Rise of the Mandarin- Chapter Fourteen
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry about the length, this one wound up being longer than I initially planned, but it was necessary. :D Anyway, read and enjoy!
Rise of the Mandarin
Chapter Fourteen
Tony stood on the platform and let the robots disassemble the suit. He was sore in certain areas of his body, so certain movements they made caused him to hiss in pain. The fight with the Mandarin was his first real defeat. He had never lost a battle as badly as he had today, and it depressed him to no end; but that wasn't the only thing that depressed him. Once the suit was completely off of him, he stumbled off the platform and dragged himself over to the couch and plopped himself down on it. He placed his head in his hands, rubbing it, trying to ease the headache that was forming.
He thought about the battle again. He had never fought like that; his moves had been sloppy, and he knew it. He kept going over the fight in his mind, thinking about what he could've done differently. He thought about the moves he should've seen coming, and telling himself that he was a much better fighter than that. But then the image of Pepper falling out of that window, straight down to the ground starting playing in his mind. He shut his eyes tightly and shook his head, trying hard to discard the memory; but it kept replaying in his mind.
'I couldn't save her,' he thought. He had watched in horror as she almost plummeted to the ground. Thank God he had called Rhodey, otherwise she would've…. He shook his head violently. 'I couldn't save her,' he thought again. That little piece of reality hit him hard, and tears began streaming down his cheeks. 'I couldn't save her period,' he thought again. 'She would've died because of me.' He sat there for about five minutes just holding his head in his hands, letting the sobs work out of his system.
Eventually he was able to calm down enough to lay down on the couch. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm himself down. He was able to relax a little, but his mind wasn't letting him. The fight began replaying in his mind, as well as Pepper falling out of the window. He grunted loudly and shot off the couch, walking on wobbly legs over to his desk. He pulled open all of the drawers, obviously looking for something. He rummaged through the contents, and found another bottle of Eszopiclone. He quickly opened the bottle and pulled out two.
"Sir, what are you doing?" Jarvis asked him. Tony sighed, frustrated.
"Jarvis, I need to get some sleep," he replied.
"Sir, your blood alcohol level is still too high…"
"Mute!" Tony commanded. He really wasn't in the mood right now; all he wanted was to get some rest. He looked at the two pills in his palm, then popped them into his mouth, swallowing them without water. He replaced the cap on the pill bottle and just laid it on top of his desk. He walked back over to the couch, and looked down at himself, realizing he was still wearing the neoprene under suit. He didn't want to sleep in it so he unzipped it and took it off. Wearing only his boxers he laid on his back, and once again tried to relax. His body went limp on the couch, and finally his mind shut down. It was then Tony fell asleep.
--
Back at the hospital, Pepper sighed in frustration. Here she was lying in a hospital bed, clearly okay, but the doctors felt compelled to run tests to make sure she was indeed healthy. She had gotten her phone out, and began checking the messages. She knew she was going to be sitting here awhile, so she might as well catch up on her work. There was a grand total of twelve messages on her phone, and began playing them one at a time. The first two were from clients, and she made notes to get back in contact with them. The next message however wasn't business related at all. It was Tony.
As she listened to the beginning of his message she could tell something had him ticked off, and she came to realize just what it was as the message continued to play. She thought the first part of the message was funny, hearing him rattle on about how he wasn't jealous. 'Well, clearly Tony you are,' she thought as she listened to it.
You have always had the choice to do whatever you want to in your free time, and you still have that choice, even with us being together now.
'Really? Why don't I take you back ten years, Stark, and see just how much free time I've had,' she thought, that comment of his making her angry. The message ended, and she just shook it off. He was acting like a spoiled brat, so that's how she would take it. The next messages were from the Marketing department, wanting to know where she was and if she and Mr. Stark would be attending the meeting today. Pepper rolled her eyes and just deleted those messages; like she really wanted to be thinking about Marketing right now. She went to the next message and was surprised that it was another one from Tony.
