Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Also, thank you for all the kudos.
Just a reminder that this story diverges at the end of season one of AOS although elements from parts of later cannon will be incorporated. Actually, the point of divergence is right before episode 1.19 where May decides to pay Stark a little visit. (It could be Fury giving May her special assignment as well.) From there, the butterfly effect takes over.
Certain things from AOS season two and Avengers 2 will happen in the next story but others will not. I tried to cut down on the influence by getting this chapter written before the new episodes started to air but I ended up rewriting pieces of it to fit better. It's so mixed in with things from my imagination that you may not be able to pick it out unless you have seen episode 2.1 of AOS or at least read the official synopsis for Avengers 2. That being said, this chapter does contain light spoilers for episode 2.1.
Additional warnings: I did end up rewriting portions of this chapter after proofreading. Also the wonderful Grayson Steele is on vacation and Heather, who normally does my Ugly Betty stories, graciously agreed to help so I could get this chapter out to you sooner. I apologize for more typos and shifting of tenses than normal.
Chapter 6: Helped Me Pepper, You're My Only Hope
As many years as she has worked with Tony Stark, Pepper should not be at all surprised that he did not show up for today's board meeting. Not at all. Neither is she surprised that he sent Maria instead. She just wasn't sure if he didn't show up because he was caught up working on a project.
Most likely, it was his flying vintage convertible that Maria got him as an apology gift. He mumbled something about perfecting cloaking technology for the vehicle last time they talked. Or there was a crisis in the Middle East that he had to deal with directly, or he was too busy being with Steve. With Tony, anything was possible and she wasn't even entirely sure, which possibility she preferred.
At least, if he was caught up in Steve, it meant that he wasn't doing something that could possibly get him killed. Contrary to what most assumed (Natasha and Maria) she wasn't that upset about the Steve thing. At the very least, the two of them being together now proves that she wasn't crazy or was just seeing things. There was something there between the two underneath the bickering and complaining. The whole thing reminded her of a schoolboy crush, especially when you consider all the Captain America collectibles, including the ones that were more porn than propaganda, that Tony had her purchase when she first became his assistant.
It was just easier to deal with this readjustment in their relationship with Tony being four hours away or about 20 minute by suit the way Tony flies, than being with him in person. Things were awkward with him. While she was okay with Steve, she was not ready to deal with Tony covered in bite makes just yet (or the snide remarks of the press, regarding said bite marks). Text messages and emails gave her some time to figure out what she was going to say, when the same couldn't be said of in person contact.
She was upset with him for keeping the truth about Coulson being alive from her. She doesn't entirely believe that Phil was only clinically dead for a few seconds. It felt like there should be more to the story but she's too afraid to question it. Pepper was also upset about him not telling her about sleeping with Steve right away. Maybe, it was her fault for not explaining the boundaries of the relationship. Maybe, the fact that they never talked about their expectations was the biggest problem of all.
Tony was mad at her for automatically assuming that he couldn't do a monogamous relationship. Considering he slept with Steve, she made the right call on that. However, the best friend side of her will take Steve Rogers over most of the brainless people that he fucked in the past. In a way that's part of the problem because she knows that Steve Rogers will be there for a while and take over a lot of functions that she used to do. This was another thing she had to get used to.
Don't get her wrong, she doesn't hate Steve. Under different circumstances, they probably would've ended up really good friends. Maybe, they could still get there eventually, but not today. They had lunch together to days ago before Steve return to Arlington. He brought her flowers again. This time, they were her favorite. The last bouquet was meant for Jonathan Triplet's wife, who just happened to be his ex's daughter.
It was Tony's now fired assistant that assume that Captain America could take over the meet and greet with the head of accounting and his wife/daughter of a long-lost friend, while she and Tony left for their own 'romantic' evening. She fired the woman for that ridiculous notion alone. There was no place for someone that manipulative at Stark Industries, especially after the recent purging. Lunch with Steve was peaceful but slightly uncomfortable. At least he didn't apologize as much this time.
She had no prior history with Steve before Tony, other than a couple of lunches and dinners, all with Tony there. They were building things fresh. However, because of her lack of communication with Tony about certain expectations of their relationship she was building her relationship with Steve on a fractured foundation. He felt guilty for breaking up their relationship and she felt guilt not ending things with Tony earlier.
It was easier to pretend that Tony and she were like they used to be when she communicated with Tony via email. It's easier to mask being upset with each other through the written word. It's easier for them to get back to who they were before the Malibu fiasco, before New York, before they were a couple, before the Palladium poisoning, before Afghanistan, to get back to their friendship.
