The old door creaked open, slowly revealing Pepper's mother. Tony did his best to smile at her, but the cold expression on Edna's face caused his smile to wilt quickly.
"Mrs. Potts," Tony said in the most polite way he could.
"Tony, what are you doing here, again?" she asked wryly.
"I'm sorry," he said as he excused himself, "but I need to talk to Virginia as soon as possible." He explained sincerely.
"I don't think she wants to talk to you, Tony." She responded harshly.
"I know you are probably right, but it is really important that I speak with her," he almost begged.
"You know that you amaze me sometimes?" she said disgustedly as she shook her head in disbelief, "We don't get any messages from you for five years, and then in less than 48 hours you knock upon my door two times. And now you have suddenly important stuff to discuss! What could possibly be so important now?" she asked hatefully.
"I know that you don't want to believe me, but trust me, she needs to know what I have to tell her…" Tony pleaded.
He was cut off by Edna's mocking laugh, "Trust you?" she repeated, amazed by Tony's effrontery. "My god…" she said in disbelief. "Don't you think that you already messed up enough for the time being? Leave her alone for Christ's sake! She needs her space and time to figure out everything out now."
"What do you mean everything?" Tony asked suddenly becoming even more worried.
"Come on Tony. I warned you when you showed up here yesterday. Jumping back into her life like that was not a good idea, especially involving Dane like you did." Edna almost spat out.
"I didn't want to, you know… I was leaving, and then he talked to me and… And then, of course, I figured it out. He is my son, Edna. Why did you want to hide that from me?" he said in a hurt tone.
"It was not my role to tell you about Dane. And I thought I made myself clear enough to you yesterday: we have been doing quite well by ourselves for the past 5 years, and we don't need you to come around here wanting to shake up everything." She stated flatly.
"I know," he acknowledged quietly, gazing at his shoes because he couldn't bear to look Edna in the eye. Then he quickly pulled himself together remembering what he came to do in the first place. "I'm sorry for everything Mrs. Potts, believe it or not. But I really need to talk to Virginia, now." He insisted.
"Tony, I don't know if…" Edna started before being cut off by a soft voice coming from upstairs.
"Let him come in, mom." Pepper voice quietly said from the top of the staircase.
Tony's heart immediately started to beat faster at the sound of her voice. Edna lowered her shoulders in defeat and slowly opened up the door more in order to let him pass through. Tony walked slowly inside looking up as he moved towards the stairs, quickly spotting Pepper at the top of them. He forced himself to look her in the eyes, somehow hoping that the seriousness of his visit would be somehow locked deep within his own eyes and help convince her to let him speak with her. "I really need to talk to you," he quietly stated his eyes still locked with hers.
Pepper stood motionless, wanting to let the stairs stay between them for the moment. She thought that it was easier to deal with him at a distance. She looked at her mom who had followed behind Tony. She saw the disapprobation in her eyes, and the soft shake of her head. Pepper turned her stony gaze to Tony as she broke the silence "I thought you were doing what I ask you to do, now."
"I know and I was sincere about that, but after I left here I discovered something that you should know," he explained quickly.
Pepper was hesitating, caught between her desire to know what he had to tell and her anger with him.
Tony noticed her hesitation and he added with the most serious tone he could "Please, Virginia, I wouldn't be begging you if it wasn't really important."
Pepper was somehow shocked by the sincerity in his voice and also by the fact that it was one of the very few times that she had heard him call her by her given name. "OK, come upstairs," she told him. Her mom looked at her in disbelief. Pepper tried to give her a reassuring smile but Edna just shook her head and left the room in a huff heading for the kitchen.
Pepper started walking along the hallway before Tony was completely upstairs. He followed her quickly, desperately wanting to be close to her. She stopped at her room's door, sighed deeply once, and then entered her bedroom, staying next to the wall as she opened the door for him, door handle still in her hand. Tony walked quickly inside, passing closely next to her forcing her to draw a quick, audible breath at his sudden closeness, and she quickly closed the door behind them. Tony continued walking until he reached the set of double windows, absently staring outside as he tried to compose himself. Being with her in the small room, her proximity to him was not helping him concentrate at all.
