeah, I saw that!" said Sandra. "He's hot!"
"What? Where?"
"On your left. Blonde guy in a black suit."
Pepper looked around. There was in fact a blonde guy dressed in a black suit. He was sitting a couple tables away from them and when Pepper looked, he was looking right at her. She couldn't fight the smile on her face when she looked back at her friends.
"You should find one too Sandra," suggested Betty, teasing her.
"Nah… I'm done with men for a while… although I wouldn't mind with that guy!"
They laughed at her last statement and half a second later, that man was approaching their table.
"Night ladies… mind if I buy you girls a drink?"
Pepper was about to deny it when Betty spoke first.
"Of course not!" She ignored Pepper's warning face. "Have a seat!"
"Nice to meet you... I'm Mark Morris," he said, sitting on the available chair.
The girls introduced themselves and Betty turned to Sandra.
"Will you help me with the drinks?"
"Sure!" The two of them left the table and went to the bar leaving Pepper and Mark alone.
"So… Virginia, what do you do for a living?"
The whole time Pepper had a shy smile on her face. It had been a long time since she had dated someone, and she couldn't help the feeling that she was out of practice.
"I work in an office," she said simply. Pepper tried to avoid saying to people that she worked directly with Tony Stark. Not even Sandra and Betty knew about her connection with the powerful billionaire.
"Where?"
"Stark Industries."
"Whoa! That's huge! I have a friend that tried twice to work for the Legal Department of S.I. and never succeeded. Their recruitment is tough!"
Pepper smiled at his attempt to indirect flatter her. "I guess I just got lucky. What about you?"
"I'm a lawyer. Not that interesting… really boring actually."
They chatted for a while more until the girls came back. Pepper was relieved that it was easy to talk to him. He was very interesting and funny and the conversation went naturally. She didn't know how long Mark stayed with them until he looked at the clock.
"Unfortunately I have to go. I've seen you around but you don't come here really often, do you?"
"No, my job requires crazy hours sometimes."
"I can understand that. Can I have you phone number? I would love to keep talking to you."
Pepper looked at her friends and answered. "Yeah, sure." She wrote the number on a napkin and gave it to him. He thanked her, said goodbye and left the pub with his friends.
"Somebody got a boyfriend!" teased Betty.
"We need to celebrate this!" said Sandra, already ordering another round of drinks. Before they started to drink again, Pepper's phone started to ring.
"Don't tell me that he is already calling?!" said Betty, excited.
Pepper took her phone and looked at the ID caller: T. Stark.
She left out a heavy sigh. "Nah, it's my boss."
"Your boss? Now?!" asked Sandra, wondering about the time he was calling.
Pepper answered the phone. "Mr. Stark?"
Her friends frowned at the name.
"Peeeeppeeerrrrr" she heard him say. "Help meeeee Pep-" She heard the phone drop. She imagined all kind of things: he cut himself, he hit his head, something exploded in his workshop with him (wouldn't be a first), and before her panic increases JARVIS answered.
"Miss Potts, Mr. Stark requires your presence at the house."
"What happened?"
"For the diagnostics that I've run, it is my belief that Mr. Stark is sick and requires human attention."
That helped her nerves calm down. "I'll be right there". She hang up and looked at her friends.
"Your boss is calling you right now?!"
"Sorry girls." She gave an apologetic smile.
"Wait," asked Sandra, "we know that you work for S.I. But you work with Tony Stark?"
"Yes," Pepper answered simply.
"Like… THE Tony Stark?" insisted Betty.
"I'm his PA."
"You are Tony Stark's PA?" said Sandra, impressed.
"That explains a lot of your crazy hours!" said Betty, before smiling. "Is he as handsome as he is in the magazines?"
"Oh he is so hot! I saw a picture of him in a black tux! He was irresistible! Is it true what they say about him?"
"Yeah well… He is crazy…" Pepper simply said, smiling at her friends. "I'll see you girls later!"
-o-
When Pepper arrived at Tony's, she realized that it was dead silent.
Never a good sign.
She left her purse in the living room before asking:
"JARVIS, where's Mr. Stark?"
"He is currently in his room."
