When a little ding emits from his phone, Tony doesn't hesitate to pull it from his pocket. He's learned to associate the noise with updates on Pepper.

As he expected, it's a text from Penny, telling him about how much Pepper seemed to love the tea. She said she drinks it every day and sometimes more. Tony smiles to himself and starts planning his next move.

The phone dings again before Tony can return it to his pocket. He narrows his eyes at the text. Penny suggests he get Pepper flowers-'but nothing crazy, Mr. Stark. There's this little family-owned shop a few blocks over'-, and fluffy socks, of all things.

Tony thinks Penny can read his skepticism through the phone because another message follows soon after her last. It simply reads, 'It's the small things'.

Tony hums, satisfied, and continues on his way.

Thirty minutes later he gets another text. 'Her favorite color is blue.' He doesn't tell Penny that that's something he already knows

The flower shop Penny mentioned is small but they clearly do well for themselves. Tony, per Penny's suggestion, goes to buy the flowers in person. He settles for a small bouquet and something with blue in it. He doesn't even get a vase! Penny should approve.

He waits until Pepper is out and the assistant is gone. Penny is there, writing on an orange post-it note. She lifts her head when he approaches and leads him into Pepper's office without a word. She takes the flowers from his hands, nods her approval, and sets them over her desk. Then, she shows him the note.

Written in a mix of print and cursive handwriting, in black ink, she's written, "Something to brighten your day!"

"You got better handwriting than me, kid." Her lips tick upwards and she sticks it to the paper wrapped around the flowers silently. Tony narrows his eyes but waits until they're out of the office to speak up on it. "You okay, kid?"

"Hm?" Penny lifts her eyebrows and turns to look at him. But she doesn't hold his eyes for long. "Yeah, all good. The flowers are great, I'll let you know what she thinks of them. She should be back soon."

"Thanks, kid. See you around, yeah?"

"Yeah." Tony glances back as he moves away. Penny has sat at the assistant's desk and lowered her head. He hums quietly to himself and continues on. He doesn't want Pepper to catch him hanging around.

He doesn't question Penny's suggestion of the fluffy socks. The little things, she said. And he's seen the shoes Pepper wears. Modern-day torture devices if you ask him. If he had to put up with those things all day, he'd want some nice socks too.

It's weird though, he doesn't think he's ever bought anyone but himself socks before. Or maybe that's not weird. Are socks a common gift item? He's not sure. But he decides to get Penny's opinion on which to get. She'll have more insight than he will. And she is the one who suggested them in the first place. And if he catches a glimpse of Pepper while he's talking to her, all the more reason to.

He doesn't bother texting before he heads down. And when he gets there, he thinks maybe he should have. The assistant-Julia? Jane?-isn't there. Neither is Penny. Tony spins as he looks around. Maybe Pepper is in her office. He turns and the door opens before he can reach it.

Pepper is glowing today. Maybe it's the sun shining through the windows behind her but Tony doesn't think so. She seems less stressed than the last time he saw her. He can't help the smile that pulls at his lips. But then he remembers why he's there.

"Where's the kid?"

"Penny? She's not here today." Pepper replies smoothly. Tony's eyebrows scrunch together.

"What? Why?" He looks around again as if she'll appear from behind a corner or a desk and say it was a joke. It's Tuesday. Tony knows for a fact that she's here every Tuesday.

"She called in sick."

"Sick?"

"Yes, Tony, people get sick, especially kids."

"Right," Tony hummed. "She did seem a bit off yesterday." He observed aloud. He had thought it weird but his thoughts had been on Pepper. As they mostly are these days.

"I knew I didn't have a 'secret admirer'." Pepper said. Tony lifts his gaze back to hers. She's smiling slightly.

"What's that?"

"The flowers. I knew they were from you and I know Penny's handwriting. She insisted they were from some secret admirer."

"Maybe not so secret but still an admirer." Tony shrugs. Pepper's smile widens but she keeps it small. He has to hold himself back from asking her to dinner right then and there. It goes against the 'slow and steady' plan, as Penny had dubbed it.