At least, this time around she will not be forced to pick up dry cleaning for his fucks of the evening. She's pretty sure that Steve actually loves Tony, so there's some consolation there. (There's also more guilt for holding on to her romantic relationship with Tony when she knew it wasn't working for her anymore.) So, under the circumstances it was better for Tony and Steve to be in DC, at least until they could work through things.
The downside of this current arrangement was she could not just go down to the lab and drag Tony out when he gets stuck in there for whatever reason. Steve could but they were too early into the relationship. Steve was still in the wanting to indulge Tony stage. Also, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to pass that duty on to someone else, anyway. That meant that she was dependent on JARVIS for her Tony Intel.
"Where's Tony?" She asked the AI when she arrived back in her own office. She was also making her way to the bar. She had this feeling that whatever Tony was doing would require alcohol for her to deal with it. That was usually the case with Tony Stark.
"I'm not at liberty to say." The problem with being depended on Jarvis was Tony could program the AI to not answer her questions.
"Just please tell me it's not Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, or Ukraine for that matter." Actually there were dozens of countries in a state of unrest. The world seemed to fall apart in the six weeks since the fall of SHIELD.
"He is in none of those locations." Jarvis replied but she was uncertain if she could trust the AI. He could only be as honest as Tony programed him to be.
"Okay, where is Steve?" She asked instead, certain that Tony was probably less restrictive on what information Jarvis could give her regarding his boyfriend. It was also highly probable that Tony would be with Steve.
"I'm not at liberty to say." The AI replied curtly.
"I'm assuming that they are together?" Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose and poured herself something very hard.
"Yes." The AI finally answered in the affirmative.
"Are they on a romantic retreat?" She threw back her shot at that question. Just because she's okay with Tony moving on to Steve, does not mean she will let him out of his responsibilities as head of R&D and the majority shareholder just so he can fuck around with his not quite 30 something boyfriend.
"I would not consider a secret quasi-military base the prime location for a romantic retreat." Jarvis quipped. That meant that Steve and Tony were doing something mission related not that they were really taking orders from anyone now that SHIELD was gone. At least, that was more excusable than the alternative. She just wished Tony told her that he would have to miss the board meeting. They could probably get away with rescheduling for superhero work.
Of course, the board probably wouldn't be that happy that he was doing superhero work again. They were furious about the fallout from the SHIELD contract even though they were all smiles when Stark Industries first received the billion dollar contract.
"May I at least speak with him?" She asked pouring herself another drink.
"Sir, left specific instructions..."
"I don't care. I want to speak with him now." She cut off the AI before it gives another excuse. "Tony can't just not show up to a board meeting, at least not anymore. I may be in charge of this company but it's still his responsibility especially now that he has us taking over the responsibilities once held by SHIELD."
She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about her company being dragged into the 'international security industry'. On the one hand, she was happy to be protecting her friend from someplace worse than Guantánamo Bay, per Talbot's threats (despite Maria's participation in the great Phil conspiracy) but she was worried that someday this company may be destroyed because Tony takes things too far.
"Mr. Stark gave me specific instructions that you, Dr. Banner, or Dr. Triplet may contact him but no one else." She wondered why Dr. Triplett was on that list but Jarvis continued before she could ask. "However, there is no need for you to contact him because Mr. Stark is calling you right now."
"Put the call through," Pepper sighed. It is never a good sign when Tony calls her when he's on a mission.
"I think I fucked up." Tony said the moment Jarvis put him through.
"What did you do to Steve?" She asked without even thinking.
"Why do you automatically think I did something to Steve?"
"Why else would you call me? Anybody else you would just send them an apology gift basket."
Although incarceration was another possibility, especially if the U.S. military was involved. James informed her that the Air Force is angry as hell because of the Canada/Colonel Talbot situation. There were people that were ready to make the guy an Admiral for the way he handled the 'SHIELD terrorists' but letting the Canadians know that he secretly invaded their country derailed those plans. Some people in power were upset that they lost the prospective head of their new counter espionage task force and it wouldn't be surprising at all if they did something in retaliation.
"I am aware that money and presents doesn't fix everything." Tony mumbled under breath.
"I can't believe you just said that. That's usually your default for solving most problems." In reality that was mostly pre-Afghanistan but she did not want to say that out loud.
"Money can solve a lot of problems but not everything. If it could I would've had a much happier childhood." He quipped. "Don't get me wrong it does help. You're speaking to me again after the great Coulson fiasco. I like to think the shoe basket had something to do with that."
