Yes, Virginia, There Really Is An Iron Man: Chapter Thirty-One
TITLE: Yes, Virginia, There Really Is An Iron Man
AUTHOR: Quicksilvermad
SUMMARY: (Movie-verse) Pepper deals with Tony’s newfound lease on life and ends up making a mountain out of her molehill of emotion where her boss is concerned.
GENRE: Humor/Romance
RATING: PG13 Language
PAIRING: Tony/Pepper
DISCLAIMER: Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.
AN: I am not a lawyer and I don’t pretend to know anything about the practice of law. Therefore, this chapter is no doubt rife with logistic errors. Let’s just say that Stark Industries can actually do this sort of thing because they’re that badass.
Chapter Thirty-One:
Stark Industries lawyers had rushed Pepper’s request for a restraining order against Christine Everhart and booked a courtroom Sunday afternoon with the honorable Judge Matthew Galloway taking time out of his personal day to preside over the case.
Christine Everhart was late.
Tony slouched in his chair and began spinning slowly out of sheer boredom. Pepper rolled her eyes and grabbed his armrest as it swung past her and jerked him to a stop.
“Knock it off,” she admonished.
He fought the urge to pout and tugged on his goatee. After he hit his head on the floor last night, Tony had given in to the irresistible call of Demerol and took a full dose with his morning coffee. So, despite the seriousness of the meeting, the Boss was absolutely loopy.
The bailiff opened the conference room door and escorted a pissed off blonde and a tweed clad little man to the opposite desk. Christine pursed her lips and sat across from Tony-ignoring Pepper entirely.
“I’m here.”
“Yes,” Judge Galloway raised one eyebrow. “We can see that. Since you’re late, we would like to get this started right away. Court is now in session. Mr. Hoyt, if you would begin?”
The first lawyer to Tony’s left-an handsome older black man who sported a grey mustache-cleared his throat and stood. “Right. Miss Everhart, you were asked here today to discuss the terms of a restraining order. I have already spoken with your lawyer and-”
“This is outrageous.” she interrupted.
Judge Galloway cleared his throat. “I’ve gone over Mr. Hoyt’s case notes already-if your lawyer-”
“Mr. Ambrose,” the man in tweed responded.
“If Mr. Ambrose will show me his case notes I’ll be able to make my decision.”
Ambrose immediately opened his briefcase and approached the bench with a thin manila folder that held his summary. Christine glared at him.
“Shouldn’t we have been sworn in, or something?” she asked.
Mr. Hoyt removed two court documents from his zippered folio and gave them to the bailiff to hand to Mr. Ambrose.
Tony, hand still fiddling with his goatee, pointed at the papers with some amount of restrained anger. “The first is a restraining order. I thought six yards sounded like a nice round number.”
“The second is a request for the immediate deletion of all photos you took during the charity auction,” Pepper finished for him.
Christine paled.
There was a silent moment in which Judge Galloway slid on his reading glasses and read through the briefs in full. There had been other accounts of Christine’s stalking of Tony observed by Harold “Happy” Hogan” that Tony still hadn’t told Pepper about (and would totally hear about later). And the private moment splashed all over the tabloids was included with the write-ups.
“It’s my understanding that you took those pictures with your phone,” Galloway cleared his throat.
“That’s right,” said Christine.
The Judge leaned forward. “I am ruling in favor of Mr. Stark and Miss Potts’ regarding the restraining order and these photos. Mr. Stark will be confiscating your memory card.”
“All of my journalist contacts are stored on my memory card…” Christine hesitated.
Pepper handed Tony her Blackberry. “You’ll be getting it back in a moment,” she said.
Christine slid her cell phone past Mr. Ambrose for the bailiff to transfer across the aisle. Tony deftly removed the memory card, stuck it into Pepper’s Blackberry, and erased all audio and visual files stored on it. With one free hand, he did the same to the files on her actual phone. Satisfied, Tony replaced the memory card and tossed the fairly useless piece of technology back to Miss “Brown.”
Mr. Ambrose flipped the court documents to the last pages. “I’m advising you to sign these, Christine,” he said.
Feeling as though some of her personal rights were being ignored, but not wanting to do battle with Stark lawyers, Christine Everhart signed the papers. But not without one last snipe. “Do you need me to prick my finger for these, as well?”
“Those sort of statements are entirely unnecessary,” said Mr. Hoyt.
“Technically it was a question. And I would like to ask Mr. Stark something before I have to run six yards away.”