She entered the master room, and turned on the lights, just to hear a complain from the man laid under the sheets on the king size bed.
"Ohh no! I can't see!" He covered his head with the pillow.
"JARVIS, dim the lights," Pepper ordered.
"Pepper?" he spoke with a fiery and hoarse voice and tugged his head away from the pillow. "You really came!" The red haired looked at her boss. He looked terrible! His skin wass sweaty, his nose was red and runny, and his eyes watery.
"My God! Are you okay?" she said, coming closer to him and put her hand on his forehead to check his temperature. He was hot!
"I'm dying, Pepper," he said, breathless. She looked at him, annoyed at his drama.
"You're not dying." She got up and went to his bathroom to get some medicine and a thermometer. "This is probably a bout of flu."
"I am…" he insisted. "Call my lawyer…" he ordered trying to yell but that only made him cough. "I need to review my Will…" When she approached him with the meds and the thermometer, he added: "You get the house."
"I don't want your house. Now open your mouth."
He did what she said but kept talking with the thermometer in his mouth.
"Take care of JARVIS for me. He is an asshole but he is a good buddy."
"Thank you sir. That's very thoughtful."
"Shut up! I'm trying to get your temperature," she ordered him while he gave her the most efficient puppy dog eyes she had ever seen him use! It was actually kind of cute. She tried not to think about it while she waited for the thermometer results. It wasn't in her job description to take care of the man while he was sick. Part of her was questioning why she was even there.
Give the man the meds and walk out.
But then another part of her stepped in.
Look at him… he is helpless… and there's nothing worse than being sick alone.
"Jesus! Your fever is high!" she said once she had taken the thermometer out of his mouth. "What else are you feeling?"
"Pain everywhere! I can't breathe… I'm dying Pepper… Please don't donate DUM-E to City College, he can help you out and JARVIS will help you take care of him."
"You are not dying."
"I am… I'm in pain… can barely speak with a sore throat."
"Then don't speak. Here, drink this."
"What is it?"
"It's a medicine. It will help with your throat and your congested nose."
"Does it taste good?"
"Just drink it." #
He did what she said. "Ahhh, Pepper, that's poison! I thought you liked me…" he cried. " You don't need to try to kill me! I'm already dying!"
God, he is such a drama queen! she thought, trying to maintain her patience.
"You are not dying… get some sleep, I'll make you something to eat."
She didn't wait for his reply and walked out the room.
Great! she thought, a little frustrated. If I'm going to take care of him that means that I'm going to spend the night.
She never had spent the night at his place before. Obviously, she had taken some naps during ones of his crazy parties before, but never fully spent the night.
Pepper decided that after she had fed him, she would go home, get some clothes and some belongings and return to the mansion. She made him chicken soup and went back to his room to find the playboy asleep.
"Tony. Wake up, you have to eat."
He woke up a little and tried to sit up in the bed. His expression told her the movement to sit made him feel more pain. But surprisingly, he didn't complain.
"What is this?" He looked at the plate.
"Chicken soup. Eat it. It will make you feel better."
Once he had finished, she took the plate out of his hand.
"Everything is spinning," he said, trying to lay down again.
She gave him a sympathetic smile and helped him with the covers.
"I'm going home-"
"Don't leave!" he pleaded.
"I will come back… I need to get some stuff to spend the night."
"So you will stay?" he asked hopefully.
"Yeah. I'll be right back."
He nodded and closed his eyes.
Pepper left his mansion and went back to her house, picked up some fresh clothes, pajamas and everything else she needed to spend the night. She chose to stay in the room next to his for two reasons: one it was closer to his room and if he needed her she would be there faster; and second, the other room was on the other side of the house and was where he usually took his women.
I'm not sleeping in that place without burning the mattress first! she thought before changing her clothes and going to sleep in the spare room.
-o-
Next day Pepper found out that Tony Stark was a terrible patient. He complained about everything! The medicines, having to drink water, not being able to taste the food, the pain, having to stay in bed and when he tried to get up, he complained about getting up…
Pepper's patience was being tested that weekend. She knew that and she did the best to keep her cool. When he finally fell asleep, Pepper decided to organize some documents of his that were in the living room.
