2004
Pepper looked at her computer and sent out the last of her emails for the day. She stood up at her desk and grabbed her folders and tucked them into her bag and was heading for the door when Tony startled her on the intercom.
“Pepper, I need you,” his voice boomed.
She pressed the button and leaned toward the intercom.
“I need to leave on time tonight Mr. Stark. Remember I told you that last week?”
Tony made his way upstairs and he appeared behind her.
“Why? what’s going on?” he asked as he eyed her suspiciously.
“Nothing special. I just have an appointment to get to,” Pepper said, pretending to look for something in her bag to avoid his eyes.
“Everyone at the office was whispering today. What is going on?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them. Will that be all Mr.Stark?”
“That’ll be all Miss Potts,” Tony said as he dismissed her.
Once she was gone he went to find Happy.
“What is Pepper not telling me?” he said when he found him on the couch.
“Hey Boss, I was just catching up on the news” Happy mumbled.
“Are you in on it? What’s going on tonight? And why am I not invited?” Tony pressed. He could be relentless when he wanted to know something.
“I don’t know boss but I gotta head out,” Happy said as he hurried to the door before Tony could ask him any more questions.
Tony paced back and forth and went to Pepper’s desk and looked at the calendar. Her personal calendar was totally blank. He even ran a pencil over the box to see if any eraser marks came up. She was good. When she didn’t want him to know anything she didn’t leave any crumbs.
“JARVIS can you see anything on Pepper’s calendar that has been deleted?” he asked as he scratched his head.
“No sir,”
“Can you bring up Pepper’s new hire paperwork?”
He started flipping through the files and he saw her I.D. And the date was staring him blank in the face. February 12, 1974. Today was Pepper’s birthday. She was turning 30.
She had plans and he wasn’t invited. Not only was it a blow to his ego but he was hurt. He needed to find out where and when they were going and he needed to show up.
He stopped for a minute and replayed the entire day in his head from the beginning and he thought about all the whispering and then he remembered Janet talking to Nancy and he overheard her say “Waldorf Astoria at 8pm”.
Tony quickly called the hotel to get confirmation of the time and he knew the party was there. His next call was to his jeweler. He put in an order he needed done today and it was a lot to ask but he was Tony Stark and he knew they’d have it done. He was going to have it wrapped and sent there on time.
Tony went to his liquor cabinet and opened the bourbon. He poured himself a glass and couldn’t remember exactly how many he had when 8pm neared.
Pepper was at her seat at her table with her family and boyfriend Matt and friends around her. Her parents flew in from Connecticut and planned on staying a few days to see Los Angeles and just about everyone from Stark Industries was invited except Tony. They began to eat and the band hired to play eighties and nineties music started to play.
Tony snuck through the back of the building into the kitchen and he was hiding behind a fake palm tree. He blinked his eyes a few times until Pepper came into focus. He never saw her look more beautiful than she did that night. He couldn’t believe his eyes. There she was dancing with her boyfriend and smiling. Tony really didn’t like the guy. He refused to believe she could really be happy with a jerk like him. She had on a silver sequined dress that fell above the knees and her black Christian Louboutin heels. Her hair was wild and curly and she donned a smokey eye and red lipstick. She was a total knockout. It was almost as if Tony was seeing her for the first time. His mind went to someplace inappropriate and he strived to stop himself from indulging. Not Pepper. He sucked his breath in for a moment and then he realized that all of his employees were invited and even his best friend Colonel Rhodes was there. Pepper disliked him so much that she didn’t want him at her birthday. He felt a jolt of pain in his heart. He hadn’t realized Pepper had that much disdain for him. He also didn’t realize it would matter that much to him. Since when did he care about Pepper’s approval? He stayed there and watched for a while. He wasn’t sure how long it had been but it was now or never. He slipped from his hiding space and grabbed the lead singer of the band and whispered something to him and handed him a few hundred dollar bills. Then he made his way to the kitchen and he found his hiding space under the tablecloth covering the cart that was carrying her cake. They wheeled it out and he squeezed his eyes shut and clutched the microphone in his hand. The bourbon was really closing in on him and making him feel fearless. He planned this perfectly and really hoped that Pepper would love her surprise.
After they finished Happy Birthday Tony came out from under the cart right up to Pepper’s face and he motioned for the band to start the music.
Pepper’s eyes lit up in fear of what he was about to say or do.
“I love myself
I want you to love me
When I feel down
I want you above me
I search myself
I want you to find me
I forget myself
I want you to remind me
I don't want anybody else
When I think about you
I touch myself”
Pepper could feel the heat from her burning cheeks and she put her head down. Tony was drunk and just continued until the song finished.
“Happy Birthday Pepper,” he said into the mic smiling at her.
Pepper got up out of her chair and ran from the room. She made her way out the back door and felt the cool February air on her arms and it made the hairs stand on end. She let tears pour out of her eyes.
“How did this happen?” she said frustrated with the situation and far beyond humiliated. She kept walking further away from the venue down the street when she realized Tony was behind her.
“You ran out of there so quick Pep. Did you not like your surprise? I know I’m not the best singer but I thought it was ok,” he said as he took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders when he noticed she was shivering.
“OK? That was the most humiliating moment of my entire life. My parents flew here from Connecticut and I have to see these people every day at work. And I need to explain what that was to Matt. Who told you?” Pepper said angrily.
“No one. I figured it out through clues and deductive reasoning,”
“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? HOW COULD YOU FUCKING DO THIS TO ME?” she screamed as she paced back and forth.
Tony was startled. He never once in all the years she worked for him heard her use any kind of profanity.
“I thought you would like it,” Tony said quietly with a shrug as he reached for his tiny bottle of bourbon in his jacket.
Pepper grabbed the bottle from his hand and threw it on the ground and it smashed by their feet. He never saw her this aggressive.
“It’s one thing to crash a party you weren’t even invited to Tony but to come here drunk and mortify me is low even for you,”
“I should have been invited. And when I found out that everyone else was even Rhodes it hurt my feelings and that’s why I started drinking. I didn’t know you hated me that much,” he muttered, completely unaware of his admissions.
“ I don’t hate you Tony but that thing you did in there whatever that was is the precise reason you weren’t invited. You drink and ruin everything. I can’t trust you,” she said as she stormed off leaving Tony there dumbfounded.
He wanted to go after her so badly but he knew this was one of the times he needed to stay behind.
Pepper spent the rest of the weekend with her parents and Matt trying to calm them down and explain that Tony really is a good person; he just likes his liquor and that he has never been inappropriate with her before. She decided to sit down and read all her cards and open all her gifts and get ready to write thank you notes. She was halfway through when she opened a card that said
30 years to my beautiful assistant who I will never deserve love Tony
She opened the box and it was a beautiful necklace with 30 stones completely made of amethyst. Her birthstone. It was gorgeous and Tony knew her taste so well. She put it back in the box and put it away. She was still angry no matter how nice the sentiment.
Monday came sooner than she was prepared for. She got to the Stark mansion and there were eight balloons that spelled out “I’m sorry” and a teddy bear with a card that said “I’m sorry” as soon as she opened the door. It made her smile inside but she wasn’t ready to let him know that yet. She went into the kitchen and Dum-e and You were there serving her coffee and pastries from her favorite bakery.
“Hey Pep,” Tony said, appearing suddenly in the entryway. He had on a pair of jeans that fit him nicely and one of his Black Sabbath t-shirts. He had one strand of hair slightly drooping over his forehead and it was driving her nuts honestly.
She was about to speak but he beat her to it. She tried to fight the urge to fix that single strand of hair while she listened to him speak.
“I’ve written a formal apology to everyone on your guest list and I called over to have a face to face apology with your parents and your boyfriend” he said humbly.
Pepper was stunned. Tony always had the ability to surprise her. How could she not forgive him? He was her boss after all.
She moved closer to him.
“Thank you,” she said and she put her hand on his arm and he pulled her in for a hug.
This was a first for them and they were terrified. Tony was afraid of what touching Pepper would mean. They’ve had some moments through the years where they’ve brushed against each other and they separated quickly and it was awkward.
Pepper was surprised by how much she liked this hug and wouldn’t mind hugging him more.
“If it’s any consolation you looked absolutely beautiful,” he whispered.
Pepper smiled as she took in his cologne and then finally pulled away.
She smiled at him and said thank you and stared him in the eyes. That was a mistake. She felt her stomach flip flop and he was staring at her even more intensely. She found herself thinking that he was actually pretty cute when he wasn’t drinking and all of his bimbos weren’t around. No Pepper, absolutely NOT she told herself. Do not think Tony is cute.
“Well I have work to do,” she said, cutting the silence and moving away from him.
She went to her desk and began typing away on her keyboard. Tony watched her for a few minutes and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed before how beautiful she was and how good it felt to hug her and he let his mind wander and imagined what it would be like to kiss her. But he knew she was the one girl he could never have.