I never realized how difficult it would be to write an Iron Man fic. Forgive me of any grammatical errors and if the characters are out of character.

Disclaimer: I once again own NOTHING but the plot. Everything belongs to their rightful owners.

Tony awoke with an immediate smile on his face. He never felt so happy to wake up to the person he loved. Pepper and Tony's relationship has been kept secret from the media. The only people that do know of their relationship is Rhodey, Happy, and Jarvis. Pepper was beginning to warm up to the idea of making their relationship known, but Tony was thinking differently. Sure, Tony would love to show Pepper off and show the entire world that she is finally his, but truth is, he's scared, scared that if everyone else found out about them, then his enemies - or Iron Man's enemies - will hurt her, maybe even kill her. Tony didn't want to think about the worst that could happen, but he had.

Tony is terrified of letting their relationship known and he was not about to tell Pepper.

"Hi," Tony said with a smile as Pepper awoke.

"I'm surprised you're actually here. Thought you'd be gone by now," Pepper said jokingly, but Tony took it seriously.

"Pepper, you mean more to me than those other girls ever will. I would never leave you," Tony said with a serious tone and Pepper immediately broke out into a smile.

"Tony, you know I was just kidding, but if it makes you feel any better, you mean a lot to me as well."

A smile formed on Tony's lips as he looked down at Pepper.

"Jarvis, time?" Pepper asked the AI. It has gotten some taking used to for Pepper when she just began working for Tony, but now, Pepper doesn't mind, partly because Jarvis always updates her about Tony, especially when he's on missions.

"7:15, Miss Potts," Jarvis spoke with the British accent. Immediately, Pepper got up from bed and headed straight to the bathroom to get ready for work. Tony laid there with an amused look and decided to join her.

Pepper was dressed in a black pencil skirt and a white blouse and her hair done up in a ponytail. Tony as usual, was dressed in an Armani suit and was actually ready to go to a meeting.

"You need to be on your best behavior, Tony." Pepper said as she was fixing his tie.

"Aren't I always?" Tony replied with a seductive tone and a devious smile. Pepper didn't answer, she just walked out of his room and out to where Happy was waiting. Tony followed her from behind and caught her off guard when he took her hand and entwined their fingers.

"Morning, Happy!" Tony said in a good mood.

"Morning, sir. Morning, Miss Potts." Happy said with a small smile, dressed in his usual black and white suit and black tie. He held the door open for the two and was seated happily before Happy shut it gently.

Tony found it hard to not look at Pepper, but he didn't mind. He really did love her and the feeling in the pit of his stomach and the way his heart raced twice its speed told him enough. Tony was always scared of committing to someone because he would get bored easily. That's why he always had those one night stands. Go in, go out, and leave.

But with Pepper, it was different, very different.

She meant the entire world to him and Tony knew that he would never get bored with Pepper. She always kept him on his toes and made sure he was doing the right things for the right reasons. Sure, they had their teasing banter and the tension filling the air, but he immediately knew that when Pepper found a mistake, which he rarely ever has, on one of the accounting papers, he knew she was different. She had the guts to go straight up to his office and tell him what he did wrong. No one believed her because Tony Stark never makes mistakes, especially involving numbers and math.

But, that wasn't what caught his attention. Pepper disregarded all his attempts on trying to get her to sleep with him and all his boyish charms. Though, deep down inside, Pepper couldn't handle how handsome he was, how intelligent he was, but she knew she had to keep a biased relationship with him. Strictly, boss and employee.

Ever since Tony was kidnapped, all he could think about was Pepper and his feelings for her. He never really realized how much she meant to him and it took him a kidnapping to realize it. He felt stupid, but never regretful for how things turned out.

That was the past and for once in his life, he wanted Pepper to be in his future. Tony knew that as long as he was with Pepper, he didn't care whether he was Iron Man or the infamous Tony Stark. To Pepper, he was Anthony Edward Stark; her boss, friend, and lover. She got to see how Tony really is behind the cameras and how he really acts.

They were both content and happy that things ended up the way they were.

"We're here, sir," Happy said, breaking him out of his reverie. Tony patted his hand on his friend's shoulder before leaving the car. He held out a hand for Pepper and she took it gladly.

