Fandom:
Iron Man (movieverse)
Rating: PG-13 (may change later)
Pairing: Tony/Pepper
Summary: It
will not be long, love...
Disclaimer: Most of the characters and situations in this story belong
to Marvel Comics, Fairview Entertainment, Dark Blades Films, NBC, and
other
entities, and I do not have permission to borrow them. No infringement
is intended in any way, and this story is not for profit. All others
belong to me, especially Cedric, and if you want to borrow them, you
have to ask me first.
Any errors are mine, all mine, no you can't have any.
Thank you Cincoflex and
Laura27md!
This chapter is a bit short, but I figured that a short one on time was
better than a slightly longer one late.
*********
Virginia wasn't sure how long she could take idle isolation without
going quietly nuts, but her fit of bawling in the garden seemed to have
one effect at least--it let her relax. In fact, she eased into an
oddly undemanding state, one where she was able to sit for hours and
read the stack of books she'd had Jarvis send along, or go for walks
around the lake. Or even just catch up on what seemed suddenly
like years of sleep deprivation.
Tony didn't press his not-question on her again. The only
indication that he hadn't abandoned the idea--or that she hadn't
imagined it in the stress following her homecoming--occurred when she
looked up and caught him staring at her with an intensity that she
usually only saw when he was talking about Iron Man. It was
unnerving. And, if she were to be honest, pleasing as well.
All her own rules concerning her boss seemed to be eroding, dissolving
slowly away. She'd never trusted Tony with her heart because she
had no desire to be just one more notch on his belt. But she'd
never seen him look at any woman the way he looked at her. None
of them had ever really mattered.
And you do? her
cynical side asked. But its voice was growing fainter.
She'd more than half-expected Tony to leave her at the house and go off
to tend to business, Stark Industries or Iron Man or both. It
would have been natural and sensible. But instead he lingered,
carting her off to the hot springs one day and getting the sailboat out
of storage the next, accompanying her on some of her walks or vanishing
into the little communications room when she wanted to be alone.
They ate together, did a little local sightseeing, and sometimes just
sat next to the fishpond--carefully--and talked. Or
teleconferenced with Happy, who had acquired quite a tan in Hawaii and
was already up and about on crutches.
"He asked Jarvis to send him a laptop," Tony said one warm afternoon,
lying back in the grass near the pond with his hands folded under his
head. "Dunno why, the computer system at the Kauai place is
state-of-the-art, but whatever."
"Maybe he just wanted something that wasn't on your network," Virginia
posited, dropping a last few fish-treats into the pond and wiping her
hands on the grass. "You know how private he is."
Tony snorted a laugh. "Makes you wonder what he wants to
hide."
"No hacking to find out," she told him sternly, but Tony freed one hand
long enough to wave that off.
"Not planning on it. But what do you think it is, Potts?"
"Off-track betting?" The absurdity was worth it to see Tony
sporfle.
"What an image. Maybe he collects something on eBay."
"Like what?" Virginia hooked her arms around her pulled-up knees
and grinned, enjoying the idea and knowing that Happy would find it
deeply amusing were he there.
It's not like he'd give us any hints, either.
Tony stretched a little. "I dunno, maybe those little porcelain
figurines that look like mutant babies?"
Virginia snickered. "Lladro? No, you mean Precious Moments,
don't you?"
"Yeah, the kind that come alive when you're sleeping and do evil
deeds."
She had to laugh out loud. "I agree, the things are hideous, but
I don't think they're animated."
Tony was still smiling. "Mom had a collection of them. I
locked them up after she died, but when they still gave me nightmares I
took them out on the beach and went all extreme prejudice on them with
a hammer."
She suppressed an automatic wince at the destruction of what was
probably a fairly valuable set of figurines, and enjoyed the vision of
a younger Tony wielding a claw hammer and grinning ferociously.
"Did any of them fight back?"
"Of course not, I'm not stupid, Potts. I did it at high
noon." He looked smug as she laughed again.
They sat in silence for a while, a silence that was surprisingly
comfortable. If Virginia had been asked just two weeks prior
whether her boss could just be still without something to distract him,
she would have said no, unless large amounts of alcohol and angst were
involved. But if he'd drunk anything more than wine with lunch,
it wasn't evident; and he lay in the grass now, one toe twitching idly,
as if he'd never even heard of hyperactive.
The question rose slowly, and for some reason she didn't censor
it. "Aren't you bored?"
Tony squinted at her, then reached out one hand and wrapped it around
her ankle, a warm tight grip. "Not at the moment, no."