"I didn't want my mom to hear us." she said, explaining the reason behind their presence upstairs.
He turned to face her "Yeah," was the only word that he could get out of his mouth at that second. Suddenly even breathing was hard. He knew that he was not claustrophobic, but being in the room with her like this gave him the feeling that the walls were closing on him. He tried to regulate his breathing and calm down because after yesterday, he was almost surprised that she had actually accepted his request to talk to her again. Maybe there was hope for them yet. Steadying himself, he slowly turned around until he was facing her.
"So," her voice broke his train of thought as he looked up at her face, "What are you here for?" she asked curtly.
OK, here we go! He thought. He suddenly realized that he didn't know how to start telling her what he had found out this morning. "Ok, maybe it's better if you sit first" he said approaching her and reaching out to her as if to lead her to the bed.
She moved quickly, avoiding him and said harshly "Don't play with me Stark! You are here because you want to tell me something, so go ahead and say it! We are not here to have small talk!"
He could tell that she was doing her best to keep the conversation quiet, but the fierce tone of her voice took him aback. "I'm sorry, I…"
She cut him off quickly. "Oh, please stop being sorry, it's starting to sound pathetic!"
He sighed heavily trying to pull his thoughts together. Out of habit, he started pacing the length of the room quietly tapping the arc reactor with his fingers. He quickly tried to figure out just how exactly he would explain it to her.
"Come on, Tony, you are starting to drive me crazy!" Pepper said becoming increasingly annoyed by his silence, his pacing, and the tapping on his arc reactor. She had seen him do this so many times when he was nervous, but after all he had put her through the last 5 years she no longer had the patience or tolerance of his habits.
"I need you and Dane to come with me to Malibu," he finally blurted out. He thought perhaps that being direct and to the point was the best way to start the conversation.
Pepper actually started to laugh quietly in disbelief as he spoke… Ok maybe a little bit too direct, he thought.
"You must be kidding me right now?" she said anger flaring up once again in her eyes.
"No, it's not what you think," he started immediately trying to defend himself.
"No? It's not? Phew… Because I really thought that the 'important thing' that you discovered was that Dane and me have to move in with you!" She said sarcastically, her tone mixed with irony and anger.
"I'm sorry, I…" Tony tried to interject.
"Arrrgghhhhh!" she said a little louder suddenly blowing out a big breath. "Again with your apologies! I can't handle this anymore! That's it, I'm fed up. You need to leave now!" she told him turning to walk to the door.
"No Pepper, I…" he tried to explain following her quickly to the door.
"Now, Tony!" She said coldly opening the door for him.
"It's about Dane. He is in danger!" He said quickly and quietly trying his best to make her listen to reason.
She froze, her blue eyes opened wide in both surprise and fear. He slowly approached her, gently removing her hand from the door handle and closing the door for her. The sudden contact between their skin made them both shiver at the feeling. He led her slowly to the bed and gently pushed her down to sit on the bed. He kneeled down in front of her and took both her hands in his. He looked up into her eyes, his bourbon eyes pleading with her to listen. As she looked deeply in his eyes she suddenly realized that she saw not only love and sincerity in his eyes but fear as well, and she knew instinctively that the next words coming out of his mouth were going to be the truth. She finally managed to pull her gaze from his eyes, drifting slowly down to her hands trapped within his. She could not deny that his touch felt so good and so right, but then again so unfair. She slowly removed her hands from his grasp trying her best to help herself to focus on their conversation.
"What exactly is going on?" She asked quietly, her tone much softer than before.
He sighed softly, still kneeling before her and decided to start from the beginning, "This morning, as I was leaving the motel in town after getting some sleep before driving back to Malibu, I recognized a Shield agent in a car that was driving along the road in front of the motel," Pepper looked at him stunned. "Yeah, I had the same reaction too." He told her "I had Jarvis run the plates on her car. Her name is Claire Wise but Jarvis cross checked some old Shield files and found out that her alias is currently Anna Bloomfield."
