A/N: Just finished watching Iron Man 1&2 and I always feel so sorry for Pepper. This idea swarmed around my when I was watching the special features, especially the deleted scene when Pepper shows up and looks all sad when Tony and Natalie are looking all cosy. Dunno how I ended up with this fic but hey ho! Guess its mostly AU set in the middle of Iron Man 2 before the roof scene, somewhere along the road this happened, I don't even know myself so just go with it.

I know I've also kinda abandoned my other fic Two Secrets to write this little one shot but I'll have chapter 5 up soon :)

Please Read and Review, Enjoy :)

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It was an extremely cold December evening, well as cold as it can get in California in the Winter time. The streets were now glowing as the nightlife began to come to life along the streets of Malibu. A chilling breeze blew, sending chills through the bodies of the Californians walking the streets.

One such California resident stood outside a bustling restaurant in the heart of the city, anxiously swaying from side to side in an attempt to warm herself. She pulled her phone from her purse for the 5th time, no calls, no texts. He was now an hour late. She placed her phone back in her purse and stood in the cold silence, she looked down at herself, even though she was a very modest person she had to admit she looked very good. She looked fantastic in fact. Wearing a knee length, simple yet elegant black dress, luscious locks of strawberry blonde hair cascading down her creamy white shoulders.

Pepper cursed him for being late, hell she cursed herself for believing he'd actually show up. Stupid. She scorned both herself and Tony. Tony Stark. Iron Man. Her boss. Boss, yes he's your boss Potts. She chuckled softly at herself as she started to make the journey back to her apartment. It would have been quicker getting a cab but she needed this time to clear her mind. She absent mindedly walked the streets, skipping by groups of people ready to begin a night on the town. She passed couples, so many couples. Her current mood made her hate those people, the happy and in love people of Malibu. But mostly she hated Tony. He'd convinced her that this could happen, they would go on an honest to goodness date and it would work. Well the joke was on her, she was well and truly stood up, it was not how she wanted this evening to go.

She had admitted it to herself a very long time ago, and very quickly afterwards she locked that secret away and prayed it never made its way out its little box in her heart. She was in love with her boss. Her boss who just happened to be the single most infuriating, self-obsessed, impulsive, reckless and utterly gorgeous man she'd ever come across. She'd managed to dodge his many drunken advances over the years, despite knowing exactly what she wanted. She was one of possibly three people in his life that actually cared. Possibly the only woman alive who loved him for who he was and not his bank balance.

She rounded the corner, where her apartment sat. She arrived at the door and her doorman looked at her incredulously. "What the...Why are you back so soon?"

"Don't ask Harry." She smiled weakly.

"I know it's none of my business but - any man who would let you go - he isn't worth the trouble." The doorman spoke softly, offering a reassuring smile.

"I realize that now, goodnight Harry." She bid the doorman farewell and made her way to her apartment.

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Tony Stark was an easily distracted man. Give him something to fix, he'll fix it and then some. He'd spent countless hours on the same project, tinkering with a million different aspects of his many inventions. He had spent the last 4 hours under the hood of a car he was restoring, falling under the all too familiar spell of his first love, engineering.

He promised himself that this little project would be a time filler. He had a big night ahead of him. Monumental in fact. Life changing even. Eventually he withdrew himself from underneath the car, wiping the beads of sweat from his brow and wiping his grease covered hands on his jeans. He sauntered over to his desk, checking the holograms in front of him, showing him the changes he'd made would make the car run more efficiently.

"Jarvis?" He called, receiving no reply. "Unmute."

"Evening Sir." The AI responded politely.

"How long till my date with Pepper?"

"Two hours."

"Excellent."

"Ago."

"What? Jarvis, what the fuck! You were supposed to tell me." Tony spat, pulling on his jacket.

"I tried Sir but you dismissed me."

"Where is she?!"

"Her cell phone signal is coming from her apartment."

Tony barely heard the end of Jarvis' sentence, he'd already jumped into his Audi and he raced out of the workshop. He didn't dare count how many road safety laws he broke as he weaved his way in and out of traffic whilst he shot down the PCH. He darted through too many red lights, had a near miss with a car as he drifted dangerously round a corner. He screeched up to Pepper's apartment building and sprinted towards the door. Harry the doorman gave nothing short of a death glare as he yanked the door open for him. Tony ignored his looks and made a beeline for the elevator. He impatiently tapped the button, his entire body shaking with every breathless push.

The elevator ride could not have been longer, the irritating music drove him insane, his foot began tapping with nerves. He ran his hands through his hair in an attempt to make himself look more presentable. The elevator dinged open on the third floor and he launched himself out towards Pepper's apartment. He stopped and composed himself outside her apartment, 28A. He ran his hands through his hair one more time and knocked three times.

