Chapter 11

The midday sun filtered through the curtains in Pepper's room, and when the brightness hit her eyes, she had no choice but to open them up. She could not remember having a better sleep since the day she had returned, and she was sure it was due to the fact that her problems were finally beginning to get resolved. She yawned loudly and turned over to her left side to avoid the blazing sun and stare at the closed door. Her eyes then landed on the clock on the wall and she realized that she had slept the morning away; it was shortly past noon.

I should get up.

She threw the covers off herself, sat on the edge of the bed and stretched her arms above her head. She then popped her neck by swaying it from side to side before she pushed herself off the bed and walked toward the mirror. Her hair was in disarray so she combed it with her fingers, holding back another yawn. She then grabbed a change of clothes and a towel and headed out of her room to the bathroom in the hall.

As she took the steps toward the bathroom, she remembered that she had been talking to Tony the day before, but she could not remember falling asleep. She figured he had brought her upstairs to her room, took off her shoes and then tucked her in before he had undoubtedly left the home to return to his hotel room. Her dad would return tomorrow, so she figured that today was the last day she would have to have an earnest talk with Tony about if and where they wanted to take the next level of their relationship.

Long-distance relationships were not her thing, and she knew the chance of their relationship working while she was in California and he in Massachusetts was very slim. As close as they had been in the years they attended high school together, it was inevitable that the time away from the other would eventually get the best of them. Even if Tony had been clear that he intended to take this relationship extremely seriously –and she was still freaking out a little about it and his boldness, she also knew that he most likely only thought about committing to this relationship with her as much as he had expressed because this was – for all technical purposes – his first genuine relationship. He was Tony Stark after all, and once he joined MIT, scores of much prettier, smarter and richer girls would be throwing themselves at him, proposing him things that Pepper could never amount to offer herself.

And why would Tony Stark settle for the high school dropout with a dramatic past and pathetic future? Pepper sighed in anticipated she finally arrived to the bathroom she walked inside and locked the door behind her. She then placed her change of clothes on the toilet cover and began undressing herself. Once her dirty clothes were completely off her and on the floor, she walked over to the sink and brushed her teeth. She had not had a chance to do so the day before and she felt as if the remnants of the dead masticated cow inside her mouth were already becoming one with her gums. A few spits later she felt much better and began walking toward the shower stall.

When her hand gripped the handle to open the glass door, something unexpected occurred around her. The light bulb in the room immediately dimmed to a comfortable level, the shower started automatically, and soft music began playing in the background. Pepper remained still for a minute or so as she waited for something else to happen but when it did not, she narrowed her eyes in deep thought. She knew that when she had showered the day before none of this had occurred, and she was sure she was still in the same place she had gone to sleep in yesterday, which could only mean one thing had changed while she had dozed off, and only one person could be responsible for the change.

Tony, she smirked.

She shook her head and walked inside the stall to the already perfect temperature water running down from the shower head. She closed her eyes as she felt the stream of water massage her back, and the smirk turned into a full smile. This boy was making it very difficult for her not to try to give him a chance, and while she had known that Tony was generous by nature, she had never seen this side of him. Was he like this with all the girls he liked? Had he been this attentive with Whitney, too?

Her teenage and in-love heart wanted to think she was the only one.

Her grumbling stomach made her hurry up her shower and in less than ten minutes she was already walking back to her room. Today she had chosen to wear a pair of blue denim shorts, a purple, studded, lightweight sleeveless shirt, and matching tennis shoes. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail and her long bangs framed her face. Once inside her room, she dumped her dirty clothes in the hamper and picked up her pod that lay on the nightstand.

"Where are you?" she texted the genius, and her message was immediately responded with "Downstairs."

Pepper rolled her eyes as she exited her room and walked down the stairs to find Tony sitting on the couch, legs on the coffee table, arms extended over the back of the couch, and the television changing channels every few seconds. The channel surfing stopped when he heard her walk toward him and he gave her a smile. "Hey, Pep, 20 hours of sleep enough for you?"

The ginger's eyebrows shot to the ceiling, her eyes showing that she was making the calculations herself. She did remember Tony pointing out that it was three in the afternoon when she tried to head upstairs to sleep, and their argument/conversation could have not taken more than an hour. She knew she had been tired, but she had not been aware she had been that exhausted.

