Most of the characters in this story belong to Marvel Comics and whoever else has current legal ownership of Iron Man at the moment. No infringement on any corporate, business, or individual's rights is intended in any way. This story is not being written for profit, just for enjoyment.
Author's Note: Companion piece to 'Every Picture Tells A Story' where you will find all about Harvey.
Meeting Rhody for the First Time
Pepper tapped her foot impatiently as she stared at the oven intently watching the timer ticking down the seconds until dinner was done.
It was only five o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon, but the dark and stormy conditions outside created the illusion of it being much later in the day. And the mood inside the Stark Mansion was just as gloomy as the outside weather with today marking the anniversary of the deaths of Maria and Howard Stark.
Tony had been hiding out for the last three days in his workshop and even though Pepper had gone out of her way to fix or have brought in Tony's favorite foods, she knew that he had eaten very little. And by his haggard appearance this morning, she suspected that he had not slept much either. She knew that he had started drinking heavily yesterday and she was fairly certain that he had yet to stop. His level of depression was quite high when Happy came to pick him up earlier this afternoon and she knew that Happy had to even help finish dressing him before they could go to the cemetery.
She had either canceled or rescheduled all of his meetings this week based upon Jarvis' recommendation as well as Happy's prior experiences with Tony during this time of the year. Pepper made sure that she had given Happy two bouquets of Maria's favorite flowers to take with Tony just as Jarvis had recommended.
Tony's dark mood had indeed cast a shadow over the mansion this week. And to add to Pepper's own personal stress levels, the end of the week would mark the end of her two month 'trial' period as Tony's PA, and she still hadn't decided whether or not she was going to stay or retreat back to accounting. Working for Tony had had definitely had its ups and downs, but the one thing for sure was there had never been a dull moment for her in the last two months. Pepper had always been the type of person who thrived on challenges and she had found that there was certainly no shortage of challenges for her as Tony's PA. But was the lack of boredom a good enough reason to put up with the tons of stress that went with the PA job? She still wasn't sure.
After the first week of trial and error in type and intensity of manipulations she used to prod and poke Tony with, she had finally managed to get Tony to stay fairly close to his meeting schedule during the weekdays. She had even manipulated him into attending a regular SI Board meeting and had sat next to him during the meeting which Tony had told her was her 'punishment' for her clever manipulation. Her presence there had surprisingly pleased most of the Board members with the exception of just a few of the 'old régime' members as Tony had called them. And of course Mr. Stane, being one of those members, was definitely not happy about her appearance at the meeting. Pepper had actually found the meeting quite interesting and informative as she divided her time between listening to the speakers and acting as Tony tangent monitor as she fought to keep Tony's attention on the meeting.
She had found that the PR part of her new job came easy to her, much to her own surprise. But then again she had always had a knack for seeing things in a positive light. She had decided on her own to start publically documenting Tony's non-weapons related inventions and distribute the information out in the form of SI press releases after talking with Jarvis one afternoon only two weeks after she started working for Tony. She had been impressed and amazed when Jarvis had provided her with the documentation for Tony's inventions in the medical technology field as well as in saltwater reclamation systems. She had no idea that the 'Bomb Boy' invented anything that didn't blow up.
She also found out from Jarvis about Maria Stark's philanthropy foundations and how much Tony had continued to support them both with his own inventions as well as his money, but without drawing any public attention to any of his gifts. Pepper's own passion in life was community service work, and she found herself very impressed with Tony not only carrying on his mother's great work, but doing it somewhat anonymously.
SI's PR department had immediately supported her and helped her with formatting her releases documenting Tony's non-weapons related inventions. Surprisingly, after only just a few days, her press releases seemed to have both generated positive feedback from the media, as well as had a positive effect on SI's stock price. Just yesterday, one of the older, more cantankerous SI board members had called her to personally thank her for her work on those press releases, citing them as the sole reason for the current upward trending of SI's stock prices. And he had politely requested that she continue publishing them.
While working on the press releases, she found that everyone that she had met at SI's Public Relations department had welcomed her with open arms. After a few meetings with the group, she found them to be exceptionally astute and actually fun to be around. The head of the SI Public Relations team, Martin Janus had personally called her less than a week ago to thank her for the great job she was doing as basically damage control and head cheer leader for Tony. At the time, Pepper had remembered back to her first meeting with Mr. Stane and his remark about the PR department's Christmas wish list, and she had suddenly realized that Mr. Janus must now be envisioning her in the form of an early Christmas present for his group; one that he had high hopes on keeping.
