When A Bright Idea Dims

By Sinead

Author's Note: I'm feeling so impatient in wanting to get to the "good stuff" of this story that I almost am at a writer's block with the "set up!" It's funny to think about, but at the same time, I'm also quite annoyed because I really do want to flesh out where Tony and Becka have been in the past few months as well as starting to set out where they're going to be in the following years. Longish chapter, now that I'm looking at it.

Chapter Three

The gym was set up with a traditional boxing ring domineering the generously-sized room. Mirrors adorned one wall while another wall was made completely of glass as it overlooked the Pacific Ocean. There was matting set out for traditional martial arts that faced the mirrors, which was where Becka often practiced with her personal trainer of choice.

Today, however, because of the energetic bouncing around that Happy and Tony were doing, the duo moved out to the balcony, shoved the furniture to one side, and ran through katas while the sea breeze played with their clothing. Tony wasn't happy that he had pushed his fiancé out of the room, but he was agitated and it was coming through his physical movements. He was signing his company over to Pepper today. But somehow, he knew that his woman understood and instead of saying something to calm him down, she let him work things out physically. She was prone to do the same on some occasions when she was around him but couldn't figure out what it was that was bothering her.

Tony never could tell what physical activity it was that she did, only that when she returned from it, there was a sheen of sweat on her brow and her breathing was of the calm and deep sort that one develops after a strenuous workout that leaves one refreshed afterwards. He knew when she was going swimming at the local gym, but everything else? She was a mystery. He'd have to ask her soon about what she does.

Turning his mind back to his boxing lesson with Happy, Tony jabbed twice with his left, hooked with his right, and did a follow-up jab with his left.

"Faster on that third jab!"

"Tony, the notary's here!" Pepper's voice interrupted the lesson as she walked in with the click of expensive heels.

"I'm on Happy time!" he replied, not taking his eyes off of his opponent, desperate to understand more of hand-to-hand combat in order that he be able to fight more efficiently when in the suit. Maybe he should have taken Becka up on the idea of learning kung-fu, which she was following through with now, but be damned if he didn't know the style name. She was starting to show that she could move in deadly-swift motions. He threw a couple more jabs, then instinctively threw his right elbow into Happy's face, wincing and apologizing immediately. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

"What the hell was that?"

"Mixed martial arts. It's been around about . . . three weeks."

"It's dirty boxing and there's nothing new about it."

Becka, having finished the first half of her katas, walked back into the gym just as the notary walked in. The first thing through the future Mrs. Stark's mind was that she was glad that she wasn't the youngest in the room anymore. The second thing was that she wondered how long this hot young thing was going to last. Her sensei, a middle-aged man who had been a dancer prior to learning serious martial arts, raised one eyebrow before walking to the mats first. He knew of the infamous Stark appetite for beautiful women, but wasn't going to say anything. Hopefully Mr. Stark had gotten rid of that while attempting to settle down.

Happy stared at the notary from legal for a moment, his eyes leaving Tony's face.

That caused Tony to look.

Natalie Rushman found herself scrutinized by three people and found herself not liking the sensation much at all. Becka broke the moment by walking past Tony, tossing him a bottle of his black-looking liquid and saying, "You're going to have to massage out my left leg tonight. I pulled it yesterday and it's seizing up here and there today. That was your fault that I ended up chasing after you last night."

Pepper, having realized that Tony was trying to kill his appetite for women, smiled and added, "I promise that this is the last time I will ask you to sign over your company."

Happy landed a good hit to the back of Tony's head.

Chaos resumed, and it didn't stop when Natalie entered the ring. Becka and her sensei paused to watch as Happy mocked the girlie-boxing that the notary had possibly done, each having watched her walk and realize that her posture and balance indicated a variety of things.

But it all boiled down to the fact that this chick could probably lay Happy Hogan out flat on his back in less than a minute. Neither were surprised at it happening, but their faces were painted with shock at the efficiency of Natalie's movements.

