Chapter 13

Tony input the security code to unlock the door at the Potts' residence and the sleepy redhead followed him inside. It had been a rather tiring day for the two of them, and after grabbing a quick bite to eat in one of those 24-hour fast food restaurants, the couple had called it quits for the night. It was nearly midnight, and the only thing the two youngsters wanted to do for now was crashing on any comfortable enough surface and pass out for the rest of the night. Nonetheless, the both of them were painfully aware that it was not going to be as easy as that; the night was not over for them.

The entrance door hissed and locked behind them and Pepper and Tony walked silently up the stairs, not even bothering to turn on the lights. They were both still banged up from the car pile-up, and despite their bodies screaming to just lie down, they knew they just had to clean themselves up first. The only belongings of Tony that had survived the crash had been his pod and his suit; his clothes in his bags had been torn, burned, or scattered throughout the accident site. Once they reached the second level of the home, Pepper lead Tony to the bathroom despite his protests that he had nothing to wear, shoved him inside, and then closed the door but stayed standing behind it.

"Take off your clothes, and then give them to me. I'll soak them overnight and finish washing them tomorrow so that you have something to wear to go buy more clothes." The redhead said with a tone that left no room for arguments.

"What am I supposed to wear tonight?" Tony asked from inside the room as he reluctantly took off his t-shirt. "If you want to see me naked, Potts, you better be ready to pay up."

"I will," she answered almost immediately. "I'll be naked too, so that makes us even." When Tony did not respond and no sound was heard for a few seconds, Pepper began laughing aloud with energy she was not aware she had. "Relax, Stark! I'm joking. I'll just have you wear some of my dad's clothes."

Pepper heard shuffling coming from inside the room and a moment later the door was partially opened by a not-amused looking Tony Stark. He had wrapped a towel around his waist and he was holding his bundled clothes in his hands, glaring at the still chuckling girl.

"You know," he began with a snarl. "Just for that, I'm not putting out tonight."

Pepper's eyes widened for a moment but when his annoyed face remained unchanged, she could not hold back the second bout of laughter that hit her. Tony's eyes softened and he tried to keep the scowl on his face but after a few seconds he joined her heartfelt laughter. Once it died down, the redhead grabbed Tony's clothes from him and shook her head. "I'll be back with clothes for you, OK? Just, please, shower. I love you and all, but you stink right now."

Tony rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him only to open it again two seconds later. "You know, Pep, you stink, too." He began before his eyes darted to the shower stall. "I think there's room for two in there. It's just a theory, but I think we can test it out tonight."

This time, Pepper's face turned slightly red and she looked away, biting down on her bottom lip. Tony shamelessly admired his small victory as he saw her walking away from him in the direction of the laundry room. Halfway down the hall, Pepper stopped in her tracks and cleared her throat; it was much easier responding to his taunt when she was not distracted by his charming look and bare chest. "I'm all booked tonight, but maybe we can try it tomorrow."

And with that she left a stunned young scientist wondering when they had become so comfortable with teasing each other like that.

xxxXXXxxx

Pepper climbed into bed after a refreshing warm shower. She was wearing her black shorts and cami pajama set and no socks, and was trying her best to ignore the side glances she knew Tony was giving her. The inventor was wearing a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt Pepper had found in Virgil's room, and despite Tony's reluctance, she had convinced him to wear a pair of clean underwear that the genius knew he was NOT going to return to the retired FBI man.

The redhead hissed when her still damp skin was pressed against the cold sheets, catching the attention of the boy lying next to her in bed. "You OK?"

"Yeah, just cold." She answered and exhaled in short breaths as she adjusted to the change in temperature. Tony turned to his left side, snaked his right arm around her waist, propped up his head on his bent left hand and stared down at the girl who was on her back. The inventor rubbed her bare, right arm with his own right hand to help her regain a decent temperature and Pepper pulled herself closer to his warm chest.

"You look good in black, Miss Potts," he whispered to her, sending shivers down her spine. She was not nervous about Tony's teasing or the fact that they were going to share a bed a tonight; she knew Tony truly respected her above all. But after being alone for so many months, stuck in a room in an alternate dimension, and being drugged most of the time while trying to fight off a potential rapist, returning to Tony's willing arms was something that made her uneasy for some unknown reason.

Tony felt her pores' reaction to his actions and the slight trembling of her body in his sideway embrace. He then felt guilty after remembering that Gene had probably done similar things to her with the purpose of forcing her to have sex with him; and while Tony had no intention of doing so, he was certain the memories were returning to her either way. "It's alright, Pepper. I won't do…I won't do to you what he tried to do. I promise."