She rolled her eyes when she heard the very first sentence out of his mouth. 'Oh, whatever to the conspiring employees, Tony,' she thought, sighing that she had to sit through another one of his rants. 'Once again, do we need to go over the last ten years?' she thought as she heard him compare himself to a leach.
Also, I didn't make you not be in contact with your friends, okay? That's sounds like a personal problem to me, and if you had even bothered to keep in touch with your friends in the first place, you wouldn't have to take an hour to catch up with her. Food for thought, Pepper.
Pepper clenched her jaw shut, and held her phone tightly in her hand. She wanted nothing more than to shove it up his ass, but that would mean she would have to get a new phone, plus it would cause him physical harm; but by the tone of that last comment he made, she didn't mind inflicting it herself. She shook her head and continued to check her messages. There were more from various departments, and by this point she really could care less. She sighed and made the notes accordingly. She moved on to the next message and honestly was not surprised to hear that it was Tony again. 'What does he have to say this time?'
She heard him rattle on while rolling her eyes. 'I was kidnapped you asshole, that's why I wasn't answering,' she thought, wanting desperately to scream that to him. 'And I have never called you heartless!' she thought again.
And yes, if you must know, I am drunk, but I don't care. I don't care what you think right now, because you didn't care that I would bleed to death.
She was angry, she was passed the point of angry; boiling and steaming was more like it. 'So that's why you got your ass kicked; well, can't say you didn't deserve it,' she thought, all her pity for him going out the window. She listened to the rest of the message in disgust. When it was finally over she deleted it, and deleted the next messages that didn't sound life threatening important. She didn't care, not anymore. Tony Stark was a selfish asshole, and that last message proved it. If he didn't want her to call him, fine, she wouldn't. She continued deleting messages until she came to the last one, which began with Tony's shaky voice.
'Well, this is new,' she thought while considering deleting it, but decided against it. 'Maybe he'll actually apologize in this one.'
Do me a favor and don't pay any attention to the previous messages I left on your phone. I wasn't thinking straight, and I just got a call from someone in Marketing telling me that you weren't at the meeting.
'No shit, Sherlock, I had been kidnapped!' she thought, waiting for him to go on with his message.
That is so unlike you. You haven't missed a meeting in ten years. So, please, please, call me when you get this. I'm really worried about you.
She blinked a couple of times, not really knowing what to think about that last comment. She heard the line go silent, and was about to end the message, but then she heard his voice again. As she listened to the rest of his message, her anger started fading away. For the first time, he was actually pouring his heart out to her, and he was actually getting the words out. Then, she heard his voice break; that was almost enough to break her heart.
I didn't mean to leave you alone on the balcony that night. I wanted to come back, really I did. And I wanted to tell you that I was dying, but I was too scared to. I didn't want you to worry, plus I felt that if I had told you it would've been more real, if that makes any sense. Please call me when you get this.
Pepper sat there in shock. Her hands began to shake, and her eyes began to water. 'He thought I had left him,' she thought. 'He honestly thought I had left him.' She pressed a couple of buttons on her phone, then sat it down on the side table. She pulled back the covers that were covering her, and started to get up.
"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" asked the nurse as she walked back into Pepper's room.
"Look, you don't understand, I need to go. I am perfectly fine and nothing is wrong with me, okay? It is very important that I leave immediately, I have to go check on someone," Pepper explained anxiously.
"Oh no," the nurse said waving her arms. "You are in no condition to be leaving right now." Pepper huffed at her.
"Lady, you don't understand, I have to go," Pepper said loudly to her. "Go get the doctor and have him come look at me, otherwise I will discharge myself. I know this hospital doesn't have the authority to keep patients here against their will, so if that's what it takes for me to leave then so be it; otherwise, go get the doctor and have him discharge me," Pepper spat at her. The nurse grunted and walked out of her room. Pepper sat back in the bed, angry with the nurse but also worried about Tony. 'I hope he's okay,' she thought to herself. 'Please let him be okay,' she silently prayed.