Becka made sure to keep this woman's face in her mind. She didn't trust Natalie Rushman, not after how the woman handled Happy. And when she looked at Pepper, Becka saw her own frown of mistrust mirrored iota for iota. Rushman was not good news in Stark Enterprises.

"I think that I'm going to be hiring Natalie for my new assistant."

Becka put down the book she was reading while Tony fiddled with something or another on his virtual desktop. "What?"

Tony didn't look at his future wife. "She's got a vibe to her that I think I can work with."

"Yeah, last I heard, that 'vibe' was called sex appeal."

"No, it's not that." His hands paused momentarily before resuming working on whatever it was that he was working on. "Did you see the way that she took Happy down?"

Standing and walking over to Tony, the young woman nodded, not afraid to show her displeasure. "I don't like how fast she did it. And you hate bodyguards."

"I never said bodyguard. She'd make a great assistant, though. She's not afraid of people bigger than her, and when you're a notary working in a world of big people and big names, that's a good thing to have."

"Pepper was right in amending that statement by claiming that she'd also make a great sexual harassment suit. Tony, I'm not comfortable with her being in the picture, not so close to you, anyway."

This was different. Becka didn't often get touchy about people getting close to Tony. She would often encourage him to branch out from time to time, not that he needed the encouragement, the party-man that he often was. Most people that he knew to be sycophants and social ladder climbers would often be just as displeasing for Becka, even if she didn't know what they were all about. But for them to be at odds about someone?

Well, not just someone. Another woman.

"Are you jealous? Envious?"

Blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Because if you are, that's okay."

"Is it?"

Maybe not? "Well, it could be okay."

"I don't trust her, Tony, plain and simple."

"What if I feel that I can trust her, though?"

"Not good enough for me."

"Why?"

Sighing explosively, Rebeckah walked to one of the cars and sat on the hood. "Why? She's gorgeous. She has great curves, long legs, long, curly hair, and has that doe-eyed look that desires to capture every man in the room. She knows she's gorgeous and knows that she can play men like pawns. Trust me, I know the mentality."

"So you think that I'm attracted to her?"

"From the way you were staring at her oh so obviously earlier today? And the flirt afterwards?"

"I was trying to make friends, and I wasn't trying to flirt."

"Uh-huh."

Tony took his turn to sigh gustily. "Okay, we're just going to fight endlessly about this unless we get to the point of things. You don't trust her, I do, and I want her as my assistant. Why don't you want her to be my assistant?"

Calming herself enough to get her thoughts out just right, Becka replied, "Because maybe I want to be the only woman you look at, the only one you need to rely upon."

Well, he couldn't argue with that. Damn. Standing and walking to his love's side, he wrapped her in an embrace, holding her close and wishing that this would last forever. "Can we get married soon, please?"

"Why?"

"Because . . . I want to show you that you're the only woman for me, and I want to show you that you're the only one that I want to look at." Tony tipped her chin up to rest his nose to hers. "Being chaste isn't my idea of a fun time, and I'll admit to that openly. But this isn't about my issues. I want to be able to look at you and introduce you to everyone as my wife, not as my fiancé. I want to be able to share everything I have with you on every level."

Becka turned her head into his chest and sighed, closing her eyes and holding onto his torso firmly.

"Darlin', I want to spend the rest of my life with you in every waking moment, and I'm impatient on that. You leave every night to sleep at your own apartment when you know that I have a room set up here for you."

"But we're not married."

"And I want to fix that."

"But why do you want that whore to be your assistant?"

"That was . . . blunt of you." But Tony was smiling, not really disappointed in the unforgiving nature of his fiancé's speech.

"I don't like her, I don't trust her, and she walks like a streetwalker."

"Give her some credit. I don't think that she wavers when trying to walk a straight line."

"But still."

Chuckling, the billionare hugged his lady tighter. She spoke up from his chest, her voice muffled by muscle and fabric. "So? Why do you want her to be your assistant?"

He made the list in his mind, then started talking. Thinking before talking saved him from having to try to reason with an angry woman. He learned that from Pepper. "Foreign things, little things that while I know you would try to do, she could do easier. Monaco's coming up, and you don't even like the French language, and I know that you're not going to speak it fluently. She can maneuver through situations like that easily. French. Spanish. Russian. Latin."

