A Family of Flaws

Chapter Thirteen; We Need An Intern

*Pepper's POV*

  "I'm bored, Pep!" Tony whined, shaking her as she tried to finish some paperwork that needed to be sent out in the next hour. "Talk to me or something!" And now he was acting like a child, how typical.

  Pepper sighed and pushed her fiancé's hand away, sending a small glare in his direction. "Tony, not right now. This is important and I need to finish it." She grumbled as she continued signing it and then completing the next page. There were three more pages to read through, write the proper information, and then sign the page before she was done and she now had less than an hour to complete it.

  It was silent for a few minutes as Pepper continued on the next page, her writing small and neat, when the same hand from early poked her forehead. She took it in stride and decided to ignore it, but another annoying tap had her whipping around to face the childish man once again. "Tony. Enough."

  "I'm not a dog, Pepper." Tony said while rolling his eyes. "You can't train me to listen to stupid commands." He poked her again. "Now do something with me." With a sigh, Pepper tossed her empty coffee cup at Tony (thankfully it was a styrofoam cup) and finished the page she was working on.

  "For someone who is always working, you sure seem to be behind on it." Tony muttered, coming to sit behind her and looking over her shoulder. "You missed a line." He added, pointing to a blank line that Pepper had skipped.

  "Thank you." She said dryly, pushing his face away. "Go watch something or call Rhodey. Just let me work." Tony rolled over the bed and collapsed back onto his usual side, looking like a pouting child. "Seriously, this is pathetic."

  She continued working, while Tony pulled out his Stark Pad and did who-knows-what on it, much to her relief. The rest of the paperwork was finished with a final signature and she called one of the interns from a few floors down to come take it and send it off.

  As the paperwork disappeared out the door, Pepper pulled out the next packet of work to complete. The intern gave her an idea, something that had crossed her mind before but she had always pushed it away.

  An intern for either her or Tony. She definitely needed one, but when Tony was back up to his usual self and constantly working he would no doubt need someone to help him. He would complain about it (which is why she would let him help pick the intern) but it would help with his workload and hopefully reduce his stress.

  Continuing the paperwork, she ran through the options. Personally, she preferred to do her work herself because when others did it she worried about what they might do. She couldn't help it. And she always felt bad for thinking they were messing it up. So she would only really accept an intern when she found the perfect one. However, Tony definitely needed one.

  Pepper finished the paperwork she was doing and turned to Tony, pulling his attention from the television. "How would you feel about an intern?" She asked, suppressing a sigh when a skeptical expression screwed up his face.

  "How about no?" He said, turning away. "No one is as good as me which means no one is good enough to be in my lab." He continued stubbornly, not giving her a chance to even defend her idea as he began ranting about everything that could go wrong.

  "They don't have to be in the lab. They could help with other things, like delivering paperwork or getting you coffee, anything that would relieve just a little bit of your stress." Pepper said, pushing past his rant with just as much determination as he had stubbornness.

  Tony shrugged in response, looking away again. "And I'll let you pick with me." Pepper said in a sing-song voice, elbowing him playfully. He rolled his eyes but turned back to her, reluctant but no longer giving her the cold shoulder.