Guest Review Responses

Lara: ;( - ^o^

Firina: Loved the chap ;) glad you finally updated – Thank you! Here's another, very overdue update… Hope you love this one too!

Allie: Amazing update please ! – Thanks! Sorry about the delay :(

Arizell: Oml I need the next chap :/ - Here it be ^_^

Miss geek: Ohhh crapppp why do I get the feeling this is the calm before the tornado I say tornado because there is never just a storm with Pepper Potts. he knows she will find out and tony needs a little heartbreak for going behind her back come on plsssss with sugar coated strawberries love those sorry off track pls update soon – coughcough… tornado… uhm… how about dust devil? XD

A/N: Soo... anyone wondering where the heck have I been? Remember how I said, long ago, that the summer time is crazy where I work? It finally hit me like an anvil… and I thought I was going to lose my job. Long story short: someone dropped the ball big time and blamed me for it. It took two weeks for the truth to come out, but it kept me busy as heck while it did. I'm praying that the craziness dies this week and that I can get my weekends and afternoons back. I NEED TO WRITE! I'VE MISSED YOU ALL! I'M SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY!

Chapter 14

"What happened to Mr. Kibbles?"

"Mom killed it."

Tony's head snapped to his right to stare at Samantha with a frown of incredulity.

"She, what?"

"Killed. It," the brunette enunciated. "She didn't like animals."

"Then why did she let Pepper adopt him?"

"It was Dad's idea," Sam shrugged. "He said it was OK. Mom wasn't too happy about it."

"Huh."

Tony rested the back of his head against the wall by which he and Sam hung out while everyone else finished the test in Science class. Within ten minutes of starting, both the genius and the youngest Potts sister had finished the test, giving them the option of leaving class early for the day. Knowing that their free period and lunch followed, Tony had made his way to the roof, the girl in tow. He had been looking forward to spending more alone time with Pepper today, but sooner than he had realized, his attention had been redirected to learning more about Pepper's life through the teen.

"Your mom sounds charming," Tony's tone was not only sarcastic, but it was also full of hate. The more he found out about this woman he had never met, the more he wanted to see her in person to tell her exactly what he thought about her and her continued existence on this planet.

"She's a total pleasure to be around," Samantha added with a roll of her eyes. "How about yours? What was your mom like?"

Tony's face briefly darkened at the thought before he lazily shrugged.

"Don't remember much. But she definitely didn't kill my cat. If I ever owned one."

"Lucky you," Sam scoffed. "Rich, smart, and had live pets. Didn't you win the awesome life lottery, Tony Stark."

Tony flared his nostrils in amusement and he smirked.

"You sound just like Pepper sometimes, you know that?"

"We share genetic material, you know that?"

Tony shook his head, smiled, and then elbowed the girl in a playful manner. "I rest my case."

"Oh-oh!" Sam wiggled her fingers in excitement. "I so have to tell you something! You're gonna freak!"

"Am I?" Tony furrowed his brow.

"YES! Yesterday, on my way back home, I walked by a science exhibition at a bookstore and saw this!"

The petite girl tapped her phone's screen a few times until she found the picture she was searching for. Once she blew it up to full screen, she proudly shoved the screen into Tony's face.

"See?"

"No," Tony grabbed her small wrist in his right hand and then pulled back her arm ever so slightly until the image on the cell phone's screen was at a distance that allowed him to make sense of what he was seeing. It took him a couple of seconds to react, but once he did, he literally jumped to his feet and took the brunette with him.

"YES! I KNOW!" Sam squealed, her wide grin reflected on the inventor's face.

"This weekend?" he pulled her closer to him to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him. "THIS WEEKEND?"

"YUP!" Sam nodded eagerly. "And I got the last two tickets! Wanna come with me?"

"Absolutely!" his response was out before he had a chance to process it, his eyes now focused on the pair of tickets the girl waved before him. "I'm there!"

"Cool! Pick me up at my place?"

"Sure."

"Alright!" Sam beamed. "I've never met Dr. Pym in person. But one day, I'm gonna work for him."

"Really? You want to work for him?"

"What?" Sam frowned. "Don't you think I'm smart enough?"

"Oh, no, I know you are," Tony placed his hands on either side of his head in a placating gesture. "Not implying that at all. After hearing you talk to Dr. Richards yesterday, you're officially the smartest girl I know."

"Ooh," Sam felt her cheeks burn. "T-Thanks."

"I'm serious, Sam," Tony patted her right shoulder. "Just make sure you use your gift for good, not evil."

"W-w-well of course!" she hated sounding so flustered, but she could not help it. Tony was standing just a foot away from her, his darned charming smile aimed at her. "Unless evil pays a better salary and offers fully-subsidized medical benefits, that is."

This time, the genius laughed aloud.

