A/N: And here we are, at the pointy end of the stick, aka, the end of our little tale. :D

Thank you to everyone who commented on my story. I tried to answer all of you so please forgive me if I missed anyone and for those who I couldn't reply to, just know that I wanted to. ;) You all really gave me the energy to keep going on this fic and helped make it what it turned out to be.

Okay, so I guess you don't want to listen to me prattle on, you're wanting to know how the date goes, well, here 'tis...

Chapter Twenty-Six

Tony watched mesmerised as Pepper's long legs made their way down the stairs and she was at the door to his lab. She punched in the numbers and walked into the lab, and immediately spied the lavish redecorating of Tony's work area.

Pepper gasped and looked amazed. "Oh, Tony, it's beautiful." She looked at him in disbelief. "You did all this? For me?"

He smiled, loving the way Pepper looked truly impressed with his efforts. "I wanted tonight to be special and I've been to every restaurant in this town with other women and in other places." Tony grimaced, not wanting to linger too long about his past. Pepper knew it better than anyone, but that was why he was so desperate she should know everything was different this time. "I wanted us to go somewhere no other woman has been." He gave a half-smile. "And I wanted it to be the place you came back to me and saved my life."

Pepper bit her bottom lip and looked to be very moved. "You do know how to bring it when you want to, Tony Stark."

His smile widened. "So, you approve?"

She walked up to him and returned his smile. "I approve, very much so."

Tony's eyes swept her lithe body, admiring how well her black dress fitted every curve. "You look stunning tonight." He was back holding her gaze as he thought about how he'd felt when he'd seen her standing outside the house before coming inside. "You're even better in three dimensions," Tony informed her unevenly.

Pepper gave a little laugh. "Well, what girl doesn't want to hear that?" She looked him over as well. "And you look very handsome too."

"What, this old thing?" asked Tony in feigned casualness.

Pepper looked at him with interest. "Are you nervous?"

"Are you?" he countered quickly.

"I was," she said slowly, "but now I'm not." Pepper smiled at him. "This just feels right."

"It does, doesn't it?" asked Tony, feeling himself relax as well. He reached into his pants pockets. "I have something for you." Tony held out his hand to her with the diamond necklace dangling from it.

"My necklace," said Pepper in delight.

"I've been wanting to give it back to you," said Tony, moving to put it on her. "I was just waiting for the right moment." He walked behind Pepper, trying not to be distracted by the bare expanse of pale, freckled flesh on display as he placed the necklace back around her neck. Tony lingered in his task, intentionally letting his fingers graze her soft skin and breathing in the soft smell of violets which was so Pepper to him.

Pepper put her hand up to straighten the diamond at the end of the necklace and smiled. "Thank you, Tony," she said unevenly, "for everything."

Tony couldn't help himself from pressing a kiss to the back of Pepper's bare shoulder, revelling in the taste of her fragrant skin against his lips. "I couldn't let you go, Pepper," he whispered against her skin. He turned her around to face him. "I can't let you go."

"You don't have to," Pepper said, looking at him lovingly.

"I want to kiss you right now," Tony confessed, "but I'm pretty certain that if I start, I'm not going to be able to stop."

Pepper's eyes danced with mischief. "And we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

"Wouldn't we?" asked Tony, unable to hide his disappointment.

"I'm hungry."

Tony's eyes dropped her to Pepper's full lips. "Me too," he said thickly. She was all he could think of.

"Shall we eat? Everything looks amazing."

Tony blinked and forced himself to calm down. He wanted Pepper so badly, but he wanted her to know this wasn't just about sex for him. Tony gave her a warm smile. "Of course." He took her elbow and they walked over to where the food was all laid out, weaving in between all of the tea lights.

Pepper looked around at the little lights in amazement. "There must be a hundred tea lights here, Tony."

"One hundred and twenty-eight," Tony informed her.

"They're beautiful," she said softly as she let him help seat her on a couple of the cushions stacked up by the low table.

Tony slipped in to take a seat across from her at the table and smiled at her over the bouquet of violets. "So are you."

Pepper looked down at the delicate violets resting in a vase between them. "Violets," she commented.

"They mean faithfulness."

Pepper smiled. "I remember," she said huskily.

Her smile told Tony Pepper had gotten the message. Fidelity hadn't been his hallmark up to this point, but he wanted her to know that he was all in with this. "Would you like something to drink?"

Pepper nodded. "Yes, please."

Tony picked up the bottle of champagne chilling in the bucket beside them. "I'm not taking any chances this time," he told her with a wink. Tony worked the cork of the bottle from the neck of the glass and it gave a pleasing pop, just like good champagne should, and the cork shot across the room.

Tony had carefully pointed the cork away from Pepper, but unfortunately, towards Dummy, his faithful, if somewhat hapless, mechanical arm. The cork hit the side of the unit and it swung around, the arm managing to knock several tea lights off a nearby bench which in turn knocked over a few more. The automaton rolled forwards, inadvertently knocking a stack of books which fell onto a length of steel on which more tea lights rested. The tea lights were launched into the air and promptly rained down onto the two of them. Tony leapt up as one of the lights landed in Pepper's lap. He launched himself across the table, sending plates of Moroccan delicacies flying in his haste to make sure Pepper was alright. Pepper gave a startled cry at the suddenness of the whole thing as Tony frantically batted at the little flame which was threatening to ignite her entire dress. It went out quickly as Tony gave her an anguished look. "Are you alright, are you burned?"

"No-no," said Pepper shakily, obviously still trying to catch up with what had happened. "I'm alright."

