I haven't had the motivation or inspiration to write anything that wasn't school work in over a year, but thanks to Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Robert Downey Jr. I have finally gotten back into the swing of things. I hope you enjoy this story. I'm thinking it's only going to be about 5 chapters, and I swear that I will finish it.

As always, I own nothing.

It had taken almost a month for things to slow down and get sorted out after the disaster that was the Stark Expo. When all was said and done, Tony had reclaimed his position as CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper had gone back to being Tony's PA (even though everyone knew Pepper was basically the CEO), and Natalie had been given a new job as Pepper's assistant.

Tony and Rhodey had reached an understanding and were no longer trying to beat each other up. The military still had the suit that Rhodey had "stolen" (or "borrowed," depending on who you asked), but, much to Tony's relief, they had yet to figure out its technology.

The mansion had almost been fully repaired, the press had finally stopped pestering them for answers and explanations, the SI stock had gone back up, and, most importantly, Tony had indeed found a viable substitute for palladium and was no longer dying.

And so, several long and hectic weeks after their first kiss, Tony and Pepper finally had the time to sort their feelings out. But, since they never did anything the easy way, it hadn't been pretty.

As Pepper remembered, this is what ended up happening:

The last few days had been quiet (or as quiet as they could be at the Stark mansion). Tony had spent the past three days in his workshop working on his cars.

Before Afghanistan, and even before the palladium poisoning, she would have expected Tony to only surface from his workshop during the late hours of the night to get food after she had left and was no longer there to bring him coffee and pizza.

But Tony post-palladium poisoning, or Tony Stark 3.0 as he now called himself, not only played his music at a much lower volume than Tony Stark 1.0 and 2.0, but he also surfaced from his workshop three times a day: in the morning to greet her and sign paperwork, and at both lunch and dinner to eat with her.

This was a startling transformation. She knew how to handle Tony Stark 1.0; she had done it for ten years. She thought she knew how to deal with Tony Stark 2.0 until he had made her CEO, donated his art collection to the Boy Scouts, and nearly died. She had no absolutely no idea what to think of Tony Stark 3.0, and that scared the hell out of her.

She had been thinking about this on the evening of Day 3 of Tony's car-working binge when 3.0 himself ascended the stairs from the workshop dressed in dark jeans and a red t-shirt, free of oil and grease, toweling off his hair, and smelling like aftershave.

When he had first installed the half-bath in the workshop she had thought it was ridiculous, but Tony actually used it quite often.

"Evening, Potts," he said as he draped his towel over the back of one of the kitchen chairs.

"Good evening, Mr. Stark," she replied, glancing up from her laptop to give him a smile.

Tony strode past her purposefully toward the fridge, leaving a trail of Hugo Boss cologne hanging in the air behind him.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me 'Tony,' Pepper?"he asked as he began rummaging through the contents of his constantly well-stocked refrigerator.

"At least once more, as always, Mr. Stark," she replied.

Tony chuckled at her poor imitation of a British accent. He had now begun to dig through the cabinets in search for more items to add to the growing pile of food on the counter.

"You've watched Pirates of the Caribbean on too many times, Pep. Your obsession with that movie is unhealthy. I don't get what's so great about that Jack Sparrow guy Johnny Depp plays anyways."

"It's Captain Jack Sparrow, Mr. Stark. And do I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice?"

"Me? Jealous? Of some drunken pirate with a compass that doesn't point north? I don't think so."

Tony was now warming up several pots and pans on the stove and tossing things into them at what seemed like random.

Pepper smiled to herself. She would never admit to anyone, least of all Tony, that she liked Captain Jack mainly because he reminded her a lot of a certain quirky and witty genius she knew.

"Jack Sparrow is not just 'some drunken pirate,'" she began as she closed her laptop and joined Tony by the stove. "He's funny, charming, inventive, and fights for what he believes in."

"Hmm…sounds like you're describing me, Potts," Tony mused as he smirked at her.

"Don't flatter yourself, Mr. Stark. What exactly are you cooking up over here?"

"It's a surprise!" Tony exclaimed excitedly as he quickly covered the pots and pans and shooed her away.

She arched her eyebrow at him warily.