"You got the kid's address? I'll send her a get well soon bear. She'll love it."

Pepper huffs. "Yes, I do. And I think maybe she will." She turns back into her office and Tony follows. "Just, keep it under three feet, please."

"Do I have to?"

It's Thursday when he gets the video file. He'd only been absentmindedly looking through his inbox. It's his private one. He hadn't looked at it all week and needed something else to do instead of returning a call from Steve. If it was important, the others would reach out to him as well. He wasn't worried about it.

The subject line caught his attention. From an email address clearly made up for this single purpose. EMPLOYEE MISCONDUCT. It's not something Tony deals with. He has a whole HR department for a reason. But someone took the time to send this to him personally and anonymously. So, with squinted eyes and after having FRIDAY assure him that it's safe to do so, Tony opens the file.

He recognizes the room immediately. It's the break room down the hall from Pepper's office. And in it is Penny. It's dated Monday, time-stamped at 11:43 that morning.

Penny is alone in the video, sweeping crumbs carefully off the counter and onto a napkin. Tony watches, confused, as she dumps it into the trash and returns to a mug of what he thinks is coffee. He thinks she probably shouldn't be drinking that, something about stunted growth and unhealthy caffeine consumption. He's pretty sure the former is just a myth, though he can't be sure. Maybe Pepper just gave her some tea.

She's humming a tune under her breath, so quietly he can barely hear it. Confusion still clouds his mind as he watches, feeling only a little weird and more unsettled because of the only two words sent along with this video.

He knows Penny, she's a good kid, as children go. His experience with teenagers might be severely lacking but he knows Penny wouldn't hurt a fly. So when a man walks into the room, his suspicion spikes alongside his heart rate.

Tony doesn't recognize the man but knows he must work on the floor. He appears familiar with his surroundings and he's wearing an expensive suit. Yet it's still cheaper than what Tony would buy. He'd put it around five hundred.

Besides, he wouldn't have gained access to the building, much less been able to get so close to the CEO of SI if he didn't have the clearance to be there.

The man greets Penny with a nod and a polite smile. She returns it and side steps further away from the coffee machine when it becomes clear that's where he'd headed.

"I really don't know how to work this thing." The man chuckled.

"Oh, I can show you, if you want," Penny said. More timid than he's used to seeing her. She clearly doesn't know this man.

"Would you? I would greatly appreciate it." Tony already doesn't like this guy, whoever he is. The unease in his stomach only grows. It's not often he hopes he's wrong, but this is one of those times, he wishes for his suspicion to be denied rather than confirmed.

The man in the video steps back and allows Penny room to access the coffee machine. With her back to him, he inches forward, standing much to close for Tony's liking.

"So it depends on what you want, but it's actually really simple-"

"You work for Ms. Potts, right?" The man cuts her off and Penny glances over her shoulder. She notices how close he is and tries to scoot away. He only follows her. Tony's hands clench by his sides.

"Uh, yeah," Even on video, Tony can tell that Penny is uncomfortable. He knows this man could tell the same but he moves closer anyway.

"What's your name?"

"Uh, Penny," Penny answers hesitantly. She looks over the man's shoulder and towards the door, her only exit. Tony hopes for someone to come through, to pull the man away from her. But that's not what happens.

"Pretty Penny," The man's smile widens. He's stepped closer to Penny. Her back is pressed against the counter. Tony has to remind himself that this happened days ago and he can't rush down there now to stop it. Penny is still at home sick. Or not. He's starting to think she was never sick.

"How old are you?"

"Um, Fifteen."

Some part of Tony hoped that would make the man back off. But it doesn't. "Really? Fifteen?" He sounds excited. Tony's jaw clenches.

"Yeah, I need to get back to Ms. Potts." Penny said, raising her voice slightly but not enough for anyone outside the room to hear her.

"Oh, I'm sure she won't miss you for another minute." The man insisted.

"She's expecting me back."

"Are you lying to me, Penny?" He said it with a smile but Tony has been threatened enough times to pick up on the malice in his voice.