"Pepper."

Her eyes shot up from the dark abyss she was staring into. She'd been sat on the couch in her most comfortable pajamas, crying silent tears into her favorite baby blue blanket. Just hearing his voice made her heart jump into her throat. She slowly tossed her blanket back, very carefully stalked over to the door, peeking out of the peep-hole. He stood with both his hands on the door, his body stretched behind him, his head drooping down. She took a step backwards, unable to let him in. He knocked again.

"Pepper? Pepper please open up?" He begged, banging his fist against the door once more.

Pepper took a tentative step forward, this was a side of Tony she was yet to properly experience, the remorseful and almost lovingly spoken version. She hated that he could tug at her heart so easily. When she heard his voice she could only envisage a lost and lonely 8 year old Tony, with those big brown puppy dog - Stop it Potts! She wanted nothing more than to open that door but her head wouldn't let her turn the handle.

"Pepper I know you're in there. Please let me in, I wanna make this right." Tony pleaded, agony now clear in his voice.

Her voice cracked, her earlier tears causing her breath to hitch. "Go away Tony."

"Pepper please, I'm begging you. I screwed up." Tony implored.

Anger struck and she stomped towards the door, unlocking it and jerked it open. "Like you practically begged me to go out with you? I took a chance on you Tony. A lot of good that did me." She hissed, fixing an icy blue glare on him.

"Can we please talk about this inside Pep." He sighed.

She paused for a moment, looking at this oil covered mess of a man in front of her. His eyes were pleading with her, those dark brown orbs always knew how to get her. She took a step to the side allowing him into her apartment. He took a wary step through the threshold, his eyes scanning her living room, his stare catching sight of the mound of crumpled used tissues on her coffee table.

"Pepper I..." She cut him off before he could even begin.

"Nonono, you don't get to talk. I am talking. You have made me feel like a complete fool. I can't believe I actually thought you'd show up. I waited...I waited, you weren't there!" She raged, arms flailing. "I waited Tony, for an hour in the freezing cold, wearing this stupid dress and my hair was all...You weren't there." She felt tears stinging at her eyes but she clamped them shut, unable to let them fall. "You made me believe in you, I thought you could change, I really hoped you had."

"Pepper I have, you know I have. Please let me prove it to you." He pleaded, taking a step closer to her.

"You had the chance to prove it to me, I didn't ask for much, just show up and you couldn't even do that. But that's how you do it isn't it? Sex and nothing else? A quick lay before you move onto the next notch in your bedpost. You are so goddamn selfish Tony Stark, you don't think about anyone but yourself. I have given 10 years of my life to you, there day and night for you. Drop of a hat and I'm there to clean up whatever mess you'd created."

She felt the anger bubbling inside of her, she misunderestimated how much this had affected her. Hot tears trailed down her cheeks, she couldn't hold it back anymore. She wouldn't let anyone know, but she had held the prospects of this evening in such high regard, now those prospects were in tatters.

Tony stood in silence, listening to the onslaught. He looked at the woman in front of him, normally so together, so calm and professional. But this woman before him was in pieces. Utterly broken. He had made a huge mistake and he had no idea how to fix it. He fixed things. That was his thing. He knew that there was always a degree of, albeit light, flirting between himself and Pepper but the woman who stood in front of him was not talking like a person who merely flirted with her boss. This was more. He went to open his mouth but what came next he had no answer for.

"I don't know what the fuck that thing in your chest is protecting cause it sure as hell isn't a heart." She spat.

Pepper regretted saying it immediately after it rolled carelessly off her tongue. She wasn't a mean person by any stretch of the imagination but what she just said was awful. She bit her lip hard, trying to somehow control the stem of tears rolling down her face.

Tony hadn't moved since she spoke her last sentence, from shock, but mostly because he felt as though he'd been smacked across the face. Tony Stark wasn't the type of person to ever have his feelings hurt but that well and truly stung. The one person in the world that he would do anything for, walk over hot coals, take a bullet...die for, calling him a heartless, selfish, shell of a man who slept around for fun. He could feel the sting of tears brimming in his own eyes, he couldn't let her see him like this. He dropped his head, staring at his feet, blinking the warm tears away.

He thought he'd changed, he really did. He hadn't slept with anyone since Afghanistan, in his books that was a lifetime. He barely had a sip of alcohol either since he came back. He's been saving the world on a regular basis. As far as a person changing their ways go, he was doing extraordinarily well.

"Pepper I don't know what to say, I-I made a huge mistake tonight. I am s-so sorry, I never meant to hurt you. I've wanted this for so long and I've messed it up." He paused, realizing he'd caught her attention. "You have been the only constant in my life for the past 10 years, you've always been there for me, no matter how much of a royal pain in the ass I've been. When I was in that cave in Afghanistan, there was nothing keeping me alive other than you. I was being held at gunpoint everyday, being beaten and tortured and..."

