Fall Out

Chapter Thirteen: What is Wanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing…

Author Notes: Trying to put in a bit of a villain in this. Flashbacks are in italics.

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Why could she cheat and he couldn't? He just couldn't bring himself to. Paul Redlins shoved his hands mercilessly through his blonde hair… his wife was perfect, looked just like her. Blue eyes, red hair even if it was dyed. But in the end she never was her, that beautiful creature next door and so, she had to die.

He stood there for the longest time and watched her burn, she had been asleep at the time when he had simply dropped the match on her hair. He felt a strange sense of satisfaction swell within him as the fake color burned. She never would have cheated on him. She was perfect, she was all that he wanted since that day he saw her.

She had box after box of shoes being brought into the apartment next to his, his new neighbor he decided then must be very vain and worldly. Materialistic too. And then he saw her, strawberry blonde hair, vivid blue gaze and strong legs because of the shoes she wore. He liked how they made her look dangerous, it excited him in ways his mother had once told him was wrong. But it felt so good, so very, very good.

He watched her every chance he got, leaving at five am and returning at ungodly hours at night. What did she do? Who was she? What was her name? He liked the freckles that dotted across her nose making her girlish in a way, he liked the sharp clothes she wore that made her look so very smart.

And then one day he found out. He was knocking frantically on her door, shouting her name. Pepper, interesting name and yet it fit, suited her well. He knew who the man was, but who was he to her this ego driven man, Tony Stark.

The conversation between the two was short when she opened her door looking frayed at the edges. He was her boss nothing more, and yet Paul could sense an energy between them that begged to be much more then employee and employer, something beyond a friendship as well. What he wanted to have with her.

Tony Stark could rot in hell for making his Pepper so tired. Paul dreamed often of her coming to him for comfort due to the hell her handsome uncaring fool of a boss put her through. He wondered if he said her name in his sleep, probably so.

And then one day he found the woman that became his wife, almost a carbon copy, even if she dyed her mousy brown hair. They fell in love, but she had habits that better suited Stark than him. Pepper she was not in the end, but still he could pretend very easily that she was and did so for six very hard years.



He watched as Stark lead away his only love, his true love towards his fancy sports car. Maybe he'd set fire to that too. And anything else Stark owned… even the man himself. But no, no he couldn't do that, it would upset Pepper, she didn't need that again.

He watched them drive off until he could no longer see anything of the car and then slowly made his way down the sidewalk, away from the now smoldering building, and flashing lights. He was pleased with himself even if he would get caught, but it would take some time, hopefully enough time.

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Pepper couldn't sleep, she tossed, she turned… but sleep? No chance. Finally she gave up, shifted into a pair of pajama bottoms and made her way to the kitchen hoping that the pint of Chunky Monkey she hid a week ago was still present.

Stopping just short of the breakfast nook, Pepper frowned seeing that it obviously wasn't going to be for very long, "What are you doing up?" Her voice took on that almost always present demanding tone.

Tony almost dropped the spoon that he was so luxuriously licking clean and gave one of his signature boyish smirks, "Eating the Chunky Monkey that mysteriously appeared in my freezer a week ago. " He gave the spoon one last lick and sent the now empty pint into the trash, "Point for me and for you as well Miss Potts for having such good taste in cheap desserts."

"You owe me a pint." She eyed him and then quickly added, " Of ice cream. I'm going back to bed." She turned and then was stopped by his hand gently on her elbow.

"Pepper, we really need to talk."

The sorrow in his voice made her pause, she turned slowly disengaging her elbow from his fingers and met his gaze, a very serious gaze at that. She had seen this look once before when she had almost quite on him that one fatal evening, "Fine."

He leaned back against the counter and studied her a moment, now that she had agreed to talk he didn't know what to say or what not to say. For once Tony Stark was at a loss for words and then slowly he decided to say the only thing he could think of at the moment, "I'm sorry."

