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Tony Stark hated waking up early, especially when it meant fulfilling his corporate obligations. Ever since he regained control of Stark Industries five years ago, dealing with meetings and commitments was never his favorite part of the job. However, despite his aversion, he always showed up, albeit begrudgingly. And on that day, it wouldn't be any different. Upon arrival, he was greeted by the usual exchange of barbs with Rhodes, punctuating his disdain for the day that lay ahead with yet another delay from his friend.
"You never arrive on time. It's impressive how you walk around with all those incredibly expensive watches that never seem to work. Are they just for show?" What a lovely greeting to receive when he didn't even want to get out of bed. If Tony was happy to have his friend's company on that trip, he was already starting to regret it.
"Good morning to you too, Rhodes. Did you sleep with me by any chance?" the dark-haired man retorted, ignoring the comment and boarding the plane. The sooner they arrived, the faster he could return.
"What's the reason for the delay this time?" James didn't mind the bad mood.
"I was hoping this trip would be canceled," he replied curtly, sitting in one of the seats as the pilot prepared to take off. "I hate these meetings. They're always boring and exhausting."
"Your delightful bad mood is just because of the meeting or because we'll be in the same country as her?" Rhodes teased.
"Where did you get that ridiculous idea?" Iron Man's alter ego promptly went on alert.
"It's the first time in the last 5 years that you're going to Canada, isn't it? She went to Vancouver, I remember you saying something about her moving in with her mother, right?" The friend didn't care about boundaries.
"Can we please not talk about this? It's in the past, it's over," Stark didn't want to be rude, but if they kept on, he wouldn't be responsible for his actions.
"Why not? Tony, it's been 5 years and you can't even say her name. You don't talk about her. To me, you've done everything but move on."
"Of course I've moved on," he stood firm. Haven't they ever told you that we should keep repeating the lie until it becomes true?
"Not seeking information and avoiding the subject isn't exactly a story of overcoming," Rhodes pointed out.
"What do you want me to say, Rhodes?"
"I want you to tell the truth. I want you to go after her. To muster up the courage to face your mistakes, ask for forgiveness. Vancouver is only a 4-hour flight from Toronto," not only the alter ego of War Machine, but all the friends of the former couple didn't understand and didn't accept the breakup.
"And then what do I say to her? It's been 5 years, not 5 days," the dark-haired man retorted.
"How foolish you were for taking so long to do something," Rhodes suggested.
"I did what was right," he argued. Couldn't anyone understand that?
"No. You took the easy choice, but not the correct one. You say you wanted to protect her, but you never considered that she might be safer by your side?"
"I need to remind you of all the times I put her in danger? Stane, Hammer, Vanko, the attack on New York, and so many other moments. She was safe before I became Iron Man. Before we entered into this relationship."
"Tony, none of that was your fault. I've known Pepper for as long as you have, and if there's one thing I can say, it's that no one tells her what to do. I know how much she loved you, how she chose to be with you knowing all the risks. When she agreed to enter into this relationship, she knew what she was getting into. She never gave up, even in the face of these inconveniences that you love to mention."
"Talk is cheap. It wasn't you who constantly saw the death of someone you love knowing that you're responsible for it. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't close my eyes because I saw her being tortured. I saw horrible things, and you know how much of that feeling that something bad would happen was right," he said, his body reacting to painful memories, as if he were reliving each of those moments all over again. "They were never nightmares, but premonitions."
"You don't know if anything would have happened to Pepper. It was just your anxiety talking."
"I couldn't risk it. Not with her. For a long time, I tried to convince myself that everything would be fine, that she wouldn't be affected. But when you spend months seeing the death of someone you love caused only to hurt you..." He paused for a moment, feeling his throat dry up, unable to continue. "I blinked and saw her blood running on the floor. I breathed and felt the pain of losing her, I saw so many things happen in my dreams only to become real... So much pain... I knew it had to mean something. And I'm not even talking about all the physical evidence I received as threats directed at her."
"Tony, you should have sought help. You should have talked to Pepper."
