Thanks everyone that are still following and reading this fic, I hope you enjoy this one.

Special thanks to "The-Writer1988" my Beta.

It was supposed to be a morning like many other in her life. Pepper woke up next to her boyfriend in his mansion in Long Island, New York. She glanced at her calendar and saw all the tasks she had to do before this evening. Tonight was the big night. Their tower was almost ready to launch and they only had minor details to work on. Tony still needed to finish some adjustments since he spent yesterday complaining that "it has too many workers in this room. It feels dirty. It smells". Funny thing is, he started to complain after she and her assistant had brought food for the workers. If he was telling the truth, because let's be honest, he could be a little spoiled, or if it was him being a little jealous she would never know.

The press was driving them crazy wanting to see the inside of the tower or how the system worked, even after so many press conferences and interviews that Tony had made during those last few months.

Still, she got up, put on one of Tony's shirt that fit just like a dress to her and went downstairs. She was cooking some eggs when a pair of hands held her by her waist.

"What are you doing up?" he murmured in her ear, kissing her neck making her feel goosebumps. She wondered if this wonderful feeling she had every time he touched her would ever go away. She hoped not.

"Well someone needs to go to work," she answered, letting body move closer to his.

"We worked a lot yesterday. Unless… you want to work again on what we did last night. I'm totally up for that. Just so you know." He kept kissing her neck as his hands moved toward the end of his shirt she wore. It took all her will power to take the eggs that she just made and put some distance between them.

"That would have to wait." She gave him his plate and watched as he frowned and pouted like a child that had been separated from his favorite toy. "And you didn't finish your adjustments yesterday, remember." She gave him a quick kiss before walking away.

"There were too many men in the room. It was smelly. I couldn't concentrate," he elaborated as he followed her.

"You have worked in worse conditions than that."

"It was a different situation."

She rolled her eyes and tried to sound amused as she replied: "You… are spoilt." He gave her his best smile and she saw herself return one to him unconsciously. Seriously the power he had over her was insane!

"Maybe."

They had breakfast together, after which Pepper went to Stark Industries while Tony went to their Tower to make the last minutes arrangements. It was around 5pm when she was able to leave the office and finally returned to Stark Tower.

She could see the building by far and wondered how it will look once they light it up.

Once inside JARVIS informed her that Tony was in the lab still working on the reactor. She decided then to take a very well deserved bath and get things ready for their little celebration.

She put on some shorts and a white shirt and decided to stay bare foot since Tony loved to see her dressed more casual. She lookd at her purse and put some papers in order. Tomorrow she would go to Washington and show them their project and start to plan some others buildings.

Pepper had big plans for this. Use this kind of energy on cars, planes, even cellphones. Clean energy would be a big winner in years to come.

She left the room and went to the kitchen to pick up the champagne and some snacks to celebrate with Tony.

Everything was ready when the genius boy decided to show up. He was dressed in black with the arc reactor still visible in his chest. She fought the urge to bite her lips at the vision, instead she calmly said: "You took your sweet time in there."

He came closer and put his arm around her waist as he pulled her closer to him.

"I was finishing some project," he murmured as he closed the distance to kiss her but before his lips met hers she put some distance.

"Please don't tell me that there's something wrong with the reactor." And just the thought of that made her agitated. All the things that could potentially go wrong began to cross through her mind! "That will ruin our plans! Oh My God, imagine all the people that we-"

He silenced her with a brief kiss.

"Relax… trust your genius/handsome/sexy boyfriend."

She let a smile show on her face.

"The reactor is fine. Today is all about celebration".

"And when are you going to install it?"

"Well, I was hoping to get to kiss my girlfriend for good luck before I venture myself in the bottom of the ocean".

She looked at him playfully and gave him what he wanted. The kiss was slow and tender and when she finished he still had his eyes closed for a couple of seconds before looking at her again.

"That's better," he said as he walked away from her.

Pepper watched as JARVIS dressed Tony within the Iron Man suit.

"You watch the computers. I'll be right back," he advised before closing the helmet and flying away from the tower.

She looked at the screen before her. So many numbers! So many graphics! She didn't know what she was supposed to be looking at.

"Tony, what am I looking at?"

"Just tell me if something abnormal show up!"

That wasn't really helpful, she thought.

A couple of minutes passed by and there was no communication from Tony, until she saw the numbers and the graphics start to change.

"Good to go on this end. The rest is up to you," she heard him say.

"Are you sure you disconnected the transmission lines?"

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy." He spoke with pride and his genius arrogance so characteristic of him when he had a project that he was proud of.

Not wanting to inflate his ego she joked. "Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works"

"I assume," he teased her back and soon he added, "Light her up."

