Chapter 16: Dangerous Liaisons

One Week Later…

"Please, Mr. Stark, hold still." Pepper scolded as she attempted to secure his bow tie in place. The immaculate tuxedo he wore was in perfect condition for the fundraising benefit he was about to attend, and she was determined to have a perfectly placed bow tie to complete his ensemble. Unfortunately for her, Tony seemed somewhat distracted and extra fidgety this evening.

Tony raised his chin to give her better access to his neck. "Really, Miss Potts, I don't see how you talked me into going to this shindig. I'm sure the--" he stopped short and dropped his head to look at his assistant. "What is this for again?" he questioned.

Pepper sighed frustratingly and pushed his chin back up. "The Coalition for Clean Air Initiative. If you plan on having Stark Industries 'go green' by the end of this year, you need to make sure you have plenty of these types of organizations on your good side." She explained.

Tony watched through downcast eyes as she put the final touches on his bow tie. Her brow was knitted in concentration and after she finished speaking, she began to chew on her bottom lip; an unconscious action that she often did that he found rather endearing.

He saw her fingers fly up in triumph. "There, all done." She proclaimed and stepped back to admire her work. His tuxedo only amplified his already handsome features, and she shook her head in disbelief at how well everything always looked on him.

Tony loved the fact that she was staring at him. "Well, if the look on your face means anything, I must look good enough to eat." He winked at her, then turned towards the wall mirror to give himself the once over. Pepper smiled at his playful words and moved behind him to pick a piece of lint off of his shoulder.

Tony watched her through the reflection in the mirror. Despite the late hour, her white blouse was still perfectly pressed and the flawlessness of her makeup gave her skin a youthful glow that made him want to reach out and touch it.

He cleared his throat. "You know, this thing would be far more fun if you came with me." He said, keeping his eyes on her.

Pepper glanced up at him in the mirror and smiled. "I don't think so. This is your thing. You know I don't like these big functions."

"You came to the Fireman's Ball." He countered, turning around to face her directly.

"Yeah, well, that's because I thought you weren't going to be there. Someone from your office had to make an appearance." She replied, taking a step back.

Tony could tell she was trying to keep some sort of comfortable distance between them, but it only served to encourage him to keep closing it. Pepper, noticing the determined look in his eye, crossed her arms in front of her, placing at least one physical barrier between them.

"Come with me." He says it as a statement rather than a request. Pepper doesn't answer him and instead averts her eyes from his more intense gaze. She moves to the small table covered with his shaving tools and begins packing them away.

She keeps her back towards him. "I don't think so."

Tony frowned. "It's because of some silly girl excuse, right? Like, you don't have anything to wear…or, I have to do laundry…?" He said as he pulled at the white shirt under the tuxedo jacket, bringing the sleeves down further.

Pepper laughed. "Right, well…I don't have anything to wear. And I do plan to do some wash later, now that you mention it." She finished packing away his shaving supplies and walked into the master bathroom to put them away. When she emerged from the bathroom, she was shocked to find Tony standing in front of her…holding up a beautiful evening gown.

The material flowed like a river of white from the hand he held high in the air. The dress was sleeveless and simple, but it spoke volumes of elegance and grace with the shimmer of fabric it was created with.

Pepper stood with her mouth agape, staring at the dress. Time seemed to stop as she tried to kick-start her brain into saying something.

"What's that?" she managed.

Tony's eyebrows lifted, and he looked at the object in his hand. "It's a dress."

"I know it's a dress. I mean, what's it for?" Pepper couldn't get over the shock of the sudden appearance of the stunning gown still clutched in the hands of her boss.

It was his intention of surprising her with the dress, make her smile and agree to attend the fundraiser with him; but the look on her face made him rethink the possibility that he had made a crucial miscalculation on his part.

Tony carefully laid the dress down over a nearby chair. "It was for you to wear. But, judging by your reaction, I'm assuming you're not too happy with it."

Pepper, realizing that her mouth still hung open, quickly shut it and cleared her throat. She walked over to where the dress lay and reached out to run a hand across the fabric. The material was like silk under her fingertips.

It was incredible.

And, judging by the design and the appearance of diamonds across the high waistline, it was most likely extremely expensive as well.

"No—I mean, it's…" She paused, taking the time to really admire it. "It's beautiful." She said simply, softly.

Tony's mouth broke into a wide grin. "Great! Well, I'll give you some time to get ready then. Feel free to use my bathroom--" He was cut off by a hand in the air in front of him.

Pepper shook her head. "No…Tony, I didn't say that I would go." She interrupted.