"You yourself said how stubborn she is, how she only does what she wants. She would have come up with a thousand excuses to stay with me, and I couldn't bear to be responsible for her death. I would never forgive myself..." He sighed. "You know when I was relieved that we broke up? Just over a week later, when Killian ordered that attack on the mansion. You saw the state she was in, I barely made it out alive... God, I don't even want to imagine what it would have been like if Pepper had been there. If I wasn't able to save her. I can deal with the absence, with the fact that we're not together, but with her death? Rhodes, that's too much."
"I keep wondering why you never said any of this to her. Because in these 5 years, you never offered an explanation," James pondered. He understood his friend, couldn't blame him, had always witnessed the love between the two and knew very well that Tony would always do whatever it took to keep her safe.
"It wouldn't have solved anything."
"Hurting her feelings that way was the easy choice, just like making her believe that everything you said was true. That you were the person they always warned her about. Egocentric, arrogant, incapable of loving... Making her hate you was the easy choice, it wasn't the right choice."
Tony didn't respond. He continued to stare out of the airplane window. Paying attention to the clouds and the intense blue of the ocean just below them. It had exactly the color of her eyes.
"I won't be able to change your mind, will I?" Rhodes asked, already knowing the answer.
"I'd rather have her safe and hating me than putting her in danger by my side. Love isn't about ego..."
"And how do you know she's okay? You haven't had news from her in years."
Rhodes sighed. In the end, he understood his friend. He didn't agree, but he understood. In fact, he felt sorry for how everything ended between them. Tony loved her, and his fear of losing her spoke louder than anything else. So loud that in the end, he lost her. And yes, the alter ego of War Machine wanted to be able to change his friend's mind, even wanted to be able to talk to Pepper and plead with her, but when she told Tony to keep his distance and not to reach out, that seemed to include her old friendships too. There wasn't much else to do but move on with life.
They landed in Toronto just before noon that Monday. They met with some leaders of the Canadian government to discuss the arc reactor project as a clean energy source to maintain some of the country's main tourist spots and to talk about some of the research incentive projects funded by Stark Industries. It was supposed to be a quick trip, and they planned to return to New York in the early afternoon, but Stark became interested in one of the projects being developed by the University of Toronto and decided to stay one more day so that he could visit the local and take a look at the research himself.
When the meetings ended, it was already past 6 p.m., so the friends decided to go to one of the restaurants in the city center for dinner. They placed their orders and chatted for a while while escaping the intense cold outside. After a few hours, Tony decided it was time to pay the bill and leave the place, heading back to the hotel. It had been a productive, albeit exhausting day.
He was already approaching the cashier when he heard a lady with blonde hair ahead of him say:
"I'm here to pick up the package in the name of Virginia Potts."
Automatically, the raven-haired man froze. What were the chances? There were several Virginia Potts in the world. He knew that after the fight and breakup, she had gone to Vancouver, where her mother lived. Not to Toronto. Not here. Tony tried to take deep breaths, trying to control his breathing, but he felt his heart beating too fast. The man just wanted to get out of there. He knew this trip was a bad idea as soon as it came up. He was feeling it, why didn't he listen to his intuition? The alter ego of Iron Man was turning around, ready to come up with any excuse for Rhodes when the blonde woman also turned around, facing him, both surprised by the sudden encounter.
As expected, the atmosphere became tense. They stood in complete silence, staring at each other, and before the situation became even more awkward, Tony decided to speak:
"Sasha..." He greeted her.
"Tony. Um... Good to see you," she replied as she searched for the right words to say.
The man weakly smiled, deep down, knowing it wasn't true. He knew how close Sasha and Pepper were and that her daughter had probably told her the whole story of the breakup. The elder Potts should hate him. "I thought you were still living in Vancouver."
"And I am, I'm just paying a visit to Pe... a friend," she quickly corrected herself.
The raven-haired man nodded. Of course, he had noticed the slip in her speech. Pepper had indeed moved. They were in the same city after years.