She pressed the buttons and watched her boyfriend's face as he looked at the tower from the outside. She envied him at this moment. They had both worked on this for months. Together. But he was the first to see the tower light up.

"How does it look?" she questioned him, anxious over the results.

"Like Christmas, but with more me," he joked.

That's all she needed to hear. All the work they had done, all the nights without sleep. All of it, at that moment, was worth it. Their project works. Ideas started to pop in to her head.

"We've got to go wide on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press." He was still the face of the company despite not being CEO anymore. Tony had the public charisma and knew how to explore that. "I'll go to DC tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings-"

"Pepper?" he interrupted her. "You're killing me. The moment, remember? Enjoy the moment."

She smiled at his attitude in trying to calm her down. That second her eyes laid on the champagne that was waiting for them and decided to tease him. "Then get in here and I will."

She saw how he smiled and a second later she heard him outside.

Pepper watched as Tony started to walk for the building as JARVIS took the Iron Man suit off him. An alert came through on Tony's phone.

"Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line."

"I'm not in," he answered. "I'm actually out." He was still outside the building walking in on the landing pad so Tony wasn't technically lying.

Again, JARVIS's voice was heard. "Sir, I'm afraid he is insisting."

That made Pepper frown a little and a small worry came in the back of her mind. Her celebration with her boyfriend was probably about to be interrupted for a few moments. She looked back at the graphics as her boyfriend answered the AI.

"Grow a spine JARVIS. I've got a date."

When he was in the room she reported. "Levels are holding steady, I think."

"Of course they are. I was directly involved," he said with confidence and a little arrogance that made her smile, caring at the genius in front of her. "Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?"

She smiled at the compliment. "I really wouldn't know, would I?"

Pepper turned to look at the Playboy as he answered: "What do you mean? All this came from you."

The way he spoke, with so much love in his eyes, she couldn't help but let herself feel a little pride of that and look at him with the same amount of love in her own.

"All this came from that!" She put her finger on his chest, right above the arc reactor. Tony looked at her hand for a moment before adding:

"Give yourself some credit. Please. Stark Tower is your baby."

She smiled at his insistence.

"Give yourself 12% of the credit."

Her smile was gone once he finished that sentence. "12%?!"

"An argument can be made for 15," he added hastily.

"12% for MY baby?!" She walked away from him as he kept speaking as he chased her.

"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry but the security snafu? That's on you." It was all banter of course.

He finished speaking as she held up the champagne.

"My private elevator-"

"you mean OUR elevator?"

"It was teeming with sweaty workmen!" he complained and at that comment she rolled her eyes.

God he would not let that go!

Tony could be so spoilt sometimes that it was at least amusing. "I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?"

"It's not going to be that subtle," she replied, already thinking about some ways to tease him later.

"Tell you what: next building is gonna say 'Potts' on the tower."

"On the lease." She did not want her name on the side of a building.

She was about to toast with him when suddenly Tony backed away with his glass of champagne and decided to use his puppy dog eyes before asking her:

"Call your mom, can you bunk over?" that made her laugh. Tony knew how crazy her mother was to a little "mother and daughter" time with Pepper.

Before Pepper could answer, JARVIS interrupted them.

"Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocolsare being overridden."

Just then she heard a voice that she was very familiar with.

"Mr. Stark,we need to talk."

She recognized Phil Coulson's voice. SHIELD could be very demanding however this wasn't their normal procedure. But Tony didn't seem to find this abnormal and was still trying to avoid them.

He took his phone, annoyed by so many interruptions and said in his best robotic voice: "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark."

How is he able to say those things with a serious face? she thought, laughing at her boyfriend's behavior.

"This is urgent." She heard Coulson say.

"Then leave it urgently."

Pepper was still laughing when at that moment; the elevator door opened showing the Agent that Tony was so miserably trying to avoid.

"Security breach. It's on you' he added, looking at Pepper. The CEO ignored her spoilt boyfriend and turned to greet her friend.

"Phil! Come in!" she greeted, already getting up to meet the Agent.

"Phil?" she heard Tony murmur.

"I can't stay," replied the agent, walking closer to them.

"His first name is Agent." Tony pointed out, following her as fast as he could, like a jealous puppy. She ignored him and invited her friend to their party.

But Coulson turned to Tony and showed him a folder full of files. "We need you to look this over as soon as possible."

"I don't like to be handed things," said the genius.

And Pepper decided to interfere. "That's fine because I love to be handed things. So let's trade!" she smiled, taking the files in her hands and the second later she grabbed Tony's glass from his hand and gave him the files.

