A/N: Wow, I honestly didn't mean to take so long to update! I'm so sorry about that!

This chapter is more touchy-feely than action, so I'm sorry if that's not so much your cup of tea. But it had to be done for the story to progress. Anyways, read. I know that's what you want. More authors notes at the end.

DISCLAIMER: Today is my birthday, so if anyone got me IMAA as a present, I'd be very happy. But if that's not the case, then I don't own it.

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Tony moved away from the door after Pepper's sob and returned to his desk. The silence in the classroom broke as people began whispering theories of what Pepper had been told.

"—father, again?"

"Maybe she's being deported?"

"Stupid, she was born here."

"Maybe, maybe not. We don't—"

The whispers instantly stopped as the door opened and the second of the two agents- the female, the one only Tony had seen- walked in. "Unfortunately, Miss Potts will not be returning to class today." She announced in an emotionless voice. "Would someone please tell me where she sits?"

Tony instantly stood up and walked back to Pepper's desk. He could hear the sharp clicks of the agent's high-heeled shoes as she followed him. Tony bent down to collect Pepper's stuff, then stood back up to hand it to her. As she reached for it, he pulled it away. The woman raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" she asked.

"What was that about? Her father, again?" Tony whispered.

"Are you an acquaintance of Miss Potts?" she asked, eyebrow still raised.

"One of the best." He informed her.

The agent looked him over. "I'd suggest you call her later tonight, then."

"Why can't you tell me?"

The woman gave an exasperated sigh. "You aren't directly related to Miss Potts or any of her family." She explained. "So this information does not apply to you, and I am not allowed to tell you under agency orders. If Miss Potts decides to tell you, however, that's her call and not mine, and I can do nothing about it."

With that, she grabbed Pepper's things out of Tony's hands and left.

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There was a numb haze in Pepper's mind, clouding up all her thoughts. She could vaguely feel Agent Levitt still gently rubbing her back; feel Wilson's comforting arms around her. But there was nothing else.

Her dad was gone. Missing, good as dead. It seemed impossible. Her dad had been one of the strongest, bravest people she had known.

She heard the bell ringing, a tiny irritation in her thoughts. She dismissed it easily, same as she dismissed the fact that Wilson was now guiding her through the halls of the school. She was too lost on her own thoughts.

She was led outside, where it was warm and sunny out. It just seemed too ironic for her. A day like this should be spent eating ice cream with family, not mourning the fact that you were probably never going to see them again. Yet, here she was.

A black sedan was parked by the school, the only car parked on the block. Wilson pulled some keys from his pocket, unlocking the door. He took one hand off her shoulder to open the door for her, ushering her in.

The second the car door slammed, the haze disappeared and her mind clicked into action. Pepper wasn't the type of person to let something keep her down for long, no matter how depressing. She always had to do something in a bad situation, something that would fix it. In fact, it seemed like the more shocking or traumatic something was, the quicker she got over it and got to work. It was her coping mechanism.

And it was ringing true now. Her mind was spinning, going through different plans on how to find her father. The FBI was tight-lipped. They wouldn't even tell family anything. She had learned that the last time, when her father had been injured. So if she wanted to do something, she'd have to do it herself.

Her plan began forming in her mind as the car pulled away from the school. Right now, she figured, the agents were taking her home so she could cope with the tragedy in the privacy of her own home. And that would mean they'd leave her alone. After all, who would want the bringers of death in their home? They had probably learned that it was better if they left.

So, once they were out of her house, she'd go to her dad's home office. The home office that contained her father's work computer, with all his case files on it. She could easily hack onto it, she'd done it before. From there, she could learn what his last case was, then recruit Tony and Rhodey to help her track him down. It was perfect! A small grin began to appear on her face.

"Miss Potts?" Agent Wilson's voice interrupted her scheming.

She gave him a nod of acknowledgment, turning her head so she could hide her grin. These two were perceptive- they'd figure out something was wrong if she was smiling. Then she'd have no chance to do anything.

"We have one more thing to discuss with you."

He sounded apprehensive. That wasn't a good thing. She gave him her full attention, meeting his eyes in the rearview mirror.

"And that is?"

"Your lodgings."

Pepper saw her eyes widen. She hadn't expected this, though she should have. They wouldn't let an underage girl stay at home alone.

Wilson took her silence as a sign to continue. "Your parent's are divorced, right? And you live primarily with your father?"

Pepper nodded slowly.

