The next two chapter are Epilogues.
Warning: Sexual Content ahead.
Amor Vincit Omnia
Love conquers all things; let us too surrender to Love.
They ran back to the Keep, Tony laughing as Pepper exclaimed "It is so cold!". She lifted her skirts and ran like the wind, her red hair flying with her. He tried to keep up with her but it was difficult as he was still wearing his helmet and chest plate.
They rounded the wall, their footsteps ringing on the cobbled yard. Pepper ran to the door and opened it quickly. Tony stood in the center of the yard, looking up at the grey sky. He tugged off his armor and held it in his hands. As the rain fell on him, the cold water relaxing him somehow, he had a singular thought.
This is the day, today is the day, I am going to ask her, I am going to ask Pepper to marry me...
He stood there with his eyes closed, the feeling of knowing what he had to do, washing over him, like the falling rain.
He smiled as he felt a warm hand on his collar, tugging him backwards and heard Pepper's exasperated voice exclaim at him, "Anthony Stark, will you get in from the rain please!"
He let her tug him into the house and they stood there at the entrance, dripping wet. He placed his armor down and pulled off his knee guards and gauntlets. Pepper was shivering and Tony took advantage of her distraction, to hold her arms. "Stay right here for just a minute."
She nodded and he ran to the living room. He quickly started a fire and pulled out the soft fur rug from the trunk in the room. Tony spread it in front of the fireplace.
When he returned to the entrance, he huffed loudly as Pepper, of course, had disappeared. She must have heard him for he heard her say, "Tony, I am looking for some towels... wait... wait... got them!"
She came from the kitchen, hands full of towels. Determined to get her to the fireplace, Tony quickly picked up her in his arms, without warning.
Ignoring her surprised squeak, he cradled wet, soft Pepper and walked to the fireplace. He gently set her down on the rug and she promptly stood up, huffing at him. But he just grinned at her and she shook her head at him.
"I was perfectly capable of walking..."
"I know, I just want an excuse to pick you up."
Pepper quickly unbuttoned his shirt and shoved it off his shoulders, chiding him firmly. "Anthony Stark, get out of your wet clothes now! You will catch a fever!"
She was so effectively undressing him, that he decided to help her by undoing the buttons at the back of her dress. He was nearly done, when he noticed Pepper's hands had stopped around his hips. She had undone his trousers but was hesitating at his drawstring braies. He watched as she blushed prettily in the firelight, her delicate face turning a light red. But she didn't move her hands away.
He gently raised her chin with one hand, to look into her blue eyes. She swallowed as he guided her hands in undoing the strings, not breaking eye contact. Then he let the braies fall down completely and Pepper gasped as she stared at his bared cock. Tony gritted his teeth as he could feel himself hardening under her curious gaze.
"It is nothing you haven't seen before, my love..." he muttered to her, stroking her cheek with his thumb. She smiled at him then and he picked up one of the towels from the floor and wrapped it around his hips, pushing his braies down completely and stepping out of them.
He stood in front of Pepper, preening slightly as she stared at him wide-eyed and curious, her eyes moving all over him avidly. Even though she had seen him naked, she still looked at him as though he was a wonder and Tony enjoyed it.
He gently turned her around and undid all the buttons on the back of her dress. He kissed her neck as he pushed her wet dress off her body. She was clad in only her chemise now and she turned around to face him.
Tony gulped rather audibly as he could see Pepper's body beautifully outlined in the thin, clingy chemise, her erect nipples impudently poking through the wet cloth. A memory came to him so vividly, that he had to say something.
He took a towel and began to softly rub her hair. She sighed and stood perfectly still. He cleared his throat and said softly, "Pepper... I do not know if you remember... but after we fought the slavers... you came to my room... and stood there in front of the fireplace... in a shift..."
Pepper was peeking at him from under the towel, a half-smile around her lips.
He admitted guiltily, "I could see your body completely, the material was nearly transparent... and I didn't tell you... I wanted to say something but your... your amazing beauty just..."
He did not know where he was going with this but Pepper placed her soft fingers on his arc and Tony looked into her eyes, captivated by the way they had turned a melting dark blue.
"I remember, Tony," she said softly, smiling at him, "I remember being so scared of what I was going to do but I felt I had to do it... I had to thank you somehow and giving my body to you was the only way I knew how."
He opened his mouth to apologize for his behavior but she pressed her fingers to his lips gently.
"And you... you saw how scared I was... you could have taken advantage, you could have done the deed, what was I to you, just a runaway slave... but you..." she moved her fingers over his face, touching him lightly, "Tony, you let me go, you controlled your passion and let me go... that day I realized..."
