Guest Review Responses

Thank you for the favorite/follows: Voltronfan22.

Helleinneeeee: Sober pedals why you not updating ur fanfic girl I know ya comment here so I'm trying to get to you ! ;/ - HAHAHAHA! Does it help if I say that I'm always asking her to update, too? A Heart of Dust and Gold is amazing. I mean, all of her fics are great, but that particular one has a special place in my heart :) So, yeah. I agree: UPDATE, GIRL! ;)

Anna: Um I think not , yeah pepper hurt you but she's your sister , all she ever did was protect you so yeah I have damn sympathy for her crazy ass - LOL! What if I told you that Pepper DID do something that could be considered terrible to Samantha? DUN, DUN, DUN! :P

Jennifer: The chapter was amazing and I loved it defo ! Keep going ;) love allie ;) – Thank you, Jennifer! ^_^ Here's more!

Guest: Update please – Your wish is my command ;) Thank you for reading and reviewing!

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to one of my Faithful Readers, MyCaptainsSwan. I know I said I understood why you had to go, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't love for you to join us again, when you can. We (me and my hubby, and I'm sure your pals here, too) hope to see you back here again one day :)

Chapter 12

Pepper tasked herself with taking out from her locker the books she needed for her first period class, keenly aware that her boyfriend was yet to leave her side and was silently watching her every move. He had been beating himself up since last night, when he had been unable to help her in time during a mission, and she had been hit square in the face by one of an AIM's Beekeeper's laser gun attacks. The suit had taken most of the damage for her, but her cheek had still developed a nasty bruise due to the great force of the impact – one that had pressed the armor roughly against her skin. It had not been as noticeable when they had gone to the Temple at 2 AM to debrief after the mission, but when he had picked her up this morning at her doorstep, he had not been able to stop himself from scrutinizing the injury and cursing aloud.

The redhead had assured him, multiple times on their walk to school, that she was fine, and that the bruise just happened to look worse than what it really felt. However, when Samantha had let it slip that Pepper had spent the night with a bag of ice attached to her left cheek, and that she had taken a handful of aspirin to try to ease the pain, Tony's feelings of guilt had gone through the roof.

"I guess you're going to the Reed Richards thingy today during Science class?" Pepper asked as she closed the door to her locker and faced her crestfallen boyfriend once again, hoping to change his somber mood.

"Yeah," Tony dejectedly replied, his eyes on the floor. "I guess I am."

"It's really exciting, right?" she beamed at him despite the fact that exciting was not a word she typically associated with any science whatsoever. "You may have the chance to talk to him in person this time around, now that you've been accepted to MIT. That can even be your conversation starter, you know? I mean, above the typical: Hey, I'm Tony Stark! I'm freaking smart and rich! Oh, and I'm also Iron Man! line."

The ginger's attempt at humor was clearly not well-received by the boy, but her small smile never faltered as she searched his blue eyes with her hazel ones, and then used her left hand to redirect his face towards hers.

"Hey," she grinned when he finally stared at her despite the pain the gesture caused to her cheek, the left side of her mouth, and her lips.

"Hi," he replied in a deflated tone.

"Oh, come on, Tony," Pepper rested both of her palms on his chest. "Cheer up, OK? It's gonna be great! You'll get to hear more talk about… giant black holes and… things that come out of them that shouldn't, and… of galaxies that are far, far away, I guess?"

Tony scoffed. "It's not Star Wars, Pepper."

"You know what I mean," she rolled her eyes and shrugged off his technicality of a response with a wave of her right hand. "Don't let this," she pointed at her bruised cheek, "Ruin your day, OK? It's not ruining mine, so it sure as heck shouldn't ruin yours."

The inventor's face fell even more when he stared at her bruise for the millionth time. It appeared to him as if the darned spot grew even bigger and became even more multicolored and prominent every time he laid eyes on it. It was mocking him, quite literally, and if he knew he would not be called crazy for saying it, he would tell the bruise to stop laughing at him right now.

"Tony, please," her tender words made him return his gaze to her orbs. "I don't want to see you like this. Especially not over something that was bound to happen eventually. It's what we do, right? I didn't have my eyes on the prize, that's all. I will, next time."