She sat there for about five minutes, fidgeting and waiting on the doctor. She sighed in frustration and decided she had waited long enough, and she wasn't going to wait a moment longer. She looked down to the IV in her arm and began pulling the tape away.
"Whoa, ma'am, what are you doing?" the doctor asked as he walked into the room. Pepper looked over to him with her best death glare.
"Look, I don't have time to be waiting around for you people. I need to go," Pepper said to him.
"Alright, calm down." He walked over to her chart and picked it up to look at it. "All your tests look fine, no trauma to any organs, nothing really to be concerned about." Pepper rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I could've told you that." The doctor walked over to her, and held up his hand to the bandage on her temple, but Pepper quickly swatted it away. "I already told you, I'm fine," she said, emphasizing her words. The doctor cleared his throat and began scribbling on his notepad.
"If you're saying you feel fine, then I suppose you can leave now. Just let me call the nurse so she can take the IV out of your arm and bring back your clothes." With that, the doctor nodded his head and left her room. Pepper sighed and watched him leave her room. Her hand went to her head, and she pulled the bandage off her temple. She ran two fingers across it and closed her eyes, feeling no sign of the cut she had received earlier.
'Not again,' she thought in aggravation.
--
About an hour later, Pepper ran through the front door of the mansion.
"Tony!" she called loudly. She didn't get a response. "Jarvis, where's Tony?" She still got no answer. Now she was worried. She turned towards the stairs to the basement, considering that was the one place he would most likely be. Quickly, she ran down the stairs and saw him lying on his couch. She typed her code on the keypad and swung the door open. She ran over to him and placed her hands on his shoulders.
"Tony, wake up, I'm here," she said, shaking his shoulders. No response. "Tony?" she said, shaking his shoulders a little harder. Once again, no response. "Tony?" She called louder, and shook him violently, but he still wasn't responding. She placed her hands on the side of his face. "Tony, wake up!" she said forcefully. He wasn't responding to her at all; this wasn't good. "Jarvis, what's wrong with him?" She called to the ceiling, but Jarvis didn't respond as well. "Unmute! Jarvis, what's wrong with him?" she asked again, her voice slightly shaking.
"Miss Potts, Mr. Stark had taken some sleeping pills when he got home."
"What?" Pepper exclaimed. "How many did he take?" she asked, very much concerned now.
"Only two, but his pulse has gone way down since then. He needs to be woken up immediately," Jarvis responded to her in his usual flat tone.
Pepper acted quickly. She couldn't pick him up so she slowly moved his body down to the floor, and began dragging him by the shoulders over to the shower on the other side of the workshop. He was heavy, even dragging him wasn't easy, but she wasn't letting that stop her. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they got to the shower. Pepper dragged him in backwards so his upper body could feel the water first. She knelt down behind him and held his body up with hers. She reached over and turned the cold water on full blast. Pepper gasped when she felt the ice cold water hit her body, but she knew this was the best way to wake him up.
She sat there, teeth chattering and body shaking, waiting for him to open his eyes. She rubbed his forehead with her hand, moving the hair out of his face. Once she had done that, his eyes shot open and he sucked in air through his teeth. His body began violently shaking and his hands went to her arms, squeezing them tightly as he felt the shock of the cold water. Pepper sighed in relief and reached over to turn the water off. The water ceased its stream, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him until his body stopped shaking.
--
A few minutes later, after both of them had changed into dry clothes and after Pepper had called 911, she watched as the rescue squad look over Tony and talked to him to see if any damage had been done. They were upstairs in the bedroom now, he was lying in bed and she was standing in the doorway, just watching. She then saw Tony relax into the bed and close his eyes while both EMT personal gathered their equipment and walked over to her.
"We've given him something to counteract the Eszopiclone." Pepper nodded her head. "Right now, he just needs some rest." Pepper continued to nod her head.