"No. Can you back off, please?"

"Back off? I haven't done anything." With less than a breath between them, the man lifts his hand to brush a strand of her hair back.

Tony hasn't blinked since the video started, but if he had, he would've missed Penny's next movement. She raises her leg, driving her knee between the man's legs. He grunts and doubles over, giving her the room to dart past him and out of the room. Tony releases a breath and silently praises her actions.

But...this was all three days ago. A single day before Penny called out sick. If she'd told anyone, Pepper would know. And she wouldn't have kept this from him. And who sent him the video instead of going to HR?

Tony doesn't waste too much time fretting over the details. He doesn't remember standing, but he's on his feet and out the door a second after the video ends. And for the first time in a long time, he's not happy for his reason to go see Pepper.

"Who sent you this?" Pepper asked with narrowed eyes still trained on the video. Tony stands over her shoulder, fist resting against his chin.

"I don't know. I didn't bother trying to trace it back after I saw what it was." He'd come straight here and barged right into Pepper's office. She took one look at his expression and had known something was wrong. "You know that guy?"

Pepper scoffs. "Yeah, I know him. George Beckham."

"An she didn't mention this?"

"You think he'd still be here if she had?" Pepper asked. "I had no idea."

"Well, he's obviously getting fired," Tony said, gaze still locked onto the video. "Should be going to jail. I have connections, I could call in some favors. But if this went through HR and nothing happened, he's not the only cockroach in the pantry."

"Trace this, find out where it came from," Pepper said. "I should check on Penny." She stands and grabs her phone. Tony takes her vacated seat and gets to work. No need to go anywhere else, this won't take him long.

Pepper stands on the other side of her office, phone to her ear, speaking quietly. Tony tries not to pay attention and focuses entirely on tracking whoever sent him the video.

The email was fake, made only that day to send the video. The whole thing was half-assed. Tony has a feeling whoever sent it only cared that it got to him. It doesn't take long to trace it to the very computer that sent the email.

Pepper hangs up the phone, mumbles something to herself, and rejoins Tony. "Did you find it?"

"Yeah," He said. "Karina Kennedy. Works in IT. She wasn't trying very hard to hide that she sent it, she used her company computer. A five-year-old knows that's a bad idea if you don't want to be tracked."

"She's here today?"

"Yup. I've already sent Happy to bring her up." Tony didn't tell his head of security why he needed to see Kennedy. He hopes Happy doesn't cause too much of a scene. "How's the kid?"

"I spoke to her aunt. She said she would speak to her."

"Yeah," Tony mumbled. He doesn't know what else to say about it. He's much better at firing people than comforting teenagers.

When Happy arrives with Kennedy, Pepper's assistant lets them both in. The young woman hides her nerves well and takes a seat across the desk when Pepper gestures for her to do so. Happy leaves the room when Tony waves him away with a quick thanks.

Before Pepper can say anything, Tony spins the screen around to show Kennedy the paused video. There's no surprise evident in her eyes and she pressed her lips into a thin line.

"You sent me that. Didn't try to hide it too well besides the fake email. I'm not sure why you even bothered with that, you would've known I'd be able to track it either way."

"Yes," Kennedy nodded. "At first I was going to try harder to hide it but I figured...there was no point."

"Why did you send the video to Mr. Stark?" Pepper asked.

"I figured if anyone could or would do something, it would be him."

"Where'd you get the video? Why not go to HR?"

"We did," Kennedy said. "I-...someone in security came across the video, I didn't ask how. He took it to HR and they didn't do anything. So he brought it to me, said he didn't feel like going back and forth, not with the kid involved."

"So he brought it to you and you sent it to me?"

"I like to think I work for a company whose owner wouldn't let something like this go without consequence," She said, raising her chin as if daring them to go against her. Tony had thought he didn't have to worry about this happening in his company either. That his employees weren't scumbags and if they were, the department that was supposed to deal with them actually would. Apparently, he was wrong.

"Who brought the video to you?" Pepper asked. Kennedy looks between them hesitantly. "They're not in trouble, but we need to know who in HR decided that a young girl being harassed was something to be ignored."

