A/N: Sorry for the delay – I always tend to drop the ball for my writing in the second half of the year as exams approach (I wrote my finals now before Christmas) but they're over now, so yay! Thanks everyone for your reviews so far, and I hope you continue to enjoy this :-)

Chapter 4: Tony Stark Defends PA, Pepper Potts

They slid into the car and Happy accelerated his way out of the parking lot and in the direction of home.

Tony was sitting in huffy silence, glowering out of the window. He knew Pepper was glancing uncertainly in his direction, but for the moment, he ignored her. He was feeling a lot of anger at the moment and everyone was receiving their share of it. That cow at the benefit, Pepper, himself … even Happy for manhandling him out of the public eye.

Honestly, it wasn't as though he hadn't had the right to lose his temper, but they were treating him like a child who had just thrown a tantrum over something as insignificant as dropping his spoon into the dog bowl. He reviewed everything that had happened and felt a renewed rush of self-justification.

He remembered sitting at his table as Pepper had stood up and addressed the crowd. He wasn't really listening; he had his hand up the skirt of his date and was smirking at the delicious promises for later that she was breathing into his ear. They had already had more than one heavy make-out session that afternoon and he was toying with the thought of actually going all the way with her somewhere at the event. He hadn't picked a place yet ... Maybe in the car, or in a clutch of bushes, or-

" ... more than worth the hard work we've all put in to make today a succ-"

"Oh, sure, like you're working for the job! Working a little something extra, if you know what I mean!"

The voice was loud and came from two tables to Tony's right.

For a moment, he and everyone else present were startled, turning in the direction of the voice before the actual words had even sunk in. They sank in moments later when she added even more loudly, slurring slightly, "Yeah, we all know you ****ed your way to the top, Potts!"

Tony's insides turned to ice. Icey rage, that is. When he was angry, he didn't go scarlet or see red haze or flush with temper; he went white and he saw crystal clear and his skin tingled with fury. Having pulled apart from his blonde on instinct, all his muscles clenched instantly and he froze in position for a moment.

The woman got to her feet and yelled out more. By the time her next sentence, so coloured with profanities thrown at Pepper that the actual meaning was quite difficult to follow, was over, Tony had found himself leaping to his feet and yelling as well.

Yelling for her to shut up, yelling that she wished she was Pepper, calling her jealous and matching her for swear words in both volume and vulgarity. He saw nothing but blinding white rage and he barely noticed Pepper herself suddenly at his side, tugging his arm and begging him to stop. He didn't, not until the woman in question was no longer in his sight, thanks to several large security guards.

He glowered after her, trembling, and that was when he became aware that Happy was pulling him back as well until they were outside and out of sight of the marquee. His lucidity returned enough to note Pepper, who was speaking to him in furious tones. He didn't catch much of what she said, though. He was still coming to terms with how severely he had lost his temper. How angry he was.

He still wanted to go back out there and have the woman arrested for public indecency, defamation of character on two counts (himself and Pepper) and as many other charges as he could dream up. He came up with a few more insults he should have thrown at her and even a couple of threats. He stewed on the whole incident and thought that the people in charge of security should be reprimanded as well for not removing her soon enough.

It took a very intense hushed argument with Pepper in the back of the beverage tent to get him to apologise at all.

You have to say something!

I already did!

Something that can be quoted, Tony.

I won't change my sentiment!

You can't go on record as having sworn at her-

Why the hell not?! She deserved it!

That's irrelevant; you're going to look bad!

People should know I'm on your side!

They will think what she said was true! If you leave it like that, it looks true!

No, it looks like I'm angry!

You accused her of jealousy, Tony! You need people to focus on your real point-

She is jealous!

Are you listening to me? People will think we're involved! You got too angry! They won't understand!

But-

They'll think I slept my way up!

That had been that in the end. His instinct was to protect her. Practically vibrating with pent up rage and bitterness, he had walked stiffly to the podium ten minutes later and grudgingly announced to the overly fascinated assembled guests in a voice that was loud, firm and clear:

"I just want to apologise for the scene you just witnessed and particularly for losing my temper. I realise that my own outburst was hardly better than that of the woman who started this. However, I mostly regret that my somewhat frowned upon lifestyle has caused such unforgivable speculation regarding my assistant, the lovely Pepper Potts."

He was adding words he hadn't intended. Words like "unforgivable" and "lovely". He hadn't planned those words, but they were slipping out anyway, sneaking into his carefully constructed speech and leaking out bits of his heart. He cleared his throat, paused and then tried again to stick to his script.

