Ch. 1
"Tony hasn't been sleeping well," Pepper began. She took a sip of the coffee Clint had handed her before he slipped into the guest bedroom. "For the past night or two, he waited until I was asleep, and then he disappeared. He would be back before dawn, but I still knew he was missing. When I asked about it, he said that he was having nightmares and went to the garage to tinker. He promised me this morning that he wouldn't leave anymore." She gave a bitter laugh, "Well, when I woke up, he was gone. So I went to the garage to look for him, but I heard him in the guest bedroom." Natasha sighed. She'd wanted to believe as much as Pepper had that Tony had changed. "I found him with one of his exes. He had her on top of the dresser, kissing her." Pepper took a shaky breath, "He saw me standing there, and caught up to me when I got to the front door. He asked me to let him explain, but I… I" she started crying again. Natasha really hoped Pepper wasn't upset because she left him. After a few more sips of coffee, Pepper finally got control enough to finish her story. "I asked him if that was where he'd been every night, if that's what he'd been doing. I asked how he could do that to me, right downstairs from our bedroom. I asked if he expected me to trust him ever again. I – I asked him if he even loved me. He gave me that puppy look, and I knew I had to leave. When I got to the door, I turned around and threw the ring at him. Hit him in the forehead." She looked at Nat with big brown eyes and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I'll go find a hotel or something. Thanks for listening." She tried to get up was pulled back down by a very angry Nat. (For the record, Natasha was angry at Tony, not Pepper)
"No you won't! You will stay here. Did you not see Clint making up the spare bedroom?" Nat patted Pepper's leg, "Don't worry. We'll take care of Tony. But right now, you need sleep." She took the cup from Pepper, "This had better be decaf."
Pepper gave her friend a watery smile, "Thanks Nat."
After Natasha coaxed Pepper into bed (which apparently worked on Clint too; the archer disappeared into their room at about the same time), she was washing the mugs, mulling things over (read as 'trying to keep herself from driving to Tony's house and killing him herself), when the phone rang. She knew it would be Tony calling. She'd figured, however, that he would've called way earlier, though.
"What do you want?" Natasha snapped into the phone. "And what took you so long? Finish up with your 'friend' first?"
"So Pepper is there?" Tony sounded desperate, raw. It gave Natasha pause. He didn't sound like someone who just cheated on his wife.
"Yes, and you better not be. Not until I can manage to forgive you. Do you know what you did to her?"
"I–I . . . please let me explain!" Was Tony crying?
"It's the middle of the night, Tony; I'm going to bed. Maybe some alone time will show you what you just gave up. Unless you're ex is still there." Nat's voice was cold; she had not a drop of pity for the billionaire.
"Well meet me tomorrow! At Gino's!" Gino's was a local bar, "Please, you have to let me explain."
"Why do you care if I believe you? I'm not exactly your favorite person, or your biggest fan."
"But you get people. You can tell if I'm lying and then tell Pepper! She'll listen to you!"
"No. You will have to convince Pepper yourself." Natasha sighed. Why was she agreeing to this? "But I'll come. You'd better have a good explanation." With that she hung up on him.