"I know, Tony," she mumbled while her face was still pressed against his shirt. "I know you won't hurt me."

He slowly rolled her away from him until she was resting on her back once more. He then leaned down over her until half of his chest was over hers; his face was inches away from her face, and his right arm rested on the side of her head. With the back of his right hand he caressed her cheek and stared deeply into her eyes as he again whispered to her. "I love you, Patricia."

Pepper's breath hitched in her throat, for the first time in her life not despising to be called by her birth name. Her father and some close relatives used it to speak with her all the time and she had never been happy to be called by it; it made her feel old. She had never believed the name "Patricia" suited her personality anyway, and in moments of anger she had sworn to her father that she would change it as soon as she had the chance. She had been fond of the name "Virginia" for some time, and its nickname of "Ginny" sounded much better than "Patty." To Pepper, "Patty" sounded like the name that a grumpy, old lady would have: Patty, the crazy cat lady who lives by herself and makes her own clothes, she had once thought.

Since very young she had come up with a nickname that she was comfortable with and had made everyone she could use her preferred name when addressing her. Tony had never ever called her by her real name, and she had always loved the way her nickname rolled off his tongue. However, in this moment of intimacy between them, the way he had so dotingly uttered her name just now had taken her breath away; and, maybe –just maybe, Patricia was not such a bad name after all.

Tony closed the gap between them and kissed her in a slow fashion, taking his time to explore and learn the curves of her lips. He was as exhausted as he knew she was as well, but they had nowhere to go in the morning, and other than preparing for his departure, he had no pressing matters to tend to. The sudden realization that tomorrow night he would be on his way back to New York and she would remain here made his heart ache, pushing him to pour even more of his feelings into the kiss.

He did not quicken the pace, though; he just changed his technique. He took small bites of her lips, and his tongue caressed every part of her mouth. Before Iron Man had come around, he had never cared for research. However, thoroughly delving into what she liked him to do to her and what made her shiver in desire was some research he was more than willing to perform. His father had been right on with his words: Tony was no longer a child. And at some point during the transition from losing Pepper during her first mission to where he now lay on top of her, some invisible wall had been broken, leading him to want to spend the rest of his life with her, just like this.

"Don't ever leave me, again, Pepper," he told her when he pulled away for air. "I want you…I need you with me. There's no turning back for me."

Even he was surprised by the words that were so fluidly coming out of his mouth; it was just like two days ago, by the stairs, when he had not been sure what had taken over him and he had spilled his feelings to her. He was not sure if it was her mere presence, her scent, or a combination of all of the above, but this girl – this woman, had such raw power over him without even having to bat an eye.

He had never been very good with verbally expressing how he felt and the memory of how he had childishly blushed when Pepper had asked him what was stopping him from kissing her during the Shockwave and Force issue they had faced made him mad at himself. She had patiently waited for him to make up his damned mind, to put forward his feelings, to lay the foundation for their relationship to grow. Yet, he had been naïve to the max. He had thought he had all the time in the world to tell her that she meant more to him than life itself – even though he had used similar words when she had walked inside his hospital room with a cupcake with a single birthday candle in her hands. It had not been enough.

"I'll think about it, Tony," she told him and for a moment he was not sure what she had to think about. However, when he remembered a very important question he had inadvertently asked a few days ago, the smile on his face could have not been wider.

"Really, Pepper?"

"Really, Tony."

He pressed his lips on hers one more time before a yawn escaped his mouth. "Sorry; I guess I'm tired, too."

"You should be; you saved a lot of people today."

"Not everyone," he added with a frown.

"You can't save everyone all the time, Tony. Besides, it was an accident. More people would have died if you hadn't been there to help."

"I still think it was more than an accident," he said. "I swear on my life, Pepper, that the traffic light was green."

"I believe you, Tony." She pressed a hand to his face. "But let's just let the police figure it out, alright? Let's go to sleep."

Tony nodded and pulled away from her, resting on his back as well before he snapped his fingers and the lights went out. He heard Pepper groan beside him and shake her head from side to side over her pillow. "You rigged my room, too?"

"Only a little." He deadpanned. "You took a long time in the shower. I got bored. What did you expect?"

"To do what normal people do, wait patiently, and keep to yourself?"

"Babe, I'm not normal. I thought you knew that already."

