alright, so as we all saw, tony went out of his wa to do something sweet for bella... will that last? or is it just a hoax for tony's satisfaction.....

Chapter 4

Bella and Pepper walked into Bella's new office and collapsed on the couch.

"I am so tired" Bella complained

"Me too. You wanna grab a bite" Pepper asked. Bella nodded and they got up. Bella opened the door and found a guy with a bouquet in his hand.

"I'm looking for a Miss. Bella Swan" he asked. Pepper and Bella exchanged glances before answering.

"I'm Bella Swan" she said. The man smiled and handed her the bouquet. Bella turned towards Pepper who shrugged. "Um, can you tell me who they came from"

"They came from Mr. Tony Stark" he said. The two girls gaped and the man smiled wider "He also asked me to pass a message. He says he's sorry and hope you guys can still stay friends"

"Uh, wow" was all Bella could manage to say.

"They look amazing. What are they" Pepper asked

"Lilies and cherry blossoms" he said

"Oh my…"

"Pepper" Bella asked

"Not now. Is there anything else" Pepper asked

"No that's it. You ladies have a nice day" he said then left. Pepper closed the door and ragged Bella to her couch.

"What is it" Bella asked

"Before Tony' mom died she loved cherry blossoms. Like seriously loved them. Ever since she died, he never thought about anything that had to do with her"

"Really? Then why would he send them to me"

"Maybe he's really sorry" Pepper lied. The only reason Pepper could actually think of was that maybe Tony had feelings for Bella. Really strong feelings for her. But this was Tony Pepper was talking about. Tony wasn't one for relationships, everyone knew that. But maybe just maybe, that would change. But maybe was only possibility against odds.

Bella stared at Pepper as she thought about what Pepper had told her. If Tony ever talked about his mother or did anything that had to do with her, why did he send Bella her favorite flowers? Why would he even send her flowers at all. What did even mean by 'hope we could still be friends'? Hadn't she told him she forgave him and that they were going to res tart. Make a clean slate as friends? Why on earth did he have to confuse her and make her head hurt?

Maybe there's just something about me that reminds me of his mom, she thought to herself. Maybe, but if so why was he still acting so awkward around her. Bella stood up then grabbed the bouquet and headed for the door.

"We're are you going" Pepper called after her

"I'll be back" she mumbled in reply.

After a while of wandering around and asking several different people for directions, she finally made it to Tony's office. She knocked on the door hesitantly when she heard Tony's voice tell her to come in. She took a deep breath and opened the door. She found him laughing with a man just about their age with deep brown skin and black cropped hair military style. Tony looked up and shot out of his seat when he saw Bella.

"Bella! I … um.. err- I was um" he stuttered as he saw the bouquet in her hands. Oh shit I messed up even worse know, he thought, how stupid can I be?

"HI. I'm Rhodey. Tony's more responsible and smarter best friend" Rhodey said interrupting Tony's blabbering

"Hey" Tony said half-annoyed and half-relieved. He was relieved that Rhodey had interrupted him before he could make an even bigger fool of himself. But he was annoyed that Rhodey always had to go and say how responsible he was.

"You know I'm right. Remember the time-"

"NO" Tony screamed. He ran in between Bella and Rhodey to prevent him from telling the oncoming story Rhodey was going to say. "It was a long time ago! Get over it, kay"

"What happened" Bella asked

"What you see was-"

"It's nothing! Listen, I'm pretty sure you don't wanna know"

"Yes I do. What happened" she asked earnestly

"Yeah. What did happen Tony" Rhodey smirked. Tony glared at him and sighed hanging his head in defeat.

"I blew up Malaysia" he muttered

"I'm sorry I don't think Bella heard you. Could you speak a little louder" Rhodey asked mockingly

"Ugh! Fine! I blew up Malaysia! Are you satisfied" he yelled turning to Rhodey.

"Sure am" Rhodey laughed. Tony groaned and rubbed the back of his head.

"You blew up Malaysia" Bella whispered. Tony nodded his head and waited for her response. He was surprised to her little fits of giggles turn into an onslaught of laugher. "I can't believe you blew up Malaysia"

"Yeah well…" he shrugged

"Oh man! How on earth did you do that" she asked. Tony shook his head and kept his mouth shut. "Oh come on! Fine don't tell me. But I'm pretty sure Rhodey will. Right Rhodey"

"Of course! So you see, it went like this-"

"Okay Rhodey! It's a darn shame you have to go, but you gotta go back to work and so do we! So we'll see ya round, kay? Alright that's great! Take care now ' Tony said pushing Rhodey out the door.