She couldn't look away from his gaze. The air thickened, and
seemed to hum, and somewhere in the back of her mind Virginia was aware
that if they were on a level they would probably be--
Tony blinked, and cleared his throat, his fingers slowly opening and
drawing back. "I, um. I'll admit there are times when I'm a
little restless though. When you're busy with other
things." His grin was quick, and she matched it, relieved and
disappointed both.
"You can go, you know, Tony. I'll be fine here; Yuu will look
after me." Yuu, Virginia judged, was delighted to have someone to
quietly fuss over, though one would never know it to look at her.
"I know things are piling up at home."
Tony shrugged. "So let them pile. I'm on vacation."
He was still watching her, and Virginia glanced away; Tony breathed
out. "Look, if they haven't caught the scumbag by the end of the
week, I'll head home and do a few chores. But for the moment I'm
getting enough done remotely."
She knew that tone; there was no point in arguing. And she didn't
really want him to go. For one thing, it would be much more
boring without him, and for another... If he's here, I know he's okay. She
didn't actually expect Three to go after Tony, but the events of the
past few weeks had left her feeling a lot less secure about the safety
of those she cared about.
She sighed, and let go of her knees. “I’ll be glad
when they do.” Peace she might have for the moment, but
Virginia knew she was going to run out of patience eventually, and she
couldn’t stay in Matsue indefinitely.
Tony nodded, looking around from his prone position. “Yeah,
me too.” But his voice lacked the enthusiasm he expected,
and when he saw her curious gaze he shrugged again. “I
dunno...scumbag aside, this has been...nice.”
“My breakdown notwithstanding, you mean?” Her smirk
widened at his flush, and she shook her head at him.
“Relax, Tony, I’m joking. I know what you mean.
This is a lovely spot.”
He beamed. “I’m glad you like it,
Pepper.”
She wanted to say more, to acknowledge how he’d brought her to
what was essentially his own private sanctuary, but she couldn’t
figure out how to say it without sounding awkward or fatuous. So
she just leaned over a little and snagged his fingers with hers.
Tony’s eyes widened, and his fingers laced into hers. She
squeezed them, then let go. “I’m hungry.”
“Food then.” Tony sat up as Virginia scrambled to her
feet, and she reached down to extend a hand. He took it willingly
and she pulled him up with one smooth motion--right into her personal
space.
It made her freeze. Tony looked surprised as well, biting his
lip, and as if he’d spoken Virginia knew he was hesitating on the
brink of kissing her again, his free hand hovering at her side while
his other still clasped hers.
It was astonishingly easy to close the space between them and slip her
arms around him, turning the moment into a hug that he returned
warmly. “Thank you,” she said quietly, wondering why
the hard lump of his reactor implant didn’t hurt where it dug
into her chest. “Just...thank you.”
Tony pressed his face into her hair, and she felt a tremor run through
him, once and gone. “Pepper,” he muttered.
“You know I--I can’t do without you.”
Closing her eyes, Virginia smiled.
Her bladder woke her, and Virginia made her way blearily to the little
bathroom off her bedroom, squinting as the overhead light came
on. More than half-asleep, she relieved herself and washed her
hands, and as she opened the narrow door she saw the light edging in
the windows and realized that it was dawn. She stretched and
yawned, feeling sleep falling away. When life was what she
laughingly called normal, she
was usually up before the sun, and apparently her body was finally
rested and ready to return to routine.
Sighing, she dressed and slipped out of her room, planning on a walk in
the garden before breakfast, but as she made her way down the hallway a
murmur reached her ears.
Tony. What’s he doing in the electronics room at this
hour?
When she reached the half-open door, Tony had the chair tipped back so
far it looked like he was going to overbalance, and was scowling at the
dark video screen. The deep voice of Agent Donovan was rendered
only slightly less resonant by the speakerphone, and she could hear
frustration in the man’s words despite their professional
tone. “...hiding, Mr. Stark. There are plenty of
places he could hole up, and until he makes a move--”
“You’re the Eff Bee Eye,”
Tony drawled, every syllable heavy with sarcasm. “How the
hell can you not find this
guy?”
He glanced up as Virginia stepped into the room; his expression
didn’t lighten, but he waved her in. “Good morning,
Ms. Potts,” he added, clearly for Donovan’s benefit.
“We’re just having a little discussion about the
Feds’ complete lack of competence.”
“Special Agent Donovan,” she acknowledged courteously,
giving Tony a pointed look for his rudeness, which he ignored.
“Good morning, Ms. Potts,” Donovan said. “I
trust you’re feeling better?”
“Much, thank you. What’s going on?”
“Nothing, absolutely nothing,” Tony said, still
sarcastic. “Your kidnapper, one Charles Yarbro according to
his accomplice, seems to have vanished into thin air.”
