Guest Review Responses
Thanks for the favorites/follows: AbsolutelyOverYue and QueenAllieK.
Marina: Amazing and thank you xxxxx can't wait for the next chap
apps: Big thanks for back to back updates...but my heart is really aching to see that our pepperony still have more suffering on their way...if no one then i am going to go and tell tony that its all samantha is responsible for all this mess...:(:( - LOL! It's gonna be a while before they find out about it… but can you imagine how that's gonna go when they do? I wouldn't want to be Samantha then! Or ever, actually.
Miss geek: The fudge ?! I don't check in a few days and I miss a lot O_O oh lord anyway great to hear everything is all well and about the last chapter I knew it ! This bitch of the west is evil just when I thought she's genuinely concerned for her sister but no the lies ! Oooooh I so want pepper to throw her into an ocean and for her to break down in tears and break up with tony for like a sec to punish him for sticking up for her sister and then do the while I told you so rant and Yh that's a lot anyway that what I think will happen ok maybe not the ocean bit – ROFLMAO! There's an image to tall that… a funny one. And maybe a recommendation for the fic :P
Miss geek: Great to know everything is all ok with ur dad and so First of all yessssss u updated! *Runs around and falls on the floor* I'm ok ! And second the fudge ?! Ive been checking for updates soooo many times and the second I dont check For a few days I miss sooo much O_O ? Anyway I knew it ! This bitch of the west is evillllll at first I'm like why the fudge is she concerned then it all makes sense... she's a bitch but then again I don't want to insult female dogs anyway please update ! – Good call. Female dogs are amazing. Samantha… well… let's just say one of my Faithful Readers figures out what's the matter with her. Though, I don't think that will earn her any sympathy at all XD
Lily k: Update xx – Here it be!
Desperate: Where the update at hon I need my pepperony – Sorry! Long story with reasons for not updating (no, seriously, reasons this time), follows!
Allie k: When will you update ? – Writing this chapter was like pulling teeth. Without anesthesia. From a newborn. But I hope you like it!
Allison: I give up ...been waiting nearly 2 weeks hon I can't deal with this I check like everyday – SOOORRRY! *begs for fogiveness*Life and all!
A/N: Sooo… in case anyone is wondering where the hell I have been… let's just recap: 1) had a major case of writer's block after my last update; 2) when I felt a little bit of inspiration to write, my laptop's hard drive crashed; 3) hours after I realized my laptop was MIA and that I needed to install a new hard drive and all software on it, my sister called me to tell me her husband was in the ER with appendicitis, having emergency surgery, and she was bawling; 5) hours after my sister called me, my dad called me to tell me my cousin (who had been fighting cancer for two years) had died, at 40 years of age (not much older than I am); 6) needless to say, all of that hitting me too fast took all inspiration and will away… until today… or at least until this morning, when me and the hubby were involved in a CAR ACCIDENT. No. Seriously. A lady, on her phone, with no license and insurance, ran a red light and hit us head on. Sigh. I spent most of today sleeping away some of my misfortune, and then woke up just to write this for you. I hope you like it :)
Oh! And my hubby posted an IMAA Halloween-theme story titled "Don't Fear." Check it out, if you can!
Chapter 23
CRASH!
"No!"
BANG!
"Oh sh–"
The initial ruckus woke him with a start. The subsequent loud sounds of denial made him jump from the bed. But it was the cursing that made him run frantically towards his kitchen; to the origin of all the noise.
"Pepper!"
His heart was beating fast; his eyes almost ready to see her lying on the floor, perhaps the victim of another allergic reaction – or worse.
"Aw, man!" the redhead groaned. "I woke you up, didn't I? Ugh! I so woke you up!"
"Are you OK?"
He looked all around him, noticed the evidence of the cookies they had tried to bake two days ago still present, and now a mess of a set of pots and pans adorned the marble floor.
"Yeah, just hungry," she sighed and began picking up some of the kitchen items she had inadvertently dropped. Tony padded towards her location and started aiding her in clearing the floor from debris.
"What are you hungry for, Pep? You… Wait…" he took the pots from her hands and dumped them inside the sink. "You-you didn't eat anything bad, did you? Oh, crud! Did you eat strawberries? DID YOU BRING YOUR EPI-PEN?!"
The genius looked left and right, as if the injection would be lying on the floor for whatever reason.
"Tony, I–"
"Let me call 911!" he patted his body for a phone and then groaned when he did not find it on his person.
"Don't ca–"
"No, you're right," he snapped his fingers in realization, "They'll take too long. I'll just take you there myself!"
"Tony, listen–" she was interrupted by his right hand clutching hers.
"There's no time to waste. Let's go!" he began dragging her with him out of the kitchen.
"But, I–"
"We need to store epinephrine injections here."
"We–"
"And at school, too. And the armory, while we're at it."
"Tony–"
"Get dressed," he pointed towards the couch, once they reached the living room, where her regular clothes lay.
"I don't–"
"Actually, never mind," he released her hand to search for his phone and wallet. "Pajamas are OK."
"Tony, please listen."