"But, Pep," his hand carefully ran down her swollen cheek, but he then snatched it right back when she failed at hiding her flinch. "Sorry," he gulped, silently berating himself for causing her even more pain, "But, how could I not feel like dirt about it? Look at you! I… you… you got hurt while I was right there, close to you. You got hurt and it's all my fault."

"Your fault?" Pepper shook her head. "Don't be silly, Tony. It is what it is. I wouldn't change being out there with you, fighting alongside Iron Man, for the world!"

"But–"

"No. No buts allowed," she crossed her arms over her chest.

"However–"

"Nuh-uh!" she stuck her nose in the air.

"What if–"

"Nope!" she shook her head from side to side and then grabbed both of his hands in hers.

"Pepper…" he groaned.

"Tony…" she mockingly groaned back.

The redhead stood on her tiptoes, balanced herself by continuing to grab his hands, and then practically pressed their noses together. She allowed herself to get lost in his electric blue gaze, and she could see and feel that he was doing the same with her hazel eyes. They remained like this for almost a minute: motionless, close to each other, and gazing at each other's windows into their souls; breaking the moment only when Pepper suddenly scrunched up her nose and began hoping from one foot to the other.

"My toes are getting tired. I think they're dead now. Gotta wake them up before class! It was just a minute of tiptoeing, anyway. What gives? How could they go numb already? Ugh, I must be getting old! Are you gonna be OK now?"

Tony could not hold back the wide smile that watching her hop around while asking too many questions caused him. She was trying to rid her feet from the feeling of numbness that had accumulated there while she had been standing on her toes to be face-to-face with her worrisome boyfriend, but recovery time was taking longer than expected. She spared her feet a glance as she wiggled her toes inside her shoes, her narrowed eyes almost silently threatening her limbs to cooperate, and she then returned her attention to Tony when she heard him chuckle lightly.

"Oh, man!" Tony laughed louder this time, earning him a confused look from his girlfriend, whom he now held close to him by her waist.

"What?" she furrowed her brow, "What's so funny?"

"You, Pep!" he threw his head back in laughter and then kissed her forehead when he noticed that she was starting to get annoyed by his teasing. "You're so great. And I so l–"

"Hey, guys!" Samantha waved her hand at the couple from her position a few feet away from them, leading the two-person parade of her and Rhodey towards their current location. Both the inventor and the redhead vigorously waved back, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary between them, yet Tony silently cursed at the confession that had almost escaped his lips. He did want to tell Pepper that he loved her, there was no doubt about that, but he did not want it to sound as if he was joking or simply pulling her leg.

Above all, though, he really wished he would stop getting interrupted when he tried.

"Ready for the Reed Richard's symposium today?"

"Sure," Tony replied after stealing a furtive glance at his girlfriend, half-expecting her to look distraught or miffed by the interaction between him and her sister, but the smile on her face told him otherwise.

"See, Tony?" Pepper elbowed the boy. "That's what you should be thinking about! Not about my cheek!"

"Why your cheek?" Samantha furrowed her brow for a second, and then rolled her eyes and pointed at the redhead. "Oh! Because of that little bruise? Puh-lease! That's nothing!"

"See? Nothing. Little bruise. Insignificant," Pepper said with a nod, surprised that she was seeing the day that she would find herself agreeing with something her sister said, especially to Tony Stark.

"That is insignificant," Samantha agreed, "Nothing compared to the bruises you were given almost every day when growing up, huh, Pepper? Those were real nasty bruises. That one there is a joke!"

And just like that, after a sharp inhale on Pepper's part, the redhead realized that she had spoken too soon.

"Every day bruises? Nasty bruises?" Tony arched a single eyebrow. "Who gave you bruises every day when growing up, Pep?"

"Our–"

"CAT!" Pepper interrupted her sister and then laughed nervously, her right hand rubbing the back of her head. "Mr. Kibbles. I've told you about him, remember? The mean cat I adopted when I was ten? The one Black Panther reminded me of?"