She folded them together and went to his office to store them. Once she arrived at his home office, she decided to also clean the place. Again, it wasn't in her job description, and DUM-E usually was the one that had to clean it since Tony wouldn't trust the housekeeper to do so, but she had nothing better to do with her time and seeing a little dust here and there Pepper thought: That's probably one of the reasons why he got sick in the first place.
She started to clean until JARVIS announced the arrival of Colonel James Rhodes. It didn't take long for him to meet her in Tony's office.
"JARVIS told me I would find you here."
"Hey James!" she smiled at him.
"What are you doing?" asked Rhodes.
"Just cleaning this. Tony won't allow the housekeeper to clean this office, and this is probably why he got sick," she explained.
He nodded in response. "Yeah, he is afraid that they would steal some of his projects and sell it to a rival company. How is he by the way?"
She sighed tiredly. "He is finally sleeping. His fever went down a little this morning."
"He is a terrible patient, isn't he?" he said, suppressing a smile.
"That shouldn't surprise me," she answered and Rhodes laughed a little.
"Need help with that?"
"Sure."
They started to clean Tony's office and talked about ordinary things: Rhodes's work at Aeronautics, Pepper's infinity patience with Tony, how much Tony valued her even though he doesn't say or show it much… Pepper was touched to know that her boss spoke so highly of her to his best friend.
The conversation went on until Pepper was cleaning the top shelf and she found an old book. Everything that Tony had was brand-new, except that book. Finding it weird, she picked it up and realized that it was a family album.
"It's been a long time since I saw that," pointed Rhodey when he saw what Pepper had in her hands. "I guess the last time was when Tony was moving to this house."
"I didn't know he had this." She was curious but didn't open it.
"Take a look," suggested James.
She struggled a little with the idea of looking through Tony's personal property without his permission but she was curious to see it.
"Nah… that would be inappropriate," she replied.
"Tony wouldn't mind if it's you Pep," assured Rhodes. "Come on."
They sat on the sofa and Pepper opened the book. The first page was images of Tony's baby hand and footprint, followed by details of his name; the day that he was born; his parents name; location and doctor.
Next page there was a photo of a pregnant woman. She was standing in a backyard next to a pool, smiling at the camera, both hands holding her huge belly.
"Maria Stark," whispered Pepper.
"Yeah. This was at their house here in LA. Nice house. I remember that Tony's father use to have a little zoo there."
"Really?"
"Yeah, my sister and I used to go there just to see the animals… Over time the laws to keep those animals became more restricted and I guess he ended up donating them. I'm not really sure."
Next picture was of the Stark's in the hospital. Maria clearly had been in labor, and she looked exhausted but happy holding a little baby in her arms. She wasn't looking at the camera this time but at the little thing in her arms. Pepper smiled at the view of Tony as a baby and the clear love in his mother's eyes.
The following two photos were also taken at the hospital as Pepper recognize the man as Howard Stark, also holding and looking at the newborn Tony. The other one was a couple that Pepper didn't know. The woman was holding Tony while the man had his hand on Tony's little chest, both looking at the baby.
"Who are they?" she asked.
Rhodey smiled. "That's Jarvis."
Pepper looked at him in surprise. "What?"
"Edwin Jarvis and Ana Jarvis." He pointed at the two people in the picture. "Where did you think Tony modeled JARVIS from?"
"So, JARVIS really existed? I thought it meant Just A Rather-"
"Just A Rather Very Intelligent System?!" Rhodey completed. smiling at her. "Nah.. Tony says that to avoid telling people that he was inspired by a real person. Because that would imply that he, you know, misses the person. And you know how Tony is…" He pointed at the photo again. "That is the real Jarvis. He was Howard Stark's butler since… I don't know… forever I guess. That's the man that raised Tony."
Pepper looked at the man again. He was very well dressed in a gray tux, impeccable hair, and had warm green eyes looking at the baby. She didn't know him, but for a strange reason she felt sympathy with him.
"Did you meet him?" she ask Rhodey.
