(ducks to miss thrown objects) HA YOU MISSED! .. ok, first off .. im so sorry its taken me so long to post x.X .. my bad, completely .. as soon as I got back from my trip, was dead tired and had a whole bunch of crap to type up, plus a 15 page paper, plus i decided to last minute sign up for a summer PSYC course, which thankfully just ended two days ago .. (huge sigh) .. sooo .. I'm back with another chapter, finally, and it's my longest yet ! .. yaaaaay .
i was actually hoping to add two or three more scenes/events to this before i ended the chapter, but it would have taken even longer and had made it like ... a bunch of more pages longer, i cant count tonight .. haha .. so i decided against, and bring you this new chapter right now !
nothing else, really, so by all means, read on !
A bright beam of light focused itself on Lilly's closed lids. Her sleeping form shifted slightly, trying to escape the light, but to no avail. She squinted her still closed eyes and groaned, the bright light rousing her from her sleep. Lilly rolled onto her back and sighed, groggily opening her eyes and staring up at the ceiling. She had been having an amazing dream, and had just been getting to the good part when that good for nothing beam of light decided to try and dry her retinas through her eyelids.
"Fucking sun," she muttered under her breath as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. No one had ever accused her of being a morning person. Once she felt awake enough to do anything else besides lie there, she sat up and looked about the room.
Lilly was sitting squarely in the middle of a king-sized bed, with the sheets tangled around her ankles at the foot of the bed. The bed was positioned in the middle of a large bedroom with enormous floor to ceiling windows that faced out over the ocean. One of them currently had the curtains partially pulled back, thus letting in the offending sunbeam. Besides the bed, a black bureau, and a few potted plants and decorative paintings, the room was bare. Had Lilly not been in the room, it would have appeared that no one inhabited the room at all. And it was as Lilly looked around, that the memories of the night before came flooding back and she realized where she was.
"Jeez, Tony. Don't go too crazy with the personal touches," she said aloud, rolling her eyes. She brought her knees up to her chest and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she sighed, remembering why she was waking up in Stark's bed instead of her own. She knew nothing happened between the two, from what she could remember. There was a shared kiss, but that was it. Lilly rested her forehead on her knees, her long hair settling around the sides of her face, shielding it from view of the empty room. Stark had needed her last night, and that was why she was here. But he had never told her what the matter was.
Lilly blew out a breath of air she had been holding and detached herself from the sheets, which reluctantly released their grip on her lower calves after a moment of struggling, and padded silently into the master bathroom. She groaned when she caught her reflection in the mirror. She looked haggard. Lilly had ended up sleeping in her clothes the night before, and as a result, they were wrinkled and cockeyed. Her hair was rumpled, but otherwise, not too bad. And thankfully she had taken off her makeup and everything already, so there was so chance of it being smeared across her face. Lilly adjusted her shirt, smoothing it again and again, and then ran her fingers through her hair to brush out the kinks and tangles. She spied Stark's toothpaste on the counter of the sink, and dabbing a little on the tip of her finger, she ran it across her teeth, brushing as best as she could without an actual toothbrush.
Lilly left the bathroom as soon as she was done making herself as presentable as she could and headed for the door to exit the bedroom. However, as she was about to leave the room, she spied a picture frame hanging behind the large fronds of the potted fern by the door. Puzzled, she pushed the fronds away and rescued the picture from its hiding place and brought it out into the open. It was a simple picture of Stark, who appeared to be about 13 or so, with an enormous smile on his young face and an arm around an older man who stood next to him, and whom Lilly recognized to be his father. Stark's father also had his arm around his son's shoulders and was beaming widely into the camera. Lilly smiled faintly to herself as she studied the picture, and saw something in this young boy Stark had once been which Lilly knew no one would ever see again. It was the innocence and care-freeness of a child who idolized his father and had his father's guidance as he grew. Lilly traced a finger down the side of Stark's face in the picture, and then set it up on his bureau where it could be seen. She then turned and opened the door, and stepped into the hallway.