He looked at her a little annoyed by her moves as she ignored his looks and drunk his champagne. Tony turned to the agent and reminded them about their previous deal.

"Official consulting hours are between 8 and 5 every other Thursday."

But Coulson added seriously: "This isn't a consultation."

Pepper's curiosity grew.

Phil's words made Tony seem a bit confused and before she could control her mouth (the wine had acted fast!) she had already said: "Is this about the Avengers?"

Coulson glanced at her and she, realizing her mistake, added quickly: "Which I know nothing about."

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped," complained the former playboy as he headed for his computers. "I thought that I didn't even qualify!"

She tried to keep a straight face. "I didn't know that either."

Phil had an amusing look on his face as he watched Tony complain and Pepper's comment.

"'Apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others."

"That I did know," agreed Pepper.

At that moment, Coulson decided to intercut, "This isn't about personality profiles anymore."

Pepper began to worry a little. Over those months, after the Stark Expo fiasco Agent Coulson had kept his word and from time to time he would show up at Stark Industries for a coffee break. With this time together, she had started to notice little signs of tension, worries, relief and happiness.

Phil Coulson was a man that could keep his emotion in control and hide it very well. But Pepper was always very perceptive, she learned how to read those little signs and soon he was being more open about his private life.

That's why his tension was starting to worry her. She never saw him like that. At that moment, Tony called and she had to excuse herself from the presence of her friend.

She watched as Tony dialed something on his screen as she closed the distance between them. The billionaire turned to her, complaining like a child he was sometimes.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment," he complained and she decided to take her revenge at this moment:

"I was having 12% of a moment." The glance he gave her made her smile. She came closer to him and spoke in a low tone. "This seems serious. Phil's pretty shaken," she observed, trying to warn her boyfriend for the task he had ahead.

"How would you know… and why is he 'Phil'?" he questioned as he looked from her to the Agent behind them.

Pepper secretly rolled her eyes at the genius's jealousy and questioned: "What is all this?" Her words made him focus once more at the task in front of him.

Tony made a movement and opened the files at the same time. Thanks to JARVIS the room was now decorated with numerous screens and files about men that she never saw in her life and a green creature.

They looked around for a few seconds. Yep. Her celebration with Tony was now officially canceled. He needed to concentrate on studying this and with her there he would be distracted.

"I'll take the jet to DC tonight," she said, unable to take her eyes from the files in front of them.

"Tomorrow," he answered, his eyes still focused upon the images in front of them.

"You have homework." She pointed out, feeling a little disappointed they had to postpone their celebration. "You have a lot of homework."

"Well, what if I didn't?" He turned to look at her with those adorable puppy dog eyes that she loved so much.

"You mean when you finish it?" He looked at her with hopeful eyes. She thought about all the plans that she had made for them to spend this evening; some they had planned together; some she wanted to surprise him and those were the ones that she decided to whisper in his ear.

When she finished she looked at him smiling and he now had his eyes full with excitement.

"Square deal. Fly safe," he said.

She looked at his lips and had an uncontrollable desire to kiss him before leaving. They shared a brief kiss before she whispered to him: "Work hard."

Pepper started to walk away from her boyfriend before another urge took control of her making her departure more difficult.

Agent Coulson was making himself busy, apparently finding the glass of champagne in his hand very interesting.

"So," said the CEO, making the Agent look at her. "Any chance you're driving by LaGuardia?"

"I can drop you," offered Phil as they both start to walk towards the elevator.

"I want hear about the cellist. Is that still a thing?"

"She moved back to Portland."

"What? No! I can't believe that!" she replied as the doors of the elevator closed, still letting her take one last look at Tony who now had his back to them already studying the files.

"Yeah, it was complicated. You know, with this job," shrugged Phil.

"I was so happy for you two," she said sadly. He seemed so happy with this woman the last time she had seen him.

"Thanks. I was thinking to surprise her this week. I had an assignment around that area."

"And…"

"Well… this came up. So I really don't know anymore. "

"Well… everything will turn out fine. You'll see."

"I hope so. How is the company? The building looks okay."

"I know right?" she happily explained about their opening and some future plans for the new technology.

They were making small conversation whilst Coulson was driving. Soon, they arrived at the airport where the jet was ready to depart.

"You will be okay? I'm sorry I spoiled your plans."

"No don't worry. I have to be in DC for meetings. It's okay. Thank you for the ride. See you later when this is over?"

Phil smiled. "Sure."

That was the last time she saw him.

-o-

Once in D.C, Pepper sent a message to Tony. He took a while to answer back. Probably too focused on the files he had to study. She sent him a good night message before going to sleep. Tomorrow she would have a long day with business meetings.