"Tony..." She spoke softly.

"Please..." His plea came in a soft rasp, she let him continue. "I thought I had nothing to hold onto, but then I heard your voice. It carried me through and when I came home and saw you I knew what I wanted. It's taken 10 years and a gaping hole in my chest to realize that everything I've ever wanted...has been beside me all along."

Pepper was speechless. In awe. Rooted to the spot, she could barely breathe. Tony stood in front of her, admitting feelings she didn't know he could even muster. He was crying, she'd never seen him crying before, it was playing havoc with her heart. She took the smallest of steps forward, it was like a magnet pulling them together. Never in her life had someone spoke about her in this way, not even previous boyfriends.

"I completely understand if you wanna throw things at me and call me names, but I'm not gonna go anywhere. I'll stay right here. I want this, us. I'll happily spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way." He had nothing left, every inch of his heart had been poured out to her.

She didn't know what to say. Well, she did, but she had no idea how to word it as eloquently as he had. This time she took a large step towards him, only a meter separating them now. His head had fallen forwards again, staring at his shoes, utterly spent from his emotional outpour. He could see her bare feet edging closer, scared to look up incase she took him up on the 'throwing things' idea.

A heavy silence had now filled the apartment, neither knew quite what to say now. Pepper was still speechless. She just watched him. Head still slumped forwards, not making a sound. The silence was now unbearable, Pepper took another tentative step towards him, now only inches separated them. His head shot up just as she was about to speak. Her expression confused him even more now, it wasn't pure anger or hurt, if he wasn't mistaken it was the exact opposite.

"You are the most frustrating, selfish, impulsive, reckless, annoying, childish, impossible man I have ever met. You test my patience beyond its limits everyday. I ask myself about 15 times a day is it worth having a job that I love but to have to work for someone who drives me crazy? If you had asked me an hour ago I would've said no. Cause an hour ago I wanted to throw my fridge at you. But..."

"I like but." He perked up, ever so slightly closing the tiny distance between them.

"No one has ever spoken about me like that before." She whispered softly, beginning to feel the heat radiating from him as he stepped closer.

"That's because I lo-" He stopped, aware of how close he came to revealing all, but it was too late.

Her eyes went wide. Her mouth fell open in shock, she knew exactly what he nearly said. She could feel her heart pounding in her throat, the rise and fall of her chest had quickened substantially.

"I-I didn't quite catch that last part." She stammered. The space between them was now nonexistent.

"I know cause I stopped." He scorned himself.

Tony had been in his fair share of tense encounters. He'd been kidnapped and held captive, every second was tense. He'd been through a lot. Nothing even came close to this. He knew what this situation signified, a massive change in his life. A change that he'd yearned for.

"Wh-what if I didn't want you to stop." She rasped.

This was it. All or nothing.

Their eyes locked, neither able to tear away. Tony brought his hand to hers, drawing soothing circles along the back of her hand.

"I love you Pepper."

His words echoed inside her. Her legs felt as though they were going to buckle underneath her with the weight and significance of his words. Her entire body vibrated, every hair standing on end. Fresh tears poured from her eyes, unlike before, these were of pure joy. She didn't even attempted to wipe them away, she'd waited to cry these happy tears for 10 years. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"I love you too."

Their lips were on each other in seconds. Their hands quickly followed, roaming and groping everywhere and anywhere they could reach. Her fingers raking through his messy hair, twisting and teasing at his chocolate curls. His hands in her hair also, her soft strawberry waves wrapped around his hands.

They had finally moved past their almost kiss on the balcony. Neither could chicken out now. There were no drinks to be fetched, there were no reporters...no annoying blondes to bump into.

It was just them.

Suspended in a cloud of lust and emotion. They pulled away in unison, resting their foreheads together. Very much in-sync now, their lids flicked up to catch one another's gaze. Those eyes. Pepper had always admired them, albeit from a distance. They were spectacular up close. Like little pools of molten chocolate.

"You taste like lime." He commented, in true Tony Stark fashion.

"Yeah. I had to have a couple of shots of tequila earlier 'cause this asshole stood me up." She replied smugly.

"Yeah? Anyone I know?" He asked, gladly playing this little game.

"He's pretty famous. Filthy rich, flies a suit of armor." She pondered.

"He good looking?" He asked, licking his lips.

"Very." She grinned devilishly.

"Your just teasing now Potts." He feigned hurt.

"Sure am." She winked.

"Promise me you'll always tease me." He chuckled.

"Always." She promised, shuffling into his body.

"Always."

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A/N: So watcha think? First ever oneshot! PLEASE REVIEW!