"Realized?" he whispered.
"I realized you were a good man and that I was safe with you..." she rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him tightly. "I am so lucky, so damn lucky, that it was you that pulled me out of the lake, Lord Stark..."
He felt his throat close up with emotion at her words and cleared his throat. "I am the lucky one here... I don't know what I did to deserve you..."
Pepper sighed and said softly, "I love you, Tony, I love you so much."
He smiled and then she shivered. Tony suddenly remembered she was still in her wet clothes. He gently pushed her back from him and undid the buttons on the front of her chemise. Then he looked at Pepper, who nodded silently.
He pushed the chemise of her ivory shoulders and slowly pushed it off her, the wet material clinging to her flesh. He moved it downwards off her hips, off her long legs. She stepped out of it daintily and he placed it on top of his wet clothes.
Pepper was completely naked, so Tony looked at a point beyond her shoulder, trying valiantly not to look at her.
She giggled and said softly, "Now whose being shy, huh?"
Then she bent and picked up a towel from the pile of them on the floor. He took it from her and began to rub her down, starting with her lovely shoulders and arms, her soft chest and her narrow waist. Then he knelt and took his time around her hips, smiling as he heard Pepper smother a gasp, at the way he used the towel, to wipe the moisture away from her thighs and her legs.
She placed a hand on his shoulder as he lifted one delicate foot, wiped it dry and then did the same for the other.
Tony pressed his face against her soft firm stomach and pressed a kiss to her belly button, feeling her skin tremble under his lips as he wrapped the towel around her hips. He whispered against her, "I love you too, Pepper, truly, madly, deeply...I love you..."
She tugged on his hair lightly and they stood naked in front of each other, eyes locked in a silent dance of mutual love.
Tony smiled down at her. "Why don't we sit down? We need to get warmed up and what better place to do so, than by the fire?"
Pepper smiled back but then said worriedly, "But Tony, what about Jarvis and Magdalene? Won't they come back?"
"Nope, I take it you didn't see Magdalene's note... they have gone to the nearby town for some christening ceremony...they won't return till tomorrow afternoon."
He waggled his eye brows at her mischievously but Pepper surprised him by smirking right back and drawling out in a very sensual manner, "So that means you and I are completely alone tonight... good..."
She brightly suggested "So Tony, do you want some wine?" He nodded and she turned to the table to fetch a bottle. He took advantage of this, to quickly rummage through his wet trousers. He was looking for the very article he had been carrying around since their magical night in the East Wing: his mother's ring, a sapphire set in gold, surrounded by diamonds.
Tony found the little box and then looked down at himself. I am wearing nothing but a towel, where do I keep it on me?
He heard the clink of glasses and realized Pepper was coming back towards him. So he quickly tossed it in a corner behind the fireplace.
Tony lay back on his arms, propping himself up. Pepper lowered herself to the floor, tucking her knees neatly under her. She poured out two glasses of wine and handed one to Tony. He clinked his glass to hers, said softly, "To your good health, my love" and drank deeply, draining the glass in one shot.
He wanted the wine to give him some courage because he was suddenly feeling very nervous. Pepper drank slowly and put her glass down. Then she rubbed her arms and Tony asked, "Pepper, do you still feel cold?"
She nodded, looking sweetly innocent and childlike to him, hair undone and slightly wet, eyes bright on his. Tony stood up and went to the trunk, where he found a large linen blanket.
He came back to the fireplace, handed it to Pepper and sat back down. He expected Pepper to wrap it around herself but instead she clambered into his lap slowly. He held her gently as she faced him and wrapped the blanket around them both.
She sighed and said softly, "Now I feel warm...", her chest against his, her arms around him, her head leaning against his shoulder and the ends of the blanket falling around them.
Tony hugged her and held the ends of the blanket together at her back. He began to rock gently and Pepper snuggled into his chest even more, her head burrowed into his neck and shoulder.
They sat there in companionable silence, the fire crackling gently and the shadows growing in the room as evening turned into night. Tony kissed the top of Pepper's head softly, thinking she had gone to sleep, she was so quiet and her breathing so even.
"Sleep, my love, sleep..."
She surprised him by raising her head and kissing him gently, pressing her lips to his in a very soft caress. He felt her smile against his lips. "I am not sleeping, Tony, I was just enjoying this... this peace... your arms around me..."
He nodded and swallowed hard. "Pepper, there's something I wanted to talk to you about..."
She leaned back in his arms and looked at him curiously, her eyes shining in the firelight. "What is it, my lord?"