The moment Lilly opened the bedroom door and stepped out onto the landing, she was assaulted with the heavenly scent of cooking eggs and bacon. Her mouth watered at the smell, and she descended the stairs, heading towards the kitchen and origin of the cooking food. Lilly walked into the kitchen and the aroma hit her full force. Stark was standing at the stove, his back to her, as he attended to the cooking pans. He looked showered and was dressed in a simple t shirt and jeans. Seeing him, Lilly wondered how long he had been up before her. Stark buzzed about the stove area, completely unaware of Lilly behind him, until she stepped up flush against his back and wrapped her arms around his middle.
"Good morning, sunshine," she murmured into his ear from her position behind him, kissing him softly on the back of his neck. Stark chuckled and turned around in her grasp.
"Good morning, to you, too," he said and kissed her softly. "You like your eggs scrambled?" Stark asked, turning back to the stove as Lilly released him.
"Yes, sir," she confirmed, and jumped up onto the counter next to the stove, swinging her legs idly as she watched Stark cook. Stark flipped the bacon one last time and glanced at Lilly from the corner of his eye.
"You're looking mighty rumpled this morning, I might add," he said, sounding nonchalant but knowing that it would set Lilly off. Sure enough, Lilly gave him a pointed look.
"Well, considering I spent the night in my clothes and fighting with someone for the covers. You'd look rumpled as well," she said, raising an eyebrow and smirking. Stark didn't look at her as he turned off the stove, moved the pans to cool burners, and stepped up to Lilly, moving her legs aside so he could stand between them. As he stepped up flush against her and the counters, one hand on each of her thighs, he looked into her eyes.
"Oh yea? You weren't the only one fending off a thief last night. Someone here likes to sleep diagonally across the entire bed," he countered, his face completely serious, but his eyes light and playful.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lilly responded, trying in vain to keep a straight face as she denied exactly what she knew she always did. Sleeping diagonally was a terrible habit of hers. Many a person had ended up on the floor because of her strange sleeping habit. The two stared at each other, Stark pulling off an amazing poker face, while Lilly failed miserably.
"You have a terrible poker face," Stark murmured, his eyes flicking down to Lilly's lips. Lilly gave up trying to feign seriousness and cracked a smile, shifting a bit from her seat on the counter.
"I know. My brothers never let me forget it growing up," she said. "There were all these times when they-" Before Lilly could finish, Stark leaned in and captured her lips with his, silencing her effectively from her rambling. Lilly didn't protest and instead gathered two handfuls of Stark's shirt in her hands at his waist, pulling him closer to her. Stark massaged one of her thighs with one hand as his other crept up and wound itself in her hair, deepening the kiss. Just as the kiss was approaching the point of something more as Lilly's fingers began tracing along the waistband of Stark's jeans, there came a startled yelp and a crash from the doorway. Stark and Lilly leapt apart, startled by the sudden sound.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to interrupt, I-I mean, oh … oh jeez!" a tall woman with reddish hair stuttered from the doorway to the kitchen. At her feet, lay a shattered glass vase with the flowers that once inhabited it, lying forlornly in a puddle of water. Lilly blushed so hard, she thought her face would catch fire. Stark had recovered immediately and barely seemed phased by it, so walked over to the woman and bent down to help her clean up the broken vase.
"Hey, Pepper. Don't worry about it. By the way, Pepper Potts, this is Lilly Scott. Lilly, this is my assistant, Pepper," Stark said, introducing the two women, as he rose and fetched some paper towels.
"Hi," Pepper said in an apologetic tone, giving a sort of half wave and clutching a sort of planner to her. Lilly smiled and mouthed "Hi" from her place on the counter as she tried to subtly fan her face, which was still burning. With the vase cleaned up, the three of them stood in silence, Pepper studying her planner, Lilly studying her hands, and Stark looking back and forth between the two.
"All right, now that this is sufficiently awkward…" Stark said finally, breaking the silence and trailing off, indirectly hinting for Pepper to say why she had come in.
"Right!" Pepper exclaimed, opening her planner, snapping to attention, and startling Lilly at the same time so that she almost fell off the counter. "Mr. Stane called twice already and he wants to talk to you about something that seems really important," Pepper recited from her notepad, drawing out her last word. She continued to rattle off a huge list of things that Stark already had on his plate for the day and Lilly found herself overwhelmed with the amount of people and corporations who wanted a piece of him.