She said nothing in reply, she merely arched a well trimmed brow, crossed her arms and waited for more knowing it would come, that he would sooner or later say what he really meant to say.

A look of frustration passed over Tony's face, he had to do this. No, he needed to do this, to make things right between them, make things normal again. He just wasn't sure how to do it and he really didn't want to screw it up, "I'm sorry that I do stupid things. That I don't think things through, things other than equations and mechanics." There, this wasn't so hard, right?, "The other morning… I didn't mean for that to happen. I was under a lot of stress with everything that happened. And I…"

He stopped, she didn't blame him… for some reason they both knew that right now she couldn't forgive him completely, it would be an endless work of progress. Pepper sighed and shook her head, "I know. All this I know." And it wasn't what she wanted to hear, "I think I'll get started on your schedule for today since I'm up."

This time he let her leave the room and once she was gone he went down stairs, down into the place where nothing else mattered, where he could think and find some solace. And things to keep his mind occupied.

"Jarvis?"

"Sir?"

"Music. Something loud and put it as loud as it will go." Tony practically growled at the AI, but mostly he was growling at himself. Why, why did he let her get away with making him feel so small at times? It was unnerving and he hated it. Why couldn't he make her feel like that for once?

Finally music filled the air, he wasn't sure what it was but it was loud, loud enough that the few pictures on the wall moved slightly. Good. Perfect. With that he poured himself into tinkering with the Hot Rod. He was going to take the engine block apart again; he had put a valve in wrong.

After that Pepper had gone into her room and slipped into something of her usual work attire and then headed for her office and the mass of emails waiting, but soon it became apparent that she couldn't even concentrate on answering a few simple emails. That music was far too loud. She did her very best to block it out, but it didn't work. She knew he only played music at such a volume and intensity when something was wrong.

After ten minutes of Bach in her ears still not drowning out or at least lowering the booming metal music into a mild roar, Pepper proceeded downstairs in a very annoyed fashion, the click of her stiletto heels making her current mood obvious.

Tony smirked, even if it took longer than he had expected it had worked. She was coming down, even if she was undoubtedly annoyed, still she was coming down like old times to turn off his music and in turn annoy him. He waited and sure enough, silence was in place.

"Must you do that?"

"Yes." She walked into the shop and looked around, somewhat surprised he wasn't working on the suit.

It wasn't the answer he was looking for, well it wasn't the tone he was looking for. He had to do something about that, "Hm." He said nothing else, just that sound and then he grinned, second thought, "Jarvis. Music."

"Certainly, Si—"

" Jarvis. Ignore any further commands regarding music from Mr. Stark." Pepper folded her arms. What was this man up to?

"Yes, Miss Potts."



"Excuse me?" Tony felt a little ganged up on, it was to say the least unnerving, "Jarvis. Ignore any further commands from Miss Potts unless I say otherwise." Ha, he'd show her. He gave her a smirk.

" You are the boss, Sir."

Pepper glared back and then shook her head, "At least keep it at a slightly lower volume. I cannot hear myself think up there." She turned to leave, her stiletto heels already clicking on the stairs…

"Pepper, I need you..." He grumbled inwardly at himself, "uh… to… why don't you stay down here, keep me company?"

She paused, and turned, what was he trying to say? Why couldn't he just say it? She knew what it was, well she had a pretty good idea anyways or at least she thought so… problem was she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear it, if she could. Her mind flashed to that night on the roof, and to moments more recent. Why couldn't she let go? She knew why, they were good reasons, "No music?"

He sighed, watching her eyes narrowed in that sort of way that made him feel like he was in trouble in school again, "Fine."

An hour later and Tony was regretting having her down in the shop, it was too quiet, except for that constant clicking sound her laptop made as she typed faster than his eyes could keep up with. What was she doing anyways? She had announced fifteen minutes ago that his emails were caught up, so what could she be doing now? His curiosity drove him until he was standing right behind her, practically leering over her shoulder.

