A woman with a light shade of brown hair could be seen kicking and punching a punching bag to blow off some steam brought up by a day full of undercover work that she could've spent getting more dirt on the man her boss wanted her to kill but instead spent a day with his obsessed-with-talking teenage daughter. She hated the stupid teenager. She never shut up and she always seemed to get in the way of her and her father. She had hated kids ever since her part-time job as a college student at a day-care center (it was a last effort to make some money. She had been going to college for 'a legal education'). It was one of the few downsides of the job, but other than that she loved it.

As she threw in the towel for the day, her phone went off. She pulled it out of her bag and saw the caller I.D. with a smile.

"Oh, hey you!" She answered.

"Yeah, I'm just getting out of work. What's up?"

"Oh, yeah I can do that! No problem!"

"Okay, see you soon. Bye." She hung up and left work to continue her undercover work.

~…~

Pepper was sitting on the couch doing her homework and watching TV when Amy walked in, pushing her light brown hair pack into a ponytail.

"Hi there, Patricia, where's your father?" She asked, hiding her sneer with a smile.

"He's doing some laundry upstairs." She explained. Amy nodded and found her way to their laundry room. As soon as she was gone, Pepper gathered the things she needed to do her homework with and left for Tony's.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing homework?" Tony asked once she got there.

"Yeah, but not as long as Amy is there." Tony smiled and sat at his desk while Pepper worked more on her homework while she laid back on Tony's bed. The room was as Pepper did her homework and Tony looked through some schematics on his computer; until Pepper kept eyeing Tony as he worked away on his computer and began to not be able to figure some—no, all of them—problems wrong. She smiled.

"Hey, Tony, I'm having a little trouble with my math, think you could help?" She asked. Tony smirked.

"Sure," Tony took a seat next to Pepper on his bed and looked over her shoulder at her math homework.

"Hey, that's not math homework," Tony noticed with a smile.

"Oh, isn't it? Sorry, I kinda just like talking to you." Pepper responded with a wider smile. Tony shook his head and began kissing her.

"God even when you get a room it's weird!" Rhodey commented as he was walking by Tony's room. They chuckled and went back to their business—when Pepper's phone went off. She sighed in complaint and answered it.

"Pepper, where are you? Amy said you were gone when she went back downstairs." Pepper rolled her eyes.

"Dad, I just went over to Tony's." Pepper responded.

"Pepper, you know you're not supposed to be out past nine on a school night! Especially at Tony's!" Virgil scolded. Pepper sighed miserably.

"Ugh, fine whatever." She said as she hung up.

"I gotta go, it's past my curfew." Pepper said reluctantly, packing up her things, giving Tony a kiss goodbye and went back home.

Once she got there, she came to Amy standing there, tapping her foot, arms crossed, devilish look in her eyes.

"What? Are you going to ground me? Cuz you can't. You're not my mom, if that's what you're trying to do, so stop trying."

"No, I'd never want to be your mom. I'm just trying to make your life as miserable as I can while I'm here," She said as Virgil came down the stairs.

"Pepper, I'm not going to punish you, but one more time and you know what'll happen. You have a curfew for a reason." Virgil scolded.

"I'll be home in a few hours, see you later honey." Virgil kissed Pepper's forehead and Pepper went up to her room miserably after Amy turned over her shoulder to give Pepper a dirty look.

Sometimes, she thought, I really hate my life.

Why does dad have to start dating again anyways? I thought after he and mom split he told me he was done with women. He had even promised me right after my mom moved out. I remember that day so well…

Flashback!

A young girl around the age of five sat on the steps of her apartment with her head resting in her hands. Her father came down the steps and sat next to her.

"Pepper, honey, I know you're upset, but this is for the best. Mommy and I…we just don't get along anymore, okay?" The little girl just looked away from her father.

"Come on, honey, you can still see mommy every other week."

"But daddy, I don't want a new mommy!" The little girl cried.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because that's what happens when every mommy and daddy stop loving each other." She moped. The father wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him.

"Look, sweetie, I promise you you will never have a new mommy. I don't want you to have a new mommy. The only woman I want in my life anymore is you, okay?" The little girl was silent and reluctant for a moment until she smiled at her dad and jumped onto his lap. He picked her up.

"Come on; let's go see some animals at the zoo. That ought to cheer you up." The girl cheered.

"Yay, I like the penguins!" (A/N: Shout out woot! If you know what I'm referencing ;D )

Flashback endd.

What happened to that dad? He's being so unlike himself lately and I can't stand it. And even worse than that, he doesn't realize that Amy is a total bi…eotch. How can he be so completely oblivious that he comes off as thinking that Amy is nice?

Pepper thought more as she did her homework in her bedroom until a few hours later, Virgil came home and knocked on her bedroom door.

"Pepper, honey can we talk?" He asked. Pepper got up and opened her door, crossing her arms.

"Go ahead. Talk."

"Look, I know you're not exactly liking the idea of me dating again, but that's no reason to leave past your curfew on a school night."

"Yeah, that was totally my bad."

"Hey, don't you dare give me attitude!" He scolded. Pepper sighed.

"What, are you going to ground me? Ooh, how terrible."

"Don't disrespect me!"

"Oh, I'm disrespecting you! My bad! I didn't mean to upset you!"

"Pepper, why are you acting like this?"

"WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS? Once in my life, apparently a long time ago, I had a dad who said that the only girl he needed was me. I once had a dad that told me he missed my mom too much to even think about dating. A dad who once told me that dating was so much trouble and hassle that he just wasn't going to try. What happened to that dad?" Pepper yelled. There was a moment of silence between them as they exchanged angered or confused glares. After the long moment, Pepper slammed her door shut and went back to her homework—and by now, of course, texting Tony.

Heey I updated! Yaay :3 took me awhile, but I finally got to it. But just so you're all aware, I'll only be updating stories until this Tuesday or Wednesday, because I'm going on vacation Thursday for a week. But I should get it done before I leave :D review?