The other tipped over tea lights were starting to spread fire around the room and Tony was about to run over and start putting out the spot fires when Dummy came to the rescue. With fire extinguisher in its mechanical claw, it shot a stream of fine, white dust over the entire area, extinguishing all of the little outbreaks of flames and averting a crisis. Tony opened his mouth to actually praise his invention for once but then he and Pepper were doused in freezing cold powder as Dummy decided they needed extinguishing as well.

Pepper screamed at the cold, dusty bath they were being given as Tony shouted at his overly helpful droid. "Stop it, stop it! We're not on fire, you idiot!"

The relentless spraying was stopped, leaving Tony and Pepper coughing and batting away at the white, dust filled air. When the air had finally cleared they stared at each other, both covered in a white coating now and Pepper looking a little shell shocked. Tony couldn't blame her. "Pepper, I'm so sorry-" He didn't get any further with his apology as the heavens opened up and his overhead sprinkler system belatedly joined the party. Water was added to the party as it rained down from above on them, washing away most of the powder, but leaving a very soggy Pepper and Tony in its wake. Pepper grimaced, squeezing her eyes closed as they were bombarded with Tony's very efficient sprinkler system.

"Jarvis, turn off the sprinklers!" Tony yelled at the AI unit in charge of his house.

"It's automatic, sir."

"Override it," Tony ground out.

"Are you sure, sir?"

"He's sure, Jarvis!" Pepper replied for him in a loud voice.

The rain was suddenly mercifully stopped. They stared at each other as they sat in a pool of water and powder which now had a mud-like consistency, the room completely drench and the meal utterly ruined. Tony blinked the water out of his eyes and gave Pepper a completely serious look. "So, how do you think the date is going so far?" Water trailed down his face and off the end of his nose. "I have to say, this is pretty much how I pictured it so far."

Pepper's lips twitched as she stared back at him, her once carefully coiffed hair stuck to her face and bits of powder still stuck to her face. She started to laugh and Tony joined in, after all, there was nothing else to be done about it.

Pepper put her hand to her face and groaned around her laughter. "This was a disaster. We don't even have a code for this."

"We'll make one," said Tony laughingly. "How about Code Morocco?"

Pepper looked around at the utter destruction surrounding them. "Oh Tony, all that hard work you did, it's all ruined now."

"As long as you're alright, it doesn't matter," said Tony easily and it was true.

Pepper shook her head at him and smiled. "I'll give you this, Tony, this is one memorable first date." She shook her hands, flicking water off them. "We're both soaking."

Tony pursed his lips. "To be perfectly honest, I was kind of hoping one of us would be wet on this date." He gave her a roguish look and waggled his eyebrows at her over his sexual innuendo. "Too cheeky?"

"Do you come in any other flavour?" she countered and didn't look in anyway offended.

Tony stood up and helped Pepper to her feet. "Not that I know of." He looked her over. "We need to get you out of those wet clothes."

"Oh, now everything becomes clear," she said jokingly. "This was your plan all along, wasn't it, Tony? Get me naked so you can have your evil way with me."

Tony's expression became serious even though he knew Pepper was just teasing him. "I don't want you to think I have any expectations of tonight, Pepper," he said unevenly. "This is really important to me and I want you to know I'm serious about doing this right. We can take this as slowly as you need to and I'm perfectly fine with that."

Pepper regarded him steadily for a long moment after pushing the wet hair from her eyes. She moved in a little closer, putting her hands on either side of the glowing plate in his chest which his wet shirt was sticking to. Pepper gave him a sultry look that made Tony's knees go weak and his blood head south of the border.

Pepper's gaze didn't leave his. "The whole point of going on a date with Tony Stark is knowing he's a sure thing," Pepper informed him throatily. "I don't want to wait, Tony. I know what I want and I want you, and I want you now."

A mixture of relief and unbearable arousal swept Tony's body all at once. "Oh, thank God," he said shakily, "because even though I mean what I said, Pepper, I had no idea how I was going to do it. I want you so badly I can't see straight." He went to kiss her passionately when her words suddenly sunk in. He drew back. "Wait," said Tony, feigning outrage, "are you saying I'm easy, Ms. Potts?"

Pepper gave a dry laugh. "You're anything but easy, Mr. Stark."

She put her arms around his neck and pressed her softness up against him, driving all rational thought from Tony's head as his hands went to the small of her back and kept her close.

Pepper tightened her arms around his neck, moving in so close that as she spoke, her lips brushed against his. "But you're so worthwhile," she finished off huskily.

Tony couldn't keep his eyes off her. "God, but I love you," he said thickly. "All I want to do is make you happy, Pepper."

Pepper gave a soft smile. "Then shut up and kiss me," she ordered him teasingly.

Tony grinned and didn't hesitate in giving the woman of his dreams exactly what they both needed. He cupped Pepper's face, allowing himself to taste her sweetness once again, completely forgetting about the carnage around them and never wanting this moment to end...

A/N: Okay, my dears, we're going to leave Pepper and Tony there but for the more voyeuristic (and over 18) of you, I am going to be penning the rest of this evening in significantly more detail. ;) I've decided just to call it 'Satis – After Dark'. I know, lame right, but couldn't come up with anything else. As this chapter took me longer than I expected I'm not sure when I'll get to posting as I've still got company staying with me. So, just keep an eye out for it or Author Alert me so you'll make sure you won't miss out.

Thanks again to all the wonderful people who commented and all the wonderful people who read this story. I had a huge amount of fun and hope you all did too. So, next is the sequel to "Precious" – "The Magnificent Octopus" where we revisit the Avengers, Pepperony and of course, Justin Hammer. ;) It should be a lot of fun. I've also got a Logan/Rogue story from the X-Men rattling around half finished on my computer that I'd check to see if there is any interest in. I haven't finished writing it, but I'm about half way through.

Thanks again to everyone who's made it this far – you're all brilliant. :D