"I have not stopped taking your phone calls, emails, or text messages." Pepper took a long drink. She can handle Tony on the phone but in person was harder. But she doesn't tell him that. "At least when we are not in the same state we don't have to deal with our respective assistance trying to play matchmaker. It's easier to deal with things when it is just us." Pepper joked instead.
"I blame television for people thinking that they can fix complex relationship issues with a fancy dinner and a bottle of wine." Tony remarked and she was rolling her eyes. Considering he thought that he could use a box of strawberries to accomplish the same thing she hoped he was being sarcastic.
"We should've ended our romantic relationship sooner. It's been falling apart for a while." Pepper nearly whispers.
"I thought we could fix things. And once I realized that I could not- I didn't want to lose you and now things are..." Tony stopped midsentence unable to continue.
"We are trying to get back to that friendship. That means I will listen to you explain why you fucked up as long as it doesn't involve your new boyfriend or me getting you out of jail."
"I would've called Jen or Jane, if that were the case." For some reason finding out that Tony would call PR or legal first made Pepper sad. Things really were different now.
"All the same, I will be happy to sit here and find out what you were doing that was so important that you missed a major meeting with the board."
"You're upset about that?"
"You sent Maria." Pepper was tempted to place her head down on the bar. Sometimes talking to Tony was like dealing with a five-year-old.
"Hey, the major reason for this meeting was Maria. I wanted them to know that she could be a trusted member of the Stark Industries family." Tony said in his voice usually reserved for handling the paparazzi.
"You were planning for the board to eat her alive." She knew all about the secret war going on between Maria and Tony. Maria was mad about Tony cheating on her, despite Pepper's assertions that she didn't see it that way and Tony was upset with her regarding the blackmail porn collection. Okay, Pepper was a little upset about that as well, which was why she agreed to participate in some of Tony's mind games.
"I was planning for her to eat the board alive. She's dealt with terrorists and members of Congress. The board are kittens in comparison. Kittens that like to scratch your eyes out, but still kittens." In some ways Tony was right about that.
"Despite the fact it went find, you still should have told me what you were planning. Thankfully, they are less likely to think you're completely crazy. They are still questioning why you're taking in so many former members of a supposed terrorist organization." They were also questioning her regarding why she was going along with it but Tony didn't need to know about that.
"By their logic, they should also be questioning why I rescued people from Hammer and Cybertek." Although in the case of Cybertek, the rescue was a bit more literal and most of those employees were part of Stark Industries before their loved ones were kidnapped to garner their cooperation.
"Really, I'm just trying to give talented people a reason to not work for the enemy. If we get our hands on revolutionary tech, all the better. Think of it as another type of philanthropy but with the possibility of some sort of financial return. That's all the vultures care about anyway."
"You know better than to try logic on the board." Pepper quipped.
"Because they have no logic or heart for that matter," Tony retorted.
"Where are you?" Pepper asked again trying to get back on subject.
"Steve and I decided to test out my latest project by taking it for a little joyride. We ended up running into an old friend. You know the one that we thought was dead for the last two years." Tony replied cryptically.
He's with Phil, which explained why JARVIS could not give Pepper an exact location. It also explained why Tony won't give a name. Maria explained in excruciating detail the many reasons why they needed to keep the fact that Phil survived a secret for the last two years including the fact that Hydra and certain factions of the military wanted to study the techniques used to keep him alive. That was another reason why she questioned the "dead for 40 seconds" story she was given. Something just doesn't quite add up.
"What happen?" Pepper sighed.
"So I came to the middle of nowhere, which is closer to the district of insanity than I thought it would be, to drop off his afterlife crisis car that I completely rehabilitated. I also came to offer him and his team the same help we gave Maria." Tony started to explain.
"You're already giving him that help. I know what you ordered the lawyers to do." She responded not really buying Tony's explanation.
"Okay, I'm may have talk to him about the nonprofit and getting money for said nonprofit but he was kind of pissed at me. He doesn't want our Future Foundation to end up like its predecessor or maybe he's upset about the private sector involvement. I don't know."
"We are not calling it that." During their lunch together after they dealt with the assistant unpleasantness, Tony told her all about his plan to start a nonprofit that would replace SHIELD. Really, she should've known that he was planning to get Phil to run it. It's not like he really trusted Maria, not that Pepper can blame him. Besides from a purely practical standpoint, the former deputy director of SHIELD cannot be in charge of the new organization because too many people will question her credibility.