"Yeah. He used to help us hide our pranks from our parents." He laughed at the memories. "Jarvis was always visiting Tony when he went to boarding school and then for MIT. I guess it was a year after Tony graduated at MIT that his wife got sick. And man! He loved that woman. She died and a couple months later, he followed her. They were already old by that time…"
"Wow!"
"Yeah". They stared at the couple for a moment before the lieutenant spoke again.
"At that time, Tony already had DUM-E and U… I never asked, but I suspect that it was around that time that he started with the idea of JARVIS. A few years after his death happened, the accident with his parents, so… you know, I think he decided to put his ideas into practice. I guess Tony used his old videos and audios to create the JARVIS that we know today."
There were more pictures of Tony as a baby; Tony trying to walk; one that made her laugh was baby Tony trying to draw. There was ink everywhere but the paper in front of him, his hair was spiked up and he was looking at the camera puzzled. Tony around 4 dressed as Captain America for Halloween… Soon she started to see pictures of him in a workshop. He was still a kid but had always something mechanic in his hands or in front of him that he looked proud of. She guessed it was his first inventions. She also noticed that Maria and Jarvis were often in the pictures with Tony.
There were pictures of Tony as a teenager, already receiving awards. In those moments it was common to see Howard next to him. His graduation of MIT… his Master's degree… After looking at the pictures, she closed the book and put it back where she found it. She looked at the clock; it was almost lunchtime. Pepper decided to go to the kitchen to make something for them to eat. Rhodes followed her.
"You know…" she said, turning to face her friend. "I've always wondered… how did you two meet?" Pepper asked looking at Rhodes who laughed a little.
"I was 14, Tony was 12. Ours moms knew each other – don't ask me how, I guess from a club or something – the thing was… they went to a friend's ranch to spend the weekend. And they decided to take us there. That's how we met. Tony was really weird at the time." He laughed at the memory of his friend.
"More?" asked Pepper, laughing.
"Oh believe me! He was 12 and already at university so he didn't have any friends. Human interaction with him was a little difficult, but there we became friends fast. It was just me, Tony and my sister were the only children at that ranch so… I wanted to piss off my sister and Tony always liked a prank, we linked fast!"
"I can only imagine how much she suffered with you boys."
"Pepper you have no idea!" laughed Rhodes. "Ask her later. To this day, she is still pissed with us." They laughed a little.
"I always thought you two were roommates."
"At some point, yes. When he was doing his Master's degree it was my first year in college. So I decided to live with him in that year. He had an apartment all by himself. Believe me, it was the craziest year of my life… I know what you are going through."
"So you want to take my place?" she joked while she was making their food. "Feel free to take it, I need some vacations."
"NO! God no! Thank you!" answered Rhodey, as fast as he could. His reaction made her laugh. "I don't know how I didn't kill him in his sleep!"
Their conversation were interrupted by her phone ringing. Pepper glanced at the ID but didn't recognize the number. Even so, she decided to answer it.
"Hello, is this Virginia Potts phone?"
"It's me, who is it?"
"Hey! It's Mark. Mark Morris, from the pub last night."
She was genuinely surprised with his call. "Mark! How are you?"
"Thought I wouldn't call uhn? I was wondering if you are free today so we can continue our conversation."
"Sorry, today is not a good day," she replied apologetically.
"I should have known! A girl like you would already have plans. Can we meet some other day, maybe?"
"Sure! I would love that!"
They said their goodbyes and Pepper hung up the phone.
"Boyfriend?" queried James.
"No, nothing like that."
"Aham…" He was not believing her.
"What?" she smiled at him.
"What are you doing?" asked a voice from behind them.
They looked around to see Tony holding the comforter and covering himself with it from head to toe with only his face showing.
"Sit here," said Pepper. "Lunch is almost ready."
"Looking good Stark" teased Rhodes.
Tony looked at him with a bored face, and Pepper had to fight not to laugh at her boss's face. "I've heard that you were even calling your lawyer. Preparing to die over a flu! That would be a great headline: 'Genius Tony Stark defeated by common flu'."
Tony looked at Pepper, but Rhodey spoke before he could speak.
"It wasn't her. I asked JARVIS, and he showed me the footage. I even saved it on my phone for future use."
