Rise of the Mandarin- Chapter Seven
Rise of the Mandarin
Chapter Seven
About an hour and another glass of scotch later, Tony and Pepper had spoken with every single person in the room it seemed; people ranging from business associates to politicians to actual employees of the company. So by the time they had finished making their rounds, he was ready for another drink.
“Whoo,” he breathed out. “Pepper, don’t ever let me talk that long with Senator Philips again.”
“Noted, Mr. Stark,” she said, still hanging onto his hand.
“I need a drink,” he said, pulling her towards the bar. She looked at him.
“Tony, you’re on your third glass. I think that’s enough for now, at least until dinner begins,” she said. Tony made no move to counter her comment, just continued to walk them to the bar. Once there, he ordered another glass of scotch and asked Pepper if she wanted another martini. She respectively declined and stood there with him, waiting on his fourth drink in one hour. In no time at all, the bartender returned with his drink, and as they turned around, they came face to face with Melina, Mr. Kahn, and the demon of Vanity Fair herself, Christine Everhart.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the newly reappointed face of Stark Industries, Mr. Tony Stark, as well as his reappointed assistant and demoted CEO, Pepper Potts,” she said as sweetly as she could. Both Tony and Pepper looked at each other, not believing this.
“Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts,” began Mr. Kahn. “I’d like you to meet…”
“We’ve already met,” Pepper said, glaring but smiling as nicely as she could at the woman. Tony didn’t dare look her in the eye, for fear she would place a curse on him or something weird. Pepper turned back to him. “Be nice,” she mouthed to him. The corner of Tony’s mouth quirked up, and finally he turned to her.
“Hello Christine,” he said, putting on his best smile. “It’s nice to see you again. You look very lovely in that dress, and that perfume you’re wearing is very, um… what’s the word I’m looking for, Pepper?” he asked.
“Repugnant?” she asked with a straight face. Tony snapped his fingers.
“Just the word I was looking for,” he said, turning back to see Christine’s face just as red as Pepper’s dress. Melina laughed nervously and cleared her throat.
“Christine has decided to do an article on Mr. Kahn and the opening of the branch, isn’t that nice?” Melina asked them. Tony and Pepper looked at each other and smiled.
“Oh yes, she’s always had an interest in Stark Industries,” Pepper said, looking at Melina. Christine breathed through her nose to calm herself, and the red on her face slowly dissipated.
“I’m just doing my job, that’s all. It’s tough trying to keep the world up to date with Tony Stark,” she said, grinning wickedly. Tony shifted uncomfortably; he really didn’t like the way she was looking at him, like she wanted to sink her teeth into him, again. Then, it hit him; a grin slowly grew on his face, and he leaned closer to Mr. Kahn, so both he and Christine could hear him.
“Trust me on this, Gene, she’s good, but be careful because she’s a bitter. It took weeks for her teeth marks to fade off of me.” With that, Tony grabbed Pepper’s hand and led her away, leaving Christine wide eyed and mouth hanging open.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” Pepper said, trying her best to contain her giggles, and failing miserably. Tony had a look on his face of sheer triumph, obviously pleased with himself.
“Isn’t it funny that whenever something happens that involves my company, she’s always there to make an appearance?” Tony paused a moment. “Huh, remind me first thing on Monday to file a restraining order,” he said, keeping a straight face. Pepper could no longer contain her sputtering.
“It’s noted, trust me,” she said, regaining her composure. As the crowd moved about them, they met up with Rhodey again and Melina came over to mingle with them while Ms. Everhart was interviewing Mr. Kahn. Melina’s black velvet dress had a slit all the way up to her thigh, and accented every curve of her body; it was definitely meant for seducing the opposite sex. Pepper worried for a brief moment that Tony would start eyeing her, but that thought was quickly discarded when she felt his arm wrap around her waist, and his finger began to lightly trace circles on her hip. Eventually Tony and Rhodey got separated from the girls, seeing as several gentlemen from engineering came over and started to speak with them, they didn’t want to bore the girls with ‘technical’ stuff, so they walked over to the other side of the bar, where a bigger group of engineers were waiting for them.