"I think I beat my own record," she said with a smile and a tap on her chin as she stared at him. He was wearing dark blue jeans, a light blue polo shirt, and brown suede slip-on shoes. "It's good to see you actually went back to the hotel and rested."

Tony shrugged. "Only to shower and shave." He rubbed his chin with his right hand. "I've been here most of the time," he added and patted the spot next to him on the couch. Pepper accepted his invitation and sat down, her hands immediately flying to the undone buttons on his shirt. Tony's left hand landed on both of hers to stop her from buttoning them up, which caused the redhead to look up at his eyes with a questioning look.

"Leave'em like that; I left them this way to try to entice you," he winked at her, and Pepper's giggles were quick to follow suit. Tony chuckled at her expression before he leaned down to her face and gave her a quick peck on the lips once she stopped laughing aloud. "You look beautiful, Pepper."

"You're trying too hard, Stark," she said with a serious tone but the rosy tone on her cheeks rat her out.

"And you're trying too hard to pretend you don't like the attention, Potts." He said with his signature smile that made her knees grow weak. She looked away from his piercing gaze and concentrated on watching the television, or at least pretend that she as watching it so that her fast-beating heart could return to a normal pace again.

"Thanks for the upgrade in the bathroom," she began as she watched the channels begin to change again. "It was a nice surprise."

"You're welcome," he responded and noted that her eyes were scanning Tony's hands and their surroundings to try to locate the remote. When she noticed it was placed in its stand on the wall, she raised a single eyebrow toward him. The inventor gave her another bright smile before he pointed toward his head with his left index finger.

"Extremis."

"Ah! Yeah! Forgot about that," she admitted.

Tony's right arm came down from the edge of the couch to surround her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. "Is this OK?" he asked, pointing to the gesture with his chin.

"Yes, it is OK."

"Good," he said with a satisfied smile before he returned his attention to the news channel he had decided to watch. They remained quiet for a moment as they watched the anchor read her prompts for a few minutes until Tony muted the television with his thoughts. He then looked to his right to stare down at Pepper and spoke while he absentmindedly played with her hair. "Do you want to go eat out? I saw a nice place on my way back from the hotel. We can also pick up some groceries while we're at it so that you're set for when you dad returns tomorrow."

"Sounds good," she responded. "And after that I'd like to continue our conversation from yesterday, unless you have to return home already."

"No, not yet," he admitted. Other than Iron Man business, he really had no hurry to return to New York. He had not lied to Pepper when he had told her that major crime had gone down significantly since the Makluan attack, and other than some accidents or random criminals playing fetch with cops, Iron Man's services had not been needed that much as of late. "I can hang around for a few more days if you'd like."

"That'd be nice. Want to go right now?"

"Sure," he said and the television turned off on command. He stood up from the couch and took her with him, lacing their hands together and taking her to the front door. He stood in front of it but did not attempt to open it, and then turned on his heels, pulled Pepper to him and kissed her as passionately as he had done so the day before. This time, Pepper enjoyed the exchange much more than she had done so previously and even dared to touch the skin of his back under his shirt. She felt the goosebumps that were caused by her fingertips on him, and a smile formed on her lips when she heard him moan lightly.

When the kiss ended, he pulled away enough to stare deeply into her eyes as he thought about what she had mumbled in her sleep yesterday. At first he had felt his heart break into a million pieces at the revelation that she could potentially still love Gene, even after all the shit he had put her through, but after thinking long and hard – and after doing some upgrades to the home to help him distract himself – he came to the conclusion that the sentiment Pepper felt for Gene had to be the same she felt for Rhodey and nothing more.

She said so herself. I have to trust her; she's never given me a reason not to trust her word.

And trust was something they had to work on if they were going to date while being away from each other.

Satisfied that there was nothing to fear, he had returned to the hotel to shower and change, and had set his eyes on a hotel closer to the Potts' townhome. Later on he planned to check out of his current hotel and check in to the one that was a five-minute drive from Pepper's home to make sure he was ready for her beck n' call. "I love you, Pepper," he finally told her out of the blue after the long silence, and Pepper could not contain her wide smile.

"I love you, too, Tony." She responded, and Tony's smile matched hers. He gave her another kiss before he turned to the keypad on the wall next to the door and input a code. Pepper tilted her head and then looked up at Tony as he opened the door and led them outside. She then saw a similar looking keypad by the doorknob, which beeped and went red the moment the door closed behind them.