"How are you, Anthony? It's been a long time since we've seen each other," Sasha asked because she genuinely cared about her former son-in-law. Despite the complicated situation, she could analyze it from an outsider's perspective, recognizing the mistakes and pains of both parties involved.
"I'm fine," he replied, but the woman could sense the lie in his voice. "And you? How have you been?"
"Good," she said with a smile. She knew her response had been short, that she should prolong the conversation. She had always liked Tony, but the situation was at least uncomfortable. How to continue? And he thought about asking about Pepper. He didn't know if it would be weird or not, but didn't have time to decide, Sasha quickly interrupted his thoughts.
"Look, I enjoyed seeing you, but I have to go now. I have to take this here to..."
"Granny!" Erin appeared before them with a crying face, interrupting her before she could finish her sentence. Definitely not what was supposed to happen.
"Erin fell and she said it hurts a lot!" Iris quickly appeared beside her sister, the two of them not even noticing they were interrupting the conversation. They didn't even notice there was someone else there besides the eldest.
Tony just watched the two blonde little girls as his stomach churned. Pepper didn't have sisters. She was an only child. The girl had called Sasha granny. She had moved on. She had found in someone else what he couldn't give her. A family and stability. He had definitely lost her.
"Alright, sweetheart. Grandma will take care of this," the woman said, kissing her granddaughter's cheek and wiping away the tears in a completely gentle and loving gesture.
Tony had never felt that way before. It was a pain he couldn't explain. Feeling defeated, he just made up an excuse, left three $100 bills on the cashier counter, and got out of there as fast as he could. Sasha didn't know how to act in that situation. What to say. Not when the daughters he didn't even know existed were right in front of him, so she just nodded, watching him leaving. Rhodes was nearby, so he saw what had happened. He could imagine how bad his friend was feeling, so he didn't question it when Tony said he needed some time alone as they arrived at the hotel. It was too much to take in.
Tony's mind raced as he drove through the city for hours, not having the slightest idea of where he was going, just wanting to rid himself of all those feelings. Anger. Guilt. Sadness. He had truly lost her. She had moved on. She had two daughters. He could only think of everything he had given up five years ago. Everything that could have been theirs.
Then Tony's mind lit up.
Five years ago. It had been five years since that fateful night when they had broken up. The little girls with Sasha at the restaurant couldn't be much older than four... What were the chances? Tony had no idea if his thoughts were actually plausible or if they were the result of the alcohol he had consumed mixed with his frustration. But within minutes, his entire mind was consumed with calculations and searching for similarities between himself and the twins he had seen for just a few moments.
He quickly searched for Pepper's information on the internet, and it wasn't difficult to find her address. He thought about going there right at that moment, but it was already late, they probably wouldn't be able to talk, so he gave up on that idea. He decided he would go the next morning. He knew her schedule. He needed to know the truth. He needed to know if he was imagining things or if, indeed, he had two daughters.
If they had two daughters.
Meanwhile, not far away, Pepper learned about the brief encounter.
"He what?"
"He's in town. Him and his friend..."
"Rhodes." Pepper sighed, already knowing who they were talking about. Happy never accompanied him on these trips.
Sasha had just arrived home with the news that they had seen Tony, and as soon as Pepper heard the information, she laughed. She really thought it was some kind of joke, unfunny, but still a joke. What were the chances of them being in the same restaurant at the same time when they lived in different countries? When she realized that the chances were greater than she imagined, that it had indeed happened, she began to worry.
"Did he see Erin and Iris?" That was her biggest concern.
"Yes. But I don't think he noticed anything. It wasn't for that long."
"That's good... Did they talk to him?"
"No. They didn't even notice his presence. But you had to see him, Pep... His look. I had no idea what to do or what to say. He had no clue he was in front of his daughters."
Pepper swallowed hard. She would never admit how much that situation bothered her, she would never confess all the billionth times she thought about reaching out, talking, telling the truth... Like at that moment. But she still feared his reaction. She still feared for her daughters.
She accepted being rejected, having her feelings hurt. But she would never accept that happening to her daughters.
And she hated not knowing if she could trust Anthony Stark.