The past two months had its share of awkward moments too. Tony had insisted that they take a picture together for her one month anniversary even though she had argued that being his 63rd PA was not official until after her 60 day trial period. But the up side to the much argued about photo shoot, which Tony had insisted be taken in his office at Stark Industries, was seeing Harv Matheson again. Harv was the SI technical photographer for the R&D department, who would sometimes moonlight under duress as a vetted photographer for SI's Public Relations department. Pepper had met Harv when she was first accepted into the SI Junior Executive Program and Harv had been the photographer for the photos of her group. She had talked with Harv after she and Tony had finished their photo shoot, and found Harv to be interesting and quite likable and they had immediately struck up a friendship.
Some of the weekends during the past two months had actually been quiet with Tony hiding out in his workshop, totally engrossed in his projects and as expected, needing pushed and prodded to eat and sleep. And of course there had been several weekends of impromptu parties for Tony at the mansion that had involved lots of drunken revelry for Tony, lots of women in and out of Tony's bed, and a ton of cleanup, both the physical and legal kind for Pepper afterwards. Fortunately SI's PR and Legal departments had come to her rescue after both parties. And of course Pepper had made sure that Tony had received a very large piece of her mind after each party while he was still hung over and at her mercy, making sure he would not ever forget that he was the CEO of Stark Industries and that everyone expected better of him now, his playboy reputation notwithstanding.
But by far the biggest Starkipade that Tony had pulled was after a five day work marathon in his workshop almost three weeks ago. Tony had flown to Baja without telling her, ending up drunken, wallet-less, and beat up in a Mexican jail which had required her to fly to Baja in the middle of the night to post his bail as well as smooth over relations with the local Mexican police chief there. But given his past history before she was his PA complete with videos and pictures as documentation, he could have easily done something far worse than just ending up in a Mexican jail, and for that she was actually grateful. Posting bail and smoothing over ruffled politician's feathers she could handle. Once she got Tony safely back on the SI jet and she was satisfied that he had suffered no permanent damage, she had lectured him until she physically ran out of breath as he gingerly held his head in his hands, occasionally wincing at her words. She had then refused to speak to him for the rest of the flight back home and most of the next day until he actually apologized to her for leaving and not telling her.
During the first three weeks that she held the position of PA, Pepper had seen the press and in particular the paparazzi do their very best to insinuate in both pictorial and written form, that she had somehow 'slept her way to the top' straight out of college as they started to include her personally in their 'stories'. Pepper knew that her family and friends knew better, but those libelous articles had left her feeling both insulted and angry. And she quickly decided to take a proactive stance instead of a reactive one with regards to the press and the paps.
She had quickly and calmly made enough professional contacts within the press that she now personally knew all of the reporter's supervisors by their first names, as well as the owners of the companies they worked for. And she wasn't the least bit shy at making phone calls to these people on a regular basis. Through her new 'contacts' within the media, she had been able to squash most of the articles about her before publication, and had even help spin some of the stories that did make it out into the media about Tony to SI's and Tony's advantage. And within weeks she had kicked enough paparazzi metaphoric ass using SI's legal team to actually now be somewhat feared by the local paps and subsequently given a wide berth by most of them.
It seemed that everyone at SI knew about her 60 day trial as PA now, and they were all doing their best to persuade her to make the position permanent for her with their encouraging telephone calls, lunch and dinner invitations, and even thinly veiled bribes.
One of the Board members, whom she found out from Jarvis was actually single, had sent her three large bouquets of expensive roses with a note both thanking her for her hard work, as well as asking her out on a dinner date. Tony had managed to find the note later in the day when he was looking through her desk presumably for paper clips. He had surprised her by strongly objecting to both the flowers and the dinner invitation, complaining that the Board member was obviously trying to steal Pepper away from him. Seeing the unbelieving look on her face at his jealously-driven outburst, Tony had quickly downplayed his emotional reaction to both the flowers and the note, and swiftly left for his workshop leaving Pepper a little concerned and a lot confused at his actions.
