Around 5PM that afternoon, Tony's car stopped in front of the Potts family house. The driver's seat door opened to reveal Happy waving enthusiastically to Pepper, who was standing on the porch. He opened the back door and unbuckled Dane. As soon as he was free, Dane ran towards his mum.
"Mummy," he cried joyfully as he barrelled into her arms.
Pepper staggered back a bit and caught him in her arms. "My baby," she cooed and hugged him tightly. "I missed you so much," she smiled, kissing his cheek.
"I missed you too!"
"How was it?" She gently lowering him back on the floor, but stayed kneeled at his level.
"Amazing!" He exclaimed, eyes sparkling with laughter. "We went to the Avengers tower, and I saw so many things…" Dane continued to ramble about everything he saw, but Pepper was barely listening to him anymore, she was just staring curiously at the car, wondering why Tony hadn't come out yet. "Can you believe that?!" Dane exclaimed. Seeing no reaction from his mum, he touched her arm gently and asked, "Mum?"
Pepper turned her head and looked at him, "Yes baby?"
"Did you hear what I said?" He asked, pouting.
"Yes, you went inside the Avengers tower," she said absently, that being the only thing she remembered from Dane's dialogue.
"And I tried Captain America's shield!" He shouted again as if to point out that she had missed the best part.
Pepper smiled at her son's happiness. "I'm happy you had such a good time, baby," she said sincerely.
"Yes I did!" He jumped up and down, not able to contain his excitement.
Pepper laughed and told him, "Go say hello to your grandma, she's in the kitchen and has missed you too."
"Oh yeah!" He said. Before leaving, he turned to happy and waved. "Bye, Happy!"
Happy smiled from where he stood and waved back. "Bye, Kiddo."
Pepper slowly crossed the distance between her and Happy with a soft smile on her lips, "Hi, Happy."
"Hi, Pepper," he answered, hugging her tightly.
"Where's Tony?" She asked staring at the car behind Happy.
Happy gazed at his feet and mumbled, "He didn't come."
"What?" Pepper said incredulously.
Happy, after a few moments of trying to regain his composure, looked at her in the eyes and said, "He had… stuff to do."
Pepper sighed heavily and shook her head, "Yeah, sure." She paused for a second and then added bitterly, "What did I expect?"
"Don't be too harsh on him Pep, he…"
She cut him short. "He, nothing Happy! Actually, yes, he! He and himself, that's all that matters to him." Her tone shifted from disappointment to anger. "I'm so tired of all of this!"
Happy sighed, trying to find the right words, caught between his two friends as always. "Pepper," he started softly while taking her into his arms, "Please, don't be too harsh on yourself or on him, he isn't coping well with the situation, but you know him as much as do and I'm sure you know he is trying."
Pepper closed her eyes in Happy's embrace, the words of her friend resonating in her mind. She knew he was right and that Tony was trying, but her anger at him for not coming then caused her to ignore that fact. He was probably busy with an Ironman thing, once again. She sighed deeply and left Happy's embrace. "Anyway, let's not waste our time talking about him! Thank you, Happy, for bringing back Dane."
"You're welcome, Pepper. That kid is an angel," he remarked and paused before adding with a smile,"unlike his father."
Pepper smiled. "Do you want to have a drink? Mum's always cooking for 10 person so you can even stay for dinner," she offered.
"Thank you, Pepper, it would have been a pleasure, but I have to be back at the Avenger's tower. We are moving and I have to deal with a lot of things there because I'm in charge of the move."
"Moving?" She asked
"Yeah, Tony sold the tower. The Avenger's facilities will be up north in a new I-tech building," Happy explained.
"Oh." Pepper's heart clenched a bit at the thought of the tower being sold. Their tower. The tower they had imagined and built together. The first self-sustained tower with clean energy…
"As Tony is here in New York, I need to manage few things with him. The move is scheduled in 2-3 months and there is so much to handle," he said.
"Sure," Pepper said without enthusiasm, "Have a safe trip back, then."
"Thanks Pepper. I'll see you soon."
"Yeah," she murmured and hugged him one last time before walking back to the house.
Happy watched her until she entered the house and disappeared behind the door. He shook his head and sighed heavily before he entered the car again.
"You're a jerk!" He said while starting the car.
"It's better like this Hap," Tony said quietly through the phone.
"She loves you," Happy stated.
"Love isn't everything."
"Stop being so stupid," Happy said, shaking his head and driving out of the driveway.
"I'm not being stupid! She was the one to tell me that. I'm just trying to follow what I've been told and trying to act like a responsible adult for once!"
"There is nothing responsible or adult in your behavior, Boss."
"Oh yeah I forgot I was talking to Mister Responsible Adult!" Tony teased and without letting Happy time to answer back, he added, "She doesn't want me, Hap, she made that clear, many times actually! I need to put some distance between us for her sake and my own."
"If you say so," Happy said tonelessly.
"Yes I say so! And please, come back quickly we have a lot of work over here!"
"You're a jerk."
"You said that already!"
Happy shook his head and cut the connection with his boss to make him shut up. He had watched Tony and Pepper dance around each other for almost 20 years. He knew more than any other person that they belonged to each other but he still wondered how things went so badly. Both of them were too proud and stubborn. Actually, that was exactly the reason why they ended up in that situation.
