Saving Grace

Six

Tony, after getting home, has been focusing on Grace every free moment he gets. He makes her breakfast in the mornings — usually chocolate chip pancakes — and they eat together.

He's bought her tons of new toys, and he watches movies with her and plays any games she wants him to play. He even lets her sit in the lab while he works on another suit — like the one he built with Yinsen. He put her school work on hold so they could have more time together.

And yet, he doesn't tell her everything that's going on with the company. Why would he? She would never understand. He could tell her he was having some problems — and he had been ever since the press conference when he announced Stark Industries would no longer be making weapons. But she's just got him back after being away from him for three months, and he's hardly left her side. He's not going to take that happiness away from her.

However, one night, for the first time in a long time, he leaves her with Happy. She made him promise he would come back, but she didn't cry. It would only be for a few hours, if nothing went wrong.

Now, here he is, at a charity event he's apparently hosting that he wasn't even invited to.

He walks up to Obadiah Stane, his business partner, who's talking to reporters. "What's the world comin' to when a guy's gotta crash his own party?"

Obadiah laughs. "Look at you. I'm surprised you left Grace."

"Yeah, I'll see you inside," Tony says, internally reminding himself that Grace is with Happy, and she's perfectly fine.

He moves past Obadiah, but he stops him. "Hey, listen, take it slow, okay? I got the board right where we want them."

"You got it," Tony replies, heading inside.

The room is large, filled with nicely dressed people and fancy, gold decorations. Tony heads to the bar as jazz music plays and orders a scotch. The man beside him, who's leaning on the bar, looks over. "Mr. Stark."

"Yeah?" Tony asks, thinking the man looks familiar, but he can't quite place him.

"Agent Coulson," the man says, and it clicks.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, the guy from the, uh..." He struggles with the name.

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division," Coulson finishes for him.

Tony whistles as the bartender hands him his scotch. He turns around, looking out into the crowd of people. "You guys gotta get a new name for that."

"Yeah, I hear that a lot." Coulson pauses. "Look, I know this is a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There's still a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a factor with these things. Let's just put something on the books."

But at that moment, Tony spots Pepper in the middle of the crowd, wearing a deep blue dress with her hair curled. Everything else in his vision blurs, going out of focus.

He always thought she was pretty — attractive, even — but right now... Right now, she's the most gorgeous woman he's ever seen.

Coulson keeps talking. "How about the fourth, seven pm, at Stark Industries?"

Tony is barely listening. "Tell you what: You got it. You're absolutely right. We'll, uh..." Somehow, he tears his eyes away from Pepper and looks at Coulson. "I'm gonna, uh, go to my assistant, and we'll make a... date."

He walks away, setting his scotch on the bar behind him.

As he approaches Pepper, he says, "You look fantastic, I didn't even recognize you."