"Come on, Pep," he suddenly threw her over his right shoulder without much trouble or warning, leaving the ginger to feel like nothing more than a sack of potatoes.
"Ah! What are you doing?!"
"How long ago did you eat the strawberry?" he began walking towards the front door, his girlfriend in tow.
"I don't… didn't – ugh! Tony, put me down!"
"Is your dad still here?" he held his phone in his left hand while his right arm went around her waist to keep her from sliding off his shoulder. "Let me text him."
"Tony… Tony…" she slapped his back a few times to no avail. "TONY, STOP!"
"Huh? What was that? Stop, what?"
"YOU! YOU, STOP! RIGHT NOW! PUT. ME. DOWN!"
"What? Why?" he was taken aback by the clear frustration in her voice, but he still effortlessly slid her down from his shoulder to carry her in his arms.
"Because you need to calm the heck down!"
"For bad news? Was it a wasp instead of a strawberry?" his eyes suddenly widened, "Oh, my gosh! WAS IT BOTH?!"
"NO!" she wiggled in his arms and kicked her legs up and down, hoping he would take the hint that she wanted to be set her back on her feet so that she could shake some sense into him, but he was not reading any of the obvious signs. Instead, he sat on the couch, her form still in his arms, leaving her to sit sideways on his lap. He then rested his right hand on her lower back to hold her weight for her, and laid his left hand on her cheek.
"Are you feeling ill already? Where did the wasp sting you? Is your throat closing? Where is your pen?"
"TONY!" she held his head in her hands and forced him to face her. "Please calm down and listen: I'm fine. I'm totally fine, OK? The pen is in my armor. I haven't been stung. No: my throat is not closing and I don't feel ill. I haven't eaten anything, bad or otherwise… and that's the problem. I'm starving, alright? That's what my only problem is right now. I'm hungry! Very hungry! And you're not helping! I need FOOD, not the ER!"
His blue eyes stared at her hazel ones, blinking rapidly as he processed every single one of her words, feeling like an overly-worrying fool with every passing second and with every large gasp of air she took in to recover from the long spiel she had to resort to using to calm his nerves and frantic motions. He then felt her grip on his face loosen a little, her breathing stabilizing once more when she saw the look of dawning understanding and realization in his features. Yet, before she completely removed her hands from his cheeks or pulled her face away from his, he held them in place with his own and shook his head at his own silliness. He then chuckled lightly in slight embarrassment of his actions and smiled fondly at her.
"I love you, Pep."
Her mouth went agape as she felt her cheeks burn. The tone he had used to utter the unexpected phrase suddenly reminded her of their yet-to-be-discussed encounter of a couple of nights ago. It did not help matters any when he then pressed their foreheads together and playfully kissed the tip of her nose, which only served to make the butterflies in her stomach flutter even more. This was the closest contact they had had since that night – or at least one in a moment she was conscious enough to fully understand the magnitude of being alone together again, not even two days after having crossed a rather important threshold in their relationship.
Before that moment had taken place, they had been two best friends whom had liked and trusted each other enough to test the waters of a potentially serious relationship. Today, they were also now two people who had openly chosen one another to experience the first intimate encounter of their entire lives – even if they were yet to fully understand what all of that really meant.
No matter what happened now, however, or what did not happen later, the two of them had enough sense to realize that their lives had changed forever – for better or for worse. On the other hand, knowing the magnitude of their actions was one thing; speaking about it and acknowledging it aloud, to each other, was something else.
She cleared her throat and clung to his shoulders, hoping he would not accidentally disarm her again with yet another loving, electric-blue glance of his, and then finally spoke, hoping her delayed response was not taken by him for hesitation of her feelings on her part.
"Tony, I love you, too."
She could not see him do so, but he smiled wide.
She could not hear it, but his heart began beating fast; her voice and her presence making his entire body tingle now that the recent misunderstanding was cleared up.
She could not sense it within him, but he felt even more connected to her than he had ever thought was physically, mentally, and emotionally possible for any human being – no matter how in love they claimed to be.
They were fully-clothed, the mood nowhere in the same vicinity as it had been that night, yet he abruptly felt as at peace and as content as he had been after being with her. Perhaps it was leftover sensations from then, triggered by the scent of her perfume and by the feel of her warm skin against his. It could have been the fact that she was safe and sound in his arms, and his mind was finally coming to fully believe that she was going to be alright. Or, at the very least, maybe it was simply just a case of an overproduction of oxytocin in his brain. He knew that this was what love was after all, at its most scientific level. There was nothing otherworldly about it; about how he was feeling right now – everyone else on the planet felt it, in more or less the same way; as nature and evolution had shaped it to be.
Nevertheless, just because it was ingrained biology that had taken the reigns, this did not mean that he would set aside or dismiss his feelings for her because they were expected, nor would he assume that he had no right to or that it was unnecessary to verbalize his thoughts. She deserved to know how he felt about her and about them together. She deserved to know what he thought about it all; even if she was yet to ask about it and even though she appeared to be as shy about the subject as he was himself.
It was now or never – and he preferred now.
"I don't regret it," he suddenly whispered to her ear when she, uncharacteristically so, did not say anything else for almost a minute. He then circled her back with his arms and placed a chaste kiss on her left shoulder before whispering to her ear once more.