As he led her to the rented vehicle and opened the door for her, Pepper's eyes bore into his back and then followed him as he walked in front of the car to the driver's side. He opened the door and climbed onto the seat only to see Pepper shaking her head at him with a half smirk on her face. "You installed an alarm system, didn't you?"

"Yup," he said as he started the car, not all remorseful of what he had done while she was asleep. "Among other things…"

"Did you install any cameras?"

"Only on the outside, for intruders. I didn't think your dad would appreciate an in-home surveillance, but I can always come back if he is not opposed to the idea."

"Riiiight," she strapped on the seatbelt and so did he.

"Hey! My girlfriend lives across the country. I think I have the right to make sure she's taken care of when I'm not around."

Pepper snickered. "Please let me be there when you use that argument with my dad when he asks why you upgraded the house. He wasn't happy when I told him I was dating, well…Happy, and he wasn't installing surveillance in our apartment, with or without permission."

Tony shrugged. "I think your dad and I have an understanding he never had with Happy. It'll be alright."

"Oh, really? Think you're special, Tony Stark?"

"Of course I am! I am Iron Man." He answered as he began driving to the place he wanted to take Pepper out to eat.

Pepper rolled her eyes at him but smiled nonetheless. "You know, Tony, that phrase is going to get you in trouble one day."

"Trouble? 'Trouble' is my middle name, Pep."

"I thought it was 'Edward'." She pointed out.

"Let's not go there, alright?" He narrowed his eyes, knowing that Pepper was aware he was not fond of his middle name. Pepper laughed aloud and crossed her legs. She was not sure who she was trying to kid; she was completely in cloud nine; hell, she was the mayor, secretary, treasurer and single voting member of cloud nine. Who could really blame her; she was the official girlfriend of Tony Stark. Distance or no distance, she would be lying to herself if she said she was not looking forward to helping make sure their relationship worked out.

Tony deserved it, anyway, seeing how much effort he was putting into showing her how invested he already was.

xxxXXXxxx

Pepper waited in the passenger seat of the car as Tony proceeded to check out of the hotel room. She had been mildly been surprised to find out about his plan regarding accommodations, but she had been extremely surprised when the phrase 'why don't you stay with me' had come out from her mouth. Tony's shocked expression had been obvious, and she was sure that she had also looked surprised at her own suggestion. She had not planned to be so forward with him, but since her dad would return home tomorrow, this was the last night they had all for themselves.

It's not like we're going to do stuff we shouldn't be doing. I just want to spend time with him, that's all. She was not sure what had compelled her to invite him over, but between having lunch, buying groceries, and returning to her house to put them away, something had told her that it was alright to invite him to stay for the night.

The opening of the trunk pulled her out of her thoughts and from the rear view mirror she watched as Tony dumped his bag inside the trunk and slammed it close. He then walked back to the front of the car, opened the driver's side door and jumped inside. "It's all done," he said. "Are you sure about this, though? I can stay in the hotel I told you about, if you've changed your mind."

Pepper shook her head lightly and despite the butterflies in her stomach she gave him a reassuring smile. "It's alright. I'm sure my dad won't mind."

"Maybe you should ask him first, just in case. I don't want him to think I'm taking advantage of the situation or you."

"I thought you said you guys have an 'understanding'," she jested, air-quoting the last word. "What happened to your confidence, Tony?"

"It's still there," he assured her. "I just don't want to overstep the boundaries just yet…maybe later…" he winked at her.

"Oh, I see." She crossed her arms over her chest. "So slamming me against a wall and kissing me is OK, but crashing on my couch for the night is 'pushing it'?"

"I'm staying on the couch?" He placed the key in the ignition. "I thought you'd share your bed with me, Potts!"

"Tony!"

"Just kidding…" he chuckled and started the car before he added, "…mostly."

"You're awful, Stark." She shook her head but still smiled. She had missed their talks, even if they almost always ended with him claiming victory over the pretend argument.

"But that's how you love me." He said, shamelessly fishing for compliments as he waited for the red traffic light to switch to green, his fingers tapping impatiently on the steering wheel.

"Yes, that's how I love you," she agreed as she bent over to turn on the radio when the car was set in motion again. She then opened her mouth to say something else but the screeching of tires made her stop what she was doing and look out the window to her right. She then screamed Tony's name before the inventor echoed hers and almost immediately the sound of crashing vehicles drowned any other sounds around them.

A/N: Yeah, I don't give them a break, huh?