Tony narrowed his eyes at her, clearly not buying her panicky response, but he was not given the chance to ask anything else.

"Anyway," Pepper cleared her throat. "Class. Gotta go. Bye, bye! Enjoy the science talk! GO SCIENCE!" she pumped her fist in the air too excitedly at the last part, earning her curious glances from students nearby. "Hehe," she laughed timidly, her shoulders partly hunched, and she then waved off the stares, "See you later!"

The inventor's eyes narrowed even more as he watched the ginger all but run down the hall and around the corner, clearly trying to do anything possible to avoid providing an honest response to his last inquiry. He then immediately locked eyes with Rhodey, a quizzical look on his face, but his childhood friend simply shrugged in response.

"Don't look at me, man. I understand her less than you do."

"You're the one that knew she would hide in the closet," Tony replied.

"Yeah, because I've seen her do it before. Not because I happen to own a Pepper Manual."

"So much for not letting each other get hurt, huh, Tony?" Samantha tapped her chin with her right index finger, as if she was simply thinking aloud.

"What?" Tony snapped.

"I told Rhodey I was worried about you two getting hurt or into trouble, especially when Pepper spent the night at your place last weekend. Rhodey agreed that you two were very reckless, but he also said that you wouldn't let anything hurt the other, if you could help it. I guess you couldn't help it this time around, right?"

"I-I… well…"

Tony wanted to say that there was nothing he could have done to prevent Pepper's injury, but he was not certain of this himself. Besides, the item in question was not about what he could have done to stop Pepper from getting hurt, or the conversations she and Rhodey had about them on the side. It was now a matter of finding out why the injury was deemed relatively insignificant for the redhead.

"What… uhm…" Tony cleared his throat, "What about the bruises you said she used to get? I'm sure as heck a measly cat didn't cause them."

"You mean she really hasn't told you?" the brunette looked back and forth between the two male teens, a smile of realization slowly forming on her face.

"Told me, what?" Tony asked.

"I guess she doesn't trust you that much," Samantha said with a shrug, her eyes looking at the floor, pretending to be speaking more out of surprise than out of seeking personal gain with the situation at hand.

"Pepper trusts me," Tony said, a tone of aggravation evident in his voice.

"Then trust her and stop asking her questions she doesn't want to answer," Rhodey intervened, knowing very well how Tony could easily become obsessed trying to find out things he wanted to know but was not privy to.

"But–"

"T, we all have secrets," Rhodey began swapping books from his locker himself. "Let it go, man. Let her be."

"Rhodey's right," Samantha began, "She'll tell you when she trusts you enough to do so. I mean, how long did it take you to tell her you are Iron Man? Probably several months, right? And it was probably really hard to do, too. It's your turn to wait, Tony."

"Uhm…" Rhodey's discomfort with the sore topic was obvious. "Yeah… I'm just gonna…" he lazily pointed at the opposite side of the hall that Pepper had rushed towards. "So… cough… right… bye…"

Even though the first tardy bell followed Rhodey's words, neither Tony nor Samantha moved from where they stood – one due to shock, and the other due to mischief.

"Anyway," Samantha began walking away, "We better get to–"

"You know," Tony's words were more of a statement than a question. "You know about the bruises, don't you?"

"Well, of course I do. We're sisters, remember?"

"So you'll tell me."

"What?" Samantha had to force herself to hold back a smile of victory. "No! Why would I tell you? If you want to know, ask her."

"I did," Tony grabbed her arm. "And now I'm asking you. I want to know. Right now."

"We have class," she pointed out when the second warning bell rung.

"Then we'll skip it," the inventor swapped his hold of her arm to grab her hand, and began pulling her away with him.

"Are you serious? You want us to skip class? What if we're found out? I don't want to go to detention again!"

"Nobody will know."

"How?"

"I'm Iron Man," Tony replied. "I can do whatever I want. No one will wonder where we are."

Luckily for him, nobody would question the current whereabouts of the hero, thinking him being out and about on yet another mission. Sadly for him, however, hazel eyes watched from afar as the blue-eyed boy walked the hall towards the stairs that led to the roof, hand-in-hand with the petite brunette in tow.