"Agent bristled when I mentioned the name as well. But it's not like we can use the old name. Branding issues."
"Tony!" She said exasperated.
"Okay, that's beside the point. I came here for other reasons, some of which are too classify for even a stark-cryptic phone call. Do you remember Steve's sort of girlfriend May Phillips?"
"I think we had dinner with her once." Pepper said vaguely remembering the name. She remembered refereeing one of Tony and Steve's early dinners with the State Department assistant. She admired the woman for keeping Tony and Steve on their best behavior when they were still antagonizing each other.
"You also saw her break three chairs at Agent's funeral." It took Pepper a second to figure out what Tony was talking about. However she did remember the incident vividly because she was the one who had to keep the funeral home from pressing charges.
"Apparently, she has a lot in common with Nat." Pepper was almost sure that Tony was trying to tell her that Steve's former girlfriend or whatever was an under covered SHIELD operative and thankfully not one that was also a Hydra operative. That's what her final conversation with Phil came back to her.
"Is her first name Melinda?"
"Yes. She was the girl that Agent told you about before everything went fucking crazy." Tony confirmed her theory.
"Look…I can't tell you everything but agent doesn't remember your conversation. I'm not even sure if he remembers acknowledging that he was in love with her." She knew Tony well enough to know that he was keeping something big from her by the tone of his voice alone.
"They did something to him?" Considering everything that Pepper has learned about SHIELD in the last six weeks she wouldn't be surprised.
"Yes. And I tried to undo it by getting agent to realize that ninja neighbor has feelings for him but everything kind of blew up. Now agent is sulking in his private plane/office and I think Steve is currently getting beat up by the only woman I find more deadly than Natalie," he said using Natasha's old cover name.
"There's something you're not telling me. You didn't just do this to get rid of the competition? I doubt Steve is going to leave you for a younger model." Despite the uncomfortable nature of that dinner last week she could tell that Steve actually cared about Tony.
"You are the second person to say that. That's not what I'm doing. I already gave Steve an out weeks ago and he didn't take it so I think were okay. Besides she's six years older than me, so technically, I'm the younger model."
"She is older than you?" Pepper asked incredulously. The woman looked younger than Pepper.
"That is what the file said before it was destroyed." Tony quipped. "I just wanted to fix things but it blew up in my face and now I'm calling you to figure out how I should actually fix things."
"What were you trying to fix?"
"Agent being alone and hiding in a bunker. I told you that I offered to make him the new head of the Future Foundation." Tony started.
"And I told you again that we are not calling it that." Pepper sniped.
"So Agent Scary ran away from Agent after telling him that she was in love with him." Tony explained.
"You know this how? Were you listening in on their conversation?" She wouldn't be surprised if he did.
"That's not important." Tony said a little too quickly. Pepper was going to count that as a confession.
"You used JARVIS to spy on your friends?" She asked incredulously.
"Actually, Lola but that's not important."
"Who or what is a Lola?" She always got worried when Tony mentioned a new project that she wasn't familiar with. Let's put it this way, R&D has a betting pool on when Tony will develop a killer robot/AI that will try to destroy humanity. Actually, they have multiple betting pools of that nature going on.
"A very important part of my childhood." At that Tony started to tell her about speaking to Phil after May ran away. Steve followed behind May in an effort to calm her down and Tony went to help Phil. Tony's idea of helping was showing the man a video file where May confessed her feelings for him while practically having sex with Steve and another file where she was practically crying as she packed up his things after Phil's supposed death. Afterwards, Tony started to go into his plans for funding his new superhero nonprofit with Coulson at the head.
"Anyway long story short, he got pissed off and shot me with one of those special non-lethal guns I was telling you about. Funny, I was only out for about five minutes when I probably should've been out for an hour." At this moment, she downed her entire shot in one drink. It was too early in the day for Tony to do this to her.
"I would've shot you too. What the hell were you thinking showing a guy a video of the woman he's in love with having sex with someone else?" She was trying not to scream but it wasn't working.
"First of all, I did not actually show him that video, I just told him about it." Tony said in his defense. "The sex doesn't happen until after her confession and I don't think it matters because it is his favorite fantasy crush. That just makes it porn. I found the video enjoyable. Not that one because of the crying over agent but the others were… I would watch a video of you and Steve together."
'This is the reason why I did not think you could do monogamy.' Pepper thought to herself but to keep this argument from getting worse she did not tell him this. "I'm not sure if he would agree with you." Pepper said out loud instead.