"I speak Japanese damn well, but you don't want to go there. They compete pretty well with your inventions."

"I built you that Japanese garden at the Stark Expo."

"From my designs and it's in New York. We're in Malibu."

"Yeah. Sorry."

"No you're not."

"Of course I'm not sorry. It gives you reason to visit the Expo more often. That, and you couldn't keep yourself from crying when you saw the Zen gardens and the cherry trees. But I can always find some property and build you a Japanese garden here in California if you'd like."

Smiling, she shook her head. "Save it for our five-year anniversary."

He wouldn't be there for that one. Sorry, love. He lied. "I'll even have a pavilion set up for our getaway vacation. What do you think of that for a plan?"

"Perfect."

"So can I hire her?"

Groaning, Becka looked up at Tony. "Fine. But I don't want her over here unless it's necessary, and I don't want to see her more than twice a week unless we're in a foreign country and it's necessary that she interpret for us."

"I speak fluid French, by the way."

"Not like you speak it to me."

"I know better than to do so."

Finally cracking a smile, Becka reached up and stroked her love's cheek softly. "So answer me this one final question."

"Anything."

"Why do you really want to get married so fast?"

Of course it was the one question that he didn't want to answer. So he tried to deliberate, but he couldn't lie into her eyes like this. He couldn't do anything. He was trapped by her gaze, compelled to answer. "Because . . . I want to be with you. Not even in a sexual manner, even. But I want to be with you, sharing your company every day from midnight to midnight. I don't want to wait to see you every morning, or see you off every night. I want to wake up next to you and roll over to just hold you. I want to share my life with you, my future." Swallowing, he brought up the one subject that they had avoided for the last few months. "I want to start my family with you, and I'm aching for that fact alone."

Ever since the forced abortion, Becka had tried not to think about the child they had lost. She had done fine for the last six months and had stopped waking up to the sound of her own sobs, but at hearing the brokenness in her love's voice, her face crumpled up and she let the tears fall down her cheeks. They had both loved their unborn child deeply, desperately wanting to parent the little one together.

Tony wiped her tears, whispering, "Yinsen was right. I have had everything . . . and nothing. You're the most amazing woman in the world, and you love me when I'm at my worst. I love you when you're at your worst and most difficult, too. I admire your strength of will, and know that it's the only will, save for Yinsen's, that can effectively match mine. You've seen me throw temper tantrums and have been a steady hand in telling me to get up off my lazy ass and get back to work. I think you've even said those very words to me a few times. Besides. We don't need a big wedding now. We can do a big wedding later." Maybe. If he could find a way to fix the issue of palladium poisoning. "Just you, me, a minister, your folks and our friends. We can have it at the Japanese gardens, even. Wherever you want, whenev—"

Becka kept her lips pressed against Tony's, keeping him silent as he wrapped arms around her and squeezed her close to him. Their eyes closed as the quick kiss turned into a passionate one. The passionate kiss softened into a tender series of gentle kisses that Tony extended along Becka's jawline. Just before he nipped at her earlobe, he stopped himself, aware that his control wasn't fine-tuned to begin with and in that they were breaking his control, he could very well go overboard. Both were breathing hard.

Tony felt a hand gripping hard to the hair at the back of his head, and he carefully disentangled his own hand from Becka's hair. "You know how well you kiss?"

"Umm, kinda."

"You're a wonderful kisser. I think it's a good think that we don't kiss more often, now. Good choice in fighting for that stance."

Finally opening her eyes, showing that she was still floating just from the kiss, Becka only murmured, "Mm?"

"Because I honestly wouldn't have been persuaded to have kept my hands off of you otherwise." He smiled and nuzzled her cheek, closing his eyes and glad that she . . . wait. Did she say yes to the quick wedding? "Babe, what's your answer on that?"

She was slow to reply, but it was a reply at the very least. "Let me think about it over the next two days."

"So by the time we land in Monaco, will you have your answer ready?"

"Yes."

"Very cool."