'Elo fine ppl! well, it seems i loved writing that ironman fic so much...i had to write another. and this one is gonna be multi-chapter...yaaaay! :D

anywho, ehh...i must apologize in advance; when writing a multichap fic i have a terrible habit of writing VERY short chapters, sooo, yeah. sorry lol.

also: to everyone who read and reviewed my 1st IM fic, thanks so very much, it made me feel all squishy inside, or sompin.

ok, to the fic! Disclaimer: i...er...disclaim. :P

Pepper Potts was the epitome of 'working overtime'. A deep darkness had long since fallen over the Stark mansion, and Tony Stark himself had long since called it a night. Pepper, however, still sat in one of the guest rooms, now her makeshift office, typing away at her computer like a starved chicken pecking at freshly thrown feed.

She faintly recalled Tony bidding her goodnight, trying to prod her into closing her laptop and going home, and then huffing and throwing a hand in the air when she ignored him.

That had been….several hours earlier. Pepper stopped typing briefly to look about the room. Everything was still and silent; Pepper knew, however, that she was never alone in the Stark home.

Lifting her head, she habitually looked up at the ceiling.

"Jarvis?"

After a mere second of continued silence the AI system responded in its wonderfully polite tone,

"Yes, Miss Potts?"

Pepper smiled. She had always liked Jarvis from the moment it (he?) was created.

"Mr. Stark has gone to bed, correct?"

"Yes, Miss Potts--he retired to his room approximately three hours ago--it is now 2:23 AM, and if I may say so, far past your bedtime, Miss Potts."

The AI's plays at humor were always fun to hear, and Pepper found herself smiling even wider.

It seemed despite her long hours of working, that she was in an unusually good mood.

It was, perhaps, because she had nearly finished organizing the hundreds of files regarding interviews and appointments for Mr. Stark, and once that was done, she could finally go home and rest…or possibly crash on the bed that lay not 3 feet from where she sat--it depended on how tired she was once she was done.

And so, flexing her fingers and shaking away any sleepy feelings that threatened to overwhelm her, Pepper began to once again type away at her laptop.

Until a bright light flared through the window…and her laptop, along with every light on in the house, abruptly went out.

Pepper sat quietly, momentarily confused, until a low rumble from outside met her ears.

Thunder.

A thunderstorm.

The power was out.

And all of her work…very possibly lost.