“You can go with them if you want, I don’t mind,” Melina said to Pepper.
“Oh no, trust me, it’s not my thing,” Pepper said, slightly laughing. Melina nodded her head and rolled her eyes.
“I hear you. I swear, every time Mr. Kahn starts on that stuff, I almost want to hang myself.” Pepper laughed.
“I know exactly what you mean.” Both women stood there a moment to let the laughter pass.
“So I hear you’re leaving in the morning,” Melina said to Pepper.
“Yeah, it’ll be time to get back to work first thing Monday morning,” Pepper explained. “God, I don’t even want to think about it,” she said while shaking her head. Melina laughed.
“Oh, I can imagine, we’re gonna be pretty busy ourselves, you know.” Pepper nodded.
“Yes, that is true.” Melina watched as Pepper gaze slowly went to look at the group of men Tony was speaking with.
“Ginny, seriously, what’s going on?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Pepper looked back to her wide eyed.
“Nothing,” she said while shaking her head. “Nothing’s going on. Why would you think something’s going on?” Pepper asked, smiling nervously. Melina smiled and narrowed her eyes toward her.
“Come on, Ginny, you can tell me. I’m not Ryan Seacrest for God’s sake,” she said. “You haven’t been able to take your eyes off of him all night.” Pepper sighed and looked back to him.
“Caught red handed,” Pepper said, softly smiling. Melina giggled.
“So it is true,” she began. “My God, when?”
“Um, a little over three months now,” Pepper said rolling her eyes toward the ceiling, trying to think of the actual date. “He finally came to his senses,” she said, still looking at Tony.
“Uh huh, just he came to his senses?” Pepper glared at her.
“Okay, fine. We both came to our senses, alright?” Melina smirked.
“You always had a strong spirit, Ginny, especially after… well you know.” Pepper sighed.
“Yeah, I know. But he’s better than that, and I believe that with all my heart.” Melina looked at her seriously.
“Ginny I don’t want you to get hurt again. As my friend, I can’t bear to see that happen to you again,” Melina explained. Pepper looked to her and smiled.
“Thank you, but I don’t think he has that ability. He’s changed for the better, I honestly believe that he wouldn’t do that to me.”
“He’s Tony Stark, Ginny. He has a reputation…”
“I know what kind of reputation he has,” Pepper said quickly, interrupting her. “Trust me, I’ve been his assistant for over ten years, I’ve seen him at his best and worst. He wants this, he told that himself; and he wants to do right by me.” Pepper shrugged her shoulders. “And I believe him.” Melina smiled.
“Well, I can honestly say ‘congratulations’,” she said patting Pepper’s arm.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “I really appreciate that from you.”
“Just do me one favor. If he ever reverts back to his old ways, call me and we’ll kick his ass together.” Both girls began laughing.
“I’ll keep you in mind,” Pepper gasped out, trying to regain her composure.
“Well you two seem to be having a good time,” Tony said, walking up beside Pepper and placing his hand on her back. Pepper narrowed her eyes at him.
“Yeah, actually, I am having a good time. How about you two?” she asked, directing her question towards Rhodey and Melina. Rhodey thought about it for a moment.
“Eh, I’ve been to better,” he said. Tony nodded his head.
“Yes, I agree.”
“Oh my goodness, you guys should’ve been here last week,” Melina began.
“What was last week?” Pepper asked.
“The Annual Star Wars Convention, now that was a party.” Both Tony and Pepper gasped.
“Really?” they both asked. They turned and looked at each other, not believing that had just happened. Melina and Rhodey blinked at them, both stunned for a moment.
“Um,” Melina began, shaking her head. “Yes, it was a lot of fun. If only the branch opening had been a week earlier, then we all could’ve gone together.” Pepper nodded then turned to Tony.