"Thank you for coming," she said, shaking their hands and thanking them. She escorted the EMT's down to the front door, and watched them leave. She sighed, and walked back into the living room, standing there just starring at the stairs. 'All he needs right now is rest,' she thought. She stood there, not knowing what to do. With a sigh, she walked back down to the basement. She walked over to where she had found him and found two empty scotch bottles lying on the table. She saw the bottles, but she didn't see the pill bottle. She looked around hastily, trying to find it. She looked in between the couch cushions, under the couch, under the table, and she still didn't find it. She sighed, frustrated, but when she looked over to his desk, she saw the bottle sitting there. She got up off the floor, walked over to the desk, and picked up the bottle. She angrily shook her head, and turned back to the couch. She gathered up the two empty bottles, as well as a couple more bottles she found in the kitchenette.
She walked out of the basement and back up the stairs to the main level. She walked into the kitchen, over to the island counter, and placed everything beside the sink. She looked around the kitchen, and found more liquor bottles, some already open and some not, and she placed them all on the counter. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out all of the wine bottles, and placed them on the counter. When she was sure she had found everything in the kitchen, she turned back to counter and looked over her inventory. She sighed when she saw just how much she had collected from the workshop and kitchen alone.
'This is too much,' she thought, shaking her head. She grabbed one of the bottles, not caring which one it was, opened it up and poured all of its contents down the sink. Once the bottle was done draining, she placed the cap back on it. She then moved the trashcan beside where she was standing in front of the sink, and forcefully dropped the empty bottle into the trashcan, hearing the glass shatter as it hit the bottom. She picked up another bottle, opened it, and once again poured the contents down the drain, followed by throwing it down into the trashcan. This was the cycle, and she would repeat it until all of it was gone.
--
Tony's eyes shot open when he heard glass breaking. He groggily got up out of bed, and grabbed his robe out of the closet, wrapping it around himself. He held onto the railing as he slowly walked down the stairs, still not really focused in the state he was in. He reached the bottom of the stairs and heard more glass breaking. He walked over to the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what Pepper was doing at the counter.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" she asked without turning her head to look at him, while grabbing another bottle and pouring the liquid down the sink.
"What are you doing?" he asked her. Pepper smirked, and threw the bottle into the trashcan, hearing it break.
"Believe or not, Tony, I'm saving your life." Tony sighed.
"Pepper I'm fine," he said to her in a reassuring tone. Pepper slammed the bottle she had in her hand into the sink; amazingly enough it held together. She grabbed the pill bottle from beside the sink, and held it up for him to see.
"You see these, Tony? Watch." She then poured all of the pills into the garbage disposable and flipped the switch. Tony cringed when he heard the motor running, considering his head was still a little sensitive. Once she was satisfied that all of them had been destroyed, she turned the disposal off and tossed the pill bottle into the trashcan.
"You know, that really wasn't necessary," he said softly to her.
"Tony, you've got a choice. Either this stuff goes or I do," she said to him. Tony just looked at her with a blank expression.
"Pepper, what happened tonight was an accident, okay? It's not like I meant for it to happen," he said while walking closer to her.
"Tony," she said holding her hands up, and closing her eyes to calm herself down. She breathed in a couple times, then opened her eyes to look at him. "If you want to kill yourself, that's fine; but I love you too much to just stand here and watch you do it." Tony was taken aback by her words, and Pepper just stood there, not realizing what she had just said to him.
"You," he began. "You love me?" he asked her, making sure his ears heard right. Pepper blinked and mentally went back over her words. Horror washed over her face and she looked away from him. She began wringing her hands and bolted for the door.
"I need some air," she said quickly, trying to walk passed him.
"No!" Tony grabbed her arms. "No, you're not leaving me," he said as he held her tightly against him.
"Tony, please," she begged while pushing against his chest, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"I don't want you to leave," he whispered to her. Pepper stopped struggling, and just let the tears come freely as she leaned her head down against his shoulder. "I don't want you to leave me," he whispered again, wrapping his arms around her and soothingly rubbed her back while she cried.