"Oh, and one more thing. You realize your annual benefit ball is tonight. Maybe you could show up this year?" Pepper said, trailing off as she snapped her planner shut again. She gave a knowing smile as Stark gave a smug smile in return and turned to Lilly who had zoned out long ago and was currently staring at the ceiling and swinging her legs again.
"And what are your plans for the evening, my dear?" Stark asked sweetly. Lilly stopped swinging her legs, and glanced over at him from the corner of her eye.
"Um, CSI re-runs?" Stark gave her a look.
"Right. You're coming to the benefit tonight with me," he announced, then turned and started to fetch plates and silverware and dole out the breakfast food, which had been forgotten on the stove until this point.
"Benefit?" Lilly asked no one in particular, one eye brow rising in confusion.
"Mr. Stark, well, his company using his name to officiate it, started a foundation a few years ago. So every year, they have a ball where they award a check to a different company that needs it, etc.," Pepper explained. "And ever since the benefit has been started, Mr. Stark has failed to attend or participate in any way," Pepper said, giving a Stark a look as he walked past her to the kitchen table with two plates of food in his hands.
"What?" he asked innocently, as he passed by her. Pepper just rolled her eyes.
"Well, that's everything, Mr. Stark. Please try to remember to call Mr. Stane, though. I'll call you in an hour to make sure you have," Pepper said before leaving the room. Lilly jumped off the counter and stretched her arms high above her head, her shirt rising up over her stomach for a moment.
"Where is she going? Doesn't she want some breakfast?" she asked, walking towards the table when Stark sat down in front of his own plate of food. Lilly joined him at the table, settling across from him, in front of the plate of food he had set for her.
"Nah, she's either already eaten or has plans. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten out of here so fast," Stark said, reassuring Lilly. Lilly nodded in understanding as she speared a piece of scrambled egg and began to munch away contentedly. The two were quiet as they ate, and Lilly's mind went back to the night before, and the reason she was at his house having breakfast in the first place. She frowned as she lost interest in eating the more she thought about it. Stark glance up at her from his own plate and noticed her disinterested look as she stared at her plate, pushing a piece of scrambled egg back and forth across her plate.
"What's wrong?" Stark asked. "My cooking can't be that terrible that you only took three bites of it." Stark joked, smiling crookedly. Lilly smiled down at her plate before looking up at him finally.
"I'm just still wondering about the reason why you called me last night," she said. "You had me really scared there for a while. I've never seen you like that, Tony." Stark held her gaze for a moment, the crooked smile dissipating from his lips, then he dropped his eyes to his plate and halfheartedly stabbed at some egg and bringing it halfway to his lips before giving up and putting down his fork slowly.
"I'm sorry to have scared you, I promise I didn't mean to. But … I was just having a rough night," he said, not meeting her eyes, still. Lilly watched him carefully, not speaking just yet as she studied him.
"But what caused it? What did you mean 'you're not strong enough'? And just what the hell exactly is that thing in your chest? That would sure as hell be a great one to explain to me!" Lilly nearly shouted, her temper immediately flaring, when she saw that Stark wasn't going to offer any more information on his own. Lilly's short temper was something she had been trying her entire life to rein in, but it always seemed to get the best of her. Stark opened his mouth as if to speak, but then he closed it again and made a miniscule shake of his head. There was obviously something he was holding back from Lilly and not telling her, and knowing that, was killing her. She frowned, growing irritated. How could he scare the hell out of her, by calling her to his home in the middle of the night without any explanation, and then when she shows up to find him sitting in the wreckage of his basement, utterly wasted … what is she supposed to do? Just let it go and brush it off as if it never happened? That was obviously what Stark was trying to get her to by not giving her any straight answers.
"Tony? What is going on?" Lilly asked slowly and clearly, her arms crossing over her chest as she sat back in her chair, glaring at him.