"Dane's tutor…" Pepper whispered in disbelief looking down at him in shock, fear quickly replacing all other emotions on her face.
"Yeah, I know," Tony said wanting to hold her hand to give her some of his strength knowing that she was immediately in fear for Dane's safety.
"But why?" She asked Tony locking eyes once again with her. She suddenly felt at a loss for words as she desperately tried to process the information that Tony had just given her.
"That's what I wanted to figure out too. So I went back to Stark Tower and I had Jarvis break into the Shield data base system." Pepper was listening to him carefully now, her blue eyes luminous with concentration. Even under the circumstances, Tony thought she had never looked so beautiful. He focused again on his story. "Five years ago when we…broke up," Tony said, eyes full of sadness at the last two words. He closed his eyes briefly and then started up again, "Fury assigned an agent to watch over you," Tony saw incomprehension in Pepper eyes at his words so he added "Shield was concerned that you could still be a target as you were no longer under my protection, and they decided to assign an agent to you just to make sure that nothing would happen to you." This appeared to make sense to her and she nodded at him in understanding. "Then, this agent figured out that you were pregnant." Tony said quietly with hesitation as Pepper's pregnancy was a difficult topic for him.
"But what is Shield's interest in me being pregnant?" She asked her face forming a small frown of concern.
"Their interest was not in you being pregnant, but in you being pregnant with our child." Tony pointed out wanting so badly to take her hands in his that he had to clinch his fists in frustration.
"So Shield didn't tell you, did they?" She asked him looking down at his hands, then back up to his face.
"No they didn't because they didn't want to keep me from going on missions for them." He replied noticing her looking at his hands and immediately relaxing his fists. "And I found out that Shield went to great lengths to keep information about you from me." He told her.
"What do you mean?" she asked softly, concerned about what his words meant for her.
"They found out that you wanted to call me," he said gently. Her eyes quickly broke away from his, gazing at the floor as she slowly blushed. So for the first time since he came back to her, and only for a few seconds, Tony felt like he had his Pepper in front him once again. The kind, gentle woman, who used to blush like a little girl when she was in trouble.
Then she quickly pulled herself together and asked him pointedly "How could they even know that?"
"I don't know." Tony replied. "The agent who reported this to Fury is named Evans, and if I remember correctly, her cover name is Ally Parker." He finished watching her face carefully for a reaction.
"Ally…" She repeated in disbelief her eyes once more downcast toward the floor.
"You know her?" He asked.
"Yes" she admitted once again locking eyes with him. "I met her when I came back to live here. We became close friends quickly. I was alone, and she was conveniently here, extremely nice, and completely understanding of me and my situation! My god, I just can't believe I was duped so easily." She said as she stood up, quickly moving past Tony as she started to walk to the windows. "I talked with her a lot during my pregnancy," she absently looked through the windows, her eyes obvious to the world outside as she straightened her shoulders with resolve, "It's true, I wanted to call you," she admitted, as she sighed. Tony stood up and walked towards her as she explained "I missed you, and I loved you, and I didn't want to raise our child alone. I didn't want to live the rest of my life on a farm. I had my education and my other life and I no longer felt like I belonged here. And to find myself alone, pregnant, living in my parents' house, jobless, and still hopelessly in love with a jerk."
Tony felt his heart shrink painfully in his chest at her words. He thought that he had understood what she had gone through after he forced her to leave him, but hearing her today just showed him how far he had been from the reality of her situation. She was still staring out of the window but he watched as her shoulders visibly sagged in sadness and dejection. He wanted so badly now to take her in his arms and hug her.
She suddenly turned to face him, anger quickly replacing the tears in her eyes, "I can't believe that she had manipulated me! I trusted her; I confessed to her all my feelings. And she told me that she would help me, but insisted that it was not a good idea to call you. And I believed her. She even helped to create my own startup."
"Yeah," Tony acknowledged, "it makes sense now," he started
"What do you mean?" She asked the anger in her face being replaced with confusion.
"Jarvis and I found out that Shield set up dummy accounts to keep you preoccupied with your company. And to keep you far away from me." He told her.