--
The next thing Tony knew he was lying in bed on his side. He rolled over to look out the window and saw that it was morning, however he wasn't sure about the day. He heard the bathroom door open, and turned his head to see Pepper walking out dressed for work. She walked over to her bag and placed the necessary items in it. Tony took this time admiring her form. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and the dress she was wearing today was the sleeveless-square neck cranberry red jersey dress he had seen in her emergency overnight bag in the back of her car. This particular dress hugged every curve of her form, and the straps to the dress stopped at the curve of her shoulders, giving him an eyeful of all the lines of her arms.
Once she had finished packing her work bag, she turned to look at him. She smiled when she saw him awake and walked over to him, sitting beside him on the bed.
"What day is it?" he asked her.
"It's Thursday," she told him.
"We had a meeting on Thursday, which meeting was it?" She softly laughed.
"It's the R&D meeting at 8 am this morning."
"We need to get going then," he said moving to get up, but Pepper placed her hand on his chest, pushing him back down to the bed.
"No, Tony. You need some rest. You stay here, I'll go to it and take notes for you," she softly said to him. Tony laid back down onto the bed while holding her gaze with his. She leaned down slowly and pressed her lips against his. "I'll see you later, okay?" she whispered against his lips. Tony nodded his head and Pepper got up off the bed, grabbing her bag and walking out of the bed room. Tony just laid there after she left; there was no way he was going to be able to rest now.
--
It was another hectic morning at Stark Industries. Pepper sat in the conference room, waiting for the designated engineers to show up to this meeting that was supposed to begin ten minutes ago.
"Miss Potts," called one of the engineers.
"Yes?" she asked, looking over to him.
"Will Mr. Stark be joining us today?"
"Mr. Stark is feeling a little under the weather today, so I'm afraid he will not be joining us," she replied.
"Miss Potts, what have I told you about lying to my engineers?" She quickly turned her head, and saw Tony walking through the door, completely dressed for work. She stared at him wide eyed as he walked over to her and sat down in the chair right beside her. "Alright people, I'm here, let's get this meeting started," he said to the entire conference room. The meeting started with the head research engineer making the opening statement, and Tony turned to look at Pepper.
"You're supposed to be home, resting," she whispered through gritted teeth. Tony shrugged his shoulders.
"I got bored, so I decided to come to work," he said with a grin. Pepper rolled her eyes, and turned to pay attention to the meeting. She pretended not to notice when his hand snuck under the table and rested on her knee.
--
The meeting itself couldn't have gone on long enough. Tony knew they had sat there for at least two and half hours listening to the engineers bicker about some new project he could've cared less about. 'Now I remember why I always sent Pepper to these particular meetings,' he thought. 'Speaking of Pepper…' He looked around and didn't see her. He walked out of the room and looked down the hallway; she was nowhere to be seen. He walked down the hallway and found her in the break room, pouring two cups of coffee. He walked over to her and stood behind her.
"I figured we both could use some coffee," she said to him. Tony nodded his head.
"I could definitely use a cup right now." He walked closer to her and placed his hands on her arms.
"Tony, we're at work," she said matter of factly, while placing the coffee pot back on the coffee maker.
"I don't care," he said while pressing his chest to her back and wrapping his arms around her. He leaned his forehead into her hair, and she held onto his arms with her hands.
"Look at me," he whispered after placing a kiss on the top of her head. She turned around in his arms, and looked into his eyes. He sighed, gathering the courage for what he was about to do.
"I'm sorry for last night. I honestly didn't mean to scare you like that." She nodded her head slowly. "I had decided that I was done with it all, but apparently my judgment was still impaired." He smirked a little, then cleared his throat when he saw she didn't think it was funny. "What really got me was that I couldn't save you, and that's what hurt me the most."
"You took quite a beating yourself, you know?" she said, pointing that out to him.
"Yeah, but I'd rather him kick my ass a thousand times again than watch you die." She nodded her head, and quickly looked down, trying to conceal the tears that were forming in her eyes.