His brain was screaming out instructions that his tongue was refusing to obey. Pepper looped her arms around his neck and kissed his nose. "Tell me, my love, tell me what is it...".
Come on Tony, tell her how you feel, ask her... man up now!
He swallowed and stammered slowly, "We may not have met under conventional circumstances..." she smiled at that, "and we don't have a conventional relationship..."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, you asked me to train you, then you came with me on adventures, we fought foes together, seen impossible things together..." He closed his eyes briefly and she leaned her forehead against his, "Pepper, you have saved me in more ways than you think..."
She huffed at him and he said firmly, "Yes, you have and I am not just talking about battles and enemies. You have saved from me, from a life of eternal loneliness, you are the only one," he looked into her sapphire eyes which were gazing into his, "you are the only one Pep, who looked past my armor, who looked past my Arc, who became my friend..."
She smiled softly at him and he whispered, "I have trained you as well as I could but when it comes to love... there are times when I've let you down..."
She caught his jaw in her hand and he gulped as Pepper stared at him with a rather steely glint in her eyes. "Tony Stark, we agreed to leave that event in the past... why do you still beat yourself up over that? I've made stupid mistakes too!"
"Like what?" He widened his eyes so comically, that she giggled.
Then Pepper looked at him very patiently. "I never really told you how I felt... I missed you in the stars, I worried about you in Patait... then we started courting and I was in love with you but I never told you, even though you were so loving and good to me..."
She kissed his forehead softly. "Do you know when I realized how foolish my behavior was?"
He shook his head, eyes still wide. Pepper admitting her secrets, was fascinating him.
Pepper bit her lip. "When you entered that stupid tournament, I was so damn worried... I kept telling myself, that the minute it was over, I would tell you how I felt!"
She hugged him suddenly, nearly toppling them over. "Then you fell on the grass and my heart stopped...I thought I had lost you, my lord. I thought I had lost you... "
She sighed against him and he patted her back. Pepper continued in a soft, trembling voice, "You did not wake up for four days... four days... and I hated myself, I would never be able to tell you how I felt, how I loved you..."
She pushed herself back, to look at him with shimmering eyes, a tear gently falling down her cheek. He rubbed it away with his thumb. "Tony," she murmured, ruffling his hair, "We both held our feelings back. We both made mistakes... but now..." she looked deep into his eyes, smiling at him. He felt his Flame surge with happiness.
"Tony, I love you and you love me. Forget the past, the future holds everything for you and me."
He nodded and said slowly, "The future is what I wanted to talk about, at least, what I am coming to."
He gently set her down on the rug and she sat on her knees.
Tony moved on his knees, towards the fireplace corner and picked up the box. He held it in one hand and moved back to the rug. Pepper was looking at him curiously.
"Tony, what do you have in your hand?"
He bent forward on his knees and took Pepper's hand in his free one. Tony kissed each finger softly and then let it go.
He lifted his face to look at Pepper. He opened his other hand and revealed the box.
She gasped audibly as he flicked the box open and took out the ring. Then he held the ring in both hands and said gently, "Pepper, you are the greatest gift a man could ask for... in every way and every manner. I count myself most fortunate to have met you... now I sit before you, my heart in my hands and I ask you: Will you make me the luckiest man in this land and consent to be my wife?"
Tony's heart was thudding loudly as he stared into Pepper's wide blue eyes, which had turned light sky blue with shock. Her mouth was parted in a silent 'O' and she was just staring at him blankly.
Then she cupped his face in her hands. "Tony Stark, my teacher, my training partner, my savior...my love..." She kissed his lips softly, "I would be honored to be your wife, my lord..."
He could hardly believe his ears as Pepper kept kissing him, his lips still from the shock of her accepting his proposal. She smiled against his mouth and leaned back on her heels.
He was still dazedly staring at her and she teasingly said, "Well Tony, is that beautiful ring for you or for me?"
Tony took her hand in his and reverently slipped the ring onto her finger. He kissed her hand and she stroked his hair softly.
"Pepper, I swear," he said seriously, "I swear to spend the rest of my days, keeping you happy and safe and striving to be worthy of you..."
"Tony," she said softly, "my knight, my lord, you are and have always been worthy of me, I swear to worship you with my mind and body. I've got you, my Lord..."
"Well," he grinned charmingly at her, "I got you first. I pulled you out of the Lake, remember?"
Pepper threw back her head and laughed joyously. "Tony, somehow you always find a way to say that..."
He pulled her back towards him and kissed her hard. She moved against him and Tony lay back as Pepper draped her long, lean self over him.