“That’s incorrect. We know he’s looking for Ms.
Potts.” Virginia admired Donovan’s patience in the
face of Tony’s needling. “But we haven’t been
able to track down his precise location. At this point he seems
prepared to stay hidden indefinitely.”
“Indefinitely?” Virginia asked. She didn’t like
the sound of that. Yes, she’d come to Japan to be safe, but
not for forever.
“It would seem so,” Donovan said. “Of course,
it may be possible to draw him out.”
It took Virginia a second or so to understand what he meant. Tony
realized it at the same time, slamming the front legs of his chair down
with a bang and giving her an incredulous glare. “Hell no.”
“Tony--” Virginia began, but Donovan interrupted.
“I’m not suggesting that we set Ms. Potts out as
bait. My team specializes in undercover operations. Agent
Cross can play the part quite easily.”
“I doubt that,” Tony muttered, then raised his voice.
“You think that will work?”
“It has better odds of success than just waiting,” Donovan
admitted. “Ms. Potts?”
The idea bothered her, but it did
sound sensible. “What...what’s involved?”
“On your part? Very little.” Donovan’s
voice was brisk. “I’d like to send Agent Cross to
meet you; she will spend a day or so observing you, and may need to
borrow one or two of your personal items.”
“She’s too short,” Tony interrupted irritably.
“And--”
“Not significantly,” Donovan replied. “Mr.
Stark. You will have to trust us. Agent Cross is very, very
good at her job.”
Virginia closed her hand on Tony’s shoulder, cutting off whatever
rude retort he’d been about to make. “Can you give us
more details, please?”
Tony was hard to convince, but in the end he agreed to the idea.
Donovan assured them that his agent would be on the next available
flight to Tokyo, to be picked up there by one of Tony’s drivers,
and plans were set in motion. After the phone call was ended,
Virginia raised her brows at Tony. “Why don’t you
like the idea?”
He sighed, and took one of her hands, spreading it open in his and
tracing a finger along the lines in her palm. “It’s
not the idea,” he admitted. “It’s
Donovan. He puts my back up.”
Virginia looked down at his head, bent over her hand, and had to
smile. The tickle of his touch was pleasant, but she drew her
hand back nonetheless. “Two alpha males trying to be in
charge? I’d never have guessed.”
Tony snorted, and stood, pushing the chair back.
“I’ll admit, he and his people did figure out where you
were being held, but not in time for us to actually get
there, so eh.” He stretched. “Guess we’ll
find out if they’re any better at playing decoy.”
“I hope so,” Virginia said. “I do like Matsue,
Tony, it’s beautiful, but I’m ready to go
home.”
He gave her half a smile. “Me too.”
Agent Cross arrived the next day. When she stepped out of the
car, she looked half-Japanese, half-Caucasian, but once inside the
house she pulled off her wig and adjusted her posture, and was suddenly
someone else, giving both Tony and Virginia a smile that reminded the
latter of a young cat. “I’m Alex Cross.”
Tony made a small choking noise, and the agent’s smile
widened. “I know. Pseudonyms are part of the game,
I’m afraid.” She was a good two inches shorter than
Virginia, and not quite as slender, and wore her brown hair in a
peculiar short cut; but Virginia had the feeling that she was
everything Donovan had promised.
Virginia showed Cross to the guest room set up for her, leaving Tony to
take a phone call. “What will you need me to do?” she
asked.
Cross went over to the small suitcase she’d brought with her,
already set in place by one of the staff, and opened it, setting her
black wig on top of the contents. “Just be yourself,
mostly, so I can study you. I know it’s weird, but try to
act naturally.” She gave Virginia another smile, genuinely
warm. “I won’t be in your hair for very long, I
promise.”
Virginia smiled back, already liking the woman.
“Okay. Um...are you going to try to act as Tony’s
assistant?” The idea had been nagging at her. It was
one thing to imitate her mannerisms, but--
Cross shook her head quickly. “Not at all. In fact,
we’d prefer to keep Mr. Stark as separate from me as possible,
for safety.” She hesitated. “Did Donovan bring
up borrowing your apartment?”
“Yes.” Virginia shrugged. “If you
don’t mind watering my plants when you get there.”
Cross laughed. “Not a problem.”
It was a little strange, to be shadowed by a stranger, but Alex--as she
asked Virginia to call her--was not intrusive, and acted more like a
guest than an observer. It was actually nice, Virginia thought,
to have someone else around to talk with, and they did spend several
hours in conversation, with the only hint of Alex’s purpose being
her bright eyes fixed on Virginia with unusual intensity.
