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“No, Mr. Stark is unable to comment right now… No, he’s not in the hospital. He’s just unable to comment right now…” Pepper was fielding phone calls for several hours since Tony’s announcement of stopping Stark Industries weapons manufacturing. It was a shock heard around the world, almost literally, considering the weapons that Stark Industries created for the troops stationed all over.
She was getting emails and messages to her blackberry that were alerting her of the sudden drops of SI stock, all of the things that would make a company nervous, but Mr. Stark didn’t seem to notice, let alone care at all. So, Pepper was doing what she did best, putting out fires and making sure Mr. Stark didn’t get himself into anymore trouble.
As her phone rang again, Pepper sighed. “Our comment right now is we have no comment,” she told whoever was on the other end, then hung up the phone. It was going to be a long day.
In fact, it’d been such a long day, that when Pepper looked up from her computer and her phone to stretch her neck, she realized it was dark outside. “JARVIS, what happened to the sun?” She asked, the caught herself. “Don’t answer that… I know what happened to it. Where is Mr. Stark?”
Do you really need the answer to that question, Miss Potts? The AI answered back and Pepper wanted to laugh over how sassy he could be sometimes.
“No JARVIS, just a hypothetical… thank you,” Pepper got up from her spot, back aching from hunching over her computer for several hours. She’d been composing emails to the SI board of trustees, answering calls, and leaving messages, that she never even took the time to get something to eat. Which wasn’t entirely new for her.
Heading downstairs, Pepper peered through the window into Mr. Stark’s workshop, fully expecting him to be working on his hot rod, or creating a schematic for something new, but instead she saw him sitting at the hot rod, but just staring. Keying in her PIN, she was shocked that there was no music playing either. This was different behavior, something Pepper wasn’t used to.
“Mr. Stark?” She spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb him if he was indeed working on something.
Tony didn’t turn around at first, his mind was focused elsewhere. He wasn’t sure why. Actually, he knew exactly why… he’d just come home from the most traumatic thing he’d ever experienced and was trying to be smart about all of this. How did one come back from something like this? He’d stopped weapons manufacturing effective immediately, he was going to make sure no more Americans died with the weapons he’d designed to protect them. Then somehow, he was going to figure out how to stop the stolen weapons from being reproduced. He wasn’t sure how, but that was the plan.
Yet, there was still something else on his mind. Don’t waste your life Stark… The words uttered to him by a dying man - the man who saved his life. Tony was told that he had everything and nothing and that was true. He was one of the richest men alive, yet, he wasn’t truly happy. He also couldn’t understand why as he was so close to death her heard Miss Potts’ voice. Pepper Potts… his trusted assistant.
Of course he thought she was attractive and may have drunkenly hit on her a few times in the years he’d known her, but to actually hear her voice as he was almost being drown… that was a new one for Tony. Yet, the words Yinsen uttered rang in his head over and over again: Don’t waste your life, Stark…
So, when he heard her voice now, Tony quickly realized he was staring into space. Shaking his head, he turned around to see Miss Potts standing there, looking just as tired as he was. “Yes, Miss Potts?”
“It’s late and I’m still working on these emails and calls… would you like me to order something in tonight?” Pepper asked, looking at her boss. Mr. Stark looked exhausted, so she figured he hadn’t eaten anything since the Burger King they had on the way to the press conference that was hours ago.
Shaking his head, Tony looked at her. “No, I don’t think I’m hungry,” he told her. Things were still weird for him and he was trying to adjust to the idea that he was home again, that there was no imminent danger anymore. “Why don’t you take the rest of the night off?”
Pepper was busy typing away on her Blackberry that she hadn’t even comprehended what her boss told her. “I’m sorry?” She looked at him.
“You’re free to go home, Miss Potts…” Tony said, turning back to his hot rod. “Get something to eat, get some rest… thanks for everything today.”
Stunned, Pepper couldn’t even answer her text message anymore. Did her boss, just thank her? That was unexpected… but honestly pretty welcome. “Will that be all, Mr. Stark?”
Tony smiled when he heard that. Of all the crap he put her through, he was still shocked that she was still beside him. Even after the ridiculousness that was the press conference that afternoon. He didn’t deserve her, that was certain. “That will be all, Miss Potts,” he said. As he heard her heels clicking away, Tony glanced behind him, smiling to himself. Maybe… just maybe he could do something right for a change.