“Tony, do me a favor. Next time, remind me to bring my Princess Leia ‘Slave’ costume, okay?” she asked, grinning at him. At that moment, both Tony and Rhodey had to pause to process the words that just came out of her mouth.
“If you gentlemen will excuse me, I have to go powder my nose,” Melina said, starting to walk off.
“Oh, I’ll come with you,” Pepper said, walking with her, leaving both Tony and Rhodey standing there with blank expressions of their faces. Rhodey eventually leaned over to Tony.
“Man, I don’t think she was kidding,” he said cautiously. Tony shook his head.
“I don’t think she was, either.”
--
A couple of minutes later, Pepper and Melina emerged from the ladies room. They separated to find their respective employers. Tony and Rhodey were still standing in the spot where she and Melina left them. She placed a hand on his arm, and he turned to look at her. Rhodey watched as both of them made googly eyes at one another, and honestly he was getting sick. They turned to see the expression on his face.
“What?” Pepper asked. Rhodey shook his head.
“Nothing,” he said quickly, and looked down to the floor while sipping his drink. Tony smirked and leaned over to Pepper’s ear.
“You know what would really get him worked up? If we stood here and kissed in front of him again,” he said.
“Oh, dear lord, please don’t,” he said, holding a hand up to them and placing a hand on his stomach. Tony began laughing and Pepper rolled her eyes, finding it amusing herself. “It’s bad enough I gotta watch you two look like you want to devour each other, but to watch you swap saliva? No thank you, I’ll pass.” Tony was about to come back with a smart ass remark, but Melina grabbed Pepper’s arm and turned her towards her.
“Ginny, you’re not gonna guess who I just saw on the opposite side of the room,” she said, eyes wide and trying to contain herself.
“Um, you’re right. I’m not going to guess, so you might as well tell me,” Pepper said, finding the position a little awkward. Melina leaned closer to her.
“Damon Bradley.” Pepper’s eyes widened and she turned to search the room. “He’s standing by the jade statue of Buddha.” Pepper found the jade statue and the only man she saw was a gray headed man that looked like he must have been at least ten years older than Damon. But then she recognized the face, and recognized the awful posture he had. Pepper gasped and turned back to Melina, biting her lips to keep from laughing.
“That’s Damon, alright,” she said, finally letting her giggles slip out. Tony’s eyebrows narrowed in confusion and turned to look at the guy.
“Who’s Damon Bradley?” he asked Pepper. Pepper bent over slightly, and covered her mouth with her hand. She cleared her throat and looked at Tony.
“Call it superstitious nonsense but I knew the moment we started talking about the guy, he would show up some time or another,” Melina said crossing her arms over her chest.
“Who is that guy?” Tony asked again.
“He’s Ginny’s ex-fiancé,” Melina said bluntly. Pepper turned and glared at her.
“Did you have to say it like that?” she asked.
“Really?” Tony asked, no expression on his face as he turned to get a better look at the guy. He looked back to Pepper, then back to Damon, then Pepper, and back to Damon again. “You know, you don’t seem like the type of girl who would find the ‘old man’ look attractive.” Tony looked back to her, trying to keep a straight face. Pepper sighed.
“For your information, he’s my age. And when we were together he didn’t look like that, at all. He used to have brown hair,” she explained, looking back over to him. They all stood there and looked at the guy. “He looks like he’s uncomfortable.”
“Huh, serves him right,” Melina said, showing no sympathy for the guy. Tony turned to Melina.
“What happened?” he asked.
“He cheated on Ginny with one of our fellow models.” Tony gasped.
“That bitch,” he said.
“Exactly my words,” Melina said nodding her head.
“Guys, come on,” Pepper began, turning away from Damon. “It was a long time ago, it’s all in the past, let’s go find our table so they can start serving dinner.” Suddenly, Tony grabbed Pepper’s hand.
“Let’s go say hi,” Tony said smirking, pulling her across the room.
“Tony, no,” she said, trying to dig her heels into the floor to stop him from pulling her towards him. “Tony, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Come on, Pepper, I just want to say hi. It’s not like I’m gonna brag or anything like that.”
