A/N: Yay...I actually managed to update on time. Hope you guys like this chapter. It's longer than usual and a little bit different from normal. It starts off in Jared's POV then moves onto Tony's POV. Enjoy...
He watched with curiosity as his father quietly slipped out the slightly ajar door of the spectacularly decorated ballroom. He frowned as he kept his eyes at the door expecting to see his mother or the familiar Uncle Fury following his father out the door. But instead he noticed his Uncle Fury sitting with a group of familiar men at the other side of the room completely oblivious to his father's sudden departure.
He narrowed his eyes as he peered around the room in search of his mother. It was easy enough to find her as he remembered having seen her dressed in blue earlier at home. He found her sitting by the bar table by herself which he thought to be completely strange. His father had never left his mother to sit alone before. In every event they had ever been too he always remembered his father being explicitly beside his mother.
Of course there were the times his father disappeared with him into the men's bathrooms to teach him how to hack. Then there were the times when his father grew positively bored with the people and decided to disappear with him into the courtyard or the nearest stoned chair to pass the time staring at the stars.
He narrowed his eyes at the curious thought of what his father could be possibly doing outside. He hoped his father hadn't decided to watch the stars again because he would have very much have liked to watch the stars too. He glanced to his Uncle Happy who seemed busily talking to his Aunty Natalie. They seemed rather engrossed in conversation that they hardly noticed he was even there.
He briefly thought about disappearing from the table and finding his father outside. But as he glanced briefly at his mother he paused when he found her warm gaze staring at him. She smiled warmly and gave him a small wave. He waved in return and smiled. The thought of disappearing from the table suddenly seemed like a horrible idea. He was sure he would get 'the talk' if he disappeared outside without letting his Uncle Happy or Aunty Natalie know.
He glanced one last time at the door for a full minute before he sighed when his father didn't step through them. He glanced to the PDA down in his hands and smiled at the thought of that new airplane flight game his father built for him. The fleeting thought of his father disappearing through those doors suddenly seemed far away as he lost himself in the world of air flight.
Tony was a man that remembered many things.
He remembered how easy it was to walk up to a bar and charm the closest sparkle eyed brunette or blonde. He remembered how he'd take a sip of his scotch to let the taste of alcohol linger on his lips. He knew how easy it was to slur his words and narrow his eyes as if to simply convey in silence what it was he wanted. He knew when to laugh, when to joke and when to lean in just before he was sure he made the catch.
It was always a game to him. Always a gamble that he always seemed to win. And for the briefest of moments as he stood staring at the brightly lit courtyard he wondered if he still had it in him. He glanced from the view of the courtyard to the slightly ajar door leading into the ballroom and smirked.
He started stalking around the ballroom in search for any. He smiled casually as he passed ministers, generals and those alike. He hardly liked their company as they talked far too simply for him and he had greater important things in mind at the moment anyway. He passed a few laughing women but instead of choosing any of them he decided to seek out a far more regal type. The type that he'd lose himself completely at simply staring at her.
It had been a full ten minutes before he nearly decided to give up the entire notion of even trying. But it all grew to a grand halt when he saw one sitting by the bar table, dressed in blue, blonde curls dancing around her shoulders as if she were perfection itself.
He had the briefest thought of his Pepper staring at him, wondering what it was he was doing. He didn't think it would displease her all that much. He didn't think she would really mind when he stepped up to the woman in blue.
He sipped his scotch and pocketed his free hand as he neared her. He stepped toward her and left barely an inch between her back and his chest. He leaned down ever so slightly and whispered into her ear.
"Hello, beautiful," he slurred softly before making sure to lightly brush his lips past the lobe of her ear.
She hardly tensed as he lightly pressed his back against hers as if shadowing over her. She only leaned back into him and warmly pressed the back of her neck onto his shoulder. She sighed as if their scandalous position were the most casual thing to do and whispered in return, "Trying to charm me, Mr Stark?"
He laughed quietly as he glanced around the room at the faces of many generals, ministers and the particular governor standing at the other end of the room. It was a far too imperial type of party for his likes and he hoped with his actions he'd lower its class to something more of his likings. But amongst the generals, minsters and governor, he spotted his Jared. Jared sat beside a dream eyed Happy and a sleepy looking Natalie. He felt slightly guilty for having left Jared entirely in their hands but sighed because he had pressing matters to deal with right now.
"It's been a while," he murmured in her ear again as he lowered his half empty glass of scotch beside her barely sipped drink. "A man like me has to maintain certain skills you know."
"Oh yes," she breathed as she reached for her glass. She sipped it slowly and turned on her chair. Her lashes flickered ever so sensually as if to encourage him further.
His breath froze in his throat as he wondered briefly, wasn't he supposed to be the one charming her?
"Lost for words?" she asked, the tone in her voice lingered with unspoken words. "I don't believe a woman has ever reduced you to silence before."
"My wife has," he said softly as the awkwardness suddenly overwhelmed him. The simple thought of her reduced his arousal to a complete and utter halt.
Her expressions quivered and he was sure she caught the sudden disinterest he felt toward her.
He lowered his tone and muttered, "This doesn't feel right."
She laughed a hearty laugh and slid her arms slowly until the palm of her hand was pressed against his cheek. "Tony, it's just me. How does that not seem right?"
He blinked for a moment before he murmured, "Because I love you, Pepper and I couldn't imagine flirting with anybody else."
"But you're flirting with me."
"I referred to you as if you weren't you…It just…doesn't feel right," he tried to explain before he sighed hopelessly, "I'm sorry."
He watched as her eyes softened when he smiled warmly at her. He felt her hand slipping from his face to only slide around the back of his neck.
"I love you, you know," she whispered in his ear as he embraced her.
He turned his lips to her neck and pressed a warm and lingering kiss at the nape of her neck. He couldn't think of flirting with anyone else or using his charms much like he did a long time ago with anyone else but her. Because now it seemed perfect with her swollen stomach pressed against him and his arms encircled around her as he kissed her as if there were no tomorrow.
She pulled back after he kissed her and whispered in his ear, "It was your idea in the first place."
"Can't help it," he murmured in return. "All these ministers, generals and what nots…they bring out the worst in me."
She laughed sweetly in his ear as he wondered how he could never realized how much he loved her the day he met her. He wondered how it could have possibly taken him a decade to realize how much he had completely and utterly loved her.
But admits his fleeting thoughts he did remember the day he realized he loved her. He was completely and utterly drunk but yet a part of him knew the moment he gazed at her. It hurled at him like a fiery ball of sudden discovery as love to him was always the most unthinkable thought. But yet there he was in his might and richness, hazed over the table staring at her sleeping beautifully on his couch. It was a frightening, strange but yet, right feeling. It was something that overwhelmed him with warmth and filled him with the deepest desire to keep her and protect her until the day he died.
And he did, until his little Jared came along.
He remembered the first time she laid Jared in his arms. His little eyes gazed up at him as if he were the most wondrous thing in the world and it was then he remembered he fell in love all over again. He remembered thinking how something so small, so genuinely beautiful could be anything part of him. He was once a drunk, a sleep around and a hopeless fool. He remembered when he gazed at her with tear glazed eyes as if wondering how anybody could ever love him enough to present him with such a gift. He remembered having whispered to her how she could ever find it in her heart to love him even after everything she had seen him gone through. She merely whispered that if he loved her and cherished her and stood in honour beside her for the rest of their lives then she would love him to the very end of the world. He remembered having swelled with warmth at her words and as he whispered he loved her, he meant it, forever.
"I love you too, Pepper," he murmured, the memory lingered in his mind as he leaned down to kiss her again.