"Do you actually think that's gonna get Pepper to change her mind about you?"

"Honestly," Tony asked as he took a quick look at his surroundings. "No." He had just sped home in record time to pick up the trash he left in his father's workshop.

Rhodey laughed, his voice resonating through the vast area. "Just let her go."

"No. She's hot," he simply responded, as if that statement was good enough.

"And completely uninterested in you."

"Uh, get your facts straight. She's interested...just not yet." He knew with time she would be. "And what about that name I asked earlier?"

"What happened to the cheerleaders?"

"I'm still interested." Tony smirked, taking a couple of wrenches and tossing them back into the box in the tool shed. "You think she's hot?"

"Pepper?" He wasn't sure who his friend was referring to.

"Why would I be asking about her again?"

"Because she's been the topic of conversation for the past fifteen minutes!"

"Hey, no need to get snippy. I just wanted your opinion."

Rhodey sighed. "You can't judge a person based off a name."

"Not true. People do that to me all the time," Tony retorted.

"That's because you always make it a point-"

"Hey, I do good things too, alright? It's just not in the papers like all my other shit is."

"I know, and I'm not judging. Besides, you'll find out who this Virginia P. girl is tomorrow at lab."

"Facebook," Tony suddenly said, surprised the idea hadn't come up sooner. He clapped his hands together and immediately holographic screens popped up. Rhodey, in the meantime, hung up knowing he had just lost his friend's attention.

"Welcome back, sir," announced JARVIS.

"Hey, J," Tony responded, pulling up the feeds from the mansion security cameras. "Do a name search for me: Virginia P. Go through every social networking site and narrow it down to ages 16-17 in the Malibu area."

"Certainly."

As JARVIS went on with his task, he looked around the workshop. He didn't want a thing out of place. He'd never hear the end of it if Howard found something somewhere that wasn't supposed to be there. "Everything back to its original place?"

"Impeccably. However, your father has taken notice of several driveway skid marks. And, I must add, he is not too pleased."

He groaned. "Why didn't you mention they were back?"

"You asked me not to disturb you."

"I know," he snapped. Great. First day back and he's already up my ass about things he doesn't care about.

He turned his attention to his holographic screens and sighed. Changing the security feed to the outside cameras, he saw them. As JARVIS said, his parents were back; currently on the lawn talking near their overpriced water fountain.

"Sir, initial research is complete. I am sorry to say, but I could not find an exact match to the specifications you had wanted."

Getting up, he muttered, "God, this day is just getting worse." He had to greet his parents sometime and sooner was better than later. "Power down. I'm about to step in hell for the next couple minutes."

He hated days like these, when Howard was home. He began walking up the stairs and started thinking about Pepper.

From her first period, he knew she was smart, so it was weird that they didn't share a class together...not that he was hoping they would. The root of the matter was that Pepper was different. She wasn't the usual run of the mill girl. At first, he thought inviting her to his party would work - it'd loosen her up. But it wasn't right. Getting a girl drunk, then taking advantage of her...it wasn't something he wanted to do, wasn't something he ever wanted to do.

Rhodey was right. It'd be best if he left her alone. Pepper was a waste of his time; today had been a good indication of that. But he wasn't lying when he said she was hot. And there was something about her, aside from looks, that he couldn't quite yet figure out and it was bothering him.

"Tony," his mother said after she'd seen him walk out the front door.

Putting on a sincere smile, he walked up to her and into her awaiting arms.

"How was your first day of school?"

"Great," Tony said, before glancing at his father. He knew Howard would ignore him until he said something first. This time, however, he could tell that it wasn't necessary. JARVIS was right.

"How many times do I have to tell you to not speed down the property?"

"Howard, he's just a kid," said Maria, immediately stepping in. She knew her husband bringing up the problem would only end up in a fight.

"He's lucky I don't have him paying the bill," Howard snarled.

"I'll get it fixed," Tony spoke, looking his father in the eyes. Howard Stark was intimidating, but he wasn't going to back down. He wasn't a coward.

"You'll just ruin everything."

"I said I'd get it fixed," he said again, louder this time.

"You're not going to spend money on something that's just going to happen again," his father replied, equally matching his son's tone.

"You do. All the time. Why is it different when I do it," Tony challenged.

"Because it's my money. Not yours."

He wasn't going to back down. "And you don't think I know that?"

"Not the way you spend it."

"Howard, please," Maria protested. She hated when the two of them fought.

"Alright," he said, backing down seconds later. "But the kid's paying for this."

She nodded, not pushing the topic further. "I'm going to get dinner started. Do not go inside the workshop."

"Yeah, yeah," Howard dismissed.

Once Maria left, he looked at his son. "You're gonna start working at Stark Industries."

"You're insane if you think I'm going to spend one second of my time there."

"I'm not asking," said Howard, coldly, taking several steps forward until he was centimeters from Tony's face. "Am I clear?"

He met his father's eyes with the best blank expression he could muster. "Fine."

"And don't forget to wear a suit."

"Fuck you," Tony mumbled to his retreating figure.