“Yes you are, that’s why you’re pulling me with you!” she loudly grumbled. Eventually, Pepper gave in, and hooked her arm through his, and put on her best smile. Coming face to face with her ex was not on the agenda for this evening, so she would just have to suck it up this once. Besides, she would have been lying if she said she didn’t want to gloat; just a little anyway. They walked up right behind him and Tony cleared his throat.
“Excuse me, sir,” Tony began, trying to get his attention. Damon turned around, and his eyes widened. “I don’t believe we’ve met,” Tony said, trying to keep from smiling too much.
“Oh my god,” Damon gasped out.
“Hello Damon,” Pepper said, smiling nicely at him. Damon cleared his throat, obviously caught off guard.
“Hello Virginia,” he said nervously. Pepper fumed at the use of her formal name. Tony turned to look at her.
“Pepper,” he began, making sure to emphasize the name. “You know this gentleman?” he asked, trying to play it up. Pepper just stared at Damon.
“Yes, Tony. Mr. Bradley and I dated in college,” she said, never taking her eyes off of him. A lump formed in Damon’s throat, and he tried desperately to swallow it, but it wasn’t giving in any time soon. Tony’s eyebrows popped up and turned to look at him. Pepper had to admit, he was an excellent actor, even if the situation was awkward.
“Oh, really?” Tony then held out his hand for the gentleman to take it. “Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries.” He smiled at the man and waited for his hand to be shaken. Damon reluctantly took Tony’s hand.
“Damon Bradley.” Tony’s arm went numb the moment Damon took his hand. Something about this guy didn’t set well with him.
“So, Damon, may I call you Damon?” Tony asked, taking his hand away from the man and wiping it on the back of his pants. “What do you do for a living?” Damon swallowed, obviously uncomfortable.
“I’m a lawyer,” he said, nodding his head. Tony was unimpressed.
“Good profession.” He lied. “Though, Damon, I must be honest. I am trying to figure out why you’re here at my party. Could you possibly elaborate for me?” He tried his best to ask the question nicely, but considering he was Pepper’s ex, he wanted an answer.
“The firm I work for is representing Justin Hammer,” he explained. “My boss could not make it so he sent me.” Tony blinked a couple of times then smirked.
“That still does not explain why you are here?”
“He got an invite.” Sweat was beginning to drip down his forehead.
“I see now.”
“Where’s Katrina?” Pepper asked all of a sudden. Damon’s gaze went back to Pepper and he swallowed hard.
“Katrina left me,” he said. Pepper nodded, feeling a little sympathy for the man.
“I am truly sorry to hear that Damon. You two once seemed that you were happy together.” She fought to keep a straight face.
“Yeah, well,” he shrugged. “These things happen.”
“Honey, I forgot to ask if you wanted something,” they heard a high pitched voice say behind Damon. He froze where he stood as the woman came into view. The woman was short and stocky, really stocky, and her torso was just as round as a pot belly pig. She was carrying a plate piled high with food from the appetizer bar, but once her eyes met with Pepper’s she gasped.
“Virginia, oh my god! You look fantastic! How long has it been?” she said, her voice growing in pitch with each word. Pepper looked from the woman, and back to Damon, who was avoiding her eyes at all cost. Pepper looked back to the round woman and smiled.
“Katrina, so nice to see you again. I think it’s been about eleven years.” Pepper kept a smile on her face for Katrina’s sake.
That was all the ammunition Tony needed to start making this guy even more uncomfortable than he already was. ‘That lying bastard! Well, he is a lawyer after all; perfect job for him, he actually had us going,’ Tony thought to himself. Tony shifted his arm so he could grab Pepper’s hand and entwined their fingers. Damon chanced a glance at Tony, and what he saw he didn’t like at all. Tony brought their entwined hands to his mouth, and starting kissing the back of her hand. Then, he flipped their hands, and placed soft kisses to each one of her fingers. Damon’s face turned bright red, and his jaw clenched. Tony just smirked, satisfied with himself as he and Damon got into staring contest. ‘Do something, please do something, I dare you,’ he thought to himself. He wanted a reason to throw the asshole from his party.