In the morning, Pepper met with her assistants for breakfast at the hotel. After that Pepper and her team travelled to the first meeting of the day at the White House. It was about lunch time where her and her assistants were going for something to eat that they heard a breaking news story about an attack made by a psychopath in Germany that caused the death of the Dr. Heinrich Schafer.

Apparently this man caused so much trouble that it was up to a soldier and Iron Man to stop him. Pepper figured it out that this might be part of the job that Coulson asked Tony to do last night.

During the day of meetings Pepper often checked on her phone to see if there was a call or message left from Tony informing her about his wellbeing or the end of his mission. But there was none of it.

Over those months that they started this relationship, and even before when he just became Iron Man, Tony always called her to inform that he had arrived well.

At night, Pepper went back to her hotel room. Tomorrow morning she and her team were going to fly to Chicago. They were still working on a new license for another building.

Before she went to bed, Pepper checked on her phone and saw a message from Tony:

Hey Miss Potts,

Things are a little complicatedright now for me to explain. We are working on it. But I'm fine. Promise. ;) See you soon.

She smiled at the message. Missing him, missing his presence, his voice, but also proud of his dedication with work, and SHIELD.

I miss you. Work hard. And be safe, she sent back.

- o –

Early in the morning the CEO took the flight to Chicago. They were discussing strategies for the business meeting when one of Pepper's employees walked in agitated, saying: "You guys need to see this. Look at what is happening in New York!"

As her employee turned on the TV Pepper could see the image of Stark Tower and part of the buildings around it were already destroyed.

"What is going on?" she questioned.

"They say its Aliens."

"What?" Pepper gaped.

"They are saying that aliens are trying to invade the city," the lady responded.

"Aliens? Like from out of space Aliens?" questioned her assistant.

"Don't look at me. That's what they are saying. A lot of powerful people are there."

"Like the army?"

"No, better, like Iron Man." He looked at Pepper for a brief moment. "Captain America, and among others that the press couldn't identify yet."

In that moment, Pepper could understand the secrecy and reluctance that Coulson was with them two days ago. Only something this big could make a very well trained agent to be so shaken like he was that day.

Fear started to spread though her body. Tony faced threats before. But human threats, terrorist threats, not aliens. This was… This was… She couldn't even name what this feeling was and what it was doing to her.

She couldn't take her eyes off the TV Screen.

She watched as those… things invaded the city and how desperately Tony and the others were trying to stop them.

And as if that wasn't enough the TV announcer suddenly said:

"Wehave information that the World Security Council hasjust released a mass destruction missile in a desperate attempt to stop this attack!"

She listened to her co-workers, murmuring how crazy that was but her attention was focused on a flying red and gold dot that the TV was barely making visible.

With a broken heart of fear and worry she saw as Tony held the missile and flew as fast as he could towards the open portal.

She saw her boyfriend, her best friend, the love of her life disappear, into that portal. Seconds later the press informed that the aliens started to drop dead on the ground.

People in the news celebrated, her co-workers vibrated with them. Apparently, they had won. The city was safe.

But she couldn't move a muscle. Tony hadn't come back yet. She didn't know if he ever would. His move to save everyone was a one-ticket trip.

She felt the emptiness in her grow as the portal started to close. There was no sign of Tony yet.

Someone on the TV probably had said something about it because the room was in silence once again and she could feel all eyes on her.

The portal finally closed and the CEO lost the battle with her tears. She silently let them out. She lost it. Tony was gone. She would never see him again. It was impossible to describe the pain that she was feeling.

"Miss Potts?"

She didn't listen.

"Miss Potts," the person said again, gently touching her shoulder. "Look!" She pointed at the TV where they were filming him.

Tony's back. Somehow he managed to come back. But something was wrong Tony was falling. The suit was non responsive.

My God! He is going to die!

Seconds before he hit the ground some big green creature caught him, stopping his fall. And the TV lost them where they had landed.

"Turn the jet!" she ordered.

"What?" questioned her assistant.

"Turn the jet. Let's go back!" There was silence in the room. "I need to be there." Tony needed her.

No one questioned her orders. Pepper took her cellphone in her hands.

"I will see if I can find anyone at the tower-" She stopped talking. Once she unlocked the phone she saw something that made her weak and sent shivers through her body.

There were two missed calls from Tony. He called her. Before he entered that damn portal he called her and she missed it. How? She never missed one call from him. Why today?

Immediately she called him back but there was no response. She didn't know if it was because Jarvis was damaged or some other problem.

The suit was non responsive. He was falling. What if… what if he died… and she missed his last words?