"JARVIS, we need to work on your protocols," he murmured, too tired to yell at the computer.
After their lunch Rhodey said good-bye to them and left the mansion. Pepper decided to do some work. Just like she thought, there were hundreds of emails and dozens of reports for her to look at. She sat on the sofa near the waterfall. It's noise always calmed her down. It didn't take long for her genius boss, still wrapped in a comforter, to lay on the same sofa.
Pepper stopped what she was doing to look at him.
"Wouldn't you be more comfortable in your bed?" she asked.
"No," he simply replied as he closed his eyes and went back to sleep with the noise of her working. Her peace, however, didn't last long. A few hours later Tony tugged his head out and looked at her.
"Pepper."
"Yeah," she respond, not taking her eyes from the computer.
"Order me a Burger King, no, better yet, two double cheeseburger from BK," he said, still with a congested nose.
"You are not eating BK, you're sick. Need something more healthy."
He frowned. "You know…You don't order me, it's the other way around. Just so you know."
" I know that. However, technically, it is my free day therefore I'm off duty. You also hired me to take care of your best interests, and eating BK while sick is not in your best interests."
"I really want a cheeseburger… You know I can call them right?"
He was hilarious when he was sick like that and trying to sound confident. She was having a hard time attempting not to laugh.
"Then pick up the phone and order it yourself…" Then she smiled deviantly. "Let's see if they will understand what you're saying with that voice of yours."
He pouted. "JARVIS can order." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"I'm afraid I agree with Miss Potts, sir. Healthy food will decrease the time for your recovery and strengthen your immune system-"
"Mute. You two are mean," he pouted again.
A minute later, he came close to her.
"Pepperrr..."
"What?" She was mentally counting to ten to try keep her patience.
"I'm bored."
Half of her alarms began to ring. A bored Tony was a dangerous Tony. "You are sick; you are supposed to be bored."
"This is too annoying…" he complained again. When she didn't respond he came close to her and tugged her. "Can I go down to the workshop?"
"You already know the answer for that."
He snorted angrily. "Then play with me!"
"No."
"Come on! Please! I never asked you for anything!"
She stopped to look at him with a flat face.
"Okay… that might be… not entirely truth…"
"You think?!" she replied, sounding exhasperated.
"But please play with me!"he begged.
"JARVIS can play with you," she retorted.
"I don't want JARVIS, I want you!"
"I'm not leaving work undone to play with you. Now if you excuse me, I'll be in my office finishing this report here and you will get some rest." She ignored his complaints and started to walk to her office. "JARVIS don't let Mr. Stark go to the workshop."
"Understood, Miss Potts."
"You're no fun!" Tony complained.
A few hours later, she finally finished all the work she had to do and went to check on her sick, childish boss. She found him on the same sofa where she left him. DUM-E was next to him, apparently they were playing chess, there were also papers everywhere full with mathematics schemes and some disassembled electronic objects on the table.
He is impossible! she thought. He was lying on the sofa, one arm touching the ground and the other supporting his head as a pillow. At her approach, DUM-E made a noise and woke Tony up.
Pepper looked at him and smiled a little before she asked: "Want to play Mario Kart?" He lit up like a Christmas tree and sat up so fast that he felt a little dizzy. "You okay?"
"Aham.. Not the best idea to jump up like that," he told her, holding his head a little.
"We will play for a while, then you rest, okay?"
He agreed with that. They spent the next three hours playing video games. Tony was impressed with how Pepper was good at it. Although she was struggling to admit it to herself, she was having fun playing with him.
After that, Tony went to rest while she made them some dinner. He slept through the whole night.
-o-
Two days later Tony was healthy again but not less bored, especially since Pepper made him go directly to S.I. the day he got better. He went all the way, complaining about how he missed being sick.
After lunch time Pepper was looking at the documents regarding the company's expenditure with employees and new projects when something caught her eyes. She went for the computer for more details of those numbers.
After a quick search, she grabbed the papers and went storming into Tony's office.
"What is this?" she asked angrily, showing him the paper.
He looked down and then faced her. "What?"