"It's nothing, Lilly. Eat your breakfast," Stark muttered, picking up his fork again and spooning scrambled eggs into his mouth with great gusto. Lilly sat there for a few moments longer, simply watching him, both of her eyebrows raised in disbelief at his blatant dismissal of the situation.
"Fine," she said brusquely, and shoved back her chair, earning a loud squawk as it dragged across the floor the wrong way. Stark looked up in surprise and dismay as she rose and headed for the front door.
"Ah come on, Lilly, please!" he exclaimed, throwing down his fork and hurrying after her. Lilly just ignored him and grabbed her keys on her way to the door from where she had left them on the small end table near the door.
"Hey, Lilly, listen to me. You can trust me, it's nothing you need to worry about!" Stark urged as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him, stopping her from leaving the house. "Come on, babe, really," he said, smiling crookedly again as he tried to be reassuring. He tried to cup her chin in his hand, but she just brushed it away. Lilly stared at him, her look telling him that she was in no way buying any of his bullshit.
"Right. Nothing for me to worry about. Tony, there is obviously something going on of great importance, otherwise, you wouldn't have called me in the middle of the night last night, in near tears. There is something that has been stressing you out and keeping you up at night, because I see it written all over your face as clear as day. I can see how tired you are and I want to help you, but you won't even tell me what the matter is!" Lilly exclaimed, distressed. Stark only watched her with a pained expression. Lilly raised her arm and held Stark's face in her hand for a brief moment, running her thumb over his cheek as she stared into his eyes. She finally sighed, though, and dropped her hand and her eyes.
"You call me when you really want to tell me what the hell is going on, Tony," Lilly muttered, walking out the door and making sure to slam it extra hard as she left. Stark sighed after she had gone, and ran a hand down his suddenly very tired looking face. There was no way he could tell her exactly what was going on yet. He knew that she deserved all of the answers, but there was still something holding him back from spilling everything. He wasn't even sure, at this point, what he was doing or what was going on. He was nearly as lost as she.
Lilly slammed her car door behind her as she exited the car and made her way into her building and up to her apartment. She reached her door, angrily unlocked it, and slamming the door behind her, threw her keys and purse onto the table with such force, they slid off the other way and onto the floor. She didn't care and just walked past them into the kitchen. As per routine when she was feeling angry or just had something on her mind, she had a habit of going through her fridge and cupboards, glancing at the food inside and then closing the door, over and over again. After about five cycles of doing this, she felt a little calmer and so closed the fridge door without slamming it and leant back against the counters with a sigh. Lilly stared blankly off into space as she tapped her finger on her chin and thought. Stark's behaviour was odd, to say the least, and she wasn't sure what had brought it on. Not to mention, it definitely did not make her worry any less about his situation.
As she stood and thought, her apartment phone began to ring. Lilly didn't move to answer it, but instead stood where she was in the same position, and stared at the mounted wall phone from the corner of her eye, almost as if it were a snake about to attack. Finally, the rings stopped and Lilly's voice on the answering machine filled the apartment.
"Hey, this is Lilly, I'm not home right now, but just leave a message and I'll get back to you eventually! BEEP"
"Hey, Lilly, um, it's Tony," came Stark's voice from the other line. Lilly groaned and rolled her eyes, finally leaving her position. She padded through her apartment to her room, listening to the machine gather the rest of the message. "Look, I'm kinda going through a lot here, and it's making me a bit stressed, which is what the call was about last night. I didn't want to worry you or anything, but that's all it is. I know you want more of an answer, but for the time being, that's really all I can tell you. I don't like secrets, and I know you don't either, babe, but just trust me on this: it'll be ok and I'll tell you soon. Um, I love you. Call me back?"
Lilly stood leaning against her bedroom doorway, staring out at the answering machine as Stark's message ended, a bath towel held loosely in her hands. She frowned at the contents of the message, a little upset that Stark hadn't said anything before about him being really busy or stressed about something. It worried her that he wasn't confiding in her 100 like she thought he had been. With a sigh, she brushed the uncomfortable feeling away and turned back into her room. And just as Lilly was about to close the bathroom door in order to shower, she heard her cell phone begin to ring. She groaned out of frustration and almost thought about letting it go, thinking it might have been Stark again, but her cell phone was her number one means of communication with work so it could potentially be important. Lilly left the bathroom, tossed the towel onto her bed, and narrowly avoided dropping it onto her two cats who were curled around each other in the center of it. She swooped up her phone from where it had escaped from her purse which was still on the floor, and glanced at the caller ID.