This jet can't go any faster? She knew the pilots were probably at full speed to attend her request, but she was so anxious. She needed to move. To feel herself moving.

As the city of N.Y came in to view, Pepper decided to call the Tower one more time. This time, as if answering her prayers, JARVIS answered informing her that Tony was fine, but wasn't in the building at the moment. The AI apologized with her for not being able to connect her with his boss. But that didn't matter for her at the moment. Tony was okay. She trusted JARVIS's judgment which helped to calm herself a little more.

Not long after she was walking through her, now partially destroyed, building. There were agents everywhere!

She went up to their floor. All destroyed. There was something on the ground. A hole that pretty much had a man shape.

The CEO was still analyzing the room around her when she heard a voice.

"…why we needed him in Asgard."

"We will send him back but first SHIELD need-"

"Why are we still debating this?"

At this one her heart skipped a beat. Tony. Tony's voice.

As she turned around she saw a very tall strong blonde man, another blonde man but smaller than the other but just as strong, a black haired man that seemed really uncomfortable being there, someone with a bow and arrows, Natasha and finally…

"Tony." His name came out as a whisper. It was enough for the group to shut up and look at the other occupant in the room.

"Pep."

As he walked closer to her she couldn't keep her eyes off him. Checking every inch of him that was visible, just to make sure.

When she realized that he was well enough Pepper held him with all the strength she had in her. She needed to feel him. To make sure he was real.

"You okay?" she whispered while holding him.

"Yeah. I'm okay, Pep," he answered with a muffed voice, having his face buried in her neck.

"Who is she?" She heard someone question.

"His girlfriend," answered Natasha.

"He has a girlfriend?!" A little louder than expected, sounding very surprised which made Tony turn back to them.

"As a matter of fact I do, Capsicle." He gave them a proud smile. "This is Pepper, MY girlfriend. Pep, these are the Avengers. Steve Rogers, Capsicle. The demi-god Thor. Dr. Bruce Banner, Hulk, and Legolas there is Clint."

"Hi. Nice to meet you," she replied, feeling a little nervous. Was Captain America the real Captain America, the one that she had grown up listening stories about?

She decided to question Tony about that later.

"Sorry about that," said the Captain.

"It's okay. Sometimes I'm just as surprised as you sound," she joked which made Tony grump and the demi-god laugh.

"I like her. Iron Lady." Thor walked closer to kiss her hand.

For part of the rest of the night, the group spent part of the night debating about recent events whilst Pepper watched Tony interacted with them.

-o-

Later that night, Tony and Pepper were laid on bed holding each other in a tight hug. She had taken a look at his bruises and patched him up.

"What now, Tony?"

"Now we rebuild," he said as if it was the simplest thing to do. He continued in an even deeper voice. "We need to find a way to help these people. Some lost everything."

Pepper turned to look at him and saw guilt in his eyes.

"Tony… contrary to what some people are saying, you, the Avengers are not responsible for this destruction."

"I know. But- but I feel like I need to help them. I don't know... Can we create a foundation or something?"

She smiled at him. He always had such a good heart.

"We'll figure it out… okay?"

He nodded.

"Now get some rest. You needed it."

The silence in the room only last a few seconds before the genius opened his mouth again.

"I was thinking about a change of plans in our original architecture."

"What?" she said, not moving her head from his chest.

"Well the Avengers Initiative is a go now. We are going to need a base."

"You want the tower to be the Avengers Base?"

"What better place? We can make room for everyone here."

"What about SHIELD?"

"Honey, we don't work for SHIELD. Nobody there wants to work for SHIELD."

"Well it's your building."

"It's yours too. Your baby."

"I thought I had only 12% of it," she said smiling.

"Oh my god you're never gonna let that go, will ya?"

"You know me so well," she grinned.

She went for a last kiss before the two let sleep consume them.

That morning, Tony had to meet with the Avengers and SHIELD, for Loki's and Thor's departure, and he also had to deal with the Defense Secretary. Her day wasn't less agitated. She had a press conference, and so many meetings to deal with. The board had called for an emergency meeting now that they knew that Tony Stark was one of the Avengers.

And just like that a month had passed by them. It was a long month. They reformed the building, making it now the Avengers Base, and also, they created The Maria Stark Foundation to help the victims of the tragedy that hit N.Y. Tony was more than thrilled when he heard the name Pepper had chosen for their foundation.

During that month, Tony and Pepper lived together in their private floor at the Avenger's Base. It was nice to have him there all the time, present in the same building with her. Their relationship was growing and she started to wonder if or when they would actually live together.

But, after that month they needed to go back to Los Angeles. Back to their regular life.

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