Tony was slightly withdrawn in Alex’s presence, though he treated
her with absent courtesy; Virginia attributed it more to a sudden
knotty problem that had arisen with the SI board of directors than his
feelings about the decoy plan. He spent a lot of time in the
electronics room, and Virginia kept urging him to go home and take care
of things personally, but he put her off, saying it wasn’t that
critical yet.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but Virginia was
troubled. It was true that Agent Cross performed dangerous feats
undercover for a living, and Virginia had no doubt that everything
Donovan said about her was true. But Virginia’s own words
kept coming back to her, about people getting hurt. And though
she didn’t really know Alex, it still felt wrong.
Tony admitted, in the privacy of his own thoughts, that luring
Pepper’s would-be killer out using Agent Cross was a good idea,
even if it was Donovan’s. But he found himself resenting
Cross’ intrusion into the peace of Matsue, even though she was as
courteous a guest as could be wished. Partly it was the fact that
he had so long kept Matsue as a retreat where no one, not even Rhodey,
came without invitation; partly it was the fact that she had
interrupted the intimate time between Pepper and himself. He did
his best not to resent her for it--she wasn’t responsible for her
boss being an ass, for one thing.
The board of directors suddenly getting a bug up its collective butt
regarding a takeover that had been in the works for months distracted
him. Tony videoconferenced with them for hours each day,
swallowing his impatience and trying to be diplomatic, but his time was
running out. He knew he’d been lucky that nothing more
pressing had called him back as yet, but sooner or later something
would come up. His conscience, overwhelmed for a time by the need
to see Pepper safe, began to nag him about Iron Man; any mission that
might come up would be delayed by almost eight hours, given the
distance between himself and the suit. In his less busy moments
he began sketching out ideas for assembly that didn’t require the
huge mechanism in his workshop. It would require a redesign of
the suit itself, but since he came back from every flight with at least
two more ideas for upgrades, that wasn’t a major issue.
Agent Cross came to find him on the third day, asking politely if she
could speak with him for a moment. He blinked at her.
“Sure. Privately?”
She shook her head. “I’d rather include Virginia, if
you don’t mind.”
It was a bit weird to hear Pepper’s real name; most people in
Tony’s life either referred to her as “Pepper” or
used the respectful “Ms. Potts”. He cocked his head
and gestured towards the front room, which included cushions for
kneeling and was the closest the house came to a Western-style living
room.
Agent Cross, he noticed when they gathered, took a cushion as if
she’d spent her whole life kneeling. He barely remembered
her from the chaos of the hunt for Pepper, she’d been just one
more face in the crowd then, but now he saw strength in her, and a calm
he didn’t necessarily associate with federal agents.
“I’m ready to begin this operation,” she stated
simply, watching them both. “It would work best if we
returned to Malibu together, Mr. Stark.”
Tony glanced over at Pepper. “That makes sense, I
guess,” he said cautiously. “And then
what?”
Cross opened both hands. “Ideally, you would drop me off at
Virginia’s apartment, pending her permission.” She
nodded at Pepper. “Agent Donovan will already have a
surveillance team in place.”
“And you just wait for him to try to pick you off?” Tony
asked. “That’s a little...passive, isn’t
it?”
“We’ll set up a press release,” Pepper said
firmly. “Something to the effect that I was on leave
briefly--for health reasons, maybe--but that I’m back in
town. Not back from leave, but home.” She shot Tony
an odd look.
“Sounds good,” he said. “For one thing, your
place is a lot easier to get to than mine...we’re going to have
to do something about that, Potts...”
Cross smiled. “Let’s catch him first.”
Pepper shifted, frowning a little. “What if he doesn’t come after
me--you? What if he’s quit and gone away? You
can’t do this indefinitely.”
“That’s not likely,” the agent said gently.
“From the information we’ve been able to gather, he’s
determined to find you.”
Pepper bit her lip, looking frustrated, and Tony wanted to reach out
and take her hand, but too much space separated their cushions.
“Why is he doing
this?” she burst out. “I didn’t even see him,
not really! Why’s he trying to kill me?”
Cross shook her head. “We won’t know that until we
ask him,” she answered. “But even then--his profile
indicates he considers himself smarter than those around him, and
according to his associate, he was the brains behind the kidnapping
scheme. Discovering that they got the wrong target, and then you
escaped--” She shrugged, and her eyes flicked to Tony and
back, quietly amused. “Wounded pride.”
He might have found it funny, if the target had been someone else, but
all Tony could feel was the familiar surge of fury at the knowledge
that someone wanted Pepper dead.
His assistant rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll work
on the press release. But I’m coming back with
you.”