Even Claire had called her on Monday to let her know how good of a job she thought Pepper was doing as Tony's PA, citing the current balanced budget in the R&D department which at SI was truly a rare occurrence. And, as usual, Claire had asked about how her and Tony were getting along, reminding her again how many marriages began as good business relationships. Claire's thinly disguised arranged marriage proposal for her and Tony had now become a running joke between the two of them.
Without a doubt, the biggest downside for her as Tony's PA had been getting use to the death threats and assassination attempts that surrounded Tony when he traveled. Pepper still found it difficult to be at the epicenter of the huge security entourage that protected Tony whenever he traveled away from home. Their first trip overseas together was to France only one week after she had started to work for him. They were attending an international electrical engineering convention when a man with a history of terroristic ties had pulled a pistol on both her and Tony as they were leaving the conference on the second day. To his credit, Tony had quickly responded to the threat and had shielded her from the would-be assassin's bullets in the few seconds before his security team took the man down. Tony had been wearing a bullet proof vest at the time, so he had ended up with only a few bruises. She had miraculously ended up without a scratch as Tony had tightly enveloped her with his body and had even managed to cushion her fall to the concrete floor of the parking garage. And in his usual twisted sense of humor as he gently pulled her up to stand, Tony had told her not to worry because she would now be getting hazard pay for the duration of the conference.
As her adrenaline rush waned following the close call, she had seriously considered whether or not she needed to quit right there on the spot. But running away from trouble wasn't exactly in her nature, so she quickly pulled herself together and carried on just as if nothing had happened as did Tony. When they were in the limo headed for their hotel she had thanked him for saving her life. He then just shrugged his shoulders sadly at her saying nothing in reply, and quickly proceeded to drink his way into a stupor that night. Later that evening, it didn't take much convincing from Happy to get her to wear a SI bullet-proof vest under her business suit when ever they were traveling away from home from then on starting with the third day of that conference.
As she looked at the oven timer for the umpteenth time in the past five minutes, she thought once again about the human puzzle that was Anthony Edward Stark. Tony had consistently both amazed and annoyed her; most of the time within the very same breath. Pepper had never known anyone in her life that she wanted to strangle one minute and hug the next, but that in a nutshell was how she genuinely felt about one Tony Stark. That he was brilliant she had no doubt, and when he was sober, his natural arrogance was tempered with humor, wit, and a genuine warmth. But when he drank, which was far too often, he became a jerk of the highest magnitude.
However, much to her relief, when he drank he had never ever threatened, groped, or humiliated her in public or in private. There had only been a few sexual innuendos that he had directed towards her when he had been totally wasted, but even those were fairly mild in nature. Happy was usually the one who stayed with him when he drank himself into unconsciousness. She had only had to put him to bed by herself one time when he was too drunk to barely walk on his own and Happy had been out of town. She had simply let him fall into his bed fully clothed, rolled him onto his side and propped pillows around him to keep him on his side in case he threw up. She had pulled up a chair next to his bed and had sat up with him the rest of the night; too frightened to sleep fearing that Tony would somehow die on her watch. She was overjoyed when Happy relieved her on 'Drunk Duty' around 6:00AM the next morning. She had never spoken about that night since.
"Ms. Potts" Jarvis announced breaking Pepper out her now dense memory fog "Colonel Rhodes has informed me that his ETA is less than five minutes."
"Thank you Jarvis." She replied looking up at the camera located in the corner of the kitchen.
It seemed that the one bright spot in the day was to be the arrival of Colonel Rhodes. He had been Tony's friend since Tony's first year at MIT and was three years older than Tony. Rhodes had been serving in the US Air Force since he graduated from MIT and was currently deployed to Europe. Jarvis had told her that Colonel Rhodes tried his best to stay with Tony during this time every year, having personally comforted Tony when his parents had been killed. Jarvis had also told her that he had been held up at a meeting in Washington, DC yesterday and was not able to get to Malibu in time to go with Tony to the cemetery this afternoon.
Pepper peaked inside the oven and decided that her dish was done enough to set the oven to the 'keep warm' setting. She had homemade bread loaves rising in one of the other ovens ready to bake when Tony and Happy returned. She feared that Tony was probably too drunk to even want to eat. But she couldn't just stand by and wait without doing something, and she was currently caught up on all of her SI work. She knew that cooking for her was just simply edible stress relief and that Happy, Colonel Rhodes, and she would at least get a good meal out of her therapy for today.
She suddenly heard the large front door of the mansion open and close noisily.