Yes, Tony smirked, thinking about his redhead. Samantha and Pepper are more alike than they know.

"I've never met Dr. Pym, either," Tony sat on the ground once more and Samantha followed suit. "But I've sold a few inventions of mine to his company."

"Really? Wow!" Sam stared at the genius with wide eyes. "What did you sell them?"

"E-Bugs."

"E. Bugs?"

"They're nanities," Tony began, "Pym Tech focuses on molecular and atomic-based R&D. Their inventions are, obviously, too tiny to handle like any other life-sized device. It's hard to repair or troubleshoot them without dissembling or destroying them. So I made them nanities that are programmed to scan and repair their inventions from the inside."

"A-a-are you serious?" Sam's jaw dropped. "You created mini-robots to fix mini-machines?!"

"Yeah."

"That's… that's… wow… just… WOW! That sounds… wow! I mean, can you imagine expanding that capability onto the medical field? Bioengineering, even? That could change the way illnesses are treated. Especially terminal ones!"

"I…" Tony frowned. "I hadn't thought about that. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, we have CAT scans, X-rays, MRI machines, and all these other diagnostic-assisting devices, but they all work independently from each other, right? The doctors and surgeons still have to interpret the results and hope that what they see is what's there when they operate on someone. And sometimes, people don't get the treatment they need because it's too imprecise."

"Huh," Tony rubbed his chin. "I think I see where you're going with this."

"To the next logical step," Sam nodded sharply. "Input all this information into your E-Bugs and let them get to work. They would have to be small enough to be injected into a person, but big enough to do what needs to be done. Can you imagine that? It would kick Nuclear Medicine's butt! No more lengthy and costly medical procedures or surgeries that may or may not work. No more: Sorry! We can't operate on your back because we may leave you paralyzed if we mess up. No more wait time. No more time for recovery after surgery or scars."

"No more unnecessary deaths," Tony whispered, almost absentmindedly at the memory of his mother. He then stared at his left palm, an idea suddenly coming to mind. "No more: There's nothing that can be done. Extremis… Extremis can do that… Extremis did that for me."

"Ex-what?"

"Extremis," Tony repeated, his eyes now on the girl's. "I… Has Pepper told you about me? About my heart?"

"About your… heart?"

"Yeah, I… the plane accident… I had a heart implant. A battery, essentially. It was an electromagnet. I had to recharge every few hours… I…"

Tony's vision clouded for a second, the events that had unfolded in the years after his father's supposed death still stirring strong emotions within him.

"Are you OK?"

"Yes," he gulped. "Yeah… I am… I… what was I saying?"

"Electromagnet."

"Yes! Electromagnet! I had it for almost two years. But then I found a cure for my heart. It's called Extremis. It's an attempt to recreate the same serum that made Captain America. It's unstable and dangerous in large quantities… the serum contains nanobots… it has healing capabilities. So I took a little bit of it to try to repair my heart."

"And, seeing as you're still breathing, I'm gonna say that it worked?"

"It did. It did more than just heal my heart. It enhanced my senses. It made me stronger. Faster. Smarter. And… it… well… I can talk… to computers."

Sam blinked rapidly several times.

"You… uhm… what?"

"Computers. I can interface with them. All digital and electrical technology actually. With my brain."

Samantha blinked rapidly again, stared at her phone in her hand, and then, without warning, threw it at Tony's face.

"OUCH!"

"Oh, crud! Are you OK?" Sam momentarily covered her mouth with her hands before she leaned forward to tend to a groaning inventor.

"What the heck did you do that for?" Tony rubbed his nose and left eye, where the cell phone had hit the hardest.

"I thought you said you could talk to technology!" Sam began checking on his face.

"I didn't say I had telekinesis!" Tony spat and then flinched when the girl's hand rubbed the sore spot on his nose.

"But you said you could talk to tech!" she argued.

"I CAN! Ouch!" Tony closed his left eye when it began to sting.

"Then why didn't you do anything to stop it?" Sam held Tony's head in place and shifted it from left to right to see the extent of the damage she had caused.

"What was I supposed to do? The phone doesn't have legs!"

"Well…" Sam swallowed hard, suddenly realizing how stupid her thought process of just now had been, but felt unwilling to accept the fault. "You-you could've told it to… to… to vibrate the heck out of the way!"

Tony opened his mouth to argue, but no words came out. What was he supposed to say to that, anyway? Even if such a thing were possible, how could he have made the phone vibrate enough in midair to avoid hitting him when it took less than a second to leave her hand and impact his face? It was such a silly reply; such an outrageous excuse.

Such a Pepper response.

Noticing the blush of pure embarrassment that had started forming on the brunette's face, the genius decided to let it go.

"It's OK," he pulled his face away from her hands and then looked towards the front. "It… it could've happened to anyone. I guess."

