The Stark Trap

~21~

Melissa watched as the car pulled away, taking her sister back to New York. She felt her mother put her hand on her shoulder and guide her inside, but Melissa's mind was elsewhere. 
 
She looked over at her mother's hand on her shoulder, seeing the diamond ring that she hadn't noticed before. Andi had said something to her about it while they had been hugging, but Melissa didn't believe that her mother would accept a proposal without saying anything to her. It's not that her mother had to ask for Melissa's permission or anything, but she thought that maybe her mother would at least take into consideration how Melissa would feel about it…
 
"I'm sorry that you're upset hun, but this is how it has to be…" Her mother said, rubbing Melissa's shoulder.
 
"Were you going to tell me?" Melissa asked, looking at her mother for the first time since Andi had left. She glanced at her mother's hand on her shoulder in a way to show what she meant.
 
Her mother's eyes widened slightly and she took her hand back. "I uh… I was… It happened this afternoon, I wasn't expecting it… I didn't really really think about it and I said yes… I don't know why I did… And I was going to talk to you about it but then when I got here your father was here and it threw me off… I'm sorry that I didn't tell you…"
 
Melissa sat down on the couch. "Do you want to marry him?"
 
Pepper sighed, sitting down next to Melissa. "I don't know…"
 
"Do you love him?"
 
Pepper was quiet for a while. Melissa could basically see the wheels turning in her head as she thought about it. "I…" She sighed. "I don't know…"
 
Melissa nodded slowly. She went over to her bag and pulled out the tape that Christine's assistant gave her. "When I was in New York, I went to talk to Christine-" Pepper flinched as she said the name. "-about what happened… She wouldn't say anything to us obviously, but we talked to her assistant, who gave us this… It's uh… Security footage… From that night…"
 
Pepper hesitantly took the tape from her. She held it in her lap, looking at it as if it would suddenly start playing. "Why are you giving this to me…?"
 
"Because Dad didn't cheat on you Mom…" Melissa put her hand on Pepper's knee. "Christine got him drunk and drugged him so that she could sleep with him and get pregnant because she wanted to be with him… This video proves that, it shows Christine drugging him and taking him somewhere to sleep with him. At least that's what I was told was on it"
 
Pepper looked up from the tape. "I appreciate you trying to help. Why don't you start getting ready for bed?"
 
It wasn't even close to the time that Melissa should start getting ready for bed, it was only, like 5, but Melissa could tell that her mother wanted to be alone. "Okay…" She said, nodding and going up to her room.
 
It had been so long since she had been home and she had missed it, but she was also starting to miss New York…
 
Melissa decided to jump in the shower to try and pass as much time as she could before she went to make something to eat so that her mother could be alone.
 
Melissa already missed her sister, even though it had only been a little over an hour since she saw her last. She wished she had spent more time with Andi getting to know her, instead of learning how to be her. She knew that she'd see her again, even if their parents went back on their new custody plan, she and Andi would make sure that they'd see each other again.
 
She wondered what relationship she and Andi would have if they had grown up together. Would they be super close? Would they hate each other? Melissa didn't think they'd hate each other, might just be slightly irritated, but not hate.
 
One question that Melissa wondered about was if she had grown up in New York, would she be dating Harley by now? She liked Harley, it was only just a little crush, but she wished she had gotten to know him more, as Melissa and not Andi…
 
Downstairs, Pepper was pacing in the living room, the tape now sitting on the coffee table. She wasn't sure if she should watch the tape, what would happen if Melissa was right and Tony actually was drugged? What if he wasn't and this hurt her more?
 
She thought back to the day they had broken up.
 
~Roughly Sixteen Years Ago~
 
"How could you do this Tony?!" Pepper yelled, tears streaming down her face. She threw the envelope filled with photos at him.
 
The photos scattered around the floor, pictures of what happened looking at her from all directions.
 
"Pep… I- I don't know what happened… I don't remember anything. But I would never hurt you…" Tony said, tears running down his own face. He looked down at the floor, the photos of him and Christine having sex that were anonymously dropped off stared up at him. He didn't know what happened, he hadn't slept with Christine since that one night, back before he and Pepper were together.
 
He would never hurt Pepper, he loved her so much… She was the mother of his kids and the love of his life…
 
"Don't lie to me Tony!" Pepper yelled again. "I had Jarvis check and these pictures are real! You slept with her! We have kids Tony! You can't keep doing shit like this!"
 
Tony shook his head, looking up at her. He felt his heart break as he saw the hurt and betrayal in her eyes. "Pep, baby, I swear, I have no idea what happened. I didn't sleep with her, I would never do that to you…"
 
"I find that hard to believe…" Pepper sat down at her desk.
 
They both were quiet for a while, both silently crying and neither of them knowing what to say.
 
Pepper was the first to finally speak. "Get out…"
 
"What…?"
 
"Leave. Get out. I don't want you here. I don't want you in my life anymore…"
 
Tony felt his heart break more. "What about the girls? You can't just keep me away from them?"
 
Pepper looked over at the framed picture of her six-month-old daughters. They were a perfect mix of both her and Tony, she had been so happy just a few months ago when they were born… Everything was perfect… And now everything was being torn apart… "We'll figure out what to do with them as far as custody, but right now, I want you to leave…"
 
Tony didn't want to argue, he knew it would just make things worse, so he left. And as he did, he regretted ever meeting Christine.
 
She ruined everything…
 
~Present Day~
 
After going back and forth with it, she made a decision and snatched the tape off of the table, putting it into the VCR. She sat down on the couch nervously as she waited for it to play.
 
The video was grainy, but you could still make out people's faces, especially the unmistakable face of Tony Stark. She watched as he sat at the bar of a room that was unfamiliar to her, then Christine walked up to him and said something. There was no audio on the tape tape so Pepper didn't know what was said, but knowing Christine, and seeing the way Tony pulled away from her, she could tell that Christine was flirting. Tony pushed her away a few times and even tried to get up, but Christine wouldn't let him. Tony said something and the only word that Pepper was able to make out was a name. Her name. Tony had said something about Pepper, probably that they were together. 
 
Then, Christine bought some more drinks, and at first Tony refused them, but then something changed, like she had challenged him, and Tony Stark wouldn't back down from a challenge.
 
Pepper fast forwarded through a few minutes of footage, not wanting to watch them sitting there drinking. As she was fast forwarding, something new had happened and Pepper scrambled to rewind it.
 
And there it was… Tony had been distracted at something a passing waitress had said to him and Christine took that as her chance. The camera caught the moment she pulled something out of her purse and dropped it into Tony's glass, the whole thing happening within only a few seconds. When Tony turned back and took a sip, Pepper could swear she saw Christine smirk.
 
After that, Tony put his glass down and excused himself, but Christine grabbed his arm and made him sit back down. He didn't touch the glass again. Instead, he kept trying to leave, but Christine was relentless. She kept trying to get him to take another sip, but he wouldn't.
 
Did he taste the drug? Or did he just have enough with Christine. Pepper assumed the latter.
 
Tony stood up from his stool and stumbled as he tried to walk. Christine grabbed his arm and helped him to the elevator. Once the elevator doors closed that was it, they weren't seen again that night.
 
One sip. That one sip was all it took for Pepper's life, relationship, and family to completely fall apart.
 
All because that one bitch from Vanity Fair wanted her boyfriend, and couldn't accept that she couldn't have him…