Here you go! I tried to picture Tony groveling, and I could only imagine him failing miserably. But he is a genius, and he will get the hang of it ;)

The website is having technical issues, so I have no idea if people are even clicking on this story... Hope it will get solved soon!

On the next day, Pepper woke up feeling the same irritation as yesterday and the same sheer will to give Tony a taste of his own medicine. In the past, she had always been able to stick to her professionalism; she had kept her retaliation to Tony's behavior scarce, but subtle and tasteful. This time, however, she felt entitled to express her disappointment and frustration in a louder manner, according to her own definition of the word "loud", anyway.

Tony had crossed a line when he spied on her personal life, and he had crossed an even bigger one when he started making her pay for what he thought he had discovered. Pepper knew that her boss could be selfish and sometimes possessive when it came to a close circle of things; she just didn't know how much of that extended to her personal life. That was a problem she needed to nip in the bud, in a clean and single shot.

Pepper picked up a black, classy suit she rarely wore, as she had realized it was a bit too form-fitting for the office. The pants and the jacket looked tailor-made for her and accentuated her figure a bit too well. The first - and last - time she wore the set to work, she had caught Tony staring at the cleavage of her blouse too many times during the day. Well, today she did not want to remain discreet, and she was certainly not going to accommodate the men around her. She wanted to feel confident.

She added a pair of classic Jimmy Choo black heels and let her hair down. While looking at herself in the full-size mirror of her bedroom, she felt hesitation, but she took a breath and reminded herself that today she was making a statement.

Tony Stark had been messing with her head too much since he came back, and she was determined to get her sanity back.

After Pepper called him out on his behavior, Tony wondered what would be an appropriate apology gift, besides him showing up on time to the office. He would usually offer a ceasefire with a bunch of flowers or even some expensive designer shoes, but he had a feeling that wouldn't convey the idea of him being respectful of her boundaries. It was probably too soon.

So when he drove by a strawberry stand on the way to the headquarters, he thought he had the perfect casual apology that she would approve coming from her boss.

He barged into his own building, not stopping when people wanted to talk to him, and went straight to Pepper's office. Her door was closed, and her assistant in the hallway tried to tell him that she was on the phone, but that didn't stop him from opening the door and going inside.

"No… Burt… Burt… Burt, listen to me. Don't tell me that we have the best patent lawyers in the country and then not let us pursue this."

Pepper was seated at her desk, visibly upset by the conversation she was having. She showed no emotion when she saw him intruding and waited for her turn to speak. Tony started waiting as well and then noticed the boxes piled in the corner. He looked at a few labels and recognized the archives he had requested from the SI office in Washington, where Stane had originally been recruited in the '70s.

"I'll get this stuff out of here." Tony said in her direction.

"Well, then, tell Hammer to pull out his checkbook. We'll talk about it at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Gala. R&D's giving some presentation tomorrow evening about bionic prosthesis." Pepper paused and looked at her boss. "Will Tony Stark be there?"

"Will I?" Tony asked while taking a seat.

"No, he will not."

"I would like to be."

"Bye." Pepper hanged up.

"Got a minute?"

Pepper answered in a heartbeat: "No."

"Come on, you just got off the phone. You're fine. 30 seconds."

He watched her take a deep breath and glance at her watch.

"Twenty-nine, twenty-eight… " Pepper started counting.

Seeing the tension she was radiating, perhaps letting her cool off a day or two would have been a good idea. Only then did he notice the low-cut black blouse his assistant was wearing. Tony forgot the speech he had rehearsed this morning with JARVIS and started rambling:

"I… I was just driving over here… and I thought I was coming to basically apologize, but I'm not."

"Oh, you didn't come here to apologize?" Pepper said, leaning back in her chair with false nonchalance.

"Look, that goes without saying, and I'm working on that. But I haven't been entirely… upfront with you at the press conference, and I just want to try to make good."

Tony looked at the Swinging Sticks sculpture moving in front of him.

"Can I move this? This is crazy. It's like a Ferris wheel, going. I'm trying to get some…"

"No."

He cleared his throat and rolled his chair to the other side of the desk, before continuing:

"Do you know how short life is? And if I never got to express when I came back… And by the way, this is somewhat revelatory to me. And I don't care… I mean, I care. It would be nice. I'm not expecting you to… Look, here's what I'm trying to say. I'm just gonna say it."

"Let me stop you right here, okay? Because if you say "I" one more time, I'm gonna actually hurl something at your head, I think. I am trying to help you run your company. Do you have any idea what that entails?"

Tony was trying his best to keep his eyes on her face, as anything lower would have signed his death.

"Yes."

"People are relying on you to be CEO and you've disappeared, without the decency to let me know. All I'm doing is putting out your fires and taking the heat of it. I am trying to do the job that you were meant to do."

She looked at the box of strawberries he had put between them.

"Did you bring me strawberries?"

She picked up on his look of incomprehension as she continued:

"Did you know that there's only one thing on Earth that I'm allergic to?"

"Allergic to strawberries."

Tony mentally slapped himself. This was too quickly becoming the worst apology in the world's history.

"This is progress Pepper. I knew there was a correlation between you and this." Tony pleaded with a smile tugging at his lips.

"I need you…"

"I need you too, that's what I am trying to say… " Tony said, leaning toward her.

" …to show up to the R&D meeting that started four minutes ago."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, Tony silently searching for a breach in her eyes. He had clearly underestimated his ability to conduct an apology, and she seemed determined not to help him at all.

"Pep, I'm trying to…"

"Ms Potts?" Pepper's assistant called from the door.

"Hi, come on in."

"Your 10 am has just arrived. I have set them up in the Mary Jackson meeting room."

"Thank you."

Tony watched Pepper stand up and gather some documents.

"We still need to talk, Tony, but right now, we both have places we need to go. Do you wanna do lunch?"

He watched her go around the desk and took in all of her.

"Sure."

"Perfect. I'll see you in here at noon."

She left her office with a sway in her hips that Tony would later swear to Rhodey was accentuated.

"God, Pepper, I thought you had burnt that suit!" Tony called behind her.