Clearly confused, Tony replied, "But, you said you liked it…"

She looked up from the dress to his face. "I do. But I can't go with you." She said.

The previous look of joy on his face was replaced with disappointment and regret. "I don't see why not."

Pepper didn't know how to react to this moment. She felt uncomfortable and began to wonder how she got placed such an awkward situation. Then, out of nowhere, she felt another emotion begin to bubble up from within her and she made no attempt to stop it as it spilled forth, directed right at the man in front of her.

She turned on him angrily. "Why not?!" She repeated, making Tony flinch at her sudden outburst. She wasn't entirely sure why she was mad or what her argument was, but she pressed on him nonetheless. "What did you think was going to happen here, Tony?" She questioned him, taking a few steps in his direction.

Tony, feeling confused and a bit worried by her reaction, raised his hands up in the air. "Pepper, I was just trying to get you to come with me tonight. That's it." He said, trying to stay as calm as possible.

Pepper's eyes flashed. "Really? You go and buy this ridiculous dress, and then expect me to just crumble at your feet and do whatever you want?" She fumed at him, her cheeks turning pink from the rush of blood to her face.

Tony blinked. "Hey! Just a second ago you said the dress was beautiful--"

"Don't you change the subject." She said, cutting him off. "What in the world were you thinking?" she asked him straight out.

The tension in the air was so thick, Tony and Pepper both had to take a deep breath to calm their nerves.

Tony's eyes shifted from Pepper's to the floor. "I honestly don't know." He replied quietly. He licked his dry lips and looked back up at her. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze and continued, "I thought a lot of things actually. I thought that if you said yes, you'd come with me and keep me away from all of those boring investors that badger me at every party I go to."

He smiled thoughtfully, then added, "I thought I might get the chance to ask you to dance again." He paused, watching her reaction. Her chest heaved slightly from the adrenaline that continued to course through her veins, but her face had softened and her eyes were still focused on him.

He was suddenly aware of how small he felt under her gaze and it made him want to run from the room. Instead, he straightened up, and, regaining some of his confidence, came to stand in front of her once again. "Would that have been so bad?" He asked her openly, with no hint of sarcasm in his voice; no playfulness; no jokes.

Pepper swallowed hard and brought her eyes down to focus on the center of his chest; directly where the soft blue glow of the arc reactor would be had it not been covered up by the tuxedo he wore. Her mind had gone to jelly and she found it hard to concentrate. She could only think about how incredibly different this conversation was compared to every other one they had ever had. The real focus of the discussion wasn't about the dress or his insistent request for her to accompany him to the fundraiser. There was something else that made it entirely different.

It was the truthfulness behind his words.

The real, honest to God want of having her with him at the event, is what made this conversation different. Perhaps this sudden rush of emotion was not because of her anger over his blatant attempt to coerce her into attending the fundraiser with him, but because of her fear that perhaps he was being genuine with her all along; and that is what scared the hell out of her. Her sudden outburst coupled with the fact that he was not arguing back, made Pepper realize that she had probably overreacted. Losing control of her emotions was not something Pepper Potts did…ever.

Of course, the one thing it did have in common with all of the other flirty, joking, and silly conversations they had shared over the past few months was all of the unspoken words between them.

And they will continue to be unsaid until one of them had the guts to finally speak what was on their mind.

Unfortunately, there would be no confessions made today.

Pepper continued to stare at his chest. Then, choosing to admit one thing, she spoke, "No. It wouldn't have been so bad."

Tony, deciding that this discussion had gotten a bit too intense too fast, tried to lighten the mood. "Hey, look on the bright side; at least you got a shiny new outfit out of this whole charade. I still have to go face those environmental geeks all night long." He laughed out loud then added, "There'd better be an open bar."

Her anger dissipating, Pepper smiled. Then, looking up at him with a remorseful expression, she said, "I'm really sorry I yelled at you. I don't know where that came from; and it was totally unprofessional of me--"

"Miss Potts," It was Tony's turn to cut her off, "if you haven't realized by now that you are, by far, the most professional, trustworthy, and if I may be so bold as to say…loveliest assistant on the face of this earth—not to mention the fact that I am not the easiest man to work with, and you still come to work every day—well, perhaps it's time for a much needed vacation." He smiled crookedly at her, hoping that she would accept his words without further argument or incident.

She did, and smiled sweetly at him as she raised her hands once more to his collar to straighten his tie. "Besides," She began, steering the focus of the conversation away from her and back onto him and the fundraiser, "you wouldn't want me there anyways…I'd ruin your 'game', as they'd say." She dropped her hands, and forced a smile. "I'm sure there will be plenty of willing young women there, begging you to dance with them."

