Slowly, we're getting closer to the end of this story! I hope you like the new chapter, please let me know!

The song to this is 'Heaven' by Niall Horan.

I don't own the characters or places!

Tony

I wasn't sure why, but something was bothering me about Pepper's new assistant. It wasn't the fact that everyone insisted he looked so much like me, even if it had been a little strange to see him face to face for the first time. No, it was rather how he looked at Pepper and the way they were interacting. I knew that she liked to have a close relationship to those she worked with because it made many things easier. I understood that, it was one of the things we had in common. However, I couldn't help feeling that with him, if was different. She was so relaxed with him after such a short time, it was... unsettling. And the way he spoke to her...

I knew that I was probably overreacting. However, I couldn't help feeling a little strange whenever he was around. Like the next day after breakfast, when the others were getting ready for their meeting to discuss the events of the week. John stormed into the room then, a look of excitement on his face. "You were invited to Singapore!" He exclaimed loudly, earning an excited shriek from Daisy and a surprised, but also pleased look from Pepper.

"Why are you even working so early?" She asked him. "I thought we were all starting at ten today."

He scoffed. "Of what use would that be? Now we're at least informed about everything we missed in the past days."

"He's got a point there." Jim said slowly and stood up with a sigh. "Maybe we should also check our mails before we start."

Daisy groaned, but she followed him. "I hate you." She complained as they left the room.

When Pepper also wanted to reach for her phone, Phil placed a hand on her arm to stop her. "No need for that." He said with a smile.

"Why not? If everyone's preparing for the meeting -"

"I already had a look at everything." He threw in softly. "You should rather enjoy the morning some more. After all, we still have nearly an hour left until the meeting starts." At this, his eyes wandered to me and Pepper followed his gaze. Her lips turned into a small smile. But then her eyes flickered back to where John was still standing close to the door. "Anything else that is important?"

While her assistant began to list many events, I exchanged a look with Phil. It was obvious that he also wasn't happy with Pepper thinking about work again so soon. But there was nothing we could do, was there?

"What are your plans for the day?" Phil asked, also knowing that there was no way to stop her now.

"We'll head to New York." I explained, earning a surprised look from him. "It's not that far and we want to see how things are going there." After all, we still owned the office at Bleecker Street. And I wanted to stop by at my flat, which I couldn't give up yet. I needed to collect a few more things.

"Clint and I will accompany him." Steve added with a smile, which made Phil turn to his partner.

Clint shrugged. "They asked and since you don't need me today, I thought 'why not?'. I always liked New York."

"When will you be back?" From the corner of my eyes, I saw Pepper turning to us, but I kept focused on Phil.

"Late in the afternoon, I think." I ran a hand through my hair. "But since your day is full of meetings anyway, I think you'll barely notice our absence."

"You're going to drive all the way?" Pepper wanted to know.

"We're taking the plane." I explained. "And don't say anything about how bad it is for the environment now, we know that. But it's faster than with the car."

For a few seconds, it looked like Pepper was going to protest, but then she nodded. "Alright, if it means that you're back for dinner, I can live with that."

"You have a private plane?" John threw in, staring at me with wide eyes.

"I do." I nodded, not really wanting to talk about it. "But not for long. And I don't use it much." Only for emergencies, I thought. Like having to get to Pepper as fast as possible. I took her hand on the table. "Of course we'll be back this evening." I wondered if I was the only one who saw that she visibly relaxed at my words. But then I glanced at John and saw his eyes narrow slightly. I would have given everything to know what he was thinking in this moment.

I turned back to Pepper. "Want to go outside before your meeting starts?"

She grinned. "You know I can never say no to that." Hand in hand, we stood up and left the room. I could feel John's eyes on us the entire time.

"It's so weird." Steve said once we were on our way to New York. "That assistant looks so much like you. First, I thought it was just on the pictures, but it's even more obvious in reality."

"The eyes are wrong, though." Clint threw in. "And he's not as self-confident as Tony. He acts like it most of the time, but I think it's just to hide that he's insecure."

I raised my eyebrows at that. "This morning, he looked pretty confident."

"He always does that around others." When we both looked at Clint sceptically, he smiled sheepishly. "I might have been watching him the past week. Just to make sure that he takes things seriously."

"I'm sure he does." I noted.

Clint nodded. "More than anything. It's his dream, being in the White House."

"He seems to like Pepper very much." I couldn't stop the unhappiness in my voice. "The way he's looking at her..."

When Clint didn't reply immediately, I knew that he'd noticed it too. "I'm sure it doesn't mean anything. She's crazy about you, Tony!"

"She loves you more than anything." Steve agreed. "Just look how miserable she was without you around."

Deep inside, I knew that they were right. But I couldn't help worrying a little, considering that I would have to return to LA soon, while that other man remained by Pepper's side.