"But I was about to get to the good part" Rhodey whined. Just as Tony was about to close the door, Rhodey grabbed his arm and turned him towards him. "You owe me big time man"

Tony stared at Rhodey confused before he realized what he meant. Rhodey planned to tell Bella about Malaysia on purpose. Tony smiled at his best friend and smiled.

"Thanks" tony smiled then shut the door in his face. Tony turned towards Bella and saw her looking at him. "So what's up"

"Well I wanted to talk to you about something, but I rather hear about how you blew up Malaysia instead" she smiled

"Ummm… no" he smirked and she laughed "So what'cha want to talk about"

"Err…" Bella hesitated looking down at the bouquet.

"Listen about that, I just wanted to say sorry so I just figured…" he trailed off and Bella looked at him confused.

"I'm not mad about the flowers" she said

"You're not" he asked. She shook her head and he sighed relieved "Then what's up"

"It's just that, Pepper told me about how your mom liked cherry blossoms and how you didn't really like things that reminded you of her" she said

"Oh, yeah. Ummm… it just seemed like a good idea at the time" he lied. In truth he had no idea why he had sent his mother's favorite flowers to Bella. Maybe he really did have feelings for Bella.

"Okay. I was just asking" she said "So you still aren't going to tell me about Malaysia are you"

"Nope. Too embarrassing" he said

"Oh come on! We all have embarrassing stuff about us" she said "Like, up until now I tripped over everything. Sidewalk, steps, my feet, air"

"Air?! Seriously" he laughed "How are you even still walking" Bella slapped his shoulder and laughed with him.

"In truth I honestly don't know" she giggled "Your turn"

"All during my school life, I was the ultimate nerd" he confessed.

"Shut up! You? No way" she laughed. Tony nodded and she laughed even more "Oh man! Did you have the whole big nerd glasses and braces"

"N" he said "I had a retainer"

"Oh my God! Seriously" she laughed even louder and he shoved her shoulder slightly.

"So what about you" he asked

"I was quiet and shy. I still had friends and all, but was more kept to myself" she admitted "Your turn"

For the next couple of hours, tony and Bella kept telling every embarrassing moment they could remember. It went all the way down to if they ever wet the bed. But Tony had asked one question that Bella refused to answer.

"Oh come on! It's not the hard to answer" he said

"I don't care! I'm not answering it" she said shaking her now flushed red face. She was laying on his couch opposite of him in his office burying her head into a pillow.

"It's an easy question Bella" he said rolling his eyes "Have you or have you not had sex with someone"

"I don't care if it's easy! I will not answer the question, Tony" she said

"Oh yeah" Before Bella could ask Tony was over top of tickling her. "Say it"

"NO! I won't say it" she said through laughter. He kept tickling her until tears ran down her face. Tony got off her and sat back down across from her.

"Okay then" he said "Hmmm, so you've done it what four times" he guessed. Bella choked and gaped at him "Five times"

"NO"

"okay then… six"

"God no"

"Then how many times"

"NONE" she confessed and Tony smiled triumphantly

"Now was that so hard" he asked. He caught the pillow Bella chucked at him and snickered "You got some bad aim"

"Shut up, Tony" she said "Since I had to answer your question, you have to answer mine no questions asked"

"Bring it on" he challenged

"How'd you blow up Malaysia" she asked

"Oh no. Nu-uh" he said shaking his head.

"Come on! I answered your question, now you answer mine. Now how'd you do it" she demanded. Tony sighed and began to tell her how he got drunk the day before he was supposed to be presenting a new weapon using the Iron Man armor. And it went wrong and he blew up Malaysia. He expected her to scowl him and reprimand him, but instead she laughed heartily.

"I cannot believe you blew up Malaysia, Tony! Do you have a habit of not thinking or something" she asked still laughing. Tony stared at her for a minute and then laughed with her.

"Yeah, I guess I do huh" he said. She nodded still in laughing hysterics.

"Wow! I still can't believe it" she sighed after she was done laughing. "How bad was it"

"Ugh, it was horrible! Why do you wanna know so much anyways"

"I don't know. I always thought there was something kinda special about it. But apparently all it's good for is getting blown up" she teased

"Whatever" Tony glanced at the clock and was shocked. They had been talking for at least 4 hours. He smiled to himself, realizing that out of those four hours he four to know a little bit more about Bella and she got the same for him. "Wow. It's pretty late"

"Oh man it is. I better get home" she said standing up

"Need a ride" he asked hoping he wasn't crossing the line of their friendship. Obviously he wasn't but she nodded smiling. They got up and walked and talked all the way down to the front door. They made a right turn towards the garage, when Bella paused at the sight of Tony's car. Obviously it was his car because it was the only car in the lot and Bella had walked to work this morning.

"That's your car" she asked staring at the fire-truck engine red convertible.

