Epilogue

The pilot gave her the all-clear, so she jumped off the back of the Quinjet without hesitation. She had spent days on the road already, trying to get to her destination, and she was damned if she was going to get the jitters now. The wind blowing on her face as she fell 40,000 feet at a rapid speed made her even more focused than she had been up until now – and at this rate, she knew that was a chief statement in its own regard.

The jumpsuit she was wearing helped her glide on her way down, allowing her to maneuver her body to adjust the location of her landing. She knew the exact position on the grid of where she had to nail the touchdown and it had to be surgically precise; otherwise, her time to achieve her objective would decreased significantly – perhaps so much as to even put a stop to the entire operation. She could not afford to do that. She was too close to wrapping up this mission, and all of the stakeholders were counting on her to do this right the first time.

"Viper, this is command," she heard her pilot say in her ear. "We noticed you haven't deployed the chute. Is everything alright? Over."

"Command, this is Viper," she replied. "I've delayed deployment by ten seconds to achieve desired landing. Over."

"Viper, this is command. The forecasting model stated optimal landing was guaranteed about five seconds ago. Over."

"Command, this is Viper. The forecasting model can kiss my ass. Over."

"Roger that, Viper," the pilot said among a barely covered chuckle. "Good luck and Godspeed. Command out."

There was not one cloud in the sky, but the reflection of the bright sun coming from the waters on the Atlantic Ocean made her squint. She had tinted goggles on and had done this a million times, but this did not stop the churning feeling from knotting her stomach at the minuscule possibility that her reduced field of vision would affect her task. She swallowed hard when she finally pinpointed her moving target, and not ten seconds after she better positioned herself in the air, she pulled on the string that opened her parachute.

She could, literally, do this with her eyes closed, so when her feet touched the ground of the moving target, she smirked in a small show of overconfidence. She had memorized the ins and outs of her target eons ago, and she already had an entrance tactic ready to be implemented. She could have been blindfolded through the entire ordeal and still make it out in one piece, and not just barely, but with flying colors.

She tore the parachute from her jumpsuit, opened the manhole-looking cover on the roof of the structure, and then slid inside with no problem at all. The air conditioning duct was narrow and very much claustrophobic in nature, but she had been in worse situations. At least the cool air within it was flowing quite nicely, keeping her from sweating like a pig as she crawled her way to the vent she was searching for. It did not take more than three minutes to arrive to it, and once she did, she unscrewed the small metal grille, jumped down feet first, and surprised the shit out of the person standing a foot away from her landing stance.

"Time?" the redhead asked without hesitancy as she began taking off the bloodied, torn and dingy jumpsuit she had on.

"T-minus one minute," her partner-in-crime stated to her before he tapped his wireless earpiece and spoke into it. "Payload has been delivered. I repeat: payload has been delivered."

She fumbled with the jumpsuit a little bit, but by the time Rhodey turned around to face his friend again after getting confirmation that his communication had been received and accepted, Pepper was finishing patting down the clothes she had been wearing underneath.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes. How do I look?" she quickly ran her fingers through her wavy hair.

Rhodey smiled, handed her the item he had been holding for her, and then brushed his left thumb against her cheek. "If I weren't a married man…"

"Oh, shush, Rhodey!" she felt her cheeks burn. "I'm serious! It's a million degrees out there and I've been on the road for three days!"

"Pepper," he placed both of his hands on her upper arms, "You could be wearing that dirty jumpsuit and he'd still think you look beautiful."

Pepper looked down and away, bit her lower lip and then exhaled slowly to calm her nerves. "Thank you, Rhodey. For this… for everything."

"Least we could do for you, Pepper," he smiled, hugged her tightly in a mountain of gratitude he knew his words or actions could never fully express, and then finally pulled away. She watched him in silence as he disappeared behind the double doors before her, only to then see her father rush outside to meet her.

"Honey, you're here! Are you alright, sweetie? And don't you lie to me!"

"Dad!" the redhead was enveloped in another tight hug she was reluctant to break but knew she had to. "I'm fine, I swear. I'm fine."

"Well," Virgil nearly choked, cut his conversation short in the interest of time, offered his bent left arm to her, and then placed his right hand over her forearm once she laced her arm with his. "Let's do this, then."

Pepper nodded, took in a deep breath, and then followed her father's lead. The double doors to the Helicarrier's main event room opened wide after Virgil knocked on them twice, and the ginger was greeted by the sight of her closest family members and friends, all standing up and looking back at her. She tightened her grip on her bouquet of lilies, carnations and lavenders, allowed her eyes to scan the room, and then finally locked gazes with a pair of blue-eyes that had waited six months to see her again.

Her cheeks almost hurt at how much she was smiling, and while her father waited for the cue to begin their parade, all she could focus on was him – the man waiting for her at the end of the aisle. All she could see was his beaming face reflecting the same exciting and love-filled emotion she felt building within her; his electric blue eyes dancing up and down as he took in her petite form in the simple and short white dress she was wearing; and she swore she could hear his heartbeat in her ears, beating as fast as hers was: the heart of her groom and soon-to-be husband. Her one and only: her Tony Stark.