We returned from New York in the late afternoon. It had been strange to be back in the city and to know that we would have to leave again soon. I had decided to go to my flat alone while Steve and Clint went to Bleecker Street. While I was standing in the living room, many memories came to my mind. All the times we'd met at one of our places to spend an evening watching movies. The calm afternoons I'd spent here, working on some new project. How I'd brought Pepper here the previous year, back when her life had still been in danger.

My eyes fell on the picture of my mother, the one Pepper had also noticed. Back when I'd collected a few things right before moving to Washington, I'd left it here. Now it felt strange, not taking it with me. I ran my fingers over the picture frame slowly, almost carefully. "What would you think, if you could see me now?" I muttered quietly. "Would you be proud?" I hoped so. Desperately. "I finally made something out of my life. Or I'm trying to." I smiled to myself. "All thanks to Pepper. I'm sure you would have liked her."

After packing a few more things, I'd left to join the others at Bleecker Street. To my surprise, an old friend of ours, Chris, came to meet us. It was good that Loki wasn't around, they never got along well. As expected, Chris complained that he couldn't accompany us during the campaign. However, he didn't seem to be too mad about it. He'd found a girlfriend in New York not so long ago. Her name was Jane and she was a scientist. I was curious about her, but unfortunately, we didn't have that much time to talk. Otherwise, we'd arrive in Washington later than planned and I wanted to spend more time with Pepper.

Once we arrived back at the White House, Pepper appeared in the hallway, a smile on her lips. For a moment, I thought that I could see relief on her face, but it vanished so fast that I wasn't completely sure about it. "You're back." She said simply.

"I'm back." I agreed with a nod and a smile, wrapping my arms around her waist. "How was your day?"

She shrugged. "Boring. Lots of discussions, as usual. We're planning the first trips abroad."

"Sounds exiting." I remarked and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Not as exciting as my tour through the US. You know, we'll be staying in Los Angeles for nearly a week." She grinned. "That means lots of time for ourselves in between the appointments."

I grinned back at her. "I can't wait to show you the house in Malibu. When will this tour take place?"

"At the end of summer." She smiled ruefully. "Unfortunately, we have to visit a few other countries first."

I reached for my phone in my pocket. "JARVIS, add it to my schedule."

"As you wish, sir." I'd been working on JARVIS for months now and slowly, he was starting to run fluently.

Pepper raised her eyebrows at this, but she didn't stop smiling. "I see you've also been busy." Of course I'd told her about my progress on JARVIS, but she'd never heard him speak before.

"Not that much." I let her lead me towards her rooms slowly, greeting a few people on our way. "To be honest, I've spent most of the time missing you."

Her expression turned soft. "I missed you too."

We reached her rooms and I placed my bag on the ground carefully. Most of the things I'd taken were still on the plane since there was no use in taking them here. However, a few objects I just couldn't leave there for the rest of the week. Like the photograph of my mother, which nearly fell out of the bag once I opened it.

Pepper stepped next to me, a thoughtful expression on her face. "She would have been proud of you." She said quietly and I turned to her in surprise.

"It seems like you can read my thoughts." In short words, I explained how it felt to be back at my flat in New York. When I finished, Pepper took my hands.

"Of course she would have been proud, Tony. You achieved so much. And I know that more will follow. You never let any of the events that took place break and defeat you. You're so strong. How you dealt with the company of your father and the house showed this." When she smiled, I could see how proud she was herself in her eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too." I pulled her closer and kissed her, feeling so much love for this woman that it nearly hurt. When we parted, I pulled her towards the couch and we both sat down, my arms wrapped around Pepper. Dinner would be ready in an hour, so we still had some time. We began to talk about many unimportant things, something we didn't do in quite some time. It felt good, just sitting there and doing nothing. This way, we could both relax. Deep inside, I also felt relieved when Pepper didn't mention John even once.

I was in a good mood, when we came to the dinner table and John was sitting there with the others, I didn't feel too bothered by it. That changed, however, when he couldn't stop talking to Pepper all the time. Or about her. What she had done in this situation, how her opinion on that was great, oh and did she see that new movie? I tried to stay relaxed and not let it show that the way he acted annoyed me, because apparently, Pepper seemed to enjoy talking to him.

So I just listened or made a comment once in a while. At least I tried, because most of the time, John was talking so much that I didn't even get the chance. Across the table my eyes met Clint's and I knew he could see right through my facade. Just like Phil next to him. There was sympathy in his eyes.

I talked to Jim and Steve for some time, but since I tried to listen to what Pepper and John were saying with one ear, I soon lost track of the conversation. And then suddenly, Pepper turned to me. "What do you think about that, Tony?"

I looked up from my plate and raised by eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

When she noticed that I hadn't been listening to their conversation anymore, she frowned. However, it only lasted for a second and was replaced by a smile. Only that this one didn't look as excited as before. "John was just explaining this new theory a scientist has to save the environment." In short words, she explained it to me. Apparently, he'd invented some new kind of plastic that could be broken down by bacteria in only a couple of months.