"Hey there, Rose," she answered, flipping open the phone, and greeting her friend on the other line.
"Good morning! I was wondering if you wanted to go out for lunch in about an hour or so?" Rose asked.
"Sure, I'd love to," Lilly agreed, quickly. She really needed something to get her mind off the present situation, and Rose was perfect. The two friends worked out their plans and then said goodbye for the time being. Lilly dropped her phone back onto her purse on the floor, not really caring to pick it up at all, then made her way back to her room to finish taking her shower and getting ready for her lunch date with Rose.
Lilly ended up hanging out with Rose for almost 5 hours, as the friends sat at the restaurant and ate and chatted, then walked around some shops, and finally settled down at a small café to talk some more. Lilly opened up to her friend about her worries concerning Stark and his behaviour lately, about how she was a little worried about him, but also a little angry that he wouldn't tell her exactly what was going on. Of course, Lilly left out the part about the glowing orb resting in the middle of his chest. That one, she wasn't ready to break to her friend just yet. Rose listened sympathetically and dished out advice as best as she could, to just let Stark have some breathing room for a little and not to pressure him too much. Lilly returned to her apartment in a much better mood. She dropped her purse on the end table and walked into the kitchen, following the sound of her beeping answering machine. From the number of times the light blinked, she saw that she had 4 messages, 1 of them she already knew was from Stark. She pressed the play button on the machine and went to fetch the cat food to feed her hungry kittens who had wandered into the kitchen, looking for food.
The first message was Stark's, which she had already heard, so she just deleted it and moved onto the next one. The second was a telemarketer, the third was her car insurance company, and the fourth was Stark again.
"Hey, Lilly, it's me. I know you're probably still a little mad at me, but I still want you to come out to the benefit with me tonight. You can't just leave me to fend for myself against the foundation brigade. Sooo, you'd better be ready when I come pick you up around 8! Love you, babe." Lilly groaned and glanced over at the clock, which read 6 o'clock. True, her mood had lifted after being out with Rose, but she was still irritated with Stark and wasn't sure that she was up for being out in the public eye with him. She leaned against the counter as she considered calling Stark and cancelling, but as much as didn't want to really be around him for the moment, she also wasn't willing to ditch him. Lilly sighed, seeing no way out of it. An insistent meow tore her away from her thoughts, and she looked down. Tabitha and Figaro sat at her feet, staring up impatiently at the container of food Lilly still held in her hand. Figaro stood up on his hind legs and put his front paws up on her leg, reaching out with one paw. He meowed again as if to say "Come on, we're hungry!"
"Oops, sorry, kittens. Here you go," she said, apologizing as she poured the cats some food into their food bowls. The cats purred appreciatively and stuck their heads into the bowls even before the stream of food was done leaving the container. Lilly put the cat food away again and decided to get some of her paperwork done before she had to get ready for the benefit in a few hours.
A quarter to 8 finally came around, and Lilly was in her bathroom, pinning back one last piece of hair from her face. She had decided on a simple, floor length black gown with a modest back, but a low enough dip in the front to make up for the modesty. For her hair, she had decided on pinning it up randomly into a mess of curls at the back of her head, letting some fall loose to brush lightly against the nape of her neck. There was one curl, however, that refused to stay in place, and so she had spent the past five minutes attempting to get it to cooperate with her. Finally, she pinned it down successfully, and in a way so that it wasn't sticking out at a random angle like it had been before. Just as she was pulling away from the mirror after the successful pinning, there was a knock at her door. Lilly sighed, glanced at her reflection one more time, and then shut the light off in the bathroom, grabbed her evening purse, and headed to the front door. She whipped it open, stepped out, and slammed it shut again without even glancing at Stark who was standing there, a bit bewildered at first at her suddenness.
