Yes, Virginia, There Really Is An Iron Man: Chapter Thirty-Six
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
PAIRING: Tony/Pepper
DISCLAIMER: Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Pepper managed to persuade Tony into at least changing into a pair of clean jeans and helped him take off his armor in the adjoining bathroom in his office. Stephen was too absorbed in sketching car designs on his tablet laptop to even notice the change when Tony reemerged. Pepper was adjusting the brace on the arm rig when he finally did look up.
“Wicked,” Stephen observed.
“It’s an early propulsion module I came up with when I was designing the Iron Man suit-”
Pepper finished tightening him up and looked closer at the circuitry. “Wait, is this that thing that threw you across the garage?”
“Yes, it is.”
“You aren’t going to demonstrate with this, are you?” Pepper asked, her hand tight around his left wrist. His face was relaxed, but she could see bruises starting against his chin and when changing she’d held her tongue at the multitude of reddish-purple marks deepening across his back and chest. The suit still needed work with impact resistance, apparently.
“As a matter of fact-”
“Ugh, nevermind. Just don’t break any bones.”
They started walking out of the office. Janine offered her usual smile to Tony as he slid past her and her usual sympathetic half-smile to Pepper as the redhead trailed behind.
“Janine, you can take off in ninety minutes, okay? Take messages and change the voice mail announcement to include tomorrow’s board of director’s meeting in the New York offices.”
“Sure thing, Miss Potts,” Janine already had the phone in her hand and started dialing in to system maintenance. Down the long hallway that lead to section nine, Tony cupped a hand to his mouth and shouted back at the young woman.
“Thanks, Janine!”
She had to hang up the phone and start all over when she snorted a laugh in mid-sentence.
Pepper tugged her hair back into a low ponytail and followed Tony into the cluttered Research and Development lab near section two. She stood in the back of the room and watched as Tony broke down the mechanics of how the arc reactor functioned, how to take the energy of the repulsor blast to power an engine, and how to keep the reactor itself safe from tampering by inexperienced mechanics or “crazy people who wanna use it for horrible stuff” (his words exactly). By the end of it all, his bruises were almost black against his paling skin and Pepper could tell something was wrong.
“Gentlemen,” she said and stepped in just in time to grab Tony out of what looked like a long scientific discussion that would have kept him there all night, “Mr. Stark has had a long day and I’d like to make sure he’ll be ready for tomorrow’s board of director’s meeting in one piece so if you don’t mind...”
They smiled, shook Tony’s hand and went about dissecting the repulsor array he’d disconnected from his chest. Pepper masked her impatience with a thin smile and ushered Tony towards the garage with a hand on his back. She could feel the cold sweat he’d built up through his thin T-shirt and worried at the thin tremor that snuck down his spine.
“You okay?” she asked once they were out of earshot.
“Chest hurts. Think I overdid it.”
Her eyes snapped to his increasingly paling face and she bit back the “I told you so” comment she’d been saving up. “I think you’re right.”
Tony closed his eyes and let himself drift off when Pepper buckled him into the passenger seat of her car. Scared, the redhead pressed her ear to his chest and listened to the hum of the arc reactor and the unsteady throbbing beat of Tony Stark’s heart. She wanted to take him to a doctor but wasn’t sure what good that would do.
So, she sat in her car and had Jarvis call her mother.
*
Tony was settled in on the sofa with a mug of chamomile tea (which he hated) and looking like he’d been desaturated in Photoshop when Georgia Potts suddenly appeared within his field of vision and pressed a mothering hand to his forehead.
“What in the hell did you do to yourself, son?”
“Mom!”
“Ginny, he needs a doctor.”
Tony cleared his throat and set the mug of tea on the petrified stump. “Georgia, all I need is a decent night’s sleep and some aspirin-”
“Anthony, when was the last time you ate? Slept more than four hours and not just as a nap?”
As Tony considered how he would answer Georgia, Pepper snuck off to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Bayer aspirin and a Perrier. She cracked open the sparkling water on her way back into the den and counted out two pills into her palm. Ignoring her mother’s piercing eyes, Pepper forced both into Tony’s hands.
“You’re taking a Demerol, too. Your hand has to be hurting right now.”
Georgia watched her daughter stalk off in the direction of the main bedroom and turned back to the weary-looking billionaire still seated across from her. “What’s wrong with your hand?”