I thought about it for a few moments. "Not bad, but it has big weakness." I knew that I shouldn't use too many technical terms and tried to explain everything as easy as possible. Soon, a discussion about the topic had started between Pepper, John and me. When he wasn't flirting with her, I had to admit that he was quite intelligent and could be a good part of her team.

We talked nearly for half an hour when John announced that he had to leave, saying that he still needed to get some things done at home. I watched him leave with mixed feelings and knew that I should check on him again soon. Maybe I could let JARVIS try it, I didn't have the chance to do that before.

When we also stood up, Steve looked around with a smile. "Who would like to join a movie night?" Pepper's face lit up at this and I knew that I couldn't say no. Not that I would have wanted that anyway. While we were still travelling during the campaign, movie nights had been part of our weekly schedule.

We decided to watch some new action movie, though I didn't really listen to the title or Jim's explanation about the plot. I was content to sit on the couch next to Pepper, my arm wrapped around her shoulders. She closed her eyes and leaned against me. We didn't talk, but we also didn't have to. Everything was perfect in this moment. It didn't even bother me when Daisy and Jim started to argue about the looks of the main actor.

The movie wasn't bad. In fact, I liked it. Not as much as Steve or Clint, whose eyes were glued to the screen the entire time, but I enjoyed it. A look at Pepper's face told me that she thought the same. Once the movie was finished, we all left to go to bed. It was nearly eleven in the evening and inwardly, I sighed when I thought of getting up early again the next day.

As soon as we were lying in bed together, I wrapped my arms around Pepper. For some time, we were both silent. I already thought that she'd fallen asleep, but then she talked. "Will you tell me what's wrong?"

"Wrong?" I asked, not able to hide the surprise in my voice.

"You've been so quiet today. Even distracted. And I know that this isn't all about your trip to New York." Pepper placed a hand on mine. "I know you, Tony."

I considered what to say for a moment. "Everything's fine." I knew that it was a stupid thing to say, but somehow, I didn't want to talk about John.

"It's not." Even if I couldn't see her face, I knew that she was disappointed. "It's about John, isn't it? You've been staring at him darkly when you thought no one would notice."

"I haven't been staring at him." My reply was more of a reflex than an attempt to deny it.

"You have. So why don't you like him?" When I didn't reply, Pepper sighed and turned around in my arms so we could look at each other. There was a frown on her face. "Because he looks so much like you? It also distracts me, by the way. The others as well. I think Daisy even wanted to suggest that he dyes his hair. Or is it the way he acts? I know that he seems to be a lot like you. But he isn't. Once you get to know him better, you'll notice that it's all a mask. Deep inside, he's very insecure. Not like you at all."

"He seems to like you a lot." I said in the end, knowing that it would be of no use to lie to Pepper.

To my surprise, she chuckled. "He likes his job a lot." She corrected me firmly. "To keep it, he has to impress me."

"Strange way to do that." I noted dryly, tightening my grip around her waist.

"It's not flirting, if that's what you think."

"How can you be so sure of that?" When she heard the doubt in my voice, Pepper's expression softened.

"The other day, I had a look at his desk. Not because I was spying on him, I was simply searching for some papers. I didn't fully realize it back then, but there had been a photograph on the table. Of him and a very beautiful woman. Small, curvy, blond hair. They were holding hands and if you had seen the way he looked at her on that picture, you wouldn't have a single doubt."

"I didn't find anything about a woman in his records." To my surprise, Pepper laughed at my reaction.

"Not everyone wants to keep all the details about his life on a computer. You will soon notice that John can be very old fashioned in many ways."She smiled fondly at me. "I love you, Tony. And even if he had flirted with me, I wouldn't care. It's you. Now and forever." She placed a hand on my heart then and I closed my eyes.

"I love you too." I whispered and sighed deeply. "I knew that something wasn't right with him. But I couldn't grasp what it was." I made a mental note to check on that girlfriend anyway.

"You should stop overthinking everything." Pepper stated. "If someone should be worried, it's me."

That made me raise my eyebrows. "You?" I echoed.

"You're on the news every day. And your picture shows up in all those magazines Daisy always reads." She smiled slightly. "They are speculating about many things."

"Please don't say they're just waiting for us to break up and find someone else." I rolled my eyes. "You shouldn't read that stuff."

"You know I can't help it. Not when Daisy tells me about it anyway. Or Jim. He reads those things too." She grinned now.

"Your team is impossible." I leaned in and silenced her with a kiss. "The people should rather focus on more important things than our love life."

"You're the most popular man in the country right now. They won't focus on anything else." Something in her voice told me that it bothered her more than she wanted to show. This time, I chuckled.

"Stop worrying. I only want you." I kissed her again. "Let people talk. That's all they ever do. We should rather focus on us."

"Us?" She smiled at me.

"Us. Like in, right now." I smiled slightly. "Or do you want to sleep?"

She chuckled breathlessly when I pulled her on top of me. "You're impossible, Tony!" However, she kissed me back eagerly.