"Colonel Rhodes, sir." Jarvis voice boomed in the front section of the mansion "So good to see you again."
"What's shaking 'J'" Rhodes voiced echoed back to him "How is my favorite major-domo doing these days?"
Pepper had started to walk out of the kitchen towards the front door to greet him when she heard Jarvis' reply.
"Very well indeed, sir." Jarvis responded "Ms. Potts is awaiting your arrival in the kitchen, sir."
"Well, I certainly can't keep the head Tony wrangler waiting, now can I Jarvis?" Rhodes replied laughing loudly.
Suddenly Colonel Rhodes walked briskly into the kitchen his face lighting up with a huge smile when he saw her, one which she immediately returned.
"That would be inadvisable, sir." Jarvis noted. "I have noted that Ms. Potts can be quite demanding when kept waiting."
The word 'demanding' stuck in Pepper's head. Pepper enjoyed teasing Jarvis almost as much as Tony did, and she was constantly amazed at the AI's ability to be so human-like especially in his more 'real' than 'artificial' sense of humor.
Rhodes swiftly stuck out his hand in greeting to her and she met him halfway with her hand outstretched as he shook her hand in a firm motion.
"Colonel Rhodes." She said as they continued to shake hands.
"Ms. Potts." He countered his eyes crinkling ahead of another smile appearing on his face. "Jarvis has told me a lot about you."
"I'm sure he has." She teased looking up at the security camera as they released hands "And I'm fairly certain that most of what he has told you is true."
"Why Ms. Potts," Jarvis countered almost sounding hurt "I am not programmed to present anything other than the facts."
"And just who is it that programmed you, Jarvis?" She countered drawing a hearty laugh out of Colonel Rhodes.
"She's got you there 'J'" Rhodes replied still laughing.
"It seems that Colonel Rhodes agrees with me, Jarvis." She said with a small giggle "And he's known you and Tony a lot longer than I have."
"Please call me Jimmy or Rhodey." Rhodes said smiling broadly at her. "I don't believe in formalities between friends."
"Then please call me Pepper, Jimmy" she replied suddenly feeling the warmth behind his words to her. Her people radar had pinged Rhodey as a good man and one who could be trusted.
"God, it sure smells good in here." Rhodey remarked looking pointedly at the oven "I had what barely passed for a sandwich at the Pentagon for lunch."
"I could serve you up some of my Italian meatloaf ahead of dinner if you'd like, Jimmy." Pepper said moving towards the oven.
Rhodey turned to the counter and immediately spotted homemade brownies on a large platter. "If you wouldn't mind I'll have a couple of brownies and a cup of coffee instead." He said reaching out to pull two large brownies off the top of the pile on the platter "I'd hate to spoil my dinner, you know."
"No, of course you wouldn't." Pepper deadpanned walking over to the cabinet to pull out a cup for him.
"Hey, Pepper" he started quickly moving in front of her and flashing her a quick grin "Don't do that. I can get the cup myself."
"As you wish." Pepper replied walking back to the counter and picking up her cup of tea.
"Would it be OK with you if we sat and talked a bit?" Rhodey asked quietly the smile on his face fading rapidly as he poured himself a large cup of coffee.
She turned to him and smiled. "Sure." She replied politely walking around to sit down one of the stools at the counter which separated the kitchen from the rest of the house. "Is this OK?"
"Great actually." He said with a laugh. "Keeps me close to the brownies, which are delicious by the way."
"Thank you, Jimmy." Pepper said chuckling under her breath "And of course, I wouldn't want you suffering from brownie separation anxiety, now would I?"
Rhodey laughed as they sat down next to each other and he took a long drink of his black coffee washing down the entire brownie that he had just stuffed into his mouth.
"I know you don't know me at all, but you will find that I don't like beating around the bush when it comes to Tony." He started turning his head to look directly into her eyes, his own eyes now serious. "I've been talking to Tony off and on the past two days, and I know that something other than Howard's and Maria's deaths is weighing my little brother down."
The silence stretched out between them now as Pepper waited for him to continue.
"So I hit Jarvis up for some intel, and he told me that this might be your last week as Tony's PA and that you might be retreating back to SI's accounting group." He continued his eyes still locked with hers. "I mean I know Tony's a handful to babysit and all, but from what I've been able to pry out of the little twerp, he likes you and he thinks you're doing a great job as PA. And what's more important is that he trusts you. And Tony doesn't give his trust lightly to anyone. Both Jarvis and even Hap say that you have somehow managed to get a handle on both your job duties as well as Tony, which I know from personal past experience is not easy to do at all."