Kennedy sighs. "Lionel Newman, a security guard."

"Thank you, Ms. Kennedy, you're free to go." Tony dismisses her with a wave. She hesitates again when she stands but once she's on her feet, she rushes from the room. Happy, having been standing outside, enters behind her.

"What was that about?"

"Just playing a little detective, Hap, nothing to worry about," Tony said. "You know a Lionel Newman?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Good employee? You trust him?"

"Yeah, I hired him myself. What's this about?"

"We need to talk to him, mind bringing him up?"

Happy clearly wants to question Tony more but he doesn't. He glances at Pepper who offers up no information and nods. "Sure thing, boss."

Happy makes haste and is back in under ten minutes. Tony and Pepper sat in contemplative silence until the door opened once more.

Lionel Newman is similar to Happy in height and stature. He carries himself with confidence and greets both him and Pepper politely, not sitting until Pepper asks him to do so.

"We just got done talking to a friend of yours," Tony said. "Karina Kennedy. You brought a video to her and had her send it to me. Why?"

"You saw it, or I wouldn't be here," Newman said. "I came across it Tuesday and took it straight to HR. They said they'd get on it but on Wednesday, when I checked in, nothing had happened. They said there wasn't enough there to go on," He scoffed. "I've seen this before, people covering shit like this up. I wasn't going to just let it go so I did what I thought would get it taken care of."

"I could have given it to Hogan, had him get it to you," Newman continued. "Could have had Karina send it to you, Ms. Potts. But I figured this would get the fastest results. I know Penny," He said, voice significantly softer than before. "I see her when she comes in every day. She's a good kid, I have a daughter a little younger than her. I wasn't going to sit by and let this bastard get away with that," He points to the screen that's still turned towards him. "If he does, I think we all know what it could escalate to."

"Thank you for looking out for her," Pepper said. Tony glances at her. He knows Newman can't hear the underlying guilt in her tone, but he can. "I appreciate it."

"Who's the HR rep you took the video to?" Tony asked.

"Tyler Ward."

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Newman," Tony reaches out to shake the man's hand.

"We'll handle it from here, don't worry," Pepper assures him on his way out.

Happy, still standing outside the door, raises his eyebrows in question at the both of them. Tony raises and hand to grasp onto his shoulder. "Feel like escorting some soon-to-be ex-employees out the door? They'll most likely be disgruntled."

Tony hasn't had as much fun as he did firing George Beckham and Tyler Ward in a long time. He was right when he said they would be upset and Happy had to walk both of them out. Tony enlisted the help of Lionel Newman as well. Just in case Happy needed backup.

Turns out Tyler and George are good buddies. So when Newman brought him the video file and he saw his friend was the one on it, he decided to bury it and hope the security guard wouldn't follow up. Too bad for him, Lionel isn't that kind of guy.

"Well, that was an eventful day," Tony rubs his hands together and looks at Pepper. Despite the circumstances, it was nice working with her again. They felt like a team. "You hungry?"

Pepper smiles at him but he knows her answer even before she says it. "I'm going to go see Penny. I think I should talk to her, tell her about what happened today."

"Right," Tony hadn't had much of an appetite anyway. "Want some backup?"

"Thank you, Tony, for everything you've done today. But I think it's best I go alone."

"Right. Well, maybe take Happy with you, make him stay in the car, of course."

"Of course," Instead of walking passed him, Pepper stops and rests her hand against his cheek. Tony does his best not to lean into the touch, to not show how much the simple action means to him. He's like a teenage boy all over again, getting butterflies in his stomach because the girl he likes is standing close to him. "Goodnight, Tony."

"Goodnight, Pep." Her hand slides from his cheek. He tries not to mourn the loss for long and watches her go. He sighs quietly and leaves shortly after.

Tony spends that night going over ways he could legally—maybe less than legally—ruin George Beckham's life. He's a powerful man with a lot of money. And not to mention, an Avenger. He's capable of doing a lot.