Tony started to protest, but Pepper cut him off, waving the agent to
silence as well. “Not to my apartment, but I’m not staying here to just wait. I’ll stay on the
plane until you send another car for me, but I’m
going.”
He recognized her expression, and knew that he was going to lose any
argument he might try. At the same time, though, it occurred to
him that if she came back with them, he could tuck her safely away in
his house, and have the added benefit of having her close by.
“Deal.”
Cross still looked doubtful. “You do understand that this
operation hinges on complete secrecy, Virginia?”
Pepper nodded, her hands linking in her lap. “The flight
staff and the driver will be able to tell anyway,” she pointed
out. “But they’re entirely discreet.”
Cross shot Tony a questioning look, and he gave her a sardonic one
right back. “My people get offered obscene amounts of money
on a regular basis to discuss my business.” He
smirked. “They have iron-clad contracts that include a
matching clause. How much did Jacques get the last time,
Pepper?”
“The Sun offered him
ten
thousand dollars for an exclusive,” Pepper murmured, a smile
curling her lips. “I believe you added a bonus to
that.”
Cross didn’t look convinced, and Tony leaned forward.
“My father instituted that back in the day,” he said.
“We’ve had exactly three confidentiality breaches since
then, and all three got their asses handed to them in court.
I’m not worried.”
The agent pursed her lips, then nodded. “Very well,”
she said. “Shall we leave in the morning?”
The flight home was busy; Tony and Pepper spent much of it working on
Stark Industries items that could no longer be put off, while Agent
Cross tucked herself into a seat and read for the first half of the
flight. Midway over the Pacific she rose, requested the use of
the small bedroom in the back of the plane, and disappeared until it
was time to strap in for landing. And when she emerged, Tony felt
his mouth drop open in amazement. Pepper, across the table from
him, gave a small gasp.
At first sight, it was as if Pepper had cloned herself. The woman
who strode out of the bedroom had short, red-gold hair, a spattering of
freckles across her nose and cheekbones, and the long, elegant lines of
his assistant; she wore a tidy, subtly sexy business suit, and her
stockinged legs ended in stiletto heels.
After the first few seconds, however, Tony could see the
differences. She was a fraction shorter than Pepper, and her eyes
were the wrong shape, her cheekbones a touch too wide. The tiny
details gave him an odd sense of
wrongness,
exacerbated when Cross gave him an innocent smile with lips fuller than
Pepper’s and sat down, pulling the seatbelt into place.
“It works better if we’re not in the same room
together,” she commented; even her voice was pitched
differently.
“That’s...amazing,” Pepper said, her voice a little
constricted.
“It’s fucking scary,”
Tony admitted. One small part of his mind was immediately taken
up with some very dirty scenarios involving both women, but he shut it
up without a qualm; it was just reflex, and he had no interest in
anyone besides Pepper any longer, no matter what his libido had to say
about it.
Cross shrugged elegantly. Even her posture was different, Tony
realized, going from her own relaxed watchfulness to Pepper’s
poise. “It’ll do.”
The limo was waiting when the jet taxied into place, though it was
still Tristan waiting by the open door rather than Happy. Cross
waited by the door, fiddling with Pepper’s handbag and keys as
Tony paused by Pepper.
“Tristan’ll come right back for you after he drops me
off,” he said in a low tone, reaching out to grip her arms
gently. Even with Cross as a decoy, he felt deeply uneasy about
having Pepper back within range of a killer.
She nodded, looking worried. “You be careful too, okay,
Tony? I don’t think he’s really worried about
collateral damage...”
Underneath the fear, he felt a thrill that she was so concerned about
him. “I’ll be fine,” he replied.
“Just keep your head down until you’re safely at my place,
hear me?”
He was startled when she threw her arms around him for a fierce hug,
but not so much that he couldn’t return it with enthusiasm.
She smelled warm and delicious, and Tony didn’t want to let go, but then she was stepping back,
a little flushed. “See you in a few hours.”
With that, she vanished into the bedroom, and he went to escort his
ersatz assistant down the stairs to the ground, sliding on sunglasses
to conceal his expression and resting a hand lightly on the small of
Cross’ back as they headed for the limo. The sense of
wrongness increased as he ducked into the car after her and saw her on
the seat opposite, seated with her feet primly together, just like
Pepper.
“You don’t have to right now,” he said, a bit
roughly. “No one can see in.”
She cocked her head and gave him Pepper’s one-sided smile, which
made him feel uneasier. “Once I’m in a role, I prefer
to keep it up,” she said. “It’s
easier.”
He couldn’t fault her logic, and it irritated him. Tony
grunted and turned away, watching the plane fall behind as Tristan
steered them towards home.
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