Pepper Potts walked quietly, alongside her security chief, through the Stark Industries parking lot. It was late, and all she could thought was about get home, take out her high heels and relax in the tub... After call Tony and find out if he would be coming back from New York in time for dinner, of course.

Everything was running smoothly, and they were almost coming to the CEO's parking spot, where the car was waiting for them. When then a van emerged and stopped dangerously close to them, than men in black immobilized the security guard and threw the woman inside, leaving urgently afterwards.

"Happy!" She cried out in panic; but the vehicle was far away already.

"He's fine... Don't worry, we will not do any harm. We are here to help." A dark-haired woman in bulletproof clothing told her. "You'd better wear it". She said, throwing her a vest.

"I'm sorry...do I know you?" The redhead asked, obeying it immediately.

"No, and all you need to know is that I work for S.H.I.E.L.D." She reached up and Pepper hesitated before squeezing her. "We're taking you to a hiding place."

"Why are you hiding me?" What are you hiding me from? Where's Tony?"

"He is fine! Just as you will be." The agent tried to reassure her. "Stark asked us to hide you if anything happened."

"What happened?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed. Hydra was living in our shadows all this time. There's a war going on in D.C right now." The agent handed her a tablet displaying more information. "But Stark is fine."

"Oh my God..." Pepper was horrified by the images. Helicarriers falling from the sky, buildings being destroyed, people dying...total chaos.

...

Four days later, the woman returned home safely, but didn't find Tony. The man traveled from corner to corner, working hard. It was rare when he was at home, let alone doing something other than work.

And so weeks went by...

At that time, Maria Hill was hired by Stark Industries, to be hide from intelligence companies, which would love to get rid of her. But not even the biggest of them would have the strength to face Tony's army of lawyers, so the woman was safe. She was now Pepper's personal assistant. But as Black Widow revealed every S.H.I.E.L.D. secret in the incident in Washington, everyone now knew that Hill was an agent; And the woman had to give dozens of explanations:

"How was it?" Pepper asked worriedly, as soon as Maria answered the call, while leaving the Congress "Well, at least now they'll leave you alone... Maria? Are you there?" She worried about the sudden silence on the other side of the line. "How did he disappear? Maria, get out of there!"

Then Hill hung up, promising to call her back in ten minutes.

Great. Like if it weren't enough be worried all the time about Tony under risk of being killed out there, now she would also be worried all the time about Maria under risk of being killed out there.

She needed normal friends.

But to her relief, Hill was more responsible and punctual than Tony. So 10 minutes later, as matched, her cell phone rang and she received reassuring news:

"A partner of mine ended with the Russians. Now we are leaving on a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission"

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes. But maybe I won't be in time for the 8:00 am meeting with the French, boss."

"Don't worry about it. And when you're done, call me and we go out. I can accompany you on the drink, but I'm gonna refuse the lobotomy."

"Deal." Maria laughed. "Good night, Pepper."

"Good night. Work hard." She said and ended the call. Then stared at the home screen of her cell phone:

The clock was ticking 0:57 and the wallpaper showed her kissing Tony's cheek with closed eyes, while the man looked at the camera in a seductive way, in that selfie taken days before S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fall.

The woman sighed and blocked the screen. She drank the rest of her wine and set the glass down on the kitchen counter. And then she went to the garage for another daily battle, trying to get her boyfriend out of there.

Tony had been working hard since he heard about the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. He had not slept or bathed in days, couldn't remember when he last had a decent meal, and was so on alert that almost attacked the woman when she passed through the door.

"Oh... it's you." He said tiredly, then lowered his arm, before turning back his atenttion to the monitors. The lights of the thrusters in his hands were oscillating, proving his high level of stress.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. announced my arrival."

"Did he? I didn't hear that." He sighed when he felt her sweet perfume enter his nostrils and delicate hands started to massage his shoulders.

"Did you sleep last week?"

"I don't have time for this." He let out a moan of relief, thanks to the massage.

"You should have some rest... take a shower, eat something... get some sleep..."

"I still have a lot of work to do."

"Please..." she begged sweetly, resting her head on his shoulder and sliding her hands to his chest, where the arc reactor used to be. Then Tony sighed, before giving in.

That day he did what she asked, but that rarely repeated. Pepper lost count of the times she'd practically begged him to come up for dinner, take a shower, spend some time with her, or join her in bed. Over time the requests became quarrels, and it was not many nights that she slept without being sad or angry with him.

Relaxed moments became increasingly rare. And when they finally happened, there was always something to stop them:

Pepper was in the Avengers Tower's living room, sitting on the couch and typing nonstop on her laptop, when the elevator doors opened and Tony stepped inside.

"Hi, Honey". He said when got closer to her.

"Hi." She felt a cold kiss on her cheek, then took her eyes off the screen and checked to see if he had any ice cream pot in hands. "What do you have there?"

"Pistachio, carrot, vanilla with cookies and kiwi syrup. Zero sugar, gluten and lactose."

"Exotic..." She took the pot from his hand and tasted the ice cream, before Tony caught it back.

"What are you doing?" He asked sitting down beside her.

"Checking the progress of the Stark Tower in Abu Dhabi."

"When you go check it in person, I'll go with you. We need a little escape." He brought some ice cream to his mouth. "Imagine this: You. Me. Abu Dhabi. No clothes..." He leaned over and began to kiss and bite her neck. "Tempting, hum?"

"This is a work travel and you're not going to mess this up, Mr. Stark..."

"And since when I mess things up?" The man closed the notebook and threw it to the corner of the sofa.

"You're messing it up right now!" She knew the right thing to do was to get away, but deep down she didn't want it at all.

"Am I...?" He reached for her lips, but the woman kept talking during the kisses.

"...You...are! I was... working... and then you came with this..."

"Stark!" Steve Rogers came into the room, making the couple get apart. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright..."

"What do you want?" They said at the same time. Tony in a very arrogant way.

"Agent Hill found Strucker's whereabouts. We're gonna leave immediately."

"I'll meet you on the way."

"Now." The captain was authoritarian, then politely said goodbye to the woman, before leave the room.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., prepare the jet. I'm going back to Los Angeles." Pepper picked up the notebook and stood up.

"The jet's ready."

"Stay..." Tony begged, holding her by the waist with his free hand.

"You have work to do. And besides, I have some commitments in the company, so..." She took the ice cream from his hand. "Be careful, okay?" She asked and kissed him.

"I love you."

"I love you too."