"You know what!" He was silent for a moment and she spoke again. "That number. Right there." She pointed for him. He looked at the paper again, and then he decided to avoid her eyes.
"You gave me a raise because I took care of you this weekend?" She could tell that he had became quite uncomfortable with her questioning. "Is that it?"
"Well yeah…"
"That's why you are giving me money?"
"Aham… I was told that I could be very difficult when I'm sick."
"You were told that?!"
"It's the word on streets…so…" He pointed at the number for her. And she became a little angry with his behavior. It was not the first time he had tried to do this.
"Tony…" She tried again, attempting to remain calm. "You can't give me a raise every time I do something nice for you."
He frowned at her. "But-"
"You can't buy me."
"I'm not trying to buy you."
"Yes, you are. Giving me a raise after that is one way to try to buy me. I stayed there because I wanted to. I didn't want to leave you alone sick like that."
"No, no, no… I wasn't trying to buy you… Just wanted to acknowledge what you did."
"Then say 'thank you'. It's not that hard," she suggested, as if she was explaining manners and etiquette to a five year old.
"I have access to your money, you know," she continued while he was looking at the ground. "If I wanted, I would have taken it as a bonus."
He was still avoiding looking at her and she sighed sympathetically.
Tony wasn't used to this. People usually did something for him with interest behind it, usually related to money. Therefore, it was natural for him to think that if she stayed and took care of him when it wasn't her job, she would wanted something like that from him too.
She continued in a calmer voice. "All you have to do is say 'thank you.'"
He looked at her and she could tell that he was a little lost and having a hard time.
So she decided to break the ice a little: "Better yet! Say: 'Thank you, Miss Potts, I would be lost without you…'" she said, joking.
There was a second of silence before he came closer to her, almost invading her personal space. He looked her straight in the eyes. All his masks were down and he gave her the most sincere and intense eyes she had ever seen and she instantly regreted her joke.
"Thank you, Miss Potts… I would be completely lost without you," he said, never taking his eyes away from hers. His voice was sweet and honest and every syllable that left his mouth made her feel fuzzy inside.
What the hell?
For a second she lost her ability to speak. She was blushing, she knew that.
Do something! she yelled at herself. She forced herself to break eye contact and smiled nervously.
"See… It wasn't that bad," she said, and just then, she looked at him again. He was smiling a little. "I will leave those papers with you now… If you need me, I'll be right outside. And I already ordered your lunch at Burger King," she said, remembering his wishes when he was sick. His smile grew when he heard her.
"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" she queried, coming back to her professional self.
He nodded before replying: "Yes, that will be all, Miss Potts."
She left his office as fast as she could without seeming desperate.
Tony was a charmer; she knew that. She never felt anything for him other than sympathy. Sure he was handsome, easy to look at and admire, but his charms never once worked on her. She knew who he was and how he was… So what the hell was that, that she felt just now?
It's the intensity of his eyes focused on me, she told herself. It's not a secret that he has intense eyes… I just never had that intensity totally focused on me… that's it.
-o-
The next day Pepper was sitting at a spare table at Tony's office in S.I when she looked at her phone. There was an unread message from a friendly number:
"Hey! Just wondering if you would like to go out with me this week.
Let me know if you have other plans.
Have a good day!
-Mark M."
She called him back and they made plans to meet that weekend. However, Pepper made the mistake of leaving her phone on her desk when Tony arrived at the office.
"Burger King arrived. Want one? I don't like to share, but just for today I will let you have it."
She knew he was there more for the company while eating then to offer his food.
"No, thank you, I already eat. How can you eat Burger King again? You just had it yesterday?"
"Salad is not food and it's always a good day when I have Burger King." He looked like he was deep in thought for a moment. "I think I should buy it."
Pepper looked at him and realized he was talking about the Burger King chain.
"Your are not buying Burger King," she said with a strong voice.
"It would make my life easier if I own it."
He started to eat, and while she was looking at some papers, he was rambling about the pros and cons of buying the burger franchise. A couple minutes later Tony changed the subject:
"Who is Mark M?"
"What?" She looked up and saw him. In one hand he was holding the burger and the other her cellphone.
"What are you doing with my cellphone?"