"Yup" he said opening the passenger door "You comin' or what"

Tem seconds later they were on the freeway driving at an unbelievably fast speed. Bella shook her head and turned back to Tony.

"And tell me why I can't stay at my place again" she asked

"You can't be serious, Bella! Did you see that place" he demanded. When he had driven her to the apartment she was staying at Tony had a fit. An extreme irrational fit as Bella had clearly put it. He refused to let her stay and remembered a perfect house he saw a while back that would do nicely for her. Bella had to admit that was pretty generous of him, meaning he wasn't that much of an arse after all, but still wouldn't accept it.

"I did see it and I was only going to stay there until I got enough money for my own place" she said

"But that place was still horrible. Besides, you'll like this place" he said "It's nice and by the beach too"

"Really" she asked. She had never thought about living on a beach before, but now that he had mentioned it sounded like a good idea. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be so bad. But I most likely won't have enough money to pay for it for a while"

"Don't worry about it. I'll pay for it" he said. Just as she was about to protest he continued "Consider it a welcoming present"

"People don't buy other people houses for welcoming presents, Tony"

"Well, most people aren't Tony Stark" he said smiling at her. Bella let a small laugh and shook her head.

"You really aren't so much of an arrogant prick as I thought you were" she said mostly to herself, but still loud enough for him to hear.

"Gee thanks" he muttered. She smiled at him apologetically and he laughed it off "We're here" Bella looked up and gasped. It was beautiful. The house was a light blue and centered at the edge of the road. So that the backyard was pretty much consistent of the entire beach. Tony parked the car outside and walked over to Bella's side opening her door. She stepped out and looked at it in awe. "So you like it"

"Yeah! I love it" she exclaimed. She looked around and the noticed the price "But I can't pay for it"

"But I can" he said and she shook her head "Oh come Bella! It's a gift"

"Tony, there is no way I can let you pay for this and let you call it a 'gift'" she said

"Please Bella" he whined and she shook her head "You are getting this house, whether you like it or not" Bella stared at him shocked by his threat. Surely he didn't mean it, but as she was now learning, Tony meant most of the stuff he said. Bella sighed seeing no choice but to surrender.

"Fine" she exclaimed "Since apparently there's no convincing you otherwise"

"Exactly" he said and she stuck her tongue at him "Come on, let's look inside" He grabbed her hand and dragged her into the inside of the house.

Another ten minutes later, they had finally looked around the house and were completely impressed. Tony had been right, the house was truly perfect. All that was left was for Bella to sign the paperwork and Tony to hand over the cash for it then it was Bella's.

"So, there is no way I can convince you not to buy me this house, correct" she asked as they got back into Tony's car.

"Absolutely"

"And you will not let me pay you back either, right"

"what part of 'it's a gift' don't you get"

"The fact that the gift is a house" she muttered "And where am I going o sleep tonight and get to work tomorrow"

"Easy. I already have a hotel room ready for you and I'll see you in the morning" he smirked.

"Wow. You just about thought of everything didn't you"

"Naturally of course" he responded smugly

"Oh really? So what am I gonna wear tomorrow" Tony opened his mouth to respond then closed it. He actually didn't think of that, truthfully. "Didn't you think of that" she asked mockingly

"No" he grumbled much to her approval "But, I'm pretty sure I can figure something out"

"So let me guess, you're also paying for my room"

"That is correct" he said. She shook her head and he sighed annoyed "Come on Bella. You can't do everything by yourself"

"That doesn't mean I can't try" she grumbled. Tony shook his head and sighed.

"Why are you so prone to have people helping you"

"It's not so much to being prone to people helping me, more to the fact that I'm prone to people spending money on me" she said. Tony noted the fact that her tone held a certain hatred and distain when she mentioned people spending money on her. Hmmm, he thought, I wonder…

"Does it matter to you how much money a person spends on you" he asked

"What do you mean"

"Okay, I'm going to spend like a couple of hundred dollars on your house on you. But if I bought you something else that didn't cost a lot of money, what would you say"

"Well, I guess I wouldn't be mad. A little annoyed maybe, but not mad" she said after some consideration. Note to self, he thought, buy stuff on her that doesn't cost a lot.

"Okay. Just wondering" he said. Bella stared at him wondering what on earth he was up to but then decided she'd most likely benefit from not knowing. Although what she hasn't realized yet, that when it comes down to Tony being sneaky, you'd benefit better in the loop instead of outside it.

well tony's up to his shenanigans... again... what on earth is he planning? and what'cha guys think about the house and tony's act of chivalry?! so i'm gonna get rid of pepper for a while. she's played the part i needed her to do, so this way i can focus on tony and bells. and what'cha say if i put bells in one of the iron man armors?! review and let me know!