Chapter 13 A proposal

Tony's point of view

"OK Tony, I'm going to the office now I'll see you at 4pm"
"OK, have a good day at work honey"
"I will"
"Love you"
"Love you too"

As the door closed behind Pepper, I said

"OK guys, I need everyone to help me with Operation Put A Ring on it" I said, pulling out my list.

Shane peered over my shoulder at my list

"OK… I can help you with the first part. I'll get my father out of bed and tell him you need to talk to him."

"Thanks Shane"

"I can take care of the cake" said Bruce

"I will make the food and help Bruce with the cake." said Jay

"I'll supervise these two" said Mom

"I'll set the table" said Dad
"I can get the flowers and balloons." said Clint
"OK"

"I can get Pepper from the office when you're ready… and I can stall her if necessary"

"Thanks Nat."

I glanced nervously over my notes.

I had written these before The Snap.

"Hmmmm" I grunted…

"Are you OK Tony?"
"I wrote these before the snap… should I still use them… wouldn't it appear a bit… insensitive?"
Mom came over and sat down beside me, she prised my pen from my hand. She scored out what she thought was inappropriate and handed me the pen back.

I copied out the notes in my best handwriting and then, with Luca Brasi's speech from The Godfather running through my head

"Don Corleone, I am honoured and grateful that you have invited me to your daughter... 's wedding... on the day of your daughter's wedding. And I hope their first child be a masculine child. I pledge my ever-ending loyalty."
I rehearsed my own speech.

"Mr McMahon, I made this appointment to see you because I need to ask you something important. I know I should have sought your permission when Virginia and I restarted our relationship, but circumstances at the time did not allow for that. I understand how much Virginia means to you sir because I know how much she means to me. Mr McMahon, I am here to seek your permission to propose to your god-daughter. She is my soulmate, my best friend, my one and only. I will love her till I take my final breath and beyond. I will protect her with my life if necessary, I will cherish her and respect her."

"Tony?"
"Yes Shane?"
"Dad will see you now"
"OK"

I saw Shane glancing at my notes.

"Godfather moment?" he asked
"Well yeah I mean, your dad is Pep's godfather and marriage is a massive step so… I have to ask permission. Of course. I had originally prepared to ask permission before the Snap happened."

"Luca Brasi's speech in your head?"
"Yes it is"
"Tony, forget your notes and speak from the heart. Dad hates when people over-rehearse things. Speak with respect, like you know him a bit, and from the heart."
"OK, thanks Shane."

We went into the room. Vince's friend was to his left, and Paul (Triple H) was to his right.

"Good Morning Mr McMahon"
"Good morning Mr Stark,"
"I hope you're well?"
"I am, thank you, you?"
"Yes sir, I am well, thank you."

"Glad to hear it. What can I do for you"
"Forgive my insensitivity sir, I planned to do this before… Thanos… but… the opportunity didn't present itself until now"
"I see…"
"Sir I know I should have had a conversation with you when Pepper… I mean Virginia and I restarted our relationship however… circumstances at the time did not allow me to do that. I apologise for my… lack of respect, it was entirely unintentional"
"Because she wasn't talking to us at the time?"
"Exactly"
"That's OK. You treat her with respect, you worship the ground she walks on, you've never hurt her, and you never will, correct?"
"Exactly. If I ever hurt her unintentionally, I will ask your forgiveness and ensure that it never happens again"

"I appreciate that Tony."

"My point sir is that I would like to ask your permission to propose to Pepper… tonight"

Vince paused for a moment and then he smiled.

"I give my blessing for you to ask Pepper to marry you."
"Thank you sir"

"My pleasure, welcome to the family… and good luck with the proposal. Come down and see me afterwards."

Paul walked out to the pool with me (he was going for a swim)
"You got off lightly… when I asked for permission to marry Steph, I had Vince, Linda, Shane, Marissa and Steph's Godfather — Pat Patterson watching my every move" he said

"We'll try to fix what Thanos did, but we need to be ready if it goes wrong. We'll try to reverse things…"
"Good."

"Vince gave his blessing… Operation Put a Ring on it is Go!"

"Excellent."

"Let's watch The Godfather… Shane, ask your dad if he wants to watch it with us"

"OK"

After the movie was over I glanced at my watch
"We have 3 hours till Pepper is due home from work… we'd better get busy."

