Spoiled Concealment

Chapter 1

2004

Pepper looked at her computer and sent out the last of her emails for the day. She stood up at her desk and grabbed her folders and tucked them into her bag and was heading for the door when Tony startled her on the intercom.

"Pepper, I need you," his voice boomed.

She pressed the button and leaned toward the intercom.

"I need to leave on time tonight Mr. Stark. Remember I told you that last week?"

Tony made his way upstairs and he appeared behind her.

"Why? what's going on?" he asked as he eyed her suspiciously.

"Nothing special. I just have an appointment to get to," Pepper said, pretending to look for something in her bag to avoid his eyes.

"Everyone at the office was whispering today. What is going on?"

"I don't know. You'll have to ask them. Will that be all Mr.Stark?"

"That'll be all Miss Potts," Tony said as he dismissed her.

Once she was gone he went to find Happy.

"What is Pepper not telling me?" he said when he found him on the couch.

"Hey Boss, I was just catching up on the news" Happy mumbled.

"Are you in on it? What's going on tonight? And why am I not invited?" Tony pressed. He could be relentless when he wanted to know something.

"I don't know boss but I gotta head out," Happy said as he hurried to the door before Tony could ask him any more questions.

Tony paced back and forth and went to Pepper's desk and looked at the calendar. Her personal calendar was totally blank. He even ran a pencil over the box to see if any eraser marks came up. She was good. When she didn't want him to know anything she didn't leave any crumbs.

"JARVIS can you see anything on Pepper's calendar that has been deleted?" he asked as he scratched his head.

"No sir,"

"Can you bring up Pepper's new hire paperwork?"

He started flipping through the files and he saw her I.D. And the date was staring him blank in the face. February 12, 1974. Today was Pepper's birthday. She was turning 30.

She had plans and he wasn't invited. Not only was it a blow to his ego but he was hurt. He needed to find out where and when they were going and he needed to show up.

He stopped for a minute and replayed the entire day in his head from the beginning and he thought about all the whispering and then he remembered Janet talking to Nancy and he overheard her say "Waldorf Astoria at 8pm".

Tony quickly called the hotel to get confirmation of the time and he knew the party was there. His next call was to his jeweler. He put in an order he needed done today and it was a lot to ask but he was Tony Stark and he knew they'd have it done. He was going to have it wrapped and sent there on time.

Tony went to his liquor cabinet and opened the bourbon. He poured himself a glass and couldn't remember exactly how many he had when 8pm neared.

Pepper was at her seat at her table with her family and boyfriend Matt and friends around her. Her parents flew in from Connecticut and planned on staying a few days to see Los Angeles and just about everyone from Stark Industries was invited except Tony. They began to eat and the band hired to play eighties and nineties music started to play.

Tony snuck through the back of the building into the kitchen and he was hiding behind a fake palm tree. He blinked his eyes a few times until Pepper came into focus. He never saw her look more beautiful than she did that night. He couldn't believe his eyes. There she was dancing with her boyfriend  and smiling. Tony really didn't like the guy.  He refused to believe she could really be happy with a jerk like him. She had on a silver sequined dress that fell above the knees and her black Christian Louboutin heels. Her hair was wild and curly and she donned a smokey eye and red lipstick. She was a total knockout. It was almost as if Tony was seeing her for the first time. His mind went to someplace inappropriate and he strived to stop himself from indulging. Not Pepper. He sucked his breath in for a moment and then he realized that all of his employees were invited and even his best friend Colonel Rhodes was there. Pepper disliked him so much that she didn't want him at her birthday. He felt a jolt of pain in his heart. He hadn't realized Pepper had that much disdain for him. He also didn't realize it would matter that much to him. Since when did he care about Pepper's approval?  He stayed there and watched for a while. He wasn't sure how long it had been but it was now or never. He slipped from his hiding space and grabbed the lead singer of the band and whispered something to him and handed him a few hundred dollar bills. Then he made his way to the kitchen and he found his hiding space under the tablecloth covering the cart that was carrying her cake. They wheeled it out and he squeezed his eyes shut and clutched the microphone in his hand. The bourbon was really closing in on him and making him feel fearless. He planned this perfectly and really hoped that Pepper would love her surprise.