"I was going to look at its configurations… so who is the Eminem?"
"Eminem..? What?" She wasn't understanding what he was talking about.
"Mark M… M and M… sounds like Eminem. Come on, Pepper, everybody knows that!"
She rolled her eyes… Tony and his logic.
"Is he your boyfriend?" he kept asking. "Are you going out with him?"
"It's none of your business."
"I'm not allowed to know that?!"
"No. Finish your burger. You have a meeting in 30 minutes."
She left him eating and went to do some last minute organization for the meeting.
As usual Tony sat there looking bored, sometimes making a comment or two. She was the one taking notes, until her phone started to buzz. Pepper looked at her phone and saw a message from her annoying boss sitting across from her.
T. Stark: "So you are dating Eminem."
She narrowed her eyes at the message and decided to reply.
P. Potts: "What?"
T. Stark: "Blonde hair, name with MM, apart from the coiffed hair he could be just like the real Slim Shady :O " He sent her a picture of Mark attached.
P. Potts: "You Googled him?"
T. Stark: =D
T. Stark: That's your mad face. You're mad at me or at the man talking or is it because of the coiffed hair?
P. Potts: What do you think?
T. Stark: coiffed hair. I know, right! How many products does he need to do that? It's not natural at all.
P. Potts: Shut up and pay attention to the meeting.
T. Stark: That's boring.
T. Stark: Pepper?
T. Stark: I can see your eyes looking at the cellphone..
T. Stark:. Talk to me Pep.
T. Stark: Don't give me the silence treatment.
T. Stark: you are giving me the silence treatment. One day I might die because of this.
T. Stark: You're so mean to me :(
After the meeting was over Pepper waited for everyone leave the room so she and Tony were the only ones left.
"I can not believe that you Googled him!" she said, narrowing her eyes at him.
"So you were mad at me! Uhn!" he said, with an innocent face. Apparently, he found it surprising.
"Of course I am mad at you. What did you think I wouldn't be?"
"Well it was hard to tell-"
My God! How is this man even considered a genius?!
"I am mad at you Tony," she replied, almost yelling.
"Okay. Look, I was looking out for you," he attempted to explain.
"What?"
"You are my assistant! I have to know who you are going out with."
"And what makes you think that?"
"Well, he could be working for some rival company and wants to get close to you because you have access to privileged information."
"He doesn't even know that I'm your assistant."
"You think that he doesn't," defended Tony.
"Mr. Stark I want you to stop right now," demanded Pepper.
"You are back at the Mr. Stark thing?" Then he murmured. "…must be really mad."
The red hair had to control herself not to hang him right there with her bare hands.
"You don't get to say who I can or can't go out with. In fact, you don't even need to know that. I'm your assistant and I know how to separate work from my private life."
"Pep, you can do better than this guy… I mean… look at him!"
She rolled her eyes. "I mean it Stark," she said with a strong and firm voice, then grabbed her things and didn't wait for his reply.
-o-
Two days later, she and Mark finally met again. More than once that night, Pepper cursed Tony for making her pay attention to Mark's hair. It wasn't horrible, but he did kind of have a point.
The side of his hair was shaved, the rest of his hair was slicked back, forming a tuft on top of his head and due to the amount of his hair, it probably needed a lot of products to stay that way and not fall.
Forget about his hair, this is a nice guy, funny and interesting.
They had dinner and decided to go for a walk to a park nearby. It was a beautiful night.
"Thank you," she told him. "I had a wonderful night."
He took her hand in his and looked into her eyes.
"It was my pleasure." He came closer and kissed her softly. ]
Pepper closed her eyes at the feeling of his lips on her. When they broke apart, she smiled shyly. He was about to say something when her phone started to ring.
"Sorry," she apologized, looking for her phone in her purse.
"It's okay."
When she found it, she lookws at the ID and didn't recognize the number.
"Just one moment," she told Mark before answering. "Yes?"
"Is this.. ahn.. Pepper Potts?"
"That's me."
"I'm from the LAPD. I'm calling on Mr. Stark's behalf."
"What happened?" she asked, visibly tense.
"He was arrested for breaking into a house and he needs you to pay the bail so he can get out."