"I love you, you know," he said to her. The tears she was trying to conceal poured out of her eyes with full force. He placed his hands on her cheeks, and lifted her head up to look her in the eyes. "I love you," he said again, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. She shut her eyes tightly, trying desperately to control her sobs. Tony leaned forward and captured her lips with his while wrapping his arms around her. She kissed him back with equal vigor while wrapping her arms around his waist. They stood there for a while, neither one of them caring that several workers walked in and immediately walked out the moment they saw them making out in the break room.
--
HONG KONG, CHINA
Chen and Ming Yong stood in the Hong Kong airport. Ming was holding a ticket to the United States while begging her husband to come with her.
"Chen, please come with me," she begged, the tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I have to stay, Ming. The moment they find out we're gone they'll come after us. I need to stay here so I can keep them off your trail," Chen explained to his wife.
"If you stay you'll be killed," she said.
"So will you if you stay. You need to get to America and give the authorities the information I told you. The entire continent is in danger if you don't do so, Ming," he explained to her. She nodded her head, and kissed her husband goodbye. "We will see each other again, I promise. If not in this life, but the next," he whispered to her. She took one last look at him through blurry eyes and walked towards the gate.
Chen sighed as he watched his wife disappear from sight. He watched from the window as the passengers boarded, and next thing he knew the plane was backing away from the gate. The plane drove towards the runway, and once it was in position it sped down the airstrip, and off to America it went. After the plane was gone, Chen hastily walked out of the airport, thinking of any place that would be good for him hide, at least until his master's goons found him.
--
A couple of hours later Tony sat at his desk looking over some paperwork when his secretary called him through the intercom.
"Mr. Stark, there is an Agent Coulson here to see you." Tony grunted.
"I'm on my way," he said, getting up out of his chair and walking out of his office. He walked to the secretary's desk and indeed saw Agent Coulson standing there, in his usual chipper demeanor.
"Mr. Stark, so good to see you again," Coulson said to him.
"Alright Coulson, what is this about now?" Tony asked him.
"Mr. Stark, we need to debrief you and Miss Potts about the events that happened yesterday."
"Okay, let's get one thing straight," Tony began, holding his hand up to the man. "No one is talking to Miss Potts until I've had the chance to talk to her, is that clear?"
"Mr. Stark, we need to debrief her on the events that happened during her abduction," Coulson said, trying to make him aware of the seriousness of the issue.
"Like I said, no one is talking to Miss Potts until I have had the chance to talk to her. So you can tell your boss that we will set up an appointment when both of us are ready to spill our hearts and souls out to him, okay?" Tony said with finality. Coulson blinked at him with his usual blank expression.
"You'll be hearing from us, Mr. Stark," Coulson said, turning on his heal towards the exit.
"Why don't you tell me something I don't already know, Coulson!" Tony yelled to him. Tony turned to walk back to his office, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Pepper standing there with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. "What? Don't give me that look," he said to her.
"Honestly, Tony, why didn't you just let him talk to me?" she asked. Tony walked closer to her.
"Because we already have enough SHIELD interference in our lives, we don't need anymore," he explained to her. She sighed and just shook her head. "Why did Iron Maiden kidnap you anyway?" he asked her when they began walking towards his office.
"She said I had a ring that belonged to her master and she wanted to know where it was, but I told her I didn't know what she was talking about," she explained as they entered his office.
"You know, it may be possible that you came back with more luggage than you thought, Pep."
"Yeah, that's very possible."
"Where's the luggage that you took with you to Hong Kong?" he asked her.
"Back at my apartment."
"Then that's where we'll start."
--
Tony and Pepper raced down the highway to her apartment building. They parked the Audi and ran into the building, then riding the elevator to the designated floor. They walked down the hallway to her door, but Pepper grabbed his arm stopping him in his tracks.
"What? What is it?" he asked looking at her. She pointed at the door.
"Look," she said. He did, and saw that her apartment door was open. It had been closed to look like nothing out of the ordinary was going on, however the door hadn't been closed all the way.
"That's not good," Tony said.
"No, it's not." Pepper pulled out her phone and called the police.