"With your father…MIA, as the case may be, we can't let you stay home alone."

Of course, just as she'd thought. "Oh, so I have to stay with one of my friends. Yeah, no problem, I can do that." She tried to keep her voice calm and cool.

Levitt cleared her throat. "Unfortunately, no."

Pepper felt her heart stop beating for a moment. She didn't like where this was going, not at all. "What? Why not?"

"Miss Potts, in all likelihood, this won't be a temporary thing. We need to give you a potentially permanent place to live."

She knew what this meant and she definitely didn't like it. She felt tears pricking in her eyes. Levitt continued, saying the words she feared. "We're sending you to live with your mother."

Her heart stopped again. No, no, no, nonononononono. They couldn't do this!

"When? Why am I leaving?" she asked, voice strangled.

"Today, as soon as possible."

"No, no. I need time first. You can't expect me to go directly to my mother's without having time to…digest this information." She protested. She could still salvage this plan. If she could just buy herself some time to get on the computer.

"Of course. We'll bring you home first, so you can pack and say goodbye to your house. We'll leave whenever you're ready."

The rest of the car ride passed in silence, broken only if someone shifted in their seat. Pepper sat completely still. This was becoming the worst day in her life, and she wasn't counting the day she had walked into gym class without a shirt on.

Her third awful surprise of the day was when the car pulled up in front of her house. Another car was already there, a black sedan, standard issue FBI car, just like the one she was in. Pepper watched in disbelieving horror as an agent walked out of her house carrying a computer. Her father's office computer.

"What are they doing?" she demanded, her voice rising to hysterical pitches as she left the car.

She saw Levitt and Wilson exchange a distressed look. "That computer…" Wilson began explaining, "is FBI property. With sensitive case files stored on it."

"So?" Pepper asked, incredulous.

"It can't stay here without an agent to use it."

"No, no! You can't take it!" Pepper screamed. Her entire plan, her coping mechanism, was crumbling to the ground.

Levitt put a gentle hand on her shoulder and led her towards her house, being sure to steer clear of the agents taking the computer.

"I'm afraid we have to."

Levitt urged her on into the house, closing the door behind them. Only when they were in the kitchen did she let of Pepper's shoulder. "Go and pack. We'll leave whenever you're ready." She said gently, before exiting the room.

This left Pepper all alone in the middle of the kitchen, looking a little lost and afraid. She was in her house, yes, but it all felt foreign. As if knowing her father probably would never return had changed the whole atmosphere of the house.

She looked around the kitchen. There, on the counter, was the note her father had left her, with clear instructions on what she could and couldn't do during his absence. And right beside it was the blender he had used the morning he'd left. She hadn't ever gotten around to putting it away. And it looks like I won't have to she thought bitterly.

She continued to walk through the house, pausing in her father's study. The desk that had been home to the computer and perpetually cluttered with files was strangely empty and clean. As if nothing had ever existed there in the first place. She felt a fresh wave of tears, followed by a burning anger

She ran towards her own room and furiously started flinging her clothes into a giant pile. About an hour ago she had been planning to have a get together at her house. Now, she was packing up her life because her dad was gone and she was being sent to live with her mother. It was all so unfair and stupid. It had to be someone's idea of a cruel joke.

It occurred to her as she emptied the contents of her wardrobe that she had no clue what was going to happen to the house. Would the FBI sell it? Or would it just sit here, an empty shell, until she was old enough to legally own it?

She hoped it was the latter- she loved this place, messy though it was. She didn't want anyone else to live here. Besides, if she would own it one day, she could leave it as messy as she wanted.

Sometime later, her room was stripped bare of almost everything. Only furniture, posters, and a cluttered desk full of random papers remained. Everything else, all pictures, clothes, random trinkets, had been shoved into the 3 suitcases and Pepper's feet.

She left her room, lugging the suitcases behind her, and headed to the foyer of the house, where her escorts waited. Neither of them said anything as she dropped her bags on the ground and just stood there.

"Is my mother expecting me?" Pepper finally asked, dejected. Her sudden burst of anger had disappeared the second her suitcases were packed.

Levitt nodded. "She was informed of all this yesterday."

Agent Wilson stepped forward, running his fingers through his black hair. "Are you completely packed?"

"As much as I can be." She responded bitterly. "As much as possible when you're rudely uprooted from your comfy life to be sent off to live with someone you don't l--"she trailed off. "You don't know too well."