"He did what? How much is it?"
The police officer informed her about the bail and she hung up. Her mind was already processing the nightmare that PR would have.
"Is everything okay?" Mark asked.
"There's something that I need to tell you." She looked at him after putting her cell back in her purse. "I work for Tony Stark."
"Yeah, I know, you told me you work for Stark Industries."
"Yes. But I work directly with Tony Stark. I'm his assistant," she explained to him.
"Really?! That was him on the phone?"
"Yes and no…" She couldn't tell him that her boss just got arrested. "I just have to go… I need to do something for him now… I'm really sorry." She couldn't believe her luck! She had finally found a nice guy to have a good time with and this had happened!
"Hey it's okay. Do you need me to take you somewhere?"
She smiled a little.
"No, I'm calling Mr. Stark's driver." It was late at night and she knew she would wake Happy up but she thought that she would probably need his help.
While they waited for Happy to arrive, they chatted for a while. He was impressed that she worked for the genius billionaire and asked some questions about his reputation. She just gave a general answer, never getting into too many details.
When Happy arrived, Pepper tuned to Mark to apologize again.
"It's okay, don't worry about it." He gave her another kiss and asked: "Can I see you tomorrow? We can spend the day together."
She smiled at the thought. "Sure! I would love that!" She gave him another kiss before getting in the car.
-o-
When Pepper arrived at the LAPD she paid the bail and found Tony in one of the empty rooms, passed out on the sofa.
I guess Tony Stark doesn't go to a regular prison cell like all the rest of the mortals go. I should have known.
"Tony?" she called.
"Hey Potts!"
She frowned at the smell of alcohol on his breath.
"God! You are so hot! Super sexy Potts... Sexpotts!" He happily laughed. Happy came right after her and helped to hold Tony and put him in the back seat of the car.
"Let's go home Happy," she told him. Then turned to Tony. "What happened?"
"Don know... I was at home."
She tooked a deep breath.
"You were arrested for breaking into someone's house, Tony."
"It was my house… Kind looked like my house."
"What?"
"I thought it was my house and the key wasn't working so I jumped the wall and went inside."
"What? How is that possible? JARVIS would have opened it for you if it was your house and nobody has a house at a cliff side like you."
"Not that house," he simply told her before closing his eyes.
"I think he is talking about his old parent's house, Miss Potts. It is around that area that he was arrested," informed Happy.
They arrived at the house and Happy helped Tony into his bed. Pepper sighed at the vision of her drunk boss, then it hit her. Tomorrow it would be a year since she and Richard had broken up, which means that it would also be the death anniversary of Tony's parents.
How could I forget?
"Miss Potts?" Happy called to her. "Need a ride home?"
Pepper looked at the driver and then at her boss sleeping soundly in his bed. Memories of Tony drunk last year came to her mind.
"Nah Happy, I think I will stay. Thank you."
He nodded. "If you need anything you can call me."
She thanked him and went to the spare room next to Tony's. After the day that he was sick, she decided to leave some of her things there just in case she needed to spend the night again. She was already going to bed when she decided to call Mark to cancel their plans for tomorrow. There was no way she was going to leave Tony alone. Not after what she witness last year and what had just happened today. She made a silent promise to never let him spend that day alone again.
Pepper spent the next day with Tony, keeping him company. She explained that he would have to face a Judge for breaking into someone's house, and Tony tried to explain to her his version of the facts.
"I thought it was my house… I looked at it and I was sure that it was my house," he told her.
Later that day he took her to visit his old parents' house. According to him, he just went there to search for some notes that his father had left.
"It's work related Pep," he explained.
But she knew better. Pepper was able to see the place where Tony was raised and recognized some locations from the pictures that she saw in his family album.
Pepper and Mark decided to meet another day and many days after that. Tony still annoyed her because of his hair and his name. He was being possessive, therefore, she decided to hide from him every time that she and Mark had a date otherwise she wouldn't hear the end of it, and curiously, Tony always seemed to need something from her on date night. So to avoid that, she started to hide her plans from him. Mark was a good boyfriend, and Pepper was happy to find someone like him.