Tony, Tony

TWELVE

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with my client, Miss Potts."

"Happy, why are you pretending to be a lawyer?" Potts squinted a little and glanced over where Tony was sitting silently across the table from her, a pair of dark sunglasses obscuring most of his emotions. It was still obvious that he'd sobbed uncontrollably recently. At Tony's side? Yep, his long-suffering pepper grinder, similarly decked out in a small set of stylish shades.

"What do you want, Tony? I'm pretty busy running your father's company, Tony. Do you just like wasting other people's time, Tony?"

"Mr. Stark is threatening to sue for full control of Stark Industries if you refuse to resume your former... relationship. Here are his demands."

Happy opened one of those neat leather folios, pulled out a sticky note, and slid it across the table to Pepper--the real Pepper. It read, simply, "Please love me." (It was from Tony.)