Pepper sighed. "All too well, Stark. All too well."

xxxXXXxxx

Her bladder woke her up some time after they had both fallen asleep, and she carefully slid her body off the bed. Tony was snoring lightly next to her, and at some point during the night he had taken off his shirt and was now lying on his face rather than on his back. His left arm hung from the side of the bed and the sheets had been pulled down to his feet, giving Pepper the impression that he was probably getting hot.

She tiptoed to the exit and opened the door slowly, and in a second she was out in the hall, closing the door behind her. With her hand she patted around herself until she found the wall and used it as a guide to reach the restroom, making quick use of it only to then realize her mouth felt as dry as a bucket of sand. She was tempted to just return to bed but the image of Tony being uncomfortable in his sleep gave her a second reason to walk down the stairs.

Using the same technique as before, Pepper carefully walked down the stairs in search of the thermostat. She wondered if Tony had also upgraded it while she had showered, but until he gave her a tour of the new gadgets he had installed she dared not to test her theory. She finally reached the bottom of the stairs and after pressing the buttons twice, she heard the central unit come to life.

Her feet then led her to the living room and eventually to the kitchen, and once inside the kitchen she walked over to the fridge. Thanks to Tony she had food and drinks ready for her, and she pulled out from the refrigerator a bottle of lemonade. She placed the bottle on the counter and then opened the drawer above her to take out a glass to pour the drink that was making her mouth water.

She chugged down the drink in no time and then returned the bottle to the refrigerator. Her next action was to find the sink to leave the dirty dish there, but then felt guilty about leaving behind a mess she could easily pick up right now. Using the small light that came down on the sink from the street lamps, Pepper carefully washed the glass. She then placed it in the drying rack, wiped her wet hands on the hand towel hanging from the wall and turned around to see the clear image of Gene Khan standing mere inches away from her.

For an instant she forgot how to breathe and her eyes widened as large as saucers. She would have sworn she was just having a bad dream or was just being delusional, but she could feel his body pressed closely against hers, and his unshaven face prickled her pores. She tried to pull back from him but she was trapped between the kitchen counter and his towering form over her, pinning her down as he had done so many times before with terrible results. The only thing she managed to do for now was to dig her fingers into the edge of the counter as it was the single most effective way to make him go away in her irrationally frightened mind.

"Gene… I thought… I thought you were…" She blinked away the tears that had been forming in her eyes and when her lids opened again, his appearance had changed. His unshaven face was now gone, and it had been replaced with something worse. His skin had paled to the point of looking as if it had been rotting for a long time, and scars and decomposing scabs marred his once perfect face. Maggots were coming out from patches of missing skin on his body, and the smell of decaying flesh hit her nose like a freight train. "Gene…what…how…"

His only response was to nearly crush her throat with his left hand, and Pepper's own two hands flew to try to pry him off her. The tears were now streaming down her face, and now that she could not do so, she wondered why the hell she had not screamed for help when she had had the chance. She was not sure if Tony was awake by now, noticed her presence gone, or if he would have even heard her cries for help, but at least she would have died with the knowledge that she had gone down screaming and kicking.

No, I can't die… I can't do this to Tony! She thought to herself when the inventor's words from earlier pierced a hole in her chest. "Don't ever leave me, again, Pepper. I want you…I need you with me. There's no turning back for me."

"T-t-ton-n-y," she croaked, but it was not loud enough to catch anyone's attention other than Gene's. "N-no…To-o-o-n-n-y!"

Oh, how she wished Axonn's bestowing of powers on her had not gone away! This could not end like this, though. This could not be the end!

She dug her fingernails into Gene's hands, trying her best to get a reaction from him but he did not even flinch. Was he even truly here, or was she just seeing his angered ghost that had come back from the Land of the Dead to exert his revenge on her?

Why? She wondered. Why was he mad at her? He had been the one to send her away when the explosion had occurred. He had been the one to choose death! She had wanted him to live, for the three of them to survive, but he had not given her an option and had sent her away for her own good. "Gene," she said in a forced voice. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you died."

The grip on her loosened a little, and Pepper took the chance to take in the much needed air she had been deprived of just moments ago. He took a step back and Pepper thought she was off the hook but when she looked up to face him again, he was back to looking normal and held a Makluan weapon in his hand. "Gene, what…what are you going to do?"

His response was charging at her, and this time she had enough sense to scream.

A/N: I swear I am not writing this scary chapter to honor Halloween; it just happened this way. Some of you mentioned that maybe Gene had something to do with the accident, but I'm afraid he is innocent of that crime. There were more clues in this chapter, and I wonder what your predictions for the main villain in this story are. Also, do you want to know who was responsible for the car pileup? Want a clue? Here is one: "The light was green."