They never showed PDA, but behind doors, they could not keep their hands off of each other. They entered the board meeting with five minutes to spare and already, Tony was getting bored. Pepper was seated across from him and gave him the best view to analyze her.

'God, she's so beautiful.' Tony thought. He was staring at her with a small smile forming on his lips. Those blue eyes that illuminated under the moonlight, those freckles you can see if you were really up close, her thin soft lips, Tony found it hard not to look at her.

Then, something came in contact with his shin and he yelled in pain. He looked over at Pepper and he shot her a death glare that immediately sent shivers down Tony's spine. No matter how much he loved Pepper, he hated when she got mad or irritated.

"Mr. Stark, what do you say?" One of the men that was presenting him a new model that Stark Industries should buy. Even though, Tony had no idea what this man was talking about, he knew that he didn't want to waste his money on one of his products.

Pepper was amazed. Leave it to Tony to get him out of a sticky situation like that. When the board meeting ended, Pepper left to go to her office and bumped into someone that looked all too familiar to her.

"Virginia?" The familiar man asked.

"Patrick? Patrick Dean?" Pepper's heart literally raced and all of the memories she shared with this man came running back to her.

"Oh my God, you look great!" He said with that smile that used to make Pepper's heart flutter. He threw his arms around her and enveloped her in a hug. Pepper resisted and kept her arms at either side of her body.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm new here, just got a job as an engineer." Pepper nodded and she just wanted to run away, run away with Tony.

"That's good; I guess I'll be seeing you around then."

"Yup, see you Ginny." She hated how he said her name.

She left immediately and walked over to Tony's office who was already looking stressed and sad.

'Wait, sad? How could he possibly be sad?' Pepper thought.

"Tony, you have another meeting at –"

"You can go for me. I'm getting outta here." Tony said, not making eye contact with Pepper as he was loosening his tie from his neck. Pepper got to the door first and shut it closed and blocked the doorway from Tony leaving without an explanation to why he was acting strange.

"Why?"

"Because you pay more attention to those meetings than I do."

"Tony, you know what I mean."

He sighed before answering, "Who were you talking to in the hallway? The tall guy."

"Tony, he's no one, just an old friend who you decided to hire."

"Yeah, just an old friend. It looks like there was more chemistry that just a friend, Pep." Tony didn't look her in the eye and Pepper was clueless to why he was acting so childish.

"Tony, why are you actin – you know what, don't answer that. I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Stark." Pepper said angrily and Tony left right after she did with anger fuming in him. He needed a drink, anything to take his mind off of Pepper and that guy.

Happy picked him up and once he got into the car, he poured himself a glass of scotch and gulped it down quickly. He felt better, but he needed more. When he got to his mansion, he went straight to the workshop.

"Jarvis, get ready the suit."

"Sir, I do not allow you to go into the suit due to your state of being. You are obviously drunk and not thinkin –"

"Jarvis, just do it!" Tony said as he put on his neoprene black under armor and suited up. He flew off into the sky and did his thinking up in the air.

Meanwhile…

Pepper was back at the office and was ready to go home when she bumped into Patrick once again. She did his best to ignore him, but he ran up to her and stopped her from going into the elevator.

"Hey, Ginny. You want to go out for a drink or something?" Pepper considered it for a second before realizing that Tony would get angry even more, so she decided to deny.

"No thanks, I've got a lot of work to do."

"Alright then, next time!" He said with a smile and left to Pepper's relief.

When Happy picked her up and dropped her off at her apartment, her phone rang. Caller ID read that it was Jarvis and the only time Jarvis called was when something terrible happened. Quickly, she answered with a fast hello.

"Miss Potts, I advise you to come here to the mansion. Mr. Stark is in no state of taking care of himself. He is extremely injured due to the 'joyride' he took earlier this afternoon." If an AI could sound exasperated, Jarvis would do. Once Jarvis told her that he was injured, she immediately went straight to her car and drove faster than she usually did to Tony's place. Her heart was pounding and she was beginning to become guilty for leaving him earlier in his office.

She thanked Jarvis for unlocking the door for her and immediately ran downstairs to the workshop. When she saw Tony clad in his neoprene under armor laying on the floor unconscious, she immediately ran over to his side and placed his head on her lap.

"Oh, Tony…" She said under her breath with a sad and guilt ridden tone.