"I would like to state for the record that Ms Potts has proven herself to be a valuable asset, both to Stark Industries and to myself as a person. She is dedicated, brilliant and trustworthy. To all those here who have the privilege of knowing her, this speech contains nothing new. To those of you who don't, let me assure you that Ms Potts is the very epitome of professionalism and that all rumours to the contrary are false and distasteful."

There. That had been exactly what he had planned. And yet ... he heard his own words, words he had rehearsed, words that were true and words that felt ridiculously empty. In that moment, his heart was filled with self-disgust, something he was not that familiar with. She deserved more than this.

He turned to look at her and the words that came out next were also entirely unplanned, but so very sincere.

"I'm very sorry, Ms Potts, for the indignity I have caused you."

He saw her face, a face that had been strained and tense up until that moment, soften slightly into one of almost pained tenderness. He never apologised for his lifestyle, or for pretty much anything. But here he was, in front of a crowd of people, doing it for Pepper. And he suddenly found that extremely annoying.

He shouldn't have said that in front of everybody.

Taking deep calming breaths, he finished with a, "Thank you," and descended from the podium, striding to meet Pepper and Happy, who were already walking in his direction. Without a word, the three of them swept from the tent and headed to the car.

By the time they reached it, Tony's rage had fizzled down into a generally dark mood. He was, put simply, sulking. It wasn't fair. He should be allowed to live however he liked. Why did people have to turn against him and, more importantly, against Pepper? Because now he was doing ridiculous things like making public apologies. He almost flushed at the memory.

Well, who cared anyway? Everyone knew he was greatly attached to Pepper. That was why these rumours came up in the first place. He shouldn't worry … But somehow he felt uncomfortable about having apologised to her like that. He shuffled in his seat and moved on to resentment about her having made him apologise at all. It was all her fault. Yelling at that woman had been the right thing to do. Anybody else would have-

Crap.

"I left … I mean I forgot to bring …"

"You left something behind?" asked Pepper, taking out her organiser.

"Whatshername, you know, S … Sarah, Sandra …?"

"You forgot your date?"

He shrugged.

"You're my PA. You forgot my date."

"You can carry your own date," retorted Pepper crossly.

"Apparently I can't and now I'm not getting laid tonight," he grunted, feeling even more irritable.

Pepper sighed.

"I'll call for a car for her," she muttered.

He listened while she did just that. He noticed that she instructed the car to take his date home and not bring her back to the mansion. Well, after accidentally leaving her there, he supposed she wouldn't have slept with him anyway. Which was a shame, he thought. It would have helped calm him down.

When they pulled into his driveway, he barely waited a moment before bursting out of the car and storming inside. He was just down a couple of the steps to his workshop when he heard a firm, "Hold on a second," behind him.

He was impressed she had managed to catch him up. He sighed, turned and rolled his eyes so she could see him. She looked as though she would have liked to return the gesture, but she maintained her composure.

"What?" he said rudely.

She faltered and looked somewhat uncomfortable.

"Look, what you did was stupid b-"

"Oh, great, calling me back to tell me off?" he snapped, his anger surging up again. "Last time I checked, you weren't my mother, Potts."

There was a short pause and then she said slowly, "Well, that's true to my knowledge as well. But I just wanted to-"

"Look, I have a life outside of this kind of petty drama, all right? I don't need to spend the rest of this month discussing it like I'm at bridge obsessing about the last episode of Dallas with my girlfriends."

"Right, okay, but what I wanted to say-"

"Forget it, okay? I won't do it again, you have my word, whatever, you're welcome, can I-"

"Just shut up for a second, won't you?" she snapped loudly.

He was surprised into silence. They bickered all the time, it was true, but she hadn't quite crossed into the realm of telling him to shut up before now.

"I'm trying to say thank you," she continued, sounding much more as though she was trying to say "go to hell". A tone of voice which was new for him as well.

"Oh," he said stupidly, but feeling suddenly much more cheerful. "For what?"

Her flash of boldness was fading quickly and she was suddenly looking slightly embarrassed, although not without a trace of exasperation.

"Well you know, for everything … for making the statement, for apologising … for yelling at that woman …"

He was grinning now.

"Well now, Ms Potts, I'm getting mixed messages. You're going to have to work on your disciplinary regimen, because I'm getting a definite sense of reward here."

She stared at him.

"Please don't do it again."

"No? Well, then I'm confused."

"I'm just … thank you. For caring."

Then she really did blush.

He debated giving her a hard time about that as well, but decided that it wasn't necessary. He tipped her a wink instead and then turned and continued on his way downstairs, feeling much lighter indeed.

All right … that had almost made it worth it.

x x x

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading!