Theme 65 - Change
Title: Care
Author: ZionAngel
Theme: 65 - Change
Rating: G
Length: 790 words
Summary: Some things never change, and some things do.
She really hates to admit it, even to herself, but she does feel more rested than she has in a while. She can actually comprehend the things she’s reading and discussing with Tony without having to concentrate especially hard, and she doesn’t have that little pain between her eyes anymore. She’s not going to tell him that, though, because then he’d probably just gloat. And they don’t have the time to take away from preparing for the presentation for the Board of Directors the day after tomorrow. So she turns her attention back to the revisions she’s discussing with Tony, sitting on the opposite end of the couch in her office.
She turns, finding him staring at something across the room and scratching at the edges of his goatee. He clears his throat and she - wait… was he staring at her? She glances down at her outfit - basically the only clothes she has left here until she does her laundry. The shirt is a little too low-cut for her usual tastes, and the skirt isn’t too bad, but with the way she’s sitting, with her legs crossed, it’s riding well above her knees. And he’s fidgeting now and he has a guilty look on his face…. Damn it, he was staring at her!
She instinctively uncrosses her legs and tugs her skirt down, and just before he turns back to her, she pulls her shirt up as much as she can. She keeps going with what she wanted to say, trying to ignore her uncomfortable feeling. He hasn’t stared at her like that since before Afghanistan, and it bothers her even more for that. She has spent her entire career with him not being one of those girls he throws away at the end of the night, and she always hated it when he looked at her like he was trying to turn her into one of them.
But now… as much as she hates it, part of her likes it, feels flattered and flustered at the thought of him staring at her body, wanting her. And that really doesn’t help, because she knows that whatever way he wants her isn’t the same way she wants him.
Part of her hopes she’s called in to pick up someone’s dry cleaning early some morning, soon, because if he keeps staring and making her feel this way on a regular basis, she’ll either lose her mind, or lose control.
He groans loudly, cutting into her thoughts. “Can’t we just blow off this stupid meeting and take a nice long vacation instead?”
She rolls her eyes, and refuses to humor him with an answer. Some things, it seems, never change.
“I mean, they’re just gonna be a royal pain in both our asses, and the injunction is still effective and they’re gonna wanna open up the weapons division again, mass produce the reactor and the suit….” He turns to her, leaning his head lazily against the back of the couch. “C’mon, Potts, we could both use the vacation. You especially.”
“I am still cleaning up your mess, and you need to maintain control of your company.”
He sighs. “Seriously, Potts, you gotta start taking better care of yourself.”
“First of all, you’re the reason I don’t.” She finishes a sentence on her laptop, and looks at him again. “And why the sudden interest in my well-being, Tony?”
One eyebrow goes up as he lifts his head to look at her evenly. He squints at her, as if he’s not sure if he really just heard what he thinks he did. “It’s not sudden, Pepper. I…” He glances away briefly, but forces himself to look her in the eye again. “I care about you, I don’t want to see you burn out or something worse because you’re not taking care of yourself like you should.”
She stares at him, and after a second or two, she realizes just how serious he is about that, how sincere his words are. It… shocks her, a lot more than she wishes it did. She knew he cared about her, vaguely - he needs her to keep his head on straight, he knows that, so obviously he wouldn’t want anything to happen to her - but apparently she underestimated exactly how much… and maybe why. The care and concern in his eyes is absolutely genuine, and aside from feeling rather foolish for not seeing it before… she’s touched.
Finally he grins, like she’s making him uncomfortable, and she smiles a little. “Maybe we can stay in New York a couple extra days. Just take it easy, relax.”
“Good. You need it.”
She’s still smiling as she turns back to her laptop. Well... maybe some things do change.