"That night, Pep. I don't regret any of it. None of it at all."
She took thirty more seconds to verbally reply, but she did squeeze him harder immediately after his original retort, reveling in how his hands and lips tended to her. He had always been gentle with her; more so after they had started dating, but she never grew tired or became unsurprised by how he made every effort to make her feel precious to him. She would have never, in a billion years, pictured the clueless rich boy she had met years ago – the one that would bounce right back after taking a beating in his suit of armor, only to give his enemies a taste of their own medicine – to also be someone who would experience no qualms in clearly and tenderly displaying the very important place in his life that the people he loved and cared about held.
He had done so when they had been friends. He had done so even more when they had started going out. And he had made it extremely clear when they had been together that night. Remorse for his actions and words were not something he harbored within him now. And neither did she.
"I don't either," Pepper shuddered when his nails raked her back over her shirt, ever so slightly. "But, I'm just… I… I-I feel… kinda… sorta…. Well, a little bit–"
"Embarrassed?" he smirked.
"Yeah."
He breathing in, slowly pulled his face away from her shoulder, and then briefly pressed his lips against hers.
"Me too," he said after a nervous gulp.
"Really?"
"Yeah. More embarrassed than when you and Rhodey caught me jamming to my MP3 player."
Not a second later, with the image of Tony Stark shaking his business all around, thinking himself to be alone in the lab, they both chuckled in unison.
"Oh, man! That was pretty embarrassing."
"I'll say! Why do you think I installed motion detectors after that?"
"Oh, Tony! You're still blackmailable – motion detectors in place or not!" Pepper giggled and shook her head. "And I get it. I totally get it. But, do you think next time will be easier?"
"N-N-e-e-ext time?"
If the moment and the topic of conversation was not making her feel so awkward, she would have laughed at the squeaky tone Tony's voice had just taken, or at how funnily shocked his wide eyes made him appear. Plus, she would have had a better response herself. Or, at the very least, she would have in the first place filtered what she had said before she had said it.
"Uhm, I mean… uh… I-I-I, Tony… I don't… expect us… to-to…"
"I'm not… saying no," he shrugged.
"Oh?"
"I… I just… I wouldn't say no to you… on that…"
"But?"
"I just don't think… maybe we shouldn't…"
"Again. Or, not now."
"Right," he sighed in defeat, yet he was grateful that she was not misinterpreting his intent or words. "Well, I think that we first need to be able to talk about it, right? Be a little more comfortable with it?"
"Yeah. Of course," she smiled and nodded.
"OK," he smiled as well. "But, for the record, for now…" his voice somewhat cracked with the smallest feeling of nervousness. "Just, you know, being clear about it: I wouldn't take it back. I… well… I'm glad that… that-that… that it was… with you."
"Aww, you're so sweet," she felt her cheeks burn once more. "BUT THAT'S NOT HELPING!"
"Sorry," he chuckled, quickly understanding his kind words were not exactly diminishing the mortification in her. "But it's true."
"I know," she looked away and licked her lips. "I mean: for me, too."
When she returned her eyes to his, it was only to lose herself in them for half a second before their lips met again as if pulled together by a magnet. His left arm circled her waist and pulled her closer to him. His right hand rested behind her neck to cradle it and help support its weight when he increased the intensity of the kiss. Her forearms rested on his chest and her hands clung to whatever she could of his clothes and neck; both of her limbs cramped between his chest and hers. His left hand then began sliding down her hip and thigh when she started curling her legs against him, welcoming his tender caresses and delighting in his reactive moans. She was too shy to say it to him right now – and maybe not in a few months or so – but the sounds of his verbal approval of her actions and the show of his affection for her drove her wild.
Perhaps it was the same for him – she could only hope.
Nevertheless, as luck would have it, a loud noise made them pull apart. Their eyes blinked several times while their brains and hormones came down from their high. They stared at one another, breathing hard to catch their breath, stopping only when the sound made its appearance again. It took them a second to make sense of the noise that had so rudely interrupted them. Yet, once it dawned on them what it was, Pepper blushed, placed her hands on her growling stomach, and then looked away from him once more.
"Oh, yeah," he held back a chuckle. "You said you were hungry."
"Sorry," she scratched the back of her head.
"No: I'm sorry, Madame," he stood up with her still in his arms. "I'm being rude to my lovely guest."
"Oh?"
"Why, allow me to make amends," Tony flipped her over so that she was now riding piggyback on him and started heading towards the front door, earning him an amused laugh from the redhead.
"Where are we going?"
"To find food."
"Don't you have something here we can eat?"
"Not something good enough for my love."
"My… uhm… I… I-I… But… What about…"
"Just hang on to me, Pep. It'll be alright."
"Oh… Okay."
"Trust me, babe."
She felt her face burn for the nth time, but she then found courage she did not know she had to say her next words.
"Then go ahead and lead the way, honey. I trust you. With my stomach, that is."
He laughed aloud, clearly amused by her comment, and was unable to hear the finishing thought forming in her mind.
And with my heart.