"You know I hate surprises, Mr. Stark."

"I promise you'll love this one," he said, grasping her hands in his.

She couldn't help the smile that slowly spread across her face at his eager expression and the hopefulness in his eyes.

"I guess one surprise wouldn't hurt," she sighed as she gave in.

"Excellent!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together triumphantly. "You just go sit out on the balcony and relax while I take care of everything in here."

She didn't need to be told twice. She quickly slipped off her heels, pulled her hair loose from its bun, and headed across the kitchen to the balcony.

"You won't regret this, Potts!" he called back to her from the stove where he was now simultaneously stirring something in a pot and flipping something in a pan.

"As long as there are no strawberries," she threw back at him as she stepped out onto the balcony.

Fifteen minutes later Tony appeared on the balcony with a drink in his hand.

"Is that a-"

"Vodka martini, extra dry, with extra olives?" Tony finished for her.

She just shook her head at him and accepted the drink.

"I still owed you one, and it's better late than never, right?" Tony asked as he gazed down at her.

"You don't owe me anything, Mr. Stark. Except a long-overdue vacation, at least one new pair of shoes to replace the ones that were ruined at the Expo, a life insurance policy that covers accidents involving psychopathic Russians with electric whip things, and maybe several long explanations and apologies for the insanity that occurred three weeks ago."

Tony was quiet for a long time as he stared intently at the floor.

She waited and watched as he struggled to find what to say.

"Pepper…can we talk about this later?" he finally said.

She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off.

"By 'later' I mean after I have wowed you with my amazing cooking skills. I promise we'll talk."

She decided not to push the issue further, even though she wanted answers now, and complied with his not-so-subtle attempt at changing the subject and lightening the mood.

"You're making a lot of promises tonight, Mr. Stark. You better make good on them."

He smiled at her appreciatively and put on his 'serious business' face.

"Miss Virginia Potts, prepare to have your mind blown in approximately two minutes when you experience what I like to call: 'Pasta a la Tony Stark.'"

And with that declaration he vanished back into the house.

He returned several moments later with two plates heaped with food that was emitting delicious smells balanced on one arm, and a glass of water in his other hand.

Tony handed her a plate and sat down on the deck chair next to her.

"Dig in, Potts."

They ate in a comfortable silence for most of the meal. She stared out at the ocean as she twirled small bites of pasta around her fork. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Tony glance at her several times and stare at her intently more than once.

"So, what did you think, Potts?" he asked when they were both finished.

She turned her eyes away from the ocean to look at him. He was anxiously waiting for a response and rubbing the back of his neck (one of his nervous habits).

Her eyes narrowed slightly when she saw the faint bruises on Tony's neck that still hadn't faded.

Tony followed her line of sight and his confusion at her prolonged silence turned into understanding.

He reached for her hand and gently turned her head so that she was looking directly into his eyes; his eyes that were full of so many emotions that she had never seen in them before, emotions that he had never directed toward her before. It excited her and scared her at the same time.

"Pepper."

She blinked and brought herself back to the moment. However, she found this difficult because Tony's dark eyes were still locked on hers.

"I'm ok, Pepper. My toxicity levels are less than one percent. These are just bruises that will go away before you know it. So please stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm still about to drop dead at any moment. You've been looking at me like that ever since the Expo and I can't take it anymore."

She almost smacked him, but he had just cooked her dinner and he had been trying so hard these last few weeks to please her. Instead she yanked her hand from his and rose from her chair.

"You can't take it anymore? Really? How selfish can you be, Stark? You didn't tell anyone, including me, that you were on the verge of death, and apparently had no intention to do so, and now, after putting me-and everyone else-through that without any explanation, you're going to sit here and act like everything's 'ok' and think that you have the right to tell me that I can't look at you like I still think you're going to die at any moment? You could! You almost did. Don't you get that? There's so many ways you could die. Palladium poisoning or not, every time you go out in the suit I never know if you're going to come back. I don't even know if you're going to come back when you speed off somewhere in your car. And you have enemies, despite what you may think, and there are people out there with weapons and technology that can hurt you. How can you not see that after Afghanistan, and Hammer, and Ivanko? That's why I resigned as CEO and tried to turn down being your PA again. I can't work for you and deal with this on a daily basis anymore. Not when I feel this way. Not when I care this much. I…I just can't do it, Tony."