"You look beautiful," he murmured, once he had overcome his initial surprise. He brushed a stray curl from the base of Lilly's neck softly as he leaned in and tried to place a kiss there, but Lilly turned away and out of his grasp, heading for the elevator.
"Coming?" she asked brusquely, turning around to ask him the question impatiently and with one eyebrow raised. Stark sighed inwardly but nodded all the same and walked quickly to meet her at the elevator before she could board without him.
The drive to the benefit was practically silent, as Lilly was content staring out the window nearly the entire ride. She had reluctantly let Stark hold her hand after the fifteenth time he had tried to grab it, but other than an unenthusiastic sigh, she didn't deign to acknowledge the action. Stark finally gave up trying to converse with her or even get her to look at him, so then he resigned himself, as well, to staring out the window. Stark's Bentley pulled up to the benefit after what seemed an eternity of awkwardness and silence, and Stark leapt out of the car, eager to be free of the tension he
had inadvertently caused. Lilly took Stark's offered hand to help her out of the car, but dropped it as soon as she was standing.
"Please, will you at least be civil with me while in the public eye like this? I'm not asking much of you, but please?" Stark whispered in Lilly's ear as he gripped her elbow, keeping her from walking away from him. Lilly was silent for a moment, then she turned and looked Stark straight in the eye, her face only inches from his.
"Fine. But don't you dare think that this fixes anything," she whispered back. Stark gave her a small smile, which she didn't return. She did, however, allow him to loop his arm with hers, and lead her down the carpet and past the many paparazzi and reporters. Lilly forced a wide smile as she posed with pictures with Stark, but whenever he glanced at her, he could see the frustration and annoyance in her eyes. Lilly eventually had enough of being Stark's arm candy and practically dragged him into the main building and off the carpet without making it look too obvious that she was leading him. Once inside, Lilly immediately dislodged herself from his arm.
"I'm going to the bar, because I need a drink. Come if you want, but otherwise, you know where to find me," she said, and promptly turned on her heel and disappeared. Stark watched her walk away from him, for what seemed like the thousandth time in a short amount of time. He didn't even try to stop her, but instead turned and grabbed a flute of champagne off a passing tray and started a circulation of the room.
Stark made sure to exchange pleasantries with all the people who mattered; basically, all of those who were donating large sums of money to his foundation. He had made a point of actually showing up this year, so he didn't want to come off as the rude host. He soon found himself wearying of the charade very fast, and was reminded of why he avoided these large, public parties. At one point, Stark found himself trapped talking to a woman who said she was the editor-in-chief to some popular fashion magazine, but for the life of him, Stark couldn't remember what she had told him. All of the people who had introduced themselves to him had started to blend together. As the woman spoke, her voice turned into a steady droning noise as Stark immediately tuned her out, staring intently at her mouth as she spoke. She had gotten some lipstick on one of her front teeth, and the vibrant red colour contrasting against the white of her teeth had him mesmerized.
"Right, Mr. Stark?" the woman questioned, jovially. Stark snapped out of the trance he was in and stared at the woman like she had sprouted a second head.
"Of course," Stark said, not sure at all what she had been talking about, but suddenly overwhelmed with the need to just get away as fast as he could. And so with one motion, he drained the rest of his champagne, turned on his heel, and walked away, leaving the editor-in-chief with a very bewildered expression on her face.
Stark headed straight for the bar and set his empty champagne glass down heavily, leaning on the bar, supporting himself on his forearms. He dropped his head down and closed his eyes, needing a second to clear his thoughts and have a moment of peace.
"Whiskey, please?" he asked the bartender, raising one hand and without even looking up. The bartender filled his drink order quickly, and placed it in his still upraised hand. "Thank you," Stark muttered, standing up and taking a large swig of the drink.
"Honeybunches!" exclaimed a female voice to his right. Stark stiffened then turned, and seeing who it was, swallowed the large sip of whiskey the wrong way, causing him to go into a coughing fit. The woman who had spoken laughed in a grating high-pitched tone and flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder as she cocked her head and looked up at him. Once the coughing subsided, Stark hesitantly looked back at the woman, grimacing when he saw she was still standing there.