The two agents exchanged another glance with each other. "Well then, let's go."

Pepper followed the two out the door, locking it as soon as they all left. She gave the house one last sad glance before she got into the car. She hoped she'd be able to see it again someday.

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8 hours later---

The final school bell had rung 3 hours ago. Pepper had left or so before that. Tony sat in Rhodey's room, wondering how much longer he should wait before he called her. The agent had said "later tonight" but he had no clue what that actually meant. He let out an impatient sigh.

Rhodey, doing homework on the bed behind him, heard the sigh and sat up. "I think it's safe to call her now."

Tony practically pounced on the phone, dialing Pepper's number almost instantly. Seconds later, he hung up, a blank expression on his face.

"Her home phone number isn't working." He told Rhodey. "It's…it's out of service."

"That's odd." Rhodey commented. "Did you try her cell?"

"Doing so." He beckoned Rhodey over, setting the phone to speaker so they could both hear. The phone rang and rang until finally, someone picked up.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end sounded desolate, nothing like Pepper at all. He and Rhodey looked at each other, concerned.

"Pepper? Pepper, is that you?" Tony tried

He got a non-committal "mhhmm" by way of response. It sounded, call him crazy, like she was trying not to cry.

"How are you?" Rhodey asked gently. He got no response, save a small sniffle.

Tony bit his lip. He didn't like hearing a sad Pepper. It was nothing like her. "So…do you want us to come over and visit?"

"You can't." she replied, almost emotionless. "I'm not home."

"What?" Tony asked, voice rising about an octave. "Where are you?"

"I—" she stopped and they heard a sob. "I'm in Boston."

"Like—like, Massachusetts?" Rhodey asked, shock evident in his voice

"No, like Peru." She snapped. "Yes, Massachusetts."

"What are you doing there?" Tony asked, fighting to keep disbelief and shock out of his voice. They had enough of that from Rhodey.

"My mother…" she muttered. Tony looked to Rhodey for clarification.

"Her mother lives there." Rhodey explained quietly. At Tony's confused look, he added. "Her parents are divorced. If she's there, it means something bad has happened. "

"Pepper, what happened?" Tony asked. "Are you coming back?"

There was silence from the other end, until, "I'm sorry, Tony, Rhodey, but…but I don't feel like, like speaking. I'll call you later."

She hung up before the two boys could say anything else. Rhodey nervously bit his lip. "I don't think she's coming back." He said unhappily.

"She'll come back." Tony heard himself say with false confidence. "She's Pepper- she has to."

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The house they stopped in front of a couple hours later was typical modern living- a large house, made of grey stone, with a perfectly manicured, very healthy garden in front of it. A garage, probably attached, stood out in front of the house. A driveway with a very sharp incline to it stood empty in front of it. Pepper wondered if a car would normally belong there.

"Well, we're here."

Wilson stepped out of the car and opened Pepper's door for her. Pepper moved past him to the house,

The door in front of her looked innocent enough, dark wood with a large window made of colored glass. The glass was supposed to form a pink flower, probably a tulip. Through the colored glass, she caught a small glimpse into the house, but saw nothing. Oh, sure, she could see things- a hardwood floor with a mat to wipe shoes on, a chair for guests to sit on to take their shoes off. But there were no coats hung up on the chair, no shoes strewn on the mat. There was nothing that suggested people actually lived here, it was too clean. She hadn't even entered the house, and she already hated it.

"I thought girls were supposed to like their mothers." She heard Wilson mutter behind her. Shortly after, he gasped. Levitt must have elbowed him in the gut, Pepper guessed.

"Insensitive jerk." She heard the female reply.

She brought her thoughts away from the two agents behind her, concentrating on the door in front of her. Maybe she could dodge to the left and get away from these two. The car wasn't far off, and they had left the keys in. It would be easy. However, since she had made no moves to do so, Agent Levitt reached across Pepper to ring the doorbell.

Pepper shuddered. She couldn't do anything now- she was stuck.

The door opened, and a voice cried "Patricia!"

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A/N: Ok, so, there you are. Things just aren't looking up for little Miss Patricia, are they? That chapter seems a little boring to me, I'm not sure about you guys though. If it is, the next chapter will contain a bit of drama, plus some new characters. Look forward to that!

Ergh, that update took forever and I apologize much for that. The next update won't take 2 months, I swear! And if it does, I'll do something to make up for it!

OK, anyways, I'm off to do birthday things! Please review!