He still remembered the day Tony came back from Afghanistan. He had dragged Happy with him to a jewelry store in order to buy a ring for Pepper. Tony had explained that he had the firm intention to propose to Pepper because she was all that he had, she was his everything. Happy had been so pleased at that time that Tony had finally opened his eyes to his and Pepper's relationship and that they would stop to playing hide and seek like they had done for years. But here he was, almost ten years later, still wondering when Tony would use the damned ring and when he would stop his nonsense. Pepper was so amazing, he was lucky that she hadn't given up on him years ago. Happy sighed, turned on the radio and pressed on the speed pedal in the direction of airport to join the jet.
…
After dinner, Pepper led Dane to his bedroom. She tucked him into bed and sat next to him. She patted his hair tenderly and said, "I'm glad you're back, I missed you."
"I missed you too Mum," he answered back and snuggled closer.
"But I'm also happy you had a good time with your father," she added sincerely. Dane's smile grew wider. "See I told you it would be fun," she teased while touching his nose.
He laughed,"Yes it was." After a long pause, while both of them were just enjoying each other's presence, Dane broke the silence. "Yesterday night, before I went to sleep, Tony showed me some old pictures of you."
"Really?" Pepper asked, a bit surprised.
"Yeah," he confirmed. "And you were so beautiful, Mum," he stated, eyes sparkling.
Pepper laughed. "Why, am I not beautiful anymore?" She said faking hurt.
"No, no, no, you still are beautiful!" Dane exclaimed.
Pepper chuckled. "You are a sweetheart," she said and kissed him on the top of his head, "So what kind of pictures did you see?" She asked curiously.
"You want to see?"
"You have them?"
He stood up from his bed and opened the last drawer of his cupboard. "Not all of them, but Tony printed some that I liked a lot, for me," he explained as took out a small pile of photos from an envelope. He came to sit next to his mum and showed her the first picture. "There, look." It was a picture of her and Tony on their first charity event. At that time, she had been working for him for barely a few months. It had been her first charity event and the first time she'd been been ambushed by hundreds of journalists who'd wanted to take pictures of her. The picture was almost 20 years old. She didn't even know that Tony had this picture. "See how beautiful you were in this picture," Dane pointed out.
Pepper chuckled, "This is a very old picture baby," she started. "I had just graduated from university only a year or two ago and had been working for your dad only a few months."
"Tony said you were the most beautiful woman in the room that night." Pepper rolled her eyes. Yes and that's probably why he slept with two different girls that night. Dane brought out another picture this one of her during one of their trips to Italy. "Tony said it was in Venice," Dane said, prompting her to elaborate.
"Yes, Cipriani," she said in a nostalgic voice. "It's one of your dad's favorite hotels," she explained. "We've been there quite a few times within the years. I think this picture is probably from our first trip there." As Dane showed her all pictures he'd had Tony print out for him, Pepper re-lived different moments of her younger life with Tony, official pictures from events, pictures from a random dinner or some trip around the world and - her eyes stopped at one picture. She took the paper from Dane's hand and looked at it closer, "I didn't even know a picture was taken that day," she whispered.
"Dad said that Uncle Rhodey took it," Dane explained quietly.
"I have never seen it before…," she thought aloud, too focused on the picture to pay attention to Dane calling Tony 'Dad.' Throughout the 10 years that she had been the PA of Tony Stark, Pepper Potts had spent a lot of time with Tony and his only friend James Rhodes. The three of them spent evenings at Tony's mansion, watching games, movies or just having drinks and talking. That night was only a week before Afghanistan. She and Tony had fallen asleep on the couch, while Rhodey had passed out on the sofa opposite them. When they woke up in the morning, Rhodey had left already. They'd stared at each other silently for long time. She remembered feeling Tony's breath on her skin and how closed she was to giving in. But Tony being Tony, said a joke and took them back to their routine and traditional banter. If she was honest with herself, Pepper had developed feelings for Tony long before Afghanistan and Iron Man, but then she knew the man too well to fall for it or even admit it. That day and the night at the firefighter charity gala, were the only two days she had let herself almost give in.
In the picture, she was sleeping, her head rested on Tony's shoulder, Tony's head laying on top of hers, the fingers of her left hand intertwined with the fingers of his right hand. She didn't even remember how they ended up holding hands. She just remembered Tony caressing her hand and arms lovingly while he thought she was sleeping. She hadn't stopped him, pretending to be asleep and enjoying his touch.
"Tony said that it's one of his favorite picture," Dane commented.
Dane's comment jarred Pepper out of her reverie. She looked at her son and asked, "Really?" And to try to change focus from this photo, "I wonder which one would be his favorite," she said rhetorically, not waiting for an actual answer.
"This one!" Dane exclaimed, sifting through the pile and picking one picture out. Pepper looked at it and smiled. Maybe, if she had to pick one, she would have chosen this one too. It was a selfie taken by her. A simple photo of them at home. They had only been dating for few weeks when she had taken that photo. She stared at the picture."Do you want to keep it?" Dane asked.
Pepper shifted her look to Dane and smiled tenderly at him. "No baby it's ok, I have this photo already."
"Really?" He said, surprised
"Yes, I have most of the pictures you have here. I have some more too that I'll show you maybe if you want."
"I would love to!" He exclaimed.
"Fine, but now mister, you need to sleep."
Dane pouted. Pepper smiled and gathered the photos that were on Dane's bed and put them aside. She tucked the covers around Dane and kissed him on his forehead. "Good night baby."
"Good night Mummy."
She crossed the corridor and enter her own bedroom. It was barely 8PM, but she didn't feel like going down and hear yet another lesson from her mum. Why didn't Tony come? Send a driver, the guy has some nerve. She could already hear her. She stared at the sky from the window. Truth was she'd really wanted to see Tony today. She was craving for his presence, his touch, his words.
But he wasn't here, and Pepper knew she had to get used to it again.
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