Author's Note: Whew it's been a while. Sorry about that! It's been a while since I've really cranked anything out, school and work have been rough so my writing may be a little off. Sorry if it is, I'll go back over it later and look at it with a fresh head to see if it needs fixing. Anyway, two chapters left! Please read and review!

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Chapter 3: The Misuse of Expensive Furniture

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"Do you think it needs more basting?"

"You've whacked it twice already in the last minute or so, leave it alone."

"Bah. There can never be too much whacking. Sauce is delicious."

Oh god.

Pepper paused outside the door to one of Stark's many personal living rooms in the Stark Tower. She carefully set down the picnic hamper Stark had requested half an hour ago and wondered if she should open the door. In the years of her career in Stark's employ she'd heard a lot of things, and had heard much tamer through closed doors, and had decided them safe to open. Most of those doors she'd regretted opening instantly.

Blast. He had requested the picnic hamper and its contents. She had no choice but to enter and damn the consequences. Hopefully her retinas wouldn't pay the price for her bravery. One would think that she'd be used to it by now, but she never did.

Pepper picked up the hamper and pushed open the door with a loud "Ready or not, here I come."

The scene in front of her was not what she expected, but it wasn't exactly a good thing either.

'Well,' Pepper thought, 'it could be worse.'

Stark had essentially dug what amounted to a massive fire pit in the floor of the living room, and he and Banner were feeding the live coals in the bottom with squirts of lighter fluid every now and then. A massive hunk of browned meat hung suspended from the ceiling by a heavy chain. Bowls of thick viscous amber colored sauce littered the once pristine studio apartment. As Pepper watched, Banner grabbed one and poured it over the meat.

"You missed a spot," Stark said, pointing helpfully at some microscopic piece that looked to Pepper just as sauce covered as the rest of it.

Banner inspected the imaginary bare spot. "I did not," he growled, turning faintly green around the edges.

"Alright you win," Stark said raising his hands, "Chill out."

Pepper chose that moment to insert herself into the room. "Stark, sweetie, are you aware that you cooking meat in a penthouse floor of a multi-million dollar building?" she said sweetly, gritting her teeth.

Stark wisely chose to ignore the poison coated sugar in her voice. Instead he swept her into a hug and kissed her cheek. "Loki already wrecked most of it, what's one more itty bitty little room?"

"I don't think your insurance is going to see it that way."

Banner rolled his eyes. "That's what I told him."

"Hey!" Stark said, pointing the baster at them, "It's not like there's a clause in my insurance that covers Intergalactic Temper Tantrums anyway."

Pepper sighed. "True."

Stark took the picnic hamper from her and began handing out plates and forks. Pepper had to admit, perched on the remains of a sofa and basking in the steady heat of the fire, that it was pleasant. The large window that spanned the length of the studio apartment from floor to ceiling had been shattered by one of Loki's weird alien minions. The room was chilly save for the area around the fire.

"So, what have you boys been up to?" Pepper asked, eyeing the giant hanging brisket looking thing. "I certainly hope that was no one I knew."

She was joking, of course. Half joking. One never really knew for sure with Tony Stark.

"Shawarma, baby," Stark said, like that explained everything. Stark raised his arm and his Iron Man suit clicked into place around it. The blaster on his palm powered up and he took aim at the hanging meat skewer, squinting. "Let's see, if I shoot here-"

Banner batted his arm away. "I can't believe I'm saying this," he shook his head. "But civilized people use tools."

"This is technically a tool!"

"Yeah, a tool that blows things up. Use a knife."

Pepper smiled. "You beat me to it." She handed Stark a knife.

He grumbled but deactivated his hand cannon, instead opting to use the knife to carve a slab of meat off of the massive barbecue skewer. Pepper, meanwhile, was pulling warm circles of pita bread from the picnic basket. She held them out to Stark who dropped a steaming gooey strip of shawarma meat into each one.

They sat in a semi circle around the fire pit. Pepper was surprised to find herself enjoying it. The meat was savory and whatever sauce Stark had concocted (she hoped he paid their chef to make it) was absolutely delicious. There was a comfortable camaraderie that they shared: survivors of a madman's takeover breaking bread around a fire.

With that, another thought occurred to her. A less than pleasant one. Stark had almost died during Loki's siege She knew without a doubt that there would be some other villain down the line, some other psycho hell bent on ruling or destroying the world. For all his playboy bluster of not caring, Pepper knew that Tony Stark did care. He cared what would happen to the world and he would be there standing in defense of it the next time. And the time after that.

Her food caught in her throat, and she swallowed hard. Sooner or later he was going to lose a fight and he wouldn't come home. She very nearly lost him to Loki's madness. She couldn't lose him, she couldn't. Glancing at Banner she was reminded of the rest of the brave men and women that wouldn't hesitate to defend their planet should they be needed, and she didn't want any of them to die.

Was it all worth it?

"How often is this going to happen?" Pepper asked softly. "How many times are we going to keep doing this?"

"What do you mean?" Banner asked.

"The damage, the lives lost. Someone or something else is going to be right on Loki's heels. When does this end? How many times do we keep doing this? Rebuilding? Licking our wounds waiting for the next calamity," she said, unable to look at them. She felt like a weak little girl, it was frustrating and it made her mad.

Stark was oddly serious. "As many times as we have to."

Banner nodded. "There's no one else. We have something special, we can do something that no one else can. We're needed. Who are we to refuse to step up?"

Pepper smiled sadly. She knew that there was no other real answer. All she could do was be her best and support where ever she could. It was the least she could do. She wasn't a hardened strategist like Captain America, a human tank like Banner, or a black ops ninja like Natasha. But she could support, and support she would. Stark would probably hear gripe a lot about all of his shenanigans, but she'd still stand by him no matter what.

"I need you to promise me something," Pepper said suddenly.

Stark gave her a big, meaty, shawarma laden smooch. "Anything dollface."

"I need you to come back. Always."

Banner looked down at his food, sad. All three of them knew that was a promise that Stark might not be able to keep. None of the Avengers would be able to keep it. Sooner or later someone would lose a fight. And that would be it.

Stark didn't promise. "I love you Pepper."

Pepper scooted closer to his side and took another bite of shawarma. That was good enough. She was content.

"Hey." Banner looked at his pita bread and then looked at Stark. "You had Pepper bring pita bread because you weren't sure yours was gonna come out. Did you turn the oven off?"

Stark threw up his hands. "Dammit!"

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To be continued...