"I think he was much more upset seeing the video file where the cranky pirate made her the official Avengers babysitter. This file contains her practically crying as she packed up agent's belongings because the bastard decided to wait six, practically seven months to tell her the truth."
"I'm not sure that gave Phil reason to shoo…"
"Okay, the shooting may have been caused because he didn't like my plans for the agency we cannot speak of. He thinks I'm trying to take over." Pepper started rubbing her temple at that point. She was starting to get a Tony migraine.
"That's what you've been doing for the last six weeks." Pepper told him pointedly. "That's why you've been in DC dealing with those you refer to as congressional kindergartners. It's why you've been having the SI lawyers..."
"That's not the only reason." Tony cut her off. "I'm trying to keep Steve safe. Actually, I'm trying to keep all of us safe. Half of Congress wants to put Steve and Natasha on trial and others want to lock both away in some secret prison without a trial. And you know the military wants Steve back. Either for propaganda purposes or as a lab rat, I'm not sure which. They consider him just another SHIELD asset, like the millions of other things that they've seized over the last six weeks and don't know how to deal with. That was one of the things Colonel Talbot threatened me with after the Canada incident. Then again, Talbot was probably so fixated on agent because agent was the one who protected Steve from them in the first place."
Sometimes she thinks that's the real reason why Tony turned the soon to be former Colonel over to the Canadians and is so fixated on helping Phil. Of course, getting on better terms with the Canadian government can only help SI.
"I'm already well aware that certain entities are more interested in getting their hands on old SHIELD's toys than keeping the peace." Pepper sighed again.
"Thanks to finding daddy's secret bunker underneath the Arlington house, the lawyers have a means to keep the dangerous tech out of the hands of idiots. I'm sure the board is happy about the fact we now hold the patent for the Quinjet. But Steve is not a piece of tech." The bunker contained hundreds of hard copy documents relating to SHIELD including the original charter. Most of it not part of the data dump. All of it very helpful in putting things back together. "Too bad this wasn't four years ago, we would have had a really easy way to keep him out." Tony joked.
"I'm sure the military would have just ended 'don't ask, don't tell' faster." She replied dryly.
"I'm sure they would have. Steve did have the only desegregated unit in World War II." Tony mumbled to himself.
"Look, I understand what you're trying to do but you can't fix everything Tony." She is well aware that Tony tends to treat people like his robots and it looks like this is another one of those cases. What Tony has yet to realize was that people are not robots.
"I understand that. If everything could be fixed, you and I would still be together." There was a hint of sadness and maybe remorse in his voice.
"We're still friends or trying to be. Maybe this is what we are meant to be. Tony, we tried but we weren't compatible at least not as a romantic couple. You wanted to save the world with a spouse and kids by your side and I want a boyfriend who isn't trying to save the world all the time in a way that may get him killed. When it comes down to it we weren't enough for each other, I wasn't enough for you."
She tried very hard to keep her voice even, but Pepper wasn't sure she did a good enough job. At least over the phone he can't see her hand shaking just a little.
"You've always been enough. I liked retirement. In it's not like I could actually have kids or should for that matter. So I was fine with you not wanting any. Thanks to the Palladium poisoning it's now really easy to deal with fake paternity suits." Again, Tony was using his 'faking it' voice. She was very familiar with that voice because Tony usually used it whenever he was in close proximity to the board. But she always picked up on this sad look in his eyes every time they talked about his infertility. She knew he was in pain.
"If you liked retirement, you would have stayed retired. It wasn't right of me to ask you -to expect you to give it up. Not just being a superhero but other things. You and Steve can adopt."
"Not that I had the best example but that would be like painting a giant 'please kidnap my child' sign on their back. Talk to Jonathan's wife about what that's like." Again statements like these make her wonder if Tony's keeping something from her.
"Just being a billionaire makes you a target. The fact that you're actually thinking about this issue makes you more suitable than most people." She's happy that he really is thinking things through.
"Why are we even talking about this? It's not like Steve and I are- we've been together five weeks and 20% of that time has involved chasing down the ghost of best friends past. Steve still has his own bedroom at the Arlington house. He would still have his own apartment if it was safe for him to live somewhere else. Can we get back to the fixing agent thing?" Tony sighed.
"Do you think there will ever be a time when it won't be awkward between us?"
"I don't know." She wanted things to get back to a good place but she wasn't certain if it ever will. At least not anytime soon. "Let me talk to Agent. I can't promise that I'll fix things but at least let me see if I can get him to not shoot at you again."
To be continued.