Tony had spent the last week with his pilot trying to find a safe way to get to Bo's isolated cabin based on the coordinates Jarvis saved. They found a place to land the Stark jet and then they had to arrange for a helicopter to take them the rest of the way since the brush around Bo's house was so thick and the ground was so mountainous and rocky and there were no actual roads. He considered flying and then taking a boat but with Pepper in a cast they felt flying was safer. The helicopter touched down and Pepper looked a bit flustered. Tony undid his seat belt and helped Dawn our first since Pepper required more work. Then he grabbed Pepper's crutches and leaned them on the side of the helicopter. He helped Pepper up and helped her get to the edge of the helicopter.
"You can't step down and even if I carry you I can't bend your leg so I think it's safest if you sit down and slide out and I'll be here to help you," he said.
Pepper slowly and carefully lowered herself down until her butt was touching the ledge and Tony was there to guide her down.
They landed as close as they could to Bo's cabin and they still had a good ten minute walk. Once they were in view Bo and Dougie were there to greet them. Dougie went to Pepper affectionately and gave her a few licks on her hands while she pet him.
"You're looking better than the last time I saw you. I hope the trip wasn't too tough," he said as he walked down to shake Tony's hand and give Pepper a kiss.
"No it wasn't. Tony made sure it was very safe and I'm relieved because safety is something he usually ignores," she said as she looked at him.
He made a face and she turned back to Bo.
"I'd like you to meet my cousin Dawn," she said.
Dawn and Bo greeted each other and shook hands and they all went inside.
"So what do you have planned for me?" Bo asked with a genuine curiosity.
Tony opened one of his cases and rolled out his plan onto Bo's table.
"These are the blueprints of your house, I had Jarvis make a copy before we left last time we were here. I've marked all the places we can run energy into the house but we will need some place hidden for the reactor. I'll leave that up to you," Tony explained.
"I'm sorry Jarvis? The reactor?" Bo asked.
"Jarvis is my talking computer and the reactor is this piece that powers my heart," he said tapping his chest.
"Right. I have a place we can put it," Bo said motioning for Tony to follow him out back.
Outside there was somewhat of a dilapidated shed barely being held together by a wooden board as a lock.
Bo opened the door and lead Tony inside and uncovered a small hole in the corner .
"Would this work?" he asked.
"Yes we can run a line underground. But you'll need to keep it hidden for protection," Tony explained.
Pepper sat down in the kitchen carefully with her crutches nearby to talk with Dawn.
"How are you feeling with the pregnancy?" she asked Dawn.
"I'm actually really excited. So far I'm loving every minute of being pregnant,"
"It really suits you. You look beautiful," Pepper said.
"Thank you," Dawn said as she looked away shyly.
"I'm most likely going to be moving in with Tony. You're more than welcome to stay in the apartment as long as you need until you get on your feet,"
"Thank you. That means so much to me,"
"I want you to know that I want us to bury the hatchet and be friends," Pepper said.
"I think we have to be friends after this whole ordeal. I'm so sorry and I need you to know that I didn't know what Rick was planning to do. I came here to get away from him. I don't even know how he found me," Dawn explained.
"I know that," she said.
"At first he was excited about the baby and then he started acting crazy. He was supposed to deliver drugs and I flushed everything and put the bag back in the car and it cost him millions. He thought he'd be set for life and our baby. I didn't want that life for my baby so I left him. I never imagined he'd find me," she said.
"It's all over now. We can start over," Pepper explained.
"And I didn't know what was in that letter. I swear I didn't read it. I'm so sorry for what happened to you and for how I treated you when we were younger. Have you reached out to Tiffany?"
"I wrote her an email and I explained about the accident and that I wanted to wait until I was more mobile to meet and that I was super excited to meet her," Pepper explained.
"I'm so happy for you. I hope you can find some peace,"
"Therapy has worked wonders and Tony is so supportive. He was so afraid of hurting me that he wouldn't have sex with me. I had to convince him," Pepper said with a laugh.
Dawn laughed.
"I can't imagine Tony afraid of sex,"
"I literally had to beg him. It was our makeup sex too. When I got home from the hospital it was terrible. We never got to have our makeup sex. I finally convinced him,"
"Will you and Tony be my child's godparents?" Dawn suddenly blurred out.
"We would love to," Pepper said with a smile.
"The boys have been out there for a while we should probably check on them," Dawn suggested.
Pepper nodded in agreement and she reached for her crutches and they headed outside and she was taken aback by the sight in front of her.
Outside was all of Tony's iron man suits hard at work on different parts of the house.
Tony stood up when he saw her and smiled.
"This is amazing. How did you pull this off?" she asked.
"Well I programmed them so that they are coded to me. I figured we'd need the extra hands," he said as he leaned in to kiss her and was careful to help her balance and not put weight on her leg.
Pepper smiled as she kissed him and tried not to linger around kissing him too long. She didn't want to be rude but she also couldn't help it. She was in love and loved being in love. She couldn't stop smiling. And Tony was looking at her in exactly the same way and it made her smile even more.
"I have good news. Dawn asked us to be her baby's godparents,"
The day went by quickly and it was time for dinner. Bo suggested they eat outside by his bonfire. Pepper took her plate and slid down carefully next to Tony.
"Did you know that Pepper was a former rock star?" Tony blurted out.
"Tony it was a silly high school band," Pepper said glaring at him.
"No it wasn't. They were really good," Dawn added.
"I'll be right back. Does anyone need anything?" Bo asked as he got up to go inside.
A moment later Bo returned with an acoustic guitar.
"Why don't you play something for us?" he said, handing it to Pepper.
"I haven't played in years. I don't even know if I still have the finger strength to hold down the frets," Pepper said.
"Why don't you give it a try?" Tony encouraged her.
Pepper took the guitar and spent a few minutes tuning it and strumming chords.
"Ok here's one I know well. It was one of my mom's favorite songs," she said as she began to play and sing softly.
It was Me and My Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin. Pepper thought of her beautiful mother and a few tears slipped out.
"Sorry this one gets me everytime," Pepper said after she finished and wiped at her tears.
"That was amazing. You should be a singer," Bo said.
"That was the plan but life decided on other things," Pepper said.
Tony squeezed Pepper's hand as she stared at him.
"What changed your plans if you don't mind me asking?" Bo said.
"Well I was going to push back college for a year and see if the band took off. My parents passed away at that time and we had a major gig with lots of label executives. A few minutes before we were supposed to go on I was sexually assaulted and I bolted. I took off and never looked back. Then I moved in with Dawn and I found out I was pregnant and I gave the baby up for adoption and I blacked that time of my life out and went to school for finance and I got a job in the finance department of Stark Industries. It wasn't until I found a mistake in Tony's math and confronted him on it that I was promoted to his personal assistant and it wasn't until very recently that we became a couple. Then my daughter contacted me which broke the dissociation that I was experiencing and I couldn't really deal with it because I got kidnapped and here we are," Pepper said.
"You're the strongest person I know," Tony said as he kissed her cheek.
"I'm sorry for everything that you went through but it looks like you're right where you were meant to be,"
"The work is nearly done thanks to my suits so tomorrow you have me for my wilderness survival lessons," Tony said.
"I wish I could come along but I will need to rest this leg,"
"It's getting late. We should go inside. We sometimes get mountain lions around this time of night," Bo warned.
"Right," Tony said as he stood up and reached for Pepper's hand.
They entered the cabin and turned in for the night.