“I see what you meant, Damon. She left you for the buffet,” Tony began, then looked to Katrina. “It’s understandable. At various times during the day I need to eat something, otherwise I’m crabby and nobody wants to be around me, let alone my motor skills have been shot.” Katrina nodded her head.
“Oh, that is so true, same thing happens with me,” she said.
“Oh, honey, I believe it,” Tony said, forcing himself to look at her face, and not the cleavage on her elbow. At that moment, Rhodey and Melina walked up to them.
“Well, if this isn’t a pleasant surprise,” Melina said, smiling at the couple. Katrina gasped again, at the same time, taking a bite of some sort of egg roll looking thing from her plate.
“Melina?” she said with her mouth full. “Wow, you look great as well!” Melina smiled.
“Thank you, and you,” Melina began, trying to come up with the words to describe the woman in front of her. “You… you look…healthy.” Melina grinned at the woman.
“Oh, thank you, but all the credit shouldn’t go to me,” she began, placing a hand on Damon’s forearm. “Can you believe that we’re expecting number five?” she said excitedly. Tony and Rhodey looked at each other.
“Oh, how nice. So I take it you’re due soon?” Melina asked.
“Uh, no,” she began. “I’m not due for another eight months.” It took all of the strength that both Tony and Rhodey had to not burst out laughing. Pepper stood there blinking at the woman, and Melina was shocked out of her mind.
“Oh, well congratulations,” she said, grinning as wide as she could.
“Thank you. Damon was so happy when I told him, weren’t you honey?” She turned to Damon who nodded as he took a long sip from the drink he had in his hand.
“Man, all that baby making must be hard work,” Rhodey said, finally piping into the conversation.
“It is, especially when you’re a stay at home mom, and you’re taking care of four little ones, but we make it work.” Katrina looked at Damon with eyes full of adoration.
“Well, Damon,” Pepper began. “You got exactly what you wanted. And I can honestly say you deserve it, all of it.” Damon looked at her, and she softly smiled at him. He was officially embarrassed. He swallowed the lump in his throat and looked away from her eyes.
“Thank you, Virginia, I really appreciate that from you,” he said in a wobbly voice.
“Well, wasn’t this a nice reunion?” Tony asked everyone. “Katrina, Damon, it was very nice to meet the both of you,” he began, then leaned over to Katrina. “Next time when I throw a party, you can come, just remember to leave the manipulative fraud for a lawyer at home.” He smiled at her, then turned to Pepper, not waiting for their reactions. “Come on, babe, I wanna dance.” With that, he pulled Pepper towards the dance floor, not even looking back to see both Rhodey and Melina’s mouths hanging open. Once there, he wrapped an arm around her waist, and held onto her hand with the other arm. Slowly, her other hand came to rest on his shoulder, and for the first time that night, Tony was actually relaxed. They slowly swayed with the music for a few moments, that is until Tony realized she was hiding her face in his neck, and she was visibly shaking.
“Pepper, honey, are you okay?” he asked, obviously alarmed that he might have done something wrong. She leaned up and he saw that she was laughing. Her smile was bright, and her laugh was starting to relax.
“Thank you,” she said. Tony looked at her.
“For what?” She gazed into his eyes.
“For being you,” she said. Tony nodded.
“So, for the first time since you’ve known me, you’re glad I chose that particular moment to be myself?” She giggled and he began laughing with her.
“I know that’s wrong and mean, but I just…” she shook her head.
“You enjoyed it.”
“I did.”
“You enjoyed watching him squirm,” he said, his grin turning mischievous. All she could do was nod because her giggling fit returned. “You know what? I just discovered my daily mission. I am to make you smile, once a day, being my usual self.” She couldn’t help but laugh harder at that.