“Shoot,” said Tony.
“If Miss Potts is still your employee, are you paying her for the sex as well?” Christine asked with an arched eyebrow.
Pepper turned bright red and Tony clenched his hand around the edge of the table. In all honesty, he was inches away from hitting the blonde woman. Pepper reached over and gripped his tense hand.
“I mean, we’re all agreed that prostitution is illegal, right?”
Judge Galloway held up a silencing hand. “Knock it off, Miss Everhart. I’m warning you.”
“Seriously? You’re just going to sit idly by and let this man fuck his employee? No consequences?”
Galloway actually slammed his gavel. “One more word out of you and I’ll find you in contempt of court.”
“But it’s wrong!” Christine shouted.
“That’s it!” Galloway stood from his chair and Ambrose tried to get his client to calm down.
“Fuck it! Find me in contempt! Slap that restraining order on me! I don’t give a shit. But when you deny the people the right to know what is going on with-”
“No one has the right to know every detail about my personal life! I have the right for some fucking privacy!” Tony interrupted.
“’Fucking’ being the operative word here,” said Christine.
“Hey! I love her!” he shouted. “Drag my name through the mud all you want, but will you leave this woman alone,” he leaned forward intensely. “She has saved my life more than once and she is the only reason I am here today.”
Pepper felt dizzy but was certain that Tony felt even dizzier as he swayed slightly on his feet. She tugged on his hand and got him to sit down again. The Demerol was throwing him off balance. Christine blinked uselessly and mulled over Stark’s words.
He loves her…
It is not something that any man says easily. Especially not with that amount of conviction. Before Christine could open her mouth to apologize, Judge Galloway banged his gavel again.
“Court is adjourned. Miss Everhart, I suggest you get out before I have my bailiff drag you into county,” he said flatly.
Mr. Ambrose lead the way. Christine looked back as the door was closing and saw Pepper Potts touch Tony Stark lightly on the cheek to get him to look at her. The kiss she gave him was sweet and comforting and the blonde couldn’t help the surge of jealousy that raced through her blood then. It wasn’t that she still had a thing for Tony-no, she’d been a fling and she knew it.
Christine was jealous of the devotion he had for Pepper.
Walking down the open staircase to reach the front doors of Stark Industries, Christine Everhart wondered if she would ever find such devotion for her in any man.
TBC
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AUTHOR: Quicksilvermad
SUMMARY: (Movie-verse) Pepper deals with Tony’s newfound lease on life and ends up making a mountain out of her molehill of emotion where her boss is concerned.
GENRE: Humor/Romance
RATING: PG13 Language
PAIRING: Tony/Pepper
DISCLAIMER: Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.
AN: I am not a lawyer and I don’t pretend to know anything about the practice of law. Therefore, this chapter is no doubt rife with logistic errors. Let’s just say that Stark Industries can actually do this sort of thing because they’re that badass.
Chapter Thirty-One:
Stark Industries lawyers had rushed Pepper’s request for a restraining order against Christine Everhart and booked a courtroom Sunday afternoon with the honorable Judge Matthew Galloway taking time out of his personal day to preside over the case.
Christine Everhart was late.
Tony slouched in his chair and began spinning slowly out of sheer boredom. Pepper rolled her eyes and grabbed his armrest as it swung past her and jerked him to a stop.
“Knock it off,” she admonished.
He fought the urge to pout and tugged on his goatee. After he hit his head on the floor last night, Tony had given in to the irresistible call of Demerol and took a full dose with his morning coffee. So, despite the seriousness of the meeting, the Boss was absolutely loopy.
The bailiff opened the conference room door and escorted a pissed off blonde and a tweed clad little man to the opposite desk. Christine pursed her lips and sat across from Tony-ignoring Pepper entirely.
“I’m here.”
“Yes,” Judge Galloway raised one eyebrow. “We can see that. Since you’re late, we would like to get this started right away. Court is now in session. Mr. Hoyt, if you would begin?”
The first lawyer to Tony’s left-an handsome older black man who sported a grey mustache-cleared his throat and stood. “Right. Miss Everhart, you were asked here today to discuss the terms of a restraining order. I have already spoken with your lawyer and-”
“This is outrageous.” she interrupted.
Judge Galloway cleared his throat. “I’ve gone over Mr. Hoyt’s case notes already-if your lawyer-”
“Mr. Ambrose,” the man in tweed responded.
“If Mr. Ambrose will show me his case notes I’ll be able to make my decision.”