Tony waited until the flavor of uncoated aspirin cleared the back of his tongue before he answered. “Just a couple of cracked bones. It isn’t anything serious.”
“You do realize you’re telling me it’s ‘nothing serious’ and you’re almost completely covered in bruises, don’t you?” Georgia asked. She forced the mug of tea back into his hands. “And drink up. Chamomile does wonders for a weary mind.”
He never did answer her question-or ask if she meant it rhetorically or literally. In any case, he finished the drink, was given a dose of Demerol and helped upstairs into Pepper’s bedroom (he insisted her mattress was more comfortable than his own) where the combination of hot tea, pain killers, and bone weary tire finally won out and settled him in a deep sleep.
Pepper gently traced the edges of the arc reactor as Tony drifted off. The angry red inflammation was slightly worsened after his mission. Rhodes had left a message with Janine about the War Machine armor and how it “chafed,” but Pepper didn’t think Rhodey had much room to complain when Tony’s own armor not only “chafed” but put more stress on his heart. She wondered if Tony himself realized that.
“Ginny?”
Pepper was startled enough that she actually jumped at the sound of her mother’s voice. “Mom?”
Georgia slid beside her and rested one arm around her shoulders. They spent a long while looking down at Tony as he slept with one arm shoved beneath a pillow and the other flung above his head. His hurt fingers were curled in relaxation against the cushioned headboard.
“You takin’ care of him, honey?”
“I’m trying, Mom.”
Pepper leaned down against Tony’s chest and listened to him breathe. Her mother pried her shoes off and did the same for Tony. The lights were already out in the room but the light from the pulsing arc reactor cast shadows about the walls-soft edged shoulders and elbows slowly moving in a deep rhythm. Georgia took on more long look at her daughter and the man who brought that her little girl out of her shell and helped her turn into such a strong woman.
“Sweet dreams, Virginia.”
The shadows on the wall shifted as she let herself out and Pepper Potts slowly fell asleep in Tony’s arms. She’d worry about the board of director’s meeting tomorrow. At the moment all she could think of was how Tony’s heartbeat sounded stronger as she drifted off to sleep.
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
PAIRING: Tony/Pepper
DISCLAIMER: Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Pepper managed to persuade Tony into at least changing into a pair of clean jeans and helped him take off his armor in the adjoining bathroom in his office. Stephen was too absorbed in sketching car designs on his tablet laptop to even notice the change when Tony reemerged. Pepper was adjusting the brace on the arm rig when he finally did look up.
“Wicked,” Stephen observed.
“It’s an early propulsion module I came up with when I was designing the Iron Man suit-”
Pepper finished tightening him up and looked closer at the circuitry. “Wait, is this that thing that threw you across the garage?”
“Yes, it is.”
“You aren’t going to demonstrate with this, are you?” Pepper asked, her hand tight around his left wrist. His face was relaxed, but she could see bruises starting against his chin and when changing she’d held her tongue at the multitude of reddish-purple marks deepening across his back and chest. The suit still needed work with impact resistance, apparently.
“As a matter of fact-”
“Ugh, nevermind. Just don’t break any bones.”
They started walking out of the office. Janine offered her usual smile to Tony as he slid past her and her usual sympathetic half-smile to Pepper as the redhead trailed behind.
“Janine, you can take off in ninety minutes, okay? Take messages and change the voice mail announcement to include tomorrow’s board of director’s meeting in the New York offices.”
“Sure thing, Miss Potts,” Janine already had the phone in her hand and started dialing in to system maintenance. Down the long hallway that lead to section nine, Tony cupped a hand to his mouth and shouted back at the young woman.
“Thanks, Janine!”
She had to hang up the phone and start all over when she snorted a laugh in mid-sentence.
Pepper tugged her hair back into a low ponytail and followed Tony into the cluttered Research and Development lab near section two. She stood in the back of the room and watched as Tony broke down the mechanics of how the arc reactor functioned, how to take the energy of the repulsor blast to power an engine, and how to keep the reactor itself safe from tampering by inexperienced mechanics or “crazy people who wanna use it for horrible stuff” (his words exactly). By the end of it all, his bruises were almost black against his paling skin and Pepper could tell something was wrong.