Her eyes widened in horror, "What the hell?!" she started her hands moving up rub at her temples in anxiety "What kind of crazy people are they?" she asked incredulous.
"I know" he admitted trying to soothe her. "I had the same reaction as you," he told her honestly.
She looked at him again, her hands dropping back down to her sides. "But I don't get it Tony. Why they would do something like that? How would keep me preoccupied and away from you benefit them?"
"They didn't want me to discover that Dane is my son." He told her truthfully.
"But why? What would it have mattered to them if you knew or not? I mean, it's not making any sense Tony! You are working for Shield; you are one of the Avengers…"
"I know, but it was easier for them if I didn't know, so I could be 100% available for them to use..." He tried to explain her but Pepper saw something in his face that she suddenly didn't like.
"There is something else isn't there…" She said approaching him "What are you not telling me?" She asked him when she came to a stop directly in front of him.
Tony looked her in the eyes, and he knew that she would not like what he had to say "They wanted to study Dane without my interference."
"Study Dane?" she repeated her eyes becoming dark with both anger and worry "What do you mean?"
"Dane is my son and they wanted to see how the arc reactor could have possibly affected him. You know from my blood tests that I have certain chemical compounds in my blood and Shield wanted to see what I would pass down to my offspring." Pepper gasped as she pulled up her hands to cover her mouth. "They have all of Dane's blood tests, IQ tests, genome sequencing, all his medical reports… They also wanted to evaluate his mental and physical abilities to see if he could be a good future recruit for Shield." He concluded holding his breath while he waited for Pepper's response.
Pepper shook her head angrily in disbelief. Tony closed the gap between them and tried to take her in his arms but she quickly slapped his arms away "Don't touch me!" she blurted out. "My god…" she said sadly, her eyes looking up at the ceiling, tears filling her eyes.
"It's going to be OK. Honey. I won't let them continue. I promise." He tried to comfort her verbally, wanting more than ever now to take her in his arms.
Pepper appeared to be slipping into a state of shock, and it didn't even register on her the term of endearment that Tony used for her. "Is Dane going to be ok?" She asked, too preoccupied now with Dane' health more than anything else.
"I hope so. I have Jarvis running more tests and double checking Shield's data right now. Jarvis will also check all of the possibilities. I'll never let anything happen to Dane." He assured her.
"I can't believe it, it sounds so crazy! He is just a child, he is just…" she began, quietly sobbing as her feelings slowly overwhelmed her.
"I know…" he said reaching out to her as he slowly took her hands in his and squeezed them gently "Pepper, honey, you have to listen to me" he said to once again get her attention. "It will not take long before Fury figures out that I hacked into Shield's files." Pepper nodded at him slowly understanding his words "I have no idea what they are going to do, but I don't trust Shield at all anymore." Pepper nodded again. "I want to get you and Dane somewhere safe until I can deal with Shield." He said gently. "And you are not safe here, surrounded by Shield agents and not knowing what Fury would ask them to do at any time."
"mmmh" was the only sound that escaped Pepper's mouth. She stood frozen before him with a far-away look in her eyes. She looked like she was going into shock.
He squeezed her hands a little harder trying to bring her back to reality "Pepper, are you alright?"
She suddenly pulled her hands from his and quickly punched him in the chest, one fist after another "It's your fault! It's your fault!" she cried out in anger and sadness. Tony didn't move and let her freely continue to hit him. "It's all your fault!" she repeated "You destroyed everything!" as her fists still hammered his chest. "We had everything and you destroyed it!" Tears started to roll down her cheeks again as she continued her assault on him.
Her two fists finally came down on his chest at in the same time and they remained here "I hate you!" she said as lowered her head onto him just above where her hands were resting with a dull thud. When her head came to rest on his chest, Tony instinctively wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. "I hate you so much" she said between tears as she continued sobbing, her head settled close to his neck.
"I know…" he whispered gently, stoking her hair with one hand and pulling her even closer with the other. "I know…" he repeated sinking his nose into her hair as he let tears escape his own eyes.
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