"Hello, Mia," Stark said, almost as if the words burnt him to say. Mia pretended to pout.
"You don't look too happy to see me, lovey-kins. Why is that?" she asked in a baby voice as she twirled the end of a lock of her hair. Stark winced at the pet-name and groaned inwardly. His night, and day in general, had officially hit the lowest point possible: his girlfriend was barely speaking to him, he was stuck entertaining people he could barely care less about at the moment, and now his psycho ex-girlfriend was back to torment him.
"I thought you had moved to Hawaii like you said you were going to," Stark said in a strained voice, searching the ballroom frantically, trying to look for a way out. The pout disappeared from Mia's full lips and was replaced with a wide grin, instead.
"No, silly! I was going to, but then I just couldn't bear the thought of being so far away from you, so I decided to stay," she explained, as if it were the simplest thing in the world to understand. "I got a job here in Miami as a fashion assistant!" Stark just stared down at Mia as she spoke, utterly baffled how he had once actually spent time with this annoying clutter of pet-names, overpowering-perfume, and self-tanner. He unconsciously made a look of mild and horrified disgust.
"You know, Tony, it's been way too long since we last spent time together. Don't you miss me?" Mia asked, suddenly very close to Stark. She played with the buttons on his shirt, her body pressed against his and her eyelashes fluttering at him as she smiled prettily, waiting for an answer. Unfortunately, all functions of speech failed Stark at that particular moment, and so nothing came out of his open mouth but a small squeak.
"Can I help you?" Lilly said, suddenly appearing from behind Stark. Mia immediately stepped away from Stark as Lilly stepped closer, wrapping an arm around his waist. Inwardly, Stark heaved a huge sigh of relief.
"Foofy, who's this?" Mia asked in her cutesy voice, her narrow eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. Lilly cocked an eyebrow and cracked a half smile in mild amusement.
"Foofy?" Lilly asked, stressing the word, as she looked up at Stark.
"Lilly, this is Mia, an ex-girlfriend. Mia, this is my girlfriend, Dr. Lilly Scott," Stark stated clearly for both women to hear. Lilly dropped her gaze back down to Mia, standing to her full height and looking down at the small women with a cold glare. Lilly was only slightly above average height at 5'8", but even she dwarfed Mia, who only stood at 5'1". It made the perfect opportunity for intimidation. Mia did her best to return an equally icy glare to Lilly, but it fell short and she soon gave up the effort and resorted to pouting.
"But … but, Tony," Mia whined. Lilly's eyebrows shot up to her hairline at the audacity of this girl, who really was such, since she appeared to be no more than 20. Completely ignoring Mia, Lilly reached over and plucked Stark's drink out of his hand and set it on the bar.
"Let's dance, honey," Lilly stated, looking up at Stark with a forced smile on her face, and only Stark could see how angry she was beneath the fake smile. Without waiting for his response, Lilly grabbed his hand and dragged him away from Mia and the bar, but not without sending one last icy glare in Mia's direction. As Lilly dragged Stark to the dance floor, he couldn't decide who he was more afraid to be alone with at the moment: Mia or Lilly. They reached the dance floor in the middle of a slower song, and so they took their positions close to the center of the dancing throng of people.
"Seriously, Tony? What the hell was that? And honestly, how old is she?" Lilly spat out immediately, unable to contain her frustration any longer. Stark winced and wiggled his fingers one by one in the hand which Lilly held, as she was nearly cutting off his circulation in her anger-fueled death grip.
"She was someone I dated a long time ago when I was still going through my playboy phase, Lilly. I didn't think it necessary that I bring up every 'ex' I've had up to the time I met you," Stark muttered back, his temper finally starting to flare. He was tired of Lilly being angry with him and by this point, the stress had finally gotten to him with so many things going wrong, that he just couldn't hold the anger back any longer.