“Gentlemen,” she said and stepped in just in time to grab Tony out of what looked like a long scientific discussion that would have kept him there all night, “Mr. Stark has had a long day and I’d like to make sure he’ll be ready for tomorrow’s board of director’s meeting in one piece so if you don’t mind...”
They smiled, shook Tony’s hand and went about dissecting the repulsor array he’d disconnected from his chest. Pepper masked her impatience with a thin smile and ushered Tony towards the garage with a hand on his back. She could feel the cold sweat he’d built up through his thin T-shirt and worried at the thin tremor that snuck down his spine.
“You okay?” she asked once they were out of earshot.
“Chest hurts. Think I overdid it.”
Her eyes snapped to his increasingly paling face and she bit back the “I told you so” comment she’d been saving up. “I think you’re right.”
Tony closed his eyes and let himself drift off when Pepper buckled him into the passenger seat of her car. Scared, the redhead pressed her ear to his chest and listened to the hum of the arc reactor and the unsteady throbbing beat of Tony Stark’s heart. She wanted to take him to a doctor but wasn’t sure what good that would do.
So, she sat in her car and had Jarvis call her mother.
*
Tony was settled in on the sofa with a mug of chamomile tea (which he hated) and looking like he’d been desaturated in Photoshop when Georgia Potts suddenly appeared within his field of vision and pressed a mothering hand to his forehead.
“What in the hell did you do to yourself, son?”
“Mom!”
“Ginny, he needs a doctor.”
Tony cleared his throat and set the mug of tea on the petrified stump. “Georgia, all I need is a decent night’s sleep and some aspirin-”
“Anthony, when was the last time you ate? Slept more than four hours and not just as a nap?”
As Tony considered how he would answer Georgia, Pepper snuck off to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Bayer aspirin and a Perrier. She cracked open the sparkling water on her way back into the den and counted out two pills into her palm. Ignoring her mother’s piercing eyes, Pepper forced both into Tony’s hands.
“You’re taking a Demerol, too. Your hand has to be hurting right now.”
Georgia watched her daughter stalk off in the direction of the main bedroom and turned back to the weary-looking billionaire still seated across from her. “What’s wrong with your hand?”
Tony waited until the flavor of uncoated aspirin cleared the back of his tongue before he answered. “Just a couple of cracked bones. It isn’t anything serious.”
“You do realize you’re telling me it’s ‘nothing serious’ and you’re almost completely covered in bruises, don’t you?” Georgia asked. She forced the mug of tea back into his hands. “And drink up. Chamomile does wonders for a weary mind.”
He never did answer her question-or ask if she meant it rhetorically or literally. In any case, he finished the drink, was given a dose of Demerol and helped upstairs into Pepper’s bedroom (he insisted her mattress was more comfortable than his own) where the combination of hot tea, pain killers, and bone weary tire finally won out and settled him in a deep sleep.
Pepper gently traced the edges of the arc reactor as Tony drifted off. The angry red inflammation was slightly worsened after his mission. Rhodes had left a message with Janine about the War Machine armor and how it “chafed,” but Pepper didn’t think Rhodey had much room to complain when Tony’s own armor not only “chafed” but put more stress on his heart. She wondered if Tony himself realized that.
“Ginny?”
Pepper was startled enough that she actually jumped at the sound of her mother’s voice. “Mom?”
Georgia slid beside her and rested one arm around her shoulders. They spent a long while looking down at Tony as he slept with one arm shoved beneath a pillow and the other flung above his head. His hurt fingers were curled in relaxation against the cushioned headboard.
“You takin’ care of him, honey?”
“I’m trying, Mom.”
Pepper leaned down against Tony’s chest and listened to him breathe. Her mother pried her shoes off and did the same for Tony. The lights were already out in the room but the light from the pulsing arc reactor cast shadows about the walls-soft edged shoulders and elbows slowly moving in a deep rhythm. Georgia took on more long look at her daughter and the man who brought that her little girl out of her shell and helped her turn into such a strong woman.
“Sweet dreams, Virginia.”
The shadows on the wall shifted as she let herself out and Pepper Potts slowly fell asleep in Tony’s arms. She’d worry about the board of director’s meeting tomorrow. At the moment all she could think of was how Tony’s heartbeat sounded stronger as she drifted off to sleep.
TBC
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