Pepper felt his presence like a shock to her system, his breath was tickling her ear, but she did her best to ignore it. It wasn't easy. Finally she couldn't take anymore and scooted to one side, "Do you need something Mr. Stark?"

He wished she'd stop doing that, moving away as if him being near her was more than she could handle, "No. Just wondering what all the typing is about."

"I'm currently working out the details of your latest charitable endeavor by means of Instant Messaging."

"Oh. " He blinked, cocking his head to one side, trying to read over her shoulder, "Which endeavor would that be?"

She never stopped typing as they spoke, she had the multi-tasking thing down in spades, "The one you recently started up, for the refugees of terrorist attacks in the Middle East."

He nodded," Ah. That one. I see the word event there, what sort of event?"

Setting her laptop to the side, Pepper turned on the black sofa and came eye to eye with her overly curious boss, "Well so far a silent auction and a gala has been put into works." Her nose scrunched ever so slightly, "Since when did you become so interested in me doing your work?"



That stung, but he wouldn't admit it, "Remember, I am a changed man now." He smiled, it was one of those smiles that would make most women melt, but he knew not her.

"Right. I had almost forgotten." Her tone was flat, unimpressed as she picked up her laptop again and went back to work like he wasn't still standing right behind her.

He took a step back a moment, rocked a little on his feet and then leaned forward again, his hands resting on either side of her narrow shoulders knowing it would make her uncomfortable, but he was tired of being the only one who felt that way, "Are you going?"

That crease of annoyance slowly began to form between Pepper's eyebrows, "Yes."

"Good. Me too… we should go together." He leaned forward a little more, turning his head so he could see her and visa versa, "Might be fun." His brows wiggled playfully.

"We'll see." And then she went back to ignoring him, showing much self restraint on her part.

"That's it." His patience once again flew out the window as he reached over and forced her laptop to close, almost catching her delicately long fingers in the process, "I'm tired of the cold shoulder Ice Queen act."

Pepper threw her laptop to one side, stood and faced him, blue eyes afire, "I'm trying to stay professional here."

His brown stare took ablaze as well, and he stood matching her height only because of those silly shoes of hers, "Bull. Shit."

"Excuse me?" Her eyes went wide, lips falling open in amazement that he had the guts to say what he just did.

"You my dear Miss Potts are being evasive, cold and deliberately unfriendly." He hated that the couch was between them, "I think the more accurate term would be bitch."

She went to say something and then stopped. He was right. Damn him to hell, he was right, "What do you want from me?" She threw her hands up.

"I want you…"Damn sofa, "back." His eyes softened, "I know what I did was wrong, I also know I'm an impatient bastard who won't leave you alone and give you space. "

"You've got that right." She glared, then sighed, "Mr.—Tony, it's only been roughly thirty six hours since the other morning."

"So?"

"So?" Pepper shook her head, "I know you didn't mean to do what you did, but a part of you did. Drunk or not it was still you and… it scared me."



He had nothing to say to that. Instead he picked her laptop up from the sofa and held it out to her, "I'm going to take one of my bikes out for a ride. I'll back in a while. Order some Chinese or something for dinner."

Slowly she reached out and took her laptop from him, she never stopped looking him in the eyes as she did so, they were literally the windows to his soul, his inner workings and right now Pepper could tell he was truly sorry for what had happened that morning, a small seed of forgiveness slowly planted itself within her at that moment, "Mr. Stark, I would be honored to attend your function with you."

He smiled just a little and nodded, "Okay. Feel free to get yourself a nice dress from me again."

That got a true smile from her, "Okay." And she watched him drive away on his Ducati, sans helmet and shook her head, one of these days she was sure he'd get himself killed. Not as Iron Man oh no, but by being recklessly stupid.

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Alrighty…. Sort of working out there issues, yay! And I figured that I would give them a villain that Tony in the end can't exactly win against with the Iron Man suit. He needs a challenge.