Ambrose immediately opened his briefcase and approached the bench with a thin manila folder that held his summary. Christine glared at him.
“Shouldn’t we have been sworn in, or something?” she asked.
Mr. Hoyt removed two court documents from his zippered folio and gave them to the bailiff to hand to Mr. Ambrose.
Tony, hand still fiddling with his goatee, pointed at the papers with some amount of restrained anger. “The first is a restraining order. I thought six yards sounded like a nice round number.”
“The second is a request for the immediate deletion of all photos you took during the charity auction,” Pepper finished for him.
Christine paled.
There was a silent moment in which Judge Galloway slid on his reading glasses and read through the briefs in full. There had been other accounts of Christine’s stalking of Tony observed by Harold “Happy” Hogan” that Tony still hadn’t told Pepper about (and would totally hear about later). And the private moment splashed all over the tabloids was included with the write-ups.
“It’s my understanding that you took those pictures with your phone,” Galloway cleared his throat.
“That’s right,” said Christine.
The Judge leaned forward. “I am ruling in favor of Mr. Stark and Miss Potts’ regarding the restraining order and these photos. Mr. Stark will be confiscating your memory card.”
“All of my journalist contacts are stored on my memory card…” Christine hesitated.
Pepper handed Tony her Blackberry. “You’ll be getting it back in a moment,” she said.
Christine slid her cell phone past Mr. Ambrose for the bailiff to transfer across the aisle. Tony deftly removed the memory card, stuck it into Pepper’s Blackberry, and erased all audio and visual files stored on it. With one free hand, he did the same to the files on her actual phone. Satisfied, Tony replaced the memory card and tossed the fairly useless piece of technology back to Miss “Brown.”
Mr. Ambrose flipped the court documents to the last pages. “I’m advising you to sign these, Christine,” he said.
Feeling as though some of her personal rights were being ignored, but not wanting to do battle with Stark lawyers, Christine Everhart signed the papers. But not without one last snipe. “Do you need me to prick my finger for these, as well?”
“Those sort of statements are entirely unnecessary,” said Mr. Hoyt.
“Technically it was a question. And I would like to ask Mr. Stark something before I have to run six yards away.”
“Shoot,” said Tony.
“If Miss Potts is still your employee, are you paying her for the sex as well?” Christine asked with an arched eyebrow.
Pepper turned bright red and Tony clenched his hand around the edge of the table. In all honesty, he was inches away from hitting the blonde woman. Pepper reached over and gripped his tense hand.
“I mean, we’re all agreed that prostitution is illegal, right?”
Judge Galloway held up a silencing hand. “Knock it off, Miss Everhart. I’m warning you.”
“Seriously? You’re just going to sit idly by and let this man fuck his employee? No consequences?”
Galloway actually slammed his gavel. “One more word out of you and I’ll find you in contempt of court.”
“But it’s wrong!” Christine shouted.
“That’s it!” Galloway stood from his chair and Ambrose tried to get his client to calm down.
“Fuck it! Find me in contempt! Slap that restraining order on me! I don’t give a shit. But when you deny the people the right to know what is going on with-”
“No one has the right to know every detail about my personal life! I have the right for some fucking privacy!” Tony interrupted.
“’Fucking’ being the operative word here,” said Christine.
“Hey! I love her!” he shouted. “Drag my name through the mud all you want, but will you leave this woman alone,” he leaned forward intensely. “She has saved my life more than once and she is the only reason I am here today.”
Pepper felt dizzy but was certain that Tony felt even dizzier as he swayed slightly on his feet. She tugged on his hand and got him to sit down again. The Demerol was throwing him off balance. Christine blinked uselessly and mulled over Stark’s words.
He loves her…
It is not something that any man says easily. Especially not with that amount of conviction. Before Christine could open her mouth to apologize, Judge Galloway banged his gavel again.
“Court is adjourned. Miss Everhart, I suggest you get out before I have my bailiff drag you into county,” he said flatly.
Mr. Ambrose lead the way. Christine looked back as the door was closing and saw Pepper Potts touch Tony Stark lightly on the cheek to get him to look at her. The kiss she gave him was sweet and comforting and the blonde couldn’t help the surge of jealousy that raced through her blood then. It wasn’t that she still had a thing for Tony-no, she’d been a fling and she knew it.
Christine was jealous of the devotion he had for Pepper.
Walking down the open staircase to reach the front doors of Stark Industries, Christine Everhart wondered if she would ever find such devotion for her in any man.
TBC
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