She was lying on him, her slender body pressed to his from head to toe and her mouth taking his tenderly, lips and tongue moving in time to match his. Tony moved his hands over her bare back, gently holding her to him. Without letting go of his mouth, Pepper caught one of his hands in her own and moved it to the towel covering her backside. She guided his hand to push the towel off and then touch her.
Tony broke off the kiss and as she kissed his neck, he stroked her petal soft curves. Pepper shifted against him restlessly, a deep shudder going through her as he kept petting her, whispering soft words of admiration. Her pointed nipples were branding him with sensation and Tony cupped her backside and slowly rubbed his towel-clad hips against her softness.
Pepper cried out and bit his neck but he just kept rubbing against her until she was shuddering against him. He moved her thick curtain of hair away from her face and kissed her ear. She was muttering his name indistinctly and he gently parted her legs, to slip his fingers against her womanhood.
Then she bucked in earnest as Tony began to stroke her slit up and down, feeling her moistness under his fingertips.
"Good lord, Pepper," he whispered in awe, "you are already wet..."
"My love... Tony..." she moved helplessly against his fingers and moaned deeply, "Tony, touch me please... please Tony..." Then she gasped as he thrust one finger into her moist core.
She was slick with arousal and he wasted no time in thrusting one more and then another finger into her. Pepper was now moving herself back and forth, against his still fingers. He used his other hand to push her torso upwards, so that he could touch her breasts easily.
Pepper moved herself according to his direction and raised her chest slightly. Tony grinned widely as her new position meant her rose pink nipples dangled tantalizingly close to his mouth, like ripe cherries. He raised his head and laved at one dangling erect tip.
Pepper cried out his name raggedly and began to move more urgently against his fingers. He kept licking the nipple, her hair falling like a reddish gold curtain around him, her womanhood soft and warm against his questing fingers and the beautiful porcelain flesh pressed intimately to him. His other hand was at her ribs, moving slowly over her soft flesh.
Pepper was keening now but he patiently kissed the valley of flesh between her breasts and moved to the other nipple. He felt her core tighten around his fingers and he knew she was close. So he raised his head and gently bit her erect nipple.
Pepper threw her head back, her beautiful neck arched in passion and let out one long, wailing cry. Her hips remained still and he felt her release on his fingers.
As she collapsed weakly against him, sated and flush with arousal, he gently hugged her to him. He could feel his own erection, painfully hard now, pushing strongly against the towel.
Pepper exhaled heavily against him and he smiled. Then Tony widened his eyes as he felt her hands at the towel.
Pepper raised herself off him and sat down between his legs, knees tucked under her. She took off the towel and held him in her fingers. Tony took a deep breath and growled out, "Pepperrr..."
She tilted her head, a half-smile playing around her lips and said throatily, "Your turn, my lord."
Then using the skill she had shown the night she tied him up, Pepper began to slowly drive him mad with her clever fingers. She held his erect cock firmly and began to move her fist up and down slowly. Tony closed his eyes and tried to hold out.
After a gloriously torturous minute of Pepper's soft but firm fingers moving over the length of him hard and fast, Tony was so close. But he still had some control. Then Pepper grinned sexily and cupped his balls in her other hand. That did it for him. He just let go, with a loud groan of pleasure.
He pumped his seed all over Pepper's feather soft hand, hearing her soft gasp and felt his heart thump loudly. Then Tony just lay there, every bone of his body melted with pleasure.
Pepper began to wipe him with a towel and he murmured a protest but she shushed him firmly, so he let her continue. Then she lay down beside him, curling under his arm and pulling up the blanket over them both.
"Tony, we need to sleep in our own beds, we cannot sleep here..." she murmured sleepily, nuzzling his chest.
"Yes, Pepper," he said, close to drifting off to sleep himself.
Pepper placed her hand on his Arc, a familiar gesture of hers that Tony loved. She lay her ringed finger against the Arc and looked at it, smiling sleepily. "Mine..." she whispered softly and closed her eyes.
He kissed her forehead. "Yes, Pepper, the ring is all yours..."
Pepper opened her eyes, luminously dark blue and smiled at him, love shining in their blue depths. Tony just looked at her. "Tony," she said softly, "I was talking about you..." and she tapped her ring against the Arc, "you are mine and I am yours. Now go to sleep, silly, we need to go upstairs soon."
"Sure, Pep, just five minutes."
The fire grew low and darkness fell around the Keep but the Iron Knight and the Lady from Cumbria did not care, they slept blissfully in each other's arms.