"Well gee, lovey-kins, I didn't know that you were attracted to 16 year old, bubble-gum teens. However did you end up with boring, old me?" Lilly hissed, strategically stomping on Stark's foot for emphasis. Stark bit back a yelp and limped the next few steps, trying to urge the temporary pain away from his foot. Once his toes had stopped throbbing he glared at Lilly and dipped her a little faster than normal, jerking her to a quick stop right before she would have hit the ground.
"Yes, I'll agree that my taste in women was once questionable. And I've 'ended up' with you because you're probably the greatest thing that's happened to me. Now stop sniping at me," he growled, holding her down in the dip, their faces inches away. Lilly's angry expression dropped away at his words, and when he brought her back up from the dip, she wore a more somber expression and was much more subdued, the fight and fire gone from her. Stark noticed the change in her demeanor and so he just pulled her close to him, his mouth set in a grim line, and swayed with her for the rest of the song in silence, her head resting on his shoulder. As the song came to an end, Stark looked up and spotted Obadiah Stane making his way out the main door. A sudden realization came to him, that he had failed to call Stane that morning like he had promised Pepper, and so now would be an ideal time to catch him to talk for a moment. The song ended and Lilly picked her head up from Stark's shoulder, her eyes a little misty. She gave a small smile and touched the side of Stark's face gently.
"Tony, I-" she started.
"Wait, Lilly, give me two minutes?" Stark said, pressing a finger to her lips, cutting her off before she could finish her thought. Her eyes widened but she listened. "Just let me run and talk to Obadiah. I forgot to call him back earlier." And before anything else could be said, Stark pressed a quick kiss to Lilly's cheek, and walked quickly after Stane. Lilly stood in the center of the dance floor, looking slightly bewildered at the suddenness at Stark's departure. But with a sigh, she trudged back over to the bar and decided to wait for him to return.
Stark caught Stane outside chatting with a reporter as her video man filmed him and many paparazzi stood around, taking pictures. He began to walk up to Stane from behind, planning on simply cutting into the interview and asking him about the call earlier, but what he heard, made him slow and listen first.
"Yes, Stark Industries has really revamped their weapons production line and we're getting them out there faster than ever. New clients every day, so the demand is never lacking!" he exclaimed jovially, chuckling with the reporter. Stark's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion at the words of his colleague.
"Obadiah!" Stark called as he hurried down the last few steps to the same level as Stane, who turned at the sound of his name.
"Tony Stark! I'm a little surprised to see you here. I'd heard that you were still taking a personal leave," Obadiah Stane said, surprise clearly etched across the features of his face as he turned to greet Stark. The two men gripped forearms in meeting, and faced each other to speak, the interview being formerly given, now forgotten.
"What do you mean the weapon production line? I thought we had agreed to shut that all down?" Stark demanded in a low voice, trying to shut out the woman reporter who was leaning closer and closer with her microphone, trying to catch what was passing between the two men. Stark sent a glare towards the reporter and she backed off a bit. Stane sighed and ran a hand over his bald head, looking away from Stark for a moment before answering.
"Tony, we had talked about this. But with your condition and what happened with your kidnapping, you've really been in no condition to run this company, so I've been watching it and making sure-"
"So basically you've taken over the company without even consulting me," Stark stated simply, cutting off Stane before he could figuratively blow anymore smoke up his ass. Stane was silent for a moment, but refused to either confirm or deny Stark's claim.
"Listen, let's talk about this later, hm?" Stane suggested, putting an arm around Stark's shoulders and turning back towards the paparazzi, smiling widely as they flashing of their cameras doubled. A smile failed to reach Stark's face and he brushed Stane's arm off his shoulder and stalked off, too angry to do anything else but march straight back to his Bentley, climb in, and speed away back home.
yaay done !
one note about this chapter: since my story basically follows the plotline of the movie, i realize that the convo between stark and stane at the end isnt exactly about the same thing as it was in the movie .. but it worked out since i didnt have the reporter lady with the pics, blah blah, so i took artistic liberty with it .. IM ALLOWED TO, OK ?! :P
thank you all for sticking through and waiting for my lazy butt to finish another installment .. and dont worry, i will dutifully work on the next and get that cranked out soon, hopefully .
but, you all should know the drill by now .. press that pretty little button down there and tell me what you think !