Pepper looked down at her tea cup in thought. "Yes, the end of my 60 day trial period as Tony's PA is up at the end of this week." She began after taking a long sip of her hot tea. "But I still haven't made up my mind what I intend to do with regards to staying as Tony's PA or retreating back to accounting."
"I'm going to be frank with you here, Pepper." He said sitting his coffee cup down on the counter with a loud clank. "You've been around Tony long enough to know that he is scarily smart when it comes to inventing, but painfully stupid when it comes to taking care of his public or personal business and more importantly his own health. And from what I personally know about the Stark family, both his dad and granddad were functional alcoholics and it appears that Tony hasn't fallen far enough from the Stark family tree to avoid those addiction genes. I mean the kid started drinking scotch and hitting the brothels when he was 15 for crying out loud thanks to good 'ole Obie who had realized early on that it's much easier to control a drunk, man-whore than it is a genius."
Pepper looked up and met Rhodey's eyes at the mention of Obadiah. She saw bitterness mixed with sadness deep within Rhodey's dark brown eyes. She had her suspicions about Obadiah's motives when it came to Tony the first time she he had met with Obadiah in his office nearly two months ago. And Rhodey had just confirmed her feelings of mistrust in Stane.
"And unless something changes with Tony, I doubt very seriously that he will live to see his 40th birthday, maybe not even his 30th at the rate he's going." He said sadly. "Tony doesn't need a babysitter as much as he needs a partner that he can trust who will have his back against the Board and Obie. Someone who is as smart as him and who isn't afraid to tell him when he's screwing up. And he really needs someone who is just as stubborn as he is, who can keep him on track and focused on doing positive things with that brilliant brain of his instead of killing his brain cells one at a time in a glass of scotch. I hate to sound corny here Pepper, but the brat needs a good woman in his life, and I get the feeling that you're it."
Pepper immediately felt the heat rise in her cheeks, and she was not at all certain how exactly to take his last words. She thought carefully for a few seconds before she spoke. "If I didn't know better, I would think that you are negotiating the terms of an arranged marriage, Colonel Rhodes."
Rhodey shook his head sadly. "I didn't mean to piss you off, Ms. Potts, but I love Tony like a brother and I can't help but want what's best for him. Being in the Air Force and deployed overseas right now, I don't get to spend a lot of time with him anymore, and I constantly worry about him falling off the cliff in the back of the mansion stumbling drunk one night alone."
Pepper was silent at his words, suddenly understanding Rhodey's true meaning behind his words. Her anger bubble burst quickly. She knew that Tony was lucky to have such a friend as Rhodey.
"What do you say we go back to 'Pepper' and 'Jimmy' again?" Pepper suggested with a small smile which Rhodey quickly matched. "I guess I'm still just a little sensitive when it comes to my professional relationship with Tony. I do understand your concerns about Tony, but you have to understand my concerns also."
The smile left Rhody's face immediately at her words and his eyes became dark and pleading. "I do understand your concerns Pepper. I've been Tony's friend and keeper for almost 10 years now. I know it's going to be hard on you, and most of the time you won't know whether you want to kill him or kiss him. And I know the press surrounding you and Tony is gonna suck big time all the time and that your private life will pretty much cease to exist now that you're his PA. But I'm asking you as Tony's friend to please consider keeping the PA job. He really needs someone like you in his life. And since Tony has never had a serious romantic relationship in his life, maybe we could just call it an arranged friendship instead of an arranged marriage." he said with a sly smile. "What do you say, Pepper?"
"I will take your words into consideration when I make my decision, Jimmy." She replied somberly "That's the best I can offer you at the moment."
"Fair enough, Pepper." He said reaching out to shake her hand. "And, thanks."
Pepper smiled at him as they shook hands in silence.
"Excuse the interruption, Ms. Potts and Colonel Rhodes" Jarvis said loudly "But Mr. Hogan has just called in to report that they are about 5 minutes away from the mansion.
"Did Happy say whether or not Tony was conscious?" Rhodey asked quietly, obviously very concerned.
"He did mention that Mr. Stark was still actively engaging in conversation with him, which considering their past trips to the cemetery is actually quite remarkable." Jarvis reported.