She was shaking. Tony was staring at her in shock. The only sound was her heavy breathing as she tried in vain to calm down.

Suddenly Tony stood, and before she could register what was happening, he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her.

What happened next was something she blamed on the fact that she still hadn't figured out Tony Stark 3.0: she, Pepper Potts, the epitome of composure and professionalism, began to sob into her boss' shoulder.

And Tony, who as version 1.0 never would have been in this situation and as version 2.0 wouldn't have known what to do, held her and whispered soothing words of comfort in her ear.

At some point he scooped her up in his arms and brought her inside to the couch, where she curled up with her head on his chest and his arms still wrapped around her protectively.

When she finally stopped crying they just stayed that way for awhile, neither of them saying anything.

She was too emotionally spent to stop Tony from running his fingers through her hair or to give him a warning look when he pressed a kiss to her head. She didn't even care that this was crossing so many lines between boss and employee, and that she was shattering all the boundaries she had carefully set.

She couldn't tear herself away from the strong, steady beat of Tony's heart and the soft hum of the arc reactor even if she wanted to. These two sounds reassured her that Tony was alive, and that was all that mattered to her right now.

It was Tony who eventually spoke first.

"I'm sorry Pepper."

She lifted her eyes and was met with an extremely serious-looking Tony Stark.

"I could say that to you every day for as long as I live and it still wouldn't be nearly enough to make up for everything that I've done. I don't think I can ever make it up to you. What I did was beyond selfish; it was stupid, it was wrong, and it was hurtful. You deserved so much more than me keeping secrets from you and increasing your stress level by about two hundred and fifty percent. At the very least you deserved the truth, but I was too much of a self-absorbed, cowardly ass to even give you that. You deserve someone who's better than that, Pepper; a man who can actually take responsibility for his actions and not hurt the only person who he really cares about. I don't know if I can be that man."

Tony pauses and runs a hand through his hair in frustration.

She doesn't say anything as he continues to talk.

"God knows I've tried. I've been trying so damn hard, Pepper. But I still don't think it's enough. I don't think it will ever be enough. Because I know me, and you know me, and we both know that no matter what I do, I'll just end up fucking everything up. I can't keep doing that to you. I won't. It isn't fair. So I completely understand if you don't want to…if you'd rather not…if you think it best to no longer…"

"If I don't want to what, Tony?" she asks quietly.

"Work for me anymore," he finally manages to whisper hoarsely.

"I thought we already had this conversation on the roof that time when we…that time after the Expo when we were on the roof?"

"We did, but I don't think this is working. Do you think this is working? Because if you do, then forget what I just said about you not working for me anymore. Maybe it was just me who thought it wasn't working. I could've been wrong about that. I might've misread some signs. I do that sometimes. I'm not always right one hundred percent of the time.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't actually want you to quit or resign or…whatever-unless that's what you want-because then I wouldn't get to see you every day and there would be no one waiting for me to come back from missions and I wouldn't have anyone to talk to and I would just be sad. I'd be so sad without you, Potts.

And-could you give me some feedback here? Am I making any sense? Are you even listening to me? Why are you looking at me like that? What's so funny, Pep-"

"You're cute when you babble," she interrupted.

And then she kissed him.

Several hours later when they were lying in Tony's bed, wrapped in each other's arms, and she was about to fall asleep, Tony's voice murmured in her ear.

"Does this mean you're my girlfriend now?"

"Yes, Tony, I'm your girlfriend," she mumbled into his chest. "Now shut up and go to sleep."

"Sweet dreams, Pepper," he whispered.

And she did.

Alright folks. That was the first chapter! I know a lot of people have written fics about Tony and Pepper talking about their feelings and getting together, but I hope my interpretation was at least slightly different. My story is not going to focus on the events immediately following Iron Man 2, which is why I'm only devoting one chapter (this one) to the beginning of Tony and Pepper's relationship. I'd rather not go on for chapters and chapters about every moment of their relationship (though I do enjoy reading stories like that). Instead I'm just gonna get to the good stuff!

So please continue to read and review :)