He looks into old records for any complaints filed against Beckham but finds none. He's not sure if that makes him feel better or not. Just because it wasn't reported doesn't mean it didn't happen. Or maybe his buddy Ward just hid them like he tried to do with Penny.

Either way, Beckham nor Ward will be getting a job anywhere more than a Dairy Queen if he has anything to say about it. Or maybe he could slip their names to Nat. She would do something about it...but no, that wouldn't be very ethical...

No.

Maybe.

He shouldn't.

Right?

No. He won't.

Yet.

Tony weighs his phone in his hand, debating. He still hasn't gotten those socks for Pepper. He still wants to get Penny's opinion but now doesn't seem like the right time. He thinks about asking FRIDAY for advice but knows he'll only receive sass in return. His own fault for designing her that way.

He opens Pepper's contact and sends a simple message. 'How's the kid?'. The phone goes face-down on the table right after. He tells himself he's not going to wait around for a response. He'll get some work done. But then his phone buzzes and he snatches it up.

'She's okay. I told her not to come back until next week at the least. I figured she spends too much time here anyway.'

Tony thinks that's it but then he sees another message come through. One that has Tony's heart skipping a beat. 'Would you like to get lunch?'

He has to tell himself not to freak out, not to go overboard, not to confess his undying love for her over text right then and there. He keeps his reply simple and offers to pick up whatever she wants so they can eat privately in her office.

He meets her there forty-five minutes later. He smiles at Janet? on his way passed, bags of food held tightly in one hand. She doesn't try to stop him but she doesn't return his smile and regards him with narrowed eyes.

"I don't think she likes me very much," Tony said in lieu of a greeting to Pepper. He nods towards the closed doors when she looks up at him in question.

"Well, you do go out of your way to make her job harder," Pepper said but she's smiling as she does it.

"Me? Why would I do that? I don't do that." Pepper lifts her eyebrows in a way that signals her disbelief but comments no further.

He passes over her food and takes a seat across from her. He wishes the desk wasn't between them but he keeps his distance. Slow and steady.

"So, I'm guessing the kid wasn't sick?"

"No, not sick." Pepper sighs and stabs a piece of lettuce with her fork. "She just felt bad about the whole thing, she thought she had done something wrong," Pepper chuckles but there's no humor behind it. "Can you believe that? She gets harassed and thinks she's the one in the wrong. And then I told her that Beckham was fired but that only made her feel worse."

"She's a good kid," Better than he is, but is that really a surprise? Tony wouldn't feel bad if Beckham walked in front of a bus tomorrow.

"Yes, she is," Pepper whispered. "I spoke to May. She's been either locked in her room or hanging out with friends. I told her to only come back next week if she felt up to it. I figured she deserved a break anyway. She promised she'd be back Monday."

"I kind of miss the kid," Tony said and he finds that he's not lying. It's not some ploy to get Pepper back on his good side. It's just...the truth. He shoves the next bite of salad—he got what Pepper got. Easier that way—into his mouth before he can say anything else sappy.

But Pepper's smile has gone soft and she's looking at him in that way that makes him feel like he's worth something. "Thank you, Tony, for looking out for her. I really appreciate it."

"Like I said, she's a good kid." Tony knows it wouldn't matter who had been in that position, an adult, an employee he didn't know, or a stranger off the street, he would have done the same thing. Iron Man or not, he's not the type to sit by and let someone get bullied or harassed.

"I'm glad you think so because I had an idea."

"Is this an idea I should be worried about?"

"I guess that's up to you." Pepper smiles but it's not like the soft smile she gave him before. Tony knows this as her scheming smile. "You offered Penny an internship after this one ends. I hope you haven't changed your mind."

"Of course not."

"Well, good. I was thinking, why not start early? One day a week that she's here, instead of interning for me, she works with you." Tony can do nothing more than hum. She's testing him. And he's determined to pass. "I think it would be good. To help get her acclimated, so she knows what to expect."

"Yeah, sounds great," Tony nods without hesitation. "I'll take, uh, Wednesdays?"

"Perfect." Pepper smiles and Tony gives himself an A+.