He didn't return her smile this time, but instead glanced at the dress briefly, then back at her. "Yeah," he replied somberly, "but none of them will be wearing that dress."

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Richard Hanson and his brother Vincent had spent the entire week recruiting new men, and gathering all equipment necessary for their assault on Tony Stark. Their anger and desire for revenge blinded them and they decided to push forward with their plan even though they would be risking everything.

The only thing that mattered right now was making sure that Tony Stark was the one who would suffer for their own misfortunes—and anyone who got in their way would be casualties of war.

Richard sat patiently in his car outside of a familiar bank of apartment buildings. He took a long drag of his cigarette and a curl of smoke escaped his lips as he exhaled. He glanced at the clock on his dashboard: 8:27pm.

She would be home soon, and then the plan would be set into motion.

He picked up his cell phone and hit redial. A few moments later, his brother's voice came across the line. "Yeah?"

"You're sure Stark is out of the house?" Richard asked.

"I watched him leave myself. He's off to some swanky fundraiser or something. He was dressed up." Vincent answered.

Richard tightened his hold on the phone and flicked his cigarette out of the open window. "Alright. Get everyone up and running. When I get there with the girl, we need to make sure this goes flawlessly."

"Right. We've got this, brother." Vincent reassured him, but Richard was still not convinced.

"Yeah, well…you'd better be on top of your game tonight Vin, or else this will be the last time we ever work together outside of a state penitentiary." Richard replied.

"Look, as long as he isn't in that armor, Tony Stark is just as vulnerable as you and me. I think we can handle a spoiled billionaire and his assistant." Vincent scoffed.

"You're right." Richard paused, the sight of headlights in his review mirror stealing his attention. "She's here. Be ready when I arrive. And don't fuck this up." Richard said, and then hung up the phone without waiting for a reply.

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Pepper pulled her car into the underground parking structure and parked her car in its usual spot. After removing the two bags of groceries and her dry cleaning, she made her way to the elevator and pressed the button.

Moments later she was letting herself into her apartment and, kicking the door shut with her foot, made her way to the island in the kitchen to set down the two canvas bags full of food.

The week had been long and extremely busy thanks to the rather loud and noticeable display of fireworks and gunfire that had taken place on the Stark Industries waterfront. Her work week began very early last Saturday morning with a phone call from Rhodes stating that he or Tony would need to make a press statement about what had gone down during the very early hours of Saturday morning.

Luckily for her, the military was extremely cooperative and backed up the story of another training exercise that had gotten out of hand.

Now, with the week behind her, she was determined to catch up on some sleep and relax.

She finished putting away her groceries, but kept the chocolate chip cookies out. Taking a big bite out of the chewy dessert, she was about to pour herself a glass of milk when someone knocked on her door.

She quickly finished chewing and headed to her door. Looking through the tiny security hole, she was surprised to see Richard on the other side. Unlatching the chain and the deadbolt, she quickly opened the door.

"Richard? What are you doing here?" She asked. She was feeling a bit wary of this late night visit, so she decided not to invite him in.

Richard smiled. "I wanted to apologize for not calling you last week. After I sent you those flowers, I thought I would have some free time to see you again…turns out… I didn't."

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him. "That's very kind of you Richard, but you could have called me to say that." Pepper replied, leaning against the door frame.

Richard lowered his eyes to the jacket slung over one arm, then looked back up, handing over a single rose he held in his other hand. "I know, but then I wouldn't have been able to give you this."

Pepper hesitated before taking the flower from him. Her intuition was beginning to send signals to her brain…this late night visit was definitely unnerving…it was time for him to go.

She smiled politely. "Thank you." She shifted on her feet, getting ready to close the door. "It is rather late…perhaps we can talk tomorrow?" she said, slowly bringing the door closed.

Richard placed his free hand on the door, stopping its motion. "Actually…there is one more thing I needed to apologize for."

Pepper gave him a puzzled expression. "What?"

He placed his foot in the path of the door and then removed the jacket from his other arm, revealing a gun with a silencer attached to it. "This." He said, pointing the gun directly at her.

Pepper froze as the color drained from her face. So much for going to bed early.

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AN: And so…it begins…

A very sincere thanks to my faithful reviewers…and to all of those who have read the story, but remained silent—perhaps as I bring the story to a close you will reveal yourself from the shadows you are lurking in and introduce yourselves… :-)

Alright, so I will see you all next time!