Tony Stark's Toy

Part 41 - Back to Work

Back to reality, back to our everyday lives. It's been a few days since we returned home and I'm still rushing to get things done. We were gone for so many days and now my work has been multiplied by a lot. You can imagine my desperation when I found out I had to get Tony's signatures for 20something files. And the worst thing is that he's back at the mansion and not here at Stark Industries.

"Can't they wait for tomorrow? I promise I'll get his signatures then" I say to Pepper.

"Honey, I know you have much work to do, we all do. But he's been dodging these long before your vacation and now it's literally the deadline" she explains kindly.

"Fine" I sigh.

I collect my stuff and leave Stark Industries. I'm determined to get those signatures from him no matter what. I don't care if he's in the middle of a fight or an invention or an improvement, I'm still getting him to sign.

2 hours later I return to Stark Industries and go into Pepper's office. She seems shocked I'm here already and I wait for her to finish a phone call.

"You couldn't find him?" she asks when she's done.

"No, I did. Here are the files" I say nicely and place the signed files on top of her desk.

"What? How did-" she rambles and checks with her own eyes that they're indeed signed.

"I finally have the upper hand with him and I can say I matured him enough to realize when he should step up and help" I say proudly.

"You slept with him, didn't you?" Pepper ignores my words.

"Yes" I nod.

"I see we're back to the old-fashioned ways" she says.

"Did you-have you two-?" I ask shocked.

"No, definitely not. But there have been other assistants who had found the same magic trick to get those signatures" she smiles at me.

"I shouldn't even be surprised" I shrug.

"Good job either way. Be sure to remind him he has to attend the meetings at the end of the week" she says and I nod.

I walk back to my office and close the door behind me. I sigh one more time when I see the piles of papers on my desk. My responsibilities have increased dramatically the past few weeks. Actually, every week I have more things on my back.

But that's the price you pay when you take over Pepper's old job. I can't imagine what she was going through when Tony was still CEO. At least I have a reasonable CEO over my head.

A couple of hours later, or maybe a lot of hours later I heard my phone ringing. I didn't even realize it was so late, I was completely drifted away. The caller is Tony so I reply without thinking about it twice.

"Hey" I say.

"Hey, babe. You sound exhausted, why is that?" he sounds concerned.

"Work" I simply reply.

"It's too late to be at work, get back home and rest" his tone is judging me.

"You're not the right person to judge me on that" I chuckle.

"Wait for me, I'll be there in 30" he says and hangs up.

Indeed, around 30 minutes later he's here with some food and he sits across from me on my desk.

"Are you hungry?" he asks and gives me the bag that's full of cheeseburgers.

"I'm starving actually, thank you" I say and passionately take a bite from the cheeseburger.