A/N: Hi, guys ... So this is a companion piece to my fic Stark and Potts: An Archive. For each of the articles in that fic, I'm gonna write a related scene between Tony and Pepper. That was my original idea for that fic, but I wound up preferring the style that I published. But the ideas for the scenes are still in my head, so I decided to write this. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: Iron Man, its concepts and characters belong to Marvel and not me.

Chapter 1: Tony Stark Hires New PA

Tony Stark was in a particularly bad mood. He had somehow missed an important advertising meeting because his last personal assistant, Jennifer ... Joanna ... well, whatever, she hadn't logged it into his schedule before she had quit. And by quit, he meant left his bed in the morning after they had slept together, taken his twenty thousand dollar watch, and disappeared without being seen or heard from again. That had been a full week before and he still had not found time to hire a new one. Mainly because he was spending most of his time catching up on things he was forgetting.

Case in point was when he had screeched over to a business lunch after Obadiah called him in some frustration to say that he had missed the business brunch (he hated all business meals) and in doing so, forgotten about his hiring session for new secretaries.

Well, anyway, he had once more spent his afternoon apologising to Obadiah, before agreeing to have this meeting on the spot. As such, he had had to postpone his hunt for an assistant yet again so that he could sit and scowl at three men draped around his office harping on about their public image. This was one thing in which he had no interest or ability to provide input. He had implored Obadiah multiple times to take over that responsibility, but it was not to be.

So when, somewhere in the middle of choosing between several potential billboard designs, he heard a slight commotion happening outside his office door, his interest was piqued far more than usual. He heard what sounded like a female voice arguing with Happy. Happy started out firm, but as the female voice grew more insistent, Happy's seemed to be fading.

The three advertising gurus and Obadiah appeared not to have noticed.

Tony slipped up from his seat, momentarily unobserved, and headed over to the office door, which he opened.

"-don't let me talk to him right now, I will pepper spray you. That canister has stopped bigger guys than you, pal!"

A pretty young woman with red hair tied back into a neat ponytail and dressed in an elegant navy blue business suit was standing almost nose to nose with a rather disconcerted looking Happy. Two other security guards had just approached and were hovering uncertainly in the area, clearly waiting for a signal from Tony's bodyguard.

"Tony?" came Obadiah's voice from behind him.

He ignored it, closing the door behind him.

"What's going on out here?" he asked in the pause during which Happy appeared to be considering his next move.

Happy, the security guards and the girl all turned to face him.

"Uh, it's nothing, boss," Happy began, but was interrupted by the girl.

"Mr Stark, I have to talk to you, it's urgent."

He looked at her curiously. She was clutching a folder in her arms and looked both worried and determined. He was sure she would have stormed right over to him had Happy's arm not been stopping her.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Virginia Potts, I work down in finance. I was just auditing your last – look, can you get your hands off me, I'm trying to talk here!"

Tony glanced up at Happy, trying not to grin at his friend's obvious discomfort, and said, "It's fine, Happy."

The girl gave Happy a dirty look as he dropped his arm. Tony walked over to them.

"She doesn't have an appointment, boss," Happy explained faintly.

Tony shrugged and said, "For all I know, she might do."

"I don't, actually," she informed him. "But this is important, it really couldn't wait. You see, I found a mistake here in your last outgoings report and-"

Tony reached out and plucked the folder out of her arms, flipping it open as she continued.

"-frankly, it looks kind of suspicious and I thought I'd better tell you now, because we're being audited by the IRS and I don't want it to look like you're being sleazy or something."

"What if I was being sleazy?" he asked her with a grin, glancing up from the figures in front of him.

"Tony, please."

Obadiah had appeared behind him and was tugging him by his elbow.

"Right," Tony mumbled glumly allowing himself to be pulled back in the direction of his office. He glanced over his shoulder and said, "Thanks, I'll take a look."

She nodded, looking relieved and grateful in a defiant kind of way. And there was something else about her that made him continue to study her over his shoulder, but then he had been ushered back into his office and the door had been closed behind him and she was gone. He settled back at his desk, offered a curtesy apology and waited for the meeting to resume before he returned his attention to the contents of the folder the girl had given him.

He perused it for some time before he realised his error. Then he grinned widely. It was a small error, barely noticeable, barely understandable in fact. But he could see her point. If it was spotted by an IRS agent (something he doubted would have actually happened), things would have looked a bit dicey for him. He took out his pen and scribbled in the margin of the page as he tried to remember when he had done this.

A couple of weeks ago ... Maybe less. Was it after Janet ... Georgia? ... Whatever, it might have been the day she vanished when he had been hassled, confused and hung over. He perused the rest of the document. Not a single other error to be found. That girl was good to have spotted it. She must have quite an eye for detail.

He smirked to himself as he remembered her threatening Happy with pepper spray. She hadn't even had a purse on her, so Tony was willing to bet there wasn't a canister in sight. But it had worked. She had gotten to see him at once. That was quite a feat; usually only Obadiah could achieve that, generally with a much poorer outcome. Like now.

He sighed as he eyed the people sitting around him. He hadn't heard a word they had said for the past fifteen minutes and none of them seemed to have noticed. This could have been a useful time. He could have found an assistant. There had been a particularly stunning brunette he had had his eye on waiting outside when he had cancelled.

His eyes drifted back down to the folder in his hands and the face of the red haired girl drifted back into his memory. Mainly he remembered the fiery determination glowing from those sharp blue eyes. He frowned slightly at the memory of her face. There was certainly something about her. That something in the look on her eyes that had drawn his interest. And it was an interest that was a step further from his usual interest in a woman. An interest that was not based on her cleavage or her legs.

