Pepper Potts's Secret Journal

Everyone assumed Pepper lived at the Stark Mansion. After all, she was
there all the time, had all the access codes and really, why wouldn't she
want to live there? It's a freaking mansion. To be fair, there were times
she stayed over at the house. She had her own room there, an extra set of
clothes, and other things she couldn't live without, but for those times
that Tony wasn't around (three months in a desert ring any bells?),
she stayed at her own loft. It was important for her, the moment she took
such a life-consuming job, to try to retain her own identity. The idea of
only being known as Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's personal executive
assistant, was odd, so she tried her best to be Pepper Potts, all around
great person, on her days off.

When she'd originally bought her loft, it was the best she could afford at
the time and hadn't really given much thought to the neighbourhood so it
wasn't the most exclusive, or the most prestigious. Eventually, she
learned it had a wonderful deli, an amazing bakery and a quaint little
bookstore she spent entirely too much money in. Her loft itself wasn't
anything exciting: it had high ceilings, a very open floor plan, and a
fairly modern kitchen, all dressed in a relaxing atmosphere. She'd managed
to paint it all herself (and ruined some very nice clothes in the process),
and had chosen each painting carefully to represent what exactly Pepper was
(insert joke here), so when she came home, she could look around and say,
"Pepper Potts, freckled beauty, decent cook, and just generally a great gal,
lives here," and hope others saw it too.

"Come on Pepper, you couldn't have planned for this?," Pepper muttered to herself. She was standing in the entrance rool of a lavish hotel room (only the best for Tony Stark), in her usual business suit. Unfortunately for her, Tony had invited her to dinner and requested that they go somewhere casual. Right. She hadn't intended on coming with him to the graduation ceremony and yet somehow, like always, he managed to convince her that he couldn't do it without her, and along she came with only her purse and her laptop.

The ceremony itself had been uneventful. Even though she'd pressed him many times to practice his speech or even think about it, he'd managed to sidestep every suggestion, instead choosing to just talk and annoy his stylist with random suggestions for his hair. As usual though, he'd looked fantastic, said all the right things, and schmoozed the right people. In fact, he was with said people at the very moment, leaving Pepper some time to try to turn a business suit into something she could relax in. God.

At first, she simply took her jacket off, and untucked her shirt, but the rumpled librarian look wasn't something she was okay with. "Maybe taking my leotards off would help," she said to herself. Balancing on one foot, one hand on the bed, she started the process of removing it, and soon went head over heels into the bed. The door would open at that moment.

The first and only time Tony Stark caught Pepper Potts having sex was the only time she'd ever seen him speechless.

That being said, it wasn't like it was intentional. Pepper had created an inpenatrable wall of professionalism and had never anticipated the fact that, no matter how hard she tried to be rational, lack of sex could be very disconcerting to her emotional well-being. Since working for Tony, she'd always tried her hardest to keep her personal and social life (what little there was) under his radar. She was his executive assistant, his personal confidante and all around life coach, and that was it. Working closely with him would've been hard if she allowed feelings to get in the way of her job.

Of course, when she did manage to get a night off, she did her best to remember that she was Pepper Potts, ivy league graduate, freckled beauty and generally a pretty cool gal; it was important to keep her identity outside of work. Unfortunately, it wasn't always easy to keep her work out of her identity.

On this night, in particular, she'd accepted a dinner date with Steve White, a moderately successful banker, and while on her way to the restaurant, she realized that she had forgotten to give Tony, who was out giving a presentation with Rhodes, an important dossier with information. Normally, she wouldn't be concerned; Tony had an impeccable memory and wasn't above using it. The only problem was that, since she was so damn efficient, she'd compiled all the information and had requested him to read it over en route. Begging forgiveness of her date, he agreed to go with her first to Stark Industries, after which point they'd barely make their reservation at Noir, a fairly trendy, relatively new restaurant she'd been dying to try.

Once she'd entered the building, she'd quickly realized this wasn't a good idea. Steve was very attractive, and due to the fact she'd been celibate for far longer than she'd care to admit, she did one of the most rash things of her life: she hit the stop button on the elevator and proceeded to shock Steve with her amazing flexibility. One thing she'd completely forgotten, however, was that she was in an office building specifically designed to never break down. There was back-up system, after back-up system, after back-up system, so when the elevator started up again, she was far too busy to notice. In fact, the only reason she did, was due to the noise of the door when it opened on the top floor. The look on Tony's face, one of mild bemusement and utter shock, was one she'd never forget. The one and only time he actually realized he needed information and decided he didn't want to bother her would be now.

In a moment of panic, she blurted out, "You don’t have the right to judge me, not with what I know about you." Instantly, she wished she could take it back, but all he did was nod, and say, "I know."

They never mentioned it again but the next day, she couldn't help but notice the cleaning crew working intently in the elevator

1. What are your pet peeves?
Laziness. Stupidity.

2. What do you do before bedtime?
Bed..time? What's that? At the end of the night, I just crash. If I'm coherent enough, I'll talk to 'Chel, maybe email Kate.

3. How do you spend a typical Saturday night?
Week..end? Though I think this Saturday, Henry's coming out and we're going to a show. (Right, Henry?)

4. What is the city of your dreams and why?
It's so hard to say. New York because thats were I met my husband.. and Los Angeles, because that's where I made some of the best friends of my life.

5. Are you an introvert or extrovert?
Extrovert at work, Introvert at home.

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?
I can't possibly think of a good answer to this one.

7. Do you trust easily?
There's only four people in this entire world I trust. You know who you are.

8. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do?
Nothing. It's not my choice to make.

9. What’s the best advice you can think of to give to a stranger?
Don't talk to strangers.

10. What is your best quality?
I'm efficient.

11. If you could listen to only three songs for the rest of your life, what would they be?
The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelsson.

12. How do you see yourself?
Strong-willed and loyal.

13. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
*locked to those that know* My work with the Order. If I hadn't had something to concentrate on, so soon after Happy's death.. I don't know what I would've done.

14. What do you think of the person who tagged you?

Rachel.. babe I love you, but seriously. Do you HAVE to keep every single freaking picture we've ever taken together? I didn't think either of us wanted to remember the braces!Pepper and the bowl-cut!Rachel.. For the love of all that is holy, BURN THEM!


15. Would you rather be single & rich or married but poor?
I was married and.. well not poor, but not as rich as I was when I was working, that's for sure. I'd take those years over millions any day.

16. How many children do you want to have, if any?
What's with all these questions about kids lately? No comment.

17. What’s better to give or to receive?
Give.

18. Is the glass half full or half empty?
Half full. Always. If I don't look at it that way...

19. Would you have 100% safe sex with a stranger for $10,000,000?
Sounds like a question Tony would ask...actually, wait, I think he has asked me that before. I think I simply said that 10 million goes a long way.

20. What were your parents going to name you if you’d been born the opposite gender?
I don't know, but I hope it wasn't Salt.

1) One name: Tony
2) One occupation they’ve had: Engineer
3) One home town: Malibu
4) One friend: Me
5) One aspiration: To save the world
6) One fear: To fail
7) One memory: Managing to get the limo through a Taco Bell drive-thru
One common phrase they always say: "One track mind, Potts"
9) One illness/injury they’ve suffered: Shrapnel to the body
10) One dream/nightmare: Always Afghanistan
11) One favourite food: Mac and Cheese
12) One favourite colour: Black
13) One pet peeve: Stupidity
14) One time they cried: After the nightmares, when he thinks I'm asleep.
15) One reason they know/love you: Because I'll never leave.