Pepper sat still, staring at her computer as a small light flickered at its base, signaling that the battery was keeping it running.

Hopeful that her work was not lost, she opted to unplug it from the wall to prevent the modem from being struck by lightning.

She looked up again, and when she spoke, she was surprised that her voice came as a whisper:

"Jarvis?"

Pepper waited, but it seemed the AI had been knocked offline.

The thunder outside gave way to a pouring rain, so loud that the thunder itself was somewhat muted. Flashes of light brightened the room every few minutes, and Pepper wondered how she had missed the weather report on the news that day.

Deciding she had worked enough for one night, she stood, stretched and yawned, not terribly worried of the storm outside.

The wind was not blowing hard enough to merit anything more than a thunderstorm, and it seemed to Pepper that if it had come quickly, it was likely to pass quickly.

The bed beside her seemed to scream "SLEEP", but as she began to crawl into it, footsteps sounded down the hall.

Tony had awakened, and was on his way to bother her out of boredom.

A strange urge to panic swept over her, its origins unknown as she bit her bottom lip.

Eyeing the bed, Pepper was considering jumping in, covering her head, and pretending to be asleep…

Such was impossible, however, because just as she moved to pull back the blanket, a glow filled the room.

There Tony stood, one hand on the doorframe and the other scratching lazily at his head, looking at her with tired but sparkling eyes.

Those eyes, however--as much as she secretly loved them-- were not the focus of her attention.

Pepper swallowed.

Tony was wearing nothing but a pair of bright red boxers.

And he looked absolutely adorable.