Samantha scoffed at his poor attempt at letting her off the hook for her rash action, and then rested her back against the wall once more; a disappointed sigh escaping her lips.

"I guess we aren't going out on Saturday anymore, huh?"

Tony silently stared at the crestfallen girl from the corner of his right eye. He felt a pang of regret for yelling at her. She had just been excited and confused. She really had not meant to harm him.

She was just like he had been at her age: too smart and too curious for her own good. And a complete social imbecile.

"We are," he replied. "We're still going out Saturday. Nothing's changed."

"Really?" Sam's voice denoted her incredulity. "But, I just hit you with a phone!"

"So?" Tony one-side shrugged. "The plan's still on."

"Tony, I…" she gulped and looked down at her lap, her fingers nervously tugging at the hem of her blouse. "I… I see why Pep-people like you. Those that do, I mean."

"Because I let people beat me up with their phones and still hang around with them as if nothing ever happened?" he joked.

"No. Because… because you… you're very… kind."

"Not always."

"But when it matters, you are. Thank you."

Instead of replying, the inventor simply gave her a wide smile.

xxxXXXxxx

He had to admit it: he had had a blast today.

And he felt guilty about it. Especially now.

He had been very concerned and somewhat uncertain about his choice of hanging with Samantha Potts alone, once it had dawned on him what he had agreed to do; especially on a day that was typically reserved for spending time with Pepper. Nevertheless, the redhead had smiled at him when he had told her about it, and she had even encouraged him to attend the event. When he had asked her about it once more earlier today when he had gone to her house to pick up the brunette, she had again told him that it was alright. That she did not mind him going to a place where he could meet his other Science Hero. That it was OK for him to go with her sister instead of taking her out on a date, which they could do any and every other day off school.

Knowing Pepper, and despite her smile and the tight hug she had given him before he had left with Sam, he knew that something was off.

But he could not quite place what it was… yet. So he had pushed the probably ridiculous fear from his heart and head as soon as he had set foot at the convention he had attended today. Meeting Dr. Pym had been as amazing as he had expected it to be; perhaps even more amazing than spending the afternoon with Dr. Richards – of which neither opportunity would have happened this week if it had not been for Sam.

Samantha Alexa Potts who, as it turned out, was just a good person who had simply been treated badly while growing up. She had not been beaten up by her mother, like Pepper had, but Tony could not imagine seeing her sister being hit by their mother having no impact on her in some way.

The hope that Pepper and her sister patched things up returned to him once more and he smiled. He just wanted Pepper to be happy. He just wanted her to know how much her life was worth. He just wanted his redhead to love her own life.

And him.

He also wanted her to love him.

Tony stretched his arms above his head as he headed to his living room, tired from the day's activities. Just as it had been the case with Dr. Richards, he and Sam had spent a considerable amount of time talking to Hank Pym after the convention, sharing with him Samantha's application ideas for Tony's E-Bugs. The talk had led to a contract for Stark Solutions, and both he and the brunette were going to work together to create a prototype for Pym Tech of the EM-Bugs.

Yes. Today had been a good day. And tomorrow he would invite Pepper over to spend the entire day with him at his penthouse; making this weekend a roaring success.

Pepper, his eyes fell on his Stark Pod to see the time: it was two minutes before midnight. He had hoped to see his girlfriend when he dropped off Sam at their apartment, but Pepper had not been home. There had been no note and no text from her to tell him that she was going to be out. The armory was empty, and her suit was off. Whatever it was that she was doing at the moment, did not appear to be anything dangerous or crazy…

… or so he hoped.

He felt tempted to call her right now and ask her where she was. Maybe even trace her phone and just show up wherever she was hanging. Maybe she was with Rhodey, playing Killer Kombat. He knew how much she loved that game. And if she was indeed hanging out at the Rhodes' home and the night had fallen while still there, he knew Roberta would make her spend the night there instead of going back home, just as she would for him. That was just what the lawyer would do: care for her and the inventor as if they were her daughter and other son.

The genius remained silent, his eyes on the screen of his cell phone, weighing his options as he finally reviewed the notifications he had ignored throughout the day. He did not want to wake her up, if she was already asleep, but he doubted he would sleep if she was awake. He wanted to talk to her. Tell her about his day. Hear her voice. He wanted her to tell him about hers. He wanted to hear her ramble on and on. He wanted to make sure she was still OK with him having done what he had done. Perhaps ask her, straight up, what she had been trying to hide behind her smile and face.

Yet, when he read his next notification – a reminder he himself had set – and he noticed the current time and date, he realized what she had kept to herself.

NO! No, no, no, no!

Their anniversary.

Today was… had been… their four-month dating anniversary.

And he had spent the entire day with someone else.