--
"Are you sure there isn't anything missing, ma'am?" the officer asked Pepper.
"Yes, everything is here," she said, looking around at the mess that was now her apartment. The officer sighed and looked around as well.
"Whoever was here obviously didn't find what they were looking for," he said. Pepper swallowed nervously.
"Yes, apparently not." She left the officer and walked back over to Tony.
"You're not staying here tonight, you're coming home with me," he whispered to her with finality. She nodded her head.
"Yeah, I'm okay with that," she whispered back. "The officer thinks that whoever was here didn't find what they were looking for." Tony looked around.
"I agree with him. If they, or in this case we know for a fact it's a she, had found what she was looking for, why in the world would she have torn up your entire apartment? What bags did you take with you to Hong Kong?" he asked her.
"Just my vuitton luggage set," she replied, then her eyes widened.
"What is it?" he asked, concerned.
"And my black Chanel tote bag."
"Where is it?"
"At your house."
--
Tony and Pepper ran through his front door, racing to get to her office. Tony entered the office first and spotted the black bag sitting on top of her desk. Quickly, he ran over to it, grabbed it, and turned it upside down, emptying all of its contents on the floor. If Pepper hadn't been eager to find this so called ring, she would've had a heart attack watching her boss dump everything out of her purse onto the floor. Both of them fell to the floor, and scavenged around looking for it. Pepper moved some papers and a couple of personal items out of the way, then her eyes fell upon a metal circle staring her in the face. Slowly, she picked it up and held it up for Tony to see. Tony looked up to her, and saw what she held in her fingers. Carefully he took it from her and studied it.
"So this is what all the fuss is about," he said, still looking at it.
"Apparently so," Pepper replied.
--
Night time had fallen, and both Tony and Pepper were sitting on the couch in the living room. Tony had discarded his suit jacket and tie on the back of the couch, and both of their shoes laid beside the coffee table. Pepper held the ring in her hands while Tony spoke with Coulson over the phone. She wasn't paying attention to anything he was saying; she was too busy looking at the ring.
'So this is the ring that I was almost killed over,' she thought to herself. It was obviously Chinese because of the symbols on it but she had never seen a ring like this before, especially one with this kind of coloring; copper in the center and silver on the top and bottom. She heard Tony get off the phone, and watched him lean back into the couch.
"So what did he say?" she asked him.
"Just that either me or both of us needed to come in tomorrow. Seeing as we found what she was looking for, both of our statements wouldn't be necessary." Pepper nodded her head and placed the ring back on the coffee table. Sighing heavily she leaned back and leaned her head on Tony's shoulder, while he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Tony leaned his head on hers and closed his eyes. "I feel the same way. It's been a very trying passed two days."
"Yes, it certainly has," she said, placing a hand on his chest and softly running her hand along it. Tony smiled and the feeling of her hand through his shirt.
"That feels nice," he whispered to her. Pepper shifted and moved away from him.
"I suppose we better get to bed then," she said softly, moving off the couch and walking towards the stairs. Tony rubbed his face with his hands and sighed.
"Yeah, I guess we should, I am a little tired," he said, slightly disappointed. Pepper sighed and turned back to look at him.
"Tony, I wasn't talking about sleeping," she said. Tony looked up to her wide eyed. She stood there at the end of the stair well, waiting for him to get off the couch. Tony's heart felt like it wanted to leap out of his chest. Slowly, so not to run over and snatch her up, he walked over to her.
"Jarvis, no interruptions until further notice," he said to the AI.
"Yes, Sir," Jarvis replied.
A soft smile grazed her lips as she held out her hand for him to take. He looked into her eyes, searching for the slightest hint of hesitation on her part, but he found none. Keeping his gaze locked with hers, he took her hand and let her lead him up the stairs.
--
Author's Note: Alright, tell me now, how bad do you want it? *big grin* Let me know now, how bad do you want it? If you haven't voted on my poll, speak now or forever hold your peace. Reviews would be good too, just saying...
Chapter Fifteen (Rated M)