That, he thought suddenly, is who I need.

He got to his feet at once and said, "Sorry, gentlemen, but something's come up. You can wrap this up without me."

"Tony-"

"Sorry, Obie, I seriously have to deal with this now."

Without a backwards glance, he strode to his office door and out into the hall. As the door swung shut behind him, he headed towards Happy.

"Where's the pepper spray girl?" he asked.

Happy looked surprised.

"Uh, she left, boss."

"Damn it. Who did she say she was?"

"She said she worked down in finance ..."

"Didn't catch her name?" asked Tony in irritation.

"Didn't you?" retorted Happy. "I was distracted by her threat to mace me."

"Come on, Happy, you know I can't remember girls' names," said Tony, rolling his eyes. "Forget it, come on."

He strode to the door, Happy following in his wake.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to find her."

It was a good thing he had Happy with him. He hadn't the faintest idea where to find the finance department. They went down a few floors, negotiated a maze of corridors and wound up facing a receptionist sitting behind a small counter.

She flushed when she recognised Tony.

"Mr Stark! What can I do for you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for someone who works down here?"

"Anyone in particular, sir?"

"Yeah. Happy?"

Happy glowered at him before turning to face the receptionist.

"We didn't get a name, but she must be early twenties, red hair, freckles ..."

But Tony had suddenly noticed the very object of his search down the hall entering an elevator. Abandoning Happy, he started quickly in her direction.

"Hey!" he called out. "Hey, Pepper Spray!"

She had turned in the elevator and he could see her frowning in some surprise at seeing him rush down the hall to meet her as the doors began to close. She quickly reached across and must have pushed the right button, because the doors opened again and he slipped in to join her.

"Hi," he said with a grin.

"Mr Stark," she said politely. There was a pause and then she added, as she nodded at the folder he was still holding, "Did you see-"

"Yeah, it was very well spotted," he informed her, staring again. He had just realised that the thing he had seen shining in her eyes, the thing that had so captivated his interest, was raw intelligence. When had he last hired a truly intelligent woman?

"Then, what did you-"

"I just came by to thank you," he said, smirking again. "You know, for your very determined effort to bring this to my attention."

She remained composed although he wondered if her cheeks had reddened slightly. It was hard to tell in the bad lighting of the elevator.

"It was urgent," she said. "I know I caused a bit of a scene, but nobody would listen-"

"I'm not being sarcastic," he said. "I'm serious. It was important and I'm grateful you recognised that and cared enough to create a scene and threaten my bodyguard."

"Well ..."

She seemed to have nothing else to say. He glanced at the numbers flashing the floors. They were almost at the ground floor.

"I want to promote you," he said, deciding not to waste time. "I'd like you to be my executive personal assistant."

She looked greatly surprised.

"I'll double your salary and I promise not to sleep with you."

A flicker of amusement crossed her features now.

"Well, you know, thank goodness, because I could never have said no to that all by myself," she said in dry tones.

He grinned, more certain than ever that she was the one. The real one. The one that he would have working by his side, properly helping him run his company. Rather than the women he hired to follow him around, look pretty, flatter him and then sleep with him.

"My point, Pepper Spray, is that I won't treat you with the general poor respect I treat my other female employees."

"But why?" she asked.

The elevator reached the ground floor and the doors opened. They stepped into the lobby.

"What do you mean? Do you want to be objectified?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Why make me your executive assistant?" she clarified. "Shouldn't you interview me, or read my credentials-"

"I already know that I want to hire you," he said with a shrug. "You're smart and you get what you want. That's what I need. I'm not just asking for someone that I can send to get my coffee. I'm asking for someone who can also help me run my company. Someone I can trust to make decisions and take care of my life and my company's wellbeing. I need help. And I want your help."

She looked at him thoughtfully.

"You up for it?" he asked, feeling impatient.

"Would I be getting your coffee?"

"It's in the job description."

Suddenly she smiled at him and said, "Fantastic. I live for that stuff."

"You'd also have a real role in the way this company is run. You'd have responsibility. And you'd answer to no-one except me."

Her eyebrows were still raised.

"Look. I get that the job sounds stupid right now and probably even worse considering my previous record with assistants. But they weren't doing the job I needed them to do. My dad's secretary? She ran his life. He would have been lost without her and this company would probably be in shambles. My life is a mess now. I need someone capable. I need a real assistant."

"And you want me to do that?"

"Yes."

They looked at each other. He was staring at her in fierce determination and she was looking at him in what he could only describe as temptation combined with hesitation.

"What's the problem?" he asked her.

She bit her lip and then said, "I've never done anything like that before. I'm not sure you're asking the right person."

"I am. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I'm always right."

She gave the folder in his hand a pointed look.

"And the one mistake I did make, you fixed. I need you."

She stared at him, smiling slightly. He smiled back at her. He liked her already.

"Okay, then," she said and his smile widened to a grin.

"Fantastic! You start immediately."

"I need to wrap up my life upstairs, first," she told him, amusement still playing in her eyes.

"Fine, then you start first thing tomorrow."

After another pause, she nodded.

He felt an overwhelming sense of relief. He just knew outright that things were finally going to stop spinning madly out of control. He had found what he could only adequately describe as his ideal sidekick.

"Thank you so much, Ms ...?"

Her eyes laughed.

"Potts," she said. "Virginia Potts."

"Virginia? I'm never gonna remember that."

x x x

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear what you thought.