Always Been You | Tony Stark

Captiolo (9) Nove ~ CEO

The hoard of reporters jumped out of their seats, yelling different questions at Tony.

"All right, come on girls. Let's go before this turns into a stampede." I joked, getting up from my seat.

"Yeah, I don't want to end up like Mufasa." Morgan nodded in agreement, making me let out a laugh while Pepper looked horrified. We all made our way back to the viewing room we were in before, waiting for Rhodey and Tony to walk in.

"What the hell was that man?!" Rhodey yelled as he followed Tony into the room.

"Child!" I yelled, putting my hand on the back of Morgan's head.

"Sorry, but Tony, you even just realize what you just did?"

"Um, become a national treasure? Though I thought I already was one?" Tony walked over to the head seat at the long conference table, sitting down and putting his feet up.

"In your wildest dreams playboy." I rolled my eyes.

"Did dad do something bad?" Morgan asked, looking up at her mother.

"No-"

"Yes." Pepper cut Tony off. "He said something he wasn't supposed to to those people out there."

"Is that why the buffalo almost trampled people?"

"They were wildebeests, sweetheart. And what's up with the Lion King references?" I asked.

"Caroline and I watched Disney movies! Lion King was my favorite!" She cheered, then started to quietly sing "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" making me chuckle.

"Tell you what, why don't we go to your dad's office while the rest of the adults talk and I can put Lion King on for you," I suggested, looking up at Pepper for her okay.

Pepper nodded her head, a grateful look on her face. "That sounds like a great idea, thanks, Avery."

"No problem. Go tell your dad that you'll see him later and then we'll go, okay sweety?"

"Yeah!" Morgan ran over to her father, rambling something to him while being lifted into his lap.

"Thank's Avery, really. Rhodey might be chewing him out for a little while, so this will be a good way to distract her." Pepper said as we watched the father and daughter interact, Rhodey chiming in every now and then.

"It's really nothing. I love the little monkey."

"Hey! I'm not a monkey!" Morgan yelled, hearing what I said and puffing her cheeks out in a pout.

"You sure about that?" I raised an eyebrow, slowly walking over to her. "Cause I could have sworn I saw a little monkey jumping on her father!" I threw my hands towards her, tickling her sides. Tony laughed along, holding his daughter tight to him so she didn't fall.

"No! No stop!" She laughed.

"Who's the little monkey I saw then?" I jokingly asked, continuing my assault on her sides.

"I am! I'm the little monkey!" She laughed as I stopped.

"See, I knew it!" I cheered. "Now come on, Simba and Nala await." I helped Morgan down, holding her hand in mine.

"By little monkey!" Rhodey chuckled. Morgan stopped walking, turning to him with a disapproving look on her face.

"Uh uh. Only Avee calls me little monkey." She stuck her tongue out.

"Yeah, Rhodey." I copied the kid's action, sticking my own tongue out.

"Real mature, Lynn."

"I try." I shrugged, turning back around and leading Morgan out of the room.

Pepper's Pov ~

I watched as Avery took Morgan out of the room, grateful that the two were so close. I looked over at Tony, who had this look in his eyes as he watched the two's retreating figures. Rhodey must have seen it too, cause he slapped Tony on the back of the head.

"Dude, your wife is right there. Stop ogling her." He quietly scolded.

"Soon to be ex-wife," I said, walking over to the two and sitting in a chair across from Tony.

"What?"

"You never told him?" I asked Tony, who looked unbothered by Rhodey and I's words.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry, Hunny bear. Guess I just never got around to it." He said, finally joining in the conversation.

"Does Avery know?"

"Yeah, I told her a couple days ago."

"Does she know you have a thing for her?" I asked, startling the two men.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, so you mean to tell me that you don't have a giant crush on your best friend, and have since she started staying with us for her recovery?" I crossed my arms, sitting back in the chair.

"It has not been that long" Tony rolled his eyes, making me give him an expectant look.

"Dude." Rhodey blanked.

"Shit." Tony looked at me, seemingly a bit panicked. "Pepper..."

I held my hand up, stopping whatever he was going to say. "I don't care, Tony."

"What?"

"I don't care. I've seen the way you look at her, and I don't think I've ever seen you look at anyone like that. Not even me." He almost looked ashamed when I said that. "Let me just be clear on something, Tony."

"Pepper..." Rhodey warned as I stood, putting my hands on the table and leaning towards Tony.

"No, he needs to hear this." I snapped. "If you hurt her in any way, I will hurt you back. Harder. She has already been through so much she does not need you to come in and sweep her off her feet, only for you to drop her and leave her on the ground without even bothering to pick up the pieces."

Tony just stared at me for a moment, looking a bit taken aback and scared, before mumbling something I couldn't understand.

"What?"

"I want you to be the CEO of Stark Industries."

This time it was me who was taken aback.

"Have you been drinking?"

"Uh, chlorophyll." He walked over to me. "I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries, effective immediately." He awkwardly patted my shoulder. "Yeah, done deal. Okay?" He walked around the table.

"I mean this isn't a spur-of-the-moment thing, I've been thinking about this for a while now, believe it or not. Doing some headhunting, so to speak, trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be." He stood, slowly pacing behind his chair. "And then I realized it's you. I thought there might be a legal issue but actually, I'm capable of appointing my successor.

"You've already been doing all the work with me doing... this... and with Stane being gone. I personally don't see myself going back to doing any CEO work. You've done a marvelous job. You should be the CEO."

"You hear this too, right?" I mumbled to Rhodey, who was staring at Tony with his mouth hanging open.

"Unless we're both hallucinating the same thing." He mumbled back.

"Um, congratulations?" Tony smirked, now back at his seat.

"I- I don't know what to think."

"Don't think just do it." He shrugged.

"Why-why didn't you think of Avery? She would have been a good option."

"I'm not going to lie in saying that I did consider that, but then I thought, if you did it, I would need a new assistant. And Avery has been saying that she wants to leave her job. Why not offer her yours?"

I smirked at his logic.

"Very clever, Mr. Stark."

"Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I'm doing this solely to get closer to her, it's more of a... more of a perk."