Rhodey turned to Pepper and a huge smile broke out on his face. "See" he said with a relieved laugh "I told you that you were a good influence on him."
"Actually Ms. Potts did promise to fix his favorite meal for him when he returned from the cemetery." Jarvis inserted quickly.
Rhodey's smile broadened and Pepper couldn't help but smile back at him.
"A little bribery Pepper?" he said teasingly.
"I would never resort to bribery in order to get someone to do my bidding." She teased back "But then again, I suppose it was just dumb luck that I fixed double dark brownies with pecans today, not that I would have any knowledge that those brownies are a particular Air Force Colonel's favorite dessert or anything like that."
"I am starting to like you, Pepper." Rhodey said with a laugh reaching out quickly to swipe another brownie off the top of the platter.
"As I told Mr. Stark the first morning that Ms. Potts reported for work at the mansion; she is quite likeable, sir." Jarvis broke into their conversation making both Rhodey and Pepper laugh out loud at the same time.
"Why Jarvis" she responded trying her best to stop laughing "thank you so much for your kind support."
"Always my pleasure, Ms. Potts." The AI replied graciously.
"So, do I help set the table for dinner as payback for my bribe, Pepper?" Rhody teased as he walked towards the cabinet containing plates.
"You're going to have to do more than just set the table for those brownies, Jimmy." She scolded mockingly. "You will also need to help clear the table and wash dishes too, mister."
"I don't know, Pepper. That's an awful lot of work." He said pitching his voice into a somewhat familiar whine, and then bursting out in a howl of laughter.
"Yeah, but those are awfully good brownies, Jimmy." She countered with a chuckle walking over to turn on the oven for the bread.
"Hey, Jarvis!" Rhodey called out a little breathless from laughing so much "Tony doesn't stand a chance against Ms. Potts, now does he?"
"I'm afraid not, Colonel Rhodes." Jarvis replied somberly sending Rhodey off into another fit of laughter.
Within minutes, Pepper noticed that the elevator door had closed. "Mr. Stark and Mr. Hogan have arrived." Jarvis announced.
With the table set, she and Rhodey moved back into the kitchen. Rhodey pulled the large bowl of salad out of the commercial refrigerator and sat the bowl on the counter as Pepper pulled the baked bread out of the oven.
Within minutes the elevator doors opened and Tony and Happy walked slowly out into the living area towards the kitchen. Pepper noticed that Tony was carrying a huge bouquet of flowers containing white chrysanthemums, yellow daffodils, and purple hyacinths which she immediately recognized as an apology bouquet. She also noticed that Tony's hair was in disarray and his tie had vanished somewhere, and she suddenly hoped that he had only gone to the cemetery and not somewhere else and gotten in trouble, although she knew that either Jarvis or Happy would have let her know if Tony had veered off course today.
Tony walked over to where she was standing and held the flowers out to her almost shyly. "I know I've been a bigger prick than usual for the past three days…..and … I'm sorry." His bourbon eyes pleaded with her blue ones over the bouquet.
"I forgive you, Tony." She replied not knowing what else to say, taking the flowers gingerly from his hands. "And thank you for the beautiful flowers." She said pulling them to her chest and inhaling their fresh scent.
"Hey, what about me, little brother. What'd you bring me, Starkster?" Rhodey said loudly, obviously attempting to break the awkward silence which had suddenly settled over all of them at the totally unexpected sight of Tony actually sincerely apologizing to someone.
Tony immediately turned and pulled Rhodey into a hug, quickly leaning in to kiss him square in the middle of his forehead, catching Rhodey completely off guard. "A big kiss, platypus!" Tony replied laughing as Rhodey quickly ducked away from him poking him in the ribs as he did.
Pepper actually laughed at Rhodey's embarrassment as she walked back into the kitchen with her bouquet, wanting to put the beautiful flowers into water as quickly as she could. She was still somewhat in shock over Tony's gesture towards her, especially the part where he had apologized in front of both Happy and Rhodey. She knew that she was going to have to pry the circumstances surrounding their trip to the florist for her bouquet out of Happy later.
"Just for that, I am so going to beat your scrawny ass at Halo after dinner." Rhodey said punching Tony soundly in the shoulder, knocking Tony off balance.