“You are unbelievable, you know that?”
“I know, I gotta do something to make you want to stay with me.” With those words she stopped laughing, and just looked at him. Their bodies continued to sway with the music, and Tony leaned in, and pressed his cheek against hers. Their eyes closed, and they stayed that way until dinner was served.
--
Dinner was wonderful, as well as the rest of the evening. Tony, Pepper and Rhodey had shared a table with Melina and Mr. Kahn, thus igniting the beginnings of various interesting conversations. Sadly, Pepper did notice that the more Tony drank, the less he ate. From one plate, she could only recall him taking no more than six bites; this was worrying her, and it wasn’t going to go unnoticed. More drinks were followed by more dancing, and she was impressed that he could stand up and keep rhythm while being as intoxicated as he was. Several times during the evening he told her she danced beautifully, and she would smile each time he said it. Finally, sometime around 1 AM, they stumbled into the penthouse. Tony was obviously struggling to keep his eyes open, and his tie was undone and left hanging around his neck. Pepper grunted as she pulled the shoes from her aching feet, and it didn’t ease her mind at all that they would be on their way home in less than seven hours.
“Alright, Tony, time for bed,” she said, moving to guide him to the bed room. But instead of grabbing his arm, his mouth crashed against hers in a very sloppy kiss, and his arms wrapped around her waist. “Mm, Tony,” she began against his mouth. “Sweetie, you’re drunk.”
“I’m tipsy at the most,” he said, shoving her against a wall, and throwing his jacket to the floor, as well as his bow tie. His arms wrapped back around her, and one of his hands went so far as to travel down and grab her butt.
“Okay, that’s enough.” She tried to push him back but he wasn’t letting up so easily. “Tony, seriously, we have to get up early, okay? We need to get to bed.”
“That’s a perfect idea,” he said as he pulled the bottom of her dress up, and pulled her up to wrap her legs around his waist.
“Oh god,” she gasped, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. The next thing she knew, she was being dumped on the bed, and he stood above her, taking his dress shirt off, then his undershirt. Once he was naked from the waist up, he leaned back over her, and began kissing her again. He moved an arm under her to pull her closer, and his other arm moved to grab one of her legs to hook it across his hip. Pepper moaned slightly when she felt him press groin into her. “Tony, please.” She pushed up on him so he would look at her.
“What?” he asked. She sighed.
“Honey, you’re drunk, big time.”
“No, I’m not,” he whined.
“Yes, you are. You’re about to pass out, I can see it in your eyes.”
“No,” he grunted, moving down to kiss her neck. “I have to make love to you before I pass out.” Pepper’s heart skipped a beat.
“No, you don’t,” she said, trying to reason with him.
“Yes, I do.” He kissed her lips. “All night you’ve looked so sexy and the only thing I could think about was bringing you back here and making love to you all night long.” Pepper placed her hands on his back.
“Maybe we should take a rain check on that.”
“No,” he grunted, and placed both hands on her face. “No, I don’t want to take a rain check on it. I love you,” he said, looking her in the eyes. Pepper’s heart wanted to leap out of her chest the moment she heard those words.
“Tony, please, sweetie,” she said, trying to keep her composure. Tony leaned back down again, and kissed her like his life depended on it.
“I love you,” he said between kisses. “Please, please, make love to me.” He rolled them over to where she was on top. She held onto him, and continued to kiss him, until she felt his mouth no longer moving. She leaned up, and saw that he had, in fact, passed out underneath her. She sighed, and brushed the hair off his forehead; she knew for a fact he wasn’t going to be feeling well in the morning. She moved off to the side, and just stared at him for a moment.
‘Don’t get your hopes up. He was drunk when he said it,’ she thought to herself. A few tears fell down her cheeks, and she laid down against his side, wrapping an arm around his stomach. ‘Even if he did, he wouldn’t ever say it,’ she thought again. She looked up to his face, and leaned up to his ear. At least one of them was sober when they decided to admit their feelings.
Chapter Eight