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Tony pushed her a little too far this time.
Well, Tony's definition of too far and Pepper's definition of too far were two completely different things.
Tony managed to explode the top 3 floors of the tower, and he claims it's "just a scratch," justified only because no one was hurt, or worse. Yeah, apparently creating an exploding suit just for "shits and giggles" isn't taking it too far. For Tony to take things too far, he'd probably have to sink the state of Florida, and even then that's debatable.
"It's not that big of a deal!" Tony argued.
"It is too that big of a deal, Tony! You exploded the 3 floors of your own tower! How do you even manage to do that?" Pepper replied, exasperated. "You're lucky everyone is alive! Hell, with half the things you do, you're lucky to be alive yourself!" She scrubbed her hands over her face and started to walk out.
She had a point there. After the events of the Mandarin, Tony may have calmed down his reckless ways, but he still had his moments.
"Pepper, please, I'm sorry, okay?" He pleaded. "I swear, that was not supposed to explode in the tower. It was supposed to turn into fireworks or something." Tony scratched at the back of his neck, because really, he had no idea why he was building an exploding suit. It seemed like a fun idea at 4 in the morning after being up for 42 hours straight.
"Tony, you took it too far this time. You promised no more dangerous inventions. I think I'm just going to go out of the state for a couple weeks. I've got enough vacation time saved up."
"Wait, who's going to run my company?"
"It's your company, Tony, I'm pretty sure you can handle it for two weeks," Pepper smirked.
Damn, another good point.
"I'm calling the construction workers so they can schedule the reconstruction of the tower. In the mean time, here's the paperwork that comes with exploding things," she instructed, in her patent-pending President Pepper Potts voice. She pulled two Manila folders out of her briefcase, one labeled "S.H.I.E.L.D" and the other, labeled "Miscellaneous."
"Oh, isn't that great," Tony said flatly, voice dripping with sarcasm. He took the folders and threw them so they landed haphazardly on the edge of one of his lab tables.
"I'll be back in a couple weeks," Pepper called over her shoulder as she started walking towards the door.
"I love you," he shouted back.
"You better," she replied, but Tony could hear the small smile in her voice.
And with that, she was gone.
Once in the elevator, she switched out of Pepper mode and made a phone call.
"Hi, Will? It's Holly. I'm coming back to Ohio, so make sure those kids are ready. Your glee club is about to get way more interesting," she chirped into the phone. The two talked back and forth for a few minutes, ending with Pepper, er, Holly telling him she'll be there in the morning.
As soon as she walked out of Stark Tower, being Pepper was just a distant thought. She hailed a cab, told the driver to head to LaGuardia, and booked a ticket for the next plane to Ohio. Pepper leaned back and smiled.
Holly Holiday was back in business.