"If you don't mind Tony, I'm going to go back downstairs now. Thank you for including me"
"My pleasure"

"Nat, you, Wanda and Mom go and pick something nice out for Pepper to wear, from her wardrobe. Dad, you and Clint go to the office and give Bambi the second clue, Shane has the third and Bruce has the fourth."

I went upstairs, had a hot shower, washed my hair three times and conditioned it, then I got dressed in my good tuxedo and formal pants. Wanda dried my hair and straightened it. She put some product in it and Jay held the mirror while I trimmed my goatee while Bruce trimmed my nails and Clint polished my shoes.

"You look very smart"
"The balloons have arrived"

"Excellent"

"The flowers have arrived."

"Great"

"Do you need Wanda and I to get Pepper?"
"Actually, yes."

"We're going bowling"

"Lucky you."
"We thought it was a good idea to let you do this in peace."
"OK"

"I'm going to play Maître'd. We talked about it and I volunteered" said Jay.

"Thanks Jay"

Pepper's point of view

I was finishing a letter when Nat and Wanda showed up.

"Tony sent us. He wants you to come home and change into the outfit Mom and I chose for you. He's got something special planned."

"That's sweet. Just let me finish this sentence, save the document and log off… OK, now I'm ready"

We went back up to the tower. I got showered and changed. Wanda dried and styled my hair and Nat applied my makeup.

"You look beautiful… follow the trail of rose petals, and it will lead you to Tony" said Nat.

"OK"

I followed the trail of rose petals down to the dining room. Tony was waiting for me. There was an archway made of balloons under the window. Tony was kneeling on a carpet of rose petals beneath a banner, a small green velvet box in his left hand. The banner read Pepper, will you marry me?

"Is this?" I spluttered "Are you serious?"
"Yes it is and yes I am. I even went this morning to talk to your godfather, that's how serious I am about this."

"My answer is yes!"

Tony slipped the ring onto my finger, I helped him onto his feet and we kissed.

"Your godfather said we should come down and visit him once I'd asked you"

"OK"

"Let's eat dinner first though"
"OK"

After dinner, we went down to visit my godfather.

"I take it congratulations are in order?"
"Yes"

"May I see the ring?"

"Yes of course"

"Beautiful… not massively ostentatious but just showy enough to let the world's bachelors know that you are off the market…"

"Yes, and very similar to the promise ring from all those years ago"

"I hope you two will have a very happy life together… maybe give me another grandchild or two to spoil."
"I'm sorry I never got the chance to bring Peter and Maria to meet you before… Thanos"

"They met Linda at school… and she was very impressed by both of them. I met them briefly at career day."

"Well, that's something I suppose…"

"I understand what you mean Tony"

"I'm going to find a way to fix what Thanos did… it just… it might take me a while, that's all"
"I would appreciate it if you could fix it but if you can't, I accept it."

"I appreciate that"

"If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know. I'm not great with machines, but I like to think I'm a pretty good motivator."

"You're good at inspirational speaking Uncle Vince"

"Well I could do that, I mean someone would have to break down the technical stuff phonetically for me because I'm Dyslexic but I could probably do that"

"I'll help you Vince. I like to think I'm pretty good at motivating people too…"

"We'll all do whatever we can to help," said Shane.

"Thank you, that's very reassuring."

"Hey we've been summoned to the viewing room to watch another memory."

"OK"

We trooped into the viewing room.

"We'll start in a moment, Jane wanted to do something first"

Jane's point of view

I went down to the dungeon — Thor insisted on coming with me —

"The dungeons of the Grand Palace on Asgard are laden with booby traps and I want you to be safe"
"Thank you"

When we went into the cell, I slapped my father across the face and snarled

"You sorry pungent excuse for a human being, what you did to my mother is unforgivable and I hope your sorry butt rots in jail for the rest of your miserable life."
"Who are you?"
"I'm your daughter"
"Bull, I have no daughter"
"I have no biological father, now we're even"

I turned and slammed the door and left him to rot.

"Wow… Jane, remind me never to cross you"

I was trembling. Thor pulled me close

"I'm glad I came down here with you" he said

We went back upstairs to the viewing room…