That Rhodey was able to so easily knock Tony off balance was proof that Tony had basically been starving himself for most of the week. For his height, Tony was well-muscled and toned, and not easily hurt which was definitely a plus since he basically created explosions for a living. Pepper quickly glanced over at Happy, silently enlisting his help.
"Speaking of dinner….when do we eat…I'm starving?!" Happy interrupted catching Pepper's glance and peering into the kitchen expectantly as Pepper pulled down a large flower vase from one of the cabinets, quickly placing her bouquet inside it after filling it full of water first.
"Then get your butts in here to help." She called out to all of them as she placed the large vase on the counter next to the brownies and the large homemade pecan and apple pies that she had baked earlier in the day after finding out from Jarvis that they were Tony's favorites.
"Pepper," Happy said walking into the kitchen, "what do you want me to do?"
"You can pull the meat loaf pan out of the oven and set it on the hot pads on the counter next to the salad." She told Happy and then looked expectantly at Tony and Rhodey who were looking at her curiously "Hey, you two can help too, you know." She gently fussed at the two men who quickly walked into the kitchen.
Tony immediately walked over to the other oven pulling it open after grabbing some oven mitts from the counter and pulled out what he knew was eggplant parmesan another one of his favorites. Pepper watched him out of the corner of her eye as he leaned over to smell the dish, a small smile forming on his face. Pepper smiled to herself realizing that maybe her own therapy was having a therapeutic effect on Tony as well. She suddenly felt warm and happy inside.
The meal went well with all of the guys having seconds and even thirds on the meat loaf completely emptying the large pan in the process. She found herself making a mental note to up the quantities for the next time she prepared the dish for them, and then quickly realized that if she retreated back to accounting, she would never prepare such a meal for them ever again. She shoved the thought way back in her head for the time being, and just concentrated on enjoying the meal and the company.
During dinner, Rhodey had told them all stories about the hilarious antics of fellow officers and commanders in Europe. Pepper had contributed a few stories about her own rambunctious roommates in college. Happy told some really funny stories about some of the other boxers he trained with and fought against. They all ate and laughed until they were full and happily satisfied. The pies and the rest of the brownies became past history quickly leaving only crumbs which she realized quickly that Happy was none to proud pick out of the pie pans. Pepper noticed that Tony didn't say a lot during the meal, but he did seem to enjoy the company and had even laughed at some of the stories they told. It seemed to Pepper that Tony's mood seemed to brighten more as their meal went on.
With a loud, contented sigh, Rhodey suddenly pushed away from the table stacking his dishes in a pile and picking them up. "The meal was absolutely amazing, Pepper! Thank you so much for cooking for us. You make one hell of a meatloaf, girlfriend! My sisters would kill for that recipe. Oh, and in return for my brownie bribe, Ms. Potts, it will now be my distinct pleasure to wash dishes for you, ma'am." He teased as he took his plates obligingly to the sink and began washing his plates off in the sink, then placing his plates neatly in the dishwasher. He then pulled the empty casserole plates off of the counter and began scrubbing them in one basin of the huge double sink after rolling his uniform sleeves up first.
Happy immediately stood up gathering his plates also. Pepper noticed that Happy motioned towards Tony as if asking him if he could take his plates too, and she saw Tony wave him off as he stood up and collected not only his own plates, but he picked up Pepper's plates as well.
"Allow me, Ms. Potts." He said quietly to her as she smiled up at him. "And thank you for the eggplant parmesan. It was delicious."
"You're welcome, Mr. Stark." She replied as he cracked a small smile back at her.
Tony joined Rhodey at the sink and began to rinse off all the dishes handing them to over to Happy who quickly loaded the dishwasher. Within just a few minutes they were all done.
"Halo time, Dudes….and Dudette!" Rhodey announced happily as he put away the last of the pans in the cabinet.
Pepper remembered that Jarvis had told her that Tony and Rhodey had a tradition of playing video games until they both passed out after they returned from the cemetery. Pepper hesitated to join them and Rhodey quickly noticed, walking up to her, and taking her by the arm gently.
"Come on Pepper." He pleaded with her quietly. "Stay with us for just a little while. It'll be fun, I promise."
"OK, OK!" she replied as he smiled broadly at her. "Maybe for an hour or so."
"Good." Rhodey said grabbing her by the hand and pulling her over to the elevator to join Tony and Happy for the trip down to the workshop where the big screen was set up.