Pepper sighed as she went up the stairs to her bedroom. Her first day of school was officially over and surprisingly, it had gone well. It was a little disconcerting at first to see Tony in her sixth period, but it turned out better than she hoped. He didn't even notice her in the room, but that could have been because of the girl he'd been sitting next to.

"How was school?"

Pepper turned around at the sound of her mother's voice. "Alright," she replied, clipping up her hair and turning on her computer.

"Alright," Victoria Potts asked, stepping inside her daughter's bedroom.

"Yeah. What else do you want?"

"I was just asking about your day, sweetheart," her mother kindly said.

"Can you be more specific then?"

"Tony Stark's her lab partner," Peter declared in passing of her room with a wide grin.

"What," Victoria screeched.

"What the hell," Pepper yelled, shooting a piercing stare to her brother.

"Virginia," her mother then said, waiting for an explanation.

Pepper sighed. She had been vague with her mother for this reason. Some night, long ago, she'd gone downstairs to get a glass of cold water, and halfway down, she heard her parents talking about Tony. She didn't care enough to eavesdrop, but it was clear they didn't want him near their daughter. Which was stupid since she already had a boyfriend.

"It's alphabetically ordered, mom."

"I highly doubt that," Victoria deadpanned.

"Well, it's the truth."

"I don't like it," her mother said.

"Well, me either. But you don't always get what you want."

"Okay, so I overreacted."

"You think," Pepper asked, which earned her an unamused glare. "Sorry."

"I'm gonna get started on dinner. I will talk to you later."

"Great," she replied, slamming the door on Peter's face once their mother left her room.

Sighing, she made her way over to her bed to lay down.

Her mother was beyond the point of reasoning, but there really wasn't anything wrong with Tony being her lab partner. Sure, he was interested in her, but the feeling wasn't mutual. Given time, he'd move on. It seemed like he had already. He had spent his entire class time laughing, flirting, and talking to a brunette. She didn't know the specifics of their relationship, nor did she want to, but she hoped whatever they had lasted. If he was preoccupied with someone else, it'd keep her off his trail. At least I hope so, she thought before falling asleep.

It was three hours later that a ring from her laptop had woken her up. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she glanced at the clock: 7:16pm. With a smile, she got up and picked up her MacBook Pro knowing it was Robert calling.

"Did I wake you up," asked the person from the other side of the screen.

"No," she responded grimly.

"It's 7:18," Robert stated, watching Pepper rub her eyes.

"I had a long day," she snapped.

"Whoa, what's with the tone," he asked, jokingly of course. He was used to it.

"Sorry," Pepper responded with an apologetic voice. She had a habit of being moody after her naps.

"It's alright."

She let out an airy laugh and proceeded to ask him about his six day trip to Rome. They were approaching their eighteen month anniversary and they've never been apart this long before. And since they were busy with their own lives, they rarely had the time to sit down and Skype each other.

"Oh, Emma and Morgan say hi. They want you to call them when you can spare a minute."

Pepper smiled. She needed to hear that. She missed her best friends and it made her happy that they missed her as much as she missed them. "I will. Did they give you a hard time?"

"Aside from the pep talk I got from Morgan...no," he replied with a laugh, not trying to sound serious.

Apparently it wasn't enough. "What'd she say?"

"Nothing," Robert told her, trying to brush the topic off.

"Tell me," she demanded.

"Okay, but don't be mad," he said, easing into the conversation. When Pepper didn't say anything, he continued. "Morgan thinks I'm going to cheat on you now that you're gone."

"That's stupid," she replied, trying to save face.

"Is it," Robert skeptically asked. "Because I think you believe it, too." He didn't need to say anything else for her to know what he was talking about.

"I don't. And you shouldn't either."

"Alright," said Robert unconvincingly.

She smiled and changed the subject.

Ever since the night he pressured her for sex, she had done her best to avoid being in close proximity with him. It was his fault, and he took full blame for it, but she felt it was hers, too. They had been a couple for a year and a half, she should had known he wanted sex, and it surprised her that he had waited this long to 'ask' to begin with. But she still wasn't ready, and she wasn't going to give in just to please him.

"I still can't believe you got lost with a map," Robert teased.

"Wow," Pepper deadpanned. "I have this sudden desire to hang up on you."

"Please don't," he plead.

"You know I hate it when you make fun of my inability to read directions."

"Pepper, don't. I haven't even told you why I called."

"You have three minutes," she stated.

"Our anniversary is coming up," Robert said, effectively catching her attention.

"What about it," Pepper asked curiously.

"I really don't want to spend it without you, so I was thinking about flying over to see you?"

Pepper's mouth widened into a smile at that. "Are you serious?" She couldn't believe it.

"Assuming it'd be alright."

The sleep was now completely gone from her body. "Of course it is!"

"Great. I'll be there Friday night."

"Wait," she said, quickly. "Friday? As in tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah," Robert said, as if it was common knowledge. "Our anniversary is this Sunday." He didn't know why, but he hoped Pepper had somehow forgotten just so he could mess with her. Sadly, for him, that wasn't the case.

"I know," Pepper retorted.

"Damn it." He sighed, snapping his fingers at the same time, which caused her to laugh softly.

Now she really did have plans Friday night.