One hour quickly turned to two, then three. Pepper had played Halo at UCLA with her roommates and she was fairly good at the game quickly managing to keep up with the guys. She soon found herself joining in with them as they verbally harassed each other with their continuous commentaries on each other's gaming skills.
In to their fourth hour of gaming, Happy mentioned that he was getting hungry again, so Tony had Jarvis order them all pizza and surprisingly no alcohol around 10:00 PM. Once the pizza arrived they ate pizza until they were all stuffed as they continued to battle each other in the video game.
Pepper found that she was very comfortable being around Happy, Tony, and Rhodey tonight, and that she actually was having a lot of fun with them. She knew that Rhodey and Happy each had three sisters, and it was apparently quite easy for each of them to treat her like just another sister; like a member of their own special 'extended' family of sorts. For her it felt like she was back home again with her brother and his friends for one of their famous 'game nights' during high school; nights that she didn't realize until tonight that she had missed so much when she had moved away from home. And seeing yet another side of her boss tonight, she could understand a little more now why both Rhodey and Happy treated Tony like a younger brother; well actually a younger, really annoying brother.
By 1:00AM Tony was passed out on the couch sound asleep, controller in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other. Pepper was sitting in chair off to the side of the couch and was starting to find herself nodding off to sleep from time to time. It had been a long day for all of them.
Rhodey looked over at Pepper and motioned her over to where he was standing next to Happy in front of an open supply closet holding a blanket and pillow in his hands. "I'm going to put Boy Wonder to bed right there on the couch." He told her quietly. "And before you deny it, I saw you falling asleep in your chair. So me and Happy here are asking you to stay over tonight so we won't have to worry about you getting home safe."
Pepper opened her mouth to protest when Rhodey help up his hand in protest.
"Look, Pepper" he said with a evil grin "Jarvis has already dished on you using one of the guest bedrooms, you know the one that happens to be as physically far from Tony's bedroom as possible here in the mansion, to sleep in when you have to stay here all night."
Pepper tiredly shrugged her shoulders in defeat at him. "Yeah, I am pretty sleepy." She admitted offering him a tired smile and a yawn in response. "It's been a long day."
"Good." Rhodey replied now satisfied with her answer. "You go on up to bed. I'm going to sleep on the other couch down here with the Starkster, so I will keep an eye on him for the rest of the night."
"And I'll be crashed in my office." Happy added placing a hand over his mouth trying his best to cover up a big yawn.
Pepper started to turn away from them so she could walk to the elevator when Rhodey's hand reached out and gently encircled her wrist. "And Pepper….thanks." he said sincerely.
She nodded and gave him a tired smile as she walked towards the elevator.
"And Pepper" Rhodey whispered towards her retreating form "I'm cooking breakfast for all of us tomorrow. And you haven't lived until you've had one of my special breakfast omelets."
"I can't wait." Pepper said trying her best to hide a big yawn and smile at the same time. "See you in the morning."
As the elevator slowly traveled up to the mansion's third level, Pepper reflected on the events of the past 24 hours. She had to acknowledge to herself that she was starting to feel right at home both in the Mansion here and in her position as Tony's PA. After meeting Rhodey tonight, enjoying dinner together, and being accepted into the 'fold' for the Halo marathon, she had felt happy, really happy.
And in the past two months, she had come to realize that as Tony's PA she could actually make a positive difference in both her professional life and in the Stark Industries business world. And of course one thing was for certain: she would never, ever have a boring day at work.
She knew that it was her weariness driving her mind in such directions at the moment, but she finally had to admit to herself that in spite of all the Tony Stark BS and attitude, she was actually beginning to find something quite likable about Mr. Anthony Edward Stark. And right now she wasn't sure if she should be terrified or thrilled at such a thought even being inside her head.
As she walked into her guest bedroom that she used when she stayed overnight at the mansion, she was automatically drawn to the windows and she stood there gazing out at the black moonless skies that merged seamlessly with the dark, moving water below. Suddenly a large shooting star appeared in the sky, trailing blue fire in its fall from the heavens. Pepper sighed, happy to have seen the falling star and knowing from her childhood that it was an omen of good fortune. As she continued to stare out at the ocean, she was enveloped in a feeling of peace and belonging as she thought back again on the events of the last 24 hours. And in that quiet moment of